Seeing the Future in the Past

               

                 Prophecy - the flower coming into full bloom!

I read this a few weeks ago and it has stuck like a little yellow sticky note on my mind. It is about prophecy....

I think it helps us understand how prophesy works....

    "Just a word here about prediction and fulfillment. Think of a perennial flowering plant. The first year's flowers are delightful but meager. It takes some years of maturing for the full flower to bloom. The full flower was present, in embryo, in the first flower.

    There is [in prophecy] continuity and development, but no contradiction. The full flowering was what the first flowering was always intended to be.

     Just so, the kingdom not of this world, the heavenly and eternal city, is what the gift of land and the city [Israel and Jerusalem] were always meant to be.

     In this sense, what we usually call "fulfillment" is really "perfecting" and "maturing" - the ultimate realization of what was always there from the start."

These words are from a fascinating article by Dr. Alec Motyer. The title of the article is The Suffering Servant and Conquering King and I got it from Ligonier Ministries (R. C. Sproul).

We have a luxurious rose vine on the fence in our garden. I remember the nurseryman told me that the first year it would have a few roses, in the second year more and by the fourth or fifth year it would bloom in great profusion and abundance and cover the fence.

It happened just like that.This spring we could hardly see the fence for the mass of lovely pink blossoms that spread over it.

The full flowering was what the first flowering was always intended to be.

I treasure this illustration of prophetic messages, progressive revelation, that God gives us.

To Eve: Someday one of your descendants will put everything back in order.

To Abraham: From you and through you all the world will be blessed.

To Jacob: The scepter will not depart from Judah

To David: The great coming King (from your line) will take the throne and rule forever with justice and righteousness. 

Hints and pictures. All Pointing to Christ.

The sacrifices in Leviticus. The scapegoat. The Passover. The suffering servant. The priestly king.
The full flowering was present, in embryo form, in the first flowering.

Could Isaiah see the full flowering of Messianic prophecy? It appears that way. At least he spoke of it. He talked about a true King in the line of David (chapters 7-12), a suffering Servant of the Lord who would bear sin (chapters 52 and 53) and finally an anointed Conqueror who would bring salvation and vengeance (chapters 60-66).

That means Isaiah saw the full maturing of the first flowering in the atoning sacrifices of Leviticus.

And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1

Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 1 Peter 1

Actually, isn't it true of us, too? Aren't we right now just the first flowering of what we are going to be?

P.S. In thinking again about the Menorah with its painstakingly carved almond branch -- it included buds and full blooms -- ?

Doing the Laundry - Hints from Tony Evans

Tony Evans was especially fun recentl! He gave a truly insightful, though homey, illustration about doing the laundry and confessing sin.


When someone is putting clothes into the washing machine, they don't just dump the whole hamper load in -- the one doing the laundry will carefully separate the clump and place each piece in the machine one at a time. If two socks are knotted up together, they will pull them apart - separate them. Socks caught up in the leg of a pair of trousers won't get very clean!

A friend of mine takes her clothing to a commercial laundry and she carries the load in a pillow case. But she doesn't dump them in all at once -- she separates them. Sometimes into different groups for cleaning.

When the items are separated the flow of the water can reach each piece and clean more thoroughly. It's just the right way to do the job.

This is not a profound, philosophical observation. But then Tony compares all this to confession of sin! We shouldn't go to God and say, "Forgive me for all the bad things I did today."

No, we need to separate each one. Tell God what we felt, what we said, how we acted, seeking forgiveness for that one item. Then do it for each sin we remember the Holy Spirit pointing out to us. You know, like He sort of nudges us sometimes right at the onset of our bad behavior. (Of course, that would be a really good time to pray, also, while it is really fresh on our minds.)

And sometimes when the Holy Spirit nudges us early enough we can even refrain from the behavior and then we can pray a prayer of thanksgiving, expressing our gratitude for the warning of the Holy Spirit that kept us from the bad behavior.

It is much more fun expressing gratitude than it is asking forgiveness!

But I guess that means we must keep ourselves sensitive to the Holy Spirit and eager to respond quickly.

In I John 1:9, we are told "if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

I think my favorite word in that verse is "all." We can't usually remember all the sins we have committed. We are not even aware of some. In the Old Testament there were many sacrifices and offerings designated for "unintentional sins."

I think in the New Testament God covered that situation right here in this verse with "all."

Sometimes Revival Looks Like This

This story is from C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia....


There was a young boy named Eustace. He was thoroughly selfish and unpleasant, especially to his cousins, who had been to Narnia and had met Aslan.

As it happened, he was, through no action of his own, cast into one of their adventures and landed on an island with them and Prince Caspian and his men.  He refused to do any work, demanded great sacrifices of others, and bullied even little Reepicheep, the brave and courtly Chief Mouse.

It was on this island that Eustace's nastiness caused him to be turned into a dragon, a large and ugly dragon.

He had turned into a dragon while he was asleep. When he awoke he realized he was a monster cut off from the whole human race. An appalling loneliness came over him. He began to see that others had not really been fiends at all. He began to wonder if he himself had been such  nice person as he had supposed...When he thought about this the poor dragon who had been Eustace began to weep.

He knew he had to remove the dragon skin and somehow shake it off. He was certain that then he would find Eustace underneath all the ugly greenish scales and knobbly bits.

He was able to remove one layer, but found there was another layer underneath. Beneath that was another layer. He despaired as he kept laboring. There seemed to be no end to the layers.

Aslan approached the miserable boy and lifted up his great fearsome claws.It wasn't just the dragon layers that had to come off -- even the skin underneath had to be removed.....

Later Eustace described the experience:

The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worst than anything I've ever felt...there it was lying on the grass; only ever so much thicker and darker and more knobbly than the top layers had been.

And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeling switch and smaller than I had ever been. Then he caught hold of me--I didn't like that very much. I was very tender underneath now that I had no skin on----and threw me into the water. It was smarting like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain was gone.

Quoteworthy - Oswald Chambers on Prayer

The time a Christian gives to prayer and communion with God is not meant for his natural life, but it meant to nourish the life of the Son of God in him.


God engineers the circumstances of His saints in order that the Spirit may use them as the praying house of the Son of God. If you are spiritual the Holy Spirit is offering up prayers in your bodily temple that you know nothing about; it is the Spirit making intercession in you.   -- Oswald Chambers

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.  Romans 8:26-27

Home. Finally. At Last.

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
--John 14:1-3

I am thinking about heaven today. We are studying Revelation in our Monday morning class. All the glimpses of what we will see -- golden streets, gates of pearls, the river flowing as crystal from the throne of God, the rainbow encircling the throne, precious jewels, the tree of life, the angels -- all we are told about seems breathtaking.

But whenever I think of heaven, I think of the verses, not in Revelation, but in John, when Christ is comforting His disciples.

He knows what is about to happen -- that He is to be arrested, tortured with a cruel death, and they will be frightened and scattered and no doubt feeling hopeless and helpless. So what does He tell them to bring them comfort?

He doesn't describe the wonder and magnificence of His heavenly palace -- no, He tells them He is going home.And someday they will go home, also.

HOME. Because Home is where He will be. That's what they need to hear. That's what they want to hear. He's going back home and they will join Him there in the future.

And it will be our home. We're going home. Even the prodigal finally made it back home.

We have traveled in many areas of the world. We enjoyed our trips to Italy, Switzerland, Israel, Thailand, and so many other wonderful places. But we were always anxious to get back HOME.

Our earthly home is just a temporary substitute for our final destination, our real home. So in our hearts we are still pilgrims and wanderers, journeying on, seeking our real home -- the place where we really belong.

Why do we still yearn for home? Because we are homeless...we lost our home.

We seek, like Abraham,

...when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. --Hebrews 11:8-10

Our basic need for our lost home is fully met only because the Lord Jesus Himself, right now, is preparing for us a home in heaven and, right now, is preparing us for that heavenly home!

Until then we are living in a strange, alien land which is actually enemy territory.

But someday we will arrive Home. Finally. At last. And that day will be the first day of the rest of our lives!

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

*****

Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. -- Robert Frost

I love the way this is worded....

This is written by Larry McCall and reflects so clearly the way we can drift from Christ's presence and slip into apathy and disbelief.

Come winter, the ice forms almost imperceptibly on the lake near our home. After the first few cold nights, a bit of skim ice may be noticed by the observant passerby. Gradually, ever so gradually, the ice thickens as the cold takes its grip on our northern Indiana community. By the dead of winter, fishermen labor at drilling through two feet of hard ice to get through to the warmer waters below.

Sin is like that. A heart that once seemed warm cools so gradually that only the especially perceptive friend or pastor notices skim ice forming on the soul of the church member.

The person who once evidenced a warm, experiential trust in Christ gradually, ever so gradually, cools toward the matters of eternity. The appetite to read God's Word lessens, prayer becomes sporadic, worship becomes boring, and all kinds of excuses are found not to be with Christian friends.

The ice thickens. The heart gets colder and colder. The voice of Christ no longer has its former effect. Instead, the call of the world draws. The beauty of Christ no longer entices. The world begins to look more appealing. One sin leads to the next. the second becomes easier than the first. Then, another and another. Eventually, the church realizes that one of her own has been overtaken by "an evil, unbelieving heart," leading a church member to "fall away from the living God" (Hebrews 3:12).

How does this happen? How does a person who has evidenced apparent faith in Christ and faithfulness to Him "fall away from the living God"?


More important, what can be done to guard against apostasy in the church? What should be done?

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold till the end the
confidence we had at first. As has just been said:Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts...
(Hebrews 3:12-15)

.

Note: I need to think about this some more. How do we stop it? Is a key found in the words "encourage each other daily"? I don't want to let my heart harden....

This verse indicates that we ourselves harden our hearts.....and that as we pursue the deceitfulness of sin our hearts harden. I need to think more about this.

Sometimes I feel sort of brittle and cold -- not soft and giving like I do when living closely in the presence of God -- I sometimes feel myself drifting -- like the hymn--"Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I Love. Take my heart, oh, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above....Let thy grace, Lord, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee." That's what I want -- and I am sure that's what He wants!

You can't leave without your ticket!

Corrie Ten Boom tells a story from her childhood.

She remembers reading about martyrs for Christ and all they had suffered in the two thousand years since Christ's own suffering.

She told her father that she didn't see how she could possibly be strong enough to suffer the cruel punishments so many Christians had experienced.

His reply was something like this: 'Tell me, when you take a train trip, when do I give you the money for the ticket? Several weeks early?'
'No,' she replied. 'You give it to me just as I get on the train.'

His wise response to her earnest question: 'Well, that's how God does it. Your Father in heaven knows when you are going to need the strength to endure the suffering. That's when He gives it to you. You don't need it right now, but when you do, He will supply it -- just in time.'

Later, while in one of the Nazi concentration camps (where she and her family were imprisoned for the crime of hiding and rescuing Jewish refugees) she thought of those words and shared them with her companions.


Her suffering was great. Any prisoner caught with a Bible or praying would face a death by cruel torture.

But she endured. Reading her Bible and praying. Her sister died there. She lost other family members.

But Corrie Ten Boom survived.

In the presence of my enemies....

Years later she was telling her story to a small village in Africa, where the struggling church was facing intense persecution by a hostile government.

[When I was growing up Corrie was a popular speaker - often on Billy Graham's programs and with many other hosts. We all read her book, The Hiding Place -- and yes, there was even a movie!]

As she looked out on her audience she knew many of these new Christians would be killed in the near future. They were fearful and anxious, but as she spoke she saw confidence and joy appearing on their faces. Peace began to fill their hearts.

She learned later that over half of her audience had died a martyr's death shortly after she left.

And now, dear friends of mine, I beg you not to be unduly alarmed at the fiery ordeals which come to test your faith, as if this were some abnormal experience.  You should be glad, because it means you are called to share Christ's sufferings. One day, when He shows Himself in full splendor to men, you will be filled with the most tremendous joy. If you are reproached for being Christ's followers, that is a great privilege, for you can be sure that God's spirit of glory is resting upon you.             1 Peter 4:12-14, Phillips

 ...you should be glad....you will be filled with tremendous joy...a great privilege...God's spirit of glory is resting upon you.

Just as Peter and his Christian family were facing persecution under Nero, so did Corrie Ten Boom and all those other Christians who suffered under the Nazis, most of them for trying to resist Hitler and to help Jews.

God's spirit of glory rested upon them, and will in eternity, when they are wearing the martyrs' crowns.

Let's remember to pray for today's persecuted church

Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  (Matthew 5)

[I got this story from a book by Nancy Guthrie, a fine compilation of thoughts about suffering. Nancy has lost two children, and has been able to share great insights about grief and pain.

   

Basic Temptation 101 - C S Lewis

You may remember I said that the first step towards humility was to realize that one is proud. I want to add now that the next step is to make some serious attempt to practice the Christian virtues.

A week is not enough. Things often go swimmingly for the first week. Try six weeks. By that time, having, as far as one can see, fallen back completely or even fallen lower than the point one began from, one will have discovered some truths about oneself.

No man knows how bad he is til he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie.

Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army be fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not be lying down.

A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it; and Christ, because of He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means -- the only complete realist.

From Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis

What's wrong with the world?

I was checking out a verse I remember reading earlier about God's instructions for the kings that would be ruling Israel.

It shall be that when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself two copies of this Torah in a book, from before the Kohanim, the Levites. It shall be with him, and he shall read from it all the days of his life, so that he will learn to fear Hashem, his God, to observe all the words of this Torah and these decrees, to perform them, so that his heart does not become haughty over his brethren and not turn from the commandment right or left, so that he will prolong years over his kingdom, he and his sons amid Israel.

                    (Deuteronomy 17:18-20, Hebrew Bible)
Does this mean the king is to actually write out, copy carefully, his own copy of the Torah (first 5 books of the Old Testament)? Looks like that to me.
Actually, 2 copies, according to the Hebrew Bible -- other translations say 1 copy.
Here's the way the NIV translates it:

When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees, and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign for a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

I decided to check my old, interesting Chumash (collection of rabbinical commentaries on the Torah) to read their thoughts:
Their records say the king is to write out two copies. He is to keep one copy in his treasury, and to keep the other one with him at all times. These scrolls are to remind him at all times, august as his position may be, that he is a servant of the Torah. This is especially important in the royal treasury, where the presence of his wealth could easily blind him to his responsibilities.

If the king inherited Torah Scrolls from his father, he must nevertheless write one new one for himself; but if his father did not leave him any, he must write two.

The king is to copy his Scroll from the authoritative one that Moses placed in the safekeeping of the Kohanim.

He shall read and observe...In its plain sense the verse is quite clear. But, the Chumash says, there are deeper meanings as well. The king should have the physical Scroll with him at all times, but also the king should consult the Torah for guidance on how to deal with whatever happens to him, for all the events of all the days of his life. And how to react to all circumstances.

It continues...If a king, who must maintain his dignity and for whom a certain level of pomp is proper, is forbidden to be haughty, then certainly each individual must purge himself of this distasteful and abominable trait from his heart. Grandeur is God's alone and human beings should take pride only for their degree of service to him.

I enjoy reading the Chumash....but look at that last sentence -- human beings should take pride only for their degree of service to him (God).

Isn't that the opposite of what Jesus taught? And remember Paul.."not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:9)...and remember the Pharisees?

Ignoring God's Word - Isn't this, in reality, exactly what is wrong with the whole world?

But taking pride in our service to God -- isn't that, in part, what's wrong with the church?

P.S. Notice the Hebrew translation says to make (by hand) copies of the Torah - that would be the first 5 books--Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Most Gentile commentaries take it to mean the book of Deuteronomy only, but still a big task...requiring patience and skill....