Bible Study Seattle

Jesus made a fairly large purchase:

“And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” Revelation 5:9

“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Acts 20:28

“And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.” Revelation 14:2-4

It’s pretty clear that Jesus purchased his bride with the most expensive present possible – his own life. The bride-price shows up in the bible with Jacob:

“Now Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” Genesis 29:18

“So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and indeed he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years.” Genesis 29:30

Jacob paid for Rachel with seven years of his labor! That’s a lot of money. But this raises some questions. Did Jesus only purchase his bride and not all of humanity? Do the sacrifices of Jesus’ bride count in purchasing the rest of humanity? Is Jesus’ sacrifice enough to redeem the world, or are the church’s and the world’s sacrifices also necessary?

“For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.” 1 Corinthians 15:25-26

The last enemy is death. If death itself is destroyed, doesn’t that make all remaining immortal? We assume death will be destroyed after the little season when Satan is released for a last temptation of the world. But who knows? It may be further ages until death is completely abolished. Wouldn’t death even be still possible for the bride of Christ until death is abolished? She may be protected, but Ezekiel tells us that the righteousness of the righteous man will not save him from death if he turns from it. Isn’t this referring to the Millennium? And what of Aaron’s sons?

“Now it came about on the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel; and he said to Aaron, “Take for yourself a calf, a bull, for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both without defect, and offer them before the Lord. Then to the sons of Israel you shall speak, saying, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both one year old, without defect, for a burnt offering, and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord, and a grain offering mixed with oil; for today the Lord will appear to you.’” Leviticus 9:1-4

“Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the Lord spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.’” So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.” Leviticus 10:1-3

Nadab and Abihu died for offering unauthorized fire in the presence of all the people on the Eighth Day. Will this be repeated at the second coming? Jesus will descend and stand on the Mount of Olives:

“Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!” Zechariah 14:3-5

Here is The Lord appearing before all the people! And this time he will not be a lowly servant, but a mighty warrior! When the offerings are started at Ezekiel’s temple (see Ezekiel 40-48), will some priests offer unauthorized fire and die? Possibly. This will be at the start of the Eighth Day, or Jubilee which starts Tishri 1 of the Sabbath year or Millennium. We don’t know exactly how this will go:

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12

Death is still possible up through the little season of Satan’s release at the end of the Millennium.

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4

“Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.” Colossians 3:21

When fathers push their children too hard, they can embitter them. This can also be true with a husband or a boss. I have seen parents with ridiculous expectations for their children. The kids will often develop apathy to get out of an impossible situation. Or how about an exasperating boss. No matter what You do, it’s never good enough. You cannot win. They are constantly looking for something to be disappointed in you, always waiting for you to fall. They might even get frustrated that you do something too well, and give you a backhanded compliment about it! And this is among Christians! Christians? We will see. But how do we deal with exasperating people? We can only take the high ground, and not return evil for evil. Joseph must have known this thoroughly:

“Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. It came about after these events that his master’s wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge. There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?” As she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her. Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside. She caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside. When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make sport of us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I screamed. When he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.” So she left his garment beside her until his master came home. Then she spoke to him with these words, “The Hebrew slave, whom you brought to us, came in to me to make sport of me; and as I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.” Genesis 39:6-18

“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.  So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and havenothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.  And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing ofabominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”  Daniel 9:24-27

Much has been speculated about this passage, particularly regarding the seventieth week.  I conjunction with this passage, I’d like to add another to make a speculation:

“that you [Nebuchadnezzar] be driven away from mankind and your dwelling place be with the beasts of the field, and you be given grass to eat like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven; and seven periods of time will pass over you, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.” Daniel 4:25

Some understand these periods of time to be 7 X 360.  360 years at a day for year.  Or 2520 years.  From Nebuchadnezzar’s initial attack on Israel in 607BC to the start of WWI in 1914AD.  World War I destroyed much of the church-state system in Europe.  But notice that Noah’s 370 days are just over 360 years.  Could these also be a seventieth week?  There are probably multiple fulfillments to this prophecy, some of which are more major in importance.  As Jesus was cut off half way (three and a half years) into the seventieth week, could likewise the bride of Christ be completed half way through these 360-370 years?  That is this author’s belief.  Time will tell.  It is merely speculation and nothing more.

“I know that my redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;
I myself will see him
with my own eyes—I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!” Job 19:25-27

Jesus will stand on the earth? Will he be spirit or flesh? How can a man see God and live? Is Job talking about the Eighth Day? 7,000-8,000 years after Adam’s fall?

“For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.” Psalm 139:13-18

It is no mystery that we were woven in our mother’s womb. But “woven together in the depths of the earth”? What is David saying? Is he hinting at our second birth? That we will be resurrected out of the earth? We get some hints:

“Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” John 11:38-44

Lazarus came out of the tomb exactly as he went in. Nicodemus also questions the mechanics of second birth. “Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” John 3:1-8

Jesus is here talking about heavenly second birth as opposed to earthly rebirth.