The Christ Clone Trilogy - Book Three: ACTS OF GOD (Revised & Expanded)

by James Beauseigneur

  Isaiah 33:20. Look on Zion, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken.

  Endnote 331 (back): Isaiah 2:1-4. This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

  Endnote 332 (back): Ezekiel 45:1-3 and 48:8-10. Whether this plateau is 25,000 cubits (about 8 miles) square or 25,000 reeds (about 50 miles square is disputed by scholars.

  Endnote 333 (back): Ezekiel 40–43.

  Endnote 334 (back): Jeremiah 3:16. In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the LORD, “people will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made.

  Endnote 335 (back): Zechariah 14:8. On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.

  Endnote 336 (back): In Acts 1:9 (below) the resurrected Jesus rose into the air. I am suggesting that such flight will be available to his resurrected followers, as well. Also, collectively, the verses below Mark 13:26-27, Jude 14-15, and Revelation 19:11 and 19:14 appear to indicate that Christ’s followers will be with him, suspended in the air (in flight), at the last battle.

  Acts 1:9. After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

  Mark 13:26-27. At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.

  Jude 14-15. See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

  Revelation 19:11, 14. I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. … The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.

  Endnote 337 (back): Examples of this type of travel, both by Christ and by the disciple Philip, are seen in the following verses.

  Luke 24:31. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.

  Luke 24:36-37. While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.

  Acts 8:39-40. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

  Endnote 338 (back): Revelation 22:1-2. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb…

  Endnote 339 (back): Ezekiel 47:12. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”

  Endnote 340 (back): Ibid.

  Endnote 341 (back): Revelation 22:1-2. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. [This is likely the same tree of life that was in the middle of the Garden of Eden and mentioned in Genesis 2:9, 3:3, 3:17, 3:22, and 3:24. When Adam and Eve were banished from Eden, angels (cherubim) with a flaming sword were placed there to prevent humans from finding the tree.]

  Revelation 2:7. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

  Genesis 2:9. The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

  Endnote 342 (back): Revelation 20:1-3. And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

  Revelation 20:7. When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison…

  Endnote 343 (back): Isaiah 16:5. In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it—one from the house of David—one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.

  Daniel 7:13-14. In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

  Zechariah 9:10b. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River [i.e., the Euphrates] to the ends of the earth.

  Zechariah 14:9. The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.

  Endnote 344 (back): Revelation 2:26. To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations…

  2 Timothy 4:7-8. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

  Revelation 22:12. Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.

  See also 1 Corinthians 3:13-15; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Colossians 3:23-24.

  Endnote 345 (back): Revelation 20:4. I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

  Endnote 346 (back): Isaiah 65:21-23. They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them.

  Endnote 347 (back): Isaiah 11:6-9. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard wil
l lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

  Isaiah 65:25. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the LORD.

  Hosea 2:18. In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.

  Endnote 348 (back): While few generally question the perpetuity of friendships or family relationships or in the Millennial Kingdom (i.e., he who was your father is still your father; she who was your sister is still your sister, etc.), Jesus’ answer to the Sadducees’ question (Matthew 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-40, a portion of which is provided below) calls into question the existence of marriages following the resurrection. Alfred Edersheim (The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Book 4, Peabody, Massachusetts, Hendrickson Publishers, 1993 pp. 750—751) concludes that the Sadducees’ question was a matter of law and property rights, and that Jesus’ words do not intend the dissolution of the husband and wife relationship but rather that in the Kingdom, legal matters, which was the true basis of the Sadducees’ question, will be of no consequence. That is, while the marriage relationship (unlike other familial relationships or friendships) is built upon a legal contract, it is not the legal contract that truly makes the marriage. On this, it should be recalled that though Adam and Eve were never ceremonially wed, they were nonetheless husband and wife, as well as father and mother. And, finally, the promise of Isaiah 65:23 (see below) that citizens of the Kingdom will have families and children and descendants in the Kingdom, strongly argues that there will also be husbands and wives.

  Luke 20:35-36a, But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels…

  Isaiah 65:23. They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them.

  On a very different yet related point, there are some who conclude that Paul’s statement in Romans 8:29a (see below), indicates that citizens of the Kingdom will all be made male (i.e., even those who were previously female). They further reason that Jesus’ statement in Luke 20:35-36a (see above) should be interpreted to imply that all who are resurrected will be male because they assume all angels are male, which then explains why there is no marrying or giving in marriage. But, in fact, not all angelic beings are male — Zechariah 5:9 (see below) describes angelic beings that are clearly female. Faced with this point, one person has argued that the women Zechariah describes are not really angels because their wings are like the wings of a stork, which is an unclean bird (Leviticus 11:13, see below). The logic of this argument fails on several levels, but most obviously in this: eagles, too, are unclean, and yet the Bible speaks several times in a positive way of eagles’ wings (most notably Isaiah 40:31, see below). Additionally, one of the four living creatures that John describes in Revelation 4:6b-8a (see below) as being closest to the throne of God is “like a flying eagle.”

  Romans 8:29a, For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…

  Zechariah 5:9. Then I looked up—and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.

  Leviticus 11:13-19. These are the birds you are to regard as unclean and not eat because they are unclean: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, any kind of black kite, any kind of raven, the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.

  Revelation 4:6b-8a. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings.

  Isaiah 40:31. but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

  Finally considering the promise of descendants and bearing children in Isaiah 65:23 (see above), the conclusion that all citizens of the Kingdom are male, requires the imagination to be stretched far more than would seem justified.

  Endnote 349 (back): Isaiah 65:23. They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them.

  Endnote 350 (back): C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life. (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1955; New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1955).

  Endnote 351 (back): René Descartes, Discours de la Methode. Descartes reasoned further in this book to prove the existence of God.

  Endnote 352 (back): Genesis 2:16-17. And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

  Endnote 353 (back): Isaiah 65:24. Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.

  Matthew 6:8. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

  Endnote 354 (back): Ezekiel 47:7-11. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.