Category Archives: Using the Bible

The Jews Coming to Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth: The New Testament Points to their Conversion.

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The grand point of the New Covenant is one mercy and grace to ALL. That is literally ALL, both Jews and gentiles, that is to say all of the nations of this world. Even so, it is a powerful sub point that the Jews should have priority, that

The Jews should have priority in the
preaching of the gospel !

Jesus did not come to destroy Moses’ law., Mtt 5:17.

“For most assuredly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.”
Mtt 5:18

So a special prophet was to come who come who is like, Moses, whom everyone has to listen to, Deut 18:15. And like Moses? One of the most prominent things is He would be one who speaks to God face to face (Ex 33:11, etc.) and who delivers God’s laws.

So what was Jesus agenda?

He told the Canaanite woman,

“I wasn’t sent to anyone but the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Mtt 15:24

When Jesus named His twelve apostles in Matthew 10, and sent them out on the limited commission, the emphasis was to be in saving the Jews, and indeed, to not go to ANYONE else. He gave them authority over unclean spirits and every disease (and this group included Judas), and told them,

Jewish Chronicles outlines major breaks in Jewish history that have led to their present situation, and where all of this is leading. Available from your bookseller, November 6, 2020.

5 … “Don’t go among the Gentiles, and don’t enter into any city of the Samaritans. 6 Rather, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, preach, saying, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’”
Mtt 10:5-7

For sure that was so, unless you want to maintain that Jesus badly misunderstood the situation. He clearly knew early in His ministry to the Jews would reject Him (Jn 2:19-22). This was not a surprise. Even so God said,

“It shall happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.”
Deut 18:19

So Jesus told this apostles on this first mission of those who would reject the words He was sending,

“Most assuredly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.”
Mtt 10:15

All through history, Jesus has wanted to unite
the Jews and give them the victory.

Jesus spoke of what He will do during the Christian age in sending the messenger whom they would kill and crucify, Mtt 23:32-35. Jesus mourned their hardness of heart.

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not!”
Mtt 23:37

Still Jesus pointed to better days.

“For I tell you, you will not see me from now on, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Mtt 23:39

Scriptures are from the World English Bible WEB, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901.

Keys to Prophecy: God Rules the World NOW

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God has always ruled in the kingdom of men. This is the way Nebuchadnezzar put it after he had been forced to acknowledge God’s overruling in the affairs of men.

“34 … for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation. 35 All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or tell him, What do you?”
Dan 4:34-35

God appoints the rulers of this earth.

Paul states it this way.

“Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God.”
Rom 13:1

God has His purposes, although we may not understand His reasons. It appears that generally speaking that God gives the nations the kind of rulers which they deserve. Nero was emperor when Paul wrote these word. So it is

“… that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whoever he will, and sets up over it the lowest of men.”
Dan 4:17

And that is plainly the same message in Rom 13:1 and Dan 4:17.

God’s plans are way above our thinking

“8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says Yahweh. 9 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

Further there is no way to stop God’s plans and purposes.

“30 There is no wisdom nor understanding
Nor counsel against Yahweh.
31 The horse is prepared for the day of battle;
But victory is with Yahweh.”
Prov 21:30-31

It is God who controls the outcome of battles, despite our preparations.

When rulers displease Him, He removes them.

Daniel put it this way.

“21 He changes the times and the seasons; he removes kings, and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who have understanding; 22 he reveals the deep and secret things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.”
Dan 2:21-22

And what is the purpose in these things.

What is the purpose of these ups and downs and moving the places where a nation may live?

“26 He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ”
Acts 17:26-27

God will nurture and exalt those who please Him, correct those who are doing or attempting to do what is wrong. And on those, whether kings or nations, who completely refuse to repent and turn, He will bring the results of their sins down on their own heads.

Scriptures are from the World English Bible WEB, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901.

Keys to Prophecy: Religious Diversity PREVENTS Much Political Unity

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An inheritance of political diversity

It is one of the great political facts of life, that God has deliberately divided the nations of this earth, and divided the political powers that exist on this earth. These powers were created relatively recently in history, immediately after the world-wide flooding of the earth in the time Noah. Then these powers were divided in the confusion of languages which occurred on the plains of ancient Babylon. Both of these events appear to have happened in second half of the third millennium BC.

The scrambling of our speech by tribe and nation
meant that cultures and world views
would develop independently.

The creation of separate languages is still a powerful barrier to unity in many areas, including politics. It means there are often totally different ways of thinking about things and expressing ideas. These then become formidable obstacles to everyday things like fellowship and travel and exchanging ideas. The technology for learning other languages is better than ever in our own day, but these are still mighty obstacles to unified world power.

All of this is by the deliberate plan and counsel of God.

God decided thousands of years ago that it was NOT good man in his wickedness to be united. For instance in Isaiah’s day the nation of Judah had turned very bad, and the government was bad also. Isaiah wrote of those times.

“1 Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write perverseness; 2 to turn aside the needy from justice, and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!”
Isa 10:1-2 WEB

But there was little way to change this from the inside of the nation. The prophets were preaching to both the people and their rulers with little effect. So what can be done? So God raised up another nation of fierce men, able warriors and engineers to bring down the fortifications of Judah and bring punishment on that nation for their sins.

“5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. 6 I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.”
Isa 10:5-6 KJV

There comes a time when talk is over, preaching and pleading is done, and sinful nations are punished … ALL within history.

This diversity has been a powerful barrier to
wickedness

For evil men trying to manipulate these systems, these have been powerful barriers to unrestrained exploitation of the weak and helpless. If one people or group came to be very wicked and exploited others, then other nations/tribes would in time put them down. These became mighty obstacles to uncontrolled evil men.

The diversity of cultures and religions which grew out of these divisions meant that there would be no unified basis for opposing God’s plans.

KJV is the King James Version, 1611.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Prophecy Practice: Micah and the Christ, Part 9 of 12

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The Jews reject their own Messiah

“1 Now you shall gather yourself in troops,
Daughter of troops.
He has laid siege against us;
They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.”
Mic 5:1

It almost pictures it as part of the siege against the true Zion of God.

And maybe it is. You know it was clearly forecast that the Jews would stumble over the Christ, over the Lord, Yahweh Himself, as discussed in the previous post of this series.

Is this King Zedekiah of 2Kings who is being struck?
Why or why not?

Some commentators say so.Perhaps such happened, but it must be said that there is no record of such. Additionally King Zedekiah was NOT really a “judge” of “Israel.” At best he was a Babylonian puppet king over a greatly diminished Judah.

Also Jesus is the true judge of Israel

“For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
2Cor 5:10

And that is the way Jesus pictures Himself in Matthew 25 and in many of His parables.

Of course the Messiah was to be struck

“… he was cut off out of the land of the living for the disobedience of my people to whom the stroke was due?”
Isa 53:8

And again,

“Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him …”
Isa 53:10

And the Messiah was struck

“29 They braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand; and they kneeled down before him, and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head.”
Mtt 27:29-30

Some would argue that the ruler of Israel was to be struck on the check by a rod, not a reed, as in the World English Bible quoted above, and also in perhaps most English Bibles, in keeping with traditions in translations. The Hebrew word used in Mic 5:1 is shevet, and it is a word used for a rod or a club or a staff/scepter such as kings used.

The word “reed” used in the Gospels for striking Jesus is kalamos, and is word used in the New Testament of both “reeds” and pens made of reeds, but it is also of a measuring rod in Rev 11:1, and Rev 21:15-16. Here it could be also be translated as either a “rod” of a “staff.” The New American Standard Version, 95 ed., says in footnote “Or staff, i.e. to mimic a king’s scepter.” The NIV does translate it as “staff.” “The New English Translation also translates it as a staff, and their footnote refers to the standard New Testament Greek lexicon.

So Mic 5:1 clearly can be taken of Jesus.

I think Jesus is the ruler of Israel who is struck on the cheek with a rod in Mic 5:1, and He indeed is the true judge of Israel, and of you and me.

Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Prophecy Practice: Micah and the Christ, Part 8 of 12

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Now the nationS gather aginst Israel in Micah 4, she defeated them, and took their profits, and dedicated them to the Lord God of Glory. Remember it said,

This distress in which most of the Jews perish, and those left both win the conflict and turn to Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth as the true Messiah of Israel, is within history! This is discussed in detail in Jewish Chronicles., to be released in the fall of 2020.

“Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion;
For I will make your horn iron,
And I will make your hoofs brass;
And you will beat in pieces many peoples:
And I will devote their gain to Yahweh,
And their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.”
Mic 4:13

But there are evidently TWO giant assemblies of the nationS against BOTH the Jews and Christians, that are discussed in Scripture.

One of these is the great distress of the Jews in which they turn to the Lord as a group, Deut 4:30, Deut 30:6, Zech 10:11-12, and so on. This time evidently also includes a major assault on Christianity world-wide. This happens within history, and seems to be the assault described in Micah 4.

The second great assembly of the nationS against both the Jews and all Christians is, of course, at the end of this universe, as described in the Gospels, and Revelation 20, and all through the Old Testament. It is addressed in all three of my books on prophecy and especially in Revealing the Christian Age.

But first comes the rejection of their own Messiah by the Jews,
AS FORETOLD IN SCRIPTURE!

It is a broad subject in Scripture. Isaiah says, speaking of the Lord,

“14 He shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 Many shall stumble thereon, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.”
Isa 8:14-15

Certainly that is exactly what has happened over the last two thousand years.

Now you can say that this is just about Yahweh, the Lord God Himself, but it is in the grand context of the Messiah, all the way from being born of virgin in Isaiah 7, to again speaking of the Messiah’s birth as a “child” in Isaiah 9, and saying of this “child,”

“… and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ”
Isa 9.6

The son, the child is called Mighty God, and Everlasting Father! The child … even in the Old Testament … is clearly God. As the apostle John put it,

“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it.”
Jn 1:1-5

And again,

“10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own, and those who were his own didn’t receive him.”
Jn 1:10-11

Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Prophecy Practice: Micah and the Christ, Part 7 of 12

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Micah does say the former dominion given to Zion/Judah, will be restored.

“You, tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion,
To you it will come,
Yes, the former dominion will come,
The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.”
Mich 4:8.

This also is something else which clearly has not happened yet.

Then it urges the daughter of Zion to be in pain as child birth, Mic 4:9-10

It reminds me of Revelation 12.

“She was with child. She cried out in pain, laboring to give birth.”
Rev 12:2

It is as if what he says is dealing with that new kingdom coming into being, and that is indeed the case. The Jews are pictured as coming to Babylon in the end of Mic 4:10

“For now you will go forth out of the city,
And will dwell in the field,
And will come even to Babylon.
There you will be rescued.
There Yahweh will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.”
Mic 4:10c-g

And that is what happened, and they returned the first time in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. This fits the Old Testament history which we know. Notice this is NOT a strict chronological treatment, for being rescued from Babylon obviously had to happen first.

But then it pictures “many nations” gathering against “Zion,” Mic 4:11

that too is a subject of many prophecies, but it is by no means clear that this has happened to either literal Zion or Spiritual Zion. This is major subject in Psalm 2, Ezekiel chapters 37 to 39, and Zechariah chapters 12 to 14. It appears that there will be two great periods in history when “all the nations” oppose both Christianity and the Jews. This is discussed in detail in my coming book “Jewish Chronicles.”It is also discussed in “Revealing the Christian Age,” and to a lesser extent in “Prophecy Principles.”

The enemies of God do not realize that God is the one who has gathered these nations against Zion.

“But they don’t know the thoughts of Yahweh,
Neither do they understand his counsel;
For he has gathered them like the sheaves to the threshing floor.”
Mic 4:12

And why do these things not fit the Assyrian,
or Babylonian or Roman invasions?

But gather them God will, and daughter of Zion will thresh them, Mic 4:13. God will make Zion’s horns to be of iron, and her hoofs of brass. Now tiny Judah did have some successes against the Greek Seleucid kings of Syria in the second century BC. But this pictures the Jews threshing “many peoples,” and then taking their property, which has never happened to date!

“Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion;
For I will make your horn iron,
And I will make your hoofs brass;
And you will beat in pieces many peoples:
And I will devote their gain to Yahweh,
And their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.”
Mich 4:13

No. This has NOT happened, YET.

We will come back to this later.

Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Prophecy Practice: Micah and the Christ, Part 6 of 12

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We are pressing on in our review of Micah to see what he has to say about Bethlehem.

Now Israel is going through bad times, morally,
politically, and internationally.

Micah is protesting all this wickedness in his prophecies, and he has said early that these things will cause Judah and Israel to be destroyed. Then he points out in Mic 4:1-2 that what seems to be a new law (and it was) going forth from Jerusalem. It did in the first century of the Christian age. Then he says that this will lead to end of all wars (but that is really only in the world to come). Then he drops back to talk about what will yet happen to Israel and Judah.

So how will these things turn out for a
Judah and an Israel that is to be
destroyed because
of their sins?

Vivid pictures of a future peace and prosperity are in Micah 4:4. Then it goes on to say that God says,

“6 “In that day,” says Yahweh,
“I will assemble that which is lame,
And I will gather that which is driven away,
And that which I have afflicted;
7 And I will make that which was lame a remnant,
And that which was cast far off a strong nation:
And Yahweh will reign over them on Mount Zion from then on, even forever. ”
Mic 4:6-7

Micah foretold the destruction of both Israel and Judah in Mic 1:6-9. Here then Micah says God will take some of the survivors, the lame, those who have been driven away, those God has afflicted and cast off, and make them a strong nation! Then it says Yahweh Himself will reign over them “even forever.”

Now it is clearly said in more than one prophecy that Jesus will reign forever over Jacob/Israel/Judah.

“33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his kingdom.””
Lk1:33

Without discussing all of the issues of both Jerusalem below and Jerusalem above, it is easy to see thatl a few survivors did come back from the destructions around 586 BC, and we see the survivors in the Bible books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and Haggi and Zechariah and Malachi.

But there are problems here.

This second regathering is a subject dealt with in detail in Fain’s new book, Jewish Chronicles, due for release in the fall of 2020.

You see they never became a really mighty nation with Yahweh Himself ruling over them. Shall we record this as a failed prophecy? Many would and do. Even so, Jesus says, Scripture cannot be broken, Jn 10:35.

So Micah pictures some Jewish survivors of catastrophe that are lame and weak and dispersed, whom God rescues and makes into a nation and reigns over them forever! And it has’t happened yet, so it has to happen.

Zechariah, who was with the survivors in Ezra and Nehemiah, says there will be a second dispersal of the Jews (which clearly happened in 70 AD), and a second regathering Israel, Zech 10:9-10. Also Isaiah, speaking before the first regathering, speaks of a second regathering, Isa 11:1.

So this gathering of the lame and the afflicted, and making them
a “strong nation,” is yet to come.

Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901