Hi Brian!

Great win today! The word for this week was a puzzler to me! I heard the word "rifle" as I was praying and that word was nowhere in the Bible. When I started looking for words in the Concordance that sounded like it, I found this in Zechariah 14:2:

2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. KJV

"Rifled" here is the Hebrew word "shacac". Strong's Concordance says: to plunder. Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon adds: to spoil.  In fact, the four other times this Hebrew word is found it is translated "spoil or spoiled".  The situation described here in Zechariah takes place after the Rapture, or catching away, of the church. These are some of the things that will occur during the time of the Tribulation. All of the nations will come against Israel. Verses 3-5 tell us what else will happen at the end of this seven year time period:

3 Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. KJV

That last line, "all the saints with thee" refers to all of us who will be in Heaven during the Tribulation. When it's all over, Jesus Himself will descend from Heaven, with US, and He will begin His 1000 year reign from Jerusalem. THAT will be an awesome time on the earth! The horrible things that will occur during the Tribulation have already begun to happen, on a much smaller scale, all over the world. There already are women and children being sold into slavery, Christians and Jews murdered for their faith, houses and properties being plundered, or "rifled", natural disasters and catastrophic events occurring. The Bible tells us that these are just the beginnings of the "birth pangs" that signal the time of the second coming of Jesus (Matthew 24:6-8). The great good news for US is that we WON'T be here to witness the fullness of this! I Thessalonians 4:16-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 tell of the catching away of the church. In the meantime, we, walking in the authority of the Name of Jesus and the Word of God, can and will walk in the supernatural protection, provision and safety of Psalm 91! No "rifling" occurring in OUR lives and families! Thank You Jesus! Here is Hillsong with "Mighty To Save":

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!