Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Bible in One Year Day 363 (Revelation 15-17, Hebrews 5-8, Proverbs 31: 23-25)

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Agape Bible Study Revelation 15 - 17

THE SEVEN CHALICES

In contrast to the evil forces of Satan in and his followers who worship the Beast in chapter 13, chapter 14 revealed the hierarchy of heaven in the Father, the Son (Lamb), the angel/messengers, and the 144,000 sealed followers of the Lamb in whom no fault is found.

Revelation chapter 13	Revelation chapter 14
The Dragon (Satan)	God the Father
The Sea Beast (The Roman Kingdom)	The Lamb-Christ the King
The false prophet Land Beast (Israel) who serves the Sea Beast and Satan	Angel/messengers (true prophets who serve the Lamb)
Apostate followers of the Beast marked by the number of the Beast	Immaculate followers of Christ sealed with the names of the Father and the Son

This chapter also begins the 5^th section of the Covenant Treaty: the Succession Arrangements. The Succession Arrangements address the continuity of the Covenant that is specified by Yahweh in Deuteronomy chapter 31-32: the disinheritance of illegitimate members and the inheritance of those who are faithful to God and faithful to their sworn obligations of the Covenant. Deuteronomy chapter 31-34 is Moses' last instructions from Yahweh and his last great homily to the children of Israel before they take possession of the Promised Land. He begins his homily with orders for the extension of the Covenant into the future. He charges the 3 groups who are responsible for faithfulness & obedience, maintenance & justice, and the instruction, sacrifice, & liturgy of the Covenant with the duties to this generation and the future generations:

1. the people: Deuteronomy 31:1-6 (faithfulness & obedience)

2. the civil leadership [Joshua who will succeed Moses]: Deuteronomy: 31:7-8 (maintenance & justice)

3. the priesthood: Deuteronomy 31:9-13 (instruction in the Law and rites of worship)

And then Yahweh appears in the Glory-Cloud at the doorway of the Tabernacle and He calls Moses and Joshua and instructs them to teach a "Song of Witness" to the children of Israel. Deuteronomy chapters 31-34 are central to the interpretation of the visions in this chapter.

15:1-4: The Song of Victory

Verses 1-4 "And I saw in heaven another sign, great and wonderful: seven angels were bringing the seven plagues that are the last of all, because they exhaust the anger of God. I seemed to be looking at a sea of crystal suffused with fire, and standing by the lake of glass, those who had fought against the beast and won, and against his statue and the number which is his name. They all had harps from God and they were singing the hymn of Moses, the servant of God, and the hymn of the Lamb:

How great and wonderful are all your works, Lord God almighty;

upright and true are all your ways, King of nations.

Who does not revere and glorify your name, O Lord?

For you alone are holy, and all nations will come and

adore you for the many acts of saving justice you have shown."

From the Sea Beast of Revelation 13:1 to the vision of these 7 angels and the crystal sea in 15:2, John has had 7 separate visions. However, only this sign (which is the 5^th sign of the 7, and the 3^rd sign in heaven) is described as both "great and wonderful."

1. 13:1	"Then I saw a beast emerge from the sea:"
2. 13:11	"Then I saw a second beast emerge from the ground"
3. 14:1	"Next in my vision I saw Mt. Zion, and standing on it the Lamb."
4. 14:6	"Then I saw another angel flying overhead, sent to announce the gospel
5. 14:14	"Now in my vision I saw a white cloud......one like a son of man.."
6 15:1	"And I saw in heaven another sign....7 angels were bringing 7 plagues.."
7. 15:2	"I seemed to be looking at a sea of crystal....those who had fought ..."

The other great sign was the Woman clothed with the sun in 12:1 and the great red Dragon in 12:3. The irony is that the angels with bowls of plagues are described as a "great and wonderful" sign. In a way this phrase announces the 3^rd Act of this great drama of judgments (7 Seals, 7 Trumpets, 7 Chalices full of plagues). It initiates the climax of the book: the 7 plagues are the last. This "sign" is the third of the three signs that appear in heaven. The first (and the only positive sign of the 7 signs) was the "Woman clothed with the sun", the second was the great Red Dragon. There are 4 signs on earth: 13:13, 14; 16:14; and 19:20.

The 7 Signs of Revelation
1. The Woman clothed with the sun	Revelation 12:1 "a great sign"
2. The great red Dragon (Satan)	Revelation 12:3 "second sign"
3. The signs performed by the Land Beast with horns like a lamb	Revelation 13:13 "it worked great miracles (signs)"
4. The Land Beast whose power comes from the Sea Beast	Revelation 13:14 "Through the miracles (signs) which it was allowed to do.."
5. The 7 Angel/Ministers with 7 chalices full of plagues	Revelation 15:1 "I saw in heaven another sign, great and wonderful:"
6. The spirits of demons signs	Revelation 16:14 "demon spirits, able to work miracles (signs).."
7. The False Prophet's signs	Revelation 19:20 "the false prophet who had worked miracles (signs).."

The Sea is no longer blue it is mixed with fire; it is red. This imagery ties this vision to the last scene in Chapter 14: the great river of blood running the whole length of Israel, a terrible Red Sea. And like the Red Sea experience of the Exodus, the righteous have been victorious and are standing on the edge of the Sea singing a victory song (Exodus 15).

15: 5-8: The Sanctuary is Opened

Verses 5-8 "After this, in my vision, the sanctuary, the tent of the Testimony, opened in heaven, and out came the seven angels with the seven plagues, wearing pure white linen, fastened round their waists with belts of gold. One of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the anger of God who lives for ever and ever. The smoke from the glory and the power of God filled the Temple so that no one could go into it until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed."

In Deuteronomy 31:14-15 God appears in the Glory-Cloud at the doorway of the Tabernacle. He calls Moses and Joshua and instructs them to teach a "Song of Witness" to the children of Israel. This is the reason why I think this passage refers more to the "Song of Witness" found in Deuteronomy 32 than to Moses' "Song of Victory" in Exodus 15 (the first reason is that Yahweh Himself, not Moses, composed the "Song of Witness"). "Yahweh said to Moses, 'And now the time is near when you must die. Summon Joshua and take your places at the Tent of Meeting, so that I can give him his orders. Moses and Joshua went and took their places at the Tent of Meeting and Yahweh showed himself at the Tent in a pillar of cloud; the pillar of cloud stood at the door of the Tent." Deut 31:14-15

Did you notice how the scene changes from those who could claim victory over the Beast (Rev. 15:1-5) to the Temple or rather to the sanctuary, the tent of the Testimony in Heaven (Rev. 15:5-8). This is the true Tabernacle whereas the Tabernacle on earth was only a model: Hebrews 8:5 "..these maintain the service only of a model or reflection of the heavenly realities; just as Moses, when he had the Tent to build, was warned by God who said: 'See that you work to the design that was shown you on the mountain.'" Also see Heb. 9:11-2, 23-24; 10:1; Ex, 25:9, 40; 26:30 Num. 8:4; Acts 7:44.

John is very careful in his terminology in this passage. The correct technical expressions for his imagery are based on the Old Covenant order.

Both Moses' "Song of Victory" in Exodus 15 and the "Song of Witness" in Deuteronomy 32 were used in the Old Covenant Liturgical Sabbath services. The "Song of Victory" was sung at the beginning of the liturgy but the "Song of Witness" was sung at the end. It is very fitting that this connection should be emphasized now because this is the end of Old Covenant liturgy!

Question: Returning to Revelation chapter 15 look at verses 6-7. From where do the angel/messengers emerge? Answer: From the Temple (naos).

I have called these 7 vessels Chalices, instead of bowls as the New Jerusalem Bible and the New American Bible translators call them, because I think it is very important to make the liturgical connection as a "negative" sacrament. Some commentators see these vessels as incense bowls. We have already had two references to incense in Rev. 5:8 and 8:3-5 and the Greek word is the same in all these passages (phiale), but I think the Chalices are connected to the cup of God's wrath as we saw in chapter 15 and this connection becomes clearer in Rev 16:6 and 16:19. The contrast here is that from the Chalice of Sacrament of Holy Eucharist flows God's grace, from the Chalice of God's Wrath flows judgment. There is also a connection to the sacrificial system of the Old Covenant, which is now null and void with the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. What is being modeled for us in heaven as the instruction for the New Covenant Church on earth is that this is the final casting out, "ekballo", excommunication of apostate, false prophet Israel when she has once and for all refused the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ.

SYMBOLISM IN SACRED SCRIPTURE:

CHALICE & TRUMPET JUDGMENTS OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION COMPARED TO THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT

The Chalice Judgments are repeats, with variation, of the Trumpet Judgments. Since the Trumpet Judgments were essentially warnings they took only a third of the Land; with the Chalices, however, the destruction is total. The similarities between the Chalice and Trumpet Judgments and the Plagues of Egypt cannot be casual coincidence. The similarities should make us ask Why is the vision (or the plague) repeated "what is the connection? Notice the order of Chalice and Trumpet judgments compared with each other and how these judgments are reminiscent of the Egyptian plagues.

CHALICE Judgments in Revelation	TRUMPET Judgments in Revelation	PLAGUES ON EGYPT In the book of Exodus
1^st Chalice: On the Land; people disfigured with sores (16:1-2)	1^st Trumpet: On the Land; 1/3 earth, trees, grass burned (8:7)	Boils (6^th plague: Exodus 9:8-12)
2^nd Chalice: On the sea, becoming blood (16:3)	2^nd Trumpet: On the sea; 1/3 of sea becomes blood, 1/3 sea creatures die, 1/3 ships destroyed (8:8-9)	Waters become blood (1^st plague: Exodus 7:17-21)
3^rd Chalice: On rivers and springs, becoming blood (16:8-9)	3^rd Trumpet: On rivers and springs; 1/3 waters become wormwood (8:10-11)	Waters become blood (1^st plague: Exodus 7:17-21)
4^th Chalice: On the sun, causing it to scorch = darkened (16:8-9)	4^th Trumpet: 1/3 of sun, moon, & stars darkened (8:12)	Darkness (9^th plague: Exodus 10:21-23)
5^th Chalice: On the throne of the Beast, causing darkness; pain and sores on people (16:10-11)	5^th Trumpet: Demonic locusts tormenting men (9:13-21)	Locusts (8^th plague: Exodus 10: 4-20)
6^th Chalice: On the river [Euphrates], drying it up to make way for kings of the east; invasion of frog-demons; Armageddon (16:12-16)	6^th Trumpet: Invasion of army from the river [Euphrates] kills 1/3 of mankind (9:13-21)	Invasion of frogs from the river [Nile] (2^nd plague: Exodus 8:2-4)
7^th Chalice: On the air, causing storm, earthquake, hail & the Great City splits into 3 parts (16:17-21)	7^th Trumpet: Voices, storm, earthquake, hail (11:15-19)	Hail storm (7^th plague: Exodus 9:18-26)

From now on John will no longer use the imagery of warning but will concentrate on the message of Jerusalem's destruction. In Revelation 16:19 John will once again mention the Great City that he identified in Revelation 11:8 as the city where Jesus was crucified. In that passage he symbolically connected that city with Sodom and Egypt. Jerusalem is symbolically imaged with Sodom because like Sodom Jerusalem will be condemned to a total destruction as a whole burnt sacrifice on the altar of judgment (Genesis 19:24-25; Deuteronomy 13:12-18). But in chapter 16 John extends and intensifies the imagery of the judgment on Egypt in Exodus. As you will remember this is imagery that has been so pervasive throughout the 7 Seals and 7 Trumpets chapters, but now the 7 Chalice judgments will correspond to the 10 Plagues of Egypt. These final, terrifying judgments will be poured out on The Great City.

Revelation 16:1-9 The First Four Chalices
Revelation 16: 1-2

This scene is the continuation of the action in the heavenly Temple, and the command from the Temple emphasizes both the divine and ecclesiastical origin of the plagues/judgments.

The command from Temple reminds me of Isaiah chapter 66 when Isaiah prophesizes judgment on Jerusalem: Listen! An uproar from the City! A voice from the Temple! The voice of Yahweh bringing retribution on his enemies. Is. 66:6.

Question: What does the voice command?
Answer: Go and pour out the 7 bowls of God's wrath over the earth.

Question: What is unique about these judgments? See 15:1.
Answer: These are the last.

The reference to every soul dying in the sea in verse 3 can be explained in this disaster or the corpses strewn on the Sea of Galilee could lead to the assumption that most of the drinking water became unsafe which contributed to the death of every living thing through drinking bloody water.

Revelation16:4-7:

Question: By what title does the 3^rd angel address God?
Answer: the Upright One, He who is, He who was, the Holy One.

Question: Of what does the reference to God as He who is, He who was remind you? See Exodus 3:11-14.
Answer: God's holy Covenant name, Yahweh, which we usually translate as I am who am but Jews translate His name as I was, I am, and I will be.

Question: This 3^rd chalice resembles what Trumpet judgment and what Egyptian plague?
Answer: the 3^rd in Rev. 8:10-11 and the 1^st Egyptian plague since it affects the rivers and streams, turning all the drinking water to blood and bringing death.

Water is often used as a symbol of life and blessings from God beginning with the story of creation and the Garden of Eden (seen as a symbol of heaven) to Jesus' statements that He is the water of eternal life. In this plague the blessings of Paradise are reversed into a curse.

Question: How does the Angel of the Waters respond?
Answer: Praising God for His righteous judgment. He is not one of the Chalice angels.

Question: Who is this angel?
Answer: It is possible that he is the 4^th Living Creature/cherubim with the face of a man who corresponds to the constellation of Aquarius the Water Pourer (?)

Question: The angel announces that this punishment fits the crime. What was Israel's crime? Perhaps you can recall Jesus' condemnation of Jerusalem for the same offense? Revelation 16:5-6 You are the Upright One, He who is, he who was, the Holy One, for giving this verdict: they split the blood of the saints and the prophets, and blood is what you have given them to drink; it is what they deserve.

Revelation 16:10-21 The Last Three Chalices.

Question: Looking back over the first 4 Chalice judgments what were the targets of those judgments and what do they reflect? There are 4.
Answer: Land, sea, waters, and the sun = physical creation.

Revelation 16:10-11

With the first four plagues the judgment fell on the elements of nature but with the last three the consequences of the judgments are more political in nature. They will include the Beast's political center (his throne); the war of the great Day of God; and the fall of Babylon.

Question: What is the result of the pouring out of the 5^th Chalice?
Answer: it is poured out upon the Beast's throne (the Roman Empire) and even though the sun's heat is scorching those who worship the Beast, the lights are now dark on his kingdom. Darkness is a familiar Biblical symbol for political chaos and the fall of kingdoms (Isaiah 13:9-10; Amos 8:9; Ezek. 32:7-8). This chaos of the Roman Empire was a historic reality. At the time of the Jewish Revolt there was war and rebellion all across the Empire. In addition to this instability in the Empire, Nero's forced suicide in June of 68AD was followed by the murders of three Emperors all in the year 69. Finally Vespasian regained control but that same year the great Temple of the Capitoline Jupiter burned to the ground in December 19, 69AD. It is interesting that 7 months later the Temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed, resulting in the destruction of the two most important holy sites of the ancient world "the Temple of Jerusalem and the Temple of the chief of the Roman gods.

Revelation 16:12-16

Question: What is the connection between this Chalice judgment, the 6^th Trumpet (Rev. 9:13-21), and one of the Egyptian plagues (Ex 8:2-4)?
Answer: The 6^th angel's Chalice or bowl announces the invasion of kings , or the armed forces of kings from the East who cross the Euphrates River followed by demon spirits that looked like frogs. In the 6^th Trumpet judgment an army from across the Euphrates River invades and kills 1/3 of the people (Rev. 9:13-21), and in the Egyptian plagues the 2^nd plague is the invasion of frogs from the great river (which in that case was the Nile).

Chalice judgment	Trumpet judgment:	Egyptian plague:
6^th Chalice judgment: On the Euphrates, drying it up to make way for kings of the east; invasion of frog-demons; Armageddon (16:12-16)	6^th Trumpet judgment: Army from Euphrates kills 1/3 of mankind (9:13-21)	2^nd Egyptian plague: Invasion of frogs from the river (Ex 8:2-4)

Then from the jaws of the dragon and beast and false prophet I saw three foul spirits come; they looked like frogs and in fact were demon spirits, able to work miracles (semeion " signs), going out to all the kings of the world to call them together for the war of the Great Day of God the Almighty.

Question: In verses 13-14 what does John see proceeding from the mouths of the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet?
Answer: 3 unclean spirits. The connection is to the judgment of the 2^nd Egyptian plague. The multitude of frogs that invaded Egypt came from the Nile River (Ex. 8:1-7) and John has combined these images:b

an invasion from a river
a plague of frogs which in the Old Covenant dietary laws are unclean (Lev 11:9-12, 41-47). But these frogs are really demons who are performing signs in order to deceive and lead astray mankind.

Here is the imagery of the unholy trinity of the Dragon the Beast and the False Prophet with the Dragon being imitated by the Beast and False Prophet and the triple use of the word mouth which is reminiscent of the sixth Trumpet judgment (9:17-19) In my vision I saw the horses, and the riders with their breastplates of flame color, hyacinth-blue and sulfur-yellow; the horses had lions' heads, and fire, smoke and sulfur were coming from their mouths. It was by these three plagues, the fire, the smoke and the sulfur coming from their mouths, that the one third of the human race was killed. All the horses; power was in their mouths and their tails...

However, the Dragon is not in charge; God is in charge and He will use the work of error performed by these lying spirits in order to bring about the destruction of His enemies in the War of that great Day of God. This is a biblical term which refers to a Day of Judgment against the wicked (Isaiah 13:6, 9; Joel 2:1-2, 11, 31; Amos 5:18-20; Zeph 1:14-18).

Revelation 16:15 has the Book of Revelation's 3^rd of the 5 Beatitudes: Blessed is anyone who has kept watch, and has kept his clothes on, so that he does not go out naked..

Question: Does this passage remind you of any passages of warnings or promises from Jesus' letters to the 7 churches?
Answer: Jesus told the church of Sardis in 3:3 that He would come like a thief in the night and they wouldn't know the day or hour. He also told the church of Laodicea to purchase for Him white garments that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed. Nakedness in Scripture is a euphemism for sinfulness, as opposed to being clothed which is to be in a state of grace [you will remember when Adam and Eve fell from grace they feared God I was afraid because I was naked in Genesis 3:9-10]. St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:3: And in this earthly state we do indeed groan, longing to put on our heavenly home over the present one; if indeed we are to be found clothed rather than naked.

Revelation 16:16: The demon spirits ...called the kings together at the place called, in Hebrew, Armageddon.

In Revelation 21:16 the demons gather the kings of the earth together at a place called Armageddon. This is the only passage in the entire Bible that the word Armageddon is found. The literal spelling in the Greek is Har-Magedon, which means Mount Megiddo.

The identification of this site is a problem, especially for those who want to take Revelation literally. Megiddo is not a mountain. The hill that is the ruined city of Megiddo it is located at a pass that leads to the fertile plain of the Jezreel valley. The mountain that is closest to the plain of Megiddo is Mt. Carmel, a site which figured prominently in the history of the covenant people. Is John referring to the mound or tell that covers the 25-30 levels of what remains of a city that existed from the Chalcolithic period until 350 BC, or does he want his audience to think of the historical significance of both Mt. Carmel and Megiddo?

Question: What great Old Testament events happened at or near Mt. Carmel? See Joshua 12:21-22; 1Kings 18:19-42; 2 Kings 2:25; 4:25.
Answer:

Joshua and the army of the Israelites conquered the kings of Megiddo and Mt. Carmel
Carmel was the site of the defeat of the false priests of Baal by God's holy prophet Elijah.
Mt. Carmel was the headquarters of the Prophet Elisha and his community of prophets.

The city of Megiddo was one of the most important cities of the Levant during the historical periods of the Old Testament. It was located not far from the Mediterranean Sea on a fertile plain near the major trade routes leading from Egypt to Mesopotamia. One such major route was the Via Maris (Roman name of the ancient road), the major international military and trade route that linked Egypt in the south with Syrian, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia in the north and east. Its strategic position gave the city of Megiddo control of a bottleneck where the Via Maris emerged from the narrow Aruna Pass into the fertile Jezreel valley. Megiddo is the only ancient site in Israel mentioned in the archives of every great power in the ancient Near East.

Because of its strategic location the city on the plain of Megiddo (also called the plain of Esdraelon) , which is located 75 miles northwest of Jerusalem, became a stage for bloodshed since the 15^th century BC. The oldest surviving written record of a battle took place at Megiddo in 1468BC between the Egyptians and the armies of Canaanite city-states, a battle the victorious Egyptians recorded in detail. Megiddo became a major administrative center during the first millennium BC and despite its violent history, was rebuilt approximately 26 times (some archaeologists say 30 times).

The place name Megiddo is mentioned eleven times in Scripture, the twelfth would be the allusion to Megiddo as Armageddon (Har-Magedon) in Revelation 16:16 (see Josh 12:21; 17:11; Judg 1:27; 5:19; 1 Kgs 4:12; 9:15; 2 Kgs 9:27; 23:29; 23:30; 1Chr 7:29; and 2 Chr 35:22).

Question: What significant Old Testament events happened at Megiddo? See Joshua 12:21; Judges 5:19; 2 Kings 9:22-29; 23:29-30; 2 Chronicles 35:20-25.
Answer:

Megiddo was the scene of Joshua's victory over Canaanite forces in the conquest of the Promised Land.
Megiddo was one of the battle sites in the war with the Canaanite general Sisera who was defeated on Mt. Tabor by the army of the Israelite judge Deborah and her general Barak.
The Plain of Megiddo was the site of the assassinations of King Jehoram of Israel and his ally King Ahaziah of Judah. Ahaziah escaped only to die of his wounds in Megiddo.
Megiddo was the place where King Josiah, the last Judahite king who was a righteous descendant of King David and the brilliant hope of Judah, in deliberate disobedience to the Word of God and believing false prophets, went to war against the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho in 609BC. King Josiah was mortally wounded by Necho on the plains of Megiddo. Following Josiah's death the nation of Judah sunk further and further into idolatry, apostasy, and destruction which led to the defeat by the Babylonians and the destruction of the Temple in 587/6BC.

According to the records discovered in the Assyrian archives, the plain of Megiddo was also the site where the Assyrians assembled the 10 Northern tribes of Israel, after the defeat of the Northern Kingdom in 722BC, to send the Israelites into exile into the Assyrian lands to the east (2 Kings 17:5-6). These tribes never experienced a return to their ancestral lands and are referred to as the lost tribes of Israel. The same Assyrian archives documented the capture of Megiddo in 732BC and the establishment of Megiddo as Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III's provincial headquarters.

Writing circa 480BC, the prophet Zechariah associates the plain of Megiddo with death and mourning (Zech 12:1-14), remembering the exile of the 10 Northern tribes and prophesizing that the messianic age will come about through a mysterious death when the inhabitants of Jerusalem will mourn for the one they have pierced during a future siege of the city: They will mourn for the one whom they have pierced as though for an only child, and weep for him as people weep for a first-born child. When that day comes, the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad Rimmon in the Plain of Megiddo (Zech 12:11). John 19:37 interprets this passage as a prophecy of Jesus' Passion.

The town of Megiddo was abandoned in the Persian period circa 350 BC and was never rebuilt. For the generation of St. John the Apostle, Mt. Carmel was a symbol of victory while Megiddo was a symbol of defeat and desolation for those who set themselves against the Word of God, and it would become the site of the rendezvous of the forces that would inflict the greatest defeat the Jews would ever suffer as a people. In 69AD while the Roman Emperor Flavius Titus set up his headquarters at Caesarea, he assembled his Roman legions and auxiliary forces on the plain of Megiddo. It was from this site that Titus would launch the assault on Judea that would result in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in the summer of 70AD.

Revelation 16:17-21:

Suddenly the scene changes and an announcement is made.

John hears a great voice from the heavenly Sanctuary. The voice says The End Has Come! In Greek this is a single word: ghegonen. This single word can mean it is finished , it is fulfilled (the translation I prefer), it is completed or even the end has come. It is finished or fulfilled would be the words of the host at the ceremonial close of the Passover Feast and is similar to Jesus' last (or next to the last) words from the cross as recorded in the Gospel of St. John (John 19:30) = Tetelestai.

This phrase is the central theme of the Book of Revelation as it was announced by Christ's warnings to the 7 churches in Rev. 2-3. See Rev. 2:5, 16; 25, 3:3 11. The Old Covenant is fulfilled as Jesus promised in Matthew 5:17 Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. It is also the fulfillment of Hebrews 9:8 that the New Covenant could not be fully implemented until the Old Covenant passed away ...as long as the old tent stands the way into the Holy Place is not opened up.

In the letters to the 7 churches there were 5 warnings of the coming judgment. The coming of the vengeful Roman legions will be, in reality, Christ's coming in wrath against His enemies. This is the Wrath of the Lamb!

Revelation 16:17-21:

Question: What is the connection in this passage to the 7^th Trumpet judgment in Revelation 11:15-19 and to one of the judgment plagues that afflicted the Egyptians? What about the connection to the revelation of God on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19:16-25?
Answer: The Trumpet judgment had voices, storm, earthquake and hail (Rev 11:15, 19) like this judgment (16:17), and it is reminiscent of the hail of the 7^th Egyptian plague. These manifestations of nature are also similar to the Theophany of God at Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19:16-19 where there were peals of thunder, flashes of lightening, trumpet blasts (voices), and the mountain shaking in an earthquake.

Revelation 17:1-7 Babylon the Great Harlot; the False Bride

Revelation 17: 1-2

Question: In what verses was "the city" symbolized as Babylon in previous chapters and what was the judgment prophesized for "the city"? Hint chapters 14 and 16.

Answer: John has already been told that "the city" is symbolized as Babylon by the second of the three sets of angels of the Temple in Revelation 14:8 "a second angel followed him (the first angel), calling, 'Babylon has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen, Babylon which gave the whole world the wine of retribution to drink.'" And again he was told in Rev. 16:18c-19 "The Great City was split into three parts and the cities of the world collapsed; Babylon the Great was not forgotten: God made her drink the full winecup of his retribution." The original city of Babylon no longer existed in the 1^st century. It had been the site of the building of the infamous tower of Babel in the land of Shinar (modern Iraq) and had become the capital city of the Babylonian Empire, the world power that had destroyed Judah and Jerusalem in 586(7) BC. But John's city is not the original Babylon, instead ancient Babylon is a symbolic image of this city. The clue lies in the description that this city sits or "is enthroned" beside "abundant waters." This phrase can also be translated "many waters." It is polus hydra in the Greek. This is an image of the prophet Jeremiah's description of Babylon in his great oracle judgment against the city in Jeremiah chapters 50-51. "Enthroned beside abundant waters, rich in treasures, you now meet your end, the finish of your pillaging." (Jeremiah 51:13). John's first century readers would have immediately made the connection to this judgment passage on Babylon. The literal reference to "abundant waters" or "many waters" in Jeremiah 51:13 is the Euphrates River, which ran through the middle of the great city and to the canals which surrounded the city. But ultimately the term "many waters" is used Biblically to refer to the abundant blessings that God bestows on His people. Yahweh even gave His blessing to Babylon but she prostituted those blessings for her own glory and rejected Yahweh. Later in Rev. 17:15 we will told of an important aspect of the symbolic meaning of the term "many waters" but in this verse the point is the identification of the Harlot city with the ancient city Babylon who accepted God's blessings but turned from Him.

Question: So what is the connection between 'blessings' and Babylon and Jerusalem?

Answer: No other city in the world received more of God's blessings than the city of Jerusalem, but like Babylon she turned from Yahweh, prostituted herself and rejected God the Messiah and in doing this Israel (Judah) the Old Covenant Church and her priests have led "those who dwell on the Land" astray and into adultery. They became "drunk with the wine of her adultery"; they become seduced into such a spiritual stupor that they did not even recognize their own Messiah and therefore have forfeited God's many blessings.

Let's look at the Biblical use of the words "many waters" or "abundant waters" and its significance in Scripture. Biblically this expression is set within God's Covenant relationships reflected in His "abundant" blessings and in His liturgical interaction with His people. In all the passages the Greek is the same "polus hydra" (Greek translation of Old Testament and Greek New Testament). Examples:

1. Jeremiah 51:13: Babylon's abundance granted by God: "Enthroned beside

abundant waters, rich in treasures, you now meet your end, the finish of your pillaging."

2. Ezekiel 1:24: the voice from the Glory-Cloud sounds like many or abundant

waters and is produced by the innumerable angels in the heavenly council: "I also heard the noise of their wings; when they moved, it was like the noise of flood-waters [polus hydra], like the voice of Shaddai, like the noise of a storm, like the noise of an armed camp.."

3. Revelation 1:15: God's voice from heaven "as the sound of many waters" as His voice is similarly described in Ezek. 43:2 "like the sound of the ocean" (literally "many waters" polus hydra) and Rev. 14:2 "like the sound of the ocean" (literally many waters polus hydra)

4. Revelation 17:1 "the great prostitute who is enthroned beside abundant waters" (polus hydra); the "city" to whom God has given many blessings.

5. Rev. 19:5-6 "Then a voice came from the throne; it said, 'Praise our God, you servants of his and those who fear him, small and great alike.' And I heard what seemed to be the voices of a huge crowd, like the sound of the ocean (many waters/ polus hydra) or the great roar of thunder, answering, 'alleluia! The reign of the Lord our God Almighty has begun.." = Liturgical praise.

Given the Biblical background and context of the phrase "many waters" or "abundant waters" (polus hydra) it would be no surprise to John's readers that the Bride of Yahweh would be seen seated on "many waters"; the surprise is that she is a whore! This Bride has received God's blessings and has prostituted them. (I refer you again to Ezekiel chapter 16 in which Yahweh condemns Israel in a long allegory as a faithless wife, a "whore" of alien gods, and Romans 2:17-24 (verse 23-24 "If, while you are boasting of the Law, you disobey it, then you are bringing God into contempt. As scripture says: It is your fault that the name of God is held in contempt among the nations." )

I should mention that a number of commentators identify the "harlot city" as Rome, the geographic center of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. John's 1^st century readers certainly would not have accepted this interpretation. Martin Luther championed this interpretation when he was excommunicated from the Church in the 16^th century. Luther saw the Church of Rome as the Harlot Bride and the Pope as the Antichrist. Interestingly enough, Pope Leo X in turn saw Luther as the Antichrist! But the Church, which is founded by Christ through Peter, His Vicar, stands on the promise that Jesus made in Matthew 16:16 that "the gates of Hades will not prevail against her" because she is the True and Holy Bride of Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ is full of sinners yet she is the sinless Bride.

Question: But is there a warning for us in the 21^st century Church? Did the Old Covenant Church believe that judgment could lead to destruction of their Temple and the transformation of their Covenant?

Answer: Even though the True Bride, New Covenant Church has the promise of Christ's protection we should never become so overly comfortable that we fall into complacency and therefore fall into the danger of unfaithfulness through unorthodox belief. We have so many blessings but how many Catholics truly understand their faith? How many Catholics carry their Bibles to Mass. How many parishes offer adult studies in the doctrine of the Church or Biblical study programs? It is only through ignorance that we lose Catholics to other denominations. After all, if one truly believed in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist how could one leave Him? And yet, every year thousands of Catholics leave Mother Church.

Biblically the imagery of the "False Bride" is a familiar image. In Biblical symbolism the motif of the Bride falling into adultery and harlotry identifies God's Covenant people falling into apostasy. To go after false gods and to abandon the sacred Covenant is equaled with adultery and harlotry. This metaphor of harlotry is exclusively used in the Old Testament for a city or a nation that has abandoned God's holy Covenant and rejected God. This imagery is always used for faithless Israel, "Bride of Yahweh" with only 2 exceptions:

1. The Phoenician city of Tyre and

2. the Assyrian capital city Nineveh.

These are the 2 cities, outside of Israel, that had both been in covenant with God. See 1Kings 5:1-12; 9:13; Is. 23:17; and Amos 1:9.

The city of Tyre was converted to the worship of Yahweh during King David's reign in the early 11 century BC and her king contracted a covenant with Solomon (David's son) and assisted in the building of God's Holy Temple on Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem. The passage in Revelation 17:2"with whom all the kings of the earth have prostituted themselves.." is taken from Isaiah's prophecy against Tyre where it primarily refers to her international commerce through which her influence and beliefs spread (Isaiah 23:15-17). The other city is Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. The city of Nineveh was converted through the work of God's prophet Jonah and her king declared Yahweh the true God. See Jonah 3:5-10. Later the apostasy of these 2 cities would be considered unfaithfulness to Yahweh expressed as harlotry. Pagan Rome of the 1^st century never entered into such a covenant relationship.

The other important point in the identification of the "False Bride" city is that she will be identified in contrast to another city.

Question: What is the second city that is described in contrast to the Great City identified as the Harlot, the False Bride? Hint: see Rev. 21:1-2.

Answer: the "True Bride", the Church of the New Covenant founded by Christ, the "New" Jerusalem. The identification of the "False Bride" as opposed to the "True Bride" only makes sense if the "New" Jerusalem is in contrast to the "Old" Jerusalem that has rejected Christ as her bridegroom and has become a False, Harlot Bride! She has become like the builders of the tower of Babel that was built on the site of the city of Babylon. Babel literally meant, "gate of God," but in rejecting Yahweh He judged them, cast down their tower and scattered the nations and confused their tongues.

Question: What was the reversal of the "confusion of tongues" at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9? Hint: see Acts chapter 2.

Answer: The second great Pentecost was the reversal of the Tower of Babel. God the Holy Spirit came in "tongues of fire" and all the people present understood one language and the one message of salvation which would once again unite all nations in a Holy Covenant that would open the gates of Heaven through Christ the Savior, the Bridegroom of the New Covenant, universal Church and once again God's blessing would flow as "many waters;" Rev. 22:1 "Then the angel showed me the river of life, rising from the throne of God and of the Lamb and flowing crystal-clear."

Revelation 17: 3-4 "He took me in spirit to a desert, and there I saw a woman riding a scarlet beast which had seven heads and ten horns and had blasphemous titles written all over it. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet and glittered with gold and jewels and pearls, and she was holding a gold winecup filled with the disgusting filth of her prostitution..."

This woman is in a "spiritual desert," an abode of demons (Matt 12:34 Jesus said: "When an unclean spirit goes out of someone it wanders through waterless country looking for a place to rest, and cannot find one.") In chapter 12 we saw the Woman, the True Bride, being forced to flee from the Dragon into the desert for a time where God protected her. But to the False Bride, the wilderness is her element where she chooses to remain instead of accepting the Messiah and following Him to her inheritance: the Promised Land. Therefore, the "wilderness" becomes her destiny and her heritage (see Num ch 13-14; Zech 5:5-11).

Question: If we can agree that Judea/Jerusalem is "the False Bride" what does the beast on which she rides symbolize and what is the connection in past Revelation passages? Hint: carefully read Rev. 12:3 and 13:1 looking for differences and similarities. The New American translation has the correct order of horns and heads but the New Jerusalem translation is in error:

New American translation: Revelation 12:3 "Then another sign appeared in the sky: it was a huge dragon, flaming red, with seven heads and ten horns; on his heads were seven diadems."
New American translation: Rev. 13:1 "Then I saw a wild beast come out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads; on its horns were ten diadems and on its head blasphemous names."

In the description of the Beast from the Sea the horns and heads should be in reverse order: Dragon = 7 heads and 10 horns; Beast = 10 heads and 7 horns. This reverse order is important! The Dragon and the beast are not the same but one (the beast) is in the image of the other (the Dragon).

Answer: The Beast on which the Woman rides is the Red Dragon of Rev. 12:3 because this beast also has 7 heads and 10 horns in the same order as the Red Dragon/Satan. Butthen there is also a connection to Rome, the Sea Beast, to whom Judah is tired politically and economically because it is full of "blasphemous names/titles." Therefore the imagery points to both Satan and Rome. It is a reference to Jerusalem's apostate intimacy with both Satan (in rejecting Christ she chose Satan) and the Roman Empire which was the devil's reigning political incarnation. The two, Satan and Rome, are represented as one image.

This passage and its Satan/Rome imagery is another indication that the "Great Harlot City" can't be Rome because she is clearly distinct from it. She is seated or enthroned on the Beast: supported and maintained by the Breast who is Rome, the Empire that supported, maintained and controlled (empowered) Jerusalem.

Question: What other evidence do we have that this Red Beast is Rome? Hint: see Rev. 17:9.

Answer: The 7 heads of the Beast represent 7 hills. Jerusalem does not have 7 hills. The city is built on 3 mountain ridges but Rome is famous for her 7 hills.

Question: Do you see any contrast between the Throne of God (Rev. 4:6-8) and the throne of the Harlot?

Answer: The Throne of God is supported by the Living Creatures who are "full of eyes" and who are full of singing God's praises in Rev. 4:6-8 and the Harlot Queen whose throne is supported by a Beast who is full of blasphemous names.

Some commentators point out that the Red Dragon of Revelation chapter 12 is connected by the same color to the Red Beast of Revelation chapter 17 but the Greek does not indicate the same color. Instead the color of the Beast in chapter 17 (Gr. kokkinon) matches the woman's own dress in verse 4 whereas the the Red Dragon in Revelation 12:3 is the color of fire (Gr. purros). Kokkinon is crimson blended with dark blue (see Isaiah 1:18). It was a color used to attract attention ( for example, the scarlet thread attached to the first twin of Tamar in Genesis 38:28 and to the home of Rahab in Joshua 2:18).

Question: What is significant about the way the Harlot is clothed?

Answer: Some commentators suggest the color is an indication of ungodly conduct (for example Isaiah 1:18 "sin like scarlet" and Psalms 51:5) and that the color stands in sharp contrast to the white garments of the elect. But other commentators suggest that she is not dressed as a prostitute. Please see Gen. 2:11-12; Ex. 3:22; Proverbs 31:21-22; Isa 54:11-12; 60:5-11; Ezek 16:11-14; Ezek 28:9-29; Rev. 4:3-4; Rev. 21:18-21. In these passages the description of her clothing is in keeping with the Biblical descriptions of the glorious "City of God" in Isaiah and Revelation. There is also a connection to the pattern of the jewels that covered the high priest's garments in Exodus chapter 28 and the Throne of God in Rev. 4:3-4. Exodus, Ezekiel and Proverbs all describe the dress of a Bride with such finery. In other words, it is possible that to first century readers that this woman is dressed as a "righteous woman", as a Bride. She is adorned in the beautiful garments of the Church. If this interpretation is correct, the Harlot Bride is still carrying the outward adornments of the chaste Old Covenant Bride of Yahweh!

Revelation 17:4 "she was holding a gold winecup.."

Question: What is the wine of her fornication and what contrast or parody is there to the winecup of Holy Eucharist? See Revelation 17:6

Answer: The wine of her fornication is the blood of the Saints and the blood of the witnesses (martyrs) of Jesus it is in contrast to the holy and pure golden cup of Christ's blood that He offers those of the Covenant who are in a state of grace.

Question: But how is the blood of the saints and martyrs of Christ connected with Jerusalem or as some suggest, with Rome?

Answer: many commentators who prefer Rome as the "Great Harlot" enumerate Rome's acts of violence against the Saints of the Church but while it is true that Rome became a great persecutor of the Church, Jerusalem was the preeminent persecutor of God's holy people as Jesus testified, from the blood of Abel onwards (Matthew 23:33-36). This passage also reminds me of Leviticus chapter 11 and chapters 20:22-26 with images of unclean food and unclean marriage. There is also probably a connection to Jeremiah 51:7 where the original Babylon is described as " a golden cup in the hand of Yahewh, intoxicating all the earth." Old Covenant Jerusalem still has the golden chalice of the Covenant, but the communion she offers leads mankind to death and destruction. Her cup is full of "disgusting filth" or as other translations read "full of abominations," a word used Biblically to symbolize the worship of false gods.

Revelation 17: 5-7 "..on her forehead was written a name, a cryptic name: "Babylon the Great, the mother of all prostitutes and all the filthy practices on the earth.' I saw that she was drunk, drunk with the blood of the saints, and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus; and when I saw her I was completely mystified. The angel said to me, 'Do you not understand? I will tell you the meaning of this woman, and of the beast she is riding, with the seven heads and ten horns.'"

Question: What are two characteristics of the woman? Hint: see verse 4 and verse and 5. Answer: she is holding a gold winecup (v.4) and she has a mysterious name on her forehead. By this time you should be familiar with writing on the forehead.

Question: Where have we read about this familiar image of a name in Revelation and what did it signify? See Revelation 3:12; 7:3; 14:1 and 13:16-17.

Answer: We have seen it on the foreheads of Saints, and on the followers of the Beast.

Question: Can you think of any Old Testament connection? Hint: See Exodus 28:36-39.

Answer: The name on her forehead could be a parody of the High Priest's golden band worn on his forehead and labeled "consecrated to Yahweh."

Question: But what is different about this name that the woman has written on her forehead?

Answer: it is a mystery, a cryptic name.

Question: What is significant about the title of her name and what is the connection to the winecup?

Answer: Her name is symbolic as the namesake of the ancient city that was the epitome of rebellion against God in Gen. 11:1-9 = the Tower of Babel, and Jeremiah chapters 50 & 51 = Babylon who had rejected God and his many blessings. Now she had become identified with bestiality and confusion. The woman is now the "Mother of Harlots," an expression reminiscent of the Harlot Queen of Israel, Jezebel and her "children" which Jesus spoke of in Rev. 2:20-23 and the prophet Ezekiel's description of Jerusalem as " a mother of harlots: in Ezekiel 16:44-48.

The connection to the winecup is subtler. If the name on the forehead of the harlot is a parody of the sacred name of God on the high priest's miter, perhaps the winecup is a parody of the blood of the sacrifice poured out by the high priest in his priestly function. On the Day of Atonement the high priest, wearing the vestments especially reserved for that Sacred Feast, wearing the sacred name of Yahweh, and holding the golden cup of sacrifice makes offerings to Yahweh for the sins of the people. Now the priest-harlot bears the same of Babylon, mother of harlots and pours of the blood of the saints and this is the sin of Israel!

Revelation 17: 8-18: The Mystery Explained

Revelation 17: 8 "'The beast you have seen was once alive and is alive no longer; it is yet to come up from the Abyss, but only to go to its destruction. And the people of the world (those who dwell on the land), whose names have not been written since the beginning of the world in the book of life, will be astonished when they see how the beast was once alive and is alive no longer, and it still to come.'" Note: "And the people of the world" should read " and those who dwell on the land". This is the 12^th use of this phrase in Revelation, and the reference is to apostate Israel.

The angel begins to explain the mystery by speaking about the composite Beast (remember this Beast is both Rome and Satan as we saw in verse 3. The Beast appears in human history described in words that are a parody of the words the angel used for God in Revelation 16:5 "He who is, He who was, the Holy One.".

Question: Do you remember how Romans expressed the connection between the Empire and the Emperor?

Answer: "Rome is Caesar and Caesar is Rome!"

Question: the words "he was alive and is alive no longer" are a parody of what passages referring to God in Revelation?

Answer: in Revelation 16:5 and 11:17 "He who is, He who was."

Unraveling this passage is very tricky. The key is in the history of Rome as an Empire and which began with Julius Caesar who was assassinated by men who wanted to keep Rome from becoming an empire instead of remaining a republic. But the attempt to abort the empire was in vain because Julius Caesar was succeeded by his great-nephew, Octavian, who became the first ruling emperor of Rome in 29AD. (This event may even be a reference to Rev. 13:12; with Julius Caesar's death the empire seemed dead but was revived in his great-nephew, Octavian). In turn, Octavian (Augustus Caesar) was succeeded by family members until the death of Nero, the last of his line, in 68AD. Nero was surely under the influence of the Beast from the Abyss and his identification will become apparent as we continue. Remember we have already seen Nero and Rome identified in the number of the Beast in chapter 13.

LIST OF ROMAN EMPERORS

The Roman Historian Tacitus in his history, The Annals, begins his list of Roman emperors with Augustus Caesar (Octavian), but the Roman Historian Suetonius begins his list of Roman Emperors in Lives of the Twelve Caesars with Julius Caesar as the first of the Roman Emperors as does Dio Cassius in his Roman History and Josephus in his Antiquities of the Jews. There were, therefore, two official lists in use in the first century AD. In the two official lists, Otho is the eighth name in one list and the seventh name in the other list as it says in Revelation 17:9.

Suetonius' List of twelve emperors	Tacitus' List of eleven emperors
1. Julius Caesar died 44BC	Tacitus' List of eleven emperors
2. Augustus Caesar died 14AD	1. Augustus Caesar
3. Tiberius died 37AD	2. Tiberius
4. Caligula died 41AD	3. Caligula
5. Claudius died 54AD	4. Claudius
6. Nero died 68AD	5. Nero
7. Galba died 69AD	6. Galba
8. Otho died 69AD	7. Otho
9. Vitellius died 69AD	8. Vitellius
10. Vespasian died 79AD	9. Vespasian
11. Titus died 81AD	10. Titus
12. Domitian died 96AD	11. Domitian

LIST OF 10 IMPERIAL PROVINCES

Italy

Achaia

Asia

Syria/Judea

Egypt

Africa

Spain

Gaul

Britain

Germany

LIST OF THE HERODIAN RULERS

1. Herod the Great died (4BC ?) 1BC	5. Herod of Chalcis died 48AD
2. Archelaus deposed 6AD	6. Agrippa I died 44AD
3. Herod Antipas exiled 37AD	7. Agrippa II died 100AD
4. Philip Herod died 34/37AD

Revelation 17: 9-11 " 'This calls for shrewdness. The seven heads are the seven hills, on which the woman is sitting. The seven heads are also seven emperors. Five of them have already gone, one is here now, and one is yet to come; once here, he must stay for a short while. The beast, who was alive and is alive no longer, is at the same time the eighth and one of the seven, and he is going to his destruction.'"

This verse clearly identifies the Beast on whom the woman is sitting as Rome the city of the 7 hills; remember Jerusalem is built on 3 ridges. Some have tired to make the argument that this 7 is symbolic for the perfection of Jerusalem but it is unlikely since Jerusalem was far from spiritual perfection at this time, and it will become more clear as we continue that Rome is intended in this passage.

"The seven heads are 7 emperors." Judea had 3 Herodian kings but the others could only loosely be referred to as "kings" since they did not "rule" but governed on behalf of Rome in positions that more typified a governor of a district (ie. The tetrarch Herod Antipas "ruled" Galilee and Perea). An emperor rules over more than one "kingdom." According to the Roman historian Suetonius' list of Roman Emperors, there were 7 emperors from Julius Caesar (d.AD44) to Galba (d. AD69).

"Five of them have already gone, one is here now, and one is yet to come; once here he must stay for a short while." This passage gives us more information. The difficulty is, there were two official lists of Roman Emperors. The Roman historian Suetonius began his list with Julius Caesar who first conceived of the Roman Empire, while the Roman historian Tacitus began his list with the actual first emperor, Augustus Caesar (Octavian).

Question: What position of the lists does Nero hold?

Answer: On Suetonius' list Nero, the last of Julius Caesar's line, is #6 and on Tacitus's list he is #5. But, we do have more information in these Revelation chapter 17 passages to help us identify which emperor was currently in power? With Nero's suicide came what Roman historians called "the year of the 4 Emperors." Following Nero's death in June of 68AD Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, who all died violently, briefly occupied the throne. The line "the beast who was alive and is alive no longer, is at the same time the 8^th and one of the 7.." tells us that both lists of Emperors are in use here.

Question: Looking at the two lists of the emperors, which emperor is both the 8^th on one list and the 7^th on the other? This is assuming that the number 7 is not a symbolic number; which some commentators believe. I suspect in this case if the number 5 is not symbolic then neither are #s 7 & 8 symbolic.

Answer: Otho is # 7 and #8. Marcus Otho lasted only 95 days on Rome's Imperial throne before being replaced, violently, by Aulus Vitellius who was slain by Vespasian's soldiers in December of AD69. It is possible that Vitellius was "the one who would stay for a short time" to be followed by Vespasian who is "the one to come" being declared the Roman Emperor in December AD69. It would be Vespasian's Roman legions under the command of his very able son, Titus, who would destroy Jerusalem and the Temple. It would be Vespasian who would also restore an Empire that had seemed destined for destruction. The Beast was still alive!

My best guess is that John received his vision sometime between the late summer or fall of AD69. That would make it a little less than a year until the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in July AD70.

Revelation 17: 12-14 " 'The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet been given their royal power but will have royal authority only for a single hour and in association with the beast. They are all of one mind in putting their strength and their powers at the beast's disposal, and they will go to war against the Lamb; but because the Lamb is Lord of lords and King of kings, he will defeat them, he and his followers, the called, the chosen, the trustworthy.'"

The number 10 in the Bible, as we have noted, is related to the concept of perfection of order or of numerical fullness. There may also be a reference to Daniel 7:24.

Question: How are these "kings" associated with the Beast?

Answer: These "kings" in v. 12 are associated with the Beast because they adorn his heads as "crowns," but they are subjected to the Beast because they have authority not through their own power but only from the Beast. Please refer to my chart listing the Roman Provinces where you will see that Rome ruled 10 imperial provinces. There may also have been 10 governors in the Provinces of Judea-Syria-Perea, etc. who supported the Roman assault on Judea or even 10 legates of the Roman legions. Whether this number is literal or symbolic really doesn't matter. Rome's soldiers came from all over the empire and every provincial ruler was responsible for providing the man-power for Rome's legions and for supporting Rome's aims and ambitions.

All the Roman provinces made war on the Lamb and His followers. We have the accounts of Christians being persecuted with Rome's approval in all parts of the Roman Empire from 64AD to 312AD; until the Church conquered the Roman Empire! This is a relatively short time in comparison with the history of mankind.

Question: How are the followers of Christ characterized?

Answer: 1) the called; 2) the chosen; 3) the trustworthy. There may be a parallel here to the parody of the Beast's name with the name of Yahweh (see Rev. 16:6 and 17:8). The Beast and his followers are predestined to damnation (Rev. 17:8) and Christ's elect who are predestined for eternal life (17:14).

Revelation 17:15-17 "The angel continued, 'The waters you saw, beside which the prostitute was sitting, are all the peoples, the populations, the nations and the languages. But the ten horns and the beast will turn against the prostitute, and tear off her clothes and leave her stark naked; then they will eat her flesh and burn the remains in the fire. In fact, God has influenced their minds to do what he intends, to agree together to put their royal powers at the beast's disposal until the time when God's words shall be fulfilled.'"

Now John receives the explanation of the waters in 17:1.

Question: What 4 fold designation is given for the waters and what does this designation signify? See verse 15

Answer: 1.peoples, 2. populations, 3. nations, and 4. languages = the entire world.

The truth is Jerusalem and the Jews had great influence in all parts of the Roman Empire before the Rebellion of 66AD. Their synagogues were in every city and because the Jews were so universally educated they held positions of power and influence.

Question: Where in the New Testament is the wide influence of the Jews in the Roman world mentioned? Hint: See the book of Acts of Apostles.

Answer: The discussion of the "Day of Pentecost" in Acts 2:5 tell us that "there were Jews staying in Jerusalem, devout men, from every nation under heaven."

Question: In the first image the Harlot was enthrone and in cooperation with the Beast but how does that relationship change and is there an historical connection?

Answer: The Beast attacks the Harlot. In AD66 Judah revolted against Rome and the result was the destruction of Judah/Judea by the armies of the Roman Beast.

Question: How was this action of the Beast/Rome part of God's plan and how in the past did God use another world power in the same way?

Answer: God used the Roman Empire, as He had used the Assyrian Empire in 722BC to bring judgment on the Northern Kingdom of Israel and He used the Babylonian Empire, to bring judgment on Judah/Judea and Jerusalem in 586(7)BC.

It is important to realize that the Beast/Satan destroyed Jerusalem as part of his war against Christ. God allowed the angel of the Abyss to come out and attack the Church but Satan was mistaken in thinking that he could destroy the Whore and the Bride at the same time.

Revelation 17: 17 is rather shocking, that God "put this in their minds." God is not responsible for sin: Psalms 145:17 "Upright in all he does, Yahweh acts only in faithful love. He is close to all who call upon him, all who call on him from the heart." Nothing happens in spite of Him or in opposition to His purpose in His plan for man. The whole purpose for the pagan kings' wrath, for their joining in the conspiracy against both the True Bride and the False Bride, and in surrendering their kingdoms to the Beast is that God has put it into their minds to fulfill His purpose "until the time when God's words shall be fulfilled." God's announcements to his prophets in the Old Testament and to Christ in His judgment on Jerusalem (Matt. 24, etc) and the curses of the Covenant were executed on Israel through the Beast and the 10 horns. They became the instruments of God's wrath.

Revelation 17:18 " 'The woman you saw is the great city which has authority over all the rulers on earth.'"

Question: In what 2 statements is the identity of this city made clear to John?

Answer: 1) she is "the great city" and she 2)"has authority over all the rulers on earth.

The woman is now identified for John as "the great city" which we have seen used as a term for Jerusalem "the city where the Lord was crucified" (Rev. 11:8 & 16:9).

This verse, probably more than any other, has caused confusion in the identity of this city between Rome and Jerusalem. Proponents for Rome point out that only Rome had this kind of political authority over the know world.

Question: But what kind of authority over all the rulers on earth is really important to God? What was the promise made to Abraham in this regard and which city truly had that kind of power and why? Hint: see Genesis 12:3; 22:18; Exodus 19:5; Deut. 7:6 and 10:14-15.

Answer: The promise made to Abraham in Genesis 22:18 was that "all nations on earth will bless themselves by your descendants.." A similar promise was made to David in 2 Samuel chapter 7 that Yahweh would make David a "house" = dynasty that would last forever and that David's son should built Yahweh's Temple in Jerusalem. And what is Yahweh's position in the Jerusalem Temple. Is He only the God of Israel? Read Psalms 99. Some important passages are verses 1-2: "Yahweh is king, the peoples tremble; he is enthroned on the winged creatures, the earth shivers; Yahweh is great in Zion. He is supreme over all nations;" verse 9 "Exalt Yahweh our God, bow down at his holy mountain; holy is Yahweh our God!" With God's presence in Jerusalem, His Holy Mountain, Jerusalem had power over all the nations of the earth.

Rome's power was only political. Israel and Jerusalem, God's Holy City, had spiritual power and in this regard she did "have authority over all the rulers on earth." She did possess a Kingdom that was above all the other kingdoms. Next week the angel announces the fall of Babylon! Rev. 18:24 "In her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and all the blood that was ever shed on earth."

A word about the word "Antichrist"

The word "antichrist" is not used even once in the Book of Revelation! But the only sacred writer who uses that word is St. John! He uses this word in 2 of his Catholic

letters (Epistles I & II). They are:

1. I John 2:18-23: "Children, this is the final hour; you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and now many antichrists have already come; from this we know that it is the final hour. They have gone from among us, but they never really belonged to us; if they had belonged to us, they would have stayed with us. But this was to prove that not one of them belonged to us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and have all received knowledge. I have written to you not because you are ignorant of the truth, but because you are well aware of it, and because no lie can come from the truth. Who is the liar, if not one who claims that Jesus is not the Christ? This is the Antichrist, who denies both the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son cannot have the Father either; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father too."

2. I John 4:1-3: "My dear friends, not every spirit is to be trusted,

but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets are at large in the world. This is the proof of the spirit of God: any spirit which acknowledges Jesus Christ, come in human nature, is from God, and no spirit which fails to acknowledge Jesus is from God; it is the spirit of antichrist, whose coming you have heard of; he is already at large in the world."

3. II John 1:7-10: "There are many deceivers at large in the world, refusing to acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in human nature. They are the Deceiver; they are the Antichrist. Watch yourselves, or all our work will be lost and you will forfeit your full reward. If anybody does not remain in the reaching of Christ but goes beyond it, he does not have God with him: only those who remain in what he taught can have the Father and the Son with them. If anyone comes to you bringing a different doctrine, you must not receive him into your house or even give him a greeting."

St. Paul seems to be making a similar reference to a man who is in opposition to God when he uses the term "lawless one" in his first letter to the church at Thessalonica written in the winter of AD 50-51, 20 years before the destruction of the Temple and the Old Covenant in Jerusalem. 1. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12: "About the coming of our Lord, brothers, and our being gathered to him: please do not be too easily thrown into confusion or alarmed by any manifestation of the Spirit or any statement or any letter claiming to come from us, suggesting that the Day of the Lord has already arrived. Never let anyone deceive you in any way. It cannot happen until the Great Revolt has taken place and there has appeared the wicked One, the lost One, the Enemy, who raises himself above every so called God or object of worship to enthrone himself in God's sanctuary and flaunts the claim that he is God. Surely you remember my telling you about this when I was with you? And you know, too, what is still holding him back from appearing before his appointed time. The mystery of wickedness is already at work, but let him who is restraining it once be removed, and the wicked One will appear openly. The Lord will destroy him with the breath of his mouth and will annihilate him with his glorious appearance at his coming. But the coming of the wicked One will be marked by Satan being at work in all kinds of counterfeit miracles and signs and wonders, and every wicked deception aimed at those who are on the way to destruction because they would not accept the love of the truth and so be saved. And therefore God sends on them a power that deludes people so that they believe what is false, and so that those who do not believe the truth take their pleasure in wickedness may all be condemned."

The "Great Revolt" that Paul prophesized took place in 66AD when Judah-Judea revolted against the Roman Empire. The Lawless One that Paul is identifying, who was not in authority yet in 50AD must be Nero.

The Emperor Claudius married Nero's mother, Colonia Agrippina, in AD49, just the year before Paul wrote his letter. Agrippina persuaded Claudius to choose Nero, her son by her first marriage, over Britannicus, his son by a former marriage, as his heir and then, in AD 54, she poisoned Claudius so that her son could become Emperor. Nero ruled from AD54-68 when he was forced to commit suicide. During his lifetime he insisted that he be worshipped as a god and had built a statue of himself to be worshipped in the Temple in Jerusalem where daily sacrifices were already being offered to him. The Jews of Judea (Judah) and Jerusalem, the seat of authority of the Old Covenant Church, had rejected Jesus as the Messiah. Instead in 66AD three different Jewish leaders emerged, each of whom claimed to be the Messiah. They led Judea into a disastrous revolt against Rome in which the entire country was destroyed, and Jerusalem and the Temple were burned to the ground...Jesus had indeed come in judgment. The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem fulfilled what Paul or another sacred writer (authorship is disputed....possibly Paul's fellow disciple Barnabas) wrote in Hebrews 9:8 "By this the Holy Spirit means us to see that as long as the old tent stands, the way into the holy place is not opened up; it is a symbol for this present time." The "old tent" is the Temple in Jerusalem, the center of Old Covenant worship. As long as Old Covenant worship and sacrifice continues the way for the New Covenant to be fully established is not opened. The Old Temple must be destroyed to make way for the New Covenant to be fully established.

St. Augustine believed that before the Second Advent of Christ the spirit of Antichrist would be manifest in a single human being and that tribulation for the Church would increase at that time. We do not know when Christ is coming to collect His Bride; we only know that He will come. It is our duty to be obedient to the Covenant, to be faithful and to be ready! Read Matthew 24:37-44 to see what Jesus had to say about His Second Advent.

Agape Bible Study Hebrews 5 - 8

Hebrews 5:1-10, Jesus the Compassionate High Priest:

Hebrews 5:1: Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. God in His mercy intended in the Old Covenant as well as in the New that the covenant mediator who serves in the role of High Priest should possess human nature in order to lead the people to salvation with an understanding of and sympathy for the struggles the people must wage against the temptation to sin. In the Old Covenant Church it was the High Priest's role to act as the covenant representative of the "people of God."

Part of the duties of a priest was the offering of sacrifices on behalf of the people and for himself. Prior to the Sinai experience, every father of a family and his sons served in a priestly role offing sacrifices to Yahweh. For example the sacrifices offered by Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:3-5; Noah offered sacrifices in Genesis 8:20; Abraham in Genesis 15; 22:13; Jacob/Israel in Genesis 31:54 and 46:1ordained priesthood through one father, Aaron. It was to be a priesthood which was to be continued through his sons and their descendants [Exodus 28: 1-2] and, after the sin of the Golden Calf, the Aaronic priests were to be assisted in their priestly duties by one tribe, Aaron's tribe of Levi who would serve as ministers within the priesthood of Aaron, supplanting the "firstborn" redeemed in Egypt who were intended to serve God in the ministerial priesthood but who had fallen from grace and had become "dispossessed" firstborn sons in the sin of the Golden Calf [Exodus 32:25-29; Numbers 3:11-13]. But only Aaron's clan, the Levite clan of Kohath, would serve as high priests and from among their families, one member would be selected Kohen Gadol [Hebrew for high or great priest] for life.

In the Old Covenant it was the function of the ministerial priesthood to officiate at God's sacrificial altar in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem. The principle altar was the great Bronze Sacrificial Altar that stood in the courtyard of the Tabernacle complex where animals were sacrificed and offered to God in the fire of the altar. The other altars were the Golden Altar of Incense and, the Mercy Seat which covered the Ark of the Covenant. Once a year at the feast of Yom Kippur, in English, the Day of Atonement, the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant functioned as an altar, the writer of Hebrews is probably thinking of this particular feast when the High Priest offered sacrifice for the people as well as for himself. Later in Hebrews 9:7 and 10:3-4 he refers directly to the sacrifices of the Day of Atonement.

SHEM VS MELCHIZEDEK

According to the Jewish Oral Tradition and to Catholic theologians like St. Ephraim, St. Jerome, Nicholas of Lira, and other Catholic theologians, Shem the righteous firstborn son of Noah, is the King of Righteousness [Melek-zedek in Hebrew] to whom Abraham pays a tithe in Genesis 14:18-20. It was through Shem that the covenant made with Noah and the line of the "promised seed" of Genesis 3:15 continues. Shem is the first man in Sacred Scripture who is identified as Yahweh's man [see quotation above from Genesis 9:26]. Abraham is Shem's descendant according to the Biblical genealogy of Genesis 11:10-26.

Shem's age	Descendants
100 years	Birth of Arpachshad
135 years	Birth of Shelah
165 years	Birth of Eber
199 years	Birth of Peleg
229 years	Birth of Reu
261 years	Birth of Serug
291 years	Birth of Nahor
320 years	Birth of Terah
390 years	Birth of Abraham
490 years	Birth of Isaac
565 years old	Death of Abraham
600 years old	Death of Shem

Shem outlived Abraham by 35 years

Question: The Fathers of the Church saw Melchizedek as a type of Christ. What parallels can you see between this righteous King of Salem and Jesus of Nazareth?

Answer: Both Melchizedek and Jesus serve Yahweh as:

1. A righteous firstborn son.

2. Serve Yahweh as priest and king.

3. Melchizedek rules in Salem /Jerusalem, and Jesus rules in the heavenly Jerusalem

4. Priestly offering of bread and wine; Jesus = Eucharist

5. Receives tithes & offerings

6. Higher order of priesthood than the Sinai Covenant Levitical priesthood: Melchizedek's priesthood, like Jesus' priesthood, is based on his firstborn son-ship.

Testimony linking Shem to Melchizedek is found:

in the footnotes of the modern Jewish Tanach identifying Shem as Melchizedek

Catholic scholars who taught in this tradition: St. Ephraim in the 3^rd century; Jerome in the 5^th; Medieval scholars like Alcuin, Sedilius, Scott, Aimon d'Auxerre, Lombard, Nicholas of Lyra, and
the ex-Catholic scholar Martin Luther who was heavily influenced by the Jewish-Catholic theologian and professor at the Sorbonne in Paris in the early to mid 14^th century, Nicholas of Lyra. Luther wrote: On the basis of the general conviction of the Hebrews it is assumed that this Melchizedek is Noah's son Shem..... I gladly agree with their opinion" [Luther's Works II, page 381].

Question: What is the significance of Abraham paying a tithe to and receiving a blessing from the priest-king Melchizedek? What last 2 times was receiving a "blessing" mentioned in Genesis prior to Genesis 14:18-20? Hint: see Genesis 12:1-3 and 9:26

Answer: By paying a tithe and receiving a blessing Abraham is acknowledging Melchizedek's authority. The blessings prior to Abram's blessing by Melchizedek are mentioned in Genesis chapter 12 in God's three-fold promise to Abraham and God's blessing on Shem in 9:26-27. The passage which reads Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! Let Canaan be his slave. May God expand Japheth, so that he dwells among the tents of Shem...can also be translated "so that Shem dwells (serves) his (God's) tent",which could be understood to mean that Shem would serve as a priest in the "tent" or "tabernacle" of God.

St. Ephraim, 4^th century doctor of the Church, believed Melchizedek was the throne name of Noah's righteous firstborn son Shem: This Melchizedech is Shem, who became a king due to his greatness; he was the head of fourteen nations. In addition, he was a priest. He received this from Noah, his father, through the rights of succession. Shem lived not only to the time of Abraham, as Scripture says, but even to the time of Jacob and Esau, the grandsons of Abraham [ St. Ephraim, Teaching on Genesis 14:18-20]. Saint Ephraim also saw a connection between Melchizedek-Shem's family/blood connection to Abraham and Abraham's action of both paying a tenth tithe and receiving a blessing as a prefigurement of the Levitical priesthood of the Sinai Covenant in service to God to brother Israelites. St. Ephraim wrote: Through Abraham, who gave him the tenth part, the house of Levi, which had to be generated by him, took the tenth part in him. The Levites, even though they took the tenth part, did not take it from strangers but received the tenth part from themselves; in fact, they took the tenth part from their brothers, the sons of Abraham. Therefore, Abraham, to whom the promise of priesthood was made, gave the tenth part to Melchizedek, who was not inscribed in the Levitic generation. And to Abraham it had been promised that all nations would have been blessed in him. So why did he need the blessing of an uncircumcised man? Does not this show and prove that, if Abraham had not been inferior to Melchizedek, he would not have demanded to be blessed by him? And so the mortal sons receive the tenth part, and in the same manner Melchizedek, who was mortal, lived at that time to be a witness for Abraham, for the indisputably true Melchizedek's blessing destined to the seed of Abraham. Ephraim, Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Abraham died when he was 175 years old [Genesis 25:7-8], the covenant with Yahweh passing from Noah to Shem and then through Abraham to his descendants. The inspired writer of Hebrews offers the faithful Melchizedek as a prefigurement of Jesus, the priest-king of the New Covenantal order: The Christian tradition considers Melchizedek, "priest of God Most High," as a prefiguration of the priesthood of Christ, the unique "high priest after the order of Melchizedek," "holy, blameless, unstained," "by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified," that is by the unique sacrifice of the cross." CCC# 1544.

And it has been the teaching of the Church that the King of Righteousness' offering of bread and wine to Abraham prefigures our righteous priest-king's offering of Himself to the Church in the Most Holy Eucharist: [..]. The Church sees in the gesture of the king-priest Melchizedek, who "brought out bread and wine," a prefiguring of her own offering [ CCC# 1333].

THE LETTER TO THE HEBREWS

Lesson 7: Chapter 5:11- 6:20

Jesus the Eternal High Priest of the Eternal Sacrifice

The Christian tradition considers Melchizedek, "priest of God the Most High," as prefiguration of the priesthood of Christ, the unique "high priest after the order of Melchizedek"; "holy, blameless, unstained," "by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified," that is, by the unique sacrifice of the cross.

CCC# 1544

It was God's plan for the Son to become a man to serve mankind as His covenant representative just as the first Old Covenant High Priest Aaron was chosen from among men to serve God's chosen people as their covenant representative. With this unique aspect of Jesus' humanity in His mission as covenant mediator in mind, the Bishops of Vatican II wrote: For Jesus Christ was sent into the world as a real mediator between God and men. Since he is God, all divine fullness dwells bodily in him (Colossians 2:9) according to his human nature. On the other hand, he is the new Adam, made head of a renewed humanity and full of grace and of truth (John 1:14). Ad Gentes, 1.3, The Documents of Vatican II. In His Incarnation Jesus is superior to the priesthood of Aaron and to all other Old Covenant priests and all pagan priests, ancient and modern. Jesus united Himself to our suffering in assuming our human nature and in His Passion on the altar of the Cross offered Himself up as a perfect sacrifice of atonement for our sins'something no human priest is able to do and no animal sacrifice capable of accomplishing.

Hebrews 5:11- 6:8, A Call for Spiritual Renewal, Christian Maturity, and the Warning to Remain Faithful:

As with the church at Corinth, the assembly is chastised for their lack of spiritual growth. They are still in need of the basic understanding of covenant doctrine. However, at this stage in their Christian development they should be seeking an understanding of their faith that goes beyond the basics of covenant doctrine; they need to move on to a more mature understanding. He compares them to babies who still need milk when they should be becoming mature enough to eat the "meat" of the Gospel of salvation and therefore qualified to share the Gospel of salvation with others with confidence. There is a difference between the positive attribute of being "childlike" in our faith as opposed to the deficiency of being "childish" in our understanding of our faith.

In order to move from "milk" to "meat" it is necessary to have a through understanding of the teachings Jesus Christ entrusted to His Church and in the light of that teaching to read and study Sacred Scripture to grow in spiritual maturity. The Church has always taught that the Bible is a difficult book that it is often hard to understand. The Fathers of the Church considered it best for those who are young in their faith to seek first a literal reading and interpretation when that interpretation harmonized with the teaching of the Church. But the symbolism and other enigmas of Scripture made a strictly word for word literalist interpretation often difficult because at times it does not divulge the "literal" meaning of the text as the inspired writer intended.

In Hebrews 6:1-2 the inspired writer gives a list of the "basics" his audience should already understand.

Question: What kind of maturity does it take to eat "meat" according the writer of Hebrews and what basic doctrines of the faith does he include in his list? Hint: He lists 5.

Answer: First, they need to be able to discern the difference between what is good and what is evil in order to acquire a more mature understanding of Christian doctrine. His list of basic doctrine includes:

repentance of the "dead works" of the Old Covenant ritual law and to have faith in Jesus Christ as the foundation for beginning of one's salvation journey.
an understanding of the doctrine of baptism
an understanding of the significance of the laying on of hands
an understanding of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead
an understanding of the doctrine of eternal judgment

In Hebrews 6:3-8 the inspired writer appeals to his audience to hold fast to these truths of Christian belief in order to obtain, God willing, their eternal salvation [Hebrews 6:3], but then he gives them a dire warning in verses 4-8.

Hebrews 6:4-8: 4 For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift and shared in the holy Spirit 5 and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to bring them to repentance again, since they are re-crucifying the Son of God for themselves and holding him up to contempt. 7 Ground that has absorbed the rain falling upon it repeatedly and brings forth crops useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is rejected; it will soon be cursed and finally burned.

This passage in Hebrews 6:4-8 is a difficult passage. The inspired writer says in 6:4 that it is "impossible," adynaton in the Greek, for those who have been reborn into the family of God who apostatize and turn away from Jesus, to return to repentance and restoration. But he will also say in 6:18 that it is "impossible," adynaton, that God should not fulfill the many blessings He has sworn to give. There is, however, no conflict in these two statements. Both statements are made in reference to God's justice in His interaction with man and both statements are issued without compromise.

In 6:4 the writer may be speaking in hyperbole to impress upon his audience the seriousness of rejecting God's gift of grace and salvation only through Christ Jesus as some scholars suggest, however there may be another interpretation. The Church defines apostasy in the Catechism # 2089 as, the total repudiation of the Christian faith; and the Catholic dictionary defines apostasy as, the total rejection of a baptized person of the Christian faith he once possessed. If the inspired writer is talking about Jewish practices and doctrine, he may also be referring to those Jews who were baptized into the New Covenant but then apostatized and returned to the Old Covenant rituals and practices which could only identify and judge sin.

In Hebrews 6:4-6 the inspired writer says: 4 For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift and shared in the holy Spirit 5 and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to bring them to repentance again, since they are re-crucifying the Son of God for themselves and holding him up to contempt.

The "heavenly gift" is divine son-ship and renewed life through the supernatural regeneration of Christian baptism. In the Eucharist baptized believers receive a taste of the Living Word, Jesus Christ which is a promise of the resurrection in "the age to come" when Christ returns. This passage may also refer to the Eucharist, as a "taste" of the heavenly banquet that is promised in the future to those who receive the gift of eternal life.

Question: In Hebrews 6:6 the writer makes a shocking statement. He says that those who reject Christ as Savior after baptism are re-crucifying the Son of God for themselves and holding him up to contempt. What does he mean by this statement?

Answer: When Christ died on the Cross for the sins of mankind, we all crucified Him, no sinner is innocent of His condemnation, suffering and death on the Cross. Every time a redeemed man or woman sins and becomes separated from God, once again Christ's death becomes the sinner's burden. It is the Sacrament of Reconciliation that restores the sinner to fellowship with God. But in this passage the inspired writer seems to be referring to the Sacrament of Baptism. In Christian baptism, every professing believer is crucified with Christ, dying to sin and death and being like Jesus, resurrected to "new life" [Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 2:20; 5:24; Colossians 2:12; CCC#1214; 1987].

Hebrews 6:9-12, Words of Encouragement for the Faithful: 9But we are sure in your regard, beloved, of better things related to salvation, even though we speak in this way. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones. 11 We earnestly desire each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfillment of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises.

The inspired writer now softens his harsh tone. Verse 9 contains his first intimate address to the audience, he calls them "beloved," agepetos; from the Greek root agapao= "to love", meaning spiritual love in Greek and for Christians a word defined by Jesus as self-sacrificial love [John 15:12-13]. Although it is a common term of endearment found in Paul's letters [7 times in the Letter to the Romans; 4 times in 1 Corinthians and in the letter to the Colossians; 2 times in 2 Corinthians and in the letter to the Ephesians; 3 times in the letter to the Philippians; once each in the letters to the Thessalonians; and 3 times in the very short letter to Philemon], it is only used this once in the Letter to the Hebrews.

Their "work" is the charity and love that they demonstrate to others in the name of Jesus Christ, within and outside the faith community, this is living the Law of the New Covenant which Jesus defined as loving our neighbors as we love ourselves and to love others as He has loved us [Matthew 5:43-46; John 15:12, 17]. St. Paul said that God will repay everyone according to his works: eternal life to those who seek glory, honor, and immortality through perseverance in good works... God will honor our works of love done in His name [see 1 Corinthians 3:10-17].

Hebrews 6:13-20, The Hope of God's Eternal and Immutable Promise:

13 When God made the promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, "he swore by himself," 14 and said, "I will indeed bless you and multiply" you. 15 And so, after patient waiting, he obtained the promise. 16 Human beings swear by someone greater than themselves; for them an oath serves as a guarantee and puts an end to all argument. 17 So when God wanted to give the heirs of his promise an ever clearer demonstration of the immutability of his purpose, he intervened with an oath, 18 so that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that lies before us. 19 This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil, 20 where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner, and becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

The word "immutable" means "Not mutable; unchangeable; invariable; unalterable" [The New Webster Dictionary]. Hebrews 6:14 is a quotation from the Septuagint translation of Genesis 22:17.

Question: Why would God "swear by Himself", meaning by His own Name?

Answer: There is nothing greater than God and so He swore by His own name: since he had no one greater by whom to swear, "he swore by himself". He did not swear by heaven or by earth because these will eventually pass away, but God is unchangeable and will never pass away.

Hebrews 6: 16: Human beings swear by someone greater than themselves; for them an oath serves as a guarantee and puts an end to all argument.

Any sworn oath is an appeal to God to be witness to the promise of the oath and to act as judge concerning the truth of what is being promised. Human beings have the tendency to lie and therefore an oath to tell the truth is necessary. In a court room a witness puts his left hand on a Bible and raises his right hand, which points to heaven, and swears under oath to tell the truth. In such a case the one doing the swearing is putting himself under God's judgment. He may fool the court and the judge but he cannot fool God. During the age of the Roman Empire witnesses in Roman courts and in making contracts or other sworn statements swore by the name of the Roman Emperor who would dispense justice if the witness or contract maker failed in his promises. As Christians we swear to a much greater judge and He in turn, in His covenant formation with us, swears by Himself therefore guaranteeing His promises, God never lies [Hebrews 6:18; Deuteronomy 32:4].

Question: When did God "swear by Himself" when promises where made to Abraham? See Genesis 22:1-18; Ephesians 1:13-14; Hebrews 11:17-20.

Answer: After God "put Abraham to the test" in Genesis chapter 22, God made a Covenant with Abraham: I swear by my own self, Yahweh declares, that because you have done this, because you have not refused me your own beloved son, I will shower blessings on you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will gain possession of the gates of their enemies. All nations on earth will bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed my command [New Jerusalem translation, Genesis 22:16-18]. Years after the initial promise of an heir was made in Genesis chapter 12 and again in Genesis 15:4-5, God gave Abraham and Sarah the son He had promised, a boy He told them to name Isaac. Then in Genesis 22 God tested Abraham by commanding him to offer up this beloved son of promise as a sacrificial offering. Abraham passed the test because he had faith in God's promise that from this son he would have many descendants. In Hebrews 11:17-19 the inspired writer tells us that having faith in God's promises Abraham believed if he offered up his son that God would raise him from the dead. Passing the test of faith the promises made to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 now become a covenant formed in an oath swearing ceremony. Biblical covenants are family bonds formed by swearing oaths and by blood, in this case, however, the sacrifice was not Abraham's son but a ram offered as a substitute. In the covenant bond which this covenant foreshadowed, Yahweh would not spare His own beloved Son whose blood would seal the New Covenant family bond.

Question: Were these 3 covenant promises of land, descendants as numerous as the stars, and a world-wide blessing fulfilled in Abraham's lifetime? When were the 3 covenant promises perfectly fulfilled?

Answer: No, Abraham did not live to see any of these promises fulfilled. These covenantal promises were not fulfilled until approximately 2,000 years later in the New Covenant in Jesus the descendant of Abraham:

1. All heaven and the earth are the domain of the King of Kings

2. All men and women of all ages become the spiritual descendants of Abraham when they profess belief in Christ Jesus [see Romans 4:9-17; 9:1-9; Galatians 3:6-9; 4:21-31; Ephesians 2:11-22].

3. The gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ is a world-wide blessing of the New Covenant

Hebrews 6: 17-18: 17 So when God wanted to give the heirs of his promise an ever clearer demonstration of the immutability of his purpose, he intervened with an oath, 18 so that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that lies before us.

Question: What are the "two immutable things"?

Answer: The two unchangeable things are God's promise and God's oath. God's sworn oath to uphold His covenant and His truthfulness to fulfill His promises. The blessings that Abraham, the father of the first covenant people, received foreshadowed the blessings that the inspired writer's audience, the heirs of Abraham, hope to receive.

Once again the writer of Hebrews uses the Greek word adynaton, "impossible." In 6:4 the inspired writer said that it is "impossible" for those who have been reborn into the family of God who apostatize and turn away from Jesus, to return to repentance and restoration. But now in 6:18 he assures us that it is "impossible," adynaton, that God should not fulfill the many blessings He has sworn to give. Dr. Koester points out that both the warning in 6:4 and the promised assurance of God's faithfulness in 6:18 serve the same purpose to encourage perseverance in faithfulness no matter what the cost because the promised reward will be far greater than the suffering: The warning about apostasy and the promise of God's faithfulness functions differently, the warning disturbs while the promise gives assurance, but they serve the same end, which is that listeners might persevere in faith (6:12). Anchor Bible Commentary, page 321.

Hebrews 6: 19-20: 19 This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil, 20 where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner, and becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Anchors in ancient times were sometimes simple stone circles with a hole in the center to which a rope was attached. But in the 1^st century AD the anchors of Roman ships were more often made of iron and on one end flared outward in two flukes, the opposite end being attached to the front or rear of the ship with a rope or iron chain [Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 7.209]. This is probably the anchor the inspired writer has in mind. The anchor became a common metaphor in classical literature for steadfastness, security, and moral integrity and the anchor became a common Christian symbol for faith based on the promise of Christ Jesus.

Question: What is the "anchor of the soul" that holds us "sure and firm"? Hint: there are two parts or flukes to this "anchor".

Answer:

God's sworn oath to remain faithful to His covenant promises and
The knowledge that it is impossible for God to lie-He is the God of Truth.

Question: What does the inspired writer in Hebrews 6:19 mean by the interior behind the veil? See Exodus 25:22; 26:31-36; 36:35-38; 40:1-3; 2 Chronicles 3:14; Hebrews 9:1-10:24; Matthew 27:51

Answer: There were two "veils" or curtains in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem. The outer curtain was at the entrance to the Holy Place and the second separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. This is probably a reference to the "veil" which separated the Holy of Holies, the cube shaped room [20x 20 x 20 cubits; circa 30 feet cubed] in the Sanctuary where the invisible presence of God resided with His people over the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant. The linen curtain with twisted linen thread, and twisted thread of blue, purple and red embroidery separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, guarding the Mercy Seat from profane contact with sinful man. The veil symbolized the separation between the sacred and the profoundly holy, the separation between the earthly and the heavenly, the separation between God His people. The High Priest only had access to this sacred space once a year on the Feast of Atonement [Leviticus 16:1-18]. Also see 1 Kings 6:20; 2 Chronicles 3:8; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 8.101-106.

Question: What is the significance of what happened to this curtain when Jesus gave up His life on the Cross and how is it that the inspired writer says in Hebrews 6:20that Jesus has entered on our behalf as a forerunner...? See Matthew 27:50-51; Mark 15:37; Luke 23:45; Isaiah 25:6-8; 66:18-22.

Answer: There are two conditions within the cosmos: "outside of the veil"'meaning the human condition and "within the veil"'meaning in the presence of the One True God. The "veil" is the boundary between the material, profane world and the transcendent spiritual realm [see Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 3.123]. The renting of the veil in the Temple, which was a thickly woven carpet about 30 feet high and perhaps an inch thick, symbolized the abrogation of the Old Sinai Covenant in which the covenant people were separated from the presence of God and the way being opened up to unlimited access to God through a prefect sacrifice of atonement by Jesus who, "passing through the veil," leads all faithful believers into the promised communion banquet of the messianic sanctuary into which all peoples of the earth are invited.

In Hebrews 6:20 the inspired writer assures the faithful that the "veil" no longer separates us from the presence of God the Father because Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner, into the presence of God, a path we hope to follow, and becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. This is the third powerful reference to "the order of Melchizedech" which, like Jesus' divine priesthood, is a higher order of priesthood than the Levitical priesthood of the Sinai Covenant.

The "order of Melchizedek" is referenced 5 times in the 8 passages in which Melchizedek is mentioned in Hebrews:

5:6	just as in another place he says, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek:
5:10	Declared by God high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
6:20	where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner, becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
7:1	This "Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High," "met Abraham as he returned from his defeat of the kings" and "blessed him."
7:10	for he was still in his father's loins when Melchizedek met him.
7:11	If then perfection came through the Levitical priesthood, on the basis of which the people received the law, what need would there still have been for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedech, and not reckoned according to the order of Aaron?
7:15	It is even more obvious if another priest is raised up after the likeness of Melchizedek
7:17	For it is testified: "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."

Everything that the priesthood of the Old Covenant prefigured finds its fulfillment in Christ Jesus, the "only mediator between God and men." The Christian tradition considers Melchizedek, "priest of God the Most High," as prefiguration of the priesthood of Christ, the unique "high priest after the order of Melchizedek"; "holy, blameless, unstained," "by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified," that is, by the unique sacrifice of the cross. CCC# 1544 quoting 1Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 5:10; // 6:20; Genesis 14:18; Hebrews 7:26; 10:14

What comparisons and contrasts can be made between the priestly order of the Levitical priesthood in the Sinai Covenant, the order of Jesus' eternal priesthood in the New Covenant, and the order of Melchizedek, if he is indeed Shem the firstborn righteous son of Noah, in the Noachide Covenant?

Priestly order of Sinai Covenant	Priestly order of Melchizedek as Shem	Priestly order of Jesus Christ
Succession of priestly order based on genealogy [Exodus 29:29; Numbers 18:1-7; 21-22; Sirach 45:15]	No priestly succession order listed in Scripture, the first priest in Scripture appointed by God [Genesis 14:18]	Jesus is the eternal High Priest, the last and the only eternal priest appointed by God [Hebrews 7:26-8:2]
Priests were chosen from among men to be a compassionate advocate of Israel, Gods covenant people [Exodus 28:1; 41-43; Hebrews 5:2-3].	Chosen from among men: [Genesis 9:26-27] to rule over his brothers and their descendants through the Noachide world Covenant [Genesis 9:8-10, 17].	Chosen from among men to be a compassionate High Priest and advocate of the worldwide New Covenant people [Hebrews 4:15] of God [Matthew 28:19-20].
Tithes were paid to the Levitical priesthood from within the covenant family [Numbers 18:20-24; Deuteronomy 14:28-29]	Tithes were paid to the priest Melchizedek by Abram; if he is Shem the tithes are paid within the covenant family [Genesis 14:20]	Tithes are paid to Christ our High Priest through His Church by the covenant family
Sacrifice and offerings were made by the covenant people through the priesthood [Leviticus 4:20, 31; 5:13; Numbers 15:25].	Abram paid a tithe of a tenth of his spoil from battle to Melchizedek [Genesis 14:20]	The covenant people bring Christ, our High Priest, offerings of bread and wine and He gives us, under the appearance of bread and wine, His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity [Matthew 26:26-29; 1 Corinthians 11:23-27]
In priestly role offered the peoples blessings, gifts, and sacrifices to God [Numbers 6:22-27]	As God's priest he blessed Abram and brought bread and wine as a priestly gift [Genesis 14:18-19]	Offers eternal blessings to the people and an eternal sacrifice to God on behalf of the covenant people
The priesthood of the Sinai Covenant was limited to priestly functions	Melchizedek was both a High Priest and the King of Salem/Jerusalem [Genesis 14:18]	Jesus is both the New Covenant High Priest and King of the heavenly Jerusalem [Hebrews 9:25-28; 10:10].
The priesthood of the Sinai Covenant served only the children of Israel through the Covenant God made which was exclusively limited to them [Exodus 19:5-6] .	God's Covenant with Noah extended to all the earth. If the covenant continued through Shem, his priesthood was over all peoples of the earth bound in one covenant family. Melchizedek is titled in Genesis 14 as "the priest" of the Most High God. There is no other priest.	God's New Covenant is extended to include all nations [Matthew 28:19-20]. Jesus is the eternal high priest bringing the peoples of the earth back into one covenant family. Jesus is the eternal priest of the New Covenant. There is no other High Priest of the New Covenant [CCC#1545]

THE LETTER TO HEBREWS

Lesson 8: Chapter 7:1 - 28

The Royal Priestly Primogeniture of Melchizedek and Jesus over Abraham and the Levitical Priesthood

1 This "Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High," "met Abraham as he returned from his defeat of the kings" and "blessed him." 2 And Abraham apportioned to him "a tenth of everything." His name first means righteous king and he was also "king of Salem," that is, king of peace. 3 Without father, mother, or ancestry, without beginning of days or end of life, thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. 4 See how great he is to whom the patriarch "Abraham [indeed] gave a tenth" of his spoils. 5 The descendants of Levi who received the office of priesthood have a commandment according to the law to exact tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, although they also have come from the loins of Abraham. 6 But he who was not of their ancestry received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had received the promises. 7 Unquestionably, a lesser person is blessed by a greater. 8 In the one case, mortal men receive tithes; in the other, a man of whom it is testified that the lives on. 9 One might even say that Levi himself receives tithes, was tithed through Abraham, 10 for he was still in his father's loins when Melchizedek met him.

Hebrews 6:20 identified Jesus as "a priest after the order/type of Melchizedek" by referring to Psalm 110:4. Now the inspired writer turns to the only other reference to Melchizedek in the Old Testament, the passage found in Genesis 14:17-20. He retells the story of Abram's meeting with the Priest-King of Salem in light of the prophecy of Psalm 110.

Melchizedek held the distinctive position as the first person to be designated a priest in the Old Testament. "Melchizedek" is not found in any of the Biblical genealogies. If this ancient priest-king is indeed Shem it would not be necessary to list his throne name or title when Shem's genealogy is listed in the "table of nations" in Genesis chapter 10, the names of 70 descendants of Noah being listed with Shem's line in verses 22-31, and then again the listing of Shem's descendants in more detail in Genesis 11:10-30. There are Biblical personages whose genealogies are not listed; Moses' father-in-law Jethro, the priest-king of Midian; Elijah the prophet, and Daniel the prophet, for example. But if Melchizedek is Shem it must have seemed to his descendants that he was going to live "without end of days" because he outlived all his children and descendants to the 10^th generation [see the chart Shem vs. Melchizedek from lesson 6]. In the late 4^th century a heresy grew up around the figure of Melchizedek who some believed was the Incarnate Christ before His 1^st century Incarnation or that he was an angel. Among other leaders in the Church, Epiphanius Bishop of Salamis refuted this heresy in a book that condemned 8 different heresies including the heresy of the Melchizedekians: "When David prophesies that the Lord will be a priest after the order of Melchizedek, the sacred Scripture is saying in the same breath that Christ will be a priest. But we find that Paul says at once, "resembling the son of God, Melchizedek continues a priest forever." Now if he resembles the Son of God, he is not equal to the Son of God. How can the servant be the master's equal for Melchizedek was a man. "Without father or mother" is not said because he had no father or mother but because his father and mother are not explicitly named in sacred Scripture... [..]. And of how many others is the ancestry not expressly given? Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Elijah the Tishbite, neither their fathers nor their mothers are found anywhere in any of the convenanted Scriptures...Panarion 4, Against Melchizedekians 1.1-3.8

Question: What was Melchizedek's ethnic origin? What was Abraham's ethnic origin? Where they Gentiles or a Jew? See CCC#58.

Answer: All Jews [Yehudin] descend from Judah [Yehuda], the 4^th son of Jacob/Israel, the grandson of Abraham, and are members of the tribe of Judah. During and after the period of the divided kingdom men and women who were citizens of the Kingdom of Judah or later the Roman Province of Judea, were considered to be Jews'St. Paul called himself a "Jew" because the tribe of Benjamin, of which he was a member, remained loyal to the Davidic kings and with the tribe of Judah formed the Kingdom of Judah. Melchizedek cannot be a Jew or even an Israelite, these people are indeed Shem's descendants but they are generations in the future. Melchizedek was a Gentile and Abraham would have to be designated a Semitic Gentile, all Semites are those who descend from the line of Shem the son of Noah. This is important to understand because Melchizedek, being a universal priest before the formation of the Sinai Covenant, foreshadows the ministry of the New Covenant priesthood to the Gentile nations. His priesthood in Salem on Mt. Moriah also can be said to have foreshadowed the Levitical priesthood as it was established centuries later in Jerusalem at the Temple located on Mt. Moriah, the location where Abraham offered up his beloved son Isaac [Genesis 22:2] and God's beloved Son, offered Himself up as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind on the lower slope of Mt. Moriah called Golgotha [John 19:17-20].

Melchizedek is the priest-king of Salem near the Valley of Shaveh, the king's valley which means "Valley of the Oath." The Hebrew word "shaveh" [also written sheba or shaba] is also Hebrew for the cardinal number 7. Covenants are formed by oath swearing and God's immutable promises. To "swear an oath" in Hebrew is to "7 oneself". Seven is the number of covenant formation [Genesis 22:22-31; 22:16; Deuteronomy 7:7-11; 2 Samuel 3:9; Psalm 89:3; etc.]. In Hebrew Salem is associated with the Hebrew word for "peace", shalom. Thus, Jesus the Messiah's promised messianic blessings of righteousness and peace are foreshadowed in the names of Melchizedek and Salem.

Question: With what other city is the Melchizedek's Salem identified?

Answer: It is identified with God's holy city, Jerusalem, which means in Hebrews "will provide peace." According to Jewish tradition the city is renamed after Abraham's assurance to his son Isaac in Genesis 22:8 that "God himself will provide" the sacrifice and in 22:14: Abraham named the site Yahweh will provide [yireh or jireh]; hence people now say, "on the mountain the LORD [Yahweh] will provide." Hence the name is changed from Salem to Jireh-salem or Jerusalem. The first century AD Jewish priest turned historian Flavius Josephus identified Salem as Jerusalem in Jewish Wars. Concerning the history of Jerusalem he wrote:

But he who first built it was a potent man among the Canaanites, and is on our tongue called Melchizedek, the righteous King, for such he really was; on which account he was [there] the first priest of God, and first built a temple [there], and called the city Jerusalem, which was formerly called Salem [Jewish Wars 6.438].

Hebrews 7:4-5: 4 See how great he is to whom the patriarch "Abraham [indeed] gave a tenth" of his spoils. 5 The descendants of Levi who received the office of priesthood have a commandment according to the law to exact tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, although they also have come from the loins of Abraham.

His point is that a man pays tithes, like taxes, to one who is superior to him and who has authority over him. The children of Israel paid tithes to the Levites who were in authority over them but within their kin group, Abram paid tithes to Melchizedek who had authority over him and if he is Shem, was within his kin group and as Catholic Christians we pay tithes and give offerings to the Church who is our family and who as Christ's representative has authority over us. It is the length of Shem's age and the kin group tithe connection that convinced both St. Jerome and St. Ephraim that Shem was indeed Melchizedek.

Hebrews 7:6-8: 6 But he who was not of their ancestry received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had received the promises. 7 Unquestionably, a lesser person is blessed by a greater. 8 In the one case, mortal men receive tithes; in the other, a man of whom it is testified that the lives on.

Verse 6 is used by some to refute the Shem-Melchizedek connection; however, the inspired writer is not referring to Abraham's genealogy but to "their ancestry", referring to the Levitical genealogical family trees which were recorded at the time of the Sinai Covenant and under the Sinai Covenant determined to whom the tithes are received and from whom the blessings of God were pronounced. These genealogies began with the 3 clans of the Tribe of Levi, the clans of Aaron and the Kohath for the high priests, and the clans of Gershon, and Merari for the ordinary Levitical ministers. His point is that a lack of a Levitical genealogy did not prevent Melchizedek from serving as God's priest who received the tithe from Abraham nor does it disqualify Jesus from serving God as the New Covenant High Priest.

Hebrews 7:9-10: 9 One might even say that Levi himself receives tithes, was tithed through Abraham, 10 for he was still in his father's loins when Melchizedek met him.

Question: What is the inspired writer's argument here for those who are still attached to the Levitical priesthood and still do not recognize the superiority of Jesus' priesthood in the prefigurement of Melchizedek's priesthood?

Answer: His argument is that in a sense even the Levites paid the tithe to Melchizedek through Abraham since they descend through the line of Abraham! He doesn't really mean to say the seed of the man named Levi, who is the great-grandson of Abraham, was present in Abraham at the time he paid the tithe, instead he is exaggerating the point that if Father Abraham is superior to his children and if Abraham is inferior to Melchizedek, because he paid the tithe to him acknowledging his superiority, then the children of Abraham are also inferior to the priest-king Melchizedek whose priesthood prefigured the royal priesthood of Jesus Christ!

Hebrews 7:11-19: A New Priesthood Indicates a New Law and a New Order

11 If then, perfection came through the Levitical priesthood, on the basis of which the people received the law, what need would there still have been for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not reckoned according to the order of Aaron? 12 When there is a change of priesthood, there is necessarily a change of law as well. 13 Now he of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, of which no member officiated at the altar. 14 It is clear that our Lord arose from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. 15 It is even more obvious if another priest is raised up after the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become so, not by a law expressed in a commandment concerning physical descent but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. 17 For it is testified: "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedech." 18 On the one hand, a former commandment is annulled because of its weakness and uselessness, 19 for the law brought nothing to perfection; on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

Question: What question does the inspired writer ask concerning the necessity of the establishing of a new order of priesthood in the New Covenant?

Answer: He is making a preemptive strike by asking the question that those who denied the necessity of a new priesthood were asking: "If the Aaronic priesthood was perfect why did it need to be replaced and why did the Law of Moses need to be replaced?"

Question: Was the Aaronic priesthood perfect? See CCC# 1537; 1963.

Answer: No; nor was the Old Law perfect. Neither the Old Covenant priesthood nor the Old Covenant law could offer salvation and entrance into the life of God.

After the great flood, God established a covenant with Noah and his descendants [Genesis 9:8-11]. In that covenant formation God laid down the first laws for humanity that were based on natural law. The summary of the "Law of the Noachide Covenant is recorded in Genesis 9:1-7 but Jewish oral tradition interprets the establishment of 7 laws [see Talmud: Sanhedrin 56A]. These laws are established for one universal human family:

prohibition against drinking blood or eating raw flesh
prohibition against blasphemy of God
prohibition against theft
prohibition against idolatry
prohibition against murder
prohibition against sexual immorality
establishment of courts of justice

Hebrews 7:20-28: Jesus' Eternal Priesthood of the New Covenant is Superior to the Levitical Priesthood

20 And to the degree that this happened not without the taking of an oath for others became priests without an oath, 21 but he with an oath, through the ones who said to him: "The Lord has sworn, and he will not repent: 'You are a priest forever'"'22 to that same degree has Jesus [also] become the guarantee of an [even] better covenant. 23Those priests were many because they were prevented by death from remaining in office, 24 but he, because he remains forever, has a priesthood that does not pass away. 25 Therefore, he is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them. 26 It was fitting that we should have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens. 27 He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints men subject to weakness to be high priests, but the word of the oath, which was taken after the law, appoints a son, who has been made perfect forever.

Covenants in the Bible are formed by oath swearing and by blood [Genesis 15:1] In the ancient world, as in the modern, swearing an oath calls upon God, or another power like the State, to hold the oath-maker accountable for what he has sworn [see Ezekiel 17:13-21]. This passage, however, refers to an oath God swore on Himself to offer surety of His promises. There can be no greater assurance of the oath being kept. Jesus is the guarnatee of an even better covenant than the one formed at Sinai [Hebrews 7:22]. Christ has offered surety to His father for His younger brothers and sisters as Judah offered surety to Jacob/Israel to save the life of his younger brother in Genesis 44. Jesus' ancestor Judah offered himself as a slave but Christ has offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice that God's other sons and daughters might be saved from slavery to sin and death. No matter what "debt" we incur on account of sin, Jesus has paid the debt in full for us through His Passion and death, and through His Resurrection He has taken His place in heaven as our advocate, our High Priest before the throne of God.

"YAHWEH'S EIGHT COVENANTS

"But Yahweh's faithful love for those who fear him is from eternity and for ever; and his saving justice to their children's children; as long as they keep his covenant, and carefully obey his precepts." Palms 103:17-18

COVENANT	SIGN	SCRIPTURE
1. Adam v fertility vdominion over the earth	Tree of Life	Gen. 1:28-30: "God blessed them, saying to them, 'Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it..."
2. Noah and the earth v fertility & dominion over the earth v the earth will never be destroyed by flood waters again (water will become a sign of salvation)	Rainbow	Gen. 6:18; 9:9-17; Sirach 44:17-18."God spoke as follows to Noah and his sons, 'I am now establishing (maintaining) my covenant with you and with your descendants to come..."Gen 9:8-9
3. Abraham = 3-fold, (continues with Isaac, Jacob & descendants) v land, nation (descendants) & world wide blessing	Circumcision On the 8^th day	Gen. 12:3; 15:1-18; 17: 1-27; 18:18 & 22:18; 26:3-5; 28:10-14; Ex. 2:24; Sirach 44:19-20."God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." Ex. 2:24
4. Moses & Israel v Sinai Covenant establishing divine liturgy & covenant sacraments	Ark of the Covenant Tabernacle 10 Commandments	Ex. 19:24; 34:10, 27, 28;Deut. 5:2-3. "So now, if you are really prepared to obey me and keep my covenant, you, out of all peoples, shall be my personal possession" Ex. 19:5
5. Aaron & Sons v perpetual ministerial priesthood of the Levites	Salt	Ex. 40:15; Lev. 2:13; Num. 18:19; Sir. 45:7, 15; Jer. 33:21. "Everything the Israelites set aside for Yahweh from the holy things, I give to you and your sons and daughters, by perpetual decree. This is a covenant of salt for ever before Yahweh, for you and your descendants too." Num. 18:19
6. Phinehas v perpetual priesthood in Covenant of Peace (prefigures Christ)	Seamless robe & miter	Num. 25:11-15; Sir. 45:24. "To him I grant my covenant of peace. To him and his descendants after him, this covenant will assure the priesthood for ever."Num. 25:12-13
7. David & descendants v dynasty and throne forever secure	Throne/ Temple	2 Sam 7:11-17; 23:5; Sir. 45:25. "Yes, my House stands firm with God: He has made an eternal covenant with me..." 2 Sam. 23:5
8. Jesus (Yah-shua = Yahweh saves or I save) also written Yehosua = Joshua. He is the fulfillment of all the covenantal promises	The Cross, the true "Tree of Life"	Isa. 55:3; Jer. 31:31-34;Mat. 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; Heb. 12:24. "...This cup is the new covenant in my blood poured out for you." Luke 22:20 "..This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a memorial of me.'" 1 Cor. 11:25:

Chapter 8:1-13

Jesus Christ: High Priest of the Heavenly Sanctuary

In this chapter we begin another section in the Letter to the Hebrews which continues to build upon the theme of the superiority of the priesthood of Christ and the superiority of the new covenantal order. From chapter 8:1 to 10:18 the inspired writer of Hebrews will make his argument for both the superiority of the priesthood of Jesus Christ and the New Covenant in presenting a series of contrasts:

Contrasting the heavenly and the earthly Sanctuaries
Contrasting the Old and the New Covenants
Contrasting the old priesthood's repeated sacrifices and Christ's one eternal sacrifice

The inspired writer of Hebrews has carefully laid out his arguments for the superiority of Jesus Christ in chapters one through seven:

The Son's superiority over angels
The Son's superiority over Moses the law-giver of the Old Sinai Covenant
The superiority of the priesthood Jesus Christ over the Levitical priesthood of the Old Sinai Covenant, a new priesthood which the priesthood of Melchizedek prefigured.

In this part of his address the inspired writer will proclaim the superiority of Jesus' priesthood in the new covenantal order as High Priest of the heavenly Sanctuary. The resurrected Christ's enthronement has already been established in Hebrews 1:3 as the divine Son who is the legitimate heir of the Davidic king and in chapters 5-7 as the priest-king of a new covenant according to the "order of Melchizedek." Now the sacred writer will establish how the Old Sinai Covenant, which offered worship of Yahweh by means of animal sacrifice, grain offerings, wine libations, prayers and hymns of praise, finds its total perfection in the one perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. His focus will be the superiority of the sworn oath of God [Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 6:13-17] over the old Law of the Sinai Covenant which in addition to the 10 Commandments included the rituals of purity and animal sacrifice:

v The old Law established a priesthood full of human weaknesses offering repeated imperfect sacrifices, and was established on an old covenant offering only temporal promises.

v The sworn oath establishes a divine Son who serves as a sinless priest-king offering one perfect and complete sacrifice and a new covenant established on eternal promises.

Hebrews 8:1-6, The Heavenly and Earthly Sanctuaries Contrasted:

1 The main point of what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up. 3 Now every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus the necessity for this one also to have something to offer. 4 If then he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are those who offer gifts according to the law. 5 They worship in a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, as Moses was warned when he was about to erect the tabernacle. For he says, "See that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain." 6 Now he has obtained so much more excellent a ministry as he is mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises.

The first six verses of chapter 8 can be divided into two parts:

Jesus' ministry in the heavenly Sanctuary [8:1-2]
Jesus' ministry in the heavenly sanctuary contrasted with the Levitical priests in the earthly Temple/Tabernacle [8:3-6]

The subject of Jesus as the minister of the heavenly sanctuary is introduced in one single complex sentence in the Greek text [Hebrews 8:1-2].

Question: The inspired writer begins: The main point of what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven ... What is "the main point" and who are the "we" who makes the point?

Answer: The "we" are the apostles and disciples who have been given the authority by Christ to teach His Church, the whole assembly of His covenant people [Matthew 16:16-19; 18:18; 28:16-20; Mark 16:14-16; Luke 24: John 20:19-23]. Then as now, the teaching authority comes from Jesus Christ our High Priest through His appointed ministers who form the Magisterium of the Universal Church. The "point" is the central theme of the address which is the superiority of the new covenantal order and Jesus enthroned at God's right hand, the place of highest honor in the heavenly sanctuary. Enthroned at God's right hand the Son has both the royal rights of a King who rules and judges His people [see Psalms 110:1; Hebrews 1:3, 13] and priestly prerogatives [Psalms 110:4; Hebrews 8:1-2] in the offering of the sacrifice.

Presenting the ascended Jesus' ministry as on-going before God's throne in the heavenly Sanctuary would not have been a concept completely foreign to the inspired writer's first century Jewish audience. The concept of a heavenly ministry would have been considered possible based on the religious traditions of the covenant people of God. Earlier in his address the inspired writer used the Biblical references to the role of the Davidic messiah and Psalm 110:1 to visually place Jesus at the right hand of God in the heavenly Sanctuary and now that image is joined to one of Jesus as the New Covenant High Priestly-King after the order of Melchizedek, imagery presented in the same Psalm 110 in verse 4. In the written and oral tradition of the Old Covenant people, God's throne and the heavenly court are understood to be in the heavenly Sanctuary:

Psalm 11:4a: The LORD (Yahweh) is in his holy temple' the LORD's (Yahweh's) throne is in heaven.
Psalm 103 [102]:19: The LORD's (Yahweh's) throne is established in heaven; God's royal power rules over all.
Isaiah 6:1: In the year king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple.
Isaiah 66:1: Thus says the LORD (Yahweh): The heavens are my throne, the earth is my footstool. What kind of house can you built for me; what is to be my resting place?
Ezekiel 1:26: Above the firmament over their heads something like a throne could be seen, looking like sapphire. Upon it was seated, up above. One who had the appearance of a man.
Habakkuk 2:20: But the LORD (Yahweh) is in his holy temple; silence before him, all the earth!

The New Testament also offers vivid imagery of God enthroned in the heavenly Sanctuary as well as Christ the Son enthroned:

Matthew 5:34: (Jesus speaking) But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by earth, for it is his footstool...
Matthew 19:28: (Jesus speaking to the 12 Apostles) Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the new age, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Revelation 3:21: (Jesus speaking) Anyone who proves victorious I will allow to share my throne, just as I have myself overcome and have taken my seat with my Father on his throne.
Revelation 4:2b-3: A throne was there in heaven, and on the throne sat one whose appearance sparkled like jasper and carnelian. Around the throne was a halo as brilliant as an emerald.
Revelation 20:11-12: Next I saw a large white throne and the one who was sitting on it. The earth and the sky fled from his presence and there was no place for them. I saw the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. Then another scroll was opened, the Book of Life. The dead were judged according to their deeds, by what was written in the scrolls.

Unity of belief has always been the essence of the Church!

v The first Vatican Council noted, the Church herself, with her marvelous propagation, eminent holiness, and inexhaustible fruitfulness in everything good, her catholic unity and invincible stability, is a great and perpetual motive of credibility and an irrefutable witness of her divine mission [Vatican Council I, Dei Filius 3].

v The Second Vatican Council further defined the Catholic Church's role as Christ's sole authority: For it is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained. It was to the apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head, that we believe that our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant, in order to establish on earth the one Body of Christ into which all those should be fully incorporated who belong in any way to the People of God. Vatican II, Decree on Ecumenism.

The Church is both "catholic" (meaning universal) in its doctrine and in its worldwide message of the Gospel of salvation. This teaching authority is passed in an unbroken physical line from Jesus to Peter and the Apostles to the Pope and Bishops of the universal/Catholic Church today! [Also see CCC# 816; 820; 830-31; see CCC# 838 for the Catholic Church's relationship to non-Catholic Christians and #839-45; 846-48 to non-Christians].

Hebrews 8:7-13: The Old Testament Promise of the New Covenant

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second one. 8 But he finds fault with them and says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will conclude a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt; for they did not stand by my covenant and I ignored them, says the Lord. 10 But this is the covenant I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds and I will write them upon their hearts. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 11 And they shall not teach, each one his fellow citizen and kinsman, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know me, from the least to greatest. 12 For I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sins no more." 13 When he speaks of a "new" covenant, he declares the first one obsolete. And what has become obsolete and has grown old is close to disappearing.

The covenant made with the children of Israel at Sinai was a corporate covenant that was first established in the covenant promises made to the physical fathers of the children of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who God renamed "Israel" [Genesis 12:1-3; 17:15-18; Exodus 2:25; Leviticus 26:45-46]. In fact all covenants that come after the time of the Abrahamic covenant will draw upon the promises God made to Abraham, promises that would not be fulfilled until the establishment of the New Covenant in Christ. In that covenant God promised the descendants of Abraham a kingdom, descendants as numerous as the stars, and a world-wide blessing. All of these promises were fulfilled:

Fulfilled in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, the Universal Church,
Fulfilled in the multitude of spiritual sons and daughters of Abraham from every age of man who would receive Jesus Christ as Redeemer, and
Fulfilled in the world-wide blessing of universal salvation which was His gift from the sacrificial altar of the Cross.

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Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Bible in One Year Day 363 (Revelation 15-17, Hebrews 5-8, Proverbs 31: 23-25)

Suetonius' List of twelve emperors

Tacitus' List of eleven emperors

LIST OF 10 IMPERIAL PROVINCES

LIST OF THE HERODIAN RULERS

A word about the word "Antichrist"

The word "antichrist" is not used even once in the Book of Revelation! But the only sacred writer who uses that word is St. John! He uses this word in 2 of his Catholic

letters (Epistles I & II). They are:

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