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Category Archives: The Rapture

Does Jesus Himself Say Anything About The Rapture?

01 Saturday Dec 2018

Posted by garybowers in The Rapture

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Second Coming

You may be a believer in Messiah Jesus and know a lot about the Rapture or only a little.

You may be an unbeliever who knows virtually nothing about the Rapture, except for hearing about it from time to time. Wherever you are in this spectrum, the question posed in this week’s Eye of Prophecy article may be puzzling.

Some will respond incredulously to the question: Of course, Jesus spoke of the Rapture.

Others might think: I know that the Apostle Paul writes about the Rapture, because the (two) passages in which he describes it are the ones that many people cite exclusively. However, I don’t think Jesus himself spoke of the Rapture.

Still others might say: I think Jesus talked about the Rapture. But I’m not sure what words he used or where to find them. And if he was referring to the Rapture or just his second coming to the earth, or both?

And, there are those who don’t believe the Rapture will take place at all. What they do with I Thessalonians 4 and I Corinthians 15 is beyond me, but that’s okay. If they have accepted Christ as their personal Savior, they’ll know for sure when they ascend from the earth in their brand-new bodies to meet the Lord in the air! It’s likely they will exclaim, “It’s really happening?!”

For those of us who know the Rapture is for real, a shorter version: “It’s happening!”

Some think that the Rapture and the return of Messiah Jesus to the earth to end the Great Tribulation are one and the same.

You may or may not know that the term (Rapture) isn’t found in the Bible. However, the event itself is, including amazing details of what transpires and the sequence thereof. The Latin word is employed as a summary of all features of the event originally encapsulated in the Greek word, which means a catching or seizing up of believers by Messiah Jesus to heaven.

(See, Eye of Prophecy article, Biblical Terms Not in the Bible … Are They Biblical? Posted 3-10-18)

The Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus will bring about the Rapture. But did Jesus, himself, say anything about this extraordinary event?

Answer: A resounding, YES!

Stay tuned and discover that, in fact, Jesus directly disclosed all the revelations concerning the Rapture, including the two passages recorded by the Apostle Paul.

But first, a brief review of:

The Spectacular Surge of Biblical Prophecy in the 20th & 21st Centuries

After Israel’s remarkable rebirth as a sovereign nation in 1948 and especially following the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem with the rest of Israel in the miraculous Israeli victory of the 1967 Six-Day War, there has been an explosion of interest in Biblical end-times prophecy unequalled since the first century A.D. Both events were part and parcel of hundreds of Biblical prophecies and both were accomplished against all (natural) odds. Not only on Israel; the world’s 20th century attention riveted on two World Wars and a host of other unprecedented events (like the formation of dozens of new nations) continuing into our 21st century that billions of people, believers and unbelievers alike, consider to be apocalyptic. A beginning of the end.

So much so that it didn’t even take another major war, or natural disaster, or ominous geopolitical or economic event to galvanize global awareness on what many believe to be the last days of the end times.

You remember the year 2000, don’t you?! The realization that it was not only a new century but a new millennium, generated an apocalyptic apprehension that swept over the planet.

Many predicted a millennial meltdown of computer chips and systems, which in turn would wreak havoc on the infrastructure of nations. Power grids would collapse; machinery would stop running; complex military, government, and economic networks would fail; and (worst of all!) the internet might self-destruct.

Most Christians were convinced that the Rapture would take place sometime during that fateful year. After all, it was the beginning of the third millennium since the birth of Messiah Jesus. And the seventh millennium of recorded time. There was nothing left in Biblical prophecy as a prelude to the Lord taking believers from the earth … to spare them from the Great Tribulation in preparation for Messiah’s second coming to this earth. Could there have been any time more prophetically pertinent than the year 2000?

I was one of what seemed to be only a few believers who were convinced that the Rapture would not take place that year. This certainly isn’t criticizing my brothers and sisters in Christ, as I, too, had the same fervent expectation that such a pivotal year in the history of mankind would be the year of Messiah’s Rapture of the true church … those who have placed their personal trust in the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus and have accepted him as personal Savior. I passionately hoped they would be right about the Rapture in 2000. And I was disappointed that they were wrong.

My exclusive reason for being persuaded that the Rapture would not take place in 2000 was based on what Scripture says. Which essentially is: when least expected. The Apostle Paul compares the event of the Rapture to: a thief in the night.

Although this analogy was mostly in the context of how the Lord’s return will affect unbelievers, it also applied to the expectation level of believers. Whereas Jesus and Paul (also Peter) encouraged believers to be ready and alert, waiting patiently and watching eagerly for the Day of the Lord, they also emphasized that it would happen at a time least expected—even for believers. This certainly relates to notable days, months, and (as we now know) to the year 2,000.

For example: many believers—both Jewish and Gentile—believe that the Rapture will occur on a major Biblical festival, such as Passover, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, or Sukkot. Or perhaps Christmas or Easter or even Hanukkah! Non-Messianic observant Jews, who contend that Messiah’s arrival will be his first, also speculate that he will appear on a significant Holy Day.

Yes, it could be one of those days, but likely as not, it won’t be. Those days are too obvious!

In contrast to unbelievers who will be shocked at the Rapture and ensuing Tribulation, Paul compliments believers by saying that they: “…aren’t in the dark about these things … and you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief” (I Thessalonians 5:4). However, not being surprised relates to the surety that the Lord will return. Intensified by the awesome privilege of knowing beyond doubt why the Rapture part of his return will take place. “For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us” (Verse 9).

The anger referred to is none other than: “…then disaster will fall on them (unbelievers)” during the Tribulation, shortly after the Rapture takes place. (verse 3).

Believers not being surprised at the event of the Rapture is different than the Rapture occurring when least expected. Jesus said so himself: “You (talking to believers) also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected” (Matthew 24:44, parenthesis mine).

In the last 50 years, the imminent return of Messiah Jesus so enthusiastically embraced by the early Church, has once again been the “talk of the town.” What God says will happen has always happened and will continue to unfold before our 21st century eyes. However, despite the clear evidence that hundreds of Biblical prophecies have been fulfilled, most unbelievers scoff at the idea, “that Jesus is coming again” (II Peter 3:4).

And, when they see the first part of his Second Coming (the Rapture) for themselves, many of those left behind will still mock. Good riddance; we’ve got the whole world to ourselves now.

The Imminent Return of Messiah Jesus (in Two Phases)

The term that Bible scholars, teachers, and students use most often to identify the return of Messiah Jesus is: Second Coming. Or: Second Advent.

In addition to coming and appear, Jesus also uses the term, return. “So you, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return” (Matthew 25:13).

The Second Coming of Messiah Jesus is part of what Old Testament prophets referred to as the Day of the Lord.

The Apostle Paul explains it this way:

Jesus was the first to warn that his (second) coming would catch an unsuspecting world off guard. However, he also spoke of many things that would transpire before his powerful and glorious appearance (return) to earth. These events are revealed in both general and specific detail throughout Scripture, especially in the books of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, Matthew, Luke, and Revelation.

For example: Messiah’s spectacular return to earth to do battle with the combined armies of the Antichrist and Kings of the East as recorded in Revelation Chapter 19. Which clearly doesn’t take place until after the entire chronological sequence of the Great Tribulation. With the obvious conclusion that his Second Coming to earth will not be at all unexpected and will be preceded by signs and wonders for all those left behind at the Rapture to see. With multiple opportunities (depending on how long they survive) to know beyond any doubt that the same Messiah who took believers to heaven before the carnage began would be returning to judge the world. Sadly, most of them will still reject the true Messiah in favor of the one vainly parading himself before the world as God.

Yet, both Jesus and Paul tell us that the Lord’s return will (also) come like a thief in the night, unexpected and without warning. The only possible way to accurately juxtapose what seems to be a paradox between unexpected and clearly expected is to fully understand that Jesus’s return is in two parts … two distinct phases.

Please refer to Eye of Prophecy article: Messiahs’ Return and the Rapture (Same or Separate Events?) Posted 12-3-16. In which this subject was covered in detail.

In keeping with today’s article (title), we’re going to focus more on what Jesus, himself, said about his Second Coming. Identifying critical passages pertaining to the first part of his appearance (Rapture) in contrast to his second (final) physical return to the earth.

Which will help to better understand that the imminent aspect of Jesus’s Imminent Return, concerns the Rapture phase of his Second Coming … only for believers. Whereas, the return part applies to his glorious appearance to the entire world, an immediate prelude to his victorious conquest of Satan, Antichrist, the False Prophet, and rebellious humanity that had spurned the true and living God and His Messiah. This second phase comes with myriad events preceding his actual return to earth, unfolding with prophetic precision just like Scripture said they would.

Don’t be confused or even puzzled over this phenomenal two-part event; one at the beginning and the other at the end of seven years of the last days of the end times.

In fact, it is one of the four epic events of God’s interaction with humanity, all of which involve two parts or phases. Four (and its multiples … forty, four-hundred) is one of those divinely significant numbers found in both natural and supernatural conditions throughout human history.

Here is an excerpt from Eye of Prophecy article, Countdown to Armageddon … End of the Fourth 400-Year Era (Posted 7-29-17). The excerpt, in turn, was taken from a prior article, Four Locusts Kingdoms! (8-22-15). In italics:

Several numbers in the Bible bear a great deal of meaning … we are going to see how the number four relates to and explains a huge portion of Israel’s history; in the context of God’s providential direction for the Jews and their interaction with mighty Gentile nations.

The number four derives its significance from God’s creative work especially pertaining to the earth, including God’s dealings with and disposition (rise and fall destiny) of nations. It is the number of wholeness, totality, entirety, and summation. It is a number concept that would be completely incomplete if we eliminated just one of the component parts of any given foursome.

If we want to move from one place to another, we must go forward, backward, left or right. Up or down doesn’t count; if we go beneath or above the earth, we must then travel in one of four directions.

…There are four seasons, four primary lunar phases, and four sides to what is probably the most perfect geometric object we can think of … a square. And many more fours:

I went on to list fourteen more fours prominently displayed in Scripture and the universe, including one that you may not have thought about…. Which is, as quoted from Four Locusts Kingdoms:

“Each day has four component parts: Seconds, minutes, hours, and day. One day is cyclical … it begins, ends, and starts all over again. Weeks, months, and years are linear, continuous.”

In addition to the two-part Imminent Return of Messiah Jesus, the other three grand Biblical events also come in pairs—each of which is typified by and reflected in the juxtaposition between the Covenant of the Law (Old Testament) and the Covenant of Grace (New Testament).

They are:

God’s Two-Part Plan for Humanity: I’ve discussed these panoramic plans at varying lengths in prior articles. They are: (1) Selection of Abraham to father the Jewish race. With Israel as the perpetual Promised Land and Jerusalem as its eternal capital for Abraham’s descendants. Through the Jews would come the Messiah, which is part two of God’s magnificent design for humanity. (2) Messiah Jesus’s redemptive sacrificial death for the sins of all who believe and receive him as personal Savior. Followed by his astonishing resurrection that will (soon) enable believers to also be resurrected with the same glorified body in which Jesus arose.

God’s Discipline of Israel / Two Exiles and Twice Return of Jews: (1) Israel’s ten northern tribes conquered by Assyria, then the two southern tribes by Babylon; for their disobedience to and abandonment of the Lord. The southern tribes (remnant) returned to Israel after exile to Babylon, but lasted only until: (2) Rome sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the second Temple, which began a far lengthier exile of Jews to the four corners of the earth. This was a direct result of God’s people as a nation rejecting their Messiah, the one who brought the New Covenant to them and the whole world. See Eye of Prophecy article: Double Israel’s Trouble and Double Her Blessings! (8-13-16).

Messiah’s First and Second Advent: (1) Jesus of Nazareth born of a Virgin at the appointed time that changed the very keeping of time (B.C. to A.D.). He came 2,000 years ago as, “…The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). (2) He will return as, “…the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne…” (Revelation 5:5). Each advent is prophesied several times in the Scriptures. In Isaiah Chapter 9, both events are proclaimed in just two verses. Beginning with: “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end…” (Verses 6-7a).

Each of these two-part plans/events correlate with the other. They prophetically and existentially validate the profound observation that:

And now to look more closely at the fourth of these (two-part) monumental milestones.

Messiah’s Rapture of Believers / Followed Seven Years Later by His Return to Earth

(1) The Rapture

This phenomenal event precedes the even more spectacular physical return of Christ; thus, it is separate from his return. The Rapture is the catalyst of, but not his actual return to rescue Israel by conquering her enemies; thereby, saving the entire world from annihilation. The Rapture is the trigger-point of the Great Tribulation, which includes God’s wrath poured out on the world, followed by Messiah’s Millennial Reign on earth from Jerusalem.

Let’s begin with Jesus’s direct disclosure to the Apostle Paul, one of the most well-known passages in the Bible.

However, to note that this wasn’t the first time Jesus had revealed something to Paul through direct communication with him. These divine encounters began when Paul saw and heard Jesus on the road to Damascus; a life-changing, destiny-altering meeting with the risen Messiah. Even changing his name from Saul (a die-hard Jewish Pharisee who persecuted Christians) to Paul—the greatest apologist for the Christian faith who has ever lived.

Another example (precedent) is found in Acts 18:9-10, when Jesus spoke to Paul in a vision. Saying, “Don’t be afraid! Speak out! Don’t be silent! For I am with you…”

Then later Jesus said: “…Be encouraged, Paul. Just as you have been a witness to me here in Jerusalem, you much preach the Good News in Rome as well” (Acts 23:11).

Now, the famous passage which contains Paul’s first reference to the Rapture (he wrote I Thessalonians before I Corinthians). Notice that he begins by telling us this is a direct revelation from the Lord Jesus.

“We tell you this directly from the Lord. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words” (I Thessalonians 4:15-18, italics for emphasis).

Just a couple of brief comments concerning this passage:

First, “we” that begins the passage (as opposed to what would be the usual first person, “I”) refers to Paul and the Lord together. Secondly, to make the major distinction between the Rapture and the Return of Christ, Paul specifies that all believers will meet the Lord in the air. Messiah Jesus does not come down to earth. That will take place (about seven years later) when he physically returns to end the Great Tribulation.

Subsequently in I Thessalonians Chapter 5 (verses 2 & 10), Paul uses the term return … of the Lord. Return (also used by Jesus) is an all-purpose description that incorporates both phases of Jesus’s Second Coming or Imminent Return. Nonetheless, we can distinguish between the two and determine which part of Messiah’s return is being described, by whether Jesus and Paul are attaching the word (return) to that which will take place unexpectantly … imminently, meaning The Rapture. Contrasted to his physical return that will take place only after the succession of events that constitute the Tribulation.

In other words, the purpose (timing) of these two phases of return is identified and characterized by HOW Jesus will appear and to whom.

A feasible analogy could be as follows:

A press release from the United States Executive Staff announces that the President is scheduled for a breakthrough engagement with the leaders of several European countries. This sojourn in Europe will last seven days, then he will return to the White House. However, before the seven-day period begins, the President will make a stop in Great Britain to personally arrange with England’s Prime Minister the send-off of the United States ambassador to a brand-new home on an island paradise for a long-anticipated rest (retirement from the affairs of this world).

The transfer of the ambassador was imminent, but the exact day or hour would not be announced. This to accommodate the flexibility of the President’s schedule. Also, for the world at large to focus on the critical seven-day period during which time the development of ominous world events would be discussed. Though the European leaders intensely disliked not knowing when the President’s imminent trip to Great Britain would take place, the President would consent to meet with those leaders who would agree to drop what they’re doing and welcome him.

(Note: Jesus’s parables of the Ten Bridesmaids and the Master and three servants in Matthew 25:1-30, part of his Mount Olivet end-times discourse, relate primarily to the time between Messiah’s First and Second Advents. But they also pertain to the time (second-chance for those left behind) between the Rapture and physical return of Christ to earth. They’re obviously much better analogies than mine!)

My analogy is limited but you can you see that the President’s trip is distinctly divided into two parts: one unannounced, the other itinerary known to the entire world, including the fact that the President would return in seven days. So it will be between the imminent Rapture and the seven-year Tribulation, the end of which will come when the Son of Man returns to the earth (His white house will be the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem!).

The other well-known passage of the Rapture written by Paul is preceded by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration to Paul, in which the fact of the resurrection and the spiritual bodies of resurrected believers is explained. See I Corinthians 15:12-50.

Then, however, Paul abruptly shifts the narrative to precisely what will happen to cause this tremendous transformation of believer’s bodies (dead and living) to our immortal spiritual bodies. Once again, pay special attention to the beginning of this passage, as it, too, confirms that this revelation came directly from the Lord.

“But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It (the transformation itself, not the entire sequence of the Rapture as presented in I Thessalonians) will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown…. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies” (I Corinthians 15:51-53, italics for emphasis, parenthesis mine).

(For the detailed sequence and proposed time-lapse of the entire Rapture, please see Eye of Prophecy article: The Shout Heard Around the World (Published 4-22-17).

This secret or mystery was directly from the Lord, just like Jesus revealed a mystery to John in Revelation 1:20, and an angel of the Lord to John in Revelation 17:7-8.

This was Jesus’s second direct revelation to Paul concerning the Rapture, one that expanded on the first disclosure in I Thessalonians 4.

In the first revelation, Paul tells us, “…that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectantly, like a thief in the night” (I Thessalonians 5:2). That “day” is the day when the Rapture will take place … without warning, just like a thief would strike.

Followed soon by the onset of the Great Tribulation, with Paul graphically portraying the world’s lifestyle and condition at the time. “When people are saying, ‘Everything is peaceful and secure,’ then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor paints begin. And there will be no escape” (Verse 3).

Jesus uses the same kind of illustrative warning with his analogy to God’s first world-wide judgment of the Great Flood. We know that he’s referring specifically to the Rapture phase of his return as he prefaces his comparison by one of the four statements that he makes … no one knows the day or hour of his return.

One of those four is as follows:

“When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes” (Matthew 24:37-39).

Noah entering the ark is a parallel to the Rapture. At that point he and his family were safe from what was about to happen.

By the time the horrific Tribulation nears an end—with all the shocking plagues, some man-made, others inflicted by God himself—no one is going to be surprised. Especially during the last half of the Tribulation, nearly everyone will have fully realized what was happening and why. Sadly, most will still not repent and turn to the Lord.

However, I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of revelry and carefree things going on. Not with millions of people dying all over the earth on a regular basis. The terrible turmoil of the Tribulation won’t end until Messiah Jesus returns to the earth to set things right. The partying referred to by Jesus is prior to the Rapture, which will precipitate the Tribulation.

The above verses are followed immediately by another startling statement from Jesus, which continues his reference to the Rapture, confirming that it will be completely unexpected. An explanation affirming that believers will be taken from the earth and unbelievers will be left behind at the Rapture. Just like Noah and his family and Lot and his family were taken out of harm’s way and saved from God’s wrath, so will believers taken at the Rapture be spared from God’s final judgment of the earth.

Said Jesus: “Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left” (Matthew 24:40-41).

The context is crystal clear: This could only happen at the Rapture, as the taking is abrupt … without warning, at any time. As opposed to the ensuing Tribulation that will affect only those who are “left” (behind) to experience seven-years of calamities that will literally shake the world to its very core.

(2) Part Two: The Second Coming of Jesus Personally to the Earth

Other than the astonishingly abrupt reappearance of the Antichrist (Nero) at the outset of the Tribulation, there’s nothing unscheduled during the Tribulation itself. As thoroughly and sequentially (the twenty-one plagues) recorded in the book of Revelation, with the resulting conclusion that they come with plenty of warning (2,000 years’ worth) in contrast to the unexpected Rapture of which no one knows the day or hour. In fact, anyone left behind at the Rapture who cares to read the seven seal, seven trumpet, and seven bowl judgments of Revelation, will know exactly which one is coming next. And WHO is coming afterward!

Sometimes specific—like the moon turning to blood—but usually in more general terms (composite effect) the catastrophes of the Tribulation also are prophesied by Old Testament prophets. And, by Jesus, himself in Matthew 24:4-29, in which he is describing the Tribulation, not the Rapture. His words about the Rapture come later, some of which we’ve already covered.

[*Note: Mark’s Gospel (Chapter 13) also records Jesus’s Mount of Olives discourse. As does Luke’s Gospel, except that Luke discloses one additional feature. That of Jesus including the Roman destruction of Jerusalem (which took place in 70 A.D.) as a (parenthetical) prelude to the Great Tribulation. Specifically in the context of Gentile domination of the Jews until the last days (during the birth pains immediately preceding his return). Referring to the Roman conquest of Israel/Jerusalem, Jesus says: “They will be killed by the sword or sent away as captives to all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the period of the Gentiles comes to an end” (Luke 21:24). (See Eye of Prophecy article: Times of & Fullness of the Gentiles … What Do They Mean? Posted 4-21-18]

In conclusion to what he calls, “greater anguish than at any time since the world began” and later in the chapter, “the anguish of those days” (Matthew 24:21 & 29, respectively), listen to Jesus’s dramatic description of his actual return, which is accompanied by a sign in the heavens.

“And then at last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).

Thus, there is a clear time-lapse differential between the Rapture and Messiah’s return to the earth.

See Revelation 19:11-21 for a stunning account of Jesus’s final descent to the earth. There’s more: We believers will be with him, also descending to the earth. We’re not going up, we’re coming back down—after seven years of (blissful) waiting in heaven for this glorious moment.

Here is how I summarized it in Eye of Prophecy article, Messiah’s Return & the Rapture (Same or Separate Events?)

Believers will not meet Christ going (up) and coming (down) all at once. That makes no sense at all. That would be like an elevator full of employees going up to meet their boss with the unmistakable understanding that he is waiting for them in the Penthouse Suite having prepared a great Christmas party for them. Only for the boss to change his mind after they arrive, and then take the elevator back down with all the guests to first “take care of business” below.

Praise and thanks to God … born again believers will sit out the tribulation! There will be seven years between our elevator rides.

Things to Ponder

Indeed, Jesus had much to say about the Rapture.

In fact: He is the ONLY ONE to directly reveal the unfolding of this awesome event.

Am I saying that the Apostle Paul didn’t tell us point-blank about the Rapture?

Answer: Yes, I am saying that!

With, however, the qualification that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God through the Holy Spirit as Paul and Peter tell us (II Timothy 3:16 & II Peter 1:20-21, respectively). But that applies primarily to the specific writing (recording) of the Word of God as a Biblical whole. The Holy Spirit brought to remembrance and directed the thoughts and words of the actual composition of Scripture through individual writing styles of the various authors.

God proclaimed his Word to mankind through prophets, apostles, and angels … through dreams and visions and actual appearances. With much of Scripture containing the direct spoken words of God the Father and God the Son—Messiah Jesus.

“Thus, saith the Lord,” is a frequent expression of and representation by the Lord regarding direct verbal or visionary revelations to people. This is not a superior means of disclosing God’s truth. It’s just different; a more direct way than the Holy Spirit guiding and motivating the recording of these revelations and historical facts of people, places and events. A Holy Spirit inspired synthesis of, for example, the three parts of redemption—justification, sanctification, glorification—for all those who accept God’s atoning salvation through His Son, as presented in the New Testament epistles.

All Scripture is intrinsically equal in importance and impact. But when we read words spoken directly by God and His Son, we get a first-hand, up close and personal appreciation of the Lord’s direct involvement in and concern for the eternal life or eternal death of every human being. From the beginning God gave us the freedom to choose between the two and tells us in his own words why the choice will determine our eternal destiny.

Said Jesus:

And then the Lord, through the Holy Spirit, inspired the prophets and apostles to fuse God’s (Father and Son) powerful and precious Words of light, life, and truth into sound doctrine.

The significance of the mysterious Rapture being revealed directly by Messiah Jesus himself reinforces the absolute truth that God’s plan of salvation revolves around and is found in what He did for us that we could not do for ourselves. Beginning with his First Advent to sacrificially die for our sins, the efficacy of which was validated by his resurrection from the dead.

Culminating in his Second Advent that begins with the Rapture, in which he will resurrect dead believers in Christ and transfigure the bodies of all believers—dead and alive—into a spiritual body equipped to live forever in heaven.

“We tell you this directly from the Lord…” (I Thessalonians 4:15).

“So encourage each other with these words” (I Thessalonians 4:18).

Then: The Son of Man will come on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Matthew 24:30).

Resurrections / How Many Will There Be? One, Two, Or Could There Be Three?

27 Saturday Oct 2018

Posted by garybowers in The Rapture

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Let’s begin with a three-question quiz; a Q&A for eternity.

The choices are: Yes___, No___, I don’t’ know___.

Is there life after death?

If so, will there be a bodily resurrection of the dead?

If we live forever, will everyone be in heaven with God?

For those who selected, “No” to the first question (now or at any time in their life), the next two questions would be irrelevant to them. Why? Because it’s evident they haven’t read the Bible or don’t believe what it says if they have? Even if they acknowledge the Bible as God’s Word, it’s apparent that they prefer the temporary enticements of this world to the incomparable paradise of everlasting life in heaven.

Scripture is crystal clear that the answer to the first two questions is a resounding, “Yes!” With the answer to the third question a solemnly sad, “No.”

For believers in Messiah Jesus, Heaven awaits us. For unbelievers when they die … Hell. Followed by the “second death” (eternal separation from God) in the Lake of Fire after they, too, are raised from their graves. They remain under God’s wrath for not believing and receiving God’s Son as personal Savior (John 3:36).

The promise of Romans 8:1 applies only to believers: “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”

As does, “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of underserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory” (Romans 5:1-2).

If you answered, “I don’t know” to one or more of these questions, my response would be, “Why? Don’t you want to know? Don’t you want to be sure?” The Bible plainly states that we can know, we can be sure.

Why is that? Because the historical fact is that Jesus Christ arose from the dead, attested to by many who saw him and were with him.

“…Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died” (I Corinthians 15:3-6, italics for emphasis).

In addition to this greatest miracle of all time, the Bible is replete with numerous other miracles performed by God and by His Son. As well as hundreds of prophecies that have come to pass, with 100% accuracy. Such mighty miracles and perfectly fulfilled prophecies cannot be found in any man-made religion or so-called sacred texts. Nor can their adherents be certain of where they will spend eternity, because all man-made religions and cults are based on self-worth or good deeds. They cannot know for sure if they’re good enough or have done enough.

In stirring contrast, God’s salvation is a matter of believing and receiving Messiah Jesus as Lord and Savior, who did for us what we could do for ourselves. Who was and is what we could never hope to be without him.

“For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (II Corinthians 5:21).

Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle John says, “I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life” (I John 5:13).

Concerning the third question in the quiz, let’s look at:

The Righteous (Saved) & the Unrighteousness (Unsaved)

When the Lord bodily appeared to Abraham as the Pre-Incarnate Messiah and confided in Abraham his intentions to judge Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham asked God to reconsider if there were but 10 righteous people in the city. Said Abraham: “…Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?” (Genesis 18:25, a rhetorical question).

Hundreds of years later after God chose Moses to deliver the Israelites, we read:

“Then the Lord came down in a cloud and stood there with him; and he called out his own name, Yahweh. The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, ‘Yahweh! The LORD! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty…” (Exodus 34:5-7a).

Who are the guilty … the unsaved, the unrighteous according to God? Numerous Bible passages answer that question, both Old & New Testament. The guilty are those who have refused to place their trust in God’s simple yet profound plan of redemption. A plan that began when God shed the blood of an innocent animal to provide clothing for Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21). Clothing necessary because their sinful disobedience had taken away their innocence (exemplified by their nakedness) and had exposed them to God’s guilty verdict of death … both physical and spiritual. Remember, the word death throughout Scripture means separation, not annihilation.

A plan culminating in the once for all substitutionary sacrifice of God’s own Son, Messiah Jesus; to replace the Old Covenant of the Law which required ongoing animal sacrifices to cover the sins of the people.

The Bible is decidedly clear that God divides people into two human hemispheres: the righteous and the unrighteous … believers and unbelievers. And it is by faith in the Lord’s gift of salvation through His Son that gives us right standing with God … righteousness. The same faith through which God declared Abraham righteous long ago also saves us today.

The only difference is that Abraham and Old Testament saints were looking forward to Messiah’s redemptive remedy for sin. The truth of which was foreshadowed in the Levitical Sacrificial System; though offerings to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were already underway before the Law of Moses. Thus, Jesus’s once for all sacrifice is adequate for all people—past, present, and future. However, we must make that salvation personal.

Resurrection in the Old Testament

God’s creation plan of eternal existence for every person ever born has not changed, except for one thing: RESURRECTION!

A bodily resurrection … for both the saved and the unsaved.

The New Testament offers considerable testimony regarding the resurrection of the dead. But there is also ample evidence in the Old Testament, as God systematically revealed his plans to the prophets.

Messiah Jesus definitively declared: “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying” (John 11:25). Before that dynamic disclosure, even the prophets didn’t completely comprehend how the unrighteous could stand before God one day and the righteous would live with God forever.

Would it be a literal resurrection of the body, or in spirit only? Would there be a single resurrection for both the righteous and unrighteous, or more than one … separated by time and space? The prophets and those who listened to them and followed the Lord faithfully didn’t know all the details; still, they believed God and his promises.

“All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth” (Hebrews 11:13).

Said Jesus to his disciples about the many who didn’t believe in him: “…For they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand” (Matthew 13:13).

Then a few verses later: “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it” (Verses 16-17).

“All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had planned. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us” (Hebrews 11:39-40).

Despite his great suffering and despair because he had done nothing wrong to deserve the loss of his family, possessions, and health, Job believed that God would vindicate him. Despite not knowing why these things happened, and despite coming up with inaccurate cause and effect correlations and conclusions (by both Job and his “friends”), Job uttered an astounding affirmation of faith and hope.

“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!” (Job 19:25-27).

I, too, am overwhelmed with this terrific truth: Resurrection … body, soul, and spirit!

King David (along with Isaiah) understood eternal life as well or more than anyone in Old Testament times, including the remarkable revelation that the Messiah would die for our sins and be raised again bodily.

(Words of King David from Psalm 23, that begins with “The Lord is my Shepherd.” This Psalm is known by many, including unbelievers)

In the first Gospel message preached after Christ ascended to heaven, Peter emphasized above everything else the resurrection of Jesus from the dead—to prove that he was the Messiah, the Son of God. In part of his message to the crowd (of which 3,000 would accept Jesus as Savior that day) Peter quoted David, “For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave” (Acts 2:27, quoting Psalm 16:10).

Peter went on to say: “…David wasn’t referring to himself, for he died and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us… David was looking into the future and speaking of the Messiah’s resurrection… God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this” (Acts 2:29-32).

Both Elijah and Elisha raised a boy from the dead. However, like a handful of resurrections recorded in the New Testament, those raised (for example, Lazarus by Jesus) died again. Thus, many observant Jews believed that resurrection was possible; yet most refused to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead, let alone that his resurrection would be permanent … forever!

See Eye of Prophecy article, There’s Resurrection … And There’s Resurrection! (Posted 3-19-16). Which is a comparison of Old and New Testaments resurrections to the once for all resurrection of Messiah Jesus.

Will There Be More Than One Resurrection of the Dead? If so, How Many?

To eliminate suspense or to confirm what you may already know (but can you explain your answer?), the question will be answered now; then supported with examination of some decisive passages.

There are TWO (types of) Resurrections. However, there will be three separate times when these two resurrections take place. That is not a contradiction!

In Revelation Chapter 20, the return to life of the Tribulation saints is called the “first resurrection.” There’s also the resurrection of the dead in Christ that occurs at the Rapture, which precedes the tribulation believers. Then, after the Millennium, Revelation 20 dramatically describes yet another raising of the dead—those who are unbelievers.

First (foremost) we need to remember that the Rapture and physical return of Messiah (Zechariah 14 and Revelation 19) to the earth are separate events. Please see Eye of Prophecy article: Messiah’s Return & The Rapture (Same or Separate Events?) Published 12-3-16. And, End of the World Events … In Chronological Order! (2-25-17) Also, Armageddon and Messiah’s Return … An Amazing Sequence of Events. (2-3-18).

Let’s examine the chronological order of these three resurrections. With documentation and commentary to show that the first two are bundled together in what the Bible labels the “first resurrection.”

(1) Resurrection of Believers at The Rapture

After the risen Messiah ascended back to heaven, 1st century believers eagerly expected him to return any day. Though 2,000 years have gone by, the reality of his imminent return (at any moment) is as relevant today as then. In fact, his return is more imminent that ever, considering other Biblical prophecies unfolding in the 20th and 21st century, paramount of which is the rebirth of the State of Israel. (See Eye of Prophecy article: Just How Imminent is Messiah’s Imminent Return? Posted 1-18-17).

For unbelievers who have ridiculed Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world as well as his return, and for some believers who sometimes wonder when and even if this will happen, let’s not forget what the Apostle Peter said not to forget:

“Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, ‘What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created’” (II Peter 3:3-4, emphasis added). *Note: the italicized words are rendered “first” or “first of all” in several Bible translations. Later, you’ll see the importance of this as we analyze the first resurrection.

Peter continues: “But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends. A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come unexpectedly as a thief…” (II Peter 3:8-10a).

Like many of my brothers and sisters in Christ, I am so eager for that day to arrive. On the other hand, I’m eternally grateful that the Lord has waited this long. Because the question (thought) is: If he had returned before I was born, then would I have been born … let alone born-again to experience the Rapture? Note: Thanks to one of my sibling sisters for that thought/question.

Including this week’s post, 42 Eye of Prophecy articles in the category of The Rapture deal extensively with this spectacular subject. Such as: The Tremendous Transfiguration of Believers, posted 7-23-16. And, of course, the first five articles published in July/August 2013; concerning the What, Why, When, Who, and How of the Rapture. Since the purpose of today’s article is to clarify the number of resurrections, discussion of the Rapture will be limited.

Beginning with an excerpt from Why the Rapture? In italics:

Primary Purpose: Resurrection (both dead and living believers) with a spiritual body equipped to live forever.

Secondary Purpose: Sparing believers from the tribulation. And giving unbelievers one last chance (up to seven years) to accept the true Messiah over the false Messiah….

If Jesus had not arisen from the dead, there would be no credibility to his or the Bible’s claims that redemption comes exclusively by God’s grace (unmerited favor). But Christ did arise, so all the Biblical truth and promises about salvation in Christ are true….

Perhaps the most absorbing is the Apostle Paul’s introductory use of the term, “spiritual bodies.” Think about it: Aren’t these two words mutually exclusive? How can there be any such thing as a “spiritual body.” Our earthly bodies are flesh and bone; they house our soul and spirit, which are anything but physical. Has anyone ever seen the spirit of another human being? Have you ever seen your own soul?

See Eye of Prophecy articles, Spiritual Bodies … A Contradiction of Terms? Part I & II. Posted 9-26 & 10-3-15.

Continuing with the excerpt:

But for Paul, through inspiration of the Holy Spirit, a spiritual body is a perfectly “natural” fact that will one day be physically experienced by all who have been raptured … not virtual, computer-generated, or cybernetic reality, but actual reality. Just how real is the new resurrected body? Jesus, himself, showed us how awesomely real it is: After he arose from the dead, he walked, he talked, he ate with his disciples, and he could be touched! How real is that?

Listen to what Paul says, “It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised in glory … They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies” (I Corinthians 15: 42-44).

I see this spectacular change taking place in the same light (pun intended) of what happened to Jesus during his transfiguration on the mountain, when Elijah and Moses appeared with him (Matthew 17: 1-7). In fact, I believe the term transfiguration is the best way to describe what will take place at the Rapture. Why transfiguration? Webster’s Dictionary defines transfiguration as, “a change in form or appearance….”

How will this transfiguration take place? The question concerns only the transfiguration itself, not the chain events of the Rapture as explained in I Thessalonians 4. For a detailed account of the fascinating sequence of the Rapture and approximately how long it could take, please read Eye of Prophecy article: The Shout Heard Around the World (4-22-17). Which expands on the older article, How the Rapture (will take place).

(In trying to depict believers ascending to heaven artists have inadvertently corrected the prevailing premise that the entire Rapture sequence will happen in the blink of an eye. Only the actual transfiguration will be that quick. Those left behind will hear and see the entire sequence of the Rapture)

Read with me the Apostle Paul’s second revelation of the Rapture, following the entire sequence of this extraordinary event as first disclosed in I Thessalonians Chapter 4:

“But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It (the transformation or transfiguration) will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown, for when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed” (I Corinthians 15:51-52, parenthesis mine).

One more excerpt from Why the Rapture?

To live on this earth requires a special kind of body that God so wonderfully, uniquely, and masterfully created: one that can breathe life-giving air; drink life-sustaining water; eat life-growing food; feel life-producing pleasure and life-warning pain; see and hear life-enabling sights and sounds; produce life-perpetuating children; and know life-changing truths. However, the bodies we currently possess are not in any way, shape, or form adequate to live forever in the new earth and the new heavens that the book of Revelation so majestically portrays.

God has promised and will give us a brand new “heavenly body.” One that far surpasses the limitations of our earthly space suit. One immune to pain, sorrow, suffering, sin, disease and most of all, death itself. (See Revelation 21:4). One that can “leap tall buildings with a single bound and is faster than a speeding bullet!” Okay, a little facetious here; but isn’t that the underlying idea of Superman? Christ is the only “Super Man” who ever lived, and he will give us a heavenly body like his, to enable us to do extraordinary things, above and beyond our wildest expectations. I, for one, want to fly! And I’m not talking about jumbo jets.

Now for the other well-known passage that describes the Rapture’s startling sequence of events.

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words” (I Thessalonians 4: 16-18, italics to emphasize the Greek word, harpazo).

As clearly indicated by Paul, this resurrection applies only to believers in Messiah Jesus—the saved; those declared righteous by God, both Old and New Testament saints. See article, Old & New Testament Saints … Is There A Difference? (Published 7-7-18).

In I Thessalonians Chapter 5, Paul continues with more details on the Rapture that triggers the Day of the Lord, which encompasses the Tribulation and the Millennium.

“For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever” (I Thessalonians 5:9-10).

This is one supporting passage for those of us who ardently believe in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture of true believers in Christ. The anger of God referenced by Paul in this verse is in the immediate context of the Rapture and the Day of the Lord—which includes God’s final judgment (wrath, anger poured out on the world) during the Tribulation.

(2) Resurrection of Tribulation Saints

“…And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and for proclaiming the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or his statue, nor accepted his mark on their forehead or their hands. They all came to life again, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

“This is the first resurrection. (The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years had ended.) Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death holds no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4-6, parenthesis in the text).

Two integral features of the passage just quoted will be clarified to hopefully eliminate any confusion even among Bible scholars and teachers. One is whether the resurrection of believers at the end of the Tribulation (those who “had not worshipped the beast … nor accepted his mark…”) is exclusively the “first resurrection.” If it is, then what do we do with the Rapture resurrection of believers? This will be discussed under Part A to follow.

The other focal point of this passage: whether only the Tribulation saints will reign with Christ during the Millennium. Which, in turn, would presumably (absent astute analysis and careful correlation of this passage to other passages) exclude hundreds of millions of believers, both living and dead who will be caught up to heaven before the Tribulation begins … at the Rapture. This will be covered in Part B to follow.

(A) First Resurrection

There are two (main) reasons to conclude that the first resurrection identified in Revelation Chapter 20 includes all believers … those raptured before and those who died during the Tribulation. They are: (1) The Greek word translated first; (2) Other key phrases in the text itself.

A (1) Greek Word for First:

There are over a dozen Greek words in the New Testament conveying the concept of first in succession, one (of many), principal, prototype, etc. In Revelation 20, the Greek word employed by John is: Protos. This translated Greek word is found frequently in the New Testament. For example: 156 times in the New American Standard Bible.; sixteen times in the book of Revelation.

Thayer’s Greek Dictionary contains three applicable definitions for protos.

*Note: Whenever there are two or more meanings (variations thereof) for any defined word, the context of the passage—compared to other passages if necessary—will determine the primary or best application.

Protos is defined as: “1. first in time or place. a. in any succession of things or persons. 2. first in rank. a. influence, honor; b. chief; c. principal; 3. first, at the first.”

This multiple application of the Greek word protos is affirmed by its English translation.

First is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as: “preceding all others in time, order, or importance.”

Protos—translated as first (resurrection) in Revelation 20—is (should be) the key application or meaning of rank, influence, chief, principal; a prototype but not necessarily first in chronology. The secondary application of protos in Revelation 20 does relate to sequence, but in contextual contrast to the next (2nd) resurrection, which is that of unbelievers at the Great White Throne Judgment.

The primary contextual meaning is that of chief in rank or honor, because raising of the Tribulation believers is part of the preeminent resurrection of all believers … vital extraordinary events during the end times Day of the Lord. Both of which (Rapture and Tribulation saints) precede the 2nd resurrection, which is also an important event (at the end of the Millennium). But one without the prominent eternal joy and triumph of the resurrection of all believers, beginning with the Rapture and culminating with the raising of the Tribulation saints seven years later. Both of which are components of the “first resurrection.”

Instead, the second resurrection (of unbelievers) will be one of hopeless gloom and eternal doom, as every one of them will be thrown into the Lake of Fire along with Satan (and the Antichrist and False Prophet, who were consigned to the Lake of Fire before the Millennium begins).

In Revelation 20, the pyramid order of protos (first) is that of principal, chief, or first in rank; secondarily, that of chronology—both of which are in the immediate context of and comparison to the 2nd resurrection of the unbelieving dead in Christ.

It’s the predominate meaning in some other New Testament passages where protos is used.

Such as: “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking…” (II Peter 3:3, NASB). *Note: Recall, this verse was quoted earlier from the NLT with the wording that of “most importantly” instead of “first of all.”

The “first” (of all) is not primarily referring to chronological order; rather it’s applying to what is foremost important to understand. We sometimes blend the two together in a common English phrase: First and foremost.

Although the resurrection of believers at the Rapture and those at the end of the Tribulation take place at separate times, that doesn’t mean they are two DIFFERENT resurrections, which are separate or distinct in rank, i.e. a first then a second kind. In fact, they are the same type or in the same category (in contrast to resurrection of dead unbelievers). Both are part of the first resurrection of the dead in Christ. The only thing that makes these resurrections of believers distinctive is that of knowing (or not) when they will take place. The Rapture will happen without warning; whereas the Tribulation believers will be raised as part of an exact enumeration of events during the last days of the Tribulation.

A (2) Key Phrases of the Text:

Other wording in Revelation 20 is also of vital importance to realize both raptured and tribulation believers are part of the first resurrection.

To wit: “Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death holds no power…” (Revelation 20:6a, italics for emphasis).

Although the immediate reference is that of the Tribulations saints being raised to life again, the broader context of Revelation 20 includes a sequence of events: Satan imprisoned in the Abyss for a thousand years; bodily resurrection of Tribulation saints; the Millennial reign of Messiah; release of Satan for the final battle of all time; and the raising of the unbelieving dead in preparation for the Great White Throne Judgment and their 2nd death in the Lake of Fire.

John is classifying the resurrection of Tribulation saints as the “first”; but is doing so in the general succession of events and in specific juxtaposition to the subsequent (next, or second) raising of the (unbelieving) dead.

In fact, immediately after he employs the term first resurrection, we find the following in parenthesis—highlighting this contrast: “(The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years had ended.)” (Revelation 20:5).

Hence, John extended and incorporated the first resurrection to all believers, not just those at the end of the tribulation. He does so with the all-important phrase of those, “who share in the first resurrection.” Who else could John have been referring to but those who were already in heaven having been raised from the dead at the outset of the Tribulation (Rapture). This sharing convincingly combines both set of believers into the first resurrection. It is the resurrection of the saved that happens first and foremost; to be followed by the (2nd and final) resurrection of the unsaved.

Do you see that … first and foremost?!

B. Reigning with Messiah During the Millennium

The question of whether just the Tribulation saints will reign with Messiah throughout the Millennium has already been answered by amplification of the scope (sharing) and inclusiveness of “first resurrection.”

Of course, Raptured believers will rule with the Lord during his magnificent Millennial reign as King of all kings. This is cemented by the wording of the last part of verse 6:

“Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death hold no power; but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6, emphasis added).

Early in the book of Revelation, we read:

Who are the “us” of this verse? None other than all believers (both dead and alive) when Revelation was written and all those who would become believers thereafter. (Also, see I Peter 2:5).

(3) Resurrection of Unbelievers

Indeed, this is the third resurrection that will take place in chronological sequence. However, it is still the second resurrection concerning prototype or rank or principal. With the Rapture and Tribulation believers’ part of the first (type of) resurrection.

“And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it… I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne… The sea gave up its dead and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. And anyone whose name was not recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:11-15).

These verses expand on what was revealed earlier in verse 5: “The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years had ended.”

John doesn’t specify this Great White Throne Judgment as a (the) second resurrection. Rather he refers to the eternal fate of all unbelievers as the, “second death.” Nonetheless, the passage is crystal clear that all those standing before God had been raised from their graves. Because this takes place 1,000 years after the Tribulations saints are raised from the dead and because it comes after the first resurrection which we’ve already covered, it must by default be the second (the one to follow the first) resurrection of the dead.

Things to Ponder

In his breathtaking description of the resurrection of believers, then transfiguration and transportation of both the living and the (raised) dead in I Corinthians 15 and I Thessalonians 4, the Apostle Paul didn’t use the term, first resurrection. He didn’t need to; it was understood that this was the resurrection spoken of by Old Testament prophets and by Jesus, himself—the one that is first and foremost in rank.

On the other hand, John in Revelation labels the resurrection of believers who died during the Tribulation as the first. But he did so in the immediate context of and contrast to the ensuing resurrection of unbelievers. John also says that (all) those who “share in the first resurrection” will reign with Christ for a thousand years. Therefore, all believers—those at the Rapture and those raised seven years later—will participate in the first resurrection.

Officially, however, the first resurrection in a body that would live forever was that of our Lord and Savior, Messiah Jesus.

“But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection. Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back” (I Corinthians 15:20-23).

When does Messiah return (come back)? Answer: during the Day of the Lord. Which begins with the Rapture (resurrection, transfiguration) and culminates with his majestic bodily return to the earth, seven years later. Both of which include resurrection of dead believers, all of whom share in the first resurrection.

The first (foremost … most significant) resurrection is unto eternal life. The second resurrection is unto eternal death … the living dead as it were.

Except for one thing, both pre-Tribulation and Tribulation believers in Messiah Jesus have everything in common, which includes partaking in the (first) resurrection.

What is that one thing?

Tribulation saints were unbelievers with everyone else on earth the moment after the Rapture.

They did not heed the warnings of Scripture; thus, they will not be spared from the Great Tribulation.

However, the Lord is so loving and merciful.

He is the God of second chances!

Will There Still Be Unbelievers Throughout Eternity?

18 Saturday Aug 2018

Posted by garybowers in The Rapture

≈ Leave a comment

“Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7, NASB, italics for emphasis).

“Breath of life” and “a living being” helps us to better understand and deeply appreciate all of God’s creation, especially his final (6th day) crowning achievement: “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27, NASB).

God’s creation of plant and animal life is of dazzling variety and complexity; however, the human race is (using space science terminology) light years above animals. Human attributes of inductive and deductive reasoning; creativity in multiple areas of life, including the arts, sciences, industry; intentional (as opposed to instinctive) love and hate; and paramount of all—language (speech); exceedingly surpass the most intelligent of animals, e.g. dolphin, chimpanzee, elephant.

Though every form of life has a body and (sadly) we humans sometimes act like animals, it’s the intangible that makes all the difference.

It’s the eternal existence of the human soul and spirit that identifies us in the image of God and vastly separates us from the animal kingdom.

To Be or Not to Be … In Heaven (A Revisit)

That is the title of Eye of Prophecy article posted 5-6-17. In italics, the following is an excerpt:

According to Scripture, every person was born (created) to live forever. That is what is meant when God breathed life into Adam (and Eve) and they became a “living soul.” (Genesis 2:7, KJV). Soul, person, being … all convey the idea of infinity, of time without end. That’s one reason we’ve conceived the expression human being. We don’t say that about animals, i.e. animal being.

Shakespeare’s statement of, “To be or not to be; that is the question,” is, indeed, a profound reflection. A living soul will always “be.” To be born is to be, and be, and be….

However, there is a dissimilarity where someone will spend that eternal existence … heaven or hell. Thus, there is a distinction whether a person will experience eternity in life or eternity in death. Indeed, there is an existence of eternal life and the equally clear Biblical teaching of eternal death, which is not an oxymoron. Death means departure—the body from the soul at physical death and subsequent separation from God forever, which is called the second death in Scripture.

We are all born spiritually dead. The only way we can pass from that spiritual death to life is to be born-again, which is accomplished when we believe and receive Christ Jesus, who IS life.

“And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life” (I John 5:11-12).

Although the Right to Life comes from God alone, because God is the author of life itself … God does give each person the right to choose where he or she will spend eternity. Thus, if a person rejects God’s invitation to believe and receive the pardon purchased by Jesus, they have chosen (eternal) death … to remain forever separated from God. But even that death is a continuation of existence. It’s a death-like absence from all that is right and good and beautiful.

The Greatest Hope of Mankind

Can you think of any higher hope of humanity than that of eternal life? It’s a longing not just for a better life, but for one that’s perfect. For the irreligious, I suppose it’s mostly to extend and even enhance the pleasures of this life forever and to eliminate the displeasures! (See Eye of Prophecy article, Fountain of Youth & Fountain of Life … Is There a Difference? (Posted 3-31-18).

Most people on Planet Earth are religious to some extent or another; and every religion has some form and place of ethereal existence. With exception of the Christian faith (which is not a religion, rather a personal relationship with the Triune God), every religion and cult has a common thread: hopefully good deeds will outweigh the bad to qualify the members for their version of paradise. However, each religion also sets itself above and apart from competitive religions by the premise that unless you belong to that belief system, you have essentially no chance of reaching whatever desired afterlife is presumed by its adherents.

As for me, I have staked my eternal destiny on the Omnipotent Triune God—Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and in His Word … the Bible. No other “religion” offers a Savior, who did for me (all of us) what I could not could not do for myself: pay the penalty of my sins to restore me to my Creator and make me right with Him. Furthermore, that Savior, Messiah Jesus, arose from the dead to prove that he is who he said he is.

Moreover, the God of the Bible is the only One who even dares to frequently predict the future; with hundreds of those prophecies coming to pass (100% accuracy) and more awaiting certain fulfillment. Who has performed miracle after miracle to demonstrate that he is the only true and living God. There is a glaring absence of prophecies and miracles (real-life as opposed to mythical) in every religious text, except the Bible.

As is said: What more evidence do we need?

Scripture is replete with precious promises of redemption and a glorious (eternal) life in heaven and the New Jerusalem, for all who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ.

Said Messiah Jesus to his disciples (and for all subsequent believers in him) just hours before his crucifixion and resurrection three days later:

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am” (John 14:1-3).

Before we explore eternity and answer the question posed by this week’s Eye of Prophecy title, let’s revisit the:

Magnificent Millennium

“Then I saw thrones, and the people sitting on them had been given the authority to judge…

“Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection (at the Rapture … completed by the resurrection of Tribulation saints). For them the second death (eternal separation from God in the Lake of Fire) holds no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4 & 6, parenthesis mine).

The following is an excerpt from Eye of Prophecy article, The Magnificent Millennial Reign of Believers with Messiah (Posted 7-15-17). In italics:

There will be responsibilities and activities assigned to all believers during the Millennium, yet not all may be judges as such. With our wonderful new spiritual bodies and minds and hearts, there will be no competition or complaints among believers as to who does what in the Kingdom of God on earth. Obviously, The Lord’s delegated duties to his people will be distributed perfectly; for example, like he assigned 72 pairs of disciples to preach the Kingdom of God during his ministry on earth.

In our Millennial reign with Messiah as joint-heirs with him, we will all be priests of God and of Christ as quoted earlier. Indeed, as soon as we are born-again, we are given that privilege while still here on earth. Yet, that is for a short time and our “priesthood” is often limited and sometimes blemished because we are still fighting a spiritual battle with Satan, with the world, and with ourselves … our flesh and sin nature (See Romans Chapter 7).

Not so in the Millennium. Our re-created spiritual bodies in Christ will enable us to praise, worship, and serve the Lord undefiled. But serve him we will, as opposed to the misconception of unbelievers and even some believers that Christians will have nothing better to do than drift along on clouds playing harps! Don’t get me wrong … there will be the most beautiful music imaginable in heaven!

Or the misunderstanding that the Millennium will be absent any human imperfections … things that cause discord and conflict. The first part of the Millennium will be near perfect, as even unbelievers still alive at the end of the Great Tribulation will acknowledge and bow down to Messiah Jesus as King of all kings and Lord of all lords. But slowly and surely, even though Satan will not be able to exert his influence on earth, people will once again rebel against God’s truth, even as Christ Jesus rules from Jerusalem. This will lead to the final battle of the ages, as found in Revelation Chapter 20.

(I’ve posted this picture a few times before, as it is one of, if not my favorite. Notice the people from ages past and present)

That article briefly covered one of Jesus’s many parables, that of investing in the Kingdom of God as found in Luke Chapter 19. I went on to say:

If you are a believer in Messiah Jesus, you will share in his inheritance. Among other things, Jesus has inherited the nations of the earth and will begin his literal rule and reign over them upon his glorious return to Jerusalem.

“People from many nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.’ For the Lord’s teachings will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem. The Lord will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore” (Isaiah 2:3-4).

Our King will grant authority to believers—Jews and Gentiles alike—to be his assistants, ambassadors, emissaries, judges, administrators; and, when and where necessary, his disciplinarians (by the best and purest example of tough love) in establishing his extraordinary Divine Monarchy on Planet Earth.

Although under different conditions, a parallel Old Testament precedent is when Moses, “…chose capable men from all over Israel and appointed them as leaders over the people. He put them in charge of groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty, and ten. These men were always available to solve the people’s common disputes. They brought the major cases to Moses, but they took care of the smaller matters themselves” (Exodus 18:25-26).

Where did we read about resolving disputes? Oh yes, Isaiah 2:4: “Settle international disputes.” The really big international disagreements will mostly be arbitrated by Jesus, himself. But there will be a whole planet full of more “common disputes,” that believers will handle. We will even judge angels! (I Corinthians 6:3).

In the greater context of this week’s topic and also concerning the Millennium, please permit one other excerpt from Eye of Prophecy article: Messiah’s Millennial Reign … Incredible Changes on Earth (Published 12-30-17).

When the curse is cancelled at the glorious Second Coming of Christ, even the animals will undergo an extreme makeover. The full nature and extent of these internal (temperament) and external (perhaps fewer or no fangs in predators) changes remain to be seen. The Lord’s magnificent plan of redemption is not only for people who place their personal trust in the Redeemer, but also for the entire earth and all living things. Everything will come full circle back to the beginning … even better!

…Some of this restoration will take place during the Millennium; some not until after the 1,000-year epoch, which is the beginning of what many Bible scholars simply call “Eternity.” Such as:

I then quoted one of those Eternity passages: Revelation 21:1-4, which will be reserved for the latter part of today’s article.

Regarding the renovation of the animal kingdom, listen to this incredible prophecy from Isaiah:

“In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all. The cow will graze near the bear. The cub and the calf will lie down together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm … for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord” (Isaiah 11:6-9, parenthesis mine).

(One of several lion/lamb pictures, which is still a reliable representation of Isaiah 11; even though the lamb is actually juxtaposed to the wolf in the passage. I believe the reason for the lion/lamb combination is because Messiah Jesus is both the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and the Lion from the tribe of Judah who will return as King of all kings)

The Final (Post-Millennial) Battle on Earth

I (and others) have written much about Armageddon. For example, see Eye of Prophecy article: Armageddon & Messiah’s Return … An Amazing Sequence of Events (2-3-18).

Virtually all unbelievers and even some Christians think that Armageddon is the final war of all time. It is not. There is a Post-Millennial battle, albeit one that is anti-climactic in its conclusion. One that is given only a short passage in Revelation, compared to the lengthy account (several chapters in Revelation and passages in the Old Testament) of the Tribulation turmoil leading to and including Armageddon.

Remember, the devil will be imprisoned in the Abyss for the entire 1,000-year duration of Messiah’s reign. Yet, even during the absence of Satan—the very source and personification of evil—people all over the Globe will once again rebel against God and Messiah Jesus. Which (pathetically) speaks volumes about the self-reliant, self-indulgent, self-righteous defiance of those who refuse to accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord, even though he will have brought unparalleled and unprecedented peace, prosperity, and justice to the earth.

“When the thousand years come to an end, Satan will be let out of his prison. He will go out to deceive the nations—called Gog and Magog—in every corner of the earth. He will gather them together for battle—a mighty army as numberless as sand along the seashore. And I saw them as they went up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded God’s people and the beloved city…” (Revelation 20:7-9a).

Before we examine the last part of verse 9, which abruptly concludes this short passage about the final Gog/Magog campaign (the same emblematic name as found in Ezekiel 38 & 39, but not the same coalition of nations/armies … with time/space not permitting a more detailed explanation), let’s ask the question:

Why and how will Satan “deceive the nations” and “gather them together” one last time?

Answer: Like Armageddon, the same way in which Satan duped even the enemies (kings of the east) of his man of sin—Antichrist and his ten-nation confederation—to join forces against Messiah Jesus who has returned to earth.

“And I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs leap from the mouths of the dragon (Satan), the beast (Antichrist Nero), and the false prophet (identity to be determined during the Tribulation). They are demonic spirits who work miracles and go out to all the rulers of the world to gather them for battle against the Lord on that great judgment day of God the Almighty…. And the demonic spirits gathered all the rulers and their armies to a place with the Hebrew name Armageddon” (Revelation 16:13-14 & 16; italics in the text, parenthesis mine).

By the time of Armageddon, the entire world will know beyond any doubt that the supernatural plagues of divine judgment were caused by Almighty God, yet the unsaved will still not repent and turn to the true Messiah, Jesus. Actually, they realize God’s intervention early in the Tribulation …the sixth seal judgment, which is the first catastrophe from God himself.

As follows:

No sensible ruler, general, or army would dare take on Jesus as he descends through the sky on a white horse; along with the host of heaven—believers, also on white horses (Revelation 19). No matter how many millions of troops or how great the firepower, how does anyone do battle with something (Someone) so transcendentally powerful? Unless, that is, they are persuaded to do something irrationally reckless: Attempt to defeat a heavenly King and his army, both of whom are indestructible. When common sense says that they should be waiving a white flag of surrender as they look up to the heavens from the Valley of Megiddo.

This is exactly what the unsaved on earth will consider yet again in their increasingly hardened hearts and convoluted minds, during the last phase of the Millennium. All they need is a little help from their friends. From, “…evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world … from mighty powers in this dark world … evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

Satan’s warped deception of unbelievers at Armageddon and then again at the Post-Millennial final battle of all time is that of convincing entire nations and armies that God’s people can be defeated, even though the Son of God is personally (on earth) defending his people.

Think again Satan and those who want to “break their chains from God” (Psalm 2). With a short but not so sweet ending (for the Millennial rebels) here’s what will happen:

“…But fire from heaven came down on the attacking armies and consumed them. Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:9b-10).

That’s the swift and decisive end to the final mutiny of man against the Lord and his people—Jewish and Gentile believers.

Revelation Chapter 20 concludes with the Great White Throne judgment in which all unbelievers will be raised from the dead. Only to be judged for having rejected their only hope of redemption and eternal life … Messiah Jesus; thereby, deliberately choosing to be separated from God—eternal death in the Lake of Fire.

It’s Time for Eternity!

Revelation Chapter 21 begins with what is commonly referred to as: Eternity.

A time of astounding alterations for the better, even more so than during the Millennium. A time of boundless beauty; of tremendous tranquility; of exceptional existence; of a phenomenal paradise; of…. Well, the Bible says it much better and in more detail. With promises that even our imagination can’t keep up with.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21:1-2).

The next two verses are equally, if not more stunning. They refer to God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—dwelling in the new Jerusalem (a city which essentially merges heaven and earth … to whatever degree is yet unknown). It will be as is sometimes said about outstandingly good things that we see or experience in this life, yet pale in comparison to what it will truly be throughout eternity: “Heaven on earth.”

Continuing: “…Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people … He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever!” (Revelation 21:3-4).

There’s more!

“And the one sitting on the throne said, ‘Look, I am making everything new! And then he said to me, ‘Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.’ And he also said, ‘It is finished! I am Alpha and Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious (believers, whose victory is that of being redeemed by the blood of Messiah Jesus—Revelation 1) will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children” (Revelation 21:5-7, parenthesis mine).

It doesn’t get any better than that. Right?

“Of course, right!” you reply. Which also has been my response, with one (minor) mystery, but certainly not to the point of worry or doubt. Nonetheless, an enigma which cannot be dismissed as though it’s not in the text. One that confronts us in the very next verse of Revelation 21. However, a puzzle that can be solved with a little dose of spiritual insight.

That paradox is presented in the title of this week’s article:

Will There Still Be Unbelievers Throughout Eternity?

First, you may want to scroll back a few sentences and read Revelation 21:5-7, that ends with: “…and they will be my children.” Let’s pick it up with the next verse:

“But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshippers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).

If we anticipate that eternity is to be picture perfect in every way including absence of evil, then what about the verse we just read? What about the men and woman whose lifestyle described clearly shows they are not believers? Those who are rejecting life-changing salvation through Messiah Jesus like all those who were judged at the Great White Throne Judgment that had already taken place.

One explanation is that the verse (in fact) refers retroactively to those unbelievers at the Great White Throne judgment in contrast to believers who, as the passage describes: “inherit all the blessings” (of eternity). If this was the last verse in Revelation to describe all those who HAD ALREADY been judged, then this application is feasible. But it’s not the last reference to such people in Revelation. Plus, the factual sequence that Revelation Chapters 21 & 22 depict Eternity, which begins after the White Throne Judgment.

Immediately following Revelation 21:8 (“But cowards, unbelievers…”) John portrays the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:9-27) in dramatic detail, including its shape and size—1,400 miles in length, width, and height. His description contains one of the most-well known and oft quoted features of the New Jerusalem: “…And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass” (Revelation 21:21 … streets of gold as is said).

John continues: “And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will enter the city in all their glory. Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city” (Revelation 21:23-26).

[*Note: The passage says, all the nations. However, several times when the Bible says, “all,” or “every” it is clearly referring to the greater majority. We can understand the difference between all (every single person or nation) and the majority by the context and comparing the text to other similar passages and patterns in Scripture. For example, concerning the Antichrist (Nero): “…And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation” (Revelation 13:7).

We know that doesn’t mean every single person or nation because other Bible passages explicitly explain that Antichrist will have enemies, those that oppose him … on both a personal and national level. Thus, the every in that passage means everyone who yields to him, willingly or unwillingly. When they submit, then he will rule over them.]

This is just one of several passages in Scripture that state directly or strongly imply that the cycle of humanity—birth, life, and death—will continue on this present earth (during the Millennium) and the new earth throughout Eternity.

“Wait a minute!” you say. “Didn’t the Lord tell us that there will be no more sorrow, crying, pain, or death?”

Yes, he did, but with a specific application. I’ll get to that in the closing remarks.

Let’s continue. As we just read: Nations (people of those nations) will still inhabit the earth and (some of) their kings will be permitted entrance to the New Jerusalem. But not all kings will be allowed to enter nor all people “walk in its light.”

How can we draw that conclusion? Answer: From the very next verse.

“Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life” (Revelation 21:27). Meaning that unbelievers (the unsaved) will be confined to the earth and not ever allowed to step foot in the New Jerusalem … until or unless they personally acknowledge Messiah Jesus as Lord and Savior.

To reinforce this fact, Revelation distinguishes yet again (for a third time) between the saved and unsaved.

“Blessed are they who wash their robes (analogy for salvation through Messiah Jesus). They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life. Outside the city are the dogs (symbolism for the unclean … unsaved)—the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshippers, and all who love to live a lie” (Revelation 22:14-15, parenthesis mine).

Remember, all three of these passage that refer to unbelievers take place after the Millennium, when “Eternity” begins. The sequence is unmistakable.

The Lord will continue to allow every person born on (the currently old and then the new) earth to exercise free will—to choose between eternal life or eternal death … the Lake of Fire. Some will choose wrongly.

(The choice between life and death began in the Garden of Eden, continued with God’s chosen people in the above passage, still relevant today and will be extended throughout Eternity)

Does the existence of unbelievers (graphically depicted in the language of these passages, i.e. sexually immoral, murderers, idolaters, etc.) diminish, disturb, or disrupt in any way the exceptional eternal existence of believers (“God’s people” … Revelation 21:3-4)?

Absolutely not.

For one thing, I’m convinced that the number of unbelievers will be few and far between (literally on the earth). It will be just the opposite of today’s world and certainly during the Tribulation in which unbelievers greatly outnumber the Tribulation Saints. To validate that observation, here is the last part of a passage quoted earlier in today’s article: “…so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord” (Isaiah 11:9).

Another reason is that believers will have the freedom to move (live) between the New Jerusalem and the new earth. The “presence” of unbelievers will have no adverse effect, whatsoever, on the heavenly quality of eternal life for believers.

Unlike today’s world, there will be no more war or subjugation of entire peoples and nations by other rulers and nations whose people are ruthlessly wicked. On the contrary, the relatively few unbelievers will be justifiably shamed, shunned, and segregated for all the right reasons of separating evil from good. Satan will be in the Lake of Fire, unable to ever again deceive and galvanize (in demonic ways) these unbelievers together, as he had done for thousands of years on national and international levels… culminating at Armageddon, then one last time at the final Gog/Magog war.

Individually, they will be stigmatized for what they are: foolish, stubborn, and unrepentant—despite the treasures of the purest and perfect life, liberty, and love staring them in the face. Freely given by the source of all light and truth … God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Nor will believers have anything to fear from unbelievers. With our new eternal spiritual bodies, we will be impervious to harm or pain and certainly to death.

Summary

In addition to perpetual free will, another reason the Lord will allow the existence of unbelievers is for contrast. Why loving and following God in all his holiness (truth) and goodness (gracious blessings) is infinitely better than wickedness conceived and practiced by those who want to be completely independent of God.

Also, the Lake of Fire will be a reminder of the terrible fate of those who preferred and will say (literally or in their heart), “I did it my way.” Ever so tragically, they will get their way … what they wished for—nothing to do with (separated from) the Lord.

Lest anyone thinks this is speculation or just one teacher’s opinion, listen to God himself as he speaks (graphically concerning Eternity) in the last three verses of the book of Isaiah:

“As surely as my new heavens and earth will remain, so will you always be my people, with a name that will never disappear, says the Lord. All humanity will come to worship me from week to week and from month to month. And as they go out, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me. For the worms that devour them will never die, and the fire that burns them will never go out. All who pass by will view them with utter horror” (Isaiah 66:22-24).

Things to Ponder

So, what about, “no more death?”

I’m glad you reminded me!

It’s true, there will be no more death. But for whom? That is the eternal question.

Let’s read the passage again.

“I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, ‘Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever’” (Revelation 21:3-4; italics for emphasis).

However—whether now, or during the Millennium, or throughout eternity—once an unbeliever dies there is no second chance of eternal life. There will only be eternal death.

The text is positively plain. This powerful and precious promise from the Lord applies exclusively to his people. It is the consummation of so great a salvation freely given to those who believe and receive Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior … Jew and Gentile alike.

“For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.

“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (Ephesians 2:6-10).

Amen and Hallelujah!

 

Scripture Says Everyone Will Die / But What About the Rapture?

23 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by garybowers in The Rapture

≈ 8 Comments

Timeless Truths in the Bible

From the beginning of creation as dramatically documented in the book of Genesis through the final revelation of God’s Son, Messiah Jesus, remarkably recorded in the Book of Revelation, the Bible abounds with God’s truth for humanity.

For example, the comprehensive moral laws of the Ten Commandments applicable to all nations, even though they were given first to God’s people the Jews—chosen to bring the light of God’s truth (ultimately through Messiah Jesus) to the entire world. Contrasted to the civil and ceremonial laws, including the seven Jewish Festivals and the Levitical Sacrificial system, given exclusively to the Jews.

And then perfected and extended to all people through the New Covenant, in which God’s Son has fulfilled (four spring feasts) and will fulfill (three fall feasts) the very purpose of the Jewish Festivals. Two thousand years ago, Messiah Jesus replaced the repeated sacrifices of the Levitical system with his final once for all sacrifice for sins and the penalty of sin. He alone qualified as that sacrifice by perfectly keeping (fulfilling) the Mosaic Law which no other human being has ever done.

Regarding the unconditional covenants, these powerful Biblical principles apply in perpetuity:

With Abraham—the Jews forever possessing the Promised Land of Israel. With King David—the restoration of David’s dynasty by God’s Messiah, the ultimate King of all kings (Isaiah 9, Revelation 17). And through the New Covenant of Grace—implemented by this same Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. These covenants reveal God’s majestic attributes (including his moral and spiritual laws) and his magnificent design and destiny for humanity. Truth that can mean the difference between eternal pardon or perpetual judgment; everlasting life or unending death; the glory of heaven or the torment of hell; blessings or curses during our existence on Planet Earth.

Such as the one and only condition the Lord imposed on our original parents, Adam and Eve (given the freedom of choice) after creating them in a Paradise that contained everything they could possibly need or want. Along with a severe sentence for rejecting that one restriction.

The Death Penalty

“The Lord placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, ‘You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die’” (Genesis 2:15-17).

And die they did, as has and will every person since.

Paraphrasing the well-known adage: “Two things in life are certain … death and taxes.”

However, that’s not entirely true. Some have not paid taxes or are exempt from taxes. Not so with death. There are no exceptions. One of every one person will die.

“We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:22-23, italics for emphasis).

“All people will die for their own sins” (Jeremiah 31:30a).

We deserve physical death because we’ve all earned it, though it’s a payment no one wishes to collect.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Even with the wonderful news that Messiah Jesus offered himself as the substitutionary sacrifice for the penalty of our sins, then proved that he was who he claimed to be (Son of God, Son of David, Son of Man) by rising from the dead, this stunning sacrifice does not (yet) set aside the universal law of bodily death. The complete cancellation of physical death will not take place until after the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ, which will usher in Eternity.

Remember: Even though the Lord enforced the death penalty for sin, he says: “…As I live! Declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked (unsaved)…” Ezekiel 33:11, NASB, parenthesis mine).

Concerning the saved:

Now for the central passage of today’s article:

“And just as each person is destined to die once and after that the judgment, so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:27-28, emphasis added).

Many are more familiar with the King James Version which says the same thing, but with slightly different wording. “And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27, KJV).

Note: “To bring salvation” (Hebrews 9:28) is not the justification and guarantee of eternal life imparted to everyone the moment they believe and receive Jesus as personal Savior. Rather, it is the culmination of our redemption through two tremendous privileges given to all believers: (1) transformation of our earthly bodies to immortal spiritual bodies at the Rapture; (2) Exemption from the final wrath of God poured out on an evil world hell-bent on defying and denying the true and living God and his Messiah.

Trying to Find Contradictions in the Bible

Although the subject of this week’s article as presented in the title is mainly for believers—the resolution (explanation, clarification) of an “apparent” ambiguity between two teachings in Scripture—I want to take a moment to comment on secular or pseudo-Christian attempts to find inconsistencies or outright contradictions in the Bible.

With an up-front unequivocal statement: There are none!

The ulterior motive of so-called “higher critics” of the Bible is to try to prove that the Bible is not the Inerrant Word of God. They do so primarily in three ways:

(1) Disproving the fulfillment of Biblical prophecies mostly by trying to post-date the time when the Lord revealed these predictions to the time of their fulfillment. The book of Daniel is one of their favorite targets. Time and space do not permit elaboration, except to say they have failed miserably with this tactic.

(2) Concerning miracles in the Bible, they attempt to discount the divine origin of the miracles by using natural explanations to explain away supernatural events. This is done even by those whose agenda is not necessarily to discredit the Bible.

For example, there are those who have tried to rationalize the first nine plagues God through Moses dispensed against Egypt, by relating them exclusively to natural phenomena, beginning with the Nile River turning to blood. With one huge problem on that first plague alone. They reach the conclusion that it really wasn’t blood, but a “blood-like” mixture of this or that. There is absolutely no symbolism taking place in the Ten Plagues of Egypt. I’m sure the Egyptians wished they had been metaphorical!

Strangely enough they do agree that, for example, the flies are flies and the frogs are frogs and so on. However, each of these plagues was of exceedingly greater magnitude than any “natural” catastrophe could have been. The frogs were so bad that they were even in Pharaoh’s bed!

For sure, there are many miracles recorded in Scripture in which God uses nature. With one huge difference: The Lord supernaturally altered the natural course of nature with a result that the event would and could never had occurred (in such scale) without God’s sovereign supervision.

Essentially, that’s the definition of a miracle.

There are other miracles in Scripture which indisputably transcend the laws of physics, such as the tenth Egyptian plague that the “expert critics” simply cannot explain. Why only the firstborn males of the Egyptians and their livestock? Why not the firstborn of the Hebrews also, why not females, or why not random deaths of a second-born or third-born child? Why the sudden death all in one night’s time? And so forth.

(3) Another favorite tactic of the critics—one in keeping with today’s article—is that of finding Bible passages that are seemingly contradictory, especially if there are two or more accounts of the same incident. Here, the Four Gospels are their favorite target.

Even believers sometimes question what appears to them as conflicting descriptions. The critics operate with the presumption that the gospels are contradictory, not complementary. They conveniently overlook or dismiss the time-tested template of investigative reporting: not all accounts of a story match up one with the other.

Does that automatically mean that one version of the event is false, and another is true? Of course not.

It simply means, for example: If 10 journalists report an event, there could be 1 to 10 varying highlights on certain features of the episode. Unless there is a glaring discrepancy between the reported facts (such as some reporting that the U.S. President replied, “Yes,” to the question, and other articles indicating the President said, “No,”), the fact that only a few or perhaps none of the articles contained ALL of what was seen and heard doesn’t mean that the reports were contradictory. And certainly, doesn’t mean that the event never happened.

For instance: Matthew’s and Mark’s Gospels mention only one angel at the empty tomb of Jesus. With Luke and John specifying there were two angels. For that matter, the gospels differ as to how many women went to the tomb that Sunday morning.

Does that mean that their accounts are contradictory, in terms of what really happened? Once again, absolutely not. Matthew and Mark identify just the angel that spoke to the women. That doesn’t mean the second angel wasn’t there. There’s not a reputable news editor on the planet who would accuse an investigative journalist from another news source of inaccurate, faulty, or false information just because that reporter mentions (for example) only the woman who shook hands with some dignitary, even though there were several other women attending that luncheon.

Even when reporters record an entire event via audio or video, their actual (summary) report or film clip may or may not include everything they saw and heard. In other words, leaving something out of the story doesn’t mean that the reporting of it is either false or contradictory.

In years of studying Scripture, I and many other Bible scholars, teachers, and students have come to the resolute conclusion: The Bible never contradicts itself. I repeat for emphasis: NEVER.

Seemingly conflicting passages can be more than satisfactorily understood if you thoroughly examine all segments on any given subject or event in Scripture. Comparing Scripture with Scripture and scrutinizing the Biblical context of the topic or story at hand, i.e. the whole counsel of the Lord our God.

Whether a person does this directly on their own, or whether he or she looks to the gift of sound Biblical teaching given to some believers to help with this correlation and clarification is up to the individual. Or a combination of both.

An Inconsistency Between the Rapture of “Living” Believers & Every Person Must Die?

Have you ever thought about the ostensible (for that is what it is … apparent) difference found in the Scriptural truth that every person must experience physical death as found in the passages quoted earlier; compared to the powerful and precious promise given to all believers in Messiah Jesus:

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words” (I Thessalonians 4:16-18).

Otherwise known as The Rapture!

Whether you’ve contemplated a potential discrepancy or not, at face value there is a perceived problem between (with) the Lord’s promise through the Apostle Paul that, “we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up…”; contrasted to Bible passages that every person will (physically) die for their sins.

Is there an answer to this paradox?

Absolutely, there is. No different than any other apparent variance (of which there only a small handful) in the Bible that can ALWAYS be explained (resolved) without the need for undue speculation. We’ve already looked at some of these in rebuttal to the agenda of the “higher critics” of Scripture.

Before we explore this intriguing contradiction, we need to look at the most tragic thing that has ever befallen humanity: DEATH. It is a self-inflicted condition caused by the congenital disease of sin; totally avoidable and unnecessary had our original parents simply obeyed the Lord.

Why death? Is it too harsh of a penalty? Is it a punishment that fits the crime?

The overriding answer has already been cited earlier in this article. It is a commensurate consequence of disobedience if for no other reason than God says so: “If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die” (Genesis 2:17b).

However, in nearly all truth and consequences found in Scripture, the Lord discloses a reason (often directly or sometimes indirectly through deductive and inductive human reasoning that God has given to mankind—an integral component of being created in His image) for cause and effect.

The fall of humanity resulting in death is no exception. Read with me:

“Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’—therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken” (Genesis 3:22-23, NASB).

The Tree of Life

There are two main reasons why the Lord banished Adam and Eve from Paradise: (1) They had forfeited their God-given privilege of a life and land in which the Lord had provided everything for them. Now they must work hard for a living by struggling with the elements from which Adam was created. (2) The answer to the question of proportional punishment (death) for disobedience, lies in the fact that if Adam and Eve had been allowed to remain in the Garden of Eden, they would have eaten from the tree of life and their existence on earth would have continued indefinitely.

By eating of the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve’s eyes (by the very act of seeing, listening to, and agreeing with the source of all evil, Satan) were opened experientially to evil itself. It was a foregone conclusion that this evil would spread to subsequent generations, which is exactly what happened. God, in his mercy, allowed Adam and a few generational descendants to live hundreds of years before they died. The Lord was proven right (he’s always right!), when subsequent generations became so wicked that the Lord eliminated them from the face of the earth and started over again with Noah and his family.

To this day the only thing that prevents mankind from self-destruction (which those left behind at the Rapture will come perilously close to), is that each generation has passed from this earth.

And the only reason that this world has any measure of hope is the passing down of the Gospel of Jesus Christ from generation to generation. This Good News assures us of everlasting life in Messiah Jesus and promises that one day death itself will be no more; if we accept Christ as our personal Savior. Jesus is the only Way, the ultimate Truth, and the (heavenly tree of) Life.

God chose not to take away the tree of life from Adam and Eve; instead he took them away from that tree (from the entire Garden), as it was part of their punishment.

Some say that this tree is symbolic. However, the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that the tree of life was as real as the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve actually ate of the forbidden fruit; there’s no indication whatsoever that there was anything symbolic going on. In fact, a “figurative” eating of the fruit of either tree makes no sense at all.

We see this tree of life in the first book of the Bible. In the last book, Revelation, we find two trees of life in the New Jerusalem—which will hover over the earth throughout eternity.

“Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations. No longer will there be a curse upon anything…” (Revelation 22:1-3a).

In between, we learn of the rebuilt Temple (during the Great Tribulation) and of the remarkable changes in the earthly Jerusalem (during the Millennial Reign of Messiah Jesus) including “fruit trees of all kinds” (See Ezekiel 47).

(For an in-depth examination please refer to the two-part Eye of Prophecy article, A Third Jewish Temple, posted 4-26 & 5-3-14).

Solving the Puzzle

One of the problems experienced by Christian believers in Corinth was their questioning of a literal bodily resurrection of the dead, or of any resurrection at all. Paul begins his negation of this deceptive notion with a blunt (all the while expressing love for his brothers and sisters in Christ at Corinth and all the churches) challenge, followed by a lengthy explanation that life (eternal) springs from physical death … that death must precede such life.

“But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead” (I Corinthians 15:12-15).

Because all the apostles, including himself—on the road to Damascus—and hundreds of others (I Corinthians 15:1-9) had personally seen the risen Christ, Paul plainly states:

“But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died” (Verse 20).

Paul goes on to present examples that God’s creation is composed of distinctive bodies.

“…When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first … Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed. Similarly there are different kinds of flesh—one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are also bodies in the heavens and bodies on the earth. The glory (essence) of the heavenly bodies is different from the glory of the earthly bodies” (I Corinthians 15:35-40, parenthesis mine).

The life-giving, life-changing subject that stands out more than any other in the New Testament (also referenced in the Old Testament) is none other than:

Without our Savior’s magnificent resurrection, there would be no forgiveness of sin, no reconciliation with God, and no hope for anything beyond the grave, except an eternity separated from God—the second death. No one would be equipped to live in heaven forever, because this heavenly existence is impossible in our earthly bodies.

“It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever…. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies” (I Corinthians 15:42-44).

And, “What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever” (Verse 50).

(Please see Eye of Prophecy two-part series: Spiritual Bodies … A Contradiction of Terms? Posted 9-26 & 10-3-15).

Now let’s come to terms with the Biblical truth that it is appointed for every person who has ever been born to die, a prototype that goes all the way back to the Lord’s pronouncement of this verdict to Adam and Eve. In contrast to the catching up to heaven of both dead and living believers at what is commonly called the Rapture.

In this 15th chapter of I Corinthians, Paul expands and expounds on the Rapture passage in I Thessalonians … written 3-4 years before his first letter to the Corinthians.

Fasten Your (Spiritual) Seat Belt … Here We Go!

“But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!” (I Corinthians 15:51).

“STOP!” You shout. Didn’t Paul just say that “we will not all die.” Doesn’t that mean, then, that those alive at the Rapture won’t die after all—no matter that the author of Hebrews (which most Bible scholars and teachers also believe to be the Apostle Paul) says everyone must physically die. Which, by default, also includes believers in Messiah Jesus.

Stay with me:

“It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed” (Verse 52).

*Note: The “it” of the above verse refers to the actual transformation itself, not the entire sequence of the Rapture events. (Please see Eye of Prophecy article: The Shout Heard Around the World, posted 4-22-17, for a detailed sequence of the Rapture, projected to take several minutes).

Now, I’ll ask you to pause for a moment before we continue. Please pay close attention to the next part of the passage as well as the commentary offered concerning the juxtaposition of all must die (Hebrews 9:27 and other passages) with Paul’s statement, we will not all die.

“For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting.’

“For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 15:53-55, italics for emphasis).

*Note: Death is swallowed up (defeated) only AFTER the transformation of all believers.

First, a reminder of what death is or what is means. The Greek word for death (Thanatos, used 119 times in the King James Version) is defined as separation, not annihilation or cessation of existence. In Hebrews 9:27, the Greek phrase “to die” is apothnesko (ap-oth-nace-ko), which means just that, to die. Which is defined as, the natural death of a person. Thus, when someone dies he or she has entered the state of death (Thanatos) which is separation of their spirit from their physical body.

Spiritual death is separation from God eternally for those who have not accepted God’s (Biblical) salvation by believing and receiving his Son’s substitutionary death (and resurrection!) as the only remedy for the penalty of sin and rebellion against the Lord (John 3:16).

The conceptual meaning of death is vitally important to grasp before we can resolve this paradox.

Notice: Paul says that our “dying bodies” will (need to) be transformed. As we’ve already seen, the Bible proclaims that all must die.

We begin to die the moment we are born. It’s just a matter of time, longer for some than others. Without intending to be morbid (as opposed to celebrating life with gratitude for God in giving us that life) we could accurately say, “After we’re born, we’re as good as dead.”

Which is exactly what Paul is saying: “For our dying bodies must be transformed…”

Here, Paul is expanding on his prior statement that, “We will not all die…”

This clarification is not merely a technical distinction between those who have (actually) died before the Rapture and those who are dying … having not fully reached the otherwise inevitable point of death. In the context of what death is and means, Paul is saying that even those “alive” at the Rapture will experience death.

Seriously? Yes, seriously. Even living believers will encounter death the instant they are transformed. Just like the “dead in Christ” they, too, will be resurrected from that death.

The moment the dead in Christ are raised then shortly thereafter the “living in Christ,” the body of both groups of believers will be “transformed into bodies that will never die…”

Which unmistakably means that even the spirit of those believers who are alive when this transformation takes place will be separated (Thanatos) from their earthly body and intricately united with their glorious new spiritual body that will never die. Nonetheless, a body recognizable by friends and family as the same person (the new replacing the old) but with an amazingly altered appearance.

Of no small significance: Nowhere in I Corinthians 15 or any other passage does the Apostle Paul state or even imply that the Biblical statement/principle that every person must experience death has been set aside, or otherwise exempted (exception made), even by the Rapture of those who are alive and remain. If that were the case, I’m convinced that Paul would have clearly clarified and meticulously mentioned that this Biblical precept (all must die) didn’t apply to the Rapture.

Thus, when he says, “we will not all die,” he’s referring to those believers who are not actually in the grave. And why he continues by describing those alive are nevertheless in “dying bodies” that must be transformed (from death to life) precisely like those who have preceded them in death. With the action and result of this tremendous transfiguration that of each “living” believer’s spirit separated from their earthly body and placed into a glorious spiritual body that will never ever die or even begin to die in any way, shape, or form.

The only difference is the timing of it all. The spirit of believers whose body is in the grave have been waiting (some much longer than others) for this reunion of their spirit into a transformed spiritual body. Whereas those alive at the Rapture will experience this instantly. Still, there will undoubtedly be some believers who will “die” (not yet buried) just a few seconds or even a split-second before the Rapture takes place. In that regard, their transformation will be on par with those who are alive and remain.

In either case, the heart of the believer will beat one last time; each will draw one last breath in this earthly body.

Paul reinforces this fact with his all-important analogy of our earthly bodies being equivalent to a seed planted that must die before it can be transformed into a living plant.

Do you see(d) that?!

Things to Ponder

No believer should fear death. For death is only a passage to our heavenly home. What most believers fear is the pain that sometimes precedes death, especially if we succumb to a dreadful disease or debilitating injury; and, of course, leaving loved ones behind. Even then, the pain remedies in today’s advanced medical treatment lessen that physical distress.

So, you see: The Biblical truth that all must die (physically) is not contradicted or set aside by the Rapture of living believers. It’s true that those believers will not experience the full measure of the original death penalty (“planted in the ground”); however, they will still die when their earthly body is separated from their spirit. Then, just like the dead in Christ, the spirit of all believers will be indivisibly joined with a wonderful transfigured body, just like our Lord’s.

“…we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved…” (Romans 8:23-24).

“…Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words” (I Thessalonians 4:17b-18).

OUR REDEEMER LIVES!

Hallelujah!

Daniel’s 70 Prophetic Weeks & The Number Seventy!

12 Saturday May 2018

Posted by garybowers in The Rapture

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Did you really believe it would happen?

If just one current event had dominated world headlines, you would probably know to what this question refers. However, considering the recent flurry of global incidents, the normal response would be: What happening … which one?

To the ominous increase of missile strikes between Iran and Israel? To President Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from the infamous Iran Nuclear Deal? To the scheduled summit between the United States and North Korea? To U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s skillfully orchestrating the release of three Americans unjustly imprisoned by North Korea? To the extraordinary espionage pulled off by Israel’s foreign intelligence agency Mossad—removal of a huge volume of incriminating Iranian (nuclear) documents from Tehran, right under Iran’s nose?

Notable as these events are, I’m referring to a milestone achievement that will take place this coming Monday. One that was set in motion when U.S. President Trump announced this past December 6, 2017: the U.S. Embassy would be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Thereby, affirming Jerusalem as Israel’s (eternal) capital. Even with Trump’s disclaimer that Jerusalem’s geographical borders are still a matter of negotiation, it was still a courageous decision, considering global resistance to such a move.

Not only did our President make good on his campaign promise, he accelerated the Embassy transfer by several months, if not years. Instead of waiting for the cumbersome process of selecting a suitable site in Jerusalem, then the zoning and building process, our Executive staff decided to utilize the existing U.S. Counsel facility in Jerusalem as the temporary headquarters for the Embassy.

There was only one reason for this lightning-quick (as these things go) opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. The reason is the date itself: May 14th.

Do you recognize the monumental significance of that date? May 14th is the 70th anniversary of Israel’s remarkable rebirth as a sovereign nation in 1948.

Technically, Israel has already celebrated her 70th birthday that falls on the Jewish calendar 5th of Iyar, which occurred a few weeks ago on the Gregorian calendar of April 19th, a Friday. If, however, the 5th of Iyar falls on a Friday—beginning of Jewish Sabbath at sundown—then Israel’s anniversary as a nation is celebrated on Thursday (this year beginning at sundown on the 4th of Iyar).

Most of the Gentile world uses the Gregorian calendar, thus we identify May 14th as the historical event when Israel was reborn from the floods of dispersion and the fires of Nazi death camps.

Neither U.S. President Trump nor Vice President Pence will be able to attend; however, there will be dozens of dignitaries representing the United States such as Senator Ted Cruz and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. As well as the usual U.S. Executive Staff delegation to Israel—Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Jason Greenblatt and, of course, U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman. Plus, several journalists, educators, business leaders, congressional representatives, and religious leaders.

The 70th anniversary of Israel’s prophetic rebirth as a sovereign nation is nearly as stunning as the rebirth itself. One of, if not the main reason: the striking significance of the number seventy. Whenever we encounter that number in Scripture it applies directly to Israel. And concerning Biblical prophecy, it refers specifically to Israel in the context of the end times, the final (Omega) generation of which we are living. With a generation defined in Scripture as 100 years; also, the more common time-frame of 70 years (Psalm 90:10).

(One of the celebrations when Israel declared Statehood in 1948; Centered is Israel’s First Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion)

Here is an except from Eye of Prophecy Article, The Omega Generation (Posted 2-15-14):

Some Christians are confused about or don’t entirely understand the role of the Church and Israel during the last days beginning with the Rapture. Please fathom one critical premise/truth: Although the Mount of Olives discourse indirectly applies to the Church (composed of all Jews and Gentiles who have been redeemed by Messiah Jesus), the whole purpose of Christ’s majestic return is to set up the Kingdom of Heaven (Kingdom of God) on the earth IN the Holy Land and THROUGH / FOR his chosen people, the Jews. And what triggers the need for Christ to return to Israel is none other than the ultimate and final rescue of the Jews (Israel) from conquest and destruction at the hands of Antichrist.

Concerning the Church, the sole purpose of the Rapture is to snatch away believers from the earth so that we do not have to experience the final wrath of God poured out on an ungodly generation of unbelievers. Otherwise, ALL Old Testament prophecies concerning the Last Days or End Times focus on Israel, not the Church; in fact, the Church (consisted of all Jews/Gentiles who place their trust in Christ’s sacrificial death) doesn’t even come into existence for over 400 years after the last book of the Old Testament was written. Moreover, from the 4th Chapter through the 18th Chapter of the book of Revelation, the Church is not even mentioned, as such.

The Seventy Weeks of Daniel

Virtually all Biblical prophecy focuses on Israel and the Messiah who would come from the tribe of Judah, through the lineage of King David. Let’s begin with a passage that I described as, The Most Panoramic Prophecy in the Bible. (See Eye of Prophecy articles of that same title, Part I & II posted in January 2018).

The following is one of the most recognized prophecies in all the Bible … obviously important for all believers, both Jew and Gentile. However, seldom do commentators indicate that the prophecy is directed specifically to and primarily concerns the Jews and Israel. For now, we’ll examine just the first verse of that passage, the composite of which is found in Daniel 9:24-27.

“A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place” (Daniel 9:24, italics for emphasis).

Some Bible translations describe the seventy sets of seven as “seventy weeks.” A prophetic week in the Hebrew Scriptures is seven years. Thus, a total of seventy weeks would be 490 years. However, the passage divides these seventy weeks into two basic periods of time. Fine tuning it even more, there are three periods; two of the three (seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven—Verse 25) combining to make sixty-nine weeks (483 years).

Then later in the passage (Verse 27), Daniel refers to the final week of the seventy by equating it to the seven-year treaty that the same ruler—whose armies destroyed Jerusalem and the (2nd) Temple—would make with Israel. As documented in my book Out of the Abyss and many of the 50 Eye of Prophecy articles in the category of Antichrist, that ruler is the Roman Emperor Nero … who as the beast of Revelation will return from the Abyss (Revelation 17:7-8).

For purpose of this week’s article, we want to concentrate on the fact that Daniel’s prophecy in Chapter 9 is specifically addressed to (like so many other Old Testament prophecies) “your people and your holy city (Jerusalem).” It encompasses the prophetic timetable of Israel’s future in the panoramic context of Messiah’s First and Second Advent, as well as the appearance and reappearance of the Antichrist.

All but one of the six specific events detailed in Daniel 9:24 will be finally fulfilled during and shortly after the 70th week—the seven years of the Great Tribulation followed immediately by the beginning of the Millennial Reign of Messiah Jesus. During that time: (1) any rebellion (of remaining unbelieving Jews in Messiah) will be finished; (2) their (national) sin of rejecting Messiah will come to an end; (3) everlasting righteousness will commence with the Millennial Reign of Messiah who will establish justice, righteousness, and peace on earth; (4) the prophetic vision (all prophecies concerning the end times) will be confirmed—realized; (5) the rebuilt Temple (Most Holy Place) will be anointed … by the very presence of Messiah.

The one prophecy in this list of six that would come to pass before the 70th week (the final seven years) is: “to atone for their guilt.” This took place when Messiah Jesus died on the cross as the final, once-for-all substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of God’s people, the Jews, but also for the Gentiles. How do we know this atonement would take place before the 70th week began to unfold? We know because of verse 25:

“Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One—comes…”

This was exactly 173,880 days or 483 Jewish years … 30-day months of the Jewish calendar.

Astounding!

Several Eye of Prophecy articles have discussed this phenomenal date-dedicated prophecy, beginning with the article, An Incredible Time-Lapse Prophecy (Posted 1-18-14).

Later, we’ll return to the Daniel 9 passage specifically in the context of Israel’s 70th anniversary, as part of the final generation just before the Rapture will take place. Which then ushers in the 70th and final week (seven years) of Daniel’s prophecy, having been interrupted (postponed) for 2,000 years by what believers call the Church Age—the New Covenant of Grace for personal salvation to both Jew and Gentile. For now, let’s look at more examples of the number seventy in Scripture to see its significance as pertaining directly to Israel.

*Note: Including the phenomenal 70 weeks of Daniel’s prophecy, there are a total of seven (7) substantial Biblical episodes involving the number seventy. Imagine that! Truth be known, I didn’t realize that until I counted them.

Jacob & His Family Move to Egypt

When Joseph invited his brothers, his father (Jacob), and their families to move to Egypt, do you know or recall the size of Jacob’s extended family?

Though Israel (the Lord had already changed Jacob’s name to Israel) was not yet a nation, Jacob and his family consisted of and represented God’s chosen people, the Israelites—who would later be called Jews after Jacob’s fourth son, Judah.

“These are the names of the sons of Israel (that is, Jacob) who moved to Egypt with their father, each with his family: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. In all, Jacob had seventy descendants in Egypt, including Joseph, who was already there” (Exodus 1:1-5, parenthesis in the text, italics for emphasis).

(Depiction of the Wrestling Scene when the Lord changed Jacob’s name to Israel … Genesis 32:22-30).

Obviously, this number of seventy applied exclusively to God’s chosen people through the Patriarch Jacob, whose twelve sons would be the ancestral catalyst of Israel’s exponential growth during their 400 years of bondage in Egypt, leading to the nation of Israel.

“In time, Joseph and all his brothers died, ending that entire generation. But their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and grandchildren. In fact, they multiplied so greatly that they became extremely powerful and filled the land” (Exodus 1:6-7).

By the time Israel became a nation (when they agreed to God’s Covenant with Moses in the wilderness or when they entered the Promised Land 40 years later under Joshua—either time could be considered Israel’s inception as a nation), her population was around two million people. From seventy to two million!

God’s Special Invitation to Select Elders of Israel

Beginning with a question. Where and to whom did God give the Ten Commandments? Most would answer that question with a roll of their eyes: Practically everyone knows God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai.

True enough: “By the finger of God” (Exodus 31:18) the Ten Commandments were emblazoned on two tablets of stone; given along with other commandments to Moses while he was on Mount Sinai. But that was not the only occasion, nor was it even the first time.

The initial disclosure of the Ten Commandments was given by God in an audible voice (thunderous, Exodus 19:19 … you can bet that all two million Israelites heard God!) at the foot of Mount Sinai. The people were so terrified of God’s majestic voice, they pleaded with Moses: “…You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die!” (Exodus 20:19).

Later, Moses ascended the mountain where the Lord engraved the Ten Commandments on solid stone, as a written testimony of those Commandments.

Do you recall what happened while Moses was on Mount Sinai?

Correct: The people became impulsively impatient and decadently rebellious by crafting a golden calf idol (with Aaron’s help no less); thereby, breaking at least two of the Ten Commandments they had already promised to keep. As a result, three thousand Israelites died that day. Because Moses broke the stone tablets in anger, the Lord told him to ascend Mount Sinai a second time, where God again etched the Ten Commandments in stone. This, then, would have been a third bequeathing of the Ten Commandments.

Shortly after God’s audible presentation of the Ten Commandments directly to the entire camp of Israel and before Moses ascended alone to the summit of Mount Sinai, the Lord said that a select group of Israelites could accompany Moses part way up the mountain. Prior to and after that special exemption, no one was to set foot on the mountain (except for Moses and Joshua) on pain of death. Just before this unique invitation, God (through Moses) had reaffirmed to the people his covenant with their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Said the Lord:

“And I will fix your boundaries from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the eastern wilderness to the Euphrates River. I will hand over to you the people now living in the land, and will drive them out ahead of you. Make no treaties with them or their gods. They must not live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me. If you serve their gods, you will be caught in the trap of idolatry” (Exodus 23:31-33).

In the very next verse we read the Lord’s special summons; however, it came with conditions:

“Then the Lord instructed Moses: ‘Come up here to me, and bring along Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders. All of you must worship from a distance. Only Moses is allowed to come near to the Lord. The others must not come near, and none of the other people are allowed to climb up the mountain with him (meaning to the summit)” (Exodus 24:1-2, italics for emphasis, parenthesis mine).

Before these “VIPs” began to climb part way up Mount Sinai, Moses read aloud to the people those laws which God had already given to him, prior to Moses (40-day/night) stay on the mountain to receive much of the Law, including the engraved Ten Commandments.

The people responded, “…We will do everything the Lord has commanded. We will obey” (Exodus 24:7).

After Moses confirmed the Covenant between God and the Israelites with blood from animal sacrifices made earlier that day, we read one of the most amazing scenes in all of Scripture. An event that this select group was extremely lucky (using that word in its optimum connotation, i.e. favorable, fortunate, or privileged in a providential way) to witness.

“Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel climbed up the mountain. There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself. And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence!” (Exodus 24:9-11).

Incredible!

This was one of the Pre-Incarnate appearances of God the Son (Messiah Jesus), of which there are several recorded in the Old Testament. Please refer to Eye of Prophecy articles, Does God Really Have a Son? Part I & Part II (Posted 10-31 & 11-7-15).

Thus, whether it was Jacob wrestling with the Lord, or Joshua meeting Him just before the battle of Jericho, or Abraham visited by the Lord to reaffirm that Abraham and Sarah would miraculously conceive a child (Isaac) in their old age—all were appearances of God’s Son in human form.

Scripture is unequivocally clear that God the Father is Spirit and that no one can look on Him and live. That even applied to Moses. Said the Lord to Moses: “But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live…. Then I will remove my hand and let you see me from behind. But my face will not be seen” (Exodus 33:20 & 23).

(Exodus 33:9:  “God spoke with Moses face to face” (a figure of speech) on a regular basis. However, Moses was shielded from God’s glory by a dense, dark cloud. Even then, God’s brilliant light caused Moses’ face to glow)

A Second Selection of Seventy Jews … To Assist Moses

Fairly soon after the Israelite’s Exodus from Egypt, Moses heeded his father-in-law Jethro’s advice to appoint administrators to help Moses with the judging of disputes among the people. Then about 14 months after the Exodus, the Lord lifted the cloud (by day, pillar of fire by night) over the Tabernacle. “So the Israelites set out from the wilderness of Sinai and traveled on from place to place until the cloud stopped in the wilderness of Paran” (Numbers 10:12).

Shortly thereafter, the Israelites again began to grumble and mumble against the Lord and against Moses because they were fed up (pun intended) with their diet. “…Oh, for some meat! They exclaimed … Our appetites are gone. All we ever see in this manna!” (Numbers 11:4 & 6).

Reading on: “Moses heard all the families standing in the doorways of their tents whining, and the Lord became extremely angry. Moses was also very aggravated. And Moses said to the Lord, ‘Why are you treating me, your servant, so harshly? Have mercy on me! What did I do to deserve the burden of all these people? Did I give birth to them? … Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people? … The load is far too heavy. If this is how you intend to treat me, just go ahead and kill me. Do me a favor and spare me this misery!’” (Numbers 11:10-15).

I thought to myself: Could even Moses talk to God like that? I’m not sure I would or could, no matter how miserable. Then realizing: I’m certainly no Moses. Not only Moses, but David, other Psalmists, and several prophets sometimes bluntly expressed their feelings to the Lord and did so in a way that seemed to give up on or even challenge God. Such as Elijah: “…He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. ‘I have had enough, Lord,’ he said. ‘Take my life…’” (I Kings 19:4).

I/We also realize that the Lord can certainly “handle” those challenges and does so with compassion and sovereign wisdom. If, that is, they are from a sincere (hurting) heart and they are not intended to, as such, defy God.

Seldom did the Lord respond directly to the precise words of the prophet’s or the king’s complaint. Nor did he engage them in a detailed (therapeutic-like) discussion of their problems, nor reprimand them for being so abrupt. He let them get it off their chest (so to speak) and then proceeded to give them practical solutions to alleviate their predicament. In fact, with Elijah, it was a gentle whisper from the Lord.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Gather before me seventy men who are recognized as elders and leaders of Israel. Bring them to the Tabernacle to stand there with you. I will come down and talk to you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is upon you, and I will put the Spirit upon them also. They will bear the burden of the people along with you, so you will not have to carry it alone” (Numbers 11:16-17, italics for emphasis).

Although Scripture doesn’t tell us, quite likely some of the 70 elders who accompanied Moses on Mount Sinai were part of this group of 70 administrators who would assist Moses in bearing the burden of the people.

Have you heard the term, Sanhedrin? If so, do you know what it is? One of the most well-known scenes in the New Testament is that of Nicodemus coming secretly to Jesus at night to determine just who Jesus might really be. Was he the Messiah? From that encounter, we get the most quoted verse of Scripture, at least in the New Testament (John 3:16).

Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, an organized Jewish council (the Greek word means assembly) of 70 men, with its reintroduction traditionally believed to be by Ezra after the return of some Jews from the Babylonian captivity. But historically (records) traced only to the 3rd century B.C.

During the 400 silent years the (Great) Sanhedrin consisted mostly of Sadducee nobles and priests, with a few Pharisees, scribes, or elders of Israel. It was patterned after the 70 leaders of Israel of whom we just read. Subsequently, the Sanhedrin expanded to 71 members, primarily to break any tie in voting. But the original design was that of a 70-member body. Subsequently, due to Roman Empire suppression and oppression, the Sanhedrin dissolved in 425 A.D.

However, the Sanhedrin has been revived in today’s Israel. Though it doesn’t possess the political or even religious power it once held, it is nevertheless recognized symbolically as a viable organization in Israeli society. Observant Jews ardently anticipate that when the 3rd Temple is built, the Sanhedrin will be the governing authority over religious life in Israel, perhaps even replacing the (secular) Supreme Court of Israel.

Also, it was members of the Sanhedrin who had Jesus arrested and who violated their own laws by an illegal mock trial in the middle of the night. Then they handed him over to the Romans to be crucified.

(Scene from the Acclaimed Movie, Passion of the Christ, showing the High Priest and members of the Sanhedrin. Film released in 2004, which happened to be the year that the Sanhedrin was reinstituted in Israel)

The Seventy Jewish Disciples

Many, even unbelievers, know that Jesus chose twelve men to be his inner circle of disciples. But that wasn’t the only group of followers whom our Lord selected for a special purpose.

“Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come” (Luke 10:1, NASB).

Messiah Jesus sent the seventy specifically to towns in Israel to, “…heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you’” (Luke 10:9, NASB).

Then Jesus issued a severe warning of (final day) judgment to those towns that rejected the message of the Kingdom of God, which would have been established then and there in Israel had Messiah’s own people not spurned him.

Said Jesus to the seventy: “The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me” (Luke 10:16, NASB).

I don’t believe it’s mere happenstance that Jesus selected seventy of his Jewish followers to proclaim that Israel’s Messiah had arrived. Seventy, the same number of Jewish elders who assisted Moses in the administration of the Old Covenant. The new set of seventy would announce that Jesus was God’s Son who had come to mediate the New Covenant announced by Jeremiah hundreds of years earlier.

Seventy Times Seven

The following is another widely known passage of Scripture.

(I’ve even heard unbelievers quote “seventy times seven!” Including some Hollywood movies)

Obviously, Jesus’s reply was figurative in principle. We need to forgive others as many times as it takes—something that is sometimes hard to do even once. However, Jesus did literally say, “until (up to) seventy times seven.”

Thus, it was no coincidence that our Lord selected seventy (times seven) in this formula for forgiveness. In fact, I’m convinced the correlation to the passage with which we began today’s article, concerning the seventy weeks of Daniel’s prophecy, is crystal clear.

“A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to…” (Daniel 9:24).

To what?

In the context of what Jesus told Peter concerning Peter’s brothers (the Jews): “to atone for their guilt…” (Same Verse 24). This took place 69 weeks or 483 years after Daniel’s prophecy (up to that point) culminating in Messiah Jesus’s sacrificial atonement for sin once and for all. Next would come the (final) 70th week—the seven-year Tribulation preceded immediately by the Rapture which is precipitated by the final (Omega) generation that includes the rebirth of Israel and the restoration return of Jews to Israel foretold in many Old Testament passages.

Seventy times seven said Jesus. A period of seventy sets of seven as prophesied by Daniel.

Returning to the Old Testament for our last example, which is:

Seventy Years of Babylonian Exile

A frequently quoted verse in Scripture, treasured by Jewish and Gentile believers and by non-Messianic Jews alike, is one of the most (and there are many) encouraging promises the Lord makes to Israel.

“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me … I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land” (Jeremiah 29:11-14, emphasis added).

The italicized words (Verse 11) is the part of this passage most often quoted. But in reading the following verses, we see that the plans, future, and hope are specifically linked to the return of exiled Jews to their Promised Land … the final restoration of the Jews, of Israel, and of Jerusalem. The beginning of which took place when Israel was reborn as a nation in 1948, seventy years ago!

Many also overlook the verse immediately preceding verse eleven. Examining the context of this passage more closely, we read:

“This is what the Lord says: ‘You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again” (Jeremiah 29:10, italics for emphasis). Then verse eleven begins with: For I know the plans I have for you…

Because God’s people never really returned to him, nor did most of them even return to Israel from Babylon or from Persia; and because hundreds of years later they rejected their very Messiah (Jesus), the ultimate fulfillment of this prophetic promise (the plans I have for you) would not begin to unfold for another 2,500 years.

In advance, the Lord (through Jeremiah) not only told the Jews that the southern kingdom of Judah would fall to and the Temple demolished by Babylon, he also specified the precise time of their exile—70 years.

The fact that what God says will happen, always happens; what he says he will do he always does, doesn’t diminish the drama of the Jews returning to Israel after seventy years captivity in Babylon. Then the even more dramatic return of Jews from the four corners of the earth when Israel was reborn in 1948. Since then Israel’s population has increased tenfold—from approximately 600,000 in 1948 to 6.5 million today. Well over a million Jews have made Aliyah to Israel from many nations, especially from Russia. Over six million Israelis in modern Israel to poignantly represent the six million Jews ruthlessly killed in the Holocaust.

(Aliyah–Immigrants Coming to Israel)

Is there a (prophetic) correlation between the 70 years of Israel’s exile in Babylon and the (ultimate) fulfillment of God’s promise to return his people to Israel, which began to take place 70 years ago? I would answer that question with a question: How could there not be?

The full passage (Jeremiah 29:10-14) establishes that link.

In that regard, was it mere chance that the 2nd Temple was destroyed in the year 70. A.D.?

The Bible is replete with the significance of some numbers and their pattern connection with events and/or examples of God’s interaction with humanity. Such as the number three, seven, twelve, forty, seventy, and four hundred. Several Eye of Prophecy articles have focused on this Biblical emphasis regarding certain numbers.

For example, the article: Countdown to Armageddon … End of the Fourth 400-Year Era (Posted 7-29-17). Here is an excerpt from that article:

Jesus of Nazareth is the prophesied Messiah who came to this earth to accomplish the two providential plans that God conceived for the human race, to the Jew first and then to the Gentile:

(1) To bring salvation, through the Jews, to every Jew and Gentile who believes and receives Messiah Jesus as Lord and Savior.

(2) To fulfill God’s promise that Abraham’s descendants would possess the Promised Land of Israel forever.

In the last 70 years both of these magnificent plans have been in high gear and are now in the final stages. Tens of thousands of Jews have come to Christ especially since the Six-Day War of 1967, as have millions of Gentiles the world over. Israel has been reborn as a sovereign nation, with Jews immigrating to or being born in their homeland in great numbers.

Things to Ponder

What an amazing time of history we’re living in!

Israel born in a single day, May 14th, 1948 … a direct fulfillment of Isaiah 66:7-9.

Jews returning from virtually every nation on earth. A miraculous accomplishment, one foretold by dozens of Bible passages.

The Gog/Magog terrible trio of Russia, Iran, and Turkey forming an unheard-of alliance, considering the animosity of these countries one toward another just a few years ago. Precisely as predicted by Ezekiel (Chapters 38 & 39).

Alongside their Gentile brothers and sisters in Christ, tens of thousands of Jews believing and receiving Jesus as Messiah and Savior, especially in the last 70 years. Waiting for Messiah’s return to, “…lead his flock with the Lord’s strength, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. Then his people will live there undisturbed, for he will be highly honored around the world. And he will be the source of peace…” (Micah 5:4-5a).

Israel’s economy is booming and agriculture flourishing unlike any time in her history since the glory days of King David and King Solomon. Not only bountiful crops, lush vineyards, and beautiful gardens planted and blooming, but the Jews themselves planted and prospering in their ancient home.

There’s still trouble ahead. The seven-year Tribulation will be more terrifying than anything ever experienced on Planet Earth. But after it’s over, all Israel will be saved (Romans 11).

For those, Jew and Gentile alike, who have believed and received Jesus as Messiah and Savior, God will spare us from this time of great misery and calamity.

If you don’t know Messiah Jesus as your personal Savior, I implore you to call upon the name of the Lord. You will be saved immediately (from your sins and the penalty thereof) and from the Great Tribulation soon to come.

Are you in awe of the spectacular 20th and 21st century end-times fulfillment of Biblical prophecy? I certainly am.

“Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise!…” (Psalm 96:4).

Let’s rejoice with Israel over her 70th birthday!

Fountain of Youth & Fountain of Life … Is There a Difference?

31 Saturday Mar 2018

Posted by garybowers in The Rapture

≈ 1 Comment

A Quick Quiz

Has anyone not heard about the Fountain of Youth?

Next question, multiple choice this time: Which famous explorer allegedly searched for this elusive fountain: (A) Ferdinand Magellan; (B) Marco Polo; (C) Rocky Balboa; (D) Ponce de Leon?

Fairly easy question, especially if you live in Florida.

Answer: Ponce de Leon. If you’re not at all interested in things historical, perhaps not so easy.

If you picked up on Rocky Balboa as a choice, at least you’re paying attention; Sylvester Stallone would have appreciated that. On a more serious note: What was the explorer Balboa’s full name? Answer: Vasco Nunez de Balboa.

Whether searching for a Fountain of Youth or not, exploring was sometimes hazardous to one’s health. At the ages of 41 and 47, respectively, in the territories they explored Ferdinand Magellan and Ponce de Leon were killed by natives. Christopher Columbus contracted either gout or arthritis (through food poisoning) that eventually caused his death 14 years later at the age of 55.

How about a harder question? Does the Fountain of Youth exist? Yes. No.

How can that possibly be harder, you ask? Because whether you answered yes or no, you would be wrong. After finishing this article, you can decide if it was a trick question.

One final question: Is the whole idea of the Fountain of Youth absurd, including anyone who would search for it? Yes. No.

Historians agree that Ponce de Leon’s search for the Fountain of Youth was a myth, though he may have half-way believed Native Americans (in Florida) who said there were springs of water in the land of Bimini that restored one’s vitality. Only problem: Bimini was a fictional place. Thus, the obvious answer to the final question is: Yes.

Or is it?

(In St Augustine, Florida)

Whether the Fountain of Youth is real or not, borders on the irrelevant. Because billions on this planet have searched for “a” Fountain of Youth, in whatever form or substance they think it exists. It all depends upon what people imagine it is or want it to be; how a fountain of youth is perceived or defined. However, one thing is undeniably clear: people want to be “forever young.” Why anyone would want perpetual life on this earth filled with incessant evil and death and all the ills of humanity is beyond me.

The idea of such a fountain goes back a long way before Ponce de Leon. For example, Alexander the Great purportedly searched for a “Water of Life.” There are known locations of springs that (seem to … perhaps the placebo phenomenon) slow (the signs of) aging or restore vitality to the body inside and out; however, there is no known Fountain of Youth to prolong one’s life and certainly none that has ever preempted death.

All Must Die, But Do We Know (Accept) How and Why?

This past Tuesday (March 27th) marked the anniversary of Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon’s first sighting of present-day Florida in 1513. Did he hope that he would discover the Fountain of Youth there? Or should such a wonder be called the Fountain of Life? Is there a difference?

Tomorrow (April 1—because Easter, fluctuating from year to year, has in the past sometimes fallen on the same day as de Leon’s sighting) is the anniversary of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave, which is the greatest event in human history. One that truly gives those who believe in Christ hope of eternal life and one that guarantees the eternal life hoped for. To keep us forever young, because we will never again grow old again, once we are transfigured in the same fashion as Jesus Christ in his glorification preview on the Mount of Transfiguration. Then permanently (forever) upon his resurrection from the dead.

Eternal life is a no-strings-attached gift; the source of which only needs to be believed and received. We don’t need to literally or symbolically travel to the ends of the earth, or astrologically look to the planets and stars, or explore exotic, esoteric places to find it. Nor can everlasting life be earned through good works or self-merit.

The Problem: Billions on this earth don’t believe that anything, let alone their eternal destiny, can be as simple as Biblical salvation. And the reason for that is because mankind refuses to believe God himself and the redemptive truth found in His Word, the Bible. Just like our original parents, Adam and Eve, they refuse to concede that physical death would be (is) a direct result of disobedience to and sinning against God. Rather, death is “just a part of life.” Which it obviously is, but not why they think it is. Some go as far as to say that they don’t sin against God, or even sin at all. If they do anything wrong, it’s only against another human being; even then, it’s a “mistake in judgment.”

“If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth … If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts” (I John 1:8 & 10).

Even the most brilliant of scientists still don’t know why we age to the point of death. The general idea that our body (cells, organs, tissues) breaks down and wears out is only an explanation of the symptoms, not the original root cause of death. And that’s only for those who aren’t killed by others (war or murder), or take their own lives, or succumb to life-shortening diseases and catastrophic natural disasters, or even simple accidents.

All God asked of Adam and Eve was to trust him, which included only one command not to do something—imposed because the Lord gave them the freedom to choose to obey him or not.

However, death would not be an end to their existence (oblivion). Rather death is a separation of soul and spirit from the body, plus a separation of body, soul, and spirit from God for eternity. Unless and until God’s gracious (free) remedy is accepted by simple faith in the redemptive sacrifice of God’s Son … Messiah Jesus.

So many people are confused because they look to myriad sources of explanation other than the God who created them, and his revelation of truth as found in Scripture … especially concerning salvation and eternity. Accordingly, they consider life on this earth as all that really matters, presuming that they have no final say in their eternal existence. They attempt to control and cling to their life and treasures on earth as though it and they would last forever. Nothing really matters after death, they muse; it’s all over then.

Some believe in heaven, but not hell. Others believe in neither. They wonder if existence is eternal at all.

The following is an excerpt from Eye of Prophecy article, To Be Or Not To Be … In Heaven (A Revisit) posted on 5-6-17. In italics:

…But the fact remains: Every person is eternal. Every soul will continue into and throughout eternity.

According to Scripture, every person was born (created) to live forever. That is what is meant when God breathed life into Adam (and Eve) and they became a “living soul.” (Genesis 2:7, KJV). Other translations read, “A living person” or “a living being.” Soul, person, being … all convey the idea of infinity, of time without end. That’s one reason we’ve conceived the expression human being. We don’t say that about animals, i.e. animal being. But a human is a being, made in the image of God. Part of that image is the eternity breathed into us by our Great God, who is from everlasting to everlasting.

Shakespeare’s statement of, “To be or not to be; that is the question,” is, indeed, a profound reflection. A living soul will always “be.” To be born is to be, and be, and be….

Those (and there are many) who subscribe to good deeds outweighing bad deeds as the formula to get to heaven never know for sure on what side of the scales God will find them. How could they, when the Bible clearly shows there is no such sliding scale that measures the relative weight of good and bad as a determination of where we will spend eternity. And when there is no other religion or philosophy that can tell them just how good they must be to merit whatever paradise they think awaits them.

Whereas some unbelievers might concede to the Biblical truth that physical death is a result of original sin, they stop short of acknowledging another vital Scriptural truth: That every person is born with a dead spirit (separated from God). That both physical and spiritual death is inherited from our original parents. Physical death takes varying lengths of time. But spiritual death begins at birth, because we are born with a sin nature. Which is why we must be “born again” (spiritually)

“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)” (Ephesians 2:4-5, parenthesis in the text).

The Fountain of Youth Paradigm Presumption

To unbelievers, the concept of living forever is pretty much confined to life on this earth. Many people have said something to the effect, “Well, you can’t live forever.” Which, obviously reflects their priority of this life over the next one, at all costs. They refuse or are afraid to look past their time on earth. They do so despite the inescapable truth explicitly conveyed in Scripture and indelibly planted in the human heart … there is life after death. Death is only a change of address, not a cessation of existence. Life on this earth is merely a drop in the ocean of eternity.

Their concept of eternity is that it be lived on the earth in this earthly body … a Fountain of Youth mentality. Only the pleasures of this life experienced in this earthly body are worth considering and pursuing. As expressed, for example, with another saying (paraphrased) you’ve probably heard:

(Derived from the Song, “In Heaven There Is No Beer” … “that’s why we drink it here”)

Am I saying that all pleasures on earth are bad? To be avoided or suppressed at all costs? Of course not. God created such pleasures—to be appreciated as gifts from God and enjoyed in moderation, as we all know what excess can do. Such enjoyments as food, drink (including alcoholic beverages if so preferred), reading a good book next to a warm hearth in a cozy home, transportation, sex, recreation, and so on.

Speaking of excess, there is one story after another of famous people who had all these pleasures (and more), whose life ended empty. Not to mention the Biblical principle and age-old adage: “You can’t take it with you when you die.” Or those who ended their own life despite having a surplus of everything by which the world measures success and satisfaction.

(See Eye of Prophecy article, The Right to Life? Posted 8-16-14. Written soon after Robin Williams ever so sadly took his own life. His Fountain of Youth had apparently gone dry).

We’re talking here about a Biblical PERSPECTIVE on PRIORITIES. Putting it another way: God’s viewpoint contrasted to the world’s.

All these delights (and more) will be experienced one way or another in the new earth and heavens that God will recreate (Revelation 21:1-2), to a much higher and nobler degree … with exception of marriage and matrimonial intimacy (Matthew 22:30). For that matter, we certainly won’t miss the horrendous heartache and revolting repercussions caused by infidelity and divorce; nor will there be any battle of the sexes.

At the Last Supper, Jesus said: “For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come” (Luke 22:18).

Living Water

The Fountain of Youth? People live in denial as though there was such a source of perpetual existence. We grow old but wish we were still young, in body and mind. We know we’re going to die, yet preparations we make for death are limited to this life—financial, family, and such. Why is it that most people give little or no thought to “estate planning” for eternity? Because they believe they have no ultimate control over their eternal destiny, or because they mistakenly assume that a loving God (conveniently forgetting that he is also a Holy God), couldn’t possibly send anyone to hell forever.

The Bible clearly shows that we send ourselves, because hell is simply a place where God isn’t. It is a place reserved for all who deliberately reject God’s universal truth as found in the Bible. It is a place prepared for those who don’t want (not really) any part of God, certainly not on His terms. For those who see no need to accept the greatest sacrifice ever made by the highest price ever paid to pardon us from our sins—Christ’s death on the cross and total victory over death by his astounding Resurrection. Instead, they long for and pursue their Fountain of Youth.

I repeat: Who would seriously want to live forever on this earth in its current uncertain, volatile, sin-saturated condition? A condition that is getting worse, not better. Fortunes can be lost in the blink of an eye. Families can be torn apart in a flash of unbridled passion. Cities and nations can fall with the breath of a nuclear blast or a burst of intercontinental missiles. Terrorism, war, murder, and brutality of all sorts erupt daily. In a moment of distrust, pride, anger, or frustration, we wrong others and are wronged by them. With one more heartbeat, our life can suddenly end.

An article in Psychology Today, entitled: America’s Obsession with Never Growing Old is one of many written on the subject; the title says it all. Americans, Europeans, people all over the world spend billions on rejuvenation health products … liquids, ointments, supplements, and cleansing treatments for the body (inside and out) of all kinds. What if all this money was given to alleviate poverty and hunger?

Who needs a Fountain of Youth to perpetuate life on this earth, when there’s something so much better. Something not found in “magic potions,” sparkling mountain brooks, soothing hot springs, subterranean reservoirs, crystal-clear lakes, or deep pure wells.

We’re talking about a Fountain of Life-giving, eternal-destiny altering living water that changes our heart, transforms our soul and spirit, and one day will even transfigure our bodies to live with God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As opposed to eternal death to which vain pursuit of a Fountain of Youth will lead.

The Greek word for eternal is the same in such passages as Matthew 24:41 (eternal punishment) and John 3:16 (eternal life).

Thus, it’s a matter of WHERE and WITH WHOM we will spend eternity.

Which is why eternal existence WITH God is called everlasting life. Where? In heaven and on a new earth.

And why eternal existence without God and the host of heaven is called eternal death … the Second Death. Eternal death doesn’t mean annihilation—the cessation of existence. It means eternal separation from the Lord. Where? In the Lake of Fire—whatever and however horrible that will be. (See Revelation 20).

So great a salvation (from eternal death) is freely given through the Living Waters of who Messiah Jesus is and what he has done. It’s available to God’s chosen people the Jews, also to Gentiles. The first mention of such a living fountain is when Jesus graciously spoke with the Samaritan woman (part Jew, part Gentile … whom Jews despised and vice versa) at the well.

“…Jesus said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’

“…She said to Jesus, ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?’

“Jesus replied, ‘If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.’

‘But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket … and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?’

“Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.’

‘Please sir … give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water’” (John 4:7-15).

A short time later, the Samaritan woman would realize that she would still need to draw water from the well, but only to quench her physical thirst. Her eternal thirst for spiritual cleansing through thirst-quenching salvation leading to eternal life would forever be satisfied. Reading on:

“Jesus replied, ‘Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.’

“The woman said, ‘I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’

“Then Jesus told her, ‘I AM the Messiah!’” (John 4:21-26).

Obviously, the Samaritan woman didn’t at first realize that Jesus was talking about eternal life-giving spiritual water, which is infinitely more lasting than physical water, as important as the elements (H2O) are to sustain life. Which is why she referred to ropes, buckets, and the physical well dug by Jacob long ago. No different than all the ropes and buckets we use to draw what we think is the satisfying source of life’s necessities and pleasures from man-made religions and philosophies. And/or by indulgent pursuit of material gratifications—systems and sources of all kinds that can never quench the innate thirst and hunger in our hearts. Things that will imprison us in and poison us with polluted waters of self-righteousness and stagnant self-reliance that make us totally independent of God, who alone can cleanse and free us from the stain and penalty of sin.

“The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent’” (I Corinthians 1:18-19).

Manna from Heaven

We’ve all read or seen or heard factual and fictional accounts of people dying from hunger and thirst. Books and movies are full of (mostly near-death) these episodes. Except for the excruciating death on a cross (the word excruciating comes from cross), experienced by our Lord and Savior (shortened because of the savage whipping he received by the Romans before being nailed to the cross), I can’t imagine a more horrific death than from thirst or starvation.

We pamper ourselves with food and drink as much or more than any other need or want. For many that’s pretty much what life is all about. We wouldn’t dream of withholding either from our daily existence, nor would we tolerate for a minute someone else who would deprive us of either.

Naturally, food and water are essentials of life. Without them, we die. Which is why Jesus also (in addition to living waters) utilized the analogy of food to illustrate the supreme need for spiritual sustenance. Without which, we also die … eternally.

The day after Jesus miraculously fed five thousand men (along with woman and children which would have doubled or tripled the number), many in that crowd hopped in their boats to look for Jesus on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had earlier slipped away from the crowd without his disciples. Later that night Jesus walked on water toward his disciples who were frantically trying to cross the lake during a fierce storm. Two mighty miracles in less than 24 hours!

Let’s pick it up with a question from the crowd when they found Jesus.

“…Rabbi, when did you get here?”

*Note: It was a reasonable question followed by (as we shall soon see) an unreasonable demand. It’s like, Okay, what’s with this … your disciples got here in a boat and we also got here in boats. But you didn’t take a boat!

The walking on water miracle was between Jesus and his disciples, so he didn’t answer the crowd’s question. Jesus often did this; a response that got to the heart of the matter, exceedingly more perceptive and profound than answering the question at hand. And almost always, it was a matter of directing people’s attention to the miracle of who Jesus is (God Incarnate … Messiah Savior), not just the miracles he performed.

“Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.’

“They replied, ‘We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?’

“Jesus told them, ‘This is the only work God wants from you. Believe in the one he has sent.’

(*Note: Jesus’s answer constitutes the universal fundamental difference between the Christian faith and ALL man-made religions, cults, and philosophical systems).

“They answered, ‘Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! … Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat’” (John 6:25-31).

*Time out!

Seriously? They insisted on a “miraculous sign” a day after they and thousands of others had been stuffed with all the fish and bread they could eat (including leftovers) with only five small loaves of bread and two fish at the Lord’s disposal. The smallest of restaurants would become multi-million-dollar corporations with that kind of food and its preparation! Come to think of it: Farmers and fishermen wouldn’t do so well!

What if Jesus had looked up to heaven (Mark 6 … another gospel account of the feeding of the five thousand) in response to their demand? Only this time, instead of blessing the food (thereby multiplying it exponentially), he brought down huge lightning bolts that struck the ground. And before that he told them to stand still; if they moved they would be struck by lightning. Of course, some panicked and moved. (“Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings. O Israel, if you would only listen to me!” Psalm 81:8).

Or what if he had thrown his staff to the ground like Aaron did before Pharaoh? Only this time, the staff broke into hundreds of pieces, and each piece became a poisonous snake!

(After Ten Mighty Miracles (plagues), That Smirk on Pharaoh’s Face Was Gone)

As the saying goes: Be careful what you wish for…. Better yet: What more proof to you need?

Wouldn’t a miracle of love and compassion that fed so many with so little food (to begin with) be as equally convincing and so much better than a miraculous sign that might terrify them. Like God speaking in a thunderous voice from Mt. Sinai, prompting the people’s panicked plea for Moses to (please) make God stop it.

Continuing in the text, it’s clear that Jesus ignored their demand for a miraculous sign. Knowing full well the problem was not with their eyes, but with their heart.

“Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’

‘Sir,’ they said, ‘give us that bread every day.’ (*Note—sound like the woman at the well regarding water?).

“Jesus replied, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:32-35).

He then said, “For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day” (Verse 40).

For those who have never seen Jesus in the flesh, yet believe in him, Jesus said to Thomas (and all the disciples in that poignant scene when Thomas doubted that Jesus had risen from the dead):

“You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me” (John 20:29).

Scripture also tells us there’s a way to see him without seeing him.

To see is to believe, and to believe is to see. Right? Of course, right!

Birth and Rebirth

In addition to water and food, Jesus also used the illustration of birth to explain that life is more than just time on this earth. Life is eternal; where and with whom we spend that eternity depends entirely on another birth. A second birth that Jesus said was from above, of the Holy Spirit.

“Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

Then, “Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So, don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again’” (John 3:6-7).

In that same amazing scene with the Jewish religious leader Nicodemus, Jesus went on to say how we are born again and the result thereof:

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

A new birth which gives us a potent position (inheritance) in the family of God. One that assures the precious privilege of everlasting life with our Awesome Creator in the Kingdom of God.

During the wilderness temptation attack against Jesus—who as the Son of Man was extremely hungry and thirsty—Satan said, “…If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.

“But Jesus told him, ‘No! The Scriptures say, People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:3-4, quoting Deuteronomy 8:3).

God’s Word(s) is found in the Bible, which also tells us about His Son, the Messiah—the Living Word (John 1:1).

Not the Koran, not the Book of Mormon, not Jehovah Witness pamphlets, not Roman Catholic catechism, or any so-called sacred writings of other religions. They all say that people must earn God’s favor. Instead, the Bible presents God’s Grace imparted through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son … doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Making us right with God! Because we have no righteousness of our own.

“We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind” (Isaiah 64:6).

“For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are … We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with underserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood…” (Romans 3:20-25).

Sadly, so many remain spiritually hungry and thirsty, a hunger and thirst that will result in spiritual death throughout eternity. All the while accumulating anything and everything they think will bring them happiness and satisfaction, by drinking deeply from a fountain of youth.

They will be born only once, but tragically will die twice.

“If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” (Matthew 16:25-26).

*It doesn’t get any worse than that.

Thanks be to God. Those who accept Jesus as personal Savior will be born twice but die only once. Isn’t birth so much better than death?

“…And because of his (Messiah-Jesus) experience (death and resurrection for our life-giving forgiveness), my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins” (Isaiah 53:11, parenthesis mine).

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23, italics for emphasis).

*It doesn’t get any better than that!

Things to Ponder

Today’s article is posted on March 31st, 2018. Tomorrow, millions upon millions will celebrate Resurrection Day.

Just before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he said: “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die (the Second Death). Do you believe this, Martha?” (John 11:25-26).

Do you believe Jesus? Do you believe IN Jesus?

The tomb where Jesus was buried is EMPTY.

Said the angels to the women who came to the tomb taking all the spices they had prepared: “…Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead!” (Luke 24:5-6).

Just what kind of miracle do we need to believe? Or how many spectacular signs? Does resurrection from the dead qualify?! Not just a resurrection in which the person must die again while on earth, as did Lazarus and a handful of others as recorded in Scripture. Rather, an ad-infinitum resurrection in an imperishable body that will live forever. Christ was the first. Those who believe in him will follow:

“…For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died (believers in Christ) will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed … into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:

‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’

“For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 15:52-57, parenthesis mine).

Why keep searching for fountains that will never satisfy. Enticing, but deceptive fountains that contaminate our body, soul, and spirit. Fountains that poison us with alluring pleasures, prestige, power, and possessions. Soon dried up temporary fountains that blind us to eternity.

Instead, believe the Lord: “With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation!” (Isaiah 12:3).

“…No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” (I Corinthians 2:9).

Fountain of Youth & Fountain of Life. Same or different?

As for me, I will continue to drink from the Fountain of Living Waters.

Because:

He has risen! He has risen, indeed!

Biblical Terms Not in the Bible … Are They Biblical?

10 Saturday Mar 2018

Posted by garybowers in The Rapture

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The Importance of Defining Terms

No matter what language people speak, many have thought, heard, said, or paraphrased: “Actions speak louder than words.”

Sometimes actions or non-verbal reactions cheapen and even contradict what we say. However, without words we wouldn’t be able to fully express what we’re thinking or adequately explain what we’re doing. Or even articulate, Actions speak louder than words.

Language, especially a well-defined term, conveys processed meaning to our thoughts and transfers ideas into action. They are vital if we are to distinguish one (world) view from another, then communicate those differences or similarities with as much clarity as possible. Synonyms and antonyms can help with this clarification. Words we use in everyday life express our beliefs (and opinions), explain our actions, and expound our feelings. However, even obvious opposites like right and wrong or good and evil require a fixed reference point, which is absolute truth. A truth that originates from the God who created us, the God who Is Truth … truth that transcends human subjectivity, preferences, and man-made religions.

One thing I’ve always found intriguing (also logical) is that Webster’s Dictionary defines the words define and definition. You would think those words wouldn’t need to be defined! But they are, after all, words; and all words should be defined to some extent or another.

One of the more serious global problems that generates misunderstanding and dissension is that people don’t define terms properly, or at all. Or they arbitrarily make up their own definitions based on belief systems that, for example, deny and defy and, therefore, twist the true source of objective universal truth—the Bible. Which is why Scripture says:

Define: “1 a: to fix or mark the limits of. b: to make distinct, clear, or detailed in outline. 2 a: to determine or identify the essential qualities or meaning” (Webster’s Dictionary).

Definition: “1: an act of determining. 2: a word or phrase expressing the essential nature of a person or thing … 4 a: the action or the power of describing, explaining, or making definite and clear” (Webster’s Dictionary).

Thus, if the term being defined is a clear (objective) expression of the subject being described or explained, then the term must be given definitive significance as accurately representing the essential nature of the person or thing.

Most terms originate secondarily from the need to summarize or categorize or explain people, events, beliefs, and actions.

For instance: Long before the identifying labels of Republicans and Democrats were coined and became mainstream in the United States (and equivalent political groups in other countries), there were capitalists and socialists, conservatives and liberals, right and left. Which also are concept terms to explain fundamental differences between people’s political, economic, and social persuasions. We don’t question the creation or use of Republican and Democrat, even though these terms are generally condensed categorizations of more specific belief systems.

On the other hand, there are those who question and even criticize some Christian expressions (beliefs), especially if the term itself is not actually found in the Bible. Most theological terminology is specifically identified in Scripture, usually as a component part of the word or phrase describing the doctrinal (that which is being taught) truth itself.

For example: Justification, Sanctification, and Glorification … expressing the three separate and sequential components of God’s Biblical salvation. Which respectively represent and are defined (paraphrasing) as: Salvation through a new birth in Christ; set apart to grow in the grace and knowledge of Messiah Jesus; the glorious transfiguration of believers with new bodies to complete our redemption.

There are also:

Terms Not Found in the Bible That Are Nonetheless Biblical

We’ll look at the most prominent and extensively used terms. Though these four designations are not found in Scripture, they are credible characterizations of several passages that express the existence and state the substance of what the terms represent. They are: The Trinity; The Rapture; The Millennium; and Eternity.

Note: the word eternity is used in Scripture, but in the broader generic sense of eternal, everlasting, or infinity. Contrasted to the specific theological concept of a (the) designated age which is called, Eternity.

The Trinity

As already emphasized but bears repetition in the context of terms representing the existence or essence of someone or something; just because the word Trinity does not appear in Scripture doesn’t mean that God is not one God in three Persons. Another term used is: The Godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The triune God is directly and indirectly featured in both New & Old Testaments. Directly, for example, in the scene of Messiah Jesus’s baptism.

Said John the Baptist:

“… I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him. I didn’t know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that he is the Chosen One of God” (John 1:32-34).

Also, with Jesus’s direct reference to the Father, Son (himself), and Holy Spirit in what is commonly called, The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Which is another term not actually found in Scripture used to define a precept which is explicitly explained … the urgent need to spread the (Good News) Gospel of Messiah Jesus to the entire world.

There are other instances in the New Testament in which Jesus refers to himself as the Son of God, the Son of Man (meaning the Messiah), with testimonials to his Father (God) and to the Holy Spirit as a Person (of the Trinity).

The Trinity is indirectly, but just as convincingly found in the Old Testament … in the very first chapter of the Bible! Here, I would like to refer to the following excerpt from Eye of Prophecy article, Does God Really Have a Son? Part II, posted 11-7-15. (In italics):

Read with me one of the most powerful but provocative (primarily to Judaism) passages in all of Scripture:

“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.’ (Genesis 1:26, NASB, italics for emphasis). Not once, not twice, but three times God refers to himself in the plural…. Jewish and Gentile Christians alike often refer to this incredible creation account to further affirm the New Testament references to Messiah Jesus and the Holy Spirit as part of the Triune God … The Godhead. That all Three in One were active in creation of man in their image.

Jewish scholars attempt to refute this obvious fact by saying that the plural (we, us) was sometimes employed by kings or other royalty to denote majesty. Whereas that is true with regard to some historical records, it is rarely true of Scripture. Almost always the kings of Israel spoke in the first person, as does God, himself. It would take considerable research (of which time doesn’t permit for this article) to determine how many times, if any, that the Lord uses We or Us when speaking to his prophets, but I can safely summarize that at least ninety-nine percent of the time, the singular pronoun is utilized.

…Up front, the Lord wants us to understand that He is the one and only God, but that He is also a Triune God. Don’t ask me or any Bible scholar to adequately explain that. It is simply too much for the human mind to grasp. But since when does human intellect alone fully explain even half of the mysteries of the universe, let alone the inscrutable concept of a Triune God. We haven’t even yet figured out gravity. We know that it exists only because it must exist to explain why heavenly bodies stay where they are and why we don’t go spinning off into space. We know gravity exists only because of what it does. We have no clue where it came from, any more than we know where wind originates.

There are analogies like the sun: God the Father is the sun itself; God the Son is the light of the sun; God the Spirit is the rays of the sun. Or the three forms of water … liquid, solid, and gas. But they are inadequate metaphors. I think the closest we can come to at least a limited understanding of this otherwise unfathomable paradigm is ourselves: The body, soul, and spirit … indivisible yet separate facets of (a human) being.

In fact, when God refers to his plurality in the Genesis account of creation, he relates to the creation of man in God’s image.

I’m sorry, but it is an extremely weak argument to suggest that the plurality of God in the Genesis account is merely a way of God underscoring his majesty. In fact, the Lord doesn’t need to stress his majesty at all, as it’s all too apparent by the very fact that he is the Creator.

The Holy Spirit (or Spirit of God) is also declared throughout the Old Testament. And, as extensively explained in the article quoted, Psalm 2 and Psalm 110 specifically refer to God’s Son. I also discussed this in last week’s article, Melchizedek … A Man of Mystery!

The Rapture

This extraordinary event is questioned even by some Christians; based, in part, on the absence of the term, Rapture, in the Bible. Once again, I trust that the introduction to this week’s article would cause concession to the (obvious) fact that a term can be justifiably created to encapsulate something; the label of which is otherwise not found in preceding books or articles or whatever.

Another example: Populist and Globalist are relatively new tags to describe those who champion the voice of the people and/or national sovereignty vs. those who would like to see international amalgamation of (at least continental) nations, such as the diehard proponents of the European Union. Literature and speeches about these opposites pre-existed the coined terms that subsequently consolidated and characterized what Populists and Globalists believe.

Time/space doesn’t permit elaboration on the two primary Bible passages that dramatically depict this glorious event which includes resurrection and transfiguration of the dead in Christ and those believers alive at the time, to our new eternal bodies. Then the snatching or catching up (harpazo in the Greek) of believers to heaven. They are found in I Thessalonians 4 and I Corinthians 15. Those who deny the Rapture, ignore or feebly explain away these two amazing prophetic passages.

(See Eye of Prophecy article, The Tremendous Transfiguration of Believers! Posted 7-23-16. Also, The Shout Heard Around the World, posted 4-22-17; along with Messiah’s Return & The Rapture (Same or Separate Events?) Posted 12-3-16. If you like, also refer to the very first Eye of Prophecy article, posted in July 2013, simply entitled, What Is the Rapture? Followed successively by four more articles on the Rapture … Why, Who, When, and How).

However, I will cite one passage, which is the first reference to the Rapture given to us by Jesus, himself. Our Lord prefaced this remarkable disclosure by saying that the episode would happen abruptly. That the world would be doing the same things that people were doing in Noah’s time, just before the Great Flood swept them away.

“That night two people will be asleep in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour together at the mill; one will be taken, the other left” (Luke 17:34-35).

The Millennium

In this and the next section (Eternity) of today’s article, we’ll focus on what is probably the most difficult feature of prophecy to ascertain: distinguishing which activities will occur and what conditions will exist in these two distinct future ages. These differences are particularly challenging to pinpoint in the Old Testament. Is the prophet referring to the New Testament revelations (which are much easier to identify) of the Millennium or to Eternity that follows the Millennium?

As indicated, the term Millennium or Millennial is also not found in the Bible. However, it’s (future 1000-year) existence is just as real as the Trinity, the Rapture, and Eternity.

Although Millennium and Eternity are (should be) capitalized when referring to them as Biblical creeds, they are used as much or more often generically in the lower case … millennium and eternity. Likewise, with rapture. Not so with Trinity—which is employed exclusively for the triune (unified) existence of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In fact, when referring to the Biblical concepts and actual terms of Trinity, Rapture, and Millennium, each should be prefaced with the definite article, the.

Eternity can stand alone without the definite article, but the better way (which hardly anyone does, including me) would be to say or write, The Age of Eternity.

Most know what millennium or millennial means. Just like year, decade, and century; a millennium is a measurement of time. There are two basic definitions of millennium in Webster’s Dictionary, beginning with the most obvious: “a period of 1000 years.”

However, the Biblical concept of the Millennium is so well-known that Webster’s acknowledges it with a second part to the definition: “the thousand years mentioned in Revelation 20 during which holiness is to prevail and Christ is to reign on earth … a period of great happiness or human perfection.”

What about the last part of this definition? Will it be a time of great happiness or human perfection?

Let’s see what Scripture tells us.

Before we look at the actual (found only in the book of Revelation) Biblical reference to the Millennium, we need to know that this one-thousand-year period is a chronological continuation of the preceding events in Revelation. Also, with understanding of certain events which are parenthetical interludes that temporarily interrupt the chronology of (for example) the consecutive seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments. Yet both sets of events (interludes and sequential) culminate with Messiah’s final triumphant return to earth to vanquish “the kings of the world and their armies” (Revelation 19:19).

Then, the Millennium is introduced in Chapter 20 by listing (defining) the parameter of time involved. From Chapter 20 to the end of Revelation, we return to a consecutive (chronological) chain of events.

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand. He seized the dragon—that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years. The angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so Satan could not deceive the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished. Afterward he must be released for a little while” (Revelation 20:1-3).

(Regarding the above passage, you might want to read Eye of Prophecy articles, Satan in Bodily Form … When & Why, Part I & II, posted 11-12 & 11-19-16)

(One Of Several Depictions of Satan Being Bound; Not Only Is The 1000 Years Literal, So Is the Chain and Satan in Bodily Form)

There are four more citations (a total of six altogether) in Revelation 20 of this specific one-thousand-year period. Such as: “Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection (at the Rapture and again when the Tribulation Saints are raised). For them the second death holds no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6, parenthesis mine).

Despite six distinct references to a thousand years, there are those who think that the Millennium is merely symbolic of … of who knows what—perhaps a long, indefinite period which may or may not last for a thousand years. For the following reasons (and more), that simply cannot be the case; the 1000 years are as literal as they can be.

– The overstatement fact that the thousand years is mentioned six times in just seven verses is a contextual and comprehension emphasis that this is a literal span of time. It’s like, “Do you get it?” Response: “It’s repeated so often, how could I not?”

– To enhance the intended meaning of a literal period, the last reference states: “When the thousand years comes to an end, Satan will be let out of his prison” (Revelation 7:20, italics for emphasis).

– If the Millennium was merely metaphorical, John would have said something to the effect of, “a long time” or possibly “at the appointed time.” Or, “in the distant future,” a phrase found in Ezekiel 38:8.

– The 1000 years is as literal as other time-dedicated prophecies in Scripture. Such as: Seven days from the completion of Noah’s ark to the onset of the rain; 400 years (four generations) span of Israel’s time in Egypt before the Exodus; Israelites wandering in the wilderness for 40 years; all of the weekly, monthly, and annual God-ordained observances and festivals of the Mosaic Law; the 70-year Babylonian captivity; Daniel’s 490 years (70 weeks) and even more specifically the 69 weeks (483 years) from the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls to the arrival of Messiah, then the final week (seven years) which is the time of the Tribulation; Jesus’s three days/nights in the tomb.

– The list goes on. All Bible prophecies are of vital significance. But there are some in which the Lord wants us to know the duration or intervals, to realize when they will occur and/or how long they will last. It’s a bonus to the blessings of trusting God’s control of the future by comprehending the actual duration of the event. That the dynamics of these specified periods will not continue indefinitely, as God’s magnificent plan for humanity has unfolded and will continue to unfold in set periods of time … most of them quantified in Scripture.

Personally, I (and hopefully you and others) continue to be amazed at how much information and details the Lord has given us throughout Scripture … past, present, and future. In a world bloated with facts but lean on wisdom and the desire of so many to know the future, why not look to the One who holds the future in his hands. Who is everlasting to everlasting and knows the end from the beginning. The One who IS the beginning and end. The God who created time itself. As some have said: Don’t look to the stars and planets, look to the One who created them.

Activities in and Conditions of the Millennium

Even before Revelation Chapter 20 tells us about the one-thousand years (hence, the term Millennium), the Gospels and Epistles provide fascinating footage of this exceptional age. (I chose the term footage to pictorially represent what Biblical prophecy is and does. When it’s played as it comes to pass, it’s like watching film footage of the taped recorded prophecy itself).

In fact, Messiah Jesus’s entire Sermon on the Mount (Matthew Chapters 5-7) depicts the dynamic interpersonal relationships of those on earth living in the Kingdom of God, which will be ushered in during the Millennium. A kingdom that would have been established during Jesus’s First Advent if his people had only recognized and accepted him as their Messiah.

God knew this would happen. All praise and everlasting gratitude that our Omniscient, Omnipotent God had already created and subsequently carried out his magnificent plan of redemption through the rejection, crucifixion, and (of course) resurrection of His Son. The Lord circumvented and controverted the diabolical scheme of Satan and the evil of those who carried out the devil’s plans.

How fitting that the Millennium begins with Satan’s imprisonment in the Abyss. As we also read earlier, believers in Christ will “reign with him a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:6).

Before that we read: “Then I saw thrones, and the people sitting on them had been given the authority to judge…” (Verse 4).

(See Eye of Prophecy article, The Magnificent Millennial Reign of Believers with Messiah, posted 7-15-17)

What about Old Testament allusions to the Millennium? Can we identify them? If so, can we separate them from those conditions exclusively found in and during Eternity? Yes, we can … most of the time!

The most prominent clues are Old Testament references to Messiah himself. Time/space will only permit examination of two passages. However, you’ll find a generic template that will fit other Millennial passages, particularly in the context of Israel’s spiritual redemption and physical restoration that will take place during the transition between the Great Tribulation and the Millennium. A final restoration that will be completed in the early phase of the Millennium as depicted in such passages as Zechariah Chapters 12 & 14. With Chapter 14 also containing one of the amazing features of Eternity (verses 6-7).

All Old Testament end-times prophecies fall into one of four time-dedicated stages: The final generation pre-Rapture events (100 years on up); post-Rapture (seven-year Tribulation); the Millennium; and Eternity.

First Passage … Isaiah Chapter 11

Let’s begin with a (partial) quotation of a passage discussed in Eye of Prophecy article, Messiah’s Millennial Reign … Incredible Changes on Earth, posted 12-30-17.

“In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all … The lion will eat hay like a cow … The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra…” (Isaiah 11:6-8).

(Most Depictions Show a Lion and a Lamb, But It Is Actually the Wolf and the Lamb. It Is the Calf That Will Be Safe With the Lion. With the Obvious Implication That All Animals, Both Wild and Domestic, Will Cohabit Together)

Such a radical change in the animal kingdom is nothing short of astonishing. Will this take place during the Millennium or not until Eternity begins?

For that matter, what’s the benefit of knowing in which age such a remarkable transformation (and others) will occur? There are other reasons (you may have one or more of your own), but here is one answer to the question just posed: In addition to the thrill of knowing when, there is (should be) now—and will be during the Millennium—an appreciation that the Lord will do certain things in the specified 1000 years to meet and exceed our expectations (and satisfy our curiosity) while we are being prepared for Eternity. That is one of the outstanding benefits of many prophecies fulfilled during the Millennium (others waiting for Eternity): to validate one of the most well-known passages of Scripture.

“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity…” (I Corinthians 13:12).

It’s possible that the section dealing with the incredible changes in and between the animal kingdom and human beings might not begin until after the Millennium. However, like most Bible passages (not all, as some sub-passages can stand alone), context will determine the best application and greater understanding.

Isaiah 11 begins with a Messianic prophecy: “Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—yes, a new Branch… And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding…” (Isaiah 11:1-2a).

Then, “…The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked” (Verse 4b). See Revelation 19:11-21 for final fulfillment of this prophecy.

Next is the sub-passage quoted earlier: “In that day the wolf and lamb…” (Verse 6).

Followed by: “In that day the heir to David’s throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to him, and the land where he lives will be a glorious place. In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to bring back the remnant of his people…. He will gather the scattered people of Judah from the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 11:10-12).

The passage on the animal kingdom is tucked between and intricately linked to the coming of Messiah (first for salvation, then for judgment and restoration), which includes the final gathering of Jews, from the ends of the earth.

Although the return of God’s chosen people to Israel began substantially after the rebirth of Israel in 1948 and is continuing to this very day, Isaiah’s prophecy, including the complete return of the Jews, won’t be fulfilled until Messiah (Jesus), “will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to him, and the land where he lives will be a glorious place” (Verse 10). And as stated in verse 9: “…so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord.”

It’s quite evident that these things won’t happen in finality until the Millennium; if for no other reason than the passage states, “the land where he (Messiah) lives.” Meaning, of course, when Christ returns to rule and reign from Jerusalem for one thousand years (Revelation 20).

Thus, with a good deal of certainty, we can conclude that the disposition of animals toward each other and towards people will be dramatically altered during the Millennium, most likely on a gradual basis.

Second Passage … Isaiah Chapter 2

“In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all—the most important place on earth … and people from all over the world will stream there to worship … There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion … The Lord will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into plowshares … Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore” (Isaiah 2:2-4).

Although the Messiah isn’t mentioned in this passage directly (as Messiah), the implication is as clear as Isaiah Chapter 11 … that “the Lord” is (the triune) God; but specifically, in the context of this passage—the Messiah (God’s Son). His sovereignty over the nations in Isaiah 2 (and other passages like it) can be equated to both Psalm 2 and Psalm 110, which explain how God’s Son will rule the nations. During the Millennium, world leaders and nations will know that it’s best to seek his counsel, rather than fighting among themselves to resolve conflicts. In fact, Messiah (Jesus) himself will settle disputes.

Does this passage and other Millennial passages like it mean—referring to Webster’s definition quoted earlier—that the (entire) Millennium will be a time of great happiness or human perfection?

No, it doesn’t nor, will it be. Which is why Messiah Jesus will rule with fairness and justice, but with tough love.

(As will believers reigning with Christ also, “…rule the nations with an iron rod… (Revelation 2:27)

As wonderful as the Millennium will be—exponentially better than the world has ever been or is now—this “rod of iron” imagery (fair but firm) wouldn’t be necessary if everything was picture perfect.

An example of the Lord’s need to discipline peoples and nations during what is clearly the Millennium is conveyed in the following passage:

“In the end, the enemies of Jerusalem who survive the plague (referring directly to the last days of the Tribulation period) will go up to Jerusalem each year to worship the King (Messiah), the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and to celebrate the Festival of Shelters. Any nation in the world that refuses to come to Jerusalem to worship the King … will have no rain” (Zechariah 14:16-17, parenthesis mine).

Some things will be immediately so much better than before; not the least of which is no more war.

Other things will improve more gradually. But then matters will begin to get worse toward the end of the Millennium, because many people will have reverted back to form, even without Satan’s influence and even with the very presence of Christ on earth. Which sadly testifies to the degenerate nature of men and women who refuse the heart-changing redemptive regeneration through Messiah’s salvation. Unlike man-made religions, the Lord never has and never will force anyone to “convert.” Messiah Jesus will be visibly present on earth during the Millennium yet believing and receiving him as Lord and Savior will still be a matter of personal choice.

We know this to be the case because many have already begun their rebellion toward the end of the thousand years. For this reason and to finally usher in Eternity, the Lord will release Satan from the Abyss to:

“…gather them together for battle—a mighty army, as numberless as sand along the seashores. And I saw them as they went up on the board plain of the earth and surrounded God’s people and the beloved city. But fire from heaven came down on the attacking armies and consumed them. Then the devil, who had deceived them (into thinking they could defy and defeat Messiah), was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:8-10, parenthesis mine).

It’s one thing to personally reject God’s grace and mercy offered through trust in and obedience to Messiah Jesus. God deals with that choice individually. It’s quite another thing to organize a vast army and dare to take on the Kingdom of God by vainly trying to conquer “God’s people and the beloved city (Jerusalem).” The Lord deals with that on a much greater scale.

Rebellion over, crushed before it barely began!

Eternity

Before Eternity begins, there will be one last monumental event at the end of the Millennium. It’s called the Great White Throne judgment of God, a term found in the passage. All those from the beginning of time who died without trusting in God and refusing to exercise simple faith to believe and receive God’s salvation (accomplished through the past, present, and future efficacy of Messiah’s redemptive sacrifice), will be judged and, “thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:14 … all of verses 11-15).

Then, the very next chapter of Revelation continues the order of events with what is clearly the beginning of Eternity.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth … and the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven … I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, ‘Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.’

“And the one sitting on the throne said, ‘Look, I am making everything new!’” (Revelation 21:1-5a).

Some key phrases in this passage: all these things are gone forever. Look, I am making everything new!

Eternity has begun!

Here, the Lord is referred to as God … Elohim in Hebrew (plural). Messiah Jesus will have already been on earth for 1000 years. Now, God (the Father … the “one on the throne”) will dwell among people of the (new) earth, also in heaven. Just like he did with his Shekinah glory in the Tabernacle and Temple. Thus, one similarity between the Millennium and Eternity is that of Immanuel—God with us. Only during eternity (Eternity) it will be the Trinity dwelling among God’s people. But there will be no more death or sorrow or pain, which will still exist during the Millennium.

And from the new Jerusalem (the heavenly city of God that will hover above the new earth), there will be:

“…a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb…. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.

“No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him” (Revelation 22:1-3).

Things to Ponder

A few Old Testament prophecies are sweeping in scope, encompassing the Tribulation, the Millennium, and Eternity in a single chapter or passage. Some things that begin in the Millennium will continue throughout Eternity, but not all. The more you study them, the better you’ll become at matching them to the Millennium or Eternity. Including which passages apply to the Tribulation period of the Day of the Lord.

Tribulation: Another term (capital “T”) coined to identify and condense into one word all events of the seven-year treaty orchestrated by the Antichrist.

Everlasting life (eternity in the lower case), is given to us the moment we accept Messiah Jesus as personal Savior. When born-again believers die (Jew and Gentile alike), their spirit instantly goes to heaven to be with the triune God … the Trinity.

Those believers still alive when the Day of the Lord begins, as well as those who have already died in Christ, will be transformed into new (spiritual) bodies and “caught up” to heaven … the Rapture.

At the end of the Great Tribulation, believers will begin our participation in and with the majestic reign of our Lord and Savior, Messiah Jesus for one-thousand years … the Millennium.

Then, all things will be made new, even the heavens and the earth. Believers and all these new things will live forever, to infinity and beyond … Eternity.

It simply doesn’t get any better than that!

 

Messiah’s Millennial Reign … Incredible Changes on Earth

30 Saturday Dec 2017

Posted by garybowers in The Rapture

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“The wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat hay like a cow…” (Isaiah 65:25).

Hold that thought … we’ll get back to it.

Meanwhile, it’s that time of the year. So shout it out: Happy New Year!

Cherishing and celebrating the Savior’s (Christmas) birthday or not, one week later many of us look forward to a new year. Whether a person’s year begins on January 1st (for most of the world), or the 1st day of Tishrei (Jewish calendar), there’s something about a new year that seems to renew or continue our hope for a meaningful life, and rekindle aspirations for a finer world with some measure of peace. People still make resolutions (some seriously) to be a better person to themselves and others.

Longing for better days ahead is enhanced in multiples of ten, then hundreds, and even thousands. A new decade for years that end in zero—with the average life expectancy in most nations of the world allowing many to see eight, nine, or even ten decades in their lifetime. Some actually experience the beginning of a new century, or have lived for a century or more. However, the human race has undergone only a few transitions from one millennium to another. Including our generation! We have witnessed the first number of the calendar switch from 1 to 2!

Epochs (millennia) of time don’t necessarily take place precisely on the Gregorian calendar year ending with three zeros. Nonetheless, the pivotal milestones of God’s interaction with man—as recorded in the Bible and documented by secular history—in accomplishing his plans for the human race are pretty close to those millennial markers.

For example: God chose Abraham as the progenitor of the Jewish race—through whom the Child of Promise would come to save both Jew and Gentile—around 2,000 B.C., the third millennium. From the tribe of Judah through the lineage of King David, Messiah would descend; David ruled as Israel’s greatest king from 1010 to 970 B.C. … onset of the fourth millennium.

Two thousand years ago marked the fifth millennium of recorded human history, when the miraculous birth of Jesus changed time itself. The number five in Scripture represents God’s grace. And that’s exactly what happened: the advent of the New Covenant of Grace foretold by Jeremiah (Chapter 31). God’s grace through the gift of his Son Messiah Jesus, who died to forgive sin and pardon the penalty of our sins—eternal separation from God. And God only requires one thing of us: to believe and receive the substitutionary death of His Son as the Gospel truth.

Very close to a thousand years after King David, “The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:11) was born in Bethlehem. Just a few years and months before the world-changing birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, many Jews brimmed with enthusiasm for Messiah’s arrival. That same Messianic fervor—for believers the Second Coming; for non-Messianic Jews, Messiah’s first arrival—has exploded all over the world once again.

(See Eye of Prophecy articles, Great Expectations for Messiah and Amazing Anticipation for Messiah. Posted 8-8-15 & 8-29-15. Also refer to, The World Wants a Messiah … But It Needs (The) Messiah, posted 1-28-17).

Beginning with the estimated time when God created Adam and Eve (using the Roman, then Gregorian calendar), we became part of the 7th millennium in the year 2,000. Seven, the Divine Number found throughout Scripture constitutes the conclusiveness, completeness, and providential sovereignty of God’s interaction with his creation. Beginning with the Lord setting aside the 7th day as a day of rest, remembrance, and recognition of our awesome God and his majestic creation.

The year 2,000 was also the beginning of the third millennium (A.D.). Which is a meaningful milestone correlation to the fact that Messiah Jesus arose from the grave on the third day.

The Apostle Peter reminded us:

I’m convinced that this one-day-to-a-thousand years model is not only a symbolic comparison, but also a literal time-measurement of and connection to the third-day resurrection of Messiah and his soon glorious return (in this 3rd Millennium A.D, also the 7th Millennium overall).

The second Millennium (marked by the year 1000) and sixth overall, was a continuation of the Age of Grace. Six represents the number of man. In the same passage we just looked at, Peter provides the reason why the Lord might (in the 1st century) have delayed his return—explained by the one day/thousand-year paradigm.

“The Lord isn’t really slow about his promise (to return to the earth), as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent” (II Peter 3:9, parenthesis mine).

But now the time has come. We are almost eighteen years into the Third Millennium A.D. End-time prophecy is being fulfilled or is unfolding in the 20th & 21st centuries in unparalleled fashion since the first century. (See Eye of Prophecy articles, Look Up … Redemption Is Near, Part I & II. Posted 7-11 & 7-18-15, for twelve Biblical prophetic signs occurring in the last 100 years).

Imminent Arrival of the (Lord’s) New World Order

This new world order (not the kind that man-made conspiracies are made of) begins with the Rapture of believers; followed by the greatest time of death and destruction the world will ever experience, culminating with the triumphant return of Christ at the end of this disastrous seven years. (See Eye of Prophecy article, Shocking Statistics of the Great Tribulation, published 6-6-15).

Whatever time of year that Messiah returns to earth, the following year will bring a whole new meaning to Happy New Year.

There will be the need for only one all-encompassing resolution, which is expressed in many ways throughout Scripture. And that will be to acknowledge the Lord when he says: “For my people will serve the Lord their God and their king descended from David—the king I will raise up for them” (Jeremiah 30:9).

Although that passage is directed to Israel regarding her last day’s restoration, it will also extend to the whole world, because salvation comes through the Jewish Messiah (Jesus) to the Jew first, then to the Gentile (Romans 1:16).

“Now if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it” (Romans 11:12).

No matter what year it takes place—2018, 2019, 2020, or soon thereafter—it will be the beginning of the glorious one-thousand year reign of Messiah Jesus on earth. He will usher in a remarkable era of righteousness and justice. Whenever it begins, the 1000-year reign of Christ will finally be: Peace on earth, good will toward men.

“Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death holds no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6). See Revelation 20:11-15 for God’s Great White Throne Judgment and the second death.

Blessed, because Messiah Jesus will graciously and generously share his inheritance with believers, including the awesome privilege of reigning with him. Holy, because those who are given the incomparable benefit (through faith in Christ) to be children of God (John 1:12) will be separated just for that purpose—empowered to represent and serve our Lord all over the earth. The “first resurrection” takes place at the Rapture, and then continues with the resurrection of Tribulation Saints, many (probably most) of whom will be murdered by the Antichrist during the Tribulation. (Refer to: The Magnificent Millennial Reign of Believers with Messiah. Posted 7-15-17).

Christ, himself, will establish the Kingdom of God on earth and he will settle international quarrels, the kind that make a cold war hot. All wars will cease, even the cold ones. And the weapons of war will be no more.

(Jesus First Had to Reconcile Man to God)

“The Lord will mediate between peoples and will settle disputes between strong nations far away. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore. Everyone will live in peace and prosperity, enjoying their own grapevines and fig trees, for there will be nothing to fear. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has made this promise!” (Micah 4:3-4).

Concerning Israel: “…Then I, the Lord, will rule from Jerusalem as their king forever. As for you, Jerusalem, the citadel (capital) of God’s people, your royal might and power (as seen in the glory years of King David and Solomon … only better) will come back to you again. The kingship will be restored to my precious Jerusalem” (Micah 4:7-8, parenthesis mine).

Nothing like what Jesus will do when he returns has ever occurred in the long, painful, and all too often evil expression of the human heart throughout mankind’s sordid history. Man’s attempt to govern without acknowledging that, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12) has resulted in unimaginable misery, destruction, and death of hundreds of millions of people (by the end of the Tribulation it will be in the billions) at the hands of other human beings.

Think about it for a moment; pick a time, any time, in history. In anyone’s lifetime (using 70 years as the most common measurement of a generation) when was there peace everywhere on earth? Or even in their sphere of the world? Perhaps once or twice; even then, all too fleeting.

But one day (soon), Jesus will return to make all things right. And, oh, how different and right they will be!

Not only will the phenomenal 1,000-year government of Messiah Jesus (until the very end when God will release Satan from his imprisonment in the Abyss to lead one last rebellion … quickly crushed by God—Revelation 20) eliminate all aggression on earth, the hostility of nature itself will be a thing of the past. Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, tornadoes, and famine will be few and far between, if at all. In fact, Zechariah both states and implies that the Lord will use nature only to discipline (no rain) those nations who refuse to go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Shelters and worship the King (Zechariah 14:16-19).

It’s true: Messiah Jesus will “rule with an iron rod” (Revelation 19:15). No more or less (but with perfection) than any benevolent king would do to preserve the peace in his kingdom. But Messiah’s peace will blanket the earth during the Millennium! “His government and its peace will never end.” (Isaiah 9:7a).

Continuing with that verse, Jesus will also: “…rule with fairness and justice…” (Isaiah 9:7b).

Here is an excerpt from Eye of Prophecy article, Kingdom of God, posted 1-17-15. (In italics):

Jesus spoke often of the Kingdom of God; for example, comparing it to a mustard seed … the smallest of seeds that when planted grows into an enormous tree. Which is exactly what has happened to the body of Christ; an exponential growth down through the ages, to now consist of believers from virtually every nation and language on earth. It is the Kingdom of Heaven in the hearts and minds of those who have been redeemed by the shed blood of Christ. Next, will come the final physical Kingdom of God on this earth; at which time all people, all governments, all nations will be brought under the authority of God’s magnificent Son. He will rule the nations with firmness, but fairness.

Isn’t that what most people want? They want: law, order, equality, safety, peace. And they want someone who has the kind of authority to realize those dreams, but also someone who is kind and considerate with that authority. One who truly cares about people and what’s best for them; who can rule and judge with impartiality and kindness. A truly wise and benevolent King whose attributes perfectly reflect who and what he is: Love, Truth, Justice, Mercy.

Spiritual Bodies

Speaking to believers, the Apostle Paul discloses this powerful promise about our amazing inheritance in the Kingdom of God on earth, but also the radical reversal of the curse on nature … a direct result of our original parent’s rebellion against God.

“For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us” (Romans 8:16-23, italics for emphasis).

(Scene in Movie, Ben Hur. Charlton Heston–Playing Judah Ben Hur to the Left; Jack Hawkins–Playing Roman Naval Commander Quintis Arrius in Center. Arrius Adopted Judah Ben-Hur. Romans knew full well (as did Christians at the time) That Adoption Bestowed All the Rights of Inheritance)

Here is an excerpt from Eye of Prophecy article, Spiritual Bodies … A Contradiction of Terms? Part II (10-3-15). Beginning with Paul’s message to believers who were questioning a physical resurrection from the dead, even though that’s exactly what Christ accomplished.

“It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory … They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies” (I Corinthians 15:42-44).

…So, Paul is saying that it’s silly to think that there is no resurrection. Didn’t Christ, himself, rise from the dead? Or, once past that point of doubt, to think that we would be raised with the same earthly body in which we were born. As a result of sin, it was all too clear that our bodies grow old, deteriorate and eventually die. And why on earth would God raise us in spirit form only; when in fact he originally created us with a spirit and body to live forever… Furthermore, this everlasting life will be lived in and with a superbly superior body … a spiritual body!

Then in the final Things to Ponder portion of that article:

By and large, Scripture doesn’t elaborate on the new glorified spiritual bodies that believers in Christ will possess when the dead in Christ are raised from the dead and those alive will also be transformed and immediately follow them. Suffice to say, our spiritual bodies will far exceed anything we could imagine. Neither, however, does the Bible leave us clueless.

There is a general overview and reliable supposition that we can make about our glorified bodies: They will be multi-dimensional. How many more dimensions than we currently have is unknown for now.

But here are a few of the distinguishing characteristics:

Physical Barriers Are No Problem

We’ve already touched on this earlier in the article … Luke Chapter 24. That account is also recorded in John’s Gospel. Even after they had been told that the Lord had arisen, his disciples were still in hiding from the Jewish leaders—meeting behind closed and locked doors.

“…Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! ‘Peace be with you,’ he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side…” (John 20:19-20). Jesus didn’t knock or break down the door. He was just there! Picture entering the famous Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico without going through or down the entrance shaft.

Time and Space Are No Barriers

Remember Jesus walking with the two men on the road to Emmaus, after his resurrection. He verbally took them through all the prophetic Scriptures that spoke of him as the Messiah, then agreed to go to their home to eat dinner with them. Jesus, “…took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them … And at that moment he disappeared!” (Luke 24:30-31).

One minute he was there and the next second he was gone! Gone, as in abruptly vanishing. How long it took him to get to his next destination is not known. But a spiritual educated guess tells us it was fast, very fast. Perhaps we will be able to travel at the speed of sound, or light, or even thought.

Eating, Drinking (Presumably Sleeping) Will Still Be Possible, but Optional

Notice in the account we just looked at with the two followers of Jesus that Jesus chose not to eat. He blessed the bread, gave it to the two men, and disappeared. The very evident implication in this scene is that the seven-mile walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus followed by the time spent at the house preparing dinner and whatever else occurred would have taken several hours. The men were hungry and so could have been the Lord. But he chose not to eat most likely because he didn’t need to.

On the other hand, he ate with his disciples in the account later in Luke Chapter 24. Our spiritual bodies will be such that eating, drinking, and probably sleeping will be optional. With exception that we will periodically partake of the water of life and tree of life in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 22). Thus, we will have the pleasure of eating … who doesn’t want or like to eat! On the other hand, there are times when we just don’t want to take the trouble to eat. We will eat when we want to; won’t eat when we don’t want to!

Gravity Does Not Affect the Spiritual Body

“Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider (Jesus) was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses” (Revelation 19:11, 14).

During the final epic battle of Armageddon, believers will follow our Lord directly from heaven; with the obvious conclusion that it will be from the sky above to the earth below, all the while riding white horses. Included in all the glorious features our spiritual bodies will possess, gravity will have no power over us. Suspended animation? Any time or place we choose.

Flying fast or flying slow. Look out earth, away we go!

Back to this week’s article.

The scourge that has affected nature for thousands of years will be over; even the behavior of animals will change drastically for the better.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

I recall quoting this famous line from the Wizard of Oz once before. Why or in which article I have no clue, but it must have been for a (good) reason! It certainly fits today’s theme. Though lions and other predators prefer natural game, they have from time to time attacked people. With the advent of the gun, these and other menacing animals are not as much of a threat as they were centuries ago, especially in Biblical times. Yet even in today’s high tech arsenal of weapons, people can still find themselves, in the blink of a tiger’s eye, on the food chain.

Despite what man has done to man especially during the 18th, 19th, 20th, & 21st centuries (think the Napoleonic Wars, two World Wars including genocides, terrorism, and all of the other “lesser wars”), at least we’ve improved our disposition towards animals—a partly serious and partly cynical observation. We’ve placed some animals under protection, such as the buffalo, hump-back whale, and sea-lion; thereby, alleviating their endangered species predicament. Through excellent conservation efforts (for example, bringing wolves back to Yellowstone National Park) we’ve better balanced the (unnatural) increase in the elk population.

(American Buffalo Herd–technically Bison as opposed to the African Water Buffalo. There was truly a “slaughter” of bison in the “Wild West” reducing their numbers from the millions to about 1,000 in 1890. Today, their population is estimated to be nearly 1/2 million).

One day soon, the King of kings and Prince of Peace will return to enact his own conservation program, one that will protect and preserve human life from ruthless predators—tyrants, terrorists, corrupt leaders, and everyday murderers. And also protection from wild animals.

When Adam named all the animals, it’s apparent that none of them were “wild” to the extent of being afraid of or threatening to people. This continued to Noah’s time, as the animals were not food for each other during the twelve and a half months that Noah, his family, and the animals were on the ark. However, it’s evident that the judgment of the Great Flood changed much of the earth’s topography, and also the dynamics of the animal kingdom. That is a reliable conclusion because of what God told Noah after the flood.

“I have given them (fish and animals) to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables. But you must never eat meat that still has the lifeblood in it. … If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die … For God made human beings in his own image … Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth” (Genesis 9:3-7, parenthesis mine).

When the curse is cancelled at the glorious Second Coming of Christ, even the animals will undergo an extreme makeover. The full nature and extent of these internal (temperament) and external (perhaps fewer or no fangs in predators) changes remain to be seen. The Lord’s magnificent plan of redemption is not only for people who place their personal trust in the Redeemer, but also for the entire earth and all living things. Everything will come full circle back to the beginning … even better!

Scripture only tells us about some of these remarkable transformations. Some of this restoration will take place during the Millennium; some not until after the 1,000-year epoch, which is the beginning of what many Bible scholars simply call “Eternity.” Such as:

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, ‘Look, God’s home is now among his people… God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever’” (Revelation 21:1-4).

The rest is left to our imagination; but even that is inadequate to fully comprehend it all.

This applies to the wonderful benefits of salvation during our journey on this earth, but also to the millennium following the Great Tribulation.

Concerning the renovation of the animal kingdom, listen to this incredible prophecy from Isaiah:

“In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all. The cow will graze near the bear. The cub and the calf will lie down together. The lion will eat hay like a cow (which is the way it was in the beginning). The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm … for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord” (Isaiah 11:6-9, parenthesis mine).

Have you watched the National Geographic or Smithsonian Channels or the series called, Planet Earth, or other documentaries on wildlife? Have you seen the marvels of nature, but also the grisly sights of fierce animals seizing and killing their prey? Some of us realize that this is the way of things and has been for a long time. Others recoil in horror, wondering why it must be this way … what or who could possibly eliminate the existence of food chains.

No matter your disposition or your viewpoint, we all could respond to Isaiah’s astounding prophecy with something like, “Wow! How is that possible?”

In that same passage (and others) we’re told who can and will make such a thing happen.

“Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord… He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked. He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment. In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together…” (Isaiah 11:1-6).

Because of Jesus’s triumphant victory over sin and death—fully accomplished when he arose from the dead—he has power and authority to do such things. In this life, in the Millennium, and throughout eternity: “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church (born again believers) and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21).

As God the Son, that power was also his before the world began.

“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and the authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together” (Colossians 1:15-17).

Yes, even the animals will once again (innately) obey their creator.

Think about the possibilities.

A young boy will ask, “Dad, can I play with the tigers today?”

“Sure son, and be sure to give them some fresh hay when you’re done playing.”

A young girl will say, “Mom, I’m going to explore the cave where the snakes live.”

“Okay, honey, but be careful.”

“Mom, come on, you know what the Lord has done,” the little girl playfully chides.

“Of course,” Mom remembers as her eyes light up. “Have fun, and put them back where you find them!”

(Go Hippo Hopping During the Millennium, Or Just Slide Onto a Hippo’s Back and Enjoy the Ride!)

I’ll be amazed but not surprised (there’s a difference), if my white horse (Revelation 19:14) speaks to me and says, “Just hold on, I’ll do the rest.”

Things to Ponder

Personally, I have planted my life and placed my eternal destiny in the promises of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so wonderfully and powerfully proclaimed in Scripture. Hundreds of prophecies have been fulfilled with 100% accuracy. Why wouldn’t or shouldn’t the remaining prophecies come to pass?

“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son” (Romans 5:8-10).

That Jesus arose from the dead is a historical fact. He was seen by hundreds of people after his death and burial. But there’s even greater evidence than eyewitness accounts.

“Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son. All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son. And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life” (I John 5:9-12).

Is Messiah Jesus your personal Savior? Is it really worth an eternity separated from God by disregarding or denying that Jesus is who he said he is, or that there’s another way to God and heaven? Do you believe Messiah’s exclusive claim that inclusively says to all who believe in him:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Said the Apostle Peter to his people, but also to the entire world:

“…Rulers and elders of our people, are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed? Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved’” (Acts 4:8-12).

Do you believe that? Do you want to be in heaven and watch the Lord do what he said will be done: “And the one sitting on the throne said, ‘Look, I am making everything new!’” (Revelation 21:5)

If you do—while you and I and other believers are waiting eagerly for Jesus to inaugurate his Millennium—then have a Happy New Year! For those who don’t believe in Jesus as the Messiah, Son of God, I pray that they will find new life and joy in Him this coming year.

Said the Gentile jailor to Paul and Barnabas, “…Sirs, what must I do to be saved? They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved…’” (Acts 16:30-31).

Just How Imminent is Messiah’s Imminent Return?

18 Saturday Nov 2017

Posted by garybowers in The Rapture

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The Second Coming

Messiah’s Final Days on Earth During His First Advent

Do you know how long Jesus remained on earth between his resurrection and his ascension back to heaven?

“To these (Jesus’s apostles) He also presented Himself alive after his suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3, NASB, parenthesis mine).

Then we read: “So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, ‘Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?’” (Acts 1:6, italics for emphasis).

During these wonderful forty days, Jesus proved to his disciples and to hundreds of others that he had, indeed, risen from the dead. He also instructed them about the coming Kingdom of God on earth. In fact, it was the subject uppermost on the apostles’ minds and hearts, as clearly indicated by their repeated question cited in the above verse.

This opening scene in the book of Acts was Jesus’s last day on earth; however, the apostles didn’t know that. It’s evident (has the time come) that they assumed Jesus would begin doing whatever would be done to establish his glorious kingdom while he was still with them. They ardently wanted to know when this restoration would begin.

Some who know the Scriptures—at least the New Testament—will recall Jesus’ answer.

“He replied, ‘The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’” (Acts 1:7-8). Those were Messiah’s final words before he departed to heaven.

Many Christians, even astute Bible scholars, have misunderstood the Lord’s reply to mean that we can’t know the seasons or times of his return. However, Jesus was referring specifically to the disciples’ inquiry as to when he would liberate the Jews from Roman oppression and reestablish Israel as a sovereign kingdom. In fact, the Lord did answer another separate and distinct question from the disciples concerning his return, as found in Matthew Chapters 24-25. See Eye of Prophecy article, Messiah’s Return & The Rapture (Same or Separate Events?) Posted 12-3-16.

The last thing the disciples were told as Jesus ascended to heaven concerned his return.

“After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!’” (Acts 1:9-11).

The New Covenant Rejected

Why was it not yet time for them to know when the Kingdom of God through and in Israel would be established on the earth, as the Old Testaments prophets had written about frequently?

For two main reasons. (1) The Gospel of Jesus Christ must first be spread over the entire earth. With a qualifying observation that it very well could have been done (and was done in most of the then known world) in the 1st century lifetime of some of the disciples, or anytime thereafter. “…The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it” (Colossians 1:23).

(2) By the time the Apostle Paul penned those words, his ministry had been switched from proclaiming the Gospel to the Jews first (as he stated in Romans 1:16) to the Gentiles. Why? Although thousands of Jews had accepted Jesus as the Messiah and their personal Savior, Israel as a nation (particularly the religious leaders) had rejected God’s salvation through grace by faith alone in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ Jesus—even after Jesus arose from the dead! They had refused the clear evidence that the New Covenant, announced by Jeremiah, had arrived; implemented by God to supersede the repeated animal sacrifices for sin mandated by the Mosaic Covenant. Those sacrifices were but shadow types of the once-for-all substitutionary sacrifice of God’s Son.

Consequently, Israel would continue under God’s “seven times over” punishment as prophetically detailed in Leviticus Chapter 26. (See Eye of Prophecy articles, Seven Times Seven, to the 4th power, I, II, III; posted 1-25, 2-1, & 2-8-14). The fourth phase of that discipline was the worst of all—conquest by and exile to foreign nations, as so dreadfully experienced during the Babylonian Captivity. But it didn’t end there. Jesus knew what the awful results would be when (not if, as it was a foregone conclusion) his own people would reject him … their very Messiah. His disciples even heard what Jesus said would happen when he with great compassion and sorrow for his own people spoke these poignant words:

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’” (Matthew 23:37-39, NASB).

Soon afterwards, Jesus is even more explicit on what will happen to Jerusalem and the Temple.

It would be less than forty years when Jesus’s prophecy came to pass; but it was not even for the disciples to know when or for how long the house of Israel would be demolished and desolate.

The nation of Israel as a whole had forfeited their prophetic privilege of discerning when Israel would once again return to the glory days of King David and King Solomon. For they had already denied the only one who could restore Israel’s glory … their very Messiah. Although this would be temporary, it was not for Israel (including the disciples and other believers) to know just how long it would be. In the interim, God’s majestic plan of salvation would be extended to the Gentiles.

“Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! They were disobedient, so God made salvation available to the Gentiles. But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves. Now if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it” (Romans 11:11-12).

Although the apostles and many Christians knew something terrible would befall Jerusalem and the Temple, it was not for them to know when it would happen or when Israel would be restored as a sovereign nation. Paul didn’t even know that. Both he and Peter were murdered by Nero before the Roman General Titus and his legions destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and brutally began the massive Diaspora exile of the Jews to the four corners of the earth in 70 AD.

At the time most Jews and Christians (including Messianic Jews) didn’t fully realize that the ingathering return of Jews to Israel spoken of many times by the prophets would apply to yet another (one more) exile … this one far more extensive than the first exile (Assyria and then Babylon). What they didn’t know is that the period of the Gentiles (continuing Gentile domination of Israel but also Gentiles coming to faith in Christ) would last so long … another 2,000 years. That was entirely part of God’s prerogative, plan, and providence.

Please understand: Although the Lord has supernaturally and sovereignly secured the return of his people to Israel in our generation, he could have done this in any previous generation in a relatively short period of time. In fact, just three years after World War II and the horrible Holocaust, Israel was reborn as a Sovereign State, which, as we will see, makes our generation the final one. That’s why the disciples and all believers at that time didn’t need to know when this would happen. The Lord wanted believers to concentrate on preaching the Gospel to the Jews, then to the Gentiles. So that both (but especially the Jews when it came to restoration of Israel) would realize that unless they got their priorities straight, and (first and foremost) placed their trust for redemption in Israel’s Messiah, they would not be part of the glorious Kingdom of God on earth headquartered in Jerusalem.

Once they understood that the second coming of Messiah Jesus was for the greater purpose of rescuing and restoring Israel (with the Rapture designed only to remove believers from the earth to spare them from the Great Tribulation), then they would realize that the return of Jews from exile to Israel would be one of the most important signs of Jesus’s imminent return. Then they would better grasp the following prophecy about Israel’s restoration as a nation through which the Kingdom of God would be established.

“Before the birth pains even begin (analogous in time, form, and substance to the birth pains mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 24 and others in Scripture), Jerusalem gives birth to a son. Who has ever seen anything as strange as this? Who ever heard of such a thing? Has a nation ever been born in a single day? Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment? By the time Jerusalem’s birth pains begin, her children will be born” (Isaiah 66:7-8, prophesied some 2,700 years before Israel’s rebirth, parenthesis mine).

The Valley of Dry Bones

Have you heard of or actually read the renowned Dry Bones prophecy found in Ezekiel Chapter 37? Although it is only one of hundreds of Old Testament passages concerning the final return of Jews to Israel (from their 2nd great exile), it is probably the most well-known.

Except for the following verse in the photographic depiction of the Dry Bones prophecy, time/space doesn’t permit full quotation of the scattered bones to living people. We’ll pick it up later in the chapter when the Lord plainly explains to Ezekiel the meaning of this marvelous metaphor.

“Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel’ … This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel’” (Ezekiel 37:11-12).

In verses 15 through 20, Ezekiel is told that Israel (ten northern tribes) and Judah (two southern tribes) would both be returned to the Promised Land.

“…I will gather the people of Israel from among the nations. I will bring them home to their own land from the places where they have been scattered. I will unify them into one nation on the mountains of Israel. One king will rule them all; no longer will they be divided into two nations or into two kingdoms” (Verses 21-22).

There is no doubt, whatsoever, that Jews from all twelve tribes are among the 6.5 million Jews currently living in Israel. There’s no way that only the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin are represented by so many Israelis. Only a handful know their tribal ancestry, but God knows from which tribe every single one of them has descended, including the approximately 8 million Jews still living in foreign lands.

Several times this passage in Ezekiel refers to “they” and “them.” With the unmistakable meaning and application that they are the very ones brought “home to their own land,” some of whom will be alive when “one king (Messiah Jesus) will rule them all.”

We need to fully understand: The unfolding of Ezekiel’s Dry Bones prophecy has taken place ONLY in our generation, with the time-lapse definition of generation to be explained in a moment.

Let’s read on:

“They will live in the land I gave my servant Jacob, the land where their ancestors lived. They and their children and their grandchildren after them will live there forever, generation after generation … I will give them their land and increase their numbers…” (Ezekiel 37:25-26).

Do you see semantically what’s going on here?

Who are “they?” Answer: The remnant of Jews who will be returned to the land of Israel. And Israel wouldn’t be Israel until she once again became a Sovereign Nation (1948); the reality of which began with and was prepared by the Balfour Declaration of 1917—declaring the Jewish right of return to Israel. The Lord makes this even clearer by then referring to their (they or them of the passage) children and grandchildren. Then even more so by saying this would continue from generation to generation.

From which generation does this perpetual generational cycle begin? Answer: From the generation that returns to the Promised Land in which Israel is “born in a single day (Isaiah 66:8).

Ezekiel’s prophecy is time-dedicated and generational-specific to those Jews who return to and are born-in Israel in the last days (same) generation referred to by Jesus … the one which will see his return. Right now as you are reading this article, most Jews in Israel (and the world over) are first, second, and third generations since Israel was reborn in 1948. Those are the, “they,” the “children,” and the “grandchildren” distinctively identified in this passage.

In fact, this 2nd exodus of Jews to the Promised Land (in our generation) has been greater even than the original Exodus—in terms of the number of Jews and the number of countries from which they have returned to Israel. Just as the Lord said it would, as follows:

“In that day, says the Lord, when people are taking an oath, they will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.’ Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.’ Then they will live in their own land” (Jeremiah 23:7-8).

Generation Length of Time in Scripture

Here is an excerpt from Eye of Prophecy article, The Omega Generation (posted 2-15-14) beginning with the two time-parameters of a generation found in Scripture. In italics:

One Hundred Years: “Then the Lord said to Abram, ‘You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years … After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction’” (Genesis 15: 13-15).

This is a phenomenal prophecy given to Abraham even before Isaac was born, in which God not only talks about the (many) descendants of Abraham; but hundreds of years before the fact announces that they (the Israelites) would be slaves in a foreign land (Egypt), only to return to the Promised Land of Israel. Moreover, God equates a generation to 100 years … 400 hundred years equals four generations. Think about it for a moment. Although unusual (perhaps even rare), there are people the world over who live to be one hundred … some even a few years more. Yet, 100 years of age is pretty much the maximum scope of any given lifetime or generation.

Seventy Years: “Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty” (Psalms 90:10).

This insight as to the customary lifespan of a human being was given to Moses, who is the author of Psalms 90, the only Psalm credited to Moses. Again, think about it. By and large, the normal or average lifespan of most people the world over is between 70 and 80 years of age. By seventy, virtually no more children are conceived and birthed by a woman. For all practical purposes, a person who reaches 70 years of age (perhaps a few more years) has lived a generational life-time. They have children and grandchildren who are the progeny of the next generation. King David, himself, died at exactly 70 years of age.

If Jesus is referring specifically to the last generation, and I believe the text/context is crystal clear that he is; then this generation must have a designated start-up date or dates. Without an actual event (which can be identified by a specific calendar year) to begin the generation, the 70-year or 100-year generational time frame is much too vague … meaning there’s too much overlap or ambiguity as to the actual decades involved. If you were explaining your generation to someone, what would be your reference point? How would you describe it? Wouldn’t you say, “In my generation….” Essentially, then, your reference or starting point is the date of your birth!

Using our first example of four generations of Israel’s enslavement in Egypt, God gave Abraham the point-in-time commencement of this 400 hundred years (four generations) captivity, i.e. from the time that the Jews no longer enjoyed freedom in Egypt, which was not too long after Joseph died. Another example is the 70-year Babylonian captivity, which just happened to be the exact length of the 2nd measurement of time for a generation … 70 years. Historically, we know the beginning (586 BC) and end date (516 BC) of this time-designated punishment of Israel.

Is it, then, possible to select or identify events/dates in Israel’s contemporary history that correspond to the Biblical definition of a generation … that is one hundred years and/or seventy years? The answer is a resounding, YES.

Now, we’ll take another look at those events.

Three Monumental Milestones That Mark the Final Generation

(1)Balfour Declaration of 1917

The more I study and write about this pioneering event in modern Jewish history, the more convinced I am of its stunning significance and relevance to the beginning of the final (100-year) generation identified by Messiah Jesus. Ours is the generation of which Jesus told his disciples in the first century and for centuries thereafter that it was not for them to know the “dates and times” (Acts 1:7) … meaning the beginning of Israel’s final restoration. But Jesus did answer their question on the Mount of Olives: “What sign will signal your return and the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3). He gave them many signs, as did the prophets of the Old Testament and (to a lesser extent) the writers of the New Testament.

See Eye of Prophecy articles, The Balfour Declaration … Beginning of the Omega Generation, Part I & II. Published 5-13-17 and 5-20-17.

Thus, the sequential connection is as follows: Once Israel’s restoration begins to take place, then we should also see other signs that the imminent return of Christ is as imminent as it ever will be or could be. That is exactly what has taken place throughout the last one hundred years or so, especially in the past seventy years.

Also refer to articles: Look Up, Redemption is Near, I & II. Posted 7-11 & 7-18-15. Which detail twelve flashpoint events in the 20th & 21st centuries, six applying to Israel (including those in this week’s article) and six to the rest of the world.

The Balfour Declaration of 100 hundred years ago bears an amazing correlation with and resemblance to the 100-year time-span of a generation as given by God to Abraham. Not long after the end of the fourth (of a total of four) generation of captivity in Egypt, the Israelites were birthed as a nation—beginning when the Law of Moses was given and the twelve tribes were integrated under God himself; finally unified nationally when they entered Canaan (the Promised Land that would become Israel) under Joshua. Same thing happened and in the approximate time-frame between the Balfour Declaration and the rebirth of Israel as a sovereign nation.

This past November 2nd, Israel’s Knesset—as did officials in Great Britain—celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. The featured speaker was Lord Nathanial Jacob Rothschild, who is the 4th Baron Rothschild. It was the 2nd Baron, Walter Rothschild, to whom Lord Balfour’s declaration was specifically addressed in 1917.

Said, Nathanial Jacob Rothschild: “A decade after the Declaration, Lord Balfour himself said it was important not only for the Jewish people, but also for the history of the entire world. This is not merely a historic document, but a vision of a society that will be governed by Jewish values and will care for non-Jewish populations as well.”

Here is an excerpt from the online United with Israel news source, published 11-9-17:

“British Ambassador to Israel David Quarrey read aloud a message on behalf of British Prime Minister Theresa May… Lord Balfour, the message said, had a vision of returning the persecuted Jewish nation to a safe haven. Britain … is proud of its part in the pioneering work for the establishment of the State of Israel. Britain is proud of the State of Israel, for what it stands for as an open and democratic country in the Middle East, said the message from May.”

Said Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, with, however, a sober reminder of what didn’t happen soon enough after the Balfour Declaration: “…the Balfour Declaration laid the international foundation and the support for Zionism in Europe and America and in other parts of the world, and by doing so it contributed greatly to the resurrection enterprise of our people. To our regret, a short while later Britain withdrew from what was promised in the Balfour Declaration, and this was a major tragedy. The fact that we were not sovereign until 1948 prevented the rescue of millions of Jews, who were annihilated in the Holocaust. The tragedy of the Balfour Declaration is that it took 30 years to implement it.”

Benjamin concluded by saying: “When I saw the Palestinian leadership refer to the Balfour Declaration as a crime and call on the British Government to apologize for it—they are not moving forward, they are going 100 years backwards. This is the root of the conflict, the 100-year old refusal to recognize Zionism and the State of Israel within any borders.”

I’d like to add and embrace as my own the vital vision of the prophet Isaiah. His passionate words are in the unmistakable context (like many other prophetic passages) that Israel’s restoration goes hand in hand with their (our) Jewish Messiah; who came first as Redeemer (Lamb of God), and who will return as King of all kings (Lion of Judah) at the end of the generation, when all these things will take place.

“Because I love Zion, I will not keep still. Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent. I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch. The nations will see your righteousness. World leaders will be blinded by your glory…” (Isaiah 62:1-2, italics for emphasis).

Who or what is Israel’s righteousness and salvation? The prophet Jeremiah answers that question.

“For the time is coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. And this will be his name: ‘The Lord is our Righteousness.’ In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety” (Jeremiah 23:5-6).

For you see, none of us—neither Jew nor Gentile—has any innate righteousness of our own. Nor can we work or give enough to acquire it. It is the Lord himself who is our righteousness and who imputes right-standing with God to and in us.

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right (righteousness) with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood….” (Romans 3:23-25, parenthesis mine).

(2) UN Resolution (1947) That Led to the Rebirth of Israel (1948)

Soon, on the 29th of November, Israel will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the United Nations Resolution that paved the way for Israel to become a sovereign state. Less than six months later that is exactly what happened with the miraculous rebirth of Israel on May 14, 1948.

That was the beginning of the 70-year generation (a generation within the 100-year generation) that I’m equally convinced is this same final generation, and will in all likelihood culminate in the Day of the Lord—beginning with the Rapture. Actually, using the Jewish calendar of 30 days, both generational time frames extend through May, 2019. Am I saying the Rapture will absolutely take place by then? No, I’m not saying that. However, if not, I’m confident it won’t be long afterward.

Jesus said that no one knows the “day or hour” of the Rapture—the first phase of his glorious return. But we can and should recognize the signs of the end-times … which take place (are taking place) within the Omega generation.

As we read earlier in the astonishing passage of Isaiah Chapter 66, Israel’s actual birth pains began AFTER she was reborn. Through four major wars and countless terrorist’s attacks and seemingly never-ending threats against her very survival, modern-day Israel is going through the same kind of existential struggle experienced before, during, and after her 70-year Babylonian Captivity. The Babylonian exile was a smaller, but still terrible, parallel prototype of the Holocaust horror that led directly to the State of Israel and the miraculous mass return of the Jews to Israel. With one huge difference (the reason for which is that Israel is now back to stay forever): after 1948, Israel was able to defend herself because God is with her, not against her.

(Helicopters, Fighter Jets, Tanks, State of the Art Weaponry, and Superbly Trained & Skilled Soldiers … Israel is Ranked 6th in the World’s Military Powers, Behind the United States, Russia, China, France, and United Kingdom)

Still, the return of Jews from Babylon to Israel is akin to what has transpired since Israel’s statehood of 1948. It wasn’t until then that large numbers of Jews began to return to their ancient homeland and many more born in Israel thereafter. In fact, the population of the Jews in Israel has increased tenfold in the last 70 years.

(3) The Amazing Liberation & Reunification of Jerusalem (Six-Day War of 1967)

We must include the all-important Jubilee period of 50 years duration. (See Eye of Prophecy article, Jubilee and Messiah … They Go Together! Posted 1-23-16).

I am fully persuaded that Israel’s Jubilee was reinstated unilaterally by the Lord himself in 1967—Israel’s stupendous victory in which the Golan Heights, the Sinai Peninsula, Judea Samaria, the Gaza Strip, and especially Jerusalem and Temple Mount were all returned to Jewish sovereignty. The whole idea and purpose of a Jubilee year was for many to freely (freedom) return to their dispossessed land, which they originally owned and occupied. That is exactly what happened on a historical scale in the Six-Day War, especially the reunion of Jerusalem with the rest of Israel. Unfortunately, the Gaza, the Sinai, large parts of Judea/Samaria (called by some, the West Bank) and Temple Mount were subsequently relinquished back to Arab control. But all that will change one day soon.

This past summer, Israel celebrated the 50th anniversary of Jerusalem’s liberation. Do you see how precisely that tracks with the 100-year and 70-year generation of the 20th and 21st centuries? In fact, a case could be made that the Balfour Declaration was actually when the Lord revived the Jubilee, as that took place 50 years before the Six Day War.

Another incredible phenomenon begin to take place in 1967. A few, then many Messianic ministries sprang up in America but also the world over. Many thousands of Jews have accepted Jesus as their Messiah and Savior as a result … a Jubilee-like redemption for all their sins and freedom from the penalty thereof.

What better connection or more logical deduction could we make than the next Jubilee will see the magnificent inception of the Day of the Lord, which commences with the Rapture!

Things to Ponder

Let’s take a thumbnail look at Israel’s 2017 population, placed in the context of the 100-year generation that began in 1917 (Balfour Declaration); the 70-year generation that commenced in 1947 (UN Resolution or Israeli Statehood in 1948—either one will work); and the 50-year Jubilee of the Six-Day War of 1967.

Of the almost 6.5 million Jews in Israel, 10.3% are 65 and older, which would be approximately 669,500 Jews in Israel over 65. It’s likely these figures are similar with Jews all over the world, not living in Israel. However, life expectancy in Israel has increased ten years since 1970, to the average of 81.2 years for Israeli men and 84.5 years for Israeli woman.

(You may want to click onto the following link for more of Israel’s population details, however the following statistics will suffice for purpose of this article. The 8.3 million in population shown on the chart includes about 1.8 million Israeli Arabs).

https://www.populationpyramid.net/israel/2017/

If you click to the above link, and hover over the individual bars online you’ll find that there are 622 men and 895 women in Israel who are still alive at the age of 100 or more. For age bracket 95-99, there are 3,622 men and 5,963 women. For age group 70-74: 106,374 men and 122,671 women. For ages 50-54: 194,684 men and 202,742 woman.

Now let’s see the remarkable relevance of these statistics to the remnant of Israel (“they” and “their children and grandchildren” of the Ezekiel prophecy detailed earlier in today’s article).

Using a nuclear fusion term, the “critical mass” of the Jewish remnant ingathering back to Israel was certainly the fusion point of Israel’s national rebirth in 1947-48. The combined number of Jewish men and woman currently living in Israel beginning with the age group of 70-74 (approximately 229,000) would be “they” of the Ezekiel prophecy.

“Their children” (Ezekiel 37:25) would be those in the age bracket of 50-55 (or thereabouts) which total another 397,000 or so. And “their grandchildren” (also verse 25) would be hundreds of thousands more. These age groups represent and are part of the 70-year component of the last (what I’ve termed the Omega) generation spoken of by Jesus.

But it also goes back to the preparatory phase of the return of the Jews to Israel that started very slowly, but surely, in 1917. I’m convinced that a few of these Jews will also be alive to witness the Rapture—whether taken as and with other believers in Messiah, or left behind to experience the terrible Tribulation, but hopefully to choose Messiah at that time. Currently there are about 1,500 Jews who are 100+ years old in Israel. They, too, could be considered first generation of returning Jews in 1917; with their children those in the 70-year generation and their grandchildren those in the Jubilee time-frame. With all three groups part of the 100-year final generation (countdown).

These three pivotal epic events in Israel’s modern-day history are legitimate benchmarks with which to identify the last generation that will witness the Day of the Lord. Both the generation cited by Jesus and the generations identified by Ezekiel (and other prophets) are one and the same literal generational age-groups in the last days.

Here’s what the Lord said shortly after Ezekiel identifies they and them, and their children and grandchildren:

“I will make my home among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Ezekiel 37:27).

That is a time-capsule prophecy dedicated and applied to the last generation (100-year, 70-year, and 50-year Jubilee).

We are that generation!

“Would I ever bring this nation to the point of birth and then not deliver it? Asks the Lord. No! I would never keep this nation from being born, says your God” (Isaiah 66:9).

“Now learn a lesson from the fig tree (which represents Israel). When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see all these things, you can know his return is very near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass from the scene until all these things take place” (Matthew 24:32-34, parenthesis mine).

The productive life span of many fig trees is 50 to 100 years! Except the Sycamore Fig which can live to be 1,000 years. But that’s a whole different analogy—to the Millennium!

Messiah’s Number & Its Prophetic Value

21 Saturday Oct 2017

Posted by garybowers in The Rapture

≈ 2 Comments

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Gematria

First, Let’s Review The Number of the Beast, 666.

“Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six-hundred and sixty-six” (Revelation 13:18, New American Standard Bible).

Some Bible translations convert the written expression of the beast’s number to three sixes (666). However, the original Greek text (as seen in the above NASB translation) spells out the number—a matter of utmost significance if the reader is to “calculate” the meaning of the number. Which is tantamount to solving the identity of the beast … Antichrist.

Only one other passage in the New Testament besides the one just quoted actually presses the reader to comprehend the clues; it, too, concerns the origin and identity of Antichrist. As follows:

“This calls for a mind with understanding: The seven heads of the beast represent the seven hills where the woman rules. They also represent seven kings. Five kings have already fallen, the sixth now reigns, and the seventh is yet to come, but his reign will be brief” (Revelation 17:9-10, italics for emphasis).

Earlier in Revelation 17:7, the angel says to John: “…I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns on which she sits.”

Disclosure of this mystery was for the express purpose of identifying the man (in the image of a beast) by understanding that he was one of seven Roman Emperors, five of whom had already died—including the beast himself—in the 1st century when Revelation was written first and foremost to the believers alive then. Because Christ could have returned any day in the first century or thereafter, the beast must also be ready to reappear … from the Abyss where he had been confined after his death and revival.

(First Five Roman Emperors Known as Claudian Dynasty … Left to Right: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero)

Complete confirmation concerning the Antichrist’s identity is possible only when we correlate Revelation 13 & 17 with other pivotal passages on the Antichrist as found in Daniel 7, 9, and 11. Also, II Thessalonians 2 and a more obscure passage in Zachariah 11. Then combining all of these remarkable disclosures of the Antichrist (also described as a king, ruler, little horn, beast, and man of lawlessness) with 1st century Church and secular history.

That is precisely what was done in Parts II & III of my book, Out of the Abyss … can the number of the beast be solved? Followed by more elaboration found in several Eye of Prophecy articles under the category of Antichrist. Ending with what I firmly believe is an accurate identification of the beast—who had already lived and died, but would return from the Abyss during the Tribulation—as the Roman Emperor Nero.

(*Note: I do not by any stretch of the imagination support the Preterists’ view, which also identifies Nero as the Antichrist. But they do so with the absurd supposition that the Tribulation occurred in the 1st century, which has been correctly and convincingly refuted by many Bible scholars, including me. And yet most of these scholars have made the same (one) mistake as the Preterists. They missed the astounding reality stated clearly by John in Revelation; that the man—the Antichrist beast—had already lived and died. A clear textual fact that I also had overlooked for many years, until November, 2008).

“Why are you so amazed, the angel asked … The beast you saw was once alive but isn’t now. And yet he will soon come up out of the bottomless pit … And the people who belong to this world … will be amazed at the reappearance of this beast who had died” (Revelation 17:7-8).

Hebrew Gematria

Although this week’s article began and will continue briefly with a review of the number of the anti-Messiah beast, the main emphasis will be on another number—the number of the true Messiah.

Both numbers are found in and understood by Hebrew Gematria. Which is the way that Jews in Bible times (actually up to the point when the Roman decimal system became the dominant numerical standard) counted and performed mathematical calculations. Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet is assigned a number from one to ten or in multiples of tens or hundreds. Many Jews today are familiar with and sometimes use gematria to compare Hebrew words, names, phrases, and places to the significance of their numerical value.

As you may (or may not) know, the New Testament was written in Greek. That was done through God’s providential direction; Greek was the universal language in the 1st century, much like English was/is in the 20th & 21st centuries. However, Jesus and all Jews spoke primarily Aramaic or Hebrew, though many were proficient in Greek and others in Latin. And, of course, the entire Old Testament (often quoted by Jesus and the writers of the New Testament books) was written in Hebrew. That same Hebrew language, with modern-day words added, has been miraculously restored; spoken by Israelis and also by rabbis the world over.

Because it would take a mind of understanding to decipher the identity of the Antichrist beast, I’m convinced that, at first, only a few of the 1st century Christian Jews realized that six hundred and sixty-six was a Hebrew Gematria reference to the name of the man. They then passed on this insight to their Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ less likely to use gematria to ascertain the meaning of the number of the beast; or Gentiles Christians who would have no understanding of Hebrew Gematria.

(22 Letters in Hebrew Alphabet. There Are Five More Hebrew Symbols Representing Numbers 500, 600, 700, 800, and 900, When Necessary For Mathematical Functions)

Eventually, identifying the beast by combining all of the Biblical passages about this wicked man led to four centuries of a phenomenon known as the Nero Redivivus Legend. (Please see Eye of Prophecy article, The Legendary Return of Nero, posted 4-4-15). Even many unbelievers in the Roman Empire were persuaded that Nero would soon return to reclaim his throne.

Here is an excerpt from Out of the Abyss, Chapter 18, pages 167-168 (in italics):

I’m convinced the early Christians knew why the identity of the man of lawlessness was encoded in Hebrew gematria. To simply divulge the man’s name would have been a death sentence for thousands more Christians who had survived persecution and death that had already begun (under Nero, who had died not long before Revelation was written) before John wrote Revelation … The current emperor would have jumped at the opportunity to kill more Christians just because they claimed a former emperor was a “beast,” instead of a god and all of the repercussions that go with that seditious disdain for the perceived divinity of a Roman emperor.

…Besides, John told them that the beast would “come up out of the bottomless pit.” They immediately knew that this would be the return of the beast that, “was once alive but isn’t now.” (Parenthesis added in today’s article).

The final portion of Chapter 18 in Out of the Abyss begins under the heading: Let’s Count in Hebrew.

To better grasp the process of the early Christians’ decoded discovery of the beast’s identity and also to make it more intriguing, I explained what certainly could have happened (and logically did occur) after the book of Revelation was written and disseminated among believers. In the form of a little narrative, it is as follows (in italics):

Picture, if you will, a Messianic Jewish wife greeting her Messianic Jewish husband. After a hard day at work, the husband has just stepped through the threshold of their home in Philadelphia. That’s the city of Philadelphia of ancient Asia Minor, not Pennsylvania! You remember: the location of one of the seven churches of Revelation Chapters 2 and 3.

She hands him a newly transcribed scroll of Revelation, which is being passed from Christian house to house in Philadelphia. “Honey … Quick, let’s eat, put the kids to bed, and read this incredible letter that John wrote.” Throughout the evening, they take turns reading aloud to each other; the entire time they are shaking their heads in amazement.

“So incredible,” the wife exclaims. “Let’s pray, go to bed, and talk about it tomorrow.”

“You go to bed, if you like,” he replies. “I’m going to solve the name of this beast.”

“Not without me, you’re not,” she scolds with a playful grin.

They put everything together. This is how they did it:

One by one they wrote down the Greek equivalent to the names of the five dead or fallen Roman emperors. With each name they used the Greek suffix, “Kaiser;” you really could not separate the Emperor’s name from his title (Caesar). All of the emperors were addressed this way—Augustus Caesar….

The book of Revelation had been written in Greek, so they understood they needed to use the Greek spelling of the Latin names of the emperors. But they also knew that the only way to understand the meaning of the number was to transpose the Greek spelling to the Hebrew alphabet, as that is the only way Jews were able to accurately calculate the number. In fact, that is the way they counted.

And so they did. To their utter astonishment, six hundred, sixty-six was an exact match to one (and only one) of the fallen emperors. Wide-eyed, he looked at her in stunned silence. She stared at him with mouth opened. They peered again at the transliteration from Greek into the Hebrew alphabet.

Resh – 200; Samech – 60; Kuf – 100; Nun – 50; vav – 6; Resh – 200; Nun – 50. They added the numbers together. Six Hundred and sixty-six.

Neron Kaiser. The beast is NERO! (Pages 167-168).

(Note: Hebrew is read from right to left, thus you can match up the sound of the Hebrew letters by spelling/pronouncing them (right to left) in English to Neron Kaiser—which is read and written from left to right. Try it!)

The Title of Messiah & Its Numerical Value

Since all Hebrew words, phrases, and names bear a number (total value of all letters), it’s obvious that the appellation (title) of Messiah also would have an equivalent numerical value.

As follows but going from left to right to make it easier:

Mem = 40; Shin = 300; Yod = 10; Chet = 8. Combined total is 358.

Messiah in Hebrew is: Mashiach. (Once again sound out the letters. Hint: the “Y” in “Yod” is a consonant vowel, pronounced more like a short “a” … ah)

As found in Out of the Abyss Chapter 7 and also a few Eye of Prophecy articles as fitting the topic, certain numbers in Scripture have substantial meaning in God’s sovereign plan for and interaction with his creation, especially mankind. Such as: three, four, seven, twelve, forty, seventy, and four hundred. (For example, please see article, Countdown to Armageddon … End of the Fourth 400-Year Era, published 7-29-17).

Likewise, the gematria value of many Hebrew words and phrases are a vital component of Judaism and Jewish life. One of those significant numbers is 18, which is the sum value of the Hebrew word, Chai or life. Consequently, monetary gifts among Jews are often given in the factor of eighteen.

(Common Hebrew Phrases With the Word Chai–life or lives)

In breaking down the composite number for Messiah (358), we find the following:

Three: The number of the Trinity … Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

Five: The number representing God’s Grace.

Eight: The number signifying what is new as in New Beginning.

Messiah Jesus is the Son of God and God the Son, the second Person of the Triune God. The majestic Three in One. God’s grace was lavishly poured out to both Jew and Gentile through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Messiah Jesus to save us from our sins. When we accept Jesus as our personal Savior, we are a new creation in Christ; we have a new beginning with all our sins forgiven and the penalty for those sins pardoned. During the Rapture, the dead in Christ will be given a brand new body via resurrection, and then the transfiguration of living believers follows quickly (I Thessalonians 4 & I Corinthians 15).

However, there’s no need for Scripture to specifically identify the numerical equivalent (gematria) of anyone or anything, as the Bible itself provides all the needed content that enables us to comprehend God’s plan for the human race. Yet, if we’re truly interested in knowing the Lord and his Word, we will better see the literal and figurative value that God places on certain numbers (identified earlier). In addition to those stated numbers, the numerical values revealed through Hebrew gematria is one of those peripheral—yet still significant—tools for those who want to understand the Bible that much more.

As alluded to earlier: there is one exception. Which is the encoded number of the Antichrist beast given to us as one of the pieces of the prophetic puzzle to decode and declassify what most think must remain a mystery until after the Rapture—the identity of the Antichrist. The text is clear: Revelation 13:18 unequivocally declares that the number six-hundred and sixty-six is the number of “a man.” Not man’s number in general which many believe to be six (created on the sixth day). Rather, it is the number of “a” man—who obviously is the Antichrist Beast.

And it’s through Hebrew gematria that we can match up six hundred and sixty-six with Nero Caesar. Then by disciplined study and a good dose of God-given wisdom and understanding, to confirm that disclosure with all of the other passages on the Antichrist found in Scripture.

Conversely, there is no question that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah … The Anointed One, which is what Messiah means. Anyone with any degree of objectivity, but also an open mind and sincere heart passionately wanting to know the truth of who Jesus is, will see that … even the most orthodox of Jewish rabbis. Jesus literally fulfilled dozens of Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah, including the following prediction that indisputably shows Messiah must arrive BEFORE the second temple was destroyed (in 70 AD).

Biblical Numbers Expressed in Specific Prophetic Periods of Time/Years

“After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One (Mashiach) will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city (Jerusalem) and the Temple…” (Daniel 9:26, parenthesis mine).

Jesus’s birth was so supremely significant that it changed time from before Christ (BC) to after Christ (AD). Only 33-34 years after Jesus was killed by crucifixion, Nero personally ordered his Generals Vespasian and Titus and their legions to march on Jerusalem in 66 A.D. It was Nero’s armies that destroyed the city and the temple.

(Many More Jews–Men, Woman, & Children–Were Killed Than Taken Captive)

While we’re on the subject of numbers in Scripture—the kind given by the Lord in the form of an astonishingly specific time-dedicated prophecy—let’s read part of the passage just prior to Daniel 9:26. The archangel Gabriel is speaking to Daniel:

“Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven (483 years total) will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One—comes…” (Daniel 9:25, parenthesis mine).

Time/space in today’s article doesn’t allow a detailed explanation of this phenomenal prophecy. Please see Eye of Prophecy article, An Incredible Time Lapse Prophecy (posted 1-18-14)) for elaboration (also found in a few subsequent articles). Here is an excerpt from that post:

Sir Robert Anderson calculated (with partial assistance from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich) the Julian date of King Artaxerxes edict to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem to have been March 14th, 445 BC. Furthermore, the Julian date for Jesus’s magnificent ride into Jerusalem was April 6th, 32 AD. By employing the Hebrew calendar, Sir Robert Anderson tallied 173,880 days had elapsed which is exactly 483 Jewish years!! Absolutely astounding! I repeat for emphasis: Incredible!!

Another astonishing prophecy (Leviticus 26) that the Lord graciously gave me understanding of was the exact amount of time specified by what I term Seven Times Over (uninterrupted succession of years) ending the Gentile domination of the Jews and Israel in 1967—the Six Day War. Please see Eye of Prophecy article, The Omega Generation, posted 2-15-14, which was an epilogue to three preceding articles, Seven Times Seven (to the 4th power I, II, III) published 1-25, 2-1, and 2-8-14.

In summary: the Bible contains three categories of numbers to express God’s plan and fulfillment of prophecy. They are:

(1) Certain numbers to represent significant models and methods of God’s interaction with both Jews and Gentiles. Such as: Three, Four, Seven, Twelve, Forty, and others.

(2) Prophetic announcements and fulfillment that involve precise dates/times.

(3) Hebrew Gematria that connect and correlate Biblical words, phrases, and names to the importance of certain numbers as indicated in Category 1. With, however, the recognition that (except for the encoded gematria number of the Antichrist beast) Scripture does not actually state or specify the numerical equivalent or values. That is a “bonus” for those who are willing to learn more about the dynamics of the Hebrew alphabet and how letters and words impart deeper meaning to numbers and vice versa.

Regarding Messiah’s number of 358, we find this in a few Old Testament passages. Such as one we just looked at.

In both Daniel 9:25 & Daniel 9:26, we find the title of “Anointed One” translated Messiah in many Bible translations. Mashiach (Hebrew for Messiah) equals 358.

We also find the numerical value of 358 in the italicized phrase of the following passage: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes…” (Genesis 49:10, NASB, “Yibo Shiloh” in Hebrew).

Bible scholars and teachers (including me) recognize this as a reference to the coming Messiah.

There are a few other passages where the name or phrase equals 358, with either a direct reference to Messiah or a type or symbol of Messiah. Such as Deuteronomy 34:9 and Isaiah 44:24.

Ironically (but not to God), the term snake or serpent adds up to 358. You might be thinking, what’s that all about? Read with me the analogy Jesus used shortly after he told Nicodemus: “you must be born again” in order to enter the Kingdom of God.

“And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).

In this context of salvation, Jesus was emphasizing the lifting up part … meaning his death on the cross. Which is the only remedy for sin and death and final conquest over the original serpent, the Devil … Satan.

Here’s the Old Testament scene referred to by Jesus in which God had to discipline his people for yet another rebellion against him:

“So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. Then the people came to Moses and cried out, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.’ So Moses prayed for the people.

“Then the Lord told him, ‘Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!’ So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!” (Numbers 21:6-9).

Everyone has been bitten by sin and (without God’s remedy) will die an eternal death because of that deadly bite. Among other literal and symbolic lessons of this “snake” incident graphically portrayed by the Lord to describe his death on a pole (the cross), is the life-giving truth that all a person need do is believe in the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Messiah Jesus … John 14:6) for forgiveness of sin and once-for-all redemption that leads to eternal life instead of death. It wasn’t just looking at the snake that saved those who had been bitten. It was their trust in God to do what he said he would do if they simply looked at the bronze serpent. If they looked with complete faith in God, then he would save them.

To look is to see and to see is to believe. This is also true in reverse. To believe is to look and to look is to see. “I once was lost but now am found; was blind, but now I see.” (Words from song, Amazing Grace).

A Captivating Correlation between the Number of Messiah and an Event Some 358 Years Ago

The following occurred to me: If we convert the numerical value of Messiah to years and look back some 358 years, would we find something or someone of some historical note. I’m placing this in the representative comparative (not actual) context of the soon return of Messiah and the corresponding years associated with Jesus’s amazing statement that all of the end-times signs would occur within a span of one generation (see Matthew 24:34). As indicated, I have written about this in several Eye of Prophecy articles, with reference to the monumental milestones of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the UN Resolution of 1947 (followed in seven months by Israel becoming a State in 1948), and the Six-Day War of 1967 in which the Holy City of Jerusalem was reunited with the Holy Land of Israel.

All leading to a time-frame (converting Roman calendar years to Jewish years and months) of the Rapture possibly taking place before the year 2020. With, however, heavy emphasis on the fact that Jesus said that no one knows the day or hour (Matthew 24 & 25). However, he also said we should recognize the signs of the last days, with one of the most important of those actually transpiring in our generation, compliments of evangelism via the media … radio, television and the internet:

“And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).

With the conviction that the Day of the Lord is so very near, I’m simply using the present time (this year … 2017) as a benchmark reference point to see where the number of Messiah (in years) retroactively takes us. If I hadn’t found what was found, neither this week’s article nor any Eye of Prophecy article would have been written on this subject (Messiah’s number).

A Rabbi Named Sabbatai Zevi

During his lifetime (1626 to 1676) this mystic Jewish rabbi claimed to be the long-awaited Messiah. Unlike a few others who have made such a claim down through the ages, this man had a huge European following of both Jews and Gentiles. So much so that a legacy was named after him—the Sabbatean movement. More so than anyone before him since the Jewish Zealot Bar Kokhba led the last revolt against Rome in 130-135 A.D. Many hailed Kokhba as the Messiah. Except, of course, Messianic Jews and Gentile Christians who knew beyond all doubt that Jesus of Nazareth was (still is and always will be) Messiah—if for no other reason than his resurrection from the dead.

Interestingly enough, Zevi was born in the city of Smyrna, which at that time was part of the Ottoman Empire. This is the same Smyrna named as one of the seven churches in Revelation Chapters 2 & 3. Among other things that Jesus said of the church in Smyrna:

“…I know the blasphemy of those opposing you. They say they are Jews, but they are not, because their synagogue belongs to Satan” (Revelation 2:9).

In the first century, there were two main antagonistic forces against the Christian Jews and Gentiles in Smyrna. One was the Jewish population openly opposing Christianity. The other was the Gentile population aggressively aligned with Rome; Gentiles who lived there were loyal worshippers of the Roman emperors.

There was still a thriving Jewish community in Smyrna in the 17th century, and there were two major events during the mid-part of that century.

First Event: A resurgence of Messianic fervor greater than any since the time of Christ Jesus. For Gentile Christians and their Messianic Jewish brothers in Christ, it was the return of Messiah. For non-Messianic Jews (as is still the case today) it was the first appearance of Messiah. In fact some of those Jews actually identified the year 1648 (then later 1666) as the year of their final redemption by their long-awaited Jewish Messiah.

Time/space doesn’t permit more information on this obviously false messiah, who later converted to Islam to avoid persecution and possible death at the hands of the Sultan of Turkey! In stark contrast to the true Messiah Jesus, who as the Son of God willingly came to this earth as a man (Virgin Birth) and freely laid down his life for our ugly sins and the penalty of those transgressions, eternal separation from God. As well as all of Jesus’s disciples (except John) who were killed for preaching the Good News, and millions of Christians down through the ages (more in the 20th and 21st centuries than ever before) who have given the supreme sacrifice of their lives to testify that only Messiah Jesus can save us.

(Portrait of Sabbatai Zevi, Next to a Crown)

Here is an excerpt from the Jewish History website article:

What happened next is indescribable. We know it from diplomatic records, from ambassadors of countries who sent records to their government describing what happened throughout the Jewish world. Sabbatai Zevi was not just a Jewish phenomenon, but an international one. His arrival affected the economy and politics of all Europe.

Wild rumors regarding the advent of the Messiah circulated all over the civilized world. Jews is Greece, Italy, Syria, Egypt and Turkey, began to sell out their properties in anticipation of moving to the Holy Land.

The Jewish communities of Amsterdam, Hamburg, Altona, Frankfurt and Main were all taken over by supporters of Sabbatai Zevi. The chief opponent of Sabbatai Zevi was a rabbi in Amsterdam by the name of Jacob Sasportas. He sent letters to the rabbis of Europe to oppose Sabbatai Zevi. Shockingly, hundreds of rabbis refused to do so. Many of them said in effect that even if Sabbatai Zevi was not the Messiah he was good for the Jews because a lot of assimilated Jews were now more religious or at least more aware and proud of their Jewish identities…

By the end of 1665, the messianic fervor had moved from the Mediterranean basin to Western and Eastern Europe. In short, Sabbatai Zevi hysteria swept throughout Europe, especially Eastern Europe which was still reeling from the Tach V’tat massacres. The Jews were looking for something. Here was the solution; here was the Messiah.

This last paragraph leads us directly to the:

Second Event: Quoting from the first paragraph of an article with the heading of Tach V’tat, also posted in the online source of Jewish History:

“The years 1648 and 1649 represent a watershed in Jewish history. In Jewish tradition they are referred to as Tach V’tat (which are the Hebrew letters representing the numbers 408 and 409, which correspond to the years of 1648 and 1649 on the non-Jewish calendar). One can even say that Tach V’tat marks the beginning of modern Jewish history. It is certainly the harbinger of enormous changes in and enormous destruction of the Jewish world.”

The author of that column was referring to and did mention the mass slaughter of an estimated 300,000 Jews (30% of the Jewish European population) by Russian Cossacks, Tartars, and mostly by Polish peasants during these two years, but continuing through 1653. Proportionally, the number of Jews killed during this relatively short 5-6 year period of time exceeded the Crusades or the Inquisition before, both of which took place over a long period of time. It was the largest mass murder of Jews until the Holocaust, which also took place over a 5-6 year period of time.

(I Hesitated To Post This Holocaust Mass Grave Picture, one of many photos and videos taken of the Holocaust. But We Must Never Forget. The Tach V’tat massacre of the Jews was done one at a time by hand, compared to the machine gun and gas chambers of the Holocaust)

As the author of the Jewish History article concluded: it was the harbinger of enormous changes in and destruction of the Jewish world to come.

The Starling Correlation

The Holocaust of the Second World War was a direct (prophetic) catalyst of the rebirth of the State of Israel, which is one of the three epic achievements of the 20th century that signal specific time frames of the Day of the Lord (in a generational period that the Bible defines as both 100 years and 70 years).

Sabbatai Zevi was a false messiah, who deceived many by special (questionable) paranormal abilities and pious living. He would be a pre-cursor to the next infamous and last anti-Messiah who will reappear shortly after the Rapture. Followed seven years later by the true Messiah’s return.

Let’s do the math:

Starting with this year (2017), and then transposing Messiah’s number of 358 to years, we’ll go backward in history. Once again, however, we need to convert Roman calendar years to Jewish calendar years. Those calculations give us 363 Jewish years. Subtracting 363 from 2017, we end up in the year 1654.

That was the year that immediately followed the end of the worst mass murder of Jews (1648-1653) until the Holocaust; with the Holocaust immediately preceding the rebirth of Israel in 1948. Which, in turn, was the epic beginning of the 70-year generation (within the 100-year generation of the Balfour Declaration of 1917) that would usher in the Day of the Lord.

Also it was the last prominent anti-Messiah to deceive both Jews and Gentiles alike, until (the) Antichrist (Nero) will return from the Abyss. Only to be totally vanquished by the true Messiah.

Things to Ponder

Certainly, there is some speculation on my part even to match the number of Messiah to years. As indicated in some prior Eye of Prophecy articles: Unlike a great many—even well-meaning Bible scholars—who focus on Biblical prophecy, I seldom do any speculating at all. Rather, I rely on the comparison of Scripture to Scripture and then correlation to historical events. If you have read just a few Eye of Prophecy articles, I’m convinced you will see that.

In that regard, I would classify the 358 paradigm as a secondary (probable but not absolutely certain) prophetic development or sign. One that is more hidden and harder to discern than the obvious Biblical prophecies of Messiah’s first and second advents and Israel’s final redemption and restoration as covered extensively in Eye of Prophecy articles, including current events that pertain to these prophetic developments.

Nevertheless, the fact that 358 years ago, give or take a few years, finds us at the very time of what was the most prominent false messiah up to that point—including the worst massacre of Jews until the Holocaust—is, I think, quite relevant … even remarkable.

Messiah Jesus’s return is so very near. This is the ardent anticipation and strong belief of most evangelical Bible scholars and teachers and millions upon millions of Christians. Although there are many articles on several subjects, one of the main purposes of Eye of Prophecy website is to provide Biblical and historical documentation to support that powerful premise.

The 358 template that connects a false messiah (a pre-cursor of the ultimate Antichrist—Nero) to the true Messiah is one more piece of the prophetic puzzle. Albeit the fitting of this piece requires a magnifying lens that includes looking at Hebrew gematria coupled with a strong working knowledge of Biblical prophecy and secular history.

In that context, it’s pretty amazing what was happening 358 years ago! Was that mere coincidence? Or could there be a prophetic correlation and time-lapse application to the imminent return of Christ in today’s world?

“But it was to us that God revealed things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets … And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us” (I Corinthians 2:10 & 12, parenthesis in the text).

“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-12).

“…If you are a teacher, teach well” (Romans 12:7).

By the grace of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Eye of Prophecy articles will teach well, as we are:

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  • “One Ring To Rule Them All….”
  • A Beast by Any Other Name … Part I
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  • A Deal That Will Live In Infamy
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  • A Religion of Peace? (Part I)
  • A Religion of Peace? (Part II)
  • A Revived Roman Empire … Or Not?
  • A Sleeping Giant
  • A Tale of Two (Arab) Cousins
  • A Third Jewish Temple (Part II)
  • A Third Jewish Temple?
  • A Trilogy of Terror
  • Aftermath of America’s Amazing Election
  • Age of Grace (Part I)
  • Age of Grace (Part II)
  • Age of Grace (Part III)
  • Alliances against Israel
  • Amazing Anticipation for Messiah
  • Ambassador Nikki Haley & The Truth About Israel
  • America the Beautiful Is Getting Ugly
  • An Incredible Time-Lapse Prophecy
  • An Islamic United Nations?
  • An Unprecedented Palestinian Attack in Jerusalem
  • And Justice For All
  • Antichrist / A “Back To The Future” Prophecy
  • Antichrist … Is He Alive Today?
  • Antichrist and Anzio … What Do They Have in Common?
  • Antichrist and the Vicar of Christ … Part I
  • Antichrist and the Vicar of Christ … Part II
  • Antichrist’s Dreaded Arrival / First or Second Appearance?
  • Armageddon & Messiah’s Return … An Amazing Sequence of Events
  • Beginning of the End
  • Beware of the Bear!
  • Biblical Terms Not in the Bible … Are They Biblical?
  • Blood Moons
  • Blow the Trumpets … Messiah Will Come!
  • Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (of Israel)
  • BREXIT … What’s It All About?
  • Bring Back Our Boys
  • Build The Temple! Will Messiah Come?
  • Can A Murderer Be A Martyr?
  • Christ or Antichrist … who will it be?
  • Comparing A Phenomenal Prophecy in Leviticus With One in Zechariah
  • Conspiracy Theories … A New World Order
  • Countdown to Armageddon … End of the Fourth 400-Year Era
  • COVID-19 / Just Another Plague?
  • COVID-19 / Just Another Plague? (Part II)
  • Cunning Makeover of the Great City (Revelation 17)
  • Daniel’s 70 Prophetic Weeks & The Number Seventy!
  • Day of Infamy
  • Did God Really Appear to People? When & How?
  • Diplomacy With Israel Despite Anti-Semitism / A Puzzling Paradox
  • Divine Consequences of Iran’s Arrogance (Part I)
  • Divine Consequences of Iran’s Arrogance (Part II)
  • Does Christmas Really Need Christ?
  • Does God Really Have a Son? … Part I
  • Does God Really Have a Son? … Part II
  • Does Israel Belong To The State of Israel?
  • Does The Holy Spirit Restrain (the Man of) Lawlessness?
  • Don’t Seal The Book of Revelation!
  • Double Israel’s Trouble & Double Her Blessings!
  • End of the World Events … In Chronological Order!
  • Ethnic Cleansing of Jews … The Real Palestinian Agenda
  • Exposing Antichrist’s Identity … More Compelling Evidence (Part I)
  • Exposing Antichrist’s Identity … More Compelling Evidence (Part II)
  • Extraordinary Biblical Prophecies w/Predicted Times of Fulfillment (Part I)
  • Extraordinary Biblical Prophecies w/Predicted Times of Fulfillment (Part II)
  • Festival of Tabernacles … Part I
  • First Century Existence of Christ and Antichrist & Their 21st Century Return
  • Five Life-Changing Meals in the Bible
  • For or Against Israel?
  • For Such A Time As This
  • Fountain of Youth & Fountain of Life … Is There a Difference?
  • Four Locust Kingdoms!
  • Freedom … What Does It Really Mean?
  • Fulfilled Prophecy Proves We Can Trust The Bible
  • Gateway to the World
  • Giving Thanks … What is it all about
  • Global Obsession with Jerusalem … In Biblical Proportions!
  • Globalism or Populism … Which Will Antichrist Prefer?
  • God Is Great & Yet He’s So Good!
  • God Is in Control
  • God’s New Covenant with Israel … Minus the Temple (Part I)
  • God’s New Covenant with Israel … Minus the Temple (Part II)
  • Gog, Magog and Leviathan
  • Gog/Magog’s Prophetic Clock Is Ticking, Ticking….
  • Grace and Law … A Biblical Balance
  • Great Expectations for Messiah
  • Hanukkah & Christmas / Do They Have Anything in Common?
  • Hanukkah … The Festival Born of a Prophecy!
  • Happy New Year … Jerusalem Style!
  • Has Antichrist Already Died … How, When & Why
  • How and When Does The World End?
  • How the Rapture
  • Humiliating End of the Great City (Revelation 17)
  • Hurricane Harvey & A Year of Prophetic Milestones (2017)
  • Intriguing Comparisons Between Antiochus IV & Antichrist (Nero)
  • Israel Is Again The Head, Not the Tail (The Deal of the Century)
  • Is President Trump Wavering On “The Waiver”?
  • ISIS, Nero, and Rome
  • Israel Is Here To Stay … Forever!
  • Israel’s Annexation of Occupied Territory? We Must Define The Terms
  • Israel’s Controversial Nation-State Law
  • Israel’s Government in Limbo … Unprecedented!
  • Israeli Occupation … Fact or Myth?
  • Italy’s New Government / A Thorn in the EU’s Side
  • Jerusalem … A Capital Without a Country?
  • Jerusalem … City of Peace?
  • Jerusalem / City Above All Cities
  • Jerusalem’s Mysterious Eastern Gate … Making Headlines
  • Jesus’s Stunning Statements While on the Cross… A Summary of Salvation!
  • Jesus Is The Very Essence of Prophecy
  • Jewish Christian / Christian Jew … An Oxymoron?
  • Jewish Settlements in Judea/Samaria … Are They Illegal?
  • Jewish Sovereignty on Temple Mount (Part I)
  • Jewish Sovereignty on Temple Mount (Part II)
  • Jubilee and Messiah … They Go Together!
  • Judea/Samaria & Gaza Strip / Who Has Sovereignty?
  • Just How Imminent is Messiah’s Imminent Return?
  • King David’s Tomb
  • Kingdom of God
  • Las Vegas Massacre … A Broader Perspective
  • Lazarus and Lazarus & The Sign of Jonah
  • Let’s Celebrate … Forever!
  • Let’s Make a Deal
  • Light of The World (Sequel To: The Incomparable Power & Authority of Jesus Christ)
  • Look Up, Redemption Is Near … Part I
  • Look Up, Redemption Is Near … Part II
  • Major Earthquake in Israel … When & Where It Will Strike
  • Melchizedek … A Man of Mystery!
  • Merry Christmas … What’s It All About?
  • Messiah and the Jewish Festivals … An Extraordinary Connection!
  • Messiah’s Amazing Appearances Before He Was Born
  • Messiah’s Arrival … On Whose Authority?
  • Messiah’s Ascension & Coronation … Seen Long Before It Happened!
  • Messiah’s Millennial Reign … Incredible Changes on Earth
  • Messiah’s Number & Its Prophetic Value
  • Messiah’s Return & The Rapture (Same or Separate Events?)
  • Messianic Jews … Who Are They?
  • Modern Day Antichrist?
  • Moral Equivalency
  • More Palestinian Lies
  • More Than One Messiah?
  • Moses & Elijah vs. Antichrist & The False Prophet
  • Moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem … A Broken Promise?
  • NERO & The Remarkable Revival of His Name
  • O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!
  • Old & New Testament Saints … Is There a Difference?
  • One Global Language … Coming Soon! (Part I)
  • One Global Language … Coming Soon! (Part II)
  • One Hundred Forty-Four Thousand Messianic Jews … Part I
  • One Hundred Forty-Four Thousand Messianic Jews … Part II
  • One Nation Under (the wrath of) God
  • One World Government?
  • One World Religion?
  • Palestine or Israel? Which Is It? / Your Answer May Be In Jeopardy!
  • Palestinian Propaganda Is Pure Poison
  • Palestinian Refugees… Are They Really Refugees?
  • Palestinian Terrorism & UN Resolutions … Neither Will Defeat Israel
  • Palestinian Terror Tunnels & Poetic Justice
  • Passover & Messiah Are Inseparable!
  • Passover … an Enduring Legacy
  • Peace Between Israel and Judah … Then World Peace!
  • Peace on Earth … Is It Really Possible?
  • Peace or a Palestinian State … Which Will It Be?
  • Powerful Proof of Messiah’s Identity & Arrival in The First Century!
  • Preach the Gospel … But Not to the Jews!
  • Prince of Peace
  • Prophecy & A Jewish Holiday
  • Prophetic Fate of Israel’s Friends and Foes
  • Prophetic Implications of the Fires in Israel (Part I)
  • Prophetic Implications of the Fires in Israel (Part II)
  • Proportional Warfare
  • Reappearance of Satan, a Roman Emperor & Two Ancient Prophets … Bodily!
  • Reappearance of the Beast (Antichrist)
  • Reexamination of Messiah’s Imminent Return & The Omega Generation
  • Remember December (Kislev) … A Hidden Gem of Prophecy!
  • Removing Christ From Christmas … What Are The Consequences?
  • Replacement Theology (Part I)
  • Replacement Theology (Part II)
  • Resurrections / How Many Will There Be? One, Two, Or Could There Be Three?
  • Rome and Jerusalem … friends or foes?
  • Russia & Iran versus Israel
  • Russia’s Shocking Invasion of Ukraine … A Preview of Gog/Magog’s Attack on Israel?
  • Salvation … “To The Jew First!”
  • Satan in Bodily Form … When & Why (Part I)
  • Satan in Bodily Form … When & Why (Part II)
  • Scripture Says Everyone Will Die / But What About the Rapture?
  • Separation of Church and State … For or Against? (Part I)
  • Separation of Church and State … For or Against? (Part II)
  • Sequel to Stunning Catastrophes & Shocking Statistics of the Great Tribulation
  • Seven Essentials of The Rapture (Part I)
  • Seven Essentials of the Rapture (Part II)
  • Seven Times Seven (to the 4th power)! Part I
  • Seven Times Seven (to the 4th power)! Part II
  • Seven Times Seven (to the 4th power)! Part III
  • Seven Wonders of The Millennium
  • Seven Wonders of The Millennium (Part II)
  • Shameful Saga of the Great City (Revelation 17)
  • Shocking Statistics of the Great Tribulation
  • Significant Sets of Twos in the Bible
  • Six Million Reasons … To Trust the Bible
  • Soon Comes the Antichrist … Straight From the Abyss (Part I)
  • Soon Comes the Antichrist … Straight From the Abyss (Part II)
  • Spiritual Bodies … A Contradiction of Terms? (Part I)
  • Spiritual Bodies … A Contradiction of Terms? (Part II)
  • Stand Still & Watch God Fight for Israel!
  • Stunning Catastrophes of the Tribulation / Their Timing & Purpose
  • Sudden Appearance of Antichrist … Why So Different?
  • Sukkot … The Forever Festival!
  • Superhuman Bodies for Believers / How & Why?
  • Tell a Big Lie Long Enough….
  • Terror, Terror, Terror (Part II)
  • Terror, Terror, Terror! (Part I)
  • The “Right of Return” … For Palestinians or Jews?
  • The Ark of the Covenant … Part I
  • The Ark of the Covenant … Part II
  • The Balfour Declaration … Beginning of the Omega Generation (Part I)
  • The Balfour Declaration … Beginning of the Omega Generation (Part II)
  • The Beast and His Name
  • The Birth of a Nation
  • The Child of Promise (Part I)
  • The Child of Promise (Part II)
  • The Cross and the Torn Curtain (Part I)
  • The Cross and the Torn Curtain (Part II)
  • The End of the Age … how close are we?
  • The False Prophet (Part I)
  • The False Prophet (Part II)
  • The Final Treaty of Rome … Part I
  • The Final Treaty of Rome … Part II
  • The Gog/Magog Countdown Has Begun!
  • The Heart & Soul of Israel
  • The Incomparable Power and Authority of Jesus Christ
  • The Jewish Dichotomy In & Outside Israel
  • The Legacy of Temple Mount
  • The Legendary Return of Nero
  • The Liberation of Jerusalem
  • The Magnificent Millennial Reign of Believers with Messiah
  • The Most Panoramic Prophecy in the Bible (Part I)
  • The Most Panoramic Prophecy in the Bible (Part II)
  • The Most Significant End-Times Sign Of All
  • The Myth of Al Aqsa Mosque
  • The Number of the Beast
  • The Omega Generation
  • The Peace Treaty That Will Guarantee War
  • The Phenomenal Thousand Years/One Day Parallel
  • The Prince and the People That Destroyed the Jewish Temple / Who Were They?
  • The Prophetic Endgame of Gog/Magog
  • The Rapture / Before or After The Great Tribulation?
  • The Real Reason for Palestinian Terrorism
  • The Reign of Terror
  • The Remarkable Rebirth of a Nation
  • The Rest of the Story … Bibi’s Speech to the United Nations
  • The Right to Life?
  • The Russians Are Coming!
  • The Seal of Approval
  • The Second Exodus
  • The Seven Year Treaty
  • The Shout Heard Around the World
  • The Shroud of Turin … Real or Fake? / A Decisive Answer
  • The Shroud of Turin … Real or Fake? / A Decisive Answer (Part II)
  • The Terrible Trio of Gog and Magog
  • The Three Greatest Trials of All Time
  • The Tremendous Transfiguration of Believers!
  • The Two Witnesses (Part I)
  • The Two Witnesses (Part II)
  • The Two Witnesses (Part III)
  • The Vatican and Islam … A Perfect Match for Antichrist
  • The Virgin Birth of Messiah … How and Why?
  • The Whole Truth
  • The Woman and the Beast
  • The Woman and the Beast (Part II)
  • The Woman and the Beast (Part III)
  • The Woman and the Beast (Part IV)
  • The Woman and the Beast (Part V)
  • The Woman and the Beast (Part VI)
  • The Wonder Of It All … Birth of the Child!
  • The World Wants a Messiah … But It Needs (The) Messiah
  • There’s No Place Like Homs
  • There’s Resurrection; And There’s Resurrection!
  • Three … A Divine Number of God!
  • Times of & Fullness of the Gentiles … What Do They Mean?
  • To Be or Not To Be … in Heaven?
  • To Be Or Not To Be … In Heaven? (A Revisit)
  • Trump, Cyrus, and the Jewish Temple
  • Turmoil, Tragedy, & Terror in Israel (Part I … Turmoil)
  • Turmoil, Tragedy, & Terror in Israel (Part II … Tragedy)
  • Turmoil, Tragedy, & Terror in Israel (Part III … Terror)
  • Two-State Solution & The Seven-Year Treaty … Impossible?
  • Two Thirds of the Jews Killed … Past or Future?
  • U.S. President Agrees with God … Jerusalem Is Israel’s Capital!
  • Under the Radar
  • UNESCO / “Theatre of the Absurd” Against Israel
  • United Nations Downsizing of Israel (Resolution 2334)
  • Value of Prophecy
  • West Bank or Judea/Samaria? What’s In A Name?
  • What Is A Saint?
  • What Is Done To Israel Will Be Done In Return / The Iran Nuclear Deal
  • What Is Done to Israel Will Be Done in Return / Dangers of a Divided Jerusalem
  • What is Palestine & Who Is A Palestinian?
  • What is the Rapture?
  • What Is The Unpardonable Sin?
  • When the Rapture?
  • Where is Messiah … Is He Already Here?
  • Where Is The Temple? Part I
  • Where Is The Temple? Part II
  • Where is the Temple? Part III
  • Who is Messiah?
  • Who Is the Antichrist & How Will He Appear (Part I)
  • Who Is The Antichrist & How Will He Appear? (Part II)
  • Who the Rapture?
  • Whom Do You Most Want To See In Heaven?
  • Why the Rapture?
  • Why the Rapture? (A Revisit)
  • Why The World Idolizes Antichrist & How It Reacts To The Tribulation
  • Wiles of the Woman
  • Will All Children Be Taken in The Rapture?
  • Will Believers Go Through the Great Tribulation? (Part I)
  • Will Believers Go Through The Great Tribulation? (Part II)
  • Will There Still Be Unbelievers Throughout Eternity?
  • Yom Kippur / With Or Without Atonement?
  • Zechariah’s Dramatic Description of Antichrist’s Fatal Wounds

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