January 22, 2014 ©Homer Kizer
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Rereading Prophecy Revisited
Chapter Two
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I, John, your brother and partner in the Affliction and Kingdom and Endurance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in spirit in the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." (Rev 1:9–11 translation of vv. 9 & 10 are modified to better conform to the Greek text)
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1.
John the Revelator, probably John the Elder because of the Aramaic syntax used and traditional assignment of authorship, identifies himself as the reader’s brother and partner in the three encapsulated, chronological periods incorporated in the vision, the first period being the Affliction; the second, the Kingdom; the third, the Endurance in Jesus [the word for “patient” isn’t present in the text, either here or in Rev 3:10). Thus, the Kingdom becomes the fulcrum that separates the 1260-day-long Affliction from the 1260-day-long Endurance in Jesus …
I homeschooled my three daughters: two have degrees in Chemistry (one a Ph.D.) and one has a MBA degree in Accounting. None are so-called math challenged. But in homeschooling daughters, I realized they did not approach mathematics in the same way I do/did. They wanted to know why they were doing a particular computation before they did the computation. They needed to understand the reason for treating any number with a zero exponent as “one” before they would solve a problem in which there was a number with a zero exponent. And I realized they needed to trust me and do computations without understanding why they were doing what I told them to do; that after completing the computation, they would understand why they had to do it the way I said.
Before using John’s chronological structure of his vision as John provides this structure [Affliction, Kingdom, Endurance in Jesus], I could devote a chapter of RPR to proving that Revelation chapter 4 through chapter 11, verse 14, pertains to the first 1260 days of the seven endtime years of tribulation, the period John labels as the Affliction.
Note, John does not use a definite article for either Kingdom or Endurance (I use definite articles because it is awkward to write about them without each having its own article). Both Kingdom and Endurance share the definite article for the Affliction, suggesting all three named periods are in reality one continuous period, that of themselves Kingdom and Endurance are not separate, definite periods; for in Greek definite nouns have definite articles, with this link so solid that the article alone can be used like a pronoun. Thus, when a noun is found without an article, the noun either doesn’t name a linguistic object and instead functions as an adjective, or the noun shares the definite article of another noun, thereby disclosing that both nouns name the same object. And this aspect of Greek grammar becomes important in understanding John 1:1, En arche [no article, thus arche should not be translated as the beginning, but as primacy — In primacy] was ’o Logos [with definite article], kai [and] ’o Logos was pros [with or of] ton Theon [the God, objective case with definite article], kai Theos [no article] was ’o Logos.
Because in the third clause, Theos is without an article and agrees in number and grammatical case with ’o Logos, both Theos and ’o Logos name the same entity: the Word was God, but was also “with” or “of” the God, a separate linguistic entity. Two deities—both God—are present in the sentence, and it was the deity named as ’o Logos that created all things physical (v. 3), not the God. And again the principle of two being one as a man and his wife are one flesh or as the inner self and outer self of a person are one person—the principle of two being one is in play, with this principle lying at the heart of why biblical prophecies were about nations of old and are about endtime mental landscapes. So the scholar who argues that biblical prophecies were fulfilled by actual events long ago can support his or her argument, which in turn reveals how little the scholar knows about biblical prophecy.
Now back to why I mention homeschooling my daughters: they had no problems with math either at the high school or university level because they trusted me to tell them “truth,” which in Greek means a revealing of what has been concealed. The person who comes to Rereading Prophecy Revisited (RPR) with the intention of challenging everything I say will find that if they stick with the book, enduring to the end, struggling through my convoluted prose, I will prove the points I make. However, the person who trusts me enough to accept what I say until I break the person’s suspension of disbelief will take much more from this text. But trusting me requires the person to take a second journey of faith within the boundaries of Sabbath observance, a journey of faith analogous to Abraham’s second journey of faith to Mount Moriah [Jerusalem] where he was to sacrifice Isaac. The reader must “sacrifice” what the reader thinks he or she knows about biblical prophecy; for if I am correct, the remainder of Christendom is wrong, the reality of being truly called to reread prophecy.
Enough said about the subject … my middle daughter took her doctorate at UC Irvine, where as an incoming [from University of Alaska Fairbanks] graduate student she taught a section of first-year Chemistry rather than a lab because she had a strong enough math background to do so.
The Affliction begins with and immediately follows the Second Passover liberation of Israel, but where in Scripture can a second Passover be found—
The prophet Israel wrote in thought-couplets [Hebrew style poetry] the following:
But now thus says [YHWH],
He who created you, O Jacob, [physical/physical — couplet #1]
He who formed you, O Israel: [spiritual/physical — couplet #1]
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; [physical/spiritual/physical — couplet #2]
I have called you by name, you are mine. [spiritual/spiritual/physical — couplet #2]
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; [physical/physical/spiritual — couplet #3]
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; [spiritual/physical/spiritual — couplet #3]
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, [physical/spiritual/spiritual — couplet #4]
and the flame shall not consume you. [spiritual/spiritual/spiritual — couplet #4]
For I am [YHWH] your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom, [physical/physical/physical — couplet #5]
Cush and Seba in exchange for you. [spiritual/physical/physical — couplet #5]
Because you are precious in my eyes, [physical/spiritual/spiritual — couplet #6]
and honored, and I love you, [spiritual/spiritual/spiritual — couplet #6]
I give men in return for you, [physical/spiritual/spiritual — couplet #7]
peoples in exchange for your life. [spiritual/spiritual/spiritual — couplet #7] (Isa 43:1–4)
Seven thought-couplets to complete the concealing of a prophesied phenomenon that because Israel was spiritually blind and hard of hearing, Israel could never understand—
As there was a first Passover liberation of Israel from physical slavery to a physical king in a physical land, there will be a Second Passover liberation of a second Israel from spiritual bondage to a spiritual king in a spiritual land. This Second Passover liberation will be of all who profess to be Christians, and this liberation will be from indwelling Sin and Death (about which Paul wrote in Rom chap 7) through being filled-with and empowered by the spirit of Christ. And at the Second Passover liberation of circumcised-of-heart Israel, God will again give the lives of people as ransom for the liberation of this second Israel.
Because all firstborns belong to God, with Israel to have consecrated (redeemed by sacrifice) the firstborns of the people (Ex 13:2, 12–13), all firstborns not covered by the blood of the Lamb of God are today as the firstborn of Egyptians (both of man and beasts) were in the days of Moses. They are alive because God has not yet given their lives as the ransom for not-yet-born-of-spirit Christians … Christ Jesus at Calvary paid the ransom price for the Elect, not for all of humanity; for if He would have paid the ransom price for all humanity, no one would have their sins counted against the person when resurrected from death. What Jesus told Jews seeking His life would not be true: “‘Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment’” (John 5:28–29).
Greater Christendom teaches much that simply is not true: no person can come to Christ—no person can make a decision for Jesus—unless the Father first draws the person from this world by giving the person to Jesus as He gave the first disciples to Jesus (cf. John 6:44, 65; 17:2, 6–10, 12, 20–24). And liberation of a group is not an individual drawing and calling and justification.
The person who hears the word of Jesus and believes the God who sent the Logos, His Beloved, into this world has indwelling eternal life (John 5:24) and does not come under judgment but passes directly from death to life: to know the Father and the Son as two separate divine entities that function as one entity comes from having indwelling eternal life (John 17:3), but no person can hear the voice of Jesus if the person doesn’t believe the writings of Moses (John 5:46–47). No person has indwelling eternal life unless the person hears the voice of Jesus. And no person can have indwelling eternal life without being truly born of spirit, thereby passing from death to life without coming into judgment—being saved by grace is salvation without judgment, but salvation without judgment means the person is not free to fail, not free to rebel against God, not free to pursue the things of this world, but rather, is the bondservant of righteousness, doing what the person knows is “right” even when the fleshly members of the person rebel against the mind; for it is true, all of the girls are prettier at closing time as hormones produced in the flesh take control of thoughts.
Ask yourself, do you believe Moses’ writings? If you truly do, you will be keeping the Law by faith; you will keep the Law out of love for God, not out of legal or social necessity. For you will know that under the New Covenant, the Second Passover Covenant, the Law will be written on your heart and placed in your mind so that you know the Lord. Your sins will not be remembered; for it isn’t what the hand and body do—either good or bad—that matters, but the contents of your heart. If the inside of the cup (you are a vessel of clay, a cup) is clean, the entire cup is clean and acceptable to God. But if the inside (your inner self) is filthy, the cleanliness of the outside doesn’t matter; the color of the outside doesn’t matter; the wealth attached to the outside doesn’t matter; nothing about the outside matters regardless of what greater Christendom proclaims. The cup will be broken into sherds for it is filthy inside. You will perish when judgments are revealed.
Is that simple enough to be understood? Your thoughts and the desires of your heart matter; for the fleshly body of a person—because it possesses mass—cannot leave space-time; cannot inherit the kingdom; cannot enter the kingdom. Only the non-physical inner self can possibly escape from space-time, and then only if it is given life (a breath of life) that comes from outside of the physical creation. No person is humanly born with life that comes/came from the supra-dimensional heavenly realm. To say otherwise is to teach a lie, the lie of the serpent, the lie that the first Eve believed: You shall not surely die (Gen 3:4). Teaching that a human person is humanly born with an immortal soul makes the one teaching an agent-of, a spokesperson for the Adversary.
Because of the structure of Hebrew style narratives, God has concealed in plain sight those things He intends to do. Because in chirality, the natural left hand reveals a natural right hand that is the non-symmetrical mirror image of the left land, only one hand needs to be seen to know about the other hand. And Hebrew style narratives are chiral narratives, with their non-symmetrical nature coming from the left hand occurring in the natural world and the right hand in the spiritual realm. Thus the visible things that have been made reveal the invisible things of God (again Rom 1:20). So only the Passover of Moses’ day needs to be seen to know about the endtime Second Passover liberation of Israel. Only Moses’ instructions to Israel need to be heard:
This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is [YHWH]'s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am [YHWH]. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to [YHWH]; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. (Ex 2:2–14)
The last clause of verse 12 (I am [YHWH]) is an easily seen example of where scribes translating Moses’ proto-Hebrew inscription into imperial Hebrew didn’t know what to do with the linguistic determinative and not wanting to lose it, made it part of an utterance when it doesn’t fit in the utterance for Moses knew who was speaking to him. He didn’t need to be repeatedly told. Those who would read Moses’ inscription, however, might well need to be told so the determinative made clear who commanded Israel to keep the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread forever [from age to age]. Plus, Moses wasn’t taking notes when the Lord spoke to him. He was listening and remembering, but it would be most unlikely that he could, days or months later, remember the Lord’s words verbatim. Certainly a close paraphrase would be possible. But few individuals speak of themselves in the third person; so what was most likely said to Moses was, You shall eat it in haste. It is my Passover [the Passover of me]. For I will pass through the land of Egypt … . No one changes an utterance from first person to third person (It is YHWH’s Passover) then back to first person, especially when linguistic determinatives are being employed, with the possible exception that the Passover isn’t of the speaker but belongs to another divine entity, which would then be contradicted by the identifying declaration: I am YHWH.
A structural analysis of the Masoretic Text would disclose when the Tetragrammaton YHWH went from being an always unspoken linguistic determinative to being an unspoken name; for redaction of the official text didn’t include the prophet Ezekiel’s inscription, where the determinative was, in most cases, merely glossed without Ezekiel’s inscription being recomposed.
Back to the Second Passover: Moses gave instructions about a physical second Passover,
And there were certain men who were unclean through touching a dead body, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. And those men said to him, "We are unclean through touching a dead body. Why are we kept from bringing [YHWH]'s offering at its appointed time among the people of Israel?" And Moses said to them, "Wait, that I may hear what [YHWH] will command concerning you." [YHWH] spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he shall still keep the Passover to [YHWH]. In the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight they shall keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones; according to all the statute for the Passover they shall keep it. But if anyone who is clean and is not on a journey fails to keep the Passover, that person shall be cut off from his people because he did not bring [YHWH]'s offering at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin. And if a stranger sojourns among you and would keep the Passover to [YHWH], according to the statute of the Passover and according to its rule, so shall he do. You shall have one statute, both for the sojourner and for the native." (Num 9:6–14)
The second Passover was/is to be kept by those who are spiritually “common” [unclean] and thereby prevented from eating the Passover on the dark portion of the 14th day of the first month … do not Christians believing themselves to not be under the Law live as spiritually common humanity lives? Indeed, they do. So would it not be appropriate for Christians of the greater Church—Christians who do not today take the Passover sacrament of blessed and broken unleavened bread and drink from the blessed cup on the dark portion of the 14th day of the first month, this month beginning with the first sighted new moon crescent following the spring equinox—would it not be appropriate for greater Christendom to keep the second Passover because they are spiritually common?
Now, pertaining to a Second Passover liberation of Israel, consider what the prophet Isaiah wrote,
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of [YHWH] as the waters cover the sea. In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of Him shall the nations inquire, and His resting place shall be glorious. In that day the Lord will extend His hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of His people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. … And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt. (Isa 11:6–11, 16 emphasis added)
The prophet Jeremiah wrote,
Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares [YHWH], when it shall no longer be said, “As [YHWH] lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,” but “As [YHWH] lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where He had driven them.” For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers. (Jer 16:14–15)
Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares [YHWH], when they shall no longer say, “As [YHWH] lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,” but “As [YHWH] lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where He had driven them.” Then they shall dwell in their own land." (Jer 23:7–8)
The prophet Ezekiel wrote,
As I live, declares the Lord [YHWH], surely with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out I will be king over you. I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Lord [YHWH]. I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will purge out the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against me. I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am [YHWH]. (Ezek 20:33–38 emphasis added)
And,
Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord [YHWH]: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am [YHWH], declares the Lord [YHWH], when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. (Ezek 36:22–28 emphasis added)
The prophet Joel wrote,
Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for [YHWH] has done great things! Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and vine give their full yield. Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in [YHWH] your God, for He has given the early rain for your vindication; He has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before. The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of [YHWH] your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am [YHWH] your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of [YHWH] comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of [YHWH] shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as [YHWH] has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom [YHWH] calls. (Joel 2:21–32)
In Matthew’s Gospel, John the Baptist said, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with holy spirit [no definite article] and fire” (Matt 3:11).
The Adversary remains the prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2). It is his nature, his mindset that he broadcasts and that the great predators receive to give them their predatory natures. However, when dominion over the single kingdom of this world is taken from him and given to the Son of Man, Christ Jesus will be the new prince of the power of the air; for He will baptize the world in holy spirit, His holy breath [pneuma Christou]—baptism in fire will come after the Thousand Years—and the base natures of all breathing creatures will be radically changed, including rebellious human nature and its desire for self-rule.
Liberation of Israel will precede liberation of the world by the duration of the Affliction; by 1260 days, the time, times, and half a time of Daniel 7:25. The two witnesses in the Affliction will be a reality of Moses and Aaron, two natural brothers, neither of whom were born of spirit but one of whom [Moses] entered into God’s rest, His presence. The two witnesses will be two natural brothers, one of whom will be born of spirit and will be as Moses was; the other will be as Aaron was, but without indwelling sin. And the two witnesses in the Affliction will form the shadow and copy—the non-symmetrical mirror image—of the Lamb (from Rev 14:1–5) and the Remnant (from Rev 12:17) in the Endurance, with the Lamb and the Remnant being the ultimate reality of Moses and Aaron and of the two witnesses, the Lamb being the glorified Christ Jesus and the Remnant being born-of-spirit disciples that form the Body of the Son of Man. The Remnant keep the Commandments and have the spirit of prophecy. They are what remains of the Elect when the Kingdom is given to the Son of Man, plus a few reinforcements.
The pattern for what will be seen in the Affliction is similar to the Apostle Paul telling the holy ones at Corinth to deliver the man who was with his father’s wife to the Adversary for the destruction of the flesh (1 Cor 5:5) and of the holy ones being delivered into the hand of the little horn [also the Adversary] in Daniel 7:25 … Christ Jesus will deliver greater Christendom—because of its lawlessness—into the hand of the Adversary for the destruction of the flesh immediately after liberating Christians from indwelling sin and death so that no Christian will have an excuse for transgressing the Law. Yet as Israel, camped around the base of Mount Sinai, rebelled against the Lord in the matter of the gold calf when they had no reasonable excuse for rebelling, greater Christendom will rebel against Christ Jesus on day 220 of the Affliction, this rebellion being the Apostasy about which Paul warned holy Thessalonians (2 Thess 2:3), with this rebellion being foreshadowed in Israel’s rebellion in the wilderness of Paran (Num chap 14).
Today, a Christian can be a “Christian” in the flesh but not a Christian in spirit, regardless of whether the Christian does or does not keep the Sabbath. But a Christian cannot be a Christian in spirit after being filled with spirit and thereby liberated from indwelling sin and death if the Christian continues to, or returns to sin, the fruit of unbelief. Thus, the Christian in the Affliction who returns to the Christianity of his or her fathers will be to Christ Jesus as the nation of Israel numbered in the census of the second year was to the God of Abraham. Except for Joshua and Caleb, in whom was a different spirit (Num 14:24), none of the men numbered in this census crossed the Jordan and physically entered into God’s rest. Moses entered into God’s rest, but he did so atop Mount Sinai and not by crossing the Jordan, a prophetically important point to remember.
Now, some will say that no man can know when Christ Jesus will return as the Messiah:
So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, 'Look, he is in the wilderness,' do not go out. If they say, 'Look, he is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that He is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matt 24:15–39 emphasis added)
Let’s discuss Noah for a paragraph or two: Noah crossed from one age into the next age when the world was baptized [submerged] in water for the death of the old self and the resurrection of the new self, new creature, this new creature being Noah and his sons and their wives, eight persons in all. Noah was a preacher of righteousness and his sons were, therefore, sons of righteousness. Together, they formed a nucleus of righteousness that was subverted in forthcoming generations as righteousness will be compromised during the millennial reign of Christ Jesus so that after a thousand years, the Adversary when loosed from his chains, will again bring Sin and War to life, these two demonic kings not thrown into the lake of fire when Christ Jesus returned as the Messiah and the Adversary was bound with chains.
The story of Noah and the Flood is in a Hebrew style narrative that doesn’t demand absolute veracity for its natural presentation; so questions of whether the whole earth was flooded in the days of Noah are not germane. In the narrative, the whole earth is flooded. And it isn’t the Flood itself but the story of the Flood that forms the non-symmetrical mirror image of a non-physical reality that sees Christ Jesus and the angels to the seven named churches—eight in all—crossing from this present age of soiled righteousness to the new age [the Millennium] when the Son of Man shall rule here on earth and in heaven. Therefore, the seven named Churches of Revelation chapters two and three equate to the seven pair of clean animals that Noah transported in the Ark he built. Converts from greater Christendom—converts that have a different spirit about them as Caleb had a different spirit—equate to the single pair of every other species of animals that Noah transported from one age to the next age, with the unit [number] that converts being unassigned. The unit that equates to one pair of common animals in Noah’s day could be as small as an endtime married couple, or could be as large as a denomination. Regardless, not every and certainly not most of Roman Catholicism will convert and begin to keep the Commandments. Few will convert (see Matt 22:14). And because neo-Arian Christendom will have physically prevailed over Trinitarian Christendom in their Affliction-long war, even fewer Latter Day Saints will convert than Catholics will convert even though all Latter Day Saints as well as all Catholics were filled with spirit and thereby liberated from indwelling Sin and Death at the beginning of the Affliction. The demonic false prophet will come to the office of “prophet” that is today being held for this fallen angelic king by a man.
What can be said about the Noah story is that Noah was faithful in constructing an ark of wood that he entered on the 10th day of the second month, the day when the Passover lamb would be selected for the second Passover according to the statute of the Passover given to Moses:
Then [YHWH] said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground." And Noah did all that [YHWH] had commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. (Gen 7:1–12 emphasis added)
Again, in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus said, “‘For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man’” (Matt 24:37) … when did the foundations of deep burst forth in the days of Noah: on the 17th day of the second month. When will the Lamb of God be selected and penned for the Second Passover liberation of Israel: on the 10th day of the second month. And when does the 10th day and the following Sabbath, the 17th day, of the second month occur this year, 2014? May 10th and May 17th, respectively. And this will have Christians who need to take the second Passover taking the sacraments of bread and wine on the dark portion of Tuesday night going into Wednesday, with the 14th day of the second month being May 14th, and the 15th day being May 15th, a Thursday.
Christ Jesus gave only one physical sign that He was of God, the sign of Jonah: as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale [great fish], Jesus would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, with in Hebrew “day” describing the hot or light portion of a twenty-four hour period, and with “night” being the twisting away or turning away from the light, the dark portion of the twenty-four hours. So inclusive counting doesn’t matter with reference to Jonah, who died in the belly of the whale and then was brought back to life in the whale so that the fleshly body of the whale was to Jonah as the human fleshly body is to the living inner self that has been brought to life through receipt of a second breath of life, the breath of God [pneuma Theou] in the breath of Christ [pneuma Christou].
Endtime disciples have only one hard day-to-date link from the time of Jesus’ ministry: the 18th day of the first month was the day after the Sabbath … Jesus entered Jerusalem on the 10th day of the first month, this established from the author of John’s Gospel writing, “Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead” (John 12:1), and, “The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!’” (vv. 12–13).
The Passover as Pharisees observed it was on the 15th day of the first month; thus, one day before the Passover would have been the 14th day; two days, the 13th; three days, the 12th; four days, the 11th; five days, the 10th; six day, the 9th. Therefore, according to John’s Gospel, Jesus entered Jerusalem on the 10th day, and He was crucified on the 14th day, the Preparation Day for the high Sabbath day, the 15th day of the first month.
If Jesus is to be believed about the sign of Jonah, then the body of Jesus was hastily placed in the Garden Tomb by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus at sunset beginning the 15th day of the first month. Jesus would then have been in the heart of the earth all of the 15th day, the high Sabbath, all of the 16th day (the second day and night), and all of the 17th day (the third day and night). Jesus would have been resurrected and gone from the tomb at the end of the 17th day, the beginning of the 18th day; so that when Mary came to the tomb in the predawn hours of the day after the Sabbath [te mia ton Sabbaton], the first day of the week, she found the tomb empty.
This will now have the weekly Sabbath being the 17th day, Friday being the 16th day, Thursday being the 15th day, and Wednesday being the 14th day … Jesus was crucified mid physical week (on Wednesday) and resurrected from death and received by God the Father mid spiritual week [on the 4th day of the seven-day-long Feast of Unleavened Bread, with leavening equating to sin for these seven days]. What was physical and pertained to the flesh [the seven day week] became spiritual and pertained to righteousness [the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread].
With this day-to-date correspondence in hand, we can now date the year when Jesus was crucified with certainty. In a survey of the possible years when Jesus could have been crucified, there is only one match: 31 CE.
In establishing when the Passover is to occur—the date of the Passover—the beginning of the sacred year has to be established. For Jerusalem in the 1st-Century CE, while Herod’s temple still stood, the shadows cast by the two pillars confirmed when the spring equinox occurred, with the new year to begin with the first new moon crescent following the equinox, that is if the barley was developed enough that there would be a ripe handful by the Wave Sheaf Offering and if roads leading to Jerusalem would be dry enough to permit travel. So the beginning of the sacred year for as long as the temple stood would have been determined by temple officials based on the model of Israel’s exodus from Egypt occurring on the dark portion of the 15th day of the first month, under a full moon (a moon that fully reflected the glory of the sun). Israel’s three day journey into the wilderness would have been on the 15th day, the 16th day, and the 17th day of the first month: Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth on the 15th day, then from Succoth to Etham on the 16th day, then from Etham back to in front of Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, so that the Lord could bring Pharaoh and his army against Israel … on the 18th day of the first month, Israel crossed the Sea of Reeds dryshod, as the shadow and copy [left hand enantiomer] of Christ Jesus ascending to His God and our God as the reality of the Wave Sheaf Offering; as the reality of the first ripe handful of barley waved before God and accepted before the harvest of firstfruits could begin.
The exodus of Israel, the firstborn son of the Lord (Ex 4:22), forms the physical shadow and copy of the exodus of a second Israel (the nation to be circumcised of heart) from indwelling sin and death: this second Israel will leave Death behind as the first Israel left Egypt, a representation of Sin, behind. The ancient land of Assyria represents Death; so this second Israel’s exodus will be from the north country and will be of such magnitude that Israel shall no longer remember its exodus from Egypt, the current standard to which any return of Jews to the modern nation-state of Israel is compared. The prophecies of Jeremiah will come true; for the Lord will send fishers of men and hunters after His lost sheep (Jer 16:16), and He shall doubly repay Israel for its iniquity and sin (v. 18).
While the temple stood, the Passover would only have occurred after the spring equinox—and so it is today. However, while the temple stood, the Passover would only have occurred mid-month on the first month beginning after the spring equinox. And when aligning the date-to-date correspondence of Jesus ascending to the Father as the reality of the Wave Sheaf Offering on the 18th day of the first month, the new moon crescent that would have begun first month of the sacred year in 31 CE would have occurred on April 12th, Julian, a Thursday, with this date being Iyyar 1st on rabbinical Judaism’s calculated calendar that was not then in existence. Thus, what was the 10th day of the first month of the sacred calendar in 31 CE becomes the 10th day of the second month on endtime Judaism’s calculated calendar, with this 10th day of the second month being the day when Noah, selected for his righteousness, entered the Ark.
By Jesus linking His return to Noah, Jesus established a correspondence between Himself being sacrificed as the selected Passover Lamb of God (penned in Jerusalem until sacrificed on the 14th day, dying at the hour, 3:00 pm, when Pharisees sacrificed the Passover lamb for Israel), and Noah entering the Ark. This correspondence will additionally link the second Passover to Israel’s exodus from Egypt through the foundations of the deep erupting on the same day as Pharaoh came against Moses—this will have Noah’s escape in the Ark being analogous to Moses’ escape across the Sea of Reeds and Jesus’ escape from death. And this is a subject that will be more fully explored in a latter chapter.
From God’s perspective, a time, times, and half a time can represent three and a half millennia as well as three and a half years … three and a half millennia ago, Moses left Egypt.
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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
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