A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF (THE APOCALYPSE OF JESUS CHRIST) BOOK OF REVELATION, Part III
The following is copied from Bullinger, E.W. (2011-08-21). The Apocalypse or “The Day of The Lord”: Commentary on Revelation (Kindle Locations 402-404, 414-421). Trumpet Press. Kindle Edition.
THE CHURCH NOT THE SUBJECT OF OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
“Closely connected with this foregoing point, that the book (revelation) is Hebrew in character, and intended specially for Hebrews, is another undoubted fact, that the Church of God is not the subject of the Old Testament , either in history, type, or prophecy. Passages, etc., may be found there and used to illustrate what is subsequently revealed. But this can be done only by way of application, and not by way of teaching or of interpretation. Because, of the “Mystery” or the secret concerning the Church of God, we are told that it “was kept secret since the world began” (Rom. xvi. 25). That “in other ages it was not made known unto the sons of men” (Eph. iii. 5). That is, “from the beginning of the world, hath been hid in God” (Eph. iii. 9). That it “hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to the saints” (Col. i. 26). These statements are “the true sayings of God,” and not our own. We have no choice but to believe what He says. If any hold that, in spite of all this, the Church was not “hid in God,” but was the subject of Old Testament prophecy, then we have nothing more to say to them; for, if they will not believe God, it is not likely they will believe us.
But, believing God, we ask whether the Church is likely to be the subject of prophecy in the Apocalypse, especially when its future is clearly foretold in the Epistles which contain the revelation of the Secret. There we learn what is to be the future and end of the Body of Christ. The members of that Body are merely waiting to be “received up in glory” (1 Tim. iii. 16). They are waiting for their “calling on high” (Phil. iii. 14). They are looking for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change their vile bodies that they may be fashioned like unto His own glorious body (Phil. iii. 20, 21). But all this, we submit, takes place before the Apocalypse opens. There we have, not the coming of the Lord to take away His Church, but, the revelation of the events which shall take place after the Church has been “received up in glory.” These events will take place during “the day of the LORD,” when He shall come not in grace, but in judgement; not in mercy, but in wrath. But this brings us to our fourth point. What is the meaning of “the Lord’s Day,” in chap. i. 9?”–end quote
How could this be, you might ask? It’s really quite simple.When we choose to believe Romans 16:25, Ephesians 3:5, 9 and Colossians 1:26–-that this day and age in which we currently live was kept secret by God from everyone, from every preceding prophet—how could there be any prophecies concerning this time? There cannot be and there is not.one single Old Testament prophecy, which includes the 4 Gospels, that concerns the Church of God which no one prior knew anything about. As Mr. Bullinger says in the last sentence of the 1st paragraph, if you won’t believe what God said in the Epistles about the Secret, you more than likely will not believe me!
God bless!
The Last Days (Don’t put your foot in your mouth too)!
There is not just a little confusion over the Last Days. One of the reasons for this is because of what Peter said in Acts 2:14-21. What he said was not true and you will see that it was not true if you just look at Joel Chapter 2, from which he was quoting. The only thing Peter got right was the spirit being poured out.
Joel 2 is speaking about the coming of the Days of the LORD—“days of darkness and gloom, the sun an.d the moon are darkened, the stars quit shining, Yahweh utters his voice at the head of his army, numberless are they who obey his command, etc.” We are all guilty one time or another in a time of excitement of putting our foot in our mouths and this was one of Peter’s. After all, he did not know about the secret and wouldn’t know about it for a few years yet.
Believers spoke in tongues on the Day of Pentecost; they didn’t prophesy. the sun did not go black; the moon did not turn to blood and stars did n0t quit giving their light. What happened was not “what was spoken through the prophet Joel.”
The second usage of the words “in the last days” is in 2 Tim 3 where it says distressing times will come where people will be:
- lovers of themselves, implacable, slanderers, swollen with conceit,
- lovers of money, profligates, brutes, treacherous,
- boasters, arrogant, abusive, haters of good, reckless
- disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman
- lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
- holding to the outward form of godliness, but denying its power
Paul goes on to say that these folks are of corrupt minds and counterfeit faith, who oppose the truth. they are wicked people and impostors who will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and even themselves. Rather than spend time wondering who they are Paul exhorts Timothy and the rest of us “to continue in what we have learned and firmly believed, know from whom we have learned it (who did Timothy learn from? His teacher, his/our father in the Word, Paul).
I have covered this subject in great detail in my book, available at http://www.fredswolfe.com with my money back guarantee (if you don’t like it send it to me and I will send you your money back with shipping).
What do you think; do you think just because someone says something in the Bible makes it automatically true?
The Mystery (Secret) Revealed (a solved mystery is no longer)
When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray (what has become known as the Lord’s Prayer), he prayed for God’s kingdom to come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. THIS PRAYER HAS YET TO BE ANSWERED! When Jesus prayed this prayer he did not know about the Secret which God kept hidden from everyone from the foundation of the world. This secret was first revealed to the Apostle Paul and the other Christian Apostles and Prophets.
Rom 16:25-27
25 Now to him that is able to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which hath been kept secret since the world began,
26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:
27 To God the only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.
WebsterEph 3:1-5
3 For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you the nations (Gentiles),
2 if, indeed, ye did hear of the dispensation of the grace of God that was given to me in regard to you,
3 that by revelation He made known to me the secret, according as I wrote before in few [words] —
4 in regard to which ye are able, reading [it], to understand my knowledge in the secret of the Christ,
5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it was now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets (Christian) in the Spirit —
YLT
Since then, very few people have taken notice of it, especially The Church. God kept it a secret for over 4,000 years and virtually no one in the church today can tell you what it was, let alone it’s significance. Practically everything being taught today about the Kingdom of God as it relates to the church of the Body of Christ is FALSE, DEVILISH and COUNTERFEIT, and sickening, to everyone who knows and understands the Secret of Romans 16:25,26; Eph 3:1-9 and Col 1:25-29.
The devil has had about 2,000 years to eradicate its knowledge and has done a marvelous job. The Kingdom of God and of Christ is in the FUTURE, not now! Jesus is not now ruling as King of kings! If he is, he is certainly not doing a very good job! The late Apostle Frederick Price said last Sunday, “if God Almighty is controlling the world, as most Christians think he is, I don’t want to go to Heaven!” If what we see in the world today is a reflection of God’s way of doing things, then what could there possibly be to look forward to? This is not the Kingdom of God! We, Christians, aren’t building any such thing. We are building the Body of Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:27-30
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
28 And God has appointed in the church, ekklesia, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
29 Are all apostles? (no) Are all prophets? (no) Are all teachers? (no) Do all work miracles? (all can)
30 Do all possess gifts of healing? (no, but many do) Do all speak with tongues? (no, but all can) Do all interpret? (no, but all can).Ephesians 4:1-8
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one spirit–just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call–
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men…..” ESV4:11-16
11 And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers,
12 to equip the holy ones (us) for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
13 until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ,
14 so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery, from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming.
15 Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ,
16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the body’s growth and builds itself up in love. NAB
This is what Christians should be doing, not being kingdom builders! What is it going to take to wake you up? Take a look again at the prayer Jesus taught his Jewish followers to pray: “Our Father who art in heaven.” God’s kingdom is in heaven where he is! Jesus taught them to pray for God’s kingdom to come to earth and now Christian’s pray it every Sunday. If it’s already here, why continue to pray for it to come? Makes no sense.
One of the greatest mistranslations of most translators, has been the Greek word musterion. The problem is it was not translated at all, it was merely transliterated into a similar English word. This word is used throughout the Church Epistles of Paul given by revelation from Jesus himself. These Church Epistles serve as the new doctrine for correct believing for the church today. The transliteration of musterion into mystery was purely satanic, in that it has lead believers to understand that there are some things concerning God that are just unable to be understood. Nothing could be further from the truth. The actual translation of this word is “secret.” It does not regard a secret that any man kept, but one which God kept from the foundation of the world. You and I both know, that a secret between 2 people is one of the hardest things to keep. Deep down inside we are just dying to tell someone else or in some cases, we forget it is a secret over time, and it inadvertently slips out.
Since this was a secret that God kept, it is considered by some a Sacred Secret. No one else, including God’s only Son knew about it. Jesus was not told the secret until he had ascended into Heaven. Soon after he was told this secret, he chose a man named Saul who was a very religious Jew to reveal it to. Saul was so religious he was legally killing followers of Jesus Christ because he believed they were heretics. He was present at the stoning to death of Stephen; he gave the consent for it to be done.
Romans is the first Doctrinal Epistle written directly to believers in Jesus Christ of this Age. As I cited previously, Ro 16:25-26 says, “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery (the secret) which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the (Christian) prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith; NASU
Here we see that this sacred secret was first revealed to Paul for our obedience of true faith and became known as his gospel. Two of the most important words used in his letters the the Church are the words “according to.” When you read these words pay close attention because our lives are to be patterned accordingly. You will see that Paul’s gospel is actually the true gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I will leave you with further evidence of this secret revealed from the epistle to the Colossians vss 1:24-29
24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and do fill up the things lacking of the tribulations of the Christ in my flesh for his body, which is the assembly (improperly translated Church),
25 of which I — I did become a ministrant according to the dispensation of God, that was given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God,
26 the secret that hath been hid from the ages and from the generations, but now was manifested to his saints,
27 to whom God did will to make known what is the riches of the glory of this secret among the nations — which is Christ in you, the hope of the glory,
28 whom we proclaim, warning every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,
29 for which also I labour, striving according to his working that is working in me in power.
We are now living during this administration of God, just as we are living during the Trump administration. One being spiritual in nature and the other physically. There is nothing more important in the Word of God to understand for the believer than that the Epistles of Paul were written according to revelation from Jesus Christ, making them our supreme guide for faith and practice. There are no mysteries in the Bible at all, just misunderstandings. God bless.
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