The ‘Malachi
Factor’ --- Supporting Isaiah’s last several Chapters and Ezekiel’s last 8
Chapters
[Part 3 of the Isaiah Essay]
Intro:
An
introduction is necessary for this section of the essay as the author had already
written an e-mail along these lines about Ezekiel to the co-author of this
website quite some time ago in the early explorations of Isaiah, but never
finished with any conclusions because the investigation was still under way at
whatever time it was written.
For
the most part this early exploration of Ezekiel has been included and expanded
a little in articles that already appear at our site but the author can now add
to what was brought to light during the writing of this Isaiah essay --- which
was actually brought home to the author when looking up a related scripture for
another part of the Isaiah essay thought to be in a so called “minor prophet’s
book” i.e. Malachi.
In
view of what Malachi’s four short chapters does indeed reveal the author is now
unsure that any prophet could really be considered minor at all because each
prophets seems to build and add to the store of overall prophetic
understanding.
While
the term “major prophet” and “minor prophet” is primarily used to designate the
length of the recorded prophecies (the longer ones are “major” and the shorter ones
are “minor”) it seems that when most scholars study prophecies the major and minor
terms carry over into the importance of that prophecy. Some writers of short prophecies should most certainly
not be considered “minor” in importance as the author will demonstrate.
Each
prophet seems to be a ‘piece’ of a bigger tapestry and when viewed together
form a better view of the BIGGER picture.
The
‘Malachi Factor’ can now be added as a partial conclusion to what was brought
out in the last several chapters of Isaiah also, i.e. there very well may be
‘physical’ Levitical priests to serve in Ezekiel’s third temple.
These of course will be quite apart from God’s
saints and patriarchs and prophets of old serving as spiritual ‘kings and
priests’ in the Kingdom of God.
The
establishment of future Levitical priests in the future
Isaiah, Ezekiel and Malachi all
state that God will have Levitical priests in His Kingdom --- true or not? Is this
anathema to God or not?
This
third part of the essay may actually explain a previously remarked on,
enigmatic [but not understood by the author of this essay] verse in Isaiah that
doesn’t seem to appear in any other prophecy and doesn’t seem to have been
fulfilled in the past and is included amongst passages that are all future
prophecy:
Ephraim's jealousy will vanish,
and Judah's enemies will be cut off; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, nor Judah
hostile toward Ephraim. NIV Isaiah 11:13
The
current world situation is that the Jews and the English speaking peoples
[Ephraim] are not at odds with one another in the physical sense – being
bothers in arms currently in “the war on terror”.
The
world situation is very fluid though and can change at the proverbial ‘drop of
a hat’.
If the
modern Israeli nation of the Jews remains united as a part of the ‘coalition’
against terrorists along with
The
question then in that context is why would
To
answer that question, among the others regarding a possible Levitical
priesthood existing at some time in the future, a little background is
necessary.
According
to most who understand the ancestry of our modern English speaking nations as
having derived from Ephraim, [See our “The Hand
of God” article at this website] the current Queen of England sits on the
‘throne of David’ which was supposedly, --- transferred from the Holy
land
by Jeremiah and Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe or “secretary” (modern equivalent).
The
prophetic scenario, according to J.H. Allen’s and Herbert W. Armstrong’s
writings [US and Britain in Prophecy], the latter evolving as a modern
‘re-write’ from J. H. Allen’s work, “Judah’s Scepter and Joseph’s Birthright”, was
done according to both Allen and Armstrong --- by taking a Jewish princess of
the last King of Judah, a fellow prisoner along with others accompanying
Jeremiah, under the Babylonian captivity, with them to the British Isles to
eventually marry into a king of Ireland’s royal line, thereby setting up the
eventual throne of England’s royal line after three overturns.
The
first ‘overturn’ supposedly being from
The
place in prophecy where these three overturns were prophesied to occur is in
Ezekiel 21:27 as follows below:
26 Thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and
take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and
abase him that is high.
27 I will overturn, overturn,
overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it
him. KJV Ezekiel 21:26-27
Note: Verse 26 was a reference to the last reigning king of
Judah and verse 27 is simply stating that that throne will pass to Jesus when
he returns in our future. In the meantime [the period between Ezekiel and
Jeremiah’s days till the return of Jesus]a lesser royal line, but still a valid
one, would be ‘exalted’ to carry the Davidic throne through to Jesus’ return in
our future, who will take it over ‘sometime’ in times ahead of us in the modern
era.
According
to Jeremiah, in his prophetic book itself, he was given the commission
to tear down and rebuilt the
Ezekiel
was on the outside prophesying against
Did Ezekiel know Jeremiah? Who knows?
Apparently they were close to being contemporaries, if not actual
contemporaries, though.
Ezekiel may possibly have even been present somewhere
nearby to see events unfold for himself, if he was curious about seeing if what
God told him was going to come to pass about
Ireland’s
ancestry is said to be derived in part from an earlier Jewish colony supposedly
established most likely fairly early in Israel’s history during the times of
the Israelite tribe of Dan’s exploratory and colonizing tendencies of the past
probably near King David or king Solomon’s times.
The
notorious ‘Norsemen’ or Vikings, descendants another tribe of Israel, also did
a lot of raiding and exploring in ancient times as well --- often in the
British Isles, so who really knows what the Irish ancestry really contains ---
perhaps a bit of a mixture of Celtic peoples.
There’s
a fair bit of leeway as to who might have established the original settlements
of Ireland --- but that they were of a basic Celtic stock or origin is
generally acknowledged among historians.
Historians
believe the Celtic peoples to be of Germanic origin which is a reasonable
conclusion since the Celtic peoples seemed to have indeed emerged from Germanic
regions, but no consideration is given to the fact that the ten other Hebrew
tribes of Israel were taken captive by the Assyrians and distributed throughout
their lands. The Assyrians are
supposedly the ancestors of the modern Germanic peoples and so it’s not
unreasonable to conclude that the so called ‘lost ten tribes of Israel’ ---
losing their original national identities and language, became in effect, after
intermarrying and absorption with their captors, basically Germanic tribes,
thereafter.
The
full story can be found in the latter two above mentioned works with Allen’s
work being the most accessible but fairly heavy reading due to the archaic
language used, unless one wishes to approach one of the many Sabbath keeping
‘splinter’ churches of God for their
modern versions of Herbert Armstrong’s work.
A
number of re-write versions of Herbert Armstrong’s book can be found online at
various church of God sites which illustrates pretty well what most of the
Churches of God’s splinter groups teach regarding what was the mainstay
of the original parent church’s prophetic teachings, i.e. the “Worldwide Church
of God’s”, and of course, Herbert
Armstrong’s views of prophecy.
It must be borne in mind however, that there
are serious prophetic errors in both the original “USA and Britain in
prophecy” and subsequent re-writes that have been repeated from Herbert
Armstrong’s era and Herbert Armstrong, also an excellent researcher of his
time, was not infallible in his understanding of prophecy, as some might claim.
And,
therefore, repetitions of his work should not to be taken as ‘gospel’ in the
area of prophecy --- if we really want the truth from the word of God
itself. Except for the errors, the rest
of the presentation was quite good and also that of some of the modern rewrites
as well.
The
majority of those churches however have completely misunderstood Ezekiel and much
misunderstanding among the other churches of God revolves around Ezekiel’s
prophecies to a very great extent also.
The
misunderstandings of Ezekiel and other prophet’s references to ‘Jacob’ which
Mr. Armstrong interpreted as referring exclusively to all Israel have
resulted in nothing but “gloom and doom” prophetic outcomes for America and the
British Commonwealth, among those churches, which of course means anything but
“good news” which is what the Old English word “gospel” means.
By
incorrectly applying Ezekiel’s prophecies exclusively to America and the
Commonwealth countries, an incorrect understanding of prophecy concerning those
nations is arrived at as a result.
The
disciples of Jesus were commissioned to preach good news, i.e. the gospel, to
God’s peoples as follows:
5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them,
saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the
Samaritans enter ye not:
6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven
is at hand. KJV Matthew 10:5-7
The
disciples weren’t sent with a message of future or “impending destruction” of
the rest of the house of Israel but just a commission to preach the ‘Gospel of the
kingdom’ as these above verses clearly indicate.
There
are many who predict the fall of America and Britain and not just various
churches.
Historical analysts etc, also, predict the
fall of our modern world’s civilization based on the record of past
civilizations having decayed and collapsed because it is well known that
Britain became a “world empire” of no mean proportions.
One
of the wealthiest trading empires the world has ever seen in fact.
The
claim that America and the British Commonwealth will fall, like all the other
world Empires of the past, is a false one, however, according to all prophecy
centered around our future.
The
prophecies of Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah and a great many
other minor prophets all point inexorably to salvation for all of God’s chosen
peoples.
The
scenario of decadence and decay and eventual destruction holds true of the four
world ruling Empires that began with Nebuchadnezzar, i.e. Babylonian,
Medo-Persian, Greco- Macedonian and Roman.
Take
note however, those four world ruling empires were of ‘Gentile’ origin.
Nobody
seems to connect Daniel’s fifth world ruling empire, also destined to be a
physical one at first, to eventually become the kingdom of God, with God’s
chosen peoples at all.
We,
ourselves, find this anomaly decidedly strange among those churches that teach
prophecy.
Those
who teach British Israelism might have made the connection, but their view is a
distorted view of what God is actually going to do in our future in only a physical
sense and even the British Israelism advocates will be shocked by the truth,
when it unfolds through fulfilled prophecy.
We
continuously mention throughout our articles that the “fifth kingdom” was
designated by the angel that revealed all the other entire four world ruling
Gentile empires that have ever existed, to Daniel, as a “Stone”
kingdom.
As
Daniel describes it in his prophetic book, a kingdom ‘made’ without human
hands, i.e. a kingdom cut out of a great mountain that would grow to eventually
engulf the entire world.
We
understand through our prophetic studies that the ‘mountain’ was the ancient
A
mountain was and is symbolic of ‘a government’ in prophetic terminology.
The ancient
kingdom of Israel was ‘God’s kingdom’ initially ruled by God’s government, but
because of the Israelites failure to live up to the Old Covenant, changes were
made that necessitated a “new” kingdom be formed from the old one.
That’s
what these passages of prophecy in Daniel are depicting:
44 "In the time of those kings, the
God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed,
nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and
bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.
45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut
out of a mountain, but not by human hands--a rock that broke the iron, the
bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. "The great God has shown the king what
will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is
trustworthy." NIV Daniel 2:44-46
Notice
that this 5th kingdom was to be set up during the time of the
four world ruling Gentile kingdoms
i.e. before Jesus’ second advent in our future.
The
kingdom of God began to be set up during the Roman times through the preaching
of the gospel by the disciples or at least, that is, the spiritual phase was
set in motion in the apostle’s times.
The
‘physical’ phase began in Jeremiah’s times.
The
There
are many that preach ‘doom and gloom’ for our peoples that is inconsistent with
the truth of God’s word of prophecy.
Nuclear
destruction and a future captivity are not the destiny of God’s chosen peoples
--- at least not according to all the prophecy we have studied in the word of
God – Old or New Testament.
However,
having said that, the online versions put out by the churches of God of
“America and Britain in Prophecy” are usually well illustrated and well
researched, up to a point, and would give our readers a good outline of
what the bible teaches in places regarding Jeremiah’s commission and other
prophet’s parts in assuring God’s ultimate future plans for our world as it has
proceeded to the point we find ourselves in history today.
These
otherwise informative booklets begin to fall down usually, somewhere about
midway, with the introduction of “duality” of prophecy which as we’ve shown
throughout our work --- although dual themes do indeed exist --- no prophecy is
ever repeated. Once given, a prophecy
is fulfilled at some point in time and that’s it.
There
is not going to be a repeat of “the abomination of desolation” spoken
of by Daniel the prophet for example, for the simple reason that God/Jesus,
through the apostle and prophet John in the Book of Revelation reveals that
since 67-70 AD God has not regarded Jerusalem as holy, [contrary to what three
major religions believe] until the New covenant is made with the Jews in
our future:
And
their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which
spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. KJV Revelation 11:8
Churches,
in general of course, have better resources and income and staff to produce
better quality presentations of what they teach than our little website.
Most of the writers of these prophetic books
are prolific and convincing writers, but, the prognosis and premise of America
and Britain’s destruction are not biblically or prophetically correct however,
as Jeremiah’s 31st chapter shows clearly and the idea or notion of
America’s destruction by God, should be taken with the proverbial grain of
salt.
Most
of those Sabbath keeping churches believe they have the right answer to the
question below, but most conclusions are loosely based on Mr. Armstrong’s
previous interpretations.
Why would
God destroy nations that he has nurtured for countless centuries? --- Nations, that He has promised to
watch over, rescue and save in our future times ahead.
Incorrect understanding of
‘Jacob’ in prophecy
The
biggest misunderstanding comes from the notion that ‘Jacob’ is referring to
Israel when in fact it is referring to the Jews in Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel
especially, coupled to the belief that Deuteronomy 28’s curses in the second
half of Deuteronomy 28 are still applicable to God’s chosen peoples of
today.
That
belief is based on the fact that the blessings of the first part of Deuteronomy
were withheld because of extreme sin, true enough, but eventually bestowed on
Modern America and the British Commonwealth after 2,520 years and therefore the
second half [curses] would follow if our modern peoples do not repent – an
assumption that is not borne out by prophecy.
Our
nations will be corrected by God that’s for sure --- but not by destruction as
nations as did indeed happen in past prophecy concerning our early ancestors of
the Israelite era.
All
prophecy shows that the curses were already delivered to all the Israelites, in
spades, in antiquity, including the Jews when God destroyed both Nations in the
past. The Assyrians destroyed Israel and
The Babylonians destroyed Judah as nations and scattered both to the proverbial
four winds eventually.
As bad as the great tribulation and second
Diaspora of the Jews was in 67-70 AD --- God promised the Jews that He would
never do again what he did to the Jews in the Babylonian captivity, here’s the
full story from Ezekiel:
And I will do in thee that which I have not done,
and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because
of all thine abominations.
These next passages of prophecy were fulfilled
during the Babylonian siege according to Jeremiah. [See all of Lamentations for
the gruesome details of the Babylonian siege from Jeremiah’s first hand report
and desolate viewpoint, when he was caught within Jerusalem’s walls at that
time.]
10 Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the
midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute
judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the
winds.
11 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.
12 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.
13 Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury
to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that
I the Lord have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.
14 Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach
among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by.
15 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an
astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute
judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the Lord have spoken it.
The next verses were fulfilled during the
Babylonian siege of Jerusalem as Jeremiah’s Lamentations shows also.
16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of
famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy
you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of
bread:
17 So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts,
and they shall bereave thee: and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee;
and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the Lord have spoken it. KJV Ezekiel
5:9-17
The
misunderstanding of this prophecy is made very simply by taking verse 4 to mean
all of
Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst
of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth
into all the house of
However,
the very next verse puts paid to that notion:
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. KJV Ezekiel 5:5
Clearly
none of these verses can be a prophecy for the other ten tribes who had already
been destroyed as a nation and gone into captivity via the Assyrians by the
time Ezekiel was written.
As
Ezekiel is one of the supporting prophets for this essay but is too big to
include in the section heading under “supporting prophets” at the end of part
three --- a fourth part of this essay will be included to show two vital
ingredients that need elaborating and explanation, under headings titled “Who
are the enemies of God?” and “Ezekiel the misunderstood prophet.”
God
states very clearly His position towards his chosen nations as these parts of
Jeremiah 31 affirm beyond a shadow of doubt, showing both Nations Of Israel
represented by the two leading tribes of ‘birthright’ and ‘scepter’ holders,
i.e. [Ephraim] and Jacob [Judah] respectively, are going to return to the holy
land in our future, but not from a future national slavery or captivity:
1 At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the
families of Israel, and they shall be my people.
3 The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I
have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee.
This
is clearly a reference to all Israel --- obviously not to God’s love for His
prophet Jeremiah and not just the Jews.
4 Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of
5 Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of
6 For there
shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye,
and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God.
Samaria
was not a part of Judah’s inheritance but that of Ephraim and Manasseh’s joint
inheritance among the Israelites as the split tribe of Joseph i.e. the
ancestors to modern English speaking peoples.
7 For thus saith the Lord; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and
shout
among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say,
O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of
The
Jews [Jacob] were the remnant of
Who
are the chief or most influential nations of our modern times?
Well,
the ‘home’ of modern Christian evangelism resides in the only superpower
currently on the world scene --- wouldn’t that qualify America as a chief
nation, along with the UK and the other Commonwealth countries as ‘a company’
of chief nations?
8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts
of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with
child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return
thither.
A
list of nations follows that have Israelite ancestry, ‘lifted’ from a worldwide
list of nations courtesy of Wikipedia and showing effectively their percentages
of distribution of second Diaspora Jews:
|
Rank |
Country |
Jews |
%
Jewish |
% of all
Jews |
|
1 |
United States (2007)[1] |
6,444,000 |
2.2% |
38% |
|
2 |
5,593,000 |
75.5% |
34% |
A
great many of the second Diaspora Jews [Jacob] reside in a ‘northern’ land
today.
The
majority of all the Diaspora Jews of modern times live in the USA and other
nations descended from ancient Israel according to Wikipedia’s demographic
statistics [which may or may not be 100% accurate but are probably close enough
for our purposes here in this article]
The
modern Jews of the Diaspora are still a ‘remnant of Israel’ even though
Israeli’s in general believe Jews are all of Israel, but as we’ve
pointed out in our articles that particular belief is unfounded.
They
are indeed, all of recognized Israel today, that much is true, so we
suppose their belief could be considered a ‘half truth’ therefore, if such
exists.
But
we ourselves are ‘determinedly’ looking for full truth and nothing but
the truth. We are definitely not interested in half truths as a result of our
intense research into prophecy --- only the best will do for us.
|
3 |
606,561 |
0.9% |
4.2% |
|
5 |
393,660 |
1.2% |
2.7% |
|
|
6 |
350,000 |
0.6% |
2.4% |
|
|
10 |
120,000 |
0.55% |
0.82% |
|
|
18 |
45,000 |
0.4% |
<0.5% |
|
|
27 |
18,003 |
0.2% |
<0.5% |
|
|
31 |
14,649 |
0.2% |
<0.5% |
|
|
37 |
7,062 |
0.13% |
<0.5% |
|
|
39 |
5,447 |
0.14% |
<0.5% |
|
|
50 |
1,930 |
0.045% |
<0.5% |
The
major portion of the rest of the 67-70 AD Diaspora Jews most probably do reside
in the “coastland” countries of the rest of the 12 tribes of Israel’s lands in
Western Europe, including the UK.
France
[Reuben, a tribe of ancient Israel] has the next biggest concentration apart
from the USA and Israel itself.
Argentina’s
[2.7% ]outstrips Canada by a touch, but the rest of the world’s ‘Gentile’
nations combined, according to Wikipedia’s chart of the distribution of Jews
worldwide would only
amount to only about 24% in round figures. [I.e. by adding together all those
listed countries that are not descended from an Israelite background]
9 They shall
come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them
to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not
stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
10 Hear the word of the
Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that
scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.
This
part of Jeremiah’s narrative and prophecy below is clearly a reference to the
times of God’s restoration of the Jews under Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai’s and
Zechariah’s times from the Babylonian captivity.
11 For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him
from the hand of him that was stronger than he.
There
is a distinct possibility though, that these following verses are ‘timeless’ in
their promises for both that past time of rescue and a future time ahead where
they of the second Diaspora will simply migrate[ in effect a second exodus]
back to Israel from all parts of the world at Jesus’ return.
12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height
of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and
for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and
their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at
all.
13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both
young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will
comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with
fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord.
Ezra,
Nehemiah and Haggai show that the Jews who returned from the Babylonian
captivity after 70 years did indeed celebrate very much like these scriptures
from Jeremiah indicate in a time when God did indeed bless them once again ---
by a restoration of their society in preparation for His first coming and birth
as Saviour. This next verse shows He
will do so again in our future.
17 And there is hope in thine end,
saith the Lord, that thy children [modern
descendants] shall come again to their own border.
Make
no mistake however --- this is not duality.
Ongoing
prophecies that can be and are fulfilled, over time, sometimes great lengths of
time, in part or full, are not signifying duality at all and that’s why we term
them ‘timeless’ to designate a decided difference to those prophecies that
could be mistaken for the “duality theory” that some teach.
20 Is Ephraim my dear son? is
he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him
still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon
him, saith the Lord.
The
building and planting in verse 28 below began in Jeremiah’s day.
27 Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.
28 And it
shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to
break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and
to plant, saith the Lord.
This
is a reference to the period of time from Jeremiah’s days to our day in the
modern era where God is dealing with his peoples on an individual basis.
Since the time kingdom of God began to grow
from what Jesus said in the New Testament in one of His parables was from a
grain of mustard seed and since the promise of the New Testament became
reality, this ‘interim period’ of that growth was to continue to just before
His second advent in our future:
29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers
have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.
30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity:
every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.
Verse
31 below, represents the National promises to come in our future:
31 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 Not
according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took
them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they
brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:
God
says very clearly that he is watching over his chosen peoples in modern times
to rebuild and plant [verse 28] --- not to destroy --- as many erroneously
teach.
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward
parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be
my people.
The
Jews have not become a part of the New Covenant yet due to their continued
refusal to acknowledge their Saviour --- but they will acknowledge Him in our
future as all prophecy shows clearly and so will all the rest of the
descendants of physical Israelite nations of today acknowledge Jesus as God
also, i.e. all those that have descended from the 12 tribes of Israel of the
past i.e. the British Commonwealth and America included, as this next verse
shows clearly:
34 And they
shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the
greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will
remember their sin no more. KJV Jeremiah
31:27-35
Finally, God finishes
up with an unconditional ironclad guarantee from verses 35-37 through
his prophet Jeremiah’s work that He will never abandon His chosen peoples ---
no matter what their national sins may be.
Do these following passages sound like God is going
to destroy England, Ireland, Scotland, the Commonwealth countries of Canada,
Australia, New Zealand or the other descendants of Israelites, comprising,
France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland et al and America?
35 Thus saith
the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the
moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the
waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is his name:
36 If those ordinances depart from
before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of
37 Thus saith the Lord; If
heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out
beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they
have done, saith the Lord.
KJV Jeremiah 31:35-38
Would anybody
care to try counting the number of stars in even the known universe? A
computer might barely be able to do it if they could even be seen, but even as
good as the Hubble telescope seems to be will that statistic ever be
known?
Some
go as far as to say New York City is the Babylon of Revelation but our article,
“The true identity of Revelation’s Babylon” puts paid to that notion.
No more need be said about whether or not
America or the British Commonwealth will be destroyed by God in a nuclear
nightmare in our future --- there are simply no such prophecies anywhere
throughout prophetic scripture --- period.
So what does Malachi show
that ties into Ezekiel and Isaiah’s visions of a Temple of God being
established in the future?
Why would
Ephraim [
Well,
it mightn’t bother Aussies, [who are divided over becoming independent of the
British Monarch, anyway] nor perhaps Canadians, OR Americans.
We
haven’t left out our brother New Zealanders but we’re not sure of their
attitude towards our monarchy but the British themselves might have strong
feelings regarding what God says He’s going to do in the prophecy of our future.
The
British monarchy however and its subjects might just conceivably be a little
peeved over having to hand their royal line, throne and rulership of the UK
over to Jesus when He returns.
Jealousy
might be too mild a word and the Jews might indeed be hostile when they learn
where the throne of David actually is, or has been, according to J. H. Allen
and company, [since Jeremiah’s time] --- they too might be a little surprised
that England will be subject to the rule of God’s new Kingdom.
The
implications of actually handing over rights of the British throne and
monarchy to the Jews might indeed create at least some friction approaching hostility
if the British monarchy was reluctant to do so.
Hostility,
as Isaiah therefore suggests, might also conceivably exist in our future
under those circumstances. This would be
just in the area of ‘physical’ rulership issues alone.
Religious implications:
On the
religious side of things, If God replaces Christianity in all its forms with a
new updated form of His original religion under the New Covenant that He will
establish with the Jews that is actually closer to the Jewish observances of the
Sabbath and holy days of yore, as Isaiah prophesies, but with the difference of
the New Testament form of the Passover celebrated only once a year which
differs to the weekly communion of so many, or even most, mainstream modern
churches, the Brits and other English speaking countries who foster
Christianity might well be offended for a time.
At
least until the penny drops and they begin to understand that God’s
rule will be here to stay for all time and they won’t have a
great deal to say in the matter of how the world is run from the point in time
that the Kingdom of God becomes reality.
So to
return to the question in hand:
Will there indeed
be Levitical priests serving God in His newly built Sanctuary? A sanctuary or
temple that some of Christianity doesn’t believe will exist?
Some
Christian churches actually support the Jews in building a third temple on
mount Moriah [the most widely acclaimed
and assumed
location] but tend to put different slants on things prophetical and have a
different “take” according to their ‘peculiar’ understandings of prophecy.
Although
this author could have said “particular” understandings of prophecy, above,
“peculiar” really does “hit the spot” and seems more appropriate in this case
indeed.
A full
panorama of widely diverse views on the Ezekiel’s third temple can be seen on
the ‘net’ by simply typing in ‘Third Temple’ at Google.
For our part, we simply repeat what Ezekiel
shows in back-up to what Isaiah also shows on that subject:
10 “Son of man, describe the temple to the people
of
11 and if they
are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the
temple--its arrangement, its exits and entrances--its whole design and all its
regulations and laws. Write these down before them so
that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations.
12 "This is the law of the temple: All the
surrounding area on top of the mountain will be most holy. Such is the law of
the temple. NIV Ezekiel 43:10-12
Notice
that this prophecy above in verse 10 says that all of the people of Israel
are to take note of the plan --- not Just the Jews/Jacob particularly, although this could still
be just a reference to the Jews because the bulk of Ezekiel’s writing was
directed at the Jews overall.
18 Then he said to me, "Son of man, this is
what the Sovereign LORD says: These will be the regulations for sacrificing
burnt offerings and sprinkling blood upon the altar when it is built:
19 You are to
give a young bull as a sin offering to the priests, who are Levites, of the
family of Zadok, who come near to minister before me, declares the Sovereign
LORD.
20 You are to
take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar and on the
four corners of the upper ledge and all around the rim, and so purify the altar
and make atonement for it.
21 You are to take the bull for the sin offering and burn
it in the designated part of the temple area outside the sanctuary.
22 “On the second day you are to offer a male goat
without defect for a sin offering, and the altar is to be purified as it was
purified with the bull.
23 When you have finished purifying it, you are to
offer a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect.
24 You are to offer them before the LORD, and the
priests are to sprinkle salt on them and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to
the LORD.
25 "For
seven days you are to provide a male goat daily for a sin offering; you are
also to provide a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect.
26 For seven days they are to make atonement for the
altar and cleanse it; thus they will dedicate it.
27 At the end of these days, from the eighth day on, the priests are to present your burnt offerings and fellowship
offerings on the altar. Then I will accept you, declares the Sovereign LORD." NIV
Ezekiel 43:18-27
Is all this in accord and agreement with
Isaiah’s statement that God will select Levites for priests in our future? Remembering this is addressed to Jews and the
other ancient Israelites, not saints or Christians of our times because we
didn’t exist then --- but it is referring to theirs [the Jew’s future] and
concerns, therefore, our future as well as that of other nations.
And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be
named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their
riches you will boast. NIV Isaiah
61:6
Is this God
speaking here in these passages of prophecy below? In telling Ezekiel what he
intends for some time in the incredible future during the millennium, or just
Ezekiel’s overactive imagination?
1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning
of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the fall
of the city--on that very day the hand of the LORD was upon me and he took me
there.
2 In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and
set me on a very high mountain, on
whose south side were some buildings that looked like a city.
In
other places in prophetic scripture, the prophets/God speak of the ‘whole house
of Israel’ and determining where and when either the Jews as one of the two
houses of Israel is being referred to, or Ephraim as the other house, is being
referred to, unless the context is very carefully taken into account, is indeed
an absorbing undertaking sometimes taking several readings from different
versions of the scriptures to get it right.
3 He took me there, and I saw a man whose appearance
was like bronze; he was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a
measuring rod in his hand.
4 The man said
to me, "Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and pay
attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been
brought here. Tell the house of
The
house of Israel [singular] could well be referring to just the Jews in this
instance, just cited in verse 4 as underlined, as they were after all, the only
‘recognized[by God] house of Israel’ in existence at the time of Ezekiel’s
prophecies.
God
had essentially “divorced” the rest of the tribes of Israel and had already put
them out of His sight by removing them from the holy land at the time of
Ezekiel’s writings.
Notice
that Ezekiel was taken to the general location of the Jerusalem of his day in
vision --- but clearly not to the Jerusalem of the times of the Babylonian captivity
--- because his job of that time was to prophecy of its coming destruction as
clearly set out in Ezekiel chapters 4&5.
Here is the full context of the end
of a prophecy in which Isaiah 61:6 appears and there is no mistaking
that this is a future prophecy for our times ahead because the full
prophecy actually begins after Isaiah 59:15 with Isaiah’s insightful lead-up
from Isaiah 59:1-15 stating that because of the then existing situation with
the failure of the last remaining house of Israel to teach truth --- the
full prophecy beginning effectively from verse 15 of chapter 59 and continuing
in the incredible opening of Chapter 60 outlining
the Jews future.
This prophecy is clearly referring to the Jews,
even though many would ascribe this last part and especially verse 6 to be a
reference to Christianity, simply because of the opening of chapter 61 having a
clear reference to Christ [verses 1-2] which Jesus’ Himself actually quoted in
the New Testament as a reference to Himself :[Luke 4:18]
1 The Spirit
of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good
tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that
are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and
the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint
unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of
joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they
might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might
be glorified.
4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall
raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the
desolations of many generations.
5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and
the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6
But ye shall be
named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye
shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast
yourselves.
7
For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in
their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double:
everlasting joy shall be unto them.
8
For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in
truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9
And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the
people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which
the Lord hath blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul
shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of
salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her
jewels.
11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and
as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause
righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. KJV Isaiah 61:6-11
The prophetic
proof for this entire chapter 61 above, together with the entire chapter 60 as
complete back-up for Ezekiel’s last 8 chapters [with the solitary exception of
verses 1-2 of Isaiah 61] being a reference entirely for the Jews is in the
opening of the previous chapter 60 as follows, because chapters 60 and 61 are a
“single prophecy” that should not have been divided by whatever scholars in
ages past clearly have done, apparently:
1
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon
thee.
2 For,
behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but
the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
3 And
the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy
rising.
4
Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together,
they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be
nursed at thy side.
5 Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear,
and be enlarged;
because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of
the Gentiles shall come unto thee.
6
The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah;
all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they
shall shew forth the praises of the Lord.
7
All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of
Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine
altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.
8
Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?
9 Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the
ships of Tarshish first, to
bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name
of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified
thee.
10
And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall
minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had
mercy on thee.
11
Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut
day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and
that their kings may be brought.
12
For the nation
and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be
utterly wasted.
13
The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the
box together, to
beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet
glorious.
14 The sons also of them that afflicted thee
shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow
themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee; The city of the Lord, The
Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15
Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of
many generations.
16
Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of
kings: and thou shalt
know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
17
For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood
brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine
exactors righteousness.
18
Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy
borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.
19
The sun shall be
no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto
thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy
glory.
20 Thy sun shall
no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be
thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
21
Thy people also
shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting,
the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
22
A little one
shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time. KJV Isaiah
60:1-22
Ezekiel’s Third
Temple Prophecy
By Glenn Davies
[excerpt from a part of an e-mail to Clay Willis]
Some modern
Christian theologians believe that neither the Jews nor the
Many hold
similar views about the Old Testament. God says otherwise.
Is Ezekiel’s
temple real, allegorical or imaginary? Will it exist in the future at sometime
as the Jews believe it must? Will the
Jews build it as they believe they will? What’s more important --- when exactly
and where?
Notice the
introduction to Ezekiel’s prophecy carefully:
1. In the five and twentieth year of our
captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the
fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the selfsame day the hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me thither.
2. In
the visions of God brought he me into the land of
KJV
Ezekiel 40:1-2
Anything that has anything to do with
the Hand of God/Hand of the Lord as we have seen in our studies is certain to
be almost “automatically” important and a vision that starts out stating that
“the hand of the Lord was upon me” therefore is not insignificant to say
the least.
The “importance” of this vision and to
whom it was given:
And the
man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears,
and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for to the intent that
I might shew them unto thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel. KJV Ezekiel 40:4
Q. Is this just for the Jews who are
referred to in Jeremiah as Jacob in prophecy or for all the tribes of
What is Ezekiel told specifically
to do? This time in the NIV for a little more clarity:
Son of
man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is
why you have been brought here. NIV Ezekiel 40:4
It has a certain “air” or ring of
importance to it does it not?
Add to that Ezekiel is being led
around in this vision by an angel just like Zechariah and Daniel in the Old
Testament and John in the New Testament in the book of Revelation was each
shown things by angels:
He took me
there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze; he was standing in the
gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand. NIV Ezekiel
40:3
Q. What mountain and what city to the
south? And more importantly when?
Clues:
# Clue number 1:
1 Then the
man brought me to the gate facing east,
2 and I saw
the glory of the God of
3 The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he came to
destroy the city and like
the visions I had seen by the
NIV
Ezekiel 43:1-3
Q. What city was destroyed in
Ezekiel’s other visions in those days --- was it
A.
1 "Now, son of man, take a clay tablet,
put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it.
2 Then lay
siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps
against it and put battering rams around it.
7 Turn
your face toward the siege of
"This
is what the Sovereign LORD says: This is
11
Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because you have
defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I
myself will withdraw my favor; I will not look on you with pity or spare you.
12 A third
of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third
will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the
winds and pursue with drawn sword.
13 “Then
my anger will cease and my wrath against them will subside, and I will be
avenged. And when I have spent my wrath upon them, they will know that I the
LORD have spoken in my zeal.
14 “I will
make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of
all who pass by. NIV Ezekiel 4:1-2,
7& 5:5, 11-14
Q. What visions did Ezekiel see by the
river Kebar that he sees in this vision of chapter 41:1-3?
and in the
fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was that of a man,
NIV Ezekiel 1:5
A.
One of God’s Cherubim “transporting”
angel/creatures coming from the east to this temple.[verse2]
Q. To deliver what and/or whom to this
temple and where?
4. The glory of the LORD entered the temple
through the gate facing east.
5. Then
the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.
6.
While the man was standing beside me, I heard
someone speaking to me from inside the temple.
7. He
said: "Son of man, this is the
place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will
live among the Israelites forever. NIV Ezekiel 43:4-7
A. The Glory of the Lord would seem to
be one of the angelic Cherubim transports that were filling the temple itself
after apparently delivering the “Someone” who was speaking to Ezekiel from
inside the inner court temple area.
That “Someone” declares that His
throne is placed there and is also the place for the soles of His feet and that
He is going to live among the Israelites forever in that location.
# Clue number 2: The location of the temple.
"This
is the law of the temple: All the surrounding area on top of the mountain will be most holy. Such is the law of the
temple. NIV Ezekiel 43:12
Q. Who is it exactly that enters this
temple on top of a mountain?
A.
1 Then the
man brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east,
and it was shut.
2 The LORD
said to me, "This gate is to remain
shut. It must
not be opened; no one may enter through it. It is to
remain shut because the LORD, the God of
Who according to Zechariah is it that
comes to “a mountain” in our future and is said to be God? What mountain?
On that day his feet will
stand on the Mount of Olives, east
of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to
west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving
north and half moving south. NIV
Zechariah 14:4
When does this member of the God
Family take up residence? And more importantly where? In
You will
flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as
you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the
holy ones with him. NIV Zechariah 14:5
A. It
would seem that “the Lord my God” takes up residence “somewhere” after
the mountain which is now identified as the “Mount of Olives” is split into
two halves --- one half going to the north and one half going towards the
south.
Who in the New Testament was reported
by one of His disciples [and indeed all the others including Paul] to be God in
the flesh [John1:1] and was seen by some of those disciples to ascend from
the Mount of Olives to supposedly go to the right hand of God from whom He came
in the first place? And, who will also descend to the
Then the LORD
my God will come, and all the
holy ones with him. NIV Zechariah 14:5
9 After he
said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him
from their sight.
10 They
were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men
dressed in white stood beside them.
11 “Men of
12 Then they returned to
13 But I
would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For
this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and
remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 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:
17 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.
18
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
KJV 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
What do these two clues and support
scriptures from the New Testament reveal so far?
[a] Clue #1: At least one of same 4
Cherubim that were apparently seen by Ezekiel at the time Jerusalem was to be
destroyed in the Babylonian captivity will be present at the time Ezekiel’s
Temple will be built and delivers a member of the God Family to that temple who
declares from within that sanctuary that the sanctuary and/or the house within
will be where He will live with the Israelites forever and where His throne
will be.
[b] Clue #2: The Temple will be
situated on the top of a mountain which will in all likelihood be the
was seen to ascend from and will
descend to and therefore will most likely be holy Ground:
All the
surrounding area on top of the mountain will be most holy. NIV Ezekiel 43:12
How do we know a temple will even be
built and that it was not just a figment of Ezekiel’s imagination? --- since this
prophecy seems to be a “one off”--- although incredibly detailed plan for a
temple and what seems a small city to south of it as well:
1 "`When you allot the land as an
inheritance, you are to present to the LORD a portion of the land as a sacred
district, 25,000 cubits long and
20,000 cubits wide; the entire area will be holy.
2 Of this, a section 500 cubits square is to be for the sanctuary, with 50 cubits around it for open land.
3 In the
sacred district, measure off a section 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits
wide. In it will be the sanctuary, the
4 It will
be the sacred portion of the land for the priests, who minister in the
sanctuary and who draw near to minister before the LORD. It will be a place for
their houses as well as a holy place for the sanctuary.
5 An area
25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide will belong to the Levites, who serve
in the temple, as their possession for towns to live in.
6 "`You are to give the city as its
property an area 5,000 cubits wide and 25,000 cubits long, adjoining the sacred
portion; it will belong to the whole house of Israel.
7 “`The
prince will have the land bordering each side of the area formed by the sacred
district and the property of the city. It will extend westward from the west
side and eastward from the east side, running lengthwise from the western to
the eastern border parallel to one of the tribal portions.
8 This
land will be his possession in
NIV
Ezekiel 45:1-8
These are no small measurements though
and 25,000 cubits translates into roughly several “English” miles i.e. in round
figures around 12,500 yards if a cubit is 18 inches long as it is reported to
be by some. 7 miles = 12320 yards
Therefore this city in round figures
will be approximately 7miles [12320 yards] miles by 6 miles [10,560 yards] i.e.
12320 by 10,560 equaling roughly 25000 by 20000 cubits. If this city is on top of the Mount of Olives
and not in the great valley that is created in between the northern and
southern halves --- it would seem the Mount of Olives might well be enlarged to
become a great mountain “exalted” above the hills of
Is there nothing else anywhere in the
Old Testament to confirm this temple might be built? and according to the
Jewish “rule of thumb” i.e. that for any matter to be established fully as
truth or confirmed it should have a back-up of at least one more “witness” to
confirm it --- i.e. “Two witnesses.”
Does another witness exist that
confirms that this temple might be built and therefore lend credence to all the
rest of Ezekiel’s Temple prophecy as having validity, i.e. that a “real” temple
will be built according to all of Ezekiel’s extremely detailed plans --- after Jesus’ second coming?
Surprisingly enough the answer to that
question is yes.
Note this portion of Ezekiel’s
prophecy:
1 The man
brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw
water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for
the temple faced east). The water
was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar.
2 He then
brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the
outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side.
3 As the
man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand
cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep.
4 He
measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was
knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was
up to the waist.
5 He
measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross,
because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in--a river that no one
could cross.
6 He asked
me, "Son of man, do you see this?"
Then he led me back to the bank of the river.
7 When I
arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river.
8 He said
to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the
Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there
becomes fresh.
9 Swarms
of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large
numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh;
so where the river flows everything will live.
10
Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be
places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds--like the fish of the
11 But the
swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.
12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their
fruit fail. Every
month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their
fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."
13 This is
what the Sovereign LORD says: "These are the boundaries by which you are
to divide the land for an inheritance among the twelve tribes of
14 You are
to divide it equally among them. Because I swore with uplifted hand to give it
to your forefathers, this land will become your inheritance. NIV Ezekiel 47:1-15
Compare to these verses in Revelation:
1 Then the
angel showed me the river
of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing
from the throne of God and of the Lamb
2 down
the middle of the great street of the city. On each
side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
3 No
longer will there be any curse. The throne
of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
NIV Revelation 22:1-4
Will Ezekiel’s
The use of the word sanctuary in
places might suggest that this special building might not be just another
temple like Solomon’s though and could simply double as a temple during the
thousand year reign but is possibly as that term suggests a sanctuary for the
house and the throne of God and therefore it may not need to be located on the
old site of Solomon’s temple at all as the Jews believe in any case.
It would also seem that New Jerusalem
will not be located over the site of the current city of Jerusalem but when it
descends from Heaven --- it seems that it will be “overlaid” straight over the
throne of Jesus and the former temple sanctuary right on top of the “newly”
remodeled Mount of Olives [created, before the millennium] with the throne
Jesus and God the Father somewhere near the centre!
It makes perfect sense for the Father
to come to live with His son in the exact location that His son is occupying
and would have been occupying for a thousand years rather than for them both to
move into Old Jerusalem --- after all they are a Family and New Jerusalem seems
to be a marked improvement over the Old anyway and 12 thousand furlongs
suggests it might be a bit larger as well even than the “sanctuary” city.
[Revelation 21:10-27]
And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem,
descending out of heaven from God KJV
Revelation 21:10
It
doesn’t seem to be mere coincidence that John is taken to a “great and high”
mountain in order to view the descent of New Jerusalem and the odds are that that
great and high mountain might just be the Mount of Olives because where else in
Judea is a great and high mountain near Jerusalem that would qualify as such?
--- if not the mount of Olives after its change.
*******
That’s the best I can do for an
explanation as to why I wrote what I did in the last part of HOGIOF* in support
--- up to a point --- of the Jewish view about Ezekiel’s temple being
built. As I said I must write what I see
and can’t be too concerned as to how others perceive what I write.
*Author’s note: HOGIOF is our shorthand for “The Hand of God
in our Future” --- another article that has been absorbed and incorporated into
the jointly authored 7 part article “The
hand of God in Prophecy”
In addition to
being joint author and webmaster, Clay also edits this author’s work --- except
for what appears under the personal blog section that is all original work with
only minor grammatical editing for the most part.
The Malachi
Factor
It’s
quite natural for Christians who have little or no understanding of Judaism to
question the validity of modern day Jewish orthodox practices of worship of God
under Judaism.
The
author of this article in all honesty, readily admits to ignorance of modern
Judaism in all its forms of worship.
The
question is though, what excuse do well educated secular or religious scholars
among Christianity who have spent time studying the Jew’s religion have
for denying what is plainly revealed in prophetic scripture?
The
most often quoted prophecies from Malachi, are those of the 4th
Chapter.
As
we are about to show our readers now --- misunderstanding of Malachi, a so
called minor prophet, has led to error in various Sabbath keeping churches of
both a fairly big church denomination and smaller groups.
A couple of misunderstandings of Malachi’s
Prophecy shows the great importance of searching out all prophecy for
full understanding:
The
SDA’s [Seventh Day Adventists] use Malachi’s 1st verse in
conjunction with the 3rd of Malachi’s 4th chapter to
supposedly show that the earth will be burnt up at Jesus’ return to set up His
kingdom and that the wicked will be ashes under the saint’s feet at the precise
moment of Jesus’ return.
A
properly careful study of all prophecy together “as a whole” reveals this to be
an untrue teaching as far as the ‘time setting’ is concerned.
The
Book of Revelation shows that Malachi’s first verse is in fact talking about
the time of God the Father’s re-surfacing of the earth’s land masses when the
old earth as we know it today will cease to exist in its present form where
there are recognizable and familiar continents and landmarks:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the
first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. NIV Revelation 21:1
Logically
speaking, an earth without any oceans and just lakes and rivers overall,
would have no definable continents at all.
One
of the immediately obvious benefits of the renewing of the earth’s surface in
this manner would be that there would no longer be any national boundaries as
all humanity would be living shoulder to shoulder so to speak and all of God’s
children [humanity] could live together peaceably as one world with no
‘nationalism’ hindering that peace since they’d all be “neighbours” with oceans
no longer dividing countries.
Under
this new set-up a utopian, united, ‘one world’ could finally be realized
under God’s rulership.
He who was seated on the throne said, "I am
making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these
words are trustworthy and true."
NIV Revelation 21:5
The
time setting for this remaking of the earth’s surface is clearly after the 1000
year reign of Christ [Revelation 20:4] and the 100 year great white throne
judgment period [ Revelation 20:11-15] where all that have ever lived will be
restored to life. [Including all the wicked]
From
a purely logical point of view it makes perfect sense to have an expanded
land-mass area to accommodate all that have ever lived on the earth from the
very beginning, especially if God is going to expand the earth’s population
after the millennium.
Currently,
approximately 7/10ths of the world’s current surface area is water in the form
of oceans --- remove those and raise to new heights the enormous valleys that
would be the former sea bed and extract all the riches that lie below the
oceans and you then have two and a bit times earth’s current land surface area
available, extra, and additional wealth probably beyond measure, both of which
would easily accommodate many billions more people quite comfortably, indeed, all
that have ever lived on this earth.
However
that might not be the only reason God is going to remove the oceans, i.e. to
house all that have ever lived, because in order to fulfill this promise in
Isaiah
about the Jews future ‘promised expansion’ more land on a grand scale would be
necessary in any case than just Judea and whatever lands they acquire from
their enemies as spoils of war after Jesus’ return:
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent
curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
3 For you will spread out to the right and to the
left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate
cities. Isaiah 54:2-3
The least of you will become a thousand, the
smallest a mighty nation. I am the LORD; in its time I will do this
swiftly." NIV Isaiah 60:22
A
prophecy was made very early on concerning some Israelites that has
connotations of an expansion that even today’s populations of all the world’s
current millions of scattered Israelite descendants can’t match --- nor any in
the past for that matter:
And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art
our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed
possess the gate of those which hate them. KJV Genesis 24:60
The
second part was fulfilled to the letter, why not the first?
On
the humorous side of things apparently the NIV translators of the bible
couldn’t credit that the 1611 AD KJV author’s could either count to a billion
or more or they thought it a wild exaggeration because they’ve ‘muted’ their
translation to read with lower numbers:
And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, "Our
sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring
possess the gates of their enemies."
NIV Genesis 24:60
At
least the American Standard edition agrees in principle with the KJV
translators:
Genesis 24:60
And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Our sister, be thou the
mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let thy seed possess the gate of
those that hate them. -- American
Standard
At
the point in time when the earth’s surface is renewed it will apparently become
one huge lake of fire from end to end into which any who still hate and defy
God after that time [i.e. the incorrigibly wicked] will be thrown and then
destroyed forever --- no further resurrections. It’s an awful fate and we hope not many
will choose eternal oblivion by fiery death of body and spirit by refusing to
repent of evil and change their ways.
Clearly
there won’t be any torture in hell for eternity such as portrayed in “Dante’s
inferno.” Our God is not a sadist --- it will be a quick but painful end for
all eternity of those that can’t learn the way of love.
All
those that have experienced raging inferno’s like the recent Aussie ‘bushfires’
will understand the tragedy of that type of end of life.
Fortunately
for our recent bushfire families their loved ones will see life again in better
circumstances, as prophecy indicates throughout, though for the time being our
hearts ache for those we’ve lost --- from whatever circumstances.
14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of
fire. The lake of fire is the second death.
15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book
of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. NIV Revelation 20:14-15
The
Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day must have been extraordinarily evil for Jesus to
have said this of them:
23 And thou,
Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if
the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it
would have remained until this day.
24 But I say unto you, That it shall be more
tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.
25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things
from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
26 Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy
sight. KJV Matthew 11:23-26
The
apostle Peter also shows in the book of Acts that the time of this great white
throne Judgment and burning of the earth’s surface is beyond the millennium’s
timeframe and not at Jesus’ return, although this is not apparent at
first, by what Peter wrote in verse 10 below:
10 But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a
great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and
the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be
dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and
godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day
of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens
and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such
things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and
blameless. KJV 2 Peter 3:10-14
At
first glance this would seem to support the SDA teaching that the earth would
be burnt up at Jesus’ coming by what Peter says in verses 10&12.
[Underlined] in seemingly mentioning this occurring in ‘the Day of the Lord’
[first part of verse 10]
Did
the apostle Peter get it wrong?
It is interesting to note however that Peter
wrote this before the Book of Revelation was written and therefore his
expectation of a new heavens and a new earth could only have come from his understanding of Isaiah or
alternately directly from his saviour’s teachings of 3 1/2 years or after
Jesus’ resurrection during the time that Jesus showed His resurrected form to
His servants in the period before His
ascension:
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth:
and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. KJV Isaiah 65:17
We’ve
also shown in parts one and two of “the
Day of the Lord” articles that there have in fact been many days of the
Lord in the past and at least two more to come in our future, one at Jesus’
coming and another when the world’s population has again increased after the
end of the 1000 year reign of Christ and a final intervention by God the Father
at that time, occurs with regard to Gog and Magog [communist countries]also
prophesied about by Ezekiel in his 38th & 39th
chapters.
Compare
Revelation 20:7-10 to Ezekiel’s 38th & 39th
chapters. After those final
confrontations with Godless societies, God the Father will descend from heaven
to dwell with his people and His son, also for all eternity, but more properly
might be called “a day of the Lord ‘High’ God.”
Other
prophecy including Isaiah’s shows a glowing and quite spectacular future for the Jews during the Millennium with
Ezekiel’s corroboration of a new temple being built with no mention of the
earth’s surface being burnt up first beforehand --- so how can that be
reconciled with Peter’s verse 10 statement above?
The
apostle Peter actually expands upon his theme of the second epistle by writing
what he did in his epistle, earlier, at first, as a lead-up which shows
the proper context for what he wrote in verse 10 --- but if we pass over the
opening of this epistle too quickly or casually we would miss this point
entirely amid his rather wordy lead-up:
1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you;
in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the
holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the
Lord and Saviour:
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the
last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for
since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation.
5 For this
they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of
old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed
with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are
kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of
ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing,
that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one
day.
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise,
as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not
willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. KJV
2 Peter 3:1-9
This
understanding of the apostle Peter’s in the opening of this epistle places the
time of Malachi’s verses 1&3 into their correct perspective as to when the
wicked will be ashes under the feet of the saints i.e. after the
millennium at the time of the end of about a hundred year period of the ‘great
white throne Judgment’ of Revelation 20:11-15.
In
another place the apostle Peter shows ‘a time of refreshing’ comes at Jesus’
return instead and puts everything into perfect perspective very clearly ---
this understanding of Peter’s has a ‘timeless’ quality to it because we know
that Jesus brought destruction and a Diaspora of the Jews in 67-70 AD and not a
‘refreshing’ as such and verse 19-21 is a clear reference to a distant future
therefore with verses 22-24 a reference to Jesus’ first advent times and then verse
25 a far off future time again and verse 26 back to Peter’s day:
18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all
the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer.
19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may
come from the Lord,
20 and that he may send the Christ,
who has been appointed for you--even Jesus.
21 He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore
everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.
22 For Moses said, `The Lord your God will raise up
for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to
everything he tells you.
23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut
off from among his people.'
24 “Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken,
have foretold these days.
25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the
covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, `Through your offspring all
peoples on earth will be blessed.'
26 When God raised up his servant, he sent him first
to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways." NIV
Acts 3:18-26
Who
exactly, was Peter Addressing?
12 And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the
people, Ye men of
13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob,
the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and
denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.
14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just,
and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the
dead; whereof we are witnesses. KJV Acts
3:12-15
Clearly
Peter was addressing the Jews as ‘men of Israel’ and while it’s possible there
were men of the other 12 tribes present at that time, here in this instance he
was clearly referring to the Jews.
That’s pretty straight forward enough isn’t it? --- The Jews who killed their Saviour and
coming King are still going to be used by God to do what?
In spite of having murdered their King? Read it again in verse 25 of acts 3 to be
sure:
`Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.'
So
are the Jews, who some Christian theologians claim, along with assertions about
the holy land --- no longer relevant?
Through
the prophet Joel, God says he will forgive their ‘bloodguilt’ that he has
not removed --- at the time of his return in our future:
16 The LORD will roar from
17 ‘Then you will know that I, the LORD your God, dwell in Zion, my
holy hill.
18 `In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and
the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of
19 But Egypt will be desolate, Edom a desert waste,
because of violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed
innocent blood.
20
21 Their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned, I will
pardon. ` The LORD dwells in
Well, how about that! It
seems God does indeed say otherwise!
All nations of the modern world of the future will be blessed by
the descendants of the Jews.
Well
we did say to expect surprises, didn’t we?
That
reference in acts 3:25 was intended for ‘all Israel’s descendants to be a
blessing to all nations but that very definitely applies to the Jews as well as
the apostle Peter quite rightly pointed out.
Should
we believe the apostle Peter?
Well,
the Catholic church claims Peter was the first pope --- therefore, a
billion or so of the earth’s current population should believe what
their first and foremost pope says, very clearly, shouldn’t they?
The
list of prophets who foretold Jesus’ coming is indeed quite long, including
even king David and, those who didn’t listen to the prophet that Moses said
would be raised up like himself, i.e. Jesus, were completely cut off at
the “end of the age” --- an entire generation of Jews in 67-70 AD in fact.
Except for an ‘elect’ who kept did apparently
keep the commandments of God, just as all the apostles also prophesied, the
many would indeed be cut off in the great tribulation of those days as recorded
in the synoptic gospels, said would occur through their recounting of Jesus’
prophecies throughout their gospel writings as “His witnesses.”
It’s
completely inexplicable why the Jews of those days and even today continue to
reject Jesus’ and the way of love He taught.
The
sensible ‘way of love’ is not that difficult a path to take in life really.
Jesus’ said His burden was light and we find that to be true --- to know
the truth is truly liberating and a great sense of spiritual freedom
accompanies the truth:
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;
for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. KJV
Matthew 11:28-30
One
other common misunderstanding of Malachi’s prophecies among Sabbath keeping
churches in the 4th chapter needs to be addressed to add weight to
the absolute necessity to take into consideration and study all prophecy
before formulating any kind of teaching or understanding, that will of
necessity be shot through with error and completely skewed if this is not done
with the utmost care.
Among
the many and sincere groups espousing prophecy according to their understanding,
one among the many split-off Sabbath keeping ‘churches of God’ for example,
even goes so far as to claim their leader of last century Herbert. W.
Armstrong, was the “Elijah to come” supposedly, in our modern era.
That
particular church has brow beaten and castigated all the other split-off groups
in the past for not following this ‘teaching’ which is supposedly based on
Malachi but is a completely unscriptural prophetic application that
is totally unsound.
Another Sabbath keeping ‘church of God’ has a
leader claiming he is one of the two witnesses of Revelation 11:3 and has
apparently even gone ‘on tour’ espousing his erroneous and self-delusional
beliefs by giving ‘special’ interviews to the media --- forecasting dire events
that will occur.
Basically,
because he infers he has ‘the ear of God’ and has a direct line to God
supposedly, therefore, as one of those two prophets of Revelation 11:3 and has
been ‘told’ the future and is charged with ‘disseminating’ it.
That’s
basically the gist of his message that he’s claiming as the personal messenger
and representative of God/Jesus.
Are we, the
public, supposed to believe in all honesty that Malachi foretold the coming of
Herbert W. Armstrong on the one hand, and the book of Revelation, the coming of
a leader of a ‘splinter’ church of God on the other hand?
What utter
nonsense! --- In both the above cases.
What
shower do these church leaders believe the public or average man came down in,
in putting forward such ridiculous claims and expecting any thinking person,
even those of whatever other faiths, to believe such rot?
In the first case that particular splinter
5 “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before
that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.
6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their
children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come
and strike the land with a curse." NIV Malachi 4:5-6
The KJV actually has that last line rendered as:
... lest I come and smite the
earth with a curse. KJV Malachi 4:6
Granted, that Herbert. W. Armstrong, as a servant of God, did
indeed restore some original truths that the apostles taught in a number
of areas and that included the Sabbath and Holy days and other basic New
Testament doctrines --- but nothing really new that other churches hadn’t
already re-discovered and taught in varying degrees among various
We have a respect for the ‘actual’ truths that H. W. Armstrong did
restore in many areas that are in complete accordance with scripture but to say
that he restored all things is a gross distortion of the actual truth
--- especially in regard to prophecy.
But, we ourselves, follow after only those doctrines that are in
complete accordance with scripture and not the many and varied,
‘add-on’ traditions that have evolved and been espoused by subsequent well
meaning, sincere, but also misguided self-styled, exclusive,
representatives/ministers of God, who make the erroneous claim that their
leader of last century was basically on a par with the pope in claiming
everything H. W. Armstrong taught was infallible.
Even the man himself never made that claim.
They are in effect claiming Mr. Armstrong was the foretold
prophet Elijah, which is very definitely unscriptural because of what Jesus
Himself said.
Jesus simply said that John the Baptist was the one to prepare a
people for God which is basically what prophets do, in essence, in delivering
their prophecies that come from God anyway:
7 As John's disciples were leaving, Jesus began to
speak to the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the desert to
see? A reed swayed by the wind?
8 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed
in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings' palaces.
9 Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I
tell you, and more than a prophet.
10 This is the one about whom it is written: "`I will
send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.'
11 I tell you the truth: Among those born of women
there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least
in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the
kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of
it.
13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until
John.
14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to
come.
NIV Matthew 11:7-14
Matthew was actually quoting Jesus, quoting the first part Malachi
3:1 in verse 10 above:
"See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way
before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to
his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,"
says the LORD Almighty. NIV Malachi 3:1
Matthew
11:14 is referring to Verses 5&6 of Malachi --- the very last verses
in Malachi:
5 “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before
that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.
6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their
children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come
and strike the land with a curse."
NIV Malachi 4:5-6
The
great and dreadful day of the Lord did indeed come for the Jews in 67-70 AD
exactly as foretold, in Jeremiah 30:7 and Daniel, 12:1.
Jeremiah 30:7:
Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it:
it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.
KJV Jeremiah 30:7
The
context of Jeremiah chapters 30 And 31 shows this to be referring to the
Jews. [Jacob]
Although
the Jews were in fact destroyed as a nation at that time they were also saved
out of that trouble of total extermination [genocide] by the Romans by being
scattered throughout the world.
Speaking
of the Jews separately: [Remembering ‘Jacob’ refers to the Jews not the other
tribes of Israel in this case]
8 "` In
that day,' declares the LORD Almighty, `I will break the yoke off their necks
and will tear off their bonds; no longer will foreigners enslave them.
9 Instead, they will serve the LORD their God and
David their king, whom I will raise up for them. NIV Jeremiah 30:8-9
It’s
a tad difficult to enslave a people who are scattered all over the face of the
earth as indeed the Jews are today even in our times.
So
in 67-70 AD the Jews underwent both extreme punishments similar to the first
Diaspora and Babylonian siege and captivity --- but also future preservation
through dispersion among many nations.
If
all the Jews in the world had lived exclusively in WW2 Germany after their
dispersion from the holy land in 67-70 AD it’s likely there would be very few
left today in comparison to what there are currently --- so the scattering of
the Jews worldwide was both a curse or punishment for their then rejection of
Jesus --- but also very clearly a blessing in disguise as well for their
incredible future according to prophecy.
So even if all of Judah were overrun today in
the modern Nation of the Israeli’s --- there would still be Jews for God to
return as He has promised to do in the holy land of our future.
It
is clearly their God given “Manifold destiny” to be fulfilled in ways that
Christianity cannot possible credit at present --- but that will change.
Both
the verses 8-9 above, earlier and below in Jeremiah are speaking of the Jews
and the rest of Israel together in the broader sense in both the past rescue
from their earlier captivities and also a time ahead of us in our future:
10 “`So do not fear, O Jacob my servant; do not be
dismayed, O Israel,’ declares the LORD. `I will surely save you out of a
distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile. Jacob will again have peace and
security, and no one will make him afraid.
11 I am with you and will save you,' declares the
LORD. `Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy
you. I will discipline you but only with
justice; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.'
NIV Jeremiah 30:8-11
Verse 10 is showing this prophecy to be for both Jews [Jacob] and
the other Israelite descendants of today in our modern world
A true prophet of God, apostle, or direct
representative servant of God, as some claim to be, if under the inspiration of
the holy spirit and led by “the Hand of God” [all Christian are supposedly
servants of God or have at least agreed to be so by acknowledging His
sovereignty over their lives] would not make a mistake in interpreting the
biblical prophecies clearly set out in scripture or teach anything outside the
true doctrines of Christ as some do, indeed.
However, the claim is made that Herbert Armstrong ‘restored all
things’, but clearly his understanding of prophecy was flawed to quite a
degree, that not one single church among all the 300 or more split-off churches
even today [as far as we can tell] has even been able to detect, apparently, in
still teaching Ezekiel 5:12 was for the USA and Britain, when clearly it was
for the Jews.
Because of the penchant for
revering the man himself and regarding everything he taught without question,
as --- if our readers will excuse the pun --- Gospel --- as a direct result,
none of those churches can therefore see where Herbert Armstrong clearly
misinterpreted prophecy and so doom and gloom prophetic scenarios
are the inevitable result of ‘misapplication of prophecy’ in this case.
Our nations will suffer correction and do indeed need to repent of
failure to honour the Living God --- and God says He will accomplish that in
His own way and in His own time --- but it will be done to and for us as
nations --- in ways we can’t comprehend at present.
The main example of
prophetic error [there are others] in the booklet “the
Ezekiel 5:5 makes it very clear as to whom exactly those
prophecies including Ezekiel 5:12 were actually for and, subsequently, by
context, according to surrounding verses and the previous chapter, exactly
when:
Thus saith the Lord God; This is
That Mr. Armstrong was confused
in the understanding of the designation “Jacob” sometimes referring to
The ‘churches of God’ though a small group not reaching much more
than 150,000 church membership, though there
were a great many ‘unofficial’ co-workers even in its peak years of last
century and now a diverse group of over 300 ‘splinter’ churches of an original
parent church [WWCG], that some in ‘mainstream’ Christianity have previously
regarded snidely as a ‘sect’ or ‘cult’ in comparison to, say, the Jehovah’s
witnesses of 7 million strong, [also
regarded despite their numbers as unorthodox or ‘odd’ by mainstream
Christianity] are as legitimate as any other Christian churches or perhaps even
more so due to the nature of truths that were restored and that are valid,
scripturally.
Some of what is taught by these churches is, in fact, closer to
what God is actually going to re-introduce quite amazingly --- in our future,
though even these churches have little concept of what God is really going to
do quite spectacularly for the Jews.
They, like the rest of Christianity will be stunned at what prophecy
really shows in considerable detail.
To their credit the Churches of God when still united under their
original parent body [WWCG] performed an incredible and outstanding act of
faith and solidarity that all of Christianity owes a debt of gratitude in
regard to the continued freedoms of the separation of church and state when a
local government of the day wrongly interfered in the running of a church,
basically against the American constitution guaranteeing the right of freedom
of religion.
Their stand and the exemplary courage is a tribute to those many
church members who stood together when standing together was most important in
preserving the freedoms of all Christians.
If nobody else does so --- we at least acknowledge that
debt of gratitude.
The implications of the
‘Malachi factor’ revealed, in both past and future prophecy
In
three relatively short chapters, the biggest of only 18 verses length, God sets
out not only the reasons for the first and second Diasporas of the Jews, in
remarkable detail, but also what He intends for the future in respect to
Ezekiel’s third temple and why He intends to set up a new but distinctly
different ‘physical’ Levitical priesthood than was extant under the Old
Covenant.
That
the new Levitical priests of the New Covenant that God will make with the Jews
compared to the former under the Old Covenant will be markedly different, is
clearly shown in both Malachi and Ezekiel in no uncertain terms and in both
Malachi, Ezekiel or any other prophet that deals with this issue, for that
matter, there is no mention of the old form of the Passover being included in
the new set up whatsoever i.e. no animal sacrifices associated with the
Passover therefore.
Since
the Passover or New Testament communion is an integral part of worship to both
Christians and Jews alike and will be observed as Jesus told His disciples at
the last supper in his Father’s/His kingdom [Matthew 26:29] --- a lack of
reference to it in regard to animal sacrifices being re-introduced as in the
other instances, therefore, is significant.
It is
highly likely that rarely are Malachi chapters 1-3 ever quoted very often among
Christian churches for the simple reason it would be simply assumed it was for
the Jews of old and not that relevant to us in modern times.
If
that is indeed the case --- it is ‘us’ who are not relevant --- or at
least cognizant of just how relevant Malachi chapters 1-3 are going to be to us in
the future.
How so?
Malachi
Chapter 1 --- “The Past” --- and some of the reasons for many prophecies
pertaining to our future with God’s castigation of all of Israel’s poor
quality worship in cheating God of the Honour that is rightfully His and due to
Him, as a Great and Majestic King:
1 An oracle: The word of the LORD to
Two
‘declarations’ are represented here and consequently two promises [prophecies]
of two different destinies of different branches of children of Abraham that will
have a decided impact on our future.
2 “I have loved you," says the LORD. "But you ask, `How have you loved
us?' "Was not Esau Jacob's
brother?" the LORD says. "Yet I have loved Jacob,
3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his
mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert
jackals."
4 Edom may say, "Though we have been crushed, we
will rebuild the ruins." But this
is what the LORD Almighty says: "They may build, but I will demolish. They
will be called the
Verse
4 is a good example of a ‘timeless’ promise for the future that can be
fulfilled at any time or over long periods of time.
5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, `Great
is the LORD--even beyond the borders of
Past
corruption of not showing the honour rightfully due to “the Lord of all the
earth” who declares in other scripture that He was the Father of Israel,
Ephraim, Judah et al --- with particular emphasis on religious leader’s perfidy
of that bygone age or ages.
6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his
master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master,
where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty.
"It is you,
O priests, who show contempt for my name. "But you ask, `How have we shown
contempt for your name?'
7 “You place defiled food on my altar. "But you ask, `How have we defiled
you?' "By saying that the LORD's
table is contemptible.
8 When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that
not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong?
Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he
accept you?" says the LORD Almighty.
9 “Now implore God to be gracious to us. With such
offerings from your hands, will he accept you?"--says the LORD Almighty.
10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors,
so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with
you," says the LORD Almighty, "and I will accept no offering from
your hands.
A
timeless promise/prophecy is declared for the future. OUR FUTURE.
11 My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting
of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought
to my name, because my name will be great among the
nations," says the LORD Almighty.
Detestable
practices of the past in not honouring the “greatest King” of all time:
12 “But you profane it by saying of the Lord's table,
`It is defiled,' and of its food, `It is contemptible.'
13 And you say, `What a burden!' and you sniff at it
contemptuously," says the LORD Almighty.
"When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer
them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?" says the LORD.
14
"Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and
vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,"
says the LORD Almighty, "and my name is to be feared among the nations. NIV Malachi 1:1-14
Chapter
2 --- The past affects the future i.e. actions of religious leaders impacts on
descendants and/or nations as the case may be:
1 “And now this admonition is for you, O priests.
2 If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my
name," says the LORD Almighty, "I will send a curse
upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them,
because you have not set your heart to honor me.
3 “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I
will spread on your faces the offal from your festival sacrifices, and you will
be carried off with it.
Apparently,
a separate covenant or agreement was made with Levi as the next prophetic
passages of scripture to be quoted reveal.
Q. Was this part of the Old Covenant or not?
Indeed, a separate covenant with Levi?
A.
Unknown to this author --- but there are ‘hints’ elsewhere that might be clues.
Possibilities: If not included in the OT, then it [the
promise or agreement or whatever it was] may not have ended with the Old
Covenant age of 67-70 AD along with the rest of the Old Covenant priesthood
because of their corruption at those times.
4 And you will know that I have sent you this
admonition so that my covenant with Levi may continue," says the
LORD Almighty.
5 “My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and
peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me
and stood in awe of my name.
6 True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false
was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned
many from sin.
7 “For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction--because he is the messenger
of the LORD Almighty.
Two
types of priests portrayed then, one type truthful and faithful, the others
not.
8 But you have turned from the way and by your
teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,"
says the LORD Almighty.
9 “So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated
before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown
partiality in matters of the law."
10 Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create
us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one
another?
The
consequences of the Jews [Judah] breaking faith with God were two “massive”
Diaspora’s, one before the Babylonian Captivity of Nebuchadnezzar’s age when
the majority of Judah went into captivity to the Chaldeans and one in Jesus’
and the apostle’s age resulting in the end of both that Old Testament
age and the Levitical priesthood.
The
question is though, was the ending of the Levitical priesthood of those days to
end the unfaithful priesthood only? --- what about God’s promise to the
faithful Levites which apparently existed also and apparently honoured God
[Verses 4-6 above]?
11 Judah has broken faith. A detestable thing has
been committed in
12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be,
may the LORD cut him off from the tents of Jacob --even though he brings
offerings to the LORD Almighty.
The
following quote --- is an “allegory” indicating what?
Q.
Was this just a simple illustration or castigation for the priests that may
have married foreign wives after divorcing their original ones of their own
tribes? --- or does this actually have a much deeper meaning? --- showing that
the Old Covenant was a marriage covenant that if adhered to would have produced
Godly offspring instead of faithless ones --- because of desertion of their
original husband i.e. God?
13 Another thing you do: You flood the LORD's altar
with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your
offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.
14 You ask, "Why?" It is because the LORD
is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you
have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your
marriage covenant.
15 Has not [the LORD] made them one? In flesh and
spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not
break faith with the wife of your youth.
16 “I hate divorce," says the LORD God of
Very
much like modern times, these verses, claiming those who engage in what God
regards as evil practices are considered still good in some church leadership’s
eyes:
17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. "How have we wearied him?" you
ask. By saying, "All who do evil
are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them" or
"Where is the God of justice?" NIV Malachi 2:1-17
Malachi 3:
Is this Prophecy
just for Jesus’ times or for our future as well? i.e. timeless?
1 “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare
the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come
to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will
come," says the LORD Almighty.
First
part, fulfilled by John the Baptist --- second part by Jesus --- When?
Jesus
grew up to adulthood and eventually taught in Solomon’s temple but could that
be said to be a ‘sudden’ appearance in his temple? Yes it could. So verse one
is indeed speaking of Jesus’ first advent.
But,
what are we to make then, of the next verse? and the one after that?
2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who
can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a
launderer's soap.
The
Jews clearly didn’t stand up to his coming in 67-70 AD He most certainly came suddenly to His
temple then, but not to build anything but rather to destroy, instead, but did
Jesus at that time restore the Levites by refining them? As the next verse
shows? Did that occur in 67- 70 AD? No?
Where
else does one of God’s prophets show that future Jews will be refined as gold
and silver? Which other prophet?
Future
prophecy?
This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine
them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will
answer them; I will say, `They are my people,' and they will say, `The LORD is
our God.'" NIV Zechariah 13:9
3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he
will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who
will bring offerings in righteousness, NIV Malachi 3:3
Two
prophetic facts [about events] of Jesus’ day:
1.
Jesus replaced the Levitical priesthood of those times as “high priest” for
all time and ratified or enforced that by destroying both Jerusalem and,
Judah as a nation, in 67-70 AD, by scattering them so they could no longer
worship under the old Levitical priesthood from that time till the present day.
2.
Jesus most certainly did not do what Malachi 3:3 above says about
purifying Levites so that he would have men to bring “offerings of
righteousness” back in the days of His ministry or 67-70 AD. But in the
Days of Ezra, Nehemiah and the two prophets Haggai and Zechariah this was done
to a certain degree before Jesus’ first advent but only lasted until corruption
once again set in during Jesus’ times.
Which
would quite obviously make verse 3 above and these below, therefore --- future
prophecy for a time yet ahead of us and verse 6 a ‘timeless’ prophecy with a
promise of continued future existence.
4 and the offerings of
5 "So I will come near to you for judgment. I
will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against
those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the
fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the
LORD Almighty.
6 "I the LORD do not change. So you, O
descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. NIV Malachi 3:4-6
So
will there be Levitical priests of God serving in Ezekiel’s ‘third’ temple in
our future?
The
real question then is do we believe what is plainly revealed in prophecy? About
both Ezekiel’s
It
is also very clear that nobody has paid all that much attention to the latter
verses of Malachi 3 either as applying to our future:
Applying
to the Jews of the past ages:
7 Ever since the time of your forefathers you have
turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will
return to you," says the LORD Almighty.
"But you ask, `How are we to return?'
8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, `How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings.
9 You are under a curse--the whole nation of
you--because you are robbing me.
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that
there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty,
"and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so
much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops,
and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD
Almighty.
12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a
delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.
13 “You have said harsh things against me," says
the LORD. "Yet you ask, `What have
we said against you?'
14 “You have said, `It is futile to serve God. What
did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners
before the LORD Almighty?
15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly
the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.'"
Verse
15 shows that as even back then in those times and now in our time there are
those who challenge God and get away with it.
How
much longer will that apply to people such as secular scholars who challenge
the word of God in our times and so far blatantly get away with it?
16 Then those who feared the LORD talked with each
other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his
presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name.
17 “They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up
my treasured possession. I will spare
them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him.
We
may not have much longer to wait to see when this last verse is fulfilled in
our time ahead in the future.
18 And you will again see the
distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God
and those who do not. NIV Malachi 3:7-18
Conclusion:
Isaiah’s
last several chapters are in complete accord with Ezekiel and Malachi in
stating there will be in addition to Ezekiel’s temple being built --- Levites
to serve as ministers of God in the physical dispensation of the rites of worship
at that temple.
Ezekiel’s
last 8 chapters however adds details that indicate only certain ‘chosen’
Levites [not all descendants of Levi] will be allowed to serve in Ezekiel’s
futuristic temple so this future dispensation will have marked differences: [as
yet not completely understood by this or either author of our website]
10 “Son of man, describe the temple to the people
of
11 and if they
are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the
temple--its arrangement, its exits and entrances--its whole design and all its
regulations and laws. Write these down
before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its
regulations. NIV Ezekiel 43:10-11
10 “`The Levites who went far from me when
11 They may serve in my sanctuary, having charge of
the gates of the temple and serving in it; they may slaughter the burnt
offerings and sacrifices for the people and stand before the people and serve
them.
12 But because they served them in the presence of
their idols and made the house of Israel fall into sin, therefore I have
sworn with uplifted hand that they must bear the consequences of their sin,
declares the Sovereign LORD.
13 They are
not to come near to serve me as priests or come near any of my holy things or
my most holy offerings; they must bear the shame of their detestable practices.
14 Yet I will put them in charge of the duties of the
temple and all the work that is to be done in it.
15 "`But
the priests, who are Levites and descendants of Zadok and who faithfully
carried out the duties of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me,
are to come near to minister before me; they are to stand before me to
offer sacrifices of fat and blood, declares the Sovereign LORD.
16 They alone are to enter my sanctuary; they
alone are to come near my table to minister before me and perform my service.
NIV Ezekiel 44:10-17
We
understand the objections modern Christianity may have to what is plainly
recorded in prophecy because as stated at the outset of this third part of the
Isaiah essay the author of this essay has little to no understanding of the
complexities of Judaism.
The author does have eyes, however, and can
read what is recorded in prophetic scripture as can indeed everybody else and
all the evidence suggests that Ezekiel’s temple and its new style observances will
exist at some time in the future.
The
evidence suggests that it will have something to do with sentiments expressed
by God through Malachi in the last verse of Malachi 3 as follows:
18 And you will again see the distinction between the
righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not NIV Malachi 3:18
We
don’t pretend to understand the whys and wherefores of that establishment of
Ezekiel’s temple in our future as to God’s complete motivations regarding the
Jews future or why it will be left to the very last moment because we are after
all looking at things from a Christian point of view and so the input from the
prophets is invaluable in this area in discerning the truth of matters that
would normally be beyond our understanding without them.
But
what we do understand is that many challenge the word of God, and that it is
not acceptable for us to stand idly by without offering a response to those
challenges and even a rebuttal or two where necessary. As in all our articles we will give everything
our best shot.
How
important then is prophecy for understanding what the future may hold?
A
correct understanding is more important than many realize because even the most
well educated discerning researcher can go astray with even a misunderstanding
of just a few misunderstood words --- if those words are key words of
importance.
What
hope then does the average man have of discerning the truth of God’s word?
Well,
the author of this article is just an average man in every sense of the word
[refer to personal blog for author info] but
it’s clear to this average man that many religious leaders downgrade the
intelligence of the man in the street.
Well,
we have a point or two to make about religious leaders who do so.
For
a start the average man is too busy just surviving and coping with the day to day complexities
of the society around him, that he didn’t create, to give a great deal of
thought to spiritual things --- but that by no means indicates that the average
man is not capable of thinking for himself given the right circumstances.
Secondly,
it was the average Jewish man in the street in Jesus’ day who actually accepted
Jesus at face value and acknowledged Him as Lord and King:
8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road,
while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that
followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he
who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!"
10 When Jesus entered
11 The crowds answered, "This is Jesus,
the prophet from
It
is indeed ironic that those who should be teaching truth as ‘claimed
representatives of God’ should be the ones who undervalue public perceptions of
truth and are indignant if someone supposedly beneath their supposed ‘vaunted
status’ in the community might disagree with their perception as this example
of the Sanhedrin of the apostle’s day’s dim view of the acceptance of Jesus by
the public shows:
15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the
law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple
area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant.
16 “Do you hear what these children are saying?"
they asked him. "Yes,"
replied Jesus, "have you never read, "`From the lips of children and
infants you have ordained praise’?"
NIV Matthew 21:15-16
It
appears the ‘average’ crowds knew their prophecy better than the religious
leaders of the day.
It’s
interesting that Jesus was quoting the Psalmist in verse 16 above:
From
the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger. NIV
Psalms 8:2 [And to silence the skeptic
also?]
The
psalmist [David, who was cited as man after God’s own heart 1 Samuel 13:14,
Acts 13:22] declares:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a
good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever. KJV Psalms 111:10
That’s
all that’s needed really! To stand in “awe” of the Living God/Jesus/Lord leads
to understanding the word of God and obedience follows true understanding
through faith in God and His word.
Sometimes secular leaders and others do
more to cloud the truth than reveal it and so we felt the necessity to write
this essay as a result of all the confusion that abounds in modern society
regarding prophecy.
If
we see where incorrect prophecy is being taught then we are bound by our
saviour to point it out where we see it --- otherwise we would not be true to
our beliefs. Whether or not what we
point out is believed or acted on is not our concern --- but our Saviour’s
only.
The
original premise of this essay was based on an article in Wikipedia that has
since been modified somewhat which sort of makes the inclusion of the overview
of Isaiah now superfluous, in a way, but still interesting from the perspective
of the incredible amount of insight and understanding of what Isaiah knew about
Jesus and our future history --- before anybody in the New Testament age ever
did --- in the case of his knowledge of Jesus --- some nearly 800 years in
advance [round figures] for the first advent and well over 2,700 years for the
second advent.
What
he knew about our future, is outstanding, awesome and extraordinarily uncanny
--- to say the least. We think the
scholars are doing a great disservice to all believers in downgrading and
downplaying Isaiah, hence this essay and rebuttal of the scholar’s stance on
Isaiah’s work.
The
author likes to deliver what was promised wherever applicable or possible
however, so that overview will still be included in the next installment and
according to the original categories of the original Wikipedia article
purporting to be the views of secular scholars, i.e. that Isaiah should be
divided into three, presumably because it didn’t meet with scholars ideas of a
‘single’ author.
Presumably,
as far as we can tell because the variety and change of subject seemingly in
places suggests [to them] multiple authors wrote Isaiah instead.
To
show the ‘connectivity’ of all of Isaiah as a single author it is now deemed only
future prophecy within each section should be necessary or sufficient to show a
single authorship from start to finish, presented in that installment, under
the general heading of supporting prophecies in combination with other
prophet’s work. It’s only necessary to
elaborate on the first 39 chapters to show or compare the completely harmonious
themes throughout all Isaiah which proves a single author, coupled to the first
few chapters of ‘middle’ Isaiah where that true author reveals Himself fully.
The
middle chapters [refer to our article ‘the Isaiah promises’] along with the
last several chapters [already covered in earlier parts of this essay] will
simply have references and ‘theme’ type stated according to ‘categories’ with
no accompanying explanations. This will be explained in that installment at the
outset.
Supporting
prophecies for part three of this essay
In
part one of the Isaiah essay we pointed out that what Isaiah wrote in his first
chapter was seemingly at odds with the fact that God instituted all the animal
sacrifices in the first place and then complained about the Israelites poor
performance in worshipping Him properly but Isaiah didn’t seem to elaborate
clearly on what the exact problem was with the sacrifices they were offering
and why they were unacceptable --- even though a long list of injustices and
malpractices were covered --- here’s
that part again as an ‘excerpt’ from part one without any emphasis this time:
“ … what Isaiah says His God told him
to write is seemingly completely at odds with the animal sacrifices that Moses
instituted and seems a completely incongruent announcement by God in terms of
what orthodox Judaism in those times was all about:”
11 “The multitude of your sacrifices-- what are they to
me?" says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams
and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure in
the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of
you, this trampling of my courts?
13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is
detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations-- I cannot bear your
evil assemblies.
14 Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul
hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my
eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands
are full of blood;
16 wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out
of my sight! Stop doing wrong,
17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend
the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
18 “Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD.
"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though
they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best
from the land;
20 but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the
sword." For the mouth of the LORD
has spoken.
21 See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once
was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her-- but now murderers!
22 Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted
with water.
23 Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves; they all
love bribes and chase after gifts.
They do not defend the cause of the
fatherless; the widow's case does not come before them.
24 Therefore the Lord, the LORD Almighty, the Mighty One of
25 I will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge
away your dross and remove all your impurities.
NIV Isaiah 1:11-25
We
now have the full answer from Malachi’s supporting prophecy:
6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his
master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master,
where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty.
"It is you,
O priests, who show contempt for my name. "But you ask, `How have we shown
contempt for your name?'
7 “You place defiled food on my altar. "But you ask, `How have we defiled
you?' "By saying that the LORD's
table is contemptible.
8 When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that
not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong?
Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he
accept you?" says the LORD Almighty.
9 “Now implore God to be gracious to us. With such
offerings from your hands, will he accept you?"--says the LORD Almighty.
10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors,
so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with
you," says the LORD Almighty, "and I will accept no offering from
your hands.
In
both Malachi and Isaiah God shows He is going to implement exactly the same
solution to the Jews/Israelites faithless and useless worship of Him:
I
will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your
impurities. Isaiah 11:25
3 He will sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and
silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,
Malachi 3:3
Completely
confirmed and supported by Zechariah:
This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver
and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I
will say, `They are my people,' and they will say, `The LORD is our God.'"
NIV Zechariah 13:9
To
be sure by putting two and two together we could have ‘guessed’ that much ---
but having it spelt out by combining prophet after prophet’s testimonies
together in the same way we look at the synoptic gospels for comparison of one
against another we get a sharper and clear picture of what God intends to do in
our future because of all the added and complimentary additional information
each prophet provides.
Guesses
[speculation] or assumption can be wrong or in error if not all the available
information is taken into account and therein lies the chief reason for
incorrect interpretation of prophecy, by religious leaders, incorrect
understanding by secular scholars, et al.
Joel
chapter 3 and Zechariah chapters 12&14 in conjunction with Revelation
chapters 9&16 puts the finishing touches on the exact time as to
when this ‘refining’ of the Jews is going to occur ahead in our future as at
the return of Jesus still yet ahead of us and Malachi’s first three chapters
and Ezekiel’s last 8 chapters tell us why and how --- respectively.
Additional
support from Jeremiah showing the strong possibility Levites will ‘minister’ in
the millennium [Jeremiah 33:20-21] if King David is the prince[Ezekiel 44:3] in
Ezekiel’s third temple prophecies of the last eight chapters of Ezekiel:
14 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will
perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of
15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the
Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment
and righteousness in the land.
16 In those days shall
17 For thus saith the Lord; David shall never want a
man to sit upon the throne of the house of
18 Neither shall the priests the Levites want a
man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings,
and to do sacrifice continually.
19 And the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah,
saying,
20 Thus saith the Lord; If ye can break my covenant of the
day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night
in their season;
21 Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant,
that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the
priests, my ministers.
22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither
the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister
unto me. KJV Jeremiah
33:14-23
As an interesting little side
point that also may increase the understanding that Isaiah knew far more of our
future than many might credit.
Notice the wording of verse 16
of Jeremiah above, repeated here with different emphasis:
16 In those days shall
Clearly
a reference to Jerusalem, with the designation of female gender, and, Jerusalem
and Samaria were referred to in prophecy allegorically as “women” in Ezekiel:
And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and
Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus
were their names;
Even
in modern society a wife takes on the “name” of her husband.
Is
Jeremiah hinting that Jerusalem will take the name of her husband at some point
in time i.e. “the Lord our righteousness”? Compare Jeremiah verse 33:16 to Revelation:
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming
down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
9 And there
came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the
seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew
thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great
and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy
KJV Revelation 21:2, 9-10
The
book of Revelation backs up a great many Old Testament prophetic books in
extraordinary ways --- quite often in fact.
Nearly
all of Christianity believes Jesus is going to marry the church when He comes
in our future, however, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Jesus put a slightly different
slant on that assumption by Christianity, somewhat, do they not?
It’s
doubtful there would be a church anywhere in the world that doesn’t believe
their church is not going to marry Jesus at His return.
The
real question then would be how could Jesus possibly consider marrying a
multitude of differing Christian Churches that are all clearly divided amongst
themselves as to what is the truth? Even to what day to worship Him on, and
some of which are clearly not obeying him?
Would
Jesus marry a disobedient wife again?
As Israel was in the past? Or require some changes to be made before he
will accept His new bride?
The first and second Diaspora’s came
upon the Jews for what reason exactly?
6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his
master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master,
where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty. "It
is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name … Malachi 3:6
Is
there a satisfactory answer to the real question posed above about whom
Jesus will marry at his return?
There
is --- but one that will shock all Christianity right down to its roots ---
i.e. Sabbath or Sunday keeping Christianity.
There
is an even bigger question that nobody has ever asked before and in the light
of Old Testament prophecy it needs to be both asked and answered. It is indeed
of such paramount importance --- that it literally dwarfs anything anybody has
ever asked before in relation to the Kingdom of God.
Our
readers will have to be patient until part four can be written to find out what
that question and answer involves --- it’s truly staggering. So much so that it
almost requires a separate article but it should fit into part four nicely as a
4th installment before the final conclusion to the “Isaiah essay”.
End
of part 3