Bible Numerology

An interesting study on numbers as used in the Bible

To be used as a reference to my comments below.


1 refers to the unity in the Godhead and is the number of unity. It signifies beginnings and is, in that way, related to the number 8, which starts a thing over. So it reveals that something is new.

2 brings to mind the Father and the Son. Two also has to do with choice. As at the tree of knowledge.
There are two paths or two ways we can choose. It is used in scripture repeatedly to signify "witness."

3 is always a figure of strength and corresponds to 1 in reference to the triune nature of the Godhead.
It is also a figure of resurrection (after "three days" he rose again). It is significant in how it interacts with other numbers derived from it.

4 has to do with all directions in most numerology. For instance, "the four winds." It is global or even cosmic in scope. The cross, having four sides, illustrates the universality and global reach of salvation.

5 in Ephesians stands for church government. This number suggests spiritual governing (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers) and involves nurturing or feeding the flock (Jesus takes 5 loaves and feeds 5,000).

6 stands for man, obviously, and imperfected man at that. Man as "fallen" or not yet at the ideal. It also stands for work, as in 6 days of work. When day 7 arrives the work is over.

7 stands for a number of things like rest and perfection. It is the number of God. It is the ideal, the final perfected state of man. It has the connotation of glory to it, or glorified persons. It also completes a cycle and contains everything. Within the number 7 all is finished and brought to completion.

8 reverts back to 1, like the first day of the week. It is about new beginnings. Eight souls were saved by water in the ark and began the new day.

9 seems to be associated with manifestation, as in traits, like the fruit of the Spirit or the listed charisma. Jesus also uses "99" to denote the status quo, urging his disciples to leave the 99 and go after the 1 stray.

10 is the whole. It signifies a totality. For instance, there are 2 tablets with 5 laws apiece, so there is an agreement (of the horizontal and vertical laws) which govern (5) the people of God as 10, as being complete in themselves. The two (witness) tablets of 5 (government) gives the entire scope of the law. It is the whole counsel of God.

11 would be ten + 1, of course, or a number combining the whole and God, but it doesn't find a particular use in Bible symbology. The original 12 disciples were pared down to 11 until the Book of Acts. It was incomplete in that sense. So, it could be a number of incompleteness that, when combined with 6, for instance, becomes 66 and multiplied by 10 = 666. We then have the number of the incomplete man, fallen and imperfect and his history or existence being completed in six days.

12 stands for the ecclesia, the congegration and the fathers: 12 Jewish fathers, 12 apostles and 12 tribes, or the 144,000 (12 x 12 x 100, which is 10 x 10).

12 + 1 is the foundation or seminal grouping as in Jesus and the 12. 13 is a foundational number. For instance, Arthur and his 12 knights is based on the symbology of the original 13. There is no use of the number as such in the NT.

40 is an important number that denotes testing or a period of examination. 40 days or years in the wilderness. Even its extension to 4,000 is significant in that, biblically speaking, 4 millennia is the testing period from Adam to Jesus in history. 4 (cosmos) x 10 (wholeness) would indicate the completion of a task, in this sense. 40 x 50 (Jubilee, Pentecost) is 2,000, the apparent number of years in a biblical "age."

49 is 7 x 7 which completes a larger cycle than the week. Jesus uses the number in illustrating forgiveness. We forgive 70 x 7, that is, utterly and irrevocably.

50 is the number of Jubilee, denoting restoration and newness of life. The captives are set free. The most significant symbol in this regard is the Jewish Feast of Pentecost which becomes the very day the church was born in 30AD.

1,000 is 10 x 10 x 10, an extension of the whole, or the whole picture. It can be used figuratively or literally. 7 x 1000 seems to be a picture of the whole plan of God, or His entire enterprise focusing on Jesus Christ.

Most other significant numbers one encounters in scripture probably link with these numbers. These are the basic numbers one encounters regularly and my take on their prophetic and symbolic application. I'm sure there's more.

Aliyah & The Disappearing Jew

Netanyahu: No future for Diaspora Jewry
Gil Hoffman, THE JERUSALEM POST
Oct. 6, 2006

Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu questioned the future of Diaspora Jewry in a closed-door meeting with American contributors to the IDF's Nahal haredi program on Thursday morning.
He warned that assimilation and intermarriage would threaten the future of Diaspora Jewry and said the Nahal haredi program was the answer to the rifts inside Israeli society. Netanyahu told participants to do everything possible to prevent assimilation in their communities, but said Israel is what is keeping the Jewish people together.
What's new on JPost.com
"There is no future for Jews in the Diaspora, because of assimilation and intermarriage," Netanyahu said, according to participants. "The only future for the Jews is in Israel. The only hope for the Jewish people in the Diaspora is Israel."

In this prophecy, Jeremiah said: "And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph [Ephraim], and I will bring them again [to the Holy Land] to place them; for I have mercy on them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, and I will hear them" (Zechariah 10:6).

My comments: There are about 15 million Jews in the world today. Consider that the Holocaust exterminated 6 million to get a perspective on this. Jews make up, right now, 0.3 % of the world's population. There aren't enough of them to fill up Los Angeles or Cairo.

What's more, they are headed for extinction through inter-breeding. That is, the purity of the Jewish race, the thoroughbreds, has been seriously compromised through marrying Gentiles in the nations to which they were dispersed. Jews have, of course, suffered enough in this world: but they really face an uncertain future unless they get their act together. Netanyahu, I think, believes this. He is calling for aliyah, or a return to Israel. This at a time when Jews have been leaving Israel.

America is the world's chief stronghold of genuine Jews. Some argue they are doing fine in their dispersion. Others worry that the purity of the race is seriously compromised.

It may be that this waning of the Jew is one of the clearest indications of the lateness of the hour, of the finality of the eschaton, or the "end of the age." We certainly live in a moment like no other in history, with forces and circumstances in the world that seem to be pulling us inexorably toward the fulfillment of some of the unfinished business of ancient prophecies.

America In Prophecy?

Isaiah 18 (NIV)
A Prophecy Against Cush
1 Woe to the land of whirring wings [a]

along the rivers of Cush, [b]
2 which sends envoys by sea

in papyrus boats over the water.

Go, swift messengers,

to a people tall and smooth-skinned,

to a people feared far and wide,

an aggressive nation of strange speech,

whose land is divided by rivers.
3 All you people of the world,

you who live on the earth,

when a banner is raised on the mountains,

you will see it,

and when a trumpet sounds,

you will hear it.
4 This is what the LORD says to me:

"I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place,

like shimmering heat in the sunshine,

like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."
5 For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone

and the flower becomes a ripening grape,

he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives,

and cut down and take away the spreading branches.
6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey

and to the wild animals;

the birds will feed on them all summer,

the wild animals all winter.
7 At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD Almighty

from a people tall and smooth-skinned,

from a people feared far and wide,

an aggressive nation of strange speech,

whose land is divided by rivers—

the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD Almighty.
Footnotes:
Isaiah 18:1 Or of locusts
Isaiah 18:1 That is, the upper Nile region
The highlighted words are the ones thought by some to refer to America.

"A people tall and smooth-skinned" could describe Americans, perhaps more than any nation in history. Unless you want to include Scandinavians.

"To a people feared far and wide" would definitely describe America and our military technology.

"An aggressive nation of strange speech"...We have been aggressive, certainly. The Soviets called us "Yankee imperialists." "Strange speech" could also refer to English, since it would not have been known in the world of Isaiah.

"Whose land is divided by rivers" could also be America, that is prominently divided by the Mississippi, a river that has nurtured our nation and the world.

"When a banner is raised on the mountains" could refer to the very recognizable American flag. "Mountains" can refer, in scripture, to governments and nations. Our flag has flown in many nations.

"At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD Almighty" by this nation. At what time? Possible clues are in verses 5 and 6: cryptic references to Armageddon. And what gift might America bring to the Lord? Would she come to the defense of Israel?

By the way, the rivers of "Cush" do not refer to Ethiopia, but Babylon, as evidenced by numerous scriptures about Cush. We are talking about Persia, and specifically the area of the Persian Gulf, that is, Iraq and Iran.

Seven-Fold Prayer

I came across this analysis of the Lord's prayer and thought it interesting:

7 IS THE NUMBER OF REST, cessation but not ceasing, safety, and the full measure of the triad and the quaternary.
One of the greatest heritages from the Christian Scriptures is the seven-fold path of the Lord's prayer. The seven statements express the triad and the quaternary (Matthew 6:9-13):

1. Our Father which art in heaven,

2. Hallowed be Thy Name,

3. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

4. Give us this day our daily bread, and

5. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

6. Lead us not into temptation,

7. But deliver us from evil
The final statement ("For Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever") was added much later to symbolize return to the heavenly state.
From: http://www.afgen.com/newtest.html

Biblical history in the Old Testament can be divided into 4 millennial days using the chronologies of the Masoretic text. It is fun for me to lay the subsequent 6 millennia of history over the patterns of 7 that continually pop up in the Bible and then see what happens:

Day (millennium) 1 ~ In the beginning God and the age of Adam through Noah.
Adam begins as the father of mankind and Noah starts over. This is a millennium of fathering and beginnings.
Day (millennium) 2 ~ From Noah to Abraham, who begins the faith-walk with the hallowed Lord.
To hallow is to sanctify and set apart. Abraham begins a new age of faith and the Jewish race. God calls him holy because of his faith and selects the Jews as the nation to bring His revelation.
Day (millennium) 3 ~ Isaac to David. The kingdom begins. For two millennia God focuses on the Jews as His special flock and feeding them the manna of revelation, preparing the way for His Son.
Day (millennium) 4 ~ Solomon to Jesus. The bread of life (Yeshua) is revealed.

At the close of two millennia, Jesus, the bread of life, is revealed and rejected.
Day (millennium) 5 ~ Early church to 1030AD. Gentile debtors being forgiven.
The new age begins as the revelation now expands to the Gentiles (non-Jews). The message here is forgiveness for debts. It begins on the Jubilee of Pentecost as the church is born.
Day (millennium) 6 ~ Modern age of reformation. Overcoming temptation, the final test.
The church in the second millennium faces new challenges as knowledge increases (see Dan. 12: 4). The church is getting ready to leave the wilderness of temptation.
Day (millennium) 7 ~ New creation and resurrection. Deliverance from the world ruled by Satan.

At the end of the age, the deliverer returns. Evil is incarcerated for 1,000 years, and a Sabbath with the Lord of the Sabbath is established.
Day 8 ~ Forever. The endless kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.

The Pope vs. The Defectives

Pope: Other Christians not true churches
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press WriterTue Jul 10, 3:59 PM ET

Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation.

The statement brought swift criticism from Protestant leaders. "It makes us question whether we are indeed praying together for Christian unity," said the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, a fellowship of 75 million Protestants in more than 100 countries.

"It makes us question the seriousness with which the Roman Catholic Church takes its dialogues with the reformed family and other families of the church," the group said in a letter charging that the document took ecumenical dialogue back to the era before the Second Vatican Council.

An Ecumenical Council (also sometimes Oecumenical Council) or general council is a meeting of the bishops of the whole Church convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice. The word is from the Greek language "Οικουμένη",which literally means "inhabited", and was originally a figure of speech referring to the territory of the Roman Empire since the earliest councils were all convoked by Roman Emperors. In later usage it was applied in a more general way to mean all places that are inhabited by human beings, therefore "world-wide" or "general." ~ Wiki

My comment:
Q: What is something the church possesses that is unique in all religion?
A: A risen savior.

What does the Pope mean when he says all other churches have "defects?" He probably means that he believes the Catholic Church is the most perfect religious institution on earth. He sees her as the guiding home and mother of all Christianity. But the world is presently looking at an institution getting ready to cough up $2 billion in potential lawsuits over pedophilia. There seems to be a disconnect with reality here.

Over the centuries there has been within Christianity a kind of competition to achieve the purest doctrine. This sport has created many permutations in the teachings of the church. Today we have ecumenical councils that try to bring a kind of democratic application to developing some kind of agreement among the various Christian tribes. But has it worked?

Is there any one thing we Christians all agree on: something we can sink our teeth into that says we are what we say we are?

Eph. 4: 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

We often think of the "one Lord, one faith, and one baptism" as our particular brand of it: the way we baptize or the way we worship and do church. We develop apologetics to defend the purity of our doctrine and explain why everybody else is out in left field. And we rarely see any chinks in our own armor. We move into a kind of religious denial.

There is an exclusivity to the Christian message: No man can come to the Father but through Jesus Christ. He is a person, not a congregation or specific church or system of beliefs. The churches point to him. But no one of them is the only way: he is the only way. It is to him they stand or fall, and he is able to make them stand.

What? Are we bored with this function? Do we seek justification by our affiliations with believers rather than our relationship with the Lord?

Sound doctrine is a worthy pursuit ~ don't get me wrong. But we have left sound doctrine when we use it to bash those who believe in the same savior we do. Then we practice division. Then we specialize in straining at gnats and swallowing camels.

The truth is, we are all defective. If we weren't, we wouldn't need a savior. Some may consider the Pope "infallible." That is up to them. But he must remember that he too is defective: and so is his church.

We Christians need to be supportive of one another. "They follow not us," protested the disciples to Jesus.

"So what? They don't speak evil of me. If they are for me they are not against me," answered the Lord in Mark 9: 38, 39.

Weird. We're for him and not against him. Why are we against each other? A kingdom divided......

When God Made Us ~ Neil Young

NEIL YOUNG LYRICS
"When God Made Me"

Was he thinkin' about my country
Or the color of my skin?
Was he thinkin' 'bout my religion
And the way I worshipped him?
Did he create just me in his image
Or every living thing?
When God made me

Was he planning only for believers
Or for those who just have faith?
Did he envision all the wars
That were fought in his name?
Did he say there was only one way
To be close to him?
When God made me

Did he give me the gift of love
To say who I could choose?
When God made me

Did he give me the gift of voice
So some could silence me?
Did he give me the gift of vision
Not knowing what I might see?
Did he give me the gift of compassion
To help my fellow man?
When God made me
[Thanks to www.oldielyrics.com for these lyrics]
[ www.azlyrics.com ]

This song came out last year and I heard it today and it made me want to process what he was saying. As I recall, Neil was told he had an aneurism and less certainty about life and it seemed to spur a creative spurt that produce at least two albums, one of them an anti-war collection.

The first verse asks, "Was He thinking about my nation/race/religion/or worship style, and even my species (over other creatures)?" I think this is a good question. It is answered in scripture in that God is not partial: He does not show partiality. Man does show partiality: sometimes justly and perhaps more often not. But, with regard to God's other creatures, man is special and, because of his extra gifts, will be held responsible.

Three questions are asked in the second verse: 1) Is He partial to believers?, 2) Did He mean to spark so many wars?, and 3) Is there really only one way to God's heart? Scripturally, again, I think God's attitude to believers in Christ goes beyond partiality. It isn't about favoritism based on who is the best or is the most right. The point is, faith in Christ is what God offers us to set us free. It isn't like God has blinders on, that He ignores evil, or that He doesn't see hypocrisy in His people.

As far as war is concerned, Jesus recognized the potential for it that was present in the controversy surrounding His message. But he never encouraged it. He told Peter to "put up his sword" in the Garden of Gethsemane arrest. The gospel is not about killing people. War takes place outside of the revealed will of God.

Is there only one way to heaven? The scriptures are clear that Jesus is the exclusive door. It is only through faith that His grace is tapped to forgive sin. No other religion can or does offer this. That is not to say God hates people who are trying to approach Him some other way. He is cheering for them. But if they refuse His means ~ Jesus Christ His Son ~ they cannot find what they are looking for. They are looking in the wrong places.

With the bridge in the song, Neil becomes more difficult to understand, more obscure (which is OK in poetry). He asks if God gave him the gift of love to say who he could choose? These problems bug lots of people, of course. Love, at its best, is about relinquishing choice, actually. Love often requires loss. Sometimes even the loss of life. But to choose to love anyway is never a mistake.

I have a little more trouble understanding the musings of the third verse, but I'll take a shot. The first question seems to be about censorship, which is a political problem more than a theological one. The Bible bids us to censor ourselves, but there is no clear guideline with regard to the rest of society. That is a person's choice, whether to try to politically "clean up" a social problem. Historically, people are hard to force into narrow moral strait-jackets. Sinning is our human default: we do it quite naturally. It would benefit a society to properly censor itself, but Christians using government to enforce spiritual law has not helped. All governments tend to naturally supress crime anyway. They tend to enforce natural law.

Did He "give me the gift of vision, not knowing what I might see?" Certainly, He seems to have done just that. That is, I am free to do anything, including kill my fellow man. The problem is that evil is with us, even in us. So there is a need for restraint in human societies. How much restraint depends on what kind of society people desire. We have the freedom to choose good, if not for everyone else, at least for ourselves.

Finally, Neil mentions compassion, maybe as criticism against what he may see as a militant and angry Christianity. This is a valid criticism that Christians should listen to. Compassion was very present in Christ. We need to tap that virtue for all its worth. But it doesn't come easy to any of us, whether we are believers or not.

The Nemesis of Christ

This is just a brief study of the scriptures from which the huge library of historical speculative writings have emerged about the subject of Antichrist:

1John 2: 18 Dear children, this is the last hour;
What does John mean by "last hour"? Historically, we know it was not the last hour (end of time) in John's day. Last hour then becomes a term for "last days." That is, the countdown to the end of the age had begun with the birth of the church.
and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
We know this is the final act because of the fact of "antichrist". There could be no antichrist before there was a manifested Christ. But once Christ was revealed, then men could hate and oppose him.
Curiously, he says that they had heard of "THE antichrist" coming. This was something that was being taught in the early church. It sounds like this is a single person called the antichrist. But also there are MANY antichrists. For one thing, the Christian sect was hated by both Jews and Romans. There was intense persecution for centuries. They hate Christians if they hate Christ; so these antichrists naturally work against the believers.
19They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
20But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.[d]
We who believe have an "anointing": or we are anointed, chosen. We know the truth of who Christ is and thus pursue him. People are either for him or against him. Nobody who is for him is against him. And vice-versa, of course.
21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.
22 Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son.
Anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ is a "liar." A liar in this sense is someone who does not the truth. You can't do the truth without knowing who Jesus is. So anyone who denies the union of Christ with the Father is thus an antichrist. Simple.
23No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. So anyone who acknowledges Jesus possesses the Father. Anyone. How do we know they are not against him? They acknowledge him. Nobody can acknowledge him that is not anointed, that does not have the revelation, that does not know who he is, and certainly anyone who actively opposes either him or his chosen. Why do we have to try to go beyond this in dealing with other Christians? Why do we try to exclude them for other reasons? There is no other reason.
1 John 4
Test the Spirits
1Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
The spirit, human or otherwise, that does not acknowledge or admit that Jesus in God in the flesh, is antichrist. We don't listen to those spirits, period. Note: false prophets is a description aligned with antichrist, so any prophet opposing the revelation of the absolute supremacy of Christ is antichrist: for instance, Mohammed.

2John 1: 7Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.
John repeates the lesson.

2 Thess. 2: 3 Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for (that day will not come) until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness[a] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Okay, so this "temple" is either literal or figurative. For instance, Jesus referred to his body as the temple, which is at least in part a figurative idea. Of course, the body is also literally the temple of God. So we can say that "God's temple" here is a human body.
This could mean the "man of sin" comes in a single body. Or it could mean that this is us if we harbor the spirit of antichrist. Or it could be, literally and futuristically, a single person in the future. Then again, it could be all of the above, and would make sense as such.
5Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things?
6And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. Two clues here that sound futuristic: he is being held back (not revealed to the world at the time of this writing) and he will be revealed at a "proper time," or a future time.
7For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. Sin or iniquity is described here as a "power" that is working in the world that is restrained by an undisclosed individual. Some have said it is government, some have said it is Michael, some have said it is the Church, or the Holy Spirit. Take your pick and does it really matter? Someone is restraining the full disclosure of this secret until its time.
8And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. This is good reason to believe this is a future person since the 2nd Coming hasn't occurred.
9The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, This aligns neatly with Rev. 13.
10and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
11For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie
12and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. "The lie" is the same as John revealed above. The lie is that Jesus Christ is something other than God Himself manifest in the flesh.

Dan. 7: 8 "While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully.
9 "As I looked,
"thrones were set in place,
and the Ancient of Days took his seat.
His clothing was as white as snow;
the hair of his head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire,
and its wheels were all ablaze.
10 A river of fire was flowing,
coming out from before him.
Thousands upon thousands attended him;
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
The court was seated,
and the books were opened.
This coincides with the picture in Revelation of the return of Christ and ultimate judgment. So the Little Horn seems to immediately precede this and also seems to be one and the same as "the Antichrist" and "man of sin."
11 "Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. Again the connection to Revelation 19. By the way, he could be talking about Rome, the 4th beast, as well.
12 (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.)
13 "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.
14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

The Interpretation of the Dream
15 "I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. 16 I approached one of those standing there and asked him the true meaning of all this. "So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things:
17 'The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth.
18 But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever.'
19 "Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws—the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left.
20 I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell—the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully.
21 As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them,
22 until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom.
23 "He gave me this explanation: 'The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it.
24 The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings.
25 He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time. [a]
26 " 'But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever.
27 Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.'
28 "This is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself."
There is no doubt the 4th Beast denotes Rome. This becomes clear with study. Futurists refer to a "revived Roman Empire" which conveniently places the 4th Beast in the future. The reason this works is that the Roman Empire influence lives on. The roots of modern democracies are found in the first four beasts, particularly Rome. So, while we do not see Rome achieving her former glory today, we do see what could be a globalistic, Romanistic beast rising from the sea of humanity and carrying Babylon the Great on its back. That is, in a sense, the dream of Rome, the universal Pax, is still thought to be achievable.

And that sums up most of what we have to work with in regard to the biblical information we have on this person sometimes called "the Antichrist." Revelation 20 speaks of his and his followers' demise. Daniel 11 fills in some details. Amazing that from these few references so much has been written and published over the centuries. And the speculation will continue.

Birth Pangs In The Middle East

Rice: Democracy will come to Middle East By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer

PARIS - Nearly a year after she was ridiculed for calling a war in Lebanon "the birth pangs of a new Middle East," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is insisting democracy will come to the region whatever the setbacks. On Sunday (June 24), she acknowledged the bad news coming from Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories."Democracy is hard, and I see it as especially hard when there are determined enemies who try and strangle it," Rice said when asked about the "birth pangs" remark during a news conference with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.

Matthew 24:6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
8All these are the beginning of birth pains.

Ezekiel 38: 21 I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign LORD. Every man's sword will be against his brother.
22 I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. 23 And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.'

Ezekiel 39: 27 When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will show myself holy through them in the sight of many nations.
28 Then they will know that I am the LORD their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind.
29 I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD."

It has often been stated that the goal of the Bush Administration has been to establish democracy in the theocratic strongholds of the Middle East. Think of the transformation of Japan after WW2, and then extend that into all nations, the development of a global democratic matrix.

Iraq has shown us that democratization there is no piece of cake. So it is interesting to hear Condoleeza Rice using the figure "birth pangs." Jesus used this illustration to picture the time of His return and the end of the age. The end of what age? The age He was innaugurating: what we now might call "the Church Age," or the "times of the Gentiles."

During these nearly 2,000 years, the Jewish people have been in exile from their land, and suffered in other nations, as their prophet Ezekiel had predicted. Also, as Ezekiel said, they would be brought back, and the nations, particularly in the north, would wind up coming down against them. But the times leading up to this global war would be characterized by "birth pangs" in the Middle East. Perhaps that is exactly what we are seeing now, in a world troubled by terrorism and the upheaval of wars in this region.

The Return: Past or Future?

Picture: The destruction of Jerusalem 70AD.

Like most theological disputes, the divide between Preterism and its opposite, Futurism, is over how certain passages of Scripture should be interpreted. Futurists assert that Preterists have ignored prophecy recently fulfilled and spiritualized prophecies they interpret as describing literal, visible events, whereas Preterists believe that Futurists do not take certain passages such as Matthew 16:28 literally enough and do not give sufficient weight to scriptures that seem to show that the first century Church believed that a major eschatological event would certainly take place in their lifetime. Many "time texts" in the New Testament appear to indicate this, e.g., Matthew 10:23, Matthew 16:27-28, Matthew 24:34, Matthew 26:64, and Rev. 1:1-3. Full Preterists would assert that there are passages which also place the Second Coming and Resurrection at that time (Dan. 7:18; 12:1-7). Partial Preterists, however, assert that there are additional long-term indicators and futuristic goals of the Consummation that include the complete eradication of sin and the restoration of the Earth from its fallen state. ~ Wikipedia on Preterism

My Comment: Eschatology is the study of the eschaton or "last days." One is not required to understand these things to be justified by faith. Therefore this is a department of theology, of the study of God, but not a reason to reject the various beliefs as heresies. The reason for this is that, realistically, none of us knows absolutely the full meaning of prophecy.

There are two ways, apparently, to view the event we often call the Return of Christ. There is a school of thought called Preterism that says it already happened in that all biblical prophecy was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD. This belief basically makes the return of Jesus figurative and the rest of history a kind of progressive subjection of the world to that revelation (amillennialism or postmillennialism). That is, the destruction of the Temple by the Romans signifies the paradigm shift from the Jew to the Church as the carriers of God's revelation. History is then viewed as subservient to that event and is interpreted in that light.

The other way to view the eschaton is called Futurism. This view says that much or most of end-of-the-age prophecies ~ by Jesus, the Jewish prophets, and the apostles ~ are still pending. The expectation in this interpretation is that our Messiah is still going to return physically in the future to set up the Kingdom. That is, it is not just in the hearts of people, it is going to be universal and material. Futurists tend to approach biblical prophecy as literal, trying to interpret the ancient words at face-value, while Preterists tend to more figurative readings.

Below is a comment I made on a Preterist website after reading a detailed apologetic disecting a Futurist critique:

Your handling of this controversy was exhaustive. Thank you. I appreciate your thorough exegesis on a very difficult subject.While I have not been shaken from all things futurist, the preterist argument seems to have expanded my eschaton pallet.

I have a friend who is full-preterist/universalist and we have played exegetical badminton over these things for years. The dialogue has, I think, expanded both of us.

My point is that, regarding the mysteries of the eschaton, futurists often do fall into absurd and highly imaginative scenarios. It all has to do with our two guiding authorities in any of these arguments: the scriptures and our favorite interpretational grids that we use to understand them with. We tack scriptures and historical arguments onto the corkboard we call "preterism" or "futurism."

What usually happens to me, after viewing these structures, is that I conclude all of us are dealing with truth from limited perspectives. With this argument, I came to see the best answer involves both viewpoints: after all, Jesus is the same yesterday (past), today, and tomorrow (future). And the prophetic rhema seems to have that same expansive capability.

In the ecclesia of believers in Christ we have that centuries-old divisiveness based on we-they, modernist arguments. The church is always weakened by it and, of course, God is not the author of division. The only way I have found to transcend division is humility: "Hey, I don't see it your way, but so what. There is still only one faith, one Lord, and one baptism."

The rapture concept, so beloved in Evangelical circles, is a case-in-point. Who is really affected much by when and if it happens, or whether it happened figuratively long ago and far away? "Your time is always ready," Jesus said. I could die at any moment. That much is imminent, in that sense.

Thus, time-frames for these biblical events become superfluous, and more for intellectual interest than practical application. At least preterists aren't likely to find themselves waiting on a mountaintop somewhere, selling all their goods and anticipating the Lord's return (as has happened frequently in history with futurist expectations).

What We've Become

Linkin Park

What I've Done

In this farewell,

There’s no blood,

There’s no alibi.

‘Cause I’ve drawn regret,

From the truth,

Of a thousand lies.

So let mercy come,

And wash away…

What I’ve Done.

I’ll face myself,

To cross out what I’ve become.

Erase myself,

And let go of what I’ve done.

Put to rest,

What you thought of me.

While I clean this slate,

With the hands,

Of uncertainty.

For What I’ve Done

I start again,

And whatever pain may come.

Today this ends,

I’m forgiving what I’ve done.

This song by the very popular band Linkin Park and their latest album called Minutes to Midnight has a great hook that puts a claw in your brain, and the lyrics are interesting. The video they made for the song is provocative as they play with images streaming in of global crises, historical moments and thermonuclear mushrooms.

Linkin Park will be performing at one of the many Live Earth concerts going on globally on 07-07-07. The concerts are kind of about guilt, as is this song. The goal is to raise the global consciousness about the seriousness of global warming, to bring about a collective sense of guilt and point humanity to a kind of repentance toward the biosphere, or to Gaia.

The song is interesting from a Christian perspective, too, as it portrays well the human angst for our evils, our wrongdoings. Let mercy come and I will face myself and start again. The video of the song, the band playing in the desert, with images of planetary destruction by a reckless mankind, delivers a powerful message of looking honestly at ourselves and reassessing, striking out in a new and better direction, erasing what we have been.

This is the message of Christ to us as well, and refreshing to hear a secular band exploring this territory. The truth is, we all lament "what we've done." For we have all failed. But there is one of us who did not fail. It is to him we turn for mercy to help in a self-destructing world. To erase ourselves, forgiving what we've done. And to seize the reigns of our lives and do better. Even forgiving ourselves and moving on.

See on You-Tube at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sgycukafqQ

Triune Brain

My comments in purple:

Triune brain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The triune brain is a model proposed by Paul D. MacLean to explain the function of traces of evolution existing in the structure of the human brain. In this model, the brain is broken down into 3 separate brains that have their own special intelligence, subjectivity, sense of time and space, and memory[1]. The triune brain consists of the R-complex, the limbic system, and the neocortex.

7K says: What I'm going to do here is a little wild, edgy, outside. I came across this "triune brain" in Ken Wilber's very interesting book A Brief History of Everything. Wilber pulls together a kind of holistic evolution that includes the biological world, the psychic world, and the spiritual dimensions in his insightful writings. "Evolution", in this sense, can simply be thought of as progressive development, no matter how you square that with scripture.

In Wilber's cosmos, the triune brain is a remnant of evolution, that basically took place in three stages: 1) The R-Complex (reptillian ~ first observed in that stage of evolution) that includes the brain stem and cerebellum and controls instinct, muscles, balance and automatic functions; 2) The Limbic System (mammal stage) that displays the development of emotions and instincts and the avoidance of pain and approach of pleasure; and 3) The Neocortex (higher mammals)that controls thinking, reason and speech.

That is, the brain has 3 regions that can be said to govern the most basic to the most sophisticated operations in humans.

In theology, God is, by many, believed to be composed of 3 persons or manifestations: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Others dislike this representation because they emphasize that God is one, and that the three-person idea invites a perversion of the Godhead. Either way, though, both theories still say "God is one." And both sides have to admit that God is characterized in scripture in these three ways. We call that Trinity concept the "triune God." It doesn't mean three separate gods: it means one God with a three-dimensionality.

Whether God utilized evolution or special creation to form this human brain ~ this central engine of the human who is "made in His image" ~ the brain has these three aspects to it.

The Father is like the Neocortex, in that He speaks and reasons and thinks it all into existence, and controls it from His supernal position in His cosmos. Jesus is like the Limbic System, in that He identifies with us in our emotions, instincts, pains, and pleasures. He is God as one of us, the High Priest who is in tune with our infirmities. Finally, the Holy Spirit is like the R-Complex, and is in control of the organism we know of as the Church.

Okay, maybe that is too wild. But these kinds of relationships exist within the framework of God's design. No harm done in THINKING about it (using my neocortex, of course).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLD BUDDY

Happy Birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! happy birthday dear old Al, Happy birthday to you.
Love from Patric,Rachel and Savannah

A Change Is Gonna Come: National Health Care

From a CNN study on the new Michael Moore movie ~

Moore focuses on the private insurance companies and makes no mention of the U.S. government-funded health-care systems such as Medicare, Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program and the Veterans Affairs health-care systems. About 50 percent of all health-care dollars spent in the United States flows through these government systems.
"Sicko" also ignores a handful of good things about the American system. Believe it or not, the United States does rank highest in the patient satisfaction category. Americans do have shorter wait times than everyone but Germans when it comes to nonemergency elective surgery such as hip replacements, cataract removal or knee repair.

That's no surprise given the number of U.S. specialists. In U.S. medical schools, students training to become primary-care physicians have dwindled to 10 percent. The overwhelming majority choose far more profitable specialties in the medical field. In other countries, more than one out of three aspiring doctors chooses primary care in part because there's less of an income gap with specialists. In those nations, becoming a specialist means making 30 percent more than a primary-care physician. In the United States, the gap is around 300 percent, according to Keckley.
As Americans continue to spend $2 trillion a year on health care, everyone agrees on one point: Things need to change, and it will take more than a movie to figure out how to get there.

Michael Moore is a liberal propagandist, right? He takes liberal causes that he is passionate about and makes movies about them; and does a bang-up job considering the number of people who see them.

Okay, so he only touched on what were to him the most salient problems, and left out some of the good stuff about the American system at present. Propaganda is not supposed to be fair, no matter who is putting it out. It is supposed to persuade.

My comment is this, since I haven't seen the movie:
America is careening into a humongous crisis in the next ten years or so.

The baby boomers, the darlings of all global merchandisers be they honest or evil, are getting old. That means they are going to have to retire and that they are going to get sick.

Older American corporations are faltering, many of them, because they were providers of their workers' benefits: in short, they were the social system supporting their retirees and their workers' health care. They now are top-heavy with retirees and are trying to weasle out of these traditional systems we remember as pensions and insurance coverage. Those were the things they used to use as the carrot on the stick to draw able workers on board.

Because they are strapped, they can't compete with newer businesses, and they must either fold up or downsize. They've been falling like dominoes while new foreign companies prosper.

What this means is that there will be a glut of baby boomers going into retirement with less than they need to accomplish that American entitlement we call retirement. The present capitalistic system is cracking. We won't want another Great Depression, or to throw millions of people out to the wolves.

All Mr. Moore is doing is comparing the present faltering system with the more socialistic systems of Europe and Canada. And, Mr. Moore aside, there are two ways to go: a right-wing plunge into the uncertainty of people fending for themselves or a left-wing swing into National Health Care and a cradle-to-grave security system where Americans are "guaranteed" jobs, education, health care, and retirement. How is all this going to be funded?

How else? Taxes. There is no other method.

Unfortunately for the present system, and juggernaut insurance companies, the old boat is leaking. Insurance today is cumbersome and often poorly managed, with increasing numbers of people trying to make a go without it.

Here is my prediction: America WILL go the way of Europe, and the transition will be difficult. But it is because the old system that worked beautifully for awhile has its back against the wall.

The old baby boomers who once protested Viet Nam and started a few revolutions will be back in that game. They gonna raise a fuss and they gonna raise a holler after workin all their lives just to try to earn a dollar.

There is also the fact that it is now perceived that the Republican Revolution failed, even by some Republicans. The mood of the country is swinging left, with elections coming in 2008. Mrs. Clinton is presently the heavyweight contender in the pantheon salivating at the sight of the Oval Office. In the '90's she championed National Health Care.

It's going to happen. This country will go European and develop a similar system. There won't be any other choice. The system is about to hit the fan.