” one will be taken and one will be left.” ?? Matthew 24:40-44

Posted on 07/02/2024 by remso

We ended the last study looking at Matthew 24:36-39, as Jesus compared what the times would be like when He comes back as the Messiah that the Jews long for.

Most Bibles title this section “No one knows the day or the hour,” it immediately references Noah and how the flood shocked everyone on Earth.

So, let’s set aside assumptions for a moment and try to figure out what Noah said or did that would potentially eliminate the ability of these “people” to argue that they did not know what was coming. Now, lacking any rain, I might give them some grace for their lack of understanding about something as tactile as rain, seeing as they had never seen or experienced rain.

I can work off another assumption: Noah explained that the water would also come gushing out of the earth. You cannot convince me they did not drink or collect water from underground springs.

To initiate a response, we have to start with this truth: We were told that Noah was a preacher of righteousness.

“… but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;”  2 Peter 2:5 NKJV

Let’s camp here for a moment.

Preacher is the Greek word kērux from G2784, meaning a herald of divine truth.

So, with this information, I recognize that Noah was a messenger of divine truth.

Some will say something stupid like that might have been true for Noah, but not for me. I am not adept at logic, but I know enough to understand that a statement like this is an unsound and quickly challenged opinion because the one espousing it cannot substantiate any truth in their argument.

Consider that for 99 years and a few days, Noah could not substantiate his claim either, but that did not stop him from building this enormous vessel.

When the flood came, God affirmed His support for Noah and his claims; thereby, God corroborated Noah’s claim that rain, sufficient to cover the highest peaks of the earth and wipe out everything that breathed air, was coming. I might add that a logical assumption would be that Noah pointed to the ark as the only method of salvation, a type of Christ.

If I can be direct, righteousness has always been a troublesome word for me.

Why?

Because righteousness has always had works attached to it.

For example, Bible study. Suppose you are doing Bible study to meet someone else’s demands, typically a demand to meet some organizational and religious standard. In that case, you are doing works to meet a demand to live in a particular manner so that God may find you acceptable.

Do you realize that God loved you enough to send His Son Jesus to earth so that He would be slaughtered to purchase your life back to Himself?

In doing this, He acquired us all back into His legal possession. But don’t worry—you don’t have to go with Him if you don’t want to, and many are choosing that path. Having realized that this is the situation, all I can think about anymore is how soon you will find me, wrapping my arms around at least one leg and weeping for joy.

Righteousness – this is the Greek word dikaiosunē

Thayer’s definition explains that: “1) in a broad sense, it is the state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, and the condition acceptable to God. 1a) the doctrine concerning the way in which man may attain a state approved of God.”

Since Jesus directed the small crowd to consider the days in which Noah lived, let’s add one last thing.

Before the command to build the ark, we have nothing that tells us how Noah lived his life.

Note to self: We can assume things all day long, but that is a useless endeavor unless there is evidence to validate such assumptions. One such piece of evidence provides a provocative lineage.

Adam – Seth – Enosh – Kenan – Mahalalel– Jared– Enoch– Methuselah– Lamech– (this is where it gets interesting)

“Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years and became the father of a son. Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed.”
Genesis 5:28-29NAS95

Adam walked with God.

We can assume that Eve also walked with God, but not as Adam did because of her action with the fruit. (Admittedly, this is an assumption, but a good one.)

This following assertion is NOT an assumption, but few will read and pay attention to the details involved with God putting humans on earth.

Day is the Hebrew word yôm. It is from an unused root meaning to be hot; a day(as the warm hours), whether literally (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figuratively (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverbially): –age.

Pay attention to the word age. In the Greek, this is eon, meaning an indeterminate time frame. So, if you choose to argue for the idea that we see here is a strict 24-hour time period, then perhaps you can tell me what brand of watch God used.

In Genesis 1 verse 23, we see the arrival of the fifth day. Carry this forward to Genesis 1:26-28, and we see God speaking to others and saying,

“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image; in the image of God, He created him; male and female, He created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:26-28 NAS95

Let that information hang there for a moment.

Next, God decreed a seventh day and rested, which moves us into Genesis chapter two and, though not kept track of, the eighth day and beyond.

Another logical assumption we must resolve is, how do we explain when Adam shows up?

We have made huge assumptions about Genesis 1:26-28, but I can tell you now that those assumptions are only correct if they are based in spirit.

While the terminology upholds your argument, explain how God speaks to the “male and female He created and calls the creation him?

We are introduced to Adam in Genesis 2:7 but not to Eve until an indeterminate time later (a yôm.)

“Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
Genesis 2:7 NAS95

Some time later.

“Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Genesis 2:15-17NAS95

Did you see Eve in that conversation?

Neither did I.

So the only instruction about the one tree that cannot be eaten from has been given to Adam alone.

Your assumption should be, how did she learn about the tree?

Where is Eve?

She has yet to be formed.

Now, there is no denying that she has been a spiritual being with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but she has NOT been physical.

“The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.”
Genesis 2:20-22 NAS95

Until Genesis chapter 3, nothing defines when or how Eve obtained information about “the tree.”

If God did not tell Eve about the tree, then who did?

Having handed dominion over to the man, Adam, it was his job to tell Eve. This same principle applies when it comes to Cain and Abel.

Adam had dominion over the earth, was the groundskeeper, and had the right to touch any tree in any manner he deemed necessary. Specifically, his instructions were, DO NOT EAT FROM IT, which for an indeterminate amount of time was not a problem.

A wee bit of a side trip, so let’s get back to assumptions related to Noah.

If you do the math, you will find that Adam was well beyond 600 years when Enoch was born.

Since the scriptures do not tell us, I will ask. Where did Enoch learn what it was like to walk with God?

A logical assumption would be Grandpa Adam.

Interesting, why did no one else ask Adam what it was like?

Good question. Maybe they did, but it did not strike them the way it struck Enoch.

Enoch, we are told, walked with God.

Here is a logical assumption. Enoch did this for many years, but if the others did the same thing, Enoch took it one step further; he believed and trusted in God as no one had since Adam. Finally, we are told Enoch walked with God and was no more.

What does “was no more” mean?

I do not know. The narrative about Enoch continues in the New Testament; there, Enoch is referred to as a prophet and implies that he never died. This plays into Enoch being one of the prophets returning to earth in the last days. The logic behind that is that it is appointed unto man to die once, and then the end comes for them. This previous statement bothers many people because they fear death, but consider the fact that the human body comes with a “sin” damaged genetic strain. We all have it. The only way to get past it, or bypass it, is to kill the body. Doesn’t the scripture teach us that we will all be tried with fire? It does; therefore, I am convinced that this body, as we know it, will be burned at the Bema seat of Christ. Our soul, which lives on forever, will be placed in a shell that looks a whole lot like the one we are currently in, only better, say around 35 – 40 years old, when it worked well.

Enoch produced Methuselah. Now stop here a moment.

What do we know about Methuselah?

He was the oldest man on earth. A feat, no doubt, but in the world in which we live, I see no purpose for it. So, for God to point this out means that he was a sign to this evil and violent world. If you read the post just before this one, then you would immediately have made a connection with Hamas (violence) and Allah (corruption.) Methuselah stood in the faces of those who were taken by the fallen angels and corrupted.

Many have said that Methuselah means—when he passes, it will come. The only “it” we should make and associate with would be the all-encompassing flood.

All of the men named in that lineage, except for Noah, had other sons and daughters, but we have NO information on any of them, and we have no indication that any of them followed after God. This forces us to make huge assumptions about the women folk, and that is that they were taken, at will, by the fallen angels, forced to have some form of sexual relation, and Nephalim or, if it suits you, giants were produced through this interaction.

So much for my introduction.

Almost abruptly, Jesus moved on with this.

“Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.  41  “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left.  42  “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.” Matthew 24:40-42 NAS95 

Some will read a passage like this and decide that it is nothing less than an example of an unjust God, as He snatches some to eternal life while others are left to burn up with the earth. If you think this way, you are merely displaying your foolishness and refusing to search the scriptures for yourself.

The context is wrapped up in Jesus talking to His Jewish disciples about a specific time frame covering the last three and one-half years, after which He returns as the warring Messiah. We Gentiles foolishly assume that He is talking to us, the church because it says one will be taken and the other will be left. This has nothing to do with the church, as we will have been taken up in the catching away of the church.

You can call it the Rapture if you must.

The commentator, Albert Barnes, wrote concerning the phrase “One shall be taken” – “The word “taken” may mean either to be taken away from the danger – that is, rescued, as Lot was Luke_17:28-29,or to be taken away “by death.” Probably the latter is the meaning.”

In his Midwest style, Dr. J Vernon McGee tells us, “He still is not talking about the Rapture. After all, what is our Lord talking about here? “As the days of Noe were.” Who was taken away in the days of Noah?“They knew not until the flood came and took them all away.” They perished in the Flood.”

If I were to answer Dr. McGee’s question, it would read like this: The unrighteous were swept away in the flood narrative.

Applying this to Jesus’s conversation with His disciples, I can assume that the unrighteous are captured or killed when He says, “one shall be taken.” That idea is alarming and confusing when you think about it, but it is only so because, once again, we incorrectly apply the scenario to the church. Keep in mind that being religious does not make you righteous.

The people in the account that Jesus speaks of are similar to the people that we witnessed assaulting Israel on October 7th of 2023, and, as you well know, they slaughtered without regard. That day, there were more than 1,200 deaths, not counting the wounded, and more than 240 people, including infants, that were taken captive. Since then, many of those captives have died in Gaza.

Why bring this up?

Because savage brutality, as we have already witnessed, is precisely what those who are left after the catching away of the church can expect to experience, and I think that this attack will happen shortly after Israel goes to war with Hezbollah in the North.

Several Bible commentators referred to what life was like pertaining to Noah and the flood, and life was merely routine. The populace, both then and now, did not care about the zeal I felt or the need to heed my calls to study; they did not believe what “the Watchmen” were pointing out coming destruction, and therefore, as we see, one is killed, and the other manages to escape with little more than their life.  

The time of the end is finally upon us.

“Therefore, be alert, because you don’t know on what day your Lord will return.”  Matthew 24:42 GW

Many years ago, singer/songwriter James Taylor sang, “Keep-in my eyes on the Holy Land.” Something tells me that at some point in his life, he knew that Israel would play a central role in end-time events.

Matthew 24:42 is another passage that people will throw in our faces when we talk confidently about Jesus Christ’s soon return. The problem with their logic is that they apply this to the church when it is talking to the Jews; I am talking about context. The Apostle Paul clearly stated that we are not in the darkness.

“For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.  3  While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.  4  But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief;  5  for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness;”
1 Thessalonians 5:2-5 NAS95 

Number 1. Paul told them he did not have to teach this message to them once again. Why not? Because he had already done a thorough job of teaching them. If you feel like you are lacking, then invest some quality time in the Books of Daniel and Revelation. Oh, there is more, but those two books are related to each other and will answer many of your questions. A little wisdom: ask the Holy Spirit to lead you and guide you into the truth about what is to come.

Number 2. Sure, Jesus is coming as a thief in the night, but only for those who are not prepared and awaiting His return. Paul even explains that these are some of the people who will be saying peace and safety. I used to think that it was Israel alone that was saying peace and safety, but several groups, like the UN and the World Economic Forum, have also cried out for these things. Truth be known, these words do NOT mean what you think they mean when they say them.

Number 3. Consider those words that Paul is saying. If necessary, allow them to be spoken deep into your heart. You are NOT in darkness; you are not a part of the night if you belong to Christ, and the world will not overtake you. This is not a secret society. Jesus wants you to understand and then share this truth with others.

“But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.  44  “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”
Matthew 24:43-44NAS95

If the context is exclusively about the Jewish community, then who would be the head of the house?

The rabbis, Pharisees, Jewish ruling council, and whoever else decides what chapters and verses the attendees can and cannot read in the Old Testament. Did you know that they tell the attendees to stay away from the Book of Daniel and NOT to read Isaiah 53, why is that? Because they do not want those who follow their teachings to find Jesus, the Gentile Messiah. How foolish.

Are you alert and ready? This has nothing to do with stockpiling food and water but has everything to do with putting your hope and faith in the one who gave Himself to redeem you back to Himself.

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Here’s a brief diversion from Matthew 24: Two of the most common actions in today’s world are violence and cursing.

Posted on 06/18/2024 by remso

Two of the most common actions we see on the news today are associated with the words curse and violence.

Have you ever wondered where those two words originated?

Well, the word curse comes from the Hebrew word ‘âlâh, and yes, it sounds just like the name of the Islamic god, Allah.

It is NOT a name but a verb that describes, in this case, a state of being, and yes, ‘âlâh is a state of being.

The word  ‘âlâh, according to the Word Study Dictionary, is described as “A verb meaning to curse, or to put under oath. It is used in many cases of persons bringing curses on themselves if they are guilty of doing wrong.” (As a side note, 1/3 of the angels who followed Satan in his rebellion brought curses upon themselves.)

Brown, Driver, and Briggs Hebrew Dictionaries add that the word ‘âlâh can mean to be put under oath or to be put under a curse.

The King James concordance shows 42 instances of the word ‘âlâh, six under Strong’s number H422 and 36 under Strong’s number H423. I can’t tell what the differences are.

Some interpretation options are oath, swear, swearing, adjured, and curse. Webster’s dictionary tells us that adjured means to plead, charge, press, entreat, and beseech.

In the KJV, the translators used the word oath instead of curse to represent ‘âlâh. The Literal Translation of the Bible states that “an oath be exacted of him to cause him to swear.”

The other word I mentioned was violence.

Violence, in my mind, is much more dramatic as it is a word that we see in the news daily, and it has its roots in Hebrew.

An online post from The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle conveys this,

“Language is a strange commodity. Sometimes there is within it a “play on words,” but at others there is no “play” but rather a mysterious, unexplained truth.”

Let us take the example of Hamas, which, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York City research center, is “the largest, most influential political fundamentalist movement” in the Muslim world.

By one means or another, Hamas aims to convince the world of its deep desire to eliminate Israel and establish there instead the 23rd religious Muslim state.

Hamas is an Arabic acronym for “Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyya,” which means “The Islamic Resistance Movement.” But “hamas” is also an Arabic word that means “zeal.”

Although Arabic and Hebrew are sister languages, the Hebrew meaning of “chamas” is “violence,” according to the Hebrew-English volume of Reuben Alcalay’s Hebrew-English, English-Hebrew dictionary. “Cruelty” and “injustice” are additional definitions, but not “zeal.”

Truth is thus stranger than fiction. For Israel and for Jews everywhere, “chamas indeed means violence, in its terrorist form.”

I recently started listening to Pastor Mark Driscoll as he preached for almost an hour about how violence/Hamas has permeated our very existence since sin has come into our lives.

Want proof?

Genesis 6:11 NKJV:  “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence (Hamas.)”

Sin was then passed along genetically through human interaction, and this change happened the moment Adam and Eve partook of the fruit. We see the results of that sin when Cain kills Abel.

Genesis 4:8 NKJV  Now Cain talked with Abel, his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him.

His actions demonstrated that the offspring of Adam was filled with châmâs – (Hamas- violence).

The Strong’s concordance details this in the KJV.

Genesis 6:11KJV+  The earthH776 also was corruptH7843 beforeH6440 God, H430 and the earthH776 was filledH4390 with violence. H2555

From the Strong’s Concordance.

H2555חָמָסchâmâsFrom H2554; violence; by implication wrong; by metonymy unjust gain: – cruel(-ty), damage, false, injustice, X oppressor, unrighteous, violence (against, done), violent (dealing), wrong.

H2554 חמס châmas.BDB Definition: 1)to wrong, do violence to, treat violently, do wrongly, 1a) (Qal) to treat violently,

The point of this “teaching” is to make us aware that Allah and violence are infiltrated into our mindsets to the point that we think nothing of its impact on our lives.

My son-in-law cannot accept the possibility that Islam, a violent ideology, can be the religion of the world shortly. Oh, it will not be voted in by reasonable people, but it will be forced down our throats by violent followers of Islam.

A video was recently posted about a confrontation on a subway in a European country. The Muslim said to a person, off camera, that we cannot see, “You are an Israeli journalist! My Quran tells me that I should hit you in the head.” In many cases, they do not restrain themselves, and you will not just be hit; you will be killed. 

If you don’t think that is true, then I suggest that you pay attention to the Northern African nations, like Nigeria, where they slaughter people in the most heinous ways merely because they are Christians.

Posted in bible study, Genesis, guilt, Islam, Israel, Jews, war, Warfare | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A layman’s commentary on Matthew 24, verses 36 -38. As it was in the days of Noah.

Posted on 06/09/2024 by remso

 Previously, I covered Matthew 24:36, where Jesus, in speaking to His disciples, said, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” I spoke about how this directive to the Jewish people had nothing to do with the church.

The question they asked was this.

“…, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

You can take the time to study this out by reading Matthew 24:2,3.

For the Jews, the sign of His coming speaks specifically to Revelation 19:11-16. We know this, for they have always been looking for a warring Messiah.

“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”
Revelation 19:11-16 NIV

Jesus spoke of many things related to eschatology—end-time events that happen to affect the church. Most of those things fall under the category of Jacob’s troubles.

Jacob’s troubles come specifically out of Jeremiah chapter 30.

“Ask now, and see, Whether a man is ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins Like a woman in labor, And all faces turned pale? Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, But he shall be saved out of it.”
Jeremiah 30:6-7 NKJV

What would cause people to act like they are in so much pain that they are in labor like a woman?

Fear and distress, beyond human comprehension, is the only reasonable answer.

On that note, we move into Jesus’ defining comment, in which He paints a picture of what it will look like when this time comes.

WE ARE ALMOST THERE!

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”
Matthew 24:37-39 NIV

Let’s stop here for a moment to consider what life might have been like in Noah’s day.

  1. “The wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” 

Try to imagine living in an atmosphere like this.

How did Noah and His family manage to come through this onslaught meant to disable people and disallow them the ability to obtain life and salvation through sacrifice and still be considered righteous?

Having spent a good deal of time listening to Dr. Chuck Missler, I came to the understanding that the fouled integration of fallen angels into the human strain through some form of deviant sexuality played a massive role in this pervasive and ever-present mental attitude.

One of the answers to my question lies in the repeated method of revealing a narrative that, to some degree, exaggerates the numbers. If you think that this makes God a liar, then let me remind you that virtually everything we know about God and His methods has been related to damaged humans – by the way, we are all damaged; with knowledge like that, you should be able to see that you cannot keep the tainted humanity out of the delivery. The Book of Jonah might be an excellent example of this.

  1. “So it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”

I have two ways of looking at a statement like this.

The first and safest thing to do is to figure out the context.

Here, Jesus is answering their questions pertaining to when He would come back as the warring Messiah (although they did not specifically ask Him that. Lacking specifics, we need to remind ourselves that, at this time, there was NO church. History demonstrates the Jewish resistance to the idea of church, primarily because of what they will refer to as the Gentile Jesus.) One way to think about “the coming of the Son of Man,” would be to put it in the context of the church. Since I just covered that subject, then you should realize that the catching away of the church (the rapture,) is NOT the answer.

The second and most Jewish way of comprehending this statement is to imagine it as the time when Jesus comes back to finally rescue the Jewish people. (At least what is left of them, as two-thirds pf them will soon be killed. Something almost every one of us broken humans do when thinking about this scenario is to see the dead as permanently removed from the picture, but that is not the case. Those martyred during the time of God’s wrath will be resurrected and will reign with Christ for a thousand years. Those from among the Jews that survive will have their hearts turned to God. All the rest of the dead, including most Jews, will be brought before the throne of God at the end of the thousand years; there, God will separate the dead into two groups, and those deemed the sheep will be given entrance to a changed and righteous life. The others will go off to eternal punishment as they follow their leader into his hell.)

  1. “ For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark.”

    Right off the bat, let’s set something straight. Living your life is NOT, as a rule, a bad thing. As I type these words, I am reminded that the fallen angels were taking whomever they wanted and, by their interactions, changing the genetics of the offspring to one that had NO hope for salvation, like themselves. These changelings were also, in time, propagating their own damaged offspring. Now, that should begin to change the atmosphere around Noah.

    The verse tells us that this attempt at living a “normal” life continued until the day Noah entered the ark, which is quite telling.

    What do we know?

    Noah was a preacher of righteousness. The last known “normal” human outside of Noah’s family may have been Methuselah, and his death allowed God to pour out His wrath upon the earth. You don’t hear much about the others, like Noah’s kinfolk, but none of them came to get on the ark.

    Does that mean that they were all tainted and un-salvageable?

    Apparently.

    Genesis 6 is where this conversation between God and Noah began. However, chapter six does not tell us how long it took to build the ark and then stock it with animals and food; yet, Genesis 6:18 says something remarkable.

    “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark–you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.” Genesis 6:18 NASB

    It is fairly clear that God knew no one else would come (we do not see the evidence of that until we get to Genesis 7:7,) and yet Noah preached.

No one told these people that they would not be permitted on the boat, but God knew that something prevented them. We are likely to give it any number of titles, such as arrogance or self-will, but few are willing to admit that the fallen angels polluted the majority of humanity on earth. Most will not accept that these people were now like the fallen angels and unsalvageable.

  1. “…up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.”

    Matthew 24:39 tells us this. “…they didn’t know what was happening until the Flood came and swept them all away. It will be just like that when the Son of Man comes.”

    “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” Hebrews 11:7 NKJV

    They had never experienced rain and, therefore, could not understand the concept. Do you think it was possible that they had no grasp of great bodies of water – in which a person could drown? The Bible leaves out many of these details; it does, however, tell us of Peleg, a descendant of Noah, and in his day, the earth was severely shaken and split. Again, the Bible leaves us to hunt for answers, but it is probable that this shaking had much to do with the Pangaea – the separation of the continents. If you were based in the plains of Shinar, it might have felt like the center of the earth (it might have been.)

    So, to say that it will be just like that could easily imply tremendous unbelief and distrust. Most of us are just like that.

What did Noah warn of?

A massive flood that will cover the entirety of the earth and kill all breathing things. Now, you can’t have a punishment without correction and warnings of things to come.

If these people whom Noah preached to and demonstrated by his own life had no hope due to the corruption of their genetics, then why waste breath warning them and offering them salvation?

Things that make you say, Hmmm. I must admit that I am following some of the statements from the Book of Enoch, which tells us that they (the Nephalim) had lost their hope of salvation, but that makes no sense, and we can see why in Genesis chapter 6.

“the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were attractive, and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Adonai said, “My Spirit will not live in human beings forever, for they too are flesh; therefore, their life span is to be 120 years.” The N’filim were on the earth in those days, and also afterwards, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; these were the ancient heroes, men of renown.” Genesis 6:2-4 CJB

Just for the fun of it, who are these characters, and where did their relatives come from?

 

Genetic testing of one of the skulls indicated that half the ancestry could be traced to the Middle East, while the other half was unknown.

Brian Forester discusses the genetic testing results on his YouTube channel.
https://youtu.be/PP9B6l_burY?si=aOugQot9XRiT4p6C

Skulls like this have been found all over the world.

Wikipedia conveys that “Elongated skulls of three women have been discovered among Viking-era burials during the eleventh century at Gotland, Sweden.”

Science.org – https://www.science.org/content/article/strange-elongated-skulls-reveal-bulgarian-treaty-brides-ancient-germany. Tells us:

“In a handful of medieval Bavarian farming hamlets populated mostly by blue-eyed blondes, more than a dozen women with dark hair, dark eyes, and unusual elongated skulls would have stood out. A new DNA study suggests that these women, whose striking skulls have been unearthed from nearby grave sites, were high-ranking “treaty brides” from Romania and Bulgaria, married off to cement political alliances.”

Sciencealert.com – https://www.sciencealert.com/mystery-strange-elongated-skulls-finally-solved-deformed-artificial-cranial-bavaria. reveals that:

“In fact, the legacy of artificial cranial deformation across human history is so abnormal and ‘other’ it’s sometimes presented as evidence of extra-terrestrial life. A new genetic analysis reveals otherwise – but also sheds light on cultural practices so distant and forgotten, they’re almost alien. If not for their misshapen skulls these otherwise unremarkable skeletons – discovered by researchers in Bavaria during the 20th century – might never have been noticed by scientists.”

“Archaeologically, they are not that different from the rest of the population,” geneticist Joachim Burger from the University of Mainz explained to National Geographic. “Genetically, they are totally different.”

Is it possible that the extremely large and unknown humanoids (Nephilim) were due to the influence of fallen angels?

Scripture indicates that it happened then and after (the flood) and, therefore, should not be ruled out.

Look at what Genesis 6 tells us.

Genesis 6:4 NAS95  “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward,…”

Scripture does not plainly define what is meant by the term “afterward,” and therefore, we have to apply the context, which is the destruction of “all” things that breathe air. With evidence, such as David killing Goliath, who was a descendant of giants, then we can know that the humanoids returned after the flood, by the same methods. Sincc it is rare to see a giant, then it is possible that they returned in other forms, such as Yeti, Sasquatch, or Alien grays.

In the book of Numbers, we find this.

“We saw the Nephilim there. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes. And that’s also how we seemed to them.” The children of Anak came from the Nephilim.”
Numbers 13:33 NIrV

An unusual aspect of this narrative is that the spies from Israel stopped and had a conversation with these “giants” that scared them.

L.A. Marzulli has spoken of interviews with people who claimed to have been taken. Those who escaped had one thing in common, they used the name of Jesus against their captors – the alien grays.

You do not have to be a useless victim to the wiles of the devil.

 

 

Posted in angels, bible study, fallen angels, Genesis, Matthew's gospel, Philistines | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Another piece of evidence that we can and should know the day and the hour.

Posted on 05/28/2024 by remso

https://www.unsealed.org/2017/08/no-one-knows-day-or-hour.html?m=1

Posted in bible study, God does not lie, Jesus, Matthew's gospel, mystery, Our being caught up, rapture, Revelation, trumpet, when shall these things be | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Did God give the nations to the angels? Deuteronomy 32:7-9.

Posted on 05/26/2024 by remso

I listened “briefly” to a speaker on YouTube as they stated that Deuteronomy 32, verse 8, in the Greek Septuagint, tells how God gave the nations to the angels of God.

It is statements like this that prompt me to dig into the scriptures to prove or disprove if what they say is true. If it is true, then what are we supposed to do with this information? By the way, most of us cannot read nor understand the Septuagint Greek and would, therefore, be out of the loop and incapable of proving that something like this assertion is true or false. I happen to have a lexicon on my Bible program and was able to struggle through it by making comparisons to the Strong’s numbers.

Before we begin our commentary, let’s summarize the biblical verses we’ll be discussing. These verses have a significant association with Genesis 6 and the sons of God.

“Remember the days of old, Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, Your elders, and they will tell you. “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel. “For the LORD’S portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.”
Deuteronomy 32:7-9 NAS95

Let’s consider several other translations of verse 8 before we move forward.

The New King James version reads like this:

“When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel.”
Deuteronomy 32:8 NKJV

An object of confusion is the interpretation of “ He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel.” The variety of renderings reads like this:

  • “according to the number of the children of Israel.” WEBA

    Consider this. When God’s people left Egypt we are told there were over a million people. It is sometime later that God calls them His people or the children of Israel. So the burning question is, are there over a million nations? Seems like it sometimes but the answer is no. On the practical side, God tells Abraham that his descendants will be as uncountable as the sands of the sea, but God never said they would all be nations with boundaries.

  • “according to the number of the heavenly assembly.” NET Bible

    The NET Bible is touted to be one of the best in its alignment with original translations. On that note, if we can compare the nations to angels in heaven, and though Satan managed to deceive and draw one-third of the heavenly angels to follow him to earth, where they are harassing and demonizing living humanity. Those left in heaven are two-thirds of a vast and innumerable number. Two-thirds still hold to their original purpose and plans; they are messengers of God, which is one of the themes we can see when we do a word study.

  • “under the care of divine guardians.” The Message

    Written by Eugene Peterson, this takes the Bible to an understandable but simplistic level. Some of what he said brought me to tears, while most is too vague and distanced from the original texts to be meaningful. Still, it is odd that Mr. Peterson found what few others found: the implication of divine guardians. Unfortunately, these guardians are not defined, so we can only assume what side of the heavenly war they were on.

  • “By the number of the sons of God [or sons of Israel].” LSV

    Ah, this is peculiar, not because it is improbable, but because we lack explanation. Here is where we tie the Biblical character Job into the narrative, for in the book of Job, chapter one, we see “the sons of God,” angels, presenting themselves before God, and Satan came among them. Satan, too, was a son of God. This leaves the door open to God assigning fallen angels over apportioned boundaries assigned to the nations. 

  • “He assigned to each nation a heavenly being.” GNB

    Here, we have merely another way of saying what I just talked about. A Google search produced this, “some estimates say there are 6,500 living languages today, while others say there are 7,117.” Certainly, there are more than enough angels to fill all of God’s needs and still have a massive army.

  • “He made as many nations as there are angels.” ERV

    I essentially covered this topic when I covered the NET Bible, so it is beyond imagination to think that God would make the number of nations equal to the armies of heaven.

  • “according to Israel’s population.” CJB

    Deuteronomy 32:8 tells us that God set the boundaries of the people. The people we see associated with the tower of Babel, whom God separated and moved across the continents with new languages, are the nations. To the Jews, these nations are anyone who is NOT a Jew; they are non-Jewish, and godless by Jewish standards. At the time Deuteronomy was written, Israel’s population was somewhat constrained and countable. The Jewish people are scattered everywhere, and their numbers are uncountable.

Enough of this speculation, as you should be able to ascertain that the variety of possibilities is painfully large, and most of those leaning toward angelic involvement as a direct assignment from God are typically the least reliable translations. The context directs me to focus on Israel, so when it refers to some group called “their,” I can know that the verse is talking about the Jews and Israel. 

Other questions that arise pertain to:

  • What did they inherit?

    I have to consider the Jewish people—Abraham’s descendants and those of Ishmael and Esau’s lineage.

  • Who is He referring to when He says “the sons of Adam”?

    The reality is that all of us are sons of Adam, but a tighter definition could be those who follow after the righteousness of God. What makes this statement odd is that even Noah was not that righteous.

  • What people group is He talking about when He speaks of the boundaries of the people?

    In general, boundaries are meant to corral and restrict, yet we don’t see that happening now; why? (It’s a rhetorical question that does not demand an answer. The people group leans more toward which group, descendants, became the perpetual enemies of Israel and the Jews? The answer is the Assyrians – Islamic Middle Easterners.

  • What is the significance of this statement, “according to the number of the children of Israel?

    I will address these questions in depth below.

      • “ Consider the years of all generations.” Why direct the listener to do this?

        – Because you can learn of the character of God and how He interacted with humanity.

        – Ignoring instructions like this leads the foolish to make statements about God, declaring Him to be evil and dangerous.

        – Your considerations may also paint the picture of successes and failures when mankind followed or did not follow God’s leading.

        The writer goes on to say,

        “Ask your father and he will inform you.”

        “Your elders, they will tell you.”

        Perhaps the reason behind the need to ask is that the answers bring information that is life-changing.

The context of Deuteronomy 32:8, as given by God, has everything to do with the next two assertions, and they focus on a time when:

    • “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,”

      The nations and the Gentiles are one and the same.

      Since the Gentiles include the descendants of Ishmael and Esau, and they are descendants of Abraham, what kind of inheritance did the Gentiles get? 

      Note that Abraham, out of human emotion and love for Ishmael, cries out for God to accept Ishmael. The answer is NO.

      And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. “As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. “But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.” Genesis 17:18-21 NASB

      Consider the Middle East. Is it one nation? The answer is NO. So then, what is the commonality? Islam and their hatred of Israel.

      Genesis 10 helps to define the nations being divided after the flood.

      Genesis 10:32 KJV  These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

      The King James version tells us that He divided the nations to their inheritance.

      This is a direct reference to Deuteronomy 32:8.

      “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel.” Deuteronomy 32:8 NAS95

      This highly significant event is given to us in Genesis 11.

“And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of Adam had built. And Jehovah said, Behold, the people is one, and the lip one to all of them, and this they are beginning to do, and now all which they have purposed to do will not be restrained from them. Come, let Us go down and confuse their language so that they cannot understand one another’s speech. And Jehovah scattered them from there, over the face of all the earth. And they stopped building the city. On account of this its name is called Babel, because Jehovah confused the language of all the earth there. And Jehovah scattered them abroad from there on the face of all the earth.” Genesis 11:5-9 LITV

Although Genesis 11 does not specifically say that He set boundaries, to some degree, these people stayed where they were put.

  • And the time “When He separated the sons of man,”

    The sons of man are descendants of the first man, Adam. This also means that they are subsets of Noah’s descendants. Within a few generations, they are deemed to be among those who built the tower of Babel, a symbol of evil.

    The logic behind all descendants being from Noah’s descendants lies in the fact God had to destroy all of humanity, with a few exceptions because they were all genetically modified for evil. (This information is found in Genesis 6. The genetic modification aspect lies in the definitions of relatively simple Hebrew words.)  

    Many, like myself, make the religious assumption that Noah was a righteous man, following the Lord in every way. We continue our assumption by thinking that he would have taught his sons that following after the Lord was the right way to do things. Those instructions may not have been realized since all history was, for the longest time, orally preserved. Clearly, we can see that an oral history, which included the intimacy that Adam and Enoch had with God, was conveyed.

    Here is my religion interjecting itself in my attempts at Biblical understanding. After getting off the boat, we find a drunk Noah and Ham, one of the sons, taking some bizarre sexual advantage of his drunken father.

    Many of Ham’s descendants end up in Egypt and the Northern African nations, but one stands out as evil and that is Nimrod.

    Japeth’s offspring give us Gog or Magog, which play a role in several end times battles.

    Shem’s progeny eventually produced the path to Jesus; however, some of Shem’s offspring became enemies of God. One of those descendants is Elam. Elam is the name of a person, but in time, it becomes a place. A fascinating piece of information was uncovered when I looked up the Hebrew meaning of Elam. It means hidden or distant.

    Read what Isaiah has to say about a future time for Israel.

    Isaiah 11:10-11 NKJV  “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious.”  11  It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea.

    When the Root of Jesse, Jesus, finally stands as a banner to the people, Jew and Gentile will give Him honor. This can only happen during the millennial reign. The Jews today are still scattered among the nations.

    Try to imagine Noah and his family, with their wives and possibly children, stepping off the boat.

    How long did it take for their numbers began to become innumerable?

    Here is a chart that might help you.

    Soon you want warmer weather and room to move. It was during days like this that we got Genesis 11:5.

    “And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of Adam had built.” Genesis 11:5 LITV

    Now, God separated the peoples here at the Tower because they all spoke the same language and were of the same mind.

    Allow me to show what that same mind looked like.

    “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
    Genesis 6:5 NASB

  • “He set the boundaries of the people according to the number of the sons of Israel.”

    He may offer us an explanation in the next statement.

    “For the LORD’S portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.”
    Deuteronomy 32:9

    How many of these people who are working anywhere near the tower were a part of “the Lord’s portion?”

    The short answer is none.

    Why would I say that?

    We do not see any of Shem’s or Japeth’s descendants involved in Babel, but we do see Nimrod, one of Ham’s descendants, there, and we know that Ham and his descendants were cursed.

    We can know from scripture that the fallen angels returned and interfered with humans. Consider how many stories you have heard, whether it was some mystery show on television or it was a documentary that spoke of something that appeared to have a human form.

    “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.” Genesis 6:4 NIVHow do we explain the Titans of Greek Mythology?

    David, the shepherd, killed Goliath, a giant with an approximate height of 9 feet 9 inches. We are told of Og, who, “According to the Bible, King Og of Bashan had an iron bed that was nine cubits long, which is approximately 13.5 feet long.

    What do you think things like Bigfoot, commonly called Sasquatch and has many other versions and regions, are?

    If the techniques used in Genesis six to penetrate the human genome and make it useless for God’s purposes were no longer practical, wouldn’t it behoove the fallen angels to use an alternative approach?

    The things I mentioned above are clearly out there with no reasonable explanation short of fallen angel technology.

    Satan told Jesus that all the magnificence of earth’s kingdoms and their riches were his to give. How would he have controlled them? Perhaps it is Satan who assigned fallen angels to have control over the nations.

Posted in bible study, Deuteronomy, generations, judge angels, sexual sin | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A layman’s commentary on Matthew 24. No man knows the day or the hour. Matthew 24: 36.

Posted on 05/11/2024 by remso

Because many, like those who say King James only, will get literal and demand that the examples we use are exacting. Perhaps you need to be reminded that any English translation started as a lost Hebrew version, Septuagint Greek, and Latin long before they became an English version. 

The section title in most Bibles goes like this:

No One Knows That Day and Hour

CONTEXT –

Jesus is talking to Jewish disciples about a time when He will come back as the Jewish Messiah they expect and finally rule over the earth, as they anticipate.

At this point in time, this has nothing to do with the church.

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”
Matthew 24:36 NKJV

“But of that day” is the Greek word hēméra. It has meanings of the time from one sunrise or sunset to another, an occasion, and a time in general.

This verse could easily be read, “Of that occasion no one knows,” and still understand its meaning. It is especially important as Jesus knew that none of these men would see this moment in time from the earth, and this applies to their Jewishness as all but one of them (Judas Iscariot) eventually accepted the price that Jesus paid on the cross, as the payment for their salvation, making them followers of Christ.

Having learned about the Galilean wedding ceremony, which Jesus gave credence to when He went to the marriage in Cana – a Galilean community where He performed His first public miracle, I have come to understand that it is the father that tells the groom, now is the time to go collect your bride.

“Hour” is the Greek word hṓra; It means an hour, a time, a season, or a definite space or division of time.

The word hour is a common word, yet it can also mean a variety of things, such as a season.

As I try to explain what is coming, I frequently allude to the Baseball World Series, where teams endeavor, for months, to obtain the title of Champion. Once the two teams make it to the World Series, they play a best-of-seven games series within an established time frame in September.

A team can sweep the series by winning four straight games. Combinations of wins and losses can determine the champions, but there will never be a tie. We know that each game will cycle through nine innings, but the amount of time spent playing the game is difficult to control, as ball games have gone on for hours as they try to break the tie.

How does any of this relate to the end?

The events that lead up to the seven years of God’s wrath have peaked. For me, that means we are either in or at the World Series. Some will say that we are in the World Series now. Each game is a roller coaster of emotions as we watch incredible plays and errors being made. All the while, the crowd screams and yells as they pull for one side or the other. Quickly, there is the realization that we have no control over how long the individual innings, which make up the games, will last, just as we have no control over when the Father will say, Son, it is time to go get your bride – the church.

With the Gaza war, a situation has developed in which there is no way that Israel will come out looking good; that is an uncomfortable thing for me to say, seeing as they are God’s people and nation, and yet Scripture tells me that two-thirds of Israel, at some point, will be ravaged and killed. October 7th has already demonstrated what it means to be ravaged. Whether this massive attack happens after the events in Gaza come to an end or during, I, nor anyone else, knows. I just know that the entire world will turn on Israel. Ask yourself, with the idiotic rioting on the university campuses, is this scenario so difficult to picture?

Since America decided to deny that Islam is taking over this nation, just as they have been doing in every other “civilized” nation, it is easy to see how or why we used to be one of the greatest nations on earth, will soon be gone from the picture or rendered incompetent.

Nobody paid attention when former President Barack Obama repeatedly stated that “they” were working hard to bring this nation down to a third-world level. I see that happening now.

I can’t tell you exactly where we are in God’s timeline, but I can tell you that because the church is still here, the seven years of death and destruction, which will exceed every form of death and destruction you could think of, has not yet begun.

Pay close attention to Israel, as it is the barometer that tells us how close we are to the catching away of the church.

As we move forward, I again ask, What is the context of Matthew 24:36?

He is talking to Jewish disciples and the church was yet to be formed, so we can’t attribute this to the church. This is the same thing we see in Acts 1:6-7.

“Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.”
Acts 1:6-7 NKJV

If Jesus is talking to Jews, then what rules apply to the church?

Strangely, John speaks about the time in which the Holy Spirit would come upon everyone in two ways: 1. He comes when you ask Jesus into your life. Think about the logic behind that process. Since the three are one and Jesus is removed from the earth, then it only makes sense that the Holy Spirit, a part of the trinity, would come and fill the void left when Jesus left. 2. The other is when you ask the Holy Spirit to come into your life and fill you; this is empowerment.

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
Acts 1:8-11 NKJV

What are we told happens when the Holy Spirit comes?

John 16:13-15 KJV “ Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.  14  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.  15  All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”

  • “He will guide you into all truth;”

  • “for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak;”

    Speaking on behalf of the Father.

  • “and He will tell you things to come;”

  • “for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you;”

    Why? Because “…He will tell you things to come.”

It is fairly easy to ascertain that the church is associated with the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and it is the job of the Holy Spirit to inform you about things to come. So it is NOT a secret and the Father is the one that makes it known to you.

I know that the events we have seen rapidly emerging on Earth are a lead in to the church being caught away to be with Jesus.

Paul had much to say about the catching away of the church.

“But as it is written: “EYE HAS NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, NOR HAVE ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN THE THINGS WHICH GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”
1 Corinthians 2:9-12 NKJV

Paul, in writing to the church in Ephesus, spoke about the mysteries. The Words of Scripture are the mysteries.

“if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:”
Ephesians 3:2-5 NKJV

We are the apostles and prophets. Paul prayed over Timothy that he would have an understanding.

“Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.”
2 Timothy 2:7 NKJV

You can whine and say, I don’t know, but you will have no sympathy from the Father.

“But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”
1 John 2:27 NKJV

This next set of passages demonstrates one of the triggers associated with the launch of God’s wrath and the antichrist.

“For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.” 1 Thessalonians 5:3-5 NKJV

Several translations use the terminology “Peace and security!”

Why tell you this? 

Because many, like those who say King James only, will get literal and demand that the examples we use are exacting. Perhaps you need to be reminded that any English translation started as a lost Hebrew version, Septuagint Greek, and Latin long before they became an English version.

The World Economic Forum and the UN are calling for peace and security. A portion of a UN web page tells us this. Peace and securityIn 2 Thessalonians, Paul speaks of the removal of the church as the event which releases the antichrist upon the world.

“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”
2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 NKJV

Daniel chapter nine indicates that the antichrist will confirm or make a covenant or agreement for seven years, depending on what translation you use. This agreement is then broken halfway through the seven-year length of that covenant.

Daniel 9:27 NAS95  “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

Here, “he” is the reference to the antichrist. Make is the Hebrew word gâbar, and means to confirm or strengthen. So it is safe to assume that he will give a powerful affirmation to an existing covenant/treaty. When it says many, it does not necessarily include Israel. And one week equals seven years.

Is it possible that He is talking to the church?

Only if you can see that the church was formed and initiated by the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and it is the church, more than anyone else, that should understand what is going on around us and, therefore, know and understand how close we are to going home.

I know I have covered many of these reasons lately, but they are vital to the hope that we cling to.

  • Israel became a nation on May 14, 1948.

    Why is that important?

    Because Israel is the fig tree that is producing fruit.

  • When Jesus told His disciples about the events surrounding His return as the warring Messiah, He warned them about the events leading up to that event.

    So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors!”
    Matthew 24:33 NKJV

    That means that the catching away of the church and the releasing of the antichrist upon the world would have happened 7 years previous. We, the church, are not looking for the Messiah to return. He is our beloved and our groom.

    The things are detailed in Matthew 24, and though we are getting glimpses of those things, they are NOT the things until Jesus releases the Father’s wrath upon the earth after the church is gone.

If you are one of those who have let some fool strip your hope away from you by telling you that we have to endure God’s wrath, then you need to understand what 1 Thessalonians is telling us.

“and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”
1 Thessalonians 1:10 NKJV

Both Noah and Lot are examples of righteous men being delivered from wrath and they are meant to encourage us.

God sent two angels to rescue Lot and his family.

Genesis 19:13-22 NKJV  “For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”  14  So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law, he seemed to be joking.  15  When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.”  16  And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.  17  So it came to pass when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.”  18  Then Lot said to them, “Please, no, my lords!  19  Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life, but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die.  20  See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?), and my soul shall live.”  21  And he said to him, “See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken.  22  Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.”

So the angels removed Lot, his wife, and the two daughters and set them outside the city. Lot did not feel strong enough to run all the way to the mountain, so they let them go to the town of Zoar. Note the words they said to Lot, we cannot do anything until you arrive there. “There” was safety.

In the case of Noah, having finally finished building the Ark, God put them in the Ark and closed the door. Why? Because the deluge that was to come was meant to cleanse the earth of genetically modified “people” who had only one thing on their minds

Genesis 6:5 NAS95  Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

I am NOT telling you to be a false prophet, but use your brain, read your Bibles – Daniel would be a good start, and pay attention to what is going on in Israel, all while listening to the Holy Spirit. Actions such as this will give you insight into how God is moving forward as He fulfills the end-times narrative. We are there, and that is why I listen daily for the trumpet blast that calls us home.

 

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A layman’s commentary on Matthew 24. This generation will by no means pass away. Matthew 24:32-35

Posted on 04/26/2024 by remso

We are in Matthew 24 and now looking at the parable of the Fig Tree.

Let’s open this with a broad mental attitude.

Finis Jennings Dake tells us that this parable is the “First of five parables in Matthew 24-25: the fig tree, illustrating the nearness of His return.”

The parable has everything to do with Jesus returning as the Messiah. This has nothing to do with the church.

“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors!”
Matthew 24:32-33 NKJV

Because I have heard questions like this, doesn’t this apply to the church? It is particularly pointed at Israel and the Jewish people who are looking for a warring Messiah. The passage speaks to the generation that witnessed the birth of the nation of Israel. Wouldn’t this imply that the baby, born that day, would be included? Doesn’t this imply that the global population, that would eventually pay attention, would be included? Of course it does, with the exception that the nations can never be the nation of Israel. We can, however, be adopted into the family, and, therefore, we look and wait intently; first for the Father to collect His bride, knowing that only moments later the Father will pour His wrath upon a world that refuses to see or acknowledge Him.

“So you also, when you see all these things,”

Now, back to the context of the conversations, which is directed at the Jewish mindset, as they look for Jesus to come as the warring Messiah.

Parable is the Greek word parabolē. It is “the placing of one thing by the side of another for the purpose of comparing, or comparison.” (We need to find out what Jesus compares the fig tree to.) It is also an example by which a doctrine or precept is illustrated. (If the fig tree demonstrates a precept, what is the precept?)

Jesus told them (the Jewish disciples and those Jews that followed closely.)

“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near;”
Matthew 24:32 NAS95

Not that it matters, but was there an actual fig tree?

I ask because I am a visual learner and understand that fig trees are relatively common around Jerusalem. One commentator seemed to think that they were purposely grown on the Mount of Olives, and because of environmental factors and the season of the year, they all came into bud and then fruit at about the same time.

Pay attention to this statement: “When its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.” I can imagine Him pointing to a fig tree that must have been nearby and mentioning things that they could see and relate to.

So, what do I gather from this concerning Israel? 

That spring has come, the trees have already come into bud, and in no time, we should be able to pick and eat the fruit. But this is NOT about figs, and eating them is it. It is about Israel and the conditions by which they rule their lives. These wars, governmental affairs, and rabbinical teachings are parallels to the factors hindering growth or advancement, as the Rabbis instruct the congregants to stay away from Isaiah 53 and the prophet Daniel’s writings. Other factors that define the fruit are streets filled with protests and terrorist attacks; all this makes it difficult to see Israel growing.

Matthew 24 opens with this, “What shall be the sign of the end of the age?”

What could Matthew have meant by the end of the age? It is the end of the seven years of God’s wrath and the transition into the millennial reign of Christ.

But what signifies that this is about to happen?

  • Israel became a nation in 1948.

    “Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, She gave birth to her children. Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?” says the LORD. “Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says your God. “Rejoice with Jerusalem, And be glad with her, all you who love her; Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her;”
    Isaiah 66:8-10 NKJV

  • Matthew 24:4 NIV  Jesus, in response to their questions, answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.”

    What is my takeaway from this? That many will be deceived.

    Matthew 24:5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.”

  • Matthew 24:7a NIV  “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

    I can barely remember a time when there has not been at least a skirmish.

  • Matthew 24:7b NIV “There will be famines.”

    The majority of famines are created by ruling authorities in an effort to gain total control.

  • Matthew 24:7c NIV “and earthquakes in various places.”

    Earthquakes are associated with tectonic plate shifts and volcanic activity.

Jesus told them all these things

  • Matthew 24:10 NIV  “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,”

    When you see the word faith in this context, they are talking about church folk. Try making a peaceful comment in a chat room or on a post. In just a matter of minutes, you will be denounced for what you believe.

  • Matthew 24:11 NIV  “and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.”

    This shouldn’t be new news to you, as this type of person has been popping up for years; and, people will be deceived.

  • Matthew 24:12 NIV  “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,”

    Just try to watch the evening news; in a matter of minutes, hatred and rage will rise up within you. At this point, your love is growing cold.

We should know by now that the focus of these things is part of what will happen during the seven years of wrath that come after the catching away of the church; however, since evil people are involved, it becomes obvious that what we are seeing today, 04/30/24, is merely a warm-up to the global, cataclysmic events that will take place during the seven years of God’s wrath.

“So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors!”
Matthew 24:33 NKJV

When the seven years have come to an end, Jesus will ride back into the picture on a white horse, wearing a blood-stained robe and a sword proceeding out of His mouth. At this time, He slaughters all those who choose to fight with Him.

When could we even consider that there was a fig tree?

It was not until May of 1948 that Israel became a nation. Israel is moments away from turning 76.

The next clue. 

“Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.”
Matthew 24:34 NKJV

Which generation is He talking about?

The youngest of the generations that witnessed the birth of Israel as a nation is today, about 76 years old.

His final word as He finished this “parable” may have been one of comfort, particularly since it might have become painfully obvious that this would never happen in the lifetime of the disciples. If He had spoken to them about the trials that would befall them, I can see how they might become discouraged and, therefore, need a word like this to hold on to.

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”
Matthew 24:35 NKJV

“Pass away” is Strong’s number G3928. It is the Greek word parerchomai and, in this context, means to come near or aside, to go by (or away), (figuratively) to perish.

“Pass away,” is the speaker verbalizing the same Greek word twice to emphasize a concept.

I want you to consider something.

When and why would the earth and the heavens pass away?

If you had pointed to the millennial reign as the time this could happen, then I see a problem as God has allowed those from the nations who are still exhibiting their free will to live freely. It is evident that many will NOT accept Jesus as the Lord over their life. If God turned loose the heat necessary to burn and purify the earth, then people would die. Some might not see that as a problem, but God is NOT a murderer.

So, the best time is after the judgment from the great white throne.

Why? 

  1. Revelation 19 shows us the devil, at the end of the time of wrath, cast into the lake of fire for a thousand years. The plus side of this is that there has been no deception or temptation coming from Satan for 1000 years, and yet, upon his release, he deceives the nations, and scripture tells us that God kills them with the breath of His mouth – actually, this sounds a lot like Jesus. Nonetheless, they are dead without Christ.

    Do all the people from the nations gather for this stupidity? We are not told that they do; however, there are quite a number. Since only the dead are judged at the white throne, one can assume that the remainder are changed and given entrance into the eternal kingdom.

  2. The same people who want to reset us and the earth are the ones who have destroyed the earth with their industrial pollution. There is only one way, and that is to burn it completely and start over. The damage that is part of Adam’s handing over the dominion to Satan was extensive and rarely talked about. Doesn’t it seem odd that God would have to burn it to cleanse the earth?

Who, then, are the rest of the dead?

Let’s start this interrogation by determining who the dead is NOT.

Revelation 20:4 tells us that the souls of those who had been martyred during the seven years are reunited with their bodies, and they now sit as judges over Christ’s 1,000-year reign. So, the martyred are not included in this crowd of raised dead people.

“But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.”
Revelation 20:5 NKJV

Revelation 20:6 states that the martyred saints, who will be resurrected, are the first resurrection. I realize that this messes with the theology of many, but we are not in a position to argue against the Scriptures. (This information, explaining that the martyred saints are resurrected at the end of the seven-year period, is monumental in terms of defining when they arise, as it describes when the first resurrection happens and who takes part in that moment of time.)

So it is NOT the martyred saints.

The catching away of the church is not a resurrection, although there are (allegedly) dead folk who will have their souls re-associated with their bodies ( I cannot imagine why it is necessary for us to reconnect with these abused bodies of ours.) The understanding you need to apply here is that those caught up in the rapture are in Christ and, therefore, alive. They are never perceived as being dead.

And it is NOT those who are part of the church.

How is it possible that the martyred saints are among the dead seen in Revelation 20:5 ?

“But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.”
Revelation 20:5 NKJV

This, quite possibly, is where people become confused. To be honest, I think it is a grammatical and interpretive error. Look at how the NLT translation states this verse.

“This is the first resurrection. (The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years had ended.)”
Revelation 20:5 NLT

The NLT leaves no room for questions or doubts.

In his second letter to the church in Corinth, Paul tells us that when we (who are in Christ) are absent from the body — death, we are present with the Lord.

“So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.”
2 Corinthians 5:6 NKJV

These dead, who may have existed since the beginnings of humanity and were not raised in the rapture of the Church, are now being brought to stand before Jesus, the judge, who will be seated upon that throne. This is the second resurrection.

“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.”
Revelation 20:11 NKJV

Revelation 20:15 conveys that anyone not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life is cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the end of all judgment.

We who remain after this final judgment are all immortals, and our lives are hidden in Christ. So, we cannot be harmed in any manner, including the fire that burns up the earth and the heavens – if you can imagine that.

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Adam and the beginnings of sin. Genesis 1-3.

Posted on 04/14/2024 by remso

Let’s begin this study with what I consider “the beginning.”

Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

This statement opens our look into Genesis, but there is a difficulty, and it is this:

“The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
Genesis 1:2 NKJV

If we operate on the basis that God does everything right, then this shouldn’t make sense. We can back up the premise by looking at what Isaiah tells us.

“For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.”
Isaiah 45:18 NKJV

Since sin is associated with death and destruction, it is evident that sin existed in the world prior to God putting man on the earth and giving him dominion. If this train of thought bothers you, then answer this: Why was the big, talking lizard (scripture calls him a serpent here, but later on in Revelation, he is referred to as the dragon) hanging out in the tree, which they were forbidden to eat from? 

(Note: Up until Adam ate from the fruit, Satan did not have control of the earth. Through his destructive acts, he created the illusion of control. Adam, by his actions – disobedience of and disregard for God’s command, caused the dominion of the earth to change hands.)

Adam, having set aside God’s commands, created havoc that may have taken days to realize.

“Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:17-19 NKJV

So, the command, or “law,” was that you shall NOT eat of the tree, and one effect is that the ground is now cursed because of what Adam did.

But what did Adam do? 

He listened to the woman and disregarded God’s command.

The effect of Adam’s actions was a transaction in which the dominion of the earth was handed over to Satan. (There are always those who doubt this, and so I give you the interaction between Satan and Jesus.) 

“Again, the devil took Him up on a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory (the splendor, magnificence, preeminence, and excellence) of them. And he said to Him, These things, all taken together, I will give You, if You will prostrate Yourself before me and do homage and worship me.”
Matthew 4:8-9 AMP

You cannot legally give away something that is not in your possession; that means that it was in Satan’s possession. Jesus did not argue about who controlled the kingdoms and the glory. (If Satan had stated they are mine to give, he would have been correct, and all because of Adam’s actions.) He merely dismissed Satan with a portion of scripture from Deuteronomy. 

“Then Jesus said to him, Begone, Satan! For it has been written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve.” [Deuteronomy. 6:13.]
Matthew 4:10 AMP

The Ultimate Cross-Reference Treasury tells us that “Here, the words are varied by addition, for the words “and him only shalt thou serve” are not quoted from Deuteronomy but added by our Lord.”

Having been raised in the church, I heard on multiple occasions that Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy in withstanding Satan. Now I see that what He said is pulled from several locations and, as God’s son, took some creative license. What does that say to me? That I don’t have to be so precise in my assertions toward Satan and in my prayers. This is a convenient revelation, seeing as my memory grows worse as I grow older.

A side note for free.

Many will try to tell you that Genesis 1:26-29 is where God puts man on the earth; it is NOT. Pay attention to the terminology used as He creates man and woman in His image. 

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Genesis 1:26 NKJV

What is the image of God? 

Jesus explained that God is a spirit, and spirits, like the Holy Spirit, don’t have much in the way of a physical image.

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4:24 NKJV

Spirit should be a familiar term to many of us. It is the Greek word pneuma. It is not only wind-air in motion but also the third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit.

God also happens to be energy and light, among other things. Consider the burning bush that Moses encountered. It burned like fire, but it was not consumed. For all we know, God is nuclear energy, but it is under control. 

Perhaps the best way to explain this is to understand that God made the spiritual entities that would eventually become the male and female—the beginnings of humanity. So, our mental representation of humankind, at this point, is no different from God’s, and to think differently is pure conjecture.

Genesis 1:26 tells us that, in time, they would have dominion. Synonyms for this word dominion include ascendancy and control, which would happen over everything on the earth. 

Did God merely ignore the fact that Satan would wrangle the control of the earth away from Adam and Eve? 

I don’t think so; therefore, I can see that WE, as descendants of Adam and Eve, still, in theory, hold that dominion. Having been deceived, I think it would be rare to find anyone exhibiting this dominion – but there are always exceptions.

We see a physical Adam created in Genesis 2:7, a time frame well beyond the seventh day.

“And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.”
Genesis 2:2 NKJV

Pay attention to the details.

“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
Genesis 2:7 NKJV

Watch what happens next. 

“The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
Genesis 2:8-9 NKJV

So far, there is only the man, Adam. Once again, God saw fit to restate that He had put the man in the garden. 

“Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.”
Genesis 2:15 NKJV

No one seems to think that Adam had anything to do but name the animals, but that was not the case. 

The word keep is the Hebrew word shâmar and is also seen as care for, dress, look after, and guard. Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Hebrew Definitions give us options such as: have charge of; protect; to keep (within bounds); restrain; pay heed to. 

The terminology implies that the man was given control of the garden. 

The other word that jumps out at me is “tend.” This word is also translated as cultivate or dress. The Hebrew word ‘âbad’ means to labor and do work.

There is nothing about Adam being unable to touch the tree. You would almost think that touching the tree may have been part of his job description. Adam was given a single, direct command by God, and its importance cannot be overstated. 

“But of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you must not eat. For when you eat from it, you most assuredly will die!”
Genesis 2:17 TLV

This command, delivered with such gravity, sets the stage for the events to come.

The King James Version of verse 17 reads like this. 

“for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

The Tree of Life Version does not imply a time frame, while the KJV conveys that death would come almost immediately. 

None of this was expressed to Eve by God directly. 

So, how did Eve understand that she was to NOT eat from “that tree”?

Adam had to tell her. 

This information was given to Adam first and then, over the course of an undefined time period, to Eve. I can see why Satan’s ploy worked on Eve. Adam, it may have been a different story, but it still worked.

What would the result be if he ate the fruit? 

It is easy to see that it was a multifaceted death that affected even the earth. Is it possible that Adam, who had never witnessed death, may not have understood what death meant? The effects of eating that fruit meant an instant death, or it meant a slow, lingering death, with the added feature of losing the ability to communicate with the one who brought you into the world. With over 32 translations to choose from, it is difficult to obtain a clear picture of what death meant to them. 

I am being facetious when I say this, but at least Adam had a good woman to help him keep that one command.

“Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
Genesis 2:18 NAS95

Here is why you should look up these simple words: “a helper suitable for him.” Here, you will find that the phrase ‘êzer neged can mean one who stands in opposition.

So, again, we lack a direct reference to the time involved until Eve is brought into the picture and we are introduced to the woman. 

“So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.”
Genesis 2:21-22 NAS95

Genesis chapter two closes by saying they were naked and unashamed.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
Genesis 3:1 NAS95

Think back in this thesis to where God instructed the man about the fruit he was NOT to eat. The NAS95 is a weak translation. Compare it to a couple of others.

(AFV) Now, the serpent was more cunning than any creature of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Is it true that God has said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’ “

(AMP) NOW, THE serpent was more subtle and crafty than any living creature of the field that the Lord God had made. And he [Satan] said to the woman, Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden? [Rev. 12:9-11.]

Was Eve given these instructions by God?

We have nothing to indicate that she was; therefore, it is understood that the instructions came from Adam’s mouth.

Satan’s ploy at deception was meant to provoke the idea that Adam fabricated this elaborate narrative for the purpose of dominating Eve. Even if it wasn’t true, that does not eliminate the possibility that God was lying. If you can’t trust God, then this narrative about the fruit may also be a fabrication.

The fruit had the ability to damage and change DNA (with the advent of the COVID-19 vaccine, we have seen evidence that demonstrates this very thing). Its effects would be distributed throughout humanity and all generations until an all-encompassing redemption was found. Fortunately, God had a plan the entire time.

“but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'”
Genesis 3:3 NAS95

Satan added an untruth, for God never said not to touch it. Adam may have needed to touch it as part of his maintenance program.

“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”
Genesis 3:6 NAS95

Saw is the Hebrew word râ’âh and means to inspect, perceive, or consider.

Eve weighed all the things Satan said and shoved it in her mouth.

This next aspect is disturbing, as men I have known from church have said to me that Adam was not there or a long way away. Look at what the Holy Spirit intended for us to see.

“she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”

And then.

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”
Genesis 3:7 NAS95

Eyes is the Hebrew word ‘ayin and is referring to the physical eye as well as mental qualities.

Knew is the Hebrew word yâda‛ and implies that they were able to perceive, discern, distinguish, and experience (what God had already informed them what would happen,) and not in the best of ways.

In all of this, did we see the terminology sin at any point?

No, and while we consistently put human emotions and tendencies on God, we don’t see God displaying those emotions either.

How do you define what happened next?

God merely shows up.

“They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
Genesis 3:8-9 NAS95

We do not see violent angry reactions, and scripture does not tell us that God went on a rant.

The God of the universe calmly and respectfully called out to the man He created, where are you. He knew precisely where they were, but they were naked, and they knew it. Even amid a treasonous act (which will affect every generation that is to come,) God is still showing them respect and allowing for at least Adam to acknowledge his failure/sin.

So, God gave Adam a commandment to live by, just one, and he failed. And Adam didn’t have a disposition to sin as we do. He was confronted by the foremost of deceivers.

Try to picture Adam standing there watching, the woman made from his side and brought to Adam as the finest and only woman on the face of the earth, and she just took a big bite out of the only thing on the earth that brings death to them. What goes through your mind?

  • Where do I get another woman like this one? This is assuming that there is no replacement. (This opens a massive can of worms I won’t go into now.)
  • How do I live without her?
  • What happens next, because for all he knows, she may just die in front of me?

The questions could have been endless, and sadly, I can see the human frailty that Adam did not suffer from until after he bit into the fruit, integrated into my every thought. 

Was there a punishment for breaking that command? 

Yes, death, but even though we can see the effects, we do not see God having any conversations describing how the broken fellowship between Adam and God would be the most catastrophic aspect of this death. And all these years later, I still struggle to communicate with the Father.

As we know, Adam lived 930 years beyond that moment in which he ate the fruit ( and death came.) We foolishly make the assumption that this was all that Adam lived. If that is your logic, you would be wrong. The why is entwined in the fact that time was not accounted for until the day that Adam partook of that fruit (there was no reason.) What you do not take into account is that Adam walked this earth for an untold number of days, during which time he named all the animals on earth.

And yes, many of you think the earth is only a few thousand years old. You seem to be ignoring information such as: 

  • God did not set the sun in the sky until the fourth day. This should have a horrendous effect on your understanding that God functioned within 24-hour periods.
  • God did not wear a Timex watch, nor did He concern Himself with time as we know it. Time, as we see in the creation, was relative and defined by associated words. Most of what we see there in the creation narrative is described in terms of eons (which happens to be open ended segments of time.)

So, why is it that we cannot see that God’s moral law ruled over everything. Maybe the things I have talked about are some of those “mysteries” that scriptures speak of. I was aware that there was an admonition to not eat from “that” tree, but I never, until I wrote this paper, saw it as a commandment with as much clout as the ten that were to come.

And another thing. I can’t ignore how lovingly God treated them even after they sinned, or should I say, broke the law.

Posted in Adam, bible study, Genesis, Holy spirit, image, the commandment of God | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I got a message from a friend that I needed to address.

Posted on 04/08/2024 by remso

I received a message that read something like this—I say sort of because I had to make it legible.

I am not sure how my acquaintance integrated this point about “The blood on his cloak,”  but he added some say it’s the blood of the saints, while others say it is His blood. To this, my friend responds, “not so, it is the blood of His enemies.” To this statement, those people who asked him agreed and left. Apparently, my acquaintance took this last statement to a couple of Pastors at a Calvary Chapel, and they agreed.

So let’s look at Isaiah 63:3,4.

Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the winepress? “I have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples, there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And, their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment. (Isaiah 63:2-3 NASB)

An obvious aspect of this passage is that the Messiah’s garment is soaked in blood, at least the lower half.  

Consider that there was a time when people actually stomped the juice out of grapes. If they were smart, they would lift up any outer garment so that it would not get covered in juice. Perhaps some juice would splash onto your clothing in the process of making it, but to merely allow your clothing to become completely inundated with this blood-red juice is preposterous.

What does this victor, coming from a battle, soaked in the enemy’s blood, say about the description we see in Isaiah 63:2-3?

It says He went into the battle prepared and that He really did not care about the outcome of His clothing. Perhaps, knowing that He would win, His blood-soaked clothing then becomes a symbol of victory and conquest.

Based on what the passage says, can we figure out who this is?

Absolutely. So, what clues are we given that identify who went into the bloody battle?

Who is this who comes from Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”(Isaiah 63:1 NASB)

  • With garments of glowing colors,
  • One who is majestic in His apparel,
  • Marching in the greatness of His strength.
  • It is I who speaks in righteousness,
  • Mighty to save.

All of these descriptives, speak of Jesus.

Who is with Him in Isaiah 63:3-4? 

Perhaps the question is, does anyone have to be with Him? The answer to that is NO. But for the doubter, I refer you to Exodus 12:12 NASB, where it says, 

The verse above makes it quite clear that there was NO death angel; it was Jesus, and He slaughtered all who were not covered by the blood.

So the answer to the question, who was with Him, is NO ONE else.

Revelation 19:13 is the other reference given by my acquaintance, but I will add verse 14 for clarity.

He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. (Revelation 19:13-14 NASB)

Though we can’t be sure at this point, it sure sounds like the same blood-covered person we saw in Isaiah 63:3-4.

We must step back a bit to Revelation 16, where we see the end of the final judgments being poured out of the bowls. The preparations for the Battle of Armageddon are made because of a vial, which is part of the sixth bowl.

Revelation 16:12-16 NASB (12) The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east. (13) And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; (14) for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. (15) (“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”) (16) And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.

In Revelation 16:17-21 The seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done.” 

Chapters 17 and 18 of Revelation focus on the downfall of the Babylon system. 

There are some very telling facts about this greed and lust.

Revelation 18:3 NASB states, “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.”

The system collapses in one hour.

Revelation 18:9-10 NASB (9) “And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning, … For in one hour your judgment has come.’

If you have been watching the news, this should sound familiar as the economic system completely collapses. This is notable as the oceanic shipping comes to a complete halt. Revelation 18:11-17 NASB

There is an aspect of this next verse that I find deeply troubling, as it implicates the wealthy of the earth in the death of the innocents.

Revelation 18:24 NASB “And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.”

“All who have been slain on the earth.” This should be an eye-opening statement for everybody.

So, as we come into Revelation 19, there are no more judgments to be poured out; they are merely the termination of the judgments. 

Watch what happens.

Revelation 19:1-2 NASB After these things, I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; (2) BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.”

In Heaven, they are rejoicing. The Babylon system is gone; His judgments have come; And He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants.

How can it be said, “it is done,” especially since there is one more battle to be waged?

By Heaven’s standards, this mess is done, for God always looks toward the future (Abraham is a good example of that.)

Revelation 19:6-9 NASB Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. (7) “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.” (8) It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (9) Then he *said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'” And he *said to me, “These are true words of God.”

Since I was a child, I have heard sermons and sung songs about the marriage of the Lamb. Some have conveyed that at the church’s rapture, we get to sit down to a seven-year meal. Sadly, that is not the case, and the meal does not sound so appetizing either. Let me demonstrate.

Revelation 19:11-13 NASB (11) And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness, He judges and wages war. (12) His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems, and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. (13) He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

Look at that. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood. Everything about Him is brightness and glory, and His name is the Word of God—pure majesty. But now watch this. Here, He is not alone. 

Revelation 19:14 NASB And the armies which are in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean were following Him on white horses.

I cannot make absolute statements that compare what we see in Isaiah 63 and Revelation 19 and say they are the same thing. (But there are some strong similarities.)

Watch the descriptions as they unfold.

Revelation 19:15 NASB From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.

From His mouth comes a sharp sword, with which He may strike down the nations. The saints, clothed in white, otherwise known as the bride, are part of the army that comes with Him, but we never see them in battle. There might be two adequate explanations for that.

  1. Since we are in Christ, then we, too, partake in this battle.
  2. The most reasonable alternative to a group battle is that sword that proceeds from His mouth.

So, if you have been patiently waiting for the marriage supper of the lamb, enjoy this visual.

Revelation 19:17-18 NASB (17) Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in mid heaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, (18) so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men, and slaves, and small and great.“

Meat-eating birds are called to eat the flesh of mighty men, horses of war, those who sit on them, and everyone else – both great and small, who chose to fight against God that day.

But here is what the Scripture says,

Revelation 19:19-21 NASB (19) And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. (20) And the beast was seized, and with him, the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. (21) And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

So what do we see in Revelation 19:19-21?

  • The beast is the Antichrist, a Muslim leader.
  • The kings of the earth. This can be Muslim kings but may include the Presidents of Venezuela or the leaders of China and North Korea.
  • They are assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.
  • The beast was seized, along with the false prophet, and these two, very specifically, were seized and thrown alive into the lake of fire. The rest – those gathered for war, were killed with the sword that came out of Jesus’ mouth.
Posted in antichrist, Antichrist, armies, bible study, Deception, deception, Dispelling myths, End times, false prophet, false teaching, Harlot of Revelation, Heaven, Hell, invasion, Israel, Jesus, judgment, Prophetic, the nations, The supremacy of Christ, Thoughts, Thoughts on scripture, understanding, unrighteousness, Vengeance, war, wickedness, wrath. | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A layman’s commentary on Matthew 24 verses 29 through 31 _ Immediately after the tribulation of those days.

Posted on 04/06/2024 by remso

Praise the Lord; He is coming.

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”
Matthew 24:29 NKJV

If this portrays the end of the seven years, what has the world been enduring?

  • The catching away of the church has come, and we are gone.
  • The departure of the church opened the door for the antichrist to come onto the scene.

    This is pointing to 2 Thessalonians 2:3 and a few more verses. I will explain.

    “Let not any one deceive you in any manner, because it will not be unless the apostasy have first come, and the man of sin have been revealed, the son of perdition;.”
    2 Thessalonians 2:3 Darby

    With his earned Doctorate in Theology, Pastor Andy Woods tells us in a book he wrote several years ago that 2 Thessalonians 2:3 should read departure instead of apostasy. To conserve space, I am not detailing the whys involved. Regardless, you should ask if we are waiting for this falling away to get worse.

    How much further do we as a church need to fall?

    I think we have gone too far, but that is just me.

    If the church, in general, has adequately fallen, then what are we waiting for – that last person that God needs to be brought into the kingdom?

    On the other hand, if a departure must happen, as we are frequently told, there is nothing to prevent Jesus from collecting His church.

  • And the seven years of God’s wrath have been poured out.

The seven years is not quite done yet, and we can know this based on the language used.

“immediately after the tribulation of those days.”

“I beheld therefore, because of the voice of the great words that the horn spoke; I beheld till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given up to be burned with fire.”
Daniel 7:11 Darby

After the seven years the beast will be slain, and its body destroyed, and it will be burned with fire.

Will the beast – the antichrist, die? 

Not in a spiritual sense. 

So, what then is death? 

Death, no matter who we are talking about, is a complete separation from God. The fact that the beast is tossed into the lake of fire merely helps to establish the eternal judgment and separation from God.

The Word Study Dictionary discusses the Hebrew word ḥēywāh, indicating that it means a beast (of the field), but it goes on to say that the word, in general, is used to refer to all beasts of the field.

Isn’t it interesting that Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, was made to crawl on his hands and knees, in the grass, like a beast of the field, for seven years, until he turned his heart toward God.

“As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.”
Daniel 7:12 NKJV

Even though the beast – antichrist is thrown into the lake of fire, there are others, that hold positions almost as deadly as the beast. How long their season lasts we are not told, but consider that the millennial reign is just moments away and it is not a land where bullies run rampant.

Daniel saw something that horrified him.

“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.”

Daniel 7:7-8 NKJV

Still, Daniel wanted to know what these beasts were.

‘Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which arise out of the earth.

Daniel 7:17 NKJV

What happens next?

“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven.”
Mark 13:24-27 NKJV

  • “The sun will be darkened.”

    Illustration 1: The town at noon. May 18, 1980.

    An interesting article on Space.com talks more in terms of the sun expanding as it enters the red giant phase. This is projected to happen in about 5 billion years. So it would only be conjecture on my part to guess how this will happen. Although a picture from noonday after Mt. Saint Helens blew in the early 80s may help you to understand.

  • “The moon will not give its light,”

    As most of you know, the moon only reflects the light of other light sources, so we probably not be able to figure how it works. However, darkness is intimidating and representative of evil.

  • “the stars of heaven will fall,”

    Stars are effectively suns in distant galaxies. Held in place by the Word of God who put them there, there is only one thing that can make them fall, God.

  • “the powers in the heavens will be shaken.”

    Here is a fascinating piece of information from Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus.

    “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the . Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”
    Ephesians 6:12-13 NASB

    The word power is the same word dunamis that we see in Matthew 24:29, but in Ephesians, it is distinctly connected with forces of darkness—spiritual forces of wickedness “in the heavenly places.” 

     Perhaps a way to understand this is to ask, where did this all begin?

     In the heavenlies. If you were raised in the church, as I was, then you were given the idea that Satan, along with his crew of followers, were cast to earth, never to be heard from again. The reality is we are pestered by his demonic followers on a daily basis, and they all still have access to the heavenlies. If you must question that, then look at the opening passages of Job; there, you will find Satan mingling with the angels (the sons of God) and responding to God’s questioning.

    Shaken is the Greek word saleuō and means to waver, agitate, rock, topple or (by implication) destroy.

    Consider this. The seven years are coming to an end; I say that because Jesus told us immediately after and then described some additional things that begin to happen, and they don’t sound good. One might assume that the grief associated with the wrath would end immediately. A couple of ways to look at this moment in time. 1. Is that any additional grief is only coming against those who chose to fight against Jesus, who is riding on the white horse. 2. All those who chose Jesus during this ugly time will, in all likelihood, be martyred. Scripture tells us that this is the first resurrection. Note that there is a third group of people and you will see that highlighted in yellow below.

    Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.
    Revelation 20:4-5 NASB

  • “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.”

    When I first read Revelation 19:11, I might have said, finally, it is done, and yet the church has lived in peace for seven years. Now, with my eyes wide open, I see that the finish will take a few more minutes, to say the least. All of this shaking of the heavens can only be meant to demonstrate the awesomeness of God, the one who is in charge even now. Still, with all that, the heavens and the earth will be remade after being burned with fire after the thousand years and the white throne judgment.

    The fire will NOT touch those who belong to God, and I can assure you that this will all be sorted out by this time.

  • “He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven.”

    The Dake’s bible notes say this about the elect. “He is talking about the Jews, not the Church because”:
    (    My thoughts are in italics.)

  1. Jesus is answering a Jewish question (Mat_24:3; Mat_25:31-46; Act_1:6)

    Matthew 24:3 tells us that Jesus was talking, exclusively, to His disciples. “the disciples came to Him privately.”

    Matthew 25:31-46, unlike Matthew 24:3, does not affirm that these are Jews, nor does it convey that this is related to the seven years. Verse 37 makes a reference to the righteous, which we might assume is a reference to Jews; it is not. This scenario happens at the end of the thousand years and is associated with the white throne judgment. Our scriptural definition merely informs us that these are from the nations (Gentiles) who have died and did not previously go up in the rapture of the church, and it includes people from among the nations who have been born and raised during the thousand years and have died for various reasons.

    And the last reference is from Acts 1:6.

    Here, Jesus has risen from the dead, walked with the disciples, and is about to return to the Father. It is the disciples, once again, who are asking Him if this is the time in which He will restore the kingdom to Israel. Jesus’ answer to them went like this, “it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.” This statement does place a time frame or a nationality on the hearer, although we know they were Jews.

  2. False Messiahs primarily concern Israel (Mat_24:5, Mat_24:23-26)

Think in terms of location and context. The location is centered on Israel in the majority of instances. The context is the seven year period, often referred to as God’s wrath.

  1. Anti-antisemitism proves it (Mat_24:9)

    The obvious point here is that the church cannot be the recipient of anti-antisemitism because we Gentiles are not Jewish. We fall under the category of the nations, as far as the Jewish people are concerned. Should they give their lives to Christ, they can freely be with us in our church bodies, but it does not impact their Jewishness except to remove the stigma of their religious upbringing.

  2. The travail of Israel (note, Mat_24:8)

    Matthew 24:8 NKJV: tells us that “All these are the beginning of sorrows.” 

    The context is everything related to Jesus’s Jewish answer to their Jewish question.

    The first eight signs of Mat_24:4-7 are the beginning of sorrows against Israel and the Jews, not the end. It will have an impact on the nations/gentiles as well. (UCRT)

    Dake goes on to explain “sorrows.” The Greek word: odin (G5604), birth pangs (Gal_4:19, Gal_4:27; 1Th_5:3; Rev_12:2). This refers to the troubles of Israel in the tribulation (Mat_24:15-21; Isa_66:7-8; Jer_30:4-7; Dan_7:21; Dan_8:9-14, Dan_8:24; Dan_9:27; Rev_12:1-17).

  3. The abomination of desolation concerns Israel only. (note, Mat_24:15)

    From Dake’s notes: “When—this marks the starting point of the middle of Daniel’s 70th week when the Antichrist will break his 7-year covenant with Israel and enter Judea to take over Jerusalem as his capital and the Jewish temple as his capital building (Dan_9:27;

    Dan 9:27  Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;

    Dan_11:40-45;

    Daniel 11:41-42 NKJV  He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon.  42  He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

    Yes, it does mention the glorious land, which we understand to be Israel, but it does not tell us when this happens.

    Dan_12:1 NKJV reads like this.

    “At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book.”

    The problem with using Daniel 12:1 is that you lose focus on the context, and it makes no sense without it. It becomes quite obvious that Daniel 12:1 is speaking about the minute transition between the seven years and the millennial reign. You should be aware that many of the Jews who make it to this point—we know that 1/3 of Israel does survive—will come to a knowledge of Jesus as the Messiah.

    Dan_12:7 (NKJV): “Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished.”

    When will all things be finished? Two points of view on this. 1. Is when the tribulation ends; and 2. At the end of the thousand years. Regardless, this is NOT speaking of the time of Jacob’s troubles.

    2Th_2:4. Let’s look specifically at 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 NKJV 

    “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,  4  who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

    Some will appropriately tell you that the falling away or departure of the church is the event that triggers the time of God’s wrath (“the tribulation.”) Does it make sense that the apostasy or falling away is the trigger when the process of falling away has been an ongoing event for a long time. The departure will be a soon coming, one time, event. If 2 Thessalonians 2:4 doesn’t seem to answer your questions, well, you are not alone, but continue reading because 2 Thessalonians 2:7 expounds on the fact that the Holy Spirit, working through us, is restraining the advent of the antichrist and will continue to do so until the day we are removed from the earth.

    “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.” NKJV 

    Rev_11:1-2; Verse two indicates that the Gentiles will trample the temple underfoot. Here is the verse to prove my point.

    “But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.” Revelation 11:2 NKJV

    You should know that 42 months equal three and one half years on the Jewish, 360 day calendar. The Gentiles/ the Assyrians have been trampling all over the temple mount already. What is the difference? No temple, so keep your eyes on the Holy Land because things are happening so rapidly.

    We can definitely say that Revelation 11 talks about the time of wrath.

    Rev_12:1-17; The signs/stars transpired just a few years ago. I did not follow this phenomenon that closely. And, by the way, we are still here—bummer. But it alerts us that time is drawing to a close. This theme carries through to verse 17.

    Rev_13:1-18). Gives us an overview of the beasts that comes to a conclusion with the antichrist. One that gives so many a problem is this:

    “And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.” Revelation 13:3 NKJV.

    Far too many portray this head as a human; it is NOT. The Revelation explains that all these, until the last one, are kingdoms and empires, so why change the pattern now.

    I believe that the head that appeared to sustain a mortal wound was the Ottoman Caliphate, a Muslim empire. Taken down in 1924 by the British, they immediately began rebuilding through the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

    The Islamic Revolution in 1979 seemed to awaken a sleeping giant, that has become a thorn in all our flesh. Look around you, we are surrounded by Muslims on every side, and they are a people that live by passages in the Quran and teachings of Imams that tell them to kill the infidel where ever you can find them. For your information, those who do not adhere to the Quran are infidels.

Dake states that “All this prophecy from Mat_24:15 on must be fulfilled the last 3 1/2 years of this age.”

There were 9 more scripture references from Dake’s Bible notes, but I have already overwhelmed many of you.

If you read the narratives about the antichrist and this covenant, you will find that Israel is not mentioned. In all of them. Can we make logical assumptions? Yes, but to say they are all talking about Israel is pure conjecture and something that we need to be cautious about.

Posted in antichrist, Antichrist, apostasy, bible study, departure, false prophet, Matthew's gospel, Revelation, Thoughts on scripture, Tribulation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment