Recognizing the Signs of the End Time: Stand in the Holy Place

By Melissa Anderson Williams

What would happen if category five hurricanes or tsunamis hit our shores without any warnings and no one was ready? Imagine that for a few seconds-the death toll, the destruction, and the chaos. Then imagine something, if you can, twenty times worse. The return of Jesus Christ will be that something that is twenty times worse if we are not ready. But be of good cheer, God has set watchman to watch for the signs of His return to warn the people that Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming! What would happen if you were given instructions that you could not really understand, but your life depended on you following those instructions? Imagine that for a few seconds: the fear of the unknown, the not knowing what to do, and the apprehension is enough to drive one insane. But allay your fears, God has led me to write this book, in its simplicity, that a child could understand. It is filled with deep revelation of scriptural interpretation inspired by God. It is to warn us, encourage us, strengthen us, and keep us until the coming of Jesus Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781098016401

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Recognizing the Signs of the End Time

Stand in the Holy Place

Melissa Anderson Williams

Copyright © 2020 by Melissa Anderson Williams

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations in this volume are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Preface

Before we begin, I’d like to define the title of our book, Recognizing the Signs of the End Time . In order to do that, I have to dissect. I like to dissect words because it’s all about understanding. In this title, we will define the words recognize, sign, and end time. End time will be handled as one word.

To recognize is to accept the validity or truth of something. When recognizing something, it has to operate through our senses. God has given us five senses. To recognize something, we must have seen, smelled, tasted, heard, or touched it before it rings a bell, and a light comes on. In other words, we recognize it.

A sign, in this case, is something representing something else, the existence of something that is not immediately apparent. I like that. God gives us signs and warnings all the time, but we must recognize and heed the warnings: pay careful and close, close attention to the warnings.

The phrase end time, in this case, is the end of the world. It is the end of the world as we know it. There is no more time; time is up and put all pencils down (for all those test takers out there).

So I can further explain our title by saying, The accepting of the signs of the end of the world as we know it. Remember to recognize is to accept as true. We can’t just recognize without accepting what we recognized as being true because to recognize is to accept as true. Are you following me? They cannot be separated; we can’t have one without the other.

I want to also dissect the words stand and holy place. Stand is not to only physically stand but to take a strong moral stand, grip on our conduct and behavior: the way we act. But where are we to stand? It is in the holy place. Where is the holy place? In Matthew 24:15, it reads, When you shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, stand in the holy place.

Chapter 1

So where is the holy place? In 2 Chronicle the fifth chapter, the holy place was in the temple. It was a special place in the temple, in the church, where the priest would go to make atonement and sacrifices for the sins of the people. The holy place was where the priest went to get into the presence of God. Well, we do not have to go through a priest anymore. We can come boldly unto the throne of grace, but that’s another story for another time. In Exodus 3:5, the Lord told Moses, To put off his shoes from off his feet for the place whereon he standest is holy ground. Even the ground became holy because of the presence of God. When God is present, even inanimate objects become holy; we should be holy people. Therefore, the holy place is anywhere the presence of God is.

We do not want to be anywhere the presence of God isn’t, particularly during critical times. Those times are when we need God to perform a miracle, or in dangerous times, when we need to be safe. The holy place is where we go and what we do to get into the presence of God. The holy place is His Word and in His Word, wherever His Word is and wherever His Word is abiding. The holy place is in prayer, whenever and wherever we pray. The holy place is in His praises, whenever and wherever we praise. The holy place is where we go and what we do to get into the presence of God.

Where is the presence of God? The presence of God is in His Word. The presence of God is in prayer. The presence of God is in His praises. Therefore, the presence of God and the holy place are inseparable. In Psalms 22:3 it reads, But thou art holy, oh thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Here, He is called holy, He that inhabits our praises. To inhabit something is to live in it; God lives in the praises of His people. When we really want to get to God’s house, when we really want to get to where He lives, we praise Him. At this point, when we finally get into His presence, we should not be reserved. Let’s not hold back on anything; tell God everything because He already knows everything. Therefore, to stand in the holy place is to take a firm moral stand, grip on our conduct, our behavior, and our actions, in and with the Word of God. Our morals come from the Word. It is to get deep into the Word. It is to get deep in praise. It is to get deep in prayer and fasting. How deep can we get?

All that is to say, it is to get deep in God whereby we don’t bend. We don’t compromise; we don’t waver, and we are not indecisive in our stand. We are strictly on the Lord’s side whereby we don’t fall in our stand. We are not straddling the fence, as they say, because it will cause us to fall. Have you ever heard the saying stubborn as a mule? Well, we must become stubborn as a mule when it comes to the Word of God. I can go further and say we must be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. This is found in Psalms 1:3, and like the old hymn says, I shall not, I shall not be moved. Just like a tree planted by the water; I shall not be moved.

So now that we have laid the foundation, let’s start building. We will begin in Mark, the thirteenth chapter, and we will tie in Matthew’s version in the twenty-fourth chapter. We will also cover 2 Timothy, the third chapter.

The first verse of Mark 13 reads, And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! Let’s elaborate. It said as He (talking about Jesus) was coming out of the temple, the church or the tabernacle although the Bible did not say what Jesus was doing in the temple, but we know when our Heavenly Father gets away to Himself, it is to pray. So I’m confident that He was praying. We have to learn how to do as our heavenly Father did and get away to pray. Pull away from everybody and everything when it is time to pray. Allow nothing and no one to prevent us from praying.

In Colossian 4:2, it reads, Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving. This signifies that we are never to stop communicating with God and watching for what we are praying about to be manifested and thanking Him for it in advance. As the old saying goes, prayer is the key, and faith unlocks the door.

But as Jesus went out of the temple, one of His disciples, one of His followers, one of His very own said unto Him, Master (Master means teacher), do you not see what manner, what style, what kind of stones, and buildings that are here!

Now, at the end of that statement, there is an exclamation point, which is indicative of some types of strong emotions. Due to the context, I believe it wasn’t an angry shouting but one of excitement. I believe that the disciple, whoever he was, (the Bible didn’t say) was very excited. If I had to guess, I would say it was Judas. However, his excitement was a strong feeling of joy and happiness. I also believe that he wanted Jesus to get excited as well in regards to what he was telling Him. He asked Jesus, in other words, why are you not excited as I am?

For some strange reason, we can’t get excited by ourselves. We have to get others involved. For women, it may be a dress. Girl, did you see that dress! Did you hear what it was saying? It is calling my name.

I sure did, girl, and you would look totally fabulous in that! We egg each other on. For the men, perhaps it’s a car. Man, did you see that car! One of these days I am going to get me one just like that! However, sometimes it’s something far more sinister and far bolder than that.

For example, one day, I was working the morning shift at this hospital when an unmarried friend of mine approached me, and she asked me if I saw Dr. John Doe. My reply to her was, I don’t know who that is, why?

She replied, I want you to see him. He is so cute!

I replied to her, I don’t care about that. I’m a married woman and better than that I’m a married Christian woman, and you’re supposed to be a Christian woman as well.

She replied to me, I know your married and all that, but I just wanted you to see him because he is so cute! As you can see, she evaded the last statement that I made.

There was also another time when a married Christian friend told me that there is nothing wrong with looking. It is obvious that she wasn’t aware of certain things in the Bible because this is mentioned in the first book of the Bible. In Genesis 3:6, the beginning of that verse says the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes. It was pleasant to the eyes. It spoke to her; it called her name. In other words, it got her attention. Now granted, this is the tree that God has told them not to eat of the fruit, but with help from Satan, she saw the tree in a different light. She now wanted to eat of the tree, and she did. The building episode between Jesus and His disciple also relates. However, my Christian friend said that there is nothing wrong with looking. I’m sure she is not alone, but as we can see, it can definitely set us up to be disobedient to God.

Well, would you believe when Dr. John Doe came to the nurses’ station in this high whisper, my single Christian friend began to call my name several times. She followed with Look, there he is. Look, there he is. Look, there he is! I was so embarrassed that I ignored her as if she was talking to someone else. I was sure that the doctor heard her.

When the doctor finally left, I asked her, Why did you do that to me and don’t you ever do that to me again. She just laughed; she thought it was funny. You know it’s all fun and games until the devil gets us off track. The devil doesn’t care who he has to use to carry out his sole purpose, which is to kill, to steal, and to destroy. He desires to steal our lives, steal our spouses, steal our children, steal our families, or even our careers; he desires to steal. It is to kill and to destroy us ultimately. He desires to destroy our goals, our dreams, our testimony, or whatever we allow him to destroy. He doesn’t care who he has to use to get us off course, to prevent us from making heaven our home. He doesn’t care who he uses. This is found in John 10:10.

For me, it was a dear Christian friend. Here, it was one of Jesus’s very own disciples. It is always someone closer to us. It could be our spouse, our mom, our dad, our sister, our brother, our aunt, our uncle, our cousin, our friend and even our pastor. The devil doesn’t care who he has to use. He is looking for the weakest link: they that are closest to us because they can do the most damage. When we compromise the Word of God or do things contrary to the Word of God, we show weakness and the devil sees that. He says okay; he or she is the weakest link. He then begins to target