Apostles and Elders Organizing the Church

The ORDINARY CONCEPT of the constitution of human beings is dualistic—soul and body. According to this concept soul is the invisible inner spiritual part, while body is the visible outer corporal part. Though there is some truth to this, it is nevertheless inaccurate. Such an opinion comes from fallen man, not from God; apart from God’s revelation, no concept is dependable. That the body is man’s outward sheath is undoubtedly correct, but the Bible never confuses spirit and soul as though they are the same. Not only are they different in terms; their very natures differ from each other. The Word of God does not divide man into the two parts of soul and body. It treats man, rather, as tripartite—spirit, soul and body. 1 Thessalonians 5.23 reads: “May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This verse precisely shows that the whole man is divided into three parts. The Apostle Paul refers here to the complete sanctification of believers, “sanctify you wholly.” According to the Apostle, how is a person wholly sanctified? By his spirit and soul and body being kept. From this we can easily understand that the whole person comprises these three parts. This verse also makes a distinction between spirit and soul; otherwise, Paul would have said simply “your soul.” Since God has distinguished the human spirit from the human soul, we conclude that man is composed of not two, but three, parts: spirit, soul and body.

Is it a matter of any consequence to divide spirit and soul? It is an issue of supreme importance for it affects tremendously the spiritual life of a believer. How can a believer understand spiritual life if he does not know what is the extent of the realm of the spirit? Without such understanding how can he grow spiritually? To fail to distinguish between spirit and soul is fatal to spiritual maturity.

Christians often account what is soulical as spiritual, and thus they remain in a soulish state and seek not what is really spiritual. How can we escape loss if we confuse what God has divided?

Spiritual knowledge is very important to spiritual life. Let us add, however, that it is equally as, if not more, important for a believer to be humble and willing to accept the teaching of the Holy Spirit. If so, the Holy Spirit will grant him the experience of the dividing of spirit and soul, although he may not have too much knowledge concerning this truth. On the one hand, the most ignorant believer, without the slightest idea of the division of spirit and soul, may yet experience such a dividing in real life. On the other hand, the most informed believer, completely conversant with the truth concerning spirit and soul, may nonetheless have no experience of it. Far better is that person who may have both the knowledge and the experience. The majority, however, lack such experience. Consequently, it is well initially to lead these to know the different functions of spirit and soul and then to encourage them to seek what is spiritual.

Other portions of the Scriptures make this same differentiation between spirit and soul. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4.12). The writer in this verse divides man’s non-corporal elements into two parts, “soul and spirit.” The corporal part is mentioned here as including the joints and marrow—organs of motion and sensation. When the priest uses the sword to cut and completely dissect the sacrifice, nothing inside can be hidden. Even joint and marrow are separated. In like manner the Lord Jesus uses the Word of God on His people to separate thoroughly, to pierce even to the division of the spiritual, the soulical, and the physical. And from this it follows that since soul and spirit can be divided, they must be different in nature. It is thus evident here that man is a composite of three parts.

The Creation of Man

“And Jehovah God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen. 2.7 ASV). When God first created man He formed him of dust from the ground, and then breathed “the breath of life” into his nostrils. As soon as the breath of life, which became man’s spirit, came into contact with man’s body, the soul was produced. Hence the soul is the combination of man’s body and spirit. The Scriptures therefore call man “a living soul.” The breath of life became man’s spirit; that is, the principle of life within him. The Lord Jesus tells us “it is the spirit that gives life” (John 6.63). This breath of life comes from the Lord of Creation. However, we must not confuse man’s spirit with God’s Holy Spirit. The latter differs from our human spirit. Romans 8.16 demonstrates their difference by declaring that “it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” The original of the word “life” in “breath of life” is chay and is in the plural. This may refer to the fact that the inbreathing of God produced a twofold life, soulical and spiritual. When the inbreathing of God entered man’s body it became the spirit of man; but when the spirit reacted with the body the soul was produced. This explains the source of our spiritual and soulical lives. We must recognize, though, that this spirit is not God’s Own life, for “the breath of the Almighty--the Holy Spirit--gives me life” (Job 33.4). It is not the entrance of the uncreated life of God--eternal life--into man, neither is it that life of God--the Holy Spirit--which we receive at regeneration. What we receive at new birth is God’s Own life--eternal life--as typified by the tree of life--eternal life. But our human spirit, though permanently existing, is void of “eternal life.” We receive the same life of the Holy Spirit.

“Formed man of dust from the ground” refers to man’s body; “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” refers to man’s spirit as it came from God; and “man became a living soul” refers to man’s soul when the body was quickened by the spirit and brought into being a living and self-conscious man. A complete man is a trinity—the composite of spirit, soul and body. According to Genesis 2.7, man was made up of only two independent elements, the corporeal and the spiritual; but when God placed the spirit within the casing of the earth, the soul was produced. The spirit of man touching the dead body produced the soul. The body apart from the spirit was dead, but with the spirit man was made alive. The organ thus animated was called the soul.

“Man became a living soul” expresses not merely the fact that the combination of spirit and body produced the soul; it also suggests that spirit and body were completely merged in this soul. In other words, soul and body were combined with the spirit, and spirit and body were merged in the soul. Adam “in his unfallen state knew nothing of these ceaseless strivings of spirit and flesh which are matters of daily experience to us. There was a perfect blending of his three natures into one and the soul as the uniting medium became the cause of his individuality, of his existence as a distinct being.” (Pember’s Earth’s Earliest Age) Man was designated a living soul, for it was there that the spirit and body met and through which his individuality was known. Perhaps we may use an imperfect illustration: drop some dye into a cup of water. The dye and water will blend into a third substance called ink. In like manner the two independent elements of spirit and body combine to become living soul. (The analogy fails in that the soul produced by the combining of spirit and body becomes an independent, indissoluble element as much as the spirit and body.)

God treated man’s soul as something unique. As the angels were created as spirits, so man was created predominantly as a living soul. Man not only had a body, a body with the breath of life; he became a living soul as well. Thus we find later in the Scriptures that God often referred to men as “souls.” Why? Because what the man is depends on how his soul is. His soul represents him and expresses his individuality. It is the organ of man’s free will, the organ in which spirit and body are completely merged. If man’s soul wills to obey God, it will allow the spirit to rule over the man as ordered by God.

The soul, if it chooses, also can suppress the spirit and take some other delight as lord of the man. This trinity of spirit, soul and body may be partially illustrated by a light bulb. Within the bulb, which can represent the total man, there are electricity, light and wire. The spirit is like the electricity, the soul the light, and body the wire. Electricity is the cause of the light while light is the effect of electricity. Wire is the material substance for carrying the electricity as well as for manifesting the light. The combination of spirit and body produces soul, that which is unique to man. As electricity, carried by the wire, is expressed in light, so spirit acts upon the soul and the soul, in turn, expresses itself through the body.

However, we must remember well that whereas the soul is the meeting-point of the elements of our being in this present life, the spirit will be the ruling power in our resurrection state. For the Bible tells us that “it is sown a physical body--a soulical body--, it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Cor. 15.44). Yet here is a vital point: we who have been joined to the resurrected Lord can even now have our spirit rule over the whole being. We are not united to the first Adam who was made a living soul but to the last Adam Who is a life-giving spirit (v.45). Jesus is a life giving spirit because He gives eternal life to those who believe in Him.

This is really cool...

The Two Witnesses are first mentioned in Rev. 11 in the 2nd woe and are killed before the 3rd woe starts in Rev. 11. Rev. 7 to 11 are the major points of the Tribulation. To mention the Two Witnesses are killed in the 6th Trumpet and the 6th Trumpet is 13 months means the Two Witnesses start preaching 1260 days before the end of the 6th Trumpet. So 13 months of the 6th Trumpet + 5 months of the 5th Trumpet is 18 months. They preach for 42 months. So 42 - 18 = 24 months. 24 months prior takes us to 42 - 24 = 18 months after the Tribulation starts. 18 months after the Tribulation starts is after Passover 2023. But Rev. 11 doesn't say when the Two Witnesses die in the 6th Trumpet only that they do die during that time. They could die as early as the start of the 6th Trumpet so let's do the math. 42 - 5 for the 5th = 38. 42 - 38 = 5 months. The Two Witnesses could start preaching as early as 5 months after the Tribulation starts. The Passover in 2023 is about 7 months after the Tribulation starts Feast of Trumpets Sept. 26, 2022 so that works perfectly when the Two Witnesses start preaching judgment at Passover when the 3rd Temple newly constructed is dedicated. Their preaching takes them to Feast of Trumpets 3 1/2 years later. Another coincidence? I think not.

April 1, Nisan 10, first day of the 4 day inspection of the lamb before Nisan 15, April 6, Passover 2023 + 1260 days = Sept. 12, 2026 Feast of Trumpets.

I am going to state some absolute facts to determine when Jesus returns.

Daniel's seventieth seven is 2,520 days like all of Daniel's sevens. The Tribulation, therefore, is 2,520 days (7 x 360 ... 30 x 84 ... 1260 x 2) or 2,550 days (1260 + 1290 Dan. 12.11). Every 7 out of 19 years there are 2,520 days from Feast of Trumpets to Tisha B'Av and every 12 out of 19 years 2,550 days to Day of Atonement.

One condition for the return of Jesus is the 3rd Temple must be completed so there are 2300 days (Dan. 8.14) from Passover to Tisha B'Av. There are 2300 days from Passover 2023 to Tisha B'Av 2029.

Nobody has been able to figure out what the "sign of the Son of Man" (Matt. 24.30) is other than it occurs in the year Jesus returns. It is asteroid Apophis April 13, 2029, about 3 football fields in length, and comes within 25,000 miles, satellite distance of earth. The last time an asteroid of this size hit earth was 80,000 years ago. Nothing is more spectacular than this. Jesus, thus, steps down on the mount of olives later in 2029 somewhere in the vicinity of Tisha B'Av,Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles. Tisha B'Av was when the 1st and 2nd Temples were destroyed. Feast of Trumpets represents the first rapture according to readiness (Matt. 24.40-42, Luke 21.36, Rev. 3.10). Day of Atonement pertains to all those who are saved. Tabernacles addresses the fact Jesus will return to tabernacle among people for 1000 years on earth.

Assuming it takes 4 years for the Temple to be completed like the $300 million temple in Brazil, construction must begin by 2020 at the latest to be completed by Passover 2023.

We have additional confirmation because Comet Shoemaker broke up into 21 pieces, crashing into Jupiter, which foretold the three Biblical 7 year periods to follow. Tammuz 17 was when sacrifices ceased for 3 weeks and concluded with Tisha B'Av when the Temple was destroyed. The 7th year of each 7 year period was a Shemita year when debts were forgiven. The last day of each Shemita year is Elul 29. On Elul 29, the DJIA dropped 7% after 911 in 2001; dropped 7% on Elul 29 in 2008; and will drop 7% on Elul 29, Sept. 13, 2015.

There is even more confirmation. 2015 is a Jubilee year. A Jubilee year is when all land and assets are returned to their rightful owner. It occurs every 50 years. It is the 120th Jubilee since Adam when Adam was 18 years old in 3986 BC. Age of accountability for him! He was born 4004 BC. These dates are determined from adding the ages up in the Bible. A Jubilee is 1 year plus 7 x 7 years. Israel took over Jerusalem June 7, 1967. There are exactly 7 x 7 x 360 days (17,640) from June 7, 1967 to Day of Atonement Sept. 23, 2015.

2015 is also the year of the Super Red Blood Moon. It occurs on Tabernacles. It is also the fourth red blood moon of the feast Tetrad, 2014/15 which is the 8th feast Tetrad since Christ. It won't happen again till 2582/83. This is Rev. 6.12 which occurs shortly before the Tribulation begins: "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood." It is a Super Red Blood Moon because it is at perigee with earth, that is, the closest point for the entire year so it looks larger than normal. And it is directly viewed from Jerusalem which rarely happens. On March 20, 2015 there was a total solar eclipse. A unique feature of this event is that the Moon’s shadow swept over the North Pole – something that occurs once every 500,000 years or so, according to organizers of the balloon project.

The great earthquake was Haiti 2010 which killed 320,000 people and was the 2nd most deaths for any earthquake on record. And 2011 Fukushima Japan experienced an earthquake which was the 4th greatest in magnitude anywhere on earth in human record (9.1 Richter Scale). Tonnes of radiated water is pouring into the ocean every day even now. This is a worse nuclear disaster than Chernobyl. The unique solar eclipse occurred on Nov. 3, 2013, the 4th time since Christ. There are 4 kinds of solar eclipses. The rarest is the Hybrid occurring 5% of the time. There are 3 kinds of Hybrids, the rarest being the H3, occurring 5% of that 5%, which completes itself as a total solar eclipse to produce that black sackcloth effect. And it is a long version because according to NASA it lasted more than 1 minute and 30 seconds. In 2582/83 there is no unique solar eclipses attached to the feast Tetrad at that time.

Based on this evidence I am convinced Jesus returns somewhere between Tisha B'Av and Tabernacles in 2029. I favor Jesus stepping down (Zech. 14.4, Acts 1.11, Rev. 1.7) 30 days before the Day of Atonement, particularly, because there are exactly 2,550 days from Feast of Trumpets Sept. 26, 2022 to the Day of Atonement Sept. 19, 2029. 30 days prior would be the 2,520th day for the length of all Daniel's sevens. Jesus will judge the nations (Matt. 25.31-46; Rev. 14.18-20) for 30 days from the 1260th to the 1290th day (Dan. 12.11) then 45 days more to the 1335th day He will set up Israel as the center of all nations from where He reigns in person on earth in the 3rd Temple for 1000 years.

The reason why there is this 14 year gap from when Jesus returns and 2015 is because there is precedence in Scripture for a 7 year period of plenty before 7 years of famine. Therefore, God is fully just in allowing the Tribulation to judge the nations.

Consider Calvinists as patients with a terminally ill disease. Diagnosing their symptoms and realize an amazing medical discovery they can be cured.

Calvinist will try to tell you that God saves whom He wants and sends whom He wants to Hell without the sufficient grace given to people to have the free choice almost as if we are like robots. One passage they cite frequently to this end is Romans 9.14: "Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not!" But they have misused this verse for their false teaching that God irresistibly imposes salvation. Why assume such?

God says, "I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose" (Rom. 9.15). See Ex. 33.19. What this verse is saying is whatever God does, it is His prerogative. It is not a defense of Calvinism. The following verse supports this point: "So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it" (v.16). When God gives mercy we can be confident it is the right amount always. Perhaps some people need less mercy and others need more to draw them to Christ, but His mercy is always sufficient. Never is His mercy insufficient. You can't cause God to bring down more mercy upon yourself or demand more mercy from God. What God does is perfect when He affords you the free choice to search Him out with all you heart and soul; surely, only then will you find Him and receive the gift of repentance and faith to be regenerated.

"In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy...." (v.22-23) His glory shines even brighter on those He has chosen because He gave every opportunity to others to accept Him. Those destined for destruction God supplied more than ample grace for them to accept the Lord, and His anger was intense, but they still refuse to accept Him as He is. Calvinists are going to Hell as they erect themselves up on a pedestal by their own strength and declare to the peons below God has passed over others (preterition) but not themselves. Whereas actual Christians have come to the cross as helpless sinners to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior to be regenerated with no prideful, pompous, self-righteous declaration they have been irresistibly selected. Praise the Lord! Amen.

Not receiving the love of the truth is another big cause behind obsession. It is shown in 2 Thessalonians that for those who “received not the love of the truth . . . God sendeth a working of error, that they should believe a lie” (2.10-11). This is indeed a most terrible aftermath. People are obsessed by believing lies. They believe things which are non-existent. Because of their not receiving the love of truth, they just naturally incline towards lies.

“Buy the truth, and sell it not, yea, wisdom, and instruction, and understanding” (Prov. 23.23). Truth needs to be bought, that is, a price must be paid. Blessed are we if our hearts are well prepared for the truth of God. We will love the truth and accept it whatever it may cost us. But oftentimes men do not have the love of the truth in them. They distort the truth and even discard it. Finally they actually believe it is not the truth. They proclaim as untrue what is the truth and preach as the truth what is untrue. They seem to do this with confidence. This definitely is obsession. . . .


Not seeking the glory which comes from the only God is also a factor in obsession. “How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not?” asks the Lord Jesus (John 5.44). For the sake of coveting glory from men the Jews rejected the Lord and lost eternal life. How very lamentable! This inordinate love of glory from men inclined their hearts to a lie. As a consequence, they believed in falsehood. They became increasingly confident of themselves. They were none other than obsessed. . . .

“For with thee is the fountain of life: In thy light shall we see light” (Ps. 36.9). It is only by the light of God that we truly see light, that is, see the true character of a thing. The first light is that which enlightens, the second light is the true character which is seen. We need to live in the light of God if we wish to see the true character of a matter. . . .

Those who know themselves in the light of God know their own selves indeed. If we are not in God’s light we may sin without being conscious of how wicked our sin is, we may fall without being fully aware of how shameful our fall is. We may do a little good outwardly but how deceitful is our inward state. We may show gentleness outside, but who knows how hard we are inside. We may put on a spiritual form, but in our reality we are full of the flesh. When the light of God comes, the true character of these things shall be manifested. We will then see through ourselves; we will confess how blind we were before!

Herein is the difference between the Old and the New Testaments: in the Old Testament, people know right and wrong by outward law; in the New Testament, we know the true character of a thing by the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is possible that we see our fault through doctrine or teaching but even so we have yet to see our fault in the light of God. Knowing our fault through doctrine or teaching is superficial; perceiving our fault in God’s light alone is thorough. This is the meaning of seeing light in God’s light.

Spiritual reality has this outstanding characteristic, that it bears no mark of time. The time factor vanishes the instant you touch that reality. From the human point of view there is such a thing as prophecy, but from the divine viewpoint no such thing exists. “Thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee” (Ps. 2.7). With God it isalways “this day.” Our Lord says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Rev. 22.13). He is both together, both at once. It is not that at one time He is first and at another time He is last. He is first and last simultaneously. Nor is it that having been Alpha for some time, He becomes Omega later on. To the contrary, He is Alpha and Omega from eternity to eternity. He is always first and last; and He is always Alpha and Omega. In the sight of man He is not Omega till He is manifested as Omega; but in the sight of God He is Omega now. With man, the past and the future are separate; with God they synchronize. The “I” of yesterday differs from the “I” of today; and the “I” of tomorrow differs further still. But “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, yea and for ever” (Heb. 13.8). God is the eternal “I Am.” It is here that the knowledge of God comes in.

Our Lord once said, “No one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, who is in heaven” (John 3.13). Note how these two different positions synchronize in Christ. There is no change of time or place with Him. Of God it is written: “the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning” (James 1.17). He is that in himself. He is that in His Christ: He is that in His Church. . . .

Spiritual progress is not a question of attaining to some abstract standard, not a question of pressing through to some far-off goal; it is wholly a question of seeing God’s standard. Spiritual progress comes by finding out what you really are, not by trying to be what you hope to be. You will never reach that goal, however earnestly you strive. It is when you see you are dead that you die; it is when you see you are risen that you rise; it is when you see you are holy that you become holy. It is seeing the goal that determines the pathway to the goal. The goal is revealed by inward seeing, not by desiring or by working. There is only one possibility of spiritual progress, and that is by discovering God’s facts. Our great need is just to see the truth as Godsees it—the truth concerning Christ, the truth concerning ourselves in Christ, and the truth concerning the Church, the Body of Christ. . . .

The Church is not a company of Christians working their way heavenward, but a company of Christians who are actually now citizens of heaven. Alas! Christianity in the experience of most Christians is an endeavor to be what they are not, and an endeavor to do what they cannot do. They are always struggling to not love the world because at heart they really love it. They are always trying to be humble because at heart they are still proud. This is the experience of so-called Christianity, but it is not the experience of the Church. The question of deliverance from the world or redemption from sin never arises in the Church, for the Church never had any connection with sin or with the world.

The Church existed before the foundation of the world and was never in the world, so she has never been touched by the Fall. Alas, the human mind cannot dissociate the thought of sin from the Church. But in the divine mind, there is no relationship between sin and the Church. The Church infinitely transcends all thought of sin: in fact, the Church is the most positive thing in the universe. The Church is Christ. The Church has no connection with sin, and consequently no connection with redemption. Anything that calls for redemption does not belong to the Church. As individual believers, because we were born of Adam, we need redemption. It is not the Church that is redeemed, but we sinners who are redeemed; and being redeemed, we become part of the Church. In our experience the Church exists after redemption, but in the sight of God the Church existed before redemption. Redemption relates to our standing in Adam; the Church relates to our standing in Christ. The Church is the One New Man where Christ is all and in all. The Church is Christ in corporate form.

The Church is not an organization, not something to beunderstood and attained to; it is something to be seen. When we see the heavenly reality of the Church, then we see our heavenly nature and we know that our starting-point as Christians is not earth but heaven.

The Church is perfect, perfect beyond any possibility of improvement. Theologians often say: “That perfection is the standing (or position) of the Church; but her state is not so.” Yet in the sight of God there is no imperfection in the Church eternally. Why be bothered by the endless questions that relate to the old creation? They simply vanish when we see the reality of the Church. The Church is the sphere in which God exercises His authority on the earth; and today, even in the midst of a polluted universe, He has a sphere of unsullied purity for His abode.

"The number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand" (Rev. 9.16). That's 200 million.

In WW II there were 24 million alone in the military that died not taking into account civilians. 60 million civilians died on the allies side alone.

16 million allies soldiers and 8 million axis soldiers died. So the size of the army had to be much larger than this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=World_War_II

Russia fielded 20 million soldiers.
Germany 18 million soldiers.
USA had 12 million soldiers.
Combined allies had 42 million at wars end.

http://militaryhistorynow.com/2015/0...argest-armies/

So as a rough estimate, the size of the total armies were 42 million for allies and and 25 million for axis powers. Total 67 million amassed in WW II.

The population in the 1940s was about 2.3 billion. The population will be close to 9 billion by 2029 when Jesus steps down on the mount of olives (before accounting for 1/3 of the population of the earth die during the Great Trib.)

"To slay the third part of men" (Rev. 9.15)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population

67,000,000 / 2.3 billion = 3% of the world's population. The total armies were 3% of the world's population in the early 40s.

3% of 9 billion is 270,000,000. 270 million is easily more than the Biblical amount of 200 million.