We try our best to make decisions based upon certain determinations. We determine something makes sense if it is logical, systematic, interconnected to other facts, or if it is full of contradictions. We look for simple proofs to determine the legitimacy of facts. That being said it only makes sense that we would apply this same standard to understanding the Scriptures. If we read a passage, we also use simple determinations to understand the meaning of that passage. We ask certain questions that help bring into light the meaning of the passage. We need to know who wrote it, to whom it was written, who was it written about, has the passage been translated accurately, were cultural nuances used to understand idioms? There is a lot that goes into understanding the Scripture. One cannot just come to an ancient writing like the Bible and simply look at it and think that reading the modern translation alone will be sufficient in providing the fullest meaning of the text as the writer intended.
Let me give you just one example that we can use to illustrate this point. If there is a text in the Tenach (first covenant Scriptures) that makes a statement that a statute, covenant, or principle is to be an everlasting/perpetual covenant, then it would only make sense that, when we come to the Brit Chadasha (New Covenant Scriptures), we should apply this in our interpretation of certain passages there as well. After all the Word does say…
Mal 3:6 "For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
Mal 3:7 "From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the LORD of hosts. "But you say, 'How shall we return?'”
If it is true that the Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and if Yeshua is the Word of the Lord in the flesh, then the word that was spoken in the Tenach applies to all that He said and that which was said about Him by His followers, the writers of the Brit Chadasha.
Heb 13:8 Yeshua Hamashiach is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.
Based on the logic above could there be conflicting or contradictory passages in the Brit Chadasha passages that would go against basic doctrine in the Tenach? Shouldn’t we interpret passages in the Brit Chadasha on the premise that the Tenach set the stage for the fulfillment in the Brit Chadasha, and there should be perfect synergy between the two?
In order to see the greater picture, we need to look into some more examples. This cannot be discerned by just a cursory examination. Let’s see how this theory plays out by going through a series of Scriptures using the above-mentioned procedure.
In the book of Isaiah and Zechariah we have Scriptures that seem to be speaking about the end time event we call the millennial reign. This is when the Moshiach (Messiah) sets up His rule from Jerusalem for 1,000 years. This is after Ha Satan (the Devil) is locked up for 1,000 years. We read this in Rev 20.
Rev 20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
Rev 20:3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
In the book of Isaiah we see a number of passages that seem to speak of a future event where the Lord reigns from Jerusalem. He changes the world by making real peace while reigning as the Prince of Peace from His throne in the Temple.
Isa 2:1 The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
Isa 2:2 Now it will come about that In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it.
Isa 2:3 And many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways, and that we may walk in His paths." For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Isa 2:4 And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war.
The book of Micah chapter 4 verses 1-3 quotes Isaiah almost word for word.
Mic 4:1 And it will come about in the last days that the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to it.
Mic 4:2 Many nations will come and say, "Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD and to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us about His ways and that we may walk in His paths." For from Zion will go forth the law, even the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Mic 4:3 And He will judge between many peoples and render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they train for war.
Mic 4:4 Each of them will sit under his vine and under his fig tree, with no one to make them afraid, for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.
It seems pretty obvious to, at least me, that this time of world peace has yet to happen. So that said, I have no choice but to put this event into the future. When we analyze these verses we can see a simple chronology that goes like this.
1. The mountain of the Lord (Mount Zion) is raised as the chief of all mountains.
2. The people of the whole earth will stream to it.
3. The nations will come to it.
4. They will invite others to it as well.
5. From Mount Zion the Lord will teach us His ways, we will walk in His paths, the law will go forth from Zion.
6. The Lord will judge all people,
7. There will be world peace.
Now this is a pretty simple scenario. We have to see if there are examples of this event found anywhere else in the Word to determine if this is a repetitive theme. We have to ask if the Lord trying to communicate something to us through these repetitions.
Another place in Scripture that seems to be related to this event is found in Isaiah 66.
Isa 66:18 "For I know their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory.
Isa 66:19 "I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations.
Isa 66:20 "Then they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the LORD, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem," says the LORD, "just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.
Isa 66:21 "I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites," says the LORD.
Isa 66:22 "For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me," declares the LORD, "so your offspring and your name will endure.
Isa 66:23 "And it shall be from new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down before Me," says the LORD.
Isa 66:24 "Then they will go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched; and they will be an abhorrence to all mankind."
Again, we see in this passage that the nations will come to Jerusalem to see the glory of the Lord in vs 18.
In vs. 19 Isaiah reiterates this idea of the nations coming to see the Lords glory, except he adds the extra bit of information that gives us a timeline of the event, It will happen after a battle.
Vs 20 tells us that “they” (he is speaking about the survivors) will bring the Jews (your brethren) (in this passage Isaiah is speaking to Jews) to His mountain (Mount Zion).
Vs 21 says that the Lord at that time will take some people (Gentiles) as priests and Levites. This has to be Gentiles as the Jews have already been appointed as priests and Levites from the beginning.
Vs 22 The Lord promises the endurance of the Hebrews as a people which He basis upon the promise of the new heavens and earth.
Vs 23 gets a little complicated. From new moon to new moon is in reference to the lunar calendar established by the Lord in Genesis.
Gen 1:5 YHVH called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
The Lord established His times and seasons in Lev 23 based upon the lunar calendar not the Gregorian solar calendar. The sliver of the new moon started the new month and set the appointed times and seasons in place.
Then Isaiah says we will worship the Lord and celebrate the Shabbat.
The Lord is going to reestablish His Moadim (appointed times and season as stated in Lev 23). He is also going to reestablish his Shabbat, (Sabbath). I could be missing the point, but it seems to me that these are critical enough to the Lord to make them an important issue in His millennial reign.
So it seems we should do some more investigation on the subject to determine if we are to find the real intended meaning, Nu!
So what else does the Word say about the subject?
The book of Zechariah chapter 14 presents a picture of the end times that is absolutely stunning. The detail in this picture adds to the understanding of what is to take place in the final days before and during the millennial reign. The only way to understand the fullness and scope of this passage is to read the entire chapter in context.
Zechariah 14
God Will Battle Jerusalem’s Foes
1Behold, a day is coming for the LORD when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. 2For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. 3Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. 4In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. 5You 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!
It is pretty safe to say that this event has also not happened yet. All of the nations have not come against Jerusalem. This great final battle has yet to transpire and the Messiah has not split the Mount of Olives. So I feel pretty confident in assuming this is still a future event. As a matter of fact, I would go so far as to say—with all of the other Scriptures that are similar in declaration—it would be also safe to say that this is most likely referring to the battle of Armageddon.
We have to remember that the Lord does not speak in a linear chronology in the Scripture. Ancient Jewish writings show us that this was their typical style of writing. I believe it is because the Lord has His prophets write in such a manner that is indicative of His eternal nature. He does not live confined to the boundaries of time. Often in the Word it is hard to define the time line, because to the Lord, it is as it has already happened. The only way we can determine chronology is to know the language and also to see the other passages that are similar, so that we might be able to make comparisons in the time line.
So using this idea to get insight to the next passage, we see that the term “in that day” is not referring to the time when the Lord will split the Mount of Olives. It has to be a separate day in the future. The term “in that day” is used idiomatically throughout the Scripture to refer to the Day of the Lord. So “in that day” is an entirely separate time that is in the future.
In Zech 14 it is used 6 times alone to make the point that it is a specific day/period in the future when the Lord reigns.
6In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. 7For it will be a unique day which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light.
8And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter.
God Will Be King over All
9And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.
This day in verse 6, above, is the day/period He is talking about, the day when the Lord will be king over all. We can confirm this because, if it just a literal singular day and we use the simple rules of western thought and chronology, then how could summer and winter in the above verse be represented by one day.
10 “All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. 11People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security.”
Here we see that the land south of Jerusalem will be made into a plain. This will be so that all who want to come will have easy access. But when we get there—to the actual city itself— we will have to ascend to it. It will be exalted. People will dwell in it in securely. No more war. Messiah is now in control.
12Now this will be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouth. 13It will come about in that day that a great panic from the LORD will fall on them; and they will seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another. 14Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance. 15So also like this plague will be the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey and all the cattle that will be in those camps.
Now we again see a perfect example of Biblical chronology being different from ours. He refers back to the war that was spoken of in the earlier passages verses 1-3.
16Then 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. 17And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. 18If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the LORD smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 19This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.
He is pretty emphatic in His expectations. The Lord mandates that each and every nation and family will go to Jerusalem from year to year, perpetually, and celebrate His holy feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles). If they don’t go, there will be a severe penalty on the nations and families—drought. We will not celebrate Christmas, Easter, Lent, Good Friday, Maundy Thursday, St Valentine’s day, or any other Holiday/Hollowday.
20In that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “HOLY TO THE LORD.” And the cooking pots in the LORD’S house will be like the bowls before the altar. 21Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the LORD of hosts; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them. And there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts in that day.
Now this part gets real hard for the typical Christian to deal with, so please stay with me till the end and you will get the point, I promise.
If I am right and these passages are also speaking of the Millennial reign, I find it rather curious that during that time, as the above passage says, we will be bringing sacrifices to the Lord in His temple. The cooking pots are the actual utensils/dishes we will take before the Lord with the meat of our sacrifices. We will present them to the Levites, who will offer them to the Lord; then they will take the portion that is allotted to them and then give the priests their portion.
Numbers 4:5-7
5“When the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and they shall take down the veil of the screen and cover the ark of the testimony with it; 6and they shall lay a covering of porpoise skin on it, and shall spread over it a cloth of pure blue, and shall insert its poles. 7“Over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall also spread a cloth of blue and put on it the dishes and the pans and the sacrificial bowls and the jars for the drink offering, and the continual bread shall be on it.
2Chronicles 35:10-14
10So the service was prepared, and the priests stood at their stations and the Levites by their divisions according to the king’s command. 11They slaughtered the Passover animals, and while the priests sprinkled the blood received from their hand, the Levites skinned them. 12Then they removed the burnt offerings that they might give them to the sections of the fathers’ households of the lay people to present to the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. They did this also with the bulls. 13So they roasted the Passover animals on the fire according to the ordinance, and they boiled the holy things in pots, in kettles, in pans, and carried them speedily to all the lay people. 14Afterwards they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.
To sum it all up
Putting this altogether one last time, we can see a pattern in all of these Scriptures.
1. The Lord is coming back to reign on the earth for 100 years.
2. He will set up His Kingdom in Jerusalem.
3. There will be peace.
4. He will restore the Temple worship.
5. His Holy days and Shabbat will be observed again.
6. Those who do not do as He says concerning His Holy Days will face punishment.
7. Nothing will resemble what we now know as the “Church”.
The point I want to emphasize here is that using the logic principle above these declarations/ principles/ordinances/celebrations given by the Lord are prophesied in His Tenach. We see them consistently being referenced in the Tenach. They are the events that will transpire in the end times. This is what the body of believers is going to look like. This is what the “Church” is going to look like. It is going to look just like the nation of Israel looked like in reference to their celebrations and ordinances. The appointed times and seasons of Lev 23 will be restored. Israel—the children of Abraham—will be brought back to their land. No “Christian” denomination will replace or usurp the natural-born children. The Gentiles will come along side of them and embrace the Biblical Hebrew roots of this Messianic faith. Ephesians 2 will finally be realized in its fullness.
11Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— 12remember that you were at that time separate from Moshiach, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without YHVH in the world. 13But now in Yeshua Hamashiach you, who formerly were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Moshiach. 14For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16and might reconcile them both in one body to YHVH through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; 18for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of YHVH’s household,
If the Gentile, who was at one time “excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without YHVH in the world,” is now brought in, then it only stands to reason they were not brought in to remake the family dynamic after their previous pagan practices, were they? Instead they were brought in to participate in the family that already functioned according to the Lord’s prescription.
If the end time kingdom is going to look like the kingdom established in the beginning with all of the Holy days and Temple services, then it only makes sense that the way it looks now is not according to the Lord’s idea, but the traditions of man.
It is obvious that there are some things that can’t be celebrated today because there is no Temple. Yet that does not give the believers the right to make up how they worship based on a pattern that imitates so many pagan rituals. We have all of these amazing Biblical celebrations that speak prophetically of the coming of Yeshua, yet we still prefer the Catholic substitutes, many of which were fashioned by Constantine.
Now I am only going to say this once, so please listen carefully. I am not saying that we celebrate these Holy days for salvation. DID YOU HEAR ME! Okay, now that we have that established, we can move on.
I am, however, saying that there is a very clear pattern that the Lord shows us as a foundational principle in the Tenach. This is the principle I spoke about at the top of this paper. That principle is that if something in the Tenach is stated as an everlasting, never-ending, or perpetual statute, ordinance, or principle in the First Covenant Scriptures, then this should affect how we interpret the New Covenant Scriptures.
If this is the way it all began and this is the way it is going to end, what makes us think that the way it is today is right? Especially with more than 38,000 different flavors of “Christianity” in the world with their own spin on everything.
As we look at the Tenach it is very clear that the Torah was established for the purpose of helping the children of Israel walk in a covenant relationship with the Lord, so that they could fulfill their role as being a light to the Gentiles.
Isaiah 42
6 “I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness,
I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you,
And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the nations,
Isaiah 49
6 He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also make You a light of the nations
So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
It is also clear the rest of the Tenach, especially the Prophets, are dedicated to the point that the nation forgot this and needed to be reminded to come back to His Torah.
Hosea 8:12
11 Since Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin,
They have become altars of sinning for him.
12 Though I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My law,
They are regarded as a strange thing.
13 As for My sacrificial gifts,
They sacrifice the flesh and eat it,
But the LORD has taken no delight in them.
Now He will remember their iniquity,
And punish them for their sins;
Malachi 4
4“Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.
Ezekiel 22
23And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 24“Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’ 25“There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her. 26“Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
Jeremiah 44
9“Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10“But they have not become contrite even to this day, nor have they feared nor walked in My law or My statutes, which I have set before you and before your fathers.”’
Jeremiah 16
10“Now when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, ‘For what reason has the LORD declared all this great calamity against us? And what is our iniquity, or what is our sin which we have committed against the LORD our God?’ 11“Then you are to say to them, ‘It is because your forefathers have forsaken Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and have followed other gods and served them and bowed down to them; but Me they have forsaken and have not kept My law. 12‘You too have done evil, even more than your forefathers; for behold, you are each one walking according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart, without listening to Me.
Isaiah 51
4 “Pay attention to Me, O My people,
And give ear to Me, O My nation;
For a law will go forth from Me,
And I will set My justice for a light of the peoples.
5 “My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth,
And My arms will judge the peoples;
The coastlands will wait for Me,
And for My arm they will wait expectantly.
Now these are but a few examples of the many, too many to mention, Scriptures that reflect this idea of Israel being rebuked for their refusal to obey His Law. Now why would the Lord spend all that time establishing His law as a principle for His people and as a light unto the Gentiles just to abandon it in the New Covenant? Was it so it could be replaced by a new and improved version known by so many as “Christianity”? If I remember correctly, it was the Lord Himself who said in Mathew…
Mathew 5
17“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19“Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
We must remember there was no “New Testament” written at that time to refer to. The only thing they had was the Tenach. This is how Timothy was able to know how to have salvation exclusively in Yeshua.
2 Timothy 3
14You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings (Tenach) which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Moshiach Yeshua.
If we keep and teach these commandments, is that not a contradiction to the way most of the “Church” relates to the Law? I would say it is safe to conclude that Yeshua said something in this one passage alone that should challenge Christianity to its core in how they celebrate their faith. I would go so far as to say that, when we look at the way the Kingdom and body of believers are going to look like in the end, we can see that there will be no resemblance whatsoever in any way, shape, or form to what it looks like today. It will not exist in the form as we know it, Selah.
Let me give you just one example that we can use to illustrate this point. If there is a text in the Tenach (first covenant Scriptures) that makes a statement that a statute, covenant, or principle is to be an everlasting/perpetual covenant, then it would only make sense that, when we come to the Brit Chadasha (New Covenant Scriptures), we should apply this in our interpretation of certain passages there as well. After all the Word does say…
Mal 3:6 "For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
Mal 3:7 "From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the LORD of hosts. "But you say, 'How shall we return?'”
If it is true that the Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and if Yeshua is the Word of the Lord in the flesh, then the word that was spoken in the Tenach applies to all that He said and that which was said about Him by His followers, the writers of the Brit Chadasha.
Heb 13:8 Yeshua Hamashiach is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.
Based on the logic above could there be conflicting or contradictory passages in the Brit Chadasha passages that would go against basic doctrine in the Tenach? Shouldn’t we interpret passages in the Brit Chadasha on the premise that the Tenach set the stage for the fulfillment in the Brit Chadasha, and there should be perfect synergy between the two?
In order to see the greater picture, we need to look into some more examples. This cannot be discerned by just a cursory examination. Let’s see how this theory plays out by going through a series of Scriptures using the above-mentioned procedure.
In the book of Isaiah and Zechariah we have Scriptures that seem to be speaking about the end time event we call the millennial reign. This is when the Moshiach (Messiah) sets up His rule from Jerusalem for 1,000 years. This is after Ha Satan (the Devil) is locked up for 1,000 years. We read this in Rev 20.
Rev 20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
Rev 20:3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
In the book of Isaiah we see a number of passages that seem to speak of a future event where the Lord reigns from Jerusalem. He changes the world by making real peace while reigning as the Prince of Peace from His throne in the Temple.
Isa 2:1 The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
Isa 2:2 Now it will come about that In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it.
Isa 2:3 And many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways, and that we may walk in His paths." For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Isa 2:4 And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war.
The book of Micah chapter 4 verses 1-3 quotes Isaiah almost word for word.
Mic 4:1 And it will come about in the last days that the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to it.
Mic 4:2 Many nations will come and say, "Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD and to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us about His ways and that we may walk in His paths." For from Zion will go forth the law, even the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Mic 4:3 And He will judge between many peoples and render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they train for war.
Mic 4:4 Each of them will sit under his vine and under his fig tree, with no one to make them afraid, for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.
It seems pretty obvious to, at least me, that this time of world peace has yet to happen. So that said, I have no choice but to put this event into the future. When we analyze these verses we can see a simple chronology that goes like this.
1. The mountain of the Lord (Mount Zion) is raised as the chief of all mountains.
2. The people of the whole earth will stream to it.
3. The nations will come to it.
4. They will invite others to it as well.
5. From Mount Zion the Lord will teach us His ways, we will walk in His paths, the law will go forth from Zion.
6. The Lord will judge all people,
7. There will be world peace.
Now this is a pretty simple scenario. We have to see if there are examples of this event found anywhere else in the Word to determine if this is a repetitive theme. We have to ask if the Lord trying to communicate something to us through these repetitions.
Another place in Scripture that seems to be related to this event is found in Isaiah 66.
Isa 66:18 "For I know their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory.
Isa 66:19 "I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations.
Isa 66:20 "Then they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the LORD, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem," says the LORD, "just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.
Isa 66:21 "I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites," says the LORD.
Isa 66:22 "For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me," declares the LORD, "so your offspring and your name will endure.
Isa 66:23 "And it shall be from new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down before Me," says the LORD.
Isa 66:24 "Then they will go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched; and they will be an abhorrence to all mankind."
Again, we see in this passage that the nations will come to Jerusalem to see the glory of the Lord in vs 18.
In vs. 19 Isaiah reiterates this idea of the nations coming to see the Lords glory, except he adds the extra bit of information that gives us a timeline of the event, It will happen after a battle.
Vs 20 tells us that “they” (he is speaking about the survivors) will bring the Jews (your brethren) (in this passage Isaiah is speaking to Jews) to His mountain (Mount Zion).
Vs 21 says that the Lord at that time will take some people (Gentiles) as priests and Levites. This has to be Gentiles as the Jews have already been appointed as priests and Levites from the beginning.
Vs 22 The Lord promises the endurance of the Hebrews as a people which He basis upon the promise of the new heavens and earth.
Vs 23 gets a little complicated. From new moon to new moon is in reference to the lunar calendar established by the Lord in Genesis.
Gen 1:5 YHVH called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
The Lord established His times and seasons in Lev 23 based upon the lunar calendar not the Gregorian solar calendar. The sliver of the new moon started the new month and set the appointed times and seasons in place.
Then Isaiah says we will worship the Lord and celebrate the Shabbat.
The Lord is going to reestablish His Moadim (appointed times and season as stated in Lev 23). He is also going to reestablish his Shabbat, (Sabbath). I could be missing the point, but it seems to me that these are critical enough to the Lord to make them an important issue in His millennial reign.
So it seems we should do some more investigation on the subject to determine if we are to find the real intended meaning, Nu!
So what else does the Word say about the subject?
The book of Zechariah chapter 14 presents a picture of the end times that is absolutely stunning. The detail in this picture adds to the understanding of what is to take place in the final days before and during the millennial reign. The only way to understand the fullness and scope of this passage is to read the entire chapter in context.
Zechariah 14
God Will Battle Jerusalem’s Foes
1Behold, a day is coming for the LORD when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. 2For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. 3Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. 4In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. 5You 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!
It is pretty safe to say that this event has also not happened yet. All of the nations have not come against Jerusalem. This great final battle has yet to transpire and the Messiah has not split the Mount of Olives. So I feel pretty confident in assuming this is still a future event. As a matter of fact, I would go so far as to say—with all of the other Scriptures that are similar in declaration—it would be also safe to say that this is most likely referring to the battle of Armageddon.
We have to remember that the Lord does not speak in a linear chronology in the Scripture. Ancient Jewish writings show us that this was their typical style of writing. I believe it is because the Lord has His prophets write in such a manner that is indicative of His eternal nature. He does not live confined to the boundaries of time. Often in the Word it is hard to define the time line, because to the Lord, it is as it has already happened. The only way we can determine chronology is to know the language and also to see the other passages that are similar, so that we might be able to make comparisons in the time line.
So using this idea to get insight to the next passage, we see that the term “in that day” is not referring to the time when the Lord will split the Mount of Olives. It has to be a separate day in the future. The term “in that day” is used idiomatically throughout the Scripture to refer to the Day of the Lord. So “in that day” is an entirely separate time that is in the future.
In Zech 14 it is used 6 times alone to make the point that it is a specific day/period in the future when the Lord reigns.
6In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. 7For it will be a unique day which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light.
8And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter.
God Will Be King over All
9And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.
This day in verse 6, above, is the day/period He is talking about, the day when the Lord will be king over all. We can confirm this because, if it just a literal singular day and we use the simple rules of western thought and chronology, then how could summer and winter in the above verse be represented by one day.
10 “All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. 11People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security.”
Here we see that the land south of Jerusalem will be made into a plain. This will be so that all who want to come will have easy access. But when we get there—to the actual city itself— we will have to ascend to it. It will be exalted. People will dwell in it in securely. No more war. Messiah is now in control.
12Now this will be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouth. 13It will come about in that day that a great panic from the LORD will fall on them; and they will seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another. 14Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance. 15So also like this plague will be the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey and all the cattle that will be in those camps.
Now we again see a perfect example of Biblical chronology being different from ours. He refers back to the war that was spoken of in the earlier passages verses 1-3.
16Then 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. 17And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. 18If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the LORD smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 19This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.
He is pretty emphatic in His expectations. The Lord mandates that each and every nation and family will go to Jerusalem from year to year, perpetually, and celebrate His holy feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles). If they don’t go, there will be a severe penalty on the nations and families—drought. We will not celebrate Christmas, Easter, Lent, Good Friday, Maundy Thursday, St Valentine’s day, or any other Holiday/Hollowday.
20In that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “HOLY TO THE LORD.” And the cooking pots in the LORD’S house will be like the bowls before the altar. 21Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the LORD of hosts; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them. And there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts in that day.
Now this part gets real hard for the typical Christian to deal with, so please stay with me till the end and you will get the point, I promise.
If I am right and these passages are also speaking of the Millennial reign, I find it rather curious that during that time, as the above passage says, we will be bringing sacrifices to the Lord in His temple. The cooking pots are the actual utensils/dishes we will take before the Lord with the meat of our sacrifices. We will present them to the Levites, who will offer them to the Lord; then they will take the portion that is allotted to them and then give the priests their portion.
Numbers 4:5-7
5“When the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and they shall take down the veil of the screen and cover the ark of the testimony with it; 6and they shall lay a covering of porpoise skin on it, and shall spread over it a cloth of pure blue, and shall insert its poles. 7“Over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall also spread a cloth of blue and put on it the dishes and the pans and the sacrificial bowls and the jars for the drink offering, and the continual bread shall be on it.
2Chronicles 35:10-14
10So the service was prepared, and the priests stood at their stations and the Levites by their divisions according to the king’s command. 11They slaughtered the Passover animals, and while the priests sprinkled the blood received from their hand, the Levites skinned them. 12Then they removed the burnt offerings that they might give them to the sections of the fathers’ households of the lay people to present to the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. They did this also with the bulls. 13So they roasted the Passover animals on the fire according to the ordinance, and they boiled the holy things in pots, in kettles, in pans, and carried them speedily to all the lay people. 14Afterwards they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.
To sum it all up
Putting this altogether one last time, we can see a pattern in all of these Scriptures.
1. The Lord is coming back to reign on the earth for 100 years.
2. He will set up His Kingdom in Jerusalem.
3. There will be peace.
4. He will restore the Temple worship.
5. His Holy days and Shabbat will be observed again.
6. Those who do not do as He says concerning His Holy Days will face punishment.
7. Nothing will resemble what we now know as the “Church”.
The point I want to emphasize here is that using the logic principle above these declarations/ principles/ordinances/celebrations given by the Lord are prophesied in His Tenach. We see them consistently being referenced in the Tenach. They are the events that will transpire in the end times. This is what the body of believers is going to look like. This is what the “Church” is going to look like. It is going to look just like the nation of Israel looked like in reference to their celebrations and ordinances. The appointed times and seasons of Lev 23 will be restored. Israel—the children of Abraham—will be brought back to their land. No “Christian” denomination will replace or usurp the natural-born children. The Gentiles will come along side of them and embrace the Biblical Hebrew roots of this Messianic faith. Ephesians 2 will finally be realized in its fullness.
11Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— 12remember that you were at that time separate from Moshiach, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without YHVH in the world. 13But now in Yeshua Hamashiach you, who formerly were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Moshiach. 14For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16and might reconcile them both in one body to YHVH through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; 18for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of YHVH’s household,
If the Gentile, who was at one time “excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without YHVH in the world,” is now brought in, then it only stands to reason they were not brought in to remake the family dynamic after their previous pagan practices, were they? Instead they were brought in to participate in the family that already functioned according to the Lord’s prescription.
If the end time kingdom is going to look like the kingdom established in the beginning with all of the Holy days and Temple services, then it only makes sense that the way it looks now is not according to the Lord’s idea, but the traditions of man.
It is obvious that there are some things that can’t be celebrated today because there is no Temple. Yet that does not give the believers the right to make up how they worship based on a pattern that imitates so many pagan rituals. We have all of these amazing Biblical celebrations that speak prophetically of the coming of Yeshua, yet we still prefer the Catholic substitutes, many of which were fashioned by Constantine.
Now I am only going to say this once, so please listen carefully. I am not saying that we celebrate these Holy days for salvation. DID YOU HEAR ME! Okay, now that we have that established, we can move on.
I am, however, saying that there is a very clear pattern that the Lord shows us as a foundational principle in the Tenach. This is the principle I spoke about at the top of this paper. That principle is that if something in the Tenach is stated as an everlasting, never-ending, or perpetual statute, ordinance, or principle in the First Covenant Scriptures, then this should affect how we interpret the New Covenant Scriptures.
If this is the way it all began and this is the way it is going to end, what makes us think that the way it is today is right? Especially with more than 38,000 different flavors of “Christianity” in the world with their own spin on everything.
As we look at the Tenach it is very clear that the Torah was established for the purpose of helping the children of Israel walk in a covenant relationship with the Lord, so that they could fulfill their role as being a light to the Gentiles.
Isaiah 42
6 “I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness,
I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you,
And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the nations,
Isaiah 49
6 He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also make You a light of the nations
So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
It is also clear the rest of the Tenach, especially the Prophets, are dedicated to the point that the nation forgot this and needed to be reminded to come back to His Torah.
Hosea 8:12
11 Since Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin,
They have become altars of sinning for him.
12 Though I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My law,
They are regarded as a strange thing.
13 As for My sacrificial gifts,
They sacrifice the flesh and eat it,
But the LORD has taken no delight in them.
Now He will remember their iniquity,
And punish them for their sins;
Malachi 4
4“Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.
Ezekiel 22
23And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 24“Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’ 25“There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her. 26“Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
Jeremiah 44
9“Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10“But they have not become contrite even to this day, nor have they feared nor walked in My law or My statutes, which I have set before you and before your fathers.”’
Jeremiah 16
10“Now when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, ‘For what reason has the LORD declared all this great calamity against us? And what is our iniquity, or what is our sin which we have committed against the LORD our God?’ 11“Then you are to say to them, ‘It is because your forefathers have forsaken Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and have followed other gods and served them and bowed down to them; but Me they have forsaken and have not kept My law. 12‘You too have done evil, even more than your forefathers; for behold, you are each one walking according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart, without listening to Me.
Isaiah 51
4 “Pay attention to Me, O My people,
And give ear to Me, O My nation;
For a law will go forth from Me,
And I will set My justice for a light of the peoples.
5 “My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth,
And My arms will judge the peoples;
The coastlands will wait for Me,
And for My arm they will wait expectantly.
Now these are but a few examples of the many, too many to mention, Scriptures that reflect this idea of Israel being rebuked for their refusal to obey His Law. Now why would the Lord spend all that time establishing His law as a principle for His people and as a light unto the Gentiles just to abandon it in the New Covenant? Was it so it could be replaced by a new and improved version known by so many as “Christianity”? If I remember correctly, it was the Lord Himself who said in Mathew…
Mathew 5
17“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19“Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
We must remember there was no “New Testament” written at that time to refer to. The only thing they had was the Tenach. This is how Timothy was able to know how to have salvation exclusively in Yeshua.
2 Timothy 3
14You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings (Tenach) which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Moshiach Yeshua.
If we keep and teach these commandments, is that not a contradiction to the way most of the “Church” relates to the Law? I would say it is safe to conclude that Yeshua said something in this one passage alone that should challenge Christianity to its core in how they celebrate their faith. I would go so far as to say that, when we look at the way the Kingdom and body of believers are going to look like in the end, we can see that there will be no resemblance whatsoever in any way, shape, or form to what it looks like today. It will not exist in the form as we know it, Selah.
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