Always Existed.

 Man can only work with created things. Think about that. Man can manipulate any created matter, break it down, build it up, alter it in numerous ways, and destroy it. Scientists are all the time taking created matter and studying it down to its smallest form. Scientists make it a lifelong career of trying to discover new things. New cures, new forms, new things all from things already created. When man does succeed in creating new things, it's from manipulating old things into the new. Yes, mankind loves to believe that their science is everything, that spiritual matters have little to nothing at all to do with scientific things. So many scientists embrace atheism so they may believe that created things, created themselves. They want to imagine the origin of things - such as a big bang, the colliding of…. WAIT… a colliding of things created, things in existence already in order to collide. The explosion, the big bang, had to have created matter to make the explosion, the big bang. Nothing, absolutely nothing, CANNOT create something- that's an impossibility. While that is an impossibility, it is one that scientists refuse to believe. A big bang… of what? Nothing banging against nothing? Nothing exploding with nothing? You introduce elements that come together to explode you introduce created elements. Such a vicious circle for those who lack faith in the CREATOR of those elements. 

Personally, by the GRACE of my Creator, my Father in Heaven, my God, I have been blessed with comprehending that something cannot come from nothing, that something had to come from someone- my CREATOR, THE CREATOR, the Great I AM. The from EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING. 

You say my logic is faulty because who created the Creator? I say my faith comprehends the CREATOR is the all of all. 

My body, and the body of another created my two children. If my body had not had an essence from another body it could not have created my two children. The mysteries of pregnancy have been taken down to their smallest forms and in doing so mankind has been able to extract the essence of male and females and join them even outside of the bodies of those who created the essence. They've picked at the essence itself and isolated microscopic particles of that essence and have manipulated that too in order to change what might have been if left without manipulation. And still, they needed created things to do all that, down to the tiniest of forms. They say they are playing god, that they have the abilities of gods in their work. Not all say this of course, but there are those who do. There are those whose ego is so huge they take credit for things they have no business taking credit for. We all need to humble ourselves before our CREATOR and entrust to Him our very thoughts, anything we call our brilliant thoughts, our ideas that lead to brilliant discoveries come from our CREATOR. 

If you want to delve into the evil that exists, which perverts the beauty of God, you can do so. Read the following excerpt, the last in a series of excerpts I've posted lately. 

May God bless us with truth, only truth, give us the wisdom we need, the faith we need, all we need through our SAVIOR, Jesus Christ our LORD, now and forever!!!!!!!

Amen. 

*******

(Excerpt) 

REDEMPTION OF THE EARTH

But all the fruit of sin would not be destroyed if the earth were not redeemed from the curse. 

Peter says that as the earth once perished with water, so it will once again be changed by fire. After saying that the heavens and earth which are now, are reserved unto fire, against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men, and that the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the works that are in the earth shall be burned up, he continues: "Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter 3:13.

Jesus says, "Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth." Matt. 5:5. In Ps. 37:11 the same statement is made with an important addition: "But the  meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." And this proves that they do not inherit the earth in its present state, for Jesus said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation." John 16:33.

Were the curse never removed from the earth, the works of the devil would not all be destroyed.

Paul says that the saints now have the seal of the Spirit, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. Eph. 1:14. Both man and his dominion were brought under the curse of sin. Jesus died to redeem them both; the inheritance has been purchased, as well as man, and, as man, waits to be redeemed. But this cannot be while there is a sinner, or a remnant of sin, in it. 

For six thousand years the earth has been polluted by Satan and his works, sin and sinners. But all these will be burned up; then the earth will be once more pure as it was when it first came from the hands of its Maker. The lake of fire which destroys the wicked is the same that burns up the last remains of sin and the curse, and purifies the earth. 

In Revelation 20 this lake of fire is introduced: "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

The next chapter continues the scene: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea." 

Then will Adam be restored to his own Paradise, in his own dominion, given to him at the beginning. He lost them by sin; the second Adam restored them by His obedience and sacrifice. Then all the saints possess the earth, their long-lost home. Then, and not till then, will they appreciate the full force of the Saviour's words, "Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth." This time will surely come. 

We have so long lived amid sin and rebellion, have so long been accustomed to vice and wickedness, have so long been shut away from heaven and God, that we cannot realize that it will ever be otherwise. 

Now, upon this earth, unrighteousness is popular, and "he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey." Isa. 59:15. Here the righteous are vastly in the minority; but it is only here. When we remember the "innumerable company of angels," who are yet loyal to their God, we see that the righteous are really in the majority.

For a short time the devil has succeeded in defiling a small part, a very small part, of God's creation. God has permitted him for a time to go on with impunity, till he has fully developed the awful consequences of sin and rebellion against the all-wise Creator. He will serve as an example to all the intelligent creatures of God, that they may see the utter folly of disobeying the Almighty. 

God will soon wipe out the blot which Satan has made on His universe, by the utter destruction of Satan and all his works. Then will be fulfilled what God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. God "shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you; whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things." Acts 3:20, 21. 

As righteous men and loyal angels behold the punishment of wicked men and devils, they can sing, "Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." Rev. 15:3. 

When we look upon the awful condition of the world, we are sometimes tempted to question the wisdom of God in permitting such a state of things to continue so long. But we must remember that God is from everlasting to everlasting, the eternal One. Our world has existed but about six thousand years. Here is a man sixty years of age. It seems but a short time since he was a little boy; yet he has lived a one-hundredth part of the time that the world has stood. One hundred such men in succession would reach from the foundation of the world to the present time. Then how brief a period is the world's history! At the longest it is but a moment compared with eternity.

Think of the eternity that is past. Imagine the eternity to come. Remember that God's purposes reach from eternity to eternity. 

Then why should it be thought a thing incredible by us that God should permit the devil to continue in his rebellion so short a time, till he has fully developed his character and the consequences of sin? Again, this earth, as compared with all the worlds of God, is no more than a grain of sand in comparison with the whole universe. The sun alone is as large as thirteen hundred thousand worlds like ours. At the rate of thirty miles a day, it would take a man over two hundred and forty years to travel around it. The planet Jupiter is four hundred and ninety millions of miles distant from the sun. Its diameter is eighty-nine thousand miles, it being fourteen hundred times larger than the earth. The nearest fixed star is so far distant that it would require a ball moving at the rate of five hundred miles an hour, over four million five hundred thousand years, or seven hundred and fifty times the period which has elapsed since the foundation of the world, to reach it from this earth; many of these stars are thousands of times larger than our earth, and, probably, are all inhabited.

"Some astronomers have computed that there are not less than seventy-five million suns in the universe. The fixed stars are all suns, having, like our sun, numerous planets revolving around them. The solar system, or that to which we belong, has over thirty planets, primary and secondary, belonging to it. The circular field, or space which it occupies, is, in diameter, three billion six hundred million of miles, and that which it controls is much greater. The sun which is nearest neighbor to ours is called Sirius, distant from our sun about eight hundred and fifty-two millions of miles. Now if all the fixed stars are as distant from each other as Sirius is from our sun, or if our solar system be the average magnitude of those of all the seventy-five millions of suns, what imagination can grasp the immensity of creation? Who can survey a plantation containing seventy-five million of circular fields, each three billion six hundred million of miles in diameter? Such, however, is one of the plantations of Him who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, meted out heaven with a span, comprehended the dust in a measure, and 

weighed out the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance,-He who, sitting upon the orbit of the earth, stretches out heaven as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. Nations to Him are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance."-Christian Almanac. 

When we view the subject in this light, considering the infinitely small portion of creation which this earth really occupies, and the brief period of its history in sin, and remember that Satan's work has been confined to this small sphere, and that even this will soon be restored to its original condition, and that the devil will be punished for his crimes, all is reasonable, plain, and consistent. It is only when we take a narrow, contracted view of the matter that we are led to question the wisdom of God's dealings with this world. 

Happy day! May it soon dawn! Then will be realized the glorious scene described in Rev. 5:13: "And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." 

Dear reader, when the present unhappy state of our world has passed away, when sin and wickedness are no more, when devils and wicked men have been destroyed for their crimes, when the earth shall bloom as the garden of Eden, "when the times of restitution of all things" come, may it be our happy lot to have a part in this joyful song of praise to God and the Lamb. Amen

Angels: Their Nature and Ministry-  (Excerpt - Ended) Revised by J.H. Waggoner.  1891 by Pacific Press Publishing Co.)

Satan Destroyed

 (Excerpt)  THE DESTRUCTION OF SATAN

Will Satan be destroyed? This question may seem strange to some, for we are aware that there are some who regard the eternity of Satan as well settled in their minds as the eternity of God. In the popular opinion the devil and his angel will never cease to exist, but live to all eternity in hell, blaspheming God and tormenting the lost. 

But is this reasonable? Is it scriptural? For God to perpetuate the existence of the devil and all the wicked, would not benefit them; they are lost beyond recovery, and their punishment is not reformatory. Could a God of love and mercy take delight in such a scene of woe and suffering? Is it necessary to keep such an example eternally in view of the saints and angels to keep them in subjection? Shall such a foul blot eternally remain to mar the beauty and happiness of God's fair universe? 

No; such a thought is as abhorrent to reason as it is opposed to the Bible. Truth and righteousness are alone enduring and eternal. Sin and sinners are both abnormal developments, at war with the Creator and Governor, and, in the very nature of things, must come to an end. God once had a clean universe, and he will have it again. 

The Bible teaches that both wicked men and demons will be destroyed, and cease to pollute God's kingdom and government. Speaking of the humiliation of Christ, Heb. 2:14 says; "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood. He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil."

Then, as surely as He died, so surely will He destroy the devil, for the object of His death will be accomplished. We have seen that the covering cherub of Ezekiel 28 is the devil. God says of him; "I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness; I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more." 

Here we see that Satan is to be brought to ashes upon the earth, and that he will then cease to exist, for he "never shall be any more." He is the king of rebels. For him God will prepare the lake of fire. All who follow his ways will with him be cast into it. To the wicked the Lord will say, "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Matt. 25:41. 

Upon the same subject the prophet says: "For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it." Isa. 30:33. 

The devil will be blotted out of existence, and all his works with him. Wicked men are the works of the devil. See Matt. 13:38, 39. "The tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil." Will they be destroyed? Let John answer; "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." I John 3:8. 

Not only will the devil himself be destroyed, but those also who have followed his ways. Says David, "All the wicked will He destroy." Ps. 145:20.

The Lord says by His prophet: "Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the

proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Mal. 4:1. 

Jesus said to His disciples, "I am the vine, ye are the branches." John 15:5. The followers of Christ are branches of the Heavenly Vine, because they bear heavenly fruit by strength drawn from Him.

In Rev. 14:18 an angel cries to the reaper on the white cloud, "Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe." 

As Christ is the Heavenly Vine, of which the Father is the Husbandman, so Satan is the vine of the earth; his followers bear fruit that is "earthly, sensual, devilish." They are confederated in clusters of all kinds; but they do not gather with Christ. Root and branch will be destroyed together. Said Jesus, "Every plant, which my Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up." Matt. 15:13. Not a vestige of them shall be left to mar the creation of God. In harmony with this, the book of Revelation speaks of a time when "every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." Rev. 5:13. 

The word of the Lord says; "Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth; much more the wicked and the sinner." Prov. 11:31. 

When the earth is made new, the righteous will have it for an everlasting possession. But they will have a reign of a thousand years in the city of God in heaven. The wicked have their recompense in the earth, for it is here and here only that they suffer their punishment. In this sense they are recompensed in the earth "much more" than the righteous. Peter says; "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Peter 3:7. This present earth is reserved unto fire; for "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." Verse 10. This shows that not yet the devil and the wicked are suffering in the fire unto which they are appointed. Jesus says that their departure into fire is after He comes in His glory. Matt. 25:31-41. 

Peter says that this earth will melt with fervent heat in the day of perdition of ungodly men. And so the book of Revelation. When Satan gathers the hosts of the wicked about the camp of the saints and the beloved city, fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them. This is after the thousand years, after the resurrection of the wicked dead. This is the fire that melts the earth, and burns up everything that pertains to sin and the curse. This is the fire of gehenna, for the melted earth will be the lake of fire in which Satan and his angels, and all his followers, will be destroyed; when all that do wickedly shall be burned up and left neither root nor branch. Here the controversy between righteousness and iniquity is ended.

Now what has Satan gained by his rebellion?-Nothing but the miserable satisfaction of having done evil for a season. He has lost all the joys of heaven, the pleasure there is in doing right, and the consciousness of being pure and innocent, and the happiness of being the friend of God. But above all he has lost eternal life. Had he remained obedient to God, he would have lived to all eternity without pain, or sickness, or the fear of death. But now he has to die-to sink into the darkness of everlasting oblivion. Oh, what an awful thought it must be to Satan, who once occupied such an exalted position in heaven! Can we suppose that the devil has been happy for the last six thousand years, in the woe and misery that he has produced in the world?-No; it is impossible. And what shall be said of those of Adam's race who have been his willing dupes and followers? They have been warned, they have been entreated, by the terrors of death, by the joys of eternal life, by the preciousness of the blood of Jesus shed for them, to turn and live; but against all they have turned away to ruin. Now they appreciate the question of the Saviour: "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul" (or life)? When this is lost, all is lost. To them is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Jude 13

Angels: Their Nature and Ministry-  (Excerpt - for continuing study) Revised by J.H. Waggoner.  1891 by Pacific Press Publishing Co.)

State of the Dead

Do you have questions about the state of the dead, or are you sure on your position, so sure you would risk your eternal life upon your belief? Before you answer a quick yes, tell me one thing… can you back your beliefs by irrefutable Biblical fact? Or are your beliefs simply the beliefs of your religion, the beliefs of your father and mother, beliefs inherited. Have you taken your beliefs and had them reinforced by Biblical truth? Not just a verse here and there, but several verses. Not just a parable twisted to mimic a desired reality, a cherished tradition. But a deep dive into proper translations, into the semantics of it all. Not taking the easy way out by believing what you are told. You might not know Hebrew, or Greek, you may not be familiar with the many translations of the Bible, but this shouldn't stop you from being able and willing to learn from others who know- who have made this kind of studying their life's work. Not just a single Biblical scholar but use several. Go to the many Bible commentaries, dictionaries, histories. You have the resources at your fingertips. Most importantly, if you should chose to undergo this sort of study- one that may impact your eternal life, PRAY! Pray that truth and truth only is revealed to you! Pray that any misconceptions no matter how deep rooted are done away with. Let the Holy Spirit be your guide, your only guide. If you want a superficial walk with Christ, that's what you'll have. If you want truth then go beneath the surface - be willing to take something you believe and hold it up to the scrutiny of the word of God!

May the Lord Jesus Christ guide you in all ways, in all things, giving you forgiveness, salvation, eternal life in Him! 

(The following excerpt isn't the beginning of a study on the state of the dead…it's a continuing study on Angels- if you truly desire to study the state of the dead go here… )

https://sites.google.com/site/whostosaywereright2/Home/immortality-of-the-soul-is-it-a-scriptural-doctrine

(Excerpt)

THE JUDGMENT OF THE WICKED

We have seen that the righteous dead are raised from the grave, and the righteous living changed, and all taken to heaven, when Jesus comes. The wicked are slain upon the earth at that time. In Rev. 19:1-10 the saints are seen in heaven, just delivered, singing songs of praise, and partaking of the marriage supper of the Lamb. Verses 11-21 relate the destruction of the nations. The first three verses of chapter 20 say that an angel comes down from heaven, binds Satan, and casts him into the abyss, there to remain one thousand years. Having thus disposed of the wicked and of the devil for a thousand years, John again turns his attention to the saints, and reveals their occupation during this thousand years: 

"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived

not again until the thousand years were finished." 

Then there are two resurrections, and they are one thousand years apart. Verse 6 says they are blessed and holy that have part in the first resurrection, and of course they who have part in the second resurrection are the wicked. They are dead and in their graves during the thousand years, but they will live again when the thousand years are finished. Thus we see that the first resurrection, that of the righteous, takes place at the beginning of the thousand years, and the second, that of the wicked, at the end of that time. Rev. 20:1-6.

Of the righteous John says that judgment was given unto them, and that they reigned with Christ a thousand years. What judgment is to be given to them?-It is the judgment of the wicked, an examination of their cases, for the saints are to judge the wicked, and also the fallen angels. Says Paul: "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?" 1 Cor. 6:2, 3. This testimony is very plain and direct, and proves that the judgment of which he speaks is not a judgment in this life. Again he says: "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." 1 Cor. 4:5.

When the Lord comes, all secrets will be laid open, and the saints will unite in judging the world; for then they will be perfected and will know as they are now known. 1 Cor. 13:9-12. Daniel speaks to the same effect. He says: "I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High." Dan. 7:21, 22. By all this we see that the saints are in heaven during the thousand years, judging the wicked who have not had a resurrection. All the deeds of the wicked are written in books; these books are opened before God, and they are judged by what is found written in the books. Rev. 20:12. During the thousand years the saints will have access to these records, from which they can see and know what is the just desert of each one of the lost. They will unite with Christ in the judgment and condemnation of the wicked. At the end of this time, Christ and all

the saints will come down to the earth. Jesus will stand upon the Mount of Olives, from which he ascended, and the mountain will part asunder and become a great plain. Zech. 14:4, 5. The holy city comes down and rests upon this plain. The wicked, being raised, are gathered by Satan around the city. Seeing what he has lost, and seeing those over whom he has often triumphed enjoying that glory with the Son of God, rage inflames his heart, and he leads his deceived ones up to the city in battle array. Vain effort! Then the judgment written will be executed upon Satan and all his hosts. Says Jude: "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that

are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." Verses 14, 15.

Angels: Their Nature and Ministry-  (Excerpt - for continuing study) Revised by J.H. Waggoner.  1891 by Pacific Press Publishing Co.)

Satan Bound.

 Do you want to know what happens to Satan when Jesus Christ returns? This Bible study reveals that truth right there in God's Holy Word!

Did the ancient realm of Babylon really exist? Yes. 

Did the Medo-Persian rule really exist? Yes.

Did Alexander the Great conquer Medo-Persia for Greece? Yes.

Did the Roman Empire conquer Greece? Yes.

Did the Roman Empire dissolve into ten main realms? Yes.

Did you know the Bible predicted ALL the above? 

Did you know that there will never be another empire like the Roman Empire upon the earth? 

The Bible accurately predicted all that ancient history- but it didn't stop there. We are told that Jesus will return and destroy all the evil upon earth.  

Did you know that if all that was predicted above came to pass that there is NOTHING that can stop the rest from taking place? It's true.

If you want to know what happens to Satan upon Jesus' return, read on… study God's word! Look up the Bible verses, study like you've never studied before, search as if you're searching for a hidden treasure!  Yes, it's a long study, but the treasures of truth that are revealed are eternally priceless. God be with you opening your heart and eyes to all His truth, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior now and forever! AMEN!!!!!!!

(Excerpt) SATAN BOUND

In connection with the first resurrection, John had a view of the triumph of Jesus over the enemy who shut up man in the prison of death. The resurrection of the just takes place at the coming of Christ, as the apostle says: "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. 

John's vision of these events is described as follows:-

"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled; and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon

their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." Rev. 20:1-5.

To understand the full meaning of this text we must examine the subject of the sanctuary-one of the most important and instructive subjects presented in the Bible. The meaning of the word "sanctuary," as given by the best authorities, is "a holy or sanctified place, a dwelling-place of the Most High." (Cruden.) The Lord commanded Moses, saying, "And let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them." Ex. 25:8. But the sanctuary built by Moses, and used so long by the children of Israel for the offering of sacrifices and the service of the priests, was only a type of the real sanctuary in heaven, where Christ, our great High Priest, now officiates, Heb. 8:1-6; 9:1-24.

In the typical sanctuary service every day in the year the people brought their offerings to the tabernacle and confessed their sins over them. The sacrifices were then slain, and the blood, representing the life of the victims over which the sins were confessed, was taken into the sanctuary. Thus the sins of those who made their confessions were conveyed from themselves into the sanctuary during the entire year. Heb. 9:1-7; Lev. 1:3; 4:1-7. At the end of the year the high priest presented two goats before the door of the sanctuary, and cast lots upon them. One lot was for the Lord, and the other for the scapegoat. Lev. 16:1-8. The one upon which the Lord's lot fell was then slain, and his blood was taken into the sanctuary, and by it the sins taken there by the high priest (for he acted in behalf of the people) were atoned for. Verses 9-19. Then these sins were taken out of the sanctuary and placed upon the head of the scapegoat, and he bore them away to a land not inhabited. Verses 20-22. All this was typical of Christ's ministration in the true sanctuary above. Heb. 8:1-5. Therefore, Christ will minister in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary till the day of atonement or judgment. During this time the sins of God's people are conveyed, by faith in the blood of Jesus, into the heavenly sanctuary. At the day of atonement, the blood of the Lamb of God will be offered to cleanse the heavenly sanctuary from these sins.

According to the pattern, when the heavenly sanctuary is cleansed by the blood of the Lamb of God, the sins of the righteous will be conveyed by the High Priest (Christ) and placed upon the head of the scapegoat, who will then be sent into a land not inhabited. Now we inquire, Who is this scapegoat? The following testimonies afford satisfactory information on the subject:-  

"The Scapegoat.-The next event of that day, after the sanctuary was cleansed, was the putting of all the iniquities and transgressions of the children of Israel upon the scapegoat, and sending him away into a land not inhabited, or of separation. It is supposed by almost everyone that this goat typified Christ in some of his offices, and that the type was fulfilled at the first advent. From this opinion I must differ, because: 1. That goat was not sent away till after the high priest had made an end of cleansing the sanctuary. Lev. 16:20, 21. Hence that event cannot meet its antitype till after the end of the 2300 days (1844). 2. It was sent away from Israel into the wilderness, a land not inhabited. If our blessed

Saviour is its antitype, He also must be sent away,-not His body alone, but soul and body (for the goat was sent away alive)-from, not to, nor into, His people, neither into heaven, for that is not a wilderness, nor a land not inhabited. 3. It received and retained all the iniquities of Israel; but when Christ appears the second time, He will be without sin. 4. The goat received the iniquities from the hand of the priest, and he sent it away. As Christ is the Priest, the goat must be something else besides Himself, which He can send away. 5. This was one of the two goats chosen for that day, of which one was the Lord's, and was offered for a sin offering; but the other was not called the Lord's, neither offered as a sacrifice. Its only office was to receive the iniquities from the priest, after he had cleansed

the sanctuary from them, and bear them into a land not inhabited, leaving the sanctuary, priest, and people behind, and free from their iniquities. Lev. 16:7-10, 22. 6. The Hebrew name of the scapegoat, as will be seen from the margin of verse 8, is Azazel. . . . The Syriac has Azail, the angel (strong one), who revolted. 7. At the appearing of Christ, as taught in Revelation 20, Satan is to be bound and cast into the bottomless pit, which

act and place are significantly symbolized by the ancient high priest's sending the scapegoat into a separate and uninhabited wilderness. Thus we have the Scripture, the definition in two ancient languages, both spoken at the same time, and the oldest opinions of the Christians, in favor of regarding the scapegoat as the type of Satan."-Crozier.

On this subject Dr. Charles Beecher, "Redeemer and Redeemed," p. 66, says: "Two goats were to be presented before the Lord by the high priest. They must be exactly alike in value, size, age, color,-they must be counterparts. Placing these goats before him, the high priest put both his hands into an urn containing two golden lots, and drew them out, one in each hand. On the one was engraved 'La-Yehovah' (for Jehovah); on the other, 'La-Azazel' (for Azazel). "The goat on which the lot La-Yehovah fell was slain. After its blood had been sprinkled in the holy of holies, the high priest laid his hands on the head of the second goat, confessed the sins of the congregation, and gave him to a fit man to lead away and let go in the wilderness, the man thus employed being obliged to wash his clothes and person before returning to the congregation." With regard to what this scapegoat represents, he says that "one opinion is that Azazel is a proper name of Satan. In support of this the following points are urged: The use of the preposition implies it. The same preposition is used on both lots, La-Yehovah, La-Azazel; and if the one indicates a

person, it seems natural that the other should, especially considering the act of casting lots. If one is for Jehovah, the other would seem for some other person or being, not one for Jehovah, and the other for the goat itself. What goes to confirm this is that the most ancient paraphrases and translations treat Azazel as a proper name. The Chaldee paraphrase and the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan would certainly have translated it if it was not a proper name; but they do not. The Septuagint, or oldest Greek version, renders it by άποποµπαιος [Apopompaios], a word applied by the Greeks to a malign deity, sometimes appeased by sacrifices. Another confirmation is found in the book of Enoch,

where the name Azalzel, evidently a corruption of Azazel, is given to one of the fallen angels, thus plainly showing what was the prevalent understanding of the Jews at that day. Still another evidence is found in the Arabic, where Azazel is employed as the name of the evil spirit. In addition to these, we have the evidence of the Jewish work Zahar, and of the Cabalistic and Rabinical writers. They tell us that the following proverb was current among the Jews: 'On the day of atonement, a gift to Sammael.' Hence Moses Gerundinensis feels called to say that it is not a sacrifice, but only done because commanded by God.

"Another step in the evidence is when we find the same opinion passing from the Jewish to the early Christian church. Origen was the most learned of the fathers, and on such a point as this, the meaning of a Hebrew word, his testimony is reliable. Says Origen: 'He who is called in the Septuagint, [Greek] (Apopompaios), and in the Hebrew, Azazel, is no other than the devil.'

Lastly, a circumstance is mentioned of the Emperor Julian, the apostate, that confirms the argument. He brought as an objection against the Bible that Moses commanded a sacrifice to the evil spirit-an objection he never could have thought of if Azazel had not been generally regarded as a proper name. "In view, then, of the difficulties attending any other meaning, and the accumulated evidence in favor of this, Hengstenberg affirms with great

confidence that Azazel cannot be anything else but another name for Satan."-Id., pp. 67, 68.

In conclusion on this point, Dr. Beecher says: "Would it not be strange if, in all the symbols of the sacrificial system, there was not a single intimation of the serpent's existence? And where should we expect to see his baleful shadow, if not here on this great day of atonement?"-Id., p. 73. 

In addition to these decisive testimonies, we offer the following from German commentators. Dr. A. Sulzberger, in Christliche Claubenslehre, pp. 101, 102, says:-

"The next time Satan appears no longer in the dark, disguised as a beast, but as a spiritual, personal being, in the desert, known under the name of Asasel (Lev. 16:8), to whom, on the day of atonement, one of the two goats, laden with the sins of the people, is sent, in order to bring these sins to the father of all sin, and to inform him that the atonement for the people has been made, and that he, as accuser of the people, has consequently no claim on those whose sins have been expiated.

"That under Asasel a spiritual personality, and this the head of the evil spirits, is meant, becomes evident from the fact that of the two goats which are first brought before Jehovah, one is offered to Jehovah, and the other, laden with sin, is sent to Asasel into the wilderness, the abode of demons. From the relation into which Asasel is brought here to Jehovah, it becomes evident that on both sides stand personal beings; opposite to the personal Jehovah can only stand the personal Satan. With this view side Hengstenberg, Kurtz, Gesenius in his 'Thesaurus,' Delitzsch, Keil, etc." 

To this he adds the following note:-

[Word printed in Hebrew script] from the root [another word printed in Hebrew script] to remove, and expressing a higher degree of the same, signifies, according to the definitions of many Rabbins, Rosenm¸ller, Hengstenberg ('The Books of Moses,' p. 166), Gesenius ('Thesaurus'), Ewald ('Antiquities,' p. 402), Vaihinger (Herzog's Real Encyclopedia, I, p. 634), 'the one completely removed.' According to Baumgarten, 'the apostate.' According to the LXX, [Greek], averruncus, a demon, who is driven far away."

August D‰schsel, "Commentary in Loco," says:

"The word [printed in Hebrew script] (La-Asasel), which occurs in the whole Bible only in this chapter, Leviticus 16, and here only four times, is differently explained by different interpreters." "Most interpreters, however, and this justly, appeal to the fact that to the first

lot-'for the Lord'-only such a second could correspond, upon which, likewise, the name of a personal being, or a proper name, comes. Now they take Asasel in this sense, 'The one wholly removed, the one completely separated,' and understand herewith the devil, the originator of sin, the head of the fallen angels, who is called, in the book of Job, Satan, and by the Rabbins, Sammael." 

Also A. Kinzler, "Biblische Alterth¸mer," p. 215, says:-

"The most singular fact in all the ceremonies of the day of atonement is the proceeding with the second, the living goat, which is driven, laden with the sins of the people, into the desert, for Asasel. The latter word occurs in the whole Bible only in this chapter, Leviticus 16, and signifies neither the solitary wilderness, nor the respective goat itself (Luther, 'the free goat'), nor 'for entire removal;' the words, 'a lot for Jehovah and one for Asasel,' demand, without question, that Asasel is to be considered as a personal being, who is placed in contrast with Jehovah. One can think in this only of the ruler in the realms of the demons, of Satan."

Thus we see that it is susceptible of very clear proof that Satan is the great antitype of the scapegoat. Indeed, we can come to no other conclusion. How fitting, how just it is that Satan, the great author of sin, should receive back upon his own head the sins and transgressions into which he has led God's people!  In the type they brought the scapegoat "alive before the Lord," and the high priest confessed "over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat." So it will be in the antitype. Satan will be arraigned, and Christ, his

conqueror, will place upon him the sins and iniquities which he has caused the Lord's people to commit, and send him away into a "land not inhabited." This is that to which reference is made in the text quoted at the beginning of this section. Rev. 20:1-5. That old serpent, Satan, is bound a thousand years, and shut up in the bottomless pit, the abyss.

We can plainly see in this the antitype of the scapegoat. But he was sent into the wilderness, a land not inhabited. Then it is an important point for us to determine what this bottomless pit is, into which Satan is to be cast. If, on examination, we find it to be a "wilderness," or a desolate place, this will confirm the truthfulness of our position, that Satan is the antitype of the scapegoat. Rev. 20:3 says that Satan was cast into the bottomless pit. Rev. 9:1-3 locates the bottomless pit on the earth: "And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven [where to?] unto the earth; and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit."

What is the meaning of the term "bottomless pit"? The idea commonly attached to it is that of an eternally-burning hell. But this is not the Bible meaning of this term. Its primary

signification is, a dark place, a waste, a wilderness, an uninhabited region. The original word, abussos, which, in Rev. 20:1-3, is rendered bottomless pit, is in other places rendered deep. Thus Gen. 1:1, 2: "In the beginning God created the  heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness  was upon the face of the deep," or the bottomless pit. The word is literally the abyss, as given by the American Bible Union. Thus, Rev. 20:1-3: "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the abyss." This, compared with Gen. 1:2, "Darkness was upon the face of the deep," the abyss, or bottomless pit, locates this place very definitely. It is the face of this earth in its dark, void, chaotic state.

Then if, in the future, Satan is to be cast into the deep, or abyss, this earth must be reduced back to its original chaotic state, so that it shall be without form and void, and darkness upon the face of the deep. Will this ever be? Listen to Jeremiah, who had a vision of the future condition of the earth (chap. 4:19-28): "I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled; suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?" He then

Gives the result of this sound of the trumpet, alarm of war, and destruction upon destruction: "I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light." Compare this with Gen. 1:2: "The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." Then the time is coming when this earth will be reduced back to its original condition. But  he continues: "I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate."

The prophets plainly declare that all the earth will be desolate of its inhabitants and turned into a wilderness, so to remain for a period of a thousand years. Remember that it was a place similar to this into which the scapegoat was turned; i. e., a wilderness, a land not inhabited. This is the place where Satan, the great antitypical scapegoat, is to be bound a thousand years. Rev. 20:1-5 places the commencement of this period at the time of the resurrection of the blessed and holy, which is shown by 1 Thess. 4:16 to be at the second advent of our Lord. The battle of the great day, by which all the enemies of the Lord are

slain (Revelation. 16; Jeremiah 25), takes place at that time. So that is the time of the binding of the dragon and the desolation of the earth. And as this battle takes place in "the day of the Lord," and as the utter and final overthrow of the wicked at the end of the thousand years of Revelation 20, also takes place in the day of the Lord, according to 2 Peter 3:7-10, it follows that the thousand years are in that period covered by this phrase, "The day of the Lord." Of course in that day the desolation occurs. Thus Isaiah says: "Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty." "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it." Chap. 13:6, 9. "For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof [Idumea] shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up forever; from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever." Chap. 34:8-10.

The expressions "forever and ever" and "from generation to generation" show that the earth will be desolate for no short period of time. As we have seen, this desolation of the earth takes place at the beginning of the day of the Lord,-the commencement of the thousand years. This is also the time when Jesus makes His second advent, for He is the one who destroys the nations. Ps. 2:7-9. In Revelation 19 His advent is described, together with the destruction of the nations and the desolation of the earth: "And I saw heaven

opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written,  that no man knew, but He Himself. And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. . . . Out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations; and He shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and  gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with

which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth; and all the fowls were filled with their flesh." Verses 11-21. This leaves the world desolate of its inhabitants. The prophet continues: "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit [abyss] and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and

set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled." Rev. 20:1-3. Thus we see that just as soon as the earth is made a wilderness, Satan is cast into this desolate region to remain a thousand years. But where are God's people at this time? They are caught up to meet the Lord, and are taken to heaven, where they reign with Christ during the thousand years. Paul says: "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. Jesus directly states that the saints will go to heaven. (Compare John 7:32-34; 13:33-36.) Then He tells them when and how

they shall go there: "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I

would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:2, 3. This shows that the saints will be taken to heaven when the Lord comes. In Rev. 19:1-10 John sees the saints in heaven, after their deliverance, praising God: "And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God." At His second coming Jesus takes His people to heaven, to that  place which He has prepared for them. The wicked, as we have seen, are all slain upon the earth.

Thus Revelation 19 presents us with these two grand facts: (1) The deliverance of the saints and their triumphant entry into heaven. Verses 1-10. (2)  The destruction of the wicked upon the earth. Verses 11-21. Thus the earth is left entirely desolate, without an inhabitant. The next verses describe the binding of Satan, and his being cast into the earth. Rev. 20:1-3. A query may arise as to how Satan is bound. Evidently in this manner: The saints are all in heaven beyond his reach. The wicked are all dead and in the earth; and

hence they are out of his reach. Thus the devil is bound, having nothing to do but to roam up and down this desolate earth and meditate upon his sad condition. And it would also seem that he is confined to this earth, and not allowed to go to other worlds. That the wicked are not raised till the end of the thousand years is directly stated in Rev. 20:4-7: "They [the saints] lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of dead [the wicked] lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." It was through the devices of the devil that the human family was led into sin, and brought under the dominion of death. Since that time he has ruled in the kingdoms of this world. He has stirred up men to war and carnage, till at last, at the beginning of the thousand years, the whole earth is desolated of its inhabitants. It is now one vast heap of ruins, of crumbling palaces, smoking villages, and forsaken cities. On every hand, in every clime, is written, in characters of blood, Ruin, Destruction, and Desolation. Thorns and brambles grow in the streets of once populous cities; wild beasts and satyrs roam through

forsaken temples, and the doleful wind moans through their silent chambers. Ghastly skeletons of the dead lie strewn over all the earth. The clouds above are black, and the earth beneath sends up fire and smoke, according to the words of Isa. 34:8-10. 

When this is fulfilled, in what awful state the earth will be! Fire and brimstone on the face of the earth, and clouds and thick darkness above it! This is to be the home, this the kingdom, of the devil and his angels for one thousand years! How changed the scene from the years of his triumph! He tempted, persecuted, and martyred the righteous without any mercy. But now his power is broken. The strong man armed has been bound by a stronger than he, and his house has been spoiled of its goods. Luke 11:21, 22. Christ, the mighty

Conqueror, has bound the strong enemy, opened the grave, and brought forth the saints. They are now out of Satan's power, and he is bound before them. What a scene! The devil in chains before the God against whom he rebelled, before Christ, whom he despised, before the angels, whom he insulted, and before the saints, whom he persecuted and murdered. Behold him, majestic and terrible, even though fallen, as he stands and views

the scene of ruin, of desolation, and of terror, the work of his own hands. As he looks upon the dark visages around him, the faces of his companions in woe; as he beholds their features, like his own, haggard and worn; as he glances at the awful scenery around him, his thoughts wander back to Eden, to heaven, to the beautiful city of God. He remembers that he was once there, that he was a glorious and holy angel, the companion of Christ, the friend of God. He was then happy, because he was obedient. Heaven was his home. He was surrounded by beauty, innocence, and loveliness. But he rebelled against God, and behold the result! Could he repent, could he be forgiven, oh, how quickly he would embrace the opportunity! But no; he sinned against too much light and knowledge and grace ever to be forgiven. He has so deeply stamped rebellion into his very being that heaven must not again be imperiled by his influence. He caused the Son of God to be put to death, and all the universe now holds him in abhorrence, and justifies his condemnation. He must suffer the consequences of his sins; for a long, dreary thousand years he must wander up and down this dark, desolate earth, without employment, except with his own thoughts, to meditate upon his sad condition. Lack of employment, the absence of hope, the certainty of his final doom, and the wrath of God resting upon him-all these must

render him indescribably miserable. This is the harvest of evil-doing. He has fought God, but now the blows have rebounded upon his own head; he has persecuted the righteous, but now they are beyond his reach and triumphing over his downfall; he has ruined their beautiful home, and now it is his prison. Thus he has fulfilled the proverb: "Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall himself into his own pit; but the upright shall have good things in possession." Prov. 28:10. He must remain a thousand years in his own pit and suffer for his own evil deeds and for the sins of the righteous, which he instigated, and which have been justly laid upon him by Jesus the Son of God, our merciful High Priest. 

Angels: Their Nature and Ministry-  (Excerpt - for continuing study) Revised by J.H. Waggoner.  1891 by Pacific Press Publishing Co.)

Hear Our Prayer!

 In the year 2022, many years after Jesus pronounced that He would return for His saints, I am setting my face to the Lord God, I am far, far, infinitely far from being chosen of God as Daniel was chosen so wondrously so many years ago to do God's will. But I am using Daniel's prayer as an example. Daniel prayed as the prophecy of Jeremiah was being completed. Daniel understood that the 70 years of desolation in Jerusalem was soon to be up. I don't have a set time prophecy to begin my prayer with, I only know that one day my Lord and Savior will return and I can only hope and pray it is very, very soon. 

I set my face unto the Lord God- to seek by prayer and supplication, with a bit of fasting, in my ordinary clothes, and no ashes- just a painfully furrowed brow. I pray unto the LORD my GOD, I make my confession- 

O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love You and to them that keep Your commandments- WE have sinned. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. We have rebelled. We have departed from Your precepts. We have departed from Your judgments. Neither have we hearkened unto Your servants the prophets which speak in Your name through Your Holy Word. O Lord, righteousness belongs to You! But to us CONFUSION of faces. This day the men of God wherever they may be- YOUR people, those CALLED to be YOUR people - those who believe in Your Son Jesus Christ- to all of those who are near, or far - wherever they are because of their trespass that they (we) have trespassed against You. O Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to all of us, because we have sinned against thee over and over, and over again. To you, Lord our God, belongs MERCIES and FORGIVENESSES though we have rebelled against You!  We haven't obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in Your laws, which You set before us by Your servants the prophets. Yes, all of YOUR people have transgressed Your law, even by departing that they might not obey Your voice, therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against You! And You have confirmed Your words which You spoke against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing us a great evil, for under the whole heaven has not been done as has been done in the land of Your people worldwide! As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand Your truth! Therefore You have watched the evil and what it brought upon us, for You LORD our God are righteous in all YOUR works which YOU do, for we obeyed not Your voice. And now, O Lord our God, that brought us YOUR people throughout all the many, many ages, from Egypt You freed Your people miraculously with a mighty hand, and You have gotten renown to this day! We have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to ALL Your righteousness, I beseech You, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from the land of Your people, from the people who are waiting the NEW Jerusalem, because of our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, All Your people are a reproach to all that are about us. Now therefore, O our God, HEAR THE PRAYER OF YOUR SERVANT, and my supplications, and cause YOUR face to shine upon Your people who are desolate,  for the LORD'S sake. O my God, incline Your ear and hear, open thine eyes and behold our desolations, all that is called by Your name, for we do not present our supplications before You for our righteousnesses but for YOUR great mercies! O Lord, hear, O Lord, forgive, O Lord, hearken and do, defer not for Your own sake, O my God, for Your city, and Your people are called by Your name! 

O my God, forgive! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear! O Lord, for Your great mercies! O Lord, hear! O Lord, HEARKEN AND DO, DO NOT DEFER FOR YOUR OWN SAKE, O my God! FOR NEW JERUSALEM, O my God! FOR YOUR PEOPLE CALLED BY YOUR NAME!  Please, God! O Lord, please come soon! Let Daniel's prophecy spoken so many years ago be completely and utterly fulfilled down to the last bit! 

Dan 2:44  And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. 

Dan 2:45  Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. 

O my God of heaven! O my God, set up YOUR kingdom! Set up Your kingdom which shall NEVER be destroyed! O my God, set up Your kingdom which shall not be left to any others. O my Lord, set up Your kingdom which will break in pieces and consume ALL these kingdoms! O my God, set up Your kingdom which will stand FOREVER!

O my God, LET the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, let it break in piece the iron, the brass, the clay, the sliver and the gold! O my God, that all MUST come to pass, LET it come to pass! O my Lord, forgive us our iniquities, forgive us…forgive us… forgive us…forgive us…forgive us…forgive us…for give us! O my Lord, it SHALL come to pass, please fulfill it ALL please! O my God, that dream was certain, that interpretation was certain, please finish it. Not for our righteousness, we have none! But for the righteousness of YOUR SON, the LORD JESUS CHRIST, who sacrificed Himself for us, please, GOD, please hear our cry, hear our supplications, please hear us! Please, Just as Daniel prayed for understanding, we pray for understanding, please, Lord. THANK YOU! All thanksgiving, all honor, all glory unto YOU LORD GOD, ALL GLORY TO YOU!!!!!!!

Redeemed.

 

Satan Lies, Do You Believe Him?

 If dying isn't a punishment, but just a prelude to an instant eternal reward then why is dying at all such a big deal- other than the fact we leave behind people who love and miss us?

Death is not something we were intended to experience (death in all of its forms). God told the first couple that they would die if they disobeyed him. If death wasn't something detrimental, why would it be used as a punishment? 

Satan lied and said we wouldn't really die and guess what, the majority of people believe him. That death is an end and not just a continuance of life is Biblical truth, God's truth.

The words- 'The living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything- Eccl 9:5) It is RIGHT THERE IN GOD'S WORD.  I'm alive, I know I'll die… is that true? YES. Ergo 'the dead know not anything' must be true! If I KNOW not anything once I'm dead as the Bible says, then am I in heaven knowing things? NO!

Death- when we have a complete and utter end of our life- we think no more, we do nothing, we do not have a single thought after we die completely. I'm adding completely because a lot of people say they die when their life is interrupted temporarily - for medical reasons their hearts stop, their breathing stops but they are brought back to a living state. They say they died, but the truth is, they couldn't have died unless there is no coming back- without a miracle that is such as Lazarus. We have a lot of people who are considered brain dead all higher function ended, and so we believe what? All their ability to think is gone. There is no sense even trying to keep them alive because there is nothing of their brain to continue on giving them the thoughts they need to be considered living. We pull plugs, we take them off machines, we let them go- they are dead?

People have been deceived tragically and they don't even care when its pointed out to them. They don't want their cherished beliefs to end, they love those beliefs more than they love truth. They don't like those who bring them truth, they call them liars. They hold on so tightly to those beliefs nothing else matters to them.

Right now it may not seem like such a big deal, we say let them believe in their lies it hurts no one. They say everyone believes differently and God will sort it all out. 

God has given us HIS WORD. God has given us HIS TRUTH. If we ignore His word and His truth do you think will be rewarded for that? If He has sorted it out already and we have access to the sorted out truth right now, do you truly believe that we aren't supposed to know that truth?

I'm waiting for my Savior to return and ONLY when that happens will those who are dead right now be raised up from the dead and given their thoughts back at the same time they are given their immortal bodies. This is salvation, this is our reward, this is our eternal life that Jesus is preparing for those who love Him. 

Ask yourself this question-  if you believed Lazarus was raised from the dead then you have to believe that Jesus took Lazarus out of heaven and put him back on earth, why in the world would Jesus EVER DO THAT?! Wouldn't it have been better for Jesus to have Lazarus come back in his spirit form and tell everyone how wonderful heaven is?  Life immediately after death is NOT REAL! It's a lie!

The danger in believing lies is we no longer are believing truth and Jesus is the way, the truth, the life! 

Jesus left His disciples, His apostles on earth and before leaving He did not reassure them by telling them not to worry, they'd see Him in a little bit when they die, He NEVER said that! He told them that HE WOULD RETURN and that was what their hope would be, in the return of JESUS!

Satan has GRAND delusions planned for the very end times and those delusions are going to include in a huge way the belief in going right to heaven after death and living on. Don't be surprised if Satan's evil demons impersonate your loved ones who have died, what better way than to do that to get you to hold fast to the lies of Satan? The evil spirits will be able to impersonate our loved ones perfectly because they know all the secret things of our lives, just as God's angels, our guardian angels know all our lives every bit of it, every sin and every praise we've given to God- they know it all. How easy it is going to be to cement the lie into the hearts of people who have rejected the truth. They are going to use the evil spirit impersonated loved ones to cry out that they were right, that they are the ones with the truth, but it is ALL just a huge  deception of Satan's. Satan's net is ENORMOUS and he's filling it up with most of the earth's population, filling it up with his lies, his deceptions!

SEEK the truth please! I IMPLORE YOU! If you are reading this and you want the truth of the LORD seek it! Please! Don't believe my words, believe GOD'S words!

All through Jesus Christ our LORD, our SAVIOR now and forever!!!!!!! AMEN!

(Excerpt)

MAN IN PRISON

It is written in the Scriptures that "we must needs die." 2 Sam. 14:14. But this necessity was not according to God's original purpose or arrangement. God is the God of life. He has no pleasure in the death of any of His creatures. Eze. 18:23, 31, 32.

Eze 18:23  Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

Eze 18:31  Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? 

Eze 18:32  For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. 

He pronounced the sentence of death on Adam, but He had warned him against incurring the guilt that would certainly bring it; He peremptorily forbade his pursuing a course that would result in death. Gen. 2:16, 17. 

Gen 2:16  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 

Gen 2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

That the Lord loved man, and had a strong desire that he should live and not die, is shown in the wonderful provision He made to recover man from death. "Sin entered into the world, and death by sin." Rom. 5:12. And "he that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning." 1 John 3:8. By his deception and falsehood he led our first parents to sin; but as death inevitably follows sin, he who introduced sin introduced death. Therefore also it is said that he that had power of death is the devil. Heb. 2:14

Concerning the children of Rachel, the Lord promised that they should come again from the land of the enemy. Jer. 31:16. These children were cruelly put to death. See Matt. 2:16-18. Paul says that death is the last enemy. 1 Cor. 15:26. It is the last enemy, for when death overtakes us, no other enemy can reach us. Life is the first and the greatest of all blessings; so death is the greatest and last of all evils. 

They were under the power of death, under the dominion of Satan, for Satan, in introducing sin and death, opened the gates of the grave, that great prison house of mankind.

Sheol, the place of all the dead, is always spoken of as a realm of darkness, gloominess, and terrors; its inhabitants have neither light nor knowledge; all their hopes, their fears, their joys, their sorrows, their thoughts have perished. Let us hear the word of the Lord on this subject:- 

"For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished." Eccl. 9:5, 6. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Verse 10.  

Job, speaking of the condition of those who fall under the power of death, says: "Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." Job 14:20, 21. The Psalmist gives a striking illustration of the realms of death, as follows: "Wilt Thou show wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise Thee? shall Thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? or Thy faithfulness in destruction? shall Thy wonders be known in the dark? and Thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? "Ps. 88:10-12. And again; "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish" Ps. 146:4. And it is not merely their knowledge and thoughts of, and interest in, temporal things that have perished; they have lost their knowledge of God and their power to praise Him. "For in death there is no remembrance of Thee; in the grave who shall give Thee thanks?" Ps. 6:5. This does not refer to the grave as we consider that term; it speaks of sheol, the place of the dead in general; as Lange says, it refers to that place in which the soul of Christ was not left. Compare Ps. 16:10 and Acts 2:27, 31. We read again; "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Ps. 115:17. And yet again, where the contrast between the condition and the power of the dead and the living is shown in the most emphatic terms: "For the grave cannot praise Thee, death cannot celebrate Thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day." Isa. 38:18, 19. 

It was not in the order of God that man should come to such a condition as that described by these texts, or descend to such a state of darkness, gloom, and forgetfulness. It was all the work of the enemy, whose object it was to mar the perfect work of the Creator. Man in the grave is represented as being shut up in its darkness and gloom, as prisoners are shut up in a prison or dungeon. "There the prisoners rest together." Job. 3:18. 

Speaking of punishing the kings and high ones of the earth, the Lord says: "And they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit [or dungeon], and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited." Isa. 24:22. Such is the condition of all who go into the grave. 

But many, in all sincerity, believe that only a part of man dies; that a part of him returns to dust, and another part evades the penalty, and continues to live somewhere else, or in some other condition. Of this we find no intimation in the law, nor in the penalty,  nor in the sentence pronounced upon the sin. "The wages of sin is death." "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Rom. 6:23; Eze. 18:4. This being so, the whole question turns on this point, as to how much of man, or what part of man, committed the sin.

All that sinned must die. Recognizing the fact that man is constituted of parts, we cannot say that a part of  him sinned, and a part did not sin. 

While it is true that the wages of sin is death, it cannot be true that the real man, the truly responsible part of man, does not die.

If any part escapes the penalty, it ought to be that part which is the least responsible. But the Scriptures do not countenance such a theory. They, indeed, teach that man is constituted of different parts, but it takes the different parts to constitute the man. The man-the whole man-was involved in the sin, in the fall, and the whole man must suffer the penalty. 

No other doctrine than this is consistent with the scriptures we have quoted. In death there is no remembrance of God, no thanksgiving to Him. Death is the land of darkness and forgetfulness. In sheol there is no device, no knowledge, no affections. When man dies, his thoughts perish. All this we have read in plain terms in the Bible, and we must either believe it or deny it. Which will we do? 

It is this fact which makes the doctrine of the resurrection of such immense importance. Says Paul: "But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen; and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain; . . . for if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." 1 Cor. 15:13-19.

Here it is plainly shown that without a resurrection we have no hope beyond this life; and, with out a resurrection, they who are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. This is not according to the most popular view, that the dead are already in glory, which makes their salvation and happiness independent of the resurrection.

And again the apostle says, in verse 32:- "If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what doth it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die."

On this text Dr. Clarke makes a very appropriate and truthful comment, as follows:- "What the apostle says here is a regular and legitimate conclusion from the doctrine that there is no resurrection; for if there be no resurrection, then there can be no judgment-no future state or rewards and punishments; why, therefore, should we bear crosses, and keep ourselves under continual discipline? Let us eat and drink, take all the pleasure we can, for tomorrow we die; and that is the end of us forever." In this Dr. Clarke is quite correct. It is, indeed, the legitimate conclusion from the doctrine that there is no resurrection, but it is not the legitimate conclusion from that doctrine according to the more popular view that the dead are already saved in heaven, and glorified without the resurrection. According to the Scriptures man is truly in prison.

Angels: Their Nature and Ministry-  (Excerpt - for continuing study) Revised by J.H. Waggoner.  1891 by Pacific Press Publishing Co.)