Bible Study Seattle

“The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.  Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.” Exodus 12:5-6

“On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord’s Festival of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast.  On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.” Leviticus 23:6-7

Both the feasts of Passover and Tabernacles have significant events on the 14th/15th of the months near the equinoxes. The 14th/15th of the month is a full moon! Coincidence? No! The moon represents the bride of Christ. The Sun represents Christ. Will the bride be in full bloom when the ultimate version of these feasts happen? If Jesus’ dramatic return is Yom Kippur (the 10th day of the seventh month), the bride will be complete during tabernacles on the 15th to the 21st? These signs are not accidents.

At Jesus’ trial, he made a remarkable statement:

“Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?”  But Jesus remained silent The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Matthew 26:62-64

Jesus rose from the dead but only appeared to believers before rising back to the Father. Therefore he must be talking about the future. All those that condemned Jesus 2,000 years ago will come back from the dead to see Jesus returning to earth with power in the clouds. Hope they’ve repented by then!! Is this why it says, “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.” Zechariah 12:10

Will those same people respond favorably to Elijah? “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.  He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” Malachi 4:5-6

“And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.” 1 Timothy 2:14

Adam was not deceived? Yet he ate of the forbidden fruit. “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.  “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5

Perhaps Eve hadn’t seen death? Let’s assume the days of creation were 7,000 years apiece. We can also deduce that Adam was in the garden about two years before the fall. How long was Eve in the garden? We don’t know. Was there death before Adam? Did he see 5,000 year old animals? Of course he wouldn’t have known since he was only one or two years old. Perhaps Adam saw animals die? Perhaps Eve didn’t? This would make death less real to Eve. Who knows! We’ll have to ask them what really happened when they come back from the grave!

“Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of armies, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.” Zechariah 14:!6

Will Tabernacles (or Booths) be the only feast celebrated during Christ’s millennial reign?

“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.   On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a bull as a sin offering.   And during the seven days of the feast he shall provide as a burnt offering to the Lord seven bulls and seven rams without blemish on every day of the seven days, and a male goat daily as a sin offering.   And he shall provide as a grain offering an ephah with a bull, an ephah^]with a ram, and a hin of oil with an ephah.  In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast, he shall provide like these, seven days for the sin offering, the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the oil.” Ezekiel 45:21-25

Tabernacles will be celebrated as well as Passover. The rest of the Mosaic feasts like Weeks (or Pentecost) will also be celebrated. The entire law as laid out by Moses in the Torah will be followed as originally intended. This proves that Jesus did not nail the Law to the Cross but the merely offenses against the Law. Of course, in the new creation the Law will be imprinted on men’s hearts. “For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord: “I will put My law within them and write it on their heart; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Jeremiah 31:33

When one reads the bible it is absolutely amazing how often God is telling us what will happen. In the Jubilee there’s going to be a giant “I told you so!”

“On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.  Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.  Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently.  As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.” Exodus 19:16-19

The morning of the third day will be the ultimate Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This is about 2,500 years after Jesus triumphed at the cross. We take a day as a thousand years. Hebrew days start with evening, then morning.

“Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces
    but he will heal us;
he has injured us
    but he will bind up our wounds.
After two days [2,000 years] he will revive us;
    on the third day [2,000-3,000 years] he will restore us,
    that we may live in his presence.
Let us acknowledge the Lord;
    let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
    he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
    like the spring rains that water the earth.” Hosea 6:1-3

After two days he will revive us – that’s the resurrection! On the third day he will restore us – eternal life will be possible!

“In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:9

“On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Revelation 22:2

Why is there no tree of the knowledge of good and evil at the end of history? Because we already experienced the effects of it during our first life. Adam and Eve ate from this tree and its effects were felt by all their progeny. Do we not experience good and evil in this first life? Certainly! The solution to evil will be learned by all humanity during Christ’s reign. If we do things God’s way we can eat from the trees of life and live forever. Otherwise death will slowly pursue us a second time. For, “God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:3-4

What is not widely understood is that God will save all men from first death, but he will not save all men from second death if they so choose. Eternal life does not necessarily follow resurrection.

Basil of Caesarea was a bishop of Caesarea who lived about 330-379 AD. He may have been one of the first to begin confession at church. Of course confession is essential to repentance, but the bible calls us to repent directly to the injured party. “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16

The Israelites were commanded to confess. “when anyone becomes aware that they are guilty in any of these matters, they must confess in what way they have sinned.  As a penalty for the sin they have committed, they must bring to the Lord a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for them for their sin.” Leviticus 5:5-6

“The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any man or woman who wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the Lord is guilty and must confess the sin they have committed. They must make full restitution for the wrong they have done, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the person they have wronged.  But if that person has no close relative to whom restitution can be made for the wrong, the restitution belongs to the Lord and must be given to the priest, along with the ram with which atonement is made for the wrongdoer.” Numbers 5:5-8

God wants us to be restored in our relationships. In the dark and medieval ages the church turned the confessional into a spy mechanism. People not only confessed but were interrogated by the priests! Confession of sins is a wonderful thing, but if used for political purposes, not so much.

Is modern Israel a fulfillment of scripture? We think so.

“Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” Hosea 6:1-3

Here we take ‘two days’ to mean 2,000 years as Psalm 90 declares, “A day in your sight is as a thousand years gone by.” Israel needed to be reinstated in order to have Satan attack. This is both a work of God and of Satan. After Israel has been built up and most Jews settled there, Satan will attack to attempt to destroy God’s faithful. But it will fail. Jesus will intervene to save the faithful as described in Zechariah 14.

Remphan: the six-pointed ‘star of David’ is in fact not of David but probably of Solomon and the occult: https://hmisrael.com/2022/12/29/star-of-remphan/

What is the state of the world? After 3.5 years of Covid what do we see? Many people realize that corruption is worse than they thought, but other people still trust their doctors, the news, etc. Why? We have received a spiritual glimpse into people that would have not been possible without the pandemic. Some people will follow the crowd no matter how ridiculous. Other people really do seek to put Truth first in their life. Those that have learned seemingly nothing these three and a half years remind us of Pharaoh. “Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.” Exodus 7:13

After the Covid vaccines have killed tens of thousands, people still blindly go to their doctors to receive mysterious injections. They are only focused on the ‘deadly’ disease and can see nothing else. Why can’t they see that the ‘deadly’ disease isn’t so deadly?

“Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.” Exodus 8:8

Here is the classic narcissistic ‘I don’t want any consequences from my actions, but I have no real intention of changing. Here’s the proof:

“But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.” Exodus 8:15

The story continues with ever increasing punishments, but Pharaoh will not change! Ultimately God delivers the Israelites through the Red Sea and Pharaoh tries to re-enslave them militarily. But God delivers the Israelites by drowning the Egyptians in the sea. Pharaoh effectively choose death.

“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” Deuteronomy 30:19

““See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil.  If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to take possession of it.  But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you this day, that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.  I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live,  loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him; for that means life to you and length of days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” Deuteronomy 30:15-20

How many of our friends and family are choosing to follow our modern Pharaohs? They are choosing death, but hopefully their hearts will turn some day and choose life.

Why do cathedrals have gargoyles? Some will argue that they’re just a decorative downspout – a fanciful way to convey rain away from masonry to protect the structure. But couldn’t they also have decorated these pieces as flowers or some other uplifting art? Could it be that these are representations of demons? That the Papacy is in fact a demonically infiltrated perversion of Christianity?