The
Hand of God in “the Day of the Lord”
Preface
In this second
installment we’ll lay out for our readers exactly which prophecies concerning
the day of the Lord are for our future in detail.
Many think they
understand the book of Revelation and yet there are very few teaching what
chapters 16 through to 19 really show and the majority of Christianity would be
shocked if they knew or comprehended it fully --- but none seem to make the
connection --- or if they do it’s simply not believed or is ignored as being
allegory.
Few seem to
understand that symbolic language and sometimes even allegory is often used to
convey “real” events --- it’s a descriptive form writing --- Revelation’s
allegory is a form of writing that very closely parallels the parable’s
“symbolic language” used in the New Testament --- revealing literal events that
either came to pass shortly after they were given [local] are sometimes
“timeless” or ongoing and will come to pass and be fulfilled in our modern day
and age or even after our day.
The book of
Revelation shows details that few comprehend precisely because of all the
symbolic language involved. The symbolic
language and the allegoric like the NT parables does indeed “mask” to a certain
extent the events that it is portraying in its visionary pages and many have
misinterpreted different parts of it and even its overall content to mean
different things to different people at different times.
The full
meaning of the book of Revelation can only be understood properly by cross
referencing it with all other prophecy concerning the events it is portraying
because essentially the book of Revelation is a summary or even an overview of
what a number of other Old Testament prophecies foretell about “the day of the
Lord” that is still yet ahead of us in our future.
The book of
Revelation even reveals that there is one “last day of the Lord” that occurs
1100 years after the second coming [the day of the Lord immediately ahead of us
in this century] where God the Father descends from heaven to dwell with
mankind and intervenes one last time before coming to live on earth with his
children to destroy the last vestiges of rebellion among the enemies of peace
and perhaps to put an end to the main enemy of mankind as well --- for all
time.
[Revelation 20:7-15]
If any researcher --- no matter how long
they’ve been researching --- doesn’t match up the correct Old Testament
prophecies with the correct counterparts in the book of Revelation or some
other New Testament writings that are also prophetic in nature the result is
misinterpretation and incorrect understanding of prophecy overall. Prophecies dealing with the same events or
timeframes simply cannot be understood completely in isolation but must be
considered fully together as a “whole” with not just one or two other
prophecies but all prophecy to get the “big” picture accurately.
Introduction
Because
this subject of the real “day of the Lord” ahead in our time is so
important, quite vast in scope, is a
main thread running throughout nearly all the Old and New Testaments and will
have an immense impact on all our lives we are including a contents page
listing each of the headings and last of all is a completely unique essay on
Isaiah showing as never before that Isaiah was written by a single author which
we know will not sit well with secular scholars who claim otherwise with their
multiple authorship theories which actually prove rather ironically that
the book of Isaiah had a single author.
In this essay we’ll show that Isaiah has a
single overall theme running from start to finish that secular scholars are
apparently unable to see and are totally “blind” to seeing and Isaiah has much
valuable and incredibly detailed input concerning the day of the Lord and its
aftermath. If you were to put just five
prophetic Old Testament books together, Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah
and Isaiah what you would have would amount to what the book of Revelation
reveals in just 22 short “overview” chapters.
In
most of our other articles at this website we’ve covered to varying degrees
from time to time some or all of the prophecies that go together with each
other in various combinations. This
article will be markedly different to what we’ve written before because of the
nature of the theme that it is covering in details that few really comprehend.
In
this article we intend to show our readers that the book of Revelation is an
overview of all prophecy, giving a complete and detailed account of the day of
the Lord as well as showing the growth of the spiritual phase of the kingdom of
God from where the Book of Daniel leaves off at the end of the Old Testament
age in 67-70AD and the “transitional period” from 67-70AD of the Kingdom of God
into our future and to the final phase of dealing with the “enemies” of the
kingdom of God and the return of its King which culminates in the “Day
of the Lord” in our future that is actually called “the battle of that great
day of God Almighty”. [Revelation 16:14, last part.] The book of Revelation also details what
comes after as does Ezekiel and Isaiah in depth.
An
outline and a summary of Revelation is therefore necessary but we’ll reserve
that for the latter parts of the article.
There are
essentially two main events that much prophecy revolves around, i.e. what is
known as the “first coming” and the “second coming” of Jesus Christ in the
Christian religious circles of today’s world.
This was also true in the Jewish religious world in the past because
even though the Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ day right up until the very end of their age in 67-70 AD never
acknowledged Jesus as their Saviour and king at that time every Jew
suffered the result of that omission by their leaders and all were affected by
Jesus’ first coming whether they realized it or not because “the great
tribulation” was visited on them in those days after Jesus’ first coming
because of their refusal to acknowledge what nearly all God’s prophets were
telling them in the visions they were given to record about that ‘first coming’
and also partly because of the murder of the prophet Zechariah [Matthew 23:35;
Chronicles 24:20, 21] and of course the
murder of Jesus Himself.
The
same will apparently be true of Jesus’ second coming regarding the majority in
modern religious societies not really acknowledging their God as they
should. Though modern Christianity
claims worship of the true God --- clearly obedience to the truth they profess
by and large is a serious problem resulting in widespread confusion of beliefs,
lack of brotherly love to remarkable degree in disagreement and disputations
regarding doctrines and very little cooperation overall in trying to understand
any view but their own and a great deal of rigidity and intractability of
beliefs that are clearly out of sync with the scriptures in far too many
places.
The
Jews apparently will not acknowledge Jesus until the last possible moment ---
possibly not until the death and resurrection of God’s last two prophets and
the near destruction of their modern nation of Israel yet a third time. The old saying of “third time lucky” or “the
third time is a charm” is actually going to prove to be an astonishing truism
for the Modern Jews of the house of Jacob in ways they can’t possibly imagine
at the present time.
Zechariah’s prophecies show the
Jews and the land of Judea are going to undergo a very hard time of
trial once again in our future in Zechariah 13:
8 In the whole land," declares the LORD,
"two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in
it.
9 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
13:8-9
The
rest of prophecy revolves around various “interventions” of God in our world’s
secular history at various points and as we’ve just shown in part one of this
article many of these direct interventions by God in our physical world have
been termed either “Days of the Lord” or “days of God’s wrath” in places in the
prophetic writings.
In reality Jesus has visited this earth many
times and doesn’t concern Himself or confine Himself to man’s views or opinions
of Him or His servants. When He intervenes as He says He will in our future in
prophecy after prophecy --- man’s opinions will count for exactly what they are
--- just opinions --- and not all that useful in the end --- exactly as Isaiah
says:
17 The arrogance of man will be brought low and
the pride of men humbled; the LORD alone will
be exalted in that day,
18 and the idols will totally disappear.
19 Men will flee to caves in the rocks and to
holes in the ground from dread of the LORD and the splendor of his
majesty, when he rises to shake the earth.
20 In that day men will throw away to the
rodents and bats their idols of silver and idols of gold, which they made to
worship.
21 They
will flee to caverns in the rocks and to the overhanging crags from dread of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth.
22 Stop
trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?
NIV Isaiah 2:17-22
We
don’t worship idol’s of gold or silver in modern times in quite the same way as
the ancients did but there are still various icons or idols that are virtually
worshipped and revered in the religious world and gold and silver even in its
natural form is worshiped to a degree for the wealth it represents and the
power that it could buy for those that have it in abundance even in modern
times. Fame and fortune are still sought
after --- the methods are different in our day that’s the only real difference
--- we still worship things we shouldn’t --- some men even virtually worship
their cars and modern technology playthings and men haven’t essentially changed
in nature then for thousands of years.
It’s
not beyond the bounds of complete incredulity that nearly half the world’s current
population could conceivably become instant supporters of Isaiah if they knew
what he wrote about men --- because he certainly has what the secular scholars
claim is apparent in what they call the “second” Isaiah --- a poetic way with
words --- even in this second chapter in stating that men are a bunch of
“windbags” [verse22] but Isaiah exhibits this poetic quality very early on as
well it seems and not just in the middle chapters. Yep, Isaiah it seems knew men thoroughly but
then again he had an excellent teacher, more than excellent in fact as we’ll
show in our unique essay.
Why an
essay on Isaiah at the close of this article when we could have split it into a
third part? Isaiah has a lot to say about God’s intervention in our world, the
day of the Lord and the hand of God in those interventions than the average
prophet of God.
Since
the Book of Revelation was written by Jesus through His servant the apostle and
Prophet John --- we don’t find it the least bit unusual that Isaiah’s words are
repeated with very similar wording in an almost paraphrased version of the
above verses of Isaiah 2:19-21 in Revelation:
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth
seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as
sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth,
even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty
wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it
is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their
places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great
men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every
bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in
the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on
us, and hide us from the
face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and
who shall be able to stand?
KJV
Revelation 6:12-17
The
very early chapters of Isaiah and this one section of Isaiah 2:17-22 just
quoted in particular in comparison to Revelation reveal the main theme
throughout all of Isaiah’s work from start to finish i.e. the intervention of
God in the ancient world of Isaiah’s times and our modern world and particular
emphasis throughout Isaiah’s work on the main theme of his work and of this
current article of “the Day of the Lord” and our readers should find our
unusual essay on Isaiah quite illuminating to say the least in showing fully
what Isaiah really does reveal in regard to what we’ve also discovered in our
research for ourselves at our website and have written about before at various
times but are now making fully public by publishing our findings. We’ve written about the Isaiah promises
before but not the full story that we’ll now unfold for our readers.
Since
the time we teamed up together to search out the truth of God’s prophetic word
of around five years ago of intensive and extensive research we’ve been
appalled at the lack of true understanding among those who profess to teach
truth.
In
other articles we’ve shown the events following the “first coming” including
the fact that Daniel’s “abomination of desolation” was in 67-70 AD closely
associated very clearly with a “Day of the Lord” and so too is the so called
“second coming” likewise “a Day of the Lord” but without any repetition of the
abomination of desolation that some claim is ahead in our future.
In part one of this current article --- we
outlined clearly enough --- all those prophecies that many have quoted parts
from as being for our future when in reality they are not --- to
illustrate a vital point. As we’ve also
pointed out --- many people, [religious leaders mostly] by lifting things out
of context of various parts of prophecy can indeed make those segments
seemingly support anybody’s particular theories --- no matter how bizarre.
Only
by keeping things in complete and full context with all other prophecy
on a particular prophetic subject can the truth be ascertained accurately.
To most of Christianity then, the so called
“first” coming is clear enough --- it’s what followed the first coming that
gives religious leaders a hard time by way of interpretation and so one of the
main keys is simply to not interpret prophecy at all with any pre-conceived
religious bias or theory and in actual fact simple “analysis” and “observation”
in combination with a little logic and commonsense works quite well and is in
fact the basis of all our research into prophecy.
The
Jews of Jesus’ day apparently also made a similar mistake to what Christians of
today do indeed do i.e. approach prophetic scripture with a pre-conceived view
or bias that not only obscures prophetic truth but twists it all out of proportion.
A near
miss isn’t good enough where truth is concerned. If we really want to know what is ahead in
our future according to God and not man’s theories instead --- then accuracy
and context are vital and indeed essential to understanding prophecy correctly.
If
just so much as one “private interpretation” is thrown into the mix of truth or
where true prophecy is concerned then error is generally the inevitable result.
As we
have also consistently pointed out, “duality” of prophecy is one such private
theory that has resulted in much mistaken interpretation of prophecy among the
Sabbath keeping churches of God and has resulted in bickering and confusion
among those churches and this causes divisions and splits into new groups and a
loss of brotherly love even to the present day.
The
reality is that there are some prophecies that are “ongoing” or even what we’ve
come to call “timeless” prophecies and can be and are fulfilled over great
lengths of time and many of these do seem to have an application for both the
times in which they were given and also have meaning for future generations but
by no means can they be considered a repetition of a former and latter
fulfillment of a single prophecy --- God simply does not repeat Himself where
prophecy is concerned --- He gives a prophecy to His servants and then fulfills
it in His own time and place so there is no “duality” of prophecy in the sense
that most teaching duality try to apply this “notion” to prophecy.
Isaiah
then was referring to exactly the same “day[s] of the Lord” as the Apostle John
was in Revelation or as they are commonly called and most understand them today
--- the “first” and “second” comings of the Lord.
Jesus’
comings and goings don’t seem to have any real meaning to any of the other two
major world religions apart from Christianity to any great extent although some
Jews/Israelis are evidently trying to “mix and match” what is taught in Judaism
with Christianity’s beliefs in recent times but they are being met with distain
and even some hostility by strict followers of “traditional” Judaism who regard
these relatively new “worshippers’ as Christians.
The
“Jews for Jesus” is an interesting phenomenon where some reportedly nearly
200,000 celebrants worldwide are still following all the standard Jewish holy
days and traditional teachings but happily acknowledge and accept Jesus as
Saviour in a joyful manner in their daily and weekly devotions.
Neither
is this change of heart apparently “traditional” or mainstream Christianity either
but very closely resembles the “original” Christianity that Jesus taught true
believers in His day in many ways and this phenomenon bears watching simply for
what the implications may be for the closeness to the second coming that it
might be portending.
Zechariah’s prophecies of 1/3rd of
Jews surviving after going through a process of being tried or refined as
silver and gold is refined and finally acknowledging Jesus as Saviour and true
Messiah could have a little greater meaning viewed from a possibly new
perspective and the only difference as far as we can tell in this seemingly
“new “movement” or development is that these Jews/Israelis use Jesus’ original
language Hebrew name “Yeshua” in their worship and not the 17th
century English language supposed equivalent as used in the 1611 AD KJV bible
of “Jesus” --- but Zechariah definitely shows that the “house of Jacob”
[Israeli’s/Jews] will acknowledge their true God at a point very close to the
second coming:
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
Surprisingly
enough the Muslim religion acknowledges Jesus as an honored prophet but not on
the same scale as their founder of the Islamic religion whom they regard as
God’s “last” prophet and greatest of all.
The
word of God of both the Jewish and Christian sacred religious texts or writings
however insists that there will be two more final prophets of God
according to the prophecies of Zechariah 4:14 [OT] and the apostle
John’s/Jesus’ book of Revelation 11:3 [NT] considered together.
The prophetic
record shows that God has always sent prophets or servants to pave the way for
any major intervention on His part in or on our planet. The second coming certainly falls into that
category in a big way and will certainly be a major supernatural intervention
in man’s history on this planet that has no equal and won’t be merely local
like the Jews underwent in 67-70 AD and involving just the Jews --- but will
involve the entire modern world.
The
book of Daniel in the Old Testament actually gives an important clue as to what
the mission of these two modern prophets will be and also to whom they will be
sent and so too does the book of Isaiah to a degree.
We’ll
deal with that a little later under the “Isaiah essay” heading but what we want
to show our readers here is exactly how Zechariah and Revelation relate to
future events in our modern world that will not only be very dramatic but also
cataclysmic and indeed “terrifying” for some nations --- but not the nations
that most religious leaders expect --- due primarily to misapplication and
manipulation of prophecy to suit various theories that bear little resemblance
to the facts which are unveiled and revealed in prophetic scripture very
clearly.
Oddly
or ironically enough, in addition to the modern secular scholars who seemingly
delight in trying to push prophetic scriptures such as Daniel as far forward in
time sequence as they can in an attempt to discredit its authenticity by giving
their opinions that it was “possibly” written after the facts or
prophesied events --- both some Christian and some Jewish scholars are
seemingly united in the disparaging of their own written prophetic scriptures
as well, perhaps not intentionally, but some in both or even all three camps,
secular, Christian and Jewish scholars claim some prophetic books such as
Isaiah might have “multiple” authors which in actual fact even if it were true
wouldn’t diminish the fact that God is the ultimate author of all prophecy
and behind every prophet that has a place in the sacred writings and He allowed
whatever is written in these prophecies to make it through His screening
processes and consequently, evidently has His approval.
Jesus
actually put His stamp of approval on the book of Isaiah by quoting from it
Himself --- If Isaiah was a spurious prophetic book with only the first 39
chapters accredited to Isaiah and the rest of “doubtful origin” and had
unapproved “multiple authors” as some scholars think then Jesus had ample
opportunity of refuting its authenticity because he taught for 3 ½ years and
the fact that He quotes these words below pretty much speaks for itself as to
Isaiah’s authenticity and prophetic accuracy and subsequently the reliability
of its original “dating” as well therefore:
7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he
prophesied about you:
8 "`These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are
but rules taught by men.' "
NIV
Matthew 15:7-10
Since
we are going to quote extensively from Isaiah a little later in the “additional
or optional reading” section and the essay on Isaiah’s section in this article
proving the “continuity” and accuracy and validity of Isaiah at the end we need
to establish its accuracy and authorship somewhat --- up front. Isaiah’s
writings are very relevant to our modern and future Day of the Lord and
some quotes will be in the main body of this article as well.
There
are something like around 50 or so quotes from various parts of Isaiah in the
New Testament by both Jesus and the disciples [according to a fly leaf in a
hard cover KJV copy of the bible] which also lend credence to Isaiah being the
only author of the prophetic work under his name but there very well may be
another reason that is not taken into account but we’ll discuss that
possibility later in the essay.
So the
claim of those secular scholars of multiple authorship has no real basis and as
such is just an ‘opinion’ of those who claim a “Deutero-Isaiah” and a
“Trito-Isaiah” and their claims are more
likely to be more spurious therefore than their unfounded claims about Isaiah’s
authorship which are entirely without proof of any kind whatsoever --- but to
be fair we present the scholarly view from an excerpt in Wikipedia followed by
a similar view of the of three Isaiah’s from the longest lasting “Christian”
Church from whom all the Sunday keeping “protestant” Christian churches emerged
after the reformation and split from traditional Catholic teachings of ages
past.
[With of course the exceptions of a relatively
small group of Sabbath keeping “churches of God”, the Seventh Day Adventist
churches, some Pentecostal churches perhaps, the Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses
and perhaps some little known smaller groups et al claiming to trace their
origins back to the original disciple’s teachings.]
Intro to Wikipedia’s article titled “Isaiah”:
Isaiah (Hebrew: יְשַׁעְיָהוּ, Modern Yəšaʿyáhu Tiberian Yəšaʿăyāhû ;
Greek: Ἠσαΐας, Ēsaiās ;
Arabic: أشعیاء, Ash'iyā'
; "Salvation of/is YHWH") is the main figure in the Biblical Book
of Isaiah, and is traditionally considered to be its author. He
was an 8th-century BC Judean prophet. Part of his message was: "The land
will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The LORD has spoken this
word." (Isaiah 24:3). Isaiah therefore warns the people of Israel to turn
back to God.
Christianity regards Isaiah as a saint
and as prophet. Judaism considers the Book of Isaiah a part of its canon, and
regards Isaiah as the first of the major prophets.
Secular ‘scholarly’ view of Isaiah [according to Wikipedia’s article “book
of Isaiah”]:
Wikipedia’s introduction:
The Book of Isaiah (Hebrew: Sefer Y'sha'yah
ספר ישעיה)
is a book of the Bible traditionally attributed to the Prophet Isaiah, who
lived in the second half of the 8th century BC.[1]
In the first 39 chapters, Isaiah prophesies doom for a sinful
Contemporary scholars generally consider most of the
first 39 chapters of Isaiah to originate with the historical Isaiah himself.
The later part of the book, known as Deutero-Isaiah (or Second Isaiah), is said
to derive from a later author or authors. Deutero-Isaiah includes prophecies of a new
creation in God's glorious future kingdom.
Through chapter 39 most of the material is Isaiah's and
is an accurate account of the situation in eighth-century Judah, even if
chapters 13-14, 24-27, and 34-35 could be the work of his disciples and near
contemporaries.
Supporters of the three authors proposal see a further
division at the end of chapter 55, and propose to divide the Book of Isaiah as
follows:
·
Chapters 1 to 39 (First Isaiah or Original
Isaiah): preached between 740 and 687 BCE. Isaiah is here a city person who
insisted upon faith and was fearless in opposing leaders.
·
Chapters 40 to 55 (Second Isaiah or Deutero-Isaiah):
probably written by an anonymous poet near the end of the Babylonian captivity.
Isaiah is here a master of sound and music with sweeping visions of mountains
collapsing and valleys lifted up.
·
Chapters 56 to 66 (Third Isaiah or Trito-Isaiah):
written by anonymous disciples committed to continuing Isaiah's work in the
years immediately after the return from Babylon. Isaiah is dreamed
of new heavens and new earth.
For most of the twentieth century the three-author
position was the most widely held; in the 1990s, more complex and carefully
nuanced positions (such as that from Williamson, 1994) started to appear.
Author’s note: We of course
would have to disagree with the anonymous
secular scholars [and their opinions of Isaiah] that Wikipedia fails to
reference at all but we also prefer to call “a spade a spade” and tell it like
it is and we are not at all sure that the Catholic scholars really do agree
with the “unnamed” secular scholars who have supposedly put forward what
Wikipedia says they have and we’ve noticed incidentally, because we’ve fallen
into the habit of paying close attention to detail over the years
that this excerpt below purportedly citing Catholic scholars bears remarkable
resemblance to the citation above with almost identical wording in another
article at Wikipedia titled “Isaiah” as follows:
Similar Catholic church view of Isaiah
[according to Wikipedia’s article “Isaiah”]:
Three “Isaiahs"
Some scholarship, including some of the Roman
Catholic Church, sees “Isaiah” as “a long, inspired tradition” including
the prophet of Jerusalem (“First Isaiah”) and continuing through his disciples
including “Second Isaiah” and “Third Isaiah”.
·
First Isaiah: Preached between 740 and 687 BCE. A city
person who insisted upon faith and was fearless in opposing leaders.
·
Second Isaiah: A master of sound and music with sweeping
visions of mountains collapsing and valleys lifted up.
·
Third Isaiah: Most influenced by earlier Isaiahs. Dreamed
of new heavens and new earth.
Whether
or not this is a true view of what some Catholic scholars perceive as Wikipedia
seems to possibly hint at --- it is always better to go to the source of the
actual believers themselves for their views rather than secondhand and there is
actually a very well balanced presentation of Isaiah’s work in “THE NEW ADVENT”
Catholic encyclopedia under the “I” section of their listing which we’ve listed
here for our reader’s perusal: Isaias -
Essay on the Biblical prophet and the book which bears his name
Our
own essay will be somewhat different to the secular scholars and/or the
Catholic version[s] however showing that none of Isaiah varies from constant
and predominant themes that appear throughout all prophecy.
What
nobody seems to realize however is that none of Isaiah’s work is “technically”
his at all --- it’s all God’s from the moment Isaiah was called to be a prophet
he became an “inspired” prophet of God --- presenting what God gave him to
present and publish for the world of those times --- just the same as the Book
of Revelation is not really the apostle John’s but Jesus’ prophecy --- John was
the writer yes but God was the author --- exactly the same applies to Isaiah’s
or any of the other prophet’s works --- if they weren’t inspired by the Holy
Spirit of God to record what they did --- then there are no Holy books and no
religion of any value in this world whatsoever and that would include all three
major religions and all the minor ones making all religion virtually worthless
as a guide to God’s dealings with mankind.
We’ve
already cited the views in part one of this article that some Christians don’t
seem to think the temple, either Ezekiel’s third temple or Solomon’s or the
Holy land are of any relevance or importance any more in our modern world ---
but a stroll through various Jewish views regarding the authorship of some
prophetic books reveals some of the Jewish scholars and indeed some Jewish archeologists are no
better or worse depending on how you look at things than their secular and some Christian counterparts in
disparaging the authenticity of even the prophet’s writings of their own Old
Testament --- claiming as secular scholars apparently do --- possible “multiple
authorship” of some the other prophetic
books as well --- all without proof ---
even the so called proof of archeology where archaeologists can twist the truth
of the evidence they find to mean whatever they want it to mean in terms of
their private theories --- evolution
being the classic or prime example.
Originally
“the theory of evolution” was labeled what it clearly was but now it’s taught
in schools as fact. In reality it’s a ‘faith” like any other --- faith that God
doesn’t exist or was just a “first cause” in this case and doesn’t have much to
do with the “running” of what exists and that man evolved from animals on a
planet that came into existence from nothing --- just a big bang or mysterious
“first cause” or as many would have it “nature” sometimes referred to as
“mother nature” --- not an all-wise all intelligent “creator” and designer of
all life and matter.
The
theory of evolution has all the earmarks of a “mystery religion” much like many
of the ancients and their philosophers came up with like our modern equivalents
in the scientific field to explain the existence of man on this planet all
under the guise of a “scientific” approach --- presupposing that those who have
faith in God are largely unscientific, presumably, which simply isn’t true by
any means.
Just
because the majority regards something as true --- doesn’t make it so. There
are such things as unjust laws that majorities have brought into existence in
some countries. The old saying that the
“majority rules” is a truism but the majority is not always right. The majority “ruled” in the murder of our
Saviour and Lord.
What
Jesus taught immediately after that quote from Isaiah that men worship God
according to their own rules was not only appropriate for the Jewish religious
leaders of His day but almost tailor made for this article as a reference to
the “opinions” of modern day scholars and any religious leaders who might
disparage the word of God knowingly or unknowingly and is equally “timely”
therefore for our times because --- although a convenient one --- ignorance is
really no excuse and prophetic events will fall equally on the ignorant and the
intelligent or knowledgeable alike :
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said,
"Listen and understand.
11 What goes into a man's mouth does not make
him `unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him
`unclean.'"
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked,
"Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"
13 He replied, "Every
plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.
14 Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will
fall into a pit."
15 Peter said, "Explain the parable to
us."
16 "Are you still so dull?" Jesus
asked them.
17 "Don't you see that whatever enters the
mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?
18 But the things that come out of the mouth
come from the heart, and these make a man `unclean.'
19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts,
murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
20 These are what make a man `unclean'; but
eating with unwashed hands does not make him `unclean.'"
There
may be other perfectly logical reasons that the book of Isaiah for example
might appear to scholars to have multiple scholarship and which we’ll also
discuss in our “Isaiah essay” heading a little later towards the conclusion of
this article.
But
what is truly astounding is that that particular quote of Jesus’ from Isaiah in
Matthew 15:8-9 is even more timely, even more appropriate, for our modern times
--- although originally a reference to false prophets and teachers and so could
almost fall into the category of
“timeless” prophecies because Jesus applied Isaiah 29:13 to the
religious leaders of His day.
As a
possible reference to modern scholars and/or religious leader’s “opinions” it
would excel --- but nevertheless is uncannily relevant to not only what was
just said above in this intro but to what is going to be shown in this article
as to what is truly in store for our future that each and every one of us will
be ultimately involved in --- one way or another:
6 the
LORD Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with
windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.
7 Then the hordes of all the nations that fight
against Ariel, that attack her and her fortress and besiege her, will be as it
is with a dream, with a vision in the night--
8 as when a hungry man dreams that he is
eating, but he awakens, and his hunger remains; as when a thirsty man dreams
that he is drinking, but he awakens faint, with his thirst unquenched. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against
9 Be
stunned and amazed,
blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but
not from beer.
10 The
LORD has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads
(the seers).
11 For
you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone
who can read, and say to him, "Read this, please," he will answer,
"I can't; it is sealed."
12
Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, "Read this,
please," he will answer, "I don't know how to read."
13 The Lord says: "These people come
near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are
far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.
14 Therefore once
more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will
perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."
15 Woe to those who go to great depths to hide
their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who
sees us? Who will know?"
16 You
turn things upside down, as
if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him
who formed it, "He did not make me"? Can
the pot say of the potter, "He knows nothing"?
17 In a very short time, will not
18 In
that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and
darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
19 Once more the humble will rejoice in the
LORD; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of
20 The
ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who have an
eye for evil will be cut down--
21 those who with a word make a man out to be
guilty, who ensnare the defender in court and with false testimony deprive the
innocent of justice.
22 Therefore this is what the LORD, who redeemed
Abraham, says to the house of Jacob: "No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no
longer will their faces grow pale.
23 When they see among them their children, the
work of my hands, they will keep
my name holy; they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob, and
will stand in awe of the God of
24 Those who are wayward in spirit will gain
understanding; those who complain will accept instruction." NIV Isaiah 29:6-24
What we’ve found with modern scholars may
indeed be the same with the ancient scholars --- they were and are unable to
see “the hand of God” behind the true prophet or the prophetic books.
Their thinking and knowledge is cumulative and static with very little
flexibility because they are also unable to recognize that some of their
cumulative knowledge is in error in part and are unable to recognize the
difference between the false knowledge and the true knowledge or the
understanding that our world is not just a physical one as they perceive it and
that there are indeed spiritual forces at work.
Aren’t those words of
Isaiah’s/God’s saying exactly what the theory of evolution --- the greatest
hoax of all time seems to be saying in effect:
Shall
what is formed say to him who formed it, "He did not make me"?
Isaiah
29:16 [middle part]
Secular scholars seemingly are simply unable to
acknowledge or concede the extent or influence of spiritual elements of our
world --- much like the Jews were unable in Jesus’ day to acknowledge their
“spiritual” Messiah because of their perception that the messiah had to be a
“physical king only” of the line of David and couldn’t conceive of “a spiritual
one” of the status that they did indeed get instead.
So it’s really no wonder that
some scholars of any stripe, whether secular, Christian, Jewish or even Muslim are
missing many vital points of scripture that they just can’t see.
A spiritual element is
deeply involved with all aspects of our world and its secular history and one
with whom the majority of scholars or religious leaders of even our modern
times are apparently not very well acquainted.
What “wonders” is the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and “the Lord of all the Earth” [Zechariah 4:14] going
to bring to our undivided attention in modern times that will leave all
of mankind that survives these events, stunned, amazed and standing in “awe” of
the God of Israel as He has done in times past for the Israelites and
the Jews?
Well
that’s exactly what the rest of this article is all about.
The book of
Zechariah together with Revelation reveals the day of the Lord of our immediate
or not too distant future in minute detail
These
two prophetic books are around 500 years apart in time approximately and yet
parallel each other very closely where the events of the “two” major battles
of the “second coming” are concerned and since Daniel was a contemporary of
Zechariah’s this is significant because Daniel’s prophecies were “sealed” to
understanding until the “time of the end” but Zechariah’s and Daniel’s other
contemporary prophet, Haggai’s, were not sealed. Neither were any of the other Old Testament
prophecies that relate to the events of the return of the Lord of all the
earth, Jesus the Christ or Messiah and coming King of kings and Lord of lords,
in our future, “sealed” in quite the same way as the book of Daniel was indeed
sealed by angels apparently.
It is
our belief derived from our research that the book of Revelation “unsealed” the
prophecies given to Daniel either symbolically, allegorically or in actuality
and the time of that unsealing coincides with “the great tribulation” of the
second Diaspora of the Jews which occurred as a result of the Roman destruction
of the temple of Solomon and military occupation of and destruction of
Jerusalem at that time in 67-70 AD in which Daniel names what he calls the
“abomination of desolation” to be a part of this particular great tribulation
in his prophetic writings. And Daniel further shows the” wars of the Jews” in
his account of that time:
After
the sixty-two `sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have
nothing. The people of the ruler who
will come [Vespasian and
the Romans apparently] will destroy the city and the
sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
NIV
Daniel 9:26
Zechariah,
the book of Revelation and many other prophetical writings show no such
repetition of Daniel’s “abomination of desolation” as many in Christianity have
posited or indeed predicted in and for our modern age.
Zechariah
foretold “two” battles in “our” future:
Most
people [the majority?] conceive of the day of the Lord in our future to
culminate in the final apocalyptic “Battle of Armageddon” which is actually a
misnomer because the final battle doesn’t even occur there at all.
Our research
shows and scripture confirms that the “hill” of Megiddo or har Megiddo as it is
probably known to the Jews is the place where the armies of the modern world
are indeed “gathered” but Zechariah shows there is to be a “pre-battle” of
equally epic proportions preceding “the second coming” that involves the Jews
being overrun beforehand just prior to the final battle and almost
completely conquered by this truly “massive” world army but the Jews hold
out for an incredibly long time against unfathomable odds:
1 This is the word of the LORD concerning
2 "I am going to make
3 On
that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will
make
4 On that day I will strike every horse with
panic and its rider with madness," declares the LORD. "I will keep a watchful eye over the house of
5 Then the leaders of
6 "On that day I will make the leaders of
7 "The LORD will save the dwellings of
8 On
that day the LORD will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will
be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the
LORD going before them.
9 On
that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack
NIV
Zechariah 12:1-9
In our other articles at our
website we’ve quoted this prophecy in conjunction with others in the past but
we’ve never really outlined before exactly how we have arrived at the
conclusions that we’ve drawn and this article will set out as never before
exactly how these prophecies fit together as they do with Revelation in a way
that should leave our readers without any doubts about the events if not the
timing of the true “day” of the Lord.
We’ve
narrowed the focus down on these two books of Zechariah and Revelation this
time for that specific purpose and although there are those other supporting
prophecies elsewhere in the other Old Testament prophets we are not going to
intersperse them among these two as we’ve done in the past but will give them at
the end as “additional and/or optional reading of support prophecies” under
those specific headings.
The
two main verses underlined and emphasized this time in Zechariah 12 [i.e.
verses 3&9] show that this prophecy is definitely for our future
because the only other “battle” that these could otherwise apply to i.e. the
“second” Diaspora of the Jews simply doesn’t fit the parameters of the
dimensions of this prophecy.
If our
readers want to do the rough math for themselves the book of Revelation shows there
will be a massive world army of 200 million airborne combatants [Rev. 9:16]
gathered against the modern Israeli’s of only about 7 million strong and of
which about a million or so currently making up the holy land’s population are
actually of other ethnic origin and predominantly Arabic origin.
So a
200 million strong world army will come against the Israeli’s and if you take
out the Arab population within Judea as not wanting to fight against their own
countrymen/kinsmen who will also be besieging the Israeli’s at that time the
odds represent at least 40 to1 or more or roughly 200 million against about 5.5
million and that is possibly without the surrounding Arab nations armies
figures and only takes into account the prophesied 200 million “airborne”
invaders.
Zechariah’s
prophecies were clearly written after the Babylonian captivity[first Diaspora]
and before the 67-70 AD second Diaspora of the Jews --- scholars are unable to
question that fact because apparently the scholars know little about a prophet
they regard as minor anyway and are completely unable to push Zechariah’s
prophecies into any “later” dating as they’ve tried with Daniel’s prophecies
because they seem unaware of what Zechariah’s prophecies are revealing in
detail --- it is basically uncontested therefore because if they knew what
Zechariah’s prophecies entailed they would no doubt try to forward date
Zechariah also --- but doing so now would prove them guilty of manipulating
things to suit their own theories and completely destroy any possible
credibility they now claim to have regarding the scriptures.
So
that little trick of the secular scholars to denigrate the authenticity and
accuracy of the word of God simply can’t be used to white-wash the truth of
prophecy this time.
Nor can they use the other “ruse” of possible
multiple authorship with Zechariah to discredit the authority of the word of
God as it would make them seem even more foolish if that were tried.
What
Zechariah describes in these verses has simply never happened before ---
ever.
The
Romans destroyed the Temple of Solomon and Jerusalem in 67-70 AD --- another
uncontestable fact apparently recorded in secular history as well as biblical.
Likewise,
The Jews were scattered and removed from Jerusalem and all Judea from shortly
after that time exactly as Daniel prophesied in the seventy weeks prophecy and
a little later at the close of his prophetic book [Daniel 9:24-27 & 12:6-7]
and the historian Josephus subsequently “documented” the history of those times
in his well known “Wars of the Jews” during and after the fact apparently.
Zechariah
12:9 shows that God has set aside a specific day when He is going to
destroy all the [modern] nations that come against Jerusalem in our future and
as Zechariah 14 shows that day will follow almost immediately on the
heels of this first preliminary battle --- there is a “time factor” involved or
a number of them actually however between the first and second battles which
the book of Revelation fills in nicely. [More on that later]:
1 A
day of the LORD is coming
when your plunder will be divided among you.
2 I will gather all the nations to
3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against
those nations, as he fights in the day of battle.
4 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.
5 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
6 On that day there will be no light, no
cold or frost.
7 It will be a unique day, without daytime or
nighttime--a day known to the LORD. When evening comes, there will be light.
8 On that day living water will flow out from
Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and
half to the western sea, in summer and
in winter.
9 The
LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and
his name the only name. NIV Zechariah 14:1-10
This time we’ve emphasized
different parts of this prophecy to what we usually do and have usually quoted
verse 4 showing the great earthquake that corresponds with the one in
Revelation chapter 11:13 & 16:18 and the fact that Zechariah shows this
great earthquake occurs pretty close to the exact time that “the LORD” whose
feet will stand on that day on the Mount of Olives will bring all the saints
with Him when he returns. [Zech 14:4&5 together]
We are going
to do now what we have never done before in order to show the whole
prophecy in its full perspective because part of chapter 12 and
most of chapter 13 are in fact what we call “a prophecy within a prophecy” showing
what we believe was to occur in the period after Jesus’ day and during the
those Roman times in the period immediately
past 67-70 AD and don’t constitute the parts of the prophecy that are
relevant to our future.
Whichever scholar in the past
that first divided the modern English bibles into chapter and verse was
apparently unaware of exactly where one prophecy ended and a new prophecy began
and so we believe the arbitrary division of our modern bibles into chapter and
verse has resulted in much misunderstanding of prophecy because some prophecies
don’t necessarily begin or end where many think they do and this also applies
to some New Testament chapters also and we’ve tried to point out which of those
have been altered by chapter division that adds to misconceptions that people
draw from in their interpretations of prophecy --- also in our previous
articles available at our website.
What we are
going to endeavour to show our readers therefore is that verses 10-14 of
Chapter 12 and verses 1-7 of chapter 13 belong together as an “inset
prophecy” i.e. “a prophecy within a[bigger] prophecy”
Verses 8&9
of chapter 13 are therefore “bridging” verses or more precisely a continuation
of a prophecy that started in chapter 12 and continues in chapter 14 covering
the two very close together battles --- without the “artificial” chapter
divisions of modern bibles. In order to
show this we are going to remove the “inset” prophecy temporarily so our
readers can see the entire prophecy as a whole and not broken into segments as
it appears in all the English version bibles.
This then is the “whole”
prophecy without chapter breaks, verse numbers, or the inset prophecy covering
both battles together as one because they are essentially very close together
in time sequence and we will follow up with the “matching” prophecies in
Revelation afterwards :
First battle:
This is the word of the LORD concerning
"I am going to make
On that day, when all the nations of the
earth are gathered against her, I will make
On that day I will strike every horse with
panic and its rider with madness," declares the LORD. "I will keep a
watchful eye over the house of
Then
the leaders of
"On that day I will make the leaders of
"The LORD will save the dwellings of
On that day the LORD will shield those who
live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the
house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the LORD going before them.
On that day I will set out to destroy all the
nations that attack
Aftermath of
first battle describing the capture and overrunning of the holy land:
In the whole land," declares the LORD,
"two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in
it.
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.'"
Second and
final battle describing the capture of
A
day of the LORD is coming
when your plunder will be divided among you.
I will gather all the nations to
Then the LORD will go out and fight against
those nations, as he fights in the day of battle.
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.
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
On that day there will be no light, no cold
or frost.
7 It
will be a unique day,
without daytime or nighttime--a day known to the LORD. When evening comes,
there will be light.
On that day living water will flow out from
9
The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD,
and his name the only name. NIV
Zechariah 14:1-9
The
KJV simply renders verse 7 where we’ve left the number 7 intact as:
But it shall be one
day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at
evening time it shall be light. KJV
Zechariah 14:7
The
NIV translators certainly got it right in calling it a “unique”: it will likely
be similar to the one described in Josephus’s historical account of that “day
of the Lord” but on a much larger scale:
Thus
there was a star resembling a sword, which
stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year. Thus also before
the Jews' rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war, when
the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the
eighth day of the month Xanthicus [Nisan,] and
at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the
holy house, that it appeared to be bright day time; which lasted for half an
hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskillful, but was so
interpreted by the sacred scribes, as to portend those events that followed
immediately upon it. Josephus Book VI
Chapter 5 20-21
If you
read the description given by Josephus and compare it to the description given
by Zechariah, I think you’ll see what I mean.
We
realize it may be unorthodox or possibly considered less than kosher to some
people by combining these passages of prophecy into one to demonstrate their
connectivity but we are not unduly concerned about being ‘politically
correct’ according to “scholarly” or even religious standards but combining
them in this way does serve to show that at least a third of the land of Judah
of the Jews [modern Israelis] are not completely conquered or captured but at
least two thirds falls into the hands of the invading armies of the world in
the aftermath of the first battle and apparently die as a result of that first
battle and that’s an awful lot of casualties that simply doesn’t bear thinking
about --- almost on a par with the Holocaust of WW2. You would have thought the world would have
learnt its lessons in blood long before now --- but according to prophecy ---
perhaps not. According to Zechariah God
is seemingly simply going to provide the “Gentile” elements of our world with
its last opportunity to vent its collective bloodlust on our world before he
sets up shop permanently as ruler of this earth for all time. It actually makes a lot of sense to put all
your enemies into one basket in order to dispose of them conveniently --- any
military commander would appreciate the wisdom of such a move --- if you have
the resources to fully dispose of your enemies in one go by one decisive action
--- then why not? --- in modern days pre-emptive strikes perform pretty much
the same function of disabling your enemy’s capacity to wage war --- that’s the
reality of the world we currently live in and the only good news in all this
for peace loving world citizens is that man will be forced to beat his swords
into plowshares:
The
world will simply not be able to wage war once God has finished with its
armies.
Interestingly enough, Jerusalem is not
mentioned as being captured up until the last minute just before the beginning
of the second battle in the 14th chapter and so the implication is
that Jerusalem holds out and is still holding out with it only falling at
almost the last moment when the captors begin to take the remaining half of
Jerusalem’s Jews into captivity and have only half completed the Job when Jesus
intervenes and descends to the mount of Olives to take up the battle from that
point onwards until that vast world army is destroyed. Other Old Testament prophets show exactly
where that army is driven or retreats to as a result of Jesus’ intervention and
along with Zechariah how that final destruction of that army takes place and
this will be shown in the support prophecies under that heading at the end of
the article.
This
entire coverage of Zechariah’s is completely consistent with what the book of
Revelation reveals about Jerusalem holding out until approximately 3 ½ days
before the second coming of Jesus in Chapter 11:11 of Revelation and God’s last
two prophets seem to play a vital role in Jerusalem holding out so long ---
because the final capture of Jerusalem cannot be accomplished apparently until
they are violently removed from the scene after their 3 ½ year prophetic
mission is complete.[Revelation 11:6-7]
Our
readers will learn what we believe that mission entails and to whom these
prophets are sent under the aforementioned headings near the close of this
article.
The
book of Revelation supplies the “details” of these two battles:
A
little later we will include the aftermath of the last battle which the rest of
Zechariah 14:10-21 shows clearly enough but we will also include Joel 3, some
parts of Isaiah that we haven’t quoted before together with chapter 66 along
with some of Ezekiel and the other prophets that have a bearing on that second
and final battle which the book of Revelation terms “the battle of that Great
day of God Almighty” [Revelation 16:14]
Why we
have narrowed our focus to these two battles in Zechariah and Revelation is to
show those details of these prophecies in a way that our previous articles have
only been able to touch on briefly before now --- because let’s face it --- the
second coming of Jesus to this earth will be big news the world over
when it finally does come to pass and all prophecy is finally made perfectly
clear for all time.
The
apostle Paul expressed it perfectly:
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect
disappears. NIV 1 Corinthians 13:9-10
Our
modern media is uniquely set up to record and will no doubt give full coverage
of all events for the entire world to see --- they can do no less --- it’s in a
reporter’s and indeed an honest researcher’s blood to do so and the role of the
world’s media will also play an important part in these climactic events as
Revelation hints at and shows because the bodies of those two
witnesses/prophets will apparently be on open view for the whole world to see
during that 3 ½ days and all will see their subsequently miraculous resurrection
also --- evidently.
In
order to set the full scene for these two battles ideally the whole book of
Revelation would be needed to put it into full perspective but the
impracticality of that is self evident.
So what we propose to do for our readers is
the briefest but as comprehensive summary as possible of the book of Revelation
outlining what we believe are the true order of things in this prophetic book
as they unfold.
Another
article at our website titled “The identity of the woman of Revelation’s beast
“ is available to our readers to help flesh out the five chapters after chapter
14 right through to chapter 19 and what happens during those 4 or 5 chapters is
in essence the culmination of all the events leading up to that point in time
just at the point of Jesus’ return and His beginning to rule with the final
destruction of the beast power and the armies at its command being the last
events to transpire before the millennium begins and Ezekiel’s/God’s third
temple/sanctuary is built for and during Jesus’ reign during that 1000 years.
Our
readers will be truly shocked if they haven’t already read “the true Identity
of the woman of Revelation’s Beast” to see exactly what these chapters show in
incredible detail is to befall at least one of Europe’s most notable nations
and its capital city of the ancient and modern worlds.
What
we need to point out about the book of Revelation is that its chapters are only
“partially sequential” --- from John’s day forward in the first 6 chapters they
are sequential up to the middle of the unsealing of the seven seals. [Rev 6]
After
the 6th chapter at which point it then it does what many prophetic
books do and drops in --- just as the 13th chapter of Zechariah does
--- what seems like an inset or “a prophecy within a prophecy” as we’ve come to
call such breaks into the main theme of a prophecy. The entire 7th chapter seems to be
such a prophetical inset that is clearly out of sequence at that point and a
reference to a time just before the events of chapter 14.
Furthermore,
even Revelation 6 takes world events only up to the 5th seal
sequentially and the second half from Revelation 6:9-17 are another “prophecy
within a prophecy” which is actually covering events of later verses when
another great earthquake occurs --- namely that of Revelation16:18 and this
earthquake is a massive one that apparently will be right off the Richter scale
for magnitude where a record number of the earth’s cities will collapse
according to Revelation and indeed Isaiah at that time apparently very possibly
in the vicinity of this European capital city and very possibly the nations in
Mediterranean and/or middle eastern areas but most certainly those nations that
are involved in attacking Jerusalem and Judea at that time it would seem.
Revelation’s
chapters 12&13 are breaks in the semi-sequential flow. Both in their way
constitute prophecies within the main “framework prophecy” of the overall book
of Revelation. If we were discussing
computers it would compare well with opening one “main file” window with sub
files or additional windows within that file that are relevant to the main
file.
Revelation
14 is actually in sequence with Chapter 11 because it occurs immediately after
the two prophets die and are resurrected and ascend into the clouds and then
shortly after the descent to the mount of Olives with Jesus and the 144,000
occurs but chapters14&16 actually occur very close together in fact because
chapter 15 is simply announcing the seven last plague prophecies that complete
and fulfill the final signs and stages of the wrath of God [Rev. 15:1]
Revelation
7 then may actually fall into Revelation 11’s timeframe slot somewhere.
Have
our readers got that? It’s as clear as
mud isn’t it?
Don’t
worry too much about not being able to follow that at this point if that is the
case with any reader because this is only what simple observation tells us ---
because we ourselves got stuck in the analysis of Revelation at the 5th
and 6th seals and also precisely this point where the analysis was
going quite well logically and sequentially until it began to seemingly
“backtrack” on itself and “forward project” events ahead of sequence.
We do
think that we have quite a good logical explanation of this however which we
will present towards the end of this article after these comparative chapters
of Revelation 9&16 covering the two battles portrayed in Zechariah
12&14 and the outline and summary of Revelation presented below. Our readers will find that explanation under
the heading of “anomalies of the sequential flow of Revelation explained.”
We
have a joint confession to make to our readers at this point --- we don’t know
everything there is to know and are still learning as we go but what we do know
is well worth presenting even with the timing factor still mostly unresolved!
Shocked? Our readers might be surprised that neither
did many of God’s ancient prophets know everything nor the meaning of
prophecies given them until they asked the angels --- the reverse to knowing
everything indeed seems to be the prevailing case with those worthy patriarchs
and sometimes very ordinary and plain speaking men chosen by God to serve Him
in many cases.
Some
aspects of the things of God just simply weren’t given to them at times because
those events described were for a far distant future that would be beyond their
comprehension --- our modern world in fact --- in much the same way we might
not comprehend a world 2000 years into our future.
Zechariah
and Daniel had to almost constantly ask the angels about the visions and even
the explanations they were receiving from the angels just like the
apostle/prophet John in the Book of Revelation did also --- and they needed to know if anyone
did --- if they were to transmit messages from God to their fellow Israelites
but even though Daniel was given quite comprehensively detailed explanations he
still didn’t understand even at the end of his prophetical book and Daniel was
an extremely well educated and very intelligent man of God --- equating with
the very best of modern day scholars --- trained in king’s courts with the best
that education had to offer in his day and therefore perhaps even surpassing
the best of modern times --- because he was a servant of God also --- gifted
with the Holy Spirit.
Therefore
our readers shouldn’t be unduly alarmed or concerned --- those prophets like us
were only human after all and in fact our readers should be pleased that they
are finally getting a completely honest and open appraisal of prophecy without
any “manufactured” theories, biases, doctrines, or “hype” telling them
basically that every word that is written or uttered by religious leaders is
gospel and should be taken as fact --- like most if not many in religious circles
do indeed do and claim that it is coming directly from God via the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit in their lives etc.
Our readers will never see or hear that coming from us --- ever. We have no axe to grind, no constituents to
please, no peers or congregations to impress, no middle man that can tell us
what to write or what not to write --- we have the total freedom of the liberty
that the living Jesus has given us to write what we see and perceive in His
word to be true and that is exactly what we intend to do and will do because we
don’t belong to any organization of any of man’s religions. We are however and
constitute the smallest unit that God says he will grace His presence with when
His servants come together for a purpose:
19 "Again, I tell you that if two of you
on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my
Father in heaven.
20 For
where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
NIV Matthew 18:19-20
Verse 19
shows that distance apart has no relevance to spiritual matters and that even
being in separate countries --- one in
Our
work and research is exactly what it appears to be i.e. what the apostle Paul
in the word of God encourages all servants of God to do and we urge our readers
to follow suit in doing also --- if they
desire to understand prophecy correctly:
Do
your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not
need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. NIV 2 Timothy
2:15
There is no shame in not having
“perfect” understanding in this life, therefore, nor should there ever be any
need to pretend to have all the truth as many do and by so doing pervert the
truth more often than not --- whether by accident or deliberately as a result
from some “ego” trip as the full context of the surrounding verses of 2 Timothy
2:15 in the KJV shows well enough and so we agree with and echo the apostle
Paul’s words:
14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging
them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to
the subverting of the hearers.
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a
workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
16 But shun profane and vain babblings:
for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
KJV
2 Timothy 2:14-16
A
comparison of Revelation Chapter 9 that corresponds to Zechariah 12:
First battle of Zechariah 12 = first battle of
Revelation 9:
1 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I
saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key
to the shaft of the Abyss.
2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it
like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the
smoke from the Abyss.
3 And out of the smoke locusts came down upon
the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth.
4 They were told not to harm the grass of the
earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of
God on their foreheads.
5 They were not given power to kill them,
but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was
like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man.
6 During those days men will seek death, but
will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for
battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces
resembled human faces.
8 Their hair was like women's hair, and their
teeth were like lions' teeth.
9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron,
and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and
chariots rushing into battle.
10 They had tails and stings like scorpions, and
in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.
11 They had as king over them the angel of the
Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.
12 The first woe is past; two other woes are yet
to come.
13 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I
heard a voice coming from the horns of
the golden altar that is before God.
14 It said to the sixth angel who had the
trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river
15 And the four angels who had been kept ready
for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of
mankind.
16 The number of the mounted troops was two
hundred million. I heard their number.
17 The horses and riders I saw in my vision
looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as
sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their
mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur.
18 A third of mankind was killed by the three
plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths.
19 The power of the horses was in their mouths
and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which
they inflict injury.
20 The rest of mankind that were not killed by
these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not
stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and
wood--idols that cannot see or hear or walk.
21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their
magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts. NIV Revelation 9:1-21
The timing of Zechariah’s
prophecies in Chapter 12&14 show these parallel prophecies of Revelation to
be very close to the time that Jesus will “touch down” on the Mount of Olives
as our readers will be able to see shortly and we’ve only underlined verses 5,
12, 14&15 in this case because they too concern a “timing factor” involved.
Surprisingly enough this time we are not going
to emphasize by underlining etc anything else in this prophecy that coincides
with Zechariah’s battle in Zechariah 12 because our readers can see quite
clearly for themselves that this massive 200 million man “airborne” army is a
modern army of some kind that was obviously beyond the apostle and prophet John
to describe in familiar terms of his day and age and also beyond the KJV
translators to express adequately in their archaic descriptions and so we use
the NIV wherever possible to convey things better for modern readers.
The
apostle John did a pretty good job nevertheless in describing modern aircraft
of some kind that may not actually quite exist in our day and age just
yet. They seem even a little
“futuristic” from present day aircraft. [Authors’ opinions only as there could
conceivably be either prototype aircraft of this nature or else they may exist
on someone’s military drawing boards somewhere on earth today --- who knows?]
The
things to note however apart from the sheer number of airborne troops that
places this prophecy definitely in modern times is the timeframes involved [
there are two main ones] and the methods used to “torment” those they are
attacking.
This
battle evidently lasts for five months [Rev 9:10] i.e. the first time-frame is
seemingly in conjunction with verses 14&15 together.
What’s
the “Second” timeframe?
12 The first woe is past; two other woes are yet
to come.
The significance
of the first and second timeframes will be discussed at the relevant place
later under a heading dealing with God’s two last prophets.
This
world army is evidently not using conventional weapons of mass destruction, nor
biological agents that would kill instantly or at least fairly rapidly but what
may be either an apparently extremely painful and cruel nerve agent or possibly
subsonic weapons --- but the real question is why not WMD’s? Why the need to be
mindful of the environment in not using weapons of mass destruction? [I.e.
WMD’s such as nukes.]
As
shown in verse 4 of Revelation above as follows:
4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or
tree
We’re
pretty sure these guys in this futuristic army aren’t environmentalists
otherwise they wouldn’t kill at all and clearly this army is being led by the
angel of death or the great destroyer Satan [verse 11] who has never been
particularly careful about what he destroys in the past.
We
think the answer to this question may be found in the preceding chapter of
Revelation 8 --- if it is indeed in sequence to chapter 9 as it does indeed
appear to be:
1 When he opened the seventh seal, there was
silence in heaven for about half an hour.
2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before
God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it
with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of
thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
6 Then the seven angels who had the seven
trumpets prepared to sound them.
7 The first angel sounded his trumpet, and
there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the
earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up,
and all the green grass was burned up.
8 The second angel sounded his trumpet, and
something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of
the sea turned into blood,
9 a third of the living creatures in the sea
died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a
great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers
and on the springs of water--
11 the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many
people died from the waters that had become bitter.
12 The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a
third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so
that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and
also a third of the night.
13 As I watched, I heard an eagle that was
flying in midair call out in a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the
inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the
other three angels!" NIV Revelation
8:1-13
As our readers can also see for
themselves our environment may be severely damaged and “literally” and actually
“impacted” by the heavenly signs which aren’t of the usual variety and seen way
up in space or passing by with little effect other than an astronomical
curiosity and a colorful but usually harmless display --- these are much closer
to home and have a direct impact on our ecosystem rather dramatically and
therefore not in any way could be considered mild like that of say an eclipse
that also apparently accompanies Jesus’ climactic return. [Verse 12] A partial
eclipse by an apparently large heavenly body that blocks out not only a third
of the sun and moon but also a third of the night sky as well suggesting it
will be fairly close to earth on its fly-by course through our solar system and
no doubt dragging a comet, a large meteor and a host of smaller meteors in its
wake that all evidently fall to earth and make landfall with the possible
exception of the comet. There is a
strong possibility based on the information contained in Revelation that the
majority of these may make landfall in the Mediterranean region and or the
eastern European to Middle Eastern areas.
So if
Satan wants to pit his 200 million man army/air force or flying ”mounted
troops” against the Jews, the Holy land and the returning Christ then he would
need something to feed them on during that five months of that campaign that is
evidently underway at that future time.
It
would seem the enemy of mankind despite his depraved nature still retains some
practical mindedness in our future and is therefore forced to consider
the environment because meteorite showers, [Rev.8:7] a large meteor, [Rev.8:8]
A comet, [Rev.8:10] and an unusual eclipse would play havoc with food
production and the distribution thereof --- among other things in the area of
his operations at that time. There’s
also the possibility that two of God’s servants may be hampering that world’s
army’s advance into the holy land by sending plagues against those nations or
their supply lines that gather at that time to destroy the Jews --- because
they must evidently complete their prophecies before the final scenes can be
played out and the curtain falls on this world’s governments and the
militaristic nation’s of this world and man’s designs for world rule --- for
all time.
Our
readers can forget about any unused frequent flyer points they may still have
at that stage because evidently worldwide atmospheric and oceanic conditions
certainly won’t be conducive or anywhere near suitable for either whatever
passenger aircraft or whatever shipping is left after those events --- travel
of any kind would be extremely risky business at that time it would seem with
unpredictable meteorite showers and completely topsy-turvy weather
conditions.
So
much for modern Christianity’s hopes of fleeing to “a place of safety” at that
time unless of course they get personal notification well before the heavenly
signs begin in earnest which is a possibility only if they are on exceptionally
good terms with God but unfortunately that also according to prophecy doesn’t
seem to be the case in reality. The “ten virgins” parable practically puts paid
to that “modern” notion --- everyone it seems will be caught sleeping. [Mathew
25:1-13]
Where we are at
the present time in relation to the events of Revelation in terms of our modern
history to date:
It may
be of some benefit to our readers to know where our current history stands in
relation to these events of Revelation and how and when they have unfolded in
the past and will unfold in our future.
To understand any road map properly it’s useful to know where your
position on that roadmap is for finding the right path to your destination.
Our
destination in this case hopefully might one day be the kingdom of God and
final peace on earth and goodwill towards men [Luke 2:14] --- if we can
overcome our human tendencies to do almost as much evil as good in our lives at
times and that applies almost equally to those of us that love the Lord and God
as anyone else in our modern world. It
really is a fallacy that believers in God are any better than anyone else in
this world though many would like to think they are and do think so --- but it
is only in their own minds and not necessarily in reality because we’re all
human and subject to human error and it is only God’s grace and mercy that sets
us apart from anyone else and Jesus Himself has had this recorded through His
servant Paul who was much more personally acquainted with our Saviour than most
of us in this day and age are at present:
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by
faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no
difference:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
KJV
Romans 3:22-24
The bigger
picture of a “special” Day of the Lord is revealed in Revelation
It may
be that the shortest possible but relatively comprehensive outline and a brief
summary of the book of Revelation [except for Daniel’s briefer 7th
chapter outline] showing the details of where events seemingly unfold in
Revelation’s time stream, may come in handy for our readers to understand exactly
where we are at precisely where our current history stands in relation to
prophetic events scheduled to unfold in our not too distant future.
We will show the second and final battle described
in Zechariah 14 and Revelation 6:12-17, 11:14-19, 14:7-20 and all of chapters
16-19 inclusive -- in various detail afterwards but with only highlights of
chapters 16-19 due to time and space.
Our
readers are advised however that there are some seeming discrepancies in the
timing of events that we ourselves haven’t as yet worked out or understood
completely but we feel that we have enough of the big picture to present it
to our readers “as is” because those seeming discrepancies don’t change the big
events one iota --- just perhaps the timing of them in any case and even then
--- not that significantly.
Our
readers may have already noticed that there are a few time-frames given in
chapter 8 just quoted above i.e. that the seventh seal [Rev. 8:1] is divided
into seven trumpet plagues [Rev. 8:2&6] and actual events correspond to the
sounding of particular trumpets at particular times i.e. 1st trumpet
= meteorite showers, damaging plant life and/ or food supplies, 2nd trumpet
= impact in the sea of a large mountain sized meteor, damaging world fishing
and shipping routines and lines. 3rd
Trumpet = Comet, fly-by, or impact, damaging fresh water supplies, 4th
Trumpet = Eclipse of sun moon and stars by large astral body possibly playing
havoc with growing seasons for a time --- not to mention disruption of times
tides and possible tsunamis that may occur.
THESE
are NOT normal heavenly signs associated with past interventions by God into
our world but monumental ones --- because they will be the last ever heavenly
signs until the final confrontation with Gog and Magog [apparently Russia
and/or China --- according to some other researchers] [Ezekiel 38&39]
[Revelation 20:8-9] when their armies are destroyed by supernatural fire from
the heavens after the millennium.
The
heavenly signs occurring slightly before Jesus’ return will have enormous
short term impact on our environment and our world until Jesus restores or
heals the earth during the millennium and the Father renews everything
completely when He too comes to live with His children on earth later on
[Revelation 21:3-5] so it may take nearly the full millennium for those latter
nation’s masses to rebuild after all the events that take place in our future
during this current century.
What
stands out here, however, is that although sequential with the following
chapter 9 which carries over into the 5th and 6th trumpet
plagues [ at the time of the “first” battle of Zechariah 12 approximately] and
is further sequential with chapter 10 announcing the seventh trumpet ---
chapter 10 stops short of giving the details of seventh trumpet and even though
sequential to chapter 11 also doesn’t take up those details again until the 14th
chapter where Jesus and the 144,000 [and the rest of the saints that are
pictured earlier on in Chapter 7 accompanied by “a great multitude” from many
nations of those that have overcome the beast and have come out of “ the great
tribulation” --- Revelation 7:14] are actually pictured standing on the Mount of
Olives at that time.
Now,
If our readers have correctly put two and two together and have actually
followed what we’ve written in many of our other articles and repeated in this
one that “the great tribulation” that occurred in 67-70 AD was “the
great tribulation” pictured in Matthew24, Mark13 and Luke 21 then the entirely
logical and reasonable question that arises is how come Revelation 7:14 says
that multitude comes from “the great tribulation” as follows [full context]:
9 After this I looked and there before me was a
great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and
language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were
wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.
10 And they cried out in a loud voice:
"Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the
Lamb."
11 All the angels were standing around the
throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on
their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
12 saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and
wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and
ever. Amen!"
13 Then one of the elders asked me, "These
in white robes--who are they, and where did they come from?"
14 I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These
are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb.
*
15 Therefore,
"they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his
temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.
NIV Revelation 7:9-15
Is there a discrepancy or
contradiction in our insistence that “the great tribulation” occurred in 67-70
AD? What then about Revelation 7:14 appearing to show a future “great
tribulation” as many believe and have believed? OR can there be two great
tribulations?
Wouldn’t that then be ascribing
to --- or subscribing to --- the “duality” theory that some already teach and
continue to teach today?
The answer
actually, to those seemingly knotty questions is --- NO, Yes and No. Those “seeming” discrepancies are easily
resolved. We’ll do so shortly after the book of Revelation outline below.
Guess
what though? There’s an even
bigger seeming discrepancy to resolve first --- take another
closer look at Revelation 7:15 quoted and isolated above under the asterisk.
As
cited in part one of this “Day of the Lord” article --- some Christians don’t
believe as the Jews do that Ezekiel’s third Temple will be built at all but as
our readers can clearly see there is a temple clearly mentioned in these
verses because how else can the saints serve God as it says:
…they are before the
throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple
How
can that possibly be? Especially when the apostle/prophet John in Revelation
21:22 records the following:
I did not see a
temple in the city, because the Lord
God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. NIV Revelation 21:22
Quite
a conundrum is it not?
Some
Jewish scholars believe Ezekiel’s/God’s “third” temple will be built sometime
in the future but some Christians don’t and probably that belief is held by
Christians because of Revelation 21:22 stating that the Lamb and God are the
temple from that point onwards.
Clearly
though, some Christians have overlooked or ignored Revelation 7:15 somehow
because if there’s a heavenly temple as it seems there is indeed --- then there
is also the possibility of an earthly one being built as well therefore at some
time in the future because much of the Old Testament perhaps even including OT
buildings including the old style “tabernacle” and holy days, Sabbaths etc were
essentially a ‘shadow” of [heavenly] things to come.
Does
the apostle John then contradict himself OR is prophetic scripture
contradictory then also?
Secular
scholars that are hell bent on disproving scripture and therefore prophecy
would have a field day --- if they could understand spiritual things and knew
of this seeming discrepancy --- but apparently they have no real knowledge or
understanding of either and opinions don’t really count for much when reality
smacks you in the face as it sometimes does.
The
answer to the last question posed therefore is ….. Nah! --- not at all --- in either
case --- John and prophecy are in complete accord with one another and as we’ve
said before a number of times now --- all prophecy MUST be taken into
account and nor can a single OT prophecy, NT prophetic scripture or even
“prophetic parable” be ignored or overlooked if we want the truth and complete
accuracy at the same time --- without error or jumping to conclusions or making
assumptions --- just because we don’t have all the data that is available to us
in the world or the word of God at any particular one time.
If our readers want the truth just like us and
like it really is and not what others tell us it is --- without proof --- then
they also need to search for it and prove it to and for themselves. Salvation and truth are profound and yet personal
to each seeker for both --- and a change of heart can only really be affected
by complete understanding and conviction on the part of the believer when both
are within reach.
However,
that said, we are not going to be so cruel as to leave our readers without a
resolution to ‘the great tribulation” issue or the “temple issue” and all those
who can’t wait can skip the “roadmap outline and the summary” of Revelation to
the headings after it --- if they desire.
The summary will serve to place things in perspective though and it is
recommended that the “impatient ones” come back to it later. A very brief
explanation of seemingly contradicting or out of sequence chapters will follow
the outline afterwards in a summary form under a specific heading dealing with
the book of Revelation’s seemingly sequential chronological
inconsistencies when in reality more often than not it is our understanding
that is inconsistent.
Relatively short
“roadmap” outline “review” of Revelation by chapter:
Chapter 1:
Introductory
chapter showing the dating of the book of Revelation to be no later than and
actually before 67-70 AD because the Asian churches are pictured as being at
peace [Rev. 1:4] i.e. no tribulation at the time of the giving of those visions
but the possibility of that tribulation just beginning with John’s
incarceration on the isle of Patmos. [Rev1:9]
Showing
that the events contained therein as Jesus states were very shortly going to
begin to unfold after the book is written and distributed to those churches.
Jesus’
promised coming soon to end the age about to be fulfilled at that time.
[Rev. 1:1, 3&7]
A
description of Jesus as he was then and is now in his resurrected form. [Rev.
1:12-18]
John
commanded to write the messages to the churches and what he sees, past, present
and what takes place later in the future. [Rev.1:11&19]
Chapter 2-3:
Messages
to the seven Asian churches and the book of Revelation delivered before
the great tribulation of 67-70 AD which severe time of trouble for the Jews was
pictured in Daniel 12:1 Jeremiah 30:7, Mathew 24, Mark 13 & Luke 21 and
some of the other prophets.
Chapter 4:
A
vision of the throne of God given and John is told he will be shown what takes
place after this vision. [Rev.4:1]
Similar
vision of God’s throne given to Isaiah in Isaiah 6:1-7 --- only the 4 Cherubim
are called Seraphim by Isaiah [KJV] or Seraphs [NIV] and are pretty much the
same as all of Ezekiel’s visions of them overall and they play a significant
role also which we’ll show later under another heading.
Chapter 5:
A
prophetic scroll sealed with seven seals is pictured [Rev. 5:1] along with
further scenes of the throne of God. [Rev. 5:6-14]
Jesus
pronounced to be the only one worthy or capable of unsealing the prophecies to open
them to understanding. [Rev.5:2-7]
A
similar vision including the number of angels [Rev.5:11] and the throne scene
was given to Daniel in his pre-view prelude visions to the book of Revelation’s
events, Daniel 7:9-10
Chapter6:
6
seals opened.
The
four horsemen of the so called apocalypse ride immediately after the days of
“the great tribulation” at the end of the age in 67-70AD and are enumerated as:
The 1st
seal = White horse = False religion.
The 2nd
seal = Red horse = War.
The 3rd
seal = Black horse = Famine.
The 4th
seal = Pale horse = Death and disease.
The Mount of Olives is associated with Jewish and Christian traditions.
This is the point
in time of the “relatively peaceful” period between the 4th and 5th
seals at which we in our present world are currently living as at 27/6/2009AD.
The 5th
seal pictures [resurrected] saints under the altar of the throne of God.
The 6th
seal pictures the great earthquake and some of the heavenly signs at this time
i.e. the eclipse, meteor showers and islands being moved out of place, flooded,
sinking or whatever and the clouds being rolled back like a scroll revealing a
heavenly being looking down on earth.[God the Father or Jesus] Most likely God the Father though
[speculation] because even though Jesus told the Jews of his day nobody had
ever seen God the Father at any time [John 5:37] --- “the end of the days” as
the angel puts it in Daniel 12:13 when Daniel is resurrected is a “special
occasion” and Jesus never said that God the Father would never be seen
by man in the future beyond His day or even 67-70AD.
Chapter 7:
Chapter
7 seems to be a parallel to chapter 14 with regard to the presence of the
144,000 with Jesus --- the difference being that in chapter seven they are
pictured as being up in the location of God’s throne [discussed later in the conclusions
summary heading] or at least not on earth and in the presence of God the Father
and Jesus but in a heavenly setting and later in Chapter 14 apparently they
have descended with Jesus to the mount of Olives. Both of these events occur after the two
prophets/witnesses have died and clearly after all these saints and they
themselves have been resurrected and so both events of chapter 7&14 are apparently
very close to events occurring in chapter 11 at the point slightly before the
two prophets die and slightly after they die in --- that order.
Chapter
7 is therefore out of time sequence with chapter 8 and may be an inset prophecy
within a prophecy.
Chapter 8:
The
seventh seal opened.
This
chapter seems to follow on from chapter 6 more properly regarding sequence and
time-flow of events.
The
seventh seal consists of seven trumpets but only 4 are blown in this chapter:
1st
trumpet = Meteor showers causing widespread fires.
2nd
trumpet = Mountain sized meteor destroying 1/3rd of sea life and
shipping.
3rd
trumpet = Poisoning of 1/3rd of rivers and fresh water supplies by a
comet either by impact or in passing.
4th
trumpet = Unusual eclipse inasmuch as it blots out the stars of a 1/3rd
of the night sky as well.
The
announcement of three more devastating trumpet blasts or woes to follow the 4th
trumpet that shows chapter 9 is in sequence to chapter 8 apparently.
Chapter 9:
Seventh
seal 5th and 6th trumpets are blown:
The
5th and 6th trumpets = First battle of Zechariah 12:1-9.
The
first significant time-frame is given:
The
first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come. NIV Revelation 9:12
Chapter10:
A most
unusual interlude “prophecy within a prophecy” which does indeed include a
small scroll [a prophecy that John is told not to write about] and actually
ends in the 2nd verse of chapter 11 but also announces that there will no more
delay and that the seventh angel is about to sound and this is presumably to
occur as set out in the next chapter in the days of God’s last two prophets.
[this verse could be referring to either
both ancient and/or modern prophets --- depending on what messages the
modern prophets may be given in their 3 ½ years prophesying]
But
in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery
of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the
prophets."
NIV
Revelation 10:7
Chapter 11:
This is
the most monumentally eventful chapter of the seventh and last trumpet period
of our future for a number of reasons.
God’s
two prophets/witnesses prophesy for 3 ½ years with supernatural assistance and
power, [Rev. 11:3-6] die and are resurrected 3 ½ days later,
[Rev.11:7,11&12] at which time the first resurrection of the saints and the
second coming occurs and chapter 7 comes into play and is fulfilled at that
time. This 3 ½ year period may have much more significance than many might
currently think and that too will be discussed later.
The
second significant time-frame is given --- the relevance of which will be
discussed in the brief summary and under the “anomaly” heading:
The
second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon. NIV Revelation 11:14
Jesus
begins His rule, from the time of the sounding of the last trump forwards [Rev.
14 through19] and begins to hand out the reward of His saints and prophets and
servants and the seven last plagues to those who are destroyers of the earth
and its peace and have been since 67-70AD to our modern age:
The
nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the
dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those
who reverence your name, both small and great-- and
for destroying those who destroy the earth."
NIV Revelation 11:18
The
second battle of Zechariah 14 begins in conjunction with Revelation chapter
14’s events of Jesus descending on the
The
other supporting prophets show the details and timing also and those are
covered under the headings of “additional or optional reading of support
prophecies” at the end of this article.
Another
earthquake and great hailstorm is announced and this we believe to be
associated with the massive earthquake of Rev. 16:18 but we are not exactly
sure how many earthquakes occur all told during all of Revelation’s dramatic
and climactic events because there is seemingly one earlier one mentioned also
in chapter 8 that apparently occurs before the heavenly signs that follow it so
it would seem there are at least two or three earthquakes all up over the
period of these events one severe one in Rev. 11:13 at Jesus’ coming and a
separate or perhaps even greater one after this in Rev. 11:19 and this earlier
one in Rev.8:5 shown here:
Then
the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on
the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and
an earthquake.
NIV
Revelation 8:5
Some
of these earthquakes may be the same one because of the seemingly non-
sequential nature of parts of Revelation --- it’s indeed a little hard to tell.
Chapter 12:
We call
this the “summary chapter” because it summarizes the growth of the kingdom of
God from the transitional period from the previous Old Testament Israel from
67-70 AD till the demise of the Roman Empire later down the track of world
history [1450AD] with verse 17 leaving an open ended picture of the ongoing
pursuit and/or persecution of all God’s children including both physical Jews
and spiritual Jews or “true believers” into our modern times.
A
breakdown of verses as follows:
Verse1 Description of ancient Israel and the twelve
tribes.
Verse
2 Old Israel pregnant and about to give birth to New Israel’s Kingdom of God
and its ruler.
Verse
3 Satan and one of his world ruling “Gentile” kingdoms in this case the Roman
Empire become involved at this point.
Verse4
Rebellion between angels at this time with Satan and a third of his angels cast
to earth because there’s nowhere else he can go any longer and an early attempt
to kill Israel’s future King as a child at that time.
Verse
5 Fulfillment of OT prophecies
concerning Jesus [Israel’s child] being born to rule all nations and Jesus
being taken home to the Father’s throne.
Verse
6 Many of Israel’s Jewish children including the saints flee to God’s prepared
place mentioned in 2 Samuel 7:10 for 1260 days until the worst of the great
tribulation is over almost 40 years to the day [a prophetic generation] after
the death of Israel’s new King of kings --- a period of grace in which the Jews
could have fully accepted their true Messiah but didn’t due to the intractability
of the religious leaders of the day.
Verses
7, 8&9 Spiritual war fought at the time of the “great tribulation” in 67-70
AD with the archangel Michael which was spoken of in Daniel 12:1 as a time of
unprecedented trouble in all Israel’s history to that time standing up to
support those who were destined to be protected and escape at that time of this
second Diaspora. [The elect and indeed a remnant of the Jews just as in the
Babylonian captivity and first Diaspora escape at that time or are delivered
from harm]
Verses
10&11 Beginning of the spiritual phase of the kingdom of God and its
establishment at that time for all future generations.
Verses
12&13 Satan persecutes the nation of Israel and pursues its children.
Verses
14, 15 &16 The bulk of Israel and its children pursued with many of the
elect going to the place of safety prepared by God in a new land [ 2Samuel
7:10] and floods of other Gentile nation’s peoples sent against them in that
land where they were to be taken care of and nourished for 1260 prophetic years
until Satan’s Roman Empire was no longer effective in being able to overcome
them due to their isolation from the European continent by the English channel
and its contrary weather that swallowed subsequent invaders attempts at
conquering Samuel’s prepared place.
This
“prepared place or indeed places if it is the British Isles” for the Israelites
future place of safety of Samuel’s was promised by God to never be able to be
conquered.
…neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as
beforetime, [2Samuel 7:10 again, last part] Secular history shows despite
repeated attempts the British Isles have never been conquered. That prepared place seems to have been
Ireland initially but as the Roman Empire eventually lost its effectiveness the
new “Stone” kingdom i.e. the Kingdom of God --- began to expand from there.
Secular history shows despite repeated
attempts the British Isles have never been conquered and apparently never will
be because that’s where the current royal line of David was also apparently
re-established by Jeremiah along with Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe or secretary,
because the old royal line of David seemingly disappeared from the holy land
and was never re-established there and had to go somewhere and continue to the
present day and beyond because of God’s promise to David that His descendant’s
royal line through his son Solomon and his throne would be established forever
and never cease to be ruling over Israelites --- forever. Ezekiel’s last eight chapters seem to hint
that the resurrected David himself is the “prince” who is the only one among
all the nation of “physical” Jews of that future time [though David will be a
spirit son of God] --- allowed to dine
personally with the Lord at His table in the house of God.[ Ezekiel 44:3]
Verse
17 Not being able to pursue Israel’s Jewish remnants to that land effectively
--- most probably Ireland i.e. an earlier Jewish settlement and possibly a colony
of the tribe of Dan at that time --- Satan pursues God’s children and the
saints elsewhere --- especially in the European continent and other lands they
fled to after 67-70AD from the holy land where they clearly had no guarantee of
safety from Rome’s or other Gentile world’s persecutions& inquisitions,
down through the centuries to modern times including as relatively recent
history of last century shows in WW2 a holocaust in which many of the Jews not
in God’s prepared place of safety lost their lives in an horrific manner.
Chapter 13:
Verses
1-10 is a summary of the Old Roman Empire’s [Beast] nature and make-up and
Satan’s war against the saints during the ride of the four horsemen of the
apocalypse up until 1450 AD when the Roman Empire was seemingly wounded to
death and is seemingly no more and from verses 10 -18 is a summary of the
nature of the “image of the beast” that is linked to and follows the demise of
the Old Roman Empire into our future time.
The four horsemen may still be riding even today as there seems no real
let-up of false religion, war, famines, diseases or death since 67-70 AD.
In
other words this chapter is a “contrasting” summary of the “enemies” of the
saints and prophets of Jesus’ day and the newly emerging kingdom of God and the
saints from that time of 70 AD after the great tribulation and the end of the
age forwards to our day and a little beyond into our future.
Chapter 14:
This
chapter obviously clearly carries straight on from chapter 11 and constitutes
“the third woe” and is actually the beginning of the Day of the Lord where the
seven last plagues are carried out after the seventh trumpet has been blown and
the first resurrection of the saints has already occurred.
Verse
7 announces that the “hour” of God’s judgment has come.
Verse
8 announces the fall of Rome and all it stands for as being either
“symbolically” or actually representative of the last of the 4 world ruling
“gentile” kingdoms that began with the Babylonian empire under Nebuchadnezzar
and have held sway over the earth in one form or another from Daniel’s time
until Rome’s final demise and is apparently the capital of Satan’s beast
kingdom at this time in our future which is pictured in the ensuing chapters of
Revelation 16-19 with Chapter 15 announcing the seven last plagues that are to
follow and take place that apparently fall on Rome and possibly the Italian
peninsular mainly during the remaining chapters of Revelation from 16-19 and
our readers can refer to our other article at this site titled “The true
identity of the woman of Revelation’s Beast” for a discussion that Rome is the
most likely candidate for the seven last plagues and all the reasons why are
set out in that article.
Verse
9-11 warns any who persist in worshipping the beast system at that time will
suffer those seven last plagues apparently.
Verses
12&13 reveal that there will be newly converted saints emerging at this
time after the first resurrection of all the dead in Christ and those still
alive at that time of Jesus’ coming with the possibility some of these new
saints might be martyred during these final days of the seven last plagues
possibly being hinted at.
Chapter15:
The
seven last plagues announced --- symbolizing the completion of God’s wrath and
anger about to be poured out on Rome apparently and the final battle against
the 200 million man army takes place in the middle east also at this time of
the remaining chapters of Revelation up until the end of chapter19 --- almost
simultaneously or at least very close
together timeframe-wise --- refer to Revelation 19:11-21 for details of
Zechariah’s parallel prophecy of Zechariah 14:12-16 of this final battle in the
“middle east” in a valley near Jerusalem apparently played out at the time of
Rome’s demise.
Chapter’s 16, 17, 18&19
Highlights:
Chapter16:
Verses
1-11 seven last plagues poured out on the Beast’s kingdom. [Rev. 16:10]
Verses
12-14&16 Euphrates river dried up to allow re-enforcements of apparently ten eastern nations [kings] to be gathered
to Armageddon’s valley of Megiddo to support the 200 million man world army
[where apparently the 200 million man army has been driven by this time
following the death of God’s last two prophets --- other supporting prophecies
show this under the heading previously mentioned later on following this
summary] to assist the beast kingdom against the returning Jesus and His
heavenly armies.
Verses
17-21 apparently constitute the last or seventh plague consisting of a massive
earthquake [most likely off the Richter scale] which destroys Rome completely
and divides it into three parts [verse19] with apparently many of the nation’s
cities that are involved in this final confrontation with Jesus collapsing
simultaneously with various mountains and Islands in the region being leveled
and inundated in that order followed by a massive hailstorm of 100 pound [225
kilo approx.] balls of ice, presumably, if it is indeed ice which would pretty
much flatten whatever infrastructures are left standing after the massive quake
unless of course the hailstorm is that of rocks from erupting from newly
re-activated volcanoes and not meteorites etc.
Chapter 17:
Chapter
17 is actually another prophecy within a prophecy “interlude” recapping events
leading up to the destruction of
The
great prostitute is apparently the city of Rome and is identified as such in
verses, 7.9&18 by its association with the Roman Empire of old.
As
pointed out in our article ‘the true identity of the woman of Revelation’s
beast “Rome is the only city that could possibly represent the target of God’s
final wrath because it has indeed presided over the death of many of God’s
people and prophets of the past --- including the apostle Paul and has spawned
many pagan mystery religion type beliefs in our past that have found their way
into nearly all of man’s modern religions and have corrupted nearly all as far
as we can tell but that was what was then the apostle and newly made prophet
John’s future.
The
oddest thing in all this is that both the Beast and the ten eastern kings,
apparently, hate Rome at the last moment and contribute in some way to its
being burned with fire after the massive earthquake takes its toll. [Verses 16&17]
Chapter 18:
Continues
on sequentially from Chapter 16 with a warning to any of God’s people living in
Rome or perhaps the vicinity at this time as well to flee from that location
otherwise they’ll be caught up in its destruction and plagues.[verse 4]
God is
apparently not happy with Rome’s boast of being “the eternal city” and a “holy
one” because of its appalling record of the ancient past and John’s future
during the ride of the four horsemen of Revelation and because of the death of
God’s prophets and saints at Rome’s hands in the past and possibly future.
[Revelation 18:5-8, 20&24]. [Under the beast i.e. the earlier Roman Empire
and “image” of the beast mentioned in Revelation 13’s latter half --- possibly
in our future as well]
Revelation
18 constitutes therefore a detailed description of Rome’s final fate and the
world’s nation’s reactions to its fiery destruction --- many of whose armies
apparently will be gathered at “the valley” of Megiddo [Armageddon] to oppose
the returning Christ’s coming rule. This
valley could conceivably be the valley of Jezreel or the valley of Jehoshaphat,[Joel 3:12]
as Joel 3
references it --- the valley of decision [Joel 3:14] --- a more suitable billet and staging ground
than the hill of Megiddo for a 200 million strong army which a mere hill
obviously couldn’t accommodate anyway as hills don’t make very good L Z’s for
airborne transports and certainly not that many as is prophesied.
Chapter 19:
This
is one of the most intriguing chapters of all and we are reserving under the
special heading of “speculation on various aspects of the Day of the Lord and
its follow up” the coverage of verses 1-14 but apparently verses 1-7 are
jubilation on the part of the angels of God in heaven but there is also the
possibility of saints voices being added to that in verse 6 and they may also
be located at God’s throne also at that time which necessitates the special
heading being used to show things not able to be covered in brief here. Under particular
section headings we’ll also cover the Ezekiel’s “third temple issue” and “the
great tribulation issue” as well.
There
are some fascinating elements hinted at in the Old Testament that may have a bearing
here which we will explore under those headings also which we’ve come across at
various times in our research but haven’t attempted to write about before in
depth.
Verses
11-21 of this chapter of Revelation display Zechariah 14’s and a number of other
Old Testament prophet’s accounts of this final Day of the Lord battle which we
won’t go into here but will cover under the “Day of the Lord supporting
prophet’s” heading to follow this outline and summary of the book of
Revelation.
Chapter 20:
Satan
bound for a thousand years. [Millennium] [Verses 1-3]
Satan
released again for a short period believed by many to be 100 years long. [Verse
3] [Zechariah 8:4 and Isaiah 65:20 seem to support this notion]
The
first resurrection of the saints at Jesus’ second coming depicted in verses 4-5
and shown to be kings and priests during the Millennium. [Verse 6]
Battle
of Gog and Magog after the millennium and those nations [Russia and China,
supposedly --- according to some] have recovered sufficiently after the second
coming and built up their populations again and apparently they spread over the
four corners of the Globe during the millennium. [Verses 8-9]
Devil
thrown into the lake of fire, the great white throne judgment of all that have
ever lived on earth, death and the grave abolished and the final destruction of
all the incorrigibly evil forever. [Verses 10-15]
Chapter
21&22 together:
Both
the final chapters of Revelation are a comprehensive coverage of the city of
God i.e. the New Jerusalem coming down from Heaven and being positioned or
placed over where the Mount of Olives was located apparently at the time of the
second coming.
By
this time however after the lake of fire has burned up the surface of the old
earth and all of man’s works of the past ---
apparently after the great white throne judgment is finished --- the
surface of the earth is renewed completely with no more seas. [Rev.21:1]
NIV
Revelation 21:5 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."
While
there is no guarantee that the great mountain mentioned in verse 21:10 is
indeed the former Mount of Olives --- the record throughout all prophecy and
the bible show that the mount of Olives and the old city of Jerusalem has
always been a favorite spot Of God’s/Jesus’ and a holy one and that location
will be made holy during the millennial rule of Christ with the building of
Ezekiel’s third temple on at least one half of the “split” mountain. [Ezekiel
43:12 and Zechariah14:4]
The
renewing of the earth’s surface therefore doesn’t necessarily mean the
destruction of the Mount of Olives and so we feel that location for the New
Jerusalem which is clearly supernaturally built and far surpassing anything man
could dream of even in the wildest SF scenarios to be a valid one.
We
base this assessment on the fact that in the beginning of the 22nd
chapter of Revelation [verses 1-2] there is almost an exact word for word
description of the throne and the house that Ezekiel describes in his vision of
the “third temple” that the Jews are to build during the millennium with the
same river flowing out of God’s throne in both Ezekiel and Revelation and lined
by trees that are for healing etc depicted in this city of post-millennial and
clearly extraordinary construction and similarly Jesus’ temple sanctuary during
the millennium in Ezekiel:
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. 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." NIV Ezekiel 47:1 & 12-13
Ezekiel’s
description of the throne Of God is a little more elaborate than just these two
verses we extracted for illustrative purposes as is John’s description of the
New Jerusalem and the throne in Revelation [Revelation 21:10-27 & 22:1-5]
--- but the throne’s location is a constant even if the temple may not be needed
in the new Jerusalem as John indicates ---however in John’s description the
tree of life is depicted there whereas there is no mention of that in Ezekiel’s
last 8 chapters and so that is a new addition after the millennium in that new
city.
So we
end this outline summary on the same note of Good News that is plainly depicted
in this final chapter 22 that after all misery of the final stages of man’s
rule on earth and death and destruction are no more that anyone who so wishes
to live the way of love may take of the water and tree of life for all eternity
and live forever:
The
Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say,
"Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him
take the free gift of the water of life.
NIV
Revelation 22:17
Comments on life
after the
There
is one more tantalizing bit of info contained in these last few chapters that
we feel is worthy of note and is intriguing to say the least --- when the old
earth and its surface have burned up the only things that would survive this
process are the spiritual sons of God that wouldn’t be affected by flame:
He
who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my
son. NIV Revelation 21:7
The
14 "Blessed are those who wash their robes,
that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates
into the city.
15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice
magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who
loves and practices falsehood.
16 "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give
you this testimony for the churches. I
am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star." NIV Revelation 22:14-16
We
simply can’t answer this question that we are going to pose for our readers:
There
are either going to be more human beings born on the New heaven and earth after
the face of the earth has been renewed by fire or this referring to Ezekiel’s
time during the millennium and that we can’t comment on because verse 15 seems
to be out of place here does it not? --- Even though verses 14 and 16 are
clearly referring to that new post-millennium Jerusalem along with Revelation
22:19 that follows them.
We
simply don’t know what God has planned for the rest of the universe nor does Revelation
elaborate on it any further than this point of what actually occurs on earth.
Revelation
21:7 in the KJV gives the slightly clearer hint on that score:
He that overcometh shall
inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. KJV Revelation 21:7
What
greater reward could any child ask of his or her Father than everything that
Father possesses or has brought into being and freely offers anyway?
Is the
inheritance of the entire awesome universe reward enough for the average human
being? How rich is God? How does mere human wealth stack up to
ownership of everything that exists? One
of the most well known Old Testament characters and one also in the New
Testament expressed it very well and very succinctly:
OT
first:
1 "There is a mine for silver and a place
where gold is refined.
2 Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is
smelted from ore.
3 Man puts an end to the darkness; he searches
the farthest recesses for ore in the blackest darkness.
4 Far from where people dwell he cuts a shaft,
in places forgotten by the foot of man; far from men he dangles and sways.
5 The earth, from which food comes, is
transformed below as by fire;
6 sapphires
come from its rocks, and its dust contains nuggets of gold.
7 No bird of prey knows that hidden path, no
falcon's eye has seen it.
8 Proud beasts do not set foot on it, and no
lion prowls there.
9 Man's hand assaults the flinty rock and lays
bare the roots of the mountains.
10 He tunnels through the rock; his eyes see all
its treasures.
11 He searches
the sources of the rivers and brings hidden things to light.
12 "But where can wisdom be found? Where
does understanding dwell?
13 Man does not comprehend its worth; it cannot
be found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, `It is not in me'; the sea
says, `It is not with me.'
15 It cannot be bought with the finest gold, nor
can its price be weighed in silver.
16 It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir,
with precious onyx or sapphires.
17 Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it,
nor can it be had for jewels of gold.
18 Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention; the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.
19 The topaz of
20 "Where then does wisdom come from? Where
does understanding dwell?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living
thing, concealed even from the birds of the air.
22 Destruction
and Death say, `Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.'
23 God understands the way to it and he alone
knows where it dwells,
24 for he views the ends of the earth and sees
everything under the heavens.
25 When he established the force of the wind and
measured out the waters,
26 when he made a decree for the rain and a path
for the thunderstorm,
27 then he looked at wisdom and appraised it; he
confirmed it and tested it.
28 And he said to man, `The fear of the Lord--that is wisdom, and to shun evil is
understanding.'" NIV Job 28:1-28
NT second, but
certainly not last:
1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come
with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about
God.
2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was
with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with
much trembling.
4 My message and my preaching were not with
wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,
5 so that your faith might not rest on men's
wisdom, but on God's power.
6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom
among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age,
who are coming to nothing.
7 No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom
that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.
8 None of the rulers of this age understood it,
for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him" --
10 but God has revealed it to us by his
Spirit. The Spirit searches all things,
even the deep things of God.
11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man
except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of
God except the Spirit of God.
12 We have not received the spirit of the world
but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely
given us.
13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us
by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths
in spiritual words.
14 The man without the Spirit does not accept
the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him,
and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all
things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:
16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. NIV 1 Corinthians 2:1-16
We’re a little surprised that
the normally looser translation of the NIV didn’t for once alter the KJV word
“fear” for the correct understanding and so we’ll paraphrase it for them in our
own words:
The AWE of the
Lord--that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.'
Day
of the Lord “supporting prophets” and prophecies
Revelation 19:11-21 shows further
details of Zechariah 14’s “Day of the Lord” prophecy:
Compare to
Zechariah’s second battle:
11 I saw heaven standing open and there before
me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he
judges and makes war.
12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his
head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he
himself.
13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and
his name is the Word of God.
14 The armies of heaven were following him,
riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with
which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron
scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God
Almighty.
16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name
written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who
cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, "Come, gather
together for the great supper of God,
18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings,
generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all
people, free and slave, small and great."
19 Then
I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together
to make war against the rider on the horse and his army.
20 But the beast was captured, and with him the
false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these
signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped
his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning
sulfur.
21 The rest of them were killed with the sword
that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged
themselves on their flesh. NIV
Revelation 19:11-21
Zechariah 14’s
second battle:
1 A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder
will be divided among you.
2 I
will gather all the nations to
3 Then
the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day
of battle.
4 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
14:1-5
Aftermath
Revelation 19’s and Zechariah 14’s final prophetic battle:
12 This is the plague with which the LORD will
strike all the nations that fought against
13 On that day men will be stricken by the LORD
with great panic. Each man will seize the hand of another, and they will attack
each other.
14
15 A similar plague will strike the horses and
mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.
16 Then the survivors from all the nations that
have attacked
17 If any of the peoples of the earth do not go
up to
18 If the Egyptian people do not go up and take
part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he
inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of
Tabernacles. NIV Zechariah 14:12-18
Notice “the
timing” of that battle agreeing with the beginning of water flowing from
God’s/Jesus throne at that time exactly as Revelation and Ezekiel describes it:
On that day living
water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea
and half to the western sea, in
summer and in winter. NIV Zechariah 14:8
Ezekiel:
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.
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
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."
NIV
Ezekiel 47:1, 6-10&12
Revelation:
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 NIV Revelation 22:1
Joel confirms the aftermath of
Zechariah 14 and Revelation 19’s final battle:
1 `In those days and at that time, when I
restore the fortunes of
2 I will gather all nations and bring them down
to the
9 Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for
war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.
10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your
pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, `I am strong!`
11 Come quickly, all you nations from every
side, and assemble there. Bring down your warriors, O LORD!
12 `Let
the nations be roused; let them advance into the
13 Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow-- so
great is their wickedness!`
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of
decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and moon will be darkened, and the
stars no longer shine.
16 The LORD will roar from
17 `Then you will know that I, the LORD your
God, dwell in
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
NIV
Joel 3:1-2& 9-21
Notice “the
timing” of this prophecy agreeing with Zechariah, Ezekiel and Revelation:
18 `In
that day
the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of
Notice too
“the ending” of both Ezekiel’s and Joel’s prophecies together showing that both
of these prophecies are for the time of Jesus’ return when our Saviour will be
bodily present among His people with His own two feet walking over familiar
ground once again, i.e. the Mount of Olives:
"And
the name of the city from that time on will be: THE LORD IS THERE."
NIV Ezekiel 48:35
Compare to
Joel 3’s ending:
21 Their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned,
I will pardon.` The LORD
dwells in
All of Isaiah’s 66th
chapter fully supports both Ezekiel and Joel regarding the day of the Lord but
we are including Isaiah’s prophecies under the next heading for the simple
reason Joel’s and Zechariah’s prophecies don’t go much beyond the Day of the
Lord whereas Ezekiel’s and Isaiah’s and some of the other prophets do show what
comes after in varying detail in complete accordance with the Book of
Revelation.
“Speculation
on various aspects of the Day of the Lord and its follow up”
Those words just quoted and
underlined above are the very last words of both Joel’s last chapter stating
like Ezekiel’s last chapter that the “Lord will be there” at the time of the
fulfillment of these prophecies.
Ezekiel’s last eight chapters
are describing the temple sanctuary and the small city that will surround the
Mount of Olives with the bulk of it being towards the south of the sanctuary [
Ezekiel 40:2] and so we are going to quote the full context from Ezekiel
48:19-35 to show our conclusions and beliefs that this city and temple that will
be built during the millennium very closely parallels the NEW JERUSALEM that
the book of Revelation portrays will descend from God after the
millennium.
We have every reason to believe
therefore that New Jerusalem when it descends from Heaven will be overlaid in
near enough to the exact position this millennial city and Ezekiel’s third
temple occupies during the millennium --- on the Mount of Olives, which
mountain very obviously won’t be destroyed by the fire of earth’s cleansing and
renewal by God the Father after the millennial reign of Jesus. The millennial temple sanctuary and city
buildings are another matter however --- but clearly Jesus’/God’s throne that
will be on earth during the millennium on the Mount of Olives cannot be
destroyed and will be in both the former and latter configurations of the
kingdom of God’s worship make-up during and after the millennium --- because
according to Revelation it will be in the “centre” of New Jerusalem ---
post-millennium.
1 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.
2 I saw the
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne
saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.
They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
NIV Revelation 21:1-3
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 22:1-3
The current location of the Dome
of the Rock where the Jews desire to build Ezekiel’s third temple doesn’t seem
to be in the centre of Jerusalem by any means and seems decidedly off-centre
and we conclude that God doesn’t desire that location for His throne or
Ezekiel’s third Temple sanctuary therefore based on all prophecy pointing to a
completely “pristine” location of God’s choosing on the renewed and exalted and
apparently greatly elevated, Mount of Olives.
Since the New Jerusalem
apparently descends after the earth’s surface has been renewed by God the
Father [Rev. 21:1-3] then it follows logically that Ezekiel’s third temple will
have served its purpose during the millennium and may no longer be required in
the New Jerusalem and we further believe that this is why the apostle John
doesn’t see a temple in the New supernaturally built Jerusalem that descends
from God --- after the millennium.
This whole third Temple of
Ezekiel’s sanctuary and city which we quote a little of below in Ezekiel 48 is
apparently constructed of the usual earthly building materials by the Jews and
possibly with the other 10 tribes of Israel assisting who will by then be
re-united with the Jews and using all the wealth and spoils that will
apparently be taken from those nations that come up to attack Jerusalem at the
second coming to build these millennial constructions of quite magnificent
proportions --- in their own right ---
but could hardly compare with the New Jerusalem that descends later:
A tale of two cities?
18 What remains of the area, bordering on the
sacred portion and running the length of it, will be 10,000 cubits on the east
side and 10,000 cubits on the west side. Its produce will supply food for the
workers of the city.
19 The workers from the city who farm it will
come from all the tribes of
20 The entire portion will be a square, 25,000
cubits on each side. As a special gift you will set aside the sacred portion,
along with the property of the city.
21 "What remains on both sides of the area
formed by the sacred portion and the city property will belong to the prince.
It will extend eastward from the 25,000 cubits of the sacred portion to the
eastern border, and westward from the 25,000 cubits to the western border. Both
these areas running the length of the tribal portions will belong to the
prince, and the sacred portion with the temple sanctuary will be in the center
of them.
22 So the property of the Levites and the
property of the city will lie in the center of the area that belongs to the
prince. The area belonging to the prince will lie between the border of
23 "As for the rest of the tribes: Benjamin
will have one portion; it will extend from the east side to the west side.
24 "Simeon will have one portion; it will
border the
25 "Issachar will have one portion; it will
border the
26 "Zebulun will have one portion; it will
border the
27 "Gad will have one portion; it will
border the
28 "The southern boundary of Gad will run
south from Tamar to the waters of Meribah Kadesh, then along the Wadi [of
29 "This is the land you are to allot as an
inheritance to the tribes of
30 "These will be the exits of the city:
Beginning on the north side, which is 4,500 cubits long,
31 the gates of the city will be named after the
tribes of
32 "On the east side, which is 4,500 cubits
long, will be three gates: the gate of Joseph, the gate of Benjamin and the
gate of Dan.
33 "On the south side, which measures 4,500
cubits, will be three gates: the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar and the
gate of Zebulun.
34 "On the west side, which is 4,500 cubits
long, will be three gates: the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher and the gate of
Naphtali.
35 "The distance all around will be 18,000
cubits. "And the name of the city
from that time on will be: THE LORD IS THERE." NIV Ezekiel 48:18-35
OR one modeled after the other
and both to exist in the future?
Notice both
cities are “square” whatever their measurements may be “during” or
post-millennium and neither match current day
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a
mountain great and high, and showed me the
11 It shone with the glory of God, and its
brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as
crystal.
12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates,
and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the
twelve tribes of
13 There were three gates on the east, three on
the north, three on the south and three on the west.
14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations,
and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring
rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.
16 The city was laid out like a square, as long
as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000
stadia in length, and as wide and high
as it is long.
17 He measured its wall and it was 144
cubits thick, by man's measurement, which the angel was
using.
18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of
pure gold, as pure as glass.
19 The foundations of the city walls were
decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper,
the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the
seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase,
the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.
21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each
gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold,
like transparent glass.
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because
the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to
shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
24 The nations will walk by its light, and the
kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for
there will be no night there.
26 The glory and honor of the nations will be
brought into it.
27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will
anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are
written in the Lamb's book of life.
NIV
Revelation 21:10-27
Conclusions on the future
existence of Ezekiel’s city or the “the third temple” question --- answered in
full:
What it boils down to is this:
Do we question the prophesied
future existence of the New Jerusalem of Revelation? Especially when our
Saviour says the following in the last few verses of that prophetic book:
"I,
Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the
Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star." NIV Revelation 22:16
Then
why should we question what another of God’s servants and prophets was asked to
faithfully record in his prophetic book and what God/Jesus told Him to write
just as the apostle John was told to faithfully record everything in his
visions, thus:
"Write
on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to
"Write,
therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.
NIV
Revelation 1:11&19
Is
what Ezekiel was asked to write about in his vision any less valid?
Guess
what? Ezekiel was taken to “a high
mountain” exactly as John was --- to be shown almost exactly the same “type” of
vision and possibly even the exact same ‘High’ mountain:
Compare
Ezekiel’s to John’s visions
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. NIV
Ezekiel 40:1-2
And he carried me
away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the
There’s
not a lot of difference between “a very high mountain” and “a great and high
mountain” is there? And what’s more --- one that is near
Ezekiel
was brought in vision to the mount of Olives apparently after it has been
raised to a higher elevation after the second coming and after the great
earthquake that splits that mountain in two and makes at least one half into a very
high mountain.
We
don’t know if the Mount of Olives lies on a fault line but if it does the
chances are it would be an east west fault line which when this earthquake
occurs it must extend towards Jerusalem when it pushes one half of the mountain
to great heights because the book of Revelation even gives the casualty count
in Jerusalem of 7000 when Zechariah’s quake finally comes to pass --- and these
are extraordinary details to be given nearly 1940 ‘plus’ years in advance of an
event:
At
that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed.
Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were
terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. NIV Revelation 11:13
Zechariah foretells the same
earthquake nearly 2450 years in advance.
That’s in the mouth of at least
two witnesses --- the minimum amount required to establish a matter of truth
under Jewish religious and judicial or Mosaic law.
Should we disbelieve either
prophet because it sounds a little farfetched to our modern sensibilities?
Did our readers happen to take
notice that a tenth of current day
Should we disbelieve 8 full
chapters of an incredibly detailed vision of God’s plans for a temple sanctuary
that Ezekiel faithfully describes is to be built on an elevated
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
If there is no temple in the
New Heaven and New earth of Revelation 21-22 then the only time this temple of
Ezekiel’s could be built is sometime during the millennium after the
raising of the mount of Olives to a new status above that of what currently is
not much more than a relatively slightly more elevated hill than the
surrounding ones overlooking Jerusalem of around 2,700 feet at its highest:
The Mount of Olives (also Mount Olivet, Hebrew: הר
הזיתים, Har
HaZeitim ;Arabic: جبل الزيتون, الطور, Jebel
az-Zeitun) is a mountain ridge in east Jerusalem with three peaks running
from north to south. The highest, at-Tur, rises to 818 meters (2,683ft). It is
named for the olive groves that once covered its slopes. The Mount of Olives is
associated with Jewish and Christian traditions.
View of
Excerpt courtesy of Wikipedia
Are
there other prophetic records of “a great mountain” on which a temple sanctuary
and house of God will be built in our future and which construction will begin
almost immediately after the Day of the Lord and the second coming?
At
least two very well known and once often quoted prophetic records to be exact
--- part of one of which is “written in stone” on a relatively modern 20th
century site in America:
1 This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw
concerning
2 In
the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will
be raised above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.
3 Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to
the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his
paths." The law will go out from
4 He will judge between the nations and will
settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against
nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
NIV Isaiah 2:1-4
Coincidentally
or ironically enough the last part of Isaiah 2:4 is carved in stone on an
edifice that sits in a park opposite a building that supposedly represents the
world’s nations uniting or living in peace.
The Isaiah
Wall (the triangular shadow is cast by the Peace Form One sculpture)
The park is across First Avenue from the United Nations headquarters.
How much peace
or unity of the world’s nations is there in the real world today?
Want a “second witness” or
further proof of the validity of Ezekiel’s vision of a third temple on a great
mountain near
Ok then, how about this almost
identical prophecy from another prophet and man of God:
1 In the last days the mountain of the LORD's
temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised
above the hills, and peoples will stream to it.
2 Many nations will come and say, "Come,
let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He
will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go
out from
3 He will judge between many peoples and will
settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords
into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up
sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
NIV
Micah 4:1-5
The
KJV doesn’t use the word temple however but simply “the house” of the Lord ---
Neither does it use the word “raised” but simply “exalted” above the hills:
KJV
Micah 4:1-2
1 But in the last days it shall come to pass,
that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of
the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow
unto it.
Jesus
however used the word “house” when referring to Herod’s refurbished temple of
Solomon in His day:
To
those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my
Father's house into a market!" NIV
John 2:16
And
as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: "`My house will be
called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it `a den of
robbers.' " NIV Mark 11:17
Our conclusion then is that
Ezekiel’s last 8 chapters are the answer to the question God posed in Isaiah’s
last chapter and what’s in a name? House or temple --- it will be the place
where God/Jesus places His throne during the millennium nevertheless:
God through His servant Isaiah poses
this question:
This
is what the LORD says: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my
footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting
place be? NIV Isaiah 66:1
And these verses among
Ezekiel’s last 8 chapters may very well represent the answer therefore:
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
There
seems to be some doubt among modern Jews as to the exact measurement used in
the building of the temple that modern day Jews desire to build but according
to Zechariah even that and the “funding” for the project besides will be taken
care of as we’ll show after this further quite illuminating excerpt from
Wikipedia.
Obstacles to realization
The most immediate and obvious obstacle to realization of these goals is
the fact that two Islamic structures, namely the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of
the Rock, are built on top of the Temple Mount. The Dome of the Rock is
regarded as occupying the actual space where the Temple once stood, and Israel
has undertaken to preserve access to these buildings as part of international
obligations. Any efforts to damage or reduce access to these sites, or to build
Jewish structures within, between, on, or instead of them, would probably lead
to severe international conflicts, given the association of the Muslim world
with these holy places. However, some 20th and 21st century scholars believe
that the Dome of the Rock isn't the actual location of the First and Second
Temples, and that the Temples were actually located either just north of or
just south of the Dome of the Rock. The
most recent theory would put the temple in between The Dome of the Rock and the
Al Aqsa Mosque.
In addition, most Jewish-Orthodox scholars reject any attempts to build the
This article is about a potential but unbuilt future
temple. For Herod the Great's massive renovation of the Second Temple, see
Herod's Temple.
A drawing
of Ezekiel's Visionary Temple from the Book of Ezekiel 40-47
Since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, religious Jews have
prayed that God will allow for the building of a Third Temple on the
Temple Mount. This prayer has been a formal part of the traditional thrice
daily Jewish prayer services. Though it remains unbuilt, the notion of and
desire for a Third Temple is sacred in Judaism, particularly Orthodox Judaism,
as an unrealized place of worship. The prophets in the Tanakh called for its
construction, to be fulfilled in the Messianic era.
Unused ancient Jewish floor plans for a Temple exist in various sources,
notably in Chapters 40-47 of Ezekiel (Ezekiel's vision pre-dates the Second
Temple) and in the Temple Scroll discovered at Qumran among the Dead Sea
Scrolls.
This
temple will not be built on “the temple mount” inside current day Jerusalem as
all the above prophecy shows and as modern day Jews pray for it to be --- but
ironically it will be built on the Mount of Olives that they currently go to
the lower slopes of --- to mourn the destruction of Solomon’s temple because it
has a view overlooking the Temple mount where Solomon’s old Temple used to be
and where the Muslim temple “Dome of the Rock” currently stands.
When
God has finished upgrading and elevating the Mount of Olives to new heights in
His personal “mountain” remodeling project --- Jesus was a stone mason and
master builder after all --- The Jews won’t have to worry about finding the
space to build the third temple nor will they have to worry about finding a
project manager who knows how to apply the true measurements as prescribed
because who better than the one who laid the foundations of the second temple
of Solomon as this prophecy reveals:
Full context
to show that this is a far distant prophecy for Zechariah [2450 years or thereabouts]
but not so far from our present and only shortly after God’s last two witnesses
of Revelation have completed their mission:
1 Then the angel who talked with me returned
and wakened me, as a man is wakened from his sleep.
2 He asked me, "What do you
see?" I answered, "I see a
solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lights on it, with seven
channels to the lights.
3 Also there are two olive trees by it, one on
the right of the bowl and the other on its left."
4 I asked the angel who talked with me,
"What are these, my lord?"
5 He answered, "Do you not know what these
are?" "No, my lord," I
replied.
6 So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: `Not by might nor
by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.
7 "What
are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level
ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of `God bless it! God
bless it!'"
8 Then the word of the LORD came to me:
9 "The
hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will
also complete it. Then
you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you.
10 "Who despises the day of small things?
Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. "(These seven are the eyes of the LORD,
which range throughout the earth.)"
11 Then I asked the angel, "What are these
two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?"
12 Again I asked him, "What are these two
olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?"
13 He replied, "Do you not know what these
are?" "No, my lord," I
said.
14 So he said, "These are the two who are
anointed to serve the Lord of
all the earth." NIV Zechariah 4:1-14
It’s no coincidence that the
prophecies of Zechariah so closely parallel that of Revelation even to the same
description of a “menorah” representing “spiritual light” we believe with even
the same seven spirits before Jesus as the first chapter of Revelation so
describes Jesus among the seven churches also pictured as a menorah
[Revelation1:12-13 &5:6] that also represent spiritual light or
enlightenment and we use this quote in the KJV to highlight that the
resurrected Zerubbabel will most likely be the one to “oversee” the modern
Jew’s building of the third temple after the second coming and all the events
up to the end of chapter 19 in the book of Revelation have been played out and
fulfilled completely.
What do a “physical” bricks and
mortar or stone temple or house of God represent after all if not the
“spiritual worship” that should be conducted within?
7 Who art thou, O
great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he
shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace
unto it.
8 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me,
saying,
9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the
foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know
that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you.
10 For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of
Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole
earth.
We don’t conclude that
Zerubbabel was getting excited or rather will be getting excited over just a
piece of stone --- an ordinary earthly headstone.
Apparently Zerubbabel will be
in the presence of those same seven spirits of God that according to John’s
visions are located at Jesus’ throne under normal circumstances but travel
throughout the earth when necessary --- when he brings the capstone or
headstone of that mountain forth.
It would appear that the
resurrected Zerubbabel will have a hand in leveling off the top of the Mount of
Olives when it becomes a great mountain and that when that new temple sanctuary
is completed also have a hand in bringing out the capstone or the chief
cornerstone or headstone that the builders [Jewish religious leaders] rejected
in Jesus’ day --- none other than the Lord Himself:
22 The stone the builders rejected has become
the capstone;
23 the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous
in our eyes. NIV Psalms 118:22-23
42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read
in the Scriptures: "`The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone
; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes' ?
43 "Therefore I tell you that the
44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to
pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees
heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them.
46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they
were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet. NIV
Matthew 21:42-46
The strangest thing in the
records of Jesus’ day and age was that the common ordinary man in the street
seemed to have more “horse sense” than the much vaunted, puffed up with their
own importance and well educated --- religious leaders of the day --- and
strangely enough the ordinary man fully accepted Jesus as both a prophet and as
their king and saviour and fully acknowledged him --- until the
interference of those religious leaders saw to Jesus’ murder and crucifixion:
1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to
Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples,
2 saying to them, "Go to the village ahead
of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one
has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.
3 If anyone asks you, `Why are you doing this?'
tell him, `The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.'"
4 They went and found a colt outside in the
street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it,
5 some people standing there asked, "What
are you doing, untying that colt?"
6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and
the people let them go.
7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw
their cloaks over it, he sat on it.
8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road,
while others spread branches they had cut in the fields.
9 Those who went ahead and those who followed
shouted, "Hosanna! " "Blessed is
he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
10 "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father
David!" "Hosanna in the highest!"
NIV
Mark 11:1-10
Jesus
said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the
prostitutes are entering the
32. For
John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe
him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw
this, you did not repent and believe him.
NIV Matthew 21:31-32
Clearly the common ordinary man
or woman of those days were much more receptive to truth than their leaders and
the record shows that Jesus was well and truly acknowledged by the ordinary man
of those days.
All this brings us to the
question then of why did Jesus say he would not return to
A number of prophetic parables
show that Jesus would indeed delay His return as King until such time as this
acknowledgment was made and the whole 67-70 AD great tribulation was brought on
them at that time because of their rejection of Him and all the righteous
prophets of old that they inevitably either ignored or had killed one way or
another and Jesus certainly didn’t mince words when he uttered this
pronouncement of what amounted to the doom of their nation at that time of
great tribulation and prophesied distress and extreme trouble by a number of
the prophets.
27 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and
Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful
on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything
unclean.
28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to
people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
29 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and
Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the
graves of the righteous.
30 And you say, `If we had lived in the days of
our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood
of the prophets.'
31 So you testify against yourselves that you
are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
32 Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your
forefathers!
33 "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How
will you escape being condemned to hell?
34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise
men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog
in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
35 And so upon you will come all the righteous
blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the
blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and
the altar.
36 I tell you the truth, all this will come upon
this generation.
37 "O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather
your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you
were not willing.
38 Look, your house is left to you desolate.
39 For
I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, `Blessed
is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' " NIV Matthew 23:27-39
Modern Christianity believes
and is laboring under the delusion all it has to do is preach the Gospel to the
whole world and then Jesus will return but that single verse in Matthew 23:39 completely
nullifies that notion.
Strangely enough the return of
Jesus to this earth and Jerusalem in particular depends upon or rests entirely
with the Jews acknowledgment of Jesus as their true Messiah and King in our day
--- as completely odd as that might seem to Christianity or indeed the rest of
the world.
Notice again
the last verse of Joel 3 with the last few words signifying when God will
finally pardon the house of Judah and the preceding verses we’ll also give show
exactly when this pardoning of the modern Jews occurs which is in complete
accord with both the Zechariah and
Revelation visions of that prophesied time:
21 Their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned,
I will pardon. The LORD dwells in
NIV
Joel 3:21
Two possibly very significant
factors are apparently in operation here that are perhaps only known to God.
One is that the
43 "Therefore I tell you that the
Who are the other people
who would produce that fruit that the Jews failed to produce then in their
responsibilities towards God’s kingdom?
Christians would of course immediately say that it was Christianity and
that is one possibility but not necessarily the only possibility.
It we look at the Mosaic record
in Exodus we find some interesting statements made by God that could well have
a bearing however.
3 Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD
called to him from the mountain and said, "This
is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of
4 `You yourselves have seen what I did to
5 Now if
you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my
treasured possession.
Although the whole earth is mine,
6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a
holy nation.'
These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."
7 So Moses went back and summoned the elders of
the people and set before them all the words the LORD had commanded him to
speak. NIV Exodus 19:3-7
Other people’s research shows
the tribes of
Our research however has
brought out the fact that the Jews were often referred to by God as “the house
of Jacob” as distinct from the rest of Jacob’s children once that split was
made. The book of Jeremiah shows this to
be a fact very plainly.
The way these passages are
worded in Exodus suggests that the Jews or house of Jacob may have been given
the responsibility of making the whole house of
Clearly at the time these
things were revealed to Moses the Israelites were just one single nation but
the question that must be asked is why does God single out the house of Jacob
in verse 3 here as distinct from the rest of
The other question that must be
asked is were the Jews [House of Jacob] intended to be the kingdom of
priests over the other Israelite tribes who were to be the Holy nation
as a result of that Jewish priesthood? [verses 5&6]
It would explain quite a lot if
this was the case and it would very definitely explain this statement of Jesus’
to the priesthood of Jesus’ day.
"Therefore
I tell you that the
It would also explain why the
other ten tribes and chiefly the birthright peoples of Ephraim and Manasseh [
It seems reasonable the “other
people” then that were to produce the fruit may very well be the English speaking peoples
as a whole and not necessarily mainstream Christianity which the English
speaking peoples have embraced fully as secular history shows.
Prophetic history via the
parables and particularly the ”ten virgins” parable shows that God is not
altogether happy with mainstream Christianity either or for that matter the
branch of Sabbath keeping Christianity who like their brethren in mainstream
Christianity haven’t restored all the [prophetic] truth as many like to claim.
How then will full prophetic truth be restored
and can that even be accomplished given the current state of religious
confusion amongst all Christianity?
And, we are talking about the level headed
variety of Christians as having prophetic understanding screwed up almost
completely --- not just the fringe groups and the loopy fruit-cake variety of
charlatans masquerading as Christianity and playing on people’s fears and
ripping people off for monetary gain or rewards.
It would seem from the
questions we have just put forward to our readers that God has not changed from
His original plans of creating a treasured people with a holy priesthood ---
just altered the rules a little where the Jews are concerned by creating a
whole New Covenant with a different set of priests or ministers until such time
as the Jews are restored to the kingdom of God in our future.
Who is going to convert the Jews and to what?
Do they even need converting to Christianity or “a change of heart” only? OR will it take another “great tribulation”
and invasion by a 200 million man world army dead set and intent on destroying
the Jews for all time such as might appear to them to be going to occur in a
potential future “holocaust” for or to them --- to return like all the prophets
and Moses said they will and must return --- to their true God and the one who
created them and called their nation a “peculiar treasure” set aside for His
purposes?
It makes perfect and completely
logical sense therefore for God to send a prophet or in the case of our future
two anointed prophets to restore prophetic truth and to prepare His peoples for
that coming kingdom in which the Jews will be restored as a part of the whole
“treasured people” and to take up a role once again in teaching people of God’s
ways.
Many prophetic scriptures point
to such a restoration of the Jews to a new and very important role in the
millennium in which Ezekiel’s temple sanctuary will definitely play a part in
disseminating the word of God and the Laws of God among those nations [that
survive] --- that prophecy after prophecy reveals God/Jesus will “rule” with a
“rod” of iron from the moment of His return right throughout the millennial
1000 year rule.
Here is an absolutely fascinating
prophecy by the psalmist believed to be King David [by most biblical scholars]
that shows Jesus’ future intervention in an interesting light:
1 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples
plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth take their stand and
the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One.
3 "Let us break their chains," they
say, "and throw off their fetters."
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord
scoffs at them.
5 Then he rebukes them in his anger and
terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
6 "I have installed my King on
7 I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He
said to me, "You are my Son ; today I have become your Father.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You will rule them with an iron scepter ; you
will dash them to pieces like pottery."
10 Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you
rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with
trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be
destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all
who take refuge in him. NIV Psalms
2:1-12
While this NIV
rendition is quite good it doesn’t quite do justice to the more poetic but
unfortunately archaic KJV that in places expresses things much better in these
verses in particular showing that it is chiefly the Gentile nations that will
set themselves against God in our future day of the Lord ahead in our time:
Why
do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
The
kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord, and against his anointed …..
KJV Psalms 2:1-2
He
that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
KJV
Psalms 2:4
Yet
have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said
unto me, Thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee
Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen
for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou
shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. KJV Psalms 2:6-9
Why we consider this psalm
fascinating should be obvious for two reasons --- because all of God’s
Israelite nations are already His and He clearly intends to make the rest of
the world His as well and God clearly saw that well over 2500 years into the
future of David’s days even --- the rest of our modern world would be mostly
anti – Christ in nature and will adamantly refuse His future rule over them.
Verse 7 is a real gem in
addition to those above in showing that God does indeed have the course of
history fully planned out well in advance even detailing almost the exact words
He would say at Jesus’ baptism with only a few slight additions of words which
don’t in any way detract from this truly astonishing prophetic scripture from
nearly 1000 years BC:
And
lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased.
KJV
Matthew 3:17
17 For he received from God the Father honour
and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
18 And this voice which came from heaven we
heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy;
whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark
place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the
scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by
the will of man: but holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. KJV 2 Peter 1:17-21
The apostle
Peter interestingly enough in this back-up quote also confirms a couple of
other points we’ve made in the body of this article already:
1. The mount
of Olives is a holy site and one well and truly worthy of Ezekiel’s/God’s
“third” temple.
2. All
prophetic scripture is truly inspired by the holy spirit and more than worthy
of study for discerning the truth.
This exceptionally dramatic
prophetic scripture below contrasts the “Gentile” and war mongering nations
that will be gathered against Jerusalem and the holy land in our future Day of
the Lord with God’s protection of those who among the modern day Jews begin to
understand prophetic truth “fully” and are given refuge during what will be a
quite traumatic time for their modern Israeli nation and those nations that
threaten to destroy them as their enemies and by default those assaulting
nations making themselves the enemies of God also and will be dealt with
accordingly as a result.
9 Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for
war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.
10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your
pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, `I am strong!`
11 Come quickly, all you nations from every
side, and assemble there. Bring down your warriors, O LORD!
12 `Let the nations be roused; let them advance
into the
13 Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow-- so
great is their wickedness!`
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of
decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and moon will be darkened, and the
stars no longer shine.
16 The
LORD will roar from
17 `Then
you will know that I, the LORD your God, dwell in
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
NIV
Joel 3:9-21
Where else do words almost identical to these in
verse 13 of Joel below appear in prophetic scripture? Try the book of
Revelation for an answer.
Joel 3:12-13
12 `Let the nations be roused; let them advance
into the
13 Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow-- so
great is their wickedness!`
Revelation 14:15-20
The timing?
Shortly after the second coming and at the same time as the destruction of Rome
--- notice verses 7& 8 because Revelation 18 mentions an hour also in
relation to the time of Rome’s fiery fate and references “Babylon the great” in
verse 18:2&10 in exactly the same wording almost:
[Full context
to set the scene]
Then
I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on
6 Then I saw another angel flying in midair,
and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth--to
every nation, tribe, language and people.
7 He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and
give him glory, because the hour of his
judgment has come.
Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of
water."
8 A second angel followed and said,
"Fallen! Fallen is
15 Then another angel came out of the temple and
called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, "Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come,
for the harvest of the earth is ripe."
16 So he who was seated on the cloud swung his
sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
17 Another angel came out of the temple in
heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.
18 Still another angel, who had charge of the
fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp
sickle, "Take your
sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth's vine, because
its grapes are ripe."
19 The angel swung his sickle on the earth,
gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God's
wrath.
20 They were trampled in the winepress outside
the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses'
bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.
NIV
Revelation 14:1, 6-8, 15-20.
Revelation 14 is setting the
scene for all those following chapters up until chapter 19’s ending which shows
the end of Zechariah 14’s battle and the second battle of Zechariah 14 is
depicted after this 14th chapter in Revelation in chapter
16:14&16 in what appears to be actually a re-gathering or regrouping and
calling for of additional re-enforcements from other the nations of the world
--- once Jesus descends to the Mount of Olives.
What will the modern Israelis
do that will enrage all their Arab neighbors at first and then later the whole
world against them? How could all their
Arab neighbors or the world come against them when they are allied to
Could the modern Jewish nation
calling themselves Israeli’s even survive if
Are some Christian scholars
correct in asserting that
Well, if there were angels
keeping score on a hypothetical heavenly score card the score would currently
stand at:
1 point for the Jewish scholars
who support Ezekiel’s prophetic vision of a temple being built and 0 for the
Christian scholars who have an unrealistic view of prophecy regarding the holy
land and asserting that it is not relevant any longer in our day and age
because as anyone can see Jerusalem and the holy land will feature quite
prominently in all the world’s headlines and media coverage in our future.
A lot of
questions to be answered here --- especially in relation to prophecy --- by
those who are supposedly teaching the word of God.
Speculation
on the mission of the two witnesses and last prophets of God
And
the full answer to “the great tribulation” question:
If the great tribulation
occurred as we assert in 67-70AD and lasted 3½ years what then is the 3½ year
period depicted in Revelation 11:3 that most of Christianity might associate
and evidently do indeed do --- with a future great tribulation and possibly as
a result has given rise to the notion of the “end of our age” ending
after that 3½ year period?
That might well be the case if
that 3½ year period was the great tribulation of the gospels but the
book of Daniel’s seventy weeks prophecy shows that it is not “the great
tribulation” that was prophesied to occur in 67-70 AD in the synoptic Gospels,
Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, or even Jeremiah 30:7 or even Daniel 12:1 at all
--- but possibly something else entirely.
What then does that future 3½
year period signify or could be signifying during which God’s last two prophets
do indeed prophesy apparently? [Revelation 11:3]
But even more importantly why
do these last two prophets that Jesus calls “witnesses” prophesy, what do they
prophesy about --- and why for a specific and exact 3½ year period of time?
Daniel’s
seventy weeks prophecy examined more closely for some of the answers:
Strange as it may seem Daniel’s
seventy weeks prophecy holds a very important clue that simply can’t be ignored
for what it may be implying but unfortunately the more modern English NIV
translation rather obscures things more than clarifying with its inexplicable
use of seventy sevens, “seven sevens”, “sixty two sevens”, “one seven” and “in
the middle of a seven” in places and in
the last verse of Daniel 9:27 gets things completely bollixed up altogether by
making it appear that this whole last verse is talking about Jesus when in fact
it is not --- by translating the
last part thus:
And
on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation,
until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. " NIV Daniel 9:27 [last part]
This whole prophecy must be
taken into consideration as a whole piece for what it reveals and although very
short and concise it reveals a number of very important things concerning Jesus
as the coming Messiah and King of the Jews and also the great tribulation of
that time all rolled into a very few verses and surprisingly enough even a hint
of something for our future.
Christians and in fact anybody
studying these scriptures need to understand exactly what the angel
Gabriel was conveying to Daniel in the last two verses especially --- otherwise an important point might be missed
and passed over as it has evidently been in
the case of casual readings of these passages of prophecy.
A “critical clue” as it turns
out is available in verses 26&27and which we will now endeavor to show more
clearly for our readers and although different aspects were covered in our
article “The hand of God in Prophecy” can’t be emphasized enough but this time
for the reason that we set out now below as an integral part under this
specific heading of our article dealing with “the day of the Lord” and
hopefully our readers will see exactly where it fits almost “hand in glove”
into chapter 11 of Revelation’s 3½ year period.
The whole
prophecy presented in the KJV:
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people
and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of
sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most
Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the
going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the
Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the
street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall
Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that
shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall
be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for
one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the
oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it
desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon
the desolate. KJV Daniel 9:24-27
The point we are making here only requires an
outline of verses24-26 but for a fuller explanation of the last verse in
conjunction with the others our readers can refer to the relevant part of the
article “Hand of God in prophecy” as well for a discussion of verses 24-26
which we don’t need for our purpose here in this case because we are narrowing
the focus down to verse 27 again like we narrowed things down to Zechariah and
Revelation in this second part of our 2 part article for a specific purpose and
that is simply to show what Christianity has never understood properly before
now and is almost completely blind to in its modern eschatology --- to this
day.
Daniel 9,
Verse 24:
Represents an end to the
Babylonian captivity and the punishment visited on the Jews of that time of the
first Diaspora and also announcing the bringing in of everlasting [i.e. age
lasting --- eternal] righteousness and the “preparation period” for that
preceding lead-up to the anointing of the Saviour for that purpose was very
evidently the time of Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and the other two prophets who all
had a hand in restoring the Jewish society that would be present in Jesus’ day
--- all under the guidance and protection of the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob as God told Moses [in addition to I AM]
that He prefers to be called by name. [Deuteronomy 3:14-16]
Verse 25:
The “time-frame” period
explained in our “Hand of God in prophecy” article announcing the restoration
and rebuilding of
Verse 26:
The Messiah to be crucified
[“cut off” from life] for all peoples, followed by the announcement of the
coming of the Romans during that period to destroy Jerusalem and the temple
which we know to have been 3 ½ years [the great tribulation and time of
trouble” unequaled” to that time and never to be repeated Jeremiah 30:7 &
Daniel 12:1] with a flood of troops to put that into effect and the
announcement of an ongoing war to follow. [Josephus’ wars of the Jews] which
Daniel simply shows was to be basically a “war of multiple desolations” i.e. and unto the end of the war desolations
are determined.
There’s no real timeframe given
as to how long it would take for the Jews to once again cease to be a nation
from the time of the 67-70 AD tribulation and no doubt some Jews remained as
captors of the Romans but the society that was renewed and built 500 years
earlier under Ezra et al was basically “finished” or effectively destroyed at
that time of the great tribulation.
Verse 27:
The Messiah was to confirm the
[NEW] covenant with many for one week and to cause the sacrificial system to
cease in the middle of that week:
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the
midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,
There is an important time
factor involved here that needs to be explained in detail so what we need to
ask and put to our readers is simply this:
Was the second part of this verse the
fulfillment of the confirmation of the New covenant or something else?
and
for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the
consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Or
to put this question another way:
Were
the Jews included [confirmed] in the “new covenant” at this time?
If
we take into account Joel’s last verse of his third chapter which shows the
Jews bloodguilt won’t be forgiven until all those events we’ve covered in Joel
3 and other prophecies unfold then we would have to say obviously not and this
apparently will only occur at Jesus’ second coming:
Their
bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned, I will pardon.` The LORD dwells in
Gathering
all the evidence and assembling it together with “prophetic” facts:
We
repeat Jesus’ declaration to the religious leaders of his day which has the
most important bearing on this point we are making:
33 "You
snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise
men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog
in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
35 And so upon you will come
all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to
the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple
and the altar.
36 I
tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.
37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill
the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather
your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you
were not willing.
38 Look,
your house is left to you desolate.
39 For I tell you, you will not see me again
until you say, `Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' " NIV Matthew 23:33-39
Doesn’t
seem much like confirmation of the “new covenant” with the Jews does it?
Seems
more like condemnation instead does it not for their continual rejection and
murder of God’s prophets in the past and also those He would send until the
time of the great tribulation or the end of the age as Daniel puts it --- “The
consummation” that was to be “poured out on the desolate” religious leaders of
that day and their followers.
Jesus
shows in a number of Old Testament prophecies and New Testament prophetic
parables that he knew they would murder Him also. [This of course was the other
reason for the ending of the age and the great tribulation of that time.]
Isaiah being about the best example of Jesus’ foretold crucifixion in the Old
Testament, Isaiah 53:1-12 and in the New Testament, Matthew 21:33-41,Mark
12:1-10, Luke 20:9-16.
Jesus
laid it out bluntly and clearly enough in no uncertain terms that are
completely and unmistakably irrefutable
--- that the kingdom of God was to be taken from the Jews of that day and at
the end of that age and given to others that would bring forth fruit in the New
Testament age that would follow:
40 "Therefore, when the owner of the
vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"
41 "He
will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give
him his share of the crop at harvest time."
42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read
in the Scriptures: "`The stone the builders rejected has become the
capstone ; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes' ?
43 "Therefore
I tell you that the
44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to
pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees
heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them.
46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they
were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet. NIV Matthew 21:40-46
All
three prophetic parables referenced from the synoptic gospels above in Matthew,
Mark and Luke end exactly the same way as verse 43 in Matthew with only slight
variations:
He
will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. NIV Mark 12:9
16 He will come and kill those tenants and give
the vineyard to others." When the
people heard this, they said, "May this never be!"
17 Jesus looked directly at them and asked,
"Then what is the meaning of that which is written: "`The stone the
builders rejected has become the capstone ' ?
18 Everyone
who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but
he on whom it falls will be crushed." NIV Luke 20:16-18
Other OT prophets besides
Isaiah, Zechariah etc show Jesus to be unmistakably that “capstone” that just
as unmistakably fell on the entire nation of the Jews of 67-70 AD and
completely crushed not only the corrupt religious system the religious leaders
of Jesus day had created for themselves but the entire Jewish nation and
society that He had built up under Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah
from the remnant of the returnees to the holy land after the first Diaspora of
the Babylonian captivity --- simply because of that corruption and evil times
of Jesus’ day.
So there was definitely and conclusively
no confirmation of the covenant for the Jews at that time in spite of Daniel’s
seventy weeks prophecy showing that the new covenant would be confirmed for
“one week” or 7 days.
Old Testament prophecies state categorically
that all
I
ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a
descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. NIV Romans 11:1
7 What then? What
8 as it is written: "God gave them a
spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could
not hear, to this very day."
9 And David says: "May their table become
a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot
see, and their backs be bent forever."
11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall
beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation
has come to the Gentiles to make
12 But if their transgression means riches for
the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater
riches will their fullness bring!
But they were broken
off because of unbelief, Romans 11:20 [first part]
22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness
of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you
continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
23 And
if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in
again.
24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive
tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a
cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches,
be grafted into their own olive tree!
25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this
mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited:
26 And
so all
27 And
this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins."
28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are
enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on
account of the patriarchs,
29 for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.
30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient
to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience,
31 so they too have now become disobedient in
order that they too may now receive
mercy as a result of God's mercy to you.
32 For God has bound all men over to
disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom
and knowledge of God! How unsearchable
his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! NIV Romans 11:7-12,
20&22-33
If therefore the new covenant
wasn’t confirmed for the Jews and all the evidence points to it not having been
fully confirmed because Jesus was cut off after 3½ days ‘in the middle of a
week” according to Daniel’s seventy weeks prophecy there remains another 3½
days therefore at some point that the New Covenant will be confirmed by Jesus
to the Jews but only as the Apostle Paul says If they don’t persist in unbelief.
[Romans 11:23]
Does such a 3½ day
“confirmation period” turn up somewhere in prophecy which it must before
Jesus’ return to fulfill the covenant being confirmed to the Jews a “full” 7
days?
It certainly does!
For
three and a half days
men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and
refuse them burial. NIV Revelation 11:9
But
after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them,
and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. NIV
Revelation 11:11
This will be a very public
resurrection before the entire world’s media and it will confirm whatever
messages these two prophets have been delivering to the world and/or to the
Jews on behalf of the LORD of all the earth for a full 3 ½ years
[Rev.11:3] --- exactly the same length
of Jesus’ first ministry:
12 Again I asked him, "What are these two
olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?"
13 He replied, "Do you not know what these
are?" "No, my lord," I
said.
14 So he said, "These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the
earth." NIV Zechariah 4:12-14
These
are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that
stand before the Lord of the earth. NIV Revelation 11:4
Zechariah and Revelation
together show the eventual confirmation of the New covenant to the modern Jews
at almost the very last minute that man’s rule on earth will cease and the
government of God and It’s returning King will take over from that time for all
eternity and as we’ve discovered in our research and continue to emphasize this
MODERN AGE of the “new covenant” will never come to an END.
Apparently God’s two witnesses’
mission therefore constitutes a continuation of Jesus’ ministry in our day and
age through those two last prophets in exactly the same way each and every
prophet has served God in the past.
In the seventy weeks prophecy
of Daniel --- in reality Gabriel’s revelations to him --- the archangel states “eternal
righteousness” was to be ushered in by the Messiah at that time.
It makes no logical sense
whatsoever for God to End the New Testament or New
Covenant age in our future at His return --- so we’ll state it as many times as
necessary until it sinks into public consciousness --- the New Covenant “age”
is permanent.
What then does
that 3 ½ year period during which the last two prophets prophesy represent if
not a 3 ½ year great tribulation? Followed by many believe and have been taught
to think will be the end of our age without any proof whatsoever?
Jesus’
ministry lasted for 3 ½ years in which He taught his disciples and gave witness
about the coming kingdom of God to the Jews of that day and age and in
Revelation refers to Himself through John as “the Faithful witness” [Revelation
1:5 , first part] …. And He will have
two prophets He calls “My two witnesses” [Revelation 11:3, first part]
Two
witnesses that according to Zechariah are described as:
these
two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?" [NIV
Zechariah 4:11 Last part] and
These are the two who are
anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth." NIV Zechariah 4:14 and similarly in Revelation in
what amounts to a clear combination of these two verses as:
These
are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of
the earth. NIV Revelation 11:4
The
additional info being that they also serve as “lamp-stands” [or luminaries]
themselves on behalf of the Lord of all the earth.
In the
book of Revelation there are an awful lot of things that run in 7’s right
throughout its pages from end to end, e.g. seven golden candlesticks, a
possible menorah representing Jesus’ seven churches, seven spirits of the
churches, seven trumpets, seven last plagues etc and according to many 7 is a
sign of God’s “completion” of things and it follows therefore that these two
witnesses’ 3 ½ year prophesying may not be signifying a great tribulation at
all but very possibly the completion of Jesus’ ministry as a part of the
confirmation of the new covenant to the Jews who according to the Old Testament
are the only ones whose bloodguilt hasn’t been forgiven up until the very last
minute and possibly 3 ½ days to be exact before Jesus’ return and it may even
be during that last 3 ½ days that the “seven thunders” that Jesus told the
apostle John not to write about, add their contribution to the confirmation of
the New Covenant to the Jews because the announcement of the seven thunders
occurs in chapter 10 which is followed by all the events of chapter 11.
Nearly
everything points to these conclusions, even Luke’s gospel account showing:
As we’ve
pointed out before arbitrary division of the bible into chapter and verse has
resulted in prophecies not beginning and ending where they should and so verses
1&2 of chapter 11 are actually the end of chapter ten confirming Luke’s
statement here in Luke 21:24 that Jerusalem would be trampled on for 3 ½ years
in 67-70 AD until the times of the Gentiles was fulfilled:
1 I was given a reed like a measuring rod and
was told, "Go and measure the
2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure
it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy
city for 42 months. NIV Revelation 11:1-2
There
are only two possible timeframes in which the seven thunders could have spoken
i.e. in the apostle/prophet John’s time that he is spoken of in Chapter 10 as
swallowing the small scroll in vision that the angel was holding [Revelation
10:2 & 9-10] as part of his prophesying again before nations and kings
[Revelation 10: 11] or in our future and the most logical time for that would
be during the 3 ½ days following the death of Jesus’ two witnesses or final
modern day prophets because there’s no mention of them uttering whatever they
do before this time and there’s no mention of them doing so in any of the
following chapters after chapter 11.
Revelation
Chapter 11:2’s 3 ½ year period as Luke shows was clearly fulfilled in 67-70 AD
from which time the fullness of the gentiles was to be complete apparently and
from then on the Kingdom of God was to grow and the new covenant was in
operation of which the Jews as a whole were clearly not a part but only the
chosen elect of those times as we repeat again --- the apostle Paul fully
affirms:
7 What then? What
The
modern Jews won’t be a part of the New Covenant as a whole until our future
when according to Joel their “bloodguilt” as a nation will be forgiven them
completely and seemingly after they acknowledge Jesus as their Saviour which
happens after their fiery trial of Zechariah’s 12th 13th and
14th chapter prophecies are fulfilled --- all apparently during the time the two witnesses
3 ½ years of prophesying.
This is where some of those time
factors mentioned earlier come into play:
First battle
of Zechariah 12 and Revelation 9:
The
first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come. NIV Revelation 9:12
The
two witnesses are apparently alive and prophesying during this time of the
first invasion.
Final
The
second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon. NIV Revelation 11:14
The
two witnesses/prophets die at the end of the second woe [Revelation 11:11-13]
but before the third woe begins and the full coverage of that battle and what
the third woe entails is given through Revelation chapters16-19 including the
destruction of the world’s armies that come against the Jews and gather to
fight Christ in this monumental battle and Rome and the cities of the nations
that are apparently involved are subsequently destroyed in that massive off the
Richter scale earthquake.
The anomalies of
Revelation’s out of sequence chapters explained:
The
only possible resolution to the seemingly chronologically out of sequence
narration in Revelation that we can see or deduce is that all of the first 11
chapters of Revelation are an outline or outlines only of the
events [seals] that occur from 67-70 AD up until the first battle of Zechariah
12 And Revelation 9 which actually takes
place during the time near the beginning of the last two witnesses 3 ½ year
prophesying period in chapter 11 and as such therefore don’t need to be in
sequence necessarily because they are picturing events that lead up to the
actual day of the Lord which begins in Chapter14 after Jesus and the 144,000
are actually standing on the raised or newly elevated mount of Olives . The two witnesses obviously live through the
heavenly signs and sequence of events of Chapter 8 and the battle of Chapter 9
up until the beginning of the final battle 3 ½
days after their deaths.
Chapters 12 and 13 are apparently outlines of
the combatants on both sides [i.e. the saints verses the Beast and its forces]
and how they came to be involved and drawn up for the final phases of God’s
overall plans which culminate in Jesus’ return as King of Kings and Lord of
lords or as we know it --- “The Day of the Lord” which is fully portrayed in
chronological sequence from Chapter 14 onwards.
The
first chapters are also in sequence until the 6th chapter’s second
half where the 5th and 6th seals come into play.
The
only other conclusion that we can draw is that the events of the 5th,6th
and 7th seals fall into place rapidly together after the 5 month battle of
Revelation 9 and Zechariah’s first battle and may in fact all fall within the 3
½ years of the two witnesses prophesying period with the last two woes and
trumpets possibly being only a matter of hours or even less apart in time
order.
With
regard to the Gospel’s “great tribulation” being local and for the Jews of
67-70 AD and Jesus’ pronouncements that this great tribulation marked the
beginning of sorrows only --- the implications following on from that
pronouncement allows for the possibility of an even greater Great tribulation
in our day ahead which would actually surpass that of the Jews great
tribulation of 67-70 AD because the final tribulation will effectively involve
the entire modern world --- one way or another and not just the Jews as Luke’s
gospel clearly shows occurred in the distant past of those times.
It
would be impossible not to concede [nor that we would want to] that the
invasion of modern Israel by the majority of the world’s armies [200 million in
number] and the destruction of Rome in a massive earthquake that splits the
cradle of most of the western world’s civil and religious foundations into
three parts and turns Rome into a virtual lake of fire would or could be
regarded as anything less than a “great” tribulation for the entire world in
fact..
And,
our readers can see that this is where we part company with the majority of
Christians who believe otherwise even though the majority of Christians are
actually correct about a future great tribulation --- it’s just that it doesn’t
seem to be the one that the synoptic gospels cover at all or that of Jeremiah
30:7& Daniel 12:1 etc are revealing in prophecy.
So yes
there will be a very great tribulation in our future that those saints depicted
in Revelation together with those of the 67-70 AD great tribulation will have
come out of and overcome the beast in on both occasions --- but we would stress
that this is not duality at all because both great tribulations are on entirely
different scales and at entirely different times and the one in our future does
not mark the end of our New Testament age --- how could it? --- When all
prophecy clearly indicates the New Covenant age to be permanent.
What
then does the 1000 year “millennium” represent if not a new age?
Prophecy does reveal there will be “a great
tribulation” preceding the millennium as many predict, unfortunately for those
who teach it religiously, --- if our readers will excuse the pun --- simply not
that of the particular great tribulation many in religious circles are
expecting because of what is written in the synoptic gospels followed by the
ending of the New Testament age which would pre-suppose the ending of the New
Covenant at the return of the New Covenant age’s King. Rather, a different great tribulation
altogether than what is expected will evidently occur because the
misapplication or interpretation of the gospels and other Old Testament
prophets has clearly happened in nearly all of Christianity’s dubious and
prophetically unsound eschatology.
Some
mystics claim that the “dawning of the age of Aquarius” is about to come to our
modern age where “new spiritual light” will be ushered into our world in a
“new” age.
Some in religious circles are also positing
the year 2012 AD as a date for the “ending” of our modern age and the beginning
of a “new” age according to the ancient Mayan calendar supposedly more accurate
than our corrupted and largely Roman derived Gregorian calendar.
What
then does all prophecy --- New and Old Testament have to say in respect to the
myriad of ideas and notions that abound today regarding the great tribulation
of the future and supposed “new” age to come upon our world? Obviously the ending of one age pre-supposes
the beginning of a new age.
What will be the
content of the messages the last two prophets of God deliver to mankind and/or the modern Jews ---
will they teach or prophesy of a “new” age to come and the “ending” of the New
Covenant age?
To
answer all these questions and the ones raised earlier with full proof we need
simply to look at what Jesus said about our distant “past” and what was most
certainly a “local” great tribulation that was exclusively visited on the Jews
in 67-70 AD as follows in a synopsis of all the gospel accounts that have a
bearing on “the day of the Lord” exactly as we have evaluated them in arriving
at our assertion that the great tribulation of these gospels was a thing of the
past that occurred between 1,936 to 1,939 years ago in 67-70 AD:
All these are the
beginning of sorrows.
KJV Matthew 24:8
For
nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall
be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
KJV Mark 13:8
Out of
all three of the synoptic gospels that cover the answers to the disciples
question regarding the “end” of their Old Testament age and the destruction of
the temple and Jerusalem --- Luke, who is regarded by scholars as having written a fair amount
of the book of Acts of the apostles, puts everything into perfect perspective
showing that “the great tribulation” of the Jews was entirely local and
not for our modern future at all.
What
our readers need to understand and grasp fully --- and we realize this is
difficult for many who have been indoctrinated by their religious leaders to
believe certain “traditional” teachings --- is that Jesus was addressing His
disciples personally about events that were to befall all those who lived in
Jerusalem at that time and of events that would follow immediately after the
great tribulation regarding the first question the disciples were primarily
concerned about which was when would all those magnificent buildings be
destroyed:
5 Some of his disciples were remarking about
how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to
God. But Jesus said,
6 "As for what you see here, the time will
come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be
thrown down."
7 "Teacher," they asked, "when
will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take
place?"
8 He replied: "Watch out that you are not
deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, `I am he,' and, `The time is
near.' Do not follow them. NIV Luke
21:5-8
What
we also need to understand is that Luke was not only a physician but was a well
rounded, educated and studious man who was endeavoring to put events of those
times into true perspective and our readers can’t help but note that Luke seems
in his account to be only concerned with factually reporting what exactly what
would transpire in the immediate vicinity at the time of the beginning of the
great tribulation and he makes no mention of the second question that the
disciples asked about the signs that would accompany Jesus’ second coming. It is only by combining all the accounts of
the synoptic gospels that we know the second question was asked about the signs
that would accompany Jesus’ return and by exactly which disciples.
Mark’s
is the only account that tells us which disciples were the original ones that
Jesus delivered this entire dialogue to and he like Luke also wasn’t one of
those four that was actually present and neither does Mark mention the second
question of Jesus’ disciples about the signs to accompany Jesus’ second coming
and Mark also like Luke seems to be mostly concerned about the destruction of
the temple and Jerusalem:
1 As he was leaving the temple, one of his
disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What
magnificent buildings!"
2 "Do you see all these great
buildings?" replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on
another; every one will be thrown down."
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives
opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately,
4 "Tell us, when will these things happen?
And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?"
5 Jesus said to them: "Watch out that no
one deceives you. NIV Mark 13:1-5
It stands to reason therefore
that Luke would have been fully aware of what the other gospel writers had
written in their accounts and Luke even states as much in the opening of his
account:
1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of
the things that have been fulfilled
among us,
2 just as they were handed down to us by those
who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.
3 Therefore,
since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it
seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
4 so
that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
NIV
Luke 1:1-4
Luke is clearly trying to give
the true order of events as he understood them and Luke was a lot closer in
time to those events than we are in our modern times and there’s no reason to
think that Luke didn’t know what he was talking about and therefore his account
is just as reliable as the other two of Matthew’s and Mark’s we believe.
9 When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not
be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right
away."
10 Then he said to them: "Nation will rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
11 There will be great earthquakes, famines and
pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
12 "But
before all this,
they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to
synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and
all on account of my name. NIV Luke
21:9-12
Many believe and have been
taught that all these events and warnings are for our day and age and are
speaking of a future persecution to come in modern times.
What many simply don’t
understand nor can they “see” because of the indoctrination their religious leaders
have given them is that Jesus was laying out here exactly in verses 10-11 what
he later revealed to the apostle John in visions of the Book of Revelation was exactly what would
happen when the famed “four horsemen of the apocalypse” would begin their ride
after 67-70 AD and Jesus seems to be saying here that all these things would
happen to the disciples and their followers of that day and age before
the ride of the four horsemen --- not our modern New Testament age but that the
four horsemen’s ride would indeed begin after what we know as the original
disciples’ era was over.
Verses 10 and 11 are clearly
enumerating more distant events to occur after the 67-70 AD destruction
of the Temple and Jerusalem and verse 9 is clearly enumerating the wars and
revolutions of what Daniel relates in the his “seventy weeks prophecy as
follows:
And
after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself:
and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the
sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
And
he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the
week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it
desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon
the desolate. KJV Daniel 9:26&27
Luke
then clearly goes on to enumerate everything that would befall Jesus’ disciples
and followers of those days --- not ours --- right up until the time the
Roman armies would surround Jerusalem in the 3 ½ years of the “great
tribulation” of those times as follows:
13 And it shall turn to you for a testimony.
14 Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to
meditate before what ye shall answer:
15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which
all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
16 And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and
brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be
put to death.
17 And ye shall be hated of all men for my
name's sake.
18 But there shall not an hair of your head
perish.
19 In your patience possess ye your souls.
20 And when ye shall see
21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the
mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not
them that are in the countries enter thereinto.
KJV
Luke 21:13-21
What the book of Zechariah reveals about the
future invasion of Jerusalem of our future “day of the Lord” is that
Jerusalem will remain intact and only half of the Jews would be taken
into a modern day captivity” as follows:
2 For I will gather all nations against
Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and
the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight
against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. KJV Zechariah 14:2-3
Clearly Jesus did not fight the
Roman armies or deliver the Jews in Luke’s “day of the Lord” and just as
clearly the
4. And
his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the
east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east
and toward the west, KJV Zechariah 14:4
[first part]
Therefore, the remainder of
Luke’s Gospel is dealing, as is Mark’s primarily with events that would
occur in those days until the end of their age and as we’ve shown in the
first part of this article all those heavenly signs of that age may very well
have occurred way back then including Jesus being seen coming on the clouds
with great power and Glory to end that apostolic age because those signs
[as shown in part one of our article] accompanied every one of God’s
interventions in other “days of the Lord” that came before 67-70 AD.
The
historian Josephus apparently actually reported strange sights in the heavens
including strange armies seen in the clouds but some scholars don’t regard
Josephus’ witness and his historical accounts as reliable due to the fact he
changed sides when captured by the Romans.
What needs
to be considered and taken into account and examined very closely is that the
apostle John never wrote an account in his gospel that included what the other
three did in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 regarding the signs of the end of
the age nor the signs that would accompany Jesus’ second coming, but what Mark
shows in naming the 4 disciples that were actually given what scholars call
“the Olivet discourse” even Matthew who was one of the original 12 disciples
wasn’t among those that were taken aside and given the Olivet discourse
privately.
Logically
it should have been the apostle John who was one of the 4 together with Peter,
James and Andrew who should have “theoretically” related what was given to them
privately about the signs of the end of the age and the signs of the second
coming because they heard every word “firsthand” and yet none of them
apparently wrote their own firsthand accounts nor did they question the
accounts that were written, it seems.
Yet
somehow Mathew, Mark and Luke were able to give a full account of something
they never heard firsthand themselves and it would seem their accounts met with
approval by those who witnessed these sayings/ prophecies of Jesus first hand
and were accepted by them as accurate seemingly.
So the
questions that naturally arise is why was it left to Mathew, Mark and Luke to
write “secondhand” about what Peter, James, John and Andrew were given
firsthand and why those disciples that did write second-handedly were seeming
not covering things or events that apostle John was given approximately 40
years later and expounds thoroughly in the book of Revelation?
Another
major question that arises is why the apostle John’s Gospel account, the only
one of the four “eyewitnesses” that actually received the Olivet “private”
discourse firsthand --- seemingly wrote
a full and rich gospel account otherwise --- but one that dealt more along the
lines of the all spiritual aspects and ramifications of the life and times of
Jesus and uttered not a word about the signs that would accompany the
end of the age and the second coming in his Gospel account?
Not one modern religious leader in all of
today’s modern professing Christianity [as far as we know] seems to regard any
of this odd and yet are able to jump to the conclusion that everything written
in the Olivet discourse was written for our future --- without any prophetic or
scriptural proof whatsoever and furthermore teach people that their
“eschatology” is the prophetic truth --- again without any “actual”
evidence.
There
is a possible answer as to why Peter, James and Andrew didn’t write their own
accounts --- they may simply not have been in the holy land when the other
accounts were written and may have been traveling to faraway places on tour in
what the gospels themselves reveals was their commission and may simply have
left the writing to those trusted individuals they relayed those events to and
Luke who seemingly accompanied many of the apostles and apparently wrote a
great deal of the book of acts would have been among the foremost of those
trusted individuals left to record things accurately and thoroughly because of
his travels and experiences with the disciples and later apostles.
The
main apostles were clearly given the commission to travel and spread the gospel
throughout the entire world and the bulk of their time and efforts would have
been taken up in those pursuits and the time and circumstances may not have
been available to write their own accounts and this seems reasonable to us in
light of these scriptures :
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.
8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the
dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
9 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass
in your purses,
10 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats,
neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.
11 And into whatsoever city or town ye shall
enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. KJV Matthew 10:5-11
So the
major commission of the original disciples was to teach that the
Matthew
however, one of the original apostles but still not one who was present at the “private”
discourse where the questions about the signs of the destruction of the temple,
Jerusalem and the end of the age were asked apparently did have the time to
write a full gospel account and his account is very comprehensive and his is
basically the only one that adds the additional information about a second
question being asked about the signs of the second coming that the others leave
out of their accounts.
Matthew’s
Gospel therefore is the one we need to take a much closer look at because his
account shows that a second question may have been and evidently was asked by
the disciples about the signs that would accompany Jesus’ second coming but he
could only have known that perhaps if one of the others that was present at the
Olivet discourse --- relayed that info to him at some stage or alternately the
holy spirit revealed it to him.
The
thing is this though --- as even John’s book of Revelation shows --- all of the
apostles were thoroughly convinced that Jesus was coming soon and in their day
and age and Jesus’ announced in that book of Revelation over and over that he
was indeed coming soon to their age to establish the Kingdom of God:
The
revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to
show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, NIV
Revelation 1:1
I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no
one will take your crown.
NIV
Revelation 3:11
Then
he told me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book,
because the time is
near. NIV Revelation 22:10
6 The angel said to me, "These words are
trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent
his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place."
7 "Behold,
I am coming soon!
Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book." NIV
Revelation 22:6-7
"Behold,
I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone
according to what he has done. NIV
Revelation 22:12
What
is clearly evident therefore according to both the early commission that
Matthew clearly elucidates is that Jesus taught from the very first that the
Kingdom of God was very near and about to be established in their day
and there is nothing in Revelation to indicate otherwise and in fact the
messages to the seven existing Asian churches of those days specifically
addressing issues that Jesus had with their performance in preaching the Gospel
also shows Jesus was coming at that time to end their age and this and
other prophetic passages from the Old Testament showing he would be seen coming
on the clouds at that time confirm the 67-70 AD great tribulation of that time
was when Jesus was fully establishing His righteous rule and starting the “new
age” i.e. the New Testament age “officially” at that time.
There can be no mistaking these clear
passages:
And
as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of
heaven is at hand.
KJV
Matthew 10:7
As
you go, preach this message: `The kingdom of
heaven is near.' NIV Matthew 10:7
The
very first introductory chapter of Revelation confirms an Old Testament
prophecy:
[With similar wording showing that
those who pierced Jesus’ side would see him at that time.]
10 "And I will pour out on the house of
David and the inhabitants of
Look,
he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who
pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.
NIV
Revelation 1:7
If the full context and setting
of the surrounding scriptures is taken into account there is actually no
logical reason whatsoever to “project” these scriptures into our future because
there is no way those Roman soldiers could see Jesus coming on the clouds in
our day unless they were resurrected ---
but they would have to be resurrected before the second coming in our
day in that case to be able to observe the second coming and as all scripture
shows there will simply be no resurrections occurring until the second coming
has occurred.
It’s
an open and shut case --- these scriptures just quoted were specifically for
the 67-70 AD great tribulation and not the greater tribulation ahead in our
times which incidentally will also be centered around the holy land and
Jerusalem --- that some Christians claim has little importance or significance
--- but will very definitely involve the entire modern world seeing that Rome
specifically will be dealt a final blow as well at that time ahead of us
according to Revelation.
Matthew’s
Gospel is the main one used most often in quotes to supposedly show that all of
Matthew and therefore Mark’s and Luke’s Gospels are covering a “future” great
tribulation in our day and modern era or times but as we’ve just shown fairly
comprehensively [ because it was necessary to establish the point] that there is
no reason to project even Matthew’s version of the great tribulation of 67-70AD
into our future because clearly all of the apostles and that included Paul [a
virtual thirteenth apostle] were clearly under the impression that the kingdom
of God was to be established very soon in their day.
Even
in Revelation the apostle John still seems to have that impression also as the
underlined portions show clearly enough that John was under the complete
impression that the kingdom of God was about to be in full operation at that
time:
4 John,
To the seven churches in the province of
5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the
earth. To him who loves us and has
freed us from our sins by his blood,
6 and
has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--to him be glory and power for ever
and ever! Amen.
7 Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every
eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth
will mourn because of him. So shall it
be! Amen.
8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega,"
says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the
Almighty."
9 I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the
10 On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit,
and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
NIV
Revelation 1:4-10
The
entire concept that John displays clearly in verse 6 would have been “total
anathema” to the Judaism practiced in those days until the great tribulation of
the Jews in 67-70 AD put an end for all time to the Old style priesthood and
the Old style sacrificial system at that time --- that even modern Judaism
today would love to re-establish in modern times.
In
fact the apostle John’s entire gospel account would have been totally
diametrically opposite to just about everything that Judaism taught then and
even now in our day --- let alone these prophetic words in Revelation.
For
those who practiced Judaism in those times and even today the concept that
ordinary men and women could “replace” the priesthood that existed from the
establishment of the kingdom of Israel as a nation under Moses’ guidance and
outlines would still be considered sacrilege even in our times by many orthodox
Jews with the possible exception of a very small minority who are apparently
accepting Yeshua in their worship.
Orthodox
Judaism and traditional Christianity simply just do not mix at the present time
--- nor can they ever --- and are clearly opposing camps but according to all
prophecy Jesus will return true worship of the true God to mankind when He
returns and those who practice whatever religions are taught today will simply
have to adjust to the truth when that becomes a reality or suffer whatever
penalties God imposes for disobedience to the truth and His religion as
Zechariah and some of the other prophets foretell because there simply will be
no “alternate” religions to God’s after Jesus returns to rule this earth.
The
first part of Matthew’s gospel account of the Olivet discourse is pretty much
the same as the others and so we need only direct our attention to latter half
where Matthew elaborates on the signs for the so called --- among modern
Christianity --- “second coming” or what
we know to be “the day of the Lord” to occur in our time as opposed to the one
that occurred back then at the close of the apostolic age which ended actually
as it turns out with John at the very time of trouble that apparently followed
very closely after the writing of the book of Revelation in 66-67 AD.
The
reason John couldn’t have written much later than about mid 66AD we’ve already
set out in our article “the Hand of God in prophecy” but basically to re-cap
here --- the first introductory chapter in Revelation shows the 7 Asian
Churches at peace and basically untroubled at that time and John is asked to
measure the temple in Jerusalem in vision in the 11th chapter:
1 I was given a reed like a measuring rod and
was told, "Go and measure the
2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure
it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy
city for 42 months. NIV Revelation
11:1-2
This quote then proves two
things i.e. the first two verses of the 11th chapter are not part of
the 11th chapter prophecy that begins at verse 3 at all but is
simply the “correct” ending to chapter 10 and giving the length and time of
that particular day of the Lord’s great tribulation --- also that the apostle John at the time of
writing Revelation had no knowledge of the destruction of the temple which of
course hadn’t been destroyed otherwise logic dictates that John would have
queried the angel revealing these visions to him about a nonexistent temple if
it had been destroyed before he wrote the book of Revelation.
It would all depend on how long
it took John to make several hand copied transcripts [even if he had
assistants] of the text of the book of Revelation and have it distributed to
the seven
Asian churches scattered throughout reasonably distant regions.
We figure 6 months would be about right and
mid 66AD for the time of writing on the isle of
It is
more than likely to “highly likely” that if the longest lasting of the apostles
was still under the impression that the kingdom of God was imminent at the time
of his writing Revelation then so was Matthew under the exact same impression
at the time of the writing of his gospel account.
Matthew’s
first 26 verses are almost carbon copies of Mark’s and Luke’s accounts of the
Olivet discourse content-wise --- the wording differs a bit here and there of
course but only very slightly which shows individual accounts --- which is
completely consistent with them being independent witnesses by the way and not
plagiarists as some secular scholars have had the balls to posit in their
attempts to discredit scripture as authoritative and from God.
The
one thing that is totally consistent in each of the gospel accounts and stands
out therefore and is the one thing that all of Christianity has no answer
whatsoever to though many have tried to account for this statement appearing
where it does in each gospel account but none have successfully understood due
to the slant that modern eschatology puts on things is this single line placing
as it does the “timeframe” for this day of the Lord that occurred in 67-70 AD:
I
tell you the truth, this generation will
certainly not pass away
until all these things have happened.
NIV Matthew 24:34
Verily
I say unto you, that this generation
shall not pass, till
all these things be done.
KJV
Mark 13:30
Verily
I say unto you, This generation
shall not pass away, till
all be fulfilled.
KJV
Luke 21:32
Note: we’ve
had to use the KJV for the last two quotes because the NIV lazily uses the
exact same wording for each of the gospel writer’s accounts as meaning the same
thing --- which it does --- but if you are going to cite or translate something
--- the original writing shows each of the writers hasn’t copied the
other “exactly” whereas the NIV could lend some credence to the plagiarism
claims otherwise as it stands.
What is the main
point that Christianity is missing in its eschatology that makes this plain
statement in the Gospels unanswerable to them?
The
main point that all of Christianity is missing and it doesn’t matter whether we
are referring to Sabbath keepers or Sunday worshippers is that you can’t have
your cake and eat it too as the old saying goes.
Either
all of Matthew 24, Mark13 and Luke 21 are referring to “a Day of the Lord” that
has already occurred in 67-70 AD or all of those Olivet discourse accounts are
for “a day of the Lord” to occur in our future.
One or
the other is applicable but clearly not both --- simply because Jerusalem and
the temple were destroyed at that 67-70 AD “Day of the Lord” and Jerusalem of
our day is prophesied in Zechariah to remain intact.
Can
our readers now see why Zechariah is rather a much more significant prophet
than many have thought and not such a minor prophet as secular scholars would
have us believe?
Furthermore that statement that all those
signs would be fulfilled in that generation of 67-70 AD tells us
plainly that all those things prophesied to occur did indeed occur at that
time. We’ve done as we said we would
i.e. gathered all the prophetic information and this is the conclusion that
Christianity is clearly unable to reach because of “traditional” teachings that
continue to deny all the evidence because it doesn’t fit their notions.
The
Gospel of the Kingdom was preached to all the world as a witness and as
prophesied in Daniel and the synoptic Gospels the END of the age did indeed
come.
The
kingdom of God which was “at hand” and “near” at that time [only a delay of 40
years away] was set up at that time also just as all the Gospel writers
believed it would be --- soon --- at the end of their age --- as prophesied.
A
“second coming” did indeed occur as prophesied at that particular Day of the
Lord but Jesus never numbered His comings and goings --- only man does that.
What
is clearly missing in the synoptic Gospel accounts of Matthew24, Mark 13 and
Luke21 that everybody seems to ignore:
There
is absolutely no reference to the resurrection of the saints occurring at
that time in any of the accounts including Matthew’s before that statement that
“This generation shall not pass till all these things be done.” [Fulfilled]
Nobody
seems to be aware that as we’ve shown in part one of this article all these
signs as Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:24-25 and even Luke 21:25-26 elucidates them
[with some additions not common to the others] have indeed occurred in other
previous “days of the Lord” prior to 67-70 AD:
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those
days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the
stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
* Refer to part one for other near
identical quotes of heavenly signs that have accompanied all other days of the
Lord.
Like
everybody else we also have tried to fit these things into a “future” framework
or “template” that others have but verse 29 leaves no other conclusion than
that these next verses’ events were to occur immediately after the 67-70
AD great tribulation of the Jews of that time: [confirmed in Zechariah 12:10
and Revelation 1:7 as we’ve shown]
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and
then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man
coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. KJV Matthew 24:29-31
There
are only 5 verses that could have any connotation for a future fulfillment in
all the rest of Matthew from this verse onwards and only one before the verse
that says “this generation shall not pass” in Matthew 24:34 and we’ll deal with
these one at a time because all the rest from Matthew 24:31 through to 24:51
could and do easily apply to those times prior to 67-70 AD.
These
are the five verses in Matthew 24 that appear after Matthew24:34 that could and
very possibly have been construed as applying to our day by most religious
leaders/teachers in Christianity:
37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be
at the coming of the Son of
38 For in the days before the flood, people were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah
entered the ark;
39 and they knew nothing about what would happen
until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the
coming of the Son of
40 Two men will be in the field; one will be
taken and the other left.
41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill;
one will be taken and the other left.
42 "Therefore keep watch, because you do
not know on what day your Lord will come.
NIV
Matthew 24:37-42
Out of all of these verses that
have been used at various times by various people to apply to a future “second
coming” in our time ahead in our day the only ones that could apply to a
“rapture” as many put it in religious circles are verses 40&42 and an earlier
verse in Matthew i.e. Mathew 24:31
The
question is --- are these verses applying to a resurrection or a rapture in
modern times as many think or possibly something else? Or to put it another way
--- is there an ‘alternate’ possible explanation?
We simply
need to ask the question then why the seemingly odd wording saying one will be
taken and the other left?
Why
not simply write ‘At that time lift up your heads as the resurrection to life
draws nigh’ or the equivalents of something like that that would make the
meaning perfectly clear? Instead of
wording that seems mysteriously obscure --- or is it just obscure to us of
modern times but may have been more meaningful to those of Jesus’ day?
In
other words are there biblical examples in other parts of scripture that might
shed some light in ascertaining the true meaning of what is really being
portrayed here if it is not a reference to the “future” resurrection of the
saints as many suppose it to be?
Believe
it or not there are other examples of people being ‘taken’ but not
resurrected --- two that we know of in the Old Testament and one of which is
affirmed in the New Testament:
By
faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found,
because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this
testimony, that he pleased God. KJV Hebrews 11:5
So it would seem the Gospel
writers may have been thoroughly familiar with the concept of being “taken” by
God. Christianity today focuses on
different things these days and not much or very little Old Testament is taught
and unfortunately for modern Christianity the Old Testament is where the base
or foundation of the New Testament lies and many answers to prophetical issues
also.
And
Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. KJV Genesis 5:24
Although
it would not be impossible for God to make Enoch immortal if He so desired the
understanding that we have is that Enoch was removed from the area in which he
lived at that time and was taken to a new location apparently far enough away
from those in his time that he was to all intents and purposes “gone” and
‘unreachable’ to those of his day.
Just
before the Book of Revelation, Jude, one of the brothers of Jesus had some
interesting things to say about what Enoch apparently taught that may have
gotten him killed if he hadn’t been ‘bodily’ removed from his fellow men or
’taken’ away [translated]:
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam,
prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his
saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince
all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have
ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have
spoken against him. KJV Jude 1:14-15
Could Jude have been referring
to modern secular scholars as well by any chance? [Just a thought]
The other example was one we’ve
already pointed out in another of our articles “Hand of God in Prophecy “ where
Ezekiel was bodily removed from where he was among the captives at the river
Chebar and taken to Telabib in OT times: [the location of present modern Tel
Aviv maybe?]
The following
are clips or excerpts from Ezekiel showing that he was sent to another location
from where he currently at that time was located to a new spot --- bodily.
Ezekiel starts
out describing what he saw “in vision” of God’s cherubim in the first chapter
then is given a strange quest in chapter 2 and then apparently assisted in
getting there by an unusual mode of transport to say the least and as far as we
know only he and Enoch have ever been so transported by God’s angelic
transports --- see our article Hand of God in prophecy for details of Ezekiel’s
angelic trip.
And
he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of
4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee
unto the house of
5 For thou art not sent to a people of a
strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of
And
go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and
speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord God; whether they will
hear, or whether they will forbear. KJV
Ezekiel 3:11
12 Then the spirit took me up, and I heard
behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord
from his place.
13 I heard also the noise of the wings of the
living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over
against them, and a noise of a great rushing.
14 So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away,
and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord
was strong upon me.
15 Then I came to them of the captivity at
Telabib, that dwelt by the
16 And it came to pass at the end of seven days,
that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto
the house of
The Cherubim [Ezekiel] or Seraphs
[Isaiah] play very important roles in much of prophecy that few realize
including bringing God’s /Jesus’ throne to our earth in modern times and these
angelic creatures of God are awesome in appearance and totally alien as anyone
who has read the prophet Ezekiel knows and compare for sheer “strangeness” to
anything movie makers like Ron Howard might even conceive on earth in the
Hollywood movie studios.
In light of
these prophetic scriptures then there is the very real possibility that the
phrase “one is taken and the other left” in the gospels could be a reference of
an altogether different meaning that what most have thought.
Just how evil then was that
Jewish generation of 67-70 AD?
Was it evil enough to warrant
the “second coming” of Jesus in their day?
Would that evil period qualify
as being as the days of Noah were?
Jesus’ certainly regarded the
religious leaders as not only hypocritical but exceptionally evil:
13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go
in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer:
therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is
made, ye make him twofold more the
child of hell than yourselves. KJV Matthew 23:13-15
Very strong words those! No
wonder the religious leaders of Jesus’ day were offended.
The last book that precedes the
book of Revelation and whose authorship is accorded to Jesus’ brother Jude says
some pretty condemnatory things about that generation also:
3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write
unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and
exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once
delivered unto the saints.
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares,
who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the
grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our
Lord Jesus Christ.
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance,
though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the
land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
6 And the angels which kept not their first
estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains
under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities
about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going
after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of
eternal fire.
8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile
the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities
10 But these speak evil of those things which
they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things
they corrupt themselves.
11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way
of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in
the gainsaying of Core.
12 These are spots in your feasts of charity,
when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are
without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without
fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their
own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for
ever.
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam,
prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his
saints,
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking
after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having
men's persons in admiration because of advantage.
17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which
were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
18 How
that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own
ungodly lusts.
19 These be they who separate themselves,
sensual, having not the spirit.
KJV Jude 1:3-8, 1:10-14& 1:16-19
Observations: Jude
was obviously completely convinced they were living in “the last time“[days]
and even the apostle Peter earlier on confirmed that the first Pentecost was a
sign that that age had entered the period the prophets called “the last days”
as follows from his quote of Joel:
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven,
lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that
dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose,
seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the
prophet Joel;
17 And
it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your
sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I
will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and
signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and
the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. KJV Acts 2:14-21
Nearly all the scriptural
“prophetic” evidence then points to the possibility that what is known as the
“second coming” among modern Christianity may have already occurred in 67-70 AD
as everybody in that age seems to have thought it would. OR maybe not --- Were the apostle’s totally
wrong then?
Is that even possible? Can our modern
religious leaders be totally wrong?
What about that other verse in
Matthew 24:31 then that mentions the saints being gathered by a trumpet blast?
And
he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather
together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
KJV
Matthew 24:31
Wouldn’t that prove that these scriptures are
for our day seeing that the apostle Paul said this also:
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 4:15-18
The apostle Paul accorded as
having written a substantial amount of the New Testament seems also certain
that Jesus would appear in the apostle’s days by what he wrote above and this
also below:
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and
blood cannot inherit the
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall
sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on
incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
KJV
1 Corinthians 15:50-53
Is there any way to reconcile
and put all these seemingly contradictory prophetic scriptures into some form
of perspective that matches the sketchy secular historical records that we have
of this enigmatic era of nearly 2000 years ago?
There
is realistically no way to separate these clear passages below in Matthew of
prophetic scripture from one another [because everything recorded up to this
point in Matthew is referring to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple]
to make it say that as many in Christianity do today that all of the events
portrayed in Matthew 24, Mark, 13 and Luke 21 are for our future. It’s quite impossible to do that even though
many have tried and many teach it as fact that all these scriptures are for our
future when clearly they are not.
These two
verses i.e. 27&28 are clearly linked by Matthew to the heavenly signs that
he says would occur immediately in those days of the destruction of
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east,
and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will
the eagles be gathered together.
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those
days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the
stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
KJV Matthew 24:27-29
An attempt at a perspective
from secular history shows up an astonishing fact --- there simply is no
secular perspective or history of that period.
Try as
one might there doesn’t seem to be any secular records of history from 70 AD to
the early middle ages and nearly all historical accounts of the “age” that
followed the 70 AD close or end of the
apostolic age begin mysteriously from about 200 AD onwards.
There
does in fact seem to be a gap in world history that no historians seem to
either know of or write about and there doesn’t seem to be therefore a smooth
transition from what is called “Classical antiquity” or pre-middle ages to the
Middle Ages and nobody it seems in the scholarly world finds that odd. It would equate therefore to what
evolutionists call “the missing” link.
It would seem that evolutionists aren’t the only ones that are missing
something --- it seems that historians have at least one unexplained gap in
their history as well.
The
only record as far as we can see seems to be that of Josephus covering the
immediate aftermath of Daniel’s “wars of the Jews” as prophesied in Daniel’s
seventy weeks prophecy.
As a
“witness” a secular historian might regard Josephus as a poor one because of
his reputed ‘turncoat’ status --- however his work then does seem to be the only
link to biblical history and prophecy therefore.
It
therefore becomes a little tricky proof-wise to prove any of what we have
written about “the Day of the Lord” that occurred in 67-70 AD apart from the
scriptural prophetic record which of course isn’t accepted by largely secular
historians who don’t even acknowledge the word of God in even its historical
pages as true.
Should
we then throw up our hands in disgust or defeat because we can’t seemingly
prove a 67-70 AD Great tribulation and end of the age?
Certainly
not! The old saying ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’ turns out to be
another truism in this case.
Here’s
why: We know the Roman Empire
survived this period and so too the Chinese dynasties etc. but if there are no
historical records whatsoever in the European area of Roman influence apart
from Josephus’ work during that “gap” period what it does show then in that
case is that there has been an “extraordinary” interruption to the flow of
normal history.
This
in turn would completely validate the 12th chapter of Revelation’s
overview or summary of prophetic history covering that period after 67-70AD
showing what it does about an ongoing war or pursuit of God’s people:
Then
the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest
of her offspring--those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony
of Jesus.
NIV
Revelation 12:17
This, in turn, enhances the
possibility that Jesus’ may have returned as promised [i.e. a “second” coming]
to rescue those that were destined to be saved or rescued at that time [i.e.
God’s elect] as prophesied by Daniel:
"At
that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There
will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of
nations until then. But at that time your people--everyone whose name is found
written in the book--will be delivered.
NIV Daniel 12:1
It’s
very clear there was no deliverance of the Jewish nation as a whole at that
time due to the pronouncements Jesus made against that nation of hypocritical
religious leaders and evil doers as both Jude and Matthew 23 show very clearly.
Furthermore
Daniel’s pronouncement [ the archangel Gabriel’s actually] that there would be
“deliverance” of some of God’s people at that time in Daniel 12:1 completely
validates these verses of Revelation 12 showing some people being “taken” from
the scene to a place of safety by ‘supernatural’ means of transportation:
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who
dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone
down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is
short."
13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled
to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.
14 The
woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the
place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a
time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach.
15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water
like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent.
16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its
mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his
mouth. NIV Revelation 12:12-16
We are
fully aware that the modern day teaching of all of Christianity has interpreted
“the woman” here in Revelation as “the church” but since the whole of the rest
of this chapter is dealing with ancient Israel there is absolutely no reason to
“superimpose” the church into this verse at all when in fact it is still
referring to the same woman of the earlier verses.
We are
also fully aware of modern Christianity’s theories about modern day saints
being supposedly taken to “a place of safety” at some physical location on
earth [some claim the location as Petra of biblical times] while others have a
theory of being “raptured” supposedly away from earth into heaven before the
great tribulation of our modern times also being based on these verses [we
guess that’s where they get these notions from] --- but again there is no
reason to superimpose what clearly happened in those ancient times of 67-70 AD
on our future.
Many
would claim that these verses might be allegorical but they are not only
allegorical but also “symbolic” of real events and real angelical transports
which Ezekiel describes in full throughout several sections of his prophetic
book.
Many
have interpreted Revelation 12:14 as symbolizing modern Jet planes taking
modern Christians away to a supposed ‘place of safety’ in a location near the
holy land which they claim is supposedly Petra where they would supposedly get
a ringside seat of all the events that will transpire during the modern great
tribulation including the second coming and are supposedly ‘protected’ there
while all the rest of the world including the USA and British Commonwealth
countries collapse or ‘fall’ under the great tribulation and go into a
supposedly prophesied future captivity.
According
to either the book of Revelation and Ezekiel the 4 Cherubim or Seraphs [Isaiah
2:2] surrounding God’s throne are quite unique creations.
Ezekiel
describes them as quite awesome, exceptionally powerful and massive in size,
having four faces --- one of which is a majestic eagle’s face. Ezekiel 1:10
[last part]
Isaiah
adds the detail that they only use 2 of their wings to fly:
2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings:
With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
3 And they were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his
glory." NIV Isaiah 6:2-3
Eric
Von Daniken in his famed “Chariot of the Gods” series of books likened these
magnificent angelic transports of God to UFO’s and believed them to be
spacecraft that appeared in ancient times.
In our
article “the hand of God in prophecy” we show that in point of fact God doesn’t
need Jumbo Jet aircraft to transport large numbers of people or angels from one
location to another.
So
Revelation’s description of the woman who was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the
place prepared for her in the desert, NIV
Revelation 12:14 could not only be a
literal expression but a very descriptive actual undertaking of God’s cherubim
in 67-70 AD to ‘take’ some people away from harm or as the gospel writers
state:
That
is how it will be at the coming of the Son of
Two
men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
Two
women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
NIV Matthew 24:39-41
It doesn’t stretch the imagination too far
that if those Cherubim covered three of their four faces with their wings as
Ezekiel says they do use one set of wings for such a purpose [the other pair to
cover their feet] then they would indeed take on the appearance of a great
eagle if the face left uncovered was that of an eagle as described in both
Revelation and Ezekiel.
Although
it’s not impossible for God to give wild animals the power of speech on a
special occasion as was seemingly done in at least one OT example [i.e. Numbers
22:28] this enigmatic verse in Revelation
could be a pronouncement from one of God’s Cherubim in fact and not necessarily
a regular everyday normal eagle:
As
I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice:
"Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet
blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!" NIV Revelation
8:13
The
prophetic scriptures do indeed use a lot of sometimes poetic, often enigmatic,
usually symbolic and even allegoric phrases such as this verse below which most
attribute to our future day of the Lord --- but the thing is this --- it could
apply equally to both that day of the Lord that occurred in 67-70 AD and
the one in our future and still not come under the theoretical classification
of ‘duality’ because it seems that it is just the normal mode of travel for
some of God’s created angels and Ezekiel reveals in his book that the Cherubim
transport God’s throne around from one location to another as we’ll show
shortly:
27 For as lightning that comes from the east is
visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of
28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the
vultures will gather. NIV Matthew
24:27-28
This prophetic scripture too
can be easily explained in terms of the Old Testament experiences of Ezekiel
when he describes the approach of God’s angelic transports in graphic detail in
vision:
4 I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of
the north--an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant
light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal,
5 and in the fire was what looked like four
living creatures. In appearance their form was that of a man,
6 but each of them had four faces and four
wings.
13 The appearance of the living creatures was
like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the
creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it.
14 The creatures sped back and forth like
flashes of lightning.
Spread
out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked like an expanse,
sparkling like ice, and awesome.
25 Then there came a voice from above the
expanse over their heads as they stood with lowered wings.
26 Above the expanse over their heads was
what looked like a throne of sapphire,
and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man.
27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist
up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down
he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him.
28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in the
clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of
the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of
one speaking.
NIV
Ezekiel 1:4-6, 13-14, 22, 25-28
Very similar descriptions of
the four Cherubim and “throne” scenes can be found in Revelation chapters 4,5,7
particularly, with briefer mentions in other chapters of Revelation also.
There are signs that have
accompanied each day of the Lord that has occurred in the past that are
described as the powers of heaven being shaken terribly when God arises to
shake the earth at his coming and this is one in Luke is just one example:
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in
the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with
perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for
looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming
in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,
then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. KJV
Luke 21:26-28
If any of our
readers have gotten very close to a severe thunderstorm where the ground
beneath one’s feet shakes and vibrates with each exceptionally loud thunderclap
and this is just a normal everyday storm then an inkling of what may have
occurred nearly 2000 years ago can be easily envisioned without stretching
one’s imagination.
In all of the synoptic Gospel
descriptions of those days not one of them actually mentions the resurrection as
occurring with the signs portrayed back then in 67-70 AD and certainly none of
the completely unique signs that are pictured to occur in our future as
portrayed in Revelation are portrayed in the Gospel accounts either.
The
Conclusions:
Nobody it seems in the
religious field is apparently cognizant of the vast differences between the Day
of the Lord that was prophesied to occur and indeed did occur in 67-70 AD and
was written about by the gospel authors, Daniel, Jeremiah, Isaiah et al and the
visionary and vastly different Day of the Lord that the prophet John was given
to record in his quite unique book of Revelation showing totally different
signs and events that the others don’t mention at all --- which in very
intricate and graphic detail covers the resurrection of the saints and a great
many other things.
The book of Revelation starts
with the day of the Lord spoken of in the Gospel accounts and fills in very
nicely all the events to occur in both outline and summary from that time of
67-70 AD to all the events which will occur in a modern and vastly more
involved “battle of that great day of God Almighty” to occur in our future and
most likely this new century and not all that far into this century if mankind
descends to the level of evil apparently predominant in the gospel writer’s
century of Josephus’ times.
We did write an article titled
“the third coming of Jesus Christ” just to show the absurdity of putting a
number on Jesus’ comings and goings on this earth which we’ve also pointed out
are many. God’s interventions in man’s
secular history are also many and He has decidedly been angry [wrathful] with
his Israelite children many times before and also the Gentile nations who
amazingly enough he intends apparently to make His own as well in a fully
united and peaceful world.
Jesus simply said he would come
again and soon to establish the
In view of or review of the
entire prophet’s works and their prophetic books we feel there is no need or
justification for projecting any ancient prophecies into our day including the
Gospel prophecies other than those that really do apply to our modern age in
our future.
Just as Jesus never labeled his
comings and goings with a number neither will we and apart from that one
article to prove a point --- if we do indeed write any future articles beyond
what we have written to date on our website we will simply refer to what does
indeed amount to not a third coming as such --- if a number were assigned ---
but to a return as King of kings and Lord of Lords for a last or final time in
the “last days” --- which are still currently running to their
inevitable conclusion when the King of the earth returns to take up that rule
as He will in His own time and certainly not according to man’s predictions as
much old and New Testament prophecy shows very clearly.
All of the evidence that we’ve
presented and covered in many prophetic books that God has angelic technology
far superior to man’s shows that nearly all of even Matthew can be explained
without leaping to conclusions that the synoptic Gospels are referring to the
day of the Lord yet ahead in our future called “the battle of that great day of
God Almighty” as we’ve shown in Revelation 16:14 [last part]
There is only one verse in
Matthew that remains unaccountable for in terms of a trumpet being blown in
those days:
And
he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather
together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
KJV
Matthew 24:31
God’s Cherubim are certainly
capable of gathering his elect in any age from all quarters of the earth and
that may indeed be how those who are resurrected at Jesus’ return for the last
time to this earth are also gathered in our future when they rise to meet the
Lord in the air as the apostle Paul believed would occur at the coming of the
Lord in His day:
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 4:14-18
There is no reason to conclude
that Mathew 24:31 could only occur in our future because of a trumpet being
blown --- as Revelation shows that
several are blown in the future day of the Lord yet ahead of us and even the
apostle Paul in these verses doesn’t
specifically designate this “trump of God” as apostle Paul put it as the
“last” trump and there’s no guarantee that this verse in Matthew 24:31 is
talking about the last trump as many might believe because even this particular
verse appears in Matthew decidedly before this common to all the
gospel accounts clear prophetic statements:
I
tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all
these things have happened.
NIV Matthew 24:34
A
prophetic statement is a prophetic statement --- period --- you can certainly
try to make it mean something else --- but if you do then you will distort your
view of true prophecy --- it’s as simple as that.
We
know that the resurrection didn’t apparently occur in Paul’s time and his
“timing” seems to be a little off because he certainly wasn’t among the living
that witnessed the 67-70 AD great tribulation and end of the age and he very
obviously is still not alive in our day to be caught up in the clouds among the
living but he is essentially correct in every other point he makes otherwise
and his description here is therefore valid and true in every other
respect. We too have a little
difficulty with the ‘timing’ in the book of Revelation also and so in that much
we are no different to Paul but the events portrayed in Revelation even without
our correct understanding of the timing are still valid in every way. As we’ve pointed out earlier just because we
don’t have all the data before us at any one time there’s never any reason to
manufacture theories to cover what we don’t fully grasp --- so it’s truly best
to wait until things fall into place or as the scriptures often say to “wait on
the Lord” for understanding than to jump to erroneous conclusions.
Prophecy
can be analyzed and studied legitimately with commonsense and logic with the
right approach but never with a bias to a particular pre-conceived idea or
notion derived from the perspective of human understanding only --- because of
these firm statements from God through his servants:
Knowing
this first, that no prophecy of the
scripture is of any private interpretation.
For
the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
KJV 2 Peter 1:20- 21
This
understanding is so important we are going to repeat it in the NIV for absolute
clarity:
20 Above all, you must understand that no
prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation.
21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will
of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy
Spirit. NIV 2 Peter 1:20-21
Any computer programmer or user
understands the concept of GIGO.
The same principle or analogy
oddly enough applies to prophecy --- if you put garbage in --- you get garbage
out.
Anyone who uses a typewriter
style PC keyboard knows the problem of a wrong keystroke producing garbled
wordage. We need spell checker programs in word processing for more than just
our inability to spell some words correctly and in fact PC “shorthand” that has
developed over the years may have developed to overcome the necessity for
spelling things out in full.
It’s not quite a complete
analogy to put things in their true perspective but it is close to the closest
modern equivalent and close enough for our purposes here to explain to our
readers that parables “symbolic” and “allegoric” language used in the prophetic
scripture is a fair approximation of what would amount to God’s “shorthand.”
As with PC shorthand --- once
the terminology is understood and put into practice in everyday use the meaning
of what is being conveyed is more easily understood. Even older generations are now using the
abbreviations that youngsters invented for the PC to communicate more rapidly
among their peers but not quite as adeptly as the younger generations of course
and so we feel it appropriate in this case to end this analogy with --- LOL.
It’s entirely conceivable that
we certainly haven’t learnt all there is to know about prophecy and again
another LOL would be appropriate at this point.
As with anything in life there
is indeed a “right way” and alternately “a wrong way” to approach the prophetic
scriptures and so it’s also appropriate to end this article with this quote
from Isaiah in preparation for the Isaiah essay which follows --- for God
Himself emphasizes a principle or an
understanding we should always bear in mind when studying any prophecy and
something else we are going to show our readers is clearly apparent to us who
have familiarized ourselves with God’s “shorthand.”
8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.
9 "As the heavens are higher than the
earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow come down from
heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud
and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It
will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the
purpose for which I sent it. NIV Isaiah 55:9-11
End of Part II
Isaiah Essay – An essay on Isaiah dealing with
critics claims of multiple authorship; the “timeless” promises; more on the “third”
temple; are we living under the “New Covenant”?
Go to
Part III