Mystery Accomplished

Jim Reeves

Description

Are we living in the "last days"? Is the world soon coming to an end? Are we facing the dreaded "tribulation" time? Is it possible to understand the Biblical book of Revelation?Mystery Accomplished! addresses the problems facing Christians in every culture as a result of false prophesies and fake healings. It clarifies the role of miracles in the lives of God's people and presents a logical, believable explanation of the Bible. It is a much-needed call to rethink much of what we are hearing around the world in the name of Jesus. It contains simple, straight-forward, Biblical answers to questions about the end times, miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, the "Last Days," and much more. Jesus' own words explain the time and purpose of His expected return, and the reader will find an understandable interpretation of John's Revelation of Jesus Christ. One can follow the Bible from beginning to end and see how the great mystery of God was revealed and accomplished. The revelation of this mystery is the story of the Bible from beginning to end. It is a love story about salvation; about establishing an eternal, heavenly kingdom into which all who believe are welcomed with open arms. False prophets and fake healers have made a mockery of Christianity and are destroying the influence of the church. Millions of innocent people are being led astray by "wolves in sheep's clothing" who have turned the gospel of Christ into a means of financial gain. Mystery Accomplished is a much-needed wake-up call for all believers. Learn the truth about the end times, the second coming of Christ, the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, the tribulation, the seven seals, the judgment, and much more. You can understand the Bible, including The Revelation of Jesus Christ. God's eternal message to mankind throughout the world is redemption and salvation...not destruction! Praise God for His wonderful salvation and everlasting presence. Mystery Accomplished may be one of the most enlightening and rewarding books you will read.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christian theology
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: First Edition Design Publishing
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781506902517
• Langue: English

Extrait

Mystery Accomplished
The Hope of the World

by
Jim Reeves
Mystery Accomplished, The Hope of the World
Copyright ©2013 Jim Reeves
ISBN 978-1506-902-50-0 PBK
ISBN 978-1506-902-51-7 EBK
May 2016
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016945541
Published and Distributed by
First Edition Design Publishing, Inc.
P.O. Box 20217, Sarasota, FL 34276-3217
www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means ─ electronic, mechanical, photo-copy, recording, or any other ─ except brief quotation in reviews, without the prior permission of the author or publisher.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible,
New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International
Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
To my mother, Ruth Reeves (1910-1996), whose unending quest for God’s truth shaped my future more than she would ever know. She not only gave me the ancient prayer below, but lived it in her daily life. Her expressed desire in her later years was to write down for her children and grandchildren, “Why we are not living in the last days.” She passed away, leaving that task for another. It is my prayer that this book, although less eloquent than she would have written, will express God’s truth and will honor both her Lord and her memory.
From the cowardice that shrinks from new truth,
From the laziness that is content with half-truth,
From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,
O God of Truth, deliver us!
~ Ancient Prayer
In Appreciation
I am deeply grateful to my wife, Donna, whose constant love, support, and unwavering faith in God have been my strength to carry on when I wanted to quit.
~
Special thanks to my good friend, Sharon McDaniel, who not only spent hours reading, correcting, and contributing to the contents of this book, but has also been an inspiration as a “fellow seeker” of God’s truth for many years.
~
Most of all, I am thankful to Jesus for willingly bearing my sin and shame to accomplish the mystery of God and make it possible for me to be what I am, a sinner saved by grace!
INTRODUCTION The Breath of Life 1

Section One Setting the Stage 9
CHAPTER 1 And God Said… ... 10
CHAPTER 2 Are We Living in the Last Days? 36
CHAPTER 3 The Kingdom of Heaven . 57
CHAPTER 4 The Consummation of the Ages 73
CHAPTER 5 Miraculous Gifts of the Holy Spirit 95

Section Two Explaining the Times 119
CHAPTER 6 The Teaching of Jesus 120
CHAPTER 7 The Teaching of Peter 141
CHAPTER 8 The Teaching of Paul 148
CHAPTER 9 The Teaching of James 173
CHAPTER 10 The Teaching of John . 181

Section Three Understanding the Revelation . 191
CHAPTER 11 What Is It All About? 192
CHAPTER 12 The Prophecy of Isaiah . 196
CHAPTER 13 The Prophecy of Ezekiel 212
CHAPTER 14 The Six Kingdoms of Daniel 223
CHAPTER 15 The Prophecy of Zechariah . 235
CHAPTER 16 Mystery Accomplished . 248

CONCLUSION The Hope of the World . 376

About the Author 391
INTRODUCTION
The Breath of Life
A New York-based human resources company recently compiled a ranking of cities that qualify as hardship posts based on a set of criteria that includes levels of pollution, disease, political violence, and availability of goods and services. The worst of the worst is located in an oil-rich country in the tropical region of Africa. The weather is sweltering hot and humid. The vast majority of the fifteen million people who live in this city have no electricity, running water, or toilet facilities. Trash is piled in the streets and on back roads, drainage ditches and gutters are filled with raw sewage and debris, and disease-carrying mosquitoes and rats are constant, daily companions. Over 24% of all children die of malaria before the age of five. Including adults, there are more than 25,000 malaria deaths every month, and that is only one of dozens of major health risks.
Then there is the smell. From the smoke of millions of charcoal fires over which meager rations are cooked and the diesel exhaust from power generators, mixed with the odor of rotting trash and open sewers, there is no place to catch a breath of fresh air. At the end of my first ten weeks there, I boarded an airplane for the thirteen-hour flight from Africa to Atlanta, Georgia. Exhausted from the long flight, I made my way to the tram which would take me to my connecting flight to Houston. As I exited the tram and ascended the escalator to the main floor of the Atlanta terminal, I was immediately rejuvenated by the aroma of freshly brewed Starbucks coffee and the sweet, mouth-watering smell of freshly baked cinnamon rolls. Then it hit me…I COULD BREATHE! For the first time in ten weeks I could take a breath and not smell the sewer. I stopped for a couple of minutes, took a few deep breaths, and silently thanked God for fresh air!
Almighty God wants to give us far more than just fresh air. He wants to breathe into us everlasting life. In the account of creation, the Bible says in Genesis 2:7, “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” God breathes life! The Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for doctrine (teaching), rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) . Far worse than malaria or yellow fever, all of us are terminally afflicted with the disease of sin. The Scriptures are the breath of heaven through which we learn of the curative, atoning blood of Jesus. We have all smelled the stench of Satan’s sewer long enough. It is time for a breath of fresh air!
Because the Scriptures are God-breathed, they alone are the deciding criteria for everything we believe and practice as Christians. When some of the Jews decided to leave Jesus because they could not accept his teachings, he asked his disciples if they would also leave. Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). It matters not what any man, including this author, thinks or says about a particular subject; God’s Word is the final authority. In Galatians 1:8, the apostle Paul said, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” This was such an important point in Paul’s life and teaching he repeated it again in the very next verse, “As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!”
This is strong language and, like today, some people who listened to Paul and the other apostles were careful about what they accepted as truth, yet others were not. In Acts 17:10-11 the Bible says, “As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” The church today desperately needs a new crop of “Bereans.”
There are many teachings prevalent today that need to be examined in light of the Scriptures to see if they are true. These doctrines have permeated the modern-day Christian church, have changed its world view and the focus of its mission, and have negated the positive impact it should be having in the world. In short, much of what people hear at church and on “Christian” television is “stinking thinking” that smells more like the sewer than the fresh aroma of good news. It is my earnest prayer that all who read this book will “ Search the Scriptures to see if these things are true.”
Can we know what the Bible says…and means? Absolutely! The God who created the world and loves us so much he sent his only Son to be crucified for our sin is able to write a book we can understand. How foolish of us to think otherwise. The problem with misunderstanding God’s Word lies not with the Scriptures, but with our lack of study and willingness to accept what God says, especially if it means we must change our own thinking or our lives. There is more effort by many today to make the Bible say what they want it to say, to approve their own opinions and beliefs, than simply to learn and live what God says.
The Bible is not a collection of short stories about many different topics. It is a collection of the writings of many different inspired authors over centuries of time, all telling the same story. There is one overall theme in the entire Bible; the redemption of man from the consequences of sin. The Old Testament contains prophesies of God’s plan for redemption as well as physical examples showing how this great mystery would be accomplished. The New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old in which we see the reality of what was promised. This redemptive plan of the Creator of the Universe was the mystery of the ages. The mystery is revealed in his Word. God wants, more than anything else, to breathe life back into his most beloved creation. Take a deep breath!

There are three fundamental principles of Bible study:
1. Let the Bible interpret itself.
2. Keep Scripture in its context.
3. Understand the historical time frame.

These fundamentals are critical to the proper understanding of any communication, written or oral. Although very simple and just plain common sense, the basic standards of Biblical interpretation are being largely ignored today, resulting in much confusion. The application of these three principles opens God’s will in clear and understandable terms. The Psalmist said, “The unfolding