The Key

By D.E. Smith

Take another look at the End Times. Test the methods of interpretations. Hold fast to the good. This book takes another look at Bible prophecy and challenges some popular interpretations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 11, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469186122

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Copyright © 2012 by D.E. Smith.

ISBN: Softcover 978-1-4691-8611-5

Ebook 978-1-4691-8612-2

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Contents

Purpose for writing

PART ONE

The Trinity

How I Became a Trinitarian

PART TWO

Principles of Interpretation for the New Testament Method

PART THREE

Interpreting Scriptures from a New Testament Perspective

PART FOUR

What is spiritual interpretation?

PART FIVE

Interpretation Of Symbols, Understanding Types And Shadows, Natural Representations Pointing To The Spiritual

PART SIX

The End Times Prophecies of Jesus

PART SEVEN

The Millennium

PART EIGHT

More Interpretations of symbols and idioms

(An exercise for the student of prophecy)

PART NINE

Numbers Interpreted Literally

PART TEN

A Synopsis of The Book of Revelations

Parallel Views of (The Four Angels)

The Seed of the Woman

EPILOQUE

The Plagues of Egypt

Conclusion:

Historical References And Quotes

About the Author

How many times when there is a world crisis, have you heard of teachers that come forth and relate present day news to the end times and eschatology? These interpretations tend to live and die by the advent of a new world crisis and disappear as the crisis goes away.

What if there is a consistent theme in Bible prophecy that we can trust in that sustains itself and is consistent throughout the ages? What if the interpretations we have heard that sound like mythology is not the best representation of scripture?

This book focuses on a New Testament interpretation of scripture and the end times. Have you ever desired to understand Revelations? This book will show you how to decode Revelations and how it completely harmonizes with the whole Bible.

In reading it you will find that there is nothing mythical about the scriptures, but the scriptures are a mystery that is unveiled through Christ and his New Covenant (Testament). You will be comforted that there is a consistent theme in scripture and there is no need for the believer to worry every time a new world crisis emerges.

D. E. SMITH

Purpose for writing

My purpose is to show the relevance of Bible prophecy in all times, the past, the present and the future as a relationship between God and the human race and the unfolding nature of revelation. In Bible prophecy former things are lesser representations of latter things that are a far greater glory. This book is about a method of interpreting scripture. It is a look into prophecy and interpreting scriptures based on Christ and his New Testament which is the revealed glory of God.

Some interpretations of prophecy are centered on the Old Testament and the ethic Jews. I believe prophecy is centered on one Jew who is Christ. And that from this one Jew the true Jews come forth. The ethnic Jew is as the law—a shadow of the Jews who were to come as the law was a shadow of the new covenant. That which came is greater than its shadow that preceded it.

The shadow is a dark indication of what is to come, but when that which is depicted by the shadow has fully come, the true glory becomes known. My purpose also is to show the seeker the relevance of The Kingdom of Heaven in history, the present and the future. In doing so I hope to expose its present reality and thereby show its significance to the seekers of today. We are living in the fulfillment of the ages. By showing its relevance in its present reality one can get more insight about the future hope of the restoration of all things.

In this way I hope to remove the mythical perception that those who desire knowledge may have as a result of some interpretations. The bible is not mythical, however it is mysterious. It is a mystery that can be understood in the light of Christ and the New Covenant. If the Bible is not interpreted through Christ, it remains dark and mysterious.

However, if we peer through the light of Christ we get insight into scripture. We can get an overall understanding of our hope even though we cannot comprehend all the details. Also, my hope is to show the realizations of Bible prophecy in a way it can be readily observed in our day to day lives. In this way we can see that the word is true and infallible.

The end result is that the seeker will be enlightened and will seek a greater understanding and relationship with his maker looking to that day when we will see him face to face. Also, others may see the word represented absent from religious traditions and systems. I have attempted to seek understanding from a purely investigative approach and not based on the traditions or teachings of any religious order. I explored the Bible from a historical perspective as well as examined the teachings of established religion including my own.

The teachings I found to harmonize with all of scripture I retained or held too. Any teaching that did not meet the test of complete harmony was abandoned or reinterpreted in a way to harmonize and not conflict with scripture. I did this whether a teaching was presented by another religious establishment or my own. Truth is above any order or any man.

It is my hope to influence the reader to interpret the scriptures based on Christ and the New Testament, rather than by the Jews and the Old Testament as so many prophecy teachers do. I believe the latter method to be incorrect and reverse the order of the glory that is revealed in scripture.

I will employ the method of interpreting the scriptures through Christ and the New Testament to shed light on the end times. Within this volume I will elaborate on several principal topics I believe to be essential to understanding prophecy and the end times. These topics include seven which are The Godhead, The seventy weeks of Daniel, The Temple, The Mark, The Beast, The Two Witnesses, and The Harlot. These topics are discussed in various ways in parts of the ten sections this book is divided.

I will show the Bible is a book of progressive glory and its ultimate aim is to get to Christ and the New Testament. Therefore, when I look through the light of Christ and the New Testament, I get insight into the purpose of all that came before it and I understand what is to come.

Before I get into the topics, I believe some basic principles have to be defined much like a scientist presenting a hypothesis. The scientist must prove his hypothesis true or false. I will present some principles in a question an answer format. We must ask honest fact seeking questions to get to the truth.

John 14:6 I am the truth, the way and the life. No man comes to the father except by me.

JESUS CHRIST

To look to any place other than to look to, at, and through Jesus for understanding is to look to darkness for understanding.

D.E. SMITH

PART ONE

The Trinity

I believe to get the best understanding of scripture; one must first have a true understanding of the nature of God. You can’t build understanding on an erroneous foundation. I was raised in an organization where the trinity was denounced as heresy. As a result I found bible study frustrating because I could not harmonize the many scriptures where the trinity was plainly evident. I ceased to study the bible believing the understanding was reserved for my pastor.

That was the prevailing belief in my organization that understanding the scriptures was reserved for the pastor and that he talked with God mouth to mouth. This prevented the pastor’s words from being tested by scripture. His words were regarded as scripture, even better than scripture because he was regarded as the present day apostle and had a greater progressive revelation. As a result I became a slave. I was in complete bondage. After a time another came to sit in the pastor’s seat.

He recognized that there was no audible voice that came from God to one in that seat. Also, since he was a close acquaintance of the former pastor, he could testify that he never heard an audible voice from God speaking to the pastor. This destroyed the myth that the former pastor was like Moses or Jesus whom God talked with mouth to mouth. Moses and Jesus were witnessed by the people that they heard the voice of God addressing them in their hearing.

The new pastor challenged us to read the scriptures for ourselves. As a result, I was reinvigorated to study and came to understand from scripture that Moses and Jesus were both covenant bearers. Moses was bearer of the Old Covenant and Jesus the New Covenant. These two brought forth the two covenants which dealt with sin. Moses covenant showed us our sin and was imperfect. Jesus Covenant took away our sin and is perfect. The covenants are also one, with the old being fulfilled by the new. There were no other men who bore these distinctions. Therefore, no other men should be regarded in the same light.

I am convinced that many sit in similar organizations where they yearn for God, but they are being held captives by aberrant teachings and fear keeps them from the liberty of the truth. We should strive to show these captives the love of Christ and offer them the gift God has given us. However, I believe that it is the nature of things, that in many of these organizations, the deliverer will come from within their own organization. God will send a deliverer from their very own ranks.

This is how it will happen. We should not be surprised at this. Moses came from the people and so did Jesus. In this way a pastor or any believer can do a work like Moses and Jesus. Moses and Jesus turned the people to God. Moses turned the people to the one to come who is Jesus. Jesus turned the people to God the Father through himself as God the son and the way to God the Father. Therefore, if a pastor turns the people to God and his word according to scripture he has set the people free and become a liberator like Moses and Jesus.

Now the truth liberator is God. That is God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is the one true God. No man should portray himself as equal to Jesus or Moses who prefigures Jesus. These two instituted the Covenants. Neither should any man be held in reverence as the absolute spokesman of God. He is a spokesman of God, if his words can be corroborated by scripture.

Now I was raised as oneness Pentecostal. That is not the term we used to describe ourselves, however that is what we were. For those of you who are not familiar with this sect or maybe I should say cult, it teaches that the Christian world is in darkness and teaching heresy by teaching that there is a Son of God. It teaches there can only be one person in the Godhead because there is only one God. It does not understand the concept of unity and that one can mean many in a unit. A unit is one.

We taught that there is no Son of God. I now know this teaching to be similar to a teaching of Islam. We taught God was Father in creation, became Son by clothing himself in flesh in order to redeem his creation, the son ended at the cross and became the Holy Ghost. Therefore, we believed that God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit was God as one person manifesting himself in three different ways.

That is enough about my background. I will now tell the story of how I became a Trinitarian.

How I Became a Trinitarian

The evidence

A) The Evidence of the totality of scripture

I began my research at the very first book of the Bible. I recognized that from the beginning that the triune nature was present. To better illustrate this concept, it is helpful to first give a few definitions.

*Definitions: Elohim

OT words for God. A cluster of three words, possibly from the same ancient root, are translated God or god in the NIV and the NASB. These are ‘el, ‘eloah, and ‘elohim. Each is a generic term, meaning god or mighty one. Normally when one of these words occurs in the OT, it designates either the true God or something the pagan nations viewed as a god. In only a few instances are these words used of angels or of mighty human beings.

* Expository Dictionary of the Bible by L.O. Richards p.312-313

1 OT words for God

2 The word ‘el

3 The word ‘eloah

4 The word ‘elohim

The word ‘elohim. This word for God is used more frequently (some 2,570 times) than either of the others in the OT. It is a plural form—a form used in other religions to suggest fuller manifestation of a deity. It is often called the plural of majesty and in the OT, although normally used with singular vowels, probably implies that more than one person is involved. For instance, Ge 1:1-2 introduces God and the Spirit of God. Ge 1:26 reports that God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness . . . . While this might be considered a royal we, it is more likely an early indication of the triune nature of God who, though one God, exists forever as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

* Expository Dictionary of the Bible by L.O. Richards p.312-313

Natural Israel:

Natural Israel in this volume is defined as the blood descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That is the people of the Old Testament or Old Covenant commonly referred today as Jews of the land of Israel in present day Palestine.

Spiritual Israel:

Spiritual Israel in this volume is defined as the people who are made the people of God through faith in Jesus. These people consist of the people who look to the day of redemption and they will include all the saved from all times at the consummation of all things, but since the cross are the ethnic (natural) Jew and the Gentiles who put their trust in Christ. Spiritual Israel was the intent of God from the beginning and its glory is far greater than Natural Israel.

Types and Shadows:

A type and shadow is something generally present in the Old Testament that is natural in its nature and points to something spiritual in nature and greater than what was natural. The natural and the spiritual revelations also serve as witnesses of one another.

For example you can see the shadow of a person before they enter a room. You have some indication to what this person is like by their shadow, but after the person has entered the room you see clearly who the person is. The real person is a far better revelation to what the person is like than his shadow. The shadow and the person serves as two witnesses that the person is real.

Now that we have a few basic definitions out of the way let’s look at the evidence of God as a union of persons beginning in Genesis. The first indication of the multiple nature of God can be found in the first book of the scriptures and in the prophets.

Scriptures:

GE 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,

GE 3:22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.

GE 11:7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."

ISA 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?

I believe Genesis and the prophets are a great place to start to expound the evidence of the trinity. If I can show from the very beginning to the end of scripture that a collective in God existed which is revealed in scripture as triune in nature, how can anyone in good faith continue to argue against it?

Types and Shadows of the Trinity in the Old Testament:

A type or shadow points to something in scripture that was not yet revealed but would be fully revealed in a fulfillment or revelation by Christ. (See my earlier definition)

A) The One Seed Revealed in Three Persons (A type pointing to the trinity that will be revealed by Christ.) This Old Testament type points to the one God revealed in the three personages of the Godhead.

Seed as defined by the Apostle Paul: NIV Gal 3:16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say and to seeds, meaning many people, but and to your seed, meaning one person, who is Christ.

The One Seed is the representation of the One God. From the three patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob of Natural Israel is the one seed revealed bodily as Christ, and from the three persons of The Father, Son and Holy Spirit of Spiritual Israel is the one God revealed bodily as Christ. When I say bodily, I am referring to human form.

Abraham (The Father Type)

Abraham is the type for God the Father

GE 22:15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, ¹⁶ And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:¹⁷ That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; ¹⁸ And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice

Isaac (The Son Type)

Isaac is the type for the Son who is Jesus Christ.

Gen. 26.2 And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.² And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: ³ Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; ⁴ And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed

Jacob (The Holy Spirit Type-Symbolizes the work of the Holy Spirit)

Jacob is the type for the Holy Spirit.

GE 28:10 And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. ¹¹ And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. ¹² And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. ¹³ And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

So we see from the preceding references of the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that we are talking about three persons but only one seed. The seed is Christ. God gave a pattern for the revelation of the nature of God. This nature was revealed by Jesus to be Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The Typology or the shadowing (pointing to the work of the triune God that is revealed in the New Testament)

The Father willingly sacrificed his son. Abraham foreshadows this sacrifice.

GE 22:10 Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.¹⁰ Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.¹¹ But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, Abraham! Abraham!

Here I am, he replied.

GE 22:12 Do not lay a hand on the boy, he said. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.

Therefore, Isaac foreshadowed the sacrifice to be made by Christ. He was willing to submit to his Father and be sacrificed by him.

The Typology of the work of the Holy Spirit whereby the church is established and spreads throughout the world is foreshadowed in Jacob.

Jacob blessed his twelve sons and through them Israel grew to become a nation thereby foreshadowing the work of the Holy Spirit through the twelve apostles. The Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and a gathering of about a hundred and twenty. (That is 10 times 12 equals 120. This is a representation of 12.) After the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles and the disciples they went out and spread the gospel and the kingdom of Heaven and true Israel became a nation of believers.

It is important to understand this concept which I will elaborate on more in later texts. This concept simply stated: The ethnic Jew (Israel) of the Old Testament like the law they were given to keep, were a shadow representation of the spiritual Jew (Israel), who is revealed in the New Testament. So as the natural nation of Israel became a great number by the blessing of Jacob upon his twelve sons, spiritual Israel became a great number by the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon the twelve apostles who were empowered by the Holy Spirit. This concept is represented when we see Jacob giving each of his sons their blessing in Genesis 49 and in the scriptures that show the Holy Spirit blessing the apostles.

GE 49:1 Then Jacob called for his sons and said: "Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.

GE 49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.

The Israel of God

AC 2:14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.¹⁵ These men are not drunk, as you suppose.

Acts 2:33 (NIV) he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

So by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit the church (Spiritual Israel) was born which Paul calls THE ISRAEL OF GOD.

Galatians 6:16 (KJV) And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

This is the pattern that is revealed in scripture. From Abraham came forth his son Isaac, who he was willing to sacrifice as an offering to God. From Isaac came Jacob who blessed his twelve sons and from these 12 sons a countless number emerged forming what became known as Israel with its temple and the law.

This pattern pointed to the revelation of God. Abraham gave his son Isaac. God The Father gave his son Jesus. Jacob blessed his twelve sons and they gave birth to a multitude. The Holy Spirit empowered the twelve Apostles (There were about 120 believers present, but the Apostles were the foundation). From the Apostles through the power of the Holy Spirit a nation of believers were born with its temple being the body of Christ and its law being the law of love. So we see the pattern in both the old and new testaments. These are two witnesses and so the interpretation is true.

This was foreshadowed in the old covenant (Old testament) when God repeatedly declared himself the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (The Triune of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are representative as the source that Israel was born from even as the Father, the word (Son) and the Holy Spirit is revealed to be the source of the Israel of God that is revealed in the new covenant. The former foreshadows the true nature of God which would be revealed by Jesus the Christ. We see this triune nature depicted again and again in scripture.

(KJV) Ex:3:6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are types that represent the true God. He is revealed in the new covenant as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

1st John 5:7 (KJV) For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

The Witnesses

Jesus declared in Matthew 18:16(NIV) take one or two others along, so that `every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

Paul an Apostle of Christ declared in 2nd Corinthians (NIV) 13:1 "Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

We also see this principle was established in the old covenant Deut. 19:15 (NIV) A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

God maintained this requirement of the witnesses when he sent forth his Son (The Word) into the world. First at the baptism:

Matt. 3:16-17 (NIV) MT 3:16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.

Thus we have 3 witnesses that Jesus is the Messiah, The Father as the voice from heaven, John the Baptist when he baptized him and the Holy Spirit descending as the third witness. It became evident to me that The Son could not be the Father and the Holy Spirit for this would leave him without a witness. We also see Jesus appealing to this standard when engaging the Pharisees:

(NIV) JN 8:13 The Pharisees challenged him, Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.

JN 8:14 Jesus answered, "Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. ¹⁵ You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. ¹⁶ But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. ¹⁷ In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. ¹⁸ I am one who testifies for me; my other witness is the Father, who sent me."

So the conclusion of the matter is The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit is not the same person for they would not have a witness it they were all one person. God’s requirement of the people that every matter should be established by the witness of 2 or 3 persons would have been unreasonable, because he would not