Sin City – 3

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When was “The First Resurrection”?

At the end of what we call the Old Covenant, the long history of sacrificial “ascensions” also came to an end. Along with this, all the Old Covenant saints ascended to heaven in what the Revelation calls “the first resurrection.” However, it seems to me that the sacrificial rites themselves indicate that the saints did not ascend in AD70 but instead just prior to the beginning of the Roman siege.

The sacrificial rites which found their fulfilment in first century events divide the seven year process into two parts: the tribulation of the saints and then the “days of vengeance” upon the sinners. Thus, the Jewish War was not the Great Tribulation, since the Jews were the primary persecutors. The Roman siege was the final judgment upon Jerusalem and Jewry for a generation of persecution.

Two Goats

The period from the tearing of the Temple veil to the destruction of the entire Temple was a great “ascension” offering (Leviticus 1), with Christ ascending as the clean Head of the sacrifice, being taken up into the glory cloud, and returning a generation later “in like manner” (Acts 1:11) and “in clouds” for the washed Body. This “heavenly” offering is recapitulated in a national “earthly” sense in the Day of Atonement, where the High Priest made two approaches to the Most Holy, the first for the priesthood, and the second for the people.1See James Jordan’s brilliant exposition of this pattern providing the structure and meaning of Daniel 7 in his Daniel commentary. It is the Day of Atonement rite which helps us to understand the events surround the destruction of the earthly House of God.

The history of “The Circumcision” follows the pattern found in microcosm in Israel’s annual festal calendar, at the end of which was the Feast of Booths, a great blessing for all nations from a purified Israel. Before this feast (and the promise made to Abraham concerning the blessing for all nations) could be fulfilled, animal sacrifices had to come to an end. Animals represented Adam and Eve and their offspring, as “blameless” people. Since believers were now indeed blameless before God, with the apostolic church offering itself as a willing sacrifice,2See Feed My Lambs the sins would be carried by those who had trodden underfoot the blood of Christ. They would carry the sins of the people as the cursed goat carried the burden into the wilderness. Unbelieving Judah would be expelled from the Covenant in the way Judas was exiled from the table of Christ.

Applying this to first century history, we see that the murdered saints ascended to heaven as the first goat when the persecutions ended and the siege began. After this, all the sins were laid upon the earthly Jerusalem as the second goat, and Israel according to the flesh was driven to destruction.

Avenging Abel

The final “week” of seven years follows the sacrificial pattern set by Christ’s three year ministry the initial apostolic testimony to the Jews, a period which corresponds to Paul’s time of training in the wilderness at Sinai. However it was now the blood of the Christians being spilled in the great city at the end of three years of Jewish jubilation, and the second half of this repeated week would see Zion itself turned into Sinai, a burning mountain cast down into the wild sea of the nations (Revelation 8:8).

As it was with the blood of Abel, the murderous “oblation” in the midst of the week would be a legal witness calling down judgment from heaven upon the ground, in this case the “Land” of Israel. So it was the final martyrdoms in Jerusalem—most likely Christians being murdered as scapegoats, as those who “troubled Israel” like Elijah (1 Kings 18:17) and “tormented those who dwell upon the Land” (Revelation 11:10)—which brought an end to the 3½ year tribulation of the saints, and began the Roman siege. It could then be the saints in heaven (from both the Old and New Covenants, as two legal witnesses) calling down the Mosaic curses upon the city for the second half of the week. They could do this because the Jewish Christians had either been murdered (Revelation refers to them as “two legal witnesses”) or fled to the nearby city of Pella.3See Pella: A Window On Survival by Mark Wilson. Like Sodom, there was no one righteous left in her.

“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.” (Luke 21:20-22)

Thus, the pattern of the final seven years—the Great Tribulation—is the final “sacrifice for sin,” and it is the entire “holy city” whose smoke would go up as a memorial.4This is the context of Hebrews 10:26: “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins…” The entire four-cornered Land became a bloody Altar of Bronze.5One commenter on Sin City – 2 noted that Gentry could be correct in his assertion that the Revelation concerned only this final “week.” Although it does follow the same pattern, this final week is described only in the “Seven Bowls” section of the book. This means that Gentry interprets the details of the book incorrectly.

The Final Week

The fact that the final seven years of Jewish history follows the pattern laid down in Genesis 1 reveals it to be a “de-Creation.” The Temple had represented the entire cosmos,6See James Jordan, The First Ascension. but that role was now fulfilled in the Body of Christ.

SABBATH (Creation – Day 1)
Initiation – Sacrifice Chosen
AD64 – Sea Beast: Nero blames Christians for burning of Rome, the first time they were not treated as a Jewish sect. Herod’s Temple, a sacrificial model of the cosmos, is finally completed.
PASSOVER (Division – Day 2)
Delegation – Sacrifice Set Apart and Cut
AD65 – Land Beast: In rebellion against Christ, Passover is celebrated with the slaughter of 256,500 lambs (one for every household, or 10-12 people), to “purify” 3 million Jews, making them “holy” for attendance, people and houses washed and ready for an encounter with God. They would indeed be separated from the Gentiles, purified, and have an encounter with God, but not in the way they expected. Politically, their god is Caesar. In response to the fledgling Jew-Gentile Church, Satan has constructed a Jew-Gentile empire, a harlot on a beast.
FIRSTFRUITS (Ascension – Priesthood – Day 3)
Presentation – Sacrifice Laid on the Altar, lifted up
AD66 – Grain and Grape Harvest (Revelation 14): Fulfilment of the Lord’s Supper across the Land.
Chariots are seen in the clouds over the city at Passover, the Old Covenant angels circling the offering of the Abrahamic sacrifice like scavenging birds. But faithful Abraham would no longer chase them away.
The first Jewish-Roman war breaks out but the Jews ambush the invading Romans and many consider it a sign that God is on their side. Realising Rome would retaliate, Herod Agrippa II and the Roman officials flee from the city. Presumably this delay was for the sake of the saints who heeded Jesus’ warning.
This brings an end to the “Trumpets” section of the entire first century history, of which this final sevenfold section forms a great Day of Atonement. This last trumpet ends the warnings of the apostles and the Firstfruits Church to the superseded order of worship and the rulers of the Land (“kings of the earth”). (See Bible Matrix, p. 211) The Gospel had indeed been preached to all nations, and now the end would come (Matthew 24:14).
These murders of Christian witnesses (Revelation 11) were likely “the abomination of desolation.” In sacrificial terms, the Christ-rejecting Jews were once again committing infanticide, only this time it was worse. They were murdering the spiritual offspring of Abraham—sons of God—and offering them to God. This is what caused the Spirit to depart from the Temple, leaving it unprotected once again, and open to invasion by Gentile armies.7See James Jordan, The Abomination of Desolation Part 1. The departure of the Pentecostal, apostolic “fire” of God from Israel brought the earthly kingdom the Jews desired.8Note that this is exactly what happens repeatedly in the book of Judges: Israel worships a foreign god, so God sends the foreigners to discipline Israel.
PENTECOST (Testing – Kingdom – Day 4)
Purification – Holy Fire descends, the serpentine seraphim
AD67 – The kingdom that now comes is a Roman one. Nero commissions Vespasian and his son Titus to deal with the Jewish rebels.9See Jesus’ Caesars. They assemble four legions and begin their purge in Galilee, working with the armies of pro-Roman Agrippa II. Jerusalem is besieged, trapping “you, your children and those afar off” (the Jews and twice-children-of-hell Gentile proselytes from across the empire) in the city. The “green tree” mentioned by Jesus is now dry kindling (Luke 23:31). All the trees are cut down during the siege for the purpose of crucifixions. Note that these trees and the cross all hark back to the trees in Eden: Life and Wisdom, Priesthood and Kingdom, Jew and Gentile.
TRUMPETS (Maturity – Prophecy – Day 5)
Transformation – The testing fire brings forth smoke as a testimony
The sacrificial fire multiplied the obedience or disobedience of the offerer, and fills the house with smoke (in this case, Ezekiel’s Temple) 10See Esther in Ezekiel’s Temple.The saints have filled up the sufferings of Christ (Revelation 15:8) and the sinners have filled up their sins as the Canaanites did before Joshua’s invasion.
AD68 – As is common, the focus at this point is on “swarms,” or hosts, particularly Gentile ones, and “plunder and plagues.” Nero’s insanity leads to his downfall and suicide. His successor is assassinated and there is civil war in Rome, the entire oikoumene now in upheaval, as predicted by Jesus.11See Peter Leithart, Jewish War. The “Year of the Four Emperors” begins. Titus sets up camp at Jericho and the Romans cut off escape routes toward Jerusalem.
ATONEMENT (Conquest – Day 6)
Vindication – The warnings of Jesus come true: believing Jews are blessed and unbelieving Jews are cursed.
AD69 – Vespasian brings not only stability but a new stripe of Roman rule by becoming emperor, leaving Titus to deal with the stalemate in Judea. Jerusalem is “circumcised” with a trench (notice that this ironically matches the celebration of Passover at Division in this pattern), and any who escape are crucified on the wall in full sight of the besieged. The zealots reject every offer of terms of surrender.
Beginning in Galilee in 67, Titus’ movements in Judea have recapitulated the ministry of Christ, and will end with him stepping over the body of the High Priest in Jerusalem.12See Men Caught Like Fish.
BOOTHS (Glorification – Day 7)
Representation – The old priesthood is wiped away, and there is a new human government of elders enthroned in heaven.
AD70 – On July 17, the sacrifices cease because there are no priests left to offer them. The Temple is destroyed by fire, a “Shekinah” of judgment, the house filled with fire from God but in an ironic way. Booths was a feast thrown by a purified Israel for Gentile believers, but just as Jesus predicted, the rebellious glorifying of Passover meant that at Booths the Jews themselves would be the meat on the table for the scavengers, a city surrounded by circling Roman eagles.

So it makes sense that the saints suffered and ascended (as the “first goat”, the first resurrection) for 3 years before the second goat, the unrepentant Jews, became the second goat, “the second death.” (Although, the deaths of the final witnesses and the flight of the remaining saints to Pella was also a twofold event, a sacrificial “binding and loosing” on Moriah.)

Indeed, the language used by Jesus concerning the final Feast of Ingathering (another name for Booths) employs “Day 4″ symbols:

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the [Land] will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew 24:29-31)

The ascension of the elect of all the previous ages—including Abel and Abraham, and the apostolic martyrs—to reign with Christ is what allowed Him to pour out a “harvest” of destruction upon the Jerusalem below.

And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. (Revelation 11:8).

We cannot understand the Revelation rightly, or indeed the New Testament, without having the praxemes of the Torah either on our tongues or close at hand, but more importantly in our hearts. Otherwise we will fulfill them just as the Jews did. But the Church will never suffer again in the way it did before the end of Jerusalem (Matthew 24:21), a firstfruits Church which like her Master was offered up for the life of the world (Colossians 1:24).

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References

1. See James Jordan’s brilliant exposition of this pattern providing the structure and meaning of Daniel 7 in his Daniel commentary.
2. See Feed My Lambs
3. See Pella: A Window On Survival by Mark Wilson.
4. This is the context of Hebrews 10:26: “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins…”
5. One commenter on Sin City – 2 noted that Gentry could be correct in his assertion that the Revelation concerned only this final “week.” Although it does follow the same pattern, this final week is described only in the “Seven Bowls” section of the book. This means that Gentry interprets the details of the book incorrectly.
6. See James Jordan, The First Ascension.
7. See James Jordan, The Abomination of Desolation Part 1.
8. Note that this is exactly what happens repeatedly in the book of Judges: Israel worships a foreign god, so God sends the foreigners to discipline Israel.
9. See Jesus’ Caesars.
10. See Esther in Ezekiel’s Temple.
11. See Peter Leithart, Jewish War.
12. See Men Caught Like Fish.

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