Bible Study Seattle

Here’s a judgment that doesn’t look pleasant:
“The great Day of the Lord is near,
near and rapidly approaching.
Listen, the Day of the Lord—
then the warrior’s cry is bitter.
That day is a day of wrath,
a day of trouble and distress,
a day of destruction and desolation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness,
a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities,
and against the high corner towers.
I will bring distress on mankind,
and they will walk like the blind
because they have sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out like dust
and their flesh like dung.
Their silver and their gold
will not be able to rescue them
on the day of the Lord’s wrath.
The whole earth will be consumed
by the fire of His jealousy.
For He will make a complete,
yes, a horrifying end
of all the inhabitants of the earth.” Zephaniah 1:14-18

A horrifying end of all earth’s inhabitants!? Yikes!
Yet other scriptures say some will survive:
“For those will be days of tribulation, the kind that hasn’t been from the beginning of the world, which God created, until now and never will be again! Unless the Lord limited those days, no one would survive. But He limited those days because of the elect, whom He chose.” Mark 13:19-20
Why this horrible destruction?
To make the earth ready for the repopulation of all mankind. This is forshadowed in the flood of Noah, when everything on the face of the earth was destroyed – so that Noah and his family and that group of animals not bred with angels could repopulate the whole earth.

“Hear this! The days are coming—
this is the declaration of the Lord God—
when I will send a famine through the land:
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.
People will stagger from sea to sea
and roam from north to east,
seeking the word of the Lord,
but they will not find it.” Amos 8:11-12
This prophecy came true after the prophet Malachi about 430 B.C. There was no word from the Lord until John and Jesus came – over 400 years!

Many think the God’s judgment is only condemnation, hence they detest Christianity. But consider this: “For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:14
Good? If judgment is only condemnation, why would he judge good things? Certainly there is a reward for good things, and hence God’s judgment must also mean blessings! But how can he judge hidden things? Aren’t there many great unsolved crimes of history? The criminals thought they would go to their graves with unsearchable secrets. What will they do, when, to their amazement, God brings them out of the grave? But God’s judgment is for their good, not for their harm. Ezekiel reminds us: “Now if the wicked person turns from all the sins he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is just and right, he will certainly live; he will not die.” Ezekiel 18:21
This is good news! God is very longsuffering and slow to anger, even for millennia!

Joel 2 discribes a terrible time:
“Blow the horn in Zion;
sound the alarm on My holy mountain!
Let all the residents of the land tremble,
for the Day of the Lord is coming;
in fact, it is near—
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and dense overcast,
like the dawn spreading over the mountains;
a great and strong people appears,
such as never existed in ages past
and never will again
in all the generations to come.

A fire destroys[a] in front of them,
and behind them a flame devours.
The land in front of them
is like the Garden of Eden,
but behind them,
it is like a desert wasteland;
there is no escape from them.
Their appearance is like that of horses,
and they gallop like war horses.
They bound on the tops of the mountains.
Their sound is like the sound of chariots,
like the sound of fiery flames consuming stubble,
like a mighty army deployed for war.

Nations writhe in horror before them;
all faces turn pale.
They attack as warriors attack;
they scale walls as men of war do.
Each goes on his own path,
and they do not change their course.
They do not push each other;
each man proceeds on his own path.
They dodge the arrows, never stopping.
They storm the city;
they run on the wall;
they climb into the houses;
they enter through the windows like thieves.

The earth quakes before them;
the sky shakes.
The sun and moon grow dark,
and the stars cease their shining.
The Lord raises His voice
in the presence of His army.
His camp is very large;
Those who carry out His command are powerful.
Indeed, the Day of the Lord is terrible and dreadful—
who can endure it?”

Are these destroying angels? The church and its companions? Is this earthquake the same as the one in Revelation?

But after this, the Lord promises wonderful things:
“After this I will pour out My Spirit on all humanity;
then your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
your old men will have dreams,
and your young men will see visions.
I will even pour out My Spirit
on the male and female slaves in those days.
I will display wonders
in the heavens and on the earth:
blood, fire, and columns of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the great and awe-inspiring Day of the Lord comes.
Then everyone who calls
on the name of Yahweh will be saved,
for there will be an escape
for those on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
as the Lord promised,
among the survivors the Lord calls.” Joel 2:28-32
Many will survive the battle of Armageddon, and wonderful things await them.

“When I return My people from captivity, when I heal Israel, the sings of Ephraim and the crimes of Samaria will be exposed. For they practice fraud; a thief breaks in; a gang pillages outside. But they never consider that I remember all their evil. Now their sings are all around them; they are right in front of My face.” Hosea 7:1-2
We all forget that God sees everything. He also remembers everything. And it will all be exposed for our own good in the resurrection. The only way to heal is to go back to the scene of the crime and undo it. Walk through it backward. This is why Jesus told us to forgive our enemies and repent of our sins. That is the only way to harmony between people and eternal life. If we are unwilling to repent or forgive, “For nothing is concealed except to be revealed, and nothing hidden except to come to light.” Mark 4:22

“Come, and let us return unto Jehovah; 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: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him. And let us know, let us follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is sure as the morning; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth.” Hosea 6:1-3

After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him. Sounds like:
“He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’” Luke 13:32
“Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” John 2:19

Hosea is saying that after two days [2,000 years], Jesus will revive the Jews, and in the third day [within 3,000 years from his crucifixion], they will return to life!

“…submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.” Chapter 5 of Ephesians details how Christians should behave and relate to one another. Not until verse 22 is marriage dealt with. Yet many say verse 21 is about marriage. Why? It sounds so equitable and fair. But if it’s true of marriage, it must also apply to a 13 year old daughter, if she’s a Christian. Should a parent submit to her daughter equally as she submits to mom? Obviously not. The same goes in marriage.
How many husbands seethe when told they are to love their wives as Jesus loved the church? How many husbands say this only applied to first century culture? How many wives bristle when told they are to be subject to their husbands in everything? When we live our marriage as God has designed, we draw people to Christ. It’s actually a witness; a form of evangelizing. Yet many women make Christianity look bad by trying to subtley be the head of their household. “They are to teach what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and children, to be sensible, pure, good homemakers, and submissive to their husbands, so that God’s message will not be slandered.” Titus 2:3-5 Slandered?! Whoa! It’s a shame that divorce among Christians is no less than the world. It’s because Christians have fallen for Satan’s lies (like the misapplication of Ephesians 5:21) and adopted Feminism. Here’s an interesting scripture:

“And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman conceive seed, and bear a man-child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of the impurity of her sickness shall she be unclean. And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. And she shall continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled. But if she bear a maid-child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her impurity; and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.” Leviticus 12:1-5

Bet you won’t hear that one Sunday morning! Why do girls require twice the time for purification? Why do women file for divorce at twice the rate of men? Perhaps God knows something we are hesitant to admit? Perhaps women cause more sin than men? Maybe, maybe not. But we will find out in the resurrection, when the truth comes out. Ask a person about their deceased parents. You are likely to get a very honest assessment. Thus it will be in the resurrection, when no one will have to fear personal reprisals from speaking the raw truth about others.

“For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim:  afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek Jehovah their God, and David their king, and shall come with fear unto Jehovah and to his goodness in the latter days.”  Hosea 3:4-5

Here we have 1800+ years of history told ahead of time!  The Jewish nation was wiped out around 70AD by the Romans.  In 1878 the first modern settlement in Israel was established.  By 1949, Israel was a recognized nation by the world.  And yet they still have no prince (in the ancient sense of a king) nor do they have sacrifices.  They will have both.  David will come back to life to be their prince.  And Ezekiel’s temple will be built for sacrifices.  This obviously hasn’t happened yet!  But I’d wager that it will happen within the next 240 years. 

Daniel 9:24-27 has a prophecy about the Messiah:

“Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.

Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the anointed one, the prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troublous times.

And after the threescore and two weeks shall the anointed one be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and even unto the end shall be war; desolations are determined.

And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one that maketh desolate; and even unto the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out upon the desolate.”

This prophecy started in 454BC with the decree to rebuild the temple.  Seven weeks or 49 years later, the temple was rebuilt (405BC).  Sixty two weeks after this (or 69 weeks from 454BC) was 29AD, when Jesus was baptized for his public ministry.  In the middle of the 70th week, “he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease.”  i.e. the animal sacrifices of the law will be made obsolete.  Some think verse 27 referes to the antichrist (a person) making a covenant for the seven final years before armegeddon.  This is possible.  Likely, Ezekiel’s temple will be built in the great time of trouble before armegeddon.  It is possible an evil figure will cause sacrifices to be stopped.  Only time will tell.  But it’s also possible that verse 27 is only referring to Jesus making a covenant of sacrifice with all who are willing and wish to become part of the bride of Christ.  The end of verse 27 is obscure in the Hebrew, so we have to be careful how we interpret it.  Verse 26 talks about the coming prince who will destroy the city and sanctuary.  This was the Romans in 67-73AD.  Then it says the end will come with a flood.  Like Noah’s flood?  “And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man.  For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark,  and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man.”   Matthew 24:37-39   

“And as it came to pass in the days of Noah, even so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.  They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.”  Luke 17:26-27

A 12 page bible summary…

http://www.scribd.com/doc/133298305/The-Big-Picture