The following Scripture passages are offered to aid beginning fellowships. The readings and commentary for this week are more in line with what has become usual; for the following will most likely be familiar observations. The concept behind this Sabbath’s selection is typology.

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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 following is from the Sabbath reading of August 4, 2007:

The Apostle Paul, employing the hermeneutics of Judaism and of Christ Himself, used typology (which is reasoning by analogy) to extract meaning from Scripture. For the Apostle, the visible world revealed the invisible attributes of God (Rom 1:20) and that which is physical preceded the spiritual (1 Cor 15:46). Thus, if the visible and physical reveal and precede the invisible and spiritual, then that which cannot be seen or measured—that which is not “real” from the perspective of being observable—can be known from what is “real.” Hence, typology employs realism as its revealing limitation, thereby making what can be known philosophically meaningful. And in this means, typological exegesis is “scientific” in that someone doing research uses the presumption that reality exists and is measurable and observable and can therefore be known. Likewise, the person employing typological exegesis acts on the presumption that reality creates the informing shadow of what cannot be directly observed, causing that which has no substance to be discernable through that which has substance.

What wasn’t known a year ago is that the visible things of this world form the left hand mirror image of the right hand of God (God used metonymically), with the principle of chirality opening all of Scripture. But knowing to employ chirality in typological exegesis has required six-plus years of growth in Philadelphia’s apologetics before what should have been self-evident in the beginning was realized.

Where did Jesus go when resurrected to glory but to sit at the right hand of God? If as a man he was not sitting at the right hand of God, where was He when sitting with His disciples and Philip said to Him, “‘Lord, show us the Father’” (John 14:8)?

If the visible things of this world reveal the invisible things of God, the Apostle Paul’s certain claim, and if Jesus when glorified would sit at the right hand of God, then without twisting logic Jesus would be to the left hand side of the Father when He was sitting with His disciples before He was crucified … this will take a moment to digest, but remember the relationship between theos and ton Theon is a face-to-face relationship, and remains a face to face relationship until Jesus is on the cross. In order for His disciples to see the Father—Jesus answered Philip, saying, “‘Whoever has seen me has seen the Father’” (John 14:9)—Jesus would need to be the mirror image of the Father; so if Jesus would go to sit at the right hand of the Father, and if Jesus were the mirror image of the Father, then Jesus sitting with His disciples would form the mirror image of the glorified disciples sitting with the Father, with Jesus while still in this world on the Father’s left side when Jesus answered Philip. So the things of this world will form the left hand, non-symmetrical mirror image of the things of God, the right hand image, with the eyes of God upon the Church as the eyes of Israel are upon God. The corresponding theorem is when the Church no longer looks upon God but turns its back to God in rebellion, God will hide His face from Israel (Deut 32:20), for the mirror image relationship has been broken by rebellion. Therefore, Moses being permitted to only see the back of Yah (Ex 33:18–23) forms the mirror image of glorified disciples looking upon the face of the Father without the Son standing between the Father and glorified Israel—but for Moses to be a type of glorified Israel, his face shone henceforth so that he had to put a veil over his face, for to enter into the presence of the Father requires that the person be glorified, which is why Christ as Israel’s high priest presently intercedes for disciples, a convoluted way of saying that human eyes cannot see the Father but only the image of the Father that was manifested by the Son. Failure to believe the Son is, now, rebellion against the Father.

How is it that a disciple—someone genuinely born of spirit—can read the same text year by year and not understand the most basic principles of God? How is it that Jesus’ words are recorded in the Gospels yet the majority of Christians cannot hear Jesus’ voice in His own words?

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The person conducting the service should now read or assign to be read John chapter 5, verses 19 through 47; followed by John chapter 10.

Commentary: Jesus said he had authority to lay down His life and the authority to take it up again, that this authority came from the Father (John 10:17–18) … to say that He had the authority to take up His life again would seem to be another expression of Jesus saying that “‘as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself’” (John 5:26). This authority to take up His life again could be misunderstood as power to self-resurrect, which would make “death” not really death. But the greater problem is the tendency to morph the Son into the Father as in a triune deity that is one hypostasis.

For a disciple to move from physical to spiritual when Jesus only spoke in figures of speech, for He spoke about heavenly things in the language of physical things, requires traversing the slippery slopes of disbelief and error: the Son does not give Himself the authority to take up His life, nor from the context the authority  to lay down His life, implying that the Logos needed authority from the Father to enter His creation as this only Son, this authority coming in the form of “being sent” (John 5:30).

Jesus said, “‘For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me’” (John 5:36) … the Jews [primarily Sadducees and Pharisees] searched the Scriptures to find eternal life, yet Jesus had eternal life dwelling within Him as the One who had been sent by the Father to deliver the words of the Father, “words” too large to be uttered by human breath but were uttered through the renewing work of the Holy Spirit, the divine breath of the Father. These Jews had among them the kingdom of God; i.e., the Son of Man. But—and here is where error truly entered Christendom—these Jews made searching the Scriptures of more importance than hearing the words of the Son of Man. They had made an idol of Scripture, and they worshiped this idol without understanding the knowledge their idol could have conveyed to them. They read Scripture, taking from Scripture its surface wrinkles and warts. They studied these wrinkles and warts, could accurately describe the size and shape of each, but had no understanding of what caused age wrinkles and viral warts. Nevertheless, they were not about to hear Jesus, who, by doing miracles, threatened their status and security. And conciliar Christendom, to continue worshiping the idol the Jews of Jesus’ day had worshiped, returned to diligently studying the wrinkles and warts of Scripture as if they were the reality of God.

Today, Christians continue to diligently search the Scriptures for the “real Jesus,” but absolutely refuse to hear Jesus’ voice in His words; e.g., Jesus said, “‘For many will come in my name, saying, “I am the Christ,” and will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet’” (Matt 24:5–6) … have many men and women come in Jesus’ name saying that He was the Christ, and then have pointed to this war or to that war and used the war to convince many disciples that the end was upon humanity? Quite a few? Certainly. But to get more personal, during the Depression and during the early years of WWII, one advertising man came claiming that Germany would defeat the United States and Britain and thereby would usher onto the world’s stage the man of perdition in the form of Hitler? This advertising man then claimed, when it became obvious in 1943 that Germany would not win WWII and Nazi storm troopers would not reach Jerusalem, that Germany would rise again to be the center of a united Europe that would defeat the United States and Britain in a nuclear holocaust in just a few short years, six or seven at the most? Some of you know this man who did these things: he used wars and rumors of wars to alarm many—not merely “alarm,” but to frighten a great many into joining with him to broadcast the good news of the soon coming kingdom of God to first the United States and Britain, then to the rest of the world. He used wars and rumors of wars as proof that the end was upon humanity, and national captivity was nearly upon the English-speaking peoples of the world. And to this day, more than sixty years after our advertising man wrote in a December 8, 1947, letter that went out to thousands of his supporters,

   THE OUTLOOK, at the moment, is for six or seven more years of PROSPERITY here in America---(even tho it is an artificial, unsound and inflated "prosperity")---while meantime the world moves relentlessly toward WORLD WAR III and final DESTRUCTION!

   YOU, dear Co-Worker, are not going to be permitted to enjoy your home, your freedom, your present privileges and pursuits, many more years. Just a few more years---perhaps six or seven---perhaps twelve or fifteen---and a re-united Fascist-Nazi Europe will STRIKE---America's great cities will be blown out of existence in one night without warning---we shall see such tremendous atomic destruction as the world has never even dreamed ---more than 40 MILLION Americans will perish in the horrifying blasts! At the same time drought and famine will strike dead another THIRD of our entire population---men, women, and children ---thru starvation and disease! And our second great commission ---our divine calling from Almighty God---is to WARN our beloved nation, and other Israelitish nations, before it is too late! Every individual who HEEDS this warning, turns to God, is WATCHING and PRAYING ALWAYS, being filled with God's Spirit, living by every Word of God, with a life consecrated to Him, will be given special divine protection---taken beforehand to a place of SAFETY--- preserved thru the final horrifying tribulation, time of plagues and human anguish soon to visit this earth!

his theological descendants continue to market wars and rumors of wars to an unsuspecting generation, while boastfully observing how insightful this advertising man was so long ago to accurately describe the present state of world affairs.

So there is no misunderstanding of who this advertising man was, another excerpt from the same December 8, 1947, letter is here included:

   This AGE is closing FAST! We must WARN the nations, before it is too late! NO ONE ELSE IS SOUNDING THIS WARNING! Can you realize that? A NEW AGE will soon dawn, with the COMING OF CHRIST! The GOOD NEWS of that must be proclaimed in great power to the WHOLE WORLD! I am fighting with every ounce of strength in me to build and prepare this work for that great COMMISSION---the commission to which we have been called BY JESUS CHRIST!

   NOTHING ELSE MATTERS today! Our nation is in an artificial, stimulated, inflated "prosperity". Our people are living in a fool's paradise! YOU WON'T BE LIVING IN YOUR HOME MUCH LONGER---you won't be doing what you are now doing much LONGER! NOTHING ELSE MATTERS TODAY! We must WARN the people, NOW. We must preach and publish the GOOD NEWS of the coming Kingdom while there is time. The night is coming swiftly when no man can work, for God.

   I am still fighting---doing my very utmost. I NEED YOUR HELP---to your very utmost. Nothing else MATTERS, today!

   GOD BLESS those of you who have helped so nobly, and at such sacrifice---some of you with just the widow's mites, who have nevertheless given as MUCH, in proportion to what you have---and some of you with one, two, or three thousand dollars! God has USED YOU TO preserve this, HIS WORK! He will reward you, and GREAT shall be your reward in the Kingdom. Nothing MATTERS any more, in this world!

   By immediate return mail if possible---otherwise, at the very earliest possible moment, please send the largest offering you can, in addition to God's tithe. And, if you cannot give a large amount, but can LOAN it for the use of God's work, SEND THE MONEY by return mail or as soon as you can get it, and a letter stating when, and in what amounts, you may need to have it returned, and I will send you our NOTE for it. And remember, we are maintaining a cash reserve fund to guarantee repayment of all such loans.

   Once again, I leave the issue in your hands. I know you won't fail me, or our God. THANK YOU, and GOD BLESS YOU! And PLEASE remember above all, KEEP PRAYING EARNESTLY, and IN FAITH for God to deliver us, and keep this great work going.

   With love to all, in Jesus' name,

   Herbert W. Armstrong

The citation that appears here is not to belittle a minister in the long line of ministers that led a remnant of the 16^th-Century Anabaptists from Babylon to spiritual Judea, taking this remnant to the outskirts of spiritual Jerusalem, but to demonstrate how a person can come in Jesus’ name and “alarm” many by preaching about wars and rumors of wars, deceiving many that continue to be deceived and will not give up being deceived even when confronted with what Jesus said was the endtime “good news” of the kingdom … His disciples asked for a sign of Jesus’ second coming and of the close of the age (Matt 24:3), and Jesus gave His disciples what they asked, the sign of His coming and of the close of the age.

Jesus began by telling his disciples not to deceive [read v. 4 in Greek], that many would come in His name and deceive many, that news of the physical things of this world [wars, famines, earthquakes] should not alarm disciples for these events were only the prelude to Zion giving birth to a nation in a day (Isa 66:7–8), that—here is where the understanding spoken of in v. 15 must begin to be employed—when Zion gives birth, disciples would be (1) delivered up to tribulation, (2) put to death, (3) hated by all nations; disciples would (4) fall away, (5) betray one another, (6) hate one another; and (7) many false prophets would arise and lead many astray. Also, because lawlessness would be increased (8) the love of many would grow cold.

So far, since v. 9, Jesus has not delivered any good news, but has told disciples that they would hear of wars and rumors of war, and nation would rise against nation, and there would be natural catastrophes, but that all of these “natural” events should not alarm them for these natural events were but the beginning of Zion’s birth pains—Zion will give birth before she goes into labor—that nothing good was going to happen to disciples once tribulation began. But the one who endures to the end shall be saved (Matt 24:13), and this is truly good news against the backdrop of everything else Jesus has just said, remembering now that Jesus was still only speaking to His disciples in figures of speech (John 16:25–26).

Immediately after telling His disciples that the one who endures to the end shall be saved, Jesus said, “‘And this gospel [good news] of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come’” (Matt 24:14). So, according to Jesus, the sign of His return and of the end of the age would be the delivery of the good news that all who endure to the end shall be saved. This good news is Jesus’ word about patient endurance (Rev 3:10), and the “why” of why this is the sign of the end concerns Zion being the last Eve, with this last Eve giving birth to three spiritual sons, a righteous Abel when spiritually circumcised Israel is liberated from the sin and death that has dwelt in the fleshy members of disciples (Rom 7:21–25) at a second Passover, then a lawless Cain when the great falling away occurs with the revealing of the man of perdition (2 Thess 2:3), and finally, halfway through the seven endtime years of tribulation, this last Eve will give birth to a spiritual Seth, the third part of humankind (Zech 13:9) that only has to endure to the end to be saved, for this third part of humankind will be born of spirit when the Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28), thereby changing the “natures” of the great predators (Isa 11:6–9) and changing “human nature” by giving humanity the mind and nature of Christ.

Therefore, the good news that is the sign Jesus gave of the end of the age is the delivery to all the world of His word about patient endurance, with this good news being the birth announcement of a spiritual Seth that will account for the greatest portion of the harvest of firstfruits.

The endtime gospel is not a message about the personhood of Christ or about the soon-coming kingdom of God although the delivery of both of these messages has been needful. Rather, the endtime gospel that defines Philadelphia is the message that begins with announcing a second Passover liberation of Israel foreshadowed by Israel’s exodus from Egypt but of such greater size and significance that Israel’s exodus from Egypt will be forgotten (Jer 16:14–15; 23:7–8). The message will not be believed or accepted prior to death angels passing over all the land, slaying firstborns not covered by the blood of Christ—and once this slaying occurs, disciples of Christ Jesus will be truly hated by all the world. But from within Christendom will arise many false prophets declaring that this slaughter of firstborns—a slaughter of approximately a third of humankind—is the sixth trumpet plague. They will have the number right, but that is all they will have correct for they will set up those who believe them to worship Satan as the messiah when he is cast from heaven (Rev 12:7–10) halfway through these seven endtime years of tribulation.

The two witnesses will go forth in sackcloth because they know how many will die physically and spiritually, and there will be little they can do to affect the disbelief that grips Christianity once the great falling away occurs … the problem that slivered Churches of God cannot overcome is the smallness of their thinking: the endtime harvest of God isn’t of a few, isn’t of 144,000, but is of a great multitude. It is utter foolishness to teach that the “great falling away” occurred when Joe Jr. led a spiritually dead work back to spiritual Babylon—and yes, that work which in 1947 proclaimed that disciples would not have their homes in a few short years, 6 or 7, 12 or 15 at the most, died spiritually in 1962 when it rejected further revelation from God. That work’s greatest material success came after it was dead. As a chicken runs around after its head has been chopped off, spraying blood everywhere, that work briefly took its message about the soon-coming kingdom of God to the world when it no longer had any spiritual life but was running hard in the throes of death.

Unfortunately, many genuine disciples continue to be alarmed by the physical things of this world as they were taught to be alarmed by an ad-man who was called to do a work of God, a work now burned up as straw on the outskirts of heavenly Jerusalem. Paul says that if a man’s “work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Cor 3:15). That certainly seems to be the case, considering all that happened between 1978 and January 1986.

Jesus told the Jews seeking His life that if they had believed Moses, they would believe Him, for Moses wrote of Jesus, but “‘if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my [Jesus’] words’” (John 5:47)?

Today, Christians, like those 1^st-Century Jews, search the Scriptures daily, but they will not believe Moses—actually, they won’t even read Moses. They will not hear Jesus’ voice in His words, but they will receive another who comes in his [or her] own name, whether that “another” is Menno Simons, or Ellen G. White, or Herbert W. Armstrong, or a host of better known theologians. But this is not what the slivered Churches of God want to hear: they want to be titillated by the latest war and rumor of war; by mega-disaster programs showing how soil liquefaction will magnify the damage caused by an earthquake to Seattle; by scientific predictions detailing the damage to the world that will be done by global warming; by news of an impending worldwide shortage of oil. They literally feed on bad news. Thirty-five years ago, they were alarmed by global cooling and forthcoming world famine, by the ozone hole, and by seventy-five French nuclear-tipped missiles that could be used to wipe out the United States and Great Britain [those French missiles were part of an emerging united Europe whereas Russian missiles were not].

Consider for a moment the psychology of disciples being alarmed by bad news concerning the things of this world, yet celebrating this bad news as if it were truly good news: what sort of perverseness grips these disciples? Bad news is bad news! The evil that occurs among nations is not good news concerning the soon-coming kingdom of God. This evil is bad news, and bad news that has been occurring since Cain killed Abel.

The good news that Jesus said would be proclaimed is about the world being baptized in spirit into life as the world was baptized by water into death in the days of Noah. But an ad-man coming in the name of Christ did deceive many into embracing bad news as good news. The damage done to disciples and damage still occurring from teaching disciples to be “alarmed” by what happens in this world through the natural ebb and flow of nations rising against nations and the forces of nature destroying the works of men hinders many disciples from participating in delivering the good news that is Jesus’ word about patient endurance. About this hindrance little can be done: a disciple must want to be a part of Philadelphia, only one of six endtime churches.

An endtime disciple need not be a part of Philadelphia to enter into the kingdom of God, but no other work will stand on the foundation Paul laid (1 Cor 3:10–11) as pillars in the house of God. So returning to Jesus’ words: when the Jews asked Jesus to tell them plainly if He was the Christ, He said, “‘I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock’” (John 10:25–26).

Christians study Scripture in every denomination, in every sect, in every fringe cult to learn from Jesus the means to eternal life, but “the many” [from Matt 22:14] do not hear Jesus speaking through His words, hearing instead a dispensationalist message that what Jesus said only pertained to those who were under the law, and “Christians” are not under the law—hearing instead a message about the English speaking peoples being the endtime Israel that will be delivered from northern captivity when Christ comes, or hearing instead about “the third angel’s message” to the world. The damage done by those who have come in Jesus’ name to lead many astray is too great to fully comprehend, but a disciple can see this damage within themselves by what they think about Moses, about what they think the endtime gospel is, about what they think will happen to the mass of humankind that has never heard the name Jesus. Most likely, the disciple—you—will struggle to not be alarmed by those things that happen in this world.

That you are reading this Sabbath reading suggests that you are not alarmed by the evil that occurs in this world, or that you are at least willing to consider whether you should be alarmed by natural catastrophes and wars and rumors of wars … the sheep of His flock hear His voice in His words, and they follow Him, not any man or woman—and this is as it should be.

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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."

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