Month: March 2022

There is a beautiful family I have become acquainted with – a mom and a dad and three boys aged 4, 6, 8 years old. These boys are the happiest boys I’ve ever seen. They seem very settled and quite content almost all the time. It is remarkable to witness, as so many boys these boys’ ages are wild and challenging to control.

I have watched their parents parent them – both parents show deep love and physical affection for each boy. They speak in quiet tones when they talk to the boys. What has been interesting to note is that all three boys know the family’s rules for how to behave and they all respect the rules and are really well-behaved. I have also seen what the parents do when there is a need for correction. The consequences for misbehavior are quick, predictable and significant. It seems that the boys have been taught the rules well, and have also been taught the consequences so that they know what will happen if they misbehave. It struck me that the strong boundaries set by these parents, and the strong expectation that the boundaries will be respected, has given these boys a strong sense of security. This in addition to the deep deep love of these parents has led to secure, happy and contented children. It’s quite remarkable.

I have been reflecting on Law of Moses in the Old Testament. Many Christians will make the argument that the OT Law has been fulfilled and has been replaced with the New Covenant, often interpreted as freedom from the Law. I wonder whether we have misunderstood.

What if God the Father Who loves us infinitely designed His Law for the purpose of raising up happy, secure and contented children (just as my friends’ “law” is raising up happy, secure and contented boys)? There is such an inclination to separate the Who of the God of the OT from the Who of God/Jesus of the NT. If He is “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8; Malachi 3:6), then the God of the OT and the God of the NT are by His own words the same in character and nature. (“And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” Hebrews 1:3) There is an inclination to see the God of the OT as wrathful and harsh, and the God of the NT as the God of love. How can that be if they are the same God?

Our God is a good good Father – One Who knows our every thought and action. If He knows everything about us, and His plans for us are for our welfare and not for evil (Jeremiah 29:11), then He knows how we work and the necessary boundaries for us to be happy, secure and contented. It seems to me that the Law of the OT, expanded by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7:23) is for our best good, and it would be wise to follow and obey it. Jesus Himself said: “If you love me you will keep (obey) My commands.” (John 14:15) If Jesus and the Father are One, and what is written in the OT Law is indeed of the One, then it confuses me as to why we no longer need to obey what He (God the Father and Jesus) have told us to obey. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:3) “Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. And the word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s Who sent Me.” (John 14:24)

    

Daniel 12:11-12

11 “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.

In November, 2021, I was just finishing the Book of Daniel and read Daniel 12:11-12.  As I thought about what I was reading, it seemed really obvious that I was reading a verbal timeline.  Event number one:  the taking away of the daily sacrifice.  Event number two 1290 days (years) later:  the abomination that causes desolation is set up.  Event number three: the blessing of those who are waiting at the end of 1335 days (years).  A picture came to mind of the Dome of the Rock which sits on the sit of the holy Temple of YHWH on Mount Zion in Jerusalem.  The thought I had was: “what could be more abominable to YHWH than a shrine to the god of Islam sitting on His holy mountain?”

   I became curious and wondered when the Dome of the Rock had been completed.  I searched the internet and the date I found was 692 AD.  I subtracted the 1290 years from that date which gave me 598 BC.  I again searched looking for anything of significance that would have happened in Israel at around that time. 

“The Lord said, “I will remove Judah also from My sight, as I have removed Israel. And I will cast off Jerusalem, this city which I have chosen, and the temple of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’ ”” (2 Kings 23:27)

“At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon went up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege. And Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came to the city, while his servants were besieging it. Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his officials. So the king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign. He carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, just as the Lord had said. Then he led away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land. So he led Jehoiachin away into exile to Babylon; also the king’s mother and the king’s wives and his officials and the leading men of the land, he led away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. All the men of valor, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths, one thousand, all strong and fit for war, and these the king of Babylon brought into exile to Babylon.” (2 Kings 24:10–16, 598 BC)

   The temple articles were taken to Babylon.  The daily sacrifice was interrupted.  The criteria for event number one were fulfilled.

   If my reasoning was correct, than we should have much reason to hope that we are indeed in the last of the last days!  692 AD + 1335 years = 2027.  My heart just lit up!  Oh that Yeshua of Nazareth, Messiah and rightful King would return that soon!  What a wonderful answer to our prayer: “thy kingdom come”!

   We are in desperate need of hope in this season of betrayal by our governments.  We are in desperate need of hope as we watch so many suffer from the consequences of this contrived pandemic upon every area of our world – it’s people, young and old who have been hurt and even killed by this disease and the many ways it has been mismanaged.  We are in desperate need of hope as we see our food supply increasingly corrupted by the pesticides and herbicides that are known poisons being sprayed on our crops just prior to harvest.  We are in desperate need of hope as we view the betrayal by those who believe in science as our savior – and who will do whatever science dictates to the detriment of those on whom its inflicted.

   Father YHWH, only You know the day and time of Your Savior’s return.  You did promise in Your word that You would cut the time short (that if you did not, none would survive).  Please Father, hear the cries of Your people all over this hurting, broken and corrupted world.  Just as You looked out over the multitude and saw the sick and hurting and healed them all, look out over this multitude of Your children who are sick and hurting and heal us ALL!.