The Messianic Feast

 

The rapture will cap baptism of fire. Because the saints had honored and glorified God before the eyes of men, so now Divine Justice will honor and glorify them. The Prince of Shalom will serve them and satiate their hunger and thirst (John 16:23). He will melt and vanish their hurts and grief and difficulties, and replace them with wholeness and fullness.

²⁷ The Son of Man… will reward each person according to what he has done. MATTHEW 16

⁶ On this mountain [of Zion] the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines. ⁷ On this mountain He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; ⁸ He will swallow up Death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken. ISAIAH 25

³⁷ It will be good for those servants whose Master finds them watching when He comes. I tell you the truth, He will dress Himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. LUKE 12

²⁶ The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of His people and heals the wounds He inflicted. ISAIAH 30

⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. REVELATION 21

²⁴ No one living in Zion will say, “I am ill”; and the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven. ISAIAH 33

Resurrection Body

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50). This is why at the rapture, in the twinkling of an eye (which is about 1/50^th of a second), those rising to the clouds will be given a new body to wear—the resurrection body.

² When He appears, we shall be like Him. 1 JOHN 3

²¹ When He comes back He will take these dying bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like His own, using the same mighty power that He will use to conquer all else everywhere. PHILIPPIANS 3 tlb

³ We will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. 2 CORINTHIANS 5 nlt

³ Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. DANIEL 12

⁴³ The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. MATTHEW 13

The resurrection body will be similar to the earthly body. It can think, speak, move, walk, reach... It can get hungry and thirsty. It will be tangible, seen and touched and embraced. It will come at the prime of youth and will stay young throughout eternity. It will be Spirit-empowered (1 Corinthians 15:43) and not grow weary (2 Corinthians 5:2). It can move and disappear at super-quick speed (Luke 24:31) and go through solid matter (John 20:19).

⁵² We will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will all be changed. ⁵³ For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. ⁵⁴ …Then the saying that is written will come true: Death has been swallowed up in victory… ⁴² So it will be at the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable; it is raised imperishable. ⁴³ It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. ⁴⁴ It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body… ⁴⁹ And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the Man from heaven. 1 CORINTHIANS 15

The New Jerusalem

¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” ⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” ⁹ One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰ And he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. ¹¹ It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. ¹² It had a great, high wall with twelve gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Isra’el. ¹³ There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south and three gates on the west. ¹⁴ The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. ¹⁵ The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. ¹⁶ The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and as high as it is long. ¹⁷ He measured its walls and it was 144 cubits thick, by man’s measurement, which the angel was using. ¹⁸ The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. ¹⁹ The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. ²¹ The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass. ²² I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. ²⁴ The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. ²⁵ On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. ²⁶ The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. REVELATION 21

¹ Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. ³ No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him. ⁴ They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign forever and ever. REVELATION 22

Full Restoration of Dominion

The saints will be restored as co-rulers of God over all creation. They will rule for 1,000 spiritual years (Revelation 20:6).

²⁷ Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey Him. DANIEL 7

³ I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. ⁴ You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery. PSALM 2

⁴ I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Y’shua and because of the Word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with the Messiah a thousand years… ⁶ Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The Second Death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of the Messiah and will reign with Him for a thousand years. REVELATION 20

¹¹ If we died with Him, we will also live with Him; ¹² If we endure, we will also reign with Him. 2 TIMOTHY 2

The Second Resurrection

First resurrection in Revelation 20:6 is not the first resurrection en masse in the Scripture. Matthew 27:50-54 speaks of a resurrection en masse of the Old Testament saints.  

⁵⁰ And when Y’shua had cried out again in a loud voice, He gave up His spirit. ⁵¹ At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. ⁵² The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. ⁵³ They came out of the tombs, and after Y’shua’s resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. ⁵⁴ When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Y’shua saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely He was the Son of God.” MATTHEW 27

It is not even the first resurrection of the New Testament saints. Revelation 11:1-12 speaks of two NT saints resurrecting beforehand.  

It is the first resurrection en masse of the NT saints.

Revelation 20:5 says, “The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.”Now who would resurrect in the second? Who else but the souls condemned to the Second Death!

In a subtle way Y’shua hinted it: “I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid [what is due to] the last penny” (Matthew 5:26).

1 Peter 3:19-20 also hinted it when it said the Son of Man preached to the spirits imprisoned in Sheol, to the disobedient souls in the days of Noah. He preached to them because their situation was not totally helpless. 1 Peter 4:6 says, “The Gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.”

¹⁶ I will not accuse forever, nor will I always be angry. ISAIAH 57

What scenario are we looking at? Those who evaded their baptism of fire on earth will have their baptism of fire in hell.

¹⁹ I rebuke and punish [discipline] all whom I love. Be in earnest, then, and turn from your sins! REVELATION 3 tev

¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes. REVELATION 22

Which brings us to our next point: God continues to be a God of second chances—full of love and grace—even after the Judgment. No unregenerate soul will be terminated. Rather it will be disciplined, for re-integration with the disciplined. It is not true that “there is no more forgiveness, no more mercy, just strict justice after the Judgment.” Bishop Levi says forever and ever should not be understood as unending, infinite or eternal. It should be understood in the Aramaic concept of eon, a duration of time that is very long but with definite end. No unregenerate soul will burn in hell forever. God will extend reconciliation and restoration to it. “I, when lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself” said Y’shua in John 12:32. All men will be drawn except those who blasphemed the Holy Spirit or committed a deliberate sin.

Baptism of fire for 1,000 years? It’s a pity because life on earth is shorter. Isaiah 10:17 says, “The Light of Isra’el will become a fire, their Holy One a flame; in a single day it will burn and consume His thorns and His briers.” To God “a day is like a thousand years” (2 Peter 3:8). Burn in a single day could mean burning for 354 million earth years (1,000 earth years x 354 lunar days per year x 1,000 godly years). That by any measure would seem like forever or eternal.

The 1,000 years may appear to be a form of punishment but it is not. In God’s calculation, it is the time required for the impure to be pure. Doing detoxification in hell will not be easy. Lucifer and his demonic forces will block the effort. The environment will be brutally harsh and uncooperative. No Holy Spirit or angels or coworkers of God will be around to help. Just as the sick who is under agony and pain finds it difficult to focus and pray, the impure will find it likewise difficult to focus and pray. The 1,000 years are actually a grace, another unmerited favor from God.

Given the scenario of the second resurrection, we come to the conclusion that life is a journey that begins in the kingdom of God and goes back to it. The journey has two routes: the short and the long. It’s up to us to choose which route to take.

Trumpet Call

God is no different to the doctor who would rather see his patients healthy and full of vitality. He prefers that we do Daniel 9:24 without further ado.

²⁴ Seventy sevens are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy. DANIEL 9

² I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor. 2 CORINTHIANS 6

The Judgment is overdue and the seventieth seven nearly over.

⁶ Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal Gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. ⁷ He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His Judgment has come. Worship Him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” REVELATION 14

That you are reading the Gospel in its pure form is an affirmation that the end of days is at hand.

¹⁴ This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached throughout the world as a testimony for all peoples to behold; and then the end will come. MATTHEW 24

The Seventh Plague (Revelation 16:17-21) could be released any moment now.

⁷ Do not delay your return to the Lord, do not put it off day after day; for suddenly the Lord’s wrath will blaze out, and at the time of vengeance you will be utterly destroyed. ECCLESIASTICUS 5

¹¹ The Lord is merciful, but He can also become angry. He can be overwhelming in His forgiveness or in His anger. ¹² His punishment is as severe as His mercy is great. SIRACH 16

Do not procrastinate. Jose Rizal said, “Do not put off to tomorrow what you can do today.”

²⁷ Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment. HEBREWS 9

² Today is the day of salvation. 2 CORINTHIANS 6 nlt

Your neighbors live as if they will never die and die as if they never lived. Do not imitate them.

² Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 1 THESSALONIANS 5

³² No one knows when that day or hour will come—neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son; only the Father knows. MARK 13 tev

³ You will not know at what time I will come to you. REVELATION 3

³⁹ But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰ You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him. LUKE 12

³⁶ If He comes suddenly, do not let Him find you sleeping. ³⁷ What I say to you, I say to everyone: Watch! MARK 13

Y’shua said in the Oxyrhynchus Gospels: “He who is far from you will draw near tomorrow.” (Wikipedia)

³⁴ Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. ³⁵ For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶ Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man. LUKE 22

¹³ He who stands firm to the end will be saved. MATTHEW 24

Let us be wise. Today is not forever.