And Aaron said to Moses, “Behold, today they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD; and yet such things as these have befallen me! If I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been acceptable in the sight of the LORD?” Lev. 10:19
The Context
The tabernacle had been finished and the garments of the high priest had been made, chapter 8 starts with the consecration of Aaron and his son to be the high priests. The process of the dedication was laid out in Ex. 29. However, when the time came for the dedication of the family, things did not work out as planned.
FYI: These events took seven days to complete. “And you shall not go out from the door of the tent of meeting for seven days until the days of your ordination are completed, for it will take seven days to ordain you.” Lev 8:33
The Catastrophe
In chapter 9 we have the first sacrifices and the fire coming forth from before the Lord to light the altar for the first time.
This is where things started to go wrong, due to human error. In chapter 10 we have Aaron’s two sons Nadab and Abihu who offered “unholy fire” or “strange fire” before the Lord. The Hebrew text calls this fire “unauthorized” and “not commanded.”
And fire came forth from the presence of the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Lev. 10:2
No one is quite sure what this fire was. It is suggested that it was not for them to burn incense but rather Aaron was to do it, or that it was not the time to burn incense. Interestingly, this is the only time the Lord spoke directly to Aaron without Moses being present. It is surmised that there was some drinking that was the cause of some carelessness in the fire being kindled because this is what the Lord said to Aaron.
8 And the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying, 9 “Drink no wine nor strong drink, you nor your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die; it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations. Lev. 10:8-9,
Now we have a family that did not have time to stop and mourn because they were still in the middle of this dedication period. There had to be some concern that something else could go wrong. The stress levels must have been extremely high.
Eleazar and Ithamar
Instead of eating their portion of the sacrifice Eleazar and Ithamar perform a complete burnt offering. Moses is very angry with them because they had not eaten the portion that was theirs to take and instead, they had burned the entire offering.
Moses explains why they were to eat it because it was to symbolize that in the eating they were symbolically taking the sins of the people into themselves.
“Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since it is a thing most holy and has been given to you that you may bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the LORD? Lev. 10:17
Failing to do this correctly marred the image of Messiah in the sacrifice. This sacrifice represented Messiah taking on the sin of the world. We must remember that the priest and the victim are not two separate things. The image we seek is that our true Mediator is in himself both priest and victim/sacrifice. Therefore the priest bears the iniquity of the sinner for whom he makes expiation
It shall be upon Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall take upon himself any guilt incurred in the holy offering which the people of Israel hallow as their holy gifts; it shall always be upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD. Ex. 28: 38
Now back to the Verse in Question
And Aaron said to Moses, “Behold, today they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD; and yet such things as these have befallen me! If I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been acceptable in the sight of the LORD?” Lev. 10:19
Aaron is upset that anyone would think he could eat when he has suffered the loss of his two older sons. Would the Lord truly be pleased if he had eaten the meat without celebrating? If the family was not hungry and did not feel like eating, this special food that was for them only, so it was simply burned. In doing this Aaron treats this sacrifice as if it were an ordinary peace offering.
. . . but what remains of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned with fire. Lev 7:17
FYI: This passage does illustrate that there was some reasonable latitude with the application of the ritual observances and the unexpected circumstances of life.
Sheol/ Hades, Gehenna, The Bottomless Pit, The Lake of Fire, etc.
The English word hell actually came from Old English hel, hell, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hel and German Hölle, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘to cover or hide’.
But the English word is not what we are after. As we study the Bible we need to ask some questions about the words that are translated to hell. Are all these words referring to the same place, or are they different places?
Over the centuries the churches concepts of hell have been highly influenced by the pagan concepts. When Constantine made Christianity the state religion anyone wanting to have political influence needed to become Christian. These peoples conversions were never complete, and a great many pagan notions flooded the church. It doesn’t help that writings like Dante’s Inferno have given people a false notion of what will happen to the wicked, nor have the hell fire and brimstone preachers of the 19th century helped matters. These all gave us the misconception that the devil and demons are in charge of hell. Satan is not the king of hell. He is its chief prisoner. Messiah is the king of heaven, hell, and the earth.
But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell (Gehenna); yes, I tell you, fear him! Luke 12:5
And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had worked the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur. Rev. 19:20
As a child in church there was occasionally a guest speaking of the old hell fire and brimstone variety. They taught some interesting if not outright frightening concepts, but as I began to read the Bible for myself I did not find things so clear cut. While studying ancient mythology I realized that a great deal of that hellfire was coming from these ancient mythological stories. The most familiar of which is probably “Orpheus in Hades” however the oldest is “Ishtar in the Babylonian Hades” c.f. Myths of Babylon and Assyria by Donald A. Mackenzie page 95.
After all these centuries we are going to have to look at all these Biblical words and concepts to see if they are the same or different. To find where is truth and where is error.
The term “bottomless pit” is only mentioned in The Revelation. Most interpreters assume that it is a literal place, and equate it with the Old Testament’s concept of Sheol.
Sheol/Hades
Sheol was the place of the dead both good and bad, that had two areas divided by a great chasm. The best description of is in Luke 16:19-31 in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. But then there is the question as to whether or not this is a parable or an actual report, as it is the only parable where a person is named. Or is Messiah just making the point that those on the good side are known to Him by name, where those on the bad side are strangers whose name is not known to Him. Either way this is our best description of Sheol.
Gehenna
Gehenna is Greek for the valley of Hinnom. The idea that the valley of Hinnom is associated with Hell come from the Pseudepigrapha book of 1 Enoch.
1 Then said I: ‘For what object is this blessed land, which is entirely filled with trees, and this 2 accursed valley between?’ Then Uriel, one of the holy angels who was with me, answered and said: ‘This accursed valley is for those who are accursed for ever: Here shall all the accursed be gathered together who utter with their lips against the Lord unseemly words and of His glory speak hard things. Here shall they be gathered together, and here 1 Enoch 27:1-2
The valley became a place of idol worship and child sacrifice during the period of the Monarchy (2 Kgs. 23:10; Jer. 32:35). The prophet Jeremiah proclaimed that the valley would become known as the “valley of Slaughter” where Yahweh would judge and punish his people (Jer. 7:30-32; 19:2, 6).
The valley was apparently named for the family that resided there at a time not specified.
And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech. 2Kings 23:10
They built the high places of Baal in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. Jer. 32:35
Messiah spoke of Gehenna as the place where body and soul are destroyed.
26 “So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna). 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32 So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. Matt. 10:26-33
You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell (Gehenna)? Matt. 23:33
But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell (Gehenna) of fire. Matt. 5:22
And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell (Gehenna), to the unquenchable fire. Mark 9:43
The Abyss/The Bottomless Pit
There are two outlier verses, that only contain the word for abyss without being modified by bottomless. It seems to be the place where demons are contained, rather than a place for human dead.
And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Luke 8:31
. . . or “Who will descend into the abyss?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). Rom. 10:7
Bottomless
The Greek – prear tho abussos – or, shaft to the pit or abyss, a hole without a bottom, or the deepest hole in the earth.
In The Revelation the idea that it is bottomless seems to mean that it cannot be filled, or that it will never run out of space for the demons for whom it was intended. For it is a place of demons and not people.
And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key of the shaft of the bottomless pit; 2 he opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Rev. 9:1-2
They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon. Rev. 9:11
And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends from the bottomless pit will make war upon them and conquer them and kill them, Rev. 11:7
The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is to ascend from the bottomless pit and go to perdition; and the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will marvel to behold the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. Rev. 17:8
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain. Rev. 20:1
Tartarus
For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell (Tartarus) and committed them to pits of nether gloom to be kept until the judgment; 2Pet. 2:4
Lake of Fire
And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had worked the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur. Rev. 19:20
. . . and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Rev. 20:10
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; 15 and if any one’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Rev. 20:14-15
NOTES
1.20 a‡bussoß, ou f: (a figurative extension of meaning of a‡bussoß ‘pit,’ not occurring in the NT) a location of the dead and a place where the Devil is kept (Re 20:3), the abode of the beast as the antichrist (Re 11:7), and of Abaddon, as the angel of the underworld (Re 9:11) — ‘abyss, abode of evil spirits, very deep place.’ ti÷ß katabh/setai ei˙ß th\n a‡busson; touvt∆ e¶stin Cristo\n e˙k nekrw◊n aÓnagagei√n ‘who can go down to the abyss? that is, to bring Christ up from the dead’ Ro 10:7; kai« e¶balen aujto\n ei˙ß th\n a‡busson ‘and he threw him into the abyss’ Re 20:3.
a‡bussoß is sometimes rendered as ‘a very deep hole’; in other instances, ‘a hole without a bottom’ or ‘the deepest hole in the earth.’
ABYSS
Although in English translations of the OT “abyss” is rarely used (cf. Gen. 1:2 NEB, NAB), Gk. aébyssos (“primal ocean” or “world of the dead”) appears frequently in the LXX as a translation of Heb. teïho®m, “waters of the deep.” Teïho®m, treated as a proper name, derives from the same Semitic root as [p. 12] Tiamat, the goddess in Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation story. However, it does not appear to be personified in the OT and refers variously to the creation event (Gen. 1:2; Job 38:16; Ps. 33:7), to blessings and fertility (Gen. 49:25; Deut. 8:7; Ps. 78:15), and to destruction (Gen. 7:11; 8:2; Ezek. 26:19; Amos 7:4). It is also associated with the Reed Sea (Exod. 15:5; Isa. 51:10; Ps. 106:9).
When “abyss” is not used to translate teïho®m, “the deep” is often employed (cf. Gen. 1:2 NJPSV, RSV, NRSV).
Usually translated “abyss” in the NT, it refers to the place of the dead (Rom. 10:7) and is synonymous with hell or Hades. It more frequently refers to the place where the forces of evil dwell (e.g., Luke 8:31; Rev. 9:1, 2).
GEHENNA(Gk. géenna; Lat. Gehenna)
The “valley of Hinnom” (from Heb. geî hinnoœm), a ravine (Wadi er-Raba®bi) S and SW of Jerusalem, meeting with the Kidron Valley at En-rogel. Early traditions locating the valley in the Wadi Kidron are not satisfactory. The English NT usually translates the Greek term as “hell.” The OT often combines “hinnom” with “sons (or ‘son’) of” (NRSV “Ben-hinnom”), suggesting a possible origin in a family name.
The valley became a place of idol worship and child sacrifice during the period of the Monarchy (2 Kgs. 23:10; Jer. 32:35). The prophet Jeremiah proclaimed that the valley would become known as the “valley of Slaughter” where Yahweh would judge and punish his people (Jer. 7:30-32; 19:2, 6). Joel also envisions God’s judgment as occurring in a valley just outside the city of Jerusalem (Joel 3:2, 12, 14[4:2, 12, 14]; Isa. 30:29-33; 66:24). By the time of the Maccabees, the valley was the appropriate location in which to burn the bodies of one’s enemies (cf. 2 Esdr. 7:36). 1 Enoch viewed “the accursed valley” of God’s judgment as outside the city of Jerusalem, the center of the world (e.g., 1 En. 27:1).
By NT times the idea of Gehenna had made a full transformation to an otherworldly place of future punishment for the wicked. The valley itself may have become a place where trash was dumped and burned, thus an “unclean” location. (This interpretation has been questioned.) In theory, one could not go directly from the Hinnom dump to the temple because of the worshipper’s unclean status. This status of uncleanness (“cut-off”) and the past association of the valley with a place of judgment combined to create a metaphor for “hell.”
An alternative view is that the altars for pagan worship in the valley of Hinnom involved the funneling of the victim’s blood directly into the earth to satisfy the gods. This may have evolved into a tradition that this was an entrance into the underworld (the opposite of Jacob’s discovery of the staircase entrance to heaven).
By the time of the NT writers, the idea of a “hell” (gehenna) had developed into a physical place where God’s enemies would suffer punishment and destruction in both body and soul (e.g., Matt. 10:28; 23:33). Slaughter, burning, and shedding of blood all became symbols for this punishment (Matt. 5:22; Mark 9:43-47).
See HINNOM.
HELL
An English word used to translate four biblical terms. Heb. sûeï}o®l and Gk. haédeäs generally refer to the world of the dead. Tartarus (cf. Gk. tartaroœoœ, 2 Pet. 2:4) is the place of punishment for fallen angels awaiting final judgment. Gk. géenna is the place and condition of just retribution saved for the post-judgment impenitent.
Originally, all the dead had the same banal existence in Sheol. Sheol later included an eschatological dimension, a future with resurrection, final judgment, doctrines; it was the grave, and the shadowy realm of the dead, where the human spirit no longer exists. The three-tiered cosmology of heaven, earth and Sheol or Hades shifted with the realization of a planetary system. Preexilic Hebrew thought assumed the dead formed a faceless collective after death. Gk. phylakeäí, also the underworld or the place of punishment in hell, is where Satan is made harmless during the millennium (Rev. 20:7); though death occurs, the pneuíma exists, and “prison” becomes the place of torture.
Gehenna first clearly occurs as a post—final judgment locus of the wicked in Enoch. In Hades, a preparatory place, the souls await their end. In rabbinic literature Gehenna refers to the final, not an intermediate, place of retribution. Apocalyptic writings announce death, resurrection, a judgment, final punishment, and a place of retribution that imply Gehenna. The term derives from “the valley of Hinnom” (or “lamentation”) near Jerusalem. The pollution there signified horror, defilement, and consuming fires. Consequently, Gehenna became a metaphor for acute torment. During Jesus’ time, Gehenna meant an irrevocable, eternal doom for the wholly wicked.
The Lukan Hellenistic Gehenna concerns immediate reward and punishment after death, the resurrection of the just. Following judgment, God sends the wicked to Hades or Gehenna, and the [p. 573] righteous go to Paradise for resurrection with Jesus at the Parousia. A Jewish-influenced Matthew omits reward and punishment at death, and ascribes a judgment day, resurrection, bodily Gehenna, and an eternal agony for the wicked. After the resurrection and judgment, Gehenna receives the evil for retribution.
Hades, the place of all the dead, is the name of the Greek underworld god. Sheol and the old concept of Hades are the dark, gloomy abodes of the dead. Increased Jewish belief in resurrection meant God would bring the dead from Hades back to life — a return of corporeal life; a life for resurrected spirits in heaven. God brings the soul from Hades and the body from the grave to be rejoined in resurrection. At the resurrection, death ceases, and Hades will be closed. Both death and Hades diminish into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14).
In Jewish eschatology, death meant the separation of the body and soul. Yet no harm occurs after death, for the soul remains secure. Matt. 25 portrays hell as the domain of Satan and his angels, and the damned. The OT makes no reference to torture once persons are relegated to Sheol. Intertestamental literature focuses on heavenly assistance against God’s enemies, a human messiah, and divine justice.
Most scholars agree that the only text (1 Pet. 3:18-20) which might imply Jesus’ descent into hell does not support earlier interpretations that suggest Jesus’ preaching to the dead or experiencing a passion or damnation. Recent scholars view this event as the work of the risen Christ. Some scholars contend Christ descended into hell triumphantly after his death, to show himself as the defeater and conqueror of death, Satan, and hell. The NT does not reflect any passion or activity of Jesus between death and resurrection.
Most interpreters agree that Eph. 4:8 first concerns Christ’s descent (v. 9), then his triumphant ascent after his death and resurrection: from heaven to earth (incarnation) or from earth to grave (Sheol). Others contend the descent occurred after Jesus’ ascension and depicts the return to the earth of the exalted Christ as the Spirit and Pentecost.
Jesus did not proclaim a doctrine of hell nor describe damnation, and spoke only marginally of hell. His proclamation of the kingdom of God invited one to choose salvation or doom, yet Jesus did not preach dualism. Many contrasting metaphors for hell indicate God’s wrath and punishment. The notion of eternity indicates a final punishment, but not necessarily one that extends for all times. Ideas of complete destruction and infinite punishment over against universal love, mercy, and reconciliation exist throughout Scripture and Church history. Ultimately, damnation is not an absolute and remains contingent on God’s will and grace.
Bibliography. G. Doehler, “Descent into Hell,” Springfielder 39 (1975): 2–19; W. H. Harris, III, “The Ascent and Descent of Christ in Ephesians 4:9-10,” BSac 151 (1994): 198–214; H. Küng, Eternal Life? (Garden City, 1984); C. Milikowsky, “Which Gehenna? Retribution and Eschatology in the Synoptic Gospels and in Early Jewish Texts,” NTS 34 (1988): 238–49; H. Scharen, “Gehenna in the Synoptics,” BSac 149 (1992): 324–37, 454–70.
BRIMSTONE
Probably burning sulphur (cf. Lat. ignis et sulphur for Gk. puír kaií theiíon). Except for Job 18:15, all biblical references to brimstone are coupled with fire. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone (Gen. 19:24). The Psalmist uses fire and brimstone as a metaphor for God’s judgment upon the wicked (Ps. 11:6). The lake which burns with fire and brimstone is the final destiny of the devil, the beast, the false prophet (Rev. 19:20; 20:10), death, hades (20:14), and all people whose names are not written in the book of life (21:8).
Many believers only know the view their spiritual leader holds. That person often only mentions what they believe. Or they disparage the other’s views to a degree that students may think that those that hold the other views are not even true believers. All too often, the controversy of these views has become greater than our brotherly love for one another as the arguments rage on. Speculation on things unfulfilled are seemingly more important than our unity in our salvation.
The Millennium
We get the term millennium from early Latin writers for mille or “one-thousand.”
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Revelation 20:4
There are three views on how this will be fulfilled, Pre-millennial, A-millennial, or Post-millennial.
Pre-millennialists believe that the Messiah will return before this millennial period.
A-millennialists believe that there is no literal millennium.
Post-millennialists believe that Messiah will return after the millennium.
For the sake of argument, the authors of this blog are Pre-millennialists. However, that is not to say that we do not think that the other views are devoid of a good argument.
Those arguments are centered on the fact that the passage where pre-millennialists think the Messiah literally returns, is clearly highly symbolic. Messiah is presented as riding a horse and with a sword coming from His mouth. There is also the fact that the Greek word mille doesn’t alway mean one thousand, sometimes it mean lots and lots like the English world zillions.
A Little History
In the nineteenth century, many if not most of the Western Protestant churches were Post-millennialist or A-millennialist. They believed that the church through its missionary activities that the Western Imperial nations would bring Christ and good government to the lost dark world. However the American Civil war brought many to reconsider the immorality of man.
Then the even greater, War to End All Wars, or WW1, brought the idea into ridicule. All were disillusioned that the church could ever change enough hearts or that Western governments could teach good government when these Christian nations were slaughtering each other on an industrial scale.
After this Christians viewed other Christians with great skepticism as to their faith. After all, both sides had claimed Christ. Europeans were filled with pessimism and suspicion about God Himself and began to leave Christianity altogether.
This was when the Pre-millennialists became the primary view that was taught in seminaries and then churches. Because they don’t think that the church can bring the nations to righteousness. We believe that this can only happen with the physical presence of Messiah on earth.
The Reign
However the passage actually seems to be connected with Dan 7’s throne judgement. In this passage there seems to be some overlap or delay between the thrones and the reigning, and the judgment.
9 As I looked, thrones were placed and one that was ancient of days took his seat; his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, its wheels were burning fire. 10 A stream of fire issued and came forth from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.
11 I looked then because of the sound of the great words which the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. 13 I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.Dan. 7:9-14
Conclusion
We are just as confused as when we started. I suppose as Sir Issac Newton said, “Time will be the telling of the prophecy.”
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. John 3:5
Over the centuries the church has confused itself as to what “born of water” means. Some have taught that this means baptism, others that it means natural birth.
The idea that it is baptism comes straight out of the apostate church, that mingled christianity with the mystery religions, and for this reason should be rejected out of hand. A little background is needed here. In a mystery religion all those who wanted to be initiated into the mystery had to be baptized. These rituals were apparently not as smooth going as modern ones, for the ancients refer to those who “survived.” These were then given the secret knowledge of the mystery. The grand incentive to submit to this ordeal was as Tertullian tells us, a promise of an outcome of—
Natural birth can be excluded because that is what Nicodemus thought and Messiah corrects him and said the meaning is not natural but rather “heavenly things.”
11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen; but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? John 3:11-12
So, He is speaking of heavenly or spiritual things, not literal physical things.
However
This is in the book of John, not Matthew, Mark, Luke, or Paul. None of them even cover this event with Nicodemus. We must consider that John is the guy who wrote about antichrists in his epistles, no one else mentions this name. He also wrote about a ten horned seven headed sea monster in The Revelation, and many other strange spiritual things, none of the others have such weird use of language. Remember most scholars believe that the book of The Revelation was written first, then the gospel, then the epistle. So what did water mean in John’s books?
And he said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the harlot is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. Rev. 17:15
To John water is where nations come from, and the main subject here in John chapter three, is The Kingdom of Heaven. We must not forget that the Kingdom of Heaven is a kingdom or nation.
If one assumes that there is no time break between chapters 2 and 3 of the gospel of John, then the contexts is the mo’dim (appointed time) of Passover. This was the time the story of how the nation was birthed when leaving Egypt and passing through the waters of the Red Sea.
But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Ex. 14:29
He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap. Psa. 78:13
They came out of the sea a nation or kingdom, with God as their king. As we become citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.
So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, Eph. 2:19
We are going to start a study on Salvation. For all like ourselves who grew up in a Born Again Church. We were all told to “ask Jesus into your heart,” in order to be saved. It may be a bit surprising that what they were taught is not actually in the Text.
So we will be look at these Texts and sort out truth from error.
Definitions
The Greek word soteria , can be translated as salvation or deliverance, save or rescue. Not surprising the Hebrew word for salvation is yeshu’ah, and one has to be careful as too whether it is a proper noun or not.
Thinking
We will challenge ourselves to put aside our Cognitive Dissonance and honestly see what is written.
Cognitive dissonance, is when we deny or compartmentalize unwelcome thoughts or information, We can’t interpret the data differently because that would just be crazy. We see this all the time in the world of science, where they will explain some animals unique attributes that could only come from creation, then turn on a dime and conclude evolution. They show animal fossils that were clearly buried quickly in a giant flood, only to conclude that it took millions of years. This cognitive dissonance happens in theology as well.
Once you get into a situation where you believe something that is patently untrue. It is hard to not stay with the group. We all stay were we are comfortable. The smartest people you know believe it, the people you respect believe it, all our leaders believe it, our best friends believe it. To step out of this Group Think is very uncomfortable, and we all like to be comfortable. We don’t want to be the ones who make everybody else uncomfortable. We want to be liked, and to be liked we must think like everyone else in the group. In the group no one questions what is believed. If you do, you might get excommunicated, accused of not being unenlightened, or being a hieratic, or just asked to leave.
Then there is organizational resistance. We are locked into our dogma, we are locked into our belief systems. We simply can not entertain a different idea. We are so invested in the lie, that we no longer can see the truth.We start creating a sort of immune system to protect our beliefs. We refuse to look at a different idea. After all, our teachers were great men of God and great men of God can’t have been wrong?
Once you are so invested in your belief, how do you go back to the evidence. How do you turn around and say you were mistaken? How do we move from dissonance to harmony?
The Inherited churches have over the centuries taught some rather odd things about the Lamb’s Book of Life. Some say, Michael the Arch Angle is the one who writes names into the book, other that Messiah writes the names in. However these ideas have no merit in light of Scripture. The only reason for all this is to make the church somehow responsible for you to be written in the book. If one is Baptized the right way or speaks the proscribed magic words, then one’s name will be written down. However this is not what the scriptures say:
But now, if thou wilt forgive their sin — and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.” But the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Ex. 32:32-33
The Book already has names written in it. What can apparently happen is ones names can be blotted out.
The Bible is clear that everyone starts out written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. At some point some names are removed, blotted out, scratched off, or erased (depending on the translation).
Other verses
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous. Psa. 69:28
And I ask you also, true yokefellow, help these women, for they have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. Phil. 4:3
He who conquers shall be clad thus in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life; I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. Rev. 3:5
. . . and all who dwell on earth will worship it, every one whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain. Rev. 13:8
The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is to ascend from the bottomless pit and go to perdition; and the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will marvel to behold the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. Rev. 17:8
. . . and if any one’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Rev. 20:15
But nothing unclean shall enter it, nor any one who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Rev. 21:27
Michael
This is the verse where Michael come into it all. However He is not writing names.
“At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time; but at that time your people shall be delivered, every one whose name shall be found written in the book.” Dan. 12:1
Aaron shall make atonement upon its horns once a year; with the blood of the sin offering of atonement he shall make atonement for it once in the year throughout your generations; it is most holy to the LORD.” Exodus 30:10
26 And the LORD said to Moses, 27 “On the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present an offering by fire to the LORD. 28 And you shall do no work on this same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God. 29 For whoever is not afflicted on this same day shall be cut off from his people. 30 And whoever does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 You shall do no work: it is a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 32 It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves; on the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your sabbath.” Leviticus 23:26-32
Prayers of Repentance
Psalms 51
Daniel 9
Ezra 9:4-15
In the light of these prayer came a long tradition of fasting and repenting for the sins that have cast the Jews out of the land, in addition a renewal of their commitment to their GOD and His Commandments.
Zechariah 7-8 On the Question of Fasting
After returning from Babylon and rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem the men of Bethel come up to Jerusalem to ask if they should continue too fast on the 9th of Av. Tisha B’Av is the day the Jerusalem feel and the temple destroyed by the armies of Babylon.
FYI: 500 years later the Romans destroyed the Temple on this same day.
The Lord’s responded to these men with adding the other fasts to the discussion.
“Say to all the people of the land and the priests, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted? Zechariah 7:5
The fast of the seventh month is Yom Kippur.
“Thus says the LORD of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah seasons of joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love truth and peace. Zechariah 8:19
Yes, you read the right, cheerful feasting.
Changing the Fast to Feasting
6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go continually into the outer tent, performing their ritual duties; 7 but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood which he offers for himself and for the errors of the people. 8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the sanctuary is not yet opened as long as the outer tent is still standing 9 (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with food and drink and various ablutions, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.
11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Hebrews 9:6-14
Atonement has been made, accomplished, finished, fulfilled.
There is therefore now no condemnationfor those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans. 8:1
Yom Kippur is the Lord’s Day
Those of us who study The Revelation very quickly learn that among the scholars there is an argument about “the Lord’s day” in The Revelation, whether this is Sunday or Saturday.
10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet Revelation 1:10
The argument is the foolishness of those who do not read and participate in the Feast of the Lord. Everything about the imagery of this book shouts YOM KIPPUR, the holiest of the Biblical Holy Days. Everyone throughout the book is wearing white. The 24 elders are dressed as high priests on this holiest day, with their golden crowns. The comforting thing about this is that it means that from the Throne’s point of view, it is ALWAYS the Day of Atonement. It is always the day when all may come and make things right between man and God. Till the day ends and the books are opened.
FYI: During the time of the temple there were far more men of the priestly cast than were needed to minister. So a rotation or cycle was made so that everyone at least once in their life time would have an opportunity to serve in the temple. [I Chron 24:7-18]
Stop the fasting and mourning, Celebrate and Rejoice.
16But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” Luke 18:16
The Dispensational Futurist have a great deal of trouble explaining these verses. They become very obscure as they puzzle about what appears to them to be an enigmatic statement. This is because their Kingdom is future and literal. Yet neither John the Baptists of Messiah presented the Kingdom as anything but present or in their words “at hand.”
The Kingdom is a spiritual one, with a spiritual temple. We were given just two spiritual sacred sacraments of spiritual communion and a spiritual baptism.
This is why the Kingdom is hidden, lost, full of weeds or full of bad fish. Only those who seek can find it. Only those who listen can hear it.
The Kingdom is present and spiritual but only if one has eyes to see and ears to hear.
Little children have no trouble with the concept that God is here and there,everywhere in time and space. It is only when one becomes an adult with preconceived notions and grand expectations does the truth become clouded and mysterious.
We need to sit down open our hearts and receive the Kingdom as it is, and not what we want or expect.
From the Congregation of Biet Sepher 