Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord Malachi 4:5  

For there shall arise false Christ and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall decieve even the very elect Matthew 24:24 

 Now the Spirit speaks expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils 1 Timothy 4:1 

 But in vain do they worship Me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men Matthew 15:9 

 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain and you will do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts. Above all you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophets own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit 2 Peter 1:19,21 

 Blessed be he that reads and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand.  Revelation 1:3

This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of there own selves, covetous,boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,unholy. Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that do good.Traitors, Heady, highminded,lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away. 2 Timothy 3: 1-5 

 Little children it is the last time and as you have heard that antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrist, whereby we know it is the last time. 1 John 2:18 

 Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God 2 Thessalonians 2:3,4 

 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body according to the working whereby HE IS ABLE even to subdue all things unto Himself. Philippians 3:21 

 At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me. Do not do it. I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold with the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Revelation 19:10 

  The Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shall prophesy with them and you shall be turned into another man. 1 Samuel 10:6

And Elijah answered and said unto them. If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of god came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. 2 Kings 1:12

 And they shall know that there has been a prophet among them. Ezekiel 2:5

For the Lord Himself shall ascend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17

 I tell you the truth a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. John 5:25

And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather His elect from the four winds from one end of the heavens to the other. Matthew 24:31

But our citizenship is in heaven. and we eagerly await a Savior from there the Lord Jesus Christ who by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control will transform our lowly bodies so they will be like His glorious body. Philippians 3:20,21

  Listen I will tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep but we will all be changed in a flash ia a twinkling of a eye at the last trumpet. The dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:51,52 

 For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you will also appear with Him in glory. Colossians 3:3,4 Lookung for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the \great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Titus 2:13

Because thou has kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the the hour of temptation, which shall come upon the all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Revelation 3:10

Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I may fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am a ambassador in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it fearlessly as I should. Ephesians 6:19,20

THE RELUCTANT PROPHET

Thomas J. Grace

Some say Jonah's reluctance to go to Nineveh to preach repentance was because the people there were the enemies of Israel ; he believed his people would be safer if God destroyed them ; others say he feared he would be killed by them.   Jonah may have been the widow's son that Elijah raised from the dead 1 Kings 17:21. If this is so then Jonah spent three and one half years with Elijah ; as he grew up he witnessed the suffering of Elijah as he prayed for his people and saw many perish during the drought and famine.  Perhaps Jonah decided he would not become a prophet ; he had already learned of all the prophets suffering as Jesus said in Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem that kills the prophets.  Jesus saw Jerusalem as a holy city ; a place of unbelief and the city of His own death.

Many people want to be revival good news prophets ; they would be popular and there are many.  We would all enjoy this ministry but a prophet does not get to select his message or its destination and most especially now in the last days are not good news 2 Peter 1:20 Above all you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophets own interpretation. 21 For the prophecy never had its origin in the will of man but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.  Isaiah spoke the most prophecies about the life of Christ and was the most quoted by Jesus who recognized the words Isaiah wrote about Him from His birth until His death.  Christ the Author of good news of salvation had Himself to deliver many prophecies of the last days and even of His own death on the cross.  He also foretold of the great prophecy of His own resurrection, His final return and the eternal kingdom He and the Father have prepared for all who believe in His message of salvation for all who obey and believe in Him. 

David, king of Israel, a man after God's own heart Acts 13:22 was also a sinner in need of a Savior.  David prayed for and received a new heart Psalm 51:10 create in me a new heart as God promised in Ezekiel 11:19 I will give them a undivided heart and put a new spirit in them ; I will remove from them a heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. David believed in the coming Savior ; he needed a Savior and he sought him in prayer. When God finally revealed to David his Savior what did he see the Sermon on the Mount, Lazarus raised from the dead the transfiguration on the mountain or any of the great acts of Christ no none of these were seen by David. God chose to show David the greatest act of the Savior His crucifixtion.  In Psalm 22 David saw the life of his Savior being sacrificed for the sins of the world.  970 years before the life of Christ David heard the words My God my God why have you forsaken me the only words Jesus spoke on the cross that were foretold in scripture. David saw the nails in Christ hands' ; he heard the mocker call out to him let the Lord save Him, he saw His garments divided by the soldiers, and watched as his Savior died on the cross.  When the prophet Isaiah wrote Isaiah 50, and 53 and learned how much Jesus would suffer for us he must have also read Psalm 22 and learned how David already had some of this knowledge of how their Savior would suffer.  Isaiah  must have been amazed that the Savior that would come into the world by a miracle birth would leave by a terrible murder.  Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. The virgin will be with  child and will give birth to a son and you will call Him Immanuel. Did God show him the end ?  No, but the beginning ; without the cross there is no Savior and we would be lost for eternity without the death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ.  This was not the vision David expected of his Savior perhaps he believed he would be a great general, a king. or even a heavenly archangel figure but David did believe what God had showed him even though it was not what he wanted to see or believe. We often only believe God's word or message when it is only the message we want to receive.  Certainly David received a prophecy he might have been reluctant to share with others ; the vision of the Savior being murdered by his own people just as Isaiah the prophet will later prophecy about.

As we look at both men, David with a different vision than he expected and Jonah with a message he did not want to deliver, we learn how we must trust God and be willing to deliver His message whatever that might be. The prophecy may not be well liked and not believed and may put you in danger even among fellow believers ; doubt and risk will be high.  Certainly Jonah did not want to go home and announce my preaching saved Nineveh from destruction and David did not want to tell that the people of Israel will kill there own Savior. 

What kind of men and women do we hear from today claiming to be last day prophets ?  Jesus warned us about false prophets in the last days Matthew 24:24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect if that were possible.  Do these people today match the personal character of the prophets of the Bible or are they loved by the world as the false prophets in the Bible were ?  Is there teaching based on Scripture or what will appear on the New York Times best sellers list or something easily turned into a movie script.  Will people be warned to repent and believe in Christ or entertained by a last day romance and adventure stories.  Just as in the days of Christ it was not the Jewish leaders that recognized Christ but the common people, those who knew they needed a Savior.  Nicodemus, a man Jesus called Israel's teacher could not understand the message Jesus was to teach him about being born again, but the Samaritan woman at the well would quickly learn that Jesus was the Savior shows us how we learn about Jesus not with education and training but with faith in God.  We see two private meetings with Jesus ; Nicodemus a scholar and the Samaritan woman who would return to Samaria, tell others about Christ, lead them to Him.  She began a revival in Samaria and we don't even know her name.  Nicodemus returned to the Sanhedrin, the group that will plan the arrest and murder of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

In the last days many Christian leaders will suffer from the Nicodemus problem ; they will know Christ but not recognize Him. They will not recognize the signs of the times because like the leaders during the day of Christ they have too much invested in the world and will no longer believe in the greater future eternal life with the Father. The only prophet during the life of Christ was John the Baptist ; he wrote no books although we should be warned there are many false gospels are being created today to destroy our faith.  John lived in the desert ate locusts and had no training yet Jesus called him Luke 7:28 the greatest of all prophets. People believed John's message of repentance and the coming Savior and were baptized by him.  But not the leaders as we hear there response to Jesus question about John Luke 20:3,7 John's baptism was it from heaven or from man. The Pharisees refused to answer because the crowd believed John was a prophet the Pharisees did not follow. Who are we looking for today a man like John or a false prophet in a limousine and a private jet ?  Let us remember the true prophet.  John was arrested and executed at the birthday party for King Herod.  Many of the religious and political leaders were present as John's head was carried into the room on a plate.  Many of those who would soon murder our Lord were there to sing and dance as the greatest of all prophets was executed.  John who always knew He must increase I must decrease was never a reluctant prophet.  Even in prison he spoke to Herod of Christ and never denied Him. 

Back to today.  We live in a world of false teachers, prophets, gospels and false Christs.  To make it even more confusing we even have false antiChrists making it even difficult for the deceived to know what to not believe.  People focus on who will be the antiChrist, what country will he come from, what religion.  You do not need to identify him ; he will identify you and your troubles will begin Luke 21:12.  But before this they will lay hands on you and persecute you.  John the Baptist the only prophet to have had prophecy wrote about his life Isaiah 40:3-6 foretold of one who would prepare the way of the Lord. Malachi 4:5 tells us of Elijah's return before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. This last day prophet is who we should be looking for ;  our focus must be on God's promise to bring a time of final repentance for all who will believe in His Son Jesus Christ.  The world will be looking for the antiChrist. 

Perhaps they think prophecy can be changed by writing a new screenplay or a new gospel.  We must trust God's word and a promise of a new life and a new world.  Let us look for the promised prophet and the return of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring us to the heavenly home He has prepared for us. 

Finally, when all the Bibles are burned, the churches are torn down and pastors are put in prison, the cross will still be here.  The cross where all sins are forgiven, all prayers answered and all our needs are met. Find the cross and He that was crucified upon it who died for you.  Christ will be there.  Wherever you are in these last days, whatever you see happening to mankind by man in these final hours, remember the cross.  Even in the last dreadful moments, Jesus will be there for you.  Make it your final duty to accept Christ as your Savior.  Don't allow the horrible works of Satan to keep you from the happiness ahead, believe now in Christ and share His message of salvation with others now while we are still free to do so. 

Let us remember the words of Christ Himself who said I am coming soon and blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book Revelation 22:7. 

In summary we cannot have a reluctant prophet today ; the time is too short and Christ could return at any time.  Even while Jonah spent three days in the belly of the great fish some in Nineveh did perish without hearing God's word and the call to repentance.  Although we believe like Jonah there are many good reasons to hesitate to preach the Gospel today.  We cannot allow such a loss of time today for many people may not have the opportunity to hear the Gospel again before we all perish.  We cannot allow men and women to be eternally lost because of our delay to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all mankind. Luke 19:10  For the Son of Man come to seek and to save that which was lost. At the end of Jesus' own prophecy about his return during the last days Jesus said Luke 21:36 Watch you therefore and pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. 

CHRIST LOVES YOU.AMEN.COME LORD JESUS