Dry Bones!

The U.S. has existed for about 10 generations as a civilization. God will probably evaluate the whole 400 years at the first resurrection/rapture? We as a nation will get a report card as will every nation. Currently there are ~200 nations on the planet. The gold standard is Israel. Israel has been around for 100 generations. Right now their dry bones are about to be brought back for their final exam.

At the rapture, the dead in Christ will be raised first. They will be joined by those of us who happen to be alive on that day. The entire ensemble, two thousand years of redemptive history, constitutes the glorious church which Jesus started building the Last time He was here.

All the saints of the church dispensation will enter New Jerusalem together through the Bema Gate. All American believers since Plymouth Rock may get a district of the Holy City to live in—our own Parish perhaps?

Note the father-to-son continuity in the family tree of Jesus (below) over nearly six thousand years. "The People of The Book" (Jews mostly) value family continuity whereas we gentiles are a mixed breed. Yet we are all greatly loved by the God of Abram, Isaac, Jacob, and by the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua, (Jesus).

When we trust in Jesus we are joined to His family and made all new onside.

We get connected in other words--to God's forever family. This ought to be very good news for widows, orphans, and single persons who have no family.

Not all "families" are healthy and functional, either. Some families are held together by fear, or guilt, or tradition when they may be very dysfunctional! Jesus divides families at times, in order to heal!

"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;  and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:34-39)

I hope you can follow this article, it's pretty packed with info. Email me if you have any questions. This article is also about the end of history as it used to be--and the soon coming in of the Kingdom of Jesus on Earth. Something is badly out of order on our planet--everything is discombobulated! The author is a Physicist by training, a mainstream Christian for nearly sixty years--and I do answer my own email. Stick with me!

Our Roots

Known population growth rates clearly show that out present world population of 8000 million came about in only a few thousand years.
See Population of the PreFlood Earth.
See Atomic Time, the Geological Ages, and Atomic Time.

The time period between the First and Second Advents of Jesus, now 2000 years, is a season of history where God’s chosen people the Jews have been scattered from their homeland, Israel, in what is known as the great Diaspora. These great divisions in history--called Dispensations--are about the way a sovereign God administers His household--oikodomos is the Greek word used. A whole school of dispensational theology developed around this topic in the early Twentieth Century.

It's important to revisit, update, and expand our views since we are now a hundred years later in history, closer than ever to "the time of the end." History is divided into B.C. and A.D. for good reason.

The interval between the First and Second Advents of Jesus is called "the times of the gentiles." Israel’s rightful King, Jesus, descended from Adam and from David, arrived precisely on schedule with the exactly correct credentials, but He was rejected.

"You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.  But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.  I do not receive honor from men.  But I know I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.  How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?  Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (John 5:39-47)

The close of the Church Age we have been living in for 2000 years will be marked by an event known as the "rapture" of the true church. One of the most important things about this event on God's time table is that it is unannounced! After the Rapture does occur, the stopped-clock of Israel's history will start ticking again and from then on dates in time are fixed. But not until then. Because there have been cycles of stress during the past two thousand years, some have felt certain dates for the Rapture could be set. "Date setters" have been wrong time after time. Yet times of distress do happen in cycles, and, like labor pains of a woman with child, the birth pangs (odin) are more closely spaced and more intense as the Day approaches. The disciples of Jesus thought He'd be right back soon, but God had other plans.

 So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ 

Jesus replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times (chronos) or the seasons (chairos) that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’ (Acts 1:7-11)

"From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."

 ‘But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left.  Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour." (Matthew 24:24-46)

Discussion

The return of Jesus is as certain as sunrise and sunset. We are not given the date! Chuck Missler once noted that this uncertainty kept Satan scrambling to always have a candidate Antichrist waiting in the wings, in every generation. Since Satan would get antsy, there would be quite a few antichrists in history. A corollary to this is that followers of Jesus are admonished to expect every day the soon return of the Lord for His church. That is, the return of Jesus is always imminent. This teaching is often called "The Blessed Hope:"

"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds. Declare these things; exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one look down on you." (Titus 2:11-14)

Why has Jesus stayed away so long? One answer is, "To build His Church." There are other good answers but the building of His church is important. Two thousand years ago this obscure teacher in Israel--Jesus--announced to his disciples that he would build his assembly, his church, his ekklesia. He was not talking about a synagogue, a fraternal order, or a major corporation--so his announcement must have sounded incongruous to his students. Yet these men readily followed Yeshua to their deaths and became martyrs to his cause in the decades following. 

Fast forward two thousand years: Is there any evidence that what Jesus had announced He would do, would ever come to pass? One world wide very wealthy institution has long claimed that the Apostle Peter was commissioned to be the first head of that body. But Peter was killed in Rome about 67 A.D. along with the Apostle Paul, and no church entity or building would appear on earth until nearly 300 years after Peter and Paul were executed. Nevertheless, thousands of ordinary people in the Roman Empire became followers of Jesus in the first three centuries, and obviously many more down to today. No one man-made institution in the world can claim to be the church Jesus is building! Followers of Jesus are found in many different places in the world!

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”

So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, (Petros)  and on this rock (petra) I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. (Matthew 16:13-20)

This passage has been debated and analyzed for centuries! It seems reasonable that there is indeed a play on words here between the Greek words Petros and petra. This position is well known. The likely meaning of "the keys of the kingdom of heaven" is more subtle. The keys are evidently not a reference to temporal power and authority. They are keys to what Jesus would do, in the invisible realm, for 2000 years ("the heavenlies"). Jesus is obviously alive and well now, seated at the right-hand of God.

How many people will be found in the Church Jesus is building? The Chart below suggests the number might be 3 billion. Most will not be white, Anglo Saxon Protestants! There have been Seven Churches in the world in every generation since the First. Jesus is Lord of each. Each had her "day in the sun." It's important to be aware than no one man-made church configuration covers all the bases! Please see The Church Papers.

Christians these days tend to think they are the only people who have ever trusted in Christ. The first generation, AD 30 to AD 70, say, included Jesus the Apostles, and the early Christians, mostly Jews. The Apostle John lived to at least AD 95, so Gen One of the Church age ("dispensation") might perhaps be 70 years long not 40. The Roman Empire then numbered about 300 million persons. If we arbitrarily suppose that 10% of the people living in that generation came to know Jesus, the foundation stone or base of the true church Jesus was building, was perhaps 30 million persons. Since world population has exploded in the past two thousand years, the number of persons brought into His Church since has surely increased greatly. The above chart assumes 10% of the people in each generation are "saved." Each of the seven representative churches has had her season of maximum influence in history. And, each of the seven church types can be found in the world today.

The true church is not a building made out of brick or stone or wood and glass--it's living. Each member is a living stone! The true church is actually described by seven symbols:

1. Jesus is the Great Shepherd and we Christians are the sheep. 
2. Jesus is the Good Shepherd
3. Jesus is the True Vine and we are the branches
4. We are "living stones" building built into a house which is a habitation for God---Christ Jesus is the cornerstone
5. Jesus is Great High Priest over the household of faith, and we are his servant-priests
6. The church is the Body of Christ, every one a member of every other, and all under the direction of Christ the Head of the Body 
7. The church is the Bride of Christ and Jesus the waiting Bridegroom

There is to be one Rapture as described in First Thessalonians 4. This event marks the completion of the church Jesus is building and the end of "the times of the gentiles."

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus,

God will bring with him those who have died.  For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. 

For the Lord himself,

(a) with a cry of command,
(b) with the archangel’s call and
(c) with the sound of God’s trumpet,

will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord for ever. 

Therefore encourage one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

Commentary by Ray Stedman, "Comfort at the Grave."

The Genealogy from Adam to Jesus Christ

Salvation is offered freely to everyone by God in every generation but only the elect respond. The elect often don’t rush to know Jesus but sometimes have to be dragged! A given individual may have been drawn step by step to Jesus over years. That person may think his search itself is commendable, but the end result is intended to be a personal relationship with the Creator. Many believe we are acceptable to God because we tithe, don't drink, attend church weekly and refrain from swearing. No matter how messed up some people are, God is able to save to the uttermost once a person is willing to be saved. It's not a good idea to wait to the end of your life to settle accounts with your Maker. You could be called home today, ready or not!

See my list of those who aren't quite there yet.


His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants in the divine nature. For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, 6and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For anyone who lacks these things is short-sighted and blind, and is forgetful of the cleansing of past sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble. For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you." (2 Peter 1:3-11)

God wants no one to be lost and He takes no pleasure in the death of sinners. This state of affairs is a consequence of God having created us with free will. He made us as much like Himself as was possible.

Quite a few Christians today sense that we are the Last Generation before the Rapture. For two thousand years we've experienced cycles of stress--birth pangs. Is this the last? Quite possibly it is--because the distress is everywhere now, in every part of the world. Some believe the Rapture will be an easy escape from their troubles but that is surely naive. See article: Rapture Prepping. I find myself self-centered and self-righteous even after knowing Jesus for nearly six decades. See The Oroborus symbol. At a very personal level I still have an ego problem. See if you can identify.

But,

"But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 

For we are not peddlers of God’s word like so many; but in Christ we speak as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God and standing in his presence." (2 Corinthians 2:14-17)

I was not born into this world with merely a few quirks, blemishes, shortcomings hangups and faults. You might be different, I'll speak only for myself.

"Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade others; but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences. We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:11-21)

Although Jesus was born into our world so long ago, His death on the cross, and His subsequent return out from among the dead are cosmic events where time and eternity meet.
On the night of His betrayal Jesus met with His disciples in the Upper Room West of the Temple and the Garden of Gethsemane. At the Last Supper, knowing he was to die the next day, Jesus announced a New Covenant a New Dispensation was taking place. After the Last Supper Jesus the remaining eleven disciples walked to Gethsemane where Jesus prayed entrusting His own to the Father’s care. John  Chapter 17 confirms what is known as the doctrine of Election.  Commentary: The Longest Prayer. 

Here is a summary of closing events in those last few days of the life of Jesus as He solved once and for all the root problem of evil in our world and in us. First, remember Jesus has abolished death forever and is now about to bring to pass in time what He won for us in eternity two millennia ago!

"Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us." (2 Timothy 1:8-14)

At the beginning of this article the genealogy of Jesus clearly suggests a family tree with Adam and Eve at the top of the tree and we all their sons and daughters.  There is a “Second Adam” described in the Bible with a “Second Eve” associated with Him. This woman is not one Jewish young woman but an entire church as described above. 

Each generation has had circumstances for living different from other generations. Each generation has produced saints who were tested, tried and perfected by the flesh, the world and the devil, our three enemies. Each generation has had its martyrs. Each of the seven churches has “overcomers.” 

Lots of people don't want to be loved by God! He does not, and can not, force Himself on anyone. God IS love. Love involves the consent of at least two persons. Love also has a backside!

Ephesus: “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” 

Smyrna: “He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” ’

Pergamos: “To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” 

Thyatira: “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” 

Sardis: “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” 

Philadelphia: "And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron;
They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” 

Laodicea: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”

Is their a common scarlet thread linking the fifty generations? Yes, we are all connected to Adam. See Table of Nations. The Judgment  Seat of Christ  is an important post-Rapture event we need to know about. The Last Judgment is something entirely different. God is holy and we are not. The great gulf between God and man was breached for all time in the six hours Jesus spent on the cross. See: Six Hours in Eternity on the Cross.

To a socialist a generation is 20 or 30 years. Hence Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z. In the Bible a generation is 40 years — the time between the birth of a son until He grows up, has a son, the son grows up and his father passes the mantle on to his son representing the next generations. One sees this pattern many in generation lists found in the Bible. For instance the family tree of Jesus back to Adam is given in Matthew and Luke. (For other genealogies in the Bible see Genesis 10:1-32, 11:10-32, 36:10-43, 46:8-27, 1 Chronicles 1:1-6, 8:1-28, 9:3-32, 9:35-44, Ezra 2:1-67, Nehemiah 7, 5-69)

For the sake of completeness, the "Lost Generation" was thought to have been from 1883 to 1900, the "Greatest Generation" from 1901-1927 and the "Silent Generation from 1928-1945.

Today our culture is very broken down, and healthy father-son relationships are rare. Chaos reigns. Is it possible for an entire generations of church attending, Bible believing, professing Christians to disappear from history? This seems to have happened already in the USA. 

Every generation has reasons for supposing they are the "Last Generation" but so far survivors are carrying on -- like zombies or robots on auto pilot! But there will be a final time when God steps back into history definitively. 

The Lost Generation 1980 to 2020
The Silent Generation 1928 to1945
Baby Boomers: born 1946 to 1964
Generation Jones: born 1955 to 1965
Generation X: born 1965 to 1980
Xennials: born 1977 to 1983
Millennials: born 1981 to 1996
Generation Z: 1997 to 2012
Generation Alpha: born 2010 or after

Search this site:

            

October 5, 2021, January 3, 2022. July 25, 2023.