THE BIBLICAL TIMELINE

TIME, DIVINITY AND INTELLIGENT DESIGN

Before setting up a hermeneutic for our research, we need to confirm, for the record, that Scripture declares itself more than just ancient literature. Otherwise our search for divinity wouldn't make sense. Also if the Bible didn't profess a timeline then we couldn't expect to find it much less use it to establish evidence. So we need to show that a Biblical calendar exists and that we can derive it.

 

John 1:1 makes claim to divinity: ¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And John 1:14 defines the Word as Christ: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.... And 2 Corinthians 4:4 defines Christ as God: ...the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God... So according to Scripture God (Christ) didn't just write it, He is it and created it through what He did.

 

In Psalms 138, God ²…hast magnified thy word above all thy name. Since God wouldn't put anything man wrote above Himself, we can assume Psalms 138:2 implies divinity.

 

2 Timothy 3:16 remains firm in claiming that ¹⁶All scripture is given by inspiration of God… ²¹For…prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter 1:21).

 

2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:21 allow us to assume the following: either God wrote All scripture, including every word and letter in the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts, or God wrote none of it. That assump- tion simplifies our work.

 

Jeremiah 30 shows how God used men as His secretaries: ¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, ²Thus speaketh the LORD… Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book. Else- where God commands Jeremiah to ²Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel… (Jere-miah 36). God also commands John in Revelation 1: ¹¹…What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches…in Asia. 

 

In Isaiah 55 God has a purpose for the Book's publication: ¹¹So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. So according to Scripture every verse comes straight out of the mouth of God.

We conclude that Scripture professes divinity. Now as regard to time: John 1:3 and Genesis 1:14 together infer God made time itself: ³All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made (John 1). ¹⁴And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs…seasons…days, and years (Genesis 1). 

 

So God made everything that was made, including lights in the firmament …for seasons…days, and years. Therefore He made time itself as a "space" for events to unfold within; otherwise we'd have timelessness, whatever that is. For example: God set up the most mighty Pharaoh (Romans 9:17) to resist Moses and pay for his stubbornness along with his army in the Red Sea (Exodus 15:4). He raised up Israel to invade Canaan (Psalm 105:11), the Assyrians to conquer Israel (Ezekiel 23:9), the Babylonians to destroy Judah (Jeremiah 39, Daniel 1), the Medes to conquer Babylon (Daniel 5:31), and Alexander the Great to take Persia (Daniel 8). We have Christ's birth, the cross and Israel as a nation state.

 

Ecclesiastes 3 reveals that God didn't set up these events haphazardly but had a definite purpose and schedule: ¹To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven… ¹⁷…God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. In Ecclesiastes 8: ⁶Because to every purpose there is time and judgment… Ephesians 1:11 also implies God made significant events to occur for His own purpose: ¹¹…we… being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

 

Isaiah 46:10 confirms that, according to his purpose, God will do what- ever He intends to do on schedule: ¹⁰Declaring the end from the begin- ning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: The word, pleasure, comes from the same transliteration, ḥēpeṣ, as does the word, purpose.

 

So Scripture affirms that God executes his purpose according to a strict timetable.

 

This timeline I intend to construct professes an end to the church age: May 21, 1988 (see February 2). Acts 1:6-7 assures us we can't figure out the Biblical calendar as long as the congregations stay in business (also see Supplement June 10). When the apostles ask Christ when the restoration of his kingdom will take place, Christ tells them they can't know the Biblical timeline: ⁷ …It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power…

 

The book of Acts concerns the church age. In Acts 1 Christ prophesizes that the churches, ⁸…shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

 

Indeed the churches did go into the uttermost part(s) of the earth. But they couldn't know the Biblical calendar. Consequently they assumed Christ would come as a thief in the night, according to 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and 2 Peter 3:10. Since no thief calls in advance, they concluded no one could know when Christ would return.

 

However Ecclesiastes 8:5 reveals a time when we can calculate this schedule: ⁵…a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment. ⁶Because to every purpose (of God) there is time and judgment… 

 

A wise man is someone God has saved from eternal damnation. The word judgment means God's law (the Bible) and penalty for sin. The word time needs no explanation. So Ecclesiastes 8:5 predicts that at least one saved individual will figure out the Biblical calendar. Therefore at some point the church age must come to an end.

 

Luke 12:39 also gives us hope that we can know the end times: ³⁹…if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. The thief refers to the second coming of Christ.

 

We assume the goodman should have watched the Bible rather than the stars, some religion or church doctrine. Otherwise we'd have to figure out which religion or church to watch. Besides, all Christian doctrines origin- ate from Scripture. Therefore in order to uncover this calendar, we must give the Bible preference over any creed or denomination.

 

Now we have to ask why no one could figure out this calendar during the church age. We know from Acts 1:7 that God didn't intend to divulge times or…seasons to the congregations. But still, we have the same Bible today as we did then. So why couldn't we figure out the timeline in the past?

 

In Daniel 12, the prophet Daniel asks God: ⁸…what shall be the end of these things? ⁹And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. We get an idea of the meaning of the word, sealed, in Isaiah 29: ¹¹The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is lit- erate, saying, "Read this, please." And he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed." ¹²Then the book is delivered to one who is illiterate, saying, "Read this, please." And he says, "I am not literate."

 

So we couldn't know the timeline during the church age because the Bible was sealed. God put a seal on Scripture by writing difficult language and misleading verses. He allowed errors in translation and the teaching of unbiblical belief systems: do-it-yourself gospels and a conviction we couldn't know the end times. But Daniel 12:9 implies that near the end we can know the time of the end. (For further discussion on this topic see Supplement: March 5) So when we do figure out the correct calendar, we'll know the church age must have ended.

 

According to the timeline in question, its end date of May 21, 2011 certainly puts us near the time of the end (of Daniel 12:9). So it makes sense to reconstruct this calendar, thereby check every inference and calculation along the way. 2 Thessalonians 5:2-5 confirms this reasoning:

²For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. ³For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sud- den destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. Then God address another group: ⁴ But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. ⁵Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

 

That God addresses two different groups assures us that the pronoun, they, in verse 3 refers to those who assume the Lord…cometh as a thief in the night. They tell each other, Peace and safety (because they assume the Lord…cometh as a thief in the night). But then sudden destruction comes upon them. So we'd best begin validating the timeline by calculat- ing it from day one.

 

Finally we look briefly at how this Biblical calendar might provide evi- dence for divinity. (For a further discussion on this topic see supple- ment: June 12)

 

If God made what happened to happen in His good time, then just as we find physical pattern in the living things He made, we'd expect to see the same in the timing of Biblical events; i.e., we wouldn't anticipate a ran- dom string of dates; furthermore this chronological pattern must negate human authorship. By focusing on this sequential "design" (assuming it exists), we avoid evolutionary arguments over what constitutes "intelli- gent design" in life forms. In part 3, after collecting the data, we more fully define this pattern.

 

On June 11 and 14 we show that Scripture gives us a hermeneutic for this chronology.

GOD’S SECRET REVEALED TO HIS PROPHETS

On June 9 we determined that Scripture gives us a timeline (John 1:3 and Genesis 1:14) and according to a strict schedule God uses time as a "space" for events to unfold within (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 17; 8:6 and Ephe- sians 1:11). We also determined that we can't figure out this timeline until after the church age (Acts 1:6-7). But at the time of the end we can deter- mine it (Daniel 12:8-9). Amos 3:7-8 shows that indeed God intends to reveal this timeline at the time of the end. That this calendar has already been figured out means we're in that end time.

In Amos 3: ⁷Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

The verse begs the questions: What secret will God reveal and when will He reveal it? Does this secret include Judgment Day? God reveals what He does in the Bible to his prophets, but only according to a strict sched- ule. God did reveal His intentions to such prophets as Moses, Jeremiah and Noah etc. Before the completion of Scripture, God revealed Christ's birth to Mary, Joseph, Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth; also to Simeon and Anna in the temple and some shepherds in the field (Luke 2). God revealed the birth not only to the Magi via the stars but to most every- body else. In those days people consulted the stars as we do today's news- papers (see December 24, 25). Also at Jesus' baptism John the Baptist revealed Christ as "The Lamb" Who takes away sin for the elect. In Acts 2:41 God revealed the beginning of the church age to the three thousand who became saved and therefore became prophets. Also after 1988 God revealed to his prophets via Scripture the ending of the church age.

The verse that follows Amos 3:7 backs up our assertion that God's secret includes God's judgment: ⁷Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. ⁸The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?

That the lion hath roared clues us in to Judgment Day. A roaring lion can refer to Satan, as in 1 Peter 5:8, but also to Christ, as in Proverbs 19: ¹²The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion; but his favour is as dew upon the grass. Revelation 5:5 refers to Christ as a Lion. ⁵And one of the elders saith unto me, 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. The context of Amos 3:8 must refer to Christ on Judgment Day as the Lion.

We conclude that the secret in Amos 3:7 includes God's judgment at the end of the world (May 21, 2011; see February 4) and God will reveal it to His prophets ahead of time. Indeed God did reveal it within the last dec- ade (see Part II).

Consider the precedents of God's Judgment: Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen- esis 19:24), the Noachian flood (Genesis 7), and Nineveh (Jonah 3:3-4).

In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah God considered only Lot and his two daughters as prophets (saved individuals). Even if only at the last minute, God did reveal his secret to them (Genesis 19:12-13) so they could get out of town before all hell broke loose.

From Genesis 6:8-9 we know Noah was saved: ⁸But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. ⁹…Noah was a just man and perfect in his gener- ations, and Noah walked with God. God told His prophet, Noah, that He would bring judgment on the world (Genesis 6:13), So God didn't keep his secret from him and his family.

Certainly everyone would've inquired into the huge ark going up on dry land. Noah, a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), would've gotten the message out. He had a hundred and twenty years (Genesis 6:3) to do so. However God considered only the eight members of Noah's family as prophets and only they actually listened to God's secret of world destruc- tion. Everybody else might have heard the message, but they didn't listen.

In the Book of Jonah the natives of Nineveh had only forty days to learn that God intended to destroy them. They were a heathen people, but God revealed his secret to them through his prophet, Jonah. They had forty days to repent, they did and God saved them. Today people have, as of this writing, 19 months to repent, but Scripture assures us the world as a whole will refuse such action and God will not change His mind about May 21, 2011 (see February 4).

Today if no one knew about May 21, 2011 until the end of the previous century then God's prophets have had a little more than 10 years to tell the world. All the elect will get the message and come broken before God pleading for His mercy.

In closing we'll digress to point out that Jonah 3:4-9 is interesting in that it portrays the dynamics of salvation. ⁴And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. ⁵So the people of Nineveh believed God, and pro- claimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. ⁶For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷And he caused it to be proclaimed and pub- lished through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: ⁸But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. ⁹Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

That they put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes is parabolic language. It means to renounce one's sins and come broken before God: to beg for mercy without any pride, self-justification or denials concerning one's sinful state. Such behavior doesn't guarantee salvation, but we should still consider such action a necessary condition, and those interested in their redemption will do well to imitate the people of Nineveh.

BELIEF SYSTEMS VS. BIBLE INTERPRETATION

In this and the following post we develop our methods of interpretation for researching our timeline.

 

Most contemporary theologians have a way of comparing "parallels" in the synoptic Gospels that supposedly reveal "contradictions." Conse- quently they tell us God never wrote Scripture; rather ancient Hebrew scholars wove together legends and myths from Egyptian, Canaanite and Mesopotamian cultures. Their ingenuity produced a harmony—though not perfect—in what we now call the Bible. So rather than a theology, we have ancient literature in which discrepancies negate any "correct" interpretation. Out pops an anything-goes approach with at least four authors for the Pentateuch, two different creation stories, and all proph- ecies written after the fact.

 

Interpretation is a function of its presuppositions. With faulty preconcep- tions anyone can find apparent discrepancies among verses and thus deny Divinity. But that's like proving New York doesn't exist because certain roads don't go there. The real challenge lies in finding presupposi- tions that lead to Biblical harmony. Therefore we must assume that correct interpretation, if it exists, contains no contradictions. ⁴...let God be true, but every man a liar…; (Romans 3). Moreover this no-con- tradictions-allowed approach is a principle of interpretation. We state this formally as,

Presupposition 1: If divinity is true then the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek in the original manuscripts contain no contradictions—a conclusion we set down as a principle of interpretation.

Corollary 1a: If divinity is true then we must attribute any dis- crepancy in renditions to faulty translation or private interpreta- tion.

 

We define private interpretation with 2 Peter 1: ²⁰Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.  The word, private (idios), refers to one's own.

 

Since anyone's interpretation (of Scripture or anything else) is a private interpretation, we conclude that if a correct version exists then only the Bible can interpret itself; therefore only the Bible can contain its own principles of interpretation; i.e., whatever principles it uses (in its own interpretation). So 2 Peter 1:20 gives us the following:

Presupposition 2: A presupposition is a principle of interpretation if and only if it can be derived from Scripture.

Corollary 2a: the presupposition of divinity is a principle of inter- pretation.

Corollary 2a follows from the previous post—that Scripture professes Divinity (June 9). For a further discussion on this assumption and process, see June 12.

As a third principle of interpretation, 2 Peter 1:20 gives us,

Presupposition 3: Only Scripture can interpret Scripture—a conclusion we set down as a principle of interpretation.

Corollary 3a^⌂: For confirmation of all conclusions or principles we must compare Scripture with Scripture—a conclusion we set down as a principle of interpretation.

Corollary 3b: We can trust no one regarding interpretation—only Scripture itself.

Corollary 3c: Only Scripture can define its own vocabulary.

 

Scripture accomplishes Corollary 3c and Presupposition 3 through the application of Corollary 3a^⌂. And 1 Corinthian 2:13 gives us Corollary 3a^⌂ as a principle of interpretation: ¹³Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Also in John 5 we read, ³⁹Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. Romans 10:17 and 2 Timothy 2:15 also support Cor- ollary 3a^⌂.

 

Languages change over time and Hebrew or Greek words that meant one thing two thousand or more years ago don't necessarily mean the same thing today. So if God wrote the Bible then He would have had to define His own vocabulary within Scripture itself. Therefore we have Corollary 3c.

 

That we can't trust anybody, according to Corollary 3b, includes me, you, this blog, any theologian, evangelist, priest, pastor, imam, rabbi, any church, mosque or anybody else we might have missed; we can't even trust our own reasoning; only Scripture can interpret itself.

 

We can further develop Corollary 3a^⌂ from Revelation 22: ¹⁸ For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: ¹⁹And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

 

Revelation 22:18, 19, does not mean we can't add or take away only from the book of Revelation. Adding or taking away from any other book vio- lates 2 Timothy 3: ¹⁶All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. And Ecclesiastes 3 tells us, ¹⁴…whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it… So Revelation 22:18, 19 means we can't add or take away from any part of the Bible; this implies that we must compare any conclusion with everything else the Bible says about the subject.

 

To exemplify further on Revelation 22:18, 19: If we have only the prem- ise, All dogs have fleas, we can't conclude that, My cat, Felix, has fleas, because that would be adding something, a cat named Felix, to our prem- ise. Also if the word All in our premise includes every dog in the world, then we can't conclude, It's not the case that my dog, Rex, has fleas, be-cause that would be taking away something, a dog named Rex, from our premise.

 

That we can't add or take away pieces from a jigsaw puzzle suggests a model to view interpretation. With the former we expect "perfection" such that we have no missing or extra parts and each piece must fit per- fectly into the picture. Similarly with divinity we expect no incidental phrases or words and each verse must harmonize and add to the compos-ite whole. Just as we have no control over the finished picture puzzle, we have none over what the Bible dictates. So as to not let any preconceived ideas distort our analysis, we must forget anything we thought we knew, or what anyone ever told us, and let only the Bible dictate what it says.

 

So with Revelation 22:18, 19 we can make Corollary 3a^⌂ more definitive:

Corollary 3a: For confirmation of any conclusion or principle we must compare Scripture with all of Scripture and only Scripture—a conclusion we set down as a principle of interpretation.

On June 14 we define our last two presuppositions.

DIVINITY AS A PRINCIPLE OF INTERPRETATION

On June 11 we assumed Divinity as a principle of interpretation. Many people, such as Joe Blow, would scoff at the idea of assuming Divinity before the proof. Joe would argue that statements are either contradictory or they’re not; and if so than such contradictions rule out Divinity. Denying said contradictions forces us to accept Divinity as the only way of "explaining" or somehow circumventing them. We can't for example understand the three Persons in one God without waving the mystery flag. Therefore any prior assumption of Divinity invalidates any “proof” of its existence. It’s sort of like the Cartesian argument, “I doubt, there- fore I am.” As soon as Descartes says “I” in the premise he invalidates the proof because he can’t assume the existence of “I” before he proves its existence. Similarly, Joe would argue that we can’t assume Divinity as a principle of interpretation before proving it exists.

But our friend, Joe, doesn't really understand our process, not the philo- sophical aspects. Biblical events as a function of time make our timeline no small pimple on the dark side of the moon; and if we can show that no date conflicts with another—and it's much simpler to find conflict in num- bers than argue over hermeneutics—then we've taken a small but neces- sary step in showing Biblical credibility. In order to validate this timeline we first have to interpret Scripture. But just as one needs the axiom of parallel lines to do plane geometry, we need Divinity as a principle of in- terpretation to calculate our calendar. That doesn't mean we claim Divin- ity—not yet—no more so than someone in a math class professes parallel lines in the space we live in. The math student deals with abstractions where logical form alone determines truth values, not anything going on in the actual world. True, we can't blast off to two distant galaxies, meas- ure the interior angles with our own, and see if we get 180 degrees. But that doesn't mean that because we can't fly out of the universe to see if God is there that we can't make an argument for Divinity after we've figured out the calendar.

Once we calculate the dates, we can look at the factorization of the num- bers between them. We show on February 21 that these factors—e.g., 17, 23, 37, 43—have parabolic meaning that complement the context. On February 23 and 25 we create an inductive argument with these factors of significant numbers popping up too many times for Joe to dismiss as co-incidental. Setting up all these dates from Scripture alone in Part 2 pre- vents Joe from accusing us of tampering. That leaves him with only one counterargument: human authors rigged the numbers. But suppose no one until the latter half of the previous century knew this timeline existed (see March 5); then the more we think about it, the more tenuous Joe's accu- sation becomes. How could they rig the numbers if they didn't know what they were, or that they even existed?

Back to June 11

SPIRITUAL LAW IN PARABLES

From June 11 we have three presuppositions and five corollaries:

Presupposition 1: If divinity is true then the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek in the original manuscripts contain no contradictions—a conclusion we set down as a principle of interpretation.

Corollary 1a: If divinity is true then we must attribute any discrepancy in renditions to faulty translation or private interpretation

Presupposition 2: A presupposition is a principle of interpretation if and only if it can be derived from Scripture.

Corollary 2a: the assumption of divinity is a principle of interpretation.

Presupposition 3: Only Scripture can interpret Scripture—a conclusion we set down as a principle of interpretation.

Corollary 3a: For confirmation of any conclusion or principle we must compare Scripture with all of Scripture and only Scripture—a conclusion we set down as a principle of interpretation.

Corollary 3b: We can trust no one regarding interpretation—only Scripture itself.

Corollary 3c: Only Scripture can define its own vocabulary.

 

Deuteronomy 30:10 defines the Bible as a law book: ¹⁰If thou shalt hearken unto the…LORD…to keep his commandments…his statutes…written in this book of the law… So does Joshua 8: ³¹As Moses…commanded…Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses… Also Nehemiah 8: ³…he read…and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. And Galatians 3: ¹⁰For as many…are of the…law are under the curse…Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law… So we conclude the Bible is a law book. For a further discussion on God's law and salvation see June 15.

 

John 6:63 declares the Bible is a spiritual book: ⁶³It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. So Scripture concerns itself with spiritual matters: such as sin in Romans 3: ¹⁰As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: ¹¹There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God; Scripture concerns itself with spiritual matters such as judgment, as in John 12: ⁴⁸He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day; Scripture concerns itself with spiritual matters such as salvation, as in 2 Corinthians 6: ²For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.); and Scripture concerns itself with spiritual matters such as sanctification, as in 1 Thessalonians 4: ³ For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication. So, as well as a law Book, the Bible is a spiritual Book.

 

Presupposition 4: The Bible is a spiritual book and a law book—a conclusion we set down as a principle of interpretation.

Corollary 4a: in any interpretation we must look for the spiritual meaning.

 

Anyone who doesn't understand Scripture's parabolic language will see verses as weird and nonsensical. God tells us in the New Testament: ³⁴All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: (Matthew 13). God predicted this language in the Old Testament: I will open my mouth in a parable… (Psalms 78:2). And indeed He did: people pick up poisonous serpents, drink toxins and eat the flesh of Christ without ill effects. A woman adorns herself with the sun, stands on the moon, and flees from a dragon with seven heads and ten horns. Deciphering this kind of language is not as simple as deciding whether Rex is a dog or a cat. So why didn't God write so that we could more easily understand? According to Corollary 3a, only the Bible itself can tell us.

¹⁰And the disciples…said unto him (Christ), Why speakest…unto them in parables? ¹¹He answered…Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given (Matthew 13). ¹¹… all these things are done in parables: ¹²That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them (Mark 4). In Luke 8 we find the same language: ¹⁰And he (Christ) said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.

 

Evidently Christ didn't want certain people to comprehend Scripture. But our only purpose here is to understand. So we have to learn to interpret the parabolic language.

 

If we define a parable as a fictional or historic event that allegorizes spiritual truths, we have,

Presupposition 5: The Bible is written in parables—a conclusion we set down as a principle of interpretation.

Corollary 5a: We must look for the spiritual meaning (Corollary 4a) within the parabolic language.

 

On June 16 we use Daniel 8 as a Biblical history from Adam to the end of the world.

SALVATION VERSES GOD’S LAW

From June 14 we have Presupposition 4 stating that the Bible is a law book. Without God's law we would have no transgression or Scripture. Some philosophers like to argue whether Biblical law exists apart from God; if not then necessity makes God and the law one and the same; i.e., His very action alone defines perfection. He executes perfectly because He does it, not because He obeys certain laws. On the other hand suppose we define Christ and His law as two separate entities. Then God made His law: ³All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made, (John 1). This god becomes a bureaucrat who jus- tifies Himself by creating countless regulations that only makes life dif- ficult. For the sake of busywork this god would often change the laws so as to generate violators as fodder for punishment. But that's all heresy.

According to John 1:1 God and His law cannot exist independently: ¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That God's law equals God makes the law indelible according to Hebrews 13: ⁸Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Since God cannot act against his own Being (law), His law becomes His very character and unchanging essence, the two inseparable. In Psalms 138: ²I will worship toward thy holy temple…for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word (law) above all thy name. In Galatians 4: ⁴But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.

From June 11 we have Corollary 3a stating we must compare Scripture with all of Scripture and only Scripture. Corollary 3a and Presupposition 4 together imply that the whole Bible, not just the Ten Commandments, is a law book. Therefore God's law begins with what God told Adam in Genesis 2. ¹⁶And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: ¹⁷But of the tree of the knowl-edge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Before the fall man's status was conditional in contrast to a saved person, who remains forever secured. At first Adam obeyed the law because he knew no other way. The very character of God dwelt within him, direct- ing or energizing him as the same law determines God Himself. For His own purpose (see June 19) God gave Adam an out—a way to rebel. Be- cause God and His law are one and the same, Adam rejected God Him- self when he disobeyed. God found Adam and his progeny guilty im- mediately and all man died spiritually. Contrary to most church doctrine there is no future trial on judgment day, where God as the judge on a throne pronounces us guilty. God's Word already finds us guilty at the moment of conception.

After the fall Christ no longer dwelt within man, therefore we can no lon- ger live up to the law's expectations of one made in God's image—yet God still holds us accountable to the law's immutable demands (Deuter- onomy 29:29). In other words through Adam sin dominates our lives and we cannot have the very character of Christ. Therefore we can't obey the law to perfection. We can conform to some degree because God wrote His law on our hearts; i.e., He gave us a conscience, thereby making us accountable: ¹⁵Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another (Romans 2).

But unsaved man, no matter how hard he attempts to keep the law, re- mains like any other beast with only physical life. Atheists correctly equate us with animals. A saved person differs in that he has eternal life; also he can overcome any sin that had once controlled him. God allowed Adam to live physically and breed. From the resultant progeny God would have these saved people for Himself, maybe three percent of the population. Indwelt by God, they would desire to fulfill God's law in every respect.

Even if we could keep God's law—which we can't—Romans 3:19-20 assures us such adherence can't save us: ¹⁹ Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. ²⁰Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

We find the same message in Galatians 2: ¹⁶Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Though God promises eternal life to the elect, He didn't promise anything to someone who keeps the law, assuming anyone could. The only reward for obeying all the commandments, if that were possible, is to remain not guilty—but only until the first inevitable slip-up, then only condemnation follows. ¹⁰For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all (James 2).

Though the law can't save anyone, it can show us our sins, not only ac- cording to Romans 3:20 but also Galatians 3: ²²But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

Of course no one will believe unless God gives him a new heart to believe with (see August 7). We just can't say we believe; we have to do the law with all our hearts according to Romans 2: ¹³(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. But no one will believe and do the law until God gives him a new heart according to Ezekiel 36: ²⁶A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. With such a new heart a person can still sin, but he will never reject or abrogate the law: ³¹Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law (Romans 3).

The law only condemns, but according to Romans 3:21, 27-28 Christ has saved all those who trust and believe on Him: ²¹But now the righteous- ness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; ^22…27Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith (Christ's faith). ²⁸Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith (Christ) without the deeds of the law.

Romans 4:13-16 sums up everything so far regarding God's law and sal- vation plan: ¹³For the promise, that he (Abraham) should be the heir of the world (the new heaven and new earth of Revelation 21:1), was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith (Christ).¹⁴For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: ¹⁵Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. ¹⁶Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all.

THE FALL ACCORDING TO DANIEL THE PROPHET

In this post we look at Daniel 8 to see how the first man and woman came under God's wrath.

 

Because of Scripture's parabolic language, such as in Daniel 8:1-8, people sometimes compare the Bible to Alice in Wonderland. In a way they're right: every dream sighting designates some part of our psyche that mir- rors itself in metaphor; and every Scriptural sighting points to a spiritual truth reflecting itself in parabolic images. Mental concepts are metaphor- ical.¹ So by understanding Biblical parables, we learn how to understand ourselves.

 

Metaphor transcends analysis, therefore becomes much more interest- ing. Logical analysis alone keeps us penned into what we already know: if all dogs have fleas then so does Rex; but, except for the dog, who cares. However if we take fleas on a dog and think up a metaphor—bureaucrats on a drowning man; relatives on the holidays; lawyers in the E.R; fans on Oprah's weight chart; paparazzi on Britney's fart chart—then we have different ways of looking at whatever.

 

According to the KJV existence outside the body lies beyond human comprehension: ⁹But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him (1 Corinthians 2:9). Therefore if God wrote about what Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard… nor what …entered into the heart of man, then He'd have had to use earthly stories to embody what we can't comprehend, which is how we define Scripture's parabolic language.

 

Just as algebra uses letters to represent numbers, principles or operations, Scripture uses events with historical or fictional people to personify Bib- lical (spiritual) truths. Depending on the context, characters or things can symbolize Christ, Satan, hell, heaven or God's law.

 

Just as an algebraic place marker can stand for more than one number, physical (earthly) things or people can represent more than one spiritual item or concept, thus reveal more than one story that reflects or allego- rizes the same Spiritual truth. Thus Scripture can use historical events to prophesy what will happen thousands of years later; e.g., when the book of Jeremiah condemns ancient Israel, it actually reviles the twentieth-century churches. Through this process of abstraction, Scripture reveals within a shorter space more information with greater scope. Such is the case with Daniel 8:1-8:

¹In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first. ²And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai. ³Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. ⁴I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great. ⁵And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. ⁶And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. ⁷And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. ⁸Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. 

 

In a vision Daniel in Babylon finds himself about two hundred miles east in what is today's southwest Iran; in Shushan (Susa), one of the ancient capital cities of the Elamite, Persian and Parthian empires. He sees a ram and a he goat.

 

Daniel 8:20 defines the ram and its two horns: ²⁰The ram… having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia: i.e., Darius the Mede (B.C. 522 – B.C.486) and Cyrus (B.C. 559 – B.C. 530), the higher one.

 

And verse 21 defines the he goat: ²¹…the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn…between his eyes is the first king. Scripture also prophesizes Alexander the Great in Daniel 10: ²⁰Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. 

 

If we back up to 2 Kings 20:17, 18, to get the historical context: Isaiah prophesizes to Hezekiah, king of Judah (715 – 686), that Babylon would sack Jerusalem. A hundred years later, in 587, the prophecy fulfills itself: The Babylonian general, Nebuzaraddan, destroyed the city, captured Zedekiah, king of Judah, and took the prophet Daniel as a young slave to king Nebuchadnezzar (see Jeremiah 52).

 

Thirty seven years later Belshazzar, probably the grandson of Nebuchad- nezzar through his mother, Niticris, now rules as king (553 to 539).^{2. 1.}In the third year of…Belshazzar, Daniel, still in Babylon, ²…saw…a vision; …at Shushan (roughly a hundred miles north of the Persian Gulf's shoreline) in the palace. The vision predicts, among other things, that the Medes and Persians would conquer Babylon. Indeed in 539, while Belshazzar partied (Daniel 5), the Persian army marched in and took over: ³⁰In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. ³¹And Darius the Median took the kingdom…(Daniel 5:31).

 

Darius the Median (B.C. 559 – B.C. 530) became Cyrus the Great by starting the Achaemenid Empire, conquering Babylon and much of the known world. King Darius the Great (522BC - 486BC) extended their borders into India and Europe and founded their ceremonial capital, Persepolis, in today's southwest Iran. For maybe a couple of hundred years Persia dominated over Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, and parts of Asia Minor. So now we know why Daniel ⁴…saw the ram pushing west- ward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great.

 

Enter the he goat: in B.C. 336 an assassin killed Phillip II, ruler over the Macedonian kingdom in northern Greece. His son, Alexander the Great, became king at 19. As a genius at warfare, he conquered India, Africa, the remains of Babylon and all of Europe—but only for 13 years before dying of a fever. God had raised up Alexander to conquer the known world, especially Persia, the ram: In Belshazzar's third year, Daniel's vision predicted what would take place two hundred and twenty years later: ⁵…an he goat came from the west…and ⁷…smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him.

…the Persian garrison in the mountains was destroyed, and in January 330, the Macedonian army stood in Persepolis… Many inhabitants fled, some committed suicide, but the governor sur- rendered the town and its treasure. Alexander gave the town it- self to his soldiers, who had seen the riches of the East several times, but had never had their share. So the city was looted, ex- cept for the royal palace.

Almost at the same time, nearby Pasargadae (Pâthragâda) was captured, Persia's religious capital, where the kings were inaugu- rated.^3.

 

So far we have only the historical context, not the spiritual intent, and The Bible is a spiritual book…in any interpretation we must look for the spiritual meaning. 

 

Scripture uses the Medes and Persians to represent the kingdom of God. In Isaiah 44:28 God refers to Cyrus as my shepherd. But Cyrus was a king, never a shepherd. The Bible also describes Christ as the good shepherd (John 10: 1-2, 11, 14), so Scripture uses Cyrus as a picture of Christ. Christ is the good shepherd who perform(s) all my pleasure, (Isaiah 44:28). God gave Christ All the kingdoms of the earth (Matthew 13:44: John 16:33) as He does Cyrus (in 2 Chronicles 36:22-23). Just as Christ destroyed Satan at the cross (Luke 10:18), Cyrus destroyed Babylon in B.C. 539; and Revelation 16:19, 18:2, 21 uses Babylon as a picture of the kingdom of Satan that's cast into the lake of fire (in Revela- tion 19:20, 20:10). Just as God commanded Cyrus to build Jerusalem, God commanded Christ to build a spiritual body, the holy city, new Jerusalem (John 4:34, 5:30, 6:38-39) by paying for the sins of the elect. That Artaxerxes I (Cyrus, king of Persia, 465 – 425 in Ezra 1) gives Ezra the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem shows that the Medes and Persians typified God's rule.

 

In the book of Esther we have the Persian King Ahasuerus (404 – 359) in Shushan. He rules over 127 provinces (Esther 1:1), which is a picture of God's kingdom. Scripture reveals the death age, 127, of only one woman: Sarah, Abraham's wife (Genesis 23:1). While Galatians 3:29 defines Abraham as the father of all true believers, Galatians 4:26 defines Sarah as the mother of all the elect. So her death identifies the number 127 with them, i.e., the kingdom of God that the Medes and the Persians represent.

 

In Genesis 1-2 God created a perfect universe and put His kingdom on a flawless earth. On December 1, 2008 we determine the year according to the Gregorian calendar. Just as the ram typified God's kingdom through Media and Persia, the ram stands for God's physical kingdom: the garden of Eden. In Daniel 8:3 the ram had two horns and the higher (one) came up last. In Eden we have two people in the kingdom of God, one coming out of the rib of the other. So the two horns representing Media and Persia also represent Adam and Eve. God had made man to have domin- ion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth (Genesis 1:26); as does the ram in Daniel 8: ⁴…pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him…

 

We don't see the ram…pushing eastward. The sun is a metaphor for God: ¹¹ For the LORD God is a sun (Psalms 84). The sun rises in the east. Adam and Eve came from God and didn't rebel against Him by pushing eastward—not yet, anyway; however just as the ram … did according to his will, they had free will to eventually rebel. The he goat came from the west, i.e., in opposition to God by getting Adam and Eve to rebel.

 

Because the he goat destroys the ram with two horns, the he goat stands for Satan (in Genesis 3), embodied by Alexander (in Daniel 8). Just as Alexander conquered the world, Satan conquered man (in Genesis 3) and won the right to rule over him. But Satan didn't win control over the physical earth: the he goat...touched not the ground (Daniel 8:5). So be- fore letting Satan have rule over fallen man in a perfect world, God first cursed the earth, then gave it to him (Genesis 3:17-18). That's how, in Daniel 8:5, the he goat could come…on the face of the whole earth…

 

We look again at the same story on Wednesday, June 18.

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^1. G. Lakoff & M. Johnson, Metaphors We Live By (Chicago, IL, The University of Chicago Press, 1980) p. 3.
^2.American Pictures

^3.Alexander

ADAM, SATAN AND THAT TREE

In Genesis 1 God told the first man, Adam, to ²⁸…replenish (mālâ, meaning fill, not replenish) the earth, and subdue it: Adam could subdue the world by defeating Satan, but only by remaining loyal to God and following His instructions.

 

When God created the world Satan saw an opportunity to rule over it by defeating man whom God had created as kings. In Daniel 8:7 (see June 16) Satan took away God's kingdom such that …there was none that could deliver the ram out of his (Satan's) hand—at least not without Christ paying for the sins of the elect before the foundation of the world.

 

We have a tree on which God pins an all-too intriguing label: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God tells Adam, in ¹⁷…the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (in Genesis 2). In Genesis 3 Satan, the he goat of Daniel 8:1-8, tells Eve ⁴Ye shall not surely die: ⁵For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. We all know what happened: instead of asking why God put the tree there in the first place, they let the cookie jar get the better of them. For a reason why God planted that for- bidden tree see June 19.

 

Though Adam and Eve didn't die physically just yet, their eternal souls perished. They became like any other animal such that their physical death ended forevermore all conscious existence. The same misfortune includes all mankind: …as in Adam all die... (1 Corinthians 15:22) and man can no more come back to spiritual life than a corpse rotting in the grave.

 

Unfortunately the all in the completion of 1 Corinthians 15:22—even so in Christ shall all be made alive—does not include everybody, just a rem- nant (Isaiah 10:20-22): ²² For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return. Consequently when anyone else drops dead, that's it; he ceases to exist, though originally God had made him in his own image (Genesis 1:27) to live in eternal perfection—if only they had followed instructions.

 

We've already read the same account of Satan's victory in Daniel 8:6-7: ⁶…he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. ⁷And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. ⁸Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken;

 

The river in Daniel 8:6 represents the Gospel. That Adam and Eve stood before the river, means they stood perfect before God—so far.

 

That the ram had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, (in Daniel 8:3), has to do with pride. The word for high and higher (gābōah) can mean exceeding proudly (1 Samuel 2:3), proud (Psalm 138:6), haughty (Isaiah 10:33) and lofty in contrast to hum- bled (Isaiah 5:15). Just as pride defeated Satan, it caused Adam and Eve, who wanted to become wise, (Genesis 3:6) to fall.

 

Pride made Satan want to dominate over mankind: ¹³For thou (Satan) hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: ¹⁴I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High (Isaiah 14) It's all, I, I, I…

 

We get the same self glorification in Daniel 4:34, 37: God uses Nebu- chadnezzar as a picture of Satan with the same boasting: ³⁴ And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven…and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever…³⁷ Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven…, all whose works are truth…and those that walk in pride he is able to abase—Right, like Nebuchadnezzar himself, boasting about his devotion like the Pharisee in Luke 18:9-12: ¹¹ …I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. ¹² I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. Nebuchadnezzar doesn't know it but he talks about himself when he refers to those that walk in pride.

 

Since Satan won man's obedience, God allowed him to rule over the human race for eleven thousand years. Christ then defeated Satan in A.D. 33 (Revelation 12:7-9) when the great horn was broken; (Daniel 8:8). Because God allowed Satan to own the world in Genesis 3, Satan could offer it back to Christ in Matthew 4: ⁸… the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world… ⁹And saith…All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. The high mountain represents Satan's kingdom—the world. That Satan would tempt Christ to worship him reveals his insane arrogance.

 

It's easy, in fact too easy, to dismiss Genesis 1-3 as just another mythical account, like Pandora's Box, that "explains" how evil came into the world. However the rest of Scripture, especially its timeline, disabuses us of any such conclusion—but only after a long, painstaking analysis that begins on October 1 and ends on March 4 , 2009.

 

Adam's progeny became so bad that eventually God destroyed mankind save eight people in the Noachian flood. Afterwards God began again with Abram, the father of national Israel (and the Arabic peoples). When the Hebrews came out of Egypt in B.C. 1447, God declared them a na- tion. On October 18 and December 1 we show how to derive B.C. 1447. From June 21 to June 25 we skim over the Biblical History of ancient Israel as a representation or tableau of God's eternal kingdom.

WHY GOD CREATED THE WORLD

The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless…¹ Steven Weinberg, noted physicist

Astronomers might ask why God would bother creating so many billions of galaxies if life only exists on earth; and the entomologist shakes his head and wonders why God would create over 350,000 species of beetles. When we throw war, disease and suffering into the mix it all seems so pointless.

On June 16 and 18 we looked at the fall of man into sin. Now we attempt to answer the question: why God created the world so that it would come under Satan. We know God had to have contrived the whole affair. He put that tree in Eden and told them not to eat of it—so they would do exactly that. Why did God set them up when the whole human race would have to suffer?

Many people have struggled with that question, which transforms into another: How could a good God allow so much suffering to innocent people? Some philosophers argue that either He could relieve our afflic- tion and doesn't, therefore is not all loving; or He doesn't alleviate our pains because He can't, therefore is not omnipotent. Therefore an infinite God cannot exist.

Some might say that our purpose, like any other living thing, is to repro- duce. But that doesn't answer the question. What's the point of reproduc- ing when it only creates more problems? Probably the best non Biblical answer: our purpose is to grow as people; unless we develop in countless ways we are not content, much less happy; and one can mature by raising children. That answer might come true from our perspective, but we still have to die and that doesn't resolve the overall pointlessness of the world.

Because this blog concerns Scripture alone only the Biblical answer will suffice: the world appears pointless because that's what it is. See Ecclesi- astes 1:2, 14, 2:17, 3:19, 12:8. On October 21, 2011 God intends to burn it all up anyway (2 Peter 3:10; February 4). Therefore it doesn't matter what answers to life philosophers and other deep thinkers have contrived through the ages: it's all bullshit. Ecclesiastes calls it vanity.

The evil that the world fell into in Eden includes this pointlessness. What else would we expect if in Genesis 3 God gave Satan rule over the uni- verse? This answer takes off the rose-colored glasses that perceives everything—famine, sickness, war, even the Holocaust—as happening for some good, and if only we pervert our thinking enough we can find that goodness.

But this Biblical answer begs the question: Why did God allow a perfect world to fall into such evil? Because that's what He wanted. But why would He want that? We find that answer in Ephesians 3: ⁹And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the begin- ning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: ¹⁰To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

God could not reveal His glory—His infinite wisdom, love, patience—with a perfect world. Therefore He created man and set him up for the fall in order to show the principalities and powers, whatever they are, His infinite attributes through all those claiming identification with Him. Thus God doesn't save anyone for their sake, rather His own.

Scripture assures us God did what He did for his own sake, not ours. Eze- kiel 36:25-31 describes the process in which God saves His elect. Then in verse 32 He writes, Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. And in Ezekiel 20: ⁴⁴And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.

Because God didn't create the world and let it fall into sin for our profit or glory, we do not become a hero by overcoming evil and adversity. Rather God set up the world and the fall in order to reveal His own glory to whatever principalities and powers exist in heavenly places. The billions of galaxies and 350,000 species of beetles show off God's power to create. His Salvation plan becomes the acme of His glory. Anyone who does overcome evil must give God all the credit.

That God did everything for His own sake dissolves the age-old question: how a good God could exist yet allow so much suffering: he didn't create the world for man's sake. If we insist life must somehow promote or bene- fit us then we can't understand this resolution; and election by grace alone makes no sense—especially when God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). To say God's actions are not all loving denies the punitive nature of the atonement. To save His elect Christ under the wrath of God suf- fered more than any of us can imagine, both before the foundation of the world and then again at the cross. The crucifixion demonstrated how He died before the world began in order to pay for the sins of His elect (1 Peter 1:19-20).

The news is not all bad: today God is saving a great multitude (Revelation 7:9-14) and everybody has an equal chance. But none of us are that im- portant or deserving; if we remain unsaved then we live, suffer, die and that's it; end of story.
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¹Polkinghorne, John. The End of the World and the Ends of God. Trinity Press International, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 2000. p 32. See also Steven Weinberg, The First Three Minutes "a modern view of the origin of the universe."

ABRAHAM TO THE EXODUS AND TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL

Below in red is the journey of Abram's family before settling in the land of Canaan. Abraham is the father of the Hebrews. He gave birth to Isaac, who gave birth to Jacob, who fathered the twelve tribes of Israel. (Note: Mount Sinai is in Arabia, not on the Peninsula, as incorrectly shown be- low.)

Abram came from Ur, located right off the Persian Gulf in the southern tip of the Euphrates and Tigress River valley. Today, just outside Kuwait City, a suburb replaces that ancient city.

 

Abram and his family did quite a bit of traveling by foot and camel. ³¹…Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there (Genesis 11).

 

Today's Jerusalem resides 776 miles west of Kuwait City, on the other side of the Great Desert of Arabia. In Abram's day the inhospitable land made a direct crossing to Canaan impossible.

 

Haran is almost 800 miles northwest of Ur, in present day's southeastern Turkey. To get there Abram's family traveled up the Euphrates River that bordered the western edge of Mesopotamia, which means, "between the two rivers," therefore defines itself: i.e., the land between the Euphrates and Tigress Rivers. After stopping in Babylon (near present day Bagdad, 346 miles from Kuwait City) they trekked almost 500 miles to get to Haran.

 

From Haran the land of Canaan lay south and a little west: about 350 miles. The U-shaped strip connecting Ur, Haran and Canaan is well watered, thus referred to as the Fertile Crescent.

 

After Abram's father, Terah, dies in Haran, God commands Abram, ¹…Get thee out of thy country (Haran), and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee (Genesis 12). Unlike Adam and Eve, Abram followed instructions.

 

In B.C. 2092 Abram, his wife and half sister, Sarai, and Lot, arrived in Canaan. Because of famine they had to continue along the Mediter- ranean coast to Goshen (Egypt) on the southeastern edge of the Sea (Genesis 12:10). They then backtracked to Beersheba in Canaan, covering about 800 miles since Haran. Like I said, they did quite a bit of traveling.

 

In Genesis 12:6-7, 15:18-21, and 24:7, God promised Abram that his progeny would inherit the physical land of Canaan, but Abram, Isaac and Jacob would not inherit it.

 

However God does promise eternal life to Abraham and His elect in Genesis 13: ¹⁴…the LORD said unto Abram…Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: ¹⁵ For all the land (in Canaan, which repre- sented God's kingdom) which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

 

Since it's for ever, God can't mean the actual land of Canaan; otherwise the physical earth would have to go on for ever and Genesis 13:15 would contradict 2 Peter 3, which describes what happens when Christ returns at the end of the world: ¹⁰…the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works (of man) that are therein shall be burned up. So the physical land of Canaan …shall be burned up and can't go on for ever.

 

We can use Presupposition 1, the no-contradictions-allowed rule, to interpret the land of Canaan in Genesis 13:15 as God's eternal kingdom, which Abram and his seed would inherit for ever. In God's kingdom ⁵…they shall reign for ever and ever (Revelation 22). (Using Presupposition 1 in this way exemplifies how interpretation is a function of its presup-positions.) We now know that in Genesis 13:15 and elsewhere God can utilize the physical land of Canaan as a metaphor or a picture of His eternal kingdom.

 

In B.C. 2067 Abram's wife, Sarah, gave birth to Isaac. In 2007 Isaac fathered twins: Esau, the firstborn, and Jacob. The latter steals the birth- right and their father Isaac's blessing from Esau, the elder. Esau now wants to kill Jacob (Genesis 27:41). Their mother, Rebekah, and Isaac send Jacob away (Genesis 27:43).

 

⁵Jacob…went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother (Genesis 28). There in Haran …Jacob served (Laban) seven years for Rachel, Laban's younger daughter (Gen 29:20). Jacob then served another seven years after Laban dumped his older daughter, Leah, on him as well (Genesis 29:28, 30). For the next 27 years the two wives and their two maids keep Jacob busy as he fathers eleven sons and one daughter. These sons would begin the twelve tribes of Israel.

 

After forty years in Haran, Jacob returns to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. Unable to harbor a grudge for so long, Esau forgives Jacob and goes his way (Genesis 33). Rachel bears Jacob another son, Benjamin, and dies (Genesis 35:16-20). Time goes by. Joseph, the 11^th son born to Rachel, rubs his brothers the wrong way and they sell him as a slave to Ishmeelites on their way to Egypt (Genesis 37:27). Back home they tell their father, Jacob, that a wild animal killed his favorite son. Jacob is devastated.

 

Meanwhile down in Egypt, after doing time, Joseph proves he can inter- pret Pharaoh's dreams. He predicts seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine (Genesis 41). So Pharaoh makes him ⁴³…ruler over all the land…

 

After seven years of a plentiful harvest (Genesis 41:47), ⁵⁴…seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: (Genesis 41). This famine covered the whole known world and Jacob and his sons found themselves in danger of starvation: So ³…Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. (Genesis 42) ⁸And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him (Genesis 42).

 

Joseph provides for them without revealing his identity: ²⁶And they laded their asses with the corn, and departed thence, (Genesis 42). When Ja- cob's family runs out of provisions again, ¹⁵…the men took… double money…and Benjamin (Rachel's youngest son born in Canaan); and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph (Genesis 43). With no hard feelings, Joseph reveals himself (Genesis 45:1), saying, ¹¹…there are five years of famine… still to go (Genesis 45).

 

When Joseph's brothers return home, they tell their father, Jacob, that Joseph is not only alive (Genesis 45:26) but the number two-man down in Egypt. What's more he's invited them to come live with him in Goshen. (Genesis 45:20). ⁵And Jacob rose up from Beersheba: and the sons of Israel…and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Phar- aoh had sent to carry him.⁶…they took their cattle, and their goods…and came into Egypt… (Genesis 46:5-6).

 

That Jacob had to leave Canaan in B.C. 1877 and live in Egypt for the remaining seventeen years of his life marks a period of disruption, to say the least. In Genesis 12:7 God had promised Abram the land of Canaan to thy seed. Jacob probably figured, incorrectly, that God's promise included him.

 

(The year B.C. 1877 marks the first of three great tribulations that are most important on our Biblical timeline. In B.C. 587 we have the second great tribulation, when the Hebrews had to leave Judah and go into Bab- ylon. In A.D. 1988 those in the churches had to abandon them for the beginning of the third and final great tribulation.)

 

Jacob's family settles down in Goshen. For about thirty years, under the auspices of Joseph, they can't complain. But then Joseph dies, different Pharaohs come and go, and Jacob's family multiplies. Egyptians frown as they count more and more Hebrews, then wring their hands in the there-goes-the-neighborhood routine. Eventually the Pharaoh puts the Jews in what he thinks their proper place—slavery. Moses and his brother, Aar- on, come along and declare they all want to leave to worship Jehovah. But the Pharaoh, Thutmosis III, wanting a cheap labor force with no holidays, will have none of that.

 

The Pharaoh does his utmost to make life difficult. He no longer gives the Jews straw to make bricks, but demands the same quota. Despite Moses making many requests to leave, Thutmosis III remains his stubborn self. With one plague after another, God turns the Pharaoh's stubbornness into stupidity: the rivers turn to blood (Exodus 7:20, 25), frogs cover the land (Exodus 8:6), then lice (Exodus 8:17), flies, (Exodus 8:24), then the cattle die (Exodus 9:6), the Egyptians break out in boils (Exodus 9:11), burning hail falls (Exodus 9:23), locusts come for a visit (Exodus 10:14), then a three day plague of darkness (Exodus 10:22), and finally the firstborn all die (Exodus 12:29). By then Thutmosis III has had it and tells Moses to pack up and leave (Exodus 12:31). In Exodus 12: ⁴⁰…the sojourning of the children of Israel…in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. ⁴¹And…at the end of the four hundred and thirty years…all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

 

So the nation of Israel was born. Just as the land of Canaan represented God's kingdom, God used the Jews as a picture or metaphor for heaven. During the church age, God used the congregations for the same purpose. Depending on the context, Scripture can use the terms, Israel, Mount Zion, Judah, Jerusalem, to mean God's eternal kingdom, its represen- tation, or the local congregations.

 

On June 23 we look at the nation of Israel until 539 B.C.

THE RED SEA CROSSING, AND OLD TESTAMENT CLOSURE

At the north end of the Red Sea, between the Gulf of Suez on the left and the Gulf of Aqaba on the right, the Sinai Penin- sula connects north- east Africa with Asia. In 1956 Israel occu- pied the land, also from 1967 to 1982, but returned it to Egypt at the Camp David Accords in 1978 and in an Egyptian-Israeli treaty in 1979. For satellite photosor see footnote 1.

In the spring of B.C. 1447 the Pharaoh, Thutmose III, orders Moses and the Jews to depart. Afterwards ²⁰ …they took their journey from Succoth (the map's blue number 16), and encamped in Etham (#17), in the edge of the wilderness. ²¹And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: (Exodus 13). So it's God, not Moses, who leads them.

The location of the miraculous crossing and the site of Mt. Sinai gets con- troversial. Some say the mountain sits on the southern central point of the Peninsula, as in our map. Others claim it's in Arabia, east of the Gulf of Aqaba. In Exodus 2:15 Moses fled for his life from Pharaoh and settled in Midian, Arabia. During his forty year sojourn, would he, in order to reach Mt. Sinai on the Peninsula, have journeyed so far from Midian and come so close to Egypt? Some say he would; that at that time the Pharaohs didn't concern themselves with that land because, except for a few mines, there was nothing there.

In Exodus 18:27 and Numbers 10:29-31 we read of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses. Wishing to leave Mt. Sinai and go home to Midian, he tells Moses he will return to his own land. So these two verses supposedly im- ply he intended to leave the mountain on the Peninsula to go to Arabia.

Proponents for Arabia point to Galatians 4: ²⁵…this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia… But others argue that at Paul's writing, Arabia overlapped the Peninsula. Besides, Flavius Josephus, probably the most well known his- torian at the time of Christ writes, Moses went up to a mountain that lay between Egypt and Arabia, which was called Sinai.²

In Exodus 19: ¹⁸…mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace…

In 1984 Ron Wyatt snuck into Arabia without a visa and photographed the alleged Mt. Sinai that does indeed have a blackened top, as if from fire. It's called Jebel el Lawz.

But would the true Mt. Sinai remain blackened from the fire for over 3400 years? Some geologists claim the metamorphic rock of Jebel el Lawz is typical for that volcanic area.³

At any rate those who insist Mt. Sinai resides on the Peninsula can't deny the significance of Wyatt's work. The website concerning him offers a documentary of his discoveries with photos from Google Earth. It alleges to show Elim, where were twelve wells of water (Exodus 15:27); also the rock that Moses struck twice to bring forth millions of gallons of water.⁴

Scripture never refers to the area in question as the "Sinai Peninsula:" rather as ¹⁸…the way of the wilderness of the Red sea (Exodus 13). ¹⁶ But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh; (Judges 11).

Because we can't agree on the location of this mountain, we can't concur on the area for the miraculous crossing either.

Some versions put the miracle at the northern tip of the Gulf of Suez. This argument stems from Exodus 15: ²²So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur… ²³And…they came to Marah… As this explanation goes, the maps show the wilderness of Shur and Marah on the northern part of the Peninsula. So to go into the wilderness of Shur, they had to have crossed the northern tip of the Gulf of Suez.

Ron Wyatt puts the crossing at the northern part of the Gulf of Aqaba. Before reaching Jebel el Lawz, the Hebrews passed through the Wilder- ness of Sin (Exodus 16:1) that supposedly resides north of the mountain; thus the Jews would have crossed to the north. But that theory assumes the Hebrews took a route through the northern part of the Peninsula (#50, 51), near the land of the Philistines. ¹⁷But God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: (Exodus 13).

Therefore others argue that in order to avoid the Philistines, God led the Jews southeast to the southern part of the Peninsula. To bypass the gullies and mountainous terrain to the east, they would have stayed along the coastal plain of the Gulf of Suez. At the southern tip, they head northeast and finally encamp on what is today's Sharm al Sheikh Airport, as shown on the map below. The mountainous terrain to the north would have kept them from continuing northward.⁵

I like this latter theory be- cause it rests on Exodus 13:21: that God, not Moses, led the Hebrews. Moses had no reason to lead his people down the Peninsula. There was nothing there worth go- ing to.

But as we all know, the Pharaoh had a change of heart about letting the Jews depart:⁵…the heart of Pharaoh and…his servants …turned against the people, and they said, Why have we…let Israel go from serving us? …⁸And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh…and he pursued after the children of Israel (Exodus 14).

That Moses would entrap his people between the mountains and the sea makes no sense. But God could have led them there in order to lure Thutmose III.

With the enemy in pursuit, the Jews thinking they've had it, the Egyptians must have wondered how Moses could have been so dumb. But just as God turns weakness into strength, He orchestrates this supposed stupidity into Egypt's defeat. ²²…the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left (Exodus 14).

The Pharaoh and his army try the same stunt, but ⁵The depths… covered them: they sank…as a stone…(Exodus 15) ²⁸…and there remained not…one…(Exodus 14). Later ³⁰…Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore (Exodus 14).

After miraculously crossing the Strait of Tiran, about 11.16 miles, the Jews entered Midian, land of the Ishmaelites and Midianites.⁶

The Egyptian government would've destroyed all written accounts of such a humiliating fiasco. But they either overlooked or considered one such ancient record innocuous. Amenemheb, an officer who served under Thutmose III, wrote:

In the 30^th of Phamenoth of the majesty of the king, Menkheperra deceased, he ascended to heaven and joined the sun's disc, the follower of the god met his maker.⁷

Both the Hebrew calendar and the Egyptian's Phamenoth refer to lunar months. From the 14^th (the Passover) to the 30^th leaves two weeks for the Jews to cover the 275 miles from Goshen to the proposed site. This I be- lieve is what happened, which puts Mt. Sinai in Arabia.

On this mountain God gives Moses the Ten Commandments. He com- mands him to build a tabernacle as a representation of the body of Christ, i.e., all those throughout history whom Christ saves from eternal damna- tion. ¹⁰And they shall make an ark of shittim wood (Exodus 25:10). The ark houses the Ten Commandments and goes into the most holy of holies within this portable tabernacle. Its construction takes almost a year before they leave.

Later on Solomon's temple would represent God's eternal kingdom; then the churches, as we'll see in the next post.

For their lack of faith, the Israelites wander in the wilderness. ¹⁸…about the time of forty years suffered he their manners… Finally they cross the Jordan into the promised land.¹⁹…when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot. ²⁰And after that he gave… them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet (Acts 13:18-20). And ²¹…afterward they desired a king: and God gave …them Saul…the space of forty years. ²²And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king… (Acts 13:21-22).

Israel disobeys God and vengeful nations dominate over them. Neverthe- less the Hebrews survive and prosper, as God repeatedly sets up a judge or king to defeat their enemies. The Jews enjoy the best during the reign of Solomon, the third king. In B.C. 931 the nation splits up into ten northern tribes called Israel and two tribes to the south in Judah.

In B.C. 709 the Assyrians destroy Israel. In B.C. 609 the army of Phar- aohnechoh, king of Egypt, kills Josiah, Judah's last great king. Recall that the first great tribulation occurred in B.C. 1877 when Jacob had to go into Egypt. The year B.C. 609 marks the beginning of the second great tribu- lation that lasted for 70 years.

First Egypt then the Chaldeans control Jerusalem. In B.C. 587 Babylon sacks the city and those Jews still alive have to go into exile. ⁸…Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. ⁹ He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey (Jeremiah 21).

God let Israel represent His kingdom, as the congregations did during the church age. But there comes a time when God commands us to leave this earthly representation: Jacob had to leave Canaan and go into Egypt; the Jews had to leave Jerusalem to go into Babylon; and beginning A.D. 1988, those in the churches had to leave the congregations, which began the third great tribulation.

As God talks to ancient Israel, He also speaks to the churches: ⁴Thus saith the LORD of hosts…unto all that are carried away captives…unto Babylon; ⁵ Build ye houses (as in Matthew 7:24-27), and dwell in them (i.e., work for the salvation of those in the world); and plant gardens, and eat the fruit (God's Word) of them; ⁶Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to hus-bands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. ⁷And seek the peace (salvation) of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace (Jeremiah 29).

In B.C. 539 the Persian army of Cyrus the Great doesn't so much conquer Babylon as come in and takeover. They free the Jews so that a year later they return to rebuild Jerusalem and finish the wall in B.C. 444. The O.T. closes with the book of Ester. From B.C. 391 until B.C. 8, God commun- icates no more with the human race.

 

On June 25 we compare Israel with the churches.

http://www.dataxinfo.com/hormuz/sinai.htm

² Flavius Josephus, Antiquity of the Jews Book 2, section 2

³ http://ldolphin.org/sinai.html

⁴ http://www.arkdiscovery.com/mt__sinai_found.htm

⁵ http://www.geocities.com/athens/parthenon/3021/redsea6.html See also

http://www.stitcherymall.com/pipermail/biblemat/2007-January/005093.html

⁶ ibid.

⁷ W.M. Flinders Petrie, History of Egypt, (New York, N.Y: Charles Scribner & Sons, 1904) p. 125.

GOD’S VINEYARD, A PARABLE OF ISRAELITES AND CHURCHES

We're about to leave ancient Israel and focus on the churches. The par- able of the vineyard in Matthew 21:33-41 and Isaiah 5:1-7 shows the sim- ilarity between the two institutions. God raised them both up to represent His kingdom and proclaim His message. The vineyard representing an- cient Israel in Matthew 21:33-41 succeeded in bringing forth perfect fruit, i.e., Christ. As we'll see, the grapes and fruit in Isaiah 5 refer to those God saves in the congregations.

In Matthew 21 we have the vineyard representing Israel: ³³…There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round a- bout, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to hus- bandmen, and went into a far country: ³⁴And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might re- ceive the fruits of it. ³⁵And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶Again, he sent other ser- vants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. ³⁷But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. ³⁸But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. ³⁹And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. ⁴⁰When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those hus- bandmen? ⁴¹They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.

God, the householder, builds a vineyard, the nation of Israel, and went into a far country, Heaven. The tower represents Christ: ³For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy (Psalms 61). The servants, whom the husbandmen kill, represent the prophets. ³⁷O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, (Matthew 23). The vineyard bears fruit, i.e., Christ, the heir in that He inherits the elect, as in John 6: ³⁷All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

In Revelation 14:19 and 19:15 we read of the winepress of the wrath of God. So in Matthew 21:33 God builds a winepress so that Christ, the heir, would suffer the wrath of God in place of God's elect.

God sends his son, Christ, into the world, knowing they would crucify him, but his language in Matthew 21:37 condescends to our psychology. God has the husbandmen speak on behalf of the elect when they say, let us kill him, and…seize…his inheritance. By going to the cross Christ demonstrated how He had paid for the sins of the elect before the foun- dation of the world. Revelation 13:8 assures us Christ paid for them at that time: ⁸And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him (Satan), whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

The elect in principle died with Christ, thus paid the penalty (death) for their sins through Him so that they wouldn't have to die themselves (1 John 4:9). Therefore in Matthew 21:38 the elect seize…his inheritance (the kingdom of God) and become responsible for the death of Christ. Hebrews 9:22 assures us that without Christ's death, the elect themselves would have to die. ²²And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission (of sin).

So in Luke 23 Christ, while on the cross, says, ³⁴ …Father, forgive them (the elect); for they know not what they do. The elect couldn't know or understand what went on before the foundation of the world—and they still can't.

Matthew 21:41 signals the end of Israel as an external representation of God's kingdom: ⁴¹He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen… i.e., church leaders after Pentecost in A.D. 33.

In Matthew 27:51 (as well as Mark 15:38 and Luke 23:45) we read that when Christ hung on the cross, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake and the rocks rent.

The veil, about fifty feet high in the temple, separated the most holy place, which housed the ark of the covenant. The …veil…was rent in twain from the top to the bottom because God no longer dwelt there or used national Israel as an external representation of His kingdom. That responsibility now fell on the churches. As we read in Matthew 21: ⁴¹He …will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, (church leaders) which shall render him the fruits (those saved during the church age) in their seasons.

So the next big event is Christ and the church age beginning on May 22, 33 A.D (January 10, 12). Three thousand become saved on that one day (Acts 2:37, 41), starting the churches off with a bang—but then it peters out to a stench, i.e., wild grapes in Isaiah 5:2, 4. Only 70 years later, Rev- elation 1, 2 tells of corruption already present within the congregations.

We continue the parable of the vinyard in Isaiah 5:1-7: ¹…My wellbe- loved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: ²And he fenced it, and gath- ered out the stones (the elect within the congregations; see Matthew 24:2 and 1 Corinthians 3:12) thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower (Christ) in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes (a stench) ³And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Ju- dah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. ⁴What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it (in going to the cross)? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? ⁵And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: (Now verses 5 and 6 prophesy the end of the church age.) I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: ⁶And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns (false doctrines): I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

God no longer bestows any blessing on the churches. Those God has saved no longer are there to proclaim the true Gospel; see Revelation 18:23 where we read, the voice of the bridegroom (Christ: see Matthew 15:1-13) and of the bride (those God has saved: see Revelation 21:2) shall be heard no more at all in thee: i.e., in the churches, the Babylon of Reve-lation 18.

In Isaiah 5: ⁷For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel (the churches), and the men of Judah his pleasant plant (the elect): and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness but be- hold a cry.

From Isaiah 5:1-7 we know the churches didn't do very well. So in Isaiah 9: we read, ³Thou hast multiplied the nation (i.e., the churches have gone into the whole world), and not increased the joy: they joy before thee ac- cording to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. The joy in harvest refers to the joy of salvation, as defined in Luke 15: ⁷ I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth…But the congregations have not increased the joy.

I can't speak personally about what goes on in the congregations, past or present, because I never went to any of them. But from what I've heard, Isaiah 5:1-7 accurately predicts their growing apostasy. That we have on- ly one Bible, yet so many religions with different belief systems, verifies their false gospels; after all, they can't all be right.

Isaiah 5:5-6 makes it definite that at some point God abandons the con- gregations and brings the church age to an end. Beginning in mid July, we'll show other proofs as well. So the only question is when. By Feb- ruary 2, 4 we'll have collected enough data to derive that end date: Sat- urday, May 21, 1988.

On June 28 we look at Satan's role in the churches.

SATAN ON A ROLL

On June 25 we looked at God's vineyard as defined by Isaiah 5: ⁷For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel. Between B.C. 1447 and A.D. 33 the house of Israel was ancient Israel spoken of as God's vineyard in Matthew 21. From 33 to 1988 the house of Israel was the congregations spoken of as God's vineyard in Isaiah 5.

In the case of the Israelites we have a geographical area representing God's kingdom (or vineyard) as defined in Genesis 15: ¹⁸…the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Euphrates ran through Babylon. So the land (or vineyard) included Moab, Ammon and Edom just west of the Jordan River and Dead Sea (see map: June 21). The land (or vineyard ) referred to in Genesis 15:18 also in- cluded Tyre, Sidon and Damascus to the north and Egypt to the south- west. Thus Scripture can use any of these countries or cities to refer to the house of Israel (= the churches).

The simplest example of Egypt representing the churches is in Revelation 11: ⁷And when they (the true believers in the churches) shall have fin- ished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them (by putting them out of the congregations; see July 23). ⁸And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. So Scripture can use Egypt or any of the above cities under siege to stand for Satan's attack on the churches. 

The most well known city representing the house of Israel (= the congre- gations) is of course Jerusalem. Just as Nebuchadnezzar, who represents Satan, sacked the city in B.C. 587, Satan attacked the congregations during the third great tribulation.

In Jeremiah 36 God predicts the fall of Jerusalem: ²⁹…The king of Bab- ylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast? Also in Jeremiah 34: ²Thus saith the LORD …I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire: In Jeremiah 32: ²⁸I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it: Thus we read in Jeremiah 39 that ¹In the ninth year of Zede- kiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it (see also Jeremiah 52:12-15).

God uses Moab the same way He does Jerusalem: to represent the con- gregations. God gave the land of Moab and Ammon to Lot's offspring, Moab and Benammi (Genesis 19:36-38). Then Sihon, an Amorite king in Heshbon, took much of that land away. In Jeremiah 48: ⁴⁵They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon (King Sihon) because of the force: but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab, (the congregations) and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones. The word fled can go between the words Heshbon and because for a better reading.

In 1408 Israel defeated King Sihon and took the land that first belonged to Moab and Ammon. The Jewish tribes of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh came to posses it. About 250 years later Ammon wants the land back and Jephthah, a Hebrew judge (1159 – 1153) tells them: ²⁶While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover them (the land taken by Sihon) within that time (Judges 11)? We backtrack 300 years from 1159 to get 1459 or about 12 years before Israel left Egypt. Sihon must have taken away the land from Ammon and Moab at about that time. Despite what Sihon may have thought, beginning in 1459 God considered the land as part of Israel, though the Jews didn't get there until fifty-one years later (Deuteronomy 2:24, 32-33; Nehemiah 9:22).

All through Jeremiah 48 God brings condemnation on Moab as He did on Jerusalem, thus brings judgment on the churches. ²There shall be no more praise of Moab: in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; come, and let us cut it off from being a nation. Also thou shalt be cut down, O Mad- men; the sword shall pursue thee. ⁴ Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.

Recall that in Matthew 24:15-16 Scripture tells us to flee from the con- gregations during the third great tribulation: ¹⁵ When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation (Satan; see July 26), spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (the churches), (whoso readeth, let him understand:) ¹⁶Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains (Christ): We have that same command to flee in Jeremiah 48:6 and regarding Moab: ⁶Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath (Aroer, another city) in the wilderness. And in verse 9: Give wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get away: for the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein. So again Moab in Jeremiah 48 represents the holy place (the churches) during the third great tribulation.

Regarding Moab in Jeremiah 48: ⁷For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together. The works and…treasures refer to false gospels in the churches, particularly do-it-yourself salvation plans that include water baptism, confessions of faith, and anything else they claim serve as steppingstones to salvation (see  August 7).

We conclude the following scenario: God makes available a representa- tion of His kingdom to certain people, but Satan takes it away. God made the Garden of Eden (as a representation of His kingdom) available to Adam and Eve, but Satan took it away. God made available the land of Canaan (as a representation of His kingdom) to the Israelites (in Genesis 15:18), but Nebuchadnezzar (representing Satan) sacked Jerusalem in 587 B.C. God made available the land of Moab and Ammon (as a representa- tion of His kingdom) to the offspring of Lot (Deuteronomy 2:9), but King Sihon of Heshbon took that away in 1459 B.C. In A.D. 33 God made available the churches (as a representation of His kingdom) to both Jews and gentiles, but Satan gradually took that away with false prophets (2 Corinthians 11:15). Beginning in 1988 he took over totally. So it looks like Satan is on a roll.

But Christ destroyed Satan (somewhat) at the cross. Persia, representing the kingdom of God, defeated Babylon in B.C. 539. Israel, representing the kingdom of God, won over King Sihon in 1408 B.C. And on October 21, 2011 God destroys Satan for keeps in the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20, 20:10). So in the end Satan and his followers, both human and otherwise, lose everything.

CHRIST, THE CROSS; SATAN, THE BOTTOMLESS PIT

As we saw in Genesis 3 and Daniel 8, Satan won rule over mankind (see June 16 and June 18). So at the beginning of the church age in A.D. 33, God had to somehow prevent him from frustrating Christ's plans to save the elect in the congregations.

In fact in Mark 3 Christ explains that ²⁷No man (Christ) can enter into a strong man's house (that of Satan), and spoil (plunder) his goods (i.e., save the elect), except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house (during the church age). We know from Daniel 8 (see June 16) that Christ succeeded in binding Satan because, though ⁸…the he goat waxed very great…when he was strong, the great horn was bro- ken… (A horn refers to strength.)

We search the Bible for any description of God binding Satan, the strong man (of Mark 3:27). In Revelation 20: ¹…I saw an angel (angelos: should have been translated as messenger: i.e., Christ) come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit (hell) and a great chain in his hand. ²And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.

The thousand years is obviously not a literal number. As shown below, Christ bound Satan at the cross; and on January 10 and 12 we determine the year as A.D. 33. A thousand years after the cross, in A.D. 1033, nothing happened and the churches continued on as usual.

A literal interpretation of the thousand years of Revelation 20:1 did pro- vide reason for an apocalyptic expectation, not just in A.D. 1000 but the surrounding period as well. Actually in their interminable search for signs of doom, the intellectuals forecasted them not just in A.D. 1000 but also 100, 400, 800 and 1250.

Some things never change: with the supposed release of Satan in a thou- sand years, one can well imagine the opportunists at the end of the first millennium. The common people probably had no calendar or need to keep track of years. But come A.D. 1000 the ecclesiastical authorities would've let them know, adding that they should donate everything to the church or face the devil on their own. A medieval monk, Radulfus Glaber, wrote of mass hysteria, but no other accounts of madness seem to exist and some historians doubt Glaber's report.

The thousand years that Satan remains bound in Revelation 20:1 repre- sents the church age, which lasted almost twice as long as a literal inter- pretation. Satan can no longer frustrate God's plan to …spoil (plunder) his (Satan's) goods; i.e., save the elect. In the language of Daniel 8 the great horn was broken because the strong man (of Mark 3:27) was bound.

Recall that God used Alexander the Great to represent Satan (June 16). Alexander died suddenly at the height of his power and disappeared, as Satan receded (sort of) at the cross. They then divided the Greek empire into four parts—east, west, north and south—ruled over by four of his generals, which parallels the church age as prophesized in Daniel 8: ²²Now that (Satan) being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms (i.e., the churches in all the world) shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. The number 4 always refers to the furthest extent in time or space (see February 21); i.e., for the four directions, east, west, north and south. So the four kingdoms of Daniel 8:22 correctly prophesied that the churches would go into the whole world.

Hebrews 2:14 explains in more direct language that the great horn was broken at the cross: ¹⁴…as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he (Christ) also…took part of the same; that through death he might de- stroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

With Satan bound, God kicks the devil and his angles out of heaven: ³¹Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince (Satan) of this world be cast out (John 12). We also read of this event in Revelation 12: ⁷And there was war in heaven: Michael (God) and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, ⁸And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. ⁹And 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.

Christ had anticipated Satan's fall in Luke 10: ¹⁸… I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 2 Peter 2 reinforces Satan's defeat: ⁴…God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and deliv- ered them into chains of darkness, to…judgment (i.e., annihilation).

With Satan defeated at the cross, Christ could buy back the world in Mat- thew 13: ⁴⁴…heaven is like unto treasure (the elect whom God intends to save from spiritual death) hid in a field (the world); the which when a man (Christ) hath found, he hideth, and for joy (for those whom God saves) thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field: i.e., before the foundation of the world, Christ bought the world by paying the penalty, death, for the sins of the elect (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:20). That the treasure is hid and God hideth the treasure means that no one can ever know whom God has chosen for salvation. Indeed, Romans 9:15 tells us God considers salvation His business alone: ¹⁵For he (God) saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

In Daniel 8, after ⁸…the great horn (Satan) was broken…came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.

The four winds and four notable ones have to do with the church age and direct us to the four winds in Revelation 7:1-3, where we find the four winds of the earth.

In Revelation 7: ¹…after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree (i.e., Satan is kept bound and can't take over the churches until God allows him to). ²And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, ³Saying, Hurt not the earth, nei- ther the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants (i.e., those saved during the church age) of our God in their foreheads. ⁴And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand (not a literal number) of all the tribes of the children of Israel (i.e., all those destined for salvation in the congrega- tions). Note that the phrase, till we have sealed the servants…suggests a future time, when it will be given to hurt the earth and the sea.  

On June 30 we look at the parabolic language describing how at first Christ saved the churches.

CHRIST SAVES THE CHURCH

In Matthew 4:19 and Mark 1:17 Christ begins setting the foundation for the church age by making His disciples fishers of men. ¹⁹And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Recall that on June 14 we developed Corollary 5a: We must look for the spiritual meaning (Corollary 4a) within the parabolic language. Fishers of fish haul fish into ships, and during the church age fishers of men haul men into churches. So in the Bible's parabolic language ships represent churches. To show ships as representing them, we can look at 2 Chroni-cles 9: ²¹ …the king's ships went to Tarshish…every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

In accordance with Corollary 3c: Only Scripture can define its own vo- cabulary. So we have to let the Bible define the terms: the three years, the king, the gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks.

The king, of course, refers to God as king of the churches (and, for that matter, everything else). ¹⁷Now unto the King…the only wise God, be honour and glory (1Timothy 1).

The number 3, as in every three years, always represents God's purpose (see February 21). In the case of 2 Chronicles 9:21, God's purpose was to save His elect in the churches; i.e., the hundred and forty and four thou- sand (not a literal number) of Revelation 7: ⁴And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. 

I don't think anyone knows the location of Tarshish in 2 Chronicles 9:21; but it indicates the farthest extent, as the churches go into all the world with the Gospel (Mark 16:15).

1 Corinthians 3:12 defines the gold…silver, ivory found in the king's ships of Tarshish of 2 Chronicles 9:21: i.e., the gold, and silver, ivory are those whom God saves in the churches. ¹²Now if any man build upon this foun- dation (i.e., Christ) gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble.

1 Corinthians 3:11 defines the foundation in 1 Corinthians 3:12 as Christ: ¹¹For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Therefore to build on Christ during the church age refers to those whom God saves—the gold, silver, precious stones–and those referred to as wood, hay, stubble (in 1 Corinthians 3:12).

Since one is either saved or not saved, the wood, hay, stubble of 1 Corin- thians 3:12 represents the unsaved within the churches. 2 Chronicles 9:21 defines the wood, hay, stubble of 1 Corinthians 3:12 as apes and pea- cocks in the ships of Tarshish. Recall that in June 28 we saw that in Mat- thew 13:44 God hides the treasure (the elect) in the world (the field). Therefore no one can identify them. The apes, though not man, most closely resemble man; similarly those not saved in the church may still look like saved individuals. We may think God has saved them, though He never elected them before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). The peacocks, probably the most beautiful birds, represent those in the church who appear the most devout and pious, though God had never saved them.

So the king's ships (the churches) go into all the world (Mark 16:15) and bring back both the saved (gold, silver, ivory or precious stones) and the unsaved (apes and peacocks or wood, hey, stubble). Therefore during the church age God doesn't save every member in full communion with their congregation.

Mark 4 describes a ship (the churches) harassed by Satan (the great storm of wind) during the church age: ³⁷And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. ³⁸And he (Christ) was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? ³⁹And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

The word, perish (apollymi) in Mark 4:38, refers to everlasting damnation and annihilation. In John 3: ¹⁵That whosoever believeth in him should not perish (apollymi) but have eternal life. Without Christ in the churches (in the hinder part of the ship), the congregants would perish like those in ships going down under the sea (God's wrath). Christ saves the ship for the thousand years (not a literal number; see June 28) of Revelation 20:1-2. In Mark 4:39, God says, Peace (siōpaō). The word, siōpaō, means to be struck dumb as in Luke 1: ²⁰And…thou (Zacharias, father of John the Baptist) shalt be dumb (siōpaō), and not able to speak… God then re- peats the command for the wind (Satan) to be still (in Mark 4:39). Just as the wind and waves cannot destroy the ship, Satan cannot destroy the churches (until after the church age) and its congregants whom God intends to save from eternal death.

2 Thessalonians 2:7 confirms our conclusion that Christ restrains Satan in the churches: ⁷For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he (God) who now letteth (katechō: should have been translated as, restrain, i.e., restrains Satan) will let (restrain), until he (God) be taken out of the way (mesos, meaning, midst, i.e., out of the midst of the congregations). So God restrains Satan—but only for a while. At some point God will be taken out of the way, (midst of the churches).

Speaking of a great storm of wind, recall in June 28 that we read in Reve- lation 7:1 of four angels standing on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. So the four angles represent God re- straining Satan's destruction during the church age.

Though Christ bound Satan at the cross, the devil still has limited power to go about as a …roaring lion…seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8; and 1 Peter 5 definitely concerns the church age). That Christ sleeps in the hinder part of the ship (in Mark 4:38) represents congregants' ignor- ance of Satan's mischief. As we've seen on June 28, no one can distin-guish between the saved and unsaved. Satan can bring unsaved members into the churches especially pastors, deacons and elders whom God never intended to save.

These condemned church authorities cannot do God's will: ⁵I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing (John 15). So these unsaved members corrupt the congregations without anyone the wiser. In 2 Corinthians 11 Satan appears as a counterfeit Christ and his ministers as bogus saved members: ¹³For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. ¹⁴And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light (Christ). ¹⁵Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness… So God didn't completely disable Satan.

On July 2 we look at further corroboration for our original premise: that the Bible's parabolic language uses ships to represent churches and, as long as God restrains Satan, fishers of men can haul the elect into the congregations.

UNSAVED PRIESTS, PASTORS AND DEACONS

In Luke 5:4-11 we have an historic parable of the churches catching men. In a boat just off shore, Christ ³…taught the people out of the ship. As we saw on June 30, ships represent the churches. Luke 5 continues:

⁴Now when he had left speaking, he (Christ) said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. ⁵And Simon answer- ing said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. ⁶And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. ⁷And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. ⁸When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. ⁹For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: ¹⁰And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. ¹¹And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.

In Luke 5:5 Peter tells Christ, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing. John 15 tells us that without Christ we catch nothing: ⁵I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

That the disciples have toiled all the night has significance. Before re- storing the sight of a man born blind, Christ tells his disciples in John 9, ⁴I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. ⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

As the light of the world, Christ proceeds to give the blind man his sight as a picture of salvation. The night cometh, when no man can work at the end of the church age. God no longer resides within the congregations, thus no one within the churches becomes saved; outside of the churches no one becomes saved for the following 2300 days (see February 2).

In Luke 5:4 Christ instructs Peter to let down your nets for a draught. Peter tells him that they have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing. But Peter illustrates a saved man. A saved individual confesses his sins to God—for I am a sinful man, O Lord—and follows God's (the Bible's) instructions. He says, at thy word I will let down the net. Thus they in- closed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.

That the net brake implies that some fish escaped. That some fish get a- way through a broken net suggests God does not save everyone taken up by the churches. On June 30 we saw that in 2 Chronicles 9:21 the ships of Tarshish (the churches) brought back apes, and peacocks, the unsaved, as well as gold, and silver, ivory, the saved. 1 Corinthians 3:12 defined the apes, and peacocks as the unsaved. ¹²Now if any man build upon this foundation (i.e., Christ) gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. 2 Corinthians 11:13 warns of active, unsaved members in the congrega- tions: ¹³For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming them- selves into the apostles of Christ.

The false apostles and deceitful workers refer to unsaved elders, pastors and deacons. Revelation 13:17 predicts that after the church age only false apostles and deceitful workers will administer in the congregations. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

The beast is the dragon of Revelation 13:4 and the dragon is Satan of Revelation 20:2; so the beast is Satan. To have the mark…of the beast means to belong to Satan and be unsaved. To buy or sell refers to pub- lishing the Gospel (Isaiah 55:1). So after the church age only the unsaved proclaim the gospel within the congregations. But False apostles and de- ceitful workers publish false gospels. That explains why every church has a different doctrine. But the Bible is only one book, therefore one canon. Therefore all the churches can't be right. In fact, according to Scripture, none of them are.

In Luke 5:7 the men …filled both…ships, so that they began to sink. To- day's churches sink under God's wrath that the sea represents. That so many fish filled the ships, causing them to sink, makes one think of to- day's mega churches. Isaiah 9:3 supports this conclusion: ³Thou hast mul- tiplied the nation (with an ever increasing membership as churches went into the whole world), and not increased the joy: they joy before thee ac- cording to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

That the ships began to sink supports the notion that eventually the church age ends. In fact the historical parable in Acts 27 concerns a shipwreck that signifies the end of the churches. ⁴¹And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves.

An historical parable in John 21 parallels the one in Luke 5. In both cases the disciples go fishing: but in the former allegory the net does not break, fish do not escape, they do not bring the fish into any ship, and the ships do not begin to skink. But John 21 refers to the great tribulation after the church age.

Some readers might think I'm reading stuff into verses, thus treating Scrip- ture like a poem or Rorschach test. But according to our first premise, God wrote the Bible. Without that basis all interpretation goes up for grabs; and such free-for-all leaves us unable to prove anything. God wouldn't care to tell us about fishing or the one that got away. Such stories come only from man. But we know God would have us know that: (1) not very many became saved in the congregations; (2) there comes a time when the church age ends and we must leave. But His news comes in parabolic language.

On July 5 we gather more evidence predicting the churches' limited success and God's eventual abandonment of them.

VICTOR STENGER: FAILED HYPOTHESIS VS. FAILED CONGREGATIONS

In Acts 2:41 God emphasizes the beginning of the church age by saving three thousand souls on the first day. So the churches began with a bang. But as we saw in the parable of the vineyard (see June 25), Christ looked that it (the congregations) should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. So in Isaiah 5:4 Christ bewails the condition of the churches: ⁴What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? (a stench).

We find more evidence of such a stink in Revelation 1-3. God has John write: ¹And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write…I know thy works, that thou hast a name, that thou livest, and art dead (Revelation 3).

Exiled to the island of Patmos, John wrote Revelation around A.D. 90-95, about sixty years after the first Pentecost. A few people had been saved in Sardis (Revelation 3:4), but God would soon abandon that church, just as He'd leave all of them for dead in 1988 (February 2).

In Revelation 2 John writes to the church in Smyrna: ⁹…I know the blas- phemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the syna- gogue of Satan. The context defines the word, Jews, as those whom God has saved, according to Romans 2:29 (But he is a Jew, which is one in- wardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.) Anyone whom God has not saved belongs to the synagogue of Satan. So we have unsaved priests and pastors that do the work of Satan and corrupt the church.

Years earlier than the Book of Revelation, Paul wrote in Galatians 1 to the church of Galatia: ⁶I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel (Galatians 1). So the congregations had become filled with the ...false apostles, deceit- ful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ that we read about in 2 Corinthians 11:13. They …say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan (Revelation 2:9).

In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul finds church members at Corinth worse than those who never attend them (i.e., the Gentiles). ¹It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.

Would we expect to find more sin in the congregations than outside of them? By the same token would we expect to find more church-going people in jail than non church goers? According to Victor Stenger in his book, God/The Failed Hypothesis, we would expect to see more Chris- tians in prison. Although he comes to the wrong conclusion about God, he at least got the following right:

I have seen no evidence that nonbelievers commit crimes or other antisocial acts in greater proportion than believers. Indeed, some studies indicate the opposite. According to statistics from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Christians make up almost 80 percent of the prison population. Atheists make up about .2 percent.¹

True enough. We find more "Christians" going to jail than atheists. Per- haps people who do bad things want to feel good about themselves by going to church, whereas those who have no reason to feel bad about themselves have no need to go. While the ambiguity of the word "belief" and "Christians" brings up this apparent conundrum of more "Christians" than atheists in prison, Scripture's principle of election by grace alone resolves it. The belief of anyone whom God has truly saved doesn't stem from religious addiction, the need to cope with sin or any other circum- stance. One does nothing that adds in any way towards his or anyone else's salvation. For His own reasons, God simply thrusts it upon him whether he wants it or not.

On the other hand Harry, who desires an early release from jail, wants to appear as a good guy to prison authorities. So he doesn't tell them he be- lieves in atheism and he certainly doesn't go in for Islam. That leaves Ju- daism and Christianity, with the latter obviously the favorite. If Harry has enough time before his next parole hearing, he may start out as an agnos- tic and invite the preacher to witness his trek down the born-again route. Other than pumping iron, he hasn't anything better to do. Thus we have 80 per cent of the prison population opting for Christianity.

If God never saves him Harry may still "believe" in his religion, or at least say he does. But he neither believes in a way acceptable to God nor as someone truly saved. If in the congregation Harry desires his father's wife, he may find religion an addiction—but not because he wants God or vice versa. Rather he thinks religion or church will at least ameliorate or hide his sin. But his belief will never reduce his lusting after anyone or thing.

Only God's salvation plan can stop Harry from wanting his father's wife (or any other sin). If God never intends to save him, Harry will continue to desire her or someone else; and neither religion nor jail will change anything. If he leaves home and never returns, Scripture still finds him guilty (Matthew 5:28) because he wants her. Like the condemned mur- derer or politician caught at the cookie jar, he may give us the born-again testimony and appear more "saved" than the truly redeemed; but that's only because the latter has no need to testify to anyone. With Harry it's all show, nothing more, even if he believes his own testimony.

I don't think anyone whom God has truly saved feels a need to indoctri- nate anyone or testify to anything. Consider Jonah and Jeremiah who at first balked at the task God gave them (Jonah 1:1-3; Jeremiah 1:6). A saved individual believes in and publishes the Gospel because God com- mands him to in Ezekiel 33:6-7 and elsewhere, and because he has a God-given desire for the spiritual well-being of his neighbor. While wanting to keep God's commandments (1 John 5:2-3), he has no need to proclaim any doctrine not supported by Scripture.

But unsaved members of the church, once in a position of authority, con- struct their own religion for the purpose of controlling others. They can't accept God's election plan because that would mean relinquishing their influence and power; not to mention losing church membership. They can't proclaim the whole Bible as God's Word because certain verses would conflict with their doctrine. So they pick and choose what sup- posedly defends their belief and explains how they, rather than God, can "save" anyone. That's why we read in Isaiah 4: ¹And in that day (of the church age) seven women (the seven churches of Revelation 2-3 that represent all the congregations) shall take hold of one man (Christ), saying, We will eat our own bread (go by our own gospel), and wear our own apparel (create our own covering for sin and reject Christ's salvation plan): only let us be called by thy name (Christ), to take away our re- proach (guilt for sin).

God prophesizes about these people throughout the Book of Jeremiah: ¹⁰Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my por- tion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilder- ness (Jeremiah 12). ²¹For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered (Jeremiah 10). ²…thus saith the LORD…against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings (Jeremiah 23). That from the same Bible we get countless different churches, each with its own belief system, supports these prophesies.

The tower of Babel in Genesis 11 serves as a metaphor for the corruption of the churches. Church leaders decide how to become right with God via the construction of their own doctrines. ⁴And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven…⁹Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

So with the tower of Babel we wound up scattered with different lan- guages. Similarly with the churches we wound up scattered with different doctrines, each congregation believing it had the "true religion," and the right way to God. Consequently some of us no longer knew what to think and rejected Scripture altogether.

As a result of this failure, God declares in Isaiah 5, ⁵…I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: ⁶And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. The term no rain means no more Gospel and no more opportunity for salvation.

On July 7 we look at why the churches didn't do so well.

¹Victor J. Stenger, "How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist," God\the failed hypothesis, (New York, N.Y: Prometheus Books, 2007) p. 194.

A PROPHECY OF SATAN AND CHURCHES

So far we've seen that the churches didn't do very well. Some of today's pastors may disagree and point to how their mega churches burst at the seams with worshippers. But only the Biblical version concerns us. The parable of Matthew 13:24-43 gives a cause for this ecclesiastical failure.

²⁴…The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: ²⁵But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. ²⁶But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. ²⁷So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? ²⁸He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? ²⁹But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. ³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Matthew 13:37-43 defines the terms in Matthew 13:24-30. ³⁷…He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; ³⁸The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; ³⁹The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. ⁴⁰As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. ⁴¹The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; ⁴²And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

But we can't hear unless God gives us the ears to hear with, as James 1 points out. ¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights… Also John 3: ²⁷A man can re- ceive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.

Matthew 13:37-43 defines everything except the term, while men slept, and the word, angles (angelos): ⁴¹The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 

The KJV translates the word angelos as angel 179 times and as messen- ger 7 times. Michael as the archangel in Jude 1:9 is Christ. The word angelos can refer to God or Christ (Acts 7:30, 35, 38), or an actual angel, i.e., an administering spirit (Hebrews 2:7, 9, 16 1 Peter 3:22; 2 Peter 2:4). The word angelos can also refer to man as a messenger (Hebrews 13:2; James 2:25; Revelation 2:1, 8, 12, 18, 3:1, 7, 14).

So we have to determine what Matthew 13:39, 41 means by the word angelos: ³⁹The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. ⁴⁰As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. ⁴¹The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;

John 4 helps us pin it down: ³⁵Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold…Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.³⁶And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. ³⁷And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.³⁸I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.

John 4:35-38 refers to those who become saved and act as messengers with the word of God. They reapeth after God applies the word (Romans 10:17) to the hearts of His elect (for the harvest of the wheat in Matthew 13:24-43). And the word rejoice always refers to men, not ministering spirits. So the saved gather the fruit in Matthew 13:26 and are the angels (messengers) of Matthew 13:39, 41.

The churches cover the world, therefore they cover the field (= world in Matthew 13:38). So the field represents the churches; and they contain both wheat and tares (Matthew 13:26).

The tares are the unsaved within the churches. The enemy is Satan. Though Christ had bound Satan at the cross, the devil can still bring tares into the congregations. 2 Corinthians 11:13 concerns these active, un- saved members: ¹³For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, trans- forming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 2 Corinthians 11 goes on to refer to them as ministers of righteousness: ¹⁴And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. ¹⁵Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

Matthew 13:30 concerns the timing of events at the end of the world: ³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

After the church age God allows Satan to rule in the congregations. So those remaining in them bow to Satan. God then uses the churches to gather…together first the tares (the children of the wicked one (Matthew 13:38)). At the harvest (the end of the world (Matthew 13:39)) God rap- tures the elect. For those left in the congregations, God has bound them in bundles to burn them. This burning occurs at the end of the five month period of Revelation 9:5 (see February 7). So it's no wonder that in Reve- lation 18 God commands us to ⁴…Come out of her (the churches = Bab- ylon), my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye re- ceive not of her plagues.

We need to deal with the phrase while men slept in Matthew 13:25: ²⁴…The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: ²⁵But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

In Isaiah 29: ¹⁰For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. ¹¹And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:

We read of a sealed book, the Bible, in Daniel 12: ⁸…then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? ⁹ And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

We find another example in Daniel 8, where Daniel in a deep sleep a- woke to come to know what shall be: ¹⁸Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright. ¹⁹And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be (Daniel 8:18-19).

Also in Matthew 25 we have the parable of the ten virgins that made up the churches. And ⁵While the bridegroom (Christ) tarried, they all slum- bered and slept. The ten virgins in the churches slept in that they couldn't know that five of them were tares.

The phase while men slept in Matthew 13:25 means God had closed their eyes to the fact that Satan brought tares into the congregations. Recall that as Mark 4 describes a ship (the churches) harassed by Satan (the great storm of wind: see June 30), Christ slept in the hinder part of the ship. His sleeping represents everyone's ignorance of Satan seeding the churches with tares during the church age.

While men slept anybody within the congregation would have assumed God had saved everybody, including himself, and had no reason to think otherwise. Even if one suspected unsaved members in the churches, ac- cording to Matthew 13:29, he wouldn't have been able to distinguish be- tween the wheat and tares. Recall that The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? ²⁹But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

Even though Christ had bound Satan at the cross, the devil could still seed the churches with unsaved elders, deacons and pastors (Matthew 13:28, 39) without anyone knowing about it. Recall that 2 Corinthians 11:13 de- fines these tares as false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming them- selves into the apostles of Christ and ministers of righteousness. John 15 assures us that whatever these tares do, they can't do God's will, no mat- ter how much they may want to: ⁵I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. Consequently these tares corrupt the con- gregation and the Bible.

With no one aware of these infiltrations the churches slowly became apostate without anyone realizing it—except the wheat, who either left the churches or got kicked out. God would not allow His elect to remain there after abandoning the congregations to Satan. So we need only know when this event occurred. By February 2, 4 of 2009, we have enough da- ta to show how we come to 1988.

On July 9 we see that Scripture predicts unsaved church leaders.

A PROPHECY OF UNSAVED CHURCH LEADERS

We've seen how Matthew 13:24-43 tells of Satan seeding the congrega- tions with tares, false apostles, deceitful workers and ministers of right- eousness (see July 7).

With everyone unaware of the tares in the congregations, we now can make sense of the mystery spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2: ⁷For the mys- tery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth (katecho: from (kata) and  (echo), to hold down (fast); i.e., restrains Satan) will let (restrain), until he be taken out of the way. So Satan's occupation re- mained a mystery because …men slept, (as) his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat (Matthew 13:25). 

During the church age they might as well not have known how Satan op- erated. No one would've been able to distinguish the wheat from the tares anyway: …The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? ²⁹But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them (Matthew 13:28b, 29).

The wise at the Salem witch trials would've ignored the accused and kept a wary eye on the accusers. Imagine our behavior if we, unsaved in the churches, had known of Satan's mischief. The old adage, an accusation a day keeps suspicions away, would've kept our fingers forever pointing at others. Bring up Matthew 13:28b-29, and we would've tap-danced around it—and corrupted Scripture in the process. Though this hypothetical blame-game never happened, truth can still exist in fiction: as we'll show, the latent intent still exists, and God examines intentions, even if, through ignorance, we have no opportunity to commit the sin.

To show that we would've ordained ourselves as judge between wheat and tares, we can use a nonfictional parallel: church leaders proclaimed, contrary to Scripture, that they could save people from eternal damna- tion. One only had to acquiesce to their rituals—water baptism, confes- sions of faith, the "sinner's prayer" and above all, church attendance—and presto, one became right with Christ. Since only God can save any- one, pastors and priests without realizing it usurped His authority. They unknowingly denied the terrible price Christ had to pay to redeem any- one.

From what I've heard, when the wheat questioned such unbiblical prac- tices, church authorities would corrupt Scripture all the more. They would finally ask a persistent "troublemaker" to leave the church.

Church leaders defend their power to save the way we would've upheld our judgment of wheat and tares. We'd all have the same ulterior motive: to appear not only innocent, but important and necessary. As unsaved, we want power and glory for ourselves, not Christ. So God examines the in- tent, not just overt action: ¹²For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asun- der of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4). It remains irrelevant whether or not the opportunity exists for self-glorification. We still have the intent.

All the above leads up to an understanding of Matthew 7:21-23: Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. ²²Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? ²³And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

The word many in verse 22 excludes those without ecclesiastical or Bib- lical interests. The secularly minded would never have prophesied in thy name or cast out devils or made claims to having done many wonderful works.

So Matthew 7:22 must refer to church members who think incorrectly that they doeth the will of…(the) Father and depend on impotent rituals for salvation. They would declare, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? But nothing we do can determine our eternal destiny; only whether or not God chose to save us: ⁴According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love  (Ephesians 1).

True, we as unsaved can obey God to some extent, showing ourselves as "moral," "obedient" and "God fearing." For example in John 8:7 Christ told the scribes and Pharisees, ⁷ He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her (the woman taken for adultery). ⁹And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last…But with the exception of Nicodemus (John 19:38-39) God had never saved them.

We can now understand Revelation 13:17 as to what happens after the church age: ¹⁷And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. The beast is Satan. When God abandons the churches, declaring the church age as over, Satan begins to rule. Isaiah 55:1 defines the terms, to buy or sell: i.e., to publish the Gospel. ¹Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

The terms—waters, wine, and milk—refer to Scripture. While Isaiah 55:1 sustains salvation by grace alone, it also clarifies Revelation 13:17: that after God abandons the church, only Satan's ministers of righteousness (2 Corinthians 11:15) can buy or sell in them. Nobody in the congregations pays any attention to the true believers—except to kick them out. On the last day, May 21, 2011 (see February 4), those still in the churches ask, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? But they violated the Gospel they published by remaining in the congregations.

On July 12 we compare several verses that predict the ending of the church age.

THE PRICE FOR SALVATION

As we all know, priests and pastors have always believed they could get members saved through church attendance and rituals like confessions of faith and water baptism. On June 9 we stated that because Christ saved only a selected remnant these ecclesiastical beliefs deny the price He paid to redeem anyone. The statement begs the question: if saving anyone in- volved a price then what did Christ have to pay and when did He pay it? (As to the how He paid it remains unknown, since the Bible doesn't tell us and none of us were there.) 1 Peter 1:19-21 answers both questions as to what and when.

¹⁹But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: ²⁰Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times (i.e. on April 1, 33 A.D.) for you, ²¹Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God (1 Peter 1).

Christ paid for the sins of the elect before the foundation of the world by his execution, after which God raised him up from the dead. As we read in Romans 6: ²³…the wages of sin is death. Therefore in Colossians 1: ¹⁸ ...he (Christ) is…the firstborn from the dead... That Christ could die before the foundation of the world and come to life again remains a mys- tery. We with finite minds cannot understand an infinite God.

The world hell (sheۥ ôl) in the Bible refers to the grave and in Psalms 16: ¹⁰…thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption (see also Acts 2:27). The first part of Psalms 16:10 refers to Christ's death before the foundation of the world, after which thou wilt not leave my soul in hell. The corruption in the second part of Psalms 16:10 refers to Christ's body in the tomb after the cross. The body did not corrupt because Christ had already completed payment for sin before the foundation of the world.

Other verses corroborate that for His own sake Christ died before the foundation of the world. ³For we which have believed do enter into rest…although the works were finished from the foundation of the world (Hebrews 4). ³⁴Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come…inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25). As we show below with Hebrews 1:2, the term from the foundation of the world means before the foundation of the world.

That God raised him up from the dead explains why God can refer to Christ as His only begotten son (in John 1:18, 3:16, 3:18, and 1 John 4:9). Though Christ/God is eternal, Christ had a beginning before the founda- tion of the world; i.e. when God raised him up from the dead. Again we with finite minds cannot understand the apparent contradiction.

In Hebrews 1 we read, ²Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. If God could not refer to Christ as his Son before Christ's resurrection and his Son… made the worlds (in Hebrews 1:2) then the resurrection had to occur before God made the worlds. So the phrase from the foundation of the world in Hebrews 4:3 and Matthew 25:34 would mean before the foundation of the world.

Again looking at 1 Peter 1: ¹⁹But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: ²⁰Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times (i.e. on April 1, 33 A.D.) for you, ²¹Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God (1 Peter 1).

These verses, particularly 1 Peter 1:20, answer a third question: if Christ paid for the sins before the foundation of the world then why did He have to go to the cross more than 11 thousand years later (i.e., on April 1, 33 A.D; see January 10, 12)?

God experienced physical death in 33 A.D. in order to manifest (i.e., re- veal or demonstrate) his prior death in these last times (i.e., on April 1, 33 A.D.) so that ⁶…all flesh shall see the salvation of God (Luke 3). His death created an historic parable demonstrating the penalty Christ paid for the sins of the elect: i.e., the agony of a slow death—the nails driven through His hands and feet etc—and the shame of being executed and hanging naked on public display as those below mocked Him. Though they put Christ's body in the tomb, His soul resided in heaven, since in Luke 23:43 He told the thief on the cross, ⁴³...To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

The cross testified to the world and the principalities and powers in heavenly places (of Ephesians 3:10) God's mercy, justice, long suffering etc. That explains why God created the world in the first place: to reveal His glory (as discussed on June 19). Also 1 Peter 1:21 explains that through the cross the elect's faith (Christ) and hope might be in God.

REVELATION'S TIMELINE AND ITS ENDING CHURCH

By comparing Revelation 20:1-3, Revelation 7:1-3, Revelation 20:7-8, Revelation 13:7-8 and Matthew 24:21, we can see how these verses harmonize in describing the church age and its ending.

In Revelation 20:1-3 Christ binds Satan during the church age and pre- vents him from frustrating God's salvation plan for His elect within the congregations: ¹And I saw an angel (angelos; i.e., messenger: Christ) come down from  heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. ²And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, ³And 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.

Only Christ could have the key of the bottomless pit. (= hell = death) ¹⁷…I am the first and the last: ¹⁸ and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death (Revelation 1).

The thousand years refers to the church age, which lasted from A.D. 33 until 1988. God didn't give the literal number 1955. He didn't want them knowing when the church age would end until afterwards (see supple- ment: March 5).

Numbers in the Bible have parabolic meaning: the 10 as a factor in 1000 = 10³ signifies completeness; the 3 in 1000 = 10³ signifies God's purpose. So to signify His complete purpose for the church age, God uses the fig- urative thousand years for the period Satan remains bound in the bottom- less pit.

Despite Revelation 20:1-3, Satan can still bring tares (see July 7) into the churches. But Revelation 7:1-3 assures us that he cannot stop God from saving His elect: ¹…I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. ²And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, ³Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads; i.e., until the end of the church age. ⁴And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. They become saved within the congregations during the church age.

The factors in 144, 000 = 12² x 10³ signify the full (12) and complete (10) purpose of God (3) for those He saves (2) in the churches.

The four winds of the earth refer to the whole world. We find the same term, four winds, in Matthew 24:31 that can only mean all the earth: ³¹And he shall send his angels…and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds (i.e., from the uttermost parts of the earth), from one end of heaven to the other.

To these four angles …it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, (Reve- lation 7:2) after …we have sealed the servants of our God in their fore- heads (i.e., after we have saved all of the elect during the church age: Revelation 7:3). So it was given to hurt the earth and the sea after the church age.

In Revelation 20:1-3 Christ had bound Satan for a thousand years so he couldn't take over the congregations. But after Christ casts Satan ³…into the bottomless pit, and shut(s) him up…after that he (Satan) must be loosed a little season—so that he can enter into the congregations and rule over them. (Revelation 20:3).

The little season of Revelation 20:3 begins on May 21, 1988 and ends on May 21, 2011, a period of 23 years or 8400 days. The rapture of the elect then occurs. The number 23 always has to do with God's judgment.

Revelation 20:7-8 tells what happens after the church age (the thousand years of Revelation 20:2) and God releases Satan: ⁷…when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, ⁸And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog  (the churches in the whole world), to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

We can't count the number of those remaining in the congregations after the church age; so they are as the sand of the sea.

The release of Satan at the end of the church age to reign in the congre- gations parallels Revelation 13: ⁷And it was given unto him (Satan) to make war with the saints, and to overcome them (i.e., silence them in the congregations): and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. ⁸And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Revelation 13:7-8 parallels the release of Satan in Revelation 20:7-8 at the end of the church age on May 21, 1988. And Revelation 13:8 de- scribes the great tribulation of Matthew 24: ²¹ For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. There exists great tribulation when those in the churches worship him; i. e., Satan (as prophesied in Revelation 13:8).

In conclusion in Revelation 20:1-3 God binds Satan in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, i.e., for the duration of the church age. In Revela- tion 7:1-3 the four angels hold back the four winds of the earth during the church age so that the four winds cannot hurt the earth. So Revelation 20:1-3 parallels Revelation 7:1-3. Revelation 20:7-8 concerns the release of Satan from the bottomless pit to enter the churches as described in Revelation 13:7-8; i.e., for the great tribulation of Matthew 24:21. With- out understanding that at some point the church age must end, none of these verses would harmonize or make any sense.

On July 14 we learn that the Babylon of Revelation refers to the congre- gations.

REVELATION'S PROPHECY: THE FALL OF BABYLON

Revelation 18 prophesizes the fall of Babylon: ²…he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. ³For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. ⁴And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues…

Given such description of Babylon, it sounds like a good idea to come out of her. But we can't very well come out of a city that no longer exists. John wrote the book of Revelation in 90-95 A.D. Besides, that region in ancient Mesopotamia merited no more acclaim for wickedness than any other.

Nowhere does the Bible make such an issue over the fall of any city—not Jericho, Sodom or Gomorrah—as it does over the Babylon of Revelation 18: ²¹And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all…

The sea represents God's wrath. The future tense in shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more doesn't make sense unless we understand that the term, Babylon, doesn't refer to that long-gone city by the Persian Gulf. Babylon of Revelation 18 has to refer to something that took place after 90-95 A.D.

Revelation 18 goes on, ²³And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee…

In Revelation 3:1-7 God tells the church at Ephesus: ⁵…repent…or…I will come…and…remove thy candlestick… To remove the candlestick means for God to absent Himself from that church so that that it becomes just another building and a dead church. Revelation 3:1 proclaims the church in Sardis already dead: ¹I know thy works…and art dead. The candle represents light, and Christ is the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:12). Therefore the light of a candle shall shine no more means God abandons what Revelation 18 refers to as Babylon. So God must abandon what He once resided in; i.e., where the light of a candle…did shine after A.D. 95. Christ resided in the churches; so this Babylon of Revelation 18 must represent congregations.

Revelation 18:23 goes on: …and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride (the true believes) shall be heard no more at all in thee:

Revelation 21:2 defines those he saves as the bride of Christ: ²And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. So the bridegroom is Christ and the bride represents the elect. But the voice of Christ and of the saved shall be heard no more at all in thee. So at one time the voice of Christ (the Bible) and the saved were heard in thee. So again Revelation 18:23 must refer to the churches; i.e., in what Revelation 18 refers to as Babylon.

Revelation 18:23 goes on: …for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

These merchants refer to unsaved church leaders (see July 7 concerning the wheat and tares). In Revelation 13: ¹⁶…he (Satan) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: ¹⁷And that no man (in the churches) might buy or sell (as merchants: see July 9: Isaiah 55:1), save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Revelation 13:16-17 explains how all nations in Revelation 18:23 could be deceived. The purpose of the churches was to publish the Gospel. In Mark 16 Christ drafted His apostles to set up the local congregations and told them to ¹⁵…Go…into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. To preach is to publish. But there comes a time in the churches when no man (in the churches) might buy or sell (as merchants), save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Only the unsaved in the churches publish the Gospel. But all nations in Revelation 18:23 could be deceived only through the publication of false gospels. Revelation 18:23 refers to these false gospels as Sorceries: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

Thus Revelation 18:2 makes a big deal out of the fall of the churches and refers to its leaders as devils, foul spirits and hateful birds: ²Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. That Babylon is fallen and is become the habitation of…defines the word, fallen: not as having been abandoned by everybody—just the true believ- ers. Only the unsaved remain in the churches. 

The churches deceived people with false gospels, such as do-it-yourself salvation plans. Throughout the last two thousand years congregants have thought themselves and their children safe and secure through some church—with only God knowing the sad truth.

Babylon's destruction of Jerusalem in B.C. 587 serves as a portrait of Satan's devastation of the churches. Scripture uses the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, to represent Satan.

Revelation 17:5 refers to Babylon as a harlot: ⁵…upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

The word MYSTERY (BABYLON) applies because no one realized that Satan had been seeding the congregations with tares (the unsaved; see July 7) that would eventually take over the churches. But we still have to search Scripture to find out why God refers to the churches as a harlot.

The unsaved are married to the law of God, i.e., the whole Bible. So long as one remains unsaved, that law condemns one to death for the trans- gression of any part of that law: ²³For the wages of sin is death (Romans 6) and ¹⁰…whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all (James 2). So any sin of someone unsaved is spiritual adultery that condemns one to death.

However one whom God has saved has died to the law through Christ as his substitute; therefore no longer has to answer for his transgressions. Romans 7:4 explains that God's salvation plan terminates one's marriage to the law through death (of Christ): ⁴Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him (Christ) who is raised from the dead…

1 Corinthians 7:39 corroborates that one can't become the bride of Christ unless one becomes dead to the law through the death of Christ. ³⁹The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.

Romans 7:3, sustains this relationship: ³So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

In Colossians 3 we read of the saved, that they ³…are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. After the rapture on May 21, 2011, the unsaved left behind seek this death in Christ that brings salvation—except by then it's too late: ⁶And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them (Revelation 9:6).

A harlot gives herself to anybody for a price. The HARLOTS of Revela- tion 17:5, while unsaved and married to God's law, preached false gos- pels, therefore committed spiritual adultery by forsaking Scripture.

Nahum 3 concerns these HARLOTS: ⁴Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witch- crafts. ⁵Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy naked-ness, and the kingdoms thy shame. ⁶And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile…

God does shew the nations thy nakedness: For the last few decades Bible students have become aware of the ecclesiastical corruption of Scripture.

Revelation 17:1 defines the churches as sitting upon many waters: ¹…I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore (the churches) that sitteth (rules) upon many waters: Revelation 17:15 defines the many wa- ters ¹⁵…The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. To sit means to rule. So the whore is the churches that rule over people throughout the world.

In Revelation 17: ³…a woman (representing the churches) sit(s) upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. In Revelation 20 Christ ³…cast him (Satan) into the bot- tomless pit (see July 12). Through Revelation 20:3, Revelation 17:8 de- fines the scarlet coloured beast in Revelation 17:3 as Satan: ⁸The beast that…shall ascend out of the bottomless pit. So the churches sit upon a scarlet coloured beast in that Satan deludes them into thinking they rule over him. Actually Revelation 17:3 has Satan taking the churches for a ride into false gospels (i.e., names of blasphemy). To claim power to save someone, something only God can do, is to commit blasphemy.

Revelation 17:16 assures us that Satan will destroy the relationship be- tween God and the churches: ¹⁶And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

That all the churches became dead shouldn't surprise us. Eventually all seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3 in Asia Minor (Turkey) became dead. History repeats itself: these seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3 represent all of them throughout time. So after 1988 God commands His elect in Revelation 18 to ⁴Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues… According to Scripture, those who don't follow instructions face death and the loss of eternal life.

On July 16 we see how Scripture's parabolic language predicts that at the end of the church age the elect will abandon the congregations.

AS THE CONGREGATIONS SINK, THE ELECT SWIM AWAY

We saw in Revelation 20:1-3 that Christ had bound Satan (see June 28) to keep him from frustrating God's salvation program within the congrega- tions. Genesis 3:15 predicts his defeat: ¹⁵And I will put enmity between thee (Satan) and the woman (the elect), and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. In Revelation 13 Satan's head wound becomes healed for the final great tribulation: ³And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

In the language of Daniel 8 the ⁸...great horn (the strength of Satan) was broken (for the duration of the church age); and for it came up four nota- ble ones toward the four winds of heaven.

The four winds of heaven directed us to Revelation 7:1-3 (see June 28), where four angles are ¹…holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.

Revelation 20:3 gave a figurative number of a thousand years as the duration of the church age (see July 12). Afterwards Revelation 20:3 proclaims that Satan must be loosed a little season. That loosening parallels 2 Thessalonians 2: ⁷ ...he (God) who now letteth (katechō: restrains Satan) will be taken out of the way (i.e., out of the midst, at the end of the church age; (see June 30). Satan then enters the congregations (see July 7).

With God no longer in the congregations 2 Thessalonians 2 warns of Satan's entrance to fill the power vacuum: ³Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; ⁴Who op- poseth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is wor- shipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. To sitteth in the temple of God means to rule in the con- gregations. When Satan rules in the churches Christ and all the elect no longer reside there: ²³And the light of a candle (Christ) shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom (Christ) and of the bride (the elect) shall be heard no more at all in thee: (Revelation 18).

We have similar language in Daniel 8:9. As we show later on, the little horn of Daniel 8 is Satan. ⁹And out of one of them came forth a little horn (little means inconspicuous. Those in the congregations remain unaware of Satan's presence; or of the tares; see July 7) which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land (i.e., in the churches). ²³And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance (Satan), and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. ²⁴And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power (Satan is loosed only because God allows it for the little season of Revelation 20:3) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people (remaining in the churches). 

Ancient Israel would sacrifice a lamb or goat to point to Christ as the sac- rificial lamb on the cross. Daniel 8:1-8 uses a he goat to represent Satan (see June 16), who comes as a counterfeit sacrifice. Because Christ is the sacrifice for sin and the light of the world, 2 Corinthians 11 calls Satan an angle of light. ¹⁴And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. ¹⁵Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers (in the con- gregations) also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; Mat- thew 24 also warns of these ministers of righteousness: ¹¹…many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

We've shown that ships in the Bible represent churches (see June 30). Since the great tribulation leaves the sinking congregations in its wake, Acts 27:14-41 should grab our attention because Paul (a.k.a. Saul) writes about the destruction of a ship. ¹⁴…there arose against it (the ship) a tempestuous wind… Despite all attempts to save their vessel ⁴¹ …they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast…but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves.

No matter how hard congregants may have tried to keep their church afloat, they had no chance—not with Christ and all the elect having jumped ship.

Before running aground, Acts 27:35, they take bread (Christ) to eat. That they had eaten portrays them as having been saved: ³⁵And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: (John 6) Then ³⁸…when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea. The wheat refers to those whom God saves (see July 7, concerning the wheat and tares), with the bread of life. Those whom God saves obey His com- mandments (1 John 5:1-3). God commands His elect to come out of the churches for the great tribulation period (Revelation 18:4; see July 14). That those on the ship cast the wheat into the sea portrays those whom God saved; they either abandon the churches or get themselves kicked out.

In Acts 27: ⁴³ …the centurion… commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land: ⁴⁴And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.

That they escaped all safe to land shouldn't surprise us. We've already determined that they represent saved individuals. The boards that men used to get to shore in Acts 27:44 remind us of the cross where the elect escape spiritual death through Christ and His crucifixion.

In order to survive they had to abandon ship. As we read in Jeremiah 21, God commands Jeremiah to declare to the Israelites, ⁸…Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. ⁹He that abideth in this city (Jerusalem: the churches) shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans (in Babylon: the world) that besiege you, he shall live… This commandment applies to the churches.

God gives the same command in Matthew 24, but not to those in Jeru- salem 2574 years ago. The book of Matthew was written some 650 years later. This command in Matthew refers to us in the congregations that Jerusalem represents: ¹⁵When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation (Satan), spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) ¹⁶Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains (Christ).

On July 19 and 21 we show that back in A.D. 33 Christ in Matthew 24 prophesized the fall of the churches to his apostles: ²…Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things (the buildings of the temple)? ...There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. 1 Corinthians 3:12 defines the stone as the elect (see June 30). ¹²Now if any man build upon this foundation (i.e., Christ) gold, silver, precious stones (the elect), wood, hay, stubble (the non elect). Some people think Matthew 24:2 refers to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. On July 19 we disprove the notion.

BIBLICAL TIMELINE FOR CHURCHES VS JERUSALEM IN 70 A.D.

In this post we look at the following three verses:
  ¹…Jesus went out…from the temple: and his disciples came…to shew him the buildings of the temple. ²And Jesus said…See ye not all these things? …There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down (Matthew 24).
¹ …as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith…Master, see what manner of stones and …buildings are here! ²…Jesus answering said…Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down (Mark 13).
⁵And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, ⁶As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down (Luke 21).

Some people think these verses predict what happened in A.D. 70: the Roman destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. But Presupposition 5 and its corollary discourage that reasoning: The Bible is written in parables—a conclusion we set down as a principle of interpretation. Corollary 5a: We must look for the spiritual meaning (Corollary 4a) within the parabolic language (see June 14).

On June 25 we looked at the parable of the vineyard. We then deter- mined that at the cross …the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom (Matthew 27:51). That event signified that Christ no longer used the nation of Israel as the external representation of His eter- nal kingdom. That's why we read in Matthew 21 that God ⁴¹…will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, (church leaders) which shall render him the fruits (those saved) in their seasons (i.e., during the church age).

Matthew 21:41 means that in God's sight the churches represented God's kingdom and the Jewish temple became just another building. So we wouldn't expect Christ to consider the temple's destruction in A.D. 70 as significant, especially not enough to prophesy the event three times. Where's the spiritual meaning in that? Lots of buildings were destroyed after 33 A.D. So Presupposition 5 and its corollary discourages any inter- pretation of Matthew 24:1-2, Mark 13:1-2 and Luke 21:5-6 as the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

Matthew 24:2 and Mark 13:2 refer to the plural: these things and great buildings respectively. We can show in Galatians 3 that God uses care regarding the singular and plural: ¹⁶Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

The physical buildings and things in Matthew 24:2 and Mark 13:2 would have to include its foundations and the Western Wall. And anyone can see that it still stands in Jerusalem by going to such sites as this one.¹ In fact they renew the picture every 20 minutes. We read on this website that,

The Western Wall is a surviving remnant of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, which was destroyed by Titus in 68 C.E.
During the almost 2,000 years of the Jewish exile and dispersion from Israel, many wars have been fought over Jerusalem. All told, the city has been destroyed and rebuilt no less than 9 times - with each conqueror further attempting to obscure the glorious Jewish past.
But through the centuries, one symbol has miraculously remained intact: the Western Wall. It represents the indestructibility of the Jewish People.

That wall hardly confirms the prophesy of Matthew 24:1-2, Mark 13:1-2 and Luke 21:5-6, that there shall not be left…one stone…that shall not be thrown down.

When anyone thinks Mark 13:1-2 refers to the Roman destruction of the temple, they veer off tangentially ever farther from the circle of Biblical truth. For example they project that same timeframe onto Mark 13:9, thinking it refers to persecution by the Jews prior to A.D. 70: (…take heed…they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them).

The faulty assumption that synagogues refers to Jewish temples reinforces the idea that Mark 13:9 could occur only before 70 A.D. After all, they couldn't very well beat anyone there after it no longer existed. However the transliteration for synagogue is sunagogee. In the secular sense the word means, assembly. The transliteration for the physical temple spe-cifically is not sunagogee but hieron or naos. The Jews used the word sunagogee to mean their temple and congregations in the same way we use the word "house" to mean either body of the U.S. legislature. In Mark 13:9 Christ uses the word in the secular sense to include not only the physical temple but the congregations during the church age and eccle- siastical assemblies during the great tribulation that follows.

We show that Mark 13:9 (…take heed…they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them) does not include what happened only between 33 and 70 A.D. Therefore Mark 13:9 does not imply Mark 13:1-2 refers to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem.

Of course Mark 13:9 doesn't exclude the persecution going on in A.D. 33-70. First and foremost we have Christ, then Peter (John 21:18, 19), James (Acts 12:1), Paul (2 Corinthians 11:24, 25), Stephen (Acts 7:59, 60) and those Paul persecuted prior to his conversion (Acts 22:19, 20). We have Acts 11:19 and Acts 8:1 telling of a great persecution against the church. But after A.D. 70 we have more people, therefore more persecution; e.g., the Reformation when they burnt thousands at the stake. And during the O.T. we read ⁵⁰That the blood of all the prophets…shed from the foundation of the world… ⁵¹From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias (Luke 11).

Mark 13:9 also includes those during the third great tribulation after the church age. Revelation 11:7 concerns that period: ⁷…when they (those whom God has saved) shall have finished their testimony (in the congre- gations), the beast (Satan) shall make war against them (the saints)… overcome them, and kill them… (i.e., they will silence them by putting them out of the churches as prophesized in John 16: ²They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh (after the church age), that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

 In Matthew 10 Christ told His apostles: ¹⁶ …I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves… ¹⁷ …beware of men: …they will deliver you…to the councils…and…will scourge you…¹⁸…ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them…¹⁹… ²⁰ For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. ²¹…the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise…against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.²²…ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake… ²³But when they persecute you in this city, flee... Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel (i.e., the world)…till the Son of man be come.

 Matthew 10:23 confirms that they will not have finished publishing Scripture and suffering persecution when Christ returns. Mark 13:9 has the same language as Matthew 10: ¹⁷…they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. Matthew 10:17 is the same language as, ⁹…they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten (in Mark 13:9). In Matthew 10: ¹⁸ …ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles, is the same language as, ⁹…ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them (in Mark 13:9).

Therefore we have the same language in Matthew 10:16-22 as in Mark 13:9. Since Matthew 10:23 confirms that they will not have finished publishing Scripture and suffering persecution when Christ returns, Mark 13:9 most likely also includes everything up to the last day, not just prior to A.D. 70.

We conclude that Mark 13:9 (…take heed…they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them) includes everything after the cross. So we have no reason to think Mark 13:2 (…there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down,) refers only to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. To determine what Mark 13:2 actually means, we have to do a thematic analysis of the whole chapter. We've already done some of the work by looking at Mark 13:9. We complete the rest on Monday, July 21.

^1. http://www.aish.com/wallcam/Window_on_the_Wall.asp

THE ELECT OUTSIDE CHURCHES; INSIDE CHRIST

In this post we show how Mark 13:1-2 sustains what we've been develop- ing since July 12: that at some point the church age comes to an end.

¹ …as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith…Master, see what manner of stones and…buildings are here! ²…Jesus answering said…Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down (Mark 13:1-2).

The Bible is a spiritual book in parabolic language; so we must look for the spiritual meaning of not one stone…that shall not be thrown down. First we consider the chapter's theme and show how it concerns our day. That would imply Mark 13:1-2 could refer to the end of the church age. We then show that the stone and great buildings in Mark 13:2 represent God's elect. But the stones and buildings of Mark 13:1 refer to today's churches. With no stone upon another in Mark 13:2, none of the elect would remain within today's congregations (of Mark 13:1). Such absence would imply an end to the church age, which is what we want to show.

Mark 13:3-4 suggests the chapter's beginning as prophetic: ³…Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him (Christ) privately, ⁴Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?

Christ predicts that ⁶…many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. But when do many come to impersonate Christ and deceive many?

Church leaders go through the charade of saving people, either through water baptism or some other ritual. But if only God can save anybody, then these priests and pastors come in my (Christ's) name, saying, at least indirectly, I am Christ. If these church leaders send congregants back home thinking they've been saved, then these churchmen shall (have) deceive(d) many. So Mark 13:6 would relate to the church age and afterwards. Therefore Mark 13:6 would concern our day.

Mark 13:7-8 speaks of ⁷…wars and rumours of wars, and that ⁸…nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles… Mark 13:7-8 relates either to all of history and/or the controversy over the ending of the church age, therefore could pertain to our day.

We've already looked at Mark 13:9 (see July 19) and shown that the verse includes A.D. 33 to 2011. ⁹But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testi- mony against them. ¹⁰And the gospel must first be published among all nations.

While Mark 13:9 prophesizes much controversy over Scripture, Mark 13:10 predicts that just about everybody will hear about it. Thanks to the church, printing press, radio, and internet, the prophecies of Mark 13:9-10 have been fulfilled. No book except the Bible has remained so contro- versial for so long. Mark 13:9-10 certainly relates to our day.

If we can show that the rest of Mark 13 concerns today, then we'd expect our two verses in question, Mark 13:1-2, to also relate to the present, and therefore the end of the church age itself.

¹⁴But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation (Satan)…standing where it ought not (in the churches)…then let them that be in Judaea (the churches) flee to the mountains (Christ, outside of the churches). ^15…19…in those days (after the church age) shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of…creation… ²⁰… ²¹…if any man…say…Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not: ²² For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect (within the churches—except such seduc- tion of the elect isn't possible if God drives them out of the congrega- tions). ²³… ²⁴But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun (Christ) shall be darkened (i.e., there exists no more possibility of salvation), and the moon shall not give her light (i.e., no more Gospel), ²⁵… ²⁶And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷… ²⁸Now learn a parable of the fig tree (national Israel); When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves (in 1948), ye know that summer (the final great tribulation and end) is near: ^29…35Watch ye…for ye know not when the master…cometh…³⁶… ³⁷And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch (the Bible, particularly its timeline near the end).

Mark 13:28 speaks of Israel (the fig tree; see February 11) becoming a nation again in 1948; Israel is at least one sign that the apostles asked for in Mark 13:4: ⁴Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled? The year 1948 clues us in to the end times, leaving only forty years left for the churches (see February 2). Mark 13:14-23 concerns the great tribulation, beginning on May 21, 1988. Mark 13:24-27 concerns judgment day, beginning May 21, 2011 (see February 4). We conclude that the theme of Mark 13 concerns end times in our day.

So we expect Mark 13:2 to relate to the present: ¹ …as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith…Master, see what manner of stones and …buildings are here!… ²…Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

While we find no spiritual meaning in Jerusalem's destruction in A.D. 70, Biblical consequences do exist for the end of the church age. After all, for 1955 years God utilized the congregations to save His elect. His aban- donment of that institution in 1988 certainly defines a spiritually signifi- cant event. If Mark 13:1-2 concerns our day like all the other verses, it most likely refers to the fall of the churches. Of course the church buildings of Mark 13:1 still remain, but not the stones of Mark 13:2. 

The disciples in Mark 13:1 spoke of the temple (in Jerusalem) that represents today's churches. But Christ in John 2: ²¹…spake of the temple of his body, which represents the great buildings of Mark 13:2. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul asks, ¹⁶ Know ye not that ye are the temple of God… By comparing John 2:21 and 1 Corinthians 3:16, we can define those whom God has saved as the body or temple of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:27 sustains our conclusion: ²⁷Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular; also Ephesians 4: ¹²For the perfecting of the saints…for the edifying of the body of Christ. And in 1 Corinthians 3: ⁹For we are labourers together with God…ye are God's building.

Ephesians 2 refers to this building: ²⁰And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; ²¹ In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: ²²In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

1 Peter 2:5 defines the stone in Mark 13:2: ⁵Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house… Also 1 Corinthians 3:12 defines the elect as the stone of Mark 13:2: ¹²Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; The gold, silver, pre- cious stones are those whom God has saved. The wood, hay, stubble are those not saved. We conclude that the stone in Mark 13:2 represents those whom God has saved; they become—not the buildings of Mark 13:1; i.e., part of any local church—but God's eternal church, the build- ings of Mark 13:2 and the holy temple of Ephesians 2:21.

If the stones are the elect and if ²…there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down, then there can't exist any saved individuals in the buildings of Mark 13:1.

The buildings of Mark 13:1 can't be those of Mark 13:2 or the holy temple of Ephesians 2:21; i.e., the body of Christ (in 1 Corinthians 12:27) or the temple of His body (in John 2:21). Romans 8 assures us of that: ³⁸…neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, ³⁹Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us (the elect) from the love of God… So while the buildings of Mark 13:2 remain intact forever, those of Mark 13:1 have no stone that shall not be thrown down.

The physical buildings in Mark 13:1 that have …not…one stone…that shall not be thrown down must contain, if anything, something other than the elect. We have only the saved, the unsaved, and nothing in between. So these buildings, whatever they are, include—if anything—only un-saved people; moreover God doesn't save anyone in there, wherever "there" is. We know these buildings can't represent the whole world be- cause God will continue to save people until May 21, 2011, the day of the rapture. So by elimination only the church buildings remain. That not one saved individual remains within the churches (of Mark 13:1) defines the phrase, not…one stone…that shall not be thrown down (in Mark 13:2). So Mark 13:1-2, as well as Matthew 24:1-2 and Luke 21:5-6, predict the time when all the elect must abandon the congregations. These verses sustain an end of the church age, which is what we want to show.

On July 23 we look at Satan's role in the congregations.