This is a constant and incessant work throughout our lives, as long as Satan’s non-elect and his vile kingdom of the world order remains on earth, intermingling with the elect and in God’s loving, just kingdom of the earth. For, just as the elect and God’s kingdom exists everywhere on earth, so do the non-elect and so does Satan’s kingdom. Then—although God does not send spies and saboteurs into Satan’s kingdom, since God hears, knows and overcomes all—we should be aware that Satan very often sends spies and saboteurs into God’s kingdom. The devil and his offspring are always trying to fake righteousness and disguise themselves as messengers of light, to infiltrate God’s kingdom, to spy on it and sabotage it. So, when elect news reporters and researchers expose the lies of a spy or saboteur, we need to act upon those “little” truths they provide, to either confirm or correct them. We cannot simply assume they are wrong because those truths are inconvenient and painful, or because we think the liar looks like a nice person, and is such an entertaining, flattering speaker. Rather, we must be careful to maintain even the “little” and physical truths, then learn who we should trust and Page 103
how much we can trust them. Otherwise, those “little” lies will soon grow into very big killer lies. If we neutralize the thousands of spying, sabotaging soldiers sent into our midst from Satan’s army, it will greatly weaken the power of that devil’s kingdom. If we do not, our negligence might kill us all.
Whether the devil’s world order considers our works for God to be great or small, it makes no difference to God or us, since both great and small works are equally necessary in God’s kingdom.
And both the great and small works for God are actually done through God. So all are one work of God, leading to one victory shared by all. However, we need to remember that, in neither God’s earthly kingdom, nor in Satan’s kingdom, the citizens are not all uniformed soldiers. in fact, not all will even consciously know the name of the one who governs their lives, although all will have a propensity to serve him. Everyone serves either the ruler of Satan’s world order or the King of God’s kingdom. Many of Satan’s children are simply ordinary, carnal citizens of his world order, who do not openly or consciously serve him, but merely go about the business of ignorantly and greedily pursuing the goals of their father, the devil. Meanwhile, the elect are naturally more trusting souls, since trust or faith is an inherent attribute of their spirits. And these all prefer the truth. So the elect gravitate towards truth, trust it and build love upon it. But, as they do this, the devil’s world order attacks them, slanders them, and makes them feel useless, because they actually are useless to the devil, worthless in terms of serving to advance his financial, political and religious bondage for his despotic kingdom. Consequently, many elect are deceived, and live empty carnal lives, while trying to obey the laws of Satan’s world order, without daring to heed the whispering of God’s Holy Spirit in their hearts, nor letting their own elect spirits make any decisions in the chambers of their souls, nothing that might change the course of their lives and endanger their status as slaves worthy of gleaning a few scraps from Satan’s table. Nevertheless, even the most oppressed of those elect do learn to love a little, and do serve God a little, by God’s ordination and intervention. So those elect may not belong to God’s priesthood of Israel, as His uniformed soldiers marching into battle with the spiritual weapons of God and personal commitment to the name of their King. Nevertheless, those elect are the citizens of God’s kingdom, and are just as important to God as His uniformed soldiers.
Not all the elect will consciously know Jesus in their minds of flesh, or profess Him as their Lord, with their mouths of flesh. In fact, most elect will remain civilians, who will never wear garments that identify them as true Christians. For God requires many civilian works to be done through love, and in every land on earth. Furthermore, not all the uniformed soldiers will engage in fire fights either. Only some soldiers are called to draw the sword against the soldiers of Satan. And some will be mounted as they fight, but others will enter battle on their feet, and still others on ships. But those who swing their swords are not usually the chief strategists of the army, not the officers and the decision-makers. Then those in the thick of the battle need supplies, such as food, clothing and ammunition. So others in the army must buy, store and distribute goods for them. Communications between all must be maintained between the soldiers too. Also, shelters, defences, bridges and so on must be constructed on the battlefields. Soldiers serve in many different roles within Christ’s army.
Jesus calls some Christians to be apostles, humble servants of everyone in all churches, as well as the chief strategists and recruiters entering enemy territories, empowered by God to free the elect from slavery in all places. These soldiers are granted the deadliest weapons of perfect doctrine, with words of Christ continuously whispered in their ears, so they can even utter prophecies that cleanse lies from human hearts. These apostles are also granted the “air support” of angels wielding Christ’s miraculous power. But other soldiers may be snipers, hunting the wicked and killing their lies, with words of God in prophecies with a large enough calibre and weight to slay any evil. Still others are sent to outposts, to the souls in regions near their own local churches, as evangelists who engage Page 104
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with the enemies lurking behind the cover of the nearby forests and fields. Then each community in God’s kingdom houses multiple officers, the local pastors, who lovingly administer all the necessary supplies of counselling, teaching, training, fruitful discipline and protection, for both the citizens and the other soldiers. Finally, the individual uniformed soldiers in those communities serve the army, by helping apostles, prophets, evangelists, local pastor-teachers and their fellow soldiers. But they also serve the elect outside the church as well, in countless different physical and spiritual ways. Jesus personally assigns them duties like cooking, communications, construction, supply management, guarding, fighting local enemies and much more. Then Jesus also obtains supplies and help for His army from His elect private citizens scattered throughout the world, many of whom do not know His name and do not even recognize Him as their King. But, consciously or unconsciously, literally all these other elect are indeed learning to serve their Creator and King, Jesus, in His war against Satan.
And, lest we forget, this army is not run or organized like the armies of the devil. Satan love steep hierarchies of human gods. But our God Jesus hates such things. Jesus chooses the most able to help Him with the tasks those individuals are most capable of performing, as He did with the twelve who became His assistant teachers and apostles. Yet they held no rank nor authority, and did all in Jesus’
name, by His power, command and authority, according to His will. And Jesus Himself personally served even the lowliest among His people, even the little children who did not have a clue who He actually was. So His army has no real hierarchy at all, and He is the personal Head of every soldier and every citizen. Then the way He engages in warfare is nothing like the warfare of the devil. For Jesus primarily uses the explosive power of spiritual love fired in shells of pure truth to destroy the enemy and its fortresses. But Satan uses physical weapons to cause fear in the flesh, so the spirits of the elect will be silenced by their panicked flesh, and believe whatever lies he tells them. And, with his lies enabled by his physical warfare, comes inevitable injustice, evil and loss. Thus, many of that devil’s own soldiers perish before they can even fight in his wars. And this is why our wise King avoids physical warfare and violence as much as possible, although Jesus will fight physical battles at times, to save the lives of innocents. However, Christ’s spiritual strategies and weapons against Satan, if used adeptly by His faithful soldiers, can usually prevent physical warfare. Either way, literally all the elect soldiers of God’s Kingdom on earth shall eventually return home victorious, to an eternal abundant life. When God’s loving children arrive at heaven’s gate, both His soldiers and His citizens will receive an extremely valuable spiritual wage for all the time they served on earth.
Of course, faithful soldiers, who wear the uniform of active faith in Jesus will see deadly action, where lives are lost and won, both spiritually and physically. And these soldiers will collect booty in their battles, shared between all who fought on the battle lines and all the support troops who stayed in camps. Each soldier will go home with treasures of deeper love and comradery, of precious metals found only in the sword and armour granted by their king, and a far more personal relationship with the almighty King of all existence, because they stood beside Him through thick and thin. Soldiers in uniform, professing and actively serving in His New Covenant priesthood of Israel, will enter the homeland and its capital city of New Jerusalem, with more inner joy than most loving citizens of Christ’s earthly kingdom, who never wore a uniform, who did not consciously know Christ’s name.
Still, literally all elect souls will gain incredible wealth as heirs of their Father, the High King, on that last day at the gates of heaven, enough to fulfill all the innate desires of their elect spirits. Yes, the worldly elect will first pass through the fires of Christ’s rebukes on that final judgment day, and will forfeit much of what they worked so hard to possess on earth. After all, many of those citizens sought to gain only the decaying straw, hay and wood treasures of a carnal life; rather than the eternal precious stones, silver and gold of a loving spiritual life built on genuine truth. And the hot Page 105
light of Jesus will definitely burn away all those carnal treasures, until nothing is left of any of those worthless things. Still, after that final day outside of their eternal homes, literally all the human elect will descend from the gates of heaven as that realm’s most spiritually wealthy creatures, as children of the High King, ready to serve beside Jesus and the Father, in the same way He tends to heaven’s infinite lands and manages the manifold creatures there. But the demons and Satan’s children will go to a dark, vacuous home, owning nothing but the dark delusions and lies they created for themselves.
So there is no point in complaining about the evils in this world, or whining about how God should do something about it. Rather, we must let our spirits awaken and grow alert, as attentive disciples of Jesus, so we might learn the truth that sets us free, and become thoroughly trained in His wisdom.
Then He will enables us to work together and actually overcome those evils in this world. In Jesus, as His priestly soldiers, we can undo the works of the devil, frustrate the attacks of the evil one and build up the loving, just, equitable, natural, productive, fruitful kingdom of God on earth, where His will is done on earth as it is in heaven. Then we will no longer “be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:31, WEB). Then we will not be slaves to a mindless, ignorant rage built on a foundation of Satan’s lies, but become disciplined warriors who liberate captives from ruthless lying despots. His spiritual light, radiating from every aspect of our lives, will penetrate the spiritual darkness of lies and delusions, and tear down the fortresses of Satan, usually without any need for guns and physical weapons. “For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, throwing down imaginations [false reasoning and conspiracy theories, the enemy’s propaganda, the fear-mongering lies and delusions of the devil’s exploitative world views] and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (II Cor. 10:3-5, WEB). Once God’s created realities are applied with effective wisdom, it will crush the dark lies and delusions invented by our enemies, so they can no longer get the people to worship them as gods. Then, as their power crumbles, and their empires fall into confusion and chaos, we can level the ruins those wanna-be gods left behind, and build God’s kingdom over them.
As we look at the dreams God sent to the Magi and Joseph, warning them to flee from Herod, we find that this was enough. We begin to see that God did not need to strike Herod dead at that time.
Nor did God even need to stop Herod from murdering those babies, since those children did not die, and God had already provided an eternal home for them. Then God used the sorrow of any elect parents of those children to expose the evil of that illicit king they served, and did not remove from his stolen authority through the wisdom of God. And God found another way to nullify the works and the life of Herod, as well as a way for His priesthood to nullify the works of countless other psychopathic despots from Rome, and from everywhere else in all history. Yet the people of Israel, His own church, rejected God’s ways, and continues to reject them to this day. More than anyone else, those who falsely claimed to be His Old Covenant church were most responsible for enabling Herod, and served the father of Herod’s spirit, Satan. So they were as guilty of that despot’s sins as that despot was himself. They were just as guilty as those who had falsely claimed to be God’s New Covenant church, while supporting demonic despots throughout history. If anyone was to blame for allowing Herod to kill those babies, it was the unfaithful church. In fact all false churches, past and present, are collectively guilty for the murdering of those children, since all are one, and all serve the same demonic lord. All their hands are stained with the same innocent blood. Apart from a few individuals who dared to rebuke the false churches in God’s name, according to God’s truth in the Bible, the blame rests on the entire unfaithful church of Israel, on both its fake Old and fake New Covenant branches. Every church that pretends to belong to the God of the Bible is guilty for most Page 106
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of the evil in their lands and everywhere else. For, when the elect actually become faithful disciples of Jesus, no power on earth can effectively oppose them, since God’s power, and all the other elect on earth, ultimately succeed in every truly good and just work. Only if a church is fake, and never does any truly good and just works, will God ignore their prayers and allow them to fail. For all their works are tainted with unjust motives, and become thoroughly condemned as unjust by the real God.
Have no fear. God will grant those murdered babies, and all who mourned for them, a hundred times more than they lost on earth, even more abundant life and joy than any of them could imagine. All the things of the flesh that they lost to Herod’s hands will seem as nothing to them. And we should thank God for effectively warning the elect pagan Gentile Magi, through His loving mercy, to flee from Herod. Then we should thank God because He ultimately destroys all the works of Satan’s children, even the great temple of God embellished by that pagan Herod, to bribe the false church into supporting him. In the end, none of those non-elect will be given names by God, and none will be known personally by Him. All will be expelled from heaven’s gate, and cast into hell as nameless nothings. Yet God will grant each and every elect soul, even the peasant infants Herod murdered, a precious name, as their heavenly Father. For He will personally take responsibility for each, and love each one for all eternity. In the meantime, while we live upon this earth, let us continuously work to ensure that despots can never again commit crimes like that again. For we are still seeing new Herods commit the same crimes today—such as when Trump tore thousands of innocent children from the arms of their parents, then imprisoned both the children and their parents in cages, to torture them both. Then Trump later sent many of those parents to certain death, to be murdered by the hands of other criminals like himself, when he shipped them back to the despots and crime lords whom they fled. And many fake churches enabled Trump to murder those innocent people, just as fake churches enabled Herod in Jesus’ day. Yet all true disciples of Jesus, and all the truly loving elect who do not yet know the real name and true attributes of Jesus, looked in horror upon such an evil and psychopathic deed. For God calls their spirits to undo and nullify all those kinds of crimes.
Dreams and Visions
Now, considering the urgency of removing Jesus, Mary and Joseph from Bethlehem, before Herod’s troops came to slaughter them, Joseph would have received his dream from God on the same night or the next night after the Magi had their dream. God also warned Joseph to flee with his family, but in the opposite direction. God told Joseph to go north and west to Egypt, while he wise men would have headed south and east, towards their home in Persia. Still, God chose to warn both Joseph and wise men in the same way, that is, through a dream. Therefore, some may then naturally pose the question, “Why did God warned warn both of them through a dream?” After all, God could have warned them in any number of ways, or God could have simply caused either or both to journey to their respective destinations through various kinds of compelling or luring circumstances. God could have sent an angel, and spoke to them in the same way He spoke to Mary through. Or God could have caused a situation where human messengers urgently called each party to some kind of critical meeting with someone in the places God wanted them to go. God could have quickly removed both from Bethlehem in any number of ways, especially since we know that God knew Herod would try to murder them long before Herod did. So why did God warn both Joseph and the Magi in a dream?
Well, first of all, we should realize that a powerful dream from God is remembered in every detail, including every word spoken and every second of every sight seen in that dream. Therefore, if God wanted to give someone a lot of detailed information about a journey one must make, including all the routes one must take and all the people and routes one must avoid for one’s safety, as well as a Page 107
lot of other information, a lengthy dream, perfectly and permanently written upon the mind of flesh, is the very best way to do that. Also, God wanted to warn both Joseph and the Magi about Herod’s plot to murder them, so they would understand why they had to flee, and with extreme urgency, without casually revealing their plans and intentions to anyone else. Bot had to know enough to flee quickly and secretly. And God could impress this upon their minds of flesh best through a vivid and permanently remembered dream. Then we need to understand how God reveals concepts to His people, which can be summed up by a prophecy in Joel: “It will happen afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men [i.e., elders, rulers] will dream dreams.Your young men [i.e., youths of either sex] will see visions” (Joel 2:28, WEB).
Here (in Joel 2:28) the word “prophecy” is explicitly defined by countless examples and texts in the Bible. A biblical kind prophecy was not made in an ecstatic state like pagan prophecies were, and were never so ambiguous and vague that the true meaning could not be derived from them—though the meaning was often deliberately obscured in ways that hid the interpretation from unbelievers.
Biblical prophecies were always completely rational, pure truths which did not hold even a single false or irrational element. For all biblical kinds of prophecies are concepts granted by God’s Spirit directly to human spirits, which are then expressed through the person’s mind and body of flesh in the native tongue of that flesh. God’s Spirit always speaks to elect human spirits, from birth, even if the elect do not consciously realize that He is speaking to them. But a biblical kind of prophecy is when an elect spirit consciously knows God is speaking, and realizes that God is commanding one to convey a certain concept to another specified individual, or sometimes to group of people or entire nation. Once this concept is faithfully expressed through the prophet’s mind and mouth of flesh, it is the most authoritative word that could possibly be spoken by anyone, since it is uttered “in God’s name,” that is, by God’s will, command and authority, so the words will be upheld by God’s power.
A biblical kind of prophecy was not to be treated like the words of mere human beings, especially not like the disdainful, lying commands of psychopathic despots. Rather, a prophecy from God was to be honoured, cherished and taken straight to the spirit in the heart, as a word graciously granted by the omniscient, omnipotent King of kings, through His love for His people and His other creations.
And God would also grant the spirit or spirits receiving the prophecy with a solid confirmation and conviction that those words were true, without any possible error, and to be heeded above the words from all other beings. Furthermore, God would always grant the recipient of any biblical prophecy enough of an understanding of His own words to act responsibly according to those words, even if some of those to whom God spoke the prophecy lived centuries or millenniums after it was given.
Through Moses, God even gave a prophecy of Scripture which defined a prophet, a prophecy and how prophecies originated from Him, even the nature and authority of all true biblical kinds of prophecies: “I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you. I w ill put M y
w
ords in his mouth , and he
shall speak to them all that I shall command him . It shall happen, that
w
hoever will not listen to M y words which he shall speak in M y name, I will require it of him ”
(Deut. 18:18-19, WEB). Of course, the ultimate prophet through whom God spoke was the Messiah, whom prophecies of Scripture defined as Emmanuel, God with us, the very uncreated Spirit of God dwelling in a human body like our bodies, walking among us as one of our “brothers.” But this brief definition not only includes our God Jesus and all His words, but also all true prophets and the words they spoke “in His name” throughout all history, up to and including the very last days of earth’s existence. And God’s prophets are not all male “brothers” either. Rather the term “brothers,” as it is used here, refers to all human beings with elect spirits, all who are “brothers” in the sense that all are Page 108
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“heirs” of God and His kingdom. Furthermore, this definition of God’s prophets must also be kept distinct and separated from His definition of prophecies. For not all prophecies come from prophets.
Prophets are elect souls whose elect spirits are awakened, taught, trained, called and sent by the Spirit of God Himself, through a very personal and loving relationship with God Himself. For God said, “I will raise them up.” Thus, no human being can ever be taught and trained to become any kind of true prophet by the wills or skills of other human beings. Then, since God also raised up female prophets throughout history, both before and after He gave us this definition, we know that the term “brothers” here, which the Hebrew language often used in a gender indefinite manner that referred to both male and female heirs, we are clearly forced to interpret this word in this way. So we know this: (1) all true prophets are personally and directly raised up to become prophets by the one God Himself; and (2) all true prophets are “brothers,” that is, members of God’s family, meaning that all true, biblical prophets must be awakened elect people from His one true priesthood of Israel, from His one true church, and a true prophet cannot be an elect or non-elect soul outside His church.
But this does not mean that the omnipotent God cannot usurp any individual’s control over one’s own mind and body of flesh. For God even allows lowly and subjugated spirits like Satan and his demons to “possess” or take complete control of human minds and bodies of flesh, at times, but only when God wants to punish a rebellious infantile human soul, by handing that one over to delusions forced upon them by the greater power of mature demonic spirits (i.e., not a biologically caused loss of control). Therefore, since God is infinitely more powerful than His captive demons, God can also take control over the flesh of any human beings and speak His words of prophecy through them, whenever He wills to do so. And this means that not all true prophecies come through true prophets.
This is why the Bible actually records instances where God took complete control over some souls, even the bodies and minds of His enemies, then forced them to utter prophecies through their own mouths against their own wills. And some of those enemies of God surely must have been non-elect souls too. Nevertheless, God Himself defines all biblical types of prophecies to be “My words,” and says those are the words which He Himself puts into the mouths of those who utter those words. So God Himself defined a prophecy as being words that someone speaks in the way that “I shall command.” Whether the speaker does this willingly or compulsively, by God’s controlling power, is irrelevant. If a true prophet speaks those words through one’s own will, God told us that one will do so “in My name,” that is, through God’s authority and power, but also because one desires to fulfill the will of one’s beloved God. But, even if God forces a non-elect spirit’s flesh to speak, one will know those are words from God. Either way, since God always also grants the spirit or spirits of any who receive a prophecy with a right understanding of His words, as well as an inner conviction that His words are true and originate from Him, any who receive the prophecy must respond to it in the way that God demands. God will “require” this of all who hear His words. This includes all who receive an understanding of His words of prophecy in the Scriptures. If any recipient of truths that come directly from God, and an understanding, will not respond to it, then God’s wrath will respond.
Now, God spoke to Mary, who likely would have been about 16 years old then, through an angel, not through a prophet’s prophecy nor a dream. In biblical terms, Mary’s encounter with the angel might be classified as a “vision.” Yet biblical “visions” were nothing like pagan visions. Rather, biblical
“visions” were very real, totally unforgettable visible manifestations of realities, either real angels, real creatures, real people, or real events. And these could be existing in the past, present or future.
Also, these realities were critically informative beings or scenarios caused and commanded by God.
Biblical visions never were mere hallucinations in a state of ecstasy, induced by drugs, various other kinds of physical stimuli, or by stressing the body through extreme hunger, thirst or sleeplessness.
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Literally all the visions granted by God Himself were very real, often so solidly real that physical realities faded or disappeared from sight, indicating that visions from God were actually more real than material things on earth. Nevertheless, Joel’s prophecy about God granting His Holy Spirit to the “sons and your daughters” of His priestly family, to the elect in His true church of Israel, and specifically so they could prophesy (Joel 2:28). And this Scripture was God’s Word about the end times. It referred to a great revival before the second advent of the Messiah, which will occur soon, in the not too distant future. Yet also notice how, in this Scripture, God said He would also grant dreams to the “elders” (that is, to those with decision-making authority) but would grant visions to
“youths.” This suggests that dreams and visions, also granted through the power of His Spirit, were forms of prophecy. Likewise, since dreams would be granted to elders, these dreams—which always impress very many unforgettable details about a prolonged experience—might be somewhat greater form of prophecy. But, since the more brief visions would be granted to youths, it may be a lesser kind of prophecy. So any way that God might choose to convey concepts to the spirits of His people, along with His command to utter those truths to a specified audience, is indeed a form of prophecy.
For vivid dreams and visions—permanently written on the minds of His people, and always remembered in great detail—were superb ways of communicating exactly what He commanded His prophets to tell those whom He wanted to inform. The concepts God’s spirit teaches to our hearts come to us iteratively, a little at a time, with one piece of the concept building on another until we gain a full understanding. But a prophecy is a whole truth or concept, which God commands us to give to some individual or group that needs a full understanding of it. Thus, a dream or vision from God, permanently written on a prophet’s mind, in a way that is not possible to forget, is a superior method of communicating a whole concept or teaching. All that is required is for the prophet to clearly and accurately describe all that he or she saw in the dream or vision, to those whom God has commanded one to give that description. And also notice how God gave a vision to young Mary, but a dream to the older ones, to Joseph and the Magi. So this was very consistent with Joel’s prophecy.
Prophecies are extremely important for conveying truths and realities to God’s people, in ways that intensely convict their spirits, leading to repentance, which leads to God’s forgiveness and salvation.
And they are also important for our physical well-being at times. Hearing from God is always good for us, in every way. So we desperately need those prophecies which God promised to grant to us during the end times. Thus, prophetic dreams and visions from God will also be critical for our welfare and even for our survival. For instance, look at how useful that dream from God was for Joseph and his family. Immediately after receiving the dream, he rose from his bed, woke up his wife, bundled up their child, quickly gathered their belongings and headed for Egypt, in the middle of the night. But, if they did not receive this dream from God, Herod surely would have murdered them all. Then this would would be an extremely dangerous and difficult journey for a young couple with a baby. So they needed a dream which would also provide much information. For instance, God probably told them to travel together with a certain group, for protection from bandits and to provide help when unforeseen circumstances occurred. Or, if they travelled alone, God needed to warn them about any troubles they might face, and how to overcome them. So it would have been critical for them to receive a detailed dream from God; telling them which routes to take, where they could stop and rest, who they should and should not trust along the way, possibly even the very house they should go to when they arrived in Egypt. Above all, they had to realize they must be wary of Herod, who would hunt them until he died. They had to remain in Egypt until then, and return no sooner.
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Prophecies Cited by Matthew
After telling us about the flight into Egypt, Matthew declared it to be the fulfillment of a prophecy.
But the passage he quoted did not seem to be a prophecy about the Messiah. Rather, it seemed to be a prophecy of lament, recalling how Israel was formed and called by God, then sinned. And the verse that Matthew paraphrased was this: “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt” (Hos. 11:1, WEB). The original Scripture was about the people descended from a man, from Jacob, who was later renamed Israel, and referred to the time when God called Israel out of Egypt, during their Exodus with Moses. To the Gentiles, this Scripture did not appear to relate to the first advent of the Messiah, Jesus, in any way whatsoever. However, if one believes that the Exodus of Israel directly relates to the advent of the Messiah—and thinks that the time when Israel fled from slavery in Egypt is a figurative representation of the salvation that God was to bring them through their Messiah Jesus—then this quote makes sense as a prophecy about the Messiah going to Egypt and eventually coming out of Egypt, after His oppressor was vanquished. And this is what most of the devout Jews believed at that time. Most of them directly related the Exodus to the salvation of the Messiah, and devout Jews continue to do so to this very day. Whenever devout Jews celebrate the Passover, to remember their delivery from slavery in Egypt, they speak of it as God’s promise of the Messiah’s salvation. All who know the Jewish Haggadah, which outlines the teachings and order of the Passover Seder, soon realize just how much the Jews associate their Exodus with their Messiah.
And the Haggadah has not changed much since it was written at a time just before Jesus was born.
Then we see how Matthew paraphrased another prophecy about Bethlehem, one from Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; she wouldn’t be comforted, because they are no more” (Mat. 2:18, WEB, cf., Jer. 31:15 in the Bible and Jer. 38:15 in the Septuagint). The word “Ramah” means a “high place,” and referred to many high places in Israel. But this Ramah is associated with Rachel. So it refers to a place now near a kibbutz called Ramat Rahel, located above Bethlehem and the tomb of Rachel (i.e., the tomb is at the north-east entrance to Bethlehem). Today, that area rests inside the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem. But, in about 4 BC or 5 BC, it was the region in which Herod killed the babies, and was located a days journey away, about ten kilometres (six miles) south of Jerusalem. Rachel was the most beloved of Jacob’s four wives. Then, when she died, Jacob buried her near Bethlehem (see Gen. 35:19). Actually, she gave birth to only two of the twelve tribes of Israel, Joseph and Benjamin.
Later, the territory allotted to the tribe of Joseph was north and east of Jerusalem, while Benjamin’s territory included Jerusalem, but not Bethlehem. The tribe of Judah received the territory where the town of Bethlehem is located, bordering Benjamin’s lands. Yet, due to Rachel’s status as the first and only wife actually sought by Jacob, whom God later named Israel, the Jews considered her to be the mother of all Israel’s children. This is why God’s Word portrayed her as weeping for Jews killed in Bethlehem. But was this part Jeremiah’s prophecy actually about Herod murdering those infants?
Well, Jeremiah 31:15 certainly is embedded in a very lengthy Messianic prophecy. If we look at the text from Jeremiah 30:1 to 31:14, we find a prophecy about the end times. And the whole prophecy was given just before Judah was about to be exiled in Babylon. Again, remember that Daniel called Babylon the golden head of the beast, whose body also consisted of three later empires: Persia, Greece and Rome. That is, the demonic beast and enemy of the Messiah God, consisted of the moral, religious and cultural beliefs and practises of these four kingdoms. This beast (who was often simply called “Babylon” by the Jews, even when it was called Greece and Rome by the rest of the world) was clearly a spiritual or religious enemy of God and God’s Messiah, not a physical kingdom with physical borders. It is a religion opposed to the pure theism based on God’s own opinions and Page 111
teachings found in His Word. And this beast’s religious kingdom was prophesied to grow in might and influence until it gained world domination. Then it would continue as a world power until God’s Messiah crushed it. So the beast still dominates the world today, since all “end times,” at the end of the “last days,” are yet to occur during the final generation (40 years) before the Messiah’s second coming. The beast’s world-wide kingdom will rule the earth until the great revival of the sixth seal’s era and the Messiah’s return in the seventh seal’s era. The beast’s moral, religious, philosophical and cultural ways will pervade the world for some time to come, through his humanistic principles, systems and beliefs. Therefore, through Jeremiah, God told the captives of Judah, whom Babylon was taking into exile during the years from about 597 BC to 586 BC, that they would return to Israel in the end times, just before Messiah destroyed the beast called Babylon. Then God also said that all the captives of the northern tribes of Israel, removed by Assyria from about 740 BC to 721 BC, also would return at that time. After some Jews returned, a period of terrifying turmoil would occur, as a
“continuing whirlwind” from Yahweh plagued their enemies. But, in time, literally all the remnant of Judah and Israel would return to their land, to faithfully serve their God in joy, peace and prosperity.
After this prophecy about the end times, we then see a prophecy which is about the first advent of Israel’s Messiah, when He would ratify God’s New Covenant of salvation (Jer. 31:15-40). And this part of the prophecy was to be their “hope in [their] future.” This “future” obviously referred to the end times that Jeremiah had just finished prophesying about (i.e., in Jer. 30:1 to 31:14). Clearly, this part of the prophecy must have been about the first advent of the Messiah, and long before the end times, during a period of backsliding and chastisement. For it was given to sustain Israel’s hope until they were rescued by God in the end times. For God, in the time of Jeremiah, was in the midst of throwing down and destroying the corrupted, ruthless, apostate and stubborn nation of Israel. But God would cause many of them and their descendants to repent. Then He would begin build them up again, and watch over them. Their Messiah would come a first time, long before the end times, to ratify God’s New Covenant with Israel, one that was not like the Old Covenant God previously made with them in the days of Moses. Then, over time, in order to fulfill this New Covenant, God Himself would gradually put His Law into their minds and personally write His truths and ways upon their spirits in their hearts. Yet this process would only be completed in the end times. In the end, God would eventually complete His New Covenant works so well that they no longer teach one another.
For God would personally and thoroughly teach each individual, from the least to the greatest, until each one personally loved Him. Each elect Jewish spirit would know God’s attributes, desires and ways more than any human could ever teach. So, interpreted through the Old Testament prophecies, including Jeremiah’s own prophecies (e.g., Jer. 32:37-44; 33:2-26; 50:17-20,33-34), Jeremiah’s prophecy about a slaughter in the region of Bethlehem (Jer. 31:15) does seem to be about Herod’s slaughter of the babies, at a time before the Messiah Jesus ratified the New Covenant in His blood.
In this chapter, Matthew then referred to one more prophecy. But, this time, Matthew cited it as a general prophecy made by multiple prophets. Matthew told us that Joseph, after returning from Egypt once Herod the Great had died, was warned in a dream from God. God told Joseph that he must not return to his hometown of Bethlehem in Judah, since the son of Herod, named Archelaus, was now ruling in his father’s place, and Archelaus was as jealous and ruthless as his father. Thus, Joseph had to return to his former home of Nazareth in Galilee instead, which was where he fled when Herod likely tried to kill him the first time. Then Matthew told us that Joseph took his family, and most importantly his Son Jesus, to Galilee: “in order that, what had been spoken through the prophets [i.e., this noun is plural] had been fulfilled, because he will be called a Nazarene” (Mat. 2:23, from: ὅπως πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ τῶν προφητῶν ὅτι Ναζωραῖος κληθήσεται. SBLGNT). So we Page 112
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must realize that far too much emphasis has traditionally been placed on the noun Ναζωραῖος
(“Nazarene”). But the clause with the noun Ναζωραῖος was simply parenthetical. Here Matthew was not indicating that multiple prophets prophesied about Jesus being called a “Nazarene.” Matthew was referring to all the prophecies about the Messiah in Galilee. In the future, when Jesus began to teach, judge and do the other works of Israel’s Messiah, He would begin these works in the region of Galilee, as was prophesied. Jesus began them in Galilee, because He was a Ναζωραῖος, a Nazarene, a citizen of the town of Nazareth. Matthew’s focus was on the fact that multiple prophecies spoke about how the Messiah would begin His works—as the King, High Priest and Prophet—in Galilee of the Gentiles. And Jesus did grow up and began His ministry, His works of service, in Galilee, just as multiple prophecies had declared. But being called a citizen of Nazareth was merely a side note.
Matthew declared that multiple prophets prophesied something that was fulfilled when Joseph took Jesus to live in Nazareth, that they were fulfilled because Jesus was called a citizen of that town. And Matthew began this declaration with the conjunction ὅπως (“marker expressing purpose for an event or state, (in order) that” BDAG3). This conjunction directly connects the clause (about the prophets’
prophecies) with the previous clause. So Matthew was indicating that multiple prophecies fulfilled something stated in the previous clause. Thus, our focus should be on what was stated and fulfilled in the previous clause, not upon Jesus being called a Nazarene. Being a citizen of a town in Galilee is not what the prophecies were about. For the previous clause was this: “Yet, having been warned according to [what was seen in] a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee and, having come, he settled in a city referred to as Nazareth” (Mat. 2:22b-23a, from: χρηματισθεὶς δὲ κατʼ ὄναρ
ἀνεχώρησεν εἰς τὰ μέρη τῆς Γαλιλαίας, καὶ ἐλθὼν κατῴκησεν εἰς πόλιν λεγομένην Ναζαρέτ, SBLGNT). The focus of all Matthew wrote before he claimed the prophecies of multiple prophets had been fulfilled, rested upon the region of Galilee. The main clause of the previous sentence was about Joseph and his family withdrawing into Galilee. Then he incidentally “settled” in the town of Nazareth, after he entered Galilee. And Joseph did this after two dreams: (1) a dream telling him to return to Israel, because Herod was dead and (2) a dream telling him to go to the region of Galilee.
But the second dream did not tell him to return to Nazareth. Joseph simply chose to go to Nazareth in Galilee because that is where he had previously lived for a time. It was also where he met and married Mary, then set up a home for them. So it would be where her family and friends would be, as well as some of his friends, made during his first exile there. Since God commanded Joseph to flee into Galilee, in the second dream, Joseph could have chosen to live in any city or town in Galilee. And his choice of Nazareth is irrelevant to the prophecies. Besides, Jesus moved to the city of Capernaum in Galilee, and made Capernaum His “headquarters” during His entire ministry in Galilee, in order to fulfill those prophecies from multiple prophets, which Matthew spoke about.
So now we must figure out which prophecies, about the Messiah in Galilee, Matthew was talking about. And there are actually a few in multiple Old Testament Scriptures. And Galilee in the Old Testament had been known as a region “of Gentiles,” that is, as a region ruled by Gentiles, ever since the Assyrians conquered in back in the eighth century BC (after 721 BC). Even during the time of Jesus, Galilee was still occupied and governed by Gentiles, by Romans, who were the final part of the beast, whom the Jews called Babylon. Jews had always lived in Galilee, and still do. But the control of the region was in Gentile hands until recent history (about AD 1967). And this Gentile control over the land that God had promised to Israel for all time was aggravating to the Jews. So God, seeing their frustration, gave several prophecies about Galilee, promising to comfort the Jews who lived there. Thus, Matthew’s readership of devout Jews would have immediately recognized which prophecies Matthew was talking about, the very familiar Messianic prophecies about Galilee.
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So they would not have even started thinking about whether or not there were prophecies about the Messiah being a resident of a town called Nazareth, since there were no prophecies about Nazareth.
In our day, most Jews, even Orthodox Jews, are Hellenized. For almost all were corrupted by the humanistic Jewish teachers of history, such as Philo, a Jewish humanistic philosopher who deviously synchronized Platonic philosophies (the core doctrines in the pagan religion of first-century Middle Platonic humanism) with the Bible. So very few Jews today are free from the deceptions of Greco-Roman humanism. Likewise, almost all so-called “Christian” churches throughout history did the same. But, if the Gentile Christians of the true apostolic had asked the uncorrupted biblical Jews of their day about the meaning of Matthew’s statement (in 2:23), those Jews would have immediately realized that Matthew was talking about the Messianic prophecies about Galilee. Then the Jews who were not corrupted by humanistic interpretations of God’s Word, would point to these Scriptures:
• “But there shall be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, He brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time He has made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations [i.e., “of the Gentiles”]. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who lived in the land of the shadow of death, on them the light has shined” (Is. 9:1-2, WEB). This would be the first and foremost Scripture that devout Jews would remember when Matthew mentioned that multiple Messianic prophecies were fulfilled (in v. 23). So it needs to be listed first. This Messianic prophecy is saying that, since the northern tribes of Israel were the first to fall into the darkness of captivity, the first exiled into Gentile lands (by the Assyrians), they would also be the first to see “a great light,” which would make their land glorious. Of course, interpreted figuratively, that spiritual “light” was taken to be a reference to the truth which the Messiah would proclaim. The Messianic King would start doing His works of proclaiming God’s truth and freeing the people while He was living in Galilee.
• “Naphtali, satisfied with favour, full of Yahweh’s blessing” (Deut. 33:23, WEB).
These are some of the last words uttered by Moses before he died. It is his final message or prophecy granted to the tribe of Naphtali. The phrases, “satisfied [or
‘full of,’ ‘satiated’] with [God’s] favour” and “full of Yahweh’s blessing,” clearly indicate a spiritually filling favour that would be granted by God to that tribe. And surely these words suggested that this gift of God for Naphtali would be the Messiah, Yahweh incarnate, brought to dwell among them. These words were very unique, far more positive (and more cryptic) than Moses’ prophecies for the other tribes. So they remained puzzling, that is, until we could understand them through the prophecy of Isaiah. Before Isaiah’s prophecy, we might have asked why Moses did not give such a prophesy to Judah. After all, Moses definitely knew what Jacob had prophesied about Judah: “The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until He comes to whom it belongs. To Him will the obedience of the peoples be”
(Gen. 49:10, WEB). So Moses, of all people, knew that all the latter kings of Israel, including the Messiah, would be descendants of Judah. But, to Judah, Moses said:
“Hear, Yahweh, the voice of Judah. Bring Him in to His people. With His hands He contended for Himself. You shall be a help against His adversaries” (Deut. 33:7, WEB). In my understanding, this indicated that Moses asked God to hear the prayers of Judah, to make the Messiah known to His people, and help the Messiah overcome His adversaries, although His own hands would contend for Himself. Yet Moses did Page 114
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not say Judah would be satiated with the favour of God, full of God’s blessing, like he said the tribe of Naphtali would be. So God must have told Moses that the Messiah would dwell in Naphtali’s allotted lands, establish His base of operations there, do His first works as Israel’s eternal King there, in the lands later to be called Galilee.
• “Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can’t be measured nor numbered; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ The children of Judah and the children of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint themselves one Head, and will go up from the land; for great will be the day of Jezreel” (Hos. 1:10-11, WEB). In this prophecy penned by Hosea, the name Jezreel figuratively represented all the northern tribes of Israel, and the place called Galilee.
Hosea prophesied that these unfaithful northern tribes of Israel would be overthrown by Assyria, then exiled from their land, because God would no longer have mercy on them, nor call them His people (1:9). Yet here Hosea also prophesied that Israel would be redeemed at some time in the distant future. In the “latter days,” they would return to their land, seek their God and the Messiah (whom Hosea called “David their king,” see 3:4-5). And this salvation would occur through a “covenant” of God (which Jeremiah called the “New Covenant”), that is, through God’s promise that He would cause them to know Him and do His will (2:18-20). Now the word “Jezreel”
means “God sows.” Thus, by the Messiah and His New Covenant, God would again sow Israel in the earth (2:23). But Jezreel was also the name of a valley which was the focus of many biblical events. And Jezreel was located just below the place where Nazareth later stood. In fact, a road led directly down to that valley through the town of Nazareth. Actually, Jezreel was in the land allotted to the tribe of Issachar, not Naphtali. However, it was still a part of the land called Galilee. Therefore, this also would be one of the prophecies that Matthew would have referred to (in Mat. 2:23).
• “Naphtali is a doe set free, who bears beautiful fawns” (Gen. 49:21, WEB). Naphtali was a son of Jacob, a tribe to whom God later allotted an everlasting inheritance of the most fertile lands within the region of Galilee. Although some may consider Nazareth to have been located in the lands given to either Zebulun or Issachar, the town of Capernaum—where Jesus established His home and base of operations
during His entire ministry as the King of Israel during His first advent—was in the land allotted to Naphtali. Now the last clause was likely meant to mean, “who gives
beautiful words,” not “who bears beautiful fawns.” Still, either way, in conjunction with Isaiah’s prophecy, this verse was most likely deemed prophetic, indicating that the Messiah would “give beautiful words” or be the most “beautiful” of the children dwelling in the land that God later allotted to Naphtali. For remember, these words of Jacob to his sons, were prophecies introduced by this: “Jacob called to his sons, and said: ‘Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which will happen to you
in the days to come’” (Gen. 49:1, WEB). So all Jacob said to them was prophetic.
• “These shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali” (Deut. 27:9, WEB). When the tribes of Israel were to cross the Jordan river into the promised land, after the Exodus, some tribes were to stand on one mountain to bless the people who fulfilled God’s covenant, while other tribes were to stand on an opposite mountain to “curse” the people. Actually, the tribes of the Page 115
“curse,” including Naphtali, were not to actually “curse,” not in the English senses of this word. What this really meant was that these other tribes were to remind the people that anyone who broke God’s covenant would be a villain and an enemy to them. Thus, in the light of Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy about Naphtali, this verse was obviously prophetic too, and seemed to indicate that the Messiah would come in direct opposition to all who corrupted, nullified or committed offences against God.
While in Egypt, Joseph received a dream telling Him to return to Israel, because Herod had died and it would now be safe to return. So Joseph, Mary and Jesus (and possibly a sibling) packed up and likely headed toward his hometown, Bethlehem. Since they had lived there for about a year, before fleeing into Egypt, Joseph had probably refurbished his inherited family home there. Consequently, Bethlehem would have been his first choice of a place to live in Israel. However, before he arrived in Bethlehem, Joseph heard that Archelaus, who was the very worst of Herod’s sons, had become the Ethnarch of Judea. And Bethlehem was only a day’s journey from Jerusalem, just a short walk from where Archelaus lived. So Joseph, as the heir of David’s throne, would have become anxious for the safety of his wife and Jesus. For the illicit Roman-appointed kings of the Jews were always insecure about their thrones, and tended to murder all the rivals to their thrones, including all their children.
Yet the kingdom of Herod the Great was split up after his death. Rome had only granted Archelaus the right to rule over a small part of his father’s kingdom, only the region of Judea, and without the title of “king.” So he did not rule over Galilee, like his father did. Besides, even his father did not care much for Galilee. This meant Joseph could return to his previous home in Nazareth of Galilee, and live there in relative safety. But this option had its own problems. For it seems most likely that Joseph did not own his previous home in Nazareth. Considering all the Gospels say about Joseph, it appears that he probably fled from his hometown of Bethlehem, to Nazareth, a short time before he married Mary. And the reason they did not immediately live together, after they were married, was almost certainly because Joseph had not yet established a suitable home for the two of them to live in as soon as they were married. Joseph was probably boarding in the house of a Jewish family, just as single men without a family in town often did back then. It is even possible that Joseph as boarding in the house where Mary’s family lived. At any rate, Joseph, after his marriage, would have had to find and establish a home for the two of them before they could live together. Also, note how Joseph did not take the census of Augustus in Nazareth. Thus, it seems that he did not actually own any property in Nazareth. His only property seems to have been what he inherited in Bethlehem. Now, if Joseph and Mary lived in a rented house in Nazareth just after they were married, it could have been rented to someone else by the time they returned to Nazareth. For Joseph had left Nazareth more than a year before he returned, to take the census in Bethlehem. And it is more likely that they had left Nazareth more than two years before their return. So they may not have had any home to return to in Nazareth, although Mary’s family and their friends would give them a temporary place to live.
So now you can see why Joseph was so troubled. Joseph, Mary and Jesus were likely travelling in a large, protective caravan from Egypt, headed for Jerusalem, to get near his hometown of Bethlehem.
By this time, that group was probably camping somewhere in the Negev, in the middle of nowhere.
And it was likely then when Joseph heard that Archelaus was the Ethnarch of Judea. So this news instantly crushed all his happy plans to live in Bethlehem. And, without an owned home anywhere else, he did not see any other feasible options for housing his family. All he knew was that he dared not subject them to a constant threat of death by the hands of Archelaus. But he did not really want to go back to Nazareth either. For he did not own a house there, and he did not want to burden Mary’s family in Nazareth, forcing them to care for them until he could reestablish a new home. For Page 116
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most people there were poor, barely surviving. So how could he ask them to feed an additional three or four mouths? So suddenly placing such a stress on her parents and their friends might be quite overwhelming for them, and may cause him to be resented by them and the whole community. All this would make Joseph worried. And this is why God spoke to him in another dream, assuring him that he should go to Nazareth, and not risk staying in Bethlehem. God made the decision for Joseph, even in a way that would fulfill multiple prophecies of Scripture. So, when their group arrived from Egypt, and turned at the crossroads to Jerusalem, Joseph, Mary and Jesus would have parted ways.
Joseph’s family would have joined another group that was leaving Jerusalem, travelling on the way to Galilee. After arriving in Nazareth, they remained there until Joseph died. After that, Jesus became the head of the family and moved them all to Capernaum, then began His ministry as Israel’s King.
Israel’s King, High Priest and Prophet
By the time Jesus turned thirty, His father seems to have died. For, as the oldest son, He had become the Head of the household by this time. Also, since His father was the heir to David’s throne, Jesus had become the new legitimate King of Israel, in the eyes of God and the devout. And God ordained that Jesus would be the final and eternal King of both Israel and the world. For the life-giving Spirit of God in Jesus was the King of heaven and earth from the beginning, and His body would rise from the dead, to never die again. Of course, Rome, the essence of Satan’s four-kingdom empire created from Babylon, still illegitimately ruled Israel. So Jesus did not yet sit on a physical throne in Israel, nor bear secular power in the land. And He was not willing to do so until both His kingdom and that devil’s kingdom matured in the world, to divide the elect from the non-elect into a dichotomy. In the meantime, our God Jesus allowed the demonic beast’s religious kingdom reign in Israel and grow on earth. So even this God-King in Israel remained politically powerless. But His spiritual power in the land was a different matter altogether. For the first three years three years of His reign in the physical land of Israel, Jesus would set out to teach, judge and serve His people, in the way God calls all just, wise, biblical rulers to do. But neither religious nor political powers would step aside to allow His justice and truth to bless the citizens of Israel. In fact, Jesus would be treated worse than the previous legitimate king of Israel, His father Joseph. And Joseph was hounded by Herod and Rome all his life.
It is even likely that many in his nuclear and extended family had been murdered by Rome, since he was forced to flee to Nazareth, possibly at about the same age that Jesus was when He became King.
Jesus was nothing like the other kings descended from David. For Jesus had God’s Spirit in Him, not a human spirit. Jesus was the prophesied and long-awaited Messianic King. As the Messiah, Jesus was also to be a prophet, like David was. For Moses said the Messiah would be a great Prophet like himself (see Deut. 18:15). And, because the Messiah was to be a Prophet like Moses, it also meant that the Messiah would bring Israel into the New Covenant relationship with God, a covenant which built His kingdom through a new Law. This new Law was similar to the Law Moses gave, to bring Israel into the Old Covenant relationship with God. Yet this new Law would be inward, of the spirit, and worked spontaneously by elect human spirits directly taught and trained by God Himself. For God said the Messiah’s New Covenant and its new Law would not be like the Old Covenant and its Law (Jer. 31:31-34). Yet, since God is immutable, and His ways never change, the New Covenant Law could never nullify His Old Covenant Law. Rather, His new and inner Law of the human spirit would entirely fulfill literally all the Mosaic Old Covenant Law, in a far deeper and richer way, and would never delete nor alter even the least of the precepts in the Old Covenant Law (Mat. 5:17-19).
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In addition to being the King of Israel and a great Prophet like Moses, the Messiah was also to be the new and eternal High Priest of Israel. For the first high priest, Aaron, and each successive high priest of the Old Covenant, was the only one allowed to bear all twelve tribes of Israel on his heart (i.e., on a breastplate) and administer the final biblical kind of judgment for all. This judgment required him to teach all, condemn the unrepentant, and intercede for all others, by making sacrifices for their sins (e.g., Ex. 28:29-30; 30:10; Lev. 9:7; 16:2-24). Now the Messiah was to become all that these old high priests signified (Is. 53:10-12; Ps. 110:1-4). Jesus was to be thee High Priest, while all the former high priests were only shadowy copies, symbols of the coming Messiah. Jesus is the eternal High Priest, for Israel and all the elect of the world throughout history, so we will never need another (Heb. 4:14-16; 5:5-10; 6:20; 7:23-27; 8:1-5; 9:6-15,22-28; 10:19-23). Yet the Messiah descended from Judah and David, not from Levi and Aaron, like the symbolic high priests. So, if there can no longer be a high priest descended from Aaron, according to demands of the Old Covenant Law, but now a new eternal High Priest from the tribe of Judah, then this new High Priest must judge us by a new Law of a New Covenant, a new Law taught directly by Him, then make a new kind of sacrifice for all our sins. This is absolutely necessary (Heb. 7:18), all within a new relationship with our God.
Therefore, Jesus was already the King and Judge of Israel when He began His three-year ministry of teaching and correcting the people, even Gentiles in Israel. For His father, the previous king of Israel, had passed away, God ordained that Jesus would inherit the throne. Although, by God’s will, the essence of Babylon still suppressed His secular power, it did not stop this King from spiritually judging His citizens, by teaching the truth to cause repentance, or else by condemning souls who refused to repent. Then, since Jesus was the Great Prophet from birth, the One Moses spoke about, He went about speaking words directly from God, to heal the land of Israel and the world. For consider how all true prophecy consists solely of the words or concepts which God grants to a spirit, and how those words command command human spirits to utter them through one’s mind and body of flesh. However, since the spirit of life in Jesus was God’s uncreated Spirit, not a created human spirit, literally every word He spoke from His Spirit in His heart had to be a true, biblical prophecy, a message to be heeded as words of God, our Owner and King. So this made Him the greatest Prophet in all existence. Yet there is that other role the Messiah had to take, to save all the elect on the earth.
Since the Messiah is our eternal High Priest, He had to forever put on the real, spiritual garments of the eternal High Priest and sacrifice a scapegoat for the sins of His people. Now the devil’s brood mock God by transferring their guilt and blame away from themselves, onto the innocent, by falsely accusing those scapegoats of the the crimes they themselves committed. And those psychopaths do this through lies and slander against unwilling scapegoats, without even the slightest repentance into the truth. Yet our God and Messiah Jesus would willingly make His utterly innocent and sinless self into a sacrificed Scapegoat, through the eternal truths of life sacrificed to nourish life. Our new High Priest would substitute His body of flesh for our sinful bodies of flesh, so that our lifetimes of sins in our flesh would die in His body’s death, together with Him, so we might all be set free through Him.
But only if Jesus forever wore those spiritual garments of the High Priest, could He represent all the elect of the world before God, to complete that ritual of sacrifice with a prayer for God’s acceptance of that substitution for our bodies that sinned. Only while Jesus represented God before our hearts and eyes, as our utterly holy and effective Mediator between God and us, as well as between us and God, could we be free from our sins through the sacrifice of the Scapegoat. Every good high priest knew this and did this. Therefore, after His sacrifice for our sins, Jesus had to rise from the dead, to become the Mediator we needed, to make His sacrifice eternally acceptable for our sins in the flesh.
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Israel’s King, High Priest and Prophet
Then there was one last thing Jesus had to do, to fulfill God’s Law and forever wear the robe and breastplate of the High Priest. For God Himself designed and commanded every true high priest of His genuine church of Israel to wear a unique garment. But this garment was not merely to signify his occupation and status. Rather, this robe, turban and breastplate of a high priest indicated that God Himself had appointed him. And, before God allowed the symbolic, mortal high priests of the Old Covenant to put on those symbolic physical garments, which represented the spiritual office of the coming Messiah, before they could even begin to do all the works God commanded them to do before Him in His temple, in order to represent the eternal, spiritual works of the Messiah, every mortal high priest first had to take a ceremonial bath (e.g., Lev. 16:4). This immersion under the water is now called the mikveh by the Jews, but is called a baptism by biblical Christians. And, to the biblical, devout Jews of that time, it signified dying to an old life by dipping under the water, then rising to a new and clean life by rising up out of the water. So, by going to the mikveh, in obedience to God’s Law, a mortal high priest represented how the Messiah and eternal High Priest would die and rise again, thus washing away our sins and becoming our true, eternal High Priest.
The first-century, Greek-speaking Jews called this ceremonial dipping under water a βάπτισμα
(baptism). To perform this ritual, one first had to be physically clean—had to wash off all physical dirt, which was symbolic of repentance away from sin and into the truth. Then the baptism was performed by kneeling in the water, praying and completely immersing under the water, in a symbolic death into a watery grave. Then one rose up from the water again, in a symbolic resurrection into a new life with God. Now Jesus also had to go to the mikveh or baptism before He put on the spiritual garments of the High Priest forever. Jesus had to do this so the people would see Him become their new High Priest, the One God chose to make the vicarious sacrifice for their sins, so all His elect could rise with Him from the dead, into a new life. And this new life would come to them after He taught them about God and His ways, for their repentance into the truth, as a perfect Mediator between them and their utterly holy God. But, in God’s Law, at least two witnesses had to testify, to confirm any event, even the coming of a new High Priest, who would eternally wear the spiritual garments symbolized by the garments of the old high priests. So God, in a voice from heaven, was the first and foremost witness. Yet another was required. This is where John, the baptist, enters the picture. John, both before and after Jesus began to serve Israel and all the elect in the world, testified about this new High Priest, then baptized Him, as a sign to His church of Israel.
Mat. 3:1-17,
John the Baptist
“In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,
‘Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’ For this is He who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord. Make His paths straight.’
“Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist.
His food was locusts and wild honey. Then people from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him. They were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, ‘You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! Don’t think to yourselves, “We have Abraham for our father,” for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from Page 119
these stones. Even now the axe lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.
“‘I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but He who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor. He will gather His wheat into the barn, but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire.’
“Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. But John would have hindered Him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by You, and You come to me?’ But Jesus, answering, said to him, ‘Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him.
“Jesus, when He was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to Him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on Him.
Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’” (Mat. 3:1-17, WEB).
About John the Baptizer
John began to preach and prophecy “in the fifteenth year of the governance of Tiberius Caesar” (Ἐν
ἔτει πεντεκαιδεκάτῳ τῆς ἡγεμονίας Τιβερίου Καίσαρος, Luke 3:1, SBLGNT). The fifteenth year of a
“governance” began one day after a full fourteen years had elapsed. Then every Roman emperor’s
“governance” began on the day he was granted full authority over the Romam army, whether the civilian politicians recognized him as the emperor or not. For the army was the power of Rome, and no civilian body held any authority over the commander of the army, not in the way our democracies do. In fact, it was the other way around. The commander of the army held the power to coerce and even kill authorities in the civilian branches of government. Therefore, since Tiberius became the sole commander of Rome’s entire army in about AD 10, the fifteenth year of his “governance” began in about AD 24 or AD 25. Thus, Jesus came to John’s baptism shortly after this. So Jesus would have come to John in about AD 25, when Jesus was about thirty years old (Luke 3:23). And John was only about six months older than Jesus (Luke 1:36). So John was about thirty or thirty-one years of age.
Now, before we can understand the significance Jesus’ baptism by John the baptizer (often called
“John the Baptist”), we must first understand the motives and attributes of John. From Luke, we know John was the oldest and only son of an Aaronic priest, Zecharias. And Zecharias was serving in God’s temple just before John was conceived in his wife, Elizabeth. Now Zecharias did not appear to be a notable priest. He was an ordinary descendant of Abijah, a son of Eleazar. And only Eleazar’s and Ithamar’s descendants survived as Aaronic priests by the time David had become king. But those two Aaronic priests had 24 sons between them, each with his own male descendants. So David decided that all of them did not need to serve at the temple at once, only the sons of one of these 24
families at one time. This meant that, likely for one month every two years, all male descendants of each priestly family would leave their homes, in various parts of Israel, to take their turn at serving the people in the Jerusalem temple. And the family of Abijah, one of Eleazar’s 16 sons, was chosen by lot as the eighth of those 24 priestly families (I Chron. 24:1-19, cf. Luke 1:5). So, on the eighth month, in each two-year cycle of 24 months, all male descendants of Abijah served in the temple.
Since John was a son of an Aaronic priest, John himself was also an Aaronic priest, but extremely zealous for God, thoroughly committed to the works that God committed to the sons of Aaron. And this explains why he appeared to be so radically against greed and materialism. Matthew tells us that Page 120
John even wore garments made of cheap and itchy camel’s hair, then ate whatever kosher food he could find in the wilderness, such as locusts and honey from wild bees. Since John was doing this, it also clearly implies that John refused to receive the support that was granted to the other Aaronic priests, and even to the common Levites. All had been granted the right to tithes and many of the offerings given by the church of Israel in the temple. Yet John had completely broken all ties with the established church of his day, most likely because they became corrupted by greed and politics.
In God’s Law, each priestly family was to be freely granted a suitable home somewhere in the Levitical lands scattered throughout Israel. Literally all lands in Israel belonged to God alone, but most of the individuals in Israel were granted an inherited stewardship of a certain amount of real estate, so each family could have a home and each could have somewhere to work for a living wage.
However, God never allowed any of the Aaronic priests, nor any of the common Levites, to bear any personal stewardship over any specific property. Rather, God designated large blocks of land for all the Levites, including all Aaronic priests among them, to share in common. For God commanded all the Levites, both the Aaronic and common Levites, to refrain from any kind of greed or materialism.
God allowed none of the Levites or Aaronic priests to own any possessions of substantial financial value, nothing that could enrich an heir, so that the only inheritance of the priests in the priesthood of Israel would be God Himself (e.g., Num. 18:20-24). All were to dedicate their whole existence and all their ambitions to the service of God, His people and the rest of His creation. God commanded them to share literally everything received from the Levitical common lands, from the tithes, and from the offerings. They were to share all in common with other Levites, with the destitute, with women bereft of husbands, and with orphans, as the “royal priesthood” of the apostolic church did.
But very little of this kind of loving compassion was practised by the Levitical priesthood during John’s lifetime, although the church of Israel certainly had enough money and resources to do these works. So John abandoned the temple and Levitical properties. He forsook all the benefits and perks of being an Aaronic priest. Yet John did not establish his own cult, where a people esteemed him with some kind of title of honour, then worshipped him as their human god, through their esteem and obedient service to him, by offering him donations of money and other valuables. John was nothing like the Essenes or any other cult. John wanted nothing to do with anything resembling the pagan Roman religious fakes who practised this kind of evil—although very many Jewish religious leaders, including the Essenes and Pharisaic rabbis, were very busy establishing cults just like those pagan cults, where everyone bowed before a “great” human god. Instead, John fled this kind of corruption, into the wilderness. There he faithfully served the people, teaching them the truth of God’s Word, but insisted that he would be simply called by his name, “John,” and took no title of honour with it. Then he lived off of whatever God provided in nature, as well as scraps of food that the people shared with him, though almost all who ever came to him consisted of the most impoverished souls in the land.
We must not believe those who deny this spiritual integrity of John, certainly not those who say John was merely a pagan-like aesthetic personality, or that he was influenced by the Essenes. If we look closely, we see that John was undeniably and exclusively serving God as an extremely faithful and entirely biblical Aaronic priest, who thoroughly dedicated his entire life to the God-ordained duties of the Aaronic priesthood. This is why John was teaching God’s Word to all who came to him. For he knew that one of the main duties that God had commanded the sons of Aaron to perform was to teach the people how to think justly, how to discern between what is holy and what is common, and how to rightly apply His laws and ways (e.g., Lev. 10:10-11; Deut. 33:10, etc.). So this is exactly what John did, honestly and accurately. Yet almost all the other Aaronic priests were either twisting Page 121
God’s Law and authoritative words for their own personal advantage, or else not bothering to teach much of anything at all about God and His authoritative words. Thus, John simply abandoned them.
Then God also commanded that the priest who taught the people should also serve as their judge (e.g., Deut. 17:8-12). For, after one’s guilt was established, a truly biblical judge had to teach the sinner about what God expected of him or her. And, after being taught, personally and interactively, if the spirit of the sinner repented into God’s truth, and away from sin, the priest would command that repentant sinner to go to the ceremonial bath (mikveh/baptism), then offer up a sacrifice for one’s sins. This was the baptism of repentance that John administered. John would privately teach one, hear one’s confession and guide one into repentance. Then he would tell one to stand in the water, pray that God might forgive one’s sins for atonement, to restore one’s relationship with God, with God’s help to overcome evil with good. After this, one would dip under the water to signify the death of one’s old life, then rise from the water to signify resurrection into a new life with God.
So John did not baptize by holding a person, then dipping that one under water. And John certainly did not sprinkle, pour or smear a little water on a head to magically introduce them to God. Rather, like all other Jewish rabbis and priests of that day, who all also baptized sinners by simply judging their reasons for coming to them and letting them immerse themselves, John simply instructed each individual how to honestly repent into God’s ways and truths, then let each go to the mikveh, and perhaps watched as each dipped oneself under the water. A devout Jewish “baptizer” was a teacher, judge and counsellor of the one being baptized, not a pagan-like priest whom God had supposedly granted the power to impart an imagined forgiveness to the sinner through a magic physical ritual.
For only God Himself could forgive and resurrect a sinner into a new life. Also, John’s baptism was the just goal of all God’s Laws against all sins. Thus, only if the sinner remained totally unrepentant, or repented through false motives, would the deliberate sinner be denied the right to the mikveh, and remain in sin. In fact, if a priest saw unrepentant sins, he would judge and sentence that sinner to a just punishment, but a punishment which did not exceed the weight of the sin and the degree of the maliciousness of the sinner’s motives and intentions (only an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth, nothing more). So this biblical kind of justice, served by God’s true and faithful Aaronic priests, had always been a welcome relief from the kinds of judgments forced upon the people by the paganized priests and Romans, who punished every sin in the most severe way possible, who never taught real truths of God, because they refused to allow for God’s grace granted through repentance into truth.
John was not trying to be anything but a truly faithful, just, compassionate Aaronic priest in literally all that he taught and did. And, like any truly faithful Aaronic priest, he also apprenticed young men who wanted to learn to live for God. That is, John taught and trained disciples. But these young men did not bow before John, like the disciples of humanistic rabbis bowed before them. Nor did his disciples call him “lord,” like most disciples called their rabbis their “lord” in those days. Rather, John’s disciples referred to him as “John,” as they would refer to a brother (Luke 7:20). For John did not take up any of the pagan ways that originated in Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. Rather, John remained faithful to the thoroughly biblical teachings that came from God Himself, and God caused John to reject all the church’s false teachings opposed to His own wise, true, just and loving ways.
And God’s Law commanded that all priests and rulers must serve as “brothers,” never as “lords.”
When we look at Luke’s information about John, we see that he was an extraordinary Aaronic priest, even from birth. In fact, John was the one and only Aaronic priest whom God allowed to witness and ceremonially partake in the transition from the Old Covenant priesthood of the Aaronic Levites to the New Covenant “royal priesthood” of a Messiah originating from the tribe of Judah. John was all an Aaronic priest was meant to be. But the new High Priest, and His new priesthood were far greater.
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When we look at the birth of John, we see how God predestined him for this role as the Aaronic priest who would usher in the new High Priest and New Covenant. First, his birth was miraculous.
God had sent an angel to proclaim his birth before he was even conceived. John’s father, Zacharias, was ministering in the Holy of Holies, where only one priest could enter at a time. At that moment, a messenger from God came to him, announcing that his wife would give birth. Now Elizabeth, the wife of Zacharias, was barren, and both of them were getting older. Since Zacharias served in the temple, in the Holy of Holies, he must have been in his fifties, since that is the time of life when an Aaronic priest was allowed to do such tasks (Num. 8:24-26). Elizabeth would have been younger, and may have been in her forties or, at the very youngest, in her late thirties. Of course, Zacharias was frightened when he saw the angel, looking like a man, suddenly appearing in this forbidden place. Yet, in the way Zacharias spoke so casually to that angel, that angel must not have looked like an extremely impressive being, not a glowing winged being like we see in art and the movies. This angel must have looked like ordinary man. Yet, neither Zacharias, nor the other priests outside, saw a man enter the Holy of Holies. And all others, both Jews and Gentiles, were strictly forbidden from ever entering that room, upon penalty of death. Only one Aaronic priest, at a specifically appointed time, was ever allowed to enter. Then many priests and Levites guarded that room with their lives, to ensure that no one could enter it unlawfully. Thus, Zacharias knew this was not an ordinary man. The man standing before him must have been an angel, since he appeared from nowhere, supernaturally.
The angel said this to Zacharias: “Don’t be afraid, Zacharias, because your request has been heard, and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. You will have joy and gladness; and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, their God. He will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to prepare a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:13-17, WEB). And that angel likely would have spoken to Zacharias in his native tongue, which could have been Greek.
The name “John” (Ἰωάννης) refers to one who is “favoured by Yahweh,” by God. Because God Himself gave John this name, through His messenger, the angel, John was indeed favoured by God.
And, like all men, God created John’s attributes. But, unlike others, God sent His Holy Spirit to teach and train John’s human spirit from the moment of his conception, so that John would be able to lead the spirits of God’s elect children in the priesthood of Israel to their Messiah, to their new King and High Priest, to the Saviour of all the other elect of the world, all those that the church of Israel was commanded to serve. And a higher favour of God could not be granted to any human being than this. In fact, John would be called “great” by God Himself, a “larger than life” kind of person. For John had to come before the Messiah came. Then John would be the first to publicly recognize the Messiah as God incarnate. And John would do this “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (ἐν πνεύματι
καὶ δυνάμει Ἠλίου). Now, when Elijah passed his mantle (representing his role as a judging prophet of Israel) to Elisha (II Kings 2:11-15), God merely allowed the spirit and power of Elijah to then rest upon Elisha. But now John came “in” Elijah’s spirit and power, as a judging prophet and Aaronic priest serving the elect in the church of Israel, for the spirits of all whom God had granted the eyes to see and the ears to hear. This preposition (“in”) is important. Although the body of flesh given to John was not the body of Elijah, the life-giving spirit “in” John seemed to be the same life-giving spirit that was “in” Elijah. Thus, it appears that the eternal life-giving spirit and essence of John was Elijah, although John was technically a different person than Elijah, in a different body on the earth.
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This son of that Aaronic priest and his wife probably was the answer to more than twenty years of that couple’s prayers for a child. And what an answer to their prayers it was, more than their hearts could have ever imagined! Now, considering how special this son was, we can assume that both Zacharias and Elizabeth were truly spiritual, devoted, loving servants of God. So, since John would be “filled with the Holy Spirit,” even as a fetus within his mother’s womb, he would bring this elect couple a spiritual kind of inner “joy and gladness,” through his deep and true understanding of God’s words and will. Likewise, John’s words and works would cause all the other elect in Israel, all whose spirits God awakened, to also “rejoice,” and to praise God allowing his birth. But, at the same time, this also meant that the greedy, materialistic, power-hungry, lying and deceiving enemies of God would consider this kind of just, judging prophet and priest, sent by the loving God, to be their enemy too. And, in fact, the enemies of God eventually killed John, causing sorrow for His parents and all the awakened elect who loved him. Still, God was not going to allow His enemies to take John’s bodily life until John had finished his entire mission and purpose for Him on this earth. God’s power would ensure that John fully completed all that He had sent him to accomplish for His church.
John would indeed “‘turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to prepare a people prepared for the Lord.” God once told all fathers in Israel to instruct their children regarding all the attributes and ways of their heavenly Father. Each father was to write God’s words on his own heart, so he could obey this command of God: “You shall teach [His words]
diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deut. 6:7, WEB). But the fathers neglected this duty of love for their children. Now John would remind them of this. And John, possibly with a resurrection of Moses by his side, will do so again, in the days before Jesus returns. In Malachi’s prophecy about the Messiah’s second advent, God stated: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse”
(Mal. 4:5-6, WEB). And notice, in the end times, after the prophesied great revival (after God marks the “foreheads” of his elect children with His seal), how the hearts of the children also will turn to their fathers, when the hearts of their fathers turn to them, when the fathers begin again to teach their children about the true ways of their God, the Messiah. For this is task only fathers can perform well, not mothers, and love between fathers and sons depends on it, since love is built upon truth alone.
Looking back to the first century, when John preached, in the days before Jesus imparted His Holy Spirit to His true disciples during the feast of the Pentecost, not many of God’s elect children did lovingly and warmly respond to their elect fathers, as God intended. For their fathers did not teach their sons about their real God and His true ways. And this was because the people did not know God’s intended meaning of His own words, only corrupted interpretations of the Old Testament Scriptures invented by self-serving priests, judges and rabbis, who taught only that which would bind their people into a slavish service of themselves. But John taught God’s own interpretation of His Old Covenant words, because God’s Holy Spirit taught John that true interpretation. Therefore, by John’s teaching and judging of the people according to the right, just and loving interpretation of Scriptures, elect fathers in Israel could then informally explain and teach their elect children about God’s real ways and His truths, even all that God revealed through His Word. In response to this, the sons would love their fathers, even knowing that their fathers were sinners like themselves, or even especially because they saw their sinful father’s repent often into the genuine truths revealed by God to their spirits. And this kind of love between the fathers and their sons had to occur before the King and High Priest of Israel gathered them into their New Covenant relationship with God. For the men Page 124
in the family priesthood of Israel, and in every family on earth, develop the spiritual structures of the family, all the ways that a family views and interacts with God and His creations. Men do this in a way that women simply cannot. So God sent John to do this work. And God will send John to do this same work again, before the time of the great revival that precedes the second coming of Jesus, only one generation before Jesus returns as the enthroned King of Israel and the world, bearing all power.
Yet, even in those Old Covenant times, when John ministered, he did “turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, their God.” He caused many foolish, unjust and unloving sinners to embrace the loving, wise ways of their just God, through their spirits’ genuine repentance into God’s truth. In this way, John prepared God’s people for the coming of their High Priest, Jesus, their Lord and God incarnate. And John still does it to this day, through his words recorded in New Covenant Scriptures.
Yet look at how the angel responded, when Zecharias did not believe that his wife could give birth to a baby, when Zacharias thought in a thoroughly materialistic and carnal way, by pointing out how he was now “an old man” and Elizabeth was “well advanced in years.” The angel was disgusted, and replied: “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news. Behold, you will be silent and not able to speak, until the day that these things will happen, because you didn’t believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time”
(Luke 1:19-20, WEB). Of course, Zecharias was a good, honest, faithful priest, who had likely carefully and diligently studied the Scriptures all his life, certainly more than the majority of the common Jews. And the priests like him, the spiritual fathers in the community, taught all the children about God’s Word in synagogue schools, then for hours every Sabbath as well, throughout their entire lives. So, at his age, Zecharias surely must have known that God could do anything, especially after reading about the miracles God did through His prophets in the past. Also, his spirit should have instantly recognized that this man standing before him was an angel sent from God Himself, since this place where that angel stood, the Holy of Holies, was strictly guarded at all times, and no human man could possibly enter that place. But this world has a tendency to make even good men become more focused on daily matters of the flesh than matters of the spirit. So even spiritually awake men often let their spirits fall asleep, and allow their lives to be governed solely by their minds of flesh, rather than by their elect spirits. Then their spirits stop learning from their heavenly Father, and stop heeding His counsel. So their minds of flesh take complete control of their lives.
The words of the angel reveal what was really happening inside both of Zacharias’ minds. His life seems to have become controlled and guided mostly by his brain of flesh. And that mind likely was telling him to be “realistic” about spiritual matters, “guarded” against placing too much hopeful faith in God, and “protected” him from being “too spiritually minded to be of any earthly good.” In other words, it looks as though his mind of flesh was binding and taking captive the mind of his spirit. And all minds of flesh naturally doubt God’s words, do not want to care for crying infants in the middle of the night, do not care about the people, and only like to serve their own interests. So his mind of flesh did not want to believe that this angel was actually sent by God, nor any of the angel’s words, and did not care much for the spiritual benefits granted to Israel and the world by God through this promised son. His flesh silenced his elect spirit, did not let his spirit hear God. The weak, suppressed spirit of Zacharias was forced to hold its peace and submit, as his flesh spoke words of doubt to the angel. But God was not about to leave Zacharias in that carnal state. So God Himself commanded the angel to tell Zacharias what He would do for the revival of that carnal man’s lethargic spirit.
We glean this information from the angel’s words and other evidence. For one thing, we know God sent this angel to Zacharias in the Holy of Holies, in the most sacred and innermost part of the temple, in the place where God promised that His presence would dwell. Thus, God Himself was Page 125
there with the angel, and God waited for Zacharias to come into His presence before God told him that he would have a son who would prepare the way for the Saviour, King and Messiah. So God would not do this if the spirit of Zacharias was not actually one of His own elect children, even an awakened and faithful child. So we can be quite certain that God recognized Zacharias as His very precious child, and a true Aaronic priest who rightly served Him. Second, from all we see in the Bible, and from experience, we know a human spirit can recognize another spirit whenever God wants them both to communicate with each other. Thus, the spirit of Zacharias must have instantly recognized that angel, even by name, as soon as that angel appeared, since an angel is a spirit from the spiritual realm of heaven, and spirits recognize other spirits. So we conclude that the spirit of Zacharias knew who this angel was and that his words were true. Thus, when the angel was rebuking Zacharias, that angel must confirmed his identity to the flesh of Zacharias, and only because the mind of Zacharias’ flesh had been telling his spirit not to believe the spiritual realities seen and heard with its own spiritual eyes and ears. Zacharias’ mind of flesh was preventing his spirit from believing that this spiritual being was indeed Gabriel (i.e., the “Valiant and Mighty One”), “who stands in the presence of God,” and that he “was sent to speak to [Zecharias], and to bring [him] this good news.”
The angel seemed to know the carnal state of Zacharias, that his spirit had surrendered to his flesh long ago, that his flesh had bullied his spirit so much and so hard that Zacharias became a man who walked mostly according to his mind of flesh—so that his mind of flesh intellectualized all matters pertaining to life and faith, forcing the mind of his spirit to become an unthinking, terrorized slave.
We also need to understand why this angel, as a representative speaking in God’s name, commanded Zacharias’ mouth to remain silent until John had been born, which was for almost a year. Since his mind of flesh had silenced his spirit, God decided to silence his flesh. Of course, elect angels only do the will of God, whatever God commands them to do. So it was God who actually made Zacharias mute, physically unable to speak. But why, of all the kinds of punishments possible, did God make him mute? The reason is obvious. A mouth speaks only the words of the mind that manages it. If the mind of an elect spirit, who is taught and trained by God, commands the mouth of flesh to speak, then truth from God comes out, through the spirit’s trust in God, its Teacher. But, if the mind of flesh is taught by carnal men, and that mind of flesh commands the mouth to speak, nonsense and doubts spew out. And the more the mind of flesh speaks the lies of men from its mind of flesh, the more that mind of flesh believes those lies spoken by its own mouth. For a mind of flesh convinces itself of all self-serving lies through the actions of its own body, by reading and hearing only what it chooses to read or hear. And the flesh has no ability to discern between good and evil, truth and lies. Rather, the flesh accepts truth and lies equally, but only that which pleases it. Only human spirits can discern between good and evil, truth and lies. Therefore, if God kept Zacharias’ physical mouth shut, it would allow his spirit time to wake up enough to question and respond to the lies which his mind of flesh repeated to brainwash itself, and allow the spirit of Zacharias to be taught and trained by God.
I know that all this talk about minds of flesh and minds of spirits in human beings might sound quite strange to many Christians. But that is because most Christians (as well as most Jews) are taught variations of anthropological doctrines derived from pagan Middle Platonism, and have become totally unfamiliar with biblical anthropological doctrines (i.e., anthropological doctrines are teachings about the nature of human beings, how the flesh, spirits and souls of a human beings function). For churches (and synagogues) have strongly suppressed biblical anthropological doctrines since the second century. However, for al who know biblical anthropological teachings, it is clear that whenever the spirit is silenced by the flesh, all thoughts within the chamber of the soul become irrational, self-serving and faithless. But, whenever the flesh is silenced and appropriately Page 126
managed by one’s elect spirit, the decision making process in the soul is made through faith in God.
And, by silencing the flesh, the spirit of Zacharias would constantly reminded each day about the way he allowed his unbelieving, unspiritual, self-serving flesh to suppress his spirit. Then he would walk more, in his daily life, according to his spirit, in truth, and less according to his flesh. This is why God caused Zacharias to become physically unable to speak for a time, until John was born.
And this is also why, when Mary asked a similar question of the same angel (Luke 1:34), Gabriel simply explained how and why she would give birth to a son as a virgin, but did not punish her in any way. For Mary’s spirit was not being carnal, not being ruled by her mind of flesh. Rather, her spirit was awake, managed her life and trusted all the words sent by God (e.g., Luke 1:38,45). She was simply puzzled, wondering if God wanted to start living with her husband right then and there.
Before I continue with Matthew’s account of John the Baptist, let me point out a few more events which Luke wrote about in his Gospel, likely after learning this information from Mary. And one event illustrates and solidly confirms the doctrine mentioned above, that spirits can see one another when God allows it. Probably within a month after Mary became pregnant with Jesus, she visited her relative, Elizabeth, the wife of Zacharias. At that time, Elizabeth was about six months pregnant with John, but Mary had miraculously conceived Jesus very recently. So the fetus in Mary’s womb barely would have developed any human form at all, certainly not a full brain. Yet, as soon as Mary walked in the door of Elizabeth’s home, John’s fetus leapt for joy, and Elizabeth herself was filled with God’s Holy Spirit (i.e., her soul was completely governed and overwhelmed by God’s Spirit). Thus, the spirit of John’s fetus and the spirit of Elizabeth herself were made able to see and recognize that the life-giving Spirit of the undeveloped fetus in Mary’s womb was the uncreated holy Spirit of the Creator God, that this unformed fetus was already God incarnate (Luke 1:26-56). Clearly, this infers a couple of things: (1) God puts the spirit of life in a human fetus very soon after conception; and (2) human spirits can see other spirits without using the eyes of flesh (and cannot use eyes of flesh to see spirits, since spirits are not made of substances in the material space-time continuum). For John was in the womb, with undeveloped eyes that were shut, when his human spirit saw the Spirit of God in Jesus. Every human spirit is able to see other spirits, when God allows the spirit to see outside itself.
Now look at what God’s Holy Spirit said through Elizabeth and Mary, about Jesus and John the baptizer. Regarding Jesus, the devout Jewish woman Elizabeth declared that the human being, who was still a very undeveloped fetus in Mary’s womb, was her “Lord,” that is, the Owner of her being (Luke 1:43). Surely this meant she believed the fetus in Mary’s womb was her God, who is a Spirit, because a devout Jewish woman would never say such a thing, in this way, about the fetus in the womb of her own relative, not unless the Spirit of life in that fetus was God. Now, when the angel told Mary that God put the Child in her womb, he mentioned her relative, Elizabeth (Luke 1:36). But Jewish families often kept track of many relatives, and Elizabeth may have been a merely a second or third cousin, a woman whom Mary had never met in her entire life, just a distant relative she had heard about from her parents. But that angel, Gabriel, knew about the miraculous conception of John in the aging womb of Elizabeth, and that her child, John, would one day herald the ministry of Jesus, the Child in Mary. Still, it is unlikely that Elizabeth herself knew about Gabriel prophesying that the Child in Mary would be the Messiah, Israel’s King and God incarnate. So it surely was God’s Spirit, not Mary, who revealed this information to Elizabeth at the moment Mary walked through her door.
Also, Gabriel told Mary about the birth of Jesus, whom God put in her womb, with these words: “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father, David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to His Kingdom” (Luke 1:32-33). By calling Jesus the “Son of the Most High,” then the “Son of God” in Page 127
verse 35, Gabriel indicated a unique Son of the Creator God. All elect human beings are “sons” or
“heirs” of God because their spirits came from within God’s Spirit, and were made in God’s image, unlike the spirits of angels and all other creatures in heaven and on earth. However, a singular and unique “Son of God” is the Spirit of God Himself dwelling in a body of human flesh. This is what the Messiah was prophesied to be, thee King, just as God is thee King, thee Owner and Ruler of all other kings and rulers, thee King who would live and reign over heaven and earth forever. And, from the beginning, all devout Jews and their forefathers knew that only One Being can be that kind of King. God alone always was and always will be thee King of all kings. So, about six months before he came to Mary, Gabriel had announced to the now mute Zacharias that he too would have a son born of his aging wife Elizabeth. God would also put a spirit in this son, but a human spirit. And God’s Spirit would this son’s spirit, the human spirit of John, to prepare the hearts of devout Jews for their Messiah Jesus, so they would receive their God incarnate. Still, it is unlikely that the husband of Elizabeth, Zacharias, had understood or revealed much of any relevant information about any of this to Elizabeth. For Zacharias had been struck mute and likely did not write it down for her. After all, most people did not have paper, pens and ink in their houses back then, since such things were extremely expensive, and not common household items. Thus, we can begin to see how the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth involved the interventions of God’s Spirit, in all they felt and said that day.
Furthermore, Zacharias and Elizabeth had returned to their home in Judah by this time, while Mary was still living with Joseph in Nazareth of Galilee. So it is highly improbable that the two of them exchanged any kind of meaningful information over this great distance between them. A few bits of information may have been transmitted by travelling relatives, but not much. Yet Luke states that Elizabeth spoke these knowing and prophetic words to Mary immediately after Mary entered and greeted her, although the traditional greeting is simply, “Peace be upon you, my cousin.” This is why we say that, after “Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,” she prophesied her words, spoke what God directly revealed to the mind of her spirit, through her flesh, when she blessed Mary and Jesus.
Because Gabriel told Mary about Elizabeth (Luke 1:36-37), and wanted her to visit Elizabeth, and Elizabeth then felt John leap in her womb as soon as Mary appeared, we can conclude that the spirit of John already knew the Spirit of Jesus. But how? From Scriptures, and from all we know about our own human spirits, we find that an elect human spirit is infantile, especially when its body of flesh is young. No newly created human spirit ever has much conscious knowledge of God or anything else, only propensities and “instincts.” Yet a close connection already existed between the spirits of John and Jesus at that time. So this suggests that John’s spirit was not a newly created elect human spirit, but that John’s spirit had somehow matured and come to know the Spirit of God in Jesus. It infers that John had the human spirit of a person who lived on earth in a previous time. And Jesus said that John had the spirit of Elijah. And remember, the Holy Spirit of God made Elijah very familiar with Him during his lifetime. Then Elijah’s body was transfigured and taken to the gates of heaven on a chariot of fire (II Kings 2:11). So Elijah’s spirit had been conversing with Jesus in heaven for some time. Although Scriptures indicate that time in heaven is non-sequential, and passes in a much different way than it does on earth, Elijah’s spirit would have actually had its eyes opened and would have spent enough time there to become familiar with Jesus, in His true form. So this more mature spirit of Elijah was now in the fetus of John, able to see through all vaporous barriers of flesh, and instantly recognize the Spirit of Jesus in the womb of Mary. This may seem to be mere speculation, but it rings true, considering all the information we know and harmonize from the other Scriptures.
This connection between John the baptizer and Jesus was predestined by God, then further grown and developed by God. And the flesh of John, as soon as he could comprehend the words of his Page 128
mother, Elizabeth, would have been told about this incident. Elizabeth would have told John that he leaped in her womb in the presence of Jesus in Mary’s womb, and that the Holy Spirit of God then gave her a prophetic message for Mary. And, to John, an Aaronic priest’s son, hearing this would have affected him and his zeal for God. It would have stirred his spirit in his heart, created a great hope and focused the thoughts of his spirit upon God throughout his life. Although Jesus and John did not physically see one another in the flesh for another thirty years, that meeting of their spirits in the beginnings of their lives would have cemented a life-long spiritual relationship. Then Mary also stayed with Elizabeth for about three more months (Luke 1:56), that is, until Mary had witnessed the birth of John. So that initial relationship of John’s spirit with Jesus’ Spirit grew. Back then, women often helped pregnant relatives, and even stayed to help for some time after the childbirth. In fact, all the women and men in a church and community helped one another raise all their children together, throughout life, as one large extended family. But the fact that Mary stayed for about three months is important, since she would have seen what happened at the birth of John. Mary became the source of information that Luke recorded for us about John. And that information helps us understand how John became the Aaronic priest whom God had chosen to usher in the New Covenant’s High Priest.
After John was born, Zacharias was still mute, since he had not yet fulfilled all the commands of God uttered through the angel, Gabriel. Nevertheless, on the eighth day after birth, a rabbi would have come to name and circumcise the baby. The circumcision was to be a sign of that child being accepted by God into both His Abrahamic and Old Covenant relationships with His priesthood of Israel. Then the naming of the child was indicate that the parents would accept lifelong responsibility for that child. Now the father usually ratified and finalized the name of his child. But Zacharias was not able to speak. So the rabbi was going to give the baby the same name as his father, since it was the traditional and simplest way to provide a suitable name. But Elizabeth remembered at least one thing about the prophesy Gabriel gave to her husband, that the child was to be called John. So she immediately objected and told the rabbi that their son was to be named John (Luke 1:60). Thus, the rabbi paused and the people in the home, synagogue or temple, where the circumcision was taking place, asked Zacharias about it. After signalling that he wanted a writing tablet (a flat, framed tray with soft clay in it), he wrote that his son’s name was to be “John” (Luke 1:63). Thus, his name was John, as God wanted it to be. So this was Zacharias’ final act of acknowledging the words of God and His spiritual kingdom, placing faith in God’s ability to reveal His truths to mankind and work His power on earth in any way He chooses, even miraculously. Then Zacharias was immediately able to speak again. And how do we know all this, since Luke wrote about this event about 60 years after it occurred. So Zacharias, Elizabeth and John had all passed away by then. Well, Mary was still alive when Luke started to gather information to write his Gospel. And Mary would have witnessed this circumcision of John, and how Zacharias could suddenly speak again, where his very first words were words of faith, praising God as a true Aaronic priest should. And Mary never forgot anything.
The very moment the voice of Zacharias was restored, he was filled with God’s Holy Spirit. So God entered the chamber of his soul to take over the management of his body and spirit. Then the words of God, a prophecy, poured out of his mouth. Zacharias spoke of God redeeming His people by raising up a “Horn of salvation” (i.e.,a “horn” refers to a powerful ruler, and this Ruler would bring salvation to Israel and God’s elect throughout the world). This Horn would be “in the house of
[God’s] servant David” (Luke 1:68-69). So Zacharias’ prophecy referred to the Messiah, David’s descendant. It is also interesting how this prophecy stated that this descendant of David would “show mercy towards our fathers, to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He spoke to Abraham, our father” (Luke 1:72-73, WEB). But how could the Messiah be the one who showed mercy to the Page 129
fathers of Israel, including Abraham, who also remembered and spoke God’s oath or promise of His covenant with Abraham? For Yahweh God Himself made that covenant with Abraham and the patriarchs of Israel two thousand years before the Messiah was born! How was this Messiah with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? The only possible way is if the Messiah’s Spirit was Yahweh God in a body of human flesh. Yahweh, who is a Spirit, was to be the Spirit of life in the Messiah. Then this also leaves us to ask what that Abrahamic Covenant had to do with the Messiah? If we examine the Abrahamic Covenant, we see that God’s two main promises in it are actually identical to God’s two main promises in the New Covenant of salvation, and the Messiah’s New Covenant would fulfill the principal, most critical promises of the Abrahamic Covenant, all God had left unfulfilled for Israel.
In the Abrahamic Covenant, God declared: “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your seed after you.... I will be their God” (Gen. 17:7,8 WEB). God had promised to fulfill this covenant without requiring anything from any of His people. Thus, it was an unconditional eternal covenant, where the two principal promises were: (1) God Himself would someday serve all the spiritual offspring of Abraham as their personal God (as their spirits’ Teacher and Father), and (2) God Himself would cause them to worship Him as their only God. The one thing God required of His people was that the males would bear a “sign” or “token” of this Abrahamic Covenant, which was circumcision. So this covenant was not like the temporary and very conditional Old Covenant, which was never called eternal and required the people to obey about 613 laws—including the laws of circumcision, the very laws that pointed back to the unconditional, eternal Abrahamic Covenant.
Next, look at the New Covenant of the Messiah’s salvation, which God promised to Israel during the Old Covenant times. God stated: “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah ... I w
ill put My Law in their inward parts , and in their heart will I write it ; and I wi ll
be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jer. 31:31,33, WEB). This was a covenant with exactly the same people, with the church of Israel, with the priesthood for the world which God created through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with the spiritually awakened elect who were like Abraham, with all who would minister to the people of the earth in God’s name. From the days of Israel’s twelve sons until the end of the material universe, this same church was to serve God, as His priesthood whom God would preserve and never let them fall completely. However, God’s Abrahamic Covenant was never fulfilled for this priesthood, not until the New Covenant times. Only after Jesus died, rose from the dead, ascended and sent His Holy Spirit to dwell beside the elect spirits of Israel, was this church truly served by God and began to serve God faithfully, only in the last two thousand years.
This New Covenant was a covenant which God made only with “the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah,” but with no other people. However, of course, from the beginning, God’s one and only church of Israel included Gentiles, all whom God chose to bring into His church. Very many Gentiles became Abraham’s spiritual offspring. Gentiles have always served as God’s priests too, for even Abraham was an uncircumcised Gentile who served as God’s priest. So the true Israel created by God does not consist of Abraham’s descendants by genetics, but consists only of awakened elect spirits who strive to fulfill God’s Law in the same way that Abraham’s elect spirit did. And the two main promises of this New Covenant were the same, simply stated differently. By writing His Law upon their hearts, by teaching about Himself and His ways to their spirits, God would accomplish two things: (1) God would serve them as their God and (2) they would worship God by esteeming Him, and by doing His will, by emulating Him. So the New Covenant did finally fulfill the principal promises of the Abrahamic Covenant. God made the Abrahamic Covenant with the church of Israel about 2,000 years before Jesus came to initiate the New Covenant on the day of the Pentecost. And, Page 130
on that day, Zacharias prophesied the immanent fulfillment of that Abrahamic Covenant through the Messiah, whom his own son, John, would serve by preparing the people of Israel to receive Him.
Zacharias said that, through the Abrahamic Covenant, God promised “to grant to us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, should serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life” (Luke 1:74-75, WEB). Serving God “in holiness and righteousness before Him,” is the very definition of biblical worship, the Jewish concept of the true worship of God, a spirit receiving God as one’s only God. So, in Zacharias’ eyes, as an Aaronic priest and teacher of Israel, God promised in the Abrahamic Covenant to cause Israel to faithfully worship Him. And God fulfill His promise by teaching their spirits to experientially know Him, as their Creator’s Spirit who is like their spirits, since He made their spirits in His image. By causing His people to know His attributes and character well, they would emulate His ways. And He would train them to rightly apply His truths in their lives, all their lives, even for eternity. For He would serve them as their God, as the responsible Father of their spirits. This is what Zacharias indicated.
Then, regarding John, Zacharias prophesied: “And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the Dawn from on high will visit us, to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death; to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:76-79, WEB). The title “Most High” referred to God, and to the Messiah, who is God incarnate. John would serve as a true prophet, uttering the concepts and words of God Himself, just as Jesus did. John would prepare the way of God, the way of Jesus, by giving the people knowledge about their Messiah of the New Covenant, about a salvation which would come to them “by the remission of their sins” through God’s “tender mercy.” This was the salvation of their promised Messiah. And Zacharias’ prophecy also paraphrased a clear Messianic prophecy from Isaiah, who said that those living in Galilee, “who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who lived in the land of the shadow of death, on them the light has shined” (Is.
9:2, WEB). This is the “Dawn” Zacharias spoke about, which began in Galilee after Jesus was born.
The Preaching of John
Luke told us much about the parents and the circumstances which shaped the life and character of John, as well as God’s works and words through John. And all this helps us understand how John served such a great and critical role in Israel’s transition from the Old Covenant priesthood of Aaron to the New Covenant priesthood of the Messiah, Jesus. But Matthew did not give us much of this information, only enough for his knowledgeable Jewish readers to comprehend his Gospel. Jews who read Matthew’s Gospel already knew much about John the baptizer, since John was the most well-known of all the Aaronic priests in that century, more famous and more highly respected than any of the high priests of those days. So let me begin by examining what Matthew wrote about the preaching of John, then compare this to John’s preaching recorded by the Gentile proselyte, Luke.
John had become all that God had wanted Aaron and his descendants to be. God caused John to be the ideal Aaronic priest. And, as such, John also had become all that God’s awakened elect in the church of Israel desired from this “royal priesthood,” from the Aaronic priests whom God appointed to minister to the rest of His priesthood of Israel. The church of Israel, as a whole, was appointed to serve the entire body of God’s elect scattered in all the nations of the world, all the Gentile elect who did not yet know the name of their God, who had not yet consciously realized that the God who formed the church of Israel was indeed their Creator God, was the very Spirit who had been teaching and training their elect spirits about love and justice since birth. For all these Gentile elect were to Page 131
enter the heavenly Jerusalem on the final day too, just as all the elect of Israel would. All would someday be joined to God’s royal family, to His one eternal church (i.e., the English word “church”
originated the Greek word, κυριακοί, meaning “the property of God,” His children and His family).
So the preaching of John was the essence of what God called the Aaronic priesthood to proclaim in their service of God. And everything John preached could be summarized by the one message that he shouted to all who followed him into the wilderness:“Continuously repent, for the Kingdom of the heavens has already drawn near, with all its ongoing effects!” (Mat. 3:2, from: Μετανοεῖτε, ἤγγικεν
γὰρ ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν, SBLGNT). The first verb, μετανοεῖτε (“Continuously repent!”), is a present imperative form. So it is a command, and indicates an authoritative message from God that He was giving to His people through John. In the present tense, it is durative. So he was telling the people to watch all they said and did before the eyes of God, then repent from their errors, lies, sins and crimes frequently, every time they offended God. In the next clause, John told them why they should be always repenting. They must repent often because “the Kingdom of the heavens” (i.e., οὐρανῶν is plural, “heavens” not “heaven”) was approaching. As all devout Jews knew, John was referring to all three parts of God’s Kingdom: (1) His kingdom on earth, the Jewish concept of His first heaven; (2) His kingdom in the atmosphere around the earth, the second heaven, where all spiritual powers ruling over the earth are located, as well as (3) His eternal, spiritual Kingdom in and above outer space, the third heaven, what might now be called both the material and the spiritual space-time continua, although God’s home is only in the spiritual realm (cf. II Cor. 12:2). That is,
“the Kingdom of the heavens” drawing near indicated a time when God would rule over literally all existence, and end the temporary rule of Satan on earth. And this was prophesied to occur after the Messiah came, but more specifically after the Messiah came the second time. The prophesied first advent of the Messiah was to establish His kingdom on earth. When it became mature and ready for Him to rule it, He would come the second time to cast out the devil and his brood, then govern all.
Now the main verb in the second clause (of Mat. 3:2) was ἤγγικεν, a perfect indicative form of ἐγγίζω. With its Greek perfective aspect, this meant that the action had already been completed in the past, but its emphasis was placed upon the ongoing results or effects of that past action. So John was saying that the people of Israel should continuously be repenting from their sins, into God’s truth, because “the Kingdom of the heavens had already drawn near, with all its current ongoing effects.”
In other words, the prophesied and long-awaited Messiah had already come to the earth by the time John began his ministry. John was saying the Messiah had already been born. And, through His power as God incarnate, Jesus was already ruling over all the earth and heaven itself, under the authority of His other Person of God, the heavenly Father. For the Messiah was one God, and fully one with the Father. Of course, the first advent of the Messiah would only introduce and establish His spiritual rule over the hearts of the true and awakened elect, as their High Priest, Prophet and King. Jesus would begin to govern the spirits of all the elect souls whom He chose to gather into His true church of Israel. Then, on their last day outside of their home in heaven, on the judgment day at the gates of heaven, literally all the elect on earth, throughout history, would be saved through His work on the cross, and through the completion of His teaching and training for their spirits on that day. But not all the elect on the earth would be gathered into His earthly church, not until His second advent upon the earth. Through His resurrection, God made Jesus the personal Teacher and Lord of all the elect, but especially the elect spirits He chose to awaken and gather into the church created through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. However, not all elect will be awakened and gathered into His church on earth, not until He divides earth’s people into a great dichotomy during the end times, in the last generation before His flesh returns to the earth. Then Jesus will rule as the King of kings.
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Many devout Jews of that day understood exactly what John was saying here, because they had all studied the prophecies of Scripture in great detail, unlike “Christians” and most Jews of our day. We tend to gloss over these prophecies, without understanding the deeper context behind them, since we have not been taught like they were. But, back then, wherever ten male devout Jews could gather, the very first thing they would do is provide a school for their children, to teach them to read and write.
Yet, above all, those children studied God’s Word. Then, every weekly Sabbath and every Sabbath of every feast commanded through Moses, they would congregate to hear God’s Word read to them. So all heard the reading of first five books of the Bible every year (Genesis to Deuteronomy), and all the other books of the Old Covenant Scriptures every two years. And after each reading, the men would thoroughly discuss the meaning of those Scriptures. Every year, on the Day of Atonement, they would also learn about their need for continuous repentance into God’s truth, for one’s own personal sake and for the sake of all others. Consequently, by the time an average devout Jewish man was about thirty, he possessed a far broader and more in-depth understanding of God’s Word than most professors in Christian seminaries. Then, since all the devout Jewish women also listened to the reading of the Scriptures, and many also stayed to hear the men discuss and argue about the meaning of the Scriptures during the teaching time, they too possessed a thorough knowledge of God’s Word.
So now we need to understand how the devout Jews would have interpreted John’s words, because this would have been the same way Matthew, a devout Jewish disciple of Jesus, also would have understood, interpreted and tried to explain John’s words to his Jewish readers as well. That is, the essence of what John, an Aaronic priest in the wilderness, was telling the church of Israel was that they needed to continuously repent into God’s truth because the Messiah had already arrived, and the Messiah wanted Israel to prepare themselves so they would be able serve the world as His faithful, just, equitable, honest, humble, well-taught and loving priests before He came to rule over the entire earth and heaven. This preparation would take their infantile elect spirits much time, even 2,000
years. However, they had to begin now! For the prophesied judgments of this Messiah, against an unfaithful Israel and the devil’s world order scattered throughout the earth, would begin now. All the ongoing effects of His first advent would begin now, and increase in intensity as the time grew near for the Messiah’s second advent. All who truly knew the Messianic prophecies of the Old Covenant Scriptures, in the way that very many devout Jews of that day did, knew that these words of John indicated all this, and all this was indeed terrifying. The last days prophecies of Moses, Joel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and the other prophets portrayed God’s correcting wrath so vividly and accurately, that no devout Jew would ever want to subject himself and his family to any of that, certainly not without an atonement of their relationship with God through a genuine repentance of their spirits. All believing Jews who knew the prophecies, upon hearing John’s words, would have wanted to immediately “get right with God” before facing God’s wrath upon Israel and the world. For any spirit who was not being comforted by God Himself, could never hope to bear what was to come. Therefore, masses of devout Jews flocked to John, to hear his preaching and to confess their sins, so he could guide them into the truth for repentance. After doing this for them, John sent many thousand of them to a mikveh (baptism) of repentance, so they could pray, die to their old lives, and rise into a new life with God.
Now some might wonder why the only occasion in which Matthew recorded the preaching of this true and faithful Aaronic priest was when he confronted some of the Pharisees (orthodox Jews, who developed the canon of the Old Testament Scriptures, who also believed that all those books were the inerrant words of God and gathered proselytes as evangelists, and were, therefore, evangelicals of the church in those days) and Sadducees (minimalist Jews, who only accepted the teaching of Moses, and did not consider the other teachings—the prophets, the writings or the historical books—
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to be the canon of God’s Word). Well, clearly, the reason Matthew chose this as a prime example of John’s preaching was because it placed John’s teachings in juxtaposition and in direct contrast with the watered-down and self-serving doctrines being proclaimed by the religious leaders of the time.
The first words that John prophesied to these particular Pharisees and Sadducees were: “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Mat. 3:7, WEB). All Jews knew that Satan appeared to Adam and Eve in the body of a serpent. Thus, John was essentially calling their spirits the children of Satan, even though they seem to have been proud of their own religious purity and godliness as the descendants of Abraham. Obviously, John did not believe that any of these particular people were capable of truly repenting into God’s truth. For the prophecy of John also exposed their false motives. In reality, the only reason they came to John’s mikveh of repentance was through a fear of God’s wrath. Of course, a respectful fear of God and His wrath is indeed a valid reason for fleeing into repentance, but only if one does so through a godly sorrow about the harm that one’s sins have done to other precious lives, with a desire to learn and apply God’s truths in one’s own life, only if one truly desired to redeem one’s life from sin and begin a new life in a restored relationship with God. True repentance is a hope that God will redeem one’s life, transform it from a hurting, useless existence into a just, loving life that shines God’s truth on all. But John knew this was not at all what these Pharisees and Sadducees actually wanted from him.
If one’s spirit genuinely repents, then one begins to cease from walking according the thoughts of one’s mind of flesh. One no longer heeds the ambitions, greed and other lusts of the flesh. Instead, one begins to walk according to the thoughts God puts into the mind of one’s spirit, as one’s spirit is taught and trained by God. Then the words and actions resulting from one’s own restored spiritual relationship with God were called the “fruit of repentance.” Therefore, when God revealed to John that the repentance of these religious children of the devil—through their fear of God’s wrath alone, and without any desire to bear any loving fruits of God’s Holy Spirit their lives—John knew that these religious “leaders” were practising a fake repentance, which is more offensive to God than having no repentance at all. So John rebuked those falsely religious souls, proclaiming: “Therefore, you people produce, at least one time, a fruit worthy of repentance” (Mat. 3:8, from: ποιήσατε οὖν
καρπὸν ἄξιον τῆς μετανοίας, SBLGNT). For, throughout their lives, they never spontaneously said or did one just, loving, wise thing through their spirits, nothing prompted by God within their spirits.
Then John addressed their religious pride. Now, in those days, many Jews proclaimed the teachings of God’s Word to the Gentiles, as evangelists, in the hope that God’s truths would stir Gentile elect spirits and God might gather some into His church of Israel. For those Jews knew God assigned this duty to the elders in His priesthood of Israel, as part of their mission in life, because the reason God created Israel through Abraham was so they would become His priesthood to the entire world. Still, they also knew that only God chose the members of His church. God chose which elect spirits He would awaken and call into His priesthood of Israel. Furthermore, in the very beginning, God had chosen to join Gentiles to His church of Israel, and God had continued to do so throughout history.
Even in their own lifetimes, during the first century, God brought many elect, faithful Gentiles into His church of Israel, many who were zealous for God and just kind of love. Luke was one of these Gentiles who converted to Judaism before he knew Jesus as the Messiah. But countless Gentiles had recently become devout citizens of the true Israel as well, and served as true priests of the one God.
But not all who claimed to be Israel were Israel. Not all who claimed to be Jewish, through fleshy criteria, through an ancestry traced back to Abraham, were Abraham’s spiritual descendants. And God had not actually joined all the Gentile converts to the true church of Israel. Only the elect Jews and elect Gentiles, those God chose as His servants, to represent Him to the world and to represent Page 134
the world before His face, through loving prayers, were His true priests of Israel. Back then, many Jews took pride in belonging to God’s church of Israel, yet did not want to serve God in any way, certainly not as His priests. Some never lovingly served His creations, never said or did what God called their spirits to say and do, not even little and lowly tasks for the good of God’s people and animals. Yet these superficial, proud, carnal religious souls thought they were better than Gentile converts to Judaism who did serve God, simply because they were descendants of Abraham’s flesh.
But John knew that Israel did not include the Jews or Gentiles who did not have the same kind of elect spirit that Abraham had, who did not have a spirit continuously being taught and trained by God Himself, to serve His creations justly through love. All that kind of person really wanted was to take pride in being superior to others. They used their religion to make themselves feel superior in some fake and imagined way. So these fake Jews attended religious services, were the loudest and most pious sounding in those services, performed all the required physical rituals studiously, wore devout-looking garments, and gritted their teeth in anger against all the “condemned infidels,” which included all who did not outwardly look or act exactly as they did. Above all, they loved to distort the meaning of Scriptures in ways to esteem themselves and dehumanize all others. These were the Jews who cried out, in every public place they could find, “Look at us! Look at us! We, and only we, are the one true church! Holy are we! Holy are all our delusions!” In other words, these religious fakes were exactly like most of the Roman Catholics, Evangelicals and other religious frauds today.
Consequently, John proclaimed: “Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones” (Mat. 3:9, WEB). God never chooses His priests of Israel according to the genetics of the flesh, which shall soon burn away into nothing, along with the rest of the material universe. One cannot become a citizen of God’s holy spiritual kingdom by the birthright of flesh, but only by the birthright of the spirit. Only elect spirits are born into Israel, both Jews and Gentiles. Yes, God predestines and prophecies about the affairs and fates of generations of Israel descended from Abraham’s flesh. But God has never, ever called anyone into Israel because of one’s lineage of the flesh, nor by any other physical criteria—not according to one’s record of church attendance, performance of physical rituals, endless reciting of prayers, nor one’s ability to quote Scriptures abusively, like Satan did when he tempted Jesus. And, just as God created the body of Adam from the dust, then put an elect spirit into him, God can do the same today. From a common rock, God can make a priest of Israel. Then, if God wakes that one’s spirit and teaches that spirit His ways, that one will speak truth and do loving deeds as a result of God’s works upon one’s spirit. Then God will welcome that one into His family, into His eternal Israel, on the judgment day. Thus, none choose to become a member of God’s priesthood of Israel through one’s own supposed “free will,” nor by the will of any human being or organization of men.
As John said, only God creates true spiritual “children” of Abraham, those born with the same kinds of elect spirits, who spontaneously serve God through love, according to His callings, commands and truths. Only God can create, teach and train an elect soul as a real priest in His one true church.
God can even transform a stone into a body of human flesh with the same genetic materials that Abraham had, then breathe an elect human spirit into that flesh, a spirit that heeds His words. If God wanted to, He could form the propensities and desires of that human elect soul to match all those of Abraham. And God can teach and train any elect spirit throughout its life in flesh on earth, until that spirit can serve Him as His priest in the church of Israel, just as Abraham did. Also, from any elect Gentile, God can create a true Jew, who desires to serve Him in the same way Abraham did. God could even create a spiritual and physical child of Abraham, a true citizen of the priestly nation of Israel, out of nothing at all. So, what John was really saying was that all elect human spirits who Page 135
truly worship God, by faithfully serving Him as His priests of Israel, must be created by God alone, in His image and in the likeness of Abraham, as a people who can be thoroughly taught and trained by God Himself. Only God can do all that is necessary to become His priest. Thus, what pride can any elect take in being a priest within God’s one and only church of Israel? Whether or not one’s body of flesh descended from Abraham has nothing to do with whether or not God designed, created, taught and trained one’s spirit to be like Abraham’s spirit. Although a true priest of Israel must also use one’s body of flesh to do God’s works, and God designed the flesh of Abraham in a way that made him better able to serve His creations, the flesh still counts for nothing in God’s eyes. And an elect spirit in a Gentile’s body of flesh, but formed like Abraham’s Gentile elect spirit, can serve God as a priest of Israel just as well as Abraham, whose spirit used his flesh to serve God as His priest.
Literally all we are and all we possess originated from God and belongs to God. Every inherent desire of each one’s will of the spirit was ultimately formed by God at the moment of one’s creation, then shaped by God according to His will. All core propensities and desires of the will in the mind of a spirit were formed by God, then taught and trained by God throughout one’s life. Even the core propensities and scope of desires from the will in the mind of one’s flesh came from the combination of genes which God chose to mix from our parents, in the precise way He predestined them. Then God created time in the material universe, all the past and all the future existing at the same moment within the time of His spiritual realm, all in the same moment all began to exist. So, during our lives on this earth, literally all is predestined. Only in a non-sequential kind of time in the spiritual space-time continuum can some things not be predestined. Thus, all elect spirits, who all go to heaven, are predestined to be taught and trained on this earth for their eternal lives in heaven, to serve in heaven with God. So what can anyone to brag about? All we have left is to take joy in allowing the Father of our spirits, and our oldest Brother, to teach and train us, to prepare our spirits for our lives in heaven.
There is not one created being who was ever granted the right or ability to boast, “Look what I have caused myself to be!” If anyone does think anything like this, that one is actually deluding oneself, is lying to oneself and others, and is worshipping oneself as the god who controls one’s own destiny.
Likewise, the reverse is true. If anyone thinks someone else caused oneself to be either superior or inferior to others, one is still assuming that a mortal being is one’s own principal god who creates and causes one’s own destiny. So one is still committing the same sin, the spiritual worship of a false god, which is idolatry. And one’s spirit is being arrogant, no matter how humble one pretends to be.
Yet this belief and desire to be a human god, this lie and delusion, is the true “original sin,” the first sin of Satan, the sin that got him cast out of heaven and condemned to eternal hell. And only human spirits born of Satan can fully trust in this kind of delusion, can confidently assert this kind of a lie.
Yet the Pharisees and Sadducees, who came to John, essentially were deluded in this way. For they not only bragged about being Abraham’s physical descendants, but also looked down on many other descendants of Abraham, their own brothers and sisters, and felt superior to them, simply because they thought they more faithfully obeyed God through the words and deeds of their flesh. Their own spirits truly believed they were the principal gods ruling over their own eternal destinies, through the wills of their own ruthless, unjust flesh. Yet God defined the first order of sin, the very worst kind of sin, as heeding another god over and above Himself (e.g., Ex. 20:3). And that is exactly what they did when they made themselves into their own principal gods, when they deluded themselves into thinking they alone governed their own destinies, even their own eternal destinies, even the final judgments of God, when He Himself will chose all He deems worthy and all He surely condemns.
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The Axe at the Root
Perhaps you can now see why John spoke so harshly to these very religious looking people, to these particular Pharisees and Sadducees. For they had sinned against the first and foremost of God’s Ten Commandment, that is, they committed a first order sin, the worst possible kind of sin. Therefore, John warned them about what the Messiah was about to do to them and their kind. John prophesied:
“Even now, the axe is stretched out before the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree not producing beautiful fruit is in the process of being cut down and cast into the fire” (Mat. 3:10, from: ἤδη δὲ ἡ
ἀξίνη πρὸς τὴν ῥίζαν τῶν δένδρων κεῖται· πᾶν οὖν δένδρον μὴ ποιοῦν καρπὸν καλὸν ἐκκόπτεται καὶ
εἰς πῦρ βάλλεται, SBLGNT). Taking into account the grammar, such as the aspect of the verbs, this is a literal translation. And notice how John mentioned only one root for all the “trees” (plural) who did not bear the beautiful fruit of truly restorative justice through repentance into God’s wisdom and love. The one root of all these useless, ugly trees, all of whom were bearing only noxious fruit, was lovelessness growing upon self-worship. For literally all sins against all God’s laws always offends against these two laws of God: (1) truly love God, and (2) truly love the souls God whom brings into the sphere of one’s life. For these two laws summarize all the Ten Commandments, and all 613 laws of God. Likewise, all “beautiful fruit” is produced by fulfilling these two laws. So all who do not produce beautiful fruit have one and the same root, a total lack of genuine love. All of this common root is personified by one kind of spirit, their common father, Satan. So here John cited prophecies of Scripture about the Messiah cutting down Satan and all his human children, then casting them all into the fires of hell. However, this would be accomplished through a lengthy process which would only begin with the first advent of the Messiah, and would not be completed for thousands of years.
So now we must ask how God intended to fulfill His prophecies about the Messiah. How was God going to crush Satan’s kingdom into dust and destroy everyone in it? And how long will God take to do this? Because most of us are trained by a humanistic world view, where we think everyone must attempt to bend time and nature until it obeys our own carnal wills, in a way which destroys nature and ourselves, we tend to expect God to do the same. But our Creator God never does this. In fact, many of our “wild” God’s attributes are written in His wild natural creation, including His tendency to thoroughly and carefully labour through long iterative processes. Of course, God also wrote stern warnings against Satan’s loveless attributes in nature as well. But, from the Scriptures and scientific facts about God written in nature, we can be certain that God definitely does not do His works in a careless, hurried way, where hast destroys much good and produces much waste, just to quickly gain a selfish profit. God is not like humanists. And the time He created for our spirits in the material world flows only as fast as He requires, steadily, accomplishing every necessary detail, without causing any waste. So our God Jesus has been building up His truth and love in this world through a slow, consistent, constant and iterative process, where each truth of God and His Word becomes so solidly proven, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that each becomes impossible to ever honestly deny.
Now we must remember that many true worshippers of God in those days, including John, knew all this. The bodies of those who knew God well dwelt in the real time created by God for all nature, not in a delusional man-made time. In other words, John and the true disciples of Jesus had all rejected humanism, in total. So these elect were not disconnected from God’s natural flow of time, like most religious humanists are today. Back then, these were true worshippers, who simply and passively felt the days and seasons of God’s created reality working inside and around them. None attempted to be gods who artificially redefined time, to feverishly pack as much useless frivolity as possible into time periods, like most do today. If any reader has experienced this natural flow of time, that one can see how these devout Jewish souls back then, the awakened elect believers like John and all of Jesus’
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true disciples, perceived the second coming eternal Messiah, when He would destroy all of Satan’s kingdom of the world order. That is, they knew it would be a natural process worked by God in His own time, and come whenever might be ready to come, and only after God carefully worked out every detail over time, and through a natural progression that may even require many generations.
John and the true disciples of Jesus had seen how God had sent solitary priests into the world for thousands of years, priests descended from Adam and Seth. Then God took hundreds of years to create the nation-priesthood of Israel through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jacob’s twelve sons. Once this long process was complete, God sent Moses and the other other prophets to teach Israel for another 1,450 years before He sent the Messiah, whom He promised to Adam and Abraham. So God has never hurried anything. And, no, the disciples of Jesus never expected Jesus to return within their own lifetimes. Rather, they lived simply in natural time, not knowing nor expecting Jesus to return until He chose to return, whether it would be tomorrow or same amount of time that Abraham had waited for that Messiah (i.e., 2,000 years). In the eyes of Jesus’ true disciples, God’s time is His own.
Next, we also need to realize that there never has been, and never will be, anything new under the sun. That is, all spirits of life, including all elect and non-elect human spirits, are always the same, with the same core desires and propensities, although each elect spirit is unique. For the Spirit of God is immutable. Likewise, all elect spirits born of God, created in His image, have always been the same throughout history. All elect have always desired, and forever will desire, God-like love built on a foundation of the same kind of spiritual and moral truth. Always and forever, all elect spirits will crave this more than anything else in their lives. Meanwhile, non-elect spirits always have and always will seek out exactly same kind of darkness, the very same kinds of self-exalting spiritual lies and delusions. And none of the non-elect are unique. All are mere carbon copies of their hellish, loveless father, without any of the variations of inner hues found in the elect. Thus, in John’s day, Satan’s kingdom consisted of both secular and religious non-elect who were inwardly identical to the secular and religious non-elect in Satan’s kingdom today. And the elect, in God’s Kingdom, were also very much like the elect are today, with exactly the same longing to love and to be loved.
So the false churches and synagogues in Satan’s kingdom back then were, in essence, the same false churches and synagogues we see today. And Satan definitely needs those fake churches, to maintain his kingdom on earth. For those false churches help him prevent God’s true church from becoming a voice heard in the world. The only problem Satan has is that God has him chained on earth, in a way that limits all his actions. Consequently, God has always been preventing Satan and his minions from entirely suppressing the truths that Jesus sends out into the world, and has even stopped that devil from destroying His written Word as well, that is, His words in their original languages. Now some may ask why the devil is so obsessed with creating fake churches, since he knows he can never overcome God. Well, Satan wants to develop a cycle of suppression among God’s elect through his false churches. The devil always begins by luring the flesh of some elect into his false churches, through promises of carnal rewards, such as the promise of a physical paradise that can be gained through the practise of physical rituals and deeds. Once they are trapped in his fake churches, he can then exploit the natural good works of those elect. False churches not only feed on the good works of their duped elect, but also use those good as a mask, to hide their distorted greedy faces, so they can lure even more elect into their false churches. This mask makes the untaught elect think the human gods of those fake churches are true servants of God, since they see some good in the fake churches.
Also, Satan’s fake churches back then, just like fake churches today, practised gaslighting, by falsely blaming the trapped elect dupes among them, by making those elect feel responsible for every bad thing that happens, by muddying or nullifying every real truth those elect receive from the real God, Page 138
and by frustrating their desire to draw near to the real God. For fake churches need to make their captive elect feel incapable and inferior to the non-elect human gods who rule their churches. So their captive elect are kept powerless, marginalized, exploited and abused, yet remain firmly bound to their fake churches, by the invisible chains of emotional manipulations. And the heads of those fake churches naturally do this, since their father teaches these ways to their spirits, and commands them to keep their captive elect from escaping. For, if any elect remain free to know the real God and His real truth, then God might gather them into His one true church of Israel, where Jesus serves as the Head Teacher of each individual, where that true church shall preach the freeing truths of God.
If God’s truth is openly proclaimed, ever more of the duped, exploited, captive elect souls in Satan’s false churches would leave, to join their elect siblings in the true church. Soon God’s true church would grow, faithfully working more of God’s loving justice in the world each day, until every part of Satan’s kingdom, made entirely of fragile lies and delusions, would collapse into fragmented particles and dust. Yet this is exactly what all the Messianic prophecies described, when Jesus came the second time. Generations of painful dichotomizing trials and tribulations would occur in all the earth. And all this trouble would eventually cause each individual to gravitate toward the father of one’s spirit, the elect to God and the non-elect to Satan. Each one’s true spiritual nature would be exposed. Many plagues on earth, just before the end times, would effectively separate the elect from the non-elect. Then the last generation of elect alive, before the end times began, would be sealed by God, identified as His children. This will be a great revival, to prepare the elect for the return of the Messiah to earth, as His bride. To copy God, the devil will also mark the non-elect, but with a purely physical mark on the hand or forehead, and only allow these branded children access to his invention of money. Only the non-elect will be able to buy or sell goods and services during the last three and a half years before Jesus returns. But the elect will not mind this too much, since they will be the major producers of goods and services, as always. So they will simply share all without using any of that devil’s currency. Then Jesus will finally return to rule His elect, and all the non-elect will perish.
From the first day of the New Covenant church, when Jesus gave His Holy Spirit to His forgiven and atoned disciples, the non-elect began to worm their way into the midst of them. And, once they got in, they tore those true churches apart from the inside. After causing many troubles, they declared that the only way to solve these troubles would be if the church had a strong, pagan-like leadership, if the church was ruled by human gods like themselves. So the non-elect became the church leaders through this deception. After achieving this, they turned the entire focus of the people to matters of the flesh. They created distractions, like complex physical rituals which esteemed those liars in the eyes of the people. And they rejected the rituals commanded by God, since those simple symbolic rituals caused the people to ponder godly principles. These cunning deceivers taught that only their traditions, customs, clothing and outward appearances could please God. And, as they did this, they also convinced their people to distrust anyone who looked and acted differently. So their people only trusted the words of proven liars and fled from honest souls who spoke God’s truth. Then they stirred up hatred for those honest outsiders, for all of the loving, just, equitable, true servants of God. They cause their people to fear and shun them, or even murder them, as well as many other siblings in the family of mankind. At the same time, fear of rejection made the people cling, more than ever, to the human gods ruling their churches, while they cast aside their God-given duties to the rest of the world. And the main reason those human gods did all this was to steal their people’s esteem, time, energy and money for themselves. Yet, like the secular humanists, these fake churches remained highly fractious, even though all were one in Satan’s influence. For each human god hated and warred against all the other human gods, just to gratify one’s own ambitions and other carnal lusts.