Let’s Clean This Mess Up!

Guest blog post by Richard Gray

 An angel announces, “…Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen…For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance [1411, (miraculous) power, might, strength] of her delicacies [4764, self-indulgent luxury]” (Rev. 18:2, 3).

Babylon is the world’s corrupt hierarchical one world religious/political system that will bring untold destruction and death on the world. “For in those days shall be affliction [2347, oppression, affliction, tribulation, distress], such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom He hath chosen, He hath shortened the days” (Mk. 13:19, 20).

The Great Trumpet will announce the return of the Messiah and His bride to the earth. “And it shall come to pass in that day, the GREAT TRUMPET shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem” (Isaiah 27:13).

The Great Trumpet is the trumpet of the jubilee which is blown on the Day of Atonement.

“Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the Day of Atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family” (Lev. 25:9, 10).

The year of the Jubilee is the acceptable year of the LORD.

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn….And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations” (Isaiah 61:1, 2, 4).

This is repeated in the discussion of proper fasting in Isaiah 58: “And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in” (Isaiah 58:12).  

The restoration project is not only about rebuilding the old ruins, but it about repairing the breach between God and man by restoring the proper way of life. “Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezek. 11:17-20).

The land of Israel is a type of the entire earth which is going to become a place of worship of the true God.

God uses Israel as a pattern for His plan of salvation. There were three groups of people in Israel that represent the three periods of salvation. The first are the priests who were by far the smallest group. These correspond to the 144,000 in the first resurrection on the Day of Trumpets.

The next largest group was the Levites. “And the Levites were purified, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them as an [wave] offering before the LORD; and Aaron made an atonement for them to cleanse them” (Num. 8:21). A wave offering does NOT picture a resurrection as many suppose, but it is offered as a gift.

The Levites correspond to the “…great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb….They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more…” (Rev. 7:9, 14, 16).

These will be taught God’s way during the millennium. “And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation…” (Num. 8:19).

The great multitude will be given as a gift to the Messiah and the priests to help teach the third group of people. The third group of people is the congregation which was far and away the largest group. They correspond to those who will be in the second resurrection. The preparations for this great number of guests that are coming will be completed during the millennium.

The tabernacle, which the Levites were assigned to do the service of, is a model of the Kingdom of God. There were forty-eight boards that enclosed the tabernacle (Ex. 26:18-23). After Israel entered the Promised Land, a type of the Kingdom of God, the Levites were given cities. “All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty and eight cities with their suburbs” (Joshua 21:41).

The 48 cities are for feeding the flock. It was the responsibility of the priests and the Levites to teach the congregation the way in which they were to walk. “My covenant was with him [Levi] of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. For the priest's lips should keep [8104, guard, protect, preserve] knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts” (Mal. 2:5-7).

The forty-eight cities will establish the Kingdom of God on this tabernacle, the earth. “After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things” (Acts 15:16, 17).

However, not everyone will choose the way of the Eternal. “But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD” (v. 21)..

Prior to the second resurrection another matter must be taken care of. “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea… and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them” (Rev. 20:7-9).

Next: the meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles.