Isaiah 18:3
3 All ye inhabitants [yashab] of the world [tebel], and
dwellers [shakan] on the earth ['erets], see [ra'ah] ye, when he
lifteth up [nasa'] an ensign [nec] on the mountains [har]; and
when he bloweth [taqa`] a trumpet [showphar], hear [shama`] ye. KJV-Interlinear
3 All you inhabitants of the
world and dwellers on earth, As soon as a standard is raised on the mountains,
you will see it, And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it. NASB
The single biggest
source of confusion comes when people try to apply prophecies that belong to
the Old Testament, to our current dispensation.
And the dispensation which ours interrupted was the Age of Israel, which
in Daniels seventy weeks prophecy, was interrupted by our dispensation at their
sixty-ninth week, leaving them with still one more week of years (seven years)
to complete their dispensation. That
last week is the tribulation.
And these prophecies
belong to the Age of Israel, or to its concluding seven years, and not to our
dispensation.
Our dispensation has no
applicable prophecies from the Old Testament, none, as our dispensation was a
hidden era that was not revealed until Jesus revealed it. Our dispensation is one of historical trends
and preparation and positioning of many things, for those final, end of days,
years, known as and Tribulation.
When the Tribulation
begins, many things will be in place, such as the nation of Israel, increased
knowledge, increased populations, increased earthquakes, major powers to the
north, south, east and west, phenomenal apostasy and so forth.
So, the standard on the
mountain and the trumpet blowing has nothing to do with our dispensation,
nothing to do with the Rapture, nothing to do with our current days whatsoever.
What they do reveal is
symbolically placing the entire world on notice, with such public activities of
all nations, that no one can possibly miss it, or not know that it is something
that is far beyond normal.
The ensign on the mountains,
refers to the activities of the world, being so public and in full view of all,
that everyone will see that these things are not natural but from God.
The trumpet blowing, is
likewise the symbolism of a phenomenally public notice, that everyone will hear
of it and see it.
When the Rapture
occurs, all believers will be removed from the world, leaving only unbelievers
alive on planet earth. Simultaneously
with that event, all restraint on evil will be removed for the next seven
years, such that crime and evil of all sorts will run rampant. Wars will erupt, government regulation will
increase rapidly, storms, famine, reduced production, starvation and such will
drive people to extreme measures. The
death rate for the first half of the Tribulation (three-and-a-half years), will
see half of the population of the entire world dead.
Literally everyone remaining
alive will be affected in some way.
So the public notice
that something is very wrong in the world, will be well known by all.
And, in the last half
of the Tribulation, those last three-and-a-half years, things will only get
worse and worse until Armageddon. The
only thing that will save humanity from total extinction, will be the Second
Advent of Christ.
And so here we know
that those people will also know, why all of this is happening to them. But of course we have also studied that most
of those folks will ignore the signs and run straight into their own oblivion.
