|
|
"But of that day and that hour knoweth no man,
no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son,
but the Father." —Mark 13:32
"Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house,
and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded
the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master
of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in
the morning:
Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch."
—Mark 13:33-37
As we finally approach the last leg of our tour through the prophetic records of the Hebrews, we arrive at a major point of interest — one that has been a source of considerable consternation and frustration for a great many hopefuls throughout the last two millennia, and probably well before.
At least as far back as 700 years before the time of Christ and His apostles, great anticipation had been sparked over the fabulous attributes assigned by the prophets to the promised Kingdom of God to come on Earth. Time and space fail me here to recount all the biblical accounts of those spectacular promises and visions; but the prophet Isaiah is certainly the most eloquent and expansive in his written record of revelations of the glorious future promised to the people of Earth, and especially to Israel. It is only natural that Isaiah's prophetic visions should feature Israel so prominently, since of all peoples, the Hebrews were bestowed with particularly unique favor in the plan of YHWH. In Isaiah's revelations, Israel was one day to be lavished with incredible wealth, majesty, and global dominion under an Anointed King of supreme power and authority.
The Apostles in Christ's day, owing to their particular cultural heritage as Jews, were most certainly well aware of the general, if not the specific, features of this highly anticipated Kingdom awaited by the Jews. Practically every Jew in their day would have been, due to the powerful abiding customs of their culture, which included regular attendance at sabbath day convocations in the local synagogues. Beside prayer, these weekly gatherings convened in large part for reading of the Torah (the books of Moses) and of the Prophets.1
Week after week, and often more, counting the various other sabbaths of the feast days, the customary reading of the Scriptures in the synagogues promoted periodic revisiting of the same passages of scripture. Which, taken on an annual cycle, means the congregations would have had occasion to hear the same readings repeated many times over during their lifetime. Though not all were able to read and quite often only listened, this regular exposure would, of course, have fostered broad familiarity with the words of their prophets, and would have resulted in the congregations being fairly well versed throughout. Such was surely the case with Christ's disciples, certain of which were expressly recognized in one place (The Book of Acts 4:13) to be illiterate.2 This certain crowd that perceived they were "unlearned and ingnorant men" was otherwise amazed at their remarkable abilities, which were subsequently attributed to their having been in the company of The Master. The point being that even the illiterate enjoyed by custom a substantial familiarity with the writings of the Prophets.
This familiarity with the Kingdom prophecies related to Israel and Zion was frequently demonstrated by the Disciples in the attitudes and ambitions they manifested, and in their repeated queries of the Messiah about when it would come. In fact, the very outline pursued in the organization of this book came from the oral dissertation on the end of the world (the Olivet Discourse) which Yeshua was prompted to give in response to being interrogated by four of His followers, who happened to be illiterate fishermen, wanting to pin down the time.3 Two of them (Peter & John) were specifically named as illiterate in the account of their activities in the Book of Acts (as referenced above). However, after all that lengthy briefing He gave them, including the long list of signs he provided, still that was not the last time they pressed Him with questions about when exactly the Kingdom would come. And, no wonder.
Their anxious absorption with when the Kingdom would be established is quite easy to understand, when the incredible miracles and events they witnessed firsthand are taken into account. Witnessing the power of their Master to command the forces of nature, to multiply food by the ton, to heal lepers, cure the blind, lame, deaf, dumb, and palsied, and even to raise the dead (from four days in the grave in one instance), convinced them that this man who could walk on water could also easily conquer the world. They recognized He was the Chosen and Anointed Prince of Peace heralded to come by so many of their prophets. Which to them meant that, "obviously," the Kingdom of God was indeed "at hand!"
After all, even Christ Himself had proclaimed that very thing from the beginning of His vocational circuit.4 And not only so, but right before His debut, His radical desert forerunner, the camel-skin-clad, grasshopper-and-wild-honey-munching Baptist, had also distinguished his own renowned precursory calling with his vociferous announcements of exactly the same proclamation — saying, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matt. 3:2)."
And not only did John the Baptist and Yeshua too proclaim the imminency of the Kingdom, but then the Disciples themselves were also commissioned out on "internship" forays and practice missions, during their discipleship training years, to "preach the Kingdom of God and heal the sick."5 Their every waking moment, as well as probably their slumbering ones too, must have been saturated with excitement, anticipation and even anxious disbelief sometimes at the thought that the New World Order of Zion was at hand.
By all of this, these twelve, hand-picked hopefuls of Yeshua were so overtaken with excitement about the advent of the New World Order — and especially their own status and position in it — that in their private moments among themselves, they often argued about who would be the "top drawer," or "biggest cheese." One of these top-dog disputes even occurred on the occasion of The Last Supper. Apostles Mark and Luke (two separate accounts) recorded the occurrence of these status squabbles.6 And Matthew recorded the occasion when the aspiring mother (of two ambitious fisherman) worshipfully petitioned The Master on behalf her sons James and John, "Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom (Matt. 20:21)."
It's uncertain exactly whether they all engaged in the vying for vice presidency, prime ministership, and chief of staff, or whether only certain of the more ambitious were most guilty. However, we see by the reported general attitude, there is no question but what an anxious expectation of the great event definitely pervaded their thinking as a whole, especially when they all had been promised "thrones" in the new government.7 We do know that the entire group was resentful (probably jealous) of the personal ambitions of Mother Zebedee's sons.8
Toward the end, the momentous events of the very last week — preceding the tragic temporal crushing of all these dreams and ambitions — signified for them an imminency so proximate that they could now no longer contain their curiosity over the enigmatic behavior, disclosures, and assertions of their Master. The senior Disciples just had to take Messiah aside to pin things down and get some definite answers — "Tell us, When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world (Matt.24:3)?"
Certain strange, and also wonderful, occurrences and declarations of the final few days of their company with Yeshua obviously must have forced the issue among them. This had to be the time. . . . But if not, then when?!
The last few weeks, and particularly the last few days before the crucifixion of the Master, I surmise, must have given rise to what was an almost overwhelming sense of expectancy and excitement among these yearning colleagues. They must have been thoroughly stricken with the impression that the tangible establishment of the Kingdom was set to occur any day!
Consider that in only the last four days or so, they had beheld the spectacular "Triumphal Entry" of Messiah into Jerusalem. It was on that famous improvised-red-carpet day, that the crowds — gathered in Jerusalem for the annual feast of the Passover — stripped themselves of their coats and cloaks, and tore branches from palm trees to spread on the street before Yeshua, welcoming Him into the "city of the Great King" with resounding hails of, "Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord (John 12:13)." "Hosanna," from its Hebrew derivation is literally a victory plea or prayer of "save, rescue, deliver, avenge us presently." Apostles Matthew and Mark both record that the hail of "Hosanna..." by the cheering multitudes was appended by many of them with a phrase actually making it more lavish and maximal in character — "Hosanna...in the highest!"9
This crowning event, in which Yeshua — for the first time — allowed Himself to be revered and proclaimed as King,10 was followed by another, almost equally stunning episode that must have exhilarated the disciples. All four of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) all give an account of this incident, which probably pretty well shocked them...
According to Mark, on the day after the Hosanna episode, "they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves (Mark 11:15)." Matthew's parallel account goes on to say, "And [he] said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them (Matt 21:13-14)." The physical force Yeshua used to rededicate the Temple as a house of prayer, rather than a religious shopping mall, probably added a keen new dimension to the tension His disciples felt about the likelihood of a very imminent take-over by the King with His freshly fired-up revolutionists.
Some interesting detail is added to the episode of this angry eviction of the merchants and shoppers from the Temple by Apostle John, which definitely adds to the stun factor which thundered through all Jerusalem that day. The rather notorious feature of the expulsion in John's account is that the force exercised in the eviction process also included the use of "a scourge [whip] of small cords" which "he had made" (i.e., personally fashioned) and with which He thereby literally "drove them all out of the temple (John 2:15)." From then on, for the next few days, according to Luke, "he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him, and could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him (Luke 19:47-48)."
To top all this off, over the next couple days, the now rabid scribes and Pharisees (who functioned as rabbis and community leaders) — feeling severely threatened by this powerful and popular revolutionist — stepped up their campaign to discredit the whip-wielding king. Their vehement challenges to Yeshua's authority were met by Him at one point with scathing denunciations of these otherwise "reverend" leaders. Matthew (in chapter 23) provides the fullest account of Christ's stinging indictment of these "exemplary" officials, whom He labeled as oppressive and presumptuous "hypocrites" obsessed as they were with exalted titles and political image, cloaking their religious extortion and thievery of the poor behind "long prayers." He railed on them as "fools and blind guides" with twisted materialist values and priorities. Cursing them with woe after woe, He exposed them as murders and blood-guilty persecutors of the righteous, and essentially condemned them to hell as a "generation of serpents and vipers!" (Matt.23, whole chapter)
It takes but a very little imagination to picture the wild-eyed astonishment of His nervous and, by this time, trigger-happy disciples, now ready to risk their lives for the Revolution.11 As far as they could tell, the time could never be riper. "This must be it!...The Master must be ready to make His move!"
(This author believes that even Judas Iscariot was acting on this conviction, and that his act of betrayal was intended to force a confrontation with the establishment, knowing full well that Yeshua could prevail — especially "now" with so much popular support by the masses, enough to even provoke intense alarm among the leaders of that establishment.12 This, I think, is manifest in the fact that Judas deeply regretted the outcome.13 He certainly had every reason to believe that Christ was prepared to engage even in armed uprising, having advised the purchase of a weapon for the first time.14)
The fact is though, that the Disciples
were summarily confused and uncertain what to think. The Scriptures
indicate plainly that Yeshua had been preparing them (repeatedly) for His
betrayal, arrest, and execution; and that, as prophesied 700 years earlier
by Isaiah, he would be "reckoned among the transgressors."
(See Isaiah 53:12 & Luke 22:37.) A few months before this was to take
place, when He had fixed His intent on making His final Passover appearance
in Jerusalem — where a capital warrant was already
out for His arrest15 — Luke, Matthew, and
Mark record that He had begun to forewarn His intimate followers of an inglorious
"end" to His career. We see from Luke's record that the advance notice didn't
quite register in their minds:
Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. —Luke 18:31-34
Evidently though, at the first such declaration that He would be apprehended
by the officials and killed, Peter did react particularly to the
announcement:
From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. —Matthew 16:21-23
The whole notion was obviously unthinkable to Peter. It spoiled his entire conception of what he had thought was the plan and the imminent outcome — "that the kingdom of God should immediately appear."16 Blinded by ambition, misplaced priorities, and, therefore, misplaced hope (as the whole group evidently was) none of the words of the Prophets with regard to Messiah being cut off,17 nor the various pronouncements and caveats of the Master made any proper sense to him.
What Peter "savoured" was the power and glory of a palpable and tangible Kingdom of God, where the worldly, material dreams of his people could be immediately and presently realized. "The Kingdom of Zion" was the dream, the object of all their desire—The Ultimate Hope. Prophet after prophet of theirs had proclaimed the coming of this bejeweled hope, and even detailed its glamorous facets.
How could this not be the time of its coming?...The King Himself was on the scene! The taste of it was in their mouths...They could smell it, hear it, feel its warmth...It seemed they were on the very threshold of sitting on those thrones they had been promised! Not even the powerful pagan empire of Rome, nor the pervasive, hypocritical religious establishment of the scribes and Pharisees, nor their own personal poverty, lack of resources — nothing — nothing could prevent the power of this Miracle Man from fulfilling His destiny, and theirs!
Well, we see from the passage cited above that Peter's misplaced values earned him quite a vile epithet. The great Apostle Peter, here tagged as "Satan," had not yet gotten the picture, nor had his fellows either. His obsession with the material aspect of the Kingdom promises — minus the associated tribulation and cost involved — warranted, in the Master's estimation, the severe characterization Peter received as an asinine sap for the wares of Satan, actually making him a collaborator and associate! (Remember, this was the very same commodity the Devil tried to sell Yeshua Himself at the start, during the Wilderness Temptation.)18
Wasn't Christ's reaction to Peter's "concern" for Him a bit extreme and overblown? Or was it, on the other hand, more precisely, a simple, easy-to-read gauge of Jesus' tolerance (or intolerance, in this case) for petty affections for the mundane "things of men/Satan?"
Hosanna Hearts and the Barabbas Factor
Poor Peter! Hadn't he and his fellows really been led astray by the Master, right into this very fixation with the Kingdom-Come Ideology? Let's get real — what impression would you gather, if you had been in the presence of the Master when He said, "Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power"? (Mark 9:1)19 Had you witnessed the raising of the dead on several occasions, and been taught that, "If a man keep my saying, he shall (verily, verily) never see death," (John 8:51) and, moreover, been commissioned by the Master to go out yourself and exercise the same power to defeat death, I doubt your mindset would have been any different. Speaking for myself, I believe I would have thought, felt, and reacted just like Peter and the others. Fortunately, we have the advantage of all this retrospect and history.
But unless you had been keenly in tune with the Spirit, and been astute enough to catch on when Yeshua also taught that "the kingdom of God cometh not with observation," you would quite likely have fallen into the same typical frame of reference as Peter and company. Luke records that, "when [Yeshua] was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come," He only elaborated by saying, "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:20-21) In this signal admonition, Messiah was clueing his audience in to the issue of "primary-ness" and principal essence, as touching the plan and intention of the Creator. That is, He was literally stressing the essential nature of the Kingdom of God as a matter not so much of where and when and what it would look like, but what it is really all about — a matter of the heart!
In this we see reflected the essence of Yeshua's core concept of conversion to "childhood" and being "born again." It involves the forsaking of ego and prideful adultist mind-sets fraught with covetous lusts for grandiosity and ego-centered self-fulfillment. It's a return in heart to "the garden" and to simple devotion to loving, self-sacrificial interrelations, as taught by Yeshua to His disciples whom He preferred to call "brethren," rather than "servants."20 The selfless innocence, optimistic trust, sensitivity, tenderness, and unpretentious humility of a little child were revered by Messiah as the prime qualities of His Kingdom constituents.21 The Kingdom of God is primarily a kingdom of the heart.
Unless the heart is converted, the environment too will eventually be corrupted, not matter how perfect it may be. In fact, the coming Messianic Order of Zion (Mashiach's Millennium) will itself also finally be corrupted by the unconverted ones, even after an entire child-oriented millennium of peace, plenty, liberty, justice, and the pursuit of happiness.22
The Millennium of The Child in the New World Order of Messiah will be
a one-thousand year experience of virtual harmlessness. "Virtual," because
a remnant of unconverted carnal humans will survive the decimation of the
evil endtime civilization of man, and require governing by rigid enforcement
of the Law of Love and Peace — which will necessitate occasional severe
sentences of retribution for rebellion and violation. Yet, the broad general
Order will be maintained in absolute security fitting for children. According
to the Apocalypse, one of the major factors contributing to the peace of
this idyllic period will be that the dynamic force of evil (Satan) will be
imprisoned for the duration:
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. —Revelation 20:1-3
In very short order, upon Satan's brief release from his 1,000 year
sentence, we find that he has not rehabilitated. And not only has he personally
not experienced a change of heart, but millions of humans meanwhile, even
under the global reign of love and peace for that entire millennium, have
not either! The remnant of the unconverted, having multiplied during that
period (by usual human reproductive means) into masses of "obliged" and not
entirely willing hearts, organize a massive coup d'état
against the beloved, theocratic Kingdom of Zion.
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog [again, second & final round], to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. —Revelation 20:7-9
Under the leadership of the proud, unreformed, discontented, envious, never-satisfied Tempter — still coveting to ascend to divine supremacy — the unwilling "subjects" of the Messianic order, who have had no change of heart, rally in a fateful democratic insurgency against the Prince of Peace. Until the very end, we see that people reserve the right to make their own choices; and some refuse the way of God, no matter how beautiful and ideal it is even manifest to be.
The lesson we can reap from this peace of future history: Even the perfect conditions of the Millennium of The Child will not result in complete change of heart for a huge majority of those who are married to their covetous, adultist love of self.
Precisely the same principle of "unrepentant heart" was at work among the rapturous Hosanna crowds in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. Despite all the hoopla of that cheering populous, no profound change of heart had taken place in Jerusalem that week. Within that same week of the fateful Last Passover Supper, no sooner had the echoing cheer of hope and optimism fallen in the streets of Jerusalem, but the vindictive outcry of soured adultist expectation quickly rose up to replace it, with spiteful demands for blood and cruel vengeance. The Kingdom of God was indeed "at hand," but the unconverted hearts of the avaricious and self-seeking failed to recognize the essence of it.
The day Christ entered into the city of Jerusalem — riding on that asses' colt over the "red carpet" of the fickle devotion of that "very great multitude [which] spread their garments in the way [and] cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way" (Matt 21:8) — according to Luke, He wept over it (Luke 19:41-42). Rather than being elated at the worshipful welcome and the tumultuous hails of "Hosanna in the highest," instead He mourned to tears what He knew was in that crowd's heart. For within the same week — this time standing in the mock garb of the "gorgeous purple robe" Herod ridiculed Him with and a crown of thorns jammed upon His head, face slimed with spit, bruised, bloody and lacerated after being beaten while blindfolded by a group of hardened soldiers — the chant now of the nearly rioting crowd had changed to "Crucify him, crucify him!"
From glorified king to capital convict within a matter of days. Because
the masses viewed Messiah's present unpreparedness to promote the Kingdom
of Zion by armed revolt and violent overthrow as a manifest sign of weakness
and an unwillingness to support their materialist agenda, they quickly turned
against Him. They opted instead for the violent, force-based modus operandi
of Barabbas and his militant brand of liberation politics, of whom Mark testified
in the following words:
And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection. And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them. —Mark 15:7-8
Wishing to free the arrested King of the Jews, whom even Pontius Pilate recognized as a just and peace-loving man of good will, he saw the rabid masses would have none of it, but would instead riot over it. When this consummate politician compromised his integrity for personal advantage (in the scurry for escape from potential career damage) by offering to release Jesus — after ordering a vicious, flesh-ripping scourging, which he thought would appease the blood-thirsty crowds — they threateningly taunted, "If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend!" And they cried out all the more loudly in chorus, "Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas!...We have no king but Caesar!"23
Now, under the sway of the latest negative campaign ads blared by the
party bosses and the incumbent administration, the capricious democratic
mob had reversed their opinion and suddenly changed their vote:
And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him: No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I will therefore chastise him, and release him. (For of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast.) And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas: (Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison.) Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them. But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go. And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed. —Luke 23:13-23
The Apostle Matthew confirms the leading role of the corrupt administration
in stirring up the tumult:
But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult [riot, or violent uprising] was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. —Matthew 27:20-25
So, in less than a week the hearts of those wildly cheering fans had switched to that of monstrous murdering mobs. One day, praise and blessing, the next, violent spite and cursing. Because the hallelujah crowds didn't get their kingdom of rapturous glory when and how they wanted it, they turned to viciously betray the now despised "no-show messiah" for deferring to oblige them with their "blessed hope"; and, they joined the pagans in allegiance to "The Emperor" and the world establishment of the day. Thus goes the politics (and religion) of convenience. (Any connection to real persons and actual contemporary settings is lamentably unmistakable, and strictly intended.)
What will
your personal course of action be on the deadline date of the final governmental
order to appear at the registrar's office to receive your assigned number
and/or mark of the Evil Emperor? This time it will be your arrest, imprisonment,
and "crucifixion" (i.e.,
beheading)24 in the sentencing mandate.
Will the cock crow twice for you, before you recall the words of Christ?
Is your devotion as staunch as Peter's, who vowed he would go to prison and
to death for the Master? Well, one thing Peter was certainly never mistaken
about — which contrasts sharply with the fickle "Peters" of contemporary
Christianity — was the cost of being a Christ-following
mathetés
(disciple; Gk.
![[Image]](MATHETES.GIF){kind=small}
, one
applied to learning, a pupil, and hence, a follower of the
teaching).25
The disciples originally came by the name "Christians," not because they simply acknowledged a belief in Christ, but because they followed His teachings, walked in His footsteps, and took His cross upon themselves. We have seen that the original Christians were under their own set of illusions initially (concerning the coming of Messiah and His Kingdom), but hardly under any misconceptions about the nature of their calling, vocation, and the associated commitment.
Today's "Christians," however, desperately need serious reevaluation of their faith and intensive self-examination of their belief systems. A very large majority of them are under very grave illusions of rapture and escape from tribulation, the telltale evidences of heresy and delusive doctrines of "low-cost kingdom and no-cross convenience." It seems to me that "preparing the way of the Lord" in this last generation, calls for more than bird-bath baptisms of repentance in order to aggressively flush away apostate 20th century Christian illusions.
The prophet Jeremiah provided an astute psychological profile of humanity from which Christians are not exempt. His caveat: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jer.17:9) In other words, we are all quite susceptible and prone to self-deceit, illusion, and error. There is, however, a key to this quandary, which was later spelled out to the Hebrews by Apostle Paul: "The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb.4:12) Simple faith in the sacred texts on which this book is based provide a gauge to help determine where our hearts are at, and to guide us in making appropriate adjustments.
Sophistication is not the key, but pure, child-like obedience and faith in the ways and wisdom of God. Elaborate, complicated, desperately stretched and twisted interpretations of Scripture, which are not straightforward and consistent, should always be highly suspect. For therein lies the soul of deception. And theren, too, is the rule and not the exception.
The foregoing retrospective tour of the apostolic era of Yeshua and His Disciples is not only to examine their own perspectives, errors in judgment, understandings, and misunderstandings, so as to gain a better grasp of the "big picture" for ourselves, but also to contribute to accurately framing that true picture of when the Kingdom of God will actually come.
What is acceptable as well as not, in terms of timing, though a major focus of this section and the book as a whole, is not its sole purpose. For although timing is important, the constituency of that Kingdom is far more so. Constituents with only pre-tribulation rapture and glory on their mind will find themselves unfit for the New World Order of The Lamb, and seriously deceived about the quality of soul to be welcomed there. Those in that case would do well to plan a trip to the laundromat of Great Tribulation to wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, and cancel all plans to be air-lifted to their fanciful destination Glory. They, like the naked king in the fable of "The King Who Wore No Clothes," are victims of their own dissatisfaction with the truth.
Dispelling illusions is absolutely key to getting a true picture — and thus being able to truly prepare. Understanding that deceit is almost always sweet, and truth more akin to reproof, every effort has been made in this thesis to err in favor of the wise ear.26 Being prepared for the coming of the Great Day of God Almighty is not something to be even mildly mistaken about, in my opinion.
The Acceptable-Year-Acceptable-Witness Link
One of the stipulated purposes of the coming of the LORD's Anointed One, according to Isaiah (61:1-3) was that He should "proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." Messiah did indeed proclaim what was acceptable in that regard during His first visit with us. But even His most intimate followers at that time failed to fully recognized the appointed season intended for it — not due to any inherent complexity, but to other errors (of the mind). We have examined the probable whys and wherefores fairly extensively, in hopes that we in our day might learn not only when the acceptable year is to be expected, but, more importantly, to come to simply accept the time as it is proclaimed — clear of any misconceptions spawned by deceitful hearts.
Critical to understanding the acceptable year of the Lord is grasping the meaning of the renown proclamation introduced in the previous section — "the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" We saw that, even among the most devoted and intimate of Christ's followers, there was considerable perplexity surrounding that idea, and a general belief at one point that the Kingdom of God would "immediately appear."
The concept of The Kingdom is absolutely central to the teachings of Christ, as well as those of all the Hebrew prophets. It is, without a doubt, the heart and soul of the biblical message, and the hope for which millions have waited throughout the ages — the much acclaimed "blessed hope." With respect to that hope, Messiah conclusively stipulated a condition that mankind's wicked world order would not be finally replaced with God's righteous order until "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations (Matt.24:14)." "Gospel" (originally euangélion in the Greek, and more literally the root of the English word evangelism) means good tidings/message/news. In terms of message content, Christ's objective was that the good tidings of His specially defined Kingdom — as He personally taught and demonstrated — should first be published and proclaimed to all nations.
The intent is evidently that all peoples should be given full advance notice of the will and purpose of the Creator for His Creation. Thus, they should be able to make an informed selection, when faced with the choice of allegiance to either the global regime of the Beast, or the Messianic New World Order. Ignorance of the Messianic Kingdom, nor unsuspected surprise at its advent, cannot and will not be a factor in the public acceptance or rejection of it, nor in the judgment of the selection made. The Kingdom is being heralded at this very moment, and will be proclaimed even more ardently and comprehensively as the days progress, until the sheep have all been divided from the goats. And as the end draws near, there shall be no misgivings about its nature either.
Faithful witnesses shall give testimony
to that Kingdom, even at the expense of their lives — which is really
the only believable testimony that could effectively impact the decisions
of millions of already perplexed earthlings, who don't know what to believe.
The twelfth-hour age of astonishment into which we are even now beginning
to transition will yet give rise to a final pair of extraordinary prophets.
Two powerful terminal-era prophets, previously studied in chapters 4 and
7, are destined to spearhead the final witness campaign, providing
straightforward, unmuddled testimony of the coming
Theocratic Order, versus the luciferian
option.27 They will be heeded and supported
by multitudes of other witnesses, equally committed to the testimony of Christ
during the last hour of supreme contest and trial in the war of the
worlds.
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. —Revelation 11:3-7
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they [the believing brethren on earth] loved not their lives unto the death. . . . And the dragon was wroth with the woman [corporate body of believers], and went to make war with the remnant of her seed [remaining saints & witnesses], which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. —Revelation 12:9-11 & 17
The description of the casualties in this endtime conflict reflect the
degree of commitment to that testimony:
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. —Revelation 6:9-11
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands. . . . And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. —Revelation 7:9
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. —Revelation 20:4
As Christ gave His life to conclusively validate His credentials and as authentication of His testimony of the Theocratic Order, so shall the multitudes of martyrs of these last days also do. Miracles were one of the certifying trademarks of Messiah, and will also certify the two sackcloth prophets soon to appear. But, power to do miracles is not the exclusive domain of the Good Force; and the Dark Force will unleash its full ability in these last days to also manifest miracles; so that the most conclusive measure of veracity in this age of "strong delusion" will be the "washing of robes in the Lamb's Blood."
The lives of the witnesses are already supposed to be sacrificed upon their crosses of daily death to self and to material-world ambitions, as validation of the "testimony of Jesus Christ." Quite tragically however, as has been harped so repeatedly by this author, rapture and escape doctrines most commonly prevail among the mainstream of would-be "witnesses," which only serve to belittle and denigrate that sacred testimony. A witness that actually forsakes the opportunity to achieve material comfort, success, and prosperity for the sake of the "world to come," is a witness to be believed. On the other hand, the duplicity of all others that, contrariwise, manifest Babylonish affections renders their witness dubious and fully unworthy of serious credibility. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matt.6:21)."
Those who truly believe in the promise of the Kingdom and in the testimony of Jesus do not make committed investments in the fleeting substance of the mammonistic order of "Great Babylon." Rather, they join the great patriarchs of Apostle Paul's "hall of fame" in his epic chapter to the Hebrews on the crucial theme of faith (chapter 11). According to Paul, it is "impossible to please God without faith" (Heb.11:6) — faith that is manifest by action. His definitive statement on faith highlighted the lifestyles and conduct of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and many others who clung to their faith in the promises unto the death. The distinguishing factor in their tenacious embrace of God's promises was that they were so persuaded of them that they declared and maintained their status as that of "strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Heb.11:13)."
Paul goes on in Hebrews 11, verses 14-16, to point out that such lifestyles of faith "declare plainly" a conviction in "a better country, that is, an heavenly [one]." The unmistakable conviction of those patriarchs, which they faithfully lived out in a lifelong, dedicated quest for that promised country, is what earned them the distinction, as Paul puts it, that "God is not ashamed to be called their God." The clear lesson is, of course, that those who doubt that God has "prepared for them a city" will instead earn shame and disgust unto themselves in the sight of God. And, what is it that "declares plainly" whether one doubts, or has faith? Plainly understood from Hebrews 11 — either a lifestyle of affection for materialism, or one that opts to renounce it all for a "better country."
Beyond that (in verses 24-27), Paul further expands on this principle by adding affliction to the ingredients of faith, when he notes that Moses chose "rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for season." By forsaking his potential inheritance to the throne of Egypt (being regarded the son of Pharaoh's daughter), Paul indicated that Moses esteemed the expatriation and vagabond character of Messiah's calling as "greater riches than the treasures in Egypt," because he had "respect unto the recompense of the reward." That is, he had faith in the greatness of the Messianic Kingdom to come, and demonstrated it, gladly accepting the associated suffering. Paul finally concludes, in chapter 13 of Hebrews, "Let us go forth therefore unto [Christ] without the camp [joining Him outside the acceptable established order], bearing his reproach [banishment for non-conformity]. For here [in this world] have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come (Heb.13:13-14)."
We touch on this aspect of genuine faith in the Promise of the Kingdom to draw attention to an understanding which the ancient Hebrew patriarchs had of the fabulous substance and essence of the "city, country, and kingdom" to come. Centuries later, the Disciples of Yeshua Ha'Mashiyach got a living taste of that essence, in the flavor of the very King Himself. For it is the king that defines the nature and character of his kingdom by the laws he establishes for the conduct of its affairs and governance of its citizens. It is in that light that we, more than even the great Hebrew forefathers, have much greater insight into the flavor of the Kingdom of God, by our own taste of the very quintessence of that kingdom in the person of Messiah Himself. And, it is for that simple reason that John the Baptist, Christ, and His Disciples all proclaimed — at the time of Messiah's physical presence on Earth in the land of Israel 2000 years ago — that "the Kingdom of God is at hand."
At the very hub of this central Kingdom theme is the Perfect Model of
the sum and substance of Kingdom life. Yeshua's life and teachings while
on Earth were the quintessential example of that sum and substance. His
otherworldly Kingdom is not made up of mere material superstructure, or comprised
primarily of a physical construct of cities, buildings, and other material
elements (with a bunch of humans tossed in to adorn it). In fact, when His
Disciples approached Him with worldly grandiosity in their eyes — as
they ogled the magnificent superstructures they thought they would shortly
be lords over in the New Order — Yeshua found it necessary to employ
some shock therapy in an attempt to readjust their misplaced sense of
values:
And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. —Mark 13:1-2
His thorough devaluation of their material significance is conspicuous in the severe curse He pronounced upon those "great buildings" by sweeping destruction, such that not a single stone would remain standing upon another! So much for the glory of man. Physical buildings and cities are not the essence of the Kingdom of God.28
For all practical matters, that is the least of it and the easiest, simplest portion of it to produce (if even all that desirable!). Consider that God created the perfect physical environment and setting for the establishment of this Kingdom, with all its abundance of resources, in only six days. But in terms of properly suited inhabitants, it has taken thousands of years to recondition and prepare the participants and citizens of that heavenly world order for entry and functional participation in that order (thanks to the Pandora's box of corruption unleashed by Adam and Eve in their choice of the Serpent as their mentor and ally to their ambition). The viability of that divinely designed realm is dependent on the nature and character of the beings which are to inhabit it as its citizens, not on buildings and superstructures.29 In fact, in terms of temples and buildings and cities, the biblical concept is one of living stones and a living temple.30
It was evidently as part of a Divine strategy — to cancel any preoccupation with the physical or material features of the New World Order of YHWH — that even Messiah Himself was initially uninformed exactly of the "the day and the hour" when the world would end, and subsequently, of when the full-scale Kingdom of God should come. Hence, the primary endeavor toward establishing the Kingdom, and the key element stressed, was to prepare the way of the Lord by first preparing the hearts of men to enter into this Kingdom — in spirit. Herein lies the key to comprehending why Messiah insisted that the Kingdom of God "cometh not with observation," but rather that "the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:20-21)."
The strategy was first of all to gather the "lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt.10:5-7)," and then to go "into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15)." As stated in the previous section, Messiah made it clear that, before the end, "the gospel must first be published among all nations (Mark 13:10)." This was the established priority, of far greater concern than when the full-blown physical manifestation of the gospel promise should occur. According to Christ, the whole world needed to hear about it and have an opportunity to make their selection and exercise their faith, one way or the other.31 As Apostle Paul urged, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher (Romans 10:13-14)?"
This was Christ's preoccupation, which He wisely hitched to the excited
energy of His very anxious team of work horse Disciples. In a sense, Yeshua
made full advantage of their "chomping on the bit" to provide the impetus
and momentum for delivering His payload (the gospel of the Kingdom) to all
the ends of the earth. And, to insure that the momentum would be sustained
for the duration, He kept them guessing as to the exact day and hour of His
return, admonishing them in these words:
But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch. —Mark 13:32-37
The strategy, we see, was to keep them fully alert and working steadily on their assignment. We should also note that this strategy originated with The Father. For as Yeshua confessed in His own words, not even He knew the exact time. Had he known the day and hour at that time, He probably would not have withheld it from them; because, He considered His Disciples such intimate friends that He committed to full disclosure with them.32
Earlier in this chapter it was stated that the intense interest of the Disciples in knowing exactly when the Messiah's world government would come prompted them to repeated probing of the Master for the date. One of the most notable of those instances occurred again only about a month-and-a-half after the Olivet interrogation. This time (again upon the Mount of Olives), it was after His crucifixion and resurrection. As Luke points out in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, Yeshua "showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs" and was "seen of them forty days...speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3)." Well, at the conclusion of that additional forty-day period spent with His Disciples, elaborating further on the New World Order of YHWH, the time for His departure from Earth arrived and again gave rise to another round of questioning.
What must have triggered the inquiry was Yeshua's instruction (in verse 4) "that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which," He reminded them, "ye have heard of me" (from earlier teachings prior to His death).33 Then, after revisiting the symbolism of John the Baptist's priming call to radical repentance and complete renewal, He pledged (in verse 5), as he had before, that they would be immersed in His Very Own Spirit, after a mere wait of "not many days hence." This Spirit, the Power by which Yeshua Himself had been operating, was now to be theirs as well in a matter of days!
Well, as you can imagine, this announcement drew them into a tight huddle around Him with nothing but "the big question" in the forefront of their minds — "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6)?" His reply was point-blank, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power (Acts 1:7)."
And with that, He immediately turned their attention back to the #1 Priority: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8)." They had their marching orders. On top of that, as if to underscore the mandate and reemphasize its priority, while they stood staring up into the sky as they beheld Yeshua ascend up into the clouds, "two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven (Acts 1:10-11)." In other words, "You all know the score, now let's get back to the game and play some serious ball!" — (Please pardon the sporting metaphor.)
Messiah, at the time of this "pre-ascension interrogation" which we just examined from the Book of Acts, did not state as He had before crucifixion, that He didn't know the day and the hour. Rather, He pointedly replied this time that it just wasn't for them to have that precise information, which The Father had reserved unto Himself.
But especially for the sake of the stubborn nobody-knows-the-day-or-the-hour buffs, it must be made perfectly clear that things are not quite the same as they were prior to the crucifixion at the time of the Olivet Discourse. Dear brother John the Apostle (also often referred to as John the Revelator) author of the "Apocalypse," made us to understand by the Book of the Revelation, that the Lamb — who was slain — was since found worthy to open the Holy Scroll of the Future, sealed with seven seals, which no one else in heaven or in earth, nor under the earth was found worthy to open, or to even look upon (Revelation 5, whole chapter).
After John tells us he "wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look upon (v. 4)," he speaks of an heavenly-based elder who comforted him with these words: "Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof (v.5)." Probably approaching the age of 90, John still had not been able to let go of his ardent desire to know when the great Restoration would come and put an end to iniquity. I imagine he would have died broken-hearted had this great secret not been revealed.
In chapter 7, we studied what was revealed to John about the veiled day and hour "when there should be time no longer," and when the Voice of the Seventh Angel finally trumpets that "the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets (Rev.10:5-7)." What John learned was especially intended to be passed on to us. And in fact, the whole book of the Apocalypse was given as a fulfillment of the Lamb's promise to guide His friends "into all truth" and to show them "things to come." (See footnote 33, "The Promise.") Specifically included was the very day of the end of the world, though still in partially inconclusive terms. That is to say, the Apocalypse does indeed specify the day when time will be no longer, but only in terms of placing it 1,260 days after another signal point in time, which is only described and not dated.34 So that, once the sign appears as described there will be no quibble about exactly how much time is left. John's patient wait for this information took him up almost to the end of his life at the turn of the 1st century. But he got it!
It's important to ask, how did John come about this prized top-secret file detailing the last few years of history? The answer: From someone who confessed he did not previously have access to it, before he died. That same someone who had before declared to John and his compatriots that no one—not he, nor the angels in heaven—had the clearance to view that file, except God Himself. Now, however, things had changed. This same Someone, spoken of in the Apocalypse as The Lamb, had offered His life in supreme sacrifice to the Love of The Father and His children, The Lamb's brethren. Consequently, this Lamb now merited the exclusive right to crack the seals and view the secrets of the Scroll, and to pass them on to the brethren.
A good many prophecy "experts" fail to note that the first five words of the very first verse of the Apocalypse attest to the fact that Jesus Christ learned something after His death that He did not know before; and also, that the whole purpose for "The Revelation...which God gave unto him" was "to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass..." So, as I have said, though there is still some temporary uncertainty, for deliberate reasons, about the date and time of the Zero Hour, there is a conclusive, well-defined point at which it is time to begin the countdown to the Trumpet of the Seventh Angel.
That seventh voice will herald the "acceptable year of the Lord," which the Lord did proclaim when He walked the earth with Peter and John and the others. He, in fact, proclaimed it by stipulating that the acceptable year was not yet, but must follow some dramatic Earthly developments, as well as major witness accomplishments, and be preceded by the Great Tribulation and the Abomination of Desolation.
Not until the ultimate Beast Kingdom of Luciferian-Man hatches upon earth, when the people of the world have filled the cup of their iniquity to the brim, will the acceptable year of the Lord come. When mankind has fully realized himself as the despicably proud and ungrateful rebel that he is, when his materialist achievements reach their pinnacle as he enters into blasphemous alliance with Lucifer himself to fully defy the intent and purpose of God, jointly partnering with him in his own ambition to BE God, then will the end come. When mankind's insane, covetous obsession with his own power and glory becomes so pervasive that it compels him to set himself up as God, via the global rally to adore the man-god person of their techno-miracle-manifesting Antichrist hero, then YHWH will be compelled to destroy the destroyers.35
Until then, the marching cadence of the authentic corps of cross-bearers must be stepped up dramatically to advance against the anti-God forces of the specious New World Orders, which exalt war and the technology of destruction to defend and advance covetous greed, dominance, and vainglory under the chicane banner of "peace, prosperity and world unity." For even now, two would-be world orders actually vie for supremacy, East pitted against West. One ensnares and enslaves by advancing the hedonistic religion of mammon and humanistic democracy as supreme. The other, by self-righteous advocacy of the supposed superiority of its holier-than-thou religion over all others, in which the Resurrected Jew is only but a mere "prophet." Which world order has captured your allegiance?
In the end, the Order of the Great Whore will be severely scourged by the Beast and his cohorts, for her idolatrous wandering harlotry. But then too, the momentarily triumphant Order of the Beast of Blasphemy will ultimately be crushed with blood-wringing fury in the Great Day of the Vengeance and Wrath of Almighty God.
Neither of these two orders holds anything but hollow, temporary promise. Their deceitful allure is terminal, and their fruit is certain death with no remedy. The only escape to freedom and true life (of the everlasting pursuit of happiness) is in the New World Order of Messiah, the Kingdom of God. But the only entrance there is by death to self and worldly ambitions,36 which requires faith to renounce any allegiance to the world orders of the Whore or the Beast. Faith for such death unto life lies in the testimony of Jesus Christ, who sacrificed his blood to seal and certify a solemn, binding pledge that we can be born again into everlasting life.37 There are only two promises to consider: glory now, or glory later.
The admonitions are also two—one for those who stumble in the
intoxicating shadow of the Whore, and the other for those who have been allured
by the rising star and new moon of the specious "salvation" of the "omnipotent"
Beast to come. First, for those who have been rendered senseless by stupefaction
on the consummate materialism of the "great city," BABYLON THE GREAT, THE
MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH (Rev.17:5 &
18):
Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. —Revelation 18:4
For those who are possessed with envy and jealous hatred, and covet
to overthrow the Great City superpower, so as to take her place as the ultimate
power brokers and rulers of the world:
If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. —Revelation 14:9-12
Twenty virgins do not await you in paradise for sacrificing your life
to devils and their violent doctrines of covetousness. The commandments of
YHWH and the faith of Yeshua Ha'Mashiach are the key to your salvation, peace,
paradise, pleasure and most likely virgins too!
And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees [from China to Sri Lanka to Chechnya, to Serbia, Bosnia, El Salvador and Cuba, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan, to the new Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) and the Republic of S. Africa, not to mention all the countries of Latin America only within the last couple decades turning from repressive dictatorships to American-style democracies, now rushing into expansive free-trade compacts]; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. —Luke 21:29-31
Providing the answer to the question of "When shall the end come?" has been the major endeavor of this book and its wandering tour through the ancient prophetic records of the Hebrews. Answering that question as straighforwardly as possible with sound, well-laid bases, is the driving motivation that has compelled its writing. Though the perspective contained herein is a very minority-held view these days, it is really nothing new or different than what the ancients have already declared.
All that remains, actually the hardest part of the equation, once we have been convinced of the divine inspiration of the Bible's prophets is to act upon their counsels. The fact that The End is not quite yet is not reason to be lulled into complacency, but opportunity to PREPARE. My deepest hope is that the magnitude of the import of all that I have endeavored to share with you will result in the most fabulous joy a human could ever know. Flee the foolish and LIVE!
Chapter 14 Footnotes — "Tell Us When!"
Acts 15:21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
Acts 13:27 the voices of the prophets...are read every sabbath day...
Luke 4:16 And [Yeshua] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.Back To Text
Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned [Gr. aggrámmatoí, illiterate] and ignorant [Gr. idiótai, uneducated] men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
3 inquiring fishermen want to know
Mark 13:3-4 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?
Mark 1:16-19 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him. And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets.
Mark 1:14-15 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Matt 10:5-8 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: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Luke 9:1-3 & 10:1-9 Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece. (10:1-9) After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. . . . Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. . . . heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
Mark 9:33-35 And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.
Luke 9:46-48 Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest. And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child, and set him by him, and said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.
Luke 22:24-26 And [at their "last" Passover observance on the eve of the Crucifixion] there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.
Matthew 19:28-29 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
Matt 20:20-28 Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
The implication, by Hebrew idiom, of "in the highest" seems to be that they called for the ultimate deliverance foreseen and promised by the Prophets. Other equally acceptable translations might read, "by the Highest" (referring to the Most High God), or "at the highest," or perhaps, "to the utmost" — all virtually synonymous in significance.
Only a few short months (apparently) prior to the commencement of Yeshua's pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the "final" Passover with His twelve disciples (probably just the summer before?) — during the tour of the region Galilee, in which he twice fed huge crowds of thousands with a few loaves and fishes — there was evidently a concerted effort made by those amazed, fish-feasted multitudes to rally a movement to establish Yeshua as a king. According to John, "Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone (John 6:14-15)."
Luke 22:33 And [Peter] said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. [Indeed this revolutionary did take up arms to defend the cause on the night of the betrayal and arrest of the Commander in Chief:]
Matt 26:51-53 And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? [John identifies the assailant:]
John 18:10-11 Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear...Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?
12 it's not assassination — it's preserving the order, I mean, "keeping the peace"
John 12:19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.
John 11:47-51 Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation...
13 to hell with 30 pieces of silver...I wanted to rule the world!
Matthew 27:3-5 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that [Christ] was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
14 things will be different now
Luke 22:35-38 And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end. And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.
John 7:1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.
Luke 9:51 And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem...
John 11:8 His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
John 11:57 Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should shew it, that they might take him.
Luke 19:11 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.
Isaiah 53:7-10 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Daniel 9:26 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.
Psalm 22:15-18 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones [none were broken, though the two thieves beside him had their legs broken]: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
18 no money down, just worship me!...(or, buy now, pay later)
Matthew 4:8-9 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Luke 4:5-8 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
This quote from Luke is not an isolated account, where perhaps he might have misheard or misread the proclamation of Messiah. Matthew and Mark both corroborate the declaration. Matthew said, "...till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom (Matt 16:28)"; and Mark, "...till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power (Mark 9:1)."
Unfortunately, what is known to psychologists as "selective listening" came into play here, i.e., hearing what one wants to hear. A sort of "tunnel vision" blinded them to the many other related teachings concerning the Kingdom. In terms of this particular teaching — that some, even standing in Yeshua's very presence at that time, were destined as not truly to taste of death, till they were to see the Kingdom come — Luke helps us understand: "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out (Luke 13:28)." In other words, a carnal death and cessation of existence and movement in the material realm of this world is really no big deal, in terms of eternal destinies and the incredible life of the World To Come. The true death, of real and lasting consequence, will consist in seeing the fabulous establishment of the everlasting joy of life in the Kingdom of God on Earth, but being barred and shut out from it into a place of perpetual torment, because of miserable choices and bad attitudes in the first life! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth at the knowledge that it was yours for the taking, but you opted for the iniquitous here-and-now, because all that Messiah and Bible "nonsense" didn't appeal to you, or required too much faith.
20 not the "1984" model of big brother
John 15:12-15 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Mark 10:13-15 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.
Matthew 18:2-4 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
22 the millennium of the child
Zechariah 8:3-5 Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.
Isaiah 9:6-7 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Isaiah 11:5-9 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 65:20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old [in the land of the "fountain of youth"]; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
Isaiah 49:25 ...Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.
Isaiah 54:13 And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.
Isaiah 66:8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
Ezekiel 37:25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
Zechariah 10:9 And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again.
Malachi 4:5-6 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers [reunited in joyful purpose], lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
John 19:12-15 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. . . . But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
24 use your head — think twice!
Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Lest we mistakenly assume that the archaic practice of beheading is no longer fashionable in the 20th century, or likely to ever make a comeback in our modern "civilized" world, consider a report by the Associated Press of October 27, 1996, entitled "Saudis holding Dhahran truck bombing suspect" in the Sunday edition of the local Santa Fe New Mexican. The report on the investigation of the Dhahran terrorist attack of June 25, 1996, which killed 23 (19 American) and injured 200, concludes with a paragraph on the investigation of the previous year's car bomb attack on a U.S. military facility in Riyadh, which killed 5 Americans and 2 Indians. Investigation of that incident by U.S. officials, according to the report, was short-circuited by the unavailability of the suspects — because the four Saudi men being held had in connection to that bombing had already supposedly confessed to Saudi officials and "were beheaded before U.S. officials could question them."
Contrary to the popular notion of the majority of Bible prophecy experts, the New World Order of Antichrist will not be European-based. According to the ancient prophecy of Isaac (approx. 2000 BCE) and recorded by Moses in Genesis 27:38-40, dominance roles will be reversed by the descendants of Esau (generally, father of the Arabs, conjoined with Ishmael by intermarriage, and consequently also of their sword-based culture and related religious evolution — Islam): "And by thy sword shalt thou [Esau] live, and shalt serve thy brother [Jacob]; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck." —Gen.27:40 The Western World Order will soon see more than just its flags burning as it topples from 1st World status! Remember that the Antichrist Coalition of Revelation 17 will hate the Whore, make her desolate and naked, eat her "flesh," and burn her with fire. Beheading will be common in the "New World Order," not Western-style criminal "rehabilitation" or proscription of "cruel and unusual punishment."
25 Christianity — fan club, spectator sport, or serious discipleship?
Luke 14:25-27, 33 And there went great multitudes with [Jesus]: and he turned, and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. . . . So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
Acts 11:26 ...And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
26 tough love is wisely welcomed
Proverb 9:8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
Ecclesiates 7:5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.
Proverb 27:5-6 Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
Proverb 15:31-32 The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.
Proverb 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
Proverb 10:17 He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he that refuseth reproof erreth.
Proverb 15:10 Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die.
Revelation 14:6-7 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Isaiah 14:12 & 21 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! . . . Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.
29 pass the collection plate for the building fund — a box for God?
Acts 17:24-25 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things...
Acts 7:48-50 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these things?
Hosea 8:14 For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.
John 2:19-21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.
1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
2 Corinthians 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
1 Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
Mark 16:15-16 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized [cleansed] shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Note: Considerable confusion surrounds the concept of baptism, and has been another of those bones of contention among various sects and denominations of squabbling Christians. The fact is that a ritual dipping in water can never cleanse the spirit, soul, or mind. As Apostle Peter, put it, "...baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Pet.3:21)." That is, Jesus Christ proved by His resurrection from the dead that He is the Son of God, and thus that complete faith in His every word — by total immersion in it — will cleanse and save us by its effect on our hearts and minds (conscience). "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken to you." (John 15:3) The key to this clean change of heart is total immersion, in my opinion.—I mean, either we believe it fully or we don't.
Thayer's Bible Dictionary analyzes the meaning of the Greek word "baptizo" quite well, explaining that one of the most common connotations of the word is, to overwhelm, or to be overwhelmed by immersion or submersion. It reads, "The clearest example that shows the meaning of baptizo is a text from the Greek poet and physician Nicander, who lived about 200 BC. It is a recipe for making pickles. . . . Nicander says that in order to make a pickle, the vegetable should first be 'dipped' (bapto) into boiling water and then 'baptized' (baptizo) in the vinegar solution. Both verbs concern the immersing of vegetables in solution. But the first is temporary. The second, the act of baptizing the vegetable, produces a permanent change."
John 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
John 14:25-26 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
John 15:26-27 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
John 16:7-15 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
See Chapter 6 in this book for Daniel's corresponding (and corroborating) revelations providing the countdown to the end in specific numbers of days.
35 save the planet from pride pollution
Revelation 11:18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
36 mystery of seeds: life multiplies by death
John 12:24-25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Hebrews 13:20-21 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Matthew 26:28-29 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.
[NEXT CHAPTER]
~~
~~
[BACK TO T.O.C.]
