The Book of Joel and The Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist Church - Number Twenty-Three

In article twenty-two I wrote, “Then in chapter eleven, the genealogy of the chosen people is represented by ten names from Shem to Abram. Chapter eleven is the story of the tower of Babel, but also the genealogy of the chosen people, as represented by Abraham. Chapter eleven introduces a chosen people who were to enter into a threefold covenant with God. The third and final step was the sacrifice of Isaac in chapter twenty-two. Chapter “eleven” is the alpha beginning and chapter “twenty-two” is the omega ending. The faith required to hear God’s voice in the meaning of names, is no different than the faith required to hear His voice in the numbering of His Word.”

Chapter eleven presents the covenant of Cain, and the covenant of Abel. We have repeatedly shown through the years that the prophetic characteristics of the tower of Babel represent a counterfeit covenant. After the flood, there was a change of dispensations from worshipping at the gate of Eden before the flood, and after the flood, worship was to be at an altar. The altar had specific biblical requirements. It needed to be erected of natural stone, with no human chipping or chiseling the stone. It had to be rock upon rock, with no mortar.

The purpose of the tower was to make Nimrod’s cohorts a name, which represents character. In the tower we see man attempting to save themselves, and lifting themselves up as the gods of heaven. The tower is a symbol of a church that thinks it can save itself, and thinks that it should be lifted up, as the ten kings do in Psalm 83, when they lift up the papal head at the evil confederacy of Bible prophecy, which takes place at the Sunday law.

The world had just been destroyed by Noah’s flood, and the reason God identified the closing probation on the antediluvian world was that man’s thoughts had become evil continually. The Bible speaks of unity in various ways, one of which is to see “eye to eye.” Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

When God confused the language at the judgment upon Nimrod’s kingdom, it identifies that prior to the confusion, they were all in unity, and therefore they were all the same character, and that character was a religion based upon human works—as opposed to those in the very same chapter that are represented by Abraham. Shem was a faithful soul in the time of Nimrod. Historians point to Shem as the one who killed Nimrod, the mighty rebel before the Lord. The point stands without the historian’s ideas, for Shem is a covenant man, who traces his blood to Noah, a covenant man, who traces his blood back to Seth, another covenant man, who came into covenant history to replace his brother Abel, who was another covenant man who was a direct descendant of Adam.

Genesis eleven is the great controversy between Christ and Satan, in the context of a covenant of life and a covenant of death. Nimrod represents the great hunter before the Lord, for he represents a church that has many devotees. Abram, through Shem, represents a church that has but few devotees. Shem was the covenant man when Nimrod was building his tower, but the two covenants in chapter eleven are represented not by Shem and Nimrod, but by Nimrod and Abraham. Paul clearly identifies this prophetic rule.

There is a great deal of present truth in the subject of Melchizedek, but I am simply identifying that Paul teaches directly that the prophetic characteristics of covenant men, and by that, I mean, men and women in the inspired testimony whose scriptural testimony is identifying a waymark in the prophetic line of God’s covenant with mankind. Paul teaches that Melchizedek, who lived before the Levitical priesthood was established at Sinai, and therefore over four hundred years before there was a Levitical priesthood, had accepted tithe from Levi. In order to be in the Levitical priesthood, you had to be a Levite who could prove his blood descent from Levi. Melchizedek could not show his descent was from the line of Levi, for Levi was not yet born.

The line of prophecy that represents God’s covenant with Adam and Eve is actually two covenants. The first was a covenant of life with a simple test. After the fall and the failed test, the next covenant included the blood of a lamb in order to provide clothing. Then there was God’s covenant with mankind, represented by the rainbow, Noah and altar worship. Then there was Genesis eleven where God’s covenant with a chosen people, who would be called Hebrews began. In each of those stories the biblical characters are covenant men or women.

In Genesis eleven, the beginning of the covenant of life with a chosen people is set forth, and it is set forth, right where Nimrod establishes the covenant of death, as represented by the bricks and mortar, that were the counterfeit of the unchiseled rocks and no mortar represented by the altar. Sister White informs us the altar represents Christ, thus Nimrod’s religion, which is a counterfeit religion, represents a counterfeit Christ.

Among other truths, one of the lessons that is derived prophetically from Genesis eleven is that it represents the beginning of a prophetic line. The flood of Noah marks a prophetic separation. When Noah left the ark there was to be a new method of worship, and the method of worship always produces two classes of worshippers, as set forth in the history of Cain and Abel. Genesis eleven is a new world, with a beginning history that becomes the foundational story of the ending history, as God’s last day covenant people call the eleventh-hour workers out of Babylon during the Sunday law crisis. Nimrod is the man of sin during the Sunday law crisis, and Shem, who is Abraham is the man of God in that very same crisis. Genesis eleven’s scattering and confusion of languages, began soon after Noah left the ark. The theme of chapter eleven is the two covenants, and the story reaches its conclusion when the third step of the Abrahamic covenant is set forth in chapter twenty-two.

Chapter eleven is the alpha history of the line of Abraham that reaches omega history in chapter twenty-two. The beginning story of Nimrod’s Babel and the ending story of the offering of Isaac, both represent the final judgment upon mankind. The line begins at Nimrod’s tower, and extends to the offering of Isaac, and the line culminates in two opposite offerings. Nimrod’s offering receives God’s executive judgment, and Abraham’s judgment receives God’s blessing. Nimrod is the alpha of chapter eleven and Abraham is the omega of chapter twenty-two. The omega is always greater, by at least twenty-two times according to the Hebrew alphabet, and the power manifested in confusing the languages and scattering the nations abroad, was far exceeded by the power of the cross. Nimrod’s tower represents the Twin Towers of 9/11 and the offering of Isaac represents the Sunday law.

The line of the covenant with a chosen people begins with the symbol of the number eleven and it ends with the symbol of twenty-two. The line ends at the close of probation in the alpha history of Nimrod and also the omega history of Abraham. The very history of Nimrod and Abraham is set forth in the first book of the Bible, and it is set within the context of picking up the pieces from the very recent destruction of Noah’s flood. In the first book of the Bible the illustration of the two covenants, provides two witnesses that set forth the close of probation in the line of chapter eleven through to twenty-two.

Nimrod is unjust and filthy still, and Abraham is righteous and holy still as identified in the alpha of Genesis 11–22, and also in the omega of Revelation 22:11. Just before probation closes, a pronouncement in verse 10 is made to seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Just before probation closes in the very next verse, there is to be a prophecy in Revelation that is to be unsealed. Two verses after verse eleven, Christ supplies the key to unseal that prophecy.

Chapter twenty-two is the omega chapter of the entire Bible and the key to opening the prophecy in Revelation that is sealed up, is the principle that Christ identified above all others in chapter one of Revelation. Chapter one is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and chapter twenty-two is the last. In verses nine through eleven of chapter one, John introduces himself, and identifies Christ as Alpha and Omega.

In verse eleven, John is in Patmos, but he turns around in verse twelve, and from there on, he is in the heavenly sanctuary. Thus, in verses 9/11, we find the testimony of John, which identifies Jesus as Alpha and Omega, something Jesus already identified of Himself in verse 8:

In verse eight, John is writing what he heard Christ speak of Himself. In verses nine through eleven, it is John speaking of himself. That represents two witnesses in the first eleven verses that identify Christ as Alpha and Omega. Verses nine through eleven represents its own unit of thought. Though connected with the entire chapter, in these verses John is speaking of himself, whereas; in verses four through eight, John is speaking for the godhead to His churches. Verse four begins a unit of thought, that ends in verse eight. This is recognized by the opening characteristics of Christ who was and is and is yet to come, being identified in verse four and then again in verse eight.

The first three verses of chapter one present the revelation of Jesus Christ, which is unsealed just before probation closes, for verse three says, “the time is at hand.” “The time is at hand” is the identical statement of verse ten, of chapter twenty-two, that says “seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand.” The prophecy that is unsealed is the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

Verse four begins the unsealing, and verse four begins with John’s testimony of, “I John,” and then in verse eight it is Christ who identifies Himself. A human witness in the first of the five verses and a divine witness at the end. Verse four identifies the Heavenly Father as the one who “is, and which was, and which is to come.” Verse eight identifies Christ as the one who “is, and which was, and which is to come.”

The key to unsealing the Revelation of Jesus Christ is the principle of alpha and omega. As the first and last, Christ also exists in the present, though He was in the past and will be in the future. The fact that Jesus and the Father are both the God who was, and is, and is yet to come is another presentation of Christ as Alpha and Omega. He is Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and Ending and He was in the beginning and will be in the ending. The “keys” of the kingdom, that are given to the church at Caesarea Philippi, is also the “key” placed upon Eliakim’s shoulder in Isaiah 22:22. The alpha of the book of Revelation is chapter one and the omega is chapter twenty-two, so we find all the Hebrew alphabet, in the chapters of Revelation. Chapter thirteen represents the rebellion of the United States and thereafter the world. Chapter one presents Christ as Alpha and Omega and chapter twenty-two identifies the same truth, but in connection with the unsealing mentioned in chapter one. Chapters one, thirteen and twenty-two represent the three Hebrew letters that together form the word “truth.”

In chapter twenty-three of Matthew Jesus sets forth eight woes upon the Pharisees and Sadducees. In the final verse of chapter twenty-two the interaction of Christ with the quibbling Jews ended with the enigma of David, an enigma that can only be solve if you understand the principle of alpha and omega.

The conclusion of chapter twenty-two identifies a waymark of covenant history. Jeremiah addresses this line of truth as well:

Jeremiah was told to not pray for ancient Israel, for they had reached a point of no return, as did the quibbling Jews at the end of chapter twenty-two. When Moses, (a covenant man) was confronted with God’s decision to destroy the chosen covenant people, Moses interceded with prayer. In chapter seven, Jeremiah is told not to pray for the very same covenant people. The prophetic history of Shiloh is identified as the line upon line evidence of God rejecting a chosen covenant people when their sin reaches an unredeemable point, as expressed in one verse.

In covenant history the point where God ends His covenant relationship is a specific waymark. The rejection of the report of Joshua and Caleb marking the tenth test is another example. Jeremiah is also told to not pray for this people a few chapters later.

In chapter seven, the spewing out of the Laodiceans at the Sunday law as represented by the symbolism of Shiloah and is identifying what He “will do,” in the near future.

In chapter eleven, the command to not pray is about the fear that shall overtake the Laodiceans when they find themselves in the time of trouble that follows the Sunday law. The fear they experience is set within the history of their rejection of the covenant.

The resurrection of the candidates, to be among the one hundred and forty-four thousand, is identified in Revelation 11:11; and their final gathering is identified in Isaiah 11:11; and the external line of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet is identified in Daniel 11:11; The Sunday law judgment of the tares is identified in Ezekiel 11:11 and the punishment and fear that comes upon the foolish virgins is identified in Jeremiah 11:11.

The command to not pray for this people is the waymark in the last verses of Matthew chapter twenty-two, and chapter twenty-three identifies eight woes upon Adventism. Chapter twenty-three is either October 22, 1844, or the Sunday law. Both of those waymarks are a fulfillment of the marriage, and the marriage is between a bride and a husband, who come together as one flesh. The consummation of the marriage represents atonement, or “at-one-ment.” Man was created in the image of God, and He created male and female. Their offspring are represented by twenty-three chromosomes from the man and twenty-three from the woman. Together their forty-six chromosomes make up the temple. Each individual is a temple, for know ye not that ye are the temple of the Lord?

The consummation of the marriage, when the two become one is the combination of two temples of twenty-three, to form one temple of forty-six. Christ is the one who builds the temple, and He builds His church as the female temple that is to join with His male temple. The connection is when the human temple is joined with the Divine in the Most Holy Place of God’s temple. “Twenty-three” is a symbol of the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, and that work began at the end of the twenty-three hundred year prophecy. Matthew twenty-three is the pronouncement against Laodicean Seventh-day Adventists, who are a counterfeit of the one hundred and forty-four thousand.

The one hundred and forty-four thousand are the eighth that is of the seven, and they are those who are resurrected on the eighth day, and the are the eight souls on Noah’s ark, they are the eight descendants of Seth and the seal upon their foreheads was typified by circumcision, that was carried out on the eighth day. They are the priests that are anointed for service on the eighth day, and the pronouncement of eight woes upon Adventism in chapter twenty-three, is a pronouncement against the counterfeit eight.

The pronouncement of woe upon the foolish virgins is proceeded by the sealing of God’s people in the final verse of chapter twenty-two. Chapter twenty-two aligns with chapter twenty-two in Genesis, for the first book of the Old Testament typifies the first book of the New Testament. In the heart of the prophetic line of Matthew eleven through chapter twenty-two representing twelve chapters, and the sixth of those twelve chapters is chapter sixteen, where Simon Barjona’s name was changed to Peter.

There are 459 verses in Matthew eleven through twenty-two. The middle verse is verse seventeen, of chapter sixteen, but that verse cannot be separated from verses eighteen and nineteen, for they are one statement.

The very center of chapters eleven unto twenty-two is the foundational covenant statement for Christianity. In that statement, Simon’s name is changed to Peter, which; when you apply the numerical position that each letter of the English language holds; such as “a” is one, and “z” is twenty-six—you find “p” is 16, “e” is 5, and “t” is 20, and another “e” is 5 and “r” is 18. When you multiply 16 X 5 X 20 X 5 X 18 it equals 144,000, and the reference to Peter’s name change, a symbol of covenant relationship, is found in chapter 16 verse 18, and the first letter of Peter is the number 16 and the last letter is the number 18. All of this is in the center of twelve chapters that begin with the symbol of eleven and end with the symbol of twenty-two.

That line is also found in Genesis chapters eleven through twenty-two, and in that line, there are 305 verses, which identifies chapter seventeen and verse eleven as the center of that line. That line of twelve chapters of the first book of the Old Testament identifies the covenant with Abraham, and represents the alpha line that meets the omega line, in the same chapters of the first book of the New Testament. The center of the line of the omega in Matthew is the high point of the covenant relationship of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, who are the covenant sign that is lifted up at the Sunday law. The center verse of Genesis’s line identifies not only the center verse, but also the second or middle step of the threefold covenant with Abraham, and just as significantly the sign of the covenant.

We will continue these things in the next article.