The Key of David

Recovering Israel -- the Second Passover

I don't know that the types of Scripture are more abused by people that are enthusiastic and of teeming imagination than the visionary representations of the book of Revelation. And yet none makes that an objection against all attempts to understand that book.

Jonathan Edwards, Types of the Messiah

 

1.

Whether aware of the implications inherent within the above citation, the respected Jonathan Edwards linked typology with prophecy, suggesting that through types or shadows, foreknowledge of events effecting spiritual Israel or the Body of Christ had been revealed. Edwards then took typology beyond where his Puritan predecessors were comfortable--Samuel Mather and others saw in Old Testament events the shadows of the eternal covenant, but Edwards saw Satan's temptation of humanity in a serpent's flickering tongue. Edwards' use of typology, however, remained essentially horizontal; he subconsciously placed an upper limit upon his use of types that kept both the antetype and the antitype within the physical universe. His use of typology wasn't extended vertically into the spiritual realm even though he saw that suggestion:

So Edwards limited typology just as Albert Einstein limited his Grand Unification theory to this world; Einstein admitted his mistake after spending thirty years trying to solve a problem for which he was offered a solution.

What Edwards couldn't know was that circumcised Israel would again be gathered on that nation's promised land prior to the end of this age, so a literal or physical fulfillment of endtime prophecies is possible, as countless biblical experts tell us. What Edwards did understand, though, is that endtime fulfillment of prophecies about Israel as the Messiah's people aren't to be taken literally or physically. These prophecies pertain to spiritual Israel. And climbing the ladder that wasn't available to Edwards, their fulfillment occurs in the spiritual realm, with their fulfillment both casting shadows onto the mental topography of historic Israel as well as affecting the mindsets of endtime circumcised Israel. If Edwards had been a better mathematician, he might have anticipated the unsealing of Daniel's visions for the time of the end (Dan 8:17 & 12:4, 9) - Edwards needed to see in typology the functions of spiritual realities.

But the development of typology, like the sealed understandings of Daniel's visionary prophecies, was reserved for the time of the end. Literally, typology is the great endtime tool needed for the conversion of spiritual Israelites...the preceding clause is not an oxymoron, but the concluding scenario of the creation account prior to Christ resting on the Sabbath (Gen 1:1-2:3 - the highly stylized creation account is the abstract or argument for the presentation of the plan of God, revealed linguistically and typologically).

There is no battle between God and Satan, with Satan holding his own until Christ comes as the Messiah; the "great controversy" is a myth. But Satan has opposed the adoption of glorified human beings as the heirs of God from the beginning, even though he has used humanity (as God has allowed) to demonstrate his theories for the organization of society apart from the practice of unconditional love. As the king of spiritual Babylon, he took spiritual Israelites captive, just as Nebuchadnezzar did physical Israelites. In both the antetype and in the spiritual reality, God gave Israel over to captivity because of the holy nation's lawlessness, especially concerning the profaning of the Sabbaths (Ezek 20:13, 16, 21, 24; 22:8 et al). We see the Apostle Paul giving similar instruction to the saints at Corinth: "When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord" (1 Cor 5:4-5). So, it is standard operating procedure for God, or a servant of God to deliver Israelites to Satan for the destruction of their flesh that their spiritual lives might be saved when these holy people break covenant with God. Their salvation is in the day of the Lord, an actual period of history beginning when the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Messiah (Rev 11:15) halfway through seven years of Tribulation. This agrees with what the Apostle Paul writes about judgment: "Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart" (1 Cor 4:5). The judgment of saints (1 Pet 4:17) will be revealed when Christ returns as the Messiah. Disciples should not then be surprised when some saints are resurrected to life and some are resurrected to condemnation (John 5:29). And in His effort to include as many as possible in the resurrection to life, the Father and Christ Jesus have delivered saints to Satan because of the saints' lawlessness and their profaning of God's Sabbaths. This delivery is actually seen prophetically:

Most Christians' concept of God now needs a little modification: God is Love, but there is no love in lawlessness (sin - 1 John 3:4). There is no love in adultery, murder, thievery, lying, abandoning parents, profaning God's Sabbaths. And here is the primary reason why God sent physical Israel into national captivity: that holy nation repeatedly profaned God's Sabbaths, which reveal the plan of God to humanity as well as celebrates Christ's Millennium reign. So profaning God's Sabbaths is mocking God - it is as simple as that. You mock God when you refuse to keep His Sabbaths. Jesus said that "whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come" (Matt 12:32). Receipt of the Holy Spirit causes the laws of God to be written on disciples' hearts and minds (Jer 31:33; Heb 8:10 & 10:16). If a person rejects these laws of God, one of which is the fourth commandment, the person rejects receipt of the Holy Spirit. Plus, Jesus said, '"Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments [written in the Law & the Prophets] and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven'" (Matt 5:19). The Sabbath commandment is actually one of the least of the commandments, since it pertains to hallowing a portion of created time (a created "thing"). Thus, spiritual Israel in its many facets has profaned God's Sabbaths, changing the weekly Sabbath from the 7^th day to the 8^th, then ignoring the annuals Sabbaths and new moons. Even the vast majority of spiritual Israelites who know to keep the weekly Sabbath holy don't keep the festival high days and the new moons as Sabbaths, thereby demonstrating a want in their worship of God. And all facets will tell their critics that the facet (or fellowship) is not under obligation to keep more than it does, such is the strength of the delusion sent by God over the fellowships that are perishing because of their lawlessness.

God, though, doesn't intend that any disciples are lost. Therefore, in the last days, Christ will do a work analogous to Noah's. The typology shows that Noah as a preacher of righteousness and the seven with him represent the glorified Christ and the seven stars He holds (Rev 1:20). The seven pairs of clean or holy animals represent the seven candlesticks (same verse), which are the seven churches of chapters two and three. The single pair of every species of unclean animals represent the remainder of humanity that endures to the end and will be saved (Matt 24:13 & 10:22).

But the recovery of spiritual Israel will not be without cost:

The Apostle Paul said to turn over the disciple who had taken his father's wife to Satan for the destruction of the disciple's flesh. The prophet Zechariah wrote that the Lord would turn His hand against two thirds of the holy ones (13:7-8). Jesus, in the parable of the pounds, labels seven of ten servants who would not be ruled by Him as His enemies to be slaughtered before Him (Luke 19:14, 27). And Ezekiel, in the above passage, says that God will recover Israel with wrath poured out. He will bring rebels (those who won't be ruled by Him) out of where they have dwelt, but if they do not repent, He will kill them just as He killed rebellious Israelites between Egypt and the promised land...for spiritual Israel, the promised land is the resurrection to life. The journey from the north country to the promised land that will replace memories of Israel's exodus from Egypt (Jer 16:14 & 23:7-8; Isa 11:11) will be this story of spiritual Israel's recovery and glorification. It won't be the story of Russian Jews emigrating to the modern nation of Israel.

Certainly, God turning His hand against two-thirds of the holy ones is recovering Israel by His mighty hand with wrath poured out. And through typology, we can know the nature of that wrath, know which disciples will be affected, and know how to avoid so angering God that we become His victims. But two-thirds of Israel will not believe the voice of Christ even when they hear it--they certainly won't believe my voice. Even my daughters say, "Dad, that's just your opinion." So the greater Christian Church will experience the wrath of God, then experience the wrath of the world that has lost every firstborn. That is correct: there will be a second Passover at which all firstborns not covered by the Blood of Christ as the Lamb of God will be slain spiritually and physically. Then, in "the wilderness of the peoples" Christ will convert the remaining third of the spiritual Israelites, refining them as silver is refined [with fire] and testing them as gold is tested [under pressure against a touchstone] (Zech 13:9). Until then, though, not many in spiritual Israel will be converted: "As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: Go serve every one of you his idols, now and hereafter, if you will not listen to me; but my holy name you shall no more profane with your gifts and your idols" (Ezek 20:39).

 

2.

Too many sects of the splintered sabbatarian churches of God teach that they alone are the only spiritual Israelites with whom God works in this present endtime era. They arrive at this teaching by not understanding being born-from-above, or born of spirit, or born again (John 3:8; 1 Pet 1:23). Thus, when they observe the lawlessness of greater Christianity, they dismiss these disciples with the phrase "nominal Christians," meaning that these disciples are Christian in name only. Their Scriptural support for this position usually includes John's first epistle: "And by this we know we have come to know him [Christ], if we keep his commandments. Whoever says 'I know him [Christ]' but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (2:3-4). So in the reasoning of the splintered sabbatarian sects, the "Christian" who doesn't keep the Sabbath commandment is a liar, and doesn't know God. And that seems simple enough...except the Sabbath commandment pertains only to a disciple's physical life [psuche] and body [soma], and not to a disciple's spiritual life [pneuma], which they inevitably deny that a disciple has, since a disciple has only been begotten and not actually born of spirit in their theology. However, when glorified, a disciple, as an heir of the Father, will be like Jesus is now. The disciple won't be a baby god crawling around in spiritual diapers. Rather, the disciple's infancy and adolescence is being spent in a corruptible body that will die (or be changed in the twinkling of an eye). Glorification is a disciple reaching his or her legal majority; it is arriving in the promised land.

Therefore, the splintered sabbatarian sects of the churches of God teach that only a few disciples will be glorified when Christ comes as the Messiah. Some teach that only 144,000 will actually make it, as they extend no love towards greater Christianity that lives in bondage to sin, or lawlessness. They have conceded the task of recovering greater spiritual Israel to the endtime Church in Philadelphia - to us, The Philadelphia Church - Stonefort, the theological occupants of spiritual Jerusalem. Now, that can be heady stuff, if we didn't recognize the enormity of the task assigned to this fellowship. Of course, greater spiritual Israel, under a powerful delusion because of its lawlessness, doesn't believe it needs recovered, and will actually resist recovery. It is as wild as the Dall sheep above Kuane Lake, and as weary of those who keep the laws of God as any big game animal is of hunters clad in blaze orange. But God said,

Ouch! God will doubly repay spiritual Israel's iniquity or lawlessness before He brings spiritual Israel out of the north countries where He has scattered them - "north" pertains to the direction of God's throne, and not to a geographical direction although there will be a physical antetype of the spiritual reality. God recovered physical Israel from Egypt to the south of Jerusalem; these circumcised, and later uncircumcised Israelites journeyed northward, following the Lord toward the promised land, or Eden. God will recover spiritual Israelites from where they dwell in the spiritual realm outside of Eden as feral sheep, grazing on wild onions and iniquity. These spiritual Israelites will be circumcised in heart and foreskins after they cross a figurative Jordan River (Jos 5:2-7 & Ezek 44:6-7, 9) as they journey southward where they will live as Israelites, not spiritual Gentiles. (At this time, circumcision of foreskins is counterproductive and contrary to inclusion in spiritual Israel of all who have circumcised minds and hearts. Not so after Christ returns, and rests from bearing the sins of spiritual Israel.)

From the many passages that prophesy of God recovering Israel a second time as He did when He brought physical Israel out of physical bondage to a physical Pharaoh, carnally minded teachers of spiritual Israel inside and out of the sabbatarian sects have concluded that God will again recover physical Israelites from the many lands in which they have been scattered. The logic employed by these teachers of spiritual Israel is that circumcised Israelites remain God's chosen people. But that logic ignores the reality of the new covenant, as well as Apostle Paul's unambiguous statement:

That law is the Sinai covenant: physical Israel no longer can claim to be God's chosen people, that claim based upon the Sinai Covenant (Exod 19:5-6). Spiritual Israel is now God's holy nation (1 Pet 2:9). Spiritual Israel is the one new humanity made from two; i.e., from circumcised Israeli and from uncircumcised Gentiles. Christ through the cross has broken down the hostility between physical Israelites and Gentiles (although considerable hostility remains between the circumcised sons of Abraham). Thus, spiritually, there are no endtime prophecies that pertain to physical Israelites. All prophecies about recovering Israel from the north pertain to the recovery of spiritual Israelites from where they dwell outside of the laws of God. The tree of life only grows within the walls of spiritual Eden, those walls being the laws of God. Spiritual Israelites will either live within the laws of God, or they will experience the second death. End of subject! No debate will be allowed when a disciple's judgment is revealed in either the resurrection to life or in the resurrection to condemnation.

Too many biblical scholars are lousy readers of text: the law of commandments and ordinances that has been abolished isn't the law of God (Jer 31:33) that is written on the hearts and minds of disciples. It isn't the ordinances, commandments, statutes, and laws of God that Abraham kept (Gen 26:5). It isn't even the second covenant mediated by Moses (Deu chptrs 29-31), that has Israel keeping everything written in the Book of Deuteronomy. It is the law or covenant that separated those who are circumcised from those who are not, "circumcision" used as an euphemistic expression of being made holy by covenant since the other sons of Abraham (the sons of the bondwoman) were also circumcised, and continue to be physically circumcised to this day.

Do you, as a spiritual Israelite, not think that you have to be ruled by Christ? Do you think that the mighty works--casting out demons, healing the sick, giving to the poor--you have done in Christ's name will atone for your lawlessness? Isn't that believing in salvation by works? Of course it is. Keeping the laws of God isn't "works--how much work is involved in not murdering your neighbor, or in not committing adultery with his wife? How much work is involved in not coveting your neighbor's bass boat, or his Mercedes? How much work is involved in not telling a lie? Salvation isn't about casting out demons or healing the sick in Christ's name. It's about being ruled by Christ in all of your decisions, day by day, year after year, until you choose to do what you know is right every time you are faced with a decision. To this disciple the Father can give an incorruptible body and know that he or she will never rebel against Him as Lucifer did. This person can be trusted as an heir. This person will be adopted. And all others about whom Christ has doubts will go into the lake of fire, no matter how many mighty deeds the person did in the name of Christ.

You who condemn legalism should start feeling the heat of the lake of fire. Yes, you! who protest, saying that you are under grace and not under the law. Of course you are not under the law that has been written on your heart and mind. You have, through the receipt of the Holy Spirit, internalized the laws of God--and the Father didn't write them on your heart and mind for you to ignore the fine print. They are absolutely binding upon you. Grace is Christ bearing the death penalty for every one of those laws you break. Out of love, He willingly does this for all disciples. But He will return those sins to disciples who leave the covenant relationship by which He bears those sins. He will give to Satan the sins of disciples who remain in the covenant in which they were placed when drawn by the Father. No sin will even be imputed to the disciples who remain in covenant. So you are not under the law but under grace, which remains outside of you and can be withdrawn if you leave the covenant by which it is extended.

Prophecies about the recovery of Israel at the time of the Messiah's coming do not principally pertain to Jews, or to the scattered tribes that migrated out of the Middle East before the house of Judah went into captivity (586 BCE). To assign fulfillment of these prophecies to physical nations, or national groups is to think carnally. Sorry, but true. The prophecies pertain to spiritual Israel, God's holy nation that He sent into captivity long ago because of its lawlessness. Greater spiritual Israel has been in spiritual captivity to the king of Babylon for so long that most spiritual Israelites will not leave their bondage to sin/lawlessness even when presented with the opportunity. This still holy nation will not, today, listen to Christ's voice, the logic for why He sets His hand to recover them with wrath. He has to get their attention before they will listen. And the means by which He will get their attention is the same one He used to liberate physical Israel from physical captivity in Egypt: the slaughter of firstborns.

God, as Love, would never kill innocent firstborns, you say. Oh, doesn't God claim all firstborns of Israel as His own? Of course He does:

Satan stubbornly refuses to let those spiritual Israelites in bondage to him (i.e., to sin or lawlessness) leave spiritual Babylon. He controls the mental topography of greater spiritual Israel; he deceives the whole world (Rev 12:9). No exceptions are given for Israel. And I wouldn't know to live within the laws of God if Christ hadn't drafted me for this job of slaying Goliath, which He will have to do. All I do is pick the fight as He instructs.

I once rode a stubborn, hard-mouthed horse that paid little or no attention to the bit. The rancher with whom I was hunting said to take a switch to the horse. I was hesitant to hit his horse, so the rancher cut an alder limb a little larger in diameter than my thumb and about three feet in length. He then really rapped the horse across its ears. And as long as I had hold of that switch, I had no more problems with that horse.

Spiritual Israel is like a hard-mouthed horse that will not be controlled by voice, by leaning in the saddle, by reins on her neck, or by a bit. Unfortunately, even after a third of humanity has been killed (which could be two-thirds of spiritual Israel), the remaining two thirds which does include spiritual Israel will not quit worshiping idols and the works of its hands (Rev 9:20). Even after Israel is liberated from mental bondage at a second Passover, considerable work remains to be done before Israel is a spotless Bride.

Before examining prophecies about the recovery of Israel, let's look at some numbers. The world's population today [summer 2003] is 6.3 billion. Seven billion is not far off, and might well be reached before Christ's return. And when Moses asked Pharaoh to let the Israelites go into the wilderness to worship God, Pharaoh said of the Israelites, '"Now they are more numerous than the people of the land"' (Exod 5:5 NRSV). And since these physical Israelites are the antetypes of enslaved spiritual Israelites, we should expect half or more of the world's population to self-identify itself as Christians prior to the second Passover. Thus, there will be approximately 3.5 billion Christians when firstborns are again slain. In wrath, Christ will turn His hand against two-thirds, or seventy percent of this 3.5 billion, meaning that among Christians, there could be more than two billion slain when Christ begins to recover the remaining billion disciples.

The number - a billion in-covenant disciples - is mind boggling, considering that today there are about 10 million sabbatarian Christians of all flavors. There will be 144,000 physical Israelites in covenant with Christ in a place of safety (Mt. Zion) for the second half of the Tribulation. This number doesn't apply to spiritual Israel as seen by the multitude before the throne of God (Rev 7:9). A billion people is too many to number as evidenced by the counting of crowds in Washington D.C. that are poorly estimated as their mass approaches a million.

(The place of safety for spiritual Israelites is spiritual Jerusalem, which has theological rather than geographical coordinates.)

Halfway through seven years of tribulation, the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Messiah (Rev 11:15). At this time, Satan will be cast from heaven (Rev 12:7-9). He will no longer be able to control the mental topography of humanity; he must use physical means to deceive and recapture his liberated slaves; hence, the logic for the mark of the beast, which will be his slave brand (Chi xi stigma). And the Father will pour out His spirit upon all of humanity (Joel 2:28), as Peter references on that day of Pentecost (Acts 2:17). The billion plus spiritual Israelites will be joined by three plus billion people who have never known God until they were liberated. This is the great endtime harvest of humanity. All who endure to the end will be saved (Matt 24:13 & 10:22), and this good news must be proclaimed to the world before the end will come. That proclaiming begins with The Philadelphia Church - Stonefort taking this gospel to the world.

The resurrection to glory at Christ's return won't be of a few saints, or even of a few million saints, but of many billions. And if you want to be part of this resurrection, you will live within the laws of God as your reasonable duty to God. So why not start today living within these laws that have been written on your heart and mind? You know what is right, and what you should do. Why not begin making the decision to do what is right in every aspect of your life. Grace covers your failures, but not your decisions. You are to choose life or death. Christ has set both before you, so really, your judgment is in your hands.

 

3.

Jonathan Edwards couldn't understand Daniel's visions regardless of intelligence or spiritual standing with God. It wasn't time; it wasn't the time of the end. Likewise, Edwards could not fully understand what he saw through typology. He understood that many of the Old Testament types had to be understood mystically or spiritually. However, Edwards was unable to mentally elevate his thinking. He looked at typology as revealing physical antetypes followed by physical antitypes, rather than physical antetypes followed by spiritual antitypes, often with a transitional physical-spiritual replication of an event between ante and anti types; e.g., the first Adam was of the earth, entirely physical, while the second Adam is a living spirit, entirely spiritual. But the man Jesus of Nazareth, after baptism, was a physical man with the Breath of the Father resting on Him. He was a physical man with life in the spiritual realm. Thus, the first Adam named the animals in Eden from which no helpmate could be found (Gen 2:19). Jesus of Nazareth then named the animals from which no helpmate could be found for Him (Matt 23:all). The level of representation has been raised one step on a seven tiered hierarchy: (1) God; (2) angels; (3) born-from-above disciples; (4) the rest of humanity; (5) animals; (6) plants; and (7) things generally considered non-living. Animals inside of Eden are raised to become circumcised Israelites--again, the laws of God form or represent the walls of Eden. Thus, the animals created inside of Eden differ from the animals created on the fifth day, and earlier on the sixth day. The animals inside Eden were to be holy (Exod 19:5-6) by virtue of their location (circumcised Israelites were to be holy by virtue of obeying the voice of the Lord and by keeping His covenant). What is to be holy by geographic location differs from other plants (compare Gen 1:11-12 with 2:5-9) and other animals (compare Gen 1:20-25 with 2:19). The Genesis account of Creation either contradicts itself, or it must be understood as typology--and because typology, like visionary prophecy, couldn't be understood until the time of the end, critics advanced banal theories such as "P" wrote Genesis 1:1-2:4a while "J" wrote the Temptation account, beginning in Genesis 2:4b. What these critics couldn't understand is that the physical Adam is the antetype of the man Jesus of Nazareth, while the creation account from Genesis 1:1 to 2:3 is the abstract of, or argument for the plan of God as revealed in Holy Writ.

The third level of Adamic typology has the glorified Jesus as a living spirit and the judge of humanity also naming the animals from which no helpmate could be found for Him (Matt 7:21-23). Again, the judgment of these born-from-above disciples is being revealed at Christ's return as the Messiah (! Cor 4:5). The glorified Son of Man will then call them wicked and slothful servants, and worthless servants (Matt 25:26, 30; Luke 19:22), and enemies (Luke 19:27). So this level of Adam naming the animals is elevated two steps from the narrative found in Genesis 2:5 to 3:24. Therefore, the physical Adam is the antetype of the man Jesus of Nazareth calling Pharisees hypocrites and vipers; and the ministry of the man Jesus of Nazareth is the antetype of the glorified Christ's endtime ministry and judgment of born again disciples. The animals of Eden become circumcised Israelites, who in turn serve as the antetype of spiritual Israelites who do not teach the mysteries of God (compare Matt 13:12 with 25:29), or will not be ruled by Christ.

In Adamic typology, Adam has no life in the spiritual realm; he was driven from Eden before he could eat of the tree of life (Gen 3:22-24). Adam is only psuche and soma, as Jesus' disciples were (Matt 10:28) prior to when they received the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). Because Jesus' earthly ministry forms the antetype of His endtime ministry in the spiritual realm, Jesus assigned to His disciples' psuche the properties of pneuma (1 Thess 5:23); i.e., because His disciples hadn't yet received the Holy Spirit/Pneuma, Jesus assigned to His disciples' physical lives the properties that belong to born-from-above disciples' spiritual lives. Humanity isn't tripart until after being born-from-above through receiving the Holy Spirit. Adam was a naphesh, a breathing creature alike in breath and body to an animal (Eccl 3:19) created in the image of God. The Pharisees didn't have the Holy Pneuma residing within them, so they had no life in the spiritual realm. They were spiritually dead, in that they had never been conceived, let alone born.

The man Jesus of Nazareth, however, had the Holy Pneuma of God the Father descend upon Him like a dove (Matt 3:16). Jesus had, by virtue of human birth, psuche and soma (physical life and a body of flesh). When He received the Holy Pneuma, He had psuche, pneuma, and soma, the Apostle Paul's tripart composition of born-from-above disciples (1 Thess 5:23). But at Calvary, Jesus loses His psuche. His body or soma is placed in a grave to await decay, which doesn't come. And Jesus' pneuma is imprisoned in the darkness where fallen angels are held (1 Pet 3:19), awaiting judgment.

Physical death (i.e., death of one's soma) doesn't kill spiritual life (i.e., one's pneuma), but a person's doesn't have spiritual life [pneuma] unless it is given to the person as the gift of God (Rom 6:23). A person isn't born with spiritual life. Jesus' disciples didn't have spiritual life when He sent them out two-by-two. Jesus gave them spiritual life when He directly transferred the Holy Pneuma to ten of them by breathing on them; He gave them spiritual life through them receiving His breath just as He received His Father's Breath at His baptism. So, a person doesn't have an immortal soul. Adam was barred from Eden before he could eat of the tree of life. Theos said to Theon (from John 1:1-3), '"The man [Adam] has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever-"' (Gen 3:22), and They sent Adam out of the garden, never to return physically. Death entered the world through Adam (Rom 5:12), who was barred from eating from the tree of life and living forever. Adam had no everlasting, or spiritual life that he could pass on to his heirs. He had life from his physical breath [psuche] only. Likewise, before Jesus' disciples received the Holy Breath of God, they had only their physical breath, received from Adam.

Since physical death cannot kill a born-from-above disciple's pneuma or spiritual life, which isn't a part of this physical creation but exists in the heavenly realm, a person's spiritual life is recorded in the Book of Life when the disciple is conceived. It isn't recorded in the Book of Life when a person dies, and it doesn't lounge around on the pages of the Book of Life between a disciple's death and when the person is glorified. Nor is a born-from-above disciple's pneuma imprisoned here on earth, awaiting release at death to return to heaven. It was conceived in the spiritual realm when the person received the Breath of God, and it never leaves the spiritual realm.

The concept of "soul-sleep" was developed a century or so ago to explain the stasis necessary for a born-again disciple to bridge the lapse of time between his or her death and glorification; the concept is probably incorrect. Time is a fluid. As such, time can be configured in such a manner that all disciples exist simultaneously in the spiritual realm (Rev 6:9-11). Resurrection to glorification of all generations at Jesus' return as King of kings is possible without having the spiritual lives of disciples undergo stasis (this concept exercises a spiritually-minded disciple's ability to visualize what has been created). The focus of time swirls would be vector-like protrusions to a point: Christ's return. And Jesus would now be the exception--His pneuma for the three days He was dead would have to be handled differently, the logic for the Apostle Peter placing Jesus' spiritual life with the fallen angels for that period of time. However, time doesn't exist in the spiritual realm, so the "present" and the "past" are meaningless concepts. Jesus' pneuma could well have been with spirits imprisoned pre-Flood between when His psuche ended and His soma was resurrected. Where it wasn't was with the Father.

The man Jesus of Nazareth, with psuche, pneuma, and soma, was the antetype of the glorified Christ holding the seven stars [angels] in His hand, as He stands among the seven candlesticks (Rev 1:20). The ministry of the man Jesus of Nazareth is the antetype of the endtime work of the glorified Christ as He sets about making His Bride ready. And this antetype/antitype relationship can be seen in Jesus' instructions to His disciple's before He sends them out at the beginning of His ministry. Jesus said,

Compare the above passage with Jesus' Olivet discourse when His disciples point out the splendor the temple to Him. Luke records Jesus saying, after referencing nations rising against nations and famines and pestilence,

Plus Matthew records the same discourse that carries the qualifier of Jesus' disciples asking, What will be the sign of Christ's coming and the close of this age (24:3). In Matthew's account, Jesus says,

Endtime disciples believe by faith that Jesus really sent out His disciples as recorded in the tenth chapter of Matthew's Gospel, that the account is real history. However, Jesus' instructions to His disciples early in His ministry match His discourse about the events that will occur at the end of the age, even to Jesus using the same phrases about all who endure to the end being saved. Therefore, by a preponderance of evidence (and a preponderance exists), disciples can safely conclude that Jesus' earthly ministry forms the antetype of His endtime ministry directed at the cities of the lost house of spiritual Israel (Matt 10:5-6). These cities are fellowships or denominations within greater Christianity. And they are the mission field for the endtime Church in Philadelphia that directly engages Satan to recover as many spiritual Israelites as possible before the second Passover occurs, and firstborns not covered by the Blood of Christ, taken as Jesus instructed, are slain.

Satan has truly racked up endtime disciples as if these disciples were bowling pins, waiting to be knocked over. He will let Christ kill them--and the death angels will kill them because their sins are not covered by blood. By Satan having disciples take the sacraments whenever and however they desire instead of at Passover as Jesus instructed His disciples, and as Paul instructed the saints at Corinth, Satan will cause hundreds of millions of born again Christians to be killed by God. No wonder that the world will hate Christians for Christ's name's sake. No wonder that brother will betray brother. Place yourself in the position of having your firstborn child or spouse or parent or friend slain because he or she didn't take the Passover as Christ commanded. What will you think of your spiritual teachers who have been telling you that Christians will be raptured before the Tribulation begins? Will you invite these teachers over for dinner? How much love will you display toward them, and vice versa? Do you suspect that they might betray you before you can betray them. You know that they are liars. Do you think you can ever again trust them?

How can I impress upon you the importance of taking the Passover as Jesus set the example for His disciples? What will bridge your apathy or disbelief? I see the prophecy that says you will come and acknowledge that we of The Philadelphia Church -- Stonefort were right, that Christ loves us (Rev 3:9). I understand how you can perceive the previous sentence as rank arrogance. That is okay if it will get you to try and disprove what I write; for I'm not looking to make a disciple of you. Out of love for you (this said after I have verbally beaten you up), I want you to take the Passover as Jesus instructed. Having you acknowledge that we were correct won't help your firstborn who was slain on the second Passover...think of the guilt you will feel knowing that you have been warned, and that you chose to ignore that warning because it didn't fit into your historic theology. You can read in Scripture how and when Jesus celebrated the Passover. Why don't you believe Him? Or believe Paul?

You will be a sinner in the hands of an angry God the night of the second Passover if you do not cover yourself with the Blood of Christ.

Christians, through typology, are as prisoners in Plato's Cave; i.e., they see the shadows of events occurring in the spiritual realm. Unfortunately, biblical scholars too often confuse the shadows for the spiritual realties producing them, thereby presenting skewed readings of Scripture and mis-teaching the commandments of God...the prophet Jeremiah wrote, '"Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, "As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt," but "As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of all the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them." Then they dwell in their own land'" (23:7-8). That is, Israelites shall dwell in spiritual Eden if they didn't lose both their physical lives [psuche] and their spiritual lives [pneuma] on the second Passover that is sure to come.

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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."

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