Old Testament Silence - Saints Like Angels? (Q&A)

See the Bible Q&A series here

Q. Where did Jesus get the info that we saints will be like angels? None of the current cannon books address this point.

 

A. First, in Isaiah 28:10 & 13, Jesus reveals to us, for the FIRST time, His strategy in releasing knowledge, wisdom and understanding to humanity. He has been doing this since Adam and Eve, in both the spiritual AND physical realms. Remember how Einstein reportedly received most or all of his ‘brilliant’ insights?? Remember, Colossians 2-3? Thus, I conclude ALL/EVERYTHING mankind has ever, and will ever learn, COMES FROM JESUS, The Lord God! 

 

Second, In Daniel 12:3, an angel gives us a hint, a signal, that we, The Lord’s righteous saints, will effectively, be shining LIKE THEM – i.e., like The Lord showed Himself, His Glory on the mount of transfiguration. John later confirms this in 1 John 3:2.

 

Third, Zechariah 12:8 states David, then in his immortal state, will be LIKE AN ANGEL as he rules over all post-apocalyptic Jews in the greatly expanded Israel during The Millennial Reign age.

 

Ergo, what Jesus correctly said in Matthew 22:30, and confirmed in Mark 12:25, was ‘seeded’ in OT prophecies. I imagine some folks will read these verses and erroneously conclude, ‘WE WILL BE ANGELS!!!’. Such folks might either conveniently forget, or not be aware that, as we understand it, Jesus NEVER invites/invited any angel to do what He invites us to do in Ephesians 2:6 and Revelation 3:21! For more on this point, see: Lost Angels Not for Like-Angels, in which I address the question, In what ways will we be LIKE versus UNLIKE angels?

 

Finally, I suspect most Christians may be unaware of a significant error in the literal translation of Psalm 8:5, one The Lord apparently allowed. Most translations say humans were created below angels. (See: Ye Are gods! (Series)) It’s so very sad that, though we were created ‘a little lower than God, Himself’ (see: Young’s Literal Translation), folks bow to, serve, and ACT LIKE devils and demons, thus worshiping them as false gods! That explains ALL the wickedness and deep corruption across the entire Earth. As a result, The Lord promises, in Revelation 20, such folks will receive the same, exact, eternal judgment He has reserved for all devils and demons — disgraced former angels who, long ago, rebelled against Him. Both of these groups, as immortal beings, will be cast into a lake of fire that burns eternally with brimstone, likely somewhere on the new Earth The Lord promised to create. (See: The Lake of Fire: A Preview (Series) and Earth’s Next Versions (Series)) And guess who Revelation 19 predicts will be the FIRST two, immortal humans to be cast therein, well over a thousand years before all devils and sinful humans who served them in this life?!

Old Testament Silence - The Origin of Devils? (Q&A)

See the Bible Q&A series here

Q. Nowhere does the current cannon really touch on the origin of unclean spirits. Only the removed books speak about it. Very interesting to see that.

 

A. Actually, this is incorrect. The Lord’s ‘embedded prophecy’ in Isaiah 14:12-17, clearly explains where Lucifer/satan came from. Jesus later confirmed this point in Luke 10:18. Ezekiel 28:11-19 is another 'embedded' OT prophecy that explains the origin of Lucifer/satan. And in Revelation 20, The Lord finally reveals where and when satan’s entire kingdom of devils, demons AND sinful humans will end up. 

These (and possibly other) OT prophecies about a human leader or other matter, ‘embed’ references to spiritual matters. In reading them, the core, strategic decision the reader must intuitively make, is, at which verse in such prophecies, does The Lord RETURN to addressing  the human man? I have long studied and prayed about this point. (See: Lake of Fire: Is THIS the Man?! (Poem))

Mid-ages Musings (Part 6)

See the Mid-ages Musings Series here

See the Human History Ages Series here

 

Based on Biblical prophecies, I started this series with only 2 posts about human history soon reaching its mid-point (the end of our 3^rd/current age) on this current version of Earth. While concluding the 2^nd post, The Lord reminded me ...the real mid-point, time-wise, has already passed! This is because The Bible is very clear that the remaining 3, promised ages of humanity, will be starkly short!!!

 

Beyond these 6 ages, The Bible predicts and promises a 7^th, eternal age, on a new, eternal Earth. By my math, 7 ages signifies 6 ages transitions events. The Bible verifies the first 2 such transitions were some form of global judgments, namely the global flood, and the crucifixion of Jesus, representing Father God’s global judgment and forgiveness of sins for whosoever would embrace His plan of salvation.  Armed with insights about the likely future global, ages transition judgments, I was interested to know and perceive their indicative ‘ramping-up precursors’. Voila! This series was suddenly, significantly expanded!

 

Let’s consider the predicted 6^th (final) ages transition briefly noted in The Bible, about which Revelation 20 only includes 9 verses.

6^th-to-7^th Ages (post-Millennial Reign age, to eternal age)

This ages transition will begin sometime after satan’s kingdom is, once again, released on Earth, after a thousand years of being locked away in a bottomless pit. Devils will well know their time is short to deceive and tempt humans to join their rebellion against The Lord God. Ezekiel 28:11-16 signifies when and how their rebellion began. This insightful passage is embedded in a prophecy about an ancient king of Tyre.

1. Humanity’s ‘cup of iniquity overspilling its rim’

Knowing their time is short, devils will, no doubt, be aggressive in using this declared ‘little while’ age to their best advantage. If people’s angst against monarchal rule will have greatly increased toward the end of The Millennial Reign age (see Part 5), then devils will find ways to light that and other sinful fuses. Towards the end of each preceding age, history will have confirmed that people increasingly cast of all restraints, resulting in exploding sinfulness across the world, just as we see in our day! Moreover, The Bible predicts there will have been no warfare, and signifies there will be no military industrial complexes on Earth during previous age. But this won’t stop people from plotting ways to conquer the MASSIVE WEALTH that will have accumulated in Jerusalem and across Israel during The Lord’s global reign. Thus, the stage will be quickly set for folks’ ‘cup of iniquity to begin spilling its rim’!

2. Righteousness on Earth figuratively ‘hanging by a thread’

The predicted presence of Christian saints in Jerusalem, signifies there will indeed be Godly righteousness on Earth. The lack of references to them being elsewhere, might signify their very limited presence and numbers. No doubt, with the (then) absence of The Lord, His saints, and His angels on Earth, these saints will know their situation is precarious! Hopefully, they will also know the Revelation 20 prophecy, and will be well-prepared to withstand (get this...) their first EVER encounters with devils! If not, the implied limited righteousness on Earth ...might quickly diminish!

 

For more of my perspective on these post-Millennial Reign age saints, see: Salvation in The Millennium (Series).

3. Certain precursors (pre-conditions) reaching their fullness

The only clear precursors for the pending, final global judgment (The Great White Throne Judgment) might be the crescendo of greed, leading to preparations for the 2^nd Gog and Magog attack in Israel – the final attempted war in history, likely planned to capture the wealth noted above. Just as with the first Gog and Magog attack in Israel, the wealth there will be the temptation that sparks the attack. Recall how The Lord used wealth in Jerusalem to entice the Babylon army to invade ancient Judah, as His judgment on folks’ gross sinfulness? 

Perhaps you might conceive of other precursors, considering how devils initiated and sustained their game on humans during the first 3 ages of history. By this final age, with so much experience dealing with us, they will no doubt be extremely wise, highly strategic, and devilishly tactical in how they use their remaining …‘little while’!

4. Silence from Heaven (dreaded or welcomed!)

My best guess is that Heaven might be silent during the entire 6^th age of history, perhaps preparing …for the final global judgment, and especially for ‘welcoming home’ the final contingent of saints who will have missed all earlier resurrection and rapture events. ¹ (See: Bible Raptures - Types and Timings (Series))

 

Conclusion

 

In this in-depth series, I hope you will perceive and more clearly understand The Lord’s rich history in allowing things He cares about to reach their bitter ends, before He unleashes His promised judgments. That’s the effect of His Grace and long-suffering toward mankind. (See: Jeremiah 9:23-24 and Ezekiel 14:12-23) This effect is evident in our individual lives, families, cities, states/provinces, and nations. In this series, we see it also applies globally! As these scenarios unfold, He may allow significant collateral damages as well as various Goshen-effect type protections for HiS bona fide saints. His long-term Grace, and its related collateral damages and protective effects, will likely continue to be apparent in His remaining 4, promised, age-transitioning, global judgments!

 

Friends, If you value the insights in this topical series (and this blog, in general), please help to share them widely, and thereby become one of The Lord’s …warning watchmen on the wall. 

We know scientists have long been pondering the duration of humanity on Earth. As a result, governments and private sector entities have been spending feverishly, to identify and hopefully prepare to relocate a remnant of mankind elsewhere in the universe! 

My, my, if only they knew and believed... ²

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¹ The Bible strategically uncloaks The Lord’s multi-millennial strategy for humanity, comprising 7 ages: (1) pre-flood, (2) post-flood/pre-cross, (3) post-cross (Church Age), (4) tribulation/great tribulation, (5) Millennial Reign, (6) post-Millennial Reign, and (7) eternity. During each age, possibly except the 5^th, He is ‘harvesting’ a small remnant of humans as saints, to whom He will show everlasting Grace'. Please see: Historical Countdown - 7 Biblical Ages of Human History (w/Video).

² For a scientific perspective on the possible mid-point of human history, see: How Much Time Does Humanity Have Left?

Mid-ages Musings (Part 5)

See the Mid-ages Musings Series here

See the Human History Ages Series here

Throughout history, and life, in general, the beginnings of significantly impactful events, are always much more attention-grabbing than their conclusions. That’s just how life is designed. The Bible has quite a lot to say about The Millennial Reign of Jesus, especially the slow run-up to this history-shifting event, its final arrival, and what it will entail. Interestingly, only one thing is included about just after it ends, i.e., that satan (presumably meaning his entire kingdom of devils) will once again be released on Earth, after being locked away in a bottomless pit for a thousand years. Ergo, we can only speculate how/whether The Lord’s apparent 4-point ages transition pattern might or might not apply to the ramp-up to the apparent, global, ages-transition judgment that will usher in the final age, the post-Millennial Reign age. I regard the release of satan’s kingdom back on Earth, as that global judgement. (Revelation 20:1-3).

Following is what I speculate about how that pattern might apply.

5^th-to-6^th Ages (Millennial Reign age, to post-Millennial Reign age)

1. Humanity’s ‘cup of iniquity overspilling its rim’

In the middle of the 2nd and 3rd ages of history, there were massive rebellions against long periods of monarchal rule across the world! These rebellions resulted in the fall of many monarchs. One such revolt led to the American Revolution. From a spiritual perspective, these were rebellions against the (then), God-sanctioned mode for human governance. As you ponder whether allowing the results of these rebellions may have been His ‘direct will’, versus His ’permissive will’, please take a moment to consider this insightful perspective…

The Lord will re-institute this exact form of governance

across the entire world during His Millennial Reign!

Imagine that… 

We humans reject everything He desires! We readily embrace sinfulness and wickedness. He wholeheartedly and steadfastly rejects such, in favor of His definition of 'righteousness'. What a sad testimonial of us. Given this human proclivity, I speculate the closing centuries or decades of His Millennial Reign, could potentially be the 2nd time people …physically reject Jesus! Imagine that!!! Jews across ancient Judah violently rejected Him for claiming to BE ‘The Son of God’. Folks born late in The Millennial Reign age will not have experienced the apocalypse, and many might even become ‘apocalypse deniers’, similar to today’s holocaust deniers. Might many in those generations reject Jesus, their global KING, for actually demonstrating He IS The Son of God, appointed and anointed by Father God to be The Lord God, Almighty?! If so, that would be a major case of ...‘history repeating itself’!

Consider this:

a. In Psalm 2, David, the second king of ancient Israel, prophesied about The Lord ruling the nations with a rod of iron. 

b. The Book of Revelation thrice affirms Jesus will, indeed, rule the world with a rod of iron (i.e., His Word), so no one who disobeys, will escape His judgment, possibly to be administered across the Gentile world ...by us, His then immortal, glowing, Gentile saints!

c. Historically, iron-fisted governments end with massive rebellions by the oppressed multitudes! Could such happen with The Lord God and all His saints on Earth, literally GLOWING, and demonstrating our unlimited powers, powers that might possibly constrained …by Grace?? Here's the basis for my question.

In Exodus 33:18-23, Moses worked up the nerve to ask The Lord, ‘Please, show me Your GLORY.’ The Lord agreed, and later did so, while proclaiming/heralding His Name and Character before Moses: [On that mountain, there was no one to ‘herald’ Him, so He did it Himself!]

 

The Lord, The Lord God,

merciful and gracious, longsuffering,

and abounding in goodness and truth,

keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin,

by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers

upon the children, and the children’s children

to the third and the fourth generations.

[The latter 2 points were changed a few centuries later…]

This proclamation reflects His core Nature. Reluctant Judge that He is, I intuit even during His lengthy iron rod rule, He might be somewhat gracious and merciful, tolerant of mankind’s foibles and sins ...to some extent. Moreover, He knows ‘the end of our story’ -- eternity in either His glorified or damned zones on the new, eternal Earth. Thus, He is in no rush to judge us. So yeah, I can easily perceive how mankind’s ‘cup of iniquity’ might spill its rim towards the end of The Millennial Reign age. Can you??

2. Righteousness on Earth figuratively ‘hanging by a thread’

For a millennium, The Lord, all His saints, and all His angels, will enforce righteousness, globally. Even with all devils locked away, the human proclivity to sinful rebellion will very likely remain exceptionally strong, and might manifest more towards the close of this age. 

The love of money and wealth (raw greed) have always been satan’s choice temptation for folks to sin. Isaiah 60 gives us a hint of the massive amounts of wealth that will accumulate in Jerusalem, and across the greatly expanded Israel, during the Millennial Reign age. It will come from folks across the world, trying to curry The Lord’s favor for everything imaginable, and then some! Jerusalem, then the global capital, and seat of His Throne, will quickly and sustainably become the richest place on the planet!!! Imagine the jealousy, resentment and raw greed that might build-up, century upon century, even though this will be a golden age for every aspect of life on Earth!

Jeremiah 9:23-24 lay out The Lord’s 3-point strategy for dealing with us: long-term Grace, short-term Judgments, hopefully culminating in our Righteousness. Problem: our righteousness is typically short-lived, if it is achieved at all!! As the world careens toward the end of this current (3rd) age, there is growing evidence that The Lord's judgments seem to have no effect in prompting our repentance and desire for righteousness. Since pestilence is one of His chosen judgment instruments, consider how the Covid 19 pandemic ended with explosive criminality, as folks aggressively caught-up on their wickedness following the global shut down, and as previously-faithful Christians, LEFT THE FAITH, just as Paul twice predicted, and warned of increasing apostasy during the closing of this 3rd age! So we are right on schedule! 

So what might happen as (a) the apocalypse and the Armageddon War eventually become a faint memory, or are forgotten altogether, and (b) wealth continues to accumulate in Israel at a fast pace?! As folks lose their respect, awe and tolerance for monarchal rule, I suspect we Gentile saints, possibly assigned to rule over Gentile nations, could then ‘be in for a rough ride’ in our efforts to police and ensure righteousness on Earth! Imagine that... 

For more about righteousness on Earth in that age, see: Salvation in The Millennium (Series).

Ponder this: The Bible confirms The Lord will come with ALL His saints and ALL His angels (Zechariah 15:5, Matthew 25:31, and 1 Thessalonians 1:17). Perhaps strategically so, it does not say ALL shall remain here with Him throughout the thousand years! So might there be a phased transition of some of His saints and angels back to Heaven (i.e., possibly to the new, eternal Earth) as the close of the Millennial Reign approaches, and as righteousness across the world might steadily degrade?? Recall, The Lord left Earth some time after Adam and Eve sinned, as sinfulness began to spread.

3. Certain precursors (pre-conditions) reaching their fullness

The Bible’s two declared timelines of a full millennium, might well be the primary or only condition (precursor) to reach its fullness, signaling the end of that age. These two precursors are, for a thousand years, (a) Jesus will be on the Earth with all His saints and angels, and (b) all devils will be locked away. Period. Let me know if you are familiar with other Bible-based signals of the end of The Millennial Reign age, as distinguished from anything about the ‘little while’, post-Millennial Reign age.

4. Silence from Heaven (dreaded or welcomed!)

Logically, there cannot be silence from Heaven when all or most of Heaven is on the Earth. I intuit two possible scenarios in which there might be ‘silence from Heaven’ in the ramp-up to the release of satan’s kingdom back on Earth:

1. Either The Lord’s core graceful and merciful nature, noted above, might, for a time, tolerate growing of unrighteousness in the world (just as He is doing in our time), or

2. There might be an interim period of silence as and after The Lord, all His saints, and all His angels depart Earth preceding satan’s release. This could parallel the pause between Jesus’ 2nd ascension, and the arrival of The Holy Spirit on The Day of Pentecost, or the silence during Noah’s ark-building in Genesis 6:21–7:1. 

 

The Lord is strategically persistent,

and generally consistent!

 

See Part 6,

the conclusion of this rather unique series.