Bible Study Seattle

Jesus came to the Jews first. After many Jews rejected him, the call was expanded to the Gentiles with the call of Cornelius. This was a few years after Jesus rose from the dead. When Jesus comes again he will also go to the Jews first. “Behold, a day is coming for the Lord when the spoils taken from you will be divided among you.  For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be taken, the houses plundered, the women raped, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be eliminated from the city.  Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle.” Zechariah 14:1-3

Jesus will fight for the Jews when he descends on the Mount of Olives. King David will also be fighting. “The Lord also will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be greater than Judah.  On that day the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them on that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them.  And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” Zechariah 12:7-9

How do we understand evil? Cui bono – who benefits? Sometimes there seems to be a beneficiary but sometimes not. How do we understand those who would randomly kill people? Those who push abortion or transgenderism? Is there something bigger going on? What’s one of the first things Jesus will do when he returns? Raise the faithful? Is that happening right now in heaven (unseen to us on earth)? Would this concern Satan? Might he reason that this faithful army will have something to do with his demise? Has Satan seen a rise in the faithful commensurate with the rising world population? Would shrinking the population slow the production of saints? Why do so many of the powers-that-be want to reduce world population? It’s all tied together. They are doing what their master wants. “Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?  If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Genesis 4:6-7

Speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus says, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me.   Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.   You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.   Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!   Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?   Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” John 8:42-47

Several different versions of Mark 2:19:

“And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?” RSV

“And Jesus said to them, “While the groom is with them, the attendants of the groom cannot fast, can they?” NASB

“Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?” NIV

“Jesus said to them, “Can the groomsmen fast while the bridegroom is with them?” WEB

“And Jesus said to them, `Are the sons of the bride-chamber able, while the bridegroom is with them, to fast?” YLT

Jesus refers to the disciples not as the bride of Christ but as groomsmen. If the disciples are groomsmen, who is the bride?

It is amazing to think that after 3.5 amazing years of Jesus’ public ministry:

“the company of persons was in all about a hundred and twenty” Acts 1:15

120 believers after 3.5 years of raising the dead, stumping the Pharisees, and committing no sin. Earlier on, “… those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.” Matthew 14:21 And, “… they all ate and were satisfied; and they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over.  Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.” Matthew 15:37-38

About 1,650 years before this Moses had this many followers: “These are the people of Israel as numbered by their fathers’ houses; all in the camps who were numbered by their companies were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.” Numbers 2:32

Jesus had 120 and Moses had more than 603,550?? Yes. Jesus’ followers were meant to grow over time. 2,000 years after he died his followers number in the billions. Jesus shows how difficult it is to have a large following. Moses’ giant crowd was only possible with immense supernatural help from God. It also shows us how hard it is to have many true friends.

“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.