Category Archives: Eschatology

Eschatology, Essays and Thoughts

what if we’re post-millennial?

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Okay, let’s have some fun with this. I’m going to come at this sideways and backwards, but not so much head on. To come at it head-on, we’d have to work from the Olivet Discourse, the historical accounts of what happened 70A.D., and muddle our ways forward. I’ve already pointed you to some places to work from that angle, so dig into those if that’s where you want to camp.

Coming from that angle, we will run into all sorts of roadblocks and historical inaccuracies that will muddy the waters and can get us stuck in mire. (designed that way on purpose) That path will be long and arduous and not much fun because it will rile about every religious spirit there is. So we’re going to come at this another way. There are far better teachers than I, so all I can do is show you what I’ve learned and you can explore it and see if it resonates with you. Maybe just use it to springboard into your own happy digging.

There’s this silly concept I learned back in my early training of reading comprehension. I was taught that if you’re struggling to understand a concept, if the chapter or page or even paragraph you just read just doesn’t make sense to you, you don’t understand, you don’t know how to comprehend it accurately, to try reading it backwards — not words backwards, but sentences or phrases backwards. Sometimes the end helps you sort out the middle.

LET’S WORK BACKWARDS….

With that in mind, let’s consider Revelation 20. Let’s lay aside all the details that come before, the scroll, the trumpets, the seals, etc. and just skip to the end. There’s this culmination where Christ comes back on a white horse with the armies of heaven (chapter 19). They wage war on the unrighteous inhabitants of earth, and it ends with the beast and false prophet being tossed into the “lake of fire”. THEN a mighty angel seizes the devil and binds him. Satan is thrown into the abyss for “a thousand years”.

Then the prophecy says a curious thing: “After that he must be released for a little while.”

Let’s just stop there for a moment. Why? What’s going on here? [It took me a long, long time of studying Revelation to undo the religious spirit’s influence on my comprehension. A. LONG. TIME.]

This is almost a foreshadowing, because right after that sentence it goes into what’s happening in the heavenly realm – thrones appeared; the martyred were resurrected; the righteous were accounted for, and it says simply that the martyred and righteous “reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

So satan is thrown into a prison abyss for the same thousand years Christ and the martyred and righteous reign on earth. That’s literally all it says about that. We have to go to Isaiah and other prophecies about this time to know what it may be like. John does not have a vision for it in his prophecy.

Before we move on, let’s pause and revisit that curious statement that the devil will be bound for a thousand years (the same thousand years Christ is reigning on earth). Verse 3 tells us he is bound “…so that he might not deceive the nations any longer.” From that, is it safe to deduce deception is no longer a player on the earth among men during the millennial? At least an external source of deception?

There are a thousand years of Christ’s righteous reign where we’re told the righteous and martyred co-reign with Him on earth and satan is bound from deceiving the nations. So clearly there will still be nations under Christ’s reign here. Is that a fair deduction?

And “after that”…. After what? Christ’s millennial reign. Then satan is loosed “for a little while” or a little season.

So how do you read that? Does that mean there’s an end to Christ’s millennial reign? Because the passage says “after that”, referring to his millennial reign. Does that connote an end? Or do the two things (Christ’s reign and satan’s release) continue to happen simultaneously?

MILLENNIAL REIGN EXPIRATION….

When we keep reading, we get to verse seven where it says, “when the thousand years are expired…” Expired… Greek: teleo. Complete, executed, discharged, accomplished. So there is an end to this millennial reign of Christ. It’s a set amount of time, and when it’s done, it’s done. Again, why?

Why is there a millennial reign of Christ that ENDS, expires, is completed? Why is satan released at that end? Why wasn’t satan vanquished to the lake of fire like the false prophet and the beast? Why must he be “released for a little season”?

And how does Christ’s millennial reign end? Is there an announcement across the earth? Does Christ go somewhere else than where He had been? What do the inhabitants on earth do? Do they continue as they were before? How does this transition from millennial rule to satan loosed to deceive?

All we’re told is this: “And when the thousand years are expired, satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle….” [That word battle means warfare and could mean a single encounter or a series.]

WHAT DOES THE MILLENNIAL REIGN LOOK LIKE?

This is where I want to camp for right now, because we’re going to have to use our imaginations to figure out what this could possibly look like. The Scriptures are eerily silent on the details of this. Let’s just assume we know the broad strokes of what the righteous reign of Christ would look like on the earth. Relative peace? Mostly if not completely crime free? Relative unity? Probably a homeostasis, a balance of nature to man? Can we assume perversions and deviations from God’s character are not present, or are swiftly brought into order? Are human physical and mental limitations absent? We can probably agree it’s definitely good on earth, right?

Was Christ’s reign on earth physical or spiritual? Is He reigning in physical form, or is it a spiritual concept?

If it’s physical, where is He reigning from? Let’s just presume it’s Jerusalem for this exercise. What happens at the end of the appointed millennium when it expires? Does He leave Jerusalem or does He stay? If He leaves, where does He go? How does He go? If He stays, wouldn’t that mean He’d be present when satan is going about deceiving the nations? If He’s present in physical form, how in the world would satan be able to deceive the nations?

What about all the resurrected martyrs and righteous that reigned with Him? Do they die on the earth? Surely not, for Scripture tells us there’s just one physical death. Then are they reigning in spirit or natural form? From where and how? Do they stay or leave at the expiration?

Turn this over in your head. I think it matters if His reign is spiritual or natural. Do we assume the dead brought to life that reign with Him are reigning in the same manner as He is? So are they all reigning in the natural or in the flesh? At the expiration, if it’s natural, where do they go? Or do they stay? Being resurrected they cannot die anymore, so wouldn’t they remain in the natural if they were already here in the natural? If they stay, wouldn’t all the inhabitants of the earth know them and know of their reign?

If it’s a spiritual reign, how is it conducted? Do people still pray? How do people know how to align with the righteous rule of Christ if it’s spiritual? Is it impressed upon their hearts? Is it taught? Are there schools or churches to instruct people, or will they just know what to do?

Is it safe to assume the millennial reign of Christ and His resurrected saints is either in the natural or in the spiritual? Is there another way it can be? Put a bookmark here.

SATAN IS RELEASED FROM HIS THOUSAND YEAR PRISON…

Now when satan is loosed, how does that look? Will people know he was loosed? Who has seen satan to know what he looks like in present day? When he was bound and thrown into the abyss, did anyone see that happen? Was it a physical location in our four-dimensional world? Or is it a separate location outside of our dimensional world, in the realm where spirits and angels and demons live? If it’s the latter, who sees his imprisonment? If it’s the latter, who sees his release? Put a bookmark here.

HOW DOES EARTH TRANSITION FROM MILLENNIAL REIGN TO DECEIVED?

Now on the natural plane of the earth, after a millennium of peace and righteous rule, how do the inhabitants of earth go from peace and unity to deception and rebellion of God? This is what has stumped me all of my life. How could a world operating under the righteous reign of Christ turn from that into deception and rebellion to God? What would it take to transition from peace to a large people group ready to battle the saints on earth and God Himself?

These are questions you have to ponder to try to wrap your head around these limited descriptors John gives us of the millennial reign and loose of satan for what looks like the end of the end, because right after that the new Jerusalem is presented and a new heaven and earth replaces the old.

Here’s my take after a lot of study, prayer and thought, and I’ll present sub-points in different posts in the coming days that help build it and show you where I’m coming from.

I think Christ came back sometime after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70A.D., (but I don’t know how long after). We have eyewitness accounts of a heavenly army at the destruction of Jerusalem around 70A.D. I think His reign and rule was in the spiritual dimension. He may or may not have appeared in physical form in this period of time, but I’m leaning toward it being more spiritual than natural.

No one saw satan being bound in the abyss prison, just like I doubt anyone saw the false prophet and beast be put in the lake of fire. I think the lake of fire is allegorical to an extent. I think these things happen in another dimension than what we can see here on earth. John is telling us things he saw, right? (in Revelation) Look at Revelation 12. John is telling us of something that happened in the past: Satan is thrown out of heaven and pursues both Israel and the children of God. No one saw this in the natural, but John gives the vision of past actions and how they looked in the spiritual realm — another dimension humanity doesn’t have access to see directly. I think this is the same thing with the lake of fire and abyss – we won’t witness it on earth, but it’s happening in a parallel dimension we can’t see.

We can study Revelation 12 and know what was described by John’s vision actually manifested on earth, but no one ever sees the dragon, right? It’s in the spiritual dimension. Yet it manifests in the earthly dimension. Same thing happens throughout all of Revelation.

Right now we know Christ is at the right hand of the Father, seated in Heaven. He “ever lives to make intercession for the saints”, right? And we know that after Christ’s ascension, our body’s become the temple of God, and that the Spirit dwells within us. [1Cor. 3:16, 2Cor. 6:16-19] and that the body of believers presents as the temple of God, where He dwells. [Ephesians 2:19-21] Paul calls it the “mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints…this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” [Col. 1:26-28] The MYSTERY is CHRIST IN YOU. Do you get it??? Christ is IN the believer, and that has been hidden for ages past only to be revealed after Christ’s great victory. (It had to be, and I can’t wait to talk about this part in another post.)

Everything changed after Christ. He was literally the door to God. [John 10:9] We are literally changed when we receive the truth of Christ and put ourselves in His care. Everything moves from natural to spiritual, and we live out our remaining physical days on earth learning and becoming more spiritual beings and less natural beings. It’s a metamorphosis of types, if you will.

It’s a spiritual concept that can only be experienced. The world can’t understand it. Paul says, “Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.”

Paul goes on to explain how the natural world can neither see nor understand what’s happening in this realm. Read the rest of the chapter, 1Cor. 2.

So whether Christ’s millennial reign is in the flesh or spirit, I do not know. But I’m going to guess it’s in the spiritual, and the removal of the false prophet and beast and satan’s removal from the earth, and the unbelievers who are slain, enables the remaining humanity on the earth to see clearly to walk under the leadership of Christ, into a new era.

In this era, humanity is no longer under the threat of deception and is able to walk with Christ. The millennial reign is probably much like what the Garden of Eden was supposed to be like before the Fall.

Now tell me if you have generations in this thousand years of reign, walking on earth in love and humility, in peace and cooperation with one another, how do you think satan, when released from his prison, is going to deceive the nations?

I was pressing God for this when I was first starting to try to wrap my head around it. I can tell you where I was when He said, “How many generations do you think it would take, Michelle, to forget the righteous reign of Christ?” [I’ll revisit this later.]

Satan’s imprisonment and release aren’t on the world stage. The world isn’t going to see this happen, anymore than they saw his expulsion from heaven with a third of the rebellious angels. We’re not going to be here on earth and be like, oh here he comes! He’s not going to announce his arrival back on the scene with a press conference. He’s going to operate as he always does, in the shadows.

How long would it take a worldwide society walking in peace and love and unity to be deceived? It probably wouldn’t be the first generation. It probably wouldn’t even be the second generation. It will be a gradual infiltration. He won’t be able to hit it head on. He would have to infect it.

I think he made some Faustian bargains with some people. I think we’ve been studying those people awhile. I think he made some backroom Faustian bargains with some people who stayed behind the scenes and infiltrated the institutions of government and policy and economy and media and social and entertainment – you get the idea. And they began to subvert the systems. I’ll build on that later.

If there was a peaceful millennium, you can rest assured the memory of it would have to be erased in order to deceive the world. No one (on a large scale, in mass numbers) is going to trade peace and love and health for what we have now. The record of it would have to be struck. The memory of it would have to be erased. Every last bit of evidence of it would have to be altered, and a false narrative would have to be given of anything they couldn’t erase.

Try not to knee jerk too much. Really chew on some of those questions. I’ll build on this in the coming days.

Eschatology, Essays and Thoughts

the Book of Revelation is a chiasm

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The book of Revelation is both a chiasm and a bifid. [Ellis Skolfield does a great discourse on bifids and chiasms.] A bifid is just a piece of literature or writing that is separated into two equal or almost equal parts. I’ll give you an example (Isaiah) from Ellis’s teaching.

[This is from one of his teaching slides that are public domain AND he gave me permission on the phone to use anything of his to teach.]

So a bifidic writing will tell a story or carry a theme, then repeat it again in the second half of the document. You can do as many themes in a section as you want, but the second half will carry the same themes, and the same number.

A chiasm is a pattern of writing where a series of statements are made, then repeated in reverse order. It’s almost like a poem that doesn’t rhyme. Once you start to see it, you’ll be able to spot it in other places in Scripture. Here’s a simple example of an AB/BA:

Psa 68:15- 16 The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan. Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desires to dwell in.

A. The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan (God’s hill)

B. an high hill as the hill of Bashan (high hill)

B. Why leap ye, ye high hills? (high hill)

A. this is the hill which God desires to dwell in (God’s hill.)

Here’s an example of an ABC/CBA from Mark 5:3-5

A: Who had his dwelling among the tombs (Tombs)

B: and no man could bind him, (Subdue him)

C: no, not with chains: (Chains)

C: he had been bound with chains, (Chains)

B: neither could any man tame him. (Subdue him)

A: And always he was in the tombs (Tombs)

Chiasms can be in short sentences like these, or can be in chapter form. One of my favorite teachings from Skolfield is “Daniel isn’t in chronological order”. And because I rarely take anyone for their word when studying the Word (especially if I don’t know them or their credibility), I took the time to look each foreign ruler up and compare and contrast them with the book of Daniel. Skolfield was right. Daniel was written in chiastic form, not in chronological order as the events happened, and it looks like this:

A. ch.2 The Great Image — 4 Gentile Nations

B. ch.3 The Fiery Furnace — God’s People in Tribulation

C. ch.4 King goes Insane — Gentile King Judged

C. ch.5 Belshazzar Killed — Gentile King Judged

B. ch.6 The Lion’s Den– God’s People in Tribulation

A. ch.7 The Four Beasts — 4 Gentile Nations

This was a common writing style for the Hebrews/Israelites, and they would have been able to pick out messages and meanings by recognizing repeating patterns. It’s Hebrew, not Latin, so English speaking readers are most likely unfamiliar with it.

When I was in my dining room study season, I was poring over the book of Revelation. I had written it out on butcher paper and hung it from my ceilings down my walls so I could see the whole book in one place. Then I just studied it, looking for patterns. At one point I began scratching my head (figuratively) because I noticed overlapping of themes, and I began asking myself if they were separate events or single events repeated in different form? How many “great earthquakes” were there supposed to be??? Then I began laying seeming patterns down.

I didn’t want to take liberty where I shouldn’t, but I had never heard anyone in all of my time studying and reading and listening, talk about overlapping repetitive themes in Revelation. So I began asking God if I should overlap them and consider them singular events instead of multiple events. I can’t remember how He led me to Skolfield, but it was his bifid/chiasm teaching that broke this open for me and showed me how to apply it.

There are several good teachers on chiasms. Skolfield has his chiastic outline for Revelation, but it didn’t make as much sense to me as some others I found. Another great teacher on Revelation and who has a chiastic outline for Revelation that was easier for me to follow is Walter Veith. He is an astounding teacher. You could get lost in his videos for weeks!

Here’s a slide presentation of bifids and chiasms from Skolfield: https://vdocuments.pub/ellis-skolfields-teaching-outline…

A great overview is his book “Daniel is out of order” that you can find on this page: https://www.ellisskolfield.net/books

If you want to dig more into this, look at Skolfield’s works and do a generic internet search with “chiasm revelation” and just start looking through them. I did some work at making my own chiasm outline for Revelation, but I still think it needs tweaked.

We have to get out of our traditional mindsets from a western education, both secularly and religiously, if we want to grasp some of the applications and truths of Scripture. As Americans instructed in a lineal language (Latin originated), we think lineally. The Hebrew language is a whole language. The characters are letters, numbers, words and even pictures. They have idioms that are used prolifically throughout Scripture that we take literally with no real understanding of what they are referring to. (This is one of my favorite lessons to teach on. e.g.: “the rod” is an idiom for “Torah”. Now read, “Spare the rod, spoil the child” and contemplate what it means. “No one knows the hour or the day” is an idiom for Rosh Hashanah. Now revisit Christ’s words quoting that. There are dozens if not hundreds of these in the Bible.)

I’ll post some examples of chiasms. I’m not endorsing any one chiasm. I’m still working on those myself, and I’m putting them out there for consideration or a starting point.

I don’t agree with any one teacher anymore than I expect anyone to agree completely with me. I take the parts that make sense (to me at the point of understanding I’m in), and I table or reject the ones that don’t.

When I was talking with Ellis Skolfield several years ago (maybe 2014?), I was asking him some questions. I’ll never forget one of his answers, “I don’t know. I haven’t figured that out yet. Maybe you will and you can tell me!” No one on this earth has the full understanding. Most of my learning and subsequent teaching is from putting pieces and parts together from a wide assortment of teachers and children of God. There are some gaping holes I’m still trying to find answers for. It’s work, but it’s rewarding.

To restate, I don’t have this whole thing figured out by a long shot, (but I feel like I’m closer than I was). I may have to renege or tweak some things later that I’m sharing now as I continue to learn. I’ve literally been waiting years until I get it all figured out before I share. But I probably won’t get it “all figured out”. So I’ll share what I have and we can sharpen each other. You’ll most likely have some angles and information I don’t have that will help me on my way, and vice versa. It’s almost like WWG1WGA 😉

Be blessed in your pursuit of Him.

Here are a couple random breakdowns of Revelation in chiastic form. There are a lot of variations. These are just examples of how some others have seen it. There are a lot of variations.

Eschatology, Prophetic Musings

Unpopular theories I’m pondering

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I’m working on some theories and still need to organize my notes.  But I’m going to put a few thoughts out here in the hope that it will spur others to weigh in on some of my thoughts in case I have some blind spots that are preventing better perspective.  I’m going to touch on three things that aren’t necessarily connected but may well be.  I think you’ll see where I’m going. 

I’m going to present in broad strokes.

Devolution, President-in-Exile, and Donald J. Trump

I’ve been off the beaten path on this topic enough to know it holds merit and could very well be true.  There’s enough circumstantial evidence to allow hope that it is true, and if true, it still seems like the best option for the immediate future for America.

The current alleged U.S. administration is taking us on a crash course to complete tyranny under the pretty guise of inclusion and perceived safety (from government promoted threats), among other things.  There is no happy future for America in the true spirit of America on our current path.  I am well aware of that.

I understand some of the tactics of war that are confusing for the foot soldier and observers.  For example, appearing weak when you are strong (and vice versa), disinformation to hide or mislead from your movements and intentions to gain ground and the element of surprise, theatrics for illusion, etc.  That said I believe all of that is going on. 

The front man (woman, whoever is the public lead) of the “side” one is on, must instill confidence and trust to his/her counterparts in the battle.  There are times we’ll be confused, times we won’t understand the strategy on the board.  I understand that is all part of the war. 

Two main things (there are lesser things as well) give me pause about Trump’s leadership for the cause of liberty and national sovereignty in America:  his relentless push for the covid vaccine, and his seeming ineptness for January 6.

Knowing what we know about the vaccine and the thousands who have been harmed by it and even killed, why would he push it as “good”?  Why not just stay silent?  Why not just reiterate we’re still the United States of America, founded on independent sovereignty and personal liberty, and remove himself from the public argument?  His base does not agree with his stance and have made it clear.  I’ve heard the argument that “Operation Warp Speed” was code name for a military operation.  (insert eye roll)  I’ve heard the argument that he had to hurry a vaccine to quell the growing public fear.  While elements of that argument make some sense in the scheme of politics, the ruse could have been dropped after the election and it was reinforced.

Even now public information on the vaccines has been coming out of grave consequences.  This would be the perfect time to feign shock and recant your stance.  But he doesn’t.  Why?

Trump knew the FBI set up the “insurrection” narrative for January 6.  Why did he encourage his group to go to the Capitol?  Why has he allowed average American citizens be put through the American gulag system and be left there almost defenseless, under abuse and suffering?  Didn’t he campaign on statements like this:

VOA tells us a Presidential pardon for all persons involved January 6 was an option on the table. 

While we still have American patriots suffering without Constitutional provisions (6th and 14th Amendments for due process and a speedy trial), while evidence is being hidden and not permitted, and Revolver has been relentless on its reporting of the injustice of it all, why has DJT remained relatively silent through it?  Why weren’t there pardons or public statements of weight?  Why is there continued silence? 

These aren’t small matters to me.  These are literal life and death matters of American people.  People are dying and facing grave health concerns for the promotion of a serum that has not proven effective for the thing it was allegedly created for.  People who did not commit crimes have been set up by a corrupt judicial and legislative system in the American government and are languishing as political prisoners in the alleged home of the free and brave.  These aren’t inconsequential oversights.  Are these people just casualties of the war? 

[This doesn’t even touch on Ivanka’s membership in the World Economic Forum or Jared’s monetary ties to serious conflicts of freedom’s interests.  I don’t have time for that and I give it a surface pass because it’s not Trump personally.]

The powers that be are intent on recreating their version of prophecy

Study will show that modern Israel was founded by Rothschilds and their cohorts.  I totally understand that God can use the wicked as pieces on a chess board to accomplish his purposes, and this may be that.  But hang with me a minute because this will lead to the next thing, and remember, these are just working theories I’m looking for other insight for.

Why would the powers in the shadows want to recreate prophecy?  That ties to my third theory, so we’ll table it for just a moment.

How difficult would it be to recreate a version of Biblical prophecy if you held sway over the major political players of the world?  What if you held sway over, say, the religious institution as well?  If what was being taught and relatively wide-spread learned across the vehicle of Christian churches was a general apocalyptic rapture, future tribulation, future antichrist scenario, then orchestrating that wouldn’t be that difficult.  Just spend some time thinking about that and I think you’ll be able to see it.

Look at the current Ukraine-Russia conflict and see how many people and places are saying Russia is the antichrist or Russia is Magog and Putin is Gog, or similar proclamations.  Only (and I don’t have time to prove this now but I will soon) Magog is Ukraine, not Russia. 

Just think about this for a minute.  If you’re the enemy of God and your endeavors are works for darkness, wouldn’t you want to subvert the truths of God and especially the prophecies?  After all, these are things that work against you and the kingdom of darkness.  If you could divert attention to arenas you painted as targets, the activities going on in other arenas would fade into the background.  This would be a reason (not the only reason) for recreating prophecy. 

Again, I’m speaking in broad strokes right now, but I will hone it down in the coming weeks. 

Ultimately life on terrestrial earth is the epic battle between light and dark, the friends of God and the enemies of God.  The only middle ground is ignorance. Let’s be real.  The vast majority of humanity is happy in the middle ground of nominal awareness of the spiritual forces around them.  As long as their basic needs are met and they are sufficiently entertained or otherwise distracted, involvement in the spiritual arena is not at the forefront.  

Regardless, as long as I’ve been alive there has been talk about the end of the earth, the coming apocalypse, a ten headed beast, an antichrist and his kingdom, a mark in the forehead, etc.  What are the chances the powers of darkness can utilize the prophecies for their agenda?  Would they try?  Wouldn’t they just somehow suppress the truths of the Scripture – a kind of 1984 tyranny that prevents disclosure?  If they couldn’t do that, then wouldn’t another strategy be to pervert it? 

Which leads me to my third realm of hypothesis….

What are the chances we’re post-millennial? 

I used to scoff at this idea.  (I was, after all, raised in the religious institution with its systems and constructs.)  I used to think that was ludicrous.  If Christ was reigning on the earth, wouldn’t the earth know it???  It’s still a valid question.  But there have been things that have blown some holes into my original thoughts.

So before you poo-poo this or mark me off as some radical fringe person, think about some of these things….

 Rev 20:7-8  (NASU)

“When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.”

In that one sentence, how much time is it covering?  How long do you think it will take Satan to deceive the nations after the world had been sitting under Christ’s millennial reign?  A few years? 

What would have to occur to convince the inhabitants of the earth that they should reject the rule of righteousness in exchange for ….what?  What are they exchanging it for?  How does this transition happen?

How do you go from the righteous reign of Christ on the earth to the nations assembling for battle against God?  How long would it take to get from point A (righteous reign) to point B (demonic rule)?  Prophecy sums up the whole thing in one sentence.  How many years, decades or centuries does that one sentence span?

The word used there is deceive not conquer.  So Satan is getting out of the abyss and heading back to the inhabitants of earth to “trick, mislead, hide the truth” from them.  How long would that take if they were under righteous rule?  Satan won’t have the authority over earth, remember?  He no longer holds the title deed to earth; Christ does.  His only M.O. will have to be deception because he’s been stripped of his legal authority.  How will he deceive the nations?

Another question, where is Christ when this happens?  If Christ has set up an earthly reign – reigning here on earth from some physical location – where is he when Satan is released from the abyss?  Why isn’t there a confrontation when this happens?  If Christ’s millennial reign is physically on the earth, what happens to it when Satan is released?  Is Christ physically reigning on the earth and Satan just kind of slithers around the background whispering lies in people’s ears?

There are really only two possibilities here:  Either Christ’s millennial reign is spiritual, or it is physical.

If it’s spiritual, then Christ rules from Heaven through His saints on earth (and in heaven) at the time of the millennial.  If it’s physical, then He reigns from a physical location on earth.  Who really thinks that in a physical reign of Christ on the earth that Satan is going to be able to come on the scene and deceive people away from peace and righteousness while Christ is still ruling on the earth?  What extraordinary circumstances would enable that scenario?  And if such a scenario would occur, where is Christ in the time Satan is deceiving the world?  Is He still on earth?  Or is He in heaven? 

These questions matter.  That one sentence doesn’t give us any of those answers.  How can we find them? 

Let’s evaluate this:

Revelation 12:9 tells us Satan was thrown down to the earth.  Who saw that happen?  Was that a physical occurrence or a spiritual?  Could we see it with our physical eyes?  Did Satan suddenly appear on the earth with a host of fallen angels with him?  If we didn’t see it with our eyes and there isn’t a historical record of it in the annals of time from witnesses (apart from Scripture), how did it happen?  When did it happen?  Where did he set up camp on earth?  Don’t we just automatically assume or recognize that this happened in the spiritual dimension hidden from our eyes? 

Rev 20:1-3

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.  And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.

Is this release after the bondage in the Abyss any different?  Is Satan suddenly going to manifest physically NOW?  Or are we still talking about the spirit realm that corresponds and parallels life on earth, but must be discerned apart from our five senses?

And IF Satan’s appearance on earth is in the spiritual realm, and these occurrences are connected with Christ’s reign “on earth”, could Christ’s reign be in the spirit realm as well? 

For the sake of hypotheses and theories, let’s assume Christ’s millennial reign is in the spirit realm, just as Satan’s deception operates from the spirit realm. Now how does life on terrestrial earth look?  Revelation 20:6 tells us the saints of God will reign as priests of God and Christ during the millennial.  But the saints John is telling us of are those faithful during the mark of the beast that “came to life”, meaning they had physically died.  So are they reigning with Christ from Heaven or in physical form on the earth? 

If resurrected saints and the resurrected Christ are reigning on earth in physical form, how is the dragon from the abyss going to be able to deceive the nations?  And where are the reigning Christ and his saints when the dragon of old comes to deceive the earth?  If they’re still on the earth, how are people deceived? 

For these reasons and more I have yet to get into, I am pursuing the possibility that we are post millennial.  I’ll spend time on that in another article, but for the sake of running down this theory, let’s pretend this working theory is correct for now and wind it back to my second point.

IF we’re post-millennial and we’re in the season of Satan deceiving the earth, why would he want to recreate the end time prophecies of Revelation, Daniel, Isaiah, etc.?  I suggest it would be part of the deception.  The Word of God is not absent post-millennial.  We have no indication from Scripture that it is struck from the public record.  What we do know is God’s adversary will deceive earth’s inhabitants.

We know Satan’s end time game is to deceive the nations and “gather them for the war”.  I’ll get into this in detail in the coming weeks, but for now, just mull over in your head how Satan could derail Christians in his scheme.  If he can’t all out get them to join him in the deception, what could he do to mislead them (a variant of the word deceive)?  I’m contemplating the possibility that he uses the prophecies to recreate a scenario that keeps the children of God from rightly perceiving the hour at hand for the purpose of establishing an army we can’t recognize for what it is.  More on that to come….

Which wraps us around to the first point of inconsistencies or discrepancies in DJT.  Why would the anti-establishment president support and promote a vaccine that we now have the increasing data is neither benevolent nor beneficial?  Either he’s playing a war game too strategic for my brain to understand at the cost of millions of lives, or he himself is deceived, or he’s part of the end time game.

This is the part where I ask for your input.

These are theories that have been percolating in my brain for a couple years now, as I’ve been scraping together miscellaneous data points to try to bring clarity to the picture.  I’ve presented in broad strokes but in the coming days I’ll start honing down with finer pictures and hope to bring it from an impressionist painting to more of either a tenebrism or viewpoint painting. 

If you have thoughts that would either cast light or even doubt on these thoughts, I welcome them.

Eschatology, Prophetic Musings

Gleanings from Enoch, part 1

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From my rough timetable, I have that Enoch was born in the 622nd year on earth (from a timetable calculating Adam at year zero).  His father, Jared, would have been born in the 460th year.  Enoch’s great grandson Noah would have been born in year 1056, and the Great Flood would have been about year 1656.

That means Enoch spoke of the events to come in a thousand years, roughly [at Chapter 54 the word about the coming destruction through flood begins].  He tells us that in the days of his father, Jared, the Watchers came to earth to copulate with the daughters of men.  The Watchers numbered 200, and descended onto Mount Hermon.  He lists nineteen of their leaders by name, and calls Semjaza, Samlazaz Azazel various specific leaders.    

These Watchers wrought havoc on the earth by their fornication with humanity and the introduction of the Nephilim, also called giants.  They taught humanity all sorts of knowledge that would lead to ultimate destruction.  The earth got filled with a lot of bloodshed, and the Most High slated destruction to the earth because of the bloodshed and wickedness.

Enoch was given insight and revelation to the events in his day, the structure of the heavenly realm, and things to come on the earth.

I love the first chapter because it speaks of the Holy Great One, the eternal God, coming out of His chambers to execute justice upon the earth.  It is quoted by Jude, but I like the passage right before Jude’s citation, [Enoch 1:8]:

But with the righteous He will make peace.  And will protect the elect, and mercy will be upon them.  And they will all belong to God, and they will be prospered, and they will all be blessed.  And He will help them all, and light will appear unto them, and He will make peace with them.

Then verse nine is what is quoted in Jude 14-15:

And, behold, He comes with tens of thousands of His holy ones to execute judgement upon all, and to destroy the ungodly:  And to convict all flesh of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.

The violence against mankind on earth was noted in chapter 8, verse 3:  “And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven.”

Chapter nine continues noting the lawlessness on earth, and verse three says:

And now to you, the holy ones of heaven, the souls of men make their suit, saying, “Bring our cause before the Most High.”

Azazel was marked in verse six for teaching “all unrighteousness on earth and [revealing] the eternal secrets which were (preserved) in heaven, which men were trying to learn.”

The following chapters spell out the judgement forthcoming to the angelic realm for their sin.  The Watchers learn of the anger of God and seek Enoch to intercede for them.  The Lord is not pleased and remarks in chapter 15, verse 2 that Enoch should point out to them:  “You should intercede for men and not men for you.” 

The whole chapter is vital for hearing the Lord’s judgment on the Watchers.  In verse eight and nine the Lord decrees and defines the definition of giants:

And now the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, will be called evil spirits upon the earth, and on the earth will be their dwelling.  Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies because they are born from men and from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin; they will be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits will they be called.

Probably a decade or more ago when I was down the rabbit hole of UFOs and aliens, the Spirit spoke to me that aliens were just demonic spirits manifesting under new titles.  Here I learn through Enoch that the product of the union of fallen angel and man is decreed an “evil spirit”.  When we consider that a whole other world is going on in tunnels and labs and undisclosed locations across the earth with entities the like most human eyes will never lay upon, we can know for certain that such evil is what Enoch said wreaked the earth in the days of his father leading up to the Great Flood.

Enoch goes on with the words of the Lord to him, explaining what the Church has been neglectful to teach:

[As for the spirits of heaven, in heaven will be their dwelling, but as for the spirits of the earth which were born upon the earth, on the earth will be their dwelling.]  And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble:  they take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst and cause offences.  And these spirits will rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them.

Men and women before me have labored to expose what goes on in the dark.  They have been ridiculed and scorned, neglected and rejected.  It doesn’t change the truth because one denies it exists.  The truth is still the truth.  We have enemies who have set themselves against the order of the Creator, and in so doing have endeavored to corrupt and destroy mankind. 

They are teaching insidious and irreversible techniques and methods to corrupt the flesh of humanity, to remove the God piece in humanity.  These methods come in the form of artificial intelligence, transhumanism, androgyny, nano particles and involuntary genetic modifications, gene splicing, cloning, and DNA manipulations.  How are we none the wiser today to these tactics of the enemy?

Gratefully, this passage in chapter sixteen stood out to me as a beacon of great comfort and hope:

And now as to the watchers who have sent you to intercede for them, who had been previously in heaven, (say to them):  “You have been in heaven, but all the mysteries had not yet been revealed to you, and you knew worthless ones, and these in the hardness of your hearts you have made known to the women, and through these mysteries women and men work much evil on earth.”  Say to them therefore:  “You have no peace.”

All the mysteries have not been revealed.  There is a higher wisdom; there are deeper mysteries, greater knowledge, and more encompassing truths.  The works of Freemasonry, the Illuminati and Satanic fraternities and organizations, the revelation of alien technologies, they are not the fullness of the mysteries of the wisdom of Heaven and the Holy One.

Oh that the servants of God would implore the Maker of Creation for the tools and wisdom to thwart these works of darkness!

Chapter 42 tells us that “Wisdom went out to make her dwelling among the children of men and found no dwelling place:  Wisdom returned to her place and took her seat among the angels.”  We must enter the courts of Heaven to find the Wisdom we need.  It does not exist in the channels of earth.

Chapter 46 reads so much like Daniel 7:9-10; I highlighted the whole chapter.  Chapter 48 tells us of the inexhaustible fountain of righteousness and the Son of Man and this great encouragement is found in it.  It says the Son of Man has preserved the lot of the righteous, “…because they have hated and despised this world of unrighteousness and have hated all its works and ways in the name of the Lord of Spirits.”

This was particularly encouraging to me.  I have been so weary of this world, feel so alien here, want very much to depart and abide in the abode of the spirit.  I am reminded of these passages….

1 John 2:15-17  [NASU]   Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17  The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

John 12:25  [NASU]  He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.

Heb 11:37-38 [NASU]   They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

In chapter sixty-two verse seven we read:  “For from the beginning the Son of Man was hidden, and the Most High preserved him in the presence of His might and revealed him to the elect.”  Which has beautiful echoes of Colossians 1:15-18 and John 1:1. 

And at the end of that chapter we read about the garments given to the righteous and elect:  “And they will have been clothed with garments of glory, and these will be the garments of life from the Lord of Spirits:  And your garments will not grow old, nor your glory pass away before the Lord of Spirits.”  Which has echoes of Rev 3:5 [NASU], “He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”

The Book of Enoch was not canonized, and part of me wonders if it was because parts of it were excerpts from the Book of Noah.  For example, critics have used Enoch 60:1 to contend the book is faulty – because it says, “In the year 500….in the life of Enoch….”  Obviously a literal interpretation indicates that would be errant.  Enoch was not alive in the year 500 of earth, nor did he live 500 years.  However, this was understood to be about Noah, in Noah’s 500th year.  When reading the context of the 60th chapter we learn that Leviathan and Behemoth were placed one in the sea and the other in the wilderness to beget judgement upon the earth in part.  The judgement that subsequent chapters portray are those of the days of Noah.  Obviously Enoch was not on the earth in those days.  It seems to me to be a mixture of Enoch’s revelation of those days and Noah’s experience in those days. 

While many have discounted the work of Enoch for these seeming discrepancies, I think it’s a great loss to dismiss this work on such grounds.  The uncanny overlap of themes and even descriptions in Enoch that parallel other passages of Scripture cannot be missed.  If we want a better understanding of the “Days of Noah” here in our 21st century, perhaps an account of one who was there and one who foretold of it would be valuable for at least consideration. 

For instance, chapter sixty-four has just two sentences, but the second sentence elucidates the reason for the destruction on earth (via the Flood):  “These are the angels who descended to the earth and revealed what was hidden to the children of men and seduced the children of men into committing sin.”

Simply put, the angelic realm crossed into the earthly realm and seduced humanity to sin against God.  In the following chapter it further details, “…because they have learnt all the secrets of the angels and all the violence of the devils, and all their powers – the most secret ones – and all the power of those who practice sorcery, and the power of witchcraft, and the power of those who make molten images for the whole earth.”

We know that it is Noah speaking in this chapter because he says so plainly in verse 9 (Chapter 65).  Enoch told Noah, “Because of their unrighteousness their judgement has been determined upon and will not be withheld by Me forever. [quoting God’s words to him]  Because of the sorceries which they have searched out and learnt, the earth and those who dwell upon it will be destroyed.  And these – they have no place of repentance forever, because they have shown them what was hidden, and they are the damned.”

But Enoch was clear to point out Noah was innocent of knowing these secrets.

There is so much we can learn from this, especially in the light of current events.  When we hear of  Jeffrey Epstein’s tunnels and underground rooms on his island, and that as a private citizen he held an office in Harvard, wanted to “seed the human race with his DNA” and cryogenically freeze his penis and brain to be brought back at a future date, there are questions that should arise in our minds.  This New York Post story tells us:

Epstein used his own key card and campus passcode to make at least 40 visits to an office known as “Jeffrey’s Office” at the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics. He had showered the program with $6.5 million before he served time for soliciting sex with a minor.

“Program for Evolutionary Dynamics”….wonder what that was about?  He helped start the program with his hefty donation, which includes population genetic s.  He was also quoted as wanting to “strengthen the human gene pool” through eugenics. 

Couple that with tidbits coming out on Bill Gates’ and those like him and their research into genetic modifications, transhumanism, cloning, etc., and we should be realizing we’re dabbling in realms of human reconstruction that will surely facilitate the judgement of God.  If humans were meant to live forever, it was surely before there was sin.  The wage of sin is death, and if we think we need to circumvent death by clones and unnaturally extending the human lifespan, what are the implications of that?  Surely that is playing God with no fear of the Creator.

The examples that have gone before us would indicate that will not work out well for humanity on planet earth.   In Noah’s day, the fallen angels were the source of the secrets that led to the wickedness encompassing the earth.  It doesn’t take too long of research to realize the likes of people in the Illuminati, Freemasonry, DUMBs, the Nazi medical labs, and other laboratories and fraternity circles are getting instructions from extradimensional beings.

Chapter 69 lists the fallen angels’ crimes with an interesting sidebar about an oath requested by Kasbeel  (requested of Michael) and called the “chief of the oath” that immediately made me think of Freemasonry and the secrets of that order based on oaths.  (This starts at verse 13 and is fascinating.)

In verse 26 we learn the Name of the Son of Man was revealed to those in this angelic order, and that the “sum of judgement” was given to Him.  Beautifully, section two ends with chapter 72 with the Son of Man proclaiming “peace in the name of the world to come”. 

And these are just the first two sections of Enoch’s work. 

Eschatology, Essays and Thoughts

Christians Should be Prepared for the Return of the King

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You know how we say things like “it’s raining cats and dogs”?  We understand that to mean it’s raining really hard.  You have to dig back a couple centuries to understand the origin of that phrase was when they had thatch roofs and the animals sometimes nested in them, and when it rained really hard they’d fall through the roof.  That’s an idiom.

The Bible is full of them. 

When I tell people we can know the season of the Lord’s return, they act like I’m either a raving lunatic or an idiot.  [Eh, fine.  I’ve never been one to care much what someone else thinks of me.   I do, however care about understanding the Word of God.]

We have this well-known passage from Paul who tells us that we are not in darkness like the rest of the world, so we will not be caught off guard like the rest of the world.  Really look at what he says here*:

Just the first sentence is a mouthful!  Paul said we don’t need anything written to us about the times and epochs (sometimes translated seasons).  Why would that be?  Why does Paul assume his reader(s) – the early first century Church – know the times and seasons – specifically about the return of Christ? 

Interestingly, this passage immediately follows the infamous “rapture” passage of the return of Christ and the apantesis of the believers in escorting Christ from the air to the earth.

Speaking of a rapture….

So let’s debunk the rapture myth. Christians aren’t going to be raptured up and leave the earth while some seven year tribulation is hitting the earth. That’s a lie, and a dangerous one. Someone find me this teaching before 1830 and we can have a meaningful conversation about it.

The “rapture theology” originated when a young Scottish girl named Margaret MacDonald told a “vision” she had. John Darby ran with it, enveloped it in his pre-tribulation theory, and as they say, the rest is history. But it’s not solid Biblical teaching. It’s not Biblical at all, in fact.

[As an aside, I would say most of the serious false teachings on the return of Christ have occurred in the last couple centuries. The early Church did not have the “doctrines” today’s Church promotes. But that’s a whole other story.]

It’s really that simple. I don’t need to go on about a rapture that doesn’t exist in Scripture because it’s a false teaching and no one can prove it by Scripture. So let’s talk about an “apantesis” instead…

Now this word “apantesis” is really important and carries serious implications. The Greek word literally means “to meet one” and is used only three times in the Bible: Matthew 25:6, Acts 28:15 and 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

In each of the three uses of “apantesis” in Scripture, it clearly depicts a scenario of:

 “Apantesis” according to Vine:

“It is used in the papyri of a newly arriving magistrate. It seems that the special idea of the word was the official welcome of a newly arrived dignitary”…

It’s a welcoming party, if you will, to receive royalty or dignitaries. They send a delegation for a reception of the coming dignitary. The welcoming party leaves the destination point to receive the coming dignitary a bit out of the city or locale, and then accompanies him/her back to the destination point.

If a visiting monarch, president, or head of state was visiting our city, an apantesis would occur. There would be a welcoming group of people go out to the point of entry into our city, perhaps an airport. That group would then escort the visiting dignitary back into the city and the point of destination.

This is the context of Christ’s Second Advent. He will return to earth the same way He left.

Acts 1:9-11 [NASU]: “And after He [Christ] had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

When He returns, the believers still on the earth will actually meet Him in the air and escort Him back to earth.

1 Thess 4:17 [NASU]: “ Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air…”

That word “meet” here in the Scripture they like to quote for their rapture theory is apantesis – used only three times in Scripture — and defined as a welcoming party to accompany or escort a magistrate or dignitary to the point of destination.

Please note one of the other three times apantesis is used is in the parable Jesus gives of the Bridegroom’s return, and it is the instruction given to the virgins for the arrival of the Bridegroom (King): go out and meet Him! Accompany Him to His destination (the wedding feast).

So no, there is no “left behind” scenario of a rapture that whisks believers away. That is a lie. (and that book series has done considerable damage to the Church) There is, however, a far greater scenario: we will meet our Lord in the air and accompany Him back to the earth at his Second Advent.

But back to the return of Christ not catching believers by surprise…

In verse nine of 1Thess 5, Paul reminds the believers we’re not destined for the wrath of God, which is also why he took pains to explain that upon Christ’s second advent (where He comes to exact judgment on the earth), the believers still alive on the earth are caught up in the air to Him (as He is descending from Heaven) to accompany Him back to the earth.  (the apantesis)  The believers accompany Christ on the “day of the Lord”; they are not left on the earth to fend for themselves (as His return is described in Isaiah 63 or Revelation 19:11-16), for they are with Him as Paul described in 1 Thess. 4:15-18.

The Thief in the Night

So what is this thief in the night that Paul, a devout Jew and Pharisee extraordinaire speaks of?  And why is this a perfect descriptor for why Christians will not be caught too much by surprise by Christ’s return?

This descriptor is another idiom for something Paul’s audience would have been familiar with, but the western mind would not.  In the times of the temple in Jerusalem, part of the priests’ duty was to keep the fire on the altar burning.  They had schedules for their duties to keep watch.  The night shift was more difficult for obvious reasons.  The High Priest would make random visits to the watchman priest of the fire to make sure the fire was still lit.  If the watchman priest had fallen asleep, the High Priest would take burning coals and shovel some on the priest’s robes.  The priest would awaken in a start as his robes began smoldering and pull off his robes.  This was considered an obvious disgrace as he would be exposed naked (or in undergarments) when the next priest came on shift.   On the night shift, the High Priest was known by the nickname “thief in the night”.

Paul is telling us the High Priest (who is now only Christ Himself) will come like a thief in the night, and the immediate understanding would be of this scenario.  Obviously we are the priests responsible for keeping the fire lit on the altar.  (God calls us His priests in Rev. 1:6, 5:10, 20:6.)  If we’re doing our job, there’s no way we’ll be overtaken because we will see the High Priest coming!  Now does this passage make sense?

Rev 16:15  NASU

(“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”)

Do you see the reference to keeping our clothes and not walking about naked??  Doesn’t that make more sense now?  Can you see how Christ’s disciples should be prepared for the return of the King?  If they’re at their tasks with the fire on the altar being kept, they will see as the High Priest is coming.  But if they’re asleep, they will be caught off guard, suffer for their slothfulness, and be exposed (naked) for those who were awake and ready.

It is, in fact, assumed by Paul and in the early Church, that Christians will not be caught by surprise at Christ’s return.  In fact, look at the comparison Paul draws from the believers to the world.  The believers will not be caught by surprise, but the world will be in the midst of declaring “peace and safety” unaware of the actual season they are in.  Selah.

Christ’s admonition in these passages is to the believers, not the world.  The world doesn’t know or care about God and His ways.  The world will keep on keeping on like it always has with wars, ethnic wars, droughts, famines and plagues, etc.  People will have their agendas of peace or war, of unity or division.  As the famous preacher said, “There’s nothing new under the sun.”  To these people, the return of Christ will catch them by surprise.  They’re the same mockers Peter refers to here:

2 Peter 3:3-7  NASU

A Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”  For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water.  But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

Yet Peter continues and here we have another reference to the thief….

2 Peter 3:10-13  NASU

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,  looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!  But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

Planet earth is actually wrapping up, if you’ve been paying attention.  God’s timeline for humanity has an actual expiration date.  God, in His great mercy, has been gracious to let us in on His purposes and plans.  We only need to seek Him.  Paul said we don’t need the times and epochs written to us, why?  Because we already know them.  (or we should if we’re disciples of the Son)  Our job is to occupy until He comes, clothed and ready, with the fire on the altar burning. 

Eschatology, Essays and Thoughts

I think we’re wrapping up

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In a nutshell, why I think we’re in the final years on earth has little to do with politics, current events, the (sorry) state of the Church, or interpretations of Revelation.  I happen to be in the school of thought that most of end times prophecy is already completed.  We’re not waiting for bowls, seals and trumpets.  They’ve already happened and our church leaders have misled us.

There is no “rapture” before some mythical 7-year tribulation.  The great tribulation has come and gone.  You can read about it in the history records.  The only “rapture” is when Christ Himself returns to the earth and His believers still on earth are caught up (the phrase that depicts the rapture) to meet him in the air.  We then will accompany Him back to the earth where He will be crowned King of the earth.

God has a timetable and God’s purposes will not be thwarted.  (If you’ve followed Q at all, this should be easy for you to understand.  The QClock and the timestamps indicate a plan bigger than the present.  If human minds can do this, imagine the mind of God and His clock.) 

Remember this, and be assured;  Recall it to mind, you transgressors.

Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me,

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done,

Saying, ‘ My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;

Isaiah 46:8-10 NASU

God laid out a template from the first act on Earth:  Creation.  The template was a seven day week – the last day being a rest (representative in the Sabbath).  Each day represented a thousand years on earth.  “Remember the former things long past.” 

The math is easy; it’s belief that is difficult.  After six thousand years, the earth gets its Sabbath.  Christ is our Sabbath, and His millennial reign is the Seventh Year.   “Declaring the end from the beginning…”

If we had kept our calendars correctly and didn’t make any human errors (or deliberate deceptions), the Seventh Year should have started in 2000.  But, we didn’t.  So we have to take into account the errors, and that’s a hat trick.  (I personally think that’s purposeful.)

I’ve spent two decades studying this and these concepts and principles, and it took me over forty hours and five months to teach it in a class, so this is a nutshell without the details.  God declared in Isaiah that He declares things from the ancient past for things that are yet to be:  “… from ancient times things which have not been done.”  To see the future, we have to look back.  [To borrow from Q, “future proves past.”]

Remember the preacher’s words in Eccl 1:9-11?  We fail to remember the earlier things – aiding our ignorance and lack of knowledge.

That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done.  So there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there anything of which one might say, “See this, it is new”?  Already it has existed for ages which were before us.

There is no remembrance of earlier things; And also of the later things which will occur, there will be for them no remembrance among those who will come later still.

This is the current generation of both believers and unbelievers.  There’s nothing new.  It has all existed ages prior, and because there is no effort to remember them (and learn), we fail to recognize the same errors in our day.  Human trafficking, adrenochrome, organ harvesting, transhumanism, etc.  These are not new evils.  They are in fact, very, very old.  We just failed to recall them, address them, learn from them, arrest (stop) them. 

But God.  God’s purposes will be established.  This is where we hang our hats.  And He purposed  a six thousand year earth with humanity at various stages being given the opportunity to align with Him.  And we are drawing to the end of that six thousand years. 

So all the talk and speculation about an antichrist, the mark of the beast, etc. does not dissuade me from the time we are living.  We are at the end.  If the whole of Revelation was accomplished (historicist) view or only a partial fulfillment with a future fulfillment is true, it will not change the timeline of God.  He has allotted humanity so much time on earth, and then the end.  We will not and cannot change His timeline and His purpose.

I understand the need to discern the signs of the times.  I have that urge myself.  Those are the details that are fun (and exhausting) to throw around and weigh evidence with Scripture.  I don’t have that neatly tied up.  I still change my mind on what some things mean and if they are particular signs.  But it does not change me that we are at the end.

Just when is that end?  That’s the golden question….  Messianic Hebrew scholars say it cannot be later than 2038, yet the Hebrew calendar has us at year 5780, which would leave 220 years yet to fulfillment.  For a lot of reasons they do not believe that is accurate either. 

The Spirit of God began speaking to me in elevens  I think around 2010.  It took me months of praying and seeking to understand what He was saying.  After several months of this, He gave me Matthew 20:6 through a third party who had no idea what I was praying about:  “And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’”

And the Spirit spoke as I read it, “It’s the eleventh hour.”  Again, I had no real understanding at that time what that meant.  I had an idea, but it would be years before I was able to discern the intent.  My understanding is an hour is the equivalent of 41.6 years.  So in 2010, God began speaking to me about being in the “eleventh hour”, or the last 41.6 years on earth.  Were we at the beginning of the eleventh hour?  The middle, or the end?  I do not know and He has not said more to me regarding this.  I know the Messianic Rabbis believe 2038 is the last possible year before the Seventh Day, but it could be any time in between.

It’s too long to get into here, but there have been dozens of studies and things I’ve learned between now and then that reaffirm this to me.  In Genesis 6:3 God declared the number of man on earth would be 120 years.  Scholars way more scholarly than me can explain how that is 120 Jubilees, or six thousand years.  This is not a new teaching.  It’s just not talked about in the modern western Church.

So in a nutshell, yes, I believe Christ is returning in my lifetime, and I believe it will be in the next 15-20 years, but could also be in the next couple.  And I don’t believe that because of any interpretation of Revelation, or any particular current signs.  I believe it because I believe God has ordained the time and it is upon us.

I reserve the right to change my mind as I gain new knowledge and revelation, but at my current knowledge and understanding, this is where I am. 

Concerning America…  When you realize that America is the tribe of Manasseh, and that it is half of the birthright tribes of Israel, there is a peace that floods your being.  God made some promises and He keeps His promises.  He calls them covenants, and they are dependent upon His integrity not mine.  So I can count on them.

I’ve taught on this before, so I’m not going to expound here – though it is one of my favorite teachings.  The holy writ of the Bible is deliberate.  There are no wasted words in the Bible.  Everything has a meaning and a purpose.  The “acharit-hayamim” are deliberate words for a deliberate time.  Look up my teachings on them if you want a starting point for your own studies.  Every single time “acharit-hayamim” is used in the Scripture has a very specific meaning.

Genesis 49:1 (from the Complete Jewish Bible):  Then Ya‘akov called for his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the acharit-hayamim.”

He then proceeds to go through the sons of Jacob and tells them their lot – but not for them personally, for their progeny, and just for the “acharait-hayamim” (last days).  We read this blessing on the birthright tribe of Joseph, of which Manasseh and Ephraim inherit…

Gen 49:22-26  (still from the Complete Jewish Bible)

“Yosef is a fruitful plant, a fruitful plant by a spring, with branches climbing over the wall.

“The archers attacked him fiercely, shooting at him and pressing him hard; but his bow remained taut; and his arms were made nimble by the hands of the Mighty One of Ya‘akov, from there, from the Shepherd, the Stone of Isra’el, by the God of your father, who will help you, by El Shaddai, who will bless you with blessings from heaven above, blessings from the deep, lying below, blessings from the breasts and the womb.

“The blessings of your father are more powerful than the blessings of my parents, extending to the farthest of the everlasting hills; they will be on the head of Yosef, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.”

You have a prophecy here, uttered on the deathbed of the namesake for Israel, Jacob.  He prophesies over each of his sons their lot in the “acharit-hayamim”, the last days.  The birthright blessing of Joseph prophesied being attacked by archers fiercely, “shooting at him and pressing him hard”.  The word for “archers” there translates as a “piercer” (as in with a weapon). 

So from that, I read that to mean the people of the birthright blessing of Israel, the tribe of Joseph (of which America is half), will come under attack with weapons that fly through the air and pierce.  (I think of missiles in modern day speak, and/or gunfire with piercing bullets.)  The attack will be fierce and hard. 

Look at the phrasing here (that’s so hard to really capture with our words):

Gen 49:23 in the King James Version: The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

Gen 49:23 in the Young’s Literal Translation: And embitter him — yea, they have striven, Yea, hate him do archers;

Gen 49:23 in the New American Standard: The archers bitterly attacked him, and shot at him and harassed him;

The original Hebrew here may help:

The archers [chets] a piercer, an arrow, a wound

Have sorely grieved him [marar] to trickle, to be bitter (provoke, vex)

And shot [rabab] projection, to shoot an arrow

And hated him [satam] to lurk for, persecute, hate

We have a people group classified as archers who have lurked for to persecute America, and have provoked America in a trickle (slow, methodical) with bitterness, and will shoot at America in an attempt to destroy or subdue her.

Any number of people could classify in this, but doesn’t the Deep State strike you as a near perfect fit?  America has stood in the way for their worldwide agenda, and they have slowly and meticulously, with great bitterness, been plotting against America and inflicting damage to America’s foundations.  It will culminate in an outright physical attack with projectiles.

In this passage the archers are unnamed.  We only know them as “archers” who have come against Joseph’s progeny.  Oh there’s so much to this I don’t have time for!

BUT Joseph, the birthright people of this prophecy, will stand firm and “his bow remained taut”….  And that word for “bow” is “qesheth” which means “bending a bow for shooting” but comes from the word “qowsh” to bend to set a trap or lay a snare.

Do you see???  America will come under attack in the acharit-hayamim by a people bitter against her.  Whether they know or understand that America is the birthright inheritance of Abraham is irrelevant.  The one who provokes these people to hate America knows, and he is using a body of people to take vengeance on the people of the ancient covenant of Abraham, to usurp the works of God and supplant them with his own. 

But Joseph will respond in strength, and in fact God will have laid a trap for these people who have come against his covenant people.  And then get this, God Himself will strengthen Joseph’s arms!  Don’t miss this!  “From the shepherd, the stone of Israel” does this!  Who is this shepherd?  Who is this stone?  None other than the cornerstone, Christ!

I am not worried for America.  We have rough days ahead, but God’s purposes will be established and he will accomplish all His good pleasure.  To be in the will of God is the perfect place of security.  That’s why in all these days of sorting out the details of white hats and black hats, and political agendas and treasons, and Bible prophecies and interpretations, the only thing that really matters is aligning with God’s purposes. 

I might be totally off in my interpretations of current events and where they fit in the alleged schematics of supposed prophecy of Revelation, but if I have my eyes on my God, I can still walk out obedience and rest in the wings of the Almighty.  Whether the Beast’s kingdom has come and gone or is currently underway or is yet to come, if I have my faith solid in my Savior and King, I’m going to still be able to follow His lead as the days unfold.  Knowing we’re in treacherous times only makes me more vigilant.  Knowing we’re in the last scenes of the play called “Life on Earth”, I gain perspective and greater focus. 

Christ told us in parable to occupy until He comes.  (Luke 19:12-27)  And that word “occupy” means to busy oneself with, to trade, to conduct business, to work.  The ones who were found faithful to be doing such at His absence were rewarded.  So there is much to do and be done as we await the return of the King, but there is little to fear because He has been plain about how it will end. 

Eschatology

Part Five (of PoP) – Words and Names Matter

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Part of the difficulties in understanding prophecy is the deliberate rewriting and repressing of history, and of historical events and situations that actually matter.  When you consider the premise that:  “That which is has been already and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by.” [Eccl. 3:15 NASU] … it behooves us to understand that which has already been.  We run into difficulties when it has been obscured, either deliberately or purposefully.

Have you heard of the ancient land of Parthia?  What about Tartary?  What about Khazaria?  If you have, I can almost guarantee you didn’t learn of any of them in educational text books from a government funded education.  And you probably didn’t hear about them from any state run media or oligarch owned and controlled media.

Misnomers and schmoozed over details

I know the genealogy and lineage portions of Scripture can be tedious.  They’re not really “reading” material, but they are study material.  I’m grateful these portions were preserved over the years.  They provide invaluable clues that all the powers of darkness can only veil, but not remove.  Here are some of my favorite lessons that help me in my eschatology pursuits…

Steven M. Collins does a four book series tracing the tribes of Israel from ancient to modern times.  It’s worth the investment in time and money.  You can buy the books here, or you can ask your local library to get them so you can borrow them.

In Chapter Four of his second book, Israel’s Lost Empires, you can learn how the Israelites scattered after the diaspora and how they can be traced to their future (our past and present) geographies. 

Remember how I told you the Hebrews didn’t have vowels so they would use vowels for pronunciation and variance?  Ancient customs used the patriarch names to keep track of lineage.  So like we use last names now, they used the patriarch names.  This is why they were referred to as the children of Abraham, the children of Israel (Jacob), etc.  Of course this practice changed over time, but if you realize the custom from the days it existed, you’ll gain valuable insight.

A quick example is this.  In Genesis 21:12, God tells Abraham that his descendants will be named through his son Isaac.  So in ancient tradition, Isaac’s name in Hebrew would be the equivalent of S-C.  The vowels were added to direct pronunciation, but the root is S-C.  After the diaspora, the children of Israel were “scattered”, which means they migrated out of the region.  (To stay in the land would bring bondage or death, so most left.)  Collins then traces migratory bodies of people with variances of the S-C.  Sacae, Scythians, Saka, Esakska (“Beth Sak” or House of Isaac), etc.  Latin substituted “x” for “c”, and called these same people Saxoi or Saxones.  And these people groups can be traced into Asia, northern Africa and parts of western Europe.

This will come into play later, so I reference it now as a place holder.

Keep the names straight! Hebrews, Israelites, Judah, Jews…

Ezra 4:1 tells us only three tribes returned to Palestine during Ezra and Nehemiah’s time:  Judah, Levi and Benjamin.  This means the other nine tribes had already migrated out of the region. 

We learned in 1 Kings 12 (and 2 Chron. 10) that the nation of Israel (comprised of twelve tribes) was divided into two nations:  Judah and Israel.  Israel was all twelve tribes from 1025-925 B.C. and then two separate nations from 925 B.C. on.   I’m going to make a big deal out of this (temporarily) because I think lack of good teaching has led to a host of errors.

The Biblical nation of Israel was comprised of twelve tribes:  the twelve tribes of Jacob, (Abraham’s grandson, who God renamed Israel).  When these tribes entered the Promised Land (Canaan), they became known as the Israelites, and were considered a nation and not just a people group, because they conquered the land with boundaries and established a government.  Recall though, that they were still being referenced as Hebrews (as well as Israelites), even in the time of David.

When King David’s grandson Rehoboam was king, the nation was split and all of the tribes except for Judah, refused to submit to his headship.  The other tribes remained Israel, and King Rehoboam became King of Judah, along with some Benjamites and some Levites (people of the tribes of Benjamin and Levi), while Jeroboam became the king of Israel.

The tribe of Levi is the priestly tribe, from which the priests of Israel are ordained, which also include a covenant.  (Numbers 25:10-13)

The tribe of Judah is the kingly tribe from which God ordained through a covenant with David there would always be a seed from Judah as a king.  (2 Samuel 7:17)

People from Judah became known as Jews, and the other tribes were Israelites, even though they are all Israelites and that is used interchangeably.  The first time you’ll see the word “Jews” is in 2 Kings 25:25, long after the nation had split, and some versions even read Judeans (from Judah).  Every other time you find the word Jews in the Old Testament, it is a reference to the people of the tribe and/or nation of Judah. 

Somewhere along the way, Jew became synonymous with the religion of the Israelites through the Mosaic Law.  But until the nation split, the Israelites were never called Jews.  Some people and in some places they have used the name Jew and Israelite interchangeably, but this is incorrect insomuch as Jew pertains to someone from the tribe of Judah.  (It’s like saying all Kansans are Americans but not all Americans are Kansans.)

It gets more complicated when you realize the faith of the Mosaic Law was named the Jewish faith, and thus some sort of mixture is involved.  This is pretty important, however, because it has led to a lot of confusion, misnomers, and just bad breakdowns of people and places and events. 

But to keep it straight, we need to remember the covenants.  The covenant with Abraham is promised to his seed.  His seed is the Israelites, which are not just the Jews (of the tribe of Judah) but all twelve tribes.  For some reason, modern Christianity has lumped the Israelites and Jews together as one, which in some ways works and in other ways is a grave disservice. 

The truth is the people of Israel were scattered and left the Promised Land (Middle East) long before the people of Judah.  Though the countries’ falls were only 136 years apart, the Israelites began scattering two or so years before their capitol Samaria fell in 722 B.C.  And though Jerusalem (Judah’s capitol) fell in 586 B.C., the people stayed in captivity in the land.  There became a clear distinction between the Israelites and Jews after that time.  The Israelites migrated and changed their names.  The Jews did not.

However, people who kept or adopted the Mosaic Law and adhered to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob became commonly known as Jews.  This is where it helps to understand:  you can be a Jew because you were born in the bloodline of Judah, or you can be a Jew because you adopted and/or practice the Jewish faith, which is structured by the Mosaic Law.  A Jew can be:

  1. a national or citizen title:  Jew from Judah (like American from America, or Kansan from Kansas);
  2. a Jew can be of the bloodline of Judah (like Smith or Judah),
  3. and a Jew can be of a religion from the Mosaic Law now known as the Jewish faith (like Christian or Buddhist, etc.).

So when you get all of this “anti-Semitism” rhetoric, I get exhausted.  Semite comes from the line of Shem, from Noah.  That’s going to be roughly one-third of the world’s population and only a small, small fraction of that third is actually Jewish by one of the three definitions of a Jew.  Anti-Semitism is a misnomer, and misleading.  Why not just say anti-Jewish? 

I’m asking this question because it seems to me there is a deliberate (or ignorant?) muddying of the waters. 

These are some of the problems we get into when we are seeking understanding.  Misrepresenting names causes misunderstandings.

To help us keep things straight:

I’m going to make a big deal about this because one of the keys (for me) in studying prophecy is understanding who the message is to.  Poor teaching in the western church has made ignorant (and sometimes dangerous) students.  While the Bible is relevant to all people in some aspect, all of its messages are not for all people at all times.  (Please don’t write me and scold me for this.)  We can learn from its content and its messages, but that doesn’t mean they all apply to each of us all the time.

When you read the words of the prophet, it would help to ask who the prophecy is to, for, and/or about.  Just like the covenants were made to specific people, some prophecies were made for specific people, places, and/or times.  If we don’t understand 1) who the people speaking are or 2) who the people they are speaking about are, we will most likely misunderstand or misapply the prophecy.

I don’t have time or space to expound on the migrating tribes right now of the 7-5 B.C. centuries, but it’s important to note that while modern history may be ignorant of them, God always knew where they were.  If their identity has been obscured over the centuries does not make them lost to God.  For example, we know that the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh were carried into captivity by the Assyrians at least twenty years before Israel fell to Assyria.  That makes literally tens or hundreds of thousands of people displaced off the Promised Land in less than ideal circumstances before their nation even fell.  Where did they go?  Who did they become?  This matters because they are people of the covenant.

By the time Jeremiah (a prophet to Judah) began prophesying, the Israelites would have been off the covenant land for 102 years.  Many of them would have been dead, and definitely progeny existed.  Yet God declares this through Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 3:12  [NKJV]

Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say:  “Return, backsliding Israel,” says the Lord; “I will not cause My anger to fall on you.  For I am merciful,” says the Lord; “I will not remain angry forever.”

Over 80-100 years have passed that the tribes of Israel have been missing, yet God knows they are north of Jerusalem and He sends them a message via Jeremiah. 

Forty-eight years and four kings later, Daniel (a prophet to Judah) would pray [Dan 9:7 NKJV] emphasis mine:

O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day — to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.

And he distinctly separates those of Judah from those of Israel, making mention that they are far and near in other countries.  I just point out these things for context, because not all the prophecies are for the same people at the same times. 

Though there were four prophets of Israel, only two of them had prophetic messages for Israel:  Amos and Hosea, about sixty years before the fall of Samaria.  This matters because the people of Israel that Amos and Hosea are prophesying to and about, will no longer live in the Promised Land (Middle East region). 

This may seem tedious, but it’s important to frame prophecy and understand the message.  I’m going to revert back to the different prophecies of the different prophets at varying times.  I’m just laying the groundwork now. 

In a similar vein…

When we know the audience the prophecy is about, and we know the context the prophecy was written in, we can better ascertain the calendar we need to use to deduce its codes.  For example, all of the Old Testament prophets were Israelites and/or Jews.  They spoke the Hebrew language and kept the Hebrew customs, from the feasts to the calendar.

That means the Old Testament prophets’ prophecies need to be deduced by their lunar timetables and with their language (not ours).

Yet John was a New Testament believer who gave prophecies under a solar calendar and timetable.  That means his prophecies should be deduced with a solar calendar and its math.

When we start to break down some of these prophecies, written by different prophets several years and centuries apart, the equation we use needs to be consistent.  So I’ll use a standard conversion for counting the prophetic days to put it into our modern solar time keeping, converting it from a lunar time keeping.  But for John’s prophecies in Revelation, no conversion is necessary because the timetable at John’s time was now the solar time table.

Finally, a note to my critics:

I welcome questions and dialogue and even a challenge!  I’m not nearly as interested in being right as I am the information being right.  So if I need to correct something, retract something, or explain it better, I am so happy to do this.  But if you just disagree because what I’m saying isn’t how you’ve been taught or what you think or believe, it’s a waste of both of our time to dialogue. 

I’m not here to recruit anyone to a church, a doctrine, or a belief system.  I’m not selling anything or trying to convert anyone.  I’m simply breaking down what I’ve learned about prophecy for anyone who’s looking for other ways and information.  I don’t expect anyone to just believe what I say.  My prayer is that people will do their own studies, search, seek and verify.  The Holy Spirit is the teacher.  I’m just a conduit of some information.  Take what the Spirit highlights to you and leave the rest.  Take it all, take some, or take none.  I’m just offering my gleanings for anyone who’s seeking some direction.

Also, because of this venue, I’m unable to expound on a great number of details.  Therefore I’m broaching subjects with a direction to go, but not filling in all the blanks.  My approach is more of an outline or bullet point form.  Understanding the details will come with personal study and searching.  I can also direct anyone to better resources.

Thanks and God bless!

Eschatology

Part Four … (Perils of Prophecy) – Motives and Roots

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This is a caveat article on prophecy, from a different angle.  There are things I’ve learned along the way that if I could help someone else learn in shortcut fashion, I’m happy to reveal my own journey’s lessons.

Guard against jealousy and the desire to know information for information purposes only

I met my brother for the first time in 2004.  We were adopted out separately at birth, and only “found” each other in our adult lives.  It was new for both of us.  I was mostly without family at that time (except my husband and kids), and I approached this with a great amount of caution.  Family has been rather treacherous for me.

We were raised quite differently.  He was an only child; I was the youngest of three.  He was raised in the city, I on the farm.  He was raised in poverty; I had all my needs met.  His upbringing was mostly unrestrained; mine was controlled to the nth.  His youth was wild and carefree, mine was guarded and controlled.  Yet from the first conversation, we related.  The first time we spent together, we were finishing each other’s sentences. 

It was an anomaly to me – especially considering how different we were/are.  Very, very few people have ever understood me in the entirety of my life, so few I can count them on one hand.  [To quote a friend of mine and brother in the faith, he said I was the most misunderstood person he has ever met.  This has been proven over and over and over in my life.]

But this new brother of mine either understood me or wanted to.  It seemed almost effortless at times.  Our relationship took off rather fast, as we tried to catch up as much as we could on all the years that we had lost.  There was so much to talk about, and our conversations would last for hours.  He had a couple people in his life that were jealous of that.  They didn’t understand and wanted to control it.  They thought we were too close.

Five months into our new relationship, my birthday was approaching.  My brother asked what I wanted.  I said, just time with you.  Time with him to learn about him, share, and grow was what was most precious to me.  I didn’t need a “thing”.  His presence was a gift.  He obliged, took me to a long dinner, and then we went to a worship set at a house of prayer.  The people in his life scorned it.

A month or two later, (one that was jealous of our relationship, let’s call her “Kay”), made an issue about all she wanted for her birthday was time with him.  This was a first in over a decade of familial relationship, but my brother obliged.  He knew it was jealousy and a competitive motive, but he was trying to alleviate the conflict and honor her as well.  The dinner was usual.  He remarked to me that there seemed a newfound interest in him, but the future proved it would lead nowhere.

I tell you this story for two purposes.

If one who has endeavored to seek out a relationship with their Creator and their Savior, has learned things about their Creator and Savior that others want to know, watch how the Spirit reveals the heart.

Jealousy can do one of two things.  It can spur one to reach and achieve that which they have been stirred up to want.  Or it can be destructive. 

If someone wants to know the information of the prophetic (“just tell me when” or “just tell me who” or “just tell me what” and then fill in the blank), but isn’t truly interested in knowing in an intimate way the one the prophecy is about, they will have a similar reaction as Kay.  Kay mimicked my actions but got a different outcome.  Those who seek the information without the relationship will also get a different outcome.  They will demand an audience or the information, but it will not satisfy.  The information they are seeking will be as a shoulder shrug.  They will not understand the implications, and they will not value the person – (in prophecy it is Christ). 

My reward with my brother is my brother.  Knowing him is my reward.  Understanding his heart, learning his nuances and the way he thinks, what matters to him, is my reward.  Now, sixteen years later, there’s not much my brother does or doesn’t do that surprises me.  I’ve learned his heart, his mind, his ways.  I suppose you could say I could predict him (and he would definitely tell you that).  Prediction is like prophesying, but it’s done with knowledge, whereas prophesying comes from the Spirit of God (but can also have knowledge).

Likewise, my reward with Christ is knowing Him.  The danger in revealing the things God hid in codes, symbolism, and mystery is the careless and cavalier manner in which someone uninterested in developing their own intimacy with Christ will treat the knowledge of the prophetic.  The fire that warms and thaws can also burn and destroy. 

The globalist agenda uses Biblical prophecy to attempt to control the future, but they’re sorely amiss on the character and nature of God, and thus have erred in their strategy.  But God will use their errors to accomplish His purposes, and when we start to understand the difference between knowing the what and knowing the who, we will understand prophecy.

I can’t emphasize enough the purpose of prophecy is to reveal the character and heart of God.  But He has wisely shrouded it in mystery so that only a seeking heart will pay the price to know Him.  He is the pearl of great price that we sell everything to buy.  Knowing what’s going to happen is never as important as why, which is never as important as WHO. 

On the other hand, if jealousy spurs us to genuinely seek out what we want, then we’ll find our jealousy gets replaced by personal desire.  This is a beautiful thing.  We are no longer jealous of what we see someone else has (an intimate relationship, knowledge, understanding, etc.), but we have instead endeavored we must learn how to obtain that ourselves. 

“Roots, where are your roots?”

The other purpose of my story has to do with identifying roots.  Over a decade ago, a Messianic Rabbi stumbled upon one of our in-home Wednesday night Bible studies one night.  He lived in a town over two hours away and was in our town on business.  He inquired of someone in our group if there was a mid-week service somewhere he could attend, and they invited him to our study.

As we opened the Scripture and began reading, it wasn’t long before I noticed his demeanor change.  He exclaimed, “Roots!  Where are your roots?”  We asked him to elaborate.  He immediately took us back to the root words in Hebrew.  He expounded on them in such a way the Scripture broke open and light poured forth.  We sat the next hour just listening and learning from him.  I emailed him for years after with various questions about scripture and words, and he came to our home church a couple times to lead a Passover Seder.  He expertly taught how all the aspects of the rehearsal of the Passover led to Christ, and how Christ fulfilled every one of them.

In this season of learning, the Spirit of God taught me I was to learn how to return to the roots of the faith.  In fact, He used my newfound relationship with my brother to expound it.  He showed me how my identity was largely known to myself in my life by my adopted family.  I have things in my personality and identity that are a direct result from my upbringing.  There are phrases and gestures I picked up from my family that I carried on into my own identity. 

We have been adopted into the family of God.  We are now sons and daughters of the Most High through the amazing sacrifice and obedience of Yeshua, Christ the Messiah.    And yet….

When I met my brother, my own blood, with zero experiences together or in common, there was an immediate connection.  We were able to finish each other’s sentences from the first time we met in person.  This, the Spirit showed me, was my roots.   And both families matter. 

This is me, a Gentile, being grafted into the olive branch.  Read Romans 11, and make sure you read it with the Spirit’s guidance.  You’ll see that word jealousy again.  In this instance, it’s for the good purposes:  to bring God’s people back to Him.  In fact, if the western church has deceived you to think there’s not a place for Israel anymore, read Romans 9-11.

But this is what God showed me of why I need that branch I’ve been grafted into.  The church’s roots are the Hebrew faith, the Hebrew language, the Hebrew customs.  Disregarding, ignoring or otherwise being ignorant of these roots is only to our detriment.  We’ve been grafted into it, not the other way around. 

And just like finding my blood brother helped me understand myself better, finding our faith’s roots will help us understand the God of our faith better.  God painted the picture of redemption and gave that picture to the Hebrews (Israelites).  He redeemed us out of the darkness and brought us into the light, irrespective of our actual blood lineage, and it is God’s gracious kindness that we are heirs in Christ.  But let’s not make the mistake of thinking we don’t need the Hebrews and their faith.

And about that word “Hebrew”….

Where does it even come from???  Who are the Hebrews?  The first time we see that word in Scripture is in Genesis 40:15:

For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.

This is interesting, because it’s the story of Joseph being sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt and was put in prison on false charges.  But it’s not the inception of “Hebrews”.  Some versions try to help us connect the dots by inserting it in Genesis 10:21.  Here it is in the Amplified:

Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber [including the Hebrews], the older brother of Japheth, children were born.

[For study, here’s Genesis 10:21 in about every Bible translation.]

But what we’ll learn in study is that the word “Hebrew” comes from the line of Eber, who was the great-grandson of Shem (son of Noah).  Just so we have it straight:  Noah had Shem who had Araphaxad who had Shelah who had Eber. 

The ancient Israelites had a custom in their language, (which is incidentally called “Hebrew”):  they didn’t have vowels.  So vowels were inserted to ease with pronunciation.  But for simplicity, they used variances of their names and words by changing the vowels.  (Pay attention because this becomes very important in future breakdowns.)  So Eber is the “father” of the Hebrews, so to speak.  Hebrews derives its name from Eber.

And this must be pretty important to God because that name “Hebrews” has not left the vernacular of the faith for millennia, even having a whole book written to these people in the new covenant, yet the word Hebrew is nowhere to be found in that book. 

In fact, when the Israelites were in Egypt for four hundred years, though they carried the name of Jacob/Israel, they were still being referred to as Hebrews by the people of Egypt.  And when the Philistines were challenging the promised land under the reign of King Saul, they were calling the children of Israel “Hebrews” even then, how many hundreds of years after Jacob? 

And when Paul is speaking to the Corinthians he makes a clear distinction like this (2 Cor 11:22):  “Are they Hebrews?  So am I.  Are they Israelites?  So am I.  Are they descendants of Abraham?  So am I.”

So surely by now you can see the name “Hebrew” is of value to God.  And if it matters to God, it matters to me.  If God has not allowed Hebrew to drop from the vernacular after several millennia, I reason there must be a reason.  This must be of value to God.  We do not want to lose the things that are of value to God in the effort to be trendy or modern or progressive or even enlightened.  If God has preserved something, I want to know why and what it means to Him. 

In the meantime, do not scorn your roots.  Embrace them.

Eschatology

Part Three – (Perils of Prophecy) – Idioms and Covenants and Jubilees

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Again, I want to emphasize, I’m an amateur here.  These are just my own takes, my own thoughts about things I’ve studied.  I’m not here to persuade or convince or sell anything.  I’ve received numerous emails from people who have had their own takes on some of these things, and I’ve loved every one of them.  It’s been enlightening and encouraging to hear about your thoughts and read your emails.  I’ll probably incorporate a few of them I have found especially helpful.

I’m just sharing my own current understandings to give other angles to look at, and broaden the discussion in some ways, while narrowing it in others.  And I’ll say it again, I could be wrong. 

No man knows the day or the hour

One of my favorite teachings of the return of Christ is the “no man knows the hour or the day” phrase. 

Matt 24:36 [NASU]  “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”

This is a direct reference to the Feast of Rosh Hashanah, or the Feast of Trumpets.  (Think about that for just a minute – where else are we keenly familiar with trumpets blowing?) 

Avi Ben Mordechai explains that the Feasts/Festivals are appointed times that must be kept because they are holy convocations and rehearsals for the coming Messiah.  The Israelites were to keep the appointments of each of the feasts given Moses in Leviticus 23 so they would be able to pass down to future generations the symbolism and signs to look for, know, and understand. 

Lev 23:1-2, 4 [NASU]

The Lord spoke again to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations — My appointed times are these…These are the appointed times of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them.”

*Remember that “convocation” means “something called out, a rehearsal”.  What are they rehearsing?  Various appointments God declares He will keep in the future.

In ancient Israel, they kept their times by the lunar cycles.  Rosh Hashanah was the start of the new year on the civil calendar.  This particular holy day was announced differently than all the others.  There were watchmen scattered in Israel, and they were to look for the sign of the new moon. 

Every legal transaction in Israel was established by two (or more) witnesses.  This was no different.  And these witnesses had to be of good repute and character.  The witnesses were to look for the correct sign in the sky of the new moon, and there were specific attributes they were to recognize.  Mordechai explains it like this:

“In short, the two qualified witnesses usually stood before the Nassi or President of the Sanhedrin (Jewish high court) to give account of the moon’s appearance prior to its becoming total dark.  (Just before the moon’s disk enters total darkness, there were tiny slivers of white on the edges of the waning disk.  These were called the ‘horns’ of the moon.”

When a witness observed the correct sign of the moon, he was to make haste for the Sanhedrin.  He was questioned by the Sanhedrin as far as his witness, and then was set in a separate room to wait for a second witness.  When a second witness arrived at the Sanhedrin, the same procedure occurred.  If the two witnesses agreed, Rosh Hashanah was declared by the President proclaiming Rosh Chodesh (a complete cycle of the moon’s renewal) by saying:  “Sanctified.”  And all the people near him were to repeat, “Sanctified, sanctified.”  Then the watchmen in Jerusalem lit fires to signal to the Israelites in the country that Rosh Hashanah had begun.  The signal fires were spread throughout the land to tell all of the Israelites in ancient Israel.

Rosh Hashanah was the only day on the Jewish calendar in ancient Israel that was proclaimed “spontaneously”.  It was the only festival that had two witnesses present to the head of the Sanhedrin, and it was the only festival the people did not know “the day or the hour” of.  Even if they could count the lunar cycle and the day it was probable to turn, they could not observe the actual festival (as in proclaim it and participate in its “rehearsal”) until it was proclaimed by the Sanhedrin President in Jerusalem.

Of course they knew it was coming, and could pretty accurately project its arrival, yet its arrival would not be official until the two witnesses presented the evidence and the proclamation was made.  This phrase, “no one knows the day or hour” would resonate to an Israelite versed in ancient customs, that this was Rosh Hashanah. 

This is called an idiom, a phrase or expression with a nonliteral meaning.  By definition, an idiom is “a fixed distinctive expression whose meaning cannot be deduced from the combined meanings of its actual words.” [Encarta]  And the Jewish faith is full of them.  Israelites in Jesus’ day would have been familiar with this phrase.  Modern Americans or non-Jews would not, unless they were taught customs of ancient Israel and their faith.

Personal Breakthrough

I think I’ve said before that I’ve studied Revelation and eschatology over two decades now, but most of the first half of that time was like plowing fallow ground.  I just kept spinning teachings and doctrines around and around, trying to make sense of things, thinking I was finally understanding but then finding something else that contradicted it. 

The problem is, when I read the Scriptures myself, I had to contort them to fit the eschatology teachings of the modern church into them.  (The Left Behind series was a serious disservice to the Word of God; I’m just going to put that out there.  And all the doctrine that that was based on permeated the western church when I was in it.)  There was probably more unlearning I had to do than learning.

It wasn’t until I sat under some Hebrew teachings that things began to make sense.  I’d like to tell the revelation of that sometime, but I’m going to save it for now.

The breakthroughs in understanding I began to have really only happened when I let go of what the western church was promoting, and began waiting on the Spirit and those He brought to me to expound to me. 

God’s Covenant Never Fails on His End

I don’t subscribe to the theory that Christians replace Israel.  It’s not that aspects of that aren’t true, because some are.  But I reject the whole of it. I don’t know why we can’t let God’s words stand for themselves without encircling them with doctrinal fence posts and staking a doctrinal theory on them.  Can two seeming opposing truths stand?  I believe they can.  The error comes in the interpretation, not the conflict. 

I can rest assured that if there is error, it is on the part of my understanding, not God’s intentions or doings. 

For example, Proverbs 26:4-5 [NKJV] reads:  “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. “

Well which is it?  Do we answer a fool according to his folly or do we not? 

I’m just saying, sometimes accepting two truths as both true is the wiser action.  Then you let the Creator illuminate the application of each truth in its intended path.

God made a few covenants at different times with different people.  Except for the covenant He made with the Israelites on Mount Horeb, which was broken by the Israelites failure to uphold their end, none of the other covenants have been broken. 

In Genesis 17, we read that God covenanted with Abraham, and that promise would pass to his son Isaac.  Then God reiterated that same covenant with Abraham’s bloodline through his grandson Jacob in Genesis 28.  This covenant precedes the covenant with the Israelites through Moses, and stands separate from it.  See Genesis 17:4-8 [NASU] – emphasis mine:

“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations.  No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

“I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you.  I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.  I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

Later we read these strong words from Jeremiah 31:35-36 [NASU]

Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; the Lord of hosts is His name:

“If this fixed order departs from before Me,” declares the Lord, “Then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before Me forever.”

From this we can see God’s covenant of Israel being a nation (the Abrahamic Covenant) is eternal.  This one cannot and will not be altered.

To get the context, go back a few verses, and you’ll see that God addresses the separate houses of Israel (and this is kind of a big deal to me):  the house of Israel (ten tribes) and the house of Judah (two tribes).  And God tells them He’s going to make a new covenant with these two houses, and He clearly differentiates that this new covenant is separate from the one they broke when they left Egypt, which is the Mosaic covenant.  Jeremiah 31:31-33 [NASU] – emphasis mine:

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.  “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord…

And this is the foreshadowing of the new covenant that will come from the Messiah centuries later.  So from these passages, we can see the Abrahamic covenant stands as long as the sun, moon, stars and sea continue in their appointed positions, but that there will also be a new covenant to replace the Mosaic covenant which was broken.

Yet we can see this new covenant will be made with the “house of Israel and with the house of Judah”, so God’s chosen people have not been cut off, yet we can also know Gentiles outside the houses of Judah and Israel have been grafted in.

Look at what Matthew Henry says about this passage, written in 1706, long before Israel returned to its promised borders (partially): 

As surely as the heavenly bodies will continue their settled course, according to the will of their Creator, to the end of time, and as the raging sea obeys him, so surely will the Jews be continued a separate people. Words can scarcely set forth more strongly the restoration of Israel. The rebuilding of Jerusalem, and its enlargement and establishment, shall be an earnest of the great things God will do for the gospel church. The personal happiness of every true believer, as well as the future restoration of Israel, is secured by promise, covenant, and oath. This Divine love passes knowledge; and to those who take hold upon it, every present mercy is an earnest of salvation.

Two truths.  The Church is the recipient of the New Covenant.  The houses of Israel and Judah are the recipients of the New Covenant.  That’s going to be hard for some to swallow.  I had to rethink a lot of things myself, but I can’t negate one to elucidate another. 

Here is a document of an overview of the covenants in Scripture, and here are the scriptures written out.

Keep these covenants in the back of your mind, because I will refer to them here and there, and we’ll see they play a prophetic role as well.

Two Witnesses of Revelation 11

I reserve the right to change my mind, but at my current writing, this is who I believe are the two witnesses of Revelation 11:  the Christian and Jewish churches.

Remember in Rev. 11:4 the messenger calls these two witnesses the “two olive trees and two lampstands”….   We learn in Revelation 1:20 that the “lampstands” (candlesticks) are churches, and we learn in Romans 11:17-24 that olive trees are the Gentile believers and the Jews. 

This inevitably leads to the question of the 1260 days of their prophesying, and then their death.  I’ll circle back to this later, but for now, read this overview for points to consider.    And then read this to understand their bodies lying dead.   [The author of these is Ellis Skolfield.]

And…

Finally, I received a fascinating breakdown of the Jubilees and their timing from a reader in Oregon.  I’m excited to pass it along! Here it is:

Noel Rude Parsing Six ThousandDownload

I’ve been called to five possible weeks of jury duty, so I’m not sure how much time I’ll have to write, but the next topic I’d like to cover is a pretty recent revelation I’ve had of Gog/Magog.  I am sure someone out there will have deeper understanding than what I have, and am looking forward to hearing others’ thoughts on that or other prophecy, and your own revelations as well.  Thank you for your grace to me as I share this process of learning with you.

Eschatology

Part Two (Perils of Prophecy) – Days, Festivals and Creation

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Another problem with prophecy is the temptation to say, “Just tell me what happens.  How (or when) is it all going to end?”  I think God deliberately obscures prophecy just like He does His deeper truths for this reason (among others).  I’m not saying those questions don’t enter in when studying prophecy, but I am saying if that’s your motive, you’re going to be frustrated.  I’ll say it again, studying prophecy should be to understand our God.

God doesn’t have to tell us what He’s going to do.  Yet we learn in Amos 3:7 that “Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets.”

The Mormons stopped by my house a few years ago to proselytize me.  I asked them why they thought their book was superior to the Bible.  Then I asked them if their book had prophecies.  They assured me it did.  I said, “Great!  Tell me two prophecies of your book, show them to me, and then tell me when and where they were fulfilled, and we can talk further about your faith.”  They said they’d have to come back.  I said, “Sure, just come when you’ve got those answers.  I’ll be in this same house.”  They have never been back.

Prophecy and prophesying are so much a part of the faith of a believer that Paul admonishes us not to despise prophecy [1 Thes. 5:20], and instructs us that prophecy is a gift [1 Cor. 12:10, 13:2].  In 1 Cor. 14 we learn prophecy profits and edifies the church, is a sign for believers, and convicts unbelievers.  Peter warns us to heed the prophetic  [2 Peter 1:19-21], to not take prophecy in the Scriptures as private interpretations, and reminds us prophecy does not come from man but the Holy Spirit.

Prophecy is necessary by God’s own word, and thus we should heed it, study it, and desire it.  Prophecy affirms God is who He says He is.  Prophecy edifies our faith and stands as a marker for unbelievers.

[If you haven’t read part one, you can read it here.  I’m going to build on it, so it would be helpful to read it first.]

Revisit the concept of time being cyclical, and God’s ways repeat

The advocates of the Olivet Discourse and Revelation being completely fulfilled in 70 A.D. can never seem to answer when and where Christ appeared?  And if it be true these prophecies are fulfilled in 70 A.D., what is the fulfillment of these Scriptures?

  1. Rev. 1:7 tells us “BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.”  I’ve looked up the Greek on this and “every eye” means every eye.  When did Christ appear that every eye saw Him?  Such an event would have to have been recorded somewhere in historical and especially church history.
  2. Matt 24:30-31  “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.  And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”  Again, give me the historical record of this happening.  Even if it’s a “spiritual” event, or “allegorical” as some say, what’s it representing?  Where’s the clear portrayal of its fulfillment?

I’ve never been able to reconcile this until I understood the concept of cyclical history and cyclical prophecy.  Larry emailed me and reminded me of Eccl. 3:15:  “That which is has been already and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by.”  We can learn from this that although prophecies have had prior fulfillments, future fulfillments are not only possible but probable — especially when the past fulfillments are partial. 

At some point either Christ is returning or we’re living in some misleading allegorical drama.  I think the clarity comes when we return to the concept of the Creation Days. 

Consider  the Acharait-Hayamim [Last Days] is the span of time between the Advents

Try to think of the “last days” Scripture speaks of, as the days between Christ’s first advent and His second, and not a seven or forty (or whatever) year window.  Recall that Peter quotes Joel at Pentecost about the last days [Acts 2:17].  This is your place marker.

Pentecost marks the commencement of the Last Days.  Christ’s second advent marks the end.

Speaking of “Days”…

The ancient Israelites understood the Creation Week to be a template for the whole of Creation.  Each day of Creation represented a period of time on earth.  This is significant, and almost the sole reason I cannot subscribe to the “all of prophecy is fulfilled” doctrines.  There really is a beginning and end. 

The concept is simple:  each creation day represents a thousand years on the earth.

The Creation Week tells the seven “day” plan for the story of the Messianic redemption.  Moses hints at this in Psalm 90:4:  “For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it passes by, or as a watch in the night.”

As does Peter in 2 Peter 3:8-9:  “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.”

If this sounds too allegorical or like poetic figurative language, let’s pick up where we left off.

Remember my questions with Genesis 2:16-17 [NASU]:

The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Does it make more sense when you read Genesis 5:5 [NASU]?  “So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.”

If Adam’s “day” was the first thousand years, Adam died “in the day that [he ate] from it”.  Could it really be this simple?  If a day equals a thousand years in the sight of God, Adam died in the day he ate the apple.  No one has lied, and the Scripture is satisfied.

Hebrew roots teacher Avi Ben Mordechai explains that in the Sanhedrin written teachings as far back as 200 BC, they taught:

“The Tanna rebe Eliyyahu teaches:  The world is to exist six thousand years.  In the first two thousand there was desolation; two thousand years the Torah flourished; and the next two thousand years is the Messianic era…”

In the *Book of Jubilees, “we’re told Adam died 70 years short of 1,000 years because 1000 years are like one day in the testimony of heaven.”

The Hebrews and ancient patriarchs understood the messages of God because He painted a picture for them.  He painted it in Creation, in the stars, and in nature.  Then He gave them feasts to practice dress rehearsals for appointed times.  If we’ll lay down our religious rhetoric and well-intentioned but mistaken notions and teachings, we can learn!

In the last article I concluded asking how Simeon and Anna knew the Messiah would occur in their lifetime.  Yes, I recognize the Holy Spirit revealed it to them.  But there’s more to this story.  Recall that Simeon was “looking for the consolation of Israel”.  What does that even mean to a 21st century western civilization ear???

[This is a crash course so I can’t spend a lot of time on details.  I’m going to rush through them, and I apologize.  It’s not how I like to teach, but I’ll give you enough to study and pray about on your own.  You’re welcome to email me with questions or for more details.]

I’m just going to touch on this, but here’s your foundation:

Gen 1:14  [NASU]   Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years…”

[Is it just me or has anyone else wondered what the light was on the first day of creation?  Gen 1:3 [NASU]:  “Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.”  I think it was this.]

If Creation Week was a template for the Messianic story, as the ancient Hebrews believed and taught, every day’s creation was symbolic.  God purposes and designs, and he purposefully created the sun, moon and stars on the FOURTH DAY.  He could place the created objects on any day and at any time.  They were created and placed to tell a story and with a message.  Now look at this:

Malachi 4:2 [NASU]:  “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings…”

Why “sun” instead of “son”?  Because the sun symbolizes the Messiah.  The Hebrews knew that.  They knew the Messiah would appear on the Fourth Day.  Daniel prophesied the Messiah’s appearance, and he gave dates.  They knew it would be on the Fourth Day, and they knew the Fourth Day was drawing to a close.  The Messiah had to come.

Avi Ben Mordechai writes:

“The concept that HaMashiach would come in the fourth day was so understood in ancient Israel that when the fourth day arrived (the Jewish years 3001-4000), Messianic expectation flourished!”

The Messiah came at the end of the Fourth Day, at the close of the millennium.  He fulfilled Daniel’s prophecy and He was the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb.  He was crucified on the Passover, (or on the eve of the Passover according to some), (“like a lamb led to slaughter”).   See Luke 22:7-13.

His burial began and represented the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread is symbolic of Christ’s burial, in which sin (leaven) is done away with by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

Christ was resurrected on the Feast of Firstfruits, the third day.  “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.”  (1 Cor. 15:20)

Christ was crucified the 14th of Nisan, buried the 14, 15, 16 and rose on the 17th. 

[I can explain all of this in greater detail.  Just ask me.]

Now fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits, the Israelites had the Feast of Pentecost.  (pente = 50)  Pentecost is a harvest festival in which new grain offerings are made.  Two loves of leavened bread are brought before the Lord and waved as an offering of thanksgiving.  It’s understood that the two leavened loaves represent Israel and the Church.

The Firstfruits of the New Covenant were birthed here at Pentecost, fifty days after Christ’s resurrection.

If you’ll recall in Acts 2:1, the believers were gathered on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out.  Remember that Pentecost is a harvest festival. 

God laid a template for His plan, and then He instructed His people on how to prepare for it.  He gave the feasts as dress rehearsals to keep appointments.  The spring feasts were fulfilled in Christ’s first advent.  The fall feasts will be fulfilled in his second advent.

The Third Day

If Christ’s first advent was fulfilled on the Fourth Day (fourth millennia), then His second advent will be fulfilled on the Seventh Day.  The Seventh Day (of the week of 1000 year days) is the same thing as Christ’s Third Day (after His first advent).  If the Creation Week template is the model for God’s Redemption Story, this is consistent with how He’s done things before.

Now look at Hosea 6:1-2 [NASU]:

“Come, let us return to the Lord.  For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.  He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, that we may live before Him. “

Time does not permit me to break this all the way down, but if you’ll do your own study and really pay attention to the words in these two verses and also this whole chapter, the Spirit will show you what you need to understand. 

But what you’ll see is Christ disciplined His people (for two days, or two thousand years).  Those two days are the days after His arrival, so they have to be the fifth and sixth millennia.  “He will revive us after two days…”  Well if He came on the Fourth Day, and disciplined for two more days, He will bring His restoration on the Seventh Day.  Full circle. 

Moses’ foreshadowed this on Mount Sinai when he instructed the people to consecrate (and wash) themselves for two days and be ready on the third day.  [Exodus 19:10-11]  If we’d get in the habit of looking for repeated patterns and types in the past, it will help us understand the future. 

Remember Ecclesiastes  1:9:

“That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done.  So there is nothing new under the sun.”

God repeats what He’s done before us, in ages past.  Sure, some of the details change, but He doesn’t.  And He spelled it out in the beginning what He was doing, what He was going to do, and He declares that His plan will hold and He will do it.  [Isaiah 46:10 NASU]

“At the beginning I announce the end, proclaim in advance things not yet done;  and I say that my plan will hold, I will do everything I please to do.”

One more thing…

Remember  Genesis 6:3?  “Then the Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.’”  This plays back into the Creation Days. 

People after the flood lived over 120 years of age.  This is not talking about the lifespan of a man.  This is talking about how long God is willing to basically put up with the waywardness of humanity. 

I can’t remember off the top of my head where I learned this, so I can’t source it just yet.  But somewhere on my eschatology journey I learned this was 120 jubilees.  A jubilee is 50 years.  120 jubilees, therefore, is 120 x 50 = 6000.  Six thousand years.  This is the only explanation that has made sense to me.  Could it be this simple, yet hidden?

Could it be as simple that God showed us the end at the beginning, and the beginning is the key to the end?

“Do you not know? Have you not heard?  Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?  Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?”                Isa 40:21 NASU

If there’s still an interest, I’ll continue.  Feel free to email me for resources, questions, and/or dialogue.

*Book of Jubilees from the Ethiopic, 4:28-29, p. 20 sourced from Signs in the Heavens, by Avi Ben Mordechai