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Yeshua’s Death, Burial, and Resurrection Happened on YeHoVaH’s Moedim

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“These are the appointed feasts of YeHoVaH, holy convocations which you are to proclaim in their appointed season. During the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is YeHoVaH’s Passover. ~ Leviticus 23:4-5

“Observe the month of Aviv [Nisan] and keep the Passover to YeHoVaH your God, for in the month of Aviv YeHoVaH your God brought you out from Egypt by night. …For seven days you are to eat matzot with it, the bread of affliction—for you came out from the land of Egypt in haste. Do this so that all the days of your life you will remember the day when you came out from the land of Egypt. ~ Deuteronomy 16:1, 3

On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Matzot [Unleavened Bread] to YeHoVaH. For seven days you are to eat matzah [unleavened bread]. On the first day you are to have a holy convocation and you should do no regular work. Instead you are to present an offering made by fire to YeHoVaH for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation, when you are to do no regular work.” ~ Leviticus 23:6-8

YeHoVaH spoke to Moses saying: “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael [children of Israel] and tell them: When you have come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you are to bring the omer of the firstfruits of your harvest to the kohen. He is to wave the omer before YeHoVaH, to be accepted for you. On the morrow after the Shabbat, the kohen is to wave it.  ~ Leviticus 23:9-11

Get rid of the old hametz [leavened food], so you may be a new batch, just as you are unleavened—for Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. ~ 1 Corinthians 5:7

But now Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also has come through a Man. For as in Adam all die, so also in Messiah will all be made alive. But each in its own order: Messiah the firstfruits; then, at His coming, those who belong to Messiah; ~ 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

According to Scripture, Yeshua died on Passover (14 Nisan) – not on the man-made, man-established Good Friday. Furthermore, Scripture says that YeHoVaH established 14 Nisan (Aviv) as the date on which the Hebrews would annually keep the Passover (see Deuteronomy 16:1 above).

This year, Passover, 14 Nisan, began at sunset on March 27. Now, it is important to mention here that a Jewish day starts at sunset and ends, 24 hours later, at the next sunset.

Concerning Yeshua’s Passover crucifixion, it is written:

Now it was the third hour when they nailed Him on the stake. And the inscription of the charge against Him was written above: “THE KING OF THE JEWS.” And with Him they execute two outlaws, one on His right and one on His left. ~ Mark 15:25-27

NOTE:  

According to Scripture, the Jewish third hour of daylight time is 9 AM.

Concerning Yeshua’s Passover death, it is written:

Now from the sixth hour, darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. About the ninth hour Yeshua cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me?” – Matthew 27:45-46

NOTE:

According to Scripture, the Jewish sixth hour of daylight time is 12 Noon, and the Jewish ninth hour of daylight time is 3 PM.

In Scripture, YeHoVaH makes it known why the Jewish followers of Yeshua had to take Him down from the cross and put Him into a grave before the Feast of Unleavened Bread began at sunset on 15 Nisan – the start of a new 24-hour day. The reason they had to rush to get Yeshua in the grave is because the first day of the seven days YeHoVaH established for the Feast of Unleavened Bread was a High Sabbath (a festival Sabbath). A High Sabbath is different from the weekly seventh-day Sabbath because a High Sabbath can fall on any day of the week.

It is written:

It was the Day of Preparation, and the next day was a festival Shabbat. So that the bodies should not remain on the execution stake during Shabbat, the Judean leaders asked Pilate to have the legs broken and to have the bodies taken away. ~ John 19:31

Without a doubt, Yeshua fulfilled YeHoVaH’s Passover Feast because He was the prophesied human Passover Lamb. Yeshua was the only person who could satisfy the without spot or blemish PERFECT sacrificial lamb prerequisite.

Now, throughout the Bible, leaven is used to symbolize sin. Since Yeshua never sinned during His entire life, this truth is why He also fulfilled the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Yeshua was unleavened, meaning He was without sin, just like the matzah bread YeHoVaH commanded the Jewish people to eat for the seven days of Unleavened Bread.

It is written:

Get rid of the old hametz [food with leaven in it], so you may be a new batch, just as you are unleavened— ~ 1 Corinthians 5:7a

On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Matzot [Unleavened Bread] to YEHOVAH. For seven days you are to eat matzah [unleavened bread]. ~ Leviticus 23:6

Lastly, nothing associated with Easter Sunday makes it the day Yeshua was resurrected because His resurrection fulfilled First Fruits. Yeshua’s resurrection on First Fruits fulfilled this feast day because His risen body represents the “firstfruits” of the souls who will be raised from the dead.

On the holy convocation day of First Fruits, Jewish family members took a sheaf, the firstfruits of their Barley Harvest, to the Temple for the priest to wave it – to offer it up to YeHoVaH – so that He would accept the offering and then bless the rest of their harvest. It was on His First Fruits’ resurrection day that Yeshua ascended into Heaven with those who were raised from their graves, AFTER Yeshua had risen, and presented them and Himself to YeHoVaH for His acceptance so that He would bless the future Barley harvests of saved souls.

It is written:

And the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the kedoshim [saints, holy ones] who were sleeping were raised to life. And coming forth out of the tombs after His [Yeshua’s] resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. ~ Matthew 27:52-53

Yeshua says to her [Mary Magdalene, a.k.a., Miriam], “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet gone up to the Father. Go to My brothers and tell them, ‘I am going up to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’” ~ John 20:17

Now, the deceased saints could not rise before Yeshua rose because Yeshua had to be the firstfruits so that we who are His can also be resurrected from the dead.

It is written:

But now Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also has come through a Man. For as in Adam all die, so also in Messiah will all be made alive. But each in its own order: Messiah the firstfruits; then, at His coming, those who belong to Messiah; ~ 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

Since Yeshua specifically had to be the firstfruits of those who died in Him, this truth is why He had to be resurrected on to fulfill the First Fruits feast day. He not only had to rise from the grave on the third day following His burial but also Yeshua had to ascend into Heaven to present Himself to YeHoVaH as the firstfruits of the Barley Harvest of saved souls that He needed YeHoVaH to bless so that none would be lost.

As a final point, I say unequivocally that the uncomfortable truth is Yeshua wasn’t Good Friday’s Passover Lamb because Passover, during the week Yeshua died, was on the fourth day of the week, which in the western world is Wednesday. Yeshua also wasn’t Easter Sunday’s Firstfruits because First Fruits, during the week Yeshua was crucified, was on the first day of the week that was three 24-hour days after He was buried on the first day of Unleavened Bread. In the western world, the first day of Unleavened Bread during the week Yeshua died was on Thursday.

The bottom line is that Yeshua fulfilled Passover (as the Passover Lamb), Unleavened Bread (as the blameless, spotless, sinless Sacrifice), and First Fruits (as the resurrected Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep). Since it is undeniable that Yeshua’s Death, Burial, and Resurrection coincided precisely  with YeHoVaH’s first three spring Moedim, which foreshadowed YeHoVaH’s plan of redemption and restoration that is still unfolding, I wonder what Christians will say when the LORD asks them why they continued to celebrate EASTER after they learned the truth about this pagan festival. I also wonder what these same Christians will say when the LORD questions them about changing HIS HOLY SEVENTH DAY SABBATH to the world’s Sunday (the first day of the week), especially since these Christians will have read or heard that Sunday was the day the pagan Sun-God worshippers worshipped their idol gods.

My prayer is for the millions, if not billions, of people who claim to love YeHoVaH and Yeshua but continue to celebrate the traditions of men – Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter, etcetera – instead of the Appointed Times of YeHoVaH to turn from their wicked ways. If this is Your Will, YeHoVaH, please make it happen soon. In Yeshua’s Name, I pray. Amen.

We Will Recognize and Reunite with Deceased Loved Ones in Heaven

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Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, so with Him [YeHoVaH] will also bring those who have fallen asleep in Yeshua. For this we tell you, by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall in no way precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the blast of [YeHoVaH’s] shofar, and the dead in Messiah shall rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left behind, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air—and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, TLV

There have been many times that I have been asked the following question: Do you believe we will be able to recognize our deceased loved ones when we see them in Heaven? My unequivocal answer is “yes.”

I believe everyone Yeshua saved will not only spiritually see and recognize their loved ones in Heaven but also will spiritually reunite with them. In 1 John 3:2, the apostle John says, “Loved ones, now we are YeHoVaH’s children; and it has not yet been revealed what we will be. But we do know that when it’s revealed, we shall be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”

The above-quoted 1 John verse should make today’s believers in Yeshua ask, “How are we who have never seen Yeshua in His physical form going to recognize Him in Heaven when He will be in His Spirit being form?” I believe the apostle John’s verse is true because I believe everyone who is Yeshua’s spiritual Bride will definitely see and recognize Yeshua with his or her born-again spirit in his or her glorified body as soon as He gathers His Bride together (reunites everyone) in the air and then takes everyone with Him into the Third Heaven.   

In the Old Testament, we read that King David was comforted by what he believed, which was that he would see his deceased infant son again. David says, “It is I who will be going to him, but he will never return to me” (2 Samuel 12:23b). David also writes, “Precious in the sight of [YeHoVaH] is the death of His kedoshim” (Psalm 116:14). The Hebrew word “kedoshim” means holy ones.

In the New Testament, Peter, Jacob (a.k.a., James), and John, who were with Yeshua on the Mount of Transfiguration when Yeshua was transfigured and His heavenly Shekinah Glory shone through Him and through His clothes, recognized Moses and Elijah when they appeared. Now, none of Yeshua’s disciples had ever seen Moses or Elijah, yet the Scripture says, “And as they were leaving Yeshua, Peter said to Him, ‘Master, it’s good for us to be here. Let’s make three sukkot: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he was saying” (Luke 9:33; see also Matthew 17:3-4).

At His Last Supper, after Yeshua had blessed and offered up to YeHoVaH a cup of wine, the Lord says the following to His disciples:  “Take this and share it among yourselves. For I tell you that I will never drink of the fruit of the vine from now on, until the kingdom of [YeHoVaH] comes” (Luke 22:17-18).

All the verses I have quoted above are why I believe our born-again spirits will not only see and recognize our deceased loved ones when we are all in YeHoVaH’s Heaven but also our born-again spirits will reunite with them there. We will see, recognize, and reunite with our earthly families and loved ones, as well as with the people of YeHoVaH from all the ages  – those we had seen before, and those we had never seen; those who had died a physical death, and those who had never died. Shalom!

Man-Made Holidays Aren’t YeHoVaH’s Moedim

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6 And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written,

‘This people honors Me with their lips
but their heart is far from Me.
7 And in vain they worship Me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

8 Having left behind the commandment of [YeHoVaH], you hold on to the tradition of men.” – Mark 7:6-8, TLV; the bracketed word is my emphasis

8 See that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men and the basic principles of the world rather than Messiah. – Colossians 2:8, TLV

As it was in biblical times so has it been in our Common Era. In fact, it would seem that religious leaders have always had a propensity for either inappropriately adding their man-made traditions to the Law of YeHoVaH or completely replacing His Commandments with their own. Moreover, each time they added their own traditions or replaced YeHoVaH’s Commandments, those new man-made customs and replacements made YeHoVaH’s Law of no effect. Now, it should be noted that the word traditions, as used in this blog entry, means that which has been handed down or passed on to others – whether by word of mouth or in writing.

The above-mentioned truth about added traditions of men making YeHoVaH’s Law of no effect have is why Yeshua knew full well that, if He disregarded the seemingly harmless traditions of the religious leaders in His day, His behavior would stir the Pharisees’ righteous indignation. Furthermore, Yeshua not only violated the man-made traditions of the experts in the Law but also taught that these religious leaders’ traditions were dangerous.

Today, believers in Yeshua can see the massive damage that man-made traditions have done to so-called Christians. Because of the often referred to as harmless man-made holidays – many of which have either added to or completely replaced YeHoVaH’s Moedim and other Holy Days (Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Day of First Fruits, Feast of Pentecost,  Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, and the regular Sabbath) – and because of the additions of church programs (orders of worship), gimmicks, man-made holidays, and hierarchies that often are referred to as harmless customs, Christians have essentially developed a lack of personal holiness, an infrequent faith-walk, and a socially acceptable complacency, as well as have effectively blocked most of YeHoVaH’s intended way of life He has wanted His Children to live on earth.

Since this is the Christmas season, showing a sharp contrast between the Law of YeHoVaH and religious leaders’ traditions of men is necessary. Yeshua, Himself, declared that the Jewish religious leaders had “…left behind the commandment of [YeHoVaH]…” (Mark 7:8), had “..set aside the commands of [YeHoVaH], in order that [they] may validate [their] own tradition” (Mark 7:9), and were “making void the word of [YeHoVaH] with [their] tradition that [they’ve] handed down…” (Mark 7:13) by not keeping what “…Moses said…” (Mark 7:10).

Without a doubt, most modern-day Christian religious leaders have continued many of the old traditions of men started by the Roman Catholic Church. Most of those old traditions of men had completely replaced the Moedim (appointed times or holy days) of YeHoVaH with new religious seasons, sacred days, and holidays – like keeping Sunday holy instead of the Sabbath and celebrating Advent, Christmas, Epiphany (Feast of Three Kings), Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Lent, Good Friday, and Easter.

For centuries, men have been adding their oral traditions to the written Word of YeHoVaH. Beginning with the written Torah, as dictated by YeHoVaH to Moses who wrote it down and then shared YeHoVaH’s Law with the Israelites, this written Torah was significantly expanded with the oral Torah, which includes The Mishnah, the Talmud, the Tosefta, the Kabbala, and so on and so forth. Each one of these oral traditions became additions to the original written Law of YeHoVaH. They were humans’ interpretations – what men thought YeHoVaH intended to express in Scripture. My point here is that the Roman Bishops and other religious leaders in the early Roman Catholic Church were not the only ones who added to the Word of YeHoVaH.

The problem is that YeHoVaH has warned His Jewish people and, by extension, all of His Children who are saved through Yeshua, about altering His Word. He advised them, and us, about not adding to or subtracting from what He gave to them – and to us via surviving manuscripts. In spite of His clear biblical warning, adding to and subtracting from His Word is exactly what has happened.

At Yeshua’s First Coming, the traditions of men had become the Letter of the Law – completely taking over the Spirit of the Law. As a result, Yeshua repeatedly called the Pharisees hypocrites. Since then, many non-Jewish religious leaders have moved the masses of so-called Christians so far away from, for example, YeHoVaH’s Law, including His established eternal Moedim, by completely replacing them with many seemingly harmless oral traditions. As previously mentioned, the result has been that Christians have essentially developed a lack of personal holiness, an infrequent faith-walk, and a socially acceptable complacency, as well as have effectively blocked most of YeHoVaH’s intended way of life He has wanted His Children to live on earth.

It should be clear that no man-made tradition is better than YeHoVaH’s Law. Even so, the sad truth is that many Christians who keep breaking His Law by adding to or subtracting from YeHoVaH’s Word will hear Yeshua tell them to depart from Him because He knows them not. When Yeshua returns again for His Second Coming and finds left behind Christians continuing, for example, to keep Sunday holy instead of the Sabbath and/or continuing to celebrate Advent, Christmas, Epiphany (Feast of Three Kings), Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Lent, Good Friday, and Easter instead of observing YeHoVaH’s commanded Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Day of First Fruits, Feast of Pentecost,  Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, and the regular Sabbath, Yeshua won’t just call these surviving or resurrected Christians hypocrites. He will cast them into the Lake of Fire.

A word to the wise should be sufficient. Shalom!

Yeshua Never Said EVERYTHING We Eat Is Clean

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And He said to them, “Are you then also lacking understanding? Don’t you grasp that whatever goes into the man cannot make him unholy? For it does not enter into the heart but into the stomach, and then goes out into the sewer, cleansing all foods.”

And He continued, “It is what comes out of the man that makes the man unholy. For from within, out of the heart of men, come evil intentions, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustfulness, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within and make the man unholy.” – Mark 7:18-23, TLV

Just because in some English translations of Mark 7:19 there is the parenthetical statement  “(In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean),” that doesn’t mean that Yeshua actually said it. If Yeshua said everything we eat is clean, then He would have been contradicting YeHoVaH, His Father, who in Leviticus 11 specifically names certain animals, fowls, seafood, and every creature that creeps on the earth as unclean to eat for dietary purposes.

YeHoVaH’s dietary laws that pertain to the forbidden Unclean Meats are still in effect because the listed unclean meats affect our natural/physical health. However, neither YeHoVaH’s law concerning Unclean Meats nor any of the biblical kosher Food laws (i.e., Kashrut, which refers to the body of Jewish law that deals with the foods Hebrews can and cannot eat and how those foods must be prepared and eaten) has anything to do with YeHoVaH’s Children’s spiritual purification, and this divine truth is the point Yeshua makes in Mark 7:18-23.

Once again, Yeshua does not say EVERYTHING we eat is clean. More important, neither meat nor food laws are what was being questioned in Mark 7:1-23. The topic of discussion is ritual purity – the ritual purity that is based on the religious traditions of the oral law.

What Yeshua says concerns ritual purity. He declares that ritual purity (i.e., ceremonial washing) does not affect what goes into the body (does not affect what we eat). Yeshua makes it clear that NOTHING we eat, whether with clean hands or dirty hands, can make us holy or unholy because what we eat goes into our mouths, down our throats and esophagi, and then into our stomachs. While in our stomachs, the foods we ate are mixed and ground until the proteins, starches, and fats become amino acids, simple sugars, fatty acids, and glycerol.

Next, our liquidy or pasty broken-down foods enter our small intestines where the breaking-down process continues until our bodies are able to absorb the nutrients from our broken-down foods – absorb the nutrients that our bodies need. Our stomachs and small intestines’ digestive processes are our cleansing/purging processes because the wastes from our eaten foods are separated from our needed nutrients. The waste parts of our broken-down foods are what our bodies can’t use and, thus, don’t need. That is why the waste parts leave our bodies as feces.

Everybody’s individual digestive process, then, is why whatever enters each person from outside of him or her cannot defile him or her because everybody’s digestive process has no effect on each person’s heart/spirit or mind. Put differently, the point Yeshua makes is that ceremonial washing is not necessary for spiritual purity or sound spiritual health because unwashed hands do not defile anybody’s “heart”/spirit or mind. It each person’s stinking thinking that spiritually defiles his or her own “heart”/spirit or mind.

The bottom line is that since spiritual purification involves the heart/spirit, ceremonial washings are ineffective and unnecessary in preventing spiritual defilement. Shalom . . . .

Yeshua Never Died on a Good or a Black Friday

01 Sunday Dec 2019

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31 It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was Passover week). So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. – John 19:31, NLT

In this blog article, I am doing what all saints of Yeshua should do. I am setting the record straight about the Black Friday graphic with Yeshua on the cross flanked by two criminals. Many versions of this graphic have been posted for years on Facebook, but, sadly, they all have been posted not only to confirm Yeshua died on a Good Friday but also to confirm that that Good Friday was a black Friday. The truth is that Yeshua never died on any Friday – neither good nor black or otherwise.

To start with, there were three days of preparation during the so-called Holy Week Yeshua was crucified. The one mentioned in the above Scripture was not on Friday – at least not the week Yeshua died.

During the Holy Week, there were two Sabbaths – a High Holy Sabbath and a regular Saturday Sabbath. The Jews prepared for both of these Sabbaths on the days before they took place.

Moreover, the  13th of Nisan – Tuesday – has been called the “preparation day” for the Passover, which included Passover and Unleavened Bread. On Nisan 13, all leaven was removed out of the Hebrews’ homes.

On this 13th day of Nisan, Yeshua had His Disciples prepare for His Passover meal. Yeshua’s Seder meal actually would be eaten after 6:00pm, which would be the beginning of Nisan 14 since, once again, a Jewish day has always been from sunset (evening) to sunset (evening).

Likewise, the 14th day of Nisan – Wednesday – has always been the day of Passover since the Israelites came out of Egypt. They also have always been allowed to work on this day.

During the week Yeshua died, Nisan 14 (Passover) also was the day that the Jewish religious leaders had the Temple’s guards drag Yeshua in front of Pilate’s (the Roman governor’s) residence around 6:00am (see Matthew 27:1-2; John 18:28-29). Additionally, it was on Passover, from noon (the sixth hour) until three in the afternoon (the ninth hour) that Yeshua was crucified. During these hours, darkness came over all the land. Lastly, it was on Passover that the Jewish people in Yeshua’s day prepared for the next day’s High Sabbath.

Yeshua hung on the cross until right before the 15th of Nisan – Thursday – was about to begin. Nisan 15 has always been the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Yeshua was removed from the cross and then placed in a borrowed tomb right at the start of Nisan 15 – a day that otherwise would be very uneventful, except for the holy convocation.

The 16th day of Nisan – Friday – was called “the morrow after” the Sabbath (the day after Nisan 15th’s High Holy Sabbath). Nisan 16 was the day on which the firstfruits of the barley harvest were cut and bundled. During the week Yeshua died, Nisan 16 also was the day of preparation for the regular Saturday Sabbath.

The 17th day of Nisan – Saturday – in the year Yeshua was crucified was the regular 7th-day Sabbath. At the start of this day, Yeshua had been in the grave two nights and two days. By the start of Nisan 18 – Sunday, the first day of the week – Yeshua had fulfilled His prophesied three days and three nights in the grave. His resurrection also made Him the first fruits of the dead, because He rose on the day of First Fruits when the cut barley sheaves were waved before YeHoVaH.

Yeshua rose from the dead right when Sunday evening started. Sunday was the Day of First Fruits. Remember, a Jewish day is from sunset (evening) to sunset (evening). Without a doubt, the above timeline is consistent with Yeshua’s words that He would be dead and in the grave for three days and three nights.

Shalom . . . . .

Traditions of Men

01 Sunday Apr 2018

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Traditions Of Men

 

 

 

Jesus replied, “You are frauds and hypocrites! How accurately did Isaiah prophesy about you phonies when he said:

‘These people honor me with their words
while their hearts run far away from me!
Their worship is nothing more than a charade!
For they continue to insist
that their man-made traditions
are equal to the instructions of God.’

 “You abandon God’s commandments just to keep men’s rituals, such as ceremonially washing utensils, cups, and other things.”

Then he added, “How skillful you’ve become in rejecting God’s law in order to maintain your man-made set of rules. For example, Moses taught us:

‘Honor your father and your mother,’
and,
‘Whoever insults or mistreats his father or
mother must be put to death.’

“But your made-up rules allow a person to say to his parents, ‘I’ve decided to take the support you were counting on from me and make it my holy offering to God, and that will be your blessing instead.’ How convenient! The rules you teach exempt him from providing for his aged parents. Do you really think God will honor your traditions passed down to others, making up these rules that nullify God’s Word? And you’re doing many other things like that.” ~ Mark 7:6-13, TPT

 

Long before the time of Jesus, the Jewish religious leaders frequently added to the Law of Moses their own traditions—the traditions of men—that were their rules they made everyone follow. The reason they added their traditions was because these religious leaders wanted to make the Word of God more convenient to themselves. They also wanted to control the entire Jewish population—to control Israel—and they wanted to take the place of God.

Over the course of time, mostly after the Roman Empire destroyed the Jewish Temple in 70 AD, as well as after the deaths of Jesus Christ’s apostles, the Roman believers in Christ developed their own highly sophisticated theology and organizational structure that was controlled by the papacy. The papacy was nothing like the Ekklesia that began on the Day of Pentecost, which was right after Jesus Christ’s Ascension Day that happened forty days after His Resurrection.

By the way, Jesus Christ was raptured twice. He first was raptured on the Day of First Fruits, when He rose from the grave and then secretly went to Heaven where He was presented before Father God who accepted His Son as the firstfruits of the resurrected dead. Secondly, Jesus Christ was raptured when He ascended to Heaven right in front of His original disciples.

Now, although the Roman Catholic Church has claimed that it is the Church Christ died for, according to the New Testament, the real truth is that the Roman Catholic Church’s beginning was not based on the teachings of Jesus Christ or His original disciples who became apostles. Indeed, for the first 280 years after Jesus Christ established His Ekklesia on the day of Pentecost, the Roman Empire banned believers in Christ and His teachings.

In fact, it wasn’t until after the Roman Emperor Constantine’s alleged “conversion” that the Roman Catholic Church made “Christianity” the ONLY religion of the Roman Empire. As a result, the Roman Empire stopped persecuting and crucifying believers in Christ around 313 AD.

However, even though the Roman Catholic Church has claimed it is the Church Jesus Christ established, nowhere in the New Testament are there any mentions of a papacy; the confession of sin to a Catholic priest for his absolution; the immaculate conception of Mary, the mother of Jesus; the worship of Mary, the mother of Jesus; purgatory; infant baptisms; the petitioning of saints in Heaven for their prayers; calling priests “fathers”; the rosary and its string of prayer beads; Lent; and so many more of the Roman Catholic Church’s traditions of men.

Like the Jewish religious leaders who added their own traditions to the Law of Moses, the Roman Catholic Church added its own traditions to the teachings of Jesus Christ and His disciples—to the New Testament. The Roman Catholic Church did this because it wanted to make the Word of God more convenient to its papacy and the religious leaders under the Pope, and it wanted to combine and control the “Christian” and pagan populations. Moreover, the Roman Catholic Church’s early religious leaders wanted to control the world, to take the place of God, and to give absolute POWER to the Roman Catholic Church. Indeed, even the Roman Catholic Church’s history confirms that many Popes, Bishops, and other religious leaders were wicked, power hungry, and greedy for monetary gain. This description also applies to many of the Jewish High Priests, Pharisees, and Sadducees.

Most important, because the Roman Empire was massive, sprawling, and diverse, the Roman Catholic Church’s religious leaders not only wanted to distance themselves from the Jewish communities that were still celebrating God’s appointed seven annual feasts but also these religious leaders wanted to absorb the pagan feasts, beliefs, and rituals of their non-Christian citizens—feasts, beliefs, and rituals the Roman Emperor Constantine also continued to practice. Thus, the Roman Catholic Church’s religious leaders at the time of Emperor Constantine wanted to absorb the existing paganism so that these religious leaders could get all Roman citizens to embrace the Roman Catholic Church’s religious brand—“Christianity.”

Long story short, it is the Roman Catholic Church’s traditions of men that became the law and the customs the entire Empire had to follow as soon as said religious leaders during Emperor Constantine’s reign “Christianized” their existing pagan rituals and feasts. These traditions of men became the law and customs that most of the world, Protestant believers included, still follow today. A few of these traditions of men are the celebration of Christ’s birth (the annual Christmas holiday), the celebration of Good Friday (the annual celebration of Christ’s death), and the celebration of Easter (the annual celebration of Christ’s resurrection).

The uncomfortable truth is that there is nowhere in the entire Word of God—the Old and the New Testaments—that Father God instructs His Children to celebrate His Son’s birth. Christmas, therefore, is not an annual God-appointed feast day. It is just one of the many pagan feast days and rituals that the Roman Catholic Church absorbed and Christianized.

Likewise, there is nowhere in the entire Word of God that Good Friday is presented as a God-appointed feast (annual holiday). Good Friday is the Roman Catholic Church religious leaders’ attempt at getting rid of Passover—the annual God-appointed feast day that is in the Word of God. Passover is the day of preparation for the Jewish High Sabbath (a sacred day), and Passover is the day the Roman soldiers crucified the Messiah on the Cross.

Then too, there is nowhere in the entire Word of God that Easter is presented as a God-appointed feast (annual holiday). Easter, however, is the Roman Catholic Church religious leaders’ additional attempt at getting rid of Passover, which they did by making Easter fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurred on or after the spring or vernal equinox. These same religious leaders also changed Passover’s name to Good Friday, changed First Fruits’ name to Easter, changed Passover’s significance—Jesus Christ’s crucifixion day—and changed First Fruits’ significance, which was Jesus Christ’s resurrection day. By changing Passover and First Fruits’ dates, names, and significances, the Roman Catholic Church’s religious leaders were able to get rid of three Jewish feasts—Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits. These were Jewish Feast days that many of the Roman Catholic Church’s “Christians” were observing. Having Roman Catholic “Christians” who also celebrated these Jewish Feasts days was causing a big problem in the Empire. Even so, the truths these early Roman Catholic Church religious leaders tried to bury were the Holy Bible’s annual God-appointed feast days of Passover and First Fruits, which were the days when Jesus Christ died and rose from the grave—not Good Friday and Easter.

The bottom line is as follows: If the Roman Catholic Church started with Jesus Christ and His disciples it certainly has done everything in its power to change or remove the Lord and His disciples’ teachings by either altering or replacing them all together with their own traditions of men, all for their own convenience. Out of their own disdain for the Jewish festivals’ traditions that line up with the entire Word of God, and because of their own life of compromise—mixing Christianized pagan feasts and rituals with their “Christianity”—the early Roman Catholic Church’s religious leaders ended up leaving behind an unholy legacy.

Tragically, today’s believers in Christ have inherited from these early Roman religious leaders the same life of compromise and the same disdain for God’s appointed seven annual feast days that begin with Passover and end with Tabernacles. Consequently, way too many of today’s believers in Christ—Roman Catholics and Protestants—still religiously celebrate Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter. They do so as believers in Christ who are ignorant of the following fact: By continuing to celebrate these nonbiblical feasts, they are saying that the Roman Catholic Church’s attempt to change Father God’s prophetic calendar was ordained by God when it wasn’t.

It is evident that Father God foresaw this unfortunate example of the blind leading the blind—not only in the Roman Catholic Church’s celebrations of the wrong feasts but also in ALL the Hebrew and Roman religious leaders’ other traditions of men that have been added to the Word of God. Sadly, every followed tradition of men is why so many believers in Christ who will be living right before the Tribulation Period begins will be so unprepared and unalert that they—carnal believers and natural men and women (unbelievers – Jews and Gentiles)—will miss the Rapture and end up suffering during the Tribulation Period.

May the Lord help them see the errors of their ways before it is too late. Amen.

Who Are Overcomers?

23 Friday Mar 2018

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Overcomers

…I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.’ ~ Revelation 21:2-4, NASB

In the above verses, the apostle John describes overcomers’ heavenly state of existence that is achieved only by Christ’s true Bride, who figuratively (metaphorically) is depicted as the New Jerusalem. However, what too many believers fail to understand is that Christ’s Bride is both the New Jerusalem—the place where She will live—and Christ’s adorned Wife who is without spot or blemish.  

Biblically speaking, very often a people and a place are presented as interchangeable. When we consider everything the Word of God says about Christ’s Bride, it becomes obvious that who and what the Holy Spirit inspired apostle John to describe in the above verses is the collective Bride of Christ who is the New Jerusalem, as well as the saints who emanate the eternal features of The Father’s glorious and holy heavenly city. In other words, Christ’s Bride is a sacred place and a sacred people.

Because the whole Word of God depicts the Bride of Christ as both a place and a people, it is time for all believers in Christ not only to comprehend but also to accept the following truths that rarely are taught or preached in modern-day churches. These untaught and unpreached truths, which by no means are all-inclusive, are as follows:

ONLY overcomers are saved AND sanctified reborn believers who conquer the flesh, the world’s systems, and Satan (see 1 John 2:15-17 and 1 John 4:1-4 [present world-system], Romans 7:15-25 and Ephesians 2:1-3 [desires of the flesh], 1 Peter 5:8 and James 4:7-10  [Satan]). Put differently, only true believers in Christ—in whom the Holy Spirit lives, fills (baptizes), and is sanctifying—will be the successful overcomers spoken about in the Word of God. The reason this entire statement is true is because all believers in Christ are promised eternal life BUT believing is more than giving intellectual assent to His Existence or His Redemptive Work. Believing also means Christ’s Ekklesia (His One Body of Believers or One Community of Faith Believers) is His collective Bride who uses everything He gave to Her to help Her become His saintly Overcomers. That is why the Word of God describes Christ’s saintly Overcomers as follows:

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive the right to eat from the Tree of Life in God’s Paradise (Revelation 2:7).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who don’t receive the second death or Lake of Fire final judgment (Revelation 2:11).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive some of the hidden manna (Revelation 2:17).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive a white stone on which their new names are written—names only overcomers know (Revelation 2:17).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who do deeds that please Christ until the end. They receive authority and power to rule over the nations with Christ (Revelation 2:26).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers whose deeds please Christ until the end. They are the ones who also receive the morning star (Revelation 2:28).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive white garments, and they are the ones whose names are never erased from The Book of Life (Revelation 3:5).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers whose names Christ confesses before Father God and before His angels (Revelation 3:5).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who become pillars in God’s Temple on which Christ writes The Father’s Name and His new Name (Revelation 3:12).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive the right to sit with Christ on His Throne (Revelation 3:21).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who inherit a world free of sin, diseases, pain, crying, and mourning. They are God’s people whom He lives among (Revelation 21:3-4).

 

 

By now, it should be evident that believers who call themselves Christians, Christ followers, and so on, but are not seeking to obtain the abovementioned overcomers’ heavenly state of existence will not receive everything Christ’s saintly Overcomers are promised. If believers, the ones who call themselves Christians, Christ followers, and so on, are not transforming into The Bride of Christ whose daily saintly living consistently resembles Christ’s lifestyle, they will not receive everything Christ’s saintly Overcomers are promised.  

Put differently, ordinary believers—people who are saved, reborn, and justified but who have not, with the help of the Holy Spirit’s progressive sanctification process, conquered the flesh, the world’s systems, and Satan (which are overcomers’ righteous deeds that please Christ)—will not become Christ’s saintly Bride who is adorned for Him (The Bridegroom).  Instead, they will be the end-time Tribulation’s surviving Wheat who do not receive glorified bodies.

As the end-time Tribulation’s surviving Wheat, these ordinary believers will not be Christ’s saintly Overcomers who are able to eat the fruit from The Tree of Life. They also will never wear white garments, never receive any manna, never receive their individual white stone upon which each overcomer’s new name is written, never sit with Christ in His Throne, never reign with Christ, never have their names confessed before Father God and His angels, never become pillars, never inherit an uncorrupted everlasting world, and never will always be in Father God’s Presence.

A word to the wise should be sufficient. Shalom . . . . .

Two Biblical Proofs Favoring Pre-Tribulation Rapture

04 Thursday Sep 2014

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Proof Positive

Avraham approached and said, ‘Will you actually sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Maybe there are fifty righteous people in the city; will you actually sweep the place away, and not forgive it for the sake of the fifty righteous who are there? Far be it from you to do such a thing — to kill the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! Far be it from you! Shouldn’t the judge of all the earth do what is just?’ ~ Genesis 18:23-25, CJB

For God has not intended that we should experience his fury, but that we should gain deliverance through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who died on our behalf so that whether we are alive or dead, we may live along with him. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, CJB

In necessary things unity; in uncertain things freedom; in everything compassion. ~ Unknown Author; most often misattributed to Augustine

God help us all who call ourselves Christians, for even in a time such as this we still remain unable to become ONE. We primarily are divided by doctrines, issues, and practices. As a result, we who profess to be Your holy and righteous sons and daughters, joint-heirs with Your only begotten Son (Jesus the Christ), frequently end up treating each other like notorious enemies instead of like venerable brothers and sisters in Your Household of Faith.

There continues to be too much arguing among followers of Christ Jesus over doctrines, issues, and practices that neither are crucial to the Gospel of Christ nor to how anyone obtains eternal life (how someone is saved). Christians’ most commonly debated doctrines, issues, and practices include, but are not limited to: the Rapture, the Millennium, the Earth’s Age, Life on Other Planets, Food and Drink, Female Pastors, Observing the Sabbath vs. Worshipping on Sunday, Speaking in Tongues, Performing Miracles, and various legalistic Do’s and Don’ts (like going to the movies, dancing, smoking, drinking, playing cards, wearing makeup, and so forth).

How horrible our arguing with and our mistreatment of Body of Christ members must look to the unsaved world. No wonder the masses of lost souls in today’s world are not coming to Christ Jesus. Why would any of them want to be a part of this current 21st century body of believers who vehemently disagree with each other? These quarrelsome believers not only refuse to tolerate but also choose not to be civil to their brothers or sisters in Christ Jesus who think differently about things that usually have nothing to do with a person’s salvation nor with the Gospel of Christ!

If we agree on the essentials, yet disagree on the non-essentials, then let us learn how to agree to disagree without becoming/being disagreeable (unloving, compassionless, coldhearted, intolerable, argumentative, hostile, inhospitable, bad-tempered, grouchy, snarky, sarcastic, stubborn, nasty, offensive, unpleasant, unfriendly, rude, legalistic, insulting, disrespectful, and the list goes on). Let us learn how to remain loving, caring, and kind to each other. After all, one of the most crucial lessons Christ Jesus taught is this one: “This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other” (John 13:35, MSG).

Having said that, let me say this: Because I know that the Rapture is one of the most commonly debated doctrines, I would like to share, strictly from a general theological perspective, two biblical proofs favoring a pre-Tribulation Rapture. Not only do I find these proofs to be two of the best but also I agree with them, as do so many theologians, countless other followers of Christ, and even copious churchgoers. For this reason, I am certain that numerous individuals who will read this blog entry probably already know these proofs, and I equally am certain that various other individuals who will read this blog entry neither had read nor had heard of these proofs before now. My hope then is that the end result of having read this article will be that those readers who didn’t believe will have come to believe what so many present-day followers of Christ already accept to be true about the Bride of Christ’s pre-Tribulation Rapture.

Biblical Proof Number One—from the Old Testament:

Anyone who believes that there is a radical and ESSENTIAL difference between the righteous and the wicked should agree that God knows the difference, and  he or she should agree that God is the One who makes the distinction between those who are “righteous” and those who are “wicked.” Additionally, anyone who believes that there is a radical and ESSENTIAL difference between the righteous and the wicked also should agree that righteousness and wickedness are exact opposite spiritual (heavenly vs. hellish) characteristics, which is why God never wanted His righteous children and the world’s wicked persons to mix.

Furthermore, since God knew there would be a nonstop righteous vs. wicked battle taking place on this Earth, that is why He had some undeniable proof of His timeless pattern of Judgment placed in His Word. Biblical proof number one, therefore, is that God does not judge His truly righteous believers with the world’s very wicked unbelievers. This biblical pattern is most noticeable in the Scriptures describing the time of Noah, and it continues to become more evident throughout the rest of the Old Testament. God’s pattern of Judgment also is found in the New Testament, especially in end-times verses. That’s why there really can be no denying that God clearly is represented throughout the Holy Bible as a righteous Judge who pronounces Judgment that always is correct and fair.

For example, in the Old Testament, Abraham, who is one of Noah’s after-the-Flood descendants, knew quite well that God never would judge the righteous with the wicked, and that is why Abraham doesn’t shy away from reminding God of His existing Judgment pattern. Abraham says to God:

…Will you actually sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Maybe there are fifty righteous people in the city; will you actually sweep the place away, and not forgive it for the sake of the fifty righteous who are there? Far be it from you to do such a thing — to kill the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! Far be it from you! Shouldn’t the judge of all the earth do what is just? ~ Genesis 18:23-25, CJB

The point here is that it had been established before Noah’s day that God is a just and righteous Judge who only punishes (pours out His Wrath only upon those whom He has judged as) the wicked, and then only AFTER He has removed (separated) the righteous from mingling with the wicked. Righteous Noah, his sons, and his sons’ wives were saved from God’s 40 days and 40 nights of the falling rain Flood Judgment, while God poured out His promised diluvial Wrath upon all of the Earth’s wicked inhabitants, as well as upon the Earth itself!

As already mentioned, this pattern of God’s Judgment runs all through the Testaments. Of course, there always is an exception, and the exception that must be noted here is that, although there are many New Testament verses that chiefly emphasize God’s Judgment, there is NO mention of God’s Judgment in the New Testament passages considered as Rapture passages. This observation leads to the second biblical proof.

Biblical Proof Number Two—from the New Testament:

Since there is no mention of God’s Judgment in the New Testament’s Rapture verses, then it is decidedly possible that the Rapture of the Bride of Christ happens at a separate time from when God judges and then punishes the Earth and the left-behind wicked, many who are followers of the Antichrist, with His fiery Wrath. The apostle John writes:

Then I saw another sign in heaven, a great and wonderful one — seven angels with the seven plagues that are the final ones; because with them, God’s fury is finished. ~ Revelation 15:1, CJB

Apostle John most assuredly is describing the last Judgments—the last of God’s judiciary righteous Judgments issued against the left-behind ungodly (His Wrath or Fury). The apostle also is describing God’s righteous Punishment for committed crimes His enemies are guilty of (His Wrath or Fury). Without doubt, these seven plagues (seven bowl judgments) are the last of all of God’s promised righteous end-times Punishment (His Wrath or Fury).

All the same, it must be noted here that apostle Paul says when Christ Jesus died on the Cross, His atoning sacrifice not only had made the gift of eternal life (Salvation) available, but also He had saved (rescued, delivered) believers from God’s end-times Judgments and Punishment (outpouring of Wrath). In other words, so that God’s righteous would not experience any of His end-times Wrath, Christ Jesus’ sacrificial dying absorbed it ALL. Thus, biblical proof number two is Christ Jesus already took the Wrath of God in place of God’s Household of Faith believers—bore the FULL brunt of God’s Wrath for the Body of Christ, also known as the Bride of Christ (both saved Christian Jews and Gentiles). Apostle Paul writes:

…you turned to God from idols, to serve the true God, the one who is alive, and to wait for his Son Yeshua, whom he raised from the dead, to appear from heaven and rescue us from the impending fury of God’s judgment. ~ 1 Thessalonians 1:9b-10, CJB

~ and ~

For God has not intended that we should experience his fury, but that we should gain deliverance through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who died on our behalf so that whether we are alive or dead, we may live along with him. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, CJB

The point here is that it already had been established before Christ Jesus’ day that God still is a just and righteous Judge who only punishes (pours out His Wrath only upon those whom He has judged as) the wicked, and then only AFTER He has removed (separated) the righteous from mingling with the wicked. Therefore, it stands to reason that the Lord’s righteous Bride first will be saved (rescued, delivered) from any part of God’s seven years of the end-times Tribulation Judgments, after which God then will pour out all of His promised fiery Wrath upon all of the Earth’s left-behind inhabitants!

The bottom line is this: As it was in Noah and Abraham’s days, so will it be in these current last days. God will NOT have His spiritually renewed, saved, and reconciled back to Himself sons and daughters endure any of His prophesied end-times Judgments and Punishment that are reserved for His and Israel’s enemies. There is absolutely no way that God could explain or defend why He would let those individuals, whom the beaten and crucified Christ Jesus’ Blood has justified as righteous, and whom the mighty workings of the Holy Spirit completely has sanctified as holy (sinless), go through any of the seven years of the end-times Tribulation. That is why the Bride of Christ will NOT be in the Tribulation Period!

Once again, the two biblical proofs favoring a pre-Tribulation Rapture for the Bride of Christ are that God never would judge His righteous when He judges the wicked, and Christ Jesus already has emptied God’s full cup of Wrath so that born again, saved, justified, and fully sanctified followers of Christ would never have to experience any Wrath of God. AMEN!

For a detailed explanation about God’s Wrath, please read my blog entry Lost In Translation.

Pentecost Sunday, 2014

08 Sunday Jun 2014

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Pentecost Sunday

In the Old Testament Scriptures, God does not assign any dates to His established Feast of First Fruits and Feast of Pentecost (a.k.a., Feast of Weeks and Feast of Harvest)—respectively, God never assigned any Nisan 16 date nor any Sivan 6 date. Like God did with First Fruits, He also does with Pentecost. He made both of these Feasts moveable!  More important, God made it so that both Feasts always fall 50 days apart on the Sundays that follow regular weekly Saturday Sabbaths!

 

 

 

Happy Pentecost Sunday!

 

Let’s celebrate the Bride of Christ’s birthday! Happy Birthday to all of my brothers and sisters in Christ!

 

 

You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord. ~ Leviticus 23:15-16, ESV (see also Exodus 23:16 and Exodus 34:22)

You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there. ~ Deuteronomy 16:9-11, ESV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. ~ Acts 1:8, ESV

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. ~ Acts 2:1-4, ESV

 

Christ’s Elect Is His 144,000 Jewish Evangelists PLUS . . .

01 Thursday Aug 2013

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The Giving of the Seven Bowls of Wrath;The First Six Plagues,Matthias Gerung (1500–1570)

The Giving of the Seven Bowls of Wrath / The First Six Plagues, Matthias Gerung (1500–1570)

And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. ~ Mark 13:20, KJV

And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. ~ Mark 13:27, KJV

And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. ~ Matthew 24:22, KJV

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. ~ Matthew 24:24, KJV

And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. ~ Matthew 24:31, KJV

 

 

One of the primary reasons why many followers of Christ Jesus do not believe in a pre-Tribulation Rapture is because they think that Christ Jesus is prophesying about the destiny of His Bride (the Body of Christ; The CHURCH), when He uses in His Olivet Discourse the word “elect.” The English word “elect” actually is eklektos in the Greek language, which is an adjective that means “choice” or “selected.” Therefore, the “elect” Christ Jesus is speaking about in Matthew 24:22, Matthew 24:24, Matthew 24:31, and also in Mark 13:20 and Mark 13:27 clearly refers to the “choice” individuals who will be living on the Earth at the end of the Tribulation Period.

Now “choice” (elect) definitely is a description God uses for His Jewish people, and a description the apostles use for the Bride of Christ. That is why it is important to note here that one of the main reasons why so many believers see the “elect” Christ Jesus speaks of in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 as the Bride of Christ is because they fail to distinguish between God’s plan for Israel and His plan for the Bride of Christ. These believers often forget that at the time Christ Jesus is speaking to His Jewish disciples in the Olivet Discourse that there was no Bride of Christ—no Christians! For sure, the Lord had not yet been crucified and resurrected, and the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon His Jewish disciples.

Thus, when believers declare that the “elect” in Matthew 24:22, 24, 31 and Mark 13:20, 27 definitively is the Bride of Christ, they actually have made a colossal interpretive mistake. The huge mistake they’ve made is taking the Olivet Discourse, which is a conversation a Jewish Jesus is having with His Jewish disciples, and then reading back into this conversation the destiny of the Bride of Christ (Body of Christ or The CHURCH). The Book of Acts explains exactly when the Body of Christ/Bride of Christ/The CHURCH/The Ekklesia was established on this Earth, and that was 10 days after the resurrected Jesus ascended to Heaven, when God then sent His Holy Spirit to fill the disciples (see Acts 1-2).

Without doubt, the Lord’s conversation with His Jewish disciples still today is NOT about the Bride of Christ per se. His conversation is about the destruction of the Jewish Temple and the Jewish city of Jerusalem, the signs of the end of the Age, and the sign of His Parousia, as in the sign of His coming (when He will establish His Messianic Kingdom for His Jewish people)!

The clear interpretation is that in the Olivet Discourse the Lord is focusing on Israel—His Jewish people as a whole. Now there are passages in Matthew 24 that have promises in them that the Bride of Christ also will receive. For example, the passages about two men being in the field, with one taken one left; and two women grinding at the mill, with one taken, one left certainly describe the promise of a rapture, so from these passages believers can imagine what The Rapture will be like for Christ Jesus’ Bride, who is raptured before the Tribulation Period begins. However, the images in these passages also depict God’s rapture plan for His Jewish people who, just before the start of and during the seven year Tribulation Period, will come to believe in Christ Jesus, and some of them will be raptured. The same is true of Matthew 25. The image of a Bridegroom coming for His Bride, with some virgins being caught up and some being left behind, can apply to the Bride of Christ (The CHURCH) and to God’s Bride (Israel).

Then too, unlike the many passages in which the apostle Paul calls the Bride of Christ “saints,” or in the verses that the apostle Peter calls Her the “chosen” and the “elect,” the “elect” ones Christ Jesus refers to in Matthew 24:22, Matthew 24:24, Matthew 24:31, the “elect” and “chosen” He refers to in Mark 13:20, and the “elect” in Mark 13:27 are not the Bride of Christ’s saints. The saints, in this case, the ones who survive the Tribulation, are the “elect” and “chosen” the Lord is speaking about in His Olivet Discourse, but they, first and foremost, are those end-time Jewish people the Lord says should flee to the mountains, once they see the prophesied abomination of desolation, because Jacob’s Trouble (cf. Jeremiah 30:7) or the Great Tribulation is about to take place (cf. Matthew 24:21).

As earlier mentioned, in the New Testament, the English word translated as “elect” or “chosen” is the Greek word eklektos, which, once again, is an adjective that actually means “choice” or “selected.” So Matthew 24:22 really should read as: “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the choice [ones’] sake those days shall be shortened.” Then too, a better translation for Matthew 24:24 would be: “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very choice [ones].”

Where Matthew 24:31 is concerned, Christ Jesus definitely is making it very clear in this verse that the “elect” He mentions in Matthew 24:22, 24 mainly is the Jews who have gone through the Great Tribulation (Jacob’s Trouble). Borrowing from Isaiah 11:12, the Lord says, “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:31 KJV). Once again, “…his elect…” should read “…his choice [ones]…”

Be that as it may; there can be no doubt in the above quoted verse that Christ Jesus is referencing the gathering of the Jews as prophesied in Isaiah 11:12, which reads this way: “And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (KJV). Put differently, the prophet Isaiah is foretelling of a time when the ten tribes of Israel (the outcasts) and the two tribes of Judah (the dispersed) will be gathered together from the “wings of the Earth” and restored as one whole nation.

Since Christ Jesus is referencing this prophesied gathering of the Jews in Matthew 24:31, which Isaiah 11:12 vividly describes, this is an excellent reason why Matthew 24:31 is not about The Rapture of the Bride of Christ, even though Messianic Jews are included in the Bride of Christ. More accurately, Matthew 24:31 obviously is about the Lord sending out His angels at the end of the Tribulation primarily to gather His now believing entire nation of Israel. Since this is an end of the Age gathering, there no doubt also will be some believing Gentiles out of many nations included, but neither these surviving “elect” Jews nor any of the surviving “elect” Gentiles are the Bride of Christ.

Additionally, the fact that it is the Lord’s angels who are gathering those Tribulation Period’s survivors whom the Lord calls His “elect” should alert believers to the fact that this gathering is not The Rapture of the Bride of Christ, because The Rapture involves the Lord Himself descending from Heaven and snatching away His Bride! Angels have nothing to do with getting the Lord’s Bride together, even though She also is His “elect” or “choice” one!

Next is another verse in which some translators have wrongly used the English words “elect” and “chosen.”  That verse is Mark 13:20. In fact, it really sounds redundant to say, in the KJV of this verse, “for the sake of the elect…whom he has chosen.” For this reason, a better translation would be: “And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the choice [ones’] sake, whom he hath [commissioned], he hath shortened the days.”

Like in the Matthew 24 verses, the English word “elect” in Mark 13:20 really is the Greek adjective eklektos, which once again means “choice” or “selected.” However, the English word “chosen” in this Mark 13 verse is the Greek verb eklegomai, which means “commissioned” or “appointed,” as in having a specific responsibility to fulfill.

Clearly it is the “choice” 144,000 sealed Jewish evangelists who are the ones who will be given the very important as well as specific commission to fulfill during the Tribulation Period, and not the Bride of Christ or THE CHURCH! Beginning in the Old Testament, for the “choice” individuals who qualified for an “appointed” or “commissioned” office or responsibility, such as the judges for Israel, the Temple’s Levitical priests, Joshua’s warriors, and so on, they knew that their office or responsibility was expected to be fulfilled to the best of their ability. The same is true about the New Testament’s “choice” (elect) Jewish people. When they qualified for a commissioned or appointed office or responsibility, they knew it always came with the obligation of fulfilling it to the best of their ability. Therefore, there is no doubt that this fulfill to the best of their ability is the same obligation that comes with the commission to evangelize the end-time world, which is why the 144,000 sealed Jewish evangelists are the only ones who could qualify as Christ Jesus’ “choice” or elect.

The point here is that Christ Jesus NEVER was chosen from among many other possible Sons to be God’s “choice” One, for God appointed Him because Christ Jesus was the ONLY “choice” One (cf. Luke 9:35, KJV) and therefore the only worthy One—the Only begotten One. Similarly the 144,000 sealed Jewish evangelists NEVER will be chosen among many possible Jewish evangelists to convert the lost world during the Tribulation Period. God will commission them, because they will be the ONLY “choice” ones worthy to receive God’s seal. 

Moreover, understanding who really is worthy to be considered the “choice” ones who will be the “elect” Christ Jesus speaks about in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 without doubt is settled in the aphorism “…many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14, KJV). The Lord uses this particular aphorism in the parable of the King’s Wedding Feast (cf. Matthew 22:1-14, KJV). Once again, there is a better translation of Matthew 22:14, and this better translation is “…many are summoned, but few are choice.”

The crux of the parable of the King’s Wedding Feast is that the “choice” ones are not “choice” because the King “chose” them, for in the parable of the King’s Wedding Feast the King (God) didn’t choose anyone. He sent an invitation to one entire group, and after everyone rejected His invitation, the King (God) extended the invitation to every person His servants could find (good and bad). The point here is that the few “choice” (chosen; eklektos) individuals in this parable are “choice” only because it is by the Grace of God they have responded correctly to the King’s invitation or summons. Their ‘right’ response not only is accepting the King’s invitation to the feast, which is done by accepting His Son as Lord and Savior, but also is coming to the feast wearing the appropriate heart clothing—having the right inward attitudes (a born-again spirit), which manifests outwardly in their holy and righteous deeds.

In other words, the parable of the King’s Wedding Feast proves that it always was God’s Plan that, even though He appointed the Jews to be His “choice” people and Israel His “choice nation,” because the Jews, as a whole, failed to fulfill their invitation’s responsibility, God then appointed the Bride of Christ (Jews and Gentiles) to be His new “choice” people (cf. 1 Peter 2:9, KJV). What’s more, after the Bride of Christ is raptured, God then will appoint the 144,000 Jewish men to be His “choice” people. They will be a remnant of the Jews living in the Tribulation Period who will have accepted God’s Grace, will be redeemed and therefore will be blameless (“without fault”) virgins (“without blemish”) who have not been defiled by women, and who will be followers of the Lamb (cf. Revelation 14:3-4).  

Finally, as earlier mentioned, in the Old Testament, God promises that He will save Jacob (both Israel and Judah, or the entire nation of Israel), out of the time of great trouble, Jacob’s Trouble, or the Great Tribulation (cf. Jeremiah 30:7). Then in Jeremiah 30:10-11, God adds the following promises:

Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet I will not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished. ~ KJV

In the above verses, God is confirming that He not only will discipline His Jewish people but also He will rescue them from the Great Tribulation—save them from total annihilation. God also promises to destroy all of His Jewish people’s enemies so that the Jews never will have to fear them again. Additionally, God promises to return His Jewish people to their Promised Land of Israel where they will live in peace. Since God has yet to fulfill these promises, it should be evident that the “elect” that Christ Jesus is speaking about in Matthew 24:22, 24, 31 and Mark 13:20, 27 only can be the Tribulation’s surviving elect (“choice”) Jews. However, some surviving Gentiles also will be the elect (“choice”) ones who are rescued from total destruction.

For sure, both the Tribulation’s “elect” Jews and Gentiles will be those believers in Christ who are sold out for Him, either because of the 144,000 sealed Jewish evangelists/servants’ preaching or the preaching of those once unwatchful and unprepared believers who got left behind. Put differently, the “elect” at the end of the Tribulation will be believers who remain loyal to Christ Jesus, especially when they face death. Clearly, the believers who will face martyrdom in the Tribulation Period definitely would be God’s “choice” ones, but so would the specific remnant of believing Jews who find safety from the Antichrist’s persecution and God’s wrath (God’s judgment on the unbelieving world and His discipline of Israel during the Great Tribulation).

According to the Scriptures, around mid-Tribulation, a remnant of the Tribulation’s Jewish “elect” will be the ones who flee to the hills. Of the numbers of the “elect” Jews and Gentiles who do not hide in the hills, the Scriptures warn that they must be very careful not to be found by the Antichrist, because he either will force them to take the Mark of the Beast, or he will behead them. These “elect” who did not flee to the hills also must be aware of all the false christs and aware of all the other deceptions that are initiated during the Tribulation, because these deceptions could cause them to abandon Christ Jesus. Their goal should be to survive the Great Tribulation and be ready to stand and worthy of standing before Christ Jesus as His wheat/sheep, when the Lord makes His bodily return on the Day of the Lord.

Now, since the Lord’s Second Coming is all about destroying the wicked (wiping them off this Earth), it also should be evident that the Bride of Christ is not Christ Jesus’ “elect” in any of the abovementioned Matthew 24 and Mark 13 verses. The definitive Scriptures that prove the Bride of Christ won’t go through the Tribulation are Isaiah 26:19-21 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18. Not only do these verses prove that the Groom comes for His Bride and raptures Her before the Tribulation Period begins but also these verses have the same order of events, which are: 1. The dead rise first; 2. The alive righteous individuals are snatched away, then hidden behind a shut door; and 3. The Lord comes to punish the world and/or God pours out His wrath.

Then there are the verses in 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3. Where 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 is concerned with The Rapture and the HOPE of being rescued from the wrath to come, 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 is concerned with judgment or the wrath of God. That apostle Paul has changed the subject from hope to judgment means he is now speaking about the Day of the Lord in 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3, which is a day that will not include The Rapture!

Instead of being the day of The Rapture, the Day of the Lord is the day Christ Jesus will send His angels out to gather the “elect” or “choice” survivors of the Tribulation Period, primarily the Jews and those left-behind unprepared, unwatchful believers whose lives needed to be sifted like wheat. Now, the only ones the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night for are the Tribulation’s surviving unbelievers, because they are living in darkness, and more likely than not they are not aware of what the Scriptures say about the Day of the Lord. More important, the Day of the Lord is not The Rapture of the Bride of Christ, because the Day of the Lord is mainly about the outpouring of God’s punishment/discipline on Israel and the outpouring of terror and death on Israel’s enemies (chiefly the Arabic nations).

The bottom line, once again, is that the “elect” Christ Jesus speaks of in Matthew 24:22, 24, 31 and Mark 13:20, 27 is not the Bride of Christ. This “elect” is primarily the Tribulation’s surviving Jewish people. As earlier stated, to declare that Christ Jesus definitively is speaking about His Bride in said chapters is a colossal interpretive mistake. Why is that such a huge mistake? Well, it is because the Olivet Discourse is a conversation the Jewish Jesus is having with His Jewish disciples about the destiny of the Jewish Temple, the Jewish city of Jerusalem, and the Jewish people as a whole. Forgetting who the Lord’s audience is and the questions His Jewish disciples ask Him to answer invariably will lead to the usual oversight—mistaking the Bride of Christ for the Tribulation’s “elect.”

The Bride of Christ absolutely is not the Tribulation’s “elect,” because the Scriptures show that it is the spiritually blind Jewish people, the unbelieving Gentile masses, and the unprepared, unwatchful Body of Christ members who are the ones who will experience the Tribulation Period. Where’s the Bride of Christ during the Tribulation Period? She’s in Heaven with Her Groom, because the Bride of Christ (the faithful, obedient, prepared, and watchful Body of Believers) is raptured before the seven year Tribulation Period ever begins! A word to the wise should be sufficient. Amen