It's the day before Thanksgiving (Yom Todah), and I just wanted to say thank you to anyone who is reading this blog.
Hopefully, I will be coming out with some e-books for Kindle soon on this subject matter, both in the non-fiction and fiction areas, but my goal is to bring Christians back to the first-century way of looking at the Bible, both in the Tanakh (the Old Testament), seeing its prophecies as very real, soon-to-be-realized promises to Isra'el regarding her absent King and His reign of peace and prosperity upon the throne of David, and in the B'rit Chadashah (the New Testament), seeing its prophecies as expansions on the Tanakh prophecies and very real, soon-to-be-realized promises to the Gentile nations as well as to Isra'el and THROUGH Isra'el, allowing the Goyim to have a place in God's Kingdom.
Okay, let's continue on with the Olivet Discourse:
Before I get too far ahead, I should have mentioned a little more on this part that follows from Luke's account:
For huge distress will be upon the Land and violent passion in this people. And they shall fall by the edge (mouth) of [the] sword and shall be led away captive into all the Gentile nations, and
We discussed the Jews being "led away captive into all the Gentile nations," but I neglected that last phrase: "Jerusalem shall be trampled under by Gentile nations until the times of the Gentile nations be fulfilled." This is important to focus upon for a moment, because not only were the Jews expelled from their Land by the Romans, but other non-Jewish nations took over control of the Land. The reason why so many call the Land "Palestine" is because of the Romans!
"Palestine" is the Latin/Greek rendering of the Aramaic name "P'lishtiyn," meaning "Philistines" and spelled "pei-lamed-shin-tav-yud-nun." ("Pei" can also be a "fei" or "phei" when the dagesh - a dot in the middle of a letter - is missing.) Neither Greek nor Latin had an "sh" sound; so, their closest approximation was the "sigma," an "s" sound, and their "I" approximated the "Y" sound of the "yud." No vowel letters exist in the Hebrew or the Aramaic alefbets; so, the Romans supplied their own and "P-L-S-T-I-N" became "PALESTINIUS," as they added the common, proper-noun ending after an "N," "-IUS." Later, the word was Anglicized to "Palestine." It was designed to humiliate the Jews by calling their Land the land of the Philistines!" I find it both ironic and interesting that the area given to the "Palestinians" today is the Gaza Strip, where ancient Philistia existed.
Isra'el became a nation again in 1948 and they succeeded in controlling Yerushalayim again in 1967, but as yet they do not have full control of the entire city. The Arab Muslims still have control over their mosques and the Dome of the Rock, the ancient site of the Jewish Temple. The Gentiles are still "trampling" the city; therefore, the times of the Gentile nations is not yet over.
Now, let's move on...
“However, in those days, immediately after the pressure of those days, there will be signs in [the] sun, moon and stars: the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not shine its light and the stars shall fall out of the sky (meteors) and the stars shall be fallen out of the sky (meteorites) and distress of Gentile nations in confusion, [the] roaring sea and waves upon the earth, and men’s hearts failing them from fear, [from] looking after those (things) which are coming on the habitable world; for even the powers which (are) in the skies shall be shaken.
Now, we getting close to the heart of the prophecy: the Second Coming. "Immediately after the pressure of those days" signifies that this passage is NOT included within that "pressure." That tells me that this part should NOT be considered part of the "Tribulation!" Do you understand that this means that the "sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not shine its light" are NOT a part of the "Tribulation?" Can you accept that Yeshua` was saying that the meteor shower, spoken about in detail by Yochanan in Revelation, is NOT a part of the "Tribulation?" What does THAT do to the various positions on the End Times to which people adhere today? Without defining the "pressure" as that placed upon the Jews, believers and unbelievers alike, this statement should make many Christians scratch their heads, especially when reading and comparing the book of Revelation to this passage.
We'll be studying this in more detail when we start going through the book of Revelation, but this should be enough to pique an interest in what is to come on this blog.
Most teachers on this prophecy comment on the signs in the sun, moon, and stars, but neglect to tell the full account: There will also be "distress of the Gentile nations" and "confusion." The sea will be "roaring," and the "waves" will wash "upon the earth" (tidal waves), and human beings' hearts will fail them from fear when panicking about what is happening to the world, for even the "powers which are in the skies" shall be shaken; i.e., even the weather patterns will be disturbed!
“And then the sign of the Son of Man shall appear in the sky. And then all the families of the Land shall mourn and they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud - coming in [and] upon the clouds of the sky - with great power and great brightness. And then He shall send His messengers with a loud trumpeting sound, and they shall gather together His chosen (ones) out of the four winds from one extremity of [the] earth to an extremity of [the] sky to the other extremity. But these things beginning to come to pass, look up and raise up your heads, for your redemption draws near.”
This is the climax of the Olivet Discourse. Yeshua` frequently called Himself the "Son of Man," which is a phrase meaning a "true human being." The first of these events is that the inhabitants of the earth will see the "sign of the Son of Man ... appear in the sky." The next event, is that "all the families of the Land shall mourn." This is a quote in reference to Zechariah 12:9-14:
Zech 12:9-14
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;
13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;
14 All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
KJV
This is truly interesting because I used to wonder about the four names given here: David, Nathan, Levi, and Shimei. Why were they singled out? They don't even appear to have anything to do with the twelve tribes of the children of Isra'el; so, what was their significance? THIS IS WONDERFUL!!! Only those who have studied the New Testament will be able to grasp the significance of these names! Therefore, this is still a mystery to the Jews who reject "Jesus Christ" because they don't give any credence to the B'rit Chadashah! And, Christians who use only certain verses from the "Old Testament" (the Tanakh) to support their theology will totally miss it because they will read over it and say, "That's nice," and never make the connection! Also, notice that the wording is slightly different on the last name. It's...
"The family of the house of David,"
"The family of the house of Nathan," and
"The family of the house of Levi," but it's...
"The family of Shimei."
I, too, would have missed this without using the Complete Jewish Bible! In the Complete Jewish Bible, translated by David H. Stern, the passage is ...
Zech. 12:9-14
9 “When that day comes, I will seek to destroy
all nations attacking Yerushalayim;
10 and I will pour out on the house of David
and on those living in Yerushalayim
a spirit of grace and prayer;
and they will look to me, whom they pierced.”
They will mourn for him
as one mourns for an only son;
they will be in bitterness on his behalf
like the bitterness for a firstborn son.
11 When that day comes, there will be
great mourning in Yerushalayim,
mourning like that for Hadad-Rimmon
in the Megiddo Valley.
12 Then the land will mourn,
each family by itself —
the family of the house of David by itself,
and their wives by themselves;
the family of the house of Natan by itself,
and their wives by themselves;
13 the family of the house of Levi by itself,
and their wives by themselves;
the family of the Shim‘i by itself,
and their wives by themselves;
14 all the remaining families, each by itself,
and their wives by themselves.
CJB
The Hebrew phrase is "l-vaad mishpachat ha-Shim`iy," which means "to a separation [the] family of the Famous." Then, I was reading the lineage of Yeshua` found in Luke's account of His life, and the names jumped out at me:
Luke 3:23-38
23 Yeshua was about thirty years old when he began his public ministry. It was supposed that he was a son of Yosef who was of Eli,
24 of Mattat, of Levi, of Malki, of Yannai, of Yosef,
25 of Mattityahu, of Amotz, of Nachum, of Hesli, of Naggai,
26 of Machat, of Mattityahu, of Shim‘i, of Yosef, of Yodah,
27 of Yochanan, of Reisha, of Z’rubavel, of Sh’altiel, of Neri,
28 of Malki, of Addi, of Kosam, of Elmadan, of Er,
29 of Yeshua, of Eli‘ezer, of Yoram, of Mattat, of Levi,
30 of Shim‘on, of Y’hudah, of Yosef, of Yonam, of Elyakim,
31 of Mal’ah, of Manah, of Mattatah, of Natan, of David,
32 of Yishai, of ‘Oved, of Bo‘az, of Salmon, of Nachshon,
33 of Amminadav, of Admin, of Arni, of Hetzron, of Peretz, of Y’hudah,
34 of Ya‘akov, of Yitz’chak, of Avraham, of Terach, of Nachor,
35 of S’rug, of Re‘u, of Peleg, of ‘Ever, of Shelah,
36 of Keinan, of Arpakhshad, of Shem, of Noach, of Lemekh,
37 of Metushelach, of Hanokh, of Yered, of Mahalal’el, of Keinan,
38 of Enosh, of Shet, of Adam, of God.
CJB
They are the names found in Yeshua`s lineage through His mother! This is significant in two ways: First, it proves that Yeshua` was indeed a descendent of David, not just adopted as such by His step-father, Yosef (Joseph), and second, it tells me that Zechariah 12 must be fulfilled AFTER THE RESURRECTION OF THE JUSTIFIED, for they are all present together at the same time that the Messiah returns! Furthermore, it's NO WONDER that they would look upon the Messiah Yeshua` as "an only son" and a "firstborn son!" He WAS/IS their Grandchild, however many "greats" removed!
This, then, tells me that the RESURRECTION has to happen AS Yeshua` is returning! It is AFTER (or AS) they see Him "coming in a cloud and on the clouds of the sky" that "He sends out His messengers to gather them from the earth," wherever they may be!
Then, there is another thing about this portion of the Olivet Discourse: They (we) have already begun to fly, for they are gathered OUT of the four winds! and they collect them (us) from one extremity of the earth to an extremity of the sky and to its other extremity. Some people think horizontally when they read "from one end of heaven to the other," but the sky is all around the earth! So where would the farthest east be? Where would the farthest west be? Only north and south are said to have termination at the poles. Don't think horizontally; think VERTICALLY! When we throw in Mark's comment about the extremity of the earth, one can see that Yeshua` was talking about the lowest point in the earth and the lowest point of the sky where humans might exist to the upper extreme of the sky where humans might be found!
I'll conclude today with His last statement: But [when] these things beginning to come to pass, look up and raise up your heads, for your redemption draws near.” Get ready! Get excited! You think Christmas is great? Just WAIT until the Messiah comes back! WOO-HOO!!! You ain't seen NUTHIN', yet!
In the Messiah's love,
Retrobyter
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