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Why were Jerusalem’s “gates” left open to the enemy? Josephus records miraculous warning signs during the period of Revelation’s Trumpets. Once again, the death angel stood at the threshing floor holding a sword over the city for the king’s “numbering” of the saints:

“Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such as belied God himself; while they did not attend nor give credit to the signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation, but, like men infatuated, without either eyes to see or minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made to them.

Thus there was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year. Thus also before the Jews’ rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus, [Nisan,] and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright day time; which lasted for half an hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskillful, but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes, as to portend those events that followed immediately upon it…

“Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner [court of the] temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night. Now those that kept watch in the temple came hereupon running to the captain of the temple, and told him of it; who then came up thither, and not without great difficulty was able to shut the gate again. This also appeared to the vulgar to be a very happy prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the gate of happiness. But the men of learning understood it, that the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies. So these publicly declared that the signal foreshowed the desolation that was coming upon them.”

“Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armour were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the temple], as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, “Let us remove hence.”*

*Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, (vi:v:3), quoted from David Chilton’s compilation in Paradise Restored, A Biblical Theology of Dominion. The chariots in the clouds were also reported by the Roman historian Tacitus: “In the sky appeared a vision of armies in conflict, of glittering armour. A sudden lightning flash from the clouds lit up the Temple. The doors of the holy place abruptly opened, a superhuman voice was heard to declare that the gods were leaving it, and in the same instant came the rushing tumult of their departure.” (Tacitus, The Histories,translated by Kenneth Wellesley).

In recaptulating Israel’s history, the seven letters in Revelation 2-3 confirm that the true Israel was transformed by the death and resurrection of Christ, progressing from Firstfruits through Pentecost to Trumpets. James Jordan writes:

“[Bible chronology] is a history of how the Divine Parent educated the core and centre of the human race, and then of how He called all nations to be grafted into that Olive Tree history so as to receive the benefit of it… The human race had matured to the point where it was fitting for Messiah to come, and come not only to save the race, but to bring the race to maturity… And then we can notice that the seven churches in Revelation 2-3 are each associated with a particular time in Old Covenant history. We can begin to apply the societal wisdom we have begun to learn from Israel’s history to address the particular problems and issues in our own churches. Is your church most like Pergamum? Well, that’s the wilderness church. Perhaps your church is made up of people who need to be addressed in a Law-oriented fashion. If your church is like Thyatira, maybe a strong dose of Psalms. If like Sardis, you need Jeremiah. And so forth.”

http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/biblical-horizons/no-195-how-to-do-reformed-theology-nowadays-part-4/

The content of this post has been revised and included in Bible Matrix II: The Covenant Key.

The ark had three levels. The Lord divided three times to make His world, so it had three levels that required filling: sky, land and sea. In Exodus 20:4, three levels represent the entire universe. God forbids us to make an image of anything in the heavens above, the land below, or the waters under the earth.

God’s instructions for the ark included a window and a door, which match the “the windows of heaven” and “fountains of the deep.”

So the ark was a temporary model of the world, a sanitation-sealed miniature that was a door from the old world to the new one. In this way it prefigured the Tabernacle, the Temple, and the body of Christ. In Matthew 7, Christ’s parable of the wise man and the foolish man depicts one house saved (the ark) and another house destroyed by a flood (the old physical Temple). The entire Old Creation was judged or rescued in the ark/temple of Christ.

“And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.

The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of the Land’s abominations.” (from Revelation 17)

The woman’s riches and robe are described after her “bestial relations.” She made her priestly office into a counterfeit kingdom. She thought she was rich, but was in fact poor, blind and naked.

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And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:4-7)

Abel was the keeper of sheep, but as his older brother, Cain was Abel’s keeper. Cain was his watchman, his Aaron, his ‘High Priest.’ In the first century, the High Priests were not faithful watchmen but spiritual Canaanites. Like Cain, their hypocritical sacrifices were rejected by God, but the firstborn of the Creation ascended to heaven in clouds. Satan was deposed from accusing at the gate (door) of the Temple in heaven and thrown down to the Land. “Cain” again failed to rule over him. Satan took up residence in Herod’s Temple, and the firstfruits church, as Abel, was massacred in the late 60’s. The Lord had said, “If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” The full arrival of the New Creation ended the mercy shown to the prophet-killers. Vengeance on them was seven-fold.

Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. (Matthew 23:31-36)

In the book of Esther we have in type the wisdom of God that had Paul in awe as he wrote the letter to the Roman Christians. By sending the gospel to the Gentiles, the enemies of God were exposed. When the new bride was persecuted, the Jews were forced to endorse either the New Covenant people or their attackers. In this process, “all Israel” was saved (Romans 11:26). The old Jerusalem was purified and redeemed. Because of Mordecai’s disobedience in failing as a witness, Esther was able to obtain mercy (Romans 11:30-32). Peter Leithart writes:

“…the book is more about Mordecai’s exalation than about Esther. Esther’s exaltation to queen is part of the means by which Mordecai and the Jews are ultimately saved, and the story climaxes with Mordecai at the right hand of the king (like Joseph and Daniel—Esther 10:2). Further, the key moral transition in the book comes when Mordecai stops urging Esther to hide her identity. A disappointment for feminist interpreters perhaps, but the book is more the book of Mordecai than the book of Esther.”

Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.”

They cross Land and Sea to make one disciple for their corrupted religion, and make him twice the child of Gehenna as themselves. “Ge-Henna” is Greek for the despised Valley of Hinnom southwest of Jerusalem, the previous location of Tophet’s child sacrifices that became an open, mass grave during the Babylonian seige. It became the rubbish dump, full of maggots, with the refuse continually burning. Jesus quotes Isaiah 66:23-24 to describe it. The Roman siege would begin when Jews from all over the empire were in Jerusalem for Passover. Their “Table” was made a snare, and Gehenna was filled with the bodies of these deceived “children.”

God uses symbols not only to reveal the spiritual character of physical people and events, but also to demonstrate their relationships to each other.

For instance, when Satan is called a serpent, it is because he is using the weapon of deceit, spewing it out of his mouth like counterfeit living water. When Satan is called a dragon, he is using the weapon of death, inciting a mob or government to kill God’s people.

The land and the sea are the physical land and sea in Genesis, but once God narrows His focus down to a priestly nation, Israel becomes the Land, and the Gentiles become the Sea. This demonstrates the boundary set by God between Jews and Gentiles. When Israel sins, the Gentiles rush in like a flood.

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)

Like Joshua’s spies, Ezekiel and the Lord had spied out Jericho. The “seeing” was now over. The Temple had been measured right down to the hidden things. Judgment always begins at God’s house, so the Lord called for the Levite executioners and ordered them to begin their slaughter at the Temple. Six men with weapons appeared from the north gate, the gate of sacrifice. With a seventh man in linen, the men would pass through the city as seven trumpets, announcing its destruction. They stood beside the bronze altar, ready to offer the people as an atonement for the innocent blood shed on the Land. With that allusion to Abel, we next have an allusion to Cain. Cain was shown mercy and given a mark on his forehead to prevent his execution for the murder of his brother. As Samuel anointed David with oil from a horn from the Tabernacle, those who cried for the abominations committed in the Land were marked for mercy from the man’s inkhorn. These were marked with a tav —a Hebrew t—a cross, the seal of the Spirit.

The man with the inkhorn wore linen, which implies two things: he was the high priest, and it was the day of atonement. Ezekiel didn’t realise it at the time, but when he saw this man, he was looking at himself (Ezekiel 43:3).