The Second Day

September 25, 2005 ©Homer Kizer
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Commentary — From the Margins

The testimony of both Hebraic Scripture and of Jesus of Nazareth is the earth and all that is on it were created in six days. The implication of this testimony is that these days were somewhat similar to our present days, which consist of approximately twenty-four hours. But without the greater and lesser light—if the Genesis creation account is the record of these six days—being created until the fourth day, and with plants yielding seed and trees bearing fruit on the third day, the credibility of Scripture has failed for too many semi-educated generations. For the greater Church, the Genesis creation account must be “explained” away, whereas all that has been needed was spiritual discernment. And in explaining why these opening verses of Holy Writ are “really’ Hebraic poetry that is not to be taken literally, an endless cadre of hired shepherds have led the Lord’s sheep into a spiritual desert, a wilderness of watery illusions, mirages and mirrors, each serving as a magnifying lens to blind eyes of one lawless generation after another.

Today, across the greater Church the sheep are blind and their shepherds are thieves, and both like the way things are, for numbers are up. More dollars translate into more television time, more satellites, greater worldwide coverage, and more people praying that short prayer of faith, which invites Jesus into the person’s heart. The blind sheep are satisfied, for more people are going to heaven and fewer will burn forever in hell’s everlasting flames. The shepherds are satisfied, for they remain gainfully employed without having to produce work with their hands as the Apostle Paul did when among the saints at Corinth. These shepherds compare themselves among themselves, each commending the other for mighty ministries done in Christ Jesus’ name, all teaching disciples to erase the laws of God inscribed on hearts and put into minds with receipt of the Holy Spirit. Some even fast for the liberation of the greater Church from “legalism,” that evil of evils which causes scales to fall from the eyes of the sheep, thereby allowing ewes to see the teeth of the wolves slaughtering their lambs. But these wolves in shepherd’s garb can afford to have a sheep here or one there slip away and return to Christ Jesus—the baaing of escaped ewes becomes part of the white noise not heard by a generation reared on video images. The sheep cannot harm them, or their vaunted ministries. After all, these wolves decry the evil of gay marriage, of abortion, of Southern Decadence, of jihad, of humanism, of what they deem a counterfeit Christianity that would have disciples walking upright by keeping the commandments of God. Therein are their teeth evident for all to see. Thus, the wolves pose as ministers of righteousness, just as Satan poses as an angel of light. And who, besides God, is big enough to stand against them? How many Davids are there among the ewes?

When the nation that left Egyptian bondage came to the hill country of Kadesh-barnea (Deu 1:19-20) in the wilderness of Paran (Num 13:3), the physically circumcised nation wanted men sent before it to explore the land and blaze a trail. The thing seemed good to Moses (Deu 1:22-23), who received approval of the Lord (Num 13:1), and twelve men were chosen to spy out the land of promise. These twelve were gone forty days. They returned to report that the Lord’s words about the land that lay before them were true (Deu 1:25 & Num 13:27), but this natural firstborn son of the Lord (Exod 4:22) would not go up and claim what was being given to it. Only Caleb argued strongly for going forth and entering God’s rest (Ps 95:10-11 & Heb 3:19) on the day when the nation was to enter, and only Joshua and Caleb of all who left Egypt crossed the Jordan to enter God’s rest. The remainder of the nation died in the wilderness of Zin because it rebelled against the Lord. Ten times this natural firstborn son tested the Lord and didn’t obey His voice (Num 13:22)—and after the tenth time, repentance was not enough. The people of Israel rose early the following morning and went up to the heights of the hill country and called upon the Lord, saying, Here we are. We will go up to the place the Lord has promised, for we have sinned. But their attempt to enter God’s rest on the following day was, itself, an act of disobedience, for God has spoken of the seventh day in this way, ‘“And God rested on the seventh day from all his works’” (Heb 4:4). Once the Lord’s natural firstborn son rebelled by trying to enter God’s rest on the following day, the Lord marked time until the entirety of that nation, except for Joshua and Caleb, died. Only then did the Lord, under Joshua, lead the uncircumcised children of the people of Israel across the Jordan and into God’s rest.

Likewise, once the Lord’s spiritual firstborn son rebelled by trying to enter God’s rest on the following day, the eighth day, a day about which nothing has been written or spoken (this rebellion formally occurring in the 4^th-Century CE), the Lord has marked time until the entirety of this holy nation, except for the portion represented by a spiritual Joshua and a spiritual Caleb, spiritually dies. The Lord’s patience is great. He has called sheep to Himself from every generation. He continues to call; however, many are called, but few are chosen (Matt 22:14). Few hear His voice and choose to rebel against the prince of this world. Most would rather feed the wolves that are merely doing their “wolf-thing” when they devour the sheep, a callous way of saying that most called disciples are content to continue living as Gentiles even though they are called to be spiritual Judeans. Most fear the giant named obedience, just as the natural firstborn son feared the Nephilim (Num 13:33 — this Hebrew word is commonly translated as “giants,” for it is used as a name for the sons of Anak, but it properly translates as the plural of “feller,” as in a logger causing a tree to fall). Obedience to the law will cause a disciple to stand; disobedience causes the disciple to fall. Therefore, obedience is spiritually as the Nephilim were physically. By faith, the obstacle of obedience is overcome. Otherwise, the Law slays all through disobedience to it. And trying to enter God’s rest on the following day is not an act of faith, but of disobedience.

It takes faith in the Lord to buck the trends of the world, to separate oneself from the world while still remaining in the world. By faith, a disciple enters weekly into the diminutive form of God’s rest (Heb 4:9), the seventh day Sabbath. By faith, a disciple visibly declares to the world that he or she is not of the world, but is sanctified by God when the disciple observes the Sabbath, which has been given to both the firstborn natural and the firstborn spiritual son of God. There remains the keeping of the Sabbath for the people of God. But the wolves have successfully persuaded the vast majority of the people of God to try to enter God’s rest on the eighth day.

The death of the rebelling firstborn spiritual son of God will come with the revealing of the man of perdition (2 Thess 2:3). Two hundred twenty days into the seven endtime years—about Christmas of the first year—this firstborn son will, without then having the covering of grace, formally attempt to enter God’s rest on the eighth day, the following day. The firstborn son will, as was done at the Council of Nicea when observing the Passover was formally rejected, debate whether the greater Church should observe the seventh day Sabbath, or continue its practice of observing the eighth day. Arguments will be made for both days, and the ten witnesses will prevail: the greater Church will become a spiritual Cain. The firstborn son of the last Adam will, from this point forward, slay his righteous brother as Cain slew Abel. All disciples who attempt to obey God, with the exception of a spiritual Joshua and Caleb—the remnant named in Revelation 12:17—will be physically murdered by the rebelling greater Church. The Sabbath-observing Churches of God won’t go to any place of physical safety other than the grave. And they will go to the grave because they have not understood biblical prophecy. They never have had the spirit of prophecy: i.e., the testimony of Jesus (compare Rev 19:10 with Rev 12:17).

The second day of the spiritual creation week ends with the beginning of the seven endtime years of tribulation, ends with the liberation and empowerment of disciples. The dark portion of the third day begins with the completed separation of the waters of humanity. An unbridgeable gulf will then exist between those human beings who have been born of Spirit, and those who have not been. Until this upper firmament collapses and the Holy Spirit is poured out upon all flesh in a manner similar to how the earth was flooded with water in Noah’s day, the darkness will remain as the rebelling Church twists away from the light, for its deeds will be evil. But from darkness comes light: halfway through the seven endtime years, the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of the Most High and of His Christ. Death, the fourth horseman, will be dealt a mortal wound with the public resurrection of the two witnesses. Satan will be cast from heaven, and the armies surrounding Jerusalem will perish when the split Mount of Olives swallows them as the Red Sea swallowed the army of Pharaoh. Thus, the light or hot portion of the third day begins in the middle of the seven endtime years. This light portion of the third day will see the third portion of humanity (Zech 13:7-9) born as a spiritual Seth, born as the son of promise who only has to endure to the end to be saved (Matt 24:13).

Israel was born as the third son of promise—the first son of promise was Isaac, who then fathered two sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau was hated [not respected], but Jacob was loved. But Jacob was a deceiver who remained tricky until he wrestled with the Lord. His name was at this time changed to Israel. Likewise, the third portion of humanity, born of Spirit when the Holy Spirit is poured out upon all flesh, must wrestle with the Lord through enduring to the end without taking the mark of death, the mark of the beast, the tattoo of the Cross [chi xi stigma]. This spiritual Jacob, or spiritual Seth, born empowered by the Holy Spirit, must have faith in God to provide its physical needs for three and a half years. Its faith in God must exceed its love of its own physical life. And in testing its faith, it will figuratively wrestle with God, who has desired this match and this harvest of humanity since the foundations of the earth were laid…this third portion of humanity will prevail just as Joshua and Caleb and the children of the nation that left Egypt prevailed over the Canaanites.

The fourth day of the spiritual creation week will see the resurrected saints forming the glorified body of the Son of Man, the greater light that will rule over the day, that will replace spiritual Babylon, which will never be rebuilt. The lesser light will be born-from-above saints physically reigning on earth (the creation remains lifeless, hence, in darkness). And this leaves the fifth and sixth days to occur during Christ Jesus’ millennial reign; for the seventh day comes with the arrival of the new heaven and new earth.

Because neither the greater Church, nor the Churches of God have the spirit of prophecy—they do not hold the testimony of Jesus—disciples have not understood the Genesis creation account, the abstract for the plan of God. Disciples within the Churches of God have placed humanity late in the sixth day of a seven thousand year long spiritual creation week. This sounds plausible, if Peter’s one day is “as” a thousand years has an absolute application. It doesn’t. It indicates that a day for the Lord can seem immeasurably long in human years. Or a day can be of brief duration: the dark portion of the sixth day will probably be the short while [three and a half years] that Satan is loosed after a thousand years, and human beings twist away from the light under Satan’s influence. The light or hot portion of this sixth spiritual day includes the great White Throne Judgment, when every person not previously born of Spirit will be resurrected, or born a second time.

The first verse of Genesis reads, in most English translations, “In the beginning, God [in Hebrew, Elohim, the regular plural of Eloah or in Arabic, Allah] created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). The entirety of the creation is complete in this first verse. And the Lord [in Hebrew, YHWH — the tetragrammaton gives the number, composition, and relationships within the plural Elohim] said to Moses,

Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. (Exod 31:13-17 emphasis added)

Again, the entirety of the creation was completed in the first verse of the Genesis account. Nothing needs to be explained away, except why haven’t those who would teach the Church understood that the creation account is the abstract for the spiritual creation. And why have those who would teach the Church cause it to willfully sin by trying to enter God’s rest on the eighth day? The teeth of the wolves show whenever a disciple asks why the greater Church doesn’t keep the Sabbath.

For a short while, the division of humanity between who is born from above and who isn’t will continue as this second spiritual day extends towards its two millennia mark. For a short while, grace will continue to cloak the body of the Son of Man. Therefore, since the time is short, all disciples need to take advantage of what time they have to practice walking uprightly before man and God. All too soon, liberation will occur. The Son of Man will be revealed. And disciples who haven’t practiced walking uprightly will unknowingly, but willingly rebel against God—they will then slay their righteous brother and truly believe that they have done God a favor.

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Homer Kizer Ministries

Commentary — From the Margins

The Second Day