Where will the antichrist come from?

                      
                          Satan and the Antichrist
                                          

                                                 
                                                                                  Genesis 3:15
                                                   "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman,
                         and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head,
                                            and thou shalt bruise his heel." 

                                                
                                               Satan
      
      Genesis 3:1 tells us that the serpent "was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made". From this we can see that the serpent was an animal created by God at the time of creation. When you consider what John tells us about the serpent in Rev. 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years; we understand that the serpent is Satan. Or, more appropriately, a beast of the field that was used by Satan. Because the serpent had a part in the fall of man, and the power of death being given to Satan, Hebrews 2:14, he would be cursed to crawl on his belly. The punishment for disobeying God is death, and Satan now holds this power over man. Man now has the knowledge of good and evil, to do evil is to sin against God, Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death", all are under the penalty of death, Romans 5:12 "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned". But for those that have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus they can say with Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:55  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? God, speaking to the serpent in Genesis 3:15 says, I will make your seed and the seed of woman enemies, and he will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel. If God was speaking to the beast of the field, this would be a forgotten verse, but, if God was speaking to Satan who was working through the serpent, then this becomes very important. And that is how most Christians understand this verse.
       Satan - adversary, arch-enemy of good. Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. In the book of Job we learn that Satan moves about freely on earth and also is allowed by God to come into his presence. He was in the world when Jesus walked the earth, Matthew 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And and after Jesus had ascended into heaven, 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. And he is still "going to and fro in the earth". James the Just, tells Christians, James 4:7b Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Jesus said in Luke 10:18 I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. On the eve of his death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus says in John 12:31  Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. Revelation chapter 12 is a parenthetical insertion into the prophesy of John to bring together (Daniel 9:25) Daniels sixty ninth week, that ended with the crucifixion of Christ (Daniel 9:26a), with the seventieth week (Daniel 9:26b-27), which is the beginning of the great tribulation. It is inserted here to introduce God's provision for the remnant of the nation of Israel during the tribulation. The man child is Christ, and the woman is the nation of Israel. Micah 5:2 tells us that the Christ will be born in Bethlehem. Micah 5:3  foreshadows Revelation chapter 12. At the ascension of Christ, Satan is cast out of heaven and the church age begins. The end of the church age will signal the beginning of Daniels seventieth week. Revelation 12:10 is a proclamation of victory by Christ over Satan. The end of the seventieth week will see victory by Christ over the armies of Satan, and Satan will be bound and cast into the bottomless pit for a thousand years, Revelation 20:1-3.


                                         Antichrist

       In Genesis 3:15 we see the first reference to Satan's progeny, Cain being the first of many, 1 John 3:8-12. Jesus speaking to the Jews in the temple tells them in John 8:44a Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. Satan has many spiritual children, but we want to concentrate on one, the one that is called the Antichrist. The Apostle Paul in, 2 Thessalonians 2:3, calls him the son of perdition. And John calls him the antichrist, 1 John 2:18. In Revelation 13, he is called a beast and identified as a man. He is called prince in Daniel 9:26. He is identified as the Assyrian in    Micah 5:5-6. Daniel 11:37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. He'll be a descendant of Jacob (Israel), and a homosexual.
      Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, who was born about one hundred years after Jesus was crucified (130-202 A.D.) believed that the Antichrist would come from the nation of Israel, and he named the tribe. In his book Against Heresies (180 A.D.) book 5 chapter 30: And Jeremiah does not merely point out his sudden coming, but he even indicates the tribe from which he shall come, where he says, “We shall hear the voice of his swift horses from Dan; the whole earth shall be moved by the voice of the neighing of his galloping horses: he shall also come and devour the earth, and the fulness thereof, the city also, and they that dwell therein.”⁴⁷⁰⁴  This, too, is the reason that this tribe is not reckoned in the Apocalypse along with those which are saved.   In this passage he quotes Jeremiah 8:16, and refers to Revelation 7, were the tribe of Dan isn't listed among the 144,000. When you reflect on Jacobs words in Genesis 49:1  And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. What does he mean by last days? Is he talking about the end of time? And in verses 16-18: ¹⁶ Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁷ Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. ¹⁸ I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.   Is he referring to the salvation promised in Genesis 3:15?  
      When you consider the idolatry of Dan in Judges chapter 18, and that they were carried away into captivity to Assyria with the other northern tribes, never to return, you can begin to see how a descendant of the tribe of Dan could fulfill the prophecies of the Antichrist. 

      Today, given the political and religious bent of the nations that were ancient Assyria, you would have to conclude that any powerful leader that would come from that area would be a Muslim, a caliphate, who will unite the Muslim world. 
      
                              The Dragon and the Beast

       Christ will defeat the Beast, who is the Antichrist, Revelation 19:20  And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And then an angel will bind Satan and cast him into a bottomless pit for a thousand years. Revelation 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and then he will be loosed and he will deceive the nations and they will go up against the saints. But God will destroy them. Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Revelation 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. 
                               
                    Is your name written in the Lamb's book of life?

      Revelation 22:20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

How Long Did Saul Reign? 40 Years!

 

                                  How Long Did Saul Reign?
  
                                        King Saul reigned from 1061 BC to 1021 BC
                                         The Ages, by Gregory Hamm, Amazon.com
   Acts 13:21 And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.

      How long did Saul reign? To answer that question isn't easy. You'll get a different answer with each version of the Bible you consult. Luke records in Acts 13:21 a statement by Paul saying that Saul reigned "by the space of 40 years". Now you have to wonder, did Luke agree with this statement? It would seem that Luke had a very good understanding of the Old Testament. Would he simply record what Paul said if he didn't agree with it? How did Paul come up with this number? Did he learn it at "the feet of Gamaliel" Acts 22:3, or did he discern it by his own study of the scriptures? Or, did the Holy Ghost reveal it to him? Remember, he was trying to persuade Jews that Jesus is Christ, and he was leading them to that point by recounting their history, if he had said something that wasn't generally believed, he would have lost his audience right there. Also, notice that he said, "by the space of 40 Years". That's not precise, it would seem to me to suggest a little longer or a little less, maybe. Now you might be thinking why is there a controversy? Hasn't Paul settled the issue? The answer to that is, no!
    The controversy comes about because of 1 Samuel 13:1 "Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel," as translated in the King James Version (KJV). It would seem that most Bible scholars believe that the original text has been corrupted. Either the parchment was damaged and the text was lost, or a scribe failed to copy the complete text. They believe that the verse originally told how old Saul was when he began to reign, and how long he reigned. This is typically the way the Bible recorded the reign of a king. Now let's look at some of the English translations to see these scholars at work.
                                                      New International Version (NIV)     

13 Saul was thirty^[a] years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-^[b] two years

                                                       English Standard Version (ESV)

13 Saul lived for one year and then became king, and when he had reigned for two years over Israel

                                                      American Standard Version (ASV)

¹ Saul was forty years old when he began to reign; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,

                                                    Contemporary English Version (CEV)

 13 Saul was a young man^[a] when he became king, and he ruled Israel for two years.

                                                        Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

  ¹A son of a year [is] Saul in his reigning, yea, two years he hath reigned over Israel,

                                                                    Wycliffe (WYC)

 ¹ Saul was a son of one year, that is, as innocent and clean of sin as a child of one year, when he began to reign; and he reigned upon Israel two (and twenty) years. (Saul was fifty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned over Israel for twenty-two years.) 

These are all 1Samuel 13:1. So now you can see the controversy.  These are all the results of scholarly work. I don't want anyone to think that I don't like scholars. Would we have an English Bible if not for scholars? William Tyndale was a scholar. He was burnt at the stake on Sept. 6, 1536. His crime, translating the Bible into English. It has been said that 80 percent of the King James Bible is from Tyndale's translation. So when you pick up your Bible, remember, a lot of people, scholars, gave their lives to bring the Word of God to the average man. So my point is, I appreciate scholars, but that doesn't mean that I have to go along with them on everything. I believe we should use the King James translation of this verse, and I will explain why later. But first, we need to consider the Septuagint (LXX) reported to be the oldest translation of the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint is reported to be a translation from the original Hebrew into Greek starting in the third century BCE. So presumably it would have been around during the time of Paul. And if so, Paul might have studied it. Scholars today hold it in very high regard. It predates the Masoretic Text by hundreds of years. This would put it closer to the original Hebrew in history. So how does the Septuagint translate 1 Samuel 13:1? It doesn't! It completely leaves that verse out. Does this mean that verse 1 wasn't in the Hebrew text when the Septuagint was translated? Or did the translator think verse 1 didn't make sense, so he left it out? Let's look at an early Latin translation of the Hebrew Text.

                                                             Latin Vulgate

                      By Jerome in the 4th century CE. Translated from the Hebrew.

                                                    (Translated into English.)
Saul was a child of one year when he began to reign, and he reigned two years over Israel.

Jerome liked the Septuagint at first, but later in life, he turned away from it in favor of the Hebrew. He and Augustine had a long and sometimes angry debate over the subject of the Septuagint vs. the Original Hebrew. Jerome favored the Hebrew and Augustine favored the Septuagint. As we can see, in the 4th century, verse 1 was in the Hebrew text that Jerome used to translate the Vulgate. Jerome must have thought that it was in the original Hebrew and had been left out of the Septuagint, and not that it was added to the Hebrew text after the Septuagint translation.

      Seeing that modern scholars hold the Septuagint in such high regard, why don't they leave verse 1 out of modern translations? If verse 1 goes away, the controversy goes away. With that, you would be left with what Paul said, and the narrative of the story of Saul's reign to try and figure out how long he reigned. If you read the narrative it would suggest a very long reign. As we have seen from the examples of translations above, some scholars support a longer reign, and some do not, and they have taken great liberties in the translation of verse 1. The King James is said to be a more literal translation of this verse that supports the narrative.  I think that with a controversial text that's the best approach. I like the King James translation of 1 Samuel 13:1, and I'm going to use it and Paul's 40 years and the narrative of Saul's life to build a chronology of his reign. 

                                            Chronology of the Reign of King Saul
       The elders of Israel come to Samuel the Prophet and say, "make us a king to judge us" 1Sa. 8:5. God said to Samuel they rejected me not you, 1 Sa. 8:7. They wanted a king to fight their battles, they didn't want to trust God to fight for them, 1 Sa. 8:20. God told Samuel to anoint Saul captain over his people, and that Saul would save them from the hand of the Philistines. 1 Sa. 9:16. Samuel anoints Saul with oil. 1Sa. 10:1. Samuel tells Saul to go before him to Gilgal and wait seven days, and that he will come down and offer burnt offerings and show him what he should do. 1 Sa. 10:8. Samuel calls all the people of Israel to Mizpeh, and God picks Saul from among the people to be king. But Saul is a reluctant king. And when some of the people rejected him, Saul said nothing but held his peace. 1 Sa. 10:17-27. And Saul goes home and tends his flocks. The appointed time to go to Gilgal has not yet arrived.
      While the reluctant and backward King Saul waits at home for the appointed time set by Samuel to go to Gilgal, Nahash, king of the Ammonites attacks Jabesh-gilead of Israel. 1Sa. 11:1-3. This event will transform Saul from a reluctant backward king into a strong and forceful king. Also, we see in verses 12-13 that he shows mercy and honors God for their victory, in that he doesn't have those who rejected him put to death. Saul's victory over Nahash establishes his position as king in the eyes of the people. And they go to Gilgal and the people make Saul king. 1 Sa. 11:15. As we shall see, the opinion of the people and their desires becomes more important to Saul than the desires of God. 
      Some points to keep in mind. First. Saul was grown when Samuel anoints him to be king. Second. The minimum military age in Israel is 20 years of age. Third. Jonathan isn't mentioned in the battle against the Ammonites. Which would suggest that he wasn't yet of military age. Fourth. Jonathan is given command of one thousand men after the people made Saul king. So now let us look at 1 Sa 13:1a. Saul reigned one year;  this is the time that Saul spent in the fields with his herds after Samuel had anointed him king and presented him to the people at Mizpeh. At this point, Saul is a reluctant king. Let's go back a little, God said that Saul would save the people from the hand of the Philistines. 1 Sa 9:16. After Samuel anoints him king, God leads him to the "hill of God," 1 Sa. 10:5. Where there is a garrison of the Philistines. Verse 7 says after these signs, do as occasion serve you; for God is with you. God had told him who the enemy was, and now he showed him the enemy. Was this the first test of Saul, to see if he would be a man of God, and fight the enemies of God's people? When Nahash attacks Jabesh-gilead, Saul calls the men of Israel to gather and numbers them, three hundred and thirty thousand. He doesn't ask of God, shall I go up against the Ammonites, like David will do before battle, but Saul goes up by the strength of the numbers of the people that are with him. By going up against Nahash, Saul is doing what the people had wanted when they ask for a king, 1 Sa. 12:12. As we shall see it is very important to Saul that the people be with him when he should be concerned that God is with him. Now let's look at 1 Sa. 13:1b. and when he had reigned two years over Israel, his stature has now risen, he has defeated the Ammonites, he has been established as king, and he raised a permanent army to serve with him and Jonathan. Since the military age is 20, for Jonathan to be the captain of a thousand men he would need to be at least 20 years old. If we say that Saul was 20 when Jonathan was born, that would make Saul 40 years old, two years into his reign. So he would have been 38 when Samuel anointed him king. If we say that he reigned for 40 years, that would make him 78 when he is killed on the battlefield. Later I will show why he would be on the battlefield at such an advanced age. Saul will have other sons who aren't mentioned here, or in this first battle with the Philistines, it would seem that they were not yet of military age.
      Jonathan attacks and destroys a garrison of the Philistines. 1Sa. 13:3. And this is the event that finally brings Saul to Gilgal to wait on Samuel. But here we see Saul's desire to have man on his side more than he desires God to be with him. And Saul disobeys God by offering the burnt offering because he wanted to please the people more than he feared God. So Samuel says his kingdom will not continue. 1 Sa 13:14. So Samuel departs from Saul, and what is the first thing that Saul does? He numbers the people that are with him. Six hundred men! That must have been disheartening to a man who depended on men more than on God. Will this man stop here, and ask God what he should do? No, he will not. Only after Jonathan has engaged the enemy and God has moved against them and turned them on each other, does Saul turn to the priest to inquire of God. But even then he stops the priest. Saul never inquired of God by means of the ark while he was king, 1 Chr. 13:3. This man is the exact opposite of David. Saul seems to be loathed to consult God, and David won't do anything without consulting God. (Saul is careful not to transgress the law of God, and David always obeys the word of God).  After the battle is over and he has a victory over the Philistines because of Jonathan, Saul asks counsel of God. 1 Sa. 14:37. But God does not answer, because Jonathan had eaten the honey. Saul had charged the army with an oath that no man was to eat anything until evening, but Jonathan was unaware of the oath and he ate of the honey that was on the ground. 1 Sa. 14:24-28. Now, this was a sin because Saul had made the oath and he is God's anointed. The men in the army would not eat the honey because they feared the oath, verse 26. A greater victory would have been had, had the men ate the honey provided by God, a victory by God's providence, and not by Saul's strength. But notice in vs. 32-34, in the evening the men took livestock from the spoil and ate it with the blood. It would seem that the men feared Saul but not God, in that they broke the law of Moses. But Saul being a religious man builds an altar and he has the men bring their ox and sheep there and slay them and eat. Now the battle against the Philistines ends because of Saul's oath, and the Philistines are saved from a much greater slaughter, and they go back to their place. Saul will have future battles with the Philistines and all the other nations that are the enemies of Israel, and he will have victories over them all. 1 Sa 14:47. This would seem to me to be something that would take a period of a few years at least.
      Samuel had told Saul at Gilgal that his kingdom would not continue. But, God is not done with Saul, he will give him one more opportunity to obey his word. Samuel tells Saul to go and destroy Amalek. 1 Sa. 15:3  Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. But Saul fails this test and disobeys God, and Samuel tells Saul that God has rejected him from being king. 1Sa 15:28. God will take the kingdom from Saul and give it to a man who is better than he is. And v29 says God will not repent. Saul will not get another chance. God has turned away from him and rejected him, but notice in verses 30-31 who it is that Saul is concerned about. He pleads with Samuel to turn and worship with him in the presence of the elders and of Israel because he fears the people will reject him if they see that God has rejected him. The narrative of Saul's reign ends until David is anointed king. If Paul's statement of a 40-year reign is correct, then we have a period of 20 to 25 years where nothing is recorded about Saul's reign. I'm going to refer to this period as the Interim Period.
       It would seem to me that the events up to the point where Saul is rejected, would have taken several years. I'm going to say that it has taken five years, and I'll explain why later. But now let's look at the sons of Saul. There are five lists given of Saul's sons. Three of these lists are genealogical, and two are obituaries.
Genealogical List: The first list is at the beginning of Saul's reign, the other two are after.
List One: 1 Sa 14:49              Jonathan       - Jehovah-given
                                                Ishui             - Level
                                                Melchishua  - King of Wealth

List Two: 1 Chr. 8:33            Jonathan       - Jehovah-given
                                               Malchishua   - King of Wealth
                                               Abinadab      - Father of generosity
                                               Eshbaal         - Man of Baal

List Three: 1 Chr. 9:39         Jonathan       - Jehovah-given
                                               Malchishua   - King of Wealth
                                               Abinadab      - Father of generosity
                                               Eshbaal         - Man of Baal

Jonathan appears first in all three lists, he is the oldest, and therefore the heir. Melchishua appears in all three lists. Two of the list are the same, but the first list is different. Eshbaal is born in the Interim Period so he is not in the first list. It's possible that Ishui and Abinadab are the same person, but here is another possibility. Abinadab is Ishui's son; he is born in the Interim Period a little before Eshbaal. His father Ishui dies at the time of his birth and his death is not recorded. Abinadab is then listed as Saul's son and not his grandson.
Obituary List: Remember, Saul dies with his sons, and this is the end of his reign.
List One: 1 Sa. 31:2             Jonathan       - Jehovah-given
                                              Abinadab      - Father of generosity
                                              Melchishua  - King of Wealth 

List Two: 1 Chr. 10:2          Jonathan       - Jehovah-given  
                                             Abinadab      - Father of generosity
                                             Malchishua   - King of Wealth

Notice that Abinadab is listed before Melchishua in the obituary list, but after him in the genealogical list. If he is younger than Melchishua he would be listed after him in the genealogical list. And it could be that when he is killed in battle he is given the place in the obituary list that his father would have held. If Abinadab is Ishui's son, and he is born in the Interim Period, this would support a long reign for Saul, as the minimum military age is 20. So Abinadab would have been 20 years old or older when he died in battle. Abinadab appears before Eshbaal in the genealogical list, so I think that makes him older than Eshbaal. But I think that he is older by only a few weeks or months. I believe that Eshbaal is 35 when Saul dies so Abinadab would have been a little older than that when he was killed in battle. I'll explain more about Eshbaal and why I think he was 35 years old at the death of Saul near the end of my essay.
      Let's look at the priest who served while Saul was king. This also suggests a very long reign for Saul. When Saul goes to fight the Philistines we see in 1 Sa. 14:3 that the priest Ahiah, the great-grandson of Eli is there wearing an ephod. And in v18 we are told that the ark of God is there also. Ahiah is said to be the son of Ahitub, the grandson of Eli. When David is fleeing from Saul he goes to Nob, and to Ahimelech the high priest, 1 Sa. 21:1, who is said in 1 Sa 22:11 to also be the son of Ahitub. Some believe that Ahiah and Ahimelech are the same person, I'm going to suggest that they are brothers, that Ahiah is the older, and that he dies in the Interim Period, and he has no sons or they are too young to become high priest, so his younger brother Ahimelech becomes the high priest. After this Saul has Ahimelech killed and all of his house, his son Abiathar escapes and goes to David. Abiathar becomes the priest to David. The minimum age to be a priest is 30 years old so this would suggest that Ahimelech, the father of Abiathar, was an older man. The lives of these men would seem to suggest a period of many years, all during the reign of Saul.
      God says to Samuel "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel?"  1 Sa. 16:1. And Samuel goes and anoints David to be king. The younger that we say David is at this time, the stronger the argument for a longer reign for Saul. But regardless, I'm going to say that David was at least 18 years old when Samuel anoints him to be king. There are many words used in the text that suggests a younger David. I think these words are used to illuminate the great differences between Saul, the aged warrior-king,  and the zealous but youthful David, who is willing to fight the giant when no one else will. Also, I think the narrative as a whole suggests a David of military age. When Saul's servants suggest that he needs someone who can play the harp, to relax the king when he is troubled, one of his servants tells of David, how he can play the harp, "a mighty valiant man, and a man of war"   1 Sa 16:18. And they send and get David and he is made Saul's armourbearer. By being made Saul's armourbearer suggests that he is at least 20 when he comes before Saul. And then when he goes to fight Goliath, if he had been a teenage boy and Saul had allowed him to fight, and he had been killed, his death would have been on Saul. And Saul would have looked to be very foolish and desperate. But if David was of military age and he volunteered, if he won, that would be good, but if he was killed, Saul could say, he was a brave man who took his life into his own hands. Saul didn't think that David could defeat Goliath, and he said as much. And then Saul offers David his armour (1Sa. 17:38) knowing that it wouldn't fit, as Saul was a head taller than all the men of Israel, 1 Sa. 10:23. What's being illustrated here is the difference between David and Saul. Saul is the type of king that the people would choose, and David is the type of man God would choose. And further, after he kills Goliath he is made captain over a thousand men. I believe that this proves that he was of military age, but also that he had a very youthful appearance.
      When David is about to flee from Saul, he makes a covenant with Jonathan; 1 Sa. 20:42. David promises not to cut off the seed of Jonathan. Jonathan knows that God has anointed David to be king, Jonathan isn't concerned about himself, he's concerned about his only son Mephibosheth - dispeller of shame. Mephibosheth was five years old when his father Jonathan was killed. 2 Sa. 4:4. It would seem that David fled from Saul and made his covenant with Jonathan sometime after Mephibosheth was born. Saul is an old man and is on the field of battle fighting the Philistines, and he and Jonathan are killed, 1 Sa. 31:6. The reason I believe that Saul is on the field of battle in command of his army at his age, he can't trust Jonathan with command of the army, he would turn it over to David. In 1 Sa 22:8, Saul laments; That all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that sheweth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or sheweth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?
        After Saul's death, the men of Israel fled and the Philistines came and dwelt in their cities. 1 Sa. 31:7. David goes to Hebron and is anointed king over the tribe of Judah. 2 Sa 2:1-4. David is 30 years old when he becomes king and he reigns for 40 years and six months. 2 Sa. 5:4-5. He reigns for 7 and a half years over Judah in Hebron, and 33 years over Judah and all of Israel from Jerusalem. After Saul is killed, Abner escapes with Saul's son Ishbosheth, also called Eshbaal, across the Jordan river to Gilead, and makes him king over Israel. Ishbosheth was 40 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 2 years. 2 Sa. 2:8-10. After Ishbosheth is murdered all of Israel comes to Hebron and anoints David king over Israel. 2 Sa. 5:1-5. From the narrative, we can see that it took Abner 5 years to recover from the defeat by the Philistines and consolidate his power and make Ishbosheth king. Ishbosheth reigned over Israel for 2 years and David reigned over Judah from Hebron for 7 and a half years, so it took 5 years after the death of Saul before Ishbosheth is made king. That would have made him 35 when Saul died, as he was 40 years old when he began to reign. Usually, it is the mother who names the children in the Bible, and you have to wonder why anyone would name their son Ishbosheth, which means man of shame. I have a theory that the name marks an event in his father's life. That event would be when God rejects Saul. This child is then a reminder to Saul that he has been rejected by God, and this could explain why Ishbosheth isn't with Saul and Jonathan when they are killed. Also, Ishbosheth is a timid man faint of heart, and probably not much of a soldier.
       I said earlier that I thought that it was 5 years into Saul's reign when God rejected him, add this to the age of Ishbosheth at the death of Saul, 35 years plus 5 years equals 40 years. The Apostle Paul said that Saul reigned 40 years, and I agree.

     
       

As For Me And My House

                                                                   Joshua 24:15
       But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.

      First let us establish that Joshua and Jesus are the same name. Jesus is translated from the Greek, and Joshua is translated from Hebrew. That's why in the book of Acts we see a reference to Joshua but his name is translated as Jesus. Acts 7:45 KJV. Joshua's name means "Jehovah Saved". Joshua during his long life never turned to the left or the right, but stayed on the straight path, with his eyes fixed on God. But there weren't many like Joshua in Israel, and there aren't many Christians like him today. Most of us have wondered off the path from time to time. And some of us are on the path, but we are carrying things that we should have put away from us years ago. And some of us have put these things away from us, but not so far away that we can't go and get them from time to time. What we need to do is bury these things like they are dung, and never dig them up again.
                                                                Deuteronomy 23
 ¹² Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. ¹³ As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. ¹⁴ For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.
 
     This has a spiritual as well as a practical side to it. To see how a Jew would comply with this under religious law, we need to look at something Josephus, a Jewish historian of the first century, wrote about the Essene. This is the Jewish sect that is responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls. Josephus describes how each new member of the sect is given a small hatchet.

                                                      Josephus, Book II, Chapter 8.
7. But now if any one hath a mind to come over to their sect, he is not immediately admitted, but he is prescribed the same method of living which they use for a year, while he continues excluded'; and they give him also a small hatchet, and the fore-mentioned girdle, and the white garment.

     He goes on to describe one of the uses of this hatchet.

 9. Moreover, they are stricter than any other of the Jews in resting from their labors on the seventh day; for they not only get their food ready the day before, that they may not be obliged to kindle a fire on that day, but they will not remove any vessel out of its place, nor go to stool thereon. Nay, on other days they dig a small pit, a foot deep, with a paddle (which kind of hatchet is given them when they are first admitted among them); and covering themselves round with their garment, that they may not affront the Divine rays of light, they ease themselves into that pit, after which they put the earth that was dug out again into the pit; and even this they do only in the more lonely places, which they choose out for this purpose; and although this easement of the body be natural, yet it is a rule with them to wash themselves after it, as if it were a defilement to them.

     Here we see the Essene putting away excrement from them into a pit and burying it. In this way they kept the command of Moses and remained ceremonially clean. But Jesus said to the Pharisees, another Jewish sect, "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." Matthew 15:11. Explaining this to his disciples Jesus said; "Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?" Matthew 15:17.  So to be ceremonially clean on the outside, doesn't mean that they're not full of dead mens bones on the inside.

     If your pastor came to visit, do you have things in your house that you wouldn't want him to see. Do you go around your house and hide these things before he comes. Jesus sees these things. Think on that for a minute. Now take those things out and bury them like dung, (I'm speaking metaphorically)  and ask God to deliver you from them, and never go and dig them up again. God will bless you and protect you, and deliver your enemies (the things that vex your soul and cause God to turn away from you) into your hands.

Saved by Grace; Thru Faith

                                                                  Romans 3:28
            Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith                               without the deeds of the law.
     The sentiment of a self righteous person. " Why should I be punished for the sin of Adam? I'm a good person and it isn't right for God to punish me for what Adam did thousands of years ago." This is someone who is a good person by the standards of our society. They work and support their families, they're good husbands or wives. They're faithful to their spouse. They love and are dedicated to their children. They care for and respect their parents. They obey the law, and they're good citizens. So is it right for God to punish these "good people" for what Adam did?
     What was the nature of Adam's sin, and why should it be transferred to his descendants? An Omnipotent God, who had just created the earth and everything in it, the universe and everything in it, created man in his own image. God gave Adam, who he loved, one command. Do not eat of the tree of knowledge, if you do you will surely die. Would God be just, or unjust if he did not enforce his law? Every reasonable person would agree that a judge who does not enforce the law is unjust. But God is not unjust, he will enforce his law!  Abraham who loved his nephew Lot, pleaded with God to spare Sodom if there were only ten righteous people there. God, who's love surpasses all the understanding of man, from the time of Adam's sin, looked down through the ages and saw Abraham, David, Job, Mary Magdalene, and Paul, along with millions more, and he was moved with great love and compassion. Therefore he transferred his judgment to the earth from which Adam was made, and delayed the judgment of death, and allowed Adam to die according to how he was made. He was made from dust and to dust he would return. By doing this God made it possible for all of us to be born. "But by the sin of one man, death entered the world," Romans 5:12. What conclusion is there then? The verdict has been handed down and a judgment rendered. All who come from Adam are subject to this judgment, as we were in Adam' loins, we would've been partakers of this judgment had it been immediately carried out. But God loves us and he wants to redeem us from the curse.
     The Garden of Eden was planted by God, Genesis 2:8, it was paradise, a place were God and man could fellowship and commune together. This was a place that God could come and walk and talk face to face with his son, whom he loved. This is at the very heart of what God wants. To have close fellowship with the son that he created in his own image. After Adam sinned against God this type of close fellowship was no longer possible. Adam, nor any of his descendants could have that close relationship with God in his garden. Sin separated man from God's paradise. Adam's death, nor ours, as we all come from Adam, can restore this relationship, as his death was punitive and not redemptive. As the Garden of Eden is a type or shadow of heaven. God's relationship with Enoch is a type or shadow of the kind of relationship that God wants with all of his children. To commune and fellowship face to face in his Kingdom. Not with the dead, but with the living, as the Lord is the God of the living and not the dead, Luke 20:38. But God had a plan that was in his mind from the foundation of the world, a plan that would restore a close fellowship with those that love him and will obey him, and he began immediately to put this plan into action. After the fall of man God gave a promise of the seed of woman, Genesis 3:15, that would destroy the works of Satan that had brought about the fall of man.  God's righteousness demands a penalty for sin. So we need to be redeemed, a price must be paid. The scales of justice with God's righteous judgment on one side, demanded equal merit on the other side. Only the righteous sinless nature of God himself could balance the scales. So we have come to the question that has been a mystery from the foundation of the world. 1 Corinthians 2:6-9. What is God's plan of redemption, and how can we be partakers of this redemptive plan of God?
     God immediately began to teach man that his own efforts could not redeem him. We see the first born seed of woman bringing an offering of his own labors, an offering that sprang forth from the earth. From the ground that God had cursed, ground from which man was made. The Lord rejected this offering, but he had respect for the offering of his brother. An offering that was a shadow of the promise, the seed of woman that would redeem man. "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Titus 2:14
     That Adam had a free will is evident from his punishment, if he didn't have a free will he wouldn't have been held accountable. Cain is held accountable for the murder of Abel. If he did not know that it was wrong to kill his brother, how could he be held accountable? Although they had not seen a man die, they knew that they would die. They knew that death was a punishment. They had seen the first born lamb die that was Abel's offering to God. Cain did not want to die, but he wanted his brother to die. So all that come from the loins of Adam have a free will, and so we see that by the time of Noah all men have gone into sin. And God is sorry that he made man.In Genesis 9:6 God establishes additional punishment for murder. Besides murder, what was mans sin?  Could it be Genesis 2:24. God had made woman for man, could it be the sin of Sodom? Men leaving the natural use of the woman and lusting after men, and women lusting after women?
     But Noah found grace in the eyes of God. For he was a just man and righteous in his generation. God knew that Noah would obey him, so he saved Noah and all that were with him. Noah's name means rest. When his father named him he said "This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed." Genesis 5:29. Did he think that Noah would be the promised seed of woman who would redeem man from the curse? God had told Noah that he was going to destroy all flesh because the earth was full of violence through them, Genesis 6:13. So we have to conclude that the men of Noah's time knew that they were doing evil, and it was sin. "For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law" Romans 2:12a." For all have sinned, and came short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23.
     Moses lead the people of God out of Egypt and gave them the law. and God gave them manna, bread from heaven, to eat for 40 years, delivered them from their enemies time and again, and brought them into the land that he had promised to their fathers, and gave them the Tabernacle, were his presents would be. Moses speaking to the children of Israel before they crossed over Jordan, tells them; "Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee." Deuteronomy 9:4. So if it is not because of their own righteousness that God is bring them into his promise land, and Paul tells us; "And as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;" Romans 2:12b.  And again Paul says; "For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Galatians 2:16b. If all have sinned, with or without the law, how can we be saved?
     As God provided bread from heaven for the children of Israel in the wilderness, and all that was required of them was go and gather it every morning, God has provided Bread from heaven for us as well! Jesus said; "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." John 6:51. When God cursed the ground he told Adam that by the sweat of his brow would he eat his bread. And here we see a thread that is woven through the whole Bible. The bread. The Bread. Not the bread that is made by the hand of man, but the Bread that comes down from heaven. "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."John 6:33-35. And here we rejoice as we begin to see the plan of God. His plan is not only to save Israel, but everyone that will come to him and believe! This bread that was a symbol of the curse has become a powerful symbol of the redemptive work of God through Christ. "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body." Matthew 26:26. The plan of salvation is the work of God from start to finish. What must you do to be saved? The Philippian jailer asked that same question of Paul and Silas "what must I do to be saved?" Acts 16:30. They told him to believe on the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved. He did, and he and his family were saved! As God provided the manna, the children had to gather it. How do we gather the Bread of life? We do it by and act of faith."That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Romans 10:9. It is not by our own righteousness that we are saved, but by an act of faith that we are justified.
     So we must conclude that we are saved by faith and not by works! But what does James say? "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" James 2:20. So what must we conclude? That we are saved by faith and not works, the evidence that we have the faith to be saved is our works. Hear what Jesus has to say about the works of the righteous and the unrighteous.
                                                                Matthew 25                        

³⁵For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
 ³⁶Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
 ³⁷Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
 ³⁸When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
 ³⁹Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
 ⁴⁰And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
 ⁴¹Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
 ⁴²For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
 ⁴³I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
 ⁴⁴Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
 ⁴⁵Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
 ⁴⁶And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Why did God reject Cain's offering?

                                                                 Ephesians 2:8-9

     Saved by grace: and not by works, lest any man should boast.

    The Bible tells us that everyone will stand before God one day to give an account for the way they live their lives. "There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both the just and the unjust.' Acts 24:15. 'Every knee shall bow,...and every tongue shall confess..' Romans 14:11. Now, if the dead are going to answer to God for the manner in which they lived their life, ( For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done , whether it be good or bad. 2 Corinthians 5:10) it follows that a choice was put before them during their lives. Two roads were before them. One was wide and the other was narrow. Matthew 7:13-14. The just took the narrow way, and few there be that went that way. The unjust took the way that was wide, and many there be that went that way. And no one will be excused! Because creation testifies of the unseen hand of God. Romans 1:18-20. This was true when Abraham sought God, and it is still true today. But from that time until now, the wicked worship the thing that was created, and not the Creator! The one thing that wicked men desire to worship above all else, is man! Man has been trying to deify man since the beginning of time. Adam disobeyed God, because he wanted to be as a god. This was the original sin.  And death entered the world by the sin of one man, Adam. Romans 5:12

    In Genesis 3:7 we see the fall of man. Because Adam ate of the fruit that God had commanded that he not eat, death came into the world. Genesis 2:17. Before sin, Adam desired to walk with God in the cool of the garden, but after sin, he and his wife hid themselves from God. Genesis 3:8. Sin separates us from God, and we no longer desire to walk with him. The serpent, (or Satan, Revelation 20:2) beguiled Eve because of her own lust to be as a god, and her ignorance of God's word, as she added to what God had said, by saying if they touched the fruit of the tree they would die. God did not say if you touch it you will die, but that if you eat it you will die. From this statement of her's we can hear the serpents reply, "no, you won't die, go ahead, touch it". The woman was deceived and the man wasn't; 1 Timothy 2:14. And the woman touches it, and she doesn't die. (But death did come into the world, 1 Corinthians 15:21. And sin separates us from God, Isaiah 59:1-2.) And her husband was there watching, and saw his wife take the fruit. And she did eat, and she gave to her husband, and he did eat. Genesis 3:6. Although the man wasn't deceived, he took from his wife and did eat. So we can conclude that he willfully sinned against God. We have to say that they believed Satan, and did not believe God. Satan is the father of lies, John 8:44; God cannot lie, Titus 1:2. But, Adam, the father of us all, believed Satan and not God. At the very least he desired his wife more than he desired God, and sinned against a most Holy God. And by this sin, death entered the world. (For as in Adam all die,)  1 Corinthians 15:22.

     Who has the power of death? Satan. Hebrews 2:14. How did he get it? He got it by the sin of Adam. By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; Romans 5:12. It is evident that the sin of Adam separates all from God, even the righteous such as Abraham. It is apparent that Abraham didn't go to heaven at his death, because if so, why need Christ come and die. There is a corporate punishment for sin that falls on Adam and all that come from him, including Eve, who was made from his rib, and not from the dust of the ground as Adam was. This comes on all, from the new born baby free of personal sin, to a wretched sinner who has lived a long life. One to be carried by the angels into the arms of God, and the other to be judged for his sins. "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment;" Hebrews 9:27. But now for the justified, as Paul says, "to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" 2 Corinthians 5:8.

    There is also a personal price for sin to be paid in this life. Some of this cost can also be passed on to others who will also pay for your sin. When God confronts the man, he blames the woman who God had put in the garden with him, and she says the serpent beguiled her. So God cursed the serpent "You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life." Gen. 3:14. Here God also gave a promise, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Gen 3:15. This is a promise of the coming Redeemer. "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Romans 5:19. The woman's personal punishment was to have her pain in childbearing increased. This is a punishment which was passed on to all women. And to the man who bore most of the responsibility, because he listen to his wife and not to God, and did that which God had commanded him not to do, God cursed the ground from whence he was made. Whereas before, he and Eve had eaten freely from all that God provided, now he would work the ground by the sweat of his brow to get his bread. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Gen 3:19. And there it is! The pronouncement of death! For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return! This was on Adam and everyone who comes from him, including Eve. But we know as Job knew, "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:" Job 19:25. I would suppose that Satan thought God would immediately carry out this sentence of death, but God cursed the ground from which Adam was made, and allowed him to live a natural lifetime according to how he was made. The process of dying began that day, but not the fact. Had he died that day we would have died with him. But God loved us, so he cursed the ground and the earth was changed. Physical death came into the world on all living things because God cursed the ground, " for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return". We are partakers of the punishment with Adam, in that we all must die. But the just will go to be with Christ, Philippians 1:23. And the unjust will go to be held until the day of judgment. 2 Peter 2:9.

     Sin separates us from God. We see how Adam and Eve hid themselves from God because of their sin, and how God took the skins of animals and covered them. In this we see a type, this covering for sin points to the Lamb of God, the promised seed. For "without the shedding of blood there is no remission." Hebrews 9:22. "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." Hebrews 9:12. "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world." John 1:29. God had covered their sin, and to kept them from taking fruit from the tree of life, and thereby saving themselves by their own efforts, God put them out of the garden. Although God had put them out of the garden, he hadn't completely put them out of his presence.

    In Genesis 4 the sons of Adam bring an offering to the Lord. In verse 2 we're told that Cain is a tiller of the ground, and Abel is a keeper of sheep. Verse 3 says "in the process of time", which would suggest longer than a few months, but  maybe a year or longer, "Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. Verse 4 tells us that "Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect, verse 5. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell." The firstborn of the flock would suggest and annual offering, as well as the fruit of the ground which would probably be from an annual harvest.

    God rejects Cains offering, this rejection was not arbitrary. Cain knew what the offering should be, he had learned from his father Adam, who had learn it from God. This was probably an offering that Cain had witnessed many times during his life, (I think it was and annual offering) and Cain willfully brought a different offering. God rebuked Cain "if thou doest well, shalt thou be accepted?" Genesis 4:7. Cain knew what he had done was wrong. God warns Cain, "sin is at the door and desires to have you". Then God encouraged Cain "and thou shalt rule over him." God was telling Cain that he needed to get the mastery over sin before it destroyed him. To understand why God rejected Cains offering we need to look at his offering. Some have suggested that Cain did not bring the best of his fruits, but held back the best for himself. This doesn't explain why he was so angry and disappointed when God rejected his offering. Cain brought to God the fruits of the ground, ground which God had cursed. The ground would no longer yield forth it's fruit but by hard work. By the sweat of man's brow will he eat his bread. Cain had worked very hard, and these were the fruits of his labor. Cain had taken the very best of the fruits of his hard work and God had rejected them. The offering of the firstborn lamb was a shadow of the coming redeemer, the fruit of the ground spoke directly of Cain. Cain should have gone to his brother and gotten from him a firstborn lamb to make and offering to the Lord. That  was an offering that looked to God's promise of the  seed of woman who would bring salvation! Cain, the firstborn of Eve, wanted to earn favor with God by his own works. And what did Adam do when he saw that his son had brought an offering of his own works to the Lord? Probably the same thing he did when Eve took of the fruit of the tree. He watched to see what God would do.

    To see the love and providence of God, we need to look at Abel and his offering. God did not curse the animals but the ground from which man was made. The fruit of the womb, be it man or animal is the gift of God. So this gift came from God's providence, and Abel offers this gift from God, as an offering to God. Can you see John 3:16 in this offering.  Abel is called a prophet by the Lord Jesus in Luke 11:50-51. How was he a prophet? Paul tells us in Hebrews. "By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead." Hebrews 11:4. By his works Abel demonstrated his faith, James 2:20. And this is how he speaks to us, he brought what God had provided and already belonged to God, and offered it to God. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. From the very beginning this offering pointed to the promised seed of woman, and God's plan of salvation. "And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." Hebrews 12:24.

    We see how Cain in his jealousy killed his brother Abel. And God cursed Cain for his sin and Cain was driven from the presence of God. Our sin separates us from God. And as Cain was separated from God, so was his wife and children. Our sins affect us and those around us. But God has provided a way. The Lamb of God died in our stead. "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Acts 2:21. Take the free gift from God and offer it to him as the fruits of your lips."For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Romans 10:10.

                                                                 Philippians 2

 ⁹Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

 ¹⁰That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

 ¹¹And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 ¹²Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

As it is written, "behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2. Don't wait until another day. You have no promise of tomorrow!

                                                                

                                                                   ^{Revelation 13}

 ⁸And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.