Sound The Trumpet : Revelation 12:15-16

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“Revelation 12:15-16”
by Art Sadlier
July 5th, 2009

Last week we saw Israel at the mid-tribulation point. Satan has been cast out of heaven and he knows that his time to defeat God by destroying Israel is now very short. As Satan moves against Israel, God moves upon the hearts of the remnant of His people to flee to the mountain wilderness south of Judea. The only mountains in this area are the mountains of the Petra area. God is committed to protect His people, remember His protection and provision for Israel in the wilderness after they came out of Egypt. God sometimes allows His people to go through testing times and times of correction, but He loves His own and provides for them.

"And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away". As in the case of Job, Satan is allowed by the permissive will of God to use the elements of this world to try to accomplish his purposes. We again catch a glimpse of how far God has gone to fight this war with Satan on moral grounds, not on physical grounds. God has restrained His mighty power in this struggle.

As the remnant of the nation of Israel flees from Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, Satan tries to drown her in a flood. In that area of Judea their are many Wadi's. A Wadi is a dry river bed, however when the rains come, these dry beds become raging torrents of flood water. When I was in Israel in the Qumran area, they told us that the week previous a sudden rain storm had swept a bus away as it crossed a Wadi.

Here we see this battle up close as Satan uses the elements to attempt to destroy the remnant, while God causes the earth to open up and swallow the flood, verse 16. We are surrounded by spiritual warfare of which we understand very little, God evidently is not inclined to reveal much of this to us. However we are to keep our eyes on Him and let Him worry about the unseen spiritual war around us.(See 2 Kings 6:15-17)

Can God feed several million Jews for 3 1/2 years? Can God protect this remnant for 42 months? Could God feed and protect Israel in the wilderness for 40 years? In this marvellous time when God enters into this intimate experience with Israel, He is drawing their hearts back to Himself.

We cannot but help repeating Zechariah 13:9, "And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, it is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God". I get the feeling that this is the climax of God's ages long, patience working with Israel.

This is God's dealing with Israel and it has nothing to do with the church, except to say that the same God with the same attributes works patiently with us as well. The key is how do men respond. Remember God said to Israel choose life or death. Unbeliever choose life or death. Believer choose blessing or loss of blessing.

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13