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Understanding Scripture in Light of a Jewish Timeline

Posts in Iron Scepter
Looking into the Future

Many people want to understand what happens in the future—especially their future. Believe it or not, the Bible gives us some pretty good clues as to what will occur. It doesn’t necessary give us the ‘when’ but does give us some of the ‘how.’ Interested?

I know there is a lot of controversy about how we get to Christ’s second coming, but I think the Bible is somewhat clear to many of the details of his reign. Yet, there are some things that seem to confuse, like the differences between the reigning Messiah, the identity of the Prince mentioned in the book of Ezekiel, and the future reign of king David which God promised to him during his earthly reign. Are these three different individuals? This is one of the reasons I wrote my series Stele Prophecy Pentalogy.

Although the series of five books are fiction from a storyline perspective, I feel they are really grounded in Scripture. The series provides a rationale as to how these three individuals I mentioned above are distinct in identity and purpose.

The first book of the series, Mercy of the Iron Scepter, starts out toward the end of Christ’s reign and goes on through the release of Satan back into the world. While we read of such in the book of Revelation, it seems almost too sensational to really be true. Yet, I present a scenario that shows how possible it is that all could happen as stated without having to subtract anything the Bible reveals, or any details provided. The book also shows how faith will still be needed to accept the Messiah as the hope for their future (just as we must do today). Although we get the Holy Spirit to guide as once we place our faith in him, my book reveals that this conduit of the Holy Spirit to our spirit will then become much more direct and profound. Our experience today is only a deposit of what we can expect once we are in Christ’s earthly kingdom (2Co 1:22). The next four books are prequels to this first book

The second book of the series, Promised Kingdom (and first prequel to Mercy of the Iron Scepter), tells how Christ’s Promised Kingdom comes about. The trigger is when the Messiah comes for his bride, the Church, which sets the stage for the Tribulation Period which brings all sorts of atrocities on this earth. While these atrocities affect everyone, it is mainly geared to drive all Israelites and Jews back to Israel since they are today living in almost every country of the world. This is the prophetic meaning to the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets) as it was originally designed to remind God to remember his covenant with the nation of Israel. The reason for this is that the day of judgment (Yom Kippur) is fast approaching. The Israelites knew they had no righteous standing before a holy God except for the covenant he had made with them with Abraham and with them on Mount Sinai.

The third book of the series, Hope Renewed, is about the beginning of the Promised Kingdom and why sacrifices become a major part of this time of our future history. The storyline is about a priest, Ya’akov, who comes of age and must make a decision whether he will serve the Messiah is the capacity of the first priest born into the Messiah’s Promised Kingdom. He must decide if the destiny that the Messiah has ordained for him is what he believes is best for him. Ya’akov must go through the same mental journey that each of us must face: do we believe God has the best in store for us or do we believe our life is lacking something he has not provided for us.

The next book, Darkness in the Light, occurs about five hundred years later into the Promised Kingdom. This book deals with the Prince who Ezekiel mentions in his prophetic book. This individual is to lead the world into how to worship the Messiah. The story evolves into a love story between the Prince’s daughter, Me’ira, and someone not of royal birth. Both the Prince and Me’ira have tough decisions to make. Sometimes happiness doesn’t occur without heartache being involved in the process. This story will help readers understand who the Prince is in comparison to the Messiah and to King David. This story also helps us see that our Messiah cares for everyone equally.

The final book in this series, Iron in the Scepter, occurs just before the beginning of Mercy of the Iron Scepter. It tells of the story of Janet, one of the characters introduced in the first book, and helps readers understand the choices she made to cause her to be in the place we find her in the first book. She, like we, are the consequence of our choices and our view and acceptance of the Messiah. The Adversary uses our pride as a weapon against us. Some people lose that war while others can see the truth Scripture is trying to tell us. Janet’s journey is the journey of all of us. See if you can see glimpses of yourself in this story.

I hope you enjoy the Stele Prophecy Pentalogy. Hopefully, it will provide some clarity to what Scripture is telling us about this time of our future and its chronology. Plus, I feel the series provides some exciting, fast-paced stories for your enjoyment. I think you will find that these characters, even though they live in a time we all long for, are still people and must make many of the decisions that we today also must make. It’s still a story of decision and how our loving God wishes the best for us and encourages us to make the right decisions for our lives.

Even as the author, I still find these stories amazing and helpful as they remind me that we serve a loving God, and we will be able to serve him for all eternity. Isn’t that a hope to hold onto?

May God bless you richly.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Kingdom of Priests

While Gentiles certainly benefit from the Millennial Kingdom, this time is prophetically about Israel fulfilling their original commission of being a kingdom of priests. From the beginning of Israel’s covenant with God at Mount Sinai, they were to be a kingdom of priests to the world. They did not fulfill that command the first time. Therefore, God is going to allow them the honor of fulfilling that command by leading the world in the worship of their King, their Savior. This will also include sacrifices. It is important to note that the purpose of sacrifices has always been about atonement, which is the act of cleansing. Of course, that meant the atonement, or cleansing, from sin, but also included the act of cleansing the implements that were a part of the ceremony.  This would still be true. Everything, including the altar itself, must be cleansed before it can be used in worship (Ek 43:13-27). All these things will, at least in the beginning, be a reminder to all of what Christ did for them.

While Israel will lead the world in the worship of God, there will still be many nations on earth. During this one-thousand-year reign, there will be many, many children born (Zc 8:4-5). They, too, will have to decide about putting their faith in Jesus Christ. It might seem obvious that in such a utopian society it would be a natural thing for people to do. However, even in the present world it is pride that leads to destruction (Pr 16:18); it will be no different in the Millennium. Although Satan will not be present, mankind’s nature is still present. Pride itself does not come from Satan, but he uses it to his advantage. Also, the children born during this time will not be aware of how bad and troubled the world was before Christ came and lifted the curse on both mankind and the earth. They will only know, according to them, that Christ has always been the ruler. While the teaching of their parents and other teachers will tell them of what Christ did and show that the sacrifices reveal the work that He did on the cross for everyone, these will not be experiences for them. These are things they will have to accept by faith just as their parents had done. Unfortunately, as time goes on, not everyone will put their faith in Jesus Christ, their king. This period of history will force mankind to admit that its biggest problem is mankind’s spirit itself. It is not Satan who creates the rebellion in one’s heart, but it is generated by one’s own pride.

The Bible also states that Jesus will reign with an iron scepter (Ps 2:9; Rv 12:5). That means all turmoil will be squelched immediately. After all, when the king knows one’s very thoughts, it is easy for Him to pass judgment quickly. Therefore, anyone who dies less than one-hundred years of age is considered cursed (Is 65:20). This is likely reflecting the seriousness of the acts by those who do rebel. Rebellion will not be tolerated. However, that does not mean internal, deep-seated animosity will not still occur. Some believe these scriptures teach that only those from the Gentile nations may reject Christ as their Savior while all the Jews will accept Him.

While the verse in Isaiah does not explicitly state death will not occur to anyone who does not rebel, it can be implied since the first resurrection has already occurred, and the second resurrection is only for the non-saved (Rv 20:4-6). The Bible does not speak of any further resurrection of the righteous. This suggests that those born during the Millennium and accept Christ as their Savior will never die.

As you can see, this will be quite an awesome kingdom. You, too, can be a part of it. Don’t miss it!

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens