This will be the 29th class in the Visions of the Kingdom Age series presented at the Cranston RI Ecclesiam having begun in 2014.
In this class we will look at a prophetic expression of the nature of the approaching Kingdom we hope to inherit and demonstrate how this frame of reference is common to a wide range of divine expressions, spotlighting a subtle comphehensiveness that is not evident in any other written material at any time in history from any other source other than the Bible. However, this insight is exclusively available to the enlightened community, due to correct understandings of gospel truths. This perfect harmony of all divine expressions offers a glimpse of that current hidden glory that is promised to be revealed in the age to come when enlightenment is no longer optional, when that greatest of all educating tools is imployed to teach mankind… the fear of God.
The prophetic reference we will start with is Isaiah 2:1-4
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, That the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; And he will teach us of his ways, And we will walk in his paths: For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 And he shall judge among the nations, And shall rebuke many people: And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruninghooks: Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war any more.
This particular prophecy is repeated again in Micah 4, just after the prophecy of how Jerusalem would be plowed like a field, which was done under the command of the Roman Emperor Hadrian in 135 CE.
This is an obvious prophecy of the Millennial Kingdom, where we see the extent of the kingdom of God not only being global with all nations flowing to Mt Zion in Jerusalem and submitting to the laws issuing from that city… but also that war will be eliminated and all military education centers will be closed… we read that they will not ‘learn’ war anymore. Let’s note in this context how the “mountain” of the Lord’s house will be established in the top of the mountains. We see this elevation status being emphasized in that this mountain of the Lord’s house is expressed as being exalted above the hills and acts as a draw for many people around the globe wanting to learn about the ways and paths of the God of Jacob.
This mountain identification is the issue we wish to address. But is this a prophecy about physical aspects or merely representative identification … as in a political or authoritarian elevation … or both?
First let’s recognize the mountain pattern identified not just with the restored Kingdom of God but other salvation identifications… such as the 3 salvation arks. Just as there will be 3 salvation events in the plan of God – 3 points when the faithful will be immortalized… there were 3 salvation arks projecting these salvation events. The 3 salvation events are 1st – Jesus Christ almost 2,000 years ago; the 2nd will be the saints at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom…which should be fairly soon and 3rd and last will be the 2nd set of saints just after the end of the Millennial Kingdom. The 3 salvation arks would be Noah’s ark, the golden ark of the covenant and of course… the antitypical ark of salvation – Jesus Christ. We have noted the similarly defining patterns of these 3 arks in the past… like the 3-6-8 pattern in each of them and how that salvation hope is always identified as being ‘in’ – or ‘within’, being inside – each of those arks. Another common identifying pattern with these 3 salvation arks would be their mountain identifications…. in much the same sense that Isaiah prophesies of the mountain identification of the kingdom and the mountain identification of God’s house and the mountain identification of those seeking an education in divine ways and laws.
Noah’s ark rested on the mountains of Ararat, which interestingly means the curse reversed. That was fascinating when I looked it up in Strong’s. Noah’s ark was the vehicle of salvation for man and beast and satisfies the binding theme of the 3-6-8 pattern in all 3 salvation arks. The ark was 300 cubits long, 30 cubits wide and 3 stories high. Noah was specifically 600 years old when that 8th person, as Peter defines him, saved the world with the ark he had built.
The golden Ark of the Covenant also qualifies as a salvation ark. It was only used one day every year, on the Day of Atonement. Three rituals were performed in the Most Holy Chamber of the Tabernacle (or Solomon’s Temple) by the High Priest, perfectly projecting those same 3 salvation events in the Creator’s plan. First the High Priest took two handfuls with the four equal incense ingredients into the Most Holy Chamber with fire from the Bronze altar. Those 4+4 incense ingredients were burned in the fire in the censor, transforming that aromatic dust into the cloud that wrapped itself around the glory shining from above the mercy seat on the golden ark, so saving the life of the High Priest. This ritual flawlessly portrays the first salvation event, the saving of the life of the High Priest, the atonement of the ultimate High Priest – Jesus Christ. 2nd theblood of the bullock is spattered eastward and westward across that same Mercy Seat for the atonement of the whole family of the High Priest, projecting the 2nd salvation or atonement event in the Creator’s plan when the saints, that bride and those children of our Savior -constituting his family – are immortalized at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom. The 3rd ritual in involving the golden Ark of the Covenant on the Day of Atonement, that 2nd salvation ark, had the High priest spattering the blood of the goat eastward and westward across the Mercy Seat, for the atonement of the rest of the nation. This 3rd atonement ritual projects the 3rd salvation event in the Creator’s plan just after the end of the Kingdom, for the rest of the world. Additionally the four items deposited within that 2nd salvation ark were all incorruptible, further identifying this ark as a salvation ark for escaping the curse of corruption. The ephah of manna in the golden bowl never corrupted. The two stones are certainly incapable of corrupting. Stones do not rot or rust or dissolve. The rod of Aarron was the rod of resurrection with the dead rod coming to life and bearing buds, blossoms and ripe almonds. Clearly, the golden ark of the covenant was certainly an ark of salvation, the 2nd salvation ark. This 2nd ark was commissioned and constructed at Mt Sinai, beginning at Sinai and ending on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, inside the temple the son of David constructed. The first two salvation arks are clearly identified directly with mountains.
The 3rd salvation ark is the substance casting each of the shadows of the previous two salvation arks… Jesus Christ. The saving distinction of being within a salvation ark certainly applies to our Messiah. Being “in Christ” is an endlessly repeated phrase saturating the New Testament. An obvious example is where Paul writes to the Corinthians: For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
Jesus is the antitpical salvation ark, the substance casting the two shadows, in exactly the same way the sun will create two sets of shadows in a day – extending west in the morning from the substance casting the shadow and extending east in the afternoon. In the same way the true substance of our Messiah casts those two shadows in the two previous divine ages… the Patriarchal Age and the 1st Kingdom Age. But we should ask … how is the salvation of Jesus somehow identified with a mountain? The answer is that the 3 historical accounts of the transfiguration all identify this event as happening on the “mount” of transfiguration. This transfiguration was a miraculous demonstration of the future glory of our savior and the saints. Immediately before each of the 3 records of the transfiguraiton, Jesus expresses the promise: But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God. We have noted in previous classes how that same 3-6-8 pattern binding the name of our savior to the other two salvation arks is also evident in these 3 transfiguration accounts projecting the inheritance of the Kingdom. Let’s just briefly reference the terms of that 3-6-8 pattern that does bind these 3 salvation arks that are all identified with mountains. We have repeatedly noted there are 6 alphanumericGreek letters forming the name Jesus in the New Testament that add up to 888… 3 eights, shadow prophesying of those 3 salvation events in the Creator’s plan for which our savior is the key component… highlighting that 3-6-8 pattern. The golden ark of the covenant satisfies this pattern with its 6 panels being joined together at 8 corners where 3 panels meet. Noah’s ark was built in three levels, was 300 cubits long and 30 cubits high. It was completed and employed in that salvation tool in the 600th year of Noah, who is identified as the 8th person in 2 Pet. 2:5. … again demonstrating that common 3-6-8 binding pattern among the 3 salvation arks that is also demonstrated in the 3 records of the transfiguration on the mount.
The identification with the number 3 is very obvious in these transfiguration accounts due to our being presented with 3 complementary records of the transfiguration ‘on the mount’. The 6 and 8 identifications are each seen in the timing distinctions from the promise to the fulfillment. In Matthew and Mark’s accounts we read immediately after the promise of some not dying before they see the Kingdom how that fulfillment of that promised takes place specifically after 6 days.
Matt 16:28-17:1 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. 17 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart
Mark 9:1-2 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power. 2 And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.
That is an interesting timing distinction for the fulfillment of the promise to be fulfilled after 6 days. This timing definition becomes even more interesting when we realize how the same event is timestamped by Luke as being about 8 days after the promise.
Luke 9:27-29 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God. 28 And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. 29 And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.
nd it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. 29 And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.
There is no ‘definitive’ timing presented for the transfiguration on the mount that obviously took place on the 7th day after the promise, certainly qualifying as being after the 6th day but only ‘about’ the 8th day. This timing expression may appear to be rather general and non-specific but in fact it is absolutely surgical. This intentional complexity communication policy gives more to those with seeing eyes but takes away from those having eyes that don’t see. These two timing distinctions perfectly timestamp the subsequent 2 salvation events of the saints. The first will certainly happen just after 6 divine days, 6 millenniums after death was righteously imposed by the Creator. The Millennial Kingdom is scheduled for the 7th millennium from creation, from when the promise of redemption was first offered to Adam and Eve as they were ejected from the Garden of Eden. In a very short time our last generation of the Ecclesial Age will pass the 6,000th year since creation. This is why the man whose name means rest was 600 years old when he was saved on that 3 story ark as that 8th man. The 2nd and final immortalization of the saints will take place just after the end of that Millennial Kingdom, at the beginning of the 8th day…. the 8th millennium. This is why the timing from promise to fulfillment is described as both after 6 and about 8 in the 3 accounts of our savior’s transfiguration on the mount. There are several somewhat subtle expressions of these two promised salvation events of the saints being after 6 and about 8, very much like the promise and the timing for the two immortalizations of the saints in Hosea 6 with its surgical redundancy.
Hos 6:1-3 Come, and let us return unto the Lord: For he hath torn, and he will heal us; He hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: In the third day he will raise us up, And we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: His going forth is prepared as the morning; And he shall come unto us as the rain, As the latter and former rain unto the earth.
It is very easy to see the doubled expressions: torn and healed and then smitten and bound up. The time stamps are also presented two ways… as after 2 days and on the 3rd day. That surgical redundancy continues with the promise of both revival and being raised up. Even the additional shadow identifications of the morning and the latter rain fit this obvious pattern. Hosea is referencing the 2 resurrections promised to the faithful. However instead of counting from the original promise at creation the timing is presented from the precedent setting resurrection of our savior. This is why the timing is presented in two separate frames but both from the death and resurrection of the savior. The first resurrection will be two days following the resurrection of our Messiah, 2 millenniums as we know the prophetical rule that a day with the Lord is like 1,000 years and 1,000 years is like a day… from Ps 90 and 2 Peter 3. The second is separately identified as on the 3rd day… promoting not simply being immediately after the second but suggesting a full 3 days… perfectly matching the divine plan detailed in Revelation 20 when the 3rd and last immortalization event in the Creator’s plan is scheduled for just after the end of that Millennial Kingdom.
Those 2 separate salvation events are also shadow prophesied in those 7 days that a faithul believer would be outside the camp on the basis of being defiled by the touch of death. The application of the ashes of the sin offering of the red heifer along with running water by the hyssop was performed twice during that week…. on both the 3rd and 7th days… again shadow prophesying those same 2 eternal cleansings from the defilement of death, , those atonement and salvation events in the Creator’s plan. However, to be properly understood, the prophetic timing for those 2 cleansings have to be counted from 2 different beginnings. The 3rd day cleansing would be the 3rd divine day from the actual antitypical sacrifice of the red heifer, which is the crucifixion of our savior. That 3rd day cleansing from the defilement of death is a ritual prophecy of the first of the 2 salvation events of the saints scheduled for that 3rd day, that 3rd millennium from the salvation of Jesus Christ… which can also be defined after 2 days -as in Hosea – and also after 6 days, as in Matthew & Mark’s transfiguration accounts… all referring to the exact same event, but silently whispered for the exclusive benefit of those within the enlightened community with hearing ears. The 2nd red heifer ashes application was on the 7th day, but that timing distinction should be measured from the actual contagious defilement of all creation when death was righteously imposed by God on the basis of the sin of Adam & Eve. The 2nd salvation event of the saints is divinely scheduled for just after the end of that full 7th divine day, counting from the introduction of death into a previously very good and undefiled creative order.
So yes, the 3 transfiguration accounts identify our antitypical salvation ark, Jesus Christ, with a mountain -the mount of transfiguration… just like Noah’s ark and just like the golden Ark of the Covenant… and just like Isaiah’s definition of the Kingdom as being the mountain of the Lord’s house, exalted above the hills where the house of the God of Jacob will be found.
The three temples at Jersualem will have all been built on Mount Moriah, the same mount where Abraham was ready to offer Isaac (Gen. 22:2; 2 Chron. 3:1). It is the same mount and same location where God consumed the burnt and peace offerings from David with fire from heaven upon ending the plague that had already killed 70,000 men (2 Sam. 24; 1 Chron. 21).
This mountain identification with the Kingdom of God is also significant in relation to the sign that would identify the last generation of the Ecclesial Age that would witness the introduction of the restored Kingdom Age. The signature sign for our generation, the resurrection of the national first born son of God – the nation of Israel – which is the appropriate herald for the return of the first born son of God – Jesus Christ – for the 2nd resurrection event in the Creator’s plan.
Psalm 102 and Jeremiah 30 each identify the generation that will witness the restoration of the Kingdom of God by the favoring and rebuilding of Zion. Jesus declares that the generation witnessing the flourishing of the national Israelite fig tree would not pass away before all the things defined in his Matthew 24 Olivet prophecy will have been fulfilled. We are that generation. Christadelphians alive today saw the prophesied resurrection of the national firstborn son of God between 1947 to 1967…. that flourishing of the Israelite fig tree. But our primary concern in this presentation is how this defining prophecy in relation to the restoration of the Kingdom of God is identified with a mountain application.
We will be combining three prophecies from two prophets in this consideration. These are Ezekiels 2 stage resurrection prophecies of the political and then spiritual restoration of Israel with Zechariah’s prophecy of the effect of the earthquakes that decimate the Gogian gang of six at Armageddon. That gang of 6 is Russia, Lybia Ehtiopia, Persia, Gomer and Togarmah. These prophecies will demonstrate that mountain identification of the introduction of the Millennial Kingdom, when the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills… as Isaiah says.
Ezekiel 37 places the Jewish people in the context of being a valley of dry bones. Valleys are defined by the presence of surrounding mountains, unlike a plain with a flatness that just extends in all directions. The presence of a valley presumes bordering geographical elevations… in other words – mountains. Ezekiel’s prophecy places the Jewish people in a position of the bottom of the political advantage ladder -a valley – when the prophecy begins to be fulfilled in 1947 when the dried out Jewish bones of national Israel began to reassemble into a skeletal construction. This was the war of independence that began immediately after the United Nations vote in November of 1947 that was so shockingly permitted without a veto from Russia. Just as Ezekiel’s prophecy identifies four stages or Jewish reconstruction … the skeleton, the sinew, the flesh and the skin… so there were an exactly corresponding 4 Jewish wars from 1947 to 1967, solidifying and expanding the borders of the politically resurrected nation. In other words the fig tree was flourishing, just like Jesus prophesied and how the generation witnessing this flourishing would not pass away before the features of his Olivet prophecy were fulfilled… such as clear statement about the son of man coming in the clouds with power and great glory and sending his angels to gather his elect. These four reconstruction stages also qualify as the 20 year flourishing of the national fig tree were: the War of Independence – paralleling the skeletal reconstruction of bone to bone, 2) the War of Reprisals that ran for 10 years – paralleling the addition of the sinew, 3) the Suez Canal Crisis paralleling the addition of the flesh and 4) the 6 Day War in June of 1967 – This finishes the prophets first resurrection prophecy of the 4 stage political resurrection. Israel was decidedly victorious in all four of those reconstruction stages, with a very obvious divine orchestration… at least for anyone with seeing eyes and hearing ears. Ezekiel’s 2nd and separate resurrection prophecy was for the 4 winds to fill those reconstructed Jewish bodies with breath as they lay unliving on that valley floor, being towered over by the mountain nations of the world. That 2nd resurrection prophecy by Ezekiel projects the Jewish repentance… their spiritual resurrection when the immortalized Christ and the saints save them from the Russian led Gogian host described in Ezekiel’s next two chapters of 38 and 39.
The world has not yet witnessed that 2nd spiritual resurrection of the Jewish nation… obviously. Christ has not yet returned. This Jewish national repentance is prophesied in detail in Zechariah chapters 12-14. It is in this context of this second resurrection stage … the spiritual resurrection that has to follow the political national resurrection is where we will see the Jewish nation elevated in mountain like fashion as the Kingdom of God is restored on the earth. Our current generation is the last generation of the Ecclesial Age, identified by that 1st resurrection stage of the Jewish nation, the political stage that ran 20 years from 1947 to 1967. As our future King has clearly stated, our generation will not pass away before the son of man will come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and gather his elect from the four winds.
Since there are those in out community who discount the two stage nature of this national resurrection, despite God using two separate prophecies, and also discount the truth about the two resurrection categories of a resurrection to mortality precedeing judgment and a resurrection to immortality following judgment, then we should offer some validating depth to this understanding of the political resurrection of the nation of Israel and the spiritual resurrection of the nation of Israel that bookends our generaton. This two stage political and then spiritual resurrection of Israel presented through Ezekiel perfectly parallels not only the divine formula for the original creation of man being the dust of the earth to which is added the breath of life.
Those two resurrections of the national firstborn son of God – Israel – bookend our last generation of the Ecclesial Age. Those two reconstruction stages parallel the original design and construction terms of the chronologically first son of God… Adam. Adam was described as being crafted with two components… the dust of the earth and the breath of heaven… and he became a living soul. This two stage construction of Adam and Ezekiel’s prophesied 2 stage reconstruction of Israel is shadowed in the two stages of the wilderness encampment. The political 12 tribes camped in the outer layer in four quadrants. The inner spiritual layer was constitued by the 3 Levite divisions and the priests. The pattern is always the same… earth before heaven, political before spiritual, the resurrection to mortality precedes judgment which precedes the resurrection to immortality. This is the divine principle of natural before spiritual that the Apostle Paul declares in his doctrinal corrections about resurrection expressed to the Corinthian Ecclesia. Paul writes in 1 Cor 15:44-46…. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
Natural has to precede spiritual. That is one of endless reasons why the delusion of the trinity is such a blasphemous lie. That doctrine promoted by paganized christianity claims spiritual precedes natural… the exact opposite of God’s rule expressed by Paul. It is claimed an immortal god disguised himself in a mortal body… suggesting spiritual precedes natural. Then that immortal spirit hiding in that mortal body pretends to have the capacity to sin against himself, pretends to be tempted… which the Bible declares is impossible for God, pretends to die and pretends to come back from the dead… which are both completely impossible for an immortal, by the very nature of the term immortal… which means being completely incapable of death.
It is always natural before spiritual, earth before heaven, and in the case of the dry bones prophecy… valley before mountain. But that valley status of Israel will change with their spiritual resurrection – that 2nd resurrection prophecy of Ezekiel, indicating Israel’s repentance when Christ and the saints save them from what Jeremiah calls the time of Jacob’s trouble and what Daniel defines as a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time:
Zechariah prophecies at the end of chapter 13 that 2/3rds of the Jewish people will be massacred. Then Christ and the saints will arrive on the mount of Olives, on the mount across from where the Jerusalem temple once stood on Mount Moriah. The incredible weapon at Christ’s disposal will be that sword issuing from this mouth, as John describes it in Revelation 19. This sword we know to be the two edged sword of the words of God. Jesus will have the authority to verbally command the features of creation. This is the very avenue by which the Creator formed our environment over 6 evenings and mornings almost 6,000 years ago. He verbally commanded the features of creation either into existence or into place, with mankind being one exception. Jesus will command the features of creation by that sword issuing from his mouth… commaning earthquakes, volcanoes, storms and disease. as described in Ezekiel 39. This will be when there will be a geographical change at Jerusalem that will reflect the political change of Jerusalem and demonstrate this consistent mountain application in the context of the Kingdom of God.
Zech 14:3-5 Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, As when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, Which is before Jerusalem on the east, And the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, And there shall be a very great valley; And half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, And half of it toward the south. Yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake In the days of Uzziah king of Judah: And the Lord my God shall come, And all the saints with thee.
As we read, Jesus will stand on the Mount of Olives … looking at the annihilation being inflicted on Jerusalem. This parallels our savior’s prophecy in Matthew 24 that his return would be as the lightning that comes out of the east and shines even to the west, so shall the coming of the son of man be. Jesus and the saints will be on the eastern mount shining to his west.. to Jerusalem. The earthquakes will begin by the verbal command of the son of God- that 2 edged sword issuing from his mouth. The Mount of Olives will cleave down the middle with east-west fissure…exactly where there is a geologic fault in the tectonic plates. This fault connects with other faults actually circling the globe. The effect of this massive earthquake will resculpt the geopgraphy around Jerusalem. Jerusalem will rise and all the Judean hills and mounts surrounding Jerusalem will flatten, prostrating themselves into a plain before an elevated Jerusalem. We read this in verses 9-10
And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: In that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one. All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: And it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place.
This is a rather large distance… from Geba to Rimmon suggesting a plain surrounding Jerusalem from north to south that would extend for more than 20 miles. Jerusalem will rise up in the earthquake and the surrounding hills will flatten into a plain. This geographical resculpting is exactly what will happen politically as well, with the mountain nations eventually prostrating themselves before the power based at Jerusalem due to the political earthquake. Currently that Jewish frame of reference is still a valley floor where the unbreathing but politically reconstructed bodies lie motionless… waiting for that breath from the four winds. This wind reference to the immortalized Christ and the saints is how Jesus described that immortalization process to Nicodemus, to be born of the spirit is to become like the wind. Those four winds Ezekiel describes as filling the Jewish bodies on the valley floor with breath will be the saints who will have been born again into spirit nature. These are the same jwinds that will blow away the dust of the metal image in Daniel 2 that will have been pulverized by the Christ rock that will be cut out without hands. That rock pulverizing the image into powder is interpreted by Daniel as representing the Kingdom of God that will fill the earth. Therefore it should not be surprising to see how that rock is described as growing into a ‘mountain’ that fills the entire earth.
In the same sense we read in Exodus 19 how God comes down on the Mount on the 3rd day to make His covenant with Israel. He comes to Israel on the 3rd day, just as Jesus will come back to the faithful on the 3rd day to restore the Kingdom to Israel on that 3rd day. Jesus left 2 days ago… 2 divine days of 1,000 years each… We have noted several times in the past how Hosea prophesies in chapter 6 of how the resurrection of the saints will take place after 2 days.
Come, and let us return unto the Lord: For he hath torn, and he will heal us; He hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: In the third day he will raise us up, And we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: His going forth is prepared as the morning; And he shall come unto us as the rain, As the latter and former rain unto the earth.
We have to be careful not to make the mistake some of us have made in juggling the two distinctions of the 3rd day. There is an application of being on the 3rd day and there is a very separate disctinction of being after 3 days. For example the ashes of the red heifer had to be applied onto the death defiled on the 3rd day, indicating that first cleansing from the defilement of death in the immortalized saints at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom… on that 3rd divine day since the death of the antitypical red heifer – Jesus Christ.
The two resurrections of Jesus Christ demonstrate this on the 3rd day and after 3 days pattern. Jesus was the 7th to rise back to mortality on the 7th day of the week, before the end of the Sabbath, as the angel testified in Matt. 28. That was on the 3rd day since his death on Passover… 3 evenings and 3 mornings – just like he promised. However the resurrection to immortality of the Messiah was just a short while later, after 3 days but also after the Sabbath so that he qualified not just as the 7th to participate in a resurrection on the 7th day but now the 8th to participate in a resurrection on an 8th day… but this time it was the 2nd resurrection category of immortality. That resurrection to immortality was after 3 days. which projected how the power of death would continue over all of creation for three full divine days, for 3 millenniums and then end with the elimination of that last enemy – death. This distinction between being on the 3rd day and being after 3 days highlights the distinction between the two resurrection categories… another distinction that gets confused by some of our community’s teachers. The first resurrection of our Messiah, which was only to mortality, took place on the 3rd day… before the end of the Sabbath… as the angel testified to the women in Matt. 28. This is exactly the timestamp for the first of the two resurrections of the saints. The first is just after the 2nd day… just after, 2000 years, those 2 divine days, since the death and resurrection of our Messiah. The 2nd resurrection of our Messiah was to immortality just a very short while after his resurrection to mortality, appropriately just after that 3rd day…. projecting the 2nd immortalization of the saints that will be just after the end of the Millennial Kingdom, that 3rd day since Christ’s resurrection but still just after the 7th divine day since the curse of death was righteously imposed on creation due to Adam and Eve’s contagiously corrupting sin. This is exactly how Revelation 20 expresses that 3rd and last resurrection event, as taking place just after the end of the 1,000 year Kingdom… therefore just after that 3rd day. So let’s be careful in our considerations of being ‘on’ the 3rd day and being ‘after’ 3 days…. as well as distinguishing between the resurrection ‘to mortality’ and the resurrection ‘to immortality’. If we think the term resurrection exclusively applies to immortalization then our capacity to witness a greater and greater vision of the glory hidden in our Creator’s testimony… will be blinded.
Our original point and the theme of this presentation has been the mountain frame of reference for understanding the nature of the restored Kingdom of God we so desparately hope for and anticipate relatively soon. The mountain nature of this approaching Kingdom of heaven on earth is both obviously and subtley referenced from one end of scripture to the other… giving more to those who have while simultaneously taking away from those who have not… just like Jesus Christ promised.
Transcript by Jim Dillingham, 2014
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