December 17, 2014 by laurelanthenat

Psalm 22:22-23

22 I will tell of thy name to my brethren;

in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee:

23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!

all you sons of Jacob, glorify him,

and stand in awe of him, all you sons of Israel!

After the humiliation and rejection of the crucifixion, we join the triumphant praise and exaltation section of this Psalm. It starts with a line that is repeated in the book of Hebrews. Where it states that He is not ashamed of us, even though in our weakness we are often ashamed of Him.

10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified have all one origin. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, “I will proclaim thy name to my brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee.” Heb. 2:10-12

His name is to be proclaimed. Not by ministers or priests but rather by “I” and the proclaiming is in the piel infinitive tense, which means “I” is caused to proclaim, recount, relate this information forever. We cannot stop, we must speak out. The only people who are mad at us for speaking the truth are those people who are living a lie. Keep speaking the truth.

I will praise Him in the congregation. It is only in the congregation that our admiration and reverence for His great act of love is even understood. (See Also: The Ekklesia)

The Psalm sounds as though it is restricted to just the children of Israel, however the writer of Hebrews is clear that all are children of God.

16 Bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. Is. 8:16-18

This was the declaration given to the shepherds. The joy would not longer be extended only to the children of Israel but it would be for ALL people.

And the angel said to them, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; Luke 2:10

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!” Luke 2:14

Instead of our faith bing inherited through the blood line of Abraham our faith is now based on pleasing Him. To have peace with our maker is an act of obedience. The door is open too all.

I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. John 10:9

Fear the Lord

23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!

all you sons of Jacob, glorify him,

and stand in awe of him, all you sons of Israel!

The post modern inherited churches have forgotten to stand in awe of God. The churches sing of an awesome God as if this word means some kind of casual greatness, or beauty. However to be in awe of something or someone is to be terrified or in dread. This new culturally sensitive theology has God as either their best buddy or a myth, either way there is no need to fear Him.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who practice it. His praise endures for ever! Psa. 111:10

When we are young we often think that the older people in the congregation are old and stogy. We make light of all things holy. We laugh and play with our grace, almost to the point of being sacrilegious. But as one gets older we often examine that tear in the vale of grace, and are terrified by what we perceive is there. Yes, indeed, God is awesome, and our souls are spared only because of that curtain of grace. Our suffering Redeemer earned our awe. When we step back and consider this curtain, we see that it is made of our Redeemer’s own blood.

We stand in holy awe, and fear for the ignorant young people.

December 2, 2014 by laurelanthenat

Psalm 22:18-19

18 they divide my garments among them,

and for my raiment they cast lots.

19 But thou, O LORD, be not far off!

O thou my help, hasten to my aid!

For those who do not believe that Yeshua/Jesus was not who He said He was and that He arranged to fulfill all these odd prophecies, How did He arrange this one? How did he get Roman soldiers to preform this act?

23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus they took his garments and made four parts, one for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was without seam, woven from top to bottom; 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfil the scripture, “They parted my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” John 19:23-24

This prophecy was written one thousand years before the events described. There is just no way to have faked or arranged this. It stands as one of the great proofs that He was who He said He was. The other is Daniel 9.

As our Lord was dying they were casting lots for his clothes. So His call for help is one of promise. The deed was done. His humanity now reminds God of the three day deal. Be not far off, hasten to my aid. There is just that shadow of not quite doubt, just a need for reassurance. His deity knew He had the victory His humanity was suffering. We all need to be told that it will be ok.

November 25, 2014 by laurelanthenat

Mystery Babylon

The Mystery Religions

Babylon’s Demise and Rebirth

Recently I have been taking a course on the internet to improve my writing skills. The first lesson was about making things personal and emotional, something we strive not to do. Theology is supposed to be cold and analytical. The emotional response is supposed to come from the leading of the Holy Spirit and not by any emotional manipulation from the writer.

Anyway the opening here is my attempt at such a style. I doubt I will repeat it, and I was unable to express how upset and distressed I was at the time.

When I was in high school. I became greatly interested in the Bible and what it meant. Prophecy was one of those areas that made no sense to me. So when one of the slightly older young persons came back from Bible College offered a course on prophecy using the Late Great Planet Earth as his teaching text, I was all in. Our pastor was in the room agreeing with everything that was taught. I found it all very exciting. We were learning secret knowledge that was hidden in the Bible. However my expectation were of a more complete understanding. What was taught was quit confusing as we kept hopping all over the Bible in a way that we had previously been taught was the way cults teach. They kept connecting passages that I could not understand how they were connected.

During one of these lessons the young man who was teaching the class said something I thought odd. He said, “If we only knew what the Babylonian Mystery Religion was, we would know what to look for.” I thought to myself, why don’t we know what the Babylonian Mystery is? When I got home that night I went to my parent’s Encyclopedia Brittanica pulled out the Index and looked it up. It said, “see Mystery Religions”. Now I was really curious. So I turned to Mystery Religions and found columns of articles. Obviously my pastor and the young man had not availed themselves of an Encyclopedia. I sat and read these articles one after another till bed time, after which I decided that the pastor and this young man were idiots. Anyone with an Encyclopedia knows exactly what the Babylonian Mystery Religion was and is.

The History

Many centuries have passed since Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon. Long ago the city became a desolation. During the reign of Antiochus I the city was officially depopulated when in 275BC the inhabitants were transported to Seleucia. So by the time of John’s writing the Revelation (ca. 96-98AD), Babylon itself had long been an abandoned waste.

19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. 20 It will never be inhabited or dwelt in for all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there. Is. 13:19-20

The Babylon in The Revelation is therefore symbolic for several reasons. First of all, ancient Babylon has laid in continuous ruin for approximately 2250+ years. The Revelation makes references the outer purple and scarlet clothing of the priests serving in the Temple. This is a further indication of the woman’s or church’s symbolic religious wickedness. Her name and her action are described as the Babylonian mystery religion. In John’s day, this religious abomination was centered in Rome.

4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and bedecked with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication; 5 and on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earth’s abominations.” 6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Rev. 17:4-6

After the death of Belshazzar the Chaldean priesthood was expelled from Babylon by the Mede-Persian kings. They traveled up the rivers valley and over the mountains finally settling on the Aegean coast in the town of Pergamos. There they established the College of the Pontiffs. The leader of this group was know as the Pontifex.

This title was handed down till at last it was held by Attalus III the last king of Pergamos.

“‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; Rev. 2:13

Upon his death in 133 BC, he left in his will all his dominions to the Roman peoples. The College of Pontiffs was moved to Rome, and for a time the tile Pontifex was forgotten. However Julius Caesar arranged to be elected Pontifex Maximus, making himself the head of both the Roman State and the Roman Religion. He became the true legitimate Babylonian Pontiff, further taking the title Venus Genetrix meaning that Venus was the mother of the Julian family. He appeared before the Roman people in all the pomp of Babylon wearing the robes of scarlet, with the crosier of Nimrod, the mitre of Dagon, and the keys of Janus and Cybele. So too did all the Emperors after him, until the Christian Emperor Gratian denounced the title as pagan and refused to wear the idolatrous pontifical clothes, and again the title lay forgotten. Until 610 AD. when Boniface III usurped the title Pontifex or Pope.

FYI: Pontifex means bridge builder. Maximus means the highest, greatest, supreme, or sovereign. A crosier is a ceremonial staff carried by a king or bishop or an abbot, hooked at one end like a shepherd’s crook. A mitre is a tall pointed cleft hat originally worn by the priest of Dagon. The keys of Janus and Cybele were changed out and styled as the keys of Peter.

The only early church father to use the term Pontifex was Tertullian (c. 160 – c. 225AD) iwho used the title as an insult to any bishop who claimed to supersede any others.

In opposition to this [modesty], could I not have acted the dissembler? I hear that there has even been an edict sent forth, and a peremptory one too. The “Pontifex Maximus,” that is the “bishop of bishops,” issues an edict: “I remit, to such as have discharged [the requirements of] repentance, the sins both of adultery and of fornication.” O edict, on which cannot be inscribed, “Good deed!” … Far, far from Christ’s betrothed be such a proclamation!

—Tertullian, On Modesty ch. 1

The Mystery Religions

The Pontifex Maximus was in theory the head of all the mysteries. There were many varied mystery religions, the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Mysteries of Cybele, Mythic Mysteries etc. however they all have a few things in common in the basic structure of their rituals. Once initiated into the mystery a person was given secret knowledge that would guarantee that a person would end up in a good place or reward in the afterlife. To be initiated there was always a blood oath, that insured that the initiate would keep the secrets of the mystery. Then there was a confession in which all crimes were confessed to a priest of the Mystery, whether they be against the gods or men. A communion of sorts was taken in which the drink and/or the cake or bread may have contained opiates or hallucinogens, so that one might better commune with the god. Then there was some kind of ordeal, a maze, or tunnel from which the initiate was born again. The secret information was then imparted and a large party was held. Some of these parties became so notorious that they were banned by the Roman government as they thought them too wild. (It must have been some orgy for the Roman’s to have been offended.)

Although many secret societies have adopted the ritual nature of these mysteries only one stands out as having adopted the full religious meaning of all that was in Babylon, that is the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Rome is many things, but Christian is not one of them, it is Babylonian to its very core. The Pontifex Maximus is openly proclaimed, the College of Pontiffs is now the College of Cardinals, and the rituals of the mysteries have become the sacraments.

September 9, 2014 by laurelanthenat

Psalm 22:1-2

Sounds like a simple enough prophecy till one reads all of Psalm 22 which is a Psalm of David recounting a time when he was fleeing from his enemies. There is nothing in it that would make one reading think it was prophecy. It is only after reading John that we even consider looking at the Psalm as a type of the Messiah.

To the choirmaster:

according to The Hind of the Dawn.

A Psalm of David.

“The Hind of the Dawn” would have been the name of a tune, that’s meter would fit well with the words. Like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, The ABC Song, and Jesus Loves Me, are all the same tune. David meant for this psalm to be sung to The Hind of the Dawn tune.

1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but thou dost not answer; and by night, but find no rest.

In this type David feels that God has forsaken him. He feels that God does not hear him. We all cry this way from to time to time. We don’t understand why we are sick, or poor? We feel forsaken, even though He never forsakes us.

Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. Job 13:15

Like Job, Messiah had maintained God’s ways. Yet the very words Messiah cried when He was slain where this forsaken verse from the Psalm.

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabach-thani?” that is, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matt. 27:46

Help did not come for three days and three nights, then all was victory.

7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear. 8 Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; 9 and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Heb. 5:7-9

August 26, 2014 by laurelanthenat

The Time of Jacob’s Trouble future or fulfilled?

Jeremiah 30

Those Mischievous Futurist teach that there is a future tribulation, that they call the “time of Jacob’s trouble”. They take this from the verse.

Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. Jer 30:7

However they have lifted this verse entirely out of its context. The context of the verse is the Babylonian Empire is coming in Jeremiah’s day to destroy the temple and take Judah into exile. Therefore the “time” of Jacob’s trouble clearly begins with that destruction of the temple by the Empire of Babylon under the kingship of Nebuchadnezzar, not some time in the far distant future.

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. 3 For behold, days are coming, says the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the LORD, and I will bring them back to the land which I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.”

Jeremiah 30 is a marked change in the writing style of Jeremiah. Up to this point he has been admonishing the people to change there ways and repent of their wickedness. From here on his predictions of imminent disaster come with promises of restoration and prophecies that they will someday in the far future repent. The passage starts with a reassurance that in the end God will restore Israel and Judah, not just Judah. But both nations shall return.

FYI: Israel and Judah were separate nations long before the time of Jeremiah. They had broke into two nations after the death of Solomon. Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin became the southern nation of Judah, while the rest of the tribes formed the northern nation of Israel. [1Kings 12]

4 These are the words which the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah: 5 “Thus says the LORD: We have heard a cry of panic, of terror, and no peace. 6 Ask now, and see, can a man bear a child? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor? Why has every face turned pale? 7 Alas! that day is so great there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of it.

Both nations are in panic not just Judah as those Futurist’s would have it. The men are as woman giving birth. As all women who have given birth will attest there nothing that is going on around them matters, you will lay down in the middle of the street to have that baby. The false prophets had been telling them that all was well. Don’t look behind the curtain, nothing evil is coming. However Jeremiah was telling the truth. Babylon was coming for Judah just as Assyria had come for Israel. When Babylon came the men were in agony. They were unable to do anything about what was going on around them. Avery few tried to flee, but it was too late. The city fell to the Babylonians. However when a woman gives birth all the pain and discomfort is forgotten in the joy of a child. No child was coming, at least not in their lifetimes. There was only destruction and death.

8 “And it shall come to pass in that day, says the LORD of hosts, that I will break the yoke from off their neck, and I will burst their bonds, and strangers shall no more make servants of them. 9 But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

Sudden change in the prophecy as better times are coming. Like the joy of the new life, freedom will come. Many see a Messianic promise here, the phrase “in David their king whom I will raise up” that this is talking of spiritual freedom that is given to all who believe in Messiah. Others see a future where the both Judah and Israel return to God and His Messiah. (We believe that both are meant.)

10 “Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, says the LORD, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for lo, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid. 11 For I am with you to save you, says the LORD; I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will chasten you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.

Those who believe this happen in 1948 are just plain wrong. Such an interpretation does not meet the fact. The passage says that they will have quiet and ease. We must also consider that Zech. 14:1-5 makes it quite clear that Jerusalem will be sacked one more time, and the people set into exile yet again. [c.f. Jer. 10:25, 25:15]

God explains that this punishment is deserved, and further explains to the nations who are the ones dishing out God’s discipline must not be too excessive at being God’s hand or they will face the wrath of God themselves.

12 “For thus says the LORD: Your hurt is incurable, and your wound is grievous. 13 There is none to uphold your cause, no medicine for your wound, no healing for you. 14 All your lovers have forgotten you; they care nothing for you; for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe, because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant. 15 Why do you cry out over your hurt? Your pain is incurable. Because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant, I have done these things to you. 16 Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your foes, every one of them, shall go into captivity; those who despoil you shall become a spoil, and all who prey on you I will make a prey. 17 For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, says the LORD, because they have called you an outcast: ‘It is Zion, for whom no one cares!’

Through out the prophets the term “lovers” is used to condemn Jacobs descendants of idolatry. God views the pagan gods as rivals for His people’s love. He says there is no healing for this. The pagan gods were never real so they will not save the people. The nations who’s gods they were worshiping have come and devoured the people. However the devourers will themselves be devoured. Yet again He promises to restore Zion, a place no one cares for.

18 “Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob, and have compassion on his dwellings; the city shall be rebuilt upon its mound, and the palace shall stand where it used to be. 19 Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving, and the voices of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will make them honored, and they shall not be small. 20 Their children shall be as they were of old, and their congregation shall be established before me; and I will punish all who oppress them. 21 Their prince shall be one of themselves, their ruler shall come forth from their midst; I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me, for who would dare of himself to approach me? says the LORD. 22 And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”

This is what Balaam said when he could not curse the people. Those who wish like Balaam to make God’s people poor and destitute will get no reward. For the dwelling places of God’s people is where He swells.

. . . how fair are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel! Num. 24:5

The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Psa. 34:7

The question is this to be interpreted literal as in the literal historic capital city of Israel, where people literarily live, or is the spiritual new Jerusalem, a city of symbolic imagery, the city from above. [ Gal. 4; Heb. 12; Rev. 21] Time will tell.

23 Behold the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. 24 The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his mind. In the latter days you will understand this.

The idea that this is some seven year period in the future is not supported by the text. It cannot be for later times. The people of the post modern church are confused, our minds are not clear on this at all. We are plagued by dispensationalist that say that this is about seven years in the future. However the plain reading of the text is clear that it is talking about the whole of Israel and Judah’s captivity, and the devouring of all the nations that have ever been harsh on God’s peoples.

June 3, 2014 by laurelanthenat

Islam Passes Away Without a Hand, Daniel 8:25

By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall magnify himself. Without warning he shall destroy many; and he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes; but, by no human hand, he shall be broken. Dan. 8:25

The “he” in this passage is the religion of Islam, and by 1299 that religion had become an empire, The Ottoman Empire. (See Also: Hermeneutics)

The Ottoman Empire or Porte, was the longest lasting dynastic empire in the history of the world, lasting from 1299 to 1923.

In 1844 with the signing of the Edict of Toleration the Ottoman Empire began a long decline, wasting away till World War One where most of its territory was divided between France and Great Britain. The last Caliph (Mehmed VI) was exiled in 1922. Continue reading →

May 29, 2014 by laurelanthenat

The Hoax of a One World Government or New World Order

One World Government? – New World Order?

The Books of Daniel and the Revelation are about the history of the Imperial powers that have ruled the nations. These prophecies have nearly run their course and we now live at the time of the last of them, i.e. the ten nations, which are represented by toes in Dan 2 and horns in Dan 7 and Rev 12,13, &17. You may have been taught that these ten nations are in our immediate future. However there are no gaps in the metal man of Dan 2, these ten nations have been around since Rome fell in 476 A.D. There have been wars, they have merged. they have had revolts, from time to time there have been slightly more or less then ten, but when the dust settles there they are, TEN.

The only empire in the prophecies that is still future is the one represent by the rock not cut with hands Dan 2. Nearly everyone thinks this is the Millennial reign of Messiah. There is no future human government like the New World Order or One World Government. No matter how much men may try, it is just not there. In fact the book of Daniel expressly says that it cannot happen. When speaking of the toes it says;

As you saw the iron mixed with miry clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. Dan. 2:43.

Which pretty much sums up European history. They have mixed, but no matter how hard they try they have not been able to hold together. Not since the tower of Babel have men been able to hold themselves together. [Gen 11] Charlemagne, Charles V, Louis XIV, Napoleon, and finally Hitler have all failed at this monumental task. The only way to accomplished this task, is to concede it to the One with a Rod of Iron. [Rev. 19:15] So we must wait till Shiloh come.

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Gen. 49:10

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD;

and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.

For dominion belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.

Yea, to him shall all the proud of the earth bow down;

before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,

and he who cannot keep himself alive.

Posterity shall serve him;

men shall tell of the Lord to the coming generation,

and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,

that he has wrought it. Psa. 22:27 -31

May 27, 2014 by laurelanthenat

Context

One of the hardest points to get a dispensationalist to understand, is that they must give up their fantasy that they interpret the Bible “literally”. FEW DISPENSATIONALISTS WOULD CLAIM THAT THE REVELATION PASSAGE ABOUT THE WITNESSES ARE ACTUAL TREES AND LAMPSTANDS, yet they insist that they are interpreting literally.

These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands which stand before the Lord of the earth. Rev. 11:4

FYI: The first thing is, who wrote the passage and to whom was it written?

Prophecies are rarely as literal as the dispensationalist would have us believe.

Bruised Heel

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Gen 3:15

No one teaches that a literal snake and a man will have a brawl; nor that a woman has “seed”.

Joseph’s dreams

5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they only hated him the more. 6 He said to them, “Hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7 behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose and stood upright; and behold, your sheaves gathered round it, and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him yet more for his dreams and for his words. 9 Then he dreamed another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream; and behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” 11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. Gen. 37:5-11

No literal sheaves bowed, nor did the literal sun, moon or stars move in anyway.

Wounded for our Transgressions

4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. Is. 53:4-5

This bears little resemblance to a crucifixion. It appears to be closer to a bad whipping than a death.

As the Days of Jonah

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Matt. 12:40

In reading the book of Jonah, would anyone ever see this as a prophecy of Messiah in the grave? Even hearing it explained, the followers of Jesus were at a loss as to what he meant.

I am Coming Soon

One of the greatest harms that Dispensationalists commit is an insistence on interpreting the Bible literally. They are actually ignoring the plain reading of a text, forcing symbolism, metaphors and similes to read as truth. If they were indeed interpreting the Bible literally, they would all be missing an eye or a hand thereby staying out of hell.

29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. Matt 5:29-30

According to these modern commentators, nothing or very little of the book of The Revelation has been fulfilled. They claim the prophecy was intended for our time, 2000 years after it was written (between 96-98 A.D.).

Soon

However, the testimony of the book itself is completely contrary to a distant fulfillment.

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants what must soon take place; and he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, Rev. 1:1

Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written therein; for the time is near. Rev. 1:3

And behold, I am coming soon.” Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. Rev. 22:7

And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Rev. 22:10

“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, to repay every one for what he has done. Rev. 22:12

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! Rev. 22:20

It said these are the things “soon” to take place. How can “soon” be interpreted as “literally” later? What crazy hermeneutic could allow such repudiation of the plain reading of the text? Any young child could tell you what these verses should mean.

The Greek word tachei means soon, quick, or quickly. [Luke 14:21; Luke 16:6; John 11:31; John 13:27; John 20:4; Acts 17:15; 1 Cor 4:19; Gal 1:6; Phili 2:19; Phili 2:24; 2 Thess 2:2; Heb 13:19; Heb 13:23] It is never used to mean two thousand years later. The Dispensationalists suggest that it means that the events will happen quickly once they start, however it is never used in this way any where in else in Scripture. There is no use that even suggest a two thousand years gap. It must mean that what the text is talking about, at the very least, begins quickly.

The word or phrase that we would expect to see describe something occurring centuries in the future is: After many days, in the latter days. [1Kings 18:1; Is. 24:22; Jer. 13:6; Acts 18:18]

Coming

The problem is the word “coming”. The casual reader may think “coming” means the “Second Coming”. This is the effect of lazy preaching and not doing your own homework. We were told to wait for the Lord’s “Return” not His “coming”.

In Matthew 24 the disciples asked, when are you coming? They cannot be asking about what we call the second coming or return. They had no expectation that He was going to leave. So, clearly our understanding of the word “coming” and the disciples first century use of the phrase, or just the word “come,” does not mean “return,” “coming again” nor “second coming” of the Lord.

They had to be asking “when are you coming to judge Jerusalem”? How do we arrive at this conclusion? Because, whenever God had informed someone He was “coming” it meant He was coming to judge.

When God came to look at the Tower of Babel it meant that they were about to be judged. [Gen 11:5-8]
When God came to look at Sodom and Gomorrah it meant that God was about to judge the two cities [Gen 18:21]
Other examples where the expression is used: [Ex 3:8; Ps 50:3; Isa 64:1-3; Isa 66:15; Mic 1:3-4]

All those “soons” in The Revelation are about the “coming” judgments that each particular passage is about. They are clearly not “the Return of the Lord”.

Signs and Wonders

The postmodern sensational teaching of the inherited churches takes these words to their dramatic limits. They ignore the obvious hyperbole and advance it to the next level. Maybe it makes for more exciting sermons for the congregants, but at the price of less understanding in the pews.

The ancient prophets not only delivered soliloquies of the Word of God, but in seeing, hearing, and acting they presented a type of what was to come. Isaiah walked naked for three years. [Is. 20] Jeremiah is wearing an ox’s yoke. [Jer. 27] Ezekiel drew a map of Jerusalem on a brick or tile. [Ezek. 4] Ezekiel, Zechariah, and John measured the temple.[Ezek. 41-42, Zech. 2:1-13, Rev. 11:1-2]

The two Hebrew words involved in this are signs; i.e. , ‘ot and wonders , mofetim.

‘ot is Translated as Signs

Then the LORD said to him, “Not so! If any one slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who came upon him should kill him. Gen. 4:15

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: Gen. 9:12

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanu-el. Is. 7:14

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Israel & The Church in the Last Days

The Historicist View of Prophecy

Progressive Revelation