Jewish Lords' Witness
Courtesy europosters.eu
The Last Day
Introduction
So, after that not so brief interlude of looking into my recent medical experiences and the feminine topics instigated by my dear lady wife from recent media stories, I can now return to my Last First and First Last Project. The next Bible verse to be brought to my attention in this context is Exodus 40:2 and I quote:
2 On the first day of the first month shalt thou rear up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.
3 And thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony, and thou shalt screen the ark with the veil. (Exodus 40 ASV)
The transformation from ‘first’ to ‘last’ is screaming ‘the last day of the last month’ to me from this, so let us have a look at some relevant Bible verses referencing ‘the last day’. Whilst I can find no Bible references to the ‘last month’, I am taking the assumed meaning of the end of time on this Earth when searching scriptures for the ‘last day’.
Resurrection of the Dead
In a relevant context, ‘the last day’ appears in several verses in the Gospel of John. So, exactly what is ‘the last day’ according to John? First off, faithful ones, who believed that Jesus was our saviour and literally saw Him will be resurrected on that day. So that day is reserved for the resurrection of truly faithful Christians who were alive and witnessed Jesus while He conducted His ministry. It is not clear to me whether verse 40 below might also include all faithful Christians who did not see Him alive but nonetheless perceive His status as our saviour. However, according to the Ambiguity Principle of the Bible Code (see C25 - The Ambiguity Principle), both meanings will be true in different threads:
39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6 KJV)
I think the following verse, however, does go on to confirm that all faithful Christians, from all ages, will be included for resurrection on ‘the last day’. This would still, however, appear to exclude those alive at the ‘last day’ who will be raptured (check out my Rapture paper). This would be the case unless ‘raised…up’ might also include those ones, perhaps?
44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6 KJV)
One of the key scriptures, describing the rapture, is in Paul’s first letter to the congregation in Thessalonica. Here we are told that the dead in Christ will rise first followed by the rapture of those still alive on Earth. The rapture appears to be coincident with Christ’s second coming:
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first;
17 then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4 ASV)
Later in this paper I relate the last day(s) to Noah’s flood. Matthew 24 makes the connection between those days and Christ’s second coming, so I think we can safely confirm that the last day will also bring about the rapture of the faithful Second New Covenant Kings and Administrators (check out Understanding 8 - The Structure of the Kingdom of God: New Jerusalem and the Great Crowd of Revelation 7:9 and Revelation 19:6) who will still be alive:
37 And as [were] the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man.
38 For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark,
39 and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. (Matthew 24 ASV)
Paul tells us that faithful sinners will be saved in the day by the destruction of their Adamic bodies effectively thereby enabling their receipt of the gift of non-Adamic bodies (check out Introduction 10 - Why do we die?) and the salvation of their spirits:
5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. (1 Corinthians 5 KJV)
The next verse seems to be reserved for those who take communion. This raises several questions in my mind. First off, why identify these separately? Does this mean that those that profess to being Christians but do not take communion are excluded from resurrection on ‘the last day’? What is the status of those that do take communion but in a false Christian Church; does that count as a true taking of bread and wine? Or is this a purely spiritual communion; I do not think so since scriptures most certainly have a literal meaning if not clearly a symbolic verse, or is it? Again, I think we must consider the Ambiguity Principle of the Bible Code (see True Bible Code #25 - The Ambiguity Principle). Consequently, both literal and symbolic meanings will be true, so this will apply to all faithful Christians:
54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6 KJV)
Now, whilst Jesus raised Lazarus, Martha’s brother, from the grave shortly after the following conversation, nonetheless the last day still stands to support the meaning previously prescribed. Lazarus presumably died a death when his time eventually came but would be raised again, along with the other faithful ones:
23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. (John 11 KJV)
The Day of Judgement
On ‘the last day’ we not only have the resurrection of the faithful but also it is the Day of Judgement of the unrighteous ones for their spell in Gehenna. This clearly is a judgement on those that have rejected Christ and His words. Do those who died before Christ’s ministry or who have had no way of knowing of Christ’s words have a different ‘last day’? I think not; all will be judged on their heart condition with or without knowledge of our saviour:
48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. (John 12 KJV)
These following sets of verses from the Gospel of Matthew are interesting in that they effectively answer my question of John 12 above. Here Jesus tells us that the cities that He or His disciples preached to that rejected His/their words would suffer worse, come ‘the day of judgement’, than the cities of sin in the Old Testament. Whilst sinful, the latter did not have the ministry of Christ so were not able to reject Him. So, it looks as if all unrighteous ones will be judged on ‘the day of judgement’ but those sinning prior to Jesus’ ministry will not be held in the worst of conditions in Gehenna and may perhaps gain an early parole if they accept Christ’s ministry when it is revealed to them:
14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. (Matthew 10 KJV)
20 Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:
21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.
23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
24 But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. (Matthew 11 KJV)
And confirmation from the Gospel of Luke:
12 But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.
13 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
14 But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you. (Luke 10 KJV)
More confirmation and detail of the terms of ‘the day of judgment’ from the Gospel of Matthew:
36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. (Matthew 12 KJV)
John tells us that the faithful ones should not fear ‘the day of judgment’:
17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. (1 John 4 KJV)
Paul tells the congregation in Rome that the gentiles will be judged according to their heart condition ‘in the day when God shall judge’:
14 For, when nations that have not a law, by nature may do the things of the law, these not having a law -- to themselves are a law;
15 who do shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also witnessing with them, and between one another the thoughts accusing or else defending,
16 in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my good news, through Jesus Christ. (Romans 2 YLT)
Peter provides further confirmation of the ‘day of judgement’ being brought to bear on all the unjust ones. Their being ‘reserved’ for this day again suggests that those ones from all ages of mankind’s existence will be judged on the same day:
9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: (2 Peter 2 KJV)
Whilst we have been discussing ‘the day of judgment’, we are being judged, I believe, continuously throughout our lives. The day of judgement would therefore seem to be the point in time at which we will all be given our passports to God’s Kingdom or our jail sentences in Gehenna:
31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. (John 12 KJV)
31 inasmuch as he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17 ASV)
The Day of God/Lord/Jehovah
We have a highly rich set of verses from Peter in his second epistle. First off, the ‘day of judgement’ would appear to also include God’s ultimate destruction of the heavens and the earth. It is as if God decided to wipe the slate clean by destroying all of Adamic mankind into the second death or His Kingdom together with the destruction of the environment they have so successfully polluted. This would enable Him to provide the renewed non-Adamic mankind with an entirely new and clean place to live.
Then we have the famous equating of one day with a thousand years. So is the last day, the day of judgement, just one literal day? And we also have the introduction of two new phrases, ‘the day of the Lord’ and ‘the day of God’. Is this the same day? It would certainly seem to be from its description:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day [is] with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 [Seeing] then [that] all these things shall be dissolved, what manner [of persons] ought ye to be in [all] holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. (2 Peter 3 KJV)
Paul, in his first letter to the congregation at Corinth also refers to this day as ‘the day of our Lord Jesus Christ’:
8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, [that ye may be] blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1 KJV)
Zephaniah also has something to say about ‘the great day of Jehovah’ and ‘the day of Jehovah's anger’. This clearly is a day of reckoning for sinful mankind still left on the Earth after all the righteous have been raptured to (hidden in) the greater ark. Interestingly he refers to Jehovah’s sacrifice, which must reference the then future sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ, against who unrighteous mankind will be held accountable. Whilst that day comes with much calamity for that remnant of mankind, there is no direct clue as to how long that day shall last:
7 Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord Jehovah; for the day of Jehovah is at hand: for Jehovah hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath consecrated his guests.
8 And it shall come to pass in the day of Jehovah's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's sons, and all such as are clothed with foreign apparel. (Zephaniah 1 ASV)
14 The great day of Jehovah is near, it is near and hasteth greatly, [even] the voice of the day of Jehovah; the mighty man crieth there bitterly.
15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements. (Zephaniah 1 ASV)
2 before the decree bring forth, [before] the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of Jehovah come upon you, before the day of Jehovah's anger come upon you.
3 Seek ye Jehovah, all ye meek of the earth, that have kept his ordinances; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye will be hid in the day of Jehovah's anger. (Zephaniah 2 ASV)
Isaiah also makes a similar reference to ‘a day of Jehovah’:
12 For there shall be a day of Jehovah of hosts upon all that is proud and haughty, and upon all that is lifted up; and it shall be brought low; (Isaiah 2 ASV)
6 Wail ye; for the day of Jehovah is at hand; as destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
7 Therefore shall all hands be feeble, and every heart of man shall melt:
8 and they shall be dismayed; pangs and sorrows shall take hold [of them]; they shall be in pain as a woman in travail: they shall look in amazement one at another; their faces [shall be] faces of flame.
9 Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. (Isaiah 13 ASV)
As does Jeremiah:
10 For this [is] the day of the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Himself of His foes. And the sword shall devour, and be sated, and made drunk with their blood, for a sacrifice is to the Lord Jehovah of Hosts in the north country by the river Euphrates. (Jeremiah 46 GLT)
In fact, unsurprisingly, it looks like pretty much all God’s Old Testament prophets have something to say about God’s Day. Well, we cannot say we were not warned:
3 For the day is near, even the day of Jehovah is near; it shall be a day of clouds, a time of the nations. (Ezekiel 30 ASV)
15 Alas for the day! for the day of Jehovah is at hand, and as destruction from the Almighty shall it come. (Joel 1 ASV)
1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of Jehovah cometh, for it is nigh at hand; (Joel 2 ASV)
11 And Jehovah uttereth his voice before his army; for his camp is very great; for he is strong that executeth his word; for the day of Jehovah is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? (Joel 2 ASV)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh. (Joel 2 ASV)
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision. (Joel 3 ASV)
15 For the day of Jehovah is near upon all the nations: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; thy dealing shall return upon thine own head. (Obadiah 1 ASV)
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come. (Malachi 4 ASV)
Jude abbreviates ‘the great day of Jehovah’ to ‘the great day’ in which the demons will suffer a likely worse fate than unrighteous mankind:
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (Jude 1 KJV)
Amos makes it clear that we should not wish for the ‘dark’ day of Jehovah to arrive. However, we must recognise it as a necessary step in the process of delivering judgement upon mankind and the angels whilst enabling the righteous to find salvation in the Kingdom:
18 Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! Wherefore would ye have the day of Jehovah? It is darkness, and not light.
19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
20 Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? (Amos 5 ASV)
In that regard, Paul tells the congregation at Corinth that the ‘day of the Lord Jesus’ will be cause for celebration amongst the faithful ones:
14 As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also [are] ours in the day of the Lord Jesus. (2 Corinthians 1 KJV)
While we have already looked at these verses from Peter’s second letter, it is worth mentioning here that he refers both to the ‘Day of the Lord’ and the ‘Day of God’. This is, no doubt, to confirm that it is Jesus who is returning to carry out Jehovah’s judgement on mankind. Again, we have confirmation that the righteous are eagerly awaiting God’s destructive force to be exercised on the evil ones in preparation for His Kingdom:
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in [all] holy living and godliness,
12 looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
13 But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. (2 Peter 3 ASV)
Paul confirms to the congregation in Thessalonica that they should be aware of the signs of the times. This is really a message for the current age in which the faithless will not be aware or ready for the ‘Day of the Lord’. Watching the world news, they will believe the politicians’ promise of peace prior to God’s destruction raining upon them. The state of global conflicts today will easily escalate into a much broader set of battlefields on the day when a false promise of peace is declared: https://www.crisisgroup.org/global/10-conflicts-watch-2024:
1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. (1 Thessalonians 5 KJV)
Paul expanded upon his earlier writing by telling the Thessalonian congregation in his second epistle to maintain their faith to the ‘Day of Christ’ and by providing information on the signs of the times to watch out for. The falling away of the faithful and the revelation of the ‘son of perdition’ are both prophesied. Even today we can only speculate as to what form either of these manifestations will take. However, I am certain that, to those with their eyes and ears open, the signs will be clear in their own time:
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. (2 Thessalonians 2 KJV)
Just in case we still have not fully appreciated the cataclysmic events that will accompany God’s Great Day, the opening of the sixth seal in Revelation Chapter 6 should make that clear. This, again, informs us that it will be the Lamb, Jesus Christ, who will be seeking his vengeance upon faithless mankind, albeit with authority from His Father, Jehovah:
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? (Revelation 6 KJV)
What better way to end this section than by confirming the Day of God as ‘great’ with the demons bringing the nations of the world together to fight their final battle at Armageddon? While the demons may seem to be creating this final act of war they are, nonetheless, acting out God’s will by destroying the world of unrighteous mankind:
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, [which] go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed [is] he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. (Revelation 16 KJV)
Days
Mark gives us a possible clue as to the extent of that day in which he references the hour of that day at which these events commence. However, unless taken wholly literally, this could just be referencing the commencement of divine events within the last day and not necessarily the temporal extent:
31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
32 But of that day and [that] hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. (Mark 13 KJV)
Matthew Chapter 24 also gives us that same view with two important additions, one relevant and the other not relevant to the current thesis. Let us look at the non-relevant item first. Once again, I find myself tripping up over a trinitarian corruption of God’s Word, as introduced by the Roman Catholic Church (RCC). It is for this reason that I have produced two English translations and two Greek texts below.
If we look at verse 36, we see the phrase ‘neither the Son’ has been omitted in the King James Version whilst appearing in the American Standard Version. Similarly, we see that the Greek phrase ‘ουδε ο υιος‘ has been omitted from the Byzantine Majority Text whilst appearing in the Tischendorf’s 8th Edition Greek Text (1859). Clearly, if the Father knows the day and the hour and the Son does not, then they cannot be different aspects of the same being. This text was deliberately removed by the RCC; I would not want to be one of those responsible for this trinitarian editing of the Holy Scriptures:
19 and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book. (Revelation 22 ASV)
Interestingly, I inadvertently missed this scripture from Matthew in my Trinity paper so I think this instance must be the Holy Spirit pointing this out to me and my readers as a reminder! It is also noteworthy that the same phrase has not been omitted from Matthew 13:32 above in any of the original Greek texts or English translations that I can find. This clearly indicates an imperfection in the RCC's corruption of the scriptures as identified by the Holy Spirit!
Now back to the main plot of this paper. Whilst the Gospel of Matthew supports that of Mark, there is an important additional ingredient introduced by Matthew to help throw light on the timeframe of the day of God. Matthew compares this time to that of Noah and the flood as the greater flood and destruction of mankind from off the Earth:
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. (KJV)
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. (ASV)
35 ο ουρανος και η γη παρελευσονται οι δε λογοι μου ου μη παρελθωσιν (BYZ)
35 ο ουρανος και η γη παρελευσεται οι δε λογοι μου ου μη παρελθωσιν (TIS)
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no [man], no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. (KJV)
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only. (ASV)
36 περι δε της ημερας εκεινης και ωρας ουδεις οιδεν ουδε οι αγγελοι των ουρανων ει μη ο πατηρ μου μονος (BYZ)
36 περι δε της ημερας εκεινης και ωρας ουδεις οιδεν ουδε οι αγγελοι των ουρανων ουδε ο υιος ει μη ο πατηρ μονος (TIS)
37 But as the days of Noe [were], so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (KJV)
37 And as [were] the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man. (ASV)
37 ωσπερ δε αι ημεραι του νωε ουτως εσται και η παρουσια του υιου του ανθρωπου (BYZ)
37 ωσπερ δε αι ημεραι του νωε ουτως εσται η παρουσια του υιου του ανθρωπου (TIS)
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, (Matthew 24 KJV)
38 For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, (Matthew 24 ASV)
38 ωσπερ γαρ ησαν εν ταις ημεραις ταις προ του κατακλυσμου τρωγοντες και πινοντες γαμουντες και εκγαμιζοντες αχρι ης ημερας εισηλθεν νωε εις την κιβωτον (Matthew 24 BYZ)
38 ως γαρ ησαν εν ταις ημεραις ταις προ του κατακλυσμου τρωγοντες και πινοντες γαμουντες και γαμιζοντες αχρι ης ημερας εισηλθεν νωε εις την κιβωτον (Matthew 24 TIS)
The flood started when Noah entered the ark and the rain lasted 40 days. So, if the last day represents a greater meaning of Noah’s flood, that last ‘day’ may last for a period of 40 literal days. Given God’s anger at unrighteous mankind as described by Zephaniah, it would seem likely that He would want to terrorise them for rather more than a single day before committing them to Gehenna. Also, we have Noah and his family escaping the flood waters in the ark; arguably this would provide the greater meaning of today’s faithful folk being raptured into a greater ark:
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; (Genesis 7 KJV)
To support this lengthened timeframe, Zechariah has something to say on the subject. Currently we see a war in the Middle East between the nation state of Israel pitted against the warring factions of Gaza, Lebanon and Iran at the time of writing: https://news.sky.com/story/israel-hamas-war-a-timeline-of-events-in-the-year-since-7-october-amid-fears-of-wider-middle-east-conflict-13132910.
According to Zechariah, it looks likely that the Day of Jehovah will bring with it the culmination of the current conflict first by the destruction of Jerusalem, no doubt together with that of the nation state of Israel. This will be closely followed by the destruction of all the national enemies of Israel. Having family in Israel, this does not bring me any personal pleasure. However, I can see that God needs to sweep this whole world clean as a major step in making His Kingdom open to the righteous. I guess a forty-day period would suffice for a serious escalation of the current middle East conflict in which all involved nations would face destruction:
1 Behold, a day of Jehovah cometh, when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall Jehovah go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. (Zechariah 14 ASV)
Luke has more to add regarding the extent of God’s Day. In Acts Chapter 2 Verse 17 he talks about the last days plural. However, his words appear to be aimed at the Saints past and present I believe. Those days appear to be the prelude to ‘that great and notable day of the Lord’. Signs will appear, prior to the latter day, during which the righteous servants of God will be empowered and protected from the fate of unrighteous mankind:
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
21 And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Acts 2 KJV)
This empowerment of the Saints is confirmed by Paul to the congregation at Corinth, albeit not in such specific terms:
7 so that you [are] not lacking in any gift, awaiting the revelation of our Lord, Jesus Christ,
8 who also will confirm you until [the] end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1 GLT)
The full official chronology of the last day(s), as currently understood by the Lords’ Witnesses, is to be found at https://www.truebiblecode.com/understanding101.html. Here you will find that the last ‘day’ actually lasts for 21 years!
Just in case you need reminding:
4 For a thousand years in thy sight [are but] as yesterday when it is past, and [as] a watch in the night. (Psalms 90 KJV)
According to that chronology the last day commenced on 4th June 2012 and is due to reach its conclusion on 13th May 2033. This chronology is very spiritual in nature. Its commencement, with the making of the True Christian Church members to be non-Adamic, came with no observable signs, even to those Church members (including myself I have been informed!). (NB. You can find the definition of a non-Adamic human at Introduction 50 - Acronyms, Abbreviations and Definitions; this is a large page so you will need to search within the page to find the reference.)
The last day will end with the second death or rapture of every human being on the planet. According to that chronology the first obviously visible sign will be the first of two nuclear explosions in Manhattan to occur by 27th March 2025.
One item that I expected to be identified would have been a spike in missing persons reporting from the start of the rapture (for the interested reader, check out my earlier Rapture paper). This rapture started on 22nd September 2024 (16th Tishri 2024 BLC) and I would have expected that this would have been noticed. However, when I reviewed the internet reportage of missing persons, I found that the numbers missing over the last few years was such a large figure to begin with, that I no longer expect that to be a particularly visible sign until perhaps we get towards the end of the rapture for Second New Covenant (2NC) Kings (Introduction 35 - The Second New Covenant (2NC)) on 24th February 2025 (21st Adar 2024 BLC). Typical of the current ‘normal’ missing statistics is that just from the UK at some 170,000 per annum (https://www.missingpeople.org.uk/for-professionals/policy-and-research/information-and-research/key-information).
I have not held much confidence in our chronological predictions thus far, given the numerous failures to get it right in the past. However, there is no doubt that we can see how the events taking place within the last day will play out at a detailed level as determined from our understandings of the scriptures.
This is not a pretty end to the current system of things as we know it, but it is most certainly a necessary step to mankind’s and the angels’ learning that we must live in a morally sustainable world if we are to survive. God’s Kingdom will provide that environment and all mankind and the demons will need to learn genuine repentance to be allowed entry. It is our understanding that all of God’s sons and daughters will eventually gain entry during the millennium following the last day although it will take some rather longer than others to learn the lessons of the past (Introduction 14 - What the Hell is Gehenna? Why does God permit Demon Possession? Universal Salvation: God will save each and every one of us, for God is love and love is salvation). Amen.
Synopsis
And Another Thing....
I am not certain how this section relates to the last days and the chronology presented in the previous section. What I have done here is to calculate how long it took for Noah’s flood waters to recede and thereby the timeframe during which the Earth remained uninhabitable. Why have been led to do this I am not entirely certain. I can only think that the Holy Spirit had a hand in this for a reason that I am sure will be revealed at the appropriate time, The fact that we have been given much chronological information on this suggests that there is some greater meaning for the current last day's schedule. I cannot see how/if this has been incorporated into the current LW chronology. Clearly this is a matter for me to pick up with the LW Church President, Gordon.
First off, after the forty days of rain, we have a further 150 days making a total period of 190 days of an uninhabitable earth thus far:
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; (Genesis 7 KJV)
24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. (Genesis 7 KJV)
2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. (Genesis 8 KJV)
Moving on, it looks like that 150-day period of the waters prevailing included the 40 days since the flood commenced on the same day of the second month and the ark rested on the seventh month. That makes 5 months of 30 days each according to the Biblical Lunar Calendar, giving us the 150 days in total of the waters covering the Earth thus far:
4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. (Genesis 8 KJV)
Then we have a further period of 2 months and 14 days until the tops of the mountains were seen. This amounts to a further 74 days giving a grand total thus far of 224 days:
5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth [month], on the first [day] of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. (Genesis 8 KJV)
A further 40 days then expired before Noah then opened the window of the ark giving a further grand total thus far of 264 days:
6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: (Genesis 8 KJV)
There then follows a period in which Noah sent out first a raven and then a dove to check on the status of the flood waters. The period here is not specified until verse 10 which states that he stayed a further 7 days. Since no explicit time was previously specified, I think it reasonable to assume that the seven days recorded in verse 10 covers that whole period, thereby giving us a grand total thus far of 271 days:
7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters [were] on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; (Genesis 8 KJV)
We then have another period of 7 days for the second sending of the dove giving us a grand total thus far of 278 days:
12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more. (Genesis 8 KJV)
We are then told that the waters dried off from the Earth at a date that one can only assume from verse 11 is related to Noah’s age. This amounts to 12 months and 16 days after the flood waters began. So we now have a grand total of 376 days thus far:
13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first [month], the first [day] of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. (Genesis 8 KJV)
Although the waters had receded, the Earth had not fully dried out to a habitable state until a further 1 month and 26 days. This gives a final grand total period from the start of the flood until the Earth was capable of re-habitation of 432 days:
14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. (Genesis 8 KJV)
A possible greater meaning to this timeframe could be the period of time that faithful mankind are raptured into the greater ark before being transported to the new Earth. This does not, however, match any events in the current LW chronology as far as I can make out. Watch this space!!
Date of Publication: 29th January 2025
The Apocalypse