Doves,
There is a chapter of scripture that I believe directly points to a season or time frame or a heads up to prepare for the rapture of the church and that chapter is Isaiah 18.
Back in 2013 I posted several times to 5 Doves about this chapter and why the two countries described in this chapter appear to have great significance as to the approaching rapture. In other words, when you see these two countries in turmoil or dispute, pay attention because the rapture may be near.
These two countries are Egypt and Ethiopia. And the story within the story is this......Ethiopia is building a huge dam and hydroelectric generating facility within the headwaters of the Nile River upstream from Egypt. Egypt is concerned because Ethiopia will have the ability to curtail the waters of the Nile before it gets to Egypt. Without the water of the Nile River Egypt could not function as a country. The majority of it's electricity is generated at the Aswan Dam hydroelectric facility in southern Egypt. Water staying for any period of time upstream in Ethiopia would decrease the output of the Aswan project. If one looks at a map of Egypt over 90 % of the Egyptian population lives directly on the Nile River and depends on it almost totally for their existence. Other than a narrow strip of land along the Nile, the rest of the land of Egypt is desert. Any appreciable decrease in the flow of that river would put a heavy burden or a death blow on Egypt and its population. So the concern on Egypt's part is very valid over these developments.
Back in 2013 I tried to draw attention to the squabbling match that was going on between the two countries especially because I knew these two countries played heavily into “the rapture time frame” as per Isaiah 18. At that time there were threats and counter threats and some minor stone throwing but no major military actions were staged.
The two countries and their neighbor countries have been stewing about it for 4 years now as Ethiopia has continued to progress with the huge project. Now it appears that push may have come to shove because multiple troop movements have occurred amassing their respect troops on their respective borders. Here is just a snippet about the topic from Debka news today....
Ethiopia spurns Egypt’s proposed World Bank mediation for Nile dispute
Jan 23, 2018 @ 12:41
In an attempt to avert an armed clash, Cairo proposed to Addis Ababa that the World Bank mediate their dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in construction, that threatens to sharply reduce Egypt’s share of Nile waters. On Monday, Ethiopia turned the proposal down. Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan are reported in the last few days to be concentrating troops on their common borders. Ethiopian Foreign Minister Workneh Gebeyehu has just ended a visit Khartoum and is on his way to Cairo to try and allay Egyptian concerns and avert the outbreak of war in the Horn of Africa.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I know several Doves who insist that Isaiah 18 verse 2 is referring to the United States. I don't agree and it's my opinion that Isaiah in all his writings was talking about “his neighborhood" the neighborhood that he was aware of and familiar with. That being........ the Middle East, North Africa, the Mediterranean area or Asia Minor. Not America, Brazil, New Zealand or wherever. I know that our pride of and in America beckons us to believe that many of these bible passages speak of and to it (America) and that God sees some great importance with us but I truly believe Isaiah was just talking about "his neighborhood".
Now let me re-post a section of what I wrote in 2013 which looks at the verses in Isaiah 18 as to the countries involved and the diplomacy portrayed there and the diplomacy between the two countries that is happening presently.
Isaiah 18 verses 1-3
Bible....Black
My comments.....red
1 Woe to the land of buzzing wings, (Egypt and its locust swarms recently)
Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, (Egypt is downstream of Ethiopia's rivers)
2 (Egypt) Which sends ambassadors by sea,
even in vessels of reed on the waters, (we have all seen the large boats from Egypt built of reeds from the Nile)
saying "Go, swift messengers, (from Egypt) to a nation proud and tall and smooth of skin, (Ethiopia)
To a people terrible from their beginning onward,
a nation powerful and treading down,
whose land the rivers divide."
The tribes from Ethiopia and Sudan are the tallest people on average in the world. The men average 6'4" and the women 6'0". And they are smooth of skin, no body hair. Ethiopia was a nation powerful from its start but didn't keep up as time went by hence they "treading down". A map of Ethiopia will show how the country is divided like a cut pizza by it's rivers.
Why would Egypt send messengers (ambassadors) to Ethiopia?
The Nile River is presently drying up and is the life-blood of Egypt. Without the Nile there is no Egypt. Egypt gets its water for the Nile from Ethiopia and Sudan to the south. Ethiopia plans on building a large hydroelectric facility which will divert water from getting to Egypt drying up the Nile even more. This will be intolerable for Egypt and the Egyptian government. Presently the Egyptian government is sending ambassadors to Ethiopia to try to prevent this from happening. Here's the article.......
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/ethiopia-studies-nile-dam-fall-short-egypt-says-182243397.html#VEILSEz
3 All inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth:
(that would be us....... He's saying pay attention to what is happening)
When he (God) lifts up a banner on the mountains, you see it,
And when he (God) blows a trumpet, you hear it.
Presently and for months now people all over the world have been hearing trumpet sounds not knowing where they are coming from. And there have been volcanoes going off all over the planet which spread smoke horizontally across the mountains and sky for hundreds of miles...... like banners.
I wrote those words in 2013 and they are just as valid today as they were in then. Even more so with the present volcanic eruptions and what is presently happening politically in North Africa.
For those of you that didn't follow my posts in 2013 let me give you a brief overview of what I believe is portrayed in Isaiah 18.
There appears to be a conflict / major disagreement / war between Egypt and Ethiopia. This conflict will be a biblical time marker and give the inhabitants of the world and especially the watchers a “heads up”. A heads up to what?
A heads up that God has ended His heavenly preparations for His church in heaven. A heads up that the fullness of the church is either near or complete. A heads up that the rapture of the church is imminent. Also a heads up that the Arc of the Covenant may soon after the rapture to be returned from Ethiopia to Jerusalem.
I have shared with you verses 1-3 which I believe just precede the rapture. Now let me give you verses 4-6 which describe the rapture. I will list each verse 4-6 in blue and then a plausible discernment of those verses will follow in black.
So the Lord said to Isaiah--"I will take my rest". To me this means God's (Jesus') work is done. The sin debt He had to pay for our salvation was paid in full on the cross and He has spent approximately 2000 of our years preparing a place for His Church / Bride as He promised. The fullness of the Church or quantity of Gentile believers has been accomplished. He has Michael the archangel rounding up Satan and all his fallen angels which are about to be ousted from the heavens and banished to the earth.
So He (God) is resting and looking from a dwelling place. Could this particular dwelling place be the place He will be when the Rapture happens? Habakkuk 3 states that to be Mount Paran (which at this point only God knows that location.)
The next two phrases of the verse really blew me away when I understood them. What was God looking at when He looked from His dwelling place? "Like a clear heat in sunshine and like a cloud of dew in the heat of the harvest." In both instances it appears that God is talking about two things rising. We know from scripture that the dead in Christ will rise first and then the living in Christ will rise second.
Now look again at the wording He used in the two phrases. "Like clear heat in the sunshine" That's like the heat you see rising from asphalt on a hot day, it appears to be coming up from the earth, it rises and then disappears. As will the dead in Christ--- that will rise first.
Now the second phrase "Like a cloud of dew in the heat of the harvest" Again we have something rising but this time the dew is already in the air, it just rises and then it disappears. As will "we" who have accepted Christ who are alive----we will just disappear from above the ground.
This verse is amazing for it gives a double meaning. It gives a time frame for the rapture and tells the story of all the end time players at the same time.
When does the rapture happen time wise? When the bud is perfect and the sour grape is ripening in the flower. From a horticultural viewpoint, I would say late spring or early summer.
When will the rapture happen "players" wise? When the bud (Church / Bride) is perfect...... meaning when the predetermined number has been reached as per Rev.6. and when the sour grape is ripening in the flower. The Jewish people are the sour grapes.......they haven't sweetened to Jesus yet (their sour to Him) but they will because He says that they are "ripening" in the flower or will sweeten to Him at some point. And from scripture we know that this will be the case during the tribulation period.
The other players in this verse are the sprigs and the branches.
One Webster meaning for sprigs is young people. The verse says that God is going to cut off these sprigs and take them away. I believe this describes how He is going to remove (take away /rapture) all the young people from the planet that are below the age of accountability. Also another definition of sprigs is …...a person as the offspring of a family or institution. Are we Christians not the offspring of Christ's church once we have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior? Then, He takes us away as well.
The other player in this verse is the branches. I believe these are the left behind people of the planet after the rapture and their fate is not good. We learn that they are cut down and gathered together. And their fate is described in the next verse.
These branches, these left behind people will be left together for the mountain birds of prey to summer upon them and the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
My interpretation of this is that at the same time Christ's Church is going up in the Rapture, Satan and his fallen angels (mountain birds of prey, i.e. UFO's) will be cast to earth and will prey upon the left behind people in the summer.
Then at some period later the beasts of the earth will be released to prey upon the people left behind starting in the winter. Notice God brings summer into the picture first as if the rapture happens in the spring or early summer and Satan and his goons show up a few days or weeks later to dispense their evil and horror on these "branches".
Then in the last verse, verse 7 we see these same people spoken of in verse 1 and 2 re-enter the scenario. These same abnormally tall and smooth skin people (Ethiopians). These people then, I presume, after the rapture has happened present a gift to the Lord of hosts at Mount Zion.
As I am sure many of you Doves are aware there is a church in Ethiopia that is supposed to be in control of the Arc of the Covenant. If this is true, I believe that it would be an appropriate time for the Ethiopians to return it to Jerusalem right after the rapture so that the Jews could place it in a “new temple”.
Now to recap all of this, it appears to me and has for many years that when Egypt and Ethiopia enter into serious negotiations or war that (verse 3)......”All inhabitants of the world” need to pay attention. At that time God will also manifest some sort of banner above the mountains. Whether that be volcanic smoke or as the bible states....”Jesus is the banner”.....will He display His majesty in the heavens above as the “Sun of Righteousness” and / or “ The Light of the World”. Also as per verse 3, there will be trumpet blasts. Are these trumpet blasts the ones that are and have been heard all over the world for several years now or is this the trumpet blast the “big one” that happens at the rapture of the church? You decide
Either way it all appears to lead up to the rapture of the church and the final 7 year period of this age.
So, my excitement was peaked in 2013 when Egypt and Ethiopia first started their major dispute but obviously nothing rapture wise happened at that time. Is what is going on now another false alarm or is this the real deal?? I guess I would call it a major “watchers alert”.
Blessings Doves......John B