December 2002

This is December ….the month that we celebrate the incarnation of God into the earth and into the spirit and flesh of man. Jesus Christ was the promised Seed of Abraham who fulfilled every prophecy by the Old Testament prophets for the Messiah. He was the Seed who becomes the Vine and who’s Branches shall cover the whole earth. His reign is sure…..and is expanding …., until everything shall be subject to Him. King David said, “As surely as I live, the whole earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah saw into the future and declared that “the increase of His government and peace, there would be no end “.

So here we are, Jesus having died and being raised, His body continually grows, and his dominion is slowly but surely taking over everything in the time space realm. God spoke through the Psalmist when He said, “Sit here until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet “. Let us sit with Him, having died with Him, been raised with Him, ascended with Him, and now seated with and in Him, at the right hand of the Father. It is the only place I want to be…..”In Him”. He is the Rock ……and the truth is, you will either be in the Rock, or under it. What is your choice today?

January 2003

Happy New Year in Him!!

Altogether Lovely

Do you know how lovely the Savior is? Do you get glimpses of His beauty?
Are you seeking Him….in order to find out? If you draw near to Him, He will draw near to you. It’s a promise that is more sure than the rising sun.

As a painter expresses his heart through his painting, so God expresses His heart through creation. Every flower, every creature, every sunset, is an expression of His beauty and personality. He is “Altogether Lovely” as Solomon wrote in the “Song of Songs”.

To make life even more interesting, as we seek the “Beautiful Savior”, and subsequently find Him…, He makes us more and more beautiful in spirit ….,
as His fruit grows inside of us ….where His garden grows . We grow in patience, love, peace, joy, gentleness, and all the fruits of the recreated spirit.

Jesus is beautiful…..irresistible…..in every way. Let’s seek Him, and let Him make a garden for Himself inside of us where” He can eat His pleasant fruit”. The two shall be one flesh, said Paul the Apostle. But, he was speaking of a mystery, that is, Christ and His people, the bride.

February 2003

Many Mansions

“In my Father’s House are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” How many times we have heard this wonderful piece of scripture that reinforced our foundation of a blessed hope of a mansion in total pure bliss …., Heaven. We thought that “in that day” we could kick back and settle in to our castle in the sky. Well, we were wrong. I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but the fact of the matter is ….., you are the mansion.

The Greek word for mansion is “mone” which means “room”, or “dwelling place”. It is used by Jesus later in the same chapter 14 of John when He said, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our room (home or “mone”) with him.” The Father’s house is the believing Body of Christ, the church. We are the living stones. We are built together to be a habitation of God built without human hands. Jesus is the cornerstone and everything in the new order of Life is built around Him.

When we obey the words of Jesus, the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit make their home in us. We are a room in the Father’s house. His house has many rooms. Isn’t it exciting to think of your brothers and sisters being rooms in the house of God? I don’t know about you , but , I enjoy going from room to room in the Father’s house , to see what treasure may be waiting for me to enjoy , or what gift may be there for me to receive . It is also enjoyable to deposit a gift in a room in the Father’s house.

Enjoy the Father’s House! May your room be filled with the fragrance of Heaven, gifts for others, and fruit for the Master to eat and enjoy!

March 2003

North Star

Hello Friends,
I just returned from a glorious trip in Waves, North Carolina …with my daughter . One of the many things we did was look at the stars and the constellations . It occurred to me , since all of creation speaks of the glory of God , that the North Star could be seen as a type of Christ , in creation. I thought you may enjoy and be built up by this song without music.

North Star

031303
© Copyright 2001 by Bryan Davis
All rights reserved

Ravished by the ocean storms
And waves upon my ship,
Tossed around and turned aside
In the middle of the trip.
Skies grew clear ,
And waves subside,
The dark clouds disappear…
I gander up into the night
And fix my eyes
Up and a far
Fused upon
The North Star.

In a desert hot and dry
My lips are burning red
The winds of change keep blowing hard
While I’ve been left for dead.
Skies grew clear ,
And winds subside,
The dark clouds disappear…
I gander up into the night
And fix my eyes
Up and a far
Fused upon
The North Star.

In the wood I lost my way
The trees all look the same,
Tripping over limb and rock
Until I became lame,
Skies grew clear
And fears subside
The dark clouds disappear
I gander up into the night
And fix my eyes
Up and a far
Fused upon
The North Star.

April 2003

Do You Wanna Be a Rock Star?
Or Star Search
Or Which Tribulation?

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from Heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

(Matthew 24: 29). Jesus said this during His earthly ministry.

Let me ask you if this sounds similar. This is what Isaiah said in
chapter 13: 9 and 10:

1.) “The stars of the heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light; the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shed its
light.”

This was written around 700-690 BC concerning the judgment of Babylon.

2.) “And when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens, and darken the stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you and will set darkness on your land. “

This was written around 593-573 BC by the prophet Ezekiel concerning the judgment of Egypt..

3.) “And all the host of heaven will wear away, and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll; all their hosts will also wither away as a leaf withers from the vine, or as one withers from the fig tree. For my sword is satiated in heaven, behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom, and upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction.”

This was written by Isaiah in chapter 34 verses 4 and 5 concerning the judgment of Edom around 700-690 BC.

4.) And concerning a previous judgment of Israel Amos wrote
around 760 – 750 BC in chapter 5 verse 18;

“Alas , you who are longing for the day of the Lord , for what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you? It will be darkness and not light.

Again Amos wrote in chapter 8 verse 9:

“And it will come about in that day”, declares the Lord God, “That I shall make the sun go down at noon, and make the earth dark in broad daylight.”

So, God used this kind of language when He spoke of the judgment of Jerusalem in 70 AD, as well as when He judged Babylon, Egypt, Edom , and Israel in times hundreds of years before then. Jesus knew that the people who searched the prophetic writings of Israel would understand that His language used in Matthew chapter 24 to mean coming judgment just like the language of the prophets of the past.

So, in conclusion, the stars fell over Jerusalem, the Rock of Ages birthed a whole new race of stars……, the seed of Abraham. A new creation was formed…., a new heavens and a new earth was set in place…and a kingdom which will continually increase…..conquering, subduing, and subjecting all things to Himself shall prevail. We are on the winning side….,”in Christ! “

May 2003

Heaven Revealed- A Glimpse

From Charity and It’s Fruits
by Jonathan Edwards 1738

And oh! what joy will there be, springing up in the hearts of the saints, after they have passed through their weary pilgrimage, to be brought to such a paradise as this! Here is joy unspeakable indeed, and full of glory—-joy that is humble, holy, enrapturing, and divine in it’s perfection! Love is always a sweet principle; especially divine love.
This, even on earth, is a spring of sweetness; but in heaven it shall become a stream, a river, an ocean! All shall stand about the God of glory, who is the great fountain of love, opening, as it were, their very souls to be filled with those effusions of love that are poured forth from his fullness, just as the flowers on the earth, in the bright and joyous days of spring, open their bosoms to the sun to be filled with his light and warmth, and to flourish in beauty and fragrancy under his cheering rays.

Every saint in heaven is as a flower in that garden of God, and holy love is the fragrance and sweet odor that they all send forth, and with which they fill the bowers of that paradise above. Every soul there, is as a note in some concert of delightful music, that sweetly harmonizes with every other note, and altogether blend in the most rapturous strains in praising God and the Lamb forever. And so all help each other, to their utmost, to express the love of the whole society to it’s glorious Father and Head, and to pour back love into the great fountain of love whence they are supplied and filled with love, and blessedness, and glory. And thus they will love, and reign in love, and in that godlike joy that is its blessed fruit, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath ever entered in the heart of man in this world to conceive; and thus in the full sunlight of the throne, enraptured with joys that are forever increasing, and yet forever full, they shall live and reign with God and Christ forever and ever!

June 2003

Scorning The Lover of Lovers
This is a side of God that we don’t often….see . It may be a sacred cow in your life. How does God feel if He is scorned ? How does He respond if He is rejected ?

Now that the King of Glory reigns and has poured out His wrath on those who hated Him to His face …. , in 70 AD , in the destruction of Jerusalem …..He is now conquering everything . For ” He must reign until all His enemies are made a footstool for His feet .” He has showed us His ways……

” Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded, because you have disdained all my counsel , and would have none of my rebuke; I will also laugh at your calamity ; I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror comes as a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you . Then they will call on me , but , I will not answer; they will seek me diligently , but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord they would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way , and be filled to the full with their own fancies.”

The good news is found a verse away , in verse 33 ;

“But whoever listens to me will dwell safely , and be secure without fear of evil.”

So , let us love and be loved by the One who is Love and created love. His mercy endures forever….but , His judgments are sure.

July 2003

ON BEING IN HEAVEN | Study Archive

My Dear Friends,

The above link contains the solution to the most foul error of our generation . As you open this link you will read commentators such as Charles Spurgeon, Dale Moody , Eusebius, John Calvin , and as well as many other ancient brethren of the faith who have gone down in church history as the most influential voices of all time.

As you read , you will note that there is much study we must do to receive the full measure of the Lord’s correction in our world view as we co-labor with Him to see everything dissolved that would exalt itself up against the true knowledge of our great God and Savior , the Lord Jesus Christ.

But , don’t take my word for it ….read the words that God has preserved for us by those who have gone on before us to teach us in a more excellent way. You can click on the “hot links” on the left side of the essay , on the names of those saints and teachers whom you have already received to read their own words concerning this most disturbing error.

May God bless you,

Bryan

August 2003

C. H. Spurgeon

(1834-1892)
(On the Increase of His Government – Isa 9:7)
“It would be easy to show that at our present rate of progress the kingdoms of this world never could become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. Indeed, many in the Church are giving up the idea of it except on the occasion of the advent of Christ, which, as it chimes in with our own idleness, is likely to be a popular doctrine. I myself believe that King Jesus will reign, and the idols be utterly abolished; but I expect the same power which turned the world upside down once will still continue to do it. The Holy Ghost would never suffer the imputation to rest upon His holy name that He was not able to convert the world.”
(Taken from jacket of Paradise Restored)

(On the Full Preterist book, The Parousia)
“The second coming of Christ according to this volume had its fulfillment in the destruction of Jerusalem and the establishment of the gospel dispensation… Amidst the many comings of Christ spoken of in the New Testament that which is spoken of as a second, must, we think, be personal, and thus similar to the first; and such too must be the meaning of ‘his appearing.’ Though the author’s theory is carried too far, it has so much of truth in it, and throws so much new light upon obscure portions of the Scriptures, and is accompanied with so much critical research and close reasoning, that it can be injurious to none and may be profitable to all.” [Reprinted from the October 1878 issue of The Sword and the Trowel Magazine]

(On the Significance of A.D.70; Matthew 24:34)
“The destruction of Jerusalem was more terrible than anything that the world has ever witnessed, either before or since. Even Titus seemed to see in his cruel work the hand of an avenging God. (Commentary on Matthew, p. 412)

Truly, the blood of the martyrs slain in Jerusalem was amply avenged when the whole city became a veritable Aceldama, or field of blood… It was before that generation had passed away that Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed. There was a sufficient interval for the full proclamation of the gospel by the apostles and evangelists of the early Christian Church, and for the gathering out of those who recognized the crucified Christ as their true Messiah. Then came the awful end, which the Savior foresaw and foretold, and the prospect of which wrung from his lips and heart the sorrowful lament that followed his prophecy of the doom awaiting his guilty capital… Nothing remained for the King but to pronounce the solemn sentence of death upon those who would not come unto him that they might have life: “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” The whole “house” of the Jews was left desolate when Jesus departed from them; and the temple, the holy and beautiful “house”, became a spiritual desolation when Christ finally left is. Jerusalem was too far gone to be rescued from its self-sought doom.” (Commentary on Matthew, p. 412,413)

“The King left his followers in no doubt as to when these things should happen: “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.” It was just about the ordinary limit of a generation when the Roman armies compassed Jerusalem, whose measure of iniquity was then full, and overflowed in misery, agony, distress, and bloodshed such as the world never saw before or since. Jesus was a true Prophet; everything that he foretold was literally fulfilled.” (The Gospel of the Kingdom, p.218)

(On Forty Years and That Generation)
The Kingly Prophet foretold the time of the end: “Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.” It was before that generation had passed away that Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed. There was a sufficient interval for the full proclamation of the gospel by the apostles and evangelists of the early Christian Church, and for the gathering out of those who recognized the crucified Christ as their true Messiah. Then came the awful end, which the Savior foresaw and foretold, and the prospect of which wrung from his lips and heart the sorrowful lament that followed his prophecy of the doom awaiting his guilty capital.” (in loc.)

(On Matthew 24:2)
“To them the appearance was glorious; but to their Lord it was a sad sight. His Father’s house, which ought to have been a house of prayer for all nations, had became a den of thieves, and soon would be utterly destroyed: Jesus said unto them, “See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Josephus tells us that Titus at first tried to save the temple, even after it was set on fire, but his efforts were of no avail; and at last he gave orders that the whole city and temple should be levelled, except a small portion reserved for the garrison. This was so thoroughly done that the historian says that “there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it had ever been inhabited.”

(On Matthew 24:4)
“They were to beware lest any of the pretended Messiahs should lead them astray, as they would pervert many others. A large number of impostors came forward before the destruction of Jerusalem, giving out that they were the anointed of God”

(On Matthew 24:15-21 , the Abomination of Desolation)
“This portion of our Savior’s words appears to relate solely to the destruction of Jerusalem. As soon as Christ’s disciples saw “the abomination of desolation,” that is, the Roman ensigns, with their idolatries, “stand in the holy place,” they knew that the time for their escape had arrived; and they did flee to the mountains.” (Matthew: The Gospel of the Kingdom. . p. 215.

(On Matthew 24:16)
“The Christians in Jerusalem and the surrounding towns and villages, “in Judea “, availed themselves of the first opportunity for eluding the Roman armies, and fled to the mountain city of Pella, in Perea, where they were preserved from the general destruction which overthrew the Jews. There was no time to spare before the final investment of the guilty city; the man “on the house-top” could “not come down to take anything out of his house”, and the man “in the field” could not “return back, to take his clothes.” They must flee to the mountains in the greatest haste the moment that they saw “Jerusalem compassed with armies “(Luke 21:20).”

(On Matthew 24:17)
“Then shall the end come.” Before Jerusalem was destroyed, “this gospel of the kingdom.” was probably “preached in all the world” so far as it was then known..”

(On Matthew 24:21)
“For there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Read the record written by Josephus of the destruction of Jerusalem, and see how truly our Lord’s words were fulfilled. The Jews impiously said, concerning the death of Christ, “His blood be on us, and on our children.” Never did any other people invoke such an awlful curse upon themselves, and upon no other nation did such a judgment ever fall. We read of Jews crucified till there was no more wood for making crosses; of thousands of the people slaying one another in their fierce faction fights within the city; of so many of them being sold for slaves that they became a drug in the market, and all but valueless; and of the fearful carnage when the Romans at length entered the doomed capital; and the blood-curdling story exactly bears out the Savior’s statement uttered nearly forty years before the terrible events occurred.”

“The destruction of Jerusalem was more terrible than anything that the world has ever witnessed, either before or since. Even Titus seemed to see in his cruel work the hand of an avenging God. (Commentary on Matthew, p. 412)

“Truly, the blood of the martyrs slain in Jerusalem was amply avenged when the whole city became veritable Aceldama, or field of blood.” (Commentary on Matthew, p. 412,413)

(On Matthew 24:27)
“Christ’s coming will be sudden, startling, universally visible, and terrifying to the ungodly: “as the lightening cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west.” His first coming to judgment at the destruction of Jerusalem had terrors about it that till then had never been realized on the earth; his last coming will be more dreadful still.” (Matthew: The Gospel of the Kingdom. p. 216)

(On Matthew 24:29)
“Our Lord appears to have purposely mingled the prophecies concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and his own second coming, so that there should be nothing in his words to satisfy idle curiosity, ” (Matthew: The Gospel of the Kingdom. p. 217)

(On Matthew 24:32-33)
“Our Lord here evidently returns to often made use of its illuminated the subject of the destruction of Jerusalem, and in these words gives his apostles warning concerning the signs of the times. He had recently used the barren fig tree as an object-lesson; he now bids his disciples “learn a parable of the fig tree” and all the trees (Luke 21:31). God’s great book of nature is full of illustrations for those who have eyes to perceive them; and the Lord Jesus, the great Creator, often made use of its illuminated pages in conveying instruction to the minds of his hearers. On this occasion, he used a simple simile from the parable of the fig-tree: “When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh.” They could not mistake so plain a token of the near return of summer; and Jesus would have them read quite as quickly the signs that were to herald the coming judgment on Jerusalem: “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” The Revised Version has the words, “Know ye that he is nigh,” the Son of man, the King. His own nation rejected him when he came in mercy; so his next coming would be a time of terrible judgment and retribution to his guilty capital. Oh, that Jews and Gentiles today were wise enough to learn the lesson of that fiery trial, and to seek his face, those wrath they cannot bear!”

(On Matthew 22:7)
“In these terrible words, the siege of Jerusalem, the massacre of the people, and the destruction of their capital are all described. “When the king heard thereof, he was wroth. The King had reached the utmost limit of his forbearance and long-suffering patience. “The cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath” overflowed when he heard how his servants had been maltreated and slain; and: he sent forth his armies. The Roman emperor thought that he was sending his armies against the Jews; but he was, unconsciously, working out the eternal purposes of the most High God, even as the kings of Assyria and Babylon had been, in the olden time, the instruments by which the Lord had punished his rebellious people (see Isaiah 10:5, Jeremiah 25:9).

“The cruel executioners did their terrible work in the most thorough manner. Read Josephus, and see how the Romans destroyed: those murderers, and burned up their city. The words are remarkable in their awful force and accuracy. Only Omniscience could foresee and foretell so fully and faithfully the woes that were to befall the murderers and their city.”

(On The ‘Millennial Reign’ of Christ)
“Those who wish to see the arguments upon the unpopular side of the great question at issue, will find them here; this is probably one of the ablest of the accessible treatises from that point of view. We cannot agree with Mr. Young, neither can we refute him. It might tax the ingenuity of the ablest prophetical writers to solve all the difficulties here started, and perhaps it would be unprofitable to attempt the task. . . (review of Short Arguments about the Millennium; or plain proofs for plain Christians that the coming of Christ will not be pre-millennial; that his reign will not be personal, B. C. Young. In The Sword and Trowel 1:470 (October 1867).

(On the “Israel of God”)
“Difference of dispensation does not involve a difference of covenant; and it is according to the covenant of grace that all spiritual blessings are bestowed. So far as dispensations reach they indicate degrees of knowledge, degrees of privilege, and variety in the ordinances of worship. The unity of the faith is not affected by these, as we are taught in the eleventh chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews. The faithful of every age concur in looking for that one city, and that city is identically the same with the New Jerusalem described in the Apocalypse as “a bride adorned for her husband. “(Spurgeon, “There be some that Trouble You,” in The Sword and Trowel, (March 1867), 120.)

(On Luke 21:28-31)
“But all that time, —the most awful time, perhaps that any nation ever endured,— the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ were altogether unharmed. It is recorded that they fled to the little city of Pella, were quiet according to their Lord’s command, and that not a hair on their head perished.” (Joyful Anticipation of the Second Advent, 42:603.)

(On the New Heavens and Earth)
“Did you ever regret the absence of the burnt-offering, or the red heifer, of any one of the sacrifices and rites of the Jews? Did yoЦ#1062;#1062;#1141; ever pine for the feast of tabernacle, or the dedication? No, because, though these were like the old heavens and earth to the Jewish believers, they have passed away, and we now live under a new heavens and a new earth, so far as the dispensation of divine teaching is concerned. The substance is come, and the shadow has gone: and we do not remember it.” (Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. xxxvii, p. 354).

(On Revelation 21:2)
“And there was no more sea.” –Revelation 21:1
Scarcely could we rejoice at the thought of losing the glorious old ocean: the new heavens and the new earth are none the fairer to our imagination, if, indeed, literally there is to be no great and wide sea, with its gleaming waves and shelly shores. Is not the text to be read as a metaphor, tinged with the prejudice with which the Oriental mind universally regarded the sea in the olden times? A real physical world without a sea it is mournful to imagine, it would be an iron ring without the sapphire which made it precious. There must be a spiritual meaning here. In the new dispensation there will be no division–the sea separates nations and sunders peoples from each other. To John in Patmos the deep waters were like prison walls, shutting him out from his brethren and his work: there shall be no such barriers in the world to come. Leagues of rolling billows lie between us and many a kinsman whom to-night we prayerfully remember, but in the bright world to which we go there shall be unbroken fellowship for all the redeemed family. In this sense there shall be no more sea. The sea is the emblem of change; with its ebbs and flows, its glassy smoothness and its mountainous billows, its gentle murmurs and its tumultuous roaring, it is never long the same. Slave of the fickle winds and the changeful moon, its instability is proverbial. In this mortal state we have too much of this; earth is constant only in her inconstancy, but in the heavenly state all mournful change shall be unknown, and with it all fear of storm to wreck our hopes and drown our joys. The sea of glass glows with a glory unbroken by a wave. No tempest howls along the peaceful shores of paradise. Soon shall we reach that happy land where partings, and changes, and storms shall be ended! Jesus will waft us there. Are we in Him or not? This is the grand question

September 2003

Zechariah 14 and the Coming of Christ By Gary DeMar

President – American Vision
http://www.americanvision.org/

In the premillennial view of Bible prophecy, the events depicted in Zechariah 14 are most often interpreted as depicting the second coming of Christ when Jesus will descend from heaven and stand on the Mount of Olives and from there set up His millennial kingdom. The chronology outlined in Zechariah, however, does not fit this scenario. Events actually begin in chapter thirteen where it is prophesied that the Shepherd, Jesus, will be struck and the sheep will be scattered (Zech. 13:7). This was fulfilled when Jesus says, “‘You will all fall away, because it is written, “I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP SHALL BE SCATTERED”‘” (Mark 14:27).

What follows describes events leading up to and including the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. God will act as Judge of Jerusalem and its inhabitants. As the king, He will send “his armies” and destroy “those murderers, and set their city on fire” (Matt. 22:7).

For I will gather all the nations [the Roman armies] against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered [Matt. 24:17], the women ravished [Luke 17:35], and half the city exiled [Matt. 24:16], but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city” (Zech. 14:2).

This happened when the Roman armies, made up of soldiers from the nations it conquered, went to war against Jerusalem. Rome was an empire consisting of all the known nations of the world (see Luke 2:1). The Roman Empire “extended roughly two thousand miles from Scotland south to the headwaters of the Nile and about three thousand miles from the Pillars of Hercules eastward to the sands of Persia. Its citizens and subject peoples numbered perhaps eighty million.”1 Rome was raised up, like Assyria, to be the “rod of [His] anger” (Isa. 10:5). “So completely shall the city be taken that the enemy shall sit down in the midst of her to divide the spoil. All nations (2), generally speaking were represented in the invading army, for Rome was the mistress of many lands.”2 Thomas Scott, using supporting references from older commentators and cross references to other biblical books, writes that Zechariah is describing the events surrounding Jerusalem’s destruction in A.D. 70.

The time when the Romans marched their armies, composed of many nations, to besiege Jerusalem, was “the day of the Lord” Jesus, on which he came to “destroy those that would not that he should reign over them” [Matt. 22:1­10; 24:3, 23­35; Luke 19:11­27, 41­44]. When the Romans had taken the city, all the outrages were committed, and the miseries endured, which are here predicted [Luke 21:20­24]. A very large proportion of the inhabitants were destroyed, or taken captives, and sold for slaves; and multitudes were driven away to be pursued by various perils and miseries: numbers also, having been converted to Christianity, became citizens of “the heavenly Jerusalem” and thus were “not cut off from the city” of God [Gal 4:21­31; Heb. 12:22­25].3

Forcing these series of descriptive judgment to leap over the historical realities of Jerusalem’s destruction in A.D. 70 so as to fit a future judgment scenario is contrived and unnecessary.

Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle (14:3).

After using Rome as His rod to smite Jerusalem, God turns on Rome in judgment. Once again, Assyria is the model: “I send it against a godless nation and commission it against the people of My fury to capture booty and to seize plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets . . . . So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, ‘I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness'” (Isa. 10:5­6, 12­13). “It is significant that the decline of the Roman Empire dates from the fall of Jerusalem.”4 Thomas Scott concurs: “It is also observable, that the Romans after having been thus made the executioners of divine vengeance on the Jewish nation, never prospered as they had done before; but the Lord evidently fought against them, and all the nations which composed their overgrown empire; till at last it was subverted, and their fairest cities and provinces were ravaged by barbarous invaders.”5

And in 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 (Zech. 14:4).

It is this passage that dispensationalists use to support their view that Jesus will touch down on planet earth and set up His millennial kingdom. Numerous times in the Bible we read of Jehovah “coming down” to meet with His people. In most instances His coming is one of judgment; in no case was He physically present. Notice how many times God’s coming is associated with mountains.

“And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. . . . Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech” (Gen. 11:5, 7). “So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey. . . (Ex. 3:8). “Then Thou didst come down on Mount Sinai, and didst speak with them from heaven. . . (Neh. 9:13a). “Bow Thy heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke” (Psalm 144:5). “For thus says the LORD to me, ‘As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey, against which a band of shepherds is called out, will not be terrified at their voice, nor disturbed at their noise, so will the LORD of hosts come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill'” (Isa. 31:4). “Oh, that Thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Thy presence­” (Isa. 64:1). “When Thou didst awesome things which we did not expect, Thou didst come down, the mountains quaked at Thy presence” (Isa. 64:3). In Micah 1:3 we are told that God “is coming forth from His place” to “come down and tread on the high places of the earth.” How is this descriptive language different from the Lord standing on the Mount of Olives with the result that it will split? Micah says “the mountains will melt under Him, and the valleys will be split, like wax before the fire, like water poured down a steep place” (1:4). “It was not uncommon for prophets to use figurative expressions about the Lord ‘coming’ down, mountains trembling, being scattered, and hills bowing (Hab. 3:6, 10); mountains flowing down at his presence (Isaiah 64:1, 3); or mountains and hills singing and the trees clapping their hands (Isaiah 55:12).”6

What is the Bible trying to teach us with this descriptive language of the Mount of Olives “split in its middle”? The earliest Christian writers applied Zechariah 14:4 to the work of Christ in His day. Tertullian (A.D. 145­220) wrote: “‘But at night He went out to the Mount of Olives.’ For thus had Zechariah pointed out: ‘And His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives’ [Zech. xiv. 4].”7 Tertullian was alluding to the fact that the Olivet prophecy set the stage for the judgment-coming of Christ that would once for all break down the Jewish/Gentile division. Matthew Henry explains the theology behind the prophecy:

The partition-wall between Jew and Gentiles shall be taken away. The mountains about Jerusalem, and particularly this, signified it to be an enclosure, and that it stood in the way of those who would approach to it. Between the Gentiles and Jerusalem this mountain of Bether, of division, stood, Cant. ii. 17. But by the destruction of Jerusalem this mountain shall be made to cleave in the midst, and so the Jewish pale shall be taken down, and the church laid in common with the Gentiles, who were made one with the Jews by the breaking down of this middle wall of partition, Eph. ii. 14.8

You will notice that there is no mention of a thousand year reign. Yet, we are told that “the LORD will be king over all the earth” (14:9). So what is new about this language? “For the LORD Most High is to be feared, a great King over all the earth. He subdues peoples under us, and nations under our feet” (Psalm 47:2, 3). This is exactly what happened with the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Paul told the Roman Christians that “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Rom. 16:20). The church’s adversary (Satan) were those Jews who rejected Jesus as the Messiah and persecuted His Bride, the church (see John 16:2). Jesus calls them a “synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 3:9).NOTES

1. Otto Friedrich, The End of the World: A History (New York: Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1982), 28.
2. G. N. M. Collins, “Zechariah,” The New Bible Commentary, F. Davidson, ed., 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1954), 761.
3. Thomas Scott, The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments, According to the Authorised Version; with Explanatory notes, Practical Observations, and Copious Marginal References, 3 vols. (New York: Collins and Hannay, 1832), 2:955
4. Collins, “Zechariah,” 761.
5. Scott, The Holy Bible, etc., 956.
6. Ralph Woodrow, His Truth is Marching On: Advanced Studies on Prophecy in the Light of History (Riverside, CA: Ralph Woodrow Evangelistic Association, 1977), 110.
7. “Tertullian Against Marcion,” Book 4, chapter XL, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 3:417.
8. Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, 6 vols. (New York: Fleming H. Revell, n.d.), 4:1468.

October 2003

My Love For You
© Copyright 2004 by Bryan Davis
All rights reserved

1.) The stars may someday fail to shine
The moon could rise up pail,
The sun might leave it’s light behind
But my love for you won’t fail.

2.) The rivers could all become dry
The ocean forbid the sail,
The lofty eagle lose it’s eye
But my love for you won’t fail.

3.) The lavish fields succumb to drought
Or darkness seems to prevail
The scientist could raise a doubt
But my love for you won’t fail.

4.) The music someday could cease to play
The artist lose detail,
Governments may fade away
But my love for you won’t fail.

5.) The earth did quake, the curtain tore
My hands received the nail
I did it all to prove to you
My love for you won’t fail.