Appointments with Destiny: Do They Exist & Must We Keep Them?

Summary: The Hebrew word for divine appointment has a surprise meaning. Like keeping a job, keeping our appointments can affect our destiny.

The story is told of a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market for supplies, but the servant came back trembling. He said, Master, when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by someone in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. He made a threatening gesture. Lend me your horse, and I will ride to Samarra and Death will not find me.

The merchant lent him a horse, and the servant rode off to Samarra. The merchant then went to the market and saw Death standing in the crowd. He asked, Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant this morning? Death replied, That was not a threatening gesture, I was only startled to see him in Bagdad because I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.

If we ever wondered when our appointment with death could come, we might consider some other appointments that could spare us. The first page of the Bible tells us that God put lights in the sky “to mark sacred times,” Genesis 1:14, NIV. The Hebrew word, mowed, is the same word used in Leviticus 23:44 where God gave His people “feasts,” but the word also means “appointed times” as it is used for worship services more than 100 times in the Bible.

Those appointments were designed to teach truths in God’s plan to save us from death. Unfortunately they got changed, as revealed in the only book Christ recommended when He was asked about the end of the world. We pick up the story in Daniel 7 where God revealed the kingdoms of this world as fierce beasts of prey. History confirms earthly governments have been like the lion, bear, leopard and dragon shown in a vision to Daniel about 550 BC.

It’s amazing that God used imagery that also fits our time. The lion with eagle wings could fit the UK/US, the bear fits Russia, the leopard with four heads could mean an alliance of China with Korea, Japan and Malaysia. The dragon with 10 horns (that originally represented Rome with the little horn that Protestant reformers saw as the papacy) could be the EU with papal leadership.

Daniel was told that the little horn would “think to change times and laws.” Dan 7:25. The Catholic catechism got rid of the 2^nd Commandment against worship of images and Rome changed the Sabbath to Sunday from the time of Constantine, a sun worshiper.

The papacy also boasts of abolishing the Jewish festivals, God’s “appointed times” in Leviticus 23 that included weekly and yearly Sabbaths, replacing them with pagan festivals like Halloween, and Easter with its fertility symbols–eggs and rabbits, etc.)

The context of the judgment in Daniel 7 is when the little horn speaks “great things,” or as the NIV says, “boastfully.” In that context, the judgment sits and “because of…the great words,” the beast is slain and the Son of man receives His kingdom, Dan 7:8-13.

Who would believe that context of Dan 7:8-13 is about to have striking fulfillment as the little horn power comes to the US Congress for the most solemn appointment in the Bible—the Day of Atonement, September 24. You can count for yourself—it’s preceded by the new moon—the thin crescent seen in the west 10 days earlier on September 14, also an “appointed time” in Leviticus 23:24 when this year many expect the possibility that economic collapse could begin!

Why economic collapse? It’s the shemitah—a sabbatical year described in Leviticus 25 where God said to rest the land every 7^th year, just as He commands us to rest every 7^th day (Sabbath).

Economic collapse is supported by the grass getting burned up in Revelation 8:7. This decodes to riches, “for as the flower of the grass, so shall the rich man fade,” James 1:9-11, KJV. It was foreshadowed seven years ago when the new moon crescent was in the sky on the night the US Senate met to approve $760 billion to bailout banksters (Oct 1, 2008) and the stock market crashed for 10 days, like anciently they blew trumpets 10 days before the Day of Atonement.

The Day of Atonement had imagery of the High Priest entering the Most Holy Place before the ark which represented the throne of God. Daniel 7 implies that when the little horn has great words, Christ also comes to the Father and receives His kingdom, even as the pope seeks an earthly kingdom and leadership of a New World Order. Both sides get what they seek as end-times begin.

This is a call to make the Bible our guide of life and to do what it says. If we see economic collapse starting on September 14/15, it’s like Joel’s call to a solemn appointment for our time to fast and pray: “Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly. Gather the people; sanctify the congregation…Let the ministers weep…saying, ‘Spare Thy people, O Lord.’…Then will the Lord…pity His people,” Joel 2:15-18.

Throughout history God has given mankind freedom of choice, but He says to choose life. Why not seek Him at the times of His appointment? When world events are shouting crisis, we can honor God by seeking Him at the times of His appointment. We have everything to gain and what’s there to lose?

Dr. Richard Ruhling is author of The Alpha & Omega Bible Code, an eBook that’s had mostly five-star reviews on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B010CFNMCU, but readers can get a PDF with a bonus for visiting his website at http://TheBridegroomComes.com