Let us begin our long journey into the "deep" that lies underneath the surface of the Holy Scriptures, to "see" and "know" the mighty works of God that have happened, and are happening, for many centuries, which make His words "Absolute"! We must go first to Hebrews Chapter 5, verses 11-14.
Verse 11: "OF WHOM WE HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY, AND HARD TO BE UTTERED, SEEING YE ARE DULL OF HEARING".
Verse 12: "FOR WHEN FOR THE TIME YE OUGHT TO BE TEACHERS YE HAVE NEED THAT ONE TEACH YOU AGAIN WHICH BE THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD; AND ARE BECOME SUCH AS HAVE NEED OF MILK, AND NOT OF STRONG MEAT".
Verse 13: "FOR EVERY ONE THAT USETH MILK IS UNSKILFUL IN THE WORD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS; FOR HE IS A BABE".
Verse 14: "BUT STRONG MEAT BELONGETH TO THEM THAT ARE OF FULL AGE, EVEN THOSE WHO BY REASON OF USE HAVE THEIR SENSES EXERCISED TO DISCERN BOTH GOOD AND EVIL".
These verses, written in the New Testament towards us—so-called Christians—now tell us to "look back" to the "first principles" written by the prophets of old, back to the time when "truth" was first formed and set down in words for our learning, so long ago. So let us start that journey to the beginning of God's laws set in words, by first unravelling the above verses from Hebrews Chapter 5. This means opening out the English words for us to get a better picture of what Scripture is trying to say to us as we go into the 21st century ahead.
"OF WHOM (or, Jesus the Christ and things relative to Him, and conditions concerning Him) WE HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY, AND HARD TO BE UTTERED; (or, that which is not easily penetrated, with great difficulty, going beyond the limits of something) SEEING YE ARE DULL OF HEARING". (or, slow and unready, without life of spirit, and stupidly slow to perceive in intellect).
"FOR WHEN FOR THE TIME YE OUGHT TO BE TEACHERS, (or for a measure of duration, "you" are bound in duty to be an instructor to inform) YE HAVE NEED THAT ONE TEACH YOU AGAIN, (or "you" who have been informers to the people of our Heavenly Father's Law, now out of necessity and urgent want, these same teachers must now turn back to that same Law for renewal from one more teacher) WHICH BE THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD; (or, the first step to open something new. The "principles" are the beginning and cause upon which others are founded, and upon what present qualities depend. The "Oracles" are a divine communication or message from a person whose opinions have great weight and wisdom, namely, the prophets of old—especially the "one" called Daniel—who gave us answers in life to some future events) AND ARE BECOME SUCH AS HAVE NEED OF MILK AND NOT OF STRONG MEAT". (Or, the teachers in the past have had their sustenance of food from a fluid easily accessible from out of Holy Scripture, to build their beliefs and churches upon. Now however, with their re-learning, the teachers are "forced" to have mental power to attack something solid which is not easily broken, such as the nourishment of edible flesh of man or beast, which takes time and effort to chew).
"FOR EVERYONE THAT USETH MILK IS UNSKILFUL IN THE WORD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS; FOR HE IS A BABE". (Or, all mankind entering into learning the Holy Bible through the surface stories only is in need of practical knowledge of the "depth" of God's words that are honest, just, and upright in conduct. Because he is a child who has little knowledge of the full measure of things pertaining to the duration of time within the age-old plan).
"BUT STRONG MEAT BELONGETH TO THEM THAT ARE OF FULL AGE, (or having the mind of the spirit, and memory, well supplied into the state of having arrived at legal maturity). EVEN THOSE WHO BY REASON OF USE HAVE THEIR SENSES EXERCISED TO DISCERN BOTH GOOD AND EVIL". (Or, likewise, Bible students who are fair and just without inequalities, of which there are a number, by examining with debate and arguments in using their intelligence. Therefore, through the mind's application to benefit and not accepting mumbo jumbo at face value, will have their perceptions, sensations, appreciations, understanding, good judgements etc. exercised by reason, and not ritual. Thereby, receiving clearness of mental sight to perceive as being different, both that which is right, or that which is wrong in what they had learned when they were teachers or students).
If we also go to the Old Testament, we read almost the same warning that Saint Paul gave in Hebrews. Isaiah 28:5-13, 29:9-24, 30:20-21.
Isaiah speaks of the teachers of the people, whether they are priests or interpreters of the Law as prophets; they stumble in judgements of the Law because they are drunk with their own self-importance, and knowledge that they are right. Their precepts of the Law are not God's precepts. Their rule of actions within doctrine is inflexible and they teach things that have no foundation in God's thinking and acting processes, which continually advance and go forward and not marking time in man-made rituals. Man's thinking becomes a trap to your hearing, perceiving, and doing what one should. Let us go forward now instead, pick up the holy book, read, and hear your God; don't just give "Him" lip service from the precepts of men, which have turned all the things upside down. Open your eyes in the light of the Law, hear the voice of the "Comforter", which are these words sent by "Him" and no other. Understand what you are reading and not what the teachers have told you to understand.
The title of this book is called, "WHERE THE CARCASE IS", which are words taken from Matthew 24:28: "FOR WHERESOEVER THE CARCASE IS, THERE WILL THE EAGLES BE GATHERED TOGETHER". This verse speaks towards the remnants of the Hebrew/Israelite nations that are within the earth as we enter the close of the twentieth century, and "where" we may find them. The 66 books contained in the Holy Bible are the secular and spiritual history of this nation, played out by factual people in a factual manner. If you think any of it as a poetic fairy story, then forget that thought right here and now. We must deal with the natural history of this nation, and the supernatural history also, running side by side in the earth. Many students squirm at the mention or notion of the supernatural because they are afraid to face it as reality—though it is conducted in another time frame than our own. One must come to the realisation that to take the supernatural out of the Holy Bible, one is left with only the covers. From the moment God said—"LET US MAKE MAN IN OUR OWN IMAGE, AFTER OUR LIKENESS"—then, the supernatural first came to the natural to make it work! The supernatural is not hobgoblins and ghouls; it is a factual world which makes the natural world tick. The "whole" story must not be fragmented by just learning "parts" of the natural system only; the supernatural system also belongs with it. There are a "wholeness" and a "unity" in all things. If we look at the way mother nature interlocks and work as a whole around us, from the largest animal, plant, bird and insect to the smallest within its own level in the scheme of things, we too are part of that scheme. Yet there is more to life than we give it credit for at times, which the Bible has been telling us all along the years.
So let us now fully begin with the very "core" of the "Oracles of God", which were put into the hands of the prophet Daniel for safe keeping—he who holds the "blueprint" for other prophecies to cross-match into the acceptance of absolute truth, which cannot be altered once it is defined!
Most Bible students know of Daniel's interpretation of the great image that Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon of the Chaldeans, dreamed, from Chapter 2 of Daniel's book. Yet, the interpretation was cut off and sealed from its whole parts to be "opened" when needs be, centuries later, in our day. The great "prayer" of thankfulness of Daniel for the blessings of God firstly tell us "Who" rules in the Kingdoms of men, setting history on course to be lived by man.
Verse 20: "DANIEL ANSWERED AND SAID, BLESSED BE THE NAME OF GOD FOR EVER AND EVER; FOR WISDOM AND MIGHT ARE HIS".
Verse 21: "AND HE CHANGETH THE TIMES AND THE SEASONS; HE REMOVETH KINGS, AND SETTETH UP KINGS; HE GIVETH WISDOM UNTO THE WISE, AND KNOWLEDGE TO THEM THAT KNOW UNDERSTANDING".
Verse 22: "HE REVEALETH THE DEEP AND SECRET THINGS; HE KNOWETH WHAT IS IN THE DARKNESS, AND THE LIGHT DWELLETH WITH HIM".
The continuing chapters and verses of Daniel gradually unfold that utter truth of the ruling of God within the earth, and step by step with dates, times, and personalities within history fulfilling these words in the kingdoms of men. Let us start with a quick mention of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, which begins to give us a clearer picture of the following world empires, which "all" Bible teachers fail to understand.
Verse 31: "THOU O KING, SAWEST, AND BEHOLD A GREAT IMAGE, WHOSE BRIGHTNESS WAS EXCELLENT, STOOD BEFORE THEE; AND THE FORM THEREOF WAS TERRIBLE".
Verse 32: "THIS IMAGE'S HEAD WAS OF FINE GOLD, HIS BREAST AND ARMS OF SILVER, HIS BELLY AND HIS THIGHS OF BRASS".
Verse 33: "HIS LEGS OF IRON, HIS FEET PART OF IRON AND PART OF CLAY".
Verse 34: "THOU SAWEST TILL THAT A STONE WAS CUT OUT WITHOUT HANDS, WHICH SMOTE THE IMAGE UPON THE FEET THAT WERE OF IRON AND CLAY, AND BRAKE THEM IN PIECES".
Verse 35: "THEN WAS THE IRON, THE CLAY, THE BRASS, THE SILVER, AND THE GOLD, BROKEN TO PIECES TOGETHER, AND BECAME LIKE THE CHAFF OF THE SUMMER THRESHING FLOORS; AND THE WIND CARRIED THEM AWAY, THAT NO PLACE WAS FOUND FOR THEM; AND THE STONE THAT SMOTE THE IMAGE BECAME A GREAT MOUNTAIN, AND FILLED THE WHOLE EARTH".
In a condensed fashion, Verses 37 and 38 of the same chapter have shown it to be the "head of gold" of that great image which was then Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon. Verse 39 covers two empires:
Of the Medes and Persians, who captured Babylon.
The Grecian Empire under Alexander of Greece, who captured both.
Verse 40 is the Iron of the Roman-legged Empire. Verses 41-43 are the British Empire forged out of the Roman legs, also containing some of the "clay" of the Hebrew/Israelite nation. Verses 44-45 are the kingdom of the King of Kings: "The Lord Jesus Christ". The Kingdom of God then enters the 7th day of rest of the Sabbath.
These kingdoms will be shown later to fit within the 6 days (or thousands of years) of man's power, turmoil, and evil dominion of the earth, with the seventh day Sabbath (or kingdom of peace) as God's rest, retaining with the first prophecy to the last the perfect numerical number of 7. Later we shall see other perfect numbers of 3, 10, 12, used again and again, helping to keep the "dual purposes" of the great Creator's Law flowing in sequence. Many biblical writers have noted the "duality" of things running through Holy writ, but I wonder if those same writers also have realised with what "strength" that "duality" rests upon? The whole structure of perfection and imperfection of peoples and history rests upon the "dual" balances of weights and measures!
With the mention in Verses 41-43 of the British Empire and the Hebrew/Israelite nation in the same breath, this is for some Bible students putting the cat amongst the pigeons, so to speak. This realisation, however, is an "essential" within secular history, whose very existence has changed the course of that same history.
Some Biblical writers put much stress upon keeping Saturday as the Sabbath; others do not. Yet, if we have to face absolute truth to find those Hebrew/Israelite nations in the world today in secular and Biblical history, we also have to face the "sign" of the Sabbath day being Saturday and not pagan Sunday as fact, and as a sign of identity between God and His people.
Verse 13: "IF THOU TURN AWAY THY FOOT FROM THE SABBATH, FROM DOING THY PLEASURE ON MY HOLY DAY; AND CALL THE SABBATH A DELIGHT, THE HOLY OF THE LORD, HONOURABLE; AND SHALT HONOUR HIM, NOT DOING THINE OWN WAYS, NOR FINDING THINE OWN PLEASURE, NOR SPEAKING THINE OWN WORDS".
Verse 14: "THEN SHALT THOU DELIGHT THYSELF IN THE LORD; AND I WILL CAUSE THEE TO RIDE UPON THE HIGH PLACES OF THE EARTH, AND FEED THEE WITH THE HERITAGE OF JACOB THY FATHER; FOR THE MOUTH OF THE LORD HATH SPOKEN IT".
Some Biblical teachers will say Jesus did away with Sabbath keeping. How can this be when "He" came to fulfil the foundation stones already laid in the Old Testament? Isaiah, as we know, foresaw Jesus the fulfiller of the Law; he also cemented into place the truth of the Sabbath! One cannot have "truth" one minute and for men's ritualistic thinking disregard "truth" the next.
Then, brothers and sisters, let us "plead" for truth above all else throughout the following pages of this book. I will no doubt make many enemies in doing so, but I must "plead" our Heavenly Father's cause above all that man holds dear in the vanities of his own mind. Even at this moment in time, reading thus far, you may shake your head in disbelief at these sayings. Each of these items—and more—stated, some persons will agree, others disagree, depending upon which vanity of churches has taught you to shake the head in controlled places. Let us all succumb instead to our Heavenly Father's words from Isaiah 59:4.
Verse 4: "NONE CALLETH FOR JUSTICE, NOR ANY PLEADETH FOR TRUTH; THEY TRUST IN VANITY, AND SPEAK LIES, THEY CONCEIVE MISCHIEF, AND BRING FORTH INIQUITY".
Then, if indeed it "is" that elusive "truth" you are actually seeking after, you must pardon my plea for our Heavenly Father's Holy Name to be vindicated therein, and I ask you to hear my arguments out to the last ditch. I reason in support of a "claim" also for the Hebrew/Israelite nation, and afterwards, reader, you can judge me whichever way you wish? For I have then achieved my whole purpose for being here on this earth!
We shall return now to the verses in Daniel's prophecy chapter 2 and start building a strong house of "fulfilled" secular and spiritual history in a gradual manner, until we completely watch that Israelite house rising out of those words to the end of Daniel's chapter 12.