Bible Study Seattle

“As I live,” declares the Lord, “even though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a signet ring on My right hand, yet I would pull you off; and I will give you over into the hand of those who are seeking your life, yes, into the hand of those whom you dread, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans.”  Jeremiah 22:24-25

“Thus says the Lord, ‘Write this man down childless, A man who will not prosper in his days; For no man of his descendants will prosper Sitting on the throne of David Or ruling again in Judah.’”  Jeremiah 22:30

Jehoiachin (or Coniah) was taken captive to Babylon.  He also shows up in Matthew:

“After the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor.  Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud. Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob.  Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.”  Matthew 1:12-16

This is one reason the Jews reject Jesus as Messiah.  Any descendant of Jehoiachin could not rule on David’s throne.  There’s a couple problems with this.  First, Jesus was not the son of Joseph (and Jehoiachin) because of his virgin birth.  Second, Jehoiachin did have a grandson who prospered almost on David’s throne: Zerubbabel.  Of his it was prophecied:

“Then the angel who was speaking with me returned and roused me, as a man who is awakened from his sleep.  He said to me, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it; also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side.” Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, “What are these, my lord?”  So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.”  Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.  ‘What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’”  Zechariah 4:1-7

Wow!  This shows Zerubbabel’s part in the second coming.  Whereas Jehoiachin was cursed, his grandson was blessed.

Many people are enamored with signs & wonders.  It’s easy to see the Euphrates river drying up or stars falling from the sky in dramatic fashion and think The End Is Near.  But signs are a confirming indicator and we need more scriptural proof to confirm.  Think of the Magi.  If they only saw His star in the East and made the trek to Jerusalem, they could have easily been wrong.  Instead, they had the prophecy of Daniel, which said that 483 years from the decree to rebuild the temple would Messiah come.  Then they had to know when he would begin to rule.  They correctly surmised thirty years old.  The bible is clear that only on the testimony of two or three witnesses can a matter be settled.

The Magi still were not 100%.  So they asked Herod where the Messiah was to be born.  The scribes knew that it was Bethlehem.  Furthermore, Mary and Joseph had both been told by angels that their son would be the Messiah.  There were so many confirming indicators that the Magi knew they were correct.  Then to top it all off, they were warned by angels to depart by a different way to foil Herod.

So where are we today.  We see that Daniel’s prophecy of increased travel and knowledge has come true over the last 200 years.  But that is not specific enough.  We see the Euphrates drying.  But what if the Euphrates regains water?  We need more.  When people say the end is soon, what are they basing it on?  Did the Jews think the end was near in 1944 Germany?  Just because the world may plunge into depression, does that mean the end is near?  This author thinks the End is not near, but that Armegeddon is about 370+ years away.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’   But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,  that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.   For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?   And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?   Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”  Matthew 5:43-48

Why pray for enemies?  Most Christians gloss over this.  Sure it has to do with not letting evil get the better of us.  It’s hard to nurse grudges when praying for someone’s wellbeing.  But it’s more than that.  We will face them in the future!  And God wants everyone to come to a knowledge of the truth.  He wants everyone to be saved.  That doesn’t mean they will, but God wants the best for everyone.

We are to motivate everyone to repentance and good works.  We have to model that.  But it doesn’t mean we act stupid.  Common sense isn’t out the window just because we’re praying for everyone.  That’s why Jesus said wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

“…in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who “will render to each one according to his deeds”:  eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For there is no partiality with God.”  Romans 2:5-11

“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.”  Romans 3:28

Which is it: faith or works?  The answer is… both.  The reason for the confusion is the assumption by most Christians that salvation is based on the first life alone.  They forget about heaven, the second life, as if it’s only the state of perfection.  Thus they are trapped in an all or nothing proposition – heaven or hell.  They ignore second death by spiritualizing it as they do God’s warning: in the day you eat of it, you will surely die.  But such spiritualizing falls apart on closer inspection.  There can be no spiritual death without physical death. Take away the spirit, and all you have is a corpse.  God emphasized this by saying that in the day they eat of it, they will return to the dust of the earth – physical death.

The solution is the day.  In the bible, not all days are 24 hours.  Some are 1,000 years or even 7,000.  Moses understood this.  (Psalm 90).  Salvation is by faith alone, but we are judged by works.  The truth is salvation isn’t entirely the same as resurrection.  First comes resurrection.  This is God’s work alone.  “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Romans 5:8

Both the just and the unjust are resurrected.  Acts 24:15  But not all enter into eternal, age lasting life.  This is the second death.  “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift [resurrection], and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come [the millennium], if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.”  Hebrews 6:4-6

The final battle is with Satan.  “And when the thousand years may be finished, the Adversary shall be loosed out of his prison,and he shall go forth to lead the nations astray, that are in the four corners of the earth — Gog and Magog — to gather them together to war, of whom the number [is] as the sand of the sea; and they did go up over the breadth of the land, and did surround the camp of the saints, and the beloved city, and there came down fire from God out of the heaven, and devoured them; and the Devil, who is leading them astray, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where [are] the beast and the false prophet, and they shall be tormented day and night — to the ages of the ages.”  Revelation 20:7-10  The word translated tormented is open to question, but that is another post.

“Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.”  Genesis 11:1

“From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his language.”  Genesis 10:5

“These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages,”  Genesis 10:20

“These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages,”  Genesis 10:31

It may appear that chapter eleven’s unity of language is contradicted by chapter ten, but these two accounts are not necessarily sequential.  It’s likely that the first part of chapter eleven should fit sequentially in the middle of the description of Ham, Japheth, and Shem’s descendants.  In fact there is a strong hint when the Tower of Babel incident took place:

“Two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided;”. Genesis 10:25

If the Earth was divided (by language and geography) in Peleg’s day, that was from 101 to 340 years after the flood.  Interestingly, this was not long before the Great Pyramid of Egypt was built.

According to some Jewish sources, Jews do not believe we are born in sin.  They say that it is unscriptural for someone to die because of the sin of another (Adam).  They also state that death is completely natural; this is why God had to supply the tree of life for Adam & Eve.

“The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity;”. Ezekiel 18:20

True enough, Life (the potentially eternal kind) is won individually.  However, death was brought to all by Adam.  How can we be born pure when David says:

“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.”  Psalm 51:5

Sounds like David knew he was born sinful, not that Bathsheba was his first sin.  Also, this author does not buy the argument that death is natural.  Death can be no more natural than life.  To believe so is to believe life can arise without God!  No!  Life is not natural, and neither is death.  God sustains or ends all life.  “For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’”  Acts 17:28

“Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.”  Zechariah 14:16

“I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth,
Blood, fire and columns of smoke.
“The sun will be turned into darkness
And the moon into blood
Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
“And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Will be delivered;
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
There will be those who escape,
As the Lord has said,
Even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.”  Joel 2:30-32

Who are these survivors?  If we assume that all people have been resurrected before the battle of Armageddon, what about those that hadn’t yet died?  Those that die in this plague could be dying their second death and should’ve known better.  But there could be those that are dying for the first time.  These would have to be resurrected in the Jubilee.  Perhaps that’s where these come from:

“No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Will be thought accursed.”  Isaiah 65:20

Perhaps this is part of the reason there needs to be another test at the end of the Millennium?

“When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison,”  Revelation 20:7

The other possibility is if there is a complete clearing of people before the general resurrection.  Is the what The earth being completely dry in the account of Noah is hinting at?  I don’t think so, but who knows.  In what sense is the earth ‘dry’ after the flood that Jesus compares his second coming too?

“About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  Matthew 27:46
This happened Nisan 14 33AD.

“Now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually.  About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come in and said to him, “Cornelius!”  And fixing his gaze on him and being much alarmed, he said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God.  Now dispatch some men to Joppa and send for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter; he is staying with a tanner named Simon, whose house is by the sea.”  When the angel who was speaking to him had left, he summoned two of his servants and a devout soldier of those who were his personal attendants, and after he had explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.”  Acts 10:1-8

This happened exactly three and a half years after Jesus’ crucifixion to the hour!  How’s that for exactness?!

“Cornelius said, “Four days ago to this hour, I was praying in my house during the ninth hour; and behold, a man stood before me in shining garments, and he *said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God.  Therefore send to Joppa and invite Simon, who is also called Peter, to come to you; he is staying at the house of Simon the tanner by the sea.’  So I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”

Opening his mouth, Peter said:  I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.”. Acts 10:30-35

Jesus spent three days and nights in the grave.  Then he came out.  On the fourth day of Cornelius’ vision, he was baptized by Peter as the first Gentile convert.  This was to fulfill what Daniel said:

“Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.”  Daniel 9:24

The baptism of Cornelius was the end of the seventy weeks.  This is not to say that there aren’t other fulfillments of Daniel’s seventy weeks.

“The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard.
Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their utterances to the end of the world.
In them He has placed a tent for the sun,
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
Its rising is from one end of the heavens,
And its circuit to the other end of them;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.”  Psalm 19:1-6

Here the sun is compared to the Son.  As a strong man who runs around the earth in a day, where no one remains untouched from his presence.

“The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.
They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them Your servant is warned;
In keeping them there is great reward.
Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.
Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins;
Let them not rule over me;
Then I will be blameless,
And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.”  Psalm 19:7-14

Here is the effect of the Son bearing down on everyone in His great Day.  The law will go out and everyone will know it.  He will judge, and even small indiscernible errors will be searched out.  He will refine us, and the one who submits will find great reward.  In the end, those that live will always have acceptable words and heart meditations.

“So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.”  2 Peter 1:19

Peter wrote this in the first century AD.  Some have said that dawning days only apply to 7,000 year days.  But the day dawned in 627BC in the 7,000 year day begun at the fall 4127BC, and Peter implies that the day hadn’t yet dawned.   Therefore Peter must be talking about another day, the Day of the Lord.  He quotes Moses that a day is as a thousand years.  Moses no doubt learned from the first ten patriarchs who all fell short of their 1,000 year birthday.  The day dawns at 500 years out of 1,000.  The day will dawn near the start of the Grand Jubilee, the 50th 1,000 year period since creation started on earth.