The contemporary and ever-deepening migrant crisis and the rise of militant, corrupt, and coercive Islam are symptoms rather than causes of this conflict. So too is the Westminster merry-go-round with political parties moving from historic landslide victories to ignominy and defeat every few years. The causes of this instability are the ideas that have led us, nationally, to forget who we are and to travel backwards intellectually and metaphysically.

In my article titled ‘Is Britain a Christian Nation?’, I finished with the following summary:

So, then, is Britain a Christian nation? Historically yes, we were called out for a special and holy purpose. We have fluctuated over the centuries between forgetting God and remembering our first love. Through much of our recent history, the Christian Gospel infused our national life and inspired and directed much of our national greatness. More recently, we have entered into one of our (all-too-common) interregnums when backsliding and wantonness have ruled in place of Christ.

Considering what our present national religion really is, I concluded that the secular state fills much of the role that should be reserved for faith, devotion and reverence of the Almighty.

The most recent flirtation with false Gods in groves and woods has been what we call the secular state. It has sought to replace Christianity with an uncertain amalgam of deism, atheism, scientism, and socialism.

Subsequently, in ‘Rape and Rotherham; A Tale of Two Religions’, I expanded this argument, concluding that our secular society is, in reality, a pagan society. As such, it elevates the will of the individual, rejects boundaries, deifies consent, and is paradoxically both morally permissive and moralistically fanatical.

On surveying this sketch of our battlefield, I concluded that one more “ism” must be added to the list — and that is Gnosticism.

What is Gnosticism?

Gnosticism is an old enemy of Christianity and marshals its own form of deception and reversal of the truth. It sees both the creator God and the physical creation as inherently evil. This is the reverse of the scriptural statements:

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. (Gen 1:31)

Gnosticism also rejects the idea of God as a father and of male leadership roles. Instead, it elevates the feminine. The goddess Sophia personifies wisdom in Gnosticism. Thus it is to the female, the “divine feminine”, that Gnosticism looks. Over the millennia, this comes in many guises: Isis, Inanna, Brigid, Freyja, Kali, Sophia and Ma'at. But always the veneration of the female principle is central to self-elevation in Gnostic belief.

And Gnostic belief also repeats the lie of Satan:

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (gen 3:4-5)

It also teaches that humans contain “a divine spark”, a piece of the higher spiritual realm. By discovering this inner divine nature, via secret or hidden knowledge, the individual man or woman realises that they belong to the transcendent realm of light and not to a corrupt physical world. To this seductive idea, Gnosticism adds extreme vagueness, for its worldview is stated in myth rather than in theology.

Looking further at the Gnostic concept of a divine spark, it is useful to compare, for example, the Gnostic Book of Thomas the Contender:

He who has not known himself has known nothing, but he who has known himself has simultaneously achieved knowledge of the depth of the all.

with scripture:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jer 17:9)

and

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isa 55:8-9)

and

And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh. (Eze 11:19)

Thus, where Gnosticism says God is to be found within the human heart, that we are already, in part, god, scripture says the opposite. It emphasises the distinction between God and man, the separation and the division, and details how this gap may be bridged. Gnosticism claims the separation between God and man is not real and that the belief in this difference is the product of ignorance and deception.

Into this uncertain, mysterious, and concealed system of thought, a further element is added: androgyny. Both the supreme Gnostic god and the elevated, enlightened, transcended, immortal human spirit, once freed from its physical prison, are seen as androgynous, blending male and female characteristics.

This too is in direct opposition to the biblical account of creation:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Gen 1:27)

The similarities between Gnostic belief and the new-age religions, the woke ideology, and indeed both paganism and satanism are striking. The deification of the feminine, the superiority of human imagination and will over physical reality, and sexual confusion are all to the fore. And to this, it adds a mythical religious framework to justify each affront to logic. Thus Gnostic belief acts as a solvent, removing the certain and the solid, the boundaries and the borders, the knowable and the clear from our society. In their place we get myth and magic, queer and non-binary, vagueness and the rejection of teleology (that is to say the denial of end, purpose, reason and explanation).

Surveying the battlefield

At present, rather than Christianity, Britain is shaped by a worldview that is a strange and incoherent mixture of:

• Atheism

• Deism

• Paganism

• Gnosticism

• Scientism

• Socialism

In contrast to the gospel, which yields a single coherent and precise view of the physical world, mankind, our purpose, and future, this mix is befuddlement in action. Where the gospel brings calmness, steadiness, firmness, courage, clarity, and tranquility in the face of hardship, the contemporary conglomeration of human notions creates confusion, chaos, disarray, turmoil, and disorder. Thus, it offers no firm ground on which to stand, and no clear view of what lies ahead. The results surround us today: in the decay, weakness, violence, anxiety, and suffering that we see continuously unfolding yet are persistently unable to combat. We find ourselves ruled by a new variant of an old human problem: scripture has a name for it — Babel.

vBabel, if you please.

I intend to wade into the ideological mire via a series of articles examining each of these six belief systems in turn.

I tackle this morass because the battle for our nation is a battle of ideas. Deception and confusion must be resisted using clarity and truthfulness. We need courage in this fight. We also need knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.

We must not be fooled.

Share

Leave a comment

Jeffrey Tucker, founder of the Brownstone Institute and gentle but courageous advocate for liberty, published his short summary of what covid-19 was really about. It was his attempt, in less than 500 words, to sketch the big picture of that extraordinary evil. It is published here.

He then asked for anyone who had something to add to do likewise stating:

The goal is short (no longer than 500 words), evocative, comprehensive, no exaggerations, and verifiably accurate.

This is my attempt:

Covid-19: The big picture

First, we elevated the belief in science to a religion, without stopping to think or learn or care what science really is. It should be the search for truth. It should be always under review and discussion. Instead, it became ‘Truth’ and discussion, dissent and debate were reclassified as heresy. Heretics were called nasty names so that their unanswerable questions and sound reasoning could be safely and quietly ignored.

Next, we systemised education; seeing the Prussian model as the apogee of scholarship; so powerful and effective that it must be copied lest it sweep the whole world aside. Thus, education became regimented, and we became regimented with it. No longer was learning a path of self-improvement and discovery. Rather it taught one overwhelming lesson; thinking was not for the likes of us. True erudition was only to be found in memorising the officially endorsed syllabus.

Then we made the law into an oppressor. Rather than a code developed from innate understanding of right and wrong, crafted and discovered over millennia, tried by experience and restrained by tradition, the law became an instrument of the state to mold society and control its people. It became a coercive tool of infinite change, imposed by rulers for their own short-term advantage. That commands and diktats carried the name ‘laws’ was merely camouflage, assigning to them an authority that was in truth stolen from wiser and better men.

After that we used the industrial might that was bringing prosperity, free trade and countless material improvements to engage in wars that killed millions and left whole societies stripped of its brightest and best members, impoverished and no longer looking to the future with optimism and hope. But from this orgy of killing, we learned one dangerous lesson; full mobilisation of an entire society, unified behind its state leadership, compelled by onerous laws limiting freedom to speak, to travel and to trade is the way to ‘victory’.

After that, we allowed evil to proceed in its long march through our institutions, installing a mindset and philosophy that in the final analysis opposed life and human thriving, but did so in the name of ‘fairness’. For to choose wisdom over folly is unfair to the followers of folly. The only absolute rule became that there are no absolute rules. Personal choice was made sovereign when it complied with the prevailing ideology and was made detestable when it opposed that belief system. The belief system grew and never had to be named. Hence it was neither defined, nor coherent, nor tested. It was, nevertheless, firmly installed.

So, when the covid-19 panic came we had a population who obeyed authority, and did not dare to question. They followed the directions from above, however illogical or changeable that instruction might be. It all had the force of law because law had ceased to mean anything more that state or institutional policy.

The evil of covid-19 struck because it became inevitable.

Subscribe now

Share

Leave a comment

And, at the hither end, I will bide butt-and-ben wi the Lord

Aye, and for aye. (Psalm 23, verse 6, in Scots)

As I reflect on six months of writing about the gospel and upon all that I have learned during this project, what is perhaps most remarkable is the heightened lucidity I now find in scripture. Massive swaths of God’s word have changed from vaguely inspiring to precisely definitive or from slightly obscure to crystal-clear. Of course, it is not the words, but rather my understanding of their meaning, context, and chronology that has been transformed. An example is the well-known ending to Psalm 23. It concludes “I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever”, although I prefer the Scots version above. Having experienced the scope and full majesty of the gospel story, and having heard the multitude of ways in which the Lord reaches out to humanity to offer them life, that simple statement carries renewed richness. To have scripture with which I have been familiar for decades speak to me with such elevated vigour and brilliance has been a joyful revelation. It brings to mind the sudden insight granted to the apostles by Jesus Christ:

Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures (Luke 24:45)

Also, I must comment on the experience of spending so much time in the Lord’s word, being guided by his spirit. During this, I have often felt the gentle hand of the Holy Spirit directing and teaching me. This has been both a fascinating and an exciting adventure. I have felt from the outset that it is a collaborative process in which I play a minor role.

In addition, this collaboration involved the beautiful proofreader who has improved the text on countless occasions and has been my writing companion; she has my deep gratitude.

I also wish to thank all the readers of this work, particularly those who have contributed written comments, emails, messages, and words of encouragement. I hugely value and appreciate these exchanges.

The following thoughts and commentary are my initial reflections and reactions to the gospel message outlined in the previous twelve articles. I would encourage the reader to add their own thoughts and viewpoints in the comments or send a direct message with their perspectives and insights.

Subscribe now

Leave a comment

Scope and grandeur

In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. (Psa 138:3)

First, we have the sheer scale of the gospel message. Its magnificence is breathtaking. It operates across millennia to achieve the seemingly impossible — to save humanity from itself; from sin and error; from pain and suffering.

The conventional gospels, disseminated by mainstream churches, are a thin soup compared with the rich banquet of the biblical gospel. They are just-so stories, mystical claims without definition or substance. You say the words, you believe for an instant, and, magically, it is done. You are saved! The substance of the matter is omitted. Alternatively, in some cases, church ritual becomes the substance, and the church a substitute saviour. Seldom is more than a fraction of the gospel proclaimed; much is simply ignored by the mainstream.

Take, for example, the Kingdom of God. This was the primary subject of the gospel message preached by Jesus Christ (see Mat 4:23). It is omitted from many common descriptions of the gospel. “Thy Kingdom come” is displaced by a “kingdom now” theology. In practice, this restrains and silences discussion of the coming Kingdom of God, despite its central place in our salvation.

Or consider Christ’s return in power and glory, so that every eye shall behold. With this to come, how can any Christian feel despair at the mess our politicians, judges, academics and other leaders make of our world? Simply stated, there can be no room for despair. But despair is often apparent nevertheless, because Christ’s return is another of those aspects of the gospel that is ignored, or downplayed or relegated to the theological backwaters.

The biblical gospel, when viewed in its full greatness, is a multi-phase, multi-millennial process for the redemption of mankind. It demonstrates the love, patience, and greatness of God. It shows the role of the individual Christian now and in the future, and gives purpose and direction to life as no other message can. It makes the world understandable; the crises of the day are trivial in comparison to the miraculous and glorious events that lie ahead. Every work of fiction or philosophy seems puny and lacking in vision in comparison to the gospel story, which sweeps across all of history and stretches into the future.

The gospel is a message of hope. It gives us instruction in righteousness. It allows us to orient ourselves in a fallen, sinful world. It is a map to guide us through chaos. It drives out fear. It provides comfort in times of sorrow. It is the message that transformed the apostles and which has the power to transform every one of us.

Location, location, location

Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?

When… all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:4,7)

The location of the gospel message is on earth. It is here where Christ was made flesh and was crucified, and here where he spent three days and three nights in the grave — the belly of the earth. It is here where he arose from the grave, and here where the spirit of God guides, teaches, and comforts those who serve him. And it is to here that he will return; where he will raise the faithful in the first resurrection to meet him in the air (within the atmosphere); where he will restore his nation Israel; here where he will rule for a thousand years from Jerusalem. And it is here where he will judge humanity. The earth is the focus of it all.

Heaven, the dwelling place of God, is seen as a far country, remote from our planet and from humanity. Indeed, at the very end (the “hither end” of Psalm 23), God’s dwelling place will be on earth with mankind. That is the very reverse of the message being proclaimed by the mainstream churches, which tells us that our destiny is to be with God in heaven. No, our purpose is to be with God on earth. That is where the new Jerusalem will be placed. That is where the thrones of God and of the Lamb shall be found. That is where his servants will serve him and shall see his face (Rev 22:1-5).

Hell is shown to mean the grave. It is destroyed by God, as death will be no more. The metaphor used for total and permanent destruction is the lake of fire. Hell and death are cast into the lake of fire, that is to say, they are destroyed completely.

The choice that each of us faces is between life and death. It is not between eternal life in a pleasant location and equally eternal life in a highly unpleasant place. It is life with the Lord, or death with Satan.

The famous verse John 3:16 says it all:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. [emphasis added]

Let Christ be our guide

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)

We cannot determine what is in the mind of God. We have to be told, directed and guided. This is where the feasts ordained by the Lord in Old Testament times are so vital. They provide the chronology of redemption. They show precisely what comes first, what is next, what follows, and what is last. It is the seven annual festivals and seven annual sabbaths that provide that essential framework. It is the words of Christ and the symbols he chose that guide and direct our understanding.

In the mainstream, many things are missed, and even more are confused and jumbled. As a result, truths are woven into a lie by the simple tactics of confusing the timeline, omitting key steps and combining unrelated portions into an inconsistent and irrational narrative.

Following the outline provided by God’s word avoids all of this mystification. Out of the chaos emerges order and clarity, simplicity and precision. This has been the core idea that gave rise to this article series: that the annual holy days ordained by God provide an outline of God’s plan for redeeming mankind. As such, it should be taught, not ignored.

That outline has provided the structure for this article series, too. It starts with Christ’s blood, pictured by the passover. It continues with the putting away of sin, the symbol of which is the feast of unleavened bread. It continues up to and beyond the present day with the covenant relationship between Christ and those who follow him, including the witnesses who will proclaim the gospel around the world just before Christ’s return, all of which is illustrated by Pentecost. Christ’s return is heralded by the Feast of Trumpets, which involves the saints being raised to work with him in his Kingdom; the first resurrection. His people in the Houses of Israel and Judah will then be reconciled to him, repenting of their national sins; this is represented by the Day of Atonement. Rule by Christ and his servants will then spread across the world for one thousand years, during which there will be peace; this period is symbolised by the seven-day festival of Tabernacles. Finally, the Last Great Day represents the second resurrection and the judgement of the whole of mankind by Christ.

This framework sets each part of God’s plan for the redemption of mankind in its correct place. It exposes the many false gospels that presently circulate and shows the wisdom and patience of God:

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Pet 3:9)

Sadly, it is unknown to most as the churches do not keep Christ’s holy days nor talk about their meaning and message. Surely this is the most glaring omission perpetrated by a lukewarm Christianity.

Israel reinstated

For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. (Deu 7:6)

Perhaps the most striking, and certainly the most original, aspect of this series has been the clarity gained regarding those nations chosen by God as his portion: Israel and Judah. Their role is seen in the round in the full biblical gospel, for the most significant part is yet in the future. Then many of the prophecies concerning these nations, which were never fulfilled in historic times, will be realised.

God created this nation, starting with a couple too old to have children, so that his actions and blessings could be apparent. He did this after the repeated rebellions of mankind had led to estrangement from God. The principle that the Lord instigated was that he would save and redeem mankind, Israel first and then the other nations. This formula will be seen in full force after Christ returns to the earth in glory to rule as King of Kings.

The first nation he will reconcile to himself will be Israel, a single nation no longer divided between the House of Israel and the House of Judah (The Jews). They will repent of their national sins. The House of Israel will repent of their idol worship and backsliding away from the true faith in our creator. The house of Judah will look upon him whom they have pierced, Christ (the Messiah), and weep as for a firstborn son. The two houses will form a single nation and will follow God, led by their king, David, resurrected in the first resurrection. Each of their twelve tribes will be led by one of Christ’s apostles, also part of the first resurrection. Thus, God’s nation will follow the Lord, and their government will be by immortal resurrected saints of the Kingdom of God. They will be an example to mankind of government not by men, but by the Lord and his Kingdom.

During this period, Israel will be a nation of priests; intermediaries between God and man. They will walk in righteousness and will be a beacon to all the nations of this world. With this understanding, the prophecies concerning Israel read as a plain, simple description of the situation that the Lord will bring about. They will no longer be in contradiction to the actual, stiffnecked, sinful record of Israel. The words of God will stand; it will be exactly as he has said:

For I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: (Isa 46:9-10)

One significant theme presented in this gospel series is that there is no plan B. God decides on a course of action, and it will be done. When man repeatedly acts to thwart the will of God, it might seem that God’s purpose has been resisted. It is not so. Rather, it is our lack of understanding, limited vision, and short timescales that prevent us from seeing the larger picture in which God’s will is carried out perfectly and to the letter. The gospel provides the needed perspective and reveals the things otherwise hidden to man. In the case of Israel, it shows that they will serve exactly the purposes God set out when he called Abraham.

It is the Day of Atonement that signifies the repentance of Israel and their return to the Lord. Later, at Judgement Day, it appears that Israel is the nation raised first. This is pictured by the prophet Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of the dry bones. Once again, it is Israel first, then the nations.

• Receiving the commandments of God — Israel first, then the nations.

• Entering into a covenant relationship with God — Israel first (Mount Sinai), then the nations (Pentecost).

• Becoming a nation subject to the rule by the Kingdom of God, on earth — Israel first, then the nations.

• Being raised from the dead to be judged by Christ according to the deeds of each individual — Israel first, then the nations.

The scale and scope of God’s plans for his nation become manifest and are astonishing in their perfection. And it is not because of the superior nature of the people. No, it is a glorious example of the wisdom, love and patience of our Lord.

He said:

Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:

And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? Isa 46:3-5)

Thus, Israel becomes a sign for the nations, an example to all, of what can be achieved by God. Even when the errors and failings of man seem to make success impossible, God’s word will stand.

Walk that walk

For we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7)

The gospel highlights how important the walk of faith really is. The hour we first believe and the hour we die bookend this process. Both are marked by annual Sabbaths; the first and last days of unleavened bread, the festival that symbolises the complete putting away of sin. This shows how much importance God places on our conduct, progress, obedience, faith, courage and endurance. It makes what we do and how we do it important. In short, our lives matter.

Consider the criminal executed beside Christ. He stated that Jesus had done nothing wrong. He asked to be remembered when Christ rules in his Kingdom. He believed! Christ said that this man would be with him, that he would be saved. He said this because this was the last act of that man’s life. His walk was about to end, and he was truthful and courageous, honest and humble. He was full of faith. Many others who believed but lived on could fail to endure to the end. They might become wearied and offended by persecution; they might be deceived by error and lies, they might be overwhelmed by the cares of the world; in any of these ways, they might turn away from God. But this man, dying beside Christ, had no such opportunity to stumble. Thus, our Lord could state his destiny.

Or consider the parable of the workmen. In this story, workers are hired, some early in the day, some near the end. All received the same promise, and all got the same reward. It is not the duration of the walk with God that matters, but rather that once begun, it is continued until the end. Obedience to our master for whatever period is allotted to us is what is required.

Many false gospels are promulgated today (see the Great Evangelical Disaster podcast series). These often downplay or denigrate the importance of the walk of faith; the process of improving, enduring and remaining faithful until the end. They claim that this is all achieved on the cross, and there is nothing left for the Christian to do except claim the prize. This is a most wicked deception; there is plenty to do, and Christians should be busy doing it. Instead, many are led astray by a false gospel of indolence substituted for the true gospel and its call to action.

The centrality of Jesus Christ

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, (Rev 19:11)

Christ is our master, our Lord, our King. It is through him alone that we will be reconciled to God the Father. What a work he is doing to redeem us! Christ is central to every part of the gospel. He leads every step.

• It begins with his blood; sacrificed for us, so that we may be washed clean and may have life: this is the Passover.

• During the feast of unleavened bread, the sheaf of barley waved by the priest symbolised his resurrection; the firstborn of many brethren. His empty tomb is a testimony that everything he said is true.

• After his ascension, he sent his spirit to help, guide and teach us; that was on Pentecost, the day when he established both old and new covenants.

• Christ will return in glory, and every eye shall behold him.

• He will summon the dead in Christ, and the faithful still alive will be changed. They shall meet him in the air at the wedding supper of the Lamb: this is the first resurrection. His elect are reborn to eternal life; serving with him in the Kingdom of God.

• He will unite his people from the Houses of Israel and Judah, reconstituting a single nation. They shall repent and return to God, and shall be a nation of priests serving the Lord and bringing other nations to his side. This is just as God predicted when he first established this nation through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

• He will bind Satan, removing his influence from the earth for a thousand years.

• He will rule the earth for 1000 years as King of Kings, bringing peace and abundance.

• He will release Satan one last time, and many people will be fooled again and will rebel. They will move to kill and destroy God’s servants. Christ will defend his people, those who love him, and will strike down the evil-doers.

• He will raise the dead. First, Israel and then the other nations will be restored to life in the second resurrection.

• He will then judge everyone raised in the second resurrection based upon their deeds; their works. There will be justice. Christ will save as many as can be saved.

• To those saved, he will grant eternal life.

• Those condemned will perish, not suffer.

• He will end death itself.

• He will establish a new Jerusalem, in which both he and the Father will reside.

• Humanity, once again, will dwell with our creator.

  And, at the hither end, I will bide butt-and-ben wi the Lord

  Aye, and for aye.

Christ has roles for all who love him and are faithful to him, but it is his work. He leads; we follow. He instructs; we obey. He gives us great gifts; we thank him. The gospel is the story of Christ’s wondrous work to redeem mankind. Our saviour is central to each and every part of it.

Casting off deceptions

The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light (Rom 13:12)

In addition to the confusion, omissions and thin limitations of much of the mainstream similitude of the gospel, we have the problem of outright deceptions. Foremost amongst these are:

• The claim that we are judged when we die.

• The assertion that men are intrinsically immortal or possess an immortal soul.

• The insistence that God will torment evil doers forever, that an eternity of agony awaits us.

Starting with eternal torment, the idea that a loving God would cause people to suffer for all eternity is plainly illogical, or such a contradiction as to render any claim of God’s goodness or merciful nature ridiculous. A God that would select perpetual torment rather than death, that is annihilation, would be vicious, cruel and sadistic. But this is what many gospel preachers actually claim. It is also the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, which maintains that although God has the raw power to destroy sinners, he chooses not to, preferring their perpetual suffering. Worse still, Roman Catholic belief has this suffering as some sort of spectator event; consider this quote from Thomas Aquinas:

In order that the happiness of the saints may be more delightful to them and that they may render more copious thanks to God for it, they are allowed to see perfectly the sufferings of the damned. So that they may be urged the more to praise God. The saints in heaven know distinctly all that happens to the damned. [Summa Theologica, Third Part, Supplement, Question XCIV, "Of the Relations of the Saints Towards the Damned," First Article, "Whether the Blessed in Heaven Will See the Sufferings of the Damned?"]

Only slightly less appalling is the idea that, whatever he might wish, an almighty God is unable to permanently destroy those humans or spirit-beings who have rebelled, and thus bring only pain, suffering and destruction. This concept is based on the view that, whilst God might not seek eternal punishment for wrongdoers, the immortal nature of humanity leaves him no choice. This seems to paint God as both bad and sad, with the term ‘Almighty’ ceasing to have any credibility.

It is, of course, notable that the core lie, that humans are intrinsically immortal, is the same lie that the serpent told to Eve: “Ye shall not surely die”. And it begs the question: why, if we are already intrinsically immortal, would we need a saviour to die for us, and to overcome death itself? Once again, the false gospels fail to offer even an internally consistent narrative.

A similar illogicality is plain to see when attempts are made to harmonise scripture and the falsehood that we are judged at death, going either to be with God in heaven or to burn in the lake of fire. This leads to numerous absurdities, such as judgement for a sinner at his death, followed by, perhaps, thousands of years in hellfire, followed in turn by resurrection, a second judgement (in public this time), followed finally by a return to the fire. This is termed the ‘particular judgement’ and the ‘general or last judgement’ and is a doctrine in Roman Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, and many Protestant churches. Could anything be more absurd?

Fortunately, we are freed from such outrageous beliefs by the truth, the gospel of Jesus Christ, as plainly stated in the bible.

A message of love, hope and freedom

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. (Rom 15:13)

The gospel represents a path to everlasting life. That life is from the Lord and is his free gift. He will give this to as many as can be his; as have the spirit of God directing their paths and the laws of God written in their hearts. But not being content that any should perish, our Lord is engaged in a multitude of ways and means and times to bring as many as possible to repentance and thus to life. This is love. Wise, far-sighted, authentic, outgoing love.

This love brings hope. How many husbands or wives who believe look upon their non-believing partner with concern? Falsehoods convince them that, once their loved one dies, they will be lost without hope of redemption. They are told that cruelty has dominion and that a life of torment and pain lies ahead for the man or woman they cherish and adore. The gospel says otherwise. It proclaims that there will be a resurrection and a judgement. It heartens us and reassures us that there will be justice; that as many as can be saved will receive everlasting life. The gospel says there is hope.

Moreover, this same gospel tells us we are called for a purpose; for life and for work, not for ease and inessential langour. That too gives us hope as it shows that our God has a purpose, and that our future has meaning.

The truth, the bible tells us, shall set us free. That truth is the same today, yesterday, tomorrow and forever. Our God does not change; he neither wavers nor is variable. Rather, he is clear, consistent and states the end from the beginning, and from ancient times, things not yet come to pass. We can have confidence in God because his truth is eternal.

And what is the nature of the freedom that truth wins? It is freedom from sin and from the pain and suffering that sin brings. It is not the freedom to sin; it is not a license for licentiousness. Sin is slavery. This was shown by the exodus and journey to the promised land by God’s people, Israel. Just as they exited slavery, we must leave sin behind. God’s path, his commandments, the law that he offers to write in our hearts as the new covenant, they are freedom.

The gospel also offers freedom from fear. It shows that Christ will overcome everything — death itself shall be destroyed. With death defeated, fear is beaten too. How many live today in fear of what is coming? Societies are everywhere in decline. Collapse seems closer every day. Even for many who claim to believe, this environment can bring negativity and hopelessness. But in the gospel there is no black-pill, no despair. There is instead freedom from worry and a calm, confident, serene hopefulness.

For we know that our redeemer lives.

Closing remarks

… rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory (1 Pet 1:8)

The richness and perfection of the gospel are breathtaking. The multitude of ways by which Christ will reach those he can save is almost beyond belief. But believe it, we can, for the gospel is true. The empty tomb found nearly 2000 years ago shows us that God’s word is sure. This is real. This is happening. This is life.

Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:31)

And this day, Judgement Day, is symbolised by the last of the seven annual sabbaths or holy days, which follows immediately after the seven-day-long Feast of Tabernacles. Hence, it denotes the events immediately following the millennial rule of Christ on earth. The instruction to observe this day was given when the Israelites had left Egypt and wandered in the wilderness:

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying

…on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein. (Lev 23:33,36)

Subscribe now

As is the case with all important events in scripture, this instruction is repeated several times, both in Leviticus:

Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. (Lev 23:39)

And elsewhere:

On the eighth day ye shall have a solemn assembly: ye shall do no servile work therein: (Num 29:35)

Furthermore, the designation of a sabbath on this day once again indicates that mankind has a role to play in the events that will follow. In this case, it is our deeds that will define our destiny.

But before we get to the judgement day, there are a few events that follow Christ’s thousand-year rule that we must examine.

Satan’s final rebellion: the battle of Gog and Magog

It is to the book of Revelation that we turn for a depiction of the enormous events of these times:

And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. (Rev 20:7-8)

We see here that despite one thousand years of peace, prosperity, and just rule by the Lord, mankind is eager once again to rebel. Satan’s influence quickly generates a huge army to march against the Lord, whose kingdom is based in Jerusalem. What exactly is the motivation for this rebellion? We get some indication of the nature of the satanic influence from the 38th chapter of the book of Ezekiel:

Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:

And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,

To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? (Eze 38:10-13)

We see here that, of all the nations of the world, God’s nation, Israel, is dwelling in complete peace and safety. It has no walls; no defences; no gates. By following the laws of God, they have an abundance of material riches. The nations’ desire for those goods motivates them to war against God’s people. The old envy and animosity rise once again.

But this, too, has been foreseen by God and will be used as a final lesson to the nations as to who God is, and what power he wields:

Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?

And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:

And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.

Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them? (Eze 38:14-17)

This has been prophesied since long before Christ came to earth in human form. It too has a purpose. The nations that have lived in peace for a thousand years and who have listened to Satan’s urgings to steal and kill those who follow the Lord are about to be an example and a lesson for the whole of humanity:

And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.

For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;

So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.

And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD. (Eze 38:18-23)

Thus, those who rebelled are defeated, not by the arms of a human army of Israel, but by the mighty intervention of God, who fights for and protects those who love him. The swiftness of the victory is hinted at by the single-line treatment of the battle in the book of Revelation:

And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. (Rev 20:9)

Thus, this final battle between a satanically influenced humanity and the innocent and vulnerable is brought to an end. It ends in the destruction of those set on theft, greed, cruelty, and destruction; those seeking to seize what they did not work for or earn. It ends with God’s mighty hand defending his peaceful and obedient servants.

The valley of the dry bones

Now we come to a picture of the second resurrection.

The first resurrection is of the saints, the dead in Christ, at his return. It also includes the transformation of those who have the spirit of God and remain alive. They meet him in the air and are raised as immortal spirits to be part of his Kingdom.

The second resurrection involves raising the dead to life, that is to flesh-and-blood, mortal life. Like so much in scripture, this applies first to God’s nation, Israel, and then to all the nations of the earth. The raising of Israel is pictured in the book of Ezekiel, in the strange picture of the valley of the dry bones:

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,

And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.

And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.

Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.

Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:

And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.

And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. (Eze 37:1-10)

The interpretation of this vision is given in the text that immediately follows:

Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.

Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,

And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD. (Eze 37:11-14)

So the dry bones are Israel; they will be brought up out of their graves and restored to life. What follows after this is judgement, and it will apply to all nations. Hence, we must conclude that a similar raising up from the grave will be universal — because, as Paul stated on Mars Hill, it is the whole world that will be judged.

Judgement Day

Revelation chapter 20 pictures the events surrounding Judgment Day. First, Satan is dealt with:

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Rev 20:10)

The book of Revelation uses symbolic language. A sword coming from the mouth is the word of God; a beast is an empire, a whore is a fallen and false church. In this case, a lake of fire represents destruction, and its eternal nature shows that destruction to be absolute, final and permanent. We will later see inanimate objects like the grave (hell) cast into this fire; we will see the natural process of organic death also thrown into the flames. These things are destroyed. So it will be with Satan.

When Satan was imprisoned for a thousand years, he was not held in the lake of fire, as this would mean permanent and immediate destruction. Rather, God needed him to be restrained, but left in existence so that Satan could once again tempt the nations of men. He was therefore held in the bottomless pit, where he remained alive but could no longer harm or influence mankind during his confinement. When Satan is finally cast into the lake of fire, he, like death and the grave, will be destroyed completely; he will be no more.

Some may doubt that spiritual beings, who are immortal and not subject to death in the normal course of events, could ever cease to exist. But that is not so. In Psalm 82, we find God speaking to other spiritual beings who have failed in their duty to rule justly over the nations of men:

God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. (Psa 82:1)

He lays a charge before them:

How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? (Psa 82:2)

And he tells them what their fate shall be:

I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.

But ye shall die like men... (Psa 82:6-7)

So, spirits-beings; gods; sons of the Most High, when they rebel, will be subject to death, just like men. Satan, the first and greatest rebel, will be no different.

The end of Psalm 82 takes us to this same point: Judgement Day:

Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations. (Psa 82:8)

Then, returning to the book of Revelation, we see the judge, who is Christ:

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. (Rev 20:11)

It can only be Christ who judges mankind. Our Father in heaven has not experienced human weakness, pain, suffering, or temptation. Christ has known all of this and more, and overcome it all too. Only Christ can be a just judge of humanity, as only Christ combines God’s wisdom and integrity with knowledge of human frailty and vulnerability. This is made explicitly clear in many scriptures, including Acts 17:31, quoted at the start of this article, and the Gospel of John, which reads:

For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son (John 5:22)

The central role of Christ in all aspects of the gospel is illustrated by the prophet Isaiah, who describes the multitude of roles Christ fulfils: saviour, king, lawgiver, and judge:

For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us. (Isa 33:22)

Then we see, in the book of Revelation, Christ judging the whole earth:

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. (Rev 20:12-13)

Note that Christ judges people according to their works, that is, their deeds. This contradicts many Protestant and Evangelical preachers who decry the idea of works having a role in our redemption. They should not make this error, for Christ himself described this whole process:

Then the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (Mat 15:31-46)

The points that need to be emphasised include:

• It is by their actions and omissions that men will be judged.

• All nations are included in this judgement.

• Every individual will get a hearing. Every life will be examined.

• Some are welcomed into the Kingdom, and some are cast away to destruction.

In short, there will be justice, and Christ will be the judge. And after mankind is judged, death itself is destroyed:

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Rev 20:14-15)

It should be noted that the lake of fire is also called the second death. It is where life finally ends for those who have died once (a physical death), been resurrected and judged, and who have been condemned by Christ. It signifies absolute, total, final, and irrevocable destruction. It does not mean eternal life in undesirable accommodation. It means the extinction of life.

When death itself is no more, and the grave (hell or Hades) ceases to have relevance, they are also pictured as being cast into the lake of fire. They cease to be.

Those welcomed into the Kingdom of God will become immortal spirit beings, like those who were part of the first resurrection. This process must involve the spirit of God being imparted to those deemed worthy by Christ. Remember, these are ordinary men and women, not the apostles, prophets, martyrs, and spirit-begotten saints of the first resurrection. This process of redemption was described by Christ when he preached on this very day nearly two thousand years ago:

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (Jhn 7:37-39)

Contrary to the mainstream belief that “probation is over” at death, or at Christ’s return, or at some other time before his return, what the scriptures actually say is quite different. The bible tells us that a thousand years after Christ comes to earth, all those who have ever lived (except those already raised in the first resurrection) will be raised back to life and will be judged. Many will then accept Christ. So even for the dead, those who did not believe during their lifetimes, those who never heard the name of Jesus, and those who have suffered injustice in this fallen world in any of a million different ways, and, in their pain and agony, have died without repenting or coming to any knowledge of God: there remains great hope. This is very good news indeed.

It is as the apostle Peter wrote:

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Pet 3:9)

The New Jerusalem

After judging the nations, Christ will renew all things:

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Rev 21:1-7)

These words offer hope like no other. After millennia cut off from God by our sin and depravity, the redemption of mankind achieved by Christ, our kinsman redeemer, is such that “the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people”. Almighty God and mankind, whom he loves, shall be united at last. And they will dwell on earth together.

After century upon century of pain and suffering, death and sorrow, exploitation and cruelty to one another, we have a future where “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away”.

When the New Jerusalem, the City of God, is described, its twelve foundations bear the names of the twelve apostles:

And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (Rev 21:14)

To enter the city, there are twelve gates, bearing the names of the tribes of Israel:

And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. (Rev 21:12-13)

Thus, the city of God is founded on the gospel, and the ways in are through the nation he called for his own purpose, the nation of Israel. Moreover, God our Father will dwell with us on earth. Looking at this new city, John exclaimed:

And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. (Rev 21:22-23)

Finally, with sin and death overcome, with God our Father dwelling with us on Earth, with our tears dried and our suffering ended, the gospel draws to a close.

The gospel summarised by Christ

In the latter part of the book of Revelation, Christ twice summarises the gospel in a condensed form. The first of these occurs in chapter 21:

And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Rev 21:6-8)

We see in this the main points highlighted as follows:

• The redemption of mankind starts and ends with Christ, his sacrifice, his actions, and his leadership.

• To all those who ask, he gives the spirit of God, which transforms and restores them. This is his gift; we cannot earn it.

• Having received his spirit, we must overcome the sinful world in which we reside; this walk of faith requires our active, earnest, and life-long efforts: our conduct and our stewardship matter.

• Those who reject Christ and instead love lies and sin will perish; this is called the second death.

The second example occurs in the final chapter of the final book of the New Testament. Christ is speaking to the apostle John and again summarises the gospel:

And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. (Rev 22:12,13)

Hence, we will be judged according to our works. Christ, the beginning and the end of the whole process, is our judge.

Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. (Rev 22:14,15)

Therefore, we must keep the commandments of God; to do otherwise is contemptible in his sight.

I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Rev 22:16,17)

Thus, we see that Christ offers life through his holy spirit, abundantly and freely, to all who humble themselves and ask.

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Rev 22:18,19)

So, the gospel is complete and must not be distorted, edited, or added to.

He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. (Rev 22:20)

This assures that Christ will return; we can rely on that.

Closing remarks

The book of Job examines the travails of a man enduring suffering on this earth. Job had faith. He had confidence that there would be a resurrection to life and that he would see God with his own eyes. He believed there would be judgement; there would be justice, and, for those who choose it, there would be life. He said:

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold… (Job 19:25-27)

This is a message of hope. It is a message that says our every word and every deed matters. It calls upon us to put away sin completely, to help those in need, and to wait patiently upon the Lord. It energises our every waking moment. It drives out despair and apathy, torpor and misery, dullness and pain. In place, it offers joy, peace, strength, and tranquillity. It is The Gospel, in all its glory.

Share

Leave a comment

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.

On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein. (Lev 23:33-36)

Subscribe now

The feast lasts seven days. Like the other long feast, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the seven days overlap into an eighth day. In this case, the eighth day is called ‘The Last Great Day’ (John 7:37), and it follows immediately after Tabernacles. That will be the subject of the penultimate article in this series.

The first of the seven days is an annual Sabbath, signifying a role for mankind to play in God’s great plan.

Later in the 23rd chapter of Leviticus, the instruction to keep this feast is repeated, and further details are added:

Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.

And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.

And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.

Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:

That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. (Lev 23:39-43)

We see that this statute will apply forever (more on that in a moment), and that it is a time of rejoicing and happiness. The historical context is that Israel dwelt in temporary booths in the wilderness after leaving Egypt. We have already seen that Egypt is a metaphor for sin. Furthermore, the previous holy day (the Day of Atonement) symbolises Israel and Judah reuniting and repenting of their sins, becoming, at last, God’s people. It is thus entirely consistent that this is a time of happiness and joy, representing God’s rule over a harmonious, spirit-filled nation that has cast off and repented of its previous sinful ways.

The instruction regarding the seven-day-long Tabernacles feast is repeated in the book of Deuteronomy, and it is one of the three festivals that are to be kept, whenever possible, in Jerusalem, the place selected by God:

Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:

And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.

Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.

Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:

Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee. (Deut 16:13-17)

Here we see that ‘the stranger within thy gates’ is also to keep the feast. This is a consistent principle in the word of God: it is to Israel first and then also to the other nations as they are reconciled to the Lord.

Christ’s dominion

Christ’s kingship was predicted before his conception in human form:

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.

And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.

He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. (Luke 1:30-33)

And his kingship does not stop with the House of Jacob. Rather, it extends over the whole earth and over every nation. Furthermore, it is a rule without the need for military force, having both great humility and tremendous power and authority:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. (Zec 9:9-10)

Hence, we see that Christ’s rule is global in extent and that it will bring peace on earth. He will be physically in Jerusalem, and his rule is not merely one of honest and wise administration. It brings salvation, forgiveness, repentance, and the spirit of God to change the hearts of men.

The prophet Isaiah also foresaw Christ’s government:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. (Isa 9:6-7)

And it is this government, this rule on earth by Christ, the Son of God, who is without sin, but who understands human woes and temptations, weaknesses and sorrows, that is symbolised by the seven-day-long Tabernacles Feast.

Satan bound

The devil, Satan, is called the prince of the power of the air:

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: (Eph 2:2)

This indicates the diffuse, unseen nature of the influence he wields over mankind. By imparting a spirit of rebellion and disobedience, Satan generates conflict and sin, suffering and cruelty. His influence is to be entirely removed for one thousand years:

And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. (Rev 20:1-3)

Absent Satan’s influence, with the resurrected Saints ruling with Christ from Jerusalem, and with the example of God’s restored nation, Israel, showing the way, the nations will turn to God. Peace will be established on the earth.

A thousand-year reign

Christ’s rule and Satan’s removal from human affairs are to last for a thousand years:

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Rev 20:6)

It is no surprise that anti-Christ candidate, Adolf Hitler, selected this same span for his counterfeit kingdom, the "Thousand-Year Reich".

And what will be the nature of that reign? It is foretold in the prophetic writings of Isaiah:

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (Isa 2:1-4)

This shows that mountains and hills are biblical symbols for nations and kingdoms, and that the various nations shall remain separate, but that the Kingdom of God (Christ and his resurrected saints) will rule over them all. We can also see that the nations of the earth will go to Jerusalem to seek God and to learn his ways. They will do so voluntarily, seeking knowledge of God and understanding of his law.

We can also see that war will be no more, that Christ shall judge disputes between peoples, making armies and means of mass killing entirely redundant. In a high point of recycling, weapons will be remade into implements of agriculture, bringing life, not death. This powerful metaphor was purloined by the United Nations, which, like Adolf Hitler, sought to lay claim to God’s Kingdom. They placed a statue of a man beating a sword to form a plough outside their New York headquarters. This was a gift from the murderous, oppressive, very heavily armed and not infrequently hungry people of the Soviet Union:

The earth under Christ’s wise rule

Under Christ’s rule, and the spiritual transformation that accompanies it, much of the harm that was done to the wider creation by the human rebellion in Eden will be reversed. This is illustrated in the book of Isaiah, which predicts changes to the animal kingdom as aggressiveness and predation are replaced by coexistence and safety:

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. (Isa 11:6-10)

The prophet Micah also describes the peace in human affairs:

But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.

And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (Mic 4:1-3)

Micah continues to show economic well-being deriving from God’s rule. The result is sufficient resources for human thriving without excessive labour. Once the present systems of human predation (called taxation, theft, and envy) are replaced by laws of justice and generosity, life will have more abundance. Furthermore, there will be time to enjoy it:

But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.

For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever. (Mic 4:4-5)

In this national and international walk with God, the people will find that they no longer have fear of losing everything due to theft, injustice or misfortune. Neither must they work every hour to pay interest on loans or rent for land their fathers bought before them. Without exploitation and expropriation, a man will instead have time to sit under his fig tree and enjoy being alive.

All nations to keep the feast

This feast is not only intended for Israel. Rather, as with all things pertaining to the redemption of mankind, it starts with Israel and then extends to all of the nations. This is made explicit in the book of Zechariah:

And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.

And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.

And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. (Zec14:16-19)

This illustrates, without a doubt, that the system of Sabbaths, weekly days of rest and seven annual Sabbaths, is fully in effect during Christ’s rule on earth. As a consequence, we must conclude that these Sabbaths are current now and should be observed by Christians. In fact, only a tiny minority of Christians observe them, and most evangelical pastors would characterise observance of God’s holy days as Judaising Christianity, or legalism or redemption by works, and consequently condemn the practice roundly. This is a strange position given the clarity in scripture on these points and the example given by Christ and the apostles. By shutting their eyes and closing their ears to so much of scripture, many insights are sadly lost.

Reflection in the Psalms

The beauty and peace of God’s rule are also described in the psalms, for example, in Psalm 2:

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,

Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. (Psalm 2:1-12)

We see in this the opposition, plotting and scheming faced by Christ at his return, but his victory and authority are certain. So much so that God laughs at the attempts by human rulers to subvert his plans.

Also, Psalm 72 speaks of Christ’s just rule and the justice he brings to overthrow the oppressors. Having observed the lack of justice in our corrupt and deceitful legal systems, I look forward to the day when the poor and needy receive justice, and the powerful oppressors can no longer use legal means to silence their victims.

Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king’s son.

He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.

The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness.

He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor. (Psa 72:1-4)

This is repeated later in the Psalms in the context of Christ’s global rule:

Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.

For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.

He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.

He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight. (Psa 72:11-14)

Christ’s rule brings justice, as well as peace and plenty.

Christ keeps the feast

So what happened during Christ’s ministry when the Feast of Tabernacles was being observed? John’s gospel records:

After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.

Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand.

His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.

For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world.

For neither did his brethren believe in him.

Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.

The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.

Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come.

When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee.

But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. (John 7:1-10)

It is plain that, first, Christ sent his disciples to keep the feast, and then, despite the severe and immediate threat to his life, he disguised himself and also went up to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

Moreover, once he had avoided the Jews who were seeking to kill him, he then went into the temple and preached openly!

Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?

And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people.

Howbeit no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.

Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.

And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? (John 7:11-15)

The line of attack the Jews used with Christ was, not for the only time, the Sabbath. Christ was doing God’s work in God’s holy time. The Jews objected, and Christ showed their hypocrisy and inconsistency in his retort:

Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel.

Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man.

If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day? (John 7:21-23)

Moreover, his gallantry and lack of fear in the face of murderous plots against his life inspired the very reaction the plotters most feared:

Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill?

But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?

And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done? (John 7:25-26, 31)

Thus, during Tabernacles, Christ went to Jerusalem, kept the feast, and preached the Gospel of the Kingdom, despite the dangers that were involved.

Closing remarks

The Feast of Tabernacles represents the time when Christ will dwell with man on earth and rule as King of Kings. His rule shall be just and will bring peace to the nations of men and harmony to the natural world. There will be abundance and justice. Fear will cease to be the principal tool of government; instead being replaced by righteousness.

His rule will extend over the whole earth and over all of the nations. Truly, it is as David the psalmist said:

Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things.

And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen.(Psa 72:18-19)

Share

Leave a comment

Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat [ăzā'zēl].

Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the LORD and sacrifice it for a sin offering.

But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat. (Lev 16:7-10)

The word twice translated as scapegoat is ‘ăzā'zēl’, the meaning of which is uncertain, but scapegoat is a fair translation as this compound word combines two underlying words that mean ‘goat’ and ‘go away’.

The word translated as atonement (kaphar) means ‘to cover over’, and implies forgiveness and reconciliation.

The goat that was the for the Lord is then sacrificed, and its blood sprinkled seven times on the mercy seat, the pure gold lid on the Ark of the Covenant. The other goat is led out to the wilderness:

When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat.

He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task.

The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness…

The man who releases the goat as a scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may come into the camp. (Lev 16:20-22, 26)

This is a strange description indeed and causes considerable confusion. Nevertheless, a few things are immediately clear. This ordinance is to be made annually; it is a Sabbath (signifying a human role in events), and the subject is the sin and spiritual fitness of the Israelites:

This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you—

because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins.

It is a day of sabbath rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance.

This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites. And it was done, as the LORD commanded Moses. (Lev 16:29-34)

Having identified these few facts, we must next establish the symbolic significance of two, virtually identical, goats.

The two goats

The first example of two goats having a starring role in the biblical narrative came with Rebekah’s deception of Isaac so that Jacob, later renamed Israel, would receive his blessing:

And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,

Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death.

Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.

Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth:

And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. (Gen 27:6-10)

Furthermore, the goats had a second role in this drama:

And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man:

My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing…

And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son:

And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck:

And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: so he blessed him. (Gen 27: 11-12, 15-16, 22-23)

Thus, the goats' skin literally covered over (kaphar) Israel, disguising him. In this state, he deceived his father and supplanted his brother, gaining that which he did not deserve. Thus, not only does the Day of Atonement concern Israel’s sin, but the main symbols used, the two goats, are intrinsic to their national story, their national character, and to their propensity to sin and to backslide from truth towards old familiar lies. In short, the goats represent Israel. The intense honesty and cultural memory inherent in the symbol are very striking.

Casting lots

What, then, does casting lots signify? This is quite plain in scripture; it is the means by which the will of God is determined. Take, for example, the replacement of Judas, who betrayed Christ. The ranks of the apostles had to be maintained at twelve (for reasons we will get to in a later article), and so a replacement had to be selected. This was first begun using human judgement, narrowing the field to two excellent and fully qualified candidates. The final choice was God’s, however:

Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.

And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.

And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,

That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.

And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. (Acts 1:21-26)

In other scriptural cases, lots were cast to determine God’s will. Typically, these removed human judgment from critical parts of decision-making concerning holy things. Examples include the division of the land amongst the tribes of Israel, and the division of roles connected with temple service amongst the families of the Levites.

We can therefore see that the casting of lots signifies a decision made by God. In this case, the Lord will divide the goats — that is to say, the Israelites — between those that are for him, yielded to his will and willing to die for the truth, and those who will not repent and carry their sins with them still. This latter group are cast out into the wilderness. Casting into the wilderness generally signifies an enforced isolation, the purpose of which is to break down stiff-necked self-reliance and forge dependence on God. It seems this will be the path for a sizable portion of the Israelites.

Hence, this ceremony pictures a renewed interaction between Christ and all his people, Israel. It occurs after Christ’s return in glory to rule, as it is after the Feast of Trumpets in the annual calendar of prophetic events. Thus, it occurs after the saints, the dead in Christ, are resurrected in the first resurrection and rise to meet him in the air. It is after those alive at his return and who have the spirit of God dwelling in their hearts are transformed, and also meet Christ at the wedding supper of the Lamb. It is the beginning of the next phase of redemption, and it deals with flesh-and-blood, mortal human beings. God’s work with the men and women of the earth that he will rule over directly as King of Kings starts with his chosen nation — Israel.

It is the continuation of his plan as outlined in Old Testament times and of the calling God gave to his people when they first became his:

And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. (Exo 19:6)

As always, when we are dealing with the greatness of the gospel, there is no Plan B. Neither the House of Judah nor the House of Israel ever satisfied God’s prediction that they would be a holy nation during their recorded history. Both sinned repeatedly. But God’s word is true, and his decrees are certain. After his return, in glory and in power, it will be as he has said:

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Mat 6:10)

Having established, once again, that the Lord’s word may be trusted, we can now turn to examine what he has said about his plan for his nation.

Knowing the end from the beginning

Looking at the statements the Lord makes to Israel, and remembering that it was the northern kingdom that bore the name Israel and Jacob, the kingdom that speedily descended into idolatry, it is clear that God is predicting future events:

But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. (Isa 43:1-2)

The nation of Israel was not redeemed in Old Testament times; it was punished and cast out of the land it had inherited. And although it was protected as it wandered through the nations, and although it received its inheritance of wealth, power, and might, it never became God’s nation in the manner described by the prophet Isaiah. The fulfillment remains in the future, following Christ’s return, and as symbolised by the Day of Atonement.

This national redemption will involve a national return to the promised land:

Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;

I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; (Isa 43:5-6)

This will be a national movement to return to the land given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a rallying to the Lord following his return. A national repentance, not a revival but a transformation of the whole of Israel.

It is notable that, in the next chapter, Isaiah addresses Israel using the term ‘O isles’, consistent with Israel dwelling in the British Isles, and also refers to the ‘preserved of Israel’, confirming once again the status of the ten tribes:

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.

And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. (Isa 49:1,3,6)

Furthermore, we see the purpose of Israel’s redemption, it is to carry knowledge of the Lord, and of his Kingdom to the other nations, to the ends of the earth. Thus, as God has said, Israel will be a Holy nation and a nation of priests — bridges between God and mankind.

Following Christ’s return, the earth will be in a shambolic state. Destruction will abound, and massive rebuilding will be needed. God will use his people, Israel, to spearhead this rebuilding, to show the other nations what is to be done and to take knowledge of the Lord and spread it across the globe:

Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. (Isa 49:8-9)

Israel to be cleansed

Lest the Israelites should consider themselves superior, the Lord makes clear that this is his work:

Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.

And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.

For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. (Eze 36: 22-28)

These passages relate to Israel, the northern ten tribes, not to Judah (the Jews). Thus, they do not relate to the current Jewish State. This is important to note since these scriptures are often confused by those who see political zionism as a fulfillment of prophecy. But, as anyone who has visited Tel Aviv will know, the current Jewish state, which bears the name ‘Israel’ (a name that it has no right to use), in no manner satisfies this prophecy. It does not have a new heart of flesh, or the spirit of God dwelling in the whole nation.

On the contrary, these verses refer to the House of Israel (the people of Britain, its commonwealth, the United States and other nations of north-west Europe). It shows an intense national repentance that will grip these people following Christ’s return when they see his protection and generosity and remember their old, sinful ways:

Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. (Eze 36:32)

And with this new heart and this spirit of repentance, Israel shall restore their land, and the nations around shall be inspired by what obedience to the Lord will achieve:

Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded.

And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.

And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.

Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it. (Eze 36:33-36)

Judah will repent

Not only will the House of Israel look at their previous sinful ways and loathe themselves, but the House of Judah will also look back at its own conduct and mourn:

And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. (Zec 12:10-11)

Thus Judah, the Jews, as a nation will repent and draw close to Christ, ‘him whom they have pierced’, a phrase pointing to Christ’s crucifixion:

But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. (John 19:34)

Israel and Judah to be reunited

Having been separate nations ever since the Lord split them as punishment for the sins of Solomon, the houses of Israel and Judah will be reunited as part of God’s process of national redemption:

Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:

And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:

Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. (Eze 37:16-17, 21-23)

And who is the king that will rule over them? A resurrected David:

And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.

And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.

Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.

My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. Eze 37:24-28)

Furthermore, in addition to David the king, each tribe shall be ruled by a resurrected saint, one of the twelve apostles:

Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?

And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first. (Mat 19:27-30)

And over all will be Christ, on the throne of David:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever (Isa 9:6-7)

This shows the remarkable role of the reunited Israel after Christ’s return. Note their position:

• God’s tabernacle — his dwelling place — will be located in the nation of Israel

• Christ will sit upon the throne of David in Jerusalem, hence his seat of government will be in their midst.

• Their king, David, will be resurrected and will rule them perpetually. A resurrected apostle also governs each tribe. Thus, the nation of Israel interacts directly with the resurrected saints of the Kingdom of God

• The people of Israel will follow God’s laws. Hence, they will have the spirit of God in their hearts, as, without this, it is not possible to keep God’s commandments.

• The people of Israel will still be flesh and blood human beings (their numbers multiply, hence there is marriage and procreation)

• They are an example for all the nations that are watching and learning about God’s interaction with mankind

In brief, the restored and redeemed nation of Israel is in a unique place as an intermediary and an example visible to all of mankind. Firstly, they will have Christ dwelling within their land, sitting upon the throne of David. Secondly, they will interact with the resurrected saints that Christ brings with him (the Kingdom of God), with David and the twelve apostles governing them directly. Finally, although they were not believers before Christ’s return, the people of Israel will experience the transformation of their hearts caused by God’s Spirit dwelling within them. In aggregate, they will be an example to the rest of mankind, showing what the Gospel means, what it is to follow Christ, to obey God, to live in peace and to repent on a national scale.

These people cannot be part of the first resurrection, the saints who met Christ in the air at his return, as that time is past. But they can and will be raised to everlasting life when Christ judges the nations at the end of the age, in the second resurrection.

Jeremiah gives a snapshot of the nation of Israel as they dwell under Christ’s kingship. He sees that this remarkable transformation and national redemption will replace the older history of Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea in popular lore:

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land. (Jer 23:5-8)

And Israel, once divorced and cast out by God, having been brought back from the north country and elsewhere, will have peace and will be God’s chosen people:

And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God. (Hos 2:23)

This is further emphasised by Paul, who included in his master-work, his letter to the Romans, the following:

And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. (Rom 9:26)

Closing remarks

The Day of Atonement is about the redemption of Israel. We have seen that the children of Israel were separated into two nations, the House of Judah (the Jews) and the House of Israel. Both will be redeemed.

Israel will be brought out of the north country, and the isles to which they were displaced and from all of the places to which the Lord drove them. Israel and Judah will be united into a single nation once again.

The Lord will sort those who are for him from those who hold to their sins. The latter will be cast out into the wilderness to dwell with the other nations.

The faithful of both Israel and Judah will repent and weep bitterly as they consider their previous sinful ways and behold the love and care the Lord, in his wisdom and forgiveness, bestows upon them.

They will be governed by resurrected saints of the Kingdom of God; one of the apostles will be head over each of the twelve tribes of Israel, and David will be their King:

Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.

And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.

And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.

And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.

And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. (Eze 34:22-26)

The nation, restored to faithfulness, will have a unique role as an example and intermediary between the Kingdom of God, which will rule the whole earth, and all of the nations of men. Israel alone shall have Christ dwelling in their midst. They shall have resurrected saints of the Kingdom of God in the key places of national leadership, they shall have the spirit of God in their hearts and shall follow God's statutes and commandments. They shall be exactly what God had called them to be:

And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. (Exo 19:6)

They will also be a holy nation, as described by Peter:

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. (1 Pet 2:9-10)

The nations of the world will look on and will learn.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities:

And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also.

Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you. (Zec 8:20-23)

None of this is because of the worth of Israel, but it is all due to the wisdom, love and greatness of God:

And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. (Rom 11:26-27)

And the next stage is the extension of God’s mercy to all the nations of the earth during his 1000-year reign. And that is the subject of the next annual festival and Sabbath, the Feast of Tabernacles:

For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?

Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?

For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. (Rom 11:32-36)

Share

Leave a comment

Subscribe now

Subscribe now

Solomon’s fall

God appeared to Solomon and warned him as follows:

And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments:

Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.

But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them:

Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; (1 Ki 9:5-8)

But despite a warning received directly from God, Solomon turned from serving the Almighty and instead followed the false gods of his many wives.

For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. (1 Ki 11:4-5)

Solomon ignored the warning. He rejected God's commandments and worshipped other gods. As a consequence, he was to be punished by removing Israel from the land that had been granted to it. However, God’s promise to David stood. Solomon’s kingly line would not be ended; his sons would remain on the throne, albeit over a reduced Kingdom:

Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.

Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.

Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen. (1 Ki 11:11-13)

The key point to note is that, once again, God’s word holds. Despite Solomon’s sin, his kingdom and his throne will not be cut off. His sons will reign. But there is still punishment. Their reign will no longer be over the whole of Israel. It will instead be over only two tribes, Judah, in whose land Jerusalem was located, and one more: Benjamin.

And the split, in a moment that will bring joy to the heart of many a libertarian, is over taxation.

Two nations, not one

There was an able and industrious man called Jeroboam, of the tribe of Ephraim, whom Solomon made head over the descendants of Joseph, the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. The name Jeroboam means “the people’s complaint” or “the people will contend”. A prophet of the Lord gave him a message as follows:

And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field:

And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces:

And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee: (1 Ki 11:29-31)

After Solomon’s death, his son Rehoboam inherited his throne. Now, interestingly, the consent of the people was required, and Rehoboam was not guaranteed the throne, just as is the case in the British constitution, and, before that, in the Scottish coronation ceremony. Therefore, the whole of Israel gathered together at Shechem to make him king. Jeroboam came too. The Israelites had some conditions, and Jeroboam, ‘the people’s complaint’, spoke for them:

And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came, and spake unto Rehoboam, saying,

Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee. (1 Ki 12:3-4)

They wanted tax cuts. Rehoboam got three days to consider his position. His older advisors, who had advised Solomon, his father, recommended that he accept:

If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever. (1 Ki 12:7)

But Rehoboam preferred the advice of his young advisors, who flattered his ego and puffed him up with pride. They advised him to say:

My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s loins.

And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. (1 Ki 12:10-11)

This did not go down well:

So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.

So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day. (1 Ki 12:16, 19)

When Rehoboam tried to reassert his right to taxation income, his tax collector was stoned to death. He then assembled an army from the tribes left to him, Judah and Benjamin, to go and force the Israelites into submission, but God intervened via his prophet Shemaiah to avert the war:

And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God, saying,

Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying,

Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. (1 Ki 12:21-24)

And the two nations thus remained separate. Rehoboam ruled over the tribes of Judah and Benjamin from Jerusalem, and Jeroboam ruled over the ten tribes from Shechem. The nations were called the House of Judah and the House of Israel. The national name Israel, bestowed on the sons of Joseph, remained with Ephraim and Manasseh in the northern kingdom. The smaller southern kingdom of Judah became known as the Jews.

The first time the word ‘Jews’ is used in scripture, we find the Jews at war against Israel, who were then allied with Assyria. These were separate nations, and they remain so today.

The birthright was Joseph’s. So, to the northern Kingdom, which included Ephraim, who would become a great company of nations and Manasseh, who would become a great single nation, went the promises of land, national wealth and greatness, military dominance, colonies and a great population.

The sceptre remained with Judah, and thus the royal line culminating in the Messiah, through whom the whole earth and all people would be blessed, remained with the southern kingdom, which became known, in shortened form, as “the Jews”.

Israel, divorced by God

The House of Israel fell into idolatry almost immediately. Fearing that obeying the commandments of God, including the requirement to go to (Rehoboam’s) Jerusalem three times a year, would undermine his authority and result in the re-establishment of the rule of the House of David over all twelve tribes, Jeroboam introduced an old, familiar sin — idolatry:

If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.

Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. (1 Ki 12:27-29)

And thus Israel, as a nation, departed from worship of the Lord God of Jacob, Isaac and Abraham and then turned to idols and false gods once again. Or at least most did, for the priests of the tribe of Levi and those individuals of every tribe who set their hearts to seek the Lord would not acquiesce to such sinful pagan practice. They moved south to Jerusalem. Christ described their descendants as the lost sheep of the House of Israel:

I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (Mat 15:24)

The relationship between God and Israel was compared to a marriage:

For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; (Isa 54:5)

Hence, Israel’s decision to follow other gods was compared to adultery, and her recompense was a divorce:

And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; (Jer 3:8)

The comparison here is the wife of the prophet Hosea, a woman called Gomer. She was a “wife of whoredoms”; just as Israel betrayed their God, she betrayed her husband. But when she had her third child, a son, whose name the Lord instructed to be Loammi, which means “not my people”, the Lord immediately restates the promises he made to Israel, showing that they remain certain and inviolable, despite the sin of the people:

Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son.

Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; (Hos 1:8-10)

Furthermore, Hosea did not put his adulterous wife away permanently but bought her back out of the slavery (to sin) in which, by her greed and depravity, she had placed herself. Likewise, God will not only keep his promise to make the sons of Joseph great in terms of wealth and temporal power, but also will fulfil every higher part of his purpose for the House of Israel.

For now, however, there is punishment. The House of Israel is defeated by the Assyrian Empire, and the people are expelled from the land, just as God had predicted when Solomon sinned with his wives.

In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. (2 Ki 17:6,24)

And thus Israel was removed from the land God had promised to them and dwelt instead in the land that is today northern Syria, Iraq and Iran.

Judah plays the harlot

Despite this example of the result, for the people of God, of rejecting God’s commandments and following other gods, the southern kingdom Judah, the Jews, did likewise:

And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. (Jer 3:8)

And the punishment was to be the same, national defeat and exile:

Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked:

But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem. (Amos 2: 4-5)

Notably, the judgment came down because Judah despised the laws of God and his commandments, and substituted lies in their place. The similarity between this and the current brand of modern preacher who claims that the law is nailed to the cross, that obedience to the commandments of God is a false “gospel of works”, and who thus turns God’s grace into a license to sin, is striking.

The agent God chose for this punishment of the House of Judah was the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar:

Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.

Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.

And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. (Jer 25:9-11)

And thus for seventy years, the people of Judah were held captive by the rivers of Babylon.

And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about.

And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king’s garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain. (2 Ki 25:1-4)

After this period in exile, a remnant of Judah was allowed to return to rebuild Jerusalem in preparation for the arrival of the chief ruler, the anointed one, the Messiah. For there the Lamb of God was to be crucified.

Israel’s wanderings

Israel’s punishment removed them from the land they had been promised. However, the promise could not be rescinded, only interrupted and delayed. So Israel was to be cast out, but not wiped out:

Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD.

For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. (Amos 9:8-9)

The Lord still loved his people and cared for them, despite, not because of, their conduct.

In seeking to follow this sifting among all the nations, we can start at the place and time when the biblical record ends: the 7th Century BC, at the northern edge of the Assyrian Empire. History shows a people arising, seemingly out of nowhere, at this very time and place. They were called the Scythians:

In modern archaeology, Scythian is the term used for the people who occupied the steppe land from the Danube to the Don, between the 7th and 3rd Centuries BC. But they wandered much further and formed many nations with different names over the years and centuries. One of the names they had was the Parthians. These people, of Scythian stock, became the ruling dynasty of a huge empire in Persia. This empire extended westward and briefly included Jerusalem around 40 BC before being ousted by the Romans, who installed Herod as king.

It is noteworthy that, a generation before Christ, Jerusalem was briefly controlled by a Jewish King (Antigonus II Mattathias) with Scythian (Israelite) military support from a large empire located to the east. This offers fresh insight into who the wise men described in the gospel of Matthew were:

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. (Mat 2:1-2)

They were the Magoi (Great Ones) of the upper house of the Parthian / Persian government. Why were they interested in the birth of the King of the Jews? I suggest that their Israelite heritage and shared history provide the answer.

Although little is recorded about the Scythians, their power and military might can be judged by the experience of the mighty Roman Empire when it fought them. For example, in the summer of 251 AD, the Roman emperor Decius and his son and co-emperor led a campaign against the Scythians (also known as Goths). The year before, Decius had commenced a systematic persecution of Christians. Both he and his son were killed at the Battle of Arbitrus. Again, at the Battle of Adrianople, in 378 AD, the Goths defeated a Roman army and killed their leader, Emperor Valens. And so, by the trail of dead Roman emperors and annihilated Roman armies, the strength of the Scythians may be assessed. It was a powerful military force, and eventually, it overran Rome itself when, in 410 AD, Visigoth King Alaric I sacked the imperial capital.

And when this is compared to God’s prophecy concerning his people as they pass through many nations, the alignment is striking:

And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.

And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. (Mic 5: 7-8)

The Scythian tribes took many names as they headed west and north: Sacae, Belgae, Bythyni, Alani, Goths and many more. And their wandering took them all across Europe, North Africa, Scandinavia and elsewhere. They were indeed wanderers.

The name Scott means wanderer, and it is no surprise that Scythian heritage is claimed in the foundational document of the Kingdom of Scotland, The Declaration of Arbroath:

Most Holy Father and Lord, we know and from the chronicles and books of the ancients we find that among other famous nations our own, the Scots, has been graced with widespread renown. They journeyed from Greater Scythia by way of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Pillars of Hercules, and dwelt for a long course of time in Spain among the most savage tribes, but nowhere could they be subdued by any race, however barbarous. Thence they came, twelve hundred years after the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, to their home in the west where they still live today.

And the Saxons, Picts, and many other nations of north-western Europe also trace their origins, via early histories and legends, to the Scythians, and hence to Israel.

And this, of course, agrees with the punishment God placed upon Israel for their sin and their adoption of other gods:

Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.

My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations. (Hos 9:16-17)

Piecing together fragments of names, archaeology, records and ancient histories, it is possible to demonstrate that the House of Israel migrated to North-West Europe, wandering amongst nations until finding their new homes in the north:

What is even clearer is that these Anglo-Saxon peoples inherited the promises that the Lord made to Jacob and to Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.

In Great Britain and America, we see two brother nations, one of whom became a great single nation and the other an even greater commonwealth of nations. The British Empire, including Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and many more colonies and peoples, had military and economic dominance and ruled the waves for 100 years without challenge. The United States of America emerged to replace Great Britain as the largest maritime power and largest world economy. These nations possessed the gates of their enemies on a worldwide scale, with control over:

• The Suez Canal

• The Straits of Gibraltar

• The Malacca Straits and Singapore

• The Panama Canal

• The Cape of Good Hope

It was Great Britain and the United States of America who received the birthright promised to Israel. They had a huge population; they were colonising peoples and spreading in all directions. They gained military and economic dominance extending for some two centuries. And they did it all by the gift of God, for it was never planned:

We seem, as it were, to have conquered and peopled half the world in a fit of absence of mind. (John Robert Seeley)

Jeremiah

We have seen that the Lord decided to punish Israel, but that he nevertheless cared for and protected them and then gave them the birthright exactly as he had said. Simply put, we have seen how the Lord’s word is sure. What then about his promise to David that his dynasty would last until Christ’s return? The common understanding is that his dynasty ended with the Babylonian conquest and the death of King Zedekiah around 587 BC. Thus, there was a 600-year gap between Zedekiah and Christ, who, it is claimed, inherited the throne (even though he did not at that time). But God said otherwise:

And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying,

Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;

Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne (Jer 33:19-21)

A pretty categorical statement. There is more:

My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.

His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.

It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah. (Psa 89 34-37)

So what happened to God’s promise? Although Zedekiah died in Babylonian captivity and his sons were executed, his daughters managed to escape. They went with Jeremiah, initially to Egypt, before returning briefly to Judea. Scripture does not record their final destination, but poetry, folklore, and annals indicate that they travelled via Spain to Ireland. Irish legend records that a party arrived at Carrick comprising:

• An aged guardian, who was called "Ollamh Fodhla”

• A young woman, the daughter of an eastern king, whose name is believed to be Tea Tephi

• A second young woman, sister to Tea Tephi, reputedly called Scota

• A stone known as the Stone of Destiny

• A scribe named Simon Breck

The legend is that one of the daughters of the eastern King married the High King of Ireland, whose line became the Kings of Ireland, of Daldiada (Argyll, in Scotland), then of Scotland as a whole and ultimately of Great Britain. We have no space to explore this mysterious and fascinating subject further at this time, but it is sufficient to note that:

1. The daughters of King Zedekiah escaped the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah

2. Legend and folklore have them travelling to Ireland

3. Irish annals have them marrying into the Royal line

4. That line became the Scots, and then the British monarchy

Sketchy though the history is, the promises God made are crystal clear: that David’s descendants would be on the throne, ruling over (some part of) the biblical Israelites until Christ returns.

To those who would scoff at such an idea, I would point out that the national symbol of Ireland is the Harp of David:

And the symbol of the Scots monarchy is the Lion of Judah:

I do not think these emblems are mere happenstance.

Judah scattered

After their return from Babylonian captivity, the House of Judah continued on its turbulent political path as it interacted with the empires that surrounded its strategic location. However, it endured until Christ, the Lamb of God, was born in Bethlehem:

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (Mic 5:2)

But when Christ was crucified, the priests and those who followed them betrayed God:

And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.

When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.

And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!

But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. (John 9: 12-15)

And it was the forces of Caesar, in whom they had placed their faith, who surrounded Jerusalem in 70 AD, and destroyed it.

This destruction, and the death and enslavement that accompanied it, hastened the scattering of the Jews across the Roman Empire - Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor and Babylonia. The intellectual centre of Jewish life ceased to be Jerusalem and moved to Babylon. Rabbinic Judaism developed and replaced temple-based religion, and the Babylonian Talmud replaced scripture as the functional law that controls daily life for most religious Jews. Thus, Judaism developed in its modern form, far removed from the religious practice of the Old Testament Hebrews, and Jewish culture developed with the reality of scattered exile shaping and distorting its fundamental nature.

Unfinished work

The state of Judah, who are mostly working in opposition to God’s plan for redemption and denying the Kingship of Christ, and of Israel, who are actively engaged in their national pastime of spiritual backsliding and descent into paganism and depravity, may seem scant reward for the Lord’s faithfulness and steadfast love. But the story is not over. God’s relationship with his people Israel will be restored:

… and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. (Hos 1:10)

And both Israel and Judah, nationally, will be part of the new covenant:

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jer 31:31-34)

And thus, despite all present indications to the contrary, the British, American, North-West European and Jewish people will become the people the Lord originally called them to be:

And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. (Exo 19:6)

Concluding remarks

We have seen plainly that the common habit of equating the Jews (Judah) with Israel is incorrect. These are two separate nations, with distinct histories and relationships with God.

Judah, known as the Jews, was given the sceptre - a promise of a kingly line culminating in Christ. They rejected their Messiah and were scattered by the military might of imperial Rome.

Israel, in contrast, was given the birthright, promises of land, national wealth, a great population, and military dominance; gifts never received by the Jews. Israel sinned and was cast out of God’s sight to wander among the nations. But they remained under God’s protection, and his promises remained certain. Their wanderings took them all across Europe, and they ultimately settled in the North-West. One tribe, Ephraim, became a great company of nations - The British. His brother Manasseh became a great single nation -The United States of America. These nations inherited the gifts God had decreed to Israel.

Having resolved the confusion of who Israel and Judah are, we will now turn to the plans the Lord has for these people following his glorious return. The next step in the Lord’s plan for the redemption of mankind is symbolised by the annual Sabbath that follows after the Feast of Trumpets - The Day of Atonement.

Subscribe now

Share

Share Digging Deeper

Leave a comment

In sorting the biblical wheat from the worldly chaff, few things are more challenging and potentially confusing than the identity and purpose of God’s chosen nation. In much of contemporary politics, hatred for the Jews is all too apparent, and the Jews and Israel are generally taken to be indistinguishable from one another. In the mainstream church, there is considerable disagreement on what God plans for his nation. Views range from the Christian Zionist position that sees the 1948 founding of the modern Jewish state as the working out of prophecy and an essential precursor to Christ’s return, to those who support replacement theology and consider that the church has entirely taken over the position as God’s chosen people.

The problem is this: throughout popular culture, politics, and mainstream religion, there is scarce understanding of the biblical definition of Israel. To gain the necessary clarity, we will therefore follow the timeline and story flow, step by step.

We shall begin by recognising how God speaks of this nation, in case the cacophony of competing contemporary narratives should drown out the words of our Lord:

For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure. (Psa 135:4)

Subscribe now

There is no Plan B

God has always had a plan. Just one plan. This can be seen in Genesis, where he instructed the people he had created as follows:

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: (Gen 1:26-28)

The instruction was to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth. But mankind rebelled in Eden, rejecting God’s commandments and government and seeking instead to gain and rely on human wisdom. Under the deceptive influence of Satan, they sought to be like God. As a result, they were ejected from Eden.

And further satanic influence filled the earth with violence:

And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. (Gen 6:5-6)

And there followed the great flood, where life on earth was extinguished apart from Noah, his sons, and their wives. Eight people to start over. And God's instruction to them:

And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. (Gen 9:1)

The instruction once again was to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth. The plan had not changed. Neither had man. For, in just a few generations’ time, they sought to do the exact opposite of what God had instructed:

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.

And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. (Gen 11:1-4)

God said, “Fill the whole earth,” man said, “Let us build a vanity project to keep us together, lest we be scattered over the whole earth.” Just a short while after the flood, rebellion again had set in. Once again, God intervened to return to the original plan.

And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.

So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. (Gen 11:6-9)

So God scattered the people over the earth, to bring to fruition His will. He had repeatedly and plainly instructed mankind in what he wished them to do, and man had refused to comply. The plans of God often seem to be frustrated by human sin and depravity, but they are not subject to change. God’s perspective, being outside of time, is not derailed by the variability of mankind:

I am God, and there is none like me,

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: (Isa 46:9-10)

God thus does not need a plan B, he needs no contingencies, and what he says is sure. As we will see, he is often doubted by men, even by many of those who follow him.

God Creates a People for Himself

As we have seen, the nation called Israel was selected by God for his own holy purpose. The timing of this comes after the further rebellion of man at Babel. God divided the nations and set about creating a people through whom he would act.

When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. (Also see footnote 1)

But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance. (Deut 32:8-9, BSB)

Thus, the Lord handed the nations over to other spiritual beings, the sons of God, effectively divorcing a stubborn and stiff-necked humanity, and he concentrated on a nation that he would raise up to serve his purpose. And just so there would be no doubt that this was the work of the Lord, He started this nation with a couple who were too old to have children. This process started with God calling a man to his service, and that man answering the call with obedience.

Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him (Gen 12:1-4)

Already visible in this promise by God is the two-fold nature of the blessing, both physical (I will make of thee a great nation) and spiritual (in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed).

When the Lord appeared to Abram, by then renamed Abraham, and told him that he and his wife would have a son, it seemed ridiculous, so much so that Sarah, his wife, laughed:

Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.

Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.

Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?

And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?

Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh. (Gen 18:10-15)

And in due time, Sarah did indeed conceive, and she bore Abraham a son, who was called Isaac; a word meaning laughter.

Abraham, the friend of God

God called upon Abraham to sacrifice the son that he loved on Mount Moriah, that is the mountain in Jerusalem where Christ would be crucified:

And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. (Gen 22:2-4)

Therefore, as Christ spent three days and three nights in the grave, so did Isaac spend three days and three nights under a sentence of death.

And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. (Gen 22:7-8)

As we have seen in the article on the Passover, God did indeed provide himself a Lamb. How much Abraham knew, we cannot ascertain, but he trusted the Lord. He trusted that the Lord would keep his promise to raise up a mighty nation from his son Isaac. He knew all things were possible for the Lord. He knew that the Lord had a problem to resolve; that Isaac must be alive to father children. In the greatest act of faith ever recorded by any human, he remained obedient to God.

And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. (Gen 22:9-13)

The messenger of the Lord spoke again to Abraham, increasing the blessings already bestowed:

And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (Gen 22:15-18)

Again, the blessings are two-fold. Physical: huge numbers of people and military dominance, and spiritual: a blessing for all of the nations of the earth. This solemn promise from God was made to a man he called his friend. There is no possibility that the Lord God could renege on this two-fold commitment.

But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. (Isa 41:8)

Jacob and Sons

Isaac married Rebekah; he loved her, and she was beautiful. But for twenty years, she was childless.

And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.

And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.

And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.

And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.

And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.

And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob. (Gen 25:20-28)

Esau despised his birthright, those twin promises of national greatness and a worldwide spiritual blessing, and sold them to his younger brother for a bowl of soup. But Isaac did not know this, and, when he was old and near to death, Jacob (the name means supplanter) and his mother hatched a plan. They did not want Isaac to bless Esau with the birthright. So, when Esau was sent to hunt for venison so that Isaac could enjoy it and then bless Esau, Rebekah decided on subterfuge. She dressed Jacob in Esau’s clothes, prepared some goat meat to resemble the spicy venison that Isaac loved, and covered the exposed parts of the smooth, hairless Jacob in hairy goatskin so that he would feel like Esau when his father touched him. The deception worked:

And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son?

And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.

And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the LORD thy God brought it to me.

And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.

And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: so he blessed him. (Gen 27:18-13)

So, via a series of falsehoods and deceptions, Jacob received the blessing:

God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:

Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee. (Gen 27:28-29)

But of course, the blessing was the Lord’s to give or to withhold. No human trickery could win in. And, in a dream, the Lord appeared to Jacob:

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. (Gen 28:12-14)

And once again, the promises are two-fold: national greatness, including a grant of land in Canaan, and colonising descendants spreading in all directions, and spiritual greatness resulting in all the nations of the earth being blessed.

Even the stone Jacob had for a pillow as he dreamed also had a part to play:

And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.

And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: (Gen 28:18,22)

Now, what goes around comes around. Having used deception, Jacob then became the victim of a broadly similar confidence trick. He went to his wider family in search of a wife, specifically to his uncle Laban. He agreed to work for his uncle for seven years in return for the hand in marriage of his beautiful daughter Rachel, whom Jacob loved. After seven years of solid labour, it was Laban who employed deceit, using the darkness of the night, clothing, perfume and perhaps some alcohol to substitute the older and less beautiful sister, Leah. To marry Rachel, Jacob had to work another seven years for Laban, which brings to mind:

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Gal 6:7)

There was considerable jealousy in this compound family, and both women gave their handmaids to their husband as further wives. In all, Jacob had twelve sons with his four wives:

1. Reuben (Leah)

2. Simeon (Leah)

3. Levi (Leah)

4. Judah (Leah)

5. Dan (Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid)

6. Naphtali (Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid)

7. Gad (Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid)

8. Asher (Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid)

9. Issachar (Leah)

10. Zebulun (Leah)

11. Joseph (Rachel)

12. Benjamin (Rachel)

From each son descended a tribe of the nation of Israel. Joseph received the double portion of the eldest son, and his line became two tribes.

Just before the birth of his twelfth and last son, Jacob then returned to Bethel, where he had first dreamt of the stairway to heaven. God again appeared to him and changed his name from ‘supplanter’:

And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.

And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. (Gen 35: 10-12)

Removing his shameful name and forgiving his history of trickery, God bestows on him a new name meaning “God prevails”. And at the same time, the Lord repeats and amplifies the two-fold blessings, giving more detail. The promised national greatness is now further revealed to include two separate polities: a nation and a company, or commonwealth, of nations. The grant of land in Canaan is confirmed for the third time.

Rachel, Israel’s beloved wife, dies after giving birth to Benjamin.

Joseph and Sons

Joseph is one of the best-known characters in scripture and has been the subject of, amongst other things, a hit musical. His success, the animosity of his brothers, and his ability to interpret dreams by the inspiration of God saw Joseph experience dramatic swings in fortune, during which he never lost faith. Ultimately, God established him as the second most powerful man in the most powerful empire of the time. And there he was reunited with his father and brothers. This is all recounted in chapters 37-46 of the book of Genesis and is one of the most dramatic and magnificent narratives in the literary canon.

For our purpose, however, we will go to the point where the baton is passed. Israel is dying, and he asks for Joseph’s two sons, who are half-Egyptian, to be brought to him so that he can adopt them and bless them:

And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine. (Gen 48:5)

And the blessing is very specific:

And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near unto him.

And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn. (Gen 48:13-14)

So Israel intentionally crossed his hands to give the blessing due to the firstborn instead to the younger child, Ephraim:

The Angel [Messenger] which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head.

And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.

And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.

And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. (Gen 48: 16-20)

Thus was the name Israel placed upon the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh. Both were to become great peoples. The younger son, Ephraim, was to be a great company of nations, and the older son, Manasseh, a great single nation. These are specific national promises, and they are separate, albeit related. We are talking about multiple nations being described here, not a single people or state.

The monarchy

After the Israelites left slavery in Egypt and returned to Canaan, to the promised land, they demanded that a (human) king be set over them, to lead them and make their decisions. The Lord recognised what this was:

And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. (1Sam 8:7)

And although warned of what human kingship would mean: taxation, exploitation, and a partial return to servitude, the people rejected God and instead clamoured for human rule. In doing so, they rejected rule by God and by God's law, not because this made them free, but because they could not shoulder the responsibility that it places on every man and woman: to make judgments, decisions and commitments; to stand—alone, if necessary—for the truth and for justice. They rejected God because being ruled by a man, and being told what to do, was easier. They did not want the law of God, a law that they would need to place in their hearts and to defend. Instead, they wanted a ruler to think for them and to fight their battles. Slaves they had been, and slaves they still were in their hearts.

Their first King was Saul, whose luke-warm approach to following the Lord displeased God. And as a result, his kingly line was ended:

And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever.

But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee. (1 Sam 13:13-14)

And the man predicted by Samuel the prophet, the man after the Lord’s own heart, was a shepherd boy called David:

Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel:

And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth.

Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime,

And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house.

And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.

I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:

But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.

And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. (2 Sam 7:8-16)

So, during his son’s reign, the throne of David was established forever. If David’s son sinned, God would correct him and punish him, but he would not take his mercy away from him as he had done to Saul (whose line and throne ended). The Lord says three times that David’s throne, kingdom, and house shall be established forever. This is as firm a promise by God as the one made to Abraham.

Solomon, David’s son, ruled after him, and, in Solomon, the throne was established. He judged wisely, and his Kingdom grew in wealth and in might. He built a temple for the Lord, a magnificent building of grandeur, located in Jerusalem. It was positioned on Mount Moriah, where Abraham had become the friend of God by his great faith and obedience.

Concluding Remarks

We pause here at a high point. Israel has been established in glory, wealth, and might. Solomon has built a house for the Lord at Jerusalem, and his fame and his reputation for wisdom have spread far and wide.

But much more is to follow.

The Lord has made the most solemn promises, and they are twofold: material and spiritual.

In the material realm, the people of Israel are to be a vast number, like the grains of sand on a beach. They are to form multiple nations, including, especially, two: A great single nation descended from Joseph’s older son Manasseh, and an even greater company or commonwealth of nations descended from Joseph’s younger son, Ephraim. They are to occupy the land of Canaan, and also are to be a colonising people, spreading in every direction. They are to be militarily dominant, possessing the gates (strategic places) of their enemies. This promise is called the birthright, and it was given to Joseph and his heirs:

Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright. (1 Chr 5:1)

Although the birthright is one gift and is given to Joseph, it has two elements, a great nation and a great company of nations, and these are divided between Joseph’s sons Manasseh and Ephraim. We can again see God’s precision at work. The national name Israel was also given to these two boys when their grandfather prayed, “bless the lads; and let my name be named on them”.

In the spiritual realm, a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be a blessing upon the whole of mankind, upon every nation. This promise is called the sceptre:

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. (Gen 49:10)

Shiloh here is a word referring to the Messiah and derived from the Hebrew šālâ, meaning to be at rest, to be quiet, to be at ease and tranquil. Thus, the sceptre, the promise denoting a kingly line, is to culminate in Christ’s rule as King of Kings, his return, and his gathering of the people of God.

This promise, as we have seen, was also given to one tribe, Judah. The separation of the two parts of God’s covenant with Abraham is again emphasised here:

For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph's (1 Chr 5:2)

And finally, related to the sceptre promise, the throne of David, which was established during Solomon’s reign, is to remain forever, ultimately becoming the throne of Christ at his return.

In closing, we pause this story with Israel united under Solomon, but this will not long continue. And throughout the tumultuous times to come, we shall see the hand of God working to bring about the very things that he has predicted and promised, despite the failures, sins, weakness, and depravity of the humans with whom he is working, in whose interest he is working, and whom He loves.

There is no plan B.

Subscribe now

Share

Leave a comment

Footnote 1: Deut 32:8 in the Masoretic text renders this “after the number of the sons of Israel”, but this is clearly wrong as Israel does not exist at this time. The older texts render it as “sons of God”, referring to spiritual beings.

The next annual Sabbath takes place in the autumn harvest season and is called the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah). Yet, few people today know this biblical name, as it is widely known as Rosh Hashanah (head of the year) and is taken as the Jewish new year in opposition to the biblical instruction that the first month of the year is to be in the spring. The meaning and significance of this day is explained in numerous parts of scripture and is the next tremendous part of the Gospel: God’s plan for the redemption of mankind.

Subscribe now

This day lands on the first day of the seventh month, a new moon. The observance of this day is described in Leviticus, thus:

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. (Lev 23:23-25)

As we have discussed before in this series, the Sabbath, being made for man, signifies days on which man has a role in God’s redemptive work. And what a role and what a privilege it is! What a gift!

Death and new life

The apostle Paul described this day, beginning with instructions as to how Christians should view death. Unlike the worldly majority of mankind, Paul teaches that Christians should not view death as defeat or as an end, but rather as a sleep; a period without consciousness that will be followed by a new day:

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thes 4: 13-17)

So here we see Christ’s return from heaven, the “far country” of the parables, to this world. It is accompanied by the “trump of God”, the sounding of the trumpet that gives its name to the day. And this event is followed first by the resurrection of the dead in Christ — those who remained faithful unto death and in whom the spirit of God dwelled. And after that, those faithful Christians then alive will also be transformed and will meet Christ in the air.

Now, this, of course, is a very short summary paragraph of a world-changing event; many details need to be gleaned elsewhere, and many questions immediately arise. One question is what, exactly, is happening to the Christians, both those alive and those who have died. Paul expands upon this to the Corinthians:

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (1 Cor 15:50-55)

This gives a great deal of further information. Those resurrected or changed shall become immortal; death will have no further power over them. They will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, when the trumpet sounds.

The timing and location of this event are vital parts of the story; it all happens in the air, above the earth. It does not occur remotely in heaven, the “far country”. And it happens at a point yet future when Christ returns. This is, of course, quite contrary to the common perception of the Christian message, and indeed is entirely antithetical to the mainstream views in Catholicism, Protestantism, and Orthodoxism. It is perhaps worth a very quick summary of the main beliefs concerning what happens after death, as espoused by those churches, to examine the contrast between the mainstream and what scripture actually says.

Catholicism holds that the soul is immortal and cannot die, and that upon the death of the physical body, the (separate) soul undergoes an immediate judgement determining its eternal destiny, with its destination being either heaven (with or without an intermediate step involving purification by suffering in purgatory) or hell (eternal torment). After this, the body and soul are then reunited at the end of time and judged (again) by Christ.

Protestantism is broadly similar but omits the purgatory concept. It maintains that judgment is immediate upon death, with believers dwelling in heaven and non-believers suffering perpetual torment in hell. After this, there is a physical resurrection when souls are reunited with glorified physical bodies at Christ’s return, and a second (final) judgment occurs.

The orthodox church variant is that the soul, which is immortal, enters a middle state, undergoes judgment, and experiences a foretaste of heaven or hell. They also believe that souls and bodies will be reunited for a final (second) judgment, followed by absolute bliss or unbearable agony for all of eternity.

So it is clear that, apart from the Roman innovation of purgatory, all of the mainstream views are aligned with each other and not aligned with scripture. Scripture states

The soul that sinneth, it shall die (Eze 18:20)

and

For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing (Ecc 9:5)

In contrast to the mainstream view, the bible shows death as being like a period of unconscious sleep. The dead in Christ and those believers alive at his return are reunited and transformed to an incorruptible, immortal state. This occurs when Christ returns to the earth, not before.

I vividly remember attending a funeral in Lanarkshire where the preacher was of the old-fashioned, Presbyterian, fire-and-brimstone type. He gave a long address, all biblically based, about the resurrection and judgment day. Then, he weakly tacked on the doctrine of immediate transfer to heaven for the believer. This rather begged the question: “What is the point?” If judgment is made and the dwelling place of the allegedly immortal soul is decided and the soul indeed experiences a considerable period of torment or bliss as appropriate, what exactly is achieved by the rigmarole of reuniting the soul with a resurrected body, judging it/them a second time, with an identical result, and then returning said soul/body to bliss or torment. What could be the point of that? It clearly makes no sense.

The reason for this incoherence is that two separate and conflicting views are being meshed together and refuse to fit. One is the biblical gospel, which includes judgment (see part 11 of this series), and the other is the pagan idea of the continued existence of the soul separate from the body after physical death. This is ultimately an idea from Greek, Egyptian, and Babylonian religions. This is noted in the Jewish Encyclopedia, as the same unscriptural idea has infected Judaism also:

The belief that the soul continues in existence after the dissolution of the body is...speculation...nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture...The belief in the immortality of the soul came to the Jews from contact with Greek thought and chiefly through the philosophy of Plato, its principal exponent, who was led to it through Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries in which Babylonian and Egyptian views were strangely blended" (Jewish Encyclopedia, 1941, Vol. 6, "Immortality of the Soul," pp. 564, 566).

The join is visible; the pieces do not fit. Whether by following scripture, by a historic analysis of the origin of the ideas, or simply by the application of logic, this is revealed as a false gospel. The real one, the Word of God, has no such contradictions or confusion.

Christ describes his return

Turning now to the words of Christ as he sat upon the Mount of Olives:

Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Behold, I have told you before.

Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (Mat 24:23-27)

This point, that Christ’s return shall be as “lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west” is a vital point to overcome all those who seek to deceive and lay claim to be Christ or to have secret knowledge of Him. His return shall be the most public of events:

Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. (Rev 1:7)

Returning to Christ’s words on the Mount of Olives:

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Mat 24:29-31)

The heaven referred to here is the sky (the first heaven), not the cosmos (second heaven) or the dwelling place of God outside of physical creation (the third heaven). We know this because, as we have already seen, these events take place in the air and in the clouds.

And significantly, Christ’s return, when the trumpet sounds, happens “after the tribulation”. Which brings us to the common error called the Rapture. This maintains that Christ returns and gathers up all of his believers before the tribulation. It has spawned the “Left Behind” books and films and has gained enormous traction in evangelical Protestant circles. We therefore should examine how this doctrine, so obviously contrary to scripture, came to be so widely and passionately believed.

The origin of the rapture doctrine

The secret rapture doctrine proposes a two-stage return of Christ, firstly a covert strike to suddenly remove all believers from earth before the period of intense trouble called the Great Tribulation, and secondly, a public return visible to all. It takes some of the bible verses we have already examined, such as 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17, and disconnects them from the context of the overall prophetic timeline and the redemption process made clear in the various annual sabbaths and feasts, and instead creates this new doctrine using a few verses in isolation.

This idea is of recent origin and was popularised by the Scofield Reference Bible, which is a King James Bible translation edited and annotated by American Bible student Cyrus Ingerson Scofield. It was first published in 1909.

Scofield obtained the rapture idea from John Nelson Darby, a former Anglican priest in the Church of Ireland who later joined the Plymouth Brethren and founded the Exclusive Brethren sect.

Darby started writing about the rapture around 1827. Around the same time, Edward Irving, a minister in the Church of Scotland, had popularised the idea, and he in turn was influenced by the writings of a Jesuit Priest, Emmanuel Lacunza (who, pretending to be a converted Rabbi, used the pseudonym Juan Josafat Ben-Ezra). Lacunza’s main work was “The Coming of the Messiah in Glory and Majesty”. Irving translated this Spanish book into English and added a 203-page preface.

Thus, at the start of the 19th Century, the concept of a secret rapture suddenly emerged from several sources. But before around 1820, the idea was completely unknown. It is not biblical, and not part of the apostolic church teaching. Nevertheless, via the influence of Darby and especially of the Scofield Study Bible, it emerged to take its strange but central place in the belief of evangelical protestantism.

The book of Revelation, whilst containing several inset chapters and sections, lays out the prophetic timeline in a plain manner, first one thing, then the next, and the next. There is no mention of the secret rapture, and no possibility that it could be fitted into its alleged position in the sequence leading up to Christ’s return

For those wanting a more thorough examination of the rapture issues, I would again recommend the work of Herb Shattuck and his podcast series “The Great Evangelical Disaster”, which covers the subject in two videos: part 1 and part 2.

Christ returns to rule as King

The confusion over the prophecies concerning the messiah has always been present. The Jewish faith, noticing the contrast between those scriptures describing a suffering, peaceful messiah who is killed and a triumphant messiah who rules the world from Jerusalem, has developed two separate messiahs (both of whom they expect to be ordinary men) called Messiah Ben Joseph and Messiah Ben David. For the Christian, naturally, the matter is resolved by the two appearances of Christ, first to suffer and die for our sins and to defeat death and rise from the grave, and then to come in glory and power to rule as King of Kings.

The feast of trumpets also denotes Christ’s return to earth as that powerful ruler.

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (Rev 11:15)

During his first incarnation as a man on earth, when being questioned by Pilate, Jesus said:

My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? (John 18:36-38)

Leaving aside the distinctly post-modern position taken by Pilate here, the complex and precise language used by Jesus is arresting. He does not deny that he is a King, but his Kingdom is not of that world nearly 2000 years in the past; it is instead of a time shortly in our future. He came first to announce the truth, so that those who would hear could follow him. He came to reach those followers and faithful servants who, at His second coming, will meet Him in the air. They will have jobs to do for Him; they will rule with Him.

And as for Christ, he comes in glory and in power, with the enormous host of heaven at his side. The description of Christ in Revelation is like nothing else:

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. (Rev 19:11-16)

And the Saints shall join Him

When Christ departed from the earth nearly 2000 years ago, He went up towards heaven, surrounded in glory:

And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;

Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. (Acts 1, 9-11)

So Christ and the resurrected saints are to return to earth, not just to the air above the earth. Those saints will then remain with Christ. As He said:

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:1-3)

Now, many conclude that being with Christ means dwelling in heaven. But where does Christ go at his return? Not to heaven, but rather:

And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. (Zec 14:4)

The phrase “in that day” often signifies the time of the events surrounding Christ’s return. This verse clearly shows that the destination is not heaven but earth, to rule the nations. And his servants, the transformed men and women, who met him in the air, will be there too. Their role is described in Revelation chapter 20:

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.(Rev 20:4-6)

So we see clearly there are two resurrections. The first, the first fruits of the harvest, are God’s servants, tested in life and faithful even unto death. They are those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. They are those who were obedient to God, whatever the price. This is the first resurrection. It is a resurrection to immortal life and to service to God and to Christ.

And what will those servants be like? They will be like Christ was after his resurrection:

For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:

Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Phil 3:20-21)

Now we know from the New Testament that Christ has a physical body after he was raised from the grave. For example, he could eat:

And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.

And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?

Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.

And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.

And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?

And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.

And he took it, and did eat before them. (Luke 24: 36-43)

But he was also often not recognised immediately. And he could vanish when he wished or appear inside a room:

And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.

But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.

And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.

And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. (Luke 24:27-31)

So the resurrected body will not be flesh and blood as we know it today, but rather will be like the resurrected Christ.

Furthermore, I suggest that this transformation is the primary meaning of the famous statement that Christ made to Nicodemus:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (John 3:3-8)

This description is an exact portrait of Christ following his resurrection, and thus of those believers who will join him upon his return.

Concluding thoughts

If we can cast away the old errors of the Babylonians and of Plato, which have infected the churches with an incoherent and irrational belief system. If we can escape the clutches of newer errors that mangle and distort scripture, then the truth becomes simple and clear. As the last trumpet sounds, Christ will return as he said he would. He will come in power and in glory. Every eye shall behold him and the evil men will moan in despair when they see him whom they have pierced come with the armies of heaven to rule the earth.

First, the angels of God will bring in the first fruits of the harvest: the dead who remained faithful and true to Christ. Then the faithful who are still alive shall be transformed and shall also meet Christ in the air. Then Christ and his saints will come down to Jerusalem, to the Mount of Olives, and his return as King of Kings shall be complete.

The work to save and transform an evil world will, however, only just be beginning. And the next step in the divine plan to redeem mankind requires the service of his nation, Israel, and his people, Judah. And so the next article in this series will examine who those people are.

To close this installment, I wish to consider the meeting of Christ and his faithful servants, which is likened to a bride meeting her bridegroom at her wedding:

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. (Rev 19:7-9)

Subscribe now

Share

Share Digging Deeper

Leave a comment

And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. (Acts 2:46-47)

Subscribe now

The conduct of that early church is inspiring. Their interactions were every day, not once a week. They frequented the temple, the very heart of the religious establishment that had killed Christ, yet they were unafraid. They acted openly and with gallantry in the face of opposition and hatred. They went from house to house, having no property of their own. Their interactions were centred around meals and conversation, not formal worship. They were united and active. How entirely different from the churches of today, who toady to the state, and to popular culture, and who meet weekly in huge buildings for structured worship, where the role of the membership is largely passive. The church became rich and powerful, an instrument of the establishment, and then it became divided and torpid. What is going on?

The Ekklēsia

The word translated as “church” in the New Testament is “ekklēsia”. It means an assembly or gathering, and is a compound word combining “ek” meaning from or out of (a place, time, or cause) and kaleō meaning call or invite. Thus, it literally means “to call out from”. Notably, the very word implies willing consent on the part of those called, as there is no hint of force or demand. And from what is the gathering coming out? As Peter said on Pentecost:

Save yourselves from this untoward generation. (Acts 2:40)

Thus, it is the current generation, the world that rejects God, the people in rebellion against God, that we are called to come out from. It is a special and telling word indeed.

And how did it come to be called “church” in English? It originated from the Greek Kyriakos oikos, meaning "Lord's house". This became the Norse kirkja, and this became the word Kirk used in Scotland and northern England. In the south of Britain, It became the Old English cirice using a soft-c rather than a hard-k sound. This, in turn, became “church”.

The first occurrence of the word being translated as Church is in the Gospel according to Matthew:

He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Mat 16:15-18)

So it is Christ’s church, his called-out ones. It is built upon the rock that is Christ, the profession of the saints that Christ is the Son of the living God, and the Spirit sent by the Father to teach and give insight and discernment.

The word translated as build, means literally “to build a house up from the foundation.” House implies closeness, as in a family. Building implies work, patience, and a sequence culminating in completion. This metaphor of building and construction is used often, for example, in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Eph2:19-22)

Lest anyone should think Peter is the rock on whom the church is built, this makes it clear that it is Christ.

Paul here also clarifies that we are to be a holy temple, a place where God resides.

The Church in the World

The first-century and second-century church was very different from what came later. In their practices and in their history, the mainstream churches of Christendom do not greatly resemble the early church.

Dr Tom Wadsworth has published extensive and excellent work on this subject. He points out that the early church was not routinely engaged in worship but rather in edifying one another. The word translated as "edify” is oikodomē, which means to build up, or metaphorically, to promote another's growth in Christian wisdom, piety, holiness, and happiness. It is therefore a direct response to Christ’s words “ upon this rock I will build my church”.

So the church has changed in its practices, almost beyond recognition. Yet the definition of what the church is, and is for, comes from the churches themselves. Could this, too, have changed? Could what we are told about the role of the church be misleading?

Many churches or denominations see themselves as the living embodiment of the early church or primary inheritors of the spirit that founded it. Yet none look like that church, nor practice Christianity as their first-century brothers and sisters did. Do they see clearly what the church is? Or do we need an outside perspective to reveal the truth?

As Robert Burns wrote in “To a Louse”

O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us
An’ foolish notion:
What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us,
And ev’n Devotion!

To get a viewpoint from outside the church, we need to go to scripture, to the parables and letters of Christ, and the prophecies of old.

Parables

Jesus spoke in parables not to make it easy for people to understand, but to conceal his message from those who do not wish to understand.

And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?

He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given…

Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. (Mat 13:10-11,13)

The thirteenth chapter of Matthew contains seven parables; some are explained, some are not. One that is explained in full is the parable of the sower:

Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:

And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:

But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. (Mat 13:3-8)

Later, in private, Christ explained the meaning to his followers:

When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;

Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. (Mat 13:19-23)

So we see here some of the metaphors that are used. The fouls or birds signify the wicked, the heat of the sun denotes persecution and tribulation, and thorns are the cares of the world.

Jesus spoke a second parable, the tares amongst the wheat:

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. (Mat 13:24-30)

And again Christ gives a full and detailed explanation of what the symbols mean:

Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.

He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;

The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. (Mat 13:36-40)

Thus, the field represents the world. The tares are the children of evil. This metaphor is very interesting as it describes Darnel (Lolium temulentum); a poisonous, ryegrass weed that closely resembles wheat, especially during its early growth. So one must conclude that evildoers and the righteous are difficult to tell apart to begin with, but that the difference becomes obvious as they mature - a challenge in many ways.

Now these two parables are explained in full and thus are well understood. Some of the others, however, are not. And the common interpretations for these go against the definitions of the symbols already established. One example is the parable of the mustard seed:

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:

Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. (Mat 13:31-32)

This is most often interpreted (by the churches) as a ringing endorsement; a prophecy that the church, although starting small, will fill the world with the word of God. But does it really mean that?

Wild mustard grows all over the Land of Israel. It is an annual herbaceous plant that flowers in the spring with vivid yellow flowers. The plant’s Latin name is Sinapsis Arvensis, and it generally grows to a height of about one to three feet, but, in ideal conditions, it can grow much larger, up to ten to fifteen feet.

But what do the birds of the air signify? They symbolise the wicked. So what does this parable really mean? Not the godly triumph of the Church but its rapid physical growth and its attraction for the wicked.

There’s more: the parable of the leaven:

Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. (Mat 13:33)

This too is commonly interpreted by the churches as a prophecy that, during the church age, the word of God will fill the whole earth. They say that the leaven is the power of God’s grace, and the parable shows how the gospel changes people from within, eventually transforming them wholly. But leaven, as we have already discovered (see article four on the Feast of Unleavened Bread), symbolises not grace but sin. The word ‘meal’ in the parable above means wheat flour, and wheat, as in the story of the tares, represents the good seed, the children of God. A woman is a symbol for the church. So we have another interpretation, a scriptural one. The church has concealed lies and sins amongst the faithful, who have first been ground down. And just as leaven silently and gradually changes the flour, so will sin gradually change the followers of Christ. Until, eventually, the whole mass of Christianity is corrupted.

Thus, in the parables, we see a complex and difficult struggle. The field of the conflict is the world. There is good seed and good soil, but many difficulties and obstacles. There is opposition, and evil, corruption and sabotage. Sin is present, and so there is deception and dark wickedness where we should have hoped for light. Is this not what we see in the church today? Is this not what we have always seen? Even in the first century, when the apostles lived, Paul wrote:

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work (2 Th 2:7)

Given that the story of the church is complex and difficult, we will next seek other biblical insights.

Ruth

The short and beautiful book of Ruth is a further analogy for the church. Ruth was from outside the nation of Israel. She was a Moabitess, a gentile. She married into Israel.

Tragedy struck, and she was left a widow. It was a double tragedy as two Israelite brothers both died, leaving their mother Naomi and her two daughters-in-law destitute in the land of Moab. Naomi decided to return to her own land and people and sent the two young women back to their people to find husbands:

And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.

The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept. (Ruth 1: 8-9)

One of them, named Orpah departed, but Ruth would not go. She said:

And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:

Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. (Ruth 1: 16-17)

Thus, Ruth, of her own free will, despite dangers, risks and hardships, chose to follow the true God of Israel and Issac and Abraham. As Paul wrote to the Galatian church:

And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal 3:29)

She, like the gentile believers in the church, was grafted into Israel.

She then met a relative of her mother-in-law called Boaz, an ancestor of Christ and here representing a type of Christ; he was her Kinsman Redeemer. This is a type of Christ, for as Job said:

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. (Job 19:25)

And therefore, there is much to learn of the church and its relationship to Christ by studying Ruth and her relationship to Boaz.

It is interesting that the same symbols used hundreds of years later by Christ in his parables also occur in Ruth:

And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.

And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter.

And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.

And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee.

Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this?

And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab:

And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house.

Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens: (Ruth 2:1-8)

Again, the field is a symbol of the world; the seed is the children of the Kingdom; and the reapers are the angels. The women represent churches. One is faithful, the other goes back to her former life. Looking at the work of the church, we see that it is not the major partner in the harvest, but rather gleans good seed that would otherwise be lost. The angels, heavenly beings, are doing the main work. Boaz (Christ) instructs Ruth (the church) to remain in his field and not to go elsewhere. How many contemporary churches focus on matters that are far from Christ, refusing to remain in his field?

And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.

And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said unto me also, Thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest. (Ruth 2: 20-21)

From this, we know that the church will endure until the end of the spiritual harvest.

And when they marry, Boaz announces:

Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.

And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:

And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman. (Ruth 4: 9-12)

So, as Boaz purchased the inheritance and the bride, so Christ purchased (by his own blood) the church, the bride of Christ, so that the dead would have an inheritance. Paul knew this also, and it is recorded in the book of Acts:

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. (Acts 20: 28-30)

Again, the picture Paul paints is of truth being present in the church due to the blood of the lamb, but this truth is assailed from all sides by lies and corruption.

Letters

And then we have the letters to the churches. Paul wrote to seven churches at length, and Christ, in Revelation, also addressed letters to seven churches. Thus, there is a vast amount of information in letter form. Space precludes more than a brief sample, and, for this, we turn to Christ’s message to the church in Sardis:

And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.

Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. (Rev 3: 1-3)

Again, we see a mixed and broadly negative picture “thou… art dead”. There is a call to repentance, not original repentance as in the individual sinful human being, but collectively for a church that has had the truth delivered to it, but which has corrupted that message. And within this imperfect organisation, there remain individuals whose hearts are turned to Christ:

Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. (Rev 3: 1-6)

There is very much more to understand, but the contrast between the institutional church and the individual servant of God is clear.

The Two Loaves

At the Pentecost ceremony in the temple, the priests were instructed to perform a ceremony involving two leavened loaves.

Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD (Lev 23:17,20)

This is reminiscent of the wave sheaf held up by the priest during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and which symbolised Christ risen from the dead. But here there are differences; there are two loaves, not one, and they contain leaven, a symbol for sin. Hence, the individuals denoted by these loaves are human, not divine. So we must look for two human beings, imbued with the spirit of God, who rise from the dead, but are simply men, containing sin within. The only relevant example in scripture is the two witnesses who preach the word of God, just before the return of Christ to this earth:

And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. (rev 11:3-13)

These two witnesses were also predicted by the prophet Zechariah and described thus:

And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:

And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.

So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?

Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.

…

Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?

…

And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.

Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

Now this all occurs at the very end of the present age, just before the Lord returns in power and glory:

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Mat 24:14)

So we see the two witnesses, the anointed ones who stand by the Lord, preach the Gospel of the Kingdom for a witness, just before the end of this age and the return of the King. It is preached as a witness. This raises some questions: What gospel have the established church organizations been preaching for nearly two thousand years that necessitates God raising up two men to bear witness to the truth? Have the established churches claimed to be fulfilling this task whilst failing and being spiritually dead?

Concluding Remarks

Pentecost represents the establishment of both old and new covenants, and its primary meaning is the establishment of a covenantal relationship between God and mankind. It encapsulates both the old covenant spoken by God in person to the Israelites from the mountaintop and the new covenant, where those same laws are written in the hearts of believers, not on tablets of stone. It is this new covenant which gives access to the holy spirit, that can dwell within us and transform the people of God by changing their hearts from cold stone to warm, loving flesh.

The people thus transformed are the first fruits of Christ’s great harvest.

But the path is not smooth. Corruption and evil surround the venture and:

…many are called, but few are chosen. (Mat 22:14)

Churches sometimes return to ways that are far from God’s ways, as Ruth's sister-in-law returned to her own people. Churches can become spiritually dead, like the church at Sardis. They often conceal the leaven of sin among their congregations. They attract evil-doers and corruption. But, notwithstanding all of this travail, those who follow Christ still exist and walk in faithfulness and obedience. There are, still to appear, two notable examples of this triumph, the anointed ones who will proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom just before the end of this world and the return of our Lord in Glory.

It is thus an imperfect day in which we live, and as a result, like Paul, we find ourselves groaning:

And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Rom 8:23)

That glorious day when our bodies are transformed, when our Lord returns in glory to rule upon the earth, is the subject of the next article titled “The Trumpet Sounds”.

Subscribe now

Share

Leave a comment

Subscribe now

And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:

Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD. (Lev 23:15-17)

Just as the Feast of Unleavened Bread was a continuation from the Passover, Pentecost is linked to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, both by its calculation - seven weeks after the sheaf of grain symbolising Christ, the first-born from the dead, was waved by the priest, and by the use, once again, of the term firstfruits; a description shared with Christ.

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

(1 Cor 15:20-23)

A Parallel in the Jubilee

We once again have seven weeks being counted, seven being the biblical number for perfect completion, but we also have fifty days, and fifty is also a fascinating biblical number. It leads us to the Jubilee.

In God’s instructions to Israel regarding their conduct in the promised land, provision was made to give rest to agricultural land every seventh year, the so-called sabbath-of-the-land. After seven sabbaths, the year following was defined as the jubilee; the fiftieth year. This, too, is set aside for a holy purpose:

And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed.

For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.

In the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession.

(Lev 25:10-13)

This is a direct parallel to Pentecost. In both Pentecost and the Jubilee, seven sabbaths pass, and one further time interval brings us to fifty. That fiftieth span, being a further Sabbath, is a period of time reserved for holy use. The two mirror one another precisely, and so what we learn from the Jubilee applies also to Pentecost.

Pentecost consequently represents liberty, and a return to our original possessions, being freed of debts, obligations, and errors that have accumulated and which hold us in bondage. While the Jubilee addresses directly such things as land ownership and the forgiveness of all monetary debts, we are here discussing the redemption of mankind. So the parallel extends to a return to our former relationship with God and the forgiveness of our spiritual debts (our sins). The liberty anticipated is the removal of the shackles of sin; the family we are returning to is that of our heavenly Father.

The New Testament Fulfilment

The primary fulfilment of this symbolic day occurred after Jesus crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Christ rose on the weekly Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the events of Pentecost occurred fifty days later. They are described in the second chapter of the book of Acts:

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. (Acts 2:1-6)

Thus, the spirit of God, hitherto accessible only to those few prophets selected by God to convey His message to His nation, was poured out onto the servants of God. It transformed them in ability, in courage, and in discernment. Peter, who on the night of the crucifixion had three times denied Christ, was no longer afraid. He stood up and spoke boldly to the Israelites around him, saying:

Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:

Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. (Acts 2:22-24)

His timidity gone, Peter lets them have it. He says:

• Jesus, a man approved of God

• A worker of signs and miracles

• As you yourselves know

• Taken by wicked hands and slain

• God has raised from the grave

Just as in the Jubilee, here, with the Holy Spirit, the servants of God find freedom; freedom from fear in the case of Peter.

Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (2 Cor 3:17)

Freedom in Christ means freedom from whatsoever holds each of us in subjugation and is thus as individual as we are.

The Ten Commandments

As we have seen in the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, there are striking parallels between the journey of the nation of Israel out of Egypt and to the Promised Land and the journey of the Christian out of bondage to sin and towards service in God’s Kingdom. So what, we must enquire, was happening on Pentecost during the exodus from Egypt?

The precise dates for this next portion are not simply stated in scripture, but a strong indication can nevertheless be obtained. Taking the weekly Sabbath within the Feast of Unleavened Bread as falling on the 17th of the first month during the exodus, as it did during the crucifixion, and adding 50 days, we have Pentecost on the 67th day of the year. The new moon marking the first day of the third month will generally fall on the 60th day of the year (2 months x 29.5 days average lunar cycle, plus 1 day, the first of the third month). With this proviso, Pentecost would land on the 8th day of the third month of the year during the exodus. We can therefore check the biblical record for information as to what was happening during the first eight days of the third month when the Israelites left Egypt.

In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. (Exo 19:1)

After this, the people camped at the mountain, and Moses went up to God. God gave Moses his offer to the whole nation of Israel

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. (Exo 19: 5-6)

It is notable that, here too, God seeks the consent of the people, even after all he has done to save them from slavery and oppression, and from the vengeance of Pharaoh and his army. The people give their consent:

And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD. (Exo 19:8)

So Moses returned once again up onto the mountain, conveying the answer from the Israelites.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,

And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. (Exo 19:9-11)

And Moses and the people followed these instructions. and the people prepared for two days, then, on the following day, the presence of the Lord came down to the mountain:

And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.

And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. (Exo19:16-17)

Just as tongues of fire descended upon the believers on the day of Pentecost following Christ’s ascension, on this day, during the Exodus, the presence of God was likewise indicated by fire.

And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. (Exo 19:18)

Then the Lord made his entry onto the mountaintop.

And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. (Exo 19:20)

God warned Moses not to let the people come up the mountain for reasons of ‘health and safety’:

And the LORD said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them.

So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them. (Exo 19:24-25)

I would briefly point out that there are two Lords (two Yehovahs or two Yahwehs) in that sentence; one is referring to the other. In both cases, the word used is the proper name of the deity, the God of Israel. This is one of several cases where two Gods are mentioned in the Old Testament. One is the Father, and the second became a man and dwelt amongst us, and we know him as Jesus, the Son of Man, the messiah.

So Moses returned to the foot of the mountain once again and prepared the people. They were to hear the voice of God, booming from the mountaintop, declaring his commandments in which they were to live.

And God spake all these words, saying,

I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Thou shalt not kill.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s. (Exo 20:1-18)

The reaction of the people to hearing the voice of God, the God they had witnessed saving them in multiple ways in the preceding few months, was to run away:

And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.

And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

And so the rest of the conversation was with Moses alone, and he related God’s instructions to the people. Nevertheless, God made a point of emphasizing, as he started to give these laws to Moses, that the people had heard his voice directly, for themselves, with their own ears.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. (Exo 20:23)

In response to their request, the remainder of the law was given by God to Moses for onward transmission to the people. This is described in chapter 24 of Exodus:

And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.

And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.

And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.

And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words. (Exo 24:3-8)

Note how thoroughly consent is established. First, God outlines the proposal; the people agree. Then they hear the ten commandments for themselves, and Moses recounts the whole law to them, and they agree a second time. Finally, Moses commits the law to writing and reads that to them to be sure that the documented version is approved. They agree a third time. There can be no doubt that God seeks willing consent from those who follow him; informed, voluntary, express consent.

So, looking at the timeline, and taking Pentecost to be the eighth day of the third month, we arrive at:

1st day (Sunday) - Israelites arrive at Sinai and make camp.

2nd day (Monday) - Moses goes up and receives God’s offer to the people.

3rd Day (Tuesday) - Moses takes the people’s reply to God, and receives instructions on how the Israelites should prepare

4th day (Wednesday) - First day of preparation

5th day (Thursday) - Second day of preparation

6th day (Friday) - God’s presence descends onto the mountain, he speaks with Moses to warn the Israelites not to come too close.

7th day (Sabbath) - God thunders the ten commandments and is heard by the whole nation. They become frightened and ask Moses to act as a go-between.

8th day (Sunday) - Israel enters into a Covenant with God

This seems to align extremely well and also to parallel precisely the New Testament fulfilment, when the new covenant came into effect for those who believe in Jesus and follow his example. We can therefore conclude that the Old Covenant and the New were both inaugurated on Pentecost.

The Old and New Covenants

What then is the difference between the Old and New Covenants? The prophet Jeremiah laid this out with stunning clarity around 600 years before Christ was born. He wrote:

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jer 31:31-34)

It is the law of God written in the hearts of men. This is prophesied for the nation of Israel at a future time, but has been available since the Pentecost following Christ’s crucifixion to those in the church, in whom dwells the spirit of God. Paul describes this in many passages, including:

Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. (2 Cor 3:3)

This is an example of the state, which may be summarised as already but not yet. It is in the Kingdom of God that we will see the knowledge of the Lord spread far and wide; first to all of Israel, and then to the nations. For the moment, that time is not yet, but still the individual who is yielded to God, who is called, chosen and faithful, can have a change of heart. The spirit of God, poured out on the apostles on Pentecost, can act to transform those firstfruits of God’s harvest so that they may be Christ’s.

Only later, after those days, a biblical idiom referring to Christ’s return to establish his kingdom, will the new covenant be manifest in the masses of mankind:

But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.

For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,

This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; (Heb 10:12-16)

Thus, the New Covenant is a spiritual acceptance by man of the laws of God, not simply written rules but something loved, adored, cherished, and lived every moment of every day. Whilst the rules would admonish, chastise and point out error, the inward adoption of the laws of God transforms the man or woman. They are made anew; changed utterly. Paul experienced this and described the effects perfectly:

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20)

And it is the gift of the Holy Spirit that accomplishes this transformation, so that is the subject we will consider next.

The Gifts of the Spirit

When Christ told his disciples, those who followed and trusted him, of what would happen, how he would be reviled and killed, they could not understand:

And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. (Luke 18:34)

When Peter grasped who Jesus was, that he was the Son of God and the promised Messiah, Christ said it was a revelation from the Father, not something that could be humanly discerned:

He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. (Mat 16:15-17)

So we see here the working of God’s spirit gives men understanding, perception and discernment.

On the Pentecost following Christ’s ascension, Peter quoted the book of Joel in which God said:

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. (Joel 2:28-29)

Thus, further gifts of the spirit are seen here, shared without concern to sex, age, or rank. These gifts include prophetic insights and visions.

When Jesus appeared to the apostles after his crucifixion, he opened their minds so that they could understand scripture that was previously known to them but which they could neither understand nor interpret:

And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, (Luke 24:44-45)

But the full gift of the Spirit was then yet to be bestowed. It included much more — power directly from the Lord:

And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

And ye are witnesses of these things.

And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. (Luke 24:46-49)

And the holy spirit is also a teacher, and will reveal things to us that were heretofore unknown.

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26)

The spirit shall teach us all things, and so we should be ambitious as we read scripture and explore God’s word. There is no limit to what we can be taught.

Founding the Church

On that first Pentecost after the crucifixion, Peter, filled with the Spirit of God, was unafraid and spoke to the masses of the people. He spoke the truth that so many in his audience did not want to hear:

This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. (Acts 2:32)

He then quoted Psalm 110

The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. (Psa 110:1)

Making the point that Christ our Lord now sits at the right hand of our Father in heaven. And then Peter concludes that:

Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:36)

Now this hit home; they knew what evil had been done; they were all witnesses. They all knew, and they were distressed and miserable:

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 2:37-38)

Repentance, baptism and the living presence of the spirit of God within constituted their only way out of their sinful predicament. What Peter demanded was no less than a rejection of their old lives and old, hard hearts of stone and a transformation to a new life in Christ.

It must be noted that this is not for all of humanity (yet) but for as many as God should call:

For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. (Acts 2:39)

It is, therefore, calling the people of God out from a world of sin and rebellion. It is not yet the transformation of the whole world but rather of a small remnant of mankind who would serve God despite being surrounded by evil. Peter summarised this position of being called out with the phrase:

Save yourselves from this untoward generation. (Acts 2:40)

And the call was answered

Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:41)

And thus the Church began.

Concluding Remarks

We have seen that Pentecost represents many things surrounding the interaction between God and Man. It was the day on which the Old Covenant was made. It was also the day on which, by pouring out his spirit, God began the New Covenant, in which the commandments of God are written in the hearts of men. In short, it represents our transformation by God’s spirit, and our liberation from the debts accumulated in our past. This results in the first fruits of God returning to the relationship with God that was formerly present but was destroyed by human rebellion in Eden

The spirit of God is a teacher, letting us understand things formerly hidden. And it brings gifts of wisdom, discernment and spiritual power from God to those who serve him faithfully.

This is the first part of this examination of Pentecost. In the next part, we will look at the question of what the church is and also seek to understand what the two leavened loaves waved by the priest at Pentecost signified.

Subscribe now

Share

Leave a comment

My son, God will provide himself a lamb… (Gen 22:8)

Subscribe now

The next stage also involves mankind. It is called the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and it lasts for seven days. The first and last days are annual Sabbaths. The Feast commences the day after the Passover, on the 15th of the first month. It was established during the exodus, as recorded here:

And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.

And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.

And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.

In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.

Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.

Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread. (Exo 12:14-20)

It should be noted that the prohibition on leaven extends over the Passover also and is thus eight days in total, but the Feast is the seven days marked by Sabbaths on the first and last days.

To understand the significance of this holy occasion, it is first necessary to recognise the metaphorical meaning of leaven in scripture.

Subscribe now

What is Leaven?

Leaven spreads through dough by releasing gases such as carbon dioxide that create bubbles that cause it to puff up and expand. By biological action in yeast fermentation or via chemical reactions, it progresses to permeate the entire mixture. The process is gradual, invisible and continues until the whole mass is affected.

From the time of the Exodus, leaven, used as a religious metaphor, represented something forbidden:

No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire. (Lev 2:11)

The fuller explanation is contained in the New Testament. For example, Christ said:

Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. (Luk12:1)

Matthew also records this:

Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees….

Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. (Mat 16: 6, 12)

Therefore, we can see that leaven symbolically encompasses false and hypocritical doctrines. Disinformation, to use the modern parlance.

Paul also made use of the Metaphor of leaven when warning against prohibited, sinful conduct. For example, when admonishing the Corinthians regarding sexual immorality, he said:

Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1Co 5:6-8)

Paul returned to this symbol when tackling the legalizing tendency in the Galatians when he again says:

A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. (Gal 5:9)

And he then proceeds to contrast the works of the flesh (metaphorical leaven) with those of the spirit (symbolised by unleavened bread)

For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other:

And then he adds specific examples of the conduct in each category:

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties,

envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you, that they who practise such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

meekness, self-control; against such there is no law. (Gal 5:19-23 ASV)

Hence, we can see that the biblical use of leaven is as a metaphor for sin in its broadest sense. From sexual immorality, to religious idolatry, to deception and the spreading of conflict, to hypocrisy and malice.

The analogy is most descriptive, for as sin puffs people up with pride, leaven puffs up dough with voids, that is, with little pockets of emptiness. Furthermore, as leaven gradually suffuses through the whole mass, the influence of evil ideas and conduct gradually spreads through a community, group, or society, until the whole assembly is corrupt. The effect can be imperceptible, but the decay is eventually total.

In summary, leaven represents sin, moral decay, and corruption.

Christ The Firstborn

Additionally, embedded within this seven-day feast, there is a further ceremony. It falls on the day following the weekly Sabbath that lands within the seven days, and it thus always occurs on the first day of the week, that is to say, on a Sunday. It is described in the book of Leviticus within the description of the Feast of Unleavened Bread as follows:

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:

And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. (Lev23: 9-11)

If we go back to the calendar timeline for the week when Christ was crucified, the Sunday when this sheaf was waved before the Lord was the day Jesus was first seen risen from the dead.

This symbol was not lost on the Apostle Paul, who wrote about it to the church at Colossae, describing Christ in the following manner:

And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. (Col 1:18, emphasis added)

So the very first sheaf of the harvest, waved by the priest during the seven days of unleavened bread, represents Christ, the sinless man who died for us, and three days later rose from the grave. He was presented before God on that Sunday morning, risen from the grave as the grain is risen from the ground; the very start of God’s great harvest.

And, just as Christ was killed on the Passover, the day when he had been symbolically slain in the form of a lamb without blemish, this symbol was embodied on the very day predicted in God’s festival.

Walking with God

The famous verse John 3:16 reads

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The Passover represents Christ’s sacrifice, which has opened the way for life to replace death. The Feast of Unleavened Bread follows immediately after Passover, and thus represents the next thing a Christian must do after beginning to believe. As leaven represents sin and corruption, the unleavened bread signifies the rejection of sin. The seven-day duration proclaims that this discarding of sin should be complete and perfect, as seven is the biblical number for perfection (see the seven days of creation and many other examples).

It is thus a requirement on those who believe to cast away their former lawless practices and habits:

And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. (Jhn 8:11)

As we must be called, and chosen, and faithful, we must be changed by our walk of faith. The apostles all understood this. They spelled it out in majestic splendour. For example, in John’s first letter, he wrote:

And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.

Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.

Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (1 Jhn 3:5-8)

And Paul also spoke of this extensively:

The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering [adultery] and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. (Rom 12-14)

This is all very clear. It is a complete and absolute rejection of sin and an unconditional, relentless quest to be like Christ.

Sadly, it is not so clear in much of mainstream Christianity. But fortunately, we have the excellent work of Herb Shattuck and his YouTube channel called “The Great Evangelical Disaster” to explain and expose the error that claims that “accepting Jesus” forgives all sins - past, present and future - once and for all, that this salvation can never be lost, and thus that a Christian can sin like the devil but still claim the gift of eternal life.

A series of thirty-five detailed podcasts is available on this channel. These explore in detail the false gospel which denies that faithful adherence to the commandments of God and a thorough removal of sin from our lives is a requirement for every Christian. I heartily recommend listening to this series.

What does it mean to walk with God? It signifies that, through the transformation made possible by Christ’s sacrifice, the Christian can and must put away sin and live in righteousness. Paul summarised this as having the commandments of God written in our hearts:

Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. (2 Cor 3:3)

The Sabbaths

The beginning and end of the Feast are marked by Sabbaths, time sanctified for a holy purpose. This is specified in Leviticus:

In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. (Lev 23: 7-8)

Thus, the beginning and end of our walk with God are marked by Sabbaths, that is, by holy occasions.

The Christian’s walk with God starts with belief. As the wonderful hymn “Amazing Grace” renders it:

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!

And in Exodus, on this day, the 15th day of the first month, the Israelites left the slavery of Egypt and began their journey to the promised land, just as the Christian must leave the slavery of sin and begin his or her walk with God.

And this path is only complete when death ends our time on this world. Christ, in his letter to the church at Smyrna:

…be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. (Rev 2:10)

In a similar vein, when describing the events leading up to his return, and the persecution of believers that must precede it, Christ, as he stood upon the Mount of Olives, said:

But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (Mat 24:13)

Therefore, it is the final physical death of the body and the end of our life in this world that is marked by the second Sabbath at the end of the feast of Unleavened Bread.

Once again, the Exodus narrative provides our example. The Israelites were trapped, pursued by a dreadful army:

And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. (Exo 14:10)

But confronted by death, the Israelites were saved by the Lord:

And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

(Exo 14:21-22)

Just as in baptism, where the waters represent the grave, death and rebirth, dying to the old self and becoming alive in Christ, here we see an entire nation pass through the grave of the sea and yet continue onwards, towards the promised land.

And for the Christian, death, rather than being something to fear, opens up a secure path, dry ground, leading to redemption.

We can therefore see that the Sabbaths mark the points in a Christian’s life that are of the greatest significance. The hour they first believe, and the hour they breathe their last, having maintained faithfulness until the very end. And between those points, the process of purification never ceases. We learn, we improve, we mature. There is always more to do as Christ alone is our example and his perfection our aim.

And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:

He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people. (Exo 13:21-22)

Hence, during our walk, we follow Christ, as the Israelites did in the wilderness. His guiding presence is available night and day and never fails.

Jerusalem

There is one final detail I should add at this point: The Feast of UnLeavened Bread is one of three feasts where men should go to Jerusalem:

Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty: (Deu 16:16)

Jerusalem is the setting for these events as it is where Christ was crucified, where he rose from the grave, and where he was first seen alive, having conquered death. Thus, Jerusalem is the backdrop to the annual remembrance of His sacrifice and triumph and of our role in putting away sin and instead following after His example.

Concluding Remarks

The Feast of Unleavened Bread shows us that from the time we first believe until the end of our lives in this world, we should constantly strive to put away sin completely, to be like Christ, to be faithful and obedient to Him and to our Father in heaven.

Christ rose from the grave on the weekly Sabbath that falls within this seven-day-long feast and was first seen on the Sunday following it. His triumph over the grave, over evil and over the world was anticipated in the feast when the priest waved the sheaf of the very first of the harvest. Christ is the firstborn; he leads the way and asks us to follow after his example.

As he said:

If ye love me, keep my commandments. (John 14 :15)

And the annual avoidance of leaven symbolises exactly that. Those who love the Lord, laying aside sin and the flesh and instead following Him in spirit and in truth; having His commandments written in our hearts.

Leave a comment

Share

Subscribe now

• Egypt signifies enslavement and represents mankind’s enslavement to sin.

• Moses was a type of Christ.

• The wilderness is a place of testing where we learn to trust in God’s care.

• The Promised Land represents the Kingdom of God.

This places the Passover right at the start of events, as it is at the start of the year. It is a necessary precursor for mankind to become free from enslavement to sin. It is the first measure in God’s plan for redeeming mankind.

Dates and Controversy

Following on from the discussion of the calendar, let us start with the ‘when’. What day is the Passover? The answer is repeated in many separate scriptures:

And ye shall keep it [the lamb] up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. (Exo 12:6)

and

These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.

In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover. (Lev 23:4-5)

and

And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, that they should keep the passover.

And they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at even in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel. (Num 9:4-5)

and

And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the passover of the LORD.

And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. (Num 28:16-17)

and

Moreover Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. (2Ch 35:1)

Therefore, without doubt, the Passover is on the 14th day of the first month. This is the day it was kept in the times of Moses, of Joshua, of Jesus, and of the early church. Days commence at evening in biblical reckoning, and the Passover is no different.

Question: What happens when the Lord gives humanity a clear instruction, numerically defined, and repeats it at least eleven times?

Answer: Something else.

In Judaism, the Passover is kept on the fifteenth of the first month! In fact, this divergence from the clear instructions given by God explains the sudden change in temper on the streets of Jerusalem on the day when Christ was tried and killed.

When Christ entered Jerusalem, he did so to great acclaim. This spooked the authorities and brought them close to panic:

The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him. (Jhn 12: 12-13, 19)

On the evening of the fourteenth Christ, his disciples, and, one must assume, all those who supported him, kept the Passover in accordance with God’s instructions. That night, Christ was arrested and subjected to an illegal capital trial.

The next day, the Jerusalem mob had quite a different tone. When Pilate tried to free Jesus, they shouted: ‘Crucify him, crucify him’. Why the sudden shift in the public mood? Simply, this was not the same crowd. The supporters of Christ would all have been at home, observing the Passover. Those who no longer kept the correct day, but rather obeyed the religious leaders (who had transposed the passover to the following day), were on the streets. They were buying produce and preparing for their (not God’s) passover.

In this situation, the chief priests had a one-day-long window of opportunity when the mob could be relied upon to conform to their wishes. They had to act that day. As in a chess endgame, the moves were forced. The Priests’ actions were simply the only options left to them. Their lies and errors had boxed them in. They had either to abandon their deceptions and embrace the truth, or else act in the dead of night to destroy it. They made their choice. They made their move. They killed Christ on the very day he had always been symbolically killed. On the Passover, the fourteenth day of the first month.

Yet further biblical evidence comes from Christ’s trial (on the morning of the 14th day):

Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.

Here we see that the morning after Christ had kept the passover, those who accused him had not. As is Jewish practice today, they intended to keep it instead on the 15th day of the month.

In mainstream Christianity, it took many years for the simple biblical instruction to be drowned in a sea of falsehood. This was called the Quartodeciman Controversy. This debate rumbled on for several centuries and was between those in the church (mostly at Jerusalem and in Asia Minor) who kept the Passover on the date specified in scripture, and those seeking to celebrate it on the Sunday following the first full moon after the equinox, unless this coincided with the actual Passover, in which case it would be delayed by a week.

The early church leader Polycarp, a disciple of John, the disciple of Christ, travelled to Rome to try to resolve this. A letter by Irenaeus, now lost but quoted by Eusebius, describes what happened:

When the blessed Polycarp was at Rome in the time of Anicetus, and they disagreed a little about certain other things, they immediately made peace with one another, not caring to quarrel over this matter. For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe what he had always observed with John, the disciple of our Lord, and the other apostles with whom he associated…. Neither could Polycarp persuade Anicetus to observe it.

That is to say, the church at Rome would not follow the example of Christ and the apostles but chose a different day.

In 325AD, the First Council of Nicaea decreed that the Roman practice should prevail over the biblical. Although there was resistance, for example in the Celtic church up until the 7th Century, this practice eventually became almost universal.

So it is clear that Passover is ordained by God to be on the fourteenth day of the first month. But mankind, in both mainstream Christian and Orthodox Jewish traditions, has refused to observe it on the day specified.

Days and Signs

Having resolved the confusion over the calendar and the date of the Passover, the next issue to examine is the corresponding days of the week. As I have covered in a previous article titled ‘Mistakes in the Mainstream’, this turns out to be a key issue because of this exchange:

Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.

But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Mat 12:38-40)

And what do the mainstream Christian denominations declare in their Easter observances? They claim that the crucifixion was on a Friday afternoon and, by first light on Sunday morning, the tomb was empty and Christ had risen.

• Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon is one day and one night

• Friday afternoon to Sunday morning is one day and two nights.

Thus, the most important religious festival of mainstream Christianity, whether Roman Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant, denies the Lordship of Christ by claiming he failed to satisfy the one sign He proclaimed. Easter, in a dreadful and largely unrecognised subversion, actively denies the Lordship of Christ by means of its timetable - Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

The solution to this conundrum is simple once it is recognised that the day after the Passover, the 15th day of the first month, is the first day of the feast of unleavened bread and an annual Sabbath. It is this day, not the weekly Sabbath (Saturday), that is referred to as the day following the crucifixion:

And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,

Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. (Mar 15:42-43)

After this annual Sabbath, the women who were faithful to Jesus went shopping for spices to anoint the body. They then rested during the weekly Sabbath and thereafter approached the grave as it began to get light, very early on Sunday morning. They found the grave empty.

And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.

And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?

And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.

And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. (Mar 16: 1-6)

And in case any should suspect that having two Sabbaths, one a high, holy day (the first day of the feast of unleavened bread) and the second a weekly seventh day, in the same week is an error, it is only necessary to refer to the original Greek of Matthew 28:1):

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

ὀψὲ δὲ σαββάτων τῇ ἐπιφωσκούσῃ εἰς μίαν σαββάτων ἦλθεν Μαριὰμ ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ καὶ ἡ ἄλλη Μαρία θεωρῆσαι τὸν τάφον

The word translated ‘Sabbath’ here is σαββάτων (sabbaton plural), literally ‘Sabbaths’. There were two Sabbaths that week, one on Thursday, the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, and the second on Saturday.

The timeline can therefore be summarised as follows:

The Lamb

Having established the dates and days, and cleared up some common errors, let us move on to the more weighty matters.

When John the Baptist saw Christ approaching, he said:

Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (Jhn 1:29)

And Paul, reflecting on his conversion and upon the transformation of his fellow Christians, added:

For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:

It is therefore clear that the Passover lamb is a metaphor for Christ. Its sacrifice was a foreshadowing of the Son of God’s own, voluntary sacrifice. The parallels are numerous, and the following outlines a few, but by no means all.

The original instructions to the Israelites concerning the Passover began with:

Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:

In the year of the crucifixion, the tenth day fell on a Saturday (Sabbath). This was the day during which Christ entered Jerusalem, riding on a donkey:

And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.

And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.

And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; (Mat 21:7-9)

It is a useful confirmation of the timeline that two days previously, Christ and his disciples arrived at Bethany, around 6 km East of Jerusalem. They had supper with Martha and Lazarus, and presumably stayed the night.

Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. (Jhn 12:1-2)

The next day, they moved up to the Mount of Olives:

And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, (Mat 21:1)

This placed them a sabbath day’s journey from Jerusalem, as is confirmed in the book of Acts:

Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey.

Thus, the bringing in of the lamb to the houses of the Israelites prefigured Christ’s entry into Jerusalem.

Another symbol embedded in the Passover concerns the lamb used to represent Christ. It was required to be perfect:

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: (Exo 12:5)

This perfection was a model of Christ’s own spiritual perfection:

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. (1 Pet 2:22)

Jesus was without blemish because he did not sin. The lamb was without any physical blemish and is thus an archetype representing Christ. The perfection of Christ posed no end of difficulties to those attempting to condemn and kill him. For example, when the priests brought Jesus to Pilate to have him executed, their attempts to find some charge that would stick bordered on the farcical:

Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man?

They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee. (Jhn 18:29-30)

Surely a statement worthy of Police Constable Savage in the famous comedy sketch:

It got little better for the priests when Pilate examined Christ directly:

Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?

Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?

Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. (John 18:33-38)

Thus, as the Passover lamb was examined and found to be without blemish, Christ was examined and found to be without fault.

The Last Supper and Gethsemane

At the last supper, Christ created new and enduring symbols in bread and wine:

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Mat 26:26-28)

Later, they proceeded to the garden at Gethsemane. In this Garden, Christ, knowing exactly what was about to befall him, remained obedient and resisted the temptation to flee. Thus, Jesus, the second Adam, remained faithful and true in the garden. This is in stark contrast to the weakness and sin of the first Adam in the Garden of Eden.

The apostles slept, and Christ was alone, apart from an angel sent from heaven to strengthen him.

And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him.

But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?

When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword?

And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear.

And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him.

Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves?

When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness. (Luke 22:47-53)

And thus was our Lord betrayed with a kiss and taken by the forces of darkness.

The Blood

The Passover lamb was sacrificed, and its blood protected the people from death:

And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it….

For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.

And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. (Exo 12:6-8, 12-13)

What is noticeable here is that the blood of the Lamb alone is sufficient protection; no other conditions are applied. The previous conduct of the inhabitants of the houses is irrelevant. Their status, wealth, sex, or any other feature often considered important by man, plays no part in saving them from death. Those males eating the passover were to be only those who were circumcised, but ethnicity per se was also irrelevant. Likewise, the blood of Jesus, our lamb, offers us eternal life irrespective of our background, previous sins, status, wealth or nationality.

They painted the blood on their doorposts and lintels, an act that would appear crazy to many, but which places an outward symbol where it can be seen. This too resonates as to follow Christ is often to be seen as foolish by those with a materialistic worldview:

But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness (1 Cor 1:23)

Another example of the Passover sacrifice prefiguring Christ is that the lamb was not to have any bones broken:

They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it: according to all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it. (Num 9:12)

This was fulfilled also by Christ, as is recorded in the Gospel of John:

The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.

But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: (John 19:31-33)

Furthermore, Christ was silent during much of his questioning and trial:

And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing.

And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee.

But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled. (Mar 15:3-5)

This was as prophesied by Isaiah:

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. (Isa 53:7)

Therefore, Christ fulfilled, in detail, the symbology of the Passover. He is the Lamb of God who bled and died for us, that we might be freed from death, the wages of sin.

Psalm 22

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Mar 15:34)

In this, he was quoting from the twenty-second Psalm. This was a description of Christ’s suffering written 1000 years earlier. It starts:

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me (verse 1)

and continues:

But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,

He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. Psa 22:6-8)

This accurately recounts the mocking response of the mob to Jesus’ suffering. The Psalm proceeds to describe the pain and torment of the crucifixion:

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.

They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me. (Psa22: 14-19)

When this Psalm says “they have pierced my hands and feet”, it predicted the cruel crucifixion method of capital punishment hundreds of years before it had been invented. When it says they will cast lots upon my vesture (clothing), the Psalm predicts what the soldiers who crucified Jesus would cast lots to see who would keep his tunic.

The Psalm also says “haste to help me”. The Lord God Almighty did just that by ending Jesus’ suffering just after he quoted the first line.

And finally, the psalmist then speaks of the Kingdom of God, which Christ preached during his earthly ministry and that we will rule:

All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.

For the kingdom is the LORD’S: and he is the governor among the nations. (Psa 22:27-28)

Thus, with his final breath, he continued to declare the coming Kingdom and his rule over all of the nations.

What it all means

In God not withholding his only son that he loved, and in Christ’s voluntary sacrifice of his spotless life, profound changes occurred, and Christ achieved a spiritual victory over evil of such magnitude as to almost defy description:

But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phl 2:7-11)

The things achieved included the forgiveness of sins. As the wages of sin are death, all of fallen humanity was under sentence of death. There was no human way out of this. There is now:

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: (Col 1:13-14)

And with sins being forgiven, we have the prospect of resurrection to life:

Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. (Rom 5:18)

For each of us today, Christ offers new spiritual life; a change; a transformation; a renewal.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Col 5:17,21)

Since the failure of the first Adam, mankind had been shut away from direct contact with God. Instead, contact was through rituals, a priesthood and the temple. The people as a whole could only enter the outer court. They were far from God’s presence. The place where God resided, the Holy of Holies, could only be entered by the High Priest on one day per year, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). The inner holy court of the temple, where the priests served daily, was separated from the Holy of Holies by a thick, intricately woven curtain called the veil. This symbolised the barrier between God and a sinful humanity.

When Christ died, this veil was torn in two:

And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; (Mat 27:51)

And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. (Mar 15:38)

And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. (Luk 23:45)

This sign shows that the barrier between God and man had been likewise riven.

His victory furthermore placed Christ in a position of great authority, having overcome sin and death and defeated Satan and evil. This is reflected in how he is described later in the prophetic timeline:

And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;

Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. (Rev 5:11-12)

Concluding remarks

The Passover represents the sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God, so that we may receive not death (the wages of our sins) but instead new life. Speaking of the personal transformation he had experienced, Paul said:

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20)

Christ’s sacrifice offers access to truth and to transformative change:

I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. (John 12:46)

And this change will ultimately mean life itself replacing the grave:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (Jhn 3:16)

And in overcoming evil and defeating death, Christ our Lamb has become more mighty than evil can ever resist. His victory, gained on the cross, is assured. Further victories lie ahead:

These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. (Rev 17:14)

This mighty work is the first step in God’s plan for the redemption of mankind. In the next article, we shall examine the closely related Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Leave a comment

Share

Having established a secure starting point for this examination of the Gospel and the seven annual Sabbaths established by God, we immediately come up against an obvious question. On what day do these Sabbaths fall?

Subscribe now

Some may find this a less-than-obvious next step. Too detailed, too precise; failing to grasp the big picture. To those who feel that way, I would say that the precision and importance of the dates cannot be overstated. As will be seen in later articles, the exactness of this system is such that when events occur, they take place on precisely the day that the Holy festivals had long foreshadowed. Furthermore, in understanding these symbolic representations of God’s great purpose, we must trust that the details matter. We must get them right. Otherwise, understanding slips away in a mire of small errors and ignored technicalities, and confusion once again languidly establishes its chaotic dominion. Therefore, please bear with me as I outline the calendar that sets the timing of these seven Sabbaths each year, as a necessary foundation for what will follow.

Scripture provides precise dates for six of the seven Sabbaths and a straightforward method for calculating the seventh. The odd thing is that it assumes we know the calendar; it takes it as a known and established fact. It refers to months, and days, and seasons, and years, without stating any rules for establishing a corresponding, divinely-endorsed calendar.

In contrast, human society has many rules. We have leap years with an extra day, and leap seconds to correct minor discrepancies between astronomical observations and the clock. Catholic countries discarded the Julian calendar and skipped ten dates in 1582 to adopt the current Gregorian calendar. Great Britain and its colonies waited until 1752 to implement this change, by which time the difference had accumulated to 11 dates. The Eastern Orthodox Church still uses the Julian calendar to calculate Easter. Before the Julian calendar, the Roman civil calendar had diverged by three months from the solar cycle. In Islam, for religious purposes, there are twelve months more or less in step with the phases of the moon, giving a year of 355 or 354 days; thus, Islamic religious dates, such as Ramadan, regress through an entire year every 32.5 solar cycles. We have, in short, a bit of a mess.

Then we have the Jewish system. It too has been through many changes. To quote the Jewish Encyclopaedia:

The history of the Jewish calendar may be divided into three periods—the Biblical, the Talmudic, and the post-Talmudic. The first rested purely on the observation of the sun and the moon, the second on observation and reckoning, the third entirely on reckoning.

Not only is the Jewish system prone to change, but the current version also has rules not found in scripture; for example, it employs four postponement rules, known as dechiyot, to adjust the start of the new year, Rosh Hashanah (the first day of Tishri, the seventh month). These rules prevent certain holy days from falling on inconvenient days of the week, which would cause conflicts with Shabbat (Sabbath) laws.

Placing the first day of the year in the autumn is also in direct opposition to God’s instruction, which places it in the spring.

Furthermore, the Jewish calendar often sets the year as a whole too early, making it difficult, or impossible, to accomplish some of the harvest-based festivals for want of a harvest.

Despite these problems, Rabbinic Judaism considers that its rules have authority over God’s word and must take precedence. For example, this extract from the Jerusalem Talmud is often quoted by Jewish authorities in this context.

Heaven itself yields to the authority of the earthly court of justice as to the fixing of the calendar and the festival days (Yer. R. H. 1:57b).

In contrast to this complexity, confusion, and human arrogance, the bible lays down a few simple rules and leaves the matter there. The assumption it displays is that the system is straightforward. It needs no tinkering, corrections, adjustments, or postponements, for none are described. If we are to follow scripture, it must be by using a system of such uncomplicated elegance that nothing further is needed.

We will now review some of what is written in the bible on this topic.

Biblical guidance

The core of the biblical calendar is set out in the first chapter of Genesis, thus:

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: (Gen 1:14)

So, we see here that the biblical system is defined by the sun and the moon. Calculation or human adjustment plays no part in this calendar.

Next, let’s move on to the definition of a day. We are accustomed to thinking in terms of a clock with midnight forming the separation between one day and the next. The biblical system is instead set by the observed movement of the sun.

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. (Gen 1:5)

Thus, we have a period of darkness, an evening, and a period of light, a morning, forming a day, and the movement of the sun sets the division. Hence, it is sunset, not midnight, that divides one day from the next. Biblically, days are measured from sunset to sunset.

Moreover, this pattern or duality runs through the bible; both in the calendar and elsewhere. For example, we have two YHWHs, father and son, two resurrections, two comings of the Son of Man, and God created us male and female. In the context of the calendar, it is not only day and night that form a couplet, but summer and winter also. We see this in Genesis:

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. (Gen 8:22)

And in the psalms too:

The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter. (psa 74:16-17)

The word translated winter here is חֹרֶף chôreph; properly, the crop gathered, i.e. (by implication) the autumn (and winter) season. Hence, biblically speaking, there are two seasons: summer and winter.

From the movement of the sun, these are set by the spring and autumn equinoxes, two yearly moments (around March 20 & Sept 22) when Earth's axis tilts neither toward nor away from the Sun, causing the Sun to appear directly over the equator, and resulting in nearly equal day and night everywhere on Earth. These universal points in time mark the start of spring (vernal) and autumn (autumnal) seasons in different hemispheres. They, like the scripture, divide the year into two.

Next, we must define a month. This is a very straightforward task. Take, for example, the first use of the term in the KJV, in Genesis:

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

The word translated here as month, חֹדֶשׁ chôdesh, literally means “new moon” or “day of the new moon”. It is derived from חָדַשׁ châdash; a primitive root meaning to be new, to rebuild, renew, or repair. So months are defined by new moons.

And a new moon is also a precise and universal point in time. For example, consider this verse from the book of the Psalms:

He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. (Psa 104:19)

The word seasons here is מוֹעֵד (môwʻêd) and means a set time, or a point of time. This carries, once again, the requirement for precision. It is a new moon, astronomically speaking, when there is precise alignment of the sun, moon, and Earth, and the moon is totally dark, ie, invisible from the Earth. It cannot be a first observation of a sliver of the crescent moon, which is subject to climatic and local variations. The moment of the new moon, like the equinoxes that define the year and the summer and winter seasons, is unique and does not depend upon location on Earth.

What we see here is precision, applied universally to the whole earth. We need only one more detail: how to define the start of the year. God, speaking in the spring, in the month containing the Passover, supplied this final piece:

And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. (exo 12, 1-2)

Simply stated, the first new moon in the spring of the year marks the start of a year.

Since the equinoxes define the year, the spring equinox places limits on when the first month can occur. It can be seen that the first month cannot commence during the previous year, as this would be contradictory and irrational. So it cannot occur before the equinox. Neither can it be more than one month after the spring equinox, as this would make it the second month, not the first. Thus, the start of the year is fixed by the first new moon following the spring equinox. This is a universal instant of time applying to the whole earth.

Moreover, the subsequent new moons mark the start of each following month. So then scripture refers to, say, the tenth day of the seventh month, this too can be established with confidence.

Finally, we have to identify which day these universal points of time fall within, recalling that days are defined by sunset timings and therefore depend on the location. Which location? That place can only be Jerusalem for:

Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. (Eze 5:5)

and

…and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. (Isa 60:14-15)

So when God says:

Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. (psa 81:3-4)

And defined that day as the first day of the seventh month, we can now establish, from scripture and the movements of sun and moon alone, when that day is. We are no longer reliant on any human calendar or calculation.

The Calendar in brief

The first month is defined by the first new moon occurring after the spring (vernal) equinox.

The first day of the month is defined by the day during which this new moon falls, as measured at Jerusalem, and remembering that a day is defined as commencing at sunset.

All other months are defined by the new moon dates in a similar manner. A year will have either twelve or, less often, thirteen months.

And that is it. The whole calendar. It could not be simpler or more elegant.

To establish the first day of the year, all one needs to do is find the universal (GMT) time of the first new moon that comes after the spring equinox. Add two hours to this to correct for Jerusalem time and refer to sunset times in Jerusalem to establish which day this falls on. It is no more complicated than that.

In the biblical year spanning 2026 and 2027, for example, the new moons are on:

• April 17

• May 17

• June 15

• July 14

• August 13

• September 11

• October 11

• November 09

• December 09

• January 07

• February 07

• March 08

Passover is on the fourteenth day of the first month and is therefore April 30th, and the other holy days are as easily established.

It is precise: because we worship a precise God.

Acknowledgement and thanks

It was from my brother, John Robertson Scott, that I received this information, and to him I give my thanks. Any errors or inconsistencies in this presentation are mine alone, but the discovery of this simple, elegant truth, I owe to him.

Leave a comment

Share

Subscribe now

And that’s a problem.

It is a problem because this inexactitude occurs more or less everywhere and affects the most central tenets of Christian faith. This includes the very core of the Christian message, the Gospel itself.

Subscribe now

What is the Gospel?

The Gospel is the central message of Christianity. But what, exactly, is it?

The Gospel Coalition defines it as follows

The gospel is good news—the good news of what God has done in Jesus Christ.

Note that this is in the present perfect tense, which connects a past event to a present situation or result. It therefore considers the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, along with the current response of the individual Christian to those events, as the whole story.

A similar viewpoint is presented by the website “Desiring God”:

The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for our sins and rose again, eternally triumphant over his enemies, so that there is now no condemnation for those who believe, but only everlasting joy. That’s the gospel.

Again, this combines a past event and a present situation, but excludes future elements. It also introduces other questions. If Christ is “externally triumphant”, why does sin abound on earth? What exactly does “no condemnation for those who believe” mean? Does it give license to those who believe to continue sinning? It should be remembered that sin is defined as conduct contrary to the commandments of God, as the Apostle John put it, “sin is the transgression of the law”. If there is no condemnation and everlasting joy, what is the approach that must be taken to sin? What is required of the believer? Is it simply a belief without outward signs, such as a change in character, conduct, choices or desires? It seems much is omitted and the gospel definition is drifting towards a just-so story.

The Catholic Encyclopedia almost makes the Gospel vanish with its definition:

The word Gospel usually designates a written record of Christ’s words and deeds.

This says nothing about an overarching purpose and reduces the idea of the Gospel to record-keeping.

Even worse, with some preachers, the Gospel degrades to a form of afterlife insurance. Take, for example, John McArthur tackling an interview question about the confusion surrounding the Gospel and seeking a short and straightforward definition. He went with this:

When you die, you’re going to go to eternal hell and conscious punishment for ever (in eternal hell) unless you put your faith in Jesus Christ. But here’s the good news, if you trust Christ [and] repent of your sin, he will take you to heaven forever.

Now, to be fair to John McArthur, he does at least mention repentance, something omitted from all the previous examples. Nevertheless, he summons up a vision of perpetual torment to create fear and then presents the Gospel as a get-out-of-hell-free-card. The problem with this message is that none of it is true. The idea presented here is that we are immortal, and therefore the issue we face is not death but rather where we will spend our eternal life. As an estate agent might phrase it, the key issues are location; location; location. Scripture says the opposite:

The soul that sinneth, it shall die. (Eze 18:20)

and

For the wages of sin is death; (Rom 6:23)

Furthermore, it is troubling to see McArthur (and so many preachers) repeat the lie spoken by the serpent to Eve:

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die (Gen 3:4)

And also nowhere in scripture does it say we go to heaven when we die, but rather it states the opposite:

And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. (Jhn 3:13)

So, we have here another Gospel, one pushing Greek fables in place of, and blatantly in opposition to, the word of God.

Are we confused yet?

Lesslie Newbiggin, in his analysis of the clash between the gospel and contemporary Western culture titled “Foolishness to the Greeks”, gave a more rounded definition as follows:

a gospel that announces the kingdom, the reign, and the sovereignty of God. It calls men and women to repent of their false loyalty to other powers, to become believers in the one true sovereignty and to become corporately a sign, instrument and foretaste of that sovereignty of the one true and living God over all nature, all nations and all human lives.

This is the first mention of the Kingdom we have come across, which is odd, as this was what Jesus preached:

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom (Mat 4:23)

But, despite providing a broader definition and placing the Kingdom of God front and centre, Newbiggin’s definition does not mention the blood that was shed by Christ, or his victory over death itself. Nor does “become believers” really address the transformation described by Paul:

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20) (Pesach Sheni)

Any list of gospel definitions could go on ad infinitum, but I hope the reader can grasp from the preceding variants the degree of confusion, vagueness, contradiction, disarray and sometimes heresy that is swiftly found when seeking an answer to the question: “What is the Gospel?”

Kentucky Baptist Minister Greg Gilbert is open about the presence of confusion in his article “What is the Gospel?”:

There has been much conversation in evangelicalism recently about how Christians should define the gospel—whether we should say that the gospel is purely the message that sinners can be forgiven of sin through repentance and faith in the crucified Christ, or whether it is something broader.

… I believe the two major camps in this conversation—those who say the gospel is the good news that God is reconciling sinners to himself through the substitutionary death of Jesus and those who say the gospel is the good news that God is going to renew and remake the whole world through Christ —are largely talking past one another.

But why should there be two camps? Should there not be unity and clarity instead?

It is to scripture that we must turn to find the precision that comes from a precise God. Specifically, I intend to argue that we must examine the seven annual (or high) sabbaths, the holy days commanded by God. These symbolically lay out His plan for the redemption of mankind. They provide a framework within which the various components of that plan for redemption can be accurately and precisely located. Consequently, they present the Gospel in full and rich detail, with elements arranged in the correct sequence and nothing omitted.

Seven Annual Sabbaths

The seven annual holy days are:

• Passover (Pesach)

• The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMatzot)

• First Fruits or Pentecost (Shavuot)

• The Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah)

• The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)

• The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)

• The Last Great Day (Shemini Atzeret)

Each has a specific meaning; each defines part of God’s redemption of mankind. Taken as a whole, they define the Gospel.

Some of this is widely understood. For example, when John the Baptist first saw Jesus approaching, he said:

Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (Jhn 1:29)

This is widely recognised to be a link to the lamb sacrificed at Passover whose blood protected the Children of Israel from the angel of death. For example, Paul said:

For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. (1 Cor 5:7).

And Peter referred to Christ’s sacrifice as follows:

But with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. (1 Pet 1:19)

This is a direct quote of the Exodus instruction regarding the Passover Lamb:

Your lamb shall be without blemish (Exo 12:5)

Thus, the starting point is clear: the first holy day is the Feast of the Passover. The start of God’s plan for the redemption of mankind is the crucifixion of Christ, our Passover Lamb, by whose blood death is defeated. We therefore have a solid and reliable place to begin.

The next point to note is that the seven holy days are split into the two harvest seasons as follows:

In the spring harvest:

• Passover

• The Feast of Unleavened Bread

• First Fruits or Pentecost

Later in the year, in the autumn harvest:

• The Feast of Trumpets

• The Day of Atonement

• The Feast of Tabernacles

• The Last Great Day

As a consistent biblical metaphor, those men and women redeemed by Christ are likened to a harvest. For example:

And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;

Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. (Mat 9:35-38)

And with yet more precision, the metaphor is used by Christ in the parable of the tares:

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. (Mat 13:24-30)

And Christ also gave a full explanation of this parable to his disciples:

Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.

He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;

The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;

And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Mat 13:36-43)

So the metaphor is manifest — the harvest represents the plan of God to gather the righteous into His Kingdom, and to destroy those who do iniquity.

Like the two harvests in the Levant, there are two resurrections. They are separated by 1000 years. They are both described in the 20th chapter of Revelation, the first here:

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Rev 20:4-6)

And the second here:

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Rev 20:11-15)

So, not only do we see that a harvest is a symbol representing a resurrection, but we have two harvests and two resurrections. The parallel is clear. The first three holy days are located during the spring harvest and largely concern the first resurrection. The final four, located in the autumn harvest, largely concern the second resurrection.

Looking at the harvests in the Levant, perhaps just a little more can be gleaned. The spring harvest is mostly of grains such as wheat and barley. The autumn harvest is mostly of fruits such as olives, figs, dates and pomegranates. The first harvest is smaller if measured by volume, and larger if measured by calorific value. Perhaps this signifies that the first resurrection will involve fewer people than the second, but yet be of more value (provide more nourishment) to the Kingdom of God.

Concluding Remarks

This will be the first in a thirteen-article-long series, in which I will attempt to explore the full scope of the Gospel as revealed by God in His seven annual holy days. I say ‘attempt’ because the precision and detail will no doubt be beyond me at times.

I will therefore welcome comments, suggestions, additions and corrections as this project proceeds.

For the moment, having established that:

(i) The seven annual sabbaths are divided between two harvest periods.

(ii) A harvest symbolically represents the resurrection of the dead to eternal life.

(iii) There will be two resurrections, just as, in the holy land, there are two harvests.

(iv) The first of the holy days - The Passover - is definitively linked by scripture to the first step in the redemption of mankind; the sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God, who bled and died to cover our sins.

With this starting point secure, we will pause the examination until the next article, which will address the subject of the calendar, so that we may identify when these holy days occur.

Subscribe now

Share

Leave a comment

Subscribe now

Welcome to the Babylon of the North

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Edinburgh, the Babylon of the North.

In the Gospel of John, our saviour said to the faithful

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

We were created to be free, but we are in chains. The chains are formed from lies and from sin.

You are told that you must rebel against injustice, but that too is a deception. The system that enslaves you is itself a rebellion. A rebellion against the Most High – Almighty God. The system claims to have authority over you. Tighter and tighter the serpent squeezes, removing the breath of life, removing the joy of living.

And it is just getting started.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Digital ID is just a small part of the tyranny that is coming under the name of DPI: Digital Public Infrastructure.

I will quote from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s public governance policy paper no. 68, titled:

Digital Public Infrastructure for Digital Governments.

This explores Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), which it defines as shared digital systems that are secure and interoperable and that can support the inclusive delivery of, and access to, public and private services across society. These DPI systems act as common digital building blocks that underpin government processes and services and enable digital government transformation at scale.

The OECD advises governments to “adopt a strategic framework to effectively govern and manage the country’s DPI”.

They outline this as covering a wide range of interdependent systems, including:

· digital identity,

· digital payments,

· core data registries,

· data-sharing systems,

· digital notifications,

· digital post, and

· single digital gateways

The World Bank

The World Bank also has a role. In their document Digital Public Infrastructure and Development: A World Bank Group Approach, they say:

DPI is an approach to digitalisation focused on creating “foundational, digital building blocks designed for the public benefit.”

The building blocks are digital identity, e-signatures, a digital payments system, and data-sharing. They outline their envisaged scope as follows

• Government-to-person (G2P) payments: Faster, more efficient, and inclusive delivery of social benefits, reducing costs and leakages.

• Financial inclusion: Increased access to financial services, particularly for marginalised populations, through reduced costs and improved accessibility.

• Health: Improved healthcare delivery, disease surveillance, and public health interventions through interoperable health information systems and secure payments.

• Agriculture: Enhanced access to services, and data-driven decision-making.

This is the total state and private sector combined – the fascist model. They express this concept as follows:

• Adopting a whole-of-society approach: Fostering collaboration among government agencies, the private sector, CSOs, and other stakeholders. This includes establishing clear roles, responsibilities, and coordination mechanisms.

The Nazis called this gleichschaltung, meaning harmonisation.

The Blueprint for a Modern Digital Government in The United Kingdom

In the UK, our Government published their “Blueprint for a modern digital government in January.

The UK government promises many wonderful things:

· Easier lives: delivering transparent, next-generation public services that do the hard work for the public, can be accessed and used by everyone who needs them, and are designed around the user.

· Faster growth: helping businesses start and scale by delivering services that work as well as they do for citizens.

· Firmer foundations: securing public services so they are trustworthy and resilient.

· Smarter organisations: changing how delivery is done to embed the right ways of working, moving at the same pace that people’s lives do, and working as agile, user-centred, multidisciplinary teams by default.

· Higher productivity and efficiency: saving public money, delivering outstanding public services at a price we can afford, and enabling front-line workers to focus on delivery.

.And how will they achieve these wonders? They have six bullet points:

A six-point plan for government digital reform

1. Join up public sector services

2. Harness the power of AI for the public good

3. Strengthen and extend our digital and data public infrastructure

4. Elevate leadership, invest in talent [The German word for this is Fuhrereprinzip]

5. Fund for outcomes, procure for growth and innovation

6. Commit to transparency, drive accountability

An Unexpected Leader

Can you guess which country is leading DPI?

India!

India’s sewage system comprises 70% of urban sewage flowing untreated into rivers and lakes due to inadequate infrastructure. But they lead in DPI.

Fortune Magazine- India has celebrated this. They said:

If you have never taken a loan, you must understand that Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) plays a vital role. It is changing how lenders evaluate creditworthiness, especially for people who are new to borrowing. “DPI is shifting credit from a collateral-based to a data-driven model, turning 1st-time borrowers into creditworthy participants. With over 450 million credit-invisible individuals now reachable through Aadhaar, UPI, and the Account Aggregator network, lenders can evaluate eligibility using verified digital cash flows instead of traditional credit scores.

India’s digital public infrastructure has revolutionised identity verification and payments; the next frontier is turning creditworthiness into a public good.

Through the Account Aggregator system, borrowers can voluntarily and securely share their financial data from multiple sources. This includes salary credits, tax filings, and digital payment history, providing lenders with verified, consent-based information that reduces risk and speeds up loan approvals… digital platforms are allowing lenders to shift from static identity checks to dynamic, behaviour-based eligibility. This shift from examining who you are to how you pay is the basis of a more inclusive credit economy, one that recognises everyday financial discipline as a way to access opportunities.

The Montaigne Institute have also celebrated this Indian success.

The creation of Aadhaar - which means ‘foundation’ in Hindi - in 2009, a comprehensive biometric identity system, would become the stepping stone to something much grander.

Each Aadhaar card includes the individual’s name, gender, address, a 12-digit unique identification number, and a photograph - it is backed by biometric data, namely each person’s fingerprint and iris.

Secondly, once access to a bank account and a mobile phone has become much more ubiquitous, the next big step has been to build up the payment layer. The latter is based on a mobile payments platform, namely, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI): an instant real-time payments system.

UPI depends on an umbrella organization known as the National Payments Corporation of India, a not-for-profit company that acts as a middleman for retail payments and settlement systems in India. It came about as an initiative of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).

Thirdly, the additional implementation of a layer that allows personal information to flow through a consent-based data sharing system has been crucial. The recently launched United Nations (UN) Universal DPI Safeguards Framework includes ensuring data privacy by design and data.

And if you are wondering, “Why India?” the answer is the philanthropic funding from none other than the Gates Foundation.

Reject the Digital Panopticon

So, Ladies and Gentlemen,

What we see here is the beast: The total integration of all private commerce and public governmental action in one system. Your eligibility for loans will be assessed on your “behaviour”; your data will be commercialised and shared. Tax, income, medical, educational and behavioural records will be combined. Nothing will be hidden. It is the digital Panopticon.

In my recent article “The Economic Face of the New Europe”, I analyse the Nazi plans for the “New Europe”, based on a 1943 paper by Walther Funk, President of the German Reichsbank. The parallels between Funk’s vision and the current agenda are striking. Both talk of the greater good and the voluntary surrender of individual liberty in return for state-directed economic benefits. In the case of Walther Funk, we have the benefit of historical hindsight. We can see that there were no benefits, just costs, and blood, and exploitation and slavery. Furthermore, using the power of digital systems, the control now sought is far beyond anything that could be imagined in the 1940s.

This entire DPI system is based on sin and deception. Lies, threats and theft underpin it all. Inflation steals, taxation steals, and we all get poorer. We will own nothing and be unhappy.

I ask you to reject this system in its entirety. Do not sell your birth right, of liberty under the Most High God, for a bowl of soup from the state. Instead, seek the true, the authentic and the upstanding in all things. Demand money with integrity, backed by gold and silver. Demand to be masters of your own house, not servants to the State and to the Bankers.

I started with the Gospel of John, and I will end there, too.

Christ said, “I am the bread of life”.

We must reject all counterfeits.

Subscribe now

Share

Leave a comment

The document reproduced below in English translation has hitherto only been published in German. It was written in 1943 by the head of the Reichsbank and Reich Minister for Economics, Walther Funk, who was later convicted at the Nuremberg trials and sentenced to life in prison.

Subscribe now

His manifesto aims to map out the economic future of a German-dominated post-war Europe. This, he describes using language almost identical to contemporary justifications for the European Union. He predicts the development of a European family of nations moving ever more closely together, all under the wise direction of a central bureaucracy, until, with time, European unity is achieved. He calls this:

a great work of peace for the future

The echoes of the Brexit campaign in Britain (and Gibraltar) are, at times, uncomfortably obvious.

His lack of deep economic analysis and his almost child-like acceptance of the ideology of the Third Position are striking. But so too is his unease at the lack of substance in his own economic prescriptions. He spends considerable time attacking the ideas and record of free-market economics, only to concede that up until the Great War, its success was manifest. He attempts to marshal arguments for the regulated and state-controlled direction of a nominally free economic system that is the “third way” of both Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, but achieves very little.

His attacks on Britain portray continental Europe in the role of hapless victim. Worse still, his derision for the claims of huge industrial capacity made by the President of the United States read now more as comedy or high-farce, given what was to be unleashed by that great nation in terms of liberty ships, tanks, trucks, aircraft and aircraft carriers in the two years that would follow.

All-in-all, it is a strange document; sometimes interesting, sometimes rambling; sometimes prophetic, sometimes incredibly naive. Despite all of its many flaws, Funk’s paper offers essential honesty and relative openness about the nature of “The Third Way” and the ideologies that still govern much of Europe to this day.

Current echoes of the past

Parts of Funk’s proclamation sound alarmingly current, such as the introduction, which states:

The peoples of Europe are at a turning point today. The problems that are pressing for a solution in this war have — it is no exaggeration to say — secular significance.

One could easily imagine an EU leader saying this about the Russia-Ukraine war today. As Funk states plainly:

Today, Europe is looking to the East.

A socialist utopia

One aspect that may surprise many is the overtly socialist ideology at the heart of Nazism. Funk identifies his goal; it is to:

create a secure foundation for a truly social order of life in Europe!

This could be the manifesto of any party on the progressive left, anywhere in Europe or the United Kingdom.

The new European economy will have to regard the fulfilment of its social obligations as its foremost task… a better social order of life must and will grow up for Europe.

Community and communitarianism, in contrast to liberal individualism, are the core of Funk’s ideas. He places people above profit in a way all too familiar today under the current branding of the well-being economy:

hunger and unemployment have once again hammered it into people’s heads that the purpose of all economic activity is not to make selfish and ruthless profits, but to fulfil a social task.

…the economic face of the new Europe… will bear two essential features: community work and economic freedom…

Such an economic mindset requires a social conscience; and it is also a sense of social responsibility that the peoples of Europe must and can demand from their leaders in the realisation of the new economic order.

He sees the classical liberal free-market and laissez-faire economy as the “idol of freedom”.

Regulations on parade

Funk’s new European utopia is not to be communist in the Soviet style, obviously, but rather created by state regulation, direction and control of the economy.

In Germany, the performance principle is achieved through a large number of legal regulations.

Only in this way will it be possible to achieve the maximum level of economic development that we are striving for in harmonious co-operation between state and entrepreneurial economic forces and which alone will provide a secure basis for the aforementioned social and political peace.

Within the parameters defined by the state, freedom will be allowed. Outwith the centrally planned purposes, however, punishment awaits. Funk uses road traffic regulations as a metaphor for his proposed economic regulation of the economy. Considerate drivers (entrepreneurs acting in accordance with state objectives) will be encouraged to proceed. For those who might propose disruptive ideas and dislocating innovations, another future awaits:

However, he must ensure that traffic does not become undisciplined. And we must ensure that undisciplined road users who endanger economic traffic through lack of conscience or understanding are deprived of their driving licence.

The start of the European dream

Whilst by no means a detailed plan, Funk’s outline of the future economic development of Europe mirrors the development of the European Union very well.

The European peoples could have recognised long ago that they were living in a community of destiny that logically allowed only one conclusion, namely continental European cooperation.

The path to this continental cooperation was to be forged through state funding and control of agricultural output and pricing. A Common Agricultural Policy in all but name:

The farmer in Romania, the timber merchant in Norway, the gardener in Holland and the Danish poultry farmer will then no longer need to worry that they will not be able to get rid of their products and will be left holding the bag. Nor need they worry that they will not receive the price that corresponds to their effort and labour.

In future years, Funk sees the cooperation proceeding until a full union is achieved:

Nevertheless, European economic unity will come, because its time has come.

Coercive control as a policy

Underlying every idea, Funk has one guiding principle: coercion. Whether he is discussing the individual being subservient to the state (the greater good), or one nation within Europe laying aside its own interests for the benefit of the European community, central control is always dominant. This is described as a voluntary sacrifice, but it is clear that it is expected; it is a duty, an obligation, a vow. It is demanded.

Thus, the individual must sacrifice for the state:

the voluntary subordination of the individual to the primacy of the national community

And the state for the superstate:

The second prerequisite — I spoke earlier of two prerequisites — for lasting economic unity is an ethical one: the will to work together in Europe, as it is now characterised under the harsh pressure of war, must also be the guiding principle of the prevailing economic mindset in peacetime. This means constantly endeavouring to understand and adapt to the major objectives and the tasks ahead. But it also means the willingness, when necessary, to subordinate one’s own interests to those of the European community; and this is the highest goal we demand of the European states, the goal we strive for. This may mean sacrifices in individual cases, but in the overall result, all nations will benefit.

The Economic Face of the New Europe

Walther Funk, Reich Minister of Economics and President of the German Reichsbank 1943

The peoples of Europe are at a turning point today. The problems that are pressing for a solution in this war have — it is no exaggeration to say — secular significance.

What sense could there be in the great sacrifice of blood that the forces of Europe willing to rebuild are prepared to make in alliance with the power of the Greater German Reich, which has been concentrated into a single mighty force, if not to finally create a secure foundation for a truly social order of life in Europe! From the fighters at the front comes a call and warning to all of us, to politicians, economists and scientists, to prepare the great work of peace for the future with all our strength while the war is still raging.

False and true economic freedom

To summarise the subject in one sentence, I would like to say that the economic face of the new Europe, as it is taking shape in the fires of this world war, will bear two essential features: community work and economic freedom, though not the economic freedom that is embodied in capitalism and is coming to an end in the strange alliance between plutocracy and Bolshevism. The ideal of freedom of the liberalist-capitalist economy was once a great promise to the peoples of Europe. Today it is sinking into misery, blood and ruins.

What did the liberalist idea of freedom promise? According to liberalist economic theory, economic life develops most perfectly when individuals pursue their own self-interest without restraint. The state can leave the harmonious development of the national economy to free competition, through which the self-interest of each individual should ultimately benefit the whole.

As far as the international exchange of goods was concerned, it was expected that with completely free trade, each country would eventually produce those goods that it could best produce according to its natural production conditions through the effectiveness of competition. According to the theory, each nation could buy on the free world market where it was cheapest, while itself being able to sell its products, which it produced under natural conditions at the lowest possible cost, with the greatest relative benefit. Theoretically, consumers were able to provide themselves with the richest possible supply of goods, entrepreneurs could utilise their resources unhindered and workers could seek employment wherever they found the highest wages. The desired state of so-called social harmony seemed to be achieved most surely in this way. So much for the theory!

But what did this look like in practice? In the 19^th century, during the heyday of liberalism, the population of Europe increased from 180 to 450 million; and these people were on average better clothed, better fed and provided with more cultural goods than before. Of course, the machine, which began its triumphal march at that time, played a decisive role in this. After all, liberalism can claim to have driven technological progress by virtue of its postulate of the unrestricted pursuit of profit. It can also rightly be said that the liberalist-capitalist economic system proved to be viable for decades — in fact until the First World War — despite increasingly apparent shortcomings. Although free trade was not carried out without restrictions, the customs agreements based on most-favoured-nation treatment hardly affected the exchange of goods. There were no barriers to the movement of money and capital, and no significant restrictions were imposed on the free movement of labour. The international gold standard, manipulated almost unnoticed by England, facilitated smooth payment transactions. Money followed the interest rate differential and goods followed the price differential. As long as all economic partners involved were willing to respect the complicated rules of this system, full economic harmony seemed to have been achieved.

However, if we look back at the economic conditions before the start of the First World War today, this supposed harmony appears to us, taken as a whole, to be nothing more than sufficient elbow room for those forces that were, by their very nature, directed against each other. Only the almost unlimited possibilities for expansion, which were still available in every respect at that time, prevented an earlier clash of forces.

In the vast overseas area, new territories were constantly awaiting development. Europe’s inexhaustible reservoir of human resources not only provided the labour force, but also the customers for all products of human labour. Constantly improving technology offered new, previously unimagined development opportunities.

However, it is unmistakable that the individual peoples and social classes did not derive the same advantages from this system, despite seemingly equal opportunities. The English (sic) moral philosophy of Hobbes and Hume, which David Riccardo infused with a good dose of Jewish spirit, proved to be an extraordinarily safe and inconspicuous means of establishing and securing British world domination. When the system began to flourish, the British had advanced their industry the furthest. They entered the race with the greatest cost advantage. As they also possessed the world’s largest merchant and naval fleet, they were able to intervene in the world’s exchange of goods to such an extent that their economic and political power grew in equal measure. Every increase in the volume of trade yielded new profits. The whole world worked in English colours, and the English were the bankers, the manufacturers, the merchants, the freighters and, last but not least, the policemen of the world.

But let us now take a look at the continental European states! None of them were able to derive even the slightest advantage from this vaunted economic system. Even the large states suffered noticeably from England’s considerable and firmly established competitive advantage. The smaller ones were only there to increase England’s wealth and had to be content if a few crumbs fell from the English table for them. Before the First World War, however, the south-east European states were virtually peripheral to world trade, although in terms of natural production conditions they were certainly no worse off than many overseas exporting countries. But they were unable to capitalise on this. Their agricultural technology and transport routes were not promoted to the extent possible by the general development of the world economy. The result was a technical backwardness compared to competing production areas, which depressed the standard of living. There was a lack of buyers who were constantly prepared to purchase larger quantities at stable prices, thus enabling the purchase of machinery and melioration equipment. Even after the World War, the capitalist world powers deliberately left these states in their economic backwardness in order to keep them politically dependent. Only our purposeful and understanding trade policy has brought about a fundamental change here in recent years. The trade policy of these countries has developed extremely favourably in recent years. These countries have become, so to speak, the first testing ground for the practical implementation of our trade policy principles and methods. And the application of these methods has been of considerable benefit to both parties — as can be justifiably claimed today — and has ultimately become the basis for securing the livelihoods of these countries.

But the debt account of the British capitalist era is much larger still. All nations, whether favourites or stepchildren of the liberalist economic order, suffered the effects of the laissez-faire system and, in particular, of the free trade principle in the form of severe internal economic damage. The symptoms were the same everywhere. Agriculture in the industrialised countries was unable to assert itself sufficiently against the interests of industry, trade, banking and the stock exchange. Food freedom was lost, the formation of latifundia in the countryside increased, the peasantry became impoverished, the population fled the countryside for the cities and abroad. A thin upper class of bankers, industrialists and speculators was able to amass enormous wealth and thus acquire a dangerous supranational power, as, with money one could buy anything, especially public opinion.

On the other hand, the mass of the industrial proletariat continued to swell. The growing dissatisfaction of this section of the population drove them towards pseudo-socialist Marxism and communism.

All these signs were perhaps not given sufficient attention in the past because the prevailing trend of the time, “get rich, no matter how and by what means”, obscured the view of the facts for an excessively long time.

Certainly, liberalism was a system of “freedom”. Anyone who could no longer find work and bread at home, for example, had the “freedom” to emigrate. And if a nation was doing badly economically, it had the “freedom” to take on debt in England. But this kind of freedom was morally too poorly founded to last. The Trojan horse [original German: “Greek gift”] that the English economic philosophers gave mankind with the proclamation of their liberalist idea of freedom only became fully apparent when the economic room for manoeuvre of individuals and nations became ever narrower and when the last colonial sources of raw materials were distributed and the struggle for markets took on ever sharper forms. The liberalist system, which had grown into high capitalism, also lost the necessary elasticity due to cartelisation, trust, monopoly formation and rising fixed industrial costs. The clashes of interests dictated by egoism no longer looked for a way out, but collided here and there with full force. How many wars have been waged out of this mindset, out of the interests of moneybags, to the ruin of nations! For example, the Spanish-Cuban wars, which began in 1868 and which were backed by Cuban speculators and the North American sugar syndicate. The war between Chile and Peru was over the rich saltpetre fields. To make this war possible, Chile took out loans guaranteed by European bankers. These bankers thus secured privileges in the exploitation of the saltpetre fields. England’s Boer War is said to have been a colonial war. But the very special interest that Mr Cecil Rhodes’ gold mining syndicate and the stockbrokers in London took in the outbreak and continuation of this war was all too conspicuous. It was not for nothing that the vernacular spoke of a war of the stock exchanges against the Boers. The Russo-Japanese War of 1904/05 was caused by the interests of Russian capital in Manchuria and Korea. And finally, the 1914/18 world war was the high point of the capitalist economic system, but also the beginning of the end.

Since the First World War, the peoples of Europe have gone through an age of relentlessly hard lessons, which we all know, and in which they came to realise, some sooner, others later, that the idol of freedom of the past era was wrong and pernicious. War, inflation, the most severe economic crises, hunger and unemployment have once again hammered it into people’s heads that the purpose of all economic activity is not to make selfish and ruthless profits, but to fulfil a social task. It is no wonder that the people of Central Europe, who suffered most under the scourge of the anti-social system, were the first to set up a different, higher moral ideal of freedom.

Today, we see the new ideal of true economic freedom in the safeguarding of food and raw material resources, in the liberation of the economy from international financial interests and cyclical dependencies, and in the voluntary subordination of the individual to the primacy of the national community.

Continental European co-operation

The authoritarian governments of Germany and Italy were the first to instruct their peoples to utilise all forces in voluntary cooperation for the common good under state directive. They were also the first to protect their economies from exploitation by international financial powers. The struggle for national freedom of food and raw materials, on the other hand, dates back a long time. The last world war has already taught the European peoples that it is not advisable to entrust their fate unreservedly to an exaggerated international division of labour. The industrialised countries ploughed up the last square metre of uncultivated land; the predominantly agrarian countries rushed to achieve self-sufficiency in industrial products through forced industrialisation. In both cases, the result was unsatisfactory. In the post-war period, the industries of the small European states in particular eked out an existence behind high protective tariff walls that was as unenviable as it was costly for the countries as a whole. They swallowed subsidies, unnecessarily intensified international competition, made the standard of living of their people more expensive and finally got caught up in the maelstrom of the global economic crisis, and all this because the natural resources were almost nowhere sufficient.

The European peoples could have recognised long ago that they were living in a community of destiny that logically allowed only one conclusion, namely continental European cooperation. However, the time was not yet politically ripe for this. The victorious states of the First World War had deliberately planted so much explosive material in Europe through the Paris Suburb Treaties that there was no prospect of any substantial coordination of interests or constructive planning on a larger scale. Only pioneering work, such as the purposeful promotion of Germany’s economic relations with the south-east, could be achieved.

Only the Fascist and then the National Socialist revolutions created the basis for a new political and social order in Europe. And only Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler gave Europe the chance to become truly European.

The time has finally come when the peoples of Europe can take the decisive step towards co-operation in their understandable striving for economic security. After the Second World War, there will no longer be any tensions and sources of conflict in Europe that could justify a tense and therefore useless isolation. Nor will there be any economic system that, like the Anglo-American system, harbours the seeds of the dramatic international conflicts of human history. No nation in Europe can achieve on its own that maximum degree of economic freedom which also fulfils all social requirements. It must always rely on the productive power of its nearer and more distant European neighbours.

The blockade ring that our opponents have put around Europe today clearly shows how much the individual states are bound together for better or worse. A community of fate holds them together in a large economic area. But this area can feed and clothe them and provide them with all the goods they need, especially once it has been rounded off by the inclusion of the Eastern European territories. Until now, these areas have been outside the historical powers of our continent.

The European economic area of the future is blockade-proof. That is why no one will dare to attack it so easily. I have already said recently that economic wars will no longer make sense.

However, as soon as the idea of the Greater Europe was seriously discussed, it was met with a certain amount of discrimination. European politicians in favour of the British plutocratic system immediately adopted this idea. On paper, they designed large economic areas that were not, and in fact were not intended to be, economic areas. Such constructions were based exclusively on power-political intentions. Nevertheless, the idea of a metropolitan area proved to be viable. I see no obstacle that could seriously stand in the way of its realisation, because the formation of large economic areas follows a natural law of development. It is not my intention here to make a new contribution to the economic theory of economic levels. I merely wish to draw attention to a process in economic history which, on a small scale, bears a striking resemblance to today’s development trends.

Nevertheless, European economic unity will come, because its time has come.

The European capacity and its complement

The fact that Europe really does represent a closed economic area that can fulfil all requirements becomes clear when we consider the natural capacity of our continent. I will not go into details here, but only briefly touch on the essentials.

If the former Soviet Russian territories are not taken into account at all, our continent supplies the most important industrial raw materials in sufficient quantities, namely coal, iron and aluminium. The nutritional basis is also completely sufficient, based on the cultivation possibilities. It may seem almost improbable to some that in 1939 around 464 million quintals of wheat and 248 million quintals of rye were grown on European soil, again without taking into account the production of the Soviet Union. But we know that 10 million tonnes of grain alone could be exported there in normal times. Once agricultural production methods there have been brought up to the highest level of technology everywhere, it will be possible to achieve far better results. Wherever the European soil has been too neglected by nature, the inventiveness of its people has repeatedly sought and found new ways out. I am reminded of rayon, the production of buna, the production of petrol from coal, in which Germany in particular has achieved exemplary results. And what is still missing will be secured by this war in Eastern Europe. We already own a large, and indeed the most valuable part of Soviet Russia, and we are working with all our energy to open up this huge area rich in raw materials. The political organisation of the eastern region will be a later task. The peoples in this huge area must first be integrated into the European economic rhythm. After all, they should also profit from the benefits of European civilisation.

The major tasks to be solved here are truly European tasks. Today, Europe is looking to the East. The monstrous Soviet armaments give a picture of what the raw material sources of this region are capable of producing. When the extremely rich soil of the Black Earth region has been utilised for European food production using modern agricultural technology, then Europe will definitely be crisis and blockade-proof.

In addition, the colonies in the tropical zones of Africa will also offer us all those luxuries which, although not necessary for existence, make life pleasant and which should not be withheld from a people with a high standard of living.

And finally, to avoid any misunderstanding, there will still be world trade. However, this world trade will be different from the economic trade that was ultimately thrown into complete confusion and which only served to maintain the international power of a few powers.

Of course, the problems of Eastern European economic life will not be solved immediately by securing these areas and sources of raw materials for ourselves. We have thus achieved an adequate economic capacity in diagrams, but not yet in practice.

All raw materials, all the forces and energies of the economy must be mobilised in Europe. This is the task of the new economic order that is now emerging. Of course, it cannot find its best form overnight. But over the years, it will be possible to largely coordinate production and demand throughout Europe in order to then achieve the most appropriate complementary possibilities in a planned manner. This presents us with the task of developing previously neglected production areas. I am thinking here, for example, of the fact that we have achieved and will continue to achieve considerable additional yields in France through more intensive cultivation of the land.

Those parts of Europe that are still backward must be encouraged to industrialise. The industrialisation of these areas, which has begun under protectionism, will undoubtedly continue.

The process will continue, but with the difference that each state will develop the industry that best suits both its natural production conditions and the needs of the European market. Detailed negotiations have already been successfully conducted in this direction between the economic groups of the various European countries. The great problem of rationalising the European economy will one day have to be taken up and tackled by us; and here, I believe, once things have been consolidated, it will be possible to achieve increases in production of which we have no idea today.

State economic management and intergovernmental co-operation

Trade between the individual states will then not yet be regarded as internal trade, as the complete removal of customs and foreign exchange barriers is naturally out of the question in the near future. However, as large-scale trade, it will enjoy all the advantages of state market control. The farmer in Romania, the timber merchant in Norway, the gardener in Holland and the Danish poultry farmer will then no longer need to worry that they will not be able to get rid of their products and will be left holding the bag. Nor need they worry that they will not receive the price that corresponds to their effort and labour. They will then know that production and sales are fixed and secured by intergovernmental contracts and that there is no room for speculators and crisis setbacks. The workers on the spinning mills in the Protectorate and in the chemical factories of France and in the mines of Belgium will no longer have to fear wage pressure and unemployment. They can rest assured that the European economic area still harbours an abundance of unexploited technical and natural possibilities and that the demand for consumer goods of all kinds will never dry up among the masses of people living in it. The word unemployment will no longer be found in the European economic lexicon.

There are already promising examples of intergovernmental co-operation from business circles. Just think of the close co-operation between German and Italian business circles, of the agreements between German, Italian and French automotive companies, of the Franco-German joint ventures in the chemical industry or of the various German-Hungarian, German-Romanian, German-Finnish, German-Dutch and German-Norwegian joint ventures. But let us also think of the — I would like to use the word — truly European agreements in the field of cellulose products, in the field of artificial silk, rayon and paper! And let us not forget the shift of orders from German industry to France, Belgium and Holland, the order exchanges and the technical trade fairs. All these forms are an expression of private initiative. I would like to emphasise that above all. Entrepreneurial will has thus found ample opportunity to manifest itself here. I stress this particularly because the question of the entrepreneur’s position in the managed economy is discussed today often, almost too often, but not always correctly and appropriately.

It cannot be denied that the system of joint economic labour largely requires state directives, naturally to a greater extent than entrepreneurs in many European countries have been accustomed to. However, the examples just cited and previous economic practice within Germany clearly show that even in a controlled economy the state can and will leave entrepreneurs their own field of activity.

When state economic management and intergovernmental agreements build modern motorways for economic traffic in Europe in the form of raw materials management, regulation of production, sales, labour deployment and a constantly refined payment and clearing system, with all conceivable safeguards against possible accidents, this is not done so that only the carts of an anxious bureaucracy and exaggerated collectivism can drive on these roads. To stay with the image: economic traffic on these roads must remain the responsibility of the private entrepreneur, unless special community interests require entrepreneurial activity on the part of the state. It is also up to his initiative, his inventiveness, to give his commercial vehicle the highest level of safety performance. And he can only give it to him if the initiative is left to him.

However, he must ensure that traffic does not become undisciplined. And we must ensure that undisciplined road users who endanger economic traffic through lack of conscience or understanding are deprived of their driving licence.

Moreover, there is no restriction on entrepreneurial initiative. As much as the complicated economy of our century requires state control, it cannot do without the driving forces of entrepreneurial initiative. However, this initiative is not only — and this is quite understandable from a human point of view — aroused and spurred on by the social conscience and sense of community of the entrepreneur, but at least as much by entrepreneurial profit measured according to performance. Just as the entrepreneur moves within the channels of the state economic order and respects the general traffic regulations, his individual performance must therefore also be rewarded accordingly.

As far as the German economy is concerned, we have set a clear example to other nations in this respect. In Germany, the performance principle is achieved through a large number of legal regulations. Let me just remind you of the state pricing policy for public contracts. It has successfully overcome the performance-inhibiting pricing based on cost price and, by rewarding private initiative in the form of recognising and retaining performance bonuses at fixed group prices, has given greater recognition to the performance principle than before. State economic management may not have been able to refine competition based on performance to the last detail, but it is already very close to the most appropriate form.

The aim remains to reward special performance with an appropriate additional profit, but on the other hand not to allow wasted costs to appear as performance. With regard to competition in particular, I am endeavouring to curb and combat all tendencies in the opposite direction.

Only in this way will it be possible to achieve the maximum level of economic development that we are striving for in harmonious co-operation between state and entrepreneurial economic forces and which alone will provide a secure basis for the aforementioned social and political peace.

Securing the European living and economic space

I do not wish to conclude my consideration of this problem without mentioning two further prerequisites which go beyond the purely economic, which are more political and ethical in nature, but on which alone a fruitful and lasting European economic community can be based.

1. We, too, are putting an entire continent at the service of our struggle.

2. We are not talking about capital, but about labour, and we use this labour one hundred percent.

3. If we don’t talk about it, it doesn’t mean that we don’t do anything.

What the Führer announced at the time with regard to enemy propaganda has now materialised to an extent that remains astonishing even to those who have long been familiar with the American addiction to getting high on record figures.

We know that Americans are always supposed to have the biggest, the best, the thickest, the longest, the fastest and so on. President Roosevelt outdid everyone in this record-breaking endeavour. He had good reason for this, however, for on the one hand he had to offer his countrymen something in return for announcing to them with the same breath an extraordinary increase in taxes; and finally he needed some consolation for the painful loss which the United States had suffered under the lightning-like blows of the Japanese weapon in the Pacific. Mr Roosevelt went into figures for everything the United States wanted to produce in the future. These figures are ridiculous at first sight, to put it bluntly, not only for the expert but also for any discerning observer. He was of course speculating on the fact that an analysis of the production possibilities in the United States with concrete data is difficult to make accessible to a broader public, and the comparison with our production capacity naturally doubles these difficulties, because a veil of secrecy naturally lies over every production of war material. Mr Roosevelt believes that it is all the easier to seduce a nation which, in its belief in the absolute superiority of American productive power, has its own religion and has succeeded in spreading this belief in the productive superiority of the United States as a myth to the rest of the world. Indeed, Mr Churchill lives only from this myth, but fortunately for Europeans who are familiar with this way of thinking, there are a number of very plausible points of reference for assessing the numerical frenzy in which President Roosevelt finds himself.

The will to work together in Europe

The second prerequisite — I spoke earlier of two prerequisites — for lasting economic unity is an ethical one: the will to work together in Europe, as it is now characterised under the harsh pressure of war, must also be the guiding principle of the prevailing economic mindset in peacetime. This means constantly endeavouring to understand and adapt to the major objectives and the tasks ahead. But it also means the willingness, when necessary, to subordinate one’s own interests to those of the European community; and this is the highest goal we demand of the European states, the goal we strive for. This may mean sacrifices in individual cases, but in the overall result, all nations will benefit.

Unlike England, we are not interested in seeing our trading partners as economically weak as possible. On the contrary, we are interested in them being as strong as possible. Not only do we consciously pay their particular agricultural development costs through high prices, but we also promote sensible industrialisation, even if we appear to be attracting competitors. But that is only apparent. We do this because we know that industry not only creates a temporary need for investment, but also constantly awakens new desires and new needs, improves the general standard of living and thus also benefits our economy.

Such an economic mindset requires a social conscience, and it is also a sense of social responsibility that the peoples of Europe must and can demand from their leaders in the realisation of the new economic order.

The new European economy will have to regard the fulfilment of its social obligations as its foremost task. The war of our day, which is not least about a new economic order, is thus at the same time the decisive stage of a social revolution. From the seed of the noblest blood a better social order of life must and will grow up for Europe.

Share

Subscribe now

Leave a comment

Original German document:

https://www.cvce.eu/en/obj/walther_funk_the_economic_face_of_the_new_europe_1943-en-334c659f-8e22-4b51-8a94-dddda894fb4e.html

I have felt compelled to write about her passing, both to bring order to my thoughts and in the hope that others, who may be facing a similar trial, might find comfort and companionship reading these words. Not being alone or feeling alone at such times is comforting, I have found.

I have added a few wider reflections, beyond the personal, that have struck me as particularly significant. I hope the reader will allow me a little leeway to extrapolate from an individual experience to wider concerns and forgive the inevitably limited viewpoint that I bring at present.

Subscribe now

A Seven-Week Narrative

Lesley received her cancer diagnosis the previous October, but was only really ill for a few weeks. It started around 4 August when she became very fatigued and began needing my help getting out of bed. For this first week, she made headway; exercising, resting, and getting a little stronger most days. She was weak but improving. At this point, she stopped writing as she was too tired to think clearly enough.

The next week saw further decline, and she grew weaker. She needed my help to get from the bed to the toilet. Once, at 4 am, she decided not to wake me, and she fell. I heard three loud thumps as her knee, shoulder, and then her head hit the floor, followed by three sad little “Ow, ow, ow” sounds. I picked her up and cared for her. Apart from a bruise on her shoulder, she was uninjured, but we both realised that she was no longer independently mobile. She started sleeping more, but we still talked and spent lovely hours together.

For one week more, I took care of her for every hour. She looked so beautiful, hair up; big blue eyes glinting, and a smile that lit up my heart. I told her she looked like a queen, because she did.

By Tuesday 19th August, she was very weak. We called the GP to visit and take blood samples to check for anaemia. That night, the out-of-hours service called. They told us to go to Perth Royal Infirmary for a transfusion. Her haemoglobin level was 38 (the normal level is around 120). As we waited hours for the ambulance, Lesley deteriorated. She was now barely conscious, and we thought she might not last until the ambulance arrived. So my son carried her downstairs and, with great difficulty, we managed to get her into the car and drove to the hospital. It was the early hours of 20th August.

Getting her out of the car was tricky, but she regained enough consciousness to stand up with help, and we got her onto a gurney and up to Ward 4. They knew we were coming and why. We assumed the transfusion would be started right away. We were wrong.

After about 20 minutes, we were asked to go into a side room. We expected an update on the transfusion. What followed was a very strange conversation about “Do Not Resuscitate Orders”, along with Lesley’s previous decision to decline surgery and chemotherapy, and other out-of-place and not immediately relevant matters. The doctor was vague and evasive; nothing was said plainly. I stopped the conversation to find out whether or not Lesley was receiving blood. She was not. Nor was there any intention to give her any. It seems that we had been brought into the hospital under false pretences. They had decided that Lesley would now die, and that they were not going to do anything to delay her death.

I made it clear that this was not in accordance with Lesley’s wishes, nor her family’s. I made this point quite forcibly and let the doctor know that Lesley had recorded her wishes in a signed and witnessed written statement. The doctor finally relented and agreed to carry out the transfusion.

When I left the side room, I said to my son, “They just tried to kill her.” He is not the type of man to easily accept such a statement, but he nodded in agreement. “Did you see the nurse when you were talking?” he asked. I had not, but my son had seen the nurse repeatedly roll her eyes in exasperated annoyance as I argued for my wife’s life.

I then went down to the car, where I had left Lesley’s signed and witnessed instructions concerning her care (a living will, as it is often called). The ambulance staff who had helped get Lesley up to the ward were still there. They took one look at me and one said, “You aren’t going to drive, are you? We don’t think you should drive”. I am not sure how I must have looked at that moment; thunderously angry would be my guess. But, whatever I looked like, they concluded that I should not be operating any machinery.

It took many more hours before Lesley actually received the transfusion. It was light when it started. The first unit of whole blood saw her improve a little. They gave her three units in all, but the improvement diminished. Lesley slept a lot that day; she was only occasionally and briefly conscious. She was therefore fortunate to miss the visit by a loud and overbearing male consultant who told me in brusque terms that there was no hope and there would be no CPR in the event of her heart stopping.

The nurses set up a bed for me next to Lesley, and I lay on it and sobbed, quietly but violently, for a few minutes. I then held her hand and fell asleep. I did not know whether her hand would be warm or cold when I awoke.

Warm was my answer. She was still alive. When she woke up, I tried to discuss the possibility of her dying (we always knew this was a possible outcome, but our focus and conversation had been only positive since October 2024). She was confused and annoyed. “Where is this coming from, David? Where is your faith?”. She had not been conscious during the events of the previous two days, so I explained what had happened. She was not impressed with the consultants.

My son, daughter, and I stayed with her in rotation every hour until Monday, when we brought her home.

Our focus remained on giving her the best care and the best chance. We had an adjustable hospital bed delivered and organised supplementary IV vitamin C treatment. There was one more day of hope and smiles and improvement. Then the demands of the personal care (mostly by me, assisted by our daughter) began to get too much for Lesley. For the first time, she started to experience pain. Lack of sleep, on top of the underlying fatigue, left her feeling exhausted. It was clear that she could not go on like this. Then she began losing blood at a noticeable rate. When the district nurse visited on Thursday 28th August, she recommended that care at home was not going to be viable. It was back to PRI Ward 4.

This second time in Ward 4, the experience was better. The nursing care was very good, and Lesley received pain relief and medication to reduce bleeding. Generally, she was comfortable, bright, and alert. I slept every night by her side, and our son, daughter, and granddaughter spent a great deal of time with her. A host of visitors also came to see her. The overbearing consultant had not improved, but when I looked him in the eye and said, “You will not do anything that will shorten her life”, he gave a small nod of understanding and agreement.

And now we come to one of the heroes of this tale. For the first time, we got to meet the chief consultant, known to everyone as Dr Ali. He had once been the Minister for Health in Iraq and now divides his time between his homeland and Tayside. His attitude could not have been more different from the other doctors. He smiled, listened, and related to us as human beings. His sunny, compassionate disposition was a delight. And he got stuff done, too!

It was decided that Lesley would be transferred to the larger Ninewells Hospital for a one-dose, palliative radiotherapy treatment to help control the bleeding. And then it was all cancelled due to the lack of bed space. Cancelled, that is, until Dr Ali got to hear of it, and then it was quickly uncancelled. And so the ambulance took Lesley to Ninewells, and I followed.

Once we arrived, it was clear that I would not be able to stay overnight as it was a four-bed all-female ward. This would be the only night we spent apart during these events. I asked Lesley if she wanted anything from the shops. She said, “I’d like a toy”. I wasn’t sure what she meant; “A toy ?” I replied. “Yes, a cuddly toy, a small one”. So I got her this:

“You’ll have to give him a name,” I said.

An hour or two later, I asked, “Well, have you thought of a name?” Lesley looked at him intently and thought carefully.

“Nigel”, she said, “I’m going to call him Nigel!”

And as I left for the night, Lesley had a strong grip on Nigel, the little elephant.

The next morning, Thursday, 4^th September, I got in early in the morning, and she was sitting up, alert and looking good.

“Who were those two men who sat with me all night?” she asked. “Did you send them?”

“What men?” I asked.

“I don’t know their names, but they sat and chatted all night. They were both blond, one could only hear with one ear, like you”.

I shook my head. There were no men.

She let out a little gasp, “Those were angels!” she said.

“Yes, love, I believe they were,” I replied

So, the only night that I could not be with my dear Lesley, the Lord sent two angels to chat to her, to keep her company, and to watch over her until the morning.

She also said to me

“Now we are OK with the new plan, aren’t we?”

“New plan?”

“Yes, that I die now.”

She said this in a matter-of-fact tone; it was simply the next thing to do. She was unafraid, happy to go home to the Lord. Lesley had reached a place of peace and freedom from anxiety and fear. This is the fruit of faith and of the Holy Spirit.

That day, Lesley made her last move – to The Cornhill Macmillan Centre at Perth Royal Infirmary, a specialist cancer care and hospice unit. This move, and its speedy nature, were also the result of Dr Ali's influence. Cornhill is a beautiful facility with large rooms, lovely views, and a homely atmosphere. The staff there are excellent, and the care was exemplary. For two weeks, we got all the time together that we needed. I sorted financial matters, and people came to visit Lesley. We talked a lot, although she slept more as time went on. She got to know the nurses, and they got to know her (and Nigel the little elephant). It was a warm two weeks. I slept by her side every night and would chat to the doctors and nurses about her life story so that they could know a little more about the woman they were caring for.

Then one day, the visitors and noise got too much, and Lesley wanted to be alone, just with me. “Talk to me about God,” she said. So I spoke of Christ’s return when the dead in Christ shall arise and meet him in the air. I spoke of their next waking moment after death, when they meet our Lord and see him return in glory. "What is there to fear in that?” she said. What indeed? I continued to speak to her until long after she drifted off to sleep.

A few days later, the pain she experienced during personal care started to get worse, despite the Oxycodone. For those three or four times a day when she needed to be cleaned, she was in agony. I held her; she gripped me tightly (and gripped Nigel the little elephant tightly too). She endured, until she had just about had enough.

“I can’t take this anymore she whispered, help me, David, I want to go home.” I knew she meant home to the Lord.

“I will”, I replied.

So I asked the doctors to increase the medication to give her relief from the pain. This they did, and it was effective, but she was only occasionally conscious after that. The end was approaching.

During her last four or five days, she mostly slept. She was not eating and barely drinking. But still her heart beat steadily and her breathing was strong. Each day, we thought it might be her last. Day after day, she confounded us.

The 22^nd September, up until sunset, was a new moon. The bible calls this The Feast of Trumpets; it signifies Christ’s return to earth in glory. After his return, the dead in Christ will first rise to meet him in the air.

A few hours after sunset, I came into Lesley’s room from a toilet break – our son was sitting with her. I immediately saw she had changed. At first, I thought she was dead, but no, she was still breathing. Her breaths had become shallow and irregular now. I sat by her side and held her hand.

For a few more minutes, she continued to breathe. Then she stopped. I placed the palm of my hand on her chest, and it rose one last time as she took one more big breath. And that was her last.

My lovely wife had gone home. To sleep and await the Lord’s return.

Reflections

I would like to start by saying that the Scottish Ambulance Service is broken. Getting Lesley into a car when she was all but unconscious was horrendous. We did it only because the state’s ambulance provision could not deliver a suitable service.

Even more concerning was the initial refusal of Ward 4, Perth Royal Infirmary, to treat Lesley. The attitude we faced was highly authoritarian. It sought to impose a decision upon Lesley, not to discover her wishes or serve her interests.

Furthermore, there was more than a hint of retribution about it. Lesley had previously declined an offer of life-altering surgery and chemotherapy and decided to seek help elsewhere and by other means. This was described as “refusing treatment”. The choice of language is interesting as “refuse” carries implications of stubbornness and preventing someone from proceeding on a desired path, whereas “decline” implies exercising a free-will choice. Treatment is in the singular, as any choice, not in accordance with the NHS decision, is not treatment in their eyes. And, having “refused treatment”, Lesley had to die. She had no contact with the NHS for ten months; there was no up-to-date scan or detailed diagnostic information. Just a decision; no blood transfusion for you, Lady — you are a rebel, and a waste of resources.

It became worse with the overbearing consultant and his colleagues. They seemed determined that we must accept their world-view; accept them as our “single source of truth”. Contrary opinions (or, more correctly, beliefs) could not be tolerated. There was a distinct feeling of Big Brother about it all. I came across a similar attitude once before, in a policeman who was trying to deny me my rights in the cause of the COVID-19 lockdown. That exchange involved a similar sense of being intellectually oppressed, as though the mere presence of contrary opinions is an affront that cannot be allowed to persist in case it spreads. I have never been publicly tried for heresy, but I imagine it would feel much the same.

Contrast this with our interactions with Dr Ali. He treated Lesley as a valuable human being with agency and authority over her own life. He wore his medical expertise lightly, and this allowed him to place Lesley, not policy and organisational dogma, at the centre of decision-making. His warmth and humanity shone. Later, I mentioned this to a nurse, and she beamed, “Oh yes, he is wonderful.” Her face dropped when I then suggested that all of the other doctors should follow him around and take notes.

The time between the doctor in Ward 4 deciding that Lesley should die and her actual passing was just over a month. That might not seem like a lot. In the average course of events, a month can fly by. But, in the emotional and intense final weeks of a life, a month is priceless, a precious gift. Lesley used this month to settle her own mind on what was going to happen and to ensure that those she loved were prepared and at ease with it all. We lived and loved so much during that month, I shall treasure it always. Ward 4 tried to deny that to us; they had no right to do so.

To close on matters of medical care, I must record that, apart from the nurse with the eye-rolling problem, the care the nurses gave Lesley on Ward 4 was excellent. The nursing staff in the Cornhill Macmillan Centre were first class. In fact, a few were much better than that; they became friends.

I will make one final comment on earthly matters. Had medically assisted suicide been legalised in Scotland, as it has been in Canada, where the programme is called MAID, then I am convinced the problems and attitudes we struggled with would have been much worse. We already have a mindset problem in the medical profession. The experience of routinely killing their patients would make this far more severe. I sincerely hope such folly never comes to our land.

Final Thoughts

Lesley had been transformed by faith. From a woman once controlled and hemmed in on every side by fear, to a precious child of God, walking in faith to be with her master. The spirit of Jesus Christ had renewed her.

Later, when praying about her passing, I opened my bible at this verse.

“And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.” (Mark 13:26)

This will be Lesley’s next waking moment, for, as the scripture continues:

“And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.” (verse 27).

My beautiful wife completed her walk on this earth. She did so with grace and with a mighty faith in the Lord. She reached the end of her path. Her Lord, who loves her, gathered her quickly to protect her from suffering or harm.

May she rest in peace until His return.

Subscribe now

Share

Leave a comment

Yet the Scots leid’s a treisure o mair worth
Than ony castle, an it dwines awaa
Frae day tae day, but tho we see its faa
There’s gey few words o protest comin furth.

This is an extract of a poem by Kenneth Fraser, from Tom Hubbard’s anthology, The New Makars.

It addresses the worth and decline of the Scots language and the lack of defence of its value. I would agree with Mr Fraser, our language is a treasure greater than historical stone masonry. How much more, then, is our nation a treasure? How much more worthy of defence is our existence on God’s earth? But like our language, we, as a people, dwine awaa.

Subscribe now

The Statistics

When I was born, in 1966, 96,535 other little Scots babies were born alive. In 2024, the total number of live births was 45,763—less than half. When I think back to the football games in the crowded schoolyard, the girls playing skipping games, the shouts and excitement of youthful energy, I am looking back to a Scotland that no longer exists. To get a contemporary picture, I must edit out one child in every two from my memories.

The total fertility rate in Scotland is 1.25 children per woman. The population replacement is 2.1, and so we are at only 59% of the replacement rate, and it is falling fast. And this decline compounds. If this fertility rate continues for two generations, then the number of children is reduced to one-third of the replacement rate. After three generations, it would be one-fifth. Furthermore, Scotland has not had a replacement level of fertility since 1973.

Then we have abortion, the intentional destruction of children before they draw their first breath. In 1966 it was illegal. By 1968 it was made legal, to be “safe legal and rare”. That year, one child in 60 was killed in this way.

By 1973 , one in ten Scots babies were killed by the state’s abortionists. It was the sole reason we were below replacement levels of fertility for twenty years. At the turn of the 21st Century, the state was killing almost one child in every five. Total pregnancies numbered 65,000, live births only 53,000. The abortionists claimed the rest. And now, in 2024, the total rate of pregnancy remains more or less the same - 64,473. But the number killed by the abortionists of the Scottish National Health Service has soared to 18,710, leaving only 45,763 Scots to be born. That is an abortion rate of 29%, heading for one Scot in three.

And as in the poem: There’s gey few words o protest comin furth.

The Response

And what are our wise overlords doing to address the collapse in fertility?

Scotgov has a ministerial population taskforce headed by Kaukab Stewart, the Minister for Equalities. They seem to be interested in replacement migration and the managed, orderly withering away of the Scots nation.

There is, of course, an expert advisory panel. It is called the Migration and Population Expert Advisory Group. It comprises six academics, five of them female. It is chaired by Professor Rebecca Kay of the government-funded charity “Migration Policy Scotland”. Their focus is all on migration; for example, their aims include:

• Building capacity and leadership among migrants and migrant community organisations across Scotland

• Publishing a report on our representative survey of Attitudes to Immigration in Scotland

• Working towards a partnership project to build resilience against extremism in Scotland

Within the government bureaucracy, we have the Population and Migration division, headed by Rachel Sunderland. Their focus is illustrated by the fact that they are part of the Directorate for Culture and External Affairs, a grab-bag department including:

• external affairs

• culture and historic environment

• major events

• supporting a global transition to net zero

• population and migration

So we can see, even from this organisational decision, the low priority afforded to this issue by the Scottish Government.

Mute Dogs; They Cannot Bark

So the policy of the Scottish Government is to bury the problem. They avoid any discussion of the implications of a collapsing fertility rate and concentrate on bureaucratic management of the decline. This is surely the greatest betrayal a government can commit, to see the destruction of the nation coming and to meekly accept the fate without even raising the alarm.

It transpires that Scotgov is described in the book of Isaiah with stunning accuracy:

Israel’s watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep. They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, each seeks his own gain. Come, each one cries, “let me get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better.” Isaiah 56:10-12

Examining the role that the murderous state-abortion industry plays in this tragedy is absolutely forbidden. Instead, our political masters focus on replacement migration and the attendant woke worldview in which those who value their national uniqueness are termed “extremists”.

Perhaps we should edit the snippet of Kenneth Fraser’s poetry in honour of the Scottish Government’s breach of duty to this:

Yet the Scots bluid’s a treisure o mair worth
Than ony castle, an it dwines awaa
Frae day tae day, but tho we see its faa
There’s gey few words o protest comin furth.

Data reference:

https://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/uk/ab-ukscotland.html

Subscribe now

Share

Leave a comment

My name is David. It was my blessing and joy to be by Lesley’s side for forty years, as her friend and as her husband. I want to thank you all for being here today to remember and celebrate her life. And it is about that remarkable and well-lived life that I wish to say a few words.

Lesley was born on the 22^nd of April 1966 in New Monkland, Lanarkshire.

Her father, Carrick Watson, was a hard-working local businessman and partner in Watson Brothers, one of Scotland’s best-known motorcycle, car, and van dealerships.

Her mother is Helena Jaqueline Benham.

Lesley grew up in affluent surroundings in Cairnhill in Airdrie and attended Rochsolloch Primary School, which is where I met her, aged five.

She was blond and intensely pretty, with big blue eyes. Her paternal grandfather called her “Bonnie Lesley”. I can recall loving her when I was six, but I didn’t tell anybody, especially Lesley.

We both attended Airdrie Academy. She was a good student but lacked confidence in herself. She enjoyed hockey and carried the scars on her legs to prove it.

After school, she was unclear what she should do with her life; her lack of confidence intensified.

However, having loved her secretly for twelve years, I finally plucked up the courage to ask her out, and we began dating on 13^th October 1984. On our first date, we went to the ABC cinema in Sauchiehall Street to watch Comfort and Joy: a light-hearted comedy about Glasgow’s vicious ice cream wars.

When I proposed just over a year and a half later, she said: “Yes, of course I’ll marry you!” and we both grinned uncontrollably for hours.

We were married in Auchterarder on the 9^th of April 1988, aged 21.

In December that year, six weeks early and weighing only four pounds, our beloved daughter Samantha was born in Perth.

Lesley was, at first, a typical anxious new mum, but motherhood suited her and she soon settled into life with a baby, making friends with other young mums in the town and sharing the joys and trials of parenting with them.

Our second child was lost to a miscarriage. This was one of the great sadnesses of Lesley’s life; we grieved together and became closer.

Our much-longed-for son Daniel was born in February 1992, and, for a little while, we thought our family complete. But we both began to yearn for another child, and our second son, Peter, was born in June 1994.

With three young children, Lesley’s life was full, and she had support from a strong network of other young mothers she met at the school gate or over coffee. There was laughter; there was friendship. The children grew, and Lesley matured into a wise, as well as a caring, and gentle mother.

When I wished to found my own business, she supported me fully, despite the risks involved. We made these decisions together and enjoyed a loving and close marriage.

In 2004, our son Daniel became very ill. He was exhausted, constantly in pain, and unable to attend school. After months of searching for answers, we got the diagnosis that he had ME - Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. This is a long-lasting, debilitating disease with no recognised cure. It can be lifelong.

Lesley’s response to this challenge was magnificent. In addition to caring for Daniel, being a mother to Peter and Samantha, and helping me run our business, she read extensively to research ME. She discovered the confusion and conflict surrounding this disease, and the bureaucratic abuse that parents often received when they acted to protect their desperately sick children from inappropriate and harmful medical intervention. She developed an encyclopaedic knowledge of the disease, treatment options, problems, and pitfalls.

She began to volunteer for The Tymes Trust, a charity for young people with ME, who she had found to be the most accurate and steadfast of the ME charities and thus the one most to be trusted. They, in turn, quickly saw they could trust her knowledge and her judgement. Lesley became their Scottish officer, providing support and advice to families across the country.

Faced with treating a disease with no known cure, Lesley learned that rest and avoiding over-exertion were vital, and that diet offered a path towards natural recovery. So our diet, as a family, started to change. Out went anything artificial or synthetic. In came organic and wholesome produce. Mostly, this was great. Sometimes she could be a little dogmatic, such as the time when she presented us all with a kale and green pepper smoothie.

We hesitated.

Drink up she said.

But it’s green, we said.

Drink it before it settles, she replied.

We did.

After two years of decline, Daniel, who was by then extremely thin, first stabilised and then very slowly began to get better. He did a little more each month until he began playing Colts rugby. His weekly training session was initially all he could manage, with the rest of his time spent lying on a couch, but the improvement continued. Daniel and I started going to the gym. Daniel started playing for the senior rugby sides. Imperceptibly, but steadily, he improved until ME was in his past, not his present.

Lesley continued to fight for other families struggling with ME. She would represent lone mothers in hearings, facing down groups of pompous professionals and, by carefully and accurately describing the illness, the harm their inappropriate prescriptions would do, and their legal obligations to support, not target, families, she turned around numerous cases.

In recognition of her skill, judgement, and commitment, Lesley was invited to become a Trustee of the Tymes Trust in 2015.

ME campaigning also took Lesley into Holyrood, to the cross-party group on ME, where she made many friends and they together fought and won many battles.

When the Scottish Government sought to hand power from parents to state officials called “named persons”, the Tymes Trust opposed them. The Trust had fought and won hundreds of wrongful child protection cases, brought against loving parents whose only “crime” was to protect their terribly ill children from harmful and wrong-headed medical diktats. They could see the harm that would inevitably follow. Thus, it was Lesley’s signature on behalf of the Tymes Trust that was on the legal challenge to parts 4 and 5 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014. This was lodged by the Christian Institute and others in the Scottish courts and ultimately went all the way to the UK Supreme Court.

Whilst the legal machine slowly processed the issues, Lesley was part of the No 2 NP campaign that took to the road to inform the parents of Scotland just what sort of tyranny was about to be imposed upon them.

From Dingwall to Dumfries, from Fort William to Peterhead, and in many towns and cities in between, Lesley stood up and forensically demolished the government plans for Parental Capacity to Provide Wellbeing pre-birth assessment forms; the 222 “risk indicators” that might affect a child, the 304 “outcome signifiers” of ‘wellbeing’, and many other absurdities.

She hated public speaking and was always nervous, but she did it anyway. And with accuracy, precision, and gentle humour, she played a big part in the No2NP campaign’s victory in the realm of public opinion and in the battle of ideas with the state over what parenthood, childhood, and parental love are really about.

The No2NP campaign triumphed; the Scottish Government had to pay their legal expenses; The named person legislation was repealed, and, most bitterly resented by the politicians, the No2NP campaign won public campaigner of the year at The Herald’s Scottish Politician of the Year Awards 2016.

All this time, Lesley remained a caring mother and a wonderful wife. As a grandmother, too, her gentleness and thoughtfulness shone. She had a particularly close relationship with her granddaughter, Eliza, whom she understood in a way that perhaps no one else could.

Moreover, through all this turmoil and challenge, Lesley had been walking another path, the path of faith. She had begun with an instinctive faith, but this grew stronger over the years with each trial and each victory. Sometimes, when she was being especially magnificent in a crisis, I would point out her qualities. She would look wryly at me and reply that the qualities were not hers, but rather it was the Lord guiding her and acting through her. Her strengthening faith led her to be baptised as an adult. Following this, she received the strength to tackle some of the hardest problems of her life.

Lesley had almost no memory of her childhood. The reason, she came to understand, was that her mother is a covert narcissist, and she had been subject to narcissistic abuse all of her life. Her lack of memory is a common childhood response to trauma.

On this subject, it is best that I quote a little of her writing on the issue. She wrote:

To grow up not being loved, but continually being told you are loved, breeds not only … vulnerability, but also deep confusion and self-doubt, imprinting a heart-deep belief that you are never good enough.

She later wrote about overcoming these consequences as follows:

Undoing a lifetime of harm, so subtly and covertly inflicted, is a monumental endeavour that I believe is only surmountable through the Grace of God.

Narcissism is deeply evil, its aim is the total destruction of the body and soul, by putting the narcissist in place of God, to love them, not God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.

Only God, through our Lord Jesus Christ can save us from such absolute annihilation in this life and offer hope of the resurrection to come.

When Lesley uncovered this truth concerning her mother and her childhood, she went through a process of grieving. She did this too with grace and patience. It was the second great loss of her life.

In 2019, Lesley was diagnosed with uterine cancer after we sped through the night to Ninewells Hospital as she was losing a lot of blood. She faced this challenge with quiet strength through faith in Jesus Christ. An operation removed the cancer; there was no spread. As she convalesced, her faith developed further and became ever more central to who she was. She was a child of God.

In 2020, our son Daniel, his daughter, and his wife, who was expecting their second child, became destitute – homeless. We took them in; it was a squeeze, but everyone had a bed. Through the covid 19 lockdown months, we sought to help Daniel reset his path in life, but sadly, we could no longer reach him. He was withdrawn and resentful. He would not work; he would barely talk. When he left after ten months in our home, he did not say goodbye and would have nothing more to do with his family. We do not know why.

Thus, Lesley lost her son, for whom she had worked so hard, her daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren from her life. Two further grandchildren have been born, but Daniel did not tell us of their arrival. This was the third and final great loss that Lesley suffered during her life, and this, too, she endured with quiet grace.

In September 2020, our family relocated here to the Carse of Gowrie. Lesley had five wonderful years of peace, spiritual progress, and harmony.

She reached out to her mother to try to construct a new relationship to replace the false one, but received only vicious abuse. She never responded in kind but always held a door open for reconciliation. That door was never used.

In 2024, Lesley received her second cancer diagnosis – unrelated to the first medically- but perhaps trauma was the common cause. She decided to place herself in God’s hands, and we had a wonderful year of hope and of spiritual blessings. During this time, Lesley dealt with and cast out the last of the torment and anguish relating to her childhood, and achieved peace that she had never known before.

She remained healthy and active until just a few weeks before the end of her life. Her passing was peaceful, and she described it as going home.

My beautiful wife will be deeply missed by her family and her friends. She lived a life of grace and of compassion; of love and of triumph. It was my fortunate calling to be her husband.

She had many talents, but what I will miss most is simply her presence.

Subscribe now

Share

Leave a comment