The Oracles of God (No. 184)

Christian Churches of God No. 184

The Oracles of God

(Edition 3.0 19961214-20000624-20110625-20110823)

Some groups follow the rabbinical calendar and its dates for the annual Holy Days of the Bible because Herbert Armstrong decided the Jews have sole authority for the determination of these dates. This decision resulted from his inability to find any basis for the calendar in the Bible and from Paul's reference in Romans to the Jews being the keepers of the "oracles of God", which he assumed included the calendar. This paper examines these "oracles of God".

Christian Churches of God PO Box 369, WODEN ACT 2606, AUSTRALIA Email: [email protected]

(Copyright © 1996, 1998, 2011 Wade Cox) This paper may be freely copied and distributed provided it is copied in total with no alterations or deletions. The publisher’s name and address and the copyright notice must be included. No charge may be levied on recipients of distributed copies. Brief quotations may be embodied in critical articles and reviews without breaching copyright. This paper is available from the World Wide Web page: http://www.logon.org and http://www.ccg.org Page 2 The Oracles of God

The Oracles of God

God chose to speak to humanity through His for us, that apart from us they should not servants. The established chain of revelation be made perfect (Heb. 11:39-40). went from Adam through the patriarchs to Noah and then to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God spoke through the patriarchs and the God chose to establish a people through prophets and gave His laws and His which He would enshrine His laws and commands and His plan to them but they did through which His plan of Salvation would be not receive of the promise, and only through revealed. and with us could they be made perfect.

The system was revealed and followed by The perfection of the patriarchs and prophets faith (Heb. 11:1-40). The elders received good was given through the Church as the Church report by faith (Heb. 11:2). By faith Abel’s was given the Holy Spirit and the eldership of sacrifice was accepted as more worthy than the Church and the people. The Scriptures, Cain’s offering. Enoch was removed so that and particularly the law, are the oracles of he would not see death because he pleased the God. The oracles were given to the people of God (Heb. 11:5). God dealt with the God through the prophets and those prophets patriarchs through faith and established His were of Israel. The end of the oracles of God laws through Moses who was saved because in the first phase occurred with the prophets his parents were not afraid of a king’s Ezra and Nehemiah. The Old Testament was commandment (Heb. 11:23). Moses through finished with these people. God was silent faith chose not to be called the son of from this end phase of the Old Testament Pharaoh’s daughter but to suffer affliction revelation until He spoke through His with the people of God. He forsook Egypt and ministering spirits to Zacharias, the father of endured, seeing the glory of the invisible John the Baptist (Lk. 1:5-30). Messenger of God. God had spoken, through His servant Daniel, By faith the people and the aliens with them of the anointed ones of the building of the crossed the Red Sea and others were drowned. Temple. The prophecy in Daniel 9:25 is By faith they entered the Promised Land. By mistranslated in the KJV to refer to Messiah faith they were assisted by Rahab the harlot as the anointed one and the text is obscured. who did not perish with the disobedient (Heb. The text, in fact, refers to two anointed ones; 11:29-30). By faith the judges and prophets one at the end of seven weeks of years and the conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, other at the end of sixty-two weeks of years. received promises, stopped the mouths of The timing refers to the construction of the lions, quenched fires, escaped the sword, won Temple and its cessation as the instrument of strength from weakness, became mighty in God. Daniel 9:25-27 says: war and put foreign armies to flight. Women Daniel 9:25-27 Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the word to restore and received their dead by resurrection and some build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a were tortured refusing to accept release so that prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty- they might rise again to a better life. Others two weeks it shall be built again with squares and 26 suffered mocking and scourging, chains and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty- imprisonment. They were stoned, sawn in two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off, and two, put to the sword, dressed in skins of shall have nothing; and the people of the prince animals, and were destitute, afflicted and ill- who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to treated. They wandered over deserts and the end there shall be war; desolations are decreed. 27 mountains living in dens and caves. The world And he shall make a strong covenant with many was not worthy of them. for one week; and for half of the week he shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease; and upon the All of these people, though well attested by wing of abominations shall come one who makes their faith, did not receive what was promised desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the since God had foreseen something better desolator. (RSV) The Oracles of God Page 3

fought pitched battles in the streets for Note the true text here refers to the seven retention of power and the system was weeks of years from the order to construct the entirely corrupt. Temple to the anointed one. This anointed one, which is what the term Messiah means From 63/4 CE the Church began to leave and hence the application to Jesus Christ Jerusalem for Pella and beyond. The (Christ being the Greek form meaning priesthood and the nation were entirely anointed one), is actually Nehemiah. He is corrupt and God commenced to destroy the seen by Jewish history as a second Moses. He nation/tribe of Judah and send it into captivity. restored the law and the testimony. He From 1 Nisan 70 CE Jerusalem was besieged finalised the canon and his work is the last of and by 1 Nisan 71 CE the Temple and the city the Old Testament. The time of the were destroyed. This destruction commenced construction commences not from the reign of exactly forty years after the death of Christ in Darius I or Darius Hystaspes but from Darius 30 CE. This period equates, on a year for a II. Artaxerxes I stopped construction on the day basis, with the warning to Nineveh. Temple (Ezra 4:23-24). The construction Nineveh repented and Judah did not repent. commenced in the second year of the reign of Christ said that the men of Nineveh would rise Darius II (Ezra 4:24 to 6:12). The Temple was at the resurrection and condemn Judah finished in the sixth year of his reign (Ezra because something greater than Jonah was 6:13-15). with or sent to them and they did not repent (Mat. 12:38-41). The relationship of the sign Seven weeks of years from the decree of this of Jonah to the ministry of Christ is on a year king takes us to the year of the provisioning of for a day basis. The relationship is obscured Nehemiah by Artaxerxes II (not Artaxerxes I by the false teaching of the three and a half as is commonly taught). years of Messiah’s ministry based on a complete misunderstanding of Daniel 9:25-27. This period saw the end of the Old Testament The theology of the split week of years is also canon in this sequence of the construction of a false prophecy that has no basis in history or the Temple. This was the restoration of the in fact. The seventy weeks of years went from law under the last Old Testament prophet of the decree of Darius II to the destruction of God. He was the last anointed one of the Old the Temple in 70 CE. It related to the closure Testament system. of the canon and the restoration in the anointed one, Nehemiah, and the close of the The sequence of the construction and the period of grace of the physical Temple and of history are dealt with in the paper The Sign of the nation of Judah at the end of the period in Jonah and the History of the Reconstruction 63-70 CE. Judah was removed into captivity of the Temple (No. 13). and their authority was removed.

The next anointed one, referred to in Daniel The period of the week of years from 63/4 CE 9:25-27, refers to the anointed one after the to 70 CE is mirrored also in the fall of the sixty-two weeks of years. Thus seven weeks nations in the last days. This aspect is derived of years plus sixty-two weeks of years equals from the fall of Jericho (see the paper The sixty-nine weeks of years. This period ends in Fall of Jericho (No. 142)) and is explained in 63 CE. The anointed one cut off but not for the paper WWIII Part III: Commencement of himself was James, bishop of Jerusalem and Hostilities (No. 299C_1) and WWIII Part III: brother of Jesus Christ. He was martyred in 63 The Sequence of the Wars of the End (No. CE for the faith and from this year the final 299C_2). The implications are also to be week of years commenced, leading to the found in the sign of Jonah and the seventy destruction of the physical Temple. The end weeks of years. These signs or prophecies are of the seventy weeks of years coincided with quite far reaching. They affect the entire the forty years allocated for repentance to notion of authority as it applies to the Judah. The nation did not repent and indeed, priesthood and the nation of both Israel and of in this last week of years, the High Priests Judah. The transfer of authority was complete Page 4 The Oracles of God and, as we will see, it was affected from the that the judgment should be handed to nation of Israel to the Church. For this reason subordinates. This was done through the the rabbinical authorities supported the false elders. The council of the elders held teaching of the seventy weeks of years from judgment at least from that day forward in the mistranslation of Daniel 9:25-27 even Israel as the Sanhedrin. The elders were adopting the false teaching themselves in the assembled as a council of seventy from account of the construction of the Temple in Exodus 24:1,9. The seventy were spite of the clear direction of Ezra. 1Esdras accompanied by Nathan and Abihu and were was seemingly written in support of such false in effect seventy-two. This number was to be interpretation but it was never included in the constant in Israel. The seventy were referred canon. Judah knew that the false teaching to as the seventy but numbered in excess. The covered up the real sign of Jonah and the fact traditional number is often held to be seventy- that they had been sent a prophet of God, in one but we see from Exodus and also from fact the greatest of the messengers God could Luke 10:1,17 that it was seventy [two] or have sent. They killed him and were destroyed hebdomekonta [duo] from the Greek text. for that fact. Whether Judah accepted that Christ was the Messiah or not is irrelevant to Exodus 24:1-18 And he said unto Moses, Come up the fact that he was a prophet of God. The unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and time frame of the ministry of John the Baptist 2 and Christ, who acted as two witnesses worship ye afar off. And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; against Judah, was on a year for a day basis to 3 neither shall the people go up with him. And that of Jonah. The period for repentance given Moses came and told the people all the words of to Judah was the same as that given to the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the Nineveh on a year for a day basis. The priests people answered with one voice, and said, All the and the nation did not repent and they were words which the LORD hath said will we do. 4 And destroyed for that fact. The true history of the Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose reconstruction and the seventy weeks of years up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve demonstrate that fact and they are without 5 excuse. It suits Judaism and Trinitarian tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, Christianity to disguise the real facts of the and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the 6 matter in this false scenario. The Church of LORD. And Moses took half of the blood, and God, over recent years, has aided and abetted put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled 7 false prophecy in spite of the clear words of on the altar. And he took the book of the Scripture and frustrated the truth and, hence, covenant, and read in the audience of the people: the possible conversion of Judah and Israel. and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. 8 And Moses took the blood, The Authority of Israel and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made 9 Jesus Christ gave the law to Moses at Sinai with you concerning all these words. Then went (see the paper Pentecost at Sinai (No. 115)). up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 10 From the giving of the law he also established seventy of the elders of Israel: And they saw the a system of governance in Israel. This was God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it effected through a council of the seventy were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it called the Council of Elders or the Sanhedrin. were the body of heaven in his clearness. 11 And Previous to that there had been elders present upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink. in Israel in Egypt (Ex. 3:16-18; Ex. 4:29; Ex. 12 12:21; 17:5-6). And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments Israel first exercised judgment when it was which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. 13 established from the Exodus. Jethro, priest of And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Midian and Moses’ father-in-law, sacrificed Moses went up into the mount of God. 14 And he for the elders and Moses sat in judgment the said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we following day. Jethro then gave Moses advice come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matters to do, The Oracles of God Page 5

15 let him come unto them. And Moses went up understood to be seventy plus two from these into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. 16 earliest examples. Moreover, the basis of And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount authority stems from the council as we have Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seen above. This is the case with the Heavenly seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst 17 Council of the Psalms also. The earthly of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Tabernacle was a shadow of the heavenly LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the (Heb. 8:5). mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. 18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat Numbers 11:24-26 And Moses went out, and told him up into the mount: and Moses was in the the people the words of the LORD, and gathered mount forty days and forty nights. (KJV) the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle. 25 And the LORD Thus the elders of the seventy were came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and established before the giving of the law that took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it they might exercise judgment with Moses. unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, They did this with Moses in the case of Korah when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, 26 and Dathan (Num. 16:25). Moses was then and did not cease. But there remained two of the given the law from Sinai. Thus the authority men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, of the oracles of God was established in Israel and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were and they were placed in its care. written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp. (KJV) The elders of Israel were responsible for laying their hands upon the bull of atonement Thus the authority of Moses in the Holy Spirit of the sin offering for the sanctification of the rested with and was shared by the council of congregation through transgression of the law the seventy. Together with Moses and the (Lev. 4:13-21). This action symbolised that High Priest, they were representative of God the responsibility of the law rested with the and Christ as the High Priest with the Council seventy even though the High Priest alone of the Elohim of Justice in the heavens. This could enter the sanctuary. The seventy were was also a shadow of the relationship to come also responsible for, and part of, the in Christ and the Church. The Church was the consecration of the priesthood (Lev. 9:1ff.). vehicle that would be given salvation because, as we have seen, the patriarchs and the The elders were given of the Spirit of the Lord prophets were not to attain to salvation by which had been given to Moses and that Spirit faith apart from us. Thus the authority of the which sanctified Moses was also used to set Church is the power of God in the Holy Spirit them apart in God’s service. which has been given to it by Messiah in the name of God from his ordination of the Numbers 11:16-17 And the LORD said unto seventy (Lk. 10:1,17). Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them The Church as the Authority unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they The process of sharing the Spirit seen above 17 may stand there with thee. And I will come down for the Sanhedrin was a reflection of the and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit relationship of the Church and Jesus Christ to which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and God. The Spirit that rested on Christ was they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone. (KJV) given to the elect who were ordained and set apart as the seventy from Luke 10:1,17. We see the process involves also the seventy- two where Eldad and Medad were prophets Luke 10:1-20 After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two who remained in the camp and prophesied before his face into every city and place, whither there. Thus the Lord gave the symbolism of he himself would come. 2 Therefore said he unto the seventy-two to Israel and shows that He them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers reserved the basis of the two to Himself as are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, prophets. However, the seventy were always that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Page 6 The Oracles of God

3 Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs Thus, the oracles of God were consigned to among wolves. 4 Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor the Church from this transfer of authority. 5 shoes: and salute no man by the way. And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to This activity of Christ in ordaining the 6 this house. And if the son of peace be there, your seventy was of specific prophetic import and peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you of the transfer of power. The effective transfer 7 again. And in the same house remain, eating and was tied up in the sign of Jonah. Judah and the drinking such things as they give: for the labourer priestly authority were removed entirely over 8 is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. the period of forty years from 30-70 CE. This And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive 9 transfer of power and authority is seen in the you, eat such things as are set before you: And example of the seven sons of Sceva, the Chief heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, 10 Priest. This example was given to show that The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But the authority of the Church had succeeded that into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, of Judah and Levi even to the highest levels. and say, 11 Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: Acts 19:11-17 And God wrought special miracles 12 notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were 12 kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But I brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that the diseases departed from them, and the evil 13 13 day for Sodom, than for that city. Woe unto thee, spirits went out of them. Then certain of the Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, over them which had evil spirits the name of the which have been done in you, they had a great Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom 14 while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of 14 But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which 15 15 at the judgment, than for you. And thou, did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, 16 Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? 16 thrust down to hell. He that heareth you heareth And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he them, and overcame them, and prevailed against 17 them, so that they fled out of that house naked and that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me. 17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, wounded. And this was known to all the Jews Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was thy name. 18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan 19 magnified. (KJV) as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto The effective transfer of power was from the you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and ordination. Judah was, however, given forty over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall 20 years to repent and did not repent. What by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but would have happened if Judah had repented rather rejoice, because your names are written in then? The answer is simple. They would have heaven. (KJV) taken part in the carriage of the mysteries of God and the priesthood would have been These seventy [two] were established in the extended then to include Levi as it is Church so that they were a council drawn out prophesied to do when they do repent at the per year for two thousand years or over the end of the age. The oracles of God were last days and, with the prophets, numbered transferred to the Church, as we see from the 144,000 (see the paper The Harvests of God, comments of the apostles. The oracles were the New Moon Sacrifices, and the 144,000 lodged with Judah until the Church. This fact (No. 120)). The Holy Spirit is that power is acknowledged by Paul in his statement which makes all of the elect Sons of God and concerning the oracles. one with the heavenly Host as Sons of God (see the papers Consubstantial with the The references in the New Testament Greek Father (No. 81) and On Immortality (No. are in the plural (as we see from Acts 7:38; 165)). The seventy through this power had Rom. 3:2; Heb. 5:12 and 1Pet. 4:11; cf. authority over demons and over the world Aristeas 177; Philo, Legation to Caius 31). systems concerning the Kingdom of God. The Old Testament references occur fifteen The Oracles of God Page 7 times and are in the singular from dabar every way: chiefly, because that unto them were meaning word of God and hence also Holy of committed the oracles of God. 3 For what if some Holies because the word of Yahovah was did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith heard there. of God without effect? (KJV) Judah was also in factions. They interpreted The first occurrence of the term oracle or the oracles differently. The Sadducees dabar is in 2Samuel 16:23 (other occurrences occupied Moses’ seat and had to be obeyed are in 1Kgs. 6:5,16,19,20,22,23,31; 8:6,8; when they did so as they ran the Temple (Mat. 2Chr. 3:16; 4:20; 5:7,9; and Ps. 28:2). From 23:2). The Pharisees shared judgment with the the first text we see that prophecy is involved Sadducees over the law, but did not run the and we know that prophecy ceased from Temple, except for nine years under Queen Nehemiah until Messiah and the last prophecy Alexandra. The Samaritans, as well as the concerning Messiah was uttered by the High Sadducees, rejected the Pharisaic Priest concerning his death that year. After the interpretation of the law in the determination death of Messiah there is no record of God of the calendar. Often the New Moon was speaking through Judah except as part of the delayed incorrectly and the Samaritans lit Church. The oracle is mentioned separately to their own beacons on the earlier correct days. the Temple in the reference in 1Kings 6:5. The chambers were built around both the Not only the Jews but also Israel was given Temple and the oracle. It appears from this the covenant. Judah came into custody of the that the Holy of Holies is referred to as being oracles for a specific time only. Paul was not the oracle (esp. from 1Kgs. 6:16,19,20). This here saying that they still had any authority. probably stemmed, as we see, from the fact He was merely referring to their status and that the law was kept there and God revealed perhaps future conversion into the enduring Himself through prophecy there. It was a cube faith of God. This view is borne out by other of twenty cubits (cf. 1Kgs. 6:20). This is references to the oracles of God as being with called the naos in the New Testament which the Church. The Church is the teacher of the refers specifically to the Church which naos oracles of God. That office no longer rests we are. with Judah. Hebrews 5:5-14 So also Christ glorified not 1Corinthians 3:17 If any man defile the temple of himself to be made an high priest; but he that said God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten is holy, which temple ye are. (KJV) 6 thee. As he saith also in another place, Thou art a 7 The Church is thus the naos or Holy of Holies priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek. and, hence, the oracle of God. The oracle of Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and God thus became the Church at Pentecost 30 tears unto him that was able to save him from CE. So we then see what Paul meant when he 8 death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he referred to the oracles of God in a broader and were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things more correct context. Stephen had said that which he suffered; 9 And being made perfect, he the oracles had been committed to Moses and became the author of eternal salvation unto all the fathers to give to them by the angel who them that obey him; 10 Called of God an high priest 11 gave the law to them at Sinai. This being who after the order of Melchisedek. Of whom we spoke to Moses we know was Christ from his have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, 12 own testimony (Jn. 8:58). He committed the seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the oracles to the elders of Israel and not time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one specifically to Judah. Judah inherited the teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need oracles solely from the captivity of Israel and 13 from the restoration of Nehemiah. In this of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of sense we see the specific intent of the 14 righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat comment of Paul at Romans 3:2. belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to Romans 3:1-3 What advantage then hath the Jew? discern both good and evil. (KJV) or what profit is there of circumcision? 2 Much Page 8 The Oracles of God

Revelation was committed to the Church in order that in everything God may be glorified alone, from God to Jesus Christ and recorded through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and through John. It is the sole responsibility of dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (RSV) Thus the oracles of God are delivered to the the Church. Many have sought to remove Church and were understood as being so Revelation from the Bible (see the paper The delivered by the writer of Hebrews, who if not Bible (No. 164)). The Jews do not accept it at Paul was certainly the authority for it and the all and hence they cannot be acknowledged as drafter was one of his ministry, and also by having the oracles of God. The Church Peter. Thus on the authority of Christ and as received the oracles of God as part of another evidenced by the apostles Peter and Paul we priesthood stemming from our High Priest. see the transfer of responsibility to the Christ did not glorify himself to be made High Church. Priest but rather in the days of his flesh (i.e. when he became a man) gave prayer and supplication in tears to He who could save False Assertions Regarding the him from death, namely God, and God heard Oracles him. Though he was a son he learned There are a number of false assertions made obedience by the things that he suffered and concerning the resting of the oracles with became a High Priest after the order of Judah. The assertions are usually made by Melchisedek. A High Priest is of an order of people trying to justify the use of the Hillel priests by definition. The priesthood was then calendar in the keeping of the Holy Days given to the elect as Christ holds it, without mentioned in the Old Testament. As most of beginning of days or end of years regardless mainstream Christianity does not keep these of lineage or genealogy or mother or of father, festivals the argument does not arise with being made kings and priests forever (Heb. them. In fact, to suggest that the Jews had 7:3; Rev. 5:10 RSV). responsibility for the oracles of God would be

Revelation 5:9-10 and they sang a new song, treated with derision because the New saying, "Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to Testament is not acknowledged by Judah and open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy blood hence not part of Scripture. As this didst ransom men for God from every tribe and 10 proposition is quite absurd to any rational tongue and people and nation, and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they Christian it is not advanced. Judaisers in the shall reign on earth." (RSV) Churches of God, on the other hand, use a series of false premises to justify the Hillel Revelation 5:10 And hast made us unto our God calendar which is not of itself any part of the kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth. oracles of God and determined from 358 CE, (KJV) well after the removal of Jewish authority. For The KJV is incorrect in this text seemingly to this reason the method of determining Nisan disguise this fact. Christ as High Priest for purposes of Easter was never adopted by necessarily must have an order of priesthood the mainstream churches because the system and this priesthood has been given the had been known for centuries before Hillel II responsibility for the care and instruction of and these late rabbinical determinations were the oracles of God. viewed as incorrect and irrelevant.

Hebrews 5:12-14 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you Fixing of the Old Testament Canon again which be the first principles of the oracles of Another false premise is that the Old God; and are become such as have need of milk, 13 Testament canon was not fixed until the and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for conferences of Jamnia. This view is proffered 14 he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them by Jews or Judaising Christians as evidence that are of full age, even those who by reason of for the contention that authority for use have their senses exercised to discern both determination of the Bible was still extant good and evil. (KJV) after the dispersion. Jamnia or Yavneh was a

1Peter 4:11 whoever speaks, as one who utters city bequeathed by Salome I to Herod I but on oracles of God; whoever renders service, as one her death it passed to the empress Livia and who renders it by the strength which God supplies; The Oracles of God Page 9 on whose death it seems to have become a four books of the corpus in 400 BCE. Joshua, private possession of Tiberius, as Schurer Judges, Samuel and Kings were separated notes. from the Pentateuch in 400 BCE and were left as secular works (from the Babylonian Schurer seems to think that the Jewish-Gentile Captivity) (see The Interpreter’s Dictionary friction, from the Jewish majority, was the of the Bible, Vol. 1, article ‘Canon of the OT’, reason Vespasian had to twice garrison the p. 507). city (E. Schurer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, Vol. I, p. The modern scholars hold that this was for 333; Vol. II, p. 110). There was significant over a century but Nehemiah restored the Jewish-Gentile friction there at the time of entire system from his time (i.e. during the Caligula (ibid. I, p. 394). Jamnia did not middle of the fourth century BCE). There become part of Jewish territory until were a number of edits and notations that Alexander Jannaeus. Pompey had separated it were useful for understanding what has from the Jewish realm and Gabinius had happened to the canon. Most agree that by rebuilt it (ibid. II, p. 110). Jamnia was 300-250 BCE the canonisation had occurred captured at the time of Vespasian in the revolt after what was held to be the rewriting of (ibid. I, p 498; II, p. 110). After the Samuel and Kings as 1 and 2Chronicles destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 (ibid.). The conflicts between Samuel and CE, Jamnia became the centre of Jewish Kings and the Books of Chronicles are listed learning (ibid. I, p. 521). Its Jewish majority by R. H. Pfeiffer in his text (ibid.). After 200 was the reason it became the centre of Jewish BCE and certainly before 30 CE, readings activity or learning after the destruction of the from the prophetic canon (the haphtarah) Temple. The academy at Jamnia became the were evident in synagogue worship (Lk. 4:16- Supreme Jewish Court (ibid. I, pp. 525-526). 19; Acts 13:15; cf. Meg. 4:1-2; ibid., p. 509). Jamnia was an attempt to reconstitute Jewish authority after it had been removed by God, The writings or ketubbim were read with the destruction of the Temple, from the traditionally on Passover, Pentecost and the expiration of the Sign of Jonah in 70 CE. 9th of Ab commemorating the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. It was finalised by The Old Covenant had been made with the Ezra-Nehemiah and was fixed then. Pfeiffer Jews, which term generically seems to have says that it was generally believed that embraced Israel as they also were of the prophecy came to an end at the death of Ezra Covenant of God (2Cor. 3:14; Heb. 9:15; see when the men of the Great Synagogue also the paper The Covenant of God (No. collected all the Scriptures. No book written 152)). The New Covenant promised in later than Ezra or Alexander the Great can be Jeremiah 31:31 was extended to the Gentiles deemed inspired (ibid.). According to the being made with Christians (1Cor. 11:25; Seder Olam Rabba 30 the two are considered 2Cor. 3:6; Heb. 8:6-13; 10:16-17; cf. Lk. equivalent dates for Jewish chronology. As 22:20). Alexander (b. 356 BCE) went to India circa 326 BCE and died circa 323 BCE, it is The Old Testament canon was not finally obvious we are talking of Artaxerxes II and fixed until approximately 321 after the not Artaxerxes I in the Book of Ezra. restoration of Nehemiah, which was during Moreover, we know from this comment that the reign of Artaxerxes II. Until then, it has the Old Testament canon was complete and come to be seen as a collection of revered fixed from 323-321 BCE. The Old Testament works taken as historical or prophetic. Secular was translated into the Greek in Alexandria Jewish history has taken the view, along with (and became known as the Septuagint (LXX) secular biblical criticism, that the Old under Ptolemy Philadelphus (283-246 BCE) Testament canon was not held as fixed and by seventy-two qualified men, allegedly six that Torah alone had been separated as from each tribe who finished the work in divinely inspired from its recognition as such seventy-two days (Schurer, Vol. II, p. 312; in 621 BCE to its separation from the other Vol. III, pp. 474-476, 677-679). We see that Page 10 The Oracles of God even here the seventy were actually seventy- (yKidd. 59a) places him in the time of R. two in number. The LXX was condemned as a Eliezer, R. Joshua and R. Akiba, i.e. the first translation by R. Akiba in 130 CE but he third of the second century. He issued a first substituted the translation by Aquila. We will and second edition according to Jerome (ibid., see that this fact demonstrates that the Church p. 495). He was said to have been the pupil of had authority and not the reverse. Brenton in Akiba and had the greatest attention to detail. his translation of the LXX considers that His text was approved by the most esteemed Aquila's version was substituted by the rabbinical authorities. His works were rabbinical authorities for the original LXX preserved in Origen’s Hexapla and were used because of its more literal Hebrew idiom. He by the other Church fathers who used the considers this was done in a desire to negate original edition of the Hexapla in Pamphilus’ the LXX passages used by Christians library in Caesarea and partly through regarding the position of Christ. Brenton marginal notes of the Hexaplic LXX text. We makes the note that the breastplate of the high are finding more and more fragments of this priest referred to in Exodus 28:23-28 is text as time goes by. He is identified with actually rendered as "oracle" in the Onkelos, the producer of the Aramaic Targum Complutensian and not in the Vatican or the of the Pentateuch (Schurer, ibid., p. 496). Alexandrine manuscripts. The significance of Mercati found a sixth century manuscript the use of this word is that the breastplate containing the Hexapla of some 150 verses of represented the centre of judgment of the the Psalter including Aquila’s version. The twelve tribes which is the central focus of the find in the Genizah of the synagogue in Cairo Holy of Holies in its relationship to God. indicates a Greek Hebrew Interlinear version (the upper line in Hebrew/the lower in Greek) After the fixing of the canon there were a was extant in the fifth or sixth century number of books written that were not (Schurer, ibid.). Schurer holds that the LXX recognised as canonical. They included the translation of Ecclesiastes recalls Aquila’s works of Maccabees, Judith, Tobit etc. and characteristic translation so much that he is were apocryphal and, hence, became known tempted to assume that it is in fact Aquila’s as the Apocrypha. Attempts were made for work. some time to have them included or recognised in Jewish canon and resulted in the Jerome produced the Latin Vulgate and the conference at Jamnia. After the Church left Greek texts are as found in the various ancient Jerusalem and the city fell, the Church forms available from the codices and produced its own excellent works or fragments. Jerome was aware of the works of translations of the Bible. Most of the books of both Aquila and of Theodotion whom he says the Bible were translated by the Church might have been an Ebonite, being a Jew by translators most of whom were well educated birth as was Aquila. Jerome says that he was Hebrews. only thought to be an Ebionite by some (Schurer, ibid., p. 499). Jerome used these The three Greek translations of the Bible works to produce the list which forms the made in replacement of the LXX were by current accepted canon’s order. Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion. Symmachus was capable of using the Hebrew Origen’s Hexapla was arranged by columns. texts but was not himself a Jew. He was an Aquila was placed next to the Hebrew text Ebionite Christian according to Eusebius seemingly because it was most like it and (Eccl. Hist. vi, 17). This is perhaps a Theodotion next to the LXX for the same classification which might be applied to the reason. Symmachus’ translation is placed next entire early Church by history as their to Aquila, which is puzzling to Schurer. writings are found. Aquila and Theodotion Aquila is ascribed to the first decades of the were allegedly Jewish proselytes. Aquila second century; Theodotion is placed in the came from Pontes (see Acts 18:2) and time of Commodus (180-192 CE); and Epiphanius names Sinope as the place (see Symmachus later, by Schurer, but Irenaeus Schurer, Vol. III, p. 494). Rabbinical tradition lists Theodotion before Aquila and Schurer The Oracles of God Page 11 thinks this is irrelevant for the dates of house in its former glory? How do you see it now? translations (ibid., p. 500). Irenaeus was still Is it not in your sight as nothing? 4 Yet now take alive in 190-191 CE and so the late date for courage, O Zerub'babel, says the LORD; take Theodotion’s work is possible but it could courage, O Joshua, son of Jehoz'adak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, have been earlier. says the LORD; work, for I am with you, says the 5 LORD of hosts, according to the promise that I The real point in issue is that the Church was made you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit 6 not reliant on the Jews for the oracles but abides among you; fear not. For thus says the indeed played the major role in translating LORD of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will them into Greek and Aramaic, and thence into shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the other languages. The assertion that the canon dry land; 7 and I will shake all nations, so that the was not fixed until after 70 CE at either the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill 8 first (c. 90 CE) or second (118 CE) this house with splendor, says the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the conference in Jamnia is a fiction. The fiction 9 is supported by Jews and Judaising Christians. LORD of hosts. The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of The purpose of Jamnia was to prevent the hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says later apocryphal works from Ben Sirach 10 the LORD of hosts.'" On the twenty-fourth day onwards being added to the Jewish canon. of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, These conferences had no effect on the the word of the LORD came by Haggai the Church which had recognised long before prophet, 11 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: Ask the 12 then that the canon was closed from the time priests to decide this question, `If one carries of Ezra. holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and touches with his skirt bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or The fiction of Jamnia is advanced to support any kind of food, does it become holy?'" The 13 the fiction that the calendar as determined in priests answered, "No." Then said Haggai, "If 358 CE under Hillel II has some authority for one who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?" The the Church which it plainly does not have and 14 never has had such authority. The Church in priests answered, "It does become unclean." Then Haggai said, "So is it with this people, and the early times believed and taught that the with this nation before me, says the LORD; and so Old Testament canon was fixed in the time of with every work of their hands; and what they offer Ezra and Nehemiah or immediately after the there is unclean. 15 Pray now, consider what will death of Ezra. This was taught by the Church come to pass from this day onward. Before a stone and is seen from the writings of Tertullian, was placed upon a stone in the temple of the 16 Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria (Interp. LORD, how did you fare? When one came to a Dict., Vol. 1, p. 514). heap of twenty measures, there were but ten; when one came to the winevat to draw fifty measures, The Greeks have never had any responsibility there were but twenty. 17 I smote you and all the for the oracles of God or even for the products of your toil with blight and mildew and hail; yet you did not return to me, says the LORD. establishment of the Greek texts. This is 18 another fiction advanced by Judaisers to Consider from this day onward, from the twenty- fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that support their Jewish Oracle Theory. the foundation of the LORD's temple was laid, consider: 19 Is the seed yet in the barn? Do the vine, The Prophecy of Haggai the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree still The next fallacy in the armoury of some yield nothing? From this day on I will bless you." 20 British-Israelites and the Judaising defenders The word of the LORD came a second time to of the Hillel system is that of the prophecy of Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, 21 Haggai at 2:1-23. "Speak to Zerub'babel, governor of Judah, saying, I Haggai 2:1-23 In the seventh month, on the twenty- am about to shake the heavens and the earth, 22 and first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to overthrow the throne of kingdoms; I am about to by Haggai the prophet, 2 "Speak now to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, Zerub'babel the son of She-al'ti-el, governor of and overthrow the chariots and their riders; and the Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehoz'adak, the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by 23 high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, the sword of his fellow. On that day, says the and say, 3 `Who is left among you that saw this LORD of hosts, I will take you, O Zerub'babel my Page 12 The Oracles of God

servant, the son of She-al'ti-el, says the LORD, and The seizure of Palestine was inevitable. On 2 make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you, November 1917 the Balfour Declaration for says the LORD of hosts." (RSV) the establishment of the Jewish Homeland The propositions made from this prophecy was issued by the British Prime Minister are: Balfour as his first declaration (the second 1. The prophecy concerns the latter days. declaration was regarding the Commonwealth 2. The 24th of Chislev is a specific date in the of Australia under British law). The capture of future. Jerusalem was not undertaken until 3. This date was the date according to the December. The progress of the forces was: Hillel calendar on which Jerusalem was liberated in 1917 which was 9 December Battle of Beersheba 31 October to 1917 and allegedly the day on which 1 November Tel el Khuweilfe 8 November Allenby entered Jerusalem. The breakthrough occurred 6-11 November 4. The blessings mentioned by Haggai were (Sinai and Palestine 4- then fulfilled. 8 November) 5. This is, somehow, also seven time cycles The Great Drive was made 8-15 November from the fall of Jerusalem. The Maritime Plain was 11-17 November 6. From these points it is then argued that the cleared Hillel calendar is thus inspired and an The Jerusalem advance 16-24 November oracle of God. Nahr Auja and El Buij 24 November to 1 December Firstly, regarding the fall of Jerusalem, Final assault for the capture 7 December Harper’s Bible Dictionary records that the of Jerusalem Babylonians plundered the city in 598 BCE and the city was levelled in 587 BCE. Neither The final assault was launched by of these dates gives 1917 as equalling seven Commonwealth troops on 7 December 1917. time cycles or 2,520 years. The first date According to the true New Moon this was the would produce 1923 and the latter date would actual date of the 24 Chislev (the Hillel produce 1933. calendar commenced the month two days later). The Turks and Germans began an Now this process is classic circular reasoning immediate evacuation and by 8 December as we will see. It is evident from an 1917 Jerusalem was freed. The infantry had examination of the history of the liberation of dug in and established and by 10 December Jerusalem that the events were listed as they the Light Horse pushed along the Nablus road were to convey the impression that God had about eight miles. They drew heavy Turkish acted to fulfil Haggai because the people of artillery fire. They were holding out towards the time saw that as a fulfilment of prophecy. the southern end of the Jordan Valley and Having contrived the 9 December 1917 date, were attempting to limit Allied access across the contrivance is then used to justify the the river to the Hejaz railway and thus limit Hillel calendar which formed the basis of the Allenby’s operations on the right flank. contrivance in the first place. Nothing occurred on 9 December 1917 as In 1917 the Holy Land was being liberated by Jerusalem had already been liberated from the Australian, New Zealand and British and attack on the seventh. Many American other allied troops fighting Turks with histories of Protestant origin seemingly try to German auxiliaries. According to the Official claim that 9 December was the day Allenby War Diary (H.S. Gullett, The Australian entered Jerusalem and liberated it. The fact of Imperial Force in Sinai and Palestine, Vol. II the matter is that Allenby officially entered of the Official History of Australia in the War Jerusalem on 11 December 1917. Allenby was of 1914-18, Angus and Robertson Ltd, mindful of the bombastic pageantry with Sydney, 1937), Gaza and Beersheba had been which the German Emperor Wilhelm taken by 31 October to 1 November 1917. (William) had entered Jerusalem in 1908. He deliberately made his entry a low key affair, The Oracles of God Page 13 entering on foot by the side entrance of the 3. Commonwealth troops assaulted the city on narrow old Jaffa gate. 100 troops from the 7 December 1917 contingents lined the Jaffa road, including 4. The German and Turks had withdrawn by 8 English, Scots, Irish, Welsh, Ghurkas, December. Australians and Italians. The New Zealanders 5. Consolidation of the defences was had ridden hard from Jaffa so that the undertaken from 8-10 December. Dominion might be represented. The only 6. The true date for 24 Chislev 1917 was 7 touch of colour was from a detachment of December 1917 and not 9 December 1917 French infantry in pale blue uniforms. This as per the Hillel calendar. was the twenty-fourth time that Jerusalem had been entered by a conquering force (Gullett, However, we must remember in all this that ibid., p. 523) but it was not on 24 Chislev Judah had not been blessed at this stage. It is 1917. By the Hillel calendar it was 26 Chislev perverse to imagine that God would have but from the true New Moon it was 28 chosen this time to fulfil Haggai and still Chislev. Our troops had indeed entered on 24 leave another prophecy yet to be implemented Chislev, but by assault. That is based on the in which Judah would go through the worst true conjunction with no postponements. horrors of its entire existence as a nation. Exactly seven time cycles from the levelling Jerusalem at the time of its capture presented of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, the Nazi no striking evidence of poverty but it was in Party came to power in Germany and began an indescribable state of filth. It was so the systematic persecution of the Jews. From polluted by sellers of religious relics and false 1942 to 1945 Germany undertook the most religion that were habitually unclean (aided by systematic genocide of the Jewish people or, the primitive habits of the Turkish soldiers for that matter, any nation in recorded history. over three years) that Christians recalled their To assert that this was God’s idea of blessing visit with horror (ibid., p. 522). After the Judah, in the fulfilment of Haggai, is the most occupation of Jerusalem the city faced food perverted form of reasoning imaginable. If shortages and the British had to truck supplies Haggai is fulfilled in these activities we can in from the Mediterranean. Our advance from conclude: the south had been so rapid that the Turks had 1. The Hillel calendar is wrong; no time to lay the southerly colonies waste. 2. But more importantly, the Ashkenazim and They were to prove useful. The Zionist indeed all European Jewry are totally Commission under the President of the outside of the blessings of God, having English Zionist Federation, Doctor perverted the spirit and intent of the law Weizmann, was tasked, by authorisation of and the festivals. No curse comes without the British Government, with the its cause (Prov. 26:2). reconstruction of Palestine. This task involved restoring the ruin of eighteen and a half It is not convincing, however, that Haggai is centuries (The Times History of the War, Vol. fulfilled. XV, London, 1918, p. 179). Daniel 12 The propositions can thus be seen in the light We now continue the examination of the of historical fact free of the fiction of an premise that Haggai was fulfilled in uninvolved Protestant British-Israelite December 1917. A text that is used to support propaganda emanating from the US. this premise is the text in Daniel 12:1-13. This text follows on from Daniel 11 regarding the 1. It was not seven time cycles from the wars of the kings of the North and the South. Babylonian entry. The application of the The text in Daniel 11:41-45 is also very seven time cycles is examined in the paper important. For the 1917 date to be assumed, The Fall of Egypt (No. 36): the Prophecy of there are a number of preconditions that have Pharaoh’s Broken Arms. to be met. The first is that this prophecy is 2. Allenby did not enter Jerusalem on 9 December. He entered it on 11 December. Page 14 The Oracles of God fulfilled in its entirety before the scope of who was above the waters of the stream, "How Daniel 12 can be fulfilled. long shall it be till the end of these wonders?" 7 The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of Daniel 11:41-45 He shall come into the glorious the stream, raised his right hand and his left hand land. And tens of thousands shall fall, but these toward heaven; and I heard him swear by him who shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom and Moab lives for ever that it would be for a time, two times, 42 and the main part of the Ammonites. He shall and half a time; and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these stretch out his hand against the countries, and the 8 43 land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall become things would be accomplished. I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, "O my lord, what shall ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all 9 the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and be the issue of these things?" He said, "Go your 44 way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed the Ethiopians shall follow in his train. But 10 tidings from the east and the north shall alarm him, until the time of the end. Many shall purify and he shall go forth with great fury to exterminate themselves, and make themselves white, and be 45 and utterly destroy many. And he shall pitch his refined; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but those who palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy 11 mountain; yet he shall come to his end, with none are wise shall understand. And from the time that to help him. (RSV) the continual burnt offering is taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there This text assumes that Egypt is captured shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 together with Palestine and Trans-Jordan. The Blessed is he who waits and comes to the thousand 13 king of the North had to enter and capture three hundred and thirty-five days. But go your Egypt and also occupy Palestine. During that way till the end; and you shall rest, and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days." time he also hears tidings from the east and (RSV) north and goes forth to utterly destroy and This text deals with the Advent and the remove many. This prophecy was not held to resurrection in the last days. It portrays a have been fulfilled until the Second World period or time scale of 1,290 days and 1,335 War with the Axis invasion of Africa and then days. It also portrays a resurgence of the Holy Hitler’s invasion of Russia. However, the east Spirit where the wise shall instruct many in and north of Palestine and Jerusalem is in the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. Central Russia and this prophecy does not appear to have been as yet fulfilled. The text Because of the Messianic intent of this about pitching his palatial tents between the prophecy, many have identified Michael as sea and the glorious Holy Mountain was held Christ. For example, the Church of God to have been fulfilled by the army in 1917 but located in the UK holds that Michael is Christ they did not enter Russia or engage in but denies that Michael is an archangel. wholesale operations beyond establishing Iraq Michael means Who is like God. as a pro-western kingdom.

Daniel 12:1-13 "At that time shall arise Michael, The logic is simply this. The being clearly has the great prince who has charge of your people. responsibility for Israel. From Deuteronomy And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never 32:8, Messiah has responsibility for Israel as has been since there was a nation till that time; but Yahovah – it being allocated to him by the at that time your people shall be delivered, every Most High God. Therefore Michael must be one whose name shall be found written in the book. 2 Messiah. The conclusion does not need to And many of those who sleep in the dust of the follow as Michael may have been allocated to earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and 3 Israel to assist Messiah. Both are sons of God some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness as we know from many texts. Angels were of the firmament; and those who turn many to only decreed to have been created ex nihilo righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. 4 But from the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 to you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, deny the capacity of co-eternality to Satan until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, because of the alleged Dualist heresy, 5 and knowledge shall increase." Then I Daniel allegedly among the Cathars in southern looked, and behold, two others stood, one on this France among the Albigensians. Many bank of the stream and one on that bank of the branches of the Church of God made this stream. 6 And I said to the man clothed in linen, The Oracles of God Page 15 logical jump over the centuries and it is The recent Revolution in Egypt is the indeterminate with the biblical evidence we extension of the final stages which will have. Both Michael and Messiah are sons of require NATO intervention to control God and, hence, share in the Holy Spirit of fundamentalist Islam of the Muslim God as sons. Brotherhood and the occupation of Gaza.

The next precondition is that it follows a time, The next assumption is that the 1,290 years times and a half a time and when the and the 1,335 years relate to another time shattering of the power of the Holy people frame. The text relates to the establishment of comes to an end then will the end come. The the abomination that makes desolate. The view in 1914-18 was that the 1,260 days was daily sacrifice was discontinued before the fulfilled in the 1,260 years of the Holy Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. Applying Empire. Some USA groups held it finished in Daniel 12 from this date is of no consequence 1798, others in 1814. Both were wrong (i.e 1360 CE). This prophecy was applied to because of their poor understanding of the 1917 by subtracting the lesser figure of 1290 history of the empire and because of their from 1917 and assuming this is the figure for desire for self-fulfilling prophecy. The empire the beginning of the Muslim era (1917 – 1290 commenced in 590 CE with the decree of = 627). Gregory I and ended in 1850 with the plebiscite in the Papal States (see M. Martin, This year is then related to the Muslim The Decline and Fall of the Roman Church, calendar. However, the Muslim calendar Secker and Warburg, p. 254ff.); (cf. also the commences from the Hijra and is accepted as The Role of the Fourth Commandment in the beginning from 15(16) July 622 CE. The lunar Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God year peculiar to the Muslims was established (No. 170)). on a solar base in 10 AH or 631 CE on the last pilgrimage of the prophet to Mecca (Qur’an This view assumes that the year for a day 9:36 ff; cf. ERE, Vol. 3, p. 126). basis applies to the empire and not in duality. Also the assumption does not take into The accepted formula for conversion is: account the seven times problem in the proper Hijra (A)  (3A  100)  622 = Christian Year and fullest extent. The seven times prophecy (ibid.) of Daniel to the Babylonians was measured from 605 BCE at the battle of Carchemish to The year 1290 AH commenced in 1911. 1914-1916 at the commencement of the First December 1917 was 1296 AH. The year 1335 World War. However, Egypt was not invaded AH was 1956 CE. at that time and Egypt is also involved. The prophecy of Ezekiel 28-29 involves the fall of The occupation of Jerusalem should also be Egypt. The two arms involved two forty-year understood to deal with some strange claims periods ending eighty years later with the that are made regarding this time. Firstly, invasion of Cambyses in 525 BCE. There Jerusalem was taken by the Persians in 614. were two forty year periods then and at the The Persian Chosroes II went to war with the midway point Egypt re-established. This usurper Phocas who had murdered the Roman happened exactly seven times later in 1953 emperor Maurice. Maurice was friend and with the declaration of the Republic of Egypt benefactor to Chosroes. In 611 the Persians under Gamel Abdul Nasser. Thus the full time seized Antioch. Chosroes’ son-in-law frame does not end until 1996. In that year the Sharbarz besieged Jerusalem. In his camp fundamentalist Muslims have taken control to were 26,000 Jews eager to destroy Christian the extent that the government is in name sovereignty over Jerusalem. 90,000 Christians only. The Egyptian Coptic Church is so died when Jerusalem was taken (Cath. Encyc., persecuted that it has sought reunion with Vol. VIII, article ‘Jerusalem’, p. 359). The Rome after schism since Chalcedon in 451. Jews were allowed to do what they liked with These aspects were not taken into account. the city but this did not last. In 622 Heraclius marched across Asia Minor driving back the Page 16 The Oracles of God

Persians and invading Persia in 627. Chosroes Omar refused to say prayers in the Anastasis fled and was deposed and murdered by his in case that became a future excuse for Islam own son Siroes in 628 and that year they sued to break the treaty. The Temple Mount at this for peace at the expense of all their conquests. time was bare and later became a rubbish They evacuated Syria and Egypt, restoring the heap. There were no buildings on the Mount alleged relic of the cross they had taken from other than the Anastasis. The Mosque of Jerusalem. In 629 Heraclius himself came to Omar was built on the place to which he Jerusalem to venerate the relic (ibid.). This is retired for prayer. Under the Moslems, the the origin of the Catholic Feast of the Christians of Jerusalem were given the usual Exaltation of the Holy Cross on tolerance shown to non-Moslem Theists. 14 September. Islam did not make Jerusalem the new centre of Palestine. This was at Lydda until 716; then As a result of the treason of the Jews, the old at Ar-Ramal (Ramleh). Jerusalem is however law of Hadrian was renewed forbidding them the third most holy place after Mecca and access to the city. The patriarch Theodosius Medina (see Quran Surah 17). restored the old round Anastasis there. There was no other building on the area of the In the reign of the Caliph ’Abd-al-malik (684- Temple Mount. Heraclius rebuilt the walls 705), the fifth Ummayid Caliph at Damascus, and restored the ruined shrines. The patriarch the Iraqis revolted and seized possession of Sophronius (634-638) was the next to see the Hijaz. In order that the people had a Jerusalem conquered. substitute for the Haraman of Mecca and Medina, which they were prevented from Islam under the Caliph Abu-Bakr (632-634) visiting, he then began to adorn the place of invaded Syria. Abu-’Ubaidah had command the Temple with a mosque. Omar had visited of the army. He was an Ashab, one of the the Mount and found it filled with refuse original band that accompanied the prophet (ibid.). In his time he had erected a large from Mecca to Medina in 622. They took square building for Islam and ’Abd-al-malik Bosra and then defeated Heraclius at Ajnadain then in 691 erected, with Byzantine architects, near Emesa in July 633. In 634 they took the Dome of the Rock which still stands in the Damascus and defeated the Roman Army Temple Mount. again at Yarmuk and took Emesa in 636. Caliph Omar (634-644) was consulted as to Thus the original building was not built on the whether they should march on Jerusalem or Mount until well after 636 and the Dome of Caesarea. On ’Ali’s advice they marched on the Rock was not built until 691. From 636 Jerusalem. It was attacked by an advance the Temple Mount was used as a rubbish heap guard of 5,000 under Mo’awiyah Ibn-Abu- by so-called Christians. The Dome of the Sufyan and then besieged by the entire army Rock (falsely called the Mosque of Omar) under Abu-’Ubaidah. Jerusalem was defended stands on the place of the altar of Holocausts by a large force of refugees from all over of the old Temple. Syria and the veterans of Yarmuk. The city was assaulted every day for four months. The The application of the prophecy in Daniel 12 patriarch Sophronius finally asked for peace to this period yields uncertain figures and the with the commander Abu-’Ubaidah. They abomination that makes desolate could not be were allowed to capitulate on fair and applied to Islam at this site from these dates. It honourable terms. The Christians were was, of course, some 1,290 years if the sack allowed to keep their churches and no one had by the Babylonians is taken into account in to accept Islam. The terms were ratified by the 598 BCE ending in 691 CE. Caliph Omar, then at Medina. The Caliph Omar came to the wall on a single camel, The dates in question if taken from 637 CE signed the capitulation, entered the city and and then 1,290 years are added to it produce spoke courteously with Sophronius about the the year 1927 and not 1917. If we add the antiquities there (Cath. Encyc., ibid., p. 360). forty-five year period we arrive at 1972. That The Oracles of God Page 17 date is related to no significant event and there the land and the hills, upon the grain, the new wine, the oil, upon what the ground brings forth, upon is certainly no peace in Jerusalem. 12 men and cattle, and upon all their labors." Then The construction of these prophecies as Zerub'babel the son of She-al'ti-el, and Joshua the son of Jehoz'adak, the high priest, with all the fulfilling Daniel in 1917 is on very shaky remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the evidence and indeed seems to be contradicted LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the by every construction of dates drawn from the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him; and 13 known history in relation to the Temple the people feared before the LORD. Then Mount and to Jerusalem. It seems that this Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke to the people with the LORD's message, "I am with you, prophecy in Daniel 12 is related to some 14 future event that deals with the period of the says the LORD." And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerub'babel the son of She-al'ti-el, wars of the end and which requires the governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son endurance of the saints. The power of the of Jehoz'adak, the high priest, and the spirit of all Holy People is broken at this time. Thus the remnant of the people; and they came and Judah and the nation of Israel must have their worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their power broken before this prophecy is fulfilled. God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in This did not happen in the First World War or the sixth month. the Second World War. The Holocaust is the nearest this prophecy has come to fruition. The text in chapter 1 is a plea to the nation of Judah to commence work on the Temple. The nation is not being blessed because they have Haggai Reviewed placed their own self-interest above that of The next step is to revisit Haggai for a further God. There are serious parallels in history examination. Haggai is concerned with the with the behaviour of Judah and the neglect of construction of the Temple and the attitudes the work of God. If this prophecy is referring of the people to that responsibility. to the last days, it must refer to the spiritual Temple which is the Church. The entities in Haggai 1:1-15 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the this prophecy are Zerubbabel the son of month, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the Shealtiel governor of Judah and Joshua son of prophet to Zerub'babel the son of She-al'ti-el, Josedach the High Priest. The time is the governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of second year of Darius II. This matter has been 2 Jehoz'adak, the high priest, "Thus says the LORD explained in detail in the paper The Sign of of hosts: This people say the time has not yet come 3 Jonah and the History of the Reconstruction to rebuild the house of the LORD." Then the 4 of the Temple (No. 13) . The names are of word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, individuals at the time of the reconstruction of "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your 5 the second Temple (see also the paper paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Genealogy of the Messiah (No. 119)). Now therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider how you have fared. 6 You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never If this prophecy is of the latter days, we can have enough; you drink, but you never have your only be speaking of the spiritual Temple and fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and the types of Zerubbabel and Joshua as High he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a Priest. The High Priest, Joshua, is Yehoshua 7 bag with holes. "Thus says the LORD of hosts: or the Messiah. The typology with Jesus Consider how you have fared. 8 Go up to the hills Christ is found in Zechariah in the judgment. and bring wood and build the house, that I may Christ is both king and priest, fulfilling both take pleasure in it and that I may appear in my 9 typologies. The injunction in chapter 1 of glory, says the LORD. You have looked for Haggai is that the nation of Israel will not much, and, lo, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the prosper until it undertakes the work of the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lies in Messiah in the restoration as part of the ruins, while you busy yourselves each with his own Temple of God. The curses on the land will house. 10 Therefore the heavens above you have increase until that happens (Hag. 1:10-11). withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its The first instance is in the 24th of the sixth produce. 11 And I have called for a drought upon month. This happened with the second Page 18 The Oracles of God

Temple. It is either in the past or it will relate to the future as an anti-type. The time frame is the wars of the end and the return of the Messiah. The First World War Thus, Haggai is concerned with the was called the Great War for Civilisation construction of the Temple and the blessing of because it was thought that it was in fact at the Israel is consequent to that activity. It is thus time of the end and 1914-16 was seen in impossible to relate the events in chapter 2 to prophecy as the completion of seven times an event that is not subsequent to the events in from the Reign of Nebuchadnezzar chapter 1. Thus, the 24th day of the sixth commencing from the Battle of Carchemish in month saw the work on the house of God. As 605 BCE. However the actual 2520 years we saw above chapter 2 then commences ended in 1916 with the major battles then. The from the 21st day of the seventh month or the wars of the end did indeed commence from last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. The Last this date but it was to be over a much more Great Day is the eighth day of the feast. See extended time frame and the prophecy also the paper Commentary on Haggai (No. necessarily involved the restoration under 21). Messiah. The 24th of Chislev (the ninth month) involves the question of the Holy and The dedication of the Temple was as though the Unclean (Hag. 2:10-14). The nation is the Temple was greater than Solomon’s seen as unclean and the nation from this time Temple. That was just plain nonsense. In fact, is cleansed of its uncleanness. This point is the prophecy in Daniel 9:25-27 shows it is to then related directly to the placement of stone be built over seventy weeks of years. There is upon stone in the Temple. From that day no doubt that the second Temple, and also forward is the laying of the foundation of the Herod’s reconstruction of it, were nothing Temple and the Lord will then lay stone upon compared to Solomon’s Temple. The Temple stone in the construction of the Temple. This here spoken of is a prophecy comparing the sequence does not relate to physical things but spiritual Temple under Messiah with that of to the conversion of the nation. From the the physical Temple and the former Covenant. construction of the Temple as living stones, the blessing of the nation will proceed. That is The Spirit of the Lord was to remain with the why the Holocaust occurred as it did – people and this only happened from the because the nation had not converted and the Church on a permanent basis. Haggai 2:6 is blessings of the Lord have not yet been given. quoted in Hebrews 12:26-27. There will be more wars and more disasters

yet for both Judah and Israel until they are Hebrews 12:26-27 His voice then shook the earth; but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will both repentant and cleansed of sin. 27 shake not only the earth but also the heaven." This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the Conclusion removal of what is shaken, as of what has been The Hillel calendar is without support by made, in order that what cannot be shaken may resort to either the argument from the oracles remain. (RSV) of God or from this form of manipulation of This is a direct warning from Messiah that this historical fact into prophetic fiction. The prophecy refers to the final shaking of the custodians of the oracles of God are the elect heavens and the earth so that what cannot be as the stewards of the mysteries of God. They shaken will remain. This shaking commences are the naos or Holy of Holies and, as the with the Temple of God which is the Church, naos is also the oracle of God; they also are being the naos or Holy of Holies (1Cor. 3:17). the oracles of God being of the spirit of Therefore, let us be grateful to God for prophecy. receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken q (Heb. 12:28).