The Philadelphia Church

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 the Spirit of Prophecy.

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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.

Last Sabbath basic principles were reviewed. This Sabbath prophecy will be reviewed. And as the narrative of Scripture begins with marriage and ends with marriage, prophecy is about the toppling of Babylon, the humanoid-appearing hierarchy that presently rules the world, and replacing Babylon with the Son of Man, a human-appearing hierarchy that has the Christ Jesus as its Head and disciples as its Body.

Biblical prophecy ultimately isn’t about the nations of this world, but about spirit beings and mental topographies that are not of the four unfurled dimensions. Human languages, though, have no words for the things of the heavenly realm; thus, heavenly things can only be described in metaphoric language. About this the Apostle Paul writes, “For what can be known about God is plain to them [the ungodly], because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Rom 1:19-20) … the visible things of this world reveal the invisible things of God. Thus, language mimetically describing a tree that bears fruit in this world also metaphorically describes a person who bears the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) in the heavenly realm; for a tree in this world has a taxonomic relationship to a human being that is analogous to a born of Spirit disciple’s relationship to God.

Is there Scripture to support a tree describing a man? Yes, there is. The prophet Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that, “‘The tree you saw, which grew and became strong, so that its top reached to the heavens, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth, whose leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in which was food for all, and in whose branches the birds of the heavens lived—it is you, O king, who have grown and become strong’” (Dan 4:20-22).

The first principle for understanding biblical prophecy is that the visible reveals the invisible. Nebuchadnezzar, the physical king of Babylon, is a type of Satan, the prince of this world (Isa 14:4-21), as the first Adam was a type of Christ Jesus, the last Adam (Rom 5:14; 1 Co 15:45). Earthly Babylon was a type of spiritual Babylon as earthly Jerusalem was a type of heavenly Jerusalem. Now when adding the second principle for understand prophecy to the first—this second principle is that the physical precedes the spiritual (1 Co 15:46)—disciples will see that as there was a physically circumcised nation of Israel that was holy to YHWH (Ex 19:5-6) and was His firstborn son (Ex 4:22), there is now a spiritually circumcised nation of Israel (Rom 2:8-29; Col 2:11) that is holy to the Father (1 Pet 2:9) and the Body of His Firstborn Son. A physically circumcised Israelite in a house in Egypt roasting and eating the Passover lamb while watching and waiting for the death angel to pass over the land forms the lively shadow of an endtime spiritually circumcised son of God dwelling in a tent of flesh in this world, taking the sacraments of bread and wine on the night that Jesus was betrayed (1 Co 11:23-25). This disciple waits for liberation of the flesh from bondage to indwelling sin and death as the natural Israelite in Egypt waited from liberation from physical labor. So as there was a first Passover at which the natural nation of Israel was liberated from physical bondage to Pharaoh, a human king, there will be a second Passover at which the spiritual nation of Israel will be liberated from spiritual bondage to the king of Babylon. As the firstborn of men and beasts not covered by the blood of a Passover lamb were slain at the first Passover, the firstborn of Satan and humankind not covered by the blood of the Passover Lamb of God will be slain at the second Passover—and the magnitude of what happens at the second Passover will cause Israel’s exodus from Egypt to be forgotten (Jer 16:14-15; 23:7-8), for Israel will be recovered from the hand of Death.

In typology, Israel has not yet left Egypt. The spiritually circumcised nation waits being brought out from bondage to sin and death; waits entrance into heaven, the reality of God’s rest (Ps 95:10-11), the reality of a land flowing with milk and honey. But as physically circumcised Israel in Egypt rebelled against God and did not cast away its detestable things and did not cease to defile itself with the idols of Egypt (Ezek 20:5-8), the spiritually circumcised nation of Israel refuses to cast away its detestable things and to cease defiling itself with the idols of spiritual Babylon. And this is before God gave/gives Israel His statutes and His commandments—

But for the sake of His name, God did not pour out His wrath on natural Israel in Egypt. However, God will pour out His wrath on spiritually circumcised Israel as He foreswore he would do to the physically circumcised nation (Ezek 20:9). God will doubly repay endtime Israel for its iniquity “‘because they have polluted my [God’s] land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations’” (Jer 16:18) … to doubly repay will be to exact the death penalty in both this earthly realm as well as in the heavenly realm where the second death is being cast into the lake of fire.

What modern prophecy pundits inevitably fail to realize is that the wrath God said He would pour out on Israel will be poured when He brings Israel out from the peoples and countries where He has scattered the nation (Ezek 20:33-34). As God brought the natural nation of Israel into the wilderness of Sin, God will bring the spiritual nation—the Christian Church—“into the wilderness of the peoples” (v. 35) to enter into judgment with Israel “face to face” … Moses could not look upon the face of the Lord in its brilliance and live. Natural Israel could not abide hearing the voice of the Lord and asked that Moses speak to the nation (Ex 20:18-21). So God will not enter into judgment with the natural nation of Israel as this nation presently is, for the natural nation has not the strength or the ability to interact with God face to face. It will be with the spiritual nation, born of Spirit and empowered by the Holy Spirit that God enters into judgment face to face.

However, when God enters into judgment with the Church face to face, it will be like when God entered into judgment with the natural nation “in the wilderness of the land of Egypt” (Ezek 20:36).

Therefore, today the Christian Church dwells in spiritual Babylon as natural Israel dwelt in Egypt. The Church defiles itself with its lawlessness and with its worship of demons and the works of its hands. God has foresworn that He will pour out His wrath on all of Israel, both the natural nation and the spiritually circumcised nation, and that He will spend His anger against the nation; that He will cause Israel to pass under the rod and come into the bond of the covenant (Ezek 20:37); that He will purge out the rebels and those who transgress against Him, that He shall bring these rebels out of the land where they now dwell but He will not let them enter into His rest (v. 38).

The first 1260 days of the Tribulation are about God pouring out His wrath upon Israel; they are about God delivering Israel into the hand of the man of perdition (Dan 7:25) so that two of three parts of humankind shall perish (Zech 13:7-9) either physically or both spiritually and physically.

But these first 1260 days follow Israel’s liberation from bondage to indwelling sin and death … where the Church sits today in prophecy is foreshadowed by the six hours between when the Passover lambs were slain in Egypt and the death angel passed over the land, slaying all firstborns not covered by the blood of a paschal lamb. One long spiritual night began at Calvary, when the Passover Lamb of God—a Lamb appropriate to the size of the household of God—was sacrificed. Disciples, by taking the sacraments of bread and wine on the night that Jesus was betrayed, eat the Lamb that has been roasted whole by fire, the flames coming from Christ bearing the fiery sins of disciples. As natural Israel waited and watched throughout the long hours until midnight, their feet shod and their loins girded, staffs in their hands, disciples wait and watch for Christ’s return, few realizing that before His return there will be a second Passover liberation of Israel, the event that begins the seven endtime years.

With the realization that the Tribulation will begin with a second Passover liberation of Israel that was foreshadowed by the Exodus, a liberation and recovery of Israel that will be so dynamic that “‘the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, “As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,” but “As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all of the countries where he had driven them”’” (Jer 16:14-15, also 23:7-8), the person who “holds the testimony of Jesus” (Rev 12:17), which is the spirit of prophecy (Rev 19:10), will understand that this liberation of Israel will also be accompanied by the death of firstborn not covered by the blood of the Lamb. This death of firstborns will exceed two billion human beings, a mega-catastrophe of such portions that it is almost unimaginable. Human institutions will fail; national governments will collapse. Only the Church at the local level will survive, and unfortunately, these local fellowships will rebel against God in the great falling away 220 days after Israel’s liberation from sin and death.

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Now, to see the above scenario in prophecy: a host of prophecy pundits have sought the four beasts the prophet Daniel saw in vision (chap 7) between the bindings of secular history books, but Daniel’s visions were sealed and secret until the time of the end (Dan 12:4, 9; 8:26). These visions absolutely could not be understood earlier than the time of the end; so they could not be understood by 1^st-century CE apostles and disciples. They could not be understood by the 16^th-Century Protestant Reformers, or by Ellen G. White in the 19^th-Century, or by Herbert Armstrong in the 20^th-Century. They can only be understood when the generic “time of the end begins,” and in circular reasoning, the time of the end begins when these visions are unsealed.

The visions of Daniel were sealed by their shadows occurring after the prophecies were given, thereby making their shadows seem to be the fulfillment of the prophecies—and if a prophecy has already occurred, then another fulfillment of the prophecy isn’t expected even when Jesus said that the abomination that desolates spoken of by Daniel the prophet was an endtime phenomenon (Matt 24:15).

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The person conducting services should here read or assign to be read Daniel chapter 7.

Commentary: Because many prophecy pundits have one beast of Daniel chapter seven succeeding another, the destruction of the four beasts of the Prophet Daniel’s vision needs to be remembered:

As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of days took his seat … I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn [from v. 8] was speaking. And as I looked, the beast [from v. 7] was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beasts [from vv. 4-6], their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. (Dan 7:9-12).

The first three beasts outlive the fourth beast … dominion was given to the third beast (Dan 7:6), and this beast apparently retained its dominion even though the fourth beast "devoured, broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet" (v. 7). But the court of the Ancient of Days takes the dominion of the third beast, as well as any authority to reign over the kingdom of the world possessed by the other three beasts, and gives all dominion to the one like a Son of Man (vv. 13-14). While all four beasts have joint dominion when the court begins to sit in judgment and when the books are opened, the fourth beast is killed or dealt a deathblow and its body is given over to be burned. The first three beasts, while losing their dominion, temporarily retain their lives; thus the first three beasts outlive the fourth beast. Then one like a son of man (i.e., one that appears like a human being as opposed to a lion, bear or leopard) will receive everlasting dominion. The one like a son of man is the revealed Son of Man, composed of Christ Jesus as its head and spiritually circumcised disciples as its body. And the authority by which Christ reigns as King of kings during the Millennium comes from Him receiving the collective dominion of the four beasts. Therefore, the dominion of the four beasts equates to the one like a son of man’s authority to rule the kingdom of the world, this single kingdom being the collective of all worldly kingdoms. The four beasts together had world ruling authority. It isn’t the fourth beast that ruled the world. If it would have been, the other three beasts would have had no dominion to lose when the court sits in judgment.

Dominion is given to the Son of Man only once, not many times. This one time becomes a witness mark by which endtime prophecies and visions can be aligned … King Nebuchadnezzar’s vision ends with the God of heaven setting up a kingdom that will not be left to another people (Dan 2:44). The vision of the king of Greece trampling the king of Persia ends with the king of bold face that is the “little horn” (Dan 8:9) being broken but not by human hands (v. 25). The seventy weeks prophecy ends with the decreed end being poured out on the desolator (Dan 9:27). The long vision of what is written in the Book of Truth (Dan chaps 10-12) is for the latter days (10:14). This vision ends with “‘a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time’” (12:1). Jesus references this period in His Olivet Discourse, saying, “‘For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved’” (Matt 24:21-22). Those days are cut short by the kingdom of this world being taken from the four kings or beasts and given to the Son of Man (cf. Dan 7:9-14; Rev 11:15-19 – note the alignment of Dan 11:31 with Matt 24:15, and Dan 11:40-45 with Rev 11:19). The visions of Daniel conclude with dominion being given to the Son of Man, not with Christ Jesus’ return as the Messiah, an important distinction to make.

Rome is nowhere mentioned in endtime prophecies … virtually without exception neo-Arian, Anabaptist, Evangelical, and Sabbatarian Christians identify the fourth beast of Daniel chapter seven as the Roman Empire, even though Rome is never mentioned in endtime prophecies. They find Babylon, Persia, and Greece identified by the prophet Daniel; then cutting and pasting from uninspired history books, they insert Rome and the Roman Church wherever their muddled minds locate a lacunae [gap] in Holy Writ large enough to fit this spiritual prostitute, not realizing that they, themselves, commit even greater abominations in the restored house of God.

Again, the seventh chapter of Daniel doesn’t say what prophecy pundits would have it say: Babylon, Persia and Greece did not outlast Rome and the Holy Roman Empire. These three empires would have outlasted Rome if the fourth beast were Rome and the first three kings were Babylon, Persia, and Greece, as is usually taught by theologians.

Rome is not mentioned by Daniel, for the horizontal shadow of the Satan’s standing hierarchical government stretches from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar to Antiochus Epiphanes, who polluted the temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar and placing a statute of Zeus in the Holy of holies. These physical abominations are the shadow of the endtime abomination (Matt 24:15) who is the man of perdition declaring himself God (2Thess 2:4).

Prophecy pundits who find the Roman Empire in the visions of Daniel do real damage to the spiritually circumcised descendants of Abraham. They do not prepare the firstborn son of the last Eve to keep the commandments of God during the Tribulation, nor will they prepare a spiritual Seth, the third-born son of the last Eve, to refuse the mark of the beast. Instead, many of them teach that the “born-again Church” will escape the Tribulation by a pre-Trib, or mid-Trib bodily rapture, which is akin to prophesying Peace, peace, when there will be no peace. And the penalty for doing so is having the prophecy pundit’s name cut off from the Book of Life.

Not to be outdone by either early or endtime critics and reformers, the Roman Church, teaching a realized eschatology, would have this present evil age being the manifestation of the kingdom of God, with the wheat harvest being thrashed in purgatory.

A mistake that goes back to the conflict for the intellectual heart of Christianity between Ephesus and Alexandria, between biblical literalists and allegorists, is the triumph of realized eschatology, the study of last things that holds the kingdom of God arrived with the man Jesus of Nazareth. Realized eschatology supports a mono-theocracy, such as the Roman Church’s reign in Western Europe, but it contains within itself the argument against its validity. Christ Jesus’ reign as King of kings on this earth is a millennium long. A new heaven and a new earth will come after approximately a thousand years (the length of the great White Throne Judgment is unknown) of the glorified Jesus’ reign. If realized eschatology were true, the new heaven and the new earth would have come at the conclusion of the first millennium of the Common Era.

Jesus told Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world, nor from this world (John 18:36); so Jesus does not today reign over the single kingdom of this world. It has not yet been given to Him, and it won’t be given to Him until halfway through the seven endtime years of tribulation (Rev 11:15-18; Dan 7:13-14). Thus, the kingdom of this world remains under the dominion of the “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Eph 2:2). This prince is also the king of Babylon (Isa 14:4-21), the spiritual kingdom that takes its identity from its head [it is into this kingdom that all of humankind was consigned as serfs to sin], as well as the king of Tyre (Ezek 28:11-19). And what is seen is that the prince of this world, like the Son of Man that is Christ, Head and Body, is not one entity but a hierarchy, represented by the humanoid image that King Nebuchadnezzar saw (Dan 2:31-33).

The humanoid image that Nebuchadnezzar saw is spiritual Babylon, the single kingdom of this world that will be given to the Son of Man to rule. Christ Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords will be the Head of the Son of Man. Glorified disciples will be the Body; they will be the many kings and lords over whom Christ reigns.

Even though the Most High or Ancient of Days retained ultimate control of the kingdom of this world, for a while (6000 years) the Most High has given humanity to the prince of disobedience to produce a situation that is the inverse of what happened in the heavenly realm when an anointed cherub dragged a third of the angels into disobedience. The Most High will draw a third part of humankind into obedience and into the kingdom of heaven (Zech 13:7-9). The third of the stars that the tail of the red dragon swept down (Rev 12:4; Dan 8:10) forms the dark shadow of these glorified saints.

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The reader should now read Daniel chapter 2, verses 31-45.

Commentary: The image Nebuchadnezzar saw in vision is that of the spiritual hierarchy of Babylon, with Satan as its king and head (again, Isa 14:4). The division of this image occurs in the bronze portion of the statue (Dan 2:32 — the thighs are bronze), and the bronze kingdom shall rule the world (v. 39), not the iron legs. The fourth kingdom initially appears divided, and though strong, it is never united, but has one leg being the image of the other.

The Roman Empire is not divided with two capitals until the reign of Constantine. It is one kingdom when it conquers the Greeks.

Note: when the image is broken and blown away like chaff from a thrashing floor (v. 35), all four metals are present, plus miry [unfired] clay.

The instincts of prophecy pundits, ancient and modern, are to identify the four metals of Nebuchadnezzar’s image with the four beasts of chapter 7, but these instincts produce falsity! because when the kingdom of the world is given to one like the Son of Man, there is no body for the fourth beast (Dan 7:11); yet the iron of the lower legs and toes of the image King Nebuchadnezzar saw remains with the bronze, silver, and gold when all are blown away by the wind. More than just a head dealt a death wound remains of the iron until all of the metals (along with the unfired clay) disappear before the Breath of God. But all that remains of the fourth beast is a head that has been dealt a mortal wound. So identifying Rome as either the iron legs of Nebuchadnezzar’s image or as the fourth beast of Daniel chapter seven is problematic, and is adding Rome to Scripture.

The four beasts of Daniel chapter seven, with their seven heads, appear as the first beast of Revelation chapter 13 when they have their dominion taken from them but their lives extended. Their lives are extended at the same time in the endtime chronological record as when the first beast of Revelation chapter thirteen appears. Thus, what is seen in Revelation is a chronology that has the events of chapter 12:7-13:5 occurring on day 1260,  a double day that binds the first 1260 days of the seven endtime years with the last 1260 days—a day foreshadowed by the day when the sun stood still for Joshua (Josh 10:12-14).

Daniel tells king Nebuchadnezzar that into his hands God “‘has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making [him] rule over them all’” (Dan 2:38), but Nebuchadnezzar never reigned over China, which was certainly a great empire by the time of the Greeks, an empire that equaled or exceeded the size, strength, and technological development of Rome. However, Daniel doesn’t speak hyperbole to the king, but the reality that king Nebuchadnezzar was the type or shadow of the prince of disobedience that reigns over the mental topography of human beings wherever they live. The broadcast of this prince of disobedience affects both beasts and birds just as the prophesied outpouring of Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28) will change the natures of the great predators, thereby allowing the lion to lie down with the lamb (Isa 11:6–9) without devouring it.

Human nature is a received nature in that it is not solely the product of biology, but is produced by the broadcast of the prince of disobedience.

Satan as the ruler of this world rules humanity as the spiritual king of Babylon by reigning over mental landscapes. Human kings such as Nebuchadnezzar reign over a physical landscape and over physical subjects. Spiritual kings reign over a mental landscape and over spiritual subjects; they reign from the supra-dimensional realm usually identified as heaven. And the kingdom of the world (i.e., control of human beings’ mental topography) will not be given to Christ Jesus until the Ancient of Days’ court sits in session, even though Christ qualified to reign when He defeated Satan mentally.

This present human nature will be jettisoned and a new nature will be given to humankind when the world is baptized in Spirit. The demonstration of human nature being a received nature occurred when king Nebuchadnezzar was given the mind of a beast for seven years (Dan 4:28–36) as the shadow of the prince of disobedience being given the mind of a man when he is cast from heaven (Rev 12:9-10). The seven years that Nebuchadnezzar lived as a beast will be for Satan the last three and a half years of the Tribulation plus the short while he is loosed after the 1000 year reign of Christ. And wisdom is here required, for the false prophet is also given the mind of a man (Dan 7:4). But the false prophet is not either the dragon or the beast dealt a mortal wound (cf. Rev 13:3; Dan 7:11). Nor is the dragon one of the four beasts of Daniel chapter seven whereas the false prophet and the beast dealt a mortal wound are. All three, though, [i.e., the false prophet, the beast, and the dragon] can send forth demons (Rev 16:13-14); they are themselves demonic angels.

Jesus said His kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36). The Apostle Paul said that Hagar corresponds to present day Jerusalem, but Christians are of the Jerusalem above, which isn’t a city anywhere now on earth. Plus, Paul said that disciples are epistles from Christ delivered by the ministry, written not in ink but with Spirit on the tablets of the heart (2Co 3:3). These epistles are recorded in the Book of Life, with this Book of Life bearing to Scripture the same relationship that the law of God written on stone tablets has to the laws of God written on hearts and minds—the same relationship that the first Adam has to the last Adam. Thus, the kingdom of the world that the Son of Man receives bears to earthly kingdoms of this world the same relationship as the Book of Life has to Scripture.

When the glorified Jesus comes as the Messiah, He will be Lord of lords and King of kings (Rev 19:16), thereby reigning over both physical and mental landscapes through controlling human thoughts and desires. As the prince of this world reigns through his broadcast of disobedience that affects the mind and heart, not the flesh of hands and loins, the glorified Jesus will reign through the Holy Spirit liberating the flesh from disobedience so that all can obey God by having the mind of Christ.

When Jesus comes again, there will be no other religion but Christianity, false (under the Antichrist) or genuine. There will not be Buddhists, or Muslims, or Atheists. For when the kingdom of the world is given to Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all of humanity (Joel 2:28). All human beings will have become part of Abraham’s spiritually circumcised seed. Satan will have been cast from heaven (Rev 12:9-10), so he can no longer deceive human beings by being the prince of the power of the air. When cast down, though, he will arrive on earth claiming to be the Messiah. He will physically try to recapture his former mental slaves by requiring all who buy and sell to accept the physical mark of the beast [Χξς – chi xi stigma] (Rev 13:18). He will give his usurped authority to the dominionless beasts of Daniel 7, and he will make an image of the fourth beast, whose body is destroyed, and he will make this image speak. But as the Antichrist (the imitation of the returned Messiah), he will not make additional Buddhists and Muslims. All of humanity will have been born-from-above through receipt of the Holy Spirit. So Satan, when cast from heaven, will try to subvert these newly born spiritual Israelites, thereby causing these Israelites to lose their salvation, a sure promise to all who endure to the end (Matt 24:13) without taking the mark of the beast.

The “realized eschatology” of the Latin Church developed when Alexandrian Christianity prevailed against the theologians at Ephesus. The allegorists of Alexandria did not take Scripture as their primary source of thought and theological structure. They did not use Scripture to provide definitions and distinctions, or as the basis of their homilies. And they could not win their arguments with the theologians at Ephesus as long as only Scripture was used to support pagan Greek concepts such as human beings having an immortal soul, received at human conception. Thus, the Alexandrian school devalued individual Bible study by claiming that the laity could only read Scripture literally, and was thus unable to understand Scripture. Therefore, when 3^rd and 4^th Century CE disagreements between the Alexandrian school and the theologians at Ephesus (who became identified as Arians) required that the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine determine the nature of Christ Jesus’ divinity, the theological realization that Satan as the spiritual king of Babylon reigns over human beings was aborted. What theologian was willing to tell the Emperor that he, Constantine, was an agent of the devil? So at the Council of Nicea (ca 325 CE), the spiritually holy nation of God was formally taken as mental captives to spiritual Babylon. Constantine wasn’t about to identify himself as an agent of Satan, nor were bishops that he compelled to come to Nicea about to argue that position. And this position would not be argued again until the 16^th-Century when God ordered that His spiritual house be rebuilt.

When the conflict between Alexandria and Ephesus was extended into the 4^th-Century, both schools were teaching error, and both schools were subservient to spiritual princes [sars] who were not of God. The spiritual king of the North reigned over the Arians, and the spiritual king of the South reigned over the Alexandrians. These two spiritual princes fought wars through their surrogates, with the Vandals sacking Rome as the last generally recognized war between Arians and Trinitarians.

But spiritual princes outlast generations of human beings. The king of the North reigns today over neo-Arian denominations—this king is the fourth beast of Daniel 7, and until the seven endtime years begin through the second Passover liberation of Israel, he does not emerge from the stump of the first king of Greece, the great horn that will be broken because he is first at the second Passover liberation of Israel. The little horn appears on the head of this fourth beast, so the man of perdition will be a neo-Arian Christian. He will not be a pope, or someone to whom the pope assigns his authority. Rather, he will war against Trinitarian Christianity, and will eventually prevail only to be dealt a deadly wound after declaring himself God. He is the spiritual embodiment of “death,” so when the two witnesses are publicly resurrected from death (Rev 11:11), he will be publicly dealt his death wound … “death” will be slain when it loses its sting and its ability to end life.

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The reader should now read Daniel chapters 8, 10 & 11.

Commentary: The four beasts that shared dominion (Dan 7:12) are the four horns of the he-goat (Dan 8:7, 22 & 11:4), two of which are the kings of the South and of the North. The he-goat is the king of Greece against whom the angel who brought Daniel knowledge of what was written in the Book of Truth would have to fight (Dan 10:20); he is not a human king. He is not Alexander the Great, who served to seal the prophecy by being the lively shadow of this spiritual king or prince [sar].

The first beast of Revelation 13 is the king of Greece.

As the he-goat is not a human king, the kings of the North and of the South are not human kings. It is these kings of the North and South that are the iron legs of Nebuchadnezzar’s image. From the king of the North comes the man of perdition, who takes away the daily and sets up the abomination of desolation (cf. Dan 11:31; Matt 24:15) at the time of the end, or shortly before the court of the Ancient of Days sits in judgment. The setting up of this endtime abomination that desolates is dated to 1290 days before the coming of the Messiah (Dan 12:11). Thus, the court sits in session (Rev 11:15) forty-two months or 1260 days before the return of Christ.

Note the following:

• In the first year of Belshazzar as king of Babylon, the prophet Daniel saw a vision that greatly alarmed him. Daniel wrote the dream down, and told the sum of the matter. So what readers receive is the sum of the matter through the principle of narrative economy, which will have only what’s important for typological exegesis being recorded.
• What has been recorded in Holy Writ is that portion of a historical narrative about Israel that is relevant to the spiritual reality. This recorded portion forms the physical shadow of a spiritual phenomenon, which is why the books of the Maccabees are not canonical Scripture, for Christ will break the reign of the spiritual king of the North in a different manner from how the Hasmonean family broke Antiochus IV’s reign over Jerusalem.

Treating Daniel’s summation of the vision he saw in the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon as inspired text rather than as an idol or as myth, understanding of the vision begins by locating the vision in prophetic context.

• Working backwards from the end of the matter (Dan 7:28), Daniel’s summation has “the kingdom and the dominion [of the fourth beast] and the greatness of kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High” (v. 27).
• Daniel’s vision occurred with a unified chronology: one event follows another.
1. The four beasts appear, one after another, with the fourth beast having ten horns.
2. Then the little horn came up and uprooted three of the ten horns.
3. Then the Ancient of Days takes His seat, and the court sits in judgment.
4. The little horn spoke great words, but the fourth beast is killed, and its body burned, while dominion is taken from the other three beasts.
5. Then one like the son of man came to the Ancient of Days, and dominion was given to him.

So in reverse, the kingdom and dominion will be given to the people of the saints of the Most High (Dan 7:27). Then the court sits in judgment (v. 26). Then the little horn "shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they [the saints] shall be given into his [the little horn’s] hand for a time, times, and half a time" (v. 25). A time, times, and half a time is usually recognized as three and a half years. It is the same length of time as forty-two months, and 1260 days. But the expression time, times, and half a time reckons this length of time from God’s perspective rather than from the perspective of angelic beings, or human beings. Therefore, verse 25 expounds the latter portion of verse 8 and the first of verse 11. The saints are given into the hand of the little horn for 1260 days immediately prior to the fourth beast being destroyed.

Continuing to work in reverse, the ten horns are ten kings that arise from the fourth kingdom (Dan 7:24). They are all in place prior  to when the little horn arises: "and another shall arise after them; he shall be different from the former ones, and he shall put down three kings" (same verse). So the little horn isn’t the Roman Church gaining control of the Roman Empire and uprooting Roman paganism. The ten horns are not ten successive kings or kingdoms, but contemporary kings. They are not ten revivals of the Roman Empire. They are ten kings who can telephone each other, for they co-exist 1260 days before the fourth beast is judged and dominion taken from all four beasts. And three of them are uprooted by the little horn that makes war against the saints of the Most High. Logic would have it that three of these kings will not go along with the little horn making war on the saints. The little horn “seemed greater than its companions” (v. 20) so it was able to uproot three of its companions.

• All eleven horns temporarily coexist in power.
• All eleven are of the fourth beast, or king (from v. 17) who shares dominion with three other kings, even though this fourth king is different from the other three and is terrifying, dreadful and exceedingly strong (v. 7).
• Because the saints have been given into the hand of the little horn (v. 25), the fourth king devours and tramples saints with its iron teeth and bronze claws (from v.19) so the disciple now knows more about this fourth beast than do the many prophecy pundits that will have the horns being historic revivals of the Roman and Holy Roman Empire.

A host of prophecy pundits have concluded that these 1260 days represent 1260 years when the Roman Church had control of Christianity in Western Europe. But the Roman Church doesn’t successfully devour and trample spiritually circumcised saints; rather, it miss-teaches disciples, and though the sacrament of infant baptism, it made sure that no spiritually circumcised Israelite dwelt in heavenly Jerusalem for twelve centuries. It usurped authority not given it, but it has also nurtured disciples in spiritual Babylon [of whom the eunuchs Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego serve as types] who will be resurrected to life. So the Roman Church is an easy target at which to shoot. It is large enough that even the most blind prophecy pundit can hit some portion of it. And large numbers of very blind pundits have taken cheap shots at it, as if the Reformation were the opening day of duck season.

Most Western prophecy pundits identify the “little horn” as the Pope; i.e., the endtime Pope that will unite Europe under German leadership. But this little horn shall speak words against the Most High and shall think to change times and the law (Dan 7:25). No human being will ever come into the Most High’s presence, let alone speak great words against the Ancient of Days. So from the context of Daniel’s vision, it can be asserted that the little horn isn’t a secular king. He cannot be a human king and speak words against the Most High to the Most High. But he is king over a false Christianity, and he shall wear out the saints who are those disciples that by faith keep the commandments of God. Only a remnant of these saints—the ones who also have the testimony of Jesus (Rev 12:17)—from the beginning of the endtime years will escape into the second half of these seven endtime years.

All Israelites that keep the commandments by faith are the endtime saints, with the Sabbath commandment being the sign that identifies these Israelites to the man of perdition. During the first 1260 days of the seven, endtime years, Sabbath observance marks who is of God in the same way that accepting the mark of the beast [Χξς] brands who is of the Antichrist during the second 1260 days of the endtime years. The man of perdition forms a type and time-linked shadow of Satan who comes as the reality of the Antichrist when he is cast from heaven halfway through the seven, endtime years (Rev 12:9-10). The man of perdition comes by the workings of Satan (2 Thess 2:9); literally, the man of perdition is a human being possessed by Satan, with this human being convinced that the angel inside him is Jesus Christ.

The little horn rules theologically. He uproots three sects or denominations of the Christianity of the Cross by changing times and the law. He will wear out saints who keep the law. So the three uprooted kings reign over theological kingdoms. The remaining seven kings unite behind wearing out the saints for 1260 days prior to Satan being cast from heaven and coming as the Antichrist to further wear out all of humanity, which will be why enduring to the end becomes a trial of faith … consider for a moment the theological incompatibility of Roman Catholicism and Mormonism. If there are genuine saints in both denominations, would one wear out the saints in the other if one were to exercise great dominion over visible Christendom? Would one try to convert the other? Would one wage real war against the other? The Vandals sacked Rome, and Trinitarian Christians lynched Joseph Smith. So yes, either would wage a shooting war against the other if the theological stakes were high enough. And stakes will be that high once the Tribulation begins.

The last Eve, like the first, will give birth to three sons, a spiritual Cain, Abel, and Seth. The prophet Isaiah, quoting the Lord, wrote, ‘"Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she delivered a son.…For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children’" (Isa 66:7–8). The last Eve, created when Jesus breathed on ten of His disciples (John 20:22), has today in her womb two sons that will be delivered in a day, one son hated, one loved, with the hated son to be delivered first, this firstborn son a spiritual Cain whose offering to God is even now, before birth, the fruit of the ground, bread and wine, the sacraments that would represent the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God, if taken on the Passover. Those who are of this spiritual Cain take the sacraments on any night or day of the year except the night that Jesus was betrayed.

The firstborn spiritual Cain will slay his righteous brother who’s offering to God is a lamb; specifically, the Lamb of God offered through taking the sacraments on the night Jesus was betrayed. Those disciples who are of spiritual Abel kept the commandments by faith and cover their weaknesses through taking the sacraments on the 14^th of Abib, the night that Jesus was betrayed.

Halfway through seven endtime years of tribulation (after the little horn of Daniel 7:8, 20-21, 25 has the saints given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time), the court of the Ancient of Days sits in session. The first three beasts of Daniel 7 keep their bodies but lose their dominion; the fourth beast loses its body and is dealt a mortal wound. All four beasts are horns on the head of the spiritual king of Greece, and in Revelation chapter 13, these beasts appear immediately after their judgment:

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?" (Rev 13:1-4)

The dragon is Satan, cast from heaven, and the only authority he has to give is that which he usurps from Christ Jesus … his means of usurpation is to claim that he is the Messiah; hence he is the true Antichrist of whom the man of perdition was a copy and type. And he is “believable” because the body shape of the fourth beast is the primary icon/idol of Christendom, the cross; so when he makes an image of this beast (13:14), he does so through the Christianity of the cross.

Christ Jesus as the paschal Lamb of God is the reality of the daily, the morning and evening sacrifices. The lambs that were daily sacrificed form the shadow of Christ Jesus’ sacrifice; thus, the daily putting on of Christ Jesus’ righteousness as if this righteousness were a garment (Gal 3:27) cloaks disciples with the spiritual brilliance of the sun (Rev 12:1). And this putting on of Christ will end with the great rebellion of saints when the lawless one or man of perdition is revealed (2 Thess 2:3). Then, ‘"the transgression that makes desolate"’ (Dan 8:13) will have put an end to the daily sacrifice, or will have put an end to disciples covering themselves with the righteousness that is their obedience by faith. This end is dated to 2300 days before ‘"the sanctuary shall be restored to its righteousness"’ (v. 14), thereby placing the great rebellion 2300 days before Christ Jesus’ return, or approximately 220 days after disciples are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The firstborn son of the last Eve, 2300 days before Jesus returns, will attempt to enter God’s rest on the following day, just as the nation that left Egypt attempted to enter God’s rest on the following day (Num 14: 40–41 & Ps 95:10–11). This will be the great rebellion for which [as if a single man] this firstborn spiritual son (like the natural son in the Wilderness at Paran) is condemned to die. This son, born before the last Eve experiences her labor pains, will, after rebelling against God, slay his righteous brother. This son will then be marked by God with the mark of death. And the last Eve will give birth to a third son, a spiritual Seth, born-from-above when the Holy Spirit is poured out upon all flesh. This third son only has to endure to the end to be saved (Matt 24:13), to enter God’s rest.

The seven endtime years of tribulation begin with the second Passover liberation of Israel; so 220 days later (2520 minus 2300), about Christmas time, spiritual Cain will rebel against God and will return to sin. Thus, the timeline evident in Scripture has the liberation of Israel occurring in the second month on the 14^th day at even—2520 days later will be the 10^th day of the first month seven years later, the day when Passover lambs are selected, when Israel crossed the Jordan, and when Jesus entered Jerusalem. On this day, the saints who sleep in the dust will awake to cross into heaven, the reality of the rest of God. So these saints will be with Jesus when He again drinks the fruit of the vine on the 14^th day of the first month at even (Matt 26:29).

Note: when the seven endtime years of tribulation begin, the Church by being filled with the Holy Spirit will be analogous to what happened in Acts 2, and it is through being filled with the Holy Spirit that the last Eve brings forth the two sons that presently wrestle in her womb, one son hated, one loved—one son lawless, one son keeping the commandments of God by faith, with this faith counted as righteousness. The lawless son will, even though liberated from sin, return to his sinful ways, with the outward manifestation of this sinfulness having this son attempting to enter God’s rest on the following day. And this lawless son will pursue Sabbath-keepers wherever they flee as this lawless son becomes the active agent of the spiritual king of Babylon, thereby sacrificing the Body of the Lamb of God as the Head was sacrificed. These are the saints who must be killed as their fellow servants were martyred (Rev 6:9-11).

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The reader should now read Revelation chapter 13.

Commentary: During the second half of the Tribulation—the forty-two months when the composite first beast of Revelation 13 is allowed to exercise authority received from the dragon (Rev 13:5)—all of humanity will have received the Holy Spirit; will be born of Spirit (Joel 2:28), and will be born empowered. All will be spiritual Israelites. There will only be one faith: Christianity. And the saints will be divided between those who have accepted the mark of the beast (Χξς – chi xi stigma) and worship the beast, and those who refuse the tattoo and refuse to worship the beast. Some of those who refuse to worship the image of the beast will be slain (v. 15), especially if they are not inside the walls of spiritual Jerusalem, which has theological rather than geographical coordinates.

The fourth beast of Daniel chapter 7 is one of the four horns of chapter 8 and 11. This fourth king is also named “Death,” the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse (Rev 6:8), and this king or beast will be dealt a deathblow when the two witnesses are publicly resurrected. Death will have been defeated, but the Antichrist will construct an image of death and will make this image speak. And for some saints the following will apply: "[I]f anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain" (Rev 13:10); and ‘"Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!’" (14:13). The Antichrist, through constructing an image of Death, will kill some saints, but as Israel under Joshua and Caleb prevailed against the many kings of Canaan, so too will the saints prevail in mental or spiritual combat against the Antichrist. Lead by the remnant that keep the commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus, the third son of the last Eve will mentally defeat those who take upon themselves the mark of death.

Again, the four beasts of Daniel 7 are the four horns that arise when the great horn of the spiritual king of Greece is broken. They are indeed kings, and they have reigned over portions of the king of Greece’s domain at least as far back as Athens and Sparta. They have reigned over the holy nation of Israel since the 3^rd and 4^th Centuries. And as the great spiritual harvest of humanity nears, they will reign for a short while over the earth. Their rule shall be hard as iron.

• The four-headed third beast is Sin, the king of the South, the king of Egypt. It is Sin that makes merchandise of both the early  barley harvest and the main crop wheat harvest. However, Sin cannot harm those who are “processed” through taking the Passover sacraments (Rev 6:5-6); the third horseman is not to harm the oil and the wine, the refined products of the branches that have been grafted onto the root of righteousness. These disciples have already been measured and weighed and found acceptable.
• The fourth beast is Death, the king of the North, the king of Assyria. He is the prince who comes from Sin and who becomes stronger that Sin himself (Dan 11:5).
• The first beast is the false prophet, the king from the West.
• The second beast is Abaddon, the king from the East, king of the bottomless pit.

Following the second Passover, Israel will be liberated from indwelling sin but not from death.

When the first or great horn of the king of Greece is broken because he is the first, the firstborn [first convert] of the anointed cherub in whom iniquity was found, four horns appear, with these four being the four beasts of Daniel chapter 7 as well as the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. Their shadow is the division of Alexander’s empire between his four generals, with Ptolemy I of Egypt initially receiving dominion over the promised land of Judea. This general forms the shadow of the spiritual king of the South, who received dominion (Dan 7:6) and has spiritually reigned over visible Christianity since the 4^th-century. This general is also a type of Pharaoh, and a representation of sin, from which the spiritually circumcised nation will be liberated at a second Passover. The first, second and fourth beasts didn’t receive dominion, but shared dominion with the third horn. And here wisdom is required: Death receives shared dominion with Sin, for through sin all have come short of the glory of God and all have died. But Death has no dominion when Sin does not reign over the person. However, it is true that once the great horn of the king of Greece is broken, “‘the king of the south shall be strong, but one of his princes shall be stronger than he and shall rule, and his authority shall be a great authority’” (11:5). This latter king shall be stronger than Sin for when the flesh is liberated from lawlessness at the second Passover through being empowered by the Holy Spirit, Sin will no longer dwell in a disciple’s fleshly member. But the flesh will remain subject to Death coming from outside sources: martyrdom. It will not yet have put on immortality.

Whereas sin and death today dwell together in the members of disciples (Rom 7:21-25), following the second Passover, Israel will be liberated from indwelling sin but not from death.

As the Ptolemaic and Seleucid Empires fought over control of the promised land in the sealing shadow, the third and the fourth beasts as subordinate kings under the king of Greece have fought over Christianity since God sent His holy nation into mental bondage to Satan. But their warring was not foregrounded in the world because they were subordinate kings. Today, they remain subordinate kings to the great horn of the king of Greece. However, when the sar of Greece tramples and destroys the sar of Persia and has no more empires to conquer, this great horn will be supernaturally broken (he will be broken because he is a firstborn not covered by the blood of the Lamb of God). He will be broken when lives are again given as ransom (Isa 43:4) for the liberation of the firstborn son of God. He will be broken at the second Passover, and the four horns will arise in his place. These four horns or kings will then not be subordinate to any king but Satan, who continues to reign over humanity as the prince of the power of the air. But they aren’t taking orders from Satan, who sowed rebellion and reaps rebellion. They are, in a colloquial expression, going for it. They know time is short; they know they are in “the time of the end”; they have to prove their ways will work; and they will somewhat work together to demonstrate how correct they were when they joined Satan’s rebellion against God. They all have a role to play in the emerging dominance of Christianity in the world. They are, indeed, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Returning to Daniel chapter seven — the first beast is like a lion with eagles’ wings, which are plucked off when it is lifted up and made to stand upright like a man; it is given the mind of a man. It now looks somewhat like a man, and it thinks like a man. When seen again as part of the composite first beast of Revelation 13, the dominant feature is this beast’s mouth, from which thoughts like those of a man are expressed. This beast is, again, a king. This beast is also the first horseman: “and I [John] looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer” (Rev 6:2).

Remember, in Revelation the appearance of an entity is how the entity functions in the plan of God. The first horseman functions as a rider with a crown who goes forth conquering and to conquer. He isn’t the little horn that speaks mighty words against the Ancient of Days, the little horn who attempts to change times and the law. Instead, this first beast, this first horseman is the false prophet who performed the miracles responsible for deceiving those who worshiped the image of beast and accepted his mark. The false prophet is a spiritual king, for John “saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon [Satan] and out of the beast [who had been dealt a mortal wound] and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. All three, the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet send forth demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty” (Rev 16:13–14). The false prophet is like, in authority and in substance, Satan and the beast. While the identity of the antecedent for the pronoun "they" in verse 14 can be argued, the two possibilities are that John tells readers that Satan, the beast and the false prophets are demonic spirits; or John tells readers that Satan, the beast and the false prophet command demonic spirits. Either possibility confirms that the false prophet is a demon, one with near equal authority to the beast and to Satan.

The false prophet will, most likely, come to fulfill an existing office of “prophet.” This false prophet will be allied with the beast, the spiritual king that functions as and represents Death. The beast is the king of the North, the king who has traditionally reigned over the northern house of spiritual Israel, over Arian Christianity. Thus, the false prophet will, most likely, step into the office of prophet of the principle neo-Arian denomination—and it is this denomination that has already prepared for the Tribulation and has plans in place to leverage food into discipleship.

The second beast appears like a bear, with ribs in its mouth. The feet of the composite king of Greece belong to this second beast, and disciples find that this beast is Abaddon in Hebrew, and Apollyon in Greek. He is the king of the bottomless pit, and he is king over the locusts that attack human beings who are not sealed by God. He alone can kill the two witnesses, who are human beings with spiritual powers.

• The locusts the prophet Joel described destroy vineyards, fig trees, and grain fields.
• The locusts under the command of Abaddon are not to touch any green growth [again, in Revelation, appearance equals attributes].

Both descriptions give the locusts lions’ teeth (cf. Joel 1:6; Rev 9:8), so there are differences with similarities between the two accounts of locusts.

• Joel tells the priests to consecrate a fast (Joel 1:14) for “the day of the Lord is near" (v. 15 — plus 2:1). Joel then goes on to describe what seems to be a supernatural army somewhat like the troops of cavalry that kill a third of humanity (Rev 9:13-19). Plus Joel describes the sun, moon, and stars not giving off their light in terms suggestive of the fourth trumpet plague (Rev 8:12-13).
• The day of the Lord is near during only one period of human history. It wasn’t near during Joel’s lifetime.

The day of the Lord is near when the good news that all who endure to the end will be saved is proclaimed to the world as a witness to all nations (Matt 24:13-14). This gospel is now going to the world.

• What about touch nothing green versus destroying crops?

When appearance is function, green crops typologically represent humanity not yet born-from-above.

The last Eve will bear three sons, two of whom are delivered before or with her first hard labor pain. The third will continue to grow in the last Eve’s womb until the Holy Spirit is poured out upon all flesh, and this third spiritual son will not be “ripe for harvesting” until sometime during the second half of the seven endtime years of tribulation. Thus, this third part of humankind is as growing green plants before the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Father and of the Son. In a scenario in which appearance is function, green crops typologically represent the physical shadow of humanity not yet born-from-above.

The little horn of the fourth beast is “‘the prince who is to come’” (Dan 9:26) of the seventy weeks prophecy. “‘His [alternate reading] end shall come with a flood’” (same verse). This is the flood the earth swallows (cf. Ex 15:12; Rev 12:16). Then “‘to the end there shall be war’” (Dan 9:26). So the Tribulation will be difficult to endure. Prior to the court of the Ancient of Days sitting in session, if the days of the third and fourth beasts’ dominion were not cut short, no flesh would be saved alive (Matt 24:22). Then following Satan being cast from heaven, there will be war until Christ returns as the Messiah. The birth pains of Israel will, indeed, be hard labor.

The Apostle Paul writes in his second epistle to the Thessalonians, "The coming of the lawless one is…with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2:9-12). Paul’s warning is that God will send a delusion, which is the spiritual equivalent of God sending circumcised Israelites into physical captivity. A delusion is mental captivity from which no repentance or escape is possible.

Paul believed he was living in the time of the end, as have most saints ever since for one long spiritual night began at Calvary, a night equivalent to when death angels passed throughout all of Egypt. So Paul directs his warning about God sending a delusion to saints who will be deceived by the coming of the man of perdition. But Paul’s warning was sealed by a lesser delusion sending lawless saints into captivity in spiritual Babylon. This lesser delusion is only lesser to the extent that it forms the shadow of endtime Israel’s great falling away when the kings of the North and of the South begin to reign over spiritual Babylon as the two legs of iron.

The endtime gospel isn’t another message about Jesus being the Bread of Life [You shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God]. Nor is it another message about the soon-coming kingdom of God—the coming of this kingdom will be evident once the seven endtime years begin. Rather, it is the good news that all of humanity will be born of Spirit when the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Father and His Son. Then, everyone who endures to the end shall be saved (Matt 24:13; 10:22).

Neo-Arian Christian sects and denominations will convert large portions of the world to their brand of false Christianity prior to the days being shortened or no flesh will survive (Matt 24:22). Satan as king of Babylon rules as king of kings (Dan 2:37), but there is a subservient [to him] spiritual king over Islam, and a different one over Buddhism. This fourth beast goes after them, while not ignoring the saints who keep the commandments of God, especially the Sabbath commandment. The reign of the fourth beast and the rise of the little horn will cause genuine saints great difficulty, but non-Christian religions will be broken and devoured by this fourth beast. Some won’t appreciate being devoured, so there will be war. The outcome of these wars has already been determined: "Christianity" wins, but this Christianity is that of the cross, not the Christianity of liberated saints who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.

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Sabbatarian denominations have long warned that a future Pope will compel Sunday observance … yes, they have! But they have warned their disciples about a future Pope while wearing spiritual binders that have kept them from seeing what will truly happen.

When “the little horn” wears out the saints for a time, times, and half a time, the saints will have been liberated at the second Passover and shown the Sabbath. They will then be tested by the Sabbath as they resist the little horn that changes times and the law, compelling saints to return to an 8^th-day assembly or be persecuted without mercy. And most Sabbatarian denominations have long warned their disciples that a future Pope with gain control of all of Christianity and will compel Sunday observance. These warnings have prepared their disciples to be tested on the Sabbath, but the attack will come from a source that will surprise them: it will not come from the Latin Church, but from behind. Most Sabbath-keeping sects and denominations are neo-Arians, and the attack on the Sabbath will come from within Arian Christianity. These sects will be uprooted horns that receive no help from the denominations ruled by the king of the South. They will either need to be ensconced within the walls of spiritual Jerusalem, or they will unsuccessfully scramble to stay alive for the next three and a half years.

In spiritual Israel’s shadow, Moses leads the circumcised nation into the wilderness of Sin on the fifteenth of the second month (Ex 16:1). The second year that Israel is in the wilderness, the second Passover’s lamb is killed at even on the fourteenth of the second month. This second year, second Passover is the shadow of spiritual Israel being liberated from sin. So the events that happen immediately after physically circumcised Israel enters the wilderness of Sin forms the shadow of what happens to spiritually circumcised Israelites, who have previously been baptized, after they are liberated from bondage to the king of Babylon. And when Israel enters the wilderness, the nation begins receiving manna, as a test of Israel to determine ‘"whether they will walk in my law or not"’ (v. 4). But God has not yet given physically circumcised Israel His laws. He won’t give Israel His laws for another three weeks. However, the laws of God are written on the hearts and minds of disciples who are spiritually circumcised; so spiritual Israelites have God’s laws when this test begins even though physical Israelites did not. And God said the test of Israel is, ‘"On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily’" (v. 5); and Moses said, ‘"This is what the Lord has commanded: "Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord"’" (v. 23). So the test of physical Israel was if the nation would keep the Sabbath. The test of spiritual Israel will also be if this holy nation will keep the Sabbath.

For the last three and a half years of the Tribulation, there will be only Christians on the planet. Satan and his demons presently govern the mental landscape of humanity, but Satan rules over a motley crew. All of his dominion and authority will be taken from him when he is defeated by Michael and his angels (Rev 12:7-9). The only authority Satan has when he is cast to earth stems from him imitating Christ, his imitation based upon the Christianity of the kings of the South and of the North. Because most disciples will identify the Christianity of the beast as genuine when they are mentally liberated from bondage to sin, they will accept the mark of the beast. They will not understand why the seven bowls of the wrath of God are poured out upon them. They will curse God, and they will not repent (Rev 16:11). They will be unable to repent for God will have sent a great delusion over them (2 Thess 2:11-12), for they have returned to being slaves to Satan even though they were liberated when Satan was cast from heaven. Sin lurked at their door, and they let sin in.

God is not a respecter of persons. He is also not in the business of creating additional Adversaries. A saint who lived prior to the time of the end will have died in faith. This saint will have lived without ever physically seeing the promise around which this person’s life centered. But during the great endtime harvest of humanity, saints will see physical evidence of God, and many will believe for the sake of the miracles. These individuals will now be tried in fire to determine whether they will obey Christ when their lives and their fortunes are at stake. If their physical lives, or if their fortunes are more valuable to them than salvation, they will wash out. They won’t make it. Although no one should be numbered among those that wash out, they will be half of those empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Now, consider yourself: how is your faith? What do you think God will require of you? He gave His Son. What can you give of equal value to what you are being offered? Your life isn’t worth the life of Jesus. All of creation isn’t worth the value of Jesus’ life. And what is being offered to you is being an heir to God, a younger sibling of Christ Jesus. So what will you find to be of so much more importance that you won’t give it up to be an heir? Or will you say, God wouldn’t require that of me. What did He require of Abraham? And of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Deliverance comes from a trial, not before a trial begins.

The problem with prophecy is what prophecy reveals: the second Passover liberation of Israel through being empowered by or filled with the Holy Spirit will begin the seven endtime years of tribulation. But in the womb of “Isaac” today are two sons, one hated, one loved, with Israel being the loved son. And once both sons are born on a day, the hated lawless son will slay his righteous brother, whose righteousness comes not through works of the hands but through the faith that will have this brother keeping the commandments of God and professing that Jesus is Lord while believing in hearts that the Father raised Jesus from the dead (cf. Rom 10:6-9; Deut 30:1-14). Being empowered [or filled] with the Holy Spirit and thus liberated from the sin that presently dwells in the flesh (Rom 7:21-25) but not in the heart and mind (Rom 8:2) will cause Israel to become an acceptable sacrifice to God so that the righteous requirements of the law can be fulfilled. And except for the remnant (Rev 12:17) and the 144,000 virgins [i.e., Observant natural Jews who have professed that Jesus is Lord during the first 1260 days of the seven years], all of Israel will be dead; such is the great tribulation of this period and especially of its last thirty days. The holocaust will be repeated, the ugly revelation of prophecy.

As the nation of Israel died in the Wilderness of Sin/Zin when Israel left Egypt, so will the endtime nation of Israel, natural and spiritual, die in a wilderness of sin and disbelief.

The good news that must be proclaimed to the world as a witness to all nations (Matt 24:13-14) is that when the righteous son is dead and the hated lawless son is marked for spiritual death upon Jesus’ return; when the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Christ (Rev 11:15) — then the Holy Spirit will be poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28) causing the third part of humankind (Zech 13:9) to be born empowered by the Holy Spirit as Seth was born to the first Eve. This Seth only has to endure to the end to be saved. And this prophetic birth announcement is truly good news.

Because western nations have become almost entirely secular societies, even the prophecy pundits spawned within these societies think in secular paradigms. They find in Scripture only the surface text. They do not find that human nature, itself, will be changed when the Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh. They do not find that all of humankind will have been called by God (Rev 18:4). They do not realize that there will be only one religion, Christianity, for the last 1260 days before Christ returns. Nor do they realize that Satan will pose as the Messiah, coming as the reality of all Antichrists when he is cast from heaven (Rev 12:7-10). So the first mistake prophecy pundits make is to think physically. They then compound this mistake by perceiving Islam as Israel’s principle enemy. But Islam will be no more. Islam will have ceased to exist through being incorporated into Arian Christianity before the Antichrist comes. What the fourth beast devoured and trampled wasn’t all of Christianity, for the remnant of the saints who keep the commandments and hold the testimony of Jesus will still exist as well as the 144,000 natural Jews who follow the Lamb wherever He leads (Rev 14:1-5). Although the little horn coming from this fourth beast was wearing out the saints, most of whom taught errant understandings of Scripture before the seven endtime years began—these are the saints that will be devoured—Christ Jesus will preserve the physical lives of enough saints who understand prophecy that these saints will be examples to the third part of humankind. So what the fourth beast devours and tramples is every ideology that isn’t outwardly “Christian.” He is a beast that serves God’s purpose of bringing all into covenant by making the third part of humankind hate death so much that this third part will keep the commandments and teach others to do likewise well into Christ’s Millennium reign.

It is only those Sabbatarian Christians who have the spirit of prophecy (Rev 19:10) that will form the offspring of the woman that keeps the commandments (Rev 12:17). Therefore, the remnant goes beyond keeping the commandments and loving God. The remnant also understands prophecy. And no one who thinks physically can understand prophecy. No one who looks for a physical temple to be built in physical Jerusalem understands endtime prophecies about Israel.

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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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