And God saw the light. Genesis 1:1-4.

[caption id="attachment_5280" align="alignright" width="300"] Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico. Photo property of Google travel contributor Ivan Friedman[/caption]

 In my previous post, I had hoped to establish that all things were created perfectly from the moment Jesus first spoke all things into existence. I believe that the primary creation happened in verse one.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 NKJV

But writing and thinking through the events of the first few verses of Genesis, I am reminded that Jesus, in time, will voluntarily set aside His divinity, which includes His knowledge, insight, and power, so that He could become a human being, untainted by sin, and thereby bring redemption and salvation to all who would receive this great salvation.

The sacrifice or price that would be paid to become a human was to quite literally be born a blank slate, and it may well mean that Jesus had to be told about the scriptural narrative that describes actions that He performed in creation by Joseph and, in time, the Holy Spirit. Put yourself in Jesus's shoes for a moment and then try to imagine what you are supposed to do with information like this.

“For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: "I am the LORD, and there is no other.”
Isaiah 45:18 NKJV

I feel strongly about this perspective. If such a revelation caused you to go into a tailspin, as it did me at first, my suggestion is that you relax and reestablish yourself in the words of Jesus that we find in Genesis and the Hebrew that makes those words work; and remember that Jesus is God.

The idea that Jesus lost His knowledge of who created all things was never a question that we see the Apostle John fretting over. John's opening statement about Jesus demonstrates that he has become convinced, without question, that Jesus was, is, and ever shall be God.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
John 1:1-3 NKJV

I pointed out in the previous post that Jesus told us that He beheld Satan's fall in a rather dramatic way.

“And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
Luke 10:18 NKJV

The problem with that is that we have few details that define what Satan's fall looked like aside from that. Just because we do not see those details does not mean it did not happen.

So, let's assume that the lights entirely went out.

Did God/Jesus merely quake in fear that Satan's fall included a horrendous destruction?

No, the recovery process began with a peculiar act.

The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
Genesis 1:2 NKJV

There is a peculiar usage of the word hovering. It is the Hebrew râchaph. One of the defining words means to brood. The Word Study Dictionary refers to this hovering as an eagle hovering over its eggs. Honestly, it works the same for chickens or foul. All of this is part of the process of growth, which is an aspect of brooding. The Strong's concordance adds that it is, by implication, to be relaxed.

Does a hen seem stressed as it broods over the chicks?

Only if a threat arises and then she will fight. If the mother hen flutters or moves, it is only to maintain a satisfactory temperature necessary for the embryo to progress in their growth.

So I can assume that God, in His brooding, was actively in the process of restoring and rebuilding the creation. The Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit were actively involved in the recreation of the creation.

“Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.”
Genesis 1:3 NKJV

When God said, Let there be light, who was speaking?

It's a rhetorical question, and I am not demanding an answer, but the simple answer is that Jesus spoke those words into existence. Watch what happens next.

“And God saw the light that it was good; and he divided the light from the darkness.”
Genesis 1:4 DRB

When I read narratives like this, I picture God standing there watching as Jesus precisely spoke creation into existence a second time (as though Jesus/God was troubled by the severity of the damage;) only moments pass when I realize how foolish such a thought process is, as God is not impacted by time and space as we know it. I remind myself that God knew that Satan would, in turn, destroy, deceive, and attempt to capture the hearts of God's creation, and all of this was a part of God's eventual plan of redemption that ends with the eternal removal of Satan once and for all.

Light is the Hebrew word 'ôr. It means illumination or (concretely) luminary (in every sense, including lightning, …) Strong's concordance/dictionary.

To assume that this is only the sun is erroneous as it also applies to stars, which are suns, just like ours; the difference is that other suns tend to be much larger than ours, and they are scattered across the universe at incomprehensible distances away from the earth; and then there are the reflective bodies, such as moons and planets. Seeing as there is no reference to heat, as we will soon see, then, while I cannot exclude the sun, it clearly speaks to the variety of things that emit or reflect light.

Question, can you typically see the effects of a flashlight on a bright day?

No, so it is obvious that the lights had gone out and the light that Jesus is now speaking into existence, once again, was not a blinding light. This tells me that the illumination was like some nights when the sky was clear.

When we were teens dad took the family to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Besides the spectacular

formations, it is known for the nightly flights of bats that emerge from the cave (there are thousands of them.) 

On the tour, the Park Ranger takes us to a deep place in the cavern, warns the audience not to move, and then turns out the lights for about a minute. You literally cannot see your hand in front of your face, as there is NO illumination at all. It is a darkness that feels like it permeates you. Moments later, they turn the lights back on, and you are instantly reminded of how spectacular the ancient formations and reflective lighting truly are.

Divided is the Hebrew word badal. It is a primary root and means to be divided or separated: It also means to come over, dismiss, make a separation, make a distinction, partition, separate, or set apart.

In Genesis chapter 1, verse 4, we see this: “and God divided the light from the darkness.”

Darkness is the Hebrew word chôshek. The Strong's # is H2822. It is from H2821; the dark; hence (literally) darkness; figuratively misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness: - (darkness), night, obscurity.

When I think about the effects that Satan had on the earth, these words stand out.

• misery,

• destruction,

• death,

• ignorance,

• sorrow,

• wickedness,

• obscurity.

The Strong's # associated with chôshek - is H2821- châshak, enunciation khaw-shak'. It is a primitive root meaning to be dark (as withholding light); transitively to darken: - be black, be (make) dark, darken, cause darkness, be dim, hide.

Now ask yourself, when did Jesus begin to address Satan's actions?

So Jesus did not only address the lights going out, but He immediately began attacking the damage that Satan brought about.

If you want a definition of who Satan is and what he does, you got it.

Jumping forward in time to the Garden. Eve, having bought into the deception, hands the fruit, with her teeth marks on it, to her “husband.” We have no indication that he was deceived, so Adam sets aside what God had told him and chooses to die with his “wife.”

It doesn't matter what you call it; the treasonous act was to hand over the dominion – rule and control over the earth. Sounds bad, and lacking a relationship with Christ is a hopeless situation. But God had a plan all along.

“So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Genesis 3:14-15 BSB

We get bruised all the time. Some foolishly believe that this bruising is God's wrath (tribulation;) it is NOT. It is just life, so get over it. Note, however, that God tells the serpent that the seed of the woman will crush your head. You don't typically get over a crushing; you die. Our hope is, to some degree, based on the reality that through Jesus, Satan's head will be crushed – or at least put away forever.

In beginning God created. Genesis 1:1

 Genesis 1:1 NASB In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

When it comes to Bible translations, I transitioned from the King James version long ago as I came to understand that the NASB was a bit more accurate in translating to English. Many years ago, while listening to Dr. Chuck Missler on the radio, I learned that he preferred the KJV because the problems with that translation were well known, while other, relatively new translations or transliterations, which, too, had issues but, in some cases, were not identified yet. Taking Dr. Missler's advice, I approach them all with a bit of skepticism. That being said, here is a translation that works for me when looking at Genesis 1:1.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 AFV
(AFV - A Faithful Version) Copyright © 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011; York Publishing Company.

What is so different about the AFV?

It is one of the few versions that puts the word "the" in an italicized format to affirm that it is an added word and used only for the sake of clarity. I do not think verse one needed any added clarity at this point. So verse one could and should be read "In beginning."

You might ask, what difference does it make?

To say, "In the beginning" denotes an emphasis on a specific point in time in which everything happened perfectly. The Hebrew word is rê'shı̂yth and means the first, in place, time, order, or rank (specifically a first fruit.) If you were to hold tightly to a specific point, why does scripture bother to point out other periods in which God/Jesus created? Almost as if the Hebrew is in opposition to a specific point, you should have noticed the reference in definition to this point in time being the first fruit. If there was a first of the fruit, then there were other fruits produced or gathered; none of which takes away from or diminishes the authority and power of God in creation, but it also does NOT limit His creative abilities. So, the more appropriate read of rê'shı̂yth would be "In beginning," as this expresses the idea that creation was a process.

If you feel you need to continue arguing that everything was created at once, with one word, then why wasn't Adam placed here on the earth at that moment? Notice that I did not mention Eve because she clearly came later, and we cannot define how much later she showed up.

What else can I learn from verse one?

That God created created the heavens and the earth.

Create is the Hebrew word bara, meaning to shape, bring about, make, or produce.

How do I look at this and not see a process?

I can, however, see why evolutionists think the way they do; the obvious is that they refuse to acknowledge or consider that there is an omniscient, eternal God that established our moral baseline and placed the knowledge and comprehension of that baseline within us through His Son, Jesus, who put Himself upon that cross in order to give us all salvation and a restored life with the Father. A life without problems or mistakes in it.

Does God have problems or make mistakes?

The answer is an emphatic NO, although someone lacking wisdom will throw in the creation of Lucifer/Satan and say, see, what about that?

Even the angels were given free will, and though we don't know when this Satanic rebellion took place, it was obviously after verse one and was prior to God putting the man in the garden.

This is so much easier on the brain when you can acknowledge that the creation was a process.

If God created the Earth, then it had to be perfect from the beginning. Want evidence?

“For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), "I am the LORD, and there is none else.”
Isaiah 45:18 NASB

Note the words formed and made; Formed is the Hebrew word yāṣar and means to form, fashion, or devise. In my book, this word alone demonstrates a process. Made is the Hebrew word ‛āśāh, meaning to do, make, accomplish, or complete. If it was complete from the moment He spoke it into existence, there would be no reason to complete it sometime later unless something cataclysmic took place.

So God, in making the earth and everything related to it, did it perfectly from the beginning. In other words, it was NOT formless and void unless you can handle a process that allows for the sun and planets to be created out of spinning, formless masses of matter that God had to fashion into something usable (trying to reason that out simply defies logical thought). If God made everything, then He also had to make the formless masses from which He may have formed the universe.

Most of the “Christian community” will adamantly renounce such talk because they believe it implies an agreement with evolution. For someone to suggest that the Creation of the earth, in the Genesis account, could have taken an indeterminate amount of time garners abrasive negativity and the idea that I am now an evolutionist, which I am not.

How do I know that the fall of Satan took place after verse one?

Because verse two declares that the earth is now destroyed.

“The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.”
Genesis 1:2 NASB

Perhaps you have never heard what Jesus said about Satan.

 “And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.”
Luke 10:18 KJV

Jesus, the creator – according to John's gospel, watched as Satan fell from heaven.

The word fall is the Greek word piptō and means to descend from a higher place to a lower or to be thrust down.

When I apply Jesus's eyewitness account, in which He compares Satan's fall to lightning, it is easy to see that Satan's departure from his heavenly position was fast and powerful.

Why is this important?

Because of the potential damage involved with Satan's impacting the earth, the fall could have had a greater impact than some meteorites, such as those that struck the Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago. An understanding like this makes it far easier to understand that the heavens sustained tremendous violence.

We have another piece of evidence concerning Satan's plummet.

“And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

Revelation 12:7-9 NKJV

Who is the dragon?

Repeatedly, we learn that Satan is the dragon. One of the problems we seem to have is that the Book of Job renders Satan, in heaven, walking among the Sons of God. This gave Satan the opportunity to pursue a course of action against Job. So obviously, Satan did not receive complete destruction with his punishment, or he would not have been able to tempt Jesus nor offer Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth when he tried to tempt Him. His day will come.

“Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND HIM ONLY YOU SHALL SERVE.' "

Matthew 4:8-10 NKJV

Having been thrown down to earth, did God bestow him with authority and power?

No, but Adam did, and that was an aspect of the deception and willing participation in eating the fruit, in opposition to the ONLY rule God placed against the only two humans walking and dominating the earth. And yet, there it is, Satan is offering Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

“For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew ...”.
Genesis 3:5-7 NKJV

They knew they had undone the life and pattern that God had laid out before them, and they knew they had just handed it over to Satan.

Did you see Jesus calling Satan a liar or reminding him that he had been thrown down to earth, stripped of power?

You did not see that because even Jesus knew that Adam had given Satan all this power. This is an interesting way of stating a fact, and it is interesting because Jesus had voluntarily set aside all that HE was to become a human – and He is still a human today.

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”
Philippians 2:5-8 NKJV

If that is the case, and it is, then how did Jesus come to know and understand that Satan had been given his power through Adam's betrayal?

The most substantial clue we have is a sparse statement about Joseph.

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.”
Matthew 1:18-19 NKJV

Just is the Greek word dikaios and means that he was one that observed divine laws. In a wider sense, Joseph was upright, righteous, and one who kept the commands of God. (Thayer's Definitions)

This title of being righteous was not one you gave yourself but was assigned by a watchful community – in other words, Jews. Because Mary stood her ground and maintained that this baby was implanted by the Holy Spirit, she was considered a tramp, worthy of nothing more than a stoning, and the baby was deemed an illegitimate child – a mumzer and He (the young Jesus) was excluded from entering the synagogue or learning from the rabbis. It may have been possible that Joseph was very capable of teaching the young Jesus.

Obviously, somebody taught Him and taught Him well because, without us having to discuss it, it is clear that He knew the intimate details of the events that happened in the garden on the day that Adam handed the world over to Satan.

Lawlessness will abound, and the love of many will grow cold. Matthew 24:12

When I left off our study in Matthew 24, we were looking at verse 11. The context goes like this: the disciples asked when will these things – the destruction of the temple and His return as the warring Messiah. Jesus began to answer, but the first thing out of His mouth was that they do not allow themselves to be deceived. He then went on to tell them briefly what was coming.

• “For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.”

  Christ is indicative of the Messiah but also the anointed one. This word anointed opens the door to self-appointment.

• “...you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”

  Why would this be important in a world where conflict is always going on?

  The statement lends itself to something much larger than local skirmishes.

• For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

  Do names like Ukraine and the Soviet Union sound familiar? How about Israel and Hamas?

• And there will be famines,

  All of which are man-made.

• pestilences,

  This is the Greek word pharmakeia, from which we Americans get our word pharmacy. But it also applies to the neighbor that manufactures meth in his garage and the big businesses pushing their vaccines.

• And earthquakes in various places.

  In case you haven't noticed, earthquakes are popping off all over the globe and are frequently associated with volcanic activity. Read Matthew 24:5-7 NKJV.

“All these are (merely) the beginning of sorrows.”

Verse eleven tells us that during this time, “...many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.”

“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.” Matthew 24:11 NKJV

Rise up? The Greek word egeirō comes from the idea of collecting one's faculties: to waken; to rouse - literally from sleep, and in the extreme, to rouse from death. Now it is getting really dark - To raise again.

Imagine that while driving your car, your mind decides to go to some vivid, white sand beach where you had a great vacation. Suddenly you panic, collect your faculties, and realize that you cannot remember the last quarter mile of driving. It might also apply to the boxer who momentarily gets knocked out while fighting and gets awakened from a blow to the head.

Deceive many?

My thoughts lean toward a mass hypnosis, but that seems too much like something from a comic book, and yet, since October 7th, there is evidence of a mass deception. If you paid attention to the crowds wrapped up in this mass hysteria, most are younger, and I doubt they were ever disciplined for misconduct and, therefore, think that there are no rules. The college campuses where much of this riotous activity is birthed actively feed deception to the young and easily manipulated students through their professors, who arouse pitiful behavior in their students.

With all this in mind, comprehending a mass deception is not so difficult. However, the deception that Jesus speaks of has everything to do with a context; that context leans toward the Orthodox Jewish leadership in Israel.

• First, give this some thought, if you can deceive the leadership, then you should be able to easily deceive the blind followers.

  How is that possible?

Because, by their domineering tactics, they inform the followers what they can read or not read. For the most part, the Jews do not read the Torah for themselves but rely solely on the Rabbis reading it to them. The congregants are NOT, for example, permitted to read the prophet Daniel or Isaiah 53. It sounds like most of the people you sit beside are in Christian churches.

• Secondly: The third temple, which is, at this point, not been built, has a chosen high priest, Rabbi Baruch Kahane. If the priesthood thinks this man is just a fine, young man, with outstanding qualifications, then there is nothing to take note of or to be alarmed.

  Maybe this will help you understand.
  I sat down at the after-service taco fest to eat lunch with a couple from that church that I only knew by face and began one of my random conversations. I did this because I am prone to be an introvert and I need to fight that, and my calling in life is to be a teacher of God's Word.
  I said to the man, did you know that the scripture says nothing about Jesus's occupation except two verses. We assume that He was a carpenter, as His earthly father (a good man, by the way) is understood to have been a carpenter, and it is expected in this ancient culture that a young son would follow in the trade of His father.

  The passages that reflect this are:

  "When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, "Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works?  55  Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?"
  Matthew 13:54-55 NKJV 

  The other passage is:

  “Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?" So they were offended at Him.”
  Mark 6:3 NKJV

  Since Mark's gospel makes no mention of Joseph, the husband of Mary, we can only assume that he has been dead for quite some time.

  In either case, the Greek word translated as carpenter is tekton. This word means a skilled craftsman or artisan) and can include a producer of fabrics, wood articles, and a carpenter. It means to produce, bear, bring forth, and could have included a person who lathed stone pots or wrote poetry.

  An interesting thing happened about a quarter mile outside of Nazareth several years ago. A family owned a plot of land and wished to install a gas station. Well, you don't make a move without the Israeli Antiquities department getting involved, and they discovered an artisan's shop where they had been producing granite articles, such as large stone pots, by lathe. The intriguing thing is that Jesus seemed to know that the home where this wedding in Cana was taking place had such pots. History records that an entrepreneurial Jew realized that granite was not mentioned in the list of things that could be polluted, making that article unusable; therefore, it must always be ceremonially clean. The fact that the craftsman's shop was so close to Jesus's home may imply that He, too, worked there as a craftsman.

  I pointed out how absurd the man's assertion that we should only pay attention to scriptural references, and yet he was wholly given over to Jesus being a carpenter when nothing in scripture upholds his assertion. Now, picture a nation where the majority lives their lives this way.

  So, a piece of information you won't find in the Bible is the Islamic prophetic belief that our false prophet will descend Aaron and will function as the high priest in the new temple. They are also wholeheartedly given to the idea that this false prophet will give himself over to Islam, follow the Mahdi (a man who may well be the antichrist), and that our false prophet will be the enforcer of Sharia law on a global scale. This man, the false prophet, will be the Islamic version of Jesus.

  Just something to think about.

How would you perceive this phrase “rise up” if it applied to one being "wakened" from the dead?

That only happens when God speaks a word over the dead. (Read John 5:21 NAS95. If you must have two witnesses, then look at Deuteronomy 32:39 NAS95)

But didn't the witch of Endor call Samuel up from the dead? (Read 1 Samuel 28)

That is the show that she intended to put on for King Saul, but she screamed because Samuel arose, and he was not too happy about it. That day, Saul was stripped of his kingdom at Samuel's word.

What if this "rising up again" has more to do with something comparable to those fallen angels chained up in the Euphrates? Read Revelation 9:13-15)

Dear Lord, NO, as 1/3 of the earth will die because of their release!

I hope you can begin to understand that this has nothing to do with God's voice. The mere fact that many will be misled is a major part of the puzzle.

Now we look at verse twelve, where it says, “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.”

“All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:8-12 NKJV

Although the hatred for Israel and the Jews has been ongoing since Abraham, this malicious and deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the hatred of Israel and the Jews has been dominating the internet and the news on a daily basis.

Do you want examples of lawlessness?

How about organized mobs that overtake high-end stores and clean them out. What about Antifa, BLM, or the effects of pro-Hamas “parades” or the takeovers of our highways on our “democratic” society? That and more are a part of this lawlessness.

“And the love of the great body of people will grow cold because of the multiplied lawlessness and iniquity,” Matthew 24:12 AMPC+

If it is not merely mass hypnosis, then it is like-minded, uneducated people who, with a minimal amount of motivation, are willing to kill some older Jewish man because he verbally withstood your cries to not punish Hamas and its pathetic followers. Here is one of the many headlines about the incident.

AP News – Man involved in confrontation with Jewish protester who died called 911 and cooperated with police

https://apnews.com › article › jewish-man-died-israel...

Nov 8, 2023 — California authorities are seeking help as they investigate the death of a 69-year-old Jewish man after a confrontation at a pro-Palestinian …

The Guardian reported,

“Posts circulated on social media included video of Kessler injured and lying on a sidewalk as people tend to him. The Jewish Federation of Los Angeles reported that Kessler was struck in the head with a megaphone by a pro-Palestinian protester before he fell, which the sheriff’s office has not yet confirmed. An autopsy found Kessler died from a blunt force head injury and that his injuries were consistent with a fall, Dr Christopher Young, the Ventura county medical examiner, said at a news conference on Tuesday. He also had “non-lethal” injuries to the face, Young said. The manner of death was homicide, Young said, but that does not reflect whether a crime occurred.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/07/california-police-man-death-protests-israel-palestine

Matthew 24 was directed at the Jewish people who were following Him. So, when He is talking about a great body, who is He talking about?

The nation of Israel and the Jews.

Could He be talking about the church?

It seems easy to say yes, especially when a quick look around indicates that much of the church has grown cold. But the context presses the knowledgeable to keep our focus on Israel.

So, as you look at the news coming out of Israel, do you see lawlessness and the love of many growing cold?

No doubt about it, and the lawlessness and iniquity do not necessarily have to be coming out of the Israelis. This should be obvious as you watch the reactions of the so-called Palestinians.

The environment associated with Israel removing an entire community that has a driven goal to eradicate Israel is clearly associated with Jesus's prophetic words concerning the time right before His return for His church.