Category: God’s Agenda

The Real Tower of Babel

      ORDER MY NEW BOOK HERE

tower of babel

“Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”  Genesis 11:4

The story of the tower of Babel has always puzzled me. Why would God be concerned about a bunch of people building a structure high up into the sky?

Usually the interpretation of the passage goes like this:  The people wanted to build something that would reach up to the heavens where God is.  God saw what they were doing and realized that the people were accomplishing the goal.

  “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language.  And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.”  Gen. 11:6

So, God went down and confused their language and scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city.  (Interesting that Scripture says they stopped building the city, not the tower.  Make a note of this.)

The first problem with this explanation is that God would not care about someone trying to build a tower up to heaven, other than it would be an exercise in futility and God is opposed to wasting time and money. 

God says in Jeremiah 31 that the “heavens cannot be measured”.  It is not possible to reach God’s throne.

Obviously, God was not thinking about the tower reaching up to heaven where He is enthroned when He said, ‘nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them’.

So, let’s break things down.  What is going on here?

The first thing to address is who the people are.  You must back up into the previous chapter.  This is post flood and chapter 10 chronicles all the generations of Noah’s sons.  It documents all the descendants of Noah leading up to the city of Babel in chapter 11. 

In other words, the people of Babel were the entire human race up to that point after the flood.  That is what 10:32 says – “These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations; and out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.”.

Notice that the verse says they were separated into the nations (in case you missed the underline). 

Continuing into chapter 11:1, it says, “Now, the whole earth used the same language…”, and in 11:6 it says that they are “one people”.

What is happening in the story of Babel is an explanation of how and why the descendants of the sons of Noah were separated into the nations. 

What did God command Adam and Eve in the garden?  “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it;” Gen. 1:28.

And what did the people of Babel led by Nimrod, say?  “let us make for ourselves a name; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”.

What we see in this story is the people of earth defying God and His purpose for mankind.  Instead of obeying God and representing Him, they are choosing to create their own identity and purpose, and NOT be scattered over the earth. 

The tower was simply going to be the center of that identity.  It would be the symbol of who they are.  

And it would be the focal point of their existence geographically.  A sort of tether if you will.  According to the Book of Jubilees, the tower, at its peak, reached a height of 1.6 miles.  That is 8,500 feet, approximately! 

Think of it this way, they wanted to stay together where they were, and the tower, which would be the height of 6 empire state buildings, would be a visual hitching post, so as the population grew and spread, they could always see the tower and stay together. 

The tower would be the center of their civilization and it would also be the center of their identity. 

Remember I said to make a note of the fact that Scripture said they stopped building the city instead of the tower – after God confused their language?  I think that is just more evidence that the tower, in and of itself, was not the issue with God.  The issue was that they were creating their own identity and purpose and ignoring God and His plan.

Man was created to image God, to represent His Name.  God came down and confused their language to scatter mankind over the earth and fulfill the commission He gave Adam and Eve. 

Nimrod, who led the people to build the tower, was an antichrist type, just as his government was a foreshadowing of a coming world government.

A day is coming soon when another man will unite the world to make a name to follow other than the Most High God.  But that also will fail, of course, and then the King of Kings will set up His kingdom that will last forever. 

Very soon. Hebrews 10:37

The Feast of Booths

Feast of Booths

“On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord for seven days, with a sabbath rest on the first day and a sabbath rest on the eighth day.”  Lev. 23:39

“You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year.  It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month.  You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native born in Israel shall live in booths.”  Lev. 23:41-42

This coming Sunday evening, October 13, begins The Feast of Booths (or Sukkot).  On the Hebrew calendar it is the 15th of Tishrei, which is the 7th month.   It is the last feast of the year of the 7 feasts designated by God in Leviticus (Leviticus 23:1-44).  These were God’s declared ‘holy convocations’ and ‘appointed times’ that the Hebrews were required to observe annually.  These feasts ultimately foreshadowed the coming Messiah and His mission.

All of the spring feasts (Unleavened Bread, Passover, First Fruits and Pentecost (or Shavout) have had fulfillment in Jesus’s first coming.  The fall feasts (Trumpets, Atonement and Booths) have yet to be completely fulfilled and will be at Jesus’s 2nd coming.  I do believe that a partial fulfillment has been accomplished with the Feast of Atonement and the Feast of Booths. 

I encourage you to research this subject for yourself.  While the feasts were only for the Jews to observe, they are important for Christians to understand.  They display God’s wisdom and His agenda.   I only want to focus on the Feast of Booths here.

The Feast of Booths, or Sukkot, is the last fall feast following the Feasts of Trumpets and  Atonement in that order.  Leviticus says that the purpose of this holy convocation is to remind the Jews every year that God had them live in booths when He brought them out from the land of Egypt (Lev. 23:43). 

In Exodus 23:16, it is also called by God as the Feast of Ingathering.  “…also the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field.” (See also Exodus 34:22)

The question is – why did God want to constantly remind the Jews that He had them live in booths?

A booth, or sukkoh (cukkah is the literal Hebrew), was a temporary meager shelter.  It had four sides and roof made with various types of branches from leafy trees (Nehemiah 8:15).   The tradition is that the night sky could be seen through them. 

In Genesis 33:17, it says that Jacob journeyed to a place where he built a house for himself and booths for his livestock.  The place from that time forward was called Succoth or Sukkot,  which means booths (cukkowth is the literal Hebrew plural).

This question of why God wanted to remind the Jews that He had them live in booths has even greater dimension when you realize that it is the only feast that will be observed by everyone on earth during the Millennial Kingdom with Jesus reigning from Jerusalem.  “Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths”  Zechariah 14:16

When the Hebrews were freed from Egypt, the first place they camped was called Succoth (Exodus 13:20).  This was not the same Succoth as Jacob’s Succoth. 

We have to assume that they made booths and lived in them there.  The reason we have to assume it is because it does not say specifically that they did in the passage in Exodus.  But, Leviticus does specifically say that God had them make and dwell in booths. 

When it comes to understanding the Feast of Booths, it is also significant that the Shekinah Glory of God appeared first at Succoth.  The Pillar of Cloud and Fire is first mentioned in this passage.  “And the Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.” (Exodus 13:21)  So, God manifested Himself physically among the Jews.

Will God Indeed Dwell with Mankind on the Earth?

Coinciding with the above was that Solomon’s Temple was dedicated, and the glory of the Lord filled it, during the Feast of Booths.  “And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to King Solomon at the feast, in the month of Ethanim (Tishrei), which is the seventh month.”  “And it came about when the priests came from the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord.”  (1 Kings 8:2,10)  In 2 Chronicles 6:18, after the glory of the Lord filled the Temple, Solomon exclaimed “But will God indeed dwell with mankind on the earth?”.

This was not a question of doubt, but of wonderment and awe.  And we know this occurred during the Feast of Booths because it was one of the 3 feasts where all the males of Israel had to assemble (Ex. 23:17, Ex. 34:23, Deut. 16:16), and it happened in the 7th month.  

As mentioned earlier in Zech 14:16, the Feast of Booths is the only feast that is required to be observed by all the nations during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ on earth (According to Ezekiel 45, it appears that the Jews in the Millennial Kingdom will also observe the Feast of Passover).   Representatives from all the surviving nations will be required to go to Israel and live in booths just as the Jews did before Christ.  This means Jews and Gentiles.  Any who do not go, that nation will not receive any rain, presumably at least until the next Feast of Booths (Zech. 14:17-18).  

Finally, Jesus was born in a booth.  He was born in a small shelter for livestock and laid in a feeding trough (manger).  And He was born during the Feast of Booths in the fall, not December 25th (I’ll write about this when we get close to Christmas).  God came to earth in the form of man during this feast and He dwelt with man.  This is why I say the Feast of Booths has been partially fulfilled as a foreshadowing.  

There is no specific passage that explains exactly why God commanded the Jews to live in booths for 7 days every year.  Nor is there a verse that explains why God will require the nations to observe this feast either.  But from all of the passages mentioned above, we can make an educated assumption.

I believe the Scriptures express 2 primary reasons. 

First, it was instituted to remind the Jews that God was their provider.  The feast takes place after the harvest is gathered.  The Jews celebrated with a great feast but sacrificed their first fruits to the Lord.  It reminded the Jews that it was God who brought them out of slavery and cared for them in the wilderness.  In the Millennial Kingdom, the nations will also need to be reminded that the King of Kings is the provider of all the earth.

Interestingly, it is also probably why  the forgiveness of debts every 7 years happened during the Feast of Booths (Deuteronomy 15:1-2 and 31:10).   In other words, the forgiveness of debts is an act of faith in the Lord providing.

I think it is important to include that when Jesus returns, there is going to take place the great harvest.  There will be survivors of the 70th Week of Daniel all over the world.  They will include righteous and unrighteous and they will be gathered up and brought to the new capital of earth, Jerusalem (Matthew 25:31-32).  Then there will be the separation of the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares.  All of the righteous and unrighteous, the wheat and tares, will be separated and gathered.  Matthew 13:40-42 says that,

“The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. 

This is describing hell, not the Lake of Fire (see the article ‘Eternal Torment or Eternal Destruction).  The goats and tares will be cast into hell to await destruction at the end of the Millennial Kingdom.  The righteous will enter the kingdom.  This happens during the Feast of Ingathering after Jesus returns, which is the other name for Feast of Booths.   This harvest of souls is a fulfillment of The Feast of Ingathering.

Lastly, and maybe most importantly,  Sukkot was to teach and remind the Jews that it was God’s desire and plan to dwell with man permanently in an eternal kingdom.  Booths, and the Tabernacle and Temple were temporary.  But God dwelt in all of them.  And when Jesus is reigning on earth during the Millennial Kingdom, He will require the feast to be observed because He wants the nations to be reminded that He is seated on the throne in Jerusalem, ruling and dwelling with man.  But that also will be a temporary realm.

It is God’s burning desire to dwell with man whom He loves, and provide all good things.  He has tarried this long to return because He wants to live with multitudes of people.

When the new heaven and earth are created, there will be no need of any reminders.

Lawlessness at the Gate

      ORDER MY NEW BOOK HERE

barbarians at the gate

“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.”  2 Thessalonians 2:7

Like a horde of barabarians, lawlessness is pressing against the gate and the gate is looking like it’s beginning to buckle.

Barbarians were on parade during the Democrat Presidential debates this week.  These people are demonstrably insane as they promote their national suicide agenda which includes a wide open sovereign border to allow anyone who wishes to come into the USA.  Since the beginning of the year, approximately 100,000 people per month have illegally streamed across the southern border.

That’s bad enough, but they also want to give all of these illegals free healthcare and other American citizen-funded benefits.  One candidate said there should be a pathway to citizenship for ALL illegals and no one on the debate stage objected. 

The Democrat ‘Resistance’ is opposed to any enforcement of immigration laws as seen in so called ‘sanctuary cities’ that harbor criminal illegal aliens.

But it’s not just immigration where lawlessness is exploding.

We see it on the streets of Democrat run LA and San Fransisco where people are allowed to camp, shoot heroin and defecate on city sidewalks.

A Democrat D.A. in Dallas will no longer prosecute anyone who has been arrested for thefts of items valued at $750 or less.  Ostensibly, these items must be for ‘necessities’.  But who will sit as judge for what is necessary?

How about felons voting?   Democrats are advocating now for felons to be able to vote…WHILE THEY ARE IN PRISON!

The Democrat Portland Mayor stands by and holds back the police while Antifa thugs assault innocent people that their ‘No Fear – No Hate’ tolerance can’t tolerate, including a journalist who suffer a brain hemorrhage.

The Democrat Chicago D.A. refused to prosecute Jussie Smollet even though there was overwhelming evidence to show he committed numerous crimes in perpetrating a hate-crime hoax.

It’s clear why Democrats fully support all of these policies.  They want more votes.  They want the votes of all of the illegals and all of the felons.

But the point is this:  It’s not that the Democrats support all of these things, it’s that the Democrats are the law unto themselves.  They hate the Constitution, and they hate God’s law.  (Psst…they hate God)  Yes, if you hate God’s law, you hate God.

The Democrats want to lock up Donald Trump, despite the fact he has not committed any crime.  Yet they turn a blind eye to the crimes committed by Hillary Clinton with her illegal server and her destruction of over 30,000 government emails. 

They fight tooth and nail against any investigation into the Russian hoax ‘Steele dossier’ that was funded by Hillary Clinton and used to instigate the ‘witch hunt’ against President Trump.  They wail about a non-existent collusion with the Russians by Trump yet it was the Democrats who colluded with Russians to produce the Steele dossier.  I could spend hours going through other examples of this kind of hypocrisy.

Democrats only care about the law so long as it accomplishes their agenda.  Otherwise, the law is what THEY say it is.  This is the epitome of hating God.  They reject God and worship themselves.  And I would hate to see the millstone that will grace the necks of those who bastardize and twist the Word of God to support their godless agenda.

Full tilt, frothing-at-the-mouth radical socialists are at the gate and they are no longer disguising their intent.  They want control and they will be the law.  They want all the guns.  They want everyone on government healthcare so they can control our health.  They want control of all of our money.  They want full term babies to be aborted and allowed to die.  The law will not apply to them.  It will only apply to the government slaves.  (‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” ‘Animal Farm’ _Orwell )

I think we may be getting a glimpse of the Holy Spirit – the Restrainer – beginning to pull away.  Perhaps it is a warning that He will soon be taken away completely.  When the Body of Christ is removed, so is the Holy Spirit.  (See my posts “Who or What is the Restrainer”, and “Michael the Restrainer?”) What will fill the vacuum will be a world-wide tyrannical government that can scarcely be conceived.  The ruler will be the ultimate ‘man of lawlessness’.  He’ll make Hitler and Stalin look like 4th grade bullies.

Lawlessness will be the stage from which antichrist will gain world wide power.  After the departure of the Church, chaos and lawlessness will be rampant.  His signs and wonders (2 Thess 2:9) will mesmerize a gullible, godless world and he will calm the economic and social pandemonium.  He will usher in a new golden age that will last until the beginning of the tribulation.  He will be the sole arbiter of the law and he will exalt himself above everything, making himself out to be the Most High God (2 Thess 2:4).  

If the departure of the Church does not come soon, I pray that these people will not just be thwarted, but they will be rejected so strongly in the next election that the radicals are tossed out of prominence for decades.  But don’t count on it.  Satan knows the Day of the Lord is near.

Maranatha

Valley of Achor – the Door of Hope

      ORDER MY NEW BOOK HERE

Achor

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness, and speak kindly to her.  Then I will give her her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope.  And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.  And it will come about in that day, declares the Lord, that you will call Me ‘my husband’ and will no longer call me ‘my master’.”  Hosea 2:14-16

This is a gem of last days prophecy tucked in the Book of Hosea.  It is a prophecy of hope to the nation of Israel and the sons and daughters of Abraham.  It goes hand in hand with Matthew 24:15-18 and Revelation 12.  It is a promise to the remnant that will survive the Tribulation or 70th Week of Daniel.

Hosea was a contemporary of Isaiah and prophet to Israel.  While Hosea is primarily a book of prophecy to Israel (as opposed to Judah when the kingdom was divided),  I believe that the passage in question is really meant for all of the descendants of Abraham.  I will get to that explanation.

When the antichrist takes his seat in the holy place, as described in Matthew 24:15 and 2 Thessalonians 2:4, the Jews who believe in Jesus as Messiah at that time are warned to flee Jerusalem into the Judean wilderness. 

The Valley of Achor is that doorway or passage of escape.  If you follow this link, you can see the valley heading east out of Jerusalam.   You can zoom in and get a very good picture of the valley.  It lies in the center of the wilderness between Jerusalem and Jericho, just north of the Dead Sea.  

Revelation 12:6 and 12:14 describe the scenario of Matthew 24:15-18.  The ‘woman’ Israel will flee into the wilderness and be ‘nourished’, or taken care of for the last half of the 7 year tribulation.  The woman in Revelation 12 and ‘her’ in Hosea 2 are both Israel. 

The righteous Jews, who are in Israel and Jerusalem at the time of the abomination of desolation, will know about this way of escape (see my post Is Travel and Technology a Last-days Prophecy?), and will be prepared.  When the time comes, dozens, hundreds, or maybe thousands of Jews will pour out of Jerusalem into the Valley of Achor and to a place of hiding in the wilderness where God will supernaturally care for Israel just as He did when Israel came out of Egypt. 

Zechariah 14:5 also describes this exact same scenario.  “And you will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.  Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!” 

This passage is saying the same thing as Hosea and Revelation 12.  The Jews will escape through the valley into the wilderness and after 3 1/2 years, the Lord will come with all of the saints and He will set foot on the Mount of Olives to save the elect (Zech 14:4).  See my previous post “Every Eye Will See Him“.  

Not only is the text consistent with the texts in Hosea, Matthew and Revelation, but the strongest evidence suggests that Azel was very near to the Mount of Olives – only 1/2 mile southeast – which is on the east side of Jerusalem.  This would put it directly on the path of the escape route into the Valley of Achor.

It’s obvious that this is a last days prophecy because God says that when it is fulfilled the Jews will call Him ‘my husband’.  Currently, the Father and Israel are divorced.  That is the primary message of the book of Jeremiah.  It is a declaration of divorce (Jeremiah 3:8). 

Israel will remain divorced from God until Jesus returns to earth and establishes the Millennial Kingdom.   The remnant that will be saved will recognize Jesus as the Son of God and the heir to the throne of David forever.  All of the believing Jews who are alive at the time of Christ’s return will be brought to the promised land (Matthew 24:31) and dwell there for the 1000 years and on into the new earth state. 

The passage in Hosea 2 describes the Millennial Kingdom:  1) there will be peace between man and all of nature and it’s creatures and everyone will lie down in safety (2:18); 2) God will be betrothed to Israel forever in righteousness and faithfulness (2:19-20); 3) there will be no lack of anything good (2:21-22). 

At the time of the Book of Hosea, Israel and Judah were divided kingdoms.  But Jerusalem was the capital of Judah, while Samaria was the capital of Israel – the northern kingdom. 

The Valley of Achor is the escape route from Jerusalem not Samaria.  So, this prophecy is directed to a time where there will be one nation of Israel.  That time is now.  It is for this reason I said that the passage was a prophecy to all the sons and daughters of Abraham.

A Curse Turned into a Blessing

The Valley of Achor is the location where Joshua had Achan and his family stoned for taking forbidden booty from Jericho (Joshua 7).  Achan’s sin caused a curse on Israel and a defeat at the hands of the city of Ai after the victory at Jericho and Joshua named the valley Achor that day. 

Achor means trouble in Hebrew.  What was once a valley of trouble for Israel will become a door of hope during ‘Jacob’s Trouble’ or the Great Tribulation. 

God has prepared all of the instructions ahead of time for the believing Jews in the Tribulation.  Amazingly, Satan is also aware of these instructions but he will not be able to do anything about it.

The Covert Mission of Jesus

      ORDER MY NEW BOOK HERE

clandestine-wallpaper-17

“…but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;”  1Corinthians 2:7-8

The Man Who Never Was

The annals of war are replete with stories of subterfuge.  In WWII there were a number of elaborate schemes designed to fool Hitler about the invasion of Europe.  The most exotic ruse of the war took place before the invasion of Italy, the success of which would have enormous impact on the coming invasion of France.

Before the Allies could invade France they had to get a foothold in southern Europe.  Germany had been shoved out of North Africa and conventional wisdom said the next step for the Allies would be to land an army in Sicily.  Germany knew this as well. 

Winston Churchill famously remarked that ‘everyone but a bloody fool would know’ that the objective was Sicily.  If the Allies could make the Germans believe that they were going to invade Greece instead of Sicily, significant forces might get diverted thereby insuring success in Sicily. 

So, a ruse was concocted.  The audacious plan became the basis for a film entitled, ‘The Man Who Never Was’, in 1956.

The idea, thought up by 25 yr. old RAF Flight Lieutenant Charles Cholmondeley and developed by British Intelligence, was to drop a dead body off the coast of Nazi occupied Spain complete with identification papers, photos of a girlfriend, love letters, a London bus ticket and most importantly, a personal letter from Lt. General Archibald Nye. 

The chosen courier was a deceased 34-year-old alleged homeless man named Glyndwr Michael who had supposedly been found in an abandoned warehouse (there is controversy about whether he was a homeless person).  For this mission, designated Operation Mincemeat, he was given the name Capt. William H.N. Martin. 

The letter from General Nye outlined several sensitive topics.  One of the topics was Allied plans in the Mediterranean, specifically the invasion of Greece.  It described plans to embark troops from Egypt and Libya under the command of General ‘Jumbo’ Wilson for the landing in Greece.  It also mentioned a simultaneous landing on Sardinia by forces under the command of General Harold Alexander currently in Tunisia.  

The letter was personally written and signed by General Nye.  Nye added the finishing touch in the letter saying ‘we stand a very good chance of making the enemy think we are landing in Sicily’.

Next, the British had to make the dead man look as if he had drowned.  The plan was to make the Germans think the body had washed up from a plane crash at sea.  To make the death look as authentic as possible, the British stored the body in dry ice in a sealed container.  As the ice evaporated the lungs filled with liquid. 

The body, dressed in Royal Marine battle dress, was found on the shore of Spain near a town called Huelva with the briefcase of papers attached.  He had been dropped in the ocean a mile from shore by the submarine HMS Seraph. 

Within days, the contents of the briefcase were in German intelligence hands. 

Of course, the Germans would want the British to think that the documents had remained secure so as not to tip the British that the Germans were now in on the Allied plans.  So, the Germans had the Spanish return the contents just as they had found them.  But British intelligence examined the documents and they could tell they had been tampered with. 

The plan was working. 

A few days later, German reinforcements were moving to Greece, Corsica, and Sardinia over the objection of Italian dictator Mussolini, who still believed the invasion would be in Sicily.  Panzer divisions were sent from France and Russia and Germany’s greatest field general Erwin Rommel was sent to Greece to command. 

The great deception worked magnificently, so much so that two days after the invasion of Sicily, Hitler refused to budge from Greece, believing the main invasion was still to come. 

How did this ruse affect D-Day? 

After the invasion of Sicily, Hitler eventually realized he had been duped.  Two days after the D-Day invasion of France, Germans confiscated documents from a landing craft on the shore of Normandy. The documents were real, and they detailed inland targets of the Allies. 

Hitler refused to believe they were real, convinced it was another ruse and that the main invasion was still to come at Pas de Calais.  When the Germans needed the Panzer divisions the most at Normandy, Hitler kept them frozen inland off the northern coast of France. 

The invasion of France may well have been saved by the lasting effects of ‘The Man Who Never Was’.

In a way, Jesus played a ‘man who never was’. 

Yahweh the Greatest Con Artist

God tricked Satan, plain and simple. 

The Jews were looking for a political and military leader which was precisely what God took advantage of.  Jesus intentionally allowed and even fostered their belief that He had come to restore the kingdom of God on earth. 

Jesus executed his mission flawlessly, gathering and training believing followers while conning Satan and the unbelieving Jews.  Turning the entire nation of Israel’s attention on Himself, He was able to keep His true mission cloaked – to be killed.

Jesus drew crowds of thousands in empty areas near tiny towns and villages.  There He preached messages of hope laced with fiery, revolutionary rhetoric.  “The kingdom of God was coming”, He said repeatedly.  He rebuked, chastised and humiliated the reigning authorities, the oppressive religious overlords who bowed to the pagan conquerors from Rome. 

And God spoke from heaven and all who were present heard it – “This is My Beloved Son!”  This was the One sent to restore the kingdom of God back on earth to where it belongs – in the hands of the Messiah King reigning from Jerusalem!  This was the One that would throw off the oppressors!

What was Satan hearing? “The kingdom of God is near”; “The gates of hell will not prevail”; “I saw Satan falling like lightening”; “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword!”. 

John the Baptist called them out, “Who warned you of the wrath to come?”.

Satan heard what the Pharisees and scribes were hearing – declarations of war and vengeance!  

The Pharisees were the imagers, the mirrors, of Satan.  Jesus called them sons of Satan.  How they reacted is how Satan was reacting.  Their authority and power were threatened as was Satan’s power and authority as ruler of this domain earth. 

The hook was set.  Jesus had to die.

He spoke in parables for the ears that could hear.  He knew that only a very few were understanding any of what he said.  He knew the crowds would turn on him.  But he also knew that in the end He would find the few followers that would commit their lives to Him.

The mission was to die.  But it was also to lay the foundation for the Church. 

He made sure that His disciples knew He was God in the flesh.  He trained them how to become fishers of men.  He taught them the message of salvation and how to spread it; to love one another and to live for eternity. 

He did this all the while provoking Satan with impending overthrow of his reign on earth. 

And Yahweh chose the perfect time to insert His Son into the world. 

Knowing He would be rejected, He rightfully claimed the throne of David.  But it was never His intent to take it at that time.  His intent was to be killed. 

It was a brilliant plan, laid out in Eden and flawlessly managed all the way to the cross.  From the beginning of creation it was determined – Yahweh would restore man and earth back to Himself by sending His Son to die. 

And He rose from the dead to seal the victory.

Satan would not have laid a finger on Him had he understood Jesus’ real mission.

Dan Baker

copyright 2017