Israel’s 7 Apocalyptic Days A Darkened Sun, A Blood Red Moon

Israel’s 7 Apocalyptic Days A Darkened Sun, A Blood Red Moon

Chapter 1, Part 1 Preview: The envoys (apostles) never said that the seven Biblical Feast and Festival Days were dusty archives of events long forgotten! They said they are prophetic signs of “things to come”! The modern Israelite nations have almost entirely lost the knowledge of not only their Scriptural heritage, but also the truth that we were to have an “everlasting covenant” with Elohim (God). This chapter explains, via the Biblical Feast Days, why it is that only the Israelite nations will suffer the prophesied “Great Tribulation”. The penalty for not keeping our covenant will be inflicted on all 12 tribes (nations) of modern Israel by the hands “of the peoples” who we were supposed to set an example for! (Deuteronomy 4:5-10). The other nations suffer afterward: INDEX “A Shadow Of Things To Come” (Colossians 2:16) Matthew 24:29 IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE TRIBULATION, the sun will be darkened and the moon won’t shed her light and shooting stars will fall from the sky, and the inherent power of the skies will be shaken. —The Gabriel Bible Elohim never explained to ancient Israel what the seven annual “Feast” Days (both moed & chag) represented. Can you imagine being instructed to celebrate special days without knowing what made them special? Actually, Elohim still requires His people to celebrate these days, and He has provided us with numerous indications as to what they have always signified. There has never been a time when these special days have been more relevant! To my astonishment, as I began to study the seven annual Feast Days, I learned that they portray seven phases of the apocryphal events soon to occur! Just as astonishing is the amazing accumulation of historical evidence demonstrating that the 12 tribes of Israel are the forbearers of the modern, primarily “former” Christian nations of Israel. These nations are the entire focus of all the Biblical prophecy. The other nations are only mentioned as they interact with the Israelite nations. For the most part, this website considers the modern Israelite identities to be recognized basic knowledge, but overwhelming evidence is available from the Brit-Am website. Here are a few significant clues to the concept. The information contained in these pages might well create the desire within you to search out these truths if you have not already done so! I’ll begin with three Biblical references to the fact that Israel is not simply a footnote in history: Genesis 17:5-7 You’ll no longer be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, because I’ve made you the father of very many nations. 6 I’ll make you exceedingly fruitful. Your descendants will establish many nations. Kings will be descended from you. 7 I’ll establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, thruout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be your Elohim and the Elohim of your descendants after you. By the time of Paul, Israel was already a “multitude of nations” or a commonwealth in the historic sense of the word, as Webster defines commonwealth: “a group of sovereign states and their dependencies linked by common objectives and formally associated by compact”. The British Commonwealth was a high point in Israelite history. There is much historical documentation concerning this amazing, but little known, story. Ephestians 2:12 At that time you were separated from the Messiah and excluded from the regulations [or commonwealth] of Israel, and aliens to the promised covenant, you had no hope and you were essentially the atheists [Gr. a’-theos] of the world. Ephraim, whose descendants settled in the British Isles, “mixes himself with other nations” (as has the U.S. as in Exodus 12:37-38), but the British have already lost Super Power status. (Incidentally, the word Brit-ish in Hebrew can be translated as “covenant man”. Phonetically it is ber-eeth’ & eesh). Hosea 7:8-9Ephraim mixes himself with other nations. Ephraim is a pancake not flipped over. 9 Foreigners have devoured his strength, and he doesn’t even know it. His hair is sprinkled with gray, and he doesn’t realize it. The United States, originating largely from the Israelite tribe of Manasseh, continues to be a blessing to the world. Genesis 18:18 since Abraham will certainly become an important and populous nation, and every nation on earth will be blessed thru him? But the blessings are only getting started! A whole new age of never ending prosperity and blessings is about to begin, but there will be a complicated labor preceding the birth of the “age to come” (Mark 10:30). It isn’t the purpose of this chapter to prove that Believers should celebrate the seven annual Biblical Feast and Festivals today. However, by understanding their prophetic significance, I hope to create within you an appreciation of their value to your relationship with Elohim. I am only building on the foundational premises of those who recognize who Israel is in prophecy and the importance of celebrating the Biblical Feast Days. For those who understand that the seven annual Feast Days are for us now, devotion should urge us to determine the true significance of these memorials in our lives, without “memorializing” imaginary events. This chapter endeavors to explain that the symbolic meanings of these Kadosh (holy) Convocations has been misrepresented. Many articles, particularly concerning the unwarranted changes made by the Pharisees in the fourth century AD, as to when the Biblical Feast Days should be celebrated, are also available on this website. Both the timing AND the relevance of the Biblical Feast Days has been skewed! (Here are some links to free web books concerning America, Britain & Israel in Prophecy: In Genesis 17, Elohim promised that Abraham would be “a father of many nations”, promising “an everlasting possession” by “an everlasting covenant”. In Genesis 49, Abraham prophesied concerning all twelve of his sons “what will happen to you in the last days”. The chronicle even extends to New Jerusalem, where the very gates (Revelation 21:12) mention “the 12 tribes of the children of Israel”. This astonishing compilation of books explains Elohim’s view of this enigmatic topic in a way certain to change your world view forever. Find America, Britain and the rest of the “Lost 10 Tribes” in the pages of your own Bible!) The fact that the modern Israelite nations have almost entirely lost the knowledge that they were to have an “everlasting covenant” with Elohim is the very reason that only the Israelite nations will suffer the prophesied “Great Tribulation”—and the penalty for not living by that covenant will be inflicted on Israel by the very people who they were to lead into righteousness! (As explained in The Time After Jacob’s Trouble.) 1 Chronicles 16:15-19 Remember His covenant forever, the words that He commanded to a THOUSAND GENERATIONS, 16 the covenant that He made with Abraham, His oath to Isaac. 17 He confirmed it with Jacob as a statute, and to Israel as a never ending covenant, 18 saying, “I’ll give you the land of Canaan, the territory of your inheritance.” 19 When you were few in number, very few, and foreigners in ‘the land’, The nations of the world were to see blessings heaped on Israel and ask: Deuteronomy 4:7-9 What great nation is there, that has their elohim as near to it as Yehovah [Jehovah] our Elohim is to us, whenever we call on Him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances as righteous as this whole Torah, that I’m setting before you today? 9 But you should be careful, and watch yourselves closely, so that you don’t forget the things that you saw with your own eyes. Don’t let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live, but pass them on to your children and grandchildren. The Feast and Festival Days were designed to have different symbolisms for different eras. For example the Passover used to only signify the Exodus, but today Passover represents Yeshua’s (Jesus’) death in our place: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 Clean out your old leaven so that you can be a new batch of dough, as you are unleavened. The Messiah, our Passover, was offered in our place. 8 So let’s celebrate the Feast, not with the old leaven or with the leaven of wickedness and bitterness, but with the unleavened bread of purity and dedication. Yet in the near future, Passover will call to mind a living “righteous Branch” (Yeshua) and another Exodus, not from Egypt but from “the North Country”: Jeremiah 23:5-8 The days are coming,” Yehovah says, “when I’ll raise up for David a righteous Branch. He will be a King who rules wisely, and do what is fair and right thruout the land! 6 In his lifetime, Judah will be delivered, and Israel will live in safely. This is the name that He will be given, ‘Yehovah Our Righteousness!’ 7 “That’s why the time is coming,” Yehovah says, “When people will no longer say ‘As Yehovah lives, who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.’ 8 Instead, they’ll say, ‘As surely as Yehovah lives, who brought about the 'EXODUS' of the descendants of the House of Israel from the North Country, and from all the countries where He had banished them.’ Then they’ll live in their own land. With this premise, here are thumbnail comments of what the Biblical Feast Days represent at the end of this age, particularly regarding the Jubilee year that ends the first 6,000 years since Adam (the 120th Jubilee year). Comments here are borrowed from the more detailed text to follow: Passover, as we’ll read about below, is about to have additional meaning. Yeshua prophesied about the New Covenant: Matthew 26:28-29 This is My blood of the New Covenant that is poured out on behalf of many to release them from the bondage of sins. 29 I’m telling you that I’ll no longer drink any of the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink a new kind with you in the Kingdom of Yehovah. (The New Covenant has not been enacted yet, but it soon will be!) The Days of Unleavened Bread are about the captivity of the modern nations of Israel, eating the unleavened “bread of affliction” (Deuteronomy 16:3), right up until their eventual Exodus toward the New Israel. (Most of the information on this site about the Passover & Unleavened bread is for here and right now. As that time of year approaches, I hope that you will consider: Chapter 2: Did Yeshua’s Supper Replace the Passover? and Chapter 3: “Messiah (Christ) Our Passover”?) Leviticus 23:8 ...“On the seventh day hold a kadosh public assembly. Don’t do any regular work.” The Second Exodus happens over perhaps several weeks. Maybe that accounts for the span of seven days instead of a singular day. Could Daniel 12 explain the significance of the Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread? There we have a 1260 day period (the Great Tribulation), a 1290 day period (calling attention to the 30 days following), and a 1335 day period (indicating another 45 more days). Verse 12 says, “Blessed are those who wait for and attain the 1,335 days.” Perhaps the 144,000 will be involved in gathering up the lost sheep of Israel. Since they are all flesh and blood survivors, what other purpose might they serve? They likely live on as heroes in civilian life. Pentecost: I believe that the twelve modern nations of Israel’s reoccupation of their ancient homeland, following their captivity, will begin to take place on Pentecost (as it was meant to happen after the exodus of 1446 BC). Israel, as a warrior bride will reconquer their land. The resettlement will be finished during the very next Jubilee year. Most of the reoccupation will occur between Pentecost and the Day of Atonements (yes, it’s plural). This Jubilee period is when “Each of you can return to your own property, and each of you can return to your own clan” (Leviticus 25:10). The Firstfruits in question are the first whole generation of Israelites to return to Yehovah since the destruction of ancient Israel. Interestingly, some of Judah, one of the 12 tribes, officially regained part of the ancient homeland on Pentecost of 1948, but that is not the everlasting reoccupation described in Isaiah 65 & and 66. But the “Year of Redemption” will soon arrive (Isaiah 63:4). The 1948 resettlement will fail (Isaiah 63, particularly verse 18, and Isaiah chapters 3 & 10!) The Day of Trumpets represents the triumphant return of both Yehovah and His Messiah (“The Lord and His Christ”) to reclaim Their earth. This day commemorates the Day of Yehovah (the “Lord”) (Isaiah 34:8), that overlaps the 120th Jubilee year. The trumpets are the trumpet plagues of Revelation, they declare war! It is referred to in nearly thirty prophecies as “The Day of Yehovah”. At the very same time that Israel is coming out of the Great Tribulation (Isaiah 27:13) the rest of the world is entering the Day of Yehovah! It is the final year of the sixth millennia—the Jubilee year, better known as “Judgment Day”! By the way, Trumpets also marks the First Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:51-53). The Day of Atonements is the day when Yeshua chose to begin His ministry! In Luke 4:18-19 Yeshua announced “the Acceptable Year of YHVH” as per the instruction of Leviticus 25:8-12. Who knew that both Protestant commentaries and Catholic sources acknowledge that “the Acceptable Year” He chose was a reference to the Day of Atonements and the Jubilee Year? Do you remember how His audience responded to His inaugural statements? They tried to throw Him over a cliff (Luke 4:29) outside of the city—exactly what the Jews were (wrongly, keyword: cliff) doing every year to the Azazel goat that symbolized the One who makes atonement for their sins that very day (Leviticus 16:10)! This is all in the context of His being led into the wilderness (as the Greek implies “like an animal”) for the 40 day fast that immediately preceeded His ministry—another clue that He was the Azazel! Then the Book of Joel, just 3 chapters long, is all about the latter day fulfillment of the Day of Atonements during the dreadful Day of Yehovah (i.e. Joel 1:14-15). Furthermore, the Day of Atonements portrays the prophetic shotgun wedding, of sorts, of Yeshua’s Bride, as clearly explained in Hosea 3 and Ezekiel 20:30-42! The Feast of Tabernacles, 7 days in length, is an overview of the saga of Israel covering the entire 7 year journey mentioned in Daniel 9:27 (covered in Daniel’s Mysterious Seventy “Weeks” and Jubilee 2028 AD.) Deuteronomy 31:10-11 directly associates Tabernacles with 7 years (a Sabbatical cycle). This period is a trail of tears. Yet this rocky trail leads to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb in the Promised Land! The traditional Jewish Seven day wedding ceremony will begin to have real meaning when this particular wedding begins to be commemorated every year! Humanity is about to enter into what Yeshua referred to as the “world to come”. However that momentous event won’t be realized until there is a New Heaven and a New Earth punctuating this very Jubilee period! (There is no 1,000 year wait: Isaiah 65 & 66.) All of Elohim’s people live in temporary shelters—tabernacles. We await our permanent home in New Jerusalem. If we aren’t ‘tabernacleing’ in sukkahs (temporary dwellings) once a year now, we’ll have to later—under much harsher conditions! (Zechariah 12:7-9) The First Day of Tabernacles: The Temple is an integral part of Elohim’s future plans. The nine chapters of Ezekiel (40-48) that deal with it are quite detailed. The restoration of temple services on the first day of this seven year long period, after having ceased to exist for so many centuries is quite significant in Elohim’s eyes. If for no other reason, we should anxiously anticipate this event, because we will be able to determine without any doubt when the Everlasting Kingdom will arrive by the dates given to us in the book of Daniel. The modern nation of Israel will have signed a contract with the beast. Animal zebak (sacrifices) will be begun again but cease after exactly 1,260 days (Daniel 9:27, 11:31, 12:11), marking day one of the Great Tribulation. Toward the end of the Tribulation period, the first wave of the Second Exodus will enter the land of Israel. [Footnote 1-20-18: If Jonathan Cahn is right about King Jehu being prototypical of Donald Trump, as explained in his new book “The Paradigm”, then we need to look and see what happens by the end of his presidency in January of 2021 (assuming it to be one term). And if the Jubilee really is in 2028 AD (as I contend, not Jonathan), ushering in the long awaited Messianic Age, then 2021 would be the first year of the final seven year long Shmita cycle (and the seven year long Great Tribulation period) beginning a new presidency that would quickly see America losing ground—literally: 2 Kings 10:31-33 But Jehu was not careful to 'follow' the Torah of Yehovah, the Elohim of Israel, with 'true resolve'. He didn’t turn from the sins of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin. 32 “So in those days Yehovah began to cut off portions of Israel. Hazael defeated the Israelites thruout the territory of Israel 33 from the Jordan River eastward, the entire land of Gilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites and the Manassites, from Aroer by the Arnon valley, to Gilead and Bashan. But I believe that after the next Jubilee, history will cease to repeat itself.] The Last Day of Tabernacles: The meaning of the Last (7th) Day of the Feast of Tabernacles could not have been understood until Yeshua explained it on the very occasion of the Last Day of the Feast (John 7:37-40). His discourse on that Feast Day solved the mystery of the significance of the day! This is the announcement of a new beginning. There is some duality here. Yeshua spoke of the kadosh spirit being given, yet is was “not yet given” to His Assembly—in fact none of the Assembly (“the Church”) was redeemed until the Pentecost after He died. In a similar way, when the announcement to the other nations of the world comes that Satan has been removed and that an Everlasting Kingdom has begun, the universal presence of the kadosh spirit will still “not yet” be extant. The survivors of the other nations must still be educated, often under duress: Zechariah 14:16 Then everyone who is left behind [survives] from all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship Yehovah the Commander and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. The Eighth Day: The grand finale events of Biblical prophecy all occur during this amazing Jubilee year, the year following the seven year long event of Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 11:2-3—year 6000. This is the happily ever after part of the story, the “Year of Redemption”. Israel has finally begun to live Elohim’s way of life in earnest, and just in the nick of time. Now the survivors of “many nations” will want to come to Jerusalem and learn about our awesome Elohim. As this year closes (Hebrew months 8 thru 12 or 13), it brings us to the very threshold of the first millennium of the Everlasting Kingdom. This year is “the Great and Awesome Day of Yehovah”, the year when hundreds of millions of Israel’s enemies are eliminated. The Eighth Day culminates the 120th Jubilee year, ending the sixth millennium. People are unaware that this “awesome” Eighth Day, hidden quite well in the book of Leviticus, brings to a close the year of Judgment! It ends the “Time of Vengeance, a Year of Payback settling the dispute over Zion.” (Isaiah 34:8) Israel’s enemies are vanquished following the seven painful years that precede this time. Elohim’s truth is beginning to flow everywhere like living water following the preparatory events of this year. This is when the survivors of the twelve tribes of Israel will become the Messiah’s Bride. This is when Zion (Jerusalem) is liberated from the grasp of the King of the North, it will become the world’s Capitol city! The survivors of “many nations” will want to come there and learn about our awesome Elohim. In seven months, the world will have been conquered with five or six months left to prepare for the first New Moon of the seventh millennium. This is “The Time When Everything Is Completed”, as Acts 3:21 originally said. Almost every prophecy will be completed by the end of this eight year long period. The Mediator Set This Plan In Action In the course of time, Yeshua came on the scene and became the “Mediator” of the New Covenant. The mediation was accomplished by His death. He is no longer mediating, as many assume; that would require Him to die continually! Hebrews 9:15 This is why He became the Mediator of the New Covenant—so that by His death He could become the ransom payment for those who had sinned under the first covenant, so that those who are called to the eternal inheritance can receive the promise. Following His death, His promise of redemption spread beyond the people of Israel. He was no longer dealing directly with humanity on a national level. Today, and for the last nearly 2,000 years, Elohim has been dealing with humanity on an individual basis. Acts 10:34-37 Then Simon said, “The truth is, I now realize that YHVH doesn’t discriminate between people. 35 He accepts anyone who reverences Him and lives righteously from every nation. 36 This is the truth that He sent to the descendants of Israel, announcing to them peace and rest by Yeshua Messiah. He is everyone’s Master. 37 You are familiar with ‘what happened’ thruout Judea, beginning in Galilee, after the immersion that John heralded, Yet Elohim never abandoned His original intention for the people of Israel. Israel is still destined to be the example for the other nations, but she will have to learn some harsh lessons first—and there will be many “born again” (made into spirit) “teachers” there to sustain the advancement. For these 2,000, much of Elohim’s focus has been with “the Israel of Elohim (God)” (Galatians 6:15-16), which is not an ethnic nation but a spiritual one with many non Israelite members “grafted in” (Romans 11:13-21). However, Yeshua, and we His Disciples will not “taste” the fruition of His Passover commemoration until “that day” when the Kingdom of Elohim is set up “on earth as it is [now] in heaven”. Yet Elohim will greatly honor the New Covenant with survivors of Israel: Jeremiah 31:31-34 The time is coming,’ Yehovah says, “when I’ll make a New marriage Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. 32 It won’t be like the marriage Covenant that I made with their ancestors during the time when I took them by the hand led them out of the land of Egypt, since they broke My Covenant, tho I was their Husband,” says Yehovah. 33 “In this marriage Covenant that I’ll make with the House of Israe after those days,” Yehovah says, “I’ll put My Torah in the very seat of their thoughts and emotions, and I’ll write it into their minds [hearts]. I’ll be their Elohim, and they’ll be My people. 34 People will no longer teach their neighbors or their relatives, by asking, ‘Do you know Yehovah’ [the Lord], because they’ll all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” says Yehovah. “I’ll forgive their wickedness, and I’ll never again remember their sins.”. “Born again” “teachers” will keep Israel, and soon afterward the rest of the world, on track: Isaiah 30:19-21 The people of Zion, living in Jerusalem will no longer cry. He’ll surely be merciful to you at the sound of your cry. When He hears you, He’ll answer you. 20 Yehovah may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. But your teachers [yes, it’s plural] won’t be hidden any longer. You’ll see your teachers with your own eyes. 21 When you turn to the right or turn to the left, you’ll hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the direction. Walk this way.” A major assumption among every church (most of them are “exclusivist churches”) that I am aware of, that celebrates the seven annual Feast Days, is that they accept the idea that the Orthodox Jewish calendar should be used for determining when the Biblical Feast and Festival Days are to be observed. [2009 Note: It’s better now in the Pacific NW.] Totally ignored is the fact that these same Jews freely acknowledge that their ancestors greatly altered their method of determining when the Biblical Feast Days are to occur—under pressure from the Roman Government in the fourth century. (There is a small stir underway to reverse this within Israel’s Hebrew University.) This can be easily researched within the many volume Encyclopedia Judaica. Abandoned were the Scriptural standards of observing actual new moons to determine the first day of the month, and beginning new years in association with the barley harvests to avoid “calendar drift”. In addition to the in depth information on the Biblical Feast Days on this site, I believe that there is a hidden Festival message in the book of Hebrews explained in The Biblical Feast Days of Hebrews 6! I will only raise one point in this regard: the word translated as “seasons” in Genesis 1, of the more popular Bible translations, is quite misleading—and deliberately, I believe. That Hebrew word is “moed” which is used to signify a Feast Day. It literally means an “appointed place, appointed time or meeting”. Genesis 1:14 Elohim said, “There should be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, they should be for signs [of things to come], and Appointed Festivals [not seasons], days and years, Below the KJV got it wrong with both applications of “moed”. Leviticus 23:4 These are the feasts [Appointed times] of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons [Appointed times]. “Feast” and “Festival” are not synonymous. There are seven annual Biblical appointed Days in a year, three of them are Feasts. The next verse actually uses the Hebrew term for “feast”. Exodus 23:14 Three times a year you will celebrate a Feast to honor Me. The Biblical Feast Days are a part of Elohim’s ancient plan. They didn’t just show up haphazardly at the time of the Exodus any more than Elohim’s other instructions: Genesis 26:5 because Abraham obeyed My voice, and obeyed My requirements, My Commandments, and My statutes, and My Torah instructions. When I learned that the Scriptural parameters are not remotely considered in the “new and improved” Jewish calendar, and that most of the Jewish and Christian sects do not even care—only offering lame excuses—I made the personal changes necessary to please Elohim. I had only assumed that the days that I was celebrating were acceptable with Elohim. This chapter examines a second assumption about Elohim’s Biblical Feast and Festival Days: Are the symbolic meanings of these days centered on the church)? All of the Christian annual Sabbath observing groups that I am aware of assume that the Feast and Festival Day symbolism is centered on “the church”. The more exclusivist groups naturally assume that these days solely concern their corporate bodies. In essence, the Biblical Feast Days have been both counterfeited and mystified! Even some of those still making a showing are “full of blood.” Isaiah 1:9, 14-15 Unless Yehovah the Commander had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah. ... 14 My Word* hates YOUR New Moons and YOUR appointed feasts. They’ve become a burden to Me. I’m tired of enduring them. 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I’ll hide My eyes from you. Even if you offer many prayers, I won’t listen because your hands are covered with blood. Abraham’s Family Tree The Bible is a book about the family of Abraham. Genesis 49 is a prophecy describing the end time state of affairs of his family, as are the 144,000 of Revelation 7 & 14! Genesis 35:11 Elohim also told him, “I’m the Mighty Conqueror. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a ‘commonwealth’ of nations will come from you. Kings will be among your ‘descendants’! Genesis 49:1-4 Jacob called for his sons, and said, “Gather around so that I can tell you what you [your descendants] will encounter in the days to come. 2 Gather around and listen, sons of Jacob, listen to your father Israel. 3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength, and the very first of my virility, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. 4 Unstable as water, you won’t remain preeminent... The chapter goes on to describe identifying characteristics of all twelve of his son’s tribes (now nations). Revelation 7:2-4 2 Then I saw another messenger coming up from the direction of the rising sun. He had the seal of the living Aloha, and he called out loudly to the four messengers who were allowed to harm the land and the sea, 3 He said, “Don’t harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the foreheads of the servants of YHVH.” 4 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000, sealed from every tribe of Israel: It’s the Twelve tribes of Israel! Virtually every prophecy between this first book of the Bible, and the last one, centers on the physical descendants of Israel. “The church” plays a much smaller part in Bible prophecy than it would have you imagine! Upon closer examination of the prophecies, it should be readily apparent that the prophecies have always centered on Israel, yet virtually every “authority” tries to force “the church” onto center stage, and thwart Elohim’s entire prophetic message! This is comparable to Jacob (who became Israel) stealing the birthright from his brother Esau, except that in this situation Israel is truly the firstborn, and Elohim won’t permit “the church” to take that role away from him! Hosea 9:10 “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. When I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the first figs of the season. But they came to Baal Peor, and dedicated themselves to shamefulness. They became as detestable as their dearly loved idol. Firstfruits, like firstborn, simply signifies the first offspring of a living thing. Symbolically, it is usually Israel—not really “the church”. Exodus 4:22 Then you can tell Pharaoh, “This is what Yehovah said, Israel is My firstborn son, Jeremiah 31:9 They’ll come with tears of joy, praying as I bring them back. I’ll lead them beside streams of water in a straight path so they won’t stumble, because I’m a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn. Note who is “firstborn” now! Even the firstborn status, in reference to national privileges, was prophesied to change over time! The illustrative or symbolic meanings of the Biblical Feast Days are transitional! This is a key point to understanding the prophetic significance of the events that they portray. They really are “a shadow of things to come”! A shadow is inherently connected to something very real. This figurative shadow of things to come is an outline or sketch of the fulfillment of Elohim’s purpose: “... and you will be My Kingdom of priests, and a kadosh nation’. These are the words that you will say to the descendants of Israel”. (Exodus 19:6) This shadow, to Paul, meant that the primary focal point of the Biblical Feast Days still pictured future events, rather than pointing backward to things about ancient Israel or even things concerning the Assemblies, that were relevant as he spoke! It NEVER says “only the FALL feast days are shadows of things to come”. Revelation 5:9-10 They sang a new hymn: “You deserve to take the small book and to open its seals, because You were slain and have purchased us for YHVH with Your own blood, out of every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and You’ve made them kings and priests for YHVH, and they’ll rule as kings on the earth”. Certainly spiritual Israelites are enjoying Elohim’s blessings, at this very moment, as Paul was explaining to non Israelites in Romans 11, yet even as he was explaining that Israel had blown a great opportunity, he explained that there would be a spectacular recovery. Romans 11:25-27 Friends, so that you won’t be presumptuous, I want you to know of this hidden mystery—that a degree of spiritual blindness has overtaken Israel until the full complement of the nations comes in, 26 and then all Israel will be Rescued. ‘As the Scriptures declare’, “A deliverer will come from Zion and turn Jacob from sinfulness. 27 And THEN they will have My [NEW] COVENANT, after I have forgiven their sins.” Paul went on to explain, in the next verse, that Israel was presently an enemy of the Good News, but that these elect were destined to become “beloved”! Romans 11:28 Now in regard to the Good News, they are enemies as far ‘as you are concerned’, but in regard to selection for favor, they are loved for the sake of their ancestors. It is time to consider, in context, the “shadow verse”, because some shadowy commentary often accompanies this verse, perpetuated by enemies of the Good News. This verse, emphasizing the merit of the Biblical Feast Days, is usually twisted beyond recognition to conceal a very astonishing truth. Green’s Literal Version correctly uses the word “body” instead of the erroneous word “substance”. And while still adding the word “is”, supposedly for clarity, the parentheses he used do indicate that it is an added word. Colossians 2:16-19 So don’t allow anyone to pronounce judgments against you about eating and drinking, or about various aspects of the Feast days, new moons and Sabbaths 17 that foreshadow things in the future, except for the body of the Messiah. [6] 18 Don’t let anyone’s desire to degrade your mind subject you to bondage, so that you subject yourselves to the religious practices of “angels”, while they elaborate about gods that they haven’t really seen, being arrogantly inflated in their carnal thoughts, 19 rather than holding onto the Head, the One who frames and constructs the whole body with joints and ligaments, and grows as YHVH causes it to grow. [6] Virtually every version tampers with the simple text here that explains that only the true “body of the Messiah” has any business counseling you in regard to these Torah issues! Check an interlinear for the uncorrupted truth. The term “body”, in verse 17 above, is tampered with in many translations. Actually, the word often mistranslated, as “substance” in verse 17 is the same word as “body” in verse 19. Also, the word “is” is almost always wrongfully inserted. The meaning, so apt to be lost with this slight of hand, is that you should not let anyone judge you regarding the celebration of Elohim’s Biblical Feast Days except for your spiritual family—literally, “the Body of the Messiah”! Listen to their input. You may learn even more, but never accept mans opinions when they conflict with Elohim’s Word. Here is a perfect illustration of the fact that the Biblical Feast Days will represent different things to different people at different times. Even children will want to understand why they commemorate a “memorial” occasion. Here is a simple explanation that Elohim told Israel to tell their descendants before the first Passover commemoration even happened—it was meant to be a prophecy for their immediate future! Exodus 12:25-27 Then when you’ve come to the land that Yehovah gives you, just as He has promised, you’ll commemorate this service. 26 Then when your children ask you, “What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, “It’s the Passover offering to Yehovah, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians, and spared our houses.’ Then the people knelt down and worshiped. (Scripturally a “service” is accompanied by animal zebak—so if you have “church services”....) This is what the Passover meant to ancient Israel. It involved leaving the land of slavery and moving to the Promised Land. That’s why Jeremiah mentioned the second Exodus in Jeremiah 23:7-8 This is a “sea change” so to speak. No longer is the Red Sea Exodus a focal point for Israel. From this point onward the Second Exodus is the major benchmark in time. There is a statement that Yeshua is the “beginning and the end”, (Revelation 1:8). Could this be a statement that is portrayed within the Biblical Feast Days? He was killed from the “foundation of the world”; that would certainly be a beginning. There is no end of the Kingdom (Isaiah 9:7), so what “end” is spoken of? Might it refer to the end of this age? Matthew 24:3 As Yeshua sat on the Mount of Olives, His disciples approached, conversing among themselves and asked, “Tell us when will these things happen and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age [Gr. aion]. This important question prompted a very lengthy response from Yeshua. See The Actual Message of Matthew 24, borrowed from the israelofgod.org website (now sponsored by an agnostic)! wouldn’t the “shadow of things to come” have to refer to things to come before the end of the age? If so, then these things are left for the end time. Of course I think it’s likely that significant events within the coming Kingdom of Elohim will also occur on these memorial dates as well, but we have very few clues about the next age. The Passover was the event that separated ancient Israel from Egypt. Ancient Israel had no concept of a Savior who was to die for us. Once the firstborn of Egypt were slain on the night of the Passover, Pharaoh had finally become convinced that they could not endure another plague from Elohim. This event, which was immediately instituted as a “memorial”, initiates the first of seven Biblical Feast Days that ancient Israel was to celebrate annually, as listed in Leviticus 23. Exodus 12:14 This day will serve as a memorial. You must celebrate it as a Pilgrimage Feast to Yehovah as a Pilgrimage Feast, a perpetual ordinance. “Memorial”, in Hebrew as in English, literally means “a reminder or remembrance”, so to ancient Israel they looked backward to the meaning of this day. Humans memorialize their special occasions only after they have already happened, but Elohim can “remember” things that we have yet to experience. Elohim’s Biblical Feast Days are one of the most important things that He has instituted. Elohim has declared “the end” of this age from “ancient times”, thru many prophecies as well as the Biblical Feast Days that commemorate the high points. Those who commemorate the Biblical Feast Days are far more apt to be aware of Elohim’s ancient plan, that could even save their lives in years to come. Isaiah 46:9-10 Remember the events of antiquity, because I’m Elohim, and there is no other, I’m Elohim, and there’s no one like Me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that haven’t been done yet. I say that My purposes will be established, and I’ll do the things I delight in. We know that the Biblical Feast Days have an ancient history; you may also know that they have had a relevance concerning the followers of Yeshua. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 “keep the feast”. However, they also fulfill the “things to come” part to occur during this very generation. These seven “memorials” will we covered, one by one, shortly. The ancient twelve tribes of Israel perhaps never even considered that the Passover would eventually take on an entirely new meaning having virtually nothing to do with the death of the first born. It is common knowledge among the kadishea (saints) that Passover has dual meanings: separate symbolic significances for separate ages. Little considered tho is that there is still another fulfillment of Passover, as well as all of the other six Biblical Feast Days! The Biblical Feast Days represent things past, present, and future—alpha to omega. Nevertheless, there are events in the end time story of Israel that often represent the primary fulfillment of the days because our generation will witness the culmination of Elohim’s plan that has been in the works for untold millennia. This chapter is a summarized presentation of the “end time”, or “latter day” time line, as I presently understand it—“explained” within the framework of the Biblical Feast Days, that were mandatory for ancient Israel and are a privilege and duty for us today. One thing is certain; I’ll see some things differently in the future, like I did in 2006 when I realized after 24 years of doing Passover wrong, that I also needed to understand what I learned as I researched: Did Yeshua’s Supper Replace the Passover? And “Messiah our Passover”] Passover & Unleavened Bread It goes without saying that the Early Assembly witnessed the staggering events fulfilled in connection with the Yeshua’s Supper and Passover. This makes the previous Passover ceremony of the Exodus serve as a pattern for the next Passover fulfillment. Nevertheless, the event really was a continuation of a plan that will be exactly seven millennia in fulfillment. There is to be another great aspect of the Passover story that will incorporate the physical salvation aspects of the first Passover with the spiritual salvational aspects of Yeshua being our literal Passover Lamb. The next great Passover will involve the living Passover Lamb, our Redeemer, conquering and ruling the world! Revelation 13:8 Everyone who lives on earth, whose names are not [not ‘were not’] not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world will worship Him. Altho Judaism never expected for the “redeemer” to do the things that He did, and rejected Him, they were nevertheless aware that a redeemer would come because of “their” Scriptures: Job 19:25 As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. And that in the end, He’ll stand on the earth. Psalm 78:35 They remembered that Elohim was their Rock, and that the Highest Elohim was their Redeemer. Isaiah 44:6 This is what Yehovah, the King of Israel [the Father], AND His Redeemer [the Son], Yehovah the Commander, says, “I am the first, and I am the last, and there is no Elohim besides Me. Yeshua, the “I AM”, our Redeemer, will soon give us a Kingdom, compensation to His faithful followers who obey the Commandments. Revelation 22:12-14 I’ll come quickly! My compensation is with Me, to pay everyone according to what they’ve done. 13 I’m the Aleph and the Tau, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 14 Blessed are those who obey His Commandments, so they’ll have the right to the Tree of Life, and can enter thru the gates into the city. Contrary to popular thought, Passover is not a day; it is an event that precedes the Feast of Unleavened Bread. I refer to these events together, as is done in the following three passages. People often said “Passover” when they meant the Passover event AND the seven days of Unleavened Bread that followed. Mark 14:1 It was two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The high priests and the Torah teachers were bent on finding a stratagem to arrest Him and kill Him. Luke 22:1 The Feast of Unleavened Bread that is called the Passover was approaching. Luke 22:7 The Day of Unleavened Bread arrived when it was necessary to offer the Passover lamb zebak. For anyone wanting to read about the Days of Unleavened Bread, Exodus 12 is the place to begin. The following correlation, unless I’m greatly mistaken, begins a story that is quite fascinating, disturbing and thrilling. This is the very beginning of the story of Israel’s Feasts. Exodus 12:14-17 This day will serve as a memorial. You must celebrate it as a Pilgrimage Feast to Yehovah as a Pilgrimage Feast, a perpetual ordinance. 15 ‘You’ll eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day [Preparation day] you’ll remove the leaven from your houses, because anyone who eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day will be ‘banished’ from Israel. 16 On the first day you must have a kadosh assembly, and on the seventh day another kadosh assembly. No work will be done on those days, other than making your meals. That’s all you can do. 17 You must celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought you out of the land of Egypt like an army. So you’ll celebrate this day thruout your generations, by an ordinance forever. During the Second Exodus, after the shock and awe when Elohim has Israel in the wilderness, He will plead His case with her again! Ezekiel 20:34-38 I’ll bring you out of the nations and gather you out of the countries where you were scattered, with a mighty hand with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out. 35 I’ll bring you into the wilderness of the people [Isaiah 1, Hosea 2:14], and I’ll judge you there face to face, 36 just like when I judged your ancestors in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, that’s how I’ll judge you, declares the Sovereign Yehovah. 37 I’ll make you pass under the shepherd’s rod, and I’ll bind you in a [Kimchi] [New] Covenant, 38 and I’ll purge out the rebels from among you, and those who disobey Me. I’ll bring them out of the land where they were living, but they won’t enter the land of Israel. Then you’ll realize that I am Yehovah. The following reference highlights the fact that a memorial was already planned out in advance of the Exodus—or was the “same day” occurrence only coincidental? Exodus 12:40-42 Now the length of time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 Then at the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all of Yehovah’s people marched out of the land of Egypt like an army. 42 On tonight Yehovah kept watch, enabling them to leave the land of Egypt. So this same night is a night of watching to be observed by all of Israel to honor Yehovah, to be an annual vigil by all of Israel for the generations to come. This “night of solemn observance” or “night of watching”, is the Passover! It commemorated the Exodus. But the emphasis is about to change dramatically! So Again, Watch For The Next Exodus! Now for PART 2 Google Search only search Everlasting Kingdom   Minor update January 21, 2014   Lon Martin’s work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

New Jerusalem-A Place of Safety!

New Jerusalem–A Place of Safety! Surviving the Great Tribulation INDEX Chapter 18, Part 1 Preview: Where will you be during the Great Tribulation? A great many people assume that “the church” will be spared the anguish of the Great Tribulation by being “Raptured” into heaven. Others believe that “the church” will flea to a place of safety on earth, such as Petra in Jordan, but not stay in “a place” for the full 1,260 days, opting to spend a year in “the third heaven”. Others plan to be in various places on earth for the entire time. Some hope that the kadishea (saints) will be protected in their homes as the nations around them are being decimated. I will mention “the wilderness” later. Consider the following Texts and ask yourself if a Place of Safety is to be “above” us. This is the Sequel to The Mysteries of New Jerusalem. We’ll Soar! I quoted the following passage in my book The Mysteries of New Jerusalem, but it is my favorite New Jerusalem text, because it is the first passage that caused me to go searching for evidence that there is far more to New Jerusalem than I had been led to believe. Under what conditions would the kings of the earth ever approach any city, take a good look, and then flee trembling in panic? This will be no ordinary city! I can picture in my mind these fancifully dressed men frantically whipping their horses as they’re heading for the hills! (after perhaps emp weapons take out everything electronic). Psalm 48:1-6, 8 Yehovah is great, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our Elohim, in His kadosh mountain. 2 Beautiful in elevation, Mount Zion is the joy of the whole earth, in the extreme north, the city of the great King. 3 Elohim has shown Himself in her citadels as a refuge. 4 The kings gathered together, they passed by together. 5 They saw it [“Mount Zion” the city”] and they were amazed. They were terrified, so they fled in panic. 6 Trembling took hold of them there, pain like a woman in childbirth. ... 8 As we have heard, so we have seen, in the city of Yehovah the Commander, in the city of our Elohim. Elohim will establish it forever. Selah. —The Gabriel Bible What does the Bible say about surviving the Great Tribulation? If you have read The Time After Jacob’s Trouble, then you are aware of the case I made showing that the remnant, or survivors, of the Nations of Israel are being led to safety at the close of this present age. Some of the basic “proof texts” about the kadishea being spared the Tribulation actually pertain to Israel. So where does the Assembly (Church) fit into the equation? Might “the wise” be seeking protection before those who suffer some of the trials begin looking for a way out? Finally, could Mount Zion, often a synonym for (New) Jerusalem, be the ultimate place of safety as well as where the “Marriage of the Lamb” will LATER take place? The key text used by the earthly “place of safety” proponents maintains that the “woman” of Revelation 12 is the “true church”. Of course, 1,260 days is the exact duration of the “Great Tribulation” also described as “the time of Jacob’s trouble”—the more interesting half of a seven year period: Revelation 12:6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where YHVH had prepared a place for her, so that THEY could nourish her for 1,260 days. But is this “woman” the church? What evidence supports that conclusion? Simply reading the context, the five verses preceding this “proof text”, really puts the kibosh to that nonsense. The woman in question is the Nation that gave birth to Yeshua (Jesus)—Israel. Revelation 12:1-5 ‘Amazing imagery’ was seen in the sky: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon beneath her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 Being pregnant, she cried out from birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 Another sign appeared in the sky, a huge fiery Dragon [Gr. drakon] that had seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems were on his head. 4 His tail ‘swept’ away a third of the stars [angels, Revelation 9:1] in the sky and cast them to the ground. The Dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that as soon as she had given birth he would devour her Son. 5 She gave birth to a Son who is to rule all nations with a scepter of iron. Her Child was quickly taken up to Yehovah and to His throne. Comparing this reference to the other symbolic reference concerning “sun” “moon” and “stars” will crush any remaining doubts about the “woman”. Joseph had a prophetic dream where his family, the first “Israelite” family, corresponded to these exact symbols! Joseph was the youngest (12th star). Genesis 37:9 Then he had another dream. He told his brothers, “I’ve had another dream. I saw the sun, the moon and eleven stars bowing down to me!” Could New Jerusalem be a place of safety for the entire time? What is the “Tabernacle” that will have been “created”, and located literally “above” the earthly Mount Zion as a “place of refuge”. Also, might the Feast of Tabernacles also pertain to the TABERNACLE, in the sky “above” the earth, or possibly also include an earthly tabernacle! There is more about this “woman” and “her place” a few verses later. Notice that “her place” is a place that she must “fly into”! Might you “rejoice” in the “Heavens”, and if so what Heavens? Revelation 12:12,14 SO THE HEAVENS SHOULD BE JOYFUL AND THOSE OF YOU WHO LIVE THERE. Pity the earth and the sea, because the deceiver has been cast down to you, filled with rage, knowing that he has little time left. ... 14 The woman was given the two wings of a huge eagle so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place of habitation, where she would be nourished for a time, times, and half a time, from the ‘presence’ of the serpent. I’m convinced that no one except Yeshua has ever gone to heaven (John 3:13), but during the Day of Yehovah (Revelation 1:10) that will change: Revelation 5:3 No one in Heaven above or on earth or under the earth was able to open the small book or even look inside it. After the Exodus, Yehovah set national boundaries for the tribes of Israel. In becoming a nation, Elohim (God) compared the “wilderness” experience of the First Exodus to an eagle carrying its young into the air in order to drop them for a “crash” course in flying. Deuteronomy 32:8-11 When the Highest One gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided mankind, He established the boundaries of the nations with respect to the number of the people of Israel. 9 But Yehovah’s property is His people. Jacob is His allotted inheritance. 10 He found him [them] in a desolate land, in a wasted howling wilderness. He encircled him. He cared for him. He guarded him as the pupil of His eye. 11 Like an eagle that stirs up her nest, and flutters over her young, He spreads out His wings to catch them and carry them on His pinions. The Revelation account of the “eagle” and the “woman” illustrates that Yehovah is again going to “drop ship” Israel into her land via another “wilderness” experience. After the destruction of ancient Israel, Yehovah promised that He would once again redraw the borders of Israel as the center piece of Middle Eastern geography. The detailed plan begins in the following verse. Ezekiel 47:13 The Sovereign Yehovah says: These are the boundaries of the land that is to be divided as the inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph will have two portions. Some of those people who Yehovah has used to rebuild His Latter temple will still be in Jerusalem until the last possible safe moment: Matthew 24:15-21 When you see the sign of the detestable desolation mentioned by the prophet Daniel, standing in the kadosh Place—the reader must understand— 16 then those of you who are in Judea should escape to the mountain/s! 17 No one on the roof should come down to get anything out of their houses, 18 and no one in the fields should return to get their clothing. 19 But I pity pregnant and nursing mothers in those days. 20 Pray that your flight won’t be during foul weather or on the Sabbath. 21 There will be Great Tribulation then, such as has never occurred from the beginning of the world until now, and will by no means ever happen again. There is reason to believe that many people will arrive at a gathering place over a period of 75 days (Daniel 12:11-12), but from there Yehovah will take these people elsewhere for exactly 42 months! Some will calmly “depart” early within the seventy five day “window” of opportunity: Isaiah 52:11-12 Leave! Leave, get away from there! Touch nothing unclean! Get out of her 'presence'! Cleanse yourselves, you who bear the vessels of Yehovah [1]. 12 You won’t go out 'fleeing', and you won’t go as fugitives, because Yehovah will go before you [Father?], and the Elohim of Israel will be your rear guard [His Son?].” [1] The vessels of Yehovah are those hidden by Jeremiah just prior to the destruction of the second 'Temple', that apparently will be found and used in the third 'Temple'. A far greater number of Israelites, and wise people of other nations will be provided “refuge” after surviving the Great Tribulation. Ezekiel 37:27 My home/tabernacle [New Jerusalem] will also be a tabernacle ABOVE them. I’ll be their Elohim, and they’ll be My people. 28 The nations will know that I, Yehovah, make Israel kadosh, when My Kadosh Place [an earthly temple] is among them forever. Isaiah 4:4-6 ... when Yehovah has washed away the filth of the maidens of Zion, and rinsed the bloodstains from Jerusalem, by a spirit of justice, and a spirit that sets ablaze! 5 Yehovah will create ABOVE the entire site of Mount Zion and ABOVE her assemblies a cloud during the day and smoke, and a bright flaming fire during the night; because ABOVE all the splendor there will be a cuppah/canope/bridegroom’s chamber [1]. 6 It will be a sukkah [tabernacle] to provide shade [literally shadow] in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and shelter from storms and rain. [1] Traditional Jewish weddings have a clear view of the sky directly above, when viewed from within a chuppah. The other two times the word chuppah is used is in connection with a strong bridegroom traversing heaven, (Psalm 19:5-6) and an end time marriage (Joel 2:16). You don’t suppose the cuppah above has anything to do with the wedding of the Lamb do you? New Jerusalem will arive in the same general time frame as the “New Heavens” and the “New Earth”, so you really need to read Isaiah chapters 65 and 66 closely to see that this all happens at the end of this age, not the millennial age!: Isaiah 65:16-19 Anyone who is blessed in the land will be blessed by the Elohim of truth, and anyone who swears in the land will swear by the Elohim of truth, because the previous troubles are forgotten and hidden from My eyes.” 17 I’m going to create a New Heavens and a New Earth, and the previous ones won’t be remembered, or come to mind! 18 Be glad and rejoice forever in what I’m going to create, because I’m creating [a New] Jerusalem for rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19 I [Yehovah] will celebrate in Jerusalem, and take delight in My people, and there will no longer be heard in her the sound of weeping and crying. Isaiah 66:20-24 They’ll bring all of your relatives from all the nations as an offering to Yehovah [Second Exodus], on horses, on chariots, on litters, on mules and on dromedaries to My kadosh mountain Jerusalem,” Yehovah says, “like the Israelites bring their offering in a ceremonially clean vessel into Yehovah’s 'Temple'. 21 “I’ll also appoint some of them to be priests and Levites [Ezekiel 44:6-15],” says Yehovah. 22 “As the New Heavens and the New Earth that I’ll make will endure in My presence”, declares Yehovah, “So your descendants and your name will endure. 23 In the future, from one new moon to the next new moon, and from one Sabbath to the next Sabbath, all of humanity will come to worship before Me”, declares Yehovah. 24 “They’ll go out and see the carcasses of the people who rebelled against Me, because the maggots devouring them won’t die off. The fire that’s burning them won’t go out. They’ll be abhorrent to everyone.” Here, the Tabernacle is described as a “refuge” after the “storm”, after the filth has been washed away. This is a primary support for the view that New Jerusalem will actually be “anchored” above the historic location of “Old Jerusalem”, tho it will be far larger. These people who survived the Great Tribulation will need refuge from the Day of Yehovah (the “Lord”), which is the second great prophesied period of time. Matthew 24:29-30 Immediately AFTER the time of Tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon won’t shed her light and shooting stars will fall from the sky, and the inherent power of the skies will be shaken. 30 Then the miraculous sign of the Human Son will be seen in the sky, and then all the nations on earth will mourn when they see the Human Son coming on the clouds in the sky with great power and splendor. This is not fluffy filler material either: We need to be looking for a True Tabernacle, not some “the Church is the Tabernacle” imitation. Hebrews 8:1-2 The ‘main point’ is that we have a High Priest who is seated on the right hand side of the throne of the Majesty in Heaven. 2 He is the temple priest of the kadosh Place, the true tabernacle that Yehovah built, not man. Revelation 21:1-3 I saw a new heaven and a New Earth, because the first heaven and the first earth had gone [1], and there was no more sea. 2 I saw the kadosh city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from YHVH, like a bride adorned for her husband [for the Marriage of the Lamb]. 3 I heard a loud voice from the sky say, “Look, YHVH’s tabernacle [dwelling place] is among humanity [Gr. anthropos]. He will live with them and they’ll be His people, and YHVH will be with them, yes YHVH Himself will be with them.” [1] This is the equivalent of the new earth that appeared after YHVH sent a great flood “to destroy the earth” in Genesis 9:11. What Tabernacle does the Beast blaspheme? And who is dwelling in “heaven” (the sky) at that time? Notice that the Beast will blaspheme Yehovah’s Tabernacle. Revelation 13:4-6 They worshiped the Dragon because he had given authority to this predatory beast, and they said, “Who is like the predatory beast, and who can wage war with him?” 5 He was given a mouth to make ‘bold’ and blasphemous statements, and he was given authority to operate for forty-two months. 6 He opened his mouth in blasphemy against YHVH, blaspheming His name and His tabernacle and those who live in Heaven. I believe that this is the same occurrence that is mentioned by Daniel: Daniel 11:31 Armed forces will rise up, and they’ll defile the Temple refuge, and put a stop to the daily burnt ze’bakim [sacrifices], and they’ll set up an appalling detestable idol [KJV, abomination of desolation]. Notice what David was inspired to say. You may think that David’s words below are generic as far as the timing goes, but the context speaks clearly about the “end time” and things that never remotely happened during his lifetime. This is prophetic! For emphasis this is also restated in Psalm 18. 2 Samuel 221-12 David sang the words of this song to Yehovah [Jehovah] on the day Yehovah rescued him from the ‘grasp’ of all his enemies, including Saul’s. 2 He said, “Yehovah is my rock, my fortress, and my rescuer, 3 Elohim is my rock, in Him I’ll take refuge. He is my shield, and the horn of my deliverance, my high tower, and my refuge. You save me from violence. 4 I’ll call on Yehovah, who is worthy to be praised, I will be saved from my enemies. 5 Waves of death engulfed me. Torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. 6 Ropes from Sheol were surrounding me. Death traps were coming for me. 7 In my distress I called to Yehovah. Yes, I called to my Elohim. He heard my voice from His Temple. My cry reached His ears. 8 Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of the heavens trembled and quaked because of His anger. 9 Smoke rose from his nostrils, and devouring fire from His mouth. Coals were set fire by it. 10 He bent the heavens and came down. Thick darkness was under His feet. 11 He rode on a cherub, and flew, and He appeared on the wings of the wind. 12 He made darkness a sukkah [booth] around Himself, amassing water and thick clouds from the skies. “Pavilions” in the KJV (Heb: sukkah, sook-kaw’) is the same term that is used in “Tabernacles”, such as the “Feast of Tabernacles”, rather than the common word also translated tabernacle. At this time New Jerusalem will be cloaked with “dark waters and thick clouds”, hiding its majesty. Which heaven would Yehovah be in, so that when He thunders, lightning strikes the earth? Continuing: 13 Out of the brightness of His presence, coals burst into flames. 14 Yehovah thundered from heaven. The Highest One let His voice be heard! 15 He shot arrows and scattered ‘His enemies’; and His lightning threw them into confusion. 16 Then the ravines of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the world were laid bare by the reprimand of Yehovah, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils. 17 He reached down from high above and took hold of me; He pulled me out of the deep water. 18 He rescued me from my powerful enemies, from those who hated me, since they were too strong for me. 19 They confronted me during the time of my disaster, but Yehovah supported me. 20 He brought me out into an expanse. He rescued me because He delighted in me. 21 Yehovah compensated me for having been fair. He paid me back for having kept my hands clean [innocence]. This has nothing to do with anything that David experienced, but it has everything to do with The Day of Yehovah (the “Lord”) and deliverance from it! The most interesting points in this are: He took me”... “He also brought me out into the expanse”. This “broad place”, as the KJV puts it is probably the “sea of glass”! Could you turn in your Bible and find anything even remotely as strong as the support for the “place of safety” described below—for some other location? Psalm 31:19-21 How great is ‘the’ goodness that You’ve reserved for those who fear You, that You provide for those who take refuge in You, in the sight of Adam’s descendants! 20 In the secret shelter of Your presence you’ll hide them like a treasure from conspirators. You’ll keep them secretly in a Tabernacle away from the controversy. 21 Praise Yehovah, because He has shown me His miraculous mercy in a city under attack. The Strong City will be New Jerusalem! Isaiah 26:1-2 When that day comes this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city. He sets up walls and ramparts for security. 2 Open the gates so that the righteous nation can come in, the one that remains faithful. The Jerusalem on the ground will no longer be called Jerusalem; that name will be reserved for the New City: Ezekiel 48:31, 35 and the gates of the city will be named after the tribes of Israel. The three gates on the north side will be the Reuben gate, the Judah gate and the Levi gate. [as in Revelation 21:12]... 35 The circumference of the city will be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that time on will be ‘Yehovah is there.’” Psalm 46:1-7 (The Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth.) Elohim is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 So we won’t be afraid, tho the earth changes, [removed”, as in the KJV, is not in Strong’s] tho the mountains are moved into the middle of the seas, 3 tho its waters roar and ‘foam’, [Literally “boil”, “foam up”, ferment”], though the mountains tremble with their ‘rising up’ [Literally, “Pride, majesty, rising up, swelling]. Selah. 4 There is a river with streams that make the city of Elohim glad, the very Tabernacle’ of the Highest One. 5 Elohim is in her midst. She won’t be ‘shaken’ [Literally, “Totter, shaken, slip, be moved], Elohim will HELP HER at the break of dawn. 6 The nations were in chaos. The kingdoms tottered. He raised His voice and the earth melted. [Certainly not all of it.] 7 Yehovah the Commander is with us. The Elohim of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. This may be a reference to the time when the “sea” is “no more”. “Elohim will HELP HER” [Israel] just prior to the “dawn” of the new millennial day! Reconstruction of the earth’s surface requires a lot of shaking and melting! Fortunately, during the “reconstruction”, the “City” or “Tabernacle” will not be shaken. New Jerusalem, with its River of Life [Revelation 22:1], will be positioned over the location of ancient Eden, actually covering an area much larger than all of ancient Israel had been. The river that flowed from Eden became four great rivers. I expect that this too will be restored to a pre flood condition. Job 36:29-33 Can anyone understand how the clouds spread, or the thunder blasts from His sukkah [temporary shelter]? 30 He spreads His lightning around Him, and it covers [pierces] the depths of the sea! 31 He judges the nations with these and He provides food in abundance. 32 He completely covers His hands with lightning bolts, and commands each to strike its mark. 33 His thunder announces what’s coming. Even the livestock make known the storm’s/ approach. Perhaps even Job was alluding to the dark clouds that will cover the earth and the sky, preventing visibility of New Jerusalem until the Day of Yehovah. Then there will be thunder from His Tabernacle! Here is another clue as to where protection will be offered to those who will listen: Obadiah 1:15-18 The Day of Yehovah [better known as “the Day of the Lord”] is approaching all the nations! As you’ve done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will be reciprocated to your own head. 16 Just as you’ve drunk on My kadosh mountain, so all the nations will drink continually. They’ll drink and swallow down, and be as tho they had never existed. 17 But on Mount Zion there will be some who escape, and it will be a kadosh place. The ‘descendants’ of Jacob will retake their inheritance. 18 The ‘descendants’ of Jacob will be a fire, the ‘descendants’ of Joseph a flame, and the ‘descendants’ of Esau stubble. They’ll set them on fire and consume them. There won’t be any survivors among the ‘descendants’ of Esau. Yehovah has spoken! Don’t try hiding out on Jerusalem’s earthly Mount Zion during the Day of Yehovah! Earthly Jerusalem will definitely not be safe. Again, “Those who are in Judea should flea to the mountain/s” (Matthew 24:16). Yehovah’s people must “Flea” “Judea”! Psalm 27:1-5 (By David.) Yehovah is my light and my deliverance. Who should I fear? Yehovah is the means of safety in my life. Who should I be afraid of? 2 When the wicked came at me to devour my flesh, my adversaries and my enemies stumbled and fell. 3 Even if an army sets up camp against me, my thoughts will not be of fear. If a war should arise against me, I would still be confident. 4 I’ve asked one thing from Yehovah, that I intend to pursue: that I could live in Yehovah’s Temple all the days of my life, to gaze at Yehovah’s beauty, and to meditate in His Temple. 5 In the time of trouble He’ll protect me secretly in His pavilion. In the secret place of His tabernacle He’ll hide me. He’ll set me high on a ROCK. I think that that last line is what was alluded to in 1 Corinthians 10:4, with Yeshua being the Rock. Dismissing the following Scripture as poetry may cost you your life! Psalm 91: All Those who live in the SECRET PLACE of the Highest One will find rest in the shadow of the Sovereign. 2 I’ll say of Yehovah, “My refuge and my fortress, my Elohim, I trust Him.” 3 He’ll certainly rescue you from trapper’s snares and deadly diseases. 4 He’ll cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you’ll take refuge [more eagle symbolism]. His faithfulness is your shield and buckler. 5 You won’t be afraid of terrors in the night, or arrows that fly by day, 6 or a disease that stalks in the darkness, or destruction that lays waste at noon. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not overcome you. 8 You’ll only look with your eyes and see how the wicked are compensated, 9 because you’ve made Yehovah your refuge, and the Highest One your dwelling place. 10 No harm will come to you, nor will any plague come near your tent. 11 He’ll put His Messengers in charge of you to protect you along your journey. 12 They’ll lift you up with their hands so you won’t strike your foot against a stone. 13 You’ll tread on lions and cobras. You’ll trample young lions and serpents under your feet. 14 Because he loves Me, I’ll rescue him. I’ll set him high out of reach because he has known My name. 15 He’ll call on Me, and I’ll answer him. I’ll be with him when he’s in trouble. I’ll rescue him and honor him. 16 I’ll ‘reward’ him with long life, and show him My deeds of deliverance [Literally: Yeshua]. “high above”? Just like “heaven”, “high above” or “on high” can sometimes mean anywhere “up there”, but usually it’s where Yehovah lives! Isaiah 33:5 Yehovah is exalted, because He lives high above. He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. Psalm 92:8 But you, Yehovah, are exalted forever. Isaiah 24:18 Whoever flees at the sound of the terror will fall into a pit, and whoever climbs up out of the pit will be caught in a snare, because the windows of the heavens are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble. You’ve heard of walking on water, what about walking on fire: Isaiah 33:14-17 The sinners in Zion are terrified. Trembling has seized the secular people. Which of us can live thru devouring fire? Which of us can live with continual burning? 15 Those who ‘live’ the right way, and speak the truth, who despise profiting from oppression, who gesture with their hands refusing a bribe, who stop their ears from hearing plots of murder, and refuse to ‘endorse’ evil 16 will live high above. Their refuge will be the mountain fortress. Their bread will be supplied, their water will be assured. 17 Your eyes will see the King in His splendor. You’ll see a land that stretches into the distance. “Our eyes will see the King” the “Lofty Rock”, our “Mountain Fortress” when we “live on High”! From this vantage point we’ll be able to “see” the “kadosh Land”. Both “fortress” and “rock” are used as symbols of Yehovah’s supernatural protection. That goes double when they are both used together! These terms are always taken to be figures of speech, and that’s fine, but could they have a literal application for those of us at the end of the age? Psalm 31:2-3 ‘Listen’ to me. Rescue me quickly. Be my ROCK of refuge, a mountain FORTRESS to save me. 3 Since You are my Rock and my Fortress, for the reputation of Your name lead and guide me. Psalm 27:5-6 In the time of trouble He’ll protect me secretly in His pavilion. In the secret place of His tabernacle He’ll hide me. He’ll set me high on a ROCK. 6 Now I’ll be enabled to lift my head high above my enemies who surround me. I’ll give offerings of joy in His tabernacle with shouts of joy. I’ll sing praises to Yehovah. Psalm 18:2 Yehovah is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer. My Elohim is my Rock where I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my deliverance, and my high tower. Psalm 71:3 Be my ROCK of refuge that I can always go to. You have given the command to save me, because You are my ROCK and my fortress.. Mix in a little eagle wings for good measure: Psalm 61:2-4 From the remotest part of the earth I call to You when my mind is overwhelmed. Lead me to the Rock that is high above me. 3 You’ve been a refuge for me, a tower of strength in the face of the enemy. 4 Allow me live in Your tent forever! Allow me to take refuge under the shelter of Your wings. Selah. Who wants to stay in Petra “forever”? Psalm 31:1-5 (For the choir director. A Psalm by David.) In you, Yehovah, I take refuge. Don’t let me ever be disappointed. Deliver me by Your rightways. 2 ‘Listen’ to me. Rescue me quickly. Be my Rock of refuge, a mountain fortress to save me. 3 Since You are my Rock and my Fortress, for the reputation of Your name lead and guide me. 4 Pull me out of the net they’ve secretly laid for me, because You are my refuge. 5 Into your hand I commit my spirit [as Yeshua quoted in Luke 23:46]. You have redeemed me, Yehovah, Elohim of truth. With “rock” and “fortress” notice the similarities as we continue in the following a few verses: 19-21 How great is ‘the’ goodness that You’ve reserved for those who fear You, that You provide for those who take refuge in You, in the sight of Adam’s descendants! 20 In the secret shelter of Your presence you’ll hide them like a treasure from conspirators. You’ll keep them secretly in a Tabernacle away from the controversy. 21 Praise Yehovah, because He has shown me His miraculous mercy in a city under attack. Now for Part 2 Lon Martin, lonwmartin@yahoo.com Google Search only search Everlasting Kingdom   Minor update 12/30/2017   Lon Martin’s work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The Book of Life

The Book of Life Are Names Added, or Blotted Out? Chapter 38 Preview: Why is it that the Bible never mentions someone having their name ADDED to The Book of Life? Why is it that the Bible only mention people having their names BLOTTED OUT of that precious book? People ASSUME that the Bible says: “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will ADD his name to the Book of Life”! This chapter makes the arguments about “predestination” irrelevant since we can know that Elohim (God) has predestined that all of us would be winners in the “game of life” if we simply play by the rules! The later part of this chapter goes beyond just having your name recorded in heaven. It covers what is required to actually be present in the coming Everlasting Kingdom. INDEX The following verse illustrates a key point concerning the Book of Life. This would be the ideal place to mention that your name could be added to the Book of Life—yet instead we see that it is already there! Revelation 3:5 Anyone who is victorious will wear white clothes, and I WON’T BLOT THEIR NAMES FROM THE BOOK OF LIFE. I’ll acknowledge their names before My Father and before His messengers. This passage adds an interesting perspective to all of those passages telling us to “confess” Yeshua (Jesus)! Yeshua will confess us! Revelation 17:8 The predatory beast that you saw who was, and is not, is ‘destined’ to reascend before long from the bottomless pit and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth will be amazed (everyone whose names are not written in the Book of Life [1] that was written from the creation of the world), when they see the predatory beast that was, and is not, and yet is coming. —The Gabriel Bible [1] The Greek seemingly says “were not”, as virtually every translation from it says. The Aramaic says “are not”. But names are in the Book of Life unless they are blotted out. Revelation 3:5; Exodus 32:33; Deuteronomy 29:20. Weymouth may be the only translator who understood this verse—that it doesn’t contradict the other verses about the Book of Life. His version says, “whose names are not in the Book of Life, having been recorded there ever since the creation of the world.” The Weymouth was freshly translated from the Greek in the nineteenth century, without reference to previous versions. It wasn’t simply a revision of the Tyndale, like virtually every other Greek translation appears to be. Their names have been removed: Psalm 9:5 You’ve reprimand the nations. You’ve destroyed the wicked. You’ve BLOTTED OUT THEIR NAMES into the unending future! There is little doubt that “the wicked” once had their names recorded, or their names could not be “blotted out”! The wicked “who live on the earth” at this time are separated from the merely unconverted, “the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left”. Yehovah recorded everyone’s name in advance, because He doesn’t want any to perish, but the incorrigibly wicked will have their names deleted! But the sheep and the goats are not who they are being promoted as being. The sheep are not “converted” people! Need proof? Here it is: Are the “Unsaved” Lost?. Exodus 32:31-33 So Moses returned to Yehovah, and said, “Oh, these people have committed a serious sin. They have made themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, if you will, remove their sin” and if not, BLOT ME OUT OF THE BOOK that You’ve written. 33 Yehovah told Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me will be BLOTTED OUT of My book. Again, the names of the incorrigibly wicked were formerly in the Book of Life, but are being removed daily. These were not converted people whose names were to be blotted out of Yehovah’s book! A few verses earlier it says: 22 Aaron said, “Master don’t allow your anger to get hot. You know the people, how they are set on being bad. Interestingly, we are told exactly when these ancient people will be punished a few verses later. They will receive their reward “on the day when I visit for punishment”. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place that I told you about. Look, My Messenger will lead you. But on the day when I visit for punishment, I’ll punish them for their sin. This is explained fully in “The Last Day”—Judgment Day. This timing of punishment is the same timing that Peter mentioned when he spoke of “the day of the Return”. However, Peter admonished the kadishea (saints) to set an “honorable” example, so that some of the “gentiles” who “speak against you as evildoers” may eventually “praise Yehovah”! 1 Peter 2:11-12 Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and foreigners to separate yourselves from all carnal desires, because they war against your consciousness” [psyche, Gr: psuche]. 12 Your behavior should be obviously commendable to everyone, so those who are slandering you can see your good behavior and praise YHVH in the day of probation. David, in a long lamentation about the worthlessness of the wicked said: Psalm 69:28 Allow them be blotted out of the Book of Life, and not be recorded with the righteous. The alternative to having your name written in the Book of Life is to have it written in the dust of the earth—“ashes to ashes, dust to dust”, so to speak: Jeremiah 17:13 Yehovah is the hope of Israel. Everyone who forsakes You will be disappointed and ashamed. Those who abandon You will be recorded in the dirt, because they’ve abandoned Yehovah, the spring of living water. Philipptians 4:3 I also urge you, my true colleague, to help the women who worked hard with me in proclaiming the Good News, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are recorded in THE BOOK OF LIFE. As in every age, some of our “fellow workers” will drop out of the race, but as long as they remain faithful, their “names are in the Book of Life”. Luke 10:20 But don’t be elated because the demons yield to you, rather be elated because your names are recorded in Heaven. Revelation 20:15 If after a thoro search, anyone’s name wasn’t found written in the Book of Life, they were thrown into the lake of fire. The following passage is translated into many translations in a way that implies that some names were never recorded in the Book of Life to begin with. The actual transliteration of the words from Green’s Interlinear Bible are: “And will worship it all those dwelling on the earth of whom not was written the names in the scroll of life ....” Those names “not was written” because they had been removed—as every other account explains—not because they were never there! The KJV correctly says: “ARE not written in the Book of Life”, present tense, as does this: Revelation 13:7-8 He was given authority over the various tribes and ethnicities and languages and nations and he was ‘allowed’ to wage war against the kadishea [saints], and to ‘conquer’ them. 8 Everyone who lives on earth, whose names are not [not ‘were not’] written in the Book of Life of the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world will worship Him. The implication is that Yehovah will demand that everyone bow to Him and acknowledge His fairness even if He must break their knees first. The point is not to indicate that Yehovah failed to “give them a chance”, rather, the focus in on the tragedy that many are no longer in the Book. Revelation 21:27 Nothing unclean will ever enter it or anyone who performs idolatrous abominations or a liar—only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Small Book of Life. You want nothing to do with adding or taking away from the Bible! Revelation 22:18-19 I testify to everyone who hears the words of prophecy in this small book [4a]: if anyone adds to them, YHVH will ADD to them the catastrophes [plagues] that are described in this small book. 19 If anyone takes words out of the book containing this prophecy [4b], YHVH will TAKE AWAY their destiny from the Tree of Life and from the kadosh city described in this small book. [4a,b] John repeatedly referred to “his” Book of Revelation as a little book. But “the book containing this prophecy” is the entire Testimony of Yeshua! This penalty apparently applies not only to the translators who deliberately changed some of Yehovah’s word, but also to those who deliberately misrepresent Yehovah’s thoughts in their sermons and conversations. A careful reading of Psalm 139 indicates that every part of our bodies has been recorded in Yehovah’s book, before we were even conceived! This is a bit awkwardly written, but on examination we can understand that in addition to our names being written in a book in heaven, and the number of hairs on our heads counted—Yehovah has even recorded information about our genetic profiles before we were conceived! Apparently Yehovah obviously “booked” us prior to our conversion—right? Certainly He can determine who the goats are with foreknowledge as amazing as that, especially after He has witnessed our “works” for years. Psalm 139:13-16 You formed my inner being. You protected me in my mother’s womb. 14 I thank You because I’m fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I have a great sense of self awareness. 15 My frame wasn’t hidden from you when I was made, hidden away, skillfully woven together here below on earth. 16 You saw my body developing. The days of my life were pre-recorded in Your book before any of them had taken place. Nearing the time of the end, many sleeping Believers will blow the dust off of their Bibles and race “to and fro” thru the pages of “the Book” of Daniel. As a result of this, Biblical “knowledge will increase.” This verse is not just about trains and planes and fast cars, nor is it just referring to scientific advancement, it also refers to “the words” and “the book” of Daniel itself being understood, if you consider ALL of verse four! (Dah’-ath can also mean “knowledge”, discernment, understanding and wisdom”). Contrast this “run to and fro” to the previous situation! Daniel 12:1-4 AT THAT TIME, Michael will take a stand, the great leader who stands for your ‘countrymen’, and there will be a time of trouble [the great Tribulation], such as there has never been since the first nation up until that time, AND AT THAT TIME [during the “time of the end!”] your people will be rescued, everyone whose names are still found [niphal] recorded in the Book. 2 Multitudes of people sleeping in the dust of the earth in the dust of the earth will awaken, some of them to everlasting life, and the others to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. Amos 8:11-12 The time will come, says the Sovereign Yehovah, when I’ll send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the Words of Yehovah! 12 They’ll wander from sea to sea, and from the north clear to the east, they’ll quickly run back and forth to find the Word of Yehovah, and won’t find it. Why did Yehovah tell us that He gathers information about the unborn? Does Yehovah relish totally useless information or could that information be some of the most precious information He has? Could it be that before the seven thousand years are finished, Yehovah will have recycled all of the “useless genetic information” that was aborted, or left on the mountains to die, or was passed thru the fire for Moloch? Yeshua Himself was brought into the world via miraculous genetic code transplant! Family planning could be a bit different. Resuming: Daniel 12:5-13 Then I, Daniel, looked, and there were two others standing there. One was on the bank of the river on this side, and one on the opposite bank of the river. 6 One asked the man dressed in linen, who was hovering above the river water, “How long will it be until the end of these miracles?” 7 I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the water of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by the One who lives forever that it will be for a time, [a year], times [2 years], and half a time [1/2 a year], and when they’ve made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the kadosh people, all of these things will be finished. 8 I heard, but I didn’t understand, so I asked, “Master, what will be the end result of these miracles?” 9 He replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the matter is secret and sealed until the end times. 10 Many will purify and refine themselves, but the wicked will continue to be wicked, and none of the wicked will understand, but those with discernment will understand. 11 From the time that the continuous burnt ze’bakim [sacrifices] are abolished, and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 12 Blessed are those who wait for and attain the 1,335 days [1]. 13 But go your way until the end, because you will remain resting, and arise to your compensation, at the end of the days [age]. [1] On the surface the end of the days” appears to mean that Daniel would arise at the end of the 1,335 days. But that flatly contradicts Matthew 24. It doesn’t mean that. (Interestingly, the other place usually translated as “the end of the days” refers to the end of the seven year period when Nebuchadnezzar lived as a wild beast, Daniel 4:34.) Actually, the phrase “the end of the days” used in this context means the same thing that all eight instances of the “last days” refer to in the Bible, and all eleven references to the “latter days” means “the end of the age. The whole point that I believe Yehovah has made by revealing that our names are already written in the Book of Life is to illustrate the hope that Yehovah has for each of us. Yehovah wants everyone, including unborn children, to keep not only their names engraved in His book, but He expects us to all become His very sons. Yehovah is an optimist; He assumes, until proven otherwise, that we will be “counted worthy to attain that age”! There is just one point that needs to be considered: “the books”. Two references to “books” being opened on Judgment Day appear in the Bible. Would it make sense for Yehovah to use “mysterious books” to judge mankind with, using esoteric standards? Of course not! The books that we will all be judged by are the Books of the Bible. They reveal everything that we need to know before we stand before our Maker! Revelation 20:12-14 I saw the dead, those of lower status [small] and the highly esteemed [great] standing in front of the throne, and the small books were opened [8], including the small Book of Life. The dead were judged by the things that were written in the small books, based on what they had done [their ‘works’]. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Sheol gave up the dead in them. Everyone was judged based on what they had done [their ‘works’]. 14 Death and Sheol [Ar/Heb meaning grave] were thrown into the lake of fire. [9] The second death is the lake of fire. [8] This happens in the time frame of Daniel 7:10, as the beasts are biting the dust (verses 11-12). [9] The end of death is at the very beginning of the Everlasting Kingdom. Check the entire context of Isaiah 25, particularly v.8. Yet the wicked are excluded from this blessing. Daniel 7:10 A river of fire flowed out from before Him. Millions served Him, and one hundred million stood before Him. The court ‘convened’, and the books were opened. Mastering these books, and applying them to your daily personal interactions is the best way to keep your name written in the Book of Life!   The End Part 2 of The Book of Life  Google Search only search Everlasting Kingdom   Minor update May 16, 2014   Lon Martin’s work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Mysteries of New Jerusalem

The Mysteries of New Jerusalem Do People Go To Heaven? New Jerusalem Borg Cube Chapter 17 Preview: I’m not the only person to notice the similarities between the cubic New Jerusalem and the science fiction Borg cube. There was once a web site devoted to teaching that the coming “New Jerusalem” was a threat to humanity! Apparently the spirits that inspire some of today’s fascinating sci-fi know what’s “going down”, and “tremble” (James 2:19). INDEX Since ancient times almost the entire world has believed in “going to heaven”. The notion was so prevalent that “orthodox Christianity” rather early on adopted it from the pagan world to keep the natives happy, tho not without stirring up some heated warnings from the faithful few at the time who urged them to remain true to the Biblical teachings. The history of the “Christian” adoption of a pagan heaven is quite well explained on this outside link. This chapter references several texts from Revelation concerning New Jerusalem, that were, and continue to be used to justify “going to heaven”. A simple reading of these Biblical references reveals that they say NOTHING of the kind! See what the Bible does say about “New Jerusalem”! We’ll also examine many other descriptive Biblical references about the city that get precious little press. Isaiah 4:3-6 Seven women will grab a man in that day, and say, “We’ll eat our own bread, and cloth ourselves. Just let us be called by your name. Take away our shame.” 2 When that day arrives, Yehovah’s branch will be beautiful and splendid, and the ‘harvest’ of the land will be the beauty and splendor of the refugees of Israel. 3 Then anyone left alive in Zion, anyone who is left behind in Jerusalem will be called kadosh, everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem, 4 when Yehovah has washed away the filth of the maidens of Zion, and rinsed the bloodstains from Jerusalem, by a spirit of justice, and a spirit that sets ablaze! 5 Yehovah will create ABOVE the entire site of Mount Zion and ABOVE her assemblies a cloud during the day and smoke, and a bright flaming fire during the night; because ABOVE all the splendor there will be a place of shelter. 6 There will be a sukkah [tabernacle] to provide shade [literally shadow] in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and shelter from storms and rain. —The Gabriel Bible Whenever you go to a funeral you’ll hear snippets of Revelation chapter 21 and 22 always taken out of context and always in the present tense. Yet the various Biblical descriptions of the “heavenly city” always describe it as a place nearby, but still awaiting her first earthly guests! Casting aside the baseless fabrications about going “way up there” and reading the texts for what they actually do say, we’ll need to address a whole new set of questions: How can New Jerusalem be adorned as a bride? What does New Jerusalem have to do with the Wedding Supper of the Lamb? And where is the Wedding Supper? The verses involving the mysterious “city” that John called “New Jerusalem” are so numerous that I decided to do a sequel, New Jerusalem: A Place of Safety! to explain the many verses that deal with a future use of the city by flesh and blood human beings! It asks: Where will you be during the Great Tribulation? But Chapter 17 simply compares the relative Biblical passages with the jaded notions now extant. Among those who know that “heaven comes to us”, rather than the other way around, there are other serious misconceptions. Many assume that New Jerusalem’s arrival is removed by a thousand years from the most joyous event to ever take place on earth! Is it worth your trouble to consider the relative Texts? New Jerusalem is the hope of most of the world’s 2,076,000,000 Christians. And since most of them somehow equate New Jerusalem with their “going to heaven”, it is quite interestingly to read that Yeshua (Jesus) plainly denied that cloudy notion: John 3:13 NO ONE HAS GONE UP TO HEAVEN EXCEPT THE ONE WHO CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN, the Son of Man who is in Heaven. Of course, Yeshua has promised to prepare what He termed “a place” for His followers—but we should ask: “Do we go to our everlasting “place” or does the “place” come to us? Here is a classic “going to heaven” passage that, on inspection, has Yeshua doing the traveling! John 14:2-3 There are many dwelling places in My Father’s house, otherwise, I would have told you. I’m going to prepare a place for you to live. 3 If I go to prepare that place for you, I’ll appear publicly again and accept you as My own, so that you can be where I am. Shortly after this quote, John elaborated saying that Yeshua wanted His followers to be where He was going to be—on this “world”. John 17:1, 24-26 After Yeshua said these things, He looked up toward Heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Bring renown to Your Son so that Your Son can bring renown to You... 24 Father, I want those You’ve given Me to be with Me where I am, so that they can see the splendor that You’ve given Me, because You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 Righteous Father, the world has never known You, but I have certainly known You, and these disciples know that You sent Me. 26 I have revealed Your name to them, and I’ll continue to make it known so that the brotherly love that You have for Me will be in them, and I in them.” Later, Yeshua revealed to John that when He comes, He won’t leave our “reward” out there somewhere! Revelation 22:12 I’ll come quickly! My compensation is with Me, to pay everyone according to what they’ve done. The following detailed description that most people consider to be the “pearly gates” of Heaven is actually describing an earth bound city that comes from “deep space heaven” to the earth’s atmosphere. If you are planning on going here when you die, you may pass it on its way down! Revelation 21:10-27 In the spirit realm he carried me to the top of a vast, lofty mountain, and he showed me the kadosh city of Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from YHVH, 11 bringing with it the splendor of YHVH. Her brilliance resembled a very precious gem, like a jasper stone, as transparent as crystal. 12 It had a very massive and high wall with twelve gates. The names of the twelve tribes of the descendants of Israel were inscribed on them. 13 There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve envoys of the Lamb. 15 The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, its gates and its wall. 16 The city was laid out in a square, its length was the same as its width. And he measured the city with the rod at 12,000 stadia [6], and the length, width and height were all equal. 17 He measured its wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits, the human measurement that the messenger was using. 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city was made of pure gold, like transparent glass. 19 The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh carnelian, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate was a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, like brilliant glass. 22 I didn’t see a Temple [7] in it, because YHVH Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city didn’t need the sun or the moon for enlightenment [8] because YHVH’s brightness enlightens it, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations that were rescued from destruction [9] will ‘live’ in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring the splendor and wealth of the nations [10] [the human family] into it. 25 Its gates won’t be shut during the day, and it’s never night [dark] there. 26 Notice! They will bring the splendor and honor of the human family [ethnos] into it. 27 Nothing unclean will ever enter it or anyone who performs idolatrous abominations or a liar—only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Small Book of Life [11]. [6] The length of a stadia: a “place in which contests in running were held, the one who outstripped the rest and reached the goal first, receiving the prize. Courses of this description were found in most of the larger Greek cities, and were like that at Olympia, 600 Greek feet in length.” —OBGL [7] “used of the Temple at Jerusalem, but only of the [kadosh] edifice (or temple) itself, consisting of the [Kadosh Place] and the [most Kadosh Place] (in classical Greek it is used of the temple or cell of the Temple, where the image of gold was placed which is distinguished from the whole enclosure).” —OBGL [8] Not that the sun or moon will disappear. In fact Aloha swore that they wouldn’t disappear: Psalm 72:5 and Jeremiah 31:35-37. At a fair distance from the city it will come in handy. [9] The Greek omits “of the nations”, presumably to denigrate the role of flesh and blood humans in the New Jerusalem. [10] Notice that you don’t have to die to visit! [11] Your name should be written in the the Book of Life right now! Here is a clear reference to where our new home will be, tho it is obscured in every version I have seen except for Young’s Literal Translation. Ezekiel 37:27 My home [New Jerusalem] will also be ABOVE them. I’ll be their Elohim, and they’ll be My people. 28 The nations will know that I, Yehovah, make Israel kadosh, when My Kadosh Place [an earthly temple] is among them forever. Notice that whole nations will be saved and walk in the light of New Jerusalem (v.24). Also note that the kings of the earth will bring people there. These nations will not be aspiring to go to a far off city, deep in outer space! Revelation 21:9-12 One of the seven messengers who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues [Gr. catastrophes] came to me and said, “Come, I’ll show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” 10 In the spirit realm he carried me to the top of a vast, lofty mountain, and he showed me the kadosh city of Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from YHVH, 11 bringing with it the splendor of YHVH. Her brilliance resembled a very precious gem, like a jasper stone, as transparent as crystal. 12 It had a very massive and high wall with twelve gates. The names of the twelve tribes of the descendants of Israel were inscribed on them. Contrast that to the first time when the kings see New Jerusalem overhead. Psalm 48:1-6, 8 (A Song. A Psalm by the sons of Korah.) Yehovah is great, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our Elohim, in His kadosh mountain. 2 Beautiful in elevation, Mount Zion is the joy of the whole earth, in the extreme north, the city of the great King. 3 Elohim has shown Himself in her citadels as a refuge. 4 The kings gathered together, they passed by together. 5 They saw it [“Mount Zion” the city] and they were amazed. They were terrified, so they fled in panic. 6 Trembling took hold of them there, pain like a woman in childbirth. ... 8 As we have heard, so we have seen, in the city of Yehovah the Commander, in the city of our Elohim. Elohim will establish it forever. Selah. New Jerusalem isn’t off limits to people, in fact “the leaves of the Tree[s] are for the medicinal use [Greek: therapeia] of the human family.” There are other descriptions of the city in Revelation. In two accounts the place that houses the “throne” room of Elohim (God) is described as a “sea of glass”. Revelation 4:1-6 After this, I looked and saw a door open in the sky! The first voice that I heard was like a shofar talking with me. It said, “Come up here and I’ll show you the things that must happen after this.” 2 Instantly, I was in the spirit realm and a throne ‘appeared’ in the sky, and Someone was seated on the throne! 3 The One sitting there resembled a jasper stone and sardonyx. And encircling the throne was a rainbow ‘amid’ clouds with an emerald ‘hue’. 4 Around the throne [Aramaic Kursio, a seat of state] were twenty-four thrones, and on those thrones I saw twenty four Elders who were dressed in white robes, with gold coronets [crowns without arches] on their heads. 5 Lightning flashes and rumbling thunder came from the throne. Seven flaming menorahs were burning in front of the throne. These are the seven spirits of YHVH. 6 In front of the throne it looked like a sea of glass that sparkled like crystal. In the center near the throne and around the sides were four living beings ‘covered’ with eyes in front and behind. I am convinced that Ezekiel 1 describes the same sea of glass and the throne room. Particularly verses 22 & 26: Ezekiel 1:22, 26 Over the heads of the living beings was something resembling a watery expanse, like the awesome gleam of crystal spread out over their heads. ... 26 Above the expanse over their heads was something that looked like a throne of sapphire stone, and on what looked like a throne was what appeared to be a man above it. Revelation 15:1-4 Then I saw another ‘spectacular’ and amazing sign in the sky—seven messengers with the seven last plagues [heavy afflictions]. With these YHVH’s rage is finished. 2 I saw a sea of glass that seemed to be ‘ablaze’ with flames, and those who had been victorious over the predatory beast and over his icon [Gr. eikon] and over the number of his name were standing on the sea of glass, and they had the harps of YHVH. 3 They were singing the song of Moses the servant of YHVH, and the song of the Lamb: “Your deeds are spectacular and marvelous, Master YHVH the Sovereign. Your ways are just and true, O King of the ages. 4 Who won’t fear you Master, and praise Your name, since You alone are kadosh and just. Every nation will come and worship in Your presence, because Your righteous acts have been revealed.” Don’t assume that “every nation” represents dead people. Zechariah also described this time when “the nations” would come and worship before Yehovah: Zechariah 14:16 Then everyone who is left behind [survives] from all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship Yehovah the 'Warrior' King and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. Virtually every Sabbatarian who I talk to believes that the arrival of the New Jerusalem will be postponed for a thousand years. Those who feel that New Jerusalem is in the distant future have to assume that the “sea of glass” is some strange thing that Yehovah just happens to be occupying in the mean time. I like to think of the sea of glass as sort of like the watery window on Stargate SG1, that people use to travel to other planets. Perhaps that resembles what the bottom side of New Jerusalem will look like. Some would rather believe that the envoy (apostle) John’s description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21-22, are allegorical references to a rehabilitated earthly city, not unlike other cities that will be rebuilt: Isaiah 61:4 They’ll rebuild places desolate since antiquity, they’ll rebuild the ancestral places and places now wasted and deserted, and they’ll restore cities parched from heat, and places deserted for many generations. Isaiah 65:17-18 I’m going to create a New Heavens and a New Earth, and the previous ones won’t be remembered, or come to mind! 18 Be glad and rejoice forever in what I’m going to create, because I’m creating Jerusalem for rejoicing, and her people a joy. The word “create” is not used loosely in the Bible. It is almost always associated with the activities of Yehovah. But John provided far too many details concerning New Jerusalem for it to simply be flowery speech about a rebuilt old ruin. Figurative words may be the spice of a spiritual meal, but they should not become the main course. I’m going to state my conclusions and suppositions concerning the many verses listed up front—that way you won’t tend to rush thru the chapter to see where it is leading. Conclusions: 1) The New Jerusalem will be the home of Elohim (God) (Yehovah), Yeshua, all of the Sons of Elohim, and human visitors. 2) The New Jerusalem will arrive just prior to the Great Tribulation, engulfed by black clouds, and become visible during the Day of Yehovah (the “Lord”). 3) Its shape will be cubic, 1379 miles in diameter (12,000 X approximately 606 feet and 9 inches to a stadium) as indicated in Revelation 20:16 (tho some think it’s pyramidal). The immense size of the city would obliterate the Mediterranean or “Great” sea were it to “land”, but the sea will remain just as it is—except for the salt! (Ezekiel 47:10-20) 4) First visibility of New Jerusalem will astound the human kings of the earth. Again, “As soon as THEY SAW IT, they were ASTOUNDED”. (Psalms 48:1-6) 5) The foundations of the city will literally rest at or on the “summits” of the mountains. It will hover over the land but not occupy the surface: Isaiah 2:2 In the future, at the end of the ‘age’, the mountain of Yehovah’s Temple will be established on the summits of the mountains, and will be borne above the hills, and all nations will beam [or flow] into it. 6) There will be access from the mountains. People will literally “go up” to Zion: Isaiah 2:3 People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Yehovah, to the ‘descendants’ of Jacob’s Elohim. He’ll teach us His path to life, and we’ll ‘live’ His way.” The Torah will go out from Zion, and the Word of Yehovah from Jerusalem. 7) There will be cities beneath the New Jerusalem. A new Earthly Jerusalem will be rebuilt, complete with States or Provinces for each of the twelve tribes of Israel at the beginning of the Everlasting Kingdom. (Ezekiel 36, especially v.33) 8) Both the Father and the Son presently live in “Jerusalem above”, the one Yeshua went to prepare. They will both continue to occupy New Jerusalem when it is relocated here. 9) Ezekiel 40-47—eight whole chapters—describe an earthly temple in Jerusalem! But there is no temple in New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:22-23)! Yet Revelation has many references to the Temple in heaven, with several mentioning it being seen from earth: 10) Jacobs “ladder” was a prophecy. Actually, it should be translated “to cast up a highway”, from the root word: Genesis 28:12, 16-17 As he dreamed he saw an elevated highway stationed on the earth, and its top reached to heaven! Amazingly, the Messengers of Elohim were ascending and descending on it. ... 16 Jacob awakened from his sleep, and he said, “Surely Yehovah is in this place, and I didn’t know it”, 17 and this is the GATEWAY [entrance] of heaven! The throne and the Temple room will become visible to everyone, not to mention Yeshua and His Father—“and who is able to survive that”?: Revelation 6:16-17 and they said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of the One sitting on the throne AND from the anger of the Lamb, 17 because the great day of Their anger has come, and who is able to ‘survive’ that?” Seeing Yehovah the Father is a kiss of death: Exodus 33:20 But He said, “You can’t see My face, because no one can see Me and live. It’s no wonder that people would seek out “a cleft of the rock”, like Moses did (v.22). Revelation 11:19 The Temple of YHVH in the sky was opened, and the ark of His covenant was visible inside His Temple. There was lightning and thunder and voices, an earthquake and huge hail. Revelation 14:17 Then another messenger came out of the Temple in the sky, also having a sharp sickle. Revelation 15:5 After this I looked and the Temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in the sky was opened. Why couldn’t this Temple be relocated to earth, seeing that shortly after the wrath is over, it is gone? Revelation 21:22 I didn’t see a Temple in it, because YHVH Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. Perhaps you have heard that the happy ending part of the book of Revelation is that “we win”. Where does it talk about us winning in that “Final Chapter” of the book? Do “we win” at the end of “this present evil age” or 1000 years afterward? Revelation 1 thru 19 starts with seven mostly disappointing Assemblies (not really Churches), and ends with the Beast and his armies being defeated. Chapter 20:1-3 deals with Satan. IF we were to assign Revelation 20:7 thru the end of the book to the time after the millennium, as many do, then only the three remaining verses in between, as well as Revelation 22:12-15, deals with us winning during the millennium! Even in “our three verses”, we have to share the limelight with “the Beast”, “his image”, “his mark”, and “the second death”! Here are the three left over verses, where “we win”. Revelation 20:4-6 I saw thrones, and those who were seated on them, and judicial authority was given to them, and I saw the bodies of those who were beheaded for THE TESTIMONY OF YESHUA [the ‘NT’] and for THE WORD OF ALOHA [the ‘OT’]. These are the ones who hadn’t worshiped the predatory beast or his icon, nor had they accepted his mark on their forehead or on their hand. They lived and reigned with their Messiah during those thousand years. 5 [4] This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and kadosh is anyone who has part in this first [or best] resurrection, over them the second death has no influence, but they’ll be priests of YHVH and of His Messiah, and they’ll reign with Them during the thousand years. [4] The words: “the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished”, aren’t in the earliest Syriac and Aramaic manuscripts, or the earliest Greek manuscripts, such as the Codex Sinaitic and Codex Alexandrine. While these latter two have their share of omissions, they do predate the addition. The Lamsa version found here includes the added text, while my print version doesn’t. The timing is elaborated on more in Daniel 12:1-7. Here are the remaining verses that deal with us winning right away. But notice that the very context of this verse ties entering the gates of New Jerusalem to the time of Yeshua’s return! Revelation 22:12-15 I’ll come quickly! My compensation is with Me, to pay everyone according to what they’ve done. 13 I’m the Aleph and the Tau, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 14 Blessed are those who obey His Commandments. They’ll have the privilege to the Tree of Life, and be permitted to enter thru the gates into the city. 15 Outside of the city are dogs, sorcerers, sexual sinners, murderers, idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying. New Jerusalem has its foundation in the clouds. It protects and illuminates the earthly Jerusalem and the surrounding 1,901,641 square miles (1379 X 1379). 1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then, we who are still alive, having survived, will be carried away together with them into the clouds to meet our Master in the expanse. And we will be with our Master forever. Again, this location is not a temporary staging point: John 14:3 If I go to prepare that place for you, I’ll appear publicly again and accept you as My own, so that you can be where I am. Where will Yeshua be when He comes here? He is going to bring His very “HOUSE” or “home” or “place” and those “mansions” with Him! Continuing: John 14:23 Yeshua replied, “Anyone who loves Me obeys My teachings. My Father will love them, and WE WILL COME TO THEM and make Our living quarters [mansion] with them! The Greek word translated as both “mansions” and “home” is only found in this chapter of the Bible, both English words describe the same “place” and refer to the same time and event! If you have believed in “going to heaven”, the best place to start reading about the “happily ever after” part of the Bible, that begins in the near future, is to carefully read Revelation Chapters 21 and 22 (in their entirety below). The other prophetic references that follow will also confirm when these things will happen by establishing the time order of these events in relation to the other end time events. The references in Ezekiel concerning their near future timing are seemingly not in dispute. Is Yehovah’s current home, the “old heaven” just going to “pass away”? The term “parerchomai” that is translated as “pass away” has some more interesting alternative meanings. The second renderings for “pass away” are literally: “to come near, come forward, arrive” as shown below. Interestingly, as the old ways of doing everything ‘pass away’ (parerchomai #1), that is when the New Heaven and New Earth ‘arrive’ (parerchomai #2), Online Bible Greek Lexicon Strong’s #3928 parerchomai (par-er’-khom-ahee) 1) to go past, pass by 1a) of persons moving forward 1a1) to pass by 1b) of time 1b1) an act continuing for a time 1c) metaph. 1c1) to pass away, perish 1c2) to pass by (pass over), that is, to neglect, omit, (transgress) 1c3) to be led by, to be carried past, be averted 2) to come near, come forward, arrive New Jerusalem will be “near ... it won’t be far off”. Isaiah 46:12-13 Listen to Me, you hard headed people, who are far from righteousness, 13 I bring My righteousness near, it won’t be far off, and My deliverance won’t wait, and I’ll place deliverance in Zion for Israel, My splendor. Revelation 21:1-9 I saw a new heaven and a New Earth, because the first heaven and the first earth had gone, and there was no more sea. 2 I saw the kadosh city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from YHVH, like a bride adorned for her husband [for the Marriage of the Lamb]. 3 I heard a loud voice from the sky say, “Look, YHVH’s tabernacle [dwelling place] is among humanity [Gr. anthropos]. He will live with them and they’ll be His people, and YHVH will be with them, yes YHVH Himself will be with them.” 4 Every tear will be wiped from their eyes, and there will be no more death [3] or mourning or crying or pain, nor will the previous painful state exist anymore, because the previous evil things have gone away. 5 The One who was seated on the throne said, “Look, I’m making everything new”. And He said, “Write this down, because these are the faithful and true words of YHVH.” 6 Then He said to me, “I’m the Aleph and the Tau, the Beginning and the End. I’ll allow anyone who is thirsty to drink freely from the spring of living water. 7 Anyone who is victorious will inherit these things. I’ll be their Aloha and they’ll be My sons. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the sinful, the unclean, murderers, male prostitutes, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars ‘are destined for’ the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.” 9 One of the seven messengers who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues [Gr. catastrophes] came to me and said, “Come, I’ll show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” [3] The cessation of tears and death begins as soon as the Everlasting Kingdom is established! Check the entire context of Isaiah 25, particularly v.8. Yet the wicked are excluded from this blessing. 1 Corinthians 15:23-24 says, “but everyone in their order, Messiah was the firstfruit. Later, at His coming, those who are the Messiah’s [will be restored to life]. 24 Then the end of these events comes, when He’ll have handed over the Kingdom to YHVH the Father, when every ruler and every government and every powerful force will have been overthrown”. Many assume that there is a 1,000 year gap between verse 23 and verse 24, assuming that it will take Yeshua 1,000 years to conquer the world. Have they read any prophecies? Zechariah 14 is a detailed account of the conquest of the world, it’s called the Day of Yehovah (the “Lord”). The earth will be “under His feet”, beginning at the Mount of Olives. Ezekiel 38 and 39 is another specific account of the conquest. Some postpone these chapters too. Consequently they must, for example, also think that it will take 1,000 years for Him to “make My kadosh name known in the midst of My people Israel” (Ezekiel 39:7) as well. Names are never added to The Book of Life, but many names are removed! The unrepentant sinner will “by no means enter” New Jerusalem. Ezekiel explained the entrance requirements to Yehovah’s Kodesh city. These gates, along with the names of the tribes, are all listed in Ezekiel 48:31-35, the context is specifically when Israel is assigned its land at the beginning of the Everlasting Kingdom. Ezekiel 44:6-9 Tell the rebellious ‘nation’ of Israel, ‘The Sovereign Yehovah says: O ‘nation’ of Israel, enough of all your abominations! 7 You’ve brought in foreigners, with uncircumcised minds and uncircumcised flesh into My Kadosh Place, violating the honor of My very Temple, by your offering My bread, the fat and the blood. You’ve broken My covenant, in addition to all your other abominations. 8 You haven’t carried out your duty regarding My kadosh things, instead you’ve put foreigners in charge of My Kadosh Place. 9 The Sovereign Yehovah says: No foreigner with an uncircumcised mindset and uncircumcised flesh will enter My Temple, including foreigners who live in Israel. Now for Part 2 Lon Martin, lonwmartin@yahoo.com Google Search only search Everlasting Kingdom   Minor update March 1, 2014   Lon Martin’s work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.