Yeshua’s Warning — to Me!

I cannot get Revelation 16:15 out of my head. I think it’s because I feel very strongly that Yeshua is speaking to *us* at this time, and if so, I need to listen.

“Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame” (Revelation 16:15).¹All references in this post are from the New King James Version.

This is much the same feeling I get when I have a dream at night and just know God is speaking to me personally. I pay close attention. Well, how much more closely should I pay attention to the written Scriptures!

As you probably know, I am a proponent of a Torah-observant style of interpreting the book of Revelation known as “premillenial historicism,” which we use in our homeschooling world history curriculum.

If we are living near the end of the bowl judgments, which are poured out as part of the seventh and final trumpet, in the time of the third interval (or “the time of the frogs,” as my kids call it), then this is the clear word of Yeshua to us personally who live in this time.

I spent time with my teenagers yesterday, teaching them how the history revealed to us in the book of Revelation shows us that the third interval started in 1917.²For more information, see Revelation Revealed, by Christine Miller. We all wondered how long this interval would last. It seems clear that it lasts until the time of the battle mentioned in Revelation 16:14, 16.

“For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

‘Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.’

And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon” (Revelation 16:14-16).

I remembered a battle being discussed in Zechariah 14.

Behold, the day of YHVH is coming,
And your spoil will be divided in your midst.
For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;
The city shall be taken,
The houses rifled,
And the women ravished.
Half of the city shall go into captivity,
But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Then YHVH will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle. (Zechariah 14:1-3)

It seems as if this battle is actually part of the seventh bowl judgment, the final trumpet, which begins in Revelation 16:17.³Why? (1) Battles start with trumpets (Numbers 10:9). (2) It is possible that many will come to Zion, bearing gifts for YHVH, from the United States. See Isaiah 18, which I think is a prophecy of America, but that’s a whole ‘nother topic for another day. (3) Isaiah 26-27 seems to be talking of this same time period. See the trumpet mentioned in Isaiah 27:13. (4) 1 Thessalonians 4:16 seems to equate this trumpet with the time of Yeshua’s return, which I see in Zechariah 14:4, with all its earthquakes, as matching with Revelation 16:18. The seventh bowl brings a final judgment upon Babylon, and it ushers in the Messianic Era, where Yeshua will rule and reign on the earth for 1000 years.

If we are close to the return of our Messiah, then we need to pay attention to His instructions to us!

Stay Awake

Yeshua says, “Behold, I am coming as a thief.”

In Scripture, the “coming” of YHVH is another word for His judgment. See these examples:

• Psalm 50:3-4
• Ezekiel 30:3
• Joel 2:1-2
• Isaiah 19:1
• Isaiah 29:6

In the Gospels, Yeshua refers to Himself as a thief many times. Paul and Peter use this same figure of speech. In the same way that the disciples knew to leave Jerusalem before its destruction in 70 AD, we can also escape the destruction of the 7th trumpet by staying awake. He doesn’t come as a thief to destroy us, His disciples. Rather, He comes as a thief would enter a house of sleeping people. We are not to be asleep but to be awake.

How do we “watch” (or stay awake)? This is super important!

“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:34-36).

An interesting thing is that watching is very active, the opposite of sleep. (You can see an extensive list of all the instructions that the Apostles have given us in their writings by clicking here.) I think 1 Peter 4 has the best summary.

We noted, however, in all the passages we looked at, we are not to be lazy or wasting our time, twittering it away on useless and excessive amusements. As Luke writes, we are to be watching, lest our hearts be weighed down with carousing, or an excess of anything, or with drunkenness, or even — this is convicting! — with the cares of this life!

Rather, we are to be praying, prophesying, working with our hands, and doing acts of righteousness (which are defined in Torah, of course).

Keep Your Garments

Yeshua says, “Blessed is he who… keeps his garments.”

In Revelation 19:7-8, these garments are clearly defined:

“Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

Of course, these verses bring to mind all sorts of other parables and passages of Scripture. Just thinking of Revelation alone, we see that the righteous acts are Torah, but they are always accompanied by faith in Yeshua.

“And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17).

“Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).

Those who are awake and have kept their garments are the following:

1. Those who have the testimony of Jesus the Messiah, and
2. Those who keep the commandments of God.

They are those who know that they have been grafted into Israel. They have wakened from their sleep. They recognize that Yeshua is the Messiah, and they know that the Torah is for today.

A Message for Both Houses of Israel

This is very significant, because in what other time in history has this come true? People are especially seeing that Torah is true, and the prophets speak of these as the House of Israel, the tribe of Ephraim. However, according to Zechariah chapters 12-14, this is also the time period when the the House of Judah, the Jewish people, will see that Yeshua is their promised Messiah.

Okay, first of all, all nations will come against Jerusalem. Notice that the prophet starts by telling us that this is specifically “the burden of the word of YHVH against Israel,” not just against Judah or Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:1).

“Thus says YHVH, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him: ‘Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it” (Zech. 12:1-3).

A few verses later, we read,

“It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem” (Zech. 12:9).

Notice the next verses!!! This gives me goosebumps!

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves. (Zech. 12:10-14)

This is Armageddon! While we tend to think of Armageddon as a battlefield, these verses tell us that it’s a place of “mourning,” and then it tells us to look back at the story in 2 Chronicles 35:22-25, which identifies weeping and repentance over sin and its terrible consequences.⁴See also Deuteronomy 30:1-6.

I don’t think that the battle is yet. The kings are not brought to fight “the battle of Armageddon.” The location where the kings are gathered is Armageddon, but the purpose of the valley is that this is where they look on the one they have pierced and mourn for him. This is the valley where the Jewish people (the House of Judah) realize that Yeshua is their Messiah and in large numbers accept Him! Hallelujah!

Notice, “all the families,” it says. This is a LOT OF PEOPLE!

Do you remember what Paul says about when this will happen?

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

“The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
For this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.” (Romans 11:25-27)

So to review, first the House of Ephraim sees the need to obey the commandments, the Torah, of God. After the House of Ephraim (the fullness of the Gentiles) has come in, then the House of Judah will see its Messiah.

Zechariah 13 continues,

“In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.

“It shall be in that day,” says YHVH of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land. It shall come to pass that if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who begot him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, because you have spoken lies in the name of YHVH.’ And his father and mother who begot him shall thrust him through when he prophesies.

“And it shall be in that day that every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they will not wear a robe of coarse hair to deceive. But he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a farmer; for a man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.’ And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends'” (Zechariah 13:2-6).

This time period is going to be one of repentance and cleansing.

The following verses seem to also include Ephraim:

“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd,
Against the Man who is My Companion,” says YHVH of hosts.
“Strike the Shepherd,
And the sheep will be scattered;
Then I will turn My hand against the little ones.
And it shall come to pass in all the land,” says YHVH,
“That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die,
But one–third shall be left in it:
I will bring the one–third through the fire,
Will refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will answer them.
I will say, ‘This is My people’;
And each one will say, ‘YHVH is my God’” (Zechariah 13:7-9)

Why do I say these are Ephraim?

1. The prophecy in verse 7 is quoted by Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, right at the same time he tells them to “watch”! “Strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered.”⁵See Matthew 26:31, Mark 14:27. It is amazing how similar all these passages are! We know that at His first coming, Yeshua talks much about coming for the lost sheep of the House of Israel.⁶See Matthew 10:6, Matthew 15:24. We also read many mentions of His about sheep and shepherds, and Peter was told to feed His sheep. I think that the lost sheep are mainly the House of Ephraim.
2. Also, in Zechariah 13:9, where they realize that they are His people, we are reminded of Hosea 1:10-2:1.

“Yet the number of the children of Israel
Shall be as the sand of the sea,
Which cannot be measured or numbered.
And it shall come to pass
In the place where it was said to them,
‘You are not My people,’
There it shall be said to them,
‘You are sons of the living God.’
Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel
Shall be gathered together,
And appoint for themselves one head;
And they shall come up out of the land,
For great will be the day of Jezreel!
Say to your brethren, ‘My people,’
And to your sisters, ‘Mercy is shown.’

It is the House of Judah who realizes that Yeshua is the Messiah, and it is the House of Israel (Ephraim) who realizes that they are the people of God, grafted into Israel, and under the covenants of Israel.

Do Not Walk in Nakedness and Shame

After all this happens, we are at the end of the third interval and ready for the seventh bowl judgment. Since we can see that these things are beginning to happen in our world, in fulfillment of prophecy, we need to heed Yeshua’s instruction to us:

“Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” (Revelation 16:15)

What is this nakedness and shame He is referring to? He is referring to the punishment coming upon Babylon, of course! Isaiah 47 tells us of a coming judgment upon Babylon:

“Come down and sit in the dust,
O virgin daughter of Babylon;
Sit on the ground without a throne,
O daughter of the Chaldeans!
For you shall no more be called
Tender and delicate.
Take the millstones and grind meal.
Remove your veil,
Take off the skirt,
Uncover the thigh,
Pass through the rivers.
Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
Yes, your shame will be seen;
I will take vengeance,
And I will not arbitrate with a man” (Isaiah 47:1-3).

Notice how YHVH gathers all nations to Jerusalem, and that He fights against them at Jerusalem. Even some of the very people of Israel (Houses of Judah and Ephraim) will be harmed in this, which is why I think Yeshua is warning us, just as He warned His disciples before 70 A.D.

Behold, the day of YHVH is coming,
And your spoil will be divided in your midst.
For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;
The city shall be taken,
The houses rifled,
And the women ravished.
Half of the city shall go into captivity,
But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Then YHVH will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.
And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south.
Then you shall flee through My mountain valley,
For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal.
Yes, you shall flee
As you fled from the earthquake
In the days of Uzziah king of Judah.
Thus YHVH my God will come,
And all the saints with You. (Zechariah 14:1-5)

Notice He will come and “all the saints with You.” The set-apart ones, whose robes are clean, who are watching and awake, who see that Yeshua the Messiah and also keep the commandments of God, will be rescued from the terrible times of the seventh bowl judgment.

How many will be watching and wearing clean robes, compared to those who are asleep and not wearing clean garments?

And it shall come to pass in all the land,” says YHVH,
“That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die,
But one–third shall be left in it:
I will bring the one–third through the fire,
Will refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will answer them.
I will say, ‘This is My people’;
And each one will say, ‘YHVH is my God.’” (Zechariah 13:8-9)

Two thirds will not be ready, but one third will be. This perfectly matches with Revelation 16:19, where the seventh bowl judgment is poured out.

“Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.”

The “great city” is Jerusalem. It is divided into three parts, meaning that two thirds are not watching and therefore are cut off from the house of Israel, but one third are watching with clean garments.

Babylon Is Fallen

The remaining portion of Zechariah goes on to explain how Yeshua will destroy the three unclean spirits, destroy Babylon once and for all, and set up His kingdom on earth, correlating with Revelation 19 and 20. I think the resurrection listed here (Rev. 20:4-5) correlates with a literal fulfillment of Ezekiel 37:1-14 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11.

So when will this happen? If the third interval started in 1917, how much longer do we have, especially since we can see that some of these things are already being fulfilled and have been throughout the past century?

I’m not sure. I notice a few things. First, I think that when Judah “looks on the one they have pierced,” it will happen in a “day” (Zechariah 12:4), which is right at the same time that he blinds all the horses of the nations who have gathered against Jerusalem. It is also called a day in many places: Zechariah 12:11, Zechariah 13:1, Zechariah 13:2, Zechariah 13:4, Zechariah 14:1, Zechariah 14:4, Zechariah 14:7, Zechariah 14:8, Zechariah 14:9, and Zechariah 14:13. Yup, I think it’s very clear that this is one day. LOL!

Comparing this to Revelation, I see that the nations of the world “will be of one mind” with Babylon (Rev. 17:13), so that He brings it about that all nations will be gathered against Jerusalem. We can see this is also being fulfilled during our current time of the third interval, from 1917 until now.

“The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.” (Revelation 17:12-14)

Notice for how long they receive authority? “For one hour.” Christine Miller writes,

“‘One hour’ appears in Revelation before, in giving the time for the duration of the seventh bowl judgment. It is equal to a part of a year. It follows the day-year time principle established by Daniel, that one day of prophetic time equals one year of historic time. So the “one day” for the accomplishment, is one day of prophetic time, or one year of historic time.”⁷http://www.nothingnewpress.com/books/revelation-revealed/

I see that Babylon will fall in a day, even in an hour.

“Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is YHVH God who judges her” (Revelation 18:8).

“Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come” (Revelation 18:10).

“For in one hour such great riches came to nothing” (Revelation 18:17).

“Alas, alas, that great city, in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth! For in one hour she is made desolate” (Revelation 18:19).

And the same battle — all the kings of the earth gathered with the beast and the false prophet — is mentioned one more time in Revelation 19:19-21, telling us that Revelation chapters 17-19 are all an explanation of this interval time period, just as the other intervals had large passages for their explanation.

I still don’t have a firm answer for “when” this will happen. However, I know this:

If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid?
If there is calamity in a city, will not YHVH have done it?
Surely YHVH God does nothing,
Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets (Amos 3:6-7).

Do you see how good YHVH is to tell us even here that He will not even blow a trumpet in the city without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets? I have major goosebumps!

Yeshua has told us,

“Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” (Revelation 16:15)

Will we listen to His warning?