A REVIEW of the January 1996 TPL, with a "new"
perspective
Date: January 19, 1997
Dear "Prophecy 'Fans'"
The following critique is my attempt to harmonize our points of view on some things pertaining to the Second coming, and to question why we are presently in some disagreement on other points.
Before I go into the main body of the review, I want to make another observation concerning viewpoints. Bro. Charles French, whom I have the utmost respect for as an indefatigable worker for the sake of Christ's Name, is a "old time" follower of the "continuous historical" view, which I am sure you are aware of. But you, like Bro. Harry Whittaker, (who throughout his writings kept falling back into the "CH" trap at times), are attempting to interpret eschatological prophecy from the point of time in which EUREKA left off, by observing today's events which concern Israel, and searching the prophets for understanding of the times... In my opinion, there are many times when all you brethren have come very close to the obvious, and then veered off on a tangent for some inexplicable reason. That I attribute to the lack of understanding of the "sum of the matters," per Daniel 7:1, and to their fuller details as revealed in the book of the Lord's apocalypse, The Revelation.
Many times brethren have provided "tidbits" (defined below) which have given me further insight into the days of "the end," and I was able to incorporate those revelations into my Revelation study, which is not error-free, by any means, although I, like you too, probably, hope and pray that we are following the spirit of Truth as closely as we know it. So with these disclaimers in place, here is my review which I hope you will receive in the humble spirit in which it is offered!
First, re: the March 1995 TPL.
Psalm 83 -- . Have you seen my web site? Voicenet.com/~lelgee/home/index.html and then click on WRITINGS, and go to "Psalm83.html." I presently doubt that any "multitudinous Christ" will perform the catastrophic deeds which are alluded to in the Psalm. I rather think that Yahweh Tsavaoth Himself, with His own commanders shaking their heavenly powers - Michael, but particularly Abaddon in this arena of judgment, per Revelation 8 and 9 - will effect the calamitous acts which the concluding verses of the Psalm speak of!
The "multitudinous Christ" idea is almost like the theory about Elijah's second coming; of careless readings and presumptuous conclusion... It's rather curious that, we, as a body, know so much about what will happen just after the resurrection but know so little about what will happen immediately before it!! More about "Elijah" later...
I've posted a Scroll Chart of the Revelation's structure on my site. It shows the orderly course of events during the Lord's apocalypse. (My own working copy is covered with many relative O.T. margin references). It melds together very well with "the sum of the matters" spoken of in Daniel's prophecy. Also, on my web site is another document in the WRITINGS directory, "apostles.html." I once uploaded it to the E-D list... It is about the Lord's discourse on the time of the end and its events, as they are written in the harmony of the gospels, and it too agrees with the order which is set down by the Revelation.
The January 1996 TPL: I don't have many of the copies of the TPL with Joe's "Eighteen Prophetic Points Concerning the Jewish People," so I will try to avoid any comment on their applicability at certain points during the last days.
Ezekiel 36:24-26. I agree that we have not yet seen the end of the present regathering, <----here we are----->, nor yet the sprinkling of clean water... This is the crux of our disharmony, between the CH and my view.
Certainly God is watching over His people now, but that does not mean that He is in approval with everything the people and the leaders are now doing. More about this as we go on...
You are applying Psalm 102:13 a bit hastily, for the verse reads, "Thou shalt arise ... and have mercy on Zion"... (Zion is NOT "Zionism" as you later on in TPL's identify it to be.) God has not yet arisen out of His place to do His marvellous acts for Israel's salvation in the "controversy of Zion." Yea, "the time to favor ZION, the set time is coming..." when He shall "rise up to the prey," Zephaniah 3:8-20, and similar texts.
You say, "They are not depicted as ever again forcible displaced by any national power, force or coercion"..? Ed, they have already been forced to give up Jericho and Gaza! The mini-state Palestinian Authority state has already arisen within their midst -- Is this the "arising up out of the Land," per Rev.13:11...? Bibi Netanyahu is now being coerced into agreement with the 1993 Oslo Accords!
How would you read Daniel 12:7 Hebrew, then? The AV reads, "... and when he (Michael) shall have accomplished the breaking up of [to scatter] the power of the holy people, all these shall be finished." When Michael is done scattering Israel's power, what is done? Is there no suggestion of "power, force or coercion" here? Especially in context with Daniel 12:10, which harmonizes with Malachi 3:3-5? (You do cite Micah 5 as applicable to the time, with which I agree, but I would also point out that 5:3 states that "he will give them up UNTIL THE TIME she who travaileth hath brought forth..." How long is that "time" yet?
[that's while the dragon stands before the pregnant woman, Rev. 12:4-6, during the 1,260 days. "The woman"? -- she is "Zion," Sion, No. 2, Young's Concordance, p. 893, of the remaining people in "Jerusalem, compassed by armies," Luke 21:20; and Revelation 12:13-17, under siege in the warfare which Michael is involved in.., Daniel 12:1 & Rev. 12:7, to oust and to chain the Dragon again in its pithole in the earth];
THEN, and only "THEN, the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel."
The "third part" are to be brought through "the fire" of "the great and DREADFUL day of the LORD" by the offices of Michael and Abaddon. And of course, Zechariah 14 is entirely about the "day of the LORD" which "is coming;" and involving all the things, [harmonized above] which will occur during that "day" of trouble that many in Israel [EMMA!] even now dread, which are sure to come...
Isaiah 54 certainly is the LORD's blessing upon His people, AFTER the "small moment" of the "little wrath" (v. 7-8) passes which He shows against them. For, if He does not intervene by sending the Son, "no flesh would be saved," Matt. 24:21-22; Luke 21:19-20, if only just from the murderous depredations of the Dragon and the Beast.
Furthermore there is the reference to the covenant made with Noah -- He will not permit all flesh to be destroyed when Christ returns -- which Isaiah 54:9-10 refers to, the message which Elijah also preached at the Lord's FIRST coming, through "the mountains shall depart and the hills shall be removed..," Isaiah 40:4; Luke 3:5-6. There will CATASTROPHIC earthquakes in the Middle East (if not throughout the whole world, as the covenant with Noah seems to imply) -- the Revelation notes five of these earthquakes at the time of the end. Abaddon, the angel of Destruction, is in charge of the strange, but natural forces... [See the Scroll Chart which notes the timing of the earthquakes.] God will remember His covenant of the rainbow...
You see, you are on the right track, but the CH ideas keep you from identifying the spirit of O.T. prophecy with the events of the Lord's apocalypse!
Now, to Zechariah 13:8-9, and the "two parts" therein destruction. How close you came to the real truth! But the CH thing again turned you aside! Strong's #6310 and #2506 are very well defined, but you allowed other men's opinions to sway you from the true spirit of the Scripture. You will note that, above, we agree that the "third part" refers to the part of the people who remain alive in the land. WOW! That sounds like 1 Thess. 4:15, doesn't it?! And Paul even said, "And this we say unto you by the Word of the LORD," (kurios), didn't he? Not from a revelation but from his knowledge of the Word of the LORD! The living people who remain for the PAROUSIAN of the LORD will not be glorified prior to the "sleeping" dead in Christ, (who rise first)... Bro. Calvin Dodl (in December's issue) even came very close to it, but did not identify this living "part" as a distinctively Jewish element of the brethren of Christ. But I digress...
Read Zech. 13:7-9 again, carefully, the Hebrew. You are almost right when you stated, "It just cannot mean that two thirds of God's people in Israel are going to be destroyed!" Does the Hebrew say, destroyed? Does it not say only that, concerning the two, they "shall be cut off to die"..? (Hebrew: karath, #3772, (in 14:2 also); and, gava, #1438). The two "mouths" which are in the LAND shall be "cut asunder" by the slaughter - while the third "part" remaining in the CITY will not be. An interesting situation?
What is happening to these two "thirds" who are in the land? Back up now to the context of Zech. 13:9, regarding the remaining "third (part)," and turn to Revelation 11:3, where it states, "...and I will PRODUCE" [#1325: yield, bestow, grant, offer, give] -- (forget the word power which the AV translators inserted, they didn't know what they were talking about), "My two witnesses and they shall prophesy for a thousand two hundred and sixty days clothed in sackcloth..." Here are the "two mouths" which are cut off by slaughter, as Rev. 11:7ff says, but not destroyed -- because after three and a half days, -- becing commanded to "Come up hither!", v. 12.-- they are resurrected and ascend up into the sky into the Cloud, which is then VISIBLE to their Enemies.
"And the remaining (the "third part") became afraid and gave glory to the God of the heaven," Rev. 11:13b. (Do I need to add the other Scripture references here now?)
These are the ones of whom you rightly say, "He means that he intends to bring them to such a precarious state of existence before He saves them, that it will scare the purple bejeebers out of them...." Naturally, the third "great earthquake" - 11:13a - which happens at this time also will have contributed to some of their "affright," for the tenth part of the city falls at this time, too!
Goodness, I'm not even past reviewing the January 1996 issue yet, and I've filled four pages already.
But... About "in all the land" of Zech 13:8. Now you must realize the nature of the "destruction" that Zechariah is speaking about. He has been alluding to the "pruning out" from the land of the two witnesses whom the LORD shall produce to testify against the powers of the Dragon and Beast during the 1,260 days of their warfare against the Jewish people. "When they complete their witnessing, the BEAST which arises out of the Pit will make war with them and overcome them, and will slaughter (#615, Greek: kteino; to slay) them..." They loved not their lives to death. Also reference Rev. 11:4-6 with Zech. 4:1-14, particularly v. 14 which identifies the two anointed "sons (of oil)" as standing in the presence of the Lord of the entire land -- who has come to his inheritance! Who sits as a refiner, per Malachi 3.
Re: Quote from Jer. 30:7.
The last "huge problem" to tackle -- "the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it," THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT HERE, ALL ALONG! Note that Jer. 30:6 alludes to ZION's birth pangs, as per Rev. 12, [and as I have written in the above paragraph contexts]. The woman of Rev. 12 :1-2 is NOT any Catholic whore; she is ZION in the pains of her deliverance from the Dragon and the Beast...
Jacob's trouble, [tsarah] the corresponding Greek word appears in Luke 21:23 as distress, [anagke]; in 21:25 as [sunoche]. The litany of the warfare, trouble and distress continues on into Rev. 13, and until the Lamb visibly appears on Mt. Zion with the nation's chosen leaders, his elect of 144,000. "Many of the last shall be first...," remember?
"Jacob's trouble" refers to the days of God's vengeance -- when He permits the surrounding nations to humble Israel to the point of Death -- against all the people, against Israel and against the surrounding nations -- "the time of the gentiles" -- for their disobedience and blasphemies toward Him. This is the time of the "small moment" and the "little wrath" by which the Lord brings his own nation under the rod, Ezekiel 20:33-38, by his discipline, and during the same time in which he judges all the nations gathered around his throne, per Psalm 2, when his wrath is kindled but a little!
The Father's great wrath is poured out during the seven bowls, - - IMMEDIATELY after the kingdom is restored under the Lord's reign -- upon the nations of the "666" consortium which supported the Beast, and its image worship.
Enough to digest for one session... Lois
