“And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” (Luke 21:25-28)
The number 40 generally symbolizes a period of testing, trial or probation. The Jewish month of Elul is known as the month of repentance before the Jewish Fall Feasts. From the first of Elul to Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, is 40 days.
The first of Elul started on August 21, 2017. This is now the time of testing for America. From a Biblical perspective, we are the United States of Nineveh. The Lord is sickened by our Laodicean complacency.
Those called of God NOW are under probation, or judgment, based on how they live by every word of God. The judgement has begun, as we can see in these news items:
Harvey to be costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, estimated cost of $160 billion
“Unprecedented” Hurricane Harvey Is “One Of The Worst Disasters In US History”
Trump says ‘talking not the answer’ on North Korea
North Korea vows to ‘sharpen its nuclear sword’ in WORLD WAR 3 threat to USA
Wall Street Banks Warn Downturn Is Coming
The government has an “official” debt of $20.4 trillion and mounting. This doesn’t include the liability from Social Security and Medicare. When you factor these in, the amount exceeds $120 trillion. With U.S. Federal tax revenue of just over $1.9 trillion, that puts our debt-to-income ratio somewhere around junk status.
These disasters might be only the beginning. Please join us in prayer so that God can bless America!
Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. (Psalm 33:12)
Pray for the United States, before it is too late. The door of Noah’s ark is an example of the finality of a door closing:
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the sources of the watery depths burst open, the floodgates of the sky were opened, and the rain fell on the earth 40 days and 40 nights. On that same day Noah along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah’s wife, and his three sons’ wives entered the ark with him. They entered it with all the wildlife according to their kinds, all livestock according to their kinds, the creatures that crawl on the earth according to their kinds, all birds, every fowl, and everything with wings according to their kinds. Two of all flesh that has the breath of life in it entered the ark with Noah. Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered just as God had commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in. (Genesis 7:11-16)
When the Lord closed the door, He pronounced a death sentence on all of the people who drowned. The Lord knew beforehand that they would never believe Noah’s preaching.
The next major use of the door symbolism is in Exodus. The Lord instructs the Israelite people in Egypt on how to escape the angel of death:
Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and brush the lintel and the two doorposts with some of the blood in the basin. None of you may go out the door of his house until morning. (Exodus 12:22)
We know from the story that the Lord’s people were effected, but the firstborn of the Egyptians were all killed. The blood and the door were a symbol of our sacrificial Lamb – Jesus Christ.
The next use of the door symbol is a prophesy of the Rapture:
Your dead will live; their bodies will rise.
Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust!
For you will be covered with the morning dew,
and the earth will bring out the departed spirits.
Go, my people, enter your rooms
and close your doors behind you.
Hide for a little while until the wrath has passed.
For look, the Lord is coming from His place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.
The earth will reveal the blood shed on it
and will no longer conceal her slain. (Isaiah 26:19-21)
Next, we see Jesus explaining to his disciples the parable of the narrow door:
He went through one town and village after another, teaching and making His way to Jerusalem. “Lord,” someone asked Him, “are there few being saved?”
He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because I tell you, many will try to enter and won’t be able once the homeowner gets up and shuts the door. Then you will stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up for us!’ He will answer you, ‘I don’t know you or where you’re from.’ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets!’ But He will say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know you or where you’re from. Get away from Me, all you workers of unrighteousness!’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in that place, when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves thrown out. They will come from east and west, from north and south, and recline at the table in the kingdom of God. (Luke 13:22-29)
Finally, Jesus admits that He is the door:
So Jesus said again, “I assure you: I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. (John 10:7-10)
To the good church of Philadelphia, He proclaims:
I know your works. Because you have limited strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name, look, I have placed before you an open door that no one is able to close. (Revelation 3:8)
To the apostate church of Laodicea, He warns them that they have locked Him out. He is sill knocking on their door:
Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3:20)
The last use of the door in the Bible is in Revelation chapter 4. The door symbolizes the Rapture:
After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” (Revelation 4:1)
Open the gates of righteousness for me;
I will enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous will enter through it.
I will give thanks to You
because You have answered me
and have become my salvation.
(Psalm 118:19-21)
Join us in praying for this country, and for a great harvest of souls. As “watchmen on the wall,” we believe that the time before the Rapture and the Tribulation is very short, and these 40 days are critical.
Rapture and End Times invite you to take part in our August 21: 40 Days for America prayer for the United States. We focus our daily prayer on national repentance and revival, and on individual transformation, which started on the day of the Great American Eclipse. The national prayer will end on Yom Kippur, September 29.
Because of our God’s merciful compassion,
the Dawn from on high will visit us
to shine on those who live in darkness
and the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1:78-79)
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Rapture and End Times 