The House of Israel and The House of Judah

Well, I guessed you missed it, Keras. Christ was the 2nd Exodus. In fact, Christ was a ton of things.

NT only? No: NT-shaped OT. So when you read about an "israel" that is a light to the world, it is those in Christ, in Acts 13's sermon follow up. But heck who cares about an official sample apostolic sermon in Acts when you could read Jeffery, LaHaye, Walvoord, Ryrie, Lindsey?

Interplanner said:

N2Light,
there is no category personal salvation as though it was not cosmic at the same time. It is extremely strange that Keras would do this about the Isiainic 'a light the world' when that is exactly what Paul was saying happens in Christ (the messenger takes on the same role as Christ) in Act 13's sermon follow up, v47. So he has missed this.

There is no waiting around for the two houses or what ever. That is never mentioned in the NT. The 'all Israel' of Rom 11 is simply all those down through time who had true faith. It is not a prediction of something to happen in Israel in modern times, because 'saved' means the personal change, the new covenant and the taking away of debt that was in the Gospel.

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And you would have us do what to the Old Testament?From your point of view,we might as well toss it out......I think not!!

n2thelight said:

And you would have us do what to the Old Testament?From your point of view,we might as well toss it out......I think not!!

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Why not? The New Covenant is the Gospel.


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Originally Posted by n2thelight

n2thelight said:

And what would you have us do with the below verses

Revelation 22:18 "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:"
Revelation 22:19 "And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."

Or are you one who wrongly assumes the above verses only refer to Revelation?

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Wrongly? That is quite presumptuous on your part. Why did you bring up the Revelation, when the question was about the Old Testament? Isn't that called redirection, or maybe poisoning the well?

But since you did, perhaps you will explain what John means by "the words of the book of this prophecy."

n2thelight said:

As for throwing away the Old Testament, all I can is WoW, and I can now see why you are so, in my opinion, confused..........

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I believe you are confused. Perhaps you failed to properly read the words of the new covenant. Let's start in the old covenant. This is Moses:


So, the Lord warned Moses that He would raise a prophet among the children of Israel, that they must hear in all things whatsoever, which I interpret to mean, every single word he says. Peter confirmed that Jesus was that prophet that we should hear in all things he says:


Okay, we have been warned.

Now before there was a new covenant: while Christ was still walking on the earth ministering to the people, and there were no written oracles of God but the old testament, Jesus made this statement:


Jesus could only have been talking about the Old Testament. He said, in many ways, that we had best listen to him, and not Moses, if we expected salvation. For example:


So, maybe we should be listening to the preacher; and the preacher, first and foremost, is Jesus Christ.

As for those still clinging to Moses, Jesus ridiculed, and warned:


Moses, the prophets, and all the disciples said the exact same thing: that we should listen to Jesus Christ. Paul even gave a specific warning against reliance on, and even reading, the old testament:


Of course, Paul was referring to those who were unfamiliar with the new covenant. But I see that same blindness even today in those who place the writings of the old covenant superior to the new.

The old testament was important in the generation of Christ because they did not have the new covenant, and had to rely on the ministry of the apostles and the early church; for example, of the teachings of Paul:


Notice, all that passage says is Paul was using the old testament to point them to Christ. But now we have all the books of the new covenant, so every man can be taught of God, as is written:



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JohnRabbit said:

if what you say is true, then why isn't david king over in israel right now instead of benjamin nettanyahu (i know he's not a king, just talking about the head of state), per ezek 37:24?

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JohnRabbit, I missed this post.

PLEASE tell me you didn't miss that the DESCENDANT of David that RULES AND REIGNS is Jesus! Peter told you that in Acts 2! Please tell me you didn't miss that.

Read Acts 2:22-36...please...then reconsider what you said.

Have you read the Davidic Covenant?

Actually, Ebed, Jesus doesn't 'rule and reign' yet. Last I heard you Americans have a President and we in New Zealand have just re-elected our Prime Minister.
We await the glorious Return of Jesus and all that is prophesied to come before that event.
Your claim to be a member of the 144,000, places all your comments into question.

keras said:

Actually, Ebed, Jesus doesn't 'rule and reign' yet. Last I heard you Americans have a President and we in New Zealand have just re-elected our Prime Minister.
We await the glorious Return of Jesus and all that is prophesied to come before that event.
Your claim to be a member of the 144,000, places all your comments into question.

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eb, needs to rethink. The treasure is God, not ourselves. God is wonderful.

keras said:

Actually, Ebed, Jesus doesn't 'rule and reign' yet. Last I heard you Americans have a President and we in New Zealand have just re-elected our Prime Minister.
We await the glorious Return of Jesus and all that is prophesied to come before that event.
Your claim to be a member of the 144,000, places all your comments into question.

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I have to go to the bank this morning, and as an added deposit we can all make together, all of us on this thread being members of the 144,000 are under the Godman's Jesus' 'rule and reign' this moment.

All the temporal is also under His rule and reign without a doubt.

Old Jack's opinion

Just about every post in which Rev20 quotes all sorts of Scripture, he'll rant about this or that other person is wrong, is making things up, is reading into a text, is confused; you name it, he hurls such at them...

And then he will post passages with comments as follows:

"As for those still clinging to Moses, Jesus ridiculed, and warned: Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" -- John 5:45-47 KJV."

A fifth grader could see that the Lord was NOT telling them to leave Moses. Rather, He was making it clear to them that He knew that they only CLAIMED to believe Moses; for had they truly believed Moses, they would believe Him [Christ] for Moses wrote of Him.

The second half of John 1 is exactly what Christ is saying about what actually believing Moses should have resulted in. And the Apostle Paul, relates this very same issue at the end of Romans 9, and in Romans 10.

Post after post of his has his reading into the passages in that same erroneous way. Its as if he has an idea how he might prove some view of his, it colors passages he reads and or remembers having read, and he goes with that color, rather than ask the basic study questions.

Of course, now he will rant whatever, as that is easier than rising to the challenge of my words here.

Nope, Rev20, that's not it

OK read through this OP with some interest. I get that there is a distinction between Hebrews and Jews. Jews are mainly to be associated with the House of Judah which was the Southern Kingdom. This Kingdom also included the tribe of Levi and of Benjamin and the apostle Paul for instance was able to trace his ancestry from Benjamin. Maybe Jew is a slightly false label therefore as it fails to accommodate those "Jews" who traced their descent through Rebeccas child Benjamin rather than just Leahs child Judah.

However my main point of contention here is the view that the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom are irretrievably lost. It seems to me that they still have a prophetic significance as this passage indicates:

Revelation 7:4-8

And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

5 Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.

6 Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nephthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.

7 Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.

8 Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.

If the 10 tribes are lost then how can these people from each of these tribes be recognised as such?

Quite right, Mindlight, the House of Israel is lost only to human records. God knows who they are; Amos 9:9. After the judgement of the nations, the next prophesied event we can expect, the Sixth Seal, all the 12 tribes will be gathered, as clearly stated in Ezekiel 20:34-38 and many other Bible prophesies.
I see you call yourself a Nazarene. That is the word generally used in the Middle east for a Christian. It is also the word usually translated in the Bible as 'watchman'.
The Day will soon come, when all the Nazarenes, Watchmen, Christians, all who love and obey the Lord, be they descendants of Jacob or grafted in, will gather and go to live in all of the holy Land. Great will be that Day!

mindlight said:

OK read through this OP with some interest. I get that there is a distinction between Hebrews and Jews. Jews are mainly to be associated with the House of Judah which was the Southern Kingdom. This Kingdom also included the tribe of Levi and of Benjamin and the apostle Paul for instance was able to trace his ancestry from Benjamin. Maybe Jew is a slightly false label therefore as it fails to accommodate those "Jews" who traced their descent through Rebeccas child Benjamin rather than just Leahs child Judah.

However my main point of contention here is the view that the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom are irretrievably lost. It seems to me that they still have a prophetic significance as this passage indicates:

Revelation 7:4-8

And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

5 Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.

6 Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nephthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.

7 Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.

8 Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.

If the 10 tribes are lost then how can these people from each of these tribes be recognised as such?

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The reuniting of the 10 northern tribes with Judah began under king Hezekiah, prior to the Babylonian captivity:


Some of those from Israel who rejoined with Judah are named in 2nd Chronicles 30:18, 25-26.

The decree of Cyrus, king of Persia (Ezra 1:1-3), went out to all of God's people; and some from all tribes returned. Ezekiel 37:15-19 is essentially a summary of the return from captivity by Israel and Judah, beginning around 535 BC; and the partial rejoining of the two kingdoms into one kingdom, named Judah, under the government of Zerubbabel of the house of David. The book of Ezra confirms that "all Israel" returned to their cities; but as Isaiah 10:20-24 pointed out, only a small remnant of the original number of the northern tribes returned.

This is a parable of the regathering under Judah, as presented by the Septuagint (LXX):


That was also the day when all Israel began to be called Jews:



There was a second "rejoining" or regathering of the remnant under Christ:


Jesus called those the lost sheep:




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Danoh said:

Just about every post in which Rev20 quotes all sorts of Scripture, he'll rant about this or that other person is wrong, is making things up, is reading into a text, is confused; you name it, he hurls such at them...

And then he will post passages with comments as follows:

"As for those still clinging to Moses, Jesus ridiculed, and warned: Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" -- John 5:45-47 KJV."

A fifth grader could see that the Lord was NOT telling them to leave Moses. Rather, He was making it clear to them that He knew that they only CLAIMED to believe Moses; for had they truly believed Moses, they would believe Him [Christ] for Moses wrote of Him.

The second half of John 1 is exactly what Christ is saying about what actually believing Moses should have resulted in. And the Apostle Paul, relates this very same issue at the end of Romans 9, and in Romans 10.

Post after post of his has his reading into the passages in that same erroneous way. Its as if he has an idea how he might prove some view of his, it colors passages he reads and or remembers having read, and he goes with that color, rather than ask the basic study questions.

Of course, now he will rant whatever, as that is easier than rising to the challenge of my words here.

Nope, Rev20, that's not it

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You are such a kind heart, Danoh. How does a fifth-grader interpret these verses?



Feel free to ask a fifth grader, if you don't know, Danoh.


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keras said:

Actually, Ebed, Jesus doesn't 'rule and reign' yet. Last I heard you Americans have a President and we in New Zealand have just re-elected our Prime Minister.
We await the glorious Return of Jesus and all that is prophesied to come before that event.
Your claim to be a member of the 144,000, places all your comments into question.

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Douggg said:

eb, needs to rethink. The treasure is God, not ourselves. God is wonderful.

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Hmmm...Matthew 28:18:
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
How does one have "all authority in heaven and on earth"...and not reign...

But let's take it further to Acts 2:36
36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Now...Peter declares that God made Jesus "BOTH LORD AND CHRIST"! Hiw does one gain that title and not reign...

Well...let's go a step further to Ephesians 1:18-22:
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might
20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church,
23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
That's the apostle Paul, telling us Jesus position upon His resurrection. Now HOW IN THE WORLD can that be, which Paul said over 2000 years ago...and Jesus not be reigning...

Lastly, let's listen to Paul's testimony to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:13-16:
13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate,
14 that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

Keras, you simply won't let the bible SAY...WHAT IT SAYS...why??? As for the rest of your jesting...that's typical. Anyone in Christ is of the 144,000...whether they know it or not is another thing.

Finally, you Keras, who was looking for Damascus to happen again, when it already has...how can you say anyone should be in question?

Doug, I need to "rethink"??? In light of those passages...that's what you need to do...because you have NO WAY to say anything to refute those passages without torturing them.

Also with your eschatology...you have the gall to say someone nedds to "rethink"...

Ebed, 'all authority is given to Jesus', but obviously, He hasn't taken it up yet. Prophecy is clear; one glorious Day Jesus will physically Return and commence His earthly reign.
Sure: to me and to all true Christians, Jesus is King and Ruler of my life, but I can't yet see Him and I continue to pray:...Your Kingdom come on earth....

With your assertion that you are a member of the 144,000, you place yourself in the same category as Millerites and the JW's.

Damascus; Have you been there? It seemed like a thriving city when I visited, yet prophecy clearly says: ...she will be reduced to a heap of ruins, forever desolate.Isaiah 17:1 and Amos 1:3-5...The Lord will send fire onto Damascus...Plus other prophesies that tell of devastation onto Aram. [Syria] Not happened as yet, but it will and your saying it has already is simply a denial of the Prophetic Truth.

shturt678s said in post 70:

I have to go to the bank this morning, and as an added deposit we can all make together, all of us on this thread being members of the 144,000 are under the Godman's Jesus' 'rule and reign' this moment.

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Regarding "all of us on this thread being members of the 144,000", note that the number 144,000 in Revelation 7:4 and Revelation 14:1,3 will be a literal number of people, which will consist of literally 12 groups with literally 12,000 people in each group (Revelation 7:5-8). Similarly, the 144,000 will be literal male virgins, never having had intercourse with women (Revelation 14:4), just as, for example, 1 Corinthians 7:25 refers to literal virgins.

But the 144,000 will indeed all be Christians (Revelation 14:1,4), and so they will all be part of the church (cf. Ephesians 4:4-6). They will be the firstfruits of the church (Revelation 14:4), in the sense of its best part (cf. Numbers 18:12). They could all have been born in the 20th or 21st century, and who could all already be part of the church. For they will all be alive on the earth, and will all already be God's servants (Revelation 7:3; cf. Romans 6:22, Philippians 1:1), by the time of Revelation 7:3-8, during the first stage of the future tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24. They will have entered the tribulation along with the rest of the church alive at that time, for there will be no pre-tribulation rapture (2 Thessalonians 2:1-8, Matthew 24:29-31, Revelation 19:7 to 20:6).

Also, the 144,000, who are of the 12 tribes of Israel (Revelation 7:4-8), can include both Jews and Gentiles in the church. For all genetic Jews in the church remain members of whichever tribe of Israel they were born into (Romans 11:1, Acts 4:36). And all genetic Gentiles in the church have been grafted into Israel (Romans 11:17,24, Ephesians 2:12,19, Galatians 3:29), and so have been grafted into its various tribes (cf. Ezekiel 47:21-23). So the entire church is the 12 tribes of Israel (Revelation 21:9,12; 1 Peter 2:9-10). This is necessary, for all those in the church are saved only by the New Covenant (Matthew 26:28; 1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 3:6, Hebrews 9:15), which is made only with Israel (Jeremiah 31:31-34, John 4:22b). John 10:16 refers to the "other sheep" of believers who are Gentiles being brought into "this fold" of Israel, which is the "one fold" of the church (1 Corinthians 12:13, Ephesians 4:4-6, Revelation 21:9,12). A genetic Gentile believer can pray and ask which tribe of Israel he has been grafted into, and he will receive an answer from God, if he asks in faith (cf. Matthew 21:22), without any wavering (cf. James 1:6-7).

The tribe of Dan is missing from the list of the 144,000's twelve tribes (Revelation 7:4-8; there, "Joseph" stands for Ephraim: Numbers 1:32, Psalms 78:67, Ezekiel 37:16b,19) because the Israel they are from isn't genetic Israel with its 12 genetic tribes which include Dan (Genesis 49:28,17), but rather spiritual Israel (Romans 9:6-8), which consists of all the elect (Romans 9:11-13), both elect Jews and elect Gentiles (Romans 9:24).

mindlight said in post 72:

Maybe Jew is a slightly false label therefore as it fails to accommodate those "Jews" who traced their descent through Rebeccas child Benjamin rather than just Leahs child Judah.

However my main point of contention here is the view that the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom are irretrievably lost.

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Note that Jews can include individuals from all 12 of Israel's tribes, for indeed there are no lost tribes, insofar as the 10 northern tribes weren't entirely lost to history. In 722 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel fell and its individuals were taken into captivity into Assyria (2 Kings 18:11), never to return to the land of Israel. They and their descendants were lost to history. But the 10 northern tribes in themselves weren't lost to history.

For some 200 years before the captivity of the northern kingdom, when it first become idolatrous, some individuals from all 10 of the northern tribes left the northern kingdom to become part of the southern kingdom of Judah (2 Chronicles 11:16-17), and so by definition they all became Jews. Also, some individuals from the 10 northern tribes remained in the land of Israel even after its defeat by Assyria, and some of them went to Judah at the time of Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 30). It is for these reasons that later the Jews who returned from the Babylonian Captivity could be referred to as "all Israel" (Ezra 2:70, Ezra 6:17, Ezra 8:25,35, Ezra 10:5), and why the Jews living in the 1st century AD could be referred to as including all 12 tribes (Acts 26:7, James 1:1), and why at that time Anna could be said to be of the northern tribe of Asher (Luke 2:36), one of the so-called "lost" tribes.

So the people alive today who are descended genetically from a 1st century AD Jew would include individuals from all 12 tribes. Some of these descendants could know that they are Jews because their individual ancestors over the last 2,000 years kept their Jewish identity and didn't intermarry with Gentiles. But others of these descendants could know themselves only as Gentiles because their individual ancestors over the last 2,000 years eventually abandoned their Jewish identity and intermarried freely with Gentiles, to the point where their descendants alive today are almost entirely Gentile genetically. Similarly, regarding the individuals of the northern kingdom of Israel who were lost to history at its captivity: over the past 2,700 years, their descendants must have eventually abandoned their Israelite identity and freely intermarried with Gentiles, to the point where their descendants alive today would know themselves only as Gentiles, and would be almost entirely Gentile genetically.

Also, while God knows which people alive today are descended from one of the 12 sons of Jacob/Israel from whom the 12 genetic tribes arose (Genesis 49:28), nonelect Israelites/Jews aren't considered by God to be truly Israel (Romans 9:6-11) or truly Jews (Revelation 2:9b, Revelation 3:9), or God's children or Abraham's children, but the children of the devil (John 8:39-47), just as all the nonelect, no matter whether they are Jews or Gentiles, are considered by God to be the children of the devil (Matthew 13:38-39).

Some genetic Israelites are believers, and so are members of the church (Ephesians 4:4-6) and Israel at the same time, just as, for example, the genetic Jew Paul the apostle (Acts 22:3) is a member of the church and Israel at the same time (Romans 11:1). And some still-living, non-believing genetic Israelites are still considered by God to be Israel insofar as they are elect (Romans 11:25,28). All the still-living, elect, non-believing genetic Israelites who don't become believers before Jesus' 2nd coming will become believers (and so will become members of the church: cf. Ephesians 4:4-6) at the 2nd coming (Romans 11:26), when they will see the returned Jesus in person (Zechariah 12:10-14). But even though all those still-living, elect, genetic Israelites will eventually become believers and be saved, they will be only a remnant of all genetic Israelites (Romans 9:27), most of whom will never be saved, just as most of humanity in general, both Jews and Gentiles, will never be saved (Matthew 7:14, Matthew 22:14).

Also, the 12 tribes of Israel aren't countries or regions (as is sometimes claimed), but consist of individuals who can be living in any country or region. Otherwise, one's tribe would change whenever one moved from one country or region to another. Also, nothing requires that any of the nominally-Christian nations are descended from any of the ancient 12 tribes of Israel, instead of them all simply being Gentile nations. For Christians come from every nation on the earth (Revelation 5:9b), and only a remnant of genetic Israel gets saved (Romans 9:27), just as only a remnant of humanity as a whole gets saved (Matthew 7:14, Matthew 22:14). Also, the entire church throughout the world is the 12 tribes of Israel (Revelation 21:9,12).

For just as the Gentile Ruth (a genetic forbear of Israel's Messiah: Matthew 1:5-16, Luke 3:23-32) could say to the Israelite Naomi "thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God" (Ruth 1:16), so Gentiles in the church have been grafted into Israel (Romans 11:17,24, Ephesians 2:12,19, Galatians 3:29). That is, all genetic Jews in the church remain members of whichever tribe of Israel they were born into (Romans 11:1, Acts 4:36). And all genetic Gentiles in the church have been grafted into Israel (Romans 11:17,24, Ephesians 2:12,19, Galatians 3:29), and so have been grafted into its various tribes (cf. Ezekiel 47:21-23). So the entire church is the 12 tribes of Israel (Revelation 21:9,12; 1 Peter 2:9-10). This is necessary, for all those in the church are saved only by the New Covenant (Matthew 26:28; 1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 3:6, Hebrews 9:15), which is made only with Israel (Jeremiah 31:31-34, John 4:22b).

Also, all those in the church, no matter whether they are genetic Jews (Acts 22:3) or genetic Gentiles (Romans 16:4b), have become spiritually-circumcised Jews, if they have undergone the spiritual circumcision of water-immersion (burial) baptism into Jesus (Romans 2:29, Philippians 3:3, Colossians 2:11-13).

ebedmelech said in post 76:

Matthew 28:18:
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

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Amen.

But note that Jesus isn't yet exercising his omnipotence to the extent of physically subjugating the kings of the earth, like he will do during the millennium (Psalms 66:3-4, Psalms 72:8-11, Micah 4:1-4, Zechariah 14:9-21).

As God the Word, Jesus was the Creator of everything in heaven and earth (Colossians 1:16-18, John 1:1,3). And in the 1st century AD, he became a flesh and bones human being (John 1:14; 2 John 1:7), so he could die on the Cross for our sins and rise physically from the dead on the 3rd day (Hebrews 2:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and become our eternally-human high priest/mediator (Hebrews 7:24-26; 1 Timothy 2:5).

After his resurrection into immortality in his fully-human flesh and bones body (Luke 24:39), Jesus the man was given ultimate spiritual authority over heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18). He ascended bodily into heaven (Acts 1:9-10), and is now there ruling spiritually over everything (1 Peter 3:22, Ephesians 1:20-23, Colossians 2:10,15, Philippians 2:9).

But he won't take ultimate, de facto, physical authority over the earth until his 2nd coming, when, still as a flesh and bones human being (Zechariah 13:6, Zechariah 12:10-14), he will descend from heaven (Revelation 19:11-21, Zechariah 14:3-4, Acts 1:11-12) to reign on the earth (Psalms 72:8-11, Zechariah 14:9-21) with a rod of iron with the physically resurrected church for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4-6, Revelation 5:10, Revelation 2:26-29, Psalms 2, Psalms 66:3-4, Micah 4:1-4, Luke 1:32, Isaiah 9:6-7).

After his 1,000-year reign and subsequent events (Revelation 20:7-10, Ezekiel chapters 38-39), Jesus will resurrect and judge everyone who wasn't resurrected at his 2nd coming (Revelation 20:11-15). Everyone who has ever lived will have to bow down before him and admit that he is Lord of everything (Philippians 2:10-11, Acts 10:36).

ebedmelech said in post 76:

Finally, you Keras, who was looking for Damascus to happen again, when it already has...

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Are you thinking of 2 Kings 16:9 and Jeremiah 49:23-27? If so, note that they make no reference to all the buildings of Damascus being ruined. For the subsequent verse in 2 Kings 16 refers to Damascus still existing as a city, with even a still-existing altar (2 Kings 16:10). Also, 2 Kings 16:9, like Jeremiah 49:23-27, makes no reference to all of Damascus' people being killed or taken into captivity. Compare the partial captivity of Jerusalem in Jeremiah 52:16.

Damascus is said to be the oldest, continually-inhabited city on the earth. But it could be nuked by Israel during a future all-out war (Isaiah 17:1). Yet this war will also break the power of Israel (Isaiah 17:4).

One way this war could happen is the U.S. could undertake a massive buildup of the Iraqi Army, initially to prevent the Islamic State militant group (also known as ISIS, or ISIL) from taking over Iraq, and Syria, and all the rest of the Middle East, and eventually so that the Iraqi Army can serve as a proxy army, for the U.S. and Israel, for an all-out ground invasion of Iran, in order to end Iran's nuclear weapons program and extremist regime. As part of the buildup of the Iraqi Army, the U.S. could reinstall much of the former Iraqi Baathist military hierarchy (i.e. that which existed under Baathist Saddam Hussein), to run the present Iraqi Army more efficiently and ruthlessly.

And if the current, Shiite-dominated government of Iraq balks at any return of a Baathist-dominated military (which cruelly suppressed the Iraqi Shiites under Saddam Hussein's rule), or balks at any invasion of fellow-Shiite Iran, this could lead the CIA, MI6, and the Mossad to bring about a Baathist coup d'etat in Iraq. For they could see a well-run, Baathist Iraqi Army and government as the only way to keep ISIS/ISIL under control, and the only way to eventually invade and defeat Iran, which invasion the Iraqi Baathists could agree to perform, for they see meddling, non-Arab Iran as a great enemy of Arab autonomy.

To help get the Iraqi masses and the world behind the idea of an all-out Iraqi invasion of Iran, "false flag" operations could be managed by the CIA, MI6, and the Mossad by which it will be made to seem that (non-Arab, Persian) Iran is attacking the Iraqi Sunni Arabs and their little children terroristically with "dirty bombs" made from Iranian-enriched uranium, so that the Iraqi Arab masses will become enraged and begin to call for all-out retaliation against (what they could call) "the vile Persians". And the world could see an Iraqi invasion of Iran as being completely justified by self-defense.

But then, right when Iraq is all ready to invade Iran, the ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel (who by that time could be led by a great miracle-working false Messiah: cf. Matthew 24:24) could completely destroy the Muslim Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque (the 3rd-holiest sites in Islam) on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, to clear the site for the building of a 3rd Jewish temple (Revelation 11:1-2, Matthew 24:15, Daniel 11:31,36; 2 Thessalonians 2:4). This could so enrage Muslims worldwide, including the (Muslim) Iraqi Army, that the Iraqi Baathist Generals could see it as a perfect excuse to abandon the plan to invade huge Iran, and instead (pretending that they are doing so in the name of Islam) turn and send their vast army against the little territory of Israel, completely defeating and occupying it (Daniel 11:15-17; in verse 17, the original Hebrew word translated as "daughter" is "bath").

But this wouldn't be the ultimate reason for the Baathist attack, which could continue on south to also defeat and occupy Egypt (Daniel 11:15). For Egypt is ruled by the U.S.-supported Egyptian Army, which the Baathists could see as being a puppet of the U.S., just as they could see Israel as being a colony of the U.S. Baathism's ultimate aim is to unite all Arab lands from Oman to Morocco into one massive, powerful United Arab States free of all foreign hegemony.

The all-out Iraqi attack on Israel could be joined by the entire (Baathist) Syrian Army (with all of its missiles, many still secretly tipped with nerve agents), as well as by all of Iran's long-range missiles and all of Hezbollah's and Hamas' missiles and guerrillas. Israel could find itself suddenly attacked from 3 directions at the same time, with tens of thousands of missiles raining down on its cities and military bases, and tens of thousands of Iraqi tanks (meant to defeat and occupy huge Iran) pouring across its borders. As Israel starts to see its little sliver of land completely overrun, and sees that its total defeat and occupation is imminent and assured, in retaliation it could drop nuclear bombs on Baghdad, Damascus (Isaiah 17:1), Tehran, and other major cities of Iraq, Syria, and Iran.

There could be so many nuclear explosions sending so much radioactive dust and ash so high into the atmosphere that it could be blown eastward and fall on hugely-populated South Asia, ruining so many crop fields and immune systems there with radiation that 1/4 of the world's population could end up dying from the war and its aftermath of famines and epidemics. This could fulfill the horrible war which will begin the future tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, which war will, with its aftermath of famines and epidemics, end up killing 1/4 of the world (Revelation 6:4-8). The "great sword" of this war (Revelation 6:4) could be Israel's nuclear weapons.