Christian Media

Communiqué

THE COVENANT WITH DEATH

Part II

In the inaugural installment of The Covenant With Death, we cited the ominous Scripture from Isaiah, where the LORD prophesies against His people:

“Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves” (Isaiah 28:14,15).

Christian Media’s new series, The Covenant With Death, will draw heavily from insights gleaned through our previous writings. Perhaps the most profound part of our emerging prophetic knowledge is the well established pattern of Sequential Recapitulation, wherein we’ve found that “Spiritual” Israel (which is the body of Christ that has received the New Covenant supernatural rescue of Israel through the work of Christ), is “doubling” the various stages experienced by Old Covenant, Flesh and Blood Israel.

“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after” (Ecclesiastes 1:9,11).

Our interpretive approach is anchored in the Scriptures, for there is no shortage of verses that speak of Spiritual occurrences, even as the text utilizes earthly terms. However, most Bible prophecy figures utilize the Biblical text, but if their understanding of the Spiritual architecture is flawed, even using the Bible, they will reach inaccurate conclusions.

A good example of this premise is found in the writings of the prophet Daniel. In Daniel’s second chapter is the well known dream of Nebuchadnezzer, which clearly projects the four BC timeline kingdoms of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome as the four composite elements of gold, silver, brass, and iron.

Then the text speaks of the feet of the “statue” dream, and notes the toes are partly iron and partly clay.

“And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong, and partly broken” (Daniel 2:42). 

Rapture Cult doctrine – which is widespread -- believes the Roman Empire is reconfigured as the “Beast” Empire in the modern timeline, and because the book of Revelation (as well as Daniel 7) speaks of ten kings that shall rise in conjunction with the Beast, they conclude the toes of the feet must represent the ten kings.

This tends to confirm the erroneous idea of Rome as the modern empire that is reconstructed as the “Beast.” In other words, one false assumption is magnified exponentially. For the record, the text in Daniel 2 is all about the arrival of JESUS CHRIST during the days of the ancient Roman Empire, as opposed to the End Times.

After addressing the Roman Empire that followed Babylon, Persia, and Greece in verse 40, the next verse continues with more about the feet of iron and clay, but provides a subtle clue that is absolutely crucial:

“And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided” (Daniel 2:41).

In the other prophet’s writings – notably in Isaiah and Jeremiah – the “potter’s clay” is specifically identified as Israel.

“Now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand” (Isaiah 64:8).

Jeremiah provides a second witness with this prophetic gem:

“O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel” (Jeremiah 18:6).

At this point, we have the advantage of hindsight, for the history of the Romans so long ago is extensively recorded. We might think that since verse 41 in Daniel’s second chapter says “The kingdom shall be divided” (Daniel 2:41) between the iron and the clay, it’s referring to Rome and Israel.

However, two verses later, the verse says it’s at this time that God sets up a kingdom that will last forever – and we know that during the Roman occupation of Jerusalem, when the Jews revolted, the Roman army came and destroyed Jerusalem.

“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed” (Daniel 2:44).

Earlier I pointed out how the similarity between the ten kings in Revelation and the ten toes of the statue compounded the assumption that Rome will rise again as the Beast Empire, so it is here that another miscalculation compounds the error.

Because the Rapture Cult false prophets think the ten kings of Revelation are the toes of the statue in Daniel two, they assume “in the days of these kings” applies to the days of the ten kings, when the entire chapter in Daniel only mentions the four ancient kingdoms of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome!

With this enormous misread, the Rapture Cult assumes the kingdom of God arrives at the second coming (or the fictional “Rapture”), instead of long ago during the days of the Roman Empire!

The errors don’t stop there. The Scriptures indicate that the kingdom of God was commonly perceived to be with Israel, as God had chosen Israel to be a special people unto him. It is evident that even the disciples of Christ saw Israel as the kingdom that God had raised up, for just before He ascended to heaven they asked him if he was going to restore the kingdom to Israel at that time.

“When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).

Conversely, Jesus spoke of a Spiritual kingdom as He pointedly stated the kingdom of God is within us.

“And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20,21).

Obviously, Jesus was referring to the realm of the Spirit when He described the kingdom of God, and once Revelation is factored into the equation, where4n we learn that “New Jerusalem” speaks of the kingdom of God, and it is destined to descend from heaven to the earthly realm, where we will be “pillars” of the temple that will last forever.

“He that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple…And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 3:12, 21:2).

But what of those who have chosen to resist the calling of the Holy Spirit of God?

“Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, do do ye” (Acts 7:51).

By following the default position of mankind, and not allowing themselves to be led by the Spirit of God, they have made a Covenant with Death.  But more on the characteristics of that de facto Covenant, will have to wait for the next installment of The Covenant With Death. 

- James Lloyd

To Be Continued