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:

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.

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 21^st 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 14^th of Nisan, buried the 14, 15, 16 and rose on the 17^th. 

[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

Writing about Biblical prophecy is an invitation for criticism (and rightfully so), but it’s so fascinating to me, I think I’ll go there — with some disclaimers.  I’ve been studying eschatology (end times theology) for about two decades now, and I’ve been really, really wrong in that course of time.  I may be really, really wrong now.  But I keep studying, and I keep trying because I’ve learned something that drives me:  the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. [Rev. 19:10]

Barnes’ says prophecy is making known the divine will of God, and John records the angel as saying who Christ is expresses the divine will of God.  So in studying it, I glean and gain insight into the nature of God and the person of Christ.  Which means all the errors I make and the lessons I learn bring me a better understanding of my God. 

In prophecy, if we don’t learn more about Christ and His nature, we are missing the point and I question whether we have really learned anything.

I’m not going to spend time on preterism (past), historicism (present), idealism (timeless), and futurism (future) theories because they exhaust me.  I’m just going to tell you what I believe (right now) and why, and leave the categories for someone else.  Also, I don’t have time here to explain why I don’t believe some things, so for now I’m just going to explain what I do believe and why.

And I’m going to tell you my take on prophecy just as fodder for your spirit, not to convince anyone of anything or sell a book.

Acharit-hayamim…the last days

There’s a phrase in the ancient text called “acharit-hayamim” that is so unique The Complete Jewish Bible doesn’t even attempt to translate it.  They leave it in the text in the original Hebrew.  (It’s considered so unique that an English translation can’t quite capture it.)

You’ll find it fourteen times in the Old Testament and seven times in the New.   Every other Bible translation translates it something the equivalent of “last days”.   You can view or download a word document with the twenty-one acharit-hayamim scriptures here.

I believe the “last days” are the times on earth from Christ’s first advent to His second, because of 1 Peter 1:20.

Time is continuum, is cyclical and circular, not so much lineal

We use the concept of time to measure history.  If we’d learn to view time and history with God’s eyes, our entire viewpoint would change for the better.  Here are some concepts the Spirit showed me and taught me to dwell on so I could better understand the nature of God…

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.

Ecclesiastes  1:9-11 [NASU]   

Basically this shows us everything repeats and is on a revolution, or cycles.  Moreover, we don’t seem to bring to mind historical events and lessons or learn how to apply those lessons to our present or future.  God had me camp out on this for a long, long time.  He told me it was key for understanding how He operates. 

For a moment, let’s just look at one word in this passage:  ages.  “Already it has existed for ages which were before us.”  This is a hard word to translate in this passage.  Most translations have “ages”, while some have “ancient times” or “old time”.  But the original Hebrew is “owlam” [Strong’s 5769] and is defined as “properly, concealed, i.e. the vanishing point; generally, time out of mind (past or future)”.

So the things that happened in the past, in the ancient times or old time, are concealed; they have extended beyond the vanishing point and are “time out of mind”.  And apparently we’re prone to forget them.  Just keep that in the back of your head.  Now look at Isaiah 46:8-10 [NASU]; this is God speaking:

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’;

Here God is telling us to remember those things from “owlam”, ages past.  He is chastising us to remember the things forgotten from a time out of our minds, beyond the vanishing point and that have been concealed.  He compounds this with His identity, and this is very important!  He is the God of ancient things that have been concealed and vanished.  And here’s where it gets really interesting…

“for I am God, and there is no other”… God here is “el”, the Almighty.  There is only one Almighty.

“I am God and there is none like Me”…  God here is “elohiym”, which can be used for any god, (and the people were prone to worshipping other lesser gods), but He distinguishes here that among the gods, there is NONE like Himself.  And that word for “none” there doesn’t mean just zero, it means never existed.  So while there may indeed be other “gods” that man worships, no other god has existed to equal Himself.  Selah.

He then tells us He declares the thing at the end from that at the beginning.  And this time “ancient times” comes from “qedem” which means “front” – things literally before other things – and He distinguishes those things from things that haven’t yet occurred. 

Now if you really want to stretch your mind, look at this, and we have to take it from the KJV because no one else except the Jewish Bible gets it right unless you go back to the original Hebrew:

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Rev 13:8

So what we see here is the sacrificial Lamb was slain from the very beginning, before there was time.  [The Hebrew confirms this, and I can only assume man, in his finite “wisdom”, thought they had to correct it because it didn’t make sense to their lineal thinking.]  I need you to understand time is circular, and the very concept of Christ’s sacrifice occurred before Adam and Eve. 

Now look at 1 Peter 1:20 [KJV]:

Who [Christ] verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times [archarit-hayamim] for you…

We will see again that Christ was not an answer to a sin solution after four thousand years of trying to get it right by the Law or other means.  The answer existed before the problem.    Peter explains here that Christ was destined for the earth specifically for the “last days”, the acharit-hayamim. 

And just for kicks, that word “verily” is an adjective used to indicate affirmation or concession, which is “usually followed by a contrasted clause”.  In other words, when verily precedes a statement, there is a contrast that we will be disinclined to believe, but is true nonetheless.

Getting a grasp of God’s concept of revolutions and cycles of “time” will help us understand both prophecy and the present, not to mention the character of God.

Bifids and Chiasms

Considering the Israelites/Hebrews were instructed by God and His chosen people at a time the world was following other gods and the flesh, taking an honest look at the Israelites’ methods and customs would aide us considerably at understanding God. 

A bifid is a literary piece that is divided into two parts that are repetitive.  One part tells its story, and then it tells it again in the other part.  They are not two different stories, per se, but two different ways of telling the same thing.  Isaiah is considered bifidic.  Chapters 1-33 tell a story, and then chapters 35-66 repeat it in a different way.

A chiasm is a stair step approach at writing where a concept is written, then repeated in reverse form, like this:

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…                                        [Ps. 68:15-16]

Now look at it:

A  The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan;

B  an high hill as the hill of Bashan. 

B  Why leap ye, ye high hills?

A  this is the hill which God desires to dwell in…

In A you see the hill of God is the hill God desires to dwell in, and in B you see the hill is high – on both sides – it steps up, then repeats down.

Look at it in Isaiah 55:8….  “My ways are not your ways, [now watch it repeat in opposite order] neither are your ways my ways…”  [my ways/your ways/your ways/my ways]

Even the New Testament writers did the same thing.  Look at Mark 5:3-5, and this one has three steps instead of two.  You make three points, then repeat them in reverse order:

“Who had his dwelling among the tombs

                And no man could bind him,

                                No, not with chains.

                                He had been bound with chains,

                Neither could any man tame him,

And always he was in the tombs…”

Now at first this may look like a simple poetic scheme, but it’s more than that.  The Hebrew writers also wrote whole books like this.  You can find chiasms by chapters in Isaiah and Daniel.  You can also find them in Revelation.   Just for example, look at Daniel.  If you pay attention you’ll see Daniel is not in chronological order.  This is a clue.

Chronologically, Daniel actually wrote the book like this:  Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 5, 9, 6, 10, 11, 12.  You can tell this because Daniel always has “time markers” for his visions.  “In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar…”  etc.  You can historically look up those markers and see the chapters are out of chronological order.

Daniel wrote the book in a chronological order, but Daniel put the book together in chiastic form.  Why?  Because it tells a story, and his Hebrew readers would understand that story is retold in reverse order.  We have to get out of a Greek mindset of lineal thinking and seek a Hebrew mindset if we want greater understanding.  Now look at Daniel:

                                Prophecy                             Subject

A             ch. 2       the great image                                4 gentile nations

B             ch. 3       the fiery furnace              God’s people in tribulation

C             ch. 4       Nebuch. insane                                Gentile king judged

C             ch. 5       Beleshaz. killed                 Gentile king judged

B             ch. 6       lion’s den                            God’s people in tribulation

A             ch. 7       4 beasts                               4 Gentile nations

Do you see it?  Now consider that Revelation is written similarly, by John, an Israelite, familiar with Hebraic literary form and how Israelites think.

Revelation 10:6-7 tells us time ceases at 11:15.  But there are eleven more chapters of Revelation.  So Revelation must not be on a linear timeline.  When you realize this, you learn to start looking for things that repeat, and the methods they repeat.  These are clues for interpretation AND order.

Speaking of Hebrew customs and methods….

We have the whole concept of measuring time and marking events based on an entirely different counting system.  The Hebrews kept a lunar calendar, as instructed by God, and the rest of the world keeps a solar calendar, as instructed by, well… we won’t get into that right now.

But just look at the days of creation.  We find, “and there was evening and there was morning, the first [second, third, etc.] day.”  We usually operate like there was morning and there was evening… 

Do a cursory word search of “moon” in Scripture and you’ll find the feasts and events were marked by the new or full moon.  Jeremiah 31:35 tells us God has a “fixed order of the moon”.  Yet the world has set up its calendar and its events by the sun.  

Take a look at the Hebrew calendar and you’ll see the months run differently than ours, and that the new year is different than ours.  The calendar new year on the Hebrew calendar is in fall [Tishri = Sept/Oct], while on the solar calendar it is in winter [Jan 1].  Interestingly, the Hebrews’ religious calendar’s new year was Nisan [Mar/Apr], and the world’s used to be April 1.  But the Romans changed it to January 1 to follow the Egyptian solar way of counting.  Those who resisted the new calendar’s New Year’s Day were called April Fools, because they kept the original calendar new year as April 1. 

God ordained seven feasts in Leviticus 23.  The word for “feast” is “mowed” and literally means “an appointment”, and the Hebrews considered them the equivalent of a dress rehearsal for a future event.   There are four spring feasts [Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits and Pentecost] and three autumn feasts [Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot]. 

Each of these Hebrew customs are clues to understanding God, who He is, and what He is saying and doing.

I do not think that word means what you think it means….

Gen 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.”

Well, either Adam died that day, or God meant something else, because we know God does not lie.  We also know Adam didn’t die that day.  So what did God mean?

Gen 6:3-4  [NASU]

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.”

Well, either man’s lifespan ended at 120 years after that point, or God meant something else, because we know God does not lie.  We know man lived over 120 years after that point, so what did God mean?

Full circle, literally…

I realize I’ve had to practically bullet point these ideas, but I’m just offering some starting place counter points to western Christianity’s maddening eschatology false teachings.  Those who insist that all prophecy was fulfilled in 70 A.D. fail to understand the cyclical and chiastic structure of both prophecy and historical events.   Likewise, those who insist prophecy has some futuristic fulfillment yet disregard historical evidence of fulfillments have failed in the same misunderstanding.

God has shown us and history has proven there are cycles that repeat.  Isaiah is considered the “little Bible”.  It sets forth types and symbols, using old events to prophesy new.  Isaiah used people of his day to prophesy about people in the future.  Both sets of circumstances are true, but each set has its own application.

I’ll close with this and write more details in a future article for better understanding if there is an interest.  Recall this:  Simeon and Anna both knew the Messiah would come in their day.  How did they know?  Besides the Holy Spirit, how did they really know? 

God told me years ago, “Study the first advent to understand the second.”  I’ve dropped clues throughout this article.  I’ll fill in some details in the next.