Posted by Different... [Bibleman] on November 09, 1999 at 21:58:51 {4Hfg918T5gMRXA6xmpscslyACFuF8c}:
Things are different after-the-fact when it comes to Bible prophecy. It's one thing to claim that the Messiah is going to appear in the clouds as a flashing light or that he will appear in the flesh as Jewish rabbi or as an Ethiopian eunuch. Then go to the Bible and figure out if the 70-weeks prophecy has to be fulfilled by Cyrus in 455BCE and thus Jerusalem falls in 529BCE that the Second Coming must take place in 1992....
Then you can claim all you want up until the end of 1992. But AFTER 1992, it's different. It's do or die time. The FACTS will define exactly whether or not the prophecy came true and just how. So it really adds a little bit of an edge to Biblical interpretation. It makes it easy to explain Biblical interpretation since you don't have to convince anyone of anything. You simply have to relate WHAT HAPPENED and how.
So here's what I mean.
There's a prophecy in the Bible about the prodigal son. After being away from his father's house and living a life of sin, he returns and is given a robe, the best in the house, and a seal ring and given a banquet. Does that mean it is prophetic of the Messiah? Maybe. Maybe not. But the JIOR thought so. So they were waiting around for a prodigal son Messiah to appear shortly after the HOLOCAUST.
The JIOR understood that the lost Drachma coin was really about the lost Messiah.
The JIOR understood that Isaiah 53 which speaks of a "sickly" Messiah and suffering Messiah would not apply to Jesus at his first coming and thus must refer to his second coming. They would have figured out that the befouled garments of high-priest Joshua who typifies Jesus Christ meant the Messiah would appear in the imperfect flesh when he became flesh at the last hour. That's how the JIOR interpreted it.
So when they read about Phillip baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch who then said similar to Jesus' words: "What is preventing me from getting baptized.." something clicked! They knew this was a subtle Messianic link. They then realized the Ethiopian eunuch must typify Jesus at his second coming! Why? Because he was reading a Second Coming Messianic prophecy, Isaiah 53.
So this was their very subtle clue to help them look for a person who resembled an Ethiopian eunuch when he appeared shortly after 1947. They got this from the scriptures. They also related this to the fact that the Messiah was "die" again during the last days, only because of being conquered by sin and the world and thus when Revelation spoke of him being killed, in a spiritual sense, in "Sodom and Egypt" they understood what this related to. They knew the environment in which the Messiah would appear would be related to the gay and black subcultures.
But they also understood there was a "temple class"! They knew that this Messiah would also have to come out of "spiritual Israel" just as the fleshly Messiah came out of fleshy Israel. Thus this person would have been one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Why?
Because Jehovah's Witnesses ARE the "temple class"!
But what if you don't believe there is a "true religion" or that Jehovah's Witnesses are this "temple" class?
Well, up until 1992 you might have had an argument. But after 1992 you have no choice.
Why? Because that is the year the Messiah was APPOINTED to appear, to fulfill two dated prophesies. The 1335 days prophecy of Daniel 12 and the "7 times" prophecy mandating 2520 years ending the "appointed times of the nations" era in 1992.
It was at that point, that their already identified Ethiopian eunuch Jehovah's Witness Messiah, who did not himself understand he would become the Messiah, did become the Messiah and the "sign of the Son of man" appeared in the clouds so that heaven confirmed it. Because besides the image of a child lying on a cloud and the dove representing holy spirit, there was a voice from heaven that identified this person as the Messiah. They heard a voice say: "This is my son. I have approved him."
Does anybody believe this? No many! But does the JIOR care? No.
Why?
Because the "sign" was literal, though miraculous, and they could photograph it. And another reason they don't care is because the Messiah appeared for them and not the world at large.
But just in case they would want to try to convince someone that the Messiah would appear in 1992 as an Ethiopian eunuch and the sign of the son of man would appear. It would have been doubted likely by many. But that was before-the-fact. After the fact it is different. They may have doubted themselves a little. All they had was hope and faith. But AFTER the fact, that faith was realized. The reality finally caught up with the prophecy.
So that is one of the critical issues now with many Bible prophecies for the last generation.... The last generation is OVER. The Messiah has arrived. And now we're just checking the prophecies off as to their fulfillment, not trying to interpret them.
So let's check off one more. Let's see some hands!
How many people thought Jesus would arrive in 1992?
Okay...
How many people realized that Jesus was already here for 7 years inspecting God's house? Hands?
Okay.
If you were not expecting that, then you just fulfilled another prophecy. And that is, that it was prophesied he would come at a time you did not expect and he would come as a thief! That is, he would arrived and be gone before one woke up.
That's why everyone was told to "pay more than the usual attention" and to stay awake!
At any rate. Faith is faith.
Bible prophecy interpretation is Bible prophecy interpretation.
But it's entirely different before the fact which is about faith...than after-the-fact, which is about REALITY.
It's different after the fact....
Know this.
Cheers,
bibleman
HERE'S THE LATEST JIOR CONFIRMATION OF THE "LAST HOUR" JUST FOR YOUR INFORMATION.
John speaks of the "last hour".
The only really specific prophecy dealing with "hours" is the Matthew 20 prophecy about the workers in the vineyard. Thus there appears to be a connection. That connection is the revelation of the "man of lawlessness" during the last hour.
In the Matthew 20 prophecy the workers in the vineyard work for 11 hours, understood to be 7 years each, thus 77 years. 77 years from 1914 ends in 1991. The last hour would be the 12th hour when the workers would get paid. So the "last hour" could be considered to be from 1991 through 1998. But sometime between 1991 and 1992 the "man of lawlessness" should have been revealed. And he was. In November of 1992 a letter was sent to the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses informing them that they were the prophetic "evil slave" and that they had been removed by Jehovah from being His representative and in charge of feeding his sheep. As a result they would be thrown into total spiritual darkness.
Thus that was the "official" identification of the "man of lawlnessnes." Approximately 42 days after the letter was sent on December 23, 1992, Fred Franz died. And approxiamtely 46 days after the letter was sent on December 26, 1992 the sign of the son of man appeared in the clouds establishing that the kingdom had been born, Satan had been kicked out of Heaven and the Messiah was now returned to the earth in the flesh.
Apparently, though, the last hour ran out in the fall of 1998.
At that time an announcement was made, around the time of the Festival of Booths, publicly in the internet, who the Messiah was and the manner in which he arrived.
It is now thought that Luke's reference to Jesus coming to the tree after three years and finding no fruit ended in the fall of 1998. Thus the announcement was part of the "fertilizer" given to the tree to see if it would produce something. The fertilizer was the Biblical explanation of the Messiah's return in the flesh announced to the "ten virgins" class organization which represents the original anointed ones among Jehovah's witnesses.
But that special year of extra help expired a year later in the fall of 1999.
And that's the latest chronology. Read between whatever lines you need to.
Take care all and God bless you all in your quest for TRUTH. "Your deliverance is getting near!"
Cheers,
Bibleman