THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS - How to Pray during times of Trouble right before the Coming of the Lord
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.Such things must happen, but the end is not yet……All of these are the Beginning of Sorrows. Matt 24:6, 8; Luke 21:11
In 2013 after a trip to Jerusalem, God began to reveal to me passages I had read for many years. These passages began to take on a whole new understanding and meaning. I was scheduled to preach at a prayer conference in Cincinnati Ohio once I returned to the States from Jerusalem. At this time of ministry the Lord gave me this message to share with this conference which is now the title of this book, called “The Beginning of Sorrows” from Matthew 24:1-8; 2 Corinthians-5 and 2 Corinthians 7:10
2 Corinthians 1:3-5 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.
2 Corinthians 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death
As I spoke to the conference from these verses I felt the Spirit of the Lord redefining several words from these verses. He began to redefine from the heart and mind of God the words “Comfort,” and the words “Prepare,” or what it means to prepare for the end of the age. As we come closer to the coming of the Lord, God is raising up voices of comfort to speak to His people and interpret and discern the times during seasons of distress, conflict and judgment coming to the earth at the end of the age. In addition to that, God also is raising up watchmen on the wall that will warn and sound the alarm for the coming of the Lord, preaching the good news of the gospel during times of trouble and conflict all around them.
I believe we are coming to a season which I heard the Spirit of God describe as the beginning of Sorrows. I’m calling this season that was initiated in my spirit on November 24, 2013 and is being consummated 7 years later, April 8th, The beginning of sorrows, because this is what I heard spoke into my spirit concerning the dream I had of the city of Jerusalem. The beginning of sorrows and the raising up of comforters or voices of comfort, were revealed to me to be one in the same movements of the Spirit right before the end of the age.
Godly Sorrow brings repentance unto Salvation
As I began to meditate on these words, “The beginning of Sorrows” the word “Comfort,” and how to prepare for these times, studying these phrases from the verses recorded in Matthew 24, and 2nd Corinthians, I began to see that this time frame spoken of by Jesus was a time of preparation for the end.
The beginning of sorrows is a time of God’s dealings with people, both His elect in Jerusalem and the world, and His church in the nations, in the generation right before the time of the end, right before the coming of the Lord. It is a time of repentance, turning His people's hearts back to Him, to preserve a remnant that will preach the Gospel of the coming kingdom in the nations of the world (Matt 24:14).
The beginning of Sorrows is not the end, but it’s the time right before the end, that begins the time of revival of His people, and of the salvation of many of His people in the land, and His elect in the nations of the earth. 2nd Corinthians 7:10 gives us the purpose of Godly sorrow, or sorrow that is God-initiated.
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 2 Cor. 7:10
The beginning of Sorrows is a time of release of the spirit of repentance upon His people that will be initiated by His Judgments or by the discipline of His comfort. The spirit of God began to show me that once we see these verses in Matthew 24 through this lens of God’s sorrows, or God’s dealings leading to repentance, we will understand God’s process of preparation of His people to receive national salvation and the return to the city of Jerusalem of their Messiah, Yeshua Hamishiach.
The Comfort of God
When we think of comfort we think only of being comforted in our pain or sorrow, but one aspect of the comfort of God speaks of comfort that is a discipline or Judgment to avert further pain, or eternal pain and sorrow. As a father, whenever I spank or discipline my children, it’s a discipline that is meant to direct them away from future sorrow that could be a lot worse and lasting than the sorrow of the spanking. In this regard, this discipline can be viewed as comfort in the light of its future benefits.
This comfort of God also entails and includes this same discipline that leads us out of the future pain that could be much worse than the present sorrow. His comfort not only comes to reveal and heal the pain, but to reveal the purpose of the pain.….the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2 Cor. 1:3. David says in Psalm 23
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, THEY COMFORT ME.
The rod of the shepherd is for discipline, and the staff of the shepherd is for directing the sheep away from trouble. During the times called the beginning of sorrows God’s people will be comforted both by Judgment or discipline, and by divine direction that will lead them in the shadow and the valley of death to their Messiah, Jesus, the Lord our Shepherd. One aspect of the beginning of sorrows will be a time of God’s dealings with His people to bring light or revelation, bringing hope in the midst of hopelessness, and to bring help in the midst of helplessness, during times of trouble, conflict and even war.
In addition, the beginning of sorrows is the time of the raising up of voices of comfort to speak tenderly to Jerusalem (Isa. 40:1, 2), for the time coming, known as Jacobs Trouble, recorded in Jeremiah 30-5-7.
The beginning of sorrows is a time of the raising up of forerunners and prophetic voices to the nations of the world (Matt 24:14). It is a time of preparation of God’s people for God’s salvation to come out of the Judgment that will come to the earth, preparing many to be covered, protected and given refuge in the time of tribulation.
As we see Jerusalem and the World coming upon a season that Jesus prophesied about in Matthew 24:8 called "The Beginning of Sorrows,"(And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and Plagues; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.)...What should be our response to this season of Trouble and Judgment in Jerusalem, Israel and the nations of the World?
How should believers in Christ pray on the issue of the COVID-19 Plague?
Is it God's Judgment or not?
Where should believers in Christ stand on the issue of Jerusalem and how should we pray?
In this book, the Beginning of Sorrows, Brondon Mathis shares from a divine encounter he had in the city of Jerusalem, which unlocked for him the biblical text of Matthew 24, that is meant to position Jerusalem to be prepared for this season of sorrow, as well as for the return of her Messiah, who will ultimately bring an end and peace to this ancient biblical conflict.
In the Beginning of Sorrows you will learn:
1. What really is the Peace of Jerusalem
2. What one sign from Matthew 24 will initiate the Beginning of Sorrows in Jerusalem.
3. How will God comfort Jerusalem with His rod and staff
4. What were the coming Judgments of the Four Blood Moons and how we could just be seeing these Judgments beginning to be released now.
5. What is the gospel that must be preached before the end to this conflict comes
6. How do we correctly pray for the Peace of Jerusalem
7. How will All Israel be saved from the desolation of this Holy City.
