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YAHUSHUA YaHuWaH Jesus Christ Elijah Isaiah Antichrist Baal Feast Atonement Passover New Moon Israel David God Angel Angels Glory King of Kings Devil Satan False Prophet Pope Miracle Sign Wonder Homosexual Abomination Solar Eclipse Armageddon End Times End of the Age Two Witnesses Aviv Barley Harvest Judgment Nations Jerusalem Man of Sin Goliath Ark Noah Adam Eve Sodom Gomorrah GilGal Global Government World Leader Messiah Moshiach Moses Aaron Red Sea Elohim Heaven Earth Sun Stars Creator Lunar Eclipse Babylon the Great Islam Hebrew Lunar Tetrad Blood Moon Bethlehem Adonai Prince of Peace John the Baptist Tav Paleo Hebrew Sabbath Day Repent Covenant Daniel Belshazzar. Bible teaching, prophecy prophecy and end times and end times information that reveal the relationship of ancient prophecies with current major media events end of the world
Reading: Jer.25:15-32
1. Introduction
One of the most popular words on the lips of politicians, newscasters and ordinary people these days is the word PEACE. Second only to the word love or sex, this word peace is on virtually everyone's lips. People long for peace. We have Peace Marches, Peace Conferences, Peace Processes, Peace Talks, Peace Agreements: but still there is no peace in the world. People also long for:
- Peace of Mind
- Peace in the Home
- Peace at Work
- Peace in the Community
- Peace in the Nation & between Nations
- World Peace...
Yes, everyone wants peace: but every news bulletin tells of war. The list is long and Kosovo is simply one example. No sooner has the fighting stopped in one place when it breaks out in another. When will it end? Everyone says they want peace; but fighting on all fronts is all we see.
Why is peace so difficult to obtain; especially if it's in such great demand? Why is it that in spite of all the efforts of governments down through the ages, mankind is still unable to be at peace?
Man's Achievements
Man has climbed the world's highest mountains: plumbed the deepest oceans: penetrated earth's densest forests and caves: unlocked the secrets of the atom and even walked on the moon. But we are unable to produce peace on earth. Why is this? We can store vast amounts of information on tiny silicon chips: catalog the DNA code of every criminal in the world: bounce messages off satellites circling high up in the sky: but we are unable to unlock the secret of peace.
Commenting on the unbelieving mind of mankind as a whole the Bible says:
| Isaiah 59: | 2: But your iniquities have separated between you and your Elohim, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear... 7: Their feet run to evil, and they make hast to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. 8: The way of PEACE they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know PEACE. |
Why is this? Why can't we find the way of peace? Why is every peace process doomed to failure? Are we trying an impossible task? It's not for want of money, or commitment, or effort, or will. Oh no, man has spent fortunes on trying to make peace on earth. We've attending hundreds of peace conferences, walked tens of thousands of miles in peace marches, discussed peace more often than any other subject on the face of the earth and signed peace treatise by the score. But still there is no peace on earth. Places like Korea, Vietnam, Biafra, Cambodia, the Falklands, Afghanistan, Bosnia, the Gulf, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, all remind us that peace is a haunting dream which none of the world's greatest minds can bring about. That is a deflating, painful and undeniable fact. Nation may keep the peace - for a few years - by pointing the barrel of a gun at each others cities - but threatening another's extinction can hardly be called peace. Sooner or later the fighting will break out again: trade battles, debt disputes, conflicts over land, tussles for power or prestige; all these things usually end in tension and war!
2. The Cup of War
In the book of Jeremiah we are introduced to prophecy which partly explains what is happening behind the scenes: a prophecy we do well to ponder. Jeremiah, incidentally was a prophet to the nations of the world: not just a prophet to Israel or Judah. YaHuWaH said to him:
| Jer:1: | 5: Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. |
The Wine Cup of War!
| Jer. 25: | 15: For thus saith YaHuWaH Elohim of Israel unto me; Take the WINE CUP of this fury at My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
16: And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. 17: Then took I the CUP at YaHuWaH 's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom YaHuWaH had sent me: 18: To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Yahudah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day; 19: Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; 20: And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod, 21: Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon, 22: And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea, 23: Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners, 24: And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert, 25: And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes, 26: And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD, WHICH ARE UPON THE FACE OF THE EARTH: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. 27: Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith YaHuWaH Tsa'va'ot, the Elohim of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. 28: And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith YaHuWaH Tsa'va'ot; Ye shall certainly drink. 29: For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by My Name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the Earth, saith YaHuWaH Tsa'va'ot. 30: Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, YaHuWaH shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He shall mightily roar upon His habitation; He shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the Earth. 31: A noise shall come even to the ends of the Earth; for YaHuWaH hath a controversy with the nations, He will plead with all flesh; He will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith YaHuWaH. 32: Thus saith YaHuWaH Tsa'va'ot, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the Earth. |
The Savior reiterates the same theme when He said:
| Matthew 24: | 6: And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7: For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8: All these are the beginning of sorrows. |
| Rev.6: | 4: And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to TAKE PEACE FROM THE EARTH, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. |
How true these prophecies are. A great whirlwind of war is blowing up and nation after nation is drinking from that deadly wine cup of YaHuWaH 's Wrath!. The 'SWORD OF WAR' is sweeping the earth! and there is absolutely nothing the politicians can do about it - absolutely nothing!
3. No Peace to the Wicked
But why is there no peace on earth? What is the reason? The answer is simple: because man is wicked and sinful and has no wish whatsoever to give up his evil ways; that's why.
| Isaiah 59: | 2: But your iniquities have separated between you and your Elohim, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear...
7: Their feet run to evil, and they make hast to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. 8: The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgement in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace. |
As long as individuals, families, communities or nations rebel against the Almighty and His commandments, they will not know peace. That is the verdict of the Almighty YaHuWaH ! We do well to pay attention. This fact is repeated in Scripture:
There is no peace, saith my Elohim, to the wicked. (Isaiah 57:21)
4. Peace is a Spiritual Product
But, you will say, surely YaHuWaH wants people to live in peace. Yes, YaHuWaH wants every soul on Earth and entire nations to be at peace. But there are a three lessons we must learn first:
- The first is: Peace is a spiritual fruit, a divine product. It is made in heaven by YaHuWaH Himself. That is the first fact.
- The second is: Man is no more able to produce peace than he can produce a tree, an apple, an orange, a grape or a bird.
- The third is: If we want peace we must work in harmony with the Creator's laws: just as every gardener and horticulturist does. We must work to existing divine principles. We must learn to obey YaHuWaH 's commandments. Break His commandments and they will break you. In short, if you want peace you must tune in to YaHuWaH, the Elohim of Israel, the Creator of the mighty universe. That is the first step we must take if real peace is to be obtained. Refusal to take it is a sure recipe for war!
| Isa:27: | 5: Or let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me. |
When you accept YaHuWaH's offer of mercy and salvation, He gives you His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Peace. Unless we acknowledge these facts: that peace cometh from YaHuWaH the Elohim of Heaven and Earth, that peace is a spiritual product which mankind is not able to produce, real peace will never be ours. Speaking of the king Asa the Bible says:
| 2Chron:14: | 2: And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of YaHuWaH his Elohim:
3: For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves: 4: And commanded Judah to seek YaHuWaH Elohim of their fathers, and to do the Torah and the commandment. 5: Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images: and the kingdom was quiet before him. 6: And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had NO WAR in those years; because YaHuWaH had given him rest. |
Of good king Jehoshaphat the Bible says:
| 2Chron:17 | 3: And YaHuWaH was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim;
4: But sought to YaHuWaH Elohim of his father, and walked in His commandments, and not after the doings of Israel. … 9: And they taught in Yahudah, and had the book of the law of YaHuWaH with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people. 10: And the fear of YaHuWaH fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Yahudah, so that they made NO WAR against Jehoshaphat. |
5. Peace Through the Barrel of a Gun
Terrorists throughout the world foolishly suppose that they can shoot their way to peace. Religious fanatics (of all faiths) are guilty of this enormous error. Using bullets, bombs and threatening bulletins they vainly suppose that they can obtain peace through war. This is a colossal ideological error.. Man will never attain peace through violence. It is impossible to over stress this fact. Violence can no more produce peace on earth than a husband's beating a wife will produce love and respect. True peace is not obtained that way. To be sure, to war with a bully will stop him from beating up a weaker person; but true peace between the bully and his victim is still a long way off. The same applies to violent nations. We may stop them plundering weaker neighbors; but enmity is not eradicated that way. All we achieve, (though it is better than violence, bloodshed and rape) is the sullen silence of restrained hatred. That state is better than open war of course, but it's not 'real peace' by any stretch of the imagination.
6. Antichrist Brings Peace
The world, nevertheless, vainly imagines it can attain peace without YaHuWaH. This delusion will be strengthened when the Antichrist appears on the stage of time. For when he comes he is going to bring what appears to be a period of full employment, peace and prosperity. Speaking through the prophet Daniel the Most High says this about this being:
| Dan:8: | 25: And through his (the Little Horn) policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by PEACE shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. |
| Dan:11: | 21: And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. |
As Hitler did in the 1930s, the Antichrist will arrive on the world scene and give the nations work. 'Through his policy he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand.' and 'by PEACE shall destroy many.' But, again like Hitler's peace, work and prosperity plans, the end result will be devastating war and death for millions. That was a counterfeit peace, deadly from concept to conclusion.
Yes, real peace is possible right now: not to the whole world, or even to whole nations, or even to whole families, but to INDIVIDUALS. As I said above, YaHuWaH the Almighty Elohim of Israel wants individuals to have peace; but He will only grant it to those who yield their lives to Him and obey His commandments. The following texts make this fact clear.
- Job:22:21: Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
- Isa:27:5: Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.
- John:14:27: Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
- John16:33: These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
YAHUSHUA is YaHuWaH 's Channel of Peace
- Isa:9:6:For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty YaHuWaH, The everlasting Father, the PRINCE OF PEACE.
- 2Pt:1:2: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of YaHuWaH, and of YAHUSHUA our Master,
8. Peace at Messiah's Return
Will peace ever come to the whole world? Yes it will. Peace will come to the whole world when the Prince of Peace arrives. Until then the nations have absolutely no chance whatsoever of making or keeping real peace. The unpalatable fact is: It is not in man's power to produce the spiritual fruit of peace. To be sure the nations will, periodically, stop fighting; and the strong will threaten the weak if they so much as open their mouths; but that is not real peace by any means. Such temporary spells of quiet terror are soon shattered by war in one form or the other. Nevertheless, I am delighted to tell you that real and lasting peace on earth is prophesied. It will come when the Prince of Peace, the Good Shepherd arrives. And when it comes it will last forever! See The Coming Millennium.
| Ezekiel 34: | 20: Therefore thus saith Adonai YaHuWaH unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.
21: Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; 22: Therefore will I save My flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle. 23: And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even My servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. 24: And I YaHuWaH will be their Elohim, and My servant David a prince among them; I YaHuWaH have spoken it. 25: And I will make with them a COVENANT OF PEACE, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. 26: And I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. 27: And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am YaHuWaH, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. 28: And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. 29: And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. 30: Thus shall they know that I YaHuWaH their Elohim am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are My people, saith Adonai YaHuWaH. 31: And ye My flock, the flock of My pasture, are men, and I am your Elohim, saith Adonai YaHuWaH. |
| Isaiah 9: | 7: Of the increase of His government and PEACE there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of YaHuWaH Tsa'va'ot will perform this.
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9. Meanwhile What Do We Do?
The answer is simple: we humbly walk with YaHuWaH, resting in Him, trusting Him totally, ever conscious that if we want peace, it must come from Him. We cannot make peace with anyone until we make peace with YaHuWaH. Above all, we must never fall into the foolish error that we can fight our way to peace. That is the way of the ignorant fanatic and dictator - religious or otherwise. That way always leads to bloodshed, sorrow and death. It may bring a short-lived cessation of fighting; but it is not true peace of heart and soul. It is just like two boxers taking a short rest between rounds. Remember 'peace is a divine product' and all who ignore that fact will, sooner or later, be at war with themselves, with their relatives and with the world at large. We can summarize this as follows:
- Walk Humbly with YaHuWaH
Micah:6:8: He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth YaHuWaH require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy Elohim? - Learn to Love & Obey
YaHuWaH bless thee, and keep thee:
YaHuWaH make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
YaHuWaH lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee PEACE.
(Numbers 6: 24-26)
Joy By Surprise
