"Way Truth:Life," that expands upon the theology presented in the author's first-published book, "Way Truth:Life - Revelation of the Creator LORD Jesus Christ," is a book that is much needed. For, most who claim to be Christian do not comprehend the fullness of Who the Creator LORD Jesus Christ is. And, virtually none of these understands God's overall Plan of Redemption of the Ages that is necessary to correctly interpret Bible prophecy. These are so ignorant of what God is doing and about to do that they do not even know what questions to ask. Most proclaimed Christians have no concept of what the Bible reveals concerning the timing of Christ's return. They certainly cannot use simple terms to clearly explain how God's predestination and mankind's free will coexist. They do not know how God will ultimately judge all sinners in a fair manner regardless of when they live or what spiritual enlightenment they are exposed to. Sadly, most do not even know what God really requires for a person to be born again and eternally saved, much less what spiritual stages everyone who ever lives potentially goes through from the moment that one comes into existence until he physically dies. They do not know God's plan for His chosen nation of Israel during the church age, during the coming 7-year Tribulation and during the Millennial Kingdom. And, they have no idea what the Bible clearly reveals about the destiny of everyone who dies before the age of moral accountability. Clear answers to the above are provided within this fully scripture-referenced book on theology entitled "Way Truth:Life." Additionally, the author's most-literal approach to interpreting God's Word also makes it very easy to decipher Bible prophecy.

Way Truth: Life

By Dale M. Presley

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2009 Dale M. Presley
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4490-3424-5

Contents

Foreword: True Theology Easily Deciphers Prophecy..................................................viiGod's Word Verses Man's Words......................................................................xvI - -Introduction to Way Truth: Life...............................................................xxviiIA - The Purpose of This Book......................................................................xxviiIB - God's Written Word: The Ultimate Source of Truths about "The" Truth...........................xxixIC - Ways One Can Know He is Getting Closer to Absolute Truth.....................................xxxiiID - Overcoming the Greatest Hindrances to Proper Interpretation of God's Word.....................xxxivIE - Who God's Word Says Jesus Christ Really Is....................................................xxxviIF - Some Personal Reflections Before We Begin.....................................................xliiiIG - A Final Note..................................................................................xlvChapter T-1: What Scripture Says About the Timing of Christ's Return...............................1Chapter T-2: Predestination and Mankind's Free Will................................................15T2A - Introduction.................................................................................15T2B - The Problem Defined..........................................................................15T2C - The Traditional Sides of the Argument........................................................18T2D - How Most Try to Avoid the Issue..............................................................19T2E - Why the Issue Cannot Be Avoided..............................................................19T2F - God is Sovereign.............................................................................20T2G - God is a God of Love Who Only Accepts Real Love..............................................20T2H - The Reason For Everything and The Purpose of Creation........................................21T2I - God's Omniscience............................................................................22T2J - God's Impartiality: God's "Fairness".........................................................22T2K - The History of Creation is Bounded, But Not Set..............................................24T2L - God Woos, But Never Forces the Free Will of Man..............................................27T2M - God's Impartiality in No Way Limits His Love and Personal Concern............................29T2N - An Example of Actual Pre-set History.........................................................30T2O - Predestination Properly Understood...........................................................31T2P - Conclusion...................................................................................32Chapter T-3: God's Plan of Redemption of the Ages..................................................35T3A - God's Model of Redemption and It's Confirmation By Jesus.....................................35T3B - Everything Beyond the Courtyard..............................................................36T3C - The Courtyard................................................................................46T3D - The Holy Place...............................................................................50T3E - The Holy of Holies...........................................................................54T3F - An Overview of God's Grand Plan of Redemption of the Ages....................................54T3G - Conclusion: How God Saves All Who are Saved..................................................55Chapter T-4: Spiritual Life Model..................................................................59T4A - Introduction.................................................................................59T4B - Spiritual Life Model.........................................................................59T4C - Physical/Eternal Life Begins: God Creates an Eternal Being...................................61T4D - The First Death: End to Physical Life in this Unregenerate Earth.............................63T4E - Plane of Separation: Saved or Unsaved........................................................65T4F - Dome of Moral Accountability: God's Protection of the Innocent...............................73T4G - Cup of Spiritual Opportunity: God's Offering of Eternal Life.................................92T4H - Crescent of Judicial Blindness: Physically Alive Yet Eternally Lost..........................94T4I - Conclusion: Spiritual Life Model Symbology...................................................104

Chapter One

WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYS ABOUT THE TIMING OF CHRIST'S RETURN

When I initially penned this chapter on "What Scripture Says About the Timing of Christ's Return," I was convinced by the common thinking of the day and my own selfish desire to live until Christ's return that Genesis 7:11-24 and 8:3&4 and the book of Revelation did indeed indicate that "prophetic" years in the Bible should always be interpreted to be twelve months of 30 days per month or of only 360 days/year. However, Dr. Floyd Jones' book entitled "A Chronology of the Old Testament" has since convinced me that these "prophetic" years only apply to scriptures in the books of Genesis and Revelation. Between these end-books of the Bible's 66 books, normal solar years of approximately 365-1/4 days/year should be used for interpreting prophecies about everything except past events in Genesis and coming events in Revelation. Therefore, in this book's later edition, the dates derived for the earliest times when Jesus Christ will return to this earth for His church to begin the 7-year Tribulation has been shifted to a later date to reflect prophecy years that are actually normal calendar solar years in Hosea 5:14-6:2.

Any comprehensive discussion about the timing of Jesus Christ's return from heaven must include a look at chapter 9 of the book of the prophet Daniel. At the very end of the seventy years of Israel's captivity in Babylon, just after that empire fell to the Medes and the Persians, Daniel said,

"In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem (Dan. 9:1&2)."

Leviticus 26:14-17, 35, 38, 39 and 43 had earlier implied an initial captivity of the Israelites if they would not hearken unto the LORD and follow His commandments. In 606 BC, the year Daniel was taken away to Babylon in the first of three captivities of the Jews, the prophet Jeremiah prophesied from Jerusalem that Israel's captivity would last "seventy years" (Jer. 25:11&12). In 597 BC, after the second captivity, Jeremiah wrote down this prophecy in a letter to the Jews already in Babylon that Daniel referred to above (Jer. 29:10). Earlier, 2 Chronicles 36:19-21 had indicated that the reason for the length of Israel's chastening being "seventy years" would be so that the land could then enjoy the sabbath years that the land had not been allowed to rest during Israel's prior disobedience to Mosaic law given in Leviticus 25:1-5.

This 70 calendar years is the exact time from the initial 606 BC captivity, wherein Daniel was taken captive, until 536 BC when Cyrus did indeed free all of the Jews to return to Palestine. Therefore, for seventy solar years of captivity and abandonment from their land in Canaan the land had been forced to lie fallow by the LORD. This seventy years of chastening exactly equals the number of sabbath years of rest out of 490 total years or growing seasons (490 divided by 7 = 70) that the Israelites had failed to leave their land fallow and unsown each of those sabbath growing seasons as was required by God's law in Leviticus 25:1-5. Those 490 calendar years represent the period that began when this Mosaic law became enforceable throughout the promised land of Canaan by the crowning of Israel's first king (Saul) in 1095 BC. The 490 years was accounted to have ended when the Israelites began preparing the land for the next growing season of 605 BC during the year of the initial Babylonian captivity of Jews in 606 BC. Though there were two previous captivities of Jews before the third one when the temple and Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC, 606 BC is the earliest one that the LORD graciously accounted as the beginning of their allotted seventy years of chastening via captivity.

With this initial seventy years of chastening in Babylon in the background, we now need to look at what the "presence" angel Gabriel (Luke 1:19) told Daniel about God's future plans for Israel. Gabriel visited Daniel near the end of those seventy years of his own captivity in Babylon and told him in Daniel 9:24-27,

"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."

Verse 24 of Daniel 9 says, "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy." Four times in Leviticus 26 (verses 18, 21, 24 and 28), the LORD warned Israel about the consequences if their initial (seventy-year) chastening for not keeping His sabbaths and obeying His statutes and commandments (Lev. 26:1-3) proved insufficient to make them honor and accept Him as their LORD. The LORD promised there in Leviticus 26 that if Israel would not honor and accept Him as their LORD, He would yet chasten them in the future "seven times" as much for their sins "in (His) fury" as He would in this initial (seventy-year) chastening that Daniel had now witnessed in Babylon. In Daniel 9:24, Gabriel was telling Daniel that Israel as a whole and as a nation was still not ready to accept the LORD, the preincarnate Jesus Christ, as their Lord Who they would obey. Therefore, "seventy weeks" (seventy heptads of years = seven times the seventy that the Jews had already suffered) would be determined or preordained against Daniel's "people" (Israel) and the "holy city" (Jerusalem) "to finish the transgression" of Israel against the LORD Who they would not accept as their Lord. We now know definitely that these "weeks" (heptads) refer to seven-year periods by simply looking at historical events that have already exactly fulfilled the prophecy of the first 69 "weeks" (heptads) of years.

Seven times seventy is 490 years of additional chastening prophesied against Israel here. It would take that long for the LORD to finish His dealing with Israel's transgression against Him so that the LORD could make a full "end of (their) sins." After 490 years of chastening, full "reconciliation for (the) iniquity" of the nation would be made by God once and for all. When that 490 years (7 X 70 = 490) of dealing with the nation of Israel as God's witnessing nation on earth is completed, "everlasting righteousness" will be bestowed on the whole nation. At that time, this "vision and prophecy" will be completely fulfilled and there will be no more chastening of the nation ever again. For, then "the Most Holy," the LORD Jesus Christ, will be anointed not only as their eternal King, but also as the King of kings and Lord of lords of the whole regenerated earth (Deut. 10:17; Ps. 136:3; Dan. 2:47; 1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 17:14, 19:16). After those seventy "weeks" of years, the Lord will establish His Millennial Kingdom of righteous rule through perfectly holy Israel on the regenerated earth for a thousand years before this heavens and earth is burned up (2 Peter 3:10). Finally, all of the saved of all of time will be removed to the "new Jerusalem," that is the sum total of heaven, forevermore (Rev. 21:1-22:21).

Verse 25 of Daniel 9 says, "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times." The first sixty-nine "weeks" of years (69 X 7 = 483 years) is broken up into two consecutive periods of time equaling seven weeks of years (7 X 7 = 49 years) and sixty-two weeks of years (62 X 7 = 434 years) respectively. The time period (49 years + 434 years = 483 years) began when "the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem" was given as predicted so that Jerusalem was indeed "built again, and the wall, even in troublous times." For, that "commandment" or decree was issued by Artaxerxes Longimanus, the king of the Medo-Persian worldwide empire, in the year 454 BC as recorded in Nehemiah 2:1-8. Another earlier decree by Artaxerxes in 467 BC (Ezra 7:11-26) and two others decrees, one by Cyrus in 536 BC (2 Chron. 36:22&23, Ezra 1:1-4, 5:13) and the other by Darius I in 520 BC (Ezra 6:1, 6-12), could not be the "commandment" mentioned here in Daniel 9:25. For, none of these earlier decrees granted the Jews permission to rebuild "the wall" of the city of Jerusalem as specifically mentioned in Daniel 9:25.

The end of these full sixty-nine weeks of years (483 years) of God chastening Israel for her sins was to be when "Messiah the prince" entered upon the scene. That event was the triumphant entry of the LORD Jesus Christ, the Messiah of the Jews, into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to be rightfully crowned as their King upon the throne of David. That event occurred exactly to the day sixty-nine "weeks" of years after the second decree of Artaxerxes in the year 454 BC. John 1:11 says of this, "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." This explains Jesus's answer at that time to the Pharisees who wanted Jesus's disciples silenced when He said, "I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out (Luke 19:40)." This date for the first triumphant coming of the incarnated Creator to the people of the nation of His human birth, 4 days prior to the 14th of Nisan 30 AD, was pre-set 483 years earlier and no power in the universe could prevent it.

The first seven weeks of years (7 X 7 = 49 years) ended about when the time of Malachi's final prophecy of the Old Testament was written. This was a very noteworthy time since no more prophecy was given during the four silent centuries preceding John the Baptist, the last Old Testament prophet not counting Jesus Himself. Hence, the break in the first sixty-nine "weeks" of years.

Verse 26 of Daniel 9 says, "And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined." Notice that it is "after" the full sixty-nine (7 + 62 = 69) "weeks" of "prophetic" years defined above that the Messiah would be "cut off" or killed. The Thursday of Christ's crucifixion occurred on 14 Nisan, 30 AD, on the fourth day "after" His triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday as the rightful King of the Jews and thus after sixty-nine "weeks" of years. As also noted, Jesus Christ was not killed ("cut off") for His own sins, but rather for the sins of the whole world since He Himself was sinless.

"The prince that shall come" in the second part of this verse is the Antichrist who will come in the last and seventieth week of years of Israel's chastening (the 7-year Tribulation). "The people of the prince that shall come" were the Romans who did "destroy the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (the temple)" in 70 AD. More is said about the kinship of the future Antichrist to these Romans in commentary on Revelation 13:1 in "Revelation of the Creator LORD Jesus Christ" by Dale M. Presley. "The end" of "the city and the sanctuary" was "with a flood." That is, the destruction was actually accomplished by the Roman army (here called "a flood") during the Roman/ Jewish wars of 66-70 AD. Finally, "unto the end of the war (of chastening against Israel) desolations are determined." In other words, Israel was to know no lasting peace on the unregenerate earth from that time in 70 AD until the full seventy "weeks" of years are accomplished.

Verse 27 of Chapter 9 says, "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." The church age is not a part of these seventy "weeks" of years of Daniel 9:24-27 because it was a "mystery" to Old Testament prophets (Col. 1:26&27). They had no knowledge of the church age that began after the end of the sixty-ninth "week" of years and will end exactly at the beginning of the seventieth "week" of years with the rapture of the true church (see commentary on Revelation chapters 4 and 17 in "Revelation of the Creator LORD Jesus Christ" by Dale M. Presley). The Antichrist (the "little horn" of Daniel's vision in Dan. 7:8) will make a worldwide covenant of peace with Israel at the beginning of the 7-year Tribulation (the last of the seventy weeks of years). This will provide security for Israel that will allow them to continue worshiping via their Old Testament priesthood/animal-sacrificial system of religion in their newly-built, third temple in a day when all other religion in the world will be outlawed (see commentary on Rev. chapters 11-17 in "Revelation of the Creator LORD Jesus Christ" by Dale M. Presley for a full explanation of these events).

However, a month before the mid-point of the originally-scheduled seventieth "week" of years (Dan. 12:11), the Satan-possessed Antichrist will break his covenant with Israel. Then the Antichrist's false prophet will set up an image of the Antichrist in the Jews' temple and force everyone to worship the Antichrist as God through it under penalty of death if anyone refuses to do so (2 Thess. 2:4, Rev. 13:8). The "overspreading of abominations," also called the "Abomination of Desolation" by Jesus in Matthew 24:15, will be this attempt of the Satan-possessed Antichrist to kill all true believers and receive worship through this image that only the living God is worthy to receive (Rev. 13:11-18). Those Jews who will still be sacrificing animals at the temple during that last month before the mid-point of that originally-scheduled seventieth "week" of years will take the mark of the beast when they accept the Antichrist as their Messiah and he will exploit these followers henceforth.

Exactly at the mid-point of the originally-scheduled 7-year Tribulation, the "two (Jewish) witnesses" of Revelation 11:3-14, who will have been protecting all true, faithful believers in Israel, will be killed by the false prophet. All truly-godly believers will then be killed within the next 2-1/2 months. With all truly-godly believers initially in hiding and soon killed, the Antichrist "shall make it (the temple) desolate, even until the consummation." That "consummation" of all things of this unregenerate earth will take place during the last month of the seventieth "week" of years of Dan. 9:24-27. For, thirty-five days prior to the end of those originally-scheduled seven years, Jesus Christ will return from heaven with all of the holy angels and all glorified saints at His second coming to the earth (Dan. 8:14&26). He will then perform the Sheep/Goat Judgment of Matthew 25:31-46 and afterwards kill all of the ungodly of all of time at the so-called "Battle of Armageddon."

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Way Truth: Lifeby Dale M. Presley Copyright © 2009 by Dale M. Presley. Excerpted by permission.
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