It’s not the will of God that any human should perish BUT He can’t stop it

The death of the World in spite of the greatest Love that could ever be known

For the Bible has been miss understood partly because Satan the condemned one with all his demons covering the Truth of what was revealed to mankind so that he, man would not see that Truth but deceivingly be destroyed by it simply because of the free will thinking and doing by those that preach and teach to the peoples of the World under Satan’s direction. Man has totally been deceived by that subtle deceiver just as EVE was in the Garden of Eden.

Being tricked to induce his own thoughts and reasoning’s into the meanings of the Word of God establishing his own self-described doctrines of self-described beliefs of what things should be in the word of God, all based on Supposition and Historical Reasoning but not TRUTH as in the Word of God in itself as is spoken and written.

Why cannot man see the frailty of the Human being that has a finite time to exist and for what reason? To make other humans miserable, sad, inveous, angery, or just plain glad to be content to self.

1. 1 Peter 1:24

Verse Concepts

For, "ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF,

2. Job 14:1

Verse Concepts

"Man, who is born of woman, Is short-lived and full of turmoil.

3. Psalm 103:15

Verse Concepts

As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

4. 1 Samuel 20:3

Verse Concepts

Yet David vowed again, saying, "Your father knows well that I have found favor in your sight, and he has said, 'Do not let Jonathan know this, or he will be grieved ' But truly as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, there is hardly a step between me and death."

5. Psalm 38:10

Verse Concepts

My heart throbs, my strength fails me; And the light of my eyes, even that has gone from me.

6. Psalm 49:12

Verse Concepts

But man in his pomp will not endure; He is like the beasts that perish.

7. Psalm 78:39

Verse Concepts

Thus He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passes and does not return.

8. Psalm 103:14

Verse Concepts

For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.

9. Psalm 141:7

Verse Concepts

As when one plows and breaks open the earth, Our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol.

10. Isaiah 2:22

Verse Concepts

Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed?

11.Isaiah 40:6

Verse Concepts

A voice says, "Call out." Then he answered, "What shall I call out?" All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

12.Isaiah 64:6

Verse Concepts

For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

(2Pe 3:9 KJV)  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. When the Gentile Believes he’s repented.

 This being said to and for the Jews not the Gentiles, for the Gentiles heart has to be opened to Paul’s Gospel before they can Believe and in believing they are saved at that point, filled with the earnest of the Spirit after being Baptized by the Spirit into the Body of Christ and sealed therein. This is what I call the Lydia principal………

Act 16:14  And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. His Gospel.

Which worshipped God - A religious woman, a proselyte. See the note at Act_13:16.

Whose heart the Lord opened - See the note at Luk_24:45.

which worshipped God] i.e. had become a proselyte of the Jewish faith.

whose heart the Lord opened] St Luke recognizes that without this the word would have made no entrance. He probably makes special mention of this here because he had previously stated that the Lord had called them to preach at Philippi. Having pointed out their work, He helps them to perform it.

that she attended] She gave such heed as to be convinced of their truth. The same verb occurs Act_8:6, and from the context both there and here we see that it implies “gave credence unto.”

that she attended to the things ... spoken by Paul — “showing that the inclination of the heart towards the truth originates not in the will of man. The first disposition to turn to the Gospel is a work of grace” [Olshausen]. Observe here the place assigned to “giving attention” or “heed” to the truth - that species of attention which consists in having the whole mind engrossed with it, and in apprehending and drinking it in, in its vital and saving character.

Striking Facts: Act_16:31. Here is the sum of the whole Gospel, the covenant of grace in a nutshell. It is the only way to salvation. Admit the record that God has given in His Gospel concerning His Son, assent to it as faithful and worthy of acceptation, receive Jesus Christ as He is offered to us in the Gospel, and give up yourself to be saved and ruled by Him.

  (Albert Barnes)  2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise - That is, it should not be inferred because His promise seems to be long delayed that therefore it will fail. When people, after a considerable lapse of time, fail to fulfil their engagements, we infer that it is because they have changed their plans, or because they have forgotten their promises, or because they have no ability to perform them, or because there is a lack of principle which makes them fail, regardless of their obligations. But no such inference can be drawn from the apparent delay of the fulfillment of the divine purposes. Whatever may be the reasons why they seem to be deferred, with God, we may be sure that it is from no such causes as these.

As some men count slackness - It is probable that the apostle here had his eye on some professing Christians who had become disheartened and impatient, and who, from the delay in regard to the coming of the Lord Jesus, and from the representations of those who denied the truth of the Christian religion, arguing from that delay that it was false, began to fear that his promised coming would indeed never occur. To such he says that it should not be inferred from his delay that he would not return, but that the delay should be regarded as an evidence of his desire that men should have space for repentance, and an opportunity to secure their salvation. See the notes at 2Pe_3:15.

But is long-suffering to us-ward - Toward us. The delay should be regarded as a proof of His forbearance, and of His desire that all human beings should be saved. Every sinner should consider the fact that he is not cut down in his sins, not as a proof that God will not punish the wicked, but as a demonstration that He is now forbearing, and is willing that he should have an ample opportunity to obtain eternal life. No one should infer that God will not execute His threats, unless he can look into the most distant parts of a coming eternity, and demonstrate that there is no suffering appointed for the sinner there; anyone who sins, and who is spared even for a moment, should regard the respite as only a proof that God is merciful and forbearing now.

Not willing that any should perish - That is, He does not desire it or wish it. His nature is benevolent, and He sincerely desires the eternal happiness of all, and His patience toward sinners “proves” that He is willing that they should be saved. If He were not willing, it would be easy for Him to cut them off, and exclude them from hope immediately. This passage, however, should not be adduced to prove:

(1) That sinners never will in fact perish; because:

(a) the passage does not refer to what God will do as the final Judge of mankind, but to what are His feelings and desires now toward men.

(b) One may have a sincere desire that others should not perish, and yet it may be that, in entire consistency with that, they will perish. A parent has a sincere wish that his children should not be punished, and yet he himself may be under a moral necessity to punish them. A lawgiver may have a sincere wish that no one should ever break the laws, or be punished, and yet he himself may build a prison, and construct a gallows, and cause the law to be executed in a most rigorous manner. A judge on the bench may have a sincere desire that no man should be executed, and that everyone arraigned before him should be found to be innocent, and yet even he, in entire accordance with that wish, and with a most benevolent heart, even with tears in his eyes, may pronounce the sentence of the law.

(c) It cannot be inferred that all that the heart of infinite benevolence would desire will be accomplished by his mere will. It is evidently as much in accordance with the benevolence of God that no one should be miserable in this world, as it is that no one should suffer in the next, since the difficulty is not in the question Where one shall suffer, but in the fact itself that any should suffer; and it is just as much in accordance with His nature that all should be happy here, as that they should be happy hereafter. And yet no man can maintain that the fact that God is benevolent proves that no one will suffer here. As little will that fact prove that none will suffer in the world to come.

(2) The passage should not be adduced to prove that God has no purpose, and has formed no plan, in regard to the destruction of the wicked; because:

(a) The word here used has reference rather to His disposition, or to His nature, than to any act or plan.

(b) There is a sense, as is admitted by all, in which He does will the destruction of the wicked - to wit, if they do not repent - that is, if they deserve it.

(c) Such an act is as inconsistent with His general benevolence as an eternal purpose in the matter, since His eternal purpose can only have been to do what He actually does; and if it be consistent with a sincere desire that sinners should be saved to do this, then it is consistent to determine beforehand to do it - for to determine beforehand to do what is in fact right, can only be a lovely trait in the character of anyone.

(3) The passage then proves:

(a) That God has a sincere desire that people should be saved;

(b) That any purpose in regard to the destruction of sinners is not founded on mere will, or is not arbitrary;

(c) That it would be agreeable to the nature of God, and to His arrangements in the plan of salvation, if all human beings should come to repentance, and accept the offers of mercy;

(d) That if any come to Him truly penitent, and desirous to be saved, they will not be cast off;

(e) That, since it is in accordance with His nature, that He should desire that all people may be saved, it may be presumed that He has made an arrangement by which it is possible that they should be; and,

(f) That, since this is His desire, it is proper for the ministers of religion to offer salvation to every human being. Compare Eze_33:11.

(2Pe 3:15 KJV)  And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

 (Albert Barnes)  2 Peter 3:15

And account - that “the long-suffering of our Lord” is “salvation.” Regard his delay in coming to judge the world, not as an evidence that he never will come, but as a proof of his desire that we should be saved. Many had drawn a different inference from the fact that the Saviour did not return, and had supposed that it was a proof that he would never come, and that his promises had failed. Peter says that that conclusion was not authorized, but that we should rather regard it as an evidence of his mercy, and of his desire that we should be saved. This conclusion is as proper now as it was then. Wicked men should not infer, because God does not cut them down, that therefore they never will be punished, or that God is not faithful to his threatenings. They should rather regard it as a proof that he is willing to save them; because:

(1) He might justly cut them off for their sins;

(2) The only reason of which we have knowledge why he spares the wicked is to give them space for repentance; and,

(3) As long as life is prolonged a sinner has the opportunity to repent, and may turn to God. We may therefore, in our own case, look on all the delays of God to punish - on all his patience and forbearance toward us, notwithstanding our sins and provocations - on the numberless tokens of his kindness scattered along our way, as evidence that he is not willing that we should perish.

What an accumulated argument in any case would this afford of the willingness of God to save! Let any man look on his own sins, his pride, and selfishness, and sensuality; let him contemplate the fact that he has sinned through many years, and against many mercies; let him endeavor to estimate the number and magnitude of his offences, and upon God’s patience in bearing with him while these have been committed, and who can overrate the force of such an argument in proof that God is slow to anger, and is willing to save? Compare the notes at Rom_2:4.

Even as our beloved brother Paul also - From this reference to Paul the following things are clear:

(1) That Peter was acquainted with his writings;

(2) That Peter presumed that those to whom he wrote were also acquainted with them;

(3) That Peter regarded Paul as a “beloved brother,” notwithstanding the solemn rebuke which Paul had had occasion to administer to him, Gal_2:2 ff.

(4) That Peter regarded Paul as an authority in inculcating the doctrines and duties of religion; and,

(5) That Peter regarded Paul as an inspired man, and his writings as a part of divine truth. See the notes at 2Pe_3:16.

That Peter has shown in his Epistles that he was acquainted with the writings of Paul, has been abundantly proved by Eichhorn (Einleitung in das N. Tes. viii. 606ff), and will be apparent by a comparison of the following passages: Eph_1:3, with 1Pe_3:1; Col_3:8, with 1Pe_2:1; Eph_5:22, with 1Pe_3:1; Eph_5:21, with 1Pe_5:5; 1Th_5:6, with 1Pe_5:8; 1Co_16:20, with 1Pe_5:14; Rom_8:18, with 1Pe_5:1; Rom_4:24, with 1Pe_1:21; Rom_13:1, Rom_13:3-4, with 1Pe_2:13-14; 1Ti_2:9, with 1Pe_3:3; 1Ti_5:5, with 1Pe_3:5. The writings of the apostles were doubtless extensively circulated; and one apostle, though himself inspired, could not but feel a deep interest in the writings of another. There would be cases also, as in the instance before us, in which one would wish to confirm his own sentiments by the acknowledged wisdom, experience, and authority of another.

According to the wisdom given unto him - Peter evidently did not mean to disparage that wisdom, or to express a doubt that Paul was endowed with wisdom; he meant undoubtedly that, in regard to Paul, the same thing was true which he would have affirmed of himself or of any other man, that whatever wisdom he had was to be traced to a higher than human origin. This would at the same time tend to secure more respect for the opinion of Paul than if he had said it was his own, and would keep up in the minds of those to whom he wrote a sense of the truth that all wisdom is from above. In reference to ourselves, to our friends, to our teachers, and to all men, it is proper to bear in remembrance the fact that all true wisdom is from the “Father of lights.” Compare the notes at Jas_1:5, Jas_1:17.

Hath written unto you - It is not necessary to suppose that Paul had written any epistles addressed specifically, and by name, to the persons to whom Peter wrote. It is rather to be supposed that the persons to whom Peter wrote 1Pe_1:1 lived in the regions to which some of Paul’s epistles were addressed, and that they might be regarded as addressed to them. The epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, and Colossians were of this description, all addressed to churches in Asia Minor, and all, therefore, having reference to the same people to whom Peter addressed his epistles.

 (Wuest's Word Studies)  2 Peter 3:15-16

"Our Lord" refers to the Lord Jesus as the context (v. 18) indicates. Alford says in this connection, "Throughout this weighty passage, the Lord Jesus is invested with the full attributes of Deity. It is He who waits and is longsuffering; He in His union and co-equality with the Father, who rules all things after the counsel of His own will." The longsuffering of God gives opportunity for repentance and thus salvation for the lost who put their trust in the Lord Jesus.

Robertson, commenting upon the rest of verse 15 says: "Peter claimed wisdom for himself, but recognizes that Paul had the gift also. His language here may have caution in it as well as commendation. ’St. Peter speaks of him with affection and respect, yet maintains the right to criticise’ (Bigg)." "Account" is hēgeomai, "to consider, deem."

"Wrest" is strebloō, "to twist, turn away." The noun form refers to an instrument of torture. The verb thus means also, "to torture, put to the rack, to twist or dislocate the limbs on the rack." Vincent says that "it is a singularly graphic word applied to the perversion of scripture." The words, "other scriptures" show that Paul’s epistles were ranked as scripture at that time.

Translation: And the longsuffering of our Lord, consider it as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them concerning these things, in which (epistles) are certain things hard to be understood, which those who are unlearned and lacking stability distort (from their proper meaning) as also the rest of the scriptures to their own destruction.

(2Pe 3:16 KJV)  As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

 (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown)  2 Peter 3:16

also in all his epistles — Rom_2:4 is very similar to 2Pe_3:15, beginning. The Pauline Epistles were by this time become the common property of all the churches. The “all” seems to imply they were now completed. The subject of the Lord’s coming is handled in 1Th_4:13; 1Th_5:11; compare 2Pe_3:10 with 1Th_5:2. Still Peter distinguishes Paul’s Epistle, or Epistles, “TO YOU,” from “all his (other) Epistles,” showing that certain definite churches, or particular classes of believers, are meant by “you.”

in which — Epistles. The oldest manuscripts read the feminine relative (hais); not as Received Text (hois), “in which things.”

some things hard to be understood — namely, in reference to Christ’s coming, for example, the statements as to the man of sin and the apostasy, before Christ’s coming. “Paul seemed thereby to delay Christ’s coming to a longer period than the other apostles, whence some doubted altogether His coming” [Bengel]. Though there be some things hard to be understood, there are enough besides, plain, easy, and sufficient for perfecting the man of God. “There is scarce anything drawn from the obscure places, but the same in other places may be found most plain” [Augustine]. It is our own prejudice, foolish expectations, and carnal fancies, that make Scripture difficult [Jeremy Taylor].

unlearned — Not those wanting human learning are meant, but those lacking the learning imparted by the Spirit. The humanly learned have been often most deficient in spiritual learning, and have originated many heresies. Compare 2Ti_2:23, a different Greek word, “unlearned,” literally, “untutored.” When religion is studied as a science, nothing is more abstruse; when studied in order to know our duty and practice it, nothing is easier.

unstable — not yet established in what they have learned; shaken by every seeming difficulty; who, in perplexing texts, instead of waiting until God by His Spirit makes them plain in comparing them with other Scriptures, hastily adopt distorted views.

wrest — strain and twist (properly with a hand screw) what is straight in itself (for example, 2Ti_2:18).

other scriptures — Paul’s Epistles were, therefore, by this time, recognized in the Church, as “Scripture”: a term never applied in any of the fifty places where it occurs, save to the Old and New Testament sacred writings. Men in each Church having miraculous discernment of spirits would have prevented any uninspired writing from being put on a par with the Old Testament word of God; the apostles’ lives also were providentially prolonged, Paul’s and Peter’s at least to thirty-four years after Christ’s resurrection, John’s to thirty years later, so that fraud in the canon is out of question. The three first Gospels and Acts are included in “the other Scriptures,” and perhaps all the New Testament books, save John and Revelation, written later.

unto their own destruction — not through Paul’s fault (2Pe_2:1).

How Majestic Is Your Name

Psa 8:1  To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. 

Psa 8:2  Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. 

Psa 8:3  When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 

Psa 8:4  What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 

Psa 8:5  For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 

Psa 8:6  Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 

Psa 8:7  All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 

Psa 8:8  The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. 

Psa 8:9  O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! 

What Is the Measure of My Days?

Psa 39:1  To the chief Musician, even to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. 

Psa 39:2  I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. 

Psa 39:3  My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue, 

Psa 39:4  LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. 

Psa 39:5  Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. [For a thousand years to man is but 1 day to GOD]

Psa 90:4  For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. 

2Pe 3:8  But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 

Psa 39:6  Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. 

Psa 39:7  And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. 

Psa 39:8  Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish. 

Deliverance is only through Christ Jesus, The Now RISEN CHRIST.

Gal 3:16  Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. 

Gal 3:17  And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. 

Gal 3:18  For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. 

Gal 3:19  Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. 

Gal 3:20  Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. 

Gal 3:21  Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. 

Gal 3:22  But the scripture hath concluded all under sin [Including the Jew’s], that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 

Gal 3:23  But before faith came, [Faith in the Paul’s Gospel] we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. [The Gospel of Grace through the mysteries revealed through Paul our Apostle anointed by the Risen Christ to the Gentiles.]

Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 

Gal 3:25  But after that faith is come, (Saved by The Gospel of Grace) we are no longer under a schoolmaster. 

Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,  

Gal 3:27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 

Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 

Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. 

Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

Rom 4:1  What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? 

Rom 4:2  For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. 

Rom 4:3  For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 

Rom 4:4  Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 

Rom 4:5  But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. 

Rom 4:6  Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, 

Rom 4:7  Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 

Rom 4:8  Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. 

Rom 4:9  Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. 

Rom 4:10  How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 

Rom 4:11  And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: 

Rom 4:12  And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. 

The Promise Realized Through Faith

Rom 4:13  For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 

Rom 4:14  For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: 

Rom 4:15  Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. 

Rom 4:16  Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, 

Rom 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. 

Rom 4:18  Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. 

Rom 4:19  And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: 

Rom 4:20  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 

Rom 4:21  And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 

Rom 4:22  And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. 

Rom 4:23  Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 

Rom 4:24  But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 

Rom 4:25  Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. 

1Co 15:1  Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 

1Co 15:2  By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 

1Co 15:3  For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 

1Co 15:4  And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 

Gal 3:6  Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 

Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, [Through Paul by The Risen Christ]

Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. [Through Paul by The Risen Christ]

Eph 1:2  Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. [Through Paul by The Risen Christ]

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 

Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: [Through Paul by The Risen Christ]

Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, [Through Paul by The Risen Christ]

Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. [Through Paul by The Risen Christ]

Eph 1:7  In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; [Through Paul by The Risen Christ]

Eph 1:8  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; 

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: [Through Paul by The Risen Christ]

Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: 

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: [Through Paul by The Risen Christ]

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 

Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 

Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. 

Thanksgiving and Prayer

Eph 1:15  Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 

Eph 1:16  Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 

Eph 1:17  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 

Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, [Through Paul by The Risen Christ]

Eph 1:20  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 

Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 

Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, [Through Paul by The Risen Christ]

Eph 1:23  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. 

(Summarized Bible)  Synopsis of Ephesians 1:1-23

Contents: Believer’s position in grace. The prayer for knowledge and power.

Characters: Christ, God, Holy Spirit, Paul.

Conclusion: The believer is vitally united to Jesus Christ by the indwelling Spirit, through the redemptive work of the cross, and has in Him all spiritual blessings, including the assurance of an eternal inheritance and the working of His mighty power in and through him.

Key Word: Spiritual blessings, Eph_1:3.

Strong Verses: Eph_1:3, Eph_1:4, Eph_1:7, Eph_1:13, Eph_1:14, Eph_1:22, Eph_1:23.

Striking Facts: Eph_1:22-23. Jesus is Head of the Church which is His Body and His Bride. As Eve was of Adam’s body, yet was his bride, so the Church born out of His opened side, is both the Body and the Bride. This gives Him complete disposal of all the affairs of the true Church to the designs of His grace.

Psa 39:9  I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it. 

Psa 39:10  Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. 

Psa 39:11  When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah. 

Psa 39:12  Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. 

Psa 39:13  O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more. 

Psa 34:12  What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? 

Psa 34:13  Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. 

Psa 34:14  Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. 

Psa 34:15  The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. 

Psa 34:16  The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. 

Psa 34:17  The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. 

Psa 34:18  The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. 

Psa 34:19  Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. 

Psa 34:20  He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken. 

Psa 34:21  Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. 

Psa 34:22  The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. 

These Psalms are written to the Jews not to the Gentiles but they are written for our learning and admonition [An act or action of authoritative counsel or warning to be acknowledged by the reader (even though it was not directed to them) in knowing who did the talking and whom was the intended receiver of the message, that can be used in knowing the intent of that message]

Although the very people Jesus was sent to because of the covenants of God to them that they might receive those promise yet they, The Jews rejected Him then Romans through Coercion and even though they did this thing God gave them one last chance to repent as a nation by Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and power.

The Stoning of Stephen

Act 7:54  When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. 

Act 7:55  But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 

(Act 7:55 KJV)  But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

 (Cambridge Bible)  Acts 7:55

saw the glory of God] Some visible sign of God’s presence such as the Shechinah had been to the Jews of old. See Exo_16:10; Exo_24:17, in the latter of which passages it is described as like devouring fire. It is defined by the Jews as the concentration of God’s omnipresence.

and Jesus standing on the right hand of God] i.e. he was permitted to behold Jesus triumphing in the flesh in which He had been crucified. The position of standing rather than that of sitting as described elsewhere (Mat_26:64, &c.) may have been to indicate the readiness of Jesus to strengthen and help His martyr.

(Jamieson-Fausset-Brown)  Acts 7:55

But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God — You who can transfer to canvas such scenes as these, in which the rage of hell grins horribly from men, as they sit condemned by a frail prisoner of their own, and see heaven beaming from his countenance and opening full upon his view - I envy you, for I find no words to paint what, in the majesty of the divine text, is here so simply told. “But how could Stephen, in the council-chamber, see heaven at all? I suppose this question never occurred but to critics of narrow soul, one of whom [Meyer] conjectures that he saw it through the window! and another, of better mould, that the scene lay in one of the courts of the temple” [Alford]. As the sight was witnessed by Stephen alone, the opened heavens are to be viewed as revealed to his bright beaming spirit.

and Jesus standing on the right hand of God — Why “standing,” and not sitting, the posture in which the glorified Savior is elsewhere represented? Clearly, to express the eager interest with which He watched from the skies the scene in that council chamber, and the full tide of His Spirit which He was at that moment engaged in pouring into the heart of His heroical witness, till it beamed in radiance from his very countenance.

and Jesus standing on the right hand of God; of that glory which was a Symbol of him: Jesus being risen from the dead, and ascended on high, was set at the right hand of God, in human nature, and so was visible to the corporeal eye of Stephen; whose visual faculty was so extraordinarily enlarged and assisted, as to reach the body of Christ in the third heavens; where he was seen by him standing, to denote his readiness to assist him, and his indignation at his enemies. The return of Christ to fulfill the last seven years of pouring out HIS WRATH on all unbelievers of the sent Messiah to then establish His Kingdom on earth for a 1000 years as promised. BUT instead since the Jews rejected the will of God they now had become an enemy of Christ and lost their position with God as promised in Exodus through Moses.

Exo 19:3  And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 

Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. 

Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 

Exo 19:6  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. 

Exo 19:7  And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him. 

Exo 19:8  And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD. 

For the Jews were to bring salvation to the Gentiles unto God But they forfeited that position with God Then The Risen Christ standing up set a new dispensation in motion by calling out of the blasphemer, Saul of Tarsus,

appointing him to be anointed for the position liken unto Moses receiving the Law for the Jews Saul becoming the thirteenth Apostle of God called by The Risen Christ to be anointed to receive the hidden mysteries kept secret until the three years being revealed to Paul for the Gentile world in Arriba.  The dispensation of the Gospel of the Grace of God is the only way to receive Salvation in being Baptized into The Body of Christ by the Spirit of God and Sealed by the Holy Spirit through Paul’s Gospel forever His (1^st Cor.15:1>4) Christ now to the Gentiles is The HEAD of of The Body for He is not our KING He is Our HEAD, Know this study to show yourself approved unto God.  

Act 7:56  And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. 

Act 7:57  Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 

Act 7:58  And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. 

Act 7:59  And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 

Act 7:60  And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. 

At this very point the Time-line of the promises in the covenants to all the seeds of Abraham was halted and set aside because of the rejection of the sent Messiah by those that agreed in covenant with God now broke it. The stopping of this time-line for the Jew’s is directly charged to them as they now have become an enemy to the One who was to deliver them out of bondage and persecution from which they desired. Now because of their rejection they as a nation fall from their position as a called out nation and returned to the state as all other Gentiles in the world. If they are to be saved in the Body of Christ during this now dispensation of the Grace of God they have to come in as all other Gentiles for all have sin and come short of the Glory of God. Yet the Promises of God through the covenants are yet to be fulfilled and after this position of being set aside by God as the lost Gentiles are will be put back in the time line as it will restart for them after the fullness of the Gentiles have come in to God through Christ Jesus in The Body of Christ by Grace sealed by the Holy Spirit to be forever in Christ as sons and daughters of God through Christ by the will of the Father. Once the last person is Baptized into their position in The Body and sealed by God with the Holy Spirit The HEAD of the Body of Christ will be dispatched to retrieve His Body by the Father, to get and return back to the Father side and present His Body which will be with Him forever in the heavenlies.

The END of the Jewish position with the sent Messiah their King

The beginning of the Dispensation of the Grace of GOD to the Gentiles and by the catching away or Rapture of the Church age Body of Christ then it comes

Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 

Mat 24:14  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached [The same Gospel Jesus preached in MARK and that was preached by the 12 Apostles to the Jew’s only up until the dispensation of the Gospel of the Grace of God given to and through Paul the 13 Apostle of Christ for the Gentiles only] in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. [this is the last 7 years  of promis]

The Abomination of Desolation

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, (After the first 3 and ½ years into the last 7 years of promis) spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) [These unsaved Jew’s that flee, will be the ruminant that is saved after they recognize the Jesus that their forefathers had Him crucified through coercion of the Roman governor.]

[ Zec 13:6  And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friend]

Zec 13:8  And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. 

Zec 13:9  And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God. 

Rom 9:27  Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:

Him Whom They Have Pierced

Zec 12:10  And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 

Zec 12:11  In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 

Mat 24:16  Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 

Mat 24:17  Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 

Mat 24:18  Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 

1.  At the end of three and a half years, the Antichrist will enter the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem and declare himself to be God (Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15-18, & 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away {DEPARTURE} first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 

2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 

2.  The Jews will reject the Antichrist, and he will respond with an attempt to annihilate them, killing two-thirds of them in the process (Revelation 12:13-17 & Zechariah 13:8-9).

Zec 13:8  And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. 

Zec 13:9  And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God. 

3.  At the end of the Tribulation, when the Jews have come to the end of themselves, they will turn to God and receive Yeshua as their Messiah (Zechariah 12:10, Romans 9:27-28, & Romans 11:25-27).

Zec 12:10  And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 

Zec 12:11  In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 

After the RAPTURE The Marriage Supper of the Lamb

Rev 19:6  And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. 

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 

Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 

Rev 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. 

(Summarized Bible)  Synopsis of Revelation 19:1-21

Contents: Parenthetical chapter on what is taking place in heaven while the Tribulation rages. The alleluias, marriage of the Lamb, second coming in glory, Armageddon, doom of the beast, False Prophet, and kings.

Conclusion: During those days when the wrath of God is poured out upon the earth, the Bride of Christ will in heaven celebrate the long looked for marriage festivities, and arrayed in her cleansed garments shall be eternally united with Him Who is to be recognized in all the universe, and for all time, as King of King and Lord of Lords. When He comes forth to make an end of all evil, His Bride shall come with Him, associated in judgment, and later to rule with Him.

Key Word: Marriage supper, Rev_19:9. Armageddon, Rev_19:15.

Strong Verses: Rev_19:5, Rev_19:7, Rev_19:8, Rev_19:9.

Striking Facts: Rev_19:11-16. We have here a vision of the departure from heaven of Christ with His saints (previously caught up to be with Him—1Th_4:13-18) and with His angels preparatory to the catastrophe in which all world powers shall be smitten (Dan_2:34-35). On Christ’s head here we see many crowns (“diadems”) (cf. Rev_14:14) for the hour is now at hand when He is to be exalted and enthroned in His Kingdom, to “sit upon the throne of His father David.”

(Rev 19:7 KJV)  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

 (Cambridge Bible)  Revelation 19:7

The Marriage of the Lamb, Rev_19:7-9

7. honour] Better, the glory.

the marriage of the Lamb] The first suggestion of this image in the N. T. is in our Lord’s parables, St Mat_22:2; Mat_25:1-10: it is more fully worked out by St Paul, Eph_5:22-32. But men’s minds were prepared for it by the language of all the Prophets about the spiritual marriage of the Lord and Israel: still more, perhaps, by that of the 45th Psalm, rising so far above the royal marriage that no doubt furnished its occasion. And there is little doubt that the Song of Songs was already mystically interpreted among the Jews, though its claim to a place in the Canon was still disputed.

his wife] Called by St John the New Jerusalem, Rev_21:2, by St Paul both by that name, Gal_4:26, and more simply the Church, Eph_5:23 sqq.

 (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown)  Revelation 19:7

glad ... rejoice — Greek, “rejoice ... exult.”

give — so B and Andreas. But A reads, “we will give.”

glory — Greek, “the glory.”

the marriage of the Lamb is come — The full and final consummation is at Rev_21:2-9, etc. Previously there must be the overthrow of the beast, etc., at the Lord’s coming, the binding of Satan, the millennial reign, the loosing of Satan and his last overthrow, and the general judgment. The elect-Church, the heavenly Bride, soon after the destruction of the harlot, is transfigured at the Lord’s coming, and joins with Him in His triumph over the beast. On the emblem of the heavenly Bridegroom and Bride, compare Mat_22:2; Mat_25:6, Mat_25:10; 2Co_11:2. Perfect union with Him personally, and participation in His holiness; joy, glory, and kingdom, are included in this symbol of “marriage”; compare Song of Solomon everywhere. Besides the heavenly Bride, the transfigured, translated, and risen Church, reigning over the earth with Christ, there is also the earthly bride, Israel, in the flesh, never yet divorced, though for a time separated, from her divine husband, who shall then be reunited to the Lord, and be the mother Church of the millennial earth, Christianized through her. Note, we ought, as Scripture does, restrict the language drawn from marriage-love to the Bride, the Church as a whole; not use it as individuals in our relation to Christ, which Rome does in the case of her nuns. Individually, believers are effectually-called guests; collectively, they constitute the bride. The harlot divides her affections among many lovers: the bride gives hers exclusively to Christ.

(Rev 19:8 KJV)  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

 (C. I. Scofield)  Revelation 19:8

righteousness

The garment is Scripture is a symbol of righteousness. In the bad ethical sense it symbolizes self-righteousness (e.g) Isa_64:6; Php_3:6-8 the best that a moral and religious man under law could do). In the good ethical sense the garment symbolizes "the righteousness of God.. .upon all them that believe."

(See Scofield on Rom_3:21).

 (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown)  Revelation 19:8

granted — Though in one sense she “made herself ready,” having by the Spirit’s work in her put on “the wedding garment,” yet in the fullest sense it is not she, but her Lord, who makes her ready by “granting to her that she be arrayed in fine linen.” It is He who, by giving Himself for her, presents her to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, but holy and without blemish. It is He also who sanctifies her, naturally vile and without beauty, with the washing of water by the word, and puts His own comeliness on her, which thus becomes hers.

clean and white — so Andreas. But A and B transpose. Translate, “bright and pure”; at once brilliantly splendid and spotless as in the bride herself.

righteousness — Greek, “righteousnesses”; distributively used. Each saint must have this righteousness: not merely be justified, as if the righteousness belonged to the Church in the aggregate; the saints together have righteousnesses; namely, He is accounted as “the Lord our righteousness” to each saint on his believing, their robes being made white in the blood of the Lamb. The righteousness of the saint is not, as Alford erroneously states, inherent, but is imputed: if it were otherwise, Christ would be merely enabling the sinner to justify himself. Rom_5:18 is decisive on this. Compare Article XI, Church of England. The justification already given to the saints in title and unseen possession, is now GIVEN them in manifestation: they openly walk with Christ in white. To this, rather than to their primary justification on earth, the reference is here. Their justification before the apostate world, which had persecuted them, contrasts with the judgment and condemnation of the harlot. “Now that the harlot has fallen, the woman triumphs” [Auberlen]. Contrast with the pure fine linen (indicating the simplicity and purity) of the bride, the tawdry ornamentation of the harlot. Babylon, the apostate Church, is the antithesis to new Jerusalem, the transfigured Church of God. The woman (Rev_12:1-6), the harlot (Rev_17:1-7), the bride (Rev_19:1-10), are the three leading aspects of the Church.

(Rev 19:9 KJV)  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

 (Albert Barnes)  Revelation 19:9

And he saith unto me - The angel who made these representations to him. See Rev_19:10.

Write, Blessed are they - See the notes on Rev_14:13.

Which are called unto the marriage-supper of the Lamb - The idea of a festival, or a marriage-supper, was a familiar one to the Jews to represent the happiness of heaven, and is frequently found in the New Testament. Compare the Luk_14:15-16; Luk_16:22; Luk_22:16 notes; Mat_22:2 note. The image in the passage before us is that of many guests invited to a great festival.

And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God - Confirming all by a solemn declaration. The importance of what is here said; the desirableness of having it fixed in the mind, amidst the trials of life and the scenes of persecution through which the church was to pass, makes this solemn declaration proper. The idea is, that in all times of persecution - in every dark hour of despondency - the church, as such, and every individual member of the church, should receive it as a solemn truth never to be doubted, that the religion of Christ would finally prevail, and that all persecution and sorrow here would be followed by joy and triumph in heaven.

 (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown)  Revelation 19:9

He — God by His angel saith unto me.

called — effectually, not merely externally. The “unto,” or into,” seems to express this: not merely invited to (Greek, “epi”), but called INTO, so as to be partakers of (Greek, “eis”); compare 1Co_1:9.

marriage supper — Greek, “the supper of the marriage.” Typified by the Lord’s Supper.

true — Greek, “genuine”; veritable sayings which shall surely be fulfilled, namely, all the previous revelations.

 (John Gill)  Revelation 19:9

And he saith unto me, write,.... What follows, because of the importance of it, and to show the certainty of it, and that it may be regarded and remembered: the person speaking is either the voice from the throne, Rev_19:5 or the angel that attended John all along, and showed him this revelation, Rev_1:1 or the angel that proposed to show him the judgment of the great whore, Rev_17:1.

Blessed are they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb; by which is meant the Gospel ministry and ordinances, and communion in them, to which the Jews will be called to partake of in the latter day; these at the first of the Gospel dispensation are called a "dinner", to which, the Jews were invited, but refused to come, and now a "supper", because made in the evening of that dispensation; to which being called with an effectual calling, they will come and partake of it; on which account they are pronounced blessed, being the bride, the Lamb's wife, having on his righteousness, partaking of his benefits, and being called unto, and made meet for eternal glory and happiness; or else these may design converted Gentiles, who will be invited to join with them, and will.

And he saith unto me, these are the true sayings of God; the Syriac version reads, "these my true words are of God"; being true, it is plain they are of God, and being of God, it is certain they are true; for he is the God of truth, and cannot lie, and therefore may be depended upon.

 (Summarized Bible)  Synopsis of Revelation 19:1-21

Contents: Parenthetical chapter on what is taking place in heaven while the Tribulation rages. The alleluias, marriage of the Lamb, second coming in glory, Armageddon, doom of the beast, False Prophet, and kings.

Conclusion: During those days when the wrath of God is poured out upon the earth, the Bride of Christ will in heaven celebrate the long looked for marriage festivities, and arrayed in her cleansed garments shall be eternally united with Him Who is to be recognized in all the universe, and for all time, as King of King and Lord of Lords. When He comes forth to make an end of all evil, His Bride shall come with Him, associated in judgment, and later to rule with Him.

Key Word: Marriage supper, Rev_19:9. Armageddon, Rev_19:15.

Strong Verses: Rev_19:5, Rev_19:7, Rev_19:8, Rev_19:9.

Striking Facts: Rev_19:11-16. We have here a vision of the departure from heaven of Christ with His saints (previously caught up to be with Him—1Th_4:13-18) and with His angels preparatory to the catastrophe in which all world powers shall be smitten (Dan_2:34-35). On Christ’s head here we see many crowns (“diadems”) (cf. Rev_14:14) for the hour is now at hand when He is to be exalted and enthroned in His Kingdom, to “sit upon the throne of His father David.”

By Faith in the Believing of the Gospel of Paul’s we are instantly Baptized by The Holy Spirit into The Body Of Christ, then the Father seals us with the Earnest of His Spirit to be in Him forever with Him as One with Him.

2Co_1:22  Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

2Co_5:5  Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation:[1^st Cor. 15:1 > 4] in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 

Eph_1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. [The rapture]

(Rom 6:3 KJV)  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

(1Co 12:13 KJV)  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

(Gal 3:27 KJV)  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

The Body of Christ in the world (Us believers) is for the service for, and manifestation of Christ, and the Body is to serve the Head, whose Body we are.

1Co 12:13. The baptism with the Spirit forms the Body by uniting believers to Christ, the risen and glorified Head, and to each other.

Being in The Body we are totally with HIM by bond of the SPIRIT.

Rom_6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Not a water Baptizem)

Eph 4:4  There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 

Eph 4:5  One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 

Eph 4:6  One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 

Eph 4:7  But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 

(Summarized Bible)  Synopsis of Ephesians 4:1-32

Contents: Walk and service of the believer in Christ. Ministry of gifts of Christ to His Body.

Characters: Christ, Holy Spirit, God, Paul.

Conclusion: Considering to what state and condition God has called us in Christ Jesus, let us approve ourselves good Christians, living up to our profession and calling. As members of His Body, the Holy Spirit will endue us with spiritual gifts for His service that we might confirm and build up others in the faith and that we might dispense the saving doctrines of His grace to the unsaved.

Key Word: Walk, Eph_4:1.

Strong Verses: Eph_4:1, Eph_4:17, Eph_4:22, Eph_4:23, Eph_4:24, Eph_4:30, Eph_4:32.

Striking Facts: Eph_4:8. When Christ’s body was laid in the grave, His spirit descended into Hades (the abode of departed spirits), and proclaimed the victory of the cross. At His ascension to the Father after three days He delivered from Hades the spirits of the justified and took them to Paradise above, leaving the unsaved spirits in Hades. The spirit of the Christian at death now goes to be with Him above. Php_1:23; 2Co_5:9. [This was the first part of the first resurrection called the first-fruit offering or the first Born of the dead whereby the second part of the first resurrection is the harvest of the Body of Christ then the third part will be that of the O.T. Saints as well as the martyrs of tribulation to enter the Millennial Kingdom.

Dan 12:7  And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. 

Dan 12:8  And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? 

Dan 12:9  And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 

Dan 12:10  Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. 

Dan 12:11  And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. 

Dan 12:12  Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. 

Dan 12:13  But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. 

 (E. W. Bullinger)  Daniel 12:13

the end. This is the sole object of the hierophant’s words from Dan_10:14 onward.

rest: in death.

stand: i.e. in resurrection.

(Albert Barnes)  Daniel 12:13

But go thou thy way until the end be - See Dan_12:4, Dan_12:9. The meaning is, that nothing more would be communicated, and that he must wait for the disclosures of future times. When that should occur which is here called “the end,” he would understand this more fully and perfectly. The language implies, also, that he would be present at the development which is here called “the end;” and that then he would comprehend clearly what was meant by these revelations. This is such language as would be used on the supposition that the reference was to far-distant times, and to the scenes of the resurrection and the final judgment, when Daniel would be present.

For thou shalt rest - Rest now; and perhaps the meaning is, shalt enjoy a long season of repose before the consummation shall occur. In Dan_12:2, he had spoken of those who “sleep in the dust of the earth;” and the allusion here would seem to be the same as applied to Daniel. The period referred to was far distant. Important events were to intervene. The affairs of the world were to move on for ages before the “end”’ should come. There would be scenes of revolution, commotion, and tumult - momentous changes before that consummation would be reached. But during that long interval Daniel would “rest.” He would quietly and calmly “sleep in the dust of the earth” - in the grave. He would be agitated by none of these troubles - disturbed by none of these changes, for he would peacefully slumber in the hope of being awaked in the resurrection. This also is such language as would be employed by one who believed in the doctrine of the resurrection, and who meant to say that he with whom he was conversing would repose in the tomb while the affairs of the world would move on in the long period that would intervene between the time when he was then speaking and the “end” or consummation of all things - the final resurrection. I do not see that it is possible to explain the language on any other supposition than this. The word rendered “shalt rest” - תנוּח tânûach - would be well applied to the rest in the grave. So it is used in Job_3:13, “Then had I been at rest;” Job_3:17, “There the weary be at rest.”

And stand in thy lot - In thy place. The language is derived from the lot or portion which falls to one - as when a lot is cast, or anything is determined by lot. Compare Jdg_1:3; Isa_57:6; Psa_125:3; Psa_16:5. Gesenius (Lexicon) renders this, “And arise to thy lot in the end of days; i. e., in the Messiah’s kingdom.” Compare Rev_20:6. The meaning is, that he need have no apprehension for himself as to the future. That was not now indeed disclosed to him; and the subject was left in designed obscurity. He would “rest,” perhaps a long time, in the grave. But in the far-distant future he would occupy ills appropriate place; he would rise from his rest; he would appear again on the stage of action; he would have the lot and rank which properly belonged to him. What idea this would convey to the mind of Daniel it is impossible now to determine, for he gives no statement on that point; but it is clear that it is such language as would be appropriately used by one who believed in the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and who meant to direct the mind onward to those far-distant and glorious scenes when the dead would all arise, and when each one of the righteous would stand up in his appropriate place or lot.

At the end of the days - After the close of the periods referred to, when the consummation of all things should take place. It is impossible not to regard this as applicable to a resurrection from the dead; and there is every reason to suppose that Daniel would so understand it, for

(a) if it be interpreted as referring to the close of the persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes, it must be so understood. This prophecy was uttered about 534 years b.c. The death of Antiochus occurred 164 b.c. The interval between the prophecy and that event was, therefore, 370 years. It is impossible to believe that it was meant by the angel that Daniel would continue to live during all that time, so that he should then “stand in his lot,” not having died; or that he did continue to live during all that period, and that at the end of it he “stood in his lot,” or occupied the post of distinction and honor which is referred to in this language. But if this had been the meaning, it would have implied that he would, at that time, rise from the dead.

(b) If it be referred, as Gesenius explains it, to the times of the Messiah, the same thing would follow - for that time was still more remote; and, if it be supposed that Daniel understood it as relating to those times, it must also be admitted that he believed that there would be a resurrection, and that he would then appear in his proper place.

(c) There is only one other supposition, and that directly involves the idea that the allusion is to the general resurrection, as referred to in Dan_12:3, and that Daniel would have part in that. This is admitted by Lengerke, by Maurer, and even by Bertholdt, to be the meaning, though he applies it to the reign of the Messiah. No other interpretation, therefore, can be affixed to this than that it implies the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and that the mind of Daniel was directed onward to that. With this great and glorious doctrine the book appropriately closes. The hope of such a resurrection was fitted to soothe the mind of Daniel in view of all the troubles which he then experienced, and of all the darkness which rested on the future, for what we most want in the troubles and in the darkness of the present life is the assurance that, after having “rested” in the grave - in the calm sleep of the righteous - we shall “awake” in the morning of the resurrection, and shall “stand in our lot” - or in our appropriate place, as the acknowledged children of God, “at the end of days” - when time shall be no more, and when the consummation of all things shall have arrived.

In reference to the application of this prophecy, the following general remarks may be made:

I. One class of interpreters explain it literally as applicable to Antiochus Epiphanes. Of this class is Prof. Stuart, who supposes that its reference to Antiochus can be shown in the following manner: “The place which this passage occupies shows that the terminus a quo, or period from which the days designated are to be reckoned, is the same as that to which reference is made in the previous verse. This, as we have already seen, is the period when Antiochus, by his military agent Apollonius, took possession of Jerusalem, and put a stop to the temple worship there. The author of the first book of Maccabees, who is allowed by all to deserve credit as an historian, after describing the capture of Jerusalem by the agent of Antiochus (in the year 145 of the Seleucidae - 168 b.c.), and setting before the reader the widespread devastation which ensued, adds, respecting the invaders: ‘They shed innocent blood around the sanctuary, and defiled the holy place; and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled away: the sanctuary thereof was made desolate; her feasts were turned into mourning, her sabbaths into reproach, and her honor into disgrace;’ 1 Macc. 1:37-39. To the period when this state of things commenced we must look, then, in order to find the date from which the 1335 days are to be reckoned. Supposing now that Apollonius captured Jerusalem in the latter part of May, 168 b.c., the 1335 days would expire about the middle of February, in the year 164 b.c. Did any event take place at this period which would naturally call forth the congratulations of the prophet, as addressed in the text before us to the Jewish people?

“History enables us to answer this question. Late in the year 165 b.c., or at least very early in the year 164 b.c., Antiochus Epiphanes, learning that there were great insurrections and disturbances in Armenia and Persia, hastened thither with a portion of his armies, while the other portion was commissioned against Palestine. He was victorious for a time; but being led by cupidity to seek for the treasures that were laid up in the temple of the Persian Diana at Elymais, he undertook to rifle them. The inhabitants of the place, however, rose en masse and drove him out of the city; after which he fled to Ecbatana. There he heard of the total discomfiture by Judas Maccabeus of his troops in Palestine, which were led on by Micanor and Timotheus. In the rage occasioned by this disappointment, he uttered the most horrid blasphemies against the God of the Jews, and threatened to make Jerusalem the burying-place of the nation. Immediately he directed his course toward Judea; and designing to pass through Babylon, he made all possible haste in his journey. In the meantime he had a fall from his chariot which injured him; and soon after, being seized with a mortal sickness in his bowels (probably the cholera), he died at Tabae, in the mountainous country, near the confines of Babylonia and Persia. Report stated, even in ancient times, that Antiochus was greatly distressed on his death-bed by the sacrilege which he had committed.

“Thus perished the most bitter and bloody enemy which ever rose up against the Jewish nation and their worship. By following the series of events, it is easy to see that his death took place some time in February of the year 164 b.c. Assuming that the commencement or terminus a quo of the 1335 days is the same as that of the 1290 days, it is plain that they terminate at the period when the death of Antiochus is said to have taken place. ‘It was long before the commencement of the spring,’ says Froelich, ‘that Antiochus passed the Euphrates, and made his attack on Elymais: so that no more probable time can be fixed upon for his death than at the expiration of the 1335 days; i. e., some time in February of 164 b.c. No wonder that the angel pronounced those of the pious and believing Jews to be blessed who lived to see such a day of deliverance.” - Hints on Prophecy, pp. 95-97.

There are, however, serious and obvious difficulties in regard to this view, and to the supposition that this is all that is intended here - objections and difficulties of so much force that most Christian interpreters have supposed that something further was intended. Among these difficulties and objections are the following:

(a) The air of mystery which is thrown over the whole matter by the angel, as if he were reluctant to make the communication; as if something more was meant than the words expressed; as if he shrank from disclosing all that he knew, or that might be said. If it referred to Antiochus alone, it is difficult to see why so much mystery was made of it, and why he was so unwilling to allude further to the subject - as if it were something that did not pertain to the matter in hand.

(b) The detached and fragmentary character of what is here said. It stands aside from the main communication. It is uttered after all that the angel had intended to reveal had been said. It is brought out at the earnest request of Daniel, and then only in hints, and in enigmatical language, and in such a manner that it would convey no distinct conception to his mind. This would seem to imply that it referred to something else than the main point that had been under consideration.

(c) The difference of time specified here by the angel. This relates to two points:

1. To what would occur after the “closing of the daily sacrifice, and the setting up of the abomination of desolation.” The angel now says that what he here refers to would extend to a period of twelve hundred and ninety days. But in the accounts before given, the time specified had uniformly been “a time, and times, and half a time;” that is, three years and a half, or twelve hundred and sixty days - differing from this by thirty days. Why should this thirty days have been added here if it referred to the time when the sanctuary would be cleansed, and the temple worship restored? Professor Stuart (Hints on Prophecy, pp. 93, 94) supposes that it was in order that the exact period might be mentioned. But this is liable to objections. For

(a) the period of three and a half years was sufficiently exact;

(b) there was no danger of mistake on the subject, and no such error had been made as to require correction;

(c) this was not of sufficient importance to justify the manifest anxiety of the angel in the case, or to furnish any answer to the inquiries of Daniel, since so small an item of information would not relieve the mind of Daniel.

The allusion, then, would seem to be something else than what had been referred to by the “three and a half years.”

2. But there is a greater difficulty in regard to the other period - the 1335 days, for

(a) that stands wholly detached from what had been said.

(b) The beginning of that period - the terminus a quo - is not specified. It is true that Prof. Stuart (Hints on Prophecy, p. 95) supposes that this must be the same as that mentioned in the previous verse, but this is not apparent in the communication.

It is an isolated statement, and would seem to refer to some momentous and important period in the future which would be characterized as a glorious or “blessed” period in the world’s history, or of such a nature that he ought to regard himself as peculiarly happy who should be permitted to live then. Now it is true that with much probability this may be shown, as Prof. Stuart has done in the passage quoted above, to accord well with the time when Antiochus died, as that was an important event, and would be so regarded by those pious Jews who would be permitted to live to that time; but it is true also that the main thing for rejoicing was the conquest of Judas Maccabeus and the cleansing of the sanctuary, and that the death of Antiochus does not seem to meet the fulness of what is said here. If that were all, it is not easily conceivable why the angel should have made so much a mystery of it, or why he should have been so reluctant to impart what he knew. The whole matter, therefore, appears to have a higher importance than the mere death of Antiochus and the delivery of the Jews from his persecutions.

II. Another class, and it may be said Christian interpreters generally, have supposed that there was here a reference to some higher and more important events in the far-distant future. But it is scarcely needful to say, that the opinions entertained have beer almost as numerous as the writers on the prophecies, and that the judgment of the world has not settled down on any one particular method of the application. It would not be profitable to state the opinions which have been advanced; still less to attempt to refute them - most of them being fanciful conjectures. These may be seen detailed in great variety in Poole’s Synopsis. It is not commonly pretended that these opinions are based on any exact interpretation of the words, or on any certain mode of determining their correctness, and those who hold them admit that it must be reserved to future years - to their fulfillment to understand the exact meaning of the prophecy.

Thus Prideaux, who supposes that this passage refers to Antiochus, frankly says: “Many things may be said for the probable solving of this difficulty (the fact that the angel here refers to an additional thirty days above the three years and a half, which he says can neither be applied to Antiochus nor to Anti-christ), but I shall offer none of them. Those that shall live to see the extirpatton of Anti-christ, which will be at the end of those years, will best be able to unfold these matters, it being of the nature of these prophecies not thoroughly to be understood until they are thoroughly fulfilled.” - Vol. iii. 283, 284. So Bishop Newton, who supposes that the setting up of the abomination of desolation here refers to the Mahometans invading and devastating Christendom, and that the religion of Mahomet will prevail in the East for the space of 1260 years, and then a great revolution - “perhaps the restoration of the Jews, perhaps the destruction of Antichrist” - indicated by the 1290 years, will occur; and that this will be succeeded by another still more glorious event - perhaps “the conversion of the Gentiles, and the beginning of the millennium, or reign of the saints on the earth” - indicated by the 1335 years - says, notwithstanding, “What is the precise time of their beginning, and consequently of their ending, as well as what are the great and signal events which will take place at the end of each period, we can only conjecture; time alone can with certainty discover.” - Prophecies, p. 321.

These expressions indicate the common feeling of those who understand these statements as referring to future events; and the reasonings of those who have attempted to make a more specific application have been such as to demonstrate the wisdom of this modesty, and to make us wish that it had been imitated by all. At all events, such speculations on this subject have been so wild and unfounded; so at variance with all just rules of interpretation; so much the fruit of mere fancy, and so incapable of solid support by reasoning, as to admonish us that no more conjectures should be added to the number.

III. The sum of all that it seems to me can be said on the matter is this:

(1) That it is probable, for the reasons above stated, that the angel referred to other events than the persecutions and the death of Antiochus, for if that was all, the additional information which he gave by the specification of the period of 1260 days, and 1290 days, and 1335 days, was quite too meagre to be worthy of a formal and solemn revelation from God. In other words, if this was all, there was no correspondence between the importance of the events and the solemn manner in which the terms of the communication were made. There was no such importance in these three periods as to make these separate disclosures necessary. If this were all, the statements were such indeed as might be made by a weak man attaching importance to trifles, but not such as would be made by an inspired angel professing to communicate great and momentous truths.

(2) Either by design, or because the language which he would employ to designate higher events happened to be such as would note those periods also, the angel employed terms which, in the main, would be applicable to what would occur under the persecutions of Antiochus, while, at the same time, his eye was on more important and momentous events in the far-distant future. Thus the three years and a half would apply with sufficient accuracy to the time between the taking away of the daily sacrifice, and the expurgation of the temple by Judas Maccabeus, and then, also, it so happens that the thirteen hundred and thirty-five days would designate with sufficient accuracy the death of Antiochus, but there is nothing in the history to which the period of twelve hundred and ninety days could with particular propriety be applied, and there is no reason in the history why reference should have been made to that.

(3) The angel had his eye on three great and important epochs lying apparently far in the future, and constituting important periods in the history of the church and the world. These were, respectively, composed of 1260, 1290, and 1335 prophetic days, that is, years. Whether they had the same beginning or point of reckoning - termini a quo - and whether they would, as far as they would respectively extend, cover the same space of time, he does not intimate with any certainty, and, of course, if this is the correct view it would be impossible now to determine, and the development is to be left to the times specified. One of them, the 1260 years, or the three years and a half, we can fix, we think, by applying it to the Papacy. See the notes at Dan_7:24-28. But in determining even this, it was necessary to wait until the time and course of events should disclose its meaning; and in reference to the other two periods, doubtless still future, it may be necessary now to wait until events, still to occur, shall disclose what was intended by the angel. The first has been made clear by history: there can be no doubt that the others in the same manner will be made equally clear. That this is the true interpretation, and that this is the view which the angel desired to convey to the mind of Daniel, seems to be clear from such expressions as these occurring in the prophecy: “Seal the book to the time of the end,”

Dan_12:4; “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased,” Dan_12:4; “the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end,” Dan_12:9; “many shall be made white,” Dan_12:1-13: 10; “the wise shall understand,” Dan_12:10; “go thou thy way until the end be,” Dan_12:13. This language seems to imply that these things could not then be understood, but that when the events to which they refer should take place they would be plain to all.

(4) Two of those events or periods - the 1290 days and the 1335 days - seem to lie still in the future, and the full understanding of the prediction is to be reserved for developments yet to be made in the history of the world. Whether it be by the conversion of the Jews and the Gentiles, respectively, as Bishop Newton supposes, it would be vain to conjecture, and time must determine. That such periods - marked and important periods - are to occur in the future, or in some era now commenced but not yet completed, I am constrained to believe; and that it will be possible, in time to come, to determine what they are, seems to me to be as undoubted. But where there is nothing certain to be the basis of calculation, it is idle to add other conjectures to those already made, and it is wiser to leave the matter, as much of the predictions respecting the future must of necessity be left to time and to events to make them clear.

Let me add, in the conclusion of the exposition of this remarkable book: -

(a) That the mind of Daniel is left at the close of all the Divine communications to him looking into the far-distant future, Dan_12:13. His attention is directed onward. Fragments of great truths had been thrown out, with little apparent connection, by the angel; hints of momentous import had been suggested respecting great doctrines to be made clearer in future ages. A time was to occur, perhaps in the far-distant future, when the dead were to be raised; when all that slept in the dust of the earth should awake; when the righteous should shin e as the brightness of the firmament, and when he himself should “stand in his lot” - sharing the joys of the blessed, and occupying the position which would be appropriate to him. With this cheering prospect the communications of the angel to him are closed. Nothing could be better fitted to comfort his heart in a land of exile: nothing better fitted to elevate his thoughts.

(b) In the same manner it is proper that we should look onward. All the revelations of God terminate in this manner; all are designed and adapted to direct the mind to far-distant and most glorious scenes in the future. We have all that Daniel had; and we have what Daniel had not - the clear revelation of the gospel. In that gospel are stated in a still more clear manner those glorious truths respecting the future which are fitted to cheer us in time of trouble, to elevate our minds amidst the low scenes of earth, and to comfort and sustain us on the bed of death. With much more distinctness than Daniel saw them, we are permitted to contemplate the truths respecting the resurrection of the dead, the scenes of the final judgment, and the future happiness of the righteous. We have now knowledge of the resurrection of the Redeemer, and, through him, the assurance that all his people will be raised up to honor and glory; and though, in reference to the resurrection of the dead, and the future glory of the righteous, there is much that is still obscure, yet there is all that is necessary to inspire us with hope, and to stimulate us to endcavour to obtain the crown of life.

(c) It is not improper, therefore, to close the exposition of this book with the expression of a wish that what was promised to Daniel may occur to us who read his words - that “we may stand in our lot at the end of days;” that when all the scenes of earth shall have passed away in regard to us, and the end of the world itself shall have come, it may be our happy portion to occupy a place among the redeemed and to stand accepted before God. To ourselves, if we are truly righteous through our Redeemer, we may apply the promise made to Daniel; and for his readers the author can express no higher wish than that this lot may be theirs. If the exposition of this book shall be so blessed as to confirm any in the belief of the great truths of revelation, and lead their minds to a more confirmed hope in regard to these future glorious scenes; if by dwelling on the firm piety, the consummate wisdom, and the steady confidence in God evinced by this remarkable man, their souls shall be more established in the pursuit of the same piety, wisdom, and confidence in God; and if it shall lead the minds of any to contemplate with a more steady and enlightened faith the scenes which are yet to occur on our earth, when the saints shall reign, or in heaven, when all the children of God shall be gathered there from all lands, the great object of these studies will have been accomplished, and the labor which has been bestowed upon it will not have been in vain.

To these high and holy purposes I now consecrate these reflections on the book of Daniel, with an earnest prayer that He, from whom all blessings come, may be pleased so to accept this exposition of one of the portions of his revealed truth, as to make it the means of promoting the interests of truth and piety in the world; with a grateful sense of his goodness in allowing me to complete it, and with thankfulness that I have been permitted for so many hours, in the preparation of this work, to contemplate the lofty integrity, the profound wisdom, the stern and unyielding virtue, and the humble piety of this distinguished saint and eminent statesman of ancient time. He is under a good influence, and he is likely to have his own piety quickened, and his own purposes of unflinching integrity and faithfulness, and of humble devotion to God strengthened, who studies the writings and the character of the prophet Daniel.

I believe that after the devastation of the earth from the tribulation period with destruction Nuclear pollution and the innumerable amount of trash left after the fact that Christ will before He takes those last saints to be raised from the dead, He could do as was done for Adam, of the garden of Eden was completed in its entirety just as a father and mother would make a special place for their unborn child to be finished for the entrance of that loved one, to enter an  ,,

Rom_6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Rom_6:8  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

Rom_8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Rom_8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

1Co_7:12  But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.

2Co_6:1  We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

2Co_8:18  And we have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches;

2Co_11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

2Co_12:18  I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?

2Co_13:4  For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.

Gal_1:18  Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.

Gal_2:13  And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.

Eph_6:9  And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.

Col_2:12  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

Col_2:13  And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

Col_3:4  When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

1Th_4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

1Th_5:10  Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

2Th_3:14  And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.

2Ti_2:11  It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:

2Ti_2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

Heb_11:9  By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: