The End From the Beginning—Part 8—The Conclusion and Sources
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| The Old Testament, by contrast, is dominated by a different form of typological thinking: eschatological correspondence between beginning and end. — Urzeit and Endzeit |
Introduction and Review
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| Honore Daumier |
"It's a Conspiracy," They Say
And the Lord said to me, “A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them.— Jeremiah 11:9-10
The story hasn't changed and will not change on this side of creative history. No conspiracy against the Lord can stand.
There is no wisdom, nor understanding,
nor counsel to oppose Yahweh.
— Proverbs 21:30
Cunningham Geike, in his commentary Hours With the Bible, writes the following concerning the ancient Hebrew religious mindset.
" ... in keeping with the whole colour of Jewish thought ... Other races have chosen their part a political career, or pre-eminence in art, or in philosophical speculation or in social development; but, from first to last, the intellect of the Hebrew dwelt supremely on the matters of faith. He never aspired to take a place among the great empires of antiquity and has left no record of political revolutions effected by conquests.
It has only been because of humanity's alliance with evil forces that we are in our current state. We aren't doing ourselves any favors by immersing ourselves in seditious speculations, as it eliminates our responsibility in this equation. Each of us contributes to this story of a world run amok. Theorizing in such divisive ways unhelpfully creates an "us against them" mentality. God's approach calls all of humankind to repentance, including ourselves.
The Bible records that the "system" eventually and inevitably fails. It doesn't fail because people didn't protest enough. It fails because its alliance with darkness and separation from God can only result in deconstruction and decomposition. Without the Light of the World, there is no other way to create an eternal, functioning, productive, purposeful, and organized system. In the beginning, "light" was the basic necessity for life in a humanly habitable and functional place.
God does not ask us to try to change the system through protest or politics. Evil must run its course. Jesus never made an issue of Rome. His problem was always with the hearts of humankind, as it is today.
Religious rulers constantly tried to bait Jesus with traps that would engage Him politically. Every time, He brushed them off as insignificant to His mission. On one such occasion, the Pharisees asked Jesus whether He would pay Caesar's tax, and He replied:
But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money." So they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar's.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God’s.
— Matthew 22:18-21
The Pharisees believed their Messiah would be a militant political leader who would overthrow the oppressive Roman regime. Jesus dismisses their ideology with a sweep of His truth. His real mission wasn't political opposition. It was to rescue the souls of humankind, made in God's image.
An example appears in the account of Barabbas, an insurrectionist against the oppressive, controlling Roman regime, bent on radical change through political protest and murder. Matthew calls him a "notorious prisoner." Isn't it interesting that Jesus takes Barabbas's place by humbly submitting to the conspiracy against Himself?
Our problem isn't the potential theories themselves. The problem is that we think we can actively resist them in very unspiritual ways.
When protecting "our rights" and entitlements becomes the goal, I think we've lost our way. The only real rights we have are those God's grace undeservedly gives us. If it is His grace that we have lost, we are sincerely barking up the wrong tree by relying on politically motivated protest.
Jesus told us these things would happen ahead of time, not so we could fearfully design bunkers and stockpile food or weapons for self-preservation, but that we would faithfully serve Him at all times and in all things.
See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass ... “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
— Matthew 24:45-51
We should be more concerned with our spiritual condition than our physical preservation.
The Great Falling Away
I think it's fair to say that we have entered into the time of the great falling away discussed in 2 Thessalonians.Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped.
— 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
According to Gallup News,
Half of Americans are church members, down from 70% in 1990
Several megachurch leaders and musicians are walking away and publicly renouncing their faith.
Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the last times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.
— 1 Timothy 4:1
This falling away points to another sign of the times and raises a valid question about faith.
... when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
— Luke 18:8
What a shame to reject God for His righteous rules and to consider Him oppressive. In His great mercy, He sacrificed His one and only Son to cover our shame and nakedness. By rejecting Him, we surrender to a merciless, tyrannical system more oppressive and accusatory than anyone ever imagined God to be, one that will leave us exposed, naked, and ashamed.
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| The prophet Samuel depicted in stained glass. |
"Give Us a King, " They Said
“Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”— 1 Samuel 8:5
Samuel becomes disheartened by this request because he understands that their reliance will be placed on a human government rather than on God.
But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord.
— 1 Samuel 8:6
God answered Samuel's prayer by informing him that he would let the people have their way and reveal their true motives.
And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day—with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also.
— 1 Samuel 8:7-8
Just as in the garden scene, God's people, like Adam and Eve, would prefer to eat from the tree of their own independent system rather than submit to God's authority and jurisdiction. The rest of the narrative outlines several consequences the people can expect from their desired human-ruled kingdom. These consequences include enslavement, oppression, and heavy taxation. After the people were informed of the consequences, they continued their demands. Rather than confronting their idolatries and crimes against God and obeying Him, they believed their human king would require less of them and fight their battles.
Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, "No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles."
— 1 Samuel 8:19-20
The prophetess Deborah, who was also judged in the time of the Judges, adds to the inevitable consequential piece of this story.
They chose new gods;
Then there was war in the gates.
— Judges 5:8
God would have given them a king when they were ripe and ready to submit to Him first. There was no point in appointing a human king over them if their faith was centered on the king rather than on God and His right and functional ways. In the end, their plan failed.
We are not far from this narrative and its modern interpretation. We live in a nation that has claimed to believe in the God of the Bible, yet continues to do what is right in its own eyes and rejects God's commands at every turn. Rather than repent and turn from our wicked ways, we would rather bark up governmental trees we think can save us. We have come to believe that if we get the right folks in office, we can return to a comfortable "God on the shelf" existence. God explains otherwise.
... if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
— 2 Chronicles 7:14
Ready or Not, Here It Comes
Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning— lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”— Mark 13:33-37
Prayer and forsaking evil are what God asks for in this time and this place.
But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. It will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
— Luke 21:34-36
In Matthew 25, Jesus presents two parables about these times. One of them concerns ten virgins waiting for the return of a bridegroom. Five keep their lamps filled with oil, while five think he will return later and don't bother to keep their lamps filled, so they fall asleep. The sleepers ask the faithful waiters for some oil at the last minute, but there isn't enough for all of them.
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
— Matthew 25:10
Keeping lamps filled with oil is a metaphor for maintaining a spiritual life by always being filled with God's Spirit. In the narratives of Noah and Lot, a door shuts when the time is up.
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation
— 2 Corinthians 6:2
The second parable concerned investments. Three men were given talents to invest on the master's behalf while he went away, with a promise to return at an unannounced time. One was given five, the second two, and the third one. When the master returned, the first two had faithfully doubled their investments. The third buried his talent, thinking only of preserving what he was given, not of securing a profit for his master. He hoarded it as if it were his own.
We are here in this time and place for a reason, not for self-preservation or personal profit. We are here to glorify our God.
The God who made the world and everything in it he is Lord of heaven and earth—does not live in shrines made by hands. Neither is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. From one man he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. He did this so they might seek God, and perhaps reach out and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring. Since we are God’s offspring then, we shouldn’t think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination. “Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”
— Acts 17
He has a victorious, God-glorifying plan, and our primary focus should be to cooperate with God in it. We are called to live in faith and confidence that God is in control.
And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. — Romans 13:11-14 to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, now and in all the ages. Amen.
— Jude 1: 25
© 2019 Tamarajo
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