"If it hadn’t been for sin, I would never have had a serious thought"

Kenneth Copeland shared:

About that time, I heard the voice of the Lord in my spirit. Kenneth, did you know if it hadn’t been for sin, I would never have had a serious thought?

Huh? I thought, certain I hadn’t heard Him right.

It’s the truth! He said. If it weren’t for sin, there’d be noth- ing to be serious about. We would have just had a party every weekend. If you doubt it, look at the feasts I prepared in the Old Covenant. I commanded My people back then to have fun, shout and make a lot of noise!

It was unbelieving, heathen Christians who didn’t know anything about My Word, about the Old Covenant and about Me, who decided to be sad about this whole thing. They’re the ones who thought it was spiritual to cry and wear a long face at church.

Of course, I don’t mind you being sorry when you sin, but don’t stay that way. Repent for your sin, get rid of it and get right back in fellowship with Me!

That revelation changed my attitude. I began to realize that if I keep repentance at hand, God and I can have a big time together. If I quit majoring on my failures and shortcomings and focus instead on the love God has for me, I can spend the rest of my life—and all eternity—enjoying the kind of relationship the Apostle John wrote about in 1 John 1:3-4, where he said: “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.” 

A Single Study Reconstructs an Evolutionary Scenario

You mean all it takes is a single study to completely reconstruct a major evolutionary scenario?

That tells me the original scenario wasn't founded on much.

Are other evolutionary scenarios similarly poorly founded?

And yet for decades such scenarios have been taught as facts.

And anyone who questioned such scenarios was labeled as irrationally biased. 

http://www.livescience.com/48008-birds-dinosaurs-no-missing-link.html?cmpid=514627_20140926_32309746

Impossible Burden of Proof - Impossible Odds

Life has never been observed to come from non-life. True or false?

True.

What would be the biggest change in genetic information that has been observed?

Perhaps microbial resistance to antibiotics?

That's not much!

But assuming the big steps of evolution really happened, including life springing from non-life, it's signally amazing that chemicals and genes have these abilities. That life in all its complexity came from some lifeless chemicals, means that those chemicals had in them the capability to become everything that we now see. It means those original chemicals had the capability to produce you and I in all our individual complexities. It means we've hardly touched the surface in understanding the elements. Assuming the larger evolutionary scenario.

More amazing is, How and why did the chemicals acquire the ability to become the complex forms of life that we see today? Did the chemicals just always have that ability? Or did the chemicals evolve to acquire that ability? What process influenced the chemicals to develop that ability - some sort of "natural selection" of chemicals? Needless to say, we probably can't observe any of that.

The complexity I can observe just looking through our lounge room, through the window, outside to the street - the tendency to produce all of that must have existed in the chemicals before the Big Bang. How? Why?

Observing evolution (which we've barely done) is one thing. But even if all the evolution that can be imagined is true, it only opens up a whole bigger mystery.

If evolution is true, then we have to try to explain how original chemicals acquired the intrinsic tendency to produce all that we now see.

And then, once we've proved the process by which the original chemicals acquired that ability and tendency, that too only opens up another bigger mystery: how did the original chemicals come to exist in the first place.

Something for 'Jewish-Roots', 'God's Calendar' Christians

On Replacement Theology

God's plan of redemption is like a train on a railway line. We either jump on board or miss out. He didn't introduce the Gospel as a detour. He didn't build His Church as a replacement of His promises to Israel. The Gospel isn't a delay in God's plans for Israel. The Gospel embarked directly from the Law and the Prophets and it's full steam ahead - we either jump on board or we don't.

God had one ultimate plan in mind since before the Law was ever given - before He even chose the house of Israel. And that plan was to save all nations through Abraham's son Jesus, through faith, without the Law.

That's a plan which, when it came, the Jews didn't all jump onboard with. But many did. And many Gentiles are jumping on board, just as God promised Abraham. All nations. Without the Law.

For Jewish-Roots/God's Calendar Christians

What Root are Gentiles Grafted Into?

"And if some of the branches were cut off and you, a wild olive tree, were grafted in their place, and you have become a partaker of the roots and of the fat of the olive tree"

The above Scripture means that the Jews were intended to be the first to believe in Jesus (the promised son of Abraham, the promised blessing, the subject of the Prophets) but unbelief was causing them to miss out. Meanwhile Gentiles were believing and experiencing it. It doesn't mean Gentiles are meant to start keeping Moses' Feasts.

The Law wasn't the root. If the Law was the root, the Jews wouldn't have been cut off - because they were still keeping the Law (up until AD70). The root was God, and His Promises, and the Prophecies, and His Son Jesus who fulfilled them all. That's what the root is. That's Who the Root is!

The Temple of God

Even if the Jews build a replica temple, I wonder how it could really rightly be called "The Temple of God" anyway.

The Temple which existed in Paul's and Jesus' day was rightly called the Temple of God, because it functioned to carry-out God's requirements under the Covenant, Moses' covenant.

But a future temple wouldn't exist to carry-out God's requirements, God's covenant. It would likely serve instead as a monument to the Jews' rejection of God's covenant, a rejection of God's requirement to believe in His Son.

The only temple, in which sacrifices are offered, which could rightly be called The Temple of God, was therefore the Temple which had been built at a time when God still required those sacrifices. And that was the Temple of Paul's day.

Paul seems to be speaking endearingly of the Temple, as God's own Temple. How awful that someone would oppose the very worship that God Himself had sanctioned in it!

Whereas it would be no biggy if an unbeliever comes and puts an end to all the unbelief being carried out in a building built only because of unbelief in the first place.

The Jewish Temple

"Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (2 Thess. 2:4).

It seems a bit inconclusive to me that the verse necessarily refers to a future temple in Jerusalem.

It could be metaphoric of the people of God - of the Church, or Israel. A couple of Roman Caesars did oppose the people of God - the Church - and Israel and the Temple.

It could also have referred literally to the Temple of Paul's day. The Caesars did after all claim to be divine. And according to one historical source, the Jews did set-up an abomination in the Temple area - idols to Caesar and the Roman gods - during the Jewish-Roman War of AD67-70. The Jews allegedly did so to appease the Roman armies besieging their city. But Caesar eventually asserted his supposedly divine authority over the Temple and city, causing their utter desolation. Great persecutions then arose against the Jews and the Church.

Of course those who persecuted the Church will be judged at the coming of the Lord, at the resurrection unto damnation.

So the verse isn't a direct prophecy about a future Temple. Not a clear one anyway.

God Hasn't Rejected the Jews

God hasn't rejected His people the Jews whom He foreknew.  Any Jew can still be saved if he believes. Paul gave himself as proof of that! But that doesn't mean Old Covenant obligations carry-through into the New.

It's like God once gave Israel an egg - and in due time it became a chick.

Once an egg becomes a chicken, the egg doesn't exist as an egg anymore. You can look for it, but all you'll find is egg-shells.

You can try to put the shells together again, but it won't make an egg.

The only right way to think about the egg is that it has now become a chicken.

Same with Israel. He once gave them the Law with its festivals, shadows, promises, prophecies. In due time He sent His Son. The Old Covenant became New. Don't look for the Old anymore. Don't reassemble the pieces. It's all new in His Son. Everything. All new.

Egg --> Chicken, but Egg-shell ≠ Egg

God once gave Israel an egg. Then of course the egg became a chick.

Many of them didn't recognise the chicken, so they looked for the egg. But all they could see was the broken shell.

They tried different ways of re-organising the shattered pieces. But no matter which way they organised the pieces, it could never be called an egg: it was still just a shell.

The Tenakh

The Gospel fulfils the Old Testament (Tenakh) like an egg becomes a chicken.

On time.

Essential elements reconstituted.

The shell discarded.

Judaism

God once gave the Jews an egg - and then, of course, the egg became a chick.

Those who didn't like the chicken, looked for the egg - but of course, the egg could no longer be found. 

Enter: a plastic egg.

The Tenakh, The Gospel, and Judaism

The Tenahk (the entire Old Testament) leads to the Gospel, like an agg produces a chick - but modern Judaism came from men. 

God's Calendar?

The thing about a lot of modern Rabbinic-Judaism type Christians is they get hung up on things which God doesn't insist on. Then they separate themselves from other Christians over it.

Like the issue of Jesus' Name. I called on the Name of Jesus, in English - and it worked - I got saved! God didn't seem to mind that I didn't know His Name in Hebrew at the time.

I've seen people say His Name in Japanese, Filipino, Tok Pisin and numerous other languages - and God responds!

The Apostles even wrote letters to the churches using His Name in Greek, not Hebrew. Most of the New Testament wasn't written in Hebrew.

You don't have to say His Name in Hebrew. He doesn't mind. It doesn't give you any spiritual advantages.

The funny thing is, these people who insist on using His Name in Hebrew, contradict themselves by using non-Biblical names for other things.

Like the Feasts. The term Rosh Hashanah for example isn't in the Hebrew Bible. It was most likely adopted from Babylon. The Tenakh called it the Feast of Trumpets. If you really want to be Biblical, why use the Babylonian term?

Messianic-Christians get worked-up about the Hebrew calendar. But the calendar of Rabbinic Judaism which many of these Christians are now promoting, actually uses what most likely were Babylonian names for the months. The Tenakh doesn't give names for some of the months. They are most likely actually Babylonian names. Yet many Messianic Christians feel all holier-than-thou when they use them, thinking they're in touch with their Jewish roots, not knowing they are Babylonian names for the months, not God's names for the months.

That is an issue which divides Judaism. Rabbinic Judaism (and most modern so-called Jewish-roots Christians) use the Babylonian terms and calendar names, but Karaite Judaism tries to stick to the names and instructions used in the Tenakh.

Messianic-Christians also seem confused about new year. Judaism has between two to four different times of the year for new year.

Truth is, it really doesn't matter so much to God. God is happy to work with us no matter which date we regard as the new year.

God does also have times and seasons of His own. But what does He expect us to do at those times? Whatever He likes us to do at those times, He never expects us to keep the Old Covenant Jewish Feasts at any of those times. That's for sure. 

God's Set Times

God has appointed times, seasons, days and hours - but it doesn't mean we are required to celebrate the ancient Jewish Feasts as if that were still possible. 

In the ancient past:

He brought Israel into Canaan when the iniquity of the Amorites was full. After the predicted 430 years in a land that was not theirs.

He gave Israel set times for appointed Feasts.

After the set period He restored their captivity.

In the past:

In the fulness of time God sent forth His Son. When the time was fulfilled. Daniel's 70 weeks.

Christ died on the day of Passover.

He was raised at the time of the Firstfruits.

The Holy Ghost was poured out when the Day of Pentecost was fully come.

In the future:

God has appointed a day in which He shall judge men through Christ Jesus.

Of that day and hour knoweth no man, nor angel, not even the Son of Man, but the Father only.

It is not for us to know the times and seasons which the Father has placed in His own hands.

How about in the present?

Now is the acceptable time, behold now is the day of salvation.

Hear His voice while it is called Today.

All days can be esteemed alike, Paul said. Let no one judge you regarding any particular day.

God doesn't require us to celebrate Old Covenant Feasts. 

We may focus our thoughts on the truth a Feast foreshadowed, at a certain time of the year; the Spirit may even lead us to, even unknowingly to us. But that's not the same as requiring us to "keep the Feast". We don't have to eat or blow a shofar or any such thing on a set day.

Those activities were set for Israel while they were still under the Law. The shadows were fulfilled not by annual set-Feasts but by major events (such as the cross, the resurrection, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the future day of judgment) and also fulfilled by our daily enjoyment of it or hope of it, and perhaps by being led by the Spirit to focus specially on those themes at a time which corresponds with the ancient feast-time, though this could happen without a believer necessarily even being aware of the dates. In any case it wouldn't be called, "Keeping the Feast" in the sense that the Torah and Tenakh meant it.

Special Days

The Lord is okay with focusing on certain things on a given day. Sometimes He may even lead us to. But doing so does not equal keeping the Jewish Old Covenant Feasts, even if we do so on a day which corresponds to an old Feast-day.

For example, it's okay to give a loved-one special attention on their birthday.

It's okay to celebrate your country's national day.

It's even okay to celebrate something on the "wrong" day, if we can call it that. For example there were some orphans whose birth dates no-one knew. Their carer assigned birthdays to each child, so that each precious child could have one special day every year on which they are celebrated - even if it's not the precise day on which they'd actually been born.

Christmas falls into that category. God doesn't feel upset if we celebrate Jesus' birth on December 25, even though that might not be the date He was born.

Any weekend is a good time to remember the Lord's death, burial and resurrection - not only the time which corresponds to the former Passover. After all Jesus did invite us to remember Him as oft as ye drink it - which the early church did weekly, not annually.

Sometimes I've felt the Lord leading my conversation or my activities down a certain line without my even knowing that the day had been set aside for such a thing.

For example, one day the conversation at our dinner-table focused around the topic of martyrdom or self-sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel. Only later did I find out that the day happened to be St Stephen's Day, a day to remember all Christian martyrs.

Another day I felt led to gather with friends for an evening of thanksgiving. Only later did it occur to me that the day was actually our nation's newly allocated day for thanksgiving.

The Lord is also okay with commemorating covenants, whether they're Biblical or not, and whether they're current or not.

For example one day I acted as tour-guide for a visiting American friend of mine. While we were visiting a historical house in a neighbouring city, I felt led to walk to the far end of the property - and there I found a plaque commemorating Australian-American friendship. We both stood there, side-by-side, reflecting not only on our friendship with each other, but with our two nations - and God's favour on it all. God is totally okay with that, even though the treaty between Australia and the US isn't in the Bible.

How about the Old Covenant Feasts? They're not current - it isn't possible to keep them any more. Their real meanings have been fulfilled in Christ, and experienced everyday in our life. However, God is okay with someone focusing in on a Feast's typical significance on a certain day. God may even lead us into doing so, either knowingly or unknowingly on a day that coincides with the set-day of the former Feast. But that wouldn't mean you're literally keeping the Feast, in terms of Moses' Law of course - since doing that is not obligatory, not relevant and not possible. It's been fulfilled.

Every day is an appropriate day to reflect on Christ our Passover, our Resurrection and Life, our baptiser in the Holy Spirit, our soon-coming King at the final trumpet; and it's also totally okay to feel drawn into focusing on any one of those truths and experiences on a set day - but that is not strictly-speaking keeping the Feast, even if you do so on a day that corresponds with the former Feast-day.

When Paul said, "Let us keep the feast..." he meant to live-out its reality, daily, everywhere - not just to observe it in symbol, annually and in Jerusalem.

Kaput

Since keeping the Feasts was no longer an obligation for Jews, it certainly won't be for Gentiles. 

Interpreting and Applying the Bible

Find out what the passage meant to the original audience.

Find out how the Apostles interpreted and applied the passage.

Let that inform how the passage may be applied to you.

No prophecy is of any private interpretation.

The Shofar?

It isn't an obligation for Christians or Jews to blow the shofar every year to remind us that He is coming.

The Lord's Table has been instituted to remind us of the Lord, which we are invited to do as oft as we drink it, not just once a year. 

We are also commissioned to preach, teach or exhort one another as we see the Day approaching. 

God's Appointed Days

The fact that the death and resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit coincided with Jewish Old Covenant Feasts, is evidence that Jesus is the Messiah and that the Gospel fulfilled the Promises and Prophecies.  

But with the coming of the New Covenant, it was no longer necessary for Jews to continue keeping the Feasts. Therefore it wasn't necessary for Gentiles to begin keeping the Feasts. (And from about AD70 onwards it became impossible for anyone.) Christians experience daily what the Feasts could only foreshadow.

Perhaps we may be led by the Holy Spirit  to especially appreciate certain aspects of our relationship with God which fulfil a former Jewish Feast, on days which either knowingly or unknowingly to us coincide with the former Jewish Feast day. But that doesn't mean we're literally keeping the Feast. Paul talked about "keeping the feast" through a daily lifestyle, but never urged literally keeping the Feasts on their set days. It's been impossible for anyone to anyway, since about AD70.  

All Paul taught about any day, apart from the coming Day of the Lord, was that today is the acceptable year of The Lord, now is the day of salvation. This era is called Today. 

God Doesn't Change

God doesn't change. But that doesn't mean He requires everyone, nor even now the Jews, to keep the Feasts which He once required Israel to keep.

A parent requires his children to go to school while they are children, but not once they're adults. That doesn't mean the parent changes. 

Similarly God superseded the Feasts by the coming of His Son, without any change to Himself. 

Biblical Feasts

Referring to the Feasts as The Biblical Feasts can be misleading.

It's true that they are mentioned in the Bible. But it's not true to say they continue as an obligation.

They were only an obligation while the Jews were under the Old Covenant.

They didn't exist prior to the giving of Moses' Law. And they ceased to be an obligation after the Day of Pentecost. They also ceased to be a possibility, soon afterwards within that generation.

So a less misleading description of the Feasts would be The Old Covenant Feasts.

The Feasts of the Lord

The Feasts being called the Feasts of the Lord meant that they were the Feasts of the Lord for Israel - while Israel was still under the Old Covenant.

It's like the Law of the Lord. It meant the Law of the Lord for Israel, while Israel was under Moses' Law.

The fact that the Feasts were called the Feasts of the Lord doesn't mean that they are obligations for Gentiles, or even now for Jews - it doesn't even mean they are still the Lord's Feasts.

It described a requirement that God had for the Jews for that time.

Hitting the Sweet Spot

God knows how to open the door for your message, to people who will most appreciate it and need it.

God leads the way.

I came to some conclusions about how the Holy Spirit desires to move in meetings. I felt ready to teach it. A pastor invited me to the Philippines. For the next year-and-a-half I got to teach it there, with manifestations of the Spirit accompanying.

I got some revelations which I felt would be helpful for Jews. I burned to share it. I asked the Lord for an opportunity. Within a week we met an Orthodox Jew - we shared with him - he seemed impressed, and was happy for us to lay hands on him and pray for him.

I got some information which I felt could confirm Muslims in the Christian faith. I desired an opportunity to share it. The Lord saw my desire. Two days later a friend phoned me inviting me to dinner to meet four former Muslims, Iranians, new Christians.

At the same time I got to share some answers for Christians questioning their obligations to Judaism. That was also an unexpected answer to prayer. I'd been desiring opportunities to help clear this question up for people. God had given me understanding in it from the Scriptures. It hit the spot for them. I marvelled at God's orchestration of the opportunity.

You've got a revelation. You've got an anointing. Ask the Father for an open door to share it. 

Preface to Online Friendship

Thank you for your kind interest in my friendship.

I also am interested in your friendship, your work and your needs.

Please understand that:

It is not my policy to send money or gifts to persons I have only met online but not in person. I don't solicit support for their work, nor is it my role to arrange meetings for them.

I don't currently have a definite plan to visit your country.

I'm not interested in a romantic relationship with you. 

I won't always be available to chat, but anytime you leave me a message I will be honoured, and it will be my delight to reply to you as soon as I can.

My commitment is to treat you with honour.

If you have read and understand the above, and share the same values and online purpose as me, then we can look forward to developing what hopefully will become a mutually encouraging online friendship.

I am willing to pray for you, and to agree together with you in prayer, as hopefully you will be for me.

I recommend that you commend yourself to God Who is able to supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. You shall receive whatever you desire, when you ask the Father in Jesus' Name if you believe you receive it and if you speak it.

All things are possible to him which believes!

May I also take this opportunity to remind you to repent of your sins, if you need to.

Thank you again for your kind interest.

Your affectionate brother,

- John Edwards

Proceed to online friendship

The History of the State of Israel Explained

Daniel prophesied about a then-future period for Israel totalling seventy “weeks” – or seventy sevens, that is 490 years, or ten Jubilee-cycles – beginning from the date when the rebuilding of the Temple and City was decreed. Within that time-frame God’s promises for Israel were to be fulfilled. But Daniel also saw that afterwards great trouble would again come to his people, the Jews, and to the Temple and city.

Isaiah’s prophecies also included those dual themes. He foresaw both “the acceptable year of the Lord”, the “day of salvation” – and also “the day of vengeance of our God”.

Jesus quoted the first theme of Isaiah’s prophecy, and said, “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” He began to preach, saying, “The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent, and believe the Gospel.”

But what of the latter theme of the prophecies? Jesus also referred to the latter theme of the prophecies, when He later told His Apostles that all that remained to be fulfilled of the prophecies – such as “the days of vengeance”; “the time of Jacob’s trouble”; and “great tribulation” – would all also soon be fulfilled in Jerusalem – within the Apostles’ very own generation, so “that all things that were written might be fulfilled”. Jesus wept at the thought of it. And it all came to pass in Jerusalem, exactly within the time-frame specified by Jesus.

As for how much time would transpire after that until the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead – Daniel didn’t know, neither did the angel, and neither did the Son of Man know. Only the Father knows – and it wasn’t for the disciples to know either, Jesus said. They were told only that they would receive power after the Holy Spirit came upon them, and that what would follow would be the preaching of the Gospel to all nations.

So the Patriarchal-Promises and the Prophecies of the Bible have pretty-much been all been fulfilled – in full. We’re not still waiting for it.

Every blessing we experience now can therefore be experienced precisely because the Patriarchal Promises and Prophecy has been fulfilled. It’s simply a matter of hearing, believing, claiming, saying and receiving it – which we can and must do now, because "behold, now is the day of salvation".

It also means Israel needn't still be waiting for Prophecy to be fulfilled either. Jews could experience the blessings at any time, through faith –  because the Promises, having once already been fulfilled on Israel’s behalf, were never repealed.

(The history of the State of Israel is therefore to be understood and explained in those terms. It's not that Bible-Prophecy is only now in our generation beginning to be fulfilled in Israel. Rather, it’s just that to one degree or to another, Israel has always either enjoyed, or fallen short of continuing to enjoy, her already-fulfilled promises. The determining factor for Jews, as well as for all of us, was faith).

In accordance with fulfilled Bible-Promises and Prophecy, the blessing of salvation is obtainable freely by all, simply by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The old rituals of Moses’ Law, which once were to be observed on strict dates by the Jews under the Old Covenant, have been made to cease forever as an obligation – for them, for us, for anyone, anywhere, for all time. We are justified freely through the grace that is in Jesus Christ.

That’s the Apostles’ doctrine – the Good News – which is also witnessed in the Scriptures of the Law and the Prophets.

The Good News!

Daniel prophesied about a then-future period for Israel totalling seventy "weeks" - or seventy sevens, that is 490 years, or ten Jubilee-cycles - beginning from the date when the rebuilding of his Temple and City was decreed. Within that time-frame God's promises for Israel were to be fulfilled. But Daniel also saw that afterwards great trouble would again come to his people, the Jews, and to the Temple and city. 

Isaiah's prophecies also included those dual themes, when he foresaw both "the acceptable year of the Lord", the "day of salvation" - and also "the day of vengeance of our God".

Jesus quoted the first theme of Isaiah's prophecy, and said, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." He began to preach, saying, "The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent, and believe the Gospel."

But Jesus also referred to the latter theme of the prophecies, when He later told His Apostles that all that remained to be fulfilled of the prophecies -  such as "the days of vengeance"; "the time of Jacob's trouble"; and "great tribulation" - would also soon be fulfilled in Jerusalem - within the Apostles' very own generation, so "that all things that were written might be fulfilled". Jesus wept at the thought of it. And it all came to pass in Jerusalem, exactly when He said it would.

So Bible-Prophecy has been fulfilled - in full. We're not still waiting for it. 

Every blessing we experience now, can therefore be experienced precisely because the Patriarchal Promises and Prophecy have been fulfilled. Behold, now is the day of salvation. It's simply a matter of hearing, believing, claiming, saying and receiving it, which we can and must do now. 

It also means we needn't be waiting for Prophecy to be fulfilled in Israel either, before Jews too can be blessed - because the Promises, having once already been fulfilled on Israel's behalf, were never repealed and could always at any time be experienced through faith.

(Jewish history is therefore to be understood and explained in those terms. The prophecies are not only now in our generation beginning to be fulfilled in Israel. Rather, it's just that to one degree or to another, Israel has always either enjoyed, or fallen short of continuing to enjoy, her already-fulfilled promises. The determining factor for Jews, as well as for all of us, was faith).

The old rituals of Moses' Law which once were to be observed on set dates by the Jews under the Old Covenant, were made to cease forever as an obligation - for them, for us, for anyone, anywhere, for all time. In accordance with fulfilled Bible-Promises and Prophecy, the blessing of salvation is obtainable freely, by all, simply by God's grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.   

That's the Apostles' doctrine - the Good News - which is witnessed also in the Scriptures of the Law and the Prophets.

Some Eschatological Propositions

I understand Daniel's 70 weeks to mean seventy sevens - ten jubilees - for the Jewish people, beginning from the date of the decree to rebuild the Temple and city. Messiah the Prince was to come after 69 sevens - that is, at the start of the final seven. 

→ When Jesus began His ministry, He announced, "The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent, and believe the Gospel." 

Isaiah also prophesied about the acceptable year of the Lord. 

→ At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus quoted part of Isaiah, and said, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears". 

Isaiah described the acceptable time as a day of salvation. 

→ Paul quoted Isaiah and taught that the day of salvation had come - "now is the day", he said - and he taught that the salvation which God brought was also available for Gentiles. 

So Daniel's 70th week - the tenth Jubilee - Isaiah's acceptable year of the Lord - the day of salvation - likely began on the precise day when Jesus said, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears" - or thereabouts. 

In the midst of that final seven-year period - approximately three-and-half years into it - Messiah the Prince was "cut off, but not for himself" - it was for our sins that He died. That left three-and-half years of Daniel's final week remaining. What happened in the next three-and-a-half years? 

The covenant continued to be confirmed - the Gospel continued to be preached - in Jerusalem, by the Apostles, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following. The outcome of that was that a great persecution arose against the Church over the martyrdom of Stephen. The entire Church except the Apostles was scattered. The destruction which later happened in their generation, had become inevitable. From that time onwards we read in the Book of Acts that the Gospel began to be preached primarily in Gentile regions. Daniel's 70th week was complete - seventy consecutive "weeks", without a 2,000 year gap.

Daniel then asked, "And what shall be the end of these things?" In other words, and what happens after this? The answer given to him was that many would be converted, many would fall, and that he Daniel should await his resurrection, and that those who turn others to righteousness will shine like the sun - but unlike the events previously spoken of to Daniel, no time-frames were given for these events. In other words, what follows Daniel's 70th week, and the events which were set in motion by the end of those seventy weeks, is the preaching of the Gospel, for an unknown length of time - and then the end shall come. 

That's the time we are now in. We have only one task to do now: and that is to preach the Gospel. We have only one event to wait for now: and that's the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead. 

God's promises to the Jews were all fulfilled to the date, within the 70 sevens. It's just that it was only the believing remnant who fully experienced the promises. Paul taught that this did not mean the promises had failed or that the prophecies had been delayed: he taught that this was the exact scenario which the Law and the Prophets foresaw. The Gospel is the foreseen fulfilment of Prophecy - the Gospel is not merely an unexpected interlude while we wait for God to get back to fulfilling Prophecy in future. 

Even though the Prophecies were fulfilled, none of the promises have ever been repealed. Potentially therefore any Jew could still experience the promises, if they believed. Paul himself was an example of an unbelieving Jew being grafted back in through becoming a believer. It never ceased to be in God's goodwill for Jews to have their homeland. 

After the final Jubilee which Jesus announced, future celebrations of the Jubilee were stopped forever - along with the rest of the Old Covenant rituals - once the Romans destroyed the Temple and city - which occurred within the Apostles' own living generation, exactly when Jesus predicted it would. This was the "day of vengeance of our God" - "the time of Jacob's trouble" - "great tribulation" - "that all things that were written might be fulfilled" - "when ye see the abomination of [causing] desolation, spoken of by Daniel, standing where it ought not [in the holy place]". And Jesus wept at the thought of it. 

God brought the best to Israel, and He has never stopped wanting the best for them. He is even now doing the best for them that He ever can do. There is no more effective program than the Gospel. 

Jesus announced the fulfilment of Daniel's prophesied time-frame. He announced the fulfilment of Isaiah's acceptable year of the Lord - the Jubilee. Although from that moment in history onwards the literal observance of the Jubilee-cycle, on the old Jewish calendar-dates - along with the rest of Moses' customs - ceased forever, Paul asserted that the real provisions which the Lord Jesus brought on that day, in fulfilment of the Scriptures and of the symbols and shadow, were those that were available - even for Gentiles, through the Gospel. Now is the day of salvation. 

Beyond knowing that now is the day of salvation, Paul taught the believers that they need not feel obligated to observe any set days. Jesus was complete. And in Him they were complete. And free. That's the Gospel - the good news. 

Jesus' Jubilee provisions continue. We who believe do enter into God's rest and cease from our own works, just as God also ceased from His. After the final Jubilee year, there was no resumption of the shadow, no resumption of the forty-nine or fifty-year cycle - just as there has been no ongoing obligation to the rest of Moses' customs. The provisions, once brought by the Lord, were permanent. 

The set-dates of the old calendar no longer mattered - what avails now is the new creation. 

If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. 

In Whom there is neither Jew nor Gentile. Bond nor free. Male nor female. No special days. Just one new day. 

That's the good news. The freedom of the Gospel. For all people. 

While we wait for His second coming, we have something which the Lord instituted for us to do in remembrance of Him - the Lord's Table - which He said we can do not on set Old Covenant Feast Days like the now-superseded Feast of Passover - but as oft as ye drink it. Therefore it's not a new way of observing the Passover on its old set date - it's a whole new and different institution. Once He comes the second time, we will no longer need any remembrances, for we shall see Him as He is.

The Final Jubilee and the Freedom of the Gospel

Daniel prophesied about 70 weeks - seventy sevens - ten jubilees - for the Jewish people, beginning from the date of the decree to rebuild the Temple and city.

→ When Jesus began His ministry, He announced, "The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent, and believe the Gospel."

Isaiah prophesied about the acceptable year of the Lord.

→ Jesus quoted part of Isaiah, and said, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears".

Isaiah also prophesied about an acceptable time - a day of salvation.

→ Paul quoted Isaiah and taught that day had come and its provisions were still available, even to the Gentiles.

Daniel's 70th week - the tenth Jubilee - Isaiah's acceptable year of the Lord - likely began on the precise day when Jesus said, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears" - or thereabouts.

In the midst of that final seven-year period - approximately in the middle of it - Messiah the Prince was "cut off, but not for himself" - it was for our sins.

In the final half of that seven-year period, the covenant continued to be confirmed - the Gospel continued to be preached - in Jerusalem, by the Apostles, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following. But the outcome was a great persecution of the Church which arose over the martyrdom of Stephen. The entire Church except the Apostles was scattered. This event completed Daniel's 70th week - consecutively, without a gap. From that time onwards we read in the Book of Acts that the Gospel began to be preached primarily in Gentile regions. God's promises to the Jews were all fulfilled, but only the believing remnant experienced the promises fully, and Gentiles were also experiencing it, just as the Prophets also foresaw. Yet none of the promises have been repealed. Potentially any Jew could still experience the promises, if they believed. Paul was an example of an unbelieving Jew being grafted back in.

Future celebrations of the Jubilee were hindered forever - along with the rest of the Old Covenant rituals - once the Romans destroyed the Temple and city - which occurred within the Apostles' own living generation, exactly when Jesus predicted it would. This was the "day of vengeance of our God" - "the time of Jacob's trouble" - "great tribulation" - "that all things that were written might be fulfilled" - "when ye see the abomination of [causing] desolation, spoken of by Daniel, standing where it ought not [in the holy place]".

Jesus announced the fulfilment of Daniel's prophesied time-frame. He announced the fulfilment of Isaiah's acceptable year of the Lord - the Jubilee. Although from that moment in history onwards the literal observance of the Jubilee-cycle, on the old Jewish calendar-dates - and the rest of Moses' customs - ceased forever, Paul asserted that the real provisions which the Lord Jesus brought on that day, in fulfilment of the Scriptures and of the symbols and shadow, were those that were available - even for Gentiles, through the Gospel. Now is the day of salvation. Beyond knowing that now is the day of salvation, Paul taught the believers that they need not feel obligated to observe any set days. Jesus was complete. And in Him they were complete. And free. That's the Gospel - the good news.

Jesus' Jubilee provisions continue. We who believe do enter into God's rest and cease from our own works, just as God also ceased from His. After the final Jubilee year, there was no resumption of the shadow, no resumption of the forty-nine or fifty-year cycle - just as there has been no ongoing obligation to the rest of Moses' customs. The provisions, once brought by the Lord, were permanent. The set-dates of the old calendar no longer mattered - what avails now is the new creation.

If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. 

In Whom there is neither Jew nor Gentile. Bond nor free. Male nor female.

No special days. Just one new day.

That's the good news. The freedom of the Gospel. The good news. For all people.

While we wait for His second coming, we have something which the Lord instituted for us to do in remembrance of Him - the Lord's Table - which He said we can do not on set Old Covenant Feast Days like the now-superseded Feast of Passover - but as oft as ye drink it. It's not a new way of observing the Passover - it's a whole new and different institution. Once He comes the second time, we will no longer need any remembrances, for we shall see Him as He is.

(Still, civil authorities do not bear the sword in vain, Paul taught. The ethics of the Jubilee cycle aren't necessarily without enduring economic merit.

The Jubilee year was to be a time of release for prisoners, and a year of release from debts, most imprisonments having been for debt, all other sins having had other punishments at the Law besides imprisonment.)

Jubilee

Article about the Jubilee, for future reference:

http://www.margaretbarker.com/Papers/JesusAndTheJubilee.pdf

Christians and Jewish Dates

I believe a Christian can be ignorant of Old Covenant Feast dates, yet still experience everything God has for him, and not miss-out on anything. Jesus is sufficient unto all things. The real person has everything His mere shadow had.

The only concern Paul wrote that the churches should have concerning any day, was simply to know that "...behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation". Beyond that, Paul taught the churches not to feel any obligation towards any day.

In Jesus we are complete. And we are free. 

Old Testament Prophecies About Israel

I'm unconvinced that a lot of Bible-prophecies about Israel remain unfulfilled.

There are at least three problems I see with the view that Bible-prophecies concerning Israel are still to be fulfilled.

One, if they are still to be fulfilled in future, then it means Israel and the nations must revert back to Moses' ritual ceremonies in future, including blood sacrifices - because those things are a theme of the prophecies. But God isn't interested in returning to shadows since Christ already came.

Two, if the prophecies are future, then it muddles up the order of events. The prophecies said Israel would be besieged, destroyed, Jews would be deported all around the world, then the Gospel will be preached to all nations, then the end will come. If the parts about Israel are still future, then so is the preaching of the Gospel to the nations. It means the Church would still have to be here, and it also means Christ's second coming would still be a long way off, even after those events take place in Israel.

Thirdly, if the prophecies are still future, then we lose our case for asserting that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah - because according to the prophecies, Messiah was to come at a time when the prophecies concerning Israel had also come true.

My understanding of the Apostles' doctrine is that with the exception of the general resurrection of the dead, which we are still looking forward to, they saw Old Testament Prophecy as fulfilled. That was their Gospel.

Pre-Trib Rapture?

Some cite all sorts of examples in the Bible of God sparing His people hardship, as a precedent for asserting that God therefore has to rapture the Church before The Great Tribulation.

But seeing God has already allowed the Church to endure nearly 2,000 years of horrendous suffering - confiscation of goods, imprisonment, torture, beheadings - I don't see why it would be necessary for God to snatch the Church away from more of the same things in the future, in order just to be loyal to some principle.

What I see God sparing the Church from, is the wrath of God - eternal damnation. Jesus died to save us from that - but He didn't promise we'd be spared from persecution while we wait for His coming.

Pre-Trib, Post-Trib - or No Trib?

I'm still somewhat unconvinced that the Bible really teaches a future Antichrist in a future seven-year Great Tribulation.

The term "The Great Tribulation" does not even occur in the Bible. Jesus mentioned "great tribulation" but never "The Great Tribulation". He was describing the events surrounding the destruction of the Temple and the fall of Jerusalem which occurred circa AD70.

The title "Antichrist" is not mentioned - not even once - in the Book of Revelation. It's mentioned only once in the entire Bible - in I John - and it's almost as a disclaimer. "You have heard that antichrist cometh, but even now there are many antichrists gone out into the world". It seems a bit flimsy to construct a doctrine about a future Antichrist on that verse alone.

Paul mentioned the man of lawlessness who was to stand in the Temple. Seeing the Temple ceased to exist after AD70, the person of which Paul spoke must have come before then, if Paul was speaking about the Temple in Jerusalem. After all, Paul did say that the first-century Thessalonians already knew exactly who it was who was still preventing that person from rising up.

The beast of Revelation 13 could not have represented a single person, because John was told that its seven heads and ten horns represented separate individuals and polities, one of whom, John said, was alive at the time of writing. "...one now is..."

As for Daniel's 70 weeks, I believe it was likely exactly that - seventy weeks - not 69 weeks plus 2000 years plus 1 week.

The Book of Revelation mentioned a 3 1/2 year period several times, but never a seven year period. It's likely each mention described the same 3 1/2 years. Alternatively, if they were consecutive 3 1/2 year periods, and you add them all together, it totals far more than a mere seven years. Either way the seven-year Great Tribulation is difficult to establish either from Daniel or from Revelation.

It would also require three second comings - one before the Tribulation, one at the end, and another one at the end of the Millennium. But the Bible seems to describe one great day of the Lord.

I think many aspects of the prophecies popularly thought to be about the future, have actually already been fulfilled in the timeframe given by the prophecies: 70 weeks for Daniel's 70 weeks; and within "This generation" (Jesus' own generation) for much of Matthew 24.

I think we have one great event to look forward to - the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead. Meanwhile persecutions, tribulations and distress upon nations occur,  and there are many antichrists, while the Gospel continues to be preached to all nations - and then "the end" - not "an" end - but "the" end - shall come, Jesus said.

If so, then this doesn't merely answer the pre-Trib or post-Trib question - it eliminates the very question itself. Perhaps that could explain why the question has been so hard to answer - maybe it's because the question itself is invalid. Maybe the concept of a future Great Tribulation has been unfounded. 

Just wondering!

Fulfilled-Prophecy, Anti-Semitic Eschatology and Pro-Israel Theology

The person who regards events in modern Israel as the direct fulfilment of Bible-prophecy, feels that another person who regards those prophecies as already-fulfilled must be anti-Semitic. 

But which of the two views of Bible-prophecy is actually most pessimistic about Israel? 

The fully-futurist view of Bible-prophecy portrays God as having snubbed Israel for nearly 2,000 years; and portrays God as having only recently begun to show interest in Israel again. And since God is now showing interest sovereignly – unconditionally – it follows that if anyone would have tried to make God interested in Israel any sooner, he might have found God to be flatly disinterested. 

The fulfilled-prophecy view, on the other hand, portrays God as the faithful performer of His promises to Israel, on-time, without there having been any unexpected, long, painful delay. And having fulfilled His promises faithfully and on-time, it portrays God as having never since repealed the promises. It means that God’s goodwill towards Jews was never put on hold: any Jew, at any time, could therefore have immediately experienced the promised salvation just as soon as he turned from unbelief to faith in Jesus. God has always been as interested in Jews as He ever can be. 

Which of the two sounds more like the Gospel!

The first view of Bible-prophecy regards future suffering as inevitable for Jews, seeing conflict is a major theme of the prophecies. It also implies that Israel’s sufferings are deserved, because that’s what the Bible-prophecies said they were deserved. All of this can breed a political resignedness.

The fulfilled view leaves no blessing out of reach of Israel, seeing it views the Jews as being on the other side of Bible-prophecy – on the fulfilled-side of Bible-promises. Seeing the promises have been fulfilled, the promises are seen as still available at any time through faith. That breeds political optimism.

And there’s another way the fully-futurist view conflicts with the Gospel. If Bible-prophecies are only now being fulfilled, then aside from negating faith as the means of blessing for Israel, it also implies that all nations must revert to Old Covenant rituals in future, or else suffer a curse.

But that’s not how the Apostles explained the Gospel nor understood the Prophets. The Apostles taught that God had faithfully fulfilled all of His promises regarding the nation of Israel, including His promise to bring salvation and righteousness through the Messiah. The Apostles asserted and proved from the Prophets that only believers could experience the promised salvation – including Gentile believers – seeing no-one had been able to be justified through the works of the Law, which has now passed away.

The message of the Gospel meant that the door was left wide open for Jews and Gentiles alike. There’s no anti-Semitism – or anti-anyone – there!

Israel became a nation again in 1948, not so much because that was necessary in order to fulfil any specific Bible-prophecy or Bible time-frame for the first time, but more so, simply because a number of believers stirred themselves up at that time to ask God for it in Jesus’ Name – and we know they were asking according to God’s will, seeing the promises and prophecies, having already been fulfilled, had never been repealed. 

Fulfilled-prophecy gives us an idea of what God is willing to do in the present. The door had always been left ajar. And the door was called faith.

The leaves of the tree are still for the healing of the nations.

Whosoever will may come… 

All things are possible to him that believeth.

That’s the Gospel – the good news.

There’s not been a failure nor a delay of God’s purposes for Israel. The Gospel is God’s purpose for Israel and for all nations. What is available for one is available for all. God has no additional program, no additional means – and nothing else need ever be added to our lifestyle, either now or at any time in the future. 

Simply the Gospel. 

According to the Gospel, Christ is coming the second time, but only the born-again shall participate in the resurrection of the righteous on that day and see His Kingdom.

Since we have nothing to do but to save souls; therefore spend and be spent in this work. 

Prophetic Word for John Edwards from Bob Griffin

For: John Edwards:

"Father pour out your Spirit upon him God. Thank you Jesus. 

Just receive Him - He's all over you bro.

God says, this is going to be a season of restoration for you. A season of restoration is upon you.

For God says that I'm about to restore the years that have been taken. Yea even these last three years - even back to five years ago - God's showing me right now that there was a, there was an enemy that that sat over you to just snatch away the fruit. But God says, I'm going to restore it back to you. I'm going to restore the years that the enemy has stolen.

And I'm going to do it in one moment. I'm going to do it in a flash of an eye. As lightning would flash from one end of the heavens to the other, God says, I'm going to restore to you the things that have been stolen from you. God says, It's electrifying. Watch what I do. It's electrifying.

Thank you Jesus."

- Bob Griffin

At River of Praise Church, Broadbeach Waters, Qld

14 September 2014