Prophetic Revolt

"My people, I did not prophesy to you about the end time
so that you would prepare to fight your enemies:
I spoke of the enemy making war against My people,
but not of My people fighting back against their enemies.
Instead I spoke of My people leading many to righteousness.

"My people have never been defeated by outside attacks—
the greatest threats to My people have always come from within:
their defeats have always come because of sin in their hearts.
Therefore I deliver My people through the pierced hands of My Son,
not through the hands of My people carrying the weapons of the world.

"But My prophecies have been used according to pride:
My prophecies have been interpreted according to
the desires of the flesh to be vindicated as being righteous,
and My prophecies have been used to gain political power,
to preserve the nation and to justify its wars against its enemies.

"My people, I am not calling you to be 'Maccabeans,'
nor am I calling you to prepare for 'Antiochus Epiphanes,'
for your enemy is not flesh and blood, but sin in your heart.
I am not calling you to take up arms against 'Rome'
but to take up the cross instead.

"The abomination that causes desolation
does not come from ungodly, unbelieving foreigners;
instead it comes from rebellion in your heart,
just as the destructions of Jerusalem came about
because hearts were set on themselves instead of on Me.

"If you look outwardly to discern your 'enemies,'
your heart will be hardened against the law of Christ—
'love one another as I have loved you.'
If you look for a 'military Messiah' as Judea did,
you will also not recognize the time of God's coming."

*****

Art: "Preparation For the End"