Victory Over The Abyss

Seven! Seven seals, seven angels, seven trumpets! Seven is the great number of completion and perfection. The number is used 735 times in Scripture, 54 times in Revelation. It is tied directly to God's creation of all things. The Jewish rabbis traditionally claim that Adam was created on Oct. 7, 3761 B.C. (the first day of Tishri, the 7th month of the Hebrew calendar). God created all things and completed His work on the 6th day, to rest on the 7th. So His children were commanded to follow His example and to "rest" on the Sabbath, the 7th day (Exo 16:23-29).

In Rev. 8 we hear the blast of four of seven trumpets blown by four of seven angels. As we move to chapter 9 the fifth angel blows his trumpet.

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 bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, 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.  - Rev 9:1-2 ESV

Smoke rose like the smoke from a great furnace until the air was darkened with this smoke from an abyss, a bottomless pit! At once we are reminded of the symbolical nature of this revelation. Here on the earth we may call a pit an abyss, a pit with no bottom, but we know that everything is limited. There is no such thing. Yet here comes the smoke pouring out from a pit that has no bottom. What does that imply? The term is used in a couple other places in the New Testament. When Jesus commanded the legion of unclean spirits to leave the naked Gerasene on the eastern side of the Galilean sea, they begged him not to send them into the abyss (Luke 8:31). Luke does not explain what the demons meant by that.

But then we turn to the Apostle Paul, who was closely associated with Dr. Luke. He writes,

But the righteousness based on faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) "or 'Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); - Rom 10:6-8 ESV

From this we gather that the abyss is the abode of the dead and death is God's judgment upon those who rebel against Him. Symbolically, since it has no bottom, it is separated endlessly from the presence of God. Later in the Revelation we will encounter the Beast arising from this pit to wage war on the two witnesses and ultimately to go to destruction (Rev. 11:7; 17:8). We are told that the angel with the key to this dreadful pit will lock the dragon in it until the thousand years are ended.

In the Septuagint, the Greek O.T., abyss is the translation for the Hebrew tehom, the great subterranean ocean , the source of all springs and rivers. The LORD has founded the earth upon this great deep (Ex 20:4; Deut 5:8; Ps. 24:1-2). The Septuagint never renders tehom as the abode of the dead. That place is called sheol. However, tehom is used figuratively to describe the poet's many troubles and calamities. He has fallen into the great deep, but the LORD will bring him up again (Ps. 71:20).

So we conclude that there is a figurative place, the abyss, separated from the presence and majesty of the LORD God. From this place great troubles and sorrows arise. And we must not be surprised when they do. This is, in fact, part of God's judgment upon our rebellious earth. The beast, the dragon and the demons are permitted to come forth from it, but their time is limited. Ultimately they will be bound and locked back into the abyss from whence they come. Christ has risen victoriously. He has conquered death. He descended into the abyss and the place of the dead to proclaim His victory, Now that He has now returned from the dead He proclaims life and resurrection for all who put their trust in Him (1 Pet 3:18-20; Rev 20:1-15).

In our next post we'll take a look at those strange, fierce locusts that pour out from the smoke of that bottomless pit.

How Revelation Is Organized

In chapter 5 of John's Revelation four seals were opened to reveal four horsemen traveling across the earth. Three seals remained for the Lamb to open. The fifth seal reveals a crowd of martyrs:

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. - Rev 6:9-11 ESV

Peter Paul Rubens - The Martyrdom of St Stephen

John's vision is rooted, as always, in the vision of earlier prophets. In this case we are drawn back to Ezekiel's vision of the heavenly Jerusalem and its huge Temple (40-44).  The earthly temple was a counterpart and prototype of the same. There, beneath or beside the altar are the souls of those who had been violently put to death because of their witness to the risen Christ. These include the deacon Stephen, stoned in Jerusalem (Acts 7:54-60), Peter, Paul, James the brother of Jesus (Josephus, Antiquties 20.9.1) and many others The Roman historian Tacitus tells of the many Christians martyred by the Roman ruler Nero in A.D. 64 (Tacitus, Annals 15.44). There will be others, says the Revelation. Ultimately the whore Babylon will be drunk with the blood of the saints, the martyrs of Jesus (Rev 17:5-6).

These martyrs are troubled. With a loud voice they cried out, ""O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"

As the prophets of old had comforted the believers when their cities and lands were ravished by the Babylonians (Isa 26:20-21), so these souls are comforted and told to rest a little longer. Given a white robe as a pledge that they will feast at the marriage of the Lamb (Rev 7:9,14; 19:7-8), they must wait until God's plan is complete.

The sixth seal's opening reveals further terrible things about to happen. Revealed in symbolical language used by the prophets of old, these catastrophes signal the end of world history:

They (heavens) will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, - Psa 102:26 ESV

All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree. - Isa 34:4 ESV 

At this point it seems wise to understand how John's Revelation is organized, lest we get caught up in a great argument about exactly when these things are to take place. The number seven is vital to our understanding, especially since it is the sacred number of creation and completion (Gen 2:2-3). The first two visions described our Lord appearing to John in His risen and ascended glory. John is to share a message to each of the seven churches. Chapters 4 and 5 are the heart of the Revelation. They describe the worthiness of Jesus, the Lion of Judah and the Lamb who was slain, to open the seals. He is the victorious Ruler. He will indeed rescue His people and judge the unbelieving world.

Thus in chapters 6 - 21 seven scenes of the End Times are presented, each revealing more about what we are to expect in these last times as we await the return of our King.

1. Christ opens the Seven Seals (Rev 6:1-8:5)
2. Seven Trumpets are blown (Rev 8:6-11:19)
3. The battle between the Triune God and the Anti-Trinity (Rev. 12:1-14:20)
4. The pouring out of the Seven Bowls of Wrath (Rev 15:1-16:21)
5. Babylon, the Prostitute, is overthrown (Rev 17:1-19:21)
6. The Final Judgment (Rev 20:1-21:8)
7. The New Jerusalem, the Bride, the wife of the Lamb (Rev 21:9-22:5 

Epilogue: Come, Lord Jesus! (Rev 22:6-21)

There is no need to get wrapped up in the many confusing and complex interpretations of these seven scenes with talk about the Rapture and the Millennium. This all comes about when modern self-proclaimed prophets turn John's symbolical language into a variety of literal timelines of days and years. As we continue through this most comforting book we will learn that Jesus, by His death and resurrection, has bound Satan. He can no longer accuse us. God's plan, hidden for ages, is now revealed in Christ. In Him we are bold, for we have direct access to the throne of God (Eph 3:7-12). Christ's perfect reign has begun, symbolized by the 1,000 years leading up to His return (10x10x10 = 1,000; 2 Pet 3:8; Rev 20:6).

So we join with the ancient church simply to proclaim in the words of the Apostles Creed our faith  in the Risen Christ who "sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead. . . We believe in . . . the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting."

Maranatha! Even so, Come Lord Jesus! (1 Cor 16:22)

Repentance And The Material Principle

Modern day Turkey occupies most of what was once the Roman province of Asia. It is also known as Anatolia.This is the area between the Mediterranean and the Black seas. It was the meeting point between the continents of Asia and Europe and the crossroads for migrating people and armies. The western part of Asia Minor holds the site of the seven churches to which John addresses seven letters. By the end of the first century there were more than seven churches in that area. From Paul's letters we know of other cities in that area hosting congregations of Christians. John's seven include Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. Beside these Paul writes to Colossae and Hieropolis. Within these cities there would be many smaller congregations of believers.

John starts with the church in Ephesus:

'The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. "'I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.' - Rev 2:1-7 ESV

The Lord Jesus commends the christians in Ephesus. They did good. They refused to bear with those who are evil. They tested the false apostles. It took a lot of work and an equal amount of perseverance to sort out the truth from the lies. This is the kind of work that still must go on today as we are bombarded from all directions by the media, TV, books, Tweets, letters and so forth. John gives some guidelines on how to do just this. In his epistle he writes,

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. - 1Jo 4:1-3 ESV

This is often called the material principle or the central teaching of the Christian faith.  It points to the faith that says that Jesus is both God and man, the promised Messiah, the Christ. He came among mankind to offer His holy life as the sacrificial payment for the sins of all men. And we are now justified in God's eyes through faith in Christ alone.

The Ephesian christians did the work of sorting through the teachings of false apostles. But they had abandoned the love they once had. Apparently they went beyond this first work and began to be suspicious of one another, dividing into camps. Paul writes about such an approach in Corinth:

For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," or "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? - 1Co 1:11-13 ESV

 And later, he writes,

. . . for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. - 1Co 3:3-9 ESV 

Divisions and quarrels like this still go on among us Christians. We continually need the Lord's admonition to repent, to rethink and to change the direction in which our lives are moving. This work of repentance is difficult. It requires humility. In John's words again,

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. - 1Jo 1:5-10 ESV

The first of Luther's famous 95 theses posted on the door of the Wittenberg church reads,

When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said "repent," he intended that the entire life of believers should be repentance. 

The Ephesian christians, like all of us, needed to learn this basic truth. But there was one thing for which the Lord did commend them: they hated the works of the Nicolaitans. Who were they? We do not know for certain. It may refer to a certain sect that followed the teachings of Nicolaus ("he who conquers people"). Was Nicolaus one of the seven chosen to care for the widows in Jerusalem (Acts 6:5)? We do not know. What we do know is that this sect taught contrary to the inspired teachings of the Apostles. What we also know is that each congregation must be constantly repenting, rethinking and re-evaluating her teachings and the teachings of those leading them—yet humbly and with patient endurance. Luke joins John as he writes about the Berean believers:

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. - Acts 17:11 ESV

We all do well to heed these words, as John says in concluding his short letter to Ephesus:

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.' - Rev 2:7 ESV (see also Gen. 2:9; 3:22-24; Rev. 22:14,19)

Does Your Church Have An Angel?

Does your church have an angel?

Several times I've been told by members of one or the other congregation I served as pastor that they saw an angel standing next to me as I preached. How would you take that remark? True? Active imagination? Listen to John writing in the Revelation:

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, ... As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. - Rev 1:12, 20 ESV

What is this talk about the mystery? What is a mystery? In the Bible mysteries are generally secrets known only to the initiated. They refer to some hidden counsel or purpose of men or they hide the secret counsels of God, counsels the ungodly will never know. These mysteries are often within a saying of the Bible or seen in a vision or a dream. Listen:

And he (Jesus) answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. - Mat 13:11 ESV

Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. - Rom 11:25 ESV

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages - Rom 16:25 ESV 

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, - 1Co 15:51 ESV 

But back to the angels of the seven churches. The word angel doesn't necessarily refer to those wondrous spirits who sang and shouted when the LORD laid the foundation of the earth (Job 38:4-7). The word can simply refer to a messenger. John the Baptist was the messenger / angel who prepared the way for Christ's coming:

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, "Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, - Mar 1:2 ESV 

Could it be that what is written in the next chapters about each individual church is actually addressed first to the pastors or overseers of those churches? That's the frequent application of this mystery. However, nowhere in the NT is the word angel ever used to point to an under-shepherd, a pastor. David A Huston agrees. He believes that the words of Rev. 2-3 are written directly to the members of the congregations, because the local assemblies founded by the apostles were led by teams of men called overseers, not by single pastors.

On the other hand, the word angel is used some 60 times in Revelation to speak about one of these great spirits. Sam Storms discusses a few other options, but finally takes the view that the LORD—through John—is addressing the guardian angels of these seven churches. He doesn't know why Jesus would do so, however, and ends up leaving the identity of these angels still a mystery.

There is a parallel in Daniel's prophecy about a strange man who comes to him to tell him of the angelic princes of Persia and Israel.

Then he said to me, "Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes (Dan.13:1), came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come." - Dan 10:12-14 ESV

Later in the Revelation we will see and hear about seven angels with seven trumpets or seven plagues or seven bowls of the wrath of God (Rev. 8:2; 15:1; 16:1).  Are they the same seven spoken about here? We'll deal with that later. For now, back to the question of guardian angels of local churches. We hear that little children have angels (Matt. 18:10). Indeed the apostles had guardian angels. Peter's angel got him out of prison (Acts 12:5-15). So if individuals have angels, why not whole assemblies or churches of believers? This brings us back to the question about who is being addressed in the following chapters, the angels or the entire congregation? Certainly the members of the church are held responsible. Why then are the letters address to the various angels of the churches?

Perhaps we are back to viewing the angels as the supervisors, the pastors of the seven churches. To come to that conclusion consider the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the OT. The prophet Haggai is called the angel  or messenger of the LORD.

καὶ εἶπεν Αγγαιος ὁ ἄγγελος κυρίου τῷ λαῷ ἐγώ εἰμι μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν λέγει κύριος  - Hag 1:13 LXX = Then Haggai, the messenger (angel) of the LORD, spoke to the people with the LORD's message, "I am with you, declares the LORD." - Hag 1:13 ESV

Luther Poellot, in his 1962 commentary, says that in the Bible we read about God sending angels as messengers to men, but He never uses men to send messages to angels!

Conclusion: the letters are written to those holding the prophetic office, the shepherds of the seven congregations. They are the messengers who are to convey the messages to their congregants, messages containing both warnings (Law) and words of comfort (Gospel). These same messages can be applied to congregations of believers in our day. We'll talk about that as we open them up.

God Made The Seventh Day Holy

The Day of Rest
Biblical Teaching About Time
—An online book about rest and worship—
By Dr. Al Franzmeier

Chapter 3
The Seventh Day Is Holy
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This is the conclusion to the third chapter in which we began a study of the Biblical concept of time and rest. In my previous Blog we looked at the origin of the seven-day week. Let's finish that study.

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God made the seventh day holy
The seventh day brings God’s blessings to his faithful people.  It is a day set aside by him so that he may bless his them.  It is a holy day.  The Hebrew verb for “make holy” is Qadash.  It means to separate or set aside for God’s purposes, sanctify, hallow.  The seventh day is set aside for God’s purposes.  On this day, God wants his people to rest from their labor, to rejoice in his presence and to renew their relationships with one another.  This is God’s day.  It is holy.

Consider some examples of how people, as well as days, are set aside for God’s purposes.  The most obvious holy men in the Old Covenant were the priests:

“… priests are holy to their God.  Regard them as holy, because they offer up the food of your God.  Consider them holy, because I the Lord am holy – I who make you holy” (Leviticus 21:7-8)

Because they were holy, their bodies must be clean, their hair must not be shaved, their wives must be virgins at marriage and they themselves must have no defects.  Many other rules and regulations from God controlled their lives.  “Keep my commands and follow them,” said the Lord.  “I am the Lord.  Do not profane my holy name.  I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites.  I am the Lord, who makes you holy and who brought you out of Egypt to be your God.  I am the Lord,” (Leviticus 22:31-33).

By word and by example the priests were constantly to remind God’s people that he is holy and that they too were to be holy.  In fact, God’s original intention was that all of his people would be priests.  At Mount Sinai he said to them: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.  Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6). This promise, says the Apostle Peter, is being fulfilled by New Covenant believers in the spiritual house, the holy priesthood that offers spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  Of them the Apostle writes: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:4-10).


The Seventh Day
The Sabbath must always be on the final day of the week, the seventh day.  Seven is a sacred symbolical word of power throughout the Bible, because it is related to God and His day of rest.  The Hebrew word for seven is Sheba.  The priests, the high priest’s garments and the altar were all set aside for God’s purposes by ceremonies lasting seven days.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover celebrated the Exodus for seven days starting on day fifteen of the first month, Abib (March-April). During this feast, the first sheaf of the barley harvest was brought before the Lord.  The Feast of Weeks (Hag Shabu’ot), literally, the Feast of Seven-Periods followed the Passover.  This Feast began on the day after seven full weeks, the fiftieth day.  It was also called the Fifty Days (Hamishim Yom) Feast.  The Greek word for this feast is Pentecost (fifty).  It marked the early wheat harvest at about the sixth of Sivan, near the end of our own month of May.  After the beginning of the Christian era, Jews celebrated God’s giving of the Torah on this festival.

Christians remember Pentecost as the day when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the assembly of believers in Jerusalem. The Apostle Paul calls Christ the “first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). The tie in to the Old Covenant Feasts of Passover and Weeks thus becomes obvious.  The first sheaf of the barley harvest belonged to the Lord as a token that all the harvest was his and was dedicated to him by his people.  In turn, the resurrected Christ is the sheaf, the guarantee, of the resurrection of all God’s redeemed people.  When all things are completely fulfilled, God’s people will celebrate before him.  In that sense, the Feast of Weeks is a symbolical picture of the coming resurrection.

Menorah (Hebrew for “candlestick”, from the verb Nor – to give light) was the name for the sacred lamp in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple.  It had one main stem with six lateral stems, making seven.

Earlier the patriarch Abraham, with seven ewe lambs, sealed an oath before Abimelech that he had dug a certain well.  The place was called Beersheba, a word that can mean well (Beer) of seven (Sheba) or well of the oath (also Sheba, cf. Genesis 21:22-34). So too, Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, served his uncle Laban for seven years for Rachel and seven years for Leah (Genesis 29:18). These are examples of an ancient traditional respect for the number seven.

God rested from all his work of creating
On the seventh day of every week, God’s people must rest.  To rest is to desist from work.  God rested, but note that His is an eternal day of rest.  Unlike the other days, Day Seven has neither evening nor morning, neither beginning nor ending.  So this day became a sign of the cessation of tension, tribulation and trials toward which God is leading His people.  It gathered together all the promises and blessings of the other six. In that sense God spoke about “the land” promised as rest.

The first generation to leave Egypt did not trust in the Lord.  They rebelled and he was angry and solemnly swore: “Not a man of this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your forefathers” (Deuteronomy 1:34-35; Numbers 14:30). Later, the land was called the “resting place.”

You are not to do as we do here today, everyone as he sees fit, since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God is giving you” (Deuteronomy 12:8, NIV).

“Resting place” is a noun derived from a verb meaning to rest or settle down (Nahat).  God put Adam into the Garden of Eden.  The verb for “put” (Yanach) is related to Nahat and implies security as well as rest. In the same way, after the flood, the Ark rested on Mount Ararat.  Noah (his name Nuach means ‘rest’), his family and all the animals in the Ark were now safe and secure.

The second generation of Israelites fleeing Egypt, born in the wilderness, did not duplicate their parents' mistrust.  They trusted the Lord and God gave them rest. 

The LORD gave them rest (Nuach - Noah) on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers (Joshua 21:44, NIV)

The Biblical history of God’s people is one of sin and rebellion. As a result they lost the promised blessing. God took away their security and their safety. Nehemiah described it succinctly.

But as soon as they were at rest (Nuach), they again did what was evil in your sight. Then you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them.  And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time.  (Nehemiah 9:28, NIV)

In fifth century B.C. the Jewish leader Nehemiah, personal attendant to King Artaxerxes of Persia, with letters of recommendation from his ruler, rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem.  Under his leadership, the returned settlers reaffirmed their commitment to the LORD’S covenant.  They promised to abstain from foreign marriages, observe the Sabbath again and support worship of the temple.  In so doing they believed that God would grant them rest, but rest in its fullness never came.  By the time of the birth of Jesus, the people were once again under the domination of a pagan, foreign government.

The curse spoken long ago upon the faithless Exodus generation remained: “How long will this wicked community grumble against me?  I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites.  So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: In this desert your bodies will fall – every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me.  Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun” (Numbers 14:26-30).

The Jerusalem Temple liturgy reminds the worshipers of this.  God’s Sabbath-Rest is yet to come.  For now, believers must humbly return to the LORD with a prayer that one day he will mercifully grant them his rest. The promise of entering the LORD’S rest still stands, however. The message of the New Testament is that Jesus, the Son of God, is the great high priest who has gone through the heavens to offer himself as the one and final sacrifice for the sins of all people.  When he returns, he will bring salvation and final rest to all believers.

In that day, God’s promise given through the prophet Jeremiah will finally come to pass: “Do not fear, O Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, O Israel.  I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile. Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid” (Jeremiah 46:27).