World Peace And Prosperity
Before The Rapture (Part 3)

"How are the things of Esau searched out! How are his hidden things sought up!" (Obadiah 6). The context of this passage has already been established as being just before the occurrence of the Second Crisis. Accordingly, this verse could very easily refer to valuable minerals, especially oil, which now belong to the descendants of Esau (Arabs).

Oil has had such a monumental effect upon modern civilization within the last many years. It is because of this oil that the Middle-East countries have become rich at the expense of the industrialized nations of the earth. Another passage (Malachi 1:4) predicted that the Arabs would eventually shed their impoverished condition and even build cities. However, God also promised He would destroy their cities without mercy. This prophecy matches perfectly the various predictions involving the events of the Second Crisis:

Mal. 1:1-5
1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. 2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, 3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. 4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever. 5 And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel. (KJV) (cf. Jer. 49:6; Jer. 48:47)

The visions of Daniel and John (author of Revelation) strongly imply a resurgence in wealth and power for the various countries that once comprised the empires of Babylon, Greece and Persia. For example, the passage Daniel 7:11,12 states that after the Roman "beast" (Antichrist) is destroyed, the other empire beasts also have "their DOMINION taken away: YET their LIVES (are) prolonged for a season and time." In Revelation we note that Daniel's symbolism concerning the various world empires is once again mentioned, strongly implying that the countries which once formed these empires are also an important part of the future empire of Antichrist: "And the beast which I saw was like unto a LEOPARD, and his feet were as the feet of a BEAR, and his mouth as the mouth of a LION...(Rev. 13:2). (cf. Jer. 49:39).

The prophet Jeremiah predicted the destruction of ancient Egypt, but he also promised a resurgence in wealth and power for her during the very "last days." (Jer. 46:26). Anyone familiar with Middle-East current events knows that Egypt is now beginning to play an important role in shaping the destiny of that area. Daniel foresaw Egypt as "king of the south" during the "end times," thus symbolizing the fact Egypt would become the leader of a confederation of nations located in that general area. (Dan. 11:40-43). Daniel also made specific reference to the "treasures of gold and of silver, and...all the precious things of Egypt." (Dan. 11:43). Egypt is a poor and destituted country now, but these statements certainly indicate a large degree of wealth and importance for her during the "last days"!

Dan. 11:40-45
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. 41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. 42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. 44 But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. 45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. (KJV)

Ezekiel made this assumption of wealth and power when he predicted the final destruction of Egypt (just before Armageddon; Dan. 11:40-45). He then continued by stating that after 40 years, Egypt would become inhabited once again, but forevermore "be the basest of the kingdoms" and would "no more rule over the nations." This prophecy of Ezekiel is obviously futuristic when the predicted wealth and power of Egypt is considered.

Ezek. 29:1-16
1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt: 3 Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. 4 But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales. 5 And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven. 6 And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.

7 When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand. 8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee. 9 And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it. 10 Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia. 11 No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.

12 And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. 13 Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered: 14 And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom. 15 It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. 16 And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD. (KJV)

Ezek. 30:1-9
1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day! 3 For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen. 4 And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down. 5 Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.

6 Thus saith the LORD; They also that uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord GOD. 7 And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted. 8 And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed. 9 In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: for, lo, it cometh. (KJV)

Isa. 19:1-25
1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. 2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. 3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards. 4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts. 5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up. 6 And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.

7 The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more. 8 The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. 9 Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded. 10 And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish. 11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? 12 Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt. 13 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof. 14 The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit. 15 Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.

16 In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it. 17 And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it. 18 In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction. 19 In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD. 20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them. 21 And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.

22 And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them. 23 In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. 24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: 25 Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance. (KJV)

Ezek. 28:11-19
11 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. 18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. 19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more. (KJV)

This passage is addressed to the "king of Tyrus" but even a casual reader can readily discern this king is NOT human! The description is that of Satan ruling over planet earth before his "moral fall" from grace and perfection, eons before the creation of Adam and Eve.

Perhaps one of the most extraordinary theological ideas found in the Bible is the proposition God created and destroyed an ancient civilization on earth eons before the time of Adam and Eve. Although the Bible says nothing about how long ago all of this took place, it does seem to indicate a pre-Adamite society did exist at one time. If this is true, it obviously negates any possible conflict between evolutionists and creationists concerning the earth's age, because regardless of the age science gives to the earth, the Bible agrees. Likewise, if science proves that the earth's fossil record is simply the result of Noah's flood, then again, the Bible agrees if one postulates that the destruction of the pre-Adamite society was so catastrophic in nature that it completely destroyed all traces of it.

Genesis 1:1 reads: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." The word "created" was translated from the Hebrew word BARA, meaning to bring into existence, i.e., God created the world and the universe from literally nothing, from an absolutely empty vacuum. (46) This is confirmed by Colossians 1:15-18 which reads, in part: "For by him were all things created...And he is before all things..." (cf. Hebrews 11:3; Psalms 8:3; 90:2; 95:5; 102:25; Isaiah 40:12, 22, 26, 28; 45:12, 18; 48:13.)

Genesis 1:2 reads: "And the earth was without form, and void..." According to the Hebrew, a more correct translation would read, "And the earth became waste and empty." This is because the Hebrew word HAYAH was translated "was" in this instance, but elsewhere was translated either "became, came, came to pass, become, or come to pass" 769 times throughout the Old Testament; it should have been translated "became" in Genesis 1:2 also. (47) As further confirmation, Strong's Exhaustive Concordance defines HAYAH as meaning "become, be, come to pass, be accomplished, do, and cause," with the stipulation that it always be in an emphatic sense denoting action, and not as a mere linking verb of a passive nature. Likewise, the phrase, "without form, and void," comes from the Hebrew words TOHUW VA BOHUW, and should have been translated as "waste and empty." Therefore, Genesis 1:2 should read, "And the earth became waste and empty," meaning that a perfect and beautiful world was made desolate and barren.

This is the only reasonable exegesis if logic and Hebrew dictionaries mean anything. Anyone who would dispute the concept of a pre-Adamite creation must confront this incontrovertible piece of evidence. Although there is additional scriptural documentation available, pre-Adamite creationism could stand on this passage alone if it were necessary. Therefore, we can only conclude that sometime in the dateless past God created heaven and earth, and then, at a later point in time, destroyed the earth.

Genesis 1:3 - 2:3 and Exodus 20:8-11; 31:17 are sometimes used to prove that God literally created the entire universe in six days and that, scripturally-speaking, a pre-Adamite creation is impossible. But this is not the case at all. Whenever it is stated that God "made" the earth and the heaven, or any part thereof, it is referring to the restoration of the immediate heavens and earth sometime after the pre-Adamite destruction portrayed in Genesis 1:2. This is because the word "made" is translated from the Hebrew word ASAH, which means to make something out of already existent materials; it is in direct contrast to the Hebrew word BARA, which means literally to create from absolute nothingness as in Genesis 1:1. After Genesis 1:1, the only acts of literal creation are those occasions when God imparts life to Adam and Eve and the animals -- after their physical bodies are "made" from the dust of the earth; everything else is simply restored to its original condition or "made" from already existent materials on earth. (See Genesis 1:3 - 2:3). This is why Genesis 2:3 states that God both "created" and "made" during the six days of Genesis 1.

Furthermore, according to Genesis 1:28, God commanded Adam and Eve to "replenish" the earth, a further indication that the earth was previously inhabited by a pre-Adamite civilization. Although my Strong's Concordance says that the Hebrew word for "replenish" can mean either fill or refill, it is the same word used by God when He commanded Noah to refill or replenish the earth in Genesis 9:1. On that basis it is very possible that Genesis 1:28 also means "replenish" or "refill."