The Christ Clone Trilogy includes hundreds of twists and turns that address specific biblical prophecies. The following Study Guide Notes, which are linked to the events depicted in the story, identify the Bible passage that is being addressed, at the point in the book where the indicated endnote appears, as well as any needed explanation. Where necessary to distinguish the author’s comments from scripture, the author’s comment appears in brackets and/or in Arial font (depending on your ebook software). Also included are notes of general interest including source information and brief explanations on matters of science and history related to the events depicted in the story.
Endnote 1 (back): [A play on the words of] John 1:29. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
Endnote 2 (back): Revelation 11:7. Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. [Note that two beasts are referenced in Revelation. The first beast, mentioned here, is the Antichrist. The second beast is the False Prophet.]
Endnote 3 (back): Revelation 11:8-9. Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city—which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial.
Endnote 4 (back): Exodus 20:25. If you make an altar of stones for me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it.
Endnote 5 (back): Daniel 9:27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
Endnote 6 (back): Malachi 4:5-6. [Quoted in text.]
Endnote 7 (back): See 1 Kings 18:19-40.
Endnote 8 (back): Revelation 13:13. And it [the second beast, i.e., Milner] performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people.
Endnote 9 (back): Malachi 4:5-6. See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.
Endnote 10 (back): 2 Thessalonians 2:4. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
Endnote 11 (back): Matthew 24:23-24. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
Mark 13:21-22. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
Endnote 12 (back): Revelation 13:8. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.
Endnote 13 (back): Revelation 13:3-4. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” [The beast is the Antichrist. The dragon is Satan. Though the people are not here aware of it, their worship is, in effect, worship of the dragon who empowers the beast.]
Revelation 17:8. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come. [This verse is explained in the text associated with endnote 118 in Chapter 10.]
Endnote 14 (back): Genesis 11:1-9. Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
Endnote 15 (back): Daniel 7:25a. He will speak against the Most High . . .
Daniel 11:36a. The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods.
Revelation 13:5-6. The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven.
Endnote 16 (back): 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
Endnote 17 (back): John 3:7. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
Endnote 18 (back): 2 Corinthians 11:14. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
Endnote 19 (back): Revelation 9:20-21. The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Endnote 20 (back): Revelation 11:10. The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.
Endnote 21 (back): Revelation 13:5. The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months.
Daniel 11:36. The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place.
Revelation 13:7b. And it [the beast] was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.
Endnote 22 (back): Daniel 7:7-8. After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully. [See also Daniel 7:17, 19, 20.]
Daniel 7:23-24. He [an angel] gave me this explanation: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings.
The fourth beast is the United Nations under Christopher. The crushing and devouring described are depicted in 1) the oppression of the followers of Christ, which will be seen later in this volume, 2) the events of the Tribulation (remember that much of the death and destruction is caused by evil men and demonic powers, e.g., the demonic horde of 200 million who slaughter 1/3 of the world’s population; and 3) the gathering to hell of millions of souls. The ten horns are the ten regions that comprise the Security Council. The little horn is the Antichrist (Christopher). The first of the three horns he uprooted was Albert Faure (see Chapter 28 of In His Image). Though Christopher seems here simply to be taking on authority for the two additional regions, recall that the event has been brought about by the slaughter of 1/3 of the world’s population.
Revelation 13:1. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. [This is the Antichrist and the world government he controls.]
Endnote 23 (back): Daniel 7:25a. He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. [We can today see the spirit of the Antichrist (referenced in 1 John 4:3) in the effort by many to replace B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini, medieval Latin for “In the year of our Lord”) with B.C.E. (Before Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era).]
Endnote 24 (back): Daniel 9:27. He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
Endnote 25 (back): Revelation 13:18. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666. [For an explanation of the Jewish practice of gematria, by which this calculation is made, see Chapter 26 of In His Image.]
Endnote 26 (back): Daniel 9:27. He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
Endnote 27 (back): Revelation 11:8-9. Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city—which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial.
Endnote 28 (back): Revelation 11:11. But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them.
Endnote 29 (back): Revelation 11:12. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.
Endnote 30 (back): For a similar occurrence, see John 12:28-29. “Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
Endnote 31 (back): Revelation 11:13. At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Endnote 32 (back): Revelation 9:20-21. The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Endnote 33 (back): Revelation 11:13. At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Endnote 34 (back): Revelation 11:13. At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Proverbs 1:7. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. [See also Psalm 111:10 and Proverbs 9:10.]
Endnote 35 (back): Matthew 13:57. And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”
Mark 6:4. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.”
Endnote 36 (back): Daniel 7:25b. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time. [From Revelation 12:6 and 12:14, we see that a “time” when spoken of in this context, is 360 days or approximately one year, and the total period referenced in Daniel 7:25b is, therefore, 1,260 days.]
Endnote 37 (back): Israel resigned its membership in the United Nations after the realignment of the Security Council. See In His Image, Book One of The Christ Clone Trilogy, Chapter 17.
Endnote 38 (back): Matthew 24:15-16. So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Mark 13:14-16. When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak.
Luke 21:21-22. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written.
Endnote 39 (back): Revelation 12:5-6. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
Revelation 12:9a. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.
Revelation 12:13-14. When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach.
From the context, we see that the male child is Jesus. The woman, therefore, is Mary, but in context, we see that “the woman” also refers to Israel as she flees into the wilderness. Note also that by comparing verse 6 with verse 14, we can calculate that, when spoken of in this context, a “time” is equivalent to 360 days or approximately one year.
Endnote 40 (back): Revelation 12:15-16. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
Endnote 41 (back): Revelation 12:14. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach.
Endnote 42 (back): That is, thirty days following Christopher’s Jerusalem address, thus accounting for the difference between the 1,260 days and 1,290 days in the following two verses.
Daniel 12:11. From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.
Revelation 12:6. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
Endnote 43 (back): Revelation 14:6-7. Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
Endnote 44 (back): Matthew 24:14. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. [While this verse probably refers to world evangelism by the Church, it is nonetheless, also fulfilled here.]
Endnote 45 (back): Revelation 11:2b. They [the Gentiles] will trample on the holy city for 42 months.”
Endnote 46 (back): Daniel 7:25a. He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws.
Endnote 47 (back): Revelation 13:14. Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It [the second beast, i.e., Milner] ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
Endnote 48 (back): Daniel 9:27. He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
Endnote 49 (back): Revelation 13:15a. The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak…
Endnote 50 (back): Revelation 14:8. A second angel followed and said, “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”
Isaiah 21:9. Look, here comes a man in a chariot with a team of horses. And he gives back the answer: “Babylon has fallen, has fallen! All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground!”
Endnote 51 (back): Revelation 13:16-18. It [the second beast] also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the [first] beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the [first] beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.
Endnote 52 (back): Revelation 14:9-11. A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”
Endnote 53 (back): Revelation 13:8. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.
Endnote 54 (back): Compare Daniel 7:8 and Revelation 13:1 with Revelation 17:12-13 (below). The three horns uprooted by the little horn in Daniel 7:8 have been replaced by the time of Revelation 17:12 where we see the ten kings giving their power and authority to the beast. Thus the Security Council has been restored to ten members.
Daniel 7:8. While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully.
Revelation 13:1b. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.
Revelation 17:12-13. The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast.
Endnote 55 (back): Revelation 13:7a. It [the beast] was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. [The response of the Security Council is to give authority to Christopher to kill the followers of Christ.]
Endnote 56 (back): Revelation 12:17. Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus. [The dragon and the woman were depicted in Chapter 1 (see endnote 39). This scene depicts the first obvious evidence of that war. It should be no surprise that the war will be justified with trumped-up charges of terrorism.]
Endnote 57 (back): Quoted from a letter from Thomas Jefferson to William S. Smith, dated Nov. 13, 1787.
Endnote 58 (back): Micah 2:12. I will surely gather all of you, Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people. [It is believed that Petra was in Old Testament times known as Bozrah, meaning sheep pen, because of its narrow opening and expansive interior.]
Endnote 59 (back): See Exodus 16.
Endnote 60 (back): Revelation 3:10. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
Isaiah 57:1-2. The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death. [The Disaster, in which many appeared to die, was in fact, the devout being taken away (or raptured) to be spared from evil. And no one took it to heart; no one understood.]
Endnote 61 (back): 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. [Quoted in text.]
Endnote 62 (back): 1 Corinthians 15:50-53. [Quoted in text.]
Endnote 63 (back): allasso.
Endnote 64 (back): Romans 1:23. …and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Endnote 65 (back): See for example, here (1 Corinthians 15:53) and here:
Hebrews 1:12. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed…
Endnote 66 (back): 2 Corinthians 5:1-4. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
2 Peter 1:13-14. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.
Endnote 67 (back): 1 Corinthians 15:35-44. But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
Endnote 68 (back): See Genesis 6:8—7:7 and Genesis 19:15-25 for Noah and Lot, respectively, and 2 Peter 2:5-9 for both.
Endnote 69 (back): See 2 Thessalonians 2:1-7, but in particular 2:6-7. And now you know what is holding him [the Antichrist] back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. [The “one who now holds it back” appears to reference the Holy Spirit and, therefore, the Church, which the Spirit inhabits and empowers.]
Endnote 70 (back): John 4:16-18. He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
Endnote 71 (back): The story of Muhammad, as retold by Francis Bacon, in Essays, 1625. It is unknown where Bacon acquired this story, but no written record of it appears anywhere in the Islamic Ahadith.
Endnote 72 (back): Joseph Smith Jr., History of the Life of Joseph Smith, 1832.
Endnote 73 (back): Book of Mormon, Book of Ether. Relevant examples follow:
Book of Mormon, Book of Ether 6:4. And it came to pass that when they had prepared all manner of food, that thereby they might subsist upon the water, and also food for their flocks and herds, and whatsoever beast or animal or fowl that they should carry with them -- and it came to pass that when they had done all these things they got aboard of their vessels or barges, and set forth into the sea, commending themselves unto the Lord their God.
Book of Mormon, Book of Ether 6:19. And thus they were driven forth; and no monster of the sea could break them, neither whale that could mar them; and they did have light continually, whether it was above the water or under the water.
Endnote 74 (back): See for example Thomas D.S. Key, PhD., ScD, EdD., The Book of Mormon in the Light of Science, 27th Edition, 2005. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeology_and_the_Book_of_Mormon.
Endnote 75 (back): See, for example, Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church, Simon G. Southerton, PhD.
Endnote 76 (back): Joseph Smith Jr., History of the Life of Joseph Smith, 1832, p. 8.
Endnote 77 (back): Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History, The Life of Joseph Smith, second edition, revised and enlarged (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977), pp. 67-82. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Mormon_witnesses#cite_note-11.
Endnote 78 (back): Siddhartha Gautama, founder of Buddhism.
Endnote 79 (back): Guru Nanal Dev, founder of Sikhism.
Endnote 80 (back): Isaiah 46:9b-10a. I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
Endnote 81 (back): Isaiah 11:1-2. A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD… [Jesse was King David’s father. This prophecy has always been considered by the rabbis to refer to the Messiah. For examples, see Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Appendix 9 (Peabody, Massachusetts, Hendrickson Publishers, 1993 pp. 994). Jesus fulfilled this prophecy by being born in the linage of David.]
Isaiah 11:10. In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
Endnote 82 (back): Jeremiah 23:5. “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.
Endnote 83 (back): Isaiah 7:14. Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. [While this prophecy was initially fulfilled in the time of Isaiah with the birth of Isaiah’s son (Isaiah 8:3), taken together with Isaiah 9:2-7 and especially 9:6-7 (see endnote 85) its complete fulfillment can only be explained as it is in Matthew 1:23.
Matthew 1:23. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
Endnote 84 (back): Micah 5:2. But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. [Note that in Israel there were two towns names Bethlehem; Micah specifies Bethlehem Ephrathah, which was in Judah, and in which Jesus was born. This prophecy has always been considered by the rabbis to refer to the Messiah. For examples, see Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Appendix 9 (Peabody, Massachusetts, Hendrickson Publishers, 1993 pp. 1005).]
Endnote 85 (back): Isaiah 9:6-7. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
Endnote 86 (back): Isaiah 9:1-2. Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan— The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
Endnote 87 (back): Isaiah 35:5-6. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
Endnote 88 (back): Daniel 9:25-26. Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. [The Anointed One means literally the Messiah. “Sevens” refers to a period of 7 years, thus “seven ‘sevens’ (7x7) plus sixty-two ‘sevens’ (62x7), equates to 69 periods of 7 years each, or 69x7=483 years. For a detailed explanation of this passage, see In His Image, Chapter 22, endnote 63.]
Endnote 89 (back): Artaxerxes I served as emperor from 464—424 b.c. According to Ezra 7 (especially 7:6-7), Artaxerxes issued this decree in the seventh year of his reign, i.e., 457 b.c. [For a detailed explanation of this passage, see In His Image, Chapter 22, endnote 63.]
Ezra 7:6-7. …this Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted him everything he asked, for the hand of the LORD his God was on him. 7 Some of the Israelites, including priests, Levites, musicians, gatekeepers and temple servants, also came up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes. [For a detailed explanation of this passage, see In His Image, Chapter 22, endnote 63.]
Endnote 90 (back): John 2:19-20. Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” [Jesus first preached in the temple approximately 46 years after Herod had begun its renovation. This would place the event in A.D. 27. For a detailed explanation of this passage, see In His Image, Chapter 22, endnote 63.]
Endnote 91 (back): Zechariah 11:12-13. I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the LORD. [According to Matthew 26:15, 27:5, and 27:7, respectively, Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, threw the money into the Temple, and the priests used it to buy a potter’s field.]
Endnote 92 (back): Isaiah 53:7. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. [These were all fulfilled in the sham trials to which Jesus submitted prior to his crucifixion.]
Endnote 93 (back): Psalm 22:7-8. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the LORD,” they say, “let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”
Psalm 16:18. Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.
Endnote 94 (back\): Isaiah 53:8-9. For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Endnote 95 (back): Isaiah 53:4-6. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:8b. For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.
Endnote 96 (back): Isaiah 53:10-11. Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
Psalm 16:9-10. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
Psalm 30:3. You, LORD, brought me up from the realm of the dead; you spared me from going down to the pit.
Endnote 97 (back): Isaiah 49:5-6. And now the LORD says— he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength— he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
Endnote 98 (back): Psalm 22:27-31. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—those who cannot keep themselves alive. Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!
Endnote 99 (back): Luke 15:11-32.
Endnote 100 (back): 1939, MGM.
Endnote 101 (back): Matthew 22:37. Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
Deuteronomy 6:5. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Endnote 102 (back): Matthew 22:39. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Leviticus 19:18. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
Endnote 103 (back): Matthew 22:40. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
Endnote 104 (back): Micah 6:6-8. With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Endnote 105 (back): Isaiah 1:18. “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
Endnote 106 (back): Luke 23:42. Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Endnote 107 (back): Luke 23:43. Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Endnote 108 (back): See John 11.
Endnote 109 (back): Daniel 9:27. He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ [That is, a treaty between Israel and the many, i.e., the rest of the world through the UN.] In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. [In the middle of the seven — that is after 3 ½ years — the antichrist will end the daily sacrifice and offering.] And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation [that is, the statue of Christopher at the Temple in Jerusalem], until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
Endnote 110 (back): Revelation 10:6-7. And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, “There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet [in which are the seven last plagues mentioned in Revelation 15:1], the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.” [Reference to “no more delay” indicates there has been delay — some period of relative calm — between the sixth trumpet and the events of the seven last plagues. To allow time for the fulfillment of the other prophesied events, the seven last plagues will occur in rapid succession toward the end of the Tribulation period.]
Revelation 15:1. I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed.
Endnote 111 (back): Zechariah 12:10. [Quoted in text.]
Endnote 112 (back): Hebrews 9:27. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment…
Endnote 113 (back): Numbers 35:19. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death; when the avenger comes upon the murderer, the avenger shall put the murderer to death.
Deuteronomy 19:6. Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought.
Deuteronomy 11-12. But if out of hate someone lies in wait, assaults and kills a neighbor, and then flees to one of these cities, the killer shall be sent for by the town elders, be brought back from the city, and be handed over to the avenger of blood to die.
Endnote 114 (back): Joshua 20:2-3. Tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses, so that anyone who kills a person accidentally and unintentionally may flee there and find protection from the avenger of blood.
Endnote 115 (back): 2 Samuel 14:11. She said, “Then let the king invoke the LORD his God to prevent the avenger of blood from adding to the destruction, so that my son will not be destroyed.” “As surely as the LORD lives,” he said, “not one hair of your son’s head will fall to the ground.”
Endnote 116 (back): Matthew 13:55-56. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”
Endnote 117 (back): Genesis 3:15. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” [This prophecy has always been considered by the rabbis to refer to the Messiah. For examples, see Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Appendix 9 (Peabody, Massachusetts, Hendrickson Publishers, 1993 pp. 981).]
Endnote 118 (back): Revelation 17:8. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come.
Contrast Revelation 17:8 with Revelation 1:8. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” [See similar in Revelation 1:4 and 4:8.]
Endnote 119 (back): Revelation 14:2-3. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.
Endnote 120 (back): Revelation 12:6. The woman [Israel] fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
Endnote 121 (back): Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles is a week-long annual holiday during which Israel is commanded to live in tents or “booths.”
Leviticus 23:42-43 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. (KJV).
Endnote 122 (back): Isaiah 41:17-20. The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set junipers in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it. [See in context]
Endnote 123 (back): Romans 1:20-25. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
John 6:45. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.
Endnote 124 (back): Revelation 16:1-2. Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.” The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.
Endnote 125 (back): Revelation 13:16-17. It [the second beast] also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
Endnote 126 (back): Revelation 16:3. The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.
Endnote 127 (back): 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
Revelation 13:13-14a. And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth.
Endnote 128 (back): Revelation 16:4-6. The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: “You are just in these judgments, O Holy One, you who are and who were; for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.” And I heard the altar respond: “Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.”
Endnote 129 (back): The Masai natives in Kenya frequently drink a mixture of milk and cow’s blood.
Endnote 130 (back): Mark 6:4-6. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.
Endnote 131 (back): Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:10-16; Acts 15:20-21, 15:29, 21:25.
Endnote 132 (back): This view, known as Preterism, is commonly held by many churches who trace their origins to Calvinist Reformed Theology. I am not suggesting that Preterists are not Christians and will be left when the Church is raptured; rather that this will be a convenient argument following the Disaster/Rapture.
Endnote 133 (back): The name Nero Caesar (like the name Christopher Goodman) when written phonetically in Hebrew produces a series of letters, which when their numeric value is added, yields 666.
Endnote 134 (back): Carl G. Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious.
Endnote 135 (back): Revelation 16:2. The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.
Endnote 136 (back): Revelation 16:3. The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.
Endnote 137 (back): Revelation 16:4. The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.
Endnote 138 (back): Revelation 16:8-9. [Quoted in text.]
Endnote 139 (back): Revelation 16:9. They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.
Endnote 140 (back): Revelation 20:4. …And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands…
Endnote 141 (back): Revelation 12:11. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
Revelation 14:13. Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”
Endnote 142 (back): Revelation 14:12. This [the requirement to take the mark] calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.
Endnote 143 (back): Matthew 24:9. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
Endnote 144 (back): Revelation 13:9-10. Whoever has ears, let them hear. “If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed.”
Endnote 145 (back): Revelation 16:10-12. [Quoted in text.]
Endnote 146 (back): This is similar occurrence to God’s provision made for Israel in the wilderness as described in Deuteronomy 8:4; 29:5; and Nehemiah 9:21.
Deuteronomy 29:5. Yet the LORD says, “During the forty years that I led you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet.
Endnote 147 (back): Isaiah 26:21. See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.
Endnote 148 (back): Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice.
Endnote 149 (back): Matthew 24:22. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
Mark 13:20. If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. [As depicted throughout the trilogy, followers of Christ (the “elect”) are not immune to the effects of the plagues. Had this plague not been cut short, all would have died from dehydration or other causes.]
Endnote 150 (back): Joshua 6.
Endnote 151 (back): Revelation 16:13-14. Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
Endnote 152 (back): Harold Camping said that the Rapture would occur in September 1994 and later asserted that the Rapture and Judgment Day would occur on May 21, 2011, then again changed the date to October 21, 2011, each time excusing away his predictions when they proved false.
Endnote 153 (back): See David A. Reed, Index of Watchtower Errors (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1990).
Endnote 154 (back): Studies in the Scriptures, vol. 3 (Allegheny, PA: Watch Tower, 1891).
Endnote 155 (back): “Why Are You Looking Forward to 1975?” Watchtower, August 15, 1968, pp. 494-501. Also, The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life (Brooklyn: Watch Tower, 1968), p. 95; Awake, October 8, 1968, pp. 13—14; and Man’s Salvation Out of the World Distress at Hand! (Brooklyn: Watch Tower, 1975), p. 75.
Endnote 156 (back): Golden Age, (Brooklyn: Watch Tower, 1930), p. 503.
Endnote 157 (back): Numbers 35:19. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death; when the avenger comes upon the murderer, the avenger shall put the murderer to death. [See also Numbers 35:20-27; Deuteronomy 19:6, 12; Joshua 20:3-9; 2 Samuel 14:11.]
Endnote 158 (back): Revelation 13:3. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast.
Revelation 13:12. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed.
Endnote 159 (back): Genesis 3:4-5. “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Endnote 160 (back): Revelation 9:11. They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).
Revelation 11:7. Now when they [the two witnesses, i.e., John and Saul Cohen] have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them.
Revelation 17:8a. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction.
The “angel of the Abyss” and the “beast that comes up out of the Abyss” appear to be the same demonic person, hence, the Antichrist and Abaddon are one. I am proposing that Abaddon is the spirit resident in the otherwise soulless body of Christopher.
Endnote 161 (back): See Daniel 10:4-11:1 for examples of angelic princes associated with the kingdoms of Persia and Greece. In Daniel 12:1, the archangel Michael is called “the great prince.” Also note that, as seen in Daniel 10:13, the terms “prince” and “king” are sometimes used interchangeably.
Revelation 17:9-11. This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman [identified in 17:3-5 as Babylon] sits. They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.
I am proposing that the seven kings are seven demon princes who have ruled various kingdoms through the ages. They may have been, but are not necessarily sequential, that is, more than one may have been in power at a given point in history. In any case, when the book of Revelation was written, five of the demon kings had ruled and fallen. The statement that “one is” probably refers to the Roman empire. If so, then the identity of the “other” that “has not yet come” can be narrowed down only slightly by the information that this king “must remain for only a little while,” because the Roman empire in all its forms lasted nearly 2000 years (509 B.C. – 1453 A.D.). How long is “only a little while” when speaking of the lives of empires? Whatever the identity of the seventh king, the eighth king is the beast – the Antichrist – who will rule from Babylon. “He belongs to (is of) the seven” indicates that he too is a demonic king/prince. But prior to his reign as the Antichrist, he could not rule because he was held captive in the Abyss (Revelation 17:8a, see next endnote). From Revelation 9:11 (see previous endnote) we know that in the spiritual realm the name of this demonic prince is Abaddon.
The fact that “the woman sits” on the seven hills/kings probably indicates that the Antichrist’s rule from Babylon is built on the spiritual foundation of the seven kings, but may also indicate that the seven demon princes serve the Antichrist during his reign.
Endnote 162 (back): Revelation 17:8. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come. [Christopher/Abaddon (the beast) has come up from the Abyss but will go to his destruction.]
Endnote 163 (back): Compare to Lucifer’s five “I wills.”
Isaiah 14:13-14. You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
Endnote 164 (back): John Milton, Paradise Lost: A Poem Written in Ten Books (1667), Book 1: Line 263.
Endnote 165 (back): See for example:
Genesis 25:34. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.
Endnote 166 (back): There are two harvests described in Revelation 14. The first harvest is apparently of those identified in Revelation 20:4, that is the followers of Jesus. The second harvest is depicted in Chapter 24 of this volume.
Revelation 14:14-16. I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
Revelation 20:4. I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Endnote 167 (back): Historically and in countries where decapitation is currently practiced, e.g., Saudi Arabia, it has been reported that the eyes and mouths of victims sometimes continue to move after beheading. The most notable case is that of Anne Boleyn, who after she was beheaded at the order of Henry VIII, and her head held up by the executioner, continued to move her eyes and lips, silently uttering her dying prayer for several seconds. It is calculated that the human brain has sufficient oxygen for metabolism to persist for about seven seconds after beheading. See, for example, “Tower of London Factsheet,” Press Office, Waterloo Block, HM Tower of London, London EC3N 4AB.
Endnote 168 (back): Revelation 16:12. The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.
Endnote 169 (back): Revelation 16:13-14. Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
Endnote 170 (back): Revelation 13:9-10. Whoever has ears, let them hear. “If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed.”
Endnote 171 (back): Mark 13:12. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.
Endnote 172 (back): Revelation 15:2-5. And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: [Remainder is quoted in the text. Here the Tribulation followers of Jesus have adopted the song found in Revelation.]
Endnote 173 (back): Revelation 16:13-14. Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
Endnote 174 (back): Revelation 3:9. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.
Endnote 175 (back): Daniel 9:27. … And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
Endnote 176 (back): Revelation 13:15. The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.
Endnote 177 (back): Revelation 14:9-11. [Paraphrased in text and quoted previously.]
Endnote 178 (back): Genesis 25:29-34. Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.) Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?” But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.
Endnote 179 (back): Nor does the author claim to know the truth of the matter, but some explanation must be given for the events that follow in Jerusalem as described in Micah 4:11-5:1 and Zechariah 12, and portrayed in Chapters 23 and 24 of this volume.
Endnote 180 (back): Ephesians 2:8-9. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
Endnote 181 (back): Zechariah 12:10a. And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication.
Endnote 182 (back): Romans 5:8. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Endnote 183 (back): Matthew 5:30, KJV. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Endnote 184 (back): “The national razor,” one of many names for the guillotine, coined during the French Revolution.
Endnote 185 (back): Known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson died June 12, 1994. Many of followers continue to believe he will rise from the dead and establish his messianic kingdom.
Endnote 186 (back): Micah 5:2. But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Endnote 187 (back): For similar, see John 3:2. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Endnote 188 (back): Daniel 9:25-26. Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. [For a detailed explanation of this passage, see In His Image, Chapter 22, endnote 63.]
Endnote 189 (back): Jeremiah 23:5. “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.
Endnote 190 (back): Micah 5:2. But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.
Endnote 191 (back): Isaiah 9:6. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Endnote 192 (back): Isaiah 9:1-2. Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan— The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
Endnote 193 (back): Isaiah 35:5-6. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
Endnote 194 (back): Isaiah 53:7. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
Endnote 195 (back): Isaiah 53:4-6. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Endnote 196 (back): Isaiah 53:10-11. Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
Endnote 197 (back): Isaiah 49:5-6. And now the LORD says— he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength— he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
Endnote 198 (back): Zechariah 9:9. Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Endnote 199 (back): Zechariah 11:12-13. I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the LORD.
Endnote 200 (back): Psalm 22:7-8. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the LORD,” they say, “let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”
Psalm 16:18. Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.
Endnote 201 (back): Psalm 16:9-10. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
Psalm 30:3. You, LORD, brought me up from the realm of the dead; you spared me from going down to the pit.
Endnote 202 (back): Genesis 37.
Endnote 203 (back): Genesis 43—47.
Endnote 204 (back): Exodus 2:11-14. One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”
Endnote 205 (back): Exodus 6:6-9. Therefore, say to the Israelites: “I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.” Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.
Endnote 206 (back): See Exodus 14:11-12; 15:24; 16:2-3; 17:1-4; Numbers 11:18-20; 14:1-5, 40-45; 16:1-3, 41-45; 20:2-5; 21:4-5; 25:1-9; Deuteronomy 1:26-27, 42-43; 9:9-17, 23-24.
Endnote 207 (back): Exodus 17:4. Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
Numbers 14:10. But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites.
Endnote 208 (back): Exodus 16:7-8. “. . . and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” Moses also said, “You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD.”
Numbers 20:13. These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD and where he was proved holy among them.
Endnote 209 (back): Exodus 32:1-6. When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.” So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
Endnote 210 (back): Numbers 12.
Endnote 211 (back): Isaiah 65:2-5. [Quoted in text.]
Endnote 212 (back): Deuteronomy 9:7. Remember this and never forget how you aroused the anger of the LORD your God in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious against the LORD.
Endnote 213 (back): Exodus 32:9-10. “I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
Numbers 14:11-12. The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them? I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”
Endnote 214 (back): Exodus 32:22. “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil.”
Endnote 215 (back): Exodus 33:3-5. “Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.” When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. For the LORD had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.’”
Endnote 216 (back): Psalm 14:3. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
Psalm 53:3. Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
Ecclesiastes 7:20. Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.
Romans 3:10-12. As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
Endnote 217 (back): Deuteronomy 7:6. For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
Deuteronomy 14:2. … for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.
Endnote 218 (back): Genesis 41.
Endnote 219 (back): Hosea 2:23. I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’ I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”
Romans 9:25. As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one”.
Endnote 220 (back): Romans 11:25-27. I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
Endnote 221 (back): Zechariah 12:10. [Quoted in text.]
Endnote 222 (back): The Via Maris connecting Egypt and Mesopotamia, and the route linking eastern Palestine with the Mediterranean.
Endnote 223 (back): Before Previous Era, that is, B.C.
Endnote 224 (back): The reporter makes the common error. Prophecy indicates only that Armageddon will serve as a staging point not as the site of battle.
Revelation 16:16. Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
Joel 3:9-11. Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, “I am strong!” Come quickly, all you nations from every side, and assemble there.
Zephaniah 3:8. Therefore wait for me,” declares the LORD, “for the day I will stand up to testify. I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out my wrath on them—all my fierce anger. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger.”
Endnote 225 (back): As reported by Antipater of Sidon (circa 130 b.c.).
Endnote 226 (back): Revelation 18:23c. Your merchants were the world’s important people.
Endnote 227 (back): Revelation 17:15. Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.”
Endnote 228 (back): Revelation 18:3b. …and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.
Revelation 18:11-13. The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore—cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and human beings sold as slaves.
Endnote 229 (back): Revelation 17:2. With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.
Revelation 17:4b-5. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. The name written on her forehead was a mystery: BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Revelation 18:3a. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her…
Endnote 230 (back): Revelation 18:13c. …and human beings sold as slaves.
Joel 3:3. They cast lots for my people and traded boys for prostitutes; they sold girls for wine to drink.
Endnote 231 (back): Revelation 18:23d. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray.
Endnote 232 (back): Revelation 17:6. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.
Revelation 18:24. In her was found the blood of prophets and of God’s holy people, of all who have been slaughtered on the earth.
Endnote 233 (back): Revelation 18:4-5. Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “‘Come out of her, my people,’ so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.
Jeremiah 51:6. Flee from Babylon! Run for your lives! Do not be destroyed because of her sins. It is time for the LORD’s vengeance; he will repay her what she deserves.
Endnote 234 (back): Revelation 13:4b. …they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”
Endnote 235 (back): Joshua 3-4.
Endnote 236 (back): Isaiah 53. [Quoted in text.]
Endnote 237 (back): Hence, this recitation occurs two days prior to the day of revival (depicted in Chapter 24 of this volume) and three days before the day of restoration (which occurs in the period between Chapter 24 and the Epilogue).
Endnote 238 (back): Hosea 5:15-6:3. [Quoted in text.]
Endnote 239 (back): Information on each of these false messiahs and many others can be found readily on Wikipedia.org.
Endnote 240 (back): Simon bar Kokhba briefly recaptured Jerusalem from the Romans in about a.d.130 and was proclaimed Messiah by Rabbi Akiba, but shortly thereafter was captured and put to death.
Endnote 241 (back): Moses of Crete promised the Jews of Crete he would part the sea and lead them back to Israel on dry land, but after failing to perform the promised miracle, quietly slipped into obscurity.
Endnote 242 (back): In 1284, Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia proclaimed himself Messiah. He falsely prophesied a messianic age, which was to begin in 1290.
Endnote 243 (back): Shabbetai Zevi’s thousands of followers in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and British Isles so ardently believed him to be the Messiah that his initials were inscribed in gold above the Torah shrines in synagogues, and prayer books were printed with his name appearing in place of the Messiah. When challenged by the Muslim Sultan in Constantinople to prove he was Messiah by turning away arrows fired at him, he instead chose to suddenly convert to Islam.
Endnote 244 (back): For example, Asher Lemlein, Isaac Luria, Hayyim Vital, Baruchya Russo, Jakov ben Judah Leibovich, Moses Guibbory, Abu Issa, Serenus.
Endnote 245 (back): Many of Rebbe Schneerson’s followers continue to believe he will rise from the dead and establish his messianic kingdom.
Endnote 246 (back): Romans 11:25-26. I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.”
Endnote 247 (back): Hosea 6:1-2. Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.
Endnote 248 (back): Revelation 19:19. Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. [In context, it is clear that the rider is Jesus.]
Endnote 249 (back): Revelation 16:18a. Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder …
Endnote 250 (back): Revelation 16:18. Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake.
The earthquake resulting from the Chicxulub impact has been estimated at 12.5.
Endnote 251 (back): Revelation 16:19. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath.
Endnote 252 (back): Revelation 16:19a. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed.
Endnote 253 (back): Revelation 16:18-20. Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found.
Endnote 254 (back): Revelation 16:21a. From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell on people.
Endnote 255 (back): Daniel 7:21-22. As I watched, this horn [the Antichrist] was waging war against the holy people and defeating them, until the Ancient of Days [God] came and pronounced judgment in favor of the holy people of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom. [Satan has long sought to destroy Israel and has achieved many victories through the centuries. He will continue his attack until the end of this age.]
Endnote 256 (back): Revelation 18:8. Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her [Babylon]: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.
Isaiah 21:9. Look, here comes a man in a chariot with a team of horses. And he gives back the answer: “Babylon has fallen, has fallen! All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground!”
Endnote 257 (back): Zechariah 14:2. I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped.
Endnote 258 (back): Zechariah 12:8. On that day the LORD will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the LORD going before them.
Endnote 259 (back): Isaiah 64:11. Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins.
Endnote 260 (back): Revelation 18:9-10. When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: “Woe! Woe to you, great city, you mighty city of Babylon! In one hour your doom has come!”
Endnote 261 (back): Revelation 17:16-17. The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled. [Note that in Revelation 17:16-17 the ten horns/kings “eat her flesh and burn her with fire,” and yet in Revelation 18:9-10 (quoted in previous endnote), they are greatly distressed by her destruction. The explanation for this seeming paradox is found in how her destruction was accomplished, i.e., “by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority.” In swearing their allegiance to Christopher and yielding their authority to him, they have sealed their fate and the fate of their capitol.]
Endnote 262 (back): Zechariah 14:2. I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped.
Endnote 263 (back): Psalm 79:2-3. They have left the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild. They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead.
Endnote 264 (back): Zechariah 14:2. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. [One explanation for the half that are not taken from the city is that they are to be spared. Under the circumstances, it seems more likely they remain there to be executed.]
Endnote 265 (back): Micah 5:1. Marshal your troops now, city of troops, for a siege is laid against us. They will strike Israel’s ruler on the cheek with a rod.
Endnote 266 (back): Psalms 79 and 80. [Quoted in text.]
Endnote 267 (back): Zechariah 14:4. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.
Zechariah 12:9. On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.
Endnote 268 (back): Joel 3:2. I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat [that is, the Kidron Valley]. There I will put them on trial for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel, because they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land. [The scene depicted is intended as only the first stage of the prophecy’s fulfillment.]
Endnote 269 (back): Zechariah 14:4. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.
Endnote 270 (back): Zechariah 14:5. You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.
Endnote 271 (back): Zechariah 14:6. On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness.
Endnote 272 (back): A detailed discussion of Yom Kippur or ‘Day of Atonement’ and the reasons for believing the return of Messiah will occur on Yom Kippur can be found at sites such as http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Fall_Holidays/Yom_Kippur/yom_kippur.html.
Endnote 273 (back): Matthew 24:28. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
Revelation 19:17-18. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.”
Endnote 274 (back): Isaiah 64. [Quoted in text.]
Endnote 275 (back): Psalm 118. [Quoted in text.]
Endnote 276 (back): Matthew 23:39. [Quoted in text.]
Endnote 277 (back): Zephaniah 3:9. Then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD and serve him shoulder to shoulder.
Endnote 278 (back): Zechariah 14:6-7. On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. It will be a unique day—a day known only to the LORD—with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light.
Endnote 279 (back): Joel 3:16. The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the heavens will tremble.
Endnote 280 (back): Revelation 19:11a. I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.
Endnote 281 (back): Isaiah 34:4. All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.
Matthew 24:29. Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.
Mark 13:25. …the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.
Luke 21:26. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.
Endnote 282 (back): Matthew 24:27. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Matthew 24:30. Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. [Cruciform – meaning shaped like a cross.]
Endnote 283 (back): Isaiah 25:9. In that day they will say… [Remainder quoted in text.]
Endnote 284 (back): Luke 9:29. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.
Endnote 285 (back): Revelation 19:11. I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war.
Endnote 286 (back): As to the number of angelic beings attending Christ, we have verses such as the three below.
Daniel 7:10b. Thousands upon thousands attended him [God]; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
Jude 14. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones.
Revelation 5:11. Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.
As to their appearance, the Bible speaks of angelic beings in several forms. Most references are to those who have the general appearance of men; Daniel 8:15-16 and 10:5-6 (see below) provide two of many examples of this. On only one occasion (Zechariah 5:9, see below), the Bible presents angelic beings that are clearly female in appearance. And, as Revelation 4:6b-8a (see below) describes, angelic beings may appear in many other forms.
Daniel 8:15-16. While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there before me stood one who looked like a man. And I heard a man’s voice from the Ulai calling, “Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of the vision.”
Daniel 10:5-6. I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.
Zechariah 5:9. Then I looked up—and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.
Revelation 4:6b-8a. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings.
Endnote 287 (back): Matthew 24:31. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
Mark 13:27. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
Jude 14-15. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
Revelation 17:14. They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.
Endnote 288 (back): Revelation 19:14. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
Endnote 289 (back): Daniel 7:11a. Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking.
Endnote 290 (back): Mark 13:26. At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
Luke 21:27. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
Revelation 1:7. Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all peoples on earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.
Acts 1:11. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Endnote 291 (back): Revelation 19:13. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.
Endnote 292 (back): Revelation 1:13. …and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. [Revelation 1:17-18 reveals this to be Jesus.]
Endnote 293 (back): Revelation 19:16. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Endnote 294 (back): Ezekiel 33:11. Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! …’
Ezekiel 18:23. “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” declares the Sovereign LORD. “Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?”
Matthew 18:14. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.
2 Thessalonians 2:10b. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
2 Peter 3:9. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Endnote 295 (back): Revelation 1:15b. … and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.
Endnote 296 (back): Revelation 19:12a. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. [See also Revelation 1:14.]
Endnote 297 (back): 2 Thessalonians 2:8. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.
A similar description is seen in the following. “The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him; his rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure; one little word shall fell him.” Martin Luther, A mighty Fortress is Our God, verse 3.
Endnote 298 (back): Zechariah 14:13. On that day people will be stricken by the LORD with great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another.
Endnote 299 (back): Zechariah 14:13. On that day people will be stricken by the LORD with great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another.
Endnote 300 (back): Revelation 14:17-19. Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.
Endnote 301 (back): Zechariah 14:12. This is the plague with which the LORD will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
Endnote 302 (back): Revelation 19:21. The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
Endnote 303 (back): Daniel 7:11. Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire.
Daniel 7:26. But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever.
Revelation 19:20. But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
Isaiah 16:4b. The oppressor will come to an end, and destruction will cease; the aggressor will vanish from the land.
Endnote 304 (back): Isaiah 24:21-22. In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days. [Both the demonic princes (including Apollyon/Christopher) and their earthly counterparts will be punished. The faces of those on Earth change (e.g., Hitler, Stalin), but the demonic princes remain the same.]
Endnote 305 (back): Revelation 14:19-20. The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia. [1,600 stadia is about 180 miles or 300 kilometers. The Kidron Valley, also known as the Valley of Jehoshaphat is on the east side of the Old City of Jerusalem, which is about 100 miles from Petra. The other 80 miles presumably accounts for the forces gathered by the “kings from the East,” referenced in Revelation 16:12.]
Joel 3:12-13. Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side. Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow—so great is their wickedness!”
Isaiah 63:1-4. 1 Who is this coming from Edom [that is, southern Jordan], from Bozrah [that is, Petra], with his garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? “It is I, proclaiming victory, mighty to save.” Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress? “I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. It was for me the day of vengeance; the year for me to redeem had come.” [Isaiah sees Christ coming from Bozrah/Petra, his garments stained with the blood of the followers of the Antichrist.]
Revelation 19:15c. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.
Endnote 306 (back): Isaiah 34:2-3. The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is on all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter. Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will stink; the mountains will be soaked with their blood.
Endnote 307 (back): Zechariah 14:6-7. On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. It will be a unique day—a day known only to the LORD—with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light.
Endnote 308 (back): Revelation 1:16b. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
Revelation 22:5b. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
Endnote 309 (back): Matthew 25:21 and 25:23. [The two verses are identical.] His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!
Endnote 310 (back): Revelation 1:5b-6. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
Revelation 5:9-10. And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”
Revelation 20:4. I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Revelation 20:5b-6. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
Zechariah 2:10-12. “Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the LORD. “Many nations will be joined with the LORD in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. The LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.”
Endnote 311 (back): Isaiah 25:6-8. On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.
Hosea 2:19-20. I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD.
Revelation 19:6-9. Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.) Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”
Endnote 312 (back): Daniel 12:11-12. “From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days. [Assuming that the blessing of reaching the end of 1,335 days is to participate in the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, there are 45 days (i.e., 1,335 minus 1,290) during which the resurrection of the Tribulation saints will occur. This is further explained later in the Epilogue.]
Endnote 313 (back): Revelation 22:3a. No longer will there be any curse. [The curse is recorded in Genesis 3:17-19. To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”]
Endnote 314 (back): Revelation 22:17. The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
Endnote 315 (back): 1960, MGA/UA.
Endnote 316 (back): Luke 20:34-36. Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.
Endnote 317 (back): 1985, MGM/Universal.
Endnote 318 (back): Concerning what happens to the dead, the Bible presents a paradox. Just as today, Jews at the time of Christ’s ministry who believed in a resurrection saw it as a future event. This is evident in the discussion between the Sadducees and Jesus in Matthew 22:23-33, Mark 12:18-27, and Luke 20:27-40. The Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection did not believe in the resurrection and were attempting to trap Jesus in a logical conundrum. He answered them in kind, confirming that the resurrection is, in fact, a future event. What then of those who are dead but will be resurrected? The following verses indicate that the dead are totally unaware until the resurrection, which is a future event.
Psalm 6:5. Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave?
Psalm 115:17-18. It is not the dead who praise the LORD, those who go down to the place of silence; it is we who extol the LORD, both now and forevermore. Praise the LORD.
Isaiah 38:18-19. For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness. The living, the living—they praise you, as I am doing today; parents tell their children about your faithfulness.
Daniel 12:2. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.
Job 14:10-12. But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more. As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry, so he lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, people will not awake or be roused from their sleep.
Job 19:25-27. I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
Acts 2:29, 34. Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. … For David did not ascend to heaven …
And yet the following verses indicate an immediate or near-immediate transition into God’s presence:
Luke 23:43. Jesus answered him [the repentant thief on the cross next to Jesus], “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
2 Corinthians 5:8. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
Philippians 1:23. I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;
The theory I have presented here (that the dead exit time and go immediately to their resurrection either at the Rapture, or in the Kingdom, or at the “Great White Throne Judgment” of Revelation 20:11-15) offers a possible explanation for that paradox. For the repentant thief, for Paul, and for other Christians, as for Decker, the transition into the presence of God at their resurrection is immediate.
I realize that there are some who will object to this theory based on the story told by Jesus of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). The issue is whether the story Jesus told in Luke 16 is a parable or an actual event. (Note that this is not the same Lazarus whose story John reports chapter 11 and 12 of his gospel, and whom Jesus raised from the dead.) Those who believe that the story Jesus told in Luke 16 is based on an actual event, reason that because Jesus named one of the people (Lazarus) in that story and did not name characters in other known parables, then the story cannot be a parable but must be actual biography. But what is their authority for this assertion? There is no law or rule of parables that the teller cannot give names to his characters. Nor can we claim to know all of the parables Jesus told. John 21:25 states that there were a great many things that Jesus did (and presumably said) that were not written down. All that can be said with certainty, then, is that if Jesus did ever use names in parables, it was seldom. So, if the story of the rich man and Lazarus is a parable, there must be a reason for Jesus naming him. While we cannot know, can it really have been a coincidence that the only other Lazarus mentioned anywhere in the Bible (in John 11–12) soon did exactly what was spoken of by the rich man in the story (i.e., rose from the dead)? Or did Jesus give his character that name because he knew he would soon raise the real Lazarus, and that the Pharisees would respond with the same hard-heartedness at the resurrection of the real Lazarus as Abraham (in the story) said the rich man’s five brothers would have if the Lazarus (in the story) had been raised?
Those who believe that the story of the rich man and Lazarus is biography, also assert that Jesus gave far more detail in this story than he provided in known parables. On the contrary, in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-31), Jesus provides nearly twice as many words and far more detail, including what the pigs were fed, how the father arrayed the son when he returned, what they ate at the party, the fact that there was music and dancing, and even a conversation between the older brother and the father in which the prodigal son was not a party.
Those who accept the story of the rich man and Lazarus as biography rather than parable, must also explain away the verses in the first set listed earlier in this discussion: Psalm 6:5; Psalm 115:17-18; Isaiah 38:18-19; Daniel 12:2; Job 14:10-12; Job 19:25-27; and Acts 2:29 and 2:34. For how could the psalmist and Isaiah say that the dead do not praise God if, in fact, the dead were fully aware and sitting comfortably at Abraham’s side? Would they not be praising God? How could Job say that the dead are unaware and asleep “till the heavens are no more,” if they are able to feel comfort (as did Lazarus) and thirst (as did the rich man) and even able to carry on conversations with one another?
Finally, it should also be noted that from the context, we see that Jesus did not tell the story of the rich man and Lazarus to teach his disciples about what awaited those who died, but rather to rebuke the Pharisees (see Luke 16:14) for ignoring Moses and the Prophets, whom they claimed to represent.
Endnote 319 (back): See Chapter 7 of Acts of God for explanation and Scripture references.
Endnote 320 (back): This ordered approach is suggested in the following passage, especially by the use of the Greek word tagma meaning ordered as in progressive rows.
1 Corinthians 15:20-23. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order (tagma): Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
Endnote 321 (back): 1 Corinthians 15:50. I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Endnote 322 (back): See Chapter 5 of Acts of God.
Revelation 14:9-11. A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”
Endnote 323 (back): Matthew 25:31-46. “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Romans 14:10-11. You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’”
2 Corinthians 5:10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Revelation 20:5a. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.
Revelation 20:11-15. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Endnote 324 (back): 2 Peter 3:9. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Endnote 325 (back): 2 Thessalonians 2:10b. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
Endnote 326 (back): Revelation 18:21-24. Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again. The music of harpists and musicians, pipers and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again. No worker of any trade will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you again. The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world’s important people. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. In her was found the blood of prophets and of God’s holy people, of all who have been slaughtered on the earth.”
Endnote 327 (back): The coming of 1) the Messianic Kingdom and 2) a new heaven and a new earth are prophesied in both the Old and New Testaments (e.g., Isaiah 65:17; Revelation 20–21). But just as it was difficult (or perhaps impossible) to distinguish the first and second coming of Messiah prior to the first advent (indeed, the Apostles’ question to Christ in Acts 1:6 reveals they continued to wonder even to the last moment), in the same way, it is difficult (impossible?) to clearly distinguish some prophecies that describe the Kingdom from those describing the new heaven and new earth.
Endnote 328 (back): Isaiah 11:10-12. In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean. He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.
Daniel 7:18. But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever.’
Daniel 7:27. Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.’
Endnote 329 (back): See Ezekiel 47:13-48:29.
Endnote 330 (back): Isaiah 33:17. Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar.
Isaiah 33:20. Look on Zion, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken.
Endnote 331 (back): Isaiah 2:1-4. This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
Endnote 332 (back): Ezekiel 45:1-3 and 48:8-10. Whether this plateau is 25,000 cubits (about 8 miles) square or 25,000 reeds (about 50 miles square is disputed by scholars.
Endnote 333 (back): Ezekiel 40–43.
Endnote 334 (back): Jeremiah 3:16. In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the LORD, “people will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made.
Endnote 335 (back): Zechariah 14:8. On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.
Endnote 336 (back): In Acts 1:9 (below) the resurrected Jesus rose into the air. I am suggesting that such flight will be available to his resurrected followers, as well. Also, collectively, the verses below Mark 13:26-27, Jude 14-15, and Revelation 19:11 and 19:14 appear to indicate that Christ’s followers will be with him, suspended in the air (in flight), at the last battle.
Acts 1:9. After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
Mark 13:26-27. At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
Jude 14-15. See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Revelation 19:11, 14. I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. … The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
Endnote 337 (back): Examples of this type of travel, both by Christ and by the disciple Philip, are seen in the following verses.
Luke 24:31. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.
Luke 24:36-37. While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.
Acts 8:39-40. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
Endnote 338 (back): Revelation 22:1-2. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb…
Endnote 339 (back): Ezekiel 47:12. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”
Endnote 340 (back): Ibid.
Endnote 341 (back): Revelation 22:1-2. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. [This is likely the same tree of life that was in the middle of the Garden of Eden and mentioned in Genesis 2:9, 3:3, 3:17, 3:22, and 3:24. When Adam and Eve were banished from Eden, angels (cherubim) with a flaming sword were placed there to prevent humans from finding the tree.]
Revelation 2:7. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Genesis 2:9. The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Endnote 342 (back): Revelation 20:1-3. And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.
Revelation 20:7. When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison…
Endnote 343 (back): Isaiah 16:5. In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it—one from the house of David—one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.
Daniel 7:13-14. In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Zechariah 9:10b. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River [i.e., the Euphrates] to the ends of the earth.
Zechariah 14:9. The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.
Endnote 344 (back): Revelation 2:26. To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations…
2 Timothy 4:7-8. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Revelation 22:12. Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.
See also 1 Corinthians 3:13-15; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Colossians 3:23-24.
Endnote 345 (back): Revelation 20:4. I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Endnote 346 (back): Isaiah 65:21-23. They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them.
Endnote 347 (back): Isaiah 11:6-9. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 65:25. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the LORD.
Hosea 2:18. In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.
Endnote 348 (back): While few generally question the perpetuity of friendships or family relationships or in the Millennial Kingdom (i.e., he who was your father is still your father; she who was your sister is still your sister, etc.), Jesus’ answer to the Sadducees’ question (Matthew 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-40, a portion of which is provided below) calls into question the existence of marriages following the resurrection. Alfred Edersheim (The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Book 4, Peabody, Massachusetts, Hendrickson Publishers, 1993 pp. 750—751) concludes that the Sadducees’ question was a matter of law and property rights, and that Jesus’ words do not intend the dissolution of the husband and wife relationship but rather that in the Kingdom, legal matters, which was the true basis of the Sadducees’ question, will be of no consequence. That is, while the marriage relationship (unlike other familial relationships or friendships) is built upon a legal contract, it is not the legal contract that truly makes the marriage. On this, it should be recalled that though Adam and Eve were never ceremonially wed, they were nonetheless husband and wife, as well as father and mother. And, finally, the promise of Isaiah 65:23 (see below) that citizens of the Kingdom will have families and children and descendants in the Kingdom, strongly argues that there will also be husbands and wives.
Luke 20:35-36a, But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels…
Isaiah 65:23. They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them.
On a very different yet related point, there are some who conclude that Paul’s statement in Romans 8:29a (see below), indicates that citizens of the Kingdom will all be made male (i.e., even those who were previously female). They further reason that Jesus’ statement in Luke 20:35-36a (see above) should be interpreted to imply that all who are resurrected will be male because they assume all angels are male, which then explains why there is no marrying or giving in marriage. But, in fact, not all angelic beings are male — Zechariah 5:9 (see below) describes angelic beings that are clearly female. Faced with this point, one person has argued that the women Zechariah describes are not really angels because their wings are like the wings of a stork, which is an unclean bird (Leviticus 11:13, see below). The logic of this argument fails on several levels, but most obviously in this: eagles, too, are unclean, and yet the Bible speaks several times in a positive way of eagles’ wings (most notably Isaiah 40:31, see below). Additionally, one of the four living creatures that John describes in Revelation 4:6b-8a (see below) as being closest to the throne of God is “like a flying eagle.”
Romans 8:29a, For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…
Zechariah 5:9. Then I looked up—and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.
Leviticus 11:13-19. These are the birds you are to regard as unclean and not eat because they are unclean: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, any kind of black kite, any kind of raven, the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.
Revelation 4:6b-8a. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings.
Isaiah 40:31. but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Finally considering the promise of descendants and bearing children in Isaiah 65:23 (see above), the conclusion that all citizens of the Kingdom are male, requires the imagination to be stretched far more than would seem justified.
Endnote 349 (back): Isaiah 65:23. They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them.
Endnote 350 (back): C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life. (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1955; New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1955).
Endnote 351 (back): René Descartes, Discours de la Methode. Descartes reasoned further in this book to prove the existence of God.
Endnote 352 (back): Genesis 2:16-17. And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Endnote 353 (back): Isaiah 65:24. Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.
Matthew 6:8. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Endnote 354 (back): Ezekiel 47:7-11. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.