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The Far Greater Hope

For centuries Christians -- and even the Churches of God -- have been thoroughly confused
over the two events pictured in Revelation 10 and 19, and placed their hope and expectations and
yearnings on the return of Yeshua the Messiah while relegating YEHOVAH (YHVH) and His re-
turn to the dust bin! While the return of the Messiah is not to be minimized -- the FAR GREATER,
earthshaking, awesome mind-reeling event is that of the "SHEKINAH" GLORY RETURNING TO
THIS EARTH to reside and rule from the Temple in Jerusalem! THIS is the event pictured in
Revelation 19! All the prophets of the Old Testament clearly predicted a visible, awesome, literal
manifestation of the "Shekinah" Glory of YEHOVAH once again -- this we see in Revelation 19.

Much too often Christians have allowed themselves to hastily read through the texts, all the
while ASSUMING that when the prophets write of YEHOVAH Himself acting in decisive ways,
they actually refer to His Messiah. How often have you heard preachers and ministers say that
"when Jesus returns, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives." Unfortunately, this is CARELESS
AND UNSCHOLARLY exegesis. As you can plainly see, after reading all the texts I have laid out,
the prophets ALWAYS maintain a CLEAR DISTINCTION between the DRAMATIC APPEAR-
ANCE of the LORD God (YHVH) in Revelation 19 and the coming of the Messiah in Revelation
10:1-7, and His subsequent rule UNDER YEHOVAH.

The prophets understood this dramatic, personal intervention of YEHOVAH in history as a
RETURN or "Second Coming." We read in Haggai that YEHOVAH declares: "ONCE MORE in a
little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land" (2:6).
Isaiah clearly yearns for this time to arrive:

Oh, that You would rend the heavens and COME DOWN, that the mountains might quake at
Your ["Shekinah"] PRESENCE -- as fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to
boil -- to make Your name known to Thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at
Your Presence! When You did awesome things which we did not expect, YOU DID COME
DOWN, the mountains quaked at Thy ["Shekinah"] presence. For from of old they have not
heard nor perceived by ear, neither has the eye seen a God besides You, who acts in behalf
of the one WHO WAITS FOR HIM (Isaiah 64:1-4).

Also, in Isaiah 24, the prophet proclaims --

Behold, YEHOVAH lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface, and scatters its
inhabitants...They raise their voices, they shout for joy. They cry out from the west con-
cerning the majesty of YEHOVAH. Therefore glorify YEHOVAH in the east, the name of
YEHOVAH, the God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea...So it will happen IN THAT
DAY, that YEHOVAH will punish the host of heaven, on high, and the kings of the earth,
ON EARTH...Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, FOR YEHOVAH OF
HOSTS WILL REIGN ON MOUNT ZION AND IN JERUSALEM, and His glory
["Shekinah" presence] will be before His elders...For behold, YEHOVAH IS ABOUT TO
COME OUT FROM HIS PLACE to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
and the earth will reveal her bloodshed, and will no longer cover her slain (Isaiah 24, se-
lected verses).

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