Thoughts on This Morning's Study

Reading through Isaiah chapter 11 today. We hear this every Advent and I think we sometimes don't pay a lot of attention because it's so familiar.

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

So far so good, huh? We all understand this to be talking about Jesus, and what He is going to do when He comes into the world.
Next:

and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

Not so gentle Jesus meek and mild, is it? All kinds of cross references come to mind here; think of Revelation 19 or Psalm 2. Jesus' word strikes the wicked of the Earth, and this comes from His righteousness and faithfulness (He is called Faithful and True).

His striking the earth and killing the wicked results in:

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.

We know this cannot be heaven or the Resurrection. Why? There are children. Whether this animals-gettin'-along business is literal or symbolic, there is no doubt that Christ's rule is to result in amazing peace. So much so that:

They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.

Here are the promises of God concerning what will happen when He sends His Son into the world. We have already been told that when He comes the increase of His government and of peace will have no end. Here is the glorious "millennium" of His reign and the result of the fruition of its increase.

Wonderful.

The Revelation

As I posted earlier, eschatology keeps rearing its head in several areas of my life lately (more on that later), and so I undertook another detailed look at the Revelation, this time transcribing it and working through Chilton's magnificent commentary on the book.

Just a few thoughts:

1. The book has very little to say about the end of the world.

2. The book has a lot to say about the end of the world--the old world, that is. It is so very obviously primarily concerned with the fall of Jerusalem and the end of the Old Covenant.

3. The similarities and parallel structure to Ezekiel's prophecy are staggering. Why was I never taught this?

4. I tend to agree with the hypothesis that the prophecy was meant to be read liturgically and not all at once.

5. Once one is familiar with the Bible's style of prophetic symbolism (another post on that soon too), the Revelation is not confusing in any way. It's actually very, very clear.

6. It's also very complex, in that the information communicated is very compact. There's much more to it than a quick reading will bring to mind, at least for those of us who aren't as Biblically literate as we should be (like yours truly).

7. There is no "battle of Armageddon." It doesn't ever happen, and there is no place called "Armageddon."

8. Chapter 19 ain't the Second Coming. John sees heaven opened, and Jesus seated on a horse. He doesn't "come" (go) anywhere.

9. The whole point is that Jesus rules, NOW, and we will be victorious in this present age.

10. We're very obviously living in the so-called "millennium." I don't see how anyone can not get that.

Bonus: Man, Dispensationalism is kooky. ;^)

A Postmillennial Advent (remix)

I blogged about this last year, but wanted to add some more to it. I also had to change our home Advent liturgy somewhat because we bought a new tree!

We're really concerned with keeping a proper Advent each year, not only in reaction to the rampant consumerism of the "Christmas season" (which starts Hallowe'en around 6:00 p.m.), but also because most of the Evangelical world has abandoned the practice, which to me is not only sad but dumb. A season of preparation, self-examination and spiritual discipline seems only right in preparation for a great feast. You clean up and make ready for a big party, right? How much more when the guest is the King?

Advent is a time to remember not only our Lord's coming as a humble Child, but also His coming return as our Judge. And since I hold so strongly to the Postmillennial viewpoint about that glorious and dreadful Day, I believe it's appropriate to enact those beliefs in our Advent-keeping.

So the tree goes up, bare but for lights this first week. Next, the purple glass ornaments signifying the Kingdom in the world and the penitence and fasting of its people. The third week we will hang the silver ornaments, to my mind not only signifying the blessings the Kingdom is bringing into the world, but also coinciding with the Joy candle. The fourth week, we will hang some of the star ornaments we have, not only recalling the star which heralded Jesus' birth, but also the defeat of the principalities and powers in the heavenlies. Finally, on Christmas Eve, we complete the decorating and joyfully place the Pantocrator icon on top of the tree, welcoming the coming of our great King.

Must-Watch Video

Gary DeMar on eschatology:

In the Last Days

You have probably heard about this particular "sign" that we are approaching "the end times," from Paul's epistle to Timothy:

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

Problem: Paul's next sentence to Timothy is:

Avoid such people.

Paul cannot possibly be talking about the days at the end of history.

He's Number One, All Right

Get to know God's holy warrior in this article. Especially note what I've pointed out before: SIX MILLION Moslems convert to Christianity per year.

That is glorious, and this man is credited with a lot of it. Pray for him.

A Postmillennial Advent

Jenni and I try to keep a proper Advent each year. We put up the tree on the first Sunday and leave it bare until we return home from Church on Christmas Eve, then decorate it and leave it up from Christmas Day until Epiphany.

Advent is traditionally a penitential season in which we remember the time of preparation before our Lord's first Advent, and also think to how we are doing as we labor before His Second Coming.

Well, I think it is theologically sound, given my view of the progressive spread of the Kingdom in history, to make the Advent season a time of growing beauty until the Lord comes on Christmas Day. So, this week, the tree went up. Next, we will light it. Then our purple glass ornaments, followed by the silver ones. Finally on Christmas Eve the Lord will come as the Pantokrator icon I top the tree with will go up, and all the other ornaments will joyfully meet Him as He arrives.

HT: This actually started as a joke by my friend Frank.

Watch the Kingdom Spread

Here is a historical map of the growth of the great world religions. Watch the water spread over the sea. The glorious postmillennial vision in full effect.

A Thousand

In Scripture, the number 1000 is used to denote a huge number. You've got the cattle of a thousand hills, the thousand years of Christ's Messianic reign, and so on.

Okay.

God says that He will bless to the thousandth generation those who love Him and keep His Law.

That's a minimum of 40,000 years, folks. How amazing is that?

Ascensiontide

"For behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
and her people to be a gladness.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in my people;
no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
and the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not fill out his days,
for the young man shall die a hundred years old,
and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labor in vain
or bear children for calamity,
for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD,
and their descendants with them.
Before they call I will answer;
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and dust shall be the serpent's food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,"
says the LORD.

It's a glorious Millennium, friends. The Lord Jesus reigns from Heaven, and of the increase of His government there shall be no end!

The Prologue of the Revelation

We finished up my "End Times" class by looking at what John wrote about his Epistle. Here 'tis.

The Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24

Lesson four in my "End Times/Prophecy" class.

End Times and the Epistles

The next recording of my "End Times/Prophecy" class is here.

I'm horrified by all my "uhs" and "y'knows." I'll try to tone it down. I'm not a good public speaker and it's sometimes hard to corral my thoughts into a clear statement...so I buy time that way. Y'know, it's like the "Father God comma" in extemporaneous prayer.

OT Prophetic Language

Lesson two of my "End Times/Prophecy" class at Holy Trinity.

"End Times" Introduction

I'm teaching a short class on NT prophecy at Holy Trinity. Here is a recording of week one.

The Olivet Discourse in Mark's Gospel

I'm studying Mark's Gospel right now, copying out a chapter a day by hand. Tonight was Chapter 13, Mark's telling of the Olivet Discourse in which Jesus predicts the destruction of the Temple and the "end of the age."

I find it so incredibly obvious that this passage is not in any way about the physical return of Jesus at the end of time. It baffles me that anyone would take it that way. The Lord repeatedly refers to "you," plural, meaning His apostles who just asked Him about the destruction of the Temple, and caps it off with "this generation shall by no means pass away until all these things take place." Now, you have to make that phrase jump through a lot of hoops to make that mean something other than "y'all standing around Me here." And a lot of people do, because they are confused by the particular kind of language Jesus uses (straight out of the Old Testament, BTW). By doing so they forget that when Scripture addresses a particular group of people, say, the Corinthians, or the Exiles, or the Church at Laodicea, or in this case, Peter, James, John and Andrew, the first application of the Word is to them, and then from that application we may extrapolate what is meant for us to keep and to learn.

Pot, Meet Kettle.

From an article about NBC's "Revelations":

As Left Behind author Tim LaHaye put it, "This story is based on some writer's imagination about the Book of Revelation. However, the writer clearly has not studied the book or maybe even read it."

That, friends, is one of the funniest things I've read in a looooong time.