What's Palestine, Greeks doing in Joel 3 from 800 B.C.?!

Joel 3 begins, [1] For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

[2] I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

"When it says God's going to plead with them, it's, 'I'm going to take you out here and I'm going to teach you a lesson about what you did,' " explains Richard Jordan.

"The God of the Bible is the God of Israel and they're His people and the Gentiles have scattered them among the nations 'and parted my land.' That's something God specifically told them was not to be done and the Gentiles did exactly the opposite of what God wanted done with His people.

[3] And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.

"God says, 'You took my people and sold them cheap into slavery.'

[4] Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompence me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head; [5] Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:

"God's telling them, 'This land is mine and when you took this stuff out of the land, that belonged to me, I own this stuff. You guys act like you do. You're taking my people, the treasures, all my things, and what do you think you're going to do with me?'

"I love that, 'What have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine?'

"He's saying, 'Who you think you are anyway, dude?' The kids say, 'You talking to me?' They're not asking the question; that's a challenge. That's what God's doing here.

"It's fascinating that He uses the word Palestine in verse 4 because Palestine was not called Palestine at this time in history. Joel was written in 800 B.C.

"It got that name in about 135 A.D. when the Romans--they hated the Jews so badly that when they finally rode them out of the land, they named the land after the Jews' vaunted enemies, the Philistines. Palestine is really a name for the Philistines.

"It's a different word in Hebrew, but we speak English, and it's that word in English because that's the term we use. This is a prophecy about the future and it's one of those places where your Bible looks into the future with the right terminology. But you need to remember the original people called Palestinians were Jews; they were the people in that land.

Verse 6: [6] The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.

"You literally have Israel carried out of the land and they're gone. They sold them to the Grecians. Now, that's another term that's kind of strange. Eight hundred years before Christ Greece was not a world power. In fact, there were no world powers like this.

"The Babylonian empire (Daniel 2 and that image of Nebuchadnezzar) and the Media-Persia empire that preceded the Greek empire . . . The Babylonian empire doesn't come on the scene until 606 B.C. Joel is writing somewhere along about 750-800 B.C.

"So, 150 years at least before Babylon He's talking about the Greeks. The Greeks existed then, but they weren't a world power like this to carry people all over the planet.

"The reason for that is this passage is not talking about the historical past; this is a prophetic reference about what's going to happen to Israel in the future in the 'last days.' When it says they've sold Israel unto the Grecians, it's a fascinating thing how the Greeks play into the issues in 'the last times.'

"Isaiah 45, written by Isaiah in about 700 B.C., begins, [1] Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;

"Cyrus doesn't show up in history for another 100 and some odd years; actually it's about 300 years before he shows up. He's the guy in Ezra 1 that allows them to go back after the captivity. What's he doing here?!

"Isaiah literally names a Gentile king hundreds of years before he exists and talks about him restoring Israel back into their land. 

"Talking to Cyrus, [2] I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:

[3] And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

"Here's a guy hundreds of years before he's born whose name is put in the Scripture. My point to you is to see the Grecians in Joel 3 as a prophecy is not such a weird thing.

"I've pointed out to you repeatedly that these passages in Joel all fit in the Second Coming--specific events associated with the Second Coming.

I Kings 13: [2] And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.

"The Josiah that does that is found in II Kings 23. If you look at the top of the page (Scofield Reference Bible) for the date, you'll see in II Kings 23 it's something like 624 B.C. So in about 600 B.C. Josiah shows up. In I Kings 13 the date at the top of that page is 975 B.C.

"He's named at least 300 years before this Josiah's born! If you read down through I Kings 13, it's a fascinating passage. You see how many times it talks about the Word of God, and you watch the guy be challenged to stay with it and fail.

"My point is it isn't quite so outlandish to read Joel 3 and to see terms like Palestine and especially the Grecians and understand this a prophetic kind of thing.

"Obviously, involved in the scattering of Israel, in the 70th Week of Daniel, and in the persecution of Israel under the Antichrist, Greece is involved. 

"Now, most of the time people say it's Rome, and they do that because of the vision Nebuchadnezzar has in Daniel 2, interpreting the feet and the toes as being the Roman empire. The difficulty with that is that isn't the way Daniel interpreted it."

Tombs and tattoos

(new article this evening for sure)

“I have been to Egypt about ten times, and I never stop being amazed and falling in love with it all over again,” Marcia Gordon, award-winning tour operator, is quoted telling Architectural Digest in an article published yesterday on Yahoo News.

“I love the fact that this is the only place in the world I know of where you can you see the physical evidence of the development of a culture over a period of more than 3,000 years: the development of pyramids, the transition to tombs, the development of hieroglyphics, of tomb drawings, of a sophisticated religion with a panoply of gods, and goddesses each with their own stories and personalities, the dramas of the royal families and shifts in power. And all this takes place in hauntingly beautiful edifices, many of them built to honor a spiritual connection, and I feel that connection even today."

*****

The 'maniac of Gadara' had abandoned his home and gone to dwell among the places that made him feel comfortable; the tombs.

Luke 8:27 says that when Jesus Christ “went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs.”

“Just so you understand why he does what he does—that he didn’t just make up all this stuff out of nowhere--God says in Isaiah 65, [2] I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;

[3] A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;
[4] Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
[5] Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.

“You know what that is? That’s Baal worship. What’s this guy doing? He’s the picture of Israel captured by the Baal worship. 

“Mark 5:5 says of the maniac: [5] And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

"Write down by that verse II Kings 15:4: [4] ‘Save that the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places.’

“That’s what Baal worship worships. In Genesis 11, they’re going to build a tower. They go up and worship on the high mountains and the high places. Why? They’re worshipping ‘the host of heaven.’ 

“That’s why God told Israel, ‘Don’t have the groves; don’t worship on the high places.’ Go around town today and see all the churches with steeples on them. That’s just another form of the Tower of Babel.

“The man was in the mountains because that’s where the Baal worshippers were worshipping. Jeremiah 13:16: [16] Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.’

“There’s truth and then there’s the darkness worshipping the captivity that produces death. So the guy’s up there on the dark mountain worshipping and he’s in the tomb, cutting himself with stones.

“ ‘Cutting himself’—boy, we could spend a whole study on that. Bloodletting is the marks and tattoos of Baal worship.

“All through your Bible you find Baal worship is associated with marking your body, painting on your body and cutting it. Listen to me, tattoos--you ought to write down Leviticus 19:28 when God told Israel, 'Don’t be cutting on your body; don’t be printing things on your body!'

“You go back to Elijah in Carmel in I Kings 18 and the prophets of Baal were cutting themselves; flagellation. You see that in religion today. People beating themselves. You see the Opus Dei with the apparatus they put on their leg to cut themselves and the masochism with that. The life of the flesh is where? In the blood.

“There’s an epidemic today of young people cutting themselves. What is that? That’s what this is. It’s trying to control your own redemption and atone for your own sin and make it up for yourself.

"It’s trying to inoculate yourself from your sin. It’s trying to have an artificial identity where you’re able to tolerate the pain and you can show your strength. It’s trying to gain on your own all the things that you could have in Christ as a free gift.

“That bloodletting, marking your body; this guy from Gadara’s doing every bit of that.  He was a demonstration of the captivity that the nation; the horror of great darkness that the world resides in, that now had taken over Israel. My point to you is that’s a description of the horror that comes into your life and into your culture when darkness takes over, and it engulfed Israel.

*****

“Mark 5:6: [6] But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him.’ I love that! What?! That’s ecumenicalism. They’ll put Jesus in the crowd with everybody else; just leave everybody else there. Syncretism. Israel did that. In II Kings 17, they worshipped Baal and served the Lord.

“This guy thinks he can do that. Verse 7: ‘And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.’

“He knows who Jesus is but it’s just, ‘What have I got to do with you?!’ He’s saying, ‘Hey dude, you’re in the wrong neighborhood! You don’t belong here!’

“He’s saying, ‘Leave me alone!’ This dude’s not looking for deliverance. He’s saying, ‘You showed up—I don’t want what you’re offering!’

“Verse 8: ‘For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.’ So Jesus throws the demon out. Now notice what happens verse 15: ‘And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.’

“You know what you look like when you don’t have the horror of great darkness controlling you? Sitting; you’ve got peace, inner tranquility and order in life. The inability to think rationally is gone, replaced by truth.

“Notice it says in verse 17, ‘And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.’ They didn’t like to have Jesus Christ around.

“The man (formerly the maniac of Gadara), on the other hand, wants to go with Jesus. In verse 18, it says, ‘And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.’

“You know what happens when you get into the light? You want to be in the light. You can do a lot of things with that verse. When you’re in the light you don’t have to be talked into coming to Bible study, or being in the Book, or having an appetite for God’s Word and to want to pray and talk to God about the details of your life, getting involved in the ministry.

“Verse 19: ‘Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.’

“I love that. Here’s a guy who’d made his home living among the tombs and Jesus says, ‘Go home to thy friends and tell them.’ He’s saying, ‘Go get with the program now. Go home and tell and show what great things the Lord’s done.’

"I read that and say, ‘Boy, that’s a great conclusion! Living in the horror of great darkness is not the necessary end of our life. It wasn’t the necessary end of Israel. They had the opportunity to choose life.’ ” 

Great damage using Western mind-frame

"When studying Revelation 17 try to avoid understanding or reading it from a Western perspective. That's what the church has done. They study Revelation 17 and 18, for that matter, with a Western frame of reference and that is a mistake. It's to be understood from a land of Shinar (Middle East) perspective. It has to be understood from an Eastern frame of reference and then, 'Hey, now we can kind of see what's going on and what's happening.'

[7] And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
[8] The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
[9] And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

"Who or what are the seven heads? The first head of that satanic monstrosity is Egypt. The second's Assyria, the third's Babylon, then Media-Persia and Greece,' explains Alex Kurz.

[10] And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

"So No. 6 is the northern kingdom. The other that's 'not yet come' is going to be No. 7. That's the Antichrist but he's the Antichrist manifested as 'the man of the sin.'

[11] And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

"What happens to No. 7? He 'was, and is not.' He's killed; he dies. But then, all of a sudden, something is going to ascend as verse 11 tells us. An entity comes up out of the bottomless pit; he's No. 8. That's going to be the last half of the 70th Week and he is Antichrist manifested as the 'son of perdition.'

[12] And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. [13] These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

"Notice it's 'no kingdom' singular? But then if you drop down to verse 17: [17] For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

"There's a point in time when the ten kings give their kingdom to the beast. Is that one hour at the end of verse 12 'heaven time' or is that earthly time? There's a case that can be made that the one hour is a heaven measurement of what's going on on Planet Earth.

"If you can just recall the timeline of the 70th Week, seven years are divided into parts of 3 1/2 and 3 1/2. If you recall, the Antichrist launches his campaign of conquest with one crown. What's he doing for the first three-and-a-half years?

"He's conquering. He's obtaining the ten crowns. He ends in the middle of the week with 10 crowns, so there's a span at the beginning of the 'week' where he's consolidating power; he's a political, military genius.

"The ten-nation area is not the European Union. The Bible in Genesis and Psalms and Isaiah identify the ten nations and where are they? They're all in the land of Shinar; they're all in the Middle East. Again, we use that Eastern perspective. Don't interpret it using a Western perspective. Great damage is going to be done."

*****

Revelation 17:1: [1] And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

"You know what the angel is saying to John? 'I'm going to show you.' The passages are going to interpret themselves. The passage tells us this great whore is a city.

Verse 2: [2] With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

"This is the spiritual fornication and spiritual whoredom that's been taking place in human history going all the way back to the book of Genesis. That's why it's called a mystery.

"It's not a mystery in the sense that it's unknowable, but it's a mystery because there is operating, in tandem to the satanic policy of evil to control a literal geographic land mass, a spiritual arm to that political arm.

"When humanity is concentrating on the physical, the material, the literal, the geographic, behind it all is a spiritual system that's operating. That's why it's called Mystery Babylon. Israel was victimized by this and they became participants in the spiritual whoredom.

Verse 15: [15] And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

"This woman is a city; the waters represent the nations, represent the multitudes, peoples, various tongues out there. We're being painted a picture here of what John is witnessing.

In verse 3: [3] So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

"What does that denote? In a number of passages the woman is sitting, which denotes control. Certainly there's a relationship between the woman and the beast. In fact, the woman is going to ride this beast.

"So there's this tremendous influence that the religious system has over the kingdom of Antichrist.

Verse 9: [9] And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

"The seven-headed monstrosity, which is the beast kingdom, the Antichrist kingdom, has those seven heads that represent those seven kingdoms in human history.

"We know from history that these kingdoms rise and fall and yet in the image, all seven kingdoms are there. Spiritually there is a unifying force; a tie that binds them which is Mystery Babylon."

(new artcle tomorrow)

Unmistakable connections Israel misses

Here's an excerpt from my church's Christmas morning Bible study:

"What does God promise Israel in exile in Egypt? He promises a redeemer, a deliverer, an exodus. Guess what Jesus is going to typify? The new Moses, the new Deliverer, the new Redeemer, and He's going to lead the new Israel out of spiritual exile in a new Exodus. Unmistakable connection here.

"Matthew 2 is a very dark, depressing chapter; you don't have Luke 2's joy and hallelujah. You have the Messiah having to escape from Jerusalem, His own city," explains Alex Kurz.

[13] And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
[14] When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:

"Why Egypt? Remember Israel's history, the first exile of God's people. The fiery furnace, the passages tell us. The cruel, hard bondage under Pharoah, a wicked Gentile king. Jesus is going to typify Israel's spiritual condition. 

Verse 15: [15] And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

"This is Jesus identifying with exiled Israel. When it says, 'out of Egypt have I called my son,' that's a direct connection to the birth of Israel out of the iron furnace; the fiery furnace of Egypt. You know what God says about the great deliverance out of Egypt? 'That's when I gave you birth.' 'You are my son, Israel.' In type, Jesus is the spiritual Israel that needs to come out of this spiritual exile.

"Hosea 11:1 is the verse being referred to: [1] When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

"Just as Israel is called 'my son,' hence, Matthew 2 at the end of verse 15. Jesus is taking the place of oppressed, persecuted, exiled Israel.

"All throughout Old Testament prophecy we have these prophetic predictions concerning God's repetitive activity with the nation Israel. The prophets, over and over again, foretold that God's going to repeat the events and the acts of God in relationship to the nation Israel, and if there is one prophetic prediction regarding what God's going to do with Israel, it has to do with Egypt.

"If you were a Jew, a law-abiding Bible student in the day of Messiah, you should have already started connecting the dots. If God said, 'I already told you, Israel, I'm going to repeat what I did with Israel in Egypt with my true son,' they should have identified Jesus as their Messiah.

"There are so many verses, we only have so much time. Isaiah 10: [24] Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.

[25] For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.

"In reference to this Antichrist, God will fulfill His contractually-obligated duty to punish Israel, but he's going to use the instrumentality of an Assyrian.

Verse 26: [26] And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.

"You've heard the old adage--history repeats itself. God keeps telling Israel, 'I'm going to repeat history.'

Isaiah 43: [16] Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters. What does that sound like? Did God in Israel's history ever make a way in the sea and create a path in the mighty waters? If you're a Bible-believing Jew, you're not going to miss this one, I would hope.

"By the way, that's why when Jesus was born ALL Jerusalem was troubled. They're not Bible believers. Isn't that a disgrace? Israel nationally is so apostate that they are bothered by the chatter, the rumor--'Hey, Messiah is born.'

"They're not doing Luke 2. The angels are rejoicing, the shepherds are rejoicing. You have Mary rejoicing, Simeon, Anna, but Israel at large, they're uncomfortable. They're not Bible believers and that's the point.

Verses 17-18: [17] Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.

[18] Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.

"Verse 18 is a rebuke. You know what Israel's problem is? You're not learning from history, are you? The point in the passage is, 'Remember what I did for you in Egypt, when I split the Red Sea in half and I created a pathway, a way of deliverance?'

"By the way, think about John in Matthew 3. How is a Jew supposed to be born again? God says to Israel, 'You're my begotten son; I have called you out of Egypt.' A Jew in John the Baptist's day, you know what you had to do with this born-again nation? You had to cross through the Jordan, go through the pathway. The way into the kingdom of heaven on earth is by way of the water. Again, what's God saying? 'You've forgotten the past, Israel.' 

Jeremiah 2: [4] Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:

[5] Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
[6] Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?

"The faithful remnant, they're looking for the same Deliverer that God sent historically in time past when they were suffering exile in a foreign land and God provided a miraculous physical deliverance. What the remnant is crying for is, 'Do it again, Lord!'

Jeremiah 11: [3] And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant,

[4] Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God:

"Jesus is in the wilderness 40 days and 40 nights. What did God do immediately after the great deliverance out of Egypt? God deliberately led Israel into the desert, into the wilderness. Why? 'I'm going to prove you, Israel; I'm going to prove whether or not you will be a loyal, faithful son.' Did Israel pass the test? Failed. Did Jesus pass the test when He was tried by the devil?

"Don't ever think there were only the three temptations recorded in Matthew and Luke. Jesus was tempted for 40 days. Think about the emotional, psychological stress that Jesus endured. He's hungry, hasn't eaten. He's tempted EVERY day.

"Eventually in Israel Moses is on Mt. Sinai. He's the great law-giver. What does Jesus do in Matthew 5? He goes on top of a mountain. He's now the new law-giver, the better Moses.

"In Matthew 5: 6-7 you have Jesus, the new Moses who's now going to give a new law; an intensified version, by the way. Which version of the law appears to be a little bit easier? You heard it said, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.' Now it's, 'I say unto you, you lust in your heart, you've committed adultery.'

"If you're an Old Testament Jew you might want to kind of crawl back over to the old system."

Star of wonder, royal beauty bright

(new post tomorrow)

 1. What star is this with beams so bright,

More lovely than the sun's own light?
'Tis sent to announce the newborn King;
Glad tidings of our God to bring.

2. 'Tis now fulfill'd as God decreed:
"From Jacob shall a star proceed,"
And lo! the Eastern sages stand
To read in heav'n the Lord's command.

3. As from this star glow outward rays,
An inward light the Lord conveys,
And urges them with force benign
To seek the giver of the sign.

Genesis 1:16: [16] And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

“When it says ‘he made the stars also,’ that’s not saying it was as an afterthought that God made the stars. He made the stars also to RULE," explains Richard Jordan. "These planetary bodies are all designed in the heavens and placed for the benefit of the earth.

“In Psalm 147:4 is a very interesting thing when you study the stars in the Bible. It says, ‘He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.’

“Isaiah 40:26 says, ‘Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.’

“God has numbered the stars and He’s also named them. When it says ‘he telleth,’ that’s like a teller in a bank counting up the number of the stars. It says He calleth them all by their names. 

"God has given names to the stars and the constellations out there and He knows exactly how many there are and what they’re there for.

"The Apostle Paul is referencing back to Gen. 1:14 ('And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years') when he writes to the Galatians 4:

[8] Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
[9] But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
[10] Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
[11] I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

“Paul said, 'I’m worried about you because you keep months and days and all of that stuff; the significance and the reasons for birthdays and Easter and Christmas and Halloween. All the celebrations of religion start there with that issue of let them be for signs. ' ”

Who doesn't love a baby

The 1934 Christmas song, “Sweet Little Jesus Boy,” made famous by Mahalia Jackson and written by Louisiana composer Robert MacGimsey (1898–1979), was to be portrayed as an American slave song.

"MacGimsey's song was to echo the senti­ments of black Christians in the Civil War era," says an online article by the Union Review. "He once described his most famous song as more a meaning than a song: He pictured an aging black man whose life had been full of injustice 'standing off in the middle of a field just giving his heart to Jesus in the stillness.'

"MacGimsey was influenced by his circumstance one snowy Christmas Eve in New York City. According to an account in the Our Daily Bread devotional, the composer was walking and passed by inebriated patrons in the many noisy nightclubs where the celebration of Christmas had no connection with who Jesus Christ is and why He came.

Sweet little Jesus boy, born in a manger

Sweet little Holy child, we didn't know who You were
Long time ago it seems You were born
Born in a manger Lord, sweet little Jesus boy

Didn't know You'd come to save us all
To take our sins away
Our eyes were blind we did not see
We didn't know who You were

You have shown us how
And we are trying
Master You have shown us how
Even as You were dying
This world treats You mean Lord
Treats me mean too
But that's how things are done down here
We didn't know it was You

*****

The power to destroy Satan comes from the birth of a child, the seed of the woman.

Isaiah 9:6: [6] For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

“That verse is on all kind of Christmas cards," says Richard Jordan. "A child is born (the first coming), unto us a son is given (Second Coming). You can’t have the Second Coming without the first, so there’s going to be a child, but He isn’t going to stay a baby.

“Everybody loves a baby, but people don’t necessarily like adults. That’s why Christmas is so popular; it’s a little teeny baby. But the baby’s a big boy now and He went to Calvary and He died, and He rose again.

*****

"When the wise men (the Magi) come on the scene in Matthew 2, Jesus Christ is NOT a babe in the manger—He’s a toddler living in a house in Nazareth!

“He’s not a baby in the sense of a newborn infant; He’s as much as two years old and living in a house. When Herod wants to go find Jesus, he says, ‘Go out and have every male baby two years and younger killed.' Why? He’d looked for the timing when the star appeared because he wanted to know how old the baby was.

“He’s called a ‘young child’ over and over in Matthew 2. No longer the infant baby, but the little toddler now, and yet He’s still God in our humanity.

 
*****

Matthew 2: ‘[2] Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
[3] When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
[4] And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
[5] And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
[6] And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.’

“Herod went out and got all the rabbinical scholars, brought them in and said, ‘Where’s the Messiah going to be born?’ And they answered, ‘That’s easy! In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, thou Bethlehem in the land of Juda are not least of among the princes of Judah.’

“Now that’s just like a bunch of religious tomfoolery right there! Look at what it says: ‘And thou Bethlehem in the land of Juda are not least of among the princes of Juda.’

“Micah said you are ‘the least.’ These guys, they don’t want their king to be born in a little insignificant po-dunk place out yonder. They said, ‘You’re not!’ They actually changed God’s Word.

*****

“You better watch so-called ‘religious scholars’ because they’ll take God’s Word and twist it to make themselves look like the winner. That’s why you better look at the verses yourself.

“Don’t let somebody take the thing out of its context, stick it on a wall, or stick it in a book, and then impose another meaning to it. That’s what these birds did! You have to be careful letting people mess around with your Bible.

*****

“Now why did he get the town right? Because 700 years before, Micah had said it’s going to be Bethlehem. Think about what’s happening here. Here’s a bunch of rabbinical scholars who have no interest in Jesus Christ at all. When He shows up they’re going to hate Him and cry, ‘Crucify Him! Away with Him! We will not have this man reign over us.’ And yet here they are, unsuspecting, unknowing, being the No. 1 witness to the fact He is who He says He is.

“Micah 5:1-2 says, ‘Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.’

“Micah lived 700 years before the birth of Christ. That’s seven centuries, longer than our country’s been in existence. Micah prophesies to the nation Israel about facing enemies coming in and invading their land, economic collapse and political upheaval and political corruption.

“You talk about a Middle East problem! The Middle East has been in turmoil for millenniums. You go 2,500 years ago in Micah’s day and the same kind of conflict going on in the Middle East today was going on then! And the goal of all the Gentile nations around Israel was to destroy Israel. 

*****

“Bethlehem was a small, itty-bitty little insignificant town. In fact, there were two Bethlehems in Israel at that time and that’s why Micah says ‘Bethlehem Ephratah.’ That’s like saying the name of the city and the county in which Christ resides.

“The only claim to fame this town ever had was that a little shepherd boy named David was born there and that little shepherd boy, you remember, became king.

“It says, ‘yet out of thee shall he come forth.’ In Galatians when Paul said, ‘God send forth His Son,’ that’s a reference back to this verse where Micah says, ‘Out of thee, Bethlehem, shall come forth.’

*****

“When it says, ‘whose goings forth have been from of old,’ you see how ‘goings’ is plural? He had more than one going. Now if you’re old, you’re ancient. That’s talking about how long you’ve been around. That’s a reference to time.

“You can go back to a place where time began. In the beginning of what? Time and creation. In the beginning of that continuum in which we live—time and space.

“But this one that’s going to come forth in time, comes out of eternity. This isn’t a human person; this is God stepping out of eternity into time in the clothing of our humanity. You see, that makes Him kind of unique. It makes Him a little different. The Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated His deity--that He was who He said He was--by fulfilling that verse.

“Seven hundred years after Micah, the wise men come to Jerusalem ‘seeking him born king of the Jews.’ They know the time! How did a bunch of Gentiles over in the east know? They had some books that told them the time when He was going to be born. God had identified a time and apostate Israel, who had no care for their Bible, laid it aside, but some other people took it up and knew WHEN to be looking.

*****

“They saw His star. They saw exactly what Jacob told Israel to be looking for in Genesis 49. Just what Balaam, in Numbers 23, said would happen. Just exactly the timeline Daniel told Israel it would be.

“Where would you go to look for the king of Israel? Well, Jerusalem’s the ‘city of the great king,’ so they go there.

“In Luke, you go to the nativity and see the shepherds and they’re biding in the field in that night, and they go and worship the babe and then they find Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the manger.”

Untoward, re-corrupted, backslid Israel

"When you look at passages all through the Bible that describe things about the 'desolation in the earth' and so forth, you're really reading passages describing Genesis 1:2, and that's why Jeremiah 4 has the exact same terminology:

[22] For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
[23] I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

"We're reading about the culmination, the final installment, of this battle and that's why there's so much in your Bible about that short little period of time in history," says Richard Jordan. "You ever thought about why is there so much about that little 7-year, and actually three-and-a-half year, period right before the Second Coming of Christ in wrath and judgment?

"All of that plan of the Adversary is personified ultimately; He's literally going to let Satan have his way, 'Do your best,' and He'll take and destroy him.

"If you just get in your mind when you study these things where you are in that structure, these passages are not just another description of another judgment. This is the ultimate conclusion of the conflict between God and Satan, between Jehovah and His Adversary.

Zephaniah 1: [2] I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.

[3] I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.
[4] I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests;
[5] And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham;

"Notice that the ultimate problem, and the thing that has to be destroyed, is that remnant of Baal. You got to get rid of the problem; of the source of evil.

"From the end of verse 1 we see Zephaniah is prophesying in the days of Josiah. He's the great-great-great-grandson of Hezekiah. Two great kings in Israel, both of which rid the southern kingdom of Judah of the idolatrous priest and practices of Baal worship.

II Kings 23:5: [5] And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.

"They literally had images of Baal in the temple, worshipping right alongside of Jehovah. Israel had been completely infected by the Baal worship. They've got the idolatrous priesthood, they're burning incense to the sun, the moon, to the planets, to all the host of heaven. They're worshipping the stars.

"When they worshipped the planets, they weren't just worshipping the physical planet; they're worshipping the gods associated with those planets, and that's what he's talking about in Zephaniah 1:4.

"Now, Josiah had gotten rid of all of that. By the time Zephaniah teaches, they've come back. It didn't take long to completely re-corrupt the nation. They had this great revival where they rediscovered the Bible and went out and had a Passover and all this wonderful stuff, but it was only three feet wide and a half-inch deep.

"What happened was immediately the land was re-corrupted and the compromise came right back in. What God tells Israel about Baal worship, what they're to do with Baal and Babylon . . .

Revelation 17:5: [5] And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

"I've been making the point to you that she's the mother of harlots. When it says they worship the sun and the moon and the stars, that's all the kids that come from momma. That's talking about the different denominations, the different iterations, of Baal worship.

"You got worshippers of the sun arguing with worshippers of the moon about which one's right and what's the real problem? Momma. Kids will fight, arguing among themselves about who's better, but you know what happens? You let somebody else from outside come in and jump on one of them and they'll all jump on them: 'Because we're family.'

"The mother is where the stuff comes from. All those kids out there, they just argue and squabble, but they're not the real issue and you never want to get diverted into all the stuff.

"Mystery Babylon the Great is the real conspiracy; that's the thing where verse 18 says, [18] And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

"Revelation 17 talks about the religious part, chapter 18 talks about the economic and political part. But the economic and political part is motivated and run by the spiritual part.

"If you go back in Isaiah 52, or in Joshua, where He talks about that 'unclean thing,' He's talking about things in the religious system that had corrupted Israel; He's talking about Baal worship.

"Paul says in Ephesians 4:25: [25] Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

"That verse is not telling you, 'Well, don't tell a fib.' He's talking about the Lie and the truth program and that's what Isaiah 52's talking about.

"What Israel's done is they've completely been seduced by the strong delusion to believe a lie because that's where their heart was. The problem is this remnant of Baal, and it's a remnant because Josiah had gotten rid of it, but they're still there.

"Ezekiel was a contemporary of Daniel, just prior to the captivity. Ezekiel 8:5:[5] Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.

[6] He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations.

"There's that image of Baal right there at the entrance to the temple, so this stuff has come back and you've got the idol back in the temple! He said 'thou shalt see greater abominations.' That's why the glory's leaving; He's not going to sit there with the idols.

Verse 7: [7] And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.

[8] Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.
[9] And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.
[10] So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.

"Now you've got all the trappings, the pictures, all the menagerie of all this Baal worship stuff and they've now got it painted on the walls.

Ezekiel 8: [12] Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.

[13] He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.
[14] Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
[15] Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.

"Tammuz is the queen of heaven. So now you've got the idols, all the images and the pictures and the icons and all the stuff, but they're all dedicated to Baal and you've got the queen of heaven there. People worshipping the queen of heaven again, right in the temple.

Verse 16: [16] And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.

"This is where Israel almost immediately backslid right into all of this stuff. They had the opportunity, but, 'Pfft,' they went right back! Zephaniah is addressing that bunch; that's where he's at.

"Those names in Zephaniah 1:4, Chemarim and Malchan, you'll find with the idolatrous priests back over in Kings and so forth. Those are just branches of denominations of Baal worship. That name Chemarim; he's an idolatrous priest and they wore long black robes called vestments. Have you heard of them?

Zephaniah 1:8: [8] And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.

"Look at James 2: [2] For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;

[3] And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:

"That's not gay clothing in the 21st Century definition of the word 'gay.' Gay there is like he's showing off, colorful, that kind of thing. One of the things Zephaniah is describing among the princes is that stuff over in James.

"The 'strange' there is not like 'cuckoo' or odd; it's like a stranger. You're a stranger and a foreigner. They're wearing apparel that's associated with the Gentiles, and particularly with Baal worship. God gave Israel a very specific way to dress; a kind of clothing that they were to wear in order to make them different from the nations. These folks have completely abandoned all of that. One of the ways they've done it is with the religion.

"What all that stuff is is just the reinstitution of Baal worship back in the midst of the people. The idolatrous stuff just completely consumed the nation. The problem is in verse 6: [6] And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not sought the LORD, nor inquired for him.

"They've turned back from the Lord. You know, a real interesting word is 'untoward.' Jesus talks about this 'untoward generation.' Instead of turning toward the Lord, they've turned their back on the Lord.

"Untoward means, 'I'm not turned toward; I'm untoward.' They've turned away from Him, and so when Jesus talks about this 'untoward generation,' He's talking about these birds right here. Those who have not sought the Lord nor inquired for Him.

"It's a heart problem they have and their heart is turned toward this false religion and that's why II Thessalonians 2 says he's going to send them a strong delusion that they might believe a lie because they did not want to receive the truth. God is going to purge out the rebel by giving them what their heart wants."

'Jesus, Mary and Joseph!'

 (new article tomorrow)

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.

As another famously misinterpreted passage, 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 Roman Catholic heresy," explains 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 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?

******

“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. 

*****

What’s infinitely fascinating is that in the genealogy of Mary, listed in the Book of Luke, there are 77 names that go all the way back to Adam and in the line of 77, Jesus was born of Mary at the appointed time. Galatians 4:4 says, [4] But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.

“In order to have His birth there at the right time, things had to be put into place 77 generations before,” explains Jordan. “Now, that means this was not an afterthought on God’s part by any means.

“There was a point in time God had preplanned the conception and the birth of Jesus and 280 days after the conception was the birth. That’s why God used the pagan ruler Caesar Augustus— He literally manipulated a godless, unbelieving devil-worshipping ruler to accomplish the political things in the earth in order that Jesus be born, not in Nazareth, where His mom and Joseph lived, but in Bethlehem where Micah, 700 years before, said Christ would be born.

“Part of the wonders of the birth of Christ, as natural as the surroundings were, was that there were supernatural things going on in the background ALL the time. God’s orchestrating, not just the timing but the place, and using ALL kind of people who have no idea they’re being used!

*****

“Mary and Joseph didn’t live in Bethlehem; they lived in Nazareth almost 100 miles north. As the verse says, ‘she’s great with child,’ meaning she’s ready to pop any moment and be delivered.

“God uses a pagan ruler to give the decree that all the world has to be taxed and people have got to go back to their hometown.

“What would have motivated Joseph to put his pregnant little wife on the back of a donkey, or in the back of a cart, and drag her a hundred miles in that condition? Because she had to go 100 miles for Him to be born where He’s supposed to be born.

“Everything about it is beyond human calculations. What that means is that, based on the mathematical, statistical laws of probability, the very science that you use to demonstrate that DNA conclusively identifies someone as guilty or innocent (DNA is all based on statistical probability), on that science of statistical probability that one verse there demonstrates.

“There are over 300 verses just like that! If you just took eight specific verses like that, you’d have the ability to identify in a court of law a statistical absoluteness that this is true; that He is who He said He was.

“To me that’s a fascinating thing, because surrounding the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ is the scientific, cultural, conclusive proof that He is who He said He was by the fulfilling exactly on time…how could a baby prearrange all that to happen? How did a baby pre-stage it?

“When He died on the Cross, and He’s dead, they take Him down off that Cross and bury Him in a rich man’s tomb just like Isaiah 53 said they would. His body lays there and doesn’t see corruption, just like Psalm 16 said it wouldn’t.

“He’s raised from the dead like Psalm 2 said He would be. He then ascends up into heaven just like Psalm 110 said He would. When He’s stone-cold dead on the market, how did He arrange to be buried where Isaiah said He would be buried? How do you arrange that for yourself?”

*****

“Jeremiah 32 is the 777^th chapter in the Bible. By the way, this stuff will only come true in a King James Bible. Jeremiah is going to be given a sign by God and communicate a sign about the return of Israel to her land.

“Just like there are 77 generations in Luke 3, now we’re in the 777^th chapter of the Bible and you’ll see the connection in a minute.

“Jeremiah 32 reports, ‘And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle's son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.
[10] And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.
[11] So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open:
[12] And I gave the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase, before all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison.
[13] And I charged Baruch before them, saying,
[14] Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days.

“So He makes a written document. We would say, ‘I made out the deed to the land, had it signed and notarized and then sealed up.’ So I took the evidence of the purchase. I’ve got a title deed that I bought the land.

“He’s got two copies. One is sealed where you can’t get to it and the other is open for you to read. Israel’s fixing to go off into that 5^th Course of captivity, be taken out of the land, not just for 70 years, but for generations to come.

"But before God sent them out in Jeremiah, He said, ‘I’m going to give you a token. I don’t want you leave the land without any hope. I want you to know I’m going to bring you back in.’

“Jeremiah 30:1 says [1] The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
[2] Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.
[3] For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
[4] And these are the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah.

“Over 203 times, the Bible identifies God as the Lord God of Israel. There’s no other nation, no other religion, no other group of people on the planet in all of history that the God of the Bible ever said, ‘I’m their God, I’m their God, I’m their God, I’m their God.’

  

“God says, ‘Write the words on a piece of paper, scribe them and put them in a book.’ So God writes down some words and puts it in ‘the book of the purchase,’ as He calls in Jeremiah 32. I love that. God has scribed a title deed.

“You’ll see this book again in Revelation 5 when Jesus comes and unseals the sealed book. But what’s happening here in Jeremiah is you’re getting the title deed to the land and God’s saying, ‘I’m going to come back and scribe it in a book, put it into my book, and your land's going to be there.’

“He wrote all those words in a book and said, ‘I want you to have a hope. You’ve got one copy that’s sealed until the Second Coming of Christ and one that’s unsealed.’

*****

“Again, you’ve got two books. First coming and Second Coming. There’s the preservation of it. Now, this is one of those mind-blowing things--verse 14 says to take the ‘evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days.’

“As soon as you see that phrase ‘earthen vessel,’ you think of II Corinthians 4:7: [7] But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

“Who’s the earthen vessel for Jeremiah? Where did God put His word? Go to Jeremiah 18 and He goes to the potter’s house and the potter makes the vessel and the vessel is the nation Israel. He says, ‘I’m the potter; you’re the clay.’

“So God entrusts His Word to the nation Israel, but you know what He’s done in the dispensation of grace? He’s entrusted that word to US. Why? So it can be preserved.

“One of the mechanisms God has used all through human history, all through His dealings with man--one of the designs of preservation--is to use His people. Not an institution, not an organization, not a big-fangled . . . 

"Rome says, ‘Well, without the church you wouldn’t have the Bible.’ No, without the Bible you wouldn’t have the church.' If you have the Bible, you’d never have any kind of monstrosity like the Roman church, Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and abominations of the earth.

*****

“Exodus 20 is the 70^th chapter in the Bible. Seventy is a multiple of seven and seven is the number of perfection in the Bible. You know what happens in Exodus 20? God gives Israel and the world the Ten Commandments. The 70^th chapter begins, [1] And God spake all these words, saying.

“He didn’t say God GAVE this message, this idea. It says God spake some w-o-r-d-s. You notice we read in Jeremiah 30 and 32 that He says to ‘write down these w-o-r-d-s.’ You’re writing down words on a page that God spoke.

“If you count the words in Exodus 20:1, there are seven. God is interested in the perfection of His Word. All of these words.

“Revelation 21:5 says, [5] And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

“The same thing’s going on all the way to the end of your Bible. That’s why you come over to Revelation 22:18, and I know people like to say, ‘Well, that’s just the Book of Revelation,’ but listen, if you read your Bible, and you study your Bible by reading it, ‘All Scripture is given by inspiration,’ and Revelation is part of a Book that goes all the way back to the Book of Genesis.

"In fact, most of the things that happen in Revelation found their beginning in Genesis. But God’s interested in the perfection of His words all the way through His Bible, so that when you get to the end of His Bible, as Revelation 22:18 says, [18] For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.

“You see that? There’s some w-o-r-d-s written down in a BOOK. That’s why we are ‘the people of a Book.’ That verse is the conclusion of an attitude that begins at the beginning! All the way through God’s Word, that’s the way God feels about His Word!

*****

“Listen, if you could take that title deed God gave Israel to the land that’s sealed today and Jesus will open one day . . . if you could change that title deed, if that evidence of the purchase was ever lost, the ‘god of this world’ would take over dominion in heaven and earth and Satan would get the heaven and earth that he desires, and be like the Most High and have it as his own.

“All that has to happen is ONE w-o-r-d from God. ‘I have spoken all these words.’ You better have a Bible where ALL the words in it are words God wants in it! That’s a Bible Believer’s attitude, and the only way you’re going to do that is to have a King James Bible.

“God’s Word is important, and when you see that genealogy in Luke 3, and you see the events in Luke 2, timing is everything with God, and one of the things you learn from that genealogy in Luke 3 is that the birth of the Lord Jesus--His conception, His birth, His coming--the events of His life and death and so forth; these things were not an afterthought on the part of God.

“People say, ‘Well, what happened was that God got caught by surprise.’ No, He didn’t. He had it ALL planned, and when the fullness of time--the right point in time--came, He sent forth His son. You have to understand that absolutely none of this (Christ’s birth, death, resurrection) caught God by surprise.

“Here’s a strange verse. Revelation 13:8 says, [8] And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

“So how long had Jesus Christ been slain? I Peter 1 says from the foundation of the world. Well, you know He wasn’t literally slain from the foundation of the world because He wasn’t born until 4 B.C., or whatever they say it was.

“Before God put the world into operation, laying the foundation thereof, He knew when, where and how His Son was going to die. It wasn’t an afterthought.

“I Peter 1:18-20 says, [18] Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
[19] But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
[20] Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.

“God planned this thing. He foreordained it. Now, when God foreordains something, He preplans and states that it’s going to happen.”