A layman's commentary on John chapter 3. Nicodemus and the incredible assertion.

 Previously, in John's gospel, we watched as Jesus chased the sellers out of the court of the Gentiles. I imagine that the word Gentiles is hard for many of you to understand, as you seem to refuse to apply a Jewish understanding to it.

In scripture, you won't find a reference to the court of the Gentiles, but you will find this:

Revelation 11:2 NASB "Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months.

Nations is the Greek word ethnos and is interchangeable with gentiles.

We also talked about Jesus' genealogy, or bloodline, and how that in Nazareth, where Mary and Joseph both came from, Mary did something no one had ever done before, she stuck to her “story” of how this pregnancy was God's baby; and by the way, we already know His name, Yeshua.

It is easy to be negative and say, " We have nothing in prophetic scriptures that would validate your having God's baby". But they did have an announcement of this very thing.

Isaiah 7:14 NASB "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”

How easy it would have been to say, " Okay, Joseph and I gave in to sexual desire," but that did not happen.

Matthew 1:21 TLV “She will give birth to a son; and you shall call His name Yeshua, for He will save His people from their sins.”

If Mary told those gossips, who would have gladly stoned her for her sins, that they would refer to this baby as Yeshua, it would have been another reason to stone her.

Look at the predictive words in the Prophet Micah, and think about the fact that when the scribes and chief priests were brought before Herod and questioned concerning this prophesied King of the Jews, a two-year-old child at this point.

Micah 5:2-4 NASB "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity." 3) Therefore, He will give them up until the time when she who is in labor has borne a child. Then the remainder of His brethren will return to the sons of Israel. 4) And He will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will remain, because at that time He will be great to the ends of the earth.”

Notice that scribes and chief priests did not deny that scripture spoke of Yeshua, but they would NOT recognize or acknowledge Him. It is interesting that the wise men from another nation, who had followed His star, came to see this child King.

In the world of theatrics, there is a team of people who set the stage for the next scene. We are not given a time frame, and so neither can I tell you how much time has passed between the cleansing of the temple, the confrontations with the scribes and chief priests, and Nicodemus emerging onto the stage. When we watched the Chosen Nicodemus was clearly understood to be a strong presence, but as He comes to Jesus, we find a touch of humility.

John 3:1 NASB “Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;”

The NET Bible commentary simply tells us that Nicodemus was "a ruler of the Jews" (denoting a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

Finis Dake's commentary makes this unusual statement: “a)[There was a man] One would be as justified to make this a parable, or any other passage where 'there was a man' is used (Mat_12:10; Mrk_3:1.

While there are numerous scriptural references, Dake ends this paragraph by simply stating, All these passages are plain historical ones.

Within Dake's commentary is a piece of information that I was not aware of,
“b)[Nicodemus, ruler of the Jews] A Jewish Rabbi, member of the Sanhedrin, and one of the three richest men in Jerusalem.

I had no idea of his wealth.

John Gill's Exposition of the Bible informs us that this leader, Nicodemus, was frequently mentioned as “Nicodemon ben Gorion", the brother of Josephus ben Gorion (p), the writer of the Wars and Antiquities of the Jews; and there are some things which make it probable, that he was the same with this Nicodemus; for the Nicodemon the Jews speak so much of, lived in this age; as appears, not only from his being the brother of Josephus, but also from his being contemporary with R. Jochanan ben Zaccai, who lived in this time, and until the destruction of the temple; since these two are said (q) to be together at a feast, made for the circumcision of a child. Moreover, he is represented as very rich, and is said to be one of the three rich men in Jerusalem (r), and who was able to have maintained a city ten years

The verse (John 3:1) testifies that Nicodemus was of the Pharisees.

Did you forget that Paul, who used to be called Saul, was, too, a Pharisee?

Philippians 3:4-5 BSB “though I myself could have such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5) circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;”

“A ruler of the Jews.” Ruler is the Greek word archōn, and according to the Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary, this word means that Nicodemus carried any one of these titles: one invested with power and dignity, chief, ruler, prince, magistrate.

Considering that Nicodemus was this powerful, it is puzzling that he came to Jesus in humility and that he could not understand what Jesus was trying to tell him.

As I sit here pondering my statement above, I am reminded that the scribes and Pharisees, for the most part, wanted Jesus and anyone who followed Him dead. There is no way that Nicodemus would have been unaware of such emotions among his subordinates, and what would have stopped them from killing Nicodemus?

John 3:2 NLT “After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”

Just moments ago, I posed the question, why did such a powerful man come to Jesus in humility?

As you should see from the New Living Translation, Nicodemus waited until it got dark. The majority of translations casually proclaimed, “The same came to Jesus by night.” To point out that Nicodemus waited demonstrates apprehension and planning.

If you watched The Chosen, a Television series that elaborates on situations, such as the meeting between Nicodemus and Jesus, with details that the Bible does not give us, you would have seen two things: 1.) The disciples, generally, did not know where Jesus was as He would go off by Himself, to pray until He was done. That type of communication leads to scheduling problems. It seemed as if, knowing that Nicodemus wanted to have a talk with Jesus, one of the disciples was fortunate enough to make contact with Jesus, and, therefore, made the arrangements, such as setting up the location, some lovely candles, and a table with two chairs. 2.) Note what Nicodemus said: “ Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”

Nicodemus declared Jesus a Rabbi.
Pause for a moment because that is an incredible assertion.

What did the thief on the cross say to Jesus?

Luke 23:39-43 NKJV Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, "If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us." 40) But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 41) And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong." 42) Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." 43) And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."

Nicodemus also professed that Jesus was a “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”

If Nicodemus had the briefings about Jesus, then he would have understood that the gossips in Nazareth would have declared that Jesus was a Mumzer; and according to Levitical law, he would have been banned from access to the temple, and Sabbatical schooling. There would have been questions about where and how He was educated. The problem with all this was undone by a portion of Nicodemus' assertion, “Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”

Jesus was not the son of an undeclared father; He was the Son of God, by declaration of the angel Gabriel.

Luke 1:26-33 NAS95 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, 27) to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28) And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." 29) But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. 30) The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. 31) "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32) "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33) and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end."

Joseph, a good man, that statement alone carries more weight than pastors or bible teachers care to communicate, was also informed, in a dream, that this was God's baby.

Matthew 1:18-24 NASB Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. 19) And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. 20) But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21) "She will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." 22) Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23) "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US." 24) And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife,

Is it possible that Joseph could not have understood the concept of a Holy Wind from God?

Let's falsely assume for a moment that this concept of the Holy breath of God is a new thing to Joseph's ears.

First, I must tell you I was told, by multiple speakers over the years, that Hebrew had been banned during the era of Roman rule. Apparently, that was not the case. A website entitled, Why did Jesus primarily speak Aramaic instead of Hebrew? gives us this information:

“Aramaic, a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew, emerged as a lingua franca in the Near East long before the time of Jesus. Its rise to prominence can be traced back to the Assyrian and Babylonian empires. When the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the 8th century BCE, they brought with them their administrative language, Aramaic. The subsequent Babylonian Exile in the 6th century BCE further entrenched Aramaic in Jewish life, as the Jewish people were taken to Babylon, where Aramaic was widely spoken. Upon returning from exile, the Jews brought Aramaic back to Judea and its surrounding regions. Over time, Aramaic became the common spoken language among the Jewish population, while Hebrew remained the language of religious texts and liturgy.”

In “The Chosen,” there was the logical implication that the Romans, by mandate, only spoke Greek. “The Chosen” even had Jesus speaking to some travelers in Egyptian; when questioned about that, He merely replied that He spent some time in Egypt; we know that is true because the angel warned Joseph to flee Bethlehem and go to Egypt when Jesus was around two years old. Having been told that Hebrew was banned and “printed documents – scrolls were destroyed, you would think that this would clearly have a detrimental impact on education. If anyone should have had problems getting educated, it would have been Jesus, and yet “The Chosen” showed Jesus, on several occasions, in Synagogues, where, in one case, the scroll of Isaiah was read from.

Honestly, I am not sure what to believe.
Secondly, even if these scrolls were not banned, the expense of having a scroll copied would have been such a large expenditure that the only copies would have been kept in the Synagogues. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that impoverished communities, like Nazareth, might have been able to only afford one scroll; since Deuteronomy played a significant role in Jesus' conversations and responses, this could have been the primary option for a large, expensive purchase.

What does any of this have to do with Bible study?

Because our “Bible teachers” incessantly make foolish assertions that imply they all had individual Bibles, which borders on the impossible. If I could imply that the disciples would go and grab their Bibles, it would have been the Old Testament only, and they certainly would not have called it that. The “New Testament” was being written in their daily lives.

Holy is the Greek word hagios, and has meanings (according to Mounce) like this: dedicated. Luk_2:23; hallowed; used of things, τὰ ἅγια, the sanctuary; and of persons, saints, e.g., members of the first Christian communities; pure, righteous, ceremonially or morally; holy.

Spirit is the Greek word pneuma and has meanings (according to the NASEC) along the line of: wind, spirit: — breath (3), Spirit (239), spirit (103), spirits (32), spiritual (1), wind (1), winds (1).

The following information comes from a Website called “Hebrew Name for God – The Holy Spirit. It is sub-titled, The Holy Spirit as revealed in the Brit Chadashah.

Their website can be found here by clicking Hebrew Names for God - Ruach HaKodesh.

Ruach Ha-Kodesh is the Holy Spirit.

The Hebrew version, found when I did a translation comparison, reads, Ruach HaKodesh.

Note: HaKadosh is a substantive that means "The Holy One" (as in Ha-Kadosh baruch hu, "the Holy One, blessed be He").

The accent falls at the end: ha-ka-DOSH.

Ruach HaKadosh (Note the spelling,) would mean "the spirit of the holy one" (as in a saint).

It is NOT used for the Holy Spirit... Ruach HaKo'desh means "the holy Spirit," just like har ha-ko'desh means "the holy mountain," admat ha-ko'desh means "the holy land," ir ha-ko'desh means "the holy city," and so on.

So, the virgin girl, Mary, has now been impregnated by the spirit of the holy one; and it is a term that was familiar to the Jewish community.

If it were not for the uneducated, willing to give the new family, with Joseph playing the role of step-dad, a dreadful time, the revulsion of how Joseph and Mary felt would not be known to us. Jesus intentionally placed Himself into the earth's atmosphere, where some would say He had no hope. And yet, the young Jesus, at an age just before He would be brought into manhood, stood His ground, exercising His apologetic with the scribes and Pharisees in the temple at Jerusalem.

A study in the Gospel of John (John 1:1)

 “In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”         (John 1:1 NASB)

The Strong's numbers for John 1:1

"In the beginningG746 was R2the WordG3056, and the WordG3056 was R3with GodG2316, and R4the WordG3056 was GodG2316."

"In the beginning," The single Gk word is archē; It denotes an order, time, place, or rank, and an act, in this case, the beginning. It can also indicate a cause, as in Col_1:18; 

A comparative verse is Genesis 1:1 from the OT. 

Genesis 1:1 NASB “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

Much like the Apostle John's gospel, this one Hebrew word, rê'shı̂yth, conveys the phrase "In the beginning." It, too, carries the meaning of the first, in place, time, order, or rank.

Likewise, Colossians 1:17 tells us that "He is before all things."  Interesting how the definitions include the idea that things were happening in order. We see a comparable assertion when we consider Genesis 1:1.

Since John's gospel defines the context as Jesus, we could walk away, shake the dust off our feet, and call it done. But the terminology "He" also applies to God. Paul's letter to the church in Colossae also conveys the idea that Jesus' Words hold all things together, and if you were honest, you would admit that you, too, think of God as He.

What evidence do we have that confirms this relationship between God and Jesus?  

"In the beginning the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1 GNB)

This Good News Bible is quite simplistic, but it opens with a telling statement, when this all began, the Word already existed, and it seems He was standing next to Abba when He spoke the universe into existence. 

This opens the door to another mystery.

Had Jesus, knowing how things would turn out, already submitted Himself to take on the form of a man? 

One piece of evidence that fuels such a thought comes from the many pre-incarnate appearances of Jesus Christ throughout the Old Testament. If the Messiah created with a human inclination, then you would think he would have done so with a concern for the beauty of nature, which we humans are so enamored with, as it would have become a part of His thinking. Although I am getting ahead of myself, John 1:14 clearly tells us that the Word became flesh.

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
(John 1:14 NASB)

The word became is the Greek word ginomai. The Word Study Dictionary gives us the meaning: to begin to be, to come into existence or into any state, or simply to be.

1 John 1:1 NASB “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life--”

John and many other disciples unashamedly testified to some essential things that many feel comfortable denying or ignoring.

• We heard. Many events have sounds and memorable sayings associated with them. 

• We have seen with our eyes. We saw people's lives change because of the miracles.

• And, we touched with our hands. While touching has some wide latitude, it could be taken to mean they touched the Son of God.

In a translation such as the LITV, the word "the" is italicized, indicating that it was added for clarity.

 "In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1 LITV)

I could read this, "In beginning." A read like this applies no parameters to how this should be understood. The Septuagint, where it reads "en arche," conveys the idea of a point of commencement, simply to begin, or it is indicative of a process.

Since John seems to lean heavily upon Genesis 1:1 as a prophetic witness, you would think that we would see the same treatment of the word "the" in the Genesis record. However, a proper study of the Genesis account proves that it could be read in the same manner but through the usage of a singular Hebrew word, rê'shı̂yth.

Now let's ponder the phrase "the Word" for a moment.

The phrase is simple enough. It is (as the Strong's dictionary points out) “The masculine, feminine (second) and neuter (third) forms, in all their inflections; the definite article.” In other words, it is pointed to one thing, the person of Jesus in all His forms. 

I already pointed out how John 1:14 tells us that the Word became flesh, and yet, suddenly, I find my thoughts a little cloudy, and here is why. Here we are in January 2023, and lately, one of the current trends is to ask some artificial intelligence application to provide an image of God. Some results are effeminate, homogeneous, ethereal beings with a single eye where the forehead should be.

When people try to play the race card and say that “we” have created a white God, I point out that there is the possibility that God is nuclear energy. I say that because Moses was NOT allowed to look at the face of God, as it would kill the man. Instead, Moses was allowed a fleeting glimpse of the backside of God as He moved away. As a result of that moment, Moses glowed for quite a while, so much so that the people asked him to cover his head.

“It came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand as he was coming down from the mountain) that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him.” (Exodus 34:29 NASB)

We know that Moses was on that mountain for 40 days and nights, longer than a human can live without water and food, but we have no chronological timeline of when specific things occurred. So the point here is we do not know how long Moses glowed.

And yet, when the Pharisees demanded that Jesus show them the Father, He merely responded by saying, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. Today, we see Jesus primarily through the Word of God - the Bible. 

I am, by request, doing a study in Romans with the guys and I wanted you to see this one in particular because it talks about study methods.

 On August 11, 2019, Pastor Jon's sermon was:

"A couple of things I wished I had known about reading the Bible."

I am quite sure my Pastor's learning and understanding came at great expense in theology school. The irony is, I already knew these things. I learned them in the school of hard knocks. At this point, I have been seriously studying and looking at scripture for twelve years. In the process of doing that, I wrote about what I saw, tried to get an accurate picture of who God and Jesus are, and asked God a lot of hard questions, and they were all answered.

A friend of mine asked me how do you study?

What Pastor Jon delivered that Sunday morning was a clearly worded, concise technique for study. So I included that information along with my overview of the first chapter of Romans.

By the way, I realize that I could be writing to trained theology students and those who may never pick up a Bible, so I try to keep it intelligent and yet simple.

Back to my former Pastor Jon's notes.

1. The Bible was written for us, not to us.

   This is a significant statement, as it moves scripture out of the hallowed halls of religion and into our hands. It removes the sterility that we have imposed on scripture, and it is a unique perspective from which to start any Bible study, making scripture very personal.

2. The meaning of the text is embedded in its original, historical context.

   So the question you should ask next is, what does that look like for us today?

   Perhaps at this point, I should tell you that the Pastor's overall theme was, understanding the writings of the Apostle Paul, based on his letter to Philemon. In the study on Romans - that I have included, I cover, to some degree, the historical context of the Book of Romans. A massive piece of evidence comes from Romans 1:1, where Paul begins his typical introduction. Here he says, I Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ. Again, I cover this in the study below.

   This thought process also works exceptionally well when studying the book of Romans.

3. The Bible is a context-rich form of communication.

   What does that mean? It means that everything you read in scripture, especially in the New Testament, has an initiating question or point of conversation. For example, the Revelation is filled with context - (It is a book written to Jews, using terminology that would have been common to them, and yet it applies primarily to us today. The imagery is nothing new, although, we, for some reason, struggle with multi-headed beasts.)

   Context is what links us back to the original thought and intent.

   Chuck Missler used to say, “it is an integrated, coded, message system.” That means that the messages in the scripture, though thousands of years apart, are integrally linked by God into one all-encompassing picture, in which God wins.

Pastor Jon's tips: (Every week, he had tips. These are designed to give you a practical way to put the sermon into action.)

• Get a Bible reading plan – like the You Version app.

  In reality, this means being deliberate in your reading. If necessary, force yourself to invest time daily.

• Dig into the Bible passages that make your radar go off, and then dig a little deeper.

  I have a friend who seems to bounce back and forth in scripture; I understand why he does it, but when he asks questions, they are combinations of various thoughts and contexts, and sadly, he is often confused. The moral to this story is to get focused.

  No one is telling you to ignore boring passages; however, when you find a scripture that speaks to you, dismantle the verse; look at the Hebrew or Greek definitions of the simplest of words in a concordance, and find their meanings. Then, look for other comparative examples of the same thing.

  A tip - Since much of what we read is prophetic, you need to understand that prophecy is not a one-time event to the Jewish mindset. The Jews looked for and found acceptance in the patterns and repetition; therefore, when reading something prophetic, look for the parallels and previous examples. The Books of Daniel and Revelation are good examples of such similarities.

• Read for transformation.

  Try to understand the author's original intent; this will be necessary for us to apply the text to our lives today.
  As the Pastor spoke about these things, I could not help but think about two things.

  1. It required an expensive school to teach him these methods.

  2. I developed these same methods through reading and writing.

  
  

Fear God and give Him glory, for the hour of His judgment has come. Revelation 14:1- 7

We just finished up Revelation chapter thirteen in my quest to visualize a chronological timeline of the book. The difficulty lies in the things revealed, for when things seem to fit and I think I got a good feel for the sequence of things, we have had three history lessons inserted into the story that, in the case of a fallen star – Satan, who has the keys to the Abyss throws us back in time. In my mind this throw back takes us back to the creation of the earth, as it demonstrates the reasons why all this is happening, for God is bringing this all to a “legal” closure.

I slipped that term legal in on you because the transaction between the Serpent and Adam was a legal contract between the person who had dominion of the earth and the one who wanted that dominion. If Satan, in his act of gaining control, knew full well that his end would come, then there had to be another motive. The Revelation is all about Jesus, but there is something underlying, and that is the final judgment and putting away of the deceiver of this world.

Knowing this allows me to comprehend the background information and history that is inserted. As some would say, I have read the end of the book and I know how it turns. Praise God, because it is the reason for the hope that I have, a heavenly home with Abba, and a mind that finally works clearly. As my pastor recently said, “God, I appreciate that you gave me a new heart, but why couldn't you also give me a new mind?”

In Revelation 13 we saw,

• The dragon standing on the sea shore.

  I wonder why John saw this. Perhaps it is a lead in to the power and authority that the dragon was about to start passing out. “And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.”

• John then sees a beast coming up out of the sea.

  The beast has been explained in Daniel's prophecies to be empires or kingdoms; and it has four heads. To make it worse the entities look like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion.

• “I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed.;”

  Do something most people won't do, pay attention to the words. It says, I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain. It is not dead, although the world. for many years, thought so. In spite of the appropriate information that the scripture gives us, some quack will tell you that we are looking for a man to have an assassination attempt made upon him. We use the word attempt, because with their next breath they tell you that this man who gets shot in the head, rises to life once again. When I was a child, John Kennedy, the President of the United States at the time, was shot in the head and a large portion of his head was destroyed. Many thought, this is the guy! Well, that did not happen. The problem is that this is not the head of a man, it is an empire. The message I repeat frequently is that the Ottoman empire fits the description nicely, as this is exactly what happened when the British crushed the Ottoman in 1924. Why is this information significant? Because another empire of Muslims has taken its place and is very alive today; they just can't settle on a name.

• And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast because it came back to life.

  So now we have many, around the world worshiping the dragon, even though they don't know it; I seriously doubt that they realize that Satan gave his authority to the beast, which we will quickly see migrates into a man – a spokesman. I also pointed out how many, after the United States handed Afghanistan to the Taliban, worshiped Allah, saying, Who is like him, and who is able to wage war with him? Wait a minute, are they worshiping Allah, or are they worshiping the Taliban, especially since they are little more than armed bullies, and the nation of Afghanistan of was handed to them by our inept, American President Biden.

• This man, who in all likelihood is a Muslim, (I say this because one of his names is the Assyrian,) wages war upon the Christians.

  As of this date, 09/29/21, I have watched Amir Tsarfati teaching on the last Jihad. In this teaching he insists that it cannot be a Muslim because they cannot get along among other things. While I appreciate Amir for many reasons, I wholeheartedly disagree with him on this. Amir even says that in one passage that many use to substantiate the idea that we are looking for an Assyrian was most likely fulfilled by Sennacherib. Well let's see.

  Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, "O My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear the Assyrian who strikes you with the rod and lifts up his staff against you, the way Egypt did. (Isaiah 10:24 NASB)

  The antichrist will strike Israel with rod, no doubt, so this could easily work. The next verse has a context and places it in the end times; and, that makes it work.

  For in that day every man will cast away his silver idols and his gold idols, which your sinful hands have made for you as a sin. And the Assyrian will fall by a sword not of man, And a sword not of man will devour him. So he will not escape the sword, And his young men will become forced laborers. (Isaiah 31:7-8 NASB)

  Here, Isaiah uses the Hebrew word that represents the fighting equipment of the day. We, in this case, do not have to take this literally. It goes on to say that he falls by the sword but not of man. There is only one way that can happen, and that would be because Jesus throws him into the lake of fire. So, he dies at the hand of Jesus.

  Micah 5:5 is the verse that Amir uses to disprove the idea that the antichrist could be an Assyrian. So let's analyze it.

  And He will arise and shepherd His flock In the strength of the LORD, In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will remain, Because at that time He will be great To the ends of the earth. This One will be our peace. When the Assyrian invades our land, When he tramples on our citadels, Then we will raise against him Seven shepherds and eight leaders of men. They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, The land of Nimrod at its entrances; And He will deliver us from the Assyrian When he attacks our land And when he tramples our territory. (Micah 5:4-6 NASB)

  Notice how this starts, and yes, I took a couple extra verses in order to establish context.

  • “He will arise and shepherd His flock In the strength of the LORD, In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will remain,” Who is Micah talking about? Jesus.

  • Still speaking about Jesus, we get this, “Because at that time He will be great To the ends of the earth. This One will be our peace.” Now, it is definitely Jesus.

  • Next it says – not if, when. “When the Assyrian invades our land.” To be honest, the Assyrian invaded the land on many occasions, and, to the best of my knowledge, Nebuchadnezzar was the first. Some will argue, he was Babylonian, however, if you do your homework, you will find that they were all, in God's eyes, Assyrians, all the way down to the toes of Nebuchadnezzar's statue that Daniel interpreted. If I wanted to operate on the basis of the this Assyrian issues being fulfilled by Sennacherib, then I have to consider that the word tells us that the temple will be destroyed. But that also happened twice, the last time in 70 A. D. under the Roman General Titus. Obviously, it will happen once again. Because of that, we can know that the Assyrian will be coming once again.

  In the religious understanding, the people in the 7 year period probably should not be called Christians. So then, why do the Muslims label them in this manner? Because they see all Americans as the people of the bible and, therefore, Christians. God will sort them out at the end, so for now give them the benefit of the doubt.

• We also learned that all the earth will worship him.

  But God himself tells us that this not true as it is spelled out how that those whose names are written in the book of life will NOT worship the antichrist.

  What do you suppose it is that motivates and directs them, for many will tell you that the Holy Spirit is removed with the church in the rapture? The removal of the Holy Spirit seems logical since the Holy Spirit is assumed to live exclusively in the spirit of believers. That logic works until you realize that people continue to be drawn to God's love; and, it is the work of Holy Spirit of God that does that.

  "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. (John 16:13 NASB)

  The number of people that worships the antichrist will be close to uncountable.

• And finally, the false prophet shows up.

  This occurs at the three and one half year mark. He performs great signs, deceives many of the elect, and operates in the power of the antichrist. He also becomes the enforcer of Sharia law, which means he continues the killing of “Christians.”

So much for the chronological attempts at understanding the Revelation, let's just try to understand what we read and perhaps the timeline will fall into place.

Revelation 14:1 NASB Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.

When did we first see the 144,000 Jewish, male, virgins?

And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: (Revelation 7:4 NASB)

I pointed that out that they were male, Jewish, virgins, because the Jehovah's Witness believe that they have the 144,000 as their elders. What they won't tell you is that they may well be dead by now, and since the positions are already filled, there is not much hope left for you but works, which looks a lot like mandatory, Saturday mission work. In following Christ, He did all the work to gain our salvation. We do need to make an effort and believe, that and this idea of taking His yoke upon ourselves. If that seems ominous to you, then you need to consider that we who follow Him have given ourselves to Him. Paul said, I am a slave of Jesus Christ.

• “I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.”

The lamb, and these young men, are standing on Mount Zion. Mount Zion, according to Hebrews 12:22, is the “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” I say all this to ask a rhetorical question,

Where are we in the timeline of end times events?

John saw the Lamb, with the 144,000, standing upon Mt. Zion; this does not happen until after the seven-years of wrath; after, Christ has come back as the warring Messiah, and the battle is over. One of the major problems we have is how long it takes to make all these governmental type events happen.

Notice what I did there?

I just applied broken human thinking to God's plan; a plan that does not have to operate according to our earthly timing or understanding. If He spoke the universe into existence, then He can speak order over this transition into an eternal existence as well.

You might rightly assume that the Lamb, standing upon Mt Zion, with the 144,000 would be a celebratory and victorious time. You might also assume that God is holding these untainted men out before us.

Why speculate over why He might do that?

Because we the church have bought into the lies of the enemy and the world, that tell us that purity and focus is impossible.

One more thing. Notice that these men have the name of the Father written on their foreheads.

This evokes a question. Has Satan created anything?

I think not. I do not believe that he invented concept of mutiny or treason either, but he sure put it into practice when he deceived Eve in the Garden. He does, however, mimic, or imitate the things of God. I mentioned earlier how our introduction to the 144,000 comes in Revelation 7:4, but shortly after that we see the antichrist demanding that all take his mark, and it is no coincidence that it is on the right hand or the forehead, as God had already initiated.

Revelation 14:2-5 NASB And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. (3) And they *sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. (4) These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. (5) And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.

John's vision of the 144,00 seems to have been interrupted with this voice, that he describes as the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. Picture yourself on a rocky seashore, on a stormy day, where large waves are crashing against the rocks. The noise is horrendous if you are close to it; and yet John tells us it is like harpists. Out of all of this noise there is singing. It is the 144,000 doing the singing and they are singing a new song. No one knows this song but them.

The verses give us an interesting description, as it describes the 144,000 as having been purchased from the earth.

Haven't we all been purchased by His blood?

The answer is yes. Paul, in speaking to the people of Ephesus, told them this.

“... the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” (Acts 20:28b. NASB)

A part of his statement is about the church of God, which He (God) purchased with His own blood. In writing to the church in Corinth Paul also affirmed that we were purchased.

“For you have been bought with a price..” (1 Corinthians 6:20a. NASB)

The passage about the 144,000 ends with, “And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.” Are you aware that God chose us that we should/could be faultless and without blame.

“just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him....” (Ephesians 1:4 NASB)

For the Jew, in their understanding, you could not come close to this condition without offering a sacrifice. This may be going to far, but it was the blood that protected God's people in Egypt at the first passover.

'For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments--I am the LORD. 'The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:12-13 NASB)

In Leviticus the blood is what made you accepted.

"Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When any man of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of animals from the herd or the flock. 'If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer it, a male without defect; he shall offer it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD.
(Leviticus 1:2-3 NASB)

Little did they know that Christ became the final, all sufficient sacrifice, that gave us the ability to be holy and blameless. Allow me to qualify what I just said. Christs blood was and still is sufficient, but it requires our participation by acceptance and belief.

The next verse is an answer to those who whine that Christ cannot come back because NOT everyone has the gospel.

Revelation 14:6 NASB “And I saw another angel flying in mid heaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people;”

It is clear that God's intent is to preach the gospel, beside that. Paul tells us that the law is written upon the heart of every human.

For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, (Romans 2:14-15 NASB)

Many will read Romans 2:14,15, and give themselves an excuse for not acting right, as they think God does not hold you responsible unless you believe in Him.

For those who like me struggle to see the concise chronology of the Revelation, there is definitely a line of events happening between Revelation 14:6 and 7. There are no excuses allowed. An angel has just declared the gospel of Jesus Christ, to the whole world, and now comes the judgment.

Revelation 14:7 NASB “and he said with a loud voice, "Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.”

“Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come,”

We have heard this before. Revelation 11:18 is one of those places, however, verse 18 includes the time to reward the prophets, the saints, and those who fear your name.

"And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth."
(Revelation 11:18 NASB)

Hour is the Greek word hōra. It can mean: an “hour” (literally or figuratively): - a day, an instant, or a season.

Fear is the Greek word phobeō. While it includes the idea of being frightened the context leans more toward awe of, or reverence of the Lord.

Judgment (judged) is the Greek word krinō. It means to separate; to make a distinction between, or to exercise judgment upon.

[In Matthew's gospel we see all three aspects of this definition when we read of the sheep and goat judgment. There, as in Revelation 20, the dead are brought to the throne of judgment, however, in Matthew's account the dead are separated, and a distinction is made as to their fate. Here we see the sheep obtaining mercy and entrance into the kingdom of God. Read Matthew 25:31-46.]

Imagine the verse remastered to read, reverence the Lord, and give Him glory, because the season of His judgment has come. We are there and the events going on around us only demonstrate the urgency of the season. I am not a good gambler and hoping that He classifies me as a sheep, merely because I handed a guy named Richard a sandwich is not what I call good odds.

I gave my life to Jesus a long time ago, but to be honest, I have turned my back to Him on several occasions. I discovered that He never turned His back on me, and for that I love Him more. The ABC's of salvation can give you an assurance that you are His, and I might add, He will never let you go.