A MESSAGE OF HOPE FROM DR JACK VAN IMPE

Some have said that Israel herself is a sign.
What does this mean? What is the significance
of the “regathering” of Israel?

The Jew himself is God’s timepiece and the key that unlocks every door of prophecy. This is because God has a special love for Israel. Deuteronomy 7:6-8 declares, “For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you.” God chose Israel “to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth” (Deuteronomy 14:2). This is the first great insight I want you to grasp-that God chose the people of Israel simply because He loved them. No more, no less. David was so enraptured with the truth of God’s love for Israel that he exclaimed in 1 Chronicles 17:22, “For thy people Israel didst thou make thine own people for ever; and thou, LORD, becamest their God.” As we progress with this question, it will become abundantly clear why to this day Israel itself is a major sign of Christ’s imminent return.

The Lord God Jehovah told the people of Israel that their country was to be located “in the midst of the land” (Ezekiel 38:12), or more literally, in the “navel of the earth.” Its capital city, Jerusalem, was to be situated in the center of the nations (Ezekiel 5:5); and in that capital city the Lord was to put His name forever, and forever, declaring that His eye and His heart would be there perpetually (1 Kings 9:3). There the Lord promised to establish the throne of David forever (2 Samuel 7:16) and finally to give that throne to His own divine and eternal Son. Luke 1:31-33 states, “Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” Are you beginning to see how much God loved Israel and its people? However, it was not all love, sweetness, and light.

God also warned the children of Israel of an imminent worldwide dispersion if they thumbed their noses at Him in disobedience. He went so far as to tell them that His Son would delay His rule if their hearts became wicked and hardened. To see if God is a God of His word, let us look at the prophetical utterances to see if they really took place. Scripture tells us that Israel was, in fact, driven out of its land and scattered among the nations of the earth because of its widespread disobedience. During this worldwide dispersion, God visited the Gentiles, “to take out of them a people for his name” (Acts 15:14). In the meantime, Israel existed many days without a king, without a prince, without a sacrifice, without an image, without an ephod (a sacred garment of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen worn by the priest), and without teraphim (Hosea 3:4). Devout religious Jews cry vehemently at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem because they have been without all of these things for centuries-just as God declared they would be without them. Since all these prophecies have come to pass according to prophetical utterance, and since God has shown His mighty power in bringing each utterance to fulfillment, let us now consider the predictions in upcoming questions and answers to see if His coming is near.

The Regathering of Israel

The second part of the question is, “What is the significance of the ‘regathering’ of Israel?” Scores of Bible passages clearly indicate that the reestablishment of Israel in its ancient homeland will take place when Messiah is ready to return to earth. The Messiah is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ of Luke 1:32. Deuteronomy 30:3 states, “The LORD thy God will. . . return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.” In similar language, Isaiah 11:12 tells us, “And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” Again, Acts 15:16 declares, “After this.” After what? Look at verse 14: God “did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.” This has been occurring since Cornelius, the first Gentile convert, received Christ in Acts 10. God says, “After this [after the Gentiles have had their opportunity] I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up” (Acts 15:16).

An important historical note: In A.D. 70, Titus the Roman general smashed Jerusalem and drove the Jews into their dispersion. This is called “the diaspora,” or worldwide dispersion of the Jews. From that hour until 1948, the Jews had no homeland to call their own. Instead, the nations of the world hated them, mistreated them, and labeled them, as we noted earlier, “wandering Jews.” God, however, said that He would bring His people back to their own land and that this regathering would happen near the time when Messiah would set up His kingdom on earth: “And I will plant [Israel] upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God” (Amos 9:15).

God has put the Jews in their land to stay forever. Is it not interesting that the Arab nations refused to recognize Israel when it became a nation in 1948? The Arabs were determined to drive Israel into the sea and obliterate her memory from the face of the earth. However, God had other-and better-plans and, in the end, God’s way always wins the day. He said in the verse just quoted that Israel would remain in its land forever after He planted the nation there. Therefore, in 1974 the Egyptians, Syrians, and others negotiated with Israel, recognizing for the first time that Israel was indeed a nation and in its land to stay. Have you studied the extraordinary message in Ezekiel 37, which alludes to this event, and which further describes the prophet’s vision of the dry bones? Here is a portion of this amazing passage:

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones. And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. Again he said unto me. Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind. Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them. Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves [Gentile nations], and cause you to come up out of your graves [the Gentile nations], and bring you into the land of Israel. (Ezekiel 37:1-12)

There is no secret here. Verse 11 proclaims: “These bones are the whole house of Israel.” In 1948, the Jews put up a flag-the six-pointed Star of David. After being scattered throughout the earth for nearly nineteen hundred years, they had finally become a nation! The current population of Israel is more than five million-consisting of Jews who have returned from 120 nations of the world, speaking more than eighty-three languages. While in Israel, I spoke to a Jew who had recently returned from Spanish Morocco. As I sat with him on a bus going from Arab Israel to another part of the country, we talked about the black Jews who were just then returning to Israel from Ethiopia. He quickly said, “Yes, we have come from all nations.” When the Ethiopian Jews left Jerusalem nineteen hundred years ago, they said, “We will never go back to our homeland until it is time for Messiah to return.” Today these Jews from Ethiopia-called Falashas-have returned in massive numbers. They have also come from Russia and Ukraine-the final sign (see Jeremiah 3:17-18). For these reasons alone, I can say with full conviction-and trust you can also-that Jesus Christ’s return to this earth is near, even at the door.

Jerusalem has always been under the heel of the
Gentiles. When will ownership of Jerusalem
return to the Jews: And when will the Tribulation
period ultimately fall on believers?

We find further dramatic signs of Christ’s return in Luke 21:24 – 28. Jesus said: “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh“

This portion of Scripture pinpoints the time of Christ’s statement in utmost simplicity. In modern grammar, the Savior declares, “There is an hour coming when My people, the Jews, shall control Jerusalem. At this moment of time, there shall also be signs in space coupled with a trouble-filled world. When all of these events occur simultaneously, look up because My return to earth is very near.” Jerusalem had been under the heel of the Gentiles. In fact, the Gentiles controlled the city for twenty-five centuries, but in our lifetime a miracle happened. Jerusalem was captured by the Jews in a six-day war fought June 5-10, 1967-one of the most important signs ever concerning Christ’s return predicted in Luke 21:24. But there’s more. Jesus added in verse 25 that signs would occur in the sun, moon, and stars. Think of this. Twenty-five months after Jerusalem was captured by the Jews, June of 1967, Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon in July of 1969. Coincidence? Hardly.

Signs of Judgment by Fire

As we have already learned, the period of time that follows the Rapture and precedes Christ’s return to earth is called the Tribulation (Revelation 7:14). The Rapture is described in Revelation 4:1 and the Revelation-Christ’s return to earth to receive His church in Revelation 19:11. The chapters between the two events constitute the Tribulation Hour-a seven-year period of judgment. Christ referred to this period in the statement, “As it was in the days of Lot…Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke 17:28, 30). The fire that burned Sodom and Gomorrah was all-consuming-the result of wickedness and of turning a deaf ear to the Almighty. Bad as it was for Sodom and Gomorrah, their fate is nothing compared to the coming human devastation that will afflict the people of earth during the Tribulation Hour. Jeremiah 30:7 declares, “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it.” Daniel 12:1 states, “There shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation.” Jesus also declared in Matthew 24:21, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Included in this horrendous portrayal is a world on fire- similar to the judgment of Lot’s day. The Bible says, “The flaming flame shall not be quenched” (Ezekiel 20:47). Again, “The whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy” (Zephaniah 1:18). “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven” (Malachi 4:1). “And the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up” (Revelation 8:7). “By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone” (Revelation 9:18).

A stockpile of nuclear explosives jams the weapons arsenals of the world today. Reports indicate that the amount is equivalent to one ton of TNT for every person alive. Recently, India and Pakistan conducted nuclear explosions, and the world teeters on the brink of destruction. Think of the mass devastation that shall be unleashed on this world during the Tribulation Hour! But God’s people will escape this catastrophic judgment. Revelation 3:10 declares, “I also will keep thee from [ek-out of] the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.”

FROM THE HEART OF DR. REXELLA VAN IMPE

When the Light Goes Out!

I really enjoy flowers and plants. My husband, Jack, and I have numerous trees, shrubs, and flowering plants around our house.

Last summer I was especially proud of some beautiful ferns we had hanging outside around our patio. Given just the right amount of light and water, they really flourished, with dark green, luxuriant leaves and tendrils that cascaded over the sides of the pot like a vibrant, intricately woven tapestry.

I enjoyed those ferns all spring and summer long, and when fall approached, I couldn’t stand to see them die. So Dr. and I carried them to the office and gave them to various staff members to take home.

All except one — the largest and most beautiful plant of all. We put that one in the office chapel up by the pulpit. It was so beautiful, so fresh — it was a reminder of God’s blessings to us through nature. And many commented on how much that fern added to the room.

Then one day a week or so later, I went into the chapel and immediately noticed that something was wrong with the plant. It was still alive, but its rich green color seemed duller and its leaves were drooping. “Oh my, I thought, “What’s wrong? Are we going to lose this beautiful fern?”

Then I saw the problem — inside the walls of the chapel, the plant wasn’t getting enough light. So I moved it so it would get full exposure to the overhead light, and I opened the window blind so natural light came in. And do you know, by the very next day that fern had perked up and looked healthy and full of life again.

The Lord really used that incident to speak to my heart about the importance — and the power — of light in our spiritual lives. When we begin to flounder, to feel wilted, weak, and listless, it’s a sure indication that we need to draw nearer to the light. The vitality and strength we enjoy in our lives come from the Light of the world — from Jesus Christ, our Saviour.

I love the beautiful description of the Apostle John, who wrote, In him was life; and the life was the light of men…. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world (John 1:4,9).

Step out of the shadows

Next, James says there is no shadow of turning with God. Do you know what causes a shadow? Something comes between you and the source of light!

Is there a shadow in your life today? Then find what has come between you and the Lord. Could it be materialism, caring more about this world’s goods and “things” than eternal values? Could it be a person — perhaps you’re in love with a person who is not God’s choice for you. Maybe the object between you and the Lord’s Light is your own desire to be successful.

Could it be that you’ve allowed indifference, resentment, or a critical, judgmental spirit to come between you and God and cast a shadow over your life?

Take a look at your life today. Don’t wait too long! Without a daily infusion of the power of God’s Light, the vibrant colors of your life will begin to fade. Your zeal and energy to witness for Him will wither. Your desire to be all that He wants you to be will shrivel away.

Remember, just going to church is not enough if you keep an “umbrella” over you to block out the light. My beautiful fern would have died just as dead inside the chapel as it would have inside a cellar — without the power of the light! When I let in the light, my plant was fully restored. And the Light of God will do the same for our lives.

But that’s not all. We are so much more important to God than a fern plant. His plan for us is so exciting and fulfilling.

You can be God’s light

As we continue to draw near to His light, something wonderful happens. We begin to glow and radiate His light until it shines on others still living in darkness. Our lives can be beacons, drawing precious souls to Christ. This gives purpose and meaning to our living.

Jesus himself said to us, Ye are the light of the world…. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father, which is in heaven (Matthew 5:14,16).

You may feel that, even at your best, your light is. too small to be of much use. But it isn’t. In the gathering darkness of the world around us, even a candle can be seen. And as we work together for the Lord, combining our efforts and our resource, to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission in these last days of time, the power of God’s light will shine through us and reach into the darkest corners of the earth.

Oh, I want to help light up the world for Jesus, don’t you? My heart goes out to people who still walk in darkness, even in the United States and Canada, as well as in other nations. There is such sadness and despair, such confusion and deception. Men and women live under heavy burdens. Young people face peer pressure and temptation. It seems that Satan has launched an all-out assault on mankind.

I understand full well what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote that we live in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world (Philippians 2:15).

If ever there was a time for us to draw near God’s light, it’s today. If ever the people of the world needed someone to lead them out of darkness into the marvelous light of our Lord and Saviour, it is now. If ever any Christians had the opportunity — and obligation — to win the world for Christ, you and I do.

In the words of a beloved old gospel song —

“There’s a call comes ringing o’er
the restless wave,
Send the Light, send the Light,
There are souls to rescue, there
are souls to save,
Send the Light, send the Light!”

God help us to hear that call today and to do all we can, give all we can, be all we can to send the light of the gospel.

God help us to SHINE!

CHANGED LIVES-one at a time

Thank you both so very much for speaking the TRUTH about the Bible …I watch your show every week…NO one else will speak about the horrors of Islam and it’s treat to every Christian and Jew in the world…Americans bought the lies spread by our Muslim-in-chief president not only once, but twice…and well, they deserved what they got…I don’t attend Mass anymore because Catholic priests REFUSE to even acknowledge The Book of Revelations…they never mention the need for our support of Israel…nor the need for us to prepare our hearts, minds, and spirits for the End Times…I’m also grateful that you have addressed the danger of this current Pope…I, for one, believe that he IS the false-prophet…all he spews about is Socialism, open borders, and now, catering to gays and lesbians…I pray for you Jack and Rexella, and I thank God for your words each week…God Bless You !!

Susan S.

Jack and Rexella

I have watched your program for over 15 years and I’m so thankful that you keep digging in your heels and you are steadfast. Thank you for all the knowledge I receive every week. I pray protection for you and Rexella. I know Jesus presence is surrounding you daily. KEEP ON TELLING THE TRUTH, and YEHUWAH WILL KEEP ON BLESSING!!

Dena H.

HIGHLIGHTED PRODUCT OFFERS

Addictions

Rampant addictions; a sign of the times? Now you’ll understand how God’s Word previews the bondage of alcoholism and drugs, tobacco, pornography, gambling, and more that we see all around us today as a sign of the soon return of the Savior and the approaching Tribulation.

In this insightful video, Drs. Jack and Rexella Van Impe also reveal hope for you or a loved one who is struggling with a life-controlling addiction, through the power of Jesus Christ. Learn about the biblical perspective on substance abuse – the roots of addiction – how to overcome addictions as notorious as alcoholism or as overlooked as gossip, lying or cursing.

Daniel: Final End Time Mysteries Unsealed CD set

“Everything Jews, Gentiles and Christians need to know about their future is predicted in the book of Daniel”

God commanded Daniel to seal the mysteries of his prophetic book until “the time of the end.” What did it mean? Only when the final predicted events began to occur would the Spirit reveal His mysteries to present-day messengers … That time is now!

Dr. Jack Van Impe has poured more than 300 hours of research into this project, studying every book possible on the subject by the greatest scholars. Now he and Rexella have recorded their findings on a 6 CD set.

Here’s a list of the end-time mysteries unveiled and made perfectly clear and understandable on this dynamic audio series:

• Mystery of Iniquity
• Colossal Doomsday Image
• 4 Great Beasts of History
• Assassination and Resurrection of Antichrist
• The 7’th and Final Empire of History
• The Madman of History
• Mysteries of Y.H.W.H.-Elohim-Adonai
• Mystery Date — 32 AD
• The 2 Lords
• And…Much, Much More!

As a bonus with your order you will receive the companion book Final Mysteries Unsealed