The Place of Safety
"GTA popularized a belief that true Christians would not necessarily go to a particular place of safety when the tribulation would come upon us - that we probably would be protected where we are. It is a heresy that we will be protected in our homes. What kind of character could I acquire locked in my own home - what lessons could I learn? Ultimately it became popular back then to laugh and scorn those who believed in a literal place of safety - they were said to be petrified. However, nobody in the anti-place of safety clique ever attempted to explain away the scriptures about the place of safety. They condemned dogmatism - you mustn't be dogmatic and avoid the issue completely.
Now the people of God can only be impressed with some of the most precious promises contained within the Word of God. They are full of hope. Many will most likely try to camp out in their living rooms - they will not survive for 3 1/2 years. People think protection is in their own hands. GTA had people believe that the teaching that the people of God will be preserved in a literal place of safety makes people survive oriented and that gets people hung up on physical circumstances. It is too physical, "It destroys faith" he used to say. But if you teach people there is no place of safety and you stress that maybe you will be protected in your living room, then people will get more spiritually oriented, have more faith and confidence in God and everything would be so much better he claimed.
Just the opposite occurred - the doctrine built an unbelievable fear reaction in so many members who expected to die as martyrs - it destroyed faith in God. The truth makes us free - the truth about the place of safety frees us from a lot of anxieties and enables us to have more faith in God - because God does it anyway. It increases faith and love for God.
In Revelation 12:14 we read, "But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent." Here is the promise of physical removal. Some will not accept that promise of physical protection, and some will not want to flee. Many today in the wider Church of God community have stayed with the idea they would be protected in their living rooms. There is plenty of warning to them - because that idea is going to come back as time goes on and it will become more prominent as the Great Tribulation gets closer. Yes, it will come back. God says so.
Let us go back to Revelation 12:10 "...the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down." A lot of that accusation will come through the media and government sources.
Verse 12: "Woe for the Devil has come down to you, having great wrath because he knows he has a short time." Great wrath!
Verse 13: "Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child." He will do it through the government and the media.
Verse 14: "But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent." As persecution grows something happens. It talks about a bird here. It's something symbolic.
In Exodus 19 and Deuteronomy 32 God, pictures the literal removal of the nation of Israel from one place to another and he uses the symbol of a bird.
In Exodus 19:4 God says, "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to myself."
In Deuteronomy 32:10 we read, "He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness, He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye". He began to work with Israel there in the wasteland, in the wilderness. He encompassed him with angels. He led them around, He instructed them - an analogy.
Verse 11: "As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings." She will take her eaglets who can't fly yet to safety. That symbolism is a picture of something.
Verse 12: "So the Lord alone led him and there was no foreign god with him." God's protection here.
Verse 13: "He made him in the heights of the earth, that he might eat the produce of the fields. He made him draw honey from the rock and oil from the flinty rock" - symbolizing miraculous feeding etc. This is a promise of a removal into a wilderness. God is like a great eagle on whom the people of God can hang like eaglets and He will take them to another location.
Let us go back to Revelation 12:14. It talks about the wilderness. Is it Petra? - maybe.
Verse 15: "So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood." Water is a type of army. Here is government harassment of the people of God even as we prepare and as we literally flee and there are indications in the Bible prophecy that they might throw us out. We will leave when they throw us out. It says here, however, that they are going to try and stop us and to bring us back. They will be so upset when we leave that they will do everything in their power to stop the flight of the people of God. Water is a type of army that will be sent by Satan. The armies are directed by the government, so we understand that it will be government involvement. They might try to bring us back possibly to imprison us.
Verse 16: "But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth." An earthquake will be between us and these armies. Satan is thwarted and goes back to the remnant of the woman to attack people who will say, "I won't go". He goes back and finds a remnant in their homes and these aren't unconverted people. They are brethren who keep the Ten Commandments and have the truth of Jesus Christ.
The anti-place of safety idea will come again and, strange enough, it will be promulgated by the Church of God groups who have Laodicean attitudes. Even as we prepare to flee, some unconverted relatives could call up the newspapers as we will have several weeks the Bible indicates that we will have to get ready. We will have time to prepare certain things and there will be headlines connecting us with the satanic Jim Jones cult. It will be hard to take. There will be a concerted organized attempt by the governments to prevent and stop the flight. Many in Laodicean churches of God will say "I don't want to be a part of that". There will be pressure not to flee, to keep on representing God in our homes and our community and people will be saying, "There has got to be a witness here. God will protect us. You can't go off and sell your house and sell your car and give up your job and leave the dog home by himself and you can't get your children out of school. I didn't expect all this publicity. We will be protected in our homes." The seeds for such ideas have already been sown in the last century for a “flee or not to flee controversy”. GTA began the anti-place of safety movement. The pressure against going to the place of safety is going to dramatically increase especially in the weeks before the start of the Great Tribulation.
I want us to see what kind of a bias against going to the Place of safety would be and what we should understand about Lot's wife. In a very important passage of scripture we read in Luke 17:26-28, "And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man they ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built."
When was this? It was in the days of Lot before Sodom was destroyed. The others around were not affected by Lot's warnings. As soon as Lot arrived in Zoar it happened. As we are preparing to leave, we are doing what Lot and Noah did. Often we apply this to the return of Christ. It isn't describing His return. It refers to the way of life of people and the reaction and attitude of people towards fleeing and the place of safety and some are going to say "I won't go".
Let's go back to the story in Genesis 19. What actually happened before the destruction of Sodom, before the tribulation? Beginning in verse 12 we read, "Then the men said to Lot, 'Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city; take them out of this place!' For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it." The angels said get out. As it was in the days of Lot so shall it be. They didn't believe it.
Verses 14-16: "So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, 'Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city!' But to his sons-in-law, he seemed to be joking. When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, 'Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.' And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city". He was attached to the city. There were questions in his mind.
Verse 17: "So it came to pass when they had brought them outside, that he said, 'Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. ‘Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed'". Finally, he gets the picture.
Verse 18: "Then Lot said to them, "Please, no, my lords!" I am not going to the mountains.
Verse 19: "Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die". Some evil may overtake me in the mountains and I might die up there. Many ministers scoffed in the past and many might scoff again saying, "Petra has no food or water. You will die." As it was in the days of Lot. The story of Lot is about escaping to a place of safety.
Verses 20 and 21: "See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. And he said to him, 'See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken'". God does as he asks.
Verses 22-26: "Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt"(verses 22-26).
Lot's wife wasn't sure she wanted to go into this place of safety. She liked Sodom and thought maybe God would protect me in the city. She was about to turn all the way around and she was going to go back into the city. She wasn't going to have anything to do with this place of safety idea. She turned around and she became a pillar of salt! That is a memorial for us! It means when the call comes to flee when the directive is given, we must go - we must not linger as Lot did, we must not turn back around as Lot's wife did, and we must go all the way! We must not give in to some anti-place of safety bias or reject the promise of literal physical protection.
Now back to Luke 17, verses 28-31: "Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so, will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed? On that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise, the one who is in the field, let him not turn back”.
Don't come down to get your stuff. Some in the last century applied this to the return of Christ but it doesn't make any sense. At Christ's return, there would be no question of going back to get your stuff. When? It's so totally clear that this is referring to the example of Lot and Noah, the Ark, and fleeing into a place of safety. If you are on the roof, don't come in to get your suitcase. If you are in the field, don't go back to your house to get it. And as you are going through the trauma of leaving, please remember Lot's wife - what happened to Lot's wife and why. She became a pillar of salt on the way to a place of safety because she was turning around and she was going to go back.
Christ says in verse 32, "Remember Lot's wife." Many who keep the commandment of Jesus and have the testimony of Christ will forget what Lot's wife did.
Christ goes in verses 33 and 34: "Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left". This is not the night of Christ's return. You can use this as a type of what might happen when Jesus returns but the context is not that.
Then He says in verses 35 to 37, "Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. And they answered and said to Him, 'Where, Lord?' So He said to them, 'Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together'". Here is a clear promise of protection. Learn the lesson of Lot's wife!
God promises in Revelation 3:10, "Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth". For those who keep God's word of perseverance, He says He will keep them from - out of, away from - the hour of trial to try the WHOLE world!
In Isaiah 26:20-21 God says, "Come, my people, enter your chambers, And shut your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment until the indignation is past. For behold, the LORD comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; The earth will also disclose her blood, and will no more cover her slain". Here is a promise of God of literal physical removal and protection. Verse 21 indicates a worldwide tribulation. In verse 20 it says chambers - that is an enclosed location. God shut the doors of the Ark and nobody could get into it. We cannot hide in our homes. Hide where? A little uncertainty generates faith. Maybe Petra is a type.
In Revelation 12:14 it talks about a wilderness which means a desolate, deserted place. A howling wilderness. It could be Arab land where the Bedouins live. There is the indication that it may be within a day's driving or flying distance from the city of Jerusalem. The Bible indicates it might take less than a day to make the trip from Jerusalem to the place of safety.
Luke 21 indicates it may well be an Arab land and a day's journey from Jerusalem. In verses 20 and 21 we read, "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her." In Matthew 24:15-16 it is put this way, "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains." This is the final sign for our leaving for the place of safety. There are going to be two signs that indicate that it is time to leave – in reality, it is one sign in two stages. We will be shown one sign several weeks before the deadline and a second sign the day of the deadline.
There will be the destruction of a Jewish place of worship and Jerusalem will be surrounded with armies. Europeans are going to desecrate that place of worship. When that occurs we are told, "Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains." That happens the day when the place of safety is closed to new arrivals. That is the second sign and is only for those who may find themselves in Judea. They already have fled. Maybe some of us will be in Judea that day. That doesn't mean we will already be in the place of safety.
Revelation 11 says the two witnesses will do their witness for 3 1/2 years in Jerusalem. Revelation 12 says we will be in the place of safety for 1260 days. The final sign to flee occurs 1260 days before Christ's return, that's the time we are supposed to be there. That is the last day. These people are down in Jerusalem, the deadline day, and they have got a few hours to get out of there and to flee into a place of safety. Most of the others will long since have made that trip. We may be all there that day, I don't know, helping the two witnesses set up and getting Jerusalem ready for them. If you are in Judea that day, you flee. Once again the time setting is clear. Don't come down from the housetop, don't race back to get your clothes because you will have no time to do that if you are in Jerusalem. Time is going to be at a premium. You will have a few hours to make it to that city of refuge before the doors literally close (verses 19-21). It is not on Jewish soil. You can see Jerusalem from a place of safety.
Daniel 11:40-45 indicates God says He will supernaturally protect a piece of Arab real estate for 3 years, but not 3 1/2. The king of this protected nation that is described here is the Jordanian king. God is describing the basic limitations of a little Arab country that is across the River Jordan from the nation of Israel. It has been there as long as Israel. And there are 3 types of people there. Some of them are still there, some of them are not, but the area in which these people live is going to be protected by God for 3 years. Why?
Verse 40: The King of the South is the leader of an Arab confederation. The King of the North, Europe, will come against this Arab leader and begin to destroy Arab countries. Verse 41: Edom used to be the south end of the nation of Jordan (Sinai). Moab is the country that now is Jordan. Ammon is the north part of Jordan. Verse 42: Why preserve a whole nation? I thought the place of safety was just one little city. God will preserve the major part of a tiny nation so that we may possibly build the place of safety into a magnificent city and we have got to have some facilities and we have got to have some help to do that. Why might God give stability and a certain amount of prosperity to that area for 3 years but not for the final 6 months? He will cut off the central and northern parts of the country in the last 6 months and then He will protect the south where we apparently are going to be.
What about the idea of Petra? In the Standard Bible Dictionary, we read the following about the Nabacean Arabs - a nomadic tribe south and east of the River Jordan called Bedouins who claim to be descendants of Nabacean Arabs.
In Isaiah 42:1 God says, "Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles". It describes the return of Jesus Christ. Verse 11: "Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, The villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing, Let them shout from the top of the mountains". Who is Kedar? A nomadic tribe that inhabited the Arabian desert hundreds of years ago, a selective term for the Bedouin community in general. The Arabs called Nabacean Arabs, who live around Petra call themselves Bedouin. They live there some of the time, but they basically wander and they view themselves as the descendants of the Nabacean and the descendants of Kedar.
That area of the Middle East in which the Bedouins live is told to rejoice and let the inhabitants of Petra sing. The Bedouins don't live in Petra. They graze their sheep there and they live around there. But here are people living there, it says in the Hebrew. Let the inhabitants of Petra sing! Who's doing the singing? The unconverted Bedouins with their flocks or somebody else who happens to live in the area in which Kedar dwells? "Let them shout from the tops of the mountains." Do you mean mountains will be still standing where the Bedouins live? Haven't you read that all the mountains are going to be flattened the day Jesus comes, or read in Revelation that all of the mountains flee out of their place, that God will flatten the mountains and there will be unbelievable earthquakes; but here in the Middle East in the area, where a rather small number of thousands of Bedouins live, there are mountains standing and up on the top of those mountains people are singing and in the middle of those mountains is the old city called Petra also standing untouched. Why? Verses 12 and 13 show it is the time of Christ's return.
Isaiah 33 is a fascinating chapter with a very striking symbolism. Verse 3 shows it is the end of the age. The whole world will be scattered, a time of worldwide tumult and the end of the age. Verse 5 – one day Christ is going to dwell on high but not quite yet. Verse 9 - The earth is going to mourn and languish. It talks about some Arab countries being destroyed such as Lebanon. Then verse 14: "The sinners in Zion are afraid; Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites: 'Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?'" Why are they afraid? Is this everlasting burning of something nuclear? Who can survive this awful time?
Verse 15: "He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, He who despises the gain of oppressions, Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes, Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, And shuts his eyes from seeing evil". The answer - a servant of God's will. Where?
Verse 16: "He will dwell on high; His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; Bread will be given him, His water will be sure." In the mountains. Matthew 24 says flee into the mountains. Which mountains? "His place of safety (defense - that is what Hebrew says) shall be the fortress made of rocks" - in Hebrew: mountains = Masad. Rocks = Petras (in Greek), Selas (in Hebrew). "Bread will be given him there". Because there will be no growing season at the beginning. "His waters shall be sure". The rainy season in Petra in the desert Negev is from October until March. That desert gets beautiful about January, it blossoms like a rose for a few weeks and you can catch the water there. In the beginning, we will have insufficient water but God says He will work it out so our waters are sure. That involves some miracles.
Verse 17 talks about Christ's coming. "Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will see the land that is very far off." Seeing the land far off could be a type.
Verse 18: "Your heart will meditate on terror: 'Where is the scribe? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?'" But you won't be living in this terror. The scribe, that is the military man who signs up the young soldiers receives the general who decides what tribute you bring. You will be able to see military maneuvers from the place of safety off in the land of promise, but there will be no maneuvers where you are.
Verse 19: "You shall not see a fierce people" there. That munitions of rocks will be untouched by those massive armies. We will see the aircraft screaming overhead, but they won't be able to drop bombs. We will see the rockets exploding at night. We will see untold millions killed in some of the bloodiest battles but we will be untouched where we will be.
For 3 years Jordan is going to be protected and for 6 months only the southern end of the country will be protected because there is going to be an attack on central and northern Jordan and God will remove His protection. God will give this promise for protection for them to give us time to build, to give us access to supplies and building materials and they will be favorable towards us and we might build and they might sell us anything we need. I would imagine they will help us construct the irrigation canals and help us to build homes. And they will be prosperous because of us. But God will ultimately withdraw His protection from them after we have built perhaps a magnificent city. God will cut off that lifeline with the populous center in the northern part of the nation of Jordan. And He will leave us in a sense to our own devices and will have a lot of company because God says those Jordanians that helped us are going to be allowed to flee south where we are and we are going to have a big group of Arabs and Jordanians living around us in the place of safety for the last 6 months before Jesus comes. And perhaps a lot of those might become converted during that time. They will most likely set up tent villages in the area of Petra.
Isaiah 16 is an incredible scripture. Isaiah 15 gives the context because the 15th chapter tells about the fall of Moab. God in Daniel 11 said Moab would be protected but He didn't say how long. It would be about 3 years. We read in Isaiah 15:5, "My heart will cry out for Moab; His fugitives shall flee to Zoar like a three-year-old heifer. For by the Ascent of Luhith, they will go up with weeping; For in the way of Horonaim they will raise up a cry of destruction." Because ultimately His protection is removed, his refugees will flee into Zoar - that's where Lot went; but because there would be no protection in Zoar, they would flee ultimately into the true place of safety. Notice that he would be like "a heifer of 3 years". What does that mean? God says in Isaiah 16:14, "But now the LORD has spoken, saying, 'Within three years, as the years of a hired man, the glory of Moab will be despised with all that great multitude, and the remnant will be very small and feeble.'" God is going to hire in a sense the Moabites to be our help and supply us with those needs that we have. We will have favor with them and they will help us build to some degree.
Now, Isaiah 16:1, "Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, From Sela to the wilderness, to the mount of the daughter of Zion. For it shall be as a wandering bird thrown out of the nest; So shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon." What are the Moabites doing in the south? They should be in the north. They are in the south because that is where we are and they have been living in tents and villages of Kedar. They send a tribute and a thanksgiving to Jesus when He comes. Here are these Arabs, Moabites, and they will be living there. Send to the ruler of the land -- Jesus Christ. The lambs are going to be sent from Sela (Petra), sent through the wilderness, across Jordan, "into the Mount of the daughters of Zion". Why do you have these Moabites from the central part of Jordan down in Petra which is in the south? As Jesus comes, they are sending tribute to Him across the desert to Jerusalem and they are saying in effect we want to be submissive to you. Maybe a lot of them will be converted because of their contact with us.
Isaiah 16:3: "Take counsel, execute judgment; Make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day; Hide the outcasts, Do not betray him who escapes." As you flee you should be careful so you're not seen. They are going south and God says to them make your shadows as the noon, even as you flee at the noon make sure you can't be seen as the Russian and Asian armies move across central and northern Jordan. He said don't let those armies see where you're going as you flee south. Why? Because there are other refugees there, other outcasts there, and the outcasts of Moab are to protect the outcasts of the living God, the refugees who have already fled there.
Verse 4: "Let My outcasts dwell with you, O Moab; Be a shelter to them from the face of the spoiler. For the extortioner is at an end, Devastation ceases, The oppressors are consumed out of the land." There are 2 groups - God's outcasts and the outcasts of the nation of Moab. And when does this occur?
Verse 5: "In mercy shall the throne be established." That's when Christ returns. So after the 3 years, the protection is removed and the last few months it is just the South. But who is the invader of Moab? The invader of Moab begins to surge across that part of the world. We need to understand this.
Jordan is going to be invaded by massive Oriental armies in the north and the center, but not in the south. The Asian armies led by Russia will come into the land of Israel where the Europeans will be in charge. They will come from the direction of the north, from Russia, Lebanon, and from the east. Asian armies of China, Vietnam, and India will roll across Iraq and Iran and they will join Russians and will surge across the southern end of Syria and across the northern end of Jordan into the land of Israel and to the city of Jerusalem coming from the East. Because of that thousands of Arabs will suddenly be fleeing south to escape those armies and will be banging on our door. We will tell them: you can't come in where we are, but you can make villages around us because God will protect you.
Ezekiel 25:1-2: "The word of the LORD came to me, saying, Son of man, set your face against the Ammonites and prophesy against them." We are going to preach this to them one day. We are going to set our face against them.
Verse 3: "Say to the Ammonites, 'Hear the word of the Lord GOD! Thus says the Lord GOD: "Because you said, 'Aha!' against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity." The sanctuary in Jerusalem when the Jewish place of worship is profaned and they laughed, they didn't mind, when Israel and our nations went captive and when the Europeans literally blitzed the nation of Judah into nothing and the Jordanians say “aha”, serves them right because you see there are a lot of Palestinians in Jordan and they are not very great lovers of the Jews.
Verse 4: "Indeed, therefore, I will deliver you as a possession to the men of the East, and they shall set their encampments among you and make their dwellings among you; they shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk." That will happen in the last few months when the protection has been removed.
Verses 5 to 8: "And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels and Ammon a resting place for flocks. Then you shall know that I am the LORD. 'For thus says the Lord GOD: "Because you clapped your hands, stamped your feet, and rejoiced in heart with all your disdain for the land of Israel, indeed, therefore, I will stretch out My hand against you, and give you as plunder to the nations; I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause you to perish from the countries; I will destroy you, and you shall know that I am the LORD. 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Because Moab and Seir say, 'Look! The house of Judah is like all the nations" - deliver Moab to the 200 million strong Asian armies rolling across that part of the Middle East to take Jerusalem from the Eastern side across the West Bank.
Verse 10: "To the men of the East I will give it as a possession, together with the Ammonites, that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations." But some of them survive and flee.
We read in Jeremiah 48:1: "Against Moab. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Woe to Nebo! For it is plundered, Kirjathaim is shamed and taken; The high stronghold is shamed and dismayed". This is going to happen and some of them will flee and God says they can. He doesn't say stay in your cities and die when these massive Asiatic armies literally destroy and devastate all of Moab and central Jordan and wipe out the city of Ammon (modern Aman). These people are going to help us to some degree and God gives them a special blessing. Nebo - that's in the North.
Verses 2 to 5: "No more praise of Moab. In Heshbon, they have devised evil against her: 'Come, and let us cut her off as a nation.' You also shall be cut down, O Madmen! The sword shall pursue you, a voice of crying shall be from Horonaim: 'Plundering and great destruction!' Moab is destroyed; Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. For in the Ascent of Luhith, they ascend with continual weeping; For in the descent of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction."
Now what do we say to them? Verse 6: "Flee, save your lives! And be like the juniper in the wilderness." Flee!
Verse 8 and 9: "And the plunderer shall come against every city; No one shall escape. The valley also shall perish, And the plain shall be destroyed, As the LORD has spoken. Give wings to Moab, That she may flee and get away; For her cities shall be desolate, Without any to dwell in them." Give wings unto all these carnal Arabs and where did God say they should flee to?
Verse 28: "You who dwell in Moab, leave the cities and dwell in the rock and be like the dove which makes her nest in the sides of the cave's mouth."
Every Jordanian knows exactly where Petra is. It's the only big tourist attraction in the whole country. They will also know where we are. The sign to flee is always involved with the Jews – their restoration of the Old Testament sacrificial system. Many Jews will flee when the tribulation begins and many may flee to Petra. There will be food there and it may feed us for a while, enough to get our engineers out repairing those irrigation basins and begin to plant gardens. 40 miles away from Petra the Israelites have built beautiful towns in 12 months. If the Jews can do it we can do it. At one time 130 000 Arabs lived in that city 2000 years ago and they had sufficient water. What kind of energy might be used? - maybe solar. We bring in by the truckload all these Jordanian-made tools and we say get out there and build us a city. The Israelites build beautiful towns in one year out of nothing. We have so much expertise in this church. I don't know what you'll do in the Kingdom of God, but in that place of safety, there will be plenty to do.
When Jesus comes all the Israelites and Jews who have gone as refugees worldwide will be brought back into the wilderness where Petra is. When Jesus comes we will be in the wilderness. We will rise and meet Him. We will rejoice and then we will go to Jerusalem and to live in that land and resettle it. They are going to have to go through a time of debriefing and reeducation and God says that is going to happen in the wilderness and He will not allow them into the land and they will come under the rod of the covenant. They will come into that wilderness and what are they going to find there? Isaiah said they will find a city, people rejoicing, and those mountains will be still standing and a city will have been built. And they will take people into that city and go into the land of promise. Once they are ready, they will walk across that desert to the River Jordan and they will walk across the River Jordan exactly as our Israelite ancestors did thousands of years ago.
Let us now look at Ezekiel 20.
Verse 33: "'As I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over you." That's the tribulation.
Verse 34: "I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out." This is after Jesus comes and where will they go? Directly into the Promised Land or are they going to be re-educated first? Are they going to have a rehabilitation center all ready for them? Jerusalem will be in rubble. Only one city will not be in rubble.
Verse 35: "And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face." This will last many weeks.
Verse 36: "Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you,' says the Lord GOD." The same way as the ancient Israel – He will debrief and prepare them again to enter the land.
Verse 37 and 38: "I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD." They shall not go into the land of Israel first. Where will our children be when we rise to meet Christ? When we are at the marriage supper they will most likely be in that beautiful city we might built while in the Place of Safety.
Without God, a place of safety would not be a place of safety. It is a terrible mistake to place too much emphasis on what we can do and what the church can do. We have got skills, but even with all this expertise, we must have the living God with us. He is our Rock. Petra is vulnerable to the attack. God will have to keep aircraft and missiles away from that place of refuge. God will place a cover over us. The heat is terrible, as is the cold at night. And there are scorpions. We'll be only a few kilometers away from some of the most horrendous battles to be fought in the history of mankind.
Psalm 91:1 - "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Shadow could refer to a cloud in the wilderness. He will warm us at night and cool us off in the day.
Verses 2 to 7: "I will say of the LORD, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.' Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings, you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not come near you." We'll be able to see it happening from the peaks.
Verses 8 to 16: Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands, they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life, I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation."
In conclusion - Remember Lot's wife - she didn't flee because she didn't want to go!"
Just the opposite occurred - the doctrine built an unbelievable fear reaction in so many members who expected to die as martyrs - it destroyed faith in God. The truth makes us free - the truth about the place of safety frees us from a lot of anxieties and enables us to have more faith in God - because God does it anyway. It increases faith and love for God.
In Revelation 12:14 we read, "But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent." Here is the promise of physical removal. Some will not accept that promise of physical protection, and some will not want to flee. Many today in the wider Church of God community have stayed with the idea they would be protected in their living rooms. There is plenty of warning to them - because that idea is going to come back as time goes on and it will become more prominent as the Great Tribulation gets closer. Yes, it will come back. God says so.
Let us go back to Revelation 12:10 "...the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down." A lot of that accusation will come through the media and government sources.
Verse 12: "Woe for the Devil has come down to you, having great wrath because he knows he has a short time." Great wrath!
Verse 13: "Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child." He will do it through the government and the media.
Verse 14: "But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent." As persecution grows something happens. It talks about a bird here. It's something symbolic.
In Exodus 19 and Deuteronomy 32 God, pictures the literal removal of the nation of Israel from one place to another and he uses the symbol of a bird.
In Exodus 19:4 God says, "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to myself."
In Deuteronomy 32:10 we read, "He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness, He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye". He began to work with Israel there in the wasteland, in the wilderness. He encompassed him with angels. He led them around, He instructed them - an analogy.
Verse 11: "As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings." She will take her eaglets who can't fly yet to safety. That symbolism is a picture of something.
Verse 12: "So the Lord alone led him and there was no foreign god with him." God's protection here.
Verse 13: "He made him in the heights of the earth, that he might eat the produce of the fields. He made him draw honey from the rock and oil from the flinty rock" - symbolizing miraculous feeding etc. This is a promise of a removal into a wilderness. God is like a great eagle on whom the people of God can hang like eaglets and He will take them to another location.
Let us go back to Revelation 12:14. It talks about the wilderness. Is it Petra? - maybe.
Verse 15: "So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood." Water is a type of army. Here is government harassment of the people of God even as we prepare and as we literally flee and there are indications in the Bible prophecy that they might throw us out. We will leave when they throw us out. It says here, however, that they are going to try and stop us and to bring us back. They will be so upset when we leave that they will do everything in their power to stop the flight of the people of God. Water is a type of army that will be sent by Satan. The armies are directed by the government, so we understand that it will be government involvement. They might try to bring us back possibly to imprison us.
Verse 16: "But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth." An earthquake will be between us and these armies. Satan is thwarted and goes back to the remnant of the woman to attack people who will say, "I won't go". He goes back and finds a remnant in their homes and these aren't unconverted people. They are brethren who keep the Ten Commandments and have the truth of Jesus Christ.
The anti-place of safety idea will come again and, strange enough, it will be promulgated by the Church of God groups who have Laodicean attitudes. Even as we prepare to flee, some unconverted relatives could call up the newspapers as we will have several weeks the Bible indicates that we will have to get ready. We will have time to prepare certain things and there will be headlines connecting us with the satanic Jim Jones cult. It will be hard to take. There will be a concerted organized attempt by the governments to prevent and stop the flight. Many in Laodicean churches of God will say "I don't want to be a part of that". There will be pressure not to flee, to keep on representing God in our homes and our community and people will be saying, "There has got to be a witness here. God will protect us. You can't go off and sell your house and sell your car and give up your job and leave the dog home by himself and you can't get your children out of school. I didn't expect all this publicity. We will be protected in our homes." The seeds for such ideas have already been sown in the last century for a “flee or not to flee controversy”. GTA began the anti-place of safety movement. The pressure against going to the place of safety is going to dramatically increase especially in the weeks before the start of the Great Tribulation.
I want us to see what kind of a bias against going to the Place of safety would be and what we should understand about Lot's wife. In a very important passage of scripture we read in Luke 17:26-28, "And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man they ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built."
When was this? It was in the days of Lot before Sodom was destroyed. The others around were not affected by Lot's warnings. As soon as Lot arrived in Zoar it happened. As we are preparing to leave, we are doing what Lot and Noah did. Often we apply this to the return of Christ. It isn't describing His return. It refers to the way of life of people and the reaction and attitude of people towards fleeing and the place of safety and some are going to say "I won't go".
Let's go back to the story in Genesis 19. What actually happened before the destruction of Sodom, before the tribulation? Beginning in verse 12 we read, "Then the men said to Lot, 'Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city; take them out of this place!' For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it." The angels said get out. As it was in the days of Lot so shall it be. They didn't believe it.
Verses 14-16: "So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, 'Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city!' But to his sons-in-law, he seemed to be joking. When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, 'Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.' And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city". He was attached to the city. There were questions in his mind.
Verse 17: "So it came to pass when they had brought them outside, that he said, 'Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. ‘Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed'". Finally, he gets the picture.
Verse 18: "Then Lot said to them, "Please, no, my lords!" I am not going to the mountains.
Verse 19: "Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die". Some evil may overtake me in the mountains and I might die up there. Many ministers scoffed in the past and many might scoff again saying, "Petra has no food or water. You will die." As it was in the days of Lot. The story of Lot is about escaping to a place of safety.
Verses 20 and 21: "See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. And he said to him, 'See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken'". God does as he asks.
Verses 22-26: "Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt"(verses 22-26).
Lot's wife wasn't sure she wanted to go into this place of safety. She liked Sodom and thought maybe God would protect me in the city. She was about to turn all the way around and she was going to go back into the city. She wasn't going to have anything to do with this place of safety idea. She turned around and she became a pillar of salt! That is a memorial for us! It means when the call comes to flee when the directive is given, we must go - we must not linger as Lot did, we must not turn back around as Lot's wife did, and we must go all the way! We must not give in to some anti-place of safety bias or reject the promise of literal physical protection.
Now back to Luke 17, verses 28-31: "Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so, will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed? On that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise, the one who is in the field, let him not turn back”.
Don't come down to get your stuff. Some in the last century applied this to the return of Christ but it doesn't make any sense. At Christ's return, there would be no question of going back to get your stuff. When? It's so totally clear that this is referring to the example of Lot and Noah, the Ark, and fleeing into a place of safety. If you are on the roof, don't come in to get your suitcase. If you are in the field, don't go back to your house to get it. And as you are going through the trauma of leaving, please remember Lot's wife - what happened to Lot's wife and why. She became a pillar of salt on the way to a place of safety because she was turning around and she was going to go back.
Christ says in verse 32, "Remember Lot's wife." Many who keep the commandment of Jesus and have the testimony of Christ will forget what Lot's wife did.
Christ goes in verses 33 and 34: "Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left". This is not the night of Christ's return. You can use this as a type of what might happen when Jesus returns but the context is not that.
Then He says in verses 35 to 37, "Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. And they answered and said to Him, 'Where, Lord?' So He said to them, 'Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together'". Here is a clear promise of protection. Learn the lesson of Lot's wife!
God promises in Revelation 3:10, "Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth". For those who keep God's word of perseverance, He says He will keep them from - out of, away from - the hour of trial to try the WHOLE world!
In Isaiah 26:20-21 God says, "Come, my people, enter your chambers, And shut your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment until the indignation is past. For behold, the LORD comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; The earth will also disclose her blood, and will no more cover her slain". Here is a promise of God of literal physical removal and protection. Verse 21 indicates a worldwide tribulation. In verse 20 it says chambers - that is an enclosed location. God shut the doors of the Ark and nobody could get into it. We cannot hide in our homes. Hide where? A little uncertainty generates faith. Maybe Petra is a type.
In Revelation 12:14 it talks about a wilderness which means a desolate, deserted place. A howling wilderness. It could be Arab land where the Bedouins live. There is the indication that it may be within a day's driving or flying distance from the city of Jerusalem. The Bible indicates it might take less than a day to make the trip from Jerusalem to the place of safety.
Luke 21 indicates it may well be an Arab land and a day's journey from Jerusalem. In verses 20 and 21 we read, "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her." In Matthew 24:15-16 it is put this way, "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains." This is the final sign for our leaving for the place of safety. There are going to be two signs that indicate that it is time to leave – in reality, it is one sign in two stages. We will be shown one sign several weeks before the deadline and a second sign the day of the deadline.
There will be the destruction of a Jewish place of worship and Jerusalem will be surrounded with armies. Europeans are going to desecrate that place of worship. When that occurs we are told, "Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains." That happens the day when the place of safety is closed to new arrivals. That is the second sign and is only for those who may find themselves in Judea. They already have fled. Maybe some of us will be in Judea that day. That doesn't mean we will already be in the place of safety.
Revelation 11 says the two witnesses will do their witness for 3 1/2 years in Jerusalem. Revelation 12 says we will be in the place of safety for 1260 days. The final sign to flee occurs 1260 days before Christ's return, that's the time we are supposed to be there. That is the last day. These people are down in Jerusalem, the deadline day, and they have got a few hours to get out of there and to flee into a place of safety. Most of the others will long since have made that trip. We may be all there that day, I don't know, helping the two witnesses set up and getting Jerusalem ready for them. If you are in Judea that day, you flee. Once again the time setting is clear. Don't come down from the housetop, don't race back to get your clothes because you will have no time to do that if you are in Jerusalem. Time is going to be at a premium. You will have a few hours to make it to that city of refuge before the doors literally close (verses 19-21). It is not on Jewish soil. You can see Jerusalem from a place of safety.
Daniel 11:40-45 indicates God says He will supernaturally protect a piece of Arab real estate for 3 years, but not 3 1/2. The king of this protected nation that is described here is the Jordanian king. God is describing the basic limitations of a little Arab country that is across the River Jordan from the nation of Israel. It has been there as long as Israel. And there are 3 types of people there. Some of them are still there, some of them are not, but the area in which these people live is going to be protected by God for 3 years. Why?
Verse 40: The King of the South is the leader of an Arab confederation. The King of the North, Europe, will come against this Arab leader and begin to destroy Arab countries. Verse 41: Edom used to be the south end of the nation of Jordan (Sinai). Moab is the country that now is Jordan. Ammon is the north part of Jordan. Verse 42: Why preserve a whole nation? I thought the place of safety was just one little city. God will preserve the major part of a tiny nation so that we may possibly build the place of safety into a magnificent city and we have got to have some facilities and we have got to have some help to do that. Why might God give stability and a certain amount of prosperity to that area for 3 years but not for the final 6 months? He will cut off the central and northern parts of the country in the last 6 months and then He will protect the south where we apparently are going to be.
What about the idea of Petra? In the Standard Bible Dictionary, we read the following about the Nabacean Arabs - a nomadic tribe south and east of the River Jordan called Bedouins who claim to be descendants of Nabacean Arabs.
In Isaiah 42:1 God says, "Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles". It describes the return of Jesus Christ. Verse 11: "Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, The villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing, Let them shout from the top of the mountains". Who is Kedar? A nomadic tribe that inhabited the Arabian desert hundreds of years ago, a selective term for the Bedouin community in general. The Arabs called Nabacean Arabs, who live around Petra call themselves Bedouin. They live there some of the time, but they basically wander and they view themselves as the descendants of the Nabacean and the descendants of Kedar.
That area of the Middle East in which the Bedouins live is told to rejoice and let the inhabitants of Petra sing. The Bedouins don't live in Petra. They graze their sheep there and they live around there. But here are people living there, it says in the Hebrew. Let the inhabitants of Petra sing! Who's doing the singing? The unconverted Bedouins with their flocks or somebody else who happens to live in the area in which Kedar dwells? "Let them shout from the tops of the mountains." Do you mean mountains will be still standing where the Bedouins live? Haven't you read that all the mountains are going to be flattened the day Jesus comes, or read in Revelation that all of the mountains flee out of their place, that God will flatten the mountains and there will be unbelievable earthquakes; but here in the Middle East in the area, where a rather small number of thousands of Bedouins live, there are mountains standing and up on the top of those mountains people are singing and in the middle of those mountains is the old city called Petra also standing untouched. Why? Verses 12 and 13 show it is the time of Christ's return.
Isaiah 33 is a fascinating chapter with a very striking symbolism. Verse 3 shows it is the end of the age. The whole world will be scattered, a time of worldwide tumult and the end of the age. Verse 5 – one day Christ is going to dwell on high but not quite yet. Verse 9 - The earth is going to mourn and languish. It talks about some Arab countries being destroyed such as Lebanon. Then verse 14: "The sinners in Zion are afraid; Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites: 'Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?'" Why are they afraid? Is this everlasting burning of something nuclear? Who can survive this awful time?
Verse 15: "He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, He who despises the gain of oppressions, Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes, Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, And shuts his eyes from seeing evil". The answer - a servant of God's will. Where?
Verse 16: "He will dwell on high; His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; Bread will be given him, His water will be sure." In the mountains. Matthew 24 says flee into the mountains. Which mountains? "His place of safety (defense - that is what Hebrew says) shall be the fortress made of rocks" - in Hebrew: mountains = Masad. Rocks = Petras (in Greek), Selas (in Hebrew). "Bread will be given him there". Because there will be no growing season at the beginning. "His waters shall be sure". The rainy season in Petra in the desert Negev is from October until March. That desert gets beautiful about January, it blossoms like a rose for a few weeks and you can catch the water there. In the beginning, we will have insufficient water but God says He will work it out so our waters are sure. That involves some miracles.
Verse 17 talks about Christ's coming. "Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will see the land that is very far off." Seeing the land far off could be a type.
Verse 18: "Your heart will meditate on terror: 'Where is the scribe? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?'" But you won't be living in this terror. The scribe, that is the military man who signs up the young soldiers receives the general who decides what tribute you bring. You will be able to see military maneuvers from the place of safety off in the land of promise, but there will be no maneuvers where you are.
Verse 19: "You shall not see a fierce people" there. That munitions of rocks will be untouched by those massive armies. We will see the aircraft screaming overhead, but they won't be able to drop bombs. We will see the rockets exploding at night. We will see untold millions killed in some of the bloodiest battles but we will be untouched where we will be.
For 3 years Jordan is going to be protected and for 6 months only the southern end of the country will be protected because there is going to be an attack on central and northern Jordan and God will remove His protection. God will give this promise for protection for them to give us time to build, to give us access to supplies and building materials and they will be favorable towards us and we might build and they might sell us anything we need. I would imagine they will help us construct the irrigation canals and help us to build homes. And they will be prosperous because of us. But God will ultimately withdraw His protection from them after we have built perhaps a magnificent city. God will cut off that lifeline with the populous center in the northern part of the nation of Jordan. And He will leave us in a sense to our own devices and will have a lot of company because God says those Jordanians that helped us are going to be allowed to flee south where we are and we are going to have a big group of Arabs and Jordanians living around us in the place of safety for the last 6 months before Jesus comes. And perhaps a lot of those might become converted during that time. They will most likely set up tent villages in the area of Petra.
Isaiah 16 is an incredible scripture. Isaiah 15 gives the context because the 15th chapter tells about the fall of Moab. God in Daniel 11 said Moab would be protected but He didn't say how long. It would be about 3 years. We read in Isaiah 15:5, "My heart will cry out for Moab; His fugitives shall flee to Zoar like a three-year-old heifer. For by the Ascent of Luhith, they will go up with weeping; For in the way of Horonaim they will raise up a cry of destruction." Because ultimately His protection is removed, his refugees will flee into Zoar - that's where Lot went; but because there would be no protection in Zoar, they would flee ultimately into the true place of safety. Notice that he would be like "a heifer of 3 years". What does that mean? God says in Isaiah 16:14, "But now the LORD has spoken, saying, 'Within three years, as the years of a hired man, the glory of Moab will be despised with all that great multitude, and the remnant will be very small and feeble.'" God is going to hire in a sense the Moabites to be our help and supply us with those needs that we have. We will have favor with them and they will help us build to some degree.
Now, Isaiah 16:1, "Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, From Sela to the wilderness, to the mount of the daughter of Zion. For it shall be as a wandering bird thrown out of the nest; So shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon." What are the Moabites doing in the south? They should be in the north. They are in the south because that is where we are and they have been living in tents and villages of Kedar. They send a tribute and a thanksgiving to Jesus when He comes. Here are these Arabs, Moabites, and they will be living there. Send to the ruler of the land -- Jesus Christ. The lambs are going to be sent from Sela (Petra), sent through the wilderness, across Jordan, "into the Mount of the daughters of Zion". Why do you have these Moabites from the central part of Jordan down in Petra which is in the south? As Jesus comes, they are sending tribute to Him across the desert to Jerusalem and they are saying in effect we want to be submissive to you. Maybe a lot of them will be converted because of their contact with us.
Isaiah 16:3: "Take counsel, execute judgment; Make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day; Hide the outcasts, Do not betray him who escapes." As you flee you should be careful so you're not seen. They are going south and God says to them make your shadows as the noon, even as you flee at the noon make sure you can't be seen as the Russian and Asian armies move across central and northern Jordan. He said don't let those armies see where you're going as you flee south. Why? Because there are other refugees there, other outcasts there, and the outcasts of Moab are to protect the outcasts of the living God, the refugees who have already fled there.
Verse 4: "Let My outcasts dwell with you, O Moab; Be a shelter to them from the face of the spoiler. For the extortioner is at an end, Devastation ceases, The oppressors are consumed out of the land." There are 2 groups - God's outcasts and the outcasts of the nation of Moab. And when does this occur?
Verse 5: "In mercy shall the throne be established." That's when Christ returns. So after the 3 years, the protection is removed and the last few months it is just the South. But who is the invader of Moab? The invader of Moab begins to surge across that part of the world. We need to understand this.
Jordan is going to be invaded by massive Oriental armies in the north and the center, but not in the south. The Asian armies led by Russia will come into the land of Israel where the Europeans will be in charge. They will come from the direction of the north, from Russia, Lebanon, and from the east. Asian armies of China, Vietnam, and India will roll across Iraq and Iran and they will join Russians and will surge across the southern end of Syria and across the northern end of Jordan into the land of Israel and to the city of Jerusalem coming from the East. Because of that thousands of Arabs will suddenly be fleeing south to escape those armies and will be banging on our door. We will tell them: you can't come in where we are, but you can make villages around us because God will protect you.
Ezekiel 25:1-2: "The word of the LORD came to me, saying, Son of man, set your face against the Ammonites and prophesy against them." We are going to preach this to them one day. We are going to set our face against them.
Verse 3: "Say to the Ammonites, 'Hear the word of the Lord GOD! Thus says the Lord GOD: "Because you said, 'Aha!' against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity." The sanctuary in Jerusalem when the Jewish place of worship is profaned and they laughed, they didn't mind, when Israel and our nations went captive and when the Europeans literally blitzed the nation of Judah into nothing and the Jordanians say “aha”, serves them right because you see there are a lot of Palestinians in Jordan and they are not very great lovers of the Jews.
Verse 4: "Indeed, therefore, I will deliver you as a possession to the men of the East, and they shall set their encampments among you and make their dwellings among you; they shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk." That will happen in the last few months when the protection has been removed.
Verses 5 to 8: "And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels and Ammon a resting place for flocks. Then you shall know that I am the LORD. 'For thus says the Lord GOD: "Because you clapped your hands, stamped your feet, and rejoiced in heart with all your disdain for the land of Israel, indeed, therefore, I will stretch out My hand against you, and give you as plunder to the nations; I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause you to perish from the countries; I will destroy you, and you shall know that I am the LORD. 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Because Moab and Seir say, 'Look! The house of Judah is like all the nations" - deliver Moab to the 200 million strong Asian armies rolling across that part of the Middle East to take Jerusalem from the Eastern side across the West Bank.
Verse 10: "To the men of the East I will give it as a possession, together with the Ammonites, that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations." But some of them survive and flee.
We read in Jeremiah 48:1: "Against Moab. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Woe to Nebo! For it is plundered, Kirjathaim is shamed and taken; The high stronghold is shamed and dismayed". This is going to happen and some of them will flee and God says they can. He doesn't say stay in your cities and die when these massive Asiatic armies literally destroy and devastate all of Moab and central Jordan and wipe out the city of Ammon (modern Aman). These people are going to help us to some degree and God gives them a special blessing. Nebo - that's in the North.
Verses 2 to 5: "No more praise of Moab. In Heshbon, they have devised evil against her: 'Come, and let us cut her off as a nation.' You also shall be cut down, O Madmen! The sword shall pursue you, a voice of crying shall be from Horonaim: 'Plundering and great destruction!' Moab is destroyed; Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. For in the Ascent of Luhith, they ascend with continual weeping; For in the descent of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction."
Now what do we say to them? Verse 6: "Flee, save your lives! And be like the juniper in the wilderness." Flee!
Verse 8 and 9: "And the plunderer shall come against every city; No one shall escape. The valley also shall perish, And the plain shall be destroyed, As the LORD has spoken. Give wings to Moab, That she may flee and get away; For her cities shall be desolate, Without any to dwell in them." Give wings unto all these carnal Arabs and where did God say they should flee to?
Verse 28: "You who dwell in Moab, leave the cities and dwell in the rock and be like the dove which makes her nest in the sides of the cave's mouth."
Every Jordanian knows exactly where Petra is. It's the only big tourist attraction in the whole country. They will also know where we are. The sign to flee is always involved with the Jews – their restoration of the Old Testament sacrificial system. Many Jews will flee when the tribulation begins and many may flee to Petra. There will be food there and it may feed us for a while, enough to get our engineers out repairing those irrigation basins and begin to plant gardens. 40 miles away from Petra the Israelites have built beautiful towns in 12 months. If the Jews can do it we can do it. At one time 130 000 Arabs lived in that city 2000 years ago and they had sufficient water. What kind of energy might be used? - maybe solar. We bring in by the truckload all these Jordanian-made tools and we say get out there and build us a city. The Israelites build beautiful towns in one year out of nothing. We have so much expertise in this church. I don't know what you'll do in the Kingdom of God, but in that place of safety, there will be plenty to do.
When Jesus comes all the Israelites and Jews who have gone as refugees worldwide will be brought back into the wilderness where Petra is. When Jesus comes we will be in the wilderness. We will rise and meet Him. We will rejoice and then we will go to Jerusalem and to live in that land and resettle it. They are going to have to go through a time of debriefing and reeducation and God says that is going to happen in the wilderness and He will not allow them into the land and they will come under the rod of the covenant. They will come into that wilderness and what are they going to find there? Isaiah said they will find a city, people rejoicing, and those mountains will be still standing and a city will have been built. And they will take people into that city and go into the land of promise. Once they are ready, they will walk across that desert to the River Jordan and they will walk across the River Jordan exactly as our Israelite ancestors did thousands of years ago.
Let us now look at Ezekiel 20.
Verse 33: "'As I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over you." That's the tribulation.
Verse 34: "I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out." This is after Jesus comes and where will they go? Directly into the Promised Land or are they going to be re-educated first? Are they going to have a rehabilitation center all ready for them? Jerusalem will be in rubble. Only one city will not be in rubble.
Verse 35: "And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face." This will last many weeks.
Verse 36: "Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you,' says the Lord GOD." The same way as the ancient Israel – He will debrief and prepare them again to enter the land.
Verse 37 and 38: "I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD." They shall not go into the land of Israel first. Where will our children be when we rise to meet Christ? When we are at the marriage supper they will most likely be in that beautiful city we might built while in the Place of Safety.
Without God, a place of safety would not be a place of safety. It is a terrible mistake to place too much emphasis on what we can do and what the church can do. We have got skills, but even with all this expertise, we must have the living God with us. He is our Rock. Petra is vulnerable to the attack. God will have to keep aircraft and missiles away from that place of refuge. God will place a cover over us. The heat is terrible, as is the cold at night. And there are scorpions. We'll be only a few kilometers away from some of the most horrendous battles to be fought in the history of mankind.
Psalm 91:1 - "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Shadow could refer to a cloud in the wilderness. He will warm us at night and cool us off in the day.
Verses 2 to 7: "I will say of the LORD, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.' Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings, you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not come near you." We'll be able to see it happening from the peaks.
Verses 8 to 16: Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands, they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life, I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation."
In conclusion - Remember Lot's wife - she didn't flee because she didn't want to go!"
--Aleksandar Veljic
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