Satan is up to his old tricks. Don’t walk into his trap.
Jeremiah was put in the stocks for this message.
I feel the need to have to speak up about an issue that is consuming more and more people. And the more it is consuming people the more worried I get, and I will explain why from the Bible.
Now, I am living in one of the countries that have the most severe restrictions under the current Covid-saga. People here are exhausted. Everyone we talk to here is exhausted, not so much by the virus but by the restrictions and the government’s abuse of its power. It makes them fear the future. It is costing them jobs, their livelihood, and it has taken away much of their spirit and spark. A woman from the local drug store said it feels like being in a war. She said in the beginning people spoke up against restrictions that made little sense and that ruined people’s livelihood, but as in a war, when it continues and they are not heard, they get pacified and end up complying being less resistant, hoping it will be over as soon as possible. Those were her words.
Now some countries with fewer problems and a good economy, like in Scandinavia, don’t see as many problems or restrictions. But trust me, there are people suffering in many other countries. Especially poor countries. For many, the restrictions, not viruses, make them desperate. They were already struggling and now many of them are starving. Vaccinated as well as unvaccinated are losing their jobs.
So, let me just state one thing before I get into the Bible and say want I really wanted to say. I am against the
There is a lot of abuse of power and human rights violations going on during the covid-crisis. Is the Devil doing it on purpose to get our attention and if so why?
government controlling people’s right to buy and sell when they interfere with basic human rights and use of unnecessary force. Like the story of police in Germany putting a Muslim woman to the ground in front of her toddler because she was not wearing a face mask when coming out from the dentist’s office. Obvious abuse of power.
I do not believe that people should serve the government, but that the government should serve the people. When people in some places are more scared of the government than the virus, something is fundamentally wrong, either with them or the government. And just because it is not happening where you are, don’t belittle what is happening in other places. Like for instance Greece, South Africa, and India where some people live on an income that comes in from day to day. Being temporarily shut down means starving or not being able to pay for education.
Now, that being said, now you know my stance. I am not a sympathizer to any abuse of power or violation of human rights.
I sense however a bigger threat to God’s people at this time than any governmental force. This is the threat I want to address in this article.
You see, I have studied the time period before Jerusalem’s destruction the first time and the second time. Both represented an end of probation for God’s people.
And right now I am worried for God’s people, for all of us. Not because of the government’s behavior, no, but that God’s people are falling for Satan’s traps again.
You know, when Satan has used a certain method before and been successful, then you can be sure he will do the same again. Why change something that already works so perfectly well? Especially work in his favor to separate God’s people from their God? What a triumph that is.
The Bible clearly shows us that the destruction of Jerusalem is symbolic of the end times. The parallels of Revelation and Ezekiel are many. Satan is going for God’s people once again. Will he use similar methods this time?
So, what did he do both of those times so successfully prior to the destruction which left God’s people unprepared and eventually lost? Please listen to me, at least just this once. Don’t be annoyed, just hear me out. You see, God’s people back in the day refused to hear the message I am going to share with you right now. They did not want to hear it, they closed their ears, they hated every word of it. So please, continue reading.
Satan gave them an oppressing enemy to fight – both times, prior to the destruction. The first time it was the threat from Babylon, they demanded Jerusalem subdued to their rule and the people felt empowered to oppose Babylon for the sake of their freedom and religion. The second time it was the oppression that came from Rome. The message from God that they were NOT to fight them made God’s people very upset.
Notice that both times they really had good reasons to be critical of the governmental powers subduing them. The first time the Babylonians had abducted many of them, stolen their wealth, suppressed them, humiliated them, and ruled over them with force. They had taken from them the liberties they previously enjoyed in their kingdom when they were free.
The second time, before Rome destroyed Jerusalem, they had been pushed around by roman decrees and Roman soldiers for years. They did not want the Roman chancellor to rule over them. It was religiously humiliating and brought them great distress. They wanted their freedom, the freedom to follow their God. Surely that was God’s will, for them to break free? Surely it would honor God? You can read about this reasoning in for instance the book of Jeremiah.
Do you remember the story that Jesus commented on, where Pilate had taken the blood of some Galileans and mingled it with their sacrifices? (Luke 13:1) It was a terrible, and utterly disrespectful punishment meant to cause fear and quench a rebellious spirit among the public. Do you remember the Roman soldiers that came to John the Baptist for advice and he told the soldiers to stop the violence and false accusations? Those things really happened. The Jews were constantly under Roman supervision and control, and let us be frank, it was not a good situation. Nor was it what God had wanted for them in the first place. God had wanted them to be free. At the time of Jesus, there were Jewish people constantly rebelling against the Roman suppression. The idea of a heathen power ruling over them, God’s people, was considered wrong on every level.
In fact, right before Christ started His ministry we learn that two groups of people had rebelled. There had been Jewish riots and demonstrations against both Babylon and Rome.
God’s people thought they were fighting God’s fight. After Christ, the Jews in Jerusalem had several uprisings and wars against Roman suppression. So did they against the Babylonian suppression before Jerusalem was destroyed.
God sent them prophets and teachers to tell them to stop fighting against them. Both Jeremiah and Paul gave such messages. God in different ways let His people know that; Rome and Babylon will be judged for their actions, but you are going to perish with them unless you listen to God.
Jeremiah did not say Babylon was good, he said to not fight them, because God’s people can’t win and will therefore only perish in the battle. At this point in time in world history, we can’t win either. And you might lose your soul in the process of trying. The reason being, that right before the end, right before the end of God’s people’s probation, this battle becomes a distraction from what is really important, just like it did then. They fought suppressive powers earlier with God’s blessings, but not at the time of the end, at the close of probation.
God’s message, both times, to God’s people fighting Babylon and Rome was that they weren’t right with God themselves. And when they weren’t, God could not save them. These uprisings against Babylon and Rome were both at times around the time of sealing, remember there was a sealing before Jerusalem’s destruction both times? And there will be a sealing before Christ’s second coming as well just as stated in the book of Revelation.
If Jesus had started using his powers to crack down on Roman suppression, the Jewish nation would have accepted Him as their king. But He could not, for they were not right with God. Instead, midst Roman soldiers bullying the Jewish people, Jesus left the subject and instead told His people they needed to be born again. They were pointing fingers at Rome and Jesus pointed His finger towards them. God’s people were lost and needed to be saved, not from Rome but from themselves. Jesus said: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell» (Mat 10:28).
“And the Jewish people became upset with Him, even the apostles struggled with this teaching. They wanted a message of deliverance from worldly government oppression.
Jesus said, knowing their probation was rapidly coming to its end, that their battle was with themselves.
Jeremiah also brought the same message, and they hated him for it. Had he told them to fight Babylon they would have received him, loved him. Instead, he said God told him to tell them, that they were spiritually blind and naked, and that they desperately needed a conversion in their hearts. They needed God to shape them like the potter shape the clay (Jer.18). They did not want that message. For they assumed that if God had to pick between a backsliding people carrying His name and pagan Babylon, God would choose them. That they were more righteous than their enemies. But God said He would choose neither for God’s people did the same sins Babylon did. They were both judged. So it will be in the end. In Revelation 18 God says His people will perish with spiritual Babylon if they live as they do. Jesus says His name cannot save you if you are unconverted, if you choose sin over atonement.
Back in Jerusalem, they loved the prophets that spoke against worldly governmental suppression. Because then they could see themselves as the good guys fighting the bad guys. They claimed to be fighting for God’s honor both times. In fact, the false Messiah, Simon bar Kokhba, the Jews did actually receive. For he was fighting the Roman suppression, he became a military leader in their battle for freedom, so they accepted him. They did not listen to Jesus, but they did listen to him. His speech excited them, made them feel brave, that God was with them in the battle when they were fighting their oppressors. Yet, he was the one whose rebellion caused their complete downfall, his rebellion caused the Roman wrath to be intensified. He made them a target of the Roman authorities. The false Messiah ultimately caused them to be scattered and devoured. Before Bar Kokhba they chose Barabbas over Jesus, a rebel of the Roman empire over the One who preached that they needed to change. They felt attacked by this message and preferred the message attacking their physical suppressor rather than the message attacking their spiritual suppressor. Their flesh.
Satan gave them worldly suppression purposely to put God’s people in a state where they would be unprepared for the end that was very close ahead in time for them both times. He purposely smites them to get their attention and to cause their uprising. He wanted them to fight so he could crush them. God knew and so He warned them against falling for Satan’s bait. The battle against governmental suppression was a distraction meant to close their ears and hearts to the real message sent from God.
What do you say? Are we there, are we right with God? Don’t fall for this trick, this old trick that worked so well once before. Making us busy fighting our governmental oppressors while we are failing to prepare so that we can receive God’s protection.
Did you know why God allowed Babylon and Rome to suppress God’s people in the first place? Because of their sins. The solution was and is therefore not to fight the consequences of sin but the root cause of it.
But as God said, if we turn from our ways, from our self-righteousness, and from our sins, He will fight on our behalf. He will fight our enemies. Read Isaiah 51 or Isaiah 54, or Psalm 91. These were promises to a people which could have, if God’s warnings were received, have saved them. And the same promises are given to us today.
Because only God can win this last battle. You literally can not win without Him.
You might get a temporary victory, as when Rome and Babylon withdrew for a moment from Jerusalem. It looked like the Jews would win the battle against Rome for a while or make an escape. It puffed them up and then they came back and crushed them. Same at the time of Babylon, Juda was sure of victory for a while when the king in Jerusalem joined them against their suppressors and refused to obey the Babylonian ruler. When Pharaoh was on their side, they felt even more secure. But their king was blinded and the city was taken. And Egypt that gave them a false sense of security was conquered as well. You may fight against the overpower and seem successful for a while, the enemy might withdraw for a moment, but then you will be stricken even harder than you would have afterward. Your temporary success will only strengthen your enemy and make him use more power later.
Don’t fall for what they fell for, please. I am convinced that we are right before the end, and God’s people are not ready. They are more divided than ever. Every hand is against his brother.
John the Baptist, like Jesus, addressed God’s people’s sins and not the Roman occupation.
Those who unite do it by flattering each other and compromising. The love has grown cold, the charity and the compassion. The love for truth and sain doctrine is replaced with sensational teachings. God’s word, bread, is replaced with spiritual junk food. And those that eat it will crave more unhealthy spiritual food. We commit the same sins as the world around us. Only giving it different names, even Christian names, so we can fool and blind ourselves. We are blind, we are poor. We have little strength. And most of us do not even see it. We think we are where we should be. That the fault is always with everyone else. We have to die from ourselves, yet we are full of pride. We are all, right now, in real danger of being unprepared. We are all in the same boat. I have nothing to recommend myself on that day when Christ comes. We have to be stripped of self, clothed in Christ’s righteousness and His merits. Anyone who shows up in their own righteousness will be lost. The only thing we can bargain with for our salvation is Christ’s blood. But we have to do it now. We have to let Him take off our “filthy garments” and “clothe us” in His garment. Most of us have not done this, we prefer our own clothing. And if you think: oh not me, I am right where I should be, well then that thought in itself is the evidence against you that you are most likely not ready. That you are blind. Most of God’s people are really not where they need to be right now. I think you know it is true deep inside. The Christian world has become chaotic, the sheep are scattered (Ezek.34).
We as a people have not been called to fight physical governments at this time and if we have taken this route we need to turn and go back to our assigned post. That is what God asks us to do, to bring the world healing through Christ’s sacrifice. Even the sword we are to rise up against the end-time “beast and his mark” is to be fought with the gospel. We can not give in to the “beast” demand, a governmental power. We will stand by our decition with the true gospel, and not with a physical weapon. We do not have to speculate or search out conspiracy, we will only have to answer with God’s word (Eph_6:17). Any battle that is not fought with God’s clear “thus says the Lord” is straying from the work we have been given: “This is what each man is to say to his friend and to his brother: ‘What has the LORD answered?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’” (Jer. 23:35)
Don’t be distracted by all the conspiracies against God’s people. You can stay updated if you do not become consumed by it. Did you know that the people that lived right before the sealing and the destruction of Jerusalem were very busy with all the conspiracies? And God spoke against them? “For this is what the LORD has spoken to me with a strong hand, instructing me not to walk in the way of this people: “Do not call conspiracy everything these people regard as conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear; do not live in dread. The LORD of Hosts is the One you shall regard as holy. Only He should be feared; only He should be dreaded” (Isaiah 8:11-13)
Yes, God actually warned them to not be occupied with conspiracy theories, even if some of them are true. A lot of the conspiracy theories presented today are actually true. The Bible confirms it in the book of Revelation 13 and 18. The world will gather under falsehood. Powers will influence and deceive people. Even though paying attention to these matters and even sharing it can in many instances be important, we need to do it in a Biblical way. We have to point to the solution, to Christ, and not just the problem. If we become consumed by everything we hear about conspiracy it takes the mind away from where it should be at such a crucial point in time. When this happened before Jerusalems destruction and God pointed it out, God continues in the same speech to instruct them in what direction they should take: “Bind up the testimony and seal the law among my disciples. I will wait for the LORD (v.17),
and “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn” (v.20) If the sun does not rise at dawn you are left in darkness. Darkness is sure to come but will we remain in it, be consumed by it?
Will or can God’s people be sanctified by conspiracy theories or by beholding conspiracy in the world? No, they can not sanctify anyone, they have no such power. They can not atone anyone’s sins, they can not change our character or make us reflect Christ. We do not get better acquainted with God by beholding his enemy. And once you are hooked on conspiracy, time setting, and all types of exciting teaching you will in the end not bear sound doctrine. You will avoid those Bible studies that help sanctify you and prepare you for sealing and translation. If you spend too much time in the dark it will hurt to look at the light. Christian conspiracy teaching is like junk food, we feel full and a moment of satisfaction when consuming “excitement preaching” yet in reality we are not getting the nutrition we need. Part of the reason many Christians are attracted to conspiracy theories is that it enlarges the feeling of empowerment. If you think you know secrets and things others do not understand you feel superior and in control. When we eat “junk food” it may feel filling at first but the more consumed the more it will cripple our health. It is this way with spiritual “junk food” as well. It slowly takes from us our strength in Christ. Many Christians absorbed with the enemy’s plans are also eager at eating healthy food. The irony is that it does not help to eat healthy food if you eat unhealthy spiritual food. For the body will perish no matter what. Life, however, is dependent upon our spiritual food. Darkness can not sanctify. The more our mind is spent in the enemy’s quarter the more alike our enemy we get when trying to fight him. The devil knows it too. If God’s people want to look into his secret chambers he is more than willing to encourage them. Jesus tells us to look at Him as much as possible to be sanctified and transformed.
So this is the danger of being consumed by the conspiracies of the devil. This spiritual food gives us a false sense of security, that we become in control by our knowledge of the darkness. But if we behold the darkness for too long our mind will become dark, our resistance against sin weakened and our spirits discouraged. Slowly we lose sight of Christ. Like Peter walking on the water being safe only when his face was fixated on Christ. But he was consumed by the roaring sea when he looked down upon it. God’s people in the end days have to keep their faces towards Christ at all times to pass the time of trouble and to keep their garments clean.
The devil is truly setting up a trap for God’s people, trying to have you fall in one out of two ditches. You can go crazy focusing on suppression and fighting oppression, or you can stand with Babylon and Rome. Neither of these two is our calling.
Satan has put up the same trap for God’s people again. It is happening right now. And while you are busy in this trap, you will naturally reject God’s true messengers and message. They will be put aside, for the two do not go well together, they did not before Jerusalem’s destruction the first time nor the second time. Both times, bear in mind, they honestly thought they were defending God’s law and truth, but it was a self-deception. The law was not in their hearts, it was only outside carved in stone. (Ezekiel chapter 36).
Who is it that will cast the beast and false prophet in the lake of fire according to Revelation? The Angel of the Lord. It is not going to be you. You can not fight them and win. If Satan is doing the old oppression trick again, it is a sign that the end is near. The end for God’s people is even closer, our probation is close at hand.
And we do not reflect the fruits of the spirit.
I advise everyone to spend more time with the Bible than with the news. Especially if you get caught up in it, feeling spiritual while obsessing over it. Then you might be fooled. Work on your relationship with God in the middle of this turmoil. That is the safest route to take right now. You need to prepare. Stay updated on what is happening in the world, but not if it consumes you and your speech and your thoughts and your heart. Not if it has become the “new gospel” you wish to reach the world with. Then you are in danger of being distracted from the work God needs to do in you. Remember what the heart is full of, the mouth speaks. So if you want to know where your heart is at, listen to your speech. If 40% to 90% of it is Covid conspiracy-related, government suppression, and other conspiracy theories, then reevaluate what your time is spent on. Because that is too much. You are losing control.
Do you know that when Jeremiah told the people of Jerusalem to not fight against Babylon, they despised him? They really wanted to fight. They longed to fight. We people scapegoat all the time because we find a form of peace when fighting villains. That way we can feel like the good guys. But this is not God’s peace, it is a false peace that will not last.
Do you remember Hezekiah? The Assyrian army had conquered all the cities and had finally come up to Jerusalem and started mocking both God and the people there. That’s right, there was nothing God’s people could do at this point but to throw themselves before God’s throne and cry. And God delivered them without them even lifting one single sword against their enemies. Why was this deliverance given to them? They had cast away their idols before the siege, returned to God’s times and laws, and humbled their hearts before God. Most importantly they had sought God’s atonement for their sins. Because of all that, God gave His people a mighty deliverance. They understood as they saw city after city destroyed by the enemy that their only hope was not in fighting but in turning from their sins, being cleansed, and reunited with God. Then God fought for them. They placed their focus in the right place and were delivered because of it. The last king of Jerusalem did the opposite, he fought Babylon but did not seek atonement. He lost. It is the same situation God’s people are in right now. Will we choose the path of Hezekiah or the path of Zedekiah?
You can’t fight the enemy if you are not right with God. And I dare say, right now God’s people are not right with God.
The Jewish leaders rejected John the Baptist for the same reason the leaders once rejected Jeremiah. Instead of preaching against the Roman oppression, he said that they, God’s people, were not right with God. Many of God’s people are in an even worse state than they were. Are you holy before God? Did you let Christ conquer your sins? Are you keeping some of your idols hidden? Are you clinging to your sins? If so, God will not go with you into any “battlefield” against all the governments currently demonstrating their God-complex.
Honestly, we need to work on our relationship with God right now. We are not to stand on the side of modern-day versions of Rome, Babylon, or oppressing governments. Do not think we are called to be in their “armies”, do not aid them in suppressing others, for they will be judged for their oppression and all their helpers with them. In many places in the Bible, we see how God punishes those who carry out governmental orders that are wrong and suppressive. You do not want to be their warrior or spokesman.
The main thing I wanted to remind you of that many seem to be unaware, was that both times, before God’s people’s probation closed, Satan made them busy fighting a suppressing power, giving them the illusion that they were fighting the Lord’s battle. It was a distraction. It consumed them to the point that they did not realize that the work that needed to be done in their hearts was unfulfilled. And just like that, probation closed and Satan was victorious. They were not ready when they needed to be.
Jeremiah was put in prison, put on public display, and mocked. He was dumped in a well and was forbidden to speak. But when Babylon conquered Jerusalem, he was one of the few that were saved, yet he could not save most of God’s people.
And completely heartbroken he wrote the book of Lamentations, crying for God’s people. For their salvation against the sword of Babylon was their battle against self not the battle against Babylonian decrees.
I am not trying to be ‘your Jeremiah’ – I just wanted to bring to your attention the parallel to our own time, what made them unprepared back then and what made them distracted under the most crucial time of their preparation, so we do not end up making the same mistake today.
As I said, Satan has been very successful in using these methods. I do believe the suppression we now see by worldly governments is just that, designed to occupy your mind at a time when God is desperately trying to save you. That God’s people are on the verge of the close of probation.
Satan is creating noise for a reason, he is distracting the world, you and me, for a reason. Because he knows the only way to hinder your sealing is to distract you from the preparation God needs you to do at this specific time. Because if your mind is filled up with worldly enemies, and threats, and concerns it will not have room for God’s message. God’s knocking on your heart will not be regarded. For you are busy with what seems like a bigger threat, but the biggest threat is to not hear God’s message to us, to let Him sanctify us before it is too late. That is what we should fear. And the more you are consumed with these things the more annoyed you will be when God tells you to rest in Him. The more annoyed you will be when God tells you that right now YOU might actually be your greatest enemy. And you will dismiss Him. They say the opposite of “love” is not “hate”, it is indifference. I say the opposite of “FAITH” is “fear”. Faith is the communication line with God, fear breaks that bond – so Satan will arouse your fear as much as he can. What does God always say to his leaders before leading them forward? «FEAR NOT». To Joshua God said it three times in a row to prepare him for his mission. Through the prophet Isaiah, God said it repeatedly to His people as an attempt to bring them under God’s leadership instead. God can not lead you if you are driven by fear of worldly enemies, for you are in a fight or flight response, you cannot perceive God’s directions properly. If you fear, you will most likely be obedient to your fear. So the devil wants you to be afraid because then fear becomes your God, your lawgiver and you are more likely to attempt to save yourself instead of giving your battles to God. God wants you to have faith, that He is in control. If you must fear anything, He says, fear Him and no one else (Isa.8:13). Then He can tell you not to fear. Isaiah 35:4 says: «Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you».
«In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me» (Psa 56:11)
The only fear we need to have is that we throw away God’s messages designed to cleanse us before Christ coming because we were too occupied with Satan’s games.
“As it has been said: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts…” (Heb. 3:15)
We must hide under the wings of the Almighty. We must be cleansed of our worldliness and our foolishness. I really do believe we have preciously little time left. Please make sure you use it right. This is not the time to fight the devil and his workers, but the time to pray and cling to God.
When Jacob came to the land of Canaan with his wives and children he had a promise from God that the land would one day belong to him. God gave him a new name «Israel» (Gen.32:28)
However God would not give him the land straight away, he would first have to dwell in it as a stranger in the land while heathens controlled it. Only when their sin had become beyond pardon, would Jacob’s descendants inherit it.
When Jacob found a place to live outside the city of Shechem terrible things happened. First, his daughter was defiled by the prince there and then after they tried to make a covenant with Jacob for his daughter, his sons murdered all the men in the city as revenge. This was a great crime, innocent as well as guilty was slaughtered without mercy.
Right after this event God tells Jacob: «Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God». This meant the only way God could fulfill His promise to protect Jacob from the revenge of the other people in the land, was if Jacob atoned for his family’s great sins. Building an altar meant seeking atonement from God. Jacob knew this involved repentance as well and so he told his people: «Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:
And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went» (Gen.35:2-3)
This principle is very important and we see it throughout the Bible’s history. If Israel did not repent and get atonement for their crimes or sins, God would not protect them in the land. This rule even applied to Israel’s father Jacob too. Even when a terrible plague came to Jerusalem, the only way to save the people was for David to build an altar and seek atonement.
The false idea that God protects a people no matter what they do, leads to a false perception by many Christian regarding the modern state of Israel.
What modern Israel is not.
Modern Israel is not the same as ancient Israel under King David. The first Israel was founded on God’s law and was a theocracy but that was not enough. For God to be able to protect and rule the country the people had to have the sanctuary system which brought them in atonement with God when they strayed as individuals, as leaders, priests, and as a people (Leviticus ch.1-3 & 16).
This atonement was crucial for God to be able to care for them and give them special treatment. If they did not have atonement as a people they would be under God’s condemnation and He would not be able to protect them as He wanted. The sanctuary system ensured that their sins did not pile up to condemn them. Seeking pardon was the only way to keep the State alive. God would not rule under any other law than His own and so they had to go by God’s law to be established as God’s people on earth.
The western wall is the greatest symbol that modern Israel is not a holy nation. Here they pray towards the temple mount, where there is no temple to offer them atonement. The wall separating them from the mount show God has still not accepted them.
Modern Israel has neither these two conditions to make them God’s nation today, nor was their nation built on these two conditions. They do not have God’s established way to receive atonement with Him. They have their own law they go by and the state is not established on God’s law. They except a few of God’s laws from the state but this did the pagan nations too in their day. And this mixture of God’s law and worldly authority is what became Israel’s downfall in the past and the reason God allowed them to be conquered by their enemies.
The laws of modern Israel permit many things God’s law forbids and forbids many things God’s law allows.
Many Christians believe modern Israel is a holy nation: «And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation» (Exo.19:6).
But to be a holy nation they have to build their nation on God’s laws and have God’s approved way to receive atonement. Holiness is not something you get or are based on your genetic inheritance, it is tied to your connection with a Holy God. Modern Israel rules neither by His laws and justice through His atonement and is therefore not «holy». The title «holy» is connected to God’s righteousness which is His law. You can receive this righteousness even if you have broken the law, but then you need God’s established atonement and you have to repent. Sin cannot be the rule, it has to be the exception. Atonement re-sanctifies the law-breaker or sinner. A people is and never can be holy without God’s law and atonement. And so when God gave them the offer to become a kingdom of priests it was entirely resting upon these two things.
When God said that those who blessed Israel would themselves be blessed it was again tied to Israel as a theocracy promoting His rule, not the modern version we see today. If you want this blessing today you need to treat those people that keep God’s law and seek His atonement with kindness and love (Mat.10:42).
The last condition for Israel to be God’s people was that they received the «new Moses»: «For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people» (Act 3:22-23).
Christians are aware that Jesus or Yeshua was that prophet but also Israel’s atonement and salvation. The name Yeshua translated means “The Lord saves”. When Judah rejected Jesus they were «cut off».
Jesus re-stated this fact when He said: «Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. ..And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.» (Mat 23:38-39 & Mat 24:2 )
They had to receive Christ as king or lawgiver to remain a gathered people under God: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (Gen 49:10).
Israel can not be re-established as God’s people unless they receive atonement from God through Christ. There is no other way (Act.4:12). This fact is written in several places in the New Testament. There is not one salvation for jews and another for heathens (Gal.3:28). The same conditions involve both. They were meant to be branches on the same tree (Rom 11.11-24). God’s law has to be re-instated in our hearts and we have to receive God’s chosen atonement for our sake.
Modern Israel is in no way the same Israel that existed under David. It does however resemble more Israel in the Northern Kingdom after the kingdom divided. When the country split in two after Solomon’s death the southern part known as Judea kept God’s chosen means of atonement, the temple, and often tried to re-establish God’s laws in the land. The northern kingdom rejected God’s chosen temple and did not get atonement that way but created their own means to receive atonement that God did not accept. They also replaced God’s laws with their own laws.
From this time and on, God tried to reason with them, to make them turn back from the path they were on, and in the end, God could not protect them. Unlike Judah, the inhabitants of northern Israel were spread all over the world and did not return after the Babylonian captivity. The then nation of Israel, the ten tribes, never got their land back.
Judah did return to God in their captivity and God brought them back to the land and allowed them to rebuild the temple so that they could get atonement that way. Ezra also taught them God’s law to reestablish the land under God. They received an additional 490 years in the land until they rejected Christ, the new atonement the temple service had been a symbol of. Once they did they had no atonement and God allowed Rome to destroy the temple and scatter the people.
In Daniel 9 we learn that the condition for their probation ending good was that they had to receive God’s atonement for them: «Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy» (Dan.9:24). Now many places the last week of this prophecy in the end time but this is a false understanding first presented by Jesuit priests and brought in among the evangelical churches through the Scofield bible. Jesus was clear that the time ended in His day. There was no additional week to be cut off and added to the end times. Their probation ended at Christ time and no new time as a nation under God was given unless they received Christ as king.
When Jews returned to the land after their 2000 years of being scattered the most crucial thing to establish them as a nation under God did not happen. In the past when they returned to the land the first thing they had to do in order to be established was to rebuild the temple which contained God’s law and atonement. When the state of Israel was born in 1948 there was no temple. No temple was attempted re-built nor did they accept Christ atonement for them, nor did they re-build their society on God’s law. To make it even worse, those who could prove Jewish descent but believed in Jesus were not allowed to return to the land, and so not only did they reject their atonement themselves they did not even allow their own people to come to Israel if they accepted Jesus. They decided that the true remnant was those who rejected Christ. As atheists, communists, and socialist Jews were permitted but not Christian jews. These “laws of return” therefore mocked Christ’s condition when He said they had to receive Him. They did the opposite. If you did receive Him you were considered not accepted spite heritage. Christians jews have been growing in number in Israel but not thanks to the law of return but because there have been conversations among the families of those already returned.
The state of Israel also continued the exact attitude they had before God permitted the Romans to destroy the city. In Israel, there has been made a law that forbids evangelizing Christ as the Jewish atonement. In other words, no one is allowed to preach Jesus to their fellow Jews in an attempt to convert them. And tourist who which to come to Israel to evangelize is refused entry. Even “suspicion of missionary activity” is on the list when passengers are checked before arriving.
From all of this, we learn that modern Israel is not a holy nation or people and they continue their old sins which lead them to lose God’s protection.
So why did God allow many Jews to return and what is their position with God today?
What Israel is.
If Israel is not God’s people right now, how come it seemed so blessed in the beginning? Why did God allow the jews to return? It is important to notice that God did not allow them to take the temple mount and re-build a temple, in this way, there was no confusion about their standing with God. They were not a holy nation. It is important to know God blesses any country that follows many of His principles. The more of God’s principles are followed the more they are blessed.
Many Christians sometimes think that God only cares for those who receive Him. This is not the case, God has cared for those who have rejected Him throughout time. The Bible tells us there are some rules as to how He cares for the ungodly which we will investigate now.
Two good examples are Edom (the descendants of Esau) and Ammon (the descendants of Lot). They are both Abraham’s family, Esau was even Isaac’s son. However, both lines of descendants strayed from the truth and rejected God. Still, we see God defend their right to have a land:
«And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession» (Deu 2:19)
God’s people did not have a claim on all land just because they were His people. God provided for those who rejected Him as well and fought for their rights. This is part of God’s goodness and greatness.
God likewise defended the rights of the children of Esau:
«And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore: Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession» (Deu 2:4-5)
Jesus explained: «But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same?» (Matt.5:44-46)
These were not empty words, something God asks us to do but that He does not do Himself. God has practiced these principles and has cared for nations that wanted nothing to do with Him. He made sure it rained over those He knew would praise other gods for the same rain.
He protected the rights of people to live all over the world, even though the Bible only speaks of some people in the Middle East God has been God all over the world throughout the history of the world. God is God whether people believe in Him or not.
Those nations who became too cruel God allowed being destroyed to save those better than them.
And this is the principle we see God go by. When mankind fights each other and forces Him to judge between the two, He will choose those who are closest to His principles. Those who are humane. Those who do not subdue or are unusually cruel towards others (Read more about this here – PDF).
The moment a nation rejects God they are under these other rules of humanity and God will defend or help those who represent the best version. Although help does not always come straight away as people want bad rulers and choose them themselves. Sometimes there are not good options, both sides are just as evil. They are all bad. In the case of Ammon and Edom which God first defended the rights of, when they were a constant threat and practiced cruelty that endangered His people, God no longer defended them but declared judgment would come over them instead. God no longer wanted to protect the Edomites to live in the land He had given them, instead He said He would turn the land into a wilderness: «Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land» (Joe 3:19).
We see how God judges Israel and Judah after the same measures when they no longer follow His rule or receive pardon through His atonement for them. They are not exempt. God is the same God no matter who He deals with, and His standards are the same.
«Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you; Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations» (Eze 5:5-8)
Now, these principles are important to understand when we look at modern Israel. They can not do as they please when in the land, nor are they God’s kingdom of priests and if they were, they still could not do as they please. The modern State of Israel is completely dependent on its success in treating the people around them well and not interfering with the rights of people in the nations around them (unless they are more wicked). Even more so, not persecuting the Christians among them that still keep God’s law and thereby are God’s people.
Secondly, without atonement for their sins, God can not protect the State of Israel when the enemy strikes. Especially when they have been instructed in the truth and their duties and given time to receive it and still reject it. If they have done wrong to their enemy and the enemy has proven to be more righteous than them and attack them back, God’s rule of law will prevent any interference from God in their favor.
The modern state of Israel has been made aware for 40 years that on the Ark of the Covenant, the place where blood was placed to give Israel atonement as a nation and by it God’s protection, has been found with Christ blood upon it. The continued rejection of this atonement is placing them in great danger.
Will all of Israel return to Israel?
The answer is simply no, it is not possible. The jews as we know them today are mostly jews from the second scattering. When Judah returned after the Babylonian captivity it was only a remnant. The rest of Israel never returned. Many think of them as «Israelis» spread around the world living as Jews. But the Bible tells us a secret.
To Abraham God said: «As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations» (Gen.17:4) Many countries or nations would come from Abraham, not just one. Few remember that the same prophecy was given to one of Israel’s largest tribes, Ephraim: «his seed shall become a multitude of nations» (Gen.48:19). The same word is also used on pagan nations in the Bible. It is clear that the tribes of Israel would never all dwell in Israel as one nation but be spread and «multitudes» of nations are descendants of them. But most people do not wish to recognize the fact that Israel is not just modern Jews, the descendants have countries of their own here and there. And they are too many to gather in modern Israel, nor do many of them even know about their origin.
So who will return, who is God’s remnant? In the Bible God’s remnant is not based on flesh or DNA but on faithfulness. And if the conditions God makes to be His faithful remnant are not meet then they are not God’s remnant. «For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness» (Isa 10:22)
Here God says that the descendants of Israel are a great number spread over the world. Most of who do not know their origin.
God also says that His remnant is recognized as being faithful to Him and that they have received His atonement. «And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, … shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth» (Isa 10:21). The real remnant of God is not atheists, communists, evolutionists, pagans in practice, they are true to God alone. If a people do not match this description they are not God’s remnant. God does not look at DNA. If He did all of the pagan nations that have descended from Israel would be God’s special people too. Nor does He go by the modern state of Israel’s condition for return, if He did He would reject Himself and His offer of salvation. He would alienate those who received Him and blessed those who refused Him.
In the Bible, sometimes God’s remnant are gathered in one land, and sometimes they are scattered:
«And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men» (Mic 5:7).
God’s remnant are holy because of their connection to God: «The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid» (Zep 3:13)
The Bible is clear, holiness is not tied to ancestral genetics but two things, abiding by God’s law and through the gift of atonement as given by God. Nothing else.
The gathering of Israel mentioned in the Bible is not the gathering of those genetically connected to Israel or Jacob. It is the gathering of those who are faithful to God who is scattered around the world.
Sometimes they are physically gathered, sometimes gathered in spirit, sometimes gathered by their connection to God.
At Christ second coming you can see that God’s remnant and people at that time are still scattered for He has to gather them from all over the world into “the new Jerusalem”: “And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens” (Mark. 13:27). So we know God’s true remnant is still scattered till Christ returns.
What will happen to the modern State of Israel?
Their salvation is based on the two things we mentioned, God’s conditions to them as a people. And if they reject it, they become prey for predators. Being a high-tech country with weapons other countries can only dream of, they have a strong defense against their enemies. But they are also weak and small and surrounded by enemies.
Their last hope is to receive Christ’s atonement and to turn from their sinful ways. If not they have to succeed in destroying all their enemies and always have to be on guard from anyone wanting to destroy them. They will never have peace, and if they have peace it will not last.
They either need worldly power or God to survive as a nation. And if their crimes are too great God will help their enemies as He has helped their enemies in the past. And their end will be just as sure as it was before, the land will be taken once again and they killed and scattered once again. It was just as unbelievable to them as a people before the Babylonians conquered and before the Romans conquered. At the time before Babylon came they were very sure of themselves that it could not happen, yet it did. Jeremiah tried to warn them but they would not listen to him. Many in Israel think they can not be defeated today as well, but they are wrong. They can.
God has given them two paths to follow. One leads to Him the other to their ultimate destruction. We can only watch and see what path they choose. And pray, this time, they choose right.
As I laid in my bed and was disheartened and distressed by the confusion in the world, wondering how people are to find the truth in the religious chaos, I saw the truth as a tree.
God’s truth is like a beautiful tree with fruits of life upon them.
Accessible, inviting, and lovely. Good to look at and good to eat from. All who ate of this fruit became better people, one with God’s spirit.
But God has an enemy named Satan. Being jealous of God and those who took part in His gifts, he wanted to chop down this tree but God would not allow him. He showed up with an axe, a chainsaw, fire, and whatever else he could think of. But each time God stopped Him. The tree was to stand. God decided that no matter what happens between humans and Satan, or in the land, this tree of truth will stand firm so that man will have a place to approach Him. This way they can be relieved of the chains Satan puts on them, and they can also find healing at all times.
This tree became a great annoyance and a threat to Satan because many people left him to go there. And once they ate from it’s fruits he could control them no more as he had done before. It was a constant reminder that he was not completely in control. This made him obsessed with this tree, and all his thoughts were about the tree and how he could defeat or damage it. Day and night, hour after hour, his anger was directed towards this tree and those approaching it. He thoughts were that he was going to defeat it no matter what, even if it was the very last thing he did, it would be this.
Desperate to prevent people from going to the tree and also being unable to cut the annoyance down, he first removed anything inviting around the tree, causing it to stand in a deserted patch of land. He tore up the flowers, cut down the other trees that gave travelers shade, removed the stairs, and made the hill steep. But the barren land just made the tree look even more beautiful and inviting and drew even more people towards it. Horrified by having drawn attention to what he initially wanted to destroy, he planted thorny bushes and sharp rocks along the path leading up to it. Happily, he noticed that his efforts finally yielded some results, it did prevent some people from going to the tree. However, many continued to journey towards the tree. He then realized that those who went to the tree were all standing out and were admirable, and God seemed even more pleased with them than ever before. By making the tree look like a less attractive destination, he saw that God achieved something valuable by his opposition. Now the sincere ones were the only ones willing to walk up to the tree and represent it. Satan was left with the self-absorbed lazy people, who were only looking to please themselves as the ones who would not walk among the thorns to get to God’s tree. Those who went up to it did however sometimes carry the weaker ones on their shoulders. This was making the tree and those who went there stand out even more, in character and beauty. Again, the tree just drew even more attention. Satan got increasingly angry with the tree and those that went there. Every minute he thought of this, was torture to him. He was constantly trying to come up with a plan.
To scare off even more people from going Satan placed his workers to abuse and hit the travelers whilst they were traveling. He also caused those who went there to stumble into the thorns so they would get stung by them in the face and everywhere. He heartily enjoyed their screams when the thorns hit a tender spot. He then started calling them bad names, mocking them, and making them suffer for their decisions. He thought, no one will now want to walk there now. However his plan backfired completely, the bullying and harshness towards the travelers created sympathy for them and many, even among those who would not go themselves, now cried and gave Satan bad looks. They questioned his behavior and asked why these people are subjected to such horrible treatment only for wanting to approach this tree? Then, even more people started going together with the afflicted travelers in sympathy with the wounded and in resistance to Satan’s workers. Even helping them make the climb up the steep hill. Now, Satan was even losing several of those who he thought he had already won over. The reason for this was because instead of being satisfied with his following and providing for them, he was only focused on the tree and those that went there. He hated the tree and those going there more than he was loving his adorers. Every second his thought dwelt on that tree.
When Satan saw he was losing people, and that the tree appeared just as beautiful as ever no matter what he did, he decided to use an altogether different tactic. This time, he was thinking to himself, he is going to win.
With great effort he starts building a great mound of mud around the hill with the tree, making the mound appear even higher than both the hill and the tree on top of it. He then goes on and plants a forest around the tree, a thick forest. On each tree, he hangs up different fruits, in this way God’s tree would no longer stand out, but just be one tree out of many. He then made the terrain around God’s tree smoothed out and elevated, making God’s tree appear to be placed in a pit. “Going to it will cause you to slide and get hurt”, he thought, “no-one will want to go there anymore.” All the other trees around were the most accessible and demanded less work to approach. He then went ahead to put sharp rocks, moved many ant-hills, and creeping things around God’s tree, like spiders, worms, scorpions, and toads to make it less attractive to approach. As the trees of the forest grew thick, God’s tree of truth became more and more hidden among them. Fewer talked about it, fewer looked for it. And soon, the tree of God had become a myth to many. It did not stand out anymore as it once did, although it stood on a hill still. All the dirt Satan had built up around it made it appear as it wasn’t on a hill anymore. But the dirt around was just dirt, and the hill was still a hill. Only it was hidden to the superficial eye. As the tree could no longer be seen from the road, many wondered if the myth of the tree was even true anymore. There were sayings and legends about it, but there were a lot of uncertainties. Many were longing for what they had heard that the tree could do; to set them free.
Many people ventured inside the forest in search of it. However, when they came inside they found themselves surrounded by trees with fruits that the devil had planted. They were in all sorts of colors and shapes. And they had all sorts of different tastes since people often liked different flavors. Satan made sure to have trees that represented each of their individual preferences.
Some tried the fruit and did not like it, and they continued until they found a tree that had a fruit that tasted what they liked, and was like what they had imagined God’s truth would taste like. These people are like those people who try different religions or churches until they find one that soothes them and suit their ideas or one where they feel they fit in and then they proclaim it to be the true religion.
Some just tried the fruit that was right there next to them and were satisfied with this fruit and did not seek God’s tree or any other tree. They do not think one should try different trees and fruits and that everyone should eat the fruit closest to them and be happy with that. They are like people who follow God out of tradition. But they are not eating from the right tree, but from a tree pretending to be what it isn’t.
Others felt that if they had tried one fruit, they had probably tried them all. And they ended up not seeking God’s tree. Then they went ahead and proclaimed all threes to be the same. They were the ones who gave up on looking for God’s tree in the forest.
Then there were those who went through the trees and decided that this forest was just nature unfolding itself, that all trees appeared alike and had to have the same origin, and concluded that God’s tree was only a myth. These people are atheists.
Some liberals who saw how hard it was to get to God’s tree and who wanted many to get there decided that God was probably happy with people just seeking a tree that had fruits. For that was what the truth was, a tree with fruits, right? And so they decided that all trees with fruits are the gospel. If they just thanked God for the tree, sang songs of praises underneath it, and repeated “The Lord is God” underneath any of them, the tree would ‘magically’ become God’s tree. So some found one tree, and another found a different tree, and a third one another tree again, and they ate of these trees’ fruits giving thanks to God and praising him, showing everyone outside that approaching Gods ‘tree of truth’ is easy and demands nothing but good faith in God and in the tree you choose. One of them proclaimed with joy after repeated singing: «It works! I am free!». But everyone could see they still had their chains on, but they did not say it out loud and then they just applauded. And they were happy for they believed they were bringing so many people to God’s tree.
Now, the liberals had some contenders. The conservatives, who smirked at the liberals and found them to be quite silly and foolish. They saw the liberal’s chains well, but they did not see their own chains. Yet, the liberals appeared to be happier than them. The conservatives entered the forest, and they were well aware of the devil’s tricks, so they were very careful and went to the entrance of the forest inspecting every tree very carefully. They studied every leaf, branch, and root. Having experience with God’s truth in the past, they trusted they would be able to discern if these trees were actually God’s tree, or if they weren’t. One person inspected one tree and its fruits, another person another tree, and a third person a third tree. They all gathered together and eagerly related to each other the little faults and blemishes they found on the trees and fruits, that revealed that these were in fact not God’s legendary tree of truth. They all, with the Bible in hand, declared the forest itself ‘unclean’ and put up a sign to their fellow conservatives that would walk past there, that the trees had been inspected and was judged to be of the deceiver. They said God would never have his tree of truth located in such a forest. The rumor has it, and might have come from one of the liberals, that some saw them in front of other forests inspecting and putting up signs everywhere.
Now some did actually reach God’s real tree, and this is how it happened. They were brokenhearted and with desperate longing they inspected the trees but continued the search. Easily finding some trees to be phonies but that other were harder to expose. They were praying in front of some of the trees. Not trusting their own discernment, desperate for God to tell them if this was the right tree or not. Yes, even they were confused. Sometimes the devil would place fruits that appealed to their deepest desires on the tree, sometimes the tree even came with a love interest. Constantly, one of Satan’s helpers watched them, ready to pop up in the forest asking them what they were looking for and how they could help guide them to the tree of their desires. Some of them actually stopped desiring to find God’s tree and instead wanted what some of these other trees offered. They are the ones who loved God and His truth but ended up loving the world more. This is why Satan’s workers continued offering the travelers their ‘help’ seeing that it has some success.
However, some continued, not satisfied with anything but God’s tree. One day some of them, confused and tired, actually saw God’s tree standing in what appeared to be a ditch. It was the absolute least approachable tree of them all, and they were really tired and hungry. Then they noticed worms crawling around it and the spiders that had their webs placed in the path in front of it. Some thought that this wasn’t the beautiful place they had imagined it to be and were disappointed. Some even left before trying the fruit because they did not find them appetizing. They said: “Why should I camp under this tree? It is full of dirt and bugs”, and then they told others on the path that they had seen Gods’ tree and that it was not as beautiful as people had claimed it to be. Many listened and stopped their search. They are the ones who found the truth but were not sanctified by it and continued and walked away from it after finding it. But one of the people beholding God’s tree encouraged the others, excitedly proclaiming: “Wouldn’t the devil do just such a thing? Hide God’s tree among all of his fake trees and then make God’s tree appear the least attractive of them all?” Hearing this, others approached it and they enjoyed the fruit, and it gave them the life and the truth that they had sought for, and it set them free. Like this, they were joined in communion with their Father and God.
To Satan’s horror, these people that had attained inner joy and renewed strength, went back to tell others about the tree and how it had set them free. Horrified that the tree would be known again the devil sent his workers to scare people from listening to them. This time he did not beat them, knowing that would most likely create sympathy from the others. This time he decided to seemingly look out for them, concerned for their and others well being. Telling them how these people, coming from the tree in the ditch, were placing them in danger. That approaching this tree, which was located in such a complicated position, could wound some people and give them scratches. And what about the poor children? They could be harmed for life with all those poisonous creatures crawling around. He told them it was fanaticism to make the journey when there were better and more safe and approachable trees closer by that they could eat from. He claimed he represented the God of the tree and just wanted to help.
Appearing caring and sincerely concerned, he started blaming the ones who were talking of the tree to those coming out of the forest that had been hurt. He said that they were responsible for the damage of all those other people that were running to and fro in the forest. He even insinuated that they might have been the ones who planted the bugs and the poisonous creatures there. He did all in his power to make them appear as bad people. He even made people think that they were working for the devil himself. He said: “Why are they placing people in danger of being bitten or scratched when God has clearly placed his beautiful trees accessible and easy to reach for anyone?” And him, who was speaking on God’s behalf, why do they not listen to him? He then created a beautiful mound with flowers on it, then created a beautiful looking tree surrounded by gold and silver, and lamps so it could be seen in the dark as well as day. It brought the attention of many. It was far more attractive than the thick forest. Like this, he made many believe that the least approachable tree had to be the one of the devil, and the ones in the outskirts, and especially the one on the flowery hill had to be the one of God.
“For,” he reasoned, “is not God’s truth simple and beautiful?” He then offered to take the lead in the chaos, to organize, so that people can safely and orderly go to the tree he had planted on his dirt hill, and to worship there and eat there. He even appointed some as tour guides to help the weak and the confused find their way to his tree. This way he could assure that no one get hurt and that no one was left behind. Because of the multitudes there, the temporary joy and peace, in the excitement, many did imagine that they felt somewhat free after eating from the fruit on the dirt hill. They took this feeling as a sign that this really was God’s tree of truth that they had heard could liberate people. Many started applauding Satan for his goodness and kindness. And proclaimed; “Surely this is a man of God who cares so dearly for our well being, making the road to the tree broad and wide?” As a result, many became angry with the ones who came back from finding God’s real tree of truth and saw them as troublemakers that were only causing harm and confusion.
Now, in this story as in the real world, God’s tree of truth never changed, it never moved, it never offered a different type of fruit to fit in or to compete with its surroundings. In reality, it was still as accessible and beautiful as it ever was. But as the world changed around it, it was viewed differently by the people seeing it. The only thing that had made it look complicated, ordinary, and dangerous was the devil’s tricks. The tree still set people free and gave them life.
And one day in the future, in this story, a flood will destroy the dirt hills and make them into a plain again, and crush all the other trees planted by Satan on the same dirt hills. Then it will be visible to all, that God’s tree is still standing on its hill in all its glory, and that these other trees were in fact standing on loose ground. Then God’s tree will again regain its beautiful surroundings, and the land will be healed.
Did God want us to use the new moon to determine when the weekly Sabbath is?
It has become more and more popular to adopt the moon-sabbaths instead of the continuous weekly sabbath (Friday evening to Sabbath evening). Many have used historical sources for this way of keeping the sabbath, and some have been convinced because of the argumentations used.
«Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth» is a statement credited to Nazi Joseph Goebbels. Using a historical source here and there does not make something a Biblical truth. It does not matter have many believed something in the past or if they had titles or not. Even if they were in majority or minority. Nothing of this can change a lie to truth.
Every day of age has people that go their own way. If we traveled hundred years into the future and wanted to quote someone living today to back up a belief, there would be no problem finding some professors, some religious leader, or anyone who can back up our belief in some way. Humans act the same way now as in the past. If we look for someone defending or keeping a certain practice then, we will most likely find it.
Time does not magically make everyone in the past in agreement. They disagreed as much then, had fractions and groups then as they do now. And those who were wrong in the past, are still wrong today.
That is why we need to let the Bible tell us what the truth is or isn’t in this matter. We have to let the law explain itself. (Isa 8:20). The law is under attack, let it defend itself.
The concept:
The idea behind the moon-sabbaths is that we should count our way to the sabbath from the new moon, just like we count our way to the Biblical feasts. This means that the weekly sabbath lands on different weekdays every month. If the new moon is on a Wednesday for instance, you are to keep the sabbath on a Tuesday for that entire month only to start counting again from the next new moon and landing on a different day of the week. Inbetween you then get a couple of days that do not belong to any full seven day week cycle.
The origin:
The origin of starting counting the weekdays from the new moon stretches all the way down to Babylon.
“Counting from the new moon, the Babylonians celebrated every seventh day as a “holy-day”, also called an “evil-day” (meaning “unsuitable” for prohibited activities). On these days officials were prohibited from various activities and common men were forbidden to “make a wish”, and at least the 28th was known as a “rest-day”. On each of them, offerings were made to a different god and goddess, apparently at nightfall to avoid the prohibitions: Marduk and Ishtar on the 7th, Ninlil and Nergal on the 14th, Sin and Shamash on the 21st, and Enki and Mah on the 28th. ..The lunation of 29 or 30 days basically contained three seven-day weeks, and a final week of eight or nine days inclusive, breaking the continuous seven-day cycle.” (wikipedia/ Pinches, T.G. (1919). “Sabbath (Babylonian)”. In Hastings, James (ed.). Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. Selbie, John A., contrib. Charles Scribner’s Sons. pp. 889–891)
In ancient times all the different kingdoms played with different ways to measure and organize time. For instance, Egypt tried a ten-day week. It fitted with their solar and moon zodiac. Then you got exactly three weeks in every month and the weekday cycle was not broken within that system. Babylon kept the seven-day week and then added to the last week what remained of the month before the new moon.
Many who keep the moon sabbaths today claim the Jews kept the same practice of counting from the moon-phase as they did in Babylon. And I am sure you will find Jews that continued the Babylonian practice just like you have people that once kept the Saturday sabbath who now are persuaded to keep the moon-sabbath in its place. Or protestants who did not want to be under Papal rule yet still continue to keep the papal instituted Sabbath-Sunday with its holy days.
We know historically that just because you “leave” a church or a kingdom does not mean you won’t still be influenced by them in some way. It is the same situation with some of the jews after the Babylonian captivity. Some Babylonian month names even remain on the Jewish calendar to this day. Some jews in the past kept moon-sabbath while official Judaism and the majority kept the sunset Friday to sunset Saturday sabbath. Today Jews keep this sabbath. Truth is not established by the majority or minority which is why we need to let the Bible reveal if the moon-sabbath is correct or not.
Usually the new moon-sabbath movement differ from the Babylonian way by having four seven-day weeks and then having a couple of days (it changes) between the end of one month and the beginning of the next. The month starts everytime on what they call a new moon sabbath, and then they count to the next sabbath. In this way their sabbath always lands on the 1st day, 15th day, 22nd and 29th day of the moon-month.
The sevendays cycle.
According to the Bible, the origin of the seven-day cycle comes from Creation. It is an unusual division because it does not fit perfectly into either the month or the solar year. Therefore the seven-day week has puzzled many researchers up throughout time and many have tried to change it for something they consider “better”.
A month is around 30 days and if you divide 30 days with 7 you get an uneven number. So surface logic would have made a ten-day week, or even a five-day week, more suited. Soviet tried to enforce a five-day week for a period of time and under the Frech revolution, they experimented with the Egyptian ten-day week. All ended up going back to the seven-day week.
This is the first thing we need to note, the moon-cycle and sun-cycle matched together do not give us a continues seven-day-week if they are used to establish the week. If you go either with the past 360 days a year or the 365 days a year, you will never be able to divide it with 7 evenly. This is why when you keep the moon-sabbath it will land on a new weekday every month. The seven-day cycle does not match the moon or the sun cycle or will either go independently of them or have to be broken and restarted.
This brings us to the first thing in the Bible that exposes the concept of the moon-sabbath.
1. Creation, God as our example.
At creation, God placed the moon on the fourth day. But at this point, the weekday count had already started. The starting point or “sign” for the counting to the first sabbath was therefore not the moon but when God said: «Let there be light» (Gen 1:3). The time to count from was from God’s spoken word about the light.
Interestingly enough, in the New Testament «the word» and the «light» are also Christ: «In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was at the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men» (Joh 1:1-4)
So New Testament speaking, the seven-day week started with Christ’s lighting up planet earth. If we do not wish to see it that way, then at least we have to see that the counting to the sabbath started with the light of God or the “word of God”. The concept of Christ being the light is revisited in the book of Revelation: “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Rev 21:23)
The moon is a light that cannot in any way be compared to the light of God.
On the fourth day the moon was created and with the moon, the purpose of the moon. «And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years» (Gen.1:14)
On the fourth day was the luminaries created to be a sign for the seasons on earth, tied to for instance agriculture and the celebration of God’s blessings on his feasts tied to the harvests. The luminaries belonged to the earth’s different cycles.
God’s seasonal times, the yearly cycle, the monthly cycle, and His feasts are all established on the fourth day. Counting years was important for the seventh year and the year of jubilee.
From the fourth day, the sign to countdown God’s other times was put in place.
Three days later came the first sabbath, but the first sabbath is according to the law also tied to the six working days. God’s commandment was both to work six days and to rest the seventh. And so there need to be six working days before the sabbath. This again ties the first sabbath to «the word and the light» and not to the moon at all. The moon could not the first week signalize the six working days.
It is important to understand the logic of creation week. God prepares the earth, made it habitable, created food supply and everything needed before creating any creatures, animals, and mankind.
The very first sabbath man had just been created and did not need a rest. But they still had to rest that first sabbath because God had worked on their behalf for six days. God made the sabbath for man but ultimately it is a blessing given to man because of God’s work. So the first Sabbath was man resting with God after all God had done for them the past six days. It mirrors Christ’s salvation for us when we are saved by His works and not our own. The first Sabbath represents a gift and a blessing.
And from the next day started the counting to the next sabbath.
The second sabbath was after man had worked in the Garden for six days, it was their rest for their sake. But never was the sabbath rest for man unconnected to God’s rest. God served the example for man’s rest, and they entered into His rest when they followed the example He had created. This all started with the origin of all life, God Himself. Or if you believe the New Testament, it started with Christ: “These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev.3:14) The countdown started with Christ bringing light to our planet and starting the work.
The sabbath was before sin, it is unrelated to sin, it was not given because of man’s transgression. Sabbath was given because of our connection to God, the giver of all life. It showed God’s rest after making provision for man’s physical needs, giving him life and companionship.
The fourth day introduced God’s other feasts and seasons. They too originated from God, but God created the moon and the sun to be calendar guides for these times. The sabbath followed the big «light», the seasonal feast followed the «lesser lights». It did not make them lesser important, but the symbolism and their function are different.
So how is this connected to the moon-sabbath theory? Because the whole concept of the sabbath is following Christ’s example (and/or God’s example), and He did not use the moon and so neither should we.
In the ten commandment law, it is argued that keeping the sabbath is really about following God’s example in His honor. And so He had to be an example we could follow. He did not use the moon as a sign for the start of the week. He was the sign.
When Christ rose again on a Sunday, the first day of the week, again “the word and the light” resurrected and started the week count once again, to be followed by us. When Christ rose on a Sunday He mirrored creation week and confirmed the week still started with Sunday as before.
What is the difference between the Sabbath and the feasts?
God’s feasts determined by the new moons were humans celebrating God’s yearly provision of fruit, grain, and other good things. The feasts in the first month were tied to the barley harvest, the feast of Pentecost to the wheat harvest. And the feasts in the seventh month, the fruit harvest. These are seasonal and the different harvests are dependent upon the solar, moon, and rain cycles. If you did not plow, sow and harvest the right times the crops would be destroyed if they even grew. With the feasts as markers of God’s blessings, they would always know the times. The plowing and sowing season started after the Feast of Tabernacles only to be followed by the early rain. The latter rain came in the first month maturing the crops for harvest to the feast of Unleavened Bread. Because God’s feasts are harvest feasts they have to follow the seasons. This is not the case with the weekly Sabbath, its purpose is different and it is tied to something else.
The sabbath-day pointed back to God and the beginning of creation and was to witness God’s rest from His work FOR us. It pointed back to that first day after creating man, where God and man fellowshipped and bonded over His gifts to mankind. He then made the day a memorial so that man would never forget: “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made” (Gen.2:3) Man was forever to be reminded that although they work and deserve rest, the greater work in their behalf was and still is done by God. It was to create an unbreakable bond between man and God: “And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God” (Eze 20:20).
Sabbath is an ongoing cycle since creation, God’s people following in God’s footsteps, preserved by God and His chosen people throughout time, to point back to «the word and the light». The start of everything. It is not a yearly or monthly event, like the other feasts, it is a weekly event. It is not tied to the seasons or harvests. It does not need a sign from the seasonal times to be kept. If it did, it would take away the Sabbath from its greater “light”, its example, and its function as a witness. The purpose of the Sabbath is gone if it points back to the moon rather than back to God’s light. The cycle that points to the Creator is broken, and the honor is then given to the “lesser light” as the starting point of Creation. Even worse, the moon has no light in itself. It is lighted by the sun shining upon it. And so the moon-sabbaths is really a “sun-sabbath”. Rather than pointing to God’s light at the beginning of Creation, it is pointing to the moment the sun can be seen lighting up the moon at the new moon. And so the sabbath cycle is no longer following God’s example, the bond is broken. And the glory and witness of God is then given to the sun. And in this sabbath observance, we follow the sun as the start of all things and not God.
God’s real sabbath points back to God.
The reason the seventh day can not be divided evenly within a solar year was that they were never meant to. While God’s feasts are always a yearly match. On the first week of creation, they did not match either, as the sabbath cycle and the moon phase started at different times.
When we start counting to seven from the day after new moon we are monthly forced to break God’s cycle. This brings us to the next problem with the moon-weekly sabbath.
2. Forced to break the Sabbath once every month.
God’s law is clear: «Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work» (Exo 20:8-10)
If we count to the sabbath from the new moon we have to break God’s law at least once every month. In the law God let us know that there is a continuously seventh day and a continuous six days before it. When keeping a moon-weekly sabbath you will have four sabbaths and then a short week with added days. So there will always be a week where you do not work six days or where you do not keep «the seventh day». Because every month starts with a sabbath the principle of working before sabbath is lost every time a new month starts. The moon phase takes 27.3 days to orbit the earth but 29,5 days to change from the new moon to the next new moon (you have the same problem if you follow full moon to full moon which is also something some groups do).
So a workless first sabbath + four seven day weeks makes 29 days:
That leaves you with extra time every month. If you ignore it, you will disrupt both the moon cycle and the yearly cycle. If you do not you will disrupt the seven day week.
This is why the moon-sabbath is rarly on the same day from one month to the other.
This means following the moon-sabbath is an attack on God’s fourth commandment.
This commandment does not refer to the moon as the origin to count to the day, but to God’s «light and word». The law tells us there will always be six days and a seventh, for if there is not you can not keep the law at all times. There is no permission given in the law to remove or add to the six days to get to the Sabbath or to break the cycle once a month.
So the conclusion is if you keep the moon-weekly sabbath you never keep the seventh day or the workweek, consistently. “To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to it…” This is exactly the case, the moon-sabbath is a rejection not only of God’s command, the possibility of keeping it consistently but also of God’s example given as reasoning to keep it. And as mentioned, it will no longer point back to creation and God as the light.
Feast of Weeks: A law protecting the Sabbath day.
The feast of weeks is the only feast that has a similarity to the weekly sabbath in how it is counted towards. All the other feasts of God are on the exact same date every year. Passover is every year on the 14th of the 1st month. Feast of Trumpets is always on the 1st day of the seventh month. Yom Kippur is always the 10th day of the 10th month. The Feast of Tabernacle is always on the 15th day of the 7th month. They never change because they and God’s month are tied to the moon cycle.
Many feel God’s feasts move around in time but that is just because we compare them to the modern calendar. The Biblical calendar and the modern Gregorian do not match and so we get confused when figuring out the dates for God’s times if we use the Gregorian. God’s times would be very easy if only the Biblical system was followed.
In the Biblical calendar, the feasts never change their dates except two connecting feasts. These are the feasts of Firstfruits that are bonded with Pentecost, also called the feast of weeks. The word “Pentecost” is greek for the 50th. Perhaps God did something different with these connecting feasts to protect the weekly sabbath from theories such as the moon-weekly sabbaths.
Interestingly enough this feast that changes dates is the one you count using the number 7. God’s number 7 is consistent in many of the feasts, for instance, you count to seven twice to get to Passover. But God tells us to count to 14. Then you count another seven for the duration of the feast of unleavened bread. Then you count seven months. In the seventh month, you first count to 10, then to 5 and then to 7, and then 1. However, all these dates are fixed dates. It does not matter if you count or not, as long as you know when the month starts then you know the date.
But with the feast of firstfruits, you do not know (I am using the Karaite method here, not the rabbinical, as the Karaite is the only one that fits the law in the Bible). This feast lands on the first day of the week within the week of Passover/unleavened bread. And then you have to count past 7 sabbaths to get to the 50th day which is Pentecost. God does not tell us to count from the moon, but from the first day after the sabbath. And so these feasts are counted to by using the sabbath rotation. In this way, the feast clings itself, beginning to end, to God’s continuous sabbath cycle. So the feast depends on the sabbath, but the sabbath is also confirmed through the feast.
First fruit and Pentecost are similarly tied in a bond as Sabbath is tied to «the word and the light». One is linked to the other.
Now the fascinating thing about these feasts is that they have to land on a specific day and not a specific date, just like the weekly sabbath. “And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath …Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath” (Lev.23:15-16) So both have to end on the weekday “the morrow after the sabbath”.
And so according to the Bible, both of them have to land on a Sunday morning. Those who keep moon-feast will say it can land on any day of the week as long as it is a sabbath tied to the new moon. But I will explain why that is impossible. Why did God give specific dates on all other feasts except the Feast of Weeks? I think God did this in His law to have a witness protecting His weekly sabbath, which followed a similar pattern. For God said in the law that the morning would be the 50th day after the Feast of First Fruits. But He also said 7 sabbaths would pass before getting to that 50th day. Now, remember the moon cycle, it does not fit evenly with 7. The feast of weeks, however, does fit evenly with a sabbath cycle that goes independent of the moon cycle.
If you keep a moon-weekly sabbath it is impossible to have both 7 sabbaths and landing on the 50th day after the last of those 7 at the same time. Do the math, it will never add up with the moon-weekly sabbath. It is impossible to get the morning the 50th day after 7 sabbaths unless you use the continuous workweek and sabbath.
If you keep the Friday-Saturday sabbath you will get exactly 7 of those sabbaths if you count from the morning after one sabbath and to the morning after the seventh, the 50th day will be the Feast of Pentecost. A perfect match.
And so in God’s law, God exposes that the sabbath cycle does not follow the moon phase. He exposes this by having one feast that follows the sabbath cycle. It is like the sabbath “bodyguard”. Those who keep the moon-weekly sabbath then have to divide the 7 sabbaths from the 50 days. And they will then claim that you only have to follow one of them and never both at the same time. The last theory presented by this group is that you first count seven sabbats and then you start counting 50 days which then places the feast in the middle of summer. They have no other option but to divide the two from each other. But God has other times that again protect the principle of the Feast of Weeks. And so the Feast of Weeks protects the sabbath, but another event protects the concept of the feast of weeks. I will show which one, but first, let us explore the reason why the feast of weeks was chosen to protect the sabbath cycle from becoming moon-weekly sabbaths.
Not only do you not keep God’s fourth commandment when you fail to have a continous a six-day week and a seventh-day sabbath, but you can never follow the command to keep Pentecost as the law instructs either.
This has a lot of irony in it. For both, the feast of Firstfruits and Pentecost are connected to Christ’s resurrection and the outpouring of His Spirit upon His people. Christ rose on the Feast of First Fruits and gave the outpouring of the spirit on the connecting feast on the 50th day. Peter said about this outpouring: «And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him» (Act.5:32). Jesus was the originator of this claim: «If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth» (Joh 14:15-17)
So the very feast day that is a celebration of God giving the Holy Spirit is given on condition of obedience, and it is impossible to keep it without respecting God’s sabbath correctly. You do not get correctly to «Pentecost» or «the outpouring of the spirit» with the moon-weekly sabbath. You have to choose between either counting to 50 or counting 7 moon-sabbaths or do them after each other. Then you will end up with a different date.
And so the Feast of first fruits and the feast of Pentecost, when following the continuous Sabbath lands on Sunday, and it confirms and establishes the Friday-Saturday continuously sabbath cycle. Why did God make Christ’s resurrection and the Feast of Pentecost land on Sunday and not the Sabbath? This is like asking why God did not make the Sabbath to land on the first day of Creation. The Sabbath is tied to the end of a workweek. God’s work for us, not the start of the week. Christ resurrected on Sunday perfectly mirrors Creation. When Christ was in the grave there was spiritual darkness, just like the earth was dark. He who formed everything on the earth had been killed by His own creation. The light that once shined was put out. The word was buried. Then on the first day of the week, the “light” came back to us, “the word” resurrected. When God commanded Christ out of the tomb, it mirrored that first day of Creation when the light came to this world to form it. The beginning of Creation, life, came with it. Light shined in the darkness. And by Christ’s resurrection comes the promise of our resurrection and life. The start of creation and the resurrection happened on the same day. Both brought the light and life forth. But this did not make that day the sabbath, it made it the beginning. Just like the first day of creation was not a sabbath, neither was the first day of resurrection.
If you think you can, as many do, pick between seven sabbaths or fifty days, God has another witness. Firstly the law says the morrow after the seventh sabbath IS the 50th day: “Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days” (Lev 23:16) Still many think they can be divided. However, God has more chosen times counted with the number seven that force the fifty together with the seven.
By making the seven weeks match the seven years, both with a 50th end, they protect each other from being missunderstood. They are each others witnesses. The Feast of Weeks protects the weekly Sabbath from both the Babylonian and modern lunar-sabbath cycle.
The feast of Weeks (Pentecost) is also mirrored in God’s year of Jubilee. Just like Pentecost, the year of Jubilee came after counting to 50. One counting years, the other counting days. Pentecost has 7 sabbaths before its feast and the year of Jubilee has 7 years of release before its year.
In addition to the weekly sabbath and yearly feasts, God had set aside every 7th year as well. This 7th-year cycle was to give the earth and soil rest, and the poor would be given access to everything that was growing naturally. (Exo.23:10-11; Lev 25:4-7). But it was also a time for release: «At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD’S release» (Deu 15:1-2).
So the release happened at the end of the seventh year and they could start their life over the eighth year. The seventh year was a year of rest also for the slaves and their freedom and new life came at the end of it not beginning. Most likely because God wanted to give them rest before starting their new lives. I am sure you see the parallel of the end and the beginning principle. Notice how the seven years cycle is mirroring the seven days cycle. Then to do your first rest, then start afresh. Christ was in the tomb the sabbath day and started a new era on the first day, giving the first work assignments on this day.
On the fiftieth year, after seven such sabbath-year cycles, every man was to be given back his land, to be realized from his bonds.
«And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.
Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family» (Lev.25:8-10)
Again the pattern is the same as with the sabbath, this is a continuous rotation that can not be broken or you will not have seven sabbat-years adding up in the following 50th year. And the Feast of Weeks explains that the filthiest should come in after the 49, and the Jubilee explains that the feast of weeks had both 7 sabbaths and 50 days. And the Feast of Weeks protects the Sabbath and proclaims they can’t follow the new moons. The law backs up itself, the law explains itself, the law protects itself from falsehood.
And so the weekly sabbath, the feast of the seven weeks, the seven years are all going in rotation, for if broken the principle does not work.
The Feast of Weeks chaos of the lunar-sabbath theory. This is taken from a calendar example from them for the year 2021. On it they first counted the seven weeks and then they continued counting 50 days from there. The other lunar-sabbath theory (all depending on who you ask) they only follow the seven sabbaths or the 50 days. All the different dates are shown here from the different theories. None of them becomes both seven weeks and a day and 50 days and they never can. Also notice how several weeks have to be cut short at the end of each month.
The difference and similarity between the feasts and the sabbath
The law tells us to keep the Sabbath because of God’s example. He says: «Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God…For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it» (Exo 20:8-10 & 11).
So God tells us to follow His example, He did it the first week and we took part in His rest even though man had not worked the six first days. And then we continue the cycle. He says “But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD” and so God not using the moon makes any sabbath using the moon not “His sabbath” The command reveals it perfectly. If God used the moon (the sun gives the moon its light) as a sign of when to start working and subsequently rest, the sun would be God’s lawgiver. The sun would be God’s guide. That is placing the sun as a ruler over God. When God in the command says it is His day brought as rest because of His work, Him being the beginning of everything, His sabbath can not be determined by the moon/sun.
The feasts are different in the way that they cycle different events. The Bible does not tell much about them before they are introduced in Egypt. On the other hand, the Bible is quiet in regards to the weekly sabbath from creation and until they have left Egypt. It does not mean they weren’t kept, it just means we are not told about how they were kept. All we know is that God ordained them at creation. Both the feasts and the sabbath were later connected to their release from Egypt (Deu.5:15). And so when God sanctified the sabbath we also learn about the feasts, and when the Bible is silent on the sabbath it is also silent about the feasts. And then after Creation, the feast is addressed before the sabbath is. In the same way, the seasonal feast is mentioned in creation before the sabbath is, as one is mentioned on the fourth day of creation and the other on the seventh day. And when they are both spoken off again, they are both tied to something new. In the beginning, they were tied to the seasons and weekly rest, to God’s work, and the giver of earthly blessings. Now when they are again mentioned they are tied to our redemption, our atonement, and then later the priestly service.
The two are connected in the way that the reason for the blessings God gives (after sin) is now tied to our need for an atonement, a priest to represent us. At first, mankind enjoyed God’s times as people without sin, blessed by God. After sin, the same blessings and even sabbath peace could only be given us through the blood of the sacrifice and because of the priestly service.
And this is why God’s times and even Sabbath contained sacrifices and rituals when the Bible speaks of them again after Creation. What was once ours are only now ours through the blood of the substitute. That which was given Adam without cost, His peace, rest, and prosperity, could no longer be given freely. A price had to be paid, the blood of the substitute.
Before Christ came and died, God illustrated this point through the sacrificial system. But after Christ died and was resurrected for us, we get these blessings through Christ. The same blessings. The same Sabbath rest as before sin, the same feasts as before sin, only now through Christ. And in the sabbath and the feasts are two different blessings.
The sabbath blessing:
The sabbath blessing is a communion with God, a renewal of His Spirit and His word to us. Every sabbath in the Tabernacle service the priest would sacrifice but he would also change the showbread. Again the symbolism is tied to Christ being our sacrifice, but also both the bread and the word. On the weekly sabbath, God blesses His people especially spiritually. He increases our knowledge of Him. He feeds us something else than bread. Like Jesus said: «It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God» (Mat.4:4 ). We can only keep Sabbath properly today through the atoning blood of Christ, through sacrifice. It is not possible to get the Sabbath blessing, communion with God, without “sacrifice”. Although this was not the case in the beginning before sin, it is the case after sin. We are only granted the gift of God’s rest through Christ’s work for us, through the blood. This is why the sabbath and also the feasts, when mentioned again in the Bible, were now connected to the sacrifices. It is the same blessings, only now they are offered to us through “sacrifice”. The sacrifical laws were added to God’s blessings and holy gatherings to make them possible.
The feast blessings:
The feast points to the different harvests. As already mentioned, the first-month feast is the barley harvest, the feast of Pentecost is the wheat harvest and the feasts in the seventh month is a feast of gratitude from all the fruit harvests. And then after this month, the cycle continues again with plowing and sowing which would result in another harvest the next first month. These feasts are tied to the physical bread, God’s provision for the human family. “And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end” (Exo 34:22) Sending rain in its seasons, sun, and protecting the land from insects destroying the crops. The feasts represents God blessing the earth, giving us our daily needs to stay alive and be healthy.
«The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season» (Deu 28:12)
“That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full” (Deu 11:14-15).
When Adam and Eve sinned they lost the right to live, but God made the first sacrifice and clothed them. He provided for their daily bread outside Eden. However, we must understand that God’s continuous care to keep man alive was now completly dependent on atonement.
In Deuteronomy, we learn more about the blessing and the curse. Here we learn that the condition for God to bless their land, their crops, their farm animals, and everything else they needed, depended on them keeping God’s law. If they did not “then the LORD’S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit” (Deut.11:17)
God said that everything depended upon our obedience. But God’s people were sinners, we all are. So either God would have to abandon us or He had to come up with a solution. The only way God could continue to bless as before was through the atoning blood. Sin had to be atoned if God was to bless. This lead to the introduction of the sacrificial system on the feast days. The feast days representing the blessings and the sacrifice represented the only way God could continue to give them these blessings. It all symbolized Christ’s atonement and that all our blessings after sin is given through His sacrifice.
It is because of His death for mankind, we still have rain to grow our food, to sow, and harvest. Everything the feasts represent is now connected to the “blood”.
In this way, the feasts are about two things, God’s provision through His son’s blood. And they are celebrated together in a union. The same happened to the weekly Sabbath. On the first sabbaths before sin, there was no sacrifice. The Sabbath after sin had its sacrifices. This did not turn the Sabbath or the harvest feast into sacrificial laws rather it was the other way around. They were not sacrificial laws, rather the sacrificial laws were given in order for us to continue having the blessings they represented from Creation. If we do not understand these principles, we will drift away from God’s law.
The sabbath is now forever tied to the sacrifice, for without the atonement of Christ we would lose our communion with God, our sabbath blessings. Even sabbaths in heaven will be a blessing because of the blood. There will never be another sabbath day or feasts of the Lord’s provision that is not sprinkled with the blood of Christ. And so this is why the harvest feasts of the Lord were full of sacrifices in both the Old Testament and the New. The feast of unleavened bread had the blood of Christ, the feast of Pentecost when Christ outpoured His spirit was also sprinkled with the blood of Christ. The day of atonement, the feast of tabernacles, any of God’s feasts after the cross, are all sprinkled with the blood of Christ to continue to exist with its needed blessings. And I mean symbolically speaking of course. It is why we still have bread on our table.
Neither blessings were removed when Christ died, they were established and made possible to us through His death. For God’s times are tied to blessings, our spiritual bread, and our physical bread.
God’s enemy wants to take away from us this blessing claiming the blood annuls what it’s meant to protect. He wants to separate the blood from the blessings. But if we have the blessings we do not need the blood. And if we have the blood but not the blessings, the blood is given in vain. It is not for man to separate what God has united. This is how the feasts and the sabbath follow the same law. The law of the blood. These are their similarities.
In the book of Revelation, we see plagues coming over the people on earth. All of these are consequences mention in the law, curses, for rejecting God’s law. (To see the references read this article: https://thirdangelsmessage.com/wordpress/the-ark-the-plagues-the-curse-and-the-sunday-law/ ) If the plagues are poured over the earth it means that the inhabitants on earth have rejected the law and the blood. Their resources and protection are removed from them. God no longer can sustain them (Heb.10:29).
God has separated the sabbath from the yearly feasts, as they serve two different purposes. If we do as the moon-weekly sabbath followers, we blend the two together and reduce the sabbath meaning and the witness God has placed in the sabbath day. Not just the witness but also the special blessing only connected to the weekly sabbath.
Did God encourage Israel to break the Sabbath?
Not only does the feast of Pentecost, the feast of weeks, reveal the true sabbath day to be Friday/Saturday, the exodus also gives us a clue.
When many think God first introduced the sabbath He said the very first week that it was kept: «And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?» (Exo.16:28) Either God is extremely impatient and makes such a statement the first sabbath, or it was not the first sabbath at all. They had to have kept the sabbath before in order for God to make this statement. The reason behind the statement was the giving of Manna. God said He would let it rain for six days and nothing on the Sabbath to teach them to respect His sabbath. Still, people went out to look for manna on the first sabbath after manna was given. God made the sabbath day «holy» from creation, which means it was holy before this week of manna. God would not have them work that day or carry any burdens. However, according to the moon-weekly sabbath followers, the sabbath landed on the 15th of the first month that year. (Because they believe the first day is a Sabbath, the Sabbath will always land on the 8th day and the 15th). This means that the day they carried all their heavy luggage, gold, animals, and many possessions with them was a Sabbath day. It means God had them walk day and night on the sabbath day. Now if God commanded them to disrespect and break the sabbath during the exodus, his statement a little later when some went to gather manna on the sabbath would have been strange indeed. First He commands them to break it in such a big way and then He is furious because some pick manna on the sabbath the following weeks. It does not make sense because God is not inconsistent. The sabbath was already law as God told Moses before Sinai. It was already holy. The breaking of the law is a sin. God does not tell people to sin. It says Israel left Egypt on the 15th of the first month and then they walked at least a day and a night if not more when they were told to make their first camp. This happened before they came to the Red Sea. «And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness» (Exo 13:20) So if God was teaching them to keep His Sabbath and respecting His own law the day they camped in Etham had to be the sabbath or the next place they camped. Most likely the sabbath was at the camp in Etham because when they leave there they are fleeing for the first time with the Egyptian army after them. Christ himself lead them and His principle is for no one to have to flee on the sabbath day (Mat.24:20). So by using God’s own law and Christ’s own principle their sabbath could not be while they were moving and not when they were fleeing. Leaving only the camp at Etham or the camp after they crossed the Red Sea as the first sabbath since before they left Egypt.
Again «to the law and to the testimony», the law reveals that the day they left Egypt could not have been the sabbath day. Instead, it was a feast day, a day celebrating their release and God’s provision. If the day they left Egypt was NOT a sabbath day, then the moon-feasts fall apart completely. For if you count to the weekly sabbath from the first new moon, it has to land on the day they carried all their things and started their long walk to their first campsite. If the moon sabbaths are correct, God told Israel to break the law of the sabbath. In this way, the moon-weekly sabbath cycle is exposed by the law itself.
Did this convince you?
Will this article help someone you know who keeps the moon-weekly sabbath?
Most likely not. But never lose hope in anyone. When you have left the truth and the light, and the law, to keep a lie, you are enshrouded in darkness thicker than anyone who has yet to see the light. For every step taken away from «the light» is hardening of the heart to the truth. It is rejecting every attempt the Spirit has done at that point to convince them otherwise. When we approach someone like that, where the holy spirit has not been successful, we should not flatter ourselves we can reach them by “an argumentative” approach. We have to wait until they are open to the word of the spirit and until they are tired of “the darkness” they are in. We can pray for them. Only a few will walk out of the darkness, and most likely it is the ones who never had peace in the decition they made, who never silenced the whisper of the Holy Spirit. Or if they lacked knowledge at the time when they made their decition. Remember no one is open to the truth if they do not see God’s love in it. If they work to save themselves, they have lost sight of God’s love. Many struggles with understanding the concept of law and mercy. But we must never separate the blood from the laws.
Many feel condemned and have daily struggles trying to please God. Such will never have rest from their burdens. Christ said the burden, that we are to follow, is easy. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Mat 11:28-30) Often we struggle because we do not understand. If God’s law is a burden, we might not understand the purpose of it correctly. For all of God’s laws were created to take care of us, to our benefit, to give us blessings, not to make us into slaves trying to please an easily angry master with a whip.
The sad situation is that once you have defended false teaching and felt superior doing so, it is very hard to go back and admit fault. So is the case with many moon-weekly sabbath keepers. They will reject any evidence that does not speak in their favor and continue as before. But you do not have to follow their lead. And so this article was first written to those who are confused by their many words and their use of scripture with their added assumptions.
God’s enemy wants you to think it is too hard for you to respect God’s law. With the confusion around the moon-weekly sabbath’s people have been lead to believe that it’s hard just knowing how to keep the law. Some become so confused by the two different directions that they think it is not possible to know when the real sabbath is. And if it’s not possible to know for sure, then surely you can not be held responsible for breaking it?
But the law itself defends itself. Whenever there is deception regarding one law, the law has another law that will defend it from the attack. Such as how the Week of feasts defends the weekly sabbath. And because of that God still holds us accountable, for the truth is not hidden. It is people that hide God’s clear spoken word with assumptions and ideas. They twist scripture to make it fit their agenda. Those who are unlearned follow them. When we understand the reason behind both the Sabbath and the feasts, we will see a bigger picture.
Many preach God’s law as commands that if not followed, we perish. And so they keep the “letter” and do not keep it in “spirit”. For the law was not given to make our lives difficult or as a threat against us. These laws are meant to help us, protect us, and guide us. To bless us. And the bloodshed is just to witness the price God paid to do all these things for us. We don’t keep the sabbath to be saved. We keep the sabbath because God saved us. We do not keep the sabbath to atone for our sins, we keep the sabbath because God atoned for our sins. If we are among those keeping the feast it is the same principle. Do not keep the feasts in some attempt to be saved by it. They witness that God’s blessings on earth, to feed and clothe you, are done through Christ’s sacrifice. It is a gift. It was a gift in the beginning before sin and it is a gift now.
The sabbath was not made for the sacrificial law, the sacrificial law was made to give us the sabbath back. It was made to witness the price God pays to continue to give us according to our needs. If we turn it around and make it about us trying to fulfill God’s needs, we are deceiving ourselves and missed the whole point.
God’s sabbath is not a secret, it is a miracle. Not only did God create the week, but He has preserved it for 6000 years spite humans’ attack on it by many different concepts. The Bible witness, and Revelation, that He has always had a people who has preserved it for Him. Truly, keeping the sabbath is having faith in God. Walking in His footsteps, from that first day of creation and from that first day of resurrection, counting to seven and resting with God every seventh day from that day. Bonding with God through the sacrifice and blood of Christ.
God’s week always starts with Christ’s work for us and ends in His rest. Even the fulfillment of the seven feasts. Christ works for us as our High Priest and in the seventh-month prophecy of His release, He gives us peace. That is why the trumpet of release in the fiftieth year was to sound in the seventh month and not the first. That is why the cleansing of the sanctuary happened in the seventh month and not the first.
That is how all of our weeks should be like. We start with Christ and work with Him and then continue with him to the last day where we commune and rest with Him on the sabbath. Then we are followers of Christ, we follow His example and lead.
The temptation many have to make the first day of the week, Sunday, holy because of its special beginnings, is not following Christ. We can not switch the seventh day with the first without destroying God’s system.
The cross did not abolish God’s times, it gave them to us without condemnation. It gave back to us what sin had taken from us. God’s blessings.
At creation, God said that man was to rule over the beasts but in the last book of the bible, we see beasts rule over man. What does it symbolize? Is Religion the cause of all wars? What do irreligious and religious governments have in common when fighting the minority? What does God say the problem is and how to solve it? What is “sin” and what is the reason why the world got into the state it is in? How are all world conflicts throughout time tied to the last conflict of the Mark of the Beast? 159 pages
I know a lot of people want to hear conspiracy theories, and how Covid-19 is part of a secret plan to control people. In many cases, reading and watching videos on these sorts of things can be more exciting than a plain Bible study. But studying the Bible and the plagues in it gives us something valuable that “Christian” conspiracy theories cannot. It tells how to be saved from them, how to act when others get it, and overall why God allows them. This is the information we need. Conspiracy theories can save no one, even if they are true. It is like junk food, it does fill you up. It appeals to the senses but it doesn’t bring us the important nutrients we need. Sometimes we need to eat healthily, we need to find the Biblical truth beautiful and attractive more than we lust for excitement – preaching. So let’s look at what the Bible teaches us about plagues and pandemics and see what we can learn from it. Does the Bible even predict a future pandemic?
COVID-19 (coronavirus) is scaring many today. Many look for a scapegoat. Some blame China, some blame the US, some have many conspiracy theories to how it came about and some blame their population for not distancing themselves enough. Whatever may be the reason, the Bible teaches us how to deal with pandemics and plagues, the causes, and the solutions. And how to treat those afflicted.
Egypt
The first known great plague in the Bible is the one God afflicts upon the kingdom of Egypt. The reason is very clear, the pharaoh was suppressing God’s people and preventing them from being obedient to God. He declared that his rule was to be regarded above that of the Creator. As part of disarming Pharaoh who had already shown a willingness to use violence and force to keep Israel from leaving, God sends this plague. This was to serve as a warning and to humble the Egyptians. Most of all it was given to deliver and save God’s people. Remember this important point as we will see this pattern continues throughout the Bible.
Pestilence and plagues are a curse
The second time we hear about a great plague is in the curse given to Israel if they would not keep God’s law. It’s important to remember that God gave the Egyptians a plague for their sake, so they could be free to worship God. Now God says the same will happened to them if they go away from God. Delivering them had a great cost and God would not treat His people any different if they continued in the sins of Egypt.
«But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhors my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: …..And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy» (Lev. 26: 14-15 & 25)
God told Moses that a pestilence would work as a punishment when Israel rebelled:
«I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they» (Num 14:12)
This topic is so important that God repeats it. He will not save them from the plagues that come over the earth if they continue to do what is wicked. If they refuse to keep God’s law they are cursed:
«The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he has consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. ….The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. ……Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed. (Deu 28:21 & 27 & Deu_28:61 )
The census tax
God also forwarned a plague would come if, when Israel was numbered, a ransom for their soul wasn’t provided:
«When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them» (Exo 30:12)
This atonement money was to be used in the sanctuary service as a memorial before God. So to prevent a plague there had to be an atonement.
The plague at Sinai
The first place we see God afflicting the children of Israel with a plague is after they build the golden calf and worshipped it. Bear in mind that with this idol also came great immorality and practices.
«And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made» (Exo 32:35)
When we look at the plague that came over Israel a couple of things might be worth considering in this study. The first is that a camp with nearly 2 million people was very vulnerable to plagues and diseases spreading at a fast pace. God had already taken such good care of them that he even made sure their shoes didn’t wear down on their journey there. He was protecting them against any harmful animals from entering the camp. Their health, spite their living situation, was credited to God’s special care and watchfulness. To teach them to be responsible and not just live unhealthily and expect Him to save them, He gave them several instructions. One of them was to not toilet in the camp and to cover up the stool with dirt. He also had instructions against people who had contact with the dead and to isolate those who got certain illnesses and not to eat animals that He had declared as unclean. Mostly it was carnivorous animals that could not be eaten.
So God wants people to be conscious and educated and then He gives His protection against the things we cannot control ourselves. However, He wants to educate His people so that they can as far as possible protect themselves. The plague that came after the golden calf incident was a punishment, however, it could have come from disrespect to God’s laws and also from God removing His protection from the camp. Promising protection to the faithful they would have been saved from it.
God will not in the long run protect those who are not just rebelling against Him but using their blessing to suppress the faithful. And this example is very clear in the next plague to hit Israel.
Plague after the rebellion of Korah:
The next time God sends a plague over the children of Israel is at the rebellion that took place at Kadesh Barnea. They wanted to choose new leaders and reject Moses and Aaron. They were angry with God. The new aspiring leaders wanted to lead the people back to Egypt. Had God allowed it, His plan for them would have been ruined and those who were faithful would be suppressed and outnumbered and God would not be able to fulfill His promise of the chosen land to them. Not only that, but many of the people also wanted to kill Moses and Aron and those who had remained faithful to them would become the next prey. So, God let a plague destroy the rebellious people. However Aron and Moses, by God’s will, made intercession for them and by making atonement for the people, God choose to forgive them and stops the plague:
«And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun. And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah» (Num_16:46-49).
The Plague at Beth Peor:
At Beth Peor, right before Israel was to cross the Jordan River into the promised land they were spiritually divided into two large fractions. One part was crying to the Lord in front of the door of the tabernacle. Another was taking part in idol practices intermingling with heathen women. God again either removed His protection or caused a plague to hit the camp. God saved them from the plague once one of the priests punished one of the leaders of the rebellion:
«And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand» (Num_25:8-9).
The plagues in the philistine cities
Another time we see God sending a pest is into the cities of the Philistines after they had taken the Ark of The Covenant in battle and attempted to humiliate God by placing it as a triumph in the temple of their god Dagon showing him as the supreme god.
God cuts off the head and arms of the Dagon statue and a pest comes into the city.
“So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven” (1Sa 5:11-12).
By this plague, God was able to restore the Ark to Israel and it’s future purpose in the temple as part of the yearly atonement.
The philistines recognized that the illness had come at the same time as a large number of mice had entered the city, but they also saw that it was a punishment from God (1Sa 6:5).
Under King David after the people was numbered:
David had for a long time relied on God to conquer the enemy of the kingdom. But the people had started to think great things about themselves and their ability. They were forgetting God and there was sin among them. A sin David took after when he ordered to have the people numbered. The punishment was a plague:
«So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men» (2Sa 24:15)
Just like the previous times, an atonement was made to prevent the plague from continuing. This time David made an altar and a sacrifice on Mount Moriah, and God then stopped the plague. Even when people rebel, God shows a willingness to stop the punishment and forgive every time.
The reason atonement works against plagues is that God, as He had already said, let plagues come when they break His law or live in constant opposition. However, when someone had broken the law atonement could be made and the people would be granted forgiveness. And thus worked atonement against plagues, for plagues come from lawbreaking and atonement blotted out the sin and reason for the plague and so God would again protect them as if they were guilt-free.
The plague under king Jehoram of Judah:
The sins of King Jehoram were great, and the people followed him in transgression. King Jehoram started his reign by killing all his brothers, marrying the daughter of Jezabel, the wicked queen of Israel in the north and it says he «caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah thereto» (2.Ch.21:10).
Now just as God had said, the curse came over him and a message was delivered to him by the prophet Elijah:
«Behold, with a great plague will the LORD smite thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods: And thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day» (2Ch 21:14-15)
The Plagues in the North-kingdom of Israel:
Through the prophet Amos we learn that Israel too was afflicted with pestilences and plagues:
«I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD» (Amo_4:10)
The great pestilence before Jerusalem’s destruction:
Right before Jerusalem was destroyed God tried through the prophet Jeremiah to reach the people, to encourage them to turn back to Him so that He could protect them. But they would not hear and they would not give up idol worship. Before the armies of Nebuchadnezzar reached the city a plague came over the inhabitants of the city killing large numbers:
«And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence» (Jer 21:5-6).
One of the reasons the people were such easy prey for the coming attack by the King of Babylon was that they had been weakened in number:
«And now therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city, whereof ye say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence» (Jer_32:36)
So God says here straight out that the pestilence helped deliver the city to the King of Babylon.
God explains why in Ezekiel:
«Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity. A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them» (Eze 5:11-12)
The plague on Israel in Egypt
Just like Israel had been delivered from Egypt by among others the plague God sent over their enemies, He had warned them that if they did the deeds of the Egyptians a plague would also come upon them. Ironically this is fulfilled when a remnant of Israel returns to Egypt against God’s council after Babylon destroys Jerusalem.
God lets them know what will happen to this group:
«So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them» (Jer.42:17).
God’s protection against plagues and pestilences:
In Deuteronomy, we learn that God would allow plagues to come and destroy them if they wouldn’t keep His law. But the same book gave the promise of protection if they stayed close to God and were obedient. This promise is repeated in the very cherished Psalm 91:
«He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.» (Psalm 91: 1-10)
Not only does God promise protection from plagues and pestilences if they are faithful he also calls the plagues «the reward of the wicked» This is consistent with all the other places we have seen plagues mentioned.
And the future plagues have the same meaning.
Christ prophesies of a plague coming before His second coming:
In the book of Revelation, Christ gives the apostle John the future that was connected to His people from his day and until Christ second coming. One of the things John is told is that right before Christ returns a pandemic will come:
“And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.” (Rev 16:2)
Also, this time the plague is poured by an angel coming from the temple where the Ark and the law are situated. The plague is here a punishment for not only their unfaithfulness, but they have tried to kill or even force God’s people into giving up their fidelity towards God (Rev.13:15-17)
In Revelation 18 this becomes very clear where God says His punishment over Babylon is to save His people, just like the plague in Egypt were sent to save His people there: “Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.” (Rev 18:6)
God says that He destroys Babylon for their sake: “Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.” (Rev 18:20)
This is not just to save those of God’s people still living who are threatened by them, but revenge for the sake of those who have died as a result of their behavior:
“And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” (Rev 6:9-10)
So, a plague can be a good thing for God’s people if it only affects bad people or people who have gone astray and have treated God’s people badly. Plagues in the Bible are only ever bad news for the disobedient. In the Bible, it is very evident that pandemics and plagues are partly the results of disregarding God’s commandments, councils, and righteousness. The other times it is used to punish the oppressors or to lower the number of God’s enemies to help His people survive.
Although the Bible stops it’s writing in the book of Revelation, history has shown us how these same principles have happened again after the Biblical era. Now we can take our Biblical lessons and see some of these pandemics in a different light.
The plague of Justinian
Painting from the 15th centuary by Josse Lieferinxe showing Saint Sebastian pleading with Jesus for the life of a gravedigger afflicted by plague during the Plague of Justinian.
In the first three centuries, many developments had happened within the Christian churches. For a long time, there had been at least two different distinct directions. One tried to stay faithful to its Jewish biblical roots and the other had blended with idol worship and practices. The largest one had for a long time received acceptance in the Roman Empire and a dark age of Christianity was imminent when the emperor Justinian made a decree in AD. 533 which made the bishop of Rome the head of all the churches. This was to settle any struggle for power or any question on where the center of Christianity should be. The bishop of Rome taking this position made him what we know as a Pope. However, the Roman empire was under great attack and was struggling to conquer the Arian Ostrogoths who had invaded Rome. This was accomplished in 538 when they took Rome back, and the Pope could sit to rule Christianity from his seat in Rome.
However, making the Pope the ruler over Christianity and the pagan-Christian religion the only authorized and accepted Christian direction did not bring Justinian any blessing or protection from God. Neither did it to the people who by favoring roman Christianity had by their actions brought such a leader to power. This was not the sin of one man, the bishop of Rome, he was just the result of the people’s great sins. The pope was the consequence of their actions. The pope was created by their sins. That is why Paul said: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” (2Th.2:3)
It was the people that had destroyed God’s truth and turned it into a lie. They discarded God’s law and word yet still claimed to represent Him.
Two years after the decree that made the Pope the leader and judge of Christianity, came what historians call one of the worst years in human history. The sun disappeared for 18 months. Scientists speculate if volcanic ash had covered the atmosphere and what great volcano(s) could have caused it. As a consequence of the darkness, the climate became colder and crops were failing and that led to a great famine. If this wasn’t enough, a terrible plague came shortly after later named after the emperor: “the Justinian plague”. Historians estimate that the death toll was 25 million people. It was the bubonic plague. In Justinian’s headquarter Constantinople, it was said that at its height it was killing an estimated 5,000 people per day and eventually resulting in the deaths of 40% of the city’s population. In addition, the plague likely killed half the population of Europe.
Because the Roman Empire was in large part Christian at this point it shows similarity with the plagues that came on Israel in the past. Most certainly God was not blessing either Justinian who had given the leadership to the Bishop of Rome or his followers.
Those who would benefit from it were those Christians who wanted to remain true to the Bible and were facing persecution from Rome. They had time to separate and flee.
Spite the terrible years that came after the decree of Justinian no change was made to the plans of controlling Christianity and Christians from Rome. However, the plague as before was as always punishment to the unfaithful.
The Black Death
Forbidding the Bible for common people, controlling Christianity with an iron fist, and severely persecuting those who tried to remain faithful to God and His laws left Europe in the Dark Ages. The Catholic church had not only fought Christians who would not subdue under them, they had attacked the Jews as well. A faithful few remained, most of them lived in hiding.
God didn’t just promise that plagues would come if they were unfaithful, He also said that wars were part of the curse for abandoning His laws.
After Justinian made his decree the Roman empire started crumbling to pieces bit by bit until it was divided. The east roman empire was still standing but they too would continue to lose all the important battles over time. Their territory was ever-shrinking because they were losing to the Islamic people. They lost Jerusalem, the Middle East, North Africa with Alexandria and in 1453 they also lost their capitol Constantinople. For a very long time they had been able to hold this stronghold in Constantinople, they were still many and fairly strong, but God was not blessing their efforts spite them thinking they were God’s chosen people. A terrible plague swept over Europe and made them all weak and low in numbers. The Muslim invasion of Constantinople was no longer to be avoided and the remaining east Roman empire was destroyed. The plague that had weakened Europe is called the Black death. The death toll is said to have been everything from 75 to 200 million people.
Europe was most certainly not under the protection mentioned in Psalm 91 in spite them being a Christian continent. According to scripture, a plague was a sign that a disobedient people had gone too far.
The plagues in the Bible usually worked to benefit those who tried to remain faithful to God.
It’s hard to say the effects the Black death could have on this this low number of faithful but what we do know is that the spirit of reformation started to grow after this plague. For a long time, people had feared to speak against the Pope and the Church, but seeing how unprotected they were would have caused people to seek God more earnestly.
A few years after the worst phase of the Black Death a light was lit in England. John Wycliffe had defied the Pope on the topic of common people not being allowed to read the Bible and for the Bible to even be translated into the common language, and then he made sure the bible was translated and then published in 1388. The Pope didn’t manage to have him killed before he died from natural causes. However, after he was dead, he ordered his bones to be dug up out of the grave, burnt them, and then threw them into a river. The pope cursed Wycliffe and desecrated his remains as a warning to others from following in his footsteps. But what Wycliff started was only to make way for what would eventually lead to the downfall of the Bishop of Rome. Wycliffe’s determination inspired others and as the spirit of reformation and hunger for truth grew, many European countries had the Bible translated to their languages. The enlightenment of what Christianity was about, it’s real roots, gave Europe it’s reformation and northern Europe ended up splitting from the Papacy.
The Black Death had not only left Europe vulnerable to Ottoman attacks, but most likely paved the way for the reformation to begin. A change in people’s mindset and a search for meaning was important for God to be able to save them. Remember it wasn’t just the reformers that saw problems with the then mainstream Christianity, the people saw it too and therefore the reformers got their strength partly from God and partly from the people who supported the reformation and questioned the status quo.
Are we to fear pandemics?
According to the law and the prophets, if you are faithful and in addition keeps God’s advice you should not fear pandemics. Remember God gave them many councils on how to avoid diseases from spreading with His protection. And so both obedience and mercy are needed to be protected.
The Bible also lets us know in Revelation that a future terrible plague will come upon people. “A noisome and grievous sore”. This will not fall on those who have received God’s seal, a seal that is to work as a protection against all the calamities that will come upon the earth (Rev 7:2-3). The coming plague is meant to punish the population for their terrible treatment of God’s people. This is revealed in the next plague: “And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.” (Rev 16:5-6)
And if we are struck by any plague we should examine our lives and our relationship with God. As God does say, whether we like it or not, that plague is according to the Bible a punishment or God’s withdrawal from a people.
Shall we then not have compassion for the many who die or are afflicted with a plague? The Bible tells us we should have compassion.
Moses told Aaron to personally stand in between the people and the plague in his day, bringing them towards God’s atonement and forgiveness.
«And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.» (Num 16:47-48)
What an amazing sight, a man standing right there as a living shield against the plague for those who were still alive. Even more amazing as we remember that these same people only a while ago wanted to murder him. This action was inspired by God who desires to show compassion.
David did the same when he sacrificed on a high place before the city of Jerusalem to stop the plague from destroying the city. God chose again to forgive when the atonement had been made. Also here it was God who urged David to bring atonement for the people, God wanted to show mercy.
If there come plagues over nations, we are to pray for their salvation. For them to choose God and seek His atonement. Just as it was the case with God’s message of doom to Nineveh, even then when the judgment had been set, their conversion and how they humbled themselves before God caused God to forgive and not complete the sentencing.
God is merciful and He wants us through these Biblical stories to teach us to be the same. He wants us to pray for lost souls, even when they have received their judgment, in hope that the judgment can be reversed.
Both Aaron and David standing between the people and the plague was a picture of Christ Himself, who placed Himself between us and our judgment.
For all have sinned and lost God’s glory. And although we were as sinners already condemned to death, Christ stepped in between us and death and died for us so that He could offer us salvation where there was only condemnation. Like Aaron stood between the dead and the living, Jesus stands between us and eternal death.
Pandemics are a sign of God removing His protection, it is a sign of doom, but it’s not a time to lose hope. It’s not a time to enjoy or look down upon anyone afflicted. It’s the time to preach the gospel of mercy so that those who are plagued can receive atonement and eternal life. For we, afflicted or not, are sinners who are saved purely by the atonement Christ made for us. Not because we are better or wiser or deserved it in any way. We are all saved by Christ atonement. We are all to suffer God’s judgment if it isn’t for Christ mediating to save us. And just like the case was with Aaron and David, it is the Father Himself who planned for Christ to take this role for our sake so He can show us mercy. It is His love that places Christ there.
And if we are among those lucky to not be afflicted by a plague, we owe our fellow humans to be Christ-like and fight for their salvation. To plead their cause. To intervene on their behalf as best we can.
The last pandemic
The last pandemic that is coming over the earth is somewhat different then plagues in the past. It’s right before Christ coming and the battle of souls has been hard. Unfortunately, we see that those who are afflicted with the first plague, the gruesome sores, won’t be saved. Why? The Bible tells us they don’t seek God’s atonement even then:
«And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds» (Rev 16:10-11)
Is God punishing mean? In Revelation 18 where it speaks of the fall of modern Babylon God is very clear who He is trying to save by causing its fall.
«Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double» (Rev 18:6)
God is punishing and disarming them to save His people.
And after the description of Babylon’s fall God says: «Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.» (Rev 18:20)
As with the plague at Sinai, at Kadesh, at Beth Peor and so on we see the weakening of the wicked serves as salvation for the faithful. And although punishment is a terrible thing it would not be right either for God to allow the wicked and unfaithful to subdue or destroy the faithful. For who then will carry God’s truth to the next generation? And should God show greater love and mercy on those who hate Him than to those who love Him?
God in no way wants to desert His people and let them be extinct for the sake of mercy towards those who do not even want His mercy.
Babylon had for many, many generations hurt, harmed, and taken from God’s people their life, joy, freedom, and happiness. Here God says He has judged them for the sake of His people. To save His people.
And no matter how hard the judgments before Christ’s second coming will be it’s important to remember that God is an extremely merciful God, who has shown great patience, even patience to the cost of His people and He has even asked them to sacrifice themselves to help save their fellow men. He has been very good with the wicked hoping they would wake up and seek His atonement. But in the end, God chooses His people, those who have sinned as well but have sought refuge with Him, sought atonement with Him, those who respect His order. He chooses to save them and to destroy their enemies in this final climax, final confrontation of this earth’s history.
God says: «For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.» (Eze 18:32)
God doesn’t want anyone to perish. But people leave Him no choice. If one bad brother takes the food and water away from his good brother, beats his brother to the point of death, God will eventually remove the perpetrator for the sake of the good brother. But first He tries to convince, educate, and even warn the bad brother while the good brother goes through temporary suffering.
Execution of final punishment is part of God’s goodness. When God judges He is good. He sees the bigger picture of the long-term predicaments for all His decisions and judgments. When they need to come into effect in the present to bring good fruit in the future. We can only see a few steps ahead of us and what is around us. We worry mostly for ourselves, but God has to care for everyone. Therefore, many question God’s judgments. They are unable to see cause and effect in a bigger long-term scenario.
To be able to own the prophecy of Psalm 91 we need to stop the rebellion and be clothed in Christ’s righteousness. And Christ’s righteousness will be our shield in times of trouble and future plagues. And as the law says, if we willfully rebel against God’s government and laws, protection can be removed and we can be afflicted by the future plagues.
The Bible makes a plague a choice. Do we believe the Bible on this aspect?
The goddess Tiamat, whos broken body creates the order of the world according to an old myth.
The earliest creation story we find in ancient cultures has great similarities to the theory of evolution.
Marduk and Tiamat
Tiamat was a primordial goddess of the salt sea that in some accounts was prehistoric chaos. She is sometimes identified as a sea monster or sea dragon. She is then slain by Enki’s son Marduk and he then forms the heavens and the Earth from her divided body. He creates the earth from chaos.
Instead of a big bang in the universe, they came up with this order from
Bing bang: Order out of chaos.
chaos theory from a sea monster. Later in Mesopotamia and Babylonia, they discarded this and credited creation to their god Enlil.
Today it is the evolution theory that now believes order was created by chaos.
The God of the Bible is a God of perfect order and He created everything perfect. The creation story says that once God had created it was “complete”
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them» (Gen 2:1).
Nothing was partly done in need of an evolution process, of all His creation it is said that it was good and complete. In God’s world perfect order created order. As we know today if you want to accomplish something great you need to use order to accomplish it.
It’s not just in the story of Tiamat and the big bang we see the pagan concept of bringing order out of chaos. We see it among secret societies, the work of dictators, and their likes. The phrase “Ordo Ab Chao,” means literally order from chaos and is the motto of the 33rd degree FREEMASON. It can be found on the grand decorations of the Order of the Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, one of the highest honors and roles which can be bestowed upon a Mason.
Ordi Ab Chao (Latin for Order from Chaos) has been the motto of the highest-ranked masons. A society many world leaders are involved in or with.
Adolf Hitler, the notorious leader of the German socialist party became Germany’s savior out of the chaos the country was in after World War 2. He was creating jobs, free education, food, health care and more. They now thought of a bright and promising future lifting them out of poverty and humiliation. But Adolf Hitler gaining all his power out of the chaos after world war 1 ended up bringing the country in an even worse disaster by the time his rule ended. And we have seen many examples of it throughout world history. Either after a disaster, war or anything that brings a nation to its knees, they will in desperation look upon anyone bringing them seemingly up from the dark pit they are in, as a savior. They will hand over their rights and freedoms in order to establish what to them seem like salvation.
The German people didn’t think they greeted and cheered upon a mass murderer, they thought they cheered upon their savior, the one who would restore their society.
Now even from world leaders, we see a desire for greater order in the world.
The idea to first create chaos among people so that they can come with a solution which is their world order is not far off. They know like everyone else that if people are to give up their freedoms under severe governmental control they have to first be afraid and confused. And so they know that they cannot create a new world order without first giving people a sense of chaos.
If chaos first brakes loose people start to FEAR, and when driven by fear and confusion they allow themselves to be ruled over. It is a very simple psychology. Narcissists have done their harm like this in all ages. It’s called gaslighting. In order for them to control someone, they have to make that person not trust themselves or their own perception of the world. The narcissists gain power the more uncertain and confused you are. And the only way for them to manipulate that state upon you is to confuse or make you question your sense of reality.
But this order or idea of order out of chaos is an illusion. No true order can be built on broken pieces without itself falling apart eventually. The very first time we see this concept in the Bible is when they build the tower of Babel, one organization to rule the world. It’s built on two fears. The first is the flood, the major catastrophe that hit the earth. The second is the fear of division: “let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. ” (Gen.11:4). God did not approve any one-world government built on fear and built on the need to control people into a false sense of unity. And humanity never seems to learn this historical fact. This is why often we see countries with dictatorship or extreme authoritarian rule often end up in poverty or rebellion or war and mostly leave its low-class people in apathy with little ability to advance either themselves or their society. Order cannot be based on the pillar of chaos and survive.
Fear cannot produce peace. Suppression cannot produce freedom. Hate cannot produce love. Discrimination cannot produce acceptance. Hostility cannot produce friendliness. Distrust cannot produce trust. There is no real order to come inspired by temporary chaos, only force, and control with a short time duration until it’s next rebellion.
Don’t sell your freedom today if you need it tomorrow.
For the past 20 years or so there has been a lot of dates set for the second coming of Christ, and the rapture for those who believe in the pre-tribulation rapture.
Jesus
said no one is to know the day or hour and His words are used to
justify the setting of the year as Christ omits using the word
“year”. What Christ omits is thereby used to build the
argument rather than what He actually says. It’s an interesting way
of studying the Bible when we can build doctrines on what is not said
rather what is said.
The
second most used argument to defend it is that although Christ
compares His coming to the coming of a thief at night, other places
it says He won’t come as a thief to His people. And we are going to
investigate this in particular.
Please note that I am not saying Christ isn’t going to come in 2027, 2028 or 2031, because I don’t know what year He is coming and He could come any year even one of those, however, I want to address the theology of time setting of the second coming in general and if it’s supported in the Bible.
The setting of the mentioned dates is tied to calculating the year of jubilee or the 6000-year mark after either Christ’s baptism, speech in Nazareth, or His resurrection. And before the year 2000, it was popular for many to think this marked the end of the 6000 years and many expected an apocalypse back then. And for those who believe Jesus had to have been born 5 to 4 years BC because of Herod dying in 4 BC, considered the 6000-year mark to be a few years before the year 2000. However, all these dates came and went. The next mark for many was placing the 4000 years to the baptism, sermon, or crucifixion of Christ instead of the birth, and these are the dates we are challenged with now
Calculating the end of the 6000 years by using the Bible alone can be a little tricky and that is why you will see different calculations landing on different dates. The Bible presents a timeline through the birth of key generations and also through their detailed king’s list. Especially in the time of the kings, there seem to be some holes that are evident to everyone. So counting exact is very hard. Did the kings overlap each other? Did they count a full year even if the King was inaugurated six months into the year? The Bible isn’t specific when it comes to months. Evidently the giving and taking of months for over 300 year will amount to a few years that can’t be counted. A few places there seem to be uncertainty in the timeline. The question is if God deliberately allowed these holes. In Luke and Septuaginta we find that in the generations leading up to Abraham one man is mentioned which age and name is not included in Genesis. It’s claimed he was left out in Genesis because of his sins but that leaves us with another time gap that is not accounted for.
This
has caused many to instead focus on the year of jubilee believing
that Christ will come at the commencement of such a year which then
makes them think Jesus can only come at the end of a 50th year. If
one has passed, therefore, by this conclusion, Jesus has to wait for
another 50 years. Some say it has to be the year of jubilee from a
cycle either from creation or from the fall of man.
However,
I will not spend any more time on the different reckonings rather
look at the theology of the Bible concerning the time of Christ
second coming and if it is possible to know the time in advance.
Jesus
doesn’t know
In the Bible we find a very strange revelation coming from Jesus:
«But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” (Mar 13:32).
Jesus had said many times that
«I and my Father are one» (Joh 10:30)
Consider
their oneness why would God not reveal to His son the time for His
coming? The answer has to be tied to Christ’s mission.
«Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross» (Php 2:6-8)
Jesus
mission was not just to die for us, but to become our priest and
advocate in heaven (1Jn 2:1, Heb.2:17) He went from His High position
equal with God and lowered Himself not just to a human but to a
position as a mediator (Heb.12:24; Heb 9:15; 1Ti.2:5) A mediator
places himself in the middle, like a bridge between two places.
While working on our behalf, representing the case of mankind in heaven as a mediator, He seems to have been relieved of the knowledge of when the door of mercy shuts. In that way, Christ can work constantly for our sake throughout His ministry in heaven. And God the Father is the one who decides when it is over. Then Christ will prepare and start His journey. Now Jesus has at this time been granted to save a large number of people from the coming destruction and final judgment. Notice when Christ comes He waits for permission from the temple in heaven before starting to gather His people:
«And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped» (Rev 14:14-16).
Notice that it isn’t Christ who says «the time has come», but an angel mediate the time from God in the temple. Till the very last Christ has to wait for God’s proclamation of this “time”. And Christ learns of the time to reap when the time has come.
As you can see here a picture emerges showing how far fetched it is for us here on earth to think that we can know the time years ahead. In Revelation, we see Christ is proclaimed the last time of gathering at the very time He is already standing prepared on the cloud.
So speaking against Christ’s word of Him not knowing the time by saying He didn’t know it then but would when He ascended heaven is making a theology of what IS NOT SAID rather what is. I want to emphasize this as it is good learning in these days of confusion to recognize how some theologians build their arguments. Usually when an argument is built on what is not said it will appear as if it is something said. So be alert on this and you might be spared being lead on paths that have dead ends. However, that is a sneaky way of abolishing Christ’s direct words. Christ knew He was speaking of the future event and therefore His statement of Him not knowing the time would make no sense if it was not true also after His ascension. Do you think God wants you to read between the lines or respect His word that can be easily seen and read?
Daniel
12 prophecy
In Bible prophecy and Daniel 9, we learn the exact time for Christ first coming. It’s written so that it cannot be misunderstood:
«Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks» (Dan 9:25)
No such direct announcement is given of Christ second coming which is why those who are setting dates are left to use unclear prophecy and give them a meaning that is not written plainly in them.
One of them is the end of Daniel 12 which says:
«Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.» (Dan 12:12)
Having no clear meaning besides «blessed is he that waiteth» they feel at liberty to themselves to determine what this “wait” is about.
Once
the assumption is made that this blessing is Christ’s second coming
they build on this assumption rather the verse itself as the verse
itself says no such thing.
In the Bible, a blessing can be tied to many things. To end wickedness:
«Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers» (Psalm 1:1)
It can be a period of special trials:
«Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life» (James.1:12)
It can be a special time of atonement:
«Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered» (Psalm.32:1-2)
The list goes on. The word «waiteth» can also be placed with deliverance from a suppressor. We have many such blessings at the end of a waiting period in the Bible. Israel’s captivity in Egypt as they waited for the promised deliverance given in a prophecy. In Babylon the time prophecy said they had to wait for 70 years for deliverance. The 40 year time prophecy in the wilderness before the blessing given to the next generation, and many small and larger waiting times and prophecies leading to blessings. It’s very common in the Bible that God gives time prophecies related to temporary suppression and the relief from them. The relief is always in these cases seen as a blessing from God and a time of rejoicing.
The context of Daniel 12 shows it’s speaking of deliverance from an earthly ruler that has been given a time and not deliverance from sin:
«And from the time that the daily shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.» (Dan 12:11-12)
And so this is a clear «out of Babylon» type of blessing after God’s people have suffered suppression. It doesn’t have to be tied to the year of Christ’s second coming at all. The verse does not even state it and imagination has to be added to make it so. If you look at the difference between the prophecy regarding Christ first coming and this you will see a great difference. Over interpreting what blessing is to come after the waiting period can be compared to the great movement in the USA in the mid-1800s. They read
«And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed», and assumed that the earth was the sanctuary and the cleansing was Christ second coming (Dan 8:14 )
They calculated the time and was bitterly disappointed when Christ didn’t come. Then they realized they had been too quick in how they had interpreted the statement «sanctuary be cleansed». Rather it being a metaphor of the earth and Christ second coming they realized it was what it said directly: a real sanctuary that was cleansed. Finding out from the book of Hebrews that there was, in fact, a sanctuary service active in heaven. And so they took a clear statement and added meaning and interpretations, yet the verse might have only meant exactly what it did say.
And
this is what many Bible students do when they interpret something in
the Bible. They take a clear statement and give it another meaning
and when they are utterly disappointed they realize they have added
meaning that was never there.
The matter is clear, that if Christ second coming was prophesied at the end of Daniel 12 then Christ statement was strangely off: «But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” For, not only did Jesus know all about the subduing power mentioned in Daniel 12 as He even mentioned this power Himself, the angel Gabriel giving Daniel the vision also knew. (Jesus identifying the power in Daniel with Rome Mat.24:15)
Which
would leave Christ’s statement of Him and the angels not knowing
strange?
Counting
of jubilee years:
Counting
the jubilee years seems like a challenge today and different groups
bring different conclusions. But the jubilee years were never a
secret, they were meant to be kept by the Israeli nation. Satan and
his angels, as well as Christ and His angels, have existed before the
earth was created and before Adam sinned. In fact, the devil caused
him to sin and probably commemorate that victory quite often. They
can all count the 6000 years from both creation and the fall of man
and they all know the cycle of the years of jubilee. Having perfect
knowledge of this, if God had planned to fix the date of Christ’s
second coming to His harvest feast in the year of Jubilee 6000 after
either event would mean everyone would know when Christ was coming.
And again that would make Christ statement that neither he or the
angels knew strange at best.
But
not just that. Christ said the devil didn’t know either and that
there was a reason for it:
«And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through “Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. (Luk 12:39-40)
Christ’s
second coming is secret because they don’t want the devil and his
angels to know the date. And Jesus, if we believe He means exactly
what He says, explains the reason. The devil «would have watched,
and not have suffered his house to be broken through». But isn’t
God all-powerful, can’t He come and gather His children without any
problems?
Well, Satan isn’t going to just give up without a fight. In Revelation we learn what happened when the devil was cast out of heaven:
«And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out…» (Rev 12:7-9)
Why
was there room for them to fight at all? Well, we have to see that it
was. And if they fought to prevent being cast out of heaven you can
be sure they will fight with everything they have to not let go of
their pray and dominion here on earth. How they fight we do not
know.
From
the Bible, we learn that God does not intend to make that battle at
Christ’s second coming. Rather the devil is going to be «bound».
(Rev 20:2 ) We learn from Revelation 16 that they will gather
together with Satan to make war but that Christ’s second coming will
interfere with these plans and stop them.
You
can be sure just as God is planning the triumphant coming of Christ
the devil and all his angels are planning on how to make that return
as difficult as possible. From Revelation 20 we see that God is
saving this «battle of planet earth» with the devil and his allies
for after the 1000 years. God doesn’t want this battle before then.
Meaning
at Christ’s second coming the sole purpose is to deliver God’s
people, both them that have died and those who are still alive.
Jesus Himself said that His coming is secret to prevent the devil’s plans:
«that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through»
Jesus then in the same setting says to His people:
«Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not»
Meaning because God has to make Christ coming a secret to ruin Satan’s plans we cannot know the time either. So Jesus tells us to be prepared at all times. It is because of the devil and his angels God has chosen a time no one knows.
And
God is no fool, he knows the devil can count jubilee years and count
to 6000.
So
can Jesus and so can the angels and so the set date cannot be that
date or Christ words make absolutely no sense.
Does Paul contradict Christ? In the verse we just looked at we see that Christ says that He comes as a thief because of the devil but also that we cannot know the time.
Paul says:
«For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.» (1Th 5:2-4)
To
many this saying just abolish Christ saying. It’s never a good idea
to use Paul’s writing to abolish Christ’s word even if it’s about
the law or any other topic. Jesus didn’t say He comes as a thief to
His people, but that His coming is as a thief to our captors. For us,
His coming is not that of a thief for He is our deliverer and «the
goodman» our captor. We cheer on Christ coming. «The thief» in
this parable is only a threat as a thief to the devil. When we are
prepared we welcome Him and are not threatened by His coming.
Every
place it talks of Him not coming as a thief to us it’s placed in
the context of us being mentally prepared by having Christ in our
heart and being clothed in His righteousness. The darkness Paul
speaks off is not being in the dark of the time of the event but
being spiritually in the dark.
Paul said: «For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.» and then he says: «But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief» And then he elaborates the meaning:
«Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober» (1Th 5:2 & 4; 5-6)
Paul is not here contradicting Christ words but using the same words Christ used and saying the same as Jesus only with different words. «Be ye, therefore, ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not» and «Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober» Paul is not saying we can know the time, but that we can be ready at the time by how we live our lives. Same as Jesus. Again making the assumption that not coming as a thief in the night means we will know the year of Christ coming is building an argument on something that is not in the text rather just accepting that which is there: our character at the time of Christ coming. Again, don’t build arguments on information that’s not there.
Paul compares it to a woman giving birth: “sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child”. Now everyone knows a woman is pregnant for 9 months, and usually, the doctor will set a date for delivery. However, Paul wrote this before the invention of ultrasound measuring perfectly a baby’s size and development. But even today with our best calculations the day of birth comes as a surprise unless medically forced. I have two sons, one came a day earlier than the due date, the other came five weeks before the due date. Because the second one came so early I never had time to prepare a bag to bring with me. My sister with her child and my mother carrying me experienced both a time of tarry, a full two weeks later than the due date. Everyone who carries a child in the tenth month knows the time of tarry is hard, you are prepared for the event but you are struggling and hoping every day is the day of delivery. You can predict the time of birth but even today the day might come suddenly or tarry. And even if you give birth on the exact day predicted it was not due to your exceptional cleverness to predict, you just got lucky. The date was even more difficult to predict in the time of Paul when he used it as an example of Christ’s second coming. You can’t predict it even if you think you can. He comes when He comes.
The sixth plague In the book of Revelation, we learn about the last events which include the Mark of the Beast. After making the mark we can read about seven plagues coming over the earth and Christ coming right after them or during the seventh plague. In the sixth plague Christ makes the following statement:
«Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.» (Rev 16:15-16)
Why does Jesus need to add this information in the middle of the mentioning of the sixth plague? Jesus brings the same message as He gave once before, He comes as a thief even then and we need to be prepared not by knowing the time but by staying holy. We still don’t know but are still prepared by how we live our lives. If we are where we should be, clothed in Christ’s righteousness, Christ can come today and it would still not be to us as He was a thief in the night. The only thing that determines if He comes as a thief to us is if we are prepared by being clothed in His righteousness or not. But notice, even during the sixth plague, Satan is in the dark of Christ exact coming. Also notice Christ says He comes like a thief at the very time Satan is preparing a great war and thus Christ is destroying his plans like He said He would. But at the same time, again, Jesus makes note that Him being forced to come as a thief to stop Satan means we might find ourselves unprepared too and so He gives us this warning again. He comes suddenly.
And so thinking we can know this event 3, 7 or 10 years in advance is just fooling ourselves.
Christ
has made it very clear, that we cannot know the time even up until
the very last moment.
The
10 virgins
This is consistent with Christ parable of the ten virgins waiting for the groom. It says that five of them were wise and the other five foolish. Now consistent with the other statements of Christ the wisdom here is not tied to knowing the event, Jesus had just told them prior to this parable that no one would know the hour. None of the ten virgins know, just like the example of childbirth. They had an expectation but it says «the bridegroom tarried», meaning He does not come the time they had expected. Suddenly they are all awoken by a cry saying at midnight «the bridegroom cometh; go ye to meet him». Here we see the coming of the bridegroom in the middle of the blackest night. Although they are all alerted at the same time, at the coming of the groom, the difference between them is that five of them had no oil left on their lamps, they weren’t prepared for the time tarrying. The other five had oil enough and were, therefore, prepared no matter what time the groom came. This is again consistent with Christ’s words: «Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not» and «Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments». All Christ messages to us about this is that we have to be ready at all times. We have to be ready today. And being ready is not knowing the time but having His kingdom already begun inside us: «Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you» (Luk 17:21)
Christ’s second coming starts in the hearts and ends in physical deliverance. First He will deliver us from our sins which is why He gives the message: «Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.» and to the last church: «I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear» (Rev 3:18)
Why does Jesus say the kingdom comes not by observation in Luke 17:20 and then in 17:24 He tells them to distinguish a claimed coming, if it’s true or not, by how the coming appear by sight? Isn’t this a contradiction? The fullness is clear when Christ proceeds to say His coming is suddenly, it cannot be predicted which is why we have to be prepared beforehand. A false coming involves a time where you can convert and go and seek this “Christ”. But when it happens for real it is over, there is no second chance. He will gather His saints immediately.
We are not left in the dark. Jesus said the time of His coming is a secret that not even we will know until the time is at hand when Christ has already started His journey to come for us. However, He has told us the era it will take place and clues that the time is short. In the prophecy given Daniel in Daniel 2, God let us count down to the great event by following the rise and fall of the kingdoms. From Babylon to a divided Roman empire, He lets us know that Christ kingdom will be set up during the divided kingdom. Back when the vision was given and even a few hundred years later Christ coming would seem more imminent than what we now now it to be. The former kingdoms, Babylon, Medo Persia, and Greece all had a shorter period compared to the Roman empire and the divided empire. Babylon lasted only a few hundred years, even shorter if counted from Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom. From Cyrus the Great until the Greek empire there was only 200 years and the Greek empire lasted roughly 350 years but as a successor to the Persians even less, because it was already divided at Alexanders death and became split first in four and then in two parts until the Romans took over. The iron kingdom however in comparison lasted for 1000 years! So anyone who had hoped the fall of Rome would be as rapid as the kingdoms before would be utterly disappointed. Even more so the over 1500 years the land would be divided, iron mixed with clay. Had God revealed the dates of the rise and fall of the kingdoms God’s people might have lost courage completely. However, He did give a special prophetic time for 1260, 1290 and 1335 prophetic days (years). This was a special time of suppression and just like the captives in Babylon had waited patiently for the seventy years to commence before returning to Jerusalem, God’s people had to in the Christian era wait patiently during this period of lengthy suppression. When they were delivered from this power over 40+ years went by until they had a full reform from the false teachings they had learned during their captivity and would come under God as lawgiver again (re-institution of God’s law in the church). Although they were delivered from Papal civil power they remained all these years under his religious laws. Now they had re-instituted God’s laws and the blessing that followed this change was a spiritual awakening, discernment, and enlightenment.
“ALEPH. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD” (Psa_119:1).
“Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart” (Psa_119:2).
When God’s people honor His law, God can by His own rule deliver them from their enemies. When they rebel God allows them to be subdued. So it has been throughout Bible history, even in the prophecies in the New Testament. The Jews in the time of Jesus wanted Messiah to deliver them from Rome, but He wanted to deliver them from sin. This was the blessing He wanted to give. The same can be said about God’s people in the end if we seek the deliverance in His coming and Him defeating the “beast of Rome” while He wants His coming to be about defeating the influence of Rome in our hearts. The spiritual deliverance comes before the physical. The blessing is in the spiritual deliverance.
Christ is asked when His second coming is. When the disciples asked when Christ’s second coming was Jesus didn’t give them a date or a time prophecy, He gave them signs:
«And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?» (Mat 24:3)
«Take heed that no man deceive you» was Christ’s reply. How could Christ prevent them from being deceived by a false Christ coming? By giving the exact date of His coming right? Then everyone would know when it was Christ and when it wasn’t. But Christ couldn’t give that information and so instead He told us to not be deceived by false Christs by learning what His coming would be like.
He then spoke of all the things that would happen on earth and how catastrophes and wars would come before He comes. When speaking of His grand coming He gives this information:
«Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.» (Mat 24:32-33)
And so again, although the disciple asked: «when shall these things be» Jesus could only offer them the information of staying alert and faithful. And by paying attention they would be able to sense that the time is very short. When Daniel pleaded to know the times, God gave Him the exact time of Christ first coming (Daniel 9), but when the disciples asked they did not get a time prophecy but a series of signs to look for.
Jesus then ends by telling them that He didn’t know Himself even the exact time, nor the angels. Christ gave all the information He could in order for them to be alert and ready and for the devil to continue being in the dark.
The evil servant: Jesus then continues to give a parable of an evil servant. The setting of this parable is important. Let’s look at the timeline:
Disciples
ask when Christ coming is.
Jesus
tells them of the signs to look for and many of the things that will
happen beforehand.
He
then tells them to use these signs to know when the event is nearby
using the fig tree as an example
He
then explains no one knows the time except God, and says it will
come suddenly on everyone, even God’s people.
He
then shares a parable of a time-setter.
Seeing
the setting, having just said no one knows the time Christ gives a
parable of this servant who seems to think he knows when Christ comes
and the result of this self-deception proves fatal in his case:
«But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of» (Mat 24:48-50)
Here
are three references to time-setting in the same parable:
1.
My Lord delayeth his coming. Meaning He has placed Christ second
coming in the future, thinking there is still time to prepare later.
2.
The Lord cometh «a day when he looketh not for him». This says that
this servant’s idea of Christ’s second coming is false and the time
is another then he had thought or pictured.
3.
«In an hour that he is not aware of». Again, a third time Jesus
says that although this man believes to have some sort of idea of
when His coming is, He was wrong.
The
statement «a day when he looketh not for him» shows that this
servant didn’t just think Christ was delaying, He thought He had a
good grip on the time of His coming.
The time setter today may say they don’t eat and drink with the drunken, however, this is a parable. And being drunken is a metaphor in the Bible for not being «alert» like Paul said:
«For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation» (1Th 5:7-8).
The setting of time in the case of this evil servant caused him not to be prepared spiritually. This is the drunkenness.
And again, this is part of Christ answering the question of the events around His coming. Basically, He says no one will know so don’t think you can know, but you can be prepared and alert.
Faith Placing the second coming of Christ many years in the future can be problematic and lead us into an unintentional slumber. And even though the person setting the dates 7-10 years in the future isn’t going to falter during this time, many of those they preach the dates to will. Many who needed the hope of Christ’s imminent return to keep their hopes up can lose courage. Many live in difficult situations. Others may make decisions for their future that might lead them astray. Some might think they have time to change later as the time approaches. And then there are those who are lead by fear but who’s heart is not really converted, mingling with God’s people and causing them damage as they appear as something they are not and by it getting to influence the others in a wrong way.
The
concept of not knowing is what binds us to God in the bond of faith
and keeps us awake.
The
book of Hebrews shows us that walking and not knowing is what
purifies us and our faith:
«Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report.» (Heb 11:1-2)
When
Abraham and Sarah were promised a child a lot of pain might have been
prevented if God had said when they would receive this child. But the
time of waiting and not knowing and then giving up was part of their
trial and their lesson to trust God.
God could have let Joseph know he would be released and even how long he would remain in captivity, but He didn’t. Joseph had to learn to walk with God in blind faith.
There
are countless examples in the Bible of how God expects us to be
faithful especially when not knowing the end of our trials.
We
are taught to trust Him. For some the end and the coming of Christ is
tomorrow. Their life may be over in two years. God wants us to walk
with Him now, to be prepared now. To always have oil on our lamps, to
always be clothed so we won’t be found naked when that happens.
Noah «By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house…» (Heb 11:7) Noah was never told the date of the flood. He started building in faith. Knowing the time might have caused him to either build in haste or taking his time. Not knowing meant he was building that ark while trusting God to have the control of the process.
Jesus
uses this as an example of not knowing the time of His second coming:
«But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. ……herefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh» (Matt.24:36-39 & 44)
The flood came suddenly, they had no date and they were surprised at it’s coming. Noah was ready because he had built himself an ark and heeded God’s warning of the coming destruction. He didn’t know the time either, but he was prepared when it happened. It says: «And knew not until the flood came», they didn’t know the time and Jesus says you won’t know the time either so be ready, have that ark ready. And the ark we have to have ready is His righteousness covering us. Christ is our ark.
Lot Christ’s second example of His coming when explaining the event in Luke 17 is the destruction of Sodom.
«Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed» (Luk 17:28-30).
Christ then proceeds to say that His people will be in a hurry at the time.
What
signifies the destruction of Sodom was that Lot was not told of the
event before the night of the event. He had no time to prepare, it
happened suddenly. He had to just run.
Abraham
was told in advance, but only during the day. He had no time to warn
anyone, the angels arrived in the city that same evening.
Lot had to flee that very night. He was saved not because he turned to the Lord that night but because He had already sought the Lord beforehand. He was saved because Christ was in his heart not because he knew the city was going to be destroyed. Lot was just as clueless as the inhabitants of Sodom were until the very night when they were separated by the angels. «And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked» (2Pe 2:7)
The destruction of Jerusalem In the time of the conquest of Jerusalem, the first time and the second, prophets let them know ahead that destruction was coming. Note that they were not told the time of the event itself. These events were also symbolically of the end of the world and show us the same message given by Jesus and Paul regarding the end times.
Jeremiah
the prophet prophesying the end of Jerusalem in his days were told to
preach to them the coming destruction and the importance of turning
from their sins. If they did they could be individually saved.
But
he was never given the date of the event. When the Babylonian
besieged the city it was a surprise to the inhabitants because they
weren’t expecting it at the time. They were locked in the city and
were struggling in need of food. They were unprepared because their
hearts had not listened to Jeremiah’s warnings.
When it comes to Jerusalem’s destruction the second time Jesus didn’t give the date or the year for this event either. He gave them a sign which was the coming of the Roman army. An obvious sign to many, but for many of the Jews it was a sign to fight and hopefully win. They thought at both times they were under siege that God would deliver them. Jesus said this was a sign that the city would be destroyed and so they had to flee if they wanted to be saved.
In both cases, they were to be prepared by the event by converting their hearts and paying attention to signs.
The
story of the flood, the destruction of Sodom and the destruction of
Jerusalem all point to the coming of Christ. And Jesus lets us know
that we need to be prepared because it’s going to happen suddenly,
and when it does happen it will be too late to prepare. This will
also help God to see who is only pretending to convert because they
have been told the date of His coming and who is converted because
they love Him and wish to be with Him. The sincere is always prepared
while the insincere only prepares when given a date.
Jesus says about the time probation being over: «He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still» (Rev 22:11)
When
Christ comes, even when the door of mercy shuts, there will be no
additional time to prepare. Our preparation is in living the life of
faithfulness right now.
If we do, Christ won’t come as a thief even though He comes at a time we didn’t expect Him to. And His coming will be sudden.
BOOK 1 : What You Need To Know Before The Mark Of The Beast Law
At creation, God said that man was to rule over the beasts but in the last book of the bible, we see beasts rule over man. What does it symbolize? Is Religion the cause of all wars? What do irreligious and religious governments have in common when fighting the minority? What does God say the problem is and how to solve it? What is “sin” and what is the reason why the world got into the state it is in? How are all world conflicts throughout time tied to the last conflict of the Mark of the Beast? 159 pages
This book deals with the topic of Sunday laws, why it’s related to end-time events as well as Biblical history. It takes us back to the religion of Babel which has continued as a competition to the God of the Bible to this very day. The book of Revelation tells God’s people in the end days to separate from all of Babel’s sins. Here we look at the base of the Babylonian religion still practiced by Christians today and what a true reform looks like according to the Bible. Even more so, how it’s all related to Sunday laws. 363 pages
This book deals with the topic of Sunday laws, why it’s related to end-time events as well as Biblical history. It takes us back to the religion of Babel which has continued as a competition to the God of the Bible to this very day. The book of Revelation tells God’s people in the end days to separate from all of Babel’s sins. Here we look at the base of the Babylonian religion still practiced by Christians today and what a true reform looks like according to the Bible. Even more so, how it’s all related to Sunday laws. 363 pages
YOU are Israel. God called you out of Egypt by the blood of the lamb, you entered in a covenant with Him and He taught you His laws and ways. (Exodus-Deuteronomy) As your Christian life with Christ begins, you entered the promised land to dwell as a free citizen under Christ to prosper and thrive (Joshua). Your heart is the temple where Gods spirit dwells, your brain is the King. The people are your spiritual family. Edom was Jacobs’s brother, the Edomites are your cousin family, your neighbor. The people of Moab and Ammon are descendants of Lot, they are your distant relatives. The Midianites are your relatives too, they are your countrymen. The Canaanites are the worldly ways that surround you, that if you take part it will separate you from God. The philistines are the host of Satan… when you are not true to God they come and camp among you, suppress you and battle you. If God permits they can even destroy you. When you realize you are suppressed by sin and caught in a suppressive relationship with your captor, God sends you JUDGES, His spirit, to help you battle the enemy. By them, you will win victory over sin and can enjoy freedom in Christ. But when enjoying your new-found freedom, if you go back to sinning with one hand and worshiping with the other, God will soon permit you to be once again subdued by the enemy. (Judges) God wanted your safety and victory, but your sins took that privilege from you. When Israel failed to drive out the Canaanites they ended up taking part in their practices. When you don’t separate from the ways of the world, acknowledging it as unclean and drive it from you, you will eventually end up following them and doing what they do. Compromise and union with them will always lead to your disadvantage. Israel was under constant attack from the enemy. Their enemies wished to destroy them. These attacks are the devil’s attack, he knows you are God’s child and he is looking for a way to destroy you and your soul. He will send giants to mock you and tell you it’s useless to fight and battle him, that your God cannot save you, that your sin is too great of a giant to battle even with God’s help. But by the power of God, you can fight those giants as David did. (1.Samuel) Your enemy wishes you to drive away from the Lord with your repeating and unrepentable sins so you are left unprotected, he wants to burn down your temple (heart) and put your king (mind) in prison. This is what the King of Babylon did, it’s what the king of Babylon will do to you if you separate yourself from God. (2 Kings, 2 Chronicles.) He first put your family up against you, your relatives, the world. You have a stronghold like Israel did when they were under God’s protection. You can gain victory and defend yourself only if you are true to God. The moment you ad idol worship, the ways of the heathen in your religion, God removes your protection partly or completely all depended upon the nature of your sins. The devil seeing a city with less defense eagerly attack. (The message of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the prophets) Your family, Edom, Ammon, and Moab try to bring you down, discourage you, tempt you to do as them, mix heathenism with the true faith. They will subdue you if they can. But if you are true to God, He will not allow it.
The condition for your salvation is the same as for ancient Israel. God was patient and forbearing but in the end, if your sinful ways don’t end even after God has sent you His prophet, the Bible and His witnesses, He will allow the enemy to take THE CITY YOU ARE. They will build a siege wall, encamp around you and finally destroy you. Then they will blind you like they blinded King Zechariah, so you can’t see and evaluate truth from error.
Your only safety after being called by God and entering a covenant relationship with Him is to stay true to Him. The moment you went in a covenant with Him you became the enemy target. And he hates you.
If your king, your brain, is in the enemy’s prison; If your heart and love for the truth, the temple, has been destroyed and you find yourself a captive in Babylon, God might still have mercy upon you and bring you back and restore you as a kingdom. You will rebuild the temple and the city and the walls. If you repent and realize your sin and wish to worship Him again, He will bring an enemy to fight your enemy and they will be forced to let you go. And you will bring God’s law back into your country, your heart and soul, as Ezra did. Nehemiah, the truth, will build your protection, the walls around you. And you will be the Lord’s. But as God said to Israel, He says to you: I will give you a time of probation. They got 490 years to turn from their ways and choose God’s righteousness completely, to anoint the most holy. If you, in the time God has given you, end up crucifying and rejecting your savior when He comes to you in a way you did not expect or predict, dismissing His prophets and not listening to God, the same will happen again. (Matthew to Acts) As with Judah when the roman armies encamped around them they thought they would be saved, that the Lord was with them. With their false prophets in their midst, a false messiah leading them, they were sure of victory. They cried: “Lord, Lord” but God turned away from them. (Matthew:21-23) Then they even started fighting amongst themselves and they became weak and the Roman army destroyed them and the city and the walls altogether and not a rock of the temple remained standing after. The temple would not be rebuilt. So will your end be if you do not wholly surrender your heart to the Lord to follow His ways. The next destruction might be the final one.
Israel is you. Go read their story once again and make sure you don’t repeat their mistakes in your own life.
«In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness» (Jeremiah 33:16)
The heavenly courts
and
the meaning of eternal damnation.
The God of the Bible is often accused of being an unfair judge in the matters of men from people who reject the Bible. Unfortunately, those presenting God as an unfair judge are people of faith. Many of the ideas are emerged from a misunderstanding of some key scriptures and failing to see the full picture. The idea of God torturing people in a never-ending fire as punishment for a short life of sin here on earth doesn’t just seem unfair and unreasonable but IT IS. Fairness in ancient times is often compared to a scale measuring bad against good. At one time in that everlasting hell, the punishment will have gone too far. It takes just a child to conceive that if you are in a never-ending punishment as punishment for a short-lasting sin at one point in time in that ’forever’ state you have suffered more than you deserved.It’s therefore important to understand Bible expression in the correct setting and take a deeper look into what perdition means and how the courts in heaven work. You might be surprised to find many clues in Scripture that helps us see these things in a new light. What we will discover at the end of it are a good judge and a fair punishment.
The first thing that is essential to understand is that your church might have taught you to interpret the Bible wrong. Sometimes we need to unlearn and relearn all over. So when reading this article you might be in full protest saying: «that’s not how I have been taught it is, that’s not what the Bible says». Please consider that you have been taught wrong and give me this time to explain how and why. You see Christianity in its beginning was Judaism, a continuation of the Old Testament Bible. Christianity was never meant to be a new religion, Judah had been promised the Messiah and they were to represent Him to the world. Meaning Judaism would still be Judaism only with their promised Messiah. The symbolism in their rituals would be replaced with what they had symbolized. However, the Jewish people rejected their own Messiah and as a result, independent Jewish ministries shared Jesus with the world instead. The Jews refused to be associated with their Jesus-believing brethren and soon the first believers were called by a new name after the Man they were preaching: Christ, Christians. (Isa 62:2; Act_11:26) Meaning followers of Christ. Christ is the Greek word for the Hebrew word Messiah. Although a large part of the Jewish congregation accepted Christ, the leadership did not. Soon they started preaching the gospel to the pagans. Now most Jews didn’t have a doctrine of a never-ending underground torture ground where devils worked to torture people, they understood perdition differently than the pagans. The most dominant heathen religion in those days was the Roman and Greek which in return resembled the ancient Babylonian religion. Many of the pagans received the gospel of Christ but because they had a different background, their understanding of different Biblical truths was sometimes tied to their religious background. Finally, after Christians suffering great persecution the Roman state embraced Christianity to unite the kingdom torn between pagans and Christians. But at the same time as the state brought the people and religions together, many biblical terms were blended in with a pagan mentality. And this is when the heathen version of «hell» got mixed up with the Biblical «hell». In pagan mythology, there was always a god in control of the underworld torturing those who came there. Even in ancient Babylon who are the first religion we know who came up with these ideas, we see the then beloved semi-god Tammuz being captured in hell causing the worshipers to cry over him. And of course, the Romans had Hades assisted by Persephone in the underworld. When the pagan mentality was mixed with Biblical truth Satan became the god of the underworld and the demons his helpers. For the heathen, this was a common way of thinking and unfortunately after paganism and Christianity got blended the old pagan understanding became part of Christian traditional thinking and interpretation.
Church decoration showing demons taking people to the underworld.
Ancient Sumerian cylinder seal impression showing the god Dumuzid being tortured in the underworld by galla demons
Hermes Psykhopompos sits on a rock, preparing to lead a dead soul to the underworld. Attic white-ground lekythos, ca. 450 BC
What does it mean if it’s true that God sends people to hell were Satan is «a god» to be tortured forever and ever? Well, then Satan who caused sin is the one who punishes the sinners. Imagine a man talked you into doing a robbery with him, and you did, and then the judge sentences you to be tortured by the man who talked you into it? Weird logic? Make no mistake: Satan doesn’t work for God in punishing sinners, he hates God and God’s laws. The word «Satan» means “the opponent”. He is not going to work for God or cooperate with Him, nor does he. Satan is a rebel doing everything he can to sabotage God’s plans.
Doesn’t the Bible mention hell? Yes it does. It mentions a “sheol” and a “hell”. But it’s the traditional pagan origin of the understanding of these things that are confusing people when they read these words in the Bible. The term needs to be placed into its proper context, the Old Testament understanding of perdition. Who wrote the words in the New Testament? Jews, not Romans and not Greeks. They had an Old Testament mentality but their work is written down in Greek.
What we will find on closer examination is not a God out of control with his anger, but a righteous judge and a righteous punishment.
Christianitydriven by fear of hell
Many Christians today are partly Christians because they fear hell. One man said that if there wasn’t an everlasting hell there would be no point in being a Christian. The fear of being tortured forever is why he was confessing Christ and choosing His side. Is God honored by worship if it’s not love-driven but solely driven by fear of punishment? Wouldn’t such a relationship eventually become toxic? If you are only a Christian to avoid hell you might consider you don’t love the Lord or His truth. If God wants followers by fear and not love He could take over this planet right now and force people to worship Him. Instead, we see Christ standing outside the door asking for us to invite Him:
«Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.» (Rev.3,20)
The
lake of fire
God is the source of life. No life is sustained without God or can exist without God. If people are to continue burning in an everlasting hell God has to have a presence IN hell to keep them alive. He has to continuously re-create them and sustain them for them to keep burning. In reality, the sinner has been given eternal life, only in hell.
However the Bible says the penalty for sin is DEATH:
«But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die» (Gen 2:17)
Sinning
does not grant you everlasting life in hell, but it gives you a death
penalty, you will be destroyed or cease to exist.
You
will die.
Yes the old testament understanding given from God was that they were not to continue burning but to be completely burnt up:
«For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. ….And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts. (Mal 4:1 & 4:3)
«BURN THEM UP» and what happens when something is burnt up? It becomes «ASHES». Now this is the ultimate ending for not only the ungodly but Satan himself. Yes, even Satan will be destroyed and be no more:
«And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death» (Rev 20:14)
How can death and hell itself be cast into the lake of fire? The lake of fire here signifies complete destruction. The New Testament is written in greek and the word for hell here is HADES which is the name of the Greek god of the underworld. But the God of the Bible forbids pagan gods so what is a Greek god doing in the Bible? The Greek language consists of words tied to their mythology. You might not know it but you use pagan religious words today as well in your daily conversation without believing in the pagan mythology the words represent, the preachers even use the names of pagan gods from the pulpit. We have these expressions from the ancient Roman religion. Every weekday, every month of the year is named after Roman gods. When you say Monday, Tuesday, etc you reference the Roman pagan gods. When you mention the planets or stars you reference pagan mythology. Mars, Jupiter, Pluto are all named after Roman gods. Yet we use them not in honor of the Roman gods they are named after but because they are the known words for certain things in the language we use. So January is the god Janus. Do we worship him or his ideology when we use the word January to explain something tied to that month? No, we are just mainly referring to that month in the language people around us understand. If you made up your own word for the month no one would understand what month you were talking about. And so we except pagan words in our everyday speech. So if you are representing your church and suggest a January prayer meeting does it imply the rituals of the god Janus in the prayer meeting? Of course not. Paganism was often woven into the language itself and still is. And the English language is full of words and expressions from none other than the Roman religion. The same with other languages in other cultures. The word “hades” in the New Testament was not just tied to mythology, it was also a word used to described death itself, a final resting place under the ground. When a jew speaking Greek used it he did not mean for you to adopt Greek mythology, he used it because that was the common phrase for a death that could not be undone. Those who went to the underworld could never leave and so the word became the Greek word for perdition and writing in Greek they had to use a word which meaning was understood.
Rather changing mythology on one doctrine because of a Greek word we need to look at what the Bible says in fullness about death and destruction, punishment and final judgment.
«For
the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord» (Rom.6:23).
Now God had told Adam and Eve if they ate of the tree they would be punished by death. Satan told Eve that God lied:
«And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die» (Genesis 3:4)
If you continue to live on in an underworld forever you are still alive. Meaning Satan told the truth and God lied? But we don’t believe Satan. According to the Bible, for man to continue living they have to eat from the tree of life:
«And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken» (Gen 3:22-23)
Now they need that tree to continue to live and they were denied access to it after they sinned (Gen 3:22-23). But for the redeemed access will once again be given:
«In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. …Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.» (Rev 22:2 & 14)
For the life of a sinner to be sustained in «hell» they would need a tree of life there. But there is no tree of life accessible in hell for sinners and if there was I’m sure they would not wish to eat from it just to prolong their state of being.
The
first death is “a sleep”
In the Old Testament, the dead are dead:
«the dead know not any thing” (Ecclesiastes 9:5) “His breath goeth forth, . . . in that very day his thoughts perish” (Ps. 146:4, KJV). “There is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going” (Eccl. 9:10)
“Nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun” “Their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished” (verse 6). “The dead do not praise the Lord” (Ps. 115:17).
The Old Testament is clear that when you die you die, you don’t go to an underworld to be tortured and where you will regret all your wrongdoings while being “whipped by Satan”. The Old Testament describes David, Solomon, and the other kings of Israel and Judah as sleeping with their forefathers (1 Kings 2:10; 11:43; 14:20, 31; 15:8; 2 Chron. 21:1; 26:23; etc.). They are not described to either go to heaven nor to hell. Job called death a sleep (Job 14:10-12), as did David (Ps. 13:3), Jeremiah (Jer. 51:39, 57), and Daniel (Dan. 12:2). They called it a sleep because they believed they would be resurrected from the dead, and so they saw it as a temporary state of unconsciousness in wait of the resurrection.
The
New Testament uses the same imagery. In describing the condition of
Jairus’ daughter, who was dead, Christ said that she was sleeping
(Matt. 9:24; Mark 5:39). He didn’t pull her soul from either heaven
or hell. He referred to the deceased Lazarus in a similar manner, an
unconscious state (John 11:11-14). Matthew wrote that many “saints
who had fallen asleep were raised” after Christ’s resurrection
(Matt. 27:52), and when recording Stephen’s martyrdom, Luke wrote
that “he fell asleep” (Acts 7:60), not that his soul went
to heaven as many Christian would say today. That was not something
they said or claimed in Biblical times. Both Paul and Peter also
called death a sleep (1 Cor. 15:51, 52; 1 Thess. 4:13-17; 2 Peter
3:4). Still, in New Testament times, they had the same understanding
of death as in the Old Testament. The idea that the dead becomes
angels in heaven are not from the Bible at all, it’s just something
that has become popular among Christians to say. But it is not
Biblical. Saying about someone who has died “they are now happy
in heaven” isn’t Biblical either. No one says anything like that
in the Bible because it’s not a theologically correct statement. Many
Christians use these terms because they have been thought traditions
and because they don’t know the Bible.
So everyone in the Bible says that when you DIE you fall in an unconscious state. You are not running around active in an underworld screaming and shouting. There is only one story in the Bible that could justify Christians to hold on to this pagan idea and that is a story Jesus tells about a man sitting on Abrahams’s lap while the rich man was being tortured in an underworld. However, that was the Greek understanding, and Jesus was using the story as a parable picturing a grown man sitting on Abraham’s bosom. Jesus used parables and metaphors all the time, and their claimed right to salvation was by being children of Abraham which is why Jesus place the beggar on the bosom of Abraham in the parable. One parable doesn’t change the perdition as written straight forward in the Bible and all the other accounts. If it did, Jesus Himself would have contradicted God’s word. None of Christ parables were literal, they were all figurative.
The
Bible teaches that all humans, good or bad, will rise again after
their first death. The first death is not eternal perdition, it’s a
state of nothingness while waiting for the sentencing. The death
sentence spoken of as final punishment for sin is the one that is
given after the resurrection from this “sleep”.
The
book of Revelation teaches us there are two resurrections. The first
is for those God has saved and the second is for the ones who will
receive their final destruction- an irreversible ending, the real
death. «But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand
years were finished.» (Rev 20:5)
So why isn’t the first death(sleep) good enough as punishment? Why wake people up to just end their life again? This is when we get to the part that shows us just what a righteous judge God really is.
“Body and Soul”
Today we
do not have the scientific knowledge on how to retrieve a dead
person. We can copy their DNA, some say we have come so far that we
can even clone a living being. But that would be all, at best we are
stuck with a clone-twin of that living being and not that actual
person. God, however, who has created all life knows more science
than we do. He knows how to retrieve that exact person and not a copy
or clone of it. It’s hard to find something to compare with to do
it justice, and so I have to use a very silly comparison that does
not do it justice however still illustrates the point. Let me use a
computer as a metaphor. You may have a screen, mouse, keyboard –
all those visible things you use to access your information but these
things, although conceived as your computer visually, in reality, can
be destroyed without you losing your work. As long as the hard drive
is intact you can replace the exterior with new ones and place your
hard drive in it and you will have all your data and work back. It’s
not a copy of your old machine, it’s the same hard-drive, the same
content. But your hard-drive cannot function without the rest of the
parts. A hard-drive doesn’t work on its own. When the heard-drive
is on its own, unconnected, it’s as if it is asleep. It doesn’t
work at all. It is depended on the other items to work and be active
and depended on electricity even to be switched on. As long as you
have the hard-drive unharmed you can retrieve it all when you get it
plugged in. God has to connect us and restore a body for us so that
we can «work again» or exist. He is the only one who can do it, and
even if He recreates our external body the inside identity is still
us, it’s our souls or spirit or whatever word you might want to use
to explain it inside a restored body.
Although
it’s somewhat terrible comparing a human to a machine it
illustrates the point in one important way. We have discovered DNA
but we haven’t discovered God’s secret lying in each human being,
what would be the “heard-drive” in the metaphor.
Information of us is stored in the DNA, and in cells but there is one
secret scientist who has yet to discover to build up the same human
being again.
If
humans had discovered this very secret they could destroy a human
being for good. They kill each other all the time, but no one is lost
because God can retrieve them. If man had discovered God’s secret
they could eternally destroy a human. God has given no man this
authority. God reserves the right to retrieve every human being at
one point, and so no man has been allowed the knowledge to completely
destroy someone.
So the first death is God allowing you to stay inactive until judgment. Meaning, continuing with our metaphor, the hard-drive and everything needed to make it work are separated from each other. God keeps the «hard-drive» unconnected. How we cannot explain with our science because it’s still a secret to us. It doesn’t matter if a body is decapitated, burnt or destroyed in any other way, God still sits with those people’s identity, not a copy of it, but them in an unconscious state of being just like the Old and the New Testament says. And when he places it back with a body and the spark of life that person will rise from the dead and be the same person only with restored body parts. And God can use our DNA to restore the same hair, the same legs, the same everything. The reason I don’t use the word «soul» is that it’s been abused. The teaching of a separate body and soul has become popular in Christian societies. And that the soul can have life and exist outside of a body. But the Biblical teaching is that our souls’ can’t live a life outside our body. It has to be connected to a body to work. Nowhere does the Bible speak of the soul as an immortal entity capable of living apart from our body. Neither does it speak of the spirit as an entity that can exist independent of our physical nature. In the Bible the word “soul” is never used separated from the physical person, it’s used to describe a living being. For instance, it says 70 souls went to Egypt when speaking of Israel immigrating. We are not made of independent parts temporarily connected, but of body, soul, and spirit in one indivisible whole. It says when God created man, He gave him a body and the breath of life he then became a living soul as a consequence (Gen 2:7). Another word used for the soul is the Hebrew ruach however neither in the Old Testament nor the New Testament does ruach or pneuma refer to an intelligent entity capable of existence apart from the body. This is important to understand for many try to connect with spirits thinking it’s their loved ones continuing living as a spiritual being. But the only spirits the Bible says are active in our world are demon spirits, fallen angels. When king Saul wanted to summon the spirit of the prophet Samuel from death the Bible explains he was actually in contact with an evil spirit.
«So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it» ( 1Ch 10:13)
The false idea believed by many Christians, that the souls continue to live outside of their bodies and are active showing themselves to the living, has allowed Satan and demons to make a playground among the Christians. Pretending to be their dead relatives bringing messages from God they can convince many of false teachings.
The Bible forbids contact with spirits claiming it’s a dangerous deception from the enemy:
«Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God. . . And the person who turns after mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people» (Leviticus 19:26,31; 20:6,27).
The warning was given many times:
«…or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD» (Deuteronomy 18:9-12).
The New Testament warned that Christians would be deceived and do this in the end times:
«Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will renounce the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons (1 Timothy 4:1).
So God does not send your dead relatives to give you a word from the Lord and if such a thing occurs you need to know it’s a deception by God’s enemy. A human soul is not given existence separate from a body, they only work with the body. And according to the Bible when someone dies they are “asleep”.
The reason the first death is “a sleep”
One of
the reasons people are put to sleep is that God will sentence
everyone together at one chosen time. And so everyone dying at
different periods are preserved for this event.
Now
the value of each person is so great in heavens eyes that what I
called the «harddrive», in my metaphor, or soul or whatever you
want to call it, isn’t lightly destroyed, even by God, without proper
investigation. The moment God destroys this part of a man that person
cannot even be retrieved by God Himself. It’s irreversible. God can
make a copy, but the copy would just be a copy and not the real
person. It would be a clone. The moment this unique identity part of
the individual is destroyed it’s forever. It can not be undone.
It’s eternal perdition. The «soul» together with your unique DNA
is what makes you you, and when it’s gone it is gone for good. This
is a big tragedy in heaven because each human life is considered
unique and extremely valuable. We humans don’t even value each
other as high as humans are valued in the eyes of heaven. Each loss
is a complete tragedy. God knows every human being by heart, His
spirit has searched them out from the inside. He knows their pain,
their background, their joy and when it all went in the wrong
direction. It hurts us when we see someone we know well die, but God
feels this way about every single human being. It’s considered a
big loss to Him because He loves them in spite of their faults and
mistakes. He understands why we act the way we do and He has
compassion with us in our struggles. This is why Satan does
everything he can to deceive and destroy people and prevent them from
receiving salvation. He knows he hurts God when he leads humans into
perdition.
God
will not make an irreversible act lightly, no one is eternally lost
by an impulsive decision in wrath. The whole history of each
individual is evaluated.
In
the first death, God, therefore, keeps what He needs to keep to be
able to retrieve that person again. At the second death however God
gives up that part and both body and soul are forever lost
(Mat.10:28) .
That
is why God calls the first death a «sleep», they are not destroyed,
they can still be retrieved. It’s not yet the death of perdition.
And so God does not «kill,» people in the Bible stories like many Bible critics say, He just puts them «to sleep» in wait for judgment.
GOD
AS JUDGE
Many want to paint God as an out-of-control judge killing disobedient people as on some sort of rampage. The Bible tells a different story of how God judges. As people are put to sleep in wait of the resurrection and judgment a massive, serious and tidy process starts. No man is to be completely destroyed unable to be retrieved until their case has been carefully considered. That is the value heaven gives a life. No one is destroyed lightly by God.
Although God is almighty and has the power to judge alone without anyone interfering, He does not. He has created beings with the ability to think and reason because He wants them to use this ability for the greater good. And He has never created either man or angels as robots. Being the ruler of a universe with intelligent beings God acts accordingly inviting many to take part in evaluating the fate of humans on this planet. That’s right, the God of the Bible does not judge alone, even though He could have chosen that style of rule.
God wants to be worshiped in love and understanding, not in fear. The only way God can rule and be praised is if people and angels can see for themselves that He is righteous in His decisions. The praise needs to be sincere for God to be glorified by it. He doesn’t like fake flattery any more than you do. So God doesn’t judge alone.
In
Daniel we get a glimpse of the courts in heaven: «I beheld till the
thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose
garment was white
as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was
like the
fiery flame, and his
wheels as burning
fire.
A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.» (Dan 7:9-10)
That’s
right, judgment is like a courtroom with many ministering and
witnessing the cases brought up. Nothing is done in the dark. No man
is going to be forever destroyed, cease to exist so that not even God
can retrieve that exact person, without a real investigation which
many take part in. And they are not the only ones. For how can we as
humans know we are judged correctly if there is no one from earth
taking part in this work? Do angels know how it is to live in a
sinful world with a degenerate body? Should not the human race be
represented in the courts were humans are investigated and judged?
God says they should.
In the book of Revelation, we see some of those God has called from earth to take part and oversee all God does. Although the Old Testament tells us that no one goes straight «to heaven» but rather sleeps in wait of the resurrection, a few people are exempt from this rule. When Jesus died, and by it were able to deliver sinners, a chosen group of people was resurrected according to scripture:
«And the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.» (Mat 27:52-53)
“Many”
bodies of the saints, not all of them. A selected group. The
resurrection day happened on the biblical feast of first fruits and
on this day the priest took a smaller portion of the harvest and
presented it before the Lord in the temple. A wave sheaf representing
the first part of the harvest. It was called «a first fruit». This
was all symbolism to Christ’s mission. And on the same day as this
feast, these representatives came out of their graves. Why did Jesus
bring with Him a first fruit to heaven? Well, first we need to notice
that they were not resurrecting before after Christ died on the
cross, meaning they were redeemed by the blood on the cross. So does
the Bible tell us about a special group redeemed from earth who are
now working overseeing God’s judgment? It does. We read about them
in Revelation:
«And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. ..And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold» (Rev 4:2 & 4)
We then see these people telling God they believe He is worthy as He is the creator of the planet and them agreeing with His right to judge the world:
«The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created» (Rev 4:10-11)
Having
been given thrones and crowns they are representing mankind. They
agree that the court in heaven is legit by placing their crowns
before the throne.
They
later reveal that they were redeemed from the earth by the blood of
the lamb which is how we know who they are and that they are humans:
«And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth» (Rev 5:9-10)
How do they reign on earth when they are in heaven? It just means they are taking part in the judgment of man.
Now
the book mentioned being opened contains seven seals and then later
seven trumpets are blown, all part of God’s judgments over the
earth. And so these representatives of planet earth doesn’t just
oversee God’s judgment but also how God judges mankind in the matter
of things happening on earth up until the final judgment. They see
God’s judgment and they praise Him for being righteous in His
actions. So humans are represented by humans in the courts witnessing
God’s judgment.
And so God doesn’t judge mankind without a proper court, a proper investigation with thousands upon thousands of witnesses and He even brought humans from «every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation» to heaven as witnesses. Yes, not even just one nation is represented in the judgment, but key people tied to different nations and languages from different parts of the world. This means that these representatives are not just from the nation of Israel, but other nations as well.
God
let man take part in man’s judgment. But are these representatives
for planet earth enough witnesses to the investigative judgment? God
even says no to this, as we will see a great number will later get to
take part before anyone is completely destroyed to the point where
they cannot be retrieved. As we are about to see from the Bible, a
mass number of people from the earth will get to evaluate the
process.
For as the Bible teaches, there are two judgments. One before Christ second coming and one after. Let’s look at why, the purposes of them and why God is doing it this way.
FIRST
INVESTIGATIVE JUDGEMENT
In
reality, when mankind sinned all those who had sinned would get their
case tried in the heavenly court and be sentenced to eternal
destruction (not eternal life in hell, but a final irreversible and
therefore eternal destruction). Because God is fair He doesn’t
judge everyone as a group but as an individual. This judgment would
be set during a chosen period and all who had sinned would be
sentenced and destroyed after this time ended.
However, God could not bear to loose mankind. Although man had sinned He still loved them. He didn’t want to see a single human life destroyed. He says:
“For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye”. (Eze 18:32)
However keeping rebellious people alive would mean allowing pain and suffering to not just continue forever, but spread to the rest of the universe. If sin had no consequence or broken laws were ignored then God’s laws would be disregarded other places as well. And soon the whole universe would be filled with violence and suppression. God cannot govern without a law to govern by.
So God together with His son came up with a plan to rescue people while respecting the law at the same time.
«For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life» (Joh 3:16).
Those
who had sinned but wanted to turn from their ways and become loyal to
the heavenly law would be given another chance.
However, the law would not be done away with and so someone had to pay the penalty for the sins committed or the law would have been violated. The price paid to atone for the transgression had to be so big and leave such an impression that even though God would give the lawbreakers on earth a second chance, other beings and worlds would not be tempted to think that violating God’s laws was ok in any way. God’s son Himself would come as a man and pay the price of mankind. He would take their punishment. To represent mankind He had to become a man and by it leave His great position and divine nature and take the greatest risk ever taken by anyone. Taking upon Himself human nature in a sinful world yet remain sinless and loyal until His death. He then, as a man without personal sin, would get access to heaven and become their priest and bring His blood to the heavenly courts and tell them that the price for the sin had been paid.
The rescue plan was illustrated in the Sanctuary service given to Israel. The sanctuary service was a copy of a sanctuary in heaven (Heb.8).
“Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount” (Heb 8:5).
The sanctuary on earth was to illustrate what would take place in the judgment for those choosing to be part of God’s plan. The holiest in the tabernacle represented God’s throne and the law represented which law man would be judged by. The priest was to bring blood to the throne and above the law as evidence that the law had been respected and the price had been paid. But what had happened at the entrance was that the record of sin had been transferred from the guilty party to a substitute and the substitute had taken the penalty in the sinners’ stead. Instead of the sinner’s blood, the blood of the substitute was taken into the throne room as evidence that the requirement of the law had been respected. God’s govern had been upheld.
Only
the ones who would have the blood go before them in the judgment
would escape the final judgment that would come over mankind on the
final judgment day. The sanctuary service represented a way-out, an
escape from the final judgment. But not just anyone could take part
in the substitute blood. Many Christians seem to be unaware of this
as they haven’t studied the plan of salvation illustrated in the
role-play sanctuary on earth. Had Christians understood this, the
many Christian divisions would have been avoided and they could have
been as one.
The
only one who can get out of the judgment coming over the earth is
those who will have their case evaluated BEFORE and subsequently
taken from earth before the planet is to be judged. To get our case
in the first investigative judgment we need a personal representative
in the heavenly court to tell the courts that our sins have been paid
and that we can be separated from the rest that is about to face the
judgment. God had hoped that all humans would choose His rescue plan
and that no one would be left to judge accept Satan and the angels
following him. However, God foresaw that a large part of the people
on earth would continue their rebellion and refuse to have a part in
the atoning sacrifice made for them.
To get our case tried before the judgment in this phase we need evidence that our sins have been atoned for and we need someone with access to the heavenly courts to plead our case and bring the evidence to the courts.
The
sanctuary system illustrates the only way and the procedure we must
take to take part in the first investigative judgment.
In
the sanctuary illustration given to man here on earth, there was only
one way to get sin atoned and make peace with the law broken without
losing one’s life themselves. They had to come to the entrance of the
sanctuary with a substitute (in this case animals). The person had to
agree that the law in the holiest was valid and that they had broken
it. They had to regret what they had done and wish to again be lead
by God’s govern and law. The regret was shown by them showing up
and acknowledging God’s right to make laws and judge them. They
agreed they had sinned. The sin of the individual was then
transferred to the substitute and then the substitute animal received
the death penalty and «was executed» in their place. On one day in
the year, the High Priest went into the Most Holy place where the law
was and sprinkled blood above the law on the seat of the throne and
the people on that day would know that their sin had been taken away
and they were reinstated as God’s children with its liberties and
no longer considered part of the rebellion.
Animal
blood was never good enough, it was all an illustration of the real
rescue plan. Instead of animals, it was Christ, the law in flesh, who
would come as a man and take our sins upon Him. He would then take
the penalty now carrying our sins upon Him he took the punishment and
died in our place. He then, because He never sinned Himself, goes to
heaven and into the heavenly courts to represent us in the judgment
and to save us from the coming judgment and the destruction coming
over mankind.
But
the rules still applied. Not everyone would automatically get this
escape. The same procedure as illustrated in the sanctuary service on
earth had to be made. The sinner had to acknowledge God’s law as
just and by it confess to being a sinner, a lawbreaker, they had to
show regret and the desire to again be a part of God’s rule and
they had to personally give the sins to the substitute Jesus. When
the sinner did this act, Jesus would bring our case before the
heavenly courts.
He would tell them that we are no longer a threat to the universe, we are not rebellious towards God’s law, that we have repented and that we now wish to respect God’s authority and law. No longer being a threat would make us someone whom God could safely give a second chance. But because of our previous sins, the law had to still be respected and penalty performed. That is when Jesus presents His blood and tell the courts that He has paid the price for those very sins committed, they have been atoned for.
Our
names then are moved from pending judgement over to the book of life.
And we will be gathered by Jesus Himself and taken away from the
planet before the final judgement.
Everyone who claim the blood of Christ (the substitute blood) get their case tried in the pre-trial that the sanctuary represented. The sanctuary only represents those who claim the blood of the substitute, for the priest in the role-play only went into the most holy with blood. Only those who come before the tabernacle had their case trialed in the tabernacle. The same with the heavenly pre-judgement. Only those who claim Christ blood will have their case evaluated in the pre-trial, which is the only way to escape judgement.
«Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.» (Act 4:12)
The only way to secure life is by Christ:
«Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me» (Joh.14:6).
There are many who claim Christ blood today. Some are visible bad people. The pope and the protestant who have condemned each other, both claim they are saved by Christ blood. Many who are still denying God’s law is also claiming Christ blood anyway. Many who continue harming others are claiming Christ blood. Some blood thirsty rulers have claimed Christ blood while still committing their crimes.
God is no fool and this is the very reason there is an investigation prior to Christ coming. It has to be determined who Christ is taking with Him, who has really repented and have a desire to be loyal under God’s govern. Claiming Christ blood is not a magic spell that immediately gets your sin acquitted and giving you access to the tree of life. The courts in heaven are thorough and nothing is left to chances.
However
anyone claiming Christ blood will have the chance of having their
case tested before the great judgement day.
It’s among others, this judgement, those who were taken to heaven mentioned in Revelation 4 and 5 are foreseeing. A selected group of believers from all nations watching God judge other believers with the chance to have their voices heard. The court mentioned in the book of Daniel chapter 7 is taking place while the struggles of this earth continues and while false religious leaders make bold claims of being over God’s law pushing it upon God’s people (Dan 7:9 & 7:25).
When
this heavenly investigation is over, Christ is sent to gather those
He redeemed, known as Christ second coming. They are rescued from
earth. Notice how when Jesus comes how systematic and in order
everything is.
«And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.» (Rev 14:14-15)
So Jesus as a mediator awaits the command from the temple and the Father Himself to gather those He has saved from the final judgement. Jesus doesn’t just take those living, but gather all those who had put their trust in Him and taken part in His rescue plan for them from the graves.
«For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord» (1Th 4:16-17)
In
Revelation He is illustrated with a sickle, bringing the rest of His
harvest home. Previously He only brought a first fruit, now He
gathers the rest that He has rescued.
It then says that Jesus hurry and gather His children: «And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped» (v.16) Jesus does not destroy the rest. Just like Jesus was told by an angel from the temple when to gather those He had saved another angel from the temple has another mission than Christ:
«And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress. (Rev 14:17 & 19-20)
THE FINAL JUDGEMENT
Everyone else’s life is ended. The earth is left desolate (Isa.24) and every human lying dead in graves is in an unconscious state until their final destruction. They don’t resurrect when Jesus comes, they remain dead. And those who are alive dies. And all are left desolate. Why? Because God will not destroy anyone completely until all those who have been rescued had a chance to understand why. Satan and the angels will also have to wait with their final sentencing and destruction. Satan is put in prison:
«And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him» (Rev.20,2-3)
Unlike humans with a short life span, Satan is an angel and his nature is unknown to us, but we know he doesn’t die like humans do as he has lived for thousands of years, and so he lives bounded until his final destruction.
Ones the faithful redeemed are gathered at Christ second coming we learn that they will get to take part in the judgment over the remaining people now waiting for judgment day. Not one soul is destroyed before people’s case have been evaluated and people saved from earth gets to go through it. Therefore it is written: «And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.» (Rev 20:4-6) Now notice that their assignment is described in the same way as the twenty-four elders that did the same before Christ’s second coming. They are not to rule over ungodly physically but by partaking in the judgment over them.
Not only
people but at the end judgment angels as well as Satan will be
destroyed and so their case is also given to them to investigate
before anyone receives their eternal sentence. The matters and
judgments pertaining to earth are given to earthlings to investigate.
That is how thorough and fair God is.
Paul reveals: «Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?» (1Co.6:3)
Had
they been eternally lost before we got to evaluate the cases we would
not have any say in reality. Calling them «rulers» would be a lie.
But by presenting the books to us WHILE HUMANS IN THEORY STILL CAN be
retrieved we are to evaluate God’s perfect judgment and agree with
Him that He has been righteous and fear before anyone is permanently
destroyed. Now can you see that God not only has a proper court and
legal system but that He will not destroy anyone on impulse without
humans being able to investigate His ruling. God is not a dictator.
Once this is done, over a course of a thousand years, every human being left on earth who did not take part in the rescue plan is restored ready to receive their sentencing. The second resurrection takes place.
«And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.» (Rev 20:12-13)
Satan is released from his 1000 year-long prison and all people who ever lived are standing ready to receive their sentencing. The new Jerusalem has been taken from heaven and is now standing in everyone’s sight. The new Jerusalem was made in heaven and moved to earth and the reason it’s present during the judgment is that it’s the capital of the planet and the inhabitants are those who have taken part in the judgment and who has been given the right to rule over the earth with Christ. God has let mankind take part in everything containing them. Making them priests on earth, they got to write down God’s words, the Bible. Jesus didn’t even write the gospel Himself but let humans write it down for Him. He assigned to mankind to try and save their people by evangelizing to others the gospel. God always gives responsibility to humans in the case of humans. He invited mankind to take part in the judgment of men and now they will also witness the final sentencing taking place. God does nothing in the dark regarding mankind that man will not be able to oversee at one point. We see God doing it this way all along:
«Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets» (Amo.3:7)
And when visiting Abraham:
«And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do…», and He answered Himself, God would not hide it. (Gen 18:17)
In everything pertaining earth God has mankind take part, now even in the final sentencing, they are His witnesses. But before God announce the result of the judgment He chooses to wait a little while after they are all resurrected before completing the penalty. In this short amount of terry, the people resurrected gather to open warfare against Jerusalem, the rulers there and God. You could say they are already judged so why not try to overthrow the government that will now judge them? Well, they don’t know what has been going on while they were sleeping/inactive. They understand they are on the outside and instead of humbling themselves they show the same character they had before they died, rebellion and hatred toward God and His people. They unite to attack Jerusalem. By waiting a little before the sentencing the last witness against them is made for the saved in Jerusalem to see. By waiting God show that even the execution of the punishment is an act of SELF-DEFENSE:
«And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.» (Rev 20:7-9)
It’s
clear one last time, that God has NO OTHER CHOICE than to complete
the sentencing. Either God’s people will be destroyed or they have
to agree to complete the sentencing, which they already have agreed
to. The two ruling groups cannot co-exist for one part will rebel and
use violence and any means to control the other as they did in the
past. The bible tells how God’s people were forced into submission,
killed and refused rights before Christ second coming. They know the
result of living in a rebellious world. The suffering has no end. If
the doomed had the chance they would overthrow God’s government and
His chosen rulers and now they show that very spirit once again. If
God would spare them, sin and the evil ways now practiced on this
planet will just continue in a never-ending cycle.
Even
though God were going to sentence them, the sentence done at this
point illustrates why God are forced to deal so strict with sin in
the first place. If God doesn’t take control, the other side will.
The two cannot peacefully co-exist, it never could. There can’t be
two masters, two different leaders with a different ideology. Satan
wants to kill God if he could, and he is more than willing to destroy
and kill God’s people now given the right to rule the planet. There
would be no peace, even if Satan was killed many humans still would
rebel to gratify self and they would strive to be leaders over each
other. And once the sinners had destroyed God’s chosen rulers they
would start destroying each other just like they have up throughout
the earth’s history were one kingdom has destroyed the other before a
new rebellion rises. History has been repeating itself for
centuries.
Those
who have been able to rule with Christ during the 1000 years know
that God has no other choice. They have seen that His judgment is
fair, that He did all He could. They known the cases of those now
lost. The army of doomed surrounds the city. The inhabitants of
Jerusalem know they are going to be destroyed if God doesn’t
sentence these people and angels straight away. And God does, He
sentences them to burn up until nothing of them is left. The body and
soul are gone. This is eternal perdition. It cannot be undone. God
cannot resurrect anyone of them from the dead again, they are
destroyed forever. For their unique identity, the «the hard-drive»
or «soul» or what it is that God has to make it possible to
retrieve humans, is destroyed forever. If anyone would, only a copy
could be made, but even that information is gone. Their DNA is gone
too. They are forever lost. Because the decision cannot be undone,
the decision is final, it’s called everlasting damnation. They have
perished forever. The fire cannot be undone, the damage cannot be
undone. They are gone as they never existed. Forever and ever.
«And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. …And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.» (Rev 20:11-15)
This lake of fire is what destroys them for good. The hell spoken of here must be understood in the context of the Old and New Testament and not compared to the Greek mythology of the Greek god Hades torturing people. It’s just a word that means the kingdom of death, is just poetic for being dead and buried underground. When hell is cast into the lake of fire it means that no dead will remain buried in the ground on the new earth, no remains will remain. The graves themselves will be burnt too, nothing will be left.
Satan the same, he too, along with the angels that followed his lead, is cast into this lake of fire and cease to exist. They all cease to exist. If God had sustained their life He would be part to blame for all the hurt they would continue to do. God is not a sinner, He doesn’t keep Satan alive to torture people in some eternal underground life.
That
leaves us with an unanswered question:
«And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.» (Rev 20:10)
Now
the Beast and the false prophet were cast into the lake of fire
before everyone else, a thousand years before to be exact, and here
it seems as if they have been burning for those thousand years
doesn’t it? Well, the reason it looks like that is because the word
«are» is in the sentence which implies they are still existing
there when the rest is thrown there. But the word «are» is not in
any of the original bible manuscripts, it’s actually a word
supplemented by the translators. And those English translators
believed in the pagan hell as had been taught from churches ever
since the roman religion had been mixed together with the pagan.
Adding the word «are» seemed logic to them, but it’s not Biblical
logic if compared to the revelation of the Old and New Testament
regarding death.
The
correct understanding should be that the devil was cast into the same
lake of fire or like the one the beast and false prophet once were
cast into. But they are no longer there still burning, the word «are»
is added.
The
devil doesn’t die quickly, he can handle fire as his body is
different than ours. God allows this originator of all this misery
who has not had mercy on those he tortured here on earth – to
himself feel that physical pain on his being in some way we don’t
understand. Could God kill him in an instant? I don’t know, I would
think He could. But all we know is that Satan’s death takes a little
longer. It’s not unreasonable to think that those who have
committed the biggest crimes have their end dragged out a little.
This whole time God has chosen to speak to people’s intellect. And He
would want those sentenced to understand the crime they have been
sentenced for and to have time to consider the pain they have caused
before they die.
But
ultimately as the Bible states that all will end, even «hell»
itself.
Why does it say «forever and ever»? The consequence of punishment is forever. Also, in the Bible, «forever» is used poetic to describe how something can feel. Jonah used the word in a way it’s clear it doesn’t mean something that will never end:
«I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God» (Jon.2:6)
The same sentence for ever is used to explain a time period and the same time period ending. «Her bars was about me for ever» and then «yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption». So the «for ever» only lasted a while, however, it felt like for ever to Jonah when he was trapped into the belly of the fish. But he was only there for three days. Again, we have to understand the Bible not in harmony with Greek mythology but with the bible and other scriptures describing perdition as well. And by adding these statements we see an end. The «for ever» is referring to the destruction, they will not come back and harm anyone again. The punishment itself is for ever. It’s meant as a relief, so you never have to fear the enemies resurrecting and attack again. Satan isn’t suddenly coming back from the dead like in a horror movie just to continue doing what he does. The for ever is our reassurance it’s finally over.
No
one is easily executed
What we can see on closer examination is that God doesn’t easily kill anyone. Some Bible critics think He does, they watch the flood story, Israel conquering Canaan and other stories were God does end people’s life. But these are temporary judgments, they are just put to sleep because of the harm they are causing, they are not permanently destroyed. No one is completely destroyed before several steps have been taken and both heaven and humans alike take part in their judgment together with God. God is not a crazy ruler who does things untied with loose ends and no one knows who He might kill next.
God Himself claims to be merciful and righteous. The implication of being righteous is that His judgments are righteous. He is fair, His process of dealing with rebellion against His government is done fairly and right. And He even asks us to acknowledge that. He also asks of His people to investigate and see that He is good:
«Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him» (Psalm 34:8)
He
has shown that He need not hide His judgment, He is doing everything
in the open with a multitude of witnesses. Even with human witnesses
to His judgment concerning the earth. He asks for our worship of Him
as our leader, Creator, and savior with our heart and intellect. He
gave us the ability to evaluate and think. And He asks us to use it.
He puts it all in the open. How can He have done anything any other
way? What would the consequence have been if He had? And by our
intellect searching, we will come to the same conclusion as He did,
that there was no other way. And He wants us to reach that conclusion
BEFORE anyone is destroyed to the point where they cannot be
retrieved. God claims He is perfect and man will have a hard time
finding fault with his judgment but that doesn’t mean we don’t
get to investigate and have a voice in the process.
The
Biblical judgment shows a God, all mighty and powerful, who could do
it any way He wanted but chose to do it this way because HE IS
righteous and because He wants us to love Him for real. He doesn’t
desire fake obedience, fake praise. A heart murmuring against God
while the mouth pretend to love Him is not what He wants. So He puts
the judgement in the open and He invites angels and humans to take
part and evaluate the entire process.
And even waits in the end so that the final destruction, even that, ends up as an act of self-defense. There is a lesson in even that. It shows what judgment against sin really is, it’s protecting the beings in the universe, other planets, angels and humans from the rebellion and the consequences of it. God never judged just to protect Himself and His rule, it will be evident that God made the judgments He did to save life itself, to save people that mean no harm, to save innocent angels, to save planets that have never rebelled or desired to throw away God’s govern. God would do everyone wrong if He had allowed sin and rebellion to continue. Judgment had to be done. The extinction of sinners is ultimately an act of self-defense.
Should
God had chosen anarchy instead of having a law?
God has a government, and that government has a law. If whenever that law is broken God would tell the transgressor not to worry about it, he would maybe make that particular person happy but He would soon have a universe out of control. If He tells one person it’s OK it would be unfair unless He said the same thing to everyone. And then there would be no government, no overseer. So when man sinned He had to put the juridical system to effect or He would be forced to allow others to break it too. Why should humans have that freedom and not angels and other planets? And so, in the end, God would not be able to rule His own universe. What sin usually is about is one violating the opportunities and freedom of another or causing damage to another. That is why God says His law is good, it does good, it protects.
Anyone
who thinks God should not have a law at all should consider that even
in chaos and lawlessness there are rules. Although perhaps not
written down, they are unspoken and can change all to suit whoever
needs them to suit them. Such rules are unmerciful as they inspire
the survival of the fittest. The strong oppress the weak. And a world
like this inspires corruption and dishonesty as well as violence.
Some see a lawless world as a utopia, but in practice, it would not
work that way. Someone will be harmed. No society on earth is without
rules because where there has been temporarily anarchy the result is
too much for anyone to bear, and the people themselves will
eventually demand rules. The only one who thrives in a system like
that is those on the top, but even their inside is damaged.
In
the past whenever rules have become too liberal a new movement
emerges to demand more conservative rules, and when they get what
they want the liberal wants more liberal rules and so on. It’s
people themselves that demand rules and regulations to protect
themselves and their way of life. They know if there are none, they
loose rights and chaos emerge causing unstable surroundings. People
desire leadership to protect them and their rights.
That
is why even every earthly ruler demands obedience to their set of
rules, it’s done to create order and peace. However human rulers
are flawed and their laws are flawed and often injustice is committed
by the state because of it. It’s hard to find any place on earth
where some people don’t feel discriminated or subdued by their
countries rules. A country usually makes laws that suit and protect
the majority leaving the minority in distress. However, most people
know that rules are created for good and not to suppress. And that
leadership is needed, if the leadership is good, to create order and
peace. Unfortunately, many leaders in the world seek to gratify
themselves rather serving their people.
God’s
kingdom is designed to avoid all these problems in how it’s built
up. God is that leadership of peace and His law is designed for the
common good of all, no one will be suppressed.
God has to have a law, He has to govern, there is no other way.
Why
is the lie of tormented people in hell right now a thing among
evangelicals?
Why has
Satan presented false teachings regarding God’s judgment? Because
he wants us to think of Him as unrighteous, an unfair judge, to fear
Him in the wrong way, to even hate God. If even a man can see a
forever torment in hell is unfair for sins that were committed over
the short time a man has, then a man will think of himself as more
capable of viewing fairness than God is. Viewing God as unfair and
unreasonable will provoke a lack of respect even if the person fears
to say they do. God’s wrath seems out of control.
Satan has been lying about God for as long and he has been deceiving people. The best place for Satan to deceive people are among those who claim to represent God and Christ. Those who reject God doesn’t care. And those who seek God will go to those who claim to represent Him. And so Satan goes after religious leaders and teachers as he always has to get the lies about God right where people come to get to know Him. He portrays Him as someone who gets angry over a small thing, waiting for people to fail so He can judge and humiliate them. He portrays God as someone who doesn’t want people to think or reason.
Why
judgment is going to come over religious leaders
He is fooling Christians right now but he also lied to the Jewish people throughout. He made them think that God would be angry for every little insignificant matter which caused them to make small silly rules in fear of breaking the real ones. Jesus tried to address the lies and told them they were so oppressed by these little things that they missed the big picture:
«Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.» (Mat 23:24-25)
Satan would suggest anything to make God look unreasonable, even using God’s own law to put fear in people. That’s why God had ordered them not to add or remove from His law (Deu.12:32) No one was allowed to tamper with it, change it or even add to it. The moment humans added, removed or changed God’s law the law would no longer be good. It was perfect as God had made it Himself.
«The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple» (Psa.19:7). «Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good» (Rom.7:12).
Remember if the law that condemns us is not good, neither is God’s judgment based on that law. And so if we attack God’s law we in reality attack God’s judgments. If the law is unfair, God is unfair. God claims otherwise, but it was strictly forbidden to change the law in any way even if it was claimed to be done in His honor He would not be honored. One of God’s great earthly ruler enemies on earth is accused of doing just that:
«And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws…But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end» (Dan 7:25-26)
Anyone thinking to change God’s times or laws are speaking great «words against the most High». And that is just what Christian and Jewish leaders have done to God’s laws.
When human feebleness adds additional laws to God’s law it would make God’s law unreasonable and faulty. Even though these extra rules and regulations were claimed to have been done in God’s honor He was not honored by them. If God had wanted them He would have ordered them Himself. If God needed to change His law it would be a confession from God that it had not been perfect in the first place. But God says:
«My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips» (Psa.89:34).
The law and sanctuary system on earth was a copy of the one in heaven. Even if human religious leaders try to change the one on earth the one used in the judgment in heaven remains the same. They are just fooling themselves and their followers.
Christians have adjusted God’s law, removed a command and changed another is Biblical speaking idolatry and blasphemy. It’s disrespect against heavens’ authority suggesting God’s law was not perfect as it was and that human fallible hands could fix God’s «mistakes» and make His law better. It’s all different types of rebellion under the guise of holiness. God has a quarrel with these religious leaders and they will be judged like prophesied.
Why
the Beast and the false prophet are cast in the lake of fire before
the others.
So
another important topic needs to be addressed. Why was the Beast and
the false prophet cast into the lake of fire before the thousand
years?
First
of all the book of Daniel reveals to us directly that a beast
represents the leadership of a kingdom (Dan 7). It’s a governmental
system that is cast into the lake of fire. The end of the existence
of a kingdom. The same with the false prophet, it’s described
working in union with the beast coming out of the earth earlier in
the book of Revelation. It represents a religious system. And they
get a judgement at this point in time.
When
Christ second coming is described in Revelation 14 we see those
Christ saves are taken to Christ and the rest put to death in wait of
judgement. So who are the Beast and the false prophet representing
and why are they cast into the lake of fire already at Christ second
coming?
In
order to be placed into the lake of fire there has to be an
investigative judgment first just like what we see with the lake of
fire commencing after the thousand years. If the beast and false
prophet are cast into the lake of fire it means that they have been
judged before the event.
However
only those claiming Christ’s blood at the sanctuary entrance would be
represented at the pre-judgment in the holiest place in heaven.
To
know who the beast and the false prophet are and why they are judged
we need to go back to the sanctuary service and the plan of salvation
revealed there.
On
the day of atonement where the priest would enter the holiest with
the law to show that a substitute had taken the place of the people,
not all of the people were saved by it. This day was a day of freedom
for many but it was also a day were a group would be cut off from
God’s people.
«Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. … For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people» (Lev 23:27 & 29).
In
the illustration shown in the sanctuary which was imitating the real
plan of salvation we might learn why. It was not just the priest that
had to act, but people the priest represented had something they had
to do as well. Had they been sincere or were they falsely claiming
the blood of the substitute? Were they in reality still in rebellion
against God’s rule while claiming the blood?
Like
we previously looked at, to have the priest go before them to save
them from the judgment they had to do the following:
Confess they had broken the law (sinned) and by it acknowledge the laws right to judge them
Give their sins to the substitute
The substitute would die in their place and eventually, the blood of a substitute would be presented in the holiest for their sins to be blotted out (Sanctuary cleansed from their sins).
Now if they did not acknowledge God’s law they would still be in rebellion even when offering the sacrifice. Their act would be without self affliction. If they refused to acknowledge God’s law it meant they weren’t prepared to turn away from their sins either. In the Bible we are explained that «SIN» is just a word for «breaking the law».
«Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law» (1Jn.3:4).
So in order to confess sin you, in reality, confess you have broken the law and by it acknowledge it’s valid and at force. Repentance of sin is regretting breaking the law, meaning you wish to respect it. So you cannot confess your sins without at the same time acknowledging that breaking the law is a sin. The court is in heaven and so if you are fooled into believing breaking another version of the law is what defines sin you never get the chance to repent from having broken God’s law and bring the sins to the Savior. You are obeying a different ruler when you go by a different law. Putting the law of a different ruler above God’s law is idolatry and considered rebellion against the God of the universe. If you even worse, refuse to acknowledge the law’s right to judge you, the blood is not going to save you as you have not transferred your sins to the substitute.
However
everyone who claims Christ blood would have their case tested before
Christ second coming. And like with the day of atonement those who
had not really acknowledged the law and their sin would be «cut off
from among his people».
The
beast and the false prophet are judged at Christ second coming
because they are religious systems who have claimed Christ blood
without ending their rebellion against His law. They have claimed
Christ as their priest and redeemer. But they have been revealed to
have been in fact rebellious. It’s only these power said to be cast
into the lake of fire at Christ second coming, the rest is put to
death only. Meaning other religions and kingdoms and people are not
put into the lake of fire at this point.
However
for the ’beast’ and the ’false prophet,’ it’s a different
matter. Not only did these two Christian movements claim Christ’s
blood for themselves, that Christ was their priest, but they have
persecuted and murdered God’s true people (Rev 13:7, Rev 13:15 and
so on). While claiming to be God’s representatives they have
hindered the influence, persecuted and even killed God’s real
representatives who respect God’s law as He wrote it. The worst kind
of treason.
They
had also deceived the whole world into false religious practices and
given them a false sense of security claiming to represent Christ
when in fact they were hindering people’s salvation by encouraging
rebellion against God’s law all done in Christ’s name (Rev.18).
The
beast is the Catholic Church, claiming Christ’s blood while denying
God’s law as God Himself wrote it. Telling their people that they
have not sinned when they have broken parts of it they have prevented
people to stand at “the entrance of the tabernacle” in
repentance for having broken God’s law. Instead, people are
repenting for having broken the Catholic church’s law which will
not secure them salvation. The church has even told their followers
that they will be tortured forever if they leave the church
institution and the church’s claimed conditions for salvation.
Scaring people from turning to the real God and His real law. This
church has not turned from their ways, they still rebel against God’s
authority and the blood of Christ cannot redeem the sinner that
hasn’t repented.
“The
false prophet” represents the protestant and evangelical
churches that have rejected God’s law’s authority. They still
follow the changed law made by the papal beast. They have preached a
false gospel, a false end-time scenario and fooled people into
thinking they are free to break God’s law all while proclaiming
Christ’s blood at the same time. Not only that, they have made the
dangerous deception that you betray Christ by respecting God’s law
and that respecting that law will lead you into perdition. They have
turned everything around, they battle Christ’s authority in Christ’s
name and are aiding the dragon Satan himself in deceiving people to
disobedience and to legalize sin.
Christ
cannot present their cases with his blood because they are still in
rebellion to that very law He is presenting His blood as atonement
for. Christ will, as shown in the sanctuary system, only represent
those who have repented and acknowledged the government of God as
represented in His law.
Everyone
else who claims Christ’s blood will be judged at Christ’s second
coming. They will be separated from God’s people and «cut off».
It’s all Satan’s master-plan to confuse people from getting acquitted from their sins. It says he fools both the beast and the false prophet:
«And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.» (Rev 16:13-14)
The miracles and powers that had been claimed to have been from God by these seemingly Christian movements are revealed at the end to have been by moved by the «spirit of devils». Thinking they were serving Christ they are revealed to have been serving and being puppets of Satan the dragon himself. What was Satan’s strategy from the beginning? Causing man to break God’s law and eat from the tree. Now he has gathered Christians churches, distorted God’s word and twisted it’s meaning and fooled Christians to not only oppose God’s law themselves but force that religion upon the world by using violence and flattery, whatever works best. (Rev.13; 14-17)
And those who are suffering amidst the beast and false prophets behavior is described in the following way:
«Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.» (Rev 14:12)
They who have both. They two great powerful Christian directions will attack those who believe in Christ and recognize the validity of God’s law at the same time.
There
is only one group that will be redeemed at Christ second coming, that
is those who have acknowledged God’s law, willing to turn from
opposing it and who has given their sins to Christ to go before them
to judgment and by it escaping judgment itself.
The
false prophet and beast are «separated» out to not be counted with
God’s people, exposed as still in rebellion. Because their case have
been dismissed and they have been refused pardon the beast and the
false prophet are cast into the lake of fire at Christ second coming.
The Catholic Church, the protestant and evangelical churches will receive their judgment, they have mixed truth with error, they have blasphemed and turned Jesus against His own law to the pleasure of Satan who is the real one who is making war against God’s government and law. Jesus had warned them ahead of time:
«Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.» (Mat 5:17-18)
Many claims that all was fulfilled at the cross but both the law and the prophet prophecies past Christ second coming and even to the new earth. All of the prophecies have not been fulfilled, the plane of salvation not completed until God’s people are safe and the ungodly have received their penalty.
Anyone
who opposes God’s government or law is working with Satan whether
they understand it or not.
God
has His people in different churches but tells them to leave.
God does recognize that He does have children in all these churches, He knows that a large number has been sincerely deceived by their teachers and leaders and are unaware of the deception they have been part of. God has the whole time heard their sincere prayers and seen their hearts. Before destruction comes He sends a special message to all of His people who have their hearts in the right place and have been fooled and therefore are still a part of these religious systems:
«And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.» (Rev 18:4-5)
They
are about to be judged and you can still be spared if you leave them
and turn back to the apostolic faith and acknowledge only one
lawgiver, savior, and mediator.
So
leave them, separate from these institutions because these churches
will be rejected at Christ’s second coming. Confess God’s law is
just, that you have sinned, give your sins to Jesus and He will hurry
and let the heavenly court know that your sins have been atoned for
and that you, therefore, belong to Him and are among those He is
allowed to claim as His own and take with him before the angels are
given the order to execute the death sentence on the rest.
God has been good dealing with the world and everything is done not only in fairness but by being merciful, long-suffering and giving people chances to turn and choose a different path all up until the last hour. Then it will be too late. You decide today what you want to do, who you want to belong to. If you want to continue to rebel against His government or repent and ask for pardon.
Ark
of the Covenant discovery
Spite the truth made plain in the Bible and that the Bible is accessible to almost everyone in the whole world, God in His great mercy and long-suffering wants to give people even another warning before it’s too late. The offer to be saved is open to everyone, no one has to go to judgment and lose their life. God has made provision so that no one needs to be lost. And before the offer is withdrawn God will make sure everyone knows that there is an option, a way to be saved. God will bring the discovery of The Ark of the Covenant containing His unchanged law and the blood of the Savior upon the mercy seat to everyone’s attention. They will know the condition to be saved, they will know that their sins are paid for if they give them to Christ. One more time God will enlighten the world with the truth so that no one needs to be left in the dark and chose the lie because of lack of information. Why does God bring such a great revelation to the world when people can just read the Bible to get the same information? God doesn’t want to judge anyone, He wants to save. That is why He made the sacrifice, why He made the plan of salvation. He doesn’t want to lose anyone. And when you love someone you don’t give them up easily. What we see with the Ark of the Covenant discovery is God trying one last time to reach out because He is hoping to save more people, He wants to save everyone but knows that His offer will be rejected by many. He is driven by love for man, and that love has caused Him to be patient and to try over and over again. Yes, He made sure the Bible was available, but He will do anything He can. This last great revelation is man’s last chance to choose the plan of rescue.
The
pain heaven feels when a soul is lost is not perfectly understood by
mankind. The great value of each human being has been lost to a world
that easily even kill their babies in the womb. A world that believes
we are here by chance and then forgotten. That humans can be
sacrificed for peace or prosperity. Heaven has not forgotten a single
soul, and God notices the life and end of every human being. Even
those who are killed in their mother’s womb and never got a chance.
Humans are valuable to God and that is why instead of just giving
them their sentence straight away He came up with a plan to save them
without removing His laws validity. Because He values them they are
invited to take part in the judgment over their own fellow humans.
Heaven watches as the majority are rejecting the offer of salvation
and by that sealing their fate. And the loss is greater in their eyes
than in even ours.
The
Ark of the Covenant is God’s final outstretched hand to a world that
is coming to its end. Make sure you grab that hand, for it’s the hand
of Someone who loves you, your maker and your King!
