Sunday, August 16, 2020

Daniel 9:24-27

 

Daniel 9

The Seventy Weeks Prophecy

Answer to Daniel's prayer

Revelation

Daniel 9:24-27


PREVIOUS: Daniel 9:20-23                                                  NEXT: Daniel 10:1-4

Introduction

Dear readers:

Shalom!

This is your brother Israel Leonard who is back with you after these thirty months. Thank you for your prayers and the interest of all of you who have been in contact with us in this time, and for being back with us! For those who don't know, I've been studying modern Hebrew in an amazing course called "ULPAN", which anyone with a laptop and an Internet connection can receive directly from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I warmly recommend it to all of you who love Israel and the Jewish people, and who have the time. The layout of the Hebrew originals and the pronunciation I use in the blog have been improved because of my studies, as you will notice (see **** NOTE at the end). 

Thanks Jesus, the Wuhan-virus hasn't affected my health and, living in Sweden as I do, not my job either - there's no lockdown here. As a matter of fact, I've got whole time because of the virus, in a wonderful American company called Brightstar which works with wireless technologies and especially with cell-phones. 

Some developments that have been happening in this time are not so positive, like those in my own life. But they are to be expected, when we understand the signs that would announce the last times.

In Revelation 6:7-8 we read,
"When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth"
We could wonder, how can "plagues" be deadly in these times of a medical science which is so sophisticated? COVID-19, which originated in Wuhan, China, could show us the answer. That satanical virus has spread everywhere thanks to the cover-up of the Chinese Communist government with the complicity of the head of the Word Health Organization. World leaders with a moral compass would hold them accountable, but don't hold your breath. The West-hating, anti-Christian and anti-Semitic mob is not only killing people, rioting, destroying and stealing in Portland, Seattle or Minneapolis, with the complicity of a "fake news" media crying, "nothing to see here", and politicians who refuse to condemn them, and who call the chaos a "myth" and the forces of order "fascists". The mob is in the UN and the EU as well, and it does maximum harm there. The plague will not be the worst; a severe famine is expected in many places because of the decrease in economical activity caused by the lockdowns. 

How did those international forums become a mob? In our messages in Daniel 7:7-8 and Daniel 7:23-27 you can read about the political context where these things take place. All of these things were seen by Daniel and revealed also in the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, where the feet of iron and clay the king saw are the same as Daniel's fourth beast in his vision. 

In Daniel 2:41-43 we read (American Standard Version; the Aramaic is better translated than in NIV, and even better using the footnotes in ASV for alternative translations)
"And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with earthenware. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly brittle. And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with earthenware, they shall mingle themselves by the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron doth not mingle with clay"
The fulfillment of this prophecy is taking place in the developments we see in the European Union, by those who seek a remake of the Roman Empire. There are strong and week parties, strong and week countries, strong and week economies, strong and week ideologies... There is a deep division as well (for vs. against a takeover of sovereignty of the member states) which is added to all other ones (left-right, liberal-conservative, pro Israel-antisemitic, etc.). And the main feature: this mix is happening "by the seed of men" - that's why they "don't cleave one to another". Every policy dissension shows the same pattern: the Bible is banned, those who cling to Judeo-Christian values are fought to death by atheist leftists, and the lukewarm ones side with the atheists. In that way, the Word of God is utterly despised and the result is more and more satanical. 

And it is not all. Some years ago, a precious sister from South Africa was given us a word of God about China in social media, which I didn't understand at that time. But recent developments, especially an alliance between China and Iran, have shown new light on that word. It is amazing how the Lord knew those things long before they would happen. That's another example of "mix happening by the seed of men", with the difference that there's no one there with Bible, only the worst Islamists on earth mixed with Communists who have become very affluent with their use of free market economy. What can be the outcome of that marriage between fanatical terrorists committed to the destruction of Israel, and Communists with nuclear weapons and one of the largest economies of the word, it is yet to see. The only thing that impedes a full-scale war launched by Iran against Israel and the Arab Gulf-States is the economical crisis in Iran (wars cost money) but now they have very rich friends and everything is a question of the Communists' will, if they are going to sponsor those fanatical murderers to fuel the chaos in the Middle East. 

Those last times developments are not happening only in Europe or China. Those forces of the "One World Order" which are active here have come to America and Israel in the form of violent resistance against democratically elected governments that don't side with them, mainly because they are patriotic administrations serving the people who elected them, and not serving globalist undertakings. 

Because of the evil one's divisive activity, deranged souls who call themselves "Antifa" (persecuting, physically hurting and even killing anyone who doesn't conform to their agenda and speech code, aka people who has nothing with fascism to do) or "BLM" (who have killed more than ten policemen, some of them black persons, so it is hardly worrying about "black lives") are fighting a war against the American people to reverse the results of the 2016 election. That's terrorism and subversion. The satanical forces that once allowed and made use of the earlier terrorists called "KKK", having seen that those children of them no longer serve them (because they have become their own show) have allowed, and are making use of, these two new forms of hating mobs to destroy the social order of the nation. If you turn your eyes to Jerusalem then you'll find something similar in people fighting the Prime Minister who has done more, and who can do more, to end the Arab-Israeli conflict. Their nonsensical "resistance" matches only the terrorist attacks that Hamas is conducting in the south and Hezbollah in the north. 

Jude 1:17-19 says,  
"Dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, 'In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires'. These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit"
The Holy Spirit is God. He leads people to do God's work, to speak God's words, to think God's thoughts and to feel God's feelings. He is the one who is capable to reveal the truth, and the difference between truth and lies. The Spirit of God doesn't care if you're white or black, man or woman, national or foreigner. I have served in the church for many years, accompanying guest singers or translating from guest preachers from North and Latin America, and from Africa, Asia or Europe, men and women alike, and God has used all of them with the same Spirit and displaying the same glory. God doesn't care about your color and gender, but Satan does. Because the evil one knows that if he divides people, he will control them. The Spirit of God came upon the 120 in the upper room to make known to us everything He receives from Jesus. That's why the Spirit of God will always remember us Jesus' words, "that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you". The Spirit of God came to unify us believers. Satan comes to divide us. "All lives matter" to God. Jesus died for all mankind, for human beings of all colors.

Now the violent forces are not the worst. On Juny 19 was released in USA the documentary film "Uncle Tom" written by a black conservative author who's approaching race problems from a very real perspective, the one of personal responsibility. The silence about this in mainstream media is deafening. There is a "narrative" going on in that circle, about the problems in the black communities, and blaming those problems on slavery - which ended more than 150 years ago - or "systemic racism", aka segregationism and racist policies - which ended in the 1960's. If the truth - as Larry Elder, author of the documentary, presents it - punches holes in that narrative, it is ostracized and fought against. The same thing applies to the drug hydroxychloroquine, which - having being proved useful in the treatment of COVID-19, and recommended by more than 100 MDs - has been vilified because it was promoted by the President. The well known non-profit organization PragerU has also seen several videos about it deleted by Big Tech companies which don't want the truth to reach us. Many other persons who speak their mind in a way the left doesn't approve experience "cancel culture" (their lives and livelihood are destroyed because of their opinions) 

There is a place in the Scriptures where this is found, and it is a main feature of the government of the anti-Christ, where your economic activity will depend on your political affiliation (it is a hallmark in any dictatorship)

Revelation 13:15-17
"The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name"
The "second beast" is also called "false prophet" in the book of Revelation, and is going to be a religious power. The enemies of truth are in line with this future evil person, trying to define who can and who can't buy or sell. When the EU is fighting to destroy patriotism, democracy and its own culture, America and Israel are among the last hopes where those values are preserved, and that's why Satan is so busy trying to destroy them. Pray for America, for Israel, for President Trump, for Prime Minister Netanyahu! The Antichrist will indeed come, and cause a great deal damage to this world, but we have millions to lead to Jesus before it happens. Only patriotic administrations serving the people who elected them and not globalist undertakings, can keep the course in the midst of the storm, and only God in Heaven "deposes kings and raises up others". The change from more globalist, even leftist parties and politicians ("deposed kings") to the current administrations is not a random one, but God caring for America and Israel. 

A good sign nevertheless has come to show us that God cares for Israel and that He is in control. Whereas the children of the Antichrist are criticizing USA's and Israel's administrations, a peace deal has been signed with the United Arab Emirates, that has become the third Arab country recognizing Israel. Some time ago the Lord gave us a word about it, and it is happening and being a confirmation. Jesus is faithful! There is a positive side of the abominable Iranian aggression against Israel and the Gulf states, and it is that the Arabs are realizing that Israel is not the enemy, but certainly a friend and an ally against a real, vicious one. 

If your life is in danger because of the Wuhan virus, the word of God wants to remind you that Jesus is faithful. If your neighborhood is under attack by deranged souls rioting and looting, the word of God wants to remind you that Jesus is faithful. If your country is under attack by terrorists, the word of God wants to remind you that Jesus is faithful. 

When the church was a newborn one and the terrible persecutions by the Roman Empire had commenced, the apostle John wrote the book of Revelation, which is a strong comfort and hope for all of us who trust Jesus, and especially to those suffering persecution because of their faith. The prophecies about the Second Coming of Jesus and the coming Millennial Kingdom are at the very core of the book, because God wanted to give us hope which is the last bastion of the faithful.


The prophecy of prophecies

The text we're about to share today is the most defining prophecy about the last times and the hope we treasure. It is also the undeniable proof that the Messiah Israel was waiting for is Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior. It is called "the 70 weeks prophecy" and it is found in Daniel 9:24-27.

This is the text in the New International Version:
"Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy"
"Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens' and sixty-two 'sevens'. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two 'sevens', the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven'. In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him"
The original Hebrew for this passage is:

שבעים שבעים נחתך על-עמך ועל-עיר קדשך לכלא הפשע ולחתם חטאות ולכפר עון ולהביא צדק עלמים ולחתם חזון ונביא ולמשח קדש קדשים

ותדע ותשכל מן-מצא דבר להשיב ולבנות ירושלם עד-משיח נגיד שבעים שבעה ושבעים ששים ושנים. תשוב ונבנתה רחוב וחרוץ ובצוק העתים. ואחרי השבעים ששים ושנים יכרת משיח ואין לו והעיר והקדש ישחית עם נגיד הבא וקצו בשטף ועד קץ מלחמה נחרצת שממות. והגביר ברית לרבים שבוע אחד וחצי השבוע ישבית זבח ומנחה ועל כנף שקוצים משמם ועד-כלה ונחרצה תתך על-שמם


The pronunciation is like this:

"Shavuim shivím nixtáx al ammexá ve-al ir kodshéxa lexalé hapésha ulaxtóm xataót ulexapér avón ulehaví tsédek olamím velaxtóm xazón venaví velimshóax kódesh kodashím"

"Vetedá vetashkél: min motsá davár lehashív velivnót Yerushaláyim ad Mashíax Nagíd, shavuím shivá veshavuím shishím ushnáyim. Tashúv venivnetá rexóv vexarúts ubetsók haitím. Veaxaré hashavuím shishím ushnáyim yekarét Mashíax veéin lo. Vehaír hakódesh yashxít am-nagíd habá vekitsó vashétef vead kéts milxamá nexerétset shomemót. Vehigbír berít lerabím shavúa exád vaxatsí hashavúa yashbít zévax uminxá veal kenáf shikutsím meshomém vead kalá venexerátsa titáx al-shomém"

This prophecy has been very mistreated in NIV, a translation we use not because of its quality but because it is the most used by English speakers. That's why we have to correct bad renderings which other ones, properly translated from the Hebrew original. 

Observe the following details in rendering:

In verse 24:
  • שבעים שבעים  (shavuím shivím) has been translated "seventy 'sevens' "
            but it means "seventy weeks" where a "week" means seven years
  • קדש קדשים (kódesh kadashím) was translated "Most Holy Place" 
    but it means literally "Holy of holies" which in Hebrew is the way to say "most holy one". "Kódesh" usually apply to holy things - that's why the "most holy place" was the room where the ark of the covenant was - but it can also apply to holy people (as in Exodus 22:31; 2 Chronicles 23:6; Ezra 8:28). Then it is possible and proper to translate "Most Holy One" - a person. "Holy" is often translated as "consecrated" in NIV, but it is the same Hebrew word "kódesh".
In verse 25:
  • משיח נגיד (Mashíax Nagíd) has been translated "Anointed One, a ruler"
                    but it means "Messiah Prince" literally (meaning Jesus Christ Our Lord)
  • חרוץ (xarúts) translated "trench" means also "wall" 
In verse 26:
  • משיח  (Mashíax) which is translated "Anointed One" means "Messiah"

  • ואין לו (ve-éyin lo) is translated "and will have nothing"
                     but it means also "not for himself", meaning he will be killed by others
In verse 27:
  • ועל כנף שקוצים משמם (ve-al kenáf shikutsím meshomém) Rendered "at
    the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation". But 
    משמם (meshomém) means someone or something which causes desolation and שקוצים (shikutsím) means "abominations", in plural. כנף (kanáf) means wing in Hebrew, like the birds' wings, but it means also the edge or hem of a garment, or even the corners of end of the earth ("extremity"). The figurative meaning is better translated in KJV as "overspreading" (the
    abominations have spread to the end of  the earth) Best translation:
 "and with the overspreading of abominations shall come one that causes desolation"


Revised NIV, as it should have been rendered for this passage:
24 "Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Holy of holies"
25 "Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah Prince comes, there will be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with streets and a wall, but in times of trouble. 26 After the sixty-two weeks, the Messiah will be put to death but not for himself. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one week. In the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And with the overspreading of abominations shall come one that causes desolation until the end that is decreed is poured out on him."


The coming Kingdom of God

What would you think about a TV host who tells you the future news - aka prophecy - about the coming of an eternal kingdom, Israel's salvation on eternity, the incontrovertible proof that Jesus Christ is Israel's Messiah, the prediction about the restoration of Jerusalem that we read about in Ezra and Nehemiah, the prediction about Jesus' death on the cross, about the devastation of Judea by the Romans, the coming of the Antichrist, his pact with Israel and his betrayal, his abominations and his final defeat when Jesus comes, all these things in less than five minutes? 

You don't have to imagine it. In the times of Babylonia there was no TV, but if it were, that TV host would be the prophet Daniel and his guest, the archangel Gabriel. All of these - amazing news, revelation and predictive prophecy - is found in four verses, namely the last four verses of Daniel chapter nine which we have read before. 

Why does - pretty much - only one in five Christians believes in these things?

Why would some Hebrew scholar translate NIV's Daniel 9:24-27 in a way that makes the prophecy unintelligible?

Why would so many of us worldwide treat a prophecy with contempt?

If you have read all messages in this blog up to now, then you're more than able to answer these questions. The satanical lies - a.k.a. false doctrines - which have come into the church in all of its history, killing evangelism and infesting the church with antisemitism, have been exposed in many of our messages. If you have not read the blog, there's always time to start doing it. About the false doctrines you'll find information in 14 special messages listed at the end NOTE* (see)

Why are we talking about the coming of an eternal kingdom in this prophecy? In verse 24 we can see six events that will occur after the 70 "weeks":
  1. to finish transgression: לכלא הפשע (lexalé hapésha)

    "Pésha" is translated as "transgression", "rebellion" most of the time, and it means the act of breaking the law (mostly God's Law, but we can also rebel against civil human laws, which would be also "pésha"). That's something mankind has been doing since Adam and Eve. When will mankind stop transgressing all laws?

  2. to put an end to sin: לחתם חטאות (laxtóm xataót)

    "xataót" is the plural of חטאה ("xatá") which means "sin". Again, the sinful state of Adam and Eve is inherited by every human being. When will we never sin again?

  3. to atone for wickedness: לכפר עון (lexapér avón)

    "avón" - translated as "wickedness" means "iniquity" (or "injustice") or sometimes the punishment for the iniquity or guilt. It is the quality of guilty or unjust which the transgressor has got, because of his sin. "Lexapér", to atone, is the act of "expiation" or "propitiation", which is in both Judaism and Christianity done through a blood sacrifice (animal sacrifices in Judaism, Jesus' sacrifice on the cross in Christianity). When did this expiation take place, when is it applied to Christians and when will it be applied to Israel?

  4. to bring in everlasting righteousness: להביא צדק עלמים (lehaví tsédek olamím)

    Righteousness (tsédek) or "justice" is the state we reach when expiation has taken place and our injustice is gone, pardoned. From the positional point of view, we are declared righteous because Jesus bore our sins on the cross, and His righteousness is applied to us; the faith in Jesus causes the last of sinners to become righteous. But there is a living righteousness also, meaning that we apply in our daily life that justification which Jesus won for us, that we are not only declared just but we always act justly also, we live as righteous people do. It has never been "eternal" up to now because we sin and we need new pardons all the time. When will justice become eternal?

  5. to seal up vision and prophecy: לחתם חזון ונביא (laxtóm xazón venaví)

    "Laxtóm" - to seal - is the act of sealing a scroll with sealing wax. It is the final act in the writing of an important decree or message, to seal it with a signet ring. It conveys the meaning of "consummation" or "culmination". When will the prophecies - those which are not yet fulfilled - be consummated?

  6.  to anoint the Holy of holies: למשח קדש קדשים (limshóax kódesh kodashím)

    Jesus is the Holy of holies. But He was not anointed as King in His ministry, He was baptized as all Christians would do, to show us that He was coming as a servant and to identify himself as one of us. When will Jesus be the physical King of kings on earth, as He is in heaven?



The Kingdom is brought by Israel's Messiah
and it is the fulfilment of prophecies for Israel

Before we come to the point in time where the "seventy weeks" which "are decreed" end, it is a crucial issue to understand properly, namely the phrase "for your people and your holy city". Daniel's "holy people" is Israel - not the church - and Daniel's "holy city" is the physical Jerusalem - not the church, the spiritual one. The inevitable conclusion is that those six blessings are for the Jewish people. The church will inherit them because Israel's Messiah is our Messiah also, not because the church replaces Israel in any way (see NOTES **). The church has been inserted in Israel, and not vice versa. 

The point is even more evident when we understand the wider context of the prophecy, which is the prophet's prayer that we can read in Daniel 9:4-19. It is absolutely nonsensical to understand "holy people" and "holy city" as the church, because Daniel was reading in the book of Jeremiah that the Babylonian captivity - talking about the physical Jewish exiles - would last seventy years, and he was praying for forgiveness and salvation for the Jewish people. If you are a Turk praying for the salvation of Turkey, because the islamist government is decimating Christians, what sense makes to you that God would answer with a great revival that will take place in the Philippines, and with great promises for all Filipinos?

That said, all of these blessings were fulfilled at the resurrection of Jesus, in a spiritual way. There is a spiritual Kingdom of God on earth, where Jesus is already King, eternal righteousness has come for us who received Him as Lord and Savior, our sins are atoned for and we are no longer part of this world, but the "foreigners and exiles" of 1 Peter 2:11, παροικους και παρεπιδημους (paróikus ke parepidémus)  or the "foreigners and strangers on earth" of Hebrews 11:13, ξενοι και παρεπιδημοι (xénoy ke parepídemoi) A παροικους (pároikus) is a stranger, a sojourner or guest, someone who is passing by; as a παρεπιδημους (parepídemus) or a ξενος (xénos) as well. All three words in these verses show that we are not people of this world, but citizens of heaven, dwellers of eternity who are just passing by on this earth for some decades. We've been promised new heavens and a new earth, to enjoy for eternity.

Both peoples united!

For He Himself is our peace, 
Who has made the two gropus one
and has destroyed the barrier,
the dividing wall of hostility

Now the point in time, where the "seventy weeks" which "are decreed" come to an end, is the same for the Jewish people - waiting for the Messiah to come with His eternal justice - and for Christians - waiting for the second coming of Jesus and the establishment of the physical Kingdom of God on earth, the Millennial Kingdom, because that Messiah the Jews are waiting for is the same person that we Christians are waiting for. 

When do these blessings reach, in the physical world, both Jews and Christians? 

Observe the following passages:

Isaiah 2:1-5
"This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:"
"In the last days
the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
    as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
    and all nations will stream to it.
Many peoples will come and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
    so that we may walk in his paths"
"The law will go out from Zion,
    the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He will judge between the nations
    and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
    nor will they train for war anymore.
Come, descendants of Jacob,
    let us walk in the light of the Lord"
The "law" is "the word of the Lord" and it will "go out of Zion". Because all nations will desire to follow the God of Israel, there will be eternal justice and eternal peace. For the same reason, people will not sin anymore. This blessed state is described also in other passage of Isaiah:

Isaiah 65:17-25
"See, I will create
    new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
    nor will they come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
    in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
    and its people a joy.
I will rejoice over Jerusalem
    and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
    will be heard in it no more"
"Never again will there be in it
    an infant who lives but a few days,
    or an old man who does not live out his years;
the one who dies at a hundred
    will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reach a hundred
    will be considered accursed.
They will build houses and dwell in them;
    they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
    or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
    so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy
    the work of their hands.
They will not labor in vain,
    nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,
    they and their descendants with them.
Before they call I will answer;
    while they are still speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
    and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
    on all my holy mountain", says the Lord"
This paradisiacal and peaceful vision of Isaiah, even when a good deal of figurative language is used, describes the real existence of a future blessed Millennial Kingdom, and it is pretty much - together with the second coming and the salvation of Israel - the "vision and prophecy" that will be "sealed" (consummated, fulfilled) after the 70 weeks. This Millennial Kingdom is found in many prophecies, both in the OT and NT. When we find it in the OT, the addressee of the prophecy is Israel (the Jewish people) meaning that there's an eternal salvation promised to them.

What "salvation of Israel" is yet to come?

The apostle Paul said that "Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and then all Israel will be saved" (in Romans 11:25-26). The "full number of Gentiles" - read, the people that will be saved by becoming Christians - will be completed when Jesus takes His church with Him to heaven, and then God has special promises for the Jewish people. Observe these passages:

Jeremiah 31:31-34
"The days are coming", declares the Lord,
    "when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
    though I was a husband to them",
declares the Lord"
"This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
    after that time", declares the Lord.
"I will put my law in their minds
    and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, 'Know the Lord',
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the Lord.
"For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more"

Ezekiel 36:24-28
"For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God"

These passages in Jeremiah and Ezekiel deal with ISRAEL, both of them. The church was never led out from Egypt, or broke the covenant God gave to Moses which is not with the church but with Israel. Furthermore, the church has never been "scattered among the nations" and supposed to be "gathered to abide in Jerusalem". Both passages are dealing with an issue that Antisemites twist in their interpretations, to make it only a prerogative of the church: the dwelling of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the believers. 

The Word of God declares in Romans 8:1-2 (great chapter about God dwelling in us)
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death"
This justification - not being condemned for anything after the reception of the atonement Jesus provided for us - is not yet available for many Jews because they don't believe in Jesus as their Savior, and that's why they follow God by obeying His laws. And if you act according to God's law, then you act righteously - meaning you're righteous (see Luke 18:18-20, where Jesus confirms the Torah, and the argument of Peter in Acts 15:10, not that the law was bad, but that it was difficult to obey, and that's why they exempted the converted Gentiles from following it; see also NOTES ***). Then the "justification by grace" and "justification by following God's law" became the marks of Christians and Jews, separating us. But both passages (in Jeremiah and Ezekiel) that we saw before convey the notion of the Holy Spirit abiding in the believers. They convey also the notion of this miracle happening not only in Christians but in Jewish believers also, because they are both addressing the Jewish people. 

In Ephesians 1:13-14 we read,
"When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession - to the praise of his glory".
This "deposit" comes from Greek αρραβων (arrabón) which means the first payment of a larger quantity of money - for instance, when you buy a house or a car. The "redemption" is to buy free the slaves of sin - we - as God has done. When we receive the Spirit of God, He has paid that deposit, the "first payment" of the price of our freedom. It doesn't mean that He has only partially paid, but that this freedom will cost much more (we will be pardoned every time we sin and repent in all years to come, meaning all other "payments" from God for our redemption). And those passages in Jeremiah and Ezekiel show us that God would pay the same deposit for Jews than he payed for Christians, filling them with the same Holy Spirit. The purpose is not hard to understand: both Jews and Christians will be sharing the same blessing on eternity with God, we have been both "bought" as God's own, we have been both redeemed from sin, saved from Satan's rule and prepared to serve under Jesus' rule for ever and ever.

It is in this light we can understand why the judgments of God were refrained until 144 000 Jews were "sealed" - filled with the Spirit of God - in Revelation chapter 7. They are to be spared when the world is being judged and chastised, and even the rest of Israel will be spared also - that's why the apostle Paul says "all Israel will be saved" in Romans 11:26. "All Israel" can't be saved now because of sin. God's law justifies every one that follows it, but not every one does. That's the reason the books of the prophets include so many passages calling sinners - from Israel, which is suppossed to live by the law of Moses - back to the obedience to the law.

Let's go back to the future Kingdom issue. Observe the Word in Zechariah 9:9-10: 
"Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
    Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
    righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
    and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
    and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
    His rule will extend from sea to sea
    and from the River to the ends of the earth"

The prophecy about the coming Kingdom of God in Zechariah mentions both a "lowly" Messiah "riding on a donkey" and a "righteous and victorious" royal Messiah who will rule all the earth with eternal peace. The kingship of Jesus above all men - which is a spiritual one now, after His first coming in Bethlehem, His death and resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit - will be a physical kingship after His anointing and second coming, as we can read about in Daniel 7:13-14. 

But... this second coming - you might wonder - is to take Christians to heaven, or to establish a Millennial Kingdom on earth with both Jews and Christians? That's a good question. Many people understand salvation as living in heaven for eternity with white robes and harps, singing praises to God forever. And even when that vision is real and biblical, it is not eternal; not in that way. Our Lord and several prophets prophesied even more than this.

Let's begin with Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ speaking about His Second Coming, the coming of the Kingdom of God where he will reign on earth. It is the great theme of the Gospel According to Matthew in chapters 24 and 25. 

Matthew 24 begins with the prophecy of Jesus about the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. The disciples ask him about it in verse 3. In the questions: when will the temple fall? and, which ones are the signs of Jesus' coming to reign? we can see that the disciples thought that both events would occur at the same time. But He corrects them in vv. 5-6 and prophesies about many signs in vv. 7-14 that have to take place before his coming, but which aren't themselves the prediction that this second coming is immediate. From v.15 forward, the signs are pointing to a nearer second coming (after v. 14 where He prophesies, "and then the end will come")

Several points are crucial in this prophecy of the end times:

  •  the abomination Daniel spoke about will come to the temple, v. 15

  • the Jews are warned to flee Jerusalem and the whole Judea, vv. 16-20

  • A great distress ("unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again") is announced in v. 21 (the same one we read about in Daniel 12:1, "time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then"). In Daniel's prophecy it was happening whereas the archangel Michael is fighting for Israel and is followed by the resurrection of the Jewish believers and the salvation of Israel, Daniel 12:2. This "great distress" is called "the Great Tribulation" after the Greek θλιψις (thlípsis) which means "persecution, affliction, distress, tribulation" and has been translated as such in the KJV version for Mt 24:21, 29, Rev 7:14 (in NIV this word is only found in Revelation 7:14). The events which occur in this Great Tribulation are extensively prophesied by the apostle John in the book of Revelation.

  • In v. 32-33 we read about the parable of the fig tree, a sign that the Kingdom of God was near (compare parallel passage in Luke 21:31). This fig tree represents both the sign of the Kingdom and the restauration of the nation of Israel. 

  • In v. 34 the Lord gives us a very specific period of time: "this generation will not pass away until these things have happened". The generation He is referring to is the one that sees the most nearer signs (from Matthew 24:15 and forward) 

Why then Jesus says in Rev 16:15 that He comes like a thief - meaning nobody knows when - and this idea is conveyed also in Mt 24:42-44; 1 Thess 5:1-11, 2 Peter 3:10?

Are there "two Second Comings"?

Does the second coming take place in an expected time or an unknown one?

The thing doesn't become clearer when we compare promises of the second coming and find great differences between two groups. Observe this comparison:

EVENT A
  1.  Mysterious and ignored (not in OT)
    - John 14:1-3;  1 Co 15:51-52;  1 Thess 4:13

  2. Happens "in the air" and the believers go to heaven with Jesus
    - John 14:1-3;  1 Thess 4:14-18

  3. Nobody knows when it'll happen
    - John 14:1-3;  1 Thess 5:2-6;  2 Pet 3:10;  Rev 16:15
It is an unexpected event, where Jesus comes, takes away to heaven those who are waiting for Him, and then the Great Tribulation begins 


EVENT B
  1. Frequently found in the OT, as well as the first coming of Jesus
    - Isa 9:6-7;  Dn 2:44; 7:13-14;  Mic 5:2-4;  Zec 14:1-9

  2. Happens "on the earth" and the believers will govern here with Jesus
    - Zech 14:4-9;  Mt 25:31-46;  Rev 19:11-21

  3. It happens after the 70th week
    - Mt 24:15-31;  Lk 21:20-28;  Rev 19:1-11

This event is not mysterious. It is well known since the OT. Jesus will come to put an end to the Great Tribulation and to establish God's Kingdom on earth.

The "A" and "B" events are both prophecies about the second coming of Jesus - or in the OT, the coming of Israel's Messiah. 

Why do they show so marked differences in timing, scenario and outcome?

To answer these questions we have to understand some revelations:
  • The church is saved before Israel. Jesus said, "But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first" (Matthew 19:30) and Paul says that "Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and then all Israel will be saved" (Romans 11:25-26, revised NIV). It means Israel will be saved as a nation when the number of Gentiles which God chose in Jesus is completed and saved. 

  • Israel will be on earth in the Great Tribulation, because the Antichrist will make a pact with them and not impose on them all horrible things we read in Revelation 6, 13 and other verses. However, "in the middle of the week" he will betray them and persecute them, but God will rescue them, and protect them. This is the great theme of Revelation 12. 

  • The faithful church will be spared the Great Tribulation. That's God's promise in Revelation 3:10 to the church of Philadelphia:
    "Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth".
    In the prophetic history of the church, Philadelphia means the faithful church of these last days, and Laodicea the unfaithful one. That "hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world" is the Great Tribulation. 
The outcome of those revelations is clear: there are two different events of salvation in Jesus' Second Coming, the one of the church, before the tribulation, and the other one of Israel, after the Tribulation. It also shows why Christians are "caught in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thess 4:17) because Jesus is coming for us to take us to His Father's house - John 14:1-4; compare Psalms 115:3; 150:1; also Jesus called Heaven for "God's throne" (Matthew 5:34) 


The Rapture

The "A" event at Jesus' coming, when the Lord appears in a moment when nobody is expecting Him and snatches his faithful believers to the heavens, is called "the Rapture" and takes place before the Great Tribulation begins. The "B" event is the Second Coming as it appears in Revelation 19, where the faithful saints are "the armies of heaven" that "were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean" (compare Revelation 19:8, where this fine linen that the church is dressed in represents the righteous acts of God's people, and it is the bridal clothing of the church in the Lamb's wedding, meaning the union between Jesus and His church in heaven)

Now the Rapture and the Second Coming are both called "second coming" because they are part of a greater event which is the coming of God's kingdom (Rapture, Great Tribulation and Second Coming). Whenever the prophecies about the coming of the Kingdom of God are found, they belong in a sequence of events:
  • The world becomes worse and worse, iniquity increases more and more
  • The Messiah comes to defeat iniquity, and to judge the evil ones
  • The Kingdom of God is established on earth and the Messiah reigns
Pay attention to these words of the Lord:
"Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all"
"It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed"
Luke 17:26-30

In this prophecy He talks about the coming of the Kingdom of God. The Great Tribulation, as we read in the book of Revelation, will be a judgment and punishment on the world, and God's wrath will be poured on mankind as never before. There is a parallel that Our Lord is making with the flood and the destruction of Sodom, which tells us something about the coming of the Messiah and the judgment. In both examples, God spared a family - Noah's or Lot's - and then He poured His wrath on the evil ones. The Great Tribulation will not be different. God will spare the church by snatching it in the rapture, and He will also spare Israel by hiding His people from the persecution of the Antichrist. The rest of the world will suffer the atrocities of the Antichrist. 


Be based about the Tribulation and the Antichrist!

A feature we have to deal with in some false interpretations is the confusion between the Antichrist and an evil king that persecuted the Jews to death and was defeated in the Maccabean revolt, namely Antiochus IV Epiphanes. You can read about this in this blog under the title Daniel 2:41-43, and observe these differences:

Antiochus IV Epiphanes
  1. Comes from Greece
  2. Died in Elam (nowadays, Iran) 
  3. Seized the kingdom "through intrigues" (ordered to kill both an usurper
    and the real heir)
  4. Tried to anihilate Judaism
  5. Descended from pagan polytheists
  6. Prophesied in Daniel (only in the OT; he lived two centuries before
    the birth of Jesus)
The Antichrist
  1. Comes from the empire which defeated Greece (Rome)
  2. Will die when the Lord comes, in Israel
  3. Will defeat three kings from a greater coalition (those who compete
    with him for the supremacy)
  4. Will try to exterminate Jews and Christians
  5. Will descend from believers in the One and True God
  6. Prophesied in Daniel, Revelation and others (he is yet to come)
The amount of evidence shows us that the Seleucid king and the Antichrist are not the same person, which means that any interpretation based on this idea is a false one. Antiochus IV Epiphanes is not the only false Antichrist that has been "found"; there are several Popes, Muhammed, Roman Emperors and more. The problem - among others - with those "Antichrists" is that the Kingdom of God didn't begin when they were defeated, nobody was risen from the dead and Jesus didn't come. It will only happen after the Great Tribulation or the 70th week. 

Why is this 70th week called "Great Tribulation"?

We can read in Daniel 9:24 the six blessings that would take place after the seventy "weeks". That's the point of time when both Christians and Jews begin to live in the Kingdom of God or Millennium. And this transition happens after an evil government which will be the last human government on earth, the government of the Antichrist. It is represented by a terrifying beast in Daniel 7, which is defeated by the Messiah when He receives the Kingdom from God his Father (Daniel 7:7-8 in this site treats this issue)

When we take a look to the verses about the fall of this terrifying beast, we ALWAYS read that the Kingdom of God comes immediately after that event. Observe these three examples from the Scripture:

In Daniel 2:44-45, the rock cut out of a mountain which broke all metals is "the kingdom that will never be destroyed", and which will be set up by God "in the time of those kings" - the ones represented by the feet of iron and clay

In Daniel 7:11-14, the Son of Man comes before God and receives the "kingdom that will never be destroyed", AFTER the destruction of the beast, which was "slain, and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire"
 
In Revelation 19:11-20:6 we read about the Second Coming of Jesus, when he defeats the beast, which is "thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur", and then Satan is bound and the Millennial Kingdom begins.

This last government is the Antichrist's one, which lasts seven years (the "70th week") and is divided in two. These two halves appear in Daniel and Revelation often as "1260 days", "forty-two months" or "time, times and half a time" - all three expressions meaning 3 1/2 years. In the first half of the week, the Antichrist is waging war to conquer large territories in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, except Israel because he has "confirmed a covenant" with the Jews.

In the second half, he has betrayed this covenant, invades Israel and the Jews are miraculously protected by God (the theme of Revelation 12). The evil nature of the Antichrist's regime is portrayed in Revelation 13, which mirrors and further develops the prophecy of Daniel. It's crucial for every prophecy about the Great Tribulation to observe in which half of the 70th week it belongs - the book of Revelation makes that change in chapter 12, with Satan persecuting Israel, God saving Israel and Satan "going off to wage war against the rest of her offspring - those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus". This persecution of the Christians converted by the 144 000 Jewish preachers is described in Revelation 13 and forward.


The Messiah is, and only can be, Jesus Christ

If only this prophecy dealt with the Second Coming and the salvation of Israel, it would been one of the most remarkable ones in the whole Bible. But what makes it to the Prophecy of prophecies is the testimony it bears about Jesus' Messiahship. We get here the exact time of the Messiah's death, which together with Isaiah 53 shows us the incontrovertible proof that He would die for us. This timing - exactly at the time of Jesus' death - is crucial to know who the Messiah would be. And Isaiah's prophecy shows Him rising from the dead in order to come back some day, defeat Satan and evil, and reign in the Millennial Kingdom. 

There have been more than thirty persons claiming to be the Messiah. But all of them but Jesus have a big problem with their claims: they don't fulfill this prophecy about the Messiah. This is what Daniel prophesied about Him:
"Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah Prince comes, there will be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks"
The "word" that "went out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem" is an order of the Persian king Artaxerxes that was given following the petition of Nehemiah (Neh 2:6, 8). It happened in the "month of Nisan in he twentieth year of king Artaxerxes" (Neh 2:1). Because the Persian king Artaxerxes reigned from 465 to 424 BC, his twentieth year is 445 BC. It means that the order to "restore and rebuild Jerusalem" was given in 445 BC. Then 69 weeks ("seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks") would pass from 445 BC to the Messiah. 

How many years are these 69 "weeks"?

Every "week" is a seven years period. If we multiply 69 x 7 then we get 483 years. But we are not dealing with our 365 (or 366) days long years here. The times in Daniel and Revelation are given in months and days also, and the equivalent expressions are:
  • "time times and half a time" - Daniel 7:25, 12:7; Revelation 12:14
  • "42 months" - Revelation 11:2
  • "1,260 days" - Revelation 11:3, 12:6
Our 365 days long years include months of 30, 31 and 28 days. But these prophetical years only include 30 days long months (1,260 / 42 = 30) then they would be 360 days long years (30 x 12 = 360) We have to convert our years to Daniel's prophetical years. If you say in Europe that the temperature is 30 degrees, it is a hot summer. But if you say in America that there are 30 degrees out there, it's freezing temperature. You didn't convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit. In order to convert 483 astronomical years - those we use to measure time - in prophetical ones - those that Daniel is talking about - we have to multiply for a ratio (360 / 365) and when we do that, we get 483 x (360 / 365) = 476 years. And it means that the Messiah would die 476 years after 445 BC, which means the year 32 AD (476 - 445 = 31, but there's no year zero, so we have to advance another year)

There are two historical mistakes that lead to a traditional established, traditional "death of Jesus in 33 AD when He was 33 years old". The first one is that the beginning or year one in our calendar is supposed to be that of Jesus' birth, which was wrongly determined by a monk called Dionysius Exiguus in 525 AD, and has been replaced by 4 BC after deeper historical investigation - for instance, king Herod died 4 BC, and it was he who received the magi who were asking for the king of the Jews, when Jesus was born. The second one is that Jesus not necessarily died at 33. This idea is based in Luke 3:23,  
"Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry". 
But we can't ignore the preposition "about" before the "thirty years old". "About" comes from Greek "ωσει" (hosí) which means "like, as if, as it were", strongly suggesting that the number is approximated. According to Daniel's prophecy, that Jesus would die in 32 AD - being 35 years old - corroborates the historical information about his birth. Pontius Pilate served from 26 to 36 AD, so the crucifixion could had happen anytime within those years. This prophecy of Daniel leaves no other option for being the Messiah than to be a Jew who was killed in 32 AD, when Pontius Pilate was governing Judea. 

There are many other prophecies that point to the Messiah. A very abbreviated list includes:
  1. He would be killed (Daniel 9:26; Isaiah 53:4-10; Psalms 22:7-8, 18)
  2. He would be a prophet (Deuteronomy 18:18-19)
  3. He would be a king and descendant of David (Isaiah 9:6-7; Zechariah 9:9-10)
  4. He would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)
  5. He would enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9)
  6. He would be betrayed by one of His followers (Psalms 41:9; Judas fulfilled it)
There are hundreds of prophecies more, and all of them were fulfilled by Jesus when He came to us, or will be fulfilled by Him at the Second Coming. Among those prophecies are the resurrection of the dead, the final defeat of Satan and the beginning of the Kingdom of God, with its King of kings and Lord of lords Jesus Christ governing the whole world. 


Our belief equals our faith

There is a strong connection between your hope in Jesus and your salvation. Our Lord Jesus Christ used a parable to illustrate this, the parable of The Ten Virgins. We can read it in Matthew 25:1-13:
"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’ But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’"
"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour"
The ten virgins in the parable represent the church. In the last book of the Bible, the "revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place", the church in heaven is called Jesus' bride (Revelation 19:7) and the rapture of the church is the moment when the bridegroom come for His bride (in 1 Thessalonians 4, when the Lord descends, the dead are risen and both them and the living believers are caught up together in the clouds to meet Jesus, "so we will be with the Lord forever")

As there were foolish and wise virgins, there are foolish and wise Christians. As the wise virgins took oil for their lamps, some Christians take oil for their lamps also. And as the foolish virgins didn't take oil for their lamps, some foolish Christians don't take oil for their lamps. The terrible consequence for the foolish virgins  was to be left out. The even most terrible consequence for the foolish Christians will be to not meet Jesus in the Rapture, and to be left down here with the Antichrist. 

What do the "oil in the lamps" mean? 

The lamps represent in Jesus' words the believers. It is the meaning in Revelation 1:20 ("the seven lampstands are the seven churches") and Matthew 5:14 ("you are the light of the world"). The oil is what makes the lamps shine, meaning, what makes us to fulfill our purpose. As Jesus ends the parable with the moral "keep watch", most interpreters correctly identify the oil with our prayers. But not everyone remembers that Jesus was a Jew. A consistent part of Jewish prayers is the recitation of the Scriptures. That's what Psalms 1:2 is talking about when it proclames a blessing on the man "who meditates on his law day and night". 

Why is it crucial to know the Word of God in order to pray?


Our faith determines our prayers

In the book of Proverbs we can read, "if anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction, even their prayers are detestable" (Pr 28:9) where "instruction" is the translation of Hebrew "תורה" (Torá) which means the Holy Scriptures - especially the Pentateuch. And the apostle John writes in his first letter, "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us" (1 John 5:14). God hears all prayers, but some of them are detestable to Him. That's why John is saying "He hears us", meaning "He understands our prayer and answers to it in its time". The whole meaning of what John is saying here, and what Solomon says, is that a prayer against God's will is detestable. King Balak learned it the hard way when paying Balaam to curse Israel, and three times the mercenary prophet blessed God's people instead of obeying the king's order. 

What do you pray for?

Are you praying for something God wants, or for something you want?

If it is something you want, is it according to God's will?

What does the Second Coming of Jesus mean to you?

The ten virgins were all virgins, and they were all waiting for the bridegroom. But the foolish ones didn't take the oil they needed. The wise ones did. They read 1 Thessalonians 4-5, 2 Thessalonians 2, James 5:7-8, Revelation 19 and other many Scriptures about the coming of the Messiah. 

If you are praying against God's will, that's no oil. Your lamp needs the oil of God's will to light the right way, no "solar and wind", ethanol or any other substitute. God is not in the "renewable energy" business. Put your will in line with God's will, and you'll see answers to your prayers. I've prayed in an ignorant way sometimes when I was a new convert, but the Lord has corrected me and taught me His ways and His will. He wants to do the same thing with everyone. 

If you have not yet received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, don't wait any longer! He is eagerly waiting for you to save you, restore everything that could be wrong in your life, and lead you to heaven. There is a blessed eternity with God that you don't want to miss! And there is also an infernal eternity for those whose names are not written in the book of life, which you don't want to inherit. Receive Jesus and all blessings He has for you!

In the love of Jesus, your brother Israel Leonard, 

PS. Jesus is coming soon!



NOTES:

* List of messages in this blog dealing with false doctrine:

Daniel 2:39-40         Daniel 8:8                

** List of messages in this blog dealing with
      the falseness of replacement theology:


*** The eternal call of Israel:

There is a tendency to confront law and grace and make them opposites, in order to make the absolute point that Judaism is a thing and Christianity a totally different one. But if we read the OT seeking for grace then we'll find how God pardoned and justified king David, the prophet Jonah, the Babylonian exiles and other ones who should be punished according to the Law but weren't. God's grace reached them when they repented and prayed to God. On the other hand Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, fell dead when they lied to God, without mercy. There are other examples of punishment in the NT because of their transgression of God's laws (adulterers, fornicators, desecrators of the Lord's supper and others). Death, sickness or excommunication was the punishment for those who broke the law and didn't repent. There is no "God of the OT" and "God of the NT", but a God Who is the same yesterday, and today and forever. And He is gracious and compassionate, but at the same time just and holy. Jesus said:
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law  until everything is accomplished"
Matthew 5:17-18
When Jesus was asked about the commandments of the law, He usually confirmed them, and only rebuked His interlocutors if He perceived that the question was loaded. In a nutshell, He was a Jew who lived in Israel, under Jewish law and practicing Judaism.

That said, there are some differences between Judaism and Christianity, the first and most important one the perception of the Person of Jesus as Messiah, Son of God and equal to God. That's why God has a plan for Israel and another one for the church, as we can read in the message above. And both plans are for salvation and communion of both peoples, Israel and the church, in the coming Kingdom of God. 

**** New details of pronunciation: 

                BEFORE:         FROM NOW ON:

Soft kof and 
chet (ך/כ and ח)         "kh" "x"
that sound equal
(the final sound 
of "Bach")

Soft bet (ב) which
usually can be found             "b" "v"
wherever but in the 
beginning ("v" sound)

This second one could be tricky because it is the same as vav (ו) and that's why I used the "b" to make it sure that it is a "bet" even when sounding like "vav". But it is the sound which matters and it is the most accepted way wherever you see transliterated Hebrew (Yaakóv, Avrahám, davár, etc. are written in Hebrew with "bet" but transliterated as "v")
 

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)