55,000,000
Will Turn Back To God
On page 20 of The Bible Speaks Vol 2, under the title
Power From Above, this is written:
...many
more will come to hear the end-time witness when the dead are raised
in conjunction with 'our' work for God. Millions will get to
hear of such things!
That's power to witness! God's
power!
A year or two ago, a man called at
our door about a mundane matter. But after a brief chat, we realised
that God had brought him here to pass on this tid bit of
information. He told us how, in the mid 1990s he had a vision. In
this experience he saw the Book of Life open in front of him and two
angels standing either side. (This was an allegory of the offer of
eternal life which God has placed before him.) He heard these words:
"In these days, many millions of people will come to know the Lord.
The number is 55 million!"
We didn’t know whether the number was
literal or figurative. I was musing on the matter recently, and
believe that the number is figurative. I’ll explain why.
One of the first publications God had
me write was The Missing Dimension in Christian Living. You
will read in there about the meaning of the number 5 to do with
preparation, humbling and God’s grace. God drew my attention to the
various meanings of numbers at the outset of our ministry. Now I can
see why. He was going to speak to us through the symbol- ism of
various numbers, to highlight significances.
Soon afterwards, He showed me the
need to write a booklet to demonstrate the unique and divinely
guided content of the Bible.
Ivan Panin discovered many amazing
numeric facts about its intricate composition. And other more recent
researchers corroborated his evidence. The Bible is not a book
written by mortals alone! You can see that from the never-ending
display of complexity in its design which is reflected in its
numeric composition. If you are not familiar with that proof of
God’s guidance upon the Bible’s compilation, take a look at the book
God’s Great Genius.
Another author, Ethelbert Bullinger
(1837-1913), wrote a substantial volume on the significance of
various numbers in Scripture. Of 11 he wrote:
If 12 is the number which marks the
perfection of Divine government, then 11 falls short of it...
it is the number which marks disorder, disorganization,
imperfection, and disintegration (Number in Scripture,
p 231.)
Jesus died at the age of 33, which is
3 x 11. He was “cut off” and “we see not yet all things put under
Him” (Dan 9:26; Heb 2:8), signified by the 11.
3 denotes finality. Jesus was
the Final Solution for mankind. He finished the means of
redemption at the cross (Jn 19:30). He completed His purpose
for coming to earth in flesh.
One day Jesus pointed out to me
Ezekiel 33:33. It was to be ‘my prophetic signature’ to detractors.
I was commissioned to prophesy of the raising of the dead (amongst
other things). I warn those who scoff, with the words of that verse.
They are words of judgement against unbelievers and ‘lukewarmers’.
Adding to what Bullinger said about
the number 11, Jesus revealed to me one day that 11 and 22 are
figures which denote His inspiration in writings.
After we were falsely accused and
spiritually abused by the blind leaders of our former church, I
wrote many letters to them, to try to clear my name. After 55
letters, God drew my attention to the number and that it had His
significance.
It didn’t matter so much about us. It
mattered far more about the purpose He was working out.
Likewise, He had an inspired purpose
for the 55 issues of Awake! Awake! written between 1992 and
2000. (A regular journal which ended in 2000.) They prepare people
for the Tribulation coming.
And so it is with the “55 million”
who will be saved after ‘our’ witness to Britain and Europe.
Certainly millions will be saved as a result of it.
(See dream on page 28.) That is part of the meaning. But it won’t be
the way most would expect. It will be through what we have
written (11), and through disorder and disintegration
(11) in the Tribulation.
Only a minority will accept our
witness. The vast majority will reject it. (Please refer to the
final chapter of Who Is The End-Time Elijah?) For rejecting
it, God will leave them to endure the rigours of the Tribulation (Prov
1:23-32; Rev 2:12-23).
God humbles (5) people through loss
(11) in the Tribulation. Their suffering and hardship prepares these
millions to return to God. Hence 5 x 11.
You read about these converts in
Revelation 7. They come to conversion in their awful trial (7:14).
They are described in two categories. Verses 1-8 are about the
‘144,000’ redeemed from Israel – a figurative number – to be among
the Firstfruits saved. The following verses describe the ones saved
from the rest of the world during these last days.
It will be a great harvest! But small
in relation to the rest of the world’s population (about 6 billion).
Isaiah 55 tells us how to get ready.
Malcolm
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