With the passing of yet another projected date for the resetting of time into the past we remain as convinced as we ever have been about it. We are not inclined to discard what the Lord has given us or willing to have it stolen away by any means. It is no small part of our hope in this season, with many promises having been received relative to that reality.
So, we continue to wonder when time will be reset. We are certainly better educated about when it is not. While we have not yet received a word of knowledge about the schedule, we're not sitting around idle or merely praying endlessly about that. We know the Lord is faithful to fulfill His Word, even those promises that are personal, and we trust that He will grant us this privileged information at the appointed time. As we have proclaimed and documented with many scriptures, the Lord will reveal His plans in advance.
For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. ~ Amos 3:7
So, we continue to seek the Lord about this lengthening season, about where our focus should be as His servants and watchmen on the wall. Because we are grounded in the awareness that time will be reset back to the prophesied biblical schedule this gives us a unique perspective on the things that have begun to dominate the news as the world is so dramatically changing. In this we see evidence of the sovereign God's judgment being poured out in the earth. It's happening now, in this pre-reset season. We have expected to see this on a greater scale following the reset of time, but we wonder whether the book of Revelation is giving us layered accounts that combine the pre- and post- reset events. Or, could it be that this is merely a telegraphing through time from then into now, which we have already been observing. We wonder how much worse will it get for all of us in this season before time is reset, for the saints and for those who are not?
What is trending in our world is the kinds of activity and events that bring the population into captivity, where the captors have the ability to control the resources necessary for sustaining life and access to those resources. Yes, "mark of the beast" Revelation 13 style. The warnings about this are not hard to find. Some see the revealing of the lawless one, the Antichrist beast, pointing to Pope Francis and Bill Gates or Trump or Andrew Cuomo.
It's this revealing that is of primary interest because of a very significant biblical context where the lawless one is present and engaging in the activity that defines his biblical identity as the betrayer.
I should set this up for the benefit of those of you who are not aware of how the Antichrist beast or lawless one is foreshadowed. Judas Iscariot is a type or prophetic model. This modeling is one of the more obvious types in the biblical text.
While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ~ John 17:12
Y'shua was making reference to Judas.
Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, ~ 2 Thessalonians 2:3
The lawless one is otherwise known by many other expressions, including the Antichrist or the beast.
The descriptions in John 17:12 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3 are identical. Both are "the son of destruction" or in the Greek text, "ho huios tes apoleias". The past is prophetic showing us the future, Antichrist foreshadowed by Judas.
In John 18 Judas appears in a very conspicuous kind of parenthetical insertion.
4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” 5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.”
Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.
7 So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” ~ John 18:4-8
The mention of Judas appears after Jesus plainly reveals his own identity and just before he does it again, as if for the first time. Judas is mentioned as he is in the midst of revealing Jesus' identity which is the betrayal. And, sandwiched together with the mention of Judas is this falling back to the ground. That bizarre response at the scene of the arrest really has to arrest your attention! We perceive their response as a manifestation of a gravity wave that is also a time wave. What is modeled is the reset of time, which is why those who fell back had no recollection of what we know had just happened.
Because we are taking instruction from the historical account as a prophecy, we see the signs of the season that resonate the implementation of the mark of the beast as signs of the pending reset of time. There can be no mark without the beast whose mark it is, right?
The Lord knows exactly what the reset schedule will be, and He will reveal it in advance because He has made such a promise, and it is for us to continue pressing in to give and get all that is appointed for us, until our time in this season comes to its full end.
We intend to stay on watch as the Lord continues to provide, whose abiding presence and gracious care of us is so very comforting! Thank you for your prayers, for us and for yourselves, for each other. We are in this together and subject to the Lord's kind and generous provision of all that we need for sustenance, physically, mentally, and spiritually!