Milk, Meat and Strong Delusion

Milk and Meat:

There are also passages that speak of "milk" and "meat". Those being weaned of "milk" can bear solid doctrine. (Hebrews 5:12-13, I Corinthians 3:2, 1 Peter 2:2, Isaiah 28:9)

So now putting all these passages together we get a better understanding of what all this means. If "Jerusalem" the "mother" who bore the "man child" feeds the people "milk". The representation of "Jerusalem" giving "milk" is how Jesus the Messiah relates to the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. (This being a more immediate question for a Jewish convert than a gentile.) Though this may interest a gentile; the law and the Mosaic ceremonial aspect of Biblical Judaism, had no direct relevance to how they lived their lives prior to conversion. Intertwined in all this of course, is the gospel; i.e. humanity's need for the Messiah.

The "meat" obviously is the more complex stuff. The "simplest form" of which (the "baby food") is the doctrines of grace; (the "how" and "what" of faith, human deadness in sin, doctrine of election etc).

The more complex being things such as explaining the atonement, the Trinity, the incarnation, the character of God, as it relates to His judgement and finally (even more peripherally speaking, or if we'd want to call it "the desert") eschatology.

For I've come to realize, that if one doesn't have a real solid understanding of God, faith, atonement, Jesus's purpose etc.; they are bound to get the eschatology wrong because their focus is in the wrong place to begin with. If you start with God, what He did and why; the rest of eschatology makes more contextual sense.

Strong Delusion:

Earlier on in Isaiah 66 God talks about how He will "choose their delusions" (Send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie… 2 Thessalonians 2:11) and bring upon them what they fear because they did not hearken to His voice when He called unto them.

"Their fear", as it related to this national entity called Israel; was that they would become just as any other gentile nation and come under His judgement for their sin; (which indeed happened).

Now the reason given for them coming under judgement is their lack of obedience to God. They'd "played the harlot" and chased gods of other nations. (Jeremiah 3, Ezekiel 16 & 23 - some of these are fairly graphic talking about idols with super big phallices to fornicate with.) In turn these nations "who's tongue they don't understand" would destroy them.

In the historical sense, the "final leveling" of the rebellious left of the nation of Israel (Judah and Benjamin), was at the hand of the Romans. About 500 years later, who was left of the Samaritans were destroyed by the Byzantines.

The warning is given in Deuteronomy 28 and Isaiah 33.

Yet in another very real way; the "nation" that brought them down "who's tongue they did not understand" was the "nation" born of Christ's redemption. Remember in Acts 2 they all "spoke in tongues" (foreign languages). They spoke the language of redemption, the language of atonement; the "language of deeper speech that you can not perceive" (Isaiah 33:19).

Strong Delusion prior to Judgement Day:

Now Paul picks this up in 1 Corinthians 14 where he quotes another Scripture: "In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord." (vs 21 referencing Isaiah 28:11). In this chapter Paul talks about how he'd rather speak 5 words of understanding than 10 thousand words in an unknown tongue.

Now jump over to 2 Thessalonians 2 which hearkens back to Isaiah 66 in "choose their delusion". Remember this is talking about the destruction of the rebellious nation by another nation with "an unknown tongue". 2 Thessalonians is talking about a "falling away" first and the man of sin / son of perdition having been revealed.

John 17:12 tells us the "son of perdition" was Judas Iscariot.

4 Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Now how did Judas fulfill this verse?

First, a little historical background on Judas. If we look at his relation to the Jewish leadership in the Scripture, we note he "has connections". Historians and Bible scholars have raised the question as to the meaning of the Judas's last name. Some hypothesis that he was from the southern part of the Judea (south / south of Jerusalem); where as all the other disciples were from Galilee. Also interesting to note; Judas is the only one who has a "sir name"; as opposed to Jesus who was further delineated by town of origin. "Iscariot" is very close to the spelling of a town in southern Judea; thus the hypothesis that he was from that town. Which if this is true; it does pose an interesting juxtaposition. The Scripture though, isn't specific enough about these sorts of details for this hypothesis to be definitive.

The Greek is believed to be a combination of two Hebrew words: one meaning "city" and the other meaning "man"; yet in a format shown in Isaiah 46:8 which means to "show yourselves to be men". Now if this is true, was this part of Judas's problem (in the human perspective of); being "put to the task" of "proving one's self"?

So in turn; if that is true then was Judas a "plant"; inserted into the back drop with a certain purpose in mind?

Now from a broader perspective, is the "show yourselves to be men" a hearkening back to Adam's responsibility of eating the fruit in the first place? Extrapolate a bit more and the Tower of Babel was a "city planning endeavor". What did / do human beings tend to do when organizing themselves into cities (other than the tendency to spread group rebellion)? To be a "person of the city" tends to have one of two manifestations; to build the city of God, or to build a monument to fallen man.

Keorith:

Now I did do an Internet search on the (believed to be) city of Judas's origin, to see if there was some historical connections there. The remains of the ancient city is believed to be the El-Kureitein ruins, of which the city was called Keroith. It's just below the summit of Mt. Amasa which is on its north side and along the road that leads to Yattir which is on the southern end of Mt. Hebron.

The city was inhabited up until the Roman siege; as it was one of the areas wiped out by the end of the 1st Century. Resettlement commenced at about the beginning of the 2nd century and the inhabitants are believed to have been retired Roman soldiers who began farming settlements. Somewhere within a short span of this time; this community erected a Christian church; the ruins of which can be found on the southern side of Mt. Amasa. It's believed there was also a monastery built into the 3rd and 4th century, but no excavations have been done beyond the church.

The name Amasa comes from the Old Testament and was one of Abigail's sons who was given command of an army by king David. (He was one of Absalom's generals.) The name means "to load a burden".

Not much is known about the city at the time of Judas, other than his father Simon apparently also lived there at some point and was known among the larger Jewish community. Now there are 9 Simon's named in the New Testament. Do we have any information as to whether or not Judas's father is described someplace else? After looking on the Internet; I've seen some really weird postulations as to which Simon was Judas's father. Some say it was Simon the Leper. One said they thought it was Simon Peter (LOL - not likely seeing how they were probably too close in age.)

Now the Simon who seems to be the most plausible, based on Judas's education; would have been Simon the pharisee; (who we can determine was likely related to Martha, Mary and Lazarus). John does state Simon's name with some degree of assumption that the reader would know who is being spoken of and certainly Simon the pharisee would have been known in the "wider political circles".

So if Judas really was a "deep state asset"; was he the apex of this beast system at that time?

Was he actually symbolized on some level, by this head in Revelation that got cut off?

As relates to this beast at the only point it ever had a "chance" of obstructing God's plan; that would have been the point of time in history. Also though, that would have been the "beginning of its end", as is related to 1st century history and the corrupted Judaic worship system.

The next question that comes to mind: Was Judas related to the Herods?

If he was, we have no way of proving it. It's more likely he was related to the Hasmonean side of the equation than the Herodian side. It is evident that he was trained as some sort of scribe. (He was the disciples' "record keeper" / "purse holder". - John 13:29) Was he "of the city trying to prove himself" to…. God / man? Someone with a foot in each "world" trying to prove to his Satanic masters that he could fool God?

From a human "psychological perspective" looking at Judas's actions; this is a distinct possibility considering the fact that he was obviously someone who was easy to manipulate. Outside of the supernatural influence of Satan possessing him; we see the lability of his emotions; even though outside of the actual "Satanic possession" Jesus states Judas "is" a devil. (John 6:70) Which this statement too, is also the subject of a lot of speculation.

Judas obviously had moral training that was of the Jewish cultural back drop as related to understanding of the law; for we see some form of display of regret that causes Judas to kill himself. His stated reason as recorded in the Scripture is he says: "I've betrayed an innocent man." And culturally speaking, I'm sure Judas understood what it meant to have someone's blood on your hands. (He understood he was condemned by God.)

So taking all these factors into consideration; almost makes Judas a pitiful character. (A "useful idiot" to the end of his own destruction, in the beast system of the time.) Which if he really was "one of the city" trying to "prove himself"; to do so by an action that you know signs another's death sentence; is pitiful (yet in a different sense of the word) indeed.

Verse 4 (2 Thessalonians 2); gives us a little different perspective on Judas's motivation. "Exalts self above God… so that he shows himself to be God."

Now my guess on this verse, is that it's a rephrase from some other passage back in the Old Testament, although the author does not directly state it as a quote and if it is a quote; I don't know what passage it may be referencing.

Who opposes (to place against as to be totally unreconcilable) and exalts (for the sake of removing) above every so called god, or object of worship: so that he himself in the shrine (place where God dwells) sits (himself down) as an act of demonstration that he himself is God. (By implication "the god" who supersedes God.)

Now compare this to Judas's reaction to Jesus's arrest. It begs the question of how did it escape Judas's realization to such an extent; of the intent of the leadership of the nation was to kill Jesus, that Judas commits suicide?

Did they "sell" Judas a "bill of goods" and did he not believe Jesus when Jesus stated that he would be betrayed and crucified? Was Judas, tied up in this web of deceit trying to save himself; believing that if he gave them what they wanted, he would receive his "just recognition" for the sacrifice he was willing to "pay the piper" to the end of the exaltation of his own fame?

We don't really know; the Scripture does not clearly spell it out in such language.

Compare this to today. So many of those who attain to "political" clout (be they in the news industry, the entertainment industry or the actual political apparatus) all have to demonstrate to their masters, their willingness to be compromised. The puppet masters do this because they know they can control these people that way. This is the mechanism used to keep the dogs in line and the beast system in power; which has been in operation for thousands of years.

(EXAMPLE:) Q post #998: (Q map dot pub) "The chair serves the master" The chair is the Pope. The master is the figure depicted in the cartoon. The head of the 1st beast that has been healed. The reemergence of a faulty religious system now as a political entity.

Was Judas similarly compromised 2000 years ago? (I don't know.) It doesn't seem he was a "Roth", "Epstein" or "(political name) Foundation" of the bunch, because he was too "low on the totem pole". He apparently thought he was "more" in the eyes of the establishment than he actually was; even though the Scripture does call him "the son of perdition". Could it be he was "the son" because the "head" is actually the establishment?

Verses 7- 9 of 2 Thessalonians 2:

7 For this reason the mystery is already working; the lawlessness; only there is the One restraining at present until out (from among) the middle He may cause (Himself) to be gone .

From the vanish point that Paul is describing this; what he's referring to is already present. He calls this "the lawlessness". Now obviously "the One restraining" is God. He is restraining "the lawlessness" at present (historically the 1st century) until "out of the middle" God causes Himself to be gone.

Yet in terms of the chapters in Revelation; we are transitioning from the first beast to the second now, as Paul is addressing people in the church.

So again, on account of over all length of chapters; this will be continued in the next chapter, starting with the 7 churches in Revelation.