Advancing the Revelation of Truth

Construction upon The Foundation

Part 1

Introduction

A journey into the unknown requires courage, fortitude and a sense of adventure. Many familiar landscapes are left behind and viewed from a new direction. The environment of the journey does not change but is viewed with new eyes and a new mind.

We are called upon to worship God in Spirit and in Truth. In Spirit, yes, because we have chosen the one True Mediator between ourselves and God, our Saviour, The Son of Man, Jesus Christ, The One we now recognise as The Lord of all creation, The Expression of God and our teacher.

But what about Truth ?  Do we pay heed to the preacher ?

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.

Thus you will walk in the ways of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous.  For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it;  but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it.       [Proverbs chapter 2]

Many of us, by default, ignore this work, never checking that the people who teach us, correctly report what God has said. What we learned in Sunday School, Youth Classes and Church Bible readings remains the limit of our personal doctrine. The ultimate adventure of God's Word remains untried because either it is easier to sit and listen, or we mistakenly regard the traveling tools too difficult to handle.  

Any Christian dedicated to 'looking for it as for silver and searching for it as for hidden treasure' knows that he must 'call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding', without which his work is sterile.

And what about Spiritual maturity?  I used to assume that as I grew older under the work of Christ, I would naturally mature, but, do I even seek to be mature?  The writer to the Hebrews tells us that the sincere milk of the word is for the immature:

As an Evangelical Christian I suffered the constant repetition of those highlighted parts of doctrine, not realising that to understand God and His purposes meant real effort and dedication, more important than telling others of His Salvation. After all conveying the message of Salvation is but one of those tasks of a Christian, whose knowledge of God and His needs forms the foundation of his life.

Increasing maturity based upon this principle of The Knowledge of Good and Evil is difficult, but fascinating because its outcome is our privilege to truly perceive God's plans and purposes. Most Christians are satisfied with their activity of Bible readings with comments, called Bible Study. This is a misnomer. To study the Scriptures it is necessary to examine the meaning of the God breathed Hebrew and Greek words, without which there are only men's interpretation and translation. This must be done because No prophecy of the Scripture is of its own interpretation. [2Peter 1:20]  Even so, true Bible study as such is only a step towards Scripture Research.  Scripture Research involves the examination of the perfect structure of these God breathed documents and the recognition that underlying the languages is a perfect  word structure based upon the numerical value of the Hebrew and Greek letters. These are God designed aids which the dedicated student uses in his attempt to rightly divide The Word of God. It is at this point that most Christians turn away from such mental exercise, being content to rely upon their self appointed leaders for their doctrine of faith, OR worse still, accepting the advice of  priests or 'Elders' in order to take the easy path to avoid the self satisfied advice that there is no 'superior' knowledge.

Other Christians, motivated by The Spirit of God, cannot wait to be shown the way.  There is this example in The Old Testament:  Moses knew that the promised land of Canaan had to be taken and occupied, so after he had introduced the Law and organised the construction of the Tabernacle, 

The twelve tribes had been rescued from Egypt, consolidated and given an intimate relationship with their God, just as we now are in Christ Jesus. Our doctrine of Salvation is firmly established. We have no need to re-establish it by constant repetition. The Israelites are told to advance and meet the enemy face to face, and as we know, often in intimate battle. We have every need to make use of our traveling  tools on the journey of fascinating discovery, and reject the comfortable status quo, which often opposes our acceptance of greater understanding, and because the journey of maturity does not conform to our existing belief structure. Even as the Israelites, we shall experience many self appointed 'leaders' who are holding down the truth in unrighteousness because they fear the loss of their authority.

Some Christian authorities claim that to examine and 'pull apart' the Christian Scriptures in an effort to understand what God is really saying,  is to dishonour Him. That is not what the Scriptures themselves say, as we have seen in the quotation. The Scriptures are a challenge to our faith.........do we really desire to know God?  As above, the Wisdom of Solomon says:

To move forward in understanding we need to accept the challenge of new thoughts and actions which the close study of The Word of God reveals. Here are a few quotations from men of worldly experience regarding this challenge of change:

The soft-minded man always fears change. He feels security in the status quo and he has an almost morbid fear of the new. For him, the greatest pain is the pain of a new idea. Martin Luther King

Change does not change tradition, it strengthens it. Change is a challenge and an opportunity, not a threat. Prince Phillip

Progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds, cannot change anything. George Bernard Shaw

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. Richard Buckminster Fuller

Are we prepared to accept any changes that the traveling tools reveal?  Are we prepared to take on the hardships of learning to use our tools to best effect?  Are we prepared to overcome the disappointments of having to discard erroneous beliefs, to open our minds to the teaching of The Spirit of God alone, tasks which require persistent effort and concentration?  To open ourselves to the ridicule of Christian friends who hold conventional Evangelical or Orthodox beliefs.   If you are, then read on and enjoy the journey, checking the construction at each step to assure yourself that you can safely accept the edifice.

If you have no mind to give yourself to this Scripture Research, practicing and learning the use of the tools which have been crafted over generations, then read no further because what follows will not be acceptable to you.

With considerable advantage, I was brought up attending a Congregational Sunday School between the ages of five to fifteen years, whilst a member, first of the cubs then of the scouts. At school I was tutored in English, French and German Grammar amongst a variety of other subjects. Because of this training in languages, I had no difficulty when later I came to study the elements of Biblical Greek and Hebrew.   The Second World War disrupted this early beginning, bringing to an end my initial religious training. There followed Industrial engineering training in Technical Colleges whilst working in Drawing Offices, having volunteered for the R.A.F., trained for aircrew,  ITW as an A.T.C. Flight Sergeant and Aircraft Recognition Instructor.  In the Police Messenger Service for a period whilst performing the usual Fire Watching and 'Aerospotter' duties in the workplace. 

At the end of the war, continuing my engineering and design training in industry, attending colleges for over ten years studying not only mechanics but also practical aesthetics,  I became involved in the resolution of an international problem. I did not realise that after persisting through many years, it would lead to an almost unbelievable resolution. With a number of friends, we formed a group to research this problem and spent many hours reading about and discussing its resolution. This caused me to visit and then to attend a local Church of England where the Rector had made this problem a personal study. He offered help, even joining in with our group discussions.

Most of us in this group found our Christian roots were renewed. We began to recognise the importance of forming a relationship with the source of all knowledge, Jesus Christ. This became increasingly important to me during regular attendance the local Church, listening intently each Sunday evening to the hours of blackboard teaching by the Church Rector, who used the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures of The God Breathed Word to explain, first the foundation of the Christian Faith, and secondly to introduce details of the Structure of belief which is built upon that foundation. He was a diligent and careful teacher who delighted in setting up special classes to introduce interested students to the elements of the grammar of the Koinee Greek Scriptures.

One day, during the Spring of  1958, I found myself weeding the front lawn of our newly built home. My wife and I had recently bought a load of what the supplier had called 'top soil' to level the garden surface, a title which the material did not deserve because it was not 'the tops', being riddled with weeds, particularly those of the 'mare's tail' variety. These alone had grown up about five or six inches enabling me to easily pluck them from the 'soil'.  During this weeding activity, my mind was occupied with much of the fascinating new things that I was learning. Suddenly, a thunderclap of mind occurred.  Whilst bending down, plucking at the offending growth.............the intense meaning of the phrase 'The Lamb of God' was revealed to me. All through my life to this point I had always defended the belief that Jesus Christ was the manifestation of God Himself, but had never grasped the reality of His atoning death which this phrase revealed. I was overjoyed to now recognise that I myself had a personal relationship with Christ through His Spirit, not provable, but very real. See here

The foundation of my life was no longer a rickety, changeable, self construction, but one which was perfectly formed, being worked by God. Totally reliable, and when trusted would lead to a developed, mature and perfect relationship with God Himself. 

This I readily absorbed. The foundation was laid and upon it I began to build, following what others had learnt in their walk as Evangelical  Christians.

They gather together in churches or fellowship groups, as the examples described in the New Testament. As individuals and as fellowships they honour The Lord Jesus Christ as God their Father and seek to grow in His character. They practice the Love of God towards their neighbours and  amongst themselves by sharing, praying and receiving teaching from the Scriptures which are accepted as God's Word. They practice baptism for believers. Overjoyed in the knowledge of their Salvation, they seek by every means to pass this wonderful news to others. They regard to-day's Church as a pale reflection of that described in the Scriptures. Because of this, they give constant attention to God's Word and encourage all to read it regularly. They regard their activities as being part of the prophesied Kingdom of God, applying them, together with the parables of Christ, to all their worship in relation to God Himself.

They look for a time when Christ will return and gather them up to be with Him always. Following this, they expect a period of great tribulation on the earth which they will not experience, during which time 144000 Jews will be converted to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.  Because they believe that the rest of the Jews have rejected Jesus Christ as their King, they understand that they, the Gentile Christians, will live in the coming thousand year Kingdom of God with Christ as their King. This they believe will be imposed over all the earth. During this period Christ's Adversary is locked away. After this they expect a great judgement following the release of the Adversary who organises the last rebellion. When all of God's creation in Heaven and upon Earth is united there will follow a New Heavens and a New Earth.

At the time of The Temple's destruction, around 69/70ad, God reveals to Paul the details of the 'hidden' Administration of His Grace. Paul then writes to: the Colossians and 'Ephesians:

When Paul writes to the Christians at Philippi, he does not call himself an apostle [no longer having a  commission from God] but rather a servant of Jesus Christ. Up to the point of his meeting in Rome, his commission, as the other apostles, had been involved with the building up of the Kingdom in Israel:

1. Paul is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Nations, and kings, and the children of Israel [Acts 9:15] .......Unto the Nations now I send thee, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me [Acts 26:18].

Subsequently, in his letters to the 'Ephesian' and the Colossian Saints and Faithful he again calls himself an  apostle. Here we find these statements which describe another, his second commission:

1.  The Administration of The Grace of God, which is given to me for you, For, by revelation the secret is made known to me,......... To, me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace granted: to herald among the nations the good message of the untraceable wealth of Christ, Even, to enlighten all as to God’s secret administration, which has been concealed from the eons in God, Who creates all these, That, now to the sovereignties and the authorities among the most elevated may be made known, through the out called One, the manifold wisdom of God. In accord, with the purpose of the eons, which He makes in Christ Jesus our Lord, [Eph 3:1-9]. See also here.

2.   Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the Administration of God which is given to me for you, to complete the word of God;  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we proclaim, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man mature in Christ Jesus: [Colossians 1:24-28]

Paul tells us in both these letters, that up to the time of writing them, this Administration of a Mystery has been hidden from the angelic hierarchy [the eons], the sovereignties and the authorities among the most elevated.  

Since therefore his commission had changed by the time he came to write to these new  Christians, the previous seven letters and those to Timothy and Titus, were written and authorised under his first commission which ended shortly after 62ad. It is known that Paul's three letters to the 'Ephesian' and Colossian Christians, including that to his friends in the household of Philemon, were written much later....68 to 71ad.

It is worth noting at this point that this Administration of God's Grace is named as  a mystery  defined in the original Greek as mustErion. It is not called a secret [kruptos], although both words imply something hidden. It is the privilege of a Christian, that is a person chosen by God and having the Spirit of God, to receive the understanding of a mystery through the teaching of The Spirit, by prayer and supplication. Many Christians do not avail themselves of this privilege, and are kept in ignorance concerning The Mystery of The Administration of the Grace of God by many ignorant teachers who 'hold down the Truth in unrighteousness'. Jesus taught His disciples about the mysteries of The Kingdom of Heaven......... 'It is given unto you to know the mysteries of The Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not given. For whomsoever hath, to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away, even that he hath'. away, even that he hath.'

Summarising:  After Paul's announcement in Rome during his first commission, in 62ad he wrote his letters to Timothy and Titus instructing them in the revised order of new and existing Churches caused by God's commissioned message passing from the Jew to the Nations. After his new mind described in Philippians, he received his second commission.  The order of these Pauline letters therefore, is as follows:

• First letter to Timothy

• Letter to Titus

• Second letter to Timothy

•        Letter to Philippians

• Letter to the 'Ephesians'

• Letter to Philemon

• Letter to the Colossians

The letter to the Colossian Christians is placed last because of Paul's statement:

Wherefore I am made a minister according to the Administration of God which is given to me for you to complete the Word of God.  [Colossians 1:25]

The Second letter to Timothy is placed before his letter to the Philippian Christians because it was his last under the course [Acts 20:24] of his first commission:

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.  2Timothy 4:7

The letter to the new 'Ephesian' Jewish Christians, whom Paul had never met, was probably written after the destruction of the Temple in 69-70ad because of his reference:

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.   [Ephesians 2:19]

Following the recognition of all these changes in my understanding, the reader might well ask: What then was the purpose of this newly revealed Administration of God's Grace?

God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. [Ephesians 2:6-7]

As trophies of God's Grace, we will be displayed in the eons to come.

So, this new Administration began when God called a halt in 62ad, to the development of His Kingdom in Israel. It began by 'overlapping' the residual period in which the Christians belonging to the Kingdom were living. Thus for a period, both Administrations were co-existing. This period between 62ad and 70ad was a Transition. 

Many, many Christians living to-day, during this Administration of God's Grace, follow the order of 'churches' described by Paul in his letters to Timothy and Titus, some even attempting to impose the order of those Jewish churches defined by Paul's earlier letters to the Corinthians, Thessalonians, Galations and Romans. They do not recognise the character of this Administration which is based upon family circumstances [Philemon, Colossians 3:17-21, 'Ephesians' 5:21 to 6:4] and not upon 'church' gatherings. It is Paul's prayer however:

that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and Spiritual understanding;  That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God   [Colossians 1:9]

that The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance among in the saints.  [Ephesians 1:17]

 

The Kingdom of God in Israel

Because of this increase in my understanding it was impossible for me to continue to believe that the prophesies and parables relating to The Kingdom of God applied to the present World Church. This Kingdom was and will  be determined only for the Twelve Tribes of Israel until such time as God applies His Power to Govern over all the earth:

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying "The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever" Revelation 11:15

The postponement of the establishment of this Kingdom is not permanent however, because there are many prophetic statements in both the New and Old Testaments that must be fulfilled.

The questions you would ask would be: [1] When then will the Kingdom of God recommence?  and:   [2] When does this Administration end?

[1]  At His choosing, God will reverse the condition of Spiritual blindness and deafness imposed upon the Jews:

Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. [Isaiah 35:4-5]

[2]  When God ceases to show His 'unmerited favour' to all mankind, without the consequences of judgement despite their evil activity, Christ will be manifested with those that are His, in glorious light:

all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. Ephesians 5:13-14

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:3-4

The chart must therefore be changed to include this improved understanding:

The Last Days

Whilst adjusting to the remarkable conditions of this present Administration of God's Grace, where there is no law and no judgement, I was drawn to consider all the prophetic statements concerning 'The Last Days'. As I studied them, the conviction grew that each statement related to a specific period of time, the time described in the gospels and the Acts period, and that period immediately preceding the Second Coming of The Lord Jesus Christ. There are two main reasons for this:

[1]  The definite article preceded all Scriptural uses of the phrase [The Last Days] in the Old Testament, but not always in the New. The use of the definite article in the O.T. must therefore define one particular period. The Last Days are not defined in the N.T. This strongly implies that without this need, the phrase always relates to that which has been defined in the O.T. Because of this, we can accept the statement 'and the days of Jacob were the years of his life, seven years and a hundred and forty years [Genesis 47:28] as the basis of the meaning of this phrase. See: the article Jacob's Life

[2]  In only three places is the context of the phrase referring to current events. The speakers or recorders of the phrase in the whole Scripture assume that those to whom the statements refer, understand what is meant, they never question it, neither is it explained. 

After studying all nineteen references, because of this, I had to accept that each reference related to one period only. A detailed analysis is given here ,  here and here. There are five New Testament references as shown in the following chart:

 

The first three, 15, 16 and 17 are in the present tense and relate to the first phase of the establishment of The Kingdom of God in Israel. This was recognised and announced by the apostle Peter's statement at Pentecost:

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

Peter continued repeating Joel's statement telling of other actions of God which would follow this display of foreign languages.:

And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Acts 2:14-21

These signs have not yet been fulfilled, so we can expect them when The Last Days recommence, during their second phase. This statement also establishes that The Last Days period precedes The Day of The Lord which is the subject of The Revelation of Jesus Christ. The apostle John tells us:

I was in the Spirit on The Day of The Lord and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet....[Rev 1:10]

With regard to the two remaining New Testament prophesies which are in the future tense, those stated in Peter and Timothy's letters, they will be fulfilled when The Last Days recommence at the time of that second phase of The Kingdom. 

I recognised this well defined period of The Last Days with all the details of its various prophesies, particularly its acknowlegement at Peter's proclamation, and its end when all the world's Kingdoms are consumed, when 'The God of heaven shall set up His kingdom, which shall never be destroyed':

Daniel answered in the presence of king Nebuchadnezzar, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded [concerning his dream] cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show unto the king; But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;  As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.

Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. 

And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. ............And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. 

Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. Daniel 2:27-44

The remarkable statement concerning the 'stone cut out without hands' is understood to be the Second Coming of The Lord Jesus Christ and brings to an end all The Last Days. Christ then rules the earth through His kingship of Israel by His parousia, His Personal Presence upon the earth for one thousand years. 

This prophesy also reveals that during The Last Days the Kingdoms of the world will initially be ruled by a resurrected King Nebuchadnezzar. Since this did not occur in the first phase it must be a condition of the second phase. Christians who adhere to the Evangelical faith cannot accept this clear prophesy because:

1.  They are taught to believe that the majority of the events of the symbolic multi-metal image have already occurred in the years prior to The Christ's first parousia.

2.  They are taught that the reference to: wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all, relates only to the known world of that time.

We have also been clearly told that a resurrected Prince David will rule over all Israel at the time during The Last Days when God will rule from Heaven:

And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. [Ezekiel 37:24]

Also:

And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.  And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. [Ezekiel 34:23]

During the first part of the introductory phase of The Kingdom of God in Israel, at the time of the apostles, The Lord Jesus Christ worked with them in every attempt to persuade the Jews to accept the prophesied kingdom. There was not a wholehearted response. As we have pointed out above, this caused God to postpone the introduction of His Kingdom by introducing His Secret Administration of Grace. When this is concluded, God will complete the second part of the introductory phase of The kingdom which will result in Jesus Christ assuming His Throne in Heaven and giving the full answer to the apostles question: 'wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel?'. [Acts 1:6].

And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.  The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.  Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?   [Isaiah 65:24]

Thus Christ will rule from His throne in Heaven until this period of The Last Days ends at the time of His Second Coming, or more accurately at His parousia, when He will be personally present for 1000years.

 

Gabriel's prophesy of the 70 weeks of years.

Having recognised and reasoned that The Kingdom of God was opened to all the Jews at the time of Christ's and the apostle's ministry and that the great majority of the prophecies and parables relating to it had not been fulfilled, I was able to leave behind the false notion held by many church groups that we Christians are working in and for 'The Kingdom'.

I was therefore able to consider any other Scriptures which related to the period of time of both The Last Days and that of The Kingdom of God in Israel.

Daniel was a member of the Tribe of Judah, the Jews. The archangel Gabriel appeared to him and informed him concerning events which would affect his tribe and that of Benjamin. We have to remember that at the time of this visitation, the other ten tribes had been told by God that they were 'not my people' [Lo-ami], and so were scattered among the nations [Ezekiel 11:16-17]. So what exactly did Gabriel tell Daniel?

 

Daniel was told that a certain Godly work had to be carried out during 70 weeks of years, i.e. 490years,  relating to his people and his holy city in order to:

Gabriel's prophecy given to Daniel................................................................Christ's fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy

• to finish the transgression.........................payment in blood.......................to set at liberty them that are bruised

• to make an end of sins..............................no more sin................................to send forth the crushed in deliverancet

• to make reconciliation for iniquity............to make payment for..................to preach deliverance to the captives

• to bring in everlasting righteousness........to implement righteousness ......to preach good news to the humble and afflicted

• to seal up the vision and prophecy...........to fulfil the prophesies...............and recovering of sight to the blind.

• to anoint the most Holy.............................to anoint The Christ....................He hath anointed me

It is notable that these six items are similar in principle to the Commission of the Christ which He lists when quoting from the prophet Isaiah in 27ad at his home town Synagogue of Nazareth.

• Christ indicated that it was He, the anointed one, whom God had prophesied by Isaiah to achieve those six listed items which would deliver Israel.

• Gabriel listed the six items, indicating the application of those things to be achieved by Jesus Christ 

Christ's ministry began in 27ad during the 30th Jubilee. It continued during the Period of the Acts of the Apostles. It is evident from many Scriptures written about and during this period, that  shortly, all Christians anticipated a great change was about to occur. This involved the full implementation of the prophesies relating to The Kingdom including the commencement of Gabriel's 70week prophesy. Had this been fulfilled at that time,  'after 7weeks' [49 years or 1 Jubilee] would have seen the 31st Jubilee following the commencement of Gabriel's prophesy in 27ad at the 30th Jubilee. This partly unfulfilled series of events can be shown graphically, as follows:

We know that this sequence was interrupted, because God intervened in 62ad, some fourteen years before the 31st Jubilee, introducing this present Administration of His Grace, which we to-day continue to experience. We need therefore to insert this present period of time, 1960years, into the chart as follows:

Following 62ad there was a seven year period of TRANSITION which is detailed in Paul's last seven letters by his actions and his statements. Because entry to the Kingdom in Israel was no longer possible, the Christians of the period were instructed in the way that their Churches should be arranged[1 & 2 Timothy and Titus]. Paul agonised over his relationship with his Lord in order to 'know Him and the fellowship of His sufferings and the power of His resurrection', putting aside all that meant much to him as a Jew [Philippians]. Having achieved this, God revealed to him the details and purpose of this new Administration of His Grace before he wrote the 'Ephesian' and Colossian letters. In the former he tells us of his prayer:  

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe,    [Ephesians 1:17]

This should be the prayer of all of us who to-day, diligently seek to understand the purposes of God.

From the chart it can be appreciated that there must be a corresponding TRANSITION during the first seven years of Gabriel's prophesy because the latter is related firstly to 'your people' [Spiritually blinded and deafened in 62ad] and 'your Holy City' [destroyed by the Romans in 69/70ad]. 

As we approach the close of this Administration of God's Grace, The Last Days will recommence. For seven years, or one Shemittah, the events given in chapter three of Paul's second letter to Timothy will be experienced. The present days in this first decade of the 21st century are leading up to the start of this prophesy, thus many parts of it are in preparation and thus our experience. Those who oppose the Truth are preparing a 'miraculous' counterfeit of God's Word which will be manifest before 2029ad during The Evil Day.[2Tim 3:8. Eph 6:13]

The Second TRANSITION will commence in 2022ad, with Spiritual understanding returning to the House of Judah, and end in 2029ad with the Holy City being free from Gentile domination at the time of the phanerOsis of Jesus Christ [Colossians 3:4]. This arrangement brings the parousia with the epiphania [1Thessalonians 4:13-18] of The Lord Jesus Christ on the 80th Jubilee at the end of Gabriel's prophesy in 2477ad. I am sure that those who understand the meaning of God's numbers will not miss the significance of the 30th and 80th Jubilees, nor the meaning contained in the factors of the 1960years.........40 x 49.

 

Continued in Part 2