The following Scripture passages are offered to aid beginning fellowships. The readings and commentary are offered as openings into dialogue about the subject or concept. And the concept behind the readings for this Sabbath is the concept of the antiChrist.
Weekly Readings
For the Sabbath of January 21, 2006
The person conducting the Sabbath service should open services with two or three hymns, or psalms, followed by an opening prayer acknowledging that two or three (or more) are gathered together in Christ Jesus’ name, and inviting the Lord to be with them.
The person conducting the services should read or assign to be read Daniel chapter 7, verses 9 through 14, and Revelation chapter 11, verse 15 through chapter 12, verse 12.
Commentary: There is only one occasion when the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Christ. This occasion concludes or occurs after the second woe during the seven endtime years of tribulation, with a third woe still to come. The timing is that the two witnesses have had a 1260 day ministry (Rev 11:14), and that the saints have been given into the hand of the little horn for a time, times and half a time (Dan 7:25) before the coronation ceremony occurs. A time, times and half a time equals 1260 days, or 42 months—and 42 months of tribulation [the length of the third woe] still remains before the seven endtime years (Rev 13:5) conclude with Jesus’ return as the Messiah. So two periods of a time, times and half a time [the second explicitly expressed in Rev 12:14] comprise the seven endtime years of tribulation. And not understanding that the coronation of the Son of Man as the ruler of this world and the coming of Jesus as the Messiah are events separated by the entirety of the third woe has blinded would-be teachers of the spiritual nation of Israel to the reality of the endtime harvest of humanity.
The rebuilding of the house of God in the Jerusalem above which began when the remnant of the spiritual nation of Israel that left spiritual Babylon as the radical reformers of the 16th-Century reached keeping the Sabbaths [weekly and annual] of God could not be completed until the Church understood when Satan, as the present prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2), will be cast from heaven. (The journey of the holy remnant from Babylon to Jerusalem was foreshadowed by the journey of the circumcised remnant, beginning with Sheshbazzar [Ezra 1:8].) And to comprehend when Satan will be cast to earth, or fall like lightening, the Church must understand that heaven is timeless, that one moment never becomes the next moment, that Jesus as the Logos would have seen Satan fall before He entered His creation because of the characteristics of timelessness, of knowing the end of a matter from its beginning (both the end and the beginning are jointly and simultaneously visible outside of time). Thus, from the perspective of timelessness, the fall of Satan and the resurrection of saints are presently visible happenings even though neither event has happened inside of time. Humanity, living in time as fish live in water, has difficulty comprehending activity without the passing of time. But the concept of activity without one moment becoming the next moment is why “oneness,” as Jesus expressed the idea (John 17:11, 20-26), is absolutely necessary, for all that is, all that lives, must function as one entity. And this is what the early Greek Church never understood, as it rejected Judaism and embraced Plato, thereby creating a hybrid theology of lawlessness that caused the Church’s exile to spiritual Babylon, where under the spiritual king of Babylon (Isa 14:4-21) it prospered. This prosperity was accredited to the Most High, for the gates of hell would not prevail against the Church—and hasn’t, for the house of God in the Jerusalem above is being rebuilt even though the physical temple was thrown down centuries ago.
Satan, as the spiritual king of Babylon, will be cast into time when the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Christ. He will no longer have any lawful dominion over the mental topography of human beings. The dominion given to the king of Greece (Dan 2:39, Dan 7:6 & Dan 8:21-25), exercised by the single great horn or king of the groin area of the humanoid image Nebuchadnezzar saw, will have been taken from the four kings or beasts by the court of the Ancient of Days. The lives of the first three beasts will be extended for a season and a time (Dan 7:12), but the fourth beast will be dealt a deadly wound, and its body will be taken to be burned.
Today, as the first horn of the spiritual king of Greece battles with the sars of Persia, the course of this war for control of humanity’s mental topography came to be platted through the spread of Greek ideals such as democracy. But equally revealing is the visible use and marketing of sex: the single great horn that appears between the eyes of the king of Greece (Dan 8:5) will also appear as an erect penis on the humanoid image representing spiritual Babylon. As the spiritual king of Greece tramples the spiritual kings of Persia, human sexuality in all forms will be increasingly foregrounded by the mass media. Sex will be used to market even more merchandise than it presently is, and what hereunto has been deemed deviant sexual behavior will gain public acceptance—until this great horn is supernaturally broken. Then those who have campaigned against open sexuality (and gay rights) will receive the dominion given the king of Greece, and will, working under the third king or beast of Daniel chapter seven, cause the hybrid theology of Greek Christianity to prevail worldwide. Herein will be the great falling away from, or rebellion against God (2 Thess 2:3); for the hybrid theology now accepted by most Christians through historical exegesis comes not from Scripture, but from Greek philosophy. True Christianity will have disciples of Christ Jesus living as He did—and Jesus, as Lord of the Sabbath, kept the Sabbaths of God, kept the laws of God, kept those things that would make one today a spiritual Judean.
No one can live as a Greek and truly have Jesus living within the person.
The house of God in the Jerusalem above, that city that will come with the new heaven and earth, has no occupants that are Jew or Greek, male or female, free or slave. Rather, it is a city occupied by sons of God, the firstborn being Christ Jesus. It is a city governed by oneness. The disciple who is not today practicing being “one” with Christ Jesus will not ever enter this city, regardless of the mighty deeds the person did in Jesus’ name. The disciple who had the laws of God inscribed on his or her heart and mind, and who then chose to ignore these laws and live as a lawless Greek will never enter this city, but will be burned in this city’s garbage dump. Thus, as the garbage of the Jerusalem below was formerly burned in the arroyo called gehenna, so too will the spiritual garbage of the Jerusalem above—those disciples who were hypocrites, knowing to keep the laws of God but not doing so—be burned in a gehenna-like lake of fire.
The reader should now read Revelation chapter 12, verse 13 though chapter 13, verse 10.
Commentary: The chapter breaks for chapters 12 & 13 interrupt the narrative flow, and rather than assist the assignment of meaning, actually work to conceal meaning. One scenario begins when the second woe (Rev 11:14) concludes. The first thing that happens is what’s revealed in the prophet Daniel’s vision: the court of the Ancient of Days convenes, strips the four kings then reigning over the kingdom of the world of their dominion (i.e., authority to rule), then gives this single kingdom to one like the Son of Man. These four kings are taken captive. The fourth king is dealt a death wound, and has its body taken to be burned, so its body no longer visually exists. But how these four kings are taken captive, along with the little horn that speaks great words against the court of the Ancient of Days, is actually seen in, “Now war arose in heaven” (Rev 12:7). Michael and his angels fight against Satan and his angels—against the angelic beings forming the hierarchy of spiritual Babylon, the image Nebuchadnezzar saw in vision—and cast Satan and his angels into time, where all living entities that are confined here will die. So when the three kings that are the first three beasts of Daniel chapter seven have their lives extended for a season and a time, along with the mortally wounded head of the fourth beast (all that remains of the spiritual king of Greece), they appear in time as the first beast of Revelation chapter 13. They have been stripped of their dominion over human beings; they are powerless, except for whatever authority they receive from the dragon, Satan (v. 2).
Satan, however, has no authority to continue reigning as the prince of the power of the air. The kingdom of the world has been given to the Son of Man, consisting of Christ Jesus as its head and the saints as its body. But as night precedes day, with darkness preceding light and death preceding life, the dark portion of the Lord’s day begins when Satan and his angels are cast into time.
When the kingdom of the world became the kingdom of the Most High and of His Christ, the Holy Spirit or Divine Breath of God [Pneuma ’Agion] was poured out upon all flesh (Joel 2:28), thereby giving spiritual life to the third part of humanity (Zech 13:9). The good news that must be proclaimed to all the world as a witness to all nations is that all who endure to the end shall be saved (Matt 24:13-14). Everyone will be saved because all have now been born of Spirit. But God is not a respecter of persons. A qualifier for salvation exists: the person must endure to the end, which is 42 months in the future. For a time, times and half a time, this third part of humanity will live by faith, spurning the mark of the beast, the mark of death, the tattoo of the Cross [chi xi stigma]. The person will not be able to buy and sell, meaning the person must remain aloft from, or separated from the world. The person must believe God, and must put this belief into practice by trusting God to supply his or her bodily needs. The person must believe that within the person’s tent of flesh, a new creation that is a son of God exists—and what father willingly watches his sons starve? Undergo trials, yes? But perish for want of food and shelter when death has been dealt a mortal wound, no? Nevertheless, some will be taken captive; some will be slain. And with evil coming upon some of those who are newly born from above, the endurance and faith of saints will be tested (Rev 13:10).
Because dominion over humanity is given to the Son of Man when the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Christ, Satan no longer lawfully has any great power or great authority. All power and authority over human beings belongs to Christ Jesus. So the power that the co-joined three beasts [plus the mortally wounded head of the fourth beast] whose lives have been extended a season and a time receive from Satan can only be usurped authority that rightfully belongs to Jesus…Satan will, after three and a half years of tribulation, come as the messiah. He is the true antiChrist, and his shadow was the man of perdition, who came by Satan’s workings during the first half of the seven endtime years.
There are not one but two antiChrists, one for each half of the Tribulation, the first forming the non-spiritually-living shadow of the second. The first is a man empowered by Satan, a man who comes by the workings of Satan (2 Thess 2:9). This man is the visible human form and face of the little horn that speaks to the court of the Ancient of Days; this is a man possessed by Satan.
The second or true antiChrist is Satan himself, usurping the power and authority of Christ Jesus. But when Satan is cast to the earth (i.e., cast into time), he will be given the mind of a man even through he remains a fallen anointed cherub. He has everlasting life in the heavenly realm where one moment never becomes the next moment. But once inside of time, he will know that his time is short, for any one moment is replaced by the next moment. What was alive in the former moment can perish in the following moment—and will eventually perish if it is not allowed to escape time and return to the heavenly realm.
Satan doesn’t escape from time, but eventually becomes ashes under the feet of the saints.
The reader should now read Ezekiel chapter 28, verses 13 though 19.
Commentary: As Jesus saw Satan fall as lightening, Jesus would have seen fire come from the belly of this anointed cherub…Satan’s temptation of Jesus was doomed to failure because from the perspective of the heavenly realm, Satan was no more. He no longer exists; yet he remains a real, dynamic force with whom human beings will have to deal before and immediately after a thousand years of Christ Jesus’ reign over humanity.
Linguistic tenses cause all Indo-European language users problems when addressing the reality of timelessness. The passage about the anointed cherub having fire come out from his belly and being no more is in past tense; it couldn’t be in any other tense from the Ancient of Days’ perspective. Likewise, the passage about predestination (Rom 8:28-30) is in past tense: from the Father’s perspective, the resurrection has occurred even though it remains in humanity’s future. And because early Greek philosophers and theologians didn’t understand timelessness even though they should have been able to do so (they computed time by celestial movement, and they understood that God existed belond all celestial bodies, hence beyond time), they borrowed most of Plato’s understanding about the soul. They were wrong to do so, and the modern Church is even more wrong to continue these borrowings.
The reader should now read Revelation chapter 13, verses 11 though 18.
Commentary: The second beast, the one that creates an image of the Cross and makes it speak, is Satan himself.
The cross is a killing apparatus; it is the means by which the prince of this world had Jesus killed. The cross represents death, not life. Satan, the one who has deceived the whole world (Rev 12:9), is the one who would have disciples worshiping Death, the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse, for the cross was and is presently the body configuration of the fourth beast of Daniel chapter seven. Satan as the true antiChrist will make Death speak after this beast has been dealt a mortal wound through the public resurrection of the two witnesses.
In conclusion, the man of perdition or lawless one forms the shadow and copy of the true antiChrist, an anointed cherub who is more deceitful, who is subtler than humankind has suspected. This anointed cherub deceived a third of the host of heaven, so it was no great feat for him to deceive spiritually lifeless sons of Adam. It has proven no great feat for him to deceive air-breathing sons of God. The human being he couldn’t deceive is the One who had seen his end before entering His creation. And at the end of this age, that One who had seen Satan fall like lightening has given His disciples the knowledge they need to defeat Satan when he is cast into time.
The person conducting the Sabbath service should close services with two hymns, or psalms, followed by a prayer asking God’s dismissal.
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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."