Oh What a Throne

Behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith His mother crowned Him (Song of Sol. 3:11)

20 March 2016

Dear Phyllis,

Last week we saw how Dan. 9:25 prophesied to the exact day Christ's presentation of Himself as the Israel's Messiah. This event was the Triumphant Entry. Today I want to talk about the coronation of Christ as Israel's King.

As the son of David, Solomon very clearly is a type of Christ and his coronation is a unique picture of the coronation of our Lord Jesus. Adonijah had attempted a coup and nearly usurped the kingship of Israel. To thwart this David had Nathan take Solomon to Gihon and anoint him king there. This was a coronation at a contested time but once the kingdom was firmly established they anointed Solomon king a second time, (1 Kn. 1 and 1 Ch. 29:22). This is a picture of the coronation of our Lord Jesus. He too will be crowned King twice and the verse in S. of S. 3:11 refers to His first coronation. In Scripture there very clearly is a gender; the female gender refers to earthly things and the male gender to heavenly. This verse in Song of Sol. directs our attention to the first coronation of Jesus.

I have never heard a message on this subject but I firmly believe that what we have in the Last Week is the coronation of Jesus. One third of the four gospels are devoted to that period. All four gospels record the initial event – the Triumphant Entry. Today is Palm Sunday and this is the day that that happened. In years past the coronation of royalty was not an event that was over in three or four hours but lasted days. The first coronation of Israel's King was an event that lasted one week. In my book, The Inverted Kingdom, I have developed a theme that I feel strongly shows that the laws of the Kingdom of God are reversed from the natural laws of the world – down is up, death is life, lose is to win, give is to get, etc. The two greatest illustrations of the inverted nature of God's laws and ours is that, in heaven, the Lamb is the highest symbol of power and authority and the Crucifixion of Christ is the coronation of God's Son on earth.

Of course any coronation begins with a parade. For royalty and presidents there is a special vehicle. When Queen Elizabeth was crowned queen in England in 1953 there was a special carriage that was used only for royalty. In ancient times it was the kings horse. For Solomon, David instructed Nathan to have Solomon ride on the king's own mule (1 Kn. 1:33,44). It is astonishing what Jesus choose to be His royal vehicle. He rode into Jerusalem on a donkeys colt. That is the lowest animal that would carry Him. But this was the fulfillment of the prophecy of the introduction of Israel's King to the country (Zech, 9:9; Mt. 21:4,5). It is customary for most, if not all, high level events to have a red carpet. It was only fitting that there be a red carpet for perhaps the greatest event in human history – the introduction of the King of Israel. But what a red carpet! It was dirty jackets and palm branches strewn in the road (Mk. 11:8; Jn. 12:13). For an event like this it would only be natural that there be trumpeters sounding His arrival, but the trumpeters that day were disciples shouting “Hosanna”, who got rebuked by Pharisees in attendance. Of course, as King of Israel it was only fitting that the end of that parade be at the Temple. But rather than having a reception at the Temple, Jesus made a whip to drive the money changers out. That was His first official act, to clean house.

For a week long coronation there naturally would be several high level state dinners. And there were two for Jesus. But the first one was in a lepers house (Mk.14:3). It was at this state dinner that a lady came and anointed Jesus. But the disciples were so incensed they remarked, “What a waste” (Mk. 14:4). The second state dinner was the most important one. It was the Last Supper. This was the Passover Feast meal. Jesus had looked forward to this for a long time but that had a disastrous flaw. No one had made provision for washing the guests feet, and this was a lowly task that no disciple was willing to humbly do. With the absence of someone willing to do that task, the guest of honor, the King Himself, wrapped Himself in a towel and did the servants job. This would be like having a state dinner for the King of Thailand and someone forgot to have waiters. So the king himself goes out in the kitchen to wait on tables, then washes the dishes. The events that happened that week were the most contentious of Jesus career. He was challenged every day by His enemies trying to trick Him into some politically incorrect statement, and it was at this time that Jesus taught His most judgmental parables and harshest warnings.

But it was the coronation itself that exceeds all the boundaries of human imagination. First He was hailed in front of the Israeli senate (the Sanhedrin). There were many false accusers none of which could agree, but the final condemning statement was when He truthfully answered that He was the Christ (Mk. 14:56-63). With that the high priest tore his robe. Then we was taken to Pilate's court. After a long time of interrogation and a brief trip to Herod's interview, Pilate had Him scourged and officially crowned. What a crowning! They put a kings robe on Him and crowned Him with a crown of Thorns. Volumes could be written about Jesus Crown. Of course thorns go back to the immediate result of the fall in Gen 3:18. What a Crown! Jesus was crowned with the direct consequence of Adam's sin. And for a king's scepter He was given a reed. A reed is the weakest plant in the Bible. Then the soldiers who officiated at the crowning bowed their knees before Him mocking Him and spiting in His face. Space and my utter inability forbids me from expounding on this official ceremony of the crowning of Israel's King. Even our most enlightened imagination is incapable of laying before us the magnitude and mystery of this crowning.

But His Thrown. This defies anything conceivable. What was the Thrown He was lifted up upon? His Cross. This was (is) the Thrown for Jesus. This was the day when He was crowned by His mother (S. of S. 3:11). This was the first crowning of Israels King.

But like all spiritual laws that are reversed from the laws of this world, the spiritual laws of God are no less real and powerful. It was by this crowning that Jesus won the battle over all the authority of the devil and accomplished a way of salvation for all Adams decedents. The Cross of Christ turned out to be the power of God. It was through that Cross that Jesus won His Bride. Song of Sol. 3:11 tells us that it was “the day of His espousal” Indeed it was. This was the day Jesus paid the price for His Bride. It was by His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension that Jesus was able to send His Spirit to what now constitutes the Body of Christ on earth today.

Just as this was portrayed in the type of Christ in Solomon, Jesus will have a second crowning. When all the rebellion of Adonijah was put down and the kingdom was firmly established Israel had a more formal coronation. There will be another coronation for Jesus. That will be when Jesus comes on a white horse and wipes out the anti-christ and all his forces at Armageddon. Oh that will be the day. That will be when all the nations of the world come to worship God's worthy Son. He will be King forever. Of the two coronations perhaps the first one was the greatest. Had the devil known what he was doing he never would have had his servants lifted up our Lord on that Thrown. It was by that Thrown that Jesus spoiled all the power of the devil (Col. 2:15), overcome the world (Jn. 16:33), and set millions of prisoners of sin free. What a coronation! Oh, what a Crown! Oh, what a Thrown! Oh, what a KING!

Lord Jesus, haste that day of Your Second crowning, but until that day keep us faithful and help us worship You for what You did with Your First coronation.

                                                bill

Prophecy Fulfilled

When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son Gal. 4:4

13 March

Dear Phyllis,

Next week is Palm Sunday. This is one of the most significant days in human history. I have never heard a message or read anything on this subject, but I believe this is the beginning event of the coronation of the King of Israel. One third of the four gospels are devoted to the Last Week and resurrection. I believe the Last Week was the one week celebration for the coronation of Israel's King. It began with what is universally known as the Triumphant Entry. And what an entry that was. Lord wiling I might be able to discuss that next week, but today I want to focus on the biblical prophecy of this event. I believe this is one of the most astounding prophecies in the Bible and one of the incontestable proofs of the authenticity of the Scripture. This is recorded in Daniel 9.

We see in Daniel 9 that this all started when Daniel was looking at the prophecy of Jeremiah and noticed that the Babylonian captivity would be a period of 70 years (Jer. 29:10; 2 Ch. 36:21). He looked at the calendar and saw that that time was almost fulfilled. Rather than going out and buying balloons and ribbons for a celebration he devoted himself to fasting and prayer. Very few people have noticed that the reason Daniel got thrown into the lions den in Daniel 6 was because he was fasting and praying for Jerusalem. Daniel 6 and 9 are the same time. It was because of his praying in Dan. 9 that the devil wanted to stop that prayer in Dan. 6.

It was in response to his prayer for Israel that the Lord sent Gabriel to Daniel to explain to him His plan for Jerusalem (Dan. 9:20-27). This is one of the most important prophecies in the Bible. Gabriel said that this is exclusively devoted to “thy PEOPLE and thy HOLY CITY (Jerusalem)”. He said that there would be a period of 70 WEEKS determined upon them (Dan. 9:24) and the end of that would be when Jesus is established as King of the world – “anoint the Most Holy” (Dan. 2:44). But the first 69 weeks are highly significant. Here we have two of the most specific dates listed in scripture. It is generally accepted that Israel is God's clock. We measure time by Israel. And the clock starts to run with the oder to return to Jerusalem and rebuild that city. We have that date in Neh. 2:1. And the date for the end of the 69 weeks would be the presentation of the Messiah (Dan. 9:25).

There are several events in the life of Christ we could point to as His introduction. One would be His birth, one would be His baptism and introduction by John the Baptist. Another might be His resurrection. But the correct one seems to be His Triumphant Entry. This is the one prophesied by Zechariah in Zech. 9:9 – “Rejoice o daughter of Zion... behold thy King cometh unto thee...”; and Matthew confirms that “this was done that it might be fulfill which was spoken of the prophet...” (Mt. 21:4,5). It is significant that most of the major messianic prophecies in the OT do not appear as banner headlines but buried as obscure footnotes. They are there alright but God has hidden them from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto humble seekers by the Holy Spirit.

We know the dates of these two events in Daniels 70 weeks. The order to rebuild Jerusalem was March 14, 445 BC. And the Triumphant Entry was April 6, 32 AD. In Hebrew the word “week” is literally “seven”. Which means that the prophesy of 69 weeks is actually 69 sevens or 69x7. This gives us a figure of 483 (69x7=483) from the command for Jerusalem to Christ. But if we look at the dates on our calendar we see that it was only 476 years [from 445 BC to 32 AD]. (I know the math does not look right but it is correct. That is because of the loss of a year when AD started. Sir Robert Anderson did the calculation for this in his book, The Coming Prince, 110 years ago.) If we multiply 476 years by 365 days we get 173,740 days (476x365=173,740). But then we add 24 days for 14 March to 6 April plus another 116 days for leap year we get 173,880 days (173,740+24+116 = 173,880) from the command to build Jerusalem until the Triumphant Entry of Christ.

The key to this apparent error is in Genesis. We see that the Flood began on 2/17 and ended on 7/17 (Gen. 7:11 and 8:4). This says that the Flood was exactly 5 months long. But in Gen. 7:24 we read that the Flood was 150 days long. That means that a biblical month is 30 days, not our 30 or 31 (150 – 5 = 30). If we accept that a biblical month is 30 days that means a biblical year is actually 360 days (12x30=360), not our 365. This is also confirmed in Rev. 11:2,3. If we do the biblical math and multiply the prophesied 483 years by 360 days we see that it comes out exactly 173,880 days(483x360=173,880). This is one of the most amazing calculations in the Bible. That means that Christ's presentation as Messiah comes out exactly on the day prophesied 500 years before. I believe we will see in heaven that it came out to the minute.

But the prophecy doesn't end there. It says that the Messiah will be cut off – “but not for Himself” (Dan. 9:26). We know today why the Messiah was cut off. It was for us. Jesus came right on schedule and gave His life so we might live. In the rest of verse 26 we see the destruction of Jerusalem. God's clock is Israel and Jerusalem. Israel's King came as promised and the leaders of Israel said “away with Him”. When they said that God's clock stopped again and another clock started ticking. This is called the time of the Gentiles (Lk. 21:24). When Israel rejected her King the clock stopped and their city was demolished. For 2000 years the time of the Gentiles clock has been ticking. And when that is fulfilled the original clock of Daniels 70 weeks (490 years) will start up again. We know that 69 of those weeks (483 years) have been fulfilled to the day. That means there are just 7 years left. In Dan. 9:27 Gabriel told Daniel that the last 7 years will be horrific. We know a great deal about that. This is the Seven Year Great Tribulation. How close are we? We don't know but with the re-establishment of Israel and Jerusalem back in the hands of the Jews there is every indication that we are seconds away from the last click on our clock and God's original clock of 70 weeks start ticking away. We have every reason to believe it will be hold-your-hat-Hanna very soon. With Obama removing America as the major player on the international field and the breath-taking rise of militant Islam, it is inconceivable that something extremely major will not break out any day. I won't join the flood of predictions of all the disasters supposed to happen to America and the Middle East in 2016 but there are a smörgåsbord of them out there if anyone is interested. Leaving all that aside it is hard to imagine we have much time left.

It looks to me like we are pretty much in the same spot Daniel was in. By reading Jeremiah and looking at the calendar he saw they were right at the end of Jeremiah's 70 years. His response was to give himself to prayer for his people. By looking at the obvious figures the Lord has given us in Daniel and seeing the situation in the world today, perhaps we should follow his example and give ourselves to prayer for the fulfillment of world evangelism.

Next week will be Palm Sunday. It was on that day that Jesus fulfilled the first 69 weeks of Daniels prophecy. How many more Palm Sunday's do we have left before we see Israel's King on a different horse riding into Jerusalem? It's a great time to be alive and serve Jesus.

Amen, bill

Cambodia

6 March 2016

Dear Phyllis,

Twenty years ago there was an orphan boy in Sihanoukville, Cambodia who was living in a Buddhist temple. Every day on his way to school he walked past a Korean Bible school. One day someone gave him a tract and he was saved. After he came to Christ the folks at the Bible school suggested that he live there rather than in the temple. After finishing high school he naturally stayed on to study at the Bible school. But four years later a crushing moment came when major denominations snapped up all the sharp student and no one wanted him as a pastor. With no place to go he stayed on at the Bible school for one more year. To his wonderful good fortune that year he married one fantastic young lady. .With no invitations to be a pastor they decided that they would go out on their own to do pioneer evangelism in Siem Reap.

Thirteen years ago I was on a Bible run to Cambodia with my friend Mark and another brother. I had been in Cambodia several times before and told Mark, “The most interesting place in Cambodia is the Angkor Wat at Siem Reap”. If I was going to Asia as a tourist and could only go to one place the Angkor Wat is what I would choose. There are over a million visitors a year who go there, and the children selling cards and trinkets are like the frogs in Egypt. They just swarm all over you begging you to buy their trinkets. They really are a pest and most tourist get irritated and tell them to “Git”. One little 8 year old girl was begging me to buy her cards. I didn't want to be rude but show the love of Christ. I looked down at her and said, “I love you”. She looked up at me with those beautiful big brown eyes and replied, “You say you love me but you won't buy my cards.” And cried. I bought her cards. Then all the kids swarmed around me demanding, “You buy from me!”

Three hours later the place was closing and we were in the parking lot waiting for a bus to take us back to town. The kids were through selling for the day and wanted to play. I saw that darling little girl and said, “I want to give you a hug”. That did it. Thirty children lined up everyone wanting a hug. As soon as one got a hug they ran to the end of the line to get another hug. Those children just flat cleaned me out. They stole my heart right out of my chest cavity. I told Mark, “If there is anything I ever do on this planet I must come back here to win these kids to Jesus”.

Three months later I was back in Siem Reap for the sole purpose of winning those children. But I had a dead blank. I couldn't find a pastor or missionary in town. There was only one man that I knew and asked him if he knew any churches. He told me that his daughter was a Christian. When I asked the daughter what kind of a church she went to all she could tell me was BP. At last I asked her to take me to her church to meet her pastor. We got on a bike and went 400 meters through some rice fields and came to a chicken coop type of a church. I was delighted that both the wife and pastor spook acceptable English and asked them to go with me to the Angkor Wat to reach the children.

The next day was one of the major moments of my life. We sat there on the grass with 30 children around us and I wept as I watched one of the finest child evangelism messages I had ever seen. I HAD STRUCK GOLD. Timothy and Sang Lai were as good as they get. I mean to tell you they just don't come any better than this couple. When I got back to Chiang Mai an told Mark what I had discovered he was elated and went over to meet them. I am broke but Mark had contacts with people in America and Holland that had money to give for missions. He told Timothy that he would pay to have the children transported by bus 15 km from their homes near the Angkor Wat to his church each week for church. That worked for a while but the undisciplined kids made such a mess of the buses that the company refused to haul them. Then Mark was able to raise money enough for Timothy to buy his own bus to bring the children to church.

Some time later Timothy had a most unusual request from his home village in southern Cambodia to “please come and tell us the Gospel”. Timothy contacted Mark and asked him to help with this dendo (evangelism) mission. At that time Mark got an e-mail from a friend in Hong Kong saying there was a team from the Faroe Islands – in the North Sea nothwest of Scottand – who were in Hong Kong with nothing to do. Mark replied, “Send those men here. I can use them for dendo in Cambodia”. I was not on that run but it turned out to be one of the most unusual moments of Mark's life. The Lord did miracles like no one had ever seen. Through that mission Timothy got tied in with Christians from the Faroe Islands as well as Mark. One brother on that team had been a very wealthy man in Faroe but disaster had struck him and he got wiped out. When he went to Cambodia and got involved with the work there he stayed on and married a Khmer Christian girl. Today he is the happiest man in Cambodia. He raves at the joy of serving Jesus and thanks God he got saved from making money at home.

What I am trying to say is; it is amazing how God takes the little incidents of life and works them together as threads to weave the fabric of what is the Body of Christ. It was the tears in the eyes of a little 8 year old girl that stole my heart that moved me to go to Siem Reap to reach children for Jesus. It was somebody who gave a tract to an orphan boy walking past a school in Sihanoukville who got saved and stayed on for Bible school. That young man, who no one wanted, went on his own to Siem Reap to do pioneer evangelism. It was the daughter of the only man I knew who introduced me to Timothy. It was through my relationship with Mark that he was able to go over there and raise funds for Timothy. Today that man that man, who no one wanted. is one of the top men in Cambodia. He is he director of Gideon and half a dozens other major Christian organizations. He is easily the best man that ever came out of that Korean Bible school. It was through Mark that the men from the Faroe Islands got connected to the work in Siem Reap. From that initial moment when that lovely little girl said “You love me but you won't buy my cards”; there are now four churches in that area, and who knows how many hundred have been saved. Oh what joy to be a thread for Jesus. And He can, and does, do that with you too.

                                bill