Bully's Blog

The book of Daniel begins with the captured vessels from Solomon’s Temple being carried off to Babylon. We assume the ark, with its solid gold lid, was melted down. The golden lampstand, however, shows up at Belshazzar’s feast just before the fall of Babylon to Persia. Cyrus decrees that the Jews can return and rebuild the Temple. They carry the vessels, minus the Ark, across the Great River Euphrates.

Zechariah later sees a flying scroll with the dimensions of the Tabernacle (10 x 20 cubits). These are also the dimensions of the Ark plus cherubim in Solomon’s Temple. The Ark had been offered as an ascension and created a new heaven – unrolled a new scroll. The Restoration Covenant cost the Ark its “life.”

Now to Acts. The human Ark, Jesus, had ascended to heaven and left the “seven churches”, the New Covenant Lampstands with tongues of fire, to rule and conquer Babylon (Jerusalem). The church did so, and we see the firstfruits church army, the “kings from the sunrising” crossing the Great River in Revelation 16, entering a new earth like Joshua over Jordan.

“It is surely a remarkable incident, if it is not the Providence of God, that these human, un-selfconscious letters of the very early days of Christianity should have been preserved. What is even more remarkable is their astonishing relevance today. It seems that the men who wrote these letters concentrated upon the essential spiritual core of human life. They provide that spiritual vitamin, without which human life is at best sickly, and at worst dead. While scarcely touching on any “modern problem” they yet manage to give pointers of principle which show the way, and the spirit, in which the problems of even a highly complex age such as ours may be tackled successfully.

The present translator who has closely studied these letters for several years is struck by two things. First, their surprising vitality. He is continually struck by the living quality of the material on which he is working. Some will, no doubt, consider it merely superstitious reverence for “Holy Writ”, yet again and again the writer felt rather like an electrician re-wiring an ancient house without being able to “turn the mains off”.

From the Translator’s Preface to Letters to Young Churches (The New Testament Epistles) by J. B. Phillips

Read Translators’ Impressions:
http://www.bullartistry.com.au/pdf_bestill/037BeStill.pdf

“…when one is confronted with the language of Revelation it is no mere difference of style which makes one gasp, but crudities, grammatical errors and a quite extraordinary juxtaposition of words. So wholly different is the book in its word-usage and composition from the Fourth Gospel that many scholars find themselves unable to believe that both could be written by the same person. The Fourth Gospel is written, within its limited vocabulary, smoothly and correctly and would probably have caused no literary qualms in a contemporary Greek reader. But Revelation piles word upon word remorselessly, mixes cases and tenses without apparent scruple, and shows at times a complete disregard for normal syntax and grammar… Continue reading

An examination of the teachings of Jesus on eschatological issues. Also, a look at the dating and interpretation of the Book of Revelation.

by W.A. Young, Jr. Th.D. Covenant Theological Seminary www.trinityreformed.com

Nothing is more interesting than the study of what is referred to as the end-times.  Nothing sells books, tapes, or videos like future prophecy. Preoccupation with the future is what sells horoscopes, palm readings, and the like. We all face the fears and hopes of what the future may bring. People want to know what will happen in the end. 

The purpose of this paper is to review the nature of eschatology.  There has been a major shift in eschatological perspective that has swept through much of evangelicalism today.  This has occurred in the last one hundred to one hundred and fifty years.  It has both violated and permeated much of the church’s teachings concerning the end of this age.

My own journey, especially during the early formative years, was one of vacillation.  In the early days, I subscribed to the majority report among evangelicals, the dispensational view.  This view is characterized by Hal Lindsey and others. Dispensationalism came about  in the 1830′s and is built on the futurist system and supported by the Scofield Bible.  It dominates evangelical preaching, education, publishing, and broadcasting today. I suspect the reason is that Scofield presents such a systematic approach that an individual can easily subscribe because it is so easily laid out in his footnotes. As I have grown in my understanding of scriptures I have come to see that the moderate Preterist perspective best presents the biblical perspective. This view is what is under consideration in this paper. Continue reading

They sent therefore fifty men. And for three days they sought [Elijah] but did not find him. And they came back to [Elisha] while he was staying at Jericho, and he said to them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not go’?” (2 Kings 2:17-18)

It seems the Ark was “taken” like Enoch. If it was carried to Babylon, perhaps it was melted down with other conquered “gods” to contribute to Nebuchadnezzar’s “golden calf.” It fits the pattern if the Ark “died” on the altar of false worship “outside the city.” Continue reading

And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. He opened the shaft of the Abyss, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Revelation 9:1-2

The fifth trumpet aligns with both the Feast of Trumpets, and Deuteronomy. It is the summoning of armies on Day 5, swarms of birds and fish filling sky and sea as glorious clouds. The Altar of the Abyss, in this case, is now an evil twin of the Altar of Incense, a demonic response to the ascension of Christ and His new government. Continue reading

“And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the Land, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle across the Land and gathered the grape harvest of the Land and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.” Revelation 14:18-20

Like Pharaoh, the “plagues” Trumpet warnings only hardened the hearts of the Jewish leaders. Like Pharaoh, he had raised up the Herods only to demonstrate His power in their destruction (Romans 9:17). Continue reading

High Priest in the Unholy Place

The Lampstand, Table and Incense Altar are Word, Sacrament and Government. Christ was tempted with unholy Word (bread), unholy sacrament (disobedience 1) and unholy government (a counterfeit kingdom). Couple this with the facts that He was in the wilderness for 40 days, and that Eve was tempted in the same way, and you have a definitive triune breakdown of the golden calf. It was a false Tabernacle, a metal beast instead of a metal man.

As Greater Eve, the first century church was tempted in exactly the same way, but by this point the golden calf was actually speaking. Herod’s temple was the image of the beast, the Tabernacle of the Abyss. We see its antidote in Revelation 1: a glorified metal man, come to judge a corrupted Eve (the harlot) and the beast she believed in.

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1 In this case it is a false death and resurrection. TAOTA

Revelation 20-21:21 as a new Tabernacle

This passage seems to follow the Tabernacle furniture (and the Feasts, but more subtly). It concerns the inauguration of the new heavens and new land, the gospel age as a new creation, beginning with the closing of the heavy lid of the false ark.

Day 1 Throne The Ark of the Abyss – Satan thrown into the pit (cf Zechariah 5)

Day 2 Firmament The Laver of the Abyss – Satan’s final rebellion ends in the lake of fire

Day 3 Altar (Land & Sea) The Altar of the Abyss – Land and Sea give up their dead to be judged

Day 4 Lampstand The Lampstand of Heaven – the Holy City (Eve lights) is ready for her Adam light

Day 5 Altar (Incense) The Altar of Heaven – True and false Eve armies are separated

Day 6 Firmament The Laver of Heaven – the Old Covenant crystal sea is replaced with a crystal city

Day 7 Throne The Ark of Heaven – the bridal city is described as pure gold, the Shekinah

Greater Eve, the virgin bride, is enthroned over the nations, a human government in heaven.

This pattern reflects the testing of Adam in the garden. Jesus deals here with Adam’s usurper and rescues Eve from the serpent by filling her with the light of the Law. She becomes a “fulfilled Ark” as the pattern is measured out across the world.

The remainder of Revelation begins a new pattern, but it ends halfway through at the same test Adam faced – the Tree of Life.

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The image above is from Elizabeth – the Golden Age, which contains some truly awesome ‘warrior bride’ iconography. TAOTA

or Hyperpreterism: stuck on the starting line

Hyperpreterists take great delight in pointing out the inconsistencies in what they refer to as “partial” preterism. Matthew 25 is a good example. If we are going to (rightly) interpret Matthew 23 and 24 as referring to the destruction of centralised worship (the old age) and the beginning of a new age of righteousness, surely Matthew 25 is within the same context?

On this one, I agree with the hypers. Matthew 25 is fulfilled… Continue reading