ISAIAH
1st 783-738 B.C. Chp. 1-40
2nd 735-719 B.C. Chp. 40-55
3rd 719-704 B.C. Chp. 55-66
7
Isaiah 1:2
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth,
For the Lord has spoken:
I (the Lord) reared the children and
brought them up—
And they have rebelled against Me!
Isaiah 1:4
My people takes no thought
Ah, sinful nation!
People laden with iniquity!
Brook of evildoers!
Depraved children!
They have forsaken the Lord, …
Turned their backs on Him.
Isaiah 1:23 Your rulers are rogues
And cronies of thieves,
Every one avid for presents
And greedy for gifts.
The majority of
‘people’ ‘take no thought’ and the
leaders are rogues; the typical realities at the end of an age. (references
from the new translation of the Tanakh)
The Lord here is probably Melchizedek, who through Moses and the patriarchs "reared and brought the children" of Israel up. Now we slip into what is still the future to us:
Isaiah 2:2 In the days to come,
The Mount of the Lord’s House
Shall stand firm above the mountains.
And tower above the hills’
And all the
nations
Shall gaze upon it with
joy.
And the many
peoples shall go and say:
"Come,
let us go up to the Mount of the Lord,
To the House
of God of Jacob;
That He may instruct us in His ways,
And that we may walk in His
paths."
For instruction shall come forth
from Zion
The word of the Lord from
Jerusalem.
Then he will judge among the
nations
And arbitrate for the many peoples,
And they shall beat their swords
into plowshares
And their spears into pruning
hooks;
Nation shall not take up
Sword against nation;
They shall never again know war.
War will cease forever when Melchizedek takes sovereignty. The "mount of the Lord’s house" is the present temple mount of modern Israel on which the 3rd Temple will be built and in which "the presence of the Lord" (Melchizedek’s semi-material form) will dwell once again. The nations will be judged and the world’s corrupt leadership will be deposed and replaced by those of true merit. Melchizedek will personally instruct, judge, arbitrate and do away with war on this world. If not for divine intervention, the world as we know it would have perished. The Lord continues to speak through Isaiah to the leaders:
Isaiah 2:17
Then man’s haughtiness will be humbled
And
the pride of man brought low.
None but the Lord shall be
Exalted in that day.
Isaiah 3 :15 How
dare you crush My people
And grind the faces of the poor…
Isaiah 4:2 In that day,
The
radiance of the Lord
Will
lend beauty and glory,
And the splendor of the land
Will give dignity and majesty
To the survivors of Israel
And those who remain in Zion. (the remnant)
Lord Melchizedek’s semi-material presence is capable of emanating large quantities of visible light, thus "the radiance of the Lord." The "splendor of the land" alludes to the transformation of the soon-to-be-desolated modern Israel, into a beautiful and bounteous "new garden of Eden." Notice here that there are two remnants after the upcoming world events: " the survivors of Israel " and " those who remain in Zion," i.e., Jerusalem. Both of these remnants: one from the northern Lost Ten Tribes and another from the southern tribes of Judah lineage, today’s modern Israel, will be further discussed elsewhere. Next we have:
Isaiah 5:12
They
(the leaders) never give a thought
To the plan of the Lord,
And
take no note
Of what He is designing…
Isaiah 5:14
And
down it shall go,
That splendor and tumult
That din and revelry …
Isaiah 5:20 Ah,
those who call evil good
And good evil;
Who present
darkness as light
And light as
darkness;
Ah,
Those who are so wise—
In their own opinion;
So clever—
In
their own judgment!
Such people are all around us. They are our leadership class (the class of the power elite). The confusion created by ‘those who call evil good and good evil’ is also all around us today. Values seem to be upside down from what they should be. But those who love God will not succumb because:
Isaiah 8:10
Hatch a plot—it shall be foiled.
Agree on
action—it shall not succeed.
For with us
is God!
Slipping into the future again, we have:
Isaiah 10:20-22
And in that day,
The remnant of Israel
And the escaped of the House of Jacob
Shall lean no more upon him
That beats it,
But shall lean sincerely
On the Lord, the Holy One of Israel
Only a remnant shall return,
Only a remnant of Jacob,
To mighty God.
Even if your people, O Israel,
Should be as the sands of the sea,
Only a remnant shall return.
Those "who beat" the "escaped of the House of Jacob" and the "remnant of Israel" are the leaders and power elite who persecute and "hold captive" those who follow God during the trial period at the end of this age. The Lord through Isaiah tell us that the people, once liberated from their leaders who ‘beat them’ will lean/rely directly only on the Holy One of Israel. Notice "only a remnant" of Jacob and Israel returns – the faithful and true.
Note here again, there returns two remnants: "The Israel remnant," the remnant of the Northern Ten Tribes who lost their identity and have never returned; and the remnant of the "House of Jacob" probably referring to the remnant of the Jews/Judah, those who will escape the future destruction of modern Israel. Also note again the phrase "sand of the sea " to refer to the multitudes of the Lost Ten Tribes. Remember, "Israel" (the Northern Tribes) is composed mainly of the "myriads" of Joseph’s chosen son Ephraim and the "multitudes" of his other son Manasseh. We will identify this large group of people soon. Both Ephraim and Manasseh were to be abundantly blessed; past, present and future. God and Melchizedek have temporarily allowed the land of Canaan to be taken from Jacob (Judah and Israel) in consequence to their backsliding; but they never take away their love for them or the promises they gave Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These promises will be made good in the years directly ahead of us. Now we next have:
Isaiah 11:6 The
wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard lie
down with the kid …
A babe shall
play over a viper’s hole …
The Urantia Book tells us that the angels have powers over the beasts of the land. I believe that we will witness this power. Again we have:
He (the Lord Melchizedek) will hold up a signal to the nations
And assemble the banished of Israel
(northern ten lost tribes)
And gather the dispersed of Judah (the
Jewish remnant)
From the four
corners of the earth. (my parentheses)
God’s people will be gathered from all corners of the earth at age’s end, wherever a soul exists that loves and respects his Creator, no matter what religion, race, or creed.
Isaiah 12:5
Hymn the Lord,
For He has done
gloriously;
Let this be
known
In all the
world!
Oh, shout for
joy,
You who dwell in
Zion!
For great in your midst
Is the Holy One
of Israel.
The semi-material Melchizedek (Holy One of Israel) will literally dwell "in our midst," once again in Zion as before. Now we have:
Isaiah 24:14 These
shall lift up their voices,
Exult in the
majesty of the Lord.
They shall shout
from the sea:
Therefore honor
the Lord with lights
In the coastlands of the sea—…
From the end of
the earth
We hear singing.
Glory to the
righteous!
Notice here that those who rejoice in God’s victory are located far away from Canaan, and across the sea from the country Israel and shout from coastlands. Where and who could they be? Why are they shouting and singing? Next, we change subjects:
Isaiah 24:18
For
sluices are opened on high,
And earth’s
foundations tremble.
The earth is breaking, breaking;
The earth is
crumbling, crumbling.
The earth is
tottering, tottering;
The earth is
swaying like a drunkard;
It is rocking to
and fro like a hut.
Its iniquity
shall weigh it down …
In that day, the Lord will punish
The host of
heaven in heaven
And the kings of
the earth on earth.
This stanza
indicates large-scale motions and disruptions in the earth at the time when
"the Lord" arrives to establish peace. This may represent large scale
tectonic activity or possibly even shifting of the poles as discussed in the
chapter on Emily Dickinson. In that day confirms
that this passage refers to the end of the age. The "hosts of heaven"
are the rebellious spirit beings involved in the Lucifer rebellion. Also notice
that the "kings of the earth" will be singled out for their
mis-leadership. This is because these "leaders of nations" will cause
the peoples of the earth to war with one another, as well as many other
problems. These leaders, including our own, will be held responsible for the
reprehensible conditions the world will be in. I believe these conditions refer
to the environmental degradation, war, famine, disease, oppression of the weak,
social strife, political chaos, and religious persecution that will exist. God expects that leaders given power will
act as wise shepherds over His children.
To those who have been given much, much will be expected.
Isaiah 24:23 Then
the moon shall be ashamed,
And the sun
shall be abashed.
For the Lord of
Hosts will reign
On Mount Zion
and in Jerusalem,
And the Presence
will be revealed to His elders.
The last stanza states again that the "Lord of Hosts" will reign and dwell on Mount Zion for the benefit of all the world. Could "the Presence" be Melchizedek’s semi-material presence, as in the days of old? Next, we have:
Isaiah 29:5 And suddenly, in an instant, …
With roaring,
and shaking, and deafening noise,
Storm and
tempest, and blaze of consuming fire.
Then, like a
dream, a vision in the night,
Shall be the
multitude of nations . . .
So shall be all
the multitude of nations
That was upon
Mount Zion.
(Dotted lines represent breaks in the continuous text.) Here again we have evidence of cataclysmic natural events occurring at the time of Lord Melchizedek’s arrival. Are these local or global events? The effect of this cataclysm will be to defeat the ‘multitude of nations’ that are upon Mount Zion attacking Jerusalem/Israel.
The "multitude of nations" is similar to another phrase; ie: "all the nations" that will bring a final war against Jerusalem and modern Israel. Recently, the United States has abandoned its long-standing support of modern Israel and has now joined the rest of the world’s nations in currying favor with the Arab contingent. NATO, a previously defensive organization, has now become the United Nations’ "world police force." If and when this police force is used against modern Israel, the prophecy of "all the nations" coming against Israel will have been fulfilled. The political activity in the Middle East is a clock for the fulfillment of prophecy; for when the hour of this war strikes, Melchizedek will sometime thereafter make his entry and all the world will know it. Also the Lord through Isaiah says to these leaders:
Isaiah 29:9 Act
stupid and be stupefied!
Act blind and be
blinded!
(They are drunk,
but not from wine,
They stagger, but not from liquor.)
For the Lord has
spread over you
A spirit of deep
sleep,
And has shut
your eyes, the (false) prophets,
And covered your
heads, the seers;
So that all
prophecy has been to you
Like the
words of a sealed document.
Isaiah 29:11 If
it is handed to one who can read and he is asked to read it,
he will say, "I can’t, because it
is sealed;" and if the document
is handed to one
who cannot read and he is asked to read it, he
will say,
"I can’t read."
My (Isaiah’s)
Lord said:
Because that
people has approached [Me] with its mouth
And honored Me
with its lips,
But has kept its
heart far from Me,
And its worship
of Me has been
A commandment of men, learned by rote—
Truly, I shall
further baffle that people
With bafflement
upon bafflement;
And the wisdom of its wise shall fail,
And the prudence of its prudent shall vanish.
Those who unknowingly bring about God’s prophecy will be totally oblivious to that prophecy. When we turn away from God, we also turn away from the source of all wisdom and knowledge. We are "blind and blinded," "stupid and stupefied." To many of us, living religion is crystallized into "a commandment of men, learned by rote." We pay lip service to God but have no living connection to Him. What we say and what we do are two different things. Since God, and only God, is the source of love and life, we, like the living branch of a vine, become cut off and withered by our separation from Him. We are told:
Isaiah
Surely, in a little while,
29:17-20 Lebanon will be transformed
into farmland,
And farmland
accounted as mere brush.|
In that day, the deaf shall hear even
written words,
And the eyes of
the blind shall see
Even in darkness
and obscurity.
Then the humble
shall have
Increasing joy
through the Lord.
And the neediest
of men will exult
In the Holy One
of Israel.
For the tyrant
shall be no more.
The scoffer shall cease to be;
And those diligent for evil shall be wiped out.
The disappearance of ‘the scoffer, the tyrant, and those diligent for evil,’ who still are all too prevalent among us, tells us that these prophecies lie still in our, hopefully, not too distant future.
This truly will be a transformed world when Melchizedek takes sovereignty. Yet what will the majority of people think and say when they hear these prophecies? Isaiah answers:
Isaiah 30:9 It
is a rebellious people,
Faithless
children,
Children who
refuse to heed
The instruction
of the Lord;
Who say to the
seers,
"Do not
see."
To the prophets,
"Do not
prophesy truth to us;
Speak to us in
falsehoods,
Prophesy
delusions
Leave the way!
Get off the
path!
Let us hear no
more."
Many of us will not be willing to let go of our cherished secular worldviews. We would rather not hear the truths of our failings and deceptions. But before very long, in the coming days of justice, every one of us will stand alone in the light of truth on the "Day of the Lord." But we know that God’s justice is always tempered with mercy, therefore:
Isaiah 30:18
Truly, the Lord is waiting to show you grace,
Truly, He will
arise to pardon you.
For the Lord is
a God of justice;|
Happy are all
who wait for Him.
Indeed, O people in Zion,
dwellers of Jerusalem, you shall not have cause to
weep. He will grant you His
favor at the sound of your cry; He will respond as
soon as He hears it. My Lord
will provide for you meager bread and scant water.
Then your Guide will no more be ignored, but your eyes
will watch your Guide;
and, whenever you deviate to
the right or to the left, your ears will heed the
command from behind you:
"This is the road; follow it!"
Here the Lord is addressing the faithful and true remnants, as well as the downtrodden and humble. This passage applies to the future, the end of this age, because "the Lord" has not yet arisen to "pardon" Israel and Judah for their transgressions. However, He has started the process of gathering some of "his peoples" back to Israel. The pardon will follow when Melchizedek returns to heal the long-open wounds of "his people." The amazing statement regarding our "Guide" is exactly the teaching of the Urantia Book, i.e., that the Kingdom of Heaven is within us, in the form of the indwelling spirit of God, which "guides" us from within our consciousness and keeps us from "deviating to the right or the left" from God’s Will straight ahead. The true way, the kingdom of heaven within, is an ancient way although it seems new to our modern world. Now, back to the "Day of the Lord" when Melchizedek arises.
Isaiah 30:25 And
on every high mountain and on every lofty hill, there
shall appear
brooks and watercourses—on a day of heavy
slaughter, when towers topple. And the light of the
moon shall
become like the
light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall
become
sevenfold, like the light of the seven days, when the
Lord binds up
His people’s wounds and heals the injuries it
has suffered.
A large scale healing of spiritual and physical wounds is implied in scripture regarding the Messianic end of the age.
The "day of heavy slaughter" is the day that ‘all the nations’ come against modern Israel and are defeated by the arrival of Melchizedek. "When towers topple" refers to the large, possibly global, tectonic event that will cause walls and towers to topple. The brooks and watercourses shall result from this same tectonic event. The reference to the increased light occurs repeatedly. This may be due to some physical event or possibly due to the light emanated from Melchizedek’s presence. These events described have not yet happened; therefore, their future occurrence is very probable. More on this subject:
Isaiah 31:4-5 So
the Lord of Hosts will descend to
make war
Against the
mount and the hill of Zion.
Like the
birds that fly, even so will
The Lord of
Hosts shield Jerusalem,
Shielding and
saving, protecting and rescuing.
Melchizedek enters at a time of great trouble, but peace is destined to reign. Also, we now know that a remnant of Jerusalem and modern Israel (Judah) survive, probably due to the protection provided them by Melchizedek. We are also told here that the "Lord of Hosts" "descends" and "shields" like "the birds that fly." We recall how previously the Lord’s presence was said to reside in a pillar of cloud overhead the exodus community. "The Lord" led the peoples by day and provided light at night from this "pillar of cloud." Now we are told that he will "descend like a bird" and shield Jerusalem upon his arrival. What could this mean? What might we see that could descend in the literal sky. Next, we have some other cloud references describing events during the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.
Psalms 78:14 In the
daytime also He (the Lord) led them
(the Israelites) with a cloud,
and all the
night with a light of fire.
Psalms 99:7
He (the Lord) spake unto them
in the cloudy pillar;
They kept
His testimonies, and the ordinance that He gave them.
Nehemiah. 9:19 Yet
Thou (the Lord) in Thy manifold mercies forsook them not in the
Wilderness,
and the pillar of the cloud departed
not from them
Day by day,
to lead them in the way. . .
There are dozens of these cloud references, and they are among many diverse books in the Old Testament. If it were only one line in one book, one could easily discredit this description. God wants us to understand His plan. He doesn’t hide it from us. Emily Dickinson writes that:
Tis not
revelation that waits—
But our
unfurnished eyes! (poem #685)
I couldn’t agree more. Revelation is all around and within us but we can not see what we are not aware of. More about clouds will come later. For now we will simply note the occurrence of these events in the sky that involve the Lord’s (Melchizedek’s) presence. And now:
Isaiah 32:1 Behold,
a King shall reign in righteousness,
And ministers
shall govern with Justice;
The name Melchizedek literally means King of Righteousness. Presently, the world has little or no justice therefore this line describes a world not yet come, but when it does:
Isaiah 32:3 Then the eyes of those who have sight
shall not be sealed,
And the ears of
those who have hearing shall listen;
And the minds of
the thoughtless shall attend and note . . .
Isaiah 32:5 No more shall a villain be called noble,
At last, the upside down world is set upright
on its axis:
Isaiah 32:14
For
the castle shall be abandoned,
The noisy city
forsaken;
Citadel and tower shall become
Brushland
forever
Till a spirit
from on high is poured out on us,
And wilderness
is transformed into farmland . . .
Then my people
shall dwell in peaceful homes,
In untroubled
places of rest
Even as the city
is laid low.
Cities fare very poorly in the events to come both as a result of natural and man made disasters. Consider:
Revelation: 16:19 And
the great city (Jerusalem) was divided unto three parts,
(by tectonic
activity)
And the cities of the nations fell.
Psalms 9:6 The enemy has been cut
off and has
Vanished in everlasting
ruins,
You (Lord) have
plucked up and
Overthrown their cities;
The very
memory of them
Has perished and
vanished
But the Lord shall remain
And continue forever.
And he will judge the world
In
righteousness.
Arise, O Lord!
Let not man
Prevail; lest the nations be judged before
You.
The time period of the above scripture is the Messianic end of the age because ‘The Lord shall remain and continue forever’ in reference to Melchizedek’s sovereign presence. How many cities will ‘perish and vanish?’
Back to Isaiah, we have:
Isaiah 35:8 A
highway shall appear there,
Which shall be
called the Sacred Way . . .
Isaiah 35:9 The redeemed shall
walk it;
And the ransomed
of the Lord shall return,
And come with
shouting to Zion,
Crowned with joy
everlasting.
A sacred highway ‘appears’ on which the faithful remnants make their way to Zion (Jerusalem). This will be discussed later.
Zion refers to the highest of the mountain eminences on which Jerusalem was built. It is surrounded on all sides by deep valleys except to the north where the temple mount lies. Zion is sometimes used in the Old Testament to denote Jerusalem in general. It literally means ‘sunny’ and ‘height’. It is just south of the temple mount and is also called the City of David. Note the grand celebration below of a joyous reunion between Melchizedek and his estranged children, the remnants of "lost Israel" and "Judah."
Psalms 53:7 O
that the deliverance of Israel
Might come from Zion!
When God
restores the fortunes of His people,
Jacob will
exult; Israel (lost northern tribes) will rejoice.
The Psalms
writer discloses this happy ending, an ending that was disclosed to him by
their one time instructor and collaborator, Melchizedek. Again, important events are mentioned throughout the Psalms, prophets,
as well as other Old Testament scripture. These statements are all consistent
with each other despite their diverse locations in the body of scripture.
Next we have:
Isaiah 40:3 A
voice rings out:
‘Clear in the
desert
A road for the
Lord!
Level in the
wilderness
A highway for
our God…
The Presence of
the Lord shall appear
And all flesh
shall behold –,
For the Lord
Himself has spoken. …(Isaiah 40:5)
A voice rings
out ‘Proclaim!’ …(Isaiah 40:6)
Ascend a lofty
mountain,
O herald of joy to Zion;
Raise your voice
to with power, …
Raise it have no
fear;
Announce to the
cities of Judah:
Behold your God
(Melchizedek) …(Isaiah 40:9)
John the Baptist took the first stanza above for his own and used it to announce Jesus. The Final Prophet to come will also use these lines to announce another Lord who comes, Lord Melchizedek. The Final Prophet is specifically identified here as ‘the herald of joy to Zion’ who proclaims to Zion ‘Behold your God!’ ‘Behold your God’ is the same as ‘Your divine being reigns’ cited in 11Q13 of the Dead Sea Scrolls which identifies this messenger as the interpreter of the law (Final Prophet) and the divine being as Melchizedek. ‘The Presence’ recalls the ‘Lord in the bush’ and the ‘Presence of the Lord’ dwelling in Zion and within the cloud during exodus. All of these presences are the semi-material presence of Lord Melchizedek as described in the Urantia Book. The statement ‘that all flesh will behold’ also conjures up the Lord Messiah who is described in scripture to come in a very visible display, in contrast to no display with regard to Jesus. And so we have one scripture passage, which pertains to two different ending ages with two different Lords and prophets. Next, the Lord addresses the coastlands:
Isaiah 41:1
Stand silent before Me, coastlands,
And let the
nations renew their strength.
Let them
approach to state their case;
Let us come
together for argument.
Here are those "coastlands" again. Who could they be? Who will win the "argument" when the nations’ leaders stand in the presence of Melchizedek on that fateful day? Now turning from the leaders to those at the opposite end of the spectrum, the Lord says:
Isaiah 42:17 The
poor and needy
Seek water, and
there is none;
Their tongue is
parched with thirst
I, the Lord,
will respond to them . . .
I will open up streams on the bare
hills
And fountains
amid the valleys . . .
There seems to be a drought in the time and place of this reference. The time in reference is the messianic end of the age because only then are "streams opened on bare hills and fountains amid valleys." To be sure, when men turn their backs on God they move out from under the gentle rain/reign of His mercy. The impersonal universe of law knows only that there is an imbalance present and that it needs to restore that balance by any means possible, including the elimination of the inciting agent, which in this case is mankind. If my timing is correct, I would expect the drought that is now developing in the Middle East and elsewhere to continue to get worse right up until the imbalance is set right by Melchizedek. This is also applicable to the other sundry ecological and environmental imbalances, which continue to worsen. Should it really come as a surprise to us that physical processes are affected by spiritual determinants? After all, the Urantia Book teaches us that at higher levels of reality the seemingly diverse realms of matter, mind and spirit are unified into a seamless whole. The rays of reality converge in the Source and Center of All Things. The physical and spiritual are intertwined on higher levels of reality and therefore interact and affect one another. Next the Lord turns his attention to His servant:
Isaiah 42:1
This is My servant, whom I
uphold,
My chosen one, in whom I delight.
I have put My
spirit upon him,
He shall teach
the true way to the nations.
He shall not cry
out or shout aloud,
Or make his voice heard in the streets.
He shall not
break even a dim wick.
He shall bring
forth the true way.
He shall not
grow dim or be bruised
Till he has established the true way on earth;
And the
coastlands shall await his teaching.
Who is this servant? He teaches the true way (or true religion, mishpat in Hebrew) to the gentile nations. The true way is the Kingdom of Heaven within, Jesus’ true message, and the main subject of the Urantia Book.
UB 1107 True religion consists in the experience
that "the Spirit
itself hears
witness with our spirit that we are the children of
God. (Also see chapter True Religion Urantia Book
and Jesus’
Discourse on True Religion Urantia Book)
True religion,
the true way, is a way that has never yet been taught "to the
nations". Elsewhere in scripture we are told that before the end of the
age the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven will be proclaimed to all the world.
Who in the present world knows about the Kingdom of Heaven? Certainly not the
popular scholars. Read their work! Certainly not those who espouse the gospel about Jesus Christ. Then, just who might
this be? It would appear that the servant in Isaiah 42 is an individual that
will teach about the Kingdom of Heaven within.
Note that God ‘puts his spirit’ on
the servant, therefore God ‘anoints’ the servant!
Anointment is what happens to make someone a messiah. This is why the Dead Sea Scrolls speak of more than one messiah. The Messiah is Melchizedek a divine being, another messiah is God’s servant, the Final Prophet whom God has ‘put His spirit upon’ (anointed).
Also note that God calls His servant My chosen one. This provides a link to a Dead Sea Scroll fragment, which describes a chosen one who reveals God’s truths and wisdom at the end of the age. The fragment gives us physical characteristics, education, life history and purpose. I believe this Scroll fragment describes the end of the age, final prophet to come:
4Q534 …of
his hand: two…a birthmark. And the hair will be red.
Chosen And there will be
lentils on…and small birthmarks on his thigh.
One And after two years
he will know how to distinguish one thing
from another. In
his youth he will be like…a man who knows
nothing until
the time when he knows the three Books.
And then he will
acquire wisdom and learn understanding…
vision to come
to him on his knees. And with his father and
his
ancestors…life and old age. Council and prudence will be
with him, and he
will know the secrets of man. His wisdom
will reach all
the peoples, and he will know the secrets of all
the living. And
all their designs against him will come to
nothing, and his
rule over the living will be great. His designs
will succeed,
for he is the Elect of God. His birth and the
breath of his
spirit…and his designs will be forever…
One can
speculate that this information regarding the final prophet was part of the
revelation to the Teacher of Righteousness of the Qumran community. More on
this topic will come later.
We also note the coastlands again;
they are the ones who "await the teaching" of God’s servant. Next,
the Lord further addresses the coastlands:
Isaiah 42:9
See, the things once predicted have come,
And now I
foretell new things,
Announce them to you ere they sprout up . . .
Isaiah 42:10 You coastlands and their inhabitants! . . .
Isaiah 42:11 Call
out from the peaks of the mountains.
Let them do
honor to the Lord,
And tell His
glory in the coastlands . . .
Isaiah 42:16 I
will lead the blind
By a road they did not know,
And I will make
them walk
By paths they
never knew.
I will turn
darkness before them to light,
Rough places
into level ground.
These are the
promises—
I will keep them
without fail.
First, God tells us that he is announcing something new. Since the described events have not yet happened, we can be sure that they will happen in the future. (The near future, in my estimation). The Lord tells us that He will lead those who live in the coastlands by roads and paths they never knew, turning darkness into light, and rough places into level ground. These promises will definitely be kept. Now, if we are falling asleep while reading this, God says:
Isaiah 42:18
Listen, you who are deaf;
You blind ones,
look up and see!
Who is so blind
as My servant,
So deaf as the
messenger I send?
Who is so blind
as the chosen one,
So blind as the
servant of the Lord?
Seeing many things, you give no heed;
With ears open,
he hears nothing.
The Lord desires
His servant’s vindication,
That he may
magnify and glorify His teaching.
Here we have a comical account of the servant—who is as blind or more so than the rest. He needs God’s vindication as he stumbles along. We are also told here that this servant in the coastlands is a messenger as well as a servant, thus linking the servant of Isaiah to the "messenger" and "interpreter of the law," both of which are terms used to describe the final prophet in the Scrolls. Only God could love such a foolish sounding person. God loves to bring his truth through the lowly and humble. (Out of the mouths of babes comes wisdom.) Some may be disappointed if they have unrealistic expectations regarding this servant.
God now reassures those who love Him:
Isaiah 43:1
Fear not, for I will redeem you;
I have singled
you out by name,
You are Mine.
When you pass
through water,
I will be with you;
Through streams,
They shall not
overwhelm you.
When you walk through fire,
You shall not be
scorched.
Through flame,
It shall not
burn you.
Isaiah 43:4
Because you are precious to Me,
And honored, and I love you,
I give men in
exchange for you
And peoples in
your stead . . .
Bring My sons
from afar,
And My daughters
from the end of the earth—
This passage is
one of the most touching expressions of the Father’s love for His children.
Truly, "the hairs on our heads are numbered." Also, notice again the
theme of God’s protection of His people through "water and fire."
Lastly, note that His sons and daughters are located far away from the central
location Israel. This must be the Lost Israel remnant as the Judah remnant
(Jews) are already gathering in modern Israel.
Now we have:
Isaiah 43:9
All
the nations assemble as one,
The peoples
gather.
Who among them
declared this,
Foretold to us
the things that have happened?
Let them produce
their witnesses to be vindicated,
That men, hearing them, may say, "It is
true!"
My witnesses are
you,
-declares the
Lord—
This assembly of nations and people has never yet occurred, but will occur, and we (the readers) will be witnesses to the truth of this prophecy that we are now reading. Only God knows the future. He is demonstrating that. Now God speaks through Isaiah about why He chose to have a servant:
Isaiah 43:10
My
servant, whom I have chosen
To the end that you (the people) may take thought,
And believe in
Me,
And understand
that I am He . . .
Isaiah 43:12
Beside Me, none can grant triumph
I alone told the
deliverance
And I brought it
to pass;
I announced it .
. .
So you are My
witnesses.
Consider yourself a witness to the coming deliverance of those who elect God. God continues to tell us what He is going to do:
Isaiah 43:19 I
will make a road through the wilderness
And rivers in
the desert.
The wild beasts
shall honor Me. . .
Isaiah 44:3
Even as I pour water on a thirsty soil,
And rain upon
the dry ground,
So will I pour
My spirit on your offspring,
My blessing upon
your posterity
And they shall
sprout like grass . . .
The drought will finally be broken by an outpouring of physical water upon the physical desert as well as the spiritual water on the spiritual desert that so many souls are living through. These people:
Isaiah 44:18 Have
no wit or judgment;
Their eyes are besmeared, and they see not;
Their minds, and
they cannot think.
They do not give
thought.
This is a good description of many people that lived then and many that live now. We are told what to think by the mass media. We have stopped thinking for ourselves because our minds are numb and atrophied. We "hear no evil, see no evil and do no evil." America, wake up! Turn off the T.V. and the experts. Listen to God speak through his servants, the prophets........
Isaiah 44:24 It
is I, the Lord, who made everything,
Who alone
stretched out the heavens . . .
I annul the
omens of diviners,
And make fools
of the augurs;
Who turn sages
back
And make
nonsense of their knowledge;
But confirm the
word of My servant
And fulfill the
predictions of My messengers.
The intellectual elite of our world appears daily in newspapers and on our televisions. They are the "experts" who write the books about marriage, although they are divorced three times. They tell us how to bring up our children, and yet their own children rebel against them. They know everything about anything, and there is no doubt about it. Ask if they believe in God and somber tones cover the smirk and smile. And yet, the question of God is the essential question of all philosophy, all ideologies, and all human understanding. If this most essential question were on a test, it would count for ninety-nine percent of the grade and the remaining one percent of the test would directly depend on the answer to the first. If you are wrong about God, then you are wrong about very much else as well. Yet the intellectual and political elite are all confirmed in the opinion that "religion is the opiate of the masses." Those who won’t say this in public believe it in private, as their very actions and behavior betray them. If our leaders are wrong about the first question, what hope do we have for a peaceful world guided by wisdom. My answer for that is zero. What do you think? Many of us deny or question the existence of the very One who gave us existence. God replies:
Isaiah 45:9
Shame on him who argues with his Maker,
Though naught
but a potsherd of earth!
Shall the clay
say to the potter, "What are you doing?
Your work has no
handle."
If you live on this world at this time, no doubt you know of people who display this level of arrogance. Next, more of that divine compassion. Our Father explains to us:
Isaiah 46:4
Till you grow old, I will be the same
When you turn
gray; it is I who will carry;
I am the Maker,
and I will be the Bearer;
And I will carry
and rescue you.
And so our Father tends his children, most often without recognition and without thanks. Yet, His commitment never wavers, never hesitates, and never sleeps.
The Urantia Book speaks of Second Isaiah (Chapters 40-55) with high praise.
UB 1069 He
was poetic in his portrayal of the infinite attributes of the
Universal
Father. No more beautiful pronouncements about the
Heavenly Father
have ever been made.
UB 1068 He
(Isaiah) also believed with Jeremiah that Yahweh had
become the God
of all nations.
Next, God has further words for the high and mighty; our elite leaders and controllers:
Isaiah 47:8 And
now hear this, O pampered one—
Who dwell in
security,
Who think to
yourself,
I am, and there is none but me; . . .
You thought,
"No one can see me."
Isaiah 47:10 It
was your skill and your science
That led you
astray.
Notice how
similar that time is to ours. Ends of ages have highly similar circumstances
and types of people. Human history is monotonously similar, repeating cycles of
sameness. But there is evolutionary progress; the remnant groups have a
survival advantage that results from biologic factors that modify the capacity
for spiritual receptivity. The Adamic genes should therefore become
increasingly prevalent over long periods of time.
The comment of 47:10 on science as
the cause of our going astray is well taken. True religion and true science are
complementary and never contradictory, however man’s error exists in forming a religion about science that denies or
ignores God and true religion. This religion of science believes that science
has all the answers for man’s every problem, that science is the only true
knowledge, that man doesn’t need the axiom of God, that man can completely
understand his world through science, and that science offers proof and
certainty. All of these beliefs are false, but they go unrecognized and
unchallenged. As the Urantia Book states, we overreacted to the superstitions
and tyranny of the Middle Ages and threw out the baby with the bath. (The baby
being God and the bath being knowledge based on superstition). Balance is what
we have lacked, and balance is what we are given in the Fifth Epochal
Revelation, the Urantia Book. Further, God reads our thoughts to us and
comments:
Isaiah 47:10 And
you thought to yourself,
"I am and
there is none but me."
Evil is coming
upon you
Which you will
not know how to charm away;
Disaster is
falling upon you
Which you will
not be able to appease;
Coming upon you
suddenly
Is ruin of which you know nothing.
Isaiah is speaking about Babylon
and its upcoming conquest by Cyrus of Persia. But ends of ages are similar.
Perhaps this verse will also pertain to our own upcoming "world
crisis." Let’s review here what the Urantia Book tells us about "the
world crisis." (The comments in parentheses are mine.)
UB 1863
Although Jesus referred one phase of the kingdom to the
future and did,
on many occasions, intimate that such an event
might appear as
a part of a world crisis. (dotted lines are my
breaks in the
text)
UB 2081 The
father of secularism was the narrow minded and godless
attitude of . . . atheistic
science. Secularism had its inception
as a rising
protest against
the domination . . . by the institutionalized Christian
church. The majority of professed Christians . . .
are unwittingly
actual
secularists. Secularism . . . sells man
into slavish bondage to the
totalitarian
state . . . the tyranny of political and economic
slavery. Secularism
can never bring peace to mankind. Nothing
can take the
place of God in human society . . . Secularism
simply ignores
God. More recently, secularism has assumed
a more militant
attitude, assuming to take the place of the
religion whose
totalitarian bondage it one time resisted.
But Beware:
this godless philosophy will lead only to
unrest, animosity,
unhappiness, war, and worldwide disaster. Complete secularization . . .
can lead only to disaster.
Those that argue that this "disaster" lies in our past (WWII) should answer the question whether or not secularism still governs the world of today or not. If you think that it does, then it must follow that disaster is yet to come because "worldwide disaster" is the result of worldwide secularism according to the Urantia Book quotation above.
UB 2086
Christianity unwittingly seems to sponsor a society, which
staggers under
the guilt of tolerating science without
idealism,
politics without
principles, wealth without work, pleasure
without
restraint, knowledge without character, power
without
conscience, and industry without morality.
Selfish men
and women simply will not pay such a price for
even the
greatest spiritual treasure ever offered mortal man.
Only when man has become sufficiently
disillusioned by the
sorrowful disappointment attendant upon
the foolish and
deceptive
pursuits of selfishness . . . will he be disposed to
turn . . . to
the religion of Jesus of Nazareth. (Man is not yet
so
disillusioned)
UB 2082
During the first third of the twentieth century, Urantia
killed more
human beings than were killed during the whole
dispensation of
the Christian church. And this is only the
beginning. . .
Still more terrible destruction is yet to come.
UB 1487 War on Urantia will never end so long as
nations cling to
the illusive
notions of unlimited national sovereignty.
UB 1490
Another world war (WWII) will teach the so-called sovereign
nations to form
some sort of federation, thus creating the
machinery for
preventing small wars . . .(but not large ones)
An international
police force will prevent many minor wars,
but it will not
be effective in preventing major wars.
Worldwide
confederations of nations . . . will not prevent
world wars nor
control the three, four or five most powerful
governments. (Is
this applicable to today?)
UB 2082 Times
of great testing and threatened defeat are always
times
of great
revelation.
Shortly, we will be entering this period of world crisis. Mankind’s latest Tower of Babel will fall. It will involve not only wars but also ecological, environmental, meteorological, financial, economic, social and political chaos. Further:
UB 1087
Institutional religion cannot afford inspiration and provide
leadership in
this impending, worldwide social
reconstruction
and economic
reorganization because it has unfortunately
become more or
less of an organic part of the social order and
the economic
system, which is destined to undergo reconstruction.
(Doesn’t reconstruction imply deconstruction first?)
But, lest we despair:
UB 1088 The
religion of living experience finds no difficulty in keeping
ahead of all
these social developments and economic upheavals,
amid which it
ever functions as a moral stabilizer, social guide
and spiritual
pilot.
UB 2082 A new and fuller revelation of the religion
of Jesus is destined
to conquer an empire of materialistic
secularism . . .(our world
empire of today)
UB 2083 The hour is striking for a rediscovery of
the true and original
foundation of
present-day distorted and compromised Christianity—
the real life
and teachings of Jesus. (The Kingdom of Heaven within)
However:
UB 2083 The
spiritual renaissance must await the
coming of these new
teachers of
Jesus’ religion who will be exclusively
devoted to the
spiritual
regeneration of men. And then will these spirit-born souls
quickly supply
the leadership and inspiration requisite for the social,
moral, economic and political reorganization of the world.
And why does secularism fail?
UB 1126
Those who would invent a religion (any system of strong
convictions)
without God are like those who would get the
fruit without trees. . . You cannot have effects
without causes.
UB 1126 Man
may graft many purely humanistic branches onto his
godless
religion, but such an experience is devoid of survival
values . . . only social fruits are forthcoming, not
spiritual . . .
UB 2075 A lasting social system without morality
predicated on
spiritual
realities can no more be maintained than can a solar
system without gravity.
Secularism fails
because it is inherently faulty. Man is dependent on God whether he likes it or
not. Man cannot find his way without God. This dependence is built into the
very nature of the Father-Son relationship. And this relationship is the rock that we must build on and
the star that we must hope upon.
UB 1747 . .
. by the insight of the spirit of my Father which dwells
within you, I am
led to declare that upon this foundation (the
indwelling
spirit) will I build the brotherhood of the Kingdom
of Heaven. Upon
this rock of spiritual reality . . .
Consider further information from the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSC):
Thanksgiving Psalms
DSC, Vs. 7 The way of man is not established except by
the
spirit of God
which created him . . .
The Community
Rule, DSC
Mankind has no way, and man is unable to establish his
steps since
justification is with God and perfection of way is
from His hand.
All things come to pass by His knowledge;
He establishes things by His design and without Him nothing
is done.
(Teacher of Righteousness)
Finally, I would note that secular humanism gives birth to all the present reigning ideologies: communism, socialism, and capitalism too. "Isims" are systems of human thought that have become so highly revered that they become the intellectual equivalent of the ancient physical idols that were worshipped in vain. Capitalists consider profit and capital first, last, and always. Spiritual values, social values, and environmental values are usually not part of the equation. Capitalism and other ideologies should be made to serve people rather than people being made, as now, to serve the ideology. People are the purpose and meaning of life. The Fatherhood of God forever establishes the transcendent value of His sons and daughters. People must come before profit. People will come before profit. God has established it. We live in His Universe. At this point in time however, we collectively, choose and have chosen profit over people, and humanity languishes in the cold, dark night of the inevitable results.
Let’s now look at some quotes from Humanist Manifestos I and II, which are the declarations of belief proposed by secular humanists.
Humanist Manifesto I was the first
major document (1933) of the modern Humanist
Movement. Consider the following quotes from this document.
"Religious
humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created."
To say that the universe has no cause is the equivalent of professing belief in an astounding miracle of infinite magnitude, unsurpassable by any human mind. And yet science, the very study of cause and effect, is the pillar of secular humanism. Secular humanists say that we should discard "super-natural superstitions" that are non-scientific. The statement that the universe has no cause is not testable and therefore non-scientific. The statement is an overt declaration of an unfounded, unscientific, belief, no different than any other belief, including religious varieties. My beliefs are axioms, yours are superstitions, would be one way to express this. Also note that “religious” means highly convicted and not God-believing.
"Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe depicted by
modern
science makes
unacceptable any supernatural or cosmic guarantees of
human
values." (Humanist Manifesto I)
Here science is used to exclude the possibility of any "supernaturally" established values. First of all, science can have nothing to say about the domain of intangible value, only religion can answer the question why? Science attends only to the questions how, when and where. Ultimate causes, origins, and destiny are questions of religion. Second of all, humanists have already declared that the universe merely is and is not created. This statement itself, as shown above, lies outside the natural world of causes. It is itself a "supernatural" explanation.
"We are convinced that the time has passed for theism, deism,
modernism,
and the several
varieties of ‘new thought’."(Humanist Manifesto I)
Here we have stated the real battle of the human will. Who makes the rules? God or man? Whose universe is it anyway? The question has a real answer and if the wrong answer is given there are real consequences that will result. We truly reap what we sow.
"In the place of the old attitudes involved in worship and prayer
the
humanist finds
his religious emotions expressed in a heightened sense
of personal life
and in a cooperative effort to promote social well-being."
The fruits of the spirit (peace, happiness, and joy) will only grow from a good tree rooted in God’s spirit. All goodness comes from God, man has no goodness of his own, regardless of the words he may utter.
"Man will learn to face the crises of life in terms of his
knowledge of
their
naturalness and probability. Reasonable and manly attitudes will be
fostered by
education and supported by custom. We assume that
humanism will
take the path of social and mental hygiene and discourage
sentimental and
unreal hopes and wishful thinking."
(Humanist
Manifesto I)
Now it is revealed that secular
humanists are "reasonable and manly." Theists are therefore
superstitious and weak, and they rely on fantasy religion, the "opiate of
the masses."
"Man is at last becoming aware that he alone is responsible for the
realization of
the world of his dreams, that he has
within himself the
power for its
achievement. He must set intelligence and will to the task."
Man is capable of doing anything and everything. This sounds great, unfortunately it lacks truth. Man needs God. We can assert our power and mastery, but our experiences reveal our insignificance. This phrase from the Urantia Book comes back again and again to my mind, "our arrogance outruns our reason." Pride goeth before the fall.
Now we go to Humanist Manifesto II written in 1973. (select passages)
"As in
1933, humanists still believe that traditional theism, especially
faith in the
prayer-hearing God, assumed to live and care for persons, to
hear and
understand their prayers, and to be able to do something about
them, is an unproved and outmoded faith.
Salvationism, based on mere
affirmation,
still appears as harmful, diverting people with false hopes of
heaven
hereafter. Reasonable minds look to other means for survival."
We now learn that faith is unproved, ineffective, and outmoded. How many studies have we ever done to actually find out if there are any differences in the lives of believers vs. non-believers? The answer is zero. I would bet that you would find dramatic differences if such a study were done without bias. In fact, a few recent medical studies have shown strong correlations between faith and positive health outcomes. The humanist dogma is succumbing to truth. Lastly, to say that faith is unproved is the equivalent of saying nothing because there would be no faith necessary if proof were possible. Similarly, one can prove anything in mathematics if one allows dividing by zero as this statement does.
"Humanism can provide the purpose and inspiration that so many
seek;
it can give
personal meaning and significance to human life."
(Hum. Manifest. II)
If this were true, we would
probably be in great shape. But it isn’t and we aren’t. Establishing purpose
and meaning to life without God is like establishing a solar system without the
sun. In both situations, planets or people fly apart.
"We affirm a set of common principles that can serve as a basis for
united action –
positive principles relevant to the present human condition.
They are a
design for a secular society on a planetary scale."
This reveals the grand scope (planetary) that this vision is being applied to. The United Nations charter is a direct outgrowth of these planetary Humanist Manifestos. Will it work?
"We find insufficient evidence for belief in the existence of a
super-
natural; it is
either meaningless or irrelevant to the question of survival
and fulfillment
of the human race. As non theists, we begin with humans
not God, nature
not deity. Nature may indeed be broader and deeper than
we now know; any
new discoveries, however, will but enlarge our know-
ledge of the
natural."
Here, the victory over theism is openly stated and confidently relied on to predict that "new discoveries" will only add to the conviction. How can unknown discoveries already be known to be explainable by what we presently know? This is another statement of arrogance, not reason.
"The preciousness and dignity of the individual person is a central
humanist
value."
The aspirations appear noble at times. Give credit where credit is due. Success requires more than good intentions though. It requires wisdom and truth.
"People are more important than decalogues, rules, proscriptions,
or regulations."
Great, but are people also more important even than profit? The world system answers no. And why are regulations, bureaucracies, and rules allowed to remove the human touch from our social interactions? We loose opportunities to serve our fellow man. Since man has no intrinsic value other than what we decide to give him (according to secular humanism), when push comes to shove, these floating, man made, values are easily put aside. After all isn't "everything relative?"
"At the present
juncture of history, commitment to all humankind is
the highest
commitment of which we are capable; it transcends the
narrow
allegiances of church, state, party, class, or race in moving toward
a wider vision
of human potentiality. What more daring a goal for human-
kind than for
each person to become, in ideal as well as practice, a citizen
of a world
community. It is a classical vision; we can now give it new
vitality.
Humanism thus interpreted is a moral force that has time on its
side. We believe
that humankind has the potential, intelligence, goodwill,
and cooperative
skill to implement this commitment in the decades
ahead."
This is the end of Humanist Manifesto II. It proclaims the establishment of the brotherhood of humankind. Unfortunately, they do not know that "you cannot establish the brotherhood of man without the Fatherhood of God." (UB 2082) Simple, basic, everyday truth, unappreciated by the closed minds of man. Truth is so very valuable because it can be lived successfully.
Why have so few found such wisdom? Can we find if we do not seek? Do we seek if we are not thirsty for truth? Are we thirsty if we are still satisfied with our own deceptions? Blessed are the meek, for they are not self-satisfied. They are still open to the light of truth. We now return to our discussion of Urantia Book prophecy and the world crisis to come.
We should not become so caught up in looking for the end of the age that we neglect to establish and maintain the Kingdom of Heaven within. For the Master said:
UB 1916 Even you, Thomas, fail to comprehend what I
have been
saying. Have I
not taught you that your connection with the
Kingdom of
Heaven is spiritual and individual, wholly a matter
of personal
experience in the spirit by the faith-realization that
you are a son of
God? What more shall I say? The downfall
of nations, the
crash of empires, the destruction of unbelieving
Jews, the end of
an age, even the end of the world, what have
these things to
do with one who believes this gospel and who
has led his life
in the surety of the eternal kingdom?
The coming trials will not destroy us. Instead they will purify and transform us. Now, back to the main narrative of Isaiah. God is explaining the real reason for these trials to come:
Isaiah 48:10 See,
I refine you, but not as silver;
I test you in
the furnace of affliction.
Zechariah 13:9 And
I will put this third (of people) into the fire
And refine them
as one refines silver,
And test them as
gold is tested.
They will call
on my name,
And I will
answer them.
I will say,
"They are my people."
And they will
say, "The Lord is my God."
Daniel. 12:10 Many
shall purify themselves, and make themselves white,
and be refined;
but the wicked will do wickedly; and none of
the wicked will understand; but those who are wise shall understand.
UB 100 The
universe of your origin is being forged out between the
anvil of justice
and the hammer of suffering; but those who
wield the hammer are the children of mercy, the
spirit offspring
of the Infinite
Spirit.
Emily Dickinson
#365
Dare you see a Soul at the white heat?
Then crouch
within the door—
Red—is the
fire’s common tint—
But when the
vivid Ore
Has vanquished
Flame’s conditions,
It quivers from
the Forge
Without a color,
but the light
Of unannointed
Blaze.
Least village
has a Blacksmith
Whose Anvils
even ring
Stands symbol
for the finer Forge
That soundless—tugs
within—
Refining these
impatient Ores
With Hammer, and
with Blaze
Until the
Designated Light
Repudiate the
Forge—
Affliction is
sometimes needed to soften our hearts as they have been hardened by rebellion.
Only when soft, can they then be molded in that "finer forge" within,
which changes us until our own light shines out and we can leave the
"forge" behind.
Now, back to Isaiah. God, like a good
parent, explains the purpose of His commands to us:
Isaiah 48:17 I
the Lord am your God
Instructing you for your own benefit,
Guiding you
in the way you should go.
If only you would
heed My commands!
Then your
prosperity would be like a river,
Your triumph
like the waves of the sea.
That about sums the problem up. God offers man the universe for free, and man, too smart to be tricked, turns his back; and walks blindly off a cliff. Now listen! God’s servant is addressing the coastlands:
Isaiah 49:1
Listen, O coastlands, to me,
And give heed, O
nations afar:
The Lord appointed
me before I was born,
He named me
while I was in my mother’s womb.
He made my mouth
like a sharpened blade,
He hid me in the
shadow of His hand,
And He made me
like a polished arrow;
He concealed me
in His quiver
And He said to
me, "You are my servant
Israel, in whom
I glory."
Isaiah 49:5 And
now the Lord has resolved –
He who formed me in the womb to be His servant –
To bring back
Jacob to Himself,
That Israel may
be restored to Him.
The servant’s "mouth is a sharpened blade" to pierce deeply the enemies of God. The servant must be the final prophet because he is charged with ‘bringing back Jacob’ (Lost Israel and faithful Jews) to God, which only happens at the Messianic end of the age. Therefore, the messianic, final prophet is also God’s servant of Isaiah. The Jews are already re-gathering to modern Israel, but Lost Israel needs to be identified and brought back still. "Bring back Jacob," means reconstituting original Israel, the two tribes of the South and the lost ten tribes of the North. This time around they together will make right the wrongs of the past. Love reigns over judgment and wisdom reigns over ignorance. Also note the phrase "you are my servant Israel." The servant is an individual by the context of the passage and it makes no sense for the nation Israel to be the servant here. Perhaps this is an error or an addition to the original text? In Jeremiah the Lord gives further instruction.
Jeremiah 31:7
For thus said the Lord:
Cry out in
Joy for Jacob,
Shout at the head of nations!
Sing aloud
in praise and say:
Save, O
Lord, your people,
The remnant
of Israel . . .
Gather them
from the ends of the earth— . . .
Jeremiah 31:8
In a vast throng they shall return here.
They shall
come with weeping,
And with
compassion I will guide them.
Here again, the Lord instructs His servant to gather the Israel remnant (Lost Ten Tribes) from: "the ends of the earth," the "head of nations," and the "coastlands afar." The remnant will return in a "throng," weeping and in need of compassion and guidance from the Lord. This "vast throng" recalls to us the great numbers of Abraham’s future offspring who are "as the sand of the sea" and the "stars in the heavens." In fact, the numerous people of "Lost Israel" are the fulfillment of this promise from Melchizedek to Abraham made so long ago. In Jeremiah, the Lord Melchizedek sets the record straight:
Jeremiah 31:10
Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
And tell it
in the coastlands afar.
Say:
He who scattered Israel will gather them,
And will
guard them like a shepherd his flock.
The Lord/Melchizedek scattered Israel and he will personally shepherd and gather his flock on his return. In 1Enoch, Melchizedek is referred to as the Shepherd. Melchizedek is our outer physical Shepherd and Jesus is our inner spiritual Shepherd.
The "head of nations" is referred to as "the coastlands afar." This is a nation that exists at the time of Melchizedek’s return possibly sometime in our near future, judging from developing world and Middle Eastern events. This "head of nations" is said to be "afar" from the country Israel, which is the geographic center of Biblical prophecy. What nation might this be? Let’s look at this word "afar" in some other scripture passages to see if it is used consistently, cross-section wise, through scripture:
Jeremiah 50:41
But you have no fear, My servant Jacob,
Be not
dismayed, O Israel!
I will deliver you from far away . . .
And Jacob
again shall have calm.
Again this people called "Israel" are far away from Canaan. Notice Jeremiah 31:10 confirms that ‘Israel’ refers to the northern tribes who were scattered by God (through the Assyrians), never yet to have returned. Jacob is the reunified remnants of Israel and Judah. They have calm because war has been put to an end and ‘swords are turned into plowshares’ by Melchizedek’s intervention and sovereignty.
The servant next says:
Isaiah 49:4
I thought, "I have labored in Vain,
I have
spent my strength for empty breath."
But my case
rested with the Lord,
My recompense was in the hands of my God.
And now the
Lord has resolved –
He who
formed me in the womb to be His servant –
To bring back Jacob to Himself,
That Israel may be restored to Him!
And I have
been honored in the sight of the Lord,
My God has
been my strength.
For He has
said:
Isaiah 49:6 "It is too little that you should
be My servant
In that I
raise up the tribes of Jacob
And restore the survivors of Israel:
I will also
make you a light of nations
That my
salvation reach the ends of the earth."
At first the servant feels that his efforts are "in vain" but notice his total reliance on the Lord. He cares nothing about human opinions, only God’s. God is the source of his strength and he is ultimately honored by God with an even greater service to the nations of the world, in addition to his service in ‘bringing back Jacob’. The servant experiences an initial, seeming failure in his mission (I have labored in vain) and this is why "the Lord desires His servant’s vindication" in Isaiah 42:21. Notice carefully that the servant of this verse has a specific job to do and that is to "bring back Jacob to Himself (God), that Israel may be restored to Him!" To do this the servant must "raise up the tribes to Jacob and restore the survivors of Israel." This equates to the re-gathering and re-unification of the original tribes of Israel; the northern Lost Ten Tribes (Israel) plus the southern tribes (Judah, Jews). This event occurs at the end of the age before and during the coming of the Messiah. In fact, it has already started, the Jews are gathering in modern Israel. The Lost Ten Tribes remain to be identified, re-gathered, and re-united with the Jews, eventually reconstituting the original whole House of Israel, as in the beginning. Since the servant is given this task in Isaiah 49:4, the servant of this passage must be an individual living at the end of our age which lies shortly ahead of us. Very likely this servant is one and the same as Malachi’s "Elijah to come" of the messianic period, the final prophet. Now we have:
Isaiah 49:14 Zion
says,
The Lord has
forsaken me….
I (the Lord)
never could forget you
See, I have engraved you
On the palms of
My hands,
Your walls are
ever before Me.
Swiftly your
children are coming;
Those who
ravaged and ruined you shall leave you.
Look up all
around you and see:
Isaiah 49:18 They
are all assembled, are come to you!
As I live –
declares the Lord.
Zion is the city of David, within Jerusalem, right next to the Temple Mount, where the Lord has and will dwell again. Those who "ravage and ruin" leave the city and Melchizedek gathers Jacob, those who love God, back to Zion. Zion symbolizes the faithful and true peoples of God. Those ‘who are assembled’ are the remnants of Lost Israel and the Jews. Also, in Isaiah 49:14 ‘Zion (Jews) says that the Lord (God) has forgotten them.’ God answers that he ‘could never forget’ and says: ‘see I have engraved you on the palms of My hands’ alluding to the crucifixion marks acquired by His Son Jesus. What a tragic irony, even as the Jews are feeling forsaken 2000 years ago, God’s presence in the form of His Son is amongst them, dying in his attempt to bring them back to God. O, if only we had eyes that could see. And yet God goes right on attempting to make His people recognize His love for them by predicting and then bringing about the return of His people to Canaan after modern Israel is ruined and ravaged in the future yet to come. Note that the allusion to Jesus' crucifixion marks is made over 600 years prior to his coming.
Isaiah 49:22
Thus
says the Lord God:
I will raise My
hand to nations.
And lift up My
ensign to peoples;
And they shall
bring your sons in their bosoms,
And carry your
daughters on their backs.
Captives shall
be taken from a warrior
And spoil shall
be retrieved from a tyrant;
For I will contend with your adversaries,
And I will
deliver your children…
Isaiah 49:20 And all mankind shall know.
That I the Lord
am your Savior.
The Mighty One of Jacob, your Redeemer.
The "Lord" actively intervenes to rescue his children from the hands of captors and oppressors. "And all mankind shall know" means this will be a public external event and not a spiritual metaphor.
Next, the Lord
emphasizes that there is no obstacle to the restoration of Israel and Judah. The covenant remains unbroken, merely
temporarily interrupted. The promises made to Abraham will all be fulfilled.
Isaiah 50:1
Thus said the Lord:
Where is the
bill of divorce?
Of your mother whom I dismissed?
And which of My
creditors was it
To Whom I sold
you off?
You were only
sold off for your sins,
And your mother
dismissed for your crimes.
Why, when I
came, was no one there,
Why, when I
called, would none respond?
Is my arm, then,
too short to rescue,
Have I not the
power to save?
Thus said the
Lord
Now back again to God's servant:
Isaiah 50:4 The
Lord God gave me a skilled tongue,
To know how to
speak timely words to the weary.
Morning by
morning, he rouses,…
Isaiah 50:5 The
Lord opened my ears.
And I did not disobey,
I did not run
away…
Isaiah 50:6 I
did not hide my face
From insult and spittle.
But the Lord God
will help me –
therefore I feel
no disgrace;
Therefore I have
set my face like flint.
I know I shall
not be shamed.
My Vindicator is
at hand –
Who dare to
contend with me?
Let us stand
together!…
Isaiah 50:9 Who
would be my opponent?
Let him approach
me!
Lo the Lord God will help me –
Isaiah 50:10 Who
among you reveres the Lord.
And heeds the
voice of His servant? –
Though he walk
in darkness
And have no
light,
Let him trust in the name of the Lord
And rely upon
his God.
God Himself has prepared His servant and trained him. His servant stands fast against his many opponents. He stands fast against ridicule and personal attacks. He recommends to those who "revere the Lord" trust and reliance on God alone during the period of darkness to come. And this reliance on God’s inner guidance is the very "religion of Jesus" that is to come, the "true religion" which the servant brings forth in Isaiah 42:1-4. Once again, "necessity is the mother of invention." We must trust Him to be led by His spirit during the trial period. Now back to Isaiah:
Isaiah 51:3
Truly the Lord has comforted Zion,
Comforted all
her ruins;
He has made her
wilderness like Eden,
Her desert like
the Garden of the Lord.
Gladness and joy
shall abide there,
Thanksgiving and
the sound of music.
Zion is Jerusalem or geographic Israel where Melchizedek and those who love God will dwell. This occurs after the upcoming war against Israel, when this age ends and after which the "lion lays down with the lamb" and "the wilderness is made like Eden." Many blessings will be bestowed to a weary world when Melchizedek takes sovereignty forever.
Now back to justice, the Lord says:
Isaiah 51:1
Listen to Me, you who pursue justice,
You who seek the
Lord:
Look to the rock
you were hewn from
Look back to
Abraham your father
And to Sarah who
brought you forth.
For he was only
one when I called him,
But I blessed him and made him many.
We are reminded of Melchizedek’s blessing of Abraham:
Genesis 26:4 and in Thy (Abraham’s)
seed shall
all the nations be blessed.
and let them
(offspring of Abraham)
grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
(Amplified Bible)
It would appear that Abraham’s offspring are found in all the nations, in the midst of the earth. These offspring go far beyond the bounds of Canaan. Also:
Genesis 17:4 You
(Abraham) shall be the Father
of a multitude of nations. (Tanakh)
Here it is explicit; Abraham’s offspring will comprise a multitude of nations. Who are these multitudes and nations among us?
Joel 4:2 I
(Lord) will also gather all nations, and will bring them
down into the
Valley of Jehoshapat, and will plead with them
there for my
people and for my heritage Israel, whom they
have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
This is a reference to a place where "the Lord" will gather the nations for judgment, the Valley of Jehoshapat. Israel is once again found scattered among the nations. The parting of the land probably refers to the partitions and boundaries of modern Israel as determined by man. The amount of land that the Lord gave ancient Israel is much bigger than the relatively small area that they are now confined in. Melchizedek will set this straight and will give Israel the land he promised them 4000 years ago. Until then, Israel’s present land holdings will be increasingly claimed by certain Arab nations with the support of the United Nations and the United States. Man may propose, but it is God who disposes.
Returning to Isaiah:
Isaiah 51:4
Hearken to Me, My people,
And give ear to
Me, O My nation,
For teaching shall go forth from Me,
My way for the
light of peoples.
In a moment I
will bring it:
The triumph I
grant is near,
The success I
give has gone forth.
My arms shall
provide for the peoples;
The coastlands shall trust in Me,
They shall look
to My arm.
The Lord Melchizedek is addressing "Israel" and the coastlands (neither know him yet) who will learn to trust him and look to him for assistance. Among other things, Melchizedek shall teach the world and the earth shall be:
Isaiah 11:9 Full of the knowledge of God
As the waters cover the sea.
This teaching reminds us of the great Melchizedek schools of learning discussed in the Urantia Book. Now back to Isaiah:
Isaiah 51:7
Listen to Me, you who care for the right,
O people who lay
My instruction to heart!
Fear not the
insults of men,
And be not
dismayed at their jeers;
For the moth
will eat them up like a garment,
The worm shall
eat them up like wool.
But My triumph
shall endure forever,
My salvation
through all the ages.
Those who stand up for "the right" will be persecuted, ridiculed and harassed. There is no doubt that this verse refers to a future world where the Lord triumphs forever:
Isaiah 51:9
Awake, awake, clothe yourself with splendor,
O arms of the Lord!
Awake as in days
of old,
As in former
ages!
This is a direct reference to Melchizedek’s prior semi-material presence among the ancient Israelites. What was before, will be again:
Isaiah 55:11 So
let the ransomed of the Lord return,
And come
shouting to Zion,
Crowned with joy everlasting.
Let them attain
joy and gladness,
While sorrow and sighing flee.
The ransomed are those held captive at the time of Melchizedek’s arrival at which time he declares "their release" as part of the 10th Jubilee. They wear crowns because they are the elect, those who elect God’s will. The crown follows the elect lineage. This is the joyful reunion of Melchizedek with those who love God, the remnants of "Israel" and Judah. Melchizedek says:
Isaiah 52:6
Assuredly, My people shall learn My name,
Assuredly, They
shall learn on that day
That I, the One
who promised,
Am now at hand.
Melchizedek’s people have lost all knowledge of him and his selfless service on their behalf. He returns to us like a father we never knew we had. Judah will wake up as from a long sleep. Israel will wake up to their true identity and then to Melchizedek’s unrecognized relationship to themselves therefore: "My people shall learn My name." "Judah" are the Jews of modern Israel, but "Israel" remains for us to identify. Now:
Isaiah 52:7 How
welcome on the mountains
Are the
footsteps of the herald
Announcing
happiness,
Heralding good
fortune,
Announcing victory,
Telling Zion,
"Your God is King!"
The Dead Sea Scrolls fragment, 11Q13, the Coming of Melchizedek, interprets this verse (Isaiah 52:7) in the following way. The herald is the final prophet who announces and "prepares the way of" Melchizedek, just as John the Baptist announced and "prepared the way of" Jesus. The mountains are interpreted to be a symbol of the Old Testament Prophets. The final prophet thus stands on the shoulders of the olden prophets, meaning that the final prophet bases his message on his interpretation of Old Testament prophecy. This is why the Teacher of Righteousness, the leader of the Qumran community of the Dead Sea Scrolls, refers to this final prophet as the "interpreter of the Law." The "Law" here being the Old Testament including the prophets. We can now also understand why the Urantia Book refers to this coming prophet as "another and greater John the Baptist," because the final prophet, like John, will announce and "prepare the way of the Lord," this time the Lord Melchizedek. The prophet proclaims to Zion (all those faithful to the One God), "your God is King," or rather; "The Lord Melchizedek is King," as interpreted by the Teacher of Righteousness in 11Q13 of the Scrolls. 11Q13 is thus an extremely important document that binds together the Urantia Book and Old Testament prophecy. It will be discussed again later in the Dead Sea Scrolls chapter. Continuing with this subject we also have:
Psalms 102:14
You will surely arise and take pity on Zion,
For it is
time to be gracious to her;
The appointed time has come.
For the
Lord has built Zion;|
He has appeared
in all His glory.
May this be
written down for a coming generation,
That people
yet to be created may praise the Lord.
That "coming generation" is our generation. The Lord is Melchizedek and the appointed time is the coming end of this age and the end of man’s sovereignty of this planet.
Psalms 146:10 The Lord shall reign forever
Psalms 48:2
The Lord is great and much acclaimed
in the city
of our God
His holy
mountain –
fair-crested, joy of all the earth.
Melchizedek is not just for the Judaic peoples but is for all the earth. Listen to what happens when all the nations come against modern Israel:
Psalms 48:5
The kings (leaders of nations)
joined forces;
they
advanced together. (toward Jerusalem)
At the mere
sight of it they were stunned,
They were terrified, they panicked;
They were
seized there with a trembling. (my parentheses)
Whatever it is that stuns these advancing forces, it very likely has a lot to do with Melchizedek’s arrival, which will be with "power and glory." What will these attacking forces see that will so "stun and terrify" them?
Psalms 82:1
God stands in the divine assembly;
among the
divine beings He pronounces judgment.
Here God is confused with Melchizedek. Melchizedek is indeed among the divine assembly, the four and twenty counselors on the Urantia council located on Jerusem. We are told that "only recently has Melchizedek been elevated to the position of personal ambassador on Jerusem of the Creator Son, bearing the title Vicegerent and Planetary Prince of Urantia." (UB 1025). "Recent rulings handed down from the Most Highs of Edentia, and later confirmed by the Ancient of Days of Uversa, strongly suggest that this bestowal Melchizedek is destined to take the place of the fallen Planetary Prince, Caligastia. If our conjectures in this respect are correct, it is altogether possible that Melchizedek may again appear in person on Urantia and in some modified manner resuming the role of the dethroned Planetary Prince Caligastia." (UB 1025) "It appears to certain of our associates that at some time in the near future the plan of sending one of the twenty-four counselors to Urantia to act as governors general will be superseded by the formal arrival of Melchizedek with the vicegerent mandate of the sovereignty of Urantia…Still others, including this narrator, look for Melchizedek’s appearance any day or hour." (UB 1251). Continuing:
Psalms 82:8
Arise, O God, judge the earth,
For all the nations are Your
possession.
God is confused here with Melchizedek again. Now, back to Isaiah:
Isaiah 52:8
Hark, your watchmen raise their voices,
As one they
shout for joy;
For every eye
shall behold
The Lord’s
return to Zion.
Raise a shout
together,
O ruins of
Jerusalem!
For the Lord
will have His Holy arm
In the sight of all the nations,
And the very ends of earth shall see
The victory of
our God.
The watchmen are the prophets looking for Melchizedek’s arrival. Note that this is a very visible display in "sight of all the nations to the ends of the earth." What kind of display could be so visible? The last line again displays the confusion about the Lord Melchizedek and God. More on the servant now:
Isaiah 52:13
Indeed, My servant shall
prosper,…
Just so he will startle
many nations.
Kings shall be silenced because of him,
For they shall
see what has not been told them,
Shall behold
what they never have heard.
The servant will startle many nations and silence Kings by revealing to them what is in store for them.
There is hardly a decent leader in the whole world today. Almost all are out for their own gain. As a group they are the most depraved and ruthless people on the entire planet. The world is full of wonderful people, but hardly any of them are in positions of real power. The ruthless crave power and seek it. They are willing to crush anything or anyone that gets in their way. The meek are passive and are not willing to trade their soul for power. But there is a long line of those that will. As in ancient Israel, the "leaders are misleaders," who lead so many so far astray. God expects leaders to be the shepherds of His children. What will happen when judgment comes to the nations and their leaders. The answer is the same as the one given by Jesus, when he concluded the parable of the absent landlord (UB 1893) and asked, "what will the lord of the vineyard do to those ungrateful and wicked tenants (in our example shepherds)?" The present world is based on the principal Might makes Right. In the world of Melchizedek, King of Righteousness, the world will be based on Right makes Might.
Next we have a prophecy regarding Jesus:
Isaiah 53:3 He
was despised, shunned by men,
A man of suffering, familiar with disease,
As one who hid
his face from us,
He was despised
we held him of no account.
Yet it was our
sickness that he was bearing
Our suffering
that he endured.
We accounted him
plagued.
Smitten and
afflicted by God:
But he was wounded because of our sins,
Crushed
because of our iniquities.
He bore the
chastisement that made us whole.
And by his
bruises we are healed.
We all went
astray like sheep.
Isaiah 53:7 He
was maltreated, yet he was submissive,
He did not open his mouth;
Like a sheep
being led to slaughter,…
For he was cut off from the land of the living…
And his grave
was set among the wicked,
And with the rich,
in his death –
Though he had done no injustice
And had spoken no falsehood…
He exposed himself to death
And was numbered among the sinners,
Whereas he bore
the guilt of the many
And made
intercession for sinners.
We would all agree, that this is a remarkably accurate prophecy. Notice how it just appears out from within the organic nature of the text. It is right at home in the text and yet it is the vehicle of a profound distant future prophesy. The prophetic vision seems to waver in and out of time; juxtaposing future, past, and present; yet somehow weaving the strands into a real tapestry in the present of the prophet. Just a subtle shift in the focus of that "spiritized imagination" of the poet-prophet and entirely different images go in and out of view. It would be a little easier if all the good parts were underlined in red. Also, we notice that perhaps this prophecy is not completely applicable to Jesus, for instance we know from the Urantia Book that Jesus was more often of good cheer rather than suffering and that he was not "familiar with disease" as far as we know. Perhaps these are attributes of another suffering servant such as the servant that "brings back Jacob" to the Lord (Melchizedek). And so, we need to be a little flexible in our work with prophecy because separate strands can be mixed together. Now to Isaiah:
Isaiah 54:2
Enlarge the site of your tent,
Extend the size
of your dwelling,
Do not stint!
Lengthen the
ropes, and drive the pegs firm.
For you shall
spread out to the right and the left;
Your offspring
shall dispossess nations
And shall people
the desolate towns.
The Lord is telling Israel that it’s offspring, the surviving remnants of "Israel" and "Judah," will populate whole nations and shall inhabit some of the towns in modern Israel that are desolated by war. He says further:
Isaiah 54:4
Fear not, you shall not be shamed;
Do not cringe, you shall not be disgraced.
For you shall
forget
The reproach of your youth.
And remember
no more
The shame of
your widowhood.
For He who made you will espouse you—
His name is
"Lord of Hosts;"
The Holy one of
Israel will redeem you,
Who is called
"God of all the Earth."
Israel’s youth refers to Ancient Israel. Its ‘disgrace’ and ‘reproach’ are its going astray and its subsequent destruction and dispersion. I think ‘widowhood’ refers to Israel’s loss of her symbolic spouse, God, and His agent Melchizedek. However, the fall from God’s grace is only temporary (2500 years) and "He who made you (Israel) will espouse you" again. Notice the play on the word spouse in ‘espouse’. Now, the Lord will restore the people to its land and to its proper place among mankind. Note the last phrase ‘who is called God of the Earth.’ This is fairly close to the meaning of a World Messiah or Planetary Prince. And so:
Isaiah 54:11
Unhappy, storm-tossed one,
uncomforted!
I will set your
stones in fair colors
And make your
foundations of sapphires.
I will make
your battlements of rubies,
Your gates
of precious stones,
The whole
encircling wall of gems.
And all your children shall be disciples of the
Lord,
And great shall
be the happiness of your children;
You shall be
established through righteousness.
You shall be
safe from oppression,
And shall have
no fear;
From ruin, and
it shall not come near you.
Surely no harm
can be done
Without My
consent:
Whoever would
harm you
Shall fall
because of you.
Here, God assures His people, ‘storm tossed one (Israel)’ that they will be safe once and for all time. Perhaps God will direct through Melchizedek the making of a new temple on the temple mount; made with gems, rubies and sapphires. Further:
Isaiah 55:1 Ho,
all who are thirsty,
Come for water,
Even if you have
no money;
Come, buy food
and eat:
Buy food without money,
Wine and milk
without cost.
Why do you spend
money for what is not bread,
Your earnings
for what does not satisfy?
Here, we get a
glimpse of the bounty and blessings that will ensue with restoration. Again, people are thirsty because of drought in the
latter days.
Isaiah 55:3 Incline your ear and come to Me;
Hearken, and
you shall be revived.
And I will make with you an everlasting
covenant,
So you shall summon a nation you did not know,
And a nation
that did not know you
Shall come
running to you –
For the sake of the Lord your God,
The Holy One of
Israel who has glorified you.
This is a wide open offer from God – He forever hopes that we will come to Him so that we can become all that He means for us to become. ‘He becomes what we are to make us what He is (UB 1664)’ Why is it so hard for God to give His children the greatest gift they could ever receive – The Kingdom of Heaven within and the Grand Universe throughout. If God were a door-to-door salesman, on this planet He would probably have lost his job long ago for lack of subscribers.
The second half of this stanza introduces a nation that will ‘come running’ to assist Israel ‘for the sake of the Lord our God.’ We will see that this nation and this people will assist in the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem:
Zechariah 6:12 Thus
says the Lord of Hosts: You Joshua behold
the Messiah
whose name is the Branch, for He shall
grow up in His
place and He shall build the true
temple of
the Lord. (Amplified Bible)
Zechariah 6:13 Yes,
(Joshua you are building a temple of the Lord,
but) it is He (the Lord, the Messiah) who
shall build
the true temple of the Lord, and He shall
bear the honor
and glory and
shall sit and rule upon His throne. And
He shall be a
Priest upon His throne, and the council of
peace shall be
between the two. (Amplified Bible)
Zechariah 6:15 And
they that are afar off shall come and
build the
temple of the
Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of
Hosts hath sent
me unto you. And this will come to pass,
if ye will
diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.
(Amplified
Bible)
Joshua was the leader who
presided over the building of the second Temple after the seventy-year exile of
the Judahites in Babylon. This scripture explicitly identifies the true Temple as being built by the Lord
Messiah. This temple will be the third and last, as it will endure throughout
time. Another Messiah is also called the Branch, the anointed human being from
the branch of David. However, the Urantia Book tells us that David’s legacy is
mostly a fabrication of the exiled Jewish priests in Babylon during the
Babylonian captivity. Therefore, I feel
comfortable downgrading statements referring to David. The Messiah is also
identified as a Priest that sits and rules upon his throne as a King. This
would fit Melchizedek perfectly as he is both the "Priest of the Most
High" in Genesis and the "King of Righteousness," the "King
of Righteousness" being the literal translation of Melchizedek in Hebrew.
Genesis 14:17 After
Abraham’s return from the
defeat of
Chedorlaomer… (Amplified Bible)
Genesis 14:18
Melchizedek King of Salem (later
Jerusalem) brought out bread and
wine; he was the
priest of God Most High. (Amplified Bible)
Genesis 14:19 And
he (Melchizedek) blessed him
and said,
Blessed be Abraham by
God Most High, Maker of heaven
and earth. (Amplified Bible)
Genesis 14:20 And
blessed, praised and glorified
be God Most
High. Who has given
your foes into
your hand!… (Amplified Bible)
It is important to remember that Jesus knew and stated that he was not the Messiah of Jewish expectation (Urantia Book). ‘My Kingdom is not of this world.’ More about this later. We also note that these lines of Zechariah also attest to the presence of ‘those who are far off’ coming to assist in the building of the true Temple. These people are probably from the ‘nation that did not know you’ who ‘shall come running to you’ (Isaiah 55:5) and will be identified later. Before leaving the topic, here are a few more lines of scripture about this Temple:
Tobit 14:1 And
that again (after the Babylonian exile) God will
have mercy on
them, and bring them into the land, where
they shall build
a temple (the second temple), but not like the
first, until the
time of that age be fulfilled (AD 70); and
afterward they shall return from all the
places of their
captivity, and
build up Jerusalem gloriously (the third
true
temple) and
the bust of God shall be built in it for ever
with a glorious
building, as the prophets have spoke thereof.
"Afterward" refers to the end of this age, coming upon us now. The "captivity" ends when Melchizedek arrives.
The information in the parentheses is my own. The major point here is the consistent description of this event across a multitude of scriptural sources. I have tried to find information that is attested to in a cross section of multiple scriptural sources. By doing this, I hope to avoid errors due to erroneous material. The amazing thing that I have found is the high degree of consistency that is present within such a diverse body of scriptural sources. This consistency is also a feature of the Urantia Book’s "ring of truth." Finally, regarding the Temple, we have:
Ezekiel 40:2
The
hand of the Lord came upon me (Ezekiel) and He brought
me in visions of
God, to the Land of Israel, and He set
me down on a
very high mountain…
Ezekiel 47:1
He
led me back to the entrance of the Temple
and I found
that water was
issuing from below the Temple
Mount…The water
was running out at the south of the
altar, under the
south wall of the Temple…it was a stream
that could not
be crossed except by swimming…everything
will live
wherever this stream goes, the fish will be abundant,
all kinds of
trees for food will grow on both banks, their
leaves will not
wither or their fruit fail; they will yield new
fruit every
month, because the water for them flows from
the Temple.
Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves
for healing.
"On May 15th, 1999, the Israeli newspaper, Hatsofer, reported that water had started flowing from beneath the Temple Mount…The Arab leaders have done everything possible to stop the flow of water, including special pumps they brought in for the purpose. The Arab leaders have been busy with intensive excavations on the Temple Mount, the purpose of which is to destroy the last remains of the First and Second Temples and in this way deny the Jewish identity of the Temple Mount. According to one account, during these diggings they broke into one of the many water sources under the Temple Mount." (Prophecy Flash magazine, Triumph Prophetic Ministries)
Here, those
acting in defiance of God’s plan are the very ones who help bring it about. We
can take part in God’s plans willingly and knowingly, or unwillingly and
unknowingly, have it as we may. The
choice of role is ours, the script is His.
Isaiah then says:
Isaiah 55:6
Seek the Lord while He can be found,
Call to Him
while He is near.
Let the wicked
give up his ways,
The sinful man his plans;
Let him turn
back to the Lord,
And he will
pardon him;
To our God,
For He freely
forgives.
This is the bottom line. In the time of trials ahead seek God and learn to choose his will. Our physical well-being is truly trivial in importance compared to matters of the soul. We will come closer to God as we learn to rely on Him and trust Him. It is not God’s desire that anyone be lost from the kingdom, His family. He will not tolerate sin and/or iniquity but His way is always open to anyone who sincerely seeks it.
Isaiah 55:8 For My plans are not your plans,
Nor are My ways your ways
-declares the Lord.
But as the
heavens are high above the earth,
So are My ways
high above your ways
And My plans
above your plans.
For as the rain or snow drops from heaven
And returns not
there,
But soaks the
earth
And makes it
bring forth vegetation,
Yielding seed
for sowing and bread for eating,
So is the word
that issues from My mouth:
It does not come
back to Me unfulfilled,
But performs
what I purpose,
Achieves what I
sent it to do.
Yea, you shall
leave in joy and be led home secure.
Before you,
mount and hill shall shout aloud,
And all the
trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the
briar, a cypress shall rise;
Instead of the
nettle, a myrtle shall rise.
These shall
stand as a testimony to the Lord,
As an
everlasting sign that shall not perish.
This is one of my favorite passages in Isaiah. God’s ways are often 180 degrees opposite man’s ways. When man learns to seek His perspective on issues he becomes wise and when man learns to choose God’s choices he becomes transformed by the realization of his now living relationship with God. Also, in this passage, God is showing us the majesty and complete mastery that flows from His will. God is the source of all reality and reality is the garden growing from the seeds of God’s words. But in God’s reality, freedom to choose reigns supreme, for without freedom there can be no love and without love there can be no purpose. As a result, God’s omnipotence aside, seeds other than good are sometimes sown and since God’s sun shines on the good and the bad, the harvest is not always good. But everything is given its season, and at the harvest’s end, the weeds are bundled up and thrown into the fire and the wheat is stored away. And so, God self-limits His omnipotence to allow for love, for without love there would be no sons and no daughters, and no reason to have a universe.
Isaiah 56:1
Thus said the Lord:
Observe what is
right and do what is just;
Happy is the man
who does this,
The man who
holds fast to it:
And stays his
hand from doing any evil.
This seems to be a pretty simple request. Why is it so hard?
Isaiah 56:3 Let
not the foreigner say,
Who has attached
himself to the Lord,
"The lord
will keep me apart from His people;"
And let not the
eunuch say,
"I am a
withered tree."
I will give them, in My House
And within My
walls,
A monument and a
name
Better than sons
or daughters.
I will give them
an everlasting name
Which shall not
perish.
God’s way is for all and any who will come – regardless of any other factor.
Isaiah 56:7 I
will bring them (foreigners) to My sacred mount
And let them
rejoice in My house of prayer.
For My House
shall be called
A house of prayer for all peoples.
Thus
declares the Lord God,
Who gathers the
dispersed of Israel:
"I
will gather still more to those already gathered."
Note again the universality of God’s love. There is also another reference to the dispersed of Israel. Most importantly, God’s kingdom or family is for all peoples, all races, all religions, and for all time. Let’s pause here and consider that mysterious word ‘Israel.’
With the single
word "Israel" one can discuss the entire past and future history of
the world. We remember that Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, gave rise to the twelve
tribes of Israel by virtue of his twelve sons. Moses, their great leader, led
these twelve tribes through the desert from Egypt to the Land of Canaan. During
their forty year desert journey scripture describes this group of Israelites as
a rebellious group in the main. In fact, no
sooner had Moses gone up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, than the
people down below had begun to sacrifice to pagan gods. At the entrance to
the Promised Land Moses died before entering, leaving his people in the hands
of Joshua. After entrance into the Promised Land, Israel gradually coalesced into
a united monarchy for several generations, before dividing up into northern and
southern factions; Israel and Judah. Blessed by God’s bounty and fruitfulness
the community thrived. But as their
hunger was satisfied and their lives became secure, they walked away from the
moral strictures of their covenant with God. The prophets tell us that they
turned away from truth, became arrogant and full of pride, and ceased to
practice justice. They knowingly ignored God’s commandments and worshipped
false gods, becoming sexually promiscuous and deceitful. The weak and powerless
went without protection, while knowledge and mercy disappeared. The Northern
Israelites went astray before the Southern Judahites. The Northern Israelites
were composed of the northern ten tribes. Ephraim and Manasseh were the two
foremost tribes among the ten northern tribes for reasons discussed previously.
Ephraim,
the most blessed, led the way to destruction. These northern ten tribes, having separated themselves from God,
were also separated from His guidance. They walked away from God and into
disaster called the Assyrians, despite being warned and pleaded with by their
prophets. At first, many of the Northern Israelites went into captivity in
Assyria. Afterward they migrated north losing their identify and origins never
to return. However, prophetic scripture continues to speak about a future,
re-identified Lost Israel that plays an important role in events still to come
at the end of our age. By looking at the various characteristics of this group
of people described in scripture, we can glean something of this group’s
identity. Let’s start by looking at where
they go upon dispersion and where they
come from in their future re-gathering to give us some hints as to who they may
be. Ephraim is often used in scripture to refer to Israel because they make up
the great majority of the population of the Lost Ten Tribes. First consider
where the Northern Tribes are dispersed
to:
Amos 9:9 I
(God) will give the order
And shake the House of Israel –
Through all the nations –
As one shakes a
sieve.
Ezekiel 5:10 I
will scatter your survivors
in every direction.
Ezekiel 5:14 I
will make you a ruin
and a mockery among the nations.
Micah 5:7 The
remnant of Jacob shall be,
In the midst of many peoples
Like dew
from the Lord.
This dispersion is all over the world. Also notice the word remnant. The remnant is a small portion of the population of "Israel" and is the faithful segment, which will be gathered to "The Lord" and returned to the Land of Canaan at the end of the age. The same applies for the remnant of Judah (the Jews). The remnant is what is left over after whatever happens, happens. Their survival is dependent on their receptivity to God’s inner guidance through the indwelling spirit, and by God’s outer guidance through His chosen prophet whom he always provides. Now, lets be more specific about where the Israel remnant will come from when re-gathered at the end of the age.
Jeremiah 31:10
Hear the word of the Lord, O Nations,
And tell it
in the coastlands afar.
Say:
He who
scattered Israel will gather them.
Jeremiah 46:27 Be
not dismayed, O Israel!
I will
deliver you from afar.
Ezekiel 6:8
I will leave a remnant
of you that shall escape
from the
sword among
the nations
and be scattered
through the land.
Ezekiel 4:13
The people shall eat
their bread, unclean,
among the nations I will
banish them
to.
Ezekiel 11:17
I have scattered them
among the countries
.
Again, we have a generalized scattering of Lost Israel among all the nations, and also in the coastlands, among gentiles who eat unclean bread more specifically. Let’s see further where they are gathered from now:
Isaiah 11:12
He (the Lord) will hold up a signal to the nations
and
assemble the banished of Israel
and gather
the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.
Jeremiah 23:3 And I Myself
(Melchizedek) will gather the remnant of My flock
from all the lands that I banished them.
Isaiah 24:15
Therefore, honor the Lord with lights
In the coastlands of the sea…
From the ends of the earth
We hear
singing:
Glory to
the Righteous One (Melchizedek)
Also, lets not forget God’s servant, previously discussed, as related to these coastlands:
Isaiah 42:1 This is My servant, whom I uphold,…
He shall
bring forth the true way…
And the coastlands shall await his teaching.
And so we see clearly that coastlands and isles from afar are a major location for this group of people called "Israel." Now let’s try to get even more specific:
Jeremiah 3l:7
For thus said the Lord:
Cry out in
joy for Jacob,
Shout at
the Chief of the Nations!
Sing
aloud in praise and say:
The Lord
has saved His people
The remnant
of Israel.
Jeremiah 31:10
Hear the word of the Lord, O Nations
Isaiah 43:6 Bring my sons from afar,
And my
daughters from the end of the earth –
Isaiah 60:9 To
bring your sons from afar,
And their silver
and gold as well –
Afar is repeated often enough to note. Afar and ends of the earth would seem to mean just that. The Chief of Nations is the leading nation at the time of the ending of the age, which I believe is now approaching. Afar, of course, is far from Canaan the point of reference. Next consider:
Isaiah 49:1
Listen, O coastlands, to me,
And give head, O
Nations afar.
Isaiah 60:9
Surely, the isles and distant
coastlands
shall wait
for and expect Me;
and the ships of
Tarshish (large ships) will come first
to bring your
sons from afar.
Isaiah 24:13 For
thus it will be among the peoples
In the midst of the earth…
Isaiah 24:14
These shall lift up their voices,
Exult in the Majesty of the Lord
They shall shout
from the sea:
Again these nations are far away from geographic Israel, across a sea, have coasts, and are inhabited by gentiles (non-Jewish) and their major faction lives in the Chief of Nations. These are fairly specific characteristics when taken together. Let’s also consider "Israel’s" general spiritual characteristics.
In general this is a large multitude of people who are scattered all over the world with a main concentration in the Chief of Nations, a coastland across the sea. The remnant self-selects themselves by being receptive to the inner leading and guidance of God amidst the trials of the latter days, shortly to begin. "Israel" in the broadest sense is any and all of these persons who choose to follow God’s inner and outer guidance, and who refuse to sink into the chaos and depravity of those around them. God chooses all people! Only some people choose God. "God’s people" are not an elite, or racially defined group, they are simply those who have chosen to do His will. This is not to say, that there are no genetic or environmental factors that condition the individuals’ responsiveness and receptivity to God’s inner and outer leadings. There are, but they are never the sole determinants or most important factors involved.
Jeremiah 3l:10
And tell it in the coastlands afar.
Say:
He who
scattered Israel will gather them,
Now we have a nation that is far away from Canaan, across the sea that has coasts and is addressed as the chief of nations. The United States certainly could be this nation. This nation seems to have a major contingent of these called "Israel."
Another, frequent term, isles of the sea, could be the British Isles. Lets not forget about other locations as well for this people "Israel":
Jeremiah 3l:8
I (the Lord) will bring them from the northland,
Gather them
from the ends of the earth.
The blind and
the lame among them…
In a vast throng
they will return here (Canaan…)
Jeremiah 31:9
They will come with weeping (in joy and repentance)
And with
compassion will I guide them.
Isaiah 11:10 In
that day, My Lord will apply His hand to redeeming the
part outside the
Holy Land, from Assyria – as also from
Egypt, Pathros
Nubia, Elam, Shinar, Hamath and the
coastlands. He will hold up a signal to the nations.
The most important factor is always the individual’s willingness or unwillingness
to give precedence to God’s will, ways, laws and leadings (to the best of
each individual’s capacity to understand these).
Now, let’s look at some other
descriptive terms related to our mystery entity "Israel:"
Isaiah 10:22 Even
if your people, O Israel,
Should be as the
sands of the sea,
Only a remnant
shall return.
Hosea 2:1 The
number of people of Israel shall be
like the sands of the sea, which cannot
be measured or
counted.
Genesis 22:17
The
angel of the Lord (Melchizedek) called to Abraham…
I will bestow my
blessings on you and make
your descendants
as numerous as the stars
of heaven
and the sands on the seashore. (Amplified Bible)
Deuteronomy 33:16 Let
these blessings come upon the head of Joseph
(Ephraim and
Manasseh)
with the
precious things of the earth and its fullness
and favor of the
goodwill of Him.
Deuteronomy 33:17 Like
a firstling bull Joseph’s majesty is,…
And these are
the myriads of Ephraim and
those are the thousands of Manasseh.
(Joseph’s
blessings transmitted to his two sons
Ephraim and Manasseh)
Ephraim double fruitfulness, 2nd son of Joseph.
"for God
has made him (Joseph)
Easton’s Bible fruitful in the land
of his affliction." (Egypt)
Dictionary
What I’ve tried
to show here is that the blessing from the "Lord" (Melchizedek) to
Abraham for numerous descendants, as the "sands of the sea," passes
from Abraham, through Isaac, through Jacob, and through Joseph to Ephraim and
to a lesser extent Manasseh. The great majority of distant future descendants
are from Ephraim (the most blessed and fruitful). This is why Ephraim is used
at times to designate the "lost ten tribes of Israel." Therefore,
"Ephraim" and "Joseph" used in a prophetic sense refer to
the same entity as "Israel." Also note, that it is a small remnant of "Israel"
which returns to Canaan in the latter days.
For now, suffice it to say that
"Israel" is a far-flung group of people who are very numerous, some
of which live in the coastlands afar and
the isles of the sea. Further:
Deuteronomy 33:13-17
And of Joseph it is said:…
On the crown of the elect of his brothers…
He has
thorns like the horns of the wild-ox;
with them, he shall push the peoples,
all of
them, to the ends of the earth.
(Amplified Bible)
Genesis 22:15-17
The Angel of the Lord called
to Abraham…
and
said;…your seed will possess the
gates of His enemies.
Horns symbolize power. To possess the gate of ones enemies means to control the strategic locations of military power. These statements tell us that Joseph’s offspring (Ephraim/Israel) will have great power on the earth with the ability to conquer and control their enemies. Consider that Great Britain had the most far-flung empire in the history of the world and that America is the present reigning superpower. Also, Joseph (Lost Israel) is prophesied to have great bounty, great increase, great blessings of land, crops, and natural resources and fruitfulness. America is the land founded on God’s great blessings and strength. "God Bless America," "in God we Trust," "America the Beautiful" were frequently used phrases. Also:
O Beautiful for Spacious Skies
For Amber
Waves of Grain
For Purple
Mountain Majesty
Above the
Fruited Plain
America, America God Shed His Grace on Thee
And Crown Thy Good with Brotherhood…
The fruitfulness, bounty, and blessings
of America are unparalleled in the history of the world. Could the prophets have been addressing
us; here, today and now? Are we the inheritors of Joseph’s and Ephraim’s God
given bounty, fruitfulness, and military power? Are we the distant coastlands,
across the sea from whence the servant will speak? Are we the "Chief of
Nations?" Are we the latter days Ephraim of prophetic scripture?
Now, let’s try to trace the
physical path of "Israel" after they are conquered by the Assyrians.
4Ezra 13:39
And as for your seeing him (the "Lord") gather to
himself
another multitude that was peaceable, these
are the ten tribes, which were led away from
their own
land into
captivity in the days of King Hosea, when
Shalmanesser, the king of the Assyrians led captive;
he took
them across a river, and they were taken into
another
land. But they formed this plan for themselves,
that they would leave the multitude of
nations and go to
a more
distant region, where mankind had never lived,
that
there they at least might keep their
statutes which
they had
not kept in their own land. And they went up
the narrow
passages
4Ezra 13:43
of the Euphrates river…through that region there was
a long way
to go, a journey for a year and a half.
Jeremiah 3l:18 I
(the Lord) can hear Ephraim (Israel)
lamenting:
‘You have
chastised me, and I am chastised’…
Truly Ephraim is a dear son to Me,
A child
that is dandled!
Whenever I
have spoken against him,
My thoughts
would dwell on him still.
That is why
my heart yearns for him;
I will
receive him back in love.
declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 3l:4
Erect markers,
Set up
way marks,
Keep in
mind the highway,
the road that you traveled.
Return maiden Israel!
Return to
these towns of yours!
In these passages the Northern
Tribes, "Israel" leave Canaan to Assyria and then later go north up
the Euphrates River for a one and a half year journey. Where did they go? They
are told to leave "markers and way marks" as they go so that they can
later return by the same route (during the messianic regathering). Let’s pick
up this story in the evidences of recorded history. Here are some quotes from a
leading researcher on the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel, Yair Davidy: (See Appendices A, B, and C for a graphic
display).
"The word translated above (Jeremiah 31:4) as "way marks" in
the original
Hebrew is
"Tzionim" which strictly speaking means "signs"
but in spoken Hebrew is usually used to denote
a stone
erection,
marking a grave or event." (Yair Davidy, Ephraim)
"Amongst
the Classical Authoritative Rabbinical Commentators
the most literal
explanation of this verse is that given by the
"Radak." (Rabbi David Kimchi, 1157-1236 A.D.) of Marbonne,
France. (Yair
Davidy, Ephraim)
"Set yourself up way
marks" –
"This was
directed to the community of Israel, that in the
generation when
they would be exiled, they should set up
way marks such as piled up stones or stone
monuments to
recognize the
path of migration, meaning to say that even
though you will
be exiled hope is not lost and you are still
destined to
return to these your cities." (Radak on Jeremiah 31)
(Yair Davidy, Ephraim)
"The ancient Hebrews are recorded setting up stones as
monuments. Jacob
set up a pillar and anointed it. Heaps
of stones, or one stone upon another are collectively
referred to as
"dolmens" and are found in Israel
and
Western Europe. The intentions of these
monuments
was to commemorate
some event. (Yair Davidy, Ephraim)
‘The megalithic dolmens found in the Golan and Galilee
are table like
structures composed of two vertical basalt
blocks roofed by
large rock horizontal slabs.’
(Mazar, A.
"Archeology of the Land of the Bible, 10,000 –
586 BCE",
1990) (Yair Davidy, Ephraim)
"Dolmens and related monuments are found in the land of
Israel, Jordan, Caucasus, Spain,
France, Britain and Scandinavia."
(Yair Davidy, Ephraim)
"There are several types of dolmens and examples have also
been reported
from Ethiopia, Japan, India, and North Africa.
The type of dolmen found in ancient Israel
is the same as that
found in Western
Europe." (Yair Davidy’s, Ephraim
).
In addition there are volumes of research and facts that support the close relationship between ancient Israel and Northwestern Europe. This research comes from Talmudic scholarship, archeology, linguistics, recorded history, and folklore. The Northern Ten Tribes, the Israelites, were dispersed first to Assyria and then traveled northward to populate Northern and Western Europe and then later on came to America. These Lost Ten Tribes of Israel have carried with them, wherever they have gone, their ancient blessings from God. These blessings went from God, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, to Northern Israel, to the Lost Ten Tribes, to Northwestern Europe and finally to America. But just as in the beginning, blessings have not been recognized and appreciated, and have not kept those who are blessed from going astray. It was Ephraim of ancient Israel, the most blessed, who went first and farthest astray. It is Ephraim again who goes astray. Ephraim is America. The end is like the beginning. American history is repeating Northern Israel’s ancient history.
I think one can make a strong case that "Israel" has large populations in North America, Great Britain, Northern and Western Europe, and the off shoots of the prior British Empire, i.e. Australia and New Zealand among others. In addition, "like the dew of the Lord," smaller populations are located among many if not all the other nations. One might reasonably consider that "Israel" is closely related to Christendom itself. The total population of this "Israel" is probably in the billions. Biblical references to offspring as numerous as "the stars in the sky" and the "sands of the sea" are now comprehensible. God’s promises to Abraham have been, are being, and will be fulfilled. Now we appreciate the immensity of "Ephraim’s myriads." Suddenly, the Bible is no longer just an "old fashioned book" about meaningless events in the distant past that involve other people. "Israel" is Christendom today and "Judah" is modern, geographic Israel of re-gathering Jews. Future "Israel" will be all those who desire to do God’s will. Future "Israel" will be composed of the faithful remnants of Christians and Jews and all others who desire to do God’s will. God has been announcing his plans from long ago. The history of "Israel" is in fact the history of the world; past, present and future. And God’s history of the world is a strange history. It is told before, not after, the historical events occur. This does not mean that our lives and history are predetermined. We freely choose all of our own actions, but God transcends time and space and his infinite mind foreknows how we will freely choose. We are free to choose and God is free to foreknow our choices. This is similar to a parent who can predict in advance what his children will do in various situations. The immensity, absoluteness, and infinitude of God’s mind are far beyond human imagination. We are left in awe of this Infinite Being who turns to us the face of a loving Father and knows the number of hairs on our individual heads. Lets now return to the Isaiah narrative:
Isaiah 56:6 As
for the foreigners
Who attach
themselves to the Lord,
To minister to
Him
And to love the
name of the Lord,
To be his servants –
Isaiah 56:7 I
will bring them to My sacred mount
And let them
rejoice in My house of prayer,
"For My
house shall be called
A house of
prayer for all peoples."
Thus says the
Lord God,
Who gathers the
dispersed of Israel:
"I will
gather still more to those already gathered."
God himself is being quoted here by the prophet. Isaiah presents his inspired collaboration with Melchizedek with a certainty of mind beyond mere human assurance. God is clear: anyone who would, can come. He is a loving father, actively pursuing the embrace of every mortal being in the world. The eternal covenant is open to all who have faith and who would follow God’s Ways and Will. Man is not absolved of suffering, but he is lifted up over it, in the "peace that surpasses all understanding." And this is the "kingdom of heaven" that is "within" as spoken of by the Son of Man. What are God’s Ways? What would God have us do? Here is God’s answer through His inspired prophets. We will first review the Old Covenant with its external commands and then the New Covenant with its internal guidance. Together they are the Way of God.
Genesis 17:3-8
God (Melchizedek) spoke to Abraham, "This is my
Covenant
with you: You shall be the father of a
multitude
of nations…I assign…all the land of
Canaan,
as an
everlasting holding (to Abraham and his offspring.)"
Genesis 26:2-4
The Lord (Melchizedek) appeared to him (Abraham) and said,
"…I
will make your descendants as numerous as
the stars of
heaven…"
Exodus 192-5
Moses went up (Mount Sinai) to God (Melchizedek).
The Lord
called to him "Say to the House of Jacob…
If you will
obey Me faithfully and keep My
covenant,
you shall
be My treasured possession among all the peoples."
Exodus 20:7-14
"You shall not swear falsely by the name of the Lord
your
God…Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy…
honor your
father and mother…You shall not murder…
commit
adultery…steal…bear false witness…covet your
neighbor’s
house…or covet your neighbor’s wife."
Deuteronomy 30:15
Behold, I have set before thee this day life and death,
good and
evil. If thou wilt hearken to the commands of
the Lord
thy God, which I command thee this day, to
love the Lord thy God, to walk in all his
ways, and to
keep his
ordinances, and his judgments; then ye shall
live, and
shall be many in number, and the Lord thy God
shall
bless thee in all the land into which thou goest to
inherit.
But if thy heart change, and thou wilt not hearken,
and thou
shalt go astray and worship other gods, and serve
them, I
declare to you this day, that ye shall utterly perish,
and ye
shall by no means live long upon the land, into which
ye go over
Jordan to inherit it.
I call both heaven and
earth to witness this day against
you, I have
set before you life and death, the blessing and
the curse:
choose thou life, that thou and thy seed may live;
to love the
Lord thy God, to hearken to his voice, and cleave
to him; for
this is thy life, and the length of thy days, that thou
shouldest
dwell upon the land, which the Lord sware to thy
fathers;
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them. (Septuagint)
In Genesis 17,
the multitude of nations are the nations of Christendom today.
The "land of Canaan"
given by the Lord is a much larger area of land than the present modern Israel.
It is an everlasting gift from God, who keeps his promises.
It is interesting to read Leviticus
26:14-45 (not presented here) as well. This extended passage (26:14-45
Leviticus) sets forth all the bad things that will happen to the Israelites if
the commandments are not upheld. All of these pronouncements or ‘curses’
eventually do happen to Israel as their subsequent history is characterized by
perpetual unfaithfulness. The Urantia Book confirms this unfaithfulness to the
covenant.
UB 1910
Israel had repudiated the Son of the God (Melchizedek) who had made a
covenant with
Abraham, and the plan to make the children of
Abraham the
light-bearers of truth to the world had been
shattered. The
divine covenant had been abrogated, and the
end of the
Hebrew nation drew on apace.
Notice above that it is God's covenant. Melchizedek, the Son of God, brings it to Abraham. This is why Melchizedek is referred to as "the messenger of the covenant" in Malachi.
Malachi 3:1
Behold…the Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to
(KJV)
his temple, even the
messenger of the covenant, whom ye
delight in:
behold he shall come.
This verse in
Malachi is a prophecy written 2500 years ago of Melchizedek’s return in the
"latter days," now just ahead. "The Lord whom you seek" is
the messenger of the covenant, who in turn is Melchizedek. Once again, by a
different route, we show that "the Lord" can be identified as
Melchizedek in scripture. Once again, the
Urantia Book opens up scripture for us, supplying the critical clue as above.
The Urantia Book confirms this everlasting covenant with Abraham and Abraham’s offspring "Israel." The Jewish people have not been abandoned by God, they are still a vital part of God’s unfolding plan.
UB 1020 This
covenant of Melchizedek and Abraham represents the
great Urantian
agreement between divinity and humanity whereby
God agrees to do
everything; man only agrees to believe God’s
promises and follow his instructions.
Note here that the Urantia Book redefines "Israel" to mean all of humanity. Anyone who would come, can come. The word Israel takes on different, but mutually consistent, meanings in different contexts throughout the Bible. Each meaning is like a separate ‘transparency,’ one lain over the next, one by one. The final meaning is a four dimensional entity sculpted out of space and time and is comprised of all of those who desire to do God’s Will, which is God’s Way. Now, lets continue with God’s Way and what He requires of us by way of external commands:
Isaiah 56:1 Observe what is right and do what is just.
Hosea 6:6 I desire goodness – not sacrifice
Obedience to God, not burnt offerings
Hosea l0:l2
"Sow righteousness for yourselves;
Reap the fruits
of goodness:"…
You have plowed
wickedness,
You have reaped
iniquity –
And you shall
eat the fruits of treachery –
Because you relied on your way
Amos 6:
Spare me the sound of your hymns.
But let justice well up like water and
Righteousness like an unfailing stream.
Micah 6 He has told you, O
man, what is good…
Only to do justice
And to love goodness
And to walk
humbly with your God.
Zechariah 8:16
Speak truth to one another
Render true and
perfect justice in your gates…
Love honesty and
integrity
Deuteronomy l8:l3 You must be wholehearted with the Lord your God.
Isaiah 58:4 You fast in strife and
contention,
And you strike
with a wicked fist!…
Isaiah 58:6
This is the fast that I desire:
To unlock the fetters of wickedness,
And untie the cords of the yoke
To let the
oppressed go Free;
To break off every
yoke…
To share your bread with the hungry,
And to take the
wretched poor into your home;
When you see the
naked, clothe him…
Then your light
will burst through like the dawn
And your healing
will spring up quickly…
Then when you call, the Lord will answer;
When you cry, He will say: Here I am.
Jeremiah 9:23 For I
the Lord act with kindness,
Justice and equity in the world;
For in these I
delight
Hosea l2:7 You
must return to your God!
Practice
goodness and justice,
And constantly trust in your God.
Continuing the theme of God’s Way; i.e. God’s Will, His people shall:
Damascus Document
They shall love each man as
his brother;
They shall succor the poor,
the needy, and the stranger…
Dead Sea Scrolls They shall bear no rancor from one day to the next…
100 BCE No man shall defile his holy spirit…
Deuteronomy l0:l2 And
now, Israel, what does the Lord your God, require
of you,
but to fear the
Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to love
Him, and to
serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with
all your soul,
to keep the commandments of the Lord, and His statutes,
which I command you this day for your good.
(Moses to Israelites)
And so, God
tells us through his prophets what He wants of us; very simply and very
clearly. But for most of mankind these instructions are unappealing! After all, aren’t we free? Sovereigns of our own destiny? Aren’t we able to choose
our own paths without any assistance from anyone, including the infinite and
loving Being we call God? Little do we realize that we throw away infinity for
an illusion, never suspecting the treasure buried within, encased in fear and
subverted by pride. Only by paradox, can the infinite be alluded to because
true freedom is "slavery" to
God’s will, for such slavery is a slavery
of love, that unshackles every yoke of human limitation. The very
intention of God’s Will is love.
We have considered the old covenant
between God and man. Now lets turn to the new covenant. We move from external,
negative commands to internal, positive guidance.
Kingdom of Heaven Within, the New Covenant, Internal Guidance, the true way, the gospel and message of Jesus
Jeremiah 3l:3 But
such is the covenant I will make
With the House
of Israel after these days –
Declares the
Lord: I will put My Teaching
Into their inmost being and inscribe it
Upon their hearts.
Then I will be their God, and
They shall be My
people.
Isaiah 30:20 Then your Guide will no more be ignored, and your
Eyes will watch your Guide; and, whenever you
Deviate to the
right or to the left, your ears
Will heed the
command from behind (within) you:
"This is
the road; follow it!"
Proverbs l:23
…behold, I will put my spirit unto
you. I
Will make known
my words unto you.
Matthew Not every one that saith unto me (Jesus),
"Lord, Lord,"
7:21-23 shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but rather he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in
heaven." (KJV)
Luke
The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither
17:20-21 shall they say, Lo
here! Or, Lo there! For, behold,
the Kingdom of
God is within you. (KJV)
1 Corinthians.3
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and
that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?…
which ye have of
God, and ye are not your own. (KJV)
4Q400 …
priests of the inner temple,
ministers of
Dead Sea the presence in his
glorious innermost Temple
Scrolls chambers.
4Q405
Praise the God of… wonder, and exalt Him… As
Dead Sea they rise, a whispered divine voice is heard…
Scrolls
And so, we see
the evolution of God’s relationship with man. We begin with the fear of God and his external commandments and we end with the love of God and the pouring out of His spirit upon us, and within us.
We’ve heard from the prophets about the Kingdom within. Now hear
the poets:
Emily Dickinson
Conscious am I in my Chamber,
#679 Of a shapeless friend –
Presence
– is His furthest license –
Instinct esteems Him
Immortality –
Emily Dickinson
One need not be a Chamber – to be Haunted –
#670 One need not
be a House –
The Brain
has Corridors – surpassing
Material
place –
Far
safer, of a midnight meeting
External
Ghost
Than its interior Confronting –
That Cooler Host.
Here, Emily is
expressing her consciousness of the inner spirit within – the "shapeless
friend" and "Cooler Host" of "immortality." Unlike the
external spirits and Ghosts; the internal
spirit inhabits our mind – the "corridors of the brain."
Let’s take a look at a few more:
Emily Dickinson
No
Rack can torture me –
#384 My Soul – at
liberty –
Behind
this mortal Bone
There
knits a bolder One…
Captivity
is Consciousness –
So’s
Liberty.
Realization of God’s spirit within, "the bolder One," liberates one from all perceived human limitations, i.e. one’s "captivity." Now consider:
Isaiah 61:1 The
spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
Because the Lord
has anointed me.
He has sent me
as a herald of joy to the humble,
To bind up the
wounded heart.
To proclaim release to the captives…
To comfort all
who mourn –
The Son of Man takes this prophecy up into himself and liberates man through the revelation of the kingdom of heaven within, because "captivity is consciousness" after all, and consciousness is mostly unaware of God’s gift within us, the indwelling spirit. And when consciousness becomes aware of this gift we exchange our humdrum perception for:
Emily Dickinson
Purple – is fashionable twice –
#980 This season
of the year,
And when
a soul perceives itself
To be
an Emperor.
i.e.; the Emperor of the Kingdom Within, because:
Emily Dickinson
The soul that hath a guest
#674 Doth
seldom go abroad -Diviner
Crowd at
Home
Obliterate
the need –
And
Courtesy forbid
A Host’s
departure when
Upon
Himself be visiting
The Emperor of Men –
The "guest" is God’s spirit within as is "The Emperor of Men." We are the physical hosts of the spiritual "Host" within. God’s infinite spark of divinity lies within each of us. Just as biologic fathers give a genetic piece of themselves to their children, our spiritual Father gives us a spiritual piece of Himself. Now let’s switch gears regarding the kingdom within:
Walt Whitman
Each is not for its own sake,
Song of Open Road I say the whole
earth and all the stars in the sky
Are for religions sake.
I
say no man has ever yet been half devout enough,
None has ever yet adored or worshipped enough,
None has begun to think how divine
he himself is, and
How certain the future is.
Song of Myself O, I could
sing such glories and grandeurs about you!
You have not known what you are,
You have slumber’d upon yourself all your life,
Your eyelids have been the same
as closed most of
The time.
We are unaware
of the presence of the spirit within and so "we have not known what we
are" and haven’t begun to realize "how divine" we ourselves can
become.
The voice within points the way, if
we but listen. Follow the guide within and experience the reality of the divine
indwelling. Behold, "all things are becoming new"-- once we
experience and are aware of God’s
spirit within; that "little voice" that speaks silently.
And now, back to Isaiah. He turns
180 degrees and addresses our elite and illustrious leaders: the "blind watchmen," "the
negligent shepherds," and "the greedy dogs."
Isaiah 56:10 The
watchmen are blind, all of them,
They perceive
nothing.
That cannot
bark;
They lie
sprawling,
They love to
drowse.
Moreover, the
dogs are greedy;
They never know
satiety.
As for the
shepherds, they know not
What it is to
give heed.
Everyone has
turned to his own way,
Every last one seeks his own advantage.
"Come,
I’ll buy some wine;
Let us swill
liquor.
And tomorrow
will be just the same,
Or even much
grander!"
The righteous man perishes,
And no one
considers;
Pious men are
taken away,
And no one gives thought
That because of
evil…
The righteous was taken away.
Yet he shall
come to peace,
He shall have
rest on his couch
Who walked
straightforward.
But as for you,
come closer,…
On a high and lofty hill
You have set
your couch;
Behind the door
and doorpost
You have
directed your thoughts;
Abandoning Me,
you have gone up
Isaiah 57:8 You
have chosen lust
You have
provided many perfumes.|
And you have
sent your envoys afar,
Though wearied
by much travel,
You never said,
"I give up!"
You found gratification for your lust,
And so you never
cared.
Whom do you
dread and fear,
That you tell
lies?
But you gave no
thought of Me,
You paid no
heed!
It is because I have stood idly by for so
long
That you have no
fear of Me
I hereby
pronounce judgment on your deeds:
Isaiah 57:12 Your
assorted idols shall not avail you,
Shall not save
you when you cry out
They shall all
be borne off by the wind,
Snatched away by
a breeze.
Here the watchmen (56:10) are our "experts", the erudite prognosticators of conventional wisdom. Their refrain is always the same, everything is fine – just another bright sunny day. Meanwhile justice has gone out from the land and truth out from our hearts. Our leaders are misleaders; their only interest is self-interest. Gone are the statesmen. Gone are the noblemen. Gone are the wise men. There is no one home. Our shepherds (leaders) are wolves feeding off the flock. Entrusted with much, these misleaders will be answerable for much. The consequences of this blind leadership will shortly rear their ugly heads. And then the cry: "if only we knew." But we close our eyes, and cover our ears, and bury our heads – co-conspirators against truth and justice. "We hear no evil, speak no evil, and see no evil. And we love it to have it so."
Now, back to the main narrative of Isaiah:
Isaiah 60:17
Arise, and shine, for your light has dawned.
The presence of
the Lord has shone upon you.
Behold! Darkness shall cover the earth,
And thick clouds the peoples
But upon you the
Lord will shine,
And His Presence
be seen over you.
And nations will
walk by your light.
Raise your eyes
and look about:
They have all
gathered and come to you (the Lord)
Your sons shall
be brought from afar,
Your daughters
like babes on shoulders.
As you behold,
you will glow:
This "Presence of the Lord" is some sort of visible manifestation of The Lord/Messiah/Melchizedek. There are repeated references to the light that he radiates in contrast to the "dark clouds" that are present upon the "Lord’s" Messianic arrival. Such dark clouds could possibly be from nuclear detonations or perhaps some natural phenomena, i.e. multiple volcanic eruptions associated with the large scale tectonic event or events that occur in concert with "the Lord’s" arrival, described elsewhere. Next in line, consider:
Isaiah 60:8 Who
are these that float like a cloud,
Like doves to
their windows?
CLOUDS/CHARIOTS/SKY
This is a great question. Just what are these objects in the sky termed clouds. Remember the passages regarding "the Lord" leading the Israelites by a "pillar of cloud" in the day and a "fire" in this cloud at night, that gives off light for the people to see by:
Psalms 78:14 In the daytime also he (the Lord) led them
with a cloud, and all
The night
with a light of fire (KJV)
Psalms 99:7
He (the Lord) spoke unto them
in the cloudy pillar. (KJV)
Exodus 33:9 And it came to pass,
as Moses entered the
Tabernacle,
the cloudy pillar descended…
And the Lord talked with Moses. (Moses,
untroubled
by this,
was well schooled in the traditions regarding
Melchizedek; as discussed in the UB).
Now lets proceed with other references to this word cloud:
Isaiah 19:1 Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud. (KJV)
Jeremiah 4:13 Behold, he (Lord) shall come up as clouds and
His chariots shall be as a whirlwind:
Deuteronomy 33:26
There is none like God (probably Melchizedek), O Israel,
Who rides through the heavens to your help
and
In his majestic glory through the skies. (Amplified Bible)
There is a strong association between "the Lord" (probably Melchizedek) and the word "cloud." It would also appear that he the Lord Melchizedek travels or "rides" through the skies on "chariots" that also are described as "swift clouds." These descriptions are literal and not figurative in my opinion. Further consider:
2Kings 2:11
Behold, there appeared a chariot of
fire, and
horses of fire, and it parted them (Elijah
& Elisha) both
asunder;
and Elijah went up by a whirlwind
into
heaven. (see above similarity in Jeremiah 4:13) (Amplified Bible)
Psalms 68:17
The chariots of God are twenty
thousands of angels
The
Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in The Holy Place. (KJV)
The word chariot is also used in 1Enoch to describe vehicles traveling across the heavens that sound like modern aircraft.
1Enoch 55:1-3
After this I beheld an army of chariots
with men riding in them.
And they came upon the wind from the east, from
the west, and
from the
south. The sound of the noise of
their chariots was heard.
Chariots then, are vehicles of transportation, on the ground or in the air, depending on the context of its usage.
Psalm 68:17
above links angels and "chariots." This brings to mind the
"transport seraphim" discussed in the Urantia Book. Could these
"chariots" or "swift clouds" be at all related to the
modern phenomenon of "UFOS"? Of transport seraphim?
Now, let’s look at a very important
passage that also refers to "clouds."
Daniel 7:13 One
like a human being (one like a son of man/ RSV.)
Came with the clouds of heaven;
He reached the
Ancient of Days
And was
presented to Him; (Tanakh)
Remember that Jesus took his title Son of Man from the Book of Enoch (UB.p.l390). Here the Messianic figure is referred to as "one like a son of man," who is not Jesus because:
UB 1748 Jesus
endeavored to lead his followers into the spiritual
kingdom… but
they would not have it so. He well knew that
his earth
mission could not possibly fulfill Messianic expectations
of the Jewish
people; the older prophets portrayed a
Messiah,
which he could
never be.
Therefore, Jesus tells us repeatedly that "his kingdom is not of this world", but rather an inner spiritual kingdom which he has come to reveal. "One like a son of man" is not Jesus. Who is I early history of Israel. We also know that "the Lord" sometimes refers to Melchizedek. If the Messiah is Melchizedek and he "comes with the clouds of heaven: this would fit with our previous associations between "the Lord" and the "pillar of cloud" that leads the Israelites. Remember that Melchizedek was on earth in a "semi material form" as well as a material form previously, and that a Melchizedek can take on a wide variety of forms; spiritual, material, and semi material. Also notice the key word like, in "one like a son of man." Jesus was a son of man because he was born of woman. Melchizedek incarnated in an adult human form and was not born of woman. Therefore he is not a son of man but rather is like a son of man. So the "cloud" reference and the "one like a son of man" reference both point to Melchizedek as the Lord/Messiah. Now consider the rest of this passage:
Daniel 7:14 And
to him (one like a son of man) was
Given dominion,
and glory and kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages
Should serve
him;
His dominion is
an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not
pass away,
And his kingdom
is one
That shall not
be destroyed
This is not a
spiritual Messiah, he comes in power and glory to judge the earth and take
dominion (sovereignty) of the nations and peoples of the world. Why does he
come and take sovereignty? Melchizedek is our Planetary Prince in waiting. All
normal planets have a Planetary Prince and we are about to be restored to
normalcy. Also, the present world leaders are misleaders; they spend no time truly addressing our global problems
such as overpopulation, pollution, environmental degradation, rapid loss of
biologic species, ongoing ozone depletion, global social and political unrest,
and increasing nuclear weapons proliferation. They talk a lot but actually do
very little, after all it may ruffle the feathers of some powerful corporation.
This planet is being and has been, raped by the wealthy and powerful. Nary a thought is given to putting back
what we take out. The sole motivation is to get as much wealth and power as
fast as possible.
Because of this, when Melchizedek
steps in, we will be in the middle of many major problems. But God is not going
to let the many good people of the world be destroyed by the strong and
powerful. Sovereignty will be taken away
from the present leadership elite and given to those who live according to
God’s ways:
Revelation 11:15 Then
the seventh angel blew his trumpet…
Saying,
"the power to rule over the
World belongs
now to our Lord and His
Messiah, and he
will rule forever and ever.
The word Messiah is Christos in
Greek. Christ means Messiah. Unfortunately, Jesus was surnamed for just what he was not. Also notice that
"our Lord" and "his Messiah" are two different personages
in this verse. "Our Lord" is God and "his Messiah" is God’s
chosen representative for our world, Melchizedek. The fact that this is a
Messiah of this physical world and that he rules forever – indicates a divine
being. This divine being is on a cloud just as before in Daniel:
Revelation 14:14 Then
I looked, and there was a white cloud, and sitting on
The cloud was
what looked like a human being (one like a
son of man/RSV.)
With a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.
Again, "one
like a son of man" is the reaper. Why is there a sickle in his hand? The
prophets have asked God for thousands of years over and over; "How long
Lord? How long?" meaning how long will the strong trample the weak? How
long will the arrogant govern the meek? God’s answer is that everything has a
season to grow and yield its full fruit; we then reap what we sow. The sun is
made to shine on the good and the
evil. Remember the parable when the good man sows good seed, but while he is
sleeping, an evil one sows weeds in the same field. And, when the weeds grow up
with the good crop, the parable tells us that both good and bad will be allowed
to reach harvest together. Then the field will be harvested and the good crop
stored away and the weeds bound up and thrown into the fire. This is done
because pulling the weeds up early would damage the good as well as the bad. The end of an age is a harvest time when
everything is harvested and accounted for. The one on the cloud has a
"sickle in his hand" to harvest the crop at the end of the age. This
"one like a son of man" is Melchizedek who comes to save the world
from itself, give restitution to "God’s people," and begin a new and
glorious age of promise. The prophecy, "The meek shall inherit the
earth" will finally become reality. Also, remember Jesus’ parable about
the good landowner of the vineyard. The landowner leaves his beautiful vineyard
in the hands of workmen who ransack his property and ruin his vineyard. The
landowner sends his best servants, and then even his very own son to check on
its progress. The son they kill, so as to deprive him of his inheritance, and
Jesus then looks to the listening audience and asks, "What do you think
the landowner will do?" In unison they answer, "he will destroy those
men…" (UB l893). This story is not only a parable. It is also a prophecy of Jesus’ (the son in the
parable) subsequent death at the hands of the leaders of Jerusalem who are
playing the role of the workmen left in charge. Israel is the vineyard and God
is the landowner who sends his son Jesus to set right the spiritual affairs of
Israel. But Jesus is killed by the very ones causing the trouble in the first
place, the workmen left in charge, i.e. the leaders of Israel. But wait! The
parable prophecy hasn’t ended yet because God has not yet sent anyone to bring
justice to the vineyard workers, i.e. the leaders. The parable will end, when
God’s Agent of Justice arrives and sets the affairs of His "vineyard"
aright, just as at the ending of the parable. This is exactly the function of
the "Messiah" described in Old Testament prophecy. Not only was Jesus
aware of his upcoming death, but he also was aware that the complete story
would someday end like his parable ended.
The word messiah is used only twice
in the Bible, both times in Daniel (chapter.9) embedded in some passages regarding
the seventy weeks prophecy. The word messiah is also used several times in
1Enoch in association with a divine being who brings peace and victory to those
who "elect" God’s will during the end of the Age. This Messiah figure
in 1Enoch is called the Elect One, the Concealed One, the Mighty One, and God
of the World. Notice that the God of the World designation well describes the
function of a Planetary Prince/Sovereign. The word messiah means anointed in
spirit, and when capitalized, Messiah means the
Anointed One over all other anointed ones. Prophets and servants are also
anointed ones, lower case. The word "Christ" simply is the Greek
translation of the word "Messiah." Essentially, we have named Jesus
"Christ" for precisely what he is not, i.e. "Messiah." When Jesus came, people were looking for
the World Messiah and mostly missed recognizing the Spiritual Savior. This time
around Christians are looking for the Spiritual Savior and alas – the World
Messiah comes. Humanity gets it wrong both times. No one can say that we’re
not consistent. Now, please consider:
Psalm 2:1
Wherefore do the heathen rage,
Septuagint and the nations imagine vain things?
The kings of the earth stood up, and
The rulers
gathered themselves together,
Against the
Lord, and against His Christ;
The Lord here is God and "His Christ" is His Messiah, who He has chosen (anointed), to take charge of the unruly affairs of our world as indicated by reference to ‘the nations,’ ‘the kings of the earth,’ and the ‘rulers.’ This Psalm was written hundreds of years before Jesus Christ was born and the word Christ was being used in its generic meaning of Messiah. Going further with this interesting Psalm:
Psalm 2:6 …
But I (Christ/Messiah) have been
Made King by Him
(God) on Zion His holy
Mountain,
declaring the ordinance of the Lord (God):
The Lord (God)
said to me, Thou art my Son, today
I have begotten
thee. Ask of Me, and I will
Give thee the
heathen for thine inheritance, and
The ends of the earth for thy possession. (Septuagint)
This reminds us of the other Psalm where my Lord (God) tells my Lord (Messiah) that He will make the earth his footstool. God is telling His Son (Melchizedek) that he will put him in charge of our planet and that he (Melchizedek) will dwell in Zion. The heathen are all non-believers, or better, non-knowers of God. And so, since we know Jesus is not the World Messiah; there is only one other divine being, in the lineage of the Sons of God, that this could be, i.e. Melchizedek, who just happens to be revealed as the shortly forthcoming Planetary Prince of Urantia in the Urantia Book. Also recall that 11Q13 of the Dead Sea Scrolls identifies this Messiah figure directly as Melchizedek by replacing the word "Lord" in the original verse with the word Melchizedek in a passage describing the end of The Age This reverses the very error in the Old Testament identified by the Urantia Book i.e. the use of the word "Lord or angel of the Lord" in place of Melchizedek. Thus the Urantia Book corroborates the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Scrolls corroborate the Urantia Book about this issue. "Melchizedek" is back in, "Lord" is out! Thus, scriptural evidence is strongly consistent with Melchizedek as the "Messiah" figure. Could the Prophets of the Old Testament be wrong about its prophecy of a "Messiah?" Since these prophecies about a "Messiah" occupy a large portion of scriptural prophecy, if wrong, then one would expect most of this scripture to also be wrong. But the more one studies this scripture, the more one is impressed with its accuracy, consistency (both internal and across multiple sources), and co-ordination. By co-ordination I mean that different sources fill in different parts of the overall puzzle. The unified interpretation of the entire corpus of Judeo-Christian scripture throughout the ages, will one day be a gleaming monument to God’s omniscient over control. Remarkably, God knows every thought that will pass through our heads during our entire existence. And even more remarkably, He knows it before the universe itself was even yet created. And yet, our free will to choose our own course is operative throughout. We are free to choose and God is free to foreknow our choice. The following poem expresses this seeming paradox well.
Emily Dickinson
Experience is that Angled Road
#910 Preferred
against the Mind
By-Paradox-the Mind itself –
Presuming
it to lead
Quite
opposite – How Complicate
The
Discipline of Man –
Compelling Him to Choose Himself.
His
Pre-appointed Pain
Our minds are always busy making plans for our future experiences (our lives). However, real life experience is always different from what we plan or expect. The mind sets out a smooth plan but life sets before us a bumpy and "angled road" with many detours along the way. These unplanned experiences bring before us those decisions which are necessary for the inner unfolding of the flower of our being. These important choices are both freely "chosen," and "pre-appointed" by God’s plan. They frequently involve the "pain" of letting go the baggage we hold so dear. The weight of the baggage gone, the pain ends and the joy begins.
When the scriptural framework for the end of this age starts to be enacted, even in it’s smallest details; God’s "behind the scene" true sovereignty will never be in doubt again.
Zechariah. 2:14
For
lo, I come; and I will dwell in your
Midst – declares
the Lord. In that day many
Nations will
attach themselves to the Lord
And become
His people and He will dwell in
Your midst. Then
you will know that I
Was sent to you
by the Lord of Hosts.
Here the Lord of Hosts is God and the Lord who "dwells in our midst" is Melchizedek. Two Lords, two different divine beings.
Micah 4:3 And
he shall judge many people, and
rebuke strong
nations afar off; and They shall
beat their
swords into plowshares.
Micah 7:16 The
nations shall see and be confounded
despite all
their might; they shall lay their hand upon
their mouth,
their ears shall be deaf.
Again, what are
they seeing that so confounds the
nations?
Could it be just an accident that
all the world’s peoples are looking simultaneously for their version of the
Messiah? Would God only prepare Jews and Christians? Has Melchizedek’s
involvement been solely with the Judaic tradition? We learn from John Hogue in
his book, Millennium Prophecy, of a
very long list of expected Messiah figures all of which are expected to set
things aright. Here he states: "Prophecy shares a collective vision of a
Second Coming of a Christ figure. All of our soothsayers say his ‘cloud’ is due
to land from heaven during our time." (Millennium
Prophecy pg. 333). This is what the Kabala (a text of Jewish mysticism)
says about the number 21, that is, the 21st Century:
The World Ascension to leadership, Temporal and Spiritual.
Prosperity Cycle in Mundane Affairs. Advancement of Backward
People. Adept
Proper use of talents in arts, science, and commerce.
The power of Peace. The Hebrew Letter Schin, Planetary
Ruler!
The Luminous One, The Sun. (Millennium
Prophecy pg. 299).
The Kabala
information is right on the mark in this quote. We are the backward people who
have struggled in darkness, retarded in progress by the absence of benevolent
and wise leadership. The "Planetary Ruler" or Sovereign, Melchizedek
will establish "peace" and initiate an era of spiritual and material
"prosperity." We have discussed the light given off by Melchizedek
when he arrives amidst dark clouds overhead. Notice the alternate name given
for the Planetary Ruler is The Luminous One, fitting in with the scriptural
description nicely.
But even more important than the
transformation of our leadership is the transformation of we the people from
within:
Sri Aurobindo
(1950- ) "O
Force-compelled, Fate-driven, Earth-Born race
Bengali Mystic
O petty adventurers
in an infinite world
And
prisoners of a dwarf humanity,
How long
will you tread the circling tracts of mind
Around your
little self and petty things?
But not for a changeless littleness were
you meant,
Not for
vain repetition were you built
.. Almighty powers are shut in nature’s
cells.
A greater destiny awaits you in your front
… The life
you lead conceals the light you are
(John Hogue, Millennium Prophecy pg. 292)
Sri Aurobindo is a Bengali mystic and visionary, born in Calcutta, India and educated in England. The petty lives we lead conceal the divine potentials that lie untapped within us.
"The
coming spiritual rebellion in human consciousness is one of
the largest
collective forecasts in the minority prophetic
vote for
human
survival" (Millennium Prophecy pg.
294.)
The future always comes in through the minority. The last battle won, "conventional wisdom" is one step from the scrap heap. We fear and resist change, no matter what its content. Nearly all-conventional wisdom today is wrong! Wrong about science, wrong about politics, wrong about people, wrong about philosophy, wrong about religion and wrong about most anything else we can think of. Our leaders, our intellectuals and our so-called elite will have the same constant refrain right up to the hour when they are removed from their power and prestige. The refrain is "everything is fine, going just as we expected." This is why they are so "confounded" in Micah 7:16 (above) when the World Messiah steps into the fray. It’s time we started thinking for ourselves and stop buying the illusions, which are cast up in front of us by the "leadership class" and the media; one working hand in hand with the other.
There is a Sufi metaphor about identification. Misery doesn’t come
to us; we unconsciously seek it out and
hold on to it, like flinging our
arms around
a pillar. We squeeze tighter and yell, "Oh if I could only
be rid of
this misery and pain!"…We "do"
misery we "do" expectation.
Hell is not
a place, we "do" it, as American mystic Adi DaSantoshia
once
remarked…We make prophecy work
because we are so damned
predictable… We have repeated again and
again the behaviors that
make it
easy for the seers to prophesy us unto doomsday.
(John Hogue, Millennium Prophecy, Pg. 305).
In other words, we have seen the enemy and it is us. This is why the Urantia Book gives Caligastia (the devil) little credit for the evil around us and places the blame squarely where it belongs – on ourselves. And the silence of "the good people" is deafening as we stand back and watch the destruction of our country and our families. And so it is, in part, ourselves, those "faithful servants" who will be held accountable for the "talents" we have been given to use for increase:
Our spiritual path is not complex, it is quite simple…it is not a
romantic
sacrifice to look at oneself, to
be able to celebrate life. Yet,
with this
comes a feeling of joy, a sense of being, and a connection
with the Flow of the universe. (Good Horse
Nation (1985) Visayan
Medicine
Man from John Hogue, Millennial Prophecy.)
I absolutely believe that no one wants to choose suicide. Up to now
man has
been surviving without transformation because there was no
urgency for
change. (Osho, 1984, Millennial Prophecy)
I would disagree with the sentence about suicide. There are some who are so filled with anger and hatred that they repeatedly choose destruction for themselves and those around them. These love to control others and impose their will. Because of their passion to control and to make subservient, they are seekers of power and prestige. Find any place of true power, in any organization, and it is very likely you will find someone with this type of behavior. We haven’t noticed, but such as these are running everything now-a days – our government, our educational institutions, our corporations, our banks and everything else of any consequence regarding wealth and power. Therefore, we are all taking a one-way trip to chaos. But out of chaos comes the burning embers of a new start for human civilization and its transformed peoples. Walt Whitman gives us a glimpse of this personal transformation and calls for us to come out of ourselves:
:
Walt Whitman
Afoot and lighthearted I take to the open road,
Healthy,
free, the world before me,
Song of the The long brown
path before me leading
Open Road wherever I choose.
Henceforth
I ask not good fortune,
I myself am
good fortune…
Strong and
content I travel the open road.
You road I
enter upon and look around,
I believe
you are not all that is here,
I believe
that much unseen is also here…
The Earth expanding right hand and
left hand…
O public
road…
You express
me better than I can express myself,
You shall
be more to me than my poem…
I inhale great draughts of space,
The east
and the west are mine,
and the
north and the south are mine.
I am larger
and better than I thought
I did not know I held such goodness…
To know the
universe itself as a road,
as many
roads, as roads for traveling souls.
All parts
away for the progress of souls…
Forever
alive, forever forward
Desperate,
proud, fond, sick, accepted by men,
rejected by
men,
They go!
They go! I know that they go,
but I know
not where.
But I know that they go toward the best,
toward
something great.
Whoever you
are, come forth!…
Out of dark confinement!
Out from
behind the screen!…
Alons the
road is before us!
It is safe
– I have tried it – my own feet have tried it well
– be not detained!
(Excerpts
Song of the Open Road, Walt Whitman,
Leaves of Grass, 1855)
Now back to the main narrative, Isaiah:
Isaiah 60:9
Behold, the coastlands await
me,…
To bring your
sons from afar,…
Aliens shall rebuild your (Jerusalem’s)
walls,…
Their Kings
shall wait on you (Jerusalem) – …
Your gates shall
always stay open –
Day and night
they shall never be shut – …
And you shall be
called "City of the Lord."
Here, "The Lord" tells us of the restoration of Jerusalem, the city where Lord Melchizedek will dwell. Strangers and "aliens" from other countries, including America, will come to live in and rebuild Jerusalem. These re-identified "alien" Israelites (Christians mostly) reunite with their cultural brethren from Judah (the Jews), forming once again one nation under God, the new Israel. And Melchizedek will:
Isaiah 60:16
appoint Well-being as the government
Prosperity as
the officials
The cry
"Violence" will no more be heard in the Land…
No longer shall you need sun
For light by
day,
Nor the shining
of the moon
For radiance by
night…
For the Lord
shall be a light to you forever,
And your days of mourning shall be ended.
Melchizedek is able to radiate large amounts of visible light. Less literally, Jesus and the Father remain our spiritual light within. The physical, intellectual and spiritual are thus harmonized and coordinated in triunity. Next we have:
Isaiah 63:1 Who
is coming from Edom,
In crimsoned
garments from Bozrah –
Who is this,
majestic in attire,
Pressing forward
in His great might?
"It is I,
who contend victoriously,
Powerful to give
triumph."
Isaiah 42:13 The
Lord goes forth like a warrior,
Like a fighter
He whips up His rage.
He yells, He roars aloud,
He charges upon
His enemies.
I have kept
silent for too long,
Kept still and
restrained Myself;
This is the large-scale equivalent of Jesus’ righteous anger that he exhibited when he turned over the tables of the moneylenders in the temple. Melchizedek and Jesus are angry for the sake of God’s abrogated laws and the oppression of His children. However, Jesus and probably Melchizedek "revile no man," (UB 1609) for personal judgment rests safely with God alone.
Melchizedek enters as a warrior. Warriors enter a city on horseback, not riding an ass as Jesus did. Melchizedek comes in power and glory to put out the fires of evil ravaging the world – perhaps the red (crimsoned garments) symbolizes bloodshed. The Hopi Indian Messiah is expected to wear a red cap and cloak. Jesus entered Jerusalem on the foal of an ass; warriors enter a city on horseback, a symbol of power:
Revelation 19:11 And
I saw heaven opened,
And behold a white horse;
And he that sat
on him
Was called Faithful and True;
And in
righteousness he doth judge and make
war
Revelation 19:19 And
I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth,
And their
armies, gathered together to make
War on him that
sat on the horse and
Against his
army.
Revelation 6:2
And I saw, and behold a white horse;
And he that sat
on him had a bow;
And a crown was given unto him;
And he went
forth conquering and to conquer.
White symbolizes cleanliness, righteousness, and holiness. A horse is symbolic of a warrior. The crown symbolizes sovereignty. The one on horseback is Melchizedek, the Faithful and True, Son of God, who rapidly subdues the world’s leaders (kings) that are bringing war to the peoples. Also, remember that Joseph, the chosen (elect) son of Jacob, wore a crown and was a strong archer with a bow. Melchizedek is God’s chosen Son, and just as Joseph, he is given a crown and a bow, as well as sovereignty of our world. This is why 1Enoch calls Melchizedek the Elect One. The crown follows the elect; those who stand up and elect God’s will.
Revelation 11:15 Then
the seventh angel blew his trumpet,…
And loud voices
in heaven, were saying "The
Kingdom of the World has become the
Kingdom
Of our Lord
(God) and his Christ (Messiah Melchizedek)
Notice carefully that this kingdom is of the world and is not the inner spiritual kingdom of heaven spoken of by Jesus, for he said on many occasions, "my kingdom is not of this world."
The Book of Revelation is stated in the Urantia Book to be a much deleted and edited version of John’s original vision, which is stated to have been a profound and far reaching prophecy. It should be noted however that the Urantia Book freely quotes many passages of Revelation and explains their true meanings. Therefore, I use Revelation sparingly and carefully in situations where it adds to or expands the meaning of Old Testament prophesy, already previously developed. Scripture is an organic whole, like a growing tree with many branchings off the main trunk. Here are a few samples of Urantia Book quotes regarding Revelation.
UB 599 It
was at the conclusion of the terminal mission of the Teacher
Sons (at least that would be the chronology on a normal world)
that John wrote:
"I saw a new heaven, a new earth and the new
Jerusalem coming
down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a princess adorned for the prince."
The comment in the Urantia Book regarding this new heaven, new earth, and new Jerusalem leaves open the possibility of this event occurring on our world at any time, even the upcoming time of our presently ending age as our world is out of the usual order. Consider:
UB 599 The
Trinity Teacher Sons may return many times to the
same world. But
sooner or later, in connection with the
termination of one
of their missions, the Planetary Prince is
elevated to the
position of Planetary Sovereign, and the
System Sovereign
appears to proclaim the entrance of
such a world
upon the era of light and life.
Do we dare speculate that since Melchizedek is described in scripture as receiving sovereignty (crown) as our Planetary Prince that our world may also enter the era of light and life at the end of this age, when Melchizedek is elevated to the position of Planetary Sovereign. One more example of the use of Revelation in the Urantia Book:
UB 538
John the Revelator saw a vision of the arrival of a class of
advancing
mortals from the seventh mansion world to their
first heaven,
the glories of Jerusem. He recorded; "And I saw
as it were a sea
of glass mingled with fire; and those who gained
the victory over
the beast that was originally in them,
and over
the image that
persisted through the mansion worlds and finally
over the last
mark and trace, standing on the sea of glass, having
the harps of
God, and singing the song of deliverance from mortal
fear and
death."
UB 538 …on
the seventh mansion world. Here you will be purged of all
the remnants of
unfortunate heredity, unwholesome environment,
and unspiritual planetary tendencies. The last remnants
of the ‘mark
of the beast’
are here eradicated.
Notice, that the Urantia Book adds quite a bit of information to the actual passage in scripture:
Revelation 15:2 And I saw what appeared to be a sea of
glass mingled with fire,
and those who
had conquered the beast in its image and the number
of his name,
standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in
their hands.
In the Urantia Book passage the "mark of the Beast" refers to the animalistic, biologic, and environmentally induced imperfections within man as opposed to the external "mark of the beast" suggested by the actual text of "Revelation". There are over a hundred places in the Urantia Book where imagery from Revelation is discussed, as listed in Duane Faw’s Paramony of the Urantia Book and the Bible. Perhaps some of the original meanings of John’s vision could be reconstructed by using the information provided in the Urantia Book. Now to Isaiah once more:
Isaiah 65:1 I
(the Lord) responded to those who did not ask,
I was at hand to
those who did not seek Me;
I said, "Here
I am, here I am,"
To a nation that
did not invoke My name.
I constantly
held out My hands
To a disloyal
people,
Who walk in the
way that is not good,
Following their own designs.
Here, the Lord
Melchizedek explains why he departed from his dwelling place in ancient Zion.
He tried everything possible to get the people to listen, but they persistently
turned away from Him to choose their own
way.
Isaiah 65:8 As
when new wine is present in the cluster,
One says,
"Don’t destroy it; there’s good in it."
So will I do for
My servants,
My chosen ones
shall take possession,
My servants
shall dwell thereon.
And so, the Lord
preserves his "servants" who are mindful of him and will give them
the land to dwell on. What’s more His "chosen ones" are given actual
possession of the earth. This means that when the present world leadership is
removed that sovereignty will pass to Melchizedek and Melchizedek will give it
to "his chosen ones," elsewhere called the elect. The elect are those who understand, elect,
and do God’s will. Consider:
1Enoch 1:1 (This
is) The word of the blessing of Enoch, how he blessed the elect
and the
righteous who are to exist in the time of
trouble;…
1Enoch 1:2 that
which will not take place in this generation; but in a generation,
which is to
succeed at a distant period, on account of the elect.
Matthew 24:22 And except those days be shortened, there should
no flesh be saved;
but for the
elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
(KJV)
Isaiah 45:14 For
Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called
thee by thy
name: I have surnamed thee, though thou
has not known me.
(KJV)
Isaiah 43:1
Fear not, for I will redeem you,
I have singled
you out by name,
You are mine.
When you pass
through water,
I will be with
you;
Through streams,
Thy shall not
overwhelm you
When you walk
through fire
You shall not be
scorched…
Because you are
precious to Me
And honored, and I love you.
Isaiah 54:17 No
weapon formed against you
Shall succeed…
Such is the lot
of the servants of the Lord,
Such their
triumph through Me.
From 1Enoch we
see that this people who love God, i.e. the "elect," is a group that
exists during the trial period, that "distant period" of time
referred to by 1Enoch at the end of the age. Also, we notice, that God’s entire
plan for salvation during this period is enacted for the sake of those people who love God and live according to His
Will; those who elect Him.
Matthew confirms 1Enoch, or derives
from 1Enoch, this same sentiment. Isaiah gives clues to the identify of the
elect and emphasizes the divine protection
and support they will receive in their attempts to stand up to the evils of
"those days," through which those people will be further refined and
"made white" in the fires of adversity. Further:
1Enoch To
the righteous and wise shall be given
books of joy, of integrity,
104:10 and of great wisdom.
To them shall books be given, in which they shall
believe;
104:11
And in which they shall rejoice. And all the righteous will be
rewarded, who from these (books) shall acquire the
knowledge of
every upright
path.
104A:1 In
those days, saith the Lord, they (the elect) shall call to the
children of the
earth and make them listen to their wisdom.
Show them that
you are their leaders…Rejoice, children of
integrity, in
the truth.
Rejoice indeed. It would appear that through some remarkable books, a certain group or groups of people will be brought into a whole knowledge of "every upright path." These people become leaders in teaching other people, the "children of the earth," the ways of truth. Perhaps this teaching may relate to other scriptural statements that "before the end (of the age) the gospel of the kingdom of heaven will be proclaimed to all the world." Notice that this gospel is about the kingdom of heaven, the true gospel of Jesus. Now, all we need to do is find those people who have been taught, by books, about this mysterious subject, the kingdom of heaven, and wake them up to their task ahead. Lets turn now to see what the Dead Sea Scrolls have to say about the elect.
DSC
Why do the peoples rage and the peoples meditate vanity? Why
4Q174 do the kings of the
earth rise up, and the princes take council together
against the Lord
and his Messiah’ (Psalms 2:1).
Interpreted, this saying concerns the kings of nations who shall
rage up against the elect of Israel in the last
days. (Interpretation by the
Teacher of
Righteousness, leader of the Qumran community)
4Q174
‘But the wicked shall do wickedly and shall not understand,
but the righteous shall purify themselves and
make themselves
white
(Daniel 12:10)’ ...the people who know God shall be strong.
They are the masters who understand…(Interpretation
by Teacher
of
Righteousness; dotted lines represent missing original text)
Notice here that
the Teacher of Righteousness is interpreting Psalm 2 and Daniel 12:10 in the
same vein as we have been. He identifies an elect group, who is standing up
against the world and the powers to be ("peoples" and "Kings of
the nations" rage). The Teacher of Righteousness also recognizes the
unique understanding that these people will possess, they know God in their
hearts and understand His Kingdom of Heaven within. Scripture is reinforcing
and repeating important information. Information so reinforced, is very likely
to be accurate judging from past performances. Also note that the elect are ‘of
Israel’ which have previously been identified as Christians, many of whom are
living in the Chief of Nations during the latter days. More on the identity of
the elect will be presented later in this book.
Now, we return again to Isaiah
where the Lord says:
Isaiah 65:17
Behold! I am creating
A new heaven and
a new earth;
The former
things shall not be remembered,
They shall never
come to mind.
Be glad then and
rejoice forever…
Never
again shall be heard there
The sounds of
weeping and wailing…
He who dies a hundred years
Shall be
reckoned a youth…
They shall plant
vineyards and enjoy their fruit…
For the days of
My people shall be
As long as the
days of a tree,…
They shall
not bear children for terror,
But they shall
be a people blessed by the Lord.
Before they pray
I will answer Them;
While they are
still speaking, I will respond.
The wolf and
lamb shall graze together…
In all My sacred
mount…
Isaiah 65:25 Nothing evil or vile shall be done – said the Lord
I read these lines literally, for it is an easy thing for God to extend life spans, create a new heaven and a new earth, and make the wolf graze with the lamb. Just perhaps, these dramatic changes will come with Melchizedek’s sovereignty and the possibility of an accelerated entrance in to the age of light and life. Continuing:
Yet to such I look:
To the poor and
brokenhearted,
Who are concerned about My word.
Those marginalized under the sovereignty of man will not be forgotten, they will be lifted up – the ‘meek’ inheritors of a new earth under a new sovereignty. Now consider:
UB 622
…when the "holy temple comes down upon earth." (Book of
Revelation)
This event
signalizing the dawn of the era of light and life, is always
honored by the personal presence of the Paradise Bestowal
Son of
that planet…this Bestowal Son proclaims the long-time
Planetary
Prince as the
new Planetary Sovereign and invests such a faithful
Lanondeck Son
with new powers and extended authority over planetary
affairs.
Should we then expect Jesus to be present when Melchizedek is made Planetary Sovereign, which is stated to be soon forthcoming by the Urantia Book? When might this occur? The System Sovereign will also be present. Will any of this be visible? We also know that the Ancient of Days will be present at the end of the age, as his presence is required whenever personality extinction takes place (Caligastia). Quite a group of personalities on this "forsaken" world, I would say.
UB 820 The
pouring out of the Spirit of Truth provides the Spiritual
Foundation for
the realization of great achievements…Urantia is
therefore far better prepared (than the world
discussed in the
Urantia Book
chapter: Government on a Neighboring
Planet)
for the more immediate realization of a planetary
government…
(and) to the
establishment of world peace under law that could
lead to the
dawning of a real age of spiritual striving; and such
an age is the
planetary threshold to the utopian ages of light and life.
In any event the oncoming age will certainly be:
UB 1863 The
advance toward the dawn of a new social order in connection
with improved
spiritual living – the next age of man.
Finishing Isaiah, the Lord says:
Isaiah 66:14 You
shall see and your heart shall rejoice,
Your limbs will flourish like the grass.
The power of the
Lord shall be revealed
In behalf of His
servants.
Isaiah 66:18 The
time has come to gather all nations and tongues; they
shall come and behold My glory. I will set a sign
among them
and send from
them survivors to the nations: to Tarsish, Pul, and
Lud – that draw
the bow – to Tubal, Javan, and the distant
coastlands, that have never heard My fame or
beheld My glory.
Only the Jews, know the "fame" of Melchizedek, who is known to them as "the Lord" of the Old Testament. The "distant coastlands," the United States among others, do not yet know "the Lord" Melchizedek of the Old Testament, but rather are more familiar with "the Lord" Jesus of the New Testament.
In this passage, Isaiah 66:18, Melchizedek is speaking (as indicated by the context: i.e. the gathering of nations, and the glory that can be beheld.) Neither of these is appropriate in reference to God Himself. But God Himself does close this book of Isaiah:
Isaiah 66:22 For
as the new heaven and the new earth
KJV Which I will make
Shall endure by
My will
- declares the
Lord
So shall your
seed and your name endure.
And it shall
come to pass,
That from one
new moon to another,
And one Sabbath
to another,
All flesh shall
come to worship before Me
-saith the Lord
This verse tells us that some radical event will occur, such that all flesh shall come to worship God, within the short period of time between one new moon to the next (one month). This sudden event is the arrival of Melchizedek on the scene.
This ends our tour through Isaiah. Next in chronological order is Micah.