This beautiful valley of Jezreel/Megiddo will never see an end-time battle Armageddon
Last edit: May 01, 2013
In defence of the sidelined God Jehovah, Creator of the Universe and Father of Humanity
lynbes@iprimus.com.au
let your name be sanctified
revealing Revelation or, for those who prefer it, apocalypting the Apocalypse
This is not about the whirled of apocalyptic spin of endless yarns woven into a universal fabric of doom.
It is rather all about the Jehovah's flock of Jacob, whose earthly journey is coming to a close; but it is not about the individual descendants of Jacob whose eternal options are as available as they are for all descendants of Adam.
Musing quietly over Isaiah 2 recently in the new grammar German GNB translation, I noted in verses 10, 19 and 21 something I read many times before in English Bibles, but not fully inserted it into my cranial folder
10 ¶ Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty.
19 And men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake mightily the earth.
21 to go into the caverns of the rocks, and into the clefts of the ragged rocks, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake mightily the earth. ASV
Me thinks where did I read that before? Ah, yes in Revelation 6:
15 And the kings of the earth, and the princes, and the chief captains, and the rich, and the strong, and every bondman and freeman, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17 for the great day of their wrath is come; and who is able to stand? ASV
Quite exiting really, because it confirms Jehovah's vengeance and wrath as a continuing phenomenon for Israel right down to the starting-line in the sands of time, where imminent Heavenly Kingdom governance will have its Genesis.
It also reinforces that the Great Tribulation is an Israel-only event continuing to run even as we speak from the years 66/70 until the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy of Mathew 24:29-31 a thing not too far.
There was/is never any wrath to be expressed by Jehovah to the world of ‘wicked’ mankind, chiefly because they are not, never having had an opportunity to be considered such, since there was no law for them to define wickedness.
Kings of the earth in the above verse are contextually not the rebel angels under Satan as in Prince of Persia and Prince of Greece (Daniel 10:20), but those of the flock of Jacob in leading positions around the earth, as well as some in earth's minor leagues.
Another really profound question occurred to me a little while ago:
Why does the Gospel of John not have an end-time prophecy to warn the disciples to drop everything and flee to the hills? The answer lays simply in the circumstantial fact that it was all over by the time John penned his Gospel, Epistles and the Revelation and has nothing whatever to do with any alleged future end-time Armageddon in the earthly realm.
Revelation is fundamentally about God's continuing wrath with the flock of Jacob, Israel, the Bride of Christ as a co-joined amalgam drawn from redeemed Israelites/Jews and Gentiles. It is particularly about the end of epochs of their assigned role as the seed of Abraham to be a blessing to all the families of the earth. Epochs?
The primary epoch was the assignment age that stretched from the first Exodus to the end of creative day 7 yet to have the concluding phrase: the evening and the morning were the seventh day in the manner of concluding the first six. The end of day 7 also coincides with the termination of the 1000 year heavenly multiethnic kingdom of the Christ, at which point it is all handed back to Jehovah -1 Corinthians 15:24-28:
24 Then cometh the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be abolished is death. 27 For, he put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he saith, All things are put in subjection, it is evident that He is excepted who did subject all things unto him. 28 And when all things have been subjected unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subjected to Him that did subject all things unto him, that God may be all in all.
Within that overall thematic assignment age of the Seed of Abraham -the firstborn son Israel age - are others.
Epoch: Firstborn son Israel and transgressor under the testament of inheritance from Exodus 19:3-8 until Messiah who saved Israel the son by being both their final atonement and second Passover lamb.
Epoch: Israel the wife under the law of the Husband from Exodus 24 until the divorce
symbolized by the vanishing of the ark of the covenant when Jerusalem and the Temple
were destroyed by Babylon.
Epoch: From that time she remained on death row until executed
in the Christ. Her death was permanent.
Epoch: The firstborn son Israel continued under the new testament of inheritance
as just a little multinational flock, from the death of their saviour to the beginning
of their 1000 year heavenly kingdom while in the flesh as the bride of the Christ
until
Epoch: as true spirit sons of Jehovah as well as true brothers and wife of
Christ they are born again into the heavenly realm/abode of Jehovah at the commencement
of their 1000 year reign.
Revelation is primarily about the final moments of Israel's assignment as the means to realise Jehovah's original purpose for creative day seven, at the end of which 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 will be triumphantly fulfilled with Jehovah becoming all things to everyone with the original tasks assigned to Adam and Eve finding their terminus.
That is the simple answer, if anyone were to ask.
For reams of complicated attempts at explanations and mysteries, meander through the Internet, a Christian bookshop, ask a priest or pastor. It won't matter, because the God-intended future will happen anyway, whatever I or anyone else may utter.
Ah yes, about John, I almost forgot.
By the time John wrote His Gospel, epistles and Revelation, the Bride of Christ's march toward apostate adultery was already well on the way. Some 45 years before John wrote, the Apostle Paul had already counselled the impatient elders of the Corinthian congregation who had previously indicated a desire for greater power:
7 For who regards you as superior? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? 8 You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and I would indeed that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you. 1 Corinthians 4:7-8 nas
First off the NKJV introduction to:
The Gospel According to
JOHN
Just as a coin has two sides, both valid, so Jesus Christ has two natures, both valid. Luke presents Christ in His humanity as the Son of Man; John portrays Him In His deity as the Son of God. John's purpose is crystal clear: to set forth Christ In His deity in order to spark believing faith in his readers. John's gospel is topical, not primarily chronological, and it revolves around seven miracles and seven "I am" statements of Christ.
Following an extended eyewitness description of the Upper Room meal and discourse, John records events leading up to the Resurrection, the final climactic proof that Jesus is who He claims to be: the Son of God.
The title of the Fourth Gospel follows the same format as the titles of the synoptic
Gospels: Kata loannen, "According to John." As with the others, the word "Gospel"
was added later, loannes Is derived from the Hebrew name Johanan, "Yahweh Has Been
Gracious."
- NKJV 1988 edition copyright Thomas Nelson
My reason for including this introduction is the valid observation that John focuses primarily on the risen Christ rather than on the man Jesus.
Not interested in discussing the alleged trinitarian implications here, for it is up to every believer to accept the Roman mythological inroads into the virginal monotheistic Bride promised in marriage to the Christ. As the wife of Jehovah Israel committed adultery with other ‘gods’ so it was/is with the Bride of Christ. Flirting with other man-made gods for some 2 centuries, her adulterous melding with the emperor of Rome and the mythological gods of the realm in the 4th century was the final straw and sealed her fate. Like Israel at the hand of the Romans, the bride will also be destroyed by the final world power (Revelation 18).
The heavenly Christ and King of redeemed Israel inspired John in the context of Jehovah having placed or transferred all the chosen ones into the earthly kingdom of the son of His love, beginning with the twelve until the fulfilment of Matthew 24:29-31, when the Heavenly kingdom of God commences its rule:
12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. -Colossians 1:12-14.
The domain of darkness in the above verse describes the situation of Israel under the Law where works were the principal focus rather than the underlying need for faith to give substance to obeying these required works rather than doing them just because someone said so and to avoid unpleasant consequences.
That domain had become ever darker as their years of servitude to the law of Hagar progressed into a compendium of transgressions beyond atonement. Execution of Jehovah's adulterous wife and permanently disinheriting His firstborn son became the only options. The light promised in the OT seemed to be permanently snuffed out by their collective transgressions; unavoidable disaster awaited them as promised; the permanent darkness of nonexistence.
46 Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.
47 "For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’" -NKJV
Isa 42:1 ¶ "Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.
Isa 42:6 "I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles,
Isa 49:6 Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’" -NKJV
Mt 4:16 The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned."
Lu 1:79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace."
Joh 1:5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Joh 3:19 "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Joh 12:46 "I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.
Ac 26:18 ‘to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’
Ro 2:19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,
Ro 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
Eph 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
Eph 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
Eph 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Col 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
Perhaps one fine day I shall add to and edit this page.