In The End

"He prophesies through us to ensure us of this."

OUR FIRST action in anything we hear, anything we study, anything taught as Word of God, is to compare it to the character of God. And He is peace. Where we hear unrest, war, and violence, we must know God is rest. We are not fighting a war that Jesus already won. We should not be fighting at all.

“Moreover, God defeated the evil spirit beings who rule people in this world, and he let everybody know that he had defeated them. It was just as if he had paraded them around in the streets as prisoners.” (Colossians 2:15 UDB)

This goes to people, to sin, to devils, and the devil. This goes to a-l-l end-times prophecy. Where it predicts turmoil and division, though we see that around us, God’s will for His children is peace, sweet peace. Jesus did not “warn us” of things to come. Prophecy is for edification, exhortation, and comfort. 1 Corinthians 14;3. There is no redefining these words. God is not violent. He’s not angry. Nor hateful. Nor vengeance such as men picture it. God’s vengeance is mercy.

There is one prophecy by a gentleman I will not name (so that you don’t go argue with him) which speaks to me of this. He saw Christ’s return as triumphant, as peaceful. This image goes accurately to Scripture. Jesus will not return so that there can be anguish, anger, and tribulation. He won’t. There’s no peace in that, so we must be wrong. If you knew Him as well as I have been privileged to know Him, you would set that image down. We are wrong.

The apostle John whose Revelation we misunderstand would agree. When he fell down at Jesus’ feet, frightened of what he was seeing, Jesus’ first words were, “Fear not (Revelation 1:17).” He didn’t want John to be afraid.

Prophecy does not give fear because we have not been given the spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7). We know this, then we prophesy death. The whole earth is headed to hell, and, at the last minute, Jesus will come back and rescue us. So we say. THIS IS WRONG! There’s no safety in that, and God’s Word is safety. He prophesies through us to ensure us of this.

What are warnings then? Encouragement to repent. They are not fear. Repentance is a turn around. It is a complete change of direction because suddenly, we see we are headed the wrong way. Fear only comes because of doubt, and doubt is fueled by lack of knowledge. What we don’t know, we fear. What we don’t know, we fall into wrong imaginations. These are NEVER from God. The Spirit we have been given is love, Resurrection, and healing of the mind. The Spirit pulls down strongholds in our thoughts as we refuse to think them anymore (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). We refuse to allow negative imagination to take over, and God reassures us we are forgiven and safe.

Righteousness is peace. Isaiah 32:17. Since this is Truth, anything that brings disturbance is not righteous, or we can say “holy.” Righteousness and holiness are the same thing. If you’re made righteous, then you’re made holy. If you’re made holy, then you’re made righteous. You can’t separate them. But in Jesus, there is shalom, well-being, and so no more war, no more conflict, no distractions to the good things of God, to having peace, and no more chaos (1 Peter 1;2 RIV).

Apply this now to prophecy, and especially John’s Revelation, and once again, we are wrong in its meaning. Our peaceful God concludes everything peacefully. The fact is, those of Jesus’ day were looking for an angry, conquering Messiah, with legions of angels at His call. We, today, are looking for Him in the same way. We want a blaring trumpet and a conquering hero, swinging a sword. But who He was in that hour, 2,000 years ago, was humble and meek and obedient even unto death. Who He is in this hour is no more death, no more sorrow, no more pain (Revelation 21;4). This is who He is.

“Grace to you, that is, supernatural favor that empowers you to be and do all that is needed—and peace that brings cessation to wars in your life, closures to conflicts, and the removal of distractions. This peace allows a time for rebuilding and reconstruction, ushers in prosperity, fosters the rule of order in the place of chaos, and produces a calm, inner stability that results in the ability to conduct yourself peacefully even in the midst of circumstances that would normally be traumatic or upsetting. May this grace and this peace and all they entail multiply and proliferate until they abundantly overflow in your life.” (1 Peter 1:2, Renner Interpretive Version)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com