Little word 'again' destroys all their theology

(sorry for delay--new article tomorrow)

John 3: [27] John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.

[28] Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
[29] He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
[30] He must increase, but I must decrease.

“John literally turns over Israel into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ and says, ‘He’ll carry you on; I’ve gone as far as I can go,’ " says Richard Jordan. 

“You come to the Samaritan woman and see that wider testament out there where the fields are white unto harvest and there’s this wider opportunity.

“By the way, that brings them to the nobleman’s son; to that second miracle where you’re again in Cana and the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, demonstrates that He hasn’t cast away His people; He hasn’t cast away His nation and He shows how, in their distress, they’re going to both seek and find their Messiah at the last. You’re going to see how it is He’s going to give them power to become.

Acts 1: [5] For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
[6] When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
[7] And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
[8] But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
[9] And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

“When I read verse 6 the word that sticks out is that word again. That little word again destroys all of amillennial, post-millennial, non-dispensational, covenant theology and all the rest of it.

“The idea that the apostles had misunderstood what Christ was saying to them and He wasn’t really telling them there was going to be a literal, physical, visible, Davidic kingdom; they just misunderstood.

"That little word again destroys all that because the only kind of kingdom Israel ever had up to this point from God was a literal, physical, visible, earthly, Davidic kingdom centered in the city of Jerusalem, the city of the great king.

“They say, ‘Will you restore again to us what we used to have?’ And He said unto them, ‘It is not for you to know the nature or the makeup of the kingdom.’ Oh, no, I’m sorry, that isn’t what He said, is it?

[7] And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

“In other words, He doesn’t say, ‘You misunderstood the nature of the kingdom.’ He just said, ‘I can’t tell you the times or the seasons; there are some things that have to happen before it’s accomplished and that’s something that has to be done at the Father’s command.’ ”

Nothing left in the Fifth

As someone who still hasn't gotten Covid, I can say this cold/flu I've had for the last two weeks is the worst illness I ever remember having. Last night and today I felt as awful as in any day since first coming down with the symptoms.

The worst part is I can't quit coughing, even with Delsym doses every 12 hours, among other cold medicines. The mucus just runs and runs and runs. I also have a headache (and on and off pain in my ears) that nothing seems to touch. I still went to work today, but it's a miracle I made it through eight hours. I see my doctor Tuesday morning.

Here is news brief posted to Drudge Report this evening: "Around 2,500 people stripped off for a naked photo shoot on Australia's Bondi Beach on Saturday, designed to raise awareness of skin cancer.

"The crowd gathered to take part in the latest work by US photographic artist Spencer Tunick, who is known for naked photo shoots at important landmarks around the world.

" 'We have an opportunity to raise awareness about skin checks and I'm honoured ... to come here, make my art and just celebrate the body and protection,' Tunick said at the beach in Sydney, according to Reuters."

The most interesting part of the photo was all the naked people had both arms up in the air, just like you see in some evangelical church services.

New article tomorrow. In meantime:

"As you start reading the Book of Joel (the name in Hebrew means 'Jehovah is God') you discover immediately it lays out an unvarnished look at the destruction associated with the Second Coming of Christ and His judgment on the nation Israel, the earth and the Gentiles.

"It's just one unvarnished blast all through the book," says Richard Jordan. "He starts quick and works hard. It's fierce, it's fast and it's final. If you read it in one setting, which you can do in 20 minutes, you're almost out of breath by the time you get to the end because it is just a real blast.

"Chapter 1 is a warning about the total destruction of Israel. Joel talks about how Jeremiah looks out at the land after the battle of Armageddon, explaining to you Jeremiah 4: [23] I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. [24] I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. [25] I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. [26] I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.

"Verse 23 says exactly what Genesis 1:2 says: 'And the earth was without form and void.' There's an absolute, complete destruction of the land.

"Chapter 2 is the battle of Armageddon and the deliverance of Israel. Chapter 3 is the judgment of God against the Gentiles who come up and attack His people; how God avenges His people

*****

"There's a destruction coming in the land that Joel is prophesying about, where he describes how thorough the literal destruction is. 

“Joel 1: 19-20 says, 19] O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.[20] The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

“Fire, flame, devouring--that’s not what locusts do. There’s something more than just bugs infesting, so when you keep reading in Joel 1 you begin to say, ‘Hmm.’

“Verses 5 says, ‘Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

"The drunks are going to get mad because they've got nothing else to drink; all the vineyards are gone.

[6] For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.’

“Now, wait a minute, the locusts turn out to be a nation that’s come up upon the land, strong and without number, and they’ve got teeth like a great lion and they devour!

“Lions aren’t going to eat the grass. You go on down through here and you see they eat the grass, the trees, the apple trees, the pomegranate trees, the vine tree. They eat everything!

"It's obvious it's some literal locusts but there’s something more than just literal locusts because now, in connection with that, there’s a nation.

"When it says they have teeth like the teeth of a lion, and have cheek teeth of a great lion, there’s a fascinating comparison there.

"What Joel is doing, in essence, is he's announcing the judgment of that Fifth Course on Israel. He's saying, 'Hey, what's coming ahead is the wrath of God on the nation.'

"The day of the Lord’s wrath is what that Fifth Course of captivity is and Joel says, ‘That Fifth Course is coming!’

*****

"Leviticus 26, describing the Fourth Course, says starting in verse 23: [23] And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;

[24] Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
[25] And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
[26] And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.

"In Joel, you'll see how that description is taking place. Verse 27 and following: [27] And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;

[28] Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
[29] And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
[30] And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.
[31] And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.
[32] And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
[33] And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.

"Now, you notice before the scattering, He destroys the land, makes it waste. He starts it in the Fourth, but in the Fifth nothing is left. 

“In all the other courses, He’ll destroy the land and let the Gentiles come in and take them, but He doesn’t clean wipe them out.

"But when you get down to that Fifth Course, you’re going to be down to the place where you’re so hungry, He says, and you're so starved and your resources are so gone, you’re going to start eating each other.

“If you go back into Kings, you’ll see that historically. I know you and I, all fat and sassy, have never been that hungry. Nobody ever starves to death in America. But you know if you unplug the electricity in about three weeks you'd be hungry. You wouldn't have anything to eat.

"Everything you eat from down at the store got trucked in by somebody, and if you can't get the gas to the truck . . .  Our economy, as wonderful as it might be, is very delicate. With these guys, it's just all wiped out.

"It’s easy for you to say what you would and wouldn’t do, but if you’re put in the exact same circumstances they’re in, then tell me you wouldn’t do it. That’s how desperate they’re going to be.

“In Deuteronomy 28, where it’s describing the outworking of these five courses of judgment, verse 38 says, ‘Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.’

“One of the judgments of God against Israel is the harvest of their land being consumed by pestilence; by plagues of insects, specifically locusts.

“The passage goes on, [40] Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.

[41] Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.
[42] All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume.
[43] The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.
[44] He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
[45] Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:

“God’s going to stop the natural production of the fruit of the trees. This is the nation Israel in Joel 1:6:

[49] The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;
[50] A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:
[51] And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.
[52] And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.

[53] And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee.

Making melody good for heart

"I sing for I cannot be silent! His love is the theme of my song."

*****

An old hymn from the 1700s, "O Could I Speak," written by a Baptist preacher in England, Samuel Medley, begins:

“O could I speak the matchless worth, O could I sound the glories forth Which in my Savior shine, I’d soar and touch the heav’nly strings, And vie with Gabriel while he sings In notes almost divine, In notes almost divine.”

The third stanza: “I’d sing the characters He bears, And all the forms of love He wears, Exalted on His throne; In loftiest songs of sweetest praise, I would to everlasting days Make all His glories known, Make all His glories known.”

In a global study that concludes singing makes you healthier, more than 1,700 choir members found that “singing in a group improved a person’s well-being because it created social connection and cognitive stimulation," informs an article online.

“Music alone can increase antibodies that boost your immunity and protect your body against bacteria."

The article continued, “According to Katie Ziskind, a licensed family therapist practicing in Connecticut, blasting music releases oxytocin, a chemical sometimes called ‘the love hormone.’

"Most people feel the effects of oxytocin when they’re hugging someone or in the beginning stages of a romantic relationship. Oxytocin initiates emotions like trust, a sense of stability and even relaxation.

“ ‘It boosts mood and uplifts mood,’ Ziskind said, adding that oxytocin isn’t the only happy hormone that’s released when you’re blasting your favorite tunes. ‘Studies have shown that simply thinking about listening to your favorite song, before you actually listen, releases serotonin, another feel-good chemical in your brain that reduces anxiety.’

“In addition to the other feel-good hormones mentioned above, you’re also getting a hefty dose of dopamine when you’re singing your favorite lyrics at the top of your lungs . . .

“Even if the song you’re listening to happens to be a somber tune, it can still help you process your emotions in a healthy way. Depending on your mood, different kinds of music can feel almost therapeutic . . . 

“ ‘[Singing] is a way for us to express emotions, especially difficult ones,’ Ray said. ‘When we sing lyrics we can relate to and along with the artist, we feel less alone.’

“Music is emotionally evocative and helps bring up emotions you might have otherwise avoided for a long time," said Nick Hobson, director of science at the coaching service Psychology Compass.

“ ‘It’s for this exact reason why music therapy is showing promising results for helping people deal with anxiety, depression and PTSD,’ he said.

"Ultimately, belting out your favorite tune can be seen as a very basic way to practice self-care, according to Ashley Hampton, a licensed psychologist and entrepreneurial coach in Birmingham, Alabama."

*****

In another article, author Taylor Pittman writes, “There are some songs you can listen to over and over again. But why? There’s no definitive answer, but we all know that some music makes us feel specific feelings or elicits certain memories that transport us back in time.

“One of the main reasons certain songs resonate with us is the way we connect them with a part of ourselves.

“ ‘Music is the way that we create our personal identity,’ said Kenneth Aigen, director of the music therapy program at New York University. ‘It’s part of our identity construction. Some people say you are what you eat. In a lot of ways, you are what you play or you are what you listen to.’

“Aigen explained that a song’s lyrics, beats and other characteristics can embody different feelings and attitudes that enhance our sense of identity.

“ 'Each time we re-experience our favorite music, we’re sort of reinforcing our sense of who we are, where we belong, what we value,’ he said.

“Pablo Ortiz, professor of music composition at the University of California, Davis, also noted that certain songs can connect us to a time in our past because they carry a certain sentiment.

“ ‘Whenever you listen to a song that you used to listen to when you were 15, for instance, the feeling of that period in your life comes back intact,’ he said.

“ ‘The sound is abstract enough to go directly to the part of your brain that governs the feeling.’ "

(new article tomorrow)

Thankful for God's account of history

"If you ever read religious books, they start out talking about the ‘ultimate essence’ and the ‘basis of reality’ and the ‘true meaning of life.’

“You know how the Bible starts? You have two people naked in a garden. That don’t sound like any religious book I ever read. It starts out talking about whether you ought to put something in your mouth or not.

“The fact that the Bible is a book of history is really what rubs people the wrong way about it. It’s a record of what’s gone on. Now, God is all through the Bible. His history is HIS story, but it’s a record of what’s actually happened on this earth for 4,000 years.

“The trouble is that if it’s history, then it’s what’s really gone on, it’s what’s really happened and it’s what really is going to happen, and it really doesn’t matter what you believe about it.

“The worst thing in the world is to be sincere and be sincerely wrong. What you believe, if it isn’t true, if it isn’t historically accurate, if it isn’t real, it don’t make any difference if you believe it or not. If you believe Jesus rose again and He didn’t, believe it all day long; it’s not going to do you any good.

“Because the Bible’s a book of history means heaven and hell are real places. They’re not just theology, dogma. It’s not just religion. Paul says, ‘Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buriled, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.’

“That has to be true and that’s why he says in I Corinthians 15, ‘And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.’

“Jesus Christ, truth personified, once prayed for His disciples and said, ‘Sanctify them by the word; thy word is truth.’ Just like Jesus Christ was the perfect truth of God, He said His Word was the perfect truth of God. That’s what Paul said when he wrote, ‘Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.’

“If you’ve got a bible and you don’t believe it’s the truth—and I don’t mean generically the truth; I’m talking about when you read a specific verse and the words in the verse—then you have an entirely different attitude toward the Word of God than God Himself does.

"The historically proven reality of the resurrection is the foundation Christianity is built on. Biblical Christianity expects a person to believe certain indisputable facts:

*Jesus Christ was a real person who lived on earth

*He was charged by Jewish leaders and crucified at the hands of Roman authorities

*He was buried in a known, accessible tomb and then preached as risen

*The leaders of His nation tried to dispose of the message that He was resurrected by  persecuting those who preached it

*The empty tomb, though, belied all their efforts

"The empty tomb is the central fact of the Christian faith. It's a fact that can be demonstrated to a historical certainty."

"People will tell you you can't prove the resurrection scientifically, but there's a lot of things in life you can't prove scientifically.

"The scientific method is a method of replicable events. It's science if you have something you observe, and you make a statement of it, and then others can come along and replicate the event. But there are a lot of things where you don't do that."

"Felons convicted in courts of law for murder, for example, are not convicted on science. They're convicted on historical evidences—the evidences which demonstrate something happened historically, in time, and jurors are pressed to a decision, or a conclusion.

"Individuals are forced to a conclusion based on the evidence. Whether you want to make a conclusion or not, the evidence demands that you come to a verdict."

(new article tomorrow)

Finding true north

Answering Bildad in Job 26, Job makes some statements about what his understanding of creation is: 

[5] Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof.
[6] Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.

"Notice the connection with water and dead things under the water. Hell is naked before God and destruction can’t hide from Him," explains Richard Jordan.

“There’s some people living under the water and hell is under the water. Destruction, or those things connected with dead people and hell, are underneath the water.

“Verse 7 says, [7] He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

“There’s a place up there in the heavens that’s empty; it doesn’t have a bunch of inhabitants. This place is not given to anybody. It’s an empty field and above it is ‘the north.’ There is an absolute direction for the universe.

l

“Psalm 75 says, ‘[6] For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.'

“You’re going to find these verses in strange little places and they’re just going to be dropped in. Little explanations, little statements dropped in because the Bible is written in such a way to assume that you’re going to read all of it and pay attention to the details, picking them up as you go along, like a treasure hunt.

“Do you see from the Book of Job how God is put in the place of the fourth direction? He does that because that’s where God is.

“The message is, ‘Look, promotion doesn’t come from the east, it doesn’t come from the west, it doesn’t come from the south—it comes from, only one direction left.' But he doesn’t tell you the direction; he tells you WHO it comes from that lives there! It comes from ‘the north,’ but Job says it comes from God because God . . .

“Now you understand God is omnipresent. That’s a theological term to try and describe the immensity of who God is. He is not limited by time or space and yet you know, although God is everywhere, as theologians would say, He’s not everywhere in the same sense. You know if God the Holy Spirit indwells you as a Believer, He is in you, in communion with your spirit in a sense in which He is not in an unsaved person.

“God isn’t limited by where He can be, but He chooses to manifest the glory of His person and His personality in certain places, and the place where He has chosen to manifest for His creation, the glory and the majesty of His person, is a place located in ‘the north.’

“So when I start Genesis 1, I’m going to need to know that there is a place that God calls 'north.' Anytime you get a map out, the first thing you need to do if you’re going to get directions is find the little arrow that is always pointing north. Why doesn’t it always point south, or east or west? That’s interesting but now you know.”

(new article tomorrow)

Restart with 144,000

(new article tomorrow for certain)

Revelation 12:1-2, reads, [1] And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
[2] And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

“The standard teaching on that passage is that the woman is Mary and the child being born is Jesus--that’s the Roman Catholic heresy anyway," explains my pastor, Richard Jordan. “You see pictures all through history of Mary with the sun and the moon under her feet, and the stars, and she’s got the child at her feet. That’s the classic picture of the Madonna, or whatever they want to call it. It’s all mythology and it comes out of Revelation 12.

“The woman in the passage is Israel. Just the mention of the ‘twelve stars’ tells you that. The symbolism is Revelation is stuff anybody who knows their Old Testament would understand. Just remember, John’s book is written to Jewish Believers. They knew what stars were represented in the Bible.

“Reading Revelation 12, anybody who knows anything about revival would immediately go back in their mind to Genesis 37 and the story about Joseph and his difficulties with the brethren.

“Genesis 37: 8-9 says, [8] And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.
[9] And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.

“If you’ve got 11 brothers and one more brother, you’ve got 12. So you’ve got Joseph, his mother and the 12 tribes. Verse 10 says, [10] And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

*****

The Bible says the Believing Remnant that goes into the kingdom will be “BORN at once” out of a time of tremendous suffering that is like a woman “travailing in birth.”

Isaiah 66: 7-8 is a famous passage often misinterpreted: 7] Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
[8] Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.

*****

“Over and over and over again, the nation Israel is described as a woman in the Bible because the nation Israel is the carrier of ‘the seed of the woman’ from Genesis 3:15 (‘And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.’); she is the bearer of the seed line.

“So, when they see this woman in Revelation 12, the saints would know that’s Israel, and they would know it’s Israel in connection with her reigning in the kingdom and their obtaining of the inheritance.

“Revelation 12:3-4 is about Satan: [3] And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
[4] And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

“Now, that didn’t take place at the birth of Christ! That’s something in the future, to take place in the tribulation. Verse 5: [5] And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

“John tells you in Revelation 4 that what he’s writing about are ‘things which must be hereafter,’ and what you read in the book is future from where John wrote, which was sometime before 70 A.D. You know when you get to chapter 12 you’re not talking about Jesus being born. You’re talking about Israel giving birth to a man child.

“The man child is then caught up to God and raptured out. Verse 13 says, [13] And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

“You’re in the second half of the 70^th week here. The next verse says, [14] And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.’

“That’s the last three and a half years of the tribulation. The rest of the chapter reads, [15] And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
[16] And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
[17] And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

******

“In a lot of ways that’s a strange passage. First there’s going to be this man child, and those who are going to rule all nations turn out to be the 144,000.

“The reason people say verse 5 is Christ is because Revelation 19 says He’s going to come with a rod of iron and rule all nations, but He doesn’t do that by Himself. He has a group of people associated with Him--the little flock—who reign with Him.

“All of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 have a group of people associated with them who are called ‘overcomers.’ This is a crowd that comes out of the tribulation into the kingdom and is given a special status of ministering in that millennial temple. They literally dwell there in that temple with the Savior.

“When Christ talks about the 'many mansions,' He’s talking about these temple servants in that millennial temple--the ‘overcomers’; that little flock He’s talking to, and especially its leaders.

*****

“If you go back to Revelation 12:5, you see this group of people has something strange happen to them. It says ‘her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.’ This man child is taken off the earth into the throne of God into the third heaven. You say, ‘Well, what in the world is that all about?!’ Well, it’s a fascinating thing.

“As the Book of Revelation begins in 1:1, [1] The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.

“You go through Revelation and you’ll discover time and again it is written to His servants, and there’s a special group of people identified with that moniker.

“Just look at John’s vision in Revelation 7:
 [1] And 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.
[2] And 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,
[3] Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
[4] And 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.

*****

“So the 144,000 are identified as the servants. Have you ever wondered about how, after the ‘dispensation of grace’ is over with and the Body of Christ is caught up into the third heaven, the kingdom program can be started again?

“How did God start the ‘dispensation of grace’? There’s no members of the Body of Christ on Planet Earth and God wants to start the dispensation of grace.

“What did He have to do? He had to intervene personally in a cataclysmic way. Paul says ‘He apprehended me.’ That’s a term we use for cops who stop and arrest you. He literally stopped Paul’s wild career, apprehended him, and made him the first guy to kick-start a new program.

“Well, there will be the same kind of apprehension program to start the prophetic program back up. There will be no choice. He’ll have to intervene once again, and the people He intervenes with to re-start that program is this 144,000.

“They will compare, if you go back and study Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and early Acts—you’ll find the 12 apostles will compare with the 144,000 and the little flock will compare to that remnant that comes out of the ministry of the 144,000.

“In the middle of the week, look at where this 144,000, who are on the earth in Revelation 7, turn up in Revelation 14:
[1] And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.
[2] And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
[3] And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

[4] These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. 

'As if valley was full of zombies'

This week has been sort of a "perfect storm" for me. I'm having the worst cold and sinus pressure I ever remember, forcing me to take all kind of over-the-counter stuff, including Sudafed, Vicks Sinex, Mucinex and Robitussin DM.

I can't get a good sleep from all the coughing fits (and breathing through my mouth because my nose gets plugged) and yet I am working each day because this is busiest week of the whole year for my job and there is no one to fill in.

So, all I can do is hope for better tomorrow. I have to say the worst part, even with the constant hacking, headaches, stopped-up and ringing ears, intermittently stuffed up and then running nose and feeling sluggish and weird from the medications, is that I can barely taste anything. All this to say, I am still working on new article to post.

******

"The details of the text (in Ezekiel 37) are nothing short of ghoulish — or, better, cadaverous. The unit is famous for its possible relationship to notions of resurrection in ancient Israel, but before any talk of resurrection is raised (pun intended in this case), the intensely morbid nature of Ezekiel’s vision must be fully reckoned with.

"And the downright chilling vision of a valley full of bones doesn’t yet mention the equally unnerving depiction of these disarticulated bones coming together, bone by bone, then sinew by sinew, then covered by flesh, then skin, but still somehow dead — as if this valley was full of zombies."

--Professor of Old Testament, Emory University

There are two places the nation Israel is scattered in Ezekiel 37. The bones are scattered out in the field, in the valley. Some are just kind of dispersed in the way James says "to the 12 tribes scattered abroad."

"Then there are some that are in the graves--some that are not at large, as it were, but these, rather than being enlarged, they're captives and the nation Israel has been in that condition and will be in the last days," explains Richard Jordan.

"It's pretty clear from verses 11-14 that what we're talking about here has to do with the future restoration of the nation:

[11] Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
[12] Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
[13] And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
[14] And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.

"There's a fascinating way he describes the way the nation's going to be restored. First, you have the bones. The bones reunite; they come back together. Verse 7: [7] So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.

"You know the old spiritual song Dem Dry Bones:

Toe bone connected to the foot bone

Foot bone connected to the heel bone

Heel bone connected to the ankle bone

Ankle bone connected to the shin bone

Shin bone connected to the knee bone

Knee bone connected to the thigh bone

Thigh bone connected to the hip bone

Hip bone connected to the back bone

Back bone connected to the shoulder bone

Shoulder bone connected to the neck bone

Neck bone connected to the head bone

Now hear the word of the Lord.

"That song is about Ezekiel 37, or at least it comes from there.

"The second thing, the sinew and the flesh and skin cover the bones: [8] And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

[9] Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

"The third thing that happens is He breathes on them and the breath goes in; it produces life.

"You take the bones, cover them with a covering that makes them pretty, attractive. But even though now they're not just a bunch of old bleached-out bones. and not some kind of skeleton running around (you know, that's kind of a spooky thing), there's still no breath in them. It isn't completed until you get down to where life comes.

"That's the three-step process. First, the national structure of Israel will be restored. Then they're going to be restored religiously. Finally, they're going to restored spiritually. It's looking at the nation being restored back into its wholeness.

*****

"What's going on back there in the Book of Judges is not designed to just be in the Scripture to fill up pages. It's not there just so you have information to teach in Sunday school.

"All this history back in the Old Testament is selected out of all the things that happened in Israel because it has doctrinal instruction with a prophetic meaning attached to it. There are things that are patterns for things coming in Israel's future.

"If you go to Psalm 83 and Isaiah 9, you'll see these passages in Judges 7 and 8 are used as specific references to things taking place in the 70th Week of Daniel with the nation.

"Jotham was the 11th king of Judah and son of King Uzziah. His parable starts in Judges 9:8: [8] The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us.

"This is a parable, so the parts of the parable are going to have meanings to them. It's as if the nations of the earth go out to find a king. 

"If you take trees and you run it through the prophetic Scripture, Ezekiel 17 and so forth, you'll find trees in prophecy are often used to represent nations. I've always loved the references to the cedars of Lebanon. There's some fascinating things in Scripture about the cedars and especially the ones grown up in Lebanon. What they are often used to represent is nations." 

Seven ways 'til Sunday

new article tomorrow--in meantime: 

Old-time preachers used to say humans make the same seven excuses for sin: It's going to okay; everybody else is doing it; we've always done it; a little bit won't hurt; we know when to quit; you got to make a living; it all depends on how you look at it.

Throughout time, No. 7 has been significant in its relationship to humans' intellectual capacity and ability to process raw information.

"There seems to be some limitation built into us either by learning or by the design of our nervous systems; a limit that keeps our channel capacities in this general range,' explains famed psychologist George Miller in his essay The Magical Number 7. “This is the reason that telephone numbers have seven digits."

Bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell explains that the man who designed the telephone number "wanted a number as long as possible to have as large a capacity as possible but not so long people couldn't remember it. At eight or nine digits, the local phone number would exceed human channel capacity and there would be many more wrong phone numbers."

Examples of No. 7’s special designation include: The Seven Ancient Wonders of the World, The Seven Seas, seven visible planets and luminaries (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) marking the seven days of the week, the seven liberal arts and sciences and the seven orders of architecture.

Other commonplace examples are the seven notes in the musical scale, the seven primary colors, the seven members to a human body and the seven holes in the head.

The reality is life itself operates in a cycle of sevens and, as a whole, revolves around the number seven, which symbolizes "completeness."

Most births are multiples of sevens, for example. The hen, for instance, sits three weeks (21 days), and the pigeon two weeks (14 days). This is after having laid eggs for two weeks.

The majority of mammals have a period from conception to birth of an exact number of weeks, a multiple of seven, and children are born to mothers in a certain number of weeks (usually 280 days), a multiple of seven.

*****

As the most frequent number in the Bible outside of No. 1, seven can be found 735 times in the King James Bible—54 times in the Book of Revelation alone.

The Word of God is, in fact, founded upon the number seven and it is the symbol of divine perfection—the seven days of creation, God rested on the seventh day, the seven churches, the seven Spirits, the seven stars, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, on and on.

"There's a reason your Bible counts by seven. . . seven is a number creation counts by," says Richard Jordan. "Sometimes it's called a perfect number, but it's more than just the idea of perfection, there's a pattern being demonstrated here. . . Have you ever wondered why a week isn't 10 days? Or five days? I mean, who decided we're going to count a week a week and make it seven days? God did that. The whole world works on that basis and doesn't even know why. . .

"In God's calendar of redemption, No. 7 plays a tremendous part. You go to the last book of the Bible, seven is the key to that book. You go to the first chapter of the first book, seven is the key to that chapter.

"In Genesis 1, the issue of creation had to do with God dwelling in creation. He pitched the tent where he was going to dwell. He creates in six days and on the seventh He rests. And there was a pattern God set out in creation. There's a design, there's something He's teaching and something He's developing in those seven days of creation."

*****

Not only is the word finished found in connection with No. 7 in the Book of Revelation, so is the Bible expression, "It is done."

Revelation 10:7 reads, "In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound the mystery of God should be finished." Revelation 16:17 reads, "And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne saying, it is done."

In preparation for mankind's destruction by the Flood, God instructed Noah in Genesis 7 to take the animals into the Ark by sevens: "Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth."

Then God said, "For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth."

As Peter tells us in I Peter 3:20, those seven days in the Ark before the Flood's arrival completed God's longsuffering and time of waiting. Genesis 6:9 confirms Noah, in what is the seventh mention of his name, was "a just man, and perfect in his generations."

*****

Similar pictures using No. 7 in relation to completeness, divine perfection, or consecration to God for service, are spread throughout the Bible.

There were seven feast days (Passover, Unleavened, First-fruits, Pentecost, Atonement, Trumpets and Tabernacle). King Solomon spent seven years building the Temple and kept the feast for seven days.

The seven branches on the candlestick in the Holy Place in the Tabernacle signify the complete light of God for the souls of men.

In Leviticus 16:14, the high priest, on the day of atonement,  sprinkled the blood upon the mercy seat seven times, representing the completeness of the redemptive work of Christ.

When Job, in his afflictions, was paid a visit by his friends, they sat in silence seven days and seven nights, later being ordered by the Lord to offer seven bullocks and seven rams in a burnt offering.

In Matthew 18: 21-22, when Peter asked, "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?" Jesus Christ responded, "I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."

In essence, Christ was exhorting, “Keep on forgiving until you are complete.”

*****

On Page 7 of the Scofield Reference Bible, the margin notes reveal even God's use of No. 7 to sum up His own name in connection with completion and divine perfection.

"In His redemptive relation to man, Jehovah has seven compound names which reveal Him as meeting every need of man from his lost state to the end," reads the notation.

The names are Jehovah-jireh ("the Lord will provide"); Jehovah-rapha ("the Lord that healeth"); Jehovah-nissi ("the Lord our banner"); Jehovah-Shalom ("the Lord our peace," or "the Lord send peace"); Jehovah-ra-ah ("the Lord my shepherd"); Jehovah-tsidkenu ("the Lord our righteousness") and Jehovah-shammah ("the Lord is present").

For the whole King James Bible, C.I. Scofield says its divided into seven dispensations, or "periods marked off in Scripture by some change in God's method of dealing with mankind, or a portion of mankind, in respect to the two questions: of sin, and of man's responsibility."

He explains, "Each of the dispensations may be regarded as a new test of the natural man, and each ends in judgment, marking his utter failure in every dispensation. Five of these dispensations, or periods of time, have been fulfilled; we are living in the sixth, probably toward its close, and have before us the seventh, and last: the millennium."

Toward the end of this current sixth dispensation we're still so incredibly blessed to be living in—

named by the Apostle Paul as the " dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to youward," (Ephesians 3:2)— and right after the Rapture of the Church, will come the tribulation and an intensified seven-year period of horrific suffering on earth called the Great Tribulation.

"It is evident that we are living in the terminal generation of the Church age. . . an epoch that immediately precedes a seven-year period known as 'Daniel's seventieth week,' " writes Bible researcher Noah Hutchings in his book, God Divided the Nations. "This 'week of years' is called elsewhere the 'Great Tribulation' and the 'time of Jacob's trouble' in Scripture. It is of vivid interest to Bible students how the basic seventy nations of Genesis 10-11 will finally align in these last days."

*****

In his book, The Signature of God, Grant R. Jeffrey outlines a phenomenal discovery of now-deceased mathematician Ivan Panin, who, in the 1930s, examined the Hebrew text of Genesis 1:1 and found 30 separate codes involving multiples of seven that couldn't be explained by chance, even by Harvard math professors.

In part, Panin found:

1.     The number of Hebrew words = 7

2.     The number of letters equals 28 (7 x 4 = 28)

3.     The first three Hebrew words translated "In the beginning God created" contain 14 letters (7 x 2 = 14)

4.     The last four Hebrew words "the heavens and the earth" have 14 letters (7 x 2 = 14)

5.     The fourth and fifth words have 7 letters

6.     The sixth and seventh words have 7 letters

7.     The three key words: God, heaven and earth have 14 letters (7 x 2 = 14)

8.     The number of letters in the four remaining words is also 14 (7 x 2 = 14)

9.     The shortest word in the verse is the middle word with 7 letters

10.  The Hebrew numeric value of the first, middle and last letters is 133 (7 x 19 = 133)

11.  The Hebrew numeric value of the first and last letters of all seven words is 1393 (7 x 199 = 1393)

"When professors on the mathematics faculty at Harvard University were presented with this biblical phenomenon they naturally attempted to disprove its significance as a proof of divine authorship," writes Jeffrey. "However, after valiant efforts these professors were unable to duplicate this incredible mathematical phenomenon.

"The Harvard scientists used the English language and artificially assigned numeric values to the English alphabet. They had a potential vocabulary of over 400,000 available English words to choose from to construct a sentence about any topic they chose.

"Compare this to the limitations of word choices in the biblical Hebrew language which has only forty-five hundred available word choices that the writers of the Old Testament could use.

"Despite their advanced mathematical abilities and access to computers the mathematicians were unable to come close to incorporating 30 mathematical multiples of 7 as found in the Hebrew words of Genesis 1:1."

*****

As Jeffrey further explained, "The number seven permeates the totality of Scripture because the number speaks of God's divine perfection and perfect order. . . Panin and others have examined other Hebrew literature and have attempted to find such mathematical patterns, but they are not found anywhere outside the Bible."

Panin, whose own book, The Inspiration of the Scriptures Scientifically Demonstrated, details the "seven" phenomena examined and verified by numerous authorities, had accumulated over 40,000 pages of detailed calculations covering most of the Bible before his death, says Jeffrey.

"These incredible, mathematical patterns are not limited to the number seven," writes Jeffrey. "There are numerous other patterns. These amazing patterns appear in the vocabulary, grammatical forms, parts of speech, and particular forms of words. They occur throughout the whole text of the Bible containing 31,173 verses.

"When you consider the amazing details of this mathematical phenomenon you realize that the change of a single letter or word in the original languages of Hebrew or Greek would destroy the pattern. Now we can understand why Jesus Christ declared that the smallest letter and grammatical mark of the Scriptures was persevered by God's Hand: 'For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled' (Matthew 5:18)."

So what was Panin's own belief on divine origin of Scriptures? Jeffrey records this statement from an essay by Panin "warning of the limitations of wisdom found in secular philosophy":

"Not so, however, with The Book. For it tells of One who spake as men never spake, who was the true bread of life, that which cometh down from the heavens, of which if a man eat he shall never hunger."

In conclusion, Panin wrote, "My friend of the world, whose you are: Either Jesus Christ is mistaken or you are. The answer that neither might be is only evading the issue, not settling it. But the ages have decided that Jesus Christ was not mistaken. It is for you to decide whether you shall continue to be."