These are included in watching who we listen to and allow to influence us.
We have The Written Word of God to check to test the spirits and be like the Bereans and compare scripture to see if what we hear is so.
OH YOU SAID IT SISTER!!!! AMEN!!!!
So I'm back. And I can't find the article I was thinking of. Maybe it was one that you posted Rose, you've had quite a few good ones. The gist of it was that being a "watchman on the wall" was an Old Testament thing. It has applications to the church age, sure. More in the line of discernment where we are watching what comes blowing in thru the doors of the church in the lines of bad teaching or bad doctrine. Those are things we watch for.
YES we also watch for the Lord's return in the Rapture to come get us, but that is more of a blessed hope thing, not an expectation that if we weren't paying attention that moment that He comes that we let Him down or fell short of His asking us to watch.
AND we warn people that Jesus is coming soon, better get saved. Judgment and the Tribulation are next after the Rapture.
And that is my summary of that article. Some thoughts.
The type of watching Jesus calls us to, is the excited anticipation of a bride who isn't sure when, but she knows her groom is coming soon. Back to the Jewish wedding- she doesn't know the day or the time of the wedding, nor does her groom. Only HIS father knows for sure.
She knows he's gone to "prepare a place" for them both, she knows it will take up to 2 years before he get's the OK from his father to come get her. She's busy putting together things for the wedding, and when she goes out in the markets she wears a veil to separate her from the world - signifying she's taken already.
As the time gets closer to the day (it can take up to 2 years!!!) she gets more excited. At some point she begins to sleep with her dress handy to pull on because the one warning she gets is a shout to give her a moment to prepare herself before her groom comes and grabs her away.
She and her bridal attendants sleep with lamps trimmed and filled with oil. Ready to light up and go.
She's ready and waiting.
The parable of the 10 virgins didn't mean the Bride. They were the attendants. Some were ready when the Bridegroom appears and takes the Bride. Others didn't have oil (the Holy Spirit) in their lamps (signifying their relationship with God wasn't alive- they needed to go out and find oil- signifying they don't have a relationship with the Lord supplying their oil- this is the ones left behind. The Bride is the church. Jesus is the Bridegroom. The Jewish nation was and is the 10 virgins.
So back to this pressure to be a "watchman on the walls"- it seems a lot of ministries confuse watching with being watchmen. And then the implication of if we are watchmen and we don't watch and warn, then people's blood is on our heads. That was the OT watchman's warning. Be faithful or else. But our faithfulness in watching is somewhat different. (yes we watch for bad theology creeping in, and we warn people to get saved, but beyond taking every opportunity to share the gospel, there are no OT watchman duties that we could fail at if we aren't watching the horizon every moment)
As the Bride, we are simply to be in a happy state of anticipation that someday soon our heavenly Bridegroom will come with a shout, the voice of the archangel and we will be caught up (like that Jewish wedding where the bride is put in a chair, elevated above ground on the arms of the happy groomsmen, carried high up, no foot on the ground anymore as she's carried off to the wedding feast).
So then what about watching for the signs?
Well the Rapture itself is a signless event. Like that bride, we won't know exactly when till we hear that shout, the voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God and we are caught up.
All we can do is be ready. Knowing that this is coming. Not being in a state of denial like a lot of the church. They will still be caught up, they will figure out their eschatology on the way up in delighted wonder. This won't be a time of scolding, but they might lose out on a reward given to those who wait for His appearing.
Are the signs around us for us? Yes and no.
They are the signs of the Tribulation on the horizon. We don't know exactly when. The Rapture is first and that has no signs but if we see signs relating to the Trib, we know the Rapture is sooner. So we see signs of the Trib shaping up and that gives us that joyful feeling that the Rapture is sooner!
Gog Magog, the destruction of Damascus seem to be on the near horizon. Those are not for sure that they happen after the Rapture or after the start of the Trib. They come with question marks. We might see more of them than we do other stuff especially if those events happen alongside the Rapture or just before or just after.
Then WHY THE SIGNS?
Well a lot of them are outlined in the Olivet discourse- those are for the Jews who are in the post Rapture period looking around with dismay wondering what is going on. They will NEED to follow closely and make sure they are paying attention. 2 in particular- that covenant with the AC, and the desolation of the Temple. Because both those signs are time stamps for the Tribulation and both signal to the watching Jews (and gentile believers after the Rapture) that certain things are about to happen, and if you want to save your life you should do certain things.
Fruchtenbaum in his book Footsteps of the Messiah outlines the Olivet discourse signs and puts them in a Jewish context. He points out that the type of wars Jesus describes are world wars. And they herald the beginning of the time leading up to the end.
So the "times of the signs" begin around the time the Jews begin to think of Zion again (1890s) and trickle back into the land. WW1 comes with a bang, and Lord Balfour thanks a Jew who invented some explosive that helped Britain's war effort with the Balfour Declaration that established the right of the Jews to their own land again.
Other signs are inside Revelation where we see odd things like people around the world watch as the 2 Witnesses rise from the dead after 3.5 days and ascend into heaven. That requires cellphone tech and satellites with internet. In the 80s they thought it might be live TV but everyone everywhere sees these events. Suggests cellphone or better.
The Seals, Trumpets and Bowls. The rise of the AC (which we are specifically told is not for us to see) as he can't get going on that till we are gone.
For us in the Church Age they are interesting and understanding them is good but nothing bad happens if we don't have a perfect understanding of the Seals for example. It helps us avoid the anxiety of thinking we are in the Tribulation period with the Seals being opened because if we know the Seals, we understand that at least 1/4 of humanity will die in the Seals alone.
1 in 4 people dead around us? NOPE, then we aren't in the Trib and the Seals aren't open. (I forget the number off the top, it works out a bit more than 1/4 more like 1/3 but don't quote me.
So knowing the signs can keep us from unnecessary anxiety. Not to mention save us from buying buckets of Tribulation Treats aka Buckets of Doomsday meals. I've seen the contents of what good ol Jim Bakker is selling and if I ate that stuff I sure would feel like I was living in the Tribulation. Maybe the people God chooses to survive the Tribulation as believers will be led to those buckets and it will save their lives. Maybe God arranges some other thing to keep them alive. Knowing how long they have to keep hanging on till Jesus returns at the end of the Trib will be essential for them. So signs for them are life saving.
However I need to pull this in a bit. Hopefully that helps get the signs into a rough and ready perspective.
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