Weekly Readings For the Sabbath of November 13, 2010

Transcription

1 The following Scripture passages are offered to aid beginning fellowships. The readings and commentary for this week are more in line with what has become usual; for the following will most likely be familiar observations. The concept behind this Sabbath s selection is tasting the goodness of God. Weekly Readings For the Sabbath of November 13, 2010 The person conducting the Sabbath service should open services with two or three hymns, or psalms, followed by an opening prayer acknowledging that two or three (or more) are gathered together in Christ Jesus name, and inviting the Lord to be with them. Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married, says the Lord. Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities. Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. For the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off,

2 says your God. For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer. This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you. (Isa 54:1 10 emphasis added) The Apostle Paul, in his tour de force allegory of two covenants being represented by two women, Hagar and Sarah, writes, For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written, Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband. Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman. So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman. (Gal 4:22 31) Borrowing from Isaiah, Paul contends that the barren woman yet to experience labor pains is the Jerusalem that is above, or heavenly Jerusalem, the Tasting the Goodness of God Sabbath Readings Page 2

3 city found within Sabbath observance, with Sabbath observance being the earthly representation of entering into God s rest [heaven] for circumcised-ofheart Israel. The children of the barren woman are of promise for they were not born when the prophet Isaiah wrote. Now taking Paul s identification to the prophet Isaiah s verse thought couplets does the identification work? Are there more Christians than there are Jews? There are, a billion plus versus 40 million. Will the theological offspring of Christendom possess nations and people other theologies? They will, for everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them (Zech 14:16 17). But in an age when all of the world knows the Lord for the breath of God has been poured out on all flesh; in an age when the Torah is written on hearts and placed in minds through the Son of Man being the prince of the power of the air, the Jerusalem to which Christians will come isn t earthly Jerusalem but the heavenly city; for the survivors who came against Jerusalem will then be spiritual Israelites Jesus told His disciples, Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it (Matt 13:17); for the prophets of old, in visions and by the word of Lord, heard what they did not fully understand and saw what they could barely imagine. Their repeated visions disclosed a reality in this world, with the transcription of the reality [the historical record] in turn forming the shadow and copy of endtime heavenly events. Thus by the testimony of two or three witnesses, with the vision of a prophet forming one witness, a thing is established, with the historical transcription of what was established then becoming the earthly testimony of one witness of a heavenly reality that could otherwise not be seen or known. So with the historical transcription of two earthly testimonies such as the account of the first Adam receiving the breath of life (Gen 2:7) and the account of the second or last Adam (see 1 Cor 15:45; Rom 5:14) receiving a second breath of life, the breath of God [ ] (Matt 3;16) the heavenly reality that the barren woman would give life to more children than her who has a husband is established. But the Apostle Paul identifies disciples as spiritual Isaac it wasn t only Isaac that was born by promise: Esau and Jacob were also born by promise from a barren womb, And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren [for 20 years]. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. The children struggled together within her, and she said, If it is thus, why is this happening to me? So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger. Tasting the Goodness of God Sabbath Readings Page 3

4 When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. (Gen 25:21 26) So Paul s allegory will have a second application: the barren woman was not only represented by Sarah, but is also represented by Rebekah and contained within the question of whether the theological offspring of Christendom will possess nations and people other theologies is the reality of prophecy: the barren Zion will give birth to a land in a day (Isa 66:8); she will bring forth three sons, a spiritual Abel at the Second Passover liberation if Israel, a spiritual Cain 220 days later, and a spiritual Seth on the doubled day 1260 of the seven endtime years, with this last son being accepted by God for enduring in faith to the end (see Matt 24:13; 10:22). She will bring forth two peoples in a day, a spiritual Esau that will desire to kill his brother, and a spiritual Jacob that must wrestle with God. Three dimensional television images have become a reality, but as with threedimensional movies of decades ago, special 3-D television glasses must be worn to correct the two closely-aligned images and covert them into one image moving now to spiritual shadowing, the stories of the births of Cain and Abel, and of Esau and Jacob form two closely aligned shadows of one reality, the Second Passover liberation of Israel, and because these two historical birth sequences form the mirror image [with birth orders reversed] of one reality, a 3-D version of this reality can be seen. Endtime saints can see what the prophets of old desired to see but could not. The barren woman of Paul s allegory is the Church, the Body of Christ that has st been dead since the end of the 1 -Century, with death coming through the collective loss of the spirit of God, the breath of the Father [ ], meaning that about when the earthly temple was razed by Roman soldiers [ca 70 CE], the Father quit drawing sons of disobedience from this world. No longer was the spirit given. Thus, as those disciples born of spirit aged physically and died, no replacements entered into the Body of Christ; so when the Apostle John dies nd at the very beginning of the 2 -Century (ca CE), the Body of Christ that had been crucified with Christ died from loss of breath, how crucifixion kills. For the next 1900 years, the Body would remain dead even though the glorified Christ Jesus as the last Elijah began to lay over the Body and breath life into the Body as the first Elijah lay over the dead son of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:17 24) to breath life into the lad: beginning about 1528 CE and with the ministry of the Anabaptist Andreas Fischer, the last Elijah began to figuratively give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation of the dead Body of Christ, with those disciples into whom the last Elijah breathed His breath sampling the goodness of God. What does it mean to sample the goodness of God without actually being born of God? Doesn t sampling the goodness of God eternal life necessarily mean being born of God through receiving a second breath of life, the breath of God [ ]? Tasting the Goodness of God Sabbath Readings Page 4

5 The EMT [usually] who administers mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a person who has stopped breathing on his or her own blows the EMT s breath into the person s lungs, with the EMT s breath then, hopefully, carried to the person s brain, the reason for rhythmically compressing the person s chest [to get the heart to pump]. The person often a drowning victim has his or her life sustained through the EMT s breath until the person either returns to breathing on his or her own, or is pronounced dead. And the first Elijah practiced some form of modern mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the son of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:17 24); for Elijah lay over the boy (v. 21), his body heat warming the body of the lad. The inner fire that sustained Elijah s physical life [that of cellular oxidation] was transferred via direct contact to the lad as a type of the last Elijah laying over the dead Body of Christ and transferring His spirit [ ] to disciples. An EMT doesn t administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a person who is breathing on his or her own, but to a person who is not breathing on his or her own. Thus, the last Elijah will not lay over the living Body of Christ, but over the dead Body. In Paul s allegory, the Body of Christ was alive, with the Jerusalem above being the mother of a living son of God, a spiritual Isaac. Paul wrote, Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise (Gal 4;28). He didn t write, were children of promise, for the brothers were then living. Paul also said that disciples are individually and collectively the Body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27) a man does not marry his body, but his bride. Thus, a separation must occur that transforms the Body of Christ into a separately living Bride whom the Son will marry on His wedding day. As an individual Christian representing the Body of Christ, the person either has or doesn t have indwelling eternal life, with the person who has genuinely been born of God through having received a second breath of life, the breath of the Father, being foreknown by the Father and predestined to conform to the image of Christ Jesus. To be conformed to the image of the Son means that outwardly, the Christian walks as Jesus walked, living like a Judean in an anti- Semitic world. The person remains in the world but no longer is of the world; for the Father has drawn this person from the world (John 6:44). And the evidence that the person is not of this world is in the person outwardly keeping the Sabbath as the visible evidence of the person s inner desire to obey and serve God with heart and mind. Every other Christian, regardless of what the Christian believes about him or herself, especially those who take pride in not doing those things that are Jewish such as keeping the Sabbath every other Christian is inwardly dead. Those who would take the kingdom of heaven by force (Matt 11:12) are not foreknown and predestined sons of God that conform to the image of Christ, but remain as sons of disobedience who, having heard a good argument and seeking to save their lives, have professed with their mouths that Jesus is Lord even though in their hearts they refuse to be conformed to His image and likeness. If the individual has indwelling eternal life, the person has received a second breath of life, the breath of God [ ], and the inner self of the person Tasting the Goodness of God Sabbath Readings Page 5

6 has been raised from the dead by the Father (John 5:21) as a son of the Father, a younger sibling to Christ Jesus. The person has truly been born of spirit [ ]. But the inner self of the individual who has not received a second breath of life has not been raised from death regardless of how many times the individual professes with his or her mouth that Jesus is Lord; for Jesus is not the person s Lord. If Jesus were, then the person would strive to walk as Jesus walked, thereby living in this world as an observant Judean. As a collective, the Church either has or doesn t have indwelling eternal life When every individual Christian has indwelling eternal life in the form of the breath of God in Christ Jesus, the Church will, as a collective, have indwelling eternal life. However, when only those Christians who are foreknown and predestined have indwelling eternal life and all other Christians, regardless of what they profess and believe, remain inwardly dead as they strive to take the kingdom by force, the Church as a collective is as a drowned person who still has a spark of life in a body that is not breathing on its own. Outwardly, the body appears dead and would be dead if life is not breathed into the body through some form of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The greater Christian Church does not today have indwelling eternal life but is spiritually as Israel in Egypt was physically, with Israel s slave status corresponding to the dead inner selves of the greater Christian Church. However, Moses was a circumcised Israelite, a Levite, and Moses was not physically a slave, with his exile [to Midian] status corresponding to the living inner selves of those disciples who are foreknown by the Father and predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. In a metaphorical sense, Moses represents both those disciples who are predestined and represents the senior of the two witnesses, with Moses also representing Christ Jesus as a type of the prophet that was to come (see Deut 18:15). Hence, those disciples for whom Moses forms a shadow and type will have been called to be justified and glorified in order that the Son might be the firstborn of many brothers (Rom 8:29 30). Note what Paul wrote: conformed to the image of the son of him. Traditionally, this phrase has been understood to mean that saints would be glorified as Jesus was glorified, and that meaning is certainly in being predestined to be called, justified, and glorified. But to be conformed to the image of Christ Jesus also means that those whom the Father foreknew will also walk like Jesus walked, doing those things that Jesus did. To be conformed to the image of Christ requires that the person live as an observant Jew, how Jesus lived, without necessarily being outwardly circumcised. To be conformed to the image of Christ also means that the disciple [in this case, the senior of the two witnesses] will do the works that Jesus did, or better, do the mirror image of the works that Jesus did, thus having power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as [the witnesses] desire (Rev 11:6). Instead of healing, the two witnesses will kill through drought and plague as they work to topple spiritual Babylon, the single kingdom of this world. And as Jesus provoked the Pharisees and Sadducees through healing the affirmed and bringing life to the dead, the two witnesses will provoke greater Tasting the Goodness of God Sabbath Readings Page 6

7 Christendom through plagues that bring death to Christians who mix the sacred with the profane to create poisonous fruit that must not be allowed to ripen. Therefore, when the Second Passover liberation of Israel occurs and all of Christendom is filled with and empowered by the breath of God [ ] and no distinction is made between the saints, the barren woman that is the Church will have given birth to a son, a spiritual Abel. All of Christendom will then be known by the Father and the Son, and all Christians will walk as observant Jews or will rebel against God. All who would take the kingdom by force will choose and will have the power to enforce their decision to either live as observant Jews without necessarily being outwardly circumcised (for the saints are those who keep the commandments and their faith in Christ Jesus Rev 14:12), or will choose to rebel against God, with the revealing of the lawless one [the man of perdition] and the great Apostasy (2 Thess 2:3) forming the birth of a spiritual Cain. Thus, those Christians who are today in lawless denominations and sects will either believe their inner selves that the commandments are to be kept by faith when they are filled-with and empowered by the breath of God at the Second Passover liberation of Israel, or they will ignore the Law of God that has been written on their hearts and return-to or remain in rebellion to God. It will be their choice, but only a choice they can make for 220 days ala Israel s rebellion in the wilderness of Paran (Num chap 14). When the last Elijah first gave figurative mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the th Church in the 16 -Century, with the dead Body of Christ being buried by Emperor Constantine at the Council of Nicea [ca 325 CE] 1200 years earlier, the evidence of this attempt to restore life to the Church is found in the ministry of the Sabbatarian Anabaptist, Andreas Fischer. The evidence of this first attempt to restore life to the Church is actually larger than the ministry of one man: this evidence is found in the entirety of the Reformation Movement, but only one man and his disciples could be said to have breathed on their own, with Fischer s disciples having mostly disappeared from the historical record within forty years of Fischer s death. th The Christians forming the 16 -Century Reformation Movement sampled/tasted the goodness of God when the last Elijah breathed His breath into the Church, but because they did not walk as Jesus walked and would not believe the writings of Moses and thus believe the words of Jesus (see John 5:46 47), these Christians account for the vast majority of the Reformation losing the breath of God when the last Elijah took a break from laying over the dead Church. As individuals, they could not be restored to God for having tasted of eternal life, no sacrifice remained for them and their theological descendants, never having tasted of the goodness of God regardless of what they claim, form the greater Christian Church that is as Israel was in Egypt when a king arose who did not respect Joseph (Ex 1:8). Movement occurred once the last Elijah stood after His first attempt to restore life to the Church: instead of laying over all of Christendom the second time when He breathed His breath into the Church, He laid over Sabbatarian Anabaptists who as a collective temporarily breathed on their own during His first attempt to Tasting the Goodness of God Sabbath Readings Page 7

8 th restore life His second attempt ended in the 20 -Century with the ministry of Herbert W. Armstrong, who, in 1962, rejected revelation. His third attempt then began forty years later in But as the theological descendants of the Reformation were not a part of the last Elijah s second attempt to breath life into the Church, the Sabbatarian churches of God that are theological descendants of the second attempt will not be a part of the third and successful attempt, when all of Christendom will be born of spirit at the Second Passover. Rather, all of the saints that keep the commandments and their faith in Jesus to the end will come from the work presently being done by Philadelphia. The last Elijah lay over the dead Body of Christ to breath life into this spiritual corpse in anticipation of the Father giving His spirit [His breath] to all Christians at the Second Passover liberation of Israel: what happened when the last Elijah first breathed life into the dead Body of Christ was that all Christians, regardless of creed, tasted of the goodness of God. But all was reduced to Sabbatarian Anabaptists for the last Elijah s second attempt Jesus said that the Son does what He sees the Father do (John 5:19); so the last Elijah s (Christ Jesus ) first attempt to breath life into the dead Church forms a shadow and type of the Father filling all of Christendom with His breath at the Second Passover. And here is where the analogy becomes complex from lack of having previously attempted to give voice to it: the movement from the last Elijah laying over all of Christendom in His first attempt to restore life to the greater Church to the last Elijah laying over all Sabbatarian Anabaptists in His second attempt foreshadows the inverse movement of the Father giving indwelling eternal life to all Christians at the Second Passover to the Father giving indwelling eternal life to all of humankind when the single kingdom of this world is taken from the four kings and the little horn and given to the Son of Man (Dan 7:9 14; Rev 11:15) on the doubled day 1260 of the seven endtime years. The physical precedes the spiritual (1 Cor 15:46), and the visible reveals the invisible (Rom 1:20). And Jesus as the last Elijah twice breathing His breath into the Corpse of Christ in anticipation of the Father twice baptizing human beings in His breath forms the visible type of an invisible reality: The Reformation for Protestants and Anabaptists, and the reforms of the Council of Trent for the Universal Church, together, form the historically visible mirror image of the Holy Spirit being poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28) when the kingdom of this world is given to the Son of Man. The last Elijah breathing His breath into Sabbatarian Anabaptists from th th the 17 to the mid 20 Centuries forms the historically visible shadow and copy of the Holy Spirit being given to every Christian at the Second Passover liberation of Israel. The seven endtime years of tribulation will see a spiritual Cain kill his righteous brother, and will see a deceitful Sabbatarian Christendom wrestle with God and prevail through persistence. But what s of most importance is that all who have tasted of the goodness of God will experience their only chance to be saved, meaning that all physically living Christians on the morning following the Tasting the Goodness of God Sabbath Readings Page 8

9 Second Passover liberation of Israel will, through being filled with spirit, taste of the goodness of God; the next seven years will be their only time of salvation. And they must endure in faith to the end to be saved. However, the remainder of humankind those persons who do not identity themselves as Christians when the Second Passover occurs will not taste of the goodness of God until the kingdom of this world is given to the Son of Man. Now, taking the reality seen in John s vision and in Daniel s visions, and returning to the last Elijah s second attempt to breathe life into the Church: every Sabbatarian who believed the writings of Moses and heard the words of Jesus tasted the goodness of God for three and a half centuries. Through having the last Elijah breathe life into their inner selves, Christians who were Sabbatarians and who were unable to breathe spiritually on their own, could breathe spiritually as long as they stayed closely attached to Christ Jesus as closely attached as a nonbreathing person is to his or her rescuer who delivers mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the non-breathing person. This means that the Christians who spoke the words of Jesus and who believed and lived those words that he or she spoke had indwelling eternal life before it was time for the Body of Christ to be raised from death. This life was/is that of Christ Jesus, and this is simply another way of saying what Paul said: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in [ ] Christ Jesus (Rom 6:23). Until the Second Passover liberation of Israel, the Body of Christ cannot breathe on its own, but has indwelling eternal life through the indwelling of Christ Jesus, who remains as tightly linked to disciples as the inner self is to the outer self. This also means that because the person must remain tightly linked to Christ Jesus, any separation from Christ will cause the person to die spiritually. And after having sampled/tasted the goodness of God, the person who dies spiritually through separation from Christ Jesus cannot be restored to Christ but is doomed to death in the lake of fire. The Christian who denies Christ and any Christian can deny Christ by not walking as He walked; by denying that He is the creator of all that has been made; by placing importance on the flesh and upon physical things such as wealth, earthly Jerusalem, or human utterance [i.e., how the name of Jesus is pronounced] the Christian who, when in a far land [outside of Sabbath observance], will not obey the Lord and keep His commandments and turn to the Lord with heart and mind shall not live, but shall perish in his or her unbelief. For the Son shall deny this disciple before the Father, and once denied, there is no hope for the disciple. This means that those Sabbatarians Christians who were once part of Herbert Armstrong s ministry tasted the goodness of God through the last Elijah breathing His breath into them; therefore, those who did not continue in Sabbath observance, or those who continued to be physically-minded, having tasted eternal life, cannot be restored to God for they refused to love the truth when they had truth breathed into them. st What 1 -Century disciples did not understand was that the spiritual Body of Christ had to die as the earthly body of Jesus died, and that this spiritual Body of Christ would be resurrected from death after the third day of the Genesis chapter Tasting the Goodness of God Sabbath Readings Page 9

10 one creation account, with this resurrection from death coming through the barren woman [spiritual Zion] giving birth to a nation in a day (Isa 66:8), with the labor pains of the barren woman s childbirth coming after [not before] the birth (v. 7) of a spiritual Abel, with her pains coming in the form of the Affliction, the first 1260 days of the seven endtime years. The individual Christian that is foreknown by the Father and predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son is called to be justified and glorified in order that the Son might be the firstborn of many brothers (Rom 8:29 30). Other Christians will have to figuratively take the kingdom by force through demonstrated obedience again, the individual Christian that is known to the Father from the foundation of the world does not have to take the kingdom by force but is as John the Baptist was, and this Christian was sculpted and shaped to conform to the image of Christ before he or she was called by God. Whereas those Christians who seek to take the kingdom by force will be given indwelling eternal life when the Church collectively breathes on its own following the Second Passover liberation of Israel, those Sabbatarian Anabaptists who would take the kingdom by force during the last Elijah s second attempt to breath life into the Church will keep the life they temporarily received through demonstrated obedience. In anticipation of when a second breath of life is given to all who identify themselves as Christians, Christ Jesus as the last Elijah has laid over the dead Body of Christ and has breathed His breath into this Body to rekindle the flames of eternal life. Christians who would spiritually breathe on their own will believe the writings of Moses; they will then hear and believe the words of Jesus (John 5:46 47). And by hearing and believing the words of Jesus, they keep the word [message] Jesus left with His disciples and will therefore not come under judgment (John 12:48; 5:24). Rather, they will pass from death to life without coming under judgment in anticipation of when the Torah will be written on hearts and placed in minds of all Christians at the Second Passover liberation of Israel a liberation of outer selves from indwelling sin and death as well as a making alive of inner selves that have not already been made alive by the Father. The third and final attempt by the last Elijah to breathe life into the Church would seem to coincide with the Father s Second Passover liberation of Israel, but in actuality the final attempt comes when the Son baptizes the world in spirit [the breath of God] when the kingdom of this world is given to the Son of Man although it would not be technically wrong to say that the third attempt comes with the Second Passover; for the birth of Seth came as a replacement for Abel, whom Cain killed (Gen 4:25). The outpouring of the spirit on all of humankind comes as a result of a spiritual Cain killing his righteous brother, born of the barren woman at the Second Passover. The seventy weeks prophecy that was given to Daniel broke those weeks up into three periods seven weeks, sixty-two weeks, and one week with the last period broken into two one-half week periods. The man [angel] Gabriel told the prophet Daniel, Tasting the Goodness of God Sabbath Readings Page 10

11 Seventy weeks [sevens] are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixtytwo weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its [His] end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator. (9:24 27) The going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem is a physically problematic expression, for Cyrus in 539 BCE gave orders to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. But 483 years later [46 BCE] is an apparently inconsequential year in the history of Israel. From 37 to 40 BCE, Parthia supported a contender that ruled Jerusalem in opposition to Roman rule. But otherwise, the period was fairly quiet. The Jerusalem that is the mother of circumcised-of-heart Israelites is the heavenly city, the Christian Church, the barren woman until the Second Passover liberation of Israel, when Zion would deliver a son before she was in labor, before her pains came upon her. It is this Jerusalem that is the Jerusalem of record at the end of the age, not the earthly city. It is to this Jerusalem that all of the families of the earth shall come to keep the Feast of Booths (Zech 14:16) in the Millennium. It is this Jerusalem from which living waters shall flow, half of them to the eastern sea and half to the western sea (v. 8), with the linguistic icon sea representing humanity as it does in the poetics of Genesis chapter one and as it does in Daniel chapter seven and Revelation chapter thirteen. And the three periods representing the 70 weeks when the temple of God would be restored are that of the Reformation and the ministry of Andreas Fischer in particular [7 weeks]; the ministry of Sabbatarian Anabaptists and the Sabbatarian churches of God in particular [62 weeks]; and the seven endtime years of tribulation, the Affliction and the Endurance [1 week of two half-weeks]. th The order to restore and build Jerusalem went out in the 16 -Century, with st that restoration coming in the 21 -Century. th Those Sabbatarian disciples of the mid and late 20 -Century who have not continued in well-doing but who seemed to have the spirit of God for some period of time were not born of God as predestined sons but tasted of the goodness of God through the last Elijah laying over His dead Body, the Church. Most of Sabbatarians never claimed they were born of God, but rather, vigorously denied that they were born of God and this apparently was the case. The evidence of Tasting the Goodness of God Sabbath Readings Page 11

12 having the spirit that was observed came from the last Elijah laying over these disciples and giving them figurative mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. But that mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was enough sampling of the goodness of God that these disciples cannot be renewed to Christ, which is sad in the way that human death is sad for those left behind to grieve. * The person conducting the Sabbath service should close services with two hymns, or psalms, followed by a prayer asking God s dismissal. * * * * * "Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. reserved." [ Home ] [ Sabbath Readings ] Tasting the Goodness of God Sabbath Readings Page 12