Month 1:20 (Aviv 20), Week 3:5 (Chamashee/Teruah), Year:Day 5940:20 AM
2Exodus 3/40, Yovel - Year 50/50
Gregorian Calendar: Wednesday 27 April 2016
Chag haMatzah VI 2016
7. Facing Death in the Judgments
Continued from Part 6
"'And it shall come to pass in all the land,' says Yahweh, 'That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one-third shall be left in it: I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'This is My people'; And each one will say, 'Yahweh is my Elohim (God)''" (Zech.13:8-9, NKJV).
A lot of people die in times of judgment, and death understandably upsets us especially when we try to weigh the merits and demerits of someone dying early in their life (for example) using our own understanding. People living in Iraq, Syria, Libya and other countries, where death is commonplace in the awful wars being fought there, are doubtless asking these questions all the time. I know my mother did - she couldn't understand why a 'good' person like her first husband, to whom she had only married a few weeks, had to die in the prime of his youth in the Second World War.
Judging Whether Death is Fair or Unfair
Part of the problem in humans making judgments as to when death is 'fair' or 'unfair' is that the spectrum of our perception of reality is narrow. Soon terrible judgment is coming to the West and to all nations and soon you, and people you know, are going to confront death rather more often than usual that will cause you to ask many difficult and searching questions.
Four Important Things About Death to Know
It isn't easy putting death into perspective, mind you, especially when you are young and vigorous. As you get older you tend to get a little more philosophical about it until it reaches such a scale in your life (as in war) that even your own limited experience can't fathom or make sense of it. There are a number of things we easily forget about death that we need to upload into consciousness whenever we start weighing the justice or injustice of someone's death:
- 1. According to Romans 6:23, we all deserve death because we have broken Yahweh's Torah (Law);
- 2. When Yahweh takes someone 'home' He is really only shortening a life which is already short in terms of eternity;
- 3. Death is a transition point and not the 'end' of everything; and
- 4. We have been asking Yahweh to pass death judgments on very wicked people anyway.
Questioning Yahweh's Justice
We have an ugly habit of questioning Yahweh's justice when it comes to the unexpected or premature death of people whom we consider too righteous to 'merit' dying 'before their time'. Our questioning is rarely even - one minute we're complaining about how wicked people like jihadists 'get away with torture and murder' and then in the same breath complain and judge Yahweh when He ends the lives of the wicked, particularly when He does so in large numbers? I don't know how many people I have encountered who were furious about the command to massacre the Moloch-worshipping and child-sacrificing Canaanites or over the judgment of the Cities of the Plains for their particular abominations (which happen to be sanctioned by this modern and wicked society).
Two-Thirds to Perish
The Book of Zechariah says that in the end time two thirds of Israelites - that's believers - will perish. And doubtless you, and others, will consider these 'victims' to have been 'good'. At the same time we are told that a third of the entire world population will perish in those days. Lots and lots of people have died 'before their time' in the past and lots and lots of people are going to die 'before their time' in the years ahead. Loved ones will be included in these losses - inevitably and sadly, however much we plead for them. And the third of Messianic Israel who do survive won't at all be having it 'easy' - they have to pass through the fire for refinement and testing. Many who die will, upon reflecting, doubtless be glad they were taken and spared of all that tribulation.
Seeking Answers in the Divine Timing of Death
I still struggle with the 'death statistics' of humanity down the ages when I momentarily forget that mortality's span of time is but a fragment of our whole existence. I can't make sense of it and I know I never will. This is a topic that can cause people to both react badly and to go through a crisis of faith. It has happened to a friend of mine recently. The doctrine of reincarnation has some plausible (if untrue) answers to the questions about the wicked being killed but not the righteous. Atheism cannot answer the question even if their hearts demand 'justice' because there is no purpose or justice in atheism or cold evolution.
Who Should I Try to Save?
One of the dilemmas that the Remnant is going to have to face is knowing who to try to save and who not to when there will be so many around us perishing. In the heat of crisis you don't think philosophically because you just don't have time. However you must know since many whom you believe you ought to try to save will probably try and kill you for whatever it is they think they can profit off you for. You have got to think like Noah and you have got to hear Yahweh like Noah. If you try to save someone who doesn't have Yahweh's protective spiritual mark on their foreheads you will be operating against Yahweh's judgment and putting your own life in danger. Noah did not go searching for survivors. He did as he was told and stayed put. You too mush do that. For shorter or longer periods of time you are simply going to have to put your head down and stay out of sight, perhaps not even venturing from your place of safety for weeks or months on end until the destruction has passed you by. Yes, this time of judgment is in some respects going to be like an extended Pesach (Passover) requiring Yah's miraculous covering.
Obedience is Not Cowardice or Hard-Heartedness
It isn't selfish, mean or cowardly to put your head down when Yahweh tells you to. It's obedience. You've had plenty of time to prepare for this, plenty of time to warn others, and I hope you'll keep on warning until the balloon finally goes up and then you must be silent. That'll be tough for most of us especially when we hear the cries and suffering around us but remember this: you aren't a god. You are being separated and plucked out for future service in what is going to be a tough world afterwards. You're not being saved for your own pleasure.
Rash Charity May Kill You
It is not out business to show mercy when Yahweh has withdrawn it. It is none of our affair to overturn His judgment. Mercy and a soft and generous heart will be crying out to help, but they cannot. Believers will make mistakes and in their loving-kindness untempered by wisdom will needlessly lose their lives or needlessly suffer great harm. Families will be separated and jeapordised by rash moves of charity. Help only those whom Yahweh commands you to help and if by this stage you cannot discern between His voice and your own inner voices, may Yah help you! Wives and children must unquestioningly submit to their husbands' and fathers' instructions, however harsh they may appear. It may save their lives.
Countryside vs. Cities
This is going to be really tough. Your discernment will be challenged. Kindness and cruelty will become confused. Of course, if you're in the country and reasonably isolated you will have far fewer dilemmas than someobody who stays in or around a built-up area. You will need far more wits and far more revelation if you're still in towns or cities.
Conclusion
This is not the time of fulfillment of Zechariah 13:8-9 but it will resemble it. It's as I've said before, a kind of 'dress rehearsal', an 'exercise' with live ammunition. Ask Yahweh for the spirit of discernment because your life may depend on it.
Continued in Part 7
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