(#49 5984) At Any Moment? Yes ... and No

ST POSTED ON 1 AUGUST 2020.

Shalom Aleichem and welcome to my Shabbat blog!

In our opening session, we had briefly mentioned an “Eighth Day” Sabbath that Jews celebrated after the end of the final seven-day Feast of Tabernacles prophetic of Christ’s Millennial Rule. According to Jewish tradition, after the Feast of Tabernacles, God invites His people to stay on for another day/Sabbath for a more intimate celebration.

The “Eighth Day” Sabbath marks the end of Creation and Time as we pass from this life into eternity. Here, the special Sabbath and Closing Assembly that is held is a picture of our eternal rest and communion with God as the heavens, earth and time itself give way to the New Heaven and Earth and a New Jerusalem in eternity, spoken of in the final two chapters of Revelations. If we recall from our opening session, the spiritual realm is timeless and eternal. God gave us time when He created the physical realm of the heavens and the earth. Now, as we return to eternity, what we know on earth as the beginning and end are one again in God, who is the “Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Rev 22:13). In Him, everything is now made complete, perfect and at rest (Shalom). God invites us to stay on for another “day/Sabbath” - which is none other than eternity itself - to have intimate communion and fellowship with Him forever.

The Simchat Torah (or rejoicing of the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible) is also celebrated by Jews on that day to mark the end of the Torah public reading cycle. It is a picture of how the speaking out of God’s Word at set times - in other words, God’s cycle of Rhema and Kairos - will eventually end. From that point on, we will forever be in God’s presence and every moment (if we can even speak of moments in eternity) is Rhema and Kairos.

Realising how close we are to the edge of time and how we could fall into the eternity of God’s presence at any moment is what we want to look at next as we reflect on the often misunderstood idea that Christ could return at any moment and hence we cannot know when He is coming.

Some of you - especially if you believe in a sudden rapture and return of Christ - may object that since we already know when Christ will return based on the Seven Days of Creation, His coming is no longer imminent - no longer something that can happen at any moment. Let me try to answer you in terms of how the physical and the spiritual, time and eternity, Rhema and Kairos - how they intersect in our lives:

First, Christ’s coming can be said to be imminent because we will meet the Lord the instant we die and we do not know when that will happen - even on our deathbed, God can miraculously heal us, or for that matter, He can even choose to resurrect us after we are dead! But the moment we truly die, we are taken out of Chronos time and instantly transported into God’s presence - for those who are part of the First Resurrection, they will “time-jump” to that Kairos moment where they will meet the Lord in the air prior to the Millennium; for the rest of us, we will be taken out of Creation and Time completely to stand before the Throne of God at the Final Judgment.

Second, we already learnt how - on this Sixth Day of Creation that we are living in now - the spirit of this age is not the Holy Spirit of Truth but the lying spirit of the Antichrist. There is so much deception around us and in the Church that many will not be able to recognise - or even if they do, they will not believe - the signs of Christ’s coming. It was the same as with the Jews in Jesus’ day, who could not recognise the Messiah even when He was standing right before their eyes. Yes, Christ will indeed come suddenly, unexpectedly, to those who are spiritually blind.

Thus far, we spoke about God’s Rhema and Kairos for His people so that they understand the times and know what they should do. What God wants to say to us can be discerned from the Bible when seen through the perspective of the Seven Days of Creation. But there is also an Eighth Day Kairos - that split second instant that separates us from God’s very presence in eternity - which is called “Today.” And His Rhema for us in this Kairos Now is, “Today, if you hear his voice (Rhema), do not harden your hearts.”

The choice is ours to make … Today. For tomorrow may be too late.

Jesus said, “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.”

Are we ready? Have we done what we need to do to be confidently expectant of Jesus’ return? We may be called to meet Him anytime; but perhaps even more worrying, we may not be called to meet Him yet - and in the meantime, we need to trim our lamps and make sure our oil is filled so that when Jesus finally shows up, we are not left in the dark and blind to His presence.

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(#48 5984) Day 7 - The Millennium

ST POSTED ON 15 JULY 2020 (UPDATES IN BLUE).

Shalom Aleichem and welcome to my Shabbat blog!

Following the Day of the Lord, the dawn of the Millennium brings about the earthly Shalom of God - the consummation or bringing together into perfect union Man and God as Jesus rules the world through Israel His Lesser Light; the coming of true peace to mankind; and the Sabbath rest for both Man and God - Man resting in God, and God resting from His work of Creation. In a sense, we are brought back to the blessed state of Creation at the original Sabbath in Gen 2, with one major difference as we will see shortly.

Previously, we saw that the Day of the Lord would bring together the joint fulfilment of the first two Fall Feasts of God - the Feast of Trumpets calling us to meet the Lord in the air, and the Day of Atonement when Jesus would return to the Mount of Olives to rescue and restore a repentant Israel while judging the nations. The Millennium is the fulfilment of the last of the 7 Feasts of God - the Feast of Tabernacles - and revolves around worship at the Millennial Temple. The prophet Ezekiel gives us a detailed description of this Temple in Ezekiel 40-42, while Zechariah tells us that “the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles” (Zech 14:16). The Millennium ultimately reflects God’s desire to tabernacle or live among us - we read in Zechariah 2:10-11 and Ezekiel 48:35,““Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the Lord. “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you … And the name of the city (Jerusalem) from that time on will be: THE LORD IS THERE (Yahweh Shammah).” Jerusalem or Yerushalayim, which means the “City of Peace” - and by extension, the world and mankind - can only find true peace (Shalom) in God’s presence.

The Millennium also brings to pass all the unfulfilled Old Testament promises concerning Israel and the Kingdom of David, in particular David’s greatest desire, which was to minister in God’s presence in His Holy Temple. Israel will fulfill its original purpose as God’s Lesser Light to the nations during the Millennium, with David - who would be among the resurrected - serving as Israel’s prince in the Millennial Temple as seen in the verses above.

Lastly, although the world is in a sense restored to its original blessed state, the description of the Millennial Kingdom in Rev 20 and other related passages throughout the Bible seems to suggest that it will comprise 2 groups - the first group being those redeemed by God (i.e., those who are part of the blessed “first resurrection”) and the second group comprising “survivors from all the nations.” The redeemed - which include David, the Apostles and likely only those who are martyred throughout history and the faithful still alive at Christ’s coming - will be clothed in glorified bodies and rule with Christ over these survivors, who remain in their fallen nature and will still experience death. Although greatly blessed by God during this thousand year period, we are nonetheless told that as soon as Satan is released, many among these survivors will be deceived into rebelling against God one final time, with devastating eternal consequences. With this, the sun of time and history will finally set over the Final Day of Creation as the books are opened for the Final Judgment.

Earlier, we saw how the first four Days of Creation gave us a unique Biblical perspective of the first 4,000 years of world history - telling us about sin and the Fall of Man, how sinful men deserved judgment but also how God in His love provided an ark, and later dry ground and a lesser light leading us to His Son Jesus Christ as our ultimate Saviour and Lord.

As we come to the end of the Seven Days of Creation, we are given Biblical insight into the remaining two thousand years of human history from the time of Christ until now, as our generation awaits Jesus’ soon return to usher in the Millennium.

Here, the Fifth Day of Creation pointed to the New Life available to all mankind through the giving of the Holy Spirit and birth of the Church as the Body of Christ. This came to pass with the emergence of Antioch in AM 4002 - the beginning of the Fifth Millennium - where believers were first known as Christians. The predominantly Gentile Church would become God’s vessel bringing His new life to the world for the next 2,000 years, especially following the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of Israel in 70 AD.

However, wherever this new life in the Spirit of Christ has sprouted, the life-destroying Spirit of the Antichrist has often quickly followed suit. The Sixth Day of Creation warns us of this Satan-inspired kingdom and Rule of Man that tries to overthrow the Kingdom and Rule of God. Beginning with the Great Schism and rise of the Papacy in AM 5013 - the start of the Sixth Millennium - these Satanic efforts, which have actually been ongoing since Creation, will intensify and culminate in the rule of the Antichrist in the end times.

With the rebirth of Israel in 1948 (AM 5907) seventy seven years ago, the stage is now set for the coming Tribulation as we (AM 5984) approach the end of the Sixth Millennium in our generation. This brings us to the events symbolised by the Seventh and Final Day of Creation - here, the Great Tribulation - and with it God’s discipline of His people and judgment of His enemies - ends with the return of Jesus the Lion of Judah, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, on the Day of the Lord, as the armies of the world led by the Antichrist surround a desperate and repentant Israel who cries out for her Messiah. In terms of the Fall Feasts, beginning with the Last Trumpet calling the saints to meet the Lord in the air, Jesus returns and sets foot on the Mount of Olives on the Day of Atonement to rescue and restore Israel, judge the nations and Tabernacle with us for a Thousand Years.

With this, mankind and all creation finally experience their earthly Sabbath Rest during the Millennium. The thousand years end with a final battle and the Final Judgment of all mankind.

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(#47 5984) Day 7 - The Day of the Lord

ST POSTED ON 1 JULY 2020.

Shalom Aleichem and welcome to my Shabbat blog!

The Day of the Lord marks the beginning or sundown as it were of the Seventh and Final Day of Creation, before giving way to the glorious dawn or sunrise of the New Millennium of Christ’s rule (remember, the Jewish day starts at sunset). It is the end of the world as we know it, a dreadful day where God’s discipline of His people and judgment of His enemies reach their climax. As Israel and the world plunges into the dark and fearsome night of the rule of the Antichrist during the Tribulation period, God will pour out His wrath upon the wicked and unrepentant through His Two Witnesses.

As recorded in various Old and New Testament passages (you can get the detailed references in my write-up for the video), all these will culminate in Satan’s last-ditch attempt to destroy God’s people by gathering the nations against Jerusalem and Israel, even as the Antichrist overpowers and kills the Two Witnesses to the delight of the wicked. At this eleventh hour just days before the nation is to celebrate the Fall Feasts, Israel finally acknowledges and cries out in desperation and true repentance for her Messiah.

In that moment, the Two Witnesses come back to life, striking terror in the hearts of the wicked. They then ascend to heaven as a great earthquake strikes Jerusalem, destroying a tenth of the city and killing 7,000 inhabitants. The Mount of Olives is split from East to West, and Jerusalem is raised up high with a fountain of water opening up from under the Temple.

There will be great cosmic signs - “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken … [while] on the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world.” “Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”” (References)

Then, at midnight as it were, on the Feast of Trumpets, “The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.”

“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”

At that very moment, “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet ... the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed … For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (References).

Because of the great cosmic disturbances during this time, it is plausible that the 10 days between the Feast of Trumpets (1 Tishri) calling God’s people to meet the Lord in the air, and the Day of Atonement (10 Tishri) when Jesus returns and sets foot on the Mount of Olives to rescue and restore a repentant Israel while judging the nations, are compressed into a single day so that these two events happen at the same time.

If this is so, then the Wedding Supper of redemption and restoration of God’s people with Jesus the Lamb is also the Great Supper of judgment of God’s enemies by Jesus the Lion. This is consistent with the Old Testament prophetic narrative concerning God’s discipline of His people (which nonetheless ends in comfort, hope and restoration) and judgment of His enemies - both of which culminate on the Day of the Lord.

Link to presentation.

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