Deliverance in the Whirlwind -- Part 4

2008-10-6 06:13:00

JJ:

Here is another installment of "Deliverance in the Whirlwind." Like I said, there are numerous points in his interpretations with which I do not agree but he gives some interesting food for thought and I do think that there will be a great whirlwind at some point in the future. It will be quite a bit further in the future than he envisioned.

  

Deliverance In The Whirlwind -- Part Four

by E. T. Tennyson
(Published circa 1959)

Since men have built for themselves this great WORLD-SYSTEM upon the earth like a mighty TOWER, they look back over the centuries and see it improving and growing higher and higher, and millions honestly believe that it is indestructible and that it will eventually bring us to a Golden Age. But while the prophets saw it growing higher and higher, they looked forward and compared it to the Lord's SYSTEM of "the world to come," and in this contrast the glamour of our WORLD SYSTEM TOWER fades and becomes another tower of Babel, and therefore the prophets pictured it as BABYLON THE GREAT! Obviously it is only until men see this contrast that they will "weep and mourn for her" (Revelation 18:9-20) as she is torn down to make way for the new SYSTEM during the Armageddon WHIRLWIND as it siphons up the mighty waters of the sea!

So while this coming day of Armageddon is not a day to be desired, it is not a day of doom! For not only are we assured that a Great Multitude will survive the WHIRLWIND by seeking refuge, but the greatest promises ever given are those of the Saviour himself that soon after the Storm of Armageddon his Kingdom (or new SYSTEM) "will come" and "ALL that are in the graves (death) shall hear his voice and shall come forth" (John 5:28)! And of course "ALL" includes your loved ones and mine, as well as all of those spoken of as "the slain of the Lord" in the Armageddon WHIRLWIND (Jeremiah 25:31-33)! So there is every hope for all of us living today, and for that matter, there is hope for every person who has ever lived upon this earth!

But in spite of this incomparable hope, it is obvious that untold millions living today might be spared the terrible slaughter of the Armageddon WHIRLWIND if they could be warned of it in advance! This is the reason for the urgency in giving the warning today, and we now have renewed hope that millions will receive the warning in time.

No Time To Lose

While bible chronology and the time prophecies seem to show that we have some little time yet to go before Armageddon, any number of years is little enough time to warn the world of a catastrophe such as the coming WHIRLWIND, and we can never be sure about Chronology and the time prophecies. Although bible chronology and the prophets are never wrong, we can never be sure about our interpretation of them, and we should never advise anyone to accept any private interpretation of the time factors. Rather we should point out the advice of the prophets, we believe, to WATCH always and be ready at all times.

Although we have no reason to doubt the correctness of the exact date for the coming Armageddon WHIRLWIND as it is set forth in our chronology and the time prophecies (at pages 253 to 312 in our book "The Time Of The End"), there is still little enough time to give the warning, and this becomes of the greatest urgency! For while many report that they have already prepared underground shelters, of far greater urgency now is to give the warning of the coming WHIRLWIND to our relatives, neighbors and to a Great Multitude of believing people, and along with thousands of our readers we are sparing no expense in doing so!

A Voice From Jerusalem

For it is now strongly indicated that men will be warned just when to get ready to go into the caves of the earth and the rocks of the mountains and to stock them with food and water! And they will be warned by a "voice" from Jerusalem, the prophets tell us, which will actually "plead with all flesh" before the destructive elements of the WHIRLWIND are turned loose. While this is quite startling, it is certainly merciful and just what we would expect of our Saviour, and there is absolutely no reason to doubt that it will be a literal voice! For the prophets tell us just whose voice men can expect to hear from Jerusalem in that day:

"A noise [voice -- broadcast?] shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD bath a controversy with the nations; HE will plead with all flesh; HE will give them that are wicked [WRONG -- "rasha" -- not wicked, but WRONG about what is then taking place] to the sword [death], saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great WHIRLWIND shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground." (Jeremiah 25:31-33)

Wrong -- Not Wicked

The Hebrew word rendered "wicked" (rasha) above means WRONG, not wicked at all, and it is obvious that if one dies in the Armageddon WHIRLWIND it will be because he is WRONG, not because he is wicked. For few are completely wicked, as we understand that word, but it is obvious that untold millions of good people will be WRONG in that day. And of course because they are WRONG they will refuse to heed the voice warning them to seek shelter, and there will be no way that their destruction can be avoided. For it is now evident that the voice men will hear just before the WHIRLWIND will be that of the Lord Jesus himself! For while the LORD in the above text may refer to the Father, Jesus has always been his Word, Spokesman, or Voice, and therefore it is the Lord Jesus who will plead with all flesh and warn men just when to go into the caves of the earth and the rocks of the mountains!

For the Lord Jesus will suddenly return to this earth, the prophets inform us, in an invasion from outer space, if you like, to set up his new government and "save the world" (John 3:17) -- not this WORLD-SYSTEM, but the world of mankind. It is his "voice," they tell us, that will first plead with all flesh to forsake BABYLON just before the mighty forces of the Armageddon WHIRLWIND are turned loose, and of course only those who obey his voice to seek refuge can be saved. While those we warn in advance may not believe now, when they hear the voice they will be in a better position to KNOW what is taking place and they are far more likely to OBEY. While it is obviously those we fail to warn who will KNOW NOT and who therefore may OBEY NOT, and it is these, the prophets tell us, who will bring upon themselves the terrible "blood bath" of the WHIRLWIND:

"When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance [pouring out justice -- Greek] on them that KNOW NOT God, and that OBEY NOT the gospel ["announcement" -- Greek -- "warning"] of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction [age-ending destruction -- Greek -- or temporary death] from the presence of the Lord [when he is present at Jerusalem], and from the glory of his [Governmental] power;" (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)

While those who will he killed in Armageddon are spoken of as "slain of the Lord," actually these will bring the blood bath upon themselves simply because they will be WRONG in their thinking, they will KNOW NOT what is taking place and will do nothing about it! As a matter of fact, the Lord Jesus will not kill one single one of them, but rather he will plead with ALL flesh to seek refuge! And exactly like the days of Noah, if they refuse to OBEY his voice to go into the earth-shelters, there is no possible way he can save them from the coming WHIRLWIND as it sweeps over this earth! For the waters of the sea must be removed from the fertile ocean bottoms to make room for the untold millions who soon afterward will come back to this earth from the dead, and therefore there is no possible way that the WHIRLWIND of Armageddon can be avoided!

This truth removes another slanderous accusation from the name of the Lord! For now we know if we are killed in the Armageddon WHIRLWIND it will be our own doing, not that of the Lord's! For he will try to save us, we are told, will actually plead with all flesh, but it is obvious that many good people will still not heed. For there are millions today who feel safe and secure in their own religion, and it is understandable that they may refuse to believe the warning that it all must come to an end. Some who never miss a church service may have such confidence in their own denomination -- which cannot give them the warning because it knows nothing about it -- that it may be quite difficult for them to accept the warning from any source outside of their own denomination. But this must not stop us from trying to reach them with the warning in advance. For in that day it will be a question of obeying his voice to flee into the shelters or of dying in the WHIRLWIND!

He Shall Stand On The Mount Of Olives

And surely in this day of electronic advancement there is no good reason to doubt the plain words of the prophets that the Lord Jesus will literally stand upon the mount of Olives and "broadcast" his voice to the world! While the Lord Jesus may have some method far ahead of our present television transmitters (and we may also have improved methods by that day), certainly for the present we can understand how he could broadcast from the hill of Olives with some unknown frequency that would drown out all other channels and carry his voice to the far-flung spots of the world! For there now appears to be little doubt that his "noise that shall come even to the ends of the earth" will be some kind of a broadcast through which he will "roar" his warning to "ALL of the inhabitants of the earth":

"The Lord shall roar from on high [over the air?], and utter his voice from his holy habitation [mount of Olives at Jerusalem?]; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against [unto] ALL the inhabitants of the earth." (Jeremiah 25:30)

The Septuagint Version adds the line that "they that tread the grapes (perhaps meaning the workers or common people of the earth) will answer," and better translations of this text leave little doubt that his voice will come from some kind of a broadcasting transmitter! The Ferrar Fenton Version actually calls it a "STATION" -- the very term we use for our transmitters (broadcasting STATIONS) today, and he gives a perfect description of a world-wide broadcast when he likens it to thunder from on high! And note that ALL of the inhabitants of the earth must either accept the warning voice cheerfully or be overthrown (in the WHIRLWIND):

"The Ever-living will thunder from on high, and from within his sanctuary will utter his voice. He will shout from his STATION [T. V. STATION?], Charge with cheer -- [or] -- overthrow ALL the inhabitants of the country." (Jeremiah 25:30, Ferrar Fenton)

This is the only interpretation that could make believable the prophecy that "every eye shall see him (Jesus), and they also which pierced him (when they are resurrected)." (Revelation 1:7)! For surely only by some modern invention like television could every eye see him, and this appears to be the method of fulfilling such prophecies. Micah also says he will judge among many people from his mountain at Jerusalem, and that he will "rebuke strong nations afar off" (Micah 4:1-3), certainly necessitating some kind of far-reaching broadcasts, and Zechariah appears to agree with this thought. For Jesus will literally stand upon the mount of Olives, he says, and he makes it clear that he means the literal mount of Olives "which is before Jerusalem on the east":

"Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave ["baga" -- break open] in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley [cave -- gorge, cavern, tunnel -- underground shelter?]: and half of the mountain shall be removed toward the north, and half of it toward the south." (Zechariah 14:1-5)

The Lord's Underground Shelter

This is an amazing prophecy, and while it has puzzled men for centuries, it is now obvious that it foretells how the Lord Jesus will protect those at Jerusalem with him during the mighty WHIRLWIND! For other than his immortality (deathlessness), the Lord Jesus is the very same flesh and blood man who walked upon this earth, and while nothing could take away his life, this prophecy seems to show that he will actually prepare an underground shelter for those with him at Jerusalem! Dr. C. I. Scofield comments that this prophecy is yet to be fulfilled, as none of it was fulfilled at the first advent of Jesus, and he suggests that the forming of a deep gorge or cavern in the center of the little hill called the Mount of Olives might be accomplished by a mighty earthquake. Note the interesting comments from his Version of the Bible:

"Verse 5 implies that the cleavage of the Mount of Olives is due to an earthquake . . . Surely in a land seamed by seismic disturbances it should not be difficult to believe that another earthquake might cleave the little hill called the Mount of Olives. Not one of the associated events of Zechariah 14 occurred at the first coming of Christ, closely associated though he then was to the Mount of Olives." (Scofield Version, page 978)

But whatever the method, it is now obvious that Jesus will somehow prepare a tremendous underground shelter in the little mountain of Olives which is before Jerusalem on the east. And although it is called a "valley" in the translations, the prophet seems to indicate that it will be a tremendous tunnel running east and west and open at both ends! For it will not be either light or dark in it, he says, and perhaps those in old Jerusalem will have access to it from its western end and those outside of the city will flee to it from its eastern end. For it will reach from the edge of the old city to Azal (The limit of the Mount of Olives -- See Smith's Bible Dictionary, page 29.), says the prophet, and as he continues, note that not only will Believers around Jerusalem flee to this shelter, but the Lord Jesus shall come into it also, he says, and all the saints with him:

"And ye shall flee to the valley [tunnel, underground shelter] of the mountains; for the valley [tunnel] of the mountain shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake ["raash" -- Hebrew -- uproar; WHIRLWIND] in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord thy God ["Mighty One"--Jesus] shall come, and all the saints with thee. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark. But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day [not light], nor night [nor dark]: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light [perhaps from the sun shining in its western end?]." (Zechariah 14:5-8)

A Blueprint For Shelters?

This prophecy of Zechariah is quite astonishing, and it may be that the prophetic description of the Lord's own tunnel-shelter at Jerusalem is given as a blueprint for constructing underground shelters in advance of the mighty Storm! For mark carefully that the Lord's tunnel-shelter will have openings on the east and the west, but none on the north and south, and there must be a good reason for this. The Revelator divides the WHIRLWIND into "four winds" (Revelation 7:1) or four waterspouts, and since Jeremiah declares that it will be raised up "FROM the (sea) coasts of the earth" (Jeremiah 25:32), it appears that the real cores of the four waterspouts will be out in the four oceans as they siphon up the mighty waters of the sea!

And since there will be less resistance to the waterspouts from the rotation of the earth at the two poles of its axis, it is almost certain that the waterspouts will twist up toward the north and south poles. If this is true, then of course the destructive winds that will sweep over all dry land of the earth will be cross-winds or straight winds, and of course they will be pulled toward the north pole and toward the south pole from every part of the earth by the tremendous suction of the waterspouts. This would mean that the winds will blow only from the north and the south and not from the east or the west, and the prophets appear to agree with this thought. For time and again they speak of the "WHIRLWIND of the SOUTH" (Zechariah 9:14 & Isaiah 21:1), and the "WHIRLWIND from the NORTH" (Ezekiel 1:4 & Jeremiah 1:14), and if this theory is correct, of course the most ideal underground shelters should have openings on the east or west, and not on the north or the south.

And since the Lord's blueprint for his PUBLIC shelter at Jerusalem calls for a tunnel-shaped shelter with dual openings -- certainly for circulation of air -- all public shelters should be designed to this perfect blueprint. Perhaps one opening on the east or west should be sufficient for private or family shelters, and other than the fact that they must definitely be UNDERGROUND, with a reinforced roof or ceiling heavy enough to withstand the hail (Revelation 16:21) and heavy, flying objects, this appears to meet the specification of the perfect blueprint of the Lord's shelter at Jerusalem.

Of course additional information for building and stocking storm shelters can be obtained in this country free of charge from any Civil Defense Office, and this could be valuable information. For while this agency knows nothing about the coming Armageddon Storm, it will quite likely recommend such shelters for every home, and suggest proper preparation for stocking them with water, staple food, warm clothing, and some kind of lights other than gas or electric lights, as well as battery radio or television receivers to maintain contact during any kind of disturbance.

While the battery radio or television receivers are recommended only for contact during local storms or atomic attacks, they may also be vitally essential in the coming Armageddon Storm! For while it is obvious that no gas facilities, electric facilities or broadcasting stations of BABYLON will survive the Armageddon WHIRLWIND, the prophets strongly hint that the Lord's "broadcasting STATION" at Jerusalem will survive! Of course his voice of pleading with all flesh will be broadcast BEFORE the WHIRLWIND, but note above that Ferrar Fenton's Version of Jeremiah (25:30) says "from WITHIN his sanctuary (underground shelter?) will he utter his voice"!

  

-- End Of Part Four --

  

Go To:

Deliverance In The Whirlwind -- Part Three

Deliverance In The Whirlwind -- Part Two

Deliverance In The Whirlwind -- Part One