God Chooses us or We Choose God?

Leave a comment

1 1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;

9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory (KJV).

 

Paul touches on all the great biblical themes in one long complex sentence—sanctification, adoption, redemption, and glorification—and they all rest on one foundational doctrine, the doctrine of election and its subset predestination. The highest spiritual blessings stand on Ephesians 1:4 where the text says that God has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. By His sovereign will He chose who would be in the Body of Christ. God acted totally independent of any outside influence. He made His choice totally apart from human will and purely on the basis of His sovereignty.

The term predestination simply means to determine ones, destiny beforehand. This term has produced much division in the Church of Jesus Christ since He departed back to Heaven. Mostly though this heated up with the reformers in the sixteenth century.  Many theologians and Bible teachers have engaged in intensive debate over this term and entire denominations have been formed around it. It is important to know what the Bible teaches on this subject and also what some denominations teach which is actually outside the biblical text. Most discussions of this topic produce too little light and too much heat. It is taught in seminaries as a part of Soteriology (the doctrine of salvation) within systematic theology.

Four very important truths must be first advanced.

  1. God is entirely sovereign over His creation, is in complete control of it.
  2. Man, living in time and space is incapable of realizing a full understanding of God and all His ways.
  3. God knows everything including what will be decided in the human heart and what will happen in the future before it happens. HE KNOWS EVEYTHING.
  4. Prior to salvation all humans deserve to enter Hell. Without God we cannot change and save ourselves.

 

Jesus said to His disciples, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). And in the same Gospel, John wrote, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). And Paul said, “But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13).

Those statements defining God’s sovereign choice of believers are not in the Bible to cause controversy, as if God’s election means sinners don’t make decisions. Election does not exclude human responsibility or the necessity of each person to respond to the gospel by faith. Jesus said, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (John 6:37). Even though a simple reading of this verse appears to mean that God has chosen people to salvation before the world was formed, other verses indicate that mankind has to choose God in order to be saved (John 3:15; Acts 16:31 etc.). The dichotomy grows wider with Predestination seemingly tightening to mean that God has chosen some people but not all to salvation (Romans 9:18; John 10: 25-29). On the other hand some verses indicate that God would like all people to be saved (John 12:32; 2 Corinthians 5: 14 etc.).

You must understand that your faith and salvation rest entirely on God’s election

(Acts 13:48). And yet the day you came to Jesus Christ, you did so because of an internal desire—you did nothing against your will. But even that desire is God-given—He supplies the necessary faith so we can believe (Eph. 2:8). The doctrine of election demonstrates God being God, exercising divine prerogatives. For that we must praise Him.

Some are shocked to find that God seemingly didn’t choose everyone to salvation. Jesus said, “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day” (John 6:39). God the Father chose certain individuals to form a Body as a gift to Jesus Christ. Every believer is part of that love gift to Christ—a gift of the Father’s love to His Son. God makes perfect decisions that are righteous and correct.

To those who say that is unjust, Paul answers: “What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion’” (Romans 9:14-15).

So why does God still find fault in unrepentant sinners when He didn’t choose them? Doesn’t this deny human responsibility? Is it fair for God to still hold them accountable? FAIR? What is fair? Humans all have a different vision of fairness depending on our experience base. God is in control of His creation and as such can make His own rules.

Paul answers all such questions with a rebuke:

Romans 9: 20-21 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? (NKJV)

CERTAINLY, IT DOES!

Some believe that is terribly cold and calculating. But that is only one side of God’s sovereign election. Paul continues in the next chapter by saying: “

Romans 10: 9-13 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” (NKJV)

These two sides of God’s truth; His sovereignty in choosing us; (Romans 9) and our responsibility to confess and believe (Romans 10) is impossible for us to reconcile and understand. But Scripture declares both aspects of salvation are true (John 1:12-13). It’s our duty to acknowledge both and accept them by faith.

This seemingly unsolvable difference in two truthful biblical concepts that can’t be reconciled is called an antinomy. It is not a paradox or a contradiction. Those concepts require that one or the other is untrue. An antinomy is when both are true. The human’s problem is that we are unsettled with antinomies and try to take one side or the other.

Many denominations take the predestination verses in the Bible as fact and while they can’t reconcile predestination with man’s choice they say man has no choice. In taking this position they must invalidate the verses that clearly show that man has choice. Others take the opposite position and say man has all the choice and God does not choose. They then relegated the verses, which clearly state that God has chosen us to obscurity, or restate them to mean something else. When we don’t accept both ideas as fact and choose one or the other we are engaging in heretical acts. Reformed churches historically take the total predestination position and Baptist churches usually take the other. The total predestination position is usually called Calvinism after John Calvin the French reformer of the sixteenth century. The entire emphasis on man’s exclusive choice in the matter of salvation is usually called Arminianism after Jacob Arminius a sixteenth century Dutch theologian who categorized this concept. The problem for us is that both concepts are true and we must accept them as such.

Somewhere in the councils of God this makes sense. It never will on this earth and many have tried to no avail unless they take one side or the other. This then results in heretical teaching. The Doctor of souls will do all he can to keep heresies out of the church. They are to the Church of Jesus Christ what disease is to a Medical Doctor that cares for human bodies in time and space. Legitimate Doctors of both disciplines will do all they can to prevent or stop heresies/diseases in their respective bodies. Unfortunately there are more quacks in the spiritual realm than in the physical temporal one. This is because the prize for pure spiritual truth is eternal life. It is the greatest prize on earth to receive. Nothing has greater value. As evidence of this we see many false prophets, corrupt denominations and seminary teachings. As a result few find eternal salvation. Then Satan has accomplished one of his goals; the eternal destruction of human souls.

Matthew 7: 13-15 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

            The deception and leading into heresy by religious authorities is not new. Jesus condemned the religious authorities of His day for leading the Jews away from eternity.

Matthew 23: 13-15 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves (ESV).

What is important for us is to clearly explain the antimony and continue to witness for Christ. We never know who will accept. We also cannot take the position that God has chosen those who will accept His call and stop telling others. We must always praise the God of the universe for who He is and stay humble for allowing us to believe. Never, never, never, never, give up.

  1. Redeemed by the Son, Grace. 1:7-12.

Christ delivered us from slavery to Satan. The cost of Christ’s blood is the measure of the wealth of God’s unmerited favor to every believer. It was accomplished not “out of” but “according to” the wealth of His grace. We are redeemed through His blood from our sin. That is, while we might continue to have sin in our lives we have been saved from its spiritual recourses and have the means (Holy Spirit) by which we can stop sinning. Further if we do sin we are already forgiven (at the cross) and can confess it to reestablished our closeness to the holy God we serve. We do not lose our salvation when we sin; we temporarily stop our sanctification (Growth in Christ becoming more Christ like) and closeness to Him. If we continue to sin we jeopardize our position in the Kingdom (Matthew 25: 14-30) when that is set up and lose rewards but, we do not lose our salvation (I Corinthians 3: 15).

The mystery Paul speaks of here is the Body of Christ (the Church), which was not revealed in the Old Testament. God only revealed it in NT times according to His divine providence. This mystery is God’s good pleasure to purpose in Christ to bring all things in heaven and on earth under Christ’s headship in the consummation of time. The words to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment are literally, “unto the dispensation of the fullness of the times.” The “dispensation” (oikonomia) is an arrangement or administration. This dispensation discussed here is the Millennial Kingdom when “the times” in God’s purposes will be completed (fulfilled), and all things both spiritual and material will be under Christ and His rule. This does not mean that everybody will be saved; only that sin’s chaotic effects will be removed. Christ has set the sinner free from his sin and has revealed His will that all things will be headed up in Christ at the end of the ages, including the Jewish believers who first trusted in Him.

  1. Sealed by the Holy Spirit. 1:13,14.

         When we believed and fully trusted that Jesus of Nazareth is exactly who the Bible says He is we received the Holy Spirit. One way of expressing the certainty of the Christian hope is to say that the people of God have been “Sealed with the Spirit.” The term occurs three times in the Epistles; (2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13; 4:30). In the three texts in which Paul uses the term it refers to the marking of the believers as God’s property. The Holy Spirit is the mark of the child of God. But the sealing has a reference to the end of the age, for God will deliver all those who have his stamp on them (Rev. 7:4). However, sealing with the Spirit is an assurance of the hope of the believer can be seen as the ‘earnest’ (deposit) of the Spirit (2 Cor. 1:21.).

            Looking at 2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5; and Eph. 1:14, we have the three passages in which the Spirit is spoken of as the “earnest.” The word arrhabon is a Semitic lending term meaning “surety” or “pledge.” As a rule the word occurs as a verb in the Old Testament, but always with the basic idea of surety or guarantee. Nowhere, however, does it signify the partial payment of a money debt. It is as a word used by those who grant loans so that in Greek that “earnest-money” becomes more than a pledge; it is a partial down payment. A pledge is taken back when the contract is fulfilled, but earnest money is payment in advance of future full payment. God who has promised us that He will redeem us will never take back His promise. It is against His nature.

Therefore, when we believe, the Holy Spirit seals us with Himself. This sealing is the earnest deposit that God gives the believer as a pledge that the believer has eternal security and God will redeem His chosen at the “Day of Redemption”. We can’t lose our salvation once we truly accept Him and Holy Spirit enters us at the point of true belief.

 

Daniel E Woodhead Ph.D.

Category: Salvation

The Grace of God

Leave a comment

The Grace of God

II Corinthians 1:1-2

 

1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all 2 grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ (KJV).

The apostle frequently refers to the term Grace in his letters. Grace is major characteristic of God’s character. Grace is can also be described as benevolence, love, and mercy. Grace therefore is His favor toward those who have done nothing to deserve it.  Further, He in His grace, is compelled to forgive us and bless us with salvation, in spite of the fact that we don’t deserve to be treated as such. He rescues us through His gracious manner from a perilous descent into an eternal punishment due to our sinful state. The primary verse the apostle uses is from his letter to the Ephesians.

 

The Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt.

Ephesians 2:8-9

 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast (KJV).

So, the human family is saved by grace through our faith. This has always been true in New Testament as well as Old Testament times. Paul makes reference to many Old Testament passages in his declaration of the grace of God.

Old Testament Salvation by Grace

Many unwittingly think that the way of salvation in the Old Testament is that Jews were saved by keeping the Law. Scripture refutes that misconception. Galatians 3:11 says, 11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith (KJV). This passage is not only applying to the New Testament, because Paul here is quoting Habakkuk 2:4 4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith (KJV).     Salvation by faith, apart from the Law was an Old Testament principle. Paul taught that the purpose of the Law was to serve as a tutor; 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith (KJV) (Galatians 3:24). Also, in Romans 3:20 Paul makes the point that keeping the Law did not save either Old or New Testament Jews because as he states; 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin (KJV).

 

He further in Romans chapter 4 makes it very clear that the Old Testament way of salvation was the same as the New Testament way, which is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Referencing the Old Testament Paul leads us to Abraham, who was saved by faith: 3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness (KJV) (Romans 4:3). Again, Paul quotes the Old Testament to prove his point—Genesis 15:6, this time. Abraham could not have been saved by keeping the Law, because he lived over 400 years before the Law was given!

Paul then shows that David was also saved by faith (Romans 4:6-8, quoting Psalm 32:1-2).

Romans 4:6-7

6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, 7 Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered (KJV).

Psalm 32:1-2

 1Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.2 Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile (KJV).

Paul continues to establish that the Old Testament way of salvation was through faith alone. In Romans 4:23-24 he writes, 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead (KJV).In other words, righteousness is “credited” or given to those who have faith in God—Abraham, David, from Old Testament times and all now who believe and experience the same way and blessing of God’s graciousness in providing salvation. If the necessary means of salvation is belief in the Gospel, meaning the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, how does this apply to those who expressed belief prior to Jesus’ resurrection?

Salvation as revealed in the Bible can be defined in two ways. First, it is deliverance from physical danger, and second, it is deliverance by God from His eternal punishment for sin. The salvation God provides to mankind that saves them from His penalty of allowing the power and practice of sin to control the lives of human beings on this earth. It is quite clear that this salvation is only of God, and we receive it according to His grace (Ephesians 2:8-9).

God is completely holy, and He punishes sin (Romans 1:18). Furthermore, mankind is sinful and has broken God’s Laws (Romans 1:19-3:18). There is nothing that mankind can do to earn God’s favor (Romans 3:19-20). The way of salvation is a free gift from God through the atonement of Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23). It is offered to all who would believe on Christ (Romans 1:16-17; 3:22-30; 4:2-8:24). The only people who experience salvation are those who have actually accepted Jesus’ atonement by belief in the Gospel of Jesus.

Acts 4:10-12

10 be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. 11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (KJV)

 

The fact that Jesus the Messiah had to come is well attested to in Scripture which starts with a foundational verse, Genesis 3:15. One unique aspect of the Scriptures of Christianity is the prophecies and validated fulfillment at later times in the long chronology of the Bible’s story. These alone attest to the Scripture’s validity. Christ, after He was risen, explained many of the prophecies in the Bible and the fact that He had to die in order to accomplish the task He was sent to do (Luke 24: 25-27).  Jesus accused the Pharisees of not knowing who He was. In fact, He said that Moses knew He was coming and wrote of Him.

John 5:43-47

43 I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. 44 How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust [Deuteronomy 31:21. chapter 7: 19. Romans 2:12]. 46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me [Luke 24:27)]. 47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? (KJV, brackets added)

 

Christ’s first advent is well prophesied in Scripture. Some of those are:

He would be born in Bethlehem in the region of Ephrathah.

Introduced in Micah 5: 2 and fulfilled in Matthew 2: 1-5.

He would be the Son of God

Introduced in Psalm 2: 7 and fulfilled in John 3: 16-17.

He would be born into the Hebrew tribe of Judah

Genesis 49: 10 and fulfilled in Hebrews 7: 14.

He would be born of a virgin

Introduced in Isaiah 7: 14 and fulfilled in Matthew 1: 18-22.

He would be a prophet like Moses

Introduced in Deuteronomy 18: 15 and fulfilled in John 7: 15-17.

He would be the king of Israel

Introduced in Zechariah 9: 9 and fulfilled in John 12: 12-15.

He would be rejected

Introduced in Isaiah 53: 3 and fulfilled in John 1: 11

He would be beaten

Introduced In Micah 5: 1 and fulfilled in Mark 15: 19.

He would be silent during his interrogation

Introduced in Isaiah 53: 7 and fulfilled in Matthew 27: 12-14.

He would be betrayed

Introduced in Psalm 41: 9 and fulfilled in Mark 14: 17-20.

He would be tried and condemned

Introduced in Isaiah 53: 8 and fulfilled Matthew 27: 1-2

He would be crucified

Introduced in Psalm 22: 16 and fulfilled in John 19: 17-18.

His garments would be divided

Introduced in Psalm 22: 18 and fulfilled in John 19: 23-24.

He would be given gall and vinegar

Introduced in Psalm 69: 21 and fulfilled in John 19: 28-29.

His bones would not be broken

Introduced in Exodus 12: 46 and fulfilled in John 19: 31-36.

He is our sacrifice

Introduced in Isaiah 53: 5-6 and fulfilled in I Peter 2: 24-25.

He was raised from the dead

Introduced in Psalm 16: 10 and fulfilled in Luke 24: 1-7 and 47.

The resurrection of Christ is the most significant event in all of world history. It provides a remedy for the Fall, and for the sin of our first family, Adam and his wife. If one truly believes in the historical facts of the Gospel and is regenerated, one is granted eternal life through the finished work of Jesus of Nazareth (Romans 6:23; Titus 3:5). The gospel is clearly presented in several places in Scripture, and none are clearer than I Corinthians 15:

1 Corinthians 15: 1-4

 

“1Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures,” (KJV)

 

The Faithful Jews Awaited Jesus Arrival

The Jews were given a lot of evidence for the coming one who would take away the sins of the world. We see Simeon and Anna waiting in anticipation at the Temple for the baby Messiah to be brought there for His circumcision on the eighth day of His life. They knew that the Old Testament sacrifices were insufficient to provide complete salvation. They needed the blood of the Messiah.

Luke 2:25

25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. 26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, 28 then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, 29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart In peace, according to thy word: 30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; 32 A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel. 33 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. 34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; 35 (yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

 

36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; 37 and she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. 38 And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. 39 And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth. (KJV)

 

The observant Jews of the Old Testament knew that the Messiah was going to arrive to provide salvation as Simeon cried had out, “For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.“ It is also quite clear it is the sacrifice of Jesus that provides our salvation from sin. Even though many knew He was coming (and would in the future be sacrificed), how was salvation guaranteed to the faithful in the Old Testament before Jesus’ sacrifice? First it is important to consider what the Bible teaches on the place of the dead. The Hebrew name for the place of the dead is Sheol, and the Greek word is Hades. Frequently our English translations will simply misstate these words as “Hell”. This is not accurate. The Old Testament declares in many places that people, both the faithful and unfaithful, went to Sheol when they died.

Old Testament Place of the Dead

One phrase that refers to death in the Old Testament is being “gathered unto His people.” A dead person is seen as joining the company of people that preceded him in death. The physical death takes place, then after that the individual is described as entering the company of those who had passed on before him (“gathered unto his people”).  We read this regarding the death of Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, and Jacob:

Genesis 25:8

8Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full [of years]; and was gathered to his people (KJV).

Genesis 25:17

17And these [are] the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people. (KJV)

Genesis 35:29a:

29And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died and was gathered unto his people…. (KJV)

Genesis 49:33:

33And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people. (KJV)

So, we see in the first book of the Bible that after people die physically, they are “gathered unto their people.”  They are joining the company of people who preceded them in death, and are consciously aware of them. Due to his righteousness, the destination of Abraham in the good side of Sheol is described in the Bible: “And he believed in Jehovah; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). The following examples discuss this.

Psalm 17:15

 

15As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. (KJV)

Here David expressed a real faith that the soul will still be conscious in the fellowship with God even after death. This is also taught in the following verse:

Psalm 73:23-25

23Nevertheless I [am] continually with thee: thou hast holden [me] by my right hand 24Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me [to] glory. 25Whom have I in heaven [but thee]? and [there is] none upon earth [that] I desire beside thee. (KJV)

In this Psalm, the author Asaph expressed a real faith in immortality. Even upon his death he saw himself as being conscious and with God.

 

Ecclesiastics 12:7

 

7Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. (KJV)

 

Here Solomon expresses the truth that the body returns to the earth to decay, and finally become dust, but the spirit goes to be with God our creator. The New Testament expresses this same concept in at least four verses. They are found in: II Corinthians 5:1-8; Luke 23:43; John 14:3; Philippians 1:22-23.

The Consciousness of the Souls in Sheol

 

Souls in “Sheol” are seen as having continuous consciousness. One good example of this is found in Isaiah:

Isaiah 14:9-11

 

9Sheol from beneath is moved for thee to meet [thee] at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, [even] all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 10All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? 11Thy pomp is brought down to the Sheol, [and] the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. (KJV)

In this passage, the soul of the king of Babylon enters into “Sheol”, and into a particular section of Hell, where all the souls that preceded him in Hell suddenly rise in astonishment as they see this one also entering the domains of Hell.  They are able to ask questions and carry on a conversation. It should not be missed that these dead ones are portrayed as being conscious. Here, in the “bad side” of Sheol, there is punishment for the king of Babylon who is the Antichrist himself.

 

The same concept is taught in the New Testament in Luke 16:19-31 which is the story of the rich man and Lazarus.

Jesus Released the Dead Old Testament Saints Who Waited For Him

When Christ ascended to the Father, He took “captivity captive”, meaning He took the righteous Old Testament saints from the “Bosom of Abraham” to Heaven. This apparently was done on the Resurrection Day:

Psalm 68:18

18 Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captive Thy captives; Thou hast received gifts among men,… (NASB)

 

Ephesians 4:8-11

8 Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, And He gave gifts to men.” 9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) 11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers…. (NASB)

The Old Testament saints were “captives” in the sense that they were not permitted to go to the presence of the Lord before He died on the Cross. Now, however, Christ led their souls in a great procession as a conquering general, to present them to the Father in Heaven as fully redeemed saints, awaiting their own resurrection from the dead.

When Christ went to Hades what did He say? Peter says He proclaimed a message to the spirits in prison who were disobedient before the Flood, but He probably also announced to the Old Testament saints that it was now time for them to go with Him to Heaven. The debt for sin had now been fully paid.

Spirit World Destinations by Daniel Woodhead

 

Daniel Woodhead

Category: Grace

The World Will Worship The Antichrist

The Rise of the Antichrist

 

Dracula by David Bergan aka Hawkwood

 

The Jews have called him Armilus. In their non-canonical writings (Midrashim)

For Example:

Saadia ben Yosef (cir. AD 882-942) writes of this coming world leader as Armilus[1] which in some smaller Midrashim are dealing with the “latter days.” In the “Midrash wa-Yosha'”—which comes nearest to Saadia’s conception—Armilus is taken to be Gog’s successor; but is represented as a monstrosity, bald-headed, with one large and one small eye, deaf in the right ear and maimed in the right arm, while the left arm is two and one-half ells long. His battle with and his defeat by the Messiah, son of Joseph, correspond with Saadia’s account.[2] The statement that is found there is that Armilus is the son of Satan and of a stone. [3]

 The Antichrist Appears at the Beginning of the Tribulation

 Revelation 6:1–2

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, Come.And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat thereon had a bow; and there was given unto him a crown: and he came forth conquering, and to conquer.

Since he is a counterfeit Christ he will have a natural birth and a supernatural birth.

The natural origin of Christ is that He was a product of a Jewish woman. The supernatural origin was the miraculous virgin birth by means of the power of the Holy Spirit. The result was the God-Man that we worship as Jesus of Nazareth that we know as the Messiah or Christ.

The Antichrist Will Be a Gentile:

He Will Be of Roman Origin:

The person that makes the seven-year covenant with Israel whose people destroyed the Temple is the Antichrist. (Daniel 9:26-27)

His Supernatural Origin:

The supernatural origin of Antichrist is by means of a counterfeit virgin conception. The supernatural origin is found in Genesis 3:15.

Genesis 3:15

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

 This verse gives the first prophecy of the coming of the Messiah. It also speaks to the coming of Antichrist. There are two pairs listed here.

  1. Enmity between Satan and the woman
  2. The second pair is the seeds of the Woman and the seed of Satan.

The first satanic enmity with woman is shown in Genesis six where demons intermarry with human women attempting to stop the Messiah from coming. A worldwide flood stopped this attempt. It is important to note though that the second pair is the enmity between Satan’s seed and the woman’s seed. Women do not have the seed for procreation, men do. However, since Jesus was born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) the expression her seed represents a miraculous conception.

The reference in this verse to Satan’s seed implies a supernatural, miraculous conception too. From this passage then it can be deduced that Satan will someday impregnate a Roman woman who will give birth to Satan’s seed who is going to be the Antichrist. The woman might not be a virgin because Scripture does not affirm this but he will be conceived through supernatural means. Consider II Thessalonians 2:8-9.

II Thessalonians 2:8–9

And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation of his coming;[even he], whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders

 The Greek word translated working is energeo, which means to energize. So then the coming of Antichrist will be brought about by the energizing of Satan. The counterfeit Son of the unholy Trinity will be brought about by a counterfeit virgin conception.

A time is coming when the events of Genesis six will be repeated.  The fallen anointed Cherub Satan (Lucifer) will impregnate a Roman woman to give birth to Satan’s son. The product of this conception will be a counterfeit god-man.

The Character and the Rise of the Antichrist:

Because of his close relative (father) Satan the Antichrist will have access to the satanic and demonic realm. He will accept the offer of Satan that Jesus refused when He was tempted in the wilderness. When he accepts Satan’s offer of all the kingdoms of the world it will start his rise to political power and world domination. The Church may be here to see his rise but not to see him obtain his office as the coming world leader. We do not know when the rapture will occur. It can happen any time before the Tribulation starts and that is sometime before the signing of the seven-year covenant with Israel. Some see the timing of the Rapture of the Church as occurring sequentially different than this.

Daniel describes him as a willful king, characterized by self-exultation above all men and self-deification by magnifying himself above even God. By deifying himself he will put himself above all humanity. He won’t desire the love of women and therefore be inhuman toward women. Some have concluded that he will be a homosexual from (Daniel 11:37). The enmity of Satan against women will continue through Satan’s seed. He will be under the total control of Satan. He will honor Satan. His policy will be “might makes right.” Then with the help of this foreign god, Satan he will take over the strongest defenses in the world appearing invulnerable. Those who give over themselves to his authority will be given status and authority in his kingdom. (Revelation 13:17-18; 666) He will divide territory he has conquered among those who will be loyal to him and confess him to be god.

One of his capabilities will be superb oratory skill while misleading the masses.

 This will be his chief satanic enablement. He will be able to sway the masses with “great swelling words.” Ian Kershaw in his biography of Adolph Hitler provided the following quote of his appraisal of Hitler’s oratory skills. “Hitler’s frequently demonstrated diffidence and unease in dealings with individuals contrasted diametrically with his self-confident mastery in exploiting the emotions of his listeners in the theatrical setting of a major speech. He needed the orgasmic excitement which only the ecstatic masses could give him.” Hitler himself quipped that “I must have a crowd to speak.[4]

So the Antichrist will be Satan -controlled and Satan energized who will set out to conquer the world. The first seal demonstrates the beginning of his conquest. He does not gain full control until the middle of the Great Tribulation. This then is the first of the four horsemen of the apocalypse (Revelation 6:2) the rider on the white horse wearing a stephanos going out conquering and to conquer.

He Will Lead The Entire World

THE COMING ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT

Some day the events of Ezekiel 38 & 39 will occur as a Russian leader whose title is Gog seeks spoils of some sort in the land of Israel. It might be the minerals in the Salt Sea or the recent natural gas finds off shore of the land allotted to the tribe of Asher. Some have conjectured that he might have the Arab oil as his actual target using Israel as a stepping stone to get to it. In any event the Bible teaches that Gog leads a coalition of Arab Muslim nations as well as Germanic peoples in an invasion of Israel. Some believe that He will emerge from Islam. This causes the elimination of those world powers to have any remaining political prowess on the world scene. It will take the Israelis seven months to clean up the dead or they will wait seven months to enter the battlefield to start the clean-up. No one will be allowed to touch any of the bodies until the professionals have cleaned the area. Additionally, the residue of the weapons will burn for seven years providing fuel for the cities in that region (Mountains of Israel). It is for these two aspects of this battle I believe nuclear arms will be used. The Hebrew words in these passages mean simply generic weapons such as missiles. They have been translated into arrows for example in ancient Babylon (597 B.C to 586 B.C.) when Ezekiel prophesied and knew only ancient weaponry.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky the ultra-Russian nationalists was presently a four-time presidential hopeful. In the December 1993 elections, he was elected to the Russian parliament. His Liberal Democratic Party shocked the nation by receiving twenty-five percent of the votes cast. This is the party that has been compared to Hitler’s Nazi party. Liberal Democrat in the Russian sphere of political influence has a different meaning than what we are accustomed to in the United States. Some call them ultranationalists. This kind of nationalism often has as its avowed goal racial, ethnic, or religious purity. Zhirinovsky has written extensively of the future war that Russia must engage in with the people to the south. His autobiography titled the “Last Dash to the South” discusses the Russian fate of attacking the Mediterranean people in Russia’s last great war. He, like Hitler has claimed that the Jews are infecting the nation and were responsible for both World War I and II. He sees Israel as a nation with tremendous wealth. He says that he envies the Jews because they are the richest nation in the world! While he may not be Gog his attitude, rhetoric, and fervor would lead one to believe that God’s prophecy is immanent.

When this happens the east and west will be brought together with the western democracies having superiority. This will be followed by a regional or economic division of the earth into ten separate entities each with its own leader. The Antichrist will rise as the eleventh leader. He will depose three of the ten and the remaining seven will submit to him in obedience. He will then be supreme leader of the entire earth’s one world government headquartered in Babylon (Zechariah 5:5-11). Lest we look for his appearance on the world stage too early assuming control it is important to review and emphasize the imagery that the prophet Daniel wrote of in his book.

In chapters two and seven he received imagery that depicted world empires that would emerge following Babylon. The last empire described as nondescript will be the single world government or system such as imperialism.  Specifically, in chapter seven after this world unity of one government, the entire world will be segmented into ten either geographic or economic regions. Only then he will come to power. He will kill three of the ten leaders (kings) in coups d’état and assume control over the remaining seven. Until the earth is divided in some obvious manner into ten regions we will not see him coming to power. Many have looked for him too early and thought to identify him with many historical characters. Two of those for example have been the pope, and Nero, the first century Roman emperor.

Destruction of Ecclesiastical Babylon 

Satan’s Last Stand-Armageddon Artist unknown

Revelation 17:16

And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

One of the Antichrist’s first acts in gaining religious control will be the destruction of the first religious system of the Tribulation, the Ecclesiastical Babylon. Previously, this religious system had the support of the civil government, for the first 3 ½ years. With all civil authority turned over to the hands of the antichrist, who is now in full control, civil government itself will destroy the domination of the Ecclesiastical Babylon.

When Adolph Hitler assumed the Chancellorship of Germany on January 30, 1933 the Protestant Churches acclaimed him as the savior. Some such as Karl Barth the theologian of Bonn University did not see any major significance to Hitler’s appointment. Within one month civil liberties were extinguished. Within two months most political opponents were imprisoned or left the country. The Reichstag surrendered its powers and gave Hitler complete control of the legislative process. Within four months all the trade unions were dissolved. Within six months all opposition parties were suppressed and forced into voluntary liquidation leaving the Nazis as the only party in Germany.

 The Christian Churches began to make voluntary comprises to the Nazis.

 The following items were used to further Hitler’s agenda.

  1. Churches were supported with state taxes (church married to the state).
  2. There was a split between public and private morality (one for the state and one for the private person-the doctrine of two spheres).
  3. Human ideas were substituted for God’s Word-God was irrelevant-Enlightenment thinking was advanced.
  4. Hatred for the Jews flourished under Hitler which originally started with Martin Luther.
  5. The authority of the Bible which condemns these things was ignored.
  6. The Third Reich claimed complete control over all churches in Germany.
  7. The Nazis stopped the Bible from being published and disseminated.
  8. Mein Kampf, Hitler’s book replaced the Bible in Churches.
  9. All crosses were removed and replaced by swastikas.

The genuine Church will not be here to see him. The unbelievers who are left behind after the Rapture  must watch for him to have the same agenda that Hitler used. Many apostate churches will go along with him because they are apostate now.

The Antichrist will try to change the laws too.

Daniel 7:25

And he shall speak [great] words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

All these things will come to pass because the Scripture cannot be broken.

John 10:35

If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken

Many believe that he will be a Muslim. That may be as Scripture only tells us he will be born through a corrupt conception between an earthly Gentile woman and Satan himself.

The Events Starting The Worship of The Antichrist

 

Idolatry Artist Unknown

Revelation 13:3–10

 

And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who [is] like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty [and] two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear.

He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints (KJV).

 

The entire world will see the resurrection of the Antichrist from the dead which is a counterfeit of Jesus Resurrection, and his power over the Two Witnesses who had tormented the unbelievers with their message of salvation through the Messiah for the first 3 ½ years. The Two Witnesses will be resurrected and then be taken up to Heaven and will not be heard from again. Then the entire earth will begin to worship the Antichrist as the king of the world and as god because of the False Prophet’s leading.

 

The Times of the Gentiles in a previous message showed us a seventh head and it is this head that is smitten unto death, but the death-stroke was healed by means of resurrection. Because he will give his authority to the Antichrist, men will begin worshipping Satan. Thus, Satan will become a counterfeit god the father. As the Father gave His authority to the true Son, Satan will give his authority to the counterfeit son. Just as the Father is worshipped through the True Son, Satan will be worshipped through the counterfeit son. And so unsaved men will worship him and will give him glory by saying, who is like unto the beast? And who is able to withstand him? This worship is from all who live on the whole earth.

 

This pseudo-god He will speak great things and blasphemies, even declaring himself to be god, and call all men to begin worshipping him. He will be given authority to continue for 3 ½ years, and so his control is to extend throughout the second half of the Tribulation. He will blaspheme all that is in Heaven, both God and all those who are there. He will war against the saints and overcome them, as is evident from his murder of the Two Witnesses, and he will continue to persecute all believers in Christ. He will also hold political and economic authority over the earth, for he will be given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. This is what is given here in verses 5-7 is also found in Daniel 7:25.

 

At this point in time he will have political, economic, and ecclesiastical authority over the whole world. At that time all unbelievers in the true God as including all apostate religions will worship him that have not had their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

 

Then a warning is given. The very way that men will treat the saints, God will treat them. If they enslave the saints god will enslave them. If they kill the saints, they will be killed. This is the word of patience to the saints. It is a word of encouragement and comfort to those who became believers living in the Antichrist’s persecution. They will understand that whatever suffering they will undergo, God will in turn judge those perpetrating the persecution in the same way.

The False Prophet

 

Revelation 13:11–15

And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by [the means of] those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed (KJV).

 

We are now dealing with the counterfeit spirit in the form of the False Prophet. Following the rise of the first beast, the Antichrist, John saw a second beast come out of the earth (as over against Heaven), thus emphasizing his humanity. He will appear like a lamb, giving the appearance of a true religious character, and thus deceive many. But he will speak like a dragon and so will betray his true nature, for he will be an agent of Satan, who throughout the book is portrayed as a dragon. This second beast is elsewhere called the False Prophet (16:13; 19:20; 20:10).

 

His activities as the counterfeit Holy Spirit are now spelled out. As the Holy Spirit exercises equal authority with the True Son, the False Prophet will exercise equal authority with the false son (Antichrist).  Just as the Holy Spirit calls all men to worship the resurrected Son, the False Prophet will call all men to worship the resurrected counterfeit son whose death-stroke was healed. In order to fully carry out the deception, the False Prophet will have the power of the counterfeit spiritual gifts of miracles and will perform signs for the purpose of deception. After convincing the world of the supremacy of the Antichrist, he will command men to make an image of the Beast. After the image is made, it will be given life by Satan through the False Prophet. This power of giving life will be another factor why men will worship the Antichrist and the image, and those who refuse to do so are put to death.  This completes the counterfeit trinity.

666: The Mark of the Beast

Artist Unknown

Revelation 13:16–18

And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number [is] Six hundred threescore [and] six (KJV).

In keeping with the complete counterfeit nature of the unholy trinity they will also counterfeit the supernatural sealing on the foreheads of the saints. The counterfeit seal in called the mark of the beast. This is a mark that will allow anyone who receives it on the forehead or the right hand to be able to conduct commerce. It will be like a super passport. This has nothing to do with banking, credit or money systems since it will be one mark for all not an individual number for each person.

The text gives us five clues as to its identification.

  1. The name of the Beast
  2. The number of his name.
  3. The number of the Beast.
  4. The number of a man.
  5. The number is 666.

This man is the last earthly ruler of the final form of the Fourth Gentile Empire.

 Gematria

The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters. Because Hebrew has no numerals letters are used to signify numbers and quantity. Greek is similarly constructed. It is no coincidence that our Bibles are written in Hebrew and Greek. Therefore, one can tell numbers from the context of the Hebrew sentences. For example, Aleph, which is the first letter, is 1. They then moving through the next successive 21 letters ending with Tav we have the following succession:

 

2, 3, 4,5 6,7,8,9,10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 200, 300, and 400.

 

By assigning each person’s name a numerical value we can evaluate everyone’s name. For example, Christ’s name would add up to the value of 749. This is called gematria.   Gematria is the calculation of the numerical equivalence of letters, words, or phrases, and, on that basis, gaining, insight into interrelation of different concepts and exploring the interrelationship between words and ideas.

 

The Babylonian king Sargon II, in 8th century BC, is believed to have been the first to use gematria when building the wall of Khorsabad exactly 16,283 cubits long, because that was the numerical value of his name.

 

In Jewish mysticism this is a traditional system of associating numbers with Hebrew letters for the purpose of discovering hidden meanings in words. This is accomplished by systematically associating letters with numbers and then finding other words with similar numbers. These latter words are regarded as comments on the original words. Systems related to the Hebrew implementation of gematria are still used.

 

The Hebrews also used gematria for divination.

 

The ancient Greeks used gematria in dream interpretation. It also appears in the literature of the magi, and has been used in connection with the Greek alphabet. The Gnostics applied gematria to names of deities such as Abraxas and Mithras, equating them because both of their names equaled 365, the number of days in a year. It was the Kabbalists, however, who seriously studied gematria and developed it into an art form. The Kabbalists of the 13th century seriously believed that the Old Testament was written in a hidden code inspired by God. They used gematria as one of the chief means by which to decipher this code. The 13th century German Kabbalistic scholar, Eleazar of Worms, did extensive gematric commentaries on the Bible. Also remarkable are the 20th century discoveries of Ivan Panin who, without the aid of a computer, spent 50 years and 43,000 handwritten pages of calculations, to give us his incredible discoveries.

 

The Kabbalists also used gematria to search for the holy names of God thinking, as so many others have, that these names such as the Tetragramaton possessed power. Many present day magicians have adopted such a procedure. By looking for repeat patterns of equidistant letters in sequence some are finding these hidden messages in the Bible. This has been referred to as the Bible Codes.

 

Ivan Panin spent forty years running numerics on as general an area as the index of the Bible’s books to the numerics of individual verses. Here’s an excerpt from Bible Numerics; speaking of the design structure of the Bible utilizing patterns of sevens in the gematria. Here is Panin’s findings of the 1st chapter of Matthew

 

….”The genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ is in the first chapter of Matthew. The vocabulary to the first half of this genealogy of the first eleven verses has 49 words. 49 happens to be 7×7. It has two separate numeric features. First, it is a multiple of 7; second, the sum of its factors is 14 – twice 7. Of these 49 words 28, or 7×4, begin with a vowel, and 21, or 7×3, with a consonant. That is to say, the words of the vocabulary are divided into words beginning with a vowel and words beginning with a consonant, not at random, but by sevens. So we have four features of sevens. So the 49 words of the vocabulary have 266 letters. That is a multiple of 7, i.e., 38×7, but that is not all. The sum of the figures of 266 is 14, or twice seven, and the sum of the factors 7x2x19 is also a multiple of seven; and we have three additional features of 7.

 

“I have said that the 49 words in the vocabulary are divided between vowel words and consonant words by seven. The 266 letters of the vocabulary follow exactly the same plan, namely 140 of them, or 7×20, are vowels, and 126, or 18×7 are consonants.

 

The second part of this chapter, verses 18-25, relates the birth of the Christ. It consists of 161 words, or 23 sevens; occurring in 105 forms, or 15 sevens, with a vocabulary of 77 words or 11 sevens. Joseph is spoken to here by an angel. Accordingly, of the 77 words the angel uses 28, or 4 sevens; of the 105 forms he uses 35, or 5 sevens; the numeric value of the vocabulary is 52,605, or 7,515 sevens; of the forms, 65,429, or 9,347 sevens.

 

The second chapter of Matthew tells of the childhood of the Christ. Its vocabulary has 161 words, or 23 sevens, with 896 letters, or 128 sevens, and 238 forms, or 34 sevens; the numeric value of the vocabulary is 123,529, or 17,647 sevens; of the forms, 166,985, or 23,855 sevens; and so on through pages of enumeration. This chapter has at least four logical divisions, and each division shows alone the same phenomena found in the chapter as a whole. Thus, the first six verses have a vocabulary of 56 words, or 8 sevens, etc. There are some speeches here: Herod speaks, the Magi speak, the angel speaks. But so pronounced are the numeric phenomena here, that though there are as it were numerous rings within rings, and wheels within wheels, each is perfect in itself though forming all the while only part of the rest.

 

Biblical Names for the Antichrist- Old Testament

 

Adversary; Psalms 74:8-10; Amos 3:11

Assyrian; Isaiah 10:5, 12

Belial; Nahum 1:15

Bloody and Deceitful Man; Psalm5:6

Branch of the Terrible Ones; Isaiah 25:5; Isaiah 14:19

Chief Prince; Ezekiel 38:2

Crooked Serpent; Job 26:13; Isaiah 14:19

Cruel One; Jeremiah 30:14; 23

Destroyer of the Gentiles; Jeremiah 4:7

Enemy; Psalm 55:3; Jeremiah 30:14; 23

Evil Man; Psalm140:1

Head over many Countries Psalm 110:6

Head of the Northern Army Joel 2:20

Idol Shepherd; Zechariah 11:16-17

King of Princes; Hosea 8:10

King of Babylon; Isaiah 14:11-20

Little Horn; Daniel 7:8-11, 21-26; 8:9-12, 23-25

Man of the earth; Psalm 10:18

Merchant, deceit, oppress; Hosea 12:7

Mighty Man; Psalm 52:1

Nail; Isaiah 22:25

Prince That Shall Come; Daniel 9:26

Prince of Tyre; Ezekiel 28:2-10

Profane Wicked Prince of Israel; Ezekiel 21:25-27

Proud Man; Habakkuk 2:5

Rod of God’s Anger; Isaiah10:5

Seed of the Serpent; Genesis 3:15

Son of the Morning; Isaiah 14:12

Spoiler, Destroyer; Isaiah 16:4-5

Vile Person; Daniel 11:21

Violent Man; Psalm140:1, 10, 11

Wicked, Wicked One; Psalm 9:17; 10:2, 4; Isaiah 11:4; Jeremiah 30:14, 23

Willful King; Daniel 11:36

 

Biblical Names for the Antichrist-New Testament

 

Angel of the Bottomless Pit; Revelation 9:11

Antichrist; 1 John 2:18, 22

Beast; Rev 11:7, 13

Father of the Lie; John 8:44; 2 Thessalonians 2:11

Lawless One; 2 Thessalonians 2:8

Man of Sin; 2 Thessalonians 2:3

One Come in His Own Name; John 5:43

Prince of Darkness; 2 Thessalonians 2:3

Son of Perdition; 2 Thessalonians 2:3

Star; Revelation 8:10; 9:1

Unclean Spirit; Matthew 12:43

Vine of the earth; Revelation 14:18

 

Capabilities of the Antichrist

 

Big Mouth Daniel 7:8, 11, 20

The Son of Satan; Genesis3:15

Intellectual Genius; Daniel 7:20; Ezekiel 28:3

Oratorical Genius; Daniel 7:20; Revelation 13:2

Political Genius; Daniel 11:21

Commercial Genius; Daniel 8:25; Revelation 13:17; Daniel 11:38; 43; Ezekiel 28:4-5

Military Genius; Daniel 8:24; Revelation 6:2; Revelation 13:4; Isaiah 14:16

Governmental Genius; Revelation 13:1-2, 17:17

Religious Genius; 2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 13:3, 14, 15

The Seven-year Covenant Broken

Daniel 11:40-45

40And at the time of the end shall the king of the south contend with him; and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass through. 41He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. 42He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries; and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. 44But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him; and he shall go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to sweep away many. 45And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the sea and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him (ASV, 1901).

Isaiah 28:14-22

14Wherefore hear the word of Jehovah, ye scoffers, that rule this people that is in Jerusalem: 15Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: 16therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone of sure foundation: he that believeth shall not be in haste. 17And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place. 18And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. 19As often as it passeth through, it shall take you; for morning by morning shall it pass through, by day and by night: and it shall be nought but terror to understand the message. 20For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. 21For Jehovah will rise up as in mount Perazim, he will be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act. 22Now therefore be ye not scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for a decree of destruction have I heard from the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, upon the whole earth (ASV, 1901).

 

We saw in an earlier lesson that the Antichrist will invade Israel. This is made clear from Daniel 11:41 where the text tells us that “He shall enter also into the glorious land.” This invasion includes the breaking of the seven-year covenant that he will make with Israel. We further noted earlier that the signing of the covenant initiated the Tribulation. True believers in Jesus the Messiah who have given their lives to Him through belief will be caught away in the rapture sometime before the signing of the covenant.

 

At the exact middle of the Tribulation or 3 ½ years he will break the covenant. One passage, from Isaiah 28:18 states that the covenant will be annulled.  There are several more which we will examine in the next event to be studied, “The Abomination of Desolation.”

Isaiah 28:18

And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

 The Abomination of Desolation-Daniel 9:27; 12:11; Matthew 24:15-16; Revelation 11:1-2; II Thessalonians 2:3-4; 8-12; Revelation13: 11-15

The first event tied to the breaking of the covenant is the Abomination of Desolation, which is connected to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. This is an event Christ spoke of in His Olivet Discourse. (Matthew 24:15; Mark13: 14)

Daniel 9:27

And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and upon the wing of abominations [shall come] one that maketh desolate; and even unto the full end, and that determined, shall [wrath] be poured out upon the desolate.

We saw in an earlier session that the covenant began the Tribulation. This verse lets us know exactly how long the Tribulation will last; a total of seven years. Verse says that in the middle of the week (shavuwa) the Antichrist will cause the sacrificial system to stop. This system will have been reinstituted. It has been inoperative since 70 AD when Titus Vespasian destroyed the Temple.  The forced cessation is followed by the statement; upon the wing of abominations shall come one that maketh desolate. This, the cessation of the sacrifices in conjunction with the breaking of the covenant is followed by and act or acts, which is labeled as ”the abomination of desolation.” The exact nature of this act or acts is not clearly identified at this point. Exactly what the Abomination of Desolation consists of is not stated, only that it occurs in the middle of the Tribulation. However, the term wing refers to the pinnacle of the Temple, emphasizing the concept of an “overspreading influence.” What begins here will spread elsewhere. The term abomination often refers to an image or an idol. Another passage, Daniel 12:11, gives the duration of the time that the Abomination of Desolation will last:

Daniel 12:11

And from the time that the continual [burnt-offering] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand and two hundred and ninety days

As in Daniel 9:27, the starting point is the ending of the Mosaic sacrificial system. The Abomination of Desolation will last 1,290 days. This is thirty days after the end of the Tribulation. It is not clear at this point why it is permitted to last this extra thirty days. Here this passage does not reveal exactly what the Abomination of Desolation will be. But, in Daniel 9:27, the term abomination refers to an image or an idol.

The Lord Jesus mentioned this as recorded in Matthew 24:15-16:

Matthew 24:15–16

When therefore ye see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let him that readeth understand),then let them that are in Judaea flee unto the mountains:

This passage is a reminder of the Daniel prophecy, with no explanation as to what the Abomination of Desolation is. The only clue given is that it will be something standing (like an image or idol) in the Holy Place. This passage helps to verify the futuristic interpretation of the Daniel passage, for it was still considered unfulfilled and future at the time of Christ. The Abomination of Desolation will serve as a warning to the Jews of Israel to flee the land.

Another text dealing with this is in Revelation 11:1-2

Revelation 11:1–2

And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and one said, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. And the court which is without the temple leave without, and measure it not; for it hath been given unto the nations: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

This passage also deals with the takeover of the Temple, as well as the City of Jerusalem, particularly the Old City, and connects it with the Times of the Gentiles. This will be the final Gentile control for Jerusalem and it will last 42 months or 3 ½ years. It will be this Gentile takeover of the city and the Temple that will cause a cessation of the sacrifices. Although Gentile domination over the City of Jerusalem will last 3 ½ years, the Abomination of Desolation will continue an extra month. But, there is still not a clear explanation as to what the Abomination is yet.

What, then, is the Abomination of Desolation? There are two elements or stages involved, the first of which is found in II Thessalonians

II Thessalonians 2:3-4

Let no man beguile you in any wise: for [it will not be,] except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God.

In this passage, the antichrist is described as seating himself in the Temple of god, declaring to the world that he really is God. In all probability he will sit in the very Holy of Holies.  Thus, with his initial takeover of Jerusalem in general and the Temple in particular, he will seat himself in the very Temple of God, will claim to be god, and by doing so will set up the second religious system of the Tribulation; the worship of the Antichrist.

His self-declaration of deity will be accompanied with miraculous signs to carry out the work of deception, according to II Thessalonians.

II Thessalonians 2:8–12

And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation of his coming;[even he], whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Here he is said to be energized by Satan, for it is by Satan that he will be brought back to life. His post-resurrection rise to power will be with all power and signs and lying wonders. The aim of these counterfeit miracles, according to verses 10-12 will be to deceive men so that they will worship the Antichrist and accept him as god. These verses have often been interpreted both as those who heard the gospel prior to the rapture and those who fell for the lie during the middle of the Tribulation. So, one says that if an individual clearly heard the gospel and rejected it he or she will not have an opportunity to be saved during the Tribulation. The other interprets this passage to strictly mean that the lie is the “taking the mark of the Beast” which then renders one incapable of turning back and accepting the Gospel preached by the 144,000 Jewish evangelists. Some say only one or the other is true and others say both are true. In any event the mark of the beast will surely render one incapable of hearing the Gospel.

Though he will declare his deity with in the Holy of Holies of the Temple, the Antichrist himself is allowed to continue for 1,260 days. Hence, the Abomination of Desolation must include something more than merely the Antichrist’s self-proclamation of deity. Furthermore, the Daniel and Matthew passages imply that an image or idol would be erected in the temple. This is what gives rise to the comparison to Antiochus Epiphanies slaughtering of a sow in the Holy of Holies in cir 164 B.C.

Antiochus Epiphanies was a great persecutor of the Jewish people. The apocryphal books of 1 and 2 Maccabees describe how he tried to stamp out Jewish religion, and in so doing slaughtered thousands of Jewish men, women, and children. In one of the worst acts in Jewish history, Antiochus desecrated the Temple by slaughtering a pig on the altar, forcing the priests to eat pork, and setting up an idol to Zeus. The Jews then abandoned the Temple, not wishing to go into a defiled place. That put a halt to the daily sacrifices until the Jews regained control of the Temple during the Maccabean revolution.

Epiphanies tried to put an end to the Jewish religious community through the introduction of Hellenistic cults, and persecuted those who would not bend to his demands (170-164 B.C.). For example, he entered the Holy of Holies and desecrated the sanctuary by offering pigs upon the altar of burnt offerings. He polluted the whole building by sprinkling it with water in which pig flesh had been boiled. He dedicated the Temple itself to Jupiter Olympus. Finally, he erected the statue of that deity and plundered the temple treasures. Severe punitive measures merely brought the matter to a head. For example, “According to the decree, they put to death the women who had their children circumcised, and their families and those who circumcised them; and they hung the infants from their mothers’ necks”
(I Maccabees 1:60, 61, RSV). These events were the cause of the Maccabean struggle and a revolt followed. [1] As a result of the persecution many Jews hung on to God and His commandments, and many in Israel stood firm and did not bend to pagan rituals being forced upon them. Another example was staying resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food. “But many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food. They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die. And very great wrath came upon Israel” (I Maccabees 1:62-64). Epiphanes enacted a law requiring all citizens to present themselves four times a year to pay formal homage to Antiochus Epiphanies as the senior god of the Seleucids. The day chosen for these periodic submissions was Shabbat, the Jewish day of prayer when Jews preferred not to leave their homes. Epiphanes was met by a revolt, called the Maccabean Revolt (167-160 B.C.), in which the Jews set up a small state in which the high priest was the central figure and this gained the Jews their independence for a short while. God let the Jews get themselves out of the trouble they brought upon themselves.

The second aspect of the Abomination of Desolation is in Revelation chapter 13.

Revelation 13:11–15

And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like unto lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in his sight. And he maketh the earth and them dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose death-stroke was healed. And he doeth great signs, that he should even make fire to come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of men. And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and lived

And it was given [unto him] to give breath to it, [even] to the image to the breast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

In the second stage of the Abomination of Desolation, the False Prophet (Beast #2) will be given by Satan authority to perform many signs and wonders, deceiving all who have aligned themselves with this global one world government in order to cause them to worship the Antichrist. These same ideas were evident in II Thessalonians 2:8-12, and both make it clear exactly what the Abomination of Desolation is comprised of. The great deception reaches its fulfillment when the image of the Antichrist becomes alive and men are called upon to worship the image. So, the deification of the Antichrist continues. The image will be set up in the Holy of Holies to carry on the Abomination of Desolation. Jerusalem will become the religious capital of the Antichrist, and the Temple will be the center of the worship of the Antichrist where the living image will be standing. So, while the Antichrist will be deposed of after 1,260 days, the image will remain in the Temple for another thirty days beyond that. It too will then be disposed of.

 

References:

 

[1] https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1789-armilus

[2] Patai, Raphael, The Messiah Texts, Wayne State University Press 1979 Detroit, MI pg. 156-164

[3] Jellinek, Introduction to Bet Ha-Midrash, ii. 21-23, iii. 17-20

[4] Kershaw, Ian. Hitler in IV Volumes. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998. Reprint Norwalk, CT: Easton Press, 2005, Vol. I, 133

 

 

Arnold Fruchtenbaum; Footsteps of the Messiah

Dwight Pentecost; Things to Come

Ivan Panin; Absolute Mathematical Proofs

David Hocking; Revelation

 

Category: Antichrist

The Weapons and Climate of The Gog & Magog War

 THE WEAPONS AND CLIMATE OF GOG AND MAGOG

The Swords of Ezekiel

By Dr. Thomas S. McCall

Magog Invasion

Prologue: Three hundred years ago, two believers in Christ were having discussions about Bible prophecy.  They were reading prophecies in the Old Testament about the restoration of Israel back to the Land in the last days.  One of them said, “Could this happen literally?” His friend replied, “Of course not, all the conditions of the world are against it.  The Jews are scattered all over the earth; the nations of the world would not stand for it; the Arabs would not tolerate it; it is unthinkable that such a turn of events could occur.  We must interpret these prophecies allegorically. It would take more than a miracle for this to occur.” 

Indeed. Now, three hundred years later, against all odds, we have lived through just such a miracle.  Israel is once again a nation among the family of nations, and is in the world news almost every day. Jesus said, “Not one jot or tittle shall pass from the Law until all is fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:18)  Will all the prophecies of the Word be fulfilled literally or just some of them?

I have long believed that the next great prophetic event between the Rapture of the Church and the beginning of the Tribulation will be the Gog and Magog War of Ezekiel 38-39.  There may be other smaller prophetic and/or non-prophetic wars between now and then, but the focus appears to be on Gog and Magog during that time frame.  The Gog and Magog War is a critical step in the divine plan of restoring all of Israel to the Promised Land, as well as the developments during the Tribulation, Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ.

Every day it seems like the stage is being set for the events of the Gog and Magog War. For Example:

  1. Iran (i.e. Ancient Persia) is increasingly in the international spotlight as it moves inexorably closer to nuclear capability.
  2.  Israel’s vulnerability from nuclear attack from Iran is causing it to ramp up its ability to mount a pre-emptive strike against the nuclear facilities in Iran.
  3. They are also forging an agreement with Saudi Arabia to use its airspace in case of such an attack.
  4. The U.S. administration and the European powers are attempting to solve the Iran problem diplomatically, but in the process they are alienating and marginalizing Israel.
  5. In addition, Russia is supplying Iran and much of the Middle East with military and diplomatic support.
  6. Israel’s discovery of vast natural gas reserves in the Leviathan field in the Mediterranean Sea and shale oil reserves under the Valley of Elah on land are making that miracle nation even more of a desirable target for Russia and the Magog alliance to attack.

What else has to happen, besides the Rapture, before the Gog and Magog War actually comes to pass?

Read more

Category: Gog & Magog War
1 2 3 … 177