Millennial Parallelisms (#5)

See the series here

Throughout The Bible, God presents vivid pictures of various ‘Christ-types’, or saviors. Adam is generally regarded as the first. Other types of Christ include Noah, Moses, Abraham, Boaz and David, to name a few - men positioned and propelled to perform pivotal roles to keep God’s eternal plan of salvation on track, pending the arrival, death and resurrection of Jesus, our final Savior.

There are several very interesting millennial parallelisms between Adam and Jesus. Consider these initial parallelisms. Do you perceive others?

--Both will have been married to their ‘spouses’...by God: Adam to Eve, and Jesus to His Bride, the full body of saints from across the ages of history, redeemed and immortal.

--Both ‘sired’ the human race: Jesus through Adam, and Adam through Eve.

--Their millennial lives will have both figuratively and literally ‘sandwiched’ mankind’s existence on earth!

--Both will have ruled/reigned for a millennium: Adam ruled as patriarch of the then entire human race, and Jesus will rule as King over all the nations that will survive the tribulation punishments and the Armageddon War. (See: Revelation - Future Attacks in Israel)

Adam was the first patriarch and his life spanned nearly all (93%) of mankind’s first thousand years on Earth. His ‘reign’, that of a mortal man, ‘fell short’ of a millennium by exactly 70 years. (This may be significant in terms of Biblical numerology.) As patriarch over the rapidly growing human race, he no doubt shared with his family about his and Eve’s direct experiences with God (in the person of Jesus) in the Garden of Eden. After he sinned, he and Eve were excommunicated from the Garden - second only to the devils’ ‘excommunication’ from Heaven. Rather than sulk in defeat, he probably tried his level best to stem the slow, but definite tide of corruption coming upon the Earth from his succeeding generations! Let's tune in to one of his possible rebukes:

Great, great, great grandson, you shape up, ya here!

What you’re doing is SIN, and there’s a price to be paid!

Stop it!! Straighten up and walk right before God!

Adam was likely terribly regretful of his own sin that ended the glorious Garden experience. His first few generations may have believed and possibly even venerated him, not only as the first man, but also for his Godly/Garden insights. Over time, however, succeeding generations of grands, great and great-great grands would increasingly disbelieve him and, just as he had done, disobey God in their pursuits of evil. Moreover, it definitely did not help that ‘…the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.’ (Genesis 6:2). ¹

In parallel, Jesus will return to Earth with His immediate family -- His bride, all His immortal, glorified saints from the previous 4 ages of history, and through us, He will rule with an iron scepter over succeeding generations of sinful mortals. He will be venerated by us saints, and likely increasingly unappreciated by the mortals. After all, we mortal humans tend not to like the idea of a monarchy, especially living under one! The initial generation of people who will survive the great tribulation will undoubtedly harbor great resentments about the horrible punishments they experienced during the tribulation, and the horrible ‘nuclear-type’ death their family members and compatriots experienced when Jesus and His saints returned to Earth! (Zechariah 14:12 and Revelation 19) Then, successive generations of mortals who will have no concept of the tribulation period may appreciate Jesus’ reign even less and less, just as later generations in Adam’s family may have felt about all his talk of walking and communing with God (in the person of Jesus) in the Garden of Eden, and about and God’s requirements of mankind to resist evil.

Now, consider just how regretful God (in the person of Jesus) was at the end of man’s first millennium - even regretting that He had created man:

And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth,

and He was grieved in His heart. (Genesis 6:6)

Might Adam have had similar feelings about his increasingly evil family of mankind, possibly to the point of becoming increasingly frustrated, even angry? I think so. Ezekiel reveals Jesus, at the end of His Millennial Reign, will ‘take this up quite a few notches! In response to man’s great Gog/Magog rebellious attack on saints of that epoch in Israel, Jesus will have ‘blazing rage, fiery wrath, and heated fury’. (Revelation 20:7-9) The Bible cites this as mankind’s last stand, our final rebellion against God and everything He stands for! This reportedly will be the culmination of satan’s campaign of deception following his ‘little while/short time’ release from the bottomless pit mentioned in Revelation 20:3) 

Ponder these (unanswered) questions:

--How little is ‘little’; how short is ‘short’? Where might Jesus and His saints be when this attack plan is concocted? The last phrase of Revelation 9 gives a clue: 'And fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them.' Elsewhere, I surmise 'Heaven' is the new Earth The Lord promised Isaiah He was creating (present tense). (See: Isaiah 65:17 and 66:22 and also, Your Heaven IQ (Series))

--Since The Bible reveals mortals will have lived for hundreds of years (Isaiah 65 mentions a child dying at 100), how old will the people in this exceedingly large army likely be?! (Revelation 20:8 seems to hint that the 2nd Gog and Magog army might be much larger than the army at the Armageddon War (Revelation 19) will have been!  Imagine, the nerve of very old people (old by today's standard) to join an army to attack Israel, where Jerusalem will have been the world's capital for a thousand years! I surmise they might be after major 'the booty' that will have accumulated there during Jesus' reign, just as the 1st War of Gog and Magog will have been --  all about 'the booty' 5 armies could capture. (See: Revelation - Future Attacks in Israel) 

--If the magnet for this attack will indeed be the incredibly 'UGE' proportions of the world's wealth that will have been accumulated in Israel during Christ's reign (voluntary donations to curry favor with Jesus and/or kingdom taxes?), I seriously suspect this will mask the pent-up resentments for having to deal with an iron scepter monarchy for so long: 'GOOD RIDDANCE! Now let's go get our booty back!' See how well Isaiah 60 - 63, Psalm 72, Ezekiel 38 - 39, and Revelation 19:13 set the stage for such wealth accumulation, the planned attack, and Jesus' very personal bloody response to this Gog/Magog experience. Fascinating!

--Finally, it is interesting to note that, after this so-called battle (really another one-sided slaughter!), the exceedingly huge army, which will have gathered to attack Israel for its considerable 'booty', will first die in the battle, then be resurrected to be judged in the Great White Throne Judgment, along with unbelievers across all the ages of human history, then die their second, eternal death as the living dead. ²

Millennial Parallelism (#5)

‘Sandwiching’ Millennial Lords - Adam and Jesus

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¹ Though debatable, this is generally understood to refer to fallen angels who had taken the form of men in order to marry human women in satan’s attempt to corrupt the ‘seed of woman’ God warned him about in Genesis 3:15.

² According to The Bible, being zombie-like forever is one thing Hollywood got right! Since this concept was apparently not used in Isaiah's day, to convert this notion, The Lord used the rather odd phrase, 'their worm does not die'. Moreover, as a human, He reiterated this phrase several times in the Gospel of Mark. 

Anointing (Poem)

We Christians speak of anointing as if it’s some mystical glow,

A way to distinguish things ‘normal’ from those that flow,

Flow from God on a special ray, or perhaps under a cloud,

With special results that everyone will see …and applaud.

To ‘have the anointing’, some wear quite pridefully,

And at other works of Grace, they look snidefully.

Such attitudes and actions may only serve to ensure

That their presumed anointing is likely a devilish lure!

You see, all devilish spirits love to masquerade

In spiritual costumes and masks, like in a parade.

Though cloaked, they can still be picked out in most any crowd,

By those who’ve wrestled with and defeated ‘being proud’. *

Anointings are no longer an oily sheen, as in days of old,

Something to hold onto like a nugget of gold.

They are unique extensions of God’s employment Graces,

To help us run uniquely assigned deployment races.

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* Fighting the spirit of pride is an ongoing war. Some battles we may win, and others we may lose.

Millennial Parallelisms (#4)

See the series here

Continuing to explore perceived parallelisms between mankind’s first and final millennia on Earth, reflect on this fact. God seemingly did not interrupt His Day (millennium) of rest, but very patiently waited and watched His delegated authority unfold. Had He been impatient, as we tend to be, He would have rescinded His delegation to man to be Earth lords, or at least might have dispatched His savior, Noah, much earlier than at the beginning of the second millennium (Day).

God respects His own laws and delegations. All authority derives from Him. He had first delegated all authority to Jesus, who sub-delegated authority over things earthly to Adam, who corrupted his authority by submitting to Eve’s and satan’s temptation. Father God and Jesus did not intervene to prevent Their sub-delegated authority from falling into Their enemy’s hand. No, They respected Adam’s ‘damning’ decision, and in response, They laid out a multi-millennial solution (salvation) plan, but it seems They waited until mankind’s second millennium to activate this plan, with the birth of Noah in 1056 A.C. (after creation).

During the coming Millennial Reign age, God’s delegate, King Jesus (King of kings), will similarly sub-delegate authorities to all His saints from across the first four ages of history, then immortal and glorified, to serve as sub-kings, priests and administrative support staff to those offices. As was His apparent pattern during mankind’s first millennium, I suspect He will also respect, and may not interfere with or usurp His authority delegations. Sounds kinda scary to have that kind of delegated authority? Not to worry. We will be well-equipped to perform our governing functions, likely based on our post-rapture, 7-year internship with Him in Heaven, while the tribulation age is unfolding across the Earth! His Spirit of Wisdom and His angels will be our ‘present help’ as well, just as He dispatched the Spirit of Wisdom to guide all the craftsmen noted in Exodus 28:3, 31:3, 35:31. Similarly, I believe Adam not only received delegated authority, but also wisdom and power to exercise his authority. Man, if only he had applied some of that power to defeating temptations from Eve and satan! And if only you and I had done/will do similarly…now!  

Millennial Parallelism #4:

Authorities, Delegated and Respected

Grace Drip-rigation

Have you discovered that non-believers in Christ do not have a ‘corner on the market’ of being graceless? It seems this is a non-discriminatory ‘dis-ease’, and one that is easily spread in Christian communities.

As I am challenged periodically to confront my own tendency to be more of a recipient and consumer of Grace, I am reminded that Grace must be, and indeed IS a two-way street. Though we may tend to focus on being a Grace recipient, the fact is the Grace God gives to us is not entirely for us alone, but is largely intended to flow through us to other ‘Grace-needers’ along our path. Grace-needers are especially people who do not know God through Christ at all, and those who know Him, but whose faith may be too weak to access more of God’s Grace directly. Our tendency to store up His offerings in our ‘Grace vaults’ effectively robs a needful world of this tremendous resource and power.  

Rather than stored in vaults of our hearts and minds, consider an alternative mental image of God’s Grace intent -- like a drip irrigation hose through which pressurized water flows and drips out through various spaghetti-like feeders, to thirsty plants along the path of the hose. Rather than focusing on getting the Grace we need to get through tough situations, this picture changes our focus to becoming ‘Grace conduits’. A conduit never has to worry about getting more and retaining a stock of that which flows through it. It simply receives, transmits, and drips out that which its master feeds to and through it.  

Four times, God’s Word underscores, ‘The just shall live by His faith.’ In another post (http://jwootenjr.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-just-shall-live-by-grace.html) I interpolate this as ‘The just shall live by Grace’, since faith is the means by which we gain access to God’s Grace power to live lives pleasing to Him.  

The Christian reformation, ignited by Martin Luther in Germany in the 18^th century and greatly expanded by more recent insights into God’s Word, has adjusted our focus on the need to please God through a life lived by faith. Considerable emphases have been placed on the scriptural ‘policies, procedures and practices’ of living by faith. But along with more Christians endeavoring to live by faith come clashes and confrontations on what faith ‘looks like’. This could easily happen when the intensified focus on faith is not balanced with an appropriate accent on God’s Grace, which faith is designed to access, receive, utilize and transmit.

Yea, its by our faith we righteous shall live,

But our faith is known by the Grace we give…

Millennial Parallelisms (#3)

See the series here

Continuing to explore perceived parallelisms between mankind’s first and likely final millennia on earth, reflect on this question:

How do you think life spans for mortals during Christ’s Millennial Reign will get back up to several hundreds of years, as predicted in The Bible. (Isaiah 65:20)?

That will be some feat, especially if the life span of mortals who will survive the tribulation period are like ours, ~70-90 years. Of course, God can do anything. But I suspect, He may just rely on the natural law He created. Which law? Well, since don’t know its exact name, let’s call it ‘the law of alkalinity’ for Earth beings, human and animal alike. This law may have been a significant factor (among others?) that produced protracted life spans during our initial millennium+ on Earth, e.g., 700-950+ years.

‘What’s that law?!’, you ask? In sum, God created human bodies to maintain a relatively alkalic body chemistry, to be achieved/maintained primarily via our diet. Genesis 1:29-30 identifies the original fuel type instruction for our bodies – herbs, tree fruits. Originally, we were all vegetarians - man and animals alike! Of course, it must have helped that the planet was not polluted then as it clearly is today. This dietary instruction was in place for mankind’s first 1,700 plus years, and was presumably obeyed, though with a possible major challenge! (Noted below) How? The worldwide flood reportedly occurred in 1656 A.C. (after creation), and only afterward did God instruct Noah of a major dietary change, which apparently applied to animals as well as humans. (See: Genesis 9:3 and Life span – How Long?) That change was mankind could become omnivores (adding meat to our diets). As a result of this dietary change (among other factors?), human life spans quickly plummeted following the flood.*

In fact, this one change continues to have the same impact today! Compare the significantly reduced life spans post-flood to ours of today. Then ask yourself, ‘What role have poor, highly acidic diets played in cheating us out of the longer 120 year life span mentioned in Genesis 6:3?’ Modern diets have gotten soooo far away from being mostly alkalic that it isn’t funny. They have made us extremely acidic, and science now affirms this undoubtedly negatively affects both the quality and duration of our lives. As a result, our bodies and organs attack themselves! Not a believer? Read about the pH scale and research the effects of a highly acidic body chemistry. You’ll see. Also, note how we typically name and size our meals - a ‘chicken, steak, seafood, pizza’ lunch or dinner; and typically, the meat and bread are the BIGGEST parts of the meal! Thus, we effectively ‘lead’ all things diet with the most acidic part of our meals! wOw!!!

So, looking futuristically to the likely final millennium of mortals on Earth (during Christ’s promised thousand year reign with the then redeemed and immortal saints from the previous four ages of history), will a return to The Lord's creation diet for us be a major factor in helping to trigger long livers, per Isaiah 65:20? I suspect the answer is a clear YES, especially if you (like me) are unable to discern/perceive any other significant factor(s) noted in The Bible that may have contributed to our dramatic decline in post-flood life spans.

Still a dis-believer? Consider this. Genesis 9:3 specifically mentions only one side of the equation – a diet change for mankind, and omits any reference to animals. Yet, irrespective of the timeline, many animals also became carnivorous! Well, Isaiah 65:25 essentially flips this coin in this style of communication in that it specifically mentions only one side of the equation – a diet change for animals, and omits any reference to mortal mankind (not us immortal saints)! Go figure!

Above, I noted a possible major challenge mankind may have had in their efforts to obey God’s Genesis 1 dietary instructions. At least it would be a MAJOR challenge for us today. From the Biblical story of Cain and Abel, we learn that God had evidently communicated His requirement for blood sacrifice as sin offerings. (Can you perceive where I’m going?) This was pending the arrival, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as God’s final solution to the sin problem. [When we accept Jesus Christ as our personal savior, we embrace His death and new life resurrection as being our substitute.] Well, Abel not only ‘got the memo’, but he also followed God’s instructions. Cain didn’t. He got mad when God rejected his paltry sacrifice, then in a jealous rage, he killed his brother, Abel. Since their dad, Adam, lived 930 years, he undoubtedly shared with his rapidly growing family (all mankind!) the details of mankind’s first physical death experience, and also about his and Eve’s experiences walking/talking with God in the very real Garden of Eden. Thus, for well over our first thousand years on earth, it is reasonable to conclude mankind well knew about blood sacrifices. From the Mosaic laws, we learn that God appreciated the ‘soothing/sweet aroma’ (Genesis 8:21, Exodus 29:18, 25,41, Psalm 66:, etc., etc.) of burnt offerings, including animal offerings. Since plants and trees don’t bleed (!), this means our vegetarian predecessors in the first millennium, who made animal sacrifices, also smelled the aroma of barbequed meat! (Yum~) Like me, does that smell make you just salivate, big time?! Yes, we are used to eating meat. They were not. Do you think the smell of barbeque had a different effect on them, back then, compared to us, today?? Hence I say ‘possible major challenge’ – smelling, but prohibited from eating barbeque!

Since Christ’s sacrifice put an end to blood sacrifices for sin, some might speculate there might  be no need for such. Consider this: If there might be no salvation as we know it in The Millennial Reign age, there could be a role for animal sacrifices, especially for many mortal Jews strewn across a much bigger nation of Israel. (See: Salvation in The Millennium (Series)) Also, The Temple in Ezekiel's vision clearly indicates sacrificial rituals will be happening during this age. Whether non-blood sacrifices/offerings will be required is open to speculation. Ezekiel's vision should put an end to questions about whether there will be a THIRD Jewish temple, and if so, whether the practice of animal sacrifices will be reinstated.

   

Millennial Parallelism #3:

Creation Diets Restored

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* There may be other reasons for expanding human diets to include meat. For example, what if the global flood significantly diminished (washed away) soil nutrients such that the original diet would be nutrient diminished?  

Millennial Parallelisms (#2)

See the series here

Continuing to explore perceived parallelisms between mankind’s first and final millennia on Earth (types and anti-types), reflect on this fact. Though the earth was likely ‘filled with the knowledge of God’, in part as a result of Adam’s presence for 930 years on Earth; and though he undoubtedly shared about his and Eve’s direct Garden of Eden experiences walking/talking with God, mankind still corrupted themselves, with lots of help from fallen angels (now demons). Apparently, knowing about God has little or no effect on our decision whether to pursue/follow after Him. Demons know well about Him, yet they rebelled! You also know about Him…

Sadly, even with such expansive knowledge, mankind’s corruption occurred exponentially (as the population slowly grew), starting and remaining low for a long time, as exponential functions work, then SHAZAM!!! The exponential soaring of sins on Earth metaphorically ‘reached Heaven!’ God’s response? Send a second savior after His Day of rest was over -- a ‘Christ-type’, whose name was Noah. ² Similarly, even with the direct, frontal presence of Jesus Christ as ‘King of All the Earth’ during our (possible) final millennium, it is possible/likely that the mortals who will be born during that age to survivors of the great tribulation judgments may experience exponential corruption, starting and remain low for a long time, then SHAZAM!!! ³ Why/how? Consider this: God informed John in Revelation 20:1-3, and 7

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. 

(Oh oh, watch out!)

This, my Friend, may be the results of frustrations and tensions that may have built up during The Millennial Reign, under The Lord's strict 'iron rod' global rule. Zechariah 14:16-19 gives us a hint that, even though all devils will be locked away during that time, and Jesus will be present with all His governing saints, people will still be inclined to sin, just as we are now! They will also become long livers, and will have plenty of time to learn well and possibly even perfect 'how to sin', just as we do, though they will be severely constrained to do so. The combination of these factors suggests to me a potential pattern of exponential corruption, repeating mankind's experience in our first millennium.  The cumulative effect of the pent-up frustrations will become apparent very quickly during very short post-Millennial Reign age when people will be greatly aided by devils released from their lengthy prison sentence. (Revelation 20:7-10)

This potential scenario suggests that all The Lord's saints from the first four ages of history, then immortal and glorified, will have our ‘work cut out for us!', as we will be tasked with facilitating the execution of Christ’s thousand year ‘iron scepter reign' over mortals who survive the tribulation judgments, and their offspring born during this thousand year period. (Psalm 2:9, Revelation 2:27, 12:5, 19:15, Isaiah 11:1,4) Increasing numbers of sin-prone people on the Earth may require increasingly stronger ‘iron rod’ responses from us saints, The Lord's ‘governing and priestly corps’ (Revelation 1:5-6, 5:10, 19:16, 1 Peter 2:9), located both in the New Jerusalem and also scattered across the Gentile world.

Given human history, I suspect some of these sins may reflect growing unease and displeasure with a monarchy, a form of government that is neither popular in our current day, nor do I believe it will be ever again in our (pre-Tribulation) history! 

Can you imagine living in/under a monarchy??

I can, but under only ONE.

So it seems as if our first millennium history will likely repeat itself, at least in the ‘corruption arena!’ Stay tuned as I explore other possible parallelisms (types and anti-types) between our first and final millennia on earth.

Millennial Parallelism #2: 

Corruption Tensions Growing Exponentially on Earth

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¹  Whether The Millennial Reign age will be our final millennium on this current Earthdepends upon the length of the 'little while' duration of the post-Millennial Reign age, noted in Revelation 20:3

² Adam is widely believed to be the first Christ-type.

³ For some background on mortals in the final millennium, see the post, Ready for Things Millennial? (http://jwootenjr.blogspot.com/2016/03/ready-for-things-millennial.html)

A Nation’s Greatest National Resource?

‘What is a nation’s greatest national resource?’

A voice posed this question to me in a recent dream. My mind immediately flagged its natural resources (including water sources and types), its people and its climate. Other people in the dream concluded the same. Afterward, I was given a ‘higher’ answer, one I would not have normally classified as a ‘national resource’.

The word, ‘resource’, is defined as ‘a source of supply, support, or aid, especially one that can be readily drawn upon when needed’. I summarize this as ‘a readily available supply source that supports and aids’. Given this, it stands to reason that the ‘greatest’ things that meet this requirement might well be renewable resources. Any non-renewable resource that has a fixed quantity or life (e.g., Saudi oil fields) might eventually be trumped by a renewable resource, at least in terms of life span and, in some cases, possibly value.

Components of the word are ‘re’, which means again, back or repetitive, and the word ‘source’, which means origin or anything or place from which something comes, arises, or is obtained. Hence re-source suggests repetitive returning to a source or origin.

Our world is replete with nations that are well endowed with natural resources, many people and good climate, but these ‘resources’ may not necessarily be ‘supply sources that support or aid’, either due to lack of requisite investments, access, poor governance systems, corruption, etc. Hence, that which, on the surface, appears to be its greatest national resource, may not be effectively ‘resourceful’ in aiding.

This prompts the question whether there may be resources that trump such natural resources, i.e., greater renewables that effectively fit the definitions above. A nation’s greatest national resource must be the renewable one to which it holds fast, is resourcefully accessed, and that literally trumps all of its other resources, natural or otherwise. Given the vast array of socio-economic issues that impact resourcefulness, I honestly know of NO natural resource that meets this qualification. The answer to the original question, therefore, must point to something much higher than ‘natural’. It must point to something ‘spiritual’, something intangible. Some nations may cite their culture(s), their history, or possibly their ‘can do’ outlook on any challenge that comes.

The answer given to me in the dream is the favor of our Creator, generally understood as His Grace. I would have never classified this as a ‘great national resource’, ever, so this answer caused me to think more deeply. In God’s great love, He freely extends to all persons, peoples….and nations, His unlimited, unmerited, renewable, and seemingly inexhaustible Grace.* This ‘resource’ fits the above definition in that, in so many ways, it trumps all other would-be resources. Why/how? Well, it is without cost in our highly cost-conscious world, and accessing it requires no complex structural or organizational hoops through which to jump. Grace to a nation is ‘there for the asking….and for appreciating both it and the Giver’.

One line in the song, America the Beautiful, captures this concept: America! America! God shed His Grace on thee. Though mired in their own personal sins, and partaking in America’s national sins (such as land theft, slavery, rebellion, etc.), founders of the colonies and country reportedly ‘asked’ for God’s Grace, and He bountifully responded! And for a L-O-N-G time, we as a people generally held onto this request, and benefited accordingly. Other nations may have similar histories.

God is the GREATEST of all things, natural or spiritual, and His greatness is extended earthward in the form of Grace favor. If/as nations recognize and embrace this Truth, issues related to things ‘natural’ will become more resourceful. When nations refuse to recognize and return to this, the ‘origin’ of all things resourceful, and prioritize things natural over things spiritual, then no amount of natural resources will eventually satisfy or matter. Why?

God calls returning to/recognizing Him – Righteousnes

He calls unrighteousness – Sin

Further, He backs this up by saying, ‘Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach (shame) to any people. (Proverbs 14:34) Mistaking ‘natural resources’ as true ‘national resources’ that tightly fit the above definition, while skipping over ‘The Source/Origin’ is any nation’s downfall.

A nations greatest national resource

must necessarily be God’s Grace Favor!

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* I say 'seemingly inexhaustible' because Grace is extended for such lengthy periods relative to human life spans. Beware! Don't be fooled, God's Grade does have an 'expiration date' if Grace never results in genuine repentance!!! (See: Jeremiah 9:23-24)

Millennial Parallelisms (#1)

See the series here

I straight up asked God, ‘What did You do during the 7^th Day after creation?’ This is what He revealed to me in my spirit.

I rested, respected and carefully reviewed the unfolding of My delegated authority to mankind for a millennium – The Day of My Rest. Immediately following this first millennium, I dispatched a savior with My message for mankind. This is Noah, who is a ‘Christ-type’.

Guess what! I wonder whether this reply may offer some insights on a pattern, which He may similarly apply during His next/pending ‘rest’. How? Consider what I perceive as a few, pivotal ‘millennial parallelisms’. Herein I discuss #1. (See other posts in this series.)

During the initial 6 days of creation (or possibly 6,000 years if Psalm 90:4 is both literal and figurative), God, in the visible person of Jesus Christ (per Hebrews 1, Colossians 1, John 8:58), (re)established Light (which I believe is God’s ‘I AM’ presence) and order across His physical universe. This seems to have occurred following the downfall and excommunication from Heaven of satan and his crew. (Luke 10:18, Isaiah 14:12-15) There, Lucifer had been appointed to an exulted position, possibly in charge of Heaven’s musical worship team. (Ezekiel 28:13-15) His downfall stained Heaven’s utensils of worship (Hebrews 9:23), and apparently darkened all of creation. This crew landed on Earth well before Adam was created (Revelation 12:9, Ecclesiastes 28:13), and succeeded in corrupting mankind through Adam’s sin. Jesus had created Adam in His own personal image (unlike with angels), and had delegated to him and his kind, authority and power to serve as lords over the (refreshed) earth. Then He rested on the 7^th Day, which I believe was mankind’s first millennium, the pre-flood age.

Note, Jesus had strategically told Adam he would die ‘in the Day’ in which he disobeyed (sinned) by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Pay attention to the unique wording of Genesis 2:17) Well, immediately after Adam sinned, the ‘dying/death’ process kicked in –- spiritually via separation from God/Jesus, soul-wise via soul wrenching mental distress, anguish, fear, doubts, etc., and eventually physically via physical death. Consider this: 

When did Adam die?

While he physically lived for 930 years (Genesis 5:5), in the light of Psalm 90:4, Adam physically died within (inside of) mankind’s first ‘Day’ on earth, having physically lived 93% of the first millennium! Ever thought of that?

Here’s a revelation: With Adam’s physical presence on Earth for 930 years, no doubt directly sharing his and Eve’s very real Garden of Eve experiences with a small, but growing human population, it is no stretch to perceive the Earth was indeed ‘filled with the knowledge of The Lord’ for at least a thousand years, though mankind's sinfulness steadily increased, especially towards the end of our first 'Day'. Genesis 6:1-3 explains a key reason why.

This I see as the first parallelism between the 7^th Day of creation (our first millennium) and the promised/pending Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ, during which knowledge of God will literally fill the Earth for 1,000 years because all the world will know Jesus as God on Earth, not as a Christ-type, as Adam also was. (See: wOw! Earth Filled... (Series and also Human History Ages (Series))

Millennial Parallelism #1:

Earth, Filled with Knowledge of The Lord

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NB: Whether The Millennial Reign age will be our final millennium

on this current Earthdepends upon the length of the 'little while' duration 

of the post-Millennial Reign age, noted in Revelation 20:3

When Lions Ate Straw

“J!,

Lions don’t eat straw!

They eat red meat, fool!

With those canines in their jaw,

What a mean, meat eating tool!”

Oh really? Do you know there are some current day stories of lions that refuse to eat meat, but gobble up veggies and grains? ¹

The Bible reveals, originally, no animal nor mankind was carnivorous (meat eating), but ate every seed yielding herb and of every tree whose fruit yields seed… and ‘it was so.’ (Genesis 1:29-30) (Straw is dried herb. Now who’s the fool?)  Still sounds illogical that we were all initially vegetarians?? Consider this. Imagine Noah and his family, the only human survivors of the worldwide flood, locked in the ark for 150 days with hundreds of meat eating animals! Now imagine the amount of food (fruits, veggies and…other animals!) he would have had to import to feed, not only that crew, but also his own family for that long! The Bible further reveals only after the flood did God instruct/allow mankind (and presumably animals, too) to eat meat. In Genesis 9:3, He said, ‘Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things [to eat], even as [I gave you] the green herbs [to eat].’ Now since there were only a pair (male/female) of each ‘unclean’ animal that survived the flood, and at least a similar pair of ‘clean’ animals who survived Noah’s post-flood sacrifices, it must have taken quite some time before the animals could repopulate earth, and before Noah and his growing family could enjoy their first savory meal with meat. (Yummy!) ² 

Could it be that, in killing animals for food,

mankind may have, in some manner,

‘taught’ animals to do likewise?!

As discussed in another post (Life Span – How Long?), I note my curiosity about whether this change in diet policy on Earth may have been one instrument to implement God’s stated intention to shorten the (then) life span of (always sinful) mankind from several hundreds of years to ~120 years. (Genesis 6:3) ³ Take some time to compare pre- and post-flood life spans! Moreover, consider this. On multiple occasions in the Old Testament, God identifies His most severe means of judgments/punishments for persistent/gross sins: the sword, famine, wild beasts and pestilence. ⁴ Well, in order for wild beasts to be included in this ‘God quiver’, they would have had to develop a taste for blood, including human blood!

Imagine all of this in their future,

as these vegetarians (human and animal)

were released from the ark!

Friend, as you might suppose, I am not talking about the Garden of Eden – no, not at all. (There were no babies or children there!) I am talking about the first millennium of mankind’s existence on planet earth! Correction: the initial 1,656 years. Why? Noah was reportedly not born until after the first millennium (1056 BC), and the flood reportedly occurred in 1656 BC, so he was a young 600 years old when he, his family and all those vegetarian animals entered the ark. (Genesis 7:6) Allowing time for humans and animals to repopulate the earth, it may have been somewhere near the end of our second millennium on earth before we and many of the animals became carnivores.

Difficult/impossible to imagine? Well, please consider this: People in Noah’s day similarly found it impossible, even ludicrous to imagine something as far fetched as a flood that would destroy all life on the planet! And they paid with their lives for their dis-belief.

Enough of history! The good news is about their (and our) future. God revealed to Isaiah that, once again, for a thousand years, ‘the lion shall eat straw like the ox’. (Isaiah 65:25) More interesting is the broader context within which this shall happen.

Can you imagine a purpose for lambs other than for food,

and for snakes, other than fleeing from or killing them?!

What about fish? Imagine an ocean swim or forest walk

 with no concern of being attacked by any creature;

lions, wolves, leopards, cows, bears, goats and lambs 

together, eating, not each other, but fresh/dried grass and/or tree products;

and children & babies innocently playing near asps and cobras!

Now it’s your turn…to believe or dis-believe what God predicts in His Word, The Bible. If you choose to dis-believe, you will be risking not only the duration and quality of your natural life, but your eternal life as well.

Throughout The Bible, God reiterates a few insights here and there about mankind’s final millennia, when Earth will, once again, be filled with the knowledge of/about Him. Why once again? Millennial Parallelisms (Series) discusses the fascinating topic of some parallelisms between the first and last millennia. 

NB: The Millennial Reign of Christ with us holy saints will not be the final millennia, because the Bible clearly predicts what will be happening on Earth after The Millennial Reign! Read about it in Revelation 20. 

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¹ Search Google and YouTube

² Genesis 7:2 and 8:20 reveals there were more ‘clean’ animals in the ark than ‘unclean’ animals, presumably for use in post-flood sacrifices.
³ There may be other reasons for expanding human diets to include meat. For example, what if the global flood significantly diminished (washed away) soil nutrients such that the original diet would be nutrient diminished?  

⁴ Iterated multiple times across the pages of the Old Testament, and summarized most succinctly in Ezekiel 14:12-23). It is also insightful how God depicts world hegemon governments as being like beasts! (See: Daniel 8. The USA is the current global hegemon government, and China is the wanna be hegemon.)