This series has put forth the proposition that the major themes of prophecy overlap in the earthly timelines -- before and after their primary fulfillment – as directed by the powers of heaven.

From our physical perspective in the earthly realm, we tend to confuse what should be obvious clues in the Scriptures, largely due to the fact that we frequently fail to wait upon the LORD to reveal the truth.

“Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until he have mercy upon us” (Psalms 123:2).

An interesting example of this point is found in the book of Revelation; but to examine it, we must digress for a moment and note that the LORD has clearly revealed that Satan has already been released from the “Restrainer” (II Thessalonians 2:7).

“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison” (Revelation 20:7).

The literalists (also called futurists) who say this is a prophecy that will occur after Christ returns and reigns physically for a literal thousand years on the earth, vehemently assert this could not be a Spiritual release after a Spiritual binding during the AD Christian era, because the Christian age is about two thousand years old.

This worldview – largely held by the Rapture Cult – ignores many Scriptures that point to a mystical dimension in various time verses in Scripture that have only recently been revealed.

For instance, as repeatedly stated in our work, Spiritual sequences cross over into the linear history of the world, before and after their primary fulfillment – and this is demonstrated by the recognition of “Scripts” that repeat in multiple timelines. We call this phenomenon Twin Timelines, or Sequential Recapitulation.

Ahab and Jezebel exhibited the two evil Spiritual identities (Death and Hell respectively) the Scriptures reveal when they combined to kill Naboth (the innocent “third part” – Zechariah 13:9), just as Herod and Herodias manifested the same collaborative interaction that culminated in the death of John the Baptist.

These (and more examples) preceded Pontius Pilate and the Jewish Council interaction (again exhibiting Death and Hell) where Jesus, the “third part,” was murdered. We’ve written extensively for years about these Prophetic Parallels, which evidence activity in the Spiritual realm.

Once the Christian era had commenced, and Christ was resurrected, God reversed the cycle, and the “third part” was preserved with eternal Spiritual life, pulling constituents from the “two parts” of Death and Hell, which continued to lead the vessels they inhabited to destruction, as they were “cut off,” experiencing the “second death.”

“The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8). 

Every person captured by the spirits of Death and Hell – and their many euphemisms in Scripture – are the “two parts” that are judged, while the Spirit of the LORD is the “third part” that continues after the judgment of God.

“In all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire…they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God” (Zechariah 13:8,9).

When the LORD preserved the “third part” at the dawning of the AD Christian age, He gave divine power to His Saints, who were resurrected with Christ, from the earthly sinful death that all Flesh and Blood faces.

“You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sin…[and] God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:1,4,5).

In the AD Christian age, through identification with the Death and subsequent Resurrection of JESUS CHRIST, we see our “natural man” is crucified with Him.

“Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed…likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:6,11).

In the New Testament, we see that “third part,” which is the Born Again Spiritually regenerated person in Christ, was given dominion over the Spiritual entities of Death and Hell. In the book of Revelation, Death and Hell are imaged as Serpents and Scorpions.

The characteristics of “Death” and “Hell” (aka Serpents and Scorpions) in Revelation are seen in vessels they inhabit, and the New Covenant of Jesus Christ gave us power over the Spirits that manifest these “two parts.”

When Christ sent out the seventy disciples to declare the kingdom of God had arrived, when they returned, they were exhilarated at the power they had experienced.

“And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name” (Luke 10:17).

Jesus responded that He had seen Satan’s defeat in heaven, and His Resurrection power had given Him authority over Satan and the devils that followed him.

“I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death” (Revelation 1:18).

Thus, when the seventy disciples – who went out two by two – returned in victory after declaring the arrival of the kingdom of God, Jesus told them what He had seen in heaven.

“I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:18, 19).

The disciples had just noted the evil spirits were compelled to obey their words, so even if they did not understand the nuances of the Spirits labeled as “Serpents” and “Scorpions” (and their association with “Death” and “Hell”), surely they made the connection.

At the time of this statement, it is believed the book of Revelation, which describes the character traits of the spirits seen as serpents and scorpions, had not yet been written. Thus the early Christians had to wait upon the Lord for Him to reveal the details of the identity of the Serpents and the Scorpions as Death and Hell. 

There are other instances of the mystical connection between the earthly developments and heavenly movements that were recognized by the Apostles of Jesus Christ.

As a case in point, when the Holy Spirit began to fall on the Gentiles, it created an enormous controversy among the Apostles, who held an important conclave to consider the matter. The council of Christians, presided over by James the half brother of Jesus, interpreted the development as a Spiritual move of God that fulfilled prophecy in the Old Testament concerning things that were predicted to occur in the Spiritual realm.

“Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name…to this agree the words of the prophets…After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up” (Acts 15:14-16).

It is obvious the elders and the Apostles did not think that “David” had come back to the earth and constructed a renewed tabernacle! Indeed, Peter had already told an assembly that David was “both dead and buried” (Acts 2:29). In other words, it is clear that James and the elders associated the event that had transpired on the earth with a Spiritual move that was manifested through the physical individuals involved.

Cognizant of the many verses about “light” shining to the Gentiles, the quote from James drew from citations by multiple prophets, including Amos, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and even Samuel.

“In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof: and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old” (Amos 9:11).

In short, James connected the calling of the Gentiles into the Spiritual body of Christ (the Lord’s “tabernacle”) as the earthly evidence that this had occurred in heaven.

Surely the Christians of that day were aware that in the time of David, the great king had planned on building a glorious temple for God, but the Lord told David through His prophet that a “son of David” would “build [God] a house” (I Chronicles 17:12).

“It shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me an house, and I will establish his kingdom forever” (I Chronicles 17:11,12).

Furthermore, it is clear that by the time of the New Testament, the concept that the bodies of the believers had become the temple of God was known to all the Christians.

“Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (II Corinthians 6:16).

Other prophecies in the Old Testament, such as those found in Isaiah, also connect the “tabernacle of David” with the body of Christ which the Son of David Spiritually “built” in the AD Christian era (I Chronicles 17:12).

“In mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness” (Isaiah 16:5). 

Thus, the evidence suggests that the kingdom of God – of which Jesus Christ is the mediator – arrived during the AD Christian era, and Satan (the “strong man” of Mark 3:27) was bound throughout the Christian age.

However, through the agency of the earthly phenomenon known as Sequential Recapitulation (or “Doubling”), events here in the “Shadow” have revealed that Satan has been released in the “Substance” from his Spiritual prison; and, as we showed in Part XXV of the Iniquity Machine, he has been free to impact the inhabitants of the earth.

“And the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it” (Job 2:2).

Thus, in the second interaction where the Lord freed the devil to test the earthly generation that exists during the Era of Antichrist, Satan is allowed to physically impact the entire generation – including the Christians – with the technologies of man, that are destructive on an unprecedented basis.

It is not a coincidence that Revelation images this global malady in the form of “vials,” which are poured out upon the entire world.

“And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife” (Revelation 21:9). 

But the next phase of events here on the earth will have to wait for another chapter of The Iniquity Machine.

- James Lloyd

To Be Continued