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The Priority of the Epistles
Eli Kittim
Principles of Interpretation
Using R.C. Sproul’s hermeneutical guidelines from his book, Knowing Scripture, I will argue that there is a chronological discrepancy in the New Testament (NT) in which the timeline of Jesus’ life in the gospels is not the same as the one mentioned in the epistles. Specifically, the epistles contradict the gospels regarding the timeline of Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection by placing it in eschatological categories. So I will argue that, based on principles of interpretation, priority must be given to the epistles. According to R.C. Sproul, exegetes must interpret the implicit by the explicit and the narrative by the didactic. In practical terms, the NT epistles and other more explicit and didactic portions of Scripture must clarify the implicit meaning and significance of the gospel literature. Accordingly, I will argue that the epistles are the primary keys to unlocking the future timeline of Christ’s only visitation. According to R.C. Sproul’s hermeneutical guidelines, the gospels must be interpreted by the epistles.
“The Historical Narrative Must be
Interpreted by the Didactic”
— R.C. Sproul
Case in point. The epistles——which are the clearest teachings of the NT——apparently contradict the gospels regarding the timeline of Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection by placing it in eschatological categories. The epistolary authors deviate from the gospel writers in their understanding of the overall importance of eschatology in the chronology of Jesus. For them, Scripture comprises revelations and “prophetic writings” (see Rom. 16:25-26; 2 Pet. 1:19-21; Rev. 22:18-19)! For example, according to the NT epistles, Jesus Christ will die “once for all” (Gk. ἅπαξ hapax) “at the end of the age” (Heb. 9:26b), a phrase which consistently refers to the end of the world (cf. Mt. 13:39-40, 49; 24:3; 28:20). Similarly, just as Hebrews 1:2 says that the physical Son speaks to humanity in the “last days,” 1 Pet. 1:20 (NJB) clearly sets forth the eschatological timing of Christ’s initial appearance “at the final point of time.” Given that the epistles are the more didactic portions of Scripture, and that the gospel narratives are not considered historical by many scholars, it would therefore seem hermeneutically legitimate to interpret the narrative by the didactic!
The Explicit & the Implicit
“The implicit is to be interpreted in light of
the explicit. Not the other way around”
— R.C. Sproul
But we have it completely backwards. For centuries, we’ve tried to interpret the explicit (epistles) in light of the implicit (gospels). And yet, it’s the didactic portions of Scripture that teach with clear and explicit statements. For example, in terms of Jesus’ appearance and death, Hebrews 9:26 (KJV) says directly and clearly, “once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” This is an explicit statement that not only shows the time of his coming (ἅπαξ ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων) but also the purpose of his appearance, namely, to sacrifice himself in order to put away sin (εἰς ἀθέτησιν ⸀ἁμαρτίας διὰ τῆς θυσίας αὐτοῦ). In both the Greek and English versions, the statement is very clear. Jesus’ death takes place at the consummation of the ages. We find a parallel passage in 1 Peter 1:20 (ASV):
“[Jesus] was foreknown indeed before
the foundation of the world, but was
manifested at the end of the times.”
These are straightforward, clear, and explicit teachings. To subordinate these explicit epistolary teachings of Scripture and to argue on the basis of implications drawn from the more obscure gospel narratives is a misuse of the Scripture. If we insist on the canonical context of the Bible, namely, that each book in the Old Testament (OT) & the NT is related to all the other books and is inspired by the Holy Spirit, then we have to be careful not to set these two divisions——namely, the gospels and the epistles——in opposition. The problem arises when we deduce certain things from the gospels, which then bring us into direct conflict with something that the Scripture teaches in the epistles very clearly and very plainly.
“Our implications must always be measured
by and made subordinate to what the
Scriptures explicitly teach” — R.C. Sproul
The Totality of Scripture
“Every particular passage of Scripture must
be measured and interpreted against the
whole of Scripture” — R.C. Sproul
Let’s look at the gospel narratives and the didactic literature of the epistles and compare them. The didactic literature clearly demonstrates that the NT is an Apocalypse, whereas the gospels claim to be historical eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ Life, Death, and Resurrection. The first problem is that Bible scholars don’t consider the gospels as historical accounts, but rather view them as theological documents. The second problem is that the epistles seemingly contradict the gospels with regard to the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ by placing them in eschatological categories.
Now, let’s take the principle that “every particular passage of Scripture must be measured and interpreted against the whole of Scripture” and apply it to the Messianic timeline. And let’s ask the question: according to Scripture, does the Messiah come to earth during the time of antiquity or in the end times? In fact, most of the evidence with regard to the Messianic timeline in both the OT & NT is consistent with the epistles rather than with the gospels. For example, Zephaniah 1:7-8 declares that the Lord’s sacrifice will occur during “the day of the Lord” (not in antiquity; cf. Zeph. 1:14-18). Isaiah 2:19 says that people will hide in the caves of rocks when “the Lord … arises to terrify the earth.” In other words, the Lord’s resurrection is not separate from but contemporaneous with judgement day (cf. Rev. 6:15-17)! Similarly, Daniel 12:1 puts the resurrection of the anointed prince just prior to the great tribulation. This can be proved with detailed exegesis from the Greek text. For instance, the Septuagint (LXX Daniel 12:1) says παρελεύσεται, which means to “pass away,” while the Theodotion (Daniel 12:1) has ἀναστήσεται, meaning a bodily resurrection in the end-times. In the following verse (Daniel 12:2), the plural form of the exact same word (ἀναστήσονται) is used to describe the general resurrection of the dead! In other words, if the exact same word means resurrection in Daniel 12:2, then it must also necessarily mean resurrection in Daniel 12:1! Acts 3:20-21 similarly says that Christ will not be sent to earth until the consummation of the ages. Even Luke 17:30 claims that the Son of man has not yet been revealed! In fact, 1 Corinthians 15:22-24 tells us explicitly that Christ will be resurrected in the end-times (an idea also entertained by James Dunn):
“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all
will be made alive. But each in his own
order: Christ the first fruits, after that those
who are Christ’s at His coming, then comes
the end.”
What is more, Revelation 12:5 makes it clear that the messiah is born in the end times as a contemporary of the last world empire, which is depicted as a seven-headed dragon with ten horns (cf. Rev. 17:9-14). In fact, chapter 12 & verse 5 describes the birth of the messiah, & the immediate next verse talks about the great tribulation. Likewise, Galatians 4:4 says that Jesus will be born during the consummation of the ages, expressed by the apocalyptic phrase τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου, which is defined in Ephesians 1:10 as the end of the world! And Hebrews 9:26 (KJV) says EXPLICITLY——categorically and unequivocally——that Jesus will die for the sins of mankind “once in the end of the world” (ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων)! Rev 19:10 also informs us that the TESTIMONY to Jesus is prophetic (not historical). Read Acts 10:40-41 where we are told that Jesus’ resurrection was based on visions because it was only visible “to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God.” First Peter 1:10-11 also says that the NT prophets “predicted the sufferings of the Messiah” in advance (cf. Isa 46:10)!
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Eli Kittim’s Unique Interpretation of Jesus
Eli Kittim’s eschatology is a view in biblical studies that interprets the story of Jesus in exclusively eschatological terms. This unique approach was developed by Eli of Kittim, especially in his 2013 work, The Little Book of Revelation. Kittim doesn’t consider Jesus' life as something that happened in history but rather as something that will occur in the last days as a fulfillment of bible prophecy. It involves a new paradigm shift! Kittim holds to an exclusive futuristic eschatology in which the story of Jesus (his birth, death, and resurrection) takes place once and for all in the end-times (see Heb. 9:26b; 1 Pet. 1:20). Kittim’s eschatology provides a solution to the historical problems associated with the historical Jesus.
Eli Kittim - The Little Book of Revelation: The First Coming of Jesus at the End of Days
伊莱·基蒂姆 启示录小书：耶稣在末日的第一次降临
एली किट्टिम - रहस्योद्घाटन की छोटी पुस्तक: दिनों के अंत में यीशु का पहला आगमन
Эли Киттим - Маленькая книга Откровения: Первое пришествие Иисуса в конце дней
אלי כטים - ספר ההתגלות הקטן: ביאתו הראשונה של ישוע באחרית הימים
إيلي كيتيم كتاب الرؤيا الصغير: المجيء الأول ليسوع في نهاية الأيام
Ελι Κιττίμ - Το Μικρό Βιβλίο της Αποκάλυψης: Η Πρώτη Παρουσία του Ιησού στο τέλος των Ημερών
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The Sign of Jonah: Christ’s Death at Sea
By Eli Kittim
Jonah is the English form of the Hebrew name Yona, which is rendered as Ionas in the Greek. The Ionians were the ancient Greeks (see Josephus Antiquities I, 6). So Ionia means Greece, and an ancient citizen of Ion was called Ionas. So Jonah (Ionas), who is a type of Christ, is depicted as a Greek figure. Let us not forget that Jonah was going to Tarshish, which has been identified as Ancient Greece (see the undermentioned article).
What is more, it seems as if the sign of Jonah is a typological metaphor for Christ’s death and resurrection that is employed by the evangelists in order to demonstrate that Jesus is the Messiah. But, as I will show, it also represents an event in prophetic history, although this has not as yet taken place. In the gospel narrative, Matthew connects Jesus’ death to that of Jonah, after the latter’s body was cast into the sea. Matthew 12:39-40 (NASB) reads thusly:
“An evil and adulterous generation craves a
sign; and so no sign will be given to it except
the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as
Jonah was in the stomach of the sea
monster for three days and three nights, so
will the Son of Man be in the heart of the
earth for three days and three nights.”
We find analogous parallels and motifs in the Psalms as well. For example, Psalm 69:1-2 reads:
“Save me, God, For the waters have
threatened my life. I have sunk in deep mud,
and there is no foothold; I have come into
deep waters, and a flood overflows me.”
Similarly, Psalm 18:16 says:
“He sent from on high, He took me;
He drew me out of many waters.”
Ephesians 4:9 says that Jesus “descended into the lower parts of the earth.” That is, he descended to the ocean floor. The average depth of the ocean floor is approximately 12,000 feet. So, Matthew is drawing comparative conclusions between Jonah’s and Jesus's death at sea. Let’s see what happened to Jonah. Jonah 1:15-17 says:
“So they picked up Jonah and hurled him
into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.
… And the Lord designated a great fish to
swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the
stomach of the fish for three days and three
nights.”
The typological sign of the resurrection is suggested in Jonah 2:10:
“Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it
vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.”
This, then, is the sign of Jonah——which says in effect that God literally “drew … [him] out of many waters”——that Matthew applies to Jesus (cf. Isaiah 43:2)! This is reminiscent of another messianic type who was named “Moses” by Pharaoh's daughter “because … [she] drew him out of the water” (Exod. 2:10). It is also the sign of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. I will not focus on the phrase “three days and three nights” because it will divert us from the topic at hand. Suffice it to say that it need not refer to a literal three-day period. It seems to be a figure of speech that may signify the three-year great tribulation period.
At any rate, the so-called “sign of Jonah” is not simply a metaphor or a unique sign that would establish the deity of Christ, but it is also a factual event! And although I agree with C.S. Lewis who held that Jonah is ahistorical, nevertheless, I believe that the sign of Jonah, as a type, represents the literal, actual death of its antitype: the Messiah! We know that Jonah did not survive. The Book of Jonah 2:2-6 explicitly says that Jonah, after being hurled into the sea, cried out to God “from the depth of Sheol”:
“I called out of my distress to the Lord, And
He answered me. I called for help from the
depth of Sheol; You heard my voice. For You
threw me into the deep, Into the heart of the
seas, And the current flowed around me. All
Your breakers and waves passed over me.
So I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your
sight.’ … Water encompassed me to the
point of death. The deep flowed around me,
Seaweed was wrapped around my head. …
But You have brought up my life from the
pit, Lord my God.”
It’s important to note that the terms “pit” and “Sheol,” in the Hebrew Bible, are references to the realm of the dead (see e.g. Job 7:9; Ps. 49:14-15; 89:48). The resurrection is depicted in Jonah’s own words: “You have brought up my life from the pit, Lord my God.”
So it appears as if the sign of Jonah is also the sign of Christ’s death. Just as Tim Mackie (co-founder of the Bibleproject) explains in one of his sessions that there is a literary redundancy of the word “hurled” in the Jonah text, especially regarding its main character Jonah who is literally “hurled” into the water, I believe that Christ is similarly “hurled” into the water and eaten by a shark. Hence the symbolism of being born in a manger or a feeding trough. This, of course, is closely related to the last supper (i.e. the sacrament of the Eucharist), the idea that Jesus is literally consumed. There are also overtones of Noah's flood in this parallel (cf. Matthew 24:37), as well as of Osiris, who also drowned and whose coffin (like the Ark) floated in the sea (cf. the story of Perseus who was also cast into the sea in a wooden chest).
Another key point is that, according to the Hebrew text, Jonah's fish is not a whale but rather some kind of “great fish". Through special revelation, this appears to be a shark. And the term “swallow”——in the clause, “the Lord designated a great fish to swallow Jonah”——is a euphemism for a great fish feasting on Jonah and consequently fatally injuring him. This, of course, ties in with the idea that we die and are reborn by going under water (Immersion baptism), a symbolic ritual that is unique to Christianity! Hence why Immersion baptism is not only tied to Jonah but is also symbolic of Christ’s death, being re-enacted in the New Testament through the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist!
This study of Jonah takes us back to the origin of the Christian fish symbol, the so-called “ichthys” (ἰχθύς), which is now known as the Jesus fish. And despite the acrostic use of this word: Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ (i.e. Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour)—— nevertheless, the fish symbolism has a variety of other theological overtones in the New Testament, such as the Feeding of the 5,000 with 2 fishes and 5 loaves, as well as the Feeding of the 4,000 with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish, not to mention that Jesus calls his disciples "fishers of men." That is precisely why Immersion baptism in the early church signified a parallel between fish and converts (i.e. born again Christians). The early Christian theologian Tertullian explained it thusly:
“we, little fishes, after the image of our
Ichthys, Jesus Christ, are born in the water."
El Kittim
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Is Paul Teaching an Imminent Eschatology in 1 Corinthians 15:51?
Eli Kittim
Some commentators have claimed that Paul’s language in 1 Corinthians 15:51 is referencing an imminent eschatology. Our primary task is to analyze what the critical Greek New Testament text actually says (not what we would like it to say), and then to ascertain if there are any proofs in it of an imminent eschatology. Let’s start by focusing on a particular verse that is often cited as proof of Paul’s imminent eschatology, namely, 1 Corinthians 15:51. It is alleged that this verse seems to suggest that Paul’s audience in Corinth would live to see the coming of Christ. But we must ask the question:
What in the original Greek text indicates that Paul is referring specifically to his immediate audience in Corinth and not to mankind collectively, which is in Christ? We can actually find out the answer to this question by studying the Greek text, which we will do in a moment.
At any rate, it is often asserted that the clause “We shall not all die" (in 1 Corinthians 15:51) does not square well with a future eschatology. These commentators often end up fabricating an entire fictional scenario that is not even mentioned in the original text. For starters, the plural pronoun “we” seems to be referring to the dead, not to people who are alive in Corinth (I will prove that in a moment). And yet, on the pretext of doing historical criticism, they usually go on to concoct a fictitious narrative (independently of what the text is saying) about how Paul is referring to the people of Corinth who will not die until they see the Parousia.
But, textually speaking, where does 1 Corinthians 15:51 mention the Corinthian audience, the Parousia, or that the Corinthians will still be alive to see it? They have rewritten a novel. None of these fictitious premises can be found in the textual data. Once again, I must ask the same question:
What in the original Greek text indicates that Paul is referring to his audience (which is alive) in Corinth and not to the dead in Christ (collectively)?
We can actually find out the answer to this question by studying the Greek text, which we will do right now!
As I will demonstrate, this particular example does not prove an imminent eschatology based on Paul’s words and phrases. In first Corinthians 15:51, the use of the first person plural pronoun “we” obviously includes Paul by virtue of the fact that he, too, will one day die and rise again. In fact, there is no explicit reference to the rapture or the resurrection taking place in Paul’s lifetime in 1 Corinthians 15:51. In the remainder of this commentary, I will demonstrate the internal evidence (textual evidence) by parsing and exegeting the original Greek New Testament text!
Commentators often claim that the clause “We shall not all die" implies an imminent eschatology. Let’s test that hypothesis. Paul actually wrote the following in 1 Corinthians 15:51 (according to the Greek NT critical text NA28):
πάντες οὐ κοιμηθησόμεθα, πάντες δὲ
ἀλλαγησόμεθα.
My Translation:
“We will not all sleep, but we will all be
transformed.”
In the original Greek text, there is no separate word that corresponds to the plural pronoun “we.” Rather, we get that pronoun from the case endings -μεθα (i.e. κοιμηθησόμεθα/ἀλλαγησόμεθα). The Greek verb κοιμηθησόμεθα (sleep) is a future passive indicative, first person plural. It simply refers to a future event. But it does not tell us when it will occur (i.e. whether in the near or distant future). We can only determine that by comparing other writings by Paul and the eschatological verbiage that he employs in his other epistles. Moreover, it is important to note that the verb κοιμηθησόμεθα simply refers to a collective sleep. It does not refer to any readers in Corinth!
Similarly, the verb ἀλλαγησόμεθα (we will all be transformed) is a future passive indicative, first person plural. It, too, means that all the dead who are in Christ, including Paul, will not die but be changed/transformed. The event is set in the future, but a specific timeline is not explicitly or implicitly given, or even suggested. Both expressions (i.e. κοιμηθησόμεθα/ἀλλαγησόμεθα) refer to all humankind in Christ or to all the elect that ever lived (including, of course, Paul as well) because both words are preceded by the adjective πάντες, which means “all.” In other words, Paul references “all” the elect that have ever lived, including himself, and says that we will not all perish but be transformed. We must bear in mind that the word πάντες means “all,” and the verb “we will all be changed” (ἀλλαγησόμεθα) refers back to all who sleep in Christ (πάντες κοιμηθησόμεθα). Thus, the pronoun “we,” which is present in the case endings (-μεθα), is simply an extension of the lexical form pertaining to those who sleep (κοιμηθησόμεθα). So, the verb κοιμηθησόμεθα simply refers to all those who sleep. Once again, the adjective πάντες (all/everyone)——in the phrase “We will not all sleep”—— does not refer to any readers in Corinth.
There is not even one reference to a specific time-period in this verse (i.e. when it will happen). Not one. And the plural pronoun “we” specifically refers to all the dead in Christ (πάντες κοιμηθησόμεθα), not to any readers alive in Corinth (eisegesis).
And that is a scholarly exegesis of how we go about translating the meanings of words accurately, while maintaining literal fidelity. It’s also an illustration of why we need to go back to the original Greek text rather than to rely on corrupt, paraphrased English translations (which often include the translators’ theological interpretative biases).
Conclusion
What commentators often fail to realize is that the first person plural pronoun “we” includes Paul because he, too, is part of the elect who will also die and one day rise again. Koine Greek——the language in which Paul wrote his epistles——is interested in the so-called “aspect” (how), not in the “time” (when), of an event. First Corinthians 15:51 does not suggest specifically when the rapture & the resurrection will happen. And it strongly suggests that the plural pronoun “we” is referring to the dead, not to the readers who, by contrast, are alive in Corinth.
Some commentators are simply trying to force their own interpretation that doesn’t actually square well with the grammatical elements of 1 Corinthians 15:51 or with Paul’s other epistles where he explicitly talks about the Day of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12) and the last days (1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:1 ἐν ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις), a time during which the world will look very different from his own. The argument, therefore, that 1 Corinthians 15:51 is referring to an Imminent Eschatology is not supported by the textual data (or the original Greek text).
What is more, if we compare the Pauline corpus with the eschatology of Matthew 24 & 2 Peter 3:10, as well as with the totality of scripture (canonical context), it will become quite obvious that all these texts are talking about the distant future!
If anyone thinks that they can parse the Greek and demonstrate a specific time-period indicated in 1 Corinthians 15:51, or that the phrase “all who sleep” (πάντες κοιμηθησόμεθα) is a reference to the readers in Corinth, please do so. I would love to hear it. Otherwise, this study is incontestable/irrefutable!
The same type of exegesis can be equally applied to 1 Thessalonians 4:15 in order to demonstrate that the verse is not referring to Paul’s audience in Thessalonica, but rather to a future generation that will be alive during the coming of the Lord (but that's another topic for another day):
ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι εἰς τὴν
παρουσίαν τοῦ κυρίου.
“we who are alive, who are left until the
coming of the Lord.”
If that were the case——that is, if the New Testament was teaching that the first century Christians would live to see the day of the lord——it would mean that both Paul and Jesus were false prophets who preached an imminent eschatology that never happened.
The Gospel of Kittim
Eli Kittim’s Prophetic Gospel
1. The Gospels are nonhistorical theological documents. Only the Epistles——which are the more explicit and didactic portions of the New Testament——give us the “Real” Jesus! It appears, then, that the theological purpose of the Gospels is to provide a fitting introduction to the messianic story beforehand so that it can be passed down from generation to generation until the time of its fulfillment. It’s as though New Testament history is written in advance (Isaiah 46.10)!
2. The New Testament Epistles comprise revelations and “prophetic writings” (Romans 16.25-26; 2 Peter 1.19-21; Revelation 22.18-19). They give us the actual timeline of Christ’s only visitation at the end of the age (Hebrews 1.2; 9.26b; 1 Peter 1.20; Revelation 12.5)!
3. Second Peter 1.16-19 demonstrates that the so-called “eyewitness accounts” of the gospels were actually based on visions & prophecies that were then written down as if they had already happened proleptically. Similarly, Acts 10.40—41 says that Jesus’ resurrection was a vision because it was only visible “to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God.” Revelation 19.10 also declares that “the testimony to Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
4. There is only one coming of Jesus in the end-times (1 Peter 1.10-11; emphasized especially in 1 Peter 1.20)!
5. The birth of Jesus occurs at the consummation of the ages (Galatians 4.4; Ephesians 1.10; Revelation 12:5). Acts 3.19-21 implies that the Messiah will not be sent to earth “until the time of universal restoration.”
6. Jesus’ death and resurrection occur “once in the end of the world” (Hebrews 9.26-28; see Zephaniah 1.7-18 in which the sacrifice or death of the Lord takes place during the day of the Lord)!
7. The resurrection of Jesus occurs during the consummation of the ages (Daniel 12.1; Isaiah 2.19, 21; 1 Corinthians 15.22-23; & he conquers death at the end of the world in 1 Corinthians 15.54, 57).
8. Jesus is the first horseman of the apocalypse (he’s the restrainer of 2 Thessalonians 2.7; cf. Revelation 6.2; 19.11).
9. Jesus represents the two witnesses of Revelation 11 (Jesus is the Witness in Revelation 1.5; 3.14; see also 1 John 5.7-9, & verse 11 where the anointed witnesses declare the testimony to Jesus). The 2 witnesses represent the 2 messiahs of Judaism (king/priest) which in the NT are conflated into one person: the Son of God (Hebrews 7.1-3).
10. The day of Christ (1 Corinthians 1.8; 3.13; Philippians 1.6; 2.16; 2 Thessalonians 2.2) or the Revelation of Christ (Luke 17.30; 1 Corinthians 1.7; Colossians 3.4; 1 Thessalonians 1.10; 2 Thessalonians 1.7; 1 Timothy 6.14; 2 Timothy 4.1; Titus 2.13; 1 Peter 1.13; 5.1; 1 John 2.28) occurs once in the end of the world!
11. Jesus is Greek (Isaiah 46.11; 61.9; Amos 9.12; Revelation 1.8-9; John 7.41-44, 52; 8.48-49; 4Q120; that’s why all the messianic types of the OT are depicted as Gentiles: e.g. Joseph/Moses/Cyrus).
12. Jesus is born in 1960. The key to solving this puzzle is found in Matthew 1.17. Notice that there is a constant repetition of 14 generations throughout the foregoing lineage. We also know from Scripture that a generation is equal to 70 years (Psalm 90.10). One final clue: the calculation does not begin from the time of Abraham but from the time of David who alone represents the Messiah! So, let’s work out the calculation. Matthew tells us that there were 14 generations from David to Babylon. Each generation is equal to 70 years. Thus, 14 x 70 = 980 years from David to Babylon. And there were 14 generations from the exile to the Messiah. Therefore, 14 x 70 = 980 years. So, from David to the exile are 980 years, and from the exile to the Messiah are another 980 years. Hence 980 (+) 980 = 1960, the year of the Messiah’s birth! The 70 weeks of Daniel are based on the birth of the Messiah, which is another way of saying the rebuilding of the heavenly Jerusalem (Daniel 9.25). That’s probably why Sister Lúcia Santos did not reveal the third secret of Fátima but sealed it in an envelope not to be opened until 1960, when “it will appear clearer."
13. Jesus is born in August. Luke 1.26-27 tells us the month of Jesus’ birth. In Luke 1.26, the angel was sent “in the sixth month.” That’s the clue! That’s the key. Simple and to the point. The sixth month (in the Jewish religious calendar) is called Elul. In the Gregorian calendar it falls on the month of August. Thus, that’s the month that the Messiah is born!
14. Jesus, who is the first horseman of the apocalypse, is revealed in 2025 or thereabouts (see Genesis 5.21; Dr. Chuck Missler agrees that something happened to Enoch, who is a type of Christ, when he was 65 years old). After that, Christ will be slain (Hebrews 9.26). Since the 70 weeks of Daniel are based on the birth of the Messiah——which is depicted in scripture as the building of the heavenly Jerusalem (Daniel 9.25)——then it follows that AFTER 62 years, “the Messiah will be cut off” (Daniel 9.26)! Don’t forget Irenaeus’ argument that Christ was a much older man, and that the promise to Abraham, a messianic type, was fulfilled in his old age! Theosophist Alice Bailey also predicted Christ’s appearance in 2025 (The Externalisation of the Hierarchy).
15. World War 3 begins in the latter half of the 2020 decade! Notice that there are 21 judgments in the Book of Revelation, and that the Messenger of God (in Daniel 10.13-14) was withstood for 21 days from coming to earth, with regard to the vision of the latter days. This would suggest that the Messiah——who is elsewhere depicted as Eli (which means “God”; Matthew 27.46)——will come to earth in the 21st century, just prior to “the great and terrible day of the Lord” (Malachi 4.5).
16. The general resurrection of the dead begins in the latter half of the 2020 decade, right after Jesus’ resurrection (Daniel 12.1-2; 1 Corinthians 15.22-23).
17. The Antichrist is here as well. He is Russian (Ezekiel 38). Daniel 8.25 calls him a “master of deception,” which is another way of saying “a spy.” Daniel’s 4th kingdom with 2 legs was Rome. The western Roman Empire was sacked in the 5th century AD. Then, in 1453, the Turks sacked Constantinople (the eastern part of the Roman Empire) and most of the Byzantine elites fled north to Moscow, where Moscow became the third Rome. Astonishingly, Putin came to power on the last day of the year 1999 (666), which marks the end of a thousand-year period. This important timeframe coincides with a Biblical prophecy in which the Antichrist will not appear “until the thousand years . . . [have] ended” (Revelation 20.3, 7-8)! The seer Nostradamus also predicted the coming of Antichrist in 1999 (Century 10, Quatrain 72).
18. The 10 Kings of Daniel 7.20 & Revelation 17.12 are the 8 leaders of the USSR plus the 3 leaders of the succeeding Russian Federation since its formation on December 25, 1991, with Putin being the 11th horn (the 11th king) of Daniel 7.20, “to make room for which three [kings] . . . fell out” (emphasizing the last 3 leaders of the new federal republic that arose out of the former USSR)!
19. The Great Tribulation (Nuclear War/WW3) will begin in the latter half of the 2020 decade.
20. We are living in the prophesied end-times! Revelation 22.20: “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
Eli of Kittim Amazon Author Page
Eli of Kittim Amazon Author Page
This is my Amazon Fan Page. The title of my non-fiction book clarifies what the book is about, namely, The First Coming of Jesus at the End of Days. The book is based on biblical scholarship and its argument is that——according to the New Testament epistles——the first coming of Jesus will take place at the end of the world (see e.g. Hebrews 9:26b; 1 Peter 1:20)! This can be corroborated throughout the Bible. I have done extensive follow-up research using the original Greek New Testament to demonstrate the legitimacy of my claim!
Eli Kittim Reddit
The Official Website of “The Little Book of Revelation”
From Goodreads Author and Bible teacher Eli Kittim
The Official Website of “The Little Book of Revelation: The First Coming of Jesus at the End of Days”
Το Μικρό Βιβλίο της Αποκάλυψης: Η Πρώτη Παρουσία του Ιησού στο τέλος των Ημερών
Από τον συγγραφέα και Βιβλολόγο ´Ελι Κιττίμ.
Νικητής του βραβείου Θρησκείας και πνευματικότητας 2015 στο Goodreads.
Ένα συναρπαστικό βιβλίο που υποστηρίζει την ελληνική καταγωγή του Ιησού (γραμμένο στα αγγλικά).
To buy this book, click on the link below. ⬇️
Για να αγοράσετε αυτό το βιβλίο, ακολουθήστε τον παρακάτω σύνδεσμο: ⬇️
δικτυακός τόπος για «Το Μικρό Βιβλίο της Αποκάλυψης: Η Πρώτη Παρουσία του Ιησού στο τέλος των Ημερών» ⬇️
The Bible Attributes the Hidden Name of God to Greece
Eli kittim
The Greek New Testament Unlocks the Meaning of God’s Name
The meaning of God’s name (YHVH) was originally incoherent and indecipherable until the appearance of the Greek New Testament. In Isaiah 46:11, God says that he will call the Messiah “from a distant country” (cf. Matt. 28:18; 1 Cor. 15:24-25). Similarly, in Matt. 21:43, Jesus promised that the kingdom of God will be taken away from the Jews and given to another nation. That’s why Isaiah 61:9 says that the Gentiles will be the blessed posterity of God (through the messianic seed). Paul also says categorically and unequivocally, “It is not the children of the flesh [the Jews] … but the children of the promise [who] are regarded as descendants [of Israel]” (Rom. 9:6-8).
These passages demonstrate why the New Testament was not written in Hebrew but in Greek. In fact, most of the New Testament books were composed in Greece. The New Testament was written exclusively in Greek, and most of the epistles address Greek communities. Not to mention that the New Testament authors used the Greek Old Testament as their Inspired text and copied extensively from it. That’s also why Christ attributed the divine I AM to the Greek language (alpha and omega). Now why did all this happen? Was it a mere coincidence or an accident, or is it because God’s name is somehow associated with Greece? Let’s explore this question further.
YHVH (I AM)
Initially, God did not disclose the meaning of his name to Moses (Exod. 3:14), but only the status of his ontological being: “I Am.” The four-letter Hebrew theonym יהוה (transliterated as YHVH) is the name of God in the Hebrew Bible, and it’s pronounced as yahva. In Judaism, this name is forbidden from being vocalized or even pronounced.
Hebrew was a consonantal language. Vowels and cantillation marks were devised much later by the Masoretes between the 7th and 10th centuries AD. Thus, to call the divine name Yahva is a rough approximation. We really don’t know how to properly pronounce the name or what it actually means. But, through linguistic and biblical research, we can propose a scholarly hypothesis.
God Explicitly Identifies Himself with the Language of the Greeks
Since God’s name (the divine “I AM”) was revealed in the New Testament vis-à-vis the first and last letters of the Greek writing system (“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” Rev. 22:13), then it necessarily must reflect a Greek name. The letters Alpha and Omega constitute “the beginning and the end” of the Greek alphabet. Put differently, the creator of the universe (Heb. 1:2) explicitly identifies himself with the language of the Greeks! That explains why the New Testament was written in Greek rather than Hebrew. That’s also why we are told “how God First concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for his name” (Acts 15:14):
“And with this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written, … ‘THE GENTILES WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME’ “ (Acts 15:15-17).
This is a groundbreaking statement because it demonstrates that God’s name is not derived from Hebraic but rather Gentile sources. The Hebrew Bible asserts the exact same thing:
“All the Gentiles… are called by My name” (Amos 9:12).
The New Testament clearly tells us that God identifies himself with the language of the Greeks: “ ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God” (Rev. 1:8). In the following verse, John is “on the [Greek] island called Patmos BECAUSE of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 1:9 italics mine). We thus begin to realize why the New Testament was written exclusively in Greek, namely, to reflect the Greek God: τοῦ μεγάλου θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ⸂Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ⸃ (Titus 2:13)! Incidentally, God is never once called Yahva in the Greek New Testament. Rather, he is called Lord (kurios). Similarly, Jesus is never once called Yeshua. He is called Ἰησοῦς, a name which both Cyril of Jerusalem (catechetical lectures 10.13) and Clement of Alexandria (Paedagogus, Book 3) considered to be derived from Greek sources.
Yahva: Semantic and Phonetic Implications
If my hypothesis is accurate, we must find evidence of a Greek linguistic element within the Hebrew name of God (i.e. Yahva) as it was originally revealed to Moses in Exod. 3:14. Indeed, we do! In the Hebrew language, the term “Yahvan” represents the Greeks (Josephus Antiquities I, 6). Therefore, it is not difficult to see how the phonetic and grammatical mystery of the Tetragrammaton (YHVH, commonly pronounced as Yahva) is related to the Hebrew term Yahvan, which refers to the Greeks. In fact, the Hebrew names for both God and Greece (Yahva/Yahvan) are virtually indistinguishable from one another, both grammatically and phonetically! The only difference is in the Nun Sophit (Final Nun), which stands for "Son of" (Hebrew ben). Thus, the Tetragrammaton plus the Final Nun (Yahva + n) can be interpreted as “Son of God.” This would explain why strict injunctions were given that the theonym must remain untranslatable under the consonantal name of God (YV). The Divine Name can only be deciphered with the addition of vowels, which not only point to “YahVan,” the Hebrew name for Greece, but also anticipate the arrival of the Greek New Testament!
There’s further evidence for a connection between the Greek and Hebrew names of God in the Dead Sea Scrolls. In a few Septuagint manuscripts, the Tetragrammaton (YHVH) is actually translated in Greek as ΙΑΩ “IAO” (aka Greek Trigrammaton). In other words, the theonym Yahva is translated into Koine Greek as Ιαω (see Lev. 4:27 LXX manuscript 4Q120). This fragment is dated to the 1st century BC. Astoundingly, the name ΙΑΩΝ is the name of Greece (aka Ἰάων/Ionians/IAONIANS), the earliest literary records of whom can be found in the works of Homer (Gk. Ἰάονες; iāones) and also in the writings of the Greek poet Hesiod (Gk. Ἰάων; iāōn). Bible scholars concur that the Hebrew name Yahvan represents the Iaonians; that is to say, Yahvan is Ion (aka Ionia, meaning “Greece”).
We find further evidence that the Tetragrammaton (YHVH) is translated as ΙΑΩ (IAO) in the writings of the church fathers. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia (1910) and B.D. Eerdmans, Diodorus Siculus refers to the name of God by writing Ἰαῶ (Iao). Irenaeus reports that the Valentinians use Ἰαῶ (Iao). Origen of Alexandria also employs Ἰαώ (Iao). Theodoret of Cyrus writes Ἰαώ (Iao) as well to refer to the name of God.
Summary
Therefore, the hidden name of God in the Septuagint, the New Testament, and the Hebrew Bible seemingly represents Greece! The ultimate revelation of God’s name is disclosed in the Greek New Testament by Jesus Christ who identifies himself with the language of the Greeks: Ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ Ἄλφα καὶ τὸ Ὦ (Rev. 1:8). In retrospect, we can trace this Greek name back to the Divine “I am” in Exodus 3:14!
The Bible Says That The Messiah Will Not Come From Israel
Eli Kittim
Isaiah Declares That The Messiah Will NOT Come From Israel
In Isaiah 46:11 (KJV), God says: I will bring from a far country the Messiah who will execute my counsel (cf. Matt. 28:18; 1 Cor. 15:24-25):
Calling … the man that executeth my
counsel from a far country: yea, I have
spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have
purposed it, I will also do it.
For further biblical evidence concerning a Gentile Messiah, see the following paper: ⬇️
The Masoretic Text (Old Testament)
In Isaiah 46:11, the Hebrew word מֵאֶ֥רֶץ (mê·’e·reṣ) means “from the land” or “country,” while the word מֶרְחָ֖ק (mer·ḥāq) means “distant place” or “from afar.” Together they mean “from a distant place,” “from afar,” or “from a distant country.” Since God is speaking to the Israelites, it is obvious that the Messiah he has appointed to execute his counsel WILL NOT come from Palestine!
Isaiah 46:9-11 reads:
I am God, and there is none like me,
Declaring the end from the beginning, and
from ancient times the things that are not
yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand,
and I will do all my pleasure: Calling … the
man that executeth my counsel from a far
country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also
bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also
do it.
The Greek Old Testament (Septuagint)
This is also recorded in the Greek Old Testament of Isaiah 46:9-11. The LXX uses the word αὐτόν (autón)——which is the accusative masculine singular form of αυτός, meaning “him”——to describe the “man” who will be called “from a land afar off” to execute both God’s counsel and plans! The key word here is πόρρωθεν, which means “from a distance” or “from afar” (see Lk. 17:12; Heb. 11:13). It means that this messianic figure will come from a distant country. He is obviously not a native Israelite! Similarly, in Matt. 21:43, the literary Jesus promised that the kingdom of God will be taken away from the Jews and given to another nation. What is more, the covenant of the seed (in Genesis 12) is a reference to Christ. That is to say, the covenant is through Abraham’s seed, who **is** Christ (see Gal. 3:16). That’s why Isaiah 61:9 says that the Gentiles are the blessed posterity of God (through the messianic seed):
And their seed shall be known among the
Gentiles, and their offspring among the
people: all that see them shall acknowledge
them, that they are the [Messianic] seed
which the LORD hath blessed.
For further proof of a Greek Messianic line, see the following article: ⬇️
God is Called by a Gentile Name
Conclusion
Why is the New Testament written in Greek? It’s not because it was the lingua franca. If that was the case, we would expect the Dead Sea Scrolls to be written predominantly in Greek. Yet they were written in Hebrew for the most part. No! It has to do with the identity of the Messiah! Why does the literary Christ call himself the alpha and the omega (referring to the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet)? Why is John on the Greek island of Patmos to proclaim the testimony of Jesus on the Lord’s day? It isn’t because he is in exile. That’s an old wive’s tale… There is much much more that I obviously cannot reproduce, here, due to time constraints.
‘all the Gentiles … are called by My name,’
Says the LORD (Amos 9:12 NKJV).
For additional information on a Gentile Messiah, see the following article: ⬇️
The Evolution of a Gentile Messiah in the Bible
The Little Book of Revelation (Xlibris):
By Eli Of Kittim 🎓📚
A Study of the Sequence of EndTime Events
Eli Kittim – Das kleine Buch der Offenbarung: Das erste Kommen Jesu in den letzten Tagen
엘리 킷팀(Eli Kittim) - 작은 요한계시록: 마지막 날에 예수님의 초림
Eli Kittim - Mica carte a Apocalipsei: Prima venire a lui Isus la sfârșitul zilelor
Eli Kittim - Ang Munting Aklat ng Pahayag: Ang Unang Pagdating ni Hesus sa Katapusan ng mga Araw
イーライ・キティム - 小さな黙示録: 終わりの日のイエスの初臨
ایلی کٹیم - مکاشفہ کی چھوٹی کتاب: آخری دنوں میں یسوع کی پہلی آمد
📖 Scripture Quotes by Bible Teacher Eli Kittim 📚
Israelology Versus Replacement Theology: Is the Bible about Israel or Jesus?
Eli Kittim
If Jesus is the Messianic fulfillment of the Hebrew Bible, then the Old Testament is essentially Christocentric (not Jewishcentric) and the New Testament is not talking about two peoples (the Jews & the church) but rather one: the elect (cf. Eph. 2:19-20), which is to say that the overarching theme of the Old Testament is not about a race but about a person: the Messiah!
If in fact there are 2 peoples with 2 different sets of standards (law & grace) by which they’re saved, then that would invalidate Christ’s atonement, as would the rebuilding of the third Jewish temple, which would necessitate the reinstituting of animal sacrifices. However, the Bible is not about ethnicity, racism, or nationalism. In Romans 2:28-29 (NASB), Paul redefines what the term Jew means in scripture:
For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly,
nor is circumcision that which is outward in
the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one
inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart.
In the Bible, there are not two people of God, but only one: those who are in Christ. At the end of the age, Christ will separate “the sheep from the goats” (Mt. 25.32). In other words, there are only two categories: you are either in Christ or out of Christ! The Bible is Christocentric. It is not ethnocentric. It’s not about a race.
Instead of admitting that they view the Bible as being about their race and not about Christ, the Hebrew Roots Movement dresses it up euphemistically as though the controversy was about the Jews versus the church. But that’s a misnomer. The real controversy is this: they don’t believe that the Bible is about Christ. But they hide that from you! Messianic Jews are often far more Judaic than they let on.
Read the letter to the Hebrews, chapter 9. It’s all about how Christ is greater than the temple sacrifices or the Law of Moses. This is a New Covenant. So why are the Jews holding on to the old one? Hebrews 8:13 declares:
When He [God] said, ‘A new covenant,’ He
has made the first obsolete.
Both Galatians and Romans are authentic Pauline letters. In those letters, Paul says categorically & unequivocally that we are saved by Grace, not by the Law. Paul says in Galatians 2:16:
a person is not justified by works
of the Law but through faith in Christ.
In Galatians 2:21, Paul says:
if righteousness comes through the Law, then
Christ died needlessly.
In Galatians 3:11, Paul repeats the justification of faith teaching:
that no one is justified by the Law before
God is evident; for, ‘the righteous one will
live by faith.’
It’s also found in many other places, including Romans 3:20:
by the works of the Law none of mankind
will be justified in His sight.
It doesn’t get any clearer than that. We are not to observe the law. We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. According to Acts 4:12:
there is salvation in no one else [except
Jesus Christ]; for there is no other name
under heaven that has been given among
mankind by which we must be saved.
Yahweh is never once mentioned in the New Testament. Moreover, Galatians 3:7 says that we are the sons of Abraham by faith (not by race):
recognize that it is those who are of faith
who are sons of Abraham.
Ephesians 2:12-13 says that through “the blood of Christ” the elect are now part of God’s family. There’s only one plan, one family, one salvation, and one Lord, not 2 different salvation plans, or 2 peoples. It’s not that we have replaced Israel but that we have been brought into one family through Jesus’ atonement (the new covenant) which was prophesied in Jeremiah 31.31.
Incidentally, the history of replacement theology doesn’t go back to the dispensationalism of the 1800s, but rather to the early church. In Jer. 3:8, God gave Israel an official certificate of divorce. In Mt. 21:43, Jesus promised that the kingdom of God will be taken away from the Jews and given to another nation. Justin Martyr (100-165 AD) concurred that God’s covenant with Israel was annulled and that the Jews had been replaced by the Gentiles. Origen’s (185-253 AD) view was along the same lines. Irenaeus (ca. 130-202 AD) also proclaimed that God disinherited the Jews from his grace. Tertullian (ca. 155-220 AD) also held that the Jews had been rejected by God. Similarly, Eusebius (ca. 265-339 AD) held that the promises of Scripture were given to the Gentiles because only the Church was the “true Israel.” This was also the view of St. Augustine (354-430 AD). So, this view didn’t start in the 19th century. It was there from the beginning.
The covenant of the seed (in Genesis 12) is a reference to Christ (see Gal. 3:16). Notice that Abraham is the “father of many nations” (Gen. 17:5), not just one. So the covenant with Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 17:8) is with multiple nations, not just one! And all these are part of the covenant through Abraham’s seed, who is Christ! That’s why Isaiah 61:9 explicitly refers to God’s posterity as the people of the Gentiles:
their offspring will be known among the
nations [Gentiles], And their descendants in
the midst of the peoples. All who see them
will recognize them because they are the
offspring whom the Lord has blessed.
“It is not the children of the flesh … but the children of the promise [who] are regarded as descendants [of Israel]” (Rom 9:6-8). Here’s further proof that the language which was once used for Israel is now used to address the church (cf. Gal. 6:16). In contradistinction to those who don’t believe in Christ, 1 Peter 2:9 is addressing the church who does believe in Christ, saying:
But you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people for
God’s own possession.
In Colossians 1:26, “the mystery which had been hidden from the past ages and generations, but now has been revealed to His saints” is that the Gentiles are co-inheritors with Israel (cf. Gal 3:28). Ephesians 3:6 says:
This mystery is that through the gospel the
Gentiles are heirs together with Israel,
members together of one body, and sharers
together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
The real controversy about replacement theology is this: is the Bible about Judaism or Jesus? Jews argue that the Bible is not about Christ. Their Dual-covenant theology holds that the Old Covenant remains valid for Jews whereas the New Covenant is only applicable to gentiles.
Bottom line, the Bible is not about a nation or a race. It’s about a person: the God-incarnate Messiah. Those who believe in Christ think that the Bible is about Christ. Those who don’t really believe in Christ think that the Bible is about the nation of Israel. It’s that simple.
What is the argument about? It’s really about whether we pledge allegiance to Moses or to Jesus.
Has Christ been divided?
(1 Corinthians 1:13).
The first horseman of the apocalypse is not the antichrist
By Eli Kittim 🎓
Is Mara bar Serapion’s Letter a Forgery?
Eli Kittim
The letter has been claimed to include no
Christian themes.
— Wiki
Mara bar Serapion was a stoic philosopher. He is noted for a lengthy letter that he wrote to his son. The letter was composed in Syriac, written sometime between 73 AD and the 3rd century. Many Christian apologists have suggested that Mara bar Serapion is alluding to Jesus Christ in this letter. But there are several problems with that theory.
First, a nonChristian like Mara bar Serapion would never have referred to Jesus as a “king.” Only dedicated and reborn Christians refer to Jesus as their Lord of lords and kings of Kings, not pagans.
Second, Jesus was not known as a “king.” In fact, according to Bruce Chilton and Craig A. Evans (“Studying the Historical Jesus,” pp. 455–457), “the term ‘king of the Jews’ has never been seen in the Christian literature of antiquity as a title for Jesus.”
Third, Jesus was not known as a “wise king.” The only Jew known to be a “wise king” was King Solomon, who was in fact a *king,* and whose *wisdom* was known throughout the ancient world. What is more, King Solomon is well known for being the author of many books of *wisdom* in the Bible.
Fourth, Mara bar Serapion does not even mention the terms “Jesus” or “Christ.” And when referring to famous heroic philosophers who died, and what happened after their death, he never mentions Jesus’ resurrection. Even if he didn’t believe it, he would have, at least, mentioned the *rumor* of Jesus being raised from the dead. The fact that he doesn’t mention it at all means that he’s not talking about Jesus:
[Robert E.] Van Voorst adds two factors
that indicate Mara was not a Christian, the
first being his failure to mention the terms
Jesus or Christ. The second factor (also
supported by Chilton and Evans) is that
Mara's statement that Jesus lives on based
on the wisdom of his teachings, in contrast
to the Christian concept that Jesus
continues to live through his resurrection,
indicates that he was not a Christian.
— Wiki
Fifth, the language of the document suggests that Mara bar Serapion is referring to an actual king who enacted new laws and established new practices. For example, Jewish tradition ascribes ritual hand washing and eruvin to King Solomon, who also served as a Judge (e.g. the “Judgment of Solomon”). He was also responsible for building the first temple, and for instituting new laws of how the temple services would run:
Nay, Socrates did ‘not’ die, because of
Plato; nor yet Pythagoras, because of the
statue of Hera; nor yet the Wise King,
because of the new laws which he enacted.
— Wiki
Sixth, there’s something very odd about the reference to the Jews in this letter. This is quite a long letter, which is based entirely on Greek philosophy. Scholars are in agreement that Mara bar Serapion was a Stoic philosopher and a pagan. As a rule, Stoic philosophers held Jewish teachings in contempt, and so they would never have placed them on a par with the teachings of Socrates, Plato, and Pythagoras. We know this from the apostle Paul who was scoffed at when preaching to stoic philosophers in Athens (Acts 17:15-34). The addition of the “Jewish” element, therefore, reads like a non sequitur, like a strange interpolation that doesn’t belong there… It sounds as if someone added it at a later time. And it seems as if the author (or editor?) got things wrong. Pythagoras was not burned, and King Solomon was not killed. And the expulsion of the Jews might be a reference to the deportation of the Northern Kingdom in 722 BC, or to that of Judah in 586 BC:
The letter refers to the unjust treatment of
‘three wise men’: the murder of Socrates,
the burning of Pythagoras, and the
execution of ‘the wise king’ of the Jews.
— Wiki
Now that I have offered my critique, let’s actually read that portion of the letter that apologists have employed time after time as evidence for the historicity of Jesus. Do you think that this pericope constitutes strong evidence for the existence of Jesus? Hardly! Not by a long shot:
For what benefit did the Athenians obtain
by putting Socrates to death, seeing that
they received as retribution for it famine and
pestilence? Or the people of Samos by the
burning of Pythagoras, seeing that in one
hour the whole of their country was covered
with sand? Or the Jews by the murder of
their Wise King, seeing that from that very
time their kingdom was driven away from
them? For with justice did God grant a
recompense to the wisdom of all three of
them. For the Athenians died by famine;
and the people of Samos were covered by
the sea without remedy; and the Jews,
brought to desolation and expelled from
their kingdom, are driven away into every
land. Nay, Socrates did “not” die, because
of Plato; nor yet Pythagoras, because of the
statue of Hera; nor yet the Wise King,
because of the new laws which he enacted.
— Wiki
The Cloths of Christ: Holy Relics or Fakes?
Eli Kittim
Don’t be naive. Fakes, forgeries, and frauds are much more prevalent than you might think. Just as the “post-2002” Dead Sea Scrolls are fake, so are many Christian relics. For instance, take the “Titulus Crucis,” a piece of wood. Christian tradition claims that the relic contains a portion of the True Cross. Scientists, however, consider it to be a medieval forgery:
In 2002, the University of Arizona
conducted radiocarbon dating tests on the
artifact, and it was shown to have been
made between 980 and 1146 AD. The
carbon dating results were published in the
peer-reviewed journal Radiocarbon.
— Wiki
The same holds true for many other relics. Yet despite these setbacks, Christian archaeologists continue to make sensational claims that they have found the burning bush, the tomb of Jesus, the house of Peter, the Veil of Veronica (which btw is never mentioned in the canonical Gospels), and the like. They’re doing a great disservice to Christianity by promoting sensationalism and fake news. By advertizing hoaxes, fakes, and forgeries, they’re setting up Christianity to be mocked and ridiculed, and ultimately rejected. Once people realize that these relics are nothing more than fakes, frauds, and forgeries, they would want nothing to do with Christianity. In other words, the veracity of the Christian message is at stake. They’re setting people up to apostatize and deconstruct their faith. This is actually an attack on——not a support of——the Christian faith!
Pious Frauds
The Sudarium of Oviedo cloth——which is believed to be the post-mortem cloth that was wrapped around Jesus’ head, as mentioned in John 20:6–7——has been dated to around 700 AD by radiocarbon dating:
It’s a hoax!
The Manoppello Image of Jesus Christ’s face on a cloth is also a fake:
Most researchers state that, despite fringe
claims of divine origins, the face on the veil
at Manoppello clearly conforms in
appearance to the characteristics of an
artificially-made image and that stylistically
it is similar to images dating to the late
Middle Ages or early Renaissance.
— Wiki
The Shroud of Turin is also a 13th to 14th century hoax:
In 1988, radiocarbon dating by three
different laboratories established that the
shroud's linen material was produced
between the years 1260 and 1390 (to a
95% confidence level). Defenders of the
authenticity of the shroud have questioned
those results, usually on the basis that the
samples tested might have been
contaminated or taken from a medieval
repair to the original fabric. Such fringe
hypotheses have been refuted by carbon-
dating experts and others based on
evidence from the shroud itself, including
the medieval repair hypothesis, the bio-
contamination hypothesis and the carbon
monoxide hypothesis.
— Wiki
However, there was a recent research study on the Shroud of Turin (April 2022) by Dr. Liberato De Caro’s team which used the new “Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering” or WAXS method to determine the age of the shroud. They claim that they found a match with a piece of fabric from c. AD 55-74 from the siege of Masada in Israel. However, it is as yet unknown whether or not the findings are accurate. As far as I know, they have not been independently confirmed or multiply-attested by other laboratories. Dr. De Caro himself noted that his work was simply “evaluated and peer-reviewed by three other independent experts,” including the editor of the journal “Heritage,” which published his findings. But that doesn’t mean that the results were correct, multiply attested, or independently confirmed. It just means that a couple of editors thought that the experiment was worthy of publication. In fact, Dr. Liberato De Caro himself expressed the need for further research, especially “blind” tests to “avoid any possible bias in the data analysis by the authors of the research.” Bottom line, this new study has not yet conclusively refuted the 1988 radiocarbon dating findings by three different laboratories which established that the shroud is a medieval hoax.
As early as 1390, about 35 years after the
Shroud first emerged in France, Pierre
d'Arcis, the Catholic bishop in Troyes, wrote
to Pope Clement VII that the shroud was ‘a
clever sleight of hand’ by someone ‘falsely
declaring this was the actual shroud in
which Jesus was enfolded in the tomb to
attract the multitude so that money might
cunningly be wrung from them.’
— NBC News
The Roman Catholic Church considers the
Shroud to be an icon, not a holy relic.
— NBC News
Now, a new study using modern forensic
techniques suggests the bloodstains on the
shroud are completely unrealistic,
supporting arguments that it is a fake.
— Livescience
‘If you look at the bloodstains as a whole,
just as you would when working at a crime
scene, you realize they contradict each
other,’ Borrini said. ‘That points to the
artificial origin of these stains.’
— Livescience
Enough already with the hoaxes and the
fake news!
The Seven Seals of Revelation
Eli Kittim
In ancient times, papyrus scrolls with classified information contained several wax seals (Gk. σφραγίς) which ensured that only the appropriate recipient could read the document. Likewise, the Bible uses the term metaphorically to convey apocalyptic information about upcoming events. The seven-sealed scroll reveals seven chronological disclosures that will come in rapid succession. Each seal represents a coming event that will have a major impact on the world. The breaking of the seven seals occurs in Rev. 5–8. The first four seals are known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
The first seal represents the first coming of Christ, who commences the sequence of end time events (Rev. 6:1-2). He rides a white horse, which is also mentioned in Rev. 19:11 using nearly identical language. In Rev. 6:2 (NJB), the white rider goes “from victory to victory” (Gk. νικῶν καὶ ἵνα νικήσῃ). The biblical term "victory" is intimately associated with Christ's resurrection from the dead, which ultimately results in the conquering of death itself (see 1 Cor. 15:54, 57). The terms νικῶν and νικήσῃ are based on the Greek word νικάω (nikao), which means to “overcome” or to be “victorious.” The word nikao can only refer to an overcomer in Christ and cannot possibly be attributed to an Antichrist figure (see e.g. Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; Rev. 3:5, 12, 21). Also, the white horseman wears a stephanos crown, which is worn by believers and victors in Christ (see e.g. Mt. 27:29; Jas. 1:12; 2 Tim. 4:8; 1 Pet. 5:4; Rev. 2:10; 4:4; 14:14). The Stephanos “crown” is therefore a symbol of victory for the believers in Christ. Accordingly, the Antichrist would not wear a stephanos crown. We are also told that the rider of the white horse “was holding a bow” (Gk. toxon), which represents God's covenant with the human race (see Gen. 9:13). The Septuagint (LXX), an early Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, translates the Hebrew word קַשְׁתִּ֕י (qaš·tî), which means “rainbow,” with the Greek word “toxon” (bow) in Gen. 9:13! In Rev. 6:2, the Greek word “toxon” is the same word that is translated in the English Bible versions by the word bow. Therefore, the Antichrist would not be “holding a bow,” representing God's covenant. And there are no counterfeit signs in the Bible. That’s why all references to God, Christ, and to the saints are always couched in white imagery (see e.g. Isa. 1:18; Dan. 7:9; Mt. 28:3; John 20:12; Rev. 1:14; 2:17; Rev. 3:4-5, 18; 4:4; 6:11; Rev. 7:9, 13-14; 14:14; 19:14).
The second seal represents the coming of the Antichrist (Revelation 6:3–4), the red horse. The red horseman represents the last king who comes out of the final world empire, which is represented by the red seven-headed dragon with ten horns. World War 3 commences with the red rider, who was given a huge and mighty sword and granted permission to slaughter mankind.
The third seal represents economic collapse (Revelation 6:5–6). The rider of the Black horse holds “a pair of scales,” which merchants used in order to barter for their goods. In those days, meals will be so expensive that it will cost a whole day's wages just to have one.
The fourth seal (Revelation 6:7–8) introduces the “deathly pale” horse whose “rider was called Death, and Hades followed at its heels.” The fourth horse mainly represents a global food crisis, famines, and pandemics that kill off “a quarter of the earth[‘s]” population, coupled with wars and other devastations.
The fifth seal represents the martyrs of the faith throughout the centuries, but especially those who will be killed during the great tribulation (Revelation 6:9–11). The clue is given in verse 11 where “they were told to be patient a little longer, until the roll was completed of their fellow-servants and brothers who were still to be killed as they had been” (cf. Mt. 24:9). These martyrs include the 144,000 who are mentioned in Revelation chapter seven. Rev. 7:13-14 explains that the 144 thousand are the elect “who have been through the great trial.” However, Rev. 7:4-8 is obviously describing not just the tribulation saints but the entire church as a whole. In fact, Revelation 7:9 gives us the identity of the 144 thousand by stating that they’re “a huge number, impossible for anyone to count,” and that they come from every nation on earth.
The sixth seal represents nuclear war, the resurrection, and the rapture (Revelation 6:12–17). The first part of the sixth seal represents nuclear war, which is described as “a violent earthquake” that causes the sun to turn black and the moon red. This event precedes the day of the Lord, according to Joel 2:31 (italics mine):
“The sun shall be turned to darkness, and
the moon to blood, BEFORE the great and
awesome day of the LORD comes.”
There are other devastations as well, such as massive upheavals of the earth's crust and space debris hurtling back to earth, islands and mountains are moved out of their place, as everything will be shaken to its foundations (cf. Hebrews 12:27). It is right after this event that Christ will appear to rapture the elect. See Matthew 24:29-31 (italics mine):
“Immediately AFTER the distress of those
days the sun will be darkened, the moon will
not give its light, the stars will fall from the
sky and the powers of the heavens will be
shaken. And then the sign of the Son of
man will appear in heaven; … And he will
send his angels with a loud trumpet to
gather his elect from the four winds.”
Similarly, Daniel 12:1-2 indicates that the general resurrection of the dead will occur after the great tribulation, which will be an event “unlike any other from the nation’s beginning up to that time.” In line with these passages, the sixth seal indicates that after the great tribulation “all the kings of the earth, the governors and … the whole population, … hid in caverns and among the rocks of the mountains,” and “they said to the mountains and the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us away from the One who sits on the throne and from the retribution of the Lamb. For the Great Day of his retribution has come, and who can face it?' “ (Rev. 6:15-17). This pericope is taken from Isaiah 2:19, which describes Yahweh rising from the dead to shake the earth:
“they will go into the caverns of the rocks
and into the fissures of the earth in terror of
Yahweh, at the brilliance of his majesty,
when he arises to make the earth quake.”
We know from 1 Thess. 4:16-17 that the resurrection and the rapture happen simultaneously. Thus, the aforementioned passages coalesce to give us the big picture, namely, that the sixth seal represents the resurrection and the rapture, which will occur right after the Great Tribulation!
The seventh seal represents the Day of the Lord (Rev. 8:1-5). The prelude to the day of the Lord begins with a short respite, as “there was silence in heaven for about half an hour” (verse 1). It represents the lull before the storm. This is the close of the tribulation period (Satan’s wrath) and the beginning of the Day of the Lord (God’s wrath), as the severity of the judgments begin to increase with the coming of the seven trumpets. But before the sounding of the seven trumpets, an “angel took the censer and filled it from the fire of the altar, which he then hurled down onto the earth,” causing massive earthquakes and devastations (verse 5). Thus, the seventh seal represents the commencement of the Day of the Lord!