Look To The Millennia

[8] But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. [9] The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ~ 2 Peter 3:8-9

When Peter tells us that a thousand years is like a day with the LORD and a thousand years like a day, he’s referring to the coming of the LORD. Now, what does this have to do with the Feast of Booths since it’s the final day of the feast? Well, if a thousand years with the LORD is like a day and a day like a thousand years, and is all in connection to the coming of the LORD, then there is a subtle or hidden message in those words.

There’s seven days of creation and roughly somewhere over six thousand years since creation. Where does that leave us? For six days God worked, but on the seventh day He rested. For six thousand years the earth has been worked by man, but for a thousand years we will rest with the LORD. What a reward. What a fulfillment.

Everything God has authored in His Word has meaning. It’s never just for no reason. Today is the last day of the Feast of Booths, take time today to search His Word and learn more about the LORD and what He has in store for His people.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Look To The Millennia.

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Hope In All His Rewards

Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with Him for a thousand years. ~ Revelation 20:4-6

One day we in Christ will reign with Him for one thousand years. When will this take place? This is after the Second Coming of the LORD, when the dead in Christ rise first, and those of us who are alive and remain are caught up to meet them and Jesus in the clouds, and we go into heaven for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb as every eye watches.

We are not told how long this celebration will last. However, in Jewish tradition, wedding feasts could last several days, and in some cases, they could last up to a week or more.

Therefore, we could be in heaven celebrating for up to seven years or more while the judgment of God is being poured out on the inhabitants of the earth. After the seven angels with the seven plagues have poured out their bowls, the wrath of God is finished, as per Revelation 15:1. So, once the wrath of God is complete, The Great Prostitute, The Beast, and that great city Babylon are all judged.

Then heaven will open and Jesus Himself, who is sitting on the white horse, will come to fight the last war, which at Armageddon. The beast and the kings of the earth with their armies are all gathered to make war against Him. But the beast and the false prophet are captured and thrown alive into the Lake of Fire.

Satan, that great dragon, will be bound with a great chain and thrown into the bottomless pit for a thousand years – the length of the Millennial reign of Christ. Then those who in Christ will reign with Christ for the thousand years. That is a great reward to look forward to. That alone, reigning with our God for a thousand years, is worth all of the strife of this world. What can compare on this earth to reigning with the LORD Jesus Christ Himself for one thousand years? With peace. Security. And no Satan on earth.

Nothing in this life could compare to that great reward, and that reward isn’t even the end of it. There is so much more to come, an eternity with Christ. An eternity of perfection. Where every tear will be wiped away and pain, suffering, and hurt will be no more. Where we will dwell with the LORD God and He will be our God and we will be His people.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Hope In All His Rewards.

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Think On The Coming New

[8] For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. [9] So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, [10] for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. [11] Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. ~ Hebrews 4:8-11

As all feasts, the Feasts of Booths foreshadows something. This particular feast foreshadows something in the future that has yet to take place. So, what does it foreshadow? The Feast of Booths was about dwelling in tents in remembrance of how the Israelites dwelt in tents for 40 years. During those 40 years, the LORD sanctified the people, or separated them.

Those who refused to trust in the LORD perished during that time, while those who trusted in the LORD did not perish but remained in the same strength they left Egypt in. Only those who had faith made it into the Promised Land. This world is not our home, we will not receive our eternal home until after the Millennial Reign of Christ and the Last Judgment. Therefore, I believe the Millennial Reign of Christ and the Last Judgment are the fulfillment of the Feast of Booths.

I believe the seven days of the Feast of Booths will be fulfilled in the Millennial Reign of Christ and the eighth day that no other feast has, will be fulfilled in the Last Judgment. For after these two are complete, we will receive our eternal rest in our Promised Land of the New Earth, just as the Israelites got to receive their Promised Land.

So, as Christians, we look forward to eternity with Christ. We look forward to eternity, not in heaven, but on the New Earth. We were never created for Heaven, but for the earth. And one day this failing earth will flee from the presence of God Himself, and the LORD God will create for us a new earth where He will dwell with us forever and ever. He will be our God and we will be His people. What a great hope we have.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Think On The Coming New.

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Look For The Final Fulfillment

2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. 10 But after His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He also went up, not publicly but in private. ~John 7:2, 10

8 So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” ~ Luke 22:8

The Gospels directly records Jesus keeping only three (though technically two) of the seven God ordained or appointed feasts. Why technically two? Because Jesus is never actually physically recorded in Scripture as celebrating the Feast of Unleavened Bread as it is not the same feast as Passover.

See, by the time of Jesus, the two feasts, Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, had been morphed into one feast. But Jesus is only recorded as celebrating Passover and the Feast of Booths, not the Feast of Unleavened Bread as He died on Passover before the Feast of Unleavened Bread was celebrated, which is the next day.

So, with that said, why is Jesus only recorded as celebrating those two? Because these two are the first and the last of the feasts. Jesus brought the new and better covenant when He came the first time around. At His final return, He will fulfill all covenants.

It’s almost like the LORD is foreshadowing Jesus claiming the titles of the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last in the book of Revelation. Everything in the Bible is written intentionally. Everything has a meaning. I believe this is, at the very least, one of the reasons these are the only two feasts we see Jesus celebrate in Scripture.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Look For The Final Fulfillment.

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Fire Sacrifice

36 For seven days you shall present food offerings to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work. ~ Leviticus 23:36

It says that for seven days you shall present food offerings to the LORD. Here’s the thing though, that’s not what the original Hebrew says. When you go to the original Hebrew the words “food offerings” isn’t actually written, it was added in for “clarity.” But instead of adding clarity it actually changes the meaning of the verse. See, they knew Numbers 29:12-34 says in great detail the different sacrifices for each day, which they equated to being food offerings. The Hebrew word there is actually ‘iššeh which literally means “a fire offering” or “that which is burned.” Why does that change the meaning of the verse?

Because it’s an offering brought forth by fire not a food offering that they were commanded to bring to the LORD. Different offerings sacrificed by fire daily. Why does this matter? Because as Christians, we now follow a new and better covenant. The old is the predecessor and it was the physical foundation for a spiritual continuation. No longer do we sacrifice bulls and lambs because Christ has been sacrificed on our behalf as the final sacrifice.

If we read the New Testament we see this fulfilled, for even the Old Testament points to this.

[5] Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; [6] in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. [7] Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’” [8] When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), [9] then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. [10] And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Hebrews 10:5-10

33 And to love Him [God]  with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

Mark 12:33

So, what does that mean for us Christians today?

[10]  According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. [11] For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. [12] Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— [13] each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. [14] If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. [15] If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15

[6] In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, [7] so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:6-7

Our actions, how we live our lives, that is now our offering by fire. We aren’t a did sacrifice. Our actions are not a food sacrifice, but they are an offering treated and brought forth through fire. Why? Because fire purifies. It puts the weight of something to the test. It sees what something is truly made of. That’s why the LORD is a consuming fire. For who can withstand Him and who can stand against His wrath?

Therefore, each day should be a different offering sacrificed by fire to the LORD. A different action and/or act of faith to the LORD. Why? The Fear of Booths was about remembering the importance of putting faith in the LORD and acting on that faith. For faith without actions is dead.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Fire Sacrifice.

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Look Forward To Eternity

33 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 34 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the Lord.” ~ Leviticus 23:33-34

The Feast of Booths was the final feast given by God to the people of Israel. It was to be observed in the seventh month on the fifteenth day of the month. Why? When we look at the date God gave us for this Feast, we have the seventh month, which is the number of completion. And we have the fifteenth day, which in Hebrew isn’t actually the number fifteen, but the numbers ten and five. Ten is the number of covenant and five is the number of the Church.

So what does this mean? This Feast, like the Feast of Passover, looked back at something, but also looked forward at something to come. It foreshadows the fulfillment of the covenant God has with His Church. His final covenant. His perfect covenant. The completion of wandering this earth without a true eternal home, and then receiving the eternal home of the New Earth.

This is what we have to look forward to. The fulfillment of our promised land. Our eternal New Earth.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Look Forward To Eternity.

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Watch How You Live

[42] You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, [43] that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. ~ Leviticus 23:42-43

Today is the first day of The Feast of Booths. It was given as a statute from the LORD to the people of Israel through Moses. Why? See, the people of Israel had wandered the wilderness for 40 years because they feared the Nephilim in the Promised Land more than they trusted and had faith in the LORD God. Their faith was in their own fear, not in the LORD. So, the LORD had them wander the wilderness for 40 years. And to remember this? They were to dwell in tents for seven days in the seventh month starting on the fifteenth day.

Each year they ware to keep this Feast to the LORD, that the LORD Himself sanctioned. Now, I want you to notice something, they were to dwell for seven years in tents in remembrance of the 40 years in the wilderness. 40 seems to be the number of sanctification, which means to be set apart as holy. During those years, the Israelites who were unfaithful and who refused to enter the Promised Land died in the wilderness. Their descendants however were baptized (by going through the Jordan) and then circumcised into the covenant when they entered the Promised Land.

For 40 years the LORD was sanctifying His people so they could inherit their promise. Then to remember them being sanctified, they were to dwell in tents for seven days. Seven is the number of completion. It was almost like they were sealing their ancestors’ sanctification for themselves. Like they were claiming it for their generation.

Everything the LORD has a do is for a reason, even if we don’t truly understand it at that time. Even if we have to wait for eternity to understand and see the full picture we can trust that the LORD has a plan for us. A good and perfect plan for our lives. One for our good and not for our evil. One of a hope and a future. So, don’t let fear keep you from your promise. And don’t fail to do something because you don’t fully understand it. We live by faith, not by sight.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Watch How You Live.

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Hunger For Meat

2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. ~ Proverbs 25:2 NKJV

God has hidden, or has concealed matters, or prophecies pertaining to His people and to His Church, and it is our responsibility to search out those matters. Or surround ourselves with those who can. And those who do. And those who teach such things

The Word of God isn’t for us to write off and say “Well, we’ll never really know.” That’s the response of someone who has been shown the Truth but it contradicts their idea of truth.

And that day, when we all stand before the Great White Throne and we give an account of our lives, including our beliefs. Including how we studied the Bible. How we influenced and taught others. Do you think the LORD will be understanding and overlook you refusing to see the Truth and making excuses for your false beliefs? No.

He has sent us His Holy Spirit. He gives wisdom and understanding freely to anyone who asks. We have no excuse for refusing to believe the Truth the LORD has authored in His Bible. Therefore, lay down your own ideas, feelings, desires, and beliefs at the altar and sacrifice them to the LORD so that He might show ypu the Truth. So that you might grow in wisdom and understanding.

Don’t allow pride to keep you from growing in your faith. We aren’t intended to remain on one level of knowledge and understanding. We are to go from milk to meat. If we refuse to seek out and accept the Truth, we will never taste meat.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Hunger For Meat.

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Expose The True Mental Illness

19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. ~ John 3:19

I recently saw a podcast where the woman said that she believed the one of the worst (if not the worst) mental illness someone can suffer from is religion. She said this because she had just watched a documentary about Ruby Frank who abused her children because she said she believed they were demon-possessed. All I could think was, this is quite an ignorant statement to make. This woman’s issue wasn’t that she was religious or believed in a religion, but that she didn’t know, nor did she take the time to understand the religion she was claiming. On top of that anyone who can abuse and torture their own children is demonized and influenced by evil because they have no true religion. But I digress.

When we remove religion from society, we get societies such as North Korea, China, and Vietnam. Let’s look at the effects of Atheistic Communism in these three nations.

Vietnam according to communistcrimes.org:

The death toll at the hands of the post-war communist regime (1975-1987) is estimated to be approximately 430 000; 65 000-100 000 of those were executed, approximately 1 million sent to concentration camps, of whom 165 000 were killed, approximately 200 000–250 000 boat refugees lost at sea, and in addition to the aforementioned figures the victims of the different conflicts on the Indochina peninsula in the 1980s are added.

That wasn’t a religious attack. That was pure atheist communism that killed hundreds of thousands of people. Not religion, but the lack of it. Pure Godlessness.

China according to communistcrimes.org:

The new Maoist regime established a totalitarian communist system, killing and causing the unnatural deaths of tens of millions. Although the civil war between the communists and the nationalists is thought to have killed 6-10 million, a much larger number of casualties resulted from systematic terror, repressions and social reforms launched in the mid-1940s by the communists. Estimates of the number of victims during 1949-1975 vary and fully reliable figures do not exist. China’s official statistics have not been made available for thorough research. According to an analysis of ten different Western sources, a total of 45-60 million have lost their lives during forced collectivization, purges (2-5 million killed), the Great Leap Forward and the ensuing famine (30-40 million deaths), Cultural Revolution (2-7 million killed), occupation of Tibet (0,6-1 million killed) or died in laogai, the world’s largest network of concentration camps (15-20 million deaths), and because of other repressions.

Millions killed at the hands of the Chinese communist regime.

North Korea according to communistcrimes.org:

Agrarian reform, launched in late 1940s, gained momentum after the war and paved way for collectivization, one-party dictatorship and Stalinist-style repressions and purges. The number of executions is unknown, but the ideology provisions of North Korea’s penal code, witness accounts and initial statistics indicate that about 90 000 may have been killed during the 1958-1960 campaign of terror. During 1948-1987, about 1.6-2 million Koreans perished in government-sanctioned repressions. About 100 000 were killed during purges and at least 400,000, but probably more than 1.5 million died in prison camps.

Prisons and camps are just part of a larger repressive network that includes transit jails for dissidents, correctional labour centres, labour camps and deportation zones where as many as 150 000 – 200 000 people are still being kept in concentration-camp conditions. In those facilities, mortality rate is estimated at 100 per day or 36 500 a year. The UN indicated in 1997 that during a 1990s famine, which the government could have well avoided, more than 10 million suffered from malnutrition and hundreds of thousands starved to death. Other estimates put the death toll at 2 million or more.

In a span of 50 years these three atheistic communist societies tortured and killed more people because of their atheistic beliefs than all the tortured and deaths caused by all the religions of the world put together. Let that sink in. That’s not even including the 62 million killed under Stalin in the Soviet Union or Pol Pot in Cambodia.

Torture. Murder. The dehumanizing of humanity isn’t a character trait of religion, especially not the character trait of Christianity that this woman so strongly despises without cause. The reason she can demonize religion so freely without fear of repercussions is because she lives in a Christian nation. Because our founding fathers’ beliefs were grounded in Christianity they emphatically proclaimed:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That is our Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson and is the foundation of our very country. Religion isn’t a mental illness, nor is it the worst or most dangerous. In fact, I would say the denial of religion is. It is the complete and under removal of God that causes the most deaths. Why? Because if we remove God, we remove creation. If all men are not created equally, then we no longer have to see each human as equal, but we can dehumanize people based on our own ideas, feelings, and opinions. We can create our own truth and live in a world that calls right wrong and wrong right. That confuses good and evil. It is Godless societies that cause the most destruction and evil, yet it’s religion, namely Christianity, that is hated, demeaned, and attacked.

This is nothing new though. Darkness hates Light. It is the Light that the darkness hates because when you shine light into the darkness you expose all that the darkness was hiding. It forces you to face the reality of your sin. The reality of the darkness within yourself. It forces you to die to self and live to Christ, but our flesh hates this. It wants to dwell in darkness where it is comfortable. So, it attacks the Light in hopes of self-preservation. The idea that something that has caused the most evil is the right path to take and the one that has contributed the most good is evil is a mental illness, and the most dangerous one at that.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Expose The True Mental Illness.

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Don’t Waste Your Energy

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies. ~ 2 Corinthians 4:8-10

Something I learned a few years ago and have been putting into practice lately is not to waste my energy on people who don’t deserve it. It sounds cold and heartless, but here’s what I mean. People will take advantage of you, use you, pretend to be your friend, and even tell you how much they love you, but then throw you away without a second thought. For no reason at all. These kinds of people don’t deserve the energy and time it takes to mourn the loss of them from your life. People who don’t care about you should never consume your life to the point where their rejection causes you to lose your joy, laughter, and enjoyment of life.

Put your energy into people who genuinely love you. Does that mean you abandon people who do not love you? No. Absolutely not. You always help those in need, whether they love you or not. Whether they hate you or not. Whether they curse you, say all manner of evil about you, and lie about you to others. It doesn’t matter how they treat you; you are to help them if they ask and you are able to.

We don’t return railing for railing. Wrath for wrath. Hate for hate, but neither do we allow people’s opinions of us to bring us down. Their treatment of us to steal our joy. Or their lies about us to consume our thoughts. How the world treats you is no different than how the world has always treated the people of God. With hatred for those who are of the world hate the Light, and the Light now abides in us and shines through us. So, it hates us. It speaks all manner of evil against us, but we will overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. We love, even though they may hate us. That is the difference between us and them. We love at all times.

43 You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:43-45)

Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. (1 Peter 3:9)

We just don’t allow ourselves to be hurt, damaged, or destroyed because of them.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Waste Your Energy On Them.

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