Spiritual Bodies … A Contradiction of Terms? (Part I)

26 Saturday Sep 2015

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Spiritual Bodies, Mutually Exclusive Words?

What in the world is a spiritual body? Is there such a thing? At face value, these two words compared, contrasted, and simply put side by side are mutually exclusive. Absent a Biblical definition and explanation, they are a contradiction of terms. A human body plus a human spirit equal a human being. Right? Of course, right! But a body that is a spirit or a spirit that is a body (spiritual body) just doesn’t compute. Spiritual body is a striking example of that odd but also ordinary word, Oxymoron.

Webster’s dictionary tells us that oxymoron comes from two Greek words: Oxys, meaning sharp or keen. Plus, moros, which means foolish. The resulting definition from Webster’s Dictionary: “a combination of contradictory or incongruous words (as cruel kindness).”

In other words, what otherwise keenly intelligent person would foolishly identify someone as cruelly kind? But when it comes to things spiritual such as what God accomplished through his amazing grace and kindness when Jesus Christ willingly died on that cruel cross, Scripture tells us: “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” (I Corinthians 1:18).

Referring again to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul states: “It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God” (I Corinthians 1:22-24).

What exactly is the Gospel of Jesus Christ? And how does that relate to or explain whether there is or can be such a thing as a spiritual body? Not the human body that houses the human spirit, one in which the spirit is separated from the body at death; rather an indivisible union of spirit and body in which the two distinct entities are inseparably one essence. So much so that it takes two words to describe this phenomenon … spiritual body.

Let’s continue in I Corinthians where we will find one of the most basic and precise descriptions of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in all of Scripture. The Apostle Paul writes:

“I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. 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” (I Corinthians 15:3-4).

First, a brief comment on, “just as the Scriptures said.” There are several things that distinguish the Bible and Christianity from man-made religions in the world, but three that irrefutably confirm that the Bible is the Word of the true and living God; therefore, that Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation, i.e. being made right with God.

Hundreds of prophecies that have come to pass. No other religion or so-called sacred texts have such eschatological proof to back up their claims. In fact, they make few, if any, predictions about the future because they know their god or gods or prophets cannot make them come to pass.
Numerous supernatural miracles performed by God, Messiah Jesus, and by the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament prophets and New Testament apostles.
Above all, Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. “…and he was raised from the dead on the third day…”

Resurrection from the Grave … That’s What It Is All About!

Just a few days before he would lay down his life as a ransom for our sins, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Shortly before that he explained to his disciples, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity” (John 12:23-25).

The Apostle Paul used this same analogy of a seed dying only to produce new life. That this renewed life will, in turn, produce the oxymoron marvel of spiritual bodies.

Jesus declared to Martha (and the whole world): “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 die. Do you believe this, Martha?” (John 11:25-26).

Just minutes after Messiah Jesus made this remarkable claim about himself, he raised Martha and Mary’s brother, Lazarus, from the dead! But notice that Jesus asked Martha if she believed that he was (I AM) life itself—the author and essence of life and life everlasting—as well as the very source of (bodily) resurrection before he raised Lazarus from the grave. Would she, could she believe on the basis of what Jesus had said and done up to this point in time—his claims of being Messiah, Son of God, and his mighty miracles to demonstrate that he was who he said he was—that he could do something about the tragic untimely death of her brother? Both Martha and Mary firmly believed that Jesus could have healed Lazarus before he died. But the Lord didn’t and Lazarus died.

Even before that, Jesus told Martha, “Your brother will rise again.” With Martha’s response conveying what some Jews believed, “Yes … he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day” (John 11:23-24). However, many Jews and most Gentiles, especially the Greeks and Jewish Sadducees, did not believe in a bodily resurrection; if there was a resurrection, it would only be the human spirit. This, despite the fact that Job long before had recognized this astonishing truth: “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!” (Job 19:25-26).

Then Jesus raised Lazarus right then and there to prove two primary things to Mary, Martha, and the watching world: (1) I love you and Lazarus, and I’m bringing him back to you and to me. (2) I will prove to you and to everyone that I have the power over life and death.

This mighty and moving demonstration of resurrection by the Lord was a real-life application experience of the dramatic doctrinal truth of John 3:16. As a result, “Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen” (John 11:45).

Lazarus and the little girl raised by Jesus, as well as each boy raised by the prophets Elijah and Elisha, were prototypes, because each of those raised from the dead had to die again. They were primarily proof that there can be and will be a resurrection from the dead. When Jesus told Martha that he was the resurrection and the life, he was looking ahead to his own (special) resurrection; followed by a great resurrection harvest of all who believed in him. But Jesus was referring to the immortal, incorruptible spiritual body that the Apostle Paul would further explain to believers in I Corinthians Chapter 15.

Just a few days later Jesus proved beyond doubt that he was the Son of God and the reality of the eternal spiritual body resurrection by being the first to rise from the dead with a glorified body—the very body that he now has and forever will have. And though he was the first and the greatest to be given such a body, he has promised that all those who believe and receive him as personal Savior and Redeemer will also be given such a glorified spiritual body.

Not a body that contains a spirit, but a body that is spirit!

That’s what Jesus meant when he said, “…The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of him” (John 13:31). Glory in Scripture means the very essence of whom or what is being described, i.e. the glory of God and a glorified body.

The Power of the Gospel

What is it that has compelled and persuaded me and millions of people down through the ages, including some who are reading this article, to believe and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? Thereby, staking our eternal destiny on this faith and the object of our faith which convinces us that God can be trusted to save us from our sins and from the Tribulation to come, and give us eternal life through His Son.

We are compelled by the amazing love of God expressed in his Grace freely bestowed through the precious gift of his son, Messiah Jesus. It is the greatest gift ever given, purchased by the highest price ever paid (not our purchase with good works or self-worth, but God’s purchase), the very blood and life of Jesus Christ—the righteous for the unrighteous, the just for the unjust, the innocent for the guilty.

We are persuaded by the very cornerstone of our belief and trust: the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Son of God, Son of David, and Son of Man reigns from heaven and will soon return to reign on this earth … in the same glorified, spiritual body that was his when he left the grave. All other religious founders or leaders are still in their graves. But not the Lord. Our Redeemer lives!

It is a historical fact that Jesus Christ arose from the dead. Returning to our passage in I Corinthians Chapter 15, immediately after Paul encapsulates the good news of salvation into the simple truth of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, he affirms: “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 … Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him” (Verses 5-8).

It never ceases to amaze me that so many people for so long have denied the resurrection of Jesus Christ, or are essentially indifferent to it. Most of those who deny or seriously doubt it do so for two main reasons: (1) they don’t believe or don’t want to believe the authenticity of the Bible. (2) They simply don’t want to accept the clear evidence as it doesn’t fit with what they want out of life. Which was emphatically expressed by Jesus in a verse quoted earlier: Those who love their life in this world will lose it.

Time and space does not permit an in-depth validation of the reliability of the Bible in this article. Except to say that as important as the Bible is to eternal doctrinal truth of mankind’s lost and sinful condition and God’s majestic plan of salvation for the human race, these truths are interwoven into and throughout an incredibly meticulous historical account of individuals, nations, places, times, and events. Both religious and secular scholars who are truly objective consider the Bible to be even more historically reliable than many secular historians. There are thousands more complete or partial manuscripts of the books of the Bible than the closest number of manuscripts to it, which is Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, both of which are fiction.

In other words, if someone is going to deny or even seriously question the historical fact that Jesus arose from the grave, as confirmed by hundreds of witnesses who saw him sometime during the forty days after his resurrection (before his ascension back to heaven), then they should also reject any and all secular historical accounts of, for example, the life and times of Augustus Caesar. Once again: Although the Bible is indeed a book of faith, it is much more than that. It is a historically reliable account of people, places, and events that provide an authentic backdrop of God’s interaction with the human race from the first Adam to the last Adam and beyond.

Then there are those who acknowledge the fact or at least the possibility that Christ arose from the dead but who are nonetheless indifferent to his resurrection. That is particularly true of 20^th & 21^st century folks. It’s like, “that’s nice, even pretty impressive, but what does it have to do with me?”

Well, if Jesus, himself, said it has everything to do with every person on this earth, might that not be a strong clue to listen up and take what he said and did to heart. As indicated earlier, when Jesus asked Martha, he asked everyone, “Do you believe this…” Believe what? Believe what Jesus had just told Martha and every person on this planet: “I am the resurrection and the life.”

Don’t miss next week’s Part II article when we’ll do some in-depth examination of the Spiritual Body.

Things to Ponder

Shortly after Jesus had fed a multitude of thousands with just five barley loaves and two fish, some in the crowd said, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” (John 6:28).

Jesus didn’t give them a long list of religious requirements or do-good philosophies, because he knew they couldn’t keep the Law of Moses, nor does the law or good works bring salvation in the first place. Thus, his answer was simple. Only one thing is required:

“This is the only work God wants from you. Believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:29).

That’s it, that’s all, you might say.

Yes, that’s all.

The Philippian jailor pleaded with the Apostle Paul and Silas who had just prevented the jailor from committing suicide. The jailor asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Paul and Silas replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved…” Acts 16:30-31).

As the Apostle John said in one of his epistles, “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).

Do you believe this?

Messianic Jews … Who Are They?

25 Saturday Apr 2015

Posted by garybowers in Prophecy in General

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Christian Jews, IDF, Jewish Christians, Messiah Jesus

Messianic Jews

IDF Soldiers Warned Against Contact With Messianic Jews.

This absorbing headline revealed the provocative subject of an article printed on the website of israeltoday.com in December, 2013. Earlier that month another article in the same on-line forum was published entitled, Yeshua Campaign Causes Buzz in Southern Israel. That article featured excerpts from a radio interview with a Messianic Jew and Ofer Karadi, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish member of the Shas party of the Knesset. The orthodox Jew screamed into the microphone at his Messianic co-guest: “May his name be cut off forever … Are you (the host interviewer) so degenerate as to allow this impious infidel to even speak on the radio … It is unacceptable to allow these degenerates to speak about these things in our city.”

The caustic condemnation of the Messianic Jewish guest only got worse as the talk-show progressed. Although the Messianic Jew was allowed to speak, it was all too evident that Ofer Karadi not only loathed the audacity of the Messianic Jew and the interviewer for allowing this impious infidel to be on the talk-show, but also despised the Messianic Jew himself. The program began by the radio host citing a recent incident in which an Israeli IDF general had called a special meeting with his battalion after the general had observed a few signs along a highway that referenced Yeshua (Jesus). During this meeting, the general proceeded to explain to the soldiers about, “Messianic Jews and what they believe about Yeshua.” Moreover, it was apparent that this particular IDF general was, at the very least, tolerant of Messianic Jews and perhaps actually sympathetic toward them.

Not necessarily so with Israel’s Ministry of Defense and high-ranking IDF authorities which, mostly for political reasons to appease the staunchly “anti-missionary” Orthodox Jews, have issued a formal warning that all soldiers staying in Jerusalem through the Sabbath are not allowed to have any contact with members of this (Messianic) “sect of Jews” who preach faith in Yeshua. But it was also a throw-back to an IDF policy that began years ago, in which Messianic Jews enlisted in the Israeli military were considered to be a (potential) security risk. Though not all Messianic Jews were dismissed from the IDF, those assigned to elite or sensitive units were required to make a decision … serve Messiah or serve in the IDF.

Many years ago, during the enforcement of this policy, a Jewish friend of mine … now a Christian pastor who currently lives in Israel experienced this same dilemma. He rose to the rank of Major in the IDF specializing in military grid communications and logistics. When his superiors learned that he was Messianic they told him that his service in the IDF was a, “conflict of interest.” He was given a choice to fulfil his duty to Israel OR to Yeshua, but not both at the same time.

To further analyze and illustrate this amazing ambivalence toward Messianic Jews in Israel (and the world at large), a Messianic Jewish Sabra (native-born Israeli), who is now an IDF Air Force sergeant, asked his commanding officer if he could use a New Testament along-side of the (required) Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) while pledging his personal and military induction allegiance to the State of Israel. Without hesitation, his commander replied, “Yes you may.” Consequently, this young soldier became part of the IDF, along with scores of Messianic Jews currently serving in the Israeli military.

IDF Recruits After Oath of Allegiance

Generally speaking, Jews belonging to the IDF who profess faith in Messiah Jesus are no longer singled out like they once were. To the contrary, they seem to be highly respected by commanding officers, to the extent of becoming officers in every branch of the IDF … even in Israeli Military Intelligence units, which requires high security clearance.

Why then did the Israeli Defense Ministry publicly issue orders to soldiers stationed in Jerusalem not to interact with fellow soldiers who were known Messianic Jews? As indicated earlier, it has everything to do with being politically correct, specifically to placate the Orthodox Jews, most of whom ironically refuse to serve in the military.

*On a side note, there is an alarming increase in the United States military to identify and isolate men and women who profess faith in Christ. Even military chaplains have been severely restricted in what they can say or do with regard to anything relating to Jesus Christ, including the very mention of his name!

Such Statistical Diversity!

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is a microcosm of all Jews in Israel. In a nation with roughly eight million citizens of whom some two millions are Arabs, we find an incredible mixture of Muslims, Christians, and mostly Jews who are either secular (including atheists) or religious. But the practice of Judaism encompasses a wide spectrum that includes Liberal, Reformed, Conservative, Orthodox, and ultra-Orthodox, in that order from (the) left to (the) right. It is a truly perplexing phenomenon, one that can and will someday be providentially resolved by God himself directly through his Son, Messiah Jesus. A divine solution that began two thousand years ago when Jesus Christ came as the chosen, “…Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). And this same Messiah Jesus, as the Lion from the Tribe of Judah and King of all kings “…will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!” (Acts 1:11).

As much as I love Israel, the Jews, and my Christian heritage from the Old Covenant, I am profoundly saddened that God’s chosen people (selected to bring the light of God’s salvation to all nations through God’s Messiah) still don’t recognize that the New Covenant promised by God through his prophets has already arrived … when Messiah Jesus died and arose from the dead in the first century (See Jeremiah 31:31-34).

“After supper he took another cup of wine and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you” (Luke 22:20).

Then as the Jewish Apostle Paul said: “What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. But the people of Israel, who tried (are still trying) so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock (Messiah Jesus) in their path” (Romans 9:30-32).

But some Jews have discovered that Jesus is alive! That he is who he said he is: Messiah, the Son of God and God the Son. Though still relatively small in numbers, this most astonishing and intriguing group are the Jewish Christians or perhaps better described as Christian Jews … known today by the term Messianic Jews. Why is this so remarkable? Because in a country that is historically known for its spiritual or religious traditions, nearly two-thirds of Israelis (based on a poll) classified themselves as either non-religious or agnostic or even atheists (eight percent). Though polls are often an oversimplification of what is taking place on any given subject at any given time, they do represent a fairly accurate cross-section of the population.

Thus, these surprising statistics make Israel less “religious” than Japan (62%), Germany (59%) and South Korea (55%); and almost identical to the United Kingdom’s 66% non-religious population. However, according to Rabbi David Golinkin, Professor of Jewish Law at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, many Israeli Jews maintain some form of traditional Judaism (undoubtedly referring to periodic observance of Sabbath and certain festival days, such as Passover). Although not nearly as devoted to Judaism as the Orthodox or Conservative, they would not envision themselves to be non-religious.

If such a standard is used instead of a poll that merely asks whether a person is religious or non-religious, then the statistics would show that about 56% of Israelis considered themselves to be (at least technically) religious, slightly over half. Of this conscientious half, Orthodox Jews constitute 15%, ultra-Orthodox 7%, and 34% are traditional (those who observe Judaism to some degree or another).

Worldwide there are an estimated one million Messianic Jews, with 200,000 living in the United States. These one million Jews who embrace Yeshua (Jesus) as the Messiah, represent 7% of the world population of 14,218,800 Jews. However, the proportion is much less in Israel, with an estimated 15,000 Messianic Jews—according to the website, Maoz.Israel. This represents only .002% of the 6,300,000 Jews in Israel! Or one of every 420 Jews in the land, contrasted to one of every fourteen Jews worldwide.

But I’m not surprised at either figure, particularly the .002% in Israel, where it’s nothing short of amazing that there are even a hundred Messianic Jews. I say this in the context of the animosity held by the greater majority of Jews, both secular and religious, against Christianity, particularly those who survived World War II and moved to Israel. This originates primarily from the horrific massacre of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust, perpetrated by a Nazi fascist regime that many Jews associated with Christianity. In fact, one reason there are so many Jewish agnostics today is because of what happened to their parents and grandparents in the Holocaust. There are too many painfully unanswered questions for them, not the least of which is their (erroneous, but nevertheless overwhelming) belief that Nazi Germany was fundamentally a “Christian nation.”

True Christians versus False Christianity

As explained at length in the previous two-part Eye of Prophecy articles (principally on the subject of whether Islam is a religion of peace) the horror of the Crusades and Inquisitions hundreds of years earlier still have an enormous impact on the Jewish psyche. Here is an excerpt from last week’s article:

Time does not permit an in-depth analysis (indeed, books have been written on this subject), but the historical evidence is quite strong: First, the vast majority of these Crusaders were acting on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope, and French and English Kings who were, for the most part, subject to the Pope. These crusades in no way, shape, or form represented the essence of Jesus Christ or Scripture. Which is to spread the Good News of salvation to all mankind, with the crystal clear understanding that this is not done through violence or even by duress. Just the opposite: As any kind, caring parent wants their child to respond to their love with love and appreciation from the child (not out of threat or even obligation), so does our great God and Messiah Jesus give us the same choice. Thus, it’s a matter of the heart, not of the sword. An issue of gratitude, not attitude (brashness and arrogance that leads to compulsive compliance).

It’s so very sadly true that the Crusaders were hell-bent to retake Israel from the Muslims and restore what they perceived as the Kingdom of Heaven in Jerusalem. They did so under the mantle of a romantic, but more-so mushy misguided mission that this must be done by conquest (Crusade). In fact, Roman Catholicism is a doctrinal distortion of true Christianity, disguised in the form of an institutional hierarchy that attempted to replace and replicate the once mighty Roman Empire, with the Holy Roman Empire. An empire that encompasses the Holy City of Jerusalem, one that must dominate both the Islamic kingdom and the Jewish remnant left over from the Roman induced Diaspora of the Jews.

Again, we can see the obvious dissimilarity between real Christianity (unforced believing and receiving Jesus as personal Savior … resulting in a change of the human heart) and compulsory adherence to a religious system that required physical baptism for membership, then maintenance of right-standing in the church by the keeping of sacraments and performance of good works. Which was and still is in complete contrast to Biblical redemption and the means of that salvation summarized succinctly by the following passage:

“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” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The overriding and overwhelming theme of the entire Bible is the coming of Messiah to redeem the world. Jesus Christ expressly fulfilled hundreds of Messianic prophecies, and would indeed sacrifice his very life to give all who believe in him life everlasting.

“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). So our Creator gave us life, then he gave us life again.

And then to put this even more in the context of this week’s article, a quote from Part I of these articles entitled, A Religion of Peace?

Is Islam a religion? Of course it is: No less than Hinduism, Buddhism, Roman Catholicism, Shintoism, or cultic sects like Mormonism that claim some (corrupt) form of Christianity … which is NOT, I repeat NOT, a religion. Actually, I don’t even like to use the word Christianity but will do so for the sake of identifiable terminology, because it bears this name in an attempt to classify or include it as one of the world religions. Christian … yes, as that expression clearly conveys one’s identity in Christ … a Christ-one.

But that doesn’t make believers in Jesus Christ religious or Christianity, a religion. Those redeemed by Jesus Christ do not belong to an ism. Rather, we belong to a Person. Actually three Persons in One: God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Can I get an AMEN on that!

Christianity & the Jews

Whether diehard secular or avowed religious or simply traditional, Jews throughout Israel and the world will tell you that their strong aversion to the Christian faith and, therefore, Jesus as Messiah, relates directly to what they perceive as Christianity induced persecution against the Jews dating back to the Crusades. But even further for some: Going all the way back to the formation of the Roman Catholic Church, a direct outgrowth of the Roman Emperor Constantine declaring Christianity the State Religion of the Roman Empire. Then, subsequently, the persecution of Jews throughout the Roman Empire and later Europe that began with the insidious and perverted concept that the Roman Catholic Church had replaced Israel in all of the Biblical prophecies pertaining to restoration of the Jews to the Promised Land and to their Savior—both individually and nationally, literally and spiritually. This, as many of you know, is called Replacement Theology. And it is straight from the gates of hell.

The roughly 20% of Jews who are Orthodox observers of Judaism, many of whom are Rabbis, would reject Jesus as Messiah, no matter what happened to their ancestors at the hands of misguided members of Roman Catholicism and even some Protestants (such as the tragic way in which Martin Luther turned on the Jews late in his life). To them, the Christian faith is nothing more than a deviant sect of Judaism. Although the Jewish Temple was demolished in 70 AD and the Jewish sacrifices were terminated, Judaism has adapted by relying on the Mosaic Law to (hopefully) attain a right standing with God; but absent the God-ordained sacrificial shedding of blood for forgiveness of sins. Please, I would encourage you to read the three-part Eye of Prophecy series entitled: Where is the Temple? (Published 11-29, 12-6, & 12-13-14).

Whereas, the roughly 80% of all Jews who are not Orthodox will invariably cite the aforementioned world events (Romanized Christianity, Crusades, Inquisitions, Holocaust) as more than reason enough to reject the historical Jesus as the real Son of God Messiah. In fact, many non-observant and even some observant Jews don’t know that Jesus was a Jew. They perceive him as the founder of Christianity … a gentile religion.

How incredibly ironic!

Jonathan Bernis, a former Rabbi and now a Messianic Jew, head of Jewish Voice Ministries headquartered in my neck of the woods (Phoenix, AZ) tells the story of growing up in an Orthodox Jewish family. He, too, thought Jesus was a gentile, and that Christ was his last name! Not understanding whatsoever that Jesus is the Christ, (Jesus Christ) which is the same thing as saying (in Hebrew) that he is Yeshua haMashiach. Christ and Messiah mean the same thing … anointed or chosen one. They are titles, not surnames!

So Exactly What and Who is a Messianic Jew?

If you didn’t know before, you obviously know by now: A Messianic Jew is a Jew by physical birth who has believed and received Jesus as God’s prophesied Messiah … Savior of both Jew and Gentile. That is the first and foremost reason why they are called Messianic Jews.

As quoted from the Maoz.Israel website home page, Messianic Jews in Israel:

Come from various backgrounds and walks of life. The majority are still immigrants—many from the former Soviet Union and North and South America, with a growing number of Sabra (native-born in Israel) Jews—individuals and entire families, young and old, Sephardic and Ashkenazi.

Because of faith in the Bible (meaning both Old and New Testaments) and the words of Yeshua, the Messianic Jews in Israel are outstanding citizens. Israel Messianic Jews pay taxes, serve in the IDF, are honest business owners and valuable employees.

We embrace the Feasts of the Lord and other Biblical appointed times and celebrate them together. We love to fellowship together, pray together and share our lives with one another as we follow the Lord with the same passion that our ancestors in the Bible did.

And despite the ongoing persecution of Messianic believers in Israel, the body of Messiah is growing as more and more Israelis are accepting Yeshua as their Messiah and Savior.

We all look for the day to see the promise of God fulfilled in His Holy Land—that all Israel shall be saved.

During my visit to Israel in 2006 (along with one of my sisters), I experienced what you just read, firsthand. On a Saturday Sabbath, we attended a congregation of believers in Yeshua, called Grace and Truth. Following the typical pattern of singing worship songs (a couple of them brought tears to my eyes), the message was delivered in Hebrew for the Jews in attendance who speak this ancient language all through Israel. That’s an astounding story by itself … the miraculous restoration of a virtually dead language. But with God nothing is impossible. Even in this fairly small congregation, the message was translated simultaneously on one side of the sanctuary in English, and the other side in Russian! And this is the way of it week after week. It was simply amazing.

For those out there who may have a problem with a Saturday service (Sabbath) versus Sunday, or who question whether any believer, Jew or Gentile, should observe certain Jewish festivals (Passover, Feast of Tabernacles), I can on the authority of Scripture tell you conclusively: There is no problem whatsoever with keeping these Jewish traditions. Jesus did! After Jesus returned to heaven, his apostles continued to attend (and teach) in the synagogues (on the Sabbath).

As long as we fully understand that salvation comes by faith in the finished work of Messiah Jesus, not by keeping the Mosaic Law or Jewish (or any) rituals; what does it matter how we celebrate the Lord’s Day or traditions like the Jewish New Year or the more Gentile custom of Christmas. Or if we get together in worship and fellowship on Saturday or Sunday? Or what we eat or don’t eat and drink? (See Romans 14).

How strange that the term Messianic Jew was even coined? Or that today’s Christian Jews or Jewish Christians would even be referred to by that label. Why! Because for the first few decades after Christ ascended to heaven, nearly all of the early Christians were Jews! They weren’t called Messianic Jews. If a person believed in Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, it was pretty much understood that he or she was a Jew.

At first the group designation assigned to the early believers was, The Way. Most likely after Jesus astounding assertion that he alone was, “The Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6). Not until years later were they called Christians at Antioch in Syria. Still, the vast majority were Jews. In that regard, we’re returning full circle to Jews all over the world coming (back) to Messiah, like many of their first century ancestors began their new faith in the Jewish Savior—whose sacrificial death on the cross and mighty resurrection saves Gentiles who believe in him as well as Jews. In that respect, nothing has changed. As it was in the 1^st century beginning of the church, so is it today … Jews are once again turning to Messiah Jesus as they did 2000 years ago. Scripture makes it plainly clear: This is God’s plan for the Jewish race!

Opposition from the Religious, Especially the Orthodox

Something else hasn’t changed. Opposition to Jesus and to early Christians came almost exclusively from the most religious of the Jews—Pharisees, Rabbis, Priests. And this was the only group that Jesus indicted to the point of condemnation with such observations as: “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. Blind guides!” (Matthew 23:23-24). In another setting, Jesus reprimanded the religious leaders as the “blind leading the blind.”

And yet thousands upon thousands of common-folk Jews followed Jesus during his journeys through Israel. Within a few decades, however, the greater number of Christians in the Roman Empire were not found in Israel, much like Messianic Jews in contemporary times.

Which is why the ultra-Orthodox Jew referenced in the beginning of this article will vigorously condemn a Christian Jew; whereas an IDF general and the majority of less observant Jews have no problems with Messianic Jews in Israel or anywhere in the world. Which also explains why a Jew who wanted nothing whatsoever to do with Christians or their Jesus can and did find the incredible salvation and forgiveness offered by the true Messiah. Listen to the testimony of Mottel Baleson who is now a messianic preacher in New Jersey!

“Growing up, we always understood that we had our Bible and the Gentiles had their Bible—the New Testament—and that they were two completely separate books.”

As a college student he began to read all of the Scriptures but, as he points out, under the impression that the New Testament, “…was going to be a handbook on how to persecute the Jews. And yet, when I opened it, I read a story written by Jews about Jewish people.”

When he opened the New Testament to the genealogy of Jesus, who was written as being the son of David, the son of Abraham, he was astonished to realize that Jesus was every much a Jew as King David and the father of Jews, Abraham. He went on to say that, “This is the One (Jesus) who was promised in our Bible in the 53^rd chapter of Isaiah. It is astonishing if you were to just read that chapter … you would say, ‘Oh, this is some Christian Bible. This is Jesus’ What you realize, though, is that it is in the middle of our Bible—our Jewish Bible.”

Despite the enormous evidence that Jesus was the Messiah (incredible teachings of and from God, spectacular miracles, and resurrection from the dead), the religious Jews persuaded their adherents and the Roman governor to crucify him. Little did they know that this was God’s magnificent purpose for the salvation of not only the Jews, but also the Gentiles?

And this plan conceived by our Creator from the beginning of time is still working today in mysteriously effective ways that can only be described as supernatural divine sovereignty. Beginning with the rebirth of Israel and rapid return of Jews to the Promised Land; the astounding Six-day war of 1967 that restored Jerusalem as the Holy Capital of the Holy Land; the simultaneous spiritual awakening within the hearts of Jews everywhere (even in Israel) that has led to thousands of Messianic congregations and dozens of Jewish Messianic Ministries the world over.

Read with me these extraordinary words from the former Jewish Pharisee Saul who had a phenomenal life-changing encounter with the risen Messiah. Jesus then changed Saul’s name to Paul and redirected his passion for the Mosaic Law to salvation and eternal life possible only through the Son of God:

“…The longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God” (Romans 10:1-4).

Things to Ponder

In the very same scene when Jesus blasted the Jewish religious leaders, he concluded by uttering one of the most heartbreaking announcements ever spoken to and for the people of Israel. Listen to these impassioned words: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets … How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me … For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Matthew 23:37-39).

Whether secular or religious, whether traditional or non-traditional, the day will come when Jews in Israel and all over the earth will shout these same words. First to cry out to God and his Messiah to save them from complete destruction (Armageddon); then to acknowledge that Jesus, after all is said and done, is undeniably God’s chosen Messiah.

They will rejoice, but first they will, “…look on me (Yeshua) whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died” (Zechariah 12:10).

There is no question whatsoever: We all are complicit in the crucifixion of Messiah Jesus. It could be said that anyone of us and all of us held the hammer that drove the nails into his hands and feet.

But above all, it will be God’s chosen people who will anguish deeply over what their ancestors did centuries ago. Yet after the mourning, with open arms and hearts they will agree with King David when he wrote, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet’” (Psalms 110:1).

They will recognize conclusively that The Lord (God the Father) is speaking to David’s Lord (God the Son, Messiah). They will then say exactly what Jesus said they would say: Baruch haba, beshem Adonai. “Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Until such time, let’s continue to: Sha’alu Shalom, Yerushalayim. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalms 122:6).

For to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, is to plead expectantly for the soon return of our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

A Beast by Any Other Name … Part III

28 Saturday Mar 2015

Posted by garybowers in The Antichrist

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book of Revelation, Messiah Jesus

A Beast by any Other Name … Is Still a Beast

We need to know, before we go! This curious but simple little challenge to believers in Jesus Christ concluded last week’s article; but it’s also meant for unbelievers … those who unfortunately will be left behind when the Lord takes his people from this earth. Since Israel’s amazing victory in the Six-Day War of 1967, the resurgence of end-times prophecy has motivated millions all over the world to passionately look up and long for the imminent return of Messiah. We’ve not seen such anticipation since the first century. The Kingdom of God on earth to include Israel’s complete restoration and redemption is near, very near.

Likewise, the apocalyptic intrigue concerning Messiah’s antithesis, the Antichrist, has intensified exponentially; so much so that several past (e.g. Adolph Hitler) and present world leaders have been targeted as the Antichrist, including an American President or two. With regard, however, to the actual identity of the Antichrist, the prevailing premise of nearly all Bible prophecy scholars is that no one can know for sure until he actually appears on the scene.

There is, however, really only one thing that the Bible tells us we cannot know and, thus, should refrain from any conjecture whatsoever: the date when Christ returns. Jesus, himself, asserted no less than three times, “For you do not know the day or hour of my return” (Matthew 24 & 25).

Although the Bible unequivocally declares that no one (including several misguided prophecy buffs who have tried and failed) can predict the exact time of the Rapture, Scripture is equally emphatic that we can “solve” the identity of the Antichrist. In fact, John of Revelation issues a challenge to believers to do just that. Read the verse with me, and ask yourself if the words mean anything other than what they say.

“Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666” (Revelation 13:18).

The language here is unambiguous; to the extent that the vast majority of prophecy students do agree that the number and name of the beast can (eventually) be known—but not until after the Rapture! But the fact remains that this stimulus to know was given not just to those alive at the Rapture, but first and foremost to the 1^st century Christians who enthusiastically awaited the soon return of Messiah Jesus at any hour of any day. In fact, that first century group could very well have been the generation of the Rapture.

The book of Revelation was written to them, not to us! Of course Revelation is applicable to today’s generation, but only because we’re still waiting for the Rapture that triggers the awesome Day of the Lord. The first century Christians were meant to decode the identity of the beast right then and there, and so are we! Otherwise there would have been no reason at all for Scripture to include this last verse of Revelation Chapter 13; in which the angel exhorts John and all readers to unscramble the meaning of the beast’s number, which is tantamount to deciphering the identity of the beast, because the number is the number of a man.

The reason that contemporary scholars maintain that we can’t know who Antichrist is until after the Rapture, is because they subscribe to the logical, but inaccurate, supposition that the Antichrist will be a modern-day man born in the age that experiences the Rapture.

A Depiction of the Rapture

Daniel’s Prophecies—Temporarily Sealed; John’s Revelations—Immediately Applicable

As intimated in my article, The Seal of Approval (published 11-15-14), prophecy students cannot use the parallel principle that the identity of the Antichrist has been sealed or hidden in the same fashion that Daniel’s prophecies could not effectively be understood until the last days had begun. The fact is: The beginning of the last days commenced with the birth of Jesus. From that point through the final revelation of Jesus Christ as recorded in the book of Revelation, ALL of Daniel’s prophecies were unsealed and ALL of John’s prophecies were, therefore, totally relevant to the first century Christians … including calculation of Antichrist’s identity.

Why else would the angel have instructed John: “…Do not seal up the prophetic words in this book, for the time is near” (Revelation 22:10). The time is near was another way of saying that Jesus’s return was imminent; therefore, the entire book of Revelation was uniquely pertinent to the believers (and unbelievers) of the first century.

We must think retroactive and grasp this obvious fact: Jesus could have returned in the first century … Christians expected that he would. For this immanency to have been a reality, the Man of Lawlessness would need to be a first century man to, immediately after the Rapture, begin his beastly reign of terror as depicted in Revelation. Which is exactly what John tells us in Revelation 17:8 … that the man had already lived, had died, but would reappear from the Abyss. Moreover, this man was one and the same as the ruler of Daniel 9:26-27, whose armies would destroy Jerusalem and the Temple … which historically is none other than Nero; who hand-picked two Roman Generals (Vespasian and Titus) to lead several Roman Legions against Israel, some fifteen years after Paul wrote about the man of lawlessness.

The angel’s command to John was in direct contrast to Daniel being told to seal up his book; because it couldn’t be fully comprehended until Messiah had come, and until more revelations had been given that would effectively unseal Daniel’s prophecies … meaning they could now be understood by the very first generation of Christians. If, indeed, the identity of the Antichrist couldn’t be confirmed until the Rapture occurred, John would have been told the same thing as Daniel, i.e. seal up the prophetic words. In other words: Don’t bother to try to figure out the number (identity) of the beast, because it isn’t possible until (much) later. Yet, John was told just the opposite, which paraphrasing means: The time (of Messiah’s return) is near, so these revelations are for you to know and understand right now.

For that matter, why would John urge the Christians of his time to (with wisdom and understanding) ascertain the meaning of the number of the beast, if the identity of Antichrist couldn’t be known until after the Rapture? What’s the point? After the Rapture took place, it would be entirely too late for the Christians to “solve the meaning of the number of the beast…” It would be irreversibly irrelevant by that time for two reasons: (1) the Christians would already be in heaven. (2) The beast would have already been recognized and followed by many left behind, without the need to determine his identity by interpreting his number. Remember: those who take the mark of the Beast will have a choice for his mark to be embedded in their forehead or right hand; but also the option of taking the number OR the name of the beast (Revelation 13:16-17).

Figuring out the name of the beast by astutely applying the number of the beast (through Hebrew gematria) was meant to be done as soon as a first century Christian read the book of Revelation. That’s why the number was given in the first place. Nero’s name contains four letters; the equivalent number of his name is three digits, 666. A diabolically convenient fit on one’s forehead or hand, don’t’ you think?

And, why would the angel even bother to explain (reveal) the mystery in John’s second and final vision of the beast found in Revelation 17, unless the origin and identity of the beast should and could be known? Listen to the words of the angel to John: “I will tell you the mystery of this woman and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns on which she sits” (Revelation 17:7). Then, the angel proceeds to do just that.

When a mystery is revealed in Scripture (and there are several), it no longer is a mystery. It is meant to be fully grasped, even though the unveiling of the beast was (for the safety and welfare of first century Christians, as much as possible) realized without naming names—such as the seven kings being the first seven Roman Emperors, and with more strong clues such as, “the beast you saw was once alive and isn’t now” (Nero).

Let’s continue our examination of the last two names assigned to this Man of Lawlessness.

Fifth Title: The Beast

When the term man of lawlessness is used by Paul, it is with direct reference to this evil man’s revealing (II Thessalonians 2:3); meaning the initial disclosure of the man who was the ruler foretold by Daniel, whose armies would destroy the Temple. But also as the subsequent little horn king who would exercise authority over ten kings, whose kingdoms would be yielded to him during the seven-year tribulation. As covered in last week’s article, this revealing of the lawless one took place when Nero assumed the throne through a secret anarchistic plot to overthrow (successfully) his step-father, the Roman Emperor Claudius.

The Apostle Paul was executed during Nero’s reign before John wrote the book of Revelation, and the Lord had not disclosed to Paul that Nero would return as the beast of Revelation. The term used in Revelation is that the beast would reappear, and the world would be utterly amazed at this sudden, startling, supernatural-like return (Revelation 17:8). This is a counterfeit replica of the First and Second Advent of Messiah Jesus.

The Greek words for reveal and appear are quite different. The Greek word for reveal or revealing is apokalupto, transliterated into the English … apocalyptic. The word means to uncover, to unveil, and to make known what was concealed or unknown. The Greek word for appear or appearance is horao, a very common word most often translated: to see, or seeing, to look, to appear, or having appeared.

An analogy is utilized in my book Out of the Abyss to amplify the difference between these two concepts.

Every four years we elect a new United States President. When the votes are tallied, the media reveals to us the candidate with the most electoral votes. Thus, the identity of the new President is revealed. That night or perhaps the following day, we see the newly elected President when the President appears on television. Hence, the winning candidate makes his appearance as President-elect. (Page 195).

Thus, when examined closely in the contextual references to Christ and Antichrist, we find a clear indication that the Antichrist will first be revealed as the Man of Lawlessness (ruler-king of Daniel whose armies would destroy the Temple); then return (reappear) as the beast-king of the Tribulation period. There is, however, one astounding verse in the New Testament passages about Antichrist in which both Greek words are used. It is a verse that many scholars (including me at one time) have overlooked with regard to the significant impact of what is being said. It is found in the same passage covered in great detail last week concerning the man of lawlessness, the thrust of which is the secrecy of the lawlessness and what/who restrained this secrecy and the Man of Lawlessness, himself (Nero).

“Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming” (II Thessalonians 2:8).

Yes, you read that right! The verse means exactly what it says. There are two distinct events presented in this stunning verse: (1) Jesus, himself, will kill this man. Remember, the passage is not about the beast; rather about the man of lawlessness as revealed by Paul. (2) The Lord will (also) destroy the man when Jesus returns … by the splendor of his coming. The killing and the destroying are not the same occurrence; for one thing they are separated by the all-important connective word, and. Furthermore, two separate distinct words are used, kill and destroy. Although destroy can include death, it is much more than that. It is final conquest, domination, and destruction of one’s enemy, whether the adversary is actually killed or not.

When the time came for the man of lawlessness to be revealed—which happened when Nero became Caesar—Christ would subsequently kill him. Then at the second coming of Christ (the Greek word is epiphany which is a form of horao only used with a divine emphasis and connotation, i.e. Jesus the Son of God), Christ would ultimately destroy this man. Which is the fate of the beast when he and the false prophet are thrown bodily (alive) into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 19:20).

There are examples in the Bible where God intervenes sovereignly in the lives of individuals or groups by “striking them down.” Because some cross a line that should not be crossed at a specific time for a particular reason, God will prematurely end their lives. In my book Out of the Abyss, I give five examples from Scripture, but there are many more than five.

Thus, we have the unmistakable evidence that the beast had already lived and died as the man of lawlessness before John prophetically witnessed his reappearance from the Abyss as described both in Revelation 13 and 17.

The Historical Life and Death of the Man of Lawlessness … And His Subsequent Return

Again we ask: Why isn’t just the term Antichrist used throughout Scripture in allusion to this man? Why the other appellations? In further response to that question, please permit me to again quote from Out of the Abyss. But first to highlight the questions: Who does Jesus kill? Answer: the man of lawlessness. When is the lawless one killed and why? Let’s examine the evidence.

Paul’s description as the man of lawlessness points to the soul or persona of the man. Simply put: the man is unruly, anarchistic, uncontrolled, ungovernable … in short, outside the God-given laws of morality and nature. After Daniel’s … reference to this man as a king or ruler or little horn, and our Lord’s reference to false messiahs, Paul was the first to introduce this man.

The term antichrist refers directly to the spirit of this depraved man; in fact, the apostle John equates the Antichrist to the spirit of antichrist. Then John defines what this spirit represents or does: it denies God the Father, and God the Son as Messiah.

It is the spirit of a human being that is regenerated or made alive, when that person accepts Christ as Savior. Then the Holy Spirit bears witness with the redeemed spirit that we are children of God. The spirit of Antichrist remains forever spiritually dead; as does the spirit of every person who denies that Jesus is the Christ….

The bestial image of Revelation vividly depicts the physical nature (body) and corporeal deeds of this man, and all that entails. We still use a beast in modern language to expound the exploits of an individual. We might say, “He fought like a beast!” Or we might reduce the beast-like qualities to a specific animal and say, “She had the strength of a lion!” The soul and spirit of a person expresses all that is evil or good through the flesh or bodily presence of the individual. (Pages 204-205).

A reminder: When Jesus kills this man, the man is referred to (by Paul) as the man of lawlessness. “…The Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath of his mouth…” is an expression demonstrating that Jesus would orchestrate (arrange) Nero’s death.

Then I go on to say in Out of the Abyss:

When Jesus, with his divine rightful authority, killed Nero, he eliminated the very soul of this wicked man from the face of the earth, at that specific point in time (68 AD), for a very explicit purpose, with a unique twist to a twisted man. Jesus would preserve Nero’s body for the precise plan of sealing the final destruction of Antichrist … bodily in the lake of fire. Yes, I did say, “preserve!” (Page 205).

Then an entire chapter of my book concentrates on the Abyss—what it is, where it’s located, and the fact that the beast of Revelation would reappear from this bottomless pit; witnessed by John as the beast arises from the sea (Revelation 13), and then seen by John a second time as a scarlet beast upon which a woman sits (Revelation 17).

To counter the notion that a modern-day Antichrist would be killed during the Tribulation, here’s another excerpt from Out of the Abyss:

Why would Christ kill the beast half way through the tribulation, when the man hadn’t yet demonstrated his dark side or hadn’t yet begun his reign of terror? Only for the man to come back from the dead a few days later; then for Jesus to clinch the man’s final destruction in the lake of fire? Yet this is the contemporary view, minus the part about Jesus killing the man of lawlessness. As indicated, this dramatic fact has often been overlooked in the composite evaluation of Biblical passages on Antichrist.

Please understand: Jesus kills the man of lawlessness! That’s exactly what the Bible says. This divine preemption is a substantial departure from the normal cycle of life and death in the human race, including the evil, ugly act of murder.

Only God gives or creates life and only God has the divine right to preemptively take life, if he chooses. Moreover, God extended this capital punishment privilege to society as a means of dispensing justice and as a deterrent to murder…. (Page 205).

More Evidence

Recall, the beast had already died when John first observed it in Revelation. And before that Paul tells us that Jesus would kill this man—the beast of Revelation. If Jesus directly intervened by killing the man of lawlessness, then this man (later called the beast) could not be assassinated during the tribulation as we understand and define the term murder. (Page 206).

To repeat: The mainstream present-day explanation is that a modern-day Antichrist will be killed (some say his death is faked, but Revelation 13 indisputably tells us that it’s a fatal wound, i.e. death) at the hands of a Jew, or perhaps by a member of his inner circle. There are several theoretical scenarios presented by various scholars, but not one that I know of factors in II Thessalonians 2:8—that Christ, himself, will kill the man of lawlessness.

Continuing in Out of the Abyss:

Expressing it another way: Jesus did not kill the beast; he killed the man of lawlessness. Although the man of lawlessness and the beast are one and the same (Nero), this is not a contradiction. Why … because the Holy Spirit, through Paul, is telling us when the beast would be killed. The beast would be killed by Christ while the beast was the man of lawlessness, before he reappeared as the beast! As the beast, Nero will be cast into the Lake of Fire, alive. (Page 206).

We are more accustomed to the final victory that Christ will have over Antichrist in the epic battles of Armageddon, as summarized in the second half of II Thessalonians 2:8, when Christ returns. Consequently, we often overlook the first half of this verse and/or try to make it the same event as the second half of the verse. The words are crystal clear: Jesus kills the man of lawlessness. THEN at his second coming, Christ (finally) destroys this man of lawlessness who is now the beast who reappears from the Abyss.

There is no redundancy whatsoever taking place in II Thessalonians 2:8. Paul is telling us that, in addition to killing the man of lawlessness, Jesus also destroys him when the man reappears as the beast of Revelation (tribulation period); although Paul was not privy to the return of this man from the Abyss as the beast. The Antichrist’s designation as the beast would come a few years later when John saw the extraordinary visions recorded in Revelation. But Paul knew when and how this man would eventually be shattered. His final destruction would be accomplished by the splendor of Messiah’s “glorious appearance!”

Neither Daniel nor John of Revelation tells us that the king-beast will be killed during his seven-year reign. When the beast initially appears to John in Revelation 13, the first thing John sees is that one of the seven heads of the beast (the same seven heads which are the same seven kings of Revelation 17, discussed in these articles) had already recovered from a fatal wound. Because John saw this beast in real (present-tense) time, it’s obvious that the beast had already been dead, which was later confirmed in spectacular fashion by John’s second vision of the beast … and the beast you saw was once alive, but isn’t now. (Revelation 17:8).

At his birth and especially at his resurrection from the dead, our Lord was revealed as the Son of David, Son of Man, and Son of God. In the very last days of the Tribulation, he will reappear as the King of all kings, the Lion from the Tribe of Judah to rescue Israel from annihilation and the world from complete chaos and catastrophe.

His evil antithesis, Nero, was initially revealed as the man of lawlessness. Messiah Jesus struck him down for heinous crimes/sins that crossed the divine line of God’s toleration. Yet, Christ will permit him to bodily reappear from the Abyss with the spirit of (the) Antichrist to deceive the world through this lie of what Nero will boast as a Satan-empowered, yet self-resurrection from the grave.

A Sculpture of Nero

As summarized in Out of the Abyss:

Moreover, it would make all the sense in the world for the respective advents of the true Messiah and false messiah to occur within a very close proximity of time, but in a manner that God chose. Jesus, who is the way, truth, and life because he perfectly fulfilled the Law of Moses arrived on the scene first. Then came the man of lawlessness who would seek to pervert and destroy this way, truth, and life. Nero arrived on the scene of humanity only some three and a half years after Jesus ascended to heaven. Nero will be allowed to reappear some seven years before Messiah returns, but Nero’s ultimate authority during that time will be for three and a half years. Thus, Christ will have the final say in the matter. Yeshua is the First and the Last. (Page 208).

Sixth Title: Antichrist

Well, not much more needs to be said. The very word says it all. The purpose of these three articles is to show that each and every name of Antichrist serves a prophetic purpose. Only the Apostle John employs the term, Antichrist, in I John. Yet, the other five designations of Antichrist are not merely arbitrary terms (for the sake of variety) to characterize this contemptible man. Rather, they were given to Daniel, Paul, and John of Revelation at the appointed time in history to clarify how, when, why, and from where this man would originate. Thereby, with a healthy dose of wisdom and understanding, we can accurately determine the actual identity (who) of this little horn, king, ruler, man of lawlessness, and beast, known the world over as Antichrist.

Nero was born shortly after Jesus returned to heaven. He rose to power through a sequence of lawless events. With his earthly body preserved in the Abyss, he will be allowed to return; but not to actually duplicate the resurrection of Christ … not in the fashion of the true Messiah and Christians rising from the dead. Only God possesses the power of resurrection. Nevertheless, the reappearance of the Antichrist Beast will resemble and mock the very foundation of the Christian faith … the miraculous resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This return from the grave (Abyss) will be the lie that billions of people will believe during the Tribulation, to the extreme of actually worshipping this unholy beast of a man.

Though there will be no Roman Legions or a Revived Roman Empire as such; “Hail Caesar!” will reverberate throughout the post-Rapture world.

“The beast you saw was once alive but isn’t now … yet he will soon come up out of the bottomless pit … the people who belong to this world … will be amazed at the reappearance of this beast who had died.”

A final summary quote from Out of the Abyss:

There is no question; the meaning of the verse is as irrefutable as anything can be. The beast had already died before John received this revelation. How else can this passage be understood? … If some can’t let go of a contemporary Antichrist, then what will they do with this verse…?

John didn’t see the vision in the future; he saw it in the present—that hour of that day. The beast is past tense … no longer alive when John saw the vision. The beast isn’t born and doesn’t die in the future; he’s already dead. When will the beast become future tense? Correct: When he reappears from the Abyss. At the beginning of the Tribulation, the world will be amazed at the reappearance of the beast that had died. Will the beast die during the Tribulation? No, he died even before John saw him from Patmos.

Things to Ponder

I realize how unfathomably difficult it is to wrap our minds around the concept of a 2000 year old Roman Emperor reappearing on Planet Earth. But we also know that with God, all things are possible. Christ arose from the grave and so will millions upon millions of believers at the Rapture. Would it be any more difficult for God to revive Nero shortly after his death, place him in the Abyss, allow him to return from this prison of darkness, and then give him and Satan authority to resume his Antichrist agenda for a few short years on this earth?

Didn’t God transport Elijah alive directly to heaven in a flaming chariot?! Didn’t God split the Red Sea and stand the water up on two sides like walls?! Didn’t God provide the Hebrews food from heaven (manna) for forty years?! Didn’t God … go ahead, fill in more blanks!

After all is said and done, “…the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus (Revelation 19:10).

For those who have not placed their trust and destiny in the sacrificial death of Messiah Jesus, know now and after the Rapture that Christ is greater by far than Satan, Antichrist, and the False Prophet. Though it will cost you your life, please choose Jesus over Nero. Your reward will be everlasting life in heaven. If you choose the mark of the beast, your destiny will be sealed in the Lake of Fire, alongside of the false messiah.

“He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon!’ Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).

Age of Grace (Part I)

24 Saturday Jan 2015

Posted by garybowers in Devotional / Misc

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The New Covenant … A Much Better Way

The Golden Age of Israel and its kings was nearing an end. Soon after Solomon’s reign ended in 930 BC, the Jewish nation had split into two kingdoms, with the northern kingdom falling first to the mighty Assyrian Empire in 722 BC. Despite ominous warnings of destruction from the mouth of the weeping prophet, Jeremiah, the southern kingdom would also succumb to an even greater empire, Babylon.

Jeremiah’s prophecies foretold the disaster that would befall Judah if she continued on her evil path of disobedience; of decadence that often exceeded the wickedness of the Gentile nations for whom Israel was to bear the torch of God’s light and share the eternal word of the Sovereign God of the Universe. Time and time again, Jeremiah (and other prophets) uttered words of warning such as: “Your wickedness will bring its own punishment. Your turning from me will shame you. You will see what an evil, bitter thing it is to abandon the Lord your God and not to fear him. I, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!” (Jeremiah 2:19).

Yet like Isaiah, whose prophecies often spoke of the coming Messiah who would redeem, rescue, and then reestablish Israel as a beacon light to the nations; so, too, did Jeremiah offer hope and encouragement to God’s special possession, the Jews. But it came in the form of a most remarkable and unexpected prophecy; a promise that would forever change and ultimately replace the very foundation of their faith, of their individual and national relationship to Almighty God. This astounding prediction came just a few years before the 10-year series of Babylonian crusades against Judah, culminating in the ruthless defeat of Israel including the devastating destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple in 586 BC.

It was a promise that would be fulfilled in and accomplished by Messiah, himself. A promise that would divide time itself. One that would separate the Old from the New. One that would do what no one else could do but God himself: change stone into flesh … write God’s instructions of life, love, hope, and peace not just on stone tablets, but on the human heart. A promise that would produce so great a salvation unlike anything ever contemplated or even imagined. An unconditional gift that required nothing from those to whom the gift was given, except merely to believe it was true and receive the Gift-bearer, himself … none other than Messiah Jesus.

It would usher in a whole new epoch of mankind’s relationship to the Creator; an era that would see Divine righteousness imputed to Jew and Gentile alike, through God’s unconditional, unmerited, and unearned favor and mercy to the human race. It would be a new exciting incomparable: AGE OF GRACE.

Jeremiah vividly described how and through whom this New Covenant would be accomplished: “In those days and at that time I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. In that day Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this will be its name: ‘The Lord is Our Righteousness’” (Jeremiah 33:15-16).

Such a phenomenal plan! Such an astonishing agreement! How could such a thing be done—to eliminate the Old Covenant which required every person’s obedience to every one of God’s laws in order to achieve a right standing before God? Something which no one has ever been able to attain (on their own) or ever will achieve through self-effort. Jeremiah tells us that such a thing will be possible through, “a righteous descendant from King David.” Another prophet also explained how this would happen: “…my righteous servant (Messiah) will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins … because he exposed himself to death … He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels” (Isaiah 53:11-12).

A New Way … A New Covenant!

Less than a generation before Israel suffered (at that time) the greatest calamity ever experienced by a nation—indescribable personal torment and national distress, massive loss of life, and deportation of the survivors—here is what the prophet Jeremiah said God would do for Israel sometime after their return from Babylonian captivity:

“The day is coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife, says the Lord. But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord. I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people … And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

Undoubtedly, many who heard or read these words from Jeremiah recalled the written words of Moses who reminded his people just a short time before Joshua led the Hebrews into the Promised Land: “The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Mount Sinai” (Deuteronomy 5:2). Then in verses six through twenty-one of that same chapter, Moses repeated the Ten Commandments to the congregation of Israel.

Equally certain is that some Jews at that time, particularly those who still followed the Lord to some extent or another, must have been stunned at this prophecy. It was amazing enough for Jeremiah to predict complete Babylonian conquest of Israel, demolition of the Temple, then exiled captivity in Babylon for exactly seventy years (all of which came to pass). That alone was beyond belief, even though Judah’s kings, priests, and common people knew all too well what had befallen the northern kingdom of Israel over one hundred years earlier. In near or complete denial, they simply couldn’t or wouldn’t accept the reality of God allowing a foreign pagan nation to destroy the Temple in which God’s very presence dwelled. However, by this time, they were too far gone in their own worship of pagan gods to realize that God had left the Temple (see the Book of Ezekiel).

But even those who yielded to the reality of it all—beginning with King Nebuchadnezzar’s first campaign against Israel in 605 BC (at which time the prophet Daniel was taken prisoner and deported to Babylon)—couldn’t remotely fathom a completely NEW COVENANT initiated by God to replace the Covenant of the Law given to them through Moses. Using today’s vernacular, it must have blown them away.

Most Jews to this very day still haven’t conceptualized the mind-boggling reality that God, himself, would replace the Mosaic Law with another Covenant that would fundamentally dissolve the twofold requirements of the old way: (1) self-merited keeping of God’s regulations, commands, and decrees; (2) the ongoing sacrificial offerings of animals to cover their ongoing sins.

Those who have half-way acknowledged the truth of Jeremiah’s astounding prophecy, believe that this New Covenant is still a future event—one that will take place only when Messiah comes. With this misunderstanding a direct result of not knowing or accepting both the clearly stated and implied Old Testament predictions that Messiah would first arrive as a servant (God’s once and for all sacrificial Lamb of Salvation); then return as the Lion from the Tribe of Judah to set up the eternal Kingdom of God on the earth.

Out with the Old, In with the New

In previous and subsequent chapters, Jeremiah frequently and explicitly explains exactly why God’s patience had finally run out. For example, in Jeremiah’s prayer to God he states: “Our ancestors came and conquered it (the Promised Land) and lived in it, but they refused to obey you or follow your word. They have not done anything you commanded. That is why you have sent this terrible disaster upon them” (Jeremiah 32:23).

A New Covenant would be made with Israel, one that would last forever. Why would God do something so drastic as to replace the Mosaic Covenant of Law which was the very foundation of Judaism? The answer is both sad and simple: Because the Jews deliberately chose not to obey and follow God. Although the Lord patiently waited for Israel to return to him over a period of several hundred years, they wouldn’t listen to the Lord their God.

Not only wouldn’t they obey, by this time in Israel’s history it was all too evident that they couldn’t keep the Law of Moses, not the way that really mattered to God. Literally, their heart was not in it.

Even those who somewhat consistently kept the Sabbath and observed the High Holy Days and Festivals and performed the necessary sacrificial offerings did so more out of ritual obligation that a deep heartfelt desire to please and honor the God of Israel. Consequently, their hearts became hard as stone. The prophet Isaiah appropriately accused the Israelites of paying lip service to God but refusing to honor him in/with their hearts. The Jews never came to terms with the real spirit of trusting and obeying God from a heart of gratitude instead of their superficial selfish (what’s in it for me) attitude.

Later, after the New Covenant was established, the Apostle Paul would reinforce what was already crystal clear through some 1500 hundred years of trying to keep the law. It simply couldn’t be done. The reason: “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23). The standard referred to by Paul was none other than the Mosaic Law in its’ entirety.

However, immediately following this profound universal exposure of man’s inherent sin nature and propensity to sin, Paul presents an incredible contrast, a wonderful God-initiated solution to what would otherwise be an unsolvable predicament: “Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins” (Verse 24).

The Law of Moses was a perfect representation of God’s expectations of the human race, but it could not save those who tried to keep the laws because of man’s gross imperfections. Because human beings possess an innate desire to merit (God’s) favor by good works and ritual, almost robot-like observance of God’s or man-made requirements, God gave them plenty of time to prove whether they would or wouldn’t, could or couldn’t do just that. Finally, God would step in and intervene with a New Covenant, a New Way that would solve the problem of sin and the separation from God caused by sin.

And so, a New Covenant between God and man would be introduced by Messiah. A relationship between God and man which would enable each and every person who personally believes in and accepts the Messiah of this New Covenant to become his/her own priest with direct access at any time, any place to God’s very presence. A new changed heart of flesh to replace a heart of stone.

As the prophet Ezekiel wrote during the Babylonian captivity of his people to amplify Jeremiah’s words that God would write his instructions on the hearts of his people: “And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart, so they will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 11:19-20, italics for emphasis).

For you see, God desires love and respect from a grateful, willing heart; not unlike parents who want their child to respond and relate to them because the child longs to, not because the child has to. Only with this kind of response would the Jews (and now Gentiles, too) truly be God’s people.

Exactly What Is Grace?

Several passages in Scripture offer a specified or implied definition of Grace, which is: God’s unmerited favor. Even a secular source such as Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary recognizes the Biblical standard when it defines grace as: “unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification.”

This New Covenant of Grace took effect when Messiah Jesus was crucified on the cross and arose from the dead. Jesus announced that he was the mediator of the New Covenant when shortly before his crucifixion he told his disciples: “…This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you” (Luke 22:20). Then the Apostle Paul further attested to the advent of this tremendous New Covenant with these words to Timothy, “For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time” (I Timothy 2:5-6).

That “right time” was the first appearance of Messiah to his people and the whole world. “And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

As indicated, the majority of today’s Jews, indeed, for most Jews down through the past sixteen or seventeen centuries, do not yet believe this New Covenant is in place. Because they refuse to accept Jesus Christ as Messiah. But not all! Both amazing and ironic is the fact that for many years after Messiah Jesus’s mission was accomplished and he returned to heaven in preparation for his glorious return, nearly all Christians were Jews. Thousands upon thousands recognized that Jeremiah’s prophecy of this New Covenant was fulfilled in Christ Jesus … that he, in fact, was the long-awaited Messiah. They staked their very lives on him, because of the indisputable evidence that he has arisen from the grave.

Slowly, but inevitably, those who placed their trust in Christ were mostly Gentiles, as many Jewish believers were exiled from Israel and/or gradually reverted back to Orthodox Judaism, mixing the Law of Moses with the Grace of God; thereby, leading new generations of Jews back to the old system of keeping the law as a basis for salvation. Yet this was done without the Levitical sacrificial system, which was abolished when the Roman Legions destroyed the Temple in 70 AD. They ended up in complete denial that the Levitical sacrificial system had been replaced once and for all by the prophesied redemptive death of the Son of God, the Son of David, and the Son of Man—all titles and positions held by Jesus Christ.

Even more disastrous was the formation of the Roman Catholic Church and Roman Catholicism, the Holy Roman Empire that replaced the secular Roman Empire of the first four centuries. This was not, I repeat not, the true church. (Please see Eye of Prophecy articles on the Woman and the Beast, Part I through VI under the category of Antichrist). Beginning in the 4^th century and carried out periodically to and beyond the Crusades, the Inquisitions, the Pogroms, the Holocaust, and other lesser known episodes during these Dark years, the Catholic Church persecuted and killed many Jews directly and by complicity. It’s no wonder that most Jews today want nothing to do with Jesus Christ, as they equate him with the horrors perpetrated on them by this organization that, itself, denies salvation exclusively through faith in God’s unmerited favor. Substituting Grace with a system of Church membership, baptism, and sacramental good works to achieve right standing with God.

God’s unique love for Israel (for salvation comes through the Jews) and his love for all peoples was unconditional. But this love turned out to be unrequited. The Jewish people broke the very covenant (time and again) that God gave them as the reasonable means of maintaining a right relationship with a holy God. God was willing to forgive their sins and trespasses if they followed the equally significant and mandatory need to offer animal sacrifices for those sins. All that was necessary was a genuine repentance (I’m sorry, Lord, for the wrong I’ve done) when those sacrifices were offered. But the people couldn’t and wouldn’t even do that. Their individual and collective heart was rock-hard, not a soft heart full of gratitude … willing to obey out of love and respect.

So, the Lord would replace the Mosaic Covenant of Law with a brand new Covenant of Grace which made it so much easier to gain and maintain a permanent pardon from and right standing with God. Keeping the Law of Moses could never be the means to salvation, for that was impossible to do in the first place. God would do for them (for us) what they could not do for themselves. He (not his unfaithful people) would provide and execute the ultimate, final sacrifice—God himself, through his Son, Messiah Jesus. This is the magnificent New Covenant of Grace … God’s free gift to the human race.

Modern-Day Rebirth of Israel and Resurgence of Grace

Listen to one of the most unlikely of Jews ever to yield to the New Covenant Gospel of Grace, the once diehard Jewish Pharisee, steeped in the Law of Moses, with a heart as hard as granite miraculously transformed into a heart of love and compassion for all unbelievers, especially for his own people.

“Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God” (Romans 10:1-4).

*Note: If someone else was able to, without sin, keep every commandment of God, able to fulfill every requirement necessary to achieve a right standing with God; furthermore, to die in the place of those sentenced to death because of terrible sins against God and people (all of us), wouldn’t you accept God’s pardon and receive Jesus as your substitute Savior if that’s all God wanted from you!?

Paul continues: “For Moses writes that the law’s way of making a person right with God requires obedience to all of its commands. But faith’s way of getting right with God says …’The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.’ And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved” (Romans 10:5-10).

In the last 50 years or so, we have witnessed a phenomenal renaissance of the true Gospel of Christ reaching Jews all over the world; thousands of Jews responding to their Scriptures and recognizing that Jesus is truly their (the) Messiah. Though the greater numbers are still spiritually blind to the truth of God’s New Covenant of Grace, one day (very soon) all of Israel will believe in Christ. But only when they are on the brink of annihilation at the hands of a deadly coalition led by the Antichrist. Then, their partial blindness will give way to eyes fully opened to see, ears spiritually unplugged to hear, and hearts divinely softened to absorb the mighty love and power of Messiah Jesus.

It’s no mere coincidence that the miraculous rebirth of the nation of Israel, preceded by and followed even more substantially by return of millions of Jews to the Promised Land has given rise to an increasing number of spiritually reborn Jews throughout the world. Though the spiritual revival has not kept pace with the physical restitution, it will one day very soon catch up to the incredible rebirth of Israel. The spiritual restoration will match and exceed the physical rejuvenation of the land.

At that time the Age of Grace which is currently manifested as the Kingdom of Heaven in the hearts and minds of Jews and Gentiles alike will become the magnificent Kingdom of God on this earth. (See last week’s Eye of Prophecy article, Kingdom of God).

The following passage summarizes the now and then of it all: “Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn. Once, you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the people of Israel rebelled against him, God was merciful to you instead. Now they are the rebels, and God’s mercy has come to you so that they, too, will share in God’s mercy. For God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone” (Romans 11:28-31).

What Paul means by God imprisoning everyone in disobedience is that God will allow anyone to remain in their prison of disobedience if that’s want they want. He will not forcefully overturn a person’s deliberate decision to remain under sin’s lock and key by refusing to accept God’s provision and pardon to escape this imprisonment. Moreover, the only means of escaping the death sentence that sin imposes is recognition of God’s Mercy and acceptance of God’s Grace by believing in their heart and confessing with their mouth that Jesus is both Savior and Lord.

On that great and glorious Day of the Lord, the day when Christ Jesus will rescue Israel from certain extinction at the hands of insurmountable forces (the end of the Great Tribulation), all of Israel will see and believe and shout as their ancestors shouted when they hailed Messiah riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. “Baruch haba, beshem Adonai.” Blessed is he (Jesus) who comes in the name of the Lord (Father God).

Summary

No observant Jew in today’s world, nor even many secular Jews will dispute their Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament (Covenant). This includes prophecies of the Messiah and the advent of a New Covenant as predicted by Jeremiah. In fact, even many non-observant Jews passionately anticipate and embrace the coming of Messiah, to bring them hope for a prosperous future and protection from their enemies.

But the New Covenant is here! It arrived over two thousand years ago! How could anyone with an open mind, with any objectivity at all deny the historical fact that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah. That he backed up this claim with incredible miracles, unmatched wisdom and teaching, unrivaled love and compassion by giving his very life for Israel and for the entire human race. Most of all … his astonishing resurrection from the dead.

All of these and more are a matter of historical record, based on eye-witness accounts. It’s as historically accurate and valid as any record of anyone who has ever lived or anything that has ever occurred. If one doesn’t believe the historicity of the Bible which has thousands more original manuscripts than any secular work in history, then no historical record is true—none whatsoever. Everything we’ve been told is a fable or a lie. Why should anyone believe that George Washington was our first United States President? Or any other documented historical event?

Furthermore, Jesus fulfilled all of the dozens of prophecies attributed to the Messiah of the Hebrew Scriptures. I repeat for emphasis: ALL OF THEM.

Yes, my friend: Jesus (the New Covenant) is alive and well! And Jesus is the cornerstone of that Covenant. Listen to the words of the Apostle Peter who was asked by whose authority he made a crippled man walk. Said Peter to the religious leaders: “Let me clearly state to all of you and to all 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 4:10-12).

Jesus gave us a New Way, a New Covenant, a New Hope. In fact, he IS the Way, the Covenant, and the Hope (of salvation and everlasting life). He is the express image of God. Through him God’s matchless Grace is freely given.

Things to Ponder

“You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it. I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors. But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles….” (Written by the Jewish Apostle Paul, formerly called Saul … Galatians 1:13-16).

Hopefully you’ll have the time to read the Book of Galatians in preparation for next week’s Eye of Prophecy article. But if not, read the article anyway!

Gateway to the World

10 Saturday Jan 2015

Posted by garybowers in Prophecy in General

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Tags

Eastern Gate, Glory of God, Golden Gate, Jerusalem, Messiah Jesus

Gateway to a World of Peace

Have you ever opened a gate and passed through to the other side? Or entered an already open gateway or archway to get to your destination, to see the sights beyond? Of course you have. Gates come in all shapes and sizes; and I would dare say that anyone over the age of five has been through one kind of gate or another. There are ordinary gates that will allow access to someone’s front yard, or parking lots, or airplanes, or animal grazing pastures. There are famous gates that can yield admission to historical monuments, to beautiful estates of the rich and famous, to splendid castles of kings and queens, and to fascinating worlds of enchantment.

Some folks—like thieves, trespassers, and those up-to-no-good—don’t like the idea of locked gates and doors. Even some of our Old West (and modern-West) heroes such as the Cattle Ranchers had an aversion to fences and gates, except the archway that led to their home.

For most of us: gates, gateways, doorways, arches, portals … provide both literal and symbolic entrance to exotic places, interesting people, and special things (to see, hear, do, touch, and experience). We often brim with excitement when we pass through a gateway, because we’ve gone from being an outsider to being on the inside of wherever and whatever the gate brings us.

Brandenburg Gate, Germany

Disneyland? Paramount Studios? Downton Abbey? Golden Gate Bridge? Brandenburg Gate? India Gate in New Delhi? Graceland Estate (Elvis Presley)? Have you been through one or more of these famous gateways or others? How about the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri? Soaring 630 feet in the air, it is the tallest monument in the United States.

Entrance to Graceland Estate

Born in Lawrence, Kansas, and living many years in the Kansas City, Missouri area, I sometimes traveled across the state to take in the sights, including a trip or two to the top of the Gateway Arch. It is an awesome view from up there! In America’s days of progressive expansion, St. Louis, Missouri was considered: The Gateway to the West. And the nearby Mississippi River separated the east from the west, literally and figuratively. Technically, when someone in my current state of Arizona tells me they’re from “back east,” I take that to mean east of St. Louis.

Gateway Arch in St Louis, Missouri

Or the historical Jaffa Gate, one of the gates leading to/from today’s Old City of Jerusalem? Including several other memorial sites during my 2006 trip to Israel, I rode in a car through the Jaffa Gate, then walked back out of Old Jerusalem through the same gate. I’ll never forget the experience … for many reasons but mostly because of the ancient and modern significance of Jerusalem.

Built in 1538 by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, Jaffa Gate is one of, if not the most used entrance to Old Jerusalem, with six of the other seven gates dating back to Biblical times. However, in Biblical days (for example during the time when Nehemiah wrote his Old Testament book in the 5^th Century B.C.), there were twelve gates in Jerusalem. There are eight gates in today’s modern Jerusalem, but only seven are open. What about the gate that is not opened? Why is it closed? What is the mysterious significance of this gate? Will it ever be opened again?

The other seven gates: The Zion Gate, Dung Gate, New Gate, Damascus Gate, Herod’s Gate, Lion’s Gate, and (the focal point of today’s article), The Eastern Gate.

The Enigmatic Eastern Gate

Don’t think of a gate on hinges that is shut and locked. Or a gate that rolls back and forth in place when you press a remote control pad. This incredible gate is not only closed, it’s sealed … actually imbedded into thick stone walls on either side. In my estimation this unused, inactive, seemingly irrelevant gate was the most significant gate ever built; the most prestigious ever to be closed; and, one day soon, will be the greatest gate to ever be reopened.

Yes, I’m referring to the Eastern Gate, also called the Golden Gate, the Mercy Gate, and often referred to in ancient times as The Beautiful Gate. It is the oldest of the current existing gates in Jerusalem’s Old City Walls, having been built around 520 AD by Justinian I or perhaps (no later than) the 7^th Century by Byzantine artisans. However, the current Eastern gate was built on ground level (obviously) over the remains of the much older gate, dating to the times of the second Temple (Herod’s Temple) which, of course, was built over the original Solomon’s Temple.

Eastern Gate because it’s located on the eastern side of the Old City of Jerusalem. And what is the significance of the eastern side? Just keep reading and you’ll find out!

Golden Gate because of the sometimes golden glow and hue cast by the rising sun on the eastern wall and gate. Beautiful Gate in very ancient times because it was just that, both literally and figuratively considered the most sacred or holiest of the ancient gates of Jerusalem. Mercy Gate because Jews used to pray for mercy at this gate, in fervent anticipation of the coming of Messiah through the gate, which would lead to the restoration of the Shekinah Glory of God in the rebuilt Temple. For it was from the Eastern Gate that the glory of God left the Temple and through which God’s glory will return.

The Jews are absolutely correct that Messiah will triumphantly enter Old Jerusalem (which is really the historical heart of even modern-day Jerusalem) through the Eastern Gate. But other than Messianic Jews, they haven’t yet grasped or accepted the reality that Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ) is the Incarnate Glory of God himself, because he is God … The Son of God and God the Son! “…While we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed” (Titus 2:13).

I vividly remember standing on the Mount of Olives gazing across the Kidron Valley at the eastern wall and the Eastern Gate; trying to envision our Savior, the King of kings and Lord of lords commanding the gate to open and majestically striding into the Holy City of the Holy Land given by the very promise of God to his chosen people.

Let’s take a look at the remarkable historical and future significance of this unique gate, built near the very center of the eastern wall of Jerusalem … the only gate that led directly to the Temple on Mount Moriah. The double-arched edifice that protrudes from the main wall contains two gates, side by side. The southern arch is the actual Gate of Mercy. The northern arch (to the right when facing the gate complex) was called the Gate of Repentance, the closest entrance to the Temple of Solomon.

Eastern (Golden) Gate of Jerusalem

As a reminder, God’s glory dwelt in Solomon’s Temple until a short time before the Temple was destroyed. When Scripture speaks about the glory of God, it refers to God’s very essence, his attributes, who he is and what he’s like … as much as we can comprehend. The Shekinah glory represented and contained God’s very presence over the Ark of the Covenant in the inner sanctuary of the Temple, the Holy of Holies. In fact, as soon as the Levitical priests had carried the Ark of the Covenant into the inner sanctuary of Solomon’s newly built Temple and placed it beneath the wings of the Cherubim, they, “…could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple” (I Kings 8:11).

Tragically, after Solomon’s reign ended (actually a few years before he died), Israel slowly then more rapidly began to abandon their Sovereign Lord and worship false, man-made, non-existent gods. To the point where God’s warning through Moses hundreds of years earlier—that God would abandon them and withdraw his protection—finally came to pass in 722 BC when Assyria conquered the ten northern tribes of Israel, then Babylon defeated the southern tribes of Benjamin and Judah in 586 BC, including the sack of Jerusalem and complete destruction of Solomon’s Temple. Ezekiel was given a phenomenal real-life vision of God’s glory (God himself) actually leaving the Temple. Based on Ezekiel’s description, this was a literal, physical departure that even included how and where God left the Temple. Let’s read what happened.

God’s Departure From and Return to the Temple & Jerusalem

“Then the glory of the Lord moved out from the door of the Temple and hovered above the cherubim. And as I watched, the cherubim flew with their wheels to the east gate of the Lord’s Temple. And the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them” (Ezekiel 10:18-19). Then a few verses later: “Then the glory of the Lord went up from the city and stopped above the mountain to the east (Mount of Olives)” (Verse 23).

Although Ezekiel’s vision took place after the Jews were conquered and exiled to Babylon, we know that God withdrew his presence from the Temple before it was destroyed, because the Temple was still intact when Ezekiel observed this extraordinary event. Moreover, it’s decidedly significant that God left the Temple through the Eastern gate built into the mighty stone walls that surrounded the Temple. Because just as Messiah Jesus ascended back to heaven from the Mount of Olives (visible from the Eastern gate) after his spectacular resurrection, he will first set foot on the Mount of Olives when he returns to planet Earth (Zechariah 14:4), from where it is certain he will enter Old Jerusalem through the Golden (Eastern) Gate.

When Christ Jesus enters Temple Mount through the Eastern Gate, he will dramatically fulfill Ezekiel’s subsequent prophecy that the Shekinah Glory of God (God himself in the forever Incarnate Son of God) will return to Jerusalem. On April 28^th, 573 BC, some twenty years after Ezekiel witnessed God’s withdrawal from Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem, Ezekiel was given an equally astonishing vision of the third Temple, even before the second Temple (called Herod’s Temple) was rebuilt and then destroyed. For many more details on the 3^rd Temple, please refer to Eye of Prophecy articles entitled, A Third Jewish Temple, Part I & II, published 4-26-14 and 5-3-14, respectively.

Read with me from Ezekiel: “After this, the man brought me back around to the east gateway. Suddenly, the glory of the God of Israel appeared from the east. The sound of his coming was like the roar of rushing waters, and the whole landscape shone with his glory. This vision was just like the others I had seen, first by the Kebar River, and then when he came to destroy Jerusalem. I fell face down on the ground. And the glory of the Lord came into the Temple through the east gateway (the Eastern Gate). Then the Spirit took me up and brought me into the inner courtyard, and the glory of the Lord filled the Temple” (Ezekiel 43:1-5, italics for emphasis).

Just Inside the Eastern Gate

Let’s match this incredible last day’s prophecy with the magnificent return of Messiah, as described by Messiah Jesus himself: “For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes” (Matthew 24:27).

Here, Jesus is not referring to the Rapture of the Church, which is a totally different event (see my series on The Rapture … What, Why, When, Who & How, published 7-26-13 through 8-24-13, respectively). Rather, he is describing his majestic return at the end of the Great Tribulation, which will usher in the magnificent Millennium. Later in this same chapter, Christ declares: “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 (including the Jews … Zechariah 12). And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30). There will be global grieving and remorse; for most people alive at that time, it will be too late. They will have already chosen their eternal destiny by following the one who would dare to be Antichrist, taking his mark, and joining him in the futile battle against the true Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Revisiting John in Revelation, we read the triumphant conclusion: “Then I saw the beast and the kings of the world and their armies gathered together to fight against the one sitting on the horse and his army. And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who did mighty miracles on behalf of the beast—miracles that deceived all who had accepted the mark of the beast and who worshipped his statue. Both the beast and his false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. Their entire army was killed by the sharp sword that came from the mouth of the one riding the white horse. And the vultures all gorged themselves on the dead bodies” (Revelation 19:19-21).

All these things are the Tribulation’s last day’s beginning of the end of this age … with the beginning of the beginning of the end taking place at the Rapture of the Church—followed by seven years of global cataclysmic and catastrophic calamity never before experienced (nor ever again) by mankind. And the last of the last days begins when Jesus steps foot on the Mount of Olives, then enters Old Jerusalem and Temple Mount through the Eastern Gate. Jesus is the Son of God, but also Son of Man (God incarnate); thereby, is the express image of God and his glory. (See Colossians 1:15-20). It is he who fulfills God’s prophecy through Ezekiel: the return of God’s glory (his very presence) to the earth, specifically in Jerusalem.

But Ezekiel also gave us another astounding prophecy, one that we’ve already touched on. After Ezekiel had the awesome privilege of receiving all the meticulous plans of the distant future rebuilt Millennium Temple; then watched the (future) glorious entrance of God (Messiah) through the Eastern Gate, this is what he was told: “Then the man brought me back to the east gateway in the outer wall of the Temple area, but it was closed. And the Lord said to me: ‘this gate must remain closed; it will never again be opened. No one will ever open it and pass through, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered here. Therefore, it must always remain shut’” (Ezekiel 44:1-2).

AND SHUT IT IS!

The Kingdom of God through the Eastern Gate … Not Once, but Twice!

In Israel, as I stood and stared from the Mount of Olives, I saw the Eastern Gate. Look again at the photos of the Eastern Gate. What do you see? You see two side-by-side gates that are as sealed as any gateway could be.

Eastern Gate of Jerusalem

Of course the Eastern Gate was opened in the time of Christ Jesus, because it was through the Eastern Gate that the first part of Ezekiel’s prophecy would be fulfilled … the triumphant Palm Sunday entrance of Jesus through the Eastern Gate into Jerusalem. Do you remember what happened? Read with me: “Many in the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others spread leafy branches they had cut in the fields. Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, ‘Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! Praise God in highest heaven!’” (Mark 11:8-10). Ever so sadly, many in this same crowd who hailed Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, would shout again within the week … this time to crucify him!

Yes, the Glory of God had returned to the Temple through the Eastern gate; only to be snuffed out by cruel, hard-hearted religious leaders, a mob who saw him only as a deliverer from Roman oppression, and Roman soldiers who took pleasure in their crucifixion death squads. He arrived not as the mighty Messiah Lion from the Tribe of Judah (that will come later); rather as the Suffering Servant Messiah (Isaiah 53) who first came to deliver them/us from sin.

But we know what happened next, the rest of the story! In three days, Messiah Jesus arose from the dead, which ushered in the Kingdom of God in the hearts of men and woman and children the world over—to all who believe and receive him as personal Savior. To one day (soon) bring the Kingdom of Heaven physically to this earth, with the Messiah King of all kings ruling from Jerusalem.

For hundreds of years, I’m certain some Christians and Jews wondered about Ezekiel’s closed Eastern Gate prophecy. ALL of God’s prophecies as found in Scripture have or will come to pass. Some immediately … others a few days, weeks, months, or years afterward. And still others, hundreds of years later.

After the year 1541, they need wonder no more. The same Ottoman Sultan who built the Jaffa Gate and rebuilt some of Jerusalem’s walls and other gates, Suleiman the Magnificent, also sealed off the Golden Gate. And so it remains to this very day.

Why did this Ottoman Turk Monarch, endorsed by Arabs and Muslims the world over then and now, seal the Eastern Gate and then build a cemetery for Muslim graves in front of the gate? Answer: To prevent Elijah, the anticipated forerunner to the Messiah, from passing through the Eastern Gate, thus precluding the Messiah from coming and entering this same gate. Of course, Suleiman didn’t know or understand the Bible much at all. He had not a clue that John the Baptist was the foretold prophet who would literally fulfill the role attributed to Elijah—paving the way for one much greater … Messiah (Jesus). Even the Jews of the time and today, expected Elijah himself to return. And so, he will, but as one of the two witnesses during the Great Tribulation as found in Revelation Chapter 11. (See Eye of Prophecy articles for some amazing details about the two witnesses, the other being Moses, entitled The Two Witnesses, Part I, II, & III, published 6-7-14, 6-14-14 & 6-21-14, respectively).

Do you think Jesus Christ will be deterred from entering the Eastern Gate by a few graves or by the sealed gate itself? Hardly. Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life as he boldly, but lovingly confirmed to Martha while she grieved over the death of her brother, Lazarus—just before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead to prove to the whole world that Jesus had power over life and death. (See John Chapter 11). Later affirmed even more amazingly, by his own resurrection from the dead.

Since the Eastern Gate was sealed tight in the 16^th century, the nearest it came to possibly being reopened by force was during the British campaign against the Ottoman Turk Empire (ally of Germany) during World War I. After a series of campaigns, British General Edmund Allenby (under whom T.E. Lawrence—Lawrence of Arabia—served by unifying Arab tribes to victory over the Turks in other battles) reached the walls of Jerusalem. He had been given orders to capture Jerusalem; thus, he was ready to do whatever necessary to take the city from the Turks, even if it meant heavy bombardment.

General Edmund Allenby

By the providence of God (Allenby was a Christian who knew both Biblical and secular history of Israel and the Middle East), the British didn’t need to fire a single shot to finally capture Jerusalem. Instead, the Ottoman commander surrendered the city, with one reason given that he didn’t want to see religious holy sites destroyed by a British attack on and Ottoman defense of the Holy City. In the process, the Eastern Gate was protected from damage through potential breach of the walls and gate to access the eastern side of the city.

General Allenby Entering Jerusalem through the Jaffa Gate

But such is the sovereignty of our great God. What he says will happen, happens. What he declares will not happen (opening of the Eastern Gate until Messiah does so himself) will not happen. What he says he will do, he does. There is no one like the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. None but he can declare the end from the beginning.

Things to Ponder

Jesus will again enter Jerusalem through the Eastern Gate as a great Warrior King; but also as the Prince of Peace, the only one who can bring true and lasting peace to a hopeless, helpless world of evil and strife.

He not only enters through the Golden Gate; Christ Jesus IS the gate.

“But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out” (John 10:2-3).

Then the Apostle John records: “Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant, so he explained it to them: ‘I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved … I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep’” (John 10:6-11).

How good it would be for each one of us who know Christ, who are the sheep of his pasture, to be a gatekeeper to those around us. When the opportunity presents itself, to open the gate and show them the way to Christ. Or to be watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem and give our support to Israel and the Jews who have returned to the land given to them by the true and living God.

The next time you open a gate or walk through an archway or pass through a portal, remember that Jesus is The Gate. He is the only Gateway to peace on this earth and everlasting life with him and the host of heaven.

Hallelujah to the Lamb of God!

To the Lion from the Tribe of Judah!

To the Great Shepherd who is the Gate of Salvation!

Where is the Temple? Part III

13 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by garybowers in Prophecy in General

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Jewish Temple, Messiah Jesus

Where Is The Temple? (Part III … A New & Better Way)

As a rule, most people respond favorably to challenges in their life; as long as they are able to unscramble, manage, and otherwise adjust to whatever consequences or variations the challenges might bring. Whether adapting one’s lifestyle to include a new spouse, managing a sudden decrease in income, or just handling an unannounced visit from relatives, life is full of tests and tasks… of changes and conflicts.

The intriguing question posed in this article and the past two Eye of Prophecy articles relating to the fate of the Jewish Temples is designed as a challenge to explain what happened to them and why. To stimulate reflection about the repercussions of such a devastating time of Jewish history. To investigate the staggering impact on the entire Jewish faith WHEN Solomon’s Temple, then (hundreds of years later) Herod’s Temple, was destroyed. But also Gentile participation in this history pertaining mostly to religious systems that, to varying degrees, were patterned after and around the Mosaic Laws.

To once again come to terms with the rolling Premise of these articles: No Temple, no sacrificial offerings. No sacrifices, no atonement forgiveness of sins. No forgiveness, no redemption. No redemption, no right standing with God.

(1) Solomon’s Temple: God removed his very presence from this magnificent Temple; therefore, from among his people. Some six years before King Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem and tore down the Temple, Ezekiel witnessed God’s glory depart from the Temple. “Then the glory of the Lord moved out from the door of the Temple and hovered above the cherubim. And as I watched, the cherubim flew with their wheels to the east gate of the Lord’s Temple. And the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them” (Ezekiel 10:18-19). A short time later, “Then the glory of the Lord went up from the city and stopped above the mountain to the east” (Ezekiel 11:23).

The mountain to the east of Jerusalem is none other than the Mount of Olives. Amazingly—beyond mere coincidence—this is exactly where Messiah will step foot upon his spectacular (return) appearance to rescue Israel from annihilation during the Great Tribulation (Zachariah 14:4). Prophetically, Messiah will enter Jerusalem by the same Eastern Gate, currently sealed and impassable, through which God withdrew his presence. Thus, the Glory of the Lord that temporarily returned to the 2^nd Temple in the form of Messiah Jesus will reappear permanently to Israel and the whole world.

(2) Herod’s (the 2^nd) Temple: When this temple was razed to the ground by the Roman Legions, the Mosaic Covenant Sacrificial System ceased to function as the ongoing source of redemption.

Depiction of Temple Worship & Offerings (Can you guess which Temple?)

The loss of God’s glorious presence among his people followed by removal of sacrificial shedding of blood for atonement of sin dealt devastating blows to the heart of Judaism and the soul of the Jewish people. By and large, they have never recovered from this dual discipline; administered as a result of their continuous disobedience to God and denial of their Messiah sent by God to reconcile and restore them back to God. But one day (soon) all that will change!

They will recover and rejoice, because all of Israel will be saved … individually and nationally, physically and spiritually.

Speaking to the Gentile believers in Rome, the Apostle Paul cautioned them optimistically: “I want you to understand this mystery … so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ. And so all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say, ‘The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness. And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins’” (Romans 11:25-27, italics for emphasis).

Please remember … Paul was a Jew, who’s zealous die-hard ambition to defend the Judaic Law of Moses had consumed him. That is until Messiah Jesus supernaturally appeared to Paul (Saul), and challenged him to explain why he was persecuting the Christians, which was a direct attack on Messiah Yeshua, himself. Paul’s heart, life, and destiny miraculously changed. Then, Jesus consumed and compelled him. As is sometimes said: The rest is history.

Concerning the Jewish Temples, the historical evidence is undeniable: Since the destruction of Solomon’s Temple, God’s Shekinah glory (his majestic presence) had been glaringly absent from the Temple. Then, the essence and substance of God’s forgiveness through the Atonement Sacrifices abruptly ceased with the loss of the 2^nd Temple. According to the Law of Moses—which to varying degrees is still practiced or at least recognized by millions of Jews the world over—without the God-ordained place and procedure for shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin … no acquittal for the penalty for sin.

Where, then, is the Temple?

Depicts Destruction of Herod’s Temple

Is There a Replacement Remedy for the Absence of a Temple?

God, in his supernatural sovereignty, would see to it that destructive removal of both Temples would be replaced with something and someone even better. Indeed, that was God’s plan from the very beginning—to provide a Messiah Savior who would restore the glory and presence of God because he, himself, is God. “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” (Isaiah 9:6).

As the King of all kings, he would reestablish King David’s dynasty. “His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity….” (Isaiah 9:7).

And, as we shall soon see, he would assume the High Priestly Order of Melchizedek by offering himself as the final, perfect sacrifice for all mankind. Thus, the lamentable loss of both Temples was—like an intricate tapestry—providentially woven into God’s stunningly brilliant plan for his chosen people AND for Gentiles, who were not originally God’s people, but would become his people; Jew and Gentile … one new creation, one new man. A new universal Temple built by God himself, in the hearts of men, women, and children from nations the world over.

“So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).

In this passage, God’s holy people are the Jews … with the word holy meaning set apart for a special purpose. We are his house (dwelling place) means both Jew and Gentile (We). And this new dwelling place is built equally on the foundation of the (Old Testament) prophets and (New Testament) apostles. Moreover, Messiah Jesus is the CORNERSTONE of this incredible building. This sensational spiritual structure has become a (the new) holy temple for the Lord. Both Jew and Gentile are part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

In times past, only the Jewish High Priest could approach God once a year in the Temple’s Inner Sanctuary, the Holy of Holies. A Gentile could never enter the Temple itself; only in the Court of the Gentiles. But with the New Covenant God graciously changed all that: “Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other (between Jew and Gentile) was put to death. He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us” (Ephesians 2:16-18).

This is all possible because the Old Covenant configuration of sacrificial atonement that took place in the earthly temple was completed, perfected, and replaced by the New Covenant’s heavenly standard whose Temple and ultimate sacrifice is Messiah himself.

The Perfect High Priest, After the Order of Melchizedek

We find only a brief record of Melchizedek in the book of Genesis, but a detailed account of this mysterious man in the New Testament. The book of Hebrews daringly, but logically explains how Jesus ultimately fulfilled the priestly order of the first High Priest, which was Melchizedek, not Aaron. How and why Yeshua was qualified to become and remain the Eternal High Priest.

It’s also vital to understand that Hebrews was written by a Jew (as were nearly all of the New Testament books) who fully understood and accepted the fact that, “…We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands” (Hebrews 8:1-2).

The Jewish writer of Hebrews unveils the mystery of this extraordinary Priest/King: “Consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized this by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle. Now the Law of Moses required that the priests, who are descendants of Levi, must collect a tithe from the rest of the people of Israel, who are also descendants of Abraham. But Melchizedek, who was not a descendant of Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham. And Melchizedek placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God. And without question, the person who has the power to give a blessing is greater than the one who is blessed” (Hebrews 7:4-7).

The author of Hebrews then contends, “…Melchizedek is greater than they are, because we are told that he lives on “(Verse 8, italics for emphasis). From all the Scriptural evidence about Melchizedek, but especially this verse, many Bible scholars and commentators (including me) firmly believe that Melchizedek was not only the ultimate prototype of a High Priest and King, but that he was actually the pre-Incarnate Messiah (Jesus), who made several appearances before his actual birth in Bethlehem.

Listen closely as the writer of Hebrews contests the enduring effectiveness of the Levitical system by clarifying the contrast between the Aaronic priesthood and the Priestly Order of Melchizedek: “So if the priesthood of Levi, on which the law is based, could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood, with a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron?” (Hebrews 7:11).

Then the author presents a conclusive challenge that justifies a New Covenant and a different, superior Mediator of that Covenant: “And if the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it. For the priest we are talking about belongs to a different tribe, whose members have never served at the altar as priests. What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe. This change has been made very clear since a different priest, who is like Melchizedek, has appeared. Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied, ‘You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek’” (Hebrews 7:12-17). Psalms 110:4 is quoted here.

Next, “The law appointed high priests who were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the perfect High Priest forever” (Hebrews 7:28).

The author of Hebrews then explains the responsibilities of a high priest and The High Priest; why the functions of the earthly priests were meant only to be a shadowy prelude to the real (ideal) model. “And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too. If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law. They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning, ‘Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain’” (Hebrews 8:3-5).

Thus, it’s profoundly clear that the original Tabernacle, then the Temples were types or shadows patterned after the perfect Temple in heaven. A Temple not built by human hands; rather the Temple of God, himself, contained in the very body of Yeshua … the Incarnate Messiah. “But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises” (Hebrews 8:6).

In the following passage, we once again see the incomparable excellence of the New Covenant over the Old Covenant, the new Temple over the Old Temple, and the new Sacrifice over the old sacrifices.

“That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals. For Christ did not enter a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice” (Hebrews 9:23-26).

AMAZING! Permanent removal of sin, not just perpetual partial covering of sin. No need for continued animal offerings, nor an earthly temple in which to perform those sacrifices.

So, you see: God made something ultimately good and lasting out of the two greatest tragedies that ever befell the Jewish people … the horrific, humiliating destruction of the Temples. But that was his plan all along.

Why a New Covenant … A New Temple?

Because the Lord knew that his people (all people) never could and/or never would keep the first covenant at all times in all points. All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious and holy standards and requirements (Romans 3:23).

The Lord fully understands the natural bent of mankind: That of trying to earn God’s favor, trying to merit salvation and eternal life by performance, by innate worth, by good works; instead of simply agreeing with God and accepting his grace … the wonderful, matchless gift of God’s own Son as a substitutionary sacrificial payment for all the wrong things we have done.

Thus, God gave the Law for two reasons: (1) as dependable as the conscience of man can sometimes be, it is not constantly adequate or endlessly reliable to unerringly distinguish right from wrong. Hence, it was necessary to establish universally objective moral and spiritual laws (summarized in the Ten Commandments) so that no one would excuse immoral behavior by saying they didn’t know it was (for example) wrong to steal. (2) To give men and women every chance possible to earn their salvation by obeying these laws perfectly. But because no one has ever kept the Law in every point, the Law ended up sentencing us to everlasting death.

How sadly ironic: the only thing earned is physical and then spiritual death (separation from God forever). “For the wages of sin is death….” (Romans 6:23a).

As asked and answered by Paul, “Why, then was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised….” (Galatians 3:19) Paul goes on to identify this ultimate child of promise as Messiah Jesus.

Listen again to the words of Hebrews: “If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. But when God found fault with the people, he said (Then the writer quotes Jeremiah 31:31-34): ‘The day is coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. They did not remain faithful to my covenant, so I turned my back on them, says the Lord. But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people … And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins” (Hebrews 8:7-10, 12).

A New and Better Way

What about this New Covenant, which was announced by the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah just a few years before the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple? Has the New Covenant arrived? If so, when? How? By whom?

Listen to these penetrating words spoken by Jesus to the Jewish Pharisees: “And haven’t you read in the Law of Moses that the priests on duty in the Temple may work on the Sabbath? I tell you, there is one here who is even greater than the Temple! But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!” (Matthew 12:5-8, Jesus quoted from Micah Chapter 6).

Astounding! Jesus refuted the unfounded allegations of the Pharisees that the disciples were breaking the Sabbath by eating some heads of grain still on the stalk … through the Pharisees legalistic interpretation that the disciples were harvesting the grain. With divine authorized authority, Jesus declared that he was greater than the Jewish Sabbath, greater than the Temple, greater than the Law of Moses. Jesus IS the Sabbath. Jesus IS the Temple. Jesus IS the Living Word of God (John 1:1).

There’s more: In answer to an argumentative question from the Jewish religious leaders as to who gave him the authority to drive out the money changers from the Temple, Jesus replied, “…Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said, ‘It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But He was speaking of the temple of his body. So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken” (John 2:19-22, NASB).

Remember the startling statement by Jesus at the last Passover supper with his disciples. He announced that the New Covenant was about to begin.

Here, I would like to quote an excerpt from my book, Out of the Abyss (pages 66-67).

Jesus proclaimed this unparalleled new covenant from Jerusalem, the God-ordained location of annual Passovers. In no uncertain terms, Christ explicitly announced that he himself would be the blood sacrifice required by God to start, satisfy, and seal the very covenant predicted by Jeremiah … The Son of Man who spoke these words would soon be nailed to a cross as the ultimate sacrificial Passover Lamb, exclusively selected and sent by God to redeem Israel and the whole world.

While he hung on the cross, the very Temple curtain that separated the sacrificial inner sanctuary (Holy of Holies) from the rest of the Temple was inexplicably ripped apart. Three days later Jesus arose from the dead to forever ratify the total efficacy of so great a sacrifice and so great a salvation that he purchased with his life’s blood. Those who have accepted his sacrifice and redemption can freely enter the very presence of God at any time from any place in the world. For not only is the Temple curtain gone, so is the Temple itself. Until the return of Messiah, the Temple of God is now the body of Christ. God the Holy Spirit resides in the heart of every believer. Those in Christ are the body and Temple of the living Triune God.

We love you Lord, because you first loved us! Hallelujah to the Lamb of God!

Some thirty years later, the Apostle Paul would write his last two epistles to Timothy. In keeping with the main purpose of Paul’s writings—to encapsulate the entire life, death, and resurrection of Jesus into the eternal tenets of the Christian faith—he states: “For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus” (I Timothy 2:5).

Hence, we have the incomparable, immeasurable, and irreplaceable New Covenant of Grace. “He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins” (Ephesians 1:7).

Christ became the Temple of the Living God. We, who have placed our trust in his awesome once-for-all atoning sacrifice, need not search for a temple built by human hands. For we are part of a better Temple. Listen to this affirmation from the Apostle Peter:

“You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God” (I Peter 2:4-5).

Equally remarkable are Paul’s words to the Corinthians: “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple” (I Corinthians 3:16-17).

Temple Mount Today, But No Jewish Temple

Summary

Where is the Temple? The question must be answered because to dismiss it, to ignore it, to pretend that it doesn’t matter is to maintain that a person’s self-enabling obedience to God’s laws, meriting God’s favor through good works or charitable activities as the means of salvation, and earning a destiny in heaven can be achieved WITHOUT the parallel and equally significant mandated remedy for atonement of sin through the sacrificial offerings required by Almighty God. You simply can’t have one without the other.

So, does the question even have an answer? The answer to that question depends upon whether anyone earnestly and honestly searching for the truth will agree that a New Covenant is necessary and is in place. For, without the sacrificial offerings, the Law can only judge. Without a replacement to the Old Testament system of Atonement that ended with destruction of the Temple, the Law can only condemn.

However, for all who agree that Jesus is the Messiah who arrived on the scene of history as Biblically prophesied hundreds of years earlier saying Messiah would come before the (2^nd) Temple would be destroyed; that he died and rose again as the ultimate perfect sacrifice for their sins; then place their complete trust in his redemptive atonement thereby entrusting their eternal destiny to his finished work on the cross, they will have positively answered the question.

The New Temple is Christ and Christ is in every person who accepts him as personal Savior.

Let’s get personal: If you prefer to stake your eternal destiny on your ability to keep the law, then you still haven’t answered the question. Indeed, there is no answer to your dilemma. Why? Because the Law of Moses demands perfect compliance—with continual sacrificial offerings as a divine solution for noncompliance, either willfully or carelessly.

Which is why, “…the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless. For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God. This new system was established with a solemn oath. Aaron’s descendants became priests without such an oath, but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to him, ‘The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow: You are a priest forever.’ Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God” (Hebrews 7:18-22).

Things to Ponder

God still gives us free will, the option to choose. But concerning atonement, redemption, salvation: forgiveness is available only through the shedding of blood. The Old Covenant was a temporary shadow. It is gone, along with the Temple. Will you choose the Old or the New?

Then: The Presence of God only in the Temple; withdrawn before the Temple’s destruction, because of disobedience.

Now: The Kingdom of Heaven residing and reigning in the hearts of believers in Yeshua.

Soon: The Kingdom of God resting and reigning on the earth from Jerusalem, with Yeshua, himself, living among his people.

Where is the Temple? Can you answer? Will you answer?

Answer to Photo Question: Solomon’s Temple, because God’s Shekinah glory is still present as shown near the top of the picture

Let’s Celebrate … Forever!

25 Saturday Oct 2014

Posted by garybowers in Prophecy in General

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2nd coming, Immanuel, Messiah Jesus, reign of Christ

Festival of Tabernacles … Part II

“I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago….” (I Corinthians 10:1).

There are some things that must never be forgotten; but always remembered as examples for us, for our children, and for their children. Whether things precious or things dreadful. Be they helpful or hurtful. Whether a child’s cheerful appeal, “Remember, daddy, you promised;” or whether the ominous refrain of an entire nation that lost six million of its own during the 2^nd World War: “Never again. We must always remember … this can never happen again.”

The triumphs and tragedies of the past become lessons for the present and patterns for the future. History does repeat itself, especially if we fail to learn from past mistakes and failures. The future is much brighter and our expectations and hopes much stronger when we anticipate and then celebrate milestone events of human history and of our very lives. That’s why we honor birthdays and anniversaries … our own, friends, family, and influential people that helped shape the world we live in. That’s why we commemorate life-changing episodes of our human existence.

That’s why we remember times of great turmoil, that ended victoriously … such as Independence Day and Veterans Day. Or birthdays of great leaders that changed the course of history—such as Presidents Washington and Lincoln and civil rights champion Martin Luther King. And certainly the miraculous birth, horrific death, and awesome resurrection from the grave of Messiah Jesus … at Christmas, Good Friday, and Resurrection Day (Easter), respectively.

The apostle Paul challenged the Jewish believers in Corinth to remember what happened to their ancestors in the wilderness … much of which was covered in last week’s article on the Feast of Shelters. Specifically the attitude and actions of the recently delivered Hebrews (from Egypt) and God’s protection and provisions for them even when they were unfaithful to him. Yes, and God’s correction of them, because the Bible tells us that God disciplines those whom he loves.

“I don’t want you to forget … about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground … All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ” (I Corinthians 10:1-4, italics for emphasis).

It’s crystal clear in the Old Testament record that the food (manna) was actual physical food and the water was real thirst-quenching water, miraculously delivered by God. But Paul shares something with the Corinthian believers even more amazing: Christ was literally with the Hebrews in the wilderness and it was he who supplied both their physical and spiritual sustenance.

After his spectacular encounter with the risen Jesus on the Damascus Road and his equally astounding conversion, Paul knew full well that Yeshua was not only the Son of God, he was God the Son; and that Christ was also fully human, the Son of Man. He understood that the Messiah had made several pre-Incarnate appearances throughout the Old Testament; and Paul fully comprehended that this Jewish born Messiah from the tribe of Judah, from the lineage of King David, had existed with God from the very beginning.

Listen to Paul’s magnificent description of Jesus: “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 authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross” (Colossians 1:15-20).

WOW!

Do you care to know who Jesus Christ really is and what he has done for you, for me, and for the whole world? Then read this passage again and know beyond any doubt that he is God, Creator, and our Savior. If you believe that he is Creator God and your personal Savior, you will be saved from your sins and the Wrath of God, and you will live forever with Him in heaven.

“God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. The Good News is about his Son, Jesus. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 1:2-4).

Warnings and Examples

Paul continues with the epic saga of the Hebrews in the wilderness: “These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, or worship idols as some of them did … Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snake bites. And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age” (I Corinthians 10:6-11, italics for emphasis).

As indicated in last week’s article, the Jews were commissioned to bring to mind all the things that happened to them in the wilderness, most importantly the magnificent ways that God protected them and provided for them after he miraculously delivered them from Egypt. One of the more meaningful methods to never forget the sovereign providence of the Lord is by periodic observance of these monumental events. The last, but certainly not the least, of the seven Festivals to be kept by the Jews is the Festival or Feast of Shelters.

Folks, more than ever before, we are living at the end of the age. We are contemporary, modern-day witnesses to the fulfillment of powerful prophetic signs and events recorded throughout Scripture, the most significant of which is the divinely orchestrated rebirth of Israel, followed by the ever-increasing boasts of terrorist groups and entire nations to wipe Israel from the face of the earth. Yet, just last week in the midst of imminent threats from terrorists, regional conflicts in Syria, Ukraine, Iraq and other nations that threaten to entangle the United States, Russia, and the EU, millions of Jews and tens of thousands of Gentile Christians celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles.

Why is this Holiday so important? What makes it unique in comparison to all of the other Jewish and Christian Holy Days?

One of a Kind

The Bible tells us this Festival that remembers the remarkable providential protection and provision of God in the lives of his people is the only Holiday (Holy Day) that individuals and even nations are required by God to observe at the end of the age … known as the Day of the Lord. As alluded to in past Eye of Prophecy articles, the Day of the Lord begins with the Rapture (transformation, transference, transfiguration of earthly to heavenly bodies) of dead and living believers in Christ. Followed by the seven-year treaty/tribulation that culminates in the apocalyptic battle of Armageddon. Ending with the majestic return of Messiah Jesus to save the Jews from annihilation and the world from extinction. Then the one-thousand year reign of Christ and believers on the earth. From there … eternity, infinity, and beyond!

The Old Testament Prophet Zechariah who tells us more about Messiah that any other of the Minor prophets declares: “In the end, the enemies of Jerusalem who survive the plague will go up to Jerusalem each year to worship the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and to celebrate the Festival of Shelters” (Zechariah 14:16).

What plague? In the preceding verses, Zechariah graphically describes this affliction. “And the Lord will send a plague on all the nations that fought against Jerusalem. Their people will become like walking corpses, their flesh rotting away. Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. On that day they will be terrified, stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will fight their neighbors hand to hand. Judah, too, will be fighting at Jerusalem….” (Zechariah 14:12-14).

Some Bible scholars believe this passage is describing nuclear warfare, i.e. what could happen to human bodies when a nuclear device explodes. Although there very well may be a nuclear exchange during the Great Tribulation, I don’t believe it applies to this passage. With the primary reason that the Lord, himself, will (supernaturally) inflict this catastrophe on the nations that attack Jerusalem as opposed to other nations including Israel launching nuclear missiles. On the other hand, the very power that Christ wields by the Word of his mouth could very well unlock molecules and unleash the power of the atom that essentially holds all things together.

Revelation vividly tells us more about this final battle, as do a handful of other Scripture passages, both Old and New Testament. “Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses. From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress. On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords” (Revelation 19: 11-16).

It gets even more explicit: “Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, shouting to the vultures flying high in the sky: ‘Come! Gather together for the great banquet God has prepared. Come and eat the flesh of kings, generals, and strong warriors; of horses and their riders; and of all humanity, both free and slave, small and great’” (Verses 17-18).

Back to Zechariah and the Feast of Tabernacles. “Any nation in the world that refuses to come to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, will have no rain. If the people of Egypt refuse to attend the festival, the Lord will punish them with the same plague that he sends on the other nations who refuse to go. Egypt and the other nations will all be punished if they don’t go to celebrate the Festival of Shelters” (Zechariah 14:17-19).

The reason why the Festival of Shelters is a divine requirement for all time, with the corresponding harsh punishment if people and nations deliberately and arrogantly refuse to attend this Holy Day once a year, is found in the text … which is the very purpose of celebrating this memorial. “To worship the King…”

And who is the King? The King of all kings? Among other New Testament books, the final book of the Bible tells us exactly who the king is and will be. The very first verse of the first chapter in the Book of Revelation boldly declares: “This is a revelation from Jesus Christ….” Then we read about Jesus: “…He is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world. All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us. He had made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen. (Revelation 1:5-6, italics for emphasis).

Immanuel … God with us.

What makes this celebration so different from all other holidays, both Jewish and Gentile, different even from the contemporary observance of Tabernacles? The Answer: Messiah Jesus, himself, will be there! It’s all about Jesus! As well it should be. For he is our Way, our Truth, and our Life. (John 14:6). Once again, the purpose for keeping the Feast of Shelters by traveling directly to Jerusalem during the Millennium is to, Worship the King.

The Festival of Shelters will be celebrated not just in remembrance of the past, but also in reverence of the present and in anticipation of the ongoing glorious future of God’s people. And what does that future presence hold? Just like the small shelters (sukkah) constructed for the Feast of Shelters symbolize God’s sovereign protection and provisions, the Cloud by Day, Pillar of Fire by night, the Tabernacle, and later the Temple contained the very divine presence and glory of God … the Shekinah glory.

This same glory—the very essence of God—visited the human race through … a Child born to us and a Son given to us (Isaiah 9:6) prophesied by Isaiah; fulfilled when the angel confidently announced to Joseph: “…do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: ‘Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means God is with us.’” (Matthew 1:20-23).

Upon his glorious reappearance, Jesus of Nazareth will once again be among us on earth and then in the New Jerusalem forever and ever. IMMANUEL! God with us!

Yes, one day soon will see the once-for-all permanent fulfillment of the Immanuel prophecy, God with us, take place when Christ returns to Israel. The nations will travel to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles and to worship the King who first came as a child to Bethlehem to tabernacle (live) among us. But his sojourn was all too brief … only thirty-three years. But, oh what a visit! When he ascended to heaven after he arose from the grave, he left God’s mighty plan of salvation on the earth, available to all who call upon the name of the Lord.

Yes, Messiah will return for all time as Immanuel. This is why so many will gladly make this wonderful pilgrimage to Jerusalem: to show their eternal gratitude that God is with us. “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).

“And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city” (Revelation 21:26).

They will come to, Worship the King.

Festival of Shelters … Worship of and Gratitude for a Divine Solution to the World’s Problems

What do we do when we worship something or someone? According to Webster’s Dictionary, worship is: “to honor or reverence as a divine being or supernatural power; to regard with great, even extravagant respect, honor, or devotion.”

Undying loyalty and extraordinary respect goes hand in hand with deep awe and reverence, but also perpetual gratitude for what Christ has done and what he will do to set things right when he returns to the earth.

Those who survive the Great Tribulation, including even those who were fighting against the Jews and against Christ himself will recognize, respect, and revere Jesus Christ as the one who:

In fact, wages a righteous war. The One who utterly defeats an immoral, unrighteous, ruthless enemy much like we see with today’s terrorists and the ungodly, wicked, shocking slaughter of innocent civilians perpetrated on entire populations as occurred during Hitler’s evil Third Reich. So will it be when the Antichrist beast of Revelation unleashes his unholy alliances against those who refuse to take his mark. Messiah Jesus will deal harshly and decisively with tyranny and oppression to the extent that, “Those who plant injustice will harvest disaster, and their reign of terror will come to an end” (Proverbs 22:8).
The One (and only one) who will bring true and lasting Peace to a destructive world filled with unrestrained corruption, unbridled immorality, unchecked violence, and the horrors of death. He is the, “…Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end….” (Isaiah 9:6-7).
The One who can and will bring pure justice with him and administer this justice fairly to all peoples. “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 22:12). And, “…He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!” (Isaiah 9:7).
The One whose way and ways are built on absolute truth and righteousness, which all people long for in a ruler. “… Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Just and true are your ways O King of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous deeds have been revealed” (Revelation 15: 3-4).
The One whose decisions and judgments surpass any human magistrate or Supreme Court known to man: “…Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, your judgments are true and just” (Revelation 16:7).
The One who is the “Resurrection and the Life” (John 11:25). The One who has conquered death itself. “I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave” (Revelation 1:18).
The One who will make everything brand new, better than ever before, surpassing even the Garden of Eden. The only One who can be fully trusted to do what he says he will do. “…Look, I am making everything new! And then he said to me, ‘Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true” (Revelation 21:5).

The overwhelming price paid by Jesus Christ for our sins—his agonizing painful death on the Cross—is far too great to trivialize or overlook. His majestic return to the earth is far too glorious and benevolent to ignore or minimize, both before and after the fact. The awesome price of peace with God and peace among men paid for by Jesus blood must always be remembered, not just during the Feast of Shelters but all through the days and years to come. Those who refuse to accept the very presence of God in the form of his Son, Yeshua ha Mashiach; and, thereby, refuse to attend the Festival of Shelters, will also pay a heavy price. Because they (like so many today who will never see the light of Heaven) will not acknowledge what the Lord has done and will do on that day and forever more.

“The day will come, says the Lord, when I will do for Israel and Judah all the good things I have promised them. In those days and at that time I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. In that day Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this will be its name: The Lord is Our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 33:15-16).

Things to Ponder

On the Jewish calendar, the Festival of Tabernacles is celebrated five days after Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The number five signifies Grace … the grace of God that bestows blessings and his very presence in all hearts who invite him in. That is the way of it now … the Kingdom of Heaven in the hearts of men, women, and children the world over; those who have believed and received the Son of God, the Son of Man.

“Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3:19-21).

One day soon, Jesus Christ will tabernacle among us. He will be Immanuel, God with us … forever. He will restore all things. As it once was long ago, so shall it be again. He will establish the Kingdom of God on the earth and will, thereby, bring lasting Peace to a troubled world—a planet teetering on an axis of evil, ready to plunge into an Abyss of hopelessness and helplessness.

“…The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever” (Daniel 2:44).

“He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon!’ Amen! Come Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).

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eyeofprophecy … watch and wait

~ "For the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus" (Rev.19:10)

Tag Archives: Messiah Jesus

Spiritual Bodies … A Contradiction of Terms? (Part I)

Messianic Jews … Who Are They?

A Beast by Any Other Name … Part III

Age of Grace (Part I)

Gateway to the World

Where is the Temple? Part III

Let’s Celebrate … Forever!