Dear Associates, Students and Friends:
This month’s article is somewhat a companion piece to last month’s Newsletter and presentation of Dr. Martin’s “The Elijah to Come” (at http://www.askelm.com/prophecy/p060201.htm). That article focused on the background and partial fulfillment in the person of John the Baptist as a type of Elijah in the area of Judea and Samaria, where a future Elijah will also perform his work. Although this month’s article stands alone, it is best read in conjunction with the Elijah article. Together the two give a very complete picture of conditions around the world and in Jerusalem just before the return of Christ to this earth. They also give a clearer understanding of our role in future events.
What did John the Baptist preach all the time? He taught “Repent you for the Kingdom of God is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). Repent for what? What were the doctrines that John the Baptist taught? John the Baptist taught the Law of Moses. He taught a return (a return to what?), a return to Moses in the proper way. He also prepared the way for Christ. The Elijah to come, and the restoration of all things will also call for repentance, a return to the Law of Moses (for Jews), and a preparing for the return of the Messiah of the Jews, Jesus Christ. He will also prepare one other thing. He will prepare a people, the Jews, to fulfill their God-given assignment, to be a kingdom of priests among the nations.
“If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples [nations]; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
Exodus 19:5–6
The function of priests was not only to perform rituals in the Tabernacle or Temple, but priests also taught people about God and His laws. Israel as a kingdom of priests was separated as God’s “own possession among all peoples” to perform that function of teaching the other nations of the world. They were also to be an example to the nations. They have not fulfilled that assignment — yet.
The Elijah to come will “teach the teachers.” Those taught by this Elijah will be Jews who will go forth, as in days of the early ekklesia, to teach the nations about God and His resurrected Messiah Jesus Christ. This teaching will be effective; the world will respond. That response will preview what is written in Isaiah 2:2–3 and Micah 4:1–2 (in nearly identical passages) which will be finally fulfilled during the Millennium. Note the provocative words of Zechariah chapter 8, all of which relate to our topic and to our current day:
“Thus says the Lord of hosts; ‘In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.’”
Zechariah 8:23
The article for March 2006 is a Prophetic Report titled, “The Coming Revolution in Knowledge.” It has a message that is international in scope yet its focus is on Jerusalem. At this moment the stage is being set for the Elijah to come to do his work. This article shows the future worldwide impact of the work of the ekklesia today. It is based on an audiotape by Dr. Martin in December 1990, just prior to the time that the United States and her allies drove Iraq out of Kuwait, in the First Gulf War, decimating Iraq’s military forces. When Dr. Martin gave this majority of the material in this lecture from December 4, 1990 — over 15 years ago — the nations of the world were preparing to attack. In the future such a situation will arise again, but this time Jerusalem will be the focus and the target of a potential attack.
The Elijah to come will have available a solid foundation of reliable biblical information to use for his teaching. God will not have a “rediscovery” of the truth to occur at this time. The restoration of all things will be based on the Holy Scriptures understood according to the plain language of the common man. It started here in our day, it continues now, it will continue through all our efforts.
I think you will read this article more than once …
Several beneficial changes have taken place at ASK. First of all a variety of circumstances made it advantageous to ASK (and to me), for my wife and I to move to Portland, Oregon and work near the ASK home office. The household move went as smoothly as can be expected. The benefits to ASK are that procedures and communications will benefit from face-to-face interaction by virtue of my proximity to the office. Hopefully I will be able to ease the workload for our busy “staff.”
Second, after some delay we are proud to present the appendices for Dr. Martin’s book 101 Bible Secrets That Christians Do Not Know (at http://www.askelm.com/secrets/index.asp) on the ASK Website. I invite you to read this fascinating information for yourselves. Each is an important article in its own right:
Appendix 1 – More on Crossing the Red Sea
Appendix 2 – The Error of the Long-haired Jesus
Appendix 3 – The Holy Spirit — Person or Power?
Appendix 4 – How the Bible Is Inspired
Appendix 5 – Where Is the Lake of Fire?
Appendix 6 – The Population of the Exodus
Appendix 7 – The Secret of the Number 666
Third, we will make further changes to the ASK website to further increase its ease of use, especially for new readers. I am sure you will appreciate the changes. One minor change already made is that we have a new globe spinning in the upper right-hand corner of the website. ASK is truly international in its outreach, insofar as we receive communications from around the world, which is why the spinning globe is there. I hope that you inform people about ASK and the website wherever you travel every chance you get. You never know how God will grow the seeds that you plant in people’s minds.
As you will see from this month’s article, there is still much to be done to provide frank, no nonsense information about the Holy Scriptures, using plain words to explain the Word of God clearly. The Scriptures were generally written in the language of the common man during their periods of composition (with a few exceptions, Isaiah and Hebrews use sophisticated language of the educated people of their respective eras). We at ASK do this for the sake of clarity, without the use of symbol or ambiguous terms. Now is the time for straightforward presentations and explanations of biblical material, to make Scripture easily understood so that this invaluable information is available to the greatest number of people, insofar as God will lead people to the printed books and articles as well as audios, videos, articles and books available free on the ASK website.
Your informing people by word of mouth is also valuable seed-planting. Those who respond will thank you, if not now then later when you meet in the resurrection.
We want to thank you now for all your help and assistance through prayers, communications to us, and through your free will contributions. It takes resources to produce and preserve this valuable information. As a reminder, ASK accepts contributions through credit cards (which is most convenient for overseas contributors). Remember that purchases of our printed materials (books and articles) can only be made in U.S. dollars. We thank you. You are in our prayers; we know we are in yours.
David W. Sielaff
David@askelm.com
|
© 1976-2021 Associates for Scriptural Knowledge - ASK is supported by freewill contributions |