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Part IVa, The Lord vs. Satan: SupCtHeaven;

aka, the Trial of Human History.. aka, Did God err?

God's Script: NOW, versus "Later"
Why does our "NOW" end with a Pre-Trib Rapture?
Says Eph1: Because Bride is COMPLETED!

IVa: Macro Role.. of Alpha Precedence IVb: ..of Body IVc: ..of Trial Combat IVd: ..of Your Own Destiny
Intra-Part IVa Links in this red table also serve to list webpage theses. Italic links are subtables.

Israel became Vashti,
hence Our History		For Rapture's a Legatee of CONSENT..and of His StoryBible's True Nativity Narrative..and of His Resurrection

Ergo the world roils,
for He's coming BACK!		thus a Syncopated prototype
of the Tribulation, begins		Hence Satan's Mystery 'Trinity'
Math Class: 1+1+1=1!		 So Bible remains
a 'Mystery' to Church		Yet Two Stone Witnesses
Confirm the Rapture!
Accounting for
Our Legal Precedence		 God Re-Routes Divine Benefit Plan via ChurchDivine Justice Insures
& Observes, Precedence		Israel's Voting PrecedenceOur Bridal Contract,
Precedence of Isa53:11
God causes Church
to Rescue Israel		Idou, 2Cor5:17!Idou, 2Cor5:17
rescues Israel!		So Our History 'stamped'
with Dan9:26c		NT refers to Dan9:26c?Rev6-17 trends
reign world Now		Time parable of
Wheat and Tares		Role of Precedence,
Summary

Matt16:18+Matt22:9, Vashti refused. Go find Esther!

As we saw in Part III, it's about Love, not legalism; so God is out to make a Bride for His Son. This Ephesians 1 purpose therefore requires our nature change to become just like His Son: 2Cor5:17+2Cor5:21+1Cor15:43-44+Rom8:18+John 10:34-35+Ps82:6 (which the Lord is quoting, in John 10:34). Thus we have to become 'gods', because it's UNfair that God permit an Inferior Companion for His God-Man, Son. So as the Lord explains in John 10:34, warning us as well as those legalistic Pharisees, we dare not be arrogant with fake humility, for

The growing-up is a HUPOSTASIS of natures, reflective of His Own; this growing-up in the Son's Thinking is the substance of the Trial NOW, Heb11:1's Greek. So at the human level, the growing-up 'plays' as Paul describes in Romans 7 and 8: you sure don't feel like a 'god' in progress! But if you were not, the process itself couldn't juridically occur!

He was on the Cross and you are born in Him; so the five infinitives of Isa53:10-11's LXX are happening to you; because that's the contract between Father and Son, and that's what happened in Him, to Him, of Him, for Him and hence VIA Him: purify, plunder, point-out (enlighten), plassw (sculpt), perfect (make righteous/justify). Hence this Part IV's building of 'Esther' is our NOW, on the sweeping map of history. [These two Isaiah verses are the most important verses in the Bible, for they succinctly tell the entire story of the Bible, focusing as they do on the exact mechanics of the Cross and what happens to us once saved. But you can't get the LXX verses in translation, even though everyone knows the Hebrew text has a "gap" in it, which the trained ancient Hebrew scribes leave to show text is missing. Clever of Satan&Co. to block out everyone's eyes for centuries, huh -- especially, since the NT so often refers to the keywords in the LXX text; since these verses were so popularly quoted, among first century Christians. Therefore I had to make my own translation of the text. See Isa53.htm for vv10-12; the larger Isa53trans.htm handles 52:13-54:1. Both sites have lots of exegetical notes. Translators and lexicographers pooh-pooh the LXX of Isa53:10-11 for no good reason, sorry. The verses are definitely inspired, no doubt about it. For the verses use Attic Drama rhetorical style. Drama Greek omits prepositions and objects, switches to infinitives, participles and nouns -- among other rhetorical devices -- to show epic themes and effects. When preps are omitted, for example, you are to understand that ALL prepositions fitting the case used are intended -- that's an epic-drama device. No objects means ALL objects fitting the verb action are acted on. Those pooh-poohing these LXX verses basically restrict God to kindergarten (1st-year-Greek) use of language. Surely they are unaware of such an attitude, and are trying to honor Him, instead. Well, these verses need a lot of scholastic re-visiting. Maybe God will raise up someone to do it, I don't know. Meanwhile, the verses are there for anyone to read.]

For the Trial is about creature nature compared to God nature; a dichotomy exists between the two. So is this a relationship of Legalism, or Love? Is God making you a god to make you perform, or is He doing it from Love, to make you Plenary? God says Plenary, and He says it with deft wit: all the "love of God" verses employ a drama technique called "subjective and objective genitive" to demonstrate a Circle of Love: the "plenary" use of the genitive, in Attic Greek. 1Jn4:19 calls attention to that fact, and John likes using the genitive that way in a lot of other constructions, too: particularly the (mistranslated) "born of God" clauses, which depict in the Greek a continuing 'circle' of siring by the Holy Spirit, playing off the plenary genitive in Romans 5:5 (inter alia). So, look how deft: what comes FROM God, goes TO God. Just as the contract of Isa53:10-11, states in the LXX (by omitting prepositions, highest drama). Because God is Plenary, He makes you Plenary, to have a full relationship with Him, Eph3:19's "Pleroma" clause. Note how Paul says you get there: "and to come to know the Love of/for Christ". Knowing, not doing. Learning Love. For it's a hellish thing, to love someone and not be able to express it. So to God, this is not at all about performance, but about Full, Plenary Love. Which, once BUILT by Him, you too will have the ability to express it: since you really ARE this god-in-training, k? [For more on the inside developmental process, see the DDNA webseries, "DDNA" link at pagetop.]

So God is all about Oneness: togetherness, flat. Not about performance. 'Performance' is not at all impressive to Someone Who can just THINK a thing, and it exists ex nihilo exactly as He wants it, Gen1:1, Matt4:3! Equality is needed so the togetherness can be FULL. So competence in BEING together is something we need to LEARN. We have the DDNA structure that first nanosecond we are saved, Titus3:5 and 2Cor5:17-21; but we yet lack the learning to go with it, which transforms our own thinking: the "true riches" the Bible talks about. That transformation and thinking comes from the Holy Spirit putting God's Attribute of Truth as a structure in your soul via God's System, as we saw in Part III. Again, if you weren't already equal, this building-up of Truth couldn't occur: it would KILL you.

God is Omniscient. So He knows all the high and all the low. HE is already High. We get to start low, and we learn the High that way, so we can likewise get the 'stretch' of what it's like to be Omniscient; which understanding of 'low' going to High, makes for more rapport with God. Like the Lord says at His Birth (Ps40:5ff, Heb10:5), this having of a finite nature is only a TRAINING mechanism to create the Oneness togetherness. That's why Christ wanted the Cross in the first place: to get that full Togetherness, to ERASE the barrier, the dichotomy between Infinity and finity, which cramps how much rapport one can have with God. And, per the contract of Isa53:10-12, that's what really happened on the Cross, as Romans 6-8 explains.

Hence God flipped all sin into DDNA Oneness on the Cross, in answer to the Lord's John 17 Love prayer, as we saw in Part III. Here in Part IV we'll see the macro-historical effect of Church on history. After all, if we're now gods-being-trained, we ought to have a 'godlike' effect on history. Oh how truly we do, since Our God is Seated, 1Jn4:17! (DDNA link at pagetop explains the DDNA effects in great detail. The DDNA webseries is the inside-you micro explanation, and is the counterpart to this macro Thinking series.)

So NOW, God's out to exploit the Victory of the Cross per Hebrews 1-2, as we saw in Part III. So NOW, God's combing the highways and byways of this little hamlet called Earth, to build an 'Esther' for His Son. You'll see why, in the next section. For now, notice that this is the real drama playing before all the eyes of Heaven; and the criteria for choosing 'Esther', is Heb11:1's "It's about Confidence in Word! Son's Thinking, On Trial! Evidence, Unseen!" You evidenced confidence in Word when you first believed in Christ. You continue to evidence confidence in Word as you eat more of Christ's Thinking. That's why we have a Bible, God's Script, and a System of learning, and a Teacher Who Runs that System, the Holy Spirit.

Meanwhile the rest of the world is LOVELESSLY tail-chasing, and hence signifies NOTHING. So the whole 'play' of life, is HUPOSTATIC; genitive absolutes, like Luke uses in Acts, like John uses in Revelation: split-screen TV, Heb11:1's Greek. What we think we see, is the nothing 'TV program', playing. A tale told by a lot of tail-chasing idiots. So the more and louder they tell it, the more idiotic it becomes. But Heb11:1's Evidence Unseen -- you learning God's Script in God's System -- you are the real tale, and yours is a heroic one. Just like Your Hero, Whose Thinking is deposited in you, thus filling up your spiritual nature. So you are among those in Heb11. Not among the tail-chasers.

That's the Bible's Cinderella story, but it's no story, it's history. His Story, replaying time and again. The Jews couldn't have rebuilt Jerusalem without an Esther then, and they can't do it now. But Esther isn't complete, yet. So Israel is languishing, not really supposed to be back in the Land, since only the Lord can "shub" (=return) them, as you'll see better beginning in the next section. For past is prologue. What happened before, gets repeated in bigger and more epic cycles, until the plan of God completes. For His Son is HoPantoKrator, as we saw in Part III. We saw then what kind of persons we must become, in a dedicated-to-God lifestyle, as Peter puts it in 2Peter3:11: gods. [Greek-geek note: check out huparchein and dei and eusebeia etymology. Like Paul, Peter plays on etymology throughout his letters.] Specifically, the Son of God, Who is Seated. So the world gets to live another day: that fact too, will be extensively covered in this Part IVa. Thus it has ever been, since Adam: "Timeline" link at pagetop provides ooodles of Bible data and math proof of this fact. So what happened then, is upgraded NOW. For the sake of that Same Son Who invented history, Gen1:1, Isa53:10-12.

Of course we can't see all this; so blind we are, we can't even translate Heb11:1 properly. For in our mistranslation, we strip out both Christ and the people in the Trial, rendering the subjects and objects in the verse, as if mere things! After all, it's unseen, lol!  [When Satan&Co. mess with a translator, they always but always play on some doctrine in a verse to reverse the meaning. In Gen3:11, they get the translators to keep on mistranslating nagadth as "tell" rather than the correct meaning, "denounce": thus in translation, God gets denounced for hiding/lying (makes God look like He 'hid' knowledge of their being naked, what a farce). So here in Heb11:1, the operative punning Satan&Co. use, is "unseen": thus Christ is unseen (hupostasis, in the verse) and turned into a mere thing, 'substance'; thus those who believe IN Him are unseen (the genitive plural endings in the participles); and all the persons, are turned into some things, to elicit an "awwww" from the reader! Awesome satanic wit. Awesome, how blind we truly are to it. Heb111.htm is a corrected translation (one of many you can make), compared to the popularly-published, insulting-of-God-and-Christ, insipid translations.]

Meanwhile -- split screen -- down here on this hamlet with all its tail-chasing outhen heroism, we humans are utterly clueless about our massive, undeserved importance. We're busy doing Brother-Foot stuff, ignoring the Head. Look how small our souls are, constantly preoccupied with dead things, and imagining that the acquisition of more dead things makes us more alive, more important. Look how small, our motives and identities. For when people ask you what you do, they telegraph that they identify you by your occupation -- rather than, by how you are as a person. Or, worse -- they telegraph that they can't fathom you as a person, unless they can cubbyhole you in some inanimate category, such as your job. So, when people ask us to identify ourselves, and we say our names, ages, birthplaces and ethnicity, we make shallow statements about what personhood means: a collection of polite but meaningless data, which elucidates not at all, the person being identified.

So, this problem of not caring at all about God, is universal, natural, tragic, and unavoidable: Rom7:24-25, thank God we can be saved by merely BELIEVING in Christ! We all share that hateful disease, our sin nature. So, we cast True Love AS hatred, since hatred is all we know. Thus the Gospel looks like hatred to us. A put-down. Because, that's how WE are. Not how God is.

But our hypocrisy doesn't offend the God Who Knew us all since eternity past -- yet Decreed our existences, anyway. Each of us, individually. It's not an impersonal decision, since He personally MAKES each soul AT BIRTH. No one else can make an immaterial soul. So since eternity past, God has a RESCUING solution for this incompatibility problem, which sin only compounds: take our 'soul DNA', and turn it into Divine DNA, via those same five infinitives which were effected upon Christ on the Cross.

Of course, we still rattle around in our 'soul DNA', not knowing love yet. Hence, our preoccupation with WHEN the Rapture, and IF the Rapture: we are really asking about the impact on US, and don't care about God at all. So, we don't ask the only important question, WHY the Rapture, which question can only be about what GOD thinks, why GOD picks it.

So we can get God's APODOSES, by asking, WHY. Why are we hapless humans being DDNA-turned into gods as Esther-Bride, for The King of Kings? WHY are we so LOVED? Aren't you curious WHY? So now let's practice learning This Love's apodoses. Of course, God's apodoses are DEEP. So we'd better begin back at the beginning.

Because Israel became 'Vashti', Our History

Past is prologue, because GEOGRAPHY never changes. Grab a map of the world; note carefully how the continents are connected. It's not hard to see why your geology prof tells you that once upon a distant speck in geologic time, all these continents were basically one: "Pangea." Looks like Someone first drew a big series of craggy circles on a sheet of paper, then curled that paper into a sphere, thus breaking apart the connecting 'lines'. Why, you can see the video of it even on your XP computer: Encarta 2004's, "Continental Drift" video shows you how a world which started UNDERWATER, gradually breaks up and hence floats up, to form the continents as we know them, today. [The video doesn't show clearly the effect of floating that plate tectonics had on Pangea, which was SUBMERGED under the water, due to its combined weight; as each piece broke apart, being lighter, it could go ABOVE the water. Plate tectonics can run IMMEDIATELY, too: that's why we have earthquakes. So we really don't know whether those ANCIENT tectonics were SLOW; we're merely guessing, based on today's generally SLOW plate-tectonic behavior, now that the continents ARE separated. But Pangea's breakup might have been rapid: over a day, a week or a month, a year: who knows. So learn plate tectonics, and you'll understand how the restoration of the world in Gen1, COULD have worked; how the Flood of Genesis 6, COULD have worked. God didn't have to do it miraculously. Maybe He did, and maybe He didn't, but at least you can see ONE way it could have happened. Plate tectonics was one of the great scientific discoveries of the 20th century, well worth your time studying. Explains why most of the Western US was under water (i.e., Grand Canyon).]

So, then: note how, as a RESULT, you can travel along virtually any coastline, and go from anywhere to anywhere.

    And you needn't do it by foot, either; why, you can FLOAT along the coastline when you like, using the lowest of technology, some very light (cypress, aka "gopher") wood coated with (then-plentiful) tar/asphalt; or, if you wanted the equivalent convenience of an inflatable raft, you could use animal bladders; or, removable sealskin to cover the wood. You can FLOAT OFFSHORE at night, safe from predators, animal or human; you can CARRY what you floated in during the day, when you feel like walking or eating inland food, since you just unfold the skin (or lift the craft) onto a 'V' you make of two slats attached to your waist: load it up, and drag it all behind you. Works in snowdrifts, and works even better on flatland.

    Can do between 20-40 miles a day, at a normal walking pace; when tired, just get back on the water; and use your arms to row or guide a simple sail, to rest your strong legs, and thus cover maybe another 20+ miles, depending on the winds. For travelling gear you'd need string made of gut and a hook, probably a throwing knife and maybe a slingshot, the clothes on your back and a spare set, a few spices, a wineskin or two; oh, and money or salt for buying what you might need. [Ancient slingshots (like David's) were not pulled back like a bow, but twirled.] Great exercise for the body, great freedom for the mind. For your entertainment you'd review all that information you, like all your tribe, memorized since you were weaned: so to enjoy time with Him Who is Invisible. Then again, there were always other travellers you'd meet on your journey, if you took the normal routes. So, if you wanted to be alone, you found yourself more and more pushing off to water, to think about Him even better.

    You could make quite a nice living by moving around all the time. You'd stop in the morning when the fish are biting, haul in maybe 10 of 'em, then sell them to the inhabitants or other travellers you met as you moved on. Easy meal for them, easy salt for you. If you felt like a break, you'd go inland a bit and see what small game you could hit with your throwing knife (or slingshot); then you could skin it, and while the skin was curing you could eat or sell the meat. Quite a nice life, actually. Lots of greens everyone could identify as safe for food; lots of nuts, often wild spelt or other grains would be nearby, so you could chomp on the heads. Dried seaweed was good too, when available. Water was occasionally hard to find, maybe; but everyone had wine or beer, which was safer anyhow.

Next: note carefully what countries are smack dab in the middle of everything in this "globe", intersecting most of the resultant broken landmasses together. Did you guess "Middle East"? Do you notice where in the "Middle East", Israel sits? Middleman, center of Western Civilization, central link to all nations' trade routes, where East meets West, narrow enough to traverse easily from Western water to Eastern water, even IF no Suez Canal. Whoa: if there was to be a God-man Who becomes the Mediator, the Middleman-to-God, the Only Savior for a hapless world, this would be a real obvious place, to birth Him!

Now you know why past is prologue. Israel has always been a 'problem' to people, and always will be. By Divine Design. There will never be 'peace' in the Middle East, until Messiah comes back at the 2nd Advent to regather His People. Meanwhile, Israel remains the stumbling or salvation of the world. God couldn't make it plainer, than to LOCATE the Promised Land, smack dab in the middle of the globe, the shortest trade-route distance between all points ON that globe. Surely when Abram left Ur, he'd know how strategically important to commerce, war, politics -- would be the land grant El-Elyon would give him.

Note well: landgrant to ABRAHAM, for "many nations" of sons, need land to live on. Abram was a Gentile when God did that, as Romans 4 explains. "Israel" is a "sons" Promise Made by God to Abram, later Abraham (renaming signifies adoption and contract delivery). Then to Isaac. Then to Jacob. Isaac was born only due to a Promise God Made to Abraham when he was 99 years old: though anyone else could inherit with that son, if they also believed in El-Elyon. The son, however, was the Firstborn of the Promise. Romans 9 explains all that. A promise from God, so a promise to be kept BY God. Not by the son, not by man, not by anyone else. So, then: can GOD keep His Promises?

Well, God's track record had been flawless, so far. In 490-year increments from Adam's fall forward, God promised selected individuals in Genesis 5 He'd continue giving the world TIME, due to their faith. Due to their faith. Not works. And what works could buy time? None. So, 490 years before the Promised son of Abram was born, Shem was born. Shem was a promised son, too: of Noah. God made a unilateral covenant with Noah, and all Noah did was believe it. Believe it while he built his RESCUE CRAFT out of cypress wood. Of course, all those outhen heroes of Noah's day laughed at him. Just as, they had laughed 490 years prior, when Enoch was giving them the same message: for Enoch's son, was named Methusaleh; and that name means the Flood will occur when he dies. So Methusaleh lived almost twice 490 years. For the promise of a son to save mankind was as old as Adam. So Rescue And Warning Not To Miss It, was long known: since Gen3:15, to be precise. So God was orchestrating when to give Abram an heir: 490 years after the prior promised son, Shem. For which, like Noah, Abram had to WAIT. Just wait on the Lord, no works. God always does all the work. Yeah, like He did when Adam finally grew up spiritually, giving him Seth="appointed". Appointed to carry the bloodline of the eventual Savior promised back in Gen3:15. 490 years after that, Jared's son Enoch was born; from whom came, Methu+selah, "when He dies, destruction comes".

    So: do you ever wonder why Abram was so hung up on wanting an heir? Granted, some folks really want children, but to have kids is not the sole reason for living. Unless, of course, the son YOU were promised to have, would be the progenitor of the Son Who Would Save The Human Race! Ahhhh, now we know why it was such a test to wait for this son. Who wouldn't yearn to be the 'father' of the bloodline of faith which one's Future Son, would purchase? Especially, since El-Elyon was going to take on that bloodline, as a Promise? See? It's the relationship with GOD, the wanting to be with and FOR God, which so galvanized Abram. Which thus made that Promise, a yearning intense. So by age 99 when suddenly! God announced the Promise was to be 'cut', a covenant of blood, how apt -- so by age 99 when Abram became Abraham just as God had long promised him, well -- bet he never urinated again without smiling.

But the coming of sons promised Abraham, was to be preceded with 400 years of slavery, Gen15:13. For they needed to be trained, in time for the historical 490-year deadline's ensuing voting period, the 5th since Adam. The world's continued existence depended on Moses maturing during that voting period: he did. Bible's math proves that God grants time only if someone within an elapsing 490-year grant, matures sufficiently to be awarded new 490-year grant. A second grant of 1000 years is also awarded, but it depends upon an underlying active 490-year grant. Else, time ends. Click here for the supporting worksheet. So in real time it took 490+126 years, 586BC-30AD to complete Messiah; all the past time left over from the Temple's first 490 got reimbursed, right on schedule. For God is the Master Accountant: years debited and credited followed His Accounting System. That's why Israel was debited 70 years in the first place, and the Temple was destroyed in 586BC (Dan9:2). So that was measured back to Israel atop the 490 years. 7 years was subtracted, reserved for the Tribulation. [The "To Be or Not to be" table in Mirroring.htm ("Timeline" link at pagetop) shows you how God accounted for those remaining 126 years plus the 490-7, +70 in Dan9:2, etc. to get to 30AD when Christ died on the Cross. It's pretty engrossing/addictive to read; so make sure you've set aside the time, and watch your clock; or you'll forget all about time, lol.]

In short, all time depended on Israel, and it worked like a balance sheet. Still does: for now the Son is Seated, and through a DIFFERENT Kingship He's Ruling Church, as we saw in the beginning of Part III. So all these "490s" keep on being accounted: and Church believers have to be awarded them. Still, the award is based on how much one matures spiritually, NOT on ritual, religiosity, works. Else, time ends. God makes epic promises, huh.

You can read all about these 490-year increments and test them, by clicking on the "Timeline" link at pagetop. But it's a lot of Bible-verse and number crunching, to vet the data. So lay in a good food supply, beforehand. There are many 490s to track, and they often overlap. Because, the time grants are always Personal Promises. So when more than one person at the same time has been grown in faith to get a 490, the prosperity of the world increases. When only one person remains, the adversity of the world is high. Time only continues because it's 'attached' to someone or some group associated with that someone, still on earth. The believer has and still is the source of time continuing, by God's Own Decree. Again, you can prove all this in Bible, math, and history -- though post-Cross, you can't identify the individuals -- so this doctrine of Bible's is testable.

Above all, note the PERSONALNESS of this promise, and that God gave it due solely to Abram's mere belief. The merit of belief is solely based on merit in the Object of Belief -- God. So God Who is meritorious, makes a Unilateral Promise to one who believed in Him. Romans 4 (and the mistranslated James 1-2) goes to some trouble to remind the reader that this Promise was not based on how good Abram was (and he wasn't), not related to his ethnicity, not due to his works (which were zero), nor any other (puny!) human factor. Simply because he BELIEVED GOD, this happened. So only if we Believe God, will it happen to us. For, what's past is prologue: precedence, actually -- LEGAL BASIS. ["Our LEGAL Precedence" link covers how past=precedence in much more detail. For now, just notice that all the claptrap pandered by humans that their ancestors, their ethnicity, their whatever-buttresses-puny-ego claims, are sheer dung. God is THE Father of every soul.]

Back then Abram was promised to become first a great nation (Gen12); later, the land was granted (Gen15) and then AbrAHam, father of many nations (Gen17:5): but the sons of Isaac would be enslaved for 400 years (Gen15:13ff). Precisely 400 years after the Exodus, the first of God's promised Kings for the nation Israel, was born: David, in 1040BC. Paul traces out that 400 year goal to his fellow Jews in "490" accounting lingo (time debits versus time credits), in Acts 13:20ff. Because, God taught the Jews a grand scheme for time, based on sets of 490 years, as you'll see again illustrated in Daniel 9, and (more deftly) Matt1 and Luke3 genealogical charts. [Both genealogies use the doubled 7's accounting approach -- because David was 77 when he died -- hence their deft, sotto voce expression of the Hypostatic Immanuel-to-Come. More on this topic is in the "Timeline" link at page top, aka Mirroring.htm.]

Now this David was to have A Son on the throne forever, 2Sam7, Gal3:16-19, Isa53:10, 54:1. Forever means post-death, since we don't live on earth forever. So this is the promise of a Messiah, a Savior, a King Who Pays for All Mankind. Which Savior promise, went all the way back to Gen3:15. So now converging in this one line of the sons of Abraham, would be the One Who Would Unite us with God. Of course, when God first gave Abraham all this promise in Genesis 12, Abraham didn't have any sons at all, nor did he know the details, since God waited until David became king, to make that part of the promise.

So past is prologue: until David, No One Knew How Or When God Would Fulfill His Promise. For, God orchestrates time based on Messiah and His physical ancestors. Therefore TIME itself, is a promise from God. Very punctiliar, very prompt, very orchestrated. Yet, without altering even a 'dot' of Freedom. Such as, the Freedom of Consent.

Rapture's a Legatee
of Decedents who Depended, not demanded

Volition, is free. God guarantees that freedom. Hence your soul is indestructible, and free will is unimpeachable. You program yourself with each decision you make, and while future decisions become harder to break because of momentum from past ones, you ALWAYS retain the option to go AGAINST that past momentum. So, at heart this question of "Rapture" is about CHOICE, because the doctrine itself, is about God's Choice due to your choice to believe in Him. In short, the basis for the Rapture doctrine, is the same as the basis for the Gospel itself: "what think ye of Christ?"

    God Sovereignly Decrees and Upholds FREEDOM. God is not enslaved by His Attributes therefore, and neither are you. Sin doesn't cancel or restrict free will, and free will is not meritorious. The dingdongs who argue that it is, or that man lost his free will at the Fall, make God smaller than He is. You are responsible for your decisions, but the merit in them is based on the OBJECT, never the subject. Because, that's WHY you choose "x": based on its merit, not your own. How correct you are in that choice alike depends on the merit of the object; which merit, will obviously show up in the consequences of your choice.

    This is true for everything in life. We humans so easily arrogate to ourselves merit when there is none. For example, if you believe in Christ, that's due to HIS Merit, or you'd not believe. If you read a webpage, it's not the merit in the author which justifies the read, it's the merit of the CONTENT. The content, is an object. That object, 'got into' the author, and now 'gets into' you. But IT is still what has the merit. It might bless you. It might help you. But at all times, IT still retains the it-ness character, of Content. It just happens to be in you now. So all our many arrogances about what we know, who we know, what we have -- sheesh. THEY have the merit, we have the blessing of having them. Gratis. From God. Who is All Merit. The "Paradox of Merit" link at pagetop goes through this issue of Merit vis á vis God in the Trial in more detail. Satan, like mankind, argues that he has merit in himself. Christ, who is Total Merit, threw His Merit away on the Cross. So much for man's (and Satan's) arrogance, huh.

    So CHOICE, not self-merit, is the issue. It's not about morality, culture, race, creed, or anything else. CHOOSE. And the merit of that choice, will either come back to bite you -- or come back to bless you. ITs merit. So the idea is to choose God, or something or someone else.

When a thing's based on choice, its timeline is generally fluid, lest choice be manipulated. When certain events overtake the moment when choice is efficacious, then obviously a timeline has some fixed characteristics. You get to the bus stop too late. Your plane has to taxi in the airport longer. Dinner burns and you have to begin again. After all, even things have the freedom to fail. So this issue about choice, does have overriding elements which have fixed times associated with them. How much more, a RELATIONSHIP between two beings -- here, the individual and God -- would have some NON-SET times of no predictability, for the sake of freedom. And, conversely, some elements which are fixed.

So, for most of the world's PAST, it was generally NOT known, when Messias would come. So, in the PAST, for eons the SAME promise was that He would arrive at the PROPER "TIME" (i.e., Isa60:22, Heb b'ittah, or Greek kata kairon); not slow as some count slowness; but then would HASTEN the time, ahishennah! to GATHER them (ibid, see LXX). Yes! He would ARRIVE AS PROMISED, to end history's play, and save mankind. So a whole body of wits were sharpened, given that No One Knew Day Or Hour Of His First Arrival, His Birth. After all, what if it was 'today'? Let us not harden our hearts, but ahishennah, grow up in El-Elyon!

    See, it's all about RELATIONSHIP, not religion. Do You Believe? Believing in someone means being "pro-" that person. Even more, when that person SEEMS to not behave as expected. God never behaves as expected, lest your relationship with Him be based on the EXPECTATIONS, rather than be based on the PERSON. For what love is valid, enjoyable, if 'idols' like expectations, goodies -- intervene? It'd be like marrying a man for his money, having a friend due to her connections, etc. False relationship, then. Well, everything about God is TRUE, never false. So He'll not have a relationship with us based on our "goodies" (of which, we've NONE, however we fool ourselves with our possessions and adornments). So, He'll not have a relationship with us based on HIS goodies, either. Such as, performing to expectations.

    So all along, the goal of this seemingly-unfair 'test' of mankind, what with Abel sacrificing those lambs (depicting Messiah-to-Sacrifice-Himself, for who knew when Messiah would come?), of Abram waiting for an heir, of Israel waiting to go into the Land -- all these 'tests' were to build FAITH, so that LOVE could flourish: built one day at a time, living on His Promise. For God is love, and it's all about love, Which Is A Thinking Thing, A Believing Thing, An Understanding Thing. Love is not emotional (emotion exists only in the body). So not at ALL tit-for-tat-doo-doo, religious. For love never coerces, manipulates, influences, cajoles, seduces: but religion needs to make its living by all those verbs!

So, as Hebrews 11 recounts, Abram learned to love God by all that waiting (age 75-age 99), waiting for the promised son whose Son would 'someday' save the world. But when? How? Well, Abram didn't know; but he depended on His Promised Arrival, choosing to wander about rather than build a permanent home -- for who knew when He would fulfill the Promise, so why settle down? Isaac depended upon God's Promise in the same way; Jacob depended on God's Promise, also: which is why he RETURNED to the Land. Even though, Jacob knew from his father and grandfather that as a result of returning, he'd be leading his sons into slavery, 'somehow'. For 400 years! But he did it anyway.

Joseph, the first one enslaved and the savior of Egypt as a result (1916-1836BC), depended on that promise, too; at the end of his life counselled his sons to take his sarcophagus from Egypt, when the appointed time came; for by then they knew they'd be in Egypt for another 400 years. Oh, and finally, the appointed time did come, what a surprise! For they had forgotten about it. But into Ha Erets, the Promised Land, led by Him! Ooooh, didn't He come suddenly? Suddenly, without warning, all those plagues. After all, no one by then expected Him. But GOD didn't forget. Love remembers. Lovingly.

    Lovingly, and with humor. For dear ol' Thutmosis II couldn't get kiddies by his half-sister bride, Hatshepsut. Which was a real problem, for he'd always been sickly. His daddy, Thutmosis I, wasn't feeling too well, either. So, five years into the reign of Thutmosis I, there was quite a lot of concern about the future of the kingdom; dad had been but a general, and was only adopted by the prior Pharaoh, so he didn't have the legitimacy he desperately needed. An HEIR would be needed. But there was no heir. So, his palace ministers could manipulate him; one of them got the dad to reluctantly or ignorantly authorize killing all male Hebrew babies, lest the Hebrews become too powerful a group and overrun Egypt. These Hebrews, see, had become pretty elite for slaves; for, they had long been temple building slaves, the masters and architects and contracted labor for Egypt's many grand building projects, ever since Amenemhet III, just before Joseph had died (circa 1836BC, enslavement began four years prior). Since that work required a whole bunch of skill and muscle, and there were so many of them, well a Pharaoh with a sickly son, had cause for concern.

    But if the son died heirless, then his daughter Hatshepsut -- aka God's Wife -- would have to marry some royal outside Egypt! That just wasn't politically acceptable. They had only just gotten some freedom from outsiders, via her dad and grandfather; the Hyksos were still a real threat, too. So as she's bathing, bobbing in the reeds is one of those Hebrew babes. Poor thing was followed by its sister, who confessed all when Hatshepsut queried her. So here was the salvation of Egypt, "a gift from the Nile" (="Moses", claim of his divine origin from Isis, a moniker ONLY used by the 18th Dynasty) -- floating in an arklike covered basket! Hu-hah! Political conundrum resolved! Moses: known also to history, as Thutmosis III, but only during Hatshepsut's regency period. If you can read hieroglyphics, you can read about him in Central Park, NYC, on an obelisk misnamed "Cleopatra's Needle". (The "Thutmosis III" of the post-Hatshepsut period was the son of Thutmosis II and a concubine.)

Moses learned to love God by waiting for the promise, too. And Moses did a whole lot of waiting. Forty years, in fact. See, by age 38, he'd been ruling on behalf of Hatshepsut, but she was dying, now. So he'd have to choose between ruling in his own name as an Egyptian, though a Jew; and, between freeing the Jews. Should he do it as Pharaoh? No, God didn't want that. Besides, it would interfere with the life he had with God. So, he decided to give up the crown. So, within 2 years of her death he abdicates, in favor of the younger son; then he tries to be a Hebrew among the Hebrews. It doesn't work out well: he kills one Egyptian to save a Jew, and the Jews turn against him for that, thinking he's trying to gain power over them or something. So, God sends him into the wilderness for the next 40 years. So when he's 80 years old, God suddenly appears to him and says, Go back to Egypt, face Pharaoh, and bring out My people to a Land I will show you. After making some excuses God won't accept, Moses gives in. So Moses suddenly shows up at Pharaoh's Palace (but since he was gunshy, God gave the talking to Aaron his brother), suddenly tells Thutmosis III's son Amenhotep II a whole lot of stuff the latter didn't like, and bang! The plagues begin just as the barley is budding; about a year later, will be the Exodus.

    Well, each plague was warned about just before it happened, give or take a month (like the later conquest of Ai, and Jericho) -- but the date of occurrence, depended on what? Pharaoh having enough time to say no. The Israelites (and all Egypt) having enough time to say YES. For, if you look at each plague warning, people had to first DO something (get in the house, protect their crops, water or cattle) -- if they believed in YHWH, that is. For, tachú, suddenly, next-in-sequence, would be a plague. Who knew how LONG between the warning, and the execution? Decide NOW! Sure, God did go via Moses to Pharaoh and say, 'this time tomorrow', or some definite time. Last warning call.

    So whether you only know the time at the last minute,
    or whether you know in advance:
    what do you think of God's Promise?
    For with God, it's always about voting.
    Free will, see.
    Love Never Coerces.
    Never wants to.
    God is Love, so Loves Free Will.

Oy, the Exodus! Two million Jews and maybe another four million folks of every other race on the planet, hastily left! Ahishennah, hasten, hurry UP, wilya! Lest Israel tarry and its God get even angrier, and kill more sons. First few days, the Exodus generation went out, jubilant; but then, God leads them smack dab into a trap! with the Red Sea at their backs, and what's that DUST in the distance.. sounds like.. oh no, Pharaoh's chariots, seems like the entire bleeping army! Yet by the next day, the bodies of that army were just about bloated up enough to rise in the water. What a plunder THAT had been. For years the neighbors along the sea told stories to selected passersby of the booty they'd gotten. Which is how we came to know it as the "Red" Sea (the Greeks named it that, due to the drowning army).

    Egypt didn't recover for well over 100 years. Amenhotep II's younger son, so ashamed of his dad, changed his name back to that MOSES name: known to history, as Thutmosis IV. Poor guy, he had to make a diplomatic marriage with the Mitanni(?), since he had no army left to speak of. Worse, those left in Egypt were psychologically torn apart about this god thingy. So their religion went through revolution and retooling: from the Exodus forward, every ruler of Egypt had to prove he had a god's backing. Thutmosis IV, played to it. So, every Pharaoh after Thutmosis IV pretty much followed the same strategy for getting along, except that one weirdo who went ballistic and monotheistic; so he was the last long straw; roughly three generations later the line died out, there was a political tug-of-war, and the generals finally took over again as Pharaohs.

    Meanwhile back on the other side of the Reed Sea, Israel was in high spirits for about three days; then got bitter again, while Amenhotep and his dead comrades were floating in a different kind of bitter water. [If the Pharaoh somehow didn't die in the Red Sea, someone would have murdered him. It was politic to ride at the head of your army, so if he managed to get out alive, he'd have killed himself, would have ordered someone else to kill him, or someone else would just have done it. I don't remember how my pastor knows he died IN the Red Sea, so I have to hedge on its proof, for now. Closest verse I can find corroborating Pharaoh died in the Reed/Red Sea is Psalm 136:15. The verb there is to shake off, like you shake off dust from your clothes, but it has the connotation of shaking them out of their chariots and horses INTO the sea, with the waters closing over them. So since Pharaoh is severally distinguished in this Psalm verse, the "popular" interpretation that he died in it, might be right after all.]

So God helped Israel despite her Marah and Meribahs, by making her go in Sinai circles for the next 40 years: to teach her kids, what the parents wouldn't learn. So when all the parents had died out except Moses, Caleb and Joshua: then the kids were grown up and ready to enter the Promised Land. So, they did. Took about 10 years after entering the Land under Joshua, for Israel to conquer the Land, per Paul's accounting in Acts 13:20ff.

Oh, but within a generation of Joshua's death 40+ years after entering the Land, well lessee, where did we last leave the Ark of the Covenant? Wasn't there some Book or something we were supposed to wear 24/7, and teach to our kids? So Israel spent another wandering period under the judges, but within her own lands. Very harrowing account. This time, it lasted about 300 years. How human: to have a disaster, be rescued, be grateful and train so to never again lapse into disbelief. But then well, it's back to the same ol', same ol'. We learn from history -- that we learn nothing.

Sigh. 390 years after the Exodus vote by about six million souls, Israel had grown weary of God as King; weary of waiting for Him to become the promised Man as fast as they had wanted. So, He gave them a human king, Saul, in 1050BC. That kingship didn't work out so good. In fact, about halfway into Saul's kingship God took Israel's first prophet, a guy who as a kid slept in the same room as the Ark itself, and He had him appoint a human progenitor for the Human He Himself would hawah, become: the Savior Incarnate, Immanuel, God-with-us.

Just to make sure no one would miss the point about how stupid it is to reject God: God caused that human progenitor, known to us as King David, to be born exactly 400 years after the Exodus. Yeah, the same number of years as Israel was in slavery, mirrored back to them in freedom, which they (like all of us!) abused. Despite this gift, which was the final phase of establishing Messiah! well ho hum. The people grew ever wearier of even their Divinely-protected kings; and the Davidic line nearly died out several times. [Mary, in fact, would end up being the last of the line (Joseph's being cut off due to the Coniah curse).]

At this point, Israel's days become numbered, and the Exact Year of Messiah's Birth and Death, are DEADLINED. 1000 years after David's consolidated Kingship began, He would be born. 1000 years after David's death, He would die, paying for all the sins of mankind. Just as the Flood people got 1000 years' advance warning via Methu+Selah, so also mankind got 1000 years' advance warning of the end of the world. For when Messiah came, He would live for the same period as David ruled, 40 years -- assuming Israel did not reject Him when He came -- and He would die at the end of that period. That was necessary, because David's 1000-year Time Grant would RUN OUT. So if No Messiah, then Time ends. But if Messiah and Israel accepts Him, then Time also ends. But in a different way.

    That different way, was long foretold in the Mosaic Law. First, Passover Week, depicting the exact chronology of when He would pay for sins: on Passover, He'd be slain. Four days prior to that, 'something' would happen to set Him aside; so, that's why they set aside the lamb; that's why on the flipside of the calendar, Ethanim (aka Tishri), it was Yom Kippur. So: after Passover Week ended, that night of the last day of Passover, began FirstFruits. 50 days after that, was Pentecost. Total? 57 days. Which represented 57 years. And 57 years after the 1000th anniversary of David's Death, was the close of the 4th 1050-year historical Time Grant from Adam. So when David died, EVERYONE KNEW EXACTLY when Time would end, so that last 57 years could play and bring about the new Millennium. In our calendar terms, it would be 963BC+1000+57=94AD, when the Millennium was to begin.

    The long wait to know When Messiah Would Come, was over.

So you'd think now that Israel HAD a certain date for Messiah's Arrival, she'd be faithful, voting "Yes!" Nope. Between the Exodus of 1440BC and the end of Israel's (Judah, line-of-David) kings in 586BC, there had been some good moments. That first David's kingship (1010-970BC) was always being contested by someone. But after him, during Solomon's reign, a time of great peace and prosperity! And, best of all, the people rejoiced for awhile in building God's HOUSE. For that House represented Messiah-to-Come, in every minute detail. Oh, what a structure. Took two decades to finish all its adornments, and many contributed what they could, and happily, too. Its "Most Holy Place" (aka "Holy of Holies, a lexeme) was curiously built around a huge hunk of bedrock which God had picked out for the Ark of the Covenant to sit on. Well, it was no ordinary Rock; for this was the slab on which Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac, and that act depicted what the Real God-Father (lit. Hebrew) would do, in sacrificing Adonai, His Son as Humanity: echad, unique! But at the time, it was a threshing floor on Mt. Moriah, so David had purchased it, and made building plans for his son Solomon to carry out. Work took many years, but building the Temple proper, only 7. Wow, how great it was.

    And how at the last minute it was dedicated, too. God makes a big stink of this in 1Kings 6:1, the verse telling you David had died three years prior to the commencement of building, which was in the 480th year from the Exodus, our 960BC. It got dedicated in 950BC, which was 490 years after the Exodus, just in the nick of time! Else time would have ended. Its 490-year grant depended on the Davidic Time Grants, which were three: one ended 513BC, another, 480BC, and the last one, 473BC. So when the Temple was razed due to apostacy 126 years short of its own time grant (which was supposed to run to 460BC), God could justify re-crediting the 126 years. For each 490-year grant is 'sandwiched' with a 70-year voting period. Because Israel's apostacy occurred 120 years before the next such historical voting period was to begin, God could justify adding that, too. So He balances to the 126 years (net of the reserve for Trib and later rejection of Messiah), using the allotted voting period. You'll see more of this accounting toward the end of this table. For now, notice this: The Temple Preserved the Earth due to David. Else, Time would end.

Yeah, but after Solomon the ol' political rivalries started up again, so Israel split in two; then the northern part (Samaria aka Israel) was taken over for good from 721BC onward. Which left Judah "the southern kingdom", limping along until the last of even her kings went into captivity, circa 586BC.

    Of course, it would be facile to just gloss over Israel's decline; frankly, no one could have survived that much pressure, absent reliance on God. Again, geography explains why past is prologue: Israel is the most valuable landmass on the planet. Nexus for trade and commerce, she was attacked relentlessly by those wanting to at least get her to pay tribute. The Jews were above 'normal', in smarts; above average, in looks; they were incredibly talented in math, languages, song, architecture; all of these qualities in the people, made foreign kings want the men as advisors and fighters; want the women, as mothers and concubines. This is a beautiful and proud, smart and stubborn, talented and charming people. Their Arab cousins are, as well. So they have learned to be charming as a form of diplomacy. For diplomacy, like economics and politics, is war carried on by other means. And this people have always been warred upon, simply because they belong to God. Satan&Co. cannot afford to let the Jews prosper. Because, it's only about whether GOD CAN KEEP HIS PROMISES. And if Satan&Co. can make God 'fail' to keep His Promises to Abram, then Satan&Co. win a "Get Out of Jail Free" card. It's not a mere "Monopoly" board game. It's their future. So count on it, the Jews are the most persecuted people on the planet, bar none -- until Messiah comes to deliver them.

    Just go to any news item on the web about Israel, or watch those newscasts. Notice how the newscasts are always slanted against Israel, whether conservative or liberal, no matter what country airs the broadcast. Sometimes the slant is vague, an undertone; sometimes scorn or even vehement browbeating is reflected in the report. But it's always negative. Like 1960's MIT scientist-turned-singer Tom Lehrer sang, in his "National Brotherhood Week": "and the white folks hate the black folks, and the black folks hate the white folks; all my folks hate all of your folks, and everybody hates the Jews."

What a life that "First Temple" had: it lasted 364 years, just shy of a 'year' of years, one year short of Enoch's lifetime (Gen5:21). Ended, with a flood of troops. Prematurely. D'yknow, sometimes it was filled with weird statues and cult prostitutes, as if YHWH didn't exist; sometimes it was cleaned up, usually when someone wandered about inside and found, hey, here's this Book we heard about when we were kids! Over and over, this would happen. And over and over, the one discovering the Book would tell the king; who would gather all the people, who would listen to someone READ that Book aloud to them. Then over and over, all the people would weep and wail over how they had done wrong, and vowed never to disobey God again. But, you know how we humans are. Over and over, after the remorse was over and you had to dig that soil, do those rituals, well we forgot. So, the Book would get 'lost' again, in the Temple. Over and over and over.

Finally, when Nebuchadnezzar was on the verge of defeating Judah, Jeremiah found the Book in the Temple (Jer15:16), yet again; then God told him to add to it. Two kings were thus informed. One of them, burnt the Book Jeremiah wrote; the second of them, pretending to concede to his advisors, threw Jeremiah in his son's sewer for awhile (underneath the king's barracks), hoping he'd die. But "Ebed-melech" an Ethiopian eunuch, rescued Jeremiah (Jer38:6), so the king (Zedekiah) had to look good, and had Jeremiah released. [Seems to be a title, not a name. Ebed=slave. And "melech" means King. So: "slave of the king" is his title.]

For 40+ years, Jeremiah's job had been about this Temple's future destruction; for 40 years, he warned everyone that time was up now, Nebuchy baby was gonna raze the temple. And then, despite his enormous respect FOR Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar reluctantly did raze it, in 586BC. So Israel's volitional choice had been rejection; so, God's Choice in Response: the appointed Temple isn't gonna get any appointees (kings), anymore. Israel didn't keep any of the appointed sabbatical years, and during all those 364 years, rarely celebrated Passover on the national scale God had commanded Moses.

So, finally, the APPOINTMENT (Heb: l'moed, look it up) was cancelled, the Temple destroyed, the people led into captivity in Babylon. Too many times Israel didn't want to learn Adonai at the appointed times, so Love never coercing them to keep the appointments, the appointments, were cancelled. Appointment with God, l'moed, always meant a UNITY of time and place and space: time, every moment, and the Sabbath time to focus solely on learning Him. Place, HaEretz, the Land: Israel, gifted to the people, the land of milk and honey. Space: the Temple, symbol of the appointment, the MEETING PLACE, the "Place of Testimony". School. For God is infinite, we are not, and it takes Infinite Power FROM God, to learn Him. So to have a relationship with Him. For that one perpetually goes to "schul" (modern Yiddish). So if you don't go to schul and cut classes enough, sooner or later you never go back. So the schul, the Land, the Ark (meaning covenant) goes away, too. God doesn't stay where He's not wanted.

    PRINCIPLE: Can't divorce God, and keep the property. Can't divorce the Nation Israel from her Temple; So Can't Stay A Promised Nation, if No Temple. [Necessary Nerd Note: Just keep reading, and you'll see God's Permanent Blessing To Israel, Via This Curse.]

    OT likes to first summarize the Decree/Order of a thing, then later on elaborate on its execution (viz., Gen1:26-27 compared to Genesis 2:7ff). So the KJV version of the initial commission order and its result, reads as follows (pasted in from BibleWorks):

    1 Kings 6:12-14 12 Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father: 13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel. 14 So Solomon built the house, and finished it.

    Now, the elaboration: what God replied to Solomon's prayer of dedication (1Kings8:22-53), on the very day the First Temple was dedicated, 1 or 2 Ethanim 950BC. ["Ethanim" roughly corresponds to our Sept-Oct, and the first day of it is Rosh HaShana, the New Year. Law forbids work on the first day (Trumpets), so the Temple was maybe dedicated the 2nd day. Then again, you met in holy convocation, so maybe it was 1 Ethanim, not 2. You can read the chronology also in 2Chron. The month and day will be fine-tuned, later.] Note the repeat warning:

    1 Kings 9:6-9 6 But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: 7 Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people: 8 And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house? 9 And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil.

    ["taken hold" is a euphemism; Hebrew verb is hazaq, hiphil stem. Greek verb is antelambanomai. You'll have a real hard time getting an honest answer from the lexicons, so trace how these verbs are used in Scripture.]

So back in 586BC, Israel languished, having been exiled from the Promised Land, Temple and National Contract GONE, because she had abandoned Him. So the One Who would still Become Her Redeemer, meanwhile ejected His Holy People from the Land, and He razed that Gorgeous House of Love, right down to the ground. Just as He had promised.

No more human kings for her, but Him. But He had also promised He and He alone! Would Return them, SHUB! But when? Oh LORD, When? Daniel prayed in Daniel 9, acknowledging for the whole nation, the "riv", the Divorce, was solely Israel's fault. So, one day soon after, Daniel got the Word that Israel's time of punishment, was ending! Hallelujah! For here's what God said to Daniel via Gabriel:

    "NLT Daniel 9:25 Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, despite the perilous times.

    26 "After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing ["killed" is "cut off", as in foreskin; so, Cut a Covenant, cut off without descendants, are all additional meaning layers]; and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood [of troops], and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end."

So now, every date was fixed forever forward. Israel's days were numbered, and she'd be Mirrored Back What Was Due Her. No more open-ended wondering when Messiah would come, how all history, would go. So, this punishment included news that no more Kings would head Israel until the Messiah was painful, But It Would Be Messiah! Next In Sequence, ahishennah! Tachú! Moreover, the 'when' balanced to David's 1000-year anniversaries, in Daniel 9:26. The benchmarks in Daniel 9 were well understood, reimbursing the 364 years the Temple stood, adding on the 70-year voting period, debiting it from the 126 (=70+49+7 reserved). So they knew the DOCTRINE of the time grant for the Temple, too. A dating system which shifted to the Jews when Joseph became vizier in Egypt; from then forward it was tied to and 'hubbed' from, the Exodus and Davidic-rule dates. Every Jew was weaned on all dates valued in years pre- or post- the Exodus or David's rule, within Israel's then-substantial history. So the promised Davidic deadlines, were preserved. Whew.

    Rapture's a Legatee: for the Rapture, is about volition. So the remaining number of Israel's days resume playing after the Rapture occurs. Which means the Tribulation. Which means Daniel 9:27. For David's death cut short time for Messiah to Come, so these seven years could not play until Messiah Came and Left. Since Messiah came and left with Israel rejecting Him, TIME RAN OUT and the seven reserved years need a 'bridge' of Time. Hence Church. Which means the Dome of the Rock we see today, advertises Dan 9:26c, the green text; not Dan 9:27. Which means the Rapture is not predictable. Which means Israel can still be rescued by believing in Messiah.

So between 586-516BC (Dan9:2) a chastened, Babylon-exiled Israel came to depend on His Promise of "Shub", Return; so He returned them to the Land, and right on time, too. By then, they knew that the "time" included the appointed PLACE, l'moed (i.e., Dan12:7), just as in Moses day -- the Tabernacle, then the Temple! The Congregation, The Appointment At The TEMPLE, l'moed, would be kept! All was, l'moed! joined in time and place and space! For the Temple Represented The PROMISE of Him Taking on Humanity and Tabernacling Among them. For He would be Their Ark Forever (Jer 3; see also Jn1, Heb5-10).

    And at the appointed time, l'moed, not one second sooner or later, Isa60:22! For of course, this Israel was to be the progenitor of this God-man to Come. Because, That One was going to fulfill all the conditions of the Law which as GOD He gave to Moses, at Sinai. Yeah, just as Jeremiah had promised back in Jeremiah 3 -- they wouldn't even miss the Ark Nebuchy baby had melted down when he razed the Temple in 586BC. Now, back in the Land, on time they would keep time, mark time. Because they knew what the timing would be. All the way down to the end of time. And God would fulfill His Promise to Abraham, David, Israel. On time.

    See, the "seventy sevens" granted to Daniel in Daniel 9, was all the time the world had left: under the Time Accounting System God invented, that time would be UP in 37AD. The world, not merely the Jews, had only that much time remaining. For if no Savior, then no world can be saved. And if no Jews, then no Savior can arrive. Because, Remember The Past Promise God Made To Abram? On whom, all the world depended. Abram had pressures you and I can't even imagine -- but God kept him going. God kept the family going. God kept the nation going. A few in each generation, believed Him. Daniel believed Him. So, the world got 490+126 more years to breathe and shake-the-fist at God, because of Daniel. Just as it always has gotten time because of Abram. Who got THAT time, because of Noah. Who got that time, because of Enoch. Who got that time, because of Jared. Who got that time, because of Adam (Seth and Jared's son Enoch are 490 years apart, and God signifies grants by sons). Mirroring.htm ("Timeline" link at pagetop) traces that promise of time from Adam forward, if you are willing to crunch a lot of Bible verses and math.

    These seventy sevens, you'll notice, are broken up into smaller accounting pieces. Each piece has a character, so if the character fits, the piece 'plays'. So the pieces can, but need not, play consecutively. Here, they did. Because, each piece of Real Time Depends on that Character, being Fulfilled. Again, Mirroring.htm goes into a lot of detail about the character of each piece, and traces from Adam forward, how the pieces fit and play. But Israel was taught that system, so that's why God spoke to Daniel in the 490 accounting vocabulary.

    So: GOD Decreed the Rebuilding back in 586BC when the Temple was razed, Jer25. Daniel was reading it in 538BC, Dan9:2. So Daniel prays, because he knows the 70 years are a DEADLINE. So God Replies: world was scheduled to end in 37AD, the deadline due to 1000th anniversary of David's Death. So one "seven" had to be reserved for Dan9:27. This, because the Davidic deadline came BEFORE the 490 would end, and in God's Accounting System, you can't have a 1000 continuing without an underlying 490, NOR a continuing 490 without an underlying 1000. So Messiah would have to come FIRST in order to BUY another 1050 unit of time (1000+50 year voting period=490+70+490). Then and only then, could the 50-year reserved-for-Gentiles-voting period between Daniel 9:26 and :27, 'play'. The reserved 'seven' would play last. (The 50 years is not part of the 490, so is not listed in Daniel 9. It is also beyond the Davidic deadline; but that reserved 7, was part of the 490.) So then those years would play in reverse order, just as Moses long instituted, mirroring the joint holiday of Passover+Pentecost. That would bring history to its proper ending, 94AD, at which point the purchased Millennium (1000+50 year voting period following it), could close. So the last 1050 from Adam, was to be the fifth one. Five: number of Profit, Restitution, All Goals Accomplished.

    Preview of Coming Attractions: the whole 'math' went like this: 586BC-70-70-49-364-70=37AD. Scholars mistake the "decree" in Dan9:24 as some mere human's decree. But the one decreeing in that sentence, is GOD. So it dates from when God decreed He'd send the people back after the sabbatical years, which was back in 586BC, Jer25. That accounts for the first 70. The second "70" was the historical voting window, which could be justified if the Temple were rebuilt during the first 70; Jerusalem would have to be built by the end of that second 70, which equated to a deadline of 446BC in our system. Followed by, the 49 year allotment to finish Canon, which allotment ended the historical voting window 'attached' to the 7th 490 since Adam. Then, the 364 years the 1st Temple was standing, could be 'reimbursed', followed by yet another 70 sabbatical years required within the 490 (which purchase the 70 years 'sandwiching' after it ends). Messiah would die by the end of that 70 years. His 1st Advent Rule, was to be of the same length, as His progenitor David. First David, 7 years + 33 years. Last David, 33 years + 7 years. That Was The Initial Design. Due to Israel's rejection however, we see His Life cut short by 7 years, which are 'reimbursed' to Israel from 64AD-70AD when Jerusalem was under siege. Dan9:26 playing live but prematurely, due to rejection of Messiah.

    GeneYrs.xls plots all this out for you. When you load it, select Excel's "Views" then "Custom Views", and you'll get a dialogue box of spreadsheet snapshots. Scroll to the end and select "Temple, 1st", then double-click. That section of the worksheet next appears, and you can trace the gold 'stripes' to see when the 490-year allotments and their voting periods, end. The green 'stripes' are the 1000-year time grants. Cell A2 of the worksheet has a link to a Word doc which summarizes all these concepts for speedier comprehension. It seems more complicated than it is. All ancient calendars were run based on years FROM. So God's Calendar is based on years from Adam's FALL (Gen5 accounting begins with the FALL, it's not from the initial creation of the world). So it isn't really hard to measure. It's just new to us, that's all. It was ABCs for the Bible writers, both in OT and New. You see this pattern, if you ONLY go by the BIBLE's dates, forget what other people say. That's what GeneYrs.xls does: it only goes by Bible. The 490-year pattern is thus visible and testable. From Bible.

    But now we're ahead of the story, so let's go back to the Jews in the Land, having built the 2nd Temple, awaiting the clock to run out.

God would not fulfill His Ark promise as they'd expect. For, God doesn't live up to expectations, ever. HE EXCEEDS THEM. He'd promised Abram an heir, but until Abram realized God Meant A Whole Universe Of Heirs Through The Heir Messias, well Abram had no kids at all. Same for Isaac, whose wife was barren for 20 years. Same back earlier, for Noah's kids; Noah had no grandkids until AFTER the Flood. So, see? God promises a thing -- but until you recognize l'moed, and learn to LOVE that unity, what's the point of meeting your smaller expectations? Would God be FAIR to Himself or to you, if He only met human, temporary, insufficiently-informed needs?

    For past is prologue. Noah, who sired Shem exactly 490 years before Abraham's son Isaac, had spent 120 years! building the FIRST Ark. It represented salvation, deliverance from catastrophe, and most of all: Relationship with God. In a specific time, space, place. So, its building represented a future Appointment which no one liked to keep. So people came thousands of miles just to see this silly man and his family building this huge box thingy -- and laugh at him and his Appointment Warning. Just he and a few other remaining pure humans, helped build: his sons and the wives, maybe Methusaleh and Lamech. No wonder it took so long to build.

    God was real specific about its construction, even as He'd later be specific about how to make the travelling Tabernacle, with that other person He'd deliver in an ark: Moses. Yeah, 'drawn out from the water'! So the first 'moses', the 'one who gives us rest', aka "Noah" to you, spent YEARS growing and chopping up cypress wood (wood-of-choice for ships used in ancient times, aka "gopher wood"). Heh: cypress wood, from the cypress tree. Light, buoyant, tough, bendable: great for coffins and ships. (Apparently St. Peter's in Rome has some of its doors built out of that wood, and they've not decayed in hundreds of years.) Then, Noah had to coat that light wood on both sides with the readily-available, bitumen. Took lots of time. And he was building it miles away from any sea access. The length was about 1.5 American football fields (450 feet); 75 feet wide, but only 45 feet high; perfect seaworthy proportions, kinda like a barge, a bit shorter in length than a WWII Liberty Ship. Three floors. One Door (Christ, known then as El-Elyon); one window (up to God). No wonder it took so long to build. [Dimensions from Gen75 L.85, near end of tape.]

    Noah just kept building, ignored the growing ridicule. And, he kept on warning his jeerers: 120 years, to warn folks their disinterest and rejection of God would lead to a deluge. Over 500 years before Noah was born, God went so far as to name Noah's grandfather, "Methusaleh", which means aprés lui, le deluge! "When he dies, the Flood happens." So, believe in El now! Get into the Promise which that Ark represents, because Muth+shalach!! Methusaleh! The death of him, that's the sign it begins! So it's not like the message of the last 120 years' building, was a surprise.

    Ark, whoa: A Box, really. Stablest form, for a vessel on water. God will have to steer it, though, since it's a box, not a boat -- God delivers. God delivers a Box holding all of the life to be preserved, and all of us, come from those eight people. That's what's important about the Ark. That's The Only Valid Question To Ask: WHY? Well, think: preserving life, saving life, rescuing life which is incompatible with God, so to RESCUE it from incompatibility, is way more important than just having it breathe. Everyone else, Voted Against Compatibility With God. But Noah&Co., didn't. [The Ark is not sitting on Mt. Arrarat. Someone is hoaxing or hallucinating. Its wood was way too valuable to leave on a mountaintop, especially since so many beasts of burden were readily available. No sane person would have let 120 years of lumbering, go to waste.]

    So this Box was depicted by Israel's smaller one in the Holy of Holies, the third of its kind. It was bigger than the boat baby Moses floated in. Oh, MUCH bigger in meaning, too (see Heb3). For THIS Ark of the Covenant for Israel travelled with them. Back about 950 BC, this third Ark finally came to rest atop Petra, the rock on which Isaac was almost-sacrificed; smack dab in the center of Solomon's Temple (aka "First Temple").

      For what made the Holy of Holies, was the BEDROCK. That's why the Temple was built around it. That "Ebed"/"Petra" represented the Rock of Our Salvation, Christ (Greek, OT; Messiah, in Hebrew). So: that's why God Picked That Rock, for Atonement; that's why He picked it, just after David sinned by numbering the people -- a sin of pride, trusting in human mass-strength -- so David then had to RUSH to Mt. Moriah and buy that threshing floor (get the pun?) in order to stop the plague God inflicted on the people, for his disobedience. On which threshing floor, right then and there! David made oxen sacrifices. You can read all this in 1Chron21ff, and 2Sam24. [Nerd Note: Ornan and Araunah are the same person. The name is spelled phonetically, following the needs of the writers of the book in question. This happens a lot with Biblical names, because the Bible was written over 1500 years, and since Israel was the cross-section of the globe, lots of name-changes and language changes ensued. So you can use this dynamic to date the Bible books. A real helpful tool, in assessing what's True Bible versus the many counterfeits, scribal errors, etc. God thinks of Every Contingency When He Commits To Something.]

    This third Ark was made of acacia wood, representing His Future Humanity, and covered with Gold, depicting His Deity; inside it were the symbols of sin, depicting how Messiah-to-Come would bear sin on mankind's behalf: the first set of broken Law tablets due to Operation Golden Calf; a pot of manna (which Israel endlessly complained about); and Aaron's almond rod that budded (Korah rebellion, rejection of Aaron's priesthood authority). Three basic types of sins in the human race: rejection of Divine righteousness, in favor of one's own preferences; rejection of Divine provision, in favor of one's own efforts; rejection of God's Authority (i.e., delegated to the priests). Can't reject God and have fellowship with Him. Can't have fellowship with Him if not 'housed' in Him. Can't be 'housed' in Him if you reject His Messiah-to-come. Can't keep the Ark, then, either. All this, the Ark represented. And all Israel knew it, through all those ritual mnemonics.

    Of course by 586 BC, Israel had rejected that third Ark for so long, God had Nebuchadnezzar's troops raze the Temple to the ground. The Ark itself, was melted down to extract all its gold. Playing a Noahic role, Jeremiah had forewarned them of this bad future, in Jer3 (i.e., v.16): but (past is prologue!) no one listened. So when the Temple WAS later rebuilt by 516 BC, and Israel WAS finally keeping her appointments again; when Israel finally knew how to tell time of Messiah and the rest of history, well the ROCK on which the Ark used to sit.. was bare. Waiting for its Living Counterpart, to be born. So on Yom Kippur, the head priest would sprinkle the blood over the Rock. A very thick curtain, maybe 2 feet thick and 90 feet high, separated that Rock from the antechamber. So if you were on the outside, as all but the High Priest were -- then you could forget that the Rock was naked, now. More a stumbling block, really, rather than the Cornerstone-to-Come, Depicted.

Messiah, the fourth and Last Ark -- but Living. The Promise of His Coming now portrayed directly as that very Petra on which the High Priest annually sprinkled blood (depicting atonement for sin). That Living Bedrock/Ark would be carried through a very different kind of Flood: the flood of our sins. Thus forever preserving and MAKING COMPATIBLE, those who believed in Him. And if too many of them did not want Him, the Temple would be destroyed after His Death; and its Holy of Holies' Petra would be 'desolated' (captured by unbelievers, i.e. today's Dome of the Rock), Daniel 9:25-26.

    So now Israel's Days were Numbered, and He had a deadline date for producing Messiah. So, then: can GOD keep His Promises? For, via Daniel 9:25 you can calculate His Birthyear in a variety of ways even using the wrong benchmarks, and still get it right:

    • from the Babylonian captivity commencement date of 597BC (in 2Kings 24:12 compared with 25:27, compared with Jer 25:1's wry tweak of Nebuchy baby being in his own first year reigning over Palestine, so it's his own ninth year): 597-70 sabbatical years -490 -70 (mirrorback, intercalation piece belonging to 490 credit) = 33, His maximum life length left; so count backwards from that, and birth is 3BC=late 4BC.

    • Or, let's do it the 'accepted' way most Bible people use: from Dan 9:25's text, interpreting the decree to rebuild Jerusalem as the date in Nehemiah 2:1-8, 446BC - 483 +40, the years reserved for Messiah's kingship (same # as for David's) = 3BC.

    • Or, from the lifetime scheduled for the 2nd Temple once reconstructed: 950BC 1st Temple - its own 490 = 460BC (presuming completed on time, which it was) - 490 of Daniel 9 = 30AD, His maximum life length; -40, number of years He'd be owed as King, -7 for Daniel 9:27 = 3BC birthdate.

    • Or, as Bible does it, from the destruction date of the 1st Temple: 586BC - 70 sabbatical years = 516BC (deadline, met, so mirror of 70 plays) - 70 -483 (the 69 weeks) = 37, the maximum life length; minus 40 years owed = 3BC. Gee, we keep getting the same answers. And they're real historical values, whaddya know.

    • Yeah, even if you use mistaken dates like I had done: 556BC (decree to Rebuild interpreted wrongly from Isa 44:28, year Cyrus comes to power) -483 (the 69 weeks) -70 (Dan9:2)=3BC, the Year Christ was actually born, still. [The Decree is made by God, not a human being; that's the mistake we all have made for centuries. Even my own pastor did it back in the 1960's -- I'm sure he later noticed GOD did the decreeing, but I've not gone through all his recorded classes on the topic. So using that ASSumption, Daniel 9 never balances, really. But other mistakes made, cancel out the mistaken idea that the Person speaking in Daniel 9:24, is not the same person as issues the decree. A really silly mistake, considering we all know ONLY GOD DECREES. And "decree" is used in 9:24, famous Hebrew word "dabar" -- Word of the Lord, get it? But we didn't. Still, by making other mistakes like thinking the years are lunar-based, which they are not -- we still get in the vicinity of His Death year. But then so many other things don't balance, and the 490-year structure of time from Adam, gets missed. Oh well.]

    • You could also or instead get His Birthyear simply by counting to 1000 from the year David became King over all Israel, since the "Day of the Lord" would last as long as David's dynasty. You'd know it was 1000, because David published it and then prophets like Isaiah, kept on using the term. Same idea as the last 1000 years before the Flood. Everyone knew Messiah was to be the last King of that dynasty: born from the line of Nathan, not Solomon.

    • So pretending you didn't already know know it's the 1000th anniversary of David's united Kingship that Messiah will be born, you can find out what anniversary it is by using any of the above Temple calculations, because you know that Messiah's arrival is tied to the Temple's 490 since Messiah=Temple. That way you don't need to know when the Decree to rebuild will/did occur. So when you get the answer, you count backwards to David's reign and you'll see Messiah must be born in the 1000th anniversary year of David's united kingship; and He must die by the 1000th anniversary of David's retirement from kingship. Again, because both Messiah and Temple are bound up in the promise to David, 2Sam7 and 1Chron 17. Messiah HAS to die by the 1000th anniversary of David's death, because that's the END OF TIME. So counting backwards the same 40 years as David had, you get 3BC=late 4BC. By 521BC they would know it was late 4BC, because God tied the Birth to the 2nd Temple's foundation-laying date, Haggai 2. Guess that's why 357 years later, Antiochus IV Epiphanes would pick THAT day to sacrifice a pig on the altar, resulting in Chanukah.

    • Because You Can Track From Adam, The Basic Structure Of Time: it plays in two nested 'calendars' which run both non-calated (to qualify the next segment), and intercalated, just as lunar and solar years. The two calendars are: a set of 1050 years, composed of a 1000-year piece (non-calated), and a 50-year piece (added to intercalate); the second set, on which the first depends, is composed of a 490 year piece (non-calated), coupled with a 70-year piece (to intercalate with another 490, so to interlock with the intercalated 1000+50 piece). In the Mosaic Law, each piece has a Biblical-metaphor definition. Mirroring.htm ("Timeline" link at pagetop) walks the reader through the meaning (and real-time chronology) of these structures and their components.

    • Most importantly, any Jew reckoned years from David. That was s.o.p. around that world, that you reckoned from the King. So reckoning from David, you'd know when TIME RAN OUT: 37AD, by our calendar. For the last of David's 1000th anniversaries, is the anniversary of his DEATH. Mirroring.htm's "David" link and GeneYrs.xls plot out the numbers for you. The "David" link's #4 lists all of David's Time Grants (8, but looks like God only uses 6).

        Simple math, which Moses enshrined in the Hebrew meter of Psalm 90 (Click here for the webpage of videos proving Bible's Accounting System via Hebrew meter in Psalm 90 and Isaiah 53): 1050-year increments from Adam mean that Year 4200 is the end of the fourth one. The last 50 years of it is a voting period, so by Year 4150, Messiah must be come, gone, and successful. In our BC/AD terms, 4200=94AD, and 4150=44AD. But in Daniel 9:26, the accounting only takes you to 37AD, cutting out the last 7 of the 490, reserved for the Tribulation (Dan9:27). So that's Year 4143 from Adam. That's what the OT people had to work with. David had 40 years' reign, so Messiah as Last David, would also. Takes you right to 3BC, in our terms (their 4103 from Adam, 1000 from David). So immediately you know you're at the end of time, since it's SHORT of the proper end of a 1000 to qualify the last 50 years: short by 7 years. So you'd know exactly when to expect Him. We all know September has 30 days, May 31, we learned silly songs in grammar school about the days of the month. Well, this 1050 accounting is just as basic. Everyone in Israel learned it at mother's knee; couldn't know the calendar without it. All Bible dates are predicated on this structure. God TIMES things to voting periods, which in Mosaic Law were represented by the sabbatical years 'buying' the 70-year sandwich period: #9 of TenWaysThisTimelineDiffers.doc walks you through that, and its devastating effect from Adam forward. Incredible.

    • In short, you didn't need to be a math genius, to know when Messiah comes. A child can usually count to 1000 by age 7, and certainly before he's age 12. So there were many ways you could get the answer from the Word -- if if if you cared enough about the Word, to learn Him. Even with mistaken assumptions! [To be honest, in late 2003 or early 2004, I first learned of God's mirroring method due to a mistaken usage of Acts 13:20; and then due to that mistaken calculation on Cyrus. When I did the latter, I saw the "70" of Dan9:2, being mirrored back. I know something about double-entry accounting. So: I started digging in Scripture; that journey led to the development of Mirroring.htm, God's Balance Sheet System for Time. It's only based on the Bible's dates; so I can't find anything like it on the web, since the typical 'scholarly' piece doesn't use the Bible, as if It were a leper; but instead, uses other fallible human, scholarly opinion. So that's why you can't get a correct 'scholarly' date on the Exodus -- you have to use the Bible, and then vet against whatever history we have. So: don't just accept the numbers: vet them, as any good auditor would. Moreover, this mathematical phenomenon of the timeline converging on Christ despite a wide variety of erroneous calculations, can be seen on the web. Mirroring.htm's "Other Research Sources" provides sample direct links I found in dogpile. The calculation methods people picked couldn't BE more disparate, and some of them are quite goofy -- yet they all converge on Christ. There are at least another 60+ websites on the 490s; they each differ. Yet, the same same convergence on Christ. Awesome: I've never seen math do this. Naturally, human bias will skew math usage; but math can only 'bend' a limited number of ways before it smacks you upside the head. Yet the Ending Result is the Same Convergence On Christ? So God took into account how we all can't do our math too well, when He gave Daniel that timeline. What Grace! On the switch in bloodline, see Jer22:33, the (Je)Coniah curse. Shealtiel was adopted by Jeconiah, and was from Nathan, the younger son of David and Bathsheba. Compare 1Chron3:17 with Luke 3, and Matthew 1, which both list Shealtiel. Oh: leave "Cainan" out of your translation of Luke 3 -- then add up the sons from Joseph to "God" -- and then add "Jesus" -- you should get 77, with "Jesus" as the 77th son. Seventy sevens, get the pun? See, not even the begats are boring. "Cainan" thus throws off the count -- what a sly way to malign God -- so is not in the original text Luke wrote. Someone added it in years later; probably didn't notice the 77; maybe even thinking he was helping God look good. Because, a different scribe had stuck in a Cainan back in an LXX copy of Genesis 5; so someone long after Luke died, added "Cainan" in Luke 3, to balance to Gen5. Everyone trying to make God look good, clothe Him. If we didn't have so many pieces of Bible manuscripts, we'd not be able to detect such tampering; Biblical "CSI"! Heck: the Word is best viewed naked, in the original, k?]

    Israel had to wait about 535 years for this to occur (Daniel got the vision circa 538BC, see Dan9:1). Once back in the Land under Zerubbabel Israel languished again, Haggai having to come and wittily upbraid them once a month (see that book). Of course, the persecution they suffered was unbelievable, and should have sent them back to Babylon and later Persia where it was much nicer and safer. Notice how Malachi, who God sent out circa 460 BC, is the last OT book (circa 433BC). So within a generation after completing Jerusalem on time in 446BC, it didn't matter that His Coming was Predictable: they still didn't want Him. How human. So by 3BC, Israel, like any other group in humanity, instead expected this Living Ark to provide mere political deliverance and material prosperity. But Ever-Faithful God the Father would still make "Sons of God in Christ Jesus" (Gal3:26) out from the Son of God's Humanity: just as long Promised, esp. in Isaiah 53:10-11. (use both Hebrew and LXX texts.) Thus God exceeding all expectations, lifts the Stone Too Heavy To Lift, Isa53:5! For nothing shall be impossible for God.

This compatibility would thus be forged by God in Messiah, based on His Free Will Consenting, and on time. So the plan for Messiah (="Christ", Greek) would be light-years higher than the Mosaic Law, since He was to pay for sins. We saw this fact, in Part II's "#7 Royal Jewish Savior" link; and in Part III's "Qorban" link (aka "Third Reason for Invisibility"). So, Christ would DEPEND on the Holy Spirit, not on His Own Godness. Nor would Christ demand God fulfill expectations. Unconditional love, is like that. Unconditional love, is not humanly possible. Only God can be unconditional.

    Isaiah 52:13-53:12 explained in detail how the forging-of-compatibility works (translations are all bad: see Isa53trans.htm). Gist: He would live ON The Book, aka the Bible. Then, 'the Bible' only went from Genesis to Malachi. [Jewish order of the books was different; Jewish pseudopigrapha were known by all to be fakes.] That's what Christ lived on, and He lived on it, in two languages: the Hebrew (aka "BHS" or "Masoretic" text), and the Greek (aka "LXX", a translation from an earlier Hebrew OT, back a generation or two after Alexander had conquered the Middle East). So Christ in His Humanity did what He Legated us: Learn the Word, under the Spirit, John 4:24. By so doing, the Word as God became the Word as Humanity: "the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (in John 14:2-6ff). By Choice. So, by Choice Again, the Holy Spirit gave to the NT writers the Thinking of That Humanity so it could be PUT in writing, so that all humanity could learn Unconditional Love, by learning The Same Thinking. So the OT, His Thinking as God, as my pastor likes to remind us; and the NT, is His Humanity's Thinking. Just as long promised, since Genesis 3:15, Jer31:31-34.

Of course, back when planning that Fourth Ark-Who-is-His-Son, God-Father and God-Son and God-Spirit all knew Israel would be languishing; in fact, it would be the end of time, by the time He added Jewish Humanity to Himself. On purpose. But Love always lovingly reminds, so the love-object can voluntarily "shub" (return) to Him. For "Seth", means "appointed". Appointed times, l'moedthim. Divisions of time, with particular briths, covenants to match those divisions in time for those living during those divisions, those covenantal epochs, those Ages. So the births must match, too. Appointed Persons, then. From Seth, came Noah; from Noah, came Abram. So God likes to redeem time spent BUILDING. To be the Living Ark, Himself. To redeem time for all time (Heb10:1-17, Eph5:16, Col4:5), and thus justify the births of men.

Ahhh, the Grand Designer, noticing stuff we humans don't. Hmmm. Like, how intimidated we'd be, if He just showed Himself as He really is. Okay, then, the Temple Veil which represents the Holy of Holies being Sacred, is also the veil which separates God and man, due to that Holiness. So the One Born to Tear that Veil from Top (as God) to Bottom (as Man) will come together, l'moedth, in time and place and space. And an angel acting like a star in order to be a travel guide for some really positive guys (Matt2:9, Greek), plus some old forgotten prophecies will guide them to Him. Lest, they turn and be healed. Lest, they turn and be frightened of a Lamb.

By the time He did come, the world had been given 1000 years' advance notice on His Birth Year. They had been given thousand years' advance notice on the Flood, but didn't listen. The one who makes a nest ("Kenan") sires Praise ("Mahalal"); who sires Descent-of-civilization ("Jared"); who sires Dedicated-to-God ("Enoch"); who sires When-he-dies-destruction-comes ("Methusaleh"): the guy whose death date is the Flood's date. Yeah, this long line of oddly-named guys; their names were their MISSIONS. But no one listened. So the doomsday guy sires Power-Man ("Lamech", wry play on how angelic or human power count for nothing, compared to God); who sires he-who-will-give-us-rest: "Noah". Who built a boxy boat while everyone else laughed. Until they drowned.

It wasn't as if God didn't establish a PATTERN, huh. But so have we humans. So, past is prologue: we won't hear Him when He actually Arrives As Promised, yet again.

So notice: the precedence for the Rapture, is Voting. They didn't know for the longest time, WHEN it would be time to vote. But when God finally gave them 1000 years' notice, updated in 538BC and 521BC (to Zerubbabel, Haggai 2) -- no one cared. So even if we knew when the Rapture would occur -- and we can't, because our contract is a Body Promise, not a time promise, as Part IVb will show -- even if we knew when, we'd still screw it up. Mankind never changes. Thank God He won't change, Heb13:8!


"Jesus of Nazareth", a 1970's mini-series by Franco Zeferelli, covers the politico-religious struggle resulting from the Lord's First Advent in Israel. But even that movie portrayal, light-years superior to the typical syrup pandered as His Life, soft-peddled the real message: This Promise is of a World Ruler Who Is Also The Only God. Who Comes To Pay For The Sins Of All Mankind. Who Then Comes Back, to End The World, Killing Millions All By Himself. So: Believe In Him For That 'Rescue', And You Live With Him Forever. Don't, and You'll Burn Forever. [Nerd note: "save" and "salvation" words in English Bibles really first mean "rescue", "deliverance", in the Bible's original languages.]

    No one can be neutral to such a prophecy; no one can fuzz over the prophecy, since it's in nearly every verse of the Old Testament, and had lots of 'press' for hundreds of years. Laugh at or loath it, fear it or fight it, love it or lose it. You'll have to do one or the other. The political significance made it impossible to be neutral. Worse, since 963BC when David died, the year of His Coming was known.

    Almost no movie producer can afford to portray the DESTRUCTION PROMISE of this prophecy, without sugaring it somehow (i.e., with senseless power-miracles and maudlin script). Zeferelli did better than most others. For This Story is not some warm-fuzzy tale, goo-goo over the Baby in the Manger, say-awwww-here. Oh no. This story is shocking. God is shocking. Believe or burn is shocking. So Messiah is Most Shocking.

    So long as God is 'distant' in our minds, we are comfortable with the idea of him. The atheist has to make God NOT exist, for there is no amount of distance which he will find comfortable. The ooohhhmmming crowd who wants god to be a collection of impersonal attributes they can tap to make themselves the next Thetans or LightSpheres (gnosticism, again) must divorce the idea of Personhood from God. But even the believer in the God of the Bible will 'distance' his belief to find comfort. Because we are innately shocked at the idea of this Holy Person Who can just zap us into oblivion with nothing more than a nanosecond's will. For we don't understand Absoluteness. We only recognize POWER, and we all want as much as we can get. To get comfort. For we are none of us comfortable, really. So when we write our movies about the supernatural, or about Christ, we sugar them with gooey love statements, syrup them with spectacular circus tricks. And thereby, gain that precious distance. Trouble is, the truth is intimate, never distant. And we can't take it.

The Bible's Nativity Narrative:
Not shown by star, since astrologers must be executed, Deut 18:20.
So rather, Announced by living angels to living shepards,
a living angel to some living Persian priests; then by
those living Persian "magi" to comatose Jerusalem;
then by many massacres of living babies,
ordered by a dying Herod the Great,
to the rest of living Israel, due to those "magi".

Click here to learn how Bible says it was NO Star, but an angel. NO Star, and no magi at the manger. NO star, and not in Bethelehem, either.

So the news of His Birth, though few humans witnessed it, nonetheless spread like wildfire by means of those innocent Magi; then, through that ol' dependable gossip network of humanity. So much, that Herod ordered his troops slaughter all males below age two who were unfortunate enough to be born in towns where the Child was taken. For Herod feared civil war, if this 'messiah' remained alive. Which of course served to spread the news even further, faster, and deeper. Think about that fact for a minute. How great must have been the interest, that such news could travel throughout the world in just a couple of years? And it did traverse the world: for no leader sets about to massacre babies unless he has a worry over foreign domination. Domestically, it's political suicide to do such a thing -- oriental despot, or no. So the only way he can justify it is by saying some foreign intrigue over this Messiah rumor warranted it. But notice also, that by making this claim, by ordering his troops to kill babies from Bethlehem up to Nazareth -- he himself contributes to the fast spread of the news, worldwide! For now, a KING is involved, seeking to kill another -- and prophesied! -- King! For this kind of event shocks people wherever they are; wherever they go, they will tell this story. We all salivate over disaster stories.

    Look how easily he can make the claim of foreign domination, considering these were PERSIANS: Oh, those Magi were SPIES sent from Persia, seeking a marital or martial alliance with the no-one-knows-where-He-is, Son of David. They were trying to stir up support for him here, pretending some miracle 'star'! We found who supported this lie, and since they wouldn't confess which child it was, well we had to resort to drastic measures. For the sake of all Israel. Not at all hard to believe, since Persia was the mortal enemy of Rome, and long had exercised varying degrees of suzerainty over Israel, ever since Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, in the 500's BC. To think there would be support for Persian rule rather than Rome's wasn't at all farfetched, either: were it not for the Persians, the 2nd Temple and Jerusalem wouldn't have been built (see books of Ezra, then Esther, then Nehemiah), all fulfilling Daniel 9:25's timeline. Many Jews then lived in Babylon and Persia, and many still do. All Persia would have long known the forecast year of Messiah's birth because Daniel was the highest official in the Empire under Nebuchadnezzar and later, Cyrus. Future Persian kings appointed Jews as their senior officials. So it's no surprise that magi -- who specialized in lots of 'wisdom' forecasting -- would run around Jerusalem wondering where this prophesied King was located.

    Look at the difficulty: the Jews are caught in the middle. They have always been caught in the middle. As a middleman nation much like Switzerland, they have survived on diplomacy and playing the rivals off each other. It's the only way for a small nation to survive, at any time. So here are these Persian officials, who however naive, are still highly-ranked. What are they doing inquiring about what they have to know, is the Messiah prophecy? At a time when Herod himself was king? The Jews didn't like Herod, everyone knew that. Sure, these Persians demonstrated themselves to be really naive -- but not so naive, are their superiors back home. See the dilemma: now if the Jews show too much interest in a Messiah, Rome will see that as an attempt to ally with Persia, since this official delegation has just arrived -- well, what's to stop Rome from running over Judea, just squashing it? By contrast, what's to stop Persia from running over Judea? Either way, it's a slaughter of Israel. Better to slaughter babies, than to have the whole nation be slaughtered by one of the two sides. Israel is in a political vise grip. It's a real problem, that these Persian officials are expressing positive attitude toward Israel's PROPHESIED King. If Herod doesn't repudiate them, if he doesn't repudiate Messiah, Rome will surely intervene.

    Much has been made of the fact Herod ("the Great") was bloodthirsty even within his own family, as if to explain this baby atrocity as a personal motivation of his; and in fact, on both sides of the family there was a long train of killing off rivals which dated back almost 200 years prior, to the origin of the once-noble Maccabees (Herod's wife was the daughter of the last great Maccabean king, who maybe was also his cousin). For, the whole reason why Rome got control over Judea at the time (well, finally after the Battle of Actium), was due to this very tangled relationship between the Herods and the Maccabees (aka Asmoneans or Hasmoneans). Rome was dragged into what had been a simmering struggle between Egypt and Syria, charmed by Herod's father (and no doubt, the promise of much travel-tax revenue); when Rome finally succeeded in winning against the other (backed by eastern potentates) factions, Octavian (later called Augustus, Caesar) had appointed Herod king of Judea; and the latter spent a bloodthirsty four years quelling intense Jewish opposition to him, finally settling himself down in 37BC. So, you can understand why this Herod would be fairly nervous about rivals a scant 33 years later: some of the worst of whom, were in his own family. He nearly killed off all of them, including his own wife. He knew quite well Augustus only wanted him there as a buffer between Persia and Rome: kinda like the Eastern bloc countries were, between Russia and Germany, from the time of Catherine the Great, onward.

    But brutal people are often quite pragmatic -- and no king sets about to murder potential taxpayers, without a very strong reason. For in those days (and probably still today, somewhere), Rulers commonly must kill (or at least sequester) rival royal children: for people who are NOT children, can USE them to cause trouble -- witness the history of (the later) Europe, and especially France. Even in our day 2000 years later we can surely understand, since the same phenomenon kicked off our Y2K (which really began 2001): "9/11". The terrorists are still active in the US, around the world, and now especially in Iraq and Palestine: trying to blow up rivals (i.e., those brave Iraqis running for office in the January 2005 elections). When a significant power threat is perceived, violence is often used. It's a calculated move, usually a counterproductive move (it backfires), but humankind just hankers after what seems like a "quick fix". See, the trouble in the Middle East today has always been going on. Geography, politics and tribal rivalry are the real story behind that trouble, not the issues voiced in the evening's news. Deeper still, The Trouble Over Messiah Is The Foundational Reason: remember, Satan&Co. have a vested stake in preventing Messiah, and in persecuting all who believe in Him.

    So sometime just after Chanukah 4BC, Herod the Great was thinking, Ouai! those Magi didn't go to Bethlehem Ephrata! So the Child must be there! But idou! They then turn north, and just go back to Persia, snubbing my courteous request! So many towns they visited on their way home! All the way up to Nazareth! What if they somehow snatched the Child in Bethlehem -- no, had it DELIVERED to them -- and then left with it? What if they moved the Child north, secretly in someone's care? Ouai! They cannot be the innocents they seemed! Ouai! the East could never be conquered by Rome -- maybe they sought alliances with the Promised Royal Family (where oh where WAS the Davidic line these days?) -- Ouai! there's nothing more powerful than Religious Motivation! -- so they'll build forces, overrun Judea, monopolize, get rich and attack Rome's economy! What then could Caesar do, since Rome's army has never been able to defeat Persia? Judea is prime territory, linking all trade routes! That's it! They plan to conquer SPQR via this Messiah! And I'm the buffer territory? Maybe I should send emissaries. No, it's too late, I've already allied with Rome; I'll be beheaded if they conquer Judea, the Jews HATE me! Ouai! To defend the Land.. Kill all the newborns.. no, all those up to 2 years of age, when they stop suckling, since you can't tell baby age earlier, and it will take TIME to find them all! Now Now Now Now Now! In the mini-series "Jesus of Nazereth", producer Franco Zeferelli had Peter Ustinov play Herod the Great in that scene: fabulous way to help us see the real cause for that order to slaughter babies. Which from Bible's deft "ramah" labelling, tells us happened at least partly from Bethlehem in the south, going 120 miles north in a relay -- to Nazareth.

    For, back circa 4BC, grappling with a huge worldwide influx of people seeking this Messiah, never sure who were spies or insurgents among them, Herod needed to show brutality, 'strength'; he was not particularly beloved, amiable and attractive though he was, since he was not Jewish. So, he thought he'd bought some time, not knowing his own time on this earth was just ending. Maybe he feared Rome's reaction, since "Messiah" was the heart of Judaic hopes, the Promised One, the Sevened One. Whatever his reason, and of course Satan&Co. had a lot to do with the motivation, Herod felt he had to do this brutal thing. It didn't work, of course. The Baby got to Egypt. Never trust in man's ideas, but in God's. By the way, it was THIS Herod, who rebuilt that second (Zerubbabel's) Temple, and at great expense. Trying to ingratiate himself. His sons would continue that project, finally finishing the rebuilding in 64AD. Right in time for the seige of Jerusalem to begin, and by 70AD all that hard work would be burnt to cinders.

Soon after his baby-slaughter orders, this Herod died a bitter man, but not before also signing away death warrants on most of his family and other rivals. So his throne became so contested, Rome won't appoint a new King of Judea; but rather, cunningly uses the factions to negotiate down divided territories; so after much intra-family wrangling, things settle down; the 'sons' don't get the same status as the father. [I know the traditional accounting for Herod's death is 4BC. It was maybe only four months between His Birth and Herod's death; Christ was actually born 25 Chislev 4BC, by God's Accounting System (see PassPlot.htm for how I got that from Bible) -- so if Herod died near Passover like so many contend, that's at the beginning of 3BC (Chislev is the ninth month, Adar the 12th, Nisan=Passover, the 1st). Some scholars use the two-year Herodian assessment in Matt2:16 as if it were RETROactive rather than PROactive, forgetting that Herod would have to ADD for the future time it would take to hunt down all the children. So to back-date Christ's birth by ASSuming two years -- i.e., that the magi came to Jerusalem two years later -- well, the text doesn't support that idea. Clearly Herod didn't achieve all the killing by his death; other people would have hidden their children too, once the killing began. Also, there are an average of 2 solar eclipses per year. It was also common Roman superstition to assign (or invent) astronomical events to ruler beginnings and endings, so how can you trust any claim of eclipses. See how Suetonius writes.]

    The family of the Herods -- attractive schemers and usurpers, really, makes one think of the Merovingians -- were always at war with each other, too; and now the intra-family wars become even worse.

    For this reason, Herod's second son by a third woman, a Samaritan -- also named Herod, this one "Antipas" -- married his half-sister Herodias; who, through his father's Hasmonean wife, was herself a Jewish Royal Princess (though not from the tribe of Judah); Herod did this in order to legitimize his Roman-appointed rule, tainted further as it was by his father's brutality -- but as well, to secure greater claim for himself against his own brothers. Problem was, he himself divorced his first wife, and then had married Herodias via her divorcing her previous husband -- his own half-brother Philip! No soap opera on TV today, can rival this convoluted story of the Hasmoneans and the Herods! Both tumultuous bloodlines, married again! [BibleWorks Dictionary (Easton's?) says Herodias was Herod the Great's daughter by Mariamne (sp?), but Encarta says she was Herod's grandaughter, and sister of Herod Agrippa I. You decide.]

During this time, almost three decades then pass: and NO ONE SEES this Messiah! So imagine the simmering civil war bubbling in Israel: at one 'end' you had the brutal melodramas with the Herods; money and approbation accompanied those who favored the right faction. At the other end, was this loud, politically-incorrect, and hence popular promised herald of Messiah, John the Baptist. For he'd denounced Herod for marrying his half-sister, a divorceé to boot. THAT made for the civil unrest. For John had become popular, as he was the sole link to the Still-Unseen Messiah. No one could be neutral.

    Choose: NO SEEN Messiah, but instead a SEEN scroungy guy whose lifestyle no one would want; or, a SEEN Herod, who loved to throw his money around to win popularity. So the people had two scandalous choices: 1), turn against John the Baptist, or 2) turn against Herod. It was that stark, that simple. Brew for a civil war, indeed!

    John was a herald foretold, end of Malachi, so he talks like Malachi predicted, to make clear who he was. His birth was also prophesied in Malachi (toward the end): THAT was how people were to know of Messiah's presence, as well. John's heraldic role was to PREPARE the people for Messiah's Announcement of Kingship: by Voting for Him. "Voting" meant believing in Messiah for one's salvation, just as Moses and even Abram had done (i.e., Gen15:6, Deut 6:4). For, the Kingdom was of heaven, not earth. Everyone knew those prophecies. Everyone was ABUZZ with those prophecies.

    When you read Luke 1, you realize that since John's father was miraculously able to speak only by choosing a first name which was politically-incorrect, you know much. From that day forward, everyone knew John's role, prophecy or no prophecy. So for the first 20-some years he lived, people came from miles around to hear him. What made John particularly egregious, was the fact he was a legitimate Levitical priest at a time when many serving in Temple were not legitimate. Yet he snubs Temple service? Under the Law, that's a bad thing. So if he's popular, well that's a big advertisement that the priesthood is sooo corrupt, that even God is snubbing Temple service. If you were in the Sanhedrin, house of all the bloodline records, you would find this snubbing by John most troubling. For under the Law, a Levitical priest does have the right to teach and minister. John was just such a priest, but garbed in Elijah-style roughness. Powerful weapon for massing support. That wasn't John's motive -- but the Sanhedrin would think it was.

So by the time John makes his politically- and religiously-incorrect grand NATIONAL appearance dressed like Elijah in the fifteenth year of Tiberius (26AD), he'd not need any introduction to Israel. John was the only living evidence of Messiah anyone knew. So no one was neutral to him, and no one didn't know who he was. [Tiberius' reign had two phases; the first began before Augustus died, and then Tiberius ruled on his own. So, depending on how you accounted that beginning date, you'd derive an early or later AD value for "fifteenth year of Tiberius". Bible dates go by the time the person first became king, irrespective of any co-regencies. That's why there's so much confusion over 1Kings 6:1, since that is an exception (dating from David's death out of the clear blue sky, hence the added clause of 480 years, thereby proving it was 3 years AFTER David's death). So this "fifteenth year" is an exception here, too. So I'm following that convention, since it's the BIBLE which says it was the fifteenth year of Tiberius. 11AD, his first year, while Augustus still lives, +15 =26; but if you COUNT the same year, then it would be 25AD. Not sure which of the two it is, but it would be 26AD at latest. That was the year Pilate first became governor. Mommsen also uses 11AD for Tiberius' commencement of rule, according to one of my Bible dictionaries; but I've only got an abridged copy of Mommsen, so I can't say where in Mommsen that date is located.]

    So, people in those days also engaged in the (originally Greek) custom of "baptism", a type of graduation ceremony originating with Alexander's Hoplites. The Hoplites went through a 'baptism' when they were graduated from their bootcamps: they each received a sword, dipped it in pig's blood for luck in battle, whooped their war cry and entered the ranks. That was Baptismos. Which, in reference to the Kingdom, was a BELIEVING IN, and hence VOTING FOR Messias: so, to depict that, one dipped down in the water; then, coming up out of the water signified being IN that Kingdom. So "Baptism" had, therefore, a dual significance of salvation, and entrance into the Promise. See Isaiah 53-61: just as He would be immersed in our sins, so we got immersed in Him (see also Romans 6). So one "came to the waters" like Isaiah counselled in Isaiah 55, see. It was a demonstration of belief, not the belief itself; and everyone knew it was the belief which God used to make one saved, even as He had done for Abram and Moses. Thus they demonstrated they knew they'd obtained the permanent cleansing of salvation, the permanent status of salvation in HIS Kingdom. But that was all they knew about the Kingdom. For, Messiah hadn't yet presented Himself.

    John, cousin to the Christ, was six months older than His Savior, was the "Elijah" everyone waited for; he lived an ascetic life, in the style of a prophet being ostracised. Which he was, because what he taught, few wanted, the Sanhedrin hated, and Herod -- though intrigued by this man's teachings -- couldn't politically tolerate a man who told the world their tetrarch married against the Law. John wasn't advertising Herod's sin to get him in trouble, but to save him: some of the details John had broadcast, no one but God could know. God gives the Gospel in myriads of ways, and all of them don't feel good, lest you believe for the feel-good. What, should feeling become god? How fair is that?

    Again, God isn't dog; He doesn't perform to expectations. Instead of seeing Messiah (Who by the way needed much solitude, as King-in-Training), the people saw.. John. Scrawny, maybe muscular, who knows -- wearing camel's hair tunics and eating grasshoppers with honey (tweaking the Law, ok?) our herald isn't exactly what fits in with the religious crowd. Neither were those Luke 2 shepards, who weren't even allowed to go into the Temple -- never mind, that their sole job was to pasture the only kind of lambs the Temple could use for sacrifice! But the angels went to them; but the Holy Spirit endued (=pimplemi, a Greek word which is not plerow, so less than the Filling of the Spirit, look it up) John. Worse, God advertised His Son via some distant priests who He just had to know would rile up political concern since they were Persian, for crying out loud. Who then turned and were healed by an angel acting like a star. As a result of their visit to Honor that Son's Birth, maybe hundreds of babies, died. God foreknew all that, and did nothing to stop it. Wouldn't let those priests even go back the same way they came; thus making their visit look like it had power-grabbing motives to an already suspicious and apoplectic, Herod the Great: what, did they secretly arrange a marriage between this just-born King of Israel, and one of their princesses? Herod would surely suspect these priests of such motives. It was, after all, the normal practice: even, his own.

    What God does, is cause trouble. He caused political trouble and many childrens' deaths, in order to birth Israel at the Exodus; so here He does it again, only this time Jewish babies die. Antiochus IV Epiphanes had done the same thing about 164 years prior, when the Jews refused to give him pigs to sacrifice in the Temple. So, God does it Himself: sacrificing babies, just because He births Messiah. Nor does He stop there. He keeps on causing trouble for those who believe in Him, by sending them a scruffy prophet who talked about Messiah being alive, rather than by sending them Messiah. Time and again, God does what we consider wrong, late, slow, bad, ineffectual. Like Satan in Matt4, we are flummoxed at God's Choices. So, then, what do we choose? Do we look beneath the surface of our puny expectations and ask WHY God does a thing? Do we ever stop to think about what all those Gospel verses are telling us about these uproarious times, and the Person Who lived then? Oh, we can practically repeat the facts by heart! Yet think about their meanings, not at all. For what movie yet made, brings out How Much Immediate Worldwide Trouble This Birth Caused, and on purpose, too! For that is always the issue, in the life: "what think ye of Christ?" (Matt22:42.)

    There's a whole lot of Bible-bashing which is rationalized based on the fact Bible is silent about the first 30 years of Christ. No homework! For you don't announce yourself as king, until age 30. You couldn't serve in Temple until that age, and Christ has Two Kingships, one of which is King-PRIEST kata Melchizedek, antedating Israel. A king must train, before claiming rule. So the years are 'silent', because it's illegal for Him to announce Himself, prior. David was crowned when he was 30, not before. Samuel had anointed the lad when he was a teenager. But then nothing happened. Maybe 15 or more years passed between David's anointing and his kingship. You don't hear anything much about his years then, either. Because, he's too young. It's a ponderable question how many knew who He was, during those years. Did John meet and talk with Him? John's reaction to Him when He comes to the River to be baptised that first time looks like John knew who He was, but didn't actually believe He was God -- so maybe not the Messiah -- until John heard God testify of Him. So maybe that reaction typifies what people at large knew. For the shepherds were charged with saying Messiah was born when He was born, and they knew Him directly, being present within a day or two of His Birth. They would know His Name. So maybe people did know, furtively going to Nazareth during the ensuing years, to be nearby -- but laid low. Because, it really was up to Him whether He Himself would Vote to Be Messiah. God would not coerce.

So to choose between popularity politically, or ostracism, was the issue for a Whole Generation Of People Who Did Not See Messiah Himself. Yet, people came from miles around to hear John, to be baptised in the River Jordan, a ceremony long popular for illustrating graduation. So it was a great way to illustrate self being saved by the Water of the Gospel, the Official Good News of Salvation. So a lot of people were dipping down in the River. But no one was seeing the Messiah.

    Those people visiting John at the Jordan, and many ever since, simply dipped down in the River, believing in Him. So they entered God's [i.e., OT] System. Notice what they did NOT do. They didn't dip into jealousy over His Being Rich. They didn't dip into guilt over their being poor and needy. So, they didn't dip into politics. They didn't dip into doubts about God's Sanity, that He'd not show Messiah. They didn't dip into doubts about God's Righteousness, that He'd allow many babies to be massacred on account of the political needs of a king, even if the king's goal never got met because he died. They dipped into belief that What God is, they wanted to know forever. They drank that hope of Him, vile sinner or no -- it didn't matter to God what they were, so it didn't matter to them how He seemed. Relationship, not religion, not politics, not goodies. Just Christ.

    Of course God didn't let those babies get destroyed for no purpose: He Saved Them For Heaven That Way. For, no one who is incapable of understanding and refusing the Gospel, can die and escape Heaven. You have to be blotted out of the Book of Life via Lifelong Unbelief. So, if your life wasn't long enough, guess what? You went to Heaven. Unlimited Atonement on the Cross, baby. For every baby. And every adult. Still, who are we, compared to God? Does He not OWN everything? Wouldn't it be wrong if He didn't have the right to exercise His Choices over all of what He owns? How would our own ownerships have any juridical basis, if this First Rule of Ownership, wasn't GOD's Rights? The one who is positive to God, thinks that way. The one negative, doesn't. Positive or negative, we all are unworthy, so those positive have nothing over those negative. So God uses His Unexpected Nature in a way which strips out all the barnacles, so it's a pure question: do you want Him, or not? Love, is like that: unsauced.

    Being unsauced, the Truth is a starkly confrontational choice: to choose Messiah, is not merely to choose versus the nice alternatives; but rather, since God always causes trouble for His creation -- to choose to GET trouble, if you choose Him. Messiah was born for trouble: troubled times, end of the world, destruction of the people, and especially, His Own Death on a Cross. He knew that from the moment He was born, Heb10:5 (spoken supernaturally from the feeding trough, aka "manger", French verb for "to eat"). So we GET TROUBLE as a result of believing in Him: he who would follow Me must take up his own cross, see. So all these people didn't take up politics, they took up crosses, when they believed in Him. It was ever thus: read Hebrews 11. So the unsauced truth is, a rough-hewn cross with plenty of splinters awaits the one who believes in Him. So it can never be said, á la Job1:9-11, that you love God for His Goodies. Even as, He doesn't love you, for yours. Even as, He Makes You Into A Diamond from your own doo-doo nature, if you learn His Son's Thinking. Then, you are full of goodies, anyway. Suneisis and stauros, comprehension and cross, together eaten, Isa52:13 and :14, not just one or the other. Unsauced.

    The worst persecution is not overt, but covert. The drip drip drip drip of doubts, of wanting to be comfortable, wanting to fit in with one's fellows -- that's the devastating kind of persecution. The 'cross' is also, learning Him Whose Very Beauty makes the self feel even smaller, still. Even uglier, still. And, since per 2Cor5:21 we get the very Righteousness of GOD that first nanosecond we believe in Christ -- for the Cross is an Exchange of sins FOR that Righteousness -- we are, the moment born-again, totally at odds with ourselves. What was once acceptable, is now, well somehow unsatisfying. That drip drip drip drip over the years wears one OUT. So the flashy persecutions which make mouths cheer in the movies -- aren't the worst ones, by far. The sheer differential between Godness and our puniness. THAT's the torture. That's what He saves us from. And that's what we go through, that's our cross: a lifetime of tortured waiting to BE as good as our Divine Standards from Doctrine, for HIM! (Rom8:11ff, last half of 1Cor15.)

    This torture plays quietly. That is why it's sooo intolerable. There's a growing, quiet separation-of-thinking between the worldly thinking you have, and the growing Truth you're getting in God's System. This growing, silent, deadly separation quietly grates. Like sand developing into a pearl, you'll find yourself progressively and yet quietly irritated all the time. For, you are growing OUT of your attachments to things human, and growing quietly INTO new attachments toward things spiritual. Paul deftly explains this quiet transmutation and its devastating internal separation, in Romans 6-8. That's the true cross. Not the flashy one. Christ would have to suffer way more BEFORE the Cross, to be able to ENDURE the Cross. Your training must always be harder than the combat, in order for you to do well IN combat. So it is, for us. Playing drip drip drip drip relentlessly. And 99.9% of us, won't endure it. We choose the dry world, instead of the drip drip drip drip of Doctrine in our spiritual veins.

So all during this explosive Messiah's ALIVE! period -- during these 30 years(!) Messias Himself, being Unseen -- many lives were ruined or saved, all over the world, not merely in Judea. As usual, God 'delayed' His revelation to give every SOUL enough chance to vote, and no chads, either: sans influence of His Presence. Just as He had done, during that first unofficial interregnum, when He transitioned out, King Saul (1Sam15:27-29). Again, because the issue is relationship with God, not His Goodies (i.e., His Attractiveness). If you'll recall, it wasn't David who revolted or advertised he'd been anointed king; but rather, it was Saul who periodically would take his whole ARMY to seek David's death; naturally, people in Israel gradually began to vote for one or the other. So here during the last 'interregnum', waiting for Messiah to show Himself, people voted between the politicos they saw, and the Promised One they didn't see -- again.

    Thus many could -- and did -- think God abandoned them; yet many more, very far away, thus had the chance to come to Jerusalem, from anywhere in the world. But in Judea proper, the people remained oppressed; writhing, they lived under a hated non-Jewish ruler; oh, God abandoned them -- for where WAS this Messiah when we need Him most?

No wonder Israel was a seething cauldron of hope, hatred, and fear. The ruling elites became very concerned about Rome just stamping its foot down and destroying the people like Nebuchadnezzar had. Especially, since from the Daniel timeline, John's preaching exactly mirrored timeline components relating to "first" and "last", Alpha and Omega! For John's ministry was a composite of Elijah, but also Jeremiah: and most of all, of Samuel.
  • Elijah was a prophet during the time of Israel's most flagrant period of apostacy, the Ahab-Jezebel period (1Ki17) -- the last royal family of (Samaria) Israel; Jehu, next, was a usurper God appointed; after the fourth generation of Jehu, all the remaining Kings of Israel were usurpers God didn't appoint.
  • Jeremiah was a prophet to Judah, the last one before Nebuchadnezzar took the Temple (see Jer and Lam), after which there were NO more kings of Judah, either.
  • Samuel was the first of the prophets, given as a boy by his formerly-barren mother, Hannah. Samuel anointed the first two kings: first Saul, the king the people wanted in lieu of God; then, David, the one God wanted.
  • So now, John: prophet for the Last David, the King-to-Come!
  • And from whom was Messiah actually descended? Nathan, (maybe) youngest son of David and Bathsheba (see geneology of Mary, in Luke 3)! That too, was prophesied (Jeconiah curse), oh my!
  • And this Last King would be followed by world war, as everyone knew from Zechariah 12 and especially Daniel 9. The Temple would be destroyed! Who wants this Messiah, then? It's the End Of The World!
  • So this John the Baptist was both Elijah at the end and Jeremiah of the prior 'end', all-rolled-up-in-one!
  • Well, let's just pray this Messias never shows up, huh?

    Oh, these many confluences of history, prophecies melding together, messages all discomfiting! All the elites could do, was pray this 'Messiah' never actually showed up! For this time wasn't like the others. This time, there was no one going up to John and saying, "I am he". So this time, unlike all the others, it was believable. No one promoting himself. The herald, not promoting himself nor accepting approbation, gifts, etc., the way charlatans do. So this time it was um.. maybe real?

    What makes it sooo ruddy difficult, is the TIMING. Years from Adam, everyone knew. Years from Adam in 1050-year increments told you exactly when the world would end. And here's this Messiah thingy? At the very time it should be? Waving it off would be easier if the CONFLUENCE OF TIME were out-of-sync. But it wasn't. And it was too easy to count from Adam. Year 1, when he fell. Year 4103, when Messiah comes. At this point, it's something like Year 4104-32, and everything's right on track. Scary.

For, the Coming of Messiah is the heart of Judaism, depicted as it was by those sacrifices (i.e., the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world) and above all, the Ark. Gold=Deity; Wood=Humanity and curse of receiving our sins; the sins, of course, were represented by what was being preserved IN that Ark -- Aaron's rod that budded, the broken tablets. Exact representation of how sins would be paid for, too: imputed to Him and judged, just as Isa53 explained in excruciating, horrific detail. (To this day, you will only find Isa53 euphemistically translated.) Of course, by the time God birthed Him, only the Petra remained, in the unseen Holy of Holies. And now it was all coming true?!

    And let us not forget, Passover is the Jewish Freedom Feast, the first of the year, and it's all about His Coming and paying for sins. Lamb slain, eaten depicts His Paying and our Believing, THE most famous metaphorical structure in the OT. After which salvation, one was to TRAIN: to grow up in the Law, so that The Nation Could Inherit A National Priestly Status, versus the temporary lineal one they then had. For, Israel was to be the world's Adjunctive Ruler FOR Messiah, representing Him to a lost and dying world. All that, was also foremost in their prophecies: the 1000-year rule of Messiah, with Israel as His Home. Potent stuff, salvation and Headship. Bride of Christ was first Israel's conditionally-covenanted role. Based on, them keeping the Law, which was Based On The Passover. For the Passover, like all God's Holidays, are little prophecy maps. Which is why God was so punctiliar: the repetition and the rules helped you REMEMBER THE FUTURE. So that when it happened in time, you could recognize it and not wig out. Kinda like training soldiers before they go into battle, so they can still THINK during it, so also, Israel's holidays. God always tells you everything upfront. So you can train to endure it when it occurs. PassPlot.htm explains further this advance-notice quality of the holidays.

    In the OT, you have so many multi-layered metaphors, it's easy to gloss over them when reading Bible. Pictorial depiction enables man to learn more quickly, since he can hear and see and touch. Babies learn better with fingerpainting; if you just TELL them what fingerpainting does, they'll never learn it. Same, here. But once an adult, the richness of the pictorial explodes into a bizillion 'spokes' of understanding and reasoning. So for the adult, Passover itself depicted the saving of the world, in miniature: for upwards of four million NON-JEWS accompanied the Jews out of Egypt. And, being now Jewish by FAITH (like Abraham, a true fathering, see Romans 4,9, Gen15:6), they quickly intermarried and became Jewish by blood, too. So deft an analogy, to how Messiah would spread His Wings (for He is God, Deut32-33) over all the world, and we could nest in His pinions.

    So the Coming of Messiah in the early AD's represented the coming DELIVERANCE of the world. But first He would have to pay; then, because He's Jewish, everyone would hate His People, even as others mostly had. So Tribulation preceded Triumph. Every Jew knew that, ever since the first Passover promise to Abram, way back in Genesis 15:13 first your sons will be enslaved for 400 years, and then I will bring them out to the Land I have promised you. So it would also be for the world -- and now, the time for deliverance for the entire world was at hand?!

    See: you can't be neutral, no matter where you are in the world. This story is too POLITICAL, too epic, too apocalyptic, to ignore. Laugh at it or loathe it or love it, you'll have to do 'something'. And, everyone did.

Israel's geography made all this upsetting prophetic confluence a global concern, not merely a local one. Kinda like today, though not due to oil needs, the Middle East was vital for the world's trade. Very much like the role Chicago and Houston have, in the United States. Mid-point. So trade routes which skirted the coast of every landmass on planet Earth, thousands of years old -- every one, went through Israel. Israel is the most strategically-placed nation on earth, bridging three continents, and equipped to be accessed on either side due to the unique shape of (what we call) the Saudi Peninsula. So travel could be cut in half by someone coming to Israel, then embarking to any point on the compass, next. People from all over the world incessantly moved through and in Israel, usually on their way to somewhere else. It was the waystation of the world. It still is. So of course those living there made their living through travel-related services, like middlemen, banking, security/policing, etc. Living from other people's production, marketing that production -- just as God had always promised them. Just like Grace -- you get something from Someone Else's, Work.

    Meanwhile, the travel itself would prove profitable, for one stopped every 20 miles or so to eat, get news, etc. Since this was a time of big empires (Rome, Persia, China, etc), there was a fair amount of safety, and water travel allowed faster getaways from any onshore dangers, as well. The nomadic lifestyle is far more efficient and safer, than if one stays put: for one thing, sewage and garbage have no time to build up, so health is better served by constant movement, as well. It was the normal and even preferred pattern, to be moving all the time. You were harder to attack, you travelled in style, you travelled at a leisurely pace, with a large retinue, along familiar routes with familar faces every place you stopped. Perpetual vacation, in a way. Those who served the many nomadic traders, stayed put.

    Think of a network of relay posts dotted along every coastline in the world, and it shouldn't be too hard to see how quickly news can spread. So Israel was the Center of Commerce: it took almost no time for news of this Messias, to spread around the globe. People came from all over the world to hear Him (viz., Acts 2). It's the whole world, not just the Med area, which learned of Him. (Look up the Clovis and pre-Clovis anthropological theories, plus Thor Hyderal's work, if you are skeptical about ancient travel.)

    Trade and talk go together. People like people, and people like to compete with people. Everyone loves a good story. So imagine how popular it was to tell this story, which is why John was so popular: the Promised 'Elijah' to herald His Arrival was at the Jordan, proclaiming His imminent arrival; and by the way, The World Is Ending as a result, so you can quit this dusty life and go to heaven soon. Who wouldn't listen to such a story? How could such a story not become popular, among the hopeless, the hurting? So how could such a story not become political?

    So any 'messiah', real or fake can be used by the clever to foment outside alliances, to cause trouble. In the miniseries "Jesus of Nazareth", Antipas (Christopher Plummer) explains this problem to John the Baptist (Michael York). The larger reality that short jail scene depicted, cannot be overdone. Again, the strategic geographic position of Israel forever makes it the most fought-over piece of territory in history, so the threat of invasion or outside-sponsored civil war (much like in Iraq today), was quite a threat, even in normal times. But these weren't normal times; and oddly, no one was coming forward to claim David's Crown. The real Messiah wouldn't be seeking political power, everyone knew that. He must finish as Lamb first. So, since no one is claiming David's crown, is the Real Messiah, really on earth now? even the elites, wondered.

    "Sanhedrin" was the name of the juridical body in charge of running Israel. Back when Moses was first made leader of Israel, the job proved too much for him, so Jethro (his father-in-law) recommended he appoint 70 "elders" to assist in juridicating the law. For the Law was divided civilly, too: it was a combination of spiritual and secular provisions (Greek names for the divisions are entole, dikaiomata (the spiritual rules), and krimata). So these 70 men came to be known as the Sanhedrin. They were the most-trained-in-law among Israel. So: among them were those thirsty for power, and those thirsty for the Kingdom of God. The former obviously didn't like the latter. So when John the Baptist came, it galvanized the divisions within the Sanhedrin, so the power-thirsty were looking for a way to arrest him. But couldn't get one, since they couldn't control those thirsty for the Kingdom. Movies don't bring out the split, but should. We are all human. It's just the Jewish flavor of wanting power, which shows up in this history. But it could be any flavor. Negative or positive, any human is some of both. But God loves us all.

So imagine the reaction once He announces Himself: by quoting, of all things, Isa61:1! The Pardon of the Year of Jubilee only belongs to Messiah, and only Messiah can claim it! So you can understand (i.e., John 5ff, Luke 4): all Israel roiled! The political powder keg was real, with Messiah BORN exactly 1000 years after David became king! And announces Himself at exactly the same age as David had been, when David first became King of Hebron! Yes, the Savior has Really Arrived, and Israel will be its own kingdom, at last!

    Again: who can be neutral? Either this now Seen Messiah was a charlatan like so many others -- but um, everyone could prove His Birthdate, since He really was the Firstborn of David (the Sanhedrin would later use that proof to get Him crucified, even). Or, He really? IS the Messiah. Ooops. Now too close for comfort, not nicely distant, not some ephemeral idea one sighs over. Confrontation, now. The long hoping or hating now has a Face: His.

    In those times, people loved to talk about their faith just as much as any other popular topic. God wasn't a pariah of common society, then. Understand that Scripture was very well-known, even among the smallest brains in the Land, and in a good bit of the world -- again, owing to the commonness of travel -- and this Scripture about Messiah was so well known, crowds were everywhere looking, straining for news of Him. Especially, since "1000" is also the promised 1000-Year reign of Messiah! Will it begin now? people wondered -- kinda like people drool over the idea of the Rapture, today. Wow: God sure keeps a tight watch on His l'moedths! [See "Timeline" link at pagetop for how that 1000 year timing compared to David's reigning ages and dates, was determined.]

    David's dates were too well known. One can 'construe' prophecy and claim it's merely an 'interpretation'. But math isn't an interpretation. 1+1=2, never 3. Since everyone counted from David, they'd know 1000 years from his kingship, was Messiah's Birth. If they didn't know when He was born, they sure knew it not long afterwards, for between the shepherds and those chatty magi, the news was everywhere. That would get everyone counting. That would get everyone looking at Daniel 9:26. Many inaccurate ideas, but all can count to 1000. So many could know He'd die by 37AD. TIME MUST END if He doesn't arrive at this point. Time Must End if He doesn't die by that deadline. These are deadlines, and only the Real Messiah, can arrive to extend them.

    Real Dates tied to Real Politics can only come from Real God Who Really Advertises His Coming to Rule. A false messiah can't manipulate time. He can manipulate verses. He can seem holy. He can seem a lot of things, but he cannot be born, announce, AND be from the line of David you can prove from Temple records -- child must be dedicated at the Temple when born, it's the Law. So who else could this Jesus of Nazareth, be?

    What they couldn't then know, of course: that He would die for our sins in the 1000th anniversary year of that First David's retirement in 970 BC, seven years EARLY. At that time having been, like David, (uncrowned by people, but crowned by God) King of all Israel -- for 33 years, exact same number of years as David had been King over all Israel. But they sure could add up the dates when He's on the Cross!

    What they could then know, but didn't analyze until after-the-fact: God sent His Son to His Deaths on the Cross on exactly the same Passover DELAY timing; first set aside on the real 10 Nisan; then, Sacrificed on the real 14 Nisan. Of course, to know all that, you'd have to be savvy about the Jewish calendar running four days late that year. Of course, to know all that, you'd have to be savvy about the timing of the Passover. For the Jew, that's basic kindergarten stuff, so everyone should have known, as Passion Week unfolded.

    So all these l'moedths, the keeping of Time and Date and Place exactly as Previously Commanded and Assiduously Explained -- all these, who could orchestrate, except Adonai Himself?

    God has always been of extreme emotional value to the Jews, as indeed to many people of that part of the world. We in the West tend to be 'cold', deeming stoicism the more respectful. But in the Middle East and most of South Asia, extreme emotion is deemed the more respectful. Plus, the temperments of people in those geographical areas (also the Southern Med) are more joie d'vivre (no less intellectual). So you'd have rejoicing in the streets, here. Tears. Wailing over all the waiting, is now over. Whether you even believed in Messiah as God or not, the political meaning was a kind of vindication. You can't understand Palm Sunday and the problem with Herod, Pilate, and the Zealots, if you don't understand what "Messiah" means politically. It's as big a powder-keg issue as there can be, for a people who've considered themselves punished by God for lo, these six centuries. God is Now Smiling Upon Them! It's POLITICAL. We don't make enough of an issue over His Kingship and Kingdom, though the Bible stresses that fact incessantly. It's not religion: religion is against Christ, was Satan's invention. So, the religious elites were in an uproar. For, it's Political, so their power will be LOST.

    Again, the (by then) 565 years' advance notice meant that everyone understood Isaiah 61:1. Jubilee meant RETURN. It was the Return to Former Status; Israel lost its Temple and its kings in 586 BC, and now The Promised One Is Here To Take Away, Israel's Long Reproach! So to hear it was PARDONED now, well the wordplay on Salvation and Pardon, Redemption in the term "Jubilee" meant jubilation in the streets!

    Hence it's a very emotional, tumultuous time everywhere, not just in Israel. All along every trade route the news spread faster than germs: remember the Messiah prophecies? Well, He's Finally Announced Himself! Just like King David did! To claim His Kingdom! To save the world! So the end of the world, ahishennah! Just as the prophets foretold (i.e., Isa60:22)! After all, Israel hadn't had a king, since 586BC. Remarkable thing, that. 613 years pass after that, yet no Jewish King. The bloodline remains. The members of that most-sacred bloodline, were thus long under threat by Herodian and Maccabean descendents. For the Maccabees were originally priests, so had non-royal Judah but Aaronic-priestly blood, themselves. Cashing in on that status during a period of foreign domination (Antiochus Epiphanes), the Maccabees had long ago become usurpers as kings, too. So the real Royal Family Members stayed silent, living on Nehemiah 8:10 and Lamentations 3. Imagine, then, how they felt when they hear the Heir Apparent announce He's Messias: oh, he's causing trouble, exposing the Family! (Read John 5ff for several chapters, to see how upsetting it was.)

      After all, about 200 years prior, that very exposure's what made the family go underground: Antiochus Ephiphanes tried to wipe Israel off the face of the earth! It looked for all the world like the end of the world, then: Daniel 9:27 (misread, of course) seemed to come alive, since that Greek had desecrated the Holy of Holies with a pig offering. That's how the Maccabees came into power, originally a priestly caste -- but soon, claiming kingship too (so their Scripture knowledge wasn't so hot). For the next 200 years, they have influence over Palestine. Trumped, finally, by their former captives, the Herodian Idumeans (Edomites/Arabs) and Antipater's son, married one of Hyrcanus' granddaughters. Ahhh, sweet revenge, to marry the granddaughter of the man who had imprisoned one's ancestors. Ahh, that time-honored alliance tool: marriage. Divorcing God in the process of course.

      So the real Royal Family had gone underground to avoid pressure-to-marry, persecution, greed. For then as now, if you are "royal", everyone wants a piece of you. Especially, if you were of the line of David. (Just think about the Grail myths!) So back since Antiochus Epiphanes in the 160's BC, they remained low-key. It was a blessing when finally Rome took over and installed Herod, because by legitimizing one who was NOT Jewish, the Royal Family wouldn't be so much a threat. But they didn't advertise themselves. That's why the genealogies in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 are needed. They didn't advertise themselves, so lots of people didn't know.

See how intense the plotlines: Messiah would come when History Is Supposed To End, to proclaim Himself and pay for sin. Then, the fulfillment of the Pentecost for the Gentiles, a 50-year period corresponding to Jubilee by its end; followed by, seven years of Tribulation, at which point He'd come back again to rescue Israel from her enemies, initiate the biggest bloodbath in history, covering Israel in blood, i.e., Isa63, Zech 14:12 event (see context from Zech Chap.12 onward); and then, He'll usher in the Millennium, aka "The Day of the Lord" -- with Israel finally taking her rightful place as Queen of all the Nations. Married, to her Promised King. And Now, He's Arrived, Just As Written In A Scroll Of The Book?!

    Again, you can't escape the math: year 4103 from Adam, He's born. This you could verify objectively from Temple records. So, the countdown: 4103+40=4143, the 1000th anniversary of David's death, endpoint in the Dan9:26 calculation and end of time anyway. So, the 'bridge' could only play if Messiah completed. Presuming He did, then 4143+57 years=4200 years from Adam, when the 4th 1050 from Adam, ENDS. End of History, then. Beginning of Millennium, then. Because back by 4143, Messiah Purchased The Time in the same way as had previous heroes, starting with Enoch then Noah then Abraham then Moses then David (the 1000-year awards), ending with Christ, ending in the 1000th year from David's death. It's inescapable math, if you knew the calendar. Back then, they did.

    So if you were Jewish, you'd be so shocked at how the prophecies are being fulfilled, you'd faint. Or, jump about wildly. If you weren't Jewish, you'd either become Jewish right then and there, if you believed -- or, you'd become virulently anti- this Messiah person and His People. So the world POLARIZED during this time. The polarization began about a generation earlier, what with His Birth Year known, people began to talk a lot about the prophecies; the Essenes themselves, started going into the wilderness to prepare -- they knew Isaiah, so skip the fanfare, let's just hide out and wait for the 2nd Advent, hearing about the First, from afar. In short, this Birth, this Kingship was the focus of the world's attention, as illustrated by the Magi running around Jerusalem asking where He WAS, based on what they thought was this oddly-moving 'star'; as illustrated by, the city-wide adverse reaction to them; and only the long silence between Birth and Kingship Announcement, kept it from boiling over. But now, well He's here! Whether you believed in Him or not, now He's in everyone's 'face'.

    Adverse reaction occurs when you are worried about something being true. For Israel, Messiah's Coming meant first Tribulation Before Triumph: precedent was set with Abram, Gen15:13. Isaiah spent four whole chapters explaining how that future would occur, in Isa52-55; and now, staring everyone in the face, was the very Messiah he'd talked about, with all the events being on their doorstep; no longer in some dusty book. So they faced the prospect of everyone assembling against them, as a consequence of His Arrival.

    It's really no different from our current reaction to Iran or Osama bin Laden. Both of them claim a world ascendancy, that the West will be crushed. Well, the prophecy of Messiah means that the WORLD will be crushed. That theme is repeated so often in the OT you can't open one of the prophetical books on any page, and not find it.

    No one could afford to stay neutral, either: here's this claim of One World Ruler Who Is God Himself! Coupled with, an announcement that the whole world is about to end (can't divorce the prophecy of Messiah's Advent from the ending of the world). No one in power can afford to truly yawn at such news. So were you a satrap in Persia, a shaman in the Americas, a Caesar at Rome -- you'd perk up your ears, even if you didn't believe. Civil wars come from years of unrest simmering below the surface in the common man. And here, was the common man's salvation! So think: when people get enthusiastic, they move. They do something. At least, they begin to murmur a lot. So that's going on all over the world, not just in Israel. For, this Messiah is a Worldwide Event, one that just happens to start in Israel. Brew for civil war, indeed!

The Sanhedrin well understood the potentially explosive, civil unrest: Finally, THE King of Israel was on earth! Like Herod's father, the Sanhedrin faced being unseated, too -- no small concern, that. But give them some credit, they were more concerned (like Herod's dad), about Rome's reaction. Truest evil, see, is nearly-white in motivation. So, see it through their eyes: the historical parallel to the First David, and THAT long civil war which knowledge of him created -- there's God causing trouble, again -- was too awesome, too patent. Didn't a leader have to 'DO' something about it?

The Lord then feeds the cauldron for His Own burning: when He first shows Himself in 27AD, He behaves soooo oddly. Isa53:2c has some fabulous Hebrew wordplay on how odd we found Him. We expected fanfare and superficial conformings to worldly ideas of tit-for-tat, pomp, etc. He eschewed all that. So we were quite apoplectic about Him.

So by Matt16:18, near Passover 29AD which was the 2nd Passover of his 'official' Ministry (covered in John 6), Israel had rejected Him. Thus He announced His Solution: "Upon This BedRock" -- pointing to Himself, the "Petra" Holy-of-Holies-Rock and Cliff from which Israel drank in the wilderness, see also 1Cor10:4 -- "Upon This BedRock I will build My Church." Future tense. Testamentary, the body-building terms of which are open, up to Father, "as many as" clause in John 17:20-21. You and I would not be here, else. For time would have otherwise ended, due to Israel's rejection. King without a Kingdom otherwise meant MISTRIAL, God didn't keep His Promise, Time Bridge OUT!

So the three years of His Ministry were not happy ones, and many hated Him. Griefstricken every day by man's puny sense of right and wrong, his grasping and neediness and inability to love, his copious capacity for hatred and jealousy, the Lord nevertheless trudged on, ish makovot, w'idua holi: seeing if Vashti would change her mind about her King. She didn't. It was all the more heartbreaking for Him to know that His 30 years of being incognito, Presence known but not seen, didn't result in worldwide positive response. For, those who would have been positive to Him from far away, had had plenty of time to move to Israel in time for His Announcement, even as they'd had plenty of time to move there, in advance of His Well-Known Year of Birth. Worse still, they were positive enough to trek who-knows-how-many thousands of miles to get to Israel, but now that they see Him, well they want the self-righteous i-obeyed-the-Law, rather than even healing and food itself.

By the end of that three years, He was betrayed by His own, everyone left Him. He was tried in seven(!) kangaroo-court trials that would make a later Stalin's or Hitler's, look positively virtuous. Then, He finally Hung, Cursed On Wood. For extensive details on the corrected timing of Passover week, CLICK HERE for the "Passover Plot" webpage chronology.  It's a long story, because it's never properly told, except by a few pastors out there (mine being but one). Yet you can conclusively prove the timing from Bible. Takes a few days chasing and pondering verses in OT and New (because Passover week is strictly regulated, day by day). The link has the salient verses, to speed your vetting time.

His final Week was 'celebrated' in a manner the Sanhedrin could find downright threatening. Palm Sunday, He comes waltzing in on a donkey, traditional entry into the city reserved for the King. Of course, this was preceded by the miraculous resuscitation of Lazarus, so everyone was abuzz with His Entry. Then, quite kingly and insultingly, He enters the Temple and teaches openly, but stays outside Jerusalem UNTIL the Passover. And AGAIN drives out the folks making money off the Temple, Matt21:12, Mark 11:15, Luke 19:45. He uses the KING title, this time. Son of David. Rights of a human king.

So on Wednesday -- for Passover week ran Saturday-Saturday in 30AD -- He's on the Cross. click here for PassPlot.htm then search on "let's sketch" to go straight to the daily chronology. Between 12pm-3pm on Wednesday Nisan 14, 30AD (but nominally Nisan 18 since the Jews hadn't fixed their calendar), there's a supernatural darkness over Him as He pays for sins. No one could see his hand in front of his face at least locally, during those hours. (You can't see that fact in translation, special Greek OT verbs are used, tying back to supernatural darkness in the past.) So He probably hadn't slept since Monday or Tuesday night; Who, beaten so badly that Wednesday dawn He no longer looked Human, Isa52:14b; He, still silent, Isa53:7.

Then, Tetelestai, Salvation Accomplished. Then, Into Your Hands I commit my spirit, Oh God of Doctrine, Ps31:5. Then. Gone. But then! Resurrected on the Third Day, the promised Son of David Who Would See No Decay! And the tomb, was empty.

So, near the end of "Jesus of Nazareth", the final empty-tomb sequence shows Ian Holm ("Zera"), inspecting the tomb. He looks up at the camera, consternated at there being no body, and whispers, "Now it all begins. Now it really begins." Indeed. As Matt27 recounts, NOW the danger is His Resurrection. 'Far more serious problem, than His Arrival!

So let's look at God's Message about what Ended, and what Began. For Christ had invented a NEW SPIRITUAL LIFE and a NEW BRIDE when He was here. So like Ian Holm said above, "Now, it Begins." Yeah, "NOW" is a Bible term for the Church Age! A New Spiritual Life, since the Mosaic Law wasn't 'big' enough to pay for sins, main theme in Book of Hebrews. New Bride, Church -- founded on His King-Priest kata Melchizedek contract from eternity past (another main theme in the Book of Hebrews). In Part III, we saw the devastatingly-HIGHER Standard of spirituality Christ invented while He was down here, to produce a sinlessness which could survive the Cross. Holy Spirit's Power had to be Unlimited -- something Israel never had -- to enable that to happen. Christ chose to be Totally Dependent, eschewing use of either His Godness or His Humanity, to benefit Himself. Meanwhile -- and my pastor stressed this every time -- He had to Uphold The Universe By Willing It.

This New Covenant Beginning was what the Beginning-Who-Never-Had-A-Beginning always planned, Eph1. Ephesians 1 refers back to Isaiah 53:10-12, using both it and the Greek play "Ion" by Euripedes to craft one of the wittiest books in the New Testament. So here's the fastest way to orient to the underlying story in Bible about God's Plan, and thus to the Meaning of the Rapture:
  1. Read Euripedes' play, "Ion".
  2. Then read Isa53trans.htm's Tentative Translation and compare it with whatever translation you use, to see there is much more Information in the God-breathed Original about how our sins 'raped' Him on the Cross. Paul will be playing on both 1 and 2.
  3. Next, read Ephesians a dozen times, each one more carefully than the time prior.
  4. Each time you read, note the parallels between what Paul says in Ephesians and the play.

    Theme of Ephesians? God's Superior Begetting! Christian! It's Your Duty To Be Close, Near, Intimate With Very God! Cry all the way to the Bible Bank, baby!
    [Paul uses "far" and "near" OT language. Ionic dative of purpose in Eph2:10 will be covered in LvS4b.htm's "Father's Criteria.. :Fit Bride" table. Ionic dative is a discovery of my pastor's back in the mid-1980's while exegeting Ephesians verse-by-verse; that led me to the play "Ion" in 2003.]

    If you don't have time to read "Ion" by Euripedes, here's a synopsis. "Ion" is about a Greek god, Phoebus Apollo who raped (remember that!) a human woman, Creusa. As a result, she became pregnant, and bore a son, whom she was too ashamed to keep. So she put it by a tree with snake charms (to protect the child -- "Ion" means "venom", euphemism for semen). Phoebus saw the child, took it to his Temple, and raised the boy (his son) as a Temple slave ("doulos" in Greek means both "son" and "slave"). Creusa, meantime, keeps the birth a secret, and marries well. Then, the god causes Creusa to be barren, so that eventually she'll come to the Oracle of Delphi (his temple) seeking the ability to bear kids. Where she meets Ion, the now-grown son. Discovering who he really is takes up the rest of the play, and is extremely funny.

    At the end, of course, all is revealed, and Athena comes down to announce Phoebus' repentance, which results in Ion being awarded as the Progenitor Of All Greek Peoples. "Phoebus Apollo" is the Greek myth version of Satan's pre-Fall title, "Son of Dawn" or "Morning Star", in the OT, Haylel-ben-Shachar, in Isa14:12. (See also Job 38:7.) Look up the role of Phoebus Apollo in an encyclopedia. [Why Isaiah 14 and Eze28's references to Satan are pooh-poohed by scholars, when the keywords for Satan are there and elsewhere, completely baffles me. Can God make it more obvious who "Son of the Dawn" was, by crowning His Son's Humanity, "Bright Morning Star"? Even the Koran uses the same keywords (At-Tariq sura, among others). God draws analogy between the pride of the human king and his demonic backer, using the analogy to show how the king will share his backer's fate. Description weaves in characteristics which must reference Satan, since obviously no human was in the throne room of God.]

    So Ephesians is thus chock full of sexual innuendo, depicting the Victorious Fathering Of Bride, beating Satan in the Trial. God gave this to the only perpetual-virgin apostle, Paul! Paul deliberately and carefully parallels both Isa53 and the play in his circular letter which we know as Ephesians. It spread to all the churches of Greece and Asia Minor, who were largely populated by these 'sons' of Ion. For, the play was as popular to them, as Johnny Appleseed or the story of George Washington would be to Americans. So the audience for 'Ephesians' knew immediately that Paul was parallelling the play. Remember, what we call "Rapture" derives from 1Thess4:17's Suddenly Snatch Up (Gk: harpazw)="rape". For that was the cultural norm, not the exception: when men invaded or attacked, they would just grab women. It's a trend of ancient history. So too, in the play "Ion". So too, when the Lord comes for His Own, the Church.

    So "Ion" is used to wittily convey God's Superior Begetting Plan in Ephesians, when combined with Isa53, a chapter all about Him being raped with sterile sins and thus bearing all children. Here's a sampling of just a few witty analogies which quickly come to mind:

    • He Who Became a Doulos and was raped with our sins becomes the Progenitor of Salvation's progeny, trumping the venomous adversary who tried to make barren [Satan]. It's a clever play on Satan's Greek "Apollo" status. Eph1:20-23, 2:2, 3:10, 4:27, 5:16, 6:13 are Angelic Trial verses.
    • God seems to have abandoned mankind after letting Mr. Venom [Satan] rape it, so 'apologizes' by saving and thus spiritually-siring, the human race. That of course would be facetious, but yet communicates parallel to the play.
    • Mr. Venom's barren parentage promised only slavery in his temple; so the Real God makes that sterility fertile on the Cross which is also a kind of rape, and from it, Isa54:1! builds Real sons from a First Son Who IS The Living Temple Made Without Human Hands.
    • Ephesians 4:17ff, which sounds so dry and legalistic in English, becomes downright entertaining: shed your snakeskin ways for you are now truly like The Most High God Who Has No Venom in Him.
    • The commands are pretty cool: get rid of all the junk you used to need to get along in a world of snakes!

    Writer of Hebrews picks up "Ion" + Isa53 witticisms in his own Chapter 2; in the lengthy, threaded Temple analogy from Chapter 7-10; his "Archegos" (=progenitor, founder) usage in Heb12:2; and his "Church of the Firstborn" comment (Heb12:23).

    This same theme runs throughout 1Jn, who tracks his letter horizontally to Ephesians, using "in the beginning" and "born of God" (really, being-sired-by-God) to tie to the "Ion" theme, and then spends most of the letter tracking to Eph3:15-19 via 4:11-16, how that gets done (i.e., 1Jn4:12-17 reverses the order of building in Eph3:15-19, covered at length in DDNA1.htm). For God Makes Sons through the "me amal" (labor pains, pregnancy-of-sin-imputation) of THE Son, Who is "plundered" so we can "share" (merizw, LXX, a term much used by Paul) in His Thinking (suneisis, a God-Produced Knowledge, as all sun-prefixed words denote). [Most of the verses in NT which seem to talk about human works use Greek words that make it clear only Divine Works are in view.] The One Who Had No Descendents will Get Plunder by being Himself Plundered (Isa 53:8,10-12, 54:1, BHS and LXX texts, LXX for the keywords). And we are to share in that Plunder, as Bride (Eph4:11-16, very pointed allusions to LXX verses in Isa53:10-12). And what's the Plunder? His Thinking (suneisis), taught to us by our pastors (again Eph4:11-16, very graphic, can't translate it in public, sumbibazw and sunarmologew plus haphe, in Greek -- see RightPT.htm's exegesis but you need detailled lexicons which will explain etymology).

    I don't know how anyone can read Bible in translation. All the wordplay is blanded out. Bible is the most enjoyable book on earth. But not, in translation. No human pleasure can compare with learning it, sorry!

    Bible keywords for the change in spiritual life and covenant wrought by His Successful Completion of the Cross are many, but three of the more significant ones are "Resurrection", [Gk: anastasis] which describes the Power Nature of the change (the Justification to Transform us into His Nature, not merely the "miracle" idea of raising from the dead); "fullness" or "fulfill", [Gk: pleroma, a pregnancy term] and like verbs, to describe the process of this change; and "perfect" [Gk: teleiow] (legal sense of perfecting, completing all contract terms). If you track these keywords throughout your NT you'll find that they are constantly linked with His Thinking (which is usually metaphorically depicted as "riches", "Christ", "Love", etc). These words all mean to convey something Totally New, and planned from eternity past (i.e., in Eph and Colossians). It would take a long time for the writers of the NT, to know how to explain this change in writing. For, they themselves had to learn it first. Like Paul repeats often in his letters, this new change was a "mystery" to the OT, though based on the same principles.

So what also began, was the New Testament. But not easily. All the above wit and information wasn't immediately received by believers, though the ideas were immediately known, since they all came from what the Lord said down here. People were too legalistic to accept the implications, similar to the hostility you see in John 6. Took awhile to reduce this New Will aka Testament to writing. So after He Rose, no one "got it" about what Isaiah 53:10-12 meant would ensue, even though the Lord told them in detail what Isaiah meant in what comes down to us as John Chapter 14-17. People long knew what the Lord said. They knew what happened. Much oral communication happened right away. But His blatant spiritual-sons Royal House of God usage in what became John 14, was completely the opposite of the Mosaic Law, a freedom to CRAFT your own spiritual life: many royal 'houses', no longer just one. (Not buildings you live in, but kingdoms, as in the English term, 'royal house'). Moreover, the blatant marital metaphor of Vine and branches in John 15 bespoke of a daily INTIMACY with Him Israel never knew. Most shockingly, for a people long accustomed to Distant God, the marital oneness prayer in John 17 was a conundrum. Of course, immediately after someone's saved even today, he doesn't "get it" that The Head In Your Head is the entire spiritual life. Of course, most of the world doesn't "get" it that God exists. In short, the NT would take time to develop, not because God's slow about Keeping His Promise: but we are slow to want Him, to learn His Promised One's Thinking. Recalcitrant, even.

Schism began in Church, as well. Back then, the enormity of the Change He wrought on the Cross was slow to sink in, even among those who most believed IN Him. That's why you have God making a Saul become Paul. As you cruise through Acts, you notice how wacky believers were. It was a bad time. They were persecuted by the Sanhedrin, but they were also schisming within themselves. Peter's bad hair day when he resorts to electing two apostles -- "notice you never hear about them again in Bible," my pastor quipped when teaching about Peter's faux pas. The group was basically still groping around in the Law, with high moments like Acts 2, and low moments like Acts 5, when communism was in vogue, and people competed to gain the approbation of their fellow believers. So all those "pillars" of the then-Jerusalem-church like Peter, John and James (see 1Cor15 and Galatians 2), were falling back on the Law.

So the New Testament began its rollout in serial fashion. Left-aligned book names were written by Paul. These are more accurate book dates than you'll generally find on the internet.
Book NameYear Written
Matthew50AD
Mark68AD
Luke62AD
John90AD
Acts (by Luke)62AD
Romans58AD
1 Cor (by Paul)56AD
2 Cor (by Paul)57AD
Galatians49AD
Ephesians62-63AD
Philippians63AD
Colossians62AD
1 Thess51AD
2 Thess51AD
Book NameYear Written
1 Tim64AD
2Tim67AD
Titus65AD
Philemon62AD
Hebrews 68AD (unknown author, post-Paul)
James45-50AD
1Peter68AD (post-Paul)
2 Peter68AD (post-Paul)
1 John90AD
2 John90-95AD
3 John90-95AD
Jude66AD (Lord's brother, succeeded after
James was murdered. Jude is in exile)
Revelation96AD

Thus began the fulfillment of His Promise from the beginning that His Thinking would BE in Writing (viz., Jer31:31-34, referenced in 1Cor13, Book of Hebrews). So, a long time after that Ending which Begot a Beginning, John 1, Eph1, Heb1 et alia, confirm and explain What Changed. For, He Who always Was, BECAME! hayah, to be; hawah, to become. HaYah. HaWah. YahWeh. Concatenated. God, Yah. Becoming Man, Wah. Yah+Wah=YahWeh. Yeshua, even. Immanuel, even.

"Roiling" describes the world in the wake of His 30AD Crucifixion. Everything turned upside down religiously and politically. But why? Surely, the death of a power threat ends the threat. But oh, the world roils even more, instead! Because That One --"ekeinos", in Greek -- That One Is Coming BACK! cried His believers. Everywhere. The potency of that same can't-be-neutral message was this: He's GOD, and when He comes back, the world ends. So you believed in Him to be saved and picked up by Him when He returned, or you didn't believe and got burned at that Return. Stark message still: just like it was, at the First Advent. Difference here? You didn't know WHEN it would happen, whereas the First Advent was predictable 1000 years in advance.

    If you're interested in God, this is good news. If you're hurting, this is good news. If you like gossiping, this is good news. In short, it's popular news, even if as a form of entertainment, a way to snub the elites, to make self feel better. And, if you're in some kind of political office, this is not good news, and those who regard it as good news, you want to stifle. But no one could shut up these "Way" people. Imagine: here the One Who Totally Disavowed Political Involvement, was even still! attacked after He'd died. And for what? For spreading the "Official Good News", epangelian, the Promise from the King? Well, yeah -- the King had rivals, see. Never mind that the King's own subjects, being citizens (politeuma) of Heaven, weren't even looking for political power on earth. Well, at least not yet. For popularity begets politics, and at this point, popularity favored the incumbents. So if you believed in Him in those days, you were really going against the political system, which hated Him. Despised Him. Isaiah 53 explained all that. But since UNpopularity also begets politics, there were many scrambling to persecute the believers, since by so doing, they gained more popularity for themselves. Aha, great later tool for ensnaring the believers, once their movement becomes popular, Satan notes carefully.

    People hide when they are persecuted, and since Christ wasn't exactly popular politically with anybody, it wouldn't be expedient to drop His Name to get some favor. Rather, one would pretend to not know Him (like Peter did, like we all have at times) -- to keep a little bit of safety. So to claim He'd Risen From The Dead, was political suicide. Yes, it was the biggest promise in the OT, second only to the Cross itself -- but still not um.. wise. For, who had really seen Him, and couldn't just anyone claim to have seen Him? Surely if anyone ran around today saying they'd seen Christ, at least one hearer would place a call to the local lunatic asylum for a pickup wagon. So to also say He is Coming Back! is certain to garner rock-throwing. To one's DISadvantage. Stephen sure found that out.

    For the rivals couldn't shut up, either -- just like today, if one could get something by blaming someone, hey -- let's do it! Oh, yeah right, coming back. What a lame thing to say, to cover up that your 'god' died in crucifixion's ignominy, as all 'gods' do: heck, punctilious Romans like even Tacitus, were forever afterwards confused about his name! So, lamebrain Christian(!): just admit your 'god' is your emotional fantasy. Thus, the world ever thinks. Sure looks like the world is right, huh. After all, they expect God to have a flashy finish, with hundreds of angels lofting His Body up to heaven where everyone can see -- kinda like Satan was expecting, in the 2nd Temptation. Or, they all expect God to come down in some nice costume and take over the sceptre from a grateful world -- kinda like Satan was expecting, in the 3rd Temptation. What the world does not expect, is a God who allows everyone to starve -- and Who Starves Himself, too! -- like Satan didn't expect, in the First Temptation. But God is never tempted to perform to expectations. He only likes EXCEEDING them all: "filling all in all", it says at the end of Eph1! Yeah, Isa53:10-12, again, filling us up with His Son fills us up with the spoils, makes us great, and He is the Cause, Romans 8 (main theme), Eph3:15-21!

    People hide when they are negative to God: just like Adam did, in Gen3. They hide beneath altruism. They hide beneath superficial 'respect', nodding to God on Sunday. They hide in crusades in the Name of God, but not really Him, since the only 'god' they love, is their egoes. You can prove this all too quickly. So with everyone hiding due to persecution or negativity, due to making-self-fit-in with the "in" crowd, the notion that He's Coming Back! well who could resist taking sides? No one could be neutral to Him while He was here; let alone, if He Became Ruler of the Universe and is Returning! For even if you didn't believe that claim, you could sure use it to gain power, yourself.

So Now, the Rapture is imminent, Greek word "tachú"; still based on that Selfsame Bridegroom, Christ. Father wants to kit out a Fit Bride for His Son: but now, it's Church, the "Esther" to rescue "Vashti", roles reversed, Same Groom Loving Them All! New Exodus! Father gets what Father, wants! As a result, this is the doctrine which so galvanized (and goofed up) Christianity in the first century AD, for it gave an urgent immediacy to belief: for, He's Coming, and Tachú! The Way, the Road, the Path, the Odos who Became the Truth, the Life, the Hope, the Love of mankind, both subjective and objective genitive! He He HE is Returning, shubbing, tachú! To collect His Bride! And Tachú! So, Get Ready! So the Word spread rapidly, since no one knew When He'd Return. Because the 'date' of His Returning, was Tachú!

    Tachú (tahk-OOH): suddenly, hastily, without prior warning. Used 12 times in the NT, but in two ways. Not necessarily quickly, soon -- though that also could be true. But rather, tachú, immediately, hastily, without warning: the MANNER of coming, not the lapse in time. A lapse in time can be long or short; but tachú refers first to the SPEED of ARRIVAL itself. For example, you might go to the store after an hour or a few days. But it's tachú, if you instantly popped into the store like Samantha of Bewitched, versus merely walking or driving to the store. In-an-instant, is Tachú. A heart attack, is Tachú. Sudden discovery you have the winning lottery ticket, is Tachú. Something unexpected, instantly-occurring, no prior warning.

    As my pastor likes to explain it, "next in sequence of events, without prior warning". For, tachú is also a military term, the Next Move On The Battlefield. Element of surprise; suddenness of HASTE. So it's Haste which is the heart of "tachú", in all 12 uses in Bible. Not how long one waits. So He says to the believer, Make Haste! Get Ready! For I will come upon you like a thief, Hastily, tachú, since Rapture is the Upgrade and Means of Implementing the ahishennah of Isa60:22! Mark's Gospel uses a synonym, "euthus", usu. mistranslated "immediately". Same idea as tachú, next-in-sequence, can't predict it, and it's Swift when it happens. Because, Mark was writing his Gospel as a result of Paul's (and probably Peter's) death, knowing that the Temple's destruction, was soon to occur. For the traditional warning period for Israel was 40 years, and Mark was probably writing circa 68AD, when Paul was executed by Nero.

    Of course, back in 30AD many people around Rome's 'lake', laughed at all this talk of Sudden Return Of The Christ, A Preparing Bride, And The Sudden-Death Nature Of Time Now that He's Seated. After all, that's exactly how their own dramatic plays ended: yeah, we know the god always comes down at the end of the play, deus ex machina, to deliver his clients. Many around Greece's 'lake', smiled too: yeah, that's how we were founded, by a half-god, half-human spawn of that snakegod, Phoebus Apollo: Ion, our venom, our founder!

    So everyone laughed at "harpazw" as Bible's "Rapture" term (1Thess 4:17, Greek): it signifies "Rape"! "Thief!" The coming snatch-up. Not at all a nice verb, but not at all unusual. Didn't gods always rape women? Didn't the conquering tribe or nation always get to pillage? In Latin Vulgate of 1Thess4:13(?) the term translates as rapto; hence our English "Rapture". So we moderns think it's something nice, not knowing etymology, as usual. It wasn't nice: it was Violent and Sudden. It was ho-hum though, to the inhabitants of both Med and Aegean. Yawn. Been there, done that: Phoebus raped Creusa, that's how we Greeks got birthed. Zzzzzzzz. Someone's had a little too much wine in the morning.

    Uh-oh, God's disappointing His Audience, yet again. But hope never disappoints (Rom5:5). For, Hope (elpis, a central Socratic term denoting absolute Confident Expectation about someone or something Divine, and in the Future: a moniker for Christ in Bible) delivers the Groom into our hearts -- long before the Wedding Day. Specifically, His Thinking kits us out to BE Bride, which is why we don't see Him now (Heb2,4-10, Rom5-8, 1Cor, central theme). So the rest of the audience, laughs at us much like their ancestors laughed at Noah who was so long in building that stupid box-boat. So the audience of the world, booes Him. Oh well. Someone needs a little whine for their mourning.

Of course, as the years post-Ascension slowly passed, the hype of His tachic arrival, got a bit 'old'; just like it did, the first time. Even though He Had Arrived, And On Time, and anyone could prove it, even from Dan9 alone! He was Messiah Who Came, YH+WH, Yahweh hawah'd! Oh well. Anyone can get excited about a wedding, but if the Time Of Preparation takes too long, well what if the Groom Cancelled? Guess it wasn't Him. Despite Dan9's incontrovertible proof. Not to mention, 900 other prophecies and over 100 Characteristics and prophecies He Specifically Fulfilled, when He was here, right down to His manner of death. Seeing, they didn't see. Their eyes were blinded by hurt tears. So even most Christians, even the Lord's half brother James went back to the Law.

As a result, others had recalled: oh, wait! The Lord said the Temple would be destroyed before He returned, right? Pump pump pump the heart holds belief a little longer, a little faster. But tachú! Paul is suddenly arrested a second time, and executed by Nero! So then, Book of Hebrews had gone out: Okay, this might be "it", tachú, Grow UP! But then, Nero, gone as well! Hail Caesar, full of gracelessness. So nice to lose a bad poet. Little did anyone know how quickly things would happen, then. For, each of Nero's three successors didn't last but a few months; when only Vespasian remained, everyone breathed a sigh of relief (whew, his troops won't overrun us), and they crowned him.

    Oh, but his adopted son Titus, was stuck in Jerusalem trying to subdue its weirdly arrogant residents, so needed to wrap things up! For years I've been patient with these people, letting up on the siege, negotiating with them, to save their god's temple. But now! Oh, I'm FINISHED with this armpit of the Empire, these recalcitrant people who think their little god is head over all the others! Oh, Temple Gone! The plunder from that Temple fortress was legendary in value, workmanship, splendor; and it took a legion to trundle the spoil back across that Roman lake to display in triumph. With 90,000 Jews in tow, enslaved, thus preserving the people.

The flutter in the believer hearts, oh! Temple Gone, the Lord Must Be Coming Back! And, like dingdongs would do some millennia later on a hill overlooking the yet-to-be-born Los Angeles, the 70AD+ Christians quickly gave up all they had and waited For His Imminent Return. And waited and waited and waited. Waited, obsessed over historical events. Waited, looking in prophecy when there was no more prophecy. Waited, not "studied". Waited, not "grew up".

    It's easy to understand how that first-century group couldn't stop trying to date the Rapture. God orchestrates time, and every Jew was required to know how He did it, from Adam forward. That orchestration math was as basic to them, as the holidays in the Law. God used specific segments of time to teach Doctrine so they could learn how to interpret His Policy, to number their days, and all of history, as well. ("Timeline" link at pagetop explains further.) So, as we saw at the end of the Legatee table section above, from David's death onward every Jew was required to forecast the coming of Messiah. God made it real easy to know. Since every Jew was weaned on how God orchestrates time from Adam forward, you simply had to know what were the 1000-year time grants given David, and you bracketed everything from there. David's death was 963BC in our terms, so +1000 = Messiah had 'buy' another 1000 by dying successfully no later than 37AD, else Time Would End. God cut the 490-year grant in Daniel 9 short seven years because of this. David's 1000th anniversary of Crowning was (in our terms) 1004BC+1000=4BC, the deadline for Messiah to be born: again, to purchase a 'new' 1000 grant (use 3BC in your calculations, for it was late 1004BC). So you knew when He had to be born, and when He had to die. You also knew He'd get the same 40-year reigning period as David, from this bracketing of deadlines. You also knew another deadline, the 1000th anniversary of David's retirement from Kingship, 970BC+1000=30AD. Messiah would thus have been on earth as long as David was King over all Israel, 33 years, as of that anniversary.

    So you also knew when Time was supposed to end if Messiah succeeded, so you knew how to estimate the Rapture, if God kept to the same timeline as initially planned. For if Messiah had been accepted by Israel, He'd have died 37AD, which was the 4143rd year from Adam's Fall, when God started to number Adam's days; the historical 1050 year ending would have been 4200, which was exactly 57 years later, the 4th 1050 from Adam's Fall. The 57 years represented the sum of Passover plus Pentecost, Firstfruits beginning on the night of the last day of Passover -- so, that represented 7 years 'reimbursement' for Passion week, and 50 more years for the Gentiles to vote (true since Adam, not just with respect to Gentile unbelievers), which took you to the end of time. That would be 94AD in our terms, and that's when the Millennium was supposed to begin. So it was easy to guess the Rapture would rollout seven years prior, in 87AD. Or, more likely, in 70AD, for obviously the cut-short 7 would play from 64-70AD, since a seven in God's accounting is always housed inside a 40-year judgement period. So from 30AD when He did die -- David's 1000th anniversary of retirement from Kingship -- plus another 40, was 70AD. So then you'd expect the Rapture to occur when the Temple was razed, since Daniel 9:26 would not be fulfilled UNTIL the Temple was razed.

    So despite the warning the Lord gave the apostles in Acts 1, people anticipated the Rapture based on the old Davidic schedule. It made sense, given that God always likes to be on time. And it could have happened. Paul anticipated it in 1Thess4 and Philippians 3. But it didn't happen, and instead Paul was executed. So Jude, Peter, Book of Hebrews and Mark's Gospel went out because Jerusalem's siege got stepped up. Then the Temple was gone. No Rapture. No one grew enough. Now maybe you see better why, and why our penchant today for dating the Rapture, has a long history originating in the first two generations, post-Cross: we want prophecy to titillate us, not Word to grow us.

    The purpose of prophecy is to tell you what time it is. And time, was up. So no more prophecy. Instead, Learn Word. We didn't. So Now, God has to resort to a Stronger Warning Method, same Policy as Leviticus 26. And that method, will continue to 'play' the theme in Daniel 9:26c, with wars and desolations dominating the Land Which Lost its Temple, Until Messiah Returns at the Second Advent. Now updated, with a Rapture occurring seven years prior, which no one can date. We didn't listen to Him when He told us when He would come. We didn't listen to Him when He told us He would come again. So now, we need Daniel 9:26c to be advertised, daily. That's what 'time' it is, the Times of the Gentiles, Rapture is tachú!

A SYNCOPATED Prototype of the 'Tribulation', begins

Greek word "archegos" means founder, originator, author, even prototype. The first and ruling one, thing, idea from which all the rest, comes. This term is used of the Lord in Hebrews 12:2, and that verse uses a marathon footrace metaphor (you can't see it in English), paralleling His life with our own marathon footrace (in Heb12:1, also not visible in English). Idea is, we get the race, because He first ran it. As my pastor likes to explain, He tested and proved successful the spiritual life He invented while down here, analogous to a successful submarine hull's staying intact at 100000 fathoms; so we can certainly be submerged by life's problems, at a mere 2000 fathoms. So too, with "tribulation": the Lord's Tribulation on the Cross, was by far the worst, and had to be, since He basically paid the present value of the cost of all souled creation, either directly or indirectly, lest Father be cheated. So, too, He leaves behind a copybook (Petrine term, hupogrammos), so we Living Stones can be inscribed like Him. Prototype. Progenitor.

So to reject Him now, carries a much higher penalty. Before, He hadn't paid. But now, He has. Before, He didn't leave behind a Royal Legacy. But now, He has.

By 70AD (and ever since), the world had rejected Him, yet again -- despite all that added proof, written Canon. So how can God 'talk' to a world which still rejected Him, yet point Him out at the same time, to save or spiritually grow, whoever will respond? Takes more drastic measures, now. So, just as in Matt22's parable -- you talk parables to negative people and to children -- Send out the servants (us) to all the highways and byways, calling everyone to the Imminent Wedding. Which, being but servants, We Are Sent As God Makes Happen (Our Prototype didn't promote Himself, but let Father and Spirit run that).

But of course, like the parable about the vineyard, since they don't accept the Owner's Son, but instead killed Him -- they won't accept His servants, either. How deaf. So next deafen them with what they WILL hear: cataclysms. Drastic measures because drastic surgery is needed to remove so much scar tissue (prolonged negative volition, Bible term for it). Hardening of the arteries, actually: "hardness of heart", in English Bibles. Arteriosclerosis of reason.

    A person has to be deaf, dumb and blind not to believe God exists. Deaf, dumb and blind, to call Absolute God some kind of ethnic symbol, belonging to one group but not others. Deaf, dumb, and blind to then turn around and demand some counterfeit idea of "god", so he can claim HIS tribe or ethnic group, has a "god", too. Yet that is the history of the world. Christ isn't European, and God isn't human. So no tribe, no culture, no race can claim superiority. The promise which gave rise to the Jews, isn't due to them, but to Abraham, and no Jew inherits because he's Jewish, but because he BELIEVES. All this is carefully explained in Deuteronomy, Romans 9, Galatians, etc. ad nauseam. And, the group which gets this information to disseminate, is very much more spanked, than those who don't ("to whom much is given, much is expected" concept of responsibility). So anyone who preens over being a believer versus those who are not, is in for some harrowing discipline, for he proves himself deaf to the undeserved privilege he gets. So also, anyone who is jealous (and it's always jealousy) over those who are believers, is in for heart surgery. Drastic measures, on believer and unbeliever, alike. Tribulation, even. To realize only God can be doing the spanking, so wake up and believe, or spend eternity shaking your puny fist at Him from a very sweaty place. Your choice.

    For Europeans didn't write this Book. GOD wrote this Book. Using, descendents of Noah. Of whom, we all are. "Noah" means rest, relaxation, repose, and that's the whole Purpose of Learning This Book: to Rest in Him. Him, The Second Noah, Christ, the Author of our Salvation: and we all died in Him (Romans 6). ALL, Greek word "pas" (pronounced pahss), used in the plural as a substantive (=noun), which means: "all items/people without exception." So, then: All Mankind Can Be Saved. So God isn't the God of the Jews only, as Paul repeatedly explained. God is the God of everyone. Without exception. So anyone without exception can believe in Him and become Body of Christ. No longer separated by stupid and meaningless barriers such as race, culture, religion or gender; but One In Him. The One who Paid for it all. Real God, Really Got Paid. Real God, really saves you, that first nanosecond you first believed Christ paid for all your sins. In that first nanosecond, you married Him. Whether you know it, or not.

    So, for all those who still scoff at Him and invent truly stupid excuses based on their tribal, racial, or cultural backgrounds, like, oh, we have a god who is as good as your god -- just like the inane excuses people make in the Matt22 parable to refuse the wedding invitation -- well, they need pretty drastic surgery, since obviously they think God is just a dog, to be owned by a particular people! But the believers who reject Him -- usually pretending to love Him no less -- shall they be less punished? Oh no -- but more punished!

    Because the cost had been, our sins. But Now, the Cost is the Son Himself. God raised the bar on cost of salvation, didn't lower it: The Payment Is Continually Living, Now -- That's What His Resurrection Power Signifies. Thinking paid for sins, main point of Isaiah 53 (runs from 52:13-53:12 in Hebrew samex markings). So the Payor must live forever, since hell lasts forever too. Sinning goes on forever. So Counter-Thinking must go on forever. That way, those who are still sinning, are countered by those thinking Divine Thoughts, and thus those who go on sinning can still be SAVED. Christ paid so this counter-thinking can continue, not merely to pay the present value of all sin: Father should be given pleasing thought; what else can a finite person, give God Who Needs Nothing? So, hell does not ever compensate God, it's an ongoing COST. Hence, nothing in the Bible says demons and unbelievers are forced to stay in hell (Lake of Fire, eventually). Luke 16:20ff shows you the guy in Hades, loves staying in hell. Loves priding himself on what a victim he is. 2Pet3:9 tells you that God is never willing that any should perish. Never, is never. Not maybe, not sometimes, not eventually, but NEVER. Meanwhile, how else can we become sinless forever ourselves, if His Thinking Which Made Him Sinless, doesn't get into us? There's a reason why God never wants to sin: due to what He Knows. So, if we Learn the Book, we will gradually sin less, and then when we die, we will know what we need to know, to retain free will but yet never sin again. It's not magic, it's Justice. God's. In Christ. For us. For ever.

    See why God doesn't just bing us and make us little obedient doglike Stepford-spouses? Sure, He's got All Power. It's HOW HE CHOOSES TO USE IT, that's at issue. Justice is How He Chooses, and it's Only Just, if it is FREE. No matter what the Cost. But still, Just that God get Paid, and Payment has to BE Thinking, since what else can pay Holy God? Only His Own Thoughts, are good enough. So, that's what happens when we die: the Bible you learned and lived on down here, goes with you. It's True Capital, from which God can justify BURGEONING your understanding to fit your new eternal status. If you learned no Bible down here, you'll only get a de minimis amount to enable you not to sin again. But what you can do with that, won't be much. Heaven is not an equality, it's a hierarchy of spiritual understanding. And that, leads to a hierarchy of material wealth, to express it. Rich in understanding, rich in material wealth: King of a kingdom, under the King of kings. Else, a happy Royal Peasant forever, take your pick. There's no middle ground.

    Since in Him, then we merely believe in Him. Finished, is the payment ("with results that go on forever", is the meaning of "tetelestai" in the Greek). Finished, is salvation. Ended, is the enmity. Begun, is The Life Learning How to Live in Him, Since We Died in Him (theme in Romans 6-8, 2Cor5, Col1-3, all of Hebrews). Which means not less but more surgery, Heb4:12. Lifelong surgery, every day. Delicate surgery. Delicate or drastic, surgery means 'tribulation' will occur. For Better and for Worse. For with God, there is no such thing as "divorce".

So careful students of the Word often notice that the NT doesn't reserve the concept of "tribulation" to denote only the official one of Daniel 9:27, which plays out the last seven of Israel's promised pre-Millennial years. Rather, there are several types of "thlipsis" (a tribulation word) in the NT: personal ones (like in Romans 5, 2Cor12); group ones (like in 1Jn, Matt24 -- which speaks of two Tribulational beginnings -- also Rev1-3); and world ones (i.e., "wars and rumors of wars"). Moreover, these tribulations are often layered, like floors of a building, so overlap (i.e., historical disasters cause personal ones). So the Bible describes several types of "tribulation", just as it differentiates among different classes of "baptism" (not just the water ritual), and "salvation" (post-salvation, you still need other types of deliverance while still on earth).

So the Official Tribulation, belongs to its own class; it is briefly defined as the timeline of Daniel 9:27. Therefore, a type of 'syncopated' tribulation begins, because our slowness never makes God slow about keeping His Promised l'moedths, appointments.

So He plays it out, syncopated: not exactly the official Tribulation long forewarned and explained in the Old Testament; but rather its underlying trends rhythmically play out -- enough to alert unbelieving Jews and believers everywhere that they, not God, were slow to take up the Promise. Book of Hebrews was the last warning. God stamps history after 70AD with Daniel 9:26c's characteristics; so a) we can better spot where we are in time despite our deafness, and b) we won't confuse the official Tribulation 'owed' the Jews, with the syncopated version assigned between Temple Destruction and Rapture.

"Syncopation" is a kind of musical or percussion rhythm which repeats in a discernible patter -- but is never stressed on the exact same beat. It's not always ONE two three, but ONE TWO three, or one TWO three, etc. The stress varies somewhat unpredictably; the number of beats often change, as well (or are variantly chained together). This way, you know a tune is being played, but it's wacky, weird. Unexpected, see. Kinda like California rain, which isn't quite rain, and isn't quite mist, it's a noticeable aberration. Catches your attention. Like those tsunamis did, mimicking what God describes of the Flood, in Gen6. But, for the world of January 2005. What a way to start the year. We should take deep notice.

God never plays to our expectations, because then the relationship isn't with Him, but with the expectations. Expectations ruin a relationship, as many a drunken divorced person, will gladly explain. So God has to get our attention if we aren't listening to Him, and He uses both time and weather, to do it. The aberration from our expectation of time, of weather, can only be superhumanly explained. We well know man can't manipulate either time or weather; so naturally we are motivated to look UP when either one, seems out of kilter. Weather, since it is not manmade, attracts our attention, and every culture ever on this planet attributes weather (correctly) to God's Direct Action. (God runs the weather via angels and via direct control, in order to communicate His pleasure/displeasure to mankind -- hundreds of verses on that. No auto-pilot inanimate forces run the universe, k? See Gen1 for a refresher course on how directly God handles the universe -- Gen1:2, mother hen, the Holy Spirit (in Hebrew).)

So we "get it" about God when some huge thing happens which we know man couldn't control. So, "tribulation" involves huge things, since the 'small voice' of the Spirit (1Kings19:12), is going unheeded. So He plays Lev26, Deut28, Gen6, Exodus -- via Huge Things. It's all in writing, so we can see play what the Writings warn. And know there is a connection. It's not rocket science. And the message is always the same: Wake Up Wake Up Wake Up and smell the sweet savor of your Savior's Thinking. As the Lord puts it in the Greek of Revelation (a refrain), if you reject the machaira (Heb4:12, "knife", short Roman sword), you'll get the Romphaia (big Gentile-style broadsword which hacks you to pieces). Word or war. Your choice.

So let's look into how Christians Stopped Wanting The Spiritual Life Christ Wrought, Once the Temple was Destroyed: for, every generation of Christians since 70AD has the selfsame disease. To understand today, you have to look at yesterday, since human nature is the same in 2007, as it was, back in 70AD. Notice that: Christians are to blame, not the unbelievers. If you finish all of Part IV's a-d, you'll have a clear idea, why. Indeed, to whom much is given -- us Church! -- all is expected. Without exception.

So how do we know these folks just waited for the Rapture, and didn't learn anything about God, and were disappointed in Him from 70AD onward? Well, the Biblical science of "textual criticism" uses language and isagogical quirks in the writing, to date authorship times. So from those quirks, you can tell there's a hiatus in the "Writings" (Bible's name for Bible in Bible). Peter, Jude, and John's epistles are very different in tone and content, largely Pointing Backwards (with the exception of Revelation), rather than forwards. Depicted below is a table with more-probable dates of the New Testament Books. PopeMyth.htm has the same table; in it I listed Scofield Reference Bible's dates, but here they are somewhat corrected, and will be refined further when I find my notes. Left-aligned dates are for the Pauline books. Red denotes post-Paul.

Book NameYear Written
Matthew50AD
Mark68AD
Luke62AD
John90AD
Acts (by Luke)62AD
Romans58AD
1 Cor (by Paul)56AD
2 Cor (by Paul)57AD
Galatians49AD
Ephesians62-63AD
Philippians63AD
Colossians62AD
1 Thess51AD
2 Thess51AD
Book NameYear Written
1 Tim64AD
2Tim67AD
Titus65AD
Philemon62AD
Hebrews 68AD (unknown author, post-Paul)
James45-50AD
1Peter68AD (post-Paul)
2 Peter68AD (post-Paul)
1 John90AD
2 John90-95AD
3 John90-95AD
Jude66AD (Lord's brother, succeeded after
James was murdered. Jude is in exile)
Revelation96AD

So here's what we know:

  • By 70AD, Bible had been written in enough detail, for folks to grow up in the totally new spiritual life Christ had Authored for us from His Own Life; only John's books were yet unwritten (though the special Gospel content which we know as John's, was already known and often used by Paul).
  • But, Christians had stopped responding, and instead were doing what Paul had warned against, in Eph4:14, going after every wind of false teaching.
  • So God had Peter and Mark and the author of Hebrews write after Paul was executed, warning them about the many false gospels and teachers; warning them to Study Scripture, not pine or salivate after all the pandered, counterfeit hoo-hah. Just before he died, Peter wrote scathingly in his last letter about the final Valhalla Bonfire, to get laggards in the Diaspora to remember the Lord is not slow about keeping His Promise, just as Isa60:22 explained. Not slow, But Gracious. So, Grow Up! After all, Noah spent four generations building that ark, while people laughed at him until the deluge suddenly swept upon them. No one listened, for guess what -- the Rapture didn't occur!
  • So God had John write a generation later, to remind folks that they had the information; to explain why their expected Rapture dates didn't occur, and what next to expect. [When one NT writer uses the keyterms of another earlier NT book, he's citing it as Divine Authority. You can't tell this type of legal form called "incorporation by reference", in English. Peter's epistles, both addressed to Paul's former "mathetes" (dedicated students -- no such thing as a casual Christian) -- Peter's epistles frequently reference Pauline keyterms, especially those in Eph1-2 (using stone/gem words, epichoregew, etc). Jude frequently references Peter's keyterms, but it looks like he's incorporating Paul's Corinthians' and Ephesians' themes, in vv13,17,20-25.]
  • So we know from the content of the 66AD+ epistles, what was going wrong: false teachers leading folks astray, with Jude the more urgent letter on that topic.
  • Since their letters did not wake up the Body Corporate, God finally had John write down his Gospel, followed by the primer/refresher course in spirituality we know as 1John, followed by two short warn-against-false-teachers letters; ending, with Revelation. [It's clear from 1Jn2 that John knew he was the last writer of Canon. John loves finessed wordplay, so you have to read what he says over and over thinking about keywords before you 'get' what he says. That's one of the hardest letters in the whole Bible for a modern reader to understand: it is deceptively simple (Greek-Drama simple, meaning "epic"). So the simple-minded gloss over it. Big mistake. I'm re-translating 1Jn gradually, to bring out what published translations miss. Best to get the exegesis from your pastor, though. I have my pastor's exegesis, and am testing myself before consulting it.]

  • Same kind of rollout structure and tone as for OT books written after 586 BC, frankly: reminding them of what they already knew, clarifying (for us, who didn't have all that oral teaching) what's the score, in light of the Diaspora. To encourage and brace them. These books only needed to be written, if Christians were FAILING in droves. People don't need reminders on what they already got right.

So the last Writings were due (in part) to People Not Understanding What Paul Had Written from the 50's AD until he died. They hadn't understood Luke's Acts (chronicle) theme of evil (i.e., Jerusalemite) Christian Legalism, versus Paul. They were aping those stupid 1st-generation believers, instead of learning, Don't Be Like These People. So you find a return-to-the-basics (Firsts! as in First Commandment!) theme in 1John; endless warnings about false teachers; Peter's bulleted stress on being under the Word so IT can inscribe you (he loves hupo-prefixes and stone-related words). Revelation is mostly about the developing apostacy -- playing a role akin to the Book of Daniel for the Jews -- since Christianity, like Israel in 586BC, had pooped out. Revelation was also needed since the spiritual gifts had died out (tongues died with the Temple's destruction), and People Were Not Learning What They Already Had In Writing (mostly from Paul) -- so Revelation is a strongly abrasive warning (and comfort, as all God's Warnings are). That's how far down Christianity had fallen; that's how fast a generation can decline. We wanted only miracles from Him while He was down here: and then we hated Him for doing them (main theme in Mark's Gospel). Fine: then see the miracles at the end of time (theme of Revelation). For when God has to do a visible miracle, it means We Went Deaf!

But we Christians began falling away, right away. Even in the OT (and in Judaism today), everyone knew that having the DABAR (the Word) in your heart was The Highest Spirituality; hence the tfellin, to remind you to wrap the Word around your thinking. So how is it, that a decade or two after the Crucifixion, people lapsed into works? Book of James (Judah, his real name, the Lord's oldest half-brother) was written to redress this lapse; it is one of the earliest NT books. James was murdered by Christians and Jews(!) soon after Paul was shipped in chains to Rome, partly due to his longtime support of Paul, but the Book of James looks like it was written maybe 10 years earlier.

    James was composed 45-50AD, so we know they started falling right away. Ironic, James had to write on this (he had 'been there', was a former legalist who even allowed Paul to be persecuted but then grew up). [James 2:18-26 (a quintessential God Alone Works passage), Eph2:10, Eph4:11-16, Romans 12:1-3, Heb 11:1 (covered below in detail), and many others, are so screwed up in translation, you can't even know the God-only-does-it structure.] James' theme, for example, is that Bible Doctrine ("faith", in English Bibles) WORKS. By Jas2:18 he's answering the arrogant straw man who claims Doctrine doesn't work any better than the man's own works. James finishes up with a series of God-Actor verbs like "sunergew" (only used of Divine Action, see also Rom8:28) to prove that Doctrine Does The Work In You Via The Spirit's Running It (vv22-26). Like many NT writers, James stresses the God-Alone theme by removing the Greek article in front of nouns of God's Action. Translations essentially reverse that meaning, for the only way in English to convey it is to stick "God's" or "Divine" in front of each such noun. If that were done, you'd see how James reams out people for thinking their works better than the Faith=Word meaning. Which is ironic, since a scant 8 years after writing this letter, James will be part of the conspiracy to trap Paul in Jerusalem. Not for long, though. Then, finally siding against them, he gets their wrath, pushed off the Pinnacle of the Temple (southeast corner) by them. That Pinnacle was where Satan had taken James' half-brother, Jesus (=Joshua) the Christ. [I got that information from my pastor. How he was able to separate out the story from all the TRIPE out there on James and his death, I don't yet know; but the guy's 'read' has proven so trustworthy on every other topic, I'd bet what he says is valid here, too. I've not gone through all his lessons to see if he elaborated on the topic more in some other classes.]

    If you want to see live exegesis of James 1 and 2 in videos, with a color-coded Word doc -- all to demonstrate the previous paragraph's contentions -- click here for my 'brainouty' Youtube James 2 Exegesis playlist. There are over 20 videos in the playlist. The video description will have a link to the Word doc. The playlist is best viewed in HD, full-screen.

Hence the historical legalism which has plagued both Judaism and Christianity, began early. Is easily perpetuated. When we're children, it's right and natural to use morality as a toward-God training aid. Yet You MUST Grow Past That, and mature instead into Love for God. Just because. Not, for brownie points or human approval. But they didn't grow past that, and neither do we. Christian theology to this day is appallingly childish, in every denomination and no denomination. Relationship with God, not religion! Relationship with God, Love: not sandbox legalism. Not i-do-for-you-and-you-do-for-me sterility. Which morality becomes, if Love doesn't become its Husband.

So when large numbers of folks are age 50 chronologically but age 5 spiritually, there's no excuse: people don't care about What God Actually Says, or they'd not ARrest in spiritual childhood. Children care only about what makes ego feel good, because they feel small. That's the "natural" man's thinking (1Cor2): it's foolish to the natural man, to say he can't do anything which "counts" toward God. It counts as far as he's concerned, so dadgummit, God admires it also!

So, people pretend to obey God, but the 'god' is their emotions, Phili3:18-19. That was the problem among believers when Paul was weeping over it, while under house arrest in Rome (when he wrote Philippians). Again, we should take deep notice. And we notice that we don't take deep notice or even teeny-weeny notice, lol. For Every Generation Is Just Like the Generation of 70AD: puerile.

So God's percussion of disaster, the thlipses on personal/national/regional levels, must keep on playing the Lev26 and Rev6 'tunes'. Trying desperately to beat into our dull skulls (Heb5:11,6:11-12, blazing nothros sarcasm), so we might turn and be healed. That's why hell exists. That's why life is hellish down here, too. For "God is not willing that anyone should perish", 2Pet3:9. We're the ones slow-on-the-uptake. So He'll keep beating the eardrums. [Part V deals with soul cancer and the official Tribulation in more detail, first half of webpage.]


So [sigh, here] by the 90's AD, one generation into the syncopated, prototype tribulation, Christians were soooo tired. Read Revelation 1-3, which chapters were composed circa 96AD. Note also that during the 90's AD, the "Church Fathers" arose and via their prolific writings, morphed Christianity out of all resemblance to the real Bible. Read their stuff carefully, note how Pharisaical and goofy most of it is, straining at gnats but swallowing camels. Instead of studying Scripture, they were trying to 'reconcile' it with pagan culture (!), apologizing, for crying out loud, defending the faith! (Yeah, God is weak, see, so needs human defense, lol.) Pure garbage, high on their own holy-sounding tones, learning nothing from Bible. It's pathetic. Or, they're out chasing who THEY consider heretics -- sure sign of apostacy -- writing tracts and all manner of humanistic claptrap, as if it were 'wisdom'; getting involved in politics, telling everyone else how to live their lives; or, contemplating their navels and calling themselves 'holy' due to their isolation. Their writings prove they didn't know God101, even though many of them were allegedly fluent in Greek and Hebrew, and had the original-language texts. I mean, the 'esteemed' Origen concluded that the Son is subordinate in power to Father? Did he never read 2Cor13:14 or any part of the OT, nor any of Hebrews 1-2,11:1 nor any of Romans or that quintessential passage on the Son's Equality, Phili2:5-10? Maybe he had a different Bible than mine. To think that Western Civilization was built on these dolts. Gibbon's indictment of the early Church is scathing, but once you read these guys in their own words? Gibbon is too tame! So if these guys so messed up, how much more, will I? So it's scary, what negative volition can do to a once-sane, person! See for yourself: Click here to access a site which offers some of their writings online. To see what kind of nonsense the Early Church saw fit to circulate, Click here and peruse Eusebius and Hegesippus' story on James' martyrdom! Yeah, we learn from history that we don't learn a dang thing.

For in the 90's AD, believers were largely whining: What, did God abandon us? echoing the sighs of their long distant compatriots during Sennacharib, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander, and Caesar. So, believers languished, just like their 586BC counterparts. He did not return for them? Why don't we hear from Him? Meanwhile, the Christians had become even more odious to their neighbors, than the Jews; like cockroaches, the Christians infested every house. Nero had proved that a generation prior, when he blatantly lied about that bonfire he lit all over Rome, and no one protested. Well, serves those Christians right. Sure, they did it, since they are always saying our ancestral gods are but wood and stone, but Their God Is The Only One. Yeah, and He came down to them, like at the end of a PLAY? Yeah, so they have to make it look true, by burning down The Eternal City? Figures. Yeah, Caesar, burn them like torches.

The apostles had covered a lot of ground the meanwhile, from Spain to China; and everyone else made up their own gospels to cash in on the response. Everywhere everyone reacted. Hence everyone had a 'gospel', everyone was a messiah, oh! And leaders all over the world, were embracing or erasing, these new "Way" people. Read these fake gospels, sometime -- but have Pepto-Bismol or bicarbonate of soda, nearby. Hairy stuff. Tells you a lot about how nutso people were, that they'd believe in such nonsense. Even the Church Fathers got into the act, hallowing a good bit of the fake-gospel tripe (my favorite being the one "Hieronymus" pandered on behalf of James, depicting the latter as an unwashed ascetic who lived in the Temple, lol). Anything to make God look bad, was pandered and bought, lol! Anything, that is, but the successively-hidden Real Bible books, which were in ever-shorter supply, being the target of pogroms (or collectors), everywhere.

So during the first century AD, the world was turned upside down in every way. So world religions were the hardest hit. For if it was true that the Real God had accomplished salvation on the Cross; if it was true that this Same God then destroyed His Own Temple and at the very time as He'd promised well over 600 years beforehand, well -- who else could be 'god'? people wondered. This God orchestrated time, and you could do the simple prophecy math, if you knew the right dates. This God saved you by paying FOR you, and only wanted you to Once Believe in Him? You didn't pay anything, HE did. So who else can be God?

The proof of the story, was the very Book of This God, which is why Christianity spread like wildfire after the Crucifixion. People could read why what happened DID happen, and that it was long explained beforehand. Miracles can be claimed by anyone, but this God had this Book which made SENSE. So even if you didn't see the miracles claimed, the Book Itself Was Provably But Sensibly Miraculous. No other holy book was like that (even until today). You could Take the Material IN the Book, compare it with whatever you were told, and VALIDATE. What holy book, ever did such a thing? For the Bible Mandates You Validate Using It, And Mandates That You Test It. Idea is, it tests you, and you test with it, and you test IT. [See Paul's witty Greek wordplay in Romans 12:1-3, esp.v. 2. Rom121-3.htm translates the passage, since all translations I can read are mangled.] Because, you are to Learn To Think with it. Because, miracles of themselves aren't important, but rather the Lesson From Them. Because, you are to learn to THINK.

So of course other faiths had to come up with competing answers, or the feet would swiftly vote away to Christ. Historically, you can see how they often adopted some part of the Story of Christ, or even Christ Himself; and then, passed off that part (or Him) as their own.

Judaism was also gradually forced to suddenly trumpet monotheism, disavowing the Trinity it always knew. That would be no easy task. Mystery math, to make 1+1+1 of the Bible's witty "echad", become "One" in number of Persons. They couldn't erase Scripture, but unless they changed its meaning, they couldn't stop people from adding up the prophecies about Messiah. Especially when at Pentecost these "Way" people reminded everyone of the fulfillment of Joel 2, the "times of the Gentiles"; which of course The Way Himself had explained, in what we know as Matt24. And also, Isa28, the tongues prophecy of imminent destruction.

    Which actually happened right before everyone's eyes. Pentecost 30AD could not be explained away; for Messiah was dead now, and as a result of Him being dead, Joel 2 was supposed to roll out on the Pentecost following His Death. And here it was, all over Jerusalem! See, it's one thing to dispute miracles by a man, even if you can see Him. You can tell yourself your eyes lied, that it was a demon trick, that either He or you was drunk, that it was a charlatan's act. All these arguments were in fact, made. But you can't do anything about someone who you know doesn't speak your language, suddenly giving you a personalized version of the Gospel, with details about your own life which no one around you in Jerusalem, knows. You can't do anything about what look like tongues of fire descending on people -- fire being the quintessential metaphor for the end times Judgement. Too many seeing, too many hearing, too much cogency of the prophecy being explained, showing how it was fulfilled. Something had to be done. And quickly. First, round up these "Way" people, charge them not to speak of their messiah again for the sake of keeping the peace -- then figure out how to retool Judaism. So to have a like cogency based on the Same Scripture. It would prove a daunting challenge, even quixotic.

    So to keep their own adherents, they had to redefine Bible's essentially Tri-Theistic presentation of Identical, Co-Equal Infinite Essence in Three Unique Gods (e.g., via use of "He" and articles in 2Cor13:14) -- into monotheism: just ONE Person being God and labelling all other ideas, heresy. In addition, they face the impossible task of recasting witty Bible terms like "echad" and "monos", which each mean "unique", and "united": signifying that They plural! Each Unique, Voluntarily Unite As A Corporation -- signified by "Elohim", last name, plural, collective noun, viz Gen1:26-27, 3:22 (not "like", but "out from") -- due to Love. For it was JEWS who wrote the Greek OT, and mostly Jews who wrote the NT, showing how those witty meanings IN the OT, were all Fulfilled As Promised. Validating the proper definition of the Jewish God for all Time. So here the non-believing Jews are, faced with Total Vindication of Their Holy Writ -- in need of debunking it. Not a happy position to be in!

    The Jews would face the ultimately-impossible task of morphing "God" into Only One Person -- so to eliminate That Christ, being God. Sure, the Pharisees finally succeeded in killing Him; but oy, now what a problem! He Resurrected! Promises of the Brass Serpent, and The One Who Will See No Decay, all over the OT! [Ps16:10, Ps49:9, Acts 2:27-31, 13:37] Worse, the rabbinical schools could find endless other problems with such a stupid 'oneness' morphing of Bible's doctrine, even logically and juridically. So the internal arguments raged among Judaism's more-established sects (Pharisees, Saducees, etc). The hundred-or-so Judaic sects in the world today sprang from arguments like those dramatized in the bullets below, which splintered them. [The typical Christian barely knows of the top three, which are Conservative, Reform, Orthodox. But there are the Hassidim, Sephardim, Kabbalah crowd (with many subsects that argue against each other), Tzadokites, Ebionites, etc. You can find many of them on the web; you'll find many Jewish sects believe Jesus Christ is Messiah (they call Him Yeshua, His Name in Hebrew (translated "Iesous" in Greek and hence "Jesus" in English); but they vary over how much of the New Testament they also consider Divine Writ. Much of the dramatized bullets below are sketched from their sectarian differences. Judaism, like Christianity, has never been monolithic. The minute Moses was appointed by God -- Who DISinherited all the Levites, in favor of him and Aaron, and then gifted the entire tribe TO Aaron -- the rifts and sectarianism began. God really likes being politically incorrect. See "Jochebed" link in MisTrans.htm, if you want more info on that appointment.]

  • Yeah, right -- if His Infinity would be 'diminished' if more than one Independent, Co-Equal God, then is He God at all? If something can 'threaten' Godness, then it can't be Godness! Well, if He would be diminished to be more than one in number, look, you dingdongs -- then He couldn't have created anyone else, either -- what a crock! No one's gonna believe God is One Person, because even we humans exist! If it doesn't compromise Him that we exist, it can't compromise Him to be more than one in Number, Himself!

  • What, are you going to throw away the LXX? It's constantly making wordplays on Father+Son+Spirit=Family, beginning with The Beginning, the Title: Genesis, the Begetting of The Man. Well, who begot? God. And who is the Man? God, "Adonai Echad", not "Echad Adonai". Then, right away, Gen1:2 and following, is "Mother", the Holy Spirit. Yeah, right -- cut out the whole restoration story? Strip out all the bene-ha-elohim, SONS of God? From THE Son? Can you strip out Isa45:7, Chaps 53-55, all manner of references from Samuel to Malachi? Job9? You are nuts. Maybe this messiah of theirs is the Real One? What if we made a mistake? He did not seek political power, and went to the Cross. Maybe -- maybe He paid for our sins, just as He promised? Cursed is the man who hangs from a tree.

  • So how are you gonna say that YHWH cannot be human, to cover up their messiah's claims? Again: if it doesn't compromise Him to make creation, it surely doesn't compromise Him to add creation to Himself? What, is He not the Almighty, the Many-Breasted One, El-Shaddai? We call Him HaShem because, until He becomes human, we don't know His Name! We all know this happy humor is why HaShem is sooo beloved by us all! So how in the name of Gehenna are you gonna eliminate the very meaning of HaShem, YHWH? You'd have to eliminate them both, to maintain God is but one person, and cannot be human as well. The Greeks, for crying out loud, know about the hupostasis of God and man, from Israel! So even if we eliminate His Arkness from Judaism, they still know about it!

  • And hasn't it always been Judaism's shining upon the Gentiles, that Our Unique Father Son and Spirit, are Each Co-Equally Infinite, Righteous, Just -- that they Call Themselves by Hierarchical Names to Signify their Voluntary Corporateness? That they Choose to Subordinate to Each Other according to Rules They Themselves Set -- due to Love? Surely all Israel knows that; ever since the Angel of the Lord, came to Abram to announce He would make out from Sarai's womb, 'laughter'! So Our God is NOT like the goyim's wood-and-stone ideas; not like their dumb and sick collection of spirits (yeah, demons) who have limited abilities -- that Olympian, multi-phallic joke of a godhead! Why, if we go to this monotheism thingy, we'll be just like other nations! We rejected their messiah AS messiah, that's all. But we do not reject The Messiah -- we'd then have to chuck the entire Law, too.

  • Who are you gonna say is the Recipient of all those daily Temple sacrifices? If God is one Person, and God is depicted as the God+man by both YHWH and the Ark's Rock, well -- then, To Whom Else does His Sacrifice, GO? What, did He sacrifice Himself TO Himself? Do we pretend Ps110:1's a mysterious, ironic riddle, and just throw up our hands? Even when their 'messiah' was here, he taunted us with that one, knowing we could say nothing in reply, for salvation isn't juridically valid if the One Paying is the same Person as the One Judging? And of course none of us disputed the Holy Spirit as God, we all call upon Him every day in our prayers, like David did, Ps32:5, 66:18, take not your Spirit from me. OYOYOYOYOY. No one's gonna buy a revision to monotheism, all of Judaism wouldn't make sense anymore!

  • After all, the entire Nation was based on the Promise to a father for sacrificing his son, Gen22:12-16! How the heck can you eliminate Abraham, the Father of the Jews because what he did, depicted what the Heavenly Father would DO?

  • How do you get rid of the quintessential birthing salvation verse playing on Father's name, Isa63:16? Because You are our Father through the father of a multitude meaning, "Abraham", heh -- through his loins the Savior, even if Israel itself didn't acknowledge paternity, "You, Lord, Father! Redeeming us out from the Source of Your Eternal Person!" Heh. [Masoretic text, v.16c. LXX is slightly different, a claim on redemption phrased as an imperative, "Redeem us! out from the source of the Beginning, Your Person/ Reputation/ Name is upon us". See both versions. The play on words is phenomenal. "The Beginning" is played on in NT quite a lot.]

    Yikes! Everyone knows that verse is a typical min preposition wordplay on Messiah-to-Come, being Born "out from" the Holy Spirit, v.11 (qereb at ruach), even as His Humanity would be borne out from Israel who the Spirit led out from the 'womb' of the Exodus! Not to mention, the nine verses connected with v.16, using the same Fathering concept! Not to mention, all of Isa53-55, which use that same Fathering concept to describe our salvation! Boy zhamoy. Feh Feh Feh. Can we just hide the Writings and hope no one will notice?

  • OY! How to retool all of Scripture, to craft a lie that God is only one person? Ohhhh if only Someone would help us figure out this pil-pul? Okay, we the elite educated know the Law is wholly predicated on The Three, but We have to protect the people from all these false messiahs, the others would argue. So they began to fall silent, one by one, for who could dispute that the people needed the protection? Would not the Holy One of Israel, want that? Isn't that why He put us in power over these His People? Isn't that why Caiaphas said it is expedient that one man die for the nation, their messias?

From this point onward, then, Judaism began to splinter into many more factions, and those who couldn't stand the struggle, just plain left. Understand that what seems like a later conspiracy to cover up "Echad" (United Unique One), was a matter of survival. People who didn't want to be part of that, simply moved out. They moved west, east, north, south. They collected themselves into deserts, ships, caravans -- or remained little enclaves within the city. No small number of them moved down into what used to be called Sheba (seven), or Egypt. Some just upped and left for Rome. And every one of them had his own story to tell, thus fulfilling the expediency Caiaphas advised, though Caiaphas didn't mean it to turn out that way: John 11:49-53. Fake gospels of all kinds, usually weird in the extreme, were crafted, circulated. Meanwhile, the Real Gospel was communicated orally and in writing, on a gradual basis; some of the letters were immediately recognized as Canon-being-developed, which is how we have them, today. No council would determine God's Authorship: God Did It.

    Back in Jerusalem and in other Jewish quarters around the world, the presbuteroi (elites) didn't really want to change their Beloved Writings, and in fact did not alter them; even that most blatant Isaiah 53:10-12, depicting the exact Mechanics of the Cross (without specifying it would be on a cross), has gaps signifying text is missing. (No text is missing, Isaiah crafted his meter like a calendar, so you can test for missing text; but they forgot he did that.) They also didn't really want to re-define "God" as One Person, because they knew better. But Judaism so fragmented that the elites became afraid the Law would be forgotten; that Israel as a people would be assimilated; so they began to work out a way to unify their variant sects, and then to compile what comes down to history, as the Talmud. In it are dozens of references to the Holy Spirit and to Messiah, still. So 'Trinity' is still there.

    It wasn't that they wanted to cover up "God", but rather they wanted to buy time, get the people back together and then figure out a way to educate them. So, it took time to work out what to do. Some years later, they finally did. Hence the Talmud. Hence the retooling of time, after the Temple was destroyed. They decided to call the period the goyim would come to call AD, "the Common Era", for in their morphing to unify after the Temple's Destruction, they came up with a new doctrine that God had transcended the Law to a new 'common' phase, so that the Temple and the sacrifices were no longer needed. "Common", of course, means "times of the Gentiles".

    Which, of course, was true: Book of Hebrews was written to Jews and Gentiles in Israel, shortly before the Temple's Destruction, about the time of Paul's execution by Nero -- to warn everyone to grow up or get out -- and it explained why and what about the Law, was now made obsolete.

    How right James was when in his Book he counselled that not many should seek to be teachers. What a responsibility. What "double discipline" (my pastor's term) accrues to the teachers who distort His Word! What fear anyone should have, when representing that Book!

    The devastation among Jews was total, in 70AD; the seige on the outside, the horrors Josephus recounted, were but dinky compared to the inner upset. For every Jew knew the Book. It was part of his very breathing, just as Moses ordered. The first time the Temple was destroyed, it was largely due to Israel's pursuit of phallic-style religions. But the second time, whoa -- Israel had gone way overboard in punctiliar observance. So think: here you are, a devout Jew, being very careful to obey the Law and then, poof! The Temple is gone? After all my careful obedience? For seeing the Law, they held it too closely, became rotelike, comprehending nothing. So God had to give them some distance. To think. To wake up and see Daniel 9:26 right before their eyes. Since they didn't, couldn't accept the Messiah when He came. And the Dome of the Rock keeps on witnessing to Daniel 9:26c. Mutely testifying to the devastation that began on the inside, as a result of the Crucifixion.

    Judaism has never recovered from it. And won't. Not until He returns, to properly regather His Own, just as He has always promised (see Rom9,11). [Meanwhile, bet your life that there flourishes in many little pockets a remnant of different sects of Jews who, like their forebears, do believe in Yeshua HaMaschiach. They aren't loud, they aren't flashy, they are part of Church because they believed in Him, and They Are Still Jews, yet in the Higher Church Covenant; and they will be shouting with joy at the Bema along with us bleeping goyim, Gal3 (no racial distinctions in Christ, so no racial barriers, either). God keeps His Promises!]

Meanwhile their fellow Jews who did believe in Messiah, known then as "The Way" group (from "The Way the Truth and the Life" quote by Jesus), well these later-monikered "Christians" were undergoing the selfsame doctrinal upheavals (cf. Acts 15). So far as they knew, now that He had gone, the Tribulation was begun: "Tribulation" being understood in the wider, "common" sense of the Daniel 9:26 destruction phase, aka "times of the Gentiles". (Acts 4:24ff, note the meaning of the verses they quote.) Many who believed in Him also still believed in the Law (i.e., Acts 15:3). Paul and James were great friends, having known each other since Paul's days as a student of Gamaliel; Peter was a pillar of the Church according to those admiring him; John, of course, was the beloved apostle. As Acts notes, they all had endless discussions about how to unify and not splinter. Of course, God was getting left out of the discussion; salvation was degrading into a political problem of how to control the people.

    Paul finally had to break with the Jerusalem Jews and James, for the Real God Really Showed Paul How The Session, Changed Everything. So much, that the Lord even forbade Paul to even talk to the Jews, and repeatedly. [Acts 9:15, Acts 13:47, Acts 15-22, esp 22:18-21.] This was the worst thing that the Lord could do to Paul, and in the end, it felled him. Imagining himself destined to just pass through Rome rather than to permanently take up residence and teach there, Paul fools himself into thinking he's just to help ferry some money to Jerusalem, in Romans 15:25ff. Keeping up this charade takes the better part of a year and a half, culminating in him being nearly beaten to death in Jerusalem, on the very steps of the Temple (Acts 22ff). After which, God shipped him to Rome anyway. In chains. Finally, the Canon's main writer, was gonna stay put! And tell everyone else, what no one wanted to hear about what real unity, was: Eph4:5, Son's Thinking on the Cross! Learn it!


Meanwhile, above the thickening, teeming fray of human confrontation, high above the clouds, looking down on all this writhing humanity, the one who for eons ached! to replace the Most High! was most interested in all these factious proceedings, and did all he could to help them proceed apace. Oh, to provide a final solution to these vexing problems!

Satan's Mystery Math Class: How 1+1+1=1!
Yes! Three Becomes One!

First, the Problem: what we Christians would later come to call the doctrine of the Trinity was so well-known by the Jews,

  • their very language and syntax uses Trinity in wordplay all over the OT.
  • "Son" was depicted as God via the Gold of the Ark, and its wood, His Coming Humanity.
  • YHWH, everyone knew, means He Who Always Was, Becomes Yeshua!
  • David and the prophets exploited wordplay on the Holy Spirit's role and nature as the olive tree pouring into a 'lampstand', the believer;
  • Fatherhood of Father fathering Son was endlessly enjoyed with ab- and min- Hebrew wordplay, plus Fatherhood titles joyously remembered and invoked by David, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Zechariah;
  • mimicking how the Son Himself played with Abram's name, way back in Gen17:5.
  • And of course there was no stopping the endless husbandy wordplay with respect to Son. It was the Whole Point Of Living!

    So, of course, when the Real Son came here, and identified Himself as The Way Of Salvation (OT keyword) in John 5 and following, the Pharisees looked for a way, alright -- a way to kill Him, because He Was Saying He Was Equal To God.

  • For if they objected to the idea of more than One God, they'd not have accused Him of making Himself Equal (i.e., Jn5:18). Can't make yourself equal to what there is only one of; so if claiming to be equal, it would be funny, not upsetting.
  • Rather, because they knew Trinity (i.e., Jn8:41, how ironic), they objected to His Claim that He was the One Promised (Jn10:30,33,36)!
  • Shema..echad.. ONE Father (Ps2:7, which in Hebrew is God the Father speaks to God the Son, soundplay on ELI, different vowel points vs. "to" -- see also Ps40:4ff and Heb10:5; Jn5:44, Isa64:8, Ps110:1. Ab-Elohim might be His OT name. Run a search, though the two parts might be separated; Ps68:4-7 seems to make wordplay out of it, as a Trinity type verse like Isa63:16. Ps89:19-29 Father and Son dialogue, again. Ps103:13 uses the split, but with YHWH, so ab-YHWH, Father of Jehovah double-entendre wordplay! Isa64:6 uses YHWH-abinu, reverse wordplay, esp. on the shemah! Isa9:5's Hebrew "father" isn't in LXX, which instead is something Father SAYS. Not all "Father" verses mean God the Father; "father" is also used of Christ to indicate He originated, as Creator of mankind. Some passages like the one containing Jer3:4, have more than one God talking. Like They Each have something to say, esp. how LXX translates it. This back-and-forth dialogue is marked in Isa, Eze, Jer, and some others. Always the axiomatic tone, reader expected to know who's who.) ;
  • Shemah, echad.. ONE Son (See verses on "One Father". Also: Zech12:10, Jn1, Deut32:39 -- Hebrew uses plural, Elohim! Compare to Isa43:11,25) ;
  • Shema, echad.. ONE Spirit (i.e., Gen 41:38, His First and Last Name; Eze11:1, Neh9:20, Joel 2, etc., too many references to list),
  • Shema..echad.. Each Co-Equal And Unique! That's wordplay embedded within the shemah of Deut6:4.
  • 'and Brilliantly expressed, in Isa63:1-18, a 2nd Advent prophecy on the very day of Return, showing Their Eternal Unitedness [Echad!] in bringing Israel out of Egypt, yet Each Echad, Unique! [Isa63:11 uses the untranslated particle "at" (aleph teth) to stress Spirit's Own Divinity. See also Isa63:14's Ruach YHWH. "Spirit of the Lord" is a misleading translation. It should be, Spirit-YHWH, to best convey in English what is meant. Great wordplay on ruah and nuah in that verse. Hundreds of these types of references in OT.]

Next, the crafting of a final solution!

Satan really feels for these guys. So he puts on his thinking cap. So, lessee. How about, we just restrict the thought about the meaning of "one" to one person, as if Infinity were limited and spatial, 'wholeness' can't exist unless one entity.

But the Pharisees, who keep mulling over this suggestion, not knowing Satan's behind it, are understandably despondent, and their ruminations begin again. Oy, such a headache! Hmmm. despite all the other Bible uses of echad for unitedness (or heis, its Greek), not to mention how the Each of Them is separately designated God, like in Isa 63:9-18. Or, failing that -- oomph -- since after all it's Painfully Obvious "God" Is A Collective Noun, Denoting Three Independent Persons -- oomph -- we can't fix this. We'll just have to be pious and deny it, hoping no one will notice how incompetent, is our coverup.

Satan tries again. Aha! Wait! Suppose ya truncate "God" into a hydra-headed Scylla, no one 'head' being really alive on its own -- yeah, like the beast of Daniel, hooray! Oh, yeah, and have the Christians call it, "Three in One! and make it a mystery, the name for Church, how God can really be a whole Person, Alone! Oh: and make it heretical to disbelieve they are separate whole Persons! Heh. So he can confuse both Christians and Jews so much, they'll kill each other! Yeah, Satan's not stupid. He got to work on both Jews and Christians, right away. "God" is this EGG, see...

Whew. Satan saved the day. And so they all lived happily ever after, the Jews with their One-Person-Revision despite that even today "Echad" means "United" as in "United Nations". Oh: and the Christians are happy too, with their Mystery Egg, which is somehow Three Persons, Yet no One of Them whole as God on His Own? Yeah, God is just a good ol' Egg..

    Yeah, an Egg, that's how stupid the Christians are, a demon calling himself 'Gabriel' would tell the genuinely-pious Mohammed, about six centuries later. So you, Mohammed, you write down what your lord tells you, that God has no partners, and these Christians are dummies. So, Mohammed faithfully did, dictating what his lord told him, to a transcriber; not noticing, of course, the many references to the Holy Spirit in the Koran he was writing. Not noticing, either, the reference to Christ as the "Faultless One" who in the Mary Sura was vouchsafed to be conceived via the Holy Spirit.

    The Jews of his day who kept peppering Mohammed with questions -- so that 'Gabriel' had to dedicate several Suras to them -- the Jews alongside Mohammed were very contented with his replies. Guess they didn't notice that the Cow sura turned the red heifer into a golden calf, that the Koran STILL claimed Abraham sacrificed Isaac, never Ishmael (Sura As-Saafat, 37:83-113). But then, the Koran never says that Ishmael was the rightful heir, either -- the Jews still have their inheritance, Allah has something different for those who Surrender to him -- so maybe the Jews were mollified. Precisely what the Surrenderers were to get as their inheritance, the Koran wouldn't say. Allah knows. Allah merely promises shade in "Paradise" beneath the earth after one dies IF you obey the Koran; which is where all shades go, as everyone knows from 5th-century BC Greek lit: Hades, aka "Hell". But by Mohammed's time, the OT prophecies of the Ascension, Messiah taking everyone out of Paradise (see Eph4:8-9), had been fulfilled for six centuries. So Paradise was EMPTY, in Mohammed's day. No shade in it, but rather IT WAS DARK -- well, that's a kind of 'shade', huh. So "in Paradise there is shade", is quite true! But notice: lots of shades roasting OUTSIDE it in 'Torments', though (see Luke 16:20ff). That's why they can SEE but not be in, that Paradise where there is shade...

    "Allah", as any good Muslim will tell you, doesn't mean "God". That's true: it's a Hebrew term for the rising of smoke from an offering. So comes to mean ascending. As in Isa14:14. But no one seemed inclined to make that Most Obvious Connection, though "ala" is one of the most important Hebrew words IN the Bible, a preposition of ASCENT. So if "Allah" really means ascending, well then "Allah" isn't yet on high..right? Ooops. For sure that blooper wasn't Mohammed's fault. The guy was just an honest young man who had no familiarity with Scripture. But his Jewish hearers should have known better. Guess people got sleepy, when hearing Mohammed explain his visions, or when reading that name in the Koran. For centuries.

    So of course who raised an eyebrow, when the Koran said how this Allah would be diminished if He had partners? Who asked, So, um -- wouldn't Allah be MORE diminished, if He created other beings? More Diminished, if sharing this message with a Mohammed, rather than simply announcing the Message with .. skywriting? Oh well.

    Yeah, so "God" must be diminished to.. an Egg. Something you eat. Something which never becomes alive. Coming from a chicken brain which can't understand John 17, 2Cor13:14. So what was the proper Trinitarian Jewish view, could nicely become but mere Hindu 'manifestations' of One God. No one manifestation was the whole of Him. For eggheads.

So, back in that first century AD, the Pharisees and Sadducees finally mended fences, and worked very hard to sell this new one-person-thingy. But they never quite managed to eliminate all the Talmudic references to Trinity (i.e., in Mishnah); and they couldn't dare mess too much with the Divine Writ everyone knew and had in synagogue. So all that wonderful Trinity wordplay, remained intact. Right down to Elohim, a plural 'last name' to convey Identical Essence, Triplets, which Israel still uses every Saturday, in the "shema": Shema, Yisrael, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Echad!

So back in that first century AD, the "Way" also having splintered mostly due to Paul, finally decided that amidst all the persecution, they better find a way to stick together. So, by the end of that first century, what had been the Jerusalem faction of believers, gained dominance; and from their loins would be fashioned, political religion. And the world would never be the same again: Rev17 began right on time, just as God had John warn them.


Naturally, during that first tumultous century AD, people around the world largely found all these changes in their long-cherished beliefs, extremely upsetting. Gimme that good ol' time religion! Out of that upheaval, many others saw opportunity for yet more variations -- and profit. Profit means trade, and trade means travel, so that first century saw a huge upswing in travel. The normally ever-mobile populations (great way to keep safe), now enboldened by the peace of Rome, travelled like never before. (It's no coincidence that the Mohawk, certain Hawaiian headgear, and the Roman helmets, have so much in common. It's no coincidence that Mayan and other Latin American temples remind one of ziggurats.)

So, new faiths sprang up like weeds, especially based on some kind of Redeemer claim, and a lot of money was easily um, obtained thereby. Oh, so popular the tale! Just as foretold by Christ, and in Paul's letters to the Thessalonians, messiahs started popping up everywhere. Anyone who had a grudge against entrenched authority, claimed himself a messiah returned, to make his bid for power. Polities would soon be at risk, so governmental persecution soon became the usual reaction. It was as if the First Advent, hadn't completed.

By Domitian's day, Christians were so UNpopular, there were mime plays mocking their beliefs and rituals. Tableaus of their ridiculous meglomania of god sacrificing himself for them! Oh how sacreligious! How against the Roman mindset of inclusiveness! All The Gods Share Power. How DARE any of them not reciprocate honor to another! How dare one of them claim to be the only true god! Why, such effrontery goes against every tenet of Roman culture! And it's Rome who is headed by a god, not some dusty little backwater country every soldier yearned to avoid, and every politician, considered a penal tour!

    Ti gar oun: Whatever shall a Caesar, do about these pesky followers of Chrestus, or whoever he was? By this point in the 90's AD, the riots Paul had encountered a generation earlier at Miletus, were pretty routine: if Christians were in sufficient number. And, bearing in mind that being saved means you are completely incompatible with yourself from that minute onward, until you've sufficiently Eaten Christ's Thinking -- Christians then were as obnoxious as the Christians we know, today. Pity the Christian who never learns His Lord's Thinking in That Book. Pity those who must live with him, too.

    Coupled with the rampant upheaval among those having diplomatic connections with Rome, the pressure on the Emperor to do something about this "Way", these Christians (an epithet!), became intense. You, oh Caesar, are the Imperator of the very realm which spawned these people. Surely it will be a significant statement if you teach them a little discipline.

    What was most obnoxious about these bleeping Christians, even as their Jewish 'parents', was their utter Faith. Granted, they were goofy, and goofiness in the name of a god was accepted on the grounds that you thus demeaned yourself -- say, by torching yourself in the street to atone or show the god love, a common practice Romans and Greeks alike even admired -- but these people! had the colossal gall to denigrate any faith but their own! So who could say what they might do? Of course they had to be taught a lesson. But -- careful now, don't want to so alienate them that, well Claudius had been promoted by the praetorian guard, and Nero would have been murdered by them if he didn't beat them to the punch. And of course the Guard really liked that Paulus, and were very upset with Nero for executing him. Hmmm, show a little of that Roman inclusiveness, just banish this guy whom the Christians say saw their Chrestus or whoever he was. So what was a good Emperor to do? Round Them Up! Tachú!

So John found himself exiled on Patmos by Domitian. Exiled, not killed: emperors must show compassion, you know. Especially when, Who Knew Who Was A Christian, even in the Palace.

There on Patmos, a rock really, some shrubs -- there on Patmos, hardly big enough to sustain its paltry wildlife, let alone a people -- there The PetraRock told one of His Living Stones, the rest of history: aka hey Apokalupsis, the UnVeiling, the Revelation of Jesus the Christ. In mime. With a narrator/ chorus, sometimes played by the one on Patmos, not in the play, relating the mime. A Burlesqued Mime, this time against those who burlesqued His lambs. The Lamb reviewed His troops on the earth where John actually was, warning them to Get Ready! but Next In Sequence told how "after these things, a Door opened" -- Revelation 4:1 -- and they would be snatched up into the green pastures, to dwell with the Lord forever. Not mere Eleusian fields.

    For the Mirror of History is designed to Reflect Him, which is why Matt7:1-2, the quintessential mirroring verse, was played on Israel; and then given to Church, to Rescue Israel. For, God Buys Time We Lose, And Gives Us The Victory. Whether Vashti or Esther. For Father wants a Mosaic of His Son always in Father's 'Face'. Sweet 'smell' and sight of His Son's Thinking. In millions of souls. Priestly souls, designed as Body for Son. So an Aggregate Body Of Thinking will Reflect Him, 1Cor13:12, fulfilling Jer3:31-34, the Ark in our heads means we are arks too: for preserving life on this planet. But, when the earth no longer can abide us abiding in Him, we go Home and become that sea of glass, Rev4:6. Forever reflecting Him, as is the job of our Royal Priesthood: in this Age over all the Ages, Eph3:21 (in context, corr. translation of the lexeme there).

    Of course, there is an anti-reflection. As with Malachi, God gives His Church Final Word, because believers on earth are too negative to listen. So the next time they get revelation will be for Judgement, and the Book's contents, will play. Meanwhile the Christians on the earth were already fast succumbing to what John would pen in Rev17: politicized religion of allegedly 'Christian' flavor (denoted by "mystery", a moniker for Church, but this one is fake); equals, the harlot clothed in purple and scarlet, dominating (not merely sitting on) the 'beast', political powers. [The 'beast' is traditionally interpreted to have a head location of Rome, since the seven hills was a famous moniker for Rome and what Rome then represented -- empire -- but at a future time, and in a different configuration versus what it was at the time. Problem is, the angel says, "was and is not" in Rev 17:8; so I wonder if Rome was meant. Rome reached its largest extent under Trajan, later than the "was". I remember my pastor hedging on the location, too. So for webpage purposes I go along with the traditional interp of the location of the beast, but am none too sure. The idea of a "Revived Roman Empire", a 10-nation European confederacy comes from the ASSumption that Rome is meant, in Rev17. But again, Rome WAS an empire at the time John got Revelation, so if the angel says "is not", how can it be Rome? If you interpret "is not" to mean the at the RAPTURE's time, rather than historical time on Patmos, then Rome would have been long dead. Not sure you can read "is not" that way, since it's contemporaneous in Daniel, which uses a parallel idiom. Someday all these issues will be re-examined and my webpages fixed accordingly.]

    So Christianity was morphing into a political power, its faith having declined to the level of mere human culture, God long forgotten, but like the Romans did, "God" is piously mouthed to make one receive human approbation. The actual future harlot probably isn't around in Church history, but is only aped or in prototype form, given the angel's comment that this harlot comes from the Abyss: where demons are now locked up, released in Rev9, during the first half of Trib, so that future religion is of demon invention. But since Satan doesn't know when the Rapture will occur, he uses the Rev17 setup now, to trap and prepare. So we are to understand Rev17 as a pattern, a trend which will operate during the time of Church, not a particular denomination. For again, the actual 'denomination' will be the invention of the demon nation which is let out of the Abyss by Satan, in Rev9.

    Here's the tragedy which John is about to pen, which had been one of his main themes, five years or so prior: when you stop wanting God, you stop knowing God or you never come to know Him. So of course you'll trash His Word. Doesn't matter how moral you are. Doesn't matter how religious you are. Doesn't matter how right you think your doctrines are. The soul which stops or never starts wanting to know God and thus His Word, blackens. Slowly. So his reading of that Word blackens immediately (Greek words matiotes, skotizw, sklerunw). Thus, history comes to an end with a lot of blackened, hating-God souls, many of them quite moral and religious, shaking their fists at His Coming. Thrice: 1st, Church, Raptured in Rev4:1; then, the Trib people, separated by the Baptism of Fire, Rev 19 (see also Matt24:37-41,Luke17:30-37); then those at the Great White Throne, cast into the Lake of Fire, Rev20:11-15. Scary thing, to not want God. Insane, too. See, it's not a warm fuzzy, Revelation. It's a true future we're warned about. [There's a double-entendre in the Matt24 and Luke 17 passages. We Church don't know when He will come, and the people at the end of Trib don't know when the 2nd Advent actually arrives -- that very day, is in focus. My pastor teaches the Baptism of Fire meaning, but it's also clear the lesson is to warn us about our own 'day' when He arrives to pick us up, given the allusion to Noah. Normal life will go on that day -- and suddenly, cease. Parallelism. Be prepared.]

Though the 'Church Fathers' were touted as God's mouthpieces, the Real God INSTEAD gave the real Last Apostle John, the Real Play of History. Therefore, the REST of history unfolds as Greek plays are supposed to, in quadrilogy. In Greek drama competition, a quadrilogy would usually be three tragedies plus one comedy, or the reverse; all four related in plot, kinda like what we call a mini-series. Plot per play had to center on a 'day', with flashbacks and forwards for other times. So John uses "meta tauta" clauses in Greek to mark off each play's 'time', makes it easy to follow with all the flashbacks, flashforwards, and tableau intermissions:
  • Play #1, the NOW play, Rev1-3; the actual Rapture is in Rev4:1, bracketed front-and-back by two bookended "meta tauta" clauses in that verse. Very easy to see Rapture is Pre-Trib.
  • Play#2, Israel's Tribulation, 1st-7th Trumpets (last Trumpet begins the last 3.5 years and with them the seven vial judgements; so first six trumpets are the first 3.5 years). Never once does He Personally talk to anyone on earth, so obviously the only 'church' there, is the Rev17 Fake Church, NOT the True Church of the Risen Christ. Silence of Jonah, since the world won't hear Him. Instead, angels and weather have to do the talking with a few believers among them, shining His Face upon them via what Scripture they so intensely then learn. So those Believers constitute an Israel who Accepts Him. Deus ex machina, He Comes Back at the end of Play #2 With All His Lambs, The First Group Of Whom Are Now Denoted, "Bride": the "Church of the FirstBorn" (Heb12:23) is now officially married -- just as Long Promised -- and takes her position alongside Him. Visibly. From millions of miles away in space, people all over the world will see this huge triumphal army riding toward them. Kinda hard not to believe in Him, by that point.

  • Hence Play #3, Footstool, known in theology as "the Millennium"; in the Bible, it's based on the 1000-year time grants from Adam forward, the last one being to Christ. He descends with His cavalry of angels and Bride, but Alone saves Israel via a bloodbath HE Personally brutally executes, Isa63:1-6; Blood Is Like A Sea from Dan to Beersheba (boundaries of Israel), flowing maybe six feet high (horse's bridle, Rev14:20). Whether that depiction is literal or figurative, it literally takes seven months for the dead to be buried. [i.e., Isa63, Eze39, end of Luke 17 (Baptism of Fire), birds-eat-everyone passages in OT and in Rev14, 19 (get a study Bible for cross-references). Lots of prophecy on this is scattered throughout OT, usually by reference, not obvious in English. Verses like Isa65:15 and Lam1:15 have multiple-entendre nouns of great 'spread', so the verses reveal Simultaneous Judgement And Rescue/Vindication Of Israel. Translations can't do them justice, see the original. If you're under my pastor, he covers and exegetes all this in the Revelation series when he gets to chapter 19, and somewhere around Lessons 800 et seq. in '92 Spiritual Dynamics. Isaiah 63 is summarily exegeted in his Isaiah tape lessons 40-42, but those lessons were later updated in Revelation.]

      Meanwhile, He's resurrected all the OT believers, and gives these latter their landgrants and other benefits; then, using Pleroma as rulers of Gentile nations to guarantee Israel's Peace, He ushers in the last 1050 years of history, not only to fulfill His Promise to Abram and those covenanted since, but to answer that original serpent's claim of superior begetting. For, that old devil had long maintained that Lamb's Father was a bad Planner; that the plan Wasn't Nice Enough for creation, so of course creation rebelled. Ok, then: usher in the greatest environment ever, and watch how people still hate Me, says the Lord.

      MORAL: So Play #3 demonstrates that ya either want God, or don't, and all the goodies won't make a bit of difference. So, end with an anti-deus ex machina, the release of Satan&Co., hence that final big war during the last 50-year voting period in history, Rev20:7.

      Then, The Judgement, and what a future German would call "Valhalla", last part of Rev20.

  • From #3's final big bang (fusion or fission) commences Play #4, Eternity. As my pastor explains it, Earth is used to trigger the second of two new universes: those who hate Him, the unbelievers and demons, get to have their own eternal Home Alone. But believers, they get a separate universe, as Those Who Love Him Will Live With Him Happily Ever After. Believe it or not, your choice.

Of course, the famous Greek practice of epilogue, putting a memorable Moral at the end of the play for virtue's sake, makes for John's final scene (Rev22:6-21): learn this Book; I Am Coming Tachú. Don't deviate from this Book don't add to it, it's Finished. Even as, He finished at the Cross, He finishes prophecy (Rev19:10), He finishes explaining how history will go, since He Controls History (i.e., Acts 17:26). For all the promises, find their "Yes" in Him! So get ready! Make haste, chop-chop, hurry up and grow, Tachú! For Isa60:22 is always true, and there IS a Sudden Appointment we'll all keep: Heb9:27.

Therefore Daniel 9:26's timeline didn't stop at 70AD, since Church is not Israel; Dan9:26 however did specify the Character Of Our Time, which is left 'open' as to length. Because Matt16:18+John17:20+21, Revelation must play paradigmally as trends during Church, syncopated to dovetail with Daniel 9:26, alerting everyone what comes next Without Warning, Tachú. Again, Rapture is based on Church believer bodies completing, not a set period of time. Time thus stopped for Israel but shifted, rerouted to Church: for Christ the King of Kings, is the Nexus of History, Joining both Israel and Church, Eph2. Theology overlooks the dual-entendre of prophecy here, though it recognizes that Scripture typically plays prophecy in what it calls a "near" and "far" "fulfillment". That's true here, too. For Revelation, penned 95 or 96AD, laid out the rest of history in neat Greek-Drama format, as summarized above. No excuse, that we don't understand it. RevPlay.htm has a fuller outline; but for this webpage, watch how embarrassing it is that we don't understand Revelation, in what follows:

    1. Greek Drama is always split-screen. We've had Greek drama for centuries, and laud it.
    2. In Greek drama, tableaus or explanations are "choral" or "prologue", and function as 'intermissionary', for the sake of the audience.
    3. The audience needs the tableaus and choral explanations, since the audience is not part of the play, so is told the play.
    4. The action offstage is reported, so that offstage group is also not part of the play, but rather the explanation behind the play.
    5. So those IN the play, are neither part of the audience nor part of what's offstage. For, they are onstage.
    6. Um, if you're onstage and an actor, you have lines or blocking given you to do. Notice Church has no lines, no blocking, no role, anywhere after Revelation 4's depiction of us as that "sea of glass" in Heaven, as audience. Only the Fake Church of Rev17 has lines and blocking associated with it. So we the Real Church of believers, instead of being living stones are dead blockheads, to think we're in the Tribulation!
    7. However, when audience is being taught something, the thing they are being taught is A Message applicable to their lives -- a message plays paradimally, in principle, a trend or 'law' governing the life.
    8. So at no point is the audience part of the play, but yet the principles of the play, are playing in their lives as principles. Trends.
    9. So we are to understand the tableaus and explanations, as trends during Church.

    10. The usual format for incorporating an audience into the play, is via a Representative Person in the play (here, John); and, via a dramatic device which continues even today, called interjection ("suddenly, like a thief" being a typical Revelation example; today's "aside" in modern drama). This way, you can follow the play, and integrate its lessons.

    11. So in rhetorical terms, John is on the sidelines in the Play: typical Greek-drama Narrator, Representative Audience, reporting what he sees. So John is not in the Play, duh, he's on Patmos. But in the vision, he is given commands to the Audience, Church. And then suddenly, without warning, Tachú! from Rev4:1 onward, he's up in Heaven: so Church is also.
    12. From then on, no more tagline, "Spirit says to the churches".
    13. Notice next how the stage from that point forward Remains in Heaven. Um, the audience is in front of the stage, and the stage is in Heaven, and we are the audience, so we are in Heaven seeing this. All the action is reported from Heaven. The earth itself is offstage. So clearly, Church is not on earth.
    14. For the Play, is about How Christ Takes Over, "The Day of the Lord" -- in Greek drama, the onstage action must take place over a "day", with flashbacks and flash forwards, to explain it. So, it's told from Heaven. Where we are, during that time. But we get the Script of the Play in advance, get it?

    15. All the on-Earth depictions are choral explanations or tableaus, often narrated by John -- to us, the audience. So Church is not on Earth then, hence she's hearing about what happens on Earth. So the tableaus are not seen nor the explanations heard, by Earth. Since at that point Earth is offstage, relative to us. Hence the split-screen nature: top screen, Heaven, with all the tableaus and explanations to us Church. Bottom screen is Earth: experiencing the cataclysms, not seeing tableaus or explanations. Because, They Are Two Separate Action Sequences. Related in meaning, but separate groups, joined by being in the same time period, the whole thing being the Lord's Property: the Title Deed Sequence in Rev4-6 is His claiming ownership of the property, hence the release of the seals. [If you're under my pastor, he covers this Title Deed meaning when exegeting those Revelation chapters, and briefly updates that meaning somewhere around Lessons 800 in '92 Spiritual Dynamics, when he covers Revelation again in the context of PSD#10, Occupation with Christ. He also covers it in his Revelation series, which exegetes Revelation verse by verse, so get the classes on Revelation 4-6.]

    16. Now you have to know your isagogics. In Roman times, the property isn't validly turned over until all the seals are opened, and the proper identity of the Owner (and other clauses) are revealed from within the scroll. So the seals metaphorically depict Encumbrances to Ownership which must be Removed or Played Out, in order for the Ownership to Complete. Hence the trends in Revelation 6 apply to Church. Because Church has completed in Rev4:1, the first six (but not the seventh) seal can be removed. The removal releases the six seals to play in Tribulation, because Church got completed. Double-entendre: in order to remove the first six seals, the trends they cover, had to play in Church; since they finish playing in Church, they can be removed to play blow-by-blow, in the Tribulation. The first six seals are trends which go back to Adam, and you can see them in Lev26 and Deut28. That's why Daniel 9:24 talks about completion as it does. So notice how the Tribulation and Millennial future depend on Church Being Completed, even as we Church were once future and UNKNOWN to the OT: more about that precedence will be covered later on. For now, just note this a priori dependence, is legally expressed by Releasing The Seals.

    17. The Seventh Seal Begins the actual Tribulation, because the Title Deed is now Unencumbered. That's why the trumpets can begin. These trumpets are not at all related to the one in 1Thess4 (which has a different title, "Trumpet of God" and an ARCHangel, not a mere angel, sound it). Church is in Heaven being told what these events mean on earth, since Church isn't down on earth. Duh, if we were on earth Then, we wouldn't need to be told, Now. (KJV and other Bibles in Chapter 13 and 14 is mistranslated so the reader is misled. John doesn't go down to earth in Chapter 13: text should say "he [Satan, from Chapter 12] stood", not "I stood". Hence Chap14's "from heaven" in v.2 should be rendered "out from heaven", so the reader won't think John is hearing this from on earth. Some of the original-language manuscripts added an "n" to histemi, but some didn't. So you can tell where a copyist made an error; maybe someone tried to match verb person between histemi and horaw, to 'correct' Bible, kinda like the Cainan problem in LXX Gen5 and Luke 3. It's easy for Satan&Co. to 'help' a probably underpaid, exhausted copyist or translator, slip up.)

    18. People during the Trib need us to complete first, so they will know where they are in history. For the Fake Church will be there to beguile them: "to deceive, if possible (means it IS possible), the elect", Matt24:24, Mark 13:22. We sheep are always deceived, Eph4:14, Isa53:6. So the Trib people need a way to fend off deceit. From Revelation, they will then know that The Real Church Has Left the Building, analogous to how we know Messiah Came and Left. So they will know that Rev4-6 is happening live, and they are onstage experiencing what's depicted that we then currently, see from Heaven. So they can know what play it is, what time it is: and hide. Daniel 12 tells them the exit window is day 1-1260, try to get out before day 1215; for the last 1335 days will be murder. (You count backwards from 2nd Advent in Dan12:12, to know this; you know to count backwards, because "happinesses" begins the verse.) The Two Witnesses are killed on day 1260, and the statue goes up as a result. So they count the days, and in that sense 'watch' from the sidelines, like we are. Only they, are on Earth.

    19. So the Actual Rollout Of Events For The Tribulation Proper, begins when the Seventh Seal opens. From it come the trumpet judgements, the first 6 being played in the first 3.5 years, offstage, on Earth. The last trumpet 'opens' the vial judgements (really "libation bowl", shallow and broad, more like a deep saucer). These begin the second 3.5 years. Interspersed between them, are the prologues and chorus advisements, so the audience knows how to interpret the actual events depicted by the trumpets and vials.

    20. By this Greek drama structure one understands which tableaus and explanations, will also run during Church. Because, by 96AD, only Church was left: the "times of the Gentiles" had been running since 30AD, but now that the Temple was destroyed but Church hadn't grown up in time, it needed its own tribulation, too. For that is the only design map of history remaining, the 7 years for Israel. So, since Israel rejected Messiah, and that's the only character of Time Remaining, Church will get the tableau form of that character (Rev 6, 12, 17). Because, the character of the time is specified quite bluntly in Daniel 9:26c, as we saw in the Legatee table: "war and its miseries are decreed from that time until the very end." That time, 70AD. That time, Gentile time. Until the fullness (Pleroma! Body completion!) of the Gentiles has come in, Matt24, Rom11.


Meanwhile, above the thickening, teeming fray of human confrontation, high above the clouds, looking down on all this writhing humanity, the one who for eons ached! to replace the Most High! was most pleased with his progress in all these fractious proceedings; quite pleased, in fact, that the very Revelation 17 harlot of political religion, which the Most High even told everyone was soon occurring -- well, she was sitting like a princess, nicely flexing her beauty within that horrid "Way". Might as well adopt the same colors as those in Rev17, so no one has excuse to say he was fooled into my Pretty Ruse. After all, to avoid the persecutions, many among her number opted for the harlot's security of political clout that sympathy over the persecutions, granted. Meanwhile, the Jewish problem was nicely solved by none other than the Rejected Bridegroom back in 70AD, so persecution BY these "Way" people of the former bride was also proceeding to develop, nicely on course: all that had to happen, was for the harlot to be called, "Christian". Dress up in the "Way" terminology, but suck out the meaning. Falsify the Gospel by adding verbs, replacing the only verb that saves, "believe"; and any number of Lord, Lord people who are mine will be thought "Christians". Thus the real Christians can be persecuted, too. Thus the Real Bible can be confiscated, hidden, 'protected' -- well, kidnapped, let's not be coy -- as well. Ahhh, the final solution to all these vexing problems.

So Bible remains a 'Mystery' to Church,
for the New Esther's kinda OLD Now.
Thus we learn from Bible, that we learn nothing from Bible!

So, here we are in this Year of Our Lord, 2007, and it's still, Tachú! Unlike that first century's folk, we are soooo wise now; all religions born since His Crucifixion are sooo wise, now. All nicely retooled to look just like him, so they say. So many holy books out there, now. All claiming to be Divine Writ, all clamoring at the fair to be purchased, all being nicely respectful, "tolerant" of all faiths -- well, when expedient. Um, but one teeny problem: How Did Sins Get Paid For? Ooops! None of the holy books answer that question, even now -- except the Bible.

    Kinda odd, isn't it? Here 20 centuries have passed, and on every other topic in Scripture, you'll find a counterfeit in some faith claiming it's the 'same thing'. But where's the Cross counterfeited? Where's the mechanism in Isaiah 52:13-53:12 counterfeited, which shows how His COUNTER-Thinking Matched against the sins' thinking which hit him like javelins; thus, propitiated Father and Sewed Us Up In Him, Isa53:5 -- as Romans 6 also explains? All the material on the internet about Isa53 except these websites, casts the Chapter as a "Who Is It?" question, rather than a How He Paid explanation! Text couldn't be more blatant, given the Contract in Isa53:11! But guess what -- Christians can't even read that Chapter, for they still think His Physical Death paid for sins, though the Chapter very clearly proves it was His Thinking! Does anyone notice the 21 times Isaiah explains that fact, beginning in 52:13? Does anyone actually re-translate the chapter? Noooo! Everyone copies what someone ELSE translated, rather than any de novo review of the original-texts!

    So if even Christians don't understand their own Book, lol -- you just try to find any OTHER book which explains How Sins Got Substitutionally Paid. For surely the one who did the wrong, is now Damaged Goods -- so couldn't afterwards pay, anything at all to Infinite Infinite Infinite God. If our post-sin righteousnesses are menstrual rags (literal Hebrew of Isa64:6), um what can you do with such gross stuff? So the Real God, 'whoever he is' has to be paid. Ok: then the only valid holy book, is the one which admits that, and answers How He Got Paid. Simple as that.

    So of course all the holy books skirt this question, even until today; or, they make lame statements like God doesn't need to be paid (so, God doesn't deserve justice, lol); or, just throw up their hands and make Him a mystery (cute word, that -- mocking the "mystery" moniker that is Church). Clever lawyerly ploys, all. Oh: and make sure you link political/ethnic loyalty to the holy book, so those in that group will feel traitors if they don't adhere.

    Sooo wise, to recast reincarnation, a spoof on salvation invented eons ago, into a "science of evolution", hah! Then, just for fun, mix its goofiness with religion, so now religions can be "scientific": whether a rehashed metempsychotic gnosticism with Kabbala highlights, like the one invented by a used-car salesman (L. Ron Hubbard); or, by a woman with four surnames who felt refusing medical attention was spiritual, yet scientific (Mary Baker Patterson Glover Eddy)! Or well, there are too many, to list! All how we float up to the Light, all magical transformations WE make, whether through the nicely-martyr-sounding eons of time, or instant! In this lifetime! Just observe this taboo, chant this mantra, pay this money, commune, baby. Yes! Man-becomes-god. Old story. Been there, done that, so if God makes Himself man, it's kinda anticlimactic.

    All the while, God getting paid is never addressed. We are too mesmerized with each other. Fitting in. Being alike. Being nice to each other. Making gods out of ourselves. So the last thing we want to do, is admit Someone Infinite Made Us and He Should Be Compensated for That. Satan's not stupid. Just mimic Bible in the right places, and you mask the real issue, Believe or Burn because Sin requires Payment to Infinite God Which You Can't Make. Thus Bible remains unique, even as it always was. And uniquely reviled, too.

Bible's Rapture Doctrine also remains unique. For Rapture only happens due to God's Ending His Answer in the Angelic Trial. Or, Satan garnering a MISTRIAL VERDICT. Either one, to be determined via the Outcome of Church Believer Witnesses in that Unseen Heavenly Trial, per Hebrews 11. Rapture has zippo to do with world events. Church Is Made The Cause Of All World Events Due to The Angelic Trial, as you'll see below. So all that prophecy drooling you see and hear in 'Christian' media is flat wrong. Rather, as Hebrews 11 makes clear would someone ever read it -- since Adam, our primary job down here is to grow up spiritually in the Word, just as it was for Christ ("full of Grace and Truth", see also Rom8). Our primary witness down here is toward God, not people: just as it was, for Christ. For, the First Advent occurred primarily due to the Trial. The Trial is about whose plan is better, God's or Satan's, as we saw in Part I. Thus man was created, pursuant to an Appeal Satan made, when the initial trial of him and the fallen angels, ended. Thus Man Voted for salvation when offered, Gen 3:12 et seq. At that point, procreation was invented, since God won't touch sin, and sin is genetically inherited, as we saw in Part II. During that time, the Trial Witnesses were adjunctively rewarded with being progenitors of Messiah's bloodlines; and finally, under the Law He came. But He came, FIRST as a Witness to Defeat Satan, Hebrews Chapter 1+7; for which He won His first-contracted but second-in-chronological-time, Kingship: King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Hence Church, to be developed into those Kings He is King over (Lord of Lords is over the angels, as Hebrews 1 explains).

    For as we saw at the beginning of Part III and above ("Passover 29AD" section), He won -- but there was no Kingdom! For Israel had rejected Him. Groom, but no Bride. So Christ invented a new Bride. That should have been grounds for a Mistrial: you don't invent Evidence. So how could Christ do that, and be Just? Satan's argument is that He can't. But Father accepted this! Satan's argument is that Father is therefore wrong. You just try to bring invented evidence into your own home country's courts! But given the Terms of this 'Church', Satan agreed to its post-Cross creation, so is estopped from claiming a Mistrial unless Church does not complete. And the Terms are devastating, even impossible:

  1. Added Cost of Church to Christ, Eph5: Church was invented in Matt16:18 as a Testamentary Contract between Son and Father, ratified in John 17:20-21, explained fully in Book of Hebrews. Christ thus Agreed to Accept untold trillions of Added Sins on the Cross, using His eternity-past Kingship promise (theme of Hebrews 1-2) as the basis for Adding Church. Thus He Agreed In Advance to Pay for all those future people to be born, whether believer or unbeliever. As Many As Father would 'vote' to make. The extra cost to Him is humanly incalculable: something like 70 billion people must have been born since 30AD. Of that number, there must be some billions of children (and other ill or malnourished individuals) who died before being mentally-old enough to understand and reject the Gospel, so they are in heaven. In short, Church is huge; and hell is at least 10 times bigger. So the Bride Price was huge. In Advance. We'd not exist today, had He not made That Vote.

  2. Hence Two "Basileus" (Kingships); thus two covenants, two priesthoods, two spiritualities, the Last is First. Church is not related to Israel, but to Christ. Founded on His eternity-past Kata Melchizedek contract, not on Israel's, Ps110 -- all this, Book of Hebrews explains.
  3. For God Promised that the rest of history would play, because He promised Church would Complete.
  4. Church's Deadline is not time-defined, but body-defined: it must Fulfill the Body Numbers Promised -- i.e., those souls in John 17:20-21 -- before the rest of history can 'play'. Else, it's a Mistrial. (You'll see this same body promise in Rev7, with respect to the Tribulation evangelists, and those bodies aren't time-defined, either. They die in the first half, as you see before the 2nd half of Trib begins in Rev14.)

    As we saw earlier, Israel's time ended at the Cross, except for two 'sevens': the first seven was reserved back in Daniel 9, because the 1000th anniversary of David's death occurred beforehand (explained in more detail in "David" and "To Be or Not to Be" links of Mirroring.htm), so Messiah would have to redeem Time, before that 'seven' could play. The second seven was within the Daniel 9 grant, but Israel rejected Christ. So He died at the next-closest Davidic deadline, 30AD: that was the 1000th anniversary of David's retirement from Kingship. So that cut-short other 'seven', played between 64-70AD: siege of Jerusalem and Temple razed, thus fulfilling Daniel 9:26a and b. But the prophecy of Israel's land being dominated by the Gentiles until 2nd Advent -- Daniel 9:26c -- remained. So Israel's time is used up. A year before He died, Christ knew all this, hence He made a testamentary contract for Church to BUY TIME and complete Bride. So our deadline being now of a body-completion nature, literally Buys Time for every day that Body-building, continues: ergo God has Paul exhort us to grow up and finish, Col4:5 and Eph5:16. Meanwhile our 'spot' in history is characterized by Daniel 9:26c, to keep advertising to the world that Messiah has Come and Left, Rapture is Real and the Bible is Really from Real God. So anyone can look into the Book, look around in life, and prove that fact conclusively. Later on in this page you'll see how embarrassingly bald, is that proof.

  5. We are thus Evidence of Him down here (1Jn4:17), the First Advent being rejected.
  6. Fulfillment of ALL God's Promises is On Trial, since the Cross itself would be a sham if Church doesn't Complete (people paid for in advance who don't come to exist or don't come to exist as advertised, means payment was incorrect).
  7. Church is Now On Trial for whether she will Grow up. For we must measure up to Christ's Own Grueling, Royal Spiritual Maturity Standard, Eph4:13. The Royal Spiritual Life is about having perfect THOUGHTS: for Father forever hears each one. It's a killer life. Light-years beyond moral behavior. It's exhausting, a kind of spiritual racquetball, and you never get off the court!

  8. Church makes History, not Prophecies. The 'prophecy' is that the Number of Church will Complete. So as History passes, that fulfillment is demonstrated. So you can't predict when, because it's a Body-Promise, not a time promise.
  9. The Individual believer who matures in Christ is placed in the Witness Box even as the OT Witnesses were, main point in Hebrews 11. Because it's a Witness Role, there is a NUMBER of Witnesses who must complete, else it's a Mistrial. We don't know what that number is. God however, does. (Presumably Satan does too, as even in secular jurisprudence, the number and identity of witnesses to be called, must be given to the opposition in advance.)
  10. So Rapture's not even remotely based on historical events, since Church Votes Juridically Determine Historical Events. That's really a Justice Principle since Adam (i.e., Noah was saved in the Flood, which continued history).

  11. Church's own Unseen Kingship-eligibility Witness Completion Determines the Quality and Length of History. Again, this is an upgraded version of what's been the Juridical rule since Adam. History only continued because Adam voted yes. Then it shifted to the Gen5 and 11 heroes. Then it shifted to Abraham. Then, to Moses and through him, Israel. Then (when Israel voted against God in favor of Saul), to David. Then via David, to the Temple promised David. Then, to Christ. Time's very existence is based on these heroes, as Mirroring.htm shows. My pastor (and I'm sure others) has taught this Everything-depends-on-believers doctrine for decades. [I'm not yet sure if he's ever taught the 490-year structure from Adam as I present it in Mirroring.htm; though I'd bet money he long knew about it, given what I've heard him say on blessing-by-association, i.e., in his Genesis '75, '85 Ephesians, and '92 Spiritual Dynamics series. God clued me into it, because I was trying to VET IN BIBLE how believers buy time as my pastor claimed, while initially writing up this Part IV from the year 2001-2004.]

    Our "witness" role is to GOD, since we are Royal Priests to God. The witness is about whether the crown laid up for us, is justifiably awardable (i.e., the do not lose your crown verse in Revelation). That is, everything you do and think is being Witnessed From Heaven. You are tested for whether you should inherit a kingdom, every second. You are being Trained for that Role. For, we were ALL slated to be kings since eternity past, theme of Eph1 (i.e., the "every spiritual blessing clause", a kind of escrow, as my pastor likes to explain it). But we can abdicate, as explained back in Part III. So forget about witnessing to people. God will throw that role in your lap unexpectedly, you don't need to seek it. The First Person to Whom you live.. is GOD. Just as it was, for Christ Himself.

  12. Rapture and meanwhile history itself, are Legally the product of Our Voting To His Level. All Divine Juridical Pronouncements are based on believer votes, Lev26. Again, this is true since Adam, and God has even designed Time to include three types of voting periods; Bible events are keyed to these voting periods, as GeneYrs.xls demonstrates. #1, #8, #9 of TenWaysThisTimelineDiffers.doc walk you through that. Justice is always consistent. Past is precedence. You'll see more about the Voting Criterion in this Part IVa, for past is prologue: that was the criterion for Israel, that was the criterion for Christ, and He Increased the Passing Level Required when He Voted To Build Church Upon Himself in Matt16:18, ratified in John 17:20-21. That's why Satan accepted it, deeming that Level utterly impossible to fulfill.

      God accepted that Level, obviously -- why should Holy God tolerate a level lower than His Son? We saw in Part III and the first section of this Part IVa, God's Plan is to make us 'gods'. Why should He tolerate seeing, anything less? So think of this enormity: we had to be paid UP to That Level in advance, 2000 years ago! What we see as ourselves now, is but the TRAINING FORMAT He chose to use. Start us low, because of the Trial. Look: God can do anything He wants. Our natures don't hinder anything. He could instead just bing! us to make us gods, but He's Real Big On Freedom -- which means voting for Him to change you, line on line, precept on precept, thought on thought -- so you vote, He executes. You always vote based on the Merit of the Object. After all, if you had merit, you'd be running for office -- but you're not, because you have no merit. But the Object is Perfect and Infinite. Easy vote, then.

      So the Level of History itself, is solely determined by: 1) Church Voting plus 2) Christ's Own Spiritual Maturity Standard and hence Spiritual Life, Eph4:13. Um, now you know why history has been so Low for so Long. So We are Liable. WE are to blame for sickness, disease, bad weather, war, calamity: just read Lev26, see for yourself. We believers are Liable. Not, the politicians or unbelievers or name-whomever-the-world-deems-liable.

      Are you frightened yet? You should be. I'm scared to death of not growing up spiritually. "Spiritual Atlases", my pastor likes to say of Church winners. True: and the flipside, is to know forever if one failed. No thanks!

  13. Accordingly, if Church doesn't Complete (i.e., due to so many negative believers, God must cancel TIME), then it's a Mistrial.
  14. Cost or Gain to Satan: If Church Completes, God finishes His Arguments, and that Nullifies all of Satan's arguments. If Church doesn't complete, he Nullifies all God's Promises, and Satan wins.

So if the Twin Promise of Church Mature Witness and Number of Believers is Not Fulfilled, it's a Mistrial, Evidence Not Being Produced -- and Satan would win. Satan can win, because God Grants Time only due to believers who suffficiently mature. That's a precedence from Adam, as noted earlier (and explained fully, in Mirroring.htm, "Timeline" link at pagetop). So that criterion remains: so if no one matures enough, then TIME ENDS. Satan hopes to exploit that rule. There's a tandem rule about mass voting, which occurs in 70-year units and 50-year units, 'intercalated' since Adam. So if enough believers are negative, Time stops when the voting period ends: the problem in Daniel 9 (they were in the last four generations of a 490-year historical time grant, Temple had the Time promise, but it was razed 126 years before the expiry of that grant). If enough unbelievers are negative, Time stops for them, Gen 6 (120=70+50, standard worldwide judicial voting period). So if enough Church believers vote negatively, the Rapture will have to occur at the WRONG Time. Hence God didn't complete Church -- never mind it's our fault, not His -- and Satan wins. Or, if the number of slated Mature Witnesses don't fully complete (i.e., they get discredited under cross-examination, same idea as Job) -- then again, Satan wins. Because, God made a NUMBERS promise. And it's like tampering with evidence, if claimed evidence is never produced. Mistrial Verdict would then be due.

Stone DEAF?

The true doctrine of the Rapture is uniquely abrasive, a Severe Warning about not growing up in time, about this Mistrial potential -- just as, for the First Advent. As you'll see in Part IVc's "Rap the Rapture" section, Satan masks or distorts the Rapture to arrest us spiritually. He's been wildly successful, too. Not one Christian who believes in the Rapture remembers its frequent Bible usage as a warning to grow up. And of course the rest of the world, Christian or no, laughs at "Rapture", not knowing the term's violent origin (Latin translation of Greek rape/snatch up verb "harpazw" in 1Thess4:17). Yeah, Satan knows how to take advantage of our disinterest in the Word.

So we Church ape the first post-Cross generation, since EVERY GENERATION is potentially the Rapture Generation -- here we are, all hyped up about this Rapture thingy, viewing it as nice fiction or Disneyland, an escape from drycleaning. But it's a Sword Hanging Over us: the machaira, Heb4:12 -- do we BELIEVE it? Delivered from destruction down here, if "yes"; destroyed by a Bigger Romphaia sword, if "no" (Heb10:36-39, Rev2:16, 19:15).

For we're still in Revelation's Play #1, Chapters 1-3, with Chaps6-19 rolling out in a prototypical, syncopated, even appetizer format. Play#1's title: "Will Church Complete?" Will this Superior Temple whose Foundation is Christ Himself, the Petra Incarnate (Matt16:18, 1Cor10:4, Heb6:18ff), be Built (Eph2-4)? So that the rest of History can occur (Heb11:40)?

But hey: we are Church Not Reading Our Bible, aping the puerile goofiness of past generations. Either we go hog wild over Rapture as a Halloween-like event, now making the silliest movies, sermons and TV programs imaginable; or, we pride ourselves on how stupid an idea it is, and parade our sloven scholarship by calling Rapture an invention of the 19th century. BIG MISTAKE, to do either one!


Hence We Church are ON TRIAL for the Progress of Our Spiritual Maturation, Heb11:1, Eph4:13. Our Trial Testimony thus far? We Church are utterly childish, immature despite the fact 'Esther' is soooo OLD, Now. In a word, RETARDED! Nous sommes en retard! So the Rapture hasn't happened till yet. Spiritual growth stops if certain key Bible doctrines are misperceived or not believed. Rapture is one of those doctrines. So long as we misperceive or disbelieve Rapture, we will not mature spiritually, because it ties to every other Bible doctrine like a 'major trade route'. So though saved, we will be among the Royal Peasant class of believers.. forever.

You merely believe in Christ to be saved forever. But you must GROW UP in His Thinking to become a King-Priest. Else, you'll end up like all those losers of the first century AD et seq; childish, with no kingdom of your own, and a Failed Trial Witness to forever remember. Happiness is two-sided. It is not emotional. It comes from knowing Justice Was Served, primarily. So yes, you will know a lot of painful things forever, but the comfort is that Justice Was Served. God knows Everything Good and Bad, simultaneously: God is Happy. So will you be: but do you want that happiness to include knowing you failed Him? I bet not. So then growing up would be your first priority. Certain doctrines if misperceived or disbelieved, hamper that growth more than others. Some key doctrines must be progressively perceived properly or you will STOP growing altogether; instead, you will retrogress spiritually and die a lump of soul coal. Still saved, but knowing nothing anymore; blissfully happy forever, once you die; but your soul will be SMALL, compared to a believer-king's. That is the destiny of 99.9% of believers, past present and yet-future. That does NOT have to be your future.

The most critical Doctrines to keep asking God if you perceive correctly, are as follows. There is at least a Baker's Dozen of Our Daily Bread, which are most important. Going by the many false doctrines on the internet and their source beliefs (which generate the errors), going by the tragic history of believers not learning these doctrines from the first century onward -- if you don't 'get' the following doctrines right in your OWN soul, so long as the errors are retained, you will infect your spiritual life and eventually shrink it. (SpirTips.htm has a longer list of spiritual aids and pitfalls which either speed growth or retrogression.) God allows enough time to learn these doctrines. But, like a child who grows up physically but not mentally, there comes a point when retardation sets in. It is always possible to grow out of error. But there comes a point, where you don't want to. That's what happened to believers from the first century onward, and keeps on happening, today. Here's the Baker's Dozen list:

  1. 1Jn1:9 usage is a sine qua non -- if you don't do this, you are already dead, even while alive, and all your Bible study is just hot air. 100% of sin is in THINKING. The body is just a bucket of biology, going along for the ride. So you must monitor your thoughts, i.e., if you get upset at Windows or traffic, that's a sin of irritation. Anger is a sin, Eph4:26 is mistranslated (it's the imperative of prohibition, stop doing something you are doing). Spirituality never exists when some sin is unnamed TO GOD. Ps32:5, Ps66:18, 2Pet1:9 are parallel verses. (There are more, but not so easy to see in translation.) Defiled Temple. Purified (Greek verb katharizw), with 1Jn1:9 breathed as often as you even suspect you're sinning (call it "arrogance" if you're not sure of the type or even if you sinned -- just DO IT). Then and only then, you can learn the other critical doctrines. Caveat3.htm and TrueSpirituality.htm elaborate. If you think there's any cogency in 'my' webpages -- and you do, if you've read this far -- 1Jn1:9 is the ONLY reason why. I breathe it constantly, because I'm tempted constantly, and I don't have time to tell if the thought 'crossed over' from mere temptation to sin. God's Brains are ONLY accessible via 1Jn1:9, it's HIS Rule. Don't use it, and your spiritual apnea is total, and what you think you know in Bible is just a fantasy. That's the history of Christendom: fantasizing they are holy, 1Jn1:6,8,10. Else the Rapture would have occurred, long ago.

  2. Nature of God and Trinity: Attributes do NOT constrain God in any way, and Yes He Can But Will Not Sin, because He doesn't WANT to, there's nothing about sin which is even remotely attractive to Him. Each God is Wholly Infinite God in Himself, not joined at the hip or hydra-headed, but Three Independent Gods Who Voluntarily Incorporate, 2Cor13:14's three monadic articles. "Hupostasis in Trinity" in DueDisclosure.htm goes through Christendom's puerile ideas of God, as does the beginning of Part II. You can historically trace why we've not matured spiritually via this one doctrine, alone. See also TrinityCites.htm and VERindex.htm for more verses. Trinity is a main wordplay feature of the OT (i.e., with all the "He" triplings, idea that They are Identical Triplets, so you can't tell Them apart). You also saw some verses in the Satan's Mystery Math table, above. Improper understanding of Nature and Three Persons means the believer doesn't understand how he got saved, and what relationship with God means. So he'll never grow up spiritually. Salvation cannot juridically occur unless "God" are THREE Completely Independent Persons. You don't get paid if you merely transfer money from one pocket to another. So all those claptrap "monotheistic" claims are flat stupid. Then God never gets paid, He's just moving the 'payment' from one 'pocket' to another, since the SAME PERSON would be doing the paying, as doing the judging and imputing. The Cross would be a sham, in that case. Think it over. Godindex.html's "Monotheism" link has more on that topic.

  3. The FIRST belief that Christ paid for your sins so you are saved, results in Permanent Salvation. No added verbs. Just Believe is Enough. If you add verbs, you are NOT saved. So Just Believe He Paid for Your Sins. Now. Faith is always something you do with your soul. The idiots who think there is a "head belief" versus a "heart belief" are too insane to argue with. Bible makes it plain, this is a mental act, since only a soul can BELIEVE: Gen 15:6, John 3:16, John 10:28, John 16:9, John 3:36, Acts 4:12, Acts 16:31, Eph1:13, 2:8-9, Gal2:16, many other verses. If you add any other verb to "believe" you were NOT saved. Just believe. [If you properly understand and believe Roman Catholic Doctrine, you believe some RCC priest must baptise you, to be saved. So you are NOT saved, for the Gospel is Just Believe. Fortunately, many a Catholic does not understand RCC doctrine, and merely believes in Christ. I know this from many a Catholic, both historically and in my periphery: they at some point -- because of all the exposure that Christ paid for their sins -- merely believe He did that, RCC or no RCC. Thank God for that! Of course, today many of the independents also believe you must be baptised to be saved -- so their fake gospel saves no one, either. If my pastor harped on this lie of believe+some added verb once, he harped on it so much, we the congregation wanted to vomit. Thank God he did! Really, it's almost impossible to find the Gospel accurately told, especially by the so-called 'famous' ministers and evangelists of past or present, anywhere. Check that claim for yourself. It's appalling. If you love people, make sure they know Gospel is JUST BELIEVE, no added verbs. Then walk away. God will use what you said to cause them to remember that truth. They won't accept it right away, but He knows when's the right moment for recall.]

  4. God Sovereignly decrees that Free Will Co-Exist Forever and Preserves it, else #3 above would not be a valid juridical issue in the Trial. The constant Bible condemnations of people for not believing apply, because they can but will not. It's not meritorious, if you believe. The merit is in the Object, which is why you believe, duh. To say man lost his free will at the fall is to say God is impotent, blind, a Tyrant. For would not God, if allegedly omnipotent, have a way to prevent that outcome before it happened? Why punish someone for not believing, if the person couldn't help it? See how so many 'reformed' folk really castigate God, but bethink themselves holy, when they claim man lost free will at the fall? Total Depravity is valid, but it is NOT a loss of free will. That's part of the soul's very nature. It's a non-meritorious power, to will. Object of that will is where the merit exists, duh. So people who assign merit to will or free will or think that free will was lost at the Fall will never grow up spiritually, for such beliefs malign God. No one grows up spiritually, with beliefs that malign God.

  5. Trichotomy once saved: God breathed two types of life into Adam (Hebrew is plural) in Gen2:7, spiritual life and soul life. You need a spiritual life, to relate to Spiritual God. You need a soul life, to relate to other soul life. You need a body life, to relate to biological life and have a 'house' to move around in. Both soul and spiritual life are immaterial, so never propagated biologically. So, Adam lost his human spirit at his fall, warning in Gen2:17. So Christ died two deaths on the Cross, Isa53:9 (bemotayw is plural). You regain a human spirit you can no longer lose, at salvation. Titus 3:5, John 3:16 in context. Human spirit is a kind of CPU so you can perceive spiritual stuff; Holy Spirit uses that human spirit to teach you, John 4:23-24, John 14:26, main theme in 1Jn ("born of God" should be translated "being sired by God" in 1Jn). People who don't know this structure will misapprehend the mechanics of the spiritual life and thus won't grow up in it. They will forever mistake the spiritual life as being 'right' about doctrine and moral behavior, totally missing the point that you must be made into a new spiritual person in your own SOUL STRUCTURE, main theme of Romans 8, 1Jn1, Eph3-4. So of course they won't end up being right on any doctrine, since they aren't living the spiritual life.

  6. Bible Teaching Filling Role of the Holy Spirit. Eph5:18, 1Thess 5:19, end Eph4, 1Jn1:9 (katharizw verb is a famous OT Temple verb after which done, God Filled the Temple). To think that Filling is something you feel, is satanic. That's what all the pagan religions are about. Bible never says it's something you feel. Verb in Greek is plerow, and it's a PERCEPTIVE POWER, nonemotional. (OT version did have a feeling component, Greek verb pimplemi, filling like you feel full after a good meal. It wasn't emotional then, either, but of course people reacted.) To not understand this Role of the Spirit is to fail the spiritual life completely. Even if one uses 1Jn1:9 to get the True Filling, since he doesn't know it's a perceptive thing, he keeps on expecting to FEEL something; again, not realizing Filling is for the purpose of Teaching Bible -- so he never uses that Power, and thus never grows up. Instead he rolls in the aisles babbling, or thinks he lost his salvation because he doesn't feel something, and lives on an emotional roller coaster, eventually becoming mentally ill. The tongues people are in this category. They don't read what Paul said in 1Cor14 about the temporary nature of tongues -- foreign human languages one didn't learn naturally, never gibberish -- being only for giving the gospel to unbelievers; and that, ending 70AD with Israel's destruction (precedence of Isa28). So Satan&Co. have a field day with these people.

  7. Doctrine of Right Pastor (for you personally), Eph4:11-16, 1Pet 5, 1Thess 5:12. You must be under a teacher. It's an authority and soul-matching question, not a denominational question. So if your right teacher is Catholic, Baptist, name-the-denomination or no denomination, well.. that's who you go under. You MUST ASK GOD to lead you to your right teacher. He won't be coy about it. RightPT.htm threshes out this question and retranslates Eph4:11-16, since that passage is egregiously mistranslated in nearly all Bibles (I can't find any proper translation). The believer who will not be under his right pastor, never grows up. Even if he uses 1Jn1:9 and correctly perceives some doctrines, his refusal to be under a teacher will eventually result in Divine Discipline of great magnitude; if he doesn't heed that Discipline, he will lose whatever growth he had. It's pretty gory, what happens to a believer who won't go under whomever is his right teacher, or who rejects his right teacher after being under him. Some things in life, you'd rather not know.

  8. No Soul Life in Womb. 340+ verses on that (all womb verses in English Bibles are reverse-translated, too many to list). If you think that human life is in the womb, you will misperceive the nature of the spiritual life (#9, next) and will in essence claim God is a Sadist. No Christian means to do this. So it's pretty destructive, to be misinformed here. Caveat4.htm elaborates. Rev17 becomes the 'way' for believers who believe there's any soul ever in any womb. Again, no doctrine that maligns God can be correct, and the idea of soul-in-womb is as unbiblical as it gets.

  9. New Covenant in Christ, His Invention of both the Royal Spiritual Life, Church, and its TIME meaning. Central theme of Book of Hebrews and Ephesians, Colossians, Galatians; we have NO precedence from Israel except a VOTING requirement. To not know this, is to completely flunk the spiritual life. Church is never Israel, and nothing that pertained to Israel pertains to Church -- we are the REVERSE of everything Israel was. Part III covered the differences in detail. Christ has TWO Kingships, hence two covenants, two priesthoods, two 'walls' joined in Him. The "Bridal Contract" link in this Part IVa will summarize the differences versus Israel, as will the rest of this Part IVa.

    Morality (i.e., the Ten Commandments) was never spirituality, even in the OT. Morality is a gift to the human race so you can have a happy life down here. Morality has its own laws; Mosaic Law was divided into three components, two of which were secular. So of course you still should be moral. But even the unbeliever can be and often is, moral. SPIRITUAL IMMATURITY IS EVIDENCED IN ANYONE WHO TEACHES OR THINKS THAT MORALITY IS THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. That's what felled Israel, and that's what fells Church. Satan uses morality to BEAT God, that's how much morality is not spirituality. It's his fake substitute, morality, as the "MEGA" link in Part IVc explains. All the Matt4 temptations are temptations to do good deeds! Satan is moral. His arguments against God are Moral Arguments. So of course he uses morality to substitute for the spiritual life!

    The Royal Spiritual Life is about having perfect THOUGHTS: for Father forever hears each one, and the believer in Christ is a Royal Priest to Father, 24/7. It's impossible to have perfect thoughts, which is why you need #1, so to keep on being Filled with the Spirit. So it's a killer life, constantly monitoring your thoughts, constantly learning and living on Bible you know so far, gauging every thought and action and decision in Bible terms. Nothing is more satisfying, either. Light-years beyond moral behavior.

    Moreover, that Thinking Evidence you can't see of your learning and living on Bible 24/7, is playing live before Heaven (more on this follows below). Satan uses your thinking to accuse you -- your thinking and attitude toward Word, not your sins, since your sins were all judged on the Cross -- but God uses your thinking to justify giving the world one more day. All the good deeds and moral behavior on the planet, cannot buy TIME. So the Christian who doesn't understand the sudden-death nature of the Rapture based on the voluminous Bible Doctrine from Genesis through Revelation that God orchestrates Time based on the Trial, will not grow up, because he won't recognize the importance of how he's thinking RIGHT NOW. Rapture has a basis: the Trial. As we saw earlier, it's due to Israel's TIME ENDING that Church was inaugurated, in the first place. That's why the Rapture has no fixed time, and ends God's Rebuttal. That means the believer must first understand the underlying doctrine of God's Orchestration of Time due to the Trial, to understand the role of Church and its own timing constraints. The believer who doesn't, won't mature. It's akin to always being late, because you don't know what time it is: those Matt25 virgins without oil [Holy Spirit] in their lamps [souls] had no conception of the timing of the Bridegroom.

  10. Christ and no one else is the Head of Church, a body of believers, not a religion or institution. Simon surnamed/nicknamed Stone, Little Rock (John 1:42) -- Peter, to you -- is just a chip of the BEDROCK, Christ. Strange how misapprehension here leads to never understanding #9; no one who believes Peter is the head of the church (i.e., in popes or apostolic succession) ever matures spiritually; very moral, very well-meaning, and very stunted. Belief that Peter is the head of the church motivates one not to learn Bible. So the spiritual life shuts down completely: can't grow if not regularly learning Bible. Matt16:18 is egregiously mistranslated, see first section of PopeMyth.htm for how that happened. Conversely, it's a remarkable phenomenon of history that the many flourishing monasteries were a handy place to just get Bible but without rocking the religious boat. So you went through the religious conformity motions -- for it isn't Biblical to rebel -- meanwhile, you learned the real Word. Or, you became a travelling friar, etc., in which case you had even more spiritual freedom yet no one would suspect you. Very easy thing, to teach and stress the truth, and only pay lipservice to what 'mother' demanded. People hearing you do that would thus learn 'mother' was wrong, and still grow up in Word. Of course, you gave up your life to do that, being a priest or nun: in order to be close to Bible. You can bet some of those people grew up spiritually.

  11. Pre-Trib Rapture is an Angelic Trial issue with potential for a Mistrial Verdict, if the NUMBERS of Unseen-by-people Witnesses, Don't Complete In Time. It's a numbers question, not a time question, as Part IVb will demonstrate. Book of Hebrews is all about this, especially in Chapter 11. Many Bible verses; main theme of Part IV is to explain why this doctrine is true, so more won't be said here.

  12. Most Important of All -- our Royal Spiritual Life is a Thinking Before Father, since you are a Royal Priest for Father. This is how you invisibly win in the Trial -- forget about people on earth! -- think before Father living on what Bible you're learning, 24/7. It takes a long time to even get into the habit of living like that. You go through a lot of awkward self-consciousness and the temptation to be anal, is constant. Part III's "Third Reason" (both sides) went through this in detail. Happily, if you want to know God this kind of living is almost instinctive, so many Christians do this. Trick is therefore to mature in the doctrines and usage, with interest in looking at Him being paramount, rather than looking at other Christians. If you want God, you 'talk' to Him all the time. Children do this instinctively. We grow away from that when we compare ourselves to other believers; at that point, we are no longer living the spiritual life, but merely its form, 2Tim2:26-3:7. Don't stop talking with God like you did as a child, like Christ, Paul, David, Moses, Abraham, Noah, Job all did. That's the secret to growing up in Christ. He answers back constantly, too: using His Word. You'll see how true this is, as you keep on looking at Him and talking to Him, Heb12:2. Prayer is first and foremost, conversation. Official prayer goes to Father only. Else it goes no higher than the ceiling. See PrayProc.htm or (shorter), #5 of GodSystem.htm (link at pagetop). But that doesn't mean you don't learn to 'hear' from All of Them. Holy Spirit does all the communicating, and He does it Only through the Word. So if you don't KNOW the Word, you can really be fooled. It's not a voice or other Hollyweird stuff. You just 'know' the answers and then you prove their Biblicity. (For demons also send thoughts, so you test what you hear, same principle as for people in 1Jn4:1-6.)

  13. Because Christ paid for sins with His Thinking, in order to become King-Priest "kata" Melchizedek, main theme in Hebrews. This Thinking Life is an Eternity-Past Contract in Isa53:10-12; all of the NT plays to those verses, to explain the Contract for Church. Tie-in is Jer31:31-34, explained at length in Hebrews, esp. 8:8-10:17. So long as Christians think Christ's Physical death paid for sins, they will never understand the spiritual life and will flunk at the Bema. Grail.htm has more on that problem. Morality can't pay for sins. Rituals can't pay for sins. Good deeds can't pay for sins. What a soul thinks wrongly, only Another Soul, can Fix. So only Christ could pay, and He paid by Soul Thinking (im tasim asham naphesho in Isa53:10, +bedato yasdiq clause in Isa53:11) -- which alone can be enough to Thinking God Who has no Body and no needs for good deeds. So now our souls can be FIXED to think like His, Rom12:1-3, Greek.

    It's amazing how incorrect perception of these (and some other) Bible doctrines stunts spiritual growth and sends you into Satan's camp, moral and blissfully thinking you're being spiritual. But instead, 1Jn1:6,8,10 characterize the life. It's unbelievably tragic, how we all get so trapped. For centuries. The proof of that tragedy is all over the internet and in 'Christian' chat rooms, churches. The more incorrect someone is about these doctrines, the more anthropocentric, legalistic; the more that person fancies him/herself holy. [That's why I keep auditing my beliefs by writing websites, myself. The tragedy of Christendom is so vast, I don't trust 'my' interpretations AT ALL, and need to see them 'on paper', to correct them. Constantly. I'm lazy. If I don't write out, I don't internalize the doctrines. If I don't write out publically, I'll be sloven in my research. It's not teaching, it's auditing, that you see in these pages: I'm writing a report to God, who cares if someone else reads it. That's between God and the reader.]

    So Christendom has been Stone Deaf for centuries, and that's why the Rapture hasn't happened until yet. Not using 1Jn1:9 is the primary reason. All the hallowed tones and theological degrees on the planet are no substitute for the Holy Spirit's Brains, Eph4:23 in Greek (correct translation is "by Agency of the Spirit"). We are all brainouts, apart from 1Jn1:9. Then, progressively learning and auditing your understanding of at least the critical doctrines enumerated above, of which the Rapture is one -- must be ongoing. Else, you'll show up at the Bema with only your charred-and-healed small soul, ever grateful to even BE there. But, with no gold, silver, precious stones -- except for the high moments in your spiritual life, before you tanked. You will always be rewarded for the spiritual highs Spirit made in you. But you could have more: Kingship. More to honor Christ with. Go for it. It's far harder to be rich than to be poor. It's parenting.

As the preceding summarized history demonstrates, we learn from Bible that we Learn Nothing from Bible. We are thus cannonfodder for Satan&Co.'s Trial schemes. A favorite satanic ploy is MISTRANSLATION of Bible verses which teach the above 13 doctrines, viz. Heb11:1 re what's the Spiritual Life on Trial. Take the Doctrine about the Rapture. It's connected to the Angelic Trial. So, the only defense and the best glory of the believer, says Heb11:1 in Greek, is Bible Doctrine, for it's the Evidence of Him in the Trial. So guess what? That verse is abysmally translated in every Bible! In that verse's Greek, the genitives are plural to demonstrate believings, trials and not-seeings of BELIEVERS who trust in the Word, the HUPOSTASIS -- Greek word for Christ usu. translated "Substance" -- well, yeah, HE's the Substance of the Trials we're all in (same word is used in 3:14 and 1:3 by the writer as a moniker in his letter). Verse in Greek is as dramatic as can be, using heptameter and anephora and parallelism, not to mention the passive voice of the verbs, which stress how Faith Is His Thinking in you; so Its Power to Make You Hope, Undergo Trial Though Unable To See humanly -- parallel verse is in Rom5:5, another verse about how Bible affects you, impregnating you with God's Love via His Word. So Heb11:1 should blow you away, and you'd want to wear it on your forehead always, as spiritual tfellin. So of course this is one of the most mistranslated verses in the New Testament. When you see how badly, and how the mistranslation maligns God, Christ, and humanity surgically, it will blow you away, too. CLICK HERE for more on Hebrews 11:1 and its popular mistranslations. [Fortunately, you can almost always tell a mistranslated verse from the translation itself: if the translated verse glorifies man and denigrates God, stresses what man does and cuts out what God does, it's a mistranslation. You can set your watch by it. Good examples of mistranslated verses are Gen 3:11, Ps 139:11-17, 1Cor1:5, Heb11:1, 6; Rom12:1-3, Eph4:11-16, Eph 4:23, James 4:5, James 1:1-20 2:18-26; Bible keywords and wordplay frequently get trashed in translation, so the entire passage meaning is Reversed. You can set your watch by it. Oh: most of James, Corinthians, Colossians, Ephesians, Romans and Philippians are so mistranslated, the sense-of-meaning you get in translation, is the Opposite of the God-breathed original.]

So Heb 11:1 should read, "It's about Confidence in Word! Christ's Thinking On Trial! Evidence, Unseen!" to match the Greek dramatic intent and meter. In sum, Thinking BIBLE properly is Successful Trial Witness, avoids a Mistrial Verdict: that's the Substance of the Trial, Heb11:1's Greek. Thinking properly is far harder than acting properly. It's easy not to murder; but impossible, to avoid a nasty thought toward a Windows glitch or misplaced chair. Again, the Royal Spiritual Life is about having perfect THOUGHTS: for Father forever hears each one. It's a killer life. Light-years beyond moral behavior. It's exhausting, a kind of spiritual racquetball, and you never get off the court!

Here we are Church On Trial, inserted into Daniel 9:26 to be the Time Bridge to the Tribulation, so that a Mistrial Verdict won't be declared; yet our Thinking Witness thus far is abysmal. So what happens if Satan wins? God will indeed submit if Satan wins. God is Love, and Love subordinates, and Love never gerrymanders Truth; so if the truth is we don't want God, then Time must End. If it ends too early, then we are Raptured, Satan wins, and we'll still be together with God. But they would rule us. Love doesn't need to be in charge. Love has already informed us they won't win, because their schemes just flat don't work. But, they CAN win. So if we don't keep growing in Word to have that Heb11:1 result, then Time Will End. Because God is Perfect, and even Submission doesn't compromise Him, Ps138:2b, Ps89:14-15, Isa52:14, 53:7-12.

Meanwhile, above the sickening, steaming fray of modern human living, high above the clouds, looking down on all this writing humanity, the one who for eans ached! to replace the Most High! is most pleased with his progress in all these facetious proceedings; quite pleased, in fact, that the very Revelation 17 harlot of political religion, which the Most High even wrote everyone is occurring -- well, she sits like a queen, nicely flexing her beauty within all the Body of Christ. So they become the persecutors, but seductively claim political rightness; they tout believe+works verbs to KILL the Gospel; so they make movies and books and beg money and crusade politically, and loudly as if 'Christian'; so loudly, that even the largest democratic polity on earth, can't tell anymore what 'Christian' is; won't consult The Book to test the many steamy claims. Yeah, going into the real estate business after getting enough money and power from doctrinal prostitution or rah-rah-drugs, this harlot does. And now, wants to use all that clout, to gain political respectability, as well. So of course she should bang the drum on immorality: to cover up, her own!

See how easily Satan can win: we don't see the BALD EVIDENCE of Daniel 9:26c and hence pre-Trib Rapture's validity. For like every past generation, we ask all the wrong questions. Example: what questions do we ask about Bible's data on the Temple? We know the Bible devotes huge chunks of Scripture related to minute details about the Temple: several temples, really, and each one slightly different from the next, from the original Tabernacle in the Wilderness, to the huge and shining Millennial Temple in Ezekiel 40ff.

    Oh, we debate the frigging size of a "cubit", or whether there are contradictions in the various data, and write extensive tomes describing each structure, in voluminous commentaries dutifully replicated in every seminary, required reading by heavy heads with long trains of deservedly-respectable initials after their solemn names; yet we never ask why all this sacred data, is even there?! For surely God is not a kid with a construction set of Lego blocks. He doesn't spend this much time on measurements and dimensions and construction materials for no reason. If all He wanted to do was leave blueprints, He could just bing that into anyone's head, when the time came to reconstruct.

    So it never dawns on us that no Temple from God is ever man-made. From Tabernacle to Eternal State, God and God Alone, Instructs And Empowers Its Building, each time. Even for the Tabernacle, God the Holy Spirit pimplemi'd the workers -- and that was just a very fancy, Tent! Oh, but Paul sure noticed that Only Divine Temple Builder, in Ephesians. Built the letter around Him building Us Who Will Be Made Fitted Bride. So Paul also weaves into Ephesians the most-famous play of the Greeks' origin: "Ion", by Euripedes. So no one would miss the meaning of God begetting This Temple Made Without Human Hands. Oh well.

    Tragically, we therefore miss this most blatant message in the Bible, using the most blatant Symbol of that Message: God is building a 'Temple' of Sons! From His Son's Thinking! Line on line, precept on precept, because Truth is God's Attribute which Can Be Deposited In Us! Isa53:10-11's LXX contract clauses, Living! So yet another metaphor: the woman was built for the man, Hebrew verb "banah" in Genesis (rib verse). So Paul uses that one, too: we are being built BY God, Eph2:10, Ionic dative of epi, Matt16:18 thus referenced, Upon The Man. Also, NT enjoys many a witty play on ek, birthing, referencing me amal in Isa53:11 Hebrew -- BEYOND, BORN -- root meaning of Hebrew preposition min, always meaning AFTER, separated from, never "in" or "from" the womb as English Bibles blasphemously make it. Upon, Out From, Due To, Made-Up-Of The Man, Who is the King of Kings. So we are to be built as Kings. Yeah, since the Temple always has represented the King-to-Come, Messiah! Hence a Temple analogy is always used for the wife, too -- Israel was to be that woman, but she played Vashti. Hence the "banah" now proceeds upon Christ: building up Church, theme of Eph4:11-16. So doncha know, Eph4:11-16 is egregiously mistranslated, so #7 of our Baker's Dozen doctrines above, is never learned! Thus your spiritual life tanks, since you don't learn Bible under your right pastor! Oh well.

    Wow, what a dramatic and fitting metaphor for God to use throughout Bible, that of Temple Building. Stone upon stone, precept upon precept, person upon person, all fitted together into a Kingdom. By means of His Thinking ON TRIAL. Buildup of Evidence leads to a Built Church and Built Time-and-Justice Bridge to Trial climax, the Trib and resulting Millennium. Finishing for all time, the Body for the Eternal State. How clever. The one thing we can ALL see, the one thing we relic-hungry humans can all admire, the one topic on which The Most Bible Text Is Spent, the Temple: and we don't notice its Divine Builder, even cutting off the Lord's Head in favor of Peter's, in Matt16:18!

Ok, so we ask RELIC questions of Temple, rather than Son-Building questions. Ok, then maybe we'd listen to Bible's Warning of the Rapture, if we had the right RELICS to look at? Guess again! For regarding the relic of the Temple, look: there IS no Temple, but instead an Abominating Dome Squats Over the Holy Of Holies: baldly ADVERTISING Dan9:26, Matt24 -- that the Rapture is Tachú, next to occur! Yet, we recognize nothing from that. You gotta understand, the one thing over which there is no dispute, is that the Dome squats over the Rock which was once the Holy of Holies Arkstand, on which Abraham almost sacrificed his son. What's disputed is who was the son almost-sacrificed. There's not a scholar on the planet of any sanity who'd claim that rock was anything else, and all three major religions -- Islam, Christianity, Judaism -- wow, even their respectable scholars all agree! This is a miracle, so much agreement. Yet we learn nothing of the meaning, and restrict our inquiry to the age and nature of the stone, bare flashcard facts. And look into the Bible not at all, except to figure out original dimensions (the cubit debate, for example).

    Yet, we chase after all manner of other relics to 'prove' Bible is from God; we even form expensive expeditions to Mt. Arrarat, drooling over fuzzy photos of its protrusions, as if Noah would be so stupid to leave valuable cypress wood behind. Yet the Two Greatest Relics Of All Time Baldly Evidencing Dan9:26, can be seen from any computer linked to cameras at the Wailing Wall! Thus we prove ourselves Satanfodder. Generation after generation. Not only is Bible mistranslation and misapprehension of key Bible Doctrines the sad Immature Testimony of Church thus far, but the baldest possible Evidence of Rapture's validity stares at us each night on TV, at supper.

    Remember the "Legatee" table in this page, at the beginning of the "Our History" section? How, way back when Daniel was praying and fasting because he was worried about his people, God sent an angel to inform him of the rest of Temple history. Since Temple=National Covenant, such that if no Temple, no relationship with God, Temple history meant Messiah's history and thus Israel's history. So Daniel was anxious to hear the angel explain what would happen. While explaining, the angel made what then seemed a cryptic comment about the regular (lamb) sacrifices stopping in order to set UP the abomination of desolation, a statue of an anti-Christ, a Fake Anointed One. But, um isn't that strange, that Dan9:27? Didn't the angel just finish saying (Dan9:26) that the temple would not be rebuilt until after The Very End of the 70 weeks; meaning, Not Until Messias Returned, just like Isa61 and Ezekiel 39ff have also said? So, then: who had caused the temple to be rebuilt and sacrifices resumed, so they could stop again? Couldn't be God Who authorized it.

    Aha. So this "abomination" is going into an "abomination" of a temple; an "abomination", in that it pretends to be of God, but is not. So someone not God, rebuilds the Temple over the Holy of Holies, and claims to be Messiah! Oy! So stopping the sacrifices would rile up people believing in this Fake Temple, to protect this Fake Temple from stopping the sacrifices. Oh, no! It's A Trap To Herd And Kill The Jews! Or, if the sacrifices are stopped before the Temple is destroyed, as a Warning the Temple is about to be destroyed, oh no! It's just a different kind of trap to herd and kill the Jews, because they will try to defend it! One of these two outcomes, but either one, still a trap!

    After all, the Temple had already been plundered and desecrated many times during its 364-year history, mostly by the Jewish Kings, themselves -- to buy peace from foreign domination -- as well as, by those conquering them. So "desolation" was very familiar to Daniel. Of course, back in 586 BC there was no temple at all. Zerubbabel would be rebuilding it, not too long after Daniel got this prophecy. Then, to prepare for the Lord's Arrival, an "abomination" named Herod, would essentially rebuild Zerbubby's temple to gain political popularity (actual rebuilding begun 17BC, ended 64AD, just in time for Masada and the protracted siege of Jerusalem). Hint, hint of things to come. For Israel remained Under Foreign Domination from Zerubbabel, forward. Just as promised, in Dan9:25.

    Between 516BC and the time Messiah came, there were many other hints: most notably, Antiochus Epiphanes, in the 160's BC. Which gave rise to the Maccabees who were total Scriptural dolts, even though God gave them the Grace to Protect the Temple. Hence, the secular custom of Chanukah. So by celebrating Chanukah every year since circa 164BC, Jews are REMINDED of "abomination" for eight days. The Lord's prophecy in Matt24 even uses that holiday's significance, to teach them how to read Daniel 9:25-27. But, no one hears Him.

    So, when (28-29 Aug 70AD) Titus reluctantly fulfilled the "near" part of the Lord's (Matt24) double-entendre prophecy/explanation of Daniel 9:26, no one still heard Him. [28-29 Aug date is from the Atlas of the Bible and Christianity by Tim Dowley, though other sources could be used.] Oh well. Guess it's necessary to raze the Temple, wait a generation or two; and then a whole Roman city was built around its former site; culminating in, a Roman temple built smack dab atop the old Temple site (Hadrian, sometime after 135AD, since Jerusalem was wholly destroyed in the Bar Kochkba rebellion)! And still, no one heard Him? First, 70AD, Temple Gone! And then, a repeat lesson about "abomination": another 70 years later, an Abomination stares them in the face; meanwhile, with Jews worldwide commemorating Chanukah every year for a week, and They Don't Get It By Now?

    God wasn't exactly coy when He had the 2nd Temple destroyed. 57 days from Passover to Pentecost, and 57 days from Pentecost to 9th Ab, when Titus razed the Temple. (The final siege began on Passover, 70AD.) Um, 57 was the number of years in the Mosaic Law depicted by the number of days from Passover to Pentecost (you began the count of the Omer on the LAST day of Passover, modern Judaism doesn't read Bible rightly). Those 57 years were the number of years between Messiah's deadline for completion (37AD, in our terms) and the beginning of His Millennial Reign (94AD in our terms), known since David died, and reaffirmed in the Daniel 9 timeline (it ends in 37AD, because Messiah has to purchase time for the remaining 7 and the 50 to play, in God's Accounting).

    Moreover, 9th Ab 586BC, the First Temple was destroyed. 140 years passed, just as prophesied to Daniel: Jerusalem was rebuilt by 446BC, right on time. So Notice The same Number of Years, not just in number of years, but in Meaning Per Segment (true indication of Divine Mirroring)! First 70, analogous to 586-516BC; the 2nd Temple was completed by that deadline. Next 70 years was a mirroring back of the first 70, so Jerusalem got rebuilt by that deadline, 446. Now note the reverse, in AD: to 70AD, Temple destruction; to 140AD, Jerusalem destruction -- and complete rebuilding, By Abominators. Can't miss it.

    Daniel 9:26 is very specific, as is Daniel 9:25. It's about the destruction, not the mere desecration, of the Temple. 40 years after the Lord died on the Cross is significant, for "40" is always the Judgement warning period. Can't miss this. Can't miss the play on Daniel 9:2 -- the next 70 years, subsuming both the elapse from Messiah's Birth and the 40 years -- replaying again, shenayim, twice! But of course, according to some reports, the entire reason for the destruction in 135+ AD by Hadrian, is that the Jews were continually trying to rebuild the Temple themselves. So by then they couldn't read any of their Ta'anach. Sandy soil (ta'anach=sandy soil), nothing grows in it. Like, understanding, since the Temple is Not Standing Under the Contract. Just as Daniel 9:26, explains.

    And lest you say all this is too arcane, Jews Are Raised On Biblical Numerology; just check out their obsession with numbers on the web (e.g., the wacky Bible Codes people). Biblical numerology is abused by many in Judaism, but that doesn't mean Bible doesn't use numerology. And your big hint it's valid is that real time is 'matched' (mirrored) to the numerological concepts. So look: "70" means all the missed sabbatical years. Jews didn't miss them from the 2nd Temple forward. But they missed the Sabbath, Adonai Sabbaoth becoming Immanuel -- so they missed all the sabbath rest, theme of Hebrews 4. So that Chapter's purpose was to announce a higher abrogation of Promised Rest, and hence the Temple would be destroyed. And it was, right on time. And it was, on the Same Timeline As The First Temple. And then Jerusalem was destroyed, right on time. And an Abomination of a Temple rose on the very Holy of Holies. Could you miss such a blatant Message? Done in real time, we can all verify these facts about the time -- sheesh. How blind we are!

    Look: what is called "Jerusalem" today is really still the Roman layout of that city! Layout Abomination, get it? [Construction dates for Aelia Capitolina and the Roman Temple, per Encyclopedia Britannica, "Jerusalem, History of", vol. 10, 1985; and Encarta 2004 "Jerusalem" article, in Windows XP. Fausset's Bible dictionary in BibleWorks 5 dates this city from 130AD. Hadrian died in 138AD.] The Kabbalists are so hung up on Biblical numerology, and they miss this? Sheesh: what does it take to get through to this stiff-necked people, Christians included! So, oh well might as well keep on Playing In Real Time, What Daniel 9:26 says.

    So wars and rumors of wars were decreed, and they keep on playing. So the Land changes hands many times, over the ensuing centuries. Then the Christians decided to try their hand at being abominations -- Emperors Julian and Justinian each tried to rebuild the Temple toward the end of his reign, so clearly they knew no Scripture at ALL -- but fortunately God stopped them. [I can't prove it about Justinian, but I could swear I saw something in the 550's about him trying to rebuild the Temple. Julian's attempt is clearly provable: you can search his 363 AD attempt on the internet; whether an earthquake or fire stopped it, who knows; point is he tried, 40 years after his uncle Constantine; the latter, by the way, took power 490 years after Antiochus desecrated the Temple. Constantine presided over the desecration of Christianity, over the senseless murder and ostracism of millions, as well as helped preserve Scripture. We are all used by both sides, in this Trial.]

Satan sure believes in the Temple's Rapture-is-next, Tachú! meaning of Dan9:26c as our present 'spot' in history: watch how very much he believes what God says there, in what follows. For Satan even has his own Dan9, Rev 11 Fake Temple "shub" (=Return-to-the-Land) plan: purpose, to congregate the Jews so he can pogromize them more easily, once the Rapture comes. You can see it play historically; for Satan tags his play, to God's 490-Time-Accounting-System. The "Rev6-17 trends" link in the pagetop red table will explain that plan and its timings in more panoramic detail. For now, notice: when the Christians finished whomping each other circa 600AD and lay exhausted, well then Satan himself elects to help God boom the message to His hapless Jews and Church; he uses the Persians to occupy Jerusalem from 614AD-circa 629; that riles up Heraclius to beat Chosroes II; the former recaptured the City in 628 or 629 (research varies). Which Satan was kinda keen to do, since 140+490=630, and 70+560=630. God's Basic Time Accounting unit is 490 years (non-intercalated) and 560 years (intercalated), as explained in the "1050" link of Mirroring.htm. So looky here: kinda nice for Satan to run his own 490's -- always, to compete with the Most High, Real Lord.

So look at Satan's parallel lines of attack, so you can see how orchestrated is his shub plan, always keeping attention on Jerusalem and the Temple, so people won't properly read Bible's prohibition against returning there until Christ Himself Returns: back in 610AD, while maneuvering to get Persia to Jerusalem, a demon under Satan got the ear of an Arab guy, and thus raised up a Surrender=Islam (in Arabic). So by the time Byzantium was again in control of Jerusalem, now the Arabs could be used to abominate, since Satan&Co. clearly were having no luck getting the Christians to do it. By 632 -- okay, the demon was a tad late -- Islam was established enough so it could be perpetuated without its progenitor; so Mohammed could safely die. So they swept into Jerusalem in 638AD -- 'miraculously' defeating in their turn, both the Byzantines and the Persians, in separate and protracted campaigns. This is roughly analogous to the Jews beating Antiochus from 167-164BC, and its timing is derisively based upon those earlier events' dates.[Encarta's "Islam, Spread of" has two paragraphs -- look up "Yazdegerd III"; Chosroes (aka Khrosrau, in Encarta) II was murdered in 628 or 9 due to his being defeated by Byzantium in 628 in Jerusalem. So when Caliph Omar I took over Jerusalem in 638AD, he'd be about 8 years behind Satan &Co.'s 'schedule' for rebuilding; but impressive, nonetheless: 638 is 568 years after 70AD, and 568 is a transposition of 586. You see games like this (using words) all the time in Bible mistranslations.] So Satan&Co. got the Abominated Temple Rebuilding going, at last! beginning 685AD -- which stands for a reversed 586BC -- to baldly remind everyone what that ground originally WAS: the place where Abraham almost-sacrificed, Isaac. But in the Koran, some demon giving it to the hapless Mohammed, cleverly changes the name to "Ishmael" -- this, to abominate the site conceptually, thus proving Dan9:26 true! -- as well as to deride all who believe in the Koran; for the Temple was there since 950BC, and the Rock was the Holy of Holies Arkstand; so clearly 'Allah' didn't care about the site, to leave it so long in Jewish hands. To also deride the larger audience who'd not remember What The Temple Meant, ever since.

So you just know that when the Arabs built that Dome sooo many years ago, they did not mean to advertise to the world, the accuracy of Daniel 9:25-6. They did not mean to verify that Christ is The Real And Only Savior, the Real Allah Who Rose, (Isa53:2, uses "ala") and Hence Became our Holocaust (red heifer/burnt offering, terms in Isa53) and then Ascended On High (=ala in Hebrew; Arabic is similar). They certainly didn't mean to have that Dome prove the "Allah" of the Koran, is Satan. [A devout, conservative Muslim steeped in the Koran will politely tell you that "Allah" does not mean "God". Oh, how true! It means "Satan", since he is the ruler of the demons; "Allah" (related to Hebrew verb "ala" (to ascend, climb), so kinda related to "Most High" (el-elyon), in Bible) originally meant head-god of a pantheon, in Meccan Arabic. Pantheons are always demons, throughout human history. See the fantastic wordplay in Isa14:14, where Satan claims he will "ala" to replace El-Elyon (pronounced ay-el ay-elYOWN)! Koran is a masterpiece of demon-lawyerspeak. Book of Mormon is of like wit. Carefully go through the wording, and you'll see the Signature Characteristics, for Satan&Co. exquisitely chip and chop Truth: they never quite lie. Good lawyers all, they know how to fuzz up the truth surgically, so you will yourself be to blame for your own misunderstanding. Appendix has a lot more on their strategy and tactics.]

As you can see, Satan&Co. need to control religious fervor in order to herd mankind, kill mankind. Satan invented religion in Gen3, for his temptation of the woman and Adam, was religious -- to her, to become like "Elohim"; to him, to save her. So, this sinning version of messianic zeal got programmed into the human race. So, it becomes important to promote and then protect, the relics of the religion so to turn on and off at will, whatever flow of zeal desired. Moreover, it's quite fun to burlesque the entire People of the Book (Gen12 protects Arabs and Jews in different ways, and Christians are spiritual sons of Abraham, Rom4). Get them to all hate each other, by manipulating their RELICS. In order to make the Bible a relic of the past, full of jewels or dust, something you look AT, but not into; something you kiss with frigidity, rather than caressing its 'soul'.

Silent sentinels, these two structures. Ohhh: "2". Like, "in the presence of two or more witnesses, a matter shall be proven", good Mosaic Law jurisprudence. Hmmm. Well, let's see. 'Two Witnesses', these two blocks of stone that don't talk, plus a Bible, which does. Hmmm. Aren't there a whole lot of verses in Bible which say you test empirical data with Scripture, and if the Scripture confirms it, it's right? Yeah, well, Look: But even here, with just this much, it's pretty easy to see that the 70AD destruction of the Temple, meant that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. No religion on the planet has more conclusive proof of Authorship available to any pair of eyes, any pair of ears, who wants to see and hear. Between these two Stones, and the phenomenal convergence of David's 1000-year grants on His Birth or Death, there cannot BE any other Messiah, ever in history. Of course, no one wants to see or hear these in-yo'-face facts. But God didn't become unfaithful and withhold them.

Thus Our Two Sentinels faithfully stand for centuries, testifying to everyone on earth that Jesus Christ is the Messiah! His Rapture is Tachú! Dead Stones, testifying to deaf stones. But what do we notice? Oh, not the Bible, but the CRUSADES! 1000 years after Revelation was penned! Hmmm. 1000 years. Isn't that how long Christ is supposed to rule? Hmmm, did those Crusaders think they would bring IN His Rule by conquering? Watch how Satan mocks Our Word Ignorance, using 1071 and hence 1096AD!

Get it? We're Not Supposed To Be Here. History should have ended long prior. Again, that's a validation of the Rapture, which is caused by the insertion of Church, to Bridge Back to Israel's Time. Meaning, things were so bad by the time Titus took Jerusalem, that it was Trib-Quality. Tribulations can be subtle, or gross, just like sin. Evil is primarily subtle, as is sin. Pride is the subtlest of sins, and the prime motivator of Evil. Evil, is thinking YOU do something. You, not God. Well, look at history since even 1070AD -- evil, everyone doing something. Well, Except Looking Into God's Book.

So the one who ached! to replace the Most High ached to get a Firm Surrender of that Land, to motivate, oh, someday! an attack against it, by fostering the rebuilding of the Temple by mere men, instead of by the Book's Design. Preferably, by the men of the Book who surrendered to Christ, instead of to me.

What a sad testimony Our Church has had thus far. We don't get the Baker's Dozen doctrines right, we don't 'read' the Temple and Dome Witness rightly, and just like those first-century believers, we keep asking The Wrong Questions of Bible -- like "When is the Rapture?" rather than WHY. So we don't know Why. So we don't know why it's taking so long for the Lord to Return, and thus doubt the Rapture's validity, altogether! Satan's not stupid to manipulate our misinformed interest in Temple, huh. Yet we here in 2007 do know it's way beyond 1070. Heck, England was just coalescing into a nation, then, and Europe was trying to regain the unity it had lost since Charlesmagne. Heck, the Rus were just getting established, then. Heck, the Fujiwara and Japan's independence from Chinese language, were just getting entrenched, then. Heck, the Sung had just barely united China, then. Islam was in its resurgent glorious empire state, thanks to the Seljuk defeat of Byzantium, in 1071; thus the Crusades began, to rescue Byzantium and Jerusalem. Sure doesn't look like the Millennial Reign of Christ! Instead, it looks more like the regrouping of the four "kings" of West, North, East, and South, to represent the Gog and Megog revolution which SHOULD have been occurring at that time, based on the original timeline? Which Satan&Co. kindly delayed? Yet another burlesque of how we didn't know what time it was!

Observe: the longer Satan can delay the completion of the Body of Christ by diverting us into all these fake spiritualities (like rituals and works and prophecy-slobbering, rather than Word-Eating) -- the greater his chance of preventing its completion, altogether. A human being needs time to learn to think as His Lord does. And as time passes, the number of those failing become more numerous, so the pressure of the masses against Learning Word will eventually overwhelm the desire to learn. Which goal is ardently desired, since after all, the sooner the Body Is Completed, the sooner Satan&Co.'s sentence in the Lake Of Fire, begins.

So, it's a funding calculation with respect to how the remaining time is used (Parts IVb and c will go over this topic in much detail). See, to fund a whole kingdom, requires infrastructure. Which, requires money (Thinking Doctrine is Money, in God's Kingdom). So, requires upfront time in Building Sufficient Capital, so the necessary Thinking Money will flow in enough vigor to Nourish the Kingdom (analogous to blood). You invest in what works. God wants Thinking. You don't invest in what doesn't work. So God is investing in His Son's Thinking, not in puny, sin-nature doo-doos.

Thus Satan sponsors whatever it takes to make us look away from Bible; or, when looking at it, to Ask The Wrong Questions. What we want to know, is not what God wants us to know. That, is the sad Testimony of Church thus far. What God wants us to know, is His Son. We can know Him, but we don't want to; so we piously pretend we can't, just like the idiots of Deut 30:11ff. Instead, we want to know how the universe was made and debate that, rather than Why God Made Man; we want to know when the Rapture will happen, rather than Why God Chose It. We want to know how to use (what we think are valid) 'spiritual gifts', rather than Why They Are (supposedly) Given. We want to know what observances to do, rather than Why Have The Relationship. In short, we want titillation, not God. So we misuse Scripture, and come up with any number of inane ideas. That, is the Testimony of Church, thus far. We vote for Satan's plan, not God's. [For every criticism you read in these webpages, I'm guilty 10x. Purpose of showing errors is not merely to correct, but to demonstrate that our pattern of error evidences two larger trends, lack of interest in Word and Satan&Co. 'help' us not to learn it. We need Divine Power in order to perceive Word and defend against demonic clouding. 1Jn1:9 and asking 'Dad' is the only way to get that defense. That's why so much stress is laid on rampant Bible interp/translation (etc.) errors, to demonstrate how we cannot fix them, only God can -- so blamesmanship is completely irrelevant. These patterns persist for centuries, are strategic, and can't possibly be of human origin. But at the human level, the error occurs -- and we are responsible -- due to lack of asking God, reading Bible. We don't know because we don't ask. Look: doesn't even occur to us to ASK how it could be Good Friday, when there aren't three days and nights between it and Sunday. Doesn't occur to us, that Passover begins and ends with high sabbaths, though everyone who's ever met a Jew, has heard the term and knows Passover's 1st and last day are treated like sabbaths, no matter what days of the week they fall on. Doesn't occur to us to ask why God who forbids astrology, would use a star to advertise His Son. Yeah, it's our fault: but yeah more, we're getting 'help' from the bad boys in the Trial.] So now that the you see how Past Is Prologue, Precedence; now that you've seen how we all don't read our Bible; how even Real Building 'Witnesses' no one can hallucinate or impeach, 'testify' to that Word and that Rapture is next-in-sequence, without warning; now let's examine the Legal Contractural Whys of the Rapture.

Because Israel Rejected Groom, Our Legal Precedence

CLICK HERE to continue reading Part IVa.

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Star of Bethelehem and Magi there? Guess again! Find it in Bible? Not at all!
Typical church Nativity replay: Babe in manger, cute shepards and wise men standing around, beaming mother, perhaps perplexed husband. A creche. Awww, how sweet. What a lie, and of course we don't mean to be lying. Nevertheless, we dishonor His True History, and prove we don't read our Bibles. The truth about Him is always shocking, which is why we don't know it. But you can verify it in Bible with lexicons better than Strong's, and some patience; add some knowledge of the relationship between Israel and Persia, historically. Should take about a week to do this, for that's how long it took me. What you will read here, I didn't know until 3/2007; and I learned it by accident, while looking for Greek text wordplay on His Birthdate. So I didn't read my Bible either, but just trusted in all those Nativity plays. Ooops. [Whenever you see me point out someone's error in any website, please remember it's not to put down anyone else, but mere disclosure. Frankly, for every mistake I find someone else making, I thereby find 10 which I made. We can't get it right apart from God's Brains, 1Jn1:9 and living in God's System. But because my pastor taught us how to live in God's System (he uses different nomenclature), that's the ONLY reason I can find these things. Of myself I'm utterly worthless, ergo Exe16:6, John 4:23-24, 14:26, 2Cor5:21, 2Cor12:9ff.]

Matthew's Gospel is written first. You get no details of the Birth other than the King-proving, Prophecy-proving fact that He was born in Bethlehem in Judea, Matt2:1. Matthew then goes on to tell the report of the high-ranking Persian priests ("magi", in Greek) and how Jerusalem, not Bethlehem, reacted. You can even read it in translation. Luke 2, written about 10 years later, in typical Bible fashion fills in the details about Bethelehem; but also, about the fact the couple then went to Jerusalem to obey the Temple Law (maybe circumcision, definitely the purification and Dedication-of-Firstborn sacrifices); immediately upon which, they returned to their hometown of Nazareth (Luke 2:4, 22, 39). So you know that after first 50+ days, they were back home. Going back to Matthew 2:11-14, you know that then they were visited by the Magi, and because of that, Joseph and Mary suddenly have to leave with the Child in a hurry, at night. From there they go to Egypt. You can see all this, even in translation.

So, this much is true: He is born in Bethlehem, in a stable amidst farm animals, plopped into one of their feeding troughs on hay. It stinks in there. We know this, because in Luke 2:7 and 16, Greek word phatne means "stable" and/or "feeding trough". Not a cave, not a nice place. The world had no room for Him; so of course Bethlehem's inns didn't, either. He was wrapped in death bandages, not "swaddling clothes": these long strips were like the ones He'd be wrapped in 33 years later, when He was taken down from the Cross and buried by Joseph of Arimethea and Nicodemus (John 19:39). Message: nothing is apart from God, no matter how ugly. At the high end, myriads of myriads of angels parade in military formation, Luke2. Isaiah 53 is born, here. Psalm 40 is fulfilled, here; Hebrews 10:5 begins, here. And, He's not as we expect Him to be, Isa52:14!

The shepards come afterwards, that night, by themselves. There are no "wise men" there at ALL. Just the parents, their Child, the shepards, and (earlier) a bizillion angels overhead, saluting, all explained in Luke 2. So note the Loving Grace of God: although His Birth Year was exactly known, Christ (=Messiah, in Hebrew) was unexpectedly born without fanfare. In secret. Biggest event in the universe, upon which the entire history of mankind depended, and yet the format of His Birth, depicted His Upcoming, Ignominous, Death. This isn't the harped-upon humility people laud every Christmas, either. But rather, the most powerful way to say Nothing Is Apart From God. For, we expect God to be grand, majestic, spurning the small. We don't expect Him to prefer what we would shun, the ignominy of grime, anonymity. But God is Infinite, so to Him, Everything is Grand, Majestic: and He Spurns, Nothing. Not even the sparrow, not even us. Else, you'd not exist. Nor would the dust and grime. God sees everything. So He must want to see it all, since He IS Omnipotent. And so He knows how frightened we are of Him. And so Messiah is not born with only angelic glory, pomp and ceremony, but with the lowing cow. For Infinity means just that: intimate with everything, excluding nothing. Just like, the Truth. Which is first, God's Own Attribute.

Principle: the stage we're on has a far larger Unseen audience, God: therefore NOTHING about our lives, is small. However small or big we imagine ourselves. Because GOD, is BIG.

God doesn't violate His Own Law. If you get the death penalty under the Mosaic Law for practicing astrology, then God won't tempt you to violate His Own Law by using astrology to advertise His Son. So no 'wise men', and absolutely NO Star of Bethlehem attended His Birth. In fact there was no star anywhere, but rather an angel was reported to BE a star in Jerusalem, not Bethlehem, by some Persian sorcerer-priests who were positive to the King of the Jews. For "the Magi" of Matt 2:1 were Persian priests: a "magus" is a priest, and "magi" is the plural. So Bible doesn't say how many there were. But these guys were at least of high enough rank to make a public appearance everyone noticed in Jerusalem, never Bethlehem. So, they get King Herod the Great's personal attention and concern.

    Because this information is so shocking, going against centuries of what we were all ignorantly and innocently mistaught in Sunday school, we must take a sidetrip into the Bible. First, to show that it was an angel, not a star, which led them; and more somberly, to show the brutal story the Bible tells us really happened as a consequence of His Birth. You can't understand why Herod would kill so many babies without knowing this brutal beginning.

Angels are often called stars in the Bible, and their bodies are made of light; see all "stars" or "star" verses (over 19 of them in Bible). There is no verse in Bible saying that some star was ever over Bethlehem; not in prophecy, not in Gospels. Not anywhere. Check out the verses yourself: stars are used to represent the Lord, angels, Jews and believers. Else, "stars" are never said to be anything but bodies of light, and you are not to predict anything by means of them. They never mean anything magical in themselves; and in fact to use stars as portents is prohibited under Mosaic Law, Deut 18. But angels would or could look like stars, given the nature of their bodies. Angels are Honor Guards accompanying the Lord, in the OT (i.e., in Ezekiel, or even back when the Lord appeared to Abraham at Mamre, etc). The Jews are depicted as stars, in Rev12 (allusion back to Joseph's dream). Satan is depicted as a star which fell. For the Word is Light, and if it's not (or no longer) in you, you fall.

Next, it's important to distinguish whether Bible is quoting someone, or saying something of itself. Quoting requires that what the person says, be accurately represented, whether quoted in gist, or quoted verbatim, or quoted interpretatively. All three types of quoting are used, but that does not mean Bible agrees with the quote: you have to read the surrounding context to know God's opinion or communication, regarding the quote. Scholars all know this. We didn't pay attention to the fact that in Matt2, the references to "star" are all in the mouths of other people. What they think they see, what they think they know: God isn't ever saying it is a star, but what it was perceived to be by those on the ground. Moreover, there is jarring Greek text in Matt2 which tells you it is NOT a star, and why. If you knew the Mosaic Law against astrology, you would immediately know God isn't sending a star, anyway: so you'd be alerted. But you'd also know He sends angels, who could look like stars. So you'd immediately understand that's what Matthew is talking about. But of course if you don't know your Bible, you won't know what Matthew means.

    To say there was a Star of Bethlehem is to Say God Violates His Own Proscription Against Astrology, Deut 18. So, we've been maligning Him in our Christmas pageants, all these years -- not meaning to, of course. So proof what follows yourself, especially since the idea of the Star of Bethlehem is one of Christianity's sacred cows; since lots of people have lost faith in Bible because they can't find a "star" matching the expected year of His Birth. Translations are messed up, some: but even the translations aren't so far off, we couldn't recognize it's not a star God is talking about via Matthew. We just misread or don't read Bible, and then blame Bible for our disinterest and bad reading. Again, proof this yourself, breathing 1Jn1:9 as needed, so you get direct insight and proper reading from God Himself.

Important Timing about Gospel Writing: Matthew was the first Gospel, written circa 50AD. Luke came out about ten years later. All later Bible books build on what went prior to establish the authenticity of the new book (hence it always has unique information only God could know); but also, to elaborate on and teach lessons which people aren't learning from the PRIOR material. Also, each Gospel has its own literary 'house', so is 'furnished' with its own style and vocabulary. All this is designed to enhance recognition of Divine Authenticity and learning the Divine lessons. So too, with the Gospels, which is why they are spread out over a period of time, not written all at once. Gotta absorb the earlier material, before the later can come out. So:

What follows below are 33 additional points to ponder and investigate in Bible. Text is written hastily. Nothing like this on the internet which I can find, so be sure to ask God about it, breathing 1Jn1:9 as needed so you don't waste your time.

  1. Luke 2, angels. No stars even mentioned. The angels appear to be on their way back from passing in review over Joseph and Mary, since they go into heaven after they talk to the shepards. Notice how they do this: they appear summarily, wait for the shepards to acclimate a little, and then flat tell the shepards both the news, and how to get confirmation. Mosaic Law demands two witnesses, and demands that if a person is from God, you test that by whether what he tells you is true. So, the angels are obeying the Law, here. The shepards are Jews, they keep the sacrificial sheep, and they know Scripture. So the angels just give them orders and information, no hedging. But to find the Child, they have to keep asking around once they get in town. Which means, others in Bethlehem knew about it. Which means, God arranged for them to meet those who knew about it. Mosaic Law idea of confirming witness, so they knew they didn't hallucinate the angelic message. So no 'star', but rather a whole bunch of angels went to Bethlehem on the Day He Was Born, so maybe they did a light show. Or maybe the light they shone for the shepards was seen by a bunch of people that night. Then again, maybe only the shepards saw it. God never imposes Himself on those negative to Him. He only works with positive volition: so to the degree you are positive to Him, and in the way you are positive to Him, within that "corridor of consent" (modern legal term), He reveals Himself.

  2. By contrast, Matt2, the Magi run to Jerusalem, not Bethlehem, and make a public appearance there: Matt2:1, Greek verb paraginomai means to make a public/official appearance/arrival, not merely to arrive. The term "magus" is a specialized term, references the sacerdotal office which used astrology, dating back to the days of Nebuchadnezzar. Since the Persians took over afterwards, and Israel had a long and generally good relationship with Persia, these are highly-ranked priestly officers, and Jerusalem would be familiar with their offices -- which though against the Law, are foreign to Israel, so must be respected. So they would attract favorable attention and lots of concern, considering what they are saying. Being of Zoroastrian caste (or related sects), they have had since Daniel's day a monotheistic faith, were aware to some extent of Balaam's prophecy of a king arising from Judah (Num24:17, elaborating on Gen49:8-10): that's one of the "star" verses, and it (as usual) refers to a PERSON (here, Messiah), not an inanimate star. But of course that prophecy would be morphed into their own Zoroastrian terms. Darius, Cyrus, and Xerxes (more than one Xerxes) were all involved with this religion. So this is a specific delegation from Persia or thereabouts, not just some magicians. Forget the Three Wise Men (beautiful song, not based on Bible reality). Bible doesn't say if they are on an official mission, or if it's just in their sacerdotal capacity. But they are public, not in secret. And very naive. So they are positive to the idea of King of the Jews, and expect Jerusalem to be also. They are in for a surprise.

  3. Rome and Persia were and remained enemies for centuries. Even as late as 600AD, then-'Christian' Rome-via-Byzantium, and Persia under Chosroes (q.v.), were still duking it out. Their long wars eventually exhausted both empires. Moreover, Persia's long PAST involvement in the Middle East would mean from Nebuchadnezzar forward, any delegation from that country would be regarded with suspicion by whatever power had suzerainty over Israel. So Matt2:2 could easily be regarded as a claim for alliance, especially in the face of Roman control.

  4. Matt2:2: once these Magi are there, they too must ASK where the Baby was born, due to the 'star' they saw. So they suddenly STOPPED seeing it. So this 'star' doesn't appear like an angel to them -- they are talking about the star, themselves. They talk about it RISING, which means it is MOVING. So Bible merely reports what they say. They are not Jews, they don't use Mosaic Law vocabulary. If they are asking where the Baby is born, then unlike the shepards of Luke 2, they do not know. If they are asking around Jerusalem, then they do not currently see the 'star', either. But they did see a moving light body rising either every morning, or every night, which means they were positive enough to be allowed to see it. Their "corridor of consent" was positive to a King of the Jews, but notice that since God is against astrology, He uses an angel, not a star -- but their "corridor" doesn't yet permit the idea that it's not a star, since they are into astrology. So they are like the shepards, in being pro-King-of-Israel. But not yet, pro-it's-an-angel. So this "light" doesn't talk to them. Why? Because they are thinking it is a star, which it is not. So how to help them get out of that wrong definition? By being where no star is supposed to be. By moving. So that these Persian priests can themselves draw the sensible conclusions. God never coerces, and He always works with whatever positive volition you have.

    Look up in the night sky. Real stars are very far up in the heavens, and you can't say any ONE of them stands over a specific location. The earth turns, hence the stars seem to 'rotate' through the night. So for some 'star' to be standing over Israel, means it was a) LOW in the sky, daytime or night time; and b) if it RISES, heck -- how can it even BE a star? Stars don't actually rise, they just become visible due to light and the position of the earth relative to where you are. Stars seem stationary, not moving. So it's abundantly clear it's not a star. When we see the same phenomenon today we immediately know we're looking at an asteroid, or comet, etc. Because we know where the real stars are, we know anything not fitting that pattern is not a star. Couldn't be plainer, especially to those trained in that very night sky's appearance.

    These are trained astrologers, which means they are trained astronomers, knowing the constellations, as did even the average layman -- you needed to know the stars, to travel. They should have known immediately that it wasn't a star. It's possible that "seen.. star" means an astrological prediction rather than a real sighting, but given the fact that they later see and FOLLOW a star, that interpretation probably isn't correct. So these astrologers should have known, from their many years of actually charting stars, that what they saw rising, was no star. But you know, when one wants to believe a thing, no matter what the contradicting evidence, it takes awhile to admit one is mistaken. That's what seems to happen, here.

  5. So the 'star' they saw repeatedly rising, led them to Jerusalem, not Bethlehem; and it 'disappears' or is 'lost' to their sight, because they are asking folks in Jerusalem, about it. That's a very pointed statement. So Matt2:1-2 stress that the Magi came to Jerusalem, and did not go where He was born: Israel is darkened in her understanding, so gets goyim to announce His Birth. Same pointed idea in Isaiah 28, where you get those you can't stand, telling you information you can't stand, because you can't stand God. Finely and wryly echoed by Matthew, with well-chosen words: wrong town, wrong messengers, right message. And the wrong messengers are positive, but the right recipients are not. So even those practicing the forbidden art of astrology, get a Real Angel to act like a star: a kind of silent Gospel message. To play a starring role in announcing to fallen-star Israel, that Her Morning Star Has Just Been Born. Amazing, all that meaning in Bible's deft economy, Matt2:1-2.

    Notice how Luke's later account 'answers' this not-so-nice depiction of Israel's no-desire for Messiah. Someone reading Matthew in 50AD would naturally wonder if anyone positive to Messiah got to know when He was born at the same time. Answer? Yes, the shepards did, and here's the story in Luke. Again, later Bible books always elaborate on prior material, for the then-current audience. It's not a question of whether the Gospels 'agree': of course they agree, but you can't know how they agree until you know how they are designed to teach.

    Everything in the Bible is paradigmal. Whether God is telling you a real story that transpired or principles, you are to understand that the example or structure you see, stands for many others you do not see. So it's categorical: categorical negative volition in Jerusalem, representing a large slice of the world's population; categorical but messed-up positive volition, represented by the Magi. Categorical and straight-on-Scripture positive volition, represented by the shepards. Real people, real stories, but paradigmal of the larger whole. So anyone who was into astrology but wanted the King of the Jews, saw a 'star' or similar phenomenon to 'guide' them to move to Israel, if they weren't already there. As you'll see after this table, they would have plenty of time to get to Israel. So many did see, many did come, and like us, they all had mixtures of goofiness and God-interest, driving them.

  6. Next, notice how no one else in Jerusalem knew about that 'star'. Matt2:3 reads (corr trans from the Greek), "now when King Herod heard [what they were saying, v.2], he was agitated/terrified/stirred up; and all Jerusalem with him." So both Herod and the people didn't like what they heard from these magi people. So only the Magi could see the so-called 'star'. Angels can make themselves visible only to selected individuals. So now these Magi get to realize that what they think they see as a star, no one else sees. So they can begin to change their minds about what they see.

  7. There's a lot of stuff on the internet interpreting the 'star' as a prophecy, not a visible thing in the sky. That makes sense too, because a 'seer' is someone who sees the future, not a physically-visible seeing. These people were world-famous seers, employed by kings from time immemorial. A fraternity of scientists -- whose knowledge seemed magical, to be sure. Point is, Mosaic Law forbids astrology, so God didn't use any star whatsoever, to lead these Magi there. Probably every child learns of both the Star of Bethelehem and that God forbids astrology, in early Sunday school. I sure knew it before junior high school; so did every other Christian I know. Astrology=bad. So, then: why don't our brains link the two ideas up? For if astrology is bad, then why would God do a bad thing, by using astrology to tell His Son was born?

    Later in this section, we'll cover why we know it's an angel, not a star or even a prophecy you 'see' (calculate, which even Israel could easily do from Daniel 9). Meanwhile, the point is this: Israel was unpleasantly surprised (which it shouldn't have been), and the magi weren't seeing any star either, else they'd not need to ask anyone in Jerusalem about it.

    Preview of coming attractions: stars or prophecies don't act like the bouncing ball dancing atop the lyrics in the old Mitch Miller or other variety show. Stars don't hover over houses, or 'lead' you, anywhere. They are too far away, and they can't be stars if they're galavanting around. Only people can do that. Well, persons: conscious beings, who control their own movement by volition. Prophecies don't have volition; neither do stars. But angels do. Angels were sent to shepards.

  8. The Magi don't catch on very fast to the reaction they get. Instead, they run around Jerusalem asking about His Birth for some while. That tells you two things: these magi didn't know Bible, and neither did anyone they asked. Given that Daniel 9 had been out for 535 years, chanted at least once per year in every synagogue, this is a pointed statement about how the Word meant nothing to the hoi pouloi. Then, or now. For who has raised these questions about stars that hover? Stars don't hover. Who noticed that the Law forbids astrology, so there can be no star? Who, bleep! noticed that the 'star' is never in Bethelehem? Bible never says any of those things. So we didn't read it, did we. Just like those old Jerusalemites, we don't know either.

    Takes time for news to travel throughout a city, and Jerusalem wasn't small. Most likely, they were led there to (unknowingly) wait until the completion of the 40-days' Lev12 Law for Mary; to wait for the 30-days-minimum age Law on a first born child's Dedication at the Jerusalem Temple. More on waiting follows below. At the moment, notice that these Magi must have some reason to be in Jerusalem for awhile, else their news can't permeate all of Jerusalem. If they are an official delegation, they would stay a minimum of two weeks, or even a month. If as (my pastor maintains) the Feast of Dedication is going on at this time -- or any other Feast, for that matter -- it would explain also why they'd stay at least that long. Certainly this was not a short visit: you don't travel as an entourage for such an express purpose, to briefly stay at your destination.

    Takes time to ask the right questions. How many Bible documentaries have you seen, books you've read, timelines you've seen on the internet, all of them obsessed over planetary conjunctions, or other attempts to date based on illegal lights in the freaking sky? We hear someone 'expert' tell us there was this star in Bethelehem (yeah, you just try to find it in Bible) -- and we just ASSume it's true. So not only does it take time for news to travel in a city; it takes centuries for anyone to search beneath a common story. We don't catch on fast, either. Even now.

  9. Next notice that the weather must have been pretty good. So an unusually-mild winter, which can happen in any year if the winds merely shift. And we know it's winter, because Jerusalem is crowded. You can't leave your crops during growing season. So it's over. Any census would thus have to be held once the growing season ends, else the Romans lose money (tax on whatever could have been grown, were people there tending their crops, etc).

    So when does that season end? In Chislev. You'd just finished planting your Next Year's Crops, before the rain began in Bul (Oct-Nov, "Bul" means "rain"). Chislev in the Hebrew calendar runs basically mid November to mid-December on our calendars. First Chanukah commenced 25 Chislev 164BC, which was also the date Antiochus IV Epiphanes, died (according to ISBE Encyclopedia and other sources). There's a way using God's calendar, to prove the Lord was born on 25 Chislev, which works out to 25 December of OUR calendar that year. PassPlot.htm has the details, but the principle behind the Birthdate is to fill a deadspot in the Hebrew calendar (calendar is all a roadmap of history) -- so see the "Modest Proposal" link there to orient to WHY that date would be picked. God has this 'thing' about orchestrating Time to Communicate, viz. in Dan9:25. This isn't about oooh-aaah stuff, but about How God Thinks and What He says About His Son.

    Um, there are no feasts after Ethanim and before winter, except Chanukah. So that's the reason why Jerusalem would be so crowded, Mary and Joseph could find no room at the inn -- Bethelehem was only five miles southwest, so would have received a lot of overflow. Why the magi would come and stay so long. It was a famous civil holiday, much like our July 4th in America, and you didn't just celebrate it for a day.

    After all, beginning 25 Chislev 164BC, the weather must have been good enough for thousands of Jews to spontaneously walk from their homes carrying candles, to converge upon the Temple in honor of its Rededication. For "Chanukah" means "Dedication", aka the "Feast of Lights" (named after that spontaneous parade). And the weather must have been good enough for the Lord to be there, John 10:22. He's outside, talking (see 10:31 on how they picked up stones to throw at Him). Solomon's Portico is along the eastern wall of the Temple; given the map on p.65 of Tim Dowley's Atlas of Bible and Christianity (1997 Baker Books edition), looks like it was near a gate facing the Mount of Olives (on the map as the "Golden Gate"), so they could have easily walked out there. Stones to throw would not be inside the Temple grounds, lol: it's against Mosaic Law to kill anyone inside the Temple. So the weather had to be nice enough for the throngs, and for Pharisees to amble around, having leisure to pick up stones to throw.

    For in Leviticus 26 and Deut 28, God makes no bones about the fact He uses weather to communicate blessing or cursing. Since here the Savior is being born, it makes a great deal of sense to say that whatever the season is, it's nice: unexpected. For the Blessing of Salvation, is born. The 2nd Advent is specifically designed to be a comfortable day, Zech14:6. So it makes sense that the First one would be also. What's more, since this Birth is predicted via both David's 1000 years promise and the Daniel 9 timeline, you can estimate when it will occur, and plan, even go to Israel; so it makes sense to argue that the nice weather preceded His Birth by some months, maybe even a year -- to give everyone time, to comfortably get there.

  10. Funny also how these two holidays both tie closely to Herod. First one is the Feast of Dedication, aka "Chanukah" (=Dedication), which is the victory by the Maccabees over Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Well: Herod's progenitors married into the Maccabean family, which is why Herod could even become a king (married the Maccabean Jewish princess, Mariamne). Second holiday: Purim, in the Book of Esther. Due to the Persian King's love of Esther (Ahasuerus III), Nehemiah was in favor, and it was Nehemiah who was commissioned to rebuild Jerusalem in time for the clock God set back in Daniel 9:25 (the 70-year mirror back piece from Dan9:2 being one of God's Accounting pieces, so 516-446BC it played out). So the Persians were responsible for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Herod would know that. Herod was trying to ingratiate himself with the Jews by spending lots of money and time rebuilding the Temple. So here these Persians are, maybe at the very time which honors Herod's antecedents, Chanukah -- and they represent the Purim side? Which of course everyone in Jerusalem remembers, since there would BE no Jerusalem, apart from the Persians? Yikes. Potent reason for political rivalry, if ever there was one. Never mind that these Magi are politically naive. They just want to find a Baby per their Zoroastrian faith. Yeah, but Herod is ten steps ahead of them.

  11. Matt2:4, Herod is so agitated, he does something completely out of character: he calls his enemies the Sanhedrin, in for help. Matthew can't resist playing on how they meet where they aren't supposed to go. So they 'synogogue' (sunagw, to meet, but it's soundplay) with Herod. Phrase "chief priests and teachers" refers to the Sanherin in the Gospels. It's used regularly as a shorthand phrase to emphasize their spiritual job. These will be the same body who go to Pilate, 33 years later. (See Matt27:17, 62, when they 'synogogue' on what would have been true Passover, the Day and Evening of His Death, with Pilate.) But for the moment, they correctly report that the Child will be born in Bethlehem (=House of Bread, bread being a metaphor of Word-nourishing-you, Deut 8:3). Note well: text DOESN'T say that the Jews said there would BE a literal star, nor does it say they BELIEVED in a star, nor did Herod ASK them about a star, nor does it say Scripture PREDICTED any star. Duh. For messing with astrology gets the death penalty under Mosaic Law, as it's a form of "divination": learning the future from 'the gods' rather than from God, Deut 18:20. But Roman culture is all about astrology, like the Persian was. Most ancient cultures were heavily into astrology, which is why Israel was not permitted to consult it, Deut 18 (main theme, don't be like those other nations).

  12. Hence Matt2:7, Herod must SECRETLY ask the magi when the 'star' appeared, for if the Jews find out about it, under Mosaic Law Herod would have to be executed. Notice also Herod is asking when they first saw the star. Not, where they see it now. Because, he's trying to estimate the time of Birth: that's a Roman belief, that special stars or portents occur at birth. For Herod is a Hellenized Roman Arab. Hasmonean, and nominally playing devout Jew. So as a result, his own beliefs are eclectic. Note again, the word 'star' is in someone's mouth: Bible is just reporting what is said.

  13. Matt2:4-8, Herod thinks the Child will be in Bethlehem. Herod sent them to Bethlehem, v.8. Notice that, if Herod and Jerusalem could SEE the 'star', they'd NOT need to ask the Magi to go there; but could just go there themselves. Further, Herod wouldn't have to secretly or otherwise ask them when they saw the 'star', if he or anyone in Jerusalem could also see it, Matt2:7. Since Herod would want to kill this Baby, if he himself could tell where it was, he'd not even bother with the Magi. Same, for anyone else in Jerusalem. Notice how he lies to the Magi; they don't know the political significance of what they are saying. They expect it would be good news to everyone that the king of the Jews is born, and that everyone else would know, since they can see this 'star'. So Herod plays along with that.

  14. Notice further that the Magi are asking about a rising star which they saw in the east (Gk: anatole means both east and rising, but it more often means rising when in the singular, as here). The Rising might mean in the morning, too, and is used that way in Luke 1:78: so not necessarily an evening star. But it's not a star at all, if only the Magi can see it. And in these four verses, we know yet again that only the Magi see it. So it's not a star. But of course the Magi are so steeped in their religion, they imagine it a star -- but are now having some doubts. Since if it were a star, why can't they themselves see it now? Why isn't anyone else seeing it? When will it appear again? You know they are beginning to doubt, because they keep on asking, but don't get dejected and leave. So maybe they are discussing whether it is an angel, maybe lightbulbs are starring in their own heads.

  15. Notice Matthew's wit: the Magis' public entrance and diligent searching accomplished an angelic function of announcement: Greek word aggelos means "messenger". We transliterate the term when talking of God's Own Heavenly Messengers, but any messenger, human or supernatural, is "aggelos" (pronounced AHN-geh-lahss). [So the transliteration into "angel" in Rev1-3 is wrong. Term there refers to the pastor of each church.]

  16. Matt2:9 tells us they call it a star, but the verse's verbs tell you point-blank that it is an angel: all the Greek verbs for its motion are only used with conscious, living objects; in particular, souled creation. For all these travelling verbs stress THINKING in the subject undertaking the action of the verb. You have to think, to lead. Um, stars don't think. Greek verb proagw is an object itself purposefully moving to lead others. Greek verb erchomai stresses locomotion of the object consciously going toward a specific destination. Greek verb histemi denotes the conscious action of stopping, and standing still, the will being the CAUSE of that cessation. Matthew also deftly ties in LXX of Isa52:14 and 53:2's usages of "eidos", which appears three times; it's used as a noun referencing His Incarnation, with emphasis on how we SEE Him; so in Matt2:9 he uses its cognate verb horaw (to see) -- spelled as would be a male accusative singular of the noun in those Isaiah verses (eidos itself is a neuter-gender noun). So the "form" they suddenly see again in Matt2:9, acts like a man: deliberately leading them, coming and stopping over where the Child is. Rich wordplay indeed. Rich opportunity for them to recognize it's not a star, but an angel.

  17. Notice further that the magi don't see it again until v.9; notice how surprised they are when they do finally see it. Verse 9 is sometimes mistranslated; the Greek words are "Behold, the star!" (idou ho aster), an exclamation the Magi make upon suddenly seeing it; which tells you they had LOST sight of it while in Jerusalem. Which explains why they kept asking around. Which also is in their mouths, so again BIBLE is not calling it a star, but THEY are.

    See, Christianity isn't paying attention to its Bible. But some do: it was really heartening to read how Tim Dowley reports this passage on p.60 of his 1997 Baker Books edition of the Atlas of Bible and Christianity: the short paragraph stresses it was the report of the Magi of a "portentous star" -- not saying the Bible agreed with that report. Exactly true. My pastor made the same point in his 1965 exegesis of this Matthew passage.

    Then why do the magi see this 'star' in Matt2? Why is it there? Why does it disappear and reappear, so to speak, by Matt2:9, then by Matt2:11, 'lead' them to Joseph and Mary? And where are Joseph and Mary, at that point? Answers to those questions are pretty big ones, and will be covered below.

  18. The next question is how long a time lapse between the Birth in Matt2:1a, and their arrival in Jerusalem in Matt2:1b. There could be an elapse of up to a year between 1a and 1b, given Herod's attempt at time-lapse accounting in Matt2:16. If so, then the Magi are arriving much later than when He was born. Fausset's Dictionary in BibleWorks makes a time-lapse assumption. But in Matt2:1, Matthew uses Greek word "de" rather than "meta tauta", implying a very short interval or none; he also matches the aorist participle of "gennaw" with the aorist of the Magi's loud arriving, (paraginomai, rather than merely ginomai); so the two events are either co-terminous, or something connected to the birth CAUSED them to come: Greek participles either precede or are co-terminous with the main verb, and the arrival of the Magi is the main verb in the sentence. Moreover, in Matt2:1, "idou" is wryly used. So through Jerusalem's eyes, then: behold, Jerusalem suddenly sees these Magi make a public appearance. Wryly again, Matthew parallels that same "idou" in 2:9, about the 'star' itself which the Magi finally see -- their eyes, this time -- for which eyes, of course Jerusalem had none. Again, a pointed statement: Jerusalem sees the goyim Magi instead; God uses them as messengers, but gives these pagan goyim a real angel to guide them. All with the deft use of idou and eidos, in Matt2:1 and 9. Phenomenal wit, in God's Word.

    So assuming the much more likely scenario that there is no time elapse between Matt2:1a and 1b given the Greek text, the following bullets seem the most likely interpretation. God will tell you if I've screwed up somewhere, so the wording below is forthright, as usual. No sense in hedging.

  19. Because we know the Lord gets an Honor Guard of angels in the OT; because we know angels passed in review on the very day of His Birth and announced the fact to shepards in Luke 2; it's fair to say that this 'star' is a special angel, stationed over the Lord for the entire time, maybe from the Annunciation forward. Which would give those positive to Him but steeped in astrology, an opportunity to learn that it's not the stars. For surely the Magi weren't the only ones who saw this oddly-rising star, night after night or morning after morning. This would have prompted some to up and move in the direction of that star. Long before they got there, they could have figured out it was no star, since stars don't move like this -- as guards, rising at such odd times, unpredictably. When the Magi noticed the 'star', is a matter of speculation.

  20. But surely this angel went as protection for Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem to Jerusalem and then back to Nazareth. Here's why we can say all that:
  21. So Matt2:16, Herod orders all babies age 2 and under killed in and around the vicinity of Bethlehem, since he still thinks that's where the Child would be. You can't easily tell the age of the child who is under 2 years old; moreover, apparently it was custom to suckle a child until he was that age; this custom would make it much easier for a soldier or spy to identify the child from a distance. Note next, it doesn't take two years to travel from Persia to Jerusalem, but something nearer two months, depending on where they departed: a day's journey on camel or horseback was about 30 miles per day. So to say Herod calculated the age based on when they said the star appeared, doesn't mean they said it appeared two years prior. But he can be sure of killing all the kids if he is conservative and picks an age too HIGH: since the soldiers killing the kids, won't be able to inquire. The soldiers can't exactly go up to a mother and say, "Hi, if your son is younger than two years old I have to kill him. So, is he over two years old?" What would YOU say? "Yes, officer, this child is three years old, but I haven't weaned him yet. Oh, he's just small for his age." Sheesh. Of course the mothers would lie, so the soldiers would need some guideline of their own. It would also take quite a long time to find out where the children even were, especially once the killing began. Word would spread quickly. So you'd have to factor in the future time it would take to track down and then kill that many infants. See how cold Herod is?

    So the scholarly consensus that a lot of time elapsed between end of Matt1 and beginning of Matt2, is remiss -- you know, even scholars are human. :) After all, the Greek text DOESN'T put in any of the normal words to indicate a huge time elapse like two years. That's your biggest tipoff the events are immediately after His Birth. Well, that and the magi, who surely wouldn't have delayed fully two years, before arriving. Again, it doesn't take long to get to Jerusalem from Persia: see Ezra 7:8-9. Ezra had a whole train of priestly stuff to take with him from Babylon, since he was permanently moving there -- yet it only took him four months. Took Nehemiah even less time (asked for permission in Nisan, finished the wall by 25 Elul, 52 days, Neh2:1ff compared to 6:15, so his trip took less than four months, probably much less, as he had a cavalry escort).

    Herod thinks Bethelehem is where the child would be -- proving he forgot the Mosaic law about presenting the child at Temple. We forgot it all these centuries, too. Despite Luke 2. And despite Luke 2, we still argue over whether the Lord's parents lived in Bethelehem or Nazareth, before He was born. Can we be dumber? What's not to understand in Luke 2:4 and :22 and :39? You don't need to be a Greek student to read those verses. Stuff on the internet about this, claiming the Bible contradicts itself, is astonishingly puerile. We don't read, so we don't see, so that means the Bible is wrong, lol. Again -- the point is to show how desperate Satan&Co. are, to blind us: Bible answers hiding in plain sight, we don't see. For centuries.

  22. Herod ASSumed the star WHICH HE HIMSELF COULD NOT SEE! was over Bethlehem, which of course the ANGEL probably had been. Ok, then it had first been over Nazareth, and moved with the couple to Bethlehem. But from far away, your calculations of its location wouldn't be so good that you could know it was over Nazareth, especially if you weren't familiar with Israel's city locations. Moreover, Herod only asked them when it first appeared, and ASSumed that it would have been over Bethlehem. Again, these distant visitors wouldn't know whether the site location was correct, since they were too far away.

  23. Most importantly, since pregnancy is nine months, and the wait to dedicate takes another 40+days, it's been 10 months or maybe even longer, by the time the couple are in Jerusalem -- which is where the Magi, go. Which strongly implies that the couple went straight back from Bethlehem to Jerusalem in time for the bris (circumcision); and then stayed in Jerusalem for another month, waiting out the remaining days: looks like they stayed outside the city proper, going in only for the ceremony, given Luke 2:22. It would have been foolish to go all the way back to Nazareth from Bethlehem and then back to Jerusalem. But there was no room in Bethlehem, so they had to go somewhere near Jerusalem. And because Joseph and Mary would be in danger from Herod, they surely didn't advertise themselves; hence the Magi led to Jerusalem, could no longer 'see' this 'star' once they arrived, which is why they were asking everyone about it. Yet more evidence for them to ponder over whether it even was a star, in the first place.

    Notice the Grace of God in all this: they are so positive to His Birth that they come; so positive, that they remain. Just like the shepards in Luke 2, they don't panic, but instead wait. So they are thinking over, reassessing the information they have. And expect a Divine Answer. They are shifting out of relying on inanimate stars, and into waiting for direct contact from a Living God. Of course, we know that by Matt2:12, this shifting has worked: for now they are TALKED TO in a dream, just like any strong believer then would be. No more stargazing, for them! For when you have the Word, you don't need magic anymore.

    Read the later Luke 2 with the above paragraph in mind, and you'll see that Luke 2 'answers' Matt 2. Tale of two positive sets of volition. Matthew's, of the foreign magi, very wryly told. Luke's, of the Jewish shepards, who of course also get angels ANNOUNCING, but with no magic 'star' ideas clouding, since of course the Jews know that's not how God does things. But the magi, didn't. But the magi, came to LEARN it was an angel. See the parallels in Luke? And you know Luke's Greek writing style specializes in finesse. He likes to make indirect statements so that when the import dawns on you, the enjoyment is more intense. (Book of Acts specializes in wry finessing, too.)

  24. So the 'star' moved to Jerusalem, when Joseph and Mary took Him there. Mosaic Law demands circumcision on the 8th day; 32 days later, purification of the mother; something like 22 days after the bris (at a minimum), Dedication of the Firstborn; but it looks like you can combine both the purification and the Dedication on the same day, since Luke only mentions the latest event in 2:22 ("their purification" (autwn), plural). That means they needed to be there for a good month, especially if there was no place to stay in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is only a few miles south of Jerusalem; they could have made the trip there easily within one day; Jerusalem would be a more convenient place to stay, especially for a new mother; better teachers would be there, too. Mosaic Law verses are Lev12:3, Num3:13, 8:16-17 (legal basis), Num18:15-16, Lev 12:8, Exo13:2, 12-15, 22:29, 34:19; Luke 2:23-24. How ironic. At the time they are there, Herod is hoping the Magi will lead him straight to that New Kid Who will take away Herod's power so he thinks. And all that time, the Kid is right under Herod's nose! We are protected!

  25. It's also possible 'the star' went to Jerusalem in advance, 'waiting' until Joseph and Mary arrived, so that 'the star' could lead the Magi out of Jerusalem as they went home.
  26. In either event, 'the star' is guarding Joseph and Mary, leading them out of Jerusalem, going back to Nazareth, Luke 2:39. The Magi get to tag along some distance back, not knowing that's what they are doing. Repeat: the angel is protecting Joseph and Mary, not 'talking' to those who just think him an inanimate star; thus advertising he is NOT a star, by the movements he makes; they should have figured that out back home when they'd originally seen 'the star', since no star is that low, rises, disappears, and appears again. But we humans are slow on the uptake. God is ever gracious: notice how He yet draws attention of those positive to the Child without lies, to the Child they seek. God's Justice is Precise and Perfect. Neither to the right, nor to the Left, yet always Grace.

    Here we see the biggest mistake in the translations: Greek word "anatole" should be translated "rising" after Matt2:1, but instead keeps on being mistranslated "east". The term is in the plural in 2:1, so properly means "east"; but is not used in the plural again, anywhere in Matt2; the singular form meaning "rising", is only used in 2:2 and 2:9. Had the translation been corrected, then we'd have gotten Matthew's wordplay. We all know that airplanes and helicopters rise; we all know that to be directly over a "house" is not something a star does; there were no airplanes, helicopters, or even hot air balloons, back then: so it could not be a star. Therefore, it had to be an angel. Whew! No more stupid documentaries on planetary conjunctions, no more attempts to prove some bleeping AGAINST THE LAW, Star; no more lying-against-Bible Christmas scenes with the three wise men by a manger!

  27. Hence when Joseph and Mary leave, the 'star' is suddenly seen by the Magi again, Matt2:9's "idou" clause. To Nazareth: again, Luke 2:4, 22, 39. Isa9:1-2 also gets fulfilled in that added way. Nazareth is about 120 miles north of Jerusalem, going on the roads: I estimated the distance using the Atlas of Bible and Christianity edited by Tim Dowley, 1997 Baker Books edition, p.60 (map of their journey back to Nazareth). So it probably took them a good 6-10+ days to go back, depending on how much they walked or rode, depending on the crowds; as with the pillar and the cloud, the Magi would be able to follow them, not knowing that's what they were doing.

    Oddly, mainstream Christianity doesn't reconcile Matt2:13-14 with Luke 2:39, so another map below on the same Atlas page ASSumes they went directly to Egypt from Bethlehem, based on Matt2:13-14. But Bible doesn't say that; Luke inserts that data about them going directly back to Nazareth after His Dedication.

  28. Again, Luke's Gospel came maybe 10 years after Matthew's. So no contradiction exists, and we don't do our homework when we gloss over the jarring differential. Bible stresses when it jars, always. So the stress is on what happened to them on the way back to Nazareth. It's like an aposiopesis. Luke in particular likes to stop a statement when its next action/conclusion is obvious and painful: since they went back to Nazareth from Jerusalem, then the Magi followed them back, and Herod's people followed the Magi. That's why the killing began.

    What seem like Bible contradictions are always HEY LOOK AT ME flags from God. He's stressing something. Since we are so prone to call the Word a liar, He 'plays' the liar but plays the lyre of deft confluence for us. Take the Jochebed controversy, for example (see "Jochebed" link in MisTrans.htm). Many think the Bible errant with respect to the 400 years in Egypt, because they misdefine Moses' lineage. It's jarring: God cut out Levi and then Joined him (cute: "Levi" means Joined, in Hebrew), thereby completely removing the sons of Kohath; then, via Jochebed, a higher-ranking Levite through the MOTHER, God grafts in Amram, her husband. Moses and Aaron were the kids. Why did God do this? Levi had cut off all the males in Shechem after ordering them to cut their foreskins; all that treachery, in the name of avenging Dinah's rape. See: Moses' authority was always contested by the other sons of Kohath, because they had male primogeniture, but God cut them all off. But on the surface -- if you don't investigate -- it looks like a mistake, for Amram to be listed first -- and of course, you can't find an earlier Amram, to justify the lineage order God gives. So scholars think the Bible wrong. Nope. Jarring, yes: Pay attention! is what that means. Now you'll know more about why the rebellion, how the slavery yes lasted 400 years, and many other things you'd not know, had God not flagged us with Amram.

    So too, here with Luke 2:39. God is flagging us down to stop and pay close attention. For if they returned to Nazareth, then they did not go to Egypt from Bethlehem, which can ONLY mean that the Magi visited them in NAZARETH; so Herod could learn where the baby was; so they had to leave. You immediately know that all Israel would then be target for his baby-murdering scheme, since the road Joseph and Mary travelled on, was the main road north. You are too horrified to speak as you realize this. So is Luke: he stops writing, himself horrified. Aposiopesis: can't speak anyway, and the reader under the Spirit will need that pause as well.

    So now you know just how brave Joseph was, in Matt2:23. Going back to the same place. Joseph was afraid to go anywhere in Israel because Archelaus was ruling in Judea; but God wanted him to go right back where he was. Takes a lot of faith, to return to the place your family was known to be, by your enemies.

  29. Hence the verse in Matt2:18, about "Ramah" and "Rachel" -- "Ramah" means "heights", depicting northern towns, beginning with Rachel's burial grounds in Ramah, 5-9 miles north-northwest of Jerusalem. Bethlehem is just south of Jerusalem, totally the opposite direction. So not only Bethlehem's babies were ordered massacred. Neither Matthew nor Luke would have to say more, since everyone would know those are northern towns, not southern ones. Jeremiah 31:15 is quoted, and interestingly only "Ramah" is used, and without the definite article -- thus stressing the root form, meaning "high place". Elevated locations. Northern towns with that root in their names are many. One of them, Ramallah, is often in our news, today. More about the significance of "Ramah" follows below.

  30. Notice that as soon as the Magi got to Joseph's place, gave their three types of gifts and then left -- Joseph in the middle of the night (Exodus!) leaves for Egypt, Matt2:13-14. Why? Because -- could there be any other reason? -- Herod had the Magi followed. So the informers would know where they were, which explains how Herod could even know he'd been outwitted, Matt2:16. So Joseph and Mary had to high-tail it outta there. Makes more sense also, since Joseph and Mary would have to pack up their things, leave the house in someone else's care, etc.

    By this you know that it was almost the last minute before the Magi realized it was no star. That they had to be warned in a dream not to return to Herod (Matt2:12), shows they were still naive about his motive: because it wasn't their motive. But they have real wisdom, now. It will take time to grow up in it. Since they come from the northeast, this northerly route to Nazareth is right on their way home. So the spies tracking them, are tracking them north. Herod had a great spy system. So to suddenly lose these magi means they had some 'help' from God.

  31. Matt2:18, Jer31:15, the baby murders fulfill Jeremiah's prophecy (first fulfilled under Nebuchadnezzar, but the far-fulfillment completion is here in Mat2:18). Irony here is that Jeremiah probably makes a play on the murdering of babies in the high places, too. For "ramah" signifies on-a-hilltop, elevated location; "Rachel" means "ewe", which is why it's a common woman's name. So there are many ancient towns with "ramah" in the name. From what I can tell in my BibleWorks ISBE Encyclopedia, none of the contenders are in or near Bethlehem; Rachel's Rama is 5-9 miles north of Jerusalem, and the others are much farther north, in Nazareth-Galilee area and even above it. Bethlehem, by contrast, is a very short distance south of Jerusalem, looks like 6 miles. Since the northern journey back to Nazareth is very long, any place they did stop during the 6-10+ days of travel, would have been a target for Herod. So it wasn't only Bethlehem's babies who were butchered. Bet you money Herod had his troops go everywhere he could establish the Magi stopped, to kill babies: precisely because they did not go to Bethlehem, but were going north (following the 'star').

  32. People project their own motives onto other people: the Magi ASSumed everyone would be thrilled to know about the "king of the Jews", just as they were. Herod ASSumed they were spies, since that's like Herod. So when they behave LIKE spies, not going to Bethlehem as Herod expected, well: they weren't so innocent, in his mind. So he'd naturally assume that their travelling to so many towns was a ruse to cover up which town was the real one. So babies would have to be massacred everywhere they stopped. No other way around it, in Herod's mind. The good news is, Herod died soon after this (by the following Passover, maybe 3-4 months later), so perhaps his plan of slaughter, didn't get very far. But everyone would and did know of it. Bad news travels faster than light.

  33. Joseph and Mary wouldn't be warned to leave Nazareth, if that wasn't the informers' next stop. So the informers were a day or more behind the Magi. Which tells you that as the Magi were following the 'star', they were being warned to be more careful about revealing themselves, en route. It got harder for the informers to keep up.

So come on: it was an angel, not a star. That's why we moderns can't find any star in the past; for instead of reading the Bible, we listened to our sugar-coated traditions. Shows yet again, we esteem God so little, we don't do our homework. Mea maxima culpa. We don't know His Birth Date, nor His Birth Circumstances, Death date -- though all these are IN Bible, lo these many centuries. And then we sugar-coat what we think we know, gossip it up. How tragic. His Birth is a brutal story, not a nice one: depicting, our brutal disinterest in Him. Israel learned He was born by the massacring, not by any star. They had the Word, and they had the current king's virulent reaction TO that Word. So the message would have left an indelible impression, for many years afterwards. But not on us. We will probably never change our 'tradition' of Star of Bethelehem, who cares what God's Holy Word says! kullanu ka tson, tainu!

Greek-Geek notes on how I learned it's no star that the magi saw.

  • Biggest Hint it's No Star:  dabbling in astrology gets the death penalty under the Mosaic Law, under the "divination" class of offenses, Deut18.  Not supposed to consult the stars, since that's a form of demonism ("the gods").  So God wouldn't tempt Israel to do what gets them the death penalty.  God doesn't talk to us via inanimate objects, but directly.  So we don't read entrails, the flight paths of birds, or the heavens to learn God's Will or Plan for our lives.  Every other nation was doing stuff like that.  Israel wasn't allowed, therefore, to do it as well.  For they were not to be like other nations.  All this is in Deut 18.  

  • Therefore, Matt2's verses on the "star" are all in the mouths of people;  it's a narrative which stresses what they are seeing and saying, when no one is said to have seen the Birth itself (in Matthew).  There is no added comment as to whether what they are seeing and saying, is accurate.  Red flag, that.  And of course if it were true, then God is practicing astrology.  So Matthew doesn't have to say that it isn't a star.  So then what was it, especially since it leads the magi to the Child?  Well, what can do that, but an angel?  Angels appear to people, talk to people.  But this one, isn't talking.  Why? 

  • Wry, finessed writing in the original-language texts is routinely used when the obvious is or should be unstated, in Bible.  I learned that over the years listening to how my pastor derived his interpretations, especially when he exegeted Romans verse by verse, and when he discussed Luke's writing style in Acts (how Luke suddenly goes laconic, for example in Acts 21:14, 17).  Since I got BibleWorks years ago, I've seen examples of this wryness in nearly every verse I look up.   

  • So I was on the lookout for wordplay on "Dedication" with respect to His Birthdate: for if He was born during the Feast of Dedication (which could morph to 25 December, depending on how you calculate the anniversaries) -- then wordplays on "Dedication" will be in the Greek text.  Bible does wordplay on "Preparation" (slaying of the Lamb prior to sundown), proving the Jewish calendar was four days too fast during Passion week (it's really pointed, in John 19). So it will obviously do it for His Birth, as well.  

  • That search led me to Matt2.  As well as finding what I sought, I ran into Matt2:9 about that 'star'.  All the verbs there in Greek require THOUGHT to execute them:  proagw, to lead (thinking of the leader in his leading);  erchomai, to come (thinking FOCUS on your destination as you go there);  histemi, to stand (military idea of standing against opposition, hence the thinking of courage).  These are the three verbs used for the "star".  So it's no star, but an angel.

  • Atop these wry uses of the verbs, Matthew also ties "idou" in 2:1 to 2:9 -- in 2:1, the "behold" is of the Magi, who are people suddenly beheld by the Jerusalemites.  So, paralleled in 2:9, the Magi themselves behold a suddenly-appearing 'star';  Matthew again uses idou for the ANGEL talking to Joseph in a dream, v.13, and again in v.19. In fact, almost every use of idou in the book of Matthew is used either of an angel, the heavens, or a person. That kind of parallelling can ONLY mean the star is a person. 

  • Even more deftly (oh how rich), Matthew makes soundplay, tying back to Isaiah 53. For Matthew uses the word "eidon" in 2:9 -- but "eidon" is also the accusative case of "eidos" the noun, used pregnantly three times in Isaiah 52:14 (plays on the Hypostatic union) and Isa52:2 (twice used, eidos screams He is in Hypostatic union).  So Matthew is tying His Birth to the 'star' to the "form" (eidos means seen-form) -- so he's leaving no doubt that what they think they see, is something else.  Coupled with the prohibition against astrology in Deut18, obviously God wouldn't break His Own Law -- well that clinched it.  Notice by 2:12, they are warned in their dreams, it's NO LONGER some 'star' they see.  And -- duh -- of course the star suddenly 'disappears' from the narrative! Next verse, 13-14, Joseph is talked to by an angel in a dream.  Again, parallelling: notice how Joseph's message is quoted, not summarized. So those magi are fairly new believers.  

  • Matthew parallels other words, like poreuw, in 2:8,9,20. It's a way to compare similar actions by the 'sides' in the story.  In 2:8, Herod 'leads' them;  in 2:9, they begin leading themselves, but suddenly the star appears (lol!) and then IT leads (proagw) them north.  In 2:20, an angel 'leads' Joseph in yet another dream, to lead himself back to Israel, for Herod is dead.  Term to paidon is still used in 2:20 (even as in 2:9), so Joseph wasn't in Egypt very long. Point is, all this leading is done by PERSONS. Never, a real star.

  •   Also, the so-called "star in the east" is Greek word anatole, which means "rising" more often than "east" when in the singular ("east", when in the plural).  See Bauer, Danker meaning #1 on anatole, where the difference between its use in 2:1 and 2:2 emphasizes the rising-ness in v.2, not "east". So the rising-ness was yet another tipoff.  It's also used that way in Luke 1:78, in connection with the sun.  Daystar.  MorningStar.  Again, a person, not an inanimate body.

  • Matthew plays on what people see and didn't see and thought they saw and Who they really needed to see and how only a few saw Him. How human. So yeah, we screwed up with this false idea of a Star of Bethlehem -- just like, the magi did. Let's feel bad for less than a nanosecond, use 1Jn1:9, move on!