The scattering and the gathering

“Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.” (Jer. 31:10).

I hear of the gathering of God’s people, and folks get excited about that. They want to be saved and gathered up by the Lord. But, according to Jeremiah, no one gets gathered until after they’ve been scattered.

That makes sense, doesn’t it. That’s logical. How can we be gathered without being scattered. But, no one wants to be scattered. Nevertheless, it’s coming.

“And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken My Law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, neither walked therein; but have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them: therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.” (Jer. 9:13).

But, that was then. How can it relate to our day? Do we walk after Baal? Yes, it happens all the time. How?

Baal and Ashtoreth headed a religion that substituted for the Law of God. Baal arbitrarily set up a standard that allowed the smart and rich and powerful to be lawless, and to rule rigorously over the not-so-smart, the poor, and the powerless. As a substitute, it fell into the realm of righteousness by works, on several levels.

I don’t have the time at the moment, but I’ll try to finish this tomorrow. Briefly, the reason I say that this is for us today comes from Daniel 12:7.

“And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.” (Dan. 12:7).

This is not for ancient Israel because that same 1260 year prophecy is found in Revelation also. What Daniel hears is for the very end—our day. After the 1260 year prophecy ended in 1798, another event must take place before the very end. That event is the scattering of the holy people. Who are the holy people today? I believe it refers to Protestantism and its remnant, Adventism.

What is the scattering about? What does scattering entail?

We find this in Leviticus under the curses and blessings chapter.

“And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright. But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; and if ye shall despise My statutes, or if your soul abhor My judgments, so that ye will not do all My commandments, but that ye break My covenant: I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.… And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:… And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours. And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.” (Lev.26:12-16,19,30-33).

When the Lord will have scattered the power of Protestantism and Adventism, then all the wonders would be finished, i.e. all the visions Daniel had seen of Satan standing up against Christ and destroying the holy people with the devil’s brand of peace. When you lay this text over Revelation 10:7, you see that the end of those wonders is the mystery of God finished at the beginning of the 7th trumpet. The mystery of God, I believe is the great controversy between God, the Father, and Satan, which only Christ could resolve. This is the book seen in the Father’s right hand in Revelation 5:1, which Jesus took after His crucifixion (Rev. 5:7), and is now open in Christ’s hand in Revelation 10:1.

I’ll leave it at that for now. I’m writing a book on Revelation chapters 4-11 which I see as the core of Revelation. Chapter 10 is very exciting after a lot of bad news between chapter 6, 8, and 9.