Part IVa (Continued), The Lord vs. Satan: SupCtHeaven;

Well, that's the problem Christendom largely has had about this Rapture thingy: they're forgetting about "X", Christ! So, they waste a whole lot of time with this doctrine, millions of hapless folks all searching in the wrong direction, because they ask "When?", though they should be asking, "Why?" Yes, the Rapture is extremely important, the culmination of history, even (verses saying so, will be listed in Part IVb): virtually every other doctrine of Scripture is woven into the Rapture. In fact, so woven, it's one big seamless, interconnected whole of such intricacy and magnitude, just seeing the fit alone would prove God wrote This Book. So it's easy to get some key fact amiss, thus screw up maybe years of research. For, we humans are always prone to look too low, and the Uppermost Truth, The Most Obvious Truth, Is What We Least See. If you will reconcile anything in Scripture, start at the Top, never the bottom. CogitA ergo sum, not Cogito ergo me confundo. God thinks therefore I exist, not I think and thus confound myself.

In Scripture accounting, as in asset accounting, the uppermost truth should be the same, since the uppermost truth is, everything reflects God (i.e., Rom1:18-20). Since the uppermost truth is, God is. Three AND One, not hydra-headed. but, Three In One Corporation! That Trinity is a corporation, is baldly evidenced by 2Cor13:14's three monadic articles, and Their Titles: Father, Son, Spirit. Aha. Likeness to the secular world's concept of corporateness, intentionally! [DueDisclosure.htm covers that in more detail.] So, if I don't know what's the thing to look for in Scripture accounting, I should pick some kind of secular accounting aid, and see if there is a Scriptural counterpart. In secular accounting, when you have trouble balancing transactions, you ask, "What's The Purpose For The Funds?" So if you're reconciling some pension trust's assets on a Merrill-Lynch account and you find a $100,000 "buy", you have to know if the purpose was a Contribution (new money), or a Transfer (existing money). IRS makes a big deal, of things like that. Even a bigger deal, if it were a Withdrawal. Is someone playing games with the money??

So you always ask, in Scripture accounting, too: What's the purpose of a Material Item? [Nerd note: in accounting, a "material" item is generally defined as something which, if misrepresented or misreported, would have a 'material effect' on the financial picture of the entity being audited. Think of Enron. See, accounting rules did not require Enron's extensive partnerships be reported on its balance sheet (assets and liabilities statements, a type of financial snapshot); so, the financial health of Enron looked far better than it was. Same, for WorldCom, and (in a way) Parmalat. We didn't have to react so violently and trash the companies due to what may have been the wrongs of a few.]

Of course, everything in Scripture is Material, but some items are more important than others. Such as, WHY Does God Choose A Rapture; not, when the Rapture will occur. The latter tells you nothing about God. Especially, since in Acts 1, the Lord made it plain, the date is not for man to know! For, in Scripture Accounting, Asking The Wrong Questions, Searching For The Wrong Answers, Is Fatal To Proper Interpretation. So now you know why all that date-setting, 'prophecy-based newscasting' stuff you see on Christian TV, is just plain wacko. "Avoid such persons as these", 2Tim2:26-3:7. If an interpretation is goofy, it's not God's. We know that stuff is goofy, because it's not even about God, but about titillation, stressing man all the time. Just like the Bible (mis!)translations. 2Tim2:26 uses a cool verb for someone having a hangover -- Paul hoping they will awaken sober and hurting, learning a lesson from their drunken stupor, to better avoid getting drunk on Satan's religious lies, yet again. Drunks are goofy, like in that classic movie, "Lost Weekend", starring Ray Milland (sp?). These folks are still on a prophecy bender, k? So one should avoid them like the Spiritual AIDS they peedle (pee+peddle), and pray God they sober up.

Uh-oh. Must Be That The Purpose Is Materially Related to, and in part a port-over from, Israel's Annulled Marriage Contract, since I already know that's the ONE thing Israel didn't get: for, she rejected Messiah at the First Advent when He offered the marriage Contract to her, which is WHY (purpose, again) He went only to "the sons of Israel" like a Baby in a Manger (John 1, all of Matthew). So if I know the Terms Of Israel's Marriage Contract, then I know something Material about Father's Criteria for the Rapture, too. And I know what the criteria for Acceptance of the OT contract was: Sufficient Votes. So that has to be continuing, since a Marriage Contract Is Voluntary Between Two Parties, and I know Christ completed His Side of the Contract (Gal3), by successfully completing the Cross. Whew. I know from all over the NT that Church is being called out, grafted in, prettied up, that's the to-people purpose of the Rapture. But Now, I know God's Purpose, Macro-Historically. And it's based on VOTES, not historical events. Votes of Believers. Just as it was, during the First Advent.

Whew again. No need to cull newspapers to see if the European Union is "up to something", since Paul's Eph3 prayer is with reference to Every Generation (Eph3:15-21). Because, Every Generation Will By Design, Be Equipped To Be, Potentially, The Rapture Generation. Whew. That sure saved a lot of chasing down details I didn't need.

So the Next Accounting Step, to save my 'client' billable time, since He hears me 24/7 and wouldn't want me to waste HIS time seeing if Jacques Chirac was this generation's candidate for the Anti-Christ, is -- hmmm. Well, if there's a Purpose, there must be a PLAN. If there's a precedence, the Marriage Contract, then the PLAN relates to that Contract, right?

Bingo. For, the Most Obvious Of God's Plan Truths should be utterly patent by now, if you've been following this webseries from the beginning: GOD RE-ROUTES BLESSING. Ephesians 1 is a flagship passage on this, but Isa53:10-12 are firmly in view throughout Ephesians: the "Bridal Contract" link on this page provides a corrected translation of that passage.

The Bible demonstrates Re-routing in two ways: 1) the famous cut-out-graft-in pattern of disinheriting and inheriting He's done since Cain (the first guy to be disinherited); and 2) the Cross. The Cross is a contract OF Re-routing, "im tasim asham naphesho", If He will Appoint HIS SOUL as a SUBSTITUTE for Sin" -- red heifer offering concept in the law. In that offering -- and all the others, your sins re-route to the animal, and it is guilty instead of you. So the animal was executed, and you go free. The Ultimate "asham" offering therefore, is Christ. All our sins were re-routed to Him, and He was then judged for all those imputed sins. They were saved up, as it were, in a 'bowl' for the Cross, and then poured out (javelin-piercing, Isa53:5's meholal) on Him. So that sets up a cycle. He Who Got Judged Gets Booty, Isa53:12. In the Hebrew and Greek, He gets ALL the booty, since He was Plundered for us. So the re-routing is a circle.

Consequently, God designed everything for the Son, Who is THE Beneficiary, Isa53:10-12 (yireh..bayado yitslah+alleq-LO b'rabbim clauses, especially). Galatians 3 is a flagship chapter on that fact. Thus, the Divine Benefit Plan Father grants, is to benefit the Son. We are Beneficiaries of that Plan Through the Son, which is why the "in Christ", "in Him", and "in Christ Jesus" phrases are so commonly used, in the NT. All this, is the Implementation of what Isa53:10-12, describes. Israel benefits through us: Book of Hebrews explains how that re-routing works, as a result of Israel's Rejection.

So, then: what is the "Divine Benefit"? Well, think of it as a Huge Pile Of Money to be divided out among folks: who gets how much? In eternity past, Father knew How Much Wealth It Would Take To Fulfill Son's Desire To Spend It All; What Types Of Wealth, Distributed HOW And In WHAT Amounts And To WHOM, To Make A Perfectly Happy Kingdom, for Son.

Technically, the "Divine Benefit" to be funded is:
• the sum of all the wealth and circumstances, etc.
• necessary to produce
• an X-quality aggregate amount of 'sweet savor' thinking among the populi of eternity; plus,
• all the 'sweet savor' thinking which can be produced, prior.
See, whatever you're doing, you're thinking something. Question is, How Pleasing To Father, is What You Think? That's what Christ cares about, which is why paying for sins on the Cross was done via His Thinking: Isa53:10-11, both BHS and LXX texts, combined. Because, God is Omniscient, so all history is all playing all at once before Him, at all times. So every thought, every experience, every action, every feeling is always online and He experiences it all at once. (So also, Son and Spirit, obviously, since Each is also, Wholly God Himself.)

Initially, Father funded each of us such that each of us could become Pleroma: each one, a King. So we're talking a Whole Lot Of Money Set Up In Eternity Past. For, God doesn't want pet animals to entertain His Son, nor Himself: instead, He wants equals, KINGS. "For He is not ashamed to call them, brothers" it says in Hebrews 2. (Satan would have you think God wants us all doing pet tricks, the Brother-Foot pandering which passes for Christianity, today. Well, that's Churchinanity, not God's Plan. God Is Never Goofy, remember. But Satan always paints Him that way, which is why all religion is always so goofy. )

It takes more money to run a company, than to run a family; to run a country, than to run a company. The bigger you are, the more you need to express yourself. The guy who won five Olympic medals isn't gonna be content with just a walk around the park. That person needs more, because he IS more. The smaller a person, the smaller his expressions (and don't we all know someone who can only talk about her bowels, her aches, what she ate for dinner). So, the smaller the asset base needed for expression. Notice FREEDOM: we become what we want to be, in life. So, in eternity, we get assets to match what we chose to become, down here. For in God's Plan, you get what you WANT -- takes God's Power, to become Pleroma, but if that's what you want, you can get it.

So, The PRESENT VALUE of all that 'sweet savor' thinking, which necessarily includes the Opportunity Cost of all Creation including Satan&Co., must have been paid, on the Cross -- for all the funding to vest in Christ. Part II's first half spends time on the opportunity cost, if you forgot where that concept was presented. "X" means Christ, the Greek letter chi. [I get this conclusion from Isa53:10-12's LXX use of suneisis, and how the NT writers reference Isaiah53:10-12, particularly Paul's detailed mechanics in 1Cor (which is abysmally translated, cutting off the Lord's Head from 1Cor 1:5 onward); Eph4:11-16, and Rom12:1-3, Greek. Logically, you can tell it's true even faster: if, as it says so baldly in Isaiah 53:10-11, His Thinking paid for sins, then Thinking is the only legal currency. So all of the funding goals would be set with respect to How Much Thinking Like His, will be produced. Sadly, for Biblical proof of what logic would also agree, you cannot see all this in any translation! RightPT.htm and Rom121-3.htm have the corrected translations, though you should really get them from a pastor who Teaches Bible Verse By Verse, From The Original Languages. My pastor is one of those, and there are others, at least one in each major country, by now.]

"Present value" is a financial term (Bible uses "deposit" sometimes in that way), and means CAPITAL. A Current Pot Of Money Of Sufficient Size, to Generate a Particular Amount Of REVENUE. For example, $1 on deposit at 5% interest, will earn 5 cents annually. So the present value, is $1. The income, is 5 cents. So notice the "capitalization" of 5 cents of annual income, is $1. Aka, the "present value". So it is, in Christ's thinking: His thinking in our heads generates thus a bunch of spiritual money, "dividends" or "interest", if you will; we couldn't get that thinking, if HE didn't first have it. Likewise, in the eternal state (and prior), there will be (and have been) such 'sweet savor' dividends occurring in the heads of maybe millions of believers. So the "present value" had to be furnished, for all those dividends, to occur. Since Christ didn't go to the Cross immediately upon Adam's fall, the ACCUMULATED COST was paid at the Cross, but an Advance Payment Was Made On Behalf Of All Of Us Living Post-Cross. So, see? the "Present Value" operates backwards and forwards. Accumulating "interest", in those who learn Father's Holy Son. What a Divine Benefit, to us!

Frankly, this re-routing of funds is most analogous to the way Fully Funded Retirement Plans Should Work: those who stay in until retirement, get the benefits. Everyone else, forfeits. Since that concept takes too long to explain, think of it this way: Stay In God's System, Or Your Benefits Go To Someone Else, such that you instead INDIRECTLY benefit from those who GET your benefits, rather than DIRECTLY benefit By Getting Them Yourself. This is roughly analgous to your cousin getting your money, but then he spends it in a way that THRILLS you (so you know we're talking heaven here, lol)! Remember the parable about the stingy servant, whose one talent was given to the guy who had 10? Well, that's God's simpler description of how He re-routes blessing. FOR GOD FULLY FUNDED ALL BENEFITS (including for those who chose Hell rather than God), since Eternity Past: In Order To Benefit Himself, in and by means of (Greek preposition, "en") His SON (theme of Eph1). For, it's never about us, but always about Christ.

In this world, a "defined benefit plan" is a big pot of Retirement Money to which you (via taxes, etc) and your employer, contribute. (Social Security in the US is a type of defined benefit plan; businesses also can have their own defined benefit plans for their employees.) The contribution is determined by what "benefit" (monthly income) is "defined" in the plan, viz., some percentage of your annual salary. Based on how old you are, how long employed, what you're paid and when you'll retire, the Plan calculates based on definitions within its legal documents, what your retirement income will be. So, knowing all those facts, you can have a computer calculate what deposit each year must go INTO that pot, on your behalf. BUT -- suppose you quit too early. Then you didn't STAY until retirement, so you don't GET the benefit you'd have gotten if you did stay, obviously. Maybe, you get nothing at all. If you return after quitting, you can maybe get all that money back, plus ("accrue", in pension lingo) benefits for the new time you've been back working.

God's Divine Benefit Plan kinda works like an earthly "defined benefit plan", except (see Isa53:10-12, Eph1):

• He Alone Put In All The Money, Before The Universe Was Created (you never contribute a dime);
• the Money Is Earmarked For Each Of Us;
• the Money Is Always And Only ROUTED Through Christ (Isa53:12);
• so Those Who Grow Up IN Christ (the Pleroma people) get the benefits alloted them forever (ibid, subgroup of "great ones");
• plus, those same people, get the benefits FORFEITED BY those in their kingdom who DIDN'T grow up in Christ (ibid, "the many" and keyword "apportion", Greek keyword "merizw" used often in NT); so
• those who didn't grow up in Christ get lesser benefits directly, and the rest of their benefits, via those who DID grow up (ibid).
My pastor has been teaching this for decades, though some of what I'm saying (i.e., the way the re-route works), I'm not sure he's taught (though he has stridently taught this about Isa53:12, and Eph1). But the re-route is very observable in Scripture, so it 's a plausible description, for now. If there's an error, I'll fix it here and then post that fact in the "Errata" section of the Home Page. So far, I'm not finding one.

People have trouble with abstracts, so here's an example of the enormity of a "defined benefit" value. In America, $75,000 per year is about middle income; can't do much with it. But do you know, to generate that much income every year, at age 55 you have to have over $1,300,000 continually invested somewhere? [Nerd note: the monthly APR was calculated using J&S 100% IAM83a mortality table with a large setback; an expense load; and 5% interest.] That is, if you want to be sure you'll get it annually. So, see? Quite a lot of money is needed to fund one's retirement. Those governmental/employer retirement income statements, which look like such small monthly sums, represent large pots of money (which no government in the world has adequately funded, so you can't depend on Social Security-type programs, but hey).

A Trust Fund comes into being due to a Grantor (here, Father) depositing assets into a "Trust", which is a Separate LEGAL "Person". It has its own legal life. So, needs a corporate structure, as it were: so, needs a Trustee, a Fund Manager (who can be the same person). The trust fund (or "foundation") accumulates funds on behalf of "beneficiaries", those who are to GET the funds according to some schedule or based on contingencies which the Trust's documents (analogous to articles of incorporation and minutes), dictate. So, the beneficiaries get the funds and the Trustee (or "escrow officer") is charged with the "fiduciary" responsibility of making sure that the terms of the Trust (or "escrow"), are met with respect to: all the investing parameters, the payout parameters, the contingencies, etc. Surely you know of someone who has a trust fund due to some relative dying; or, gets an educational trust set up long ago by a parent. So also, you yourself are in at least your own home country's retirement security program, which pays you some amount of income when you reach a certain age (normally, starting at age 60, in most countries today). These are all types of trust funds. If you aren't alive, you aren't going to be paid from them. Which is yet another reason why one must first BELIEVE IN CHRIST to be a recipient in God's Divine Benefit Plan (spiritually-dead people can't benefit, because they basically have opted OUT of the Plan). [Is this paragraph too technical? Rethink and rewrite.]

Tech notes: When my pastor covers this doctrine, he likes to use the terms "escrow officer" and "escrow", and he likes to stress how God's funding in eternity past was IRREVOCABLE. That term means God can't take the money back. God has forbidden Himself (!) from getting the money back. So, the money can ONLY go to the beneficiaries under the terms of the Trust: Christ being THE Beneficiary. So HE determines how the apportionments go, Isa 53:12. That is what the Bema, is for (i.e., 1Cor3, which actually occurs, in Rev4). [If you're under my pastor, you'll recall he often mentions that you can see what you lost as a memorial, if you didn't make it to Pleroma, in eternity. Yep, because the assets are irrevocable. That fact doesn't mean, though, that God doesn't re-route the actual USE of the funds. Fact is, once we all are up there, we will ardently want the assets we refused, used by whomever -- since EVERYTHING GLORIFIES CHRIST. So, the Memorial depicts what could have been, versus the reality: it's not a contradiction, that the actual use of these committed assets, don't function as the could-have-been history. By the way, here on earth, other types of trust funds aren't always irrevocable, but most are (better tax benefits, for irrevocable trusts). So many a will sets up a trust at the decedent's death, into which all of his estate essentially 'pours'. Retirement plans also are irrevocable (again, due to tax benefits), though certain "reversions" (returns) of money to the Employer, can occur (but in the US, reversions are taxed at 50%-80% in addition to the regular corporate income tax, so not many reversions occur).]

Do you see the Enormous Impact of this Divine Benefit Plan? How Much Hung On Christ, While He Was Here? Father Irrevocably Committed Himself to a Burden of so Great a Magnitude, I can only use the term "bizillion", to reference it -- and, what if Christ didn't WANT to finish His Cross? He's GOD, you know. He didn't HAVE to do it. But -- He wants to kill Himself for Father, all the time. He loves Father that much. So to Him, the Cross is what He wanted the most (i.e., see context for Luke 22). Love is like that. Father's love is like that -- committing Himself in Eternity past! Spirit's love is like that -- imagine, having to doodle with us stupid believers, forever, getting our thinking built and functioning, what mother-hen care! Love, ABSOLUTE. No object, or whatever object. Satan is loved just as much. Awesome, this Commitment! Freely given, no strings!

Again, that's how irrevocable trusts, work: The Money Stays There, But Who Gets That Money, Changes Due To The Contingencies, as specified in the trust (or Plan, for retirement plans) documents. So, it's really your money, right Now -- but if you elect Against Completing the Conditions (grow to Eph3:15-19 level, Pleroma), You Won't Get "all the fullness-of-blessing from God" (pan to pleroma tou theou, in Eph3:19). Someone else, though, with whom you are associated who is Pleroma, WILL get it. So you still get the money -- but not, in your own hands. (Now, maybe you like that idea, but I don't. I want to grow to Pleroma. Because I want to kill myself thanking God, and I need a whole lot of money, to do that.)

Note the Fabulous Grace, Turning on its Head, all the stupid lording-it-over-games, played down here: Everyone Will Be Associated With A Pleroma Person, because all the PEOPLE are "booty" as well, in Isa53:12 (how clever of God to do that) -- and the Pleroma persons become the Rulers forever. So everyone either inherits a kingdom, or is IN one: so no one loses, everyone gains. So the money never goes to waste. There's no "reversion" in God's Divine Benefit Plan. The reason to Want to Vest, is to HONOR Him; not, to preen. You want more so you can SPEND more. Not, to beat your chest in front of a mirror like a gorilla.

Since we humans are all interdependent in God's "economy" (Bible keywords oikonomia and oikodomew, usu. fuzzily translated), whoever QUIT EARLY becomes a beneficiary UNDER someone who VESTED. Hence Part III's stress on Corollaries 3A-3D. The macro economics of God's provision is largely the topic of Part IVb and IVc. Learn the mechanics of your own retirement plan at work, to get the most understanding, here. For, what I'm tagging God's "Divine Benefit Plan", is an exact analogy to a perfectly-working defined benefit plan (if such a plan could exist on earth): more about THAT, follows in Part IVc.

God explains all this funding most deftly, via the phrase "every spiritual blessing", in Eph1. A shorter Bible moniker for this term is "all things" (Bible Greek keyword: panta); then there's "riches", or "riches of..Glory", and many metaphorical synonyms like gold, etc. CHRIST IS THE BENEFICIARY ("Seed", Gal3). Spiritual riches are the HIGHEST TYPE, because God is Spirit, and they who worship Him worship Him in Spirit and in Doctrine: Jn4:24. So Spiritual Wealth Births All Other Types (i.e., per 1Tim6:17). So if you would be rich, become rich in His Thinking (2Pet3:18).

As noted earlier, God doesn't need money; He can bing whatever He likes, whenever He likes. What He 'Can't' Do, Is Force You To Learn His Son. (He won't do that, since it violates love, righteousness, freedom, to coerce or manipulate.) And what He likes to hear most of all, is His Son's Thinking. Of Whom, we are all partakers (term in Peter). So, we learn to partake of His Thinking. Father expresses His Pleasure in our Learning That Thinking In The Exact Same Way as He did the Son's Thinking on the Cross, so we are thus apportioned 'booty' (Greek merizw=share/apportion; this whole concept is explained in Isa53:10-12 and Eph4:11-16). That 'booty' is a whole lot of physical and non-physical BENEFIT, especially tailored to our tastes. Every day is Christmas. But here's the irony: the most enjoyable thing to 'do', is learn Him! So every day, is Super Christmas, however bad it is externally, for His Thinking is true enjoyment! So it's Super-Christmas every day, with the 'booty', added! Especially, because You Get To Know Father Is Pleased! That's the greatest Christmas gift of all! It's no 72 houris, k? It's Way Better -- Rapport wealth-of-thinking makes even a hovel, heavenly. So how much more do you think compatibility is heavenly, in Heaven itself?

You kinda know this already, for if you are in a bad mood, the nice weather outside doesn't make you feel better. So too, with all 'earthly things': How You Think Determines How You Enjoy. So the True Wealth, is Shared Thinking. Everything else is colored by it. So if you are thinking how much you LOVE someone, even if the person is in hospital or looks like gefilte fish, your love only increases. But if you hate someone, even if the person is attractive, your hatred only increases. So understand that if you have Every Spiritual Blessing, you have EVERY Blessing. And, frankly, as you grow up in Him, the Fourth Reason for Royalty (Part III) will come to be what you prefer, Wormship. Because, you already have everything, in Him who is TaPanta, everything. Heh.

The Pleroma person Wants To Spend Himself On Christ. It's a need so deep, an outlet so desired, that when Christ apportions out to the Pleroma, all they want to do, is Spend It On Those Ruled. Not take. See the angels in Rev4:6ff, how they throw down their crowns? That's an ancient-world expression of giving self away to Him. The crowns represent all their rewards given them by God for not having rebelled with Satan&Co. (angels got their own escrows, too). But what do these highest seraphim do with all that wealth? Throw It Away. Not stupidly, like today's welfare programs, but Smartly. To glorify Him. So they need all that wealth, so they can get the outlet of spending themselves. Not, wasting the lives of others. Wasting themselves: just like He so ardently wanted to do -- and did! -- on the Cross.

Each CHANGE in the method-of-deposit (covenant) is Warranted And Justified By Some Kind of Failure, and Some Kind Of Success, in the Recipient Group. So, the Blessing RE-ROUTES through the "great ones", even now, while we're still in these puny bodies. Thus the human race keeps on being blessed-by-association. With the Uppermost Truth. God. Coming Down to Us. To Save Us. Now, UP, Risen, Ascending, Ascended, Seated, Footstool! Ruling! Uppermost of Uppermost (Heb1), The Lexeme Of Lexemes, waiting for "Operation Footstool" (my pastor's term) to COMPLETE, teleiow, plerow, hagiazw. To Resurrect Us. Purpose, again. But this time, we know The Plan.

Of course He PRIMARILY re-routes Blessing individually; or, cursing, when individuals fail (Jeconiah's curse, for example); so all the more, He does it when individuals succeed (Abram, David, etc)! He thus also amalgamates all these individuals to re-route Blessing Funds corporately, when GROUPS fail or succeed (region, nation, even a whole covenantal people, Lev26&Deut28). He also does it even if only 3! are in a 'group' (Abram, Isaac, Jacob). Sometimes He re-routes temporarily, i.e., making Deborah a judge in Israel (should have been a man's job, so great apostacy was rampant). [God, HE is the Ultimate Feminist: Gen3:15. So to say that authority vests in the man in certain situations like marriage, pastor-teacher, is no slur on womanhood. Again, we humans need to Ask The Right Questions, not the wrong ones.]

Note that God's welfare plan, is smart. Man is supposed to be trained in Love, which depends on being trained in Righteousness and Justice, the OBJECTS of Love (viz., Ps89:14-15). During this training period, man gives and takes with his fellow man, and there is always a scorecard operating, with respect to how much given or taken, is "fair". Once a person perceives that the scorecard is imbalanced, the Energizer Bunny (sin nature) starts banging the drum: oh, you are superior. Oh, you are inferior. Either 'banging', is upsetting. For if you are inferior because you got a gift, then that gift is no longer enjoyable to you; if you are superior, same problem: the giving becomes a tension experience, instead of an enjoyment experience. Because the sin nature enjoys hating, it will feel good to say self is superior, and feel bad to say that the other is superior. Whole point of giving, then, is trashed. Becomes doo-doo. So God's Gifts First Depend On Having The Requisite Capacity For Enjoyment (which requires lots of eaten Bible in His System), so that neither of these two bunny hops, play. So, that is how a good welfare program should operate. So, that is how God's Divine Benefit Plan operates. So, if you don't have the capacity yet, someone near you who does, gets gifts so you can indirectly share, without being tempted to bunny-hop.

Capacity for enjoyment isn't a la-la, smiley thing. It's an appreciation too deep for emotion. One which responds with respect, a sense of responsibility, and relaxation. Insecure people are always tense. Learning Bible in God's System (link at pagetop), lessens and gradually eliminates the tension. So those bunny hops, flop! And you can begin to actually ENJOY inferiority or superiority. Because, God enjoys everything. Think: it's a horror to be superior, and saddled with drooling babies all day long. Think: it's a horror, to be a drooling baby, saddled with these big people making loud noises you don't understand, all day long. We are all variantly INcompatible with each other, and it's a tension, to be so close yet so unalike. Even more, the incompatibility vis á vis God, is Total! That's why we make up those goofy religions in the first place (Satan's not to blame, really -- we like Churchinanity). So the first order of business, is to get facts: yes, you aren't as good as someone else in "z" endeavor; so what? So Bleeping What? Yes, they (or you) should be paid more (less) than you because of their relative abilities, versus yours: so what? So Bleeping What? As you calm down over being unequal, you cheer up over being whatever you are. Over whatever are your circumstances. Because, you know they are all designed to Train You in HIM: so bleeping what, about anything else? Ahhhh, now capacity, is increasing.

Now, port those individual ideas over to a group: groups of individuals are also, more or less capacious. More or less, tense. Folks who band together to crusade or claim rights, have zero capacity for happiness. Your big clue: they are demanding something from someone ELSE. Happy people don't do that. And nothing you give an unhappy person, can make him happy, just as the bright sun outside won't cheer you up if you are in a bummed-out mood. GOD alone can make one happy, and only His Son's Thinking being progressively deposited, accomplishes that goal. Then, even a cross will 'make' you happy. So: same for groups. People tend to congregate with others who are like them. So people tend to move out of areas where they are too "different" from those around them; so, over a long period of time, the people in an area, are very much alike -- so, when they are all too negative as a group, bam! Divine Discipline occurs to wake them up. Or, conversely, if that group is growing, bam! Divine Prosperity occurs to bless them. Oh: overt disaster is often a prosperity, so don't narrow your idea of "good" and "bad" to puny human standards. Abram was being tested to think God "bad" because God didn't give him the promised heir for 25 more years (age 75-age 99), heh. Because, God was building Abram's Capacity for a Whole Universe Of Sons! Talk about blessing to a group from an individual!

He, being Infinite; He, being Three Infinite -- well, how much more yield must there be, if the first group screws up -- which screwup, He Must See Forever past present future? It's not like Omniscience turns 'off'. So someone peeing 5,000 years ago, is 'still peeing', to Omniscience. The Cross Is Always Occurring. So, the Yield on the Cross is Always Occurring. So That Yield Must Be Increased, if a group which has a covenant, screws up its 'end'. So it is, with Israel. Re-routed, so Bigger For Israel, too. To Church. not replacing Israel, but Blessing Israel. Let's see how.

So the Uppermost Truth about the Rapture which so many miss, is GOD'S USE OF PRECEDENCE. Precedence is the 'lens' through which Truth needs to be discerned. If this lens is NOT used, or is ABused, or MISused, the resulting 'picture' will be like an unfocused or misshot photograph, worth only a pitch in the trash. Precedence, of course, is a double-entendre word, since everything in the universe is a hupostasis. Infinity itself is a type of hupostasis: in order for "all" to be ALL, there must be Harmoniously-United Opposites. Else, "Absoluteness" isn't (structural, hence 'moral', for lack of a better word) Integrity.

So "Precedence" must be a hupostasis, too. And, it is. Precedence, What Preceded in Time, and What Preceded in Importance. Connected, though. Not just any ol' past thing is precedence. There Must Be A Justice Connection Warranting It. Here, of course, we found a just connection: Israel's never-completed marriage contract. The 'connection' is the GROOM. For He Finished His Side of the Isaiah 53:11 Contract. Both in Time, and in Importance. Uh-oh, we've another Hupostasis. New Precedence: His+Israel's Marriage Terms. Ok. Now we have a Plan, and a Precedence to work with to see how that Plan tells us about Rapture. (The critical importance of Precedence is discussed at greater length in DueDisclosure.htm, compared to here. For, it's our purpose, so must be disclosed: the most Important Precedent of all, the Hypostatic Union, Our Lord's God-Man Nature. Virtually everything in the universe expresses that Structure at all times. So all Scripture reflects Him, too.)

We gangly Christians get so tied up with data collecting, date setting, and the spectacular nature of Tribulation events, we entirely forget that God is Truth, so there are Spiritual Laws Of Relationship Which Govern (i.e., like gravity, but spiritual). If you forget those relationships, you chase after windmills. Vanity. Hopefully, this webpage will help the reader recognize the vital role of precedence, and properly see what "Rapture" means. For himself. [Oh, how ironic, to be writing this. My pastor stressed Christ's Precedence for Church in nearly every Bible class he's taught. Ironic, because even though I'm trained in pensions (which means laws and accounting relationships), I myself didn't clue into the vital role of Precedence and Rapture, for years! Ouch!]

God's prohibition against eating good-and-evil knowledge is a contract, Gen 2:17 being the heart of it: depicted by a real tree with real fruit, so there could be a Real Rejection Expressed by Eating That Fruit. You stay in Fellowship with Me, so long as you don't do this. Followed by, the Abrogation Clause, as my pastor usually likes to translate it: because the day you eat from it, dying spiritually you will die physically. Two Deaths, not one. So Two Lives are needed: human life, and spiritual life, in order to Live With God, Forever. All Contracts After The Fall Are About Getting Into Fellowship ("saved"), and then Learning To Have Fellowship (spiritual life) with Him.

That's the only reason why anyone goes to 'hell': They Never Agreed To God's Terms For Getting Into Fellowship. That's the only reason why most believers will be 'naked' (poor) in heaven -- they didn't finish the Spiritual Growth Contract of Part III, Eph3:15-21. So if one of the spiritual life contracts is Priestly Brideship (maximum intimacy), and not enough Corporately Complete it, the contract remains OPEN.

"To perfect" in legal English and most other languages means to finish/ fulfill the Terms Of The Contract. Bible uses teleiow (pronounced tel-eye-OH-oh) this way, so English often translates the verb and its cognates with "to perfect" or "perfect". Contracts, especially testamentary wills which transfer a great amount of wealth, are usually if-then in structure. So to say all contracts had been completed except Brideship is to say the "party of the first part" (Jesus the Christ) fulfilled the conditions.

Isaiah 53:10-12 IS that contract, and it was made in eternity past: "Bridal" link offers a corrected translation. So that's the Ultimate Precedence, the initiating justification for creation.

So, if party "A" COMPLETES certain actions/conditions, THEN party "A" inherits. However, the actual RESULTANT DELIVERY is a separate set of clauses. So there is a LAG TIME between the completion of the contract by party "A", and the RECEIPT of whatever party "A" is promised. This rule of contract law is as old as time, so was already a well-established language of accommodation by the time God had Moses write the Pentateuch. All those rituals you see in the OT are CONTRACT-RECOGNITION rituals of one category or another. Contract delivery also goes by terms of the contract which apply to the grantor/provider (God the Father, here); oftentimes the delivery is delayed, subject to certain other conditions, and even can remain abrogable.

Per Isaiah 53:10-11 in the LXX, the Divine Benefit Plan Delivery Preparation Terms, are that Father will Purify, Plunder, Exhibit, Sculpt, and Justify the Plunder. Then, Isa53:12: the delivery TO Christ, occurs. He then apportions the plunder TO the "great ones", Based On The Same Criteria as the Criteria Which made Him (again, v.10-11, combined texts). In other words, the "great ones" are Made the Same Way as Christ was made, Isa53:10-11 (combined texts). So those who rejected the vv10-11 contract terms, forfeited, and become booty to be apportioned among the "great ones". Thus, all those other people share IN the Inheritance: indirectly.

See? God blesses everyone exactly according to what the individual, chooses. By Contract. With SON. To Make Sons. That's the Ultimate Precedence: It was Son's Individual Choice to Fulfill the Terms, which the Holy Spirit Enacted upon Him; so it becomes our Individual Choice to Receive the same Action By Father (via the Spirit again, note the consistency), upon us. The individuality nature of the contract is so blatant in the OT, you can't miss it. In fact, the only group contract in the entire Bible, was the one given to Israel, and that, only due to Moses and later, David (2Sam7 basically cuts Israel out and hands her to David, just as Levi was cut out and handed to Aaron). Paul loves this Individuality Nature of God's Contract Provision so much, he can't stop using Greek marital-intimacy words, mixing them with Greek construction vocabulary, in all his letters. For the Last Adam gets a Wife Fitly Built for Him. Heh: I wonder how he could stop smiling and laughing long enough, to write!

Note how the Contract is Sweeping, and a Whole, even while it remains Individual. So Israel was under the Contract, and everyone who believed in Him had the same terms (but at a lower level, since Christ was not yet come, John 7:39); but they did NOT fulfill the Corporate Marriage Contract, the Mosaic Law's "training" purpose (theme of Romans 11) to make them into an Entire Priest Nation (not merely a nation with a priesthood, as under the "schoolmaster", the Mosaic Law, see Gal 3 and Heb5-10). So that Contract by party "B" (Body), remained UNfulfilled. That's why we get it, Matt16:18. Which was also a Choice by the Groom: "Upon This Rock" -- pointing to Himself, the Petra, the Holy of Holies Bedrock -- "I will build My Church." Will build, future tense of oikodomeo. Which Building, heh: is the whole point, Building SONS. Temple, get it?

That's What Your Life Really Means, And You Are Under This Contract. Whether you choose abrogation, is up to you. Israel chose abrogation, which is the only reason why the Contract of Brideship is still Open to us. DDNA webseries (starting with DDNA.htm) provides whopping additional detail; its thrice-repeated summary, "God's Soliloquy" (Soliloquy.htm) is a dramatization of Father Talking about this Contract.

Consistency Is Expressed By Parallelism. Same for "A", as for "B", core tenet of Justice. So, Precedence determines Parallelism, too. Idea of Same Treatment. Equality before the law. Impartiality. So, when evaluating what is or sets Precedent, one must be careful in diagnosing, the "parallel". Most importantly, look for ESSENTIALS, not forms. Meaning, rather than motions. To mix these up, is to violate Precedence, Consistency, Justice.

• Precedence which is based on evil or a lie is never valid. God, of course, never does this, no matter what inanities man claims from the past. For, an old lie is still a lie. An old evil is still an evil. Satan makes great misuse of "old", as you'll see in Part IVc and IVd; and especially, in the Appendix. How odd: when meat and milk get old, we throw them out, but we keep our mouldering mistranslations for centuries, based on "Precedence"!

• Most of what you see commonly-practiced in Christianity today, abuses Bible in the name of 'precedence'. The tragedy of both Judaism and Christianity (well, of mankind in general, too) has always been this mixing-up. So, like the "Qorban gimmick", 'precedence' is abused.

• All 'tradition'-emphasizing Judeo-Christian religious sects historically display rampant abuses of 'Biblical precedence'. For example, many ritual-stressing denominations within Christianity base their case on 'tradition' -- the idea being, the Church Fathers did these things, or this was how 'Christianity' was practiced in the 2nd century AD. Were the Church Fathers in the Bible? How do you know that what was common, was right, if not compared to the Word? Pagan practices were common, then, too -- in fact, 2nd century Christianity copied pagan practices, to get customers!

• Misinterpreted Bible 'precedence' will be goofy, i.e., Eucharist as a magical 'transubstantiation', compared to the bald text of Luke 22:19, remembrance. It's goofy to assign magical, emotive properties via ritual. Pagan religion does that. By contrast, Bible's rituals are always to TEACH something by analogy: the motions, are metaphorical of deeper truths.

• Clever monikers assigned to Bible truths do not 'credit' the one making them. So it's an abuse of 'precedence' to call Bible's Authority, "Sola Scriptura", for example -- and then pretend a denomination's genius. That kind of vile evil is practiced to make an old denomination look like it rightly reads the Word, because it got ONE or TWO ideas right. So now the denomination is claiming a precedence OVER God's Word -- get it? Bible talks about such usurping abuses in detail, i.e., Pharisee passages, the famous strain-at-gnat-but-swallow-a-camel verse. But God's Word is THE Authority long beforehand, Ps138:2b, all of Jeremiah, "thus says the Lord" verses, 1Cor2:16, Heb4:12, Rev22:6-21, just to cite sample verses. The Word Itself Precedes, not the demonations, thank you very much!

• Of course, some denominations claim so much precedence over the Word, they claim to have determined WHAT is from God and what is not! Citing their dippy councils under Constantine! Now, think: if you really knew Bible, you'd certainly not need human consenus to decide if Christ was God-Man, even Satan advertises Christ is God-man, in Matthew 4! You'd certainly not need to debate whether God is Trinity if you knew Bible, since 2Cor13:14 flat tells you, with three monadic definite articles! Not to mention, the thousands of witty Trinity verses in the OT. So clearly these 'councils' were made up of idiots who did NOT know Bible, that they thought human consensus, more valid than the Word itself! (See my TrinityCites.htm page, which has a video listing a couple of hundred of these verses, for handy reference.)

• Same, for Scripture translations: so many go along with a past translation error, because of its 'precedence'! Oh, don't dare CORRECT it, because then you go against accepted 'tradition'!

• Then there are the many abuses of clear Scripture. Tongues, for example, ignores what Paul says in 1Cor14:20ff, so is an abuse -- drawing its false claim, from the 'precedence' of the 1st century. But they don't even read what that precedence WAS -- giving the Gospel in a language the speaker did not know by natural means.
• So healing rallies are always demonic (remember Simon Magus).
• The folks who use the Bereans to claim they shouldn't have a pastor-teacher, don't do their Bible homework (Matt10:24-25, Luke 6:40), but claim 'precedence' (the Bereans didn't study only on their own, but studied as a result of what was taught them, check out how Acts 17:11 is in the context of Paul's TEACHING, verse 10).
• Water baptism, what a farce! Even common sense would tell you that bathing doesn't save you, lol. That was a custom people had followed since the Hoplites (Alexander), not something God ordained.

• Christians mistake the meaning of "tithe" -- which was Income Tax, in the OT -- for Church giving. They forget the Temple was a fortress, hence the STATE TREASURY; not, just a place of worship. So, even had precedence for Church been in the Mosaic Law (not true, as we saw in Parts II and III), "tithe" NEVER meant spiritual gifts for the priests or Temple itself. For God always wanted voluntary giving. Priests had a dual role as trust officers and civil servants (viz., the Sanhedrin). So they each wore two hats. Tithes belonged to the CIVIL 'hat'.
  You should be able to peruse Leviticus-Deuteronomy and see that even in translation: none of the Levitical offerings were ever called "tithes", for example. Bible clearly shows, even in translation, Two Separate Systems, with separate categorizations, timings, everything: the priest and Temple gifts were specific, had sliding scales, and were occasion-based. The tithes, by contrast, were national, flat, and income-based. Malachi 3:10 is God chiding Israel for not paying INCOME TAXES. Um, how blatant a difference between 'love gift' and 'tax', do you want? God is the original proponent of the flat tax! Romans 2, do you steal? No wonder people hate Christianity, lose faith in authority, rebel! And Abram giving to Melchizedek (Gen14, Heb5-7)? Did anyone notice that Abram was giving what was not his, and at the consent of the King of Sodom? Abram didn't keep the spoils of victory, at all. The King of Sodom had offered Abram a "take", but Abram refused with the famous, "lest you [someday] say, 'I made Abram rich'." So the "tithe" isn't Abram's. And, moreover, it wasn't given to the Levites (big point being made, in Book of Hebrews), but to a King-Priest, Melchizedek. Directly. So, the meaning of Abram and Melchizedek cannot be used to claim the Church should get a tithe, either. Do your homework.

  [Tithing is income tax, never a spiritual thing. Voluntary giving is always voluntary, never a set amount. In the OT, God set rules about giving when you want to do it, to teach you. And the irony is that the Levitical system of giving was agriculturally phrased, so only if God blessed you enough, would you be able to give. So yes, there are tithing concepts -- since the idea of a tenth for income tax was well known, even back in Jacob's day, Gen 38:22. But no, they are voluntary to God, as the whole context of Leviticus 27, shows. Tithes were allowed among many other valuation formats to decide what God gets; and other formats were allowed, and phrased even as mandates so you would be doing your voluntary giving according to rules which taught you something about God. But the income tax is separate, as Lev27 stresses. That whole chapter is about redeeming what you had voluntarily dedicated, versus taxation: so see verses 1, 26, 31, 32 in context. If you can buy it back, it's not a tax, get it? Further, whatever you dedicated, you can still keep. Idea is you now hold it for the LORD (see v.28). Idea is, if you give something and then want to get it back, you add 20% in the buy-back, for the opportunity cost. But the gifts and especially the taxes, were never a means to buy anything from God. So much for the kooky idea that tithing is to go to the Church. Some dingbats claim that since the concept of tithing predates Israel (yep, it does), then Church isn't getting that precedence from Israel. But they don't bother to research the precedence: tithing was a form of income tax, which is why Jacob is voting for God as KING when he says Gen38:22. Abraham giving Melchizedek the King of Salem (Jerusalem) a tithe was done at the behest of the king of Sodom whose property it was, since Abraham did not take spoil, Gen 14:17-21. (The King of Sodom was with Melchizedek, as you'll see if you pay attention to the verses. Had this 10th not been given at the King's behest, then Abram's refusal of spoil is a sham, and Abram would have been a thief.) What a sad travesty is made of tithes today, totally blasphemous in every jot and tittle. If you have The Hebrew Workbook of the Old Testament, look up eser (ayin sim resh), and read what it says about tithing as a voluntary thing, and the abuses of it which had occurred. My pastor gets positively bilious when he covers the subject of how tithing is abused, today: Church is not Israel, k? Tithing was Income Tax To A King.]

  God's "tithe" isn't 10%, but 100%: "You shall love the Lord Your God with All Your Heart And Soul And Mind." First Commandment. So if we're talking tithe for the Church, baby -- it's ALL of you, and it goes to GOD, not some collection plate. Remember that verse in Timothy which talks about how the believer who doesn't take care of his own family, being worse than an unbeliever. Again -- see how the MISuse of Bible in the name of 'tradition' or 'precedence' can be so evil?

• Likewise, a whole lot of anti-semitism justifies itself on the fact that the Groom was rejected, thereby contending that Israel is replaced by Church. So, they miss the obvious that Christ Himself Is The Direct Beneficiary. Galatians is very pointed about that fact in Galatians 3: "Seed, not seeds" clause. Then there's Romans 11 and Ephesians 2, a Joining of Israel and Church, which are also overlooked.

  The list could go on and on, because there are as many variations of abuses as there are people. Precedence Demands Precision. God's. MISunderstood, or sometimes blatantly abused. Do Your Homework. Use 1Jn1:9 like breathing. Ask God To Help You Avoid These Landmines. I swear, internet searches on Bible Doctrines are like Trips to Twilight Zone, the scholarship is soooo shoddy. Don't be like them: The Holy Spirit is God, so obviously is Smart. Get in God's System, breathe 1Jn1:9 and think Bible 24/7 (keep trying to do that) -- and you'll see Just How Smart God Makes You. So you can avoid these billions of MISuses.

So, A Legal Way To Resolve A Broken Contract Pre-Exists Man. So, Adam and the woman had a covenant which was broken as well (eating from the Tree); Hosea 6:7 cites it as Precedence in the "riv" (court case) testimony against Israel the Betrothed, who broke the Law in like manner. It's a major running theme in the OT; Ezekiel and Hosea, for example, are scathing treatises on how the Betrothed wasn't living up to her end of the potential contract.

GOD'S RE-ROUTING PRECEDENCE KEY ==> When a covenant is broken, there are terms inside or outside of the agreement which govern what happens next. Moreover, if another agreement is made, or a successor group receives the terms, Terms Previous Which Were Essential And Incomplete 'port Over' To The New Agreement Or Successor Group. Again, due to the inherent rule that justice should continue and be fair. Any Change In Terms would have to have either its Own Precedence, or some Other Just Cause For Change, lest Justice somehow be misused with respect to a group signatory under the current or previous contract. (For example, the state of California can't grant you a license to be a retailer with terms more favorable than it would grant to another retailer, without justifying why.)

PRECEDENCE is therefore always a hupostasis, since the God-man is Himself, by very nature, a MARRIAGE between Infinite (Godness) and Finity (humanness). Which is why theologians call His married nature, "The Hypostatic Union" (term comes from Hebrews 1:3). So, that's why all prophecy is likewise, DUAL: dual-entendre, dual-usage. For, the only difference between "prophecy" and "teaching" is that the former is also PREDICTIVE. More importantly, the dual-usage shows the Precedent Condition was Not Heeded, if the Second Usage occurs. It's always about the Contract, even and especially, with respect to prophecy. So its Duality Paradigm First Reflects His Duality, and THEREFORE is still a Double-Pronged-Teaching, which is the more important reason for it; Prediction is made to Protect or otherwise Benefit those Hearing it in Advance. Just as would be true, for any Teaching. Especially, if from God. For, all prophecy represents Teaching about the Coming One Who Himself is a Duality, the God-Man, Messias. Learning about God, after all, is rather more important, than being able to predict something about your own life.

So, Dual entendre: Two generations are to understand it, the Current one getting the prophey in miniature (called "near-fulfillment", in theology); and, the Future one getting the Full Blown Prophecy (called "far-fulfillment", in theology). So, dual usage: 1) anyone else is to use the Teaching Paradigm Of The Prophecy, to Grow Spiritually. Whereas 2) those Future who get the Full-Blown actual EVENTS of the prophecy, are to understand it then to know what to DO, then. That's why we still have the OT for lessons, why Revelation for us is largely paradigmal; that's why the Tribulation folks will be learning lessons from our day, but will be living on, the prophecy which then is actually HAPPENING to them. It's a synergistic arrangement, and everyone is thus doubly blessed: we vicariously (aka, indirectly) share in prophecy which applies to others; others vicariously share in doctrine which directly applies to us. And, vice versa, of course. "Blessed", by the way, is usually a mistranslation in English Bibles. Term is usually "machairioi" (sp), lit. happinesses (cute play on machaira, the Word-sword). So, these happinesses are way too big for the body, to enjoy.
I don't understand why people find prophecy titillating, though: its blessing doesn't ever feel good. For, when it's being fulfilled, it's a shocker, if you can see it at all; or is bizarre, if you still can't see it, though living under it. None of the prophets were welcome. True, most of the news they had to bring was bad, but if the news came true, it was a huge shock, just the same. If it wasn't seen to be true, to believe it anyway, felt weird. Look how Gideon acted with the fleece; how Moses acted with the 'burning bush'; how the Israelites acted when Moses was gone too long. Prophecy is very intense. The human body, can't take its fulfillment. Heck, wasn't it upsetting to review all those timing numbers about how Messiah arrived at the 1000th anniversary of David's Kingship and the bizillion other fulfilled number and prophecy and historical convergences about Christ? Isn't it upsetting, to see how bald, the Dumb Dome and the Wailing Wall, to show the Unimpeachable Truth of Daniel 9:26c?

Also in contracts, there is usually a dual FINANCIAL expression, and Precedence is the Key here, too: like, a downpayment (Big Bible keyword in NT, usu. mistranslated as a clause, "what has been entrusted"). The rest of the payment is Contingent on whatever the rest of the contract terms, are. So, prophecy was first 'paid' to the generation who got it; the 'balance' would be 'paid' to a PARALLEL future generation. So, if the prophecy was of something painful, it likewise operated in two 'payments', so to speak. But the Purpose of All Prophecy, painful or no, was and remains, To Encourage People To Vote For Messias.

So of course, He Comes Twice: first to Make Payment (remember the opportunity cost tables from Part II); and second, to Deliver The Contractual Fulfillments. Book of Hebrews takes the reader through all these dualities, and is well worth however many months it takes, to master that Book's contents.

And unless there was a Fit Bride, No Valid Acceptance Of The Groom's Offer, Would Occur. So the Groom is Party "A", The Alpha Glory, "Becoming", Immanuel; but Israel was Party "B", Body, Bride -- potentially. Hence she had the Mosaic Law to Learn How To Become Fit. Axiomatic principles like Brideship, Nature of God, and a whole welter of Fundamental Contract Doctrines are communicated in Bible by means of wordplay. The very etymology of words and their kindred roots, reveals this. Bible is woven into every syllable of the Hebrew language. You can't see this in translation, but it really sticks out in the original text, and thoughtful lexicographers are always remarking on it (like TWOT, a standard seminary lexicon). [This fact was widely known among Bible scholars in the 19th century (i.e., Thorleif Boman's Hebrew Thought Compared with Greek), and of course has always been known among the Jews. Improper use of this fact, not ignorance, is the cause for the predominance of bad interpretation. So when you hear today that the Law is some kind of magical vehicle for salvation, or any other stuff making the Law into a credit-self vehicle, just laugh. Look: people misuse the Bible without compunction -- Epistle of Jude is even rude on their rudeness -- so it shouldn't be too surprising that the most scholarship is slipshod, lying, stupid, who-knows-which. It's not rocket science to prove wrong. If I hear Matt16:18 misused again during some alleged 'scholarly' documentary, I'll scream.]

So to see how the Law was a Bridal Contract which thus was Conditional, versus all the other covenants to Israel which were UNconditional, requires you look at the type of vocabulary Bible uses in the original languages. Marital analogies are so frequent, you find one in practically every verse of the OT, after the Exodus; for the Lord Always Talks To His People Based On The Bridal Contract -- and they are usually breaking it. That's why the Bible is so repetitive, too; for the breakage was repeated, and the role of Husband is to Admonish and Train the Wife (true in secular marriage, too, as that precedence comes pre-Adam's Fall). She wasn't responding to Him. Past is prologue, so we should take deep notice -- as we are disobeying in exactly the same ways.

In Deuteronomy, when Moses is briefing the second generation just prior to their entry into the Land, he reminds them of these provisions, and how they are to Become A Priest Nation by fulfilling the Law (e.g., the five "an holy people" clauses in KJV, like Deut 28:9; which are variantly incorporated by reference in hundreds of later-book verses). Fulfilling the Law was always a POST-salvation contract, so was never about sin per se -- but about the Conditional Bridal Contract with the Lord. If you read Deuteronomy even in translation, you'll find Moses uses an if-then construction (hallmark characteristic of contracts) to review the contractual terms, and they all relate to the prosperity or adversity the people will experience, if they (respectively) obey or reject the terms. Nowhere do you find even a hint that these terms relate to salvation. For, you had to first believe in Adonai for Him to 'become' Elohenu (OUR God). He's not your God until you BELIEVE in Him. By the same token, you have to believe in the Contract Provisions, to obey them. So If You Do Not Believe In Them, You Are Abrogating The Relationship.

Hosea 4:6, even in translation, makes it clear what abrogation means (whole book is on the topic, with Gomer representing unfaithful Israel): in the KJV of BibleWorks 5, the verse reads like this: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:

1. [clause 1] because thou hast rejected knowledge [of God -- see context] , I will also reject thee,
2. [clause 2, eschatological portion of covenant, Brideship] that thou shalt be no priest to me;
3. [summary clause +3, loss of blessing by association] seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." [There's lots of contextual wordplay in Hosea, and especially in this verse. There's the "worn out with serving Baal" sound play in the word here translated "destroyed", balaiy: really, "mibaley", idea that they are fornicating with Baal and thus birthing destruction, instead of having marital relations with da'ath ("knowledge", Divine Truth, the Law). Wordplay also runs rife between da'ath, damam, and similar words. Idea that if you silence/destroy the Word, you yourself will be silenced/destroyed. Awesome stuff. The word da'ath is also used in Isa53:11's Hebrew text. A lexicon like TWOT which analyzes wordplay will help you see why I translate it "Mastery of Thinking" in Isa53.htm, etc. If my pastor had but one message he wanted us to get during his 50+ years of teaching, it was that we needed to get the Thinking of Christ in our heads, 24/7. Hosea 4:6 is a verse he thus uses a lot to remind us of this mandate.]

   Preview of coming attractions, and how God re-routes: That verse was said to the Northern Kingdom, aka "Samaria" and "Israel" (Hosea was one of their prophets). Assyria was used to fulfill that verse circa 725BC(?). Jonah was later sent to Ninevah to convert the Assyrians there, and they all became Jews (Book of Jonah). So all the Jews got delivered. After that generation, Assyria went steadily downhill, so it got punished (fulfilling the running prophecy that God uses other nations to punish Israel, then punishes the punishers). God keeps His Promises. [God uses negative volition, in the sense that He lets it run its course. Satan&Co. get to discipline negative volition. They love seducing God's people into being negative for that reason, and they love abandoning anyone they seduce. So unbelievers are seduced into attacking believers (here, Samaria), and then they are abandoned: we are all just pawns to be used! God lets them do this, so God Takes Responsibility for it. True Love never coerces, and never shrinks from the harsh measure.]

   Notice how there's nothing there about losing salvation. It's the post-salvation blessing of Priest Nation, Contingent on the Law of Learning being Fulfilled, that they lose. Notice also how the entire Book of Hosea is crafted in marital-relations terms (Hosea calls it a divorce case in Hebrew of 6:7): First Commandment. A command to learn Love. They rejected it, instead wearing themselves out with Baals of this world (Hebrew sound-plays on that, but KJV renders it "destroyed", so you can't see that meaning in English). Adultery. Cause for breach of contract. A Contract to Learn something. Not works. [Hosea really did marry Gomer (and he loved her utterly); and she really was graphically unfaithful to him, though becoming faithful, in the end. Imagine how much grown up in Love Hosea must have been, that he would endure so much infidelity, and even make it public in order to get the Word out! Since the written form of this message came after the time of his ministry (which is the norm, since you only need a written record if it's to be a timeless thing), imagine how grateful both Hosea and Gomer were that they could tell this story to all generations. Awesome love for God, here.]

So let's look in the mirror, by looking at their past when He was here: the following if-thens applied to "Israel" at that time (His "visitation", in English Gospels -- the term really means the Official Visit Of The Sovereign, and should be translated that way).

This Royal Asset Accounting and Balancing shows why the Second Advent had a specific, prophetic, SEQUENCE. For, the Second Advent was always Contingent upon the FULFILLMENT of the First. Which, as we see, had Two Signatory Parties: Christ, and Israel. So when Messiah came, and explained His Rulership role, the question was, would ENOUGH among the people Israel respond to Him and thus become Bride? Bible prophecies are always in two categories: a) kickoff, which is always "imminent", and b) child, which is due to the kickoff occurring, and hence always dateable. Much more about these two categories will be said in PartIVb. For now, note that the a) and b)'s of the table above, reflect the dual nature of God's Prophecy Design. (Everything is always a pairing with God, because He is Infinite, therefore Full-Spectrum Balance, and Christ is God-Man.) So if the a)'s got fulfilled, then the b)'s could be dated. Which, as we learned from the history, they were: by Matt16:18, Vashti had refused. So, b)'s date began the rest of His Ministry (hence the shift of vocabulary in Matthew, to Bridal). So, His Own Days were numbered (though we couldn't know how long) -- to the point of the Cross. And, He died right on time, having been (uncrowned) King as long as David was King over united Israel, 33 years. And, so the Temple was destroyed right on time (516-483-70-33=70AD), having lasted exactly 586 years, the same number as the date the First Temple, was razed by Nebuchadnezzar. God keeps His appointments!

So notice how those a)'s and b)'s being completed, give rise to our a) and b), which is the Same AS (Precedence, again) Israel's was: a) believers-only are in the count, and b) ENOUGH believers have to LOVE the Groom. But, because HE completed His a) and b), our b) changes to Eph3:15-19, "to come to know the Love for Christ" (ingressive aorist, there, my pastor reminds us every pass), which then justifies "that you may be filled with pan to pleroma tou Theou". Pleroma. Higher than Israel's standard, because the blessing got re-routed from Israel, to Church.

Ok, now pretend you're Satan. Pretend further it's circa 27AD, and you've just left the Lord, having given your greatest genius temptations possible, temptations no one should have been able to resist, in (what we know as) Matt4; but He does resist them! So: oy, now what do you do?

Aha! Two Parties Must Sign. If party of the second part, Israel, does NOT sign, then it's a MISTRIAL! For this Trial is all about, DIVORCE! If Israel Rejects Her Husband, Divorce occurs! So how can Elohim Justify sending me and my demons to the Lake of Fire for Divorcing? Either Elohim must Divorce Israel in 'reply', and thus it's a Mistrial! Either way, I win! For, if God is so wonderful as He says, then creation should want Him.

And no one got a better 'deal' from God, than Israel. But as history had proved, Israel didn't want God, they wanted goodies. Saul replaced God as King of Israel, and it went downhill from there, saving a few bright lights like David, Hezekiah (greatest of the kings). So if Israel Rejects the Groom, then the Best-Blessed vote "no", and I win! thinks Satan. Which helps balm his sore ego, considering how he was just defeated by the Lord's starving Humanity. Oh, yeah. Isha was the weaker one, in the Garden. So this Betrothed has always been the weaker one. Ahhhhh.

Note the fine print: Gentiles benefit THROUGH Israel. Doesn't mean the only way they benefit is IF Israel becomes a Bride. It Can Work, Vice Versa. Peter stresses that fact via his OT quotes in 1Pet2 (showing the precedence and re-routing, thereby). Lawyers, sheesh. God, the smartest of the smart, sure knows how to craft a loophole. Like how creation can continue after the Fall of Adam, for example. Like salvation, for example. Like delivery of the woman through delivery, for example, one of the funniest verses in the NT (1Tim2:15, esp. in context, playing on Gen3:15ff). [It's not a slur on womanhood, k? Greek "sozo" means to Rescue, Deliver, first. We call it "save", for that's the result of delivery, but there's no result, without rescue. Great pun! Rest of verse is poorly translated. My pastor spent time on exegesis, stressing that verse asserts her spiritual equality; not, lower status. Spiritual equality doesn't mean equality in human endeavor. So this isn't a license to disobey the husband, become a pastor yourself, etc. ad nauseam. Sheesh. We can spend time on God, and can ignore all that irrelevant gender-rights garbage, yet another of Satan's clever distraction toys!]

Note How That Red Clause Can Work Both Ways: Gentiles Saving Jews, Or Vice Versa. Like how that red clause, whichever direction it goes, ends up 'delivering', 'sewing up', all the human race. What a Sense of Humor! Then again, He IS the God Who chose to Covenant via a phallus (w/Abram)! And how appropriate, since through that phallus, God chose to Beget the entire saved human race! Abram Was Not A Jew, until circumcised (Rom4). So not-My-people can rescue My-people, too (see Hosea)! Kill me now: was there ever a God like ours, even if we pretended there could be one? Oh! Oh! Oh! Out-lawyering Satan, the smartest creature ever made by the Son! ("Satan" means "opposing attorney" in a court case, remember.)

As was observed in Part II, Israel didn't do its evangelization job very well. So, was sent out ("diaspora") several times in its history. Even so, the world wasn't exactly receptive. So, the world kept on declining with each 'advance', as we saw in Part II; man could rely more and more on himself; he was getting pretty tired of needing some god's help, and especially tired of these three-continent, landbridge, merchant-trading "Jews" who kept on telling everyone only their "Adonai" was the Real God, the Promise of Whom was to take on Humanity and conquer the world! Yeah, right. Octavian already did that: became the Divine Augustus, even. Was deified not too long ago, when his wife Livia poisoned him-to-death with his favorite figs. Been there, done that. Hoo-boy: why does everyone want to be a Caesar?

All over the world, people had a pretty clear idea that Messias ought to be coming soon, by 6BC. End-of-the-world prophecies tend to get more hearers. So, many false messiahs had come and gone, already: in fact, the 200 years preceding His birth were largely dominated by the Maccabeans, who had themselves arrogated to themselves a messiahship role (which is why the Herodians aligned with them, though previously conquered by the Maccabeans and not liking it). Hence the True Royal Family of David, had to lie low. The Qumran people, too, were weirdly watchful: they decided to go off into the wilderness early, so in case Messias came and was executed, they'd be safely away from the Tribulational events they expected to occur in Jerusalem. They had an almost perfectly preserved Isaiah scroll, and Isaiah is premier among the Messianic prophets.

Looking at Daniel 9, one could well estimate His Birth; it revealed that hey -- in Daniel 9:25-26, Messiah would come at the end of the 69 "sevens" following the Decree to Rebuild Jerusalem (which one could also construe as beginning with the decree to rebuild the Temple); plus, the 70 missed sabbatical years, not stated there in Daniel, but in Jeremiah (see Dan 9:2). For, the Jews, like most folks in the world, measured time by the number years after some ruler or benchmark began: #years since Abraham, #years since Moses, #years since Temple, etc. So from 6BC onward, everyone started looking for Him.

Moreover, David's line length was to be mirrored by the New Covenant Millennium, the idea being that "restore Israel" meant to Make Good On Losses. Mosaic Law was all about, RESTITUTION. The reason for the punishments was to motivate Israel to BE restored; at which point, whatever Time was lost, was also restored. That's why the "weeks" calculation in Daniel, is used: its 490-year setup ties severally to various benchmarks to Restore The Time for each of them: you can see Paul apply it to a kingship benchmark (Israel's rejection of God as King), in Acts 13. Hence the Savior, the Redeemer, REDEEMS TIME. (Church is supposed to redeem time, too -- Eph5:16, Col4:5 are but two of many such passages on our like-Him role, and of course are usually mistranslated so you don't see the Bible keyword, Redeem/Ransom.) But Savior also comes to redeem the Gentiles ("light of the Gentiles" and related OT passages). So the Gentiles had a vested interest in knowing this prophecy, too. [Nerd note: "the nations" (ta ethne) means the Gentiles, in Bible. Gentiles is a better idiomatic translation, because the term means all non-Israel.]

So by 3BC, David's reigning lineage was 1000 years old (David became king of all Israel, in 1003BC). So Messiah had to come soon, to Restore the Line and thus pave the way for the Millennium which would Restore to Israel, Her Lost Years. In fact, that's the Year He was actually born. So He is born of water (John 3:5's idiom for birth, even today --breaking of amniotic sac) and Spirit, from birth: Luke 1:35 and Heb10:5, "A Body You prepared for Me", fulfilling also Ps40:5ff. By this, the Jews were to know that an Ending of Israel's "time" (Age, in our parlance) was at hand, because the Birth of Messiah was a sign of impending Judgment: i.e., if they accepted Messiah, His (yet-unknown-how) Isa53 Payment for sins, Resurrection, Ascension, would follow. Then, the "times of the Gentiles", which included the Tribulation. Hence, Luke 2. Shepards who were charged with keeping the sacrificial sheep, forbidden from entering the Temple by the Levitical priests for this very reason -- these outcast shepards got to see the angels passing in review on the way to the feeding trough ("manger", to you), to see the Baby wrapped in corpse bandages ("swaddling" for burying a corpse in a tomb). Because, He came to die. So, the shepards came to see their Lamb.

So when these shepards got to see the angels passing in review above them, they spread the news far and wide. Which is why Herod knew about it, and why so many innocent male babes, died. Then, for the next 30 years, no one hears a thing about Him, which gives the message time to reach all the Gentiles, too (along the trade routes), so they can come to Jerusalem. Of course, faith was sorely tested. Readied, really -- for when you see prophecy fulfilled, your brain reacts with disbelief, and you need to fight that disbelief with belief in what Bible says, to next have the strength to see prophecy fulfilled with your human eyes and brain. Proof: our current blindness despite Dome and Wailing Wall depicting Scripture fulfilled (Matt24, Dan9:26, all like passages -- hundreds of them). Every hour, every day. So people either believed and moved toward Jerusalem, or they made up some goofy substitute idea, and picked that to believe. For a shocked brain cannot stay neutral.

[Gratuitous, Irrelevant Sidebar on Shroud of Turin: it's a classic example of how a shocked brain picks something goofy, to substitute for examination of truth. First, Christ didn't have long hair -- see how Paul excoriates men having long hair in Corinthians. Second, He was only 33 years old when He died, and He died at the peak of health -- aside from the fact that He was beaten up beyond recognition, per Isaiah 53. So He wouldn't be emaciated like the Shroud image. Worse: you wrapped a dead body like a mummy, with STRIPS of cloth wound around each part of the body. It's a practice done on dead people and babies from Latin America to China, very well known in anthropology. So, then: the "Shroud" should have also left imprints of these strips being wound around the limbs, etc. Which, it doesn't. Of course, there should be no imprint of body OR strips ON the "Shroud", since He was only in the tomb for three days, dummy! Body doesn't have enough time to decompose and leave a mark: and the body was wrapped with those strips (though apparently the women didn't know) by Joseph of Arimathea (Luke 23:53, Mark 15:46, Matt27:59-60 are summary statements -- but He was wrapped in STRIPS, "sthonia", John 20:6). But after a longer period the body would start to swell and burst from the internal gases breaking down; so if there were to be any mark on a shroud, it wouldn't look human. Worse: millions of hapless Christians read the translation and think there was a shroud only, when it's the shroud which is missing (Peter saw the strips). Worst of all: people want God to leave a fully-naked picture of His Son's Body on a cloth, when instead God spent over 1500 years leaving a Full 'Naked Picture' Of The 'Body' Of His Thinking, Bible! Sheesh. So either the Shroud is a very bald hoax, or it's someone who is clearly NOT Christ; even IF the Shroud's textiles match that 1st-century face cloth (including blood type) relic in that Spanish church. Maybe a sudden burial of a criminal (who wouldn't get such burial care), since NO STRIPS. Sheesh: all these years people have maybe been pouring over some murderer's shroud, when they could have spent their time learning BIBLE, His Living Body's Thinking! How embarrassing for them.]

Poignant, then, is the resulting story. Not only were there so few in Israel believing in Him that the Gentiles couldn't make up for the dearth of Jewish believers; there were in aggregate way too few among both groups, who wanted Him to be Messiah. On the other hand, large numbers wanted Him to be a political ruler. So, then: there were, however, between both groups, enough believers to justify making a Replacement Offer, Matt16:18 -- to Fulfill the Prophecies about the GENTILES. Which is why, inter alia, He made such a stink about the centurion's faith to the Jews, to Show Them How They Had Played Vashti, Matt8:5ff, 27:54ff (showing that the example meaning was tracked), Luke 7:3ff, 23:47 (parallel tracking). See? Without those Gentiles being there, the counteroffer couldn't have been made. God orchestrates events without gerrymandering, and yet keeps those appointments. Even if we are always late. [When Bible tracks an episode, it makes a stressed/key-principle example of it. So we know there were many Gentiles who believed, this centurion being a representative of the group.]

• You don't have enough to do "X", but you DO have enough to do "W".
• "X", was inaugurate the Messiahship; not enough people wanted Him. This lack was understandable, since to vote for Messiah, was to ALSO vote for the ensuing Tribulation. Daniel 9:26 was too plain. [Precedence: Abram had to 'vote' for 400 years of slavery, to 'vote' to get sons, Gen15:13. Read carefully the unfolding of the contract terms in Gen12, 15, 17.]
• "W", was to get out the Word to the Gentiles, as promised.
• "W" would become, the REPLACEMENT BRIDE, therefore.
Oh, there were plenty of folk, for that message to be spread. But, not enough to love Him enough to vote for the 2nd Advent, which would only occur amidst Tribulation (ending it, actually). There were enough to spread the Word to the Gentiles, for example, such that it would fulfill the prophecy to the Gentiles, to MAKE the offer when He did. Else there couldn't have been a Paul (wouldn't need a Paul, if insufficient interest). So by the Gentiles being sufficient even when Israel was not, the Precedence and Consistency was met with respect to fulfilling the promise to the GENTILES. Which, after all, was the next slot in God's timeline, too.

So you'll see the Gospels shift into a bifurcated, due diligence disclosure: first, here's the "X" offer; if you refuse it, "W" will happen, and the "Wife" will be these Gentiles, not Israel, If You Reject Messiah Now. The tribulation timeline cannot be avoided by rejecting Messiah; and rejecting Messiah means the goyim get to have the honor of Brideship, not the sons of Abraham. It was an upsetting choice: understand that the Jew correctly knows he's superior, so to have to be subject to goyim! Yet they didn't want their own Brideship. So they are choosing with full knowledge and consent, an informed decision. They wanted another Saul; their idea of Messiah was political, only. He wasn't offering what they wanted. He had a Better Offer, but it would hurt. They had three years to consider their alternatives, and refuse His offer.

Messiah, of course, was not there to solve the problems of the world (3rd Temptation), so was not there to become a King of the World (as He'd explained to Pilate) -- so if you're voting Messiah, you're voting for the rest of prophecy to be fulfilled, God's way. But they wanted a political leader, not the Father's Son. So became Vashti, which led to the finding of Esther.

Again, if a Gentile believed in Adonai during the "time" of the Jews, he thus became Jewish, just as maybe 2/3rds of that going-out population in 1440BC (Exodus), was Gentile ("mixed multitudes" in English Bibles). Moses' second wife, was Ethiopian, remember (which upset Miriam so much, she became leprous with jealousy, and then God made her leprous on the outside, to match). For the children of the Promise, though by blood a supernaturally-created race due to Abraham's faith via Isaac, still had to Elect All That Went With The Promise. Which meant, tribulation. Again, Isaiah 53's contract To And For CHRIST, applies to all of us. He had a Cross to accept, and then He'd become King-Priest. We have the same terms paradigmally; Israel had the same terms paradigmally, which is why Isaiah 53 reads as it does (using the sameness-of-contract terms as its jumping-off point in Isa52:13). If you believe in Christ, you inherit all He is and has: starting with, His Own Contract, For Better or For Worse. [Fourth Reason for Royalty covers this 'cross' meaning, and it applies to all believers. You will suffer, one way or the other. Question is, will you Suffer and Grow in it, or shrivel? See also the "2-3-4-5" table of Part III. Again, precedence is Christ, and that's the real reason why Israel still suffers. She is bound forever, and isn't turning to be healed. But even if she does, Tribulation is all the promised TIME that's left for her to corporately go through (but as a people, since the National Contract is abrogated).]

So, now, with the "W" counteroffer replacing the "X" offer, any Jew who believed in Christ, would become Part of that Replacement Promise, too. Because, it's the Promise, which matters (see Rom4 and 9, 11, Romans 11).

Messiah is the Heart of the Promise, "X" or "W" version. Because, all covenants go through Him as Seed (Gal3). So, again: Precedence and thus Consistency of Justice, are met.

So too, since "W" replaces "X", then a re-routing occurs, which means the "W" promise will be much harder to live with than "X" would have been. It's a post-Cross promise, that the "W" precedence and terms, are those of the Completed Groom -- no longer, the more childlike covenant which was Israel's, had she elected to become Bride. Which is why Church is a New Covenant to implement the New Covenant to Israel, under the "Footstool" banner (main theme in Book of Hebrews).

Father is making the enemies a Footstool for His Feet, which terminates with Rapture, and then terminates with Tribulation (main theme of Revelation). So a New Covenant replacing, means a New Law, "the law of Christ", the "royal law", the "law of Grace", to name but a few of the New Terms of the New Covenant we get. Hence the New Testament, he kaine diatheke (Bible term). But based on and Rescuing, the oboleted one (submain theme of Book of Hebrews). So the New Church Covenant is a Royal Upgrade, because He defeated Satan in the Trial, strategically (Hebrews 2,10,11); so it's Royally Harder, as Part III explained. And any Jew who believes in Christ during Church's "Age" (another Bible term, usu. mistranslated), gets the Same Contract (main theme of Galatians). Just as, in the past, any goyim who believed in Adonai became thus Jewish. Precedence was Abram, as we saw in the "Rapture Interpretation Key" of the "Because Israel became Vashti" link in this Part IVa. And Abraham still is the Precedence. And before him, all those others in the Bible roster of heroes in Gen11 and Gen5. Consistent Justice, in Royal Upgrade: the Ultimate Son of Sons, the Christ, unites both 'walls' of Jews and Church, via the same 'throughput' mechanism. We got in by faith in Him OT-Style, so they get in by faith in Him NT-Style. Salvation always comes through the Jews, whether they are in Abrogated Status, or not. God Keeps His Promises.

Of course, Brideship is harder to have, because intimacy with the God-Man Seated and Ruling, requires a higher spiritual life, which is why Christ's was the toughest -- ergo that long-ago promise if Brideship was elected, that the Word would be Written on their minds and hearts (Jer31:31-34, explained in Heb8:8-10:17). So again, Consistency: what Israel's contract would have SHIFTED TO, had she elected the "X" Brideship offer, would have been harder. But since she did NOT, the "W" offer would have the same attributes as IF had she accepted -- plus Much Harder ones, because she didn't; because, as a result of her refusal, a re-routing must occur.

Consistency: the Law is altogether about restitution, redemption, restoration. And NOW due to "W", the Cost of Restoration makes the Entire Cost, higher. In fact, the cost WAS the sins of the human race; but the cost IS, His Own Nature, NOW. For obviously to go from doo-doo to Royal Bride is far more expensive, than to merely restore the sinless status Adam had in the Garden; far more, to go to the goyim, than go to Israel already familiar with the Law. So the Yield On those Added Costs, the Profit on them, must Now be way higher, still. So, "to whom much is given, much is expected", and the "W" offer therefore requires "much" be much more. Christ is plainly telling them all these facts, via His explanations and parables -- so they can make an informed choice.

That "W" offer is a choice every believer faces. We don't have an "X" offer to refuse, since only the "W" offer is open, now. And, 99.9% of us, historically speaking, don't even choose to believe in Him for salvation and thus get into the "W"; much less, to elect the "W", once we are believers and thus Body. So, there's a time-bubble quality to our lives: as if the First Advent, hadn't ended. For the issues facing us, are paradigmally the same, as faced the world while He was down here. Stepped up, though, to the "W" level. Will we choose the "tribulation" of learning His Thinking, even as He had to BECOME the Truth, to go through that Maximum Tribulation, the Cross? Will we take up our own crosses, rather than drool after the political and other nonsense which characterizes "earthly things"? Our choice, Romans 8, every day.

The offer to Israel was removed when Christ, while still here, said to Peter the famous "On this Rock I will build My Church." Principle: the Ruler Gets To Call The Shots. If you reject intimacy with Him, He 'rejects' intimacy with you. That's why 1Jn1:9 (Ps32:5, 66:18) is so important. God doesn't coerce. If a person Rejects Him, He allows it. So, Christ acknowledged Father's Choice from Eternity Past, and therefore Requested 'Church' be as Father Decided, in John 17. Absent His Choice, you and I wouldn't be breathing to make any choices.

So where are we? Well, since Israel played Vashti, the Gentiles become Esther, STILL with the purpose of rescuing the Jews. And idou, look! They Still Get The Contract, But Upgraded: they are grafted back IN (theme of Romans 9-12). So the call goes out to them from the very Gentiles who saw the Light, Isa52:15, and deiknumi clause in Isa53:11, LXX; with Matt22 as its fulfillment, playing Right Now; thus, Matt22 becomes an Invitation to Their Own Wedding, if they too believe in Him! Matchless, Infinite Grace! Paul can't stop exulting over this fact in Romans: it's a major subtheme of that letter.

Probably all the marriage parables (i.e., Matt22, plus the virgins and their lamps) best display these Offers. Sermon on the Mount was the Groom's Policy of How He would rule: an offer to Israel. The vignette of the Samaritan woman at the well, and the other one who said even dogs eat scraps from their masters' tables, are two other (beautiful) demonstrations of the to-Israel offer being known by non-Israel. The "W" offer is clearly marked after Matt16:18, with the stress on Bridal-related vocabulary. The parable of the virgins and their lamps of course references the Rapture, also in Matt24. Sadly, by Palm Sunday we see just what believers preferred, Jew or Gentile, akin to how it was Saul became king; akin to how it is Christianity politicized in the 2nd century: we preferred a political Messiah for this world, not the Real One forever. And ouai ouai ouai! we still do. Past is prologue, despite Precedence, aaarrrggghhh! Like Paul moans in Romans 7, using himself as the representative human (and playing on the X and W loophole, what a witty guy): Who will deliver us from these our bodies-of-death! Thanks be to God the Father, through Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! So let's now see how He'll do it.

• cut out of Eden, to graft in an Eden (=Holy of Holies' Bedrock, Hebrew =Petra in Greek, both a moniker for Christ, sounds also like eben=Stone).
• So, God then continued the cut-out-to-make-a-replacement-covenant, with Cain (Seth replaced Cain), and He did it steadily, ever since. You can see it most clearly when
• He cuts off the world via the Drowning (since they weren't Drinking Word as then revealed), leaving only eight persons (Noah and Co.);
• 490 years later, the b'rith morphed to Abram: so Ishmael was cut off, but Isaac grafted in;
• then Esau cut out, but Jacob grafted in, as Rom9 explains;
• then all the Firstborn in Egypt were cut off, and Israel grafted in to replace, with that very act being the foundational Mnemonic of how Messiah would be cut off to cut mankind in, Passover.
• Then, Levi-who-cut-off-every-circumcised-male-in-Shechem was cut out, but then Joined (="Levi"), grafted into Aaron;
• and Aaron was only grafted in, because Moses cut himself out, refusing to be God's Mouthpiece;
• next, Israel herself is wholly cut out, due to preferring Saul as king;
• but grafted into David, 2Sam7 (inter alia);
• so Jeconiah gets cut off, but Shealtiel is grafted in; and him through Nathan, Solomon having been cut off (Nathan was David's younger son via Bathsheba).
• So like Levi, who was cut off patrilineally but grafted in matrilineally (through Jochebed's grandmother, a younger daughter of Levi),
• so also the Messiah comes in matrilineally through Mary; and she is also descended from Levi via Aaron; for all Aaron's sons were of Judah through Aaron's wife. The matrilineal descendance is a stronger inheritance claim, frankly: to the Jews, your Jewishness was determined via the mother, but the primogeniture, via the father. But the Ultimate Father, is God not Joseph, Isa63:16! So the Highest Primogeniture, is Messiah. But all Jews know this. They merely dispute who that Person is.
• And when He came here they rejected Him, cutting Him off, Isa53:8's gazar (Hebrew); so since gazar=karat=b'rith,
• He cut a covenant of salvation, fulfilling the Isa53 contract (karat, Heb of Dan9:26; im tasim asham me amal naphesho , Heb of Isa53:10-11).
• So like Paul recounts in Rom9-11 the Jews (and us!) have been blinded, ever since. But not wholly.
• The remnant continues, grafted in, hallelujah!

You bet!!!! And it's the Best of Loopholes, too: His Son! Idou, Look at this! Repeating: Messiah Seed (Gal3) had Completed His Contract, Ascended, was Seated "at the Right Hand" (Highest-Authority idiom), so is OWED DELIVERY On His Contract! So we saw Father's Eph1 wit, in Part III's beginning: the King of Kings, had no kingdom! Hence, the calling out of the Bride from among the Gentiles (see Eph3, Rom10-11, all "mystery" verses, 1Cor2:7).

Which, of course, we even knew before He finished the Cross, beginning with that first announcement to Peter (Matt16:18), "On this Rock" --epi tautei tei Petrai, thus pointing to Himself (see also touton of John 6:27), because Petra=Messiah=Bedrock on which the Ark sat! --"I Will Build My Church."

Wow. You know, seems like Peter never got over the Lord's use of houtos (tautei, dative, relationship, benefit), back then. In the Greek of Peter's two epistles, he's always making plays on words: That One! This One! Paul and John also, but in Peter it's soooo cute to watch him play on his name and on houtos, THIS ONE, the CHRIST! The Petra, and I am petros, a 'bit' of Him! Him! So you believers I'm writing to are are lithoi, hupogrammoi, krustalloi..!

Church, not Israel. Church not replacing Israel. Remember the red "fine print", God's rescuing loophole for Gentiles, Jews, the woman, since Adam, the whole human race? Now Look: because Christ IS the Direct Recipient as SEED (Gal3), All The Covenants Are Completed except Brideship, since that depended on Another Party, not Him, saying "yes". So No no no part of Israel is Church, nor vice versa. Couldn't be clearer. Paul exults in this Joining, not replacing, at the end of Eph2. We derive our contract solely because Israel rejected the Offer from the Groom. But Israel Never never never Loses The Messiah.

Proof: what the Lord announced in Matt16:18, Ephesians explains. How Israel is affected by that announcement, Romans 9-11 and Hebrews explain. The primary impetus for each of these books, is to show What Changed, and how the Promises to Israel, Would Be Rescued. [Try repeated rereading of those books, even in translation, with that focus in mind. See if they don't suddenly make a lot more sense. Suggest Romans first, then Ephesians, then Hebrews. Or, cross over to another book's chapter on the same topic -- i.e., when reading Romans 9-11, after that switch to all of Hebrews. Check lexicons when you see what you think are keywords, because keywords track the story for you and are always multilayered and interlocking, in their meanings. Most Christians bristle at this heavy level of Word pursuit, claiming that it's not right, that to argue all should do this, is elitist. What self-righteous garbage: God Runs His System, so we have no excuse. Everyone thus gets to sit at Father's table. Where we choose to be AT that table, is up to us. Do we take Him up on His Offer and get into His System, hence mature in Word as He Initially Gave It? Or do we make lame excuses to prefer the Word in some diluted fashion, like the people in Matt22?]

The Education Problem itself is subdivided into another two goals (everything with God is Hypostatic, Union of Opposites, God-Man). These Two Education Goals are: Educate via Scripture ALONE, and Educate via Comparing Scripture to Observable History. For that's always how God 'played' it with Israel: Leviticus 26, Hosea4 (etc). is the pattern. If you won't Hear Word, then you will hear Warring. So the History (next division of this webpage) plays a Confirming Witness to Scripture Role of Warring, i.e., No Temple, No Covenant.

We just saw above how the Bridal Contract itself, and its Precedence, provide a huge amount of comparative data for Jews to see how what WAS to be their own Fulfillment, still is occurring -- but via Church. So they can get in on it, "while it is yet Today", as Hebrews Chapters 3-4, explain. They get in, via Church. They become Church if they believe in Christ, no matter what they call themselves. Jews typically have a hard time thinking of themselves as "Christians", even once they have believed in Christ, but what they call themselves, doesn't matter. They ARE Church, simply by faith in Christ, even as we all are.

The other big problem the Jews have, is their excessive (but quiet) prejudice against non-Jews. This prejudice is built from many spokes of history. They are better, truly: smarter, more attractive, more healthy, more witty, more talented in every way. This makes them receive more prejudice, so they understandably react. No one is more persecuted than the Jew: God placed Israel in the Spot Most Likely To Be Attacked for its sheer geographical commercial Travel Value, as we saw at the first link of this Part IVa. So that's part of the prejudice. It truly is hard to be better than others, and yet have to deal with them. It is truly hard to have the Truth about God and know that, yet have to deal with all those who wanna argue or fight with you about it. So Jews aren't particularly receptive to our claim that what they had right, is now totally Wrong, because they are stuck in the past.

So, God provides a Tracking System they can Use to verify it's God Who's telling them they are wrong -- rather than, some goyim. After all, no one likes to hear he's wrong. God thus employs a tracking system in the WORD, so the Jews can know it's HIM speaking: special keys and keywords help them (and us, of course) track the main 'flow' of the Change. This tracking takes you all over the Bible, and you have to think like a thesaurus. (Jews are trained to do that, from infancy (usually). It's part of their gift in Abraham, to think from hubs with spokes. Read the Mishnah sometime, you'll see it. They get tangled up in their spokes, their genius for seeing many sides of a question. But then, so do we.)

So note, in the following table, how these keys trace the main outline of the Precedence, the Continuity, the Upgrade, the Change and above all, the Faithfulness of God. All of these keywords tie directly back to Isaiah 53, which is the Master Contract for All Covenants in History. So you'd expect the NT to be full of these keywords. And, it is.

Ok, but what is the status of the Jews during this phase of History? Well, think: in the first place, the Jewish Race Was Founded On Faith, not genes: Gen15:6, Rom4, 9, Book of Hebrews, all explain. And that, because the Promise Is Forever -- eternal -- so you gotta have God's life, to live with God, forever.

So, the genetic distinction is not the basis of the Promise being inherited, but the FAITH is (theme of Romans 9). So, two distinctions. First, genetically, Bible uses the term "Gentiles" ("ta ethne", lit., "the nations") to mean anyone not a racial Jew; so, if you have a drop of Jacob's blood in you, you are Jewish. [Well, sometimes "Gentile" is used figuratively. Jewish term is "goyim" and it's not exactly complimentary. So sometimes God calls the Jews "goyim", to show they aren't any better than those they demean. That's why the tongues warning in Isa28 is used, for it mimics a Gentile pagan practice of ecstatic-gibberish-drunken-mass-orgy.]

So, second distinction: FAITH is what made you Jewish, too. In fact, even if you were Jewish, if you didn't do what Abram did (Gen15:6), you weren't his kid even if you were his kid. Like Father, like Son. Like Father's Thinking, else no son is really a Son. The Jews knew that very well, and made a lot of wordplay out of it, like Isa63:16 (can't see the wordplay in translation). The verse flips the fact of faith-fathering to render the conclusion, even if Israel repudiated us as its sons, YOU are our Father, Father. Really cool verse.

So the covenants to Abraham bifurcate based on these distinctions. If you parse out Genesis 12, 15, 17, you'll find a whole bunch of clauses which are not dependent on faith, but on bloodline. However, All Of The Eternal Promises Are Solely Based On Faith. Paul explains this in Romans using the "promise" concept, since the Promise Basis Is Eternal: a forever-life with El-Elyon, via a future Son who would pay for all the sins of the human race. Book of Hebrews does the same thing, since Only The Eternal Promise Was Conditional. The bloodline promises were unilateral and UNconditional (read those Genesis Chapters, see for yourself).

Hence, the racial distinction never meant that a Gentile couldn't become a Jew by faith; and most "Jews" today are in fact of mixed race (i.e., the Exodus was maybe 2/3rds "mixed multitude"). Gen15:6, Rom4, Rom9 explain that it's the Promise Believed Which Causes The Eternal Inheritance. (If you read the Exodus account you'll realize that many nations, racially, were in the group of folks who left with Moses, and they are all called "Israelites", anyway. If you'll look at the Matthew and Luke geneologies in any detail, you'll realize that every race is included in the Lord's bloodlines. So no basis for anti-semitism. So no basis for racial prejudice! See also Galatians 3-5.) Meanwhile, the other Gen12 protection covenants operate for ALL sons of Abraham, as those clauses explain. Believer, or unbeliever. [Elaborating on Genesis 12's (and 17:5's) promise to Abram, Deuteronomy begins with a very careful delineation of what the Arab cousins, get to keep, in Deut 1-4. That will be helpful to know for those who think the Arabs ought to be wiped out. No can do: they are sons of Abraham, too. They also refuse to be the sons of the promise (assuming they remain unbelievers), but God Still Honors His Promise to their progenitor, Abraham. The Bible's promises to the Arabs are so superior to Koran's, it's not funny. Koran mocks its own believers, and is a deliberate parody of the Mosaic Law, point by derisive, satirical, fun-house-mirror point -- how cruel. Satan&Co. hate all Abraham's kids. Amazing, how they don't catch on.]

So, it should be easy to understand that just because now the Bride is to be called out from among the Gentiles, Jews are also included in that Call, Romans 11. That is, just as in the OT, any Gentile (i.e., Rahab) who believed in Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Echad was by FAITH a Jew; so also, any racial Jew who believes in Christ is part of "Church".

The woman is delivered by delivery (see also Rev12): just as God used the Jews to call the Gentiles, so Now also God uses the Gentiles, to call the Jews. (This prophecy is all over the Bible, actually. Pretty much every reference to Gentiles is referencing this prophecy. Isa7 and 28 are bald examples: trace 'em in the NT. Paul's epistles will probably prove quite helpful, if you've a study Bible, in reducing your research time.) Precedence. Consistency. Fairness. Justice. Truth. GOD. For, the Ultimate Precedence God Uses, is the Cross, and Christ Paid For Everyone! [see "Atonement, Unlimited" in VERindex.htm for a list of some easy-to-understand verses.]

So let's next examine How The Prophecies For Israel Are Not For Church. More about this distinction will be in Part IVb; but here we're focusing on the educational role of Rescue; and for Israel, the prophecies were how she was to tell Messiah Came, and Will Come Back; so we need to know them as well. If you don't know Israel-versus-Church-roles; if you don't understand the underlying nature of prophecy itself, then you can't very well answer any questions you might get, or do your other Wifely-Fulfilling Roles in the above "Idou" table's purple text.

Basically, We Are 'Hidden' Inside Their Prophecies, But They Are Not Inside Ours. Because, we have NO prophecies. Our Job Is To Determine History, not prophecies. The we-determine-history role was explained in Part III, and is the central focus of Part IVb and c. Here, just get the overview, so the rest of this webpage will be easier to comprehend:

INTERPRETING PROPHECY AND WHO-GETS-WHAT KEY ==> All the covenants which were ever to be invented were Invented For Israel, Because Christ is Jewish, And Is Seed (theme of Gal3). So, just as the Samaritan woman replied to the Lord that even a dog can get crumbs from his master's table, so we also get the (gem!)stones the master builders rejected: Brideship. After that, there are No Covenants Remaining To Complete. The only thing remaining, is for Christ to be 'Complete'. (Body/Temple analogy, theme of Ephesians, viz., 1:15-end and many other verses.)
So we are not in the Tribulation, which is a separate epoch, being simultaneously the last 7 years of the Jewish 'Time', as well as the ending 7 years of the "times of the Gentiles", Luke 21:24 (topic is covered even more, below); so the Bride must be completed before the Tribulation begins in order to be ready in time to GATHER Israel. So, Hebrews 11:39-40 yells this fact: "apart from us, they will not be completed". Greek is not vague like English: the Greek of v.40 strongly denies that they get anything unless and until WE are "brought to completion" (Gk: passive voice of our friend teleiow). Because there IS no client nation Israel to accept Christ's Rule until the Second Advent, but the Trib resumes the last 7 years of (Daniel's timeline for) the Jewish 'Time' (Age), the Bride must be completed before the Trib begins. The writer of Hebrews in 11:40 tries to USE that fact to light a fire under believers in Jerusalem, before Titus does.

Church Cannot Be In The Official Tribulation, Since There Is No One Eligible For 'Bride' During That Time, And Since That Time 'Belongs' To A Different Covenant. The very term "times" tells you Two Different Covenants (one per 'time') are subsumed: one Church ("Now", Bible keyword) and one Jewish. They are NOT the same. Israel never replaces Church, nor vice versa. Hence, Luke 21:24's "times", not 'time'. If you are still having trouble with the timeline, read Hebrews carefully (two dozen times or more, use 1Jn1:9 constantly); note how the writer distinguishes between the two covenants. [The Brideship offer was TO a client nation, Israel. Not enough of them accepted, during 1st Advent. No other client nation ever gets the offer. Church is not a client nation, but a group of individuals; when a sufficient number of those individuals reside in a nation, that nation is given a 'client' status, analogous to the Moses-Caleb-Joshua story sketched in Part II, but it's technically not the same. Israel was the only client NATION in history. So to call 'client nation', nations of sufficient-remnant Church believers, is an apt functional description; but not a legal status, permanently tied to a particular landmass and a particular people, as is Israel's. In the Trib, Israel is not a client nation either, but a people. Whatever its superficial political configuration has been since 70AD, it is not yet regathered, because only CHRIST does that -- at the 2nd Advent, not before. Isa53-61ff, passim in Zechariah, Ezekiel 30ff, and Chaps 40 onward, explain. People who claim that the 1948 establishment of Israel is the fulfillment of Ezekiel 37 cannot read Bible. For at the 2nd Advent, ALL THE OT PEOPLE ARE RESURRECTED. That's what the "dry bones" means in Ezekiel 37:4ff. PEOPLE from the OT. Amazing, how blind one becomes when he won't properly interpret Scripture.]

Daniel 9 and Book of Esther historically repeat, Right Now. History repeats itself, since God Orchestrates even Time itself, as a Corroborrating Witness to the Word. Clearly only God can Orchestrate Time. If you spend time (heh) on Mirroring.htm ("Timeline" link at pagetop) you will see just how Precisely God Orchestrates Time. Revelation's many horrors are also orchestrated REPEATS of the Exodus plagues. So indeed prophecy is playing right Now, but as a reminder, not something "new":

• Reminder: same structure and message as the First Advent, via Church, 1Jn4:17. Because to the Jew and the world, Christ is Not the Messiah. So, gets a "shenayim" (repeat, Hebrew term) of what did happen during the First Advent, since clearly Only God could make that kind of repeat.
• Reminder: Same Historical Structural Repeat as happened when the First Temple was Destroyed. So, Daniel 9 and Book of Esther are being 'played'. This time, the Wailing Wall proves the Daniel 9 status, and 'Esther', is Church. Couldn't be more bald, than to have a Dome and Wailing Wall tell you What Must Happen Now. Esther was the reason why the Persian decree to rebuild, occurred. All for the love of a King. Well: our King loves the 'Esther' Father is Building, and He wants to Rescue the Jews. See the historical parallel? Now who but God could make such a parallel? We're not hallucinating it, and we're certainly not powerful enough to make all this confluence occur -- right? See: God is showing Very Big Signs that we are not reading.

  But the NT explains all this. Because Israel Rejected Messiah, There Is No Replacing Covenant. So, "times of the Gentiles" meant that Israel was not God's covenanted nation during that time, nor was anyone else. Church is hidden, "mystery", and even that, only due to the 'leftovers' Israel spurned; and even that, on an individual basis. The "Body" we become is future; now, we're only forming. It's analogous to pregnancy, as Paul explains in Romans 8:11ff, Gal4:19, and other pregnancy passages. Corporate Body is not 'alive' as a unit until Completed. For as noted earlier, Satan's desperately trying to abort Christianity, so he can get a Mistrial. (Part IVc and d will cover that goal in much more detail.)

  Time hung in the balance, back in 586BC. Mirroring.htm covers the Time Accounting in huge detail. Here, just note the parallel: Israel was in Diaspora then. So too, Now. Israel was ejected from the Land then, the Temple razed. So too, Now. Temple is not there. So Israel should NOT be there. This message, she heeded up until about 100 years ago. More about that will be said in the next division. Here, just grasp the idea that a Very Big Parallel is Demonstrably Played ONLY by God, since none of us can roll back or cause, Parallel Time.

Precedence: remember that white three-tiered table in the Precedence section, with the a)'s and b)'s for Israel during the First Advent? Well, they Rejected Messiah. But, as we learned, there were enough people such that Christ could offer the "W" replacement covenant, even though the initial Brideship "X" covenant was rejected. A seed crop of people, existed for "W", but not "X". So also, there must be a seed crop on earth, for an Replacement Offer to be made. Every change in covenant occurs when there is no longer enough seed, to constitute a seed crop. ("Seed crop" is an agricultural term, and it's used in the Bible (i.e., Luke 8): that initial amount of seed a farmer needs to get a crop he can propagate into future crops.) In the Tribulation, the Replacement Offer which REMAINS, is the offer to RESCUE Israel and REGATHER her at the 2nd Advent. Again, all those hundreds of verses in the OT, including flagship passages like Isa61-63, Eze30-39, Zech7 and 12, etc. are still OPEN: because, the Second Advent -- hasn't yet occurred. We Church are the reason why that Replacement Offer can be made, even as Israel was the reason why Gentiles pre-Cross, could get The Same Offer. So: Once We Are Completed, Rapture kicks off the Tribulation. It's really pretty simple, once you trace the Contract Precedence and Terms.

Could God make Himself more obvious, than to take the most famous Freedom-from-Oppression Festivals, Chanukah and Purim -- and then Tie them Together to the Messiah's First Advent? And make all that, the MAP of History Playing Now? Look: there are two Jewish Festivals which are not part of the Law, but are rather custom, based on Freedom Received: Chanukah and Purim. Chanukah commemorates the Abomination of Desolation of Antiochus IV Ephiphanes; the "Two Stone Witnesses" link at pagetop, covered something of the Dome's being a Repeat Reminder, showing Daniel 9:26 being fulfilled (more on that, next division, below). But Purim commemorates the other Freedom, freedom from anti-semitism during the time the 1st Temple was destroyed. What the Book of Esther doesn't cover, is the aftermath, that Jerusalem was rebuilt: Book of Nehemiah covers that. So every year, both festivals are celebrated blindly, no one noticing that the very same Characteristics are Historically True Now, all due to Christ stating Matt16:18, and Daniel 9:26 (via Matt24). So because the FIRST Advent is ignored, these other Bald Historical Repeats go unheeded. All Confluenced Together. So it's not some Christian hallucination. It's GOD.

And why is God replaying Daniel 9 and Book of Esther? Precedence. Temple. Again, remember that the best known doctrines in Judaism, are about Messiah's COMING, which the Temple represents. Messiah was predicted to be born on the anniversary of the Temple's Foundation, in Haggai 2. That turned out to be 25 Chislev at sundown, which later in history became Chanukah. As for Purim, there would have been no Chanukah, had Purim not been put down -- due to the discovery of Haman's conspiracy, via Esther. So both holidays relate to the Temple=Messiah, and there'd have been no Messiah, else. Can't divorce Messiah from Temple: but that's precisely what Jews are doing, today. So, they need 'advertising' from the Only One Who can use Bible+Real History, to do it: GOD.

So the Temple got its own 490-year lifespan, thus the world could continue for 490 years. But prematurely, apostacy was so bad, the Temple had to 'die' 126 years early: 950BC-586BC is 364 years, not 490. So that's the first instance where Time Ran Out. Time is based on the Jews. So if Time runs out, then it runs out for the whole world: for the rest of the world, rejects God. Here, Israel did too. But remember the vocabulary about "promise" ="rest"="remnant" in the first "Idou" table of this division? So, a "remnant" was in Babylon. And one guy in that remnant -- Daniel -- prayed. Prayer is always VOTING. Voting is Volition, so Precedence Grants It Value. So, based on one guy's vote -- Daniel's -- Time continued. Just one guy. One guy, Abram. Precedence. One guy, David. One guy, Daniel. So one Guy, the Christ Himself, was Contingent Upon Votes which had no 'prophecy' connected with them. The prophecy came as a result of their making HISTORY. So it's the history-making which generates the prophecy-making. For you have to get time, to have time to FORECAST something, right?

So, Precedence: one guy's vote bought time. So bought prophecy, since prophecy depends on TIME continuing. Borrowed Time, essentially. Financed, in advance, pending Completion of Messiah, Who By That Time Being Granted, would have to arrive and finish and pay by what we call, 30AD. [Mirroring.htm has all the calculations, but you can see a summary back in the "Legatee" table (link at pagetop), near the end of that table.] So notice the Precedence: first a Vote Makes History, in order for there to even BE prophecy.

That being the case, then to communicate that yes, Messiah has Come and Left! the relevant, preceding, Precedental History Should Be Replayed, as a 'Stamp': to Communicate Where In Time, we are. So to know we aren't hallucinating Who "God" is. For only a Real God can really Orchestrate Time, replaying it as a video, to Exactly Match What Bible Says.

God knows how hopelessly pathetic we humans are. Yet, it's not right to manipulate us by doing doggie tricks. Yet, it's also not right to leave us stuck in our self-created insanities. So, God runs the weather directly, using it to communicate -- and often, in an uncomfortable way. So, He leaves all kinds of historical evidence for us to find, since we won't consult Bible. After all, the Bible's definition and timing criteria for the Rapture are plain, but we Christians still 'debate' it. So, as introduced at the end of the "Rescue" section,

This section will cover that problem in more detail; additionally, God not only uses these Two Witnesses for the sake of Israel, but as part of an overall structure Making All History A 'Witness' To The Bible. Idea is, we are to consult the Bible to see that fact. Which no one does. So God has to make it obvious apart from Scripture; and we won't 'read' those signs, either. Which signs, must be Tribulational, since we aren't reading them.

Repeating: No Temple Means No Covenant To The Nation Israel Is Operating. Dome of the Rock being there makes this no-covenant status, even derisive. But, here we all are, blind, falling into Satan's trap, even though Satan&Co. kindly obliged us by raising up a Surrender (=Islam), so to surrender Israel's Holy of Holies, over to a Dumb Dome. Idols can't talk, y'know, yet this one 'speaks' volumes! Yet who among the living ears, hears it?

The meaning of this Temple is almost completely overlooked by Christendom, even though many chapters in the OT and New, are devoted to it; every NT epistle uses LXX Temple words, to explain how the Living Cornerstone, Christ, is the Foundation for a New Temple made without hands and made of Living Stones. So, let's take a refresher course as to why the Temple is so important. Then we can understand why God uses its history, to Stamp All History.

We saw the Legatee table near the beginning of this Part IVa, which summarized the story. But now let's go over the information again, focusing this time on just the role of the Temple. From there, we'll branch into more explanation on why the Church is not Israel, the role of Church. In short, all the previous themes of this webpage will be threaded through together, here. For that's what Father is doing, Threading Everything Through Church In Order To Finish Weaving All History. As a Gift to His Son Forever.

See, from the very beginning of Israel's march out of slavery, God started telling Moses to make a House For Him. One of the many reasons why the Bible is unique among holy books, is this one: A Personal God. You can't find any holy book of any kind which depicts God the way the Bible does; and no greater "sign" of His Personal Nature is depicted, but that of this House. To become, a Living House: Gen3:15, Exo Chapters 24-31 (the initial Temple Contract), 2Sam7 (the Messiah contract tied to David and to Temple, cutting out Israel and grafting her into David); Jer3:16, John 1, John 14-17, Heb3, Eph2, 1Pet2, Rev 21ff, etc. Every other holy book depicts "god" as aloof, far away, capricious and unfathomable, more a collection of powers than a person. Not here. Every other holy book depicts sacrifices people make TO the "god". Not here. Here, This One Will Sacrifice Himself. That's Why There Needed To Be A House, Because It Was A Promise He'd Come. The House represented, that Promise. Always, l'moed! Hence the line of Seth, lit., the Appointed, became the line of Abraham, lit., Father of Many Nations. And therefore the Christ, lit., the Anointed One (term is used in Dan9:25). The appointments lead to the Anointment. All this, is depicted by that House! Isra-El gets Beth-El, because Immanu-EL!

For this God, is the Real One. So He Wants A House! First, as a Tent of Testimony, sign of the National Contract (aka covenant) between Adonai and His Chosen People. So, He laid out elaborate instructions. Because, This Was To Be His House, God's School for Israel, where He would live and thus have Fellowship with them. Everything Associated With This House, Including All Its Rituals And Dress, Depicted Something In The Nature Of That Covenanted National Fellowship, that Covenant of Association. Principle: You Can't Divorce God Yet Keep The House.

Ezekiel 16 paints the poignant picture of this Temple Association's meaning: training up the House of Israel so she could become Adonai's Bride. It was common in ancient times for a King to be older, and for the bride to be affianced while still a child; then, she'd be brought up in his royal household, so that by the time she came of age for marriage, the customs, etc. of the royal house would be natural to her -- and, she'd be a virgin. So an ADOPTION, when young; so to become daughter-bride, legally (double claim on inheritance). (Same as happened to Mary Queen of Scots(?), when she was little: she was betrothed as a child to the heir of France, so grew up in France, and her French King husband, died young. Or am I confusing her with Eleanor of Acquitaine?]

The Goal, Ps111: Israel as a Nation had to 'grow up' under God's Tutelage (Paul talks about this in Gal4; Heb3-4 is parallel); After Which, She Would Become His Bride, His Priest Nation, Forever -- the priesthood would UPGRADE to the kata Melchizedek level (Ps111, in context of Psalms 109-110, David claiming that promise to get through his suffering). So If She Didn't Grow Up, The Betrothal Was Abrogated. See, you could be married off when you were five years old, and if anything happened between that time and the time you officially married (usu. age 30, sometimes younger), the entire contract was abrogated. So it is, here. (Sidenote: in Jewish law, the contract had pre-official-marriage conditions, which if broken annulled the marriage. That is what faced Joseph when he found out his betrothed Mary was pregnant.)

So the Promise of Jeremiah 31:34 is in Abrogated Status. NASB (1995) in BibleWorks5, translates that verse as follows (italics are my corrections to the translation): "They will not exhort each other, each man to his neighbor and each man to his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD', for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." And Hebrews 10:15-17 explains that CHURCH got that promise, because Israel refused: see Heb101517.htm for the corrected translation: verse 16 is badly translated in all Bibles.

Now that verse in Hebrews, is a requote from the LXX of Jeremiah 31:33 (LXX=38:33); but v.33 of the Hebrew (Masoretic, aka "BHS") text, has the most awesome wordplay, which the LXX neatly subsumed under the Greek double-entendre, "tayn dianoian autwn". The Hebrew text goes like this: "be qirebam wallibbam' ekttabenah". Now Bible always plays on nuances in the original-language text, so you have to look at literal meanings and etymology. Here, "beqirebam", usually translated "in their minds", is really, "in their inner parts/midst", because the noun is qereb, and means both the INNER LIFE (the thinking of the soul), but also IN THE MIDST of a group; so, "in their midst". But also qrb is a root for the Sacrificial Animal, from which comes "qorban", meaning dedicated-to-Temple. Idea of the inner parts of the animal being sacrificed and burnt, whether whole burnt offering (holocaust, for the sins of the people in general), or taken out and burned separately. Depicting, how man cannot save himself, so the THINKING (inner parts) of the Savior-to-Come will PAY for them.

So next note "wallibbam", which is translated "on their hearts", but the "al" is our friend "ala", going-up. Idea that what you believe goes 'up' to God, like the smell of a burnt offering. It's related closely to "ola", the burnt offering itself (the SMELL of which goes up to God). So next, "ekttabenah", which is translated, "I will write". So when you take the double-entendre into account, you get: Him coming up to God from AMIDST them -- on Whose Heart, site of circulating THOUGHT, God will write His Thinking and our sins, Isa53:10-11. This kind of embedding of meaning is real common in Bible, but no translation can capture it, since it relies on sound, word proximity, cultural relationships and etymology. But no Jew could miss this, unless he's not interested in looking. Every NT writer makes much of this clause in Jeremiah. Paul references both it and Isa53:10-11 in very close proximity, in almost every verse he writes. The entire Book of Hebrews is about the relationship between this verse in Jeremiah, and Isa53:10-12. John takes a more finessed approach, stressing how WE are the Temple now -- but using John 15 (which everyone knew about, long before John penned it), the "abide in Me", Vine and Branches discourse -- in the MIDST of Him, we Church are NOW (effective present tense of martureo, Heb10:15); and apart from Him, we have no brains, John 15, Romans 5-8, 2Cor5. Only God is this Loving, and this smart!

Since this Jeremiah passage is directly about writing ON us, and every Jew knows the Torah is supposed to be in and on the head, 'written' in one's thoughts, well -- do you see the double entendre of "be qirebam wallibbam' ekttabenah" in the very midst of the words of that clause? Only God is this smart.

Now you know why Abram was willing to have his yet-unborn sons go through 400 years of slavery, if they could get to be with, in the midst of, El-Elyon. Who now was telling Moses, to BUILD HIM A HOUSE! So He could 'live' there, first as Shekinah Glory filling the Tabernacle, then later tenting among us as the Human Lamb of God Who Will pay for all the sins of the world, John 1. Rising up to God from the midst of Israel, so Israel could get His Mind in their inner parts. "I have stored Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You", wrote the Ps119 people on their death march to Babylon, a generation after Jeremiah started preaching. Earlier, David had said, "How Precious are Your Thoughts, Oh LORD!" in Ps139:17.

So, King David wanted to Build A Permanent House For His Beloved Adonai, especially since He gave David the Unilateral Promise that Messiah would be born from David's loins. God even picked out the Holy of Holies -- the very site where Isaac was almost sacrificed, a huge hunk of BEDROCK which at the time David surveyed it, was a threshing floor. Atop Mt. Moriah, soon to be renamed Mt. Zion (Gen22:2, 2Chron3:1). That Rock is famously known as PETRA, in Greek, depicting the Rock of their Salvation; even as Abraham almost-sacrificed his adult son Isaac (who was 25+ years old, then) at God's command, to emulate Father's sacrificing His Only Son-to-Come. The rest of the Temple, was to be built around it.

But, David was not to build the Temple, because he was a warring king. Temples mean PEACE, see. So what must NO Temple mean? WARRING. Specifically, Daniel 9:26c +the Book of Esther. Reconciliation. Shalom. Shalom first means prosperity, which of course presumes peace. Reconciliation is its deeper meaning, Prosperity/Saved/Peace with God Himself. So Temple means Shalom, For God Is With Us. No Temple means no shalom, For God Is Against Us. Us, then meaning the Nation Israel. For the promise to David, was the promise TO a king, of a Future King from his own bloodline, One Who Would Rule Forever. Kings rule nations, see. So this Promise of a Temple is all at once a promise that All The Covenants Will Be Fulfilled In This King-To-Come, And That There Will Be A Nation Israel Which He Will Rule. Forever.

So, the job of building God's House, was given instead to his son Solomon -- his name is a variation of "Peace", actually. A Greater and more elaborate building, had not been made, apparently, for people came from all over to see it. It was the pride of Israel, their comfort, their joy, because GOD really mattered, then. Above all, the Temple symbolized God With Us -- downpayment on the Incarnation of Messiah-to-Come. "Messiah" means Anointed One, meaning KING. King-Priest, actually, Ps110:1ff. So, notice how this King-Priest is NOT Levitical (big theme in Book of Hebrews). So someday Israel was to become a Priest Nation, no longer a nation under God with only sons of Aaron, as priests. It was THE BIG PROMISE, Total Intimacy with Adonai Elohenu, Adonai, Echad. Well, so long as Israel listened to Him.

Pause here, if you will, and digest the enormous significance of this fact. Israel was In Training To Become An Entire Priest Nation. Presently, it had its own priests -- but if it grew UP, Everyone Was To Become A Priest Under The One Who Would Add Humanity To Himself. So, think: to Whom are they eventually, to BE priests? Certainly not to the One Whose Deity was depicted by the gold covering the Ark. He Himself was going to Add Humanity to Himself so He could be King-Priest of a Priest Nation -- to FATHER, duh. The Same God as Would Receive The Ransom, as depicted by all those sacrifices. Do you see how blind Israel is, today? Every Saturday some Torah portion is read by the congregation -- every congregation in the world reads the same portion. Yet, reads nothing. How can they miss this? It's not as though Psalm 110:1 weren't well-known (see Luke 20:40-44).

But, how do we also miss the real meaning of "Trinity"? How can we even imagine that Godness is anything but Three Independent, Co-Equal Gods? We have the same 'Torah' as the Jews. How can there even be a Jehovah's Witness or Apostolic "oneness" insistence by anyone, when the Sacrificial Law in Israel is so plainly Three Gods? Satan's blinding, that's how we don't see this blatant fact. That's how we don't see Father was the Person Who got the sacrifice, Son was the Sacrifice (depicted by the animal being blemishless), and Spirit was the One Who Empowered all that ritual, to become spiritual information (hundreds of verses on this in OT, usually ruach-YHWH as His Title). So shame on Israel, shame on us: Romans 11 isn't only about the blindness of Israel, but of those who emulate her.

So imagine how much worse the grief was on Paul (see Romans 9, makes you cry just to read it). So imagine how much totally worst it was on the Lord when He was down here, seeing the blindness in His Own Brothers, in the Pharisees -- well, Mark 3:5 says it all. Pity Satan is so jealous of the Lord's Love, he had some translator make out the "anger" there, as if it were the Lord's. [Classic example of how to tell a verse is mistranslated: the translation always maligns God, and glorifies man. Pitiful. There are at least a dozen other verses in the NT using meta+ a noun object, which prep phrase refers back to its CLOSEST antecedent noun, acting as an adjectival phrase, FOR that antecedent noun; these other verses recognize the CLOSEST rule, so are rightly translated. So how could the translators suddenly misconstrue Mark 3:5 as the LORD being angry? The nearest antecedent noun is the Jews, not Him. Oh well.] The people were angry at Him, and He felt sorry for them in response, so healed that guy's withered hand, to show what SABBATH really means: Rest in Him. Come home to SCRIPTURE, Israel, and I'll come back to you! This Come back to Me! is the most common type of verse in the OT. Read every Sabbath, blindly. Kill me now.

• If they Rebelled against Him, there was this Sliding Scale Of Punishments, codified for example in Lev26.
• The final 'cycle of discipline', as my pastor likes to call it, was the Destruction of His House, and its contents being carried off, by the enemy.
• Deut28 reiterates the parameters.

• So, as time passed and the nation entered and settled the Land, when things weren't going well between God and Covenanted Nation, the Glory would depart; finally, and the Temple was destroyed. As God had His prophets repeatedly explain, Israel's Unfaithfulness Required A Judicial Response. At the most severe end, it meant Abrogation; so the removal of Glory and Temple was Removal of the National Side of the Covenant -- until Israel, chastened, Returned to Him.

• So For The Temple To Be Gone, Means God Is Punishing Israel; and for the punishment to occur, Abrogation Must Precede. For as long as the National Covenant was not broken, the National Protection wasn't, either. In short, The Temple's Standing Meant God Was Still WITH Them.

• God's Covenants though, are plural: and excepting the Law, are all Unconditional, because made to INDIVIDUALS. So there are several Individual, Unconditional Covenants still operating, never cancellable. But the One Group Covenant, the Marriage Contract, was always Conditional. In all events, All Covenants all house IN Israel, because they all HOUSE in Israel's KING-TO-COME (see Gal3, and Isa9, 53-55). So, even if the Law is in abrogated status, the other covenants still protect Israel as a People. But not, as a nation.

Solomon's Temple was destroyed in 586BC. Going into the Babylonian captivity with Nebuchanezzar were some of the Royal Family, one of whom was a very devout young man named Daniel. There were no sacrifices, because no Temple. They observed the dietary laws, which weren't spiritual, but were reminders of Him. They thought about Him all the time, as evidenced by Daniel and Ps119. So, even though the national covenant was abrogated, God prospered His People. Still, no Temple meant no nation Israel, so the covenantal promise, was in abrogated status. So the question was, WHEN would their punishment end, and fellowship on a National level, resume? Daniel, in Chapter 9, is heartsick over it. The chapter opens with a long introductory explanation of why the Temple was destroyed, via Daniel's Naming The Cause (=Ps32:5, Ps66:18, 1Jn1:9). By this we are to understand the explanation is Paradigmal Of Any Temple Destruction. All the other prophets repeated this explanation in many ways, long beforehand.

God of course not only answers Daniel's immediate petition, but gives him the entire TEMPLE History, in Dan9:25-26. Note: the Temple's History is the Nation Israel's History, because both depend on MESSIAH'S History. Text is kinda problemmatic in the Greek MSS. we have: some of the words mightn't be Scripture (scribes make mistakes, etc). So translations prefer using the Masoretic text. The closest 'canned' translation I can find is (oddly enough) in the New Living Translation (in BibleWorks 5). It goes like this (brackets, underlining and bolding are my additions):

"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, the Second Temple was built. Then, just as God had foretold, and Right On Time, the Second Temple was destroyed, in August of 70AD. Even history corroborates the dates, now.

Note how in Dan9:26, the Temple is not to be rebuilt again, after Messiah is killed. So because Messiah Came And Left, NO TEMPLE. No more Mosaic Law. It Got Fulfilled By Him. So the next rebuilding is at the 2nd Advent, and not before (see Ezekiel Chaps39-end book, very detailed). Galatians 3, Romans 9, and Book of Hebrews spend a lot of time on the significance of this, while the Temple is still standing, so that the people will be reminded of the Daniel timeline and its meaning. Of course, Jeremiah started his book forecasting the eventual razing of the Temple, and how they wouldn't miss it (3:16), because the Word would be Incarnated then; in His Heart, and therefore could be in their hearts (Chap31), so the 'heart' of the Temple, became a Person. Book of Hebrews picks up on the Jeremiah meaning and threads it through the epistle.

So you know that the ruler in Dan9:27, is not the same person as in Dan9:26; because v.27 talks about sacrifices being stopped. So there is a Fake Temple, NOT by God's approval, since the Latter doesn't approve until the 2nd Advent (Eze Chap39ff). Moreover (in the MSS., not so clearly in English) v.27 is the 70th week, itself a verse distinguished as a separate 'seven'.

So We Have A Gap In Time Between The Temple Destruction After Messiah Is Killed, And The 70th Week, aka the "Tribulation", in popular lingo. So Dan9:26c (the underlined (dark green) part of verse 26) Is The Stamp Of History Until And Including v.27. But! Notice how 9:26c is not a 'seven', and not time-defined. Of course, many other verses IN Scripture elaborate on the meaning, here. To say 'seven', by the way, is first to mean a Promised Time Period, because Hebrew "to seven" refers to God's Promise(s), i.e., prophecy. It's also interpreted to mean a 'week' of years, but that's an additional layer of meaning. What's most important, is the PROMISE of it. In short, the very usage of "seven" is chock-full of wordplay, as in REST day, end, finish, Promise, etc. going all the way back to when God 'RESTED' on the 7th Day, the Sabbath (meaning 7th). 'Seven' is God's shorthand and witty way to state COMPLETION: of the Christ, of the promises to Israel, of History. NT threads through this 'seven' meaning in a number of ways. For example, Book of Hebrews, written circa 68AD given Heb13:23, is structured around this 'seven' usage, to Warn Of The Temple's Upcoming Destruction, and to Warn that the Covenant Had Changed. So the readers could Escape The Destruction (Heb10:36-39).

So to a Jewish guy IN Diaspora, God sent a comprehensive Wrap Up Of History, showing how Gentile domination follows the Successful Completion of Messiah; and thus the subsequent Temple Destruction is Evidence That Messiah Finished (Dan9:25-26). No Temple Will Again Be Built (Dan9:26) Until He RETURNS (Eze39-end of book). Only wars and rumors of wars, until He Himself RETURNS (Matt24, Dan9:26). Really, it's impossible to miss!

So in Matt16 (etc.), the disciples have just returned from going all around Israel, sent on Jesus' behalf to tell the people about Him. This is voting reconnaisance. At this point, there should have been a large number of people who not only knew He was Messiah, but who WANTED Him as Savior. They all knew David was 30 years old when he became King of Hebron. They all knew the shepards' reports. They all knew of Herod killing all those babies, for crying out loud. So no one in Israel didn't know Messiah was born.
So everyone in Israel had 30 whole years! to review Scripture, to think out how they felt about it: for they should have known He wouldn't Appear until, like David, He was 30 years old. When Saul was killed at Gilboa, word came to David about it from a guy hoping to cash in on bringing David the crown. Instead, David executed the guy, and issued a proclamation to see Who Would Vote Him King. Judah did, then Hebron, and it took almost 7 years longer for the REST of Israel to accept him. So, it was known that the Messiah would proceed in the same way. Couldn't miss it. Had enough time. No excuses.

Remember, people entertained themselves by talking; their jobs were largely physical, so the brain was relatively free to think and talk; they didn't have some radio or TV blaring in the background all the time to drown out thought. So, they played with Scripture, all the time. They did it while weaving, bathing, eating, just like Moses said they should, in Deuteronomy 6,9, etc. When you get up, while you are up, when you go to bed, teach your children, wear strips of leather to remind you to think Torah. Which was a delightful thing to do, much as your favorite music or books: Bible's words are downright witty, delicious, in the original-language texts. So everyone knew well the prophecies.

So, by Matt16, He's hearing the intelligence reports; obviously people don't believe in Him, or are confused. So, He asks the disciples who they think He is. So, in Matt16:16, Simon/Kephas blurts out, You are Christ, Son of Living God! [Greek monadic articles either need to be stripped out in translation to preserve in English, the Greek OFFICIAL stress; else, you'd have to stick "THE" in capital letters where each one belongs: "THE Christ, THE Son of THE God THE Living", literally. Notice how after "Christ", Peter also trebles the articles to show Identicalness and Trinity, a strong way to say Christ is God the Son as well as uniquely-born Son, so as God, Co-Equal with Father. See also 2Cor13:14. This was what the Pharisees hated: "Son" was known to mean Godness -- the very Ark depicted Godness via the gold, and Humanity via the wood. Trinity was known and believed, "Messiah" has always been taught as God-Man, that's why the shemah (Deut6:4) is so witty. And that's why they sought to crucify Him, for claiming to BE God the Son. See Jn5:17-18. They believed in a "Son" -- but like Isaiah says in Isa53:2, "Oh No, not HIM! [as the Incarnation]" That's a modern English idiomatic translation of the wa lo toar LO clause, though Isaiah is reporting it as indirect discourse, the popular reaction when He comes.]

So the Lord responds in kind, v.18, translated directly from the Greek: "Thus I call you, petros=LittleRock; in fact upon This petra=BigRock [pointing to Himself], I will build my Church..." What wit, playing on Isa 61:4, and in context of that whole long prophecy! No wonder a yet-to-be-saved Paul, would weave the Isa prophecy with Matt16:18, then wrap the whole thing in a brilliant tweak of the Greek play "Ion", to write Ephesians, especially 3:21! For in its Own Time, just as Isa60:22 explained, He will hasten (word has birthing overtones) 'her'. Time. Heh.

What love! See the 'Seven' of History, the Promised One, Messiah/Petra/Rock of their salvation, "Petra" being an OT LXX keyword (See PopeMyth.htm's embedded videos, for all the Petra occurrences in Bible). Christ had surnamed Simon when He first met him, "Kephas", John 1:42. That's Aramaic for Little Rock (like the city), LittleStone, Stone. (Think of "Stone Phillips", formerly of NBC's Dateline.) Greek petros means the same thing as Kephas, a chip off the Bedrock, part of Petra. Renaming is a form of ADOPTION, and hence a form of Announcing A Change In Covenant. So here, note the switch to GREEK, the language of the Gentiles, "petros". Note also that "ekklesia" ("Church") is likewise in Greek, a clear REPLACEMENT of the Mosaic Law's "synagogue"; so a New Priesthood is being inaugurated (the later focus of Book of Hebrews). New covenant, therefore, because Groom is rejected.

No wonder the New Testament inspired original language texts, were written in Greek. Clearest way to play on this verse. Best language on earth, so replete with god-man cultural concepts from way back in the Mycenaean age, to use for explaining the Real God-man's Legacy for us. No wonder the NT writers love the wordplay! For to see this Greek language be used to explain God's Superior Begetting in Christ (Isa53:10-12, LXX+BHS texts), was downright insulting! Yep, and Israel was very insulted when the Lord began to explain all this to them from Matt16, onward.

Note the future tense in Matt16:18: "I WILL BUILD". Oupw, Not yet! First, the Due Diligence Disclosure Warning of the Bridal Contract with Israel being in default, must be presented. And first also, the Groom has a Cross ahead of Him. That's why the rest of Matt16 reads as it does, with Him charging them NOT to reveal He's Messiah, and what will happen TO Him. If you read the other Gospel passages related to this (i.e., John 6 onward), you'll see there was recognition and refusal of who He was, from the moment He admitted He was Messiah, the Bread of Life. So they were supposed to decide of their own free will: for, to call Him "Lord" or "Christ" was at once a Yes Vote. The disciples were not supposed to influence that with the titillating news, He's Really the Messias!

So the replacement Bride Will be Built ON Christ (not Peter, lol), at this point. The woman in the Garden was built after Adam and FROM Adam. So, this new Woman will be also built FROM the Groom Who is the Last Adam. For He is The Cornerstone, the Foundation which the Master Builders (Israel) Rejected, the Stone of Stumbling, the Rock of Offense. (See Ps118:22, Matt21:42, Mk12:10, Luk20:17, Acts 4:11, 1Pet2:7; Isa8:14, Rom9:33, 1Pet2:8. See also the end of Eph2.) Thus He's telling Israel that they play Vashti, and Announces Abrogation of the Bridal contract is imminent, via parables. If you keep reading in Matthew, you'll see He's explaining all this to the Jews, so they can 1) change their minds about Christ, 2) Get in the New Covenant, and be Part of the New Esther (remembering what He said after He dies); or 3) Get Trampled Down In The Upcoming Temple Destruction, Matt24 (see also Luke 19:44 in context). Very dense confluence of all OT prophecy, here in this one verse, Matt16:18! As in all prophecy, it warns, punishes, and reassures. Awesome mastery of Scripture. Awesome Responsibility Accepted by Him: see John 17.

Most awesomely, Christ COMMITS to PAY for Untold Billions Of Future SINS of People Not Yet Born. And He does this, to Rescue Time in order to Rescue Israel despite herself. It is impossible to overstate His Commitment. He Raises the Cost of the Cross! It's Passover 29AD, when the Lord makes this Commitment. As we saw in "M" of the "Bible remains a Mystery" section (link in red box at pagetop), Satan claims God should have issued a Mistrial Verdict when Israel rejected Him; Satan should have won, right then and there. But His Commitment being so impossibly high, Satan consented. So He INVENTS Church upon Himself, so her Contract is as difficult as His. No precedent for that, except Him. And He invents and invokes Church, based on His King-Priest kata Melchizedek contract with Father, from eternity past (i.e., Psalm 110, explained in Book of Hebrews). But the COST! on the Cross, who can even imagine it? That's what He's doing here, committing to pay for billions of people IN ADVANCE. He ratifies this commitment in John 17:20-21. Takes your breath away.

For the prophecies themselves, were already given Israel; God never gives prophecies to anyone else. Strictly speaking, Church wasn't begun by a prophecy, but by Jesus the Christ's Advance Affirmation and Election, Matt16:18 and John 17. So notice how we become a prophecy to be fulfilled thereby. Of course, it's a Mistrial if our numbers do not complete, as we saw back in the "Bible Remains a Mystery" section (link in red box at pagetop). So this is more than just a prophecy to fulfill. All the rest of time, depends on it.

God never welshes on His Gifts and Promises, and THAT's what's really on Trial. In fact, this is how He Completes His Promise, why Rev4:1 twice notes the Door opening into Heaven: that's us Church, going UP. For at the Ascension, He split the veil/door of the Holy of Holies, and thus becomes the "Way" to God, Heb6-10. So we go through that door in our 'Ascension', Rev4:1. We got mapped in, grafted in, and then leave, because Christ is RISEN, and we are going UP to Him Who Preceded us. All this, without altering the promised trends on earth during the 'end times' as Daniel (and other prophets), explained. For prophecy is Jewish, not Church. For The Seed is Jewish, not Church. So prophecy heralds Christ (Rev19:10, multiple-entendre), not Church. We aren't heralds, we are Body.

So the "Rapture", really "exit resurrection" (exzanastasis in Phili 3:11), is Parallel to the 1) 'imminency' of the First Advent and the 2) invisibility, of the Ascension. So, add these up: you get an Extension of the First Advent (1Jn4:17) but with the characteristics of IMMINENCY and INVISIBILITY, the "sign of Jonah". Just as the Lord promised, in Mat12:49, 16:4, Luk11:29-30. Note the irony: while it is true that Israel was required to predict His Coming ever since David died, as we saw just before the "Syncopated.. Tribulation" table (link in red box at pagetop), during the time He's down here, it's up to Him How Long He Lives: "I lay down My Life" clause, John 10:15-17. So in that sense, His Life is imminently ending, can happen any second -- even though, He had a deadline for dying which Israel was also required to know, the 1000th anniversary of David's own death: that's when Time was (initially) to End, if He didn't finish successfully. So Time would end whenever He did die, if unsuccessful. See the parallel?

Next Parallel, Invisibility: as covered extensively in Part III's four Reasons for Invisibility, thought is invisible, playing before Heaven and known to you, but not to anyone else unless you choose to express what you are thinking. So in the Trial, it's all visible and predictable -- but not to people on earth. So too here: like Him, we are down here Now, and while our departure date is known to God -- no one down here is given that date.

Ergo HIS PRECEDENCE is the reason for the Imminency and Invisibility parallels to His First Advent, which we Church, represent. The Jews didn't accept Him. So it's as if the First Advent, ISN'T over. Yet, Christ did complete, so He LEFT. So if you add up the Legal Facts that a) THEY Rejected, but b) HE Accepted, you get what's still Open: the Message He gave While Still Down Here, mainly for Israel's sake (see Hebrews 3-4, which uses this legal a) & b) rhetorical structure); and, the Result Of His Ascension, the BRIDE PRICE of His Spiritual life, from which (get this wit) Father makes a Bridal Dowry prior to marrying us off to Him at the Rapture, theme of Eph1. So the Divine Benefit Plan Re-Routed Blessing, So The World Could Continue To Hear The Call To The Wedding -- to be the Bride at that Wedding! Now, Israel is to understand that it will be but friends of the Groom, once the Millennium begins. But if Jews Now believe, they will still be part of 'Bride' -- so the OT Promise is not only Still 'on', so to speak -- but is Now Upgraded. They get "better things" (keyword to explain this in Book of Hebrews, Attick kreittwn). Because the Trial, is about who's better: God, or Satan (see how Hebrews 11 explains that). The rest of the world, the ta ethne, the goyim, get to be in that Same Bride, Now. Again, owing to Israel's prior refusal. However, this Message is Now Carried through this Bride-in-Training (think of Esther, before she was presented to Ahasuerus). Quietly.

Let's focus on the First Advent Parallel to Jonah. The Lord invokes this as Precedent for His Own First Advent, Matt16:4, just before creating Church in Matt16:18. After God used some big marine animal as a taxicab, Jonah ran around Ninevah hollering that their destruction was IMMINENT, so they better believe in Adonai for their salvation. All they had to go on was his telling them, so it was an INVISIBLE warning. So, Jonah was in his first advent in Ninevah: he had such success, he ended up staying there the rest of his life, and is buried there. That whole generation turned around, due to his Warning. So, Their History Was Prolonged. Sadly, 120 years later, the fourth generation's continued apostacy resulted in Assyria's complete destruction as a nation (612BC). [Assyrians are still alive as a people (i.e., about half a million reside in Chicago), even as Hittites are still alive as a people (I don't know that number). But only as leftovers. Few in number, blessed to keep living because some in their history, grew up spiritually.]

Christ's First Advent thus functions like the ministry of Jonah. First, His Birth was fulfillment of Isa7, an Ending Of Time Prophecy. Messiah was supposed to come at the End of Time, To Complete the Time, to usher IN the Millennium. So it's appropriate, that the time of His Stay on earth be a Warning, like Jonah's was. Imminent ending, Beware Of Not Believing in Me, (i.e., John 16:9)! It's also imminent, since for the first 30 years everyone knew He was born, but didn't know when the Groom would show UP. It's also "imminent", in the sense that the duration of His Time on earth was deadlined, but not predicted. Not predicted, because it was Up To Christ To Grow Up In His Own Destiny As King-Priest And Finish The Cross. How long that would take, no one knew. After He died, you realized He Fulfilled the Deadline: oh, He died on the 1000th anniversary of David's retirement from Kingship; so yes, THIS ONE is Messiah. Can't be anyone else at any other time in history: the dates alone, never fit. Couldn't be bar Kochba, couldn't be any of the other pretenders before or after Christ. So either Jesus the Christ is the Messiah, or there will never BE one. See how Precise God is? See how easy it is to know Who Messiah is, at ANY time in history? So see how easy it is to validate Who He is, even Now?

Christ's Ministry was also invisible: most of His Life, He was isolated; His Death on the Cross, was in supernatural darkness; His Payment on the Cross, no one saw; whenever He'd perform a miracle, He later sushed the person He gave it to, or deprecated it as inferior (i.e., John 6:13-41, 59-61); of course, He didn't show off His Godness, either. [Matt 8:4, John 1:50, Jn7:19-25; Matt7:22-24, 11:21 compared to 11:29, 13:58; Mark 6:2-9, 6:59, are other good samples.] All this, to prevent manipulation. Satan absolutely couldn't "get it" that God wouldn't do the flashy thing, Matt4. We humans don't get it, either. But look: If We Don't See What God Does Show -- like obvious weather, the Dome and the Wailing Wall, His Orchestration of TIME which you can conclusively prove from that best and most flashy of all miracles, BIBLE -- what point is there in showing lesser flash? The Bigger Miracles Are In Front Of Anyone's Eyes, but we don't like those Far More Valid, Miracles. So might as well be invisible, then: an evil generation clamors for a sign, Matt16, 1Jn4:17. Every generation.

"Visible" to us really means titillating. what entertains us. The greatest miracle of all is to get God's Own Thinking into our measly heads -- but oh, no one cares about That Miracle. Biggest promise in the OT, fulfilled in Christ and now in writing in the NT -- which sits in every hotel room, abysmally translated or not -- unread. Ho Hum. So What can God Do to Top The Biggest Miracle? Be silent, that's it.

So we Church likewise get a 'first advent' of no predicted length, because we are the Extension of Him Who Left (1Jn4:12-17). This, because Israel rejected His First Advent; so our 'job' is like Jonah's, and the 'prophecy' applying to us is only Dan9:26c (underlined, dark green clause above); we are in THAT SLOT of time. We aren't in the 70th week, but in the Gap Between Messiah's Cut Off And The 70th Week. Thus ADVERTISING that Messiah has Left the Building. Messiah, not Elvis. Messiah has left the BUILDING, so there's no Temple. Messiah has LEFT, so is not yet-to-come. Messiah HAS left, so not still on earth. So there are NO other 'messiahs' to look for ON earth, since WE are on earth, Representing Him.

So our Job is to Explain all this Change. Which, sadly 99% of Christians don't even know; most Christians are as stupid as the Jerusalem church was, busily trying to adapt the LAW post-crucifixion. Yeah, and that's why God made Paul the writer of most of the NT, using the others only for Gospels or to round off what Paul didn't write. So the 1% who do know, are used to explain to the (probably 1%) of Jews who want to know that answer. So what changed, and why? Book of Hebrews (how apt), answers. We come into being only due to Israel's rejection. Further, it answers what is the Objective Of Our Lives: To Reach The Rest Israel Rejected (Heb4), Resting In The Promised One, Whose Thinking is in Writing, Christ (denoted as Word, to show continuity to OT and fulfillment of its Promise). Because He Is Now Seated, Behind The Veil, And Thus a New Priesthood And A New Covenant, And Their "New Covenant" (Jeremiah) Will Be IMPLEMENTED Via Us. Writer of Hebrews very carefully explains all this. Can't miss it, especially since he's explaining it while the Temple is Yet Standing, but everyone knows it will soon be Destroyed, precisely because Messias Has Finished His Task And "Cut" A New Covenant. So he writes In Haste, for they are to have Another Going-out: Heb10:36-39. They had their first going-out, from Egypt; all other going-outs, were Diaspora. For, the only place for the Temple, was in the Land. No Temple means Diaspora, since No Nation if No Temple. Again, you can't divorce God and keep the property. However, you can 'marry' the Lord by believing in Christ (John 3:16), which makes you in Church, which after all is pro-Israel -- a Promotion. Even Moses longed to see our day (Matt13:17? my pastor quotes it often).

So again, we are invisible, too. Christ didn't promote Himself, ever. The "Great Commission" did not include trickery or Madison Avenue techniques. Does no one remember Christ telling the disciples to take nothing with them? Did no one remember His Conversation with the Samaritan woman? He didn't give any dog-and-pony shows. God led the hearers TO Him, not the other way around. So we are invisible, and aren't to advertise ourselves. Thus the hearer knows God Is Advertising, not us -- the Superior Witness, not us. So, the First Advent Matt22 Wedding Invitation is Being Extended through us, 2Cor5:20. Ambassadors are never flashy (the worst thing an ambassador can do, is call attention to himself).

Book of Hebrews was written in 68AD, to warn everyone that the Temple was about to be destroyed (Paul had just died, and Titus had just stepped up the siege of Jerusalem). It painstakingly explains the TWO Kingships of Christ, and how Church derives from the eternity-past contract between Father and Son, the Battlefield Kingship Patent Award for defeating Satan in the Trial, recorded in the OT for example, in Ps110. So Book of Hebrews walks the reader through how Israel, the first intended Bride for that contract, abrogated it; so Church is inserted. Two Kingships, Two Covenants, Two Priesthoods. And the legal precedenting link used, is the "new covenant" promise to Israel, which was supposed to result from her fulfilling the Bride contract (aka the Mosaic Law). See Hebrews 7:12-28, 8:7, 8:8-12, 9:14-15, 10:1-8, 9-14, 10:15-17, 18-39.

His Kingship as Son of David, is separate from all this and unconditional, housed in David, not Israel. That's why David's 1000-year time grants were the END OF TIME -- for to make good on the contract for David's (and hence Israel's) sake, Messiah would have to be born and die within those bracketing deadlines (4BC, 30AD, and 37AD). Which He did: so He redeemed time, but Israel rejected Him, so Israel doesn't get the benefit of His Victory. Unless, she "today" believes in Him, theme of Hebrews Chapters 3 and 4 (i.e., do not harden your hearts, while it is yet today clause).

So, our parallel representation (Gk:diakonia, one of its meanings) has the Same Essential Characteristics as His First Advent, prophetically speaking, to act as an Ongoing Warning Of The End; to explain that there are Two Advents, not One, so that Jews can see God really DOES keep His Promises. Again: Isa7 prophecy of the Virgin Birth was a Warning Prophecy of the End Times: beginning with, Messiah Himself. Why else do you think Daniel's timeline ends with the tandem Messiah cut off AND the destruction of the Temple (Dan9:25ff)? Just after which, follows a description of the 70th 'week', CUT OFF from the rest of the text? Wars and rumors of wars. Imminent, from the day of the Temple's Destruction, onward. Can't miss it, given all the huge volume of prophecy on the topic in OT.

And lo, the Witnessing Sentinels to corroborate our testimony: The biggest Objective Sign that Messias Has Come And Gone Is The Destruction Of the Temple, Dan9:25-26. No Temple always and only means No Covenant with the Nation Israel is operating. The People are still protected, even in Diaspora (see Gen12). But the nation? Again -- no tickee, no washee. No Temple means No Covenant. Note How Obvious. Note that today, the Dome of the Rock, of Islam! sits where the Holy of Holies once was (same Rock as the Ark sat on). Could God more plainly point to Christ? Could God more blatantly display, Dan9:26? "Times of the Gentiles"!

Ask almost any Jew, and you'll find he believes in Messias, alright, but coming once, not twice. (No excuse for that, but it's the normal Judaic belief.) They don't buy Isa7 as a virgin birth (and go through all manner of convoluted refutation); they don't buy that their diaspora is due to Messiah having been rejected (so can't interpret Daniel properly); they don't buy that Messiah Had To Come To Pay For Sin First (so can't read Isaiah at all, esp. Chaps 53-55, nor any of Leviticus, nor Deuteronomy, nor even Gen15:6). What they call the "Law" today, isn't even the dikaiomata, the spiritual code -- but instead, secular stuff like the dietary laws (which they consider now 'holy', and have morphed them into innumerable additions). Torah study is reduced to rote chanting, kissing the scroll... Aposiopesis, like Paul's, in Rom9:22.

So, there's this gigantic blindness problem, as bad as Pharaoh's (Rom9). Of course, unbelievers who are not Jewish, have the same problem. Of course, most Christians screw up the interpretation, too! LOL, we are all in this blindness problem, together!

His First Advent's Termination was alike Imminent, Date-Unpredictable, pending Israel's Vote. So Our Exit Is Alike Unpredictable -- and for the same reason, pending Our Votes. And as in the case of Christ, until we EXIT, the Jews have a chance to catch onto the fact that there are Two Advents, not merely one; to catch onto the nature of the Daniel 9:26c time-gap, and thus BE in Church. After we Leave, it's the Tribulation, time's up! This is a deliberate Mirroring Reversal of the role Israel should have played. It was supposed to be Israel who warned the Gentiles. But instead she played Vashti, so God creates an Esther to warn the Gentiles, and Rescue the Jews. God is never unfaithful.

This is a major sea change, for Israel was always required to predict the Time of Messiah. Passover, for example, was an exact chronology of Passion Week. But you didn't know in what year it would happen, but rather only the deadline, until He announced Matt16:18 near Passover 29AD, giving everyone a year's warning notice. You also didn't know if Israel would Vote For or Against Him, as a whole. You only knew from Isaiah, that the leaders would be responsible for His Death (Isa53:2-8, esp. v.8's me otser umi mishpat luqqah clause on the kangaroo trials). Now, Daniel 9:26c is "on", so everything is UNpredictable. Notice the ironic parallel: you only needed three pieces of information to predict His Birthdate, which Every Jew Knew: the Haggai 2 month and day, 25 Chislev; the 1000th anniversary of David's death, 37AD (year 4143 from Adam's fall is how they dated it); and the 1000th anniversary of the year David became king over all Israel, which was late 4BC (year 4103 from Adam's Fall). For Messiah would have an allotted lifespan equal to the number of years David ruled, in order to meet all the 1000th anniversary deadlines so to again RENEW Time, on time. Would take you three seconds to compute His Birthdate. As we saw in the Legatee table (link in red box at pagetop), you had at least a dozen other ways you could calculate that date, and you'd get the same answer, even if you screwed up the math. Atop that math proof were a bizillion other confirmations of Messiah, like being born of a virgin, where born, events in His Life, the chronology of His Passion week exactly matching Passover's timing, etc etc etc. So the only way you could MISS knowing, was if you were negative to the Word; we Christians are negative to His Word, and that's the only reason why we don't know when He was born, when He died, etc. Bible spells it all out, plainly. But we are sloppy in reading it. For centuries. So too were and are, the Jews. Ta'anach: Bible is sandy soil to them, so no understanding grows from it.

So, He's Our Precedence, Our Archegos, main theme of Hebrews: hence our 'birthdate' was also predicted, from Matt16:18, forward, and Peter even announced it in Acts 2. Remember the shepards and Herod's massacre of babies, and the other Visible Manifestations of Christ's Brith? So too, ours. Birthdate -- but NOT, the End-Date. You'll only know that, WHEN IT HAPPENS. Daniel 9 didn't reveal the ending-date of Messias, but only the Deadline. And why? Because it was a Contract, Depending on what He Chose to Do. He had the free will to do differently, and the God-man nature meant He could do anything He wanted.

Same deal for Church: Our contract is a NUMBER OF BODIES, not a set amount of time. Part IVb has more verses on this Body provision, and NT lists many more (very strident theme); but the actual testamentary contract clause, is in John 17:20-21. Look at the parallel to His God-Man Nature, and how all creation depended on how He'd use it: we get the Holy Spirit's Power without measure; when we don't use it, worldwide disaster ensues. God forbid that the Body should be more important than Her Husband! So anyone into date-setting the Rapture blasphemes Him. Especially, in light of His bald statements in Matt24 and Acts 1, Don't seek the date.

Of course, back during His First Advent, the world did not see His First Arrival for what it was, since only the GROUP for whom Messiah came, were the audience. Hence, they, but not we, needed the prophecies to discern the Real Messiah. The Parallel: they but NOT we still get the same prophecies. We don't need prophecies, Because We ARE The Prophecies Being Fulfilled By God For Them. That is another reason why Israel's historical trends stamp Church. So, as during His First Advent, Our Leaving Is Imminent, Date-Unpredictable, to -- again -- Clue Them In on HE'S The Messiah.

We are Being Fulfilled, because we represent Christ Who Makes all History, He Who Is the Subject and Object of All Prophecy (Heb 1:2, Acts 17:28, Rev19:10). And, because He contracturally created us to be an Esther, Matt16:18. So we are here to save Israel, not replace her; the "new covenant" prophecy will get fulfilled to her THROUGH us (main theme of Hebrews 8:8-10:17). Christ created us as Esther in Matt16:18, by Contract with Father, John 17:20-21. So we are future from that date. Being realized, Now. Book of Esther is the promise of deliverance of the Jews, and it takes place during the time Jerusalem still needs rebuilding. It will be due to Esther that Jerusalem will be rebuilt, a generation later. So do you understand Matt16:18-Matt24, now? The Lord is referring to Esther being found and thus the Jews being in Diaspora, being delivered. Warned, before they even GO into Diaspora; so that's a prophecy, echoed all over the OT. Because, they WILL reject Him, and He's Warning them of their attitudes. So this is as blatant a statement as can be made on how the Gentiles will be used to save the Jews. Hopefully the imminency analogy is obvious from Matt25's lamp oil parable.

Like all prophecy and Bible verses, Book of Esther is multilayered in meaning. So sad that people interpret the Book of Esther so narrowly. It's The Key To How The Jews Get Saved By The Gentiles, Using Actual History The Jews Celebrate Every Purim. We are thus "Esther", Fulfilled for them. Couldn't be plainer. [If you are under my pastor's son, know that I've not heard how he has recently covered the Book of Esther.] Look at the obvious parallels: Joining Of Jew And Gentile (Esther and the goy who's the King). That was Israel's job, see. They weren't doing that job, so the story is set in the Diaspora (post-586BC). Notice how it's still open for them to do that job. Notice also how God has to cause both that job, and the protection of the people, Himself. ("Esther" is Persian for "myrtle", an astonishingly-versatile plant which can become a whole tree! in Israel.) So Israel gets Grafted In Via Marriage To The Gentile (Esther being symbolic), during the Diaspora. Which Diaspora, is of course going on Now, so -- see? Long before there was a Church, God left a book behind so Jews could understand that He provided them a solution. Pity that so many people for centuries were so stupid about this Book's import, many argued that the Book of Esther shouldn't even be in the Bible! LOL.

God Is Omniscient, so one of the Biggest Miracles, the BIBLE, will evidence His Authorship by being structured like Omniscience, layer upon layer of Perfect Fit. So, another layer of meaning to Esther, is a veiled warning not to play Vashti (Zech7), or He will spit them out of His mouth: repeated to Church by the way, in Rev3 on Laodicea. So We are Bride, also for the purpose of delivering Israel. All the rest of history hinges on our completion, as Hebrews repeatedly warns. So we are caused to become the Fulfillment Of The Delivery Of All Covenants, because Son is to have a Bride before He fulfills anything. That's why Revelation 4 commences with the opening of a title-deed-to-earth ceremony after we are raptured up. Church Makes History, Not Prophecies; Church Is History, Not Prophecies, Because Church Is Being Used To Fulfill Prophecies, Not Get Them. Much more on this topic will be covered in LvS4b and LvS4c.htm.

Happily, there is a rather large group of Jews today who also believe in Christ (Yeshua HaMashiach); some of them don't yet buy the NT, some buy only the NT Gospels, as Canon. Some, buy the whole NT. You won't hear much about these people, but they are there. Low-key, most of them. Put down by their fellow Jews, most of them (very big effort in modern Jewry to stop these Jewish believers in Christ from proving from Scripture He's Messiah, going on now). So never let it be said that God doesn't know how to Graft In His Chosen People!

Warning: dingdongs who think Church replaces Israel prove they don't know their Bible, at all. Worse, they malign God by claiming they replace Israel. Like the Arabs who all pretend to want Israel to be an independent state -- never mind, that the first Article of the PLO Charter is "Israel has no right to exist", an article PLO has never rescinded -- these people who claim to replace Israel are completely anti-God. Avoid them like the plague they are. [Hosni Mubarek recently (2005) did an interview with Charlie Rose. I can't believe Rose fell for it when he asked if the Arab world was ready to accept Israel as an independent state. Mubarek cagily replied that at the recent summit (in 2004, March, I believe) Saudi Arabia had stated categorically that Israel should be a state. What disingenuousness. As I recall, Saudi Arabia's proposal had something like 20 conditions which had to be satisfied for that recognition, all of them totally unacceptable -- including, the full use of "shub" -- that the Palestinians could return (get back for free) their alleged pre-1948 land. The proposal was in the newspapers at the time of the summit to unveil the proposal (they're keen on that kind of advertising). When you read it you will really know how disingenuous is any Arab proposal. Read From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters, check out the facts for yourself. President Bush is no fool. He conditioned the existence of the Palestinian state on the revocation of Article One of the PLO Charter (I heard him say that in a news conference on CSPAN, when he first surprised everyone by offering to help broker an independent Palestinian state. No one ever said anything about what Article One meant -- sigh.) I learned of the PLO Charter back 30 years ago, when doing a "Model UN" thing in high school (playing Saudi Arabia, ironically). So this isn't classified information. See? We don't care about Bible, so we don't care who's really right in this Arab-Israeli conflict, either. We'll be sweet-talked over to the Arab side, because We Don't Do Our Homework! The day that happens, the US will cease to be a nation. God help us!]

Now, Since Messiah Has Come And Gone, They Can Tell. The Daniel timeline is Now operating post-"Messiah..cut off", in a bubble: a prophetical parenthesis of no prophetical content, itself. The big bang ending, was the Destruction Of The Temple. So the next prophecy to occur, is the Tribulation. Thus they know it's TIME to become part of Church by believing in Christ, John 3:16, Hebrews Chaps 3-4; since there's NO Messiah during the 'dead spot' between Daniel 9:26c, and Dan9:27. See, it's hard for Israel to accept that Messiah would be Christ. So they need Scripture, not goyim pushing them, to show it's GOD who says He is the Christ. They won't listen to us, for all goyim are inferior. Yes, it's a prejudice; all humans have prejudices, and this one against the goyim, is ingrained within Israel. When it comes to FAITH, Israel is queen and everyone else is a peasant. That was true: but when Israel played Vashti, she became the peasant and another Queen was found. That's the message, and it's rather hard to accept. Paul explains all this in Romans 11.

In the "now Israel's Days were Numbered" section of the Legatee Table (link in red box at pagetop), you'll find bullets listing the various ways you can calculate Daniel 9 and determine Messiah's birth and death dates. So also, in the "David" and "To Be or Not to Be" table links of Mirroring.htm. Point is, without any outside human interference, any Jew can prove mathematically that Christ is the Only Possible Messiah. If not Him, there is no one else at any time in history or the future, based on dates, alone. Prophecy can be interpreted variantly. But math cannot. It either balances or does not, and whether you like it or not. So whether pre-Cross or post-Cross, you can tell Who Messiah is, all from Bible. God gives you the entire timeline of history from Adam forward (which Judaism mangles in its calendar). So IF YOU USE BIBLE you know exactly what time it is.

• So Israel can still know when Messias was Born and Left, by The Daniel 9 Timeline, since she's forgotten David's dates.
• She can review the 900+ prophecies and 110+ characteristics of His Life while down here. All of which are completed and are in writing,
• All balanced to the 2nd Temple's Destruction: 516BC -69weeks -70 years -33 years (Messiah's lifetime) =70AD, the year Titus razed the 2nd Temple. Point here is that Israel doesn't have to depend on data from us goyim, or from fellow Jews, thus protecting one's privacy from raised eyebrows or proselytizing. The Judaic calendar is screwed up; but those Temple dates are not screwed up, and even most scholarship largely agrees on them.

So We Too Are Made The Cause Of Time: History Has Elongated Beyond Its Originally-Planned Boundaries. So we are still in one of, not both of, the "times", of the Gentiles (Luke 21:24); for the other "time", is the Tribulation itself. Just as Assyria 'lived' longer due to hearing Jonah, so the world lives longer, due to us listening to the Word so we can train for our Lord's Father, as king-priests under Him. For, that is How He Vested as King-Priest: see Heb5.

Israel thus should have caught on immediately when Titus invested Jerusalem; even, if they didn't listen to the Lord's Own Warnings about it (Matt24, Mk13), due to Daniel's forecasting of Temple destruction following the cutting-off of Messiah. But they didn't. So it was 'invisible' to them, because they were so willfully blind, not because there was no proof. After 70AD, no Jew could misconstrue the identity of Messiah, period. So it has to be rejection, not mere ignorance. Daniel is too plain. They don't even read the Two Stone Witnesses staring them in the face every day. So they won't hear us, either. Word is better proof, anyway. And it's always available.

Just as the Well-Being of the World depended on the Jews because He was Coming, Now that He's Left and is Coming BACK, the well-being of the world depends on Church. Once that Coming occurs, Disaster! The Jews understood that when Messiah would come, the world would end. With that ending was disaster, war, tribulation. It's still true -- but Now in a different way. The world was turned upside down that first century, due to the Coming-Back nature of the Rapture, since it still meant the end of the world would occur. It still does. So the Jews and the world have yet another Parallel Advertisement as to Who is the Real God.

God has always and only blessed or cursed the world, owing to believers in it. If you've seen Mirroring.htm ("Timeline" link at pagetop) and its tandem worksheet GeneYrs.xls and TenWaysThisTimelineDiffers.doc, you understand how that rule has been demonstrated in Bible since Adam. The blessing rule gradually narrowed as time passed, to David. The world only continued post-963 BC, because God made a promise to David to give Him a Ruling Son forever, the downpayment of which was the Temple, which depicted Him. That's why in Daniel 9, the Temple is destroyed when Messiah leaves: to signify that He left. But in the wake of Temple destruction, comes world destruction. That's why Daniel 9:26c reads as it does, and that's why world history has been exactly in that Dan9:26c pattern, ever since. The Jews vaguely understand all this, even today. What they refuse to accept, is that the verse Applies To Jesus Christ. It's impossible for the verse to mathematically apply to anyone else. So, since they won't listen, one more Advertising Thing God can Do, is demonstrate the Blessing-of-the-World-Role the Jews once had, but via Church. As my pastor likes to say, "as goes the believer, so goes the client nation to God, so goes history." And frankly, you can prove that true in history, as GeneYrs.xls tries to demonstrate, post-Cross (see also MirrorNOW.htm).

In TenWaysThisTimelineDiffers.doc, its item #9 demonstrates how Israel was mathematically taught the Jubilee depended on the observance of the sabbatical years. The latter were used as a kind of 'time tax' to 'buy' the 50-year voting periods for the Gentiles every 1000 years. The math is exquisite. Many verses in the OT also testify to this function of Israel being the source of blessing for the world, and even today every Jew knows it. But that fact has gotten Israel in a lot of trouble over the centuries, so over time its truth became a hidden thing. Jews know about it, and in fact are both puzzled and proud of it -- never saying much about it to the goyim, of course. So if they can see the pattern of God blessing the world through those goyim who believe in His Son Who is the Messiah, then they have a nice advertisement as to Who Messiah is. So too, the rest of the world. This advertisement hasn't exactly gone unnoticed. Millions of words have been spent by Gibbon and others on how the rise and fall of Christianity has been the blessing or cursing to the world. And it's like clockwork: anywhere in the world you find a trend of increasing interest in the Christian Bible, at any time in history post-Cross, you find a trend of rising material prosperity. Conversely, anywhere in the world you find a trend of declining interest in that same Bible (i.e., Dark Ages, when the RCC reigned supreme), you find diaster, adversity, sickness, etc. Doesn't matter what country, region, people. Does matter that it's Bible. Again, GeneYrs.xls seeks to trace this phenomenon, which seems to run in 200-year cycles. But you can see it all very quickly, in Lev26 and Deut28, which is God's 'contract' on the topic. He applied it to Israel: you can prove historically He applies it to Church. Thus you can know WHO Messiah is.

Christ's Time On Earth Depended On His Volition. The Quality of Life on Earth and indeed the universe itself, likewise depended on His Volition, since He holds it all together -- even when He was here (a point my pastor never tired of stressing, invoking Hebrews 1:3 when he reminded us). Same is true for us. We Are Here. The wellbeing of the world depends on our spiritual growth, not prophecy. So either read the Book or be unpleasantly surprised, Heb10:35-39, 11:39-40!

Since we don't know how each the other is growing spiritually, there's an imminency to our situation, as well. Same structure, as for Him. And now, the NT being completed, there is a God-written set of books which TESTIFIES to our being the extension of Him in the world. So in a way, we are prophesied, kinda like He was. There's this book, the NT: it essentially and continually says, the Fulfillment of the Prophecy of Bride, is "On" Right Now, euthus! So Straight Away! Immediately! Tachú! Now! Without Delay! Believe IN Him! For, who knows how long "Now" will last -- parable of the 10 virgins, not knowing when the Bridegroom will arrive.

Meanwhile if we are growing, what an effect! See the paradigm of the meaning of Church's role in Rescuing Israel. Paul's 'fall' (going to Jerusalem) well illustrates the whole story. Her son of sons, Paul (Phil3:8 in context) is rejected, beaten nearly to death at the external altar, circa 58AD -- but oh, a Gentile (Roman) delivers the Jew who was supposed to be Christian, but instead rejected his Royal Priesthood to return to a Nazirite vow! So, Gentile delivers the wayward forgot-he-was-sewn-up Jew. [Isa53:5, Heb verb raphah, really means to Heal By Surgery, hence you are sewn up, and as a result, you heal. Cool word. Paul seems to be playing on it by his use of sugkleiw in Rom11:32.] Heh. So, now because this same guy is executed by a Gentile (Nero), the Jews are delivered over TO the Gentiles, but also delivered BY the Gentiles (90,000 went into captivity), just like (Precedence!) it was back in Jeremiah's day. See? You don't need a date for the Rapture, you need a reason why. Here it is: we gotta complete so we can rescue Israel, hence We Determine History, Not Prophecies. What happened to Paul there in Acts 22, changed the history of the world forever. Which role do you think more befits a Wife-in-Training under the Limitless Power of the Holy Spirit? Didn't Christ Change History forever?

But if we are retrogressing, what an effect! My pastor stressed that "all hell breaks loose when a Pleroma believer dies." Well, we know just how much "hell" is. Book of Hebrews flatly says that if believers don't grow up, the Temple will be destroyed. Now watch the dates, so you can see how Paul's merely being alive preserved the nation. For, the Jerusalem siege went into its final phase just after Paul was executed by Nero. For, we know from Josephus that the siege had two basic phases, because Titus really didn't want to overrun it. He wanted a negotiated settlement. If I remember rightly, historians place the first phase of the seige beginning in 64 or 66AD. Paul was in his final imprisonment, sometime near then. Paul was executed sometime in 68AD, which is approximately when the final siege began, because Titus' adopted father, Vespasian, became emperor in 69, Nero having died a few months after Paul. Thus Titus couldn't wait for a settlement, and wanted a triumph to take to his father. That was the "Year of the Four Emperors". We know Jerusalem finally fell in August, 70AD. Right on time, and Paul's being executed as well -- and all in Jerusalem who were negative to Paul, likely were negative to leaving despite the siege, too.

We are Evidence of Him. We are pointed out by God. We don't promote Him, ourselves. Again, copy Christ. He wasn't flashy. So you also, are not to be flashy. So: if you are growing in God's System, be certain that both the Holy Spirit and Satan&Co. are busy advertising you to your periphery. So your focus must be dioko (Phili3:14, again), not me-promoto. If anything, you need to be low key. Don't wear Christ on your sleeve, thinking that oh, you don't honor Him if you don't talk about Him to everyone all day. Kings don't do that. Less talk, less action. More thinking, more restraint. Keep regarding everything in your life as Training from the Holy Spirit. [Hence the need to be in God's System, to "rightly divide the Word of Truth." See the "God's System" link at pagetop for a brief on what "God's System" is.] So keep looking at His Thinking, at what HE is saying via That Thinking, to rule your own life. That's how people can see Christ is REST, not arrest (John 7:19ff).

So, here's the final Advertising Parallel of Church to Christ's First-Advent Ministry: the world won't see our 'Ascension' (1Thess4), either. Rapture is not necessarily visible to the world. For example, our much-vaunted Disappearance depends on how many Christians actually exist at the time of the Rapture (which no one thinks about); but in any event they will not see us going up in the air, any more than the world saw the Ascension. The Tribulation is plenty full of warnings, so there is no need to have havoc due to disappearing bodies. That we straitjacket Scriptural interpretation with this idea, betrays how we want titillation, not God. Why we are leaving behind, common sense!

Think: God could take each person at some precise moment over the same day, such that no one got hurt. Everyone has to pee at some time, for example. Pretty safe, there. Or, you're sleeping in bed. World is divided into time zones. Or, you've just stopped for a second to get a cup of coffee, and zap! Get the point? It might not be disruptive, at all. The Rapture means that people from DIFFERENT locations assemble at ONE location; implicit in that idea is that not all folks arrive at the same moment. Maybe they do -- but what if they don't? All in a twinkling of an eye doesn't mean all at the same moment, maybe. Then again, maybe it does. In which case, it still could be that one moment when all the Christians aren't driving, doing hazardous work, etc. God would know. God works in us to will and to do, so we might all know not to go doing something problemmatic, maybe a split second before we disappear.

More importantly: who knows how many have really believed in Christ, since no one in public Christian TV can even state the Gospel correctly? Bet that most 'Christians' are not saved! The True Gospel is Believe Only In Christ Only, John 3:16, Acts 16:31, similar passages. If you add other verbs, you are not saved, Eph4:8-9. Look: if you believe you needed to both believe in Christ and get baptised, then it's not ONLY Christ you believe in, so you do not believe HE is enough. That blasphemes Him. If you believe that you need to feel sorry for your sins and believe in Christ to be saved, then you do not believe that Christ is enough, you instead believe in something YOU do as MAKING it enough -- same blasphemy as believing in baptism. If you believe that you can lose your salvation by some sin you commit, you likewise believe that Christ is not enough -- here, a negative thing you do is allegedly so powerful, it can undo His Perfect Work on the Cross. How utterly blasphemous are most 'Christians', then. RCC blasphemy, Odox blasphemy, the many denominations who claim you must be baptised or repent of your sins -- these are 99% of so-called "Christians"! How many of these people are actually saved? These are "Lord, Lord" people. They will not go to heaven, unless at some point in their lives they jettison all that crap and simply believe in Christ. They will likely not jettison those other acts they do or try to avoid, because those acts make them feel holy. Satanic, all of them. Yet you can count on God to use all that exposure to the fact Christ paid for their sins and they do believe He did, to at some moment isolate that recognition, to get rid of the crappy other stuff, such that Believe Only in Christ Only, occurs. So they likely end up being saved. The meanwhile, Satan uses them to sell a 'gospel' which saves no one.

For the real Gospel being disseminated, is quite rare in history. It's not public. You can find it in Bible, find it in conversation with someone who knows it, but Satan's not stupid. Satan&Co. have control over publicity, and the 'gospel' they sell will always be false. As you can prove, whenever you turn on 'Christian' TV. So it's no wonder that as usual, the True Gospel is almost unknown in the US today; so can't be much known, elsewhere (though maybe Brazil and South Korea are exceptions).

Fake gospels have predominated for centuries, and got their impetus from the 'Church Fathers'. Just read their writings (with Pepto-Bismol nearby), to see that. So who knows how many among them were even saved? During the Reformation there was a brief respite, for one thing Luther and Calvin seemed to understand, was Believe Only in Christ Only; for about a century or two afterwards, it became relatively common for people to know Gospel is John 3:16, not some other verb. Then, there was another dip in awareness, as the reformers apostatized into state churches. But during the Civil War in the US, an awakening to the Real Gospel began again to be widespread. But since 1930 or so, yikes! The most blasphemous false gospels have surfaced, especially in the US! For several generations in the US, therefore, the so-called "independents" have screwed up the Gospel -- joining the "denominations", who have long screwed up the Gospel -- so are they saved?

Watch Christian TV yourself, try to find even one evangelist or speaker who states that John 3:16 fact, Faith Alone In Christ Alone -- the Calvinists didn't invent that, it's the Bible, stupid. That "Lord, Lord" verse in Matt7 looks like it encompasses a bigger group of folks, everyday. Have you ever thought about it? Why would people be calling Him Lord, if they never believed? Well, look at the fake gospels pandered today, their substitute verbs, saving no one who 'does' those verbs (capitalized here): Make Christ Lord? Believe AND repent? Believe AND be baptised? And the all-time favorite, accept/invite Christ into your heart or life? My pastor has a field day with that last one, constantly reminding everyone of Jeremiah's "the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked -- who can know it", saying "so you are inviting Christ into a garbage dump!" And then for "life", he likes to quip -- "oh, since we are spiritually dead -- you are inviting Christ into a tomb!" Sheesh. People will believe anything but the truth. No wonder the Cross was a Joy to Him.

Where are any of those fake gospel lies, in Bible? Nowhere. (Left blue boxes on Home Page deal with that question, showing the misused-verses' origin of the fake gospels.) No faith-plus Gospel: so no one gets saved that way. So, then: how many who claim themselves 'Christian', ever really believed in Christ? It's the scariest of thoughts, and every Sunday for 50 years, my pastor has always stressed that Believe-only is the Real Gospel -- so if he's scared, I am too. I used to be irritated that he'd repeat the warning so much. Not any more! So if you're not sure if you've ever Believed Only In Christ Only, for heaven's sake, Do It Now!

So notice the parallel to His Ascension: when He rose, only believers saw Him. Well, the Rapture is the exit of all believers, so there is no one to watch. The media idea of public havoc is likely false, therefore. And since Satan&Co. have control of all things public -- we poor saps of course don't know they manipulate us, lol -- this promoted-havoc idea is likely untrue; rather, Rapture is likely to be a quiet thing. Whatever is popular, assume the opposite is the truth, and you'll save a lot of time. Clever, to promote it as a public-havoc idea: so if the Rapture is quiet, folks won't realize it happened, even if large numbers of folks suddenly 'disappear'. You can just paint the scenario: individuals seeking missing family members go to the police. Then nothing happens, as there are a bizillion other reasons why people go missing, the "Rapture" being the most goofy idea of all, not worth believing.

So if quiet, that explains why the Two Witnesses next appear in Jerusalem in Rev11; in part to explain that the Rapture occurred, and to keep everyone away from the Fake Temple which by then will exist. Thus the Jews will be warned to flee from Israel.

Ok, so let's look at Book of Hebrews, to see if it recognizes the Daniel timeline:

• we know Jerusalem had not yet fallen at the time Hebrews was written, given the text (never go by writing media).
• The entire writing tone of Hebrews is in great haste: reminds one of the haste with which Israel was to leave Egypt.

• You can't escape the impression that Paul's final capture or death had just occurred (Heb13:23), and the writer of Hebrews knew what that meant; hence the many sprinkled warnings, between 1-3 each chapter. The author clearly expected the Rapture by the end of the Temple (again, due to the Lord's Matt24 description). Since the trigger is volitional, the writer had to guess that Paul's demise meant a significant contribution TO the Body would have maybe been enough to warrant Rapture. So his concern was who would get left behind among those Jews who were "dull" (i.e., Heb5:11 -- dull knives, meaning not sharpened up on the Word).

• In fact, you can well argue that Hebrews' intention, is to mirror Jeremiah, and show the far-fulfillment of what Jeremiah said, so Temple Destruction was imminent.
• The bookending of Jer31:31-34 between Heb8:8 and 10:17 is a climactic interpretation of Jeremiah's prophecy there, Being Made Effective In Church. [My pastor stressed this so much, I thought I'd go crazy. I couldn't understand what was his basis, until one day I heard on the tape, "effective present tense" of martureo, in Heb 10:15. That did it. God always uses grammatical meaning-facts like that one to make His more important design statements. Another example is Romans 8:28, where the INtransitive sunergew is converted to transitive, to show how we villains become heroes. Deft stuff like that, really makes a difference in interpretation, and it's been a privilege to learn these things under my pastor. Another gem, the Ionic dative of purpose in Eph2:10, comes up later in Part IVb.]

• You can tell from Acts that it was written 62AD or so, because it ends with Paul being under his first house arrest in Rome, and of course Paul was beaten up AT the Temple, so it was extant, then.
• By contrast, you can tell Jude, Peter, John's epistles were written after the Temple was destroyed. Note how there is no Matt24 equivalent, in John's Gospel. Note also how pointed the references are to the Temple Being His Body, in what Temple verses are put there. For when John writes, the Temple is Gone, like the Ark was back in Jeremiah's day (read Jer Chap25ff for context). The Ark, anyway, is Risen now, and the Temple is the Body of Christ (i.e., 1Cor6, Heb6). More importantly, they all use deft NT keywords from Paul's letters and from Book of Hebrews. You won't see these in the English. Since the OT was written in Greek, these keywords also relate to the Temple, but in the updated sense of us being the Temple, now. John in particular carefully couches both the Gospel and 1Jn using such keywords. Which tells you a layer of meaning you'd otherwise miss: The Messiah Is The Temple Now. Sure, that would have been relevant even while the Temple was still standing -- but even more relevant, after the Temple was gone. John's letters seem to be written no earlier than 85AD, so the dating of the text, elucidates a lot about what message is given. When God writes, He always pays a lot of attention to the contemporary audience.
• So, if the Temple is replaced, Daniel's timeline is in a PARENTHESIS, and they know that fact.
• Moreover, LXX keywords dealing with the Temple and the priesthood, are used to explain why: Temple is now Believers, which reflects the earlier letter from Paul, the circular letter we call "Ephesians", Chapter 2; plus, 1Jn's framework is also based on John 15's abide-in-Me-the-Vine Replacement for the Temple (echoed in Heb6-10). So John is Uniting Temple Words with the One Behind the Veil. Thus explaining, like Jeremiah did back in Jer31, why the Ark (and hence the Temple) would not be missed (Jer3:16).
• Also, look at Peter's use of "holy nation" in 1Pet2:5,9 -- that fact would be a much more relevant reminder (though true from Pentecost forward) after the Temple is gone. Next, the last half of 2Peter seems dedicated to scoffers who don't believe the Rapture is coming; so much so, Peter has to get sarcastically dramatic, likening it to the upcoming destruction at the end of the Millennium. Notice how Peter, who loves tying in OT verses, doesn't quote to reference the Tribulation, but rather uses the Lord's own 'imminency' metaphor, like-the-days-of-Noah. So Peter knew it was a parenthesis.
• So, of course, did John. Like Peter, John only talks about the 'imminency', viz in 1Jn2:28, 3:2, "when He appears". Revelation is very pointed about it, too: Church Goes Up in Rev4:1 (represented by John), and is not onstage again until coming down as BRIDE, with the Lamb.

• Moreover, in Revelation you see a Rebuilt Temple in the tableau of the Two Witnesses, Rev11:1. That ties to Daniel's 'desolation' parenthesis, Because there is NO rebuilding after the Temple of MESSIAH'S day, is DESTROYED (end Dan9:26). On the other hand, Dan9:27 talks of the regular sacrifices being STOPPED. So somebody rebuilds the Temple, but not By GOD'S Authorization. Else, you'd not need any Witnesses in front of it. That's why the command to John in Rev11:1, that he measure the part of the Temple which is not the Holy of Holies, is never executed. John's in Heaven, not on earth, so isn't measuring, anything; further, it's a sarcasm -- which you know, because a) no one measures that area, and instead b) there are Two Witnesses keeping everyone AWAY from the Temple (blowing fire out their mouths, etc). If they were there to protect the Temple, God wouldn't be killing them off, mid-Trib. Contrast Rev11 with Ezekiel 39.

• That's why you have a Matt24: the Lord reminds them He's the Messiah, that way (using the Daniel prophecy). Also, He's warning them to NOT believe in any Temple Rebuilding, when he warns them to NOT believe anyone claiming Christ had returned (see EzeChap39ff). For every eye will see Him Returning. So, Rev11:1 shows a ruse Satan will create to lure people. Hence the presence of the Two Witnesses, to warn everyone it's a ruse. Which of course means, NO temple is supposed to be there, and the "times of the Gentiles" is still active.

• Some claim that John penned Revelation before the 2nd Temple was destroyed. That can't be true, because (again) NO ONE MEASURES the area -- the 'command' to measure in Rev11:1 is not obeyed by anybody. So there is Nothing To Measure. God's treating the Temple which is there, as NOT there, in the very command to measure. For, you measure, preparatory to BUILDING something which is NOT there (see Ezekiel Chap39), idea being to Set The Foundation's Limits. So, now look at Rev21: wow, an angel measures, not a human (the Biblical norm for such passages); and wow, lots of detail, there! But none, in Rev11! So, see? Rev11, no Temple GOD authorized: so the 2nd Temple, which God did authorize, Dan9:25, Ezra, etc. -- is gone. Rev21, also no Temple (v.22); so Eze39ff's Temple rebuilding, happens At The Second Advent, and lasts only 1000 years. Again, when you add up Matt24, Dan9:26-27, Ezekiel Chaps 39ff, Isa Chaps 60-61, and Rev11, you realize that Revelation had to be written after the Temple's Destruction, for Rev11 would be irrelevant, unless there is an invalid Temple. So now, all the timings in those passages, FIT.

• And we also know Revelation was penned no earlier than circa 96AD, because the heraldry language in Rev4 was near Caesar's major change in imperial staffing policy with regard to the Equites (circa 98AD: see Carey, History of Rome last two chapters). Also, Revelation's tableau-like drama sequences mirror the popular tableau/mime burlesques against Christians at the time (Encyclopedia Britannica article on the history of Drama).

Bible teachers and scholars all know this, but debate what the vocabulary is, what it means, what kind of changes are denoted, etc. It's the same kind of debate attorneys can get into, when they review contracts (especially when preparing for a lawsuit). So you should find a lot of information on the fact of Bible's deliberate changing-vocabulary in the NT, on the net. For example, one raging debate has been whether God Intended to make known Trinity, in the OT. Frankly, it's real clear to me Trinity is depicted, from Gen1:2 onward (even Mishnah recognizes the Holy Spirit), but -- you'll find a whole lot of lexicons and commentaries questionning that clarity. All based on, what the BIBLE words are 'read' to mean. See? without 1Jn1:9 being breathed, all the 'erudition' in the world, is hot air.

No pastor can make an interpretation, without basing it on how he thinks those words are Biblically-defined. Same, for any lawyer making arguments in a civil trial ('bible' is the applicable civil law): competence in definition is the heart of all law. Competences in spotting definitional changes are the heart of all commercial lawsuits. Since Bible is the commerce of Life, our very Thoughts, it's way more important to spend time on Bible's definitions!

So, to see the parenthesis, you look for a Change In Vocabulary. It's not hard to spot.

• Look carefully at the vocabulary in the epistles, compared to Revelation after 4:1. Notice how the Lord from then on is called (not calling Himself) Lamb (an OT keyword for what the Ark represented). Tie to John the Baptist's calling Him the "Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world." Whereas, just before 4:1, He called Himself by names showing how He's God-man, Cornerstone, Uniting History, Winning Trial (first and last, alpha and omega, faithful and true). Each of those names was relevant to the kind of review he was giving the seven (real, but also representative) churches. The change in vocabulary is marked after 4:1. The change is even more emphasized by the fact He is generally passive and silent in the Tableaus. Dual paradox of lamb-slaughtered and far-off King.

• Now, compare across the NT. In the Gospels, OT vocabulary is used until the 'announcement' of His building a Church upon Himself. Then the vocabulary becomes distinctly BRIDAL, for example, in Matthew, followed by the announcement of the Temple Destruction, etc. You should see a similar shift in the other Gospels. John, for example, is very different after John 13. John 14-17 is all about the Coming Change, stressing the role of the Holy Spirit.

• So too, in the NT epistles. While OT quotes are woven in to show Precedence and prophecy fulfillments, NT vocabulary is defined, and then used. "Anti-christs", for example, wasn't used in the OT. Bear in mind that what we have in writing was Preceded by a whole lot of oral teaching, so the New vocabulary was already known. So you have to cross-check the uses of the terms to see what they mean. It's like breaking into the middle of an ongoing conversation.

• In the NT epistles, It's really marked how Tribulational trends are paradigmally used to explain "latter days" vocabulary. They didn't need Revelation to know the trends during Church would be stamped that way, because the OT prophecies on Israel's apostacy are all tribulational. Time of punishment. Repeated many times in the past, always prescriptive. Israel's apostacy is always indicated by negative historical trends in the world: principle is outlined in Lev26, Deut28. So when the apostacy is bad enough, it intensifies to the tribulational level, and the nation is destroyed, i.e., Jer25ff, Ezekiel 16ff, most of Isaiah and Hosea, etc. So, any nation who is not Israel, if pursuing the same apostacy, is likewise paradigmally judged, since the whole point is to choose God; so if not choosing God, no blessing.

• What's different in Revelation, is that a) we see in Chaps1-3, specific typologies of problems Church has, and b) how Satan uses a Fake Church to make his bid. It IS true that the trends in Revelation also stamp Church, a fact you can see even without Revelation. It IS true that the NT writers knew he was trying to kidnap the truth to form Religion, viz., by so many warnings about false teachers (Satan's always done this). But what wasn't sketched out until Revelation, was how he'd use Fake Church, to gather believers so he can slaughter them better. Particularly, the Rebuilding of the Temple, was to be a major warning to believers who will be alive. Satan is always trying to build two traps, one for Jews, and the other for Christians. The fake trap for the Jews, is to get the Temple rebuilt via convincing them God favors that, at any moment he can manage it. The fake trap for the Christians, is to get them into the Rev17 harlot. Both traps have been the plot lines of history since 96AD; if you read history books looking for these plot lines, you'll find them. Start with Gibbon.

• You'll notice that whether looking at the pre-Temple Destruction, or the post-Temple destruction epistles, terms for Church abound -- until you get to Rev4:2ff. At that point, OT vocabulary is used, and no Church vocabulary is used, except for the "mystery" moniker and the "I come suddenly" interjections. (The latter is a dramatic device used by an actor to talk to an audience, covered near the end of RevPlay.htm.)

• the post-Temple writers focus on how to prepare, which is the only conclusion to draw if IN a parenthesis between prophetical events;
• NO time is spent on date-setting;
• in fact, the Temple itself is only mentioned in passing, i.e., the Two Witnesses, compared to the big deal made of the new Jerusalem of the Eternal State, which Has No Temple (Rev21ff, esp. v22). [Vocabulary changes again, in Chap21. Lamb is no longer used in the OT sense of Mosaic Law, for there is no Temple, no Levitical priesthood, etc. Of course, we aren't called Church anymore, because we have become Bride. Seems like a united priesthood, then? Think over the implications.]
• Since the NT focuses not on date-setting, but rather on PREPARATION, given we're a known 'parenthesis' of Dan9:26c; our focus should be like the Bible's. Israel's should be, too.
• So man proves from prophecy that he learns nothing from prophecy. Even, when it has become, history.

So the actual Revelation we really have in writing from the Real Holy Spirit, shows that every generation of Church will experience paradigmally, Rev6, 11, 12, 13 and 17 as trends, so we can't predict the Rapture, either. As summarized earlier in the "Patmos" section of LvS4a.htm, Revelation is a Greek drama; so Real History 'plays' in specific formats which divide the times for you. So you knew to interpret Revelation trends for Church by the tableaus and paused explanations, as distinct from the blowing of the trumpets, or the pouring-out of the vials. Additionally, Revelation marks out the time boundaries using a clever time-barrier idiom, "meta tauta" (usu. fuzzily translated, "after these things"). You can find the idiom all over the LXX; so it's not hard to prove that the phrase divides the "times" for you. So you know what are flash-forwards versus flashbacks. This, because in Greek drama you have all these prologues which tell you the themes, followed by the actual events. I tracked the use of "meta tauta" throughout the Book of Revelation in RevPlay.htm. So you might want to read that. Page is very succinct, so you'll need Revelation in the Greek text, as you read the webpage.

So note how past is prologue, the historical parallel: each generation of Israel might have been the one to get Messiah's arrival; until David died, there no predictability because Messiah really could have come sooner. It was only after Israel had so prolonged its apostacy against God as King, that the timeline was imposed; not until David died, did the timeline turn "on". Because, the whole point was a Continuous Line Of Kings culminating in that King-Priest, Messiah. Again, because Israel's Conditonal contract of "schul" (Modern Judaic name for Temple, with emphasis on Torah learning), had to get them to Graduated staus. But Israel flunked out, by rejecting Messiah when He came. Paul seems to be making that very point, in Acts 13.

So here with Church, we are in the same 'schul' status: each generation will have the 'stamp' of the final Raptured one, because (again) volition is determinative. And, since past is prologue, the past proves we want the flash, not the Food: we reject Matt4:4, preferring Matt4:3. Hence we become Satanfodder, in every generation since the Crucifixion. Dying mostly the "sin face-to-face with death", capital punishment, 1Jn5:16 -- dying, from the rocks in our bellies, fancying we turned them into bread.

Here in Church, we thus prove any generation can be the Rapture generation, since we demonstrate the same wackiness over the Rapture, as every generation since Pentecost -- rather than, going to God's School. So, years ago, people near my hometown probably sat up high on Mulholland Drive (near Los Angeles), just like necking teenagers used to do; but, maybe having sold all they had! looking over the valley at the lights and expecting the coming of "Jesus" because some guy had said there were 88 reasons why the Rapture would come in 1988. Hmmm. They must be hungry, by now: I only remember a few squirrels, beer cans, and rocks up there. Yet the shellgame continues: who among us doesn't know some family whose spouse or kids went wacko because 'Jesus' is coming back on such-and-such a date? Did we never read Matt24's warnings about that? How anyone with a straight face can write a book, or get on television, and claim what even Christ wouldn't, in Acts 1! Gee, when did these self-styled prophets get more authority, than Him? I don't know who among us is dumber: the folks who peedle that nonsense (pee+peddle), or the folks who believe it despite clear passages like Matt24.

He warned His audience to not listen to claims Christ was back. He warned his audience to flee when the "abomination" was set up. Well, why are we listening, now? Date-setting and event-watching is a claim of Him coming back on some timetable, and thus no different than all those in the future who will scour the caves, shouting for the Christians to come out. So, He told us to hide in Petra, His Name in the OT (bedrock on which Ark sat). Are we doing that, hiding in the Word, trusting it? Are we fleeing the abomination that most make out of prophecy? For our bodies are Temple, Indwelt by the Trinity, so we surely don't want such abomination in there. Your 'holy of holies' is your soul. You defile it by what you believe wrongly. And you can't fix a false doctrine, without Learning Bible. Bible, not rituals, works, songs, emotionality, church history, flashcard spouting of verses, potlucks, whether other Christians think you spiritual. So playing hookey, lots of adikia is building up because we don't think we need 1Jn1:9: so our future is 1Jn1:6, 8, 10, Col3:25. Ending, with 1Jn5:16 and then 1Cor3:15.

For there's another Trend for every generation alive at any "time": a prophecy with a Dated Period (here, Israel's Tribulation) is always kicked off by one having an Undateable ("imminency") Period; for the Dated Period only occurs due to some Failure in the Undated Period. So the Historical Characteristics of the Dated Period are irrelevant, and instead those of the Undated Period, CONTROL. Here, that "undated period", is Daniel 9:26c. Precedence, again: this time going all the way back to Adam. Adam's days weren't numbered until after the Fall. So no one else's are, either. If you check carefully, Messiah's arrival was Undated until Israel rejected God as King; so then her days were numbered: but it was up to Him to complete His Task in time. No guarantee He'd do that, but rather only a provision. For God promises time in 490-segments, but as happened in 586BC, apostacy can abrogate the time. So Messiah could Redeem the Time, but He'd have to do it ON time -- which, since it was up to His Free Will, didn't guarantee what time that would be. Same is true for us.

Of course, until the Temple's time ended, it was always warned about as an 'imminent' thing (i.e., in Jeremiah, last phase in Lev26 and Deut28). Once the time is up and has happened, then God gives (to Daniel) dates. So a Dated Thing is always first dependent on an Undated Thing which is Contingent on Volitional Votes by Believers. Same thing happening, now: Our Departure Is Undated, Until Its Time Is Up. Seven years is the timeline after our time is up. So the historical circumstances which govern us are not those of the Dated Period, but rather of Dan9:26c, which means trends of Lev26. Rev6, 11, 12, 13 and 17 all reflect Lev26, and are presented as tableaus for that reason.

The characteristics of the Dated Period are not the same as that of the Undateable Period; since the Dated Period is due to Failure, its characteristics are bad; but the Undated Period is milder, á la the pattern of Lev26. Hence anything 'hidden' in the Undated Period, shares in its characteristics. So, although Church is inserted, the new 'wife' doesn't change Israel's prophecy map; rather, the new offer to Church rescues Israel, too. So again, no new 'prophecy' is needed. We are "in" the "prophecy" of Daniel 9:26c. It's really clear. This essential structure of Prophecy being divided into dated versus undated periods and their characteristics, will be covered at length in Part IVb's "Oh, Objection!" table.

Most importantly, Revelation tells us what is happening Now with respect to Satan's schemes. But in every generation, we don't listen. That's why Revelation 1-3 is only 'prophetical' in that the churches named are typical of Christian degeneracy (we are only too human); that's why Rev4:1 is the Rapture. You don't see "Church" mentioned after that: John goes up to heaven through the door in Rev4:1, and "meta tauta" occurs two times in that verse. Can't miss it. That's why you know the Rev17 harlot is Satan's game to pretend Church, because 'mystery' is a Church moniker, but the 'Church' depicted, is the antithesis of Paul's description in Eph2 or 4:11-16 (Greek; English is horrible).

Funny how we don't regard the prophecy we do have, so Satan keeps successfully playing his games in plain sight. I mean, the same colors in Rev17 are adopted by the Roman Catholic Church and no one notices? We ape the same stupid harloty things in all the independent churches now? How much more evidence could you want? See: we are just as blind as the Jews. We don't see our "dome", either.

By now, of course, we've a really long history proving how Satan pulls off this Fake Church, so he can better pogromize the Jews; Part IVc, d, and Part V will go through the thickly-threaded! details. So, for the moment, reflect: Christianity has split into a bizillion sects over this Rapture doctrine. So, if (say) the Rapture were to occur 300 years from now, a whole lot of paperwork among those who think Rapture is not true, or mid-Trib, or end-Trib, will exist. You know how we humans are, about 'respectable' paperwork. Especially, old (venerable!) paperwork. Heck, we actually still believe that the news we hear on television, is accurate! So what do you think believers then will believe, when they see all these (then-old) lies and mistakes about Scripture's "Rapture" meaning? They will believe the lies, and be destroyed! Satan's not stupid, but we sure are. The Lord took pity on us, and warned John to write Rev17, way back in 96AD when it was but a gleam in Satan's eye.

Revelation 1-3 tells us how every generation will be, and bluntly. Only one apostle is still alive, John. The guy had to be nearly 100 years old. There would be no one else left TO write if John died. Domitian had just exiled him to Patmos. It really looked grim, for although fantastic growth had occurred spiritually, you can tell from Rev1-3 that Christians were getting -- um, tired. Which is why it's the last book of Canon. No one else left to write, because people are not growing spiritually, anymore, so there's no reason to write anymore. Apostacy has set in: exact same pattern as in the later OT books; Malachi, the last OT book, is pretty brusque; just repeats what people should know; Malachi tersely sums up as a final argument, God's case against and promise to Israel. Then, stops abruptly. Then? Silence. [The so-called inter-testamental books all portray in spades that God Did Not write them. Still, they are valuable in gaining insight as to how low believers had sunk between Malachi and Matthew.]

Hence Revelation displays the same brusqueness, with respect to the world: in fact, no one talks to them; the 'signs' do all the talking. At the end of Rev, you see the typical Greek-drama epilogue, Rev22:6-21: don't add to this book! That's an OT affadavit catchphrase for Book Completion and Warning to Interpret it properly (used in Deuteronomy, the prophets, etc). [More about Revelation's Greek-drama structure is in RevPlay.htm and PartIVc.]

The Message? All Has Been Said. God has nothing more to reveal, until the Rapture.

• The Rev 17 Fake Church is KEY to Satan's anti-christ plan success: how he develops this plan is a major, provable topic in Part IVc, and the Appendix. If you look around at the related verses in Scripture, you realize this is his way to satirize Christ, as well as fool billions of people, generation after generation, and prevent or stall the Rapture. #1 Litmus test of Fake Church is Fake Gospel. A fake gospel always adds conditions to be saved which are anti-Biblical: there is only one verb in the True Gospel, "believe" (i.e., John 3:16). All other, added verbs are counterfeit gospel, saving no one. So that's how you know Fake Church and tares, passing themselves off as 'Christians'. The people in any such church will be duped. If any church's presentation of the Gospel claims any other verbs are added to "believe", or substitute out "believe", it's satanic to the core. Flee it. That means leaving 99% of mainstream Christianity, today. As always, the remnant is small. As always, the wide straight public road, belongs to Satan&Co. Test the claim for yourself.

• Who recognizes how the anti-christs (i.e., the two in official Trib) use Religion? The term "anti-Christs" in the NT (i.e., 1Jn, Thess, referencing Matt7) are only used to designate False Religion. But Oh, we hear "Rome" and think of Roman Catholicism, not at all recognizing we 'independents' are just as ripely used.

• Can God make the nature of Fake Church clearer in Rev17, than to explain that all those "horns" hate the woman, but need her to get their power? So the history, the politics all need us, so not they but WE are the cause of world events. So We Are The Cause Of The Problem: all the kings of the earth got drunk on us. Religion, in 'Christian' fake mantle. The lie, not only in Catholicism (which is long, obvious, and blatant) -- but in all the sects throughout history, whoa -- false doctrine, galore! Making issues of what one wears, or does, or eats; whether one observes the Sabbath on Sunday or Saturday; what good deeds we do or don't do or how long. Whether we wear hats or robes. On and on and on with pettyfogging stuff. Just like the Jews did. Yeah, past is prologue -- and here we are Royal, to get His Head in Our Heads, very blunt in Scripture. His Head in our heads -- not what yarmulkes or modern-day-hats we wear on our heads, for crying out loud!

• Again, what became known as the 'Catholic' Church started its political (Rev17 harlot) road a few years after Rev was penned. Persecution spawned political sympathy, as it always does. Satan used that sympathy to politically promote Christianity so it would get its eyes off Scripture. A tactic which succeeded so handsomely, Bible Was Kept Under Lock And Key. Dark Ages, lasting until, really, the 1800's, despite the Reformation; because, even the Reformation only 'reformed' a few (albeit important) doctrines, and still retained a political mien (i.e., state churches, Calvin's Geneva, 'communities' like Quakers, Amish, etc). Biggest blot on the Christian escutcheon, to-date, is this mega-church structure, which always ends up getting more involved in politics, than in the Word. Which, every one of them, continue on earth today. In the name of God, of course!

• The same politicizing trend is happening today, via the "prolife" movement. It's about as anti-Christ as it can be. Following exactly the pattern that (what became) 'Catholicism', took in 2nd century. Different 'cause', same junk. Read Gibbon's chapters on the 2nd and third century (better still, 1st-3rd). Substitute "prolife" for the vicious crusading on the nature of the Hypostatic Union. See if the parallels aren't clear. (Use Cary's History of Rome or an abridged version of Mommsen, if you've no time for Gibbon's 1776 tome.)

• Notice how it doesn't matter whether the Doctrine is right; the crusading is always a tool for politicization. Back in the 2nd century, some had the doctrine about the Hypostatic Union, right; but they ended up slaughtering each other over it, from Constantine onward. Today, parallel issue (we kill each other with words, now): but none today even can read Bible or think, when it comes to whether soul life is in the womb. Even sheer common sense would recognize that to claim soul is in womb, is to claim God a sadist, and to prevent the Virgin Birth! [See NoWomblife.htm for details.] Still, doctrine-right, or doctrine-wrong, you never crusade or politicize: that's what the Rev17 harlot warning, warns against. Check out the OT verses on harlotry and infidelity, to see what John says, better.

• So of course the real post-salvation spiritual life, is muscled out from view. Satan smacks his lips. For 2000 years of Church history, who has taught Our Royal Nature and Royal Thinking Training, as the spiritual life? I can't find anyone since Paul, except either my pastor, or pastors who learned from him. I tried to find others, searching the internet -- surely, there are others? That Thinking paid for sins is stated in 21 ways in Isa52:13-54:1 -- you can't get much balder than bedato yasdiq in Isa53:11's Hebrew; you can't get balder than the five Greek infinitives in the LXX of Isa53:10-11 which apparently are all used to translate bedato yasdiq (see Isa53trans.htm for a full examination). Since Thinking paid for sins, the Fake Church covers that up by stressing the body dying, as if a physical death can pay for a soul action? Juridical Mismatch! Dead biology that pumps until it stops, is physical life. Mindless. Only a mind can sin. So Bible spends most of its text on what you should be Thinking Before God. Duh. My body won't go to heaven, but my soul, will. So it's the soul which needs training, not my body. Duh. But is this very common-sense and provable Bible Truth 'out there'? No! That's why no Rapture has occurred: believers aren't maturing spiritually in their souls!

  Satan's Fake Church has been wildly successful. Brother-Foot Churchinanity? We can't get enough of it. If you were to gather all the pious tomes written since 96AD into one place, and then inspect them all for whether they assign ANY role to thinking before Father -- you might not even have one book left, afterwards. So there's no joy in Mudville.. the caseys have struck OUT.

God used to orchestrate time around the Jews, then around David and the Temple; but post-Cross, He does it benchmarked to the 30AD Crucifixion. Satan does, too, but Satan benchmarks to the Temple's Destruction date of 70AD whenever possible. To see all this, you'll probably need to load GeneYrs.xls to review the history in what follows. Gold 'stripes' in that worksheet are the 490-year deadlines (qualifying and historical); 1000-year deadlines are in green 'stripes'. Cell A2 of the worksheet summarizes the role of these grants of Time (you may have to Unfreeze Panes to read it). In Excel's "View" menu, you can select "Custom Views", and a popup dialogue box appears of handy spreadsheet section 'snapshots'. Pick the period you want. Makes spreadsheet viewing and navigation much easier.

Because Satan doesn't know when the Rapture will happen either, he always uses a Fake Church: it's designed to prevent Gospel from being learned, to prevent spiritual maturation; but most of all, the purpose of the Fake Church is to pogromize Jews, especially when the official Tribulation begins. To that end, Satan also historically sponsors "shub", a yearning to return to Israel and rebuild the Temple. So he'll use the Fake Church, to 'help'. Help HERD Jews back there, against God's Warnings (i.e., Matt24, Luke 21, Rev12).

First, the overall satanic strategy historically played, and continuing Right Now: If Satan can convince us that Church is in the Tribulation, he can gather us for slaughter, both Now and in the Tribulation. You gotta gather your enemy, to kill 'em. So Satan wants a Fake Church and a Fake Temple trap to gather Christians and Jews and thus kill them, too. For, there is no client nation Israel, and no 'Shekinah Glory' (extra-Biblical term) to fill that Temple, until the 2nd Advent. Scan Ezekiel Chapter 40ff., and note how that rebuilding doesn't occur before Messiah returns, but is due to His Return. So Satan can fake everyone out by claiming Christ HAS returned: hence, the two anti-christs. Hence, the statue in the Temple. That's why those Two Witnesses in Revelation are so important during the first half of the Trib -- Israel's FLEE period -- to Warn People To Stay AWAY. It's a life-or-death matter, to rightly divide the Word of Truth: especially, in the Tribulation.

We were introduced to this strategy back in the "Two Stone Witnesses" section (link in red box at pagetop). Now let's look at the underlying histo-psychological reaction to the prophecy about the Temple, which gave rise to Satan's strategy. For Satan's perennial strategy is to Distort Bible; so to Herd People to a Fake Bible, and thus demand The Supreme Court Of Heaven Order Our Mass Discipline. That's the only way he can get permission to kill so many (i.e., in Rev9). For the Rapture is first, a type of Mass Discipline On Both Church And Those 'Left Behind' who are yet too evil to see what was before their eyes -- the long-standing Two Stone Witnesses. Who of us isn't that evil, considering how long the Two Stone Witnesses have been in front of our own eyes?

1. The dearest dream of every devout Jew ever born is to have that Temple rebuilt. So he's a sucker for the Satanic plan to rebuild the Temple and fake God's Authorization for it. Satan thinks he beats God if there aren't enough Jews alive to constitute a nation, by the Second Advent: when Ezekiel 39ff and all covenants to Abraham, will be fulfilled. So Israel has been plagued with fake Messiahs, which is why the Real One was executed -- just as described, in Dan9:26.

2. Why do you think the Zionist movement had so much appeal? Satan wants it, dummy! You gotta herd your enemy, to better kill him. So, think: The Temple is everything to the Jew. More valuable than life itself. But did they understand Daniel 9:26? Matt24? Ezekiel Chaps 40 onward (through end of his book)? Did they understand Jeremiah's meaning when the Good Figs Were Exiled, but the rotten ones, remained behind? And therefore heed the warning, and Flee Jerusalem? No! Notice that well: for 40 years, Jeremiah warned everyone. No one listened. So God finally had Nebuchy baby come and cart off a bunch, and then kept on warning those left behind. Finally, He did it again -- and Jeremiah himself remained behind, hoping to yet turn around, the dingdongs who didn't listen. Same ol' same ol' had happened to Samaria, and happened ever since. Jews don't listen. Jews are the quintessential example of all humanity, and surely our deaf ears are plentiful and provable. So: every time, just as in Deut1:44, whatever God says, the opposite is what they (or we!) do.
   So what do they do? They flock to Jerusalem, like sheep to Satan's slaughter! With all us yapping Christians, slobbering over how the regathering must be the end-times, brother -- cheering the Jews to go there! Look: if the Jews didn't catch onto Messias' First Coming, they won't "get" His Second, either. So we should be educating them on their own Ta'anach, for it is sandy soil to them, they aren't growing; so they can see they should FLEE, not flock. This is genocide in the making!

3. Add now this temptation: Dome of the Rock, THE most hallowed of Islam's shrines (even more than Mecca -- Moslems dream of being buried near it), sits there now, mutely and derisively showing The Whole World That Daniel 9:26 Is Alive And Well. So for the Temple to replace the Dome would require a massive, humiliating victory over Moslems. Satan can make that happen anytime, baby; and whoever he uses to 'save' the Temple Mount will look like a Messiah, get it? Then, Jews would flock by the millions just to look at the Temple; no longer a Wailing Wall. Most would want to live there. It would be real easy to believe Messias Has Arrived! under those conditions. You couldn't keep a Single Jew Away from the Temple, under those conditions. Islam is already a detailed parody of the Mosaic Law, right down to its peregrination rules. Does anyone get that? Nope. So they will all be suckers for this Satanic Slaughter Ploy, too. Arabs are from Abraham. If they believe in Christ, they are the "remnant", too. So Satan Has To Kill As Many Arabs and Jews as he can. Best way to do that, is to Make Them Fight Each Other; when that doesn't work (and for almost 2000 years it didn't work very well at all), then he's Used The Christians To Pogromize Them All. Dear God, how we learn from history that we learn nothing from history: this historical trend is sooo plain, you really have to be blind not to see it. Yeah, and I myself didn't see it until writing these webpages!

4. Meanwhile, approximately half of the OT is dedicated to Temple Building; for example, whole chapters and most of some books, explaining in minute detail, How God Fashions The Temple. God, not man. God empowering man, or God just flat doing it Himself, via angelic construction (i.e., measuring out the foundation, the first act of building). Each time. First, the Wilderness Tabernacle; then, First Temple; then, Second Temple (more on that history follows in the next section). Finally, the Millennial Temple (theme of Ezekiel 39ff) -- At The Second Advent. Not before. Many other OT books talk about this final Temple, and all of them reiterate that Promise of 2nd-Advent rebuilding. Not before. Israel was supposed to wait. But, it clearly doesn't. Because in the Tribulational passages, Jews Are In Israel. They aren't supposed to be there. We saw that in Dan9:26, Matt24; Jeremiah states the principle: you come back to the Land when I return you. So no people, no Land, no Temple are to be there "until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled", Rom11, Matt24 (and parallel passages in other Gospels and elsewhere). That's why Peter is in Babylon, not Israel, not Rome, when he writes (he was an apostle to the Jews). That is why Jude is outside Israel, too. Temple GONE Means People GO! But, by the Tribulation, the Jews will have reversed the Will of God, even as they reversed His Will when going into the Land from Kadesh-Barnea (Deut1, context before v.44).
   So if you look at Revelation 11:1 (RevPlay.htm goes over this verse in detail), you'll see the Two Human Witnesses are dressed in Temple MOURNING, what you wear when it has been destroyed -- but look at the text. It says a Temple is Standing there, and people are worshipping in it, which means sacrificing -- first half of Daniel 9:27. So it's the Trib, first half. So the Temple there is not what God ordered built. God is very sarcastic in this chapter, telling John to measure with a reed (symbol of unfaithfulness, easily broken), rather than a rod. So John measures with his pen (reeds were used for writing), what is said. And it's all anger, baby -- at the Witnesses who Warn people not to enter the Temple. (Or, prevent them from entering, I'm not quite sure which.)

   See? Satan doesn't miss a trick. Satan&Co. know prophecy better than we drooling Christians. They know fully that there is no covenant operating during the Tribulation. Only the 'leavings' of OT promises of deliverance, plus the NT updates: Flee, Fight. The folks who believe then will hopefully heed those promises, but -- people are the same in every generation. We love to aggregate. We love the grand show, the pomposity, the majesty of it all. So all Satan has to do is make sure a Paper Trail is Left Behind when the Church goes up, so he can spin the lie that covenants are operating: one to the believers who are Gentiles, and one to the Jews. Because, no covenants are operating to anyone, except the leftover promises precedented since Genesis 12, plus the remaining prophetical promises people are then to claim. Cute ploy, huh?

   We learn that we learn nothing from history. As summarized briefly in the "Two Stone Witnesses" section, Satan has sought to get the Jews back to the Land many times in history. Whenever we stop looking at the Middle East, Satan&Co. do something to make us look there. You can set your watch. About 100 years before each one of God's promised 490 periods ends, Satan&Co. pull some stunt to make the Middle East a religious hotbed. When that doesn't work (and it didn't work until the Balfour Declaration), then Satan has the less-efficient task of making pogroms in many smaller pockets, wherever Jews congregate. He fosters anti-semitism (see "Macro Tactics" link in Appendix) in order to make the pogroms work, and to herd Jews. So they are not scattered as God intends them to be for their safety. Because, they reverse the Will of God yet again, and trust in man's ideas of protection. But any general can tell you his first desire is to congregate his enemy, versus fighting a guerrilla war: "economy of force" doctrine. Satan is the best of generals, other than the Lord Himself.

5. Why else do you think Islam exists? Witness how Satan has used God's 490-year accounting-for-Time System, to prevent the Rapture. GeneYrs.xls tracks these. The worksheet needs more entries, which will take years to input. But even from the entries there now, you can see trends, and then vet further, as you see fit. Obviously there's nothing like this on the internet or in print. So vetting the ideas is crucial. Breathe 1Jn1:9 as you do it, so you get God's Brains and save yourself a lot of tail-chasing. For Arab history, the best summary book is written by a pro-Arab Englishman, and it's a classic: A Short History of the Arab Peoples by Sir John Glubb. You can buy it from Amazon. (It was required reading in my university back in the 1970s, so maybe you can get it wherever Arab history is taught.)
   • precisely 70 years after 70AD, Aelia Capitolina became the next "abomination", again done by the Romans. The site was already devastated since 70AD, but Jews kept rallying around it. 140 years, then, since Christ came -- same number of years as it took to rebuild the 2nd Temple and Jerusalem, from 586-446BC. [See Mirroring.htm entries just after the "To Be or Not to Be" table for details: that page covers the Temple timeline in context of God's overall Accounting System for Time, which you can test and prove reasonably well with Bible, a calculator, and a good encyclopedia or history books.] Can't miss that confluence. But the Jews did. But the Christians did. Didn't need Islam, Rome was still available.
   • So Christianity had to become politicized via Rome, to become the next "abominator". Always nice to use God's People to persecute God's People. So Persia was to be the instigator of hey-look-at-Jerusalem, but it wasn't working out when the first post-Temple 490 ended, in 560AD -- Satan likes to tag 490s to the Temple's destruction (God doesn't do that, His 490s are tagged from the Crucifixion). Justinian didn't quite manage to build the intended abomination, because his kingdom was too exhausted from fighting with Rome. Persia wasn't interested enough to make conquest, either, so the two sides sparred, but weakly.
   • So, by 610 one of Satan's demons had to trap a sincere guy who loved his wife, known to us as "Mohammed the Prophet". Even then, they had to herd the initially-peaceful group into Bedouin-style warring, using the religion to conquer the normal tendency of the Bedouin to hit-and-run.
   • 490 years after Bar Kokhba began, the hegira began (622-132AD). Cute.
   • From there, every time things calmed down too much, Islam got stirred up -- beginning with Building The Dome. Which we saw from "Two Stone Witnesses" section, was built in a year which played on 586BC, the year Solomon's Temple was razed.
   • So about100 years before the 2nd post-Cross 490 ends (1010 qualifying, 1080AD intercalated historical), the Moslems resurge (900AD, culminating in the Seljuk defeat of Byzantium in 1071, so Satan keys to the 1000-year benchmarks, too).
   • This of course sets up the Crusades, so widescale Pogromization of Jews ensued. Clever: the original Jewish Millennium had the Jews accepted Christ, would have ended in 1094AD; then from 1094-1144AD, Satan would have been released and the final world-wide wars would have played out, Rev20:7. Revelation was penned 96AD. So notice: Satan's mocking the Jewish timeline for Millennium, since he was supposed to be in JAIL then! And using the mocking to Kill Jews! If God's Orchestration of Time wasn't so provable from all those Bible verses which date things (i.e., the Gen5 roster that begins with Adam's fall) -- you couldn't see this orchestration. So that we don't, proves We Don't Give a Flip What Bible says. Jews were raised on God's Orchestration of Time, that's why Bible is so rife with data about it. GeneYrs.xls is a product of that data.

   • When the 3rd 490 has about 120 years to go, which begins the standard four-generation, worldwide voting-for-Bible period (1500 qualifying, 1570AD historical): Satan raises up Islam again! 1453, Constantinople, preceded 1540 by about 100 years. 1540, which began the Reformation, is the 3rd 490 from Temple Destruction! So that helped people split their attention over fighting the infidel (and staying Catholic) or learning Bible. Now get this: Satan had the Moslems re-conquer Jerusalem in 1517. That was the same year Luther posted his 95 Theses. Do you think it was a mere coincidence?

   • The last qualifying 490 ended in 1990, whew. Means someone matured enough so the world could go on living. The historical 490 will end in 2030. So, look: for the first time since 70AD! beginning in earnest with the legitimization of the Balfour Declaration (issued Nov.1917), and ending with the Holocaust, was a huge herding back to Israel. Which actually began in the late 1800's -- due to sales of land in Israel to the Jews, by the Ottoman Porte. So also, the pogroms stepped up, which is why the Jews went to the Porte, in the first place. Russian anti-semitism was a handy tool for that; anti-semitism was virulent at the turn of the century, especially in the northern hemisphere; so two generations later, Hitler was a handy tool for accomplishing all that: instead of listening to Daniel 9:26 and Matt24, the Jews wanted their own homeland. All the more so, after Hitler decimated European Jewry. Previous pogroms were much the same; a place looks 'safe', so Jews go there; then, when there are enough to make it worthwhile to mount a pogrom, one is mounted. It happened periodically in Russia, in France and Spain, in the Balkans; it was a regular feature of life among the Arabs, since Jews were always second-class citizens under Moslem rule. Pogroms had happened under SPQR, and had been ongoing since the beginning of the nation. So didn't they get it by Balfour, that wherever they go, "the sword will pursue them" (Divine Discipline clause in Lev26 and elsewhere)? So why invite Divine Discipline by shubbing themselves to Israel? But we stupid Christians legitimized that! So we are the more responsible for their deaths!

     In short, the same herd-then-slaughter pattern has occurred so often -- you'd think someone would wake up and notice it's happened again. And now in 2006, over 50% of worldwide Jewry, lives in Israel! Makes one want to tear his clothes, smear the face with dust and wail forever. [Details on the 490's are in Mirroring.htm and MirrorNOW.htm.]

6. Thus you can see Revelation 12 playing live on television. Everyone hates the Jews; everyone feels sooo sorry for the poooooorrrr Palestinians (who were not even there, the Jews bought the land from the Porte); never mind, that by age nine Each Palestinian Boy Knows How To Make Three Kinds Of Bombs. (That's what I remember seeing a kid tell Diane Sawyer, that in a program she did which aired here in 2003 or 2004 -- nice shot, maybe six boys and her sitting on benches as if at a picnic table, very serene, talking about bombs they learn to make in SCHOOL.) Sheesh. All those roadmaps to nowhere, with the First Article of the PLO Charter being, "Israel has no right to exist." (Clever, since that's invoking the Bible Contract clause of No Temple (e.g., 1Kings 9:7-9), thus again witnessing to Who is the real God.) See? How obvious can Satan make it to the Jews? Hey, dummies, don't you read your own Ta'anach? Get Outta Here. You don't exist as a nation again until the 2nd Advent! Do you see this Dome? Sigh. Well, Elohim Can't Say I Didn't Warn Them.

7. And why does Satan do this? Because in those same time periods, you can see how God has progressively made Scripture available to the common man. In the last 490 -- also beginning within 100 years of its ending -- Bible Was Rolled Out By God For The First Time Since The Crucifixion in the original language-texts, during the mid-1800's. Scripture being available so widely means the Potential For Pleroma Completion Is At An All-Time High. That's The Rapture Criterion, Pleroma Completion by Sufficient Numbers of Believers (focus of Part IVb). So Satan Has To Herd The Jews Quickly, Since The Rapture Is Now More Likely Than At Any Time In History.

   See, you can't get to Pleroma if you don't breathe Bible, and the translations cannot get you there. That's why Scripture was kidnapped for the better part of 18 centuries, and the translations are soo bad. Easy to believe in Christ; but impossible, to reach Pleroma Maturity level, Eph4:13. So those who did reach Pleroma during the last 20 centuries, had access to the original-language texts. A duke, a monk, a charwoman -- who knows. It's God's Power, His "IQ", so the only logistical problem was getting a Full Bible, and Time to Learn it. Very few wanted to do that, but clearly some did, or we'd not be here: one person per 490 years must mature in Bible enough for God to allow the world to go on living. We've now had four such 490s since the Crucifixion: on a contiguous (qualifying-to-renew-time) basis, these deadlines fell in 520AD (Paul probably got that one, followed by someone else post-Canon we can't know who); 1010AD, then 1500 AD, and finally in 1990. So Time after 1990 (the 5th since the Cross) continues because someone got awarded it during the 490 ending in 1990. Five people. Just five. That's entirely possible, no matter how kidnapped Scripture has been.

   God will give anyone who wants His Word, their fill. Full. Pleroma. But now -- must be a whole lot of folks who want That Real Bible. So, they are getting it. Few in percentage, but as we will see in Part IVb -- Very Few are Needed. So the more available the Word in the original-language texts, the more likely the Church will be completed. Tachú. Again, MirrorNOW.htm shows this Rollout of Scripture Real Historical Trend, from 30AD forward. You can check it yourself, with as much or little research as you desire. I can't but sketch out the broad outlines, in MirrorNOW.htm.

   Since we don't know our Bible, we can't read history, either. It's not coincidental that the sudden shubbing of Jews to the Land in the late 1800's -- suddenly getting very nice deals from the Muslim Porte (Turkey, to you) to Buy The Land Back, were occurring in record numbers. By 1905, it had become a whole movement, Jews everywhere getting excited. Just in time, the pogroms in Russia were at an all-time high, too: and just in time, Japan declared war on Russia, which Russia disastrously lost -- which made the pogroms, all the more virulent -- and the need for a 'safe haven', all the more urgent. You had the Dreyfus affair in France, and anti-semitism in America was in one of its uglier periods (we've not really recovered from either racism against blacks, nor against Jews). Go to B'nai Brith or other Jewish organization to get the history. It will open your eyes. God warned the Jews He would chase them with the sword wherever they went, and history proves that Warning. It's all over the Bible, stated in just about every way it can be said (i.e., Lev26:33 and Deut 28:22, with "sword" being a keyword for each whole chapter). It's all over history, too: if you look, that is.

If we don't get this Rapture doctrine right, do you know how much blood is on our heads? Every popular book on the Trib should be Left Behind In The Trash; even every popular Pre-Trib Rapture publication gets it wrong about what happens and why! Every Tribulation movie ever made, is dead off; and hopefully they will all burn up before the Trib begins, lest they cost the lives! of people seeing them, then. We Christians have a lot to answer for, at the Bema.

Think Real Hard: all these books and programs extolling the end times, brother: "feel the reality", one of them says, advertising the movie version. Sheesh. This Is Bad News, and we turn it into a thrill seeking? Is this honoring to the Lord? To Totally Misrepresent The Bible's Explanation of The Events (vomitable, those books and movies) -- and to make the Tribulation into a thrill, besides? Look at the stupidity: Israel is regathered so the Lord must be coming back soon, goody goody. Can we be dumber? That's not at all a good sign, but a Very Very Very Bad Sign the Jews are there! Sitting ducks! They don't even read their own Two Stone Witnesses -- one left behind by Satan, 99+586 years AD!

Don't you know, Jews believe in Messiah, too? But a Coming One. So they think we are mistaken as to Who He is, but Right about the Fact He's Coming. For Messiah's coming is The Hope of Judaism; so anytime anyone anywhere says He's here He's coming, He's coming soon -- they salivate. Why else do you think the Lord warned them in Matt24 to FLEE? To Not Believe Anyone Who Said He Had Come Back???? You don't offer a drug addict drugs; you don't offer an alcholic a drink; you don't offer the Jews a suddenly-returning Messiah. Instead, educate yourself. Then, educate them! He doesn't Return until the very last minute, when WAR in Jerusalem is soo lost, it's the end of the world -- which happens only because Jews foolishly gathered there, in Anticipation of His Coming! It's bleeping Kadesh-Barnea, all over again, Deut1:44 (see context)!

We Should Be Warning Israel To Get Out Of There, not panting over the similarity to the Tribulation because an 'Israel' is there! And because it is similar, what must happen if they go live there, huh? Don't we know for centuries, that the Tribulation is a time of unprecedented pogrom? So why would we want them to be there?? We Christians really are insane! Sure, so long as they are there, We Should Defend Them With Every Breath -- meanwhile, helping them to see that hello -- see that stupid Dome which is an Abomination like Daniel explained, like you remember every Chanukah, for crying out loud? No Temple Until Messiah Returns. Which, as Zechariah explains, is an event happening on a day which is night, so He comes at night making 'day' out of the whole SKY? So you don't need someone to tell you He's Back, you'll see Him in the sky yourself? And the whole world will likewise see Him at the same time?! [Laws of optics: if the object in outer space is in just the right place, the entire world can see it at the same moment.]

If you are sane at all, defend Israel with your life, don't side with the burgeoning 'Christian' trend of anti-semitism. At the same time, analyze yourself how exactly history proves Messiah has Come and Gone which means Israel should not be there: so to save as many Jews as you know, by at least informing them to Do Their Homework. This is a flee period. Satan will keep on using Islam to herd the Jews, and he'll withdraw his sponsorship of Islam in order to herd Jews the more, thinking now they've gotten "peace, peace!" when there never will be peace, until Messiah Returns. It's just an atom bomb, waiting to happen.

Don't crusade, don't join the hundreds of pastors who march on Washington=Egypt to make it 'save' Israel, don't publicize, just quietly Do Your Homework, Grow up in God's System. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, as always. But Your Own Spiritual Growth will do more to protect Israel, so emphasize that. Not someone else's growth, yours. God saved Israel due to Moses. One person. So maybe you or me is the one person needed. Maybe someone else, but one is enough. Grow. God doesn't need Caesar's help: that's how we got into this regathering mess, in the first place, by going to 'Egypt', aka 'Caesar' aka 'the United Nations' (notions!) aka any human government. It's the devil's world, capisce?! You have a Higher Government to Whom you can Appeal. Prayer is a Vote for GOD to be involved, and only the believer has that privilege. So PRAY!

We Christians caused this problem. 2000 years Satan has been trying to get the Jews to shub, and we are responsible for that Trap! But God Will Deliver them. Best thing you or I can do, is Get in and Stay In and Grow Up In God's System! Pray your heart out, the meanwhile! For no one ever delivers the Jews but the God Whose Everlasting Arms, Always Embrace Jacob.

• Because all is FOR the Son, Father blesses by ASSOCIATION with Son;
• so when those in a covenant reject Son, the blessing is re-routed.
• So when votes are negative enough, the covenant changes.
• So due to Israel's rejection of Groom at First Advent, the Covenant Had To Change, but
• Some of the provisions remained open, and some, though closed, couldn't happen until those open, also closed. The marital provisions remained open, and all else was contingent on the Marital Contract being Agreed TO by Bride. But, only the Groom completed the contract.
• So all the promises to Abram forward, depended on Bridal consent, for their later deliverance. So too, all the prophecies about what would PRECEDE that deliverance, i.e., the Tribulation, Daniel's 70th week.
• So the promised official Tribulation cannot begin except by means of the RAPTURE,
• because the Rapture ENDS 'Church',
• for the creation of Church was the Only Way to 'rescue' Daniel's 70th week due to Israel's rejection of Groom.

• So we derive from His Completion, not from Israel, except for 1) the leftover criterion of 'Bride' voting (first 3-tiered white table in "Insures Precedence" intra-page link), and 2) our "time" is stamped with Israel's Dan9:26c (upgraded by Revelation paradigm), historical trends. Because, there are No More Covenants To Issue, No More Historical Trends In God's Design, because Christ Fulfilled the Law. Actually, there was No Time Left for history to run, as you'll see if you spend time (heh) on the "Timeline" link at pagetop.

• Jesus the Christ's Successful Completion (on Cross) of His First Advent thus literally saved and elongated time itself: which is why we even get to be here.

• So the 'rescue' of Daniel's 70th week (and hence all that follows it), is accomplished by God via beginning and ending the "times of the Gentiles" as an OVERLAP with the Jewish Age: 40 years @beginning, and last 7 years. It's a sewing-up, raphah in Him (Isa53:5, applied to history; see also Isa65:15). In between, as one of the two "times of the Gentiles", is Church (Luke 21:24 compared with Matt16:18): beginning at Pentecost, ending with the Rapture.
• That's why, in addition to paying for sins, the Lord had a FIRST Advent, to offer the contract.
• So if no Brideship fulfilled, no 70th week;
• if the 70th week doesn't occur, then the REST of the prophecies don't get fulfilled!
• That's why it was critical that Church BE grafted, in the first place: because the Brideship Covenant Had To Be Fulfilled Before the 70th week could even BEGIN.
• Which explains why the Lord had to Announce, while he was still here "I will build My Church", i.e., in Matt16:18. On Himself, The "Petra" of the Old Testament (LXX) and the AnchorRock (Heb6:18-20) of the New. CORNERSTONE (end Eph2), get it?

  Because, the Trib is the Last "Week" of the Jewish Age; at the end of which, comes the Second Advent. Then the Millennium, "Footstool", the fulfillment of all ISRAEL's covenants. All of them, contingent on, the Lord's Announcement, being FIRST fulfilled. Like it says in Hebrews 11:39-40, apart from us being completed, THEY don't get completed. All written in a scroll of a book...

Of course, the reality that history only continues due to Israel's rejection of Messiah, thus Church continues only until enough Pleroma are BUILT for Messiah, sets a shocking and glorious, beyond-imagination precedent in our contract about Our Role: it's a Numbers Criterion, HOW MANY of us Father Wants to Build for His Son. So He really wants Many Sons, Heb2:10 ("perfect" properly means "completed", teleiow); So Paul isn't kidding around when he writes in Eph3:15-21! God can do anything!