“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.”

Samson Tearing Down the Pillars

Shalom-Shalom, peace in the name of Yeshua. This is Crystal Sharpe and welcome to the Ancient Scrolls program. Today is the first day of the week, Sunday August 5th.

August the 11th at 6:30 Pastor Rita Sharpe of Remnant Ministries will be ministering at Pastor Skeen’s Word of Faith church located on 117 4H Lake Road at Beaver WV; and Pastor Gary Huff of Man Hu ministries will be ministering the 24th of August at the Word of Faith church also.

And today we are continuing the teaching on Samson. I thought I would have been finished with it, but the more I read it the more layers of revelation that surface in his story. There are lots of parallels that relate to the end of days. Right now I just cannot let it go so we will see how far we can go with it.

Some time back I said that I would start on the feasts of the Lord found in Leviticus 23. The Lord’s feast of Yom Teruah is September the 9th this year. I may continue with Samson for a couple of more Sundays as I bring out some information in the book of Revelation. I have been thinking on the beast that comes out of the earth in Revelation chapter 13 verse 11.

This chapter 13 in Revelation speaks of two beasts, one comes out of the sea (sea represents chaos, the abyss, this is middle eastern thought and our Greek/Roman cultured 21st century mind cannot grasp these ancient images in our Bibles. The Old Testament is about 3500 years old and our New Testament is 2000 years old.  I do hours and hours of research to have understanding of these images because 3500 years ago and 2000 years are far removed from my generation. You lose history along the way, and the next three generations after you have no experience or memory of the past. John understood some of those images in his visions. These images are parables and he understood that history is going to be repeated in the future. We are living in the end of his visions, we are now in the end of days.  

So, two beasts are found in Revelation; one from the sea and one from the earth. There are two horns on the beast from the earth, and he has the appearance of a lamb, Revelation 13:11.  And all the verses after that give us his function.

I am not sure how to approach teaching Revelation 13, because I do believe that the beast of the earth with the two horns has a connection to the two pillars that Samson pushed from their foundation and destroyed the house and the people of dagan. The Book of Revelation tells us these two beasts will be destroyed.

I am saying this to prepare you for the next couple of Sundays. If you miss a Sunday, you will be lost to the meaning of the two beasts in revelation.

We need to get started so let us pray:

Father,

You are the King of the Universe over heaven and earth. Psalm 24 says the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and those who dwell therein. Psalm 25 verse 10: All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth.

Sh’ma: Deuteronomy 6: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

We require Your mercies, because we sure know how to mess up life sometimes. We ask You to cleanse us all from unrighteousness so that our prayers will not be hindered; help us to forgive so that we may obtain Your forgiveness.

We are now at the End of Days, now is the time for the John the Baptist cry: “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Prepare the way of the LORD; make His paths straight.” My Father said to be the trumpet for His arrival. His return is at hand! Jude says: He comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. Help us to keep our lamps trimmed and full of oil as we anticipate Yeshua’s arrival.

We pray against abortion, child molestation, adultery, idolatry, fornication, homosexuality, gender confusion, zoophilia, witchcraft, pharmakia, suicide, hatred, greed. The land is polluted with blood of the innocents, and the land is defiled with our sexual sins. We pray that every twisted and crooked way will be taken out of this nation. We pray that You would take the stony places out of our hearts, and give us hearts of flesh that would be pliable in Your hands.

We pray for President Trump’s protection, and that he would be a man after Your own heart like King David. We pray that You would take every crooked way out of him; and that You would permeate his being with Your Spirit of Knowledge, wisdom, understanding, Your Spirit of might, counsel, discernment, and the fear of the LORD.

We pray for the protection, and peace of Israel. We pray You would saturate Israel and the nations with Your Spirit of repentance. We pray life over Israel and over America today, in Yeshua’s name. Amen.

Let us go to Chapter 16. In this chapter Samson meets Delilah in the Valley of Sorek. The Philistine lords offer her 1100 pieces of silver from each of them if she would discover where his strength lies; and she does. The Philistines cut the hair of Samson, and it is this act that ends his Nazarite vows according to Numbers 6:18. (It wasn’t touching the dead lion, nor was coming in contact with grapes, from my understanding these vows can be renewed, but cutting the hair ended the vow).

Then the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offering.

Judges 16 verse 21, Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in prison. (Samson prefigures the suffering of Messiah. I will go over some of this when I get to verse 25)

  1. However, the hair of his began to grow again after it had been shaven.
  2. Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagan their god, and to rejoice. And they said: “Our god has delivered into our hands Samson our enemy!” 24. When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said: “Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, the destroyer of our land, and the one who multiplied our dead.”
  3. So it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may perform for us.”  (Luke 23 Pilate sends Yeshua to Herod when he finds out that Yeshua is a Galilean and out of his jurisdiction. Verse 8. When Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad; for he had desired for a long time to see Him, because he had heard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him—entertainment. Verse 11. Then Herod, with his men of war, treated Him with contempt and mocked Him, arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate). So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars.
  4. Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand: “Let me feel the pillars which support the temple, so that I can lean on them.”

27.Now the Temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there—about three thousand men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed. 28.Then Samson called to the LORD, saying: “O LORD GOD, Remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes.”

And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right the other on his left.

  1. Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.

The death of Samson foreshadowed the death of Yeshua, that Yeshua, like Samson, killed more at His death than in His earthly life.

About three weeks ago I had gone over the lion that Samson slayed on his way to see his bride to be at Timnah. His killing the lion was a foreshadowing of Yeshua destroying the angel of death. So, the theme of lion slaying at the beginning of Samson is carried over to the end of the story; by that I mean the same power (chaos, death is chaos) destroyed in the beginning are being destroyed at the end–only on a more massive scale.

Yeshua in His earthly ministry was able to create some kind of order in the lives of broken people. He healed the diseased, the possessed, the oppressed, fed thousands with a few loaves of bread and fish, and showed His power, and might by raising the dead. Though these works were many and impressive; still Yeshua’s greatest victory occurred through His death.

Colossians 2:15, having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

His death secured eternal life for us.

Hebrews 2:14-15

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

I Corinthians 15:26

  1. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
  2. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.
  3. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
  4. But each one in his own order: Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.
  5. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts to an end to all rule and all authority and power.
  6. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
  7. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
  8. For He has put all things under His feet. But when He says “all things are under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.

So, death will be destroyed. But when will death be destroyed? Death will be finally destroyed at the end of the thousand years of the Messianic reign of Yeshua. That millennium is called Tabernacles, or we say the Lord’s feast of Booths and the world will go under a new covenant called by Rabbis the Covenant of Shalom.

After this, I am talking about the millennium, there will be a new heaven and new earth as Peter said the old will be consumed by fire.

2 Peter 3 is first speaking on those scoffers in the last days who mock the return of Yeshua. The reason they do this partly is because of the mixed teachings on His return, because everyone has an opinion on his return. Some have Yeshua returning to the earth several times, some say as high 5 or 6 times, I read only one return and it will not pretty; because when he truly does return He will bring His reward with Him (Revelation 22:12), and it will be the wages of judgment on the ungodly.

  1. For they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of water and in the water, By which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water,
  2. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Years ago I had no understanding of this, of the chronological order that God and His Son followed; because there was no agreement among people who were teaching the word. Through time I learned that God is a god of order and everything is done in sequential order; and that this order follows the feasts of the Lord in Leviticus 23. Once I understood the feasts of the Lord I understood what would be happening next.

There is a Lord’s feast called the 8th day (Leviticus 23:39), after the Lord’s feast of Tabernacles. This 8th day represents eternity. The millennium is not eternity although there are some who think it is and teach that it is.

In Revelation 21 is the new heaven and new earth, the 8th day. This is when God will dwell, that is, tabernacle with men. This is the afterglow of Tabernacles which is the millennium.

Before I go let me say this: There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet; there are 22 chapters in Revelation. One would think a Hebrew letter would correspond to each chapter of Revelation. Yeshua said He was the alef and tav.(in Greek alpha and omega). The last chapter in Revelation corresponds to the Hebrew letter Tav and is the final destination of man.  There will be no more death after the last judgment in Revelation 20.

If it is God’s will I will be here next program. Remember to walk by faith and not by sight. Do two things this week: love and forgive. Ask God to cleanse you from all unrighteousness every day. Keep your spiritual garments clean from spots, wrinkles and blemishes. Love God and love your neighbor

Some church folks are becoming more aware that the Lord’s feasts explain to us the sequential order of His return, and what His plans are after that. I learned it some 14 years ago after Him directing me to look at the Bible from a Hebrew perspective—not from a Greek perspective. I have to move on.

Samson pushes against the two pillars of the house of Dagan and it collapses killing 3000 men and women. This is also a depiction of the end of days. The house of Babylon, its idolatry of worshipping the beast; its economic, spiritual and political system will utterly be destroyed. The number 3000 reflects full mature measure of judgment in this passage. Here is a couple of examples in Revelation that meet the mature measure of judgment:

In Revelation 6:7 the fourth seal is loosed, the horseman of death and hades and power was given to them over the fourth of the earth to kill with the sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. This is ¼ of a whole, so it is estimated the population of earth is 7 billion. By mathematics ¼ is 1,750,000,000. This will leave 5 billion, 250 million left.

Revelation 9:18, By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone. This is another 1 billion, 750 million dead and will leave the world population at 3 billion 500 million people, so roughly about half the population will be killed. Judgment in Samson’s day was 3000 men and women, the end of days judgment over 3 billion people.

Ok, so let’s look at the two pillars of the house of Dagan that Samson toppled. This is a depiction of the fall of Babylon at the end of this age in Revelation.  I have to take the long way around to try and explain this. So try to keep up. To understand Revelation, you have to understand ancient history, ancient Middle Eastern thought, their myths, their writings, their culture and manners. The book of Revelation is 2000 years old, that is a lot of history from then to now. The people of Israel today are different, of course, and have lost a lot of their past also. So try to keep in mind the two pillars of the house of Dagan.

Let us go ahead and look at Revelation 13, Then I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads blasphemous names (Revelation 17:15, an angel explains that the symbol “sea” or “waters” represent peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues. Then the next verse tells us this beast that rises up are nations. VERSE 2, Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard (GREECE is Europe), his feet were like the feet of a bear (bear feet represents today’s Iran, more ancient past was Persia and the Medes. The Medes are todays Kurds that are fighting in Syria. In the past the Persians and the Medes overthrew king Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian kingdom. You can read this in the book of Daniel. People today want to attach Russia to the bear, but the ancient symbol was Persia/Iran. However, it is interesting that 40% of Russia’s military are Arabs) and his mouth like the mouth of a lion (in the ancient past the lion represented Babylon, so it is like history is repeating itself in our life time. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.

verse 11 is a description of a beast that comes out of the earth: then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. Verse 13, He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. Verse 14, And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast (from the sea), telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, verse 17, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

This beast out of the earth has the appearance of a lamb. Lambs in Middle Eastern thought are to be animals of peace, like cattle, kids and doves. All these are used as sacrifices on the altar at the Temple in the Torah. So this beast is thought to be a man of peace, and it is significant that he has two horns, because lambs do not have horns. He has religion, satanic religion, that is, demanding peoples to worship the image.

Scholars call this beast from the earth the false prophet, or the anti-Christ. He performs signs, and is able to give breath to an image, and has the authority to have anyone killed that doesn’t worship the image.

For years I have wondered why the first beast comes out of the sea and the false prophet beast comse out of the earth. They arrive in the world from two different places. Now here is where the ancient Middle Eastern thought comes into place.

Our Bible possesses the accounts of two beasts, one is called Behemoth and the other Leviathan. Behemoth is a land dweller in Job 40:15, and his description denotes an extremely large or powerful entity. Leviathan is a sea dweller in Job 41:1, Psalm 74:24 and Psalm 104:26. There is a Jewish belief associated with the coming messianic era, namely, the activities of Leviathan and Behemoth.

Behemoth lives in the wilderness in Job 41.