The Meaning of "Shiloh"

THE MEANING OF SHILOH

By Dr. Stephen Jones:  Oct 30, 2019

Blog Post Date: 10-31-2019

Shiloh has come, at least on a prophetic level, and will emerge into the earth in the time ahead. But what is the meaning of Shiloh?

The literal Hebrew meaning of the term is “tranquility, rest.” It comes from the root word shala, which means “to be at rest, be quiet, to prosper, be at ease.”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H7951

The term, then, foretells the day when we come into a position of REST. The usual word that expresses this idea of entering rest is nuwach (Noah) or menuach (Manoah). Shiloh is said to mean “peaceable one, or peace-maker” and points to the coming of the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).

Christ came the first time primarily as the Lion of Judah who was to be killed, as Jacob prophesied in Genesis 49:9, 11). The other major metaphor was the Lamb of God, a reference to the Passover lamb that was killed to transform people from donkeys to lambs (Exodus 13:13). But Jacob’s prophecy of Shiloh, used as a personal designation for the Messiah, presents Him as the Prince of Peace, the great Reconciler of Nations. This is the time when the nations will “hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks” (Isaiah 2:4).

The Messianic Age to come, which the Jews called the Great Sabbath (millennium), was to be an era of peace, rest, and prosperity. Just as the Sabbath day was a day of rest from labor, so also the seventh millennium was a long “day” of rest from the labor imposed upon the earth since God sentenced the earth to hard labor on account of Adam’s sin. The basic law is found in Exodus 21:2,

² If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment.

The Town of Shiloh

While Israel was in the wilderness under Moses, the Ark of the Covenant was said to be seeking a resting place for the people. We read in Numbers 10:33,

³³ Thus they set out from the Mount of the Lord three days’ journey with the ark of the covenant of the Lord journeying in front of them for the three days, to seek out a resting place for them.

When the Israelites went into the Promised Land, the tabernacle was set up at a town called Shiloh (Joshua 18:1). Shiloh served as the spiritual center of the nation at that time, and it was their first place of rest in the Promised Land. However, it was not the final resting place, because later the priesthood corrupted itself, and God left Shiloh.

About 80 years later, the Ark found a resting place in Jerusalem. Ieru-Salem (“City of Peace”) was the second place of rest, but it too became corrupt, and once again God left that place (Jeremiah 7:12, 13, 14).

The permanent resting place is the temple that is built upon the foundation of Christ, which Paul presents to us in Ephesians 2:20, 21, 22. There is no greater temple than this, although much of the church has been deceived into thinking that there will be a third temple in Jerusalem where Christ will inhabit and from which place He will rule the Kingdom in the age to come. Such Christians seem to forget that God forsook that place “as Shiloh,” when the glory departed (“Ichabod”), never again to return.

The Coming of Shiloh

In our time, Shiloh is a code name for the Messiah, who is also the Ark of the Covenant that seeks a resting place for the people. This resting place is no longer a particular location in heaven or on earth. It is a spiritual position of rest, the fulfillment of the Sabbath law, which Isaiah 58:13 defines as not doing our own works or speaking our own words.

In other words, we are AMEN people, because we speak only what we hear our Father say and do only what we see our Father do. This is the ultimate “rest” of Shiloh. It establishes an inner peace and rest, so that we may be spokesmen for the Prince of Peace. In that position, no weapon of war will prosper against us (Isaiah 54:17). Instead, we ourselves will prosper.

This rest, peace, and prosperity has been promised to us for a very long time, and many individuals over the centuries have entered into this rest while they lived. However, God is building up a body of people who can function as the body of Christ. It has taken a long time and many generations to form this body of people—a few out of every generation. We are now entering the time when that body of overcomers is nearing completion and is ready to experience the blessings of the feast of Tabernacles.

More will come later at the time of the general resurrection at the start of the eighth millennium. But for now, the focus is upon the first of the first fruits (“barley”), those who “ripen” first, who are presented to God on the eighth day of Tabernacles in the day that this feast is fulfilled historically.

Shiloh Has Come

SHILOH HAS COME

By Dr. Stephen Jones:  Oct 30, 2019

Blog Post Date:  10-30-2019

Jacob gave a mysterious prophecy in Genesis 49:10 about Judah, saying,

¹⁰ The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and [after he comes] to him shall be the obedience [or submission] of the peoples.

Jacob worded his blessing by assuming that the scepter would be given to Judah but stated that it would be temporary. He said it will “not depart from Judah… until Shiloh comes.” Turning it around, he was saying that the scepter WILL depart from Judah when Shiloh comes. When Shiloh comes, the people will transfer their obedience or submission from Judah to “Shiloh.”

When Jesus came the first time, He came through the tribe of Judah. Hence, while He fulfilled the first half of the verse above, claiming the scepter of Judah, He did not fulfill the second half of the prophecy. It would require a second coming as Shiloh to fulfill the permanent portion of Jacob’s prophetic blessing.

We see, then, that Judah’s claim to the scepter was not permanent, nor did it end with the first coming of Christ. Although many of the common people declared Him to be king during His triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Luke 19:38), His claim to the scepter was immediately disputed by the chief rulers, who rejected Him and then crucified Him as a blasphemer.

The Dispute

This dispute between Christians and Jews has lasted to the present time, and God was in no hurry to enforce His declaration from the divine court. Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 6:13-15,

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.

Paul thus testifies that Jesus Christ is “the King of kings,” making Him the rightful Inheritor of the scepter, “which He will bring about at the proper time.” What is that “proper time?” It is now. It is “when Shiloh comes.”

At the conference in Branson on Sunday, October 27, 2019, the revelation came forth that Shiloh was standing outside the door with the hosts of heaven, awaiting the invitation to enter. We then invited them into our midst, indicating that we were willing to submit to His leadership and to recognize Him as the King of Kings and Lord of lords.

This tells us that Jacob’s prophecy is finally being fulfilled, though not in the manner that we had thought previously. My assumption had been that it would be fulfilled in the second coming of Christ itself—and, indeed, that must be the ultimate fulfillment. But we now see that this prophecy is being fulfilled incrementally at the end of the age.

Perhaps that is also why our Tabernacles conference was a week late this year. The eighth day of Tabernacles fell on October 21, 2019, but the hotel did not have any available space until the following week. So we met a week late. So if the coming of Shiloh had come on the literal eighth day of Tabernacles, it might have been the ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy. So the event was more comparable to Palm Sunday, where Christ was acclaimed as King by the people as He rode the donkey into Jerusalem.

Even so, our acceptance and declaration of Shiloh as the true King marked a very important time in the progression of events leading to the formal establishment of His rule in the earth. Whereas He was ultimately rejected in His first coming, this time He will overcome all opposition. Why? Because the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is imminent, which will indeed turn the hearts of the people. The Stone is even now crushing the Babylonian image on its feet and at the same time is growing until it fills the whole earth (Daniel 2:35).

Shiloh is Accepted

The transfer of authority from the final beast to the saints of the Most High, prophesied in Daniel 7:22, 26, 27, took place from 2014-2017, as I explained in earlier articles. Now, two years after that final transfer of authority, Shiloh has come in this manner. He came to us, I believe, partly because we represent the saints of the Most High and partly because we have had sufficient revelation to recognize the King and to submit to His authority.

As such, we were comparable to those who proclaimed Him as King at Palm Sunday in Jerusalem. But having received the authority of the saints of the Most High two years ago (2017), we also stood in a position to accept Him officially, whereas the chief rulers in Jerusalem had rejected Him in His first coming.

The New Prophetic Year

It will be interesting to watch how this works out in the coming year and beyond. I have no direct revelation yet, but I am beginning to suspect that October 27 was the start of the new Prophetic Year.

Recall that each Prophetic Year climaxes with the eighth day of Tabernacles. We always see a short interim before the start of the next Prophetic Year. It appears that this interim was only six days and that the new Prophetic Year then began October 27. If that proves to be the case, then, as usual, we must count two cycles of 76 days hence, as these are two cleansing cycles that always prepare us for the feast of Passover.

The first cleansing cycle should end January 10/11, 2020.

The second cleansing cycle should end March 26/27, 2020.

Palm Sunday is April 4, 2020.

Passover is April 9/10, 2020.

The wave-sheaf offering is April 12, 2020.

The Beginning of God's Creation

THE PURPOSE OF GOD’S CREATION: PART 2

Blog Post Date:  10-26-2019

The intent of this planned series of articles is to illustrate the creation purpose of God.  Why did God create the heavens and the earth?  What was His purpose and what was His ultimate goal?  The Creator is Omniscient and timeless.  There is no past, present, and future with God.  Thus, He knows all things before they occur (in our manner of thinking), which means that God knew that Eve would be tempted and Adam would sin; and the result of that original sin upon the historical events for the past 6000 years. 

What is God

Any attempt to define or understand God is mostly doomed to utter failure.  God is completely incomprehensible to any human mind.  Scripture rightfully claims that no one has seen God.  God is spirit.  Not “a” spirit but “the” spirit because He is the only spirit.

He is not somewhere, He is everywhere or perhaps nowhere because “where’s” were nonexistent until God created it or them.  Everything seen and unseen is God and God is everything because he created everything, even angels. 

For this reason and through the writings of Dr. Stephen Jones, I have come to the opinion there is no literal three part Godhead aka the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  By the way, the concept of a triune Godhead was not conceived until the 4^th century AD.  God is the Son of God and God is the Holy Spirit.  They are both part of the ultimate spirit of God.  As God extracted the female gender from Adam, the Son of God was somehow isolated or separated from the spirit of God and appeared as a human at the beginning of the first century. 

You may call me a heretic but that is becoming my personal opinion even though the proper words to adequately explain do not seem to exist in my brain if they exist at all.  In other words, Jesus is God, but He is not a separate God.

Creation

Let’s assume, for lack of a better term, that at some point (time is not an actual factor) that the spirit of God decided to create mankind.  According to the Genesis record, He created a planet and placed this planet in the midst of a vast (from a human perspective) universe.  On this planet He created various linages and types of plants and animals and lastly He created a human male.  From this male, God extracted the female gender of a woman.  There are only two genders – male and female.  The original Adam was both male and female.

The difference between humans and animals is that animals were supposedly created male and female individually but for humans the male was created from the dust of the earth and the female was extracted from the male.  Thus the first male and female were originally “one flesh” and thereafter males and females were to become attached to each other and become “one flesh” which was to be called a marriage.

From:  The Logos, Part 4 By Dr. Stephen Jones:  Aug 26, 2019

From the beginning, the purpose of creation was to bring about heaven’s duplicate in a physical dimension. The earth in particular was to be a mirror image, reflecting the glory of heaven on a new level.

Adam’s sin did not nullify God’s purpose, nor did it cause God to fail. His intention was to fill the whole earth with His glory, so that all of creation praises Him, and His purpose will succeed. Sin only caused a temporary delay in time. Sin did not take God by surprise, for God is all-knowing, and we know that He had already built in the solution to sin even before the sin occurred.

Creation was, in effect, heaven coming to earth—pictured as a cosmic marriage in Revelation 21:1, 2. The marriage principle was to take two and make them one by the law of identification and unity.

Since God is omniscient, He foreknew that sin (violation of the law) would occur which would require a second Adam (Jesus Christ) after 4000 years to pay the penalty of the sin of the first man called Adam.  Much can be postulated concerning the God-Man called Jesus Christ, but that will be a later subject. 

John 1:1-5 NET In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. (2) The Word was with God in the beginning. (3) All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. (4) In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. (5) And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it (did not comprehend it).

John 1:1 states that Jesus is the Logos or Word.  The Word created all things and has always been with God.  Attempt to explain that concept.  It is said that the term, “Logos” or “Word” is used to represent the presence of God when He is manifested on the earth in some manner.

John 1:14 NET Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory…..

Those not believing that Jesus Christ pre-existed from or before the creation event will consider the Logos or Word to be an “It” rather than a “Him”.  However, this particular belief creates even more issues and does not solve any problems that can be rightfully viewed or seen.

John1:18 states that Jesus was “the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father.” This establishes the deity of Christ while maintaining His distinction from the Father Himself. As an agent of the Father, when one sees Jesus Christ, one sees the Father. When one accepts the message of one who is sent, he receives also the sender of the message.

John 1:18 NET No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known.

If you were asked:  “How could the infinite Creator of the Universe who exists beyond all dimensions of our finite existence walk among His creation, make covenants with them, appear to them in clouds and fire, go to battle for them, bless them, curse them, and redeem them?”  What would you say?  “The Memra.”

1 Corinthians 15:45-49 NET (45) So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living person"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (46) However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. (47) The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. (48) Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are heavenly. (49) And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Memra is an Aramaic term related to the Hebrew word, (אמר), pronounced amair, which means word, decree, or speech. Sometimes, the Hebrew word (דבר), pronounced debair, is used instead of memra, which also means word, as well as matter, thing, and issue.

More than just the words of our Creator God, Memra (and sometimes Dibber) convey God’s many manifestations and expressions in His creation through His Words.

Colossians 1:15 NET He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation…..

The Creation

Again, it can be asked, was the Biblically written creation of Adam an actual event?  Some say “yes” and some say “no”.  For our present purpose we will claim that “yes” Adam was a creation of God.  “Adam” appears in the genealogy of Christ written by Luke, and Paul uses the name several times and he (Paul) apparently believes that Adam was a creation of God.

After the creation of Adam and Eve, a sin was committed.  The length of human lifespan prior to the beginning of the sin is unknown.  It could have been days or several years.  This afore known sin immediately set the stage back to a so-called zero state.  Adam and Eve supposedly lost their glorified embodiment and became essentially normal appearing human beings (for what that is worth).

Was the first sin actually the eating of the apple?  Could be, but it could also imply certain metaphoric attributes.  Paul states that the first person (called Adam) was an earthly one (made from the earth) and was thus destined to commit some type of legal aggression, unlike the Christ, who was from heaven.

1 Corinthians 15:47-48 NET (47) The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. (48) Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are heavenly.

The Watchers

Next, according to the scripture, we are presented with a mass appearance of Watcher angels and their supposed entanglement with human beings.  Of course, God knows everything (in advance), and He knew (in advance) this would occur.  The current question is WHY?  And there is no logical answer.  Perhaps these past events occurred as expected.  Perhaps one day we will know the complete answer.

The Watchers and their antics apparently taught men to make armaments and women to coat themselves with various types of makeup and to appear much younger and more beautiful than they actually were.  These particular teachings have endured through the ages and remain with us at our current age.

According to hints in the book of Genesis and through the first sixteen chapters of Enoch, the Watchers also spawned various types of Nephilim.  The first batch of siblings were considered quite tall with the remainder, although tall by today’s standards, were not quite as large in length.  Makeup has continued in popularity, even the Amazonians have particular types of bodily endowment.

Regardless of the reason the Watcher’s exploits were allowed to continue, there eventually came a point when God had enough and eliminated it (for a short time) by destroying all but eight people who were placed aboard an Ark i.e. a large boat.  Again, the Watcher influence was eliminated for a short time, however, within the boat, one of the wives i.e. most likely Ham’s wife, contained some Watcher DNA and it began once again, with God knowing it in advance (always remember that God knows everything prior to its actual occurrence).

Not being an expert on the workings of DNA in the human body, it is merely an educated guess that Ham’s wife contained Watcher DNA.  By eliminating all bodies that were descendants of Jesus Christ (Noah, Mrs. Noah, Shem, Mrs. Shem, Ham, and Japheth) that would leave only Mrs. Ham as the possible connection. 

Noah cursed Canaan rather than Ham (the perpetrator of the deed regarding Noah’s tent – Genesis 9:21-25).  Was this due to Nephilim tendencies showing within the body of Canaan?  That is as good a guess as any.  Again, the exact answer is unknown at the current time.

Nimrod was a descendant of Ham/Canaan.  It is interesting to note that although Nimrod is listed as the founder of Babel (or Babylon), nowhere is he listed as being a part of the building of the so-called tower of Babel and God’s scattering of the common language into many.  It may be that Nimrod was instrumental as to the building of the tower of Babel but his name is not to be found in the short descriptive summary (at least in the Bible).

Abraham (Abram)

After providing the names of the descendants of Noah, along with the tower of Babel description, the storyline moves on to Abraham.  He (Abraham) was supposed to have a son to carry on his linage and to adhere to the prophecy of God but Sarah was supposedly barren.  Abraham and Sarah took matters into their own hands by gifting Abraham with Sarah’s maid, Hagar, as a wife, and she had a son named Ishmael.  About 12 years later Sarah blessed by God, conceived and had a son who was given the name Isaac.

After the birth of Isaac, God instructed Abraham to perform a type of covenant marker which today is known as a circumcision.  This procedure has baffled me on occasion.  Why would God require it for the house of Israel and no one else?  Today any male can be circumcised with very few medical complications.

At age forty, Isaac married Rebekah.  Isaac was sixty when Rebekah gave birth to the conjugal twins named Esau and Jacob.  After a hunting expedition, Esau traded the Fruitfulness Mandate for a good meal (or red peas), although Esau had not been given either the Fruitfulness or the Dominion Mandates.  The Dominion Mandate was later stolen by Jacob by replacing Esau in his blind father’s tent during the supposedly transfer of Mandates.

Several years later, Jacob became the husband of four wives with a total of twelve sons (and one listed daughter named Dinah).  There may have been other daughters that are not named.  For some particular reason, the Bible names very few females.  Joseph and Benjamin, the final sons, were birthed by Rachel during Jacob’s later age, prior to their stay in Egypt.

When Joseph was a teenager, he was sold to a group of Ishmaelites by some of his older brothers.  He later was sold to Potipfar, a captain of the guard under Pharaoh.  At the age of 30, due to his knowledge of Pharaoh’s dreams, Joseph became the second ruler of the Egyptian Empire.  Meanwhile, Jacob’s family suffered from a famine and traveled to Egypt in search of food and came in contact with Joseph who offered them forgiveness for their past deeds.

Jacob’s family remained in Egypt.  After a few hundreds of years they became the enslaved group known as the Hebrews (or Israelites).  Under the leadership of Moses, a type of Christ, the Hebrew people were allowed to leave Egypt.  Their journey was always troubled due to their lack of faith in God’s grace.

They soon came to a point of entering into the “promised land” but voted against it due to the remaining descendants of the Nephilim giants located in the area.  The people were not allowed to enter and spent the next forty years in the desert (wilderness) until all the original living people that voted against entry had died.

Joshua and Caleb were the only two individuals of the original people that were allowed to remain within the new group who entered the land.  It has been said that the people’s refusal to enter at the original entry time point allowed them only destructive measures to ensure their survival in the new land.  Fighting with the sword and killing the inhabitants paved the way for their new life in the “promised land”.