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RELATED TO CODE 144,000 |
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information related to the 144,000 should probably end here, but
there are other things that need to be considered, which makes it difficult
to decide what is “basic”. Something needs to be said about symbols IN
Revelation that represent the seven churches, Herod, Caesar, etc. Beginning of the New Era in
Revelation Revelation
refers to the visions Jesus Christ gave to the apostle John (Rev 1:1), which
will happen shortly. This implies that the visions will not contradict
Christ’s teachings, when he said, “There are some standing here that will not
taste death, until they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” (Mat
16:28). “This generation will not pass until all these things are fulfilled”
(Mat 24:34). “All these things” included the worst time since the beginning
of the world (Mat 24:21). Of course, the Bible doesn’t cover 70 AD,
therefore, we must consult other writers, like Josephus. Josephus said that
Jerusalem’s destruction was the worst time since the world began. Likewise,
the visions of Revelation were likely in the first century, before the temple
burned. In
other words, Christ had some type of coming when he appeared in the fiery
furnace in about 600 BC, some type of coming when the handwriting was on
Babylon’s wall in 587 BC, some type of coming on the day of Pentecost in 31
AD, some type of coming when Paul was called in 34 AD, some type of coming
when the eastern gate, which took 20 men to close, opened all by itself in 70
AD, when Jerusalem was surrounded by the Romans. 3½ Years before the Jubilee of 34 AD Some
have taken Revelation 12 and 13 out of context. They say that, after a
“woman” or church gave birth to a Man-child (Christ), and then time skips
2,000 years to a “Philadelphia church era”, which escapes the Great
Tribulation lasting 3½ years as the “lukewarm, Laodicean church era” is left
behind to be devoured by a mysterious dragon. Actually,
the woman is Mary. She gave birth to Christ while Herod stood ready to
execute him. Christ grew up, was killed and ascended into heaven in 31 AD.
After this, Mary escaped for 3½ years while her “other seed”, other princes
descending from David, that is, other contenders for “king of the Jews” were
pursued by the “dragon” (that is, King Herod and Saul). Stephen
was stoned with consent of Saul, and Saul became converted at the end of the
3½ years, at the beginning of a jubilee year after the fall of 34 AD. Another
jubilee was 49 years later, 14 years after Jerusalem fell. A jubilee also
occurred in 132 AD, at the beginning of the Bar Kochba revolt. The
jubilee at Paul’s conversion begins a whole new era of including an
innumerable multitude of converts descended from all gentile nations along with
the “144,000” converts descended from Israel. Poetic Symbolism Christ revealed the symbolism of the Tree of Life and Living
Waters. Since the days of Adam, there had been a promise that the Tree
of Life would eventually be restored. Christ inferred that he is this tree.
Those attached to him would live forever. Those not grafted onto this tree,
would wither, die and be burned as trash. And the leaves of the Tree of Life are used to heal the nations
(Ezek 47:12; Rev 22:2), which would continue existing after the first
century. In contrast to this, Ezekiel 47:3-12, during the restored
temple, living water was to flow from Jerusalem, from the south side of the
altar to the desert of Engedi, and was to gradually form a large river that
heals everything it touches. On both sides of the river, would be the trees
of life, whose leaves will never wither and used for medicine. It would also
bare fruit every month. Ephraim and Manasseh (sons of Joseph) would receive
two portions, and Levi would be a 13th tribe (Ezek 47:13; Rev
7:6-8). It is
likely that it was the Son of God in the fiery furnace in Babylon who was
also the one who ascended from the Mount of Olives in about 590 BC, and, in
his absence, resulted in leaving Jerusalem without divine protection (Ezek 11:23).
He returned to Jerusalem in 520 BC, after his 70-year absence (Zech 7:5),
after perhaps first descending to the Mount of Olives (Zech 1:16; 8:3; 14:4).
He says in Zechariah 1:16 and 8:3, “I am returned to Sion.” In contrast to this, Zechariah 14 says that, after the
Messiah eventually stands on Mt Olivet, living waters will go out from
Jerusalem, when he becomes King of all the earth. In 31 AD, the Messiah
ascended returned to the Higher Realm as co-ruler over all things. Christ and
the Father are co-rulers. This is the context. Christ unveils the hidden meaning of the “water of life”
flowing from the temple. On the Last Great Day of the feast of Tabernacles, Christ
said, “If any man thirsts, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believes
on me… out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this he spoke
of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy
Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified)” (Jn 7:37-38; Zech
14:8). This Spirit is also referred to as the “spirit of
prophecy”. Therefore,
the “river of life” gushing from the temple in Ezekiel and Zechariah 14 is
related to the “living waters” gushing forth from Christ’s disciples and the
“spirit of prophecy” descending upon the 12 apostles on the day of Pentecost
in 31 AD. The Seven Candles Revelation
also unveils the hidden meaning of the seven candles in the temple. Christ’s
mother, Mary, came under the guardianship of the apostle John after the
crucifixion, and they went to Ephesus, the first church in Revelation 3. John
baptized Polycarp who became a bishop of the Smyrna church, the second church
in Revelation 3. The seven churches were branches of the Jerusalem church,
which are represented by the seven branches of the candlestick in the
temple. Last but not least, a (future?) City becomes visible, which
is 1,500 miles high (12,000 furlongs). Our astronauts rendezvous
weightlessly at only 100 miles above the earth. This implies that the
measurements have a symbolic meaning, that is, another way of saying,
“There’s lots of room for everyone from every nation.” The new covenant is
offered to Africa, India, China and every country, not just to “lost sheep of
Israel” dwelling there. The Western World is not special or exclusive. The “City” seems to have the same symbolic message expressed by
the “Mother of Exiles” on the Statue of Liberty… “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free; The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send
these, the homeless, Tempest-tossed to me I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” The apostle James
put it this way… “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is
this, To visit the fatherless, and widows in their affliction, and to keep
unspotted from the world.” (Isa 58:6-9) A City of Light in a Dark World The prophets had
much to say about the light from “Jerusalem above” is like a beam descending
upon a world living in darkness. Paul saw this light when he was called on the road to Damascus.
He saw the light descend while the “sun of righteousness” remained in its
Higher Realm. Likewise, the context of Revelation supports the view that
it was written in the first century as a warning about the end of Jerusalem
and the end of the old covenant. It was like the “handwriting on the wall”,
like blowing the seven trumpets when the walls came tumbling down. Jerusalem
reaped what it sowed. But
our one and only hope continues to live on, a world without end (Eph
3:21). Jerusalem
above is a weightless, spiritual, transparent
Utopia, a “city of peace”, number one on our “bucket list” or
“wish list” worthy of any cost. Perhaps it will eventually come to us “on
earth as it is in heaven”. Everyone deserves to live in a world of people
just like themselves, but everyone wants to live where everyone else
is perfect. Perhaps both will happen. The best argument against Christ now ruling from his Higher
Realm is that the present world still belongs to Satan. This was also true in
Daniel’s time, but he said that, even then, God sets up kingdoms and puts
down kingdoms. The truth is closer to the fact that the first covenant was
conditional upon the Israelites following the One in the fire, in the cloud
and later in the fiery furnace. But the
Israelites lacked faith. Likewise, the new covenant is conditional. The world
will not enter into a lasting rest until the world becomes converted, when
all of Christ’s enemies are put under his feet. An evil generation rises and
is overcome, but an evil remnant always survives to wait a better day. This
is a no-brainer. The world reaps what it sows. The time may come
when there must be a special intervention or no flesh would be saved (Mat
24:22). Nobody is being
forced into the new covenant. It is based upon free will to practice True
Religion and the Golden Rule: “Visit the
fatherless, and widows in their affliction, and to keep unspotted from the
world.” (Jas 1:27; Isa 58:6-9) This means caring especially for the less fortunate. This is not a “Hebrew Roots Awakening”, a “gospel of
prosperity” or a spiritual mafia posing as overlords. Y-DNA is not Necessary The above does not imply that God knows the y-dna of everyone on
earth in order to separate the converted Jews from the converted gentiles or
in order to combine the converted house of Israel with the converted house of
Judah or in order to know where the 12 physical Israelite tribes went
throughout the nations. There is neither Jew nor Greek in the new covenant.
The 12 converted apostles are the 12 founders of the converted Kingdom. However, commentators have known nothing about y-dna (the male
chromosome passed down with little change from father to son over thousands
of years). With very little research, they can now find that almost all of
Europe, and British Isles belong to the haplogroup R1b1, and the Jewish
communes in these areas belong to the J, J1 and J2 haplogroups. The R1b1
group separated from the J group well over a thousand years before the first
century. This would mean that Abraham’s son, Ishmael, would be in the J,
J1 or J2 haplogroups, and king Zedekiah of Jerusalem would be in the same
group. This means that Zedekiah’s daughter, if she married an Irish king in
the R1b1 haplogroup, would have male children in the R1b1 haplogroup. This is
consistent with the Tudor and Stuart surnames that ruled over Wales, Scotland
and England belonging to the R1b1 haplogroup. King Henry VIII used the tradition that the first church was
founded in England before the Catholic church was founded in Rome. He had an
ulterior motive. This allowed him to split from the Catholics and found the
Church of England, and it allowed him to divorce one wife in order to
marry another who could bare him a royal son. Nevertheless, there is little one can say to those immersed in
British Israelism that will reverse their belief that, once converted, they must
begin keeping the holy days in order to enter the new covenant. There are major issues with this view of requiring gentile
converts to keep the Holy Days. 1. These days are appropriate for the northern hemisphere, where
Jerusalem is, and are out of season for the southern hemisphere. Spring in
Jerusalem is actually in the fall south of the equator. There needs to be
more biblical proof for making an “administrative decision” that the south
must follow the north. Nowhere does it say the fall grape harvest is in the
spring in the southern hemisphere. The Bible world is in the north, like in
the flat earth society. 2. The new covenant is based upon the day of Atonement being
fulfilled on the spring Passover, when Christ went behind the veil with his
own blood once and for all. 3. The new covenant is based upon the feast of Tabernacles being
fulfilled after the Lion and the Lamb began dwelling or making a tabernacle
with converted Jews and gentiles after the church was founded in 31 AD. 4. Since the “Christian world” has not been keeping the Holy
Days over the last 2,000 years, those who do observe them are separate from
the others who merely keep the Sabbath but not the Holy Days. It sets them
apart as special or exclusive and provides a “corporate identity”, such as,
the “Hebrew Movement” or “Hebrew Awakening”. About Being “Under the Law” Some in the Hebrew Roots Awakening or Hebrew Roots Movement say
that Christianity (or the new covenant) is temporary and will only last until
a third temple, until the old covenant and sacrificial offerings are
restored. However, the third temple is the one “made without human hands” and
having a “Chief Corner Stone”. Some commentators teach that the apostles, like the apostle
James, went only to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel”, and, once they
have regained their true “Jewish identity”, they should resume keeping the
law, the sabbaticals, jubilees and holy days (but not Hanukkah). Suddenly,
based upon their identity, or family tree, they allegedly become Levites,
Israelites or Jews and should no longer act like they are strangers. This does not address the issue that entry into the new covenant
is not to be based upon one’s y-dna or family tree. Commentators support their belief by quoting many references to
the apostles returning to Jerusalem to keep the Passover, Pentecost and
Tabernacles. These are not converted gentiles. Moreover, they have no sources whatsoever to prove that
gentiles, once converted, must take their wives and children from Spain and
Britain back to Jerusalem to keep the feasts. However, they do readily misquote Zechariah 14 as saying,
“representatives” of all nations will eventually return to Jerusalem to keep
the feast of Tabernacles. Of course all families would not fit into
Jerusalem; so, they say “representatives” of all nations will return instead
of “Israel’s lost sheep” from “every nation under heaven” will return from
where they were exiled and return to keep the feasts (as in Acts 2:5) just as
expected during the second temple, while they were still offering
sacrifices contrary to the new covenant (Zech 14:20-21; Heb 9:11-14). Avoiding a Yoke Acts 15:10 speaks of avoiding a “yoke” that might be put on the
gentiles. Paul makes an analogy that the old covenant is like Abraham’s
handmaid (or “bondwoman) who bore his firstborn, Ishmael. The new covenant is
like Sarah (a freewoman) who bore Isaac. (Of course, Paul did not quote his
source to support this view.) With this in mind, the act of requiring gentile converts to
merely avoid circumcision, idols, drinking blood and sexual perversion does
not seem to be the yoke referred to. There must be more. For example, some gentiles today live in
European countries where the government takes 75% of their paychecks in taxes
to support the church and state and to support every citizen from cradle to
grave. Are commentators suggesting that these gentile converts in Europe must
take their families to the feast of Tabernacles every year and spend
another 10% of their total earnings? Like ObamaCare, just pass the law and then start making
exceptions, right? On the other hand, this is not implying that it would be wrong
or “illegal” for gentile converts to voluntarily join the Jewish converts at
their feasts anymore than it would be wrong to attend other Jewish memorials
or Jewish weddings… if it is not required for entering into the new covenant.
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