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WilliamL

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  1. WilliamL

    Index and Summaries of Articles

    By WilliamL,


    Index
    SPECIAL NOTE 9/26/2022: Occasionally, the program used to format WCF blogs is changed. This happened again in the last 3-4 weeks. Now, whenever an article is updated, it is moved to the last position in all of the articles. This has resulted in all of these former notices –
    Index and summaries of all articles is here:
    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1403-index-and-summaries-of-articles/
    – to become obsolete. The above link no longer operates.
    Index and Summaries of Articles
    I have been discussing, debating, teaching, and learning about Bible prophecy in online forums since the year 2000, and since 9/2014 at Worthy Christian Forums. (Began intensively studying the subject in 1973.) Most of these articles, distilled out of all those years of study and debate, address the great majority of questions that repeatedly crop up on Bible prophecy forums. However, about one-fifth of the articles focus instead on important principles about the nature of man, the heavens, and the Tabernacle and Court.
    In the copying over of these articles onto this site, the type-faces and sizes have sometimes changed, generally becoming smaller. You can enlarge the text by keying the Ctrl and plus (+) keys, more than once if necessary. To revert to normal, use the Ctrl and minus (-) keys. Also, if you cut and paste an article to your word processing program (e.g. LibreOffice or Microsoft Word), the original formatting should come through: much more readable that way.
    I would like to offer thanks and appreciation to George for allowing me to do this blog on Worthy, as well as for his overall service to the Christian community for the huge work he has put into this site.
    1. Introduction
    A brief explanation of this blog’s primary focus: End Times prophecy as viewed from the long-ignored Hebraic perspective. https://worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/839-introduction-hebraic-roots-pre-wrath/
    2. The Last Shofar: The Latter Horn of Redemption
    Provides the Hebraic origin of, and explanation for, Paul’s use of the term “the Last Trumpet” in 1 Corinthians 15:51; then explains its connection to Paul’s often-ignored Rapture prophecy in Hebrews 12:18-28. https://worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/840-the-last-shofar-the-latter-horn-of-redemption/
    3. The Kingdoms of Solomon and Jesus Christ
    Shows that all of the primary events of King Davidʼs latter days, and up through the early events of the reign of King Solomon, allegorically portray the sequence of events of the End times from the Great Tribulation to the establishment of Christ’s own kingdom-reign from Jerusalem. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/842-the-kingdoms-of-solomon-and-jesus-christ/
    4. End Times Crib Sheet
    A summary outline of the above article, with a few key additions. Good for copying to use as a concise, one-page reference sheet for the order of End Time events. https://worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/843-end-times-crib-sheet/
    5. The Great Tribulation and the Great Deception
    Some “strong meat,” quoting passages from many Old and New Testament prophecies and Hebraic allegories, that reveals much not commonly understood about the Abomination of Desolation, the Great Tribulation, the Manchild, the Lawless One, and resurrections of the righteous and the unrighteous dead. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/861-the-great-tribulation-and-the-great-deception/           
    6. Careers in the Kingdom
    Provides a description of the Kingdom- (Millennial-) Age’s ecclesiastical, governmental, and commoner employments and responsibilities; and shows how these roles are both similar to and differ from comparable roles in the Mosaic/ ‘Jewish’ and Church Ages. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/902-careers-in-the-kingdom/
    7. “The Stars Will Fall From Heaven” = Pole Reversal?
    Shows how passages from Matthew 24, Luke 21, and Revelation 6, 9, and 12, about the stars falling from heaven in the era of the Second Coming, together indicate a reversal of Earth’s poles. Evidence about such pole reversals in the past is presented for comparison. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/929-“the-stars-will-fall-from-heaven”-pole-reversal/
    8. Matthew 24:30; Daniel 11:40 - 12:2; 2 Thessalonians 2; Numbers 24:24
    Shows how these prophecies outline the political/ military/religious events to take place from the period just before the Abomination of Desolation up through the demise of the Son of Perdition at the Coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/948-mt-2415f-dan-11-12-2-thes-2-num-2424/
    9. “…and every eye will see Him…” Part 1
    An introduction to the prophecy of Revelation 1:7, and parallel Old and New Testament prophecies: the primary implications of “every eye will see” Christ when He comes in the clouds. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/961-“…and-every-eye-will-see-him…”-part-1/
    10. “…and every eye will see Him…” Part 2
    A broader look at the implications of this event, especially for those of a carnal nature. Also, how this event was directly presaged by the LORD’s descent upon Mount Sinai during the Exodus. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/975-every-eye-will-see-him-part-2/
    11. “…and every eye will see Him…” Part 3
    An expanded view of how this event was presaged at Mount Sinai, especially concerning those of a soulish nature. Beginning of an understanding about ascents toward the LORD. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/995-every-eye-will-see-him-part-3/
    12. “…and every eye will see Him…” Part 4
    A concluding look at the ascents of those of spiritual and light natures, both at earthly Mount Sinai and at the Coming of Christ upon heavenly Mount Zion. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1015-every-eye-will-see-him-part-4/
    13. The Three Heavens
    A description of the three heavens/worlds above our physical world, and how they correspond to soul, spirit, and breath. Also, how all four worlds are symbolically portrayed by the four different areas of the Holy Temple. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1027-the-three-heavens/                                                                                                                                                                                       
    14. Revelation 12
    Explains all of the essential elements of Revelation 12, including the Woman, the Manchild, the time in history, and the 1260 days. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1053-revelation-12/
    15. Matthew 24:4-31 Is a Two-Part Prophecy
    Explains why Matthew 24:4-14 and Matthew 24:15-31 are two separate but closely related prophecies. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1060-matthew-244-31-is-a-two-part-prophecy/
    16. The Three Earthquakes of Revelation
    Shows why the earthquakes of Revelation 6:12, 11:13, and 16:18 are indeed three separate quakes, and not, as some claim, all the same one. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1089-the-three-earthquakes-of-revelation/
    17. The Son of Perdition Is a Patsy
    Shows that 2 Thessalonians 2:3’s Son of Perdition will follow in the pattern of Judas, the Bible’s only other Son of Perdition; contrary to common misconceptions about his role in the End Times. https://worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1097-the-son-of-perdition-is-a-patsy/
    18. The Temple-Sanctuary and Court of Revelation 11
    An explanation of Revelation 11:1-2 in a question-and-answer format, including details about heavenly and earthly sanctuaries, and who remains there or gets expelled. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1117-the-temple-sanctuary-and-court-of-revelation-11/
    19. When Does the Lord Smite Edom?
    Details Latter-Day events upon earth, including the Lord’s punishment of Edom, that are little understood by the Church. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1135-when-does-the-lord-smite-edom/
    20. “The Antichrist” Myth
    Debunks a number of false presumptions about “The Antichrist” that are taught in modern-day churches.    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1150-the-antichrist-myth/
    21. The Psalm 83 War: When?
    An explanation of the historical background of Psalm 83 and related Old Testament texts, and the modern false presumptions about them. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1166-the-psalm-83-war-when/
    22. Forty Days
    Some of the reasons why the Great Tribulation will likely be much shorter than most people think. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1179-forty-days/
    23. The Levels and Origins of Loves, and Their Ultimate Fulfillment
    Explains the different words for “love” in the Greek language, and God’s uses for these loves in bringing His people into fruitfulness and unity. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1297-the-levels-and-origins-of-loves-and-their-ultimate-fulfillment/
    24. The Firstfruits and the Harvest [This article is upgraded in articles #57-58.]
    Explains the prophetic application of Old Testament laws about the firstfruits, the firstborn, and the full harvest, as these laws relate to the End Times. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1367-the-firstfruits-and-the-harvest/
    25. The Innumerable “Great Multitude” of Revelation 7:9
    An explanation of who these people will be, and what their heavenly role will be in the End Times. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1396-the-innumerable-“great-multitude”-of-revelation-79/
    26. Antiochus Epiphanes and the End Times, Part 1: The History
    A short biography of Antiochus Epiphanes and his times, using interwoven passages out of Daniel and 1, 2, and 4 Maccabees. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1411-antiochus-epiphanes-and-the-end-times-part-1-the-history/
    27. Antiochus Epiphanes and the End Times, Part 2: The Transition from the Past to the Present
    Shows how the god-king Antiochus Epiphanes led the transition from the Greek Empire to the Roman Empire, and how the latter empireʼs posterity is found in modern Anglo-European governments. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1418-antiochus-epiphanes-and-the-end-times-part-2-the-transition-from-the-past-to-the-present/
    28. Antiochus Epiphanes and the End Times, Part 3: The Prophetic Fulfillment
    Shows how Daniel 11:40ʼs King of the North “in a time of an end” will commit comparable acts, and in the same sequence, as did Antiochus Epiphanes, therein fulfilling both Old and New Testament prophecies. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1433-antiochus-epiphanes-and-the-end-times-part-3-the-prophetic-fulfillment/
    29. The 1290 and 1335 Days of Daniel 12:11-12
    Presents a more literal and accurate translation of Daniel 12:11-12, and explains what this prophecy reveals about the sequence of End Time events. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1440-the-1290-and-1335-days-of-daniel-1211-12/
    30. The 1260 Days
    Describes where in the sequence of End Time events the 1260 days/3½ time/42 months prophecies of Daniel 7 and 12 and Revelation 11-12-13 will be fulfilled, what will happen in those days, and how they will end.    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1449-the-1260-days/
    31. The Tabernacle and Court: What They Represent
    Begins a seven-part series showing why the Tabernacle and Court together represent Godʼs Divine Pattern of Creation, Man, and the Gospel. This series starts with the various levels of meaning portrayed by the Altar and the Feast of Passover. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1475-the-tabernacle-and-court-what-they-represent/                               
    32. The Tabernacle and Court, Part 2: The Partly-Enclosed Court and the Laver
    Reveals the principles represented by the Partially-Enclosed Court, the Laver, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1486-the-tabernacle-and-the-court-part-2-the-partly-enclosed-court-and-the-laver/
    33. The Tabernacle and Court, Part 3: The Holy Place
    Reveals the principles represented by the Holy Place of the Tabernacle; its Lampstand, Table of Showbread, and Altar of Incense; and the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1498-the-tabernacle-and-the-court-part-3-the-holy-place/
    34. The Tabernacle and Court, Part 4: The Most Holy Place
    Reveals the principles represented by the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1505-the-tabernacle-and-court-part-4-the-most-holy-place/
    35. The Most Holy Place: The Feast of Trumpets/ Rosh Hashanah
    Reveals the principles represented by the Feast of Trumpets/Rosh Hashanah, and the Day of Atonement/ Yom Kippur. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1514-the-most-holy-place-the-feast-of-trumpetsrosh-hashanah/
    36. The Most Holy Place: The Feast of Tabernacles, a.k.a. Feast of Ingathering
    Reveals the principles represented by the Feast of Tabernacles/Feast of Ingathering respecting the resur-rection of the dead. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1523-the-most-holy-place-the-feast-of-tabernacles-aka-feast-of-ingathering/
    37. The Most Holy Place: The Eighth-Day Solemn Assembly/Shmini Atzereth
    Reveals the principles represented by the Eighth-Day Solemn Assembly/Shmini Atzereth respecting the New Jerusalem.https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1531-the-most-holy-place-the-eighth-day-solemn-assembly-shemini-atzereth/
    38. Daniel 9:24-27 Examined, Part 1: Verse 24
    Begins a seven-part series about this highly controversial prophecy. A detailed translation from the Hebrew is provided for each verse, with the relevant Hebrew grammar explained, beginning here with verse 24. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1568-daniel-924-27-examined-part-1-verse-24/
    39. Daniel 9:24-27 Examined, Part 2: Daniel 8ʼs Original Vision of “the Pesha/Rebellion” of the Jews
    Explains why Danielʼs original vision of the pesha/ rebellion/apostasy of the Jewish priesthood and people under Antiochus Epiphanes must be examined next, in order to set the prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 in its proper context. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1575-daniel-924-27-examined-part-2-daniel-8ʼs-original-vision-of-“the-pesharebellion”-of-the-jews/
    40. Part 2 Conclusion
    Concludes the review of Daniel 8 by pointing out some critical English-text mistranslations that have led many people to misunderstand key passages of the prophecy. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1576-part-2-conclusion/
    41. Daniel 9:24-27 Examined, Part 3: Verse 25
    A detailed translation and grammatical explanation of Daniel 9:25. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1584-daniel-924-27-examined-part-3-verse-25/
    42. Daniel 9:24-27 Examined, Part 4: Verse 26
    A detailed translation and grammatical explanation of Daniel 9:26, followed by a summary of the three current primary views on its prophetic meaning. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1592-daniel-924-27-examined-part-4-verse-26/
    43. Daniel 9:24-27 Examined, Part 5: Verse 27
    A very detailed translation and grammatical explanation of Daniel 9:27, which reveals various mistranslations found in different English versions of the Bible.   https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1598-daniel-924-27-examined-part-5-verse-27/
    44. Daniel 9:24-27 Examined, Part 46: Do Verses 26b-27 Prophesy Future Events?
    Lists the seven specific prophecies found in Daniel 9:26b-27, and tests whether the belief that they will be fulfilled in the future can be substantiated by other biblical End Time prophecies. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1605-daniel-924-27-examined-part-6-do-verses-26b-27-prophesy-future-events/
    45. Daniel 9:24-27 Examined, Part 7: Were Verses 26b-27 Fulfilled Historically?
     
    Tests the view that the seven prophesied events were fulfilled during the Jewish War of 66-73 A.D. Also, explains the reason for the time-gap between the 69th and 70th weeks. https://worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1611-daniel-924-27-examined-part-7-were-verses-26b-27-fulfilled-historically/
    46. The Prophetic Parable of Esther   Another example of where God provided for a key time of crisis and judgment in Israel’s history to prophetically portray End Times events. To be read in conjunction with articles #2, 3, 4, 28, and 48-55. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1783-the-prophetic-parable-of-esther/
    47. The Three Mass Resurrections of the Dead
     
    A look at Jesus’double prophecy, in John 5:25-29, about the mass ressurrections of the dead during His Fist and Second Comings. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1830-the-three-mass-resurrections-of-the-dead/
    48. The End Times and the Exodus, Part 1
     
    First of a four-part series that shows how the events of the Israelite Exodus out of Egypt, and their subsequent wilderness sojourn and conquest of Canaan, allegorically portray in great detail the full sequence of events surrounding the Second Coming of Christ. Begins with the Seven Spirits. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1980-the-end-times-and-the-exodus-part-1/
    49. The End Times and the Exodus, Part 2
    The Seven Seals.   https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1992-the-end-times-and-the-exodus-part-2/
    50.The End Times and the Exodus, Part 3
     
    The Seven Trumpets. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2027-the-end-times-and-the-exodus-part-3/
    51. The End Times and the Exodus, Part 4
     
    The Seven Bowls. https://worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2069-the-end-times-and-the-exodus-part-4/
    52. The Parousia of the Son of Man
    Reviews the use of the term parousia by Jesu, Paul, and Peter, and what is thereby revealed about the sequence of End Time events. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2211-the-parousia-of-the-son-of-man/
    53. The Mistranslation of John 1:1
    Bible translators have added an unwarranted “the” in John 1:1, which obscures the deeper mystical meaning of the verse. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2653-the-mistranslation-of-john-11/
    54. Testing and Establishing Sound Doctrine https://worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2668-testing-and-establishing-sound-doctrine/
    55. Preparing for Combat   https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2814-index-and-summaries-of-articles/
    56. The Firstfruits and the Harvest 2.0; Part 1
    An upgrade of article #24. Explains the prophetic application of OT laws about the firstfruits, the firstborn, and the full harvest, as these laws relate to the End Times. https://worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2686-the-firstfruits-and-the-harvest-20-part-1/
    57. The Firstfruits and the Harvest 2.0; Part 2 https://worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2687-the-firstfruits-and-the-harvest-20-part-2/
    58. So You Want to Teach Eschatology… https://worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2704-so-you-want-to-teach-eschatology…/
    59. Four Dual Witnesses Foretell Early Events of “the Time of the End”: Part 1
    Shows the prophetic equivalence of Matthew 24:15-31 with Daniel 11:45 – 12:2.
    https://worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2723-four-dual-witnesses-foretell-early-events-of-"the-timep-of-the-end"-part-1/
    60. Four Dual Witnesses, Part 2: The Resurrections of the Righteous and the Evil Dead. https://worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2724-four-dual-witnesses-part-2-the-resurrections-of-the-righteous-and-the-evil-dead/
    61. Covenant, Corporation, and Constitution
    Relates the Mount Sinai covenant to the covenant of the United States with God. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2725-covenant-corporation-and-constitution/
    62. Turning Evil to Good https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2736-turning-evil-into-good/
    63. Trials and Temptations https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2741-trials-and-temptations/
    64. Egypt, Part 1: Its Coming 40-Year Desolation
    Provides the evidence, from rarely-quoted biblical End Time prophecies, that reveals the length of, and details about, God’s coming End Time judgment of and later healing of Egypt. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2753-egypt-part-1-its-coming-40-year-desolation/
    65. Egypt, Part 2: Its Coming “Cruel Master”
    Shows in more detail how Egypt’s judgment relates to coming events in the Middle East that lead up to the Parousia of Christ. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2763-egypt-part-2-its-coming-cruel-master/
    66. Virgins and Stewards, Part 1: Questions https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2776-virgins-and-stewards-part-1-questions/
    67. Virgins and Stewards, Part 2: Answers https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2777-virgins-and-stewards-part-2-answers/
    68. The Beast Is Not a (Seven-Headed!) Man, Part 1
    Explains why the Beast of Revelation 13 cannot be a man, and reveals who and what it really is. https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2778-the-beast-is-not-a-seven-headed-man-part-1/
    69. The Beast, Part 2: Its Seven Heads https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2779-the-beast-part-2-its-seven-heads/
    70. The Beast, Part 3: Who IS the Beast? https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2780-the-beast-part-3-who-is-the-beast/
    71. The Beast, Part 4: Azazel and the Abyss https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2786-the-beast-part-4-azazel-and-the-abyss/
    72. The Beast, Part 5: The King of the Abyss https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2795-the-beast-part-5-the-king-of-the-abyss/
    73. The Beast, Part 6: The Mouth of the Beast https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2801-the-beast-part-6-the-mouth-of-the-beast/
    74. The Beast, Part 7: The Beast and Satan https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2805-the-beast-part-7-the-beast-and-satan/
    75. The Beast, Part 8: Final Judgments https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2806-the-beast-part-8-final-judgments/
    76. Index and Summaries of Articles https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2807-index-and-summaries-of-articles-1-79/
    77. The Shekhinah and the Manchild
    Explains the nature and role of the Shekhinah, the feminine manifestation of Deity, and her soon-to-come role as the Mother of the Manchild of Revelation 12:2-5.
    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2828-the-shekhinah-and-the-manchild/
    78. The "First" Resurrection of Revelation 20:5-6     https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2840-the-“first”-resurrection-of-revelation-205-6/
    79. The Prophesied Restorations of Israel and Judah After 7 Times
    Introduction to a six-part series of articles that show how national sovereignty was restored to the descendants of both the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah after the Lord’s prophesied period of 7 times [2520 360-day years] for their dispersions was fulfilled.
    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2847-the-prophesied-restorations-of-israel-and-judah-after-7-times/
    80. The Prophesied Restoration of Israel After 7 Times, Part 1: 1578 – 1744 AD
    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2848-the-prophesied-restoration-of-israel-after-7-times-part-1-1578-–-1744-ad/
    81. The Prophesied Restoration of Israel After 7 Times, Part 2: 1754 – 1783 AD
    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2849-the-prophesied-restoration-of-israel-after-7-times-part-2-1754-–-1783-ad/
    82. The Prophesied Restoration of Judah After 7 Times, Part 1: 1878 – 1897 AD
    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2851-the-prophesied-restoration-of-judah-after-7-times-part-1-1878-–-1897-ad/
    83. The Prophesied Restoration of Judah After 7 Times, Part 2: 1947 – 2000 AD
    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2852-the-prophesied-restoration-of-judah-after-7-times-part-2-1947-–-2000-ad/
    84. The Prophesied Restorations of Israel and Judah After 7 Times: Summary and Comparison
    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2853-the-prophesied-restorations-of-israel-and-judah-after-7-times-summary-and-comparison/
    85. Replacement Theology Brings a Curse    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2858-replacement-theology-brings-a-curse/
    86. Pre-Wrath Doctrine in a Nutshell    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2924-pre-wrath-doctrine-in-a-nutshell/
    87. The Prophetic Heritage and Destiny of Joseph; Part 1    Beginning of a four-part series about the nation of Joseph's place and role in the End Times.    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2927-the-prophetic-heritage-and-destiny-of-joseph-part-1/
    88.  Joseph, Part 2: The Heritage of Joseph    
    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2928-joseph-part-2-the-heritage-of-joseph/
    89. Joseph, Part 3: A Patriarchal Prophecy of Josephʼs Future    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2929-joseph-part-3-a-patriarchal-prophecy-of-josephʼs-future/
    90. Joseph, Part 4: “The Fullness of the Nations”    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2936-joseph-part-4-“the-fullness-of-the-nations”/
    91. The Sobering Situation in Israel    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2944-the-sobering-situation-in-israel/
    92. The 24 Elders of Revelation: Who (Or What) are They? Part 1    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2945-the-24-elders-of-revelation-who-or-what-are-they-part-1/
    93. The 24 Elders of Revelation, Part 2: The Time of Their Appearance     https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2946-the-24-elders-of-revelation-part-2-the-time-of-their-appearance/
    94. The 24 Elders of Revelation, Part 3: The Setting of the Heavenly Throne    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2947-the-24-elders-of-revelation-part-3-the-setting-of-the-heavenly-throne/
    95. The 24 Elders of Revelation, Part 4: The Heavenly Appearance of the Lamb    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2950-the-24-elders-of-revelation-part-4-the-heavenly-appearance-of-the-lamb/
    96. The 24 Elders of Revelation, Part 5: The Double Sacrifice     https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2951-the-24-elders-of-revelation-part-5-the-double-sacrifice/
    97. Post-WCF_Crash Message   https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2952-post-wcf-crash-message/ 
    98. The 24 Elders of Revelation, Part 6: The Ritual of Atonement Continued   https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2966-the-24-elders-of-revelation-part-6-the-ritual-of-atonement-continued/
    99. The 24 Elders of Revelation, Part 7: The Heavenly Priesthood    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/3019-the-24-elders-of-revelation-part-7-the-heavenly-priesthood/
    100. Marital Union in Heaven, and in Creation, Part 1   Beginning of a seven-part series about the Divine origin of, and the ultimate fulfillment of, God's purpose for marriage. [From Part 2: "The primordial pattern of the male-female union did not begin with Adam and Eve, but rather with the Creator and His Creation."]    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/3152-marital-union-in-heaven-and-in-creation-part-1/
    101. Marital Union in Heaven, and in Creation, Part 2  The Origin of Marriage    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/3164-marital-union-in-heaven-and-in-creation-part-2-the-origin-of-marriage/
    102. Marital Union in Heaven, and in Creation, Part 3  First Stage of Holy Marital Union: Man – A Covenant of Flesh    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/3183-marital-union-in-heaven-and-in-creation-part-3-first-stage-of-holy-marital-union-man-–-a-covenant-of-flesh/
    103. Marital Union in Heaven, and in Creation, Part 4  Second Stage of Holy Marital Union: Israel – A Covenant of Soul    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/3193-marital-union-in-heaven-and-in-creation-part-4-second-stage-of-holy-marital-union-israel-–-a-covenant-of-soul/
     
  2. WilliamL
    Marital Union in Heaven, and in Creation, Part 4
    Second Stage of Holy Marital Union: Israel – A Covenant of Soul
    Every one of the stages in the marital Chain of Events is essential to the whole Creation, forever. Adam and Eve became “one flesh.” Gen. 2:24 “Wherefore they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” Matt. 19:6 God’s purpose in joining man and woman in marital relationship will not be undone by the ascension of His elect into heaven.
    The next fundamental marital union in Creation was that entered into between YHWH and the nation of Israel. Like with the earlier marital union of the flesh, this one too began with a face-to-face relationship between God and His people, when the LORD “came down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.” Ex. 19:11
    “The soul of the flesh is in the blood.” Lev. 17:11; Gen. 9:4 Nations are primarily made up of people having bloodlines = soul-lines derived from a common ancestor. In the case of Israel, that ancestor was Jacob, whom God later renamed Israel. Now, following the archetypal Chain of Events pattern, God first had to create the nation of Israel, and then separate it out:
    Genesis 46:2 Then God spoke to [the man] Israel…and said… 3 “…do not fear to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you a great nation.”
    Deuteronomy 26:5 … “My father [Israel] was an Aramean about to perish, and he went down to Egypt…and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and prosperous. … 8 Then the LORD brought us [Israel] out of Egypt…”
    Unlike the physical/fleshly relationship between a man and a woman, the marital covenant between the nation of Israel and YHWH was on the level of soul. [Hebrew, nephesh; Greek, psuchē.] This marriage covenant was sealed with blood early in the Exodus era, when all Israel stood before God at Mount Sinai:
    Exodus 24:3 And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD… 7 Then he [Moses] took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has said will we do, and be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words.”
    Despite all of the people of Israel’s later sins, God still confirmed the existence of this marriage covenant over 900 years later, saying through His prophet Jeremiah,
    Jeremiah 3:1 … “You have played the harlot with many lovers; and would you return to me?” says the LORD. … 14 “Return, O backsliding children,” says the LORD; “for I have been married [Perfect (past) tense] with you…”
    The LORD confirmed this, even though
    Jeremiah 2:27 “…they have turned their back unto me, and not their face…”
    Yet despite the adultery of the people of Israel, who whored after other gods, the LORD has promised that He will reconfirm this marriage covenant, and restore His face-to-face relationship with the nation:
    Ezekiel 20:34 “I will bring you out from the peoples, and I will gather you out from the countries wherein you have been scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. 35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I have judgment with you face to face. … 37 And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.”
    Therefore, despite Israel’s adulterous rebellion against the LORD and their marital covenant with Him, He has committed Himself to restore and perfect that covenant in the future. This is the pattern followed for every marital covenant that God has established, and will establish, in His Creation.
  3. WilliamL
    Marital Union in Heaven, and in Creation, Part 3
    First Stage of Holy Marital Union: Man – A Covenant of Flesh
    As we saw in Part 2, the process of the perfecting of the Creation is still going on. Biblical history clearly shows this process, “the Chain of Events,” having taken place in earlier manifestations; the most obvious being in the case of Adam and Eve.
    Like the primordial Divinity, Adam was at first an undivided whole, until –
    Genesis 2:21 …the LORD God caused…a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his tsēlaim/sides/“ribs,” and He closed up the flesh underneath it. 22 And the side which the LORD God had taken from the man He built it [Hebrew banah] into a woman, and He brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said: “This now is bone from my bones, and flesh from my flesh. [So this tsēla was more than just a rib bone.] For this, she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and be joined with his wife, and they [two] shall become one flesh.
    Matthew 19:6 “Wherefore they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.”
    The by far most common translation for the Hebrew word tsēla is “side” (KJV, 19 times), not “rib” (2 times, both in this passage). Now, “God created man in His image…male and female…” Gen. 1:27 Adam was both sides together before God made the outward division, separating the two sides. Mystical understanding is required here. Genesis 2 clearly states that the female came out of the man: she was not separately created from the dust, as Adam was. So we can see how this first biblical-historical case of a division of a wholeness into two, followed by a perfecting of the separated part, followed by the bringing together of the two into one, depicted the archetypal plan of the Hishtalsheluth in the realm of the flesh.
    Adam, and later Eve, at first lived in a harmonious face-to-face relationship with their Creator. After they sinned, however, they “hid themselves from the face of the LORD God…” Gen. 3:8 That is, this individual part of the Creation, like the original whole of it, became separated away from Divinity. Human marriages ever afterward became in need of being perfected, in order to restore this original Union. And that perfection will require the resumption of male-female marital relationships being in face-to-face communion with the Creator.
  4. WilliamL
    Marital Union in Heaven, and in Creation, Part 2
    The Origin of Marriage
    Marriage is the union of a male and a female. The primordial pattern of the male-female union did not begin with Adam and Eve, but rather with the Creator and His Creation. That pattern originated with a separation out of primordial, limitless Divinity of a limited part thereof; because absolutely nothing else than Divinity existed before that separation. Since that event, the Creator’s sole work has been to perfect that lesser part, and to bring it back into union with Himself. This entire purposeful process –
    Transcendent Divine Wholeness → separation → perfecting of that having been separated → Holy (Re-)union/Marriage
    – set off a Chain of Events (Hebrew: Hishtalsheluth) of this same pattern being repeatedly manifested over and over again in Creation, in increasing stages of unity, up until the fully sanctified Reunion is able to be completed.
    The next stage in this marital Chain of Events will be the return of Christ for His Bride, the Church, in order to consummate a spiritual marital union in heaven:
    Revelation 19:7 “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give Him [‘the Lord God’] the glory: for the marriage of the Lamb came, and His wife made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted that she might be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 And he said unto me, “Write: Blessed are the ones having been called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
    But even this holy union will only be another stage of perfection in the Chain of Events. For during the Millennium, the heavenly New Jerusalem will be being “prepared as a numphē/betrothed woman adorned for her husband.” Rev. 21:2 That more highly-exalted stage of marital union will not be attained until after the Millennium has been completed. Earlier stages have already taken place, although they have not yet been perfected; these will be the subjects of Parts 3 - 6. ALL of these types of marital, male-female unions must be perfected together in one in order for the ultimate marriage of the Creator with His Creation to be completed. (Because for the perfection of the whole to be achieved, every part of that whole must also be perfected.) That Union will be the subject of Part 7.
  5. WilliamL
    This verse is commonly misunderstood, because people project into it more than it actually says. First, what it does NOT say:
    – That marriage in heaven will not exist. (Heaven itself IS a state of marriage; that is, a state of union.)
    – That people in heaven will be sexless.
    – That angels in heaven are sexless, or are only males, having no feminine traits at all.
    Now, what the passage DOES say:
    – That personal volition regarding 1) the choosing to marry, 2) the choosing of whom to marry, and 3) the choosing to give one’s daughter in marriage,
    which currently are all earthly choices of our wills – such solely personal choices will not take place in heaven.
    What the Lord has shown me, and others also, is that man-woman marital unions in heaven are omnisciently provided by our Lord and King, who created marriage, and who designed and appointed the original wife for the original man. (Adam didn’t get a say in the matter, because God’s choice was perfect.)
    In heaven, our wills will be bound up within the Lord’s perfect will, because that is how we will come to be in heaven in the first place. The Lord’s perfect will, from the very beginning of Creation, has been to bring about a perfect union between the Creation and the Creator – including in every detail of the Creation. The stages of this uniting will be the subject of Part 2.
  6. WilliamL
    The 24 Elders of Revelation, Part 7: The Heavenly Priesthood
    The 24 Elders of Revelation are the chief leaders of the courses of the Melchizedek priesthood who serve in the heavenly sanctuary. Of which there was made an earthly anti-type, wherein King David established 24 courses of priests, having 24 chiefs over them, to serve in the earthly temple. 1 Chr. 24:1-19 David explained his act by saying, “All this the LORD made me understand in writing, by His hand upon me, even all the works of the pattern [Heb. tabnyth: literally, structure].” 1 Chr. 28:19 Just like Moses was told: “make them in their pattern/tabnytham that you were shown in the mountain.” Ex. 25:40; Heb. 8:5
    Both of those earthly structures, Mosaic and Davidic, were fashioned after heavenly ones which existed before their earthly counterparts:
    1 Chronicles 28:11 … Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof… 12 And the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of the LORD… 13 And for the courses of the priests and the Levites… 19 “All this,” [said David], “the LORD made me understand in writing, by His hand upon me, even all the works of the pattern.”
    Hebrews 8:4 …on earth…there are priests who offer gifts according to the law, 5 who serve an upodeigmati (under-exhibit/under-example) and shadow of the heavenly things…according to the pattern [tupos: model, shape] shown [Moses] in the mount. … 9:23 It was necessary therefore for the upodeigmata/under-examples of the things in the heavens should be purified with these [the blood of animal sacrifices]; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these [the blood of Jesus].
    The Book of Revelation in many places describes the heavenly sanctuary (naos), having priests, an altar of sacrifice, a golden altar of incense, a golden censer, seven lamps of fire, and “the ark of His covenant.” The original sanctuary with all of its priestly offices and ordinances are in heaven, and all of their earthly counterparts were made in the likeness thereof. So there were 24 Elders in the heavenly sanctuary during the time of David, therefore long before the time of Jesus. Now, whether or not these 24 Elders in David’s day will be the same ones that John foresaw at the end of the Church Age, the Scriptures do not tell us. What we are told is that there has been since ancient times a Melchizedek-level priesthood of men near to the Presence of God in heaven.
  7. WilliamL
    The 24 Elders of Revelation, Part 6: The Ritual of Atonement Continued
    Christ’s first offering of His blood for atonement – the offering “for Himself and for His [priestly] house” – was completed soon after His resurrection and ascension to heaven, so that His Divine priesthood could immediately be sanctified in heaven and in earth. Otherwise, His Apostles and other elders would have lost their Divine authority. Which they had lost at the time that the sins of the world were laid upon Jesus at the Cross, up until the fulfillment His first entry to receive the required atonement in the heavenly sanctuary for the sins of the priesthood. See John 20:17-19 and Luke 24:39.
    Christ’s second entry to receive atonement in the heavenly sanctuary will bring about – when He “appears out of the heavenly sanctuary a second time” at the event of His Parousia – an expiation/atonement “for the people,” His flock, of all the sins of their carnal Adamic nature:
    1 Corinthians 15:53 For this corruptible [flesh] must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 2 Corinthians 5:4 …in order that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
    At this point, atonement will have been completed both for the High Priest Jesus and His priestly house and for the faithful of the people. However, the Divine Law of Atonement, as portrayed by its Aaronic archetype in Leviticus 16, still requires further acts to take place in order to complete the whole ritual. The primary remaining act involves something commonly called in English “the scapegoat.”
    In Leviticus 16:8, 10, and 26, the Hebrew word translated as “the scapegoat” is Azazel [ăz-aw-zaleʹ]. But these passages in Hebrew literally mean “for Azazel,” not “for the Azazel”; the Hebrew has no “the”:
    Leviticus 16:8 Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats [:5 for a sin offering]: one lot for YHWH, and one lot for Azazel. … 21 Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat [for Azazel], and confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions concerning all their sins, and put them upon the head of the goat; and he shall cast it out by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness… 26 …for [or, unto] Azazel.
    There is only one source from antiquity, the Book of Enoch, that reveals to us what this metaphorically means. That work describes the fall of “the angels who did not keep their principality, but left their own [heavenly] habitation…” Jude 6 The name of the very worst of these fallen angels was Azazel:
    Enoch 10:12 “All the earth has been corrupted by the teaching of the work of Azazel. To him therefore ascribe the whole crime [or, all sin].”
    Peter tells us that “God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus [the Abyss of Hades], and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment…” 2 Peter 2:4 Revelation 9:1-2 tells us that the ‘Abyss will be opened’ at the 5th Trumpet. Sometime after that, “the Beast…shall be ascending out of the Abyss, and shall be going away into perdition.” Rev. 9:1-2; 17:8; 11:7 That Beast will be Azazel.
    Az/azel (Hebrew עזאזל) literally means Goat of Departure. But עז/goat is derived from a Hebrew root that means “harsh strength/ruthlessness,” such as seen in a billy goat. In the End Times, such earthly ruthlessness will reach its apex in the Kingdom of the Beast, up until Jesus returns to defeat “the Beast and the kings of the earth and their armies” at the Battle of Armageddon. Rev. 19:19; 16:16ff. The Beast will then be “cast alive into the lake of fire,” never to return. Rev. 19:20 That act will fulfill the archetypal Leviticus 16 Day of Atonement Azazel ritual: the carnal sins of the people will be laid upon the Goat of Departure, and cast out of the camp (i.e., the world) forever.
    At the conclusion of these things, the Millennial reign of Christ, the Prince of Peace, will be established over all the earth:
    Enoch 10:26 “Then shall all the children of men be righteous… 27 The earth shall be cleansed from all corruption… 28 In those days I will open the treasures of blessing which are in heaven, that I may cause them to descend upon earth, and upon all the works and labor of man.”
  8. WilliamL

    Post-WCF Crash Message

    By WilliamL,


    special notice
    As the just-ended WCF crash should remind us, information on this site and elsewhere on the internet cannot be relied upon to be available until Jesus returns.
    I recommend that people copy out whatever information they want to have access to in the future. The copying can be either to a personal computer, and backed up on a thumb drive; or (preferably) to a printout.
    Anyone in the ministry of the Word should be prepared to fully carry on their work without access to the internet. Some online Bible-help programs, such as Blue Letter Bible, are available (in a limited version) on a CD.
  9. WilliamL
    The 24 Elders of Revelation, Part 5: The Double Sacrifice
    The subject of this blog series is the 24 Elders in heaven that John foresaw in Revelation 4 - 5, having victors’ crowns on their heads. Which elders will not be any of those who will be resurrected and who will ascend to heaven at Christ’s Parousia; because all these will still be the “eagerly awaiting” ones referred to in Hebrews 9:28:
    …Christ, having been offered once for to bear the sins of many, will appear ek/out of the heavenly sanctuary (9:7-12) a SECOND time unto those eagerly awaiting Him for their salvation.
    In the context of Hebrews 9, verse 28 is His coming out of the heavenly sanctuary after His SECOND offering “for the people”: that of His Adamic nature. Heb. 9:7; Lev. 16:15 His FIRST offering, as with Aaron in the earthly sanctuary each Day of Atonement on Tishri 10, was “for Himself and for His house.” Heb. 3:6; 9:7, 12; Lev. 16:11, 29 For there are two priestly houses: one of Aaron, and one of Christ. These are the earthly and heavenly priesthoods originally named after Aaron and Melchizedek, respectively; things fully explained in Hebrews 5 – 8.
    Here are the essentials of the Aaronic atonement ritual:
    Leviticus 16:11 [First offering:] “And Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull of the sin offering which is for himself. … 15 [Second offering:] Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, and bring its blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. … 29 … In the 7th month, on the 10th day of the month…”
    Among the ancient cultures of the Mosaic era, a powerful bull represented godlike authority. (Pictographs from ancient times commonly portrayed gods with bulls heads, and/or bull horns.)
    In contrast, a sacrifice from the flock represented the frailty of mortal men.
    In the heavenly sanctuary, Christ is able to fulfill by Himself, for all time, this required double sacrifice, because He uniquely has TWO natures, Divine and Adamic. Here are the essentials of the heavenly atonement ritual:
    Hebrews 9:11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, 12 nor by the blood of goats and calves, but by [First offering:] His own blood He entered the holy places ephapax/on one occasion, having obtained (for) Himself* eternal redemption. … 24 For Christ has not entered into [earthly] holy places made with hands, which are anti-types of the true; but into heaven itself, [Second offering:] now to appear in the presence of God for us… 28 So Christ, having been offered apax/once for to bear the sins of many, will appear ek/out of the heavenly sanctuary A SECOND TIME unto those eagerly awaiting Him for their salvation. *Aorist participle, middle/reflexive voice.
    Jesus appears as the Slain Lamb in Revelation 5 to represent the whole of His sacrifices “for Himself and for the people.” For this Lamb hearkens back to His original archetypal “lamb” sacrifice nearly 2000 years ago at Passover, being “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Rev. 13:8 However, God required that original sacrificial work to be continued by means of the heavenly bull-type and goat-type double sacrifice in the heavenly sanctuary. This additional work is required because “the sins of the world” that were fully laid upon Jesus (John 1:29; 1 John 2:2; Isaiah 53:6) must be completely expiated, so that both He and we can be everlastingly separated from them. Therefore, God has provided a way whereby those sins will be transferred to and carried off by another. This will be explained in Part 6.
  10. WilliamL
    The 24 Elders of Revelation, Part 4: The Heavenly Appearance of the Lamb
    Revelation 4 describes the soon-to-come sitting of God upon his heavenly throne of judgment. Appropriate acknowledgements of His glory and honor, and submission to His authority, are thence given by the four Living Creatures and the 24 Elders.
    Revelation 5 moves on from these preliminaries to an event that will result in earthly consequences.
    Revelation 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of the One sitting on the throne a scroll having been written within and on the back, and having been sealed with seven seals. … 3 And no one in heaven nor on the earth nor under the earth was able to open the scroll, neither to look at it. 4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the scroll… 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” 6 And I beheld in the midst of the throne and of the four Living Creatures, and in the midst of the Elders, a Lamb standing as having been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God having been sent out into all the earth. 7 And He came and took the scroll out of the right hand the One sitting on the throne. 8 And when He took the scroll, the four Living Creatures and the 24 Elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of saints. 9 And they sing a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals: for You were slain, and redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and language and people and nation; 10 And You made us kings and priests unto our God; and we shall reign on [or, over] the earth.” [Textus Receptus; other versions, “you made them kings [or, a kingdom]…and they shall reign…”] 11 … I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the Living Creatures, and the Elders… 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive dunamis/power…”
    [Here Jesus is called a lion, yet depicted as a lamb. These two images are different spiritual garments donned by the Son of God, according to the nature of the occasion. There is a big difference between spiritual beings and the garments and armor in which they are clothed. When Jesus appears as the slain Lamb in Revelation 5, He is wearing a heavenly garment that shows His righteous act as a sacrificial offering for redemption. When He appears with a sword in His mouth in Revelation 19, He is wearing the armor of the Sword of the Spirit. Such spiritual garments and armor portray the spiritual realities at the time, ones not seen by earthly eyes. When Satan appears in heaven as a red dragon, that is also a spiritual garment, one that accurately portrays his nature at that instant.]
    So Jesus will at this time “receive power” to carry out all the promises and acts written in God’s scroll. He no longer will be, as Stephen saw Him, passively “standing at the right hand of God.” Acts 7:56 This receiving of End Time power is the same event Daniel foresaw centuries earlier:
    Daniel 7:13 I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like a Son of a mortal was coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. 14 And to Him were given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples and nations and languages should serve Him.
    [The Messiah is only mentioned twice in the Book of Daniel: here in chapter 7, and briefly in 9:24-26. The whole era between His being “cut off” (9:26) up to His “coming with the clouds of heaven” (7:13) is the Church Age of Revelation 2 - 3.]
    Some might object to the idea that Jesus is said to “receive dunamis/power” at this time, when, according to their Bibles, He told His disciples soon after His resurrection that “All exousia/power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” Matt. 28:18 KJV, and a few other versions. However, exousia is more correctly translated as “authority,” that is, lawful jurisdiction. Whereas dunamis means actual “force,” that is, authority put into action. After Christ receives the scroll from God’s right hand, He will soon after begin to exercise His new authority-to-act by opening its seals, the first five of which will quickly result in the earthly trials of the Great Tribulation. (Being the same five trials, in the same order, that Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24:5-9.)
    But why is it that Jesus is seen as a Slain Lamb receiving this power, and not as a Royal Lion? The reason for this will be explained in Part 5.
  11. WilliamL
    The 24 Elders of Revelation, Part 3: The Setting of the Heavenly Throne
     
    According to the ancient Hebraic understanding, a king voluntarily lowers himself whenever he comes to sit upon his throne of judgment, because there he exposes his glory to subjects having a lesser dignity and honor than himself. Therefore, such occasions are limited in number and duration. Only twice in the history of the world – once at Mount Sinai, and then again here in the end of the Christian Age – is God to PERSONALLY and PUBLICLY expose His nature to the lower worlds all the way down to include earth. (At other times in the past, such as described in Job 1 - 2 and Ezekiel 1 ff., God only appeared in heavenly venues, which cannot be seen by the natural man.)
    This coming second and last earthly appearance for judgment will be immediately preceded by the blast of a shofar/trumpet, just as was the first. Matt. 24:31; 1 Thes. 4:16; Ex. 19:16 That is why the coming blast is called “the LAST trump” (1 Cor. 15:52): this knowledge was revealed to Hebraic sages before the birth of Christ. See https://worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/840-the-last-shofar-the-latter-horn-of-redemption/
    Although God’s heavenly appearance upon His throne first begins to be seen in Revelation 4, it is not until after the initial events of the 6th Seal that He and His Son will reveal themselves unto the realm of earth. Rev. 6:12-17; 1:7 Up until that time, preparatory events must first be carried out in heaven. That period covers the span from Revelation 4:1 to 6:14.
    In Revelation 4, the major heavenly participants in the judgment appear in their places on and around the throne: God, the 24 Elders, the seven spirits of God, and the four Living Creatures. Later, in Revelation 5:11, myriads of angels are revealed to have been surrounding these central participants. Those who are allowed and enabled to approach the closest to God are those who have the greatest holiness. Therefore, this heavenly portrayal reveals that the 24 Elders exceed the angels of heaven in preeminence:
    Hebrews 1:14 Are they [the angels] not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for the sake of those who shall inherit salvation?
    Revelation 4 provides the opening scene for God’s End Time judgments. Next we will move on to Revelation 5, wherein an event takes place that will directly lead to earthly consequences.
  12. WilliamL
    The 24 Elders of Revelation, Part 2: The Time of Their Appearance
     
    Revelation 4:1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door having been opened in heaven. And I heard the first voice which I [had] heard as of a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show thee things which must take place after these things.”
    After what things?
    The previous things shown to John were the events of chapters 2 - 3. They describe the era of the 7 lampstands, which represent 7 churches:
    Revelation 1:20 “The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven lampstands are seven churches.”
    Jesus told one of these churches that if it failed to do righteous works, He would “remove your lampstand [church] from its place.” 2:5 And over the course of time, all of these seven churches of Asia Minor were eventually removed: none exist today. However, the angels of these churches, the “seven stars in His right hand,” could never be taken out of His hand: they therefore remained to continue their work elsewhere in the earth. These spiritual authorities thereafter established seven characteristic types of churches over seven periods of Church history.
    The powers of darkness have their own spiritual authorities, including the seven heads of Satan (12:3), and also the seven heads of the Beast. 13:3 While the dominions of these good and evil spiritual authorities have waxed and waned over the centuries, none have ever ceased to exist.
    In the first century A.D., Jesus sent out seven spirits upon the earth to establish seven characteristic church types. The seventh and last church type was originally called the Laodicean church. Most notable among its characteristics were that it was wealthy, but lukewarm in its works of righteousness. Rev. 3:15-17 Such things, of course, are seen in the greater part of the modern Church, particularly in the United States, the world’s leading Christian nation. (In appearance, at least.)
    Jesus’ last message to those “who overcome” in this church – and His last message to the whole Church Age – was,
    Revelation 3:18 “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire…and white garments…and eye salve, that you may see.”
    Gold represents gifts of the Spirit; white garments, righteous works (19:8), and eye salve, ability to attain spiritual wisdom and understanding. The purchase price for these things is our time and our labor in the Lord’s Word and work.
    Immediately “after these things” of this materially-wealthy but spiritually-unprofitable church of Revelation 3, there will come the events of Revelation 4:1 and following, wherein God’s throne of judgment is set in place, being surrounded by the 24 Elders. We can reasonably conclude that those things are near to come, because this latter-day church has been corrupting itself and diminishing before our eyes.
    But even so, Jesus infers that out of this church, a select group of overcomers will arise and mature on earth.
  13. WilliamL

    The Sobering Situation in Israel

    By WilliamL,


    End Time Prophecy
    The Sobering Situation in Israel
    In an analysis of Israel’s strategic threat environment and imperatives published at the Claremont Review of Books, author and military analyst Mark Helprin distinguished the threat Hamas poses to Israel from the threat Israel faces from Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon and Iran.
    Hamas, Helprin explained, is not and has never been an existential threat to Israel. Hezbollah and Iran are existential threats to Israel. Hezbollah’s arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles of all ranges and payloads can decimate Israel’s strategic and military infrastructure, as well as its economy. …
    [O]n Wednesday, the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency issued a scathing report on Iran’s nuclear program. … Iran now has at least 128.3 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium that can be quickly enriched to bomb-grade levels sufficient to build three nuclear bombs. …the IAEA is convinced Iran has undeclared nuclear material at four sites. …
    Helprin summarized Iran’s missile capabilities thusly: “Iran’s minimum of 3,000 ballistic missiles and land-attack cruise missiles of at least 26 types include 15 varieties capable of reaching Israel, with warheads from 1,650 to 2,200 pounds. … Though Israel’s missile defenses can degrade a missile barrage, they cannot prevent catastrophic damage.” https://carolineglick.com/israels-strategic-imperative/ 11/19/23
    In our Latter Days, the government of Iran is showing itself to be representative of Daniel 11:40’s “King of the South,” because only it – both directly and by means of its proxies – is an aggressor of the type prophesied:
    And at the time of the end, the King of the South shall lock horns with him [the King of the North]: and the King of the North shall storm against him with chariots, with cavalry, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the lands, and shall overflow and pass through. 41 And he shall enter into the Glorious Land [Israel], and many shall stumble/waver [lit, become weak-legged]…
    Iran’s aggressiveness has so far been moderated enough to not elicit this prophesied “storm” by the NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] nations. This latest attack by Hamas, along with the moderate attacks from Hezbollah against northern Israel, and the drone and missile attacks from Yemen’s Iranian-supported Houthis, and the Iranian-supported militia attacks from Syria and Iraq against American bases, and the seizure of the West-owned cargo ship in the Red Sea, and the Iranian drone attack upon an Israeli-owned container ship in the Indian ocean, have ratcheted up the tension, but not yet to the boiling point.
    What has been demonstrated by the attacks upon Israel, however, is the instability of its coalition government, and the two-faced nature of the American government in its dealings with Israel. While Israel had been presenting the appearance of unity, opposition leader Yair Lapid suddenly announced on November 15 that he wants to oust Netanyahu from being prime minister. This is a foresign of Daniel 11:41’s prophesied “weak-legged” Israeli leadership, which hasn’t been able to create a stable government for many years, thereby making it susceptible to meddling from NATO and especially the Biden regime:
    The [Biden] administration [has] demand[ed] that Israel abandon Gaza after the war; permit Hamas’s junior partner the Palestinian Authority to take over on the backs of IDF soldiers; and commit to the establishment of a Palestinian state in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, and Jerusalem…
    … Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected this U.S. demand. In response, U.S. officials and former officials began briefing reporters that they seek the replacement of the government with “more moderate” actors. – Glick, op cit.
    Israel: enemies without, frenemies within and without. Iran: openly stating that its goals are the overthrow of the “great Satan” America and the eradication of the “little Satan” Israel. Also continuously threatening to shut down the choke-points of the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, through which much of the world’s oil supply is shipped.
    All of these things setting the stage for the fulfillment of the “time of the end” of Daniel 11:40 and following, which events progress unto –
    12:1 …a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that time…
    = Matthew 24:21 For then there will be great tribulation such has not been since the beginning of the world until now, no, nor shall ever be again.
    ‘Stay tuned for more updates…’
     
  14. WilliamL
    The 24 Elders of Revelation: Who (Or What) are They? Part 1
    Revelation 4:1 After these things I [John] looked, and behold, a door having been opened in heaven. And I heard the first voice which I [had] heard as of a trumpet speaking with me,* saying, “Come up here, and I will show thee things which must take place after these things.” 2 Immediately I was in spirit: and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and there One sitting on the throne. … 4 Around the throne were 24 thrones, and on the thrones I saw 24 Elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had stephanous [victors’ chaplets/‘crowns’] of gold on their heads. *Referring back to Rev. 1:17, “…I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet.”
    This series of articles will reveal who (or what) these 24 Elders are, and who (or what) they are not. First, who/what they are not:
    They Are Not Representations of the Church
    Some teachers of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture theory claim that these Elders are not individual men, but rather are “representative of the [whole raptured] church.” Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel taught this. The quote is from his Commentaries, ©2000, in Blue Letter Bible.
    This theory is belied by the fact that one of these Elders later conversed back and forth with John personally:
    Revelation 7:13 And one of the Elders responded, saying to me, “Who are these, the ones having been clothed in white robes? And whence came they?” 14 And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the Great Tribulation…”
    One of these Elders also spoke personally to John in Revelation 5:5, saying, “Do not weep…” Individual men speak to other men; symbolic representations do not.
    … And They Cannot Be Angels
    The stephanoi upon the heads of these Elders are victors’ (i.e., overcomers’) chaplets, like as were awarded to winning athletes in Greece’s Olympic Games. Only Jesus Christ, and disciples of His who have overcome the sins of the flesh and of the Devil, are ever described in the New Testament as receiving such heavenly honors. Whereas angels are –
    Hebrews 1:14 …all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who will inherit salvation.
    God’s holy angels need no salvation, and therefore do not receive its rewards: only mortal men do. (Also, only individual men, never angels nor groups of men, are called elders in the Bible.) The following verses tell of stephanoi to be won and worn by Jesus and His saints: 1 Thessalonians 2:19; 2 Timothy 4:8; Hebrews 2:9; James 1:12; 1 Peter 5:4; Revelation 2:10, 3:11, 14:14.
  15. WilliamL
    Index and summaries of all articles is here: https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1403-index-and-summaries-of-articles/
    Daniel 9:24-27 Examined, Part 6: Do Verses 26b-27 Prophesy Future Events?
    Daniel 9:26b “…and people of a leader/commander, the one coming in, he shall cause to destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end shall be with a flood of attackers, and unto an end of battle/warfare, desolations being decreed. 27 And he shall cause to prevail/confirm (or, shall make strong) a covenant for the multitude one week; and in the midst/middle of the week, he shall cause to cease blood sacrifice and offering. And upon/over a wing/corner shall be abominations/idols of a destroyer, even until a (the) consummation/complete end so having been decreed shall be poured out upon a desolator.”
    These verses speak about a number of very specific events, and three specific people. An itemization:
    1) A commander of a military force shall cause his army to destroy both Jerusalem and its Sanctuary.
    2) That commander shall come/go in – in context, into the Land of Israel.
    3) The Sanctuary shall be overwhelmed by a flood of attackers.
    4) The commander shall cause his people to make or confirm some kind of covenant with a multitude of the people of Israel for seven years.
    5) Either approximately or exactly (the Hebrew text allows for either) in the middle of the seven years, the commander shall be the cause of an end to blood sacrifice and other offerings.
    6) “An intensive desolator” = “a destroyer” shall commit abominations, and/or bring idols over or upon a wing/corner of the Temple. Nothing indicates that this destroyer is the commander
    7) That idolatry shall continue until a complete end, one having been decreed or determined at some point, shall be “poured out upon a desolator.” This water metaphor “poured out” hearkens back to verse 26ʼs words “its [the Sanctuaryʼs] end shall be with a flood.” Likewise, the ʻdecreed endʼ of verse 27 likely refers back to the ʻdecreed desolationsʼ of verse 26, at least in part.
    *          *          *
    Most American commentators say that all of these events shall be fulfilled by “the Antichrist” sometime in the future. However, the secondary scriptures that they provide to actually support their assertions are few, and questionable at best. Instead, their arguments rely on a great deal of unsupported presumptions. Starting from the top of the list:
    1) They can provide no scripture that prophesies the rebuilding of the Temple prior to the Second Coming of the Messiah. Also, they can provide no scripture that says Jerusalem will be destroyed in the End Times. (Damaged, yes; destroyed, no.)
    Daniel 9:24-27 makes no mention at all of “end times,” “latter days,” or any similar term that unequivocally points to the seven events being fulfilled in OUR Latter Days.
    2) Daniel 11:40-45 does say that an End Time commander/leader, “the King of the North,” shall enter and occupy the Holy Land. But nothing in that passage speaks anything about a Temple – a notable omission, if one were to actually exist.
    3) Likewise, nothing in that passage says anything about the Sanctuary being overwhelmed and destroyed. And the proponents of “the Antichrist” theory can provide no other scripture that says that either.
    4) Neither can they provide any secondary scripture that prophesies a 7-year covenant in the End Times, or even mentions any such 7-year event.
    5) Plenty of presumptions are offered that string together two 1260-day prophecies (of which there are a number), which theories purport to prove there is a 7-year period broken exactly in its middle when “the Antichrist” reneges on his covenant. But, like the witnesses that testified against Jesus at his trial, “their testimonies [do] not agree” with each other. Mark 14:56
    Also, they can provide no secondary scripture that speaks about blood-sacrifice [זֶבַח] being resumed before the return of the Messiah. Daniel 12:11 does not use this term; 9:27 has its only use in Daniel.
    6) They can provide no secondary prophecy about idol worship taking place somewhere on the edges/extremities of a Latter-Day Temple or Sanctuary. (Within such a sanctified place, yes: Matthew 24:15 and 2 Thessalonians 2:4. Outside of such place, no.)
    7) There are scriptures that say the King of the North will “come to his end” in the End Times, as will 2 Thessalonians 2ʼs Son of Perdition, and also the Little Horn of Daniel 7. However, the context of Daniel 9:26b-27 indicates that “the one coming in” is a commander who causes an army of his people to overwhelm and pour out destruction on someone else who has already brought desolation. But nothing in the passage says anything at all about the commander himself being overcome. That, however, is what most proponents of “the Antichrist” theory claim to be the case.
    Summary
    Those that say Daniel 9:26b-27 prophesies future events concerning “the Antichrist” have no unequivocal evidence from other biblical texts which witness to an End Time fulfillment of 26b-27ʼs seven specific prophecies. What little they offer, mainly having to do with #7 above, is ambiguous and contradictory. So in sum, it is evident that this theory is based upon a great deal of speculation and presumption (sand), but lacks any solid scriptural foundation (rock).
    The next article will examine the view that Daniel 9:26b-27 was fulfilled historically.
  16. WilliamL

    Joseph, Part 4: “The Fullness of the Nations”

    By WilliamL,


    End Time Prophecy
    Joseph, Part 4: “The Fullness of the Nations”
    Genesis 48:19 …but truly his [Manasseh’s] younger brother [Ephraim] shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become the fullness of the nations.
    Romans 11:25 …blindness in part has happened to Israel UNTIL the fullness/plērōma of the nations shall have come in. 26 And AFTER that all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 For this is my covenant with them, when I shall take away their sins.
    Ephesians 1:7 In Him [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood… 10 UNTO a dispensation of the fullness/plērōma of the times, to head up all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, [even] in him.
    Luke 21:24 And they [the Jews] shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem shall be being trodden down by the nations UNTIL the times of the nations be fulfilled/plērōthōsin.
    The patriarchal prophecy by Jacob, when he made the sign of the cross with his hands upon the heads of Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen. 48:13ff.) – the first instance in the Bible of a laying on of hands – has a much greater significance for our times than most Christians and Jews realize. In part, because Jacob made Joseph “the Nazir/Consecrated One of his brothers” (Gen. 49:26), which consecration passed on through his sons. Christianity, the religion of the cross, was established in Britain by the mid-30’s A.D.
    Paul prophesied in Romans 11:25 that when Jacob’s prophecy of “the fullness of the nations” reaches its fulfillment, then, essentially, the End of the Christian Age will come. For God will not begin to restore fallen Israelites to salvation until “AFTER” that time. That time being when the Gospel has been preached to “all the nations” of the earth (Matt. 28:19), primarily through the efforts of Anglo-American evangelists.
    Matthew 24:24 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and THEN the end will come.
    This worldwide evangelism only became possible through the international law-keeping established by the Pax Britannica and the Pax Americana. AFTER this prophesied era of the evangelization of the nations has been fulfilled, Jesus shall return in the clouds of heaven: then “every eye will see Him,” “all the tribes of the earth will wail,” and the Jews will “mourn for Him,” understanding that He is their Messiah “whom they pierced.” Rev. 1:7; Matt. 24:30; Zech. 12:10
    So we should look around the world, and judge whether or not this part of Joseph’s destiny has been fulfilled, or is near to it. Is not the Anglo-American hegemony and its Christianity increasingly being resisted and replaced by an international hegemony of an anti-American and anti-Christian New World Order? If so, “the times of the nations” is near to its fulness.
  17. WilliamL
    Joseph, Part 3: A Patriarchal Prophecy of Josephʼs Future
    [In the following prophecy, the translations and especially the tenses of the verbs are faithful and literal to the biblical Hebrew. Explanations are noted only where most significant.]
    Shortly after Jacobʼs blessing of Josephʼs sons Ephraim and Manasseh,
    Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you [that] which shall befall you in the Last Days. Gen. 49:1
    Of Joseph, he foretold –
    49:22 Joseph is a fruitful son/bough, even a fruitful son/bough by a spring; whose daughters/branches have run over a wall:
    The doubly-fruitful birthright holder bore so many children that his descendants ran over the border of the biblical Holy Land, and inhabited other lands. [Qal Perfect verb tense: this is an already completed action in the Last Days.]
    23 The archers/masters of arrows will have bitterly grieved him, and will have shot him and will hate him:
    In the Last Days, arrows are missiles. Besides Jacob here, these projectiles have been seen by Dimitri Dudeman, Henry Gruver, Sarah Menet, and many others. Missiles are aimed at specific places, not at people that are scattered and dispersed. Therefore, Josephʼs descendants in the Last Days must be primarily living together in groups: they are not merely dispersed among the nations.
    24 But his bow shall abide in strength, and the arms of his hands shall be refined as gold (alt., made strong) by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob – from thence will be shepherding the Stone of Israel – 25 From the God of thy father, who shall help thee;
    The gathered descendants of Joseph, receiving Divine help, will be able to overcome the assault against them, being shepherded by the Stone of Israel. [“Shepherding”: Qal predicative active participle. “From thence”: מִשָּׁם/mi-sham.]
    and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee [with] blessings of heaven from above, blessings of depths lying beneath, blessings of breasts and of womb: 26 The blessings of thy father will have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors [?; lit., my conceiving] unto the utmost bound of the everlasting (or, concealed) hills: they shall be for the head of Joseph, and for the crown of the head of the Nazir/Consecrated One of his brethren.
    Awesome blessings are yet to come after the attack upon and deliverance of Josephʼs people in the Last Days. [“For the head,” “for the crown”: the preposition ל is used, which means to or for, not on, as in the KJV.]
    To sum up: “In the Last Days,” Josephʼs multiplied descendants, living together in some place or places, will be attacked by missiles and be grievously afflicted and hated, but they will prevail with Divine help. The Stone of Israel will personally shepherd his people of Joseph, who will thereafter be greatly exalted and blessed.
    In the vision of George Washington at Valley Forge, he was shown that in the third of America’s three greatest trials (Revolutionary, Civil, and Last Days Wars), “hordes of armed men” will invade America and “devastate the whole country.” When “the inhabitants of America…[are] well-nigh overcome,” there will “descend from the heavens…legions of white spirits” who will join them, and they together will then achieve victory. “[T]he whole world united shall not prevail against her [ʻthe Republicʼ],” which shall once again flourish.
    The prophecy of Isaiah 17 (see the first paragraph of Part 1) tells about the future failure of the “fortification of Ephraim” (:3), followed by the desolation of his land (:5-11). However, the prophecy concludes by saying that this Divine punishment, caused by means of “nations rushing like the rushing of many waters” (:12), will be followed by a Divine deliverance (:13). The latter shall cause the invaders to flee away “like a rolling thing before a whirlwind” (:13). Washington likewise saw “the dark cloud rolled back, together with the armies it had brought…”
    Not so long ago, this country was called “Fortress America.” But the borders and defenses of this land have been being diminished for many years, so the fulfillment of this prophecy appears to be near.
     
  18. WilliamL

    Joseph, Part 2: The Heritage of Joseph

    By WilliamL,


    Prophecy, Eschatology
    Joseph, Part 2: The Heritage of Joseph
    Abraham was the father of Isaac, who was the father of Jacob, the father of Joseph. God gave Jacob the name Israel.
    When Abraham was about 75 years old, God made him two promises:
    [1] I will make thee into a great nation… [2] and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Gen. 12:2, 3
    The first of these promises made by God to Abraham was physical, one of race: his descendants were to become a great multitude, a chosen nation. The second promise was spiritual, a promise of grace: all the people of the world are to obtain their blessings through the seed of Abraham. The Apostle Paul, in the third chapter of Galatians, says that this spiritual promise is fulfilled in Christ. Gal. 3:8-14 [These two blessings reflect a continuing principle: God always provides two witnesses to the world, one material and one physical. Jesus verified this principle when He said, “…even if you do not believe Me [My words], believe the works [that I do]… John 10:38]
    From earliest times, a birthright blessing was passed down by a father to a firstborn son. This birthright brought with it the honors and authority for leadership of the family.
    Now, Jacob’s firstborn son Reuben had claim to the birthright of Israel,
    …but, forasmuch as he defiled his fatherʼs bed [he “lay with Bilhah, his fatherʼs concubine,” Gen. 35:22], his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph… 1 Chr. 5:1
    At that time the portion of the birthright, together with the kingly and priestly offices, was removed from the sons of Reuben, …and the birthright was given unto Joseph, the kingly office to Judah, and the priesthood unto Levi, because Reuben had defiled his father’s bed. Jasher 36:15
    Joseph, the new birthright holder, had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Manasseh was the firstborn. Near the end of Jacobʼs/Israelʼs life, however, he adopted Josephʼs two sons as his own:
    And Jacob said unto Joseph…thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh…are mine; as Reuben and Simon, they shall be mine. Gen. 48:3, 5
    Notice that in these words, Israel spoke the name of the younger Ephraim first. Notice also that Ephraim and Manasseh were to be to Israel “as Reuben and Simon”: that is, as his firstborn and secondborn. Ephraimʼs elevation to the position of firstborn was confirmed a few moments later, when Joseph brought Manasseh toward Israelʼs right hand, and Ephraim toward his left hand. (So Ephraim was at Joseph’s right hand.) Israel crossed his hands, so he could place his right hand on Ephraimʼs head, and his left hand on Manassehʼs:
    And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him… And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this [Manasseh] is the firstborn: put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it…but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become the fullness of the nations. [Hebrew, וְזַרְעֹו יִהְיֶה מְלֹא־הַגֹּויִם; the Greek Septuagint has, kαι το σπέρμα αυτού έσται εις πλήθος εθνών: and his seed will be in (or, among) a multitude of nations. The KJV mostly follows the Septuagint; but see Rom. 11:25 in Part 3, where the Greek follows the Hebrew text.] Gen. 48:17-19
    The LORD acknowledged Ephraimʼs primacy over a thousand years later in this word through the prophet Jeremiah:
    Thus saith the LORD… I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. Jer. 31:7, 9
    When Israel laid his hands upon the heads of Ephraim and Manasseh, he blessed them with these words:
    God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk…the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and they shall grow into a multitude [lit., they shall spawn like fish to an abundance] in the midst of the earth. Gen. 48:15-16
    By these words, the descendants of Joseph received the first promise that God made to Abraham, to Isaac (Gen. 26:2-4), and to Jacob (Gen. 28:13-14): the promise to become a great nation. The tribes of Joseph (including those who later joined with them) came to be called Israel in later years, just as was promised by the patriarch Israel.
  19. WilliamL

    The Prophetic Heritage and Destiny of Joseph; Part 1

    By WilliamL,


    Prophecy, Eschatology
    The Prophetic Heritage and Destiny of Joseph; Part 1
    Isaiah 17:1 The oracle/doom of Damascus. Behold Damascus, being deposed from being a city; and it shall become a ruinous heap. 2 The cities of Aroer being forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. 3 Then fortification (or, defense) shall cease from Ephraim, and dominion from Damascus. And the remnant of Syria shall be like the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts. 4 And in that day it shall come to pass that the glory of Jacob shall be brought low, and the fatness of his flesh shall be made lean. … 6 Yet gleanings shall be left in him… 11 [It shall be] a day of affliction and of enfeebling suffering.
    Damascus has been continuously inhabited for 4000 years. WHERE WILL BE THIS UNDEFENDED EPHRAIM, IN WHOSE LANDS(S) WILL BE THESE OVERLY-FED ISRAELITES, WHEN DAMASCUS IS DESTROYED?
  20. WilliamL

    Pre-Wrath Doctrine in a Nutshell

    By WilliamL,


    Prophecy, Eschatology
    Pre-Wrath, Post-Trib Summary
    What takes place during the first five Seals of Revelation 6 is the same sequence of events prophesied in Matthew 24:5-14: 1) false messiahs and prophets, 2) internecine wars, 3) food scarcity and famine, 4) earthquakes and other chaotic events, and 5) persecution of believers.
    Some believers will be killed during this time of the Great Tribulation: these are the saints of the 5th Seal "slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held." Rev. 6:9 = Matt. 24:9
    Then comes the 6th Seal's heavenly and earthly cataclysms = Matt. 24:29, which come "immediately after the Tribulation."
    Then comes Christ in the clouds to gather up his elect = the Rapture, while being seen by every eye (Rev. 1:7), which causes all the unbelievers to mourn, and to flee and hide in fear. Matt. 24:30-31; Rev. 1:7, 6:15-17; Is. 2:10-11, 19-21
    At that time, after the Rapture of the Church and during the unbelievers' fear, the Great Tribulation has been completed, and "the great day of [God's] wrath came/has come." Rev. 6:17. But "God did not appoint us [the elect] to [His] Wrath" (1 Thes. 5:9), so we've been taken outta here just before. [A great deception is promoted by those who teach that the Tribulation and the Wrath are the same thing: Scripture makes a clear distinction between the two.]
    Now at this same time, there is a third group, those of Israel who also see Jesus in the clouds, realize that he is their Messiah "whom they pierced," and therefore demonstrate their repentance and faith in him when they "mourn for him like one mourns for his only son." Zech. 12:10ff.
    The very next event is Rev. 7:1-8, which continues on from the earthly perspective of Rev. 6, and tells us of the 144,000 Israelites who are sanctified/sealed in their foreheads "on the earth." Who are these but repentant Israelites of Zech. 12:10? For them, it is too late to be raptured, because they were not among "those who were ready" when the Bridegroom came. Matt. 25:10
    Then John's view is shifted to heaven, and he is shown 'those who came out of the Great Tribulation' (Rev. 7:14), being those just raptured, "standing before the throne and the before the Lamb, clothed with white robes." Rev. 7:9 These fulfill the promise of Luke 21:36: "Watch, therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things [of the Great Tribulation] and to stand before the Son of Man."
    Revelation 8 - 19 then tell us what will come upon all who were not ready for the Bridegroom: they must go through the time of God's Wrath, which includes both the Trumpets and Bowls, during which there will be believers on earth who will be martyred by the Beast. They will arise in the Rev. 20:4 resurrection, after Christ has descended to earth (Rev. 19) and defeated the Beast and kings of the earth.
  21. WilliamL
    Replacement Theology Brings a Curse
    The Catholic Church and some of the older Reformed churches have a long history of religious anti-Semitism, much of which traces its roots to replacement theology. This evil teaching has been staging a resurgence, including on WCF and throughout the Western world.
    The original promulgator of this doctrine was Origen (ca. 185 – 254 A. D.), who promoted the belief that the Gentile Church has replaced Israel in God’s plans and promises. The Israelites rejected Christ, the argument says, so God rejected them, and accepted the Gentiles of the Church in their place. This dogma is refuted by Paul throughout Romans 11:
    Romans 11:1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. [Witnessing that the Israelite tribes still existed after the Church was founded.] 2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. … 7 …Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. … 11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their error, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. 12 Now if their error is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. … 25 For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brethren, lest you should be wise in your own conceits, that that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness [or, fulfillment] of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so [or, after that] all Israel shall be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away the ungodliness of Jacob. 27 For this is My covenant with them, when I shall take away their sins.” … 29 Because the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
    Paul’s prophecy is supported by a multitude of a Old Testament Scriptures. They prophesy of God’s future cleansing, redemption, and restoration of the tribes of Israel to their land, and to their close relationship with God. Cf. Deut. 4:25-31 (esp. :30-31); Ezek. 20:33-44; 36:18-38; 38-39; Hos. 3:4-5; Joel 2-3; Mic. 5; Zech. 12:10 – 13:1. However, these promises only apply to those of Israel who “seek the LORD…with all [their] heart and with all [their] soul…in the latter days;” for God will “purge out the rebels from among [them].” Deut. 4:29-30; Ezek. 20:38
    Those who say that God annulled His past covenants with the tribes of Israel are saying, literally and/or effectively, that they were anathematized, that is, accursed and henceforth devoted to destruction. Now, compare that dogma with this promise God made to Israel:
    Genesis 27:26 Then his father Isaac said to him [Jacob]… 27 …and blessed him and said, … 29 “Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you!”
    Numbers 24:1 … Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel… 2 …according to their tribes… 3 Then he took up this oracle and said: … 9 …“Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you.”
    Replacement theology, originally enforced by means of the collaboration between the Roman Empire and Church, provided the justification for the virulent anti-Semitism that came to infest a corrupted Church throughout its history. It is rearing it head again today. Be forewarned! Those who promote this doctrine fall under the Divine authority of the above-quoted curse.
  22. WilliamL
    Index and summaries of all articles is here: https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1403-index-and-summaries-of-articles/
    “The Antichrist” Myth
    The Antichrist – a term broadly used throughout the Church to describe a single man who will come to rule the whole world – is a myth based upon an old rumor.
    This rumor has its first and only biblical reference in 1 John 1:18 –
    1 John 2:18 Little children, it is a last hour; and as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is a last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us…
    John never acknowledges any truth to this “as you have heard” rumor. Quite the contrary, John later provides a significantly different doctrine of antichrist:
    1 John 2:22 Who is the liar but the one [i.e. each one: see 2:18 above] denying that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one denying the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either… 4:3 And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the* [spirit] of the antichrist, that you have heard is coming, and now already it is in the world.   * The Greek article to = “the” is neuter, agreeing with pneuma/spirit.
    So – John clearly defines the term antichrist to be a spiritual belief, being the doctrine of one powerful collective spirit. It is not, nor will be, a single man; rather, this belief had infested, and will infest, “many” spirits and men. The one-man The Antichrist doctrine is never taught by John, and only John uses the word antichrist. Therefore, the one-man The Antichrist doctrine is not biblical.
    This is a classic case of the Church being led astray once again by a false doctrine based upon a single biblical verse or phrase. Christians deride Mormons because they have built a major doctrine upon the single phrase from 1 Cor. 15:29 : “…what will they [not, we] do who are baptized for the dead…” But the doctrinal false presumptions about The Antichrist are even more extensive:
    The Antichrist is the “coming prince” of Dan. 9:26-27;
    who becomes possessed by Satan to become the Son of Perdition of 2 Thes. 2;
    who sets himself up as God in a Third Temple (of which templeʼs pre-Millennial construction no scripture testifies);
    which he later destroys, along with Jerusalem, before Messiahʼs return;
    and he is also the Beast who ascends from the sea and the Abyss;
    who is head-wounded unto death;
    descends into the Abyss, but is given life again by Satan (where in Hell does that come from?);
    who is also, somehow, the “little horn” of Dan. 7 and the Mouth of the Beast of Rev. 13;
    …and so on, with a whole list of other labels attributed to one single man.
    This whole mythological stew only brings confusion within the Body of Christ. The old “you have heard” rumor has become ʻfact,ʼ and opinion has become unquestioned doctrine. Many of the disagreements between and within the pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib and pre-wrath camps derive from the eating and regurgitation of this Antichrist-doctrine stew. It is an old and rancid stew, full of incompatible ingredients, and potentially toxic to the eater.
    To sum up: there is no The (one-man) Antichrist. Rather, there are a number of End Times antichrists, including 1) the Son of Perdition/Lawless One, 2) the Beast, 3) the False Prophet, 4) the Mouth of the Beast = Little Horn, and 5) Gog. Thus there are at minimum five major end times antichrists, without even mentioning the greatest antichrist of them all, Satan. They are all anti/against Christ, according to Johnʼs definition: ones that deny and oppose the exclusivity of Jesus being the only Christ/Messiah of God.
    [If you want to understand why the Son of Perdition is AN antichrist but not The Antichrist (there is no such man), nor the Beast, read my blog “The Son of Perdition is a Patsy.”]
     
  23. WilliamL
    The Prophesied Restoration of Judah After 7 Times, Part 2: 1947 – 2000 AD
    On May 14, 1948 AD (5944 AA), the Jews in Palestine established and proclaimed the independent State of Israel. This had been made possible by the United Nations, which had sanctioned the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Palestinian-Arab states on Nov. 29, 1947 (late 5943 AA).
    7 times earlier, in the Autumn of 538 BC (3423 AA), Babylon fell to King Cyrus of Persia, and the Babylonian Empire was thereafter broken up to become provinces of the Medo-Persian Empire. In the Spring of 537 BC (3424 AA), Jews were allowed to return to Judah and Jerusalem and establish their own vassal province.
    In sum, 7 times after the vassal Province of Judah was established, the free State of Israel was founded. Both cases were separated by 70 sacred [360-day] years from their respective initial events in 606 BC and 1878-79 AD.
     
    On June 5-10, 1967 AD (5963 AA), the Six-Day War against Israel by Egypt, Jordan, and Syria took place. On June 7, the Jews recaptured the Temple Mount and the Old City of Jerusalem. This occurred 70 sacred years after the First Zionist Congress in 1897 AD (5893 AA).
    7 times earlier, after God so commanded by the prophet Haggai, the Jews began to rebuild the Temple of YHWH in August or September 519 BC (late 3442 AA). It had been 70 sacred years since the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonians in August 588 BC (late 3372 AA). In December or January 519-18 BC (early 3443 AA), God promised to begin again to bless the people. Hag. 2:10-19 This was 70 sacred years after the last remnant of the Jews had left Judah to go to Egypt in November or September 588 BC (early 3373 AA).
     
    A newly-elected liberal government in Israel signed a peace accord with the Palestinian Liberation Organization on September 4, 1999 AD (5996 AA). That agreement promised the immediate resumption of Israeli military withdrawals from PLO-dominated areas. It also committed both sides to a Final Status solution, by September 2000, of the remaining difficult treaty issues to be resolved. Chief among these issues was the status of Jerusalem, the holy city claimed by both sides for their capital.
    This attempt at agreement failed, even though the Palestinians were offered sovereignty over East Jerusalem (the Old City) and control of the Temple Mount. They wanted more. On September 28, 2000 (5997 AA), the day before Rosh Hashanah, Palestinians rioted on the Temple Mount to protest the visit there of the conservative politician Ariel Sharon. This conflict immediately became an armed revolt by Palestinians throughout the land. But their revolt failed, resulting in their sound defeat by the Israelis, and subsequent reversals of their political and military control in the land.
    7 times earlier, in the Autumn of 486 BC (3476 AA), the Middle East was in turmoil after the death of Persian King Darius. Egypt had already revolted against the Empire, and Babylon was near to it. Xerxes ascended the throne of his father Darius; his first regnal year officially began in the Spring of 485 BC (3476/75 AA). “n the beginning of his reign,” regional adversaries of the Jews “wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.” Ezra 4:6 According to Julian Morgenstern, an armed rebellion had begun in Judah, led by a newly-anointed Jewish king with Messianic pretensions. Xerxes allowed the Jews’ enemies to burn Jerusalem and the Temple, the Jewish king was defeated and killed, and the Jews suffered decades of reversal of their authority over the land.* It was not regained until the arrivals of Ezra and Nehemiah in 457 and 444, respectively.
    In sum, 7 times after this failure of a Jewish uprising and their subsequent loss of authority and control, the latter-day Jews defeated an uprising against them, and further solidified their control and authority over the land.
    *For more details about this revolt, and the citation of Morgenstern’s articles, see:
    https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1166-the-psalm-83-war-when/
  24. WilliamL
    The Prophesied Restoration of Judah After 7 Times, Part 1: 1878 – 1897 AD
    On August 8, 1878 AD, Petach Tikvah (Door of Hope) was founded, the first Latter-Day Jewish agricultural settlement in Palestine. In 1879 (5874 AA), it produced the first Jewish harvest in that land to be sold in Jerusalem since the destruction of the Temple by the Romans. Three years later, in 1882 AD (5877 AA), the first large Aliyahs (“Ascents”/Returns) of Jews to their ancient homeland began.
    7 times before 1878-79 AD, in 606 BC (3354 AA), the first dispersion of the Jews from Jerusalem took place, when Nebuchadnezzar carried off the vessels of the Temple, and also some selected Jews of noble lineage, Daniel included. Jer. 25:1; 2 Kings 24:1; Antiquities X:vi:1; Dan. 1:1ff. Three years later, in 603 BC (3357 AM), Nebuchadnezzar sent the enemies of Judah against the land, by which substantial numbers of Jews began to be “removed.” 2 Kings 24:1-3
    In sum, 7 times after the beginning of the final decline and dispersion of the Kingdom of Judah, the Jews began to regather and return to their ancient homeland.
     
    On August 29, 1897 AD (5893 AA) the First Zionist Congress convened in Basel, Switzerland. This congress, organized in 5892 AM, was established to promote the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland. It was the first independent governing body by and for all of the Jews since 588 BC.
    7 times earlier, in mid-588 BC (3372 AA), Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar, and the Kingdom of Judah was extinguished. The remnant of Jews who had been allowed to remain in the land thereafter fled to Egypt in late 588 BC (early 3373 AA). Jer. 42-43:7
    In sum, independent Jewish self-government began to be restored exactly 7 times after it had been extinguished.
  25. WilliamL
    The Prophesied Restoration of Israel After 7 Times, Part 2: 1754 – 1783 AD
    On May 28 and July 3-4, 1754 AD (5747 AA), skirmishes between George Washington’s colonials and French forces in the Ohio Valley sparked the French and Indian War. This conflict lasted nearly nine years. During the war, the American colonial governments were greatly strengthened, and they acquired extensive territory.
    7 times earlier, a corresponding period of about nine years, 731-22 BC (3227-36 AA), covered the reign of Hoshea, the last king of Israel. In those years, the kingdom was diminished in both strength and territory.
     
    On Feb. 10, 1763 AD (5756 AA), the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the French and Indian War in England’s and the American colonies’ favor. This time is often cited as being that of the foundation of America as a nation:
    In the half century after 1763, the American people founded a new American nation. … During the four [Anglo-French] wars [of 1689 – 1763], the colonial assemblies added steadily to their powers and privileges until by 1763, they had become the real centers of power in the colonial governments. Encyclopedia Americana; Danbury: Grolier, 1982: 27:708, 707.
    7 times earlier, in 722 BC (3236 AA), the last remnant of the Kingdom of Israel was carried off out of its land, as prophesied in Leviticus 26:28-33. That is to say, the foundation of ancient Israel was destroyed, not to be reestablished until the fulfillment of the prophesied period of 2520 sacred years.
     
    The dated biblical record of the nation of Israel ends in 722 BC. However, the book of 2 Esdras records the following event:
    [The Israelites who had been deported by] Shalmaneser…resolved to leave the country populated by the Gentiles and go to a distant land never inhabited by man. … The Most High performed miracles for them, stopping up the channels of the river* until they had crossed over. 2 Esdras 13:41, 44 NEB
    * Possibly the Euphrates is meant, often just called “the river” in the Bible. The suggested alternative is the Araxes River in Armenia, because the Israelites were resettled by the Assyrians in the northeastern region of their empire.
    Such a cataclysm took place in 701 BC (3257 AA), the time of the heavenly “blast” that destroyed Assyrian King Sennacherib’s army near Jerusalem. Is. 36-37 At this point in time, Israel ceased to be recognized among the world’s nations, becoming “the lost tribes of Israel.”
    7 times added to the date of that event yield the year 1783 AD. On Sept. 3, 1783 AD (5777 AA), the Peace of Paris ended the American Revolutionary War of 1775-83, and established the independence of the American nation before the whole world. Therefore, 7 times after the assertion of Israel’s independence in exile, God provided for the independence of the “new American nation”; which was actually the restoration of the nation of Israel of old.
    This identification of America with Israel of old was acknowledged by many colonists throughout the whole era of restoration. In 1669, the American author Nathaniel Morton wrote that he hoped “That especially the seed of Abraham [God’s] servant, and the children of Jacob his chosen, may remember his marvelous works in…the planting of New England…how God ‘brought a vine’ into this wilderness…‘and caused it to take deep root,’ so that it has ‘sent forth its boughs to the sea and its branches to the river.’ Ps. lxx 8, 9, 11 …and planted them in the mountain of his inheritance…in this our Israel.”
    Late in 1799, the American preacher Abiel Abbott said in a sermon, “It has often been remarked that the people of the United States come nearer to a parallel with Ancient Israel, than any other nation upon the globe. Hence, ‘OUR AMERICAN ISRAEL’ is a term frequently used; and common consent also allows it apt and proper.”
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