A Theory on the Role of the Ark of the Covenant in the Crucifixion of Jesus

I recently read an article about the Ark of the Covenant and it was so thought provoking that I felt led to share it with you.  What I have to relate is not found recorded in the Bible yet is completely consistent with God’s nature and actions, and is consistent with a historical account found in the extra-Biblical 2 Maccabees that the Ark was sequestered in a cave deep underground, although that is thought to be Mount Nebo in Jordan unless the authors were purposefully changing the location for secrecy.

The article is a testimony from an excavation in the late 1970’s and 1980’s that led to the reported current location of the Ark of the Covenant and what role the Ark played during the death of Jesus.

Seventh Day Adventist and Explorer Ron Wyatt (ronwyatt.com) has a remarkable website.  He died a few years ago, but what he records on his website is awesome in its descriptions of his journeys even while it has a paucity of verifiable data.   Yet a few of his findings really stand out.  The first is his theory that is growing in acceptance that Jebel al Lawz in Saudi Arabia is Mount Sinai of the Bible.  The picture of the massive rock on the top that is cleaved from top almost to the bottom tells its own tale if one knows the Scriptures.  The second is a remarkable and detailed claim substantiated by numerous witnesses that he found the Ark of the Covenant, although again with almost nothing to show for it but some pictures that are not definitive.  But I find that I cannot dismiss his account, as reading it is extremely compelling and what he proposes is completely consistent with God’s thoroughness and detail.

This testimony really blew my mind for it turns the blood of Jesus covering our sins on the mercy seat of the Ark into a real event and not just a figurative one.  For me, this is compelling for I have discovered that we box the Bible into literary, figurative and literal truths but I believe that all events in the Bible are multilayered by  literary, figurative and literal truths and the more I read and research the more this truth is revealed to me.

This is an extremely brief summery, I urge you to read it and marvel at the implications.  Ron stated that he found the Ark in a cave off a series of tunnels inside the Place of the Skull, an outcropping near Jerusalem that remarkably resembles a human skull, in the late 1970’s, and excavated over a 10 year period.   You can see a picture here, and incidentally a tomb very close to this has been discovered that fits the Biblical description of the tomb used by Joseph of Aramathea when he buried Jesus.

The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem

Ron states that he excavated the site over a period of several years and found a cave deep underground with a warren of tunnels.  He lists an extremely detailed list of exactly what he found in the cave, most items being first century temple items including the Ark still encased in a stone box.  Ron states he eventually notified The Jewish Temple Authorities of his find and it was decided to leave it and re-seal the tunnel.  Ron removed part of a first temple item, a pomegranate shaped vase, to take as proof, leaving part behind to show its provenance.  The origin of the vase is currently in dispute but what is known is that Ron Wyatt did work with the Jewish Ministry of Antiquities and is pictured with them holding artifacts.

The Ivory Pomegranate

Ron states that the Mercy Seat of the Ark was positioned under a large geologic crack in the ceiling and the crack had a dark substance that Ron stated later tested in a lab as blood with remarkable characteristics.  He traced the crack to an area above the outcropping that had traces of crucifixion materials and depressions.

Ron’s theory is that God uniquely positioned the Ark  so the Mercy Seat collected blood spilled from Jesus at  His crucifixion and that Jesus was crucified directly above this area.  The great earthquake as recorded during this event was the event that opened the crack in the ground, allowing Jesus’ blood to be spilled over the Mercy Seat as the final and perfect sacrifice.

The question is, is this consistent with God’s actions recorded in the Old Testament? 

I believe in God’s ability to uniquely choose people to do His will without regard to their education or station in life, in fact, that He often chooses people who could not accomplish tasks outside of His help and guidance to give greater glory to Him.  So I cannot discount that a Nurse Anesthetist could develop an interest in the Great Antiquities of the Bible and seek for them.  We are seeing this again today in a secular sense with the excavation of Cleopatra’s temple, as the head is a South American lawyer who just had a “hunch”; or the recent finding of an ancient medieval British treasure by a lay person.  “Hunches” are not the purview of the rich and learned, and often it is learning that squelches original thinking.  So unlike the snobbery in the Archaeology field,  it is quite possible for ordinary people to find extraordinary items.  Mr Wyatt has been excluded from all mention in the Archaeology realm, including the credit for connecting Jebel al Lawz to Mount Sinai,  but the pictures, landscape, geology and known Semitic findings at Jebel al Lawz/ Mount Sinai speaks for itself.   But does one lucky visit equal multiple finds as he and his team claim?

Given the dearth of evidence surrounding his extraordinary claim that the Ark resides below the place of Jesus’ crucifixion, and his sealing the tunnel back up again, one has to consider whether this claim is consistent with God’s nature and actions so I asked the question: Would God satisfy the contractual requirement for a perfect human sacrifice to cover the sins of mankind JUST figuratively or BOTH figuratively and literally?

You will have to answer for yourself, but my answer was that both a literal and spiritual event was logical, for three reasons:

First, the Bible is quite clear that God is a God of Law and Order and a perfect Prosecutor and Judge and He doesn’t leave anything to chance.  In this most important work, He would ensure that the actions required to fully satisfy the conditions necessary to redeem mankind from the consequence of Original Sin both physically and spiritually.

Second, the practice of typology in the Bible always points to a final event.  The entire Jewish sacrificial system was a temporary fix in the Old Covenant system, made permanent with the Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus.  The annual Day of Atonement sacrifice was BOTH a spiritual and physical typology performed by the High Priest to cover all of Israel’s sins for the year.  The blood was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat of the Ark by the High Priest, who was required to perform ritual cleansing prior to entering the Holy of Holys.  Might Jesus’ death, the final, perfect and complete propitiation of our sins, also have been the final and complete spiritual AND physical typology, fully satisfying our debt with a physical sprinkling of Jesus’ blood on the Mercy Seat?

It seems reasonable and fitting.  The lid of the Ark was known in Hebrew as the kaporet, a word that comes from a root meaning “to atone” and which is related to the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. While a more accurate translation of this word into English might be “propitiatory,” the traditional rendering of the name of the Ark’s lid is “the mercy seat.”  The Apostle Paul uses the term Propitiation as part of his description of Christ final atoning work on the cross and this ties in well with an actual sprinkling event.

Read More: https://www.grunge.com/163047/the-untold-truth-of-the-ark-of-the-covenant/?utm_campaign=clip

Given that typologies are extremely common in the Bible, it is completely consistent that God uniquely positioned the Ark to collect the blood of Jesus as it dripped down the newly cracked earth.  Given the extraordinary lengths that God went to to “buy back mankind” it is unlikely that He would be satisfied with a figurative covering of all the sins of mankind. Both a literal and spiritual sprinkling of Jesus’ blood on the Mercy Seat would completely satisfy the contractual requirements to reverse a permanent physical and spiritual death when man broke God’s initial Conditional Covenant.

Thirdly,  God is exquisitely detailed in all His methods and actions and positioning the Ark under the very spot where Jesus’ blood would run down from the cross is completely consistent with the God of the Hebrew Bible and awesome in its planning and execution.  I felt this to be true deep in my spirit and I spent several days in awe stuck worship over the remarkable details that God put into place that we don’t know anything about.  I am so in love with the possibility that God positioned the Ark hundreds of years prior to Jesus’ crucifixion under the very spot that would crack upon the earthquake and this just blows my mind.

To summarize, I believe Ron’s account only because it is consistent with God’s nature and actions as recorded in the Scriptures.  It is both reasonable and remarkable that God would fully satisfy the contractual requirements both literally and figuratively, leaving nothing to chance.  As the Ark is instrumental in the OT covenant for the temporary covering of the sins of Israel I believe that a physical sprinkling of the blood of Jesus is  an essential component of satisfying the contract that Jesus paid with His sacrificial death.  We who are grafted into the Body of Christ are grafted into this final atonement.  While belief or proof of this doesn’t change one’s salvation I do believe that it edified and strengthened my faith, and in faith I believe that it will be proven on God’s perfect time schedule.  It makes me wonder what other amazing details God orchestrated to bring Jesus’ crucifixion to fruition that are not yet known to us.

So why would God hide this awesome and amazing work and why reveal it now?

I can only conjecture, but the Jewish sacrificial system ended in AD 70 with the destruction of the Jewish temple.  God orchestrated the perfect event to hide the Ark with the Babylonian invasion so it would be ready for the final sprinkling of Jesus’ blood centuries later.  Since the Jewish people did not welcome the Messiah, I am certain that they would not have willingly placed it under Jesus’ cross to collect His blood so the Babylonian invasion seems a fitting time to sequester it.  Further, after Jesus’ death, God had no further need for a sacrificial system, so it is an important and Holy relic of the Old Covenant that must be preserved.  Knowledge of it would only have been distracting,  would not add anything to the Gospel, and would only create the kind of frenzy that the Holy Grail and other items caused over the centuries.  The re-discovery only adds to the idea that we are truly in the prophetic End Times.

Our God is an awesome God who perfectly details and orchestrates events to rescue us from the teeth of Satan and eternal death.  As to the veracity of this claim by Ron and his team,  excavations claiming to be part of Ron’s group (refuted by Ron) were attempted afterward and they stated they did not find any evidence, which means that either it isn’t there or God is waiting for the perfect time and the right people to find it again.  But if it is there and if or when God wants it revealed, He will reveal it in the fullness of time.  Why God allowed Ron to find it in the late 1982 is a mystery but God’s ways are not our ways.  Ron died unvindicated but time will prove his findings if valid, as he says he left proof in the cave.

To read the entire and very detailed account, click on this link.  It is a long read and it is divided into multiple parts but it is awesome in its detail with thought provoking pictures.

https://www.ronwyatt.com/new_written_account.html

 

A Call for a New Message in Deliverance

I keep hearing and reading encouragement for people to pray during our pandemic but this is deceptive.  Where are the old “Fire and Brimstone” preachers when you need them?  They are a “bygone age” and one that I don’t think we will see again until the Two Witnesses are revealed as described in the book of Revelation.

Simple prayer for deliverance is the wrong message to be giving people and one that God does not honor.  The message that we must relay is to REPENT from current and past sin.  Please, hear me out.

As a consequence of the desperate corruption and rampant sin, I believe that the current earthquakes, pestilence and plagues are the birth pains prophesied in the Bible, and these trials are calls to repent that will get more destructive as the time grows nearer for Jesus’ return.  Christians must maintain a consistent message with Gods’ call to repentance.

Why do I say that we are in the prophetic “birth pains”?  Because our world is exactly like the world in the days of Noah .  Jesus said in Matthew 24:37 that “as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man”, meaning that the world would have traits consistent with the world in the days of Noah before His return.  It also mirrors what Paul described in Romans 1:18-32 as what people will be like in the “last days”. And, controversially, spend a few hours getting your mind blown in daniel11truth, who has spent his lifetime elegantly and comprehensively lining up all of Biblical prophesy in a way unique to anything I have ever read.  According to his research,  world history has completed all verses up to Daniel 11:31.
The Bible clearly and consistently states that God doesnt hear prayers from the unrighteous without repentance.  All the posts and blog entries telling people to “storm the gates of heaven and pray for deliverance” is not consistent with that we are to do because God has a deaf ear to the unrighteous.  The Bible outlines what we are to do in times of distress for the Christian (those saved by the blood of Jesus Christ) and the “unsaved” (those who have not called on Jesus for salvation).

For the unsaved:
Call out for salvation in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, repent from and confess your sin then turn away from your sinful acts.  Spiritual salvation is assured in the Bible and with it peace and hope for eternal life.  As God wills, He may heal your body as well.

If you don’t know what is considered sin, the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20:2-17 are an easy list to read and understand.  Jesus said in Mark 12:30-31 that the entire Law of God can be summarized as “Love God with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul and love your neighbor as yourself.”  Examples of the ACTION of sin is all throughout the Bible.

Paul records a list of sinful actions in Galations 5:19-21 to help give you an idea of what sin looks like in action. (There are many other similar lists, this is just one example.)  Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹ envy,^[d] drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do^[e] such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

Solomon elegantly summarizes 7 sins that God hates in Proverbs 6:16-19:

There are six things that the Lord hates,
    seven that are an abomination to him:
¹⁷ haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
    and hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked plans,
    feet that make haste to run to evil,
¹⁹ a false witness who breathes out lies,
    and one who sows discord among brothers.

For the saved in Jesus Christ:

James chapter 1 has clear instructions for what to do with trials, suffering and illness.  Yet I am not reading about these instructions in posts or blogs.  I am certainly not reading about what James says to do in illness.  I am puzzled as to what Christians actually believe, and I feel that we have grossly skewed the message to one that has lopped off the arms and legs of God’s personality.  He is not just LOVE.  He is first and foremost HOLY, or “pure and set apart”.  Love is an important but secondary attribute along with JUSTICE, OMNIPOTENCE and so forth.  And He works to produce holiness in us through trials and persecution.  As a group we have sorely tried this most important characteristic of HOLINESS, only to veneer our prayers with petitions without action.  Our action must collectively be repentance from ungodly action, thought, word, tolerance and idols.

 1.  Count the time of testing or persecution JOY in order to produce steadfastness.

Praising God for persecution sounds nuts.  But that is exactly the message from Christians being slaughtered in Africa and the Middle East.  Praise God for the ministry of organizations like Barnabus Fund and Open Doors USA who are bringing their stories to light and doing what they can to relieve their suffering.  Their praise in the midst of grave danger, injury and death humbles me.  What they know, because they have lived it, is that faithfully following Jesus is sacrificial and transformative.  As a caveat, James also reminds us of God’s promise to reward those who demonstrate steadfastness under trials with the Crown of Righteousness.

Professing christians in less restrictive societies must take this to heart, stop the long faces, stop hiding in “bug out bungaloes”.  We are called to love our neighbor and hoarding our stuff is a direct violation of this.  Martin Luther ran toward the plague while “Christians” ran like rats from a sinking ship.  He demonstrated his faith in trials.  I am happy to see certain organizations like Samaritan’s Purse demonstrating love in action in Italy and New York City, and it is a great example of what Christians can do to give light and hope to the world.  Give generously as you are called to do.  Write notes of encouragement to neighbors.  Offer to pick up stuff for others.  Put in your name to Christian organizations in your area.  YOU know where you are going and YOU know where they are going.  In eternal terms, it is better for us to suffer.

James 1:2-4 Count it all joy, my brothers,^[b] when you meet trials of various kinds, ³ for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

2.  Be reconciled to God and to your brother.  Humble yourself, seek God’s face and turn from sin.

This is a worldwide need and one we need to meet collectively but we can only do that if we preach and act out repentance.  If you are unsure if unconfessed sin is in your life, the lists above are a good place to start.  Ask for wisdom and discernment to reveal what you may be doing or thinking that is not consistent with a holy life.  As grafted into God’s family, we can claim the below promise made to the Israelites:

2 Chronicles 7:14  if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Matthew 5:21-24  “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ ²² But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother^[c] will be liable to judgment; whoever insults^[d] his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell^[e] of fire. ²³ So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

4.  Ask for wisdom, in faith without doubting, from God who gives generously.  Notice the criteria of asking for wisdom.  Ask in faith and do not doubt.

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

5.  When illness strikes, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another.  Examine yourself to make sure you are not participating in communion with unresolved sin in your heart and life.

In obedience to James 5:14, call to the elders of the church to pray over you and “anoint you with oil” (a medical practice of rubbing in the skin of olive oil for healing).  There is a promise of safety from pestilence and plague in Psalms 91 that is popular right now on many blogs, but this is a specific promise for the person who dwells in the shelter of the Most High.  I believe that this promise is for the few who are absolutely bonded to God through our saviour Jesus Christ, and obey ALL His edicts.  So I am concerned when people pull this out and say pandemics arent for Christians.  It is absolutely false.

Even devout Christians in the New Testiment dealt with serious illness.  Paul also has a strong warning about coming to the communion table with unconfessed sin.  Failure to heed this leads to illness and early death.  In our age of tolerance, broken promises, strife and idol worship, is is a wonder that so many professing Christians who participate in communion are ill?

Why do we want to obey this instruction?  As God wills, the prayer of faith from a righteous person will save the ill Christian and sins will be forgiven.  Sober reverence and confession of sin prior to communion will protect the Christian from the consequences of disobedience.

James 5:14  Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.  And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

1 Corinthians 11:27-30 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹ For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. ³⁰ That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.^[h] 31 But if we judged^[i] ourselves truly, we would not be judged. ³² But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined^[j] so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

6.  Be prepared for God to say NO to all your prayers for healing.  If you are right with God and your brother you have no reason to be in despair.  We do not know God’s overall plan and how your suffering fits into it.  Paul entreated God for healing from a serious illness and God told him no.  What you can do is suffer with grace and patience and be a testimony to others even at the expense of your life.  Perhaps your testimony in suffering will produce a good work in both you and in them.

Calling on Jesus, a Testimony

Last year I became a Christian.  After 50 years of Christian school, church and Christian tradition, I found myself faced with the reality that I was a Christian in tradition only.  I vaguely remembered a time when I “asked Jesus into my heart” at a very young age, but I turned away from this and went my own way with my back foot in Christian tradition and my leading foot in the other direction.

Two years ago I had a mental breakdown.  I discovered myself on disability barely able to say a full sentence.  I sat for 18 months in a numb state of unreality.  I saw almost no one and was plagued with constant thoughts of suicide, my old enemy.  Early last year I developed symptoms of acute psychosis.  I had strange thoughts, bizarre homocidal thoughts and I couldn’t think a clear sentence.   My thoughts were like bright lights zooming in and out of my head.  I had crippling anxiety and a feeling like someone was pressing down on my shoulders.  I decided it was time to give up and commit suicide.

As I was contemplating my action, I received two commands.  On one other occasion I was given a command to “wake up and call out Jesus” during a dream.  These felt like that.  The first command was to look up “Leviathon” (which is an interest of mine, see my prior post).  The second command was to look up signs of Spiritual Oppression.  I looked up signs of spiritual oppression and what I read made my thinking clear up a bit.  I realized that I met all the criteria.  I began to wonder how Leviathon would tie into this, so  I looked up Leviathon.

The second link on Leviathon was for “Leviathon spirit”.  I had never heard of this and I knew this was what I was supposed to read.  This link took me to the Ministry of Nelson Schuman (restoredtofreedom.com), a man who has been working with persons under Spiritual Oppression for several years.  He put a name to a powerful oppressive spirit mentioned and described in the Bible and called it “Leviathon spirit”.  While reading about “Leviathon spirit”, I realized that the description  of persons experiencing this oppression  fit me and my family very well.  His written prayers are powerful indeed, and right then and there I poured myself out and begged down to the depths of my soul for release, confessed my sinful state, believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as my sole savior and repented of my sin.

In the middle of my prayer two things occurred.  My body jerked and I felt the pressing down on my shoulders leave me.  At the same moment that I jerked, all the anxiety left.  By the end of the prayer I once again experienced a complete feeling of peace just like the peace I had when I called out Jesus’ name during the horrific demonic dream.  This peace was like the sudden release of a tornado where all was quiet in my head and pure contentment reigned.  I really dont have words and I consider myself a bit of a wordsmith but it is the best I can do.

I believe God started to work in my life from that moment.  I was released, and continue to be released, from a sin that I was enslaved to for over 30 years.  And I was referred to a Christian counselor who in turn referred me to DBT (dialectic behavioral therapy) and I was finally and correctly diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, the problem that led to the acute psychosis (along with the medication Topiramate).

I firmly believe that I wouldn’t be here today without God’s intervention in my life.  I don’t know what He has in store for me, but I want to be ready for it.  I am working hard on the BPD symptoms and it is a very hard battle.  God so far has not chosen to release me from this so I assume I am supposed to do something related to it.  I have learned so much from DBT, it is transformative, and one of my realizations is that many many others, both Christian and non-Christian, are suffering with this disorder and are undiagnosed.  It has the potential to rip apart lives and peace in the Church like almost no other mental condition.  I have thought about starting a blog called “The Borderline Christian”, as to my great dismay Christian sites treat this condition harshly.  There is a need for Biblically based education, gentle encouragement and edification and concrete help.   It is a terrible disorder that I think has both spiritual and neurobiological components as I am most likely the 4th generation with symptoms.

As I move forward, I am conscious that my struggle with interpersonal relationships and emotional dysregulation may limit my ability for God to use me.  Paul, our great Christian example, asked for prayer that he would remain “usable”.  For him to be concerned about that really struck me.

It is my prayer as well.

I hope that this will encourage you no matter what state you find yourself.  It is possible to be released from oppression.  Paul tells us to put on the armor of God daily, pray to remain usable and meditate on the Word of God.  As I faithfully attend DBT classes I know that the Bible is the BEST DBT manual.  And be open to give account.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and the only connection to God.  Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.  And tell others the Good News through your testimony.

Mt Sinai, Leviathon and “Figurative Bible imagery”

I have always been interested in Mt Sinai and Leviathon. But I never realized the two were connected.  How could they be?  The Bible tells us that Mt Sinai resides in Midian, modern day Arabia.  Leviathon is a great oceanic beast.

Both Mt Sinai and Leviathon have faded into the world of the Mystical Fantastic outside of Bible references (although Google Earth has tracked something massive in the ocean). Yet they seemed to be important to God given the many times they are mentioned and the graphic descriptions given to them.  God doesnt do this unless it is important.  If it is important to God it is important to me.  The description of Leviathon in Job 41 is a fearsome creature indeed and appears to have multiple heads, an armored body and the ability to breathe a fiery substance.

Yet in Psalms this Fantastic Mythology is connected in a descriptive and graphic way.  Psalm 74:14 says “You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces, And gave him as food to the people (or creatures) inhabiting the wilderness.”

So is this figurative Bible imagery?  Perhaps not.  I viewed an short Google earth video linking this verse with a vast shape about a mile near what is now thought to be a good candidate for Mt Sinai.  Now the story of modern day Mt Sinai and this link reads better than any suspense thriller and can be found on ronwyatt.com, who went to Saudi Arabia at great personal risk to himself and his sons.  Click on the Mount Sinai link and read in awe.  And he is not alone, others have picked up on this, although it is hotly refuted.  This is a great article with pictures of the split rock: https://www.discoveryworld.us/biblical-discoveries/the-real-mt-sinai-is-in-saudi-arabia/

Now we tend to discount what is not beautiful and Jebel el Lawz mountain is quite bleak and desolate.  But God sees what we do not, He raises the humble and uses what we discount for His Glory.  (Which I find great comfort in, as I am certainly not a human prize in any sense.  But I am a prize in His eyes, which is all that matters.)   For some reason, this mountain is special to Him.  I like to create a story that perhaps this is where He stood during the Act of Creation.  Dont quote me on that!

So what Psalms is suggesting, if one moves from figurative language into historical detail, is that one of the Leviathon was used as food for people or creatures wandering in the wilderness.  If one went to Sunday School, one knows that the Israelites and their animals wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and that they resided for a time at Mt Sinai during the Ten Commandment initiation, so it is not too great a leap to name the Israelites as “the people (some versions say creatures) in the wilderness”.

Since Jebel el Lawz is desert, it is possible that the bones of a massive creature may still reside if God used it for food for either the Isrealites or provision for their animals.

I believe that the potential discovery of a massive creature about a mile from this site certainly lays further evidence that this is the Biblical Mt Sinai, for in addition to the archeological finds, Bedouin oral history states that this mountain is the sacred mountain of Moses.

Links dont last very long especially in the era of Youtube censorship, so while I have placed this video below, if it is missing or doesnt word then look up bornforbattle74 on Youtube if you want to see a one minute video that is, at the very least, thought provoking and if you are excited by really cool connections, it will rock your world 🙂

To me, this raises questions as to whether Bible scholars and readers should be looking at the Bible in a “new” (or, to be more accurate, return to the old) way.  I have come to believe that the Bible isnt just a text for religious and moral truth.  I also think we have put the Bible in a neat little box of “literal” and “figurative”.  But that isnt how God operates.  I think that we need to keep our mind open to literal, historical, spiritual and figurative truths in every verse we read.

Otherwise it is likely that we are  missing, by our choice, deeper layers to the brilliance of God’s inspired Word.

Revealing an unreported link between Pandemics and the Seven Seals of Revelation Ch 6

I read the Bible several times a week.  And I live in a state of astonished amazement in regard to how accurately it explains the state of the world in the Last Days.  I have been going through Paul’s letters from start to finish, and I really advocate a start to finish read to get a flavor of what he says about the state of the person’s heart, mind and soul in the Last Days.

I recently started the Netflix series Pandemic, and what it said in the first 3 episodes answered a question I have had for a long time.  I immediately went to Revelation Chapter 6, the chapter that describes the Seven Seals unleashed upon the world before the events of the Great Tribulation.  And I saw two words that turned my world upside down.

To remind you of the complete context, I am copying Chapter 6: 1-7 here from the English Standard Version.  Pay careful attention to verse 7.

Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of ^ethe seven seals, and I heard ^fone of the 4 living creatures say ^gwith a voice like thunder, ^h“Come!”

2 And I looked, and behold, ⁱa white horse! And ^jits rider had a bow, and ^ka crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

3 When he opened the second seal, I heard ^mthe second living creature say, “Come!”

4 And out came another horse, ⁿbright red. Its rider was permitted ^oto take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the ^mthird living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, ^pa black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, ^q“A quart of wheat for a denarius,² and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and ^rdo not harm the oil and wine!”

7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of ^mthe fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 And I looked, and behold, ^sa pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and ^uby wild beasts of the earth.

I want to pay close attention to verse 7, the last phrase, because we are seeing all of these play out on our world stage NOW in more ways than I believe you realize.  This verse talks about a series of great events that would reduce the worldwide population through sword, famine, pestilence and wild beasts.  We have seen typologies of each of these in our past as obviously our Great Wars, the Great Depressions etc have temporarily derailed humanity.  And we have seen us conquer these terrible events, sigh over the loss of life, and move on into greater states of selfish rebellion against all of God’s rules and decrees, not realizing that these events are meant to get our spiritual attention.

There is one typology that no one has ever discussed in all my 50 years of church, commentary reading, and Bible studies.  And it is the typology of the Black Death that terrorized and destroyed Europe’s economy in the mid 1300’s.  Of course we now know how this terrible plaque started.  With wild animals.

I have always been confused over the end phrase in Rev 6:7 “wild beasts of the earth”.  How can the “wild beasts” harm us on a global scale in the end times?  Especially as the wild animal population has been struggling and becoming extinct on a global scale?

The Bubonic Plaque showed us exactly how that could happen.  With viral and bacterial mutation from the animal host into an intermediate host then a mutation into humans brought about by the Chinese Silk Trade through travel on the Silk Highway.

The second warning, or typology, was the Spanish flu of 1918.  The beginning of the unleashing of the Viral Plagues that have dogged us despite our intelligence and the international pouring out of billions of [currency] and our determination to eradicate it with vaccines and what not.  The problem is that man didn’t realize that it cannot be eradicated as it originates in the wild birds (ducks are the primary culprits) who fly hundreds of miles dropping off and picking up new strains each year, only to expose farm animals and mutate again into human transmission.

And of course we cannot forget what brought about AIDS and Ebola.  Wild animals.

And now we have the Coronavirus family from the bats.  Perhaps the next pandemic.  If we are able to stop the spread now, it will only land on top of a series of potential pandemics, warnings that go unheeded.  At some point, Revelation 6:7 will come true, and it will start with wild animals.  We can discuss and debate whether these are “natural” events vs God’s judgement.  Personally, I think that God put barriers into wild animals’ DNA that, if breached, would start a cascade that ends in uncontrolled pandemic.  It is our choices, our rebellion, our breaching of His rules, that have led us here.

What really “floors” me is the knowledge that the writer of Revelation knew that wild animals would cause devastation during the Last Days 2000 years ago.  If NOTHING ELSE convinces you to take an interest in the Bible, this simple phrase in verse 7 should send you scurrying into scripture. 

If you need a suggestion, I am “hooked” on the Blue Letter Bible, a free app that you can carry everywhere.  With one touch on any verse on your screen it pulls up a library full of scholarly research, translation comparisons and commentaries.  If you can read notation, I  personally like David Guzik for his insightful body of work and I love how he adds in commentary from the great preachers of the past.  If you like reading a sermon there are several but I love Chuck Smith and his “tells it like it is”….. truth is a rare and valuable gem these days.

Finally, pray for us all but especially for the spiritual and physical health of the people of China.  May the Word of God spread unchecked, removing the spiritual darkness and causing them to turn to their Creator and the glorious freedom found in His Son, Yeshua (Jesus).  And an assurance (that I have experienced more than once), that in one’s darkest hour, one has only to call out Yeshua/Jesus name and be saved.

May God’s will be done.