Basic Concepts
The End-of-the-Age! What is it? Is it only a moment in time or a period of time? Could it happen tomorrow, or is there yet a lot of unfinished business? These questions and many more must be answered if we are to understand this event. This outline will list a number of topics related to those questions. The End-of-the Age is a complex picture, but before we can begin to see the picture, we must build a context, or a framework of truth. This framework of truth will explore the following topics:
The details of the picture itself, which would have have the breathtaking title of the 'Gospel of the Kingdom', is a topic of further discussions. This article is an introduction to that truth. It is an appetite pill, intended to produce a healthy appetite for the real truth about the end-of-the-age. Prophetic truth is designed to create hunger, or as pictured above a void. We are taught to hunger and thirst for the kingdom of God. Hunger may be uncomfortable but it is necessary before we can be filled. Until our king and his kingdom have fully come to earth, we must remain hungry. The Bible gives a multitude of clues to 'frame' the unknown void of the end-of-the-age. The first issue is whether God ever intends that we should know the fine details of the plan (picture). As we build the framework for this, the greatest adventure of all time, we will see that God is urging us to uncover the hidden secrets of the kingdom. Our hunger will be filled. We will comprehend our ministry, we will be wise and faithful managers. To do this we must cover the following topics:
Background to all of God's dealings with man is the call to dominion - earned dominion. Man was to be in charge of the earth as stewards and managers. And while the earth and man were perfect, God allowed an adversarial environment (Satan) to raise up to test man's moral commitment. This testing is important and required - it proves to us our dependence on God. It was in this testing, that Adam was defeated by perverted wisdom - thereby relinquishing the right to administer God's creation and subjecting himself and creation to death and decay. In the face of a moral challenge Adam and Eve failed. Dominion without an adversarial environment is not dominion. That fact, precludes the granting of dominion after the bodily return of Messiah to earth and the binding of the devil. Man must take dominion over the world, his own flesh, and the devil. The devil, representing the adversarial environment, will be eliminated from the environment at the beginning of the Millennium. Taking dominion in the Millennial environment does not constitute dominion. Limping, or whimping out of this age is not an option. It is in this environment that we failed, and it must be in this environment that we overcome - using the provisions graciously given to us by God. Manifesting earned dominion is the most fundamental purpose of the end-of-the-age. We must demonstrate to all creation that man is worthy of dominion. Man failed in Eden, but man will succeed at the end-of-the-age. This is the glorious formula of redemption:
'Fallen man' + 'the Atonement' = 'glorified man'
Gen 4:7b it [sin] desires to have you, but you must master it."
Gen 22:1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied.
Deu 8:2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.
Rev 21:7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
Matt 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matt 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Prov 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.
John 15:15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
I Chr 28:19 "All this," David said, "I have in writing from the hand of the LORD upon me, and he gave me understanding in all the details of the plan."
Dan 12:4 But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge." .... {9} He replied, "Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. {10} Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.
Matt 13:11,12 He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
I Cor 2:9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-- but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
1 Cor 2:16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ.
Col 2:2,3 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Rom 16:25 Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him--
The Week of Creation - The basic prophetic unit - seven
The Temple - Organization and function
The Feasts of the Lord - Timing and calendar of events
The Journey - Strategy of Conquest
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
| Creation | Dividing Light from Darkness | Divide the Waters | Land Appears | Vegetation Sun Moon Stars | Fish and Birds | Animals Man | Rest |
| Journey | Judgment on the Egyptians Passover, Exodus | Divide the Waters | Begin Journey Through the Wilderness | Ten Commandments Statutes | Tabernacle Priesthood Organization of an Army | Cross Jordan, Battle for the Land | Rest |
| Tabernacle | Bronze Alter of Burnt Offering | Bronze Laver | Table of Showbread | The Lampstand | Alter of Incense | Ark of the Covenant | Atonement Cover (Presence) |
| Feasts | Passover (1/14) | Unleavened Bread (1/15) | First Fruits (day after the Sabbath) | Weeks (Pentecost) (+ 50 days) | Trumpets (7/1) | Day of Atonement (7/10) | Tabernacles (7/15) |
1 John 3:2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when [by the time] he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
Eph 4:11-13 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Rom 4:22-25 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.
The journey pattern: Mat 26:36, Mark 14:32, Luke 22:39
HEBREWS: The book of perfection
JOHN:
1 John 3:7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
Mat 5:48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Definition of Truth: Conformity to fact or reality. Conformity to rule, standard, model, pattern or ideal. Conformity to the requirements of one's being or nature. Being that which is the case rather than what is manifested or assumed.
Truth - The greatest evidence of spiritual power
Sanctify them by the truth;
John 17:17a
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Luke 10:21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
Phil 2:5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
(KJV Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:)
Luke 10:21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
Mat 13:11 He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
Eph 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
Rev 13:18 (NIV) This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666.
Rev 17:9 (NIV) "This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits.
Dan 9:1 In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom--in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
John 17:15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Isa 44:24 "This is what the LORD says-- your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise and turns it into nonsense, who carries out the words of his servants and fulfills the predictions of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, 'It shall be inhabited,' of the towns of Judah, 'They shall be built,' and of their ruins, 'I will restore them,' who says to the watery deep, 'Be dry, and I will dry up your streams,'
Mat 13:12 Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
Mat 13:13 This is why I speak to them in parables: "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
Mat 13:14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: "'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
Mat 13:15 For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'
Mat 13:16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.
Mat 13:17 For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
1 Cor 2:6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.
Col 2:2 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Rom 8:6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
Rom 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
Rom 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.
1 Cor 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.
1 Cor 2:4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
1 Cor 2:9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-- but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:
1 Cor 2:16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ.
Phil 2:5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
(KJV Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:)
Godhead
I Peter 3:5,6 For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.
Truth Summation
Jesus summarized the whole of the Law of Moses with two statements:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." and "Love your neighbor as yourself."
This was an example of truth summation which is very benificial in the search for truth. It collapes an immensce amount of detail and complexity into a comprehensible equivelent truth.
The truth revealed in this prophetic series has produced a similar truth summation for the end-of-the-age master plan. The whole of the end-of-the-age (EOTA) can be summed up in this single statement:
The Kingdom
Is there many, many more details? Yes, certainly, but they all contribute to, or result from the foremost truth of the EOTA as stated above. This statement becomes a beacon, a guiding star in the incredibly complex events of the EOTA.
There is another concept that assists us in comprehending the truth about the EOTA - it is the Kingdom.
Obeying the admonition - seek first the Kingdom
Starting with the end - every journey has a destination
The case for a destination.
We must go beyond this Word, but we can never go counter to this Word.
This is a conformity base prophetic scenario
Hidden prophetic scenario
When you are confused about the details reach higher for the truth context.
The Kingdom Components:
The coming kingdom of God consists of each component as listed and described below:
Often the journey to full comprehension is started by coming to grips with how little we know. The prophetic scriptures are first of all 'hunger pills'. By reading and digesting them they are designed to create hunger, an empty feeling, or void. While the admonition of being and remaining hungry is quit common in the Scriptures it is not a very comfortable sense. There is a human tendency to fill voids, to feed hunger. This is done by forcing 'interpretation' of Scriptures when one should rather admit ignorance. It is often hard for people, especially those who are educated to teach the Scriptures to admit that they don't have a good answer for some scripture, forcing the answer. In one sense, when this is done, we are being filled, but the NT is filled with warnings to remain hungry until the 'fulfillment' of all things, until the king and his kingdom have fully come to earth. Until they are we must remain hungry. We must remain thirsty, watching, on guard, and alert.