My thoughts on the timing and results of the completion of Deuteronomy
Sep 14, 2013
The final weblog on our very long series on the book of Deuteronomy was written yesterday. Almost as soon as I completed this, I began to discern things that were hidden from me during the entire series. So it will be helpful to show how this series fits into the big picture and the flow of Kingdom history in general.
This Deuteronomy series began on June 8, 2012.
Nine months earlier, from September 11-17, 2011, I had participated in Operation Jericho, culminating with the overthrow of Jezebel at the state capital in St. Paul.
https://old.godskingdom.org/daily-weblogs/2011/09-2011/the-climax-of-operation-jericho/
The overall purpose of Operation Jericho was to break down the walls of “Jericho.” The city was a type of Babylon—not only political but also religious. The “walls” of the city are the denominational walls that divide the church, allowing it to be ruled by men, rather than directly by God. This is the spirit of Jezebel, the usurper of authority, by which also the people demanded a king to rule over them (1 Samuel 8:7). They did not want God’s direct rule, but preferred His indirect rule through men only.
Two years ago today, we were in the middle of Operation Jericho.
Last year, in September of 2012, the revelation came to Chad that we were to do a positive work to rebuild the wall of the New Jerusalem. So first we had to tear down the wall of Jericho-Babylon, and then repair the ruins of the wall around (new) Jerusalem. A few months before Chad got this revelation, I began my series on Deuteronomy, without knowing how this would fit in with the big picture.
All I knew was that in September of 2008, while I was in South Africa, I was asked by a Member of Parliament to let him know the next time I planned to visit that country. He wanted to try to schedule me to speak before Parliament on the principles of Kingdom government and biblical law. The problem was that I was yet unprepared to give them a cohesive writing that would help them understand the laws of the Kingdom.
So I brooded over this for a few years and finally was led to begin writing this Deuteronomy series.
The wall around the New Jerusalem is the divine law, which has been broken down by men’s traditions that “the law has been put away.” Because of this view, the study of the law has been largely neglected, and so the wall has come into a state of disrepair. Christians chafe under the yoke of Mystery Babylon today, but they do not have a viable alternative, because they have forgotten God’s true system of government and justice.
Hence, God has been merciful to us by retaining the services of Mystery Babylon until such time that we learn the laws of the Kingdom. If God had overthrown Babylon in the past, a new system of men would have been set in its place, and this would have been just another imperfect beast system. If we are ever to break the beast cycle, we need Christians who have an understanding of Kingdom government and the laws that emanate from the mind of God. We must also know how to apply the law by the mind of Christ.
Out of this flow of revelation in 2012, God set forth two “key stones” in the wall. The first “key stone” is the Law of Victims’ Rights—the fact that the law will always uphold the right of victims to extend mercy to those who acted unjustly toward them. The second “key stone” in the wall is the Law of Impartiality—the fact that the divine law is impartial in its judgments toward all men. The divine law is not just for Jews, not just for Israelites, not just for lawyers or judges, but is an expression of the mind and will of God and is the moral standard for all men and for all of creation.
From the standpoint of prophetic history, the completion of Deuteronomy marks the completion of the rebuilding or repair of the walls that have been in ruins for many generations. Chad got this revelation from Nehemiah 1:3, 2:13, 17, etc. on September 12, 2012. From that revelation, it has taken a full year to complete this work, though God actually had me start on it a few months earlier in June of 2012.
It occurs to me also that the Blessing of Moses on the twelve tribes represents the repair of the twelve gates in the wall, as each gate represents a different tribe. So now we have to ask ourselves, “What is next? What result will we see?”
This Deuteronomy series is a foundational teaching, designed to give understanding to those who are called to establish Kingdom government in accord with the New Covenant and the mind of Christ. Most studies in the past focused upon the law through Old Covenant eyes, as if we might try to rebuild the Old Jerusalem. But our study is different. Deuteronomy reaches its climax with the “second” covenant in chapter 29, and with the commissioning of Joshua (Jesus) in chapter 31.
The 1480 Revelation
Toward the end of the last weblog on Deuteronomy, I mentioned the fact that Jesus died on the 1480th Passover since the first one that was kept in Egypt in Exodus 12.
https://old.godskingdom.org/daily-weblogs/2013/09-2013/the-death-of-moses-part-2-end-of-deuteronomy/
I showed how the numeric value of “Christ” (christos in Greek) is 1480 and how only the true Christ could come as the Lamb of God and die on the 1480th Passover since Moses. Since I have found no record that anyone else stepped up and volunteered to die that day, I can only presume that Jesus is the real deal.
After writing that in the weblog, it occurred to me that the year 2013 might be the end of a 1480-year cycle as well. So I calculated it back to the year 533 A.D., when the Institutes became the law of the Roman Empire. Bear with me while I explain this.
The Law Code of Justinian
The Emperor Justinian came to the throne in 527 A.D. His first project was to institute a new legal system. Will Durant tells us in his book, The Age of Faith, p. 111,
“the whole vast body of Roman law had become an empirical accumulation rather than a logical code.”
Roman law had become complicated and unorganized over the centuries. So he largely scrapped the previous laws of the Roman Empire and instituted a new system based on “Orthodox Christian Law.” These new laws were instituted in 529 and were called Codex Constitutionum. As Will Durant informs us again on page 112,
“This Code... enacted orthodox Christianity into law.... All ecclesiastical, like all civil, law, was to emanate from the throne.”
After this, work continued by studying the ancient Roman jurists and incorporating 50 volumes of their legal opinions known as the Pandects. Norwich tells on page 63 of his book, A Short History of Byzantium,
"In 530 a second commission under Tribonian began a collection of the writings of all the ancient Roman jurists. Known as the Digest, or Pandects, it was the first attempt ever made to bring these also into the framework of a methodical system. Finally, in 533 there appeared the Institutes, a handbook of extracts from the two main books designed for use in the imperial law schools."
We see, then, that the work began in 529 and the Teaching Manual for law schools was completed in 533 under the title of Institutes.
The Calendar Change
Along with this, Justinian authorized a change in the calendar as well, because all legal contracts had to be dated. Prior to this, dates on legal contracts and documents were according to the years since Rome’s founding in 753 B.C. Their calendar would have dated Christ’s birth as 751 AUC (ad urbe condita, “from the founding of the city”). But when Justinian adopted the change that was proposed by Dionysius, the same date was written as 2 B.C. (“Before Christ”).
Of course, he thought Jesus was born December 25, 1 B.C. just a week before 1 A.D. (anno domino, “year of our Lord”). There was no Year Zero, as they had no number zero. He was a year off in his calculation of Jesus’ birth, but the calendar has worked well since that time.
The Rise of the Little Horn: 529-533
When the emperor adopted church law as the law of the empire, he did not realize that he had actually authorized a subtle shift of power. At first, the Roman pontiffs were subject to the emperor, and, after their elections, pontiffs had to be ratified by the emperor. Within three years, however, this shift of power was made evident.
The Roman pontiff at that time was Agapetus (535-536 A.D.). He was one of the few fairly virtuous popes who did not purchase his position by bribes, nor did he seriously misuse his authority. He is known for establishing public schools in Rome, because education had largely ceased after the fall of Rome in 476. He was, however, subject to the emperor in Constantinople. When he was summoned before Justinian in 536 in a doctrinal dispute with the patriarch of Constantinople, Justinian demanded that he recognize his patriarch or face exile. Agapetus replied,
"I hoped to find a Christian emperor, and I have met with a new Diocletian. Well! Let Diocletian learn that the bishop of Rome does not fear his threats, and refuses to submit to his orders." (Cormenin, History of the Popes, Vol. I, p. 109)
The emperor backed down. Agapetus asked Justinian to call for Anthimus, the patriarch, so that he could question him in regard to the doctrine of the two natures of Christ. Cormenin records on page 109,
“Anthimus replied to the arguments of the pontiff, and concluded by declaring that Jesus Christ did not possess two natures. Agapetus, in a fury, hurled anathemas against Anthimus, Severus, Peter of Apama, Zora, and several other prelates, whose names would have rested in oblivion but for the excommunication. Then he obtained from the monarch an order for the deposition of Anthimus, and consecrated the new patriarch of Constantinople.”
In the power struggles between popes and monarchs that characterized Church history for centuries, this was the beginning of the shift in power from monarch to pope. This event has been cited by Church authorities in later years as proof of the Church's authority over monarchs. It set an important precedent, although it would be many years before such papal ambitions would become a reality.
Ultimately, the kings had to be ratified by the pope, who claimed the title, “king of kings.”
We see, then, the importance of 529-533 in church history. This marked the legal transition from the power of the Roman Emperors to the power of the Roman Pontiffs. Daniel 7:8, 20, 21 knows it as the rise of the “little horn” coming out of the iron beast of Rome. It proved to be a religious beast, and it was given dominion for a period of “a time, times, and half a time” (Daniel 7:25).
Revelation 13 quotes this passage but interprets it to be 3½ “times,” 42 months (Revelation 13:5). Elsewhere 42 months is the equivalent of 1,260 “days” that is actually 1,260 years. The "little horn" thus fell after 1,260 years.
The Fall of the Little Horn: 1789-1793
This “little horn” rose to power from 529-533, but its power began to be eclipsed in 1789-1793, when Freemasonry, financed by wealthy bankers of the day, overthrew France in the French Revolution. France was known as “the firstborn son of the church,” and when it was transformed into a secular Republic, the church received a deadly wound.
In 1798 Napoleon actually took the Pope captive in the Vatican itself. But in 1804 Napoleon seemed to need a pope to crown him as emperor, so he reinstated the Vatican, thus healing the church’s deadly wound (Revelation 13:3).
Since that time, we have had two beasts roaming the earth, the church beast from the sea (Revelation 13:1) and the banking beast from the earth (Revelation 13:11). We are now (2013) poised to watch both of these beasts fall as the Kingdom of God emerges.
Getting back to the number 1480, though, I had not seen this cycle until yesterday. It is 1480 years from 533 to 2013. In fact, because the starting point is actually 529-533, we can see that the end point is from 2009-2013. The year 2009 is when we saw the rise of “Elisha,” when this word was decreed on April 12, 2009 (wave-sheaf offering).
Yet if we focus on 533-2013, we can see the connection between the key events in both of these years. The year 533 saw the completion of the new law system for the church, which is even today the basis of European law. Asimov's Chronology of the World, page 113, says of this,
“In 529 they came up with 12 volumes of a well-organized legal system. This was the ‘Code of Justininan,’ and was followed by a 50-volume collection of legal opinions. It has remained one of the bases of European law generally in all the centuries since.”
The Laws of the Kingdom: 2009-2013
This legal system of the “little horn” is now being challenged by the book of Deuteronomy 1480 years later. This commentary was designed to build the wall of law to provide the moral boundaries around the New Jerusalem. It will probably end up to be 12 books, four of which have now been completed. I believe that the rest of them will be done by the first of February. And then I can start to think about compiling them all into a single large hardback volume.
It is strange, perhaps, that I did not get the 1480-year connection until I had completed the study. But the timing of its completion just before the Day of Atonement in 2013 is no doubt significant, because last evening we were led to return to Mahkato (misnamed Mankato) to blow the trumpet and declare the Jubilee.
I will reserve that story for the next weblog.