Fires of lawlessness.

Isaiah 9:18-21

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

“For wickedness burns as the fire; It will devour the briers and thorns, and kindle in the thickets of the forest; They will mount up like rising smoke. Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is burned up, and the people will be as fuel for the fire; no man will spare his brother.” Isaiah 9:18-19

“Wickedness burns as the fire” refers to the rapid spread of unbelief in God, the rejection of Jesus Christ, and not wanting the Holy Spirit. That is how the global falling from God has happened, as described in the post on 2 Thessalonians 2. Wickedness burning as fire is the root cause of global lawlessness due to the rejection of the Holy Spirit who restrains lawlessness, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed…” 2 Thessalonians 2:5-8

Lawlessness arises in massive proportions in the future, worst than what we are seeing today, because the people of today choose to serve the beast that gives them what to speak, do, think, and feel. They do not want the Holy Spirit to be part of who they are, reject the forgiveness of unbelief through Jesus Christ, and deny the Living God.

The fires of wickedness will devour the briers, thorns, and kindle in the thickets of the forest. The forest is the global population and they are the briers, thorns, and kindle spreading chaos and lawlessness around the world. They mount up like rising smoke. How can that happen when the beast has power over physiology to control what people do and say? Because the power center of the beast will be plunged into darkness in the Fifth Plague of Revelations 16:10-11. When that happens, the global government of the beast will be rendered powerless because the beast is powerless to govern through what people do and say. The global population will rise up like smoke, in chaos and lawlessness, against a governing system that once oppressed their freedom to speak, do, think, and feel on their own.

The global chaos and lawlessness is the wrath of God’s judgment coming against a world that chose the beast over Him, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. The global population has chosen, and are choosing, who they want to serve, and as a consequence, the land will be burned up globally and the people will be the fuel for the fire.

No person will spare even those closest to them. It will be like the kiss of Judas coming against close friends, family members, co-workers, classmates, etc. We are experiencing a foretaste of that today. “Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.” Matthew 10:21 “It will come to pass in that day that a great panic from the Lord will be among them. Everyone will seize the hand of his neighbor, and raise his hand against his neighbor’s hand…” Zachariah 14:13

“And he will snatch on the right hand and be hungry; He will devour on the left hand and not be satisfied; Every man will eat the flesh of his own arm.” Isaiah 9:20

This verse describes a world at a time when there is food scarcity as well as violence and lawlessness against each other. A person will snatch on the right hand and be hungry means that there is no fulfillment of the hunger that people are living with. That is a global occurrence as the global economy collapses and the land is not producing agriculture adequately, as described in Isaiah 5:8-10. “He will devour on the left hand” means devouring whatever food is available and devouring any person that stands in the way of meal plans. Every person will eat the flesh of their own arm is describing the severe hunger and scarcity of food as well as the total disregard for self or others’ welfare.

“Manasseh will devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; Together they will be against Judah.” Isaiah 9:21a

Manasseh and Ephraim were the sons of Joseph. However, Joseph died before the exodus from Egypt so his allotment of land, in the earthly promised land, was divided between his two sons, as described in Genesis 48. During the time of Isaiah, the king of Syria occupied Ephraim, as agreed to with the king of Israel. The king of Israel formed a military confederacy with the foreign king of Syria to come against the king of Judah, and to defend against the Assyrians. The intent was to unite all of the Israelites in a military alliance as they rejected the word of God. At that time, the Israelites were divided between the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah. The kingdom of Israel included Ephraim, Manasseh, and all the way to the north where Asher and Naphtali are. The kingdom of Judah is seen below the kingdom of Israel.

The places mentioned above are seen on the map below.

In essence, Ephraim, as a Syrian occupied territory, was devouring Manasseh, but Manasseh was also devouring Ephraim as a Jewish territory. Together, they would come against Judah. In that light, we can see the meaning of, “Every man will eat the flesh of his own arm.”

Today, Ephraim is in the upper territory of the West Bank, as seen by comparing the two maps below. The map to the right is the State of Israel of today and the map to the left is seen Ephraim and Manasseh. As we know, the conflict between the State of Israel with the West Bank is causing them to devour each other, to devour their own “brothers”. As spoken, “Every man will eat the flesh of his own arm.”

Today, ISIS is said to be operating in the West Bank to destabilize the independence of Israel. ISIS operates from Syria, so in a sense Syria/ISIS is occupying Ephraim, which is the West Bank. With that, there are governors within the government of Israel that wants the independence of Israel to be destabilized to bring unification of Israel with the countries of the Middle East. The ultimate goal of the unification is to usher in the United Nations as the undisputed one world government. As spoken, “Every man will eat the flesh of his own arm…” The West Bank is devouring Israel, Israel is devouring the West Bank, and all of this in a bid to unify all of Israel under one government, a government without God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

“For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.” Isaiah 9:18-21b

With all of the conflict happening within the State of Israel, among their own, the anger of the Lord is still not turned away and His hand is still outstretched against them. They will face devastating destruction during the Battle of Armageddon, as described in the post on the “Day After” from Ezekiel 39.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1