Tag Archives: Jeremiah

Joel 3b

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 Joel 3:9 The same phrase found in Joel 3:9 is found in Jeremiah 6:4. “prepare for war, arouse the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up.” This similarity is uncanny because the woe, judgement, is unto the invading armies in both Joel and Jeremiah passages. As we noted in the previous commentary (Joel 3a) The “hook” is set in the jaws of Israel’s enemies. They will come up from Megiddo to the Valley of Kidron (judgement) be it by hook-or-crook.

This is precisely what God desires. Israel must be totally dismayed at any possibility of victory. Sometimes this is referred to as being at the bottom of the barrel. Over the thousands of years since Abraham, Israelis have had an attitude; an attitude of “it is all about us. How can we lose. We are invincible.” It will take this extreme situation with no allies on the side of Israel (yes, that includes the USA) for them to finally accept that they have lived more for self than for God. Up to this point God has been their relief-valve. Once upon a time God removed obstacles or enemies out of their way yet they always returned to self. God wants the credit. He is sovereign. It is here that God finally convinces them that “then *they will know that I am their God, and they are my people.” (see Joel 3:17)

Joel 3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-knives into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. The plowshares and pruning-knives are obvious. Not so when reading “let the weak say, I am strong.” Who are the weak and perhaps cowardly? This massive invasion of Israel and Jerusalem by global powers even the weak amongst them will volunteer to join the defense against this the invasion. The odds are so stacked against Jerusalem the weak, faint-hearted, and the normally cowards will join these invading forces. It will seem impossible to lose. This is also true of Israelis. They will think it impossible to win.

Surrounded.

Once more we run the risk of a lack of understanding of a verse due to casual words. We too often fail to spend time looking up and understand the Hebrew and a word’s meaning. In our previous article [Joel 3a] we noted that what appears to be casual is all but that. As in Joel 3a we found out that haym (they will know) is an emphatic. At last, there will now remain no Israelite who doubts Jehovah-God.

Joel 3:12 “Let the nations be awakened and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat. For there I will sit to judge all the nations all around.” [LITV] Direct your attention to the words “all” in this passage. The word “all” in this section of scripture is kole in the Hebrew. It means “without exception.” It is like one asking, what part of NO do you fail to understand. There will be no exceptions. [Malachi 4:1-3] In the ESV it reads “Let the nations stir themselves up.” This translation is good. Invading nations will have such confidence of bulldozing Israel and Jerusalem once and for all, it is the confidence of a varsity squad playing against their 6th graders. The 6th graders wouldn’t stand a chance. This talk by the enemies of Israel is why the “weak will say they are strong.” Strong? Yes! Their opposition is so weak there is no fear even in the hearts of the weak in the enemy forces…similar to mob psychology. Jump into the middle or backside of the fight because the big guys on your side will make a mess out of Israel.

JIV: It is possible that this is driven by Satan to wipe out huge populations of foreign nations like suicide by police. Even if Satan knows the outcome, he does not want God to have their souls. Get them killed while yet sinners without salvation.

Joel 3:13 “Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great.” What harvest is Joel addressing in verse 13. The consequence of continued sin against God. Joel 3:13 is similar to world events in the time of Noah [Luke 17:26].

Joel 3:14 multitudes, multitudes…The obvious is the vast horde of forces coming up against God and Jerusalem in the valley of decision (Jehosephat). By this time Satan has exhausted his warehouse of tools to displace God in heaven. Overwhelming forces should do the trick, thinks Satan. If not this, then the gathering of forces from all nations is an attempt to destroy all mankind.

JIV NOTE: Satan will be released after his 1,000 years of being bound by God. Somehow during the Millennial Reign of Christ multitudes and multitudes will rally to once again attack God, this time from his headquarters in Jerusalem. The difference in the final judgment may be that Satan will include the use of his own forces of fallen angels to assist in this final attack. “And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea” [Revelation 20:7 & 8]. Such a verse should stagger us. How will it be possible for Satan to gather men from the four corners of the earth to fight God a second time? The thousand-year millennial reign will distinguish between the goats and the sheep [Matthew 25:32]. A new spirit has yet to be put into the hearts of men.

Ahamoment:  In the Jewish Publication Society Bible, chapter 3 is chapter 4 in their bible. They subdivide chapter two into chapters 2 and 3.

How might we distinguish these as two different events in history? Joel 3:14b may offer good insight. “…for the day of the Lord is near” [ESV]. This means this initial confrontation with all nations against Jerusalem is not the final confrontation. The second confrontation is (JIV) Satan’s attempt to destroy God himself. Satan comes out to deceive the nations when in fact it is him who is deceived. He knows he cannot destroy God but if he can prove that after a thousand years of perfect justice there remain many of God’s creation who still want to reject him. Maybe, and just maybe thinks Satan, he can at least cast God out of the earth. The earth that once was Satan’s domain.

Now we have the theological issue of “is it the church or is it just Israelis?”

Joel 3:16 “The LORD roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth [both] quake. But the LORD is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.” A stronghold to whom? To the people of Israel, not the church. We see that it will be the second coming of Christ when final judgement is given, Satan is condemned, his minions along with the anti-Christ and false prophet are tossed into the “lake” of fire. The church has been raptured so it is not on earth to be either condemned or to be a light onto the world.

In short, the time to which Joel refers is only near the time of the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord is the end [of] time itself. This is after Satan is released for a short time to rally earthlings to do his bidding once again along with his minion of fallen angels and deceived.

Here is a quote from David Guzik’s commentary notes on Joel:

The idea of the “Valley of Decision” has been used in countless evangelistic meetings to show people that they stand in the “Valley of Decision,” and must decide for or against Jesus. Joel’s context is exactly the opposite. Man does indeed stand in the valley of decision, but it is God who does the deciding, not man. It is a valley of judgment – and we should decide for Jesus right now, so we never stand in this valley of decision. [italic emphasis mine]

Joel 3:17  And you shall know that I am Jehovah your God dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be a holy thing, and aliens shall no more pass through her.

How can anyone read this verse and think it is about anything or anyone other than Jerusalem and the Israel? God dwelling in Zion; My Holy Mountain; Jerusalem shall be the holy thing; aliens will no longer pass through her. It is impossible other than to spiritualize this passage to include the church body of Christian believers who have been redeemed and raptured. We believers re-enter the scene when Christ returns in the clouds of the sky to do away with Satan once and forever. Now and only at this point do we get the New Heavens and the New Earth. This is not the time or the beginning of the Millennial Reign. It is at the end of it.

Joel 3:18-20 “And it shall be in that day, the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streams of Judah shall flow with waters. And a fountain shall come forth from the house of Jehovah, and it shall water the valley of Shittim. (v19) Egypt shall be a ruin, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, from violence done to the sons of Judah, whose innocent blood they poured out in their land. (v20) But Judah will dwell forever, and Jerusalem to generation and generation. (v21) And I will cleanse their blood which I did not cleanse. And Jehovah is dwelling in Zion.”

God’s last covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is now fulfilled as we close the Book of Joel. God fulfills and keeps his promises [2 Peter 3:9, Romans 4:21, Joshua 21:45].

Rev Jstark
2021

Daniel 9 – Article #27

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Contrary to some who have a basic grasp on the Book of Daniel, the “70 weeks” mention in this chapter has only some to do with the 70 year captivity of the Judeans from Judah. Once again be very cautious about trusting misleading information found on Wikipedia per almost anything scriptural.

Example: Here is what this “supposed authoritarian resource” says:

“The consensus among critical scholars is that chapters 1-6 of the Book of Daniel originated as a collection of folktales among the Jewish diaspora in the Persian/Hellenistic periods, to which the visionary chapters 7–12 were added during the persecution of the Jews under Antiochus IV in 167–163 BCE. The authors of the tales apparently took the name Daniel from a legendary hero mentioned in the Book of Ezekiel, and the author of the visions in turn adopted him from the tales.”
[From Wikipedia, Daniel 9, the free encyclopedia; emphasis mine]

Wikipedia uses dogma and misleading “authorities” trying to make a point that the Bible is A BOOK OF STORIES. Fundamentalists do a major disservice that inadvertently supports this Wikipedia philosophy by also identifying historical Bible events as “stories.” Call scripture for what it is…FACT, not a series of cute religious bedtime and Sunday school stories.

When speaking to true believers, those who strive to BE and LIVE (believe) a Christian life, we understand. But to the unbeliever, the unequally yoked church attender, or the church-only so-called Christian, the word story leaves much territory to wonder, rationalize, and justify wrong personal actualities.

Now to Daniel 9:

Daniel 9:2 is very specific about who the author is. Not some distant or future “add-on” to this incredible book. “I Daniel, understood the number of the years by books, which came of the Word of Jehovah to Jeremiah the prophet,…” [NKJV]. Daniel is a student of scripture. He is well read, especially of Jeremiah. In Daniel 9:2 he is probably referring to the passages found in Jeremiah 25 (*11 & 12) and chapter 29 (10-12).

*…this whole land shall be a ruin and a waste. And these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. [NKJV]

Daniel is specifically referring to the 70 year captivity of the Judean Jews. At the end of this chapter, we get a beginning glimpse of s future Jerusalem even today has yet to be fulfilled as a promise of God the Father.

At this point, Daniel goes deep into a prayer session with God. His prayer content and context references other bible scriptures (*future outcomes contained in past conditions put upon Israel by God) but that is not the discussion goal of this Daniel 9 article. Let’s look at Daniel’s prayer specifics. It is something we should learn to pattern. Not a prayer life of the Lord’s Prayer quoted in Matthew 6 and Luke 11. In these passages we are specifically instructed to go into our prayer closet, alone; not to stand or sit and pray aloud yet alone in unison. This would make for a very crowded prayer closet.

*EXAMPLE: Leviticus 26:40 – 42 This is a specific precondition for the redemption and return of Israel, not just the Judean Jews, but include from the “four corners of the earth” where Israeli Tribes and offspring now live. Most of these folks have lost contact with their chosen people identification given to them by God through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Gabriel

If we jump forward to 9:21 we read that Daniel’s prayer was so earnest and intense that God sent the angel Gabriel to speak with Daniel…directly! But, let’s not stray. In Daniel’s prayer he includes…

  1. Fasting
  2. Persistence
  3. Israel not listening to God’s Words
  4. The unrecognized shame of Israel. Note that Daniel is not praying about the Jews of Judah but of his entire family of scattered Israeli Tribes.
  5. Rejection of the prophets sent by God to both the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
  6. He calls Jerusalem “the city that bears HIS (God’s) name.”
  7. Daniel pleads for God’s wrath against Israel (Jerusalem) to cease
  8. It is not a request (petition) owed to Israel but it is for the sake of God’s name.

We so often miss one of Daniel’s major prayer points. He is not asking this for the sake of Israelis, but according Daniel 9:18b…”For we do not present our prayers before You on account of our righteousness’s, but because of Your great mercies.” [NKJV] . Note the “WE” in Daniel’s prayer. He is not praying for himself but for his entire people of Israeli descent.

In verse 19 Daniel lists priorities…

  1. “For your sake (God);
  2. …on account of your righteousness;
  3. …for your city (Jerusalem);
  4. …for your people called by your name.”

Let’s back up for a moment to verse 19. Daniel says and pleads with God that He answer his prayer petition for “the city Jerusalem AND for ‘those who carry His name’.” Give serious consideration for those who call themselves Christian today. There are many who identify as Christian but do little to “carry His name” in his or her daily walk in public and in worship.

From verse 23 forward (Daniel 9:23+) we arrive at a fork in the road of prophecies; two roads (context) but the same content. This is somewhat scriptural speculation but consider this. We know that the Tribe of Judah (Jews by a shortened inference name) was in their 69th or 70th year of captivity in Babylon. It was about to end and King Cyrus of Persia (modern day Iran) would release them to return to their original homeland. Verse 25 no longer is talking about the 70 year Babylonian captivity but of a future yet to be completed return and building of Jerusalem; i.e. Daniel’s 70 7s.

The future of Jerusalem is now identified in Daniel’s prayer to be “built unto the Messiah the Prince.” God is never identified as the Messiah; Jesus is. God is never referred to as a Prince. Only Jesus is. So the parallel or fork in the road of prophecies is obvious. Judeans would be release after 70 years of Babylonian captivity but Jerusalem is destined to be the Kingdom of the Messiah Prince; Jesus. This is a reference to the future millennial reign. We will discuss that in part, in our next Daniel article. Prior to this verse, the Jerusalem under discussion was for the right of the captured Jews of Judah to return home.

Daniel 9:25 in the ESV puts it this way:

“Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time”.

The very next verse identifies (anti-Christ) as one who will destroy the city and the Temple. Bear in mind, Nebuchadnezzar had already done this several decades earlier.

The prince identified in verse 26 is lower case; not Prince as written earlier in chapter 9, but as prince of the people. We will pick it up at verse 26 in the next article. It is a discussion in and of itself.

The Book of Daniel – According to Wikipedia

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attentionThe following is some of what the Book of Daniel and other canonized biblical books prophecy will happen as we close in on end time. This is despicable verbiage designed to do one thing…discredit Daniel and the Bible as the reliable and infallible Word of God. This is what high school and college students are exposed to today and we as true believers do nothing to stop it. This makes us as weak in our stand for God and Christ as Wikipedia is now violating Christianity, the Bible, and God himself.

caution[Wikipedia]: “The Book of Daniel is not regarded by scholars as a reliable guide to history. The broad consensus is that Daniel never existed, and that the author appears to have taken the name from a legendary hero of the distant past mentioned in the Book of Ezekiel. The book that bears his name is an apocalypse, not a book of prophecy, and its contents form a cryptic allusion to the persecution of the Jews by the Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (reigned 175–164 BCE). There is broad agreement that the stories making up chapters 1–6 are legendary in character, and that the visions of chapters 7–12 were added during the persecution of Antiochus, the book itself being completed soon after 164 BCE.

Daniel 5 and Daniel 6 belong to the folktales making up the first half of the book. The language of Daniel 5 (“Belshazzar’s Feast”), for example, follows ancient Near Eastern conventions which are in some cases precisely those used in Daniel. Daniel 6 (“Daniel in the Lions’ Den”) is based on a classic Babylonian folk-tale called “Ludlul-bel-nemeqi”, telling of a courtier who suffers disgrace at the hands of evil enemies but is eventually restored due to the intervention of a kindly god (in the story in Daniel, this is the God of Israel): in the Babylonian original the “pit of lions” is a metaphor for human adversaries at court, but the biblical tale has turned the metaphorical lions into real animals.”

cropped-minijim1Dr. Jstark
September 2018

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_the_Mede

 

 Revelation 11 – Part 2 of the Two Witnesses

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Watch For Wildlife. Large SUV in Front of a Deer in Deep Forest at Night. Road Danger at Night. Deer Crossing. Wildlife Photo Collection.

The two witnesses of Revelation 11 have as much identity speculation as does a deer that might dash across the road in front of someone’s car during the time of the year when bucks have lost their horns. We can speculate on size, possible weight of that particular deer, shade or color of its coat, how it loped across the street, or whether a couple of deer crossed prior to this particular deer as the buck tends to lead from behind. Whatever is one’s guess, we really don’t know the make and model of the daring deer that challenges the front end of one’s car, SUV, or truck.

The same is true as to the identities of the two witnesses who proclaim Christ in Jerusalem for 1260 days; up to the point where the beast from the abyss declares war on them. They are slain and their bodies remain in the heat of the Middle East sun for 3 ½ days as a witness to the power of the anti-Christ or the beast. We might insert here that this is during the Tribulation Period and most likely during the first half of this 7 year period of time. WHY? This is when the beast from the abyss makes his power insertion and entrance to the world scene declaring him-self to be god. It is an interesting puzzle to sequence and fit each event such as:

  1. The arrival of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse;
  2. The revealing of the man of evil;
  3. The false prophet;
  4. The false and acceptable one world church (council of Popes perhaps;
  5. The opening of the 7 Seals;
  6. The 7 trumpets and their messages;
  7. The 7 vials or bowls of plagues poured out on those who…
  8. …take the Mark of the Beast (when does this happed?);
  9. The church? Is it here or raptured?
  • The 2,000,000 man army that moves against Jerusalem;
  • The rebuilt Temple of Judaism;
  • The agreement of peace between the anti-Christ and Israel;
  • The return to Israel of the Lost ten Tribes (pending, already happened or a spiritualized symbolic event)
  • The beast that rises out of the sea with heads and horns… is this spiritualized? A combination of global or European uniting of nations?
  1. Existence of a one world government?
  • What about the question as to when the King of the North and the King of the South wage wars against each other? Who are they and when does this happened? What about the “rumor” of forces coming from the North and East?
  • Is Armageddon [Har Megeddo] the battle ground or simply a staging place for the massive armies preparing to attack Jerusalem?
  • Why might these forces from the south, north, and east unite? Against whom?

Beautiful view of Jerusalem city, Israel

It is easy to understand the confusion when these and many more mentioned factors such as the drying up of the Euphrates River, the armies from the East and the North need to FIT into this same period of *time. However, one may think it is beyond human minds to conceive of these this occurring within a 7 year period of time plus the return of Jesus Christ at the sounding of the 7th trumpet, Mount of Olives splitting north and south along recently discovered fault line that runs through the center of it. [I wonder if John of Revelation was also a gifted seismologist or if he simply wrote what the angel told him]?

*Daniel, Jude, Revelation, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Malachi only to mention a few books of the Bible that address the above issues of End Time.

These questions and other Tribulation issues will all be answered during this series on End Time, but drinking from a fire hose is very difficult. Therefore we will reduce the water flow and sip at each item pulling them together as best as scripture will allow. This approach is the Learning Curve; i.e. awareness first, beginnings of understanding, comprehension of the puzzle pieces that match, building the framework around the entire puzzle first, the desiring to fill in the spaces with pieces that logically fit together.

The Two witnesses:

Some denominations and seminarians want to think it is not limited to two key prophets/witnesses. This is clearly mistaken as scripture identifies the masculine terms of “they, them and these.” They are men… there are two of them.

Many speculate that the identity of one of the witnesses is Elijah. Malachi 4:5 tells us… “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. The obvious question from this verse is what or when will be the “great and awesome day of the Lord?” This great and awesome day of the Lord piece of the puzzle fits well with the 7th trumpet. We can consider Joel 2:31, Leviticus 23:36-37, Revelation 11 and Jeremiah 16:14-16 just to mention a few passages pointing to this same event. What is that event? When Christ sets foot on the Mt. of Olives, it splits along natural east-west fault lines pushing massive mountains north and south [Zachariah 14:4]. This is when Christ and heavenly hosts declare earth as now his kingdom. This will stir up the leaders of other nations. They will put aside their warring differences and attempt to attack this “self-declaring king” in Jerusalem; i.e. Jesus Christ.

However, this does not explain the “BEFORE in the great and awesome day of the Lord.” Since it is the slaying of these witnesses that reveals and establishes the evil one (dragon/beast) as a power who sets up his throne in the Jerusalem Temple, we are most likely looking at the termination of the two witnesses at the end of the first 3 ½ years of the Tribulation and the beginning fo what the bible identifies as Jacob’s troubles; Matthew 24:15-22.

But, what about the identity of the two Tribulation Witnesses? The answer is similar to the deer that darts in front of our speeding car in the spring. It has no antlers so we can’t be sure. The Children of Israel were led out of 400 years of semi-captivity in Egypt. They were established in Goshen by the son of Jacob… Joseph. This is *lower Egypt along the forks in the Nile River that feed into the Mediterranean Sea. This second return to Jerusalem (Israel; Zion) is another exodus from where they were scattered then migrated back in the 700’s and 600’s B.C. by the Assyrians, Babylonian’s, Medes and Persians.

*Over the history of Egypt there were often an upper and lower Egypt ruled by two different Pharaohs. When united they were ruled by one Pharaoh.

Some religious sects identify these two witnesses as the 144,000 witnesses described earlier in Revelation {Revelation 7 & 14). Others try to persuade the bible student it is Elijah’s spirit in John the Baptist that returns to earth. Let’s think this through a bit more logically.

There are two men who never died according to scripture: Elijah who was taken up in a fiery chariot [II Kings 2:11] and Enoch [Genesis 5:22 & 24] who walked with the Lord and was no more.

Now turn to Hebrews 9:27. Some theologians try hard to convince themselves that this is not applicable to these two witnesses. They try to drive a wedge between Hebrews 9:27 and the two witnesses who are finally slain by the evil beast from the abyss. Why complicate understanding? Just as the judgement days, the pouring out of the vials, the blowing of the trumpets, and the Millennial Reign of Christ is fact. Why not consider the puzzle piece here as the two men of God who had never died. We actually don’t know for certain, but the pieces of our Tribulation time and two witnesses puzzle fits together nicely.

In all fairness we should acknowledge Luke 1:17 where it points out that John the Baptist will come in the spirit of Elijah. This timing is after the birth of Jesus and John the Baptist was a forerunner and contemporary of Christ. This being said, a good bible student must allow for this possibility when we add Matthew 11:11a to this mix of guesses and speculate.

Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.

Then, it is just as possible that the two witnesses are or will be men of that day; known to the social media during this time of the Tribulation. We don’t know so anyone’s conclusion even if supposedly supported by scripture is still debatable. What is important is one’s personal relationship to Jesus Christ. Avoid the Tribulation period altogether and be a part of the Rapture.

Dr. jStark