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(Zechariah,
who wrote this, knew his grave was being dug in a cave in the Mount of
Olives, and he spoke of the temple still existing, while they still observed
sacrificial offerings (14:21). But this doesn’t sound very Christian.) Moses
said that when God descended to Mt. Sinai, the mountain was on fire.
Therefore, if Jerusalem were surrounded by armies, the Messiah would have
power to move mountains and to destroy the Roman armies with fire in the
Valley of Jehoshaphat east of the temple mount (Zechariah 14:12). A
“man of sin” would enter the temple (as in the days of Nehemiah) and be
destroyed by the Messiah at His coming. The temple would still exist. A
beast with seven heads and ten horns (Rome) and a false prophet would be cast
into a bottomless pit. It
would be better to cut off our own hand, if it brakes the law, if that would
prevent our entire body from being cast into the lake of fire. However,
this is not the solution. Instead, if the law is written on the heart, not on
tables of stone, that alone becomes the solution. Calculating “the
end” What were the true signs the Messiah has arrived? The covenant with
the old world was to pass away and all things to be made new. Moses provided
the Old Covenant at Mt. Sinai, in the wilderness. Christ provided a New
Covenant. He was greater than Moses. The Messiah was not recognized because He brought a new heart, the
golden rule, a new covenant and removed the law requiring vengeance, an eye
for an eye, and tooth for a tooth. He was the Manna from heaven, the Rock that provided water in the
wilderness, the Serpent on a stake, the Healer of the sick, the Resurrection
of the dead, the High Priest who went behind the veil. He was the Passover Lamb that conquered death, the last enemy, and
brought his people through the Red Sea killing their last enemy. Both events
were likely on a Sunday morning, at sunrise. Before being crucified, He said, “Now shall Satan be cast down”. Finally, there is the day of vengeance at the “time of the end”,
“the last trumpet”, the “fall of Jericho”, or the “fall of Babylon”. There is the day of a “great earthquake”, the separation of
continental plates. Our calculations for the end have been very unreliable. We know
that earthquakes and volcanoes are very unpredictable. Nobody knows when
California will fall into the ocean. Nobody knows if or when the Dead Sea
will transform back into a lake of fire or when the “streams of fire” in Edom
will again flow into Lake Asphaltis (Isaiah 34:8-10), or when the rich man
will be separated from Lazarus by a great gulf or “lake of fire” or when the
heavens and earth will melt. If
someone boasts that he has it all figured out or that he is one of the Two
Witnesses of Revelation 11:3 (and Zechariah 4:3), just recall that false
predictions have gained a very bad reputation over the past 2,000 years.
Perhaps they have overlooked the hidden meaning of the second chapter of Acts
and have ignored the Second Adam, the restored Tree of Life, the New
Creation, and a world without end. Gehennah of 70 AD
Matthew
23:33 speaks of a valley of Hinnom, or Gehennah, as a place where the vipers
and serpents of the first century would be punished. “Woe unto them that are
with child or them which give suck in those days… For then shall be great
tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time,
no, nor ever shall be.” |
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Draft
notes on Code 251 |
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