God's Bomb Shelters

The Lord just showed me from the Bible He will be providing the equivalent of secure bomb shelters for His people during the coming tribulation. I know many Christians are hoping to be raptured out before the feathers hit the fan, but that is not what I see the Bible teaching. Rather He will be protecting and nourishing His people here on earth during the time when His wrath is being poured out on the evil of this world. It will be as in the days of Noah when he was protected from the flood. And Israel when she was sheltered in the land of Goshen while the plagues were devastating Egypt.

The Scripture the Lord used to show me this was Revelation 12. "Then she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that she would be 'nourished' (GK: trepho - pampered w. food) for one thousand two hundred and sixty days" (Rev. 12:5,6).

The woman is Israel. And the male child is Jesus, who was taken up into heaven 2000 years ago where He is seated at the right hand of the Father "until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet" (Acts 2:34,35). But since the "church" is also Israel, we see that all the chosen followers of Israel's Messiah alive at the time, both Jew and Gentile, are included in the "woman." And all these, I believe, will be protected in God's bomb shelters until the night is over and the day dawns. Like the Israelites in the wilderness, food and water and shelter from the elements will be supernaturally provided. It is during this time of supernatural protection that Psalm 91 will come into play. Isaiah also foretold of these shelters, saying, "Come My people, enter into your rooms and close your doors behind you; hide for a little while, until indignation runs its course" (Isa. 26:20 & 21).

So the only thing we have to do is make sure we get to the bomb shelters, which I believe are foreshadowed by the "cities of refuge" (Deut. 19). Whether there will be one or three or ten thousand of these "cities," the Lord will show us as we get nearer. And where they are. (It could even be Israel.) But when the time comes we must be ready to leave everything - country, family, home, jobs, church, everything - and go! Otherwise we will be counted among the five foolish virgins who were not ready and "the door was shut" (Matt. 25:10).

The consequences for us if we aren't ready are chilling. We will be left behind to be at the mercy of Satan's anti-christ. We will either have to bow to his "666" system to survive or we will be killed (Rev. 13). And martyrdom will be the only way we will be able to save our souls. But as Satan crushes the remaining believers, God will be crushing him and his kingdom and his fifteen seconds of infamy.

One last thing. The last verse in the twelfth chapter gives us a clue what will be the deciding factor whether you will escape or not. "So the dragon was enraged with the woman [who he couldn't get at because she was protected] and he went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus" (Rev 12:17). Who are these? I believe they could be Christians who were not walking in faith righteousness, but in self-righteousness. That is they gave testimony that they trusted in Jesus, but actually relied more on their religious works, either church attendance or the practices of the Mosaic Law. We need to get free of all such double-mindedness - NOW!

When I Was a Child

It is becoming increasing clear to me that the biggest problem in the church today is we have not left our childhood religions behind. Remember Paul's admonition? "When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things" (1 Cor. 13:11) So why have the majority of us, both Jewish and Gentile believers, carried over our respective childhood religious ideas and practices into our "adult" walk with Christ.

What do I mean?

Take non-Jewish believers first. Most of us have been going to some sort of Christian church our whole life. Even before we came to know the Lord's love and forgiveness in a personal way. So what are we doing now that we have experienced our life-changing, miraculous rebirth in Christ? Exactly what we were doing before. Going to church every Sunday, maybe singing in the choir, maybe ushering, just trying to keep our noses clean and live as good Christians. Nothing has really changed has it? Except now we pay a little more attention to pastor's message, act a little more serious about our commitment, and maybe tithe. Because we know it's for real now.

And what about Jewish believers? The same thing. Most have attended synagogue, at least until the Bar-Mitzvah was done at age twelve. Most have celebrated the Passover seder and watched mom scrub the house of all traces of leaven, have fasted at Yom Kippur, and have honored the Sabbath. Most know dairy and meat should never be served together (even if they never got that crazy with it themselves). So what has changed since they have invited Messiah into their lives and been reborn? Not much. In fact, most Jewish believers, who call themselves Messianic Jews, are probably under even more pressure now from certain quarters to commit to living a "Torah-compliant lifestyle."

But is this what Messiah Jesus (or Yeshua) has called us to do? No way! "It is for freedom [from all religious law] that Messiah set us free, so keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery" (Gal 5:1). If we received Him by faith, by faith we must now live our lives! "The righteous man shall live by faith" (Rom. 1:17). All mandated religious practices, whether Christian or Jewish, can not please God because they do not require faith. They are expressions of law. And law is the opposite of faith. So why do we bother?

To continue to practice the same religions we did as children that couldn't save us then, and can't save us or keep us saved now, is to "still think, speak, and reason like a child." This childish behavior is not only destroying our own personal walk of faith with the Lord, it is separating us into two groups. And Jesus shed His blood to make us one flock, with one Shepherd.