Last week’s Feature Article by Jack Kelley

After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”

“Yes, he does,” he replied.

When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own sons or from others?”

“From others,” Peter answered.

“Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus said to him. “But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.” (Matt. 17:24-27)

Who Are We, Really?

The Bible doesn’t give us very much detail about the Church in the New Jerusalem. Most of what we can read about the Kingdom Age (Millennium) is in the Old Testament and concerns Israel’s life on Earth during that time. But the New Testament does contain two models of the Church. One is the Bride of Christ and the other is the Royal Family. Most of us are more familiar with the Bride model, probably because it’s more pertinent to our earthly relationships.

The other model, that of a Royal Family, is actually more relevant to our life in the Millennium. For example, I think the phrase “rule and reign with Him” really describes the Royal Family model. Although the Bible has more to say about the Royal Family than it does about the Bride, most of aren’t as familiar with what it says. For this reason I want to focus on the Royal Family model in this study.

This idea has been running around in my mind since I did some additional research on Rev. 5:9-10 recently for my series on Rapture References. There’s no question that verse 9 describes the church. At issue is whether verse 10 should be read as “Kings and Priests” or as “a kingdom and priests”.  (I’ll compare the two versions for you later.)  As the Mathew passage above shows, there’s a big difference between being part of a kingdom and being in the Royal Family. And it’s not just about paying taxes. The life of the Royal Family is very different from that of other members of the kingdom.

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:12-13)

The first time we were born we were merely part of the vast creation. But when we were born again we received the authority to become members of God’s own family. Paul said it like this.

“When we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir” (Gal.4:3-7).

Just so you would know he was serious about being one of God’s heirs, Paul said it again.

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ … (Romans 8:17).

Think about that for a minute. Co-heirs with Christ. What does that mean? Remember, in the Temple Tax incident above Jesus didn’t say “The Son is exempt,”meaning Himself, but “The sons are exempt,” including us.

In Psalm 2:8 God said to Him, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.”

If Planet Earth is His inheritance and we’re co-heirs with Him, then everything that comes from it will accrue to our benefit. Royal Families don’t have to worry about supporting themselves. Their support comes from the proceeds of the kingdom. Since the Earth is our inheritance, should we expect the people of Earth to support us in the Millennium? Let’s ask John.

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. (Rev. 21:22-26)

The splendor, glory and honor of Earth will be brought to us in the New Jerusalem. The very best the planet has to offer during a time when there’s no more curse to inhibit its production will be reserved for us.

It was always in God’s mind that His Church would become His Royal Family. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:29)

Do You Work Here?

People often ask me, “What are we going to do in the Millennium?” or “What kind of work does God have in mind for us?” Here’s where Americans have to read our world history again. Did royals ever work? No. They always pursued the finer things of life. One of the reasons they’re called nobility is because their lives are devoted to more noble pursuits. They get the best of everything and their every need is met in a luxurious way. Because they’re fallen, sinful beings some of them have wasted their lives and disgraced themselves, but you and I will be divested of our sin nature. We’ll be pure and perfected, and instead of acting in a manner that’s beneath us like some earthly nobles do, we’ll aspire to be our very best. And the prototype for the very best is King Jesus, to whose likeness we will have been conformed.

As John wrote, Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)

Paul always encouraged us to see ourselves that way now, like royalty in training. He wanted us to start living our destiny immediately by becoming worthy of our calling now. “Only let us live up to what we have already attained,” he said. (Phil. 3:16)

And Peter agreed.

But 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 2:9)

Calling us a royal priesthood is the same as saying we’ll be Kings and Priests.

And that brings us full circle to the verse that started me thinking along these lines in the first place. So what do we think? Should it read,

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” (Rev. 5:10 NIV, etc.).

Or does this version seem to be more consistent with the other Scriptures we’ve looked at,

You have made us to be kings and priests to serve our God, and we will reign on the earth.” (Rev. 5:10 KJV, YLT)

Remember, the Greek word for King and Kingdom is the same, differing only by gender.  King is the masculine form, and according to Strong’s concordance it’s the one used in Rev. 5:10. In 118 appearances in the New Testament it’s never translated Kingdom, which is the feminine form of the word and has a different Strong’s number. So the verse is more grammatically and theologically correct when it’s translated Kings and Priests, which defines only the Church, rather than a kingdom and priests. The Royal Family model gives us an another exciting glimpse into the nature of our eternal destiny.

This Is Your Life

For a good part of the Kingdom Age life on Earth will be a very pleasant, trouble free existence, especially in Israel.

“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills. I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. (Amos 9:13-14)

“Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with cane in hand because of his age. The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.” (Zechariah 8:4-5)

Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken. (Micah 4:4)

But life in the New Jerusalem will exceed this by such an order of magnitude that there’s no comparison. I’m convinced that the reason the Bible doesn’t say much about what’s in store for us is because it defies description. We simply could not believe it.

As it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” – but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. (1 Cor. 2:8-10). We can only imagine. 03-06-10

A. When God said “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you;  I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2-3), the second person pronouns He used are singular meaning they applied specifically to Abraham.  However,  these promises were confirmed to Isaac (Gen. 26:2-4), and to Jacob (Gen. 28:13-15) where God expanded His commitment to include their descendants.  While verse 3 was not specifically reaffirmed, many scholars believe the entire promise to Abraham was made plural at that time.

A. The fig tree is often used to represent Israel in the Bible.  But I don’t think that’s the case in Matt 24:32, Mark 13:28, and Luke 21:29.  In these cases the Lord was using the symbolism of a budding tree which indicates that summer is coming soon to explain that the appearance of the signs he had described would mean His return was very close.  This is especially clear when you see that in Luke 21:29, he included all trees, not just the fig.

As for Israel being the pre-imminent sign of the End Times, Joel, Amos, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah and others all confirm this.  And in Matt. 24 we see the mention of a Temple (Matt. 24:15), a reference to Judea, the Biblical name for Israel (Matt. 24:16), and the presence of a people there who are forbidden by law from fleeing on the Sabbath (Matt. 24:20)  These are all indicators of an end times Jewish nation in the Promised Land.  So we don’t need the fig tree to represent Israel in order to understand that the re-birth of the nation is the foremost sign that the End Times are upon us.

Do they use DNA testing for this or do they rely solely on family records?  I know when Herod’s temple was destroyed in 70 AD all the genealogy records that were kept there  were destroyed with it.

A. Certain names can be good indicators of tribal heritage, but the DNA of the priests carries a genetic marker called the Cohen Modal Haplotype identifying them as direct descendants of Aaron.  With their legendary attention to detail, and the Lord’s very specific requirements, you can sure they go to great lengths to choose only qualified candidates.

A. There two little horns in Daniel. The one in Daniel 7:8 springs up within the 4th Kingdom, the Roman Empire, and is clearly a prophecy of the anti Christ. In Daniel 8 a little horn comes out of one of the four surviving components of the Greek Empire following Alexander’s death. This is commonly thought to be the Selucid Kingdom in today’s Syria. This prophecy was fulfilled in the life of Antiochus Epiphanes, the Selucid King responsible for the desecration of the Temple and subsequent Maccabbean revolt in 168-165 BC.

But beginning in Daniel 8:23 the Angel Gabriel’s interpretation of Daniel’s vision also seems to include an end times reference to the anti Christ, called a stern faced king, who will come to power by means of peace. This reference has helped scholars see Antiochus as a type of the anti Christ since much of what he did in prompting the Maccabbean revolt will be repeated at the beginning of the Great Tribulation.

Like the antiChrist, Antiochus called himself a god, and set about to destroy Israel. He erected a statue in his own likeness in the Holy Place, and required worship on pain of death. This too was called the Abomination of Desolation and sparked a 3 1/2 year revolt.

This may be where your teacher draws his Syrian conclusion. I am currently intrigued with the notion of al Mahdi, the so-called Moslem Messiah as a likely candidate for the anti Christ, although I don’t believe the church will be around to see him emerge.

If children are innocent, why the children?  I’ve heard other commentators suggest that Agag’s family-tree eventually led to Yasser Arafat and that if Saul had followed God’s command, today there would be no Palestinian issue haunting the Jews.

A. In Exodus 17:8-16 the Amalakites attacked the Israeiltes and were defeated, but the Lord swore vengeance on them and said He would completely blot out the memory of them.  The fact that it took supernatural power to defeat the Amalekites and the severity of the Lord’s pledge to destroy them indicates there was more going on here than the text reveals.

When Saul was chosen as Israel’s first king he was told to completely destroy the Amalekites as an instrument of the Lord’s vengeance (1 Sam 15:3).  He botched the assignment which cost him his position.  Although Saul later killed King Agag, he allowed others from the Amalekites to escape (1 Chron. 14:43).  The descendant of one of these was Haman the Agagite who almost succeeded in destroying the Israelites in the time of the Persian Kingdom.  The Book of Esther records this story which is memorialized in the feast of Purim.

Since then, evil men who have in mind the destruction of the Jews are often said to be Amalekites.  Adolph Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat, and Iranian Pres. Ahmadinejad are the ones most often mentioned. I think the association is more based on the similarity of their intent than on actual blood lines.

A.  In Genesis 17:7-8 God said to Abraham,

“I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”

The covenant is forever and so is the land grant.  But to enjoy its benefits they have to be obedient (Exodus 19:5-6).  In the Old Testament that meant keeping the commandments and offering the sacrifices as evidence they believed in a coming Messiah.  In the New Testament it means believing Jesus is the Messiah, and that’s why we spread the gospel.

When all is said and done, the Old Testament faithful, New Testament believers, the 144,000 and the Tribulation believers will be saved.  No unbelieving Jew from any age will be be included.  In Romans 2:28-29 Paul wrote,

A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.

The first three Gospels are so much alike that people accuse Matthew and Luke of borrowing heavily from Mark, who supposedly wrote His gospel first. But no so with John.  His gospel is different from all of the others.

None of the Gospel writers penned strictly historical accounts. But among them, John was least interested in preserving the chronology of events, positioning them more to contrast with one another than to keep them in their proper order. A good example is John 2 where the water into wine miracle is followed by the cleansing of the Temple. The former took place at the beginning of the Lord’s ministry while the latter happened at the very end. John placed them side-by-side to contrast the purity of the gospel Jesus taught with the corrupt practices of the religion of the day.

From all the miracles Jesus performed, John chose to include only seven in his Gospel, along with seven “I am” statements and seven discourses. Out of the Lord’s 3 ½ year ministry John focused on only 21 days, devoting 10 chapters to the last week and 1/3 of the book’s 879 verses to one day.

Each of the seven miracles in John also symbolized a greater truth and frankly, to my mind a couple of them are a little strange. The water into wine miracle is a good example. But of all the miracles Jesus performed, perhaps the strangest one is the healing at the Pool of Bethesda in Chapter 5. It was so out of character for Him. Let’s read it. (If you want to read more about all seven, click here.)

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed (and they waited for the moving of the waters. From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease he had.) Note: Some manuscripts don’t have the parenthetical portion of this passage, but its inclusion makes the following clearer.

One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ “

So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. (John 5:1-15)

What’s Going On here?

A look at the anomalies will help us decode this strange miracle. For instance, usually upon encountering a group of people, Jesus healed all the sick among them, regardless of His personal plans.  You can see what I mean in Matt 4:23-24;

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them.

And Matt. 14:13-14 says;

When Jesus heard what had happened, (the death of John the Baptist) he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

But at the Pool of Bethesda, where the place was littered with the sick and handicapped and where one sweep of the Lord’s hand could have taken care of everyone, John mentioned only one man being healed.  And that one didn’t approach Him.   Jesus made the initial contact after learning something about the man. “Do you want to get well?” He asked.

Then there’s the man’s story, a real Catch 22. Because he was crippled, he couldn’t get to the Pool in time to be healed.  Someone else always got there first.  But if he could have gotten to the pool first, he wouldn’t have needed healing. He needed someone to heal him right where he was.

And he never asked Jesus to heal him. In fact he didn’t even know with whom he was speaking. The Lord said, “Pick up your mat and walk,” and without hesitation the man did just that, for the first time in 38 years.

Then there’s the fact that this happened on the Sabbath, so by carrying his mat he drew the attention of the priests who told him it was illegal. The ex-cripple said he was obeying the man who healed him but he couldn’t tell them who the man was.

Later Jesus found him again and warned him to “stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” Was that a threat?

The Story Behind The Story

With these facts in view, it appears that the healing at Bethesda is meant to convey much more than meets the eye. The first clue to what that might be comes with the fact that the man had been an invalid for 38 years. The only other time the phrase thirty-eight years appears in the Bible is in Deut. 2:14 describing the length of time the Jews had spent in the wilderness where they received the Law.

This little hint tells us the cripple by the pool in his Catch 22 represented Israel in theirs. Because they were sinners, they couldn’t keep the Law to be saved. But if they could have kept the Law they wouldn’t have needed saving. They needed someone to save them just as they were.

Bethesda means House of Mercy. Like the cripple, Israel needed someone to show them mercy in their hopeless condition. The Lord showed His mercy to the cripple and offered to do the same for Israel.

Though Jesus came to the pool specifically to heal this one cripple, the man didn’t recognize his healer and didn’t know with whom he was speaking. Though Jesus came to Earth specifically to save Israel (Matt. 15:24), they didn’t recognize their Savior and didn’t know with whom they were speaking.  “If you’re the Christ,” they said, “then tell us” (Luke 22:67).  This after He had fulfilled hundreds of prophecies from their scriptures concerning His coming.

Jesus told the healed cripple to stop sinning lest something worse should happen. He couldn’t have been speaking generally because He knew that if man could stop sinning altogether, he could save himself and wouldn’t need a Savior. The Catch 22 wouldn’t exist. So He must have had a specific sin in mind.

By working to keep the Law in an effort to save themselves, the Israelites were relying on their own righteousness, a sin. The Law was never meant to be a means of salvation, but to reveal the need for a Savior (Romans 3:20). In admonishing the cripple, He was also telling Israel to stop committing the sin of self-righteousness lest something worse should happen. And because they refused, it did. In the Lord’s time on Earth Israel was subordinate to Rome but still existed as a nation. 38 years after the crucifixion Jerusalem was destroyed and soon after that Israel ceased to exist altogether.

So it looks as if this one crippled man was chosen to send a message to Israel, joining the Lord in acting out a parable.

But the Lord and the cripple were also sending a message to us. For which of us has not claimed to be our own Savior at some point in our lives? Which of us has not been proud in our self-righteousness?

Each of us is in the same Catch 22 as the cripple, helpless to save ourselves and therefore hopelessly lost. We’re destined to carry our sins to the grave unless God extends His mercy. And so meeting us right where we are, He asks us just like He asked the cripple, “Do you want to get well?” Selah 02-20-10

After several readings of the Matthew and Luke Passages, It seems to me that the generation referred to is the generation that sees the beginning of the tribulation – THAT generation will live to see the return of messiah.  Would you mind explaining why my reasoning might be incorrect?

A. The first specific sign Jesus gave in the Olivet discourse that will clearly indicate that the End of the Age has come is the Abomination of Desolation (Matt. 24:15-21).  But that’s really a “non-sign” because in several other places the Bible says when that happens there’ll only be about 3 1/2 years left until the 2nd Coming.  It wouldn’t make sense for the Lord to say that the generation being born at that time will live to see all the End Times signs fulfilled.  They’ll still be toddlers when the Kingdom Age begins.

So we have to look behind His words.  It takes a Temple for an Abomination, but according to Daniel 9:27 the Temple would only have to be 7 years old when the end comes, still too short a period of time.  But for a Temple to exist, Israel has to exist.  Without an actual State of Israel inhabiting the land that was promised to them, none of the other signs can happen. There couldn’t be a covenant people or a Temple or an Abomination of Desolation.  In addition to Daniel’s prophecy of a temple, Isaiah, Amos, Ezekiel, Zechariah and others all prophesied a re-gathered State of Israel in the last days as well. The re-birth of Israel is the pre-emminent signal that the End of the Age has come.

The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath, saying, “I have installed My King on Zion, my Holy Hill.”

I will proclaim the decree of the Lord. He said to me, “You are my Son. Today I have become your father. Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest He be angry and you be destroyed in your way for His wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.

Because of the language employed, we think about armed rebellion here. But what about civil or social or spiritual rebellion? Haven’t our leaders on earth waged these kinds of warfare as well? Think of the laws written to insure freedom of religion that are now interpreted as guaranteeing freedom from religion. What about the public schools who ban even silent prayer, courts who prohibit a display of God’s Law, and officials who are trying to remove the words “under God” from our Pledge of Allegiance? And that’s just in the US, that bastion of personal freedom. Are not these also attempts by the rulers of this world to break the ties between man and his Creator?

It’s said that as the bonds between God and man are broken, the bonds between man and man can fare no better. We certainly see the truth of that observation. Lying, cheating, stealing and defrauding often seem the order of the day. But remember God laughs at these puny attempts at rebellion as we laugh at a two year old who thinks if his eyes are covered so he can’t see us, then we can’t see him either.

The Lord scoffs at our Godless leaders now, but soon He will rebuke them. You see, they don’t make the rules, He does. He’s installed His King over the earth. They can’t impeach Him and He’s not going to resign.

One thousand years before the first Christmas David “saw” through the eye of inspiration as the Father gave His Son the authority to become sole heir to Planet Earth. He’ll rule the nations as one who oversees his personal property, brooking no interference and accepting no criticism. The first will indeed become last as the Kings of the Earth are warned to serve Him with the fear reserved for one who in the blink of an eye can be stirred to wrath. Is this the “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild” we were taught about in Sunday School? I think not. This is not the Lamb of God but the Lion of Judah.

Once before mankind committed a grievous error by failing to recognize Who they were dealing with, and it’s destined to happen again. The Jews wanted the Lion of Judah to throw off the Roman yoke, a Warrior King Who would defeat Israel’s enemies. But refusing to admit the sin problem that first required the sacrificial Lamb, they rejected Him.

The mainline Church looks for the Lamb of God, that sandal shod social worker Who walked the paths of the Galilee patting little children on the head and telling everyone to turn the other cheek. Forgetting that he’s promised to return like a roaring Lion with the armies of Heaven to defeat His enemies and take possession of that which He’s purchased, they fail to see the signs of His coming.

At the end of the age when the sign of the Son of Man appears in the sky, all the nations of the Earth will mourn (Matt 24:30). For those who’ve rejected Him it will be a sad day indeed when the Lord returns, but for we who believe, it will be the culmination of history, the beginning of Heaven on Earth. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.

Prayer: Lord please make us ever mindful of the times in which we live.  Help us prepare our hearts and minds for the life that’s coming, the one we were created for, the one we long for. Give us peace as we consider leaving this one.  Let us not be like Lot’s wife, who turned to look back, but like Paul who said, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Phil. 1:12) Amen.