Why do some professing Christians know many things about God’s Word, and therefore about God Himself, while others know very little? “I didn’t know that was in the Bible” is an oft-heard response when church people are shown what God says in His Holy Word. As this study of the Bible’s most symbolic and most misunderstood book will reveal, some things God allows mankind to know involve both time and choice elements. This is brought out in the Book of Daniel where God explains to the prophet that understanding of the visions he has seen and the prophesies he has heard will not come to pass until the “time of the end,” literally–“the end of the end times.” Daniel is commanded to write what he has seen and heard in a book and to seal it so that its contents cannot be understood until the end of the current era. In 12:4 God tells Daniel: “… O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased.” At that time God’s once-cryptic message would be made clear to His messengers, who would in turn share His revelations with the masses, only a few of whom–God’s true church–would believe their words. The Lord tells us in his Revelation (Apocalypse–“unveiling”) that even when the global terror He warned about is coming to pass, the vast majority of people, including church people, will not believe Him. Because that time is swiftly approaching, the Lamb of God has broken the seals of Revelation in order to reveal to those with eyes to see and ears to hear what is happening and will happen in the immediate future. Those who are His will take heed; the other 99%, their eyes closed, their ears stopped and their hearts hardened, will not know what is happening or why.

Why have only a few people understood, believed and obeyed the Lord’s Word throughout mankind’s history? Why have the masses rejected Him and His Holy Bible? Why has God deliberately hidden His message of salvation from the billions of people who have lived and are now living on this earth, including the church masses? Why does professing Christendom not believe and obey the Lord? The ultimate question is: Why does the Lord allow church people to believe they are hearing the Truth from their ministers? For the same reason He used parables when speaking to the masses when He walked the earth–so that they could not understand what He was saying. This is explained in Matthew 13. Here we find Jesus speaking to the “great multitudes (who were) gathered together unto Him …. And He spoke to them many things IN PARABLES, saying ….” Afterwards His disciples asked Him: “Why do You speak to them in parables? He answered and said unto them, ‘Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, BUT UNTO THEM IT IS NOT GIVEN (to understand) …. Therefore I speak to them in parables BECAUSE SEEING THEY SEE NOT, AND HEARING THEY HEAR NOT, NEITHER DO THEY UNDERSTAND (BELIEVE) …. FOR THIS PEOPLE’S HEART IS WAXED GROSS. THEIR EARS ARE DULL OF HEARING AND THEIR EYES THEY HAVE CLOSED (I SPEAK TO THEM IN PARABLES) LEST THEY SHOULD (SO THAT THEY CANNOT) SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND BE CONVERTED AND I SHOULD (SPRITUALLY) HEAL THEM.'” Note that Jesus deliberately withheld His Truth from the masses who had come to Him. Why? Because He knew they did not believe Him.

Nothing has changed. False believers in the false churches still do not believe what He has clearly written in His Word. THE MODERN CHURCH HAS CLOSED HER EYES, PLUGGED HER EARS AND HARDENED THEIR HEARTS. Therefore she remains ignorant of God’s Word/Way/Will even though His men are today spreading that Truth throughout the world via the mass media. Is the Lord being harsh toward professing Christendom by not forcing them to believe Him, thereby allowing them to languish in the Counterfeit Church? No. Not when you consider that they have shut their eyes, closed their ears and hardened their hearts to His Word and therefore to the Lord Himself; not when you consider that His prophets and apostles were martyred by false believers for telling them His Truth; not when you consider the price Jesus paid to bring that Truth to them. Even the patient, long-suffering Lord reaches a point where He says: “ENOUGH!” HE HAS REACHED THAT POINT.

That we are living in the last of the last days is proven by the fact that, for the first time in man’s history men are understanding what God revealed to Daniel, John and other prophets and apostles in the form of visions and prophesies. We are in the end times and are rapidly approaching “the end of the end times.”  God is opening the eyes of those who are truly His, who in turn are sharing His revelation with the masses, only a few of whom (“one of a city, two of a family” -Jer. 3:14/Mat. 7:13,14) believe their words. To be continued. L.J.