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The Biblical Overview of The Plan of God – Part 12

Prophecies Concerning The Year of Jubilee – “That God May Be All In All”

Lev 25:10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Introduction

We ended our last study with these words:

“In our next study we will show that many of the prophecies which the churches of Babylon apply to the millennium have been misapplied to that period of time, and are in reality to be applied to the kingdom of God which is even now within God’s elect, and to the time that follows the millennium. This is the time when God will be all in all.”

All the prophecies in Isaiah, which we have been told refer to those who live at the time of the millennium, are in fact referring primarily to the condition of the kingdom of God which is even now within His elect, those who are being prepared in this life to rule this world with Christ during the millennium. But because Christ’s words “shall never pass away” (Mat 24:2), they will also apply to all the rest of mankind who will be resurrected with spiritual bodies in the great white throne judgment, to be judged in the lake of fire.

This is how Christ instructs us to view His kingdom at this time:

Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not [in this age] with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, [at this time] the kingdom of God is within you.

That being true, and the kingdom of God being within us at this time, it is now that ‘the wolf is dwelling with the lamb’ (Isa 11:6) within those who will first be the rulers of this world and then will judge angels.

1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

This prophecy in Isaiah 11 applies to all men, each in his appointed time. But that appointed time for all men is either primarily now, while we are being judged in these clay vessels prior to the millennium, then, secondarily these prophecies, which are prophecies about God’s judgments, will apply to all men after the millennium when they are being judged in the lake of fire.

Notice how these prophecies which have been attributed to the time of the millennium actually refer to a time of judgment, and not to a time of being ruled with a rod of iron, leading up to a time of universal rebellion against “the Lord and His Christ”.

Isa 11:4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
Isa 11:5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

What does this fiery judgment produce? It produces “the peaceable fruit of righteousness” with which all who now know Christ are so gratefully familiar.

Here are the very next few verses:

Isa 11:6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
Isa 11:7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Isa 11:8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.
Isa 11:9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Does the knowledge of the Lord cover the earth as the waters cover the sea during a time which leads up to the destruction of the nations in the four quarters of the earth? No, obviously it does not. But it is doing just that in all those who are being judged at this time, and the knowledge of the Lord will also fill the earth as the waters cover the sea when the lake of fire is doing its purifying work on all men of all time following the universal rebellion of all mankind after the millennium.

Those verses in Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3 will also have a secondary application to each person who is cast into the lake of fire, but they have no application to those who are being ruled with a rod of iron during the millennium as they are so commonly misapplied.

Here are two more prophecies which are commonly misapplied to the time of the millennium:

Isa 2:1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
Isa 2:2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
Isa 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Isa 2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Isa 2:5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

And:

Mic 4:1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
Mic 4:2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Mic 4:3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Mic 4:4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
Mic 4:5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.
Mic 4:6 In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted;
Mic 4:7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.

These two prophecies are almost identical and certainly are speaking of the identical same “last days”. But that phrase ‘last days’ is not to be understood as the time of the millennium or the “little season” of rebellion which follows the millennium. That “little season” would be the physical ‘last days’ and the physical ‘time of the end’. But Christ tells us that His words are spiritual words (Joh 6:63), and spiritual words are never to be understood as having their exact same primary physical meaning. Physical death, for example, is never to be confused with spiritual death, and Christ is not a physical ‘lamb’; rather He is “the Lamb of God… slain from the foundation of the world”.

Luk 9:60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Not even “the kingdom of God” is yet to be taken literally and in its primary physical sense:

Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

These prophecies concerning “the last days” will apply to those who live through the time of the millennium only after they are cast into the lake of fire, and through that judgment “in the last days”, they will be purged of their rebellious carnal minds. For the millennial age to be a time for mankind to “freely repent and believe the Gospel, personally choosing Christ as Savior and Lord” would work against the very purpose for which God has ordained for Satan to be released and granted to “deceive the nations in the four quarters of the earth”. The very purpose for the feast of tabernacles and the last great day is to provide God the occasion He is seeking to “destroy death”.

In their final application, all these prophecies in Isaiah concerning “the last days” of physical “Judah and Jerusalem” will be fulfilled only after the fire of God’s word, which is the same ‘fire’ of “the lake of fire”, has purged “Judah and Jerusalem [as well as] Sodom and Samaria” of their rebellious, carnal mind, which is also the mind of their father, the devil, who will be right there in that “lake of fire with them”.

Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

In Romans 11 we are told what happens to physical Israel “in the last days”. In that chapter we are informed “that blindness in part is happened to [physical] Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”

Rom 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Rom 11:27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
Rom 11:28 As concerning the gospel, they [“Israel… according to the flesh] are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.
Rom 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

Here now are some verses which have been hidden in plain sight from the day they were written until the day we are given to see them. These verses of scripture will most always be avoided by those who teach that the millennium is a time when physical Israel will rule this earth, and that during the millennium mankind will “freely repent and believe the Gospel, personally choosing Christ as Savior and Lord”. These are the verses which gives us the time table for when “the fulness of the Gentiles [is] come in, [and when] the gifts and callings of God are without repentance, [and therefore when] all [physical] Israel shall be saved”.

The timetable to which Paul refers in Romans 11 is given to us in Ezekiel 16. This entire chapter is addressed to “Jerusalem”. We will read just the most pertinent verses:

Eze 16:2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,

Eze 16:17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men [false doctrines of men], and didst commit whoredom with them,

Eze 16:20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them [your false doctrines] to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,

Eze 16:33 They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.

When will physical “Jerusalem” be judged for all of her sins? When are these “last days” of Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 and Ezekiel 16, which are also addressed to “Judah and Jerusalem”? Let’s read it again so we will know when these “last days” will be:

Isa 2:1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
Isa 2:2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

Mic 4:1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
Mic 4:2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Now when does this take place? When is “the fulness of the Gentiles come in” (Rom 11:25)? When will all physical Israel be saved (Rom 11:26)? Here is when the scriptures reveal all these things will happen. This is “the last days” of carnal Judah and Jerusalem. Continuing with the prophecy of Ezekiel 16:

Eze 16:53 When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:
Eze 16:54 That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them.
Eze 16:55 When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

Sodom and Samaria are “returned to their former estate” only in the lake of fire, which begins its purifying work only after the “little season” of rebellion which follows the millennial reign of Christ and His elect with a rod of iron over the kingdoms of this earth.

Where is the phrase ‘a thousand years’ in any of these prophecies concerning Israel and Jerusalem? Of course the answer is that it is not there. Rather, here is what we are told takes place during that symbolic “thousand years” period of time:

Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

And this is the outcome of the thousand-year reign:

Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

The death of the spiritual “old man’, the rebellious carnal mind, is also the outcome, the product, of the lake of fire which will follow the millennium and the last great day, also known as “a little season”.

This now is the product of the lake of fire. Continuing with what is revealed to us in Isaiah 30:

Isa 30:20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction [“saved, yet so as by fire” 1Co 3:16], yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:
Isa 30:21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
Isa 30:22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

“Eyes that see [and] ears [that] hear” are both the fruit of the repentance and obedience that are the result of the lake of fire which follows the feast of tabernacles and the last great day.

Continuing in Isaiah 30:

Isa 30:23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.
Isa 30:24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.
Isa 30:25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. [Rev 20:7-9]
Isa 30:26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
Isa 30:27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
Isa 30:28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.
Isa 30:29 Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.
Isa 30:30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.
Isa 30:31 For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.
Isa 30:32 And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.
Isa 30:33 For Tophet [Also called ‘Gehenna’ and ‘the lake of fire’] is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it. [vs 25 and Rev 20:7-9]

Don’t allow words like “rain… ground… earth… cattle… oxen… and pastures” lead you to believe that these words have no spiritual application to the time of the lake of fire. “The invisible things of God are understood by the things that are made” (Rom 1:20). “Tophet” is “the [spiritual] lake of fire”, and the “wood” that kindles the flames of Tophet is just as much a spiritual term as the “rain… the ground… the earth… the cattle… the oxen… and the pastures” which are the spiritual fruit of that “fire and much wood”. The spiritual flames of spiritual Tophet come from the mouths of God’s elect as Isaiah informs us:

Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil [These are “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”, who are symbolized by all of the holy days.]

These words summarize the “one event” of judgment which all men of all time must experience, “every man in his own order” (Ecc 9:2 and 1Co 15:23)

1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

“Every man… shall be saved… by fire”. That is what we have just read. The fire that saves those who must be condemned to the lake of fire, is the very same fire, the words of God, which save God’s elect at this time, as the apostle Peter plainly tells us:

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

We have already answered Peter’s rhetorical question. Death and the grave, and all that are in them, are cast into the lake of fire to face the same fiery trials of 1Pe 4:12, but in resurrected spiritual bodies:

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life [All who were not in the first resurrection, Rev 20:6] was cast into the lake of fire.

This all serves to demonstrate that many of the prophecies we have been told refer to the time of the millennial reign of Christ and His elect over the kingdoms of this world, are found to be much more applicable to the kingdom of God within us at this time, and to the time when we will, as the lake of fire, give to all men of all time the mercy we have been given. “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance” does not prove that God’s calling of physical Israel will be fulfilled at the time of the millennium, rather we have seen that gift and that calling will be fulfilled “when Sodom… and Samaria return to their former estate” (Eze 16:55).

Now notice a principle which is revealed in the verses which immediately follow the declaration that “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance”:

Rom 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
Rom 11:30 For as ye [Gentile Romans – Rom 1:13] in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

Being “a Jew… Israel… Abraham’s seed” has now become a matter of spiritual relationship with God and is no longer attached to a physical pedigree:

Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

So it will be spiritual Jews, spiritual Israelites, repentant sinners taken from every nation on earth who will be used by God to show mercy to the physical Israelites through whose unbelief we have believed and have been shown mercy. The truth is that Rom 11:30-31 is addressed to Gentile Romans whose belief had come to them through the unbelief of the physical nation of Israel:

Rom 1:13 Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

It will be through us, through spiritual Israel, that the all in all goal of the plan of God for all men will be accomplished, even as all of the holy days of the three seasons of the year are also being fulfilled through us:

Eph 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Eph 1:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

“The church which is His body [is], the fulness of Him that fills all in all”. It is a rare person who is even given to understand that this is so, because Christ’s “inheritance [is] in the saints”.

It is even fewer who realize that this “all in all” is also typified for us outside of the seven festivals of the three seasons of the year. The goal of the plan of God, God being all in all, is outside the scope of this earthly vessel of clay. Therefore it is represented, not in a day which follows seven sevens of weeks, but in a year which follows seven sevens of years which we are given in the Old Testament law of the year of the jubilee:

Lev 25:9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
Lev 25:10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

You will notice that the trumpet of the jubilee is sounded on the day of atonement, the day when the scapegoat was offered for the iniquities of Israel. We will stop here for today, and next week we will see what was to take place in the year of the jubilee, and we will find, as we have already pointed out, that even this goal of the plan of God for all men is accomplished through “the church which is His body… the glory of His inheritance in the saints”.

[Click here to go to the next chapter.]

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The Biblical Overview of The Plan of God – Part 8

The Feast of Tabernacles

“The Kingdoms of This World Are Become The Kingdoms of Our Lord and His Christ”

Introduction

Thus far we have covered the spiritual meaning and the spiritual functions of the first five of the seven festivals which God gave to ancient Israel. In our last study we saw that the three annual holy days that follow the passover and the days of unleavened bread foreshadow the next three steps in the overview of the plan of God as well as revealing the three functions which are being performed by Christ’s firstfruits. These firstfruits, unlike Christ, are repentant sinners and as such are symbolized by a firstfruit-offering that is leavened, a Biblical symbol which is generally used to typify sin. They are also symbolized by the scapegoat which is another symbol for sin. But again, unlike Christ, “the Lord’s goat”, which is a slain sacrifice, Christ’s firstfruits are symbolized as “a living sacrifice” which is accepted as such only upon the sacrifice of the passover lamb Himself. So the passover Lamb symbolizing the first of the firstfruits, is the same in symbol, as “the Lord’s goat”, which is first slain and offered to God on the day of atonement, before the scapegoat “for a sin offering”. (Rom 12:1)

Lev 16:5  And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

We are told both goats are part of “a sin offering…. [to] make an atonement [for] all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins” (Lev 16:21). The first goat is Christ in His non-perfected flesh, while the “living sacrifice” is us as the scapegoat of the day of atonement and as the two leavened loaves of the feast of firstfruits.

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. 

“The third day” symbolizes the completion of the process of judgment which had to be completed in Christ’s Adamic flesh, which is indeed traced all the way back to Adam through His mother. The connection of Christ’s flesh to the flesh of Adam is the very purpose for giving us His long genealogy which ends with these words:

Luk 3:38  Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

That is also the reason Christ is symbolized by a goat in the sacrifices of the day of Atonement. So there we have it. The first Adam is as much a “son of God” as is the last Adam. Both had bodies of sinful flesh, and there is no other way Christ could possibly offer Himself up to His Father as a “sin offering”.

The negative symbolism of goats in scripture is the flesh and the carnal mind of the flesh, which is unworthy to be part of the kingdom of God (1Co 15:50):

Mat 25:33  And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Making an atonement for sin is the purpose for offering both goats. But the two goats symbolize two separate functions of that atonement process, and those differences are qualified and delineated for us. The first, “the Lord’s goat”, is slain, and then, after and upon the blood of the first goat, the second goat is released alive in the wilderness. This second goat also symbolizes the sin offering, but this second goat is capable of being a trespass offering, which our sinless Savior could not be because He was in a body of sinful flesh which had never sinned:

2Co 5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we [we who have trespassed, and who have sinned are therefore, through Christ, now become a living trespass offering] might be made the righteousness of God in him.

That is why these two goats are sacrificed on the day of atonement, when God’s elect as a living sacrifice, must afflict their souls, for the salvation of His body which is the church:

Lev 16:29  And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:
Lev 16:30  For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. 

2Co 1:6  And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: 

The priest “mak[ing] an atonement for you” typifies Christ as our high priest, and if we are in Him and He is in us, then we, too, are now priests making an atonement for others:

Heb 5:5  So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. [God has glorified Christ to be our high priest].

Heb 5:9  And being made perfect [“on the third day”], he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
Heb 5:10  Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. 
Heb 5:11  Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.

Heb 6:20  Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

What made “the order of Melchisedec” different from the Aaronic order? The only difference we are given is that Melchisedec was both a king and a priest as is Christ:

Gen 14:18  And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

Heb 7:1  For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
Heb 7:2  To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; 

Heb 8:1  Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;

One of those “many things [which are] hard to be uttered” about Christ as our high priest is that in Him we, too, become “saviors” [who are also] kings and priests. Paul could not utter that fact to the Hebrews at the time of this writing of Heb 5:11, but as we have noted, he did tell the Colossians that we are to “fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of the Christ”, and as we just noted, he told the Corinthians that our afflictions are for the salvation of others.

But it was given to the apostle John, in the book of Revelation, to come right out and tell us that we, too, are priests who, like Melchisedec, are now both “kings and priests… unto our God”.

Rev 1:6  And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

These spiritual positions are not just some distant spiritual promise, though they certainly are not yet ours in their fullness. Nevertheless all these promises are already ours in what the scriptures call “the earnest of our inheritance”:

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first [as in “firstfruits”] trusted in Christ. 
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest [Greek: down-payment] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession [meaning our resurrection to rule and reign with Him], unto the praise of his glory.

So Christ has already given to us a down-payment of our inheritance by giving us His Father’s spirit. In that position we can and must claim and confess who we are in Him and where we stand as His emissaries on this earth. If we deny who we are in Christ, He will deny us before His Father:

Mat 10:32  Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 10:33  But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Because that is true here are five verses which bear repetition. These verses tell us why our heavenly Father sent Christ into this world as His emissary, and they also tell us what is the commission which Christ, in turn, has placed upon us as His emissaries.

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

Joh 17:18  As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

1Jn 2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 

Our old man cannot receive the depth of what Christ means when He tells us that He has sent us into the world “as [His] father has sent [Him]”. We cannot, in our flesh, comprehend the depth of “as He is, so are we in this world.” What is Christ “in this world”? The answer is, “He is the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world”, and it is as spiritual kings and priests, in “earnest” meaning in down-payment form, that we as the anointed of Christ fulfill the functions of the three steps that follow the passover which we have covered thus far. In Christ as our passover we are 1) the feast of weeks (Pentecost), also called the feast of firstfruits. We are the two leavened loaves offered to God at Pentecost. If there were any difference in these two loaves, we would have been told so as we were with the two goats at atonement. But we are not told that ‘one loaf is Christ and the other is us’ as so many claim. Those two loaves are both Christ within His “two witnesses”, witnessing to and lying dead in the streets of Babylon (Rev 11). In Christ it is we who are the “seven priests” (Jos 6, and Rev 8-11) who fulfill  2) the day of blowing of trumpets, and in Christ, it is we who fill up in our bodies what is behind of the afflictions of the Christ as portrayed in 3) the fasting and afflicting of our souls, as the living scapegoat sin offering on the day of atonement.

The last two steps in the overview of the plan of God

There are yet two more annual holy days that fill out and finish the overview of God’s plan for all mankind of all time. These last two holy days continue to be “types of us”, and they continue to reveal how Christ through us, as “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”, will effectuate the salvation of all men of all time.

Let it be made clear that this study is not intended to deny that mankind must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Mat 4:4). But let it also be made equally clear that this study is declaring that there is an order to God’s plan for the salvation of all and the destruction of death, and that we are focusing on the overview of that plan.

These last two holy days are shadows of how  we will be used by Christ to bring the ages to their predestined consummation with “the church, which is His body, [becoming] the fulness of Him that fills all in all”, by bringing all men to Christ.

Here we read of the work of those two leavened loaves as they are revealed to us again, in the book of Daniel:

Dan 2:34  Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
Dan 2:35  Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.  [“God… all in all”]

Here is this same message concerning God becoming all in all in the New Testament:

Luk 13:20  And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? 
Luk 13:21  It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. [“God… all in all”]

1Co 15:28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. 

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 
Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 
Eph 1:23  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. 

Rev 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. [All men, God “all in all”]

Christ has been granted by His Father to be the head of the church, which is His body, [which church is] “the fulness of Him that fills all in all”. God being “all in all” is the goal, the ‘telos‘, of His plan. That which “fills [God]” and brings about the goal of God’s plan for all men is Christ and the church. It is we who are the firstfruit fullness of Him that fills all in all”.

But before this can be accomplished, Christ and His body must first destroy death because we are informed that death is “the last enemy to be destroyed”:

1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 

1Co 15:28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, [when death is destroyed] then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. 

This brings us to a revelation from which our old man recoils in utter disgust, and a revelation which I have been unable to find in any commentary.

The simple fact is that to destroy death, you simply must annihilate all flesh that is upon the earth, and it is the destruction of death that is the real purpose for the feast of tabernacles and the last great day. The feast of Tabernacles symbolizes the millennium, and the last great day symbolizes the “short season” which follows the millennium, in which Satan is released from his prison and is sent out “to deceive the nations in the four quarters of the earth”.

Here is the holy spirit itself giving us the correct order of events as they will take place within each man spiritually and without dispensationally:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

It is all being done through reigning priests, and the purpose for the millennium, which leads mankind into the “short season” of Satan’s deception of the nations, is to give God the occasion He is seeking to destroy death, by the annihilation of all flesh. Death simply cannot be eliminated from this earth as long as physical flesh exists:

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

This “occasion” God is seeking to destroy (death) is symbolized by the feast of tabernacles and the last great day. It is the events that take place in these last two steps in the overview of God’s work with mankind in vessels of clay which provide God with that ‘occasion’. He is seeking to harvest all the rest of mankind who were not part of the first two firstfruit offerings. It is an unbreakable Biblical principle that God always gives Himself “an occasion” to do what He has already “determined before to be done”. Here is are just a few examples of God doing just that:

Gen 15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

Jdg 14:4  But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. 

God already knows what He is in the process of doing, and it is simply a matter of waiting on him to do what He wills to do:

Job 23:13  But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.

Isa 48:14  All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

Isa 46:10  Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

In the third and last harvest “in the year’s end”, it is God’s counsel and His pleasure to begin harvesting “all in Adam”. It is the feast of tabernacles with its attendant last great day in which His soul desires to start that final harvest process through which He has declared that He will “destroy death” (1Co 15:26).

Exo 23:16  And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

It is Christ Himself who has revealed to us that “The field is the [whole] world”:

Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

Here are all three harvests as they are presented to us in “the Revelation of Jesus Christ”:

Rev 14:14  And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man [Christ the first firstfruit], having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. [The Word of God, also called a fiery sword].
Rev 14:15  And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. 
Rev 14:16  And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. [This angel is speaking to Christ as the first firstfruits harvest]
Rev 14:17  And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. [This is us as “the (second pentecost) firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”, Rev 14:4, Rev 19:10 and 20:8]
Rev 14:18  And another angel came out from the altar [the cross], which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. [Grapes are the third and last harvest “in the end of the year”].
Rev 14:19  And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. [“The lake of fire”]
Rev 14:20  And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. [“Fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them” Rev 20:]

Rev 19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

Rev 19:21  And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

But this is simply not taught in the churches of the great harlot, Babylon, who are convinced of the false doctrine of “eternal spiritual flesh”. Here is a typical example of what is generally taught in the churches of this world:

“At the beginning of the Millennium, only believers will be alive (Revelation 19:17-21), some who live through the Tribulation Period, and some who come back with the Lord at His second coming. It will be a time of peace unparalleled in history (Isaiah 2:4; Joel 3:10; Micah 4:3). Jesus will be ruling on the throne of David, imposing a benevolent theocracy on all of His creation. Jesus will ensure that everyone has every need fulfilled, while not tolerating the sin so prevalent in today’s society (Psalm 2:7-12; Revelation 2:26-29; 12:5; 19:11-16). We can only imagine such a time of “heaven on earth.”

“The believers who live through the Tribulation will be mortal. They will live and repopulate the earth during the Millennial Kingdom. Without the devastation of sin taking its toll, we can imagine the population increase during the Millennium will be enormous, almost incomprehensible. All those who are born during the Millennium will enjoy the benefits and blessings of Christ’s reign on the earth, but they will still be born with a sin nature, and they will still have to freely repent and believe the Gospel, personally choosing Christ as Savior and Lord.

“Yet, at the end of the Millennial Reign, Satan is loosed and is able to deceive a vast multitude to follow him in one final rebellion against the Lord of glory and His saints! It seems that the further humanity gets from the end of the Tribulation and the start of the Millennium, the more they will “take for granted” how good they have it, and some may even harbor doubts about the goodness of God. Even though the number who rebel with Satan are said to be “as the sand of the sea” (Revelation 20:7), they may still be a minority compared to the number who do not rebel. It will still be a large number of souls who join Satan. Undoubtedly, one of the primary reasons God gives us this picture of what will happen in time is to demonstrate the deep-seated sin nature inherent in all of humanity (Jeremiah 17:9).

“Additionally, God is trying to tell us something about His nature as displayed during the Millennium. His grace and goodness will be on display continually. But at the end of the 1000 years, He will have zero tolerance for rebellion. When it happens, He will show no mercy and offer no “second chances.” At that time He will be quick to judge, and the final rebellion of Satan and sinful man will be over in a flash of fire. After this, the final judgment of the dead takes place (the Great White Throne Judgment, Revelation 20:11-15). Eternity can thus begin with every aspect of sin gone for all time.

“Finally, God is trying to reinforce some very important lessons concerning Satan himself, especially for believers. First, that he has been and always will be the enemy of humanity. As God has fixed His love on us, Satan has for us a special hatred. Ever since Satan’s fall (Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28), he has been the adversary of believers, and he is aptly described as the ultimate deceiver of mankind (John 8:44; 1 John 2:22). All he can give or promise man is death and destruction (John 10:10a). Satan is also shown here to be a truly defeated foe, and his ultimate doom is certain, along with the doom of all who follow him. God is trying to remind us that Satan is a created being who is powerless before Him (2 Corinthians 12:7). All this should encourage believers today to take God at His Word concerning our position in Christ with respect to the devil (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Corinthians 4:1-7; James 4:6-8; 1 John 2:15-29; 1 John 4:1-3), especially as we remember this grand truth: “…greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).” [This is taken from this link: http://www.gotquestions.org/release-Satan.html#ixzz3Kr4TUNoo]

 

Here are the verses that were given to prove his statement that “At the beginning of the Millennium, only believers will be alive (Revelation 19:17-21), some who live through the Tribulation Period, and some who come back with the Lord at His second coming.”:

Rev 19:17  And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
Rev 19:18  That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
Rev 19:19  And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
Rev 19:20  And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Rev 19:21  And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

So there it is. We have been shown what the Bible says about the last two steps of the plan of God for all men of all time, and we have reviewed what the churches of this world tell us the Bible says.

We did not get to what the scriptures reveal about why the leaders of this world would consider handing over their rulership to us, and we did not get to what leads up to the rebellion against our rulership at the end of the millennial rule. We will, Lord willing get to all these things as time provides.

But in our next study we will compare these two teachings concerning the fate of all flesh, and we will see whether these scriptures we just read are really telling us what we are being told by those who believe in the fallacy of “eternal spiritual flesh”. Then we will go back to the beginning of the millennium to discover how the rulers of this world will be made by God to give the rulership of this world over to God’s elect, and we will also see how that, in time, all flesh will rebel against our rulership over them, and how that rebellion will provide God with the occasion He is seeking against all flesh. In doing so, we will again see that in everything God is doing, He will be found to be doing it “through Christ… by the church”:

Eph 3:9  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 
Eph 3:11  According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

[Click here to go to the next chapter.]