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CHURCH LETTER
Grace and peace to you fron God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
`These things have I spoken unto you that you should not be made to stumble'
Jesus was at the Passover Supper and speaking to His disciples, and after `Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Kidron Brook, where there was a garden which He and His disciples entered'. Shortly afterwards Jesus was arrested and went to His death and glorious resurrection. If we now turn our thoughts to Matthew 24 we find the same setting of the Passover Supper as seen in John 18, written above:
" Then Jesus went out and departed from the Temple, and His disciples
came up to show Him the buildings of the Temple . . . "
Jesus, knowing His time was short and what would happen later, gave a response that must have been incomprehensible to His disciples, and their unspoken thoughts must surely have been: `Was not Jesus the Messiah?' `Was this not the Temple, the very heart of His Kingdom?' `What do those words mean?' And so Jesus journeyed on to the Mount of Olives where He would fully answer their questions:
" Now as He sat down on the Mount of Olives the disciples came to Him privately, saying: Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of Your Coming and the end of the Age? "
The disciples asked Him three questions:
1. When shall these things be?
2. What shall be the sign of Your Coming?
3. What shall be the sign of the end of the Age?
Jesus gave three clear answers:
First: Take heed that no-one deceive you . . . .
Second: Nations will rise against nations . . . . All these are
the beginning of sorrows, the birth pangs . . . .
Third: His answer was this: (Matthew 24:29-30)
" Immediately after the tribulation of those days . . . . Then the sign of the Son of Man shall appear in heaven . . . . And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. "
Within the three answers were also three signs to watch for, that `none should be made to stumble':
First Many anti-christs will come in My Name, saying: `I am the
Christ', and deceive many.
Second: When you see the abomination of desolation, spoken by
Daniel the prophet . . . .
Third: Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven . . . .
In chapter 25 Jesus continued to teach His disciples, using parables to warn of what was to come. Finally in chapter 26 we find the setting of the Passover Supper that was imminent:
" Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that
He said to His disciples, `You know that after two days is the Passover,
and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. "
However in this Letter our thoughts turn to chapter 24, where it is recorded: `But as the days of Noah were, so also will the Coming of the Son of Man be' (v 37). The words recorded here in Matthew are very specific and clear - as those days were, so they will be again at His Coming. And here we need to turn to chapters 2 and 3 of Genesis in order to gain understanding of those `days of Noah'. As we have said before, Torah is the `seedbed' for all Scriptural understanding, and so we do indeed find the `beginning' of what was planted in that `seedbed' that came to fulness in the days of Noah - which will appear again at `the Coming of the Son of Man'. Genesis 2 records the forming of Man from the dust of the earth and the taking of a rib from Adam's side to form Eve - who was also formed out of the dust of the earth as she was taken out of Adam. In those opening words lay the `seed' that would enable the serpent to whisper his lies to Eve, which in the Ages to come would lead to everything that will seek to overthrow God's authority. The man was formed first and the woman came from him, and yet both were equal in God's sight, for as Adam said: `This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh'. Within this is revealed God's order and authority, but without disturbing equality. But in this also lay the means through which the spiritual powers would work through natural man: (3:1-13)
" Now the serpent was more crafty . . . . And he said to the woman: `Did God really say . . . . ? So when the woman saw that the fruit of the Tree was good . . . . and desirable for gaining wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate . . . . Then the man said (thereby abdicating his authority) `the woman . . . . she gave me some fruit . . . . The woman said (thereby denying responsibility) `the Serpent deceived me, and I ate. "
Then God's Judgement came upon rebellion against His order: To the serpent He said (our paraphrase) `You, by your whispers have caused Eve to rebel against Me, so I will put enmity (that is contention and disagreement concerning My order and authority) between you, the serpent, and the woman for all Ages to come'. To Eve God said: `Your desire for your husband (his position) will remain and he, your hsband, will rule over you'. At the end of chapter 3 we find the sad words: (v 23-24)
" Therefore the LORD God sent him from the Garden of Eden . . . . So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the Garden, and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the Tree of Life. "
It is this enmity between the serpent and the woman that has left the woman susceptible, that is, open to `whispers' to her emotions, which then leads her husband to rule over her in order to maintain authority and order. With all of creation subject to death and decay the serpent can now only `whisper his lies' through these natural vessels, and throughout Scripture we can see Satan's usurping power at work in his attacks to regain what was taken from him when in his pride he said: `I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High' (Isaiah 14:14). In the words the LORD God spoke to the serpent he also said that there would be enmity betwen `your seed and his (Adam's) seed' and from his seed one day would come One Who `will crush your head, and you shall bruise His heel' - which gave the serpent the need to destroy this Seed which would be such a threat to his `percived rights'!
And so we can now turn to `the days of Noah', and in chapter 6 of Genesis we read of the serpents first irruption - that is, breaking into God's order - for the serpent's work was to thwart the LORD's purpose to restore His order through His Seed: (Genesis 6: 1-6)
" Now it came to pass (in Noah's time), when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful, and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the LORD said, `My Spirit shall not strive with man forever . . . .'. And there were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterwards, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore chldren to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth . . . . "
Once again the serpent's work would come through `whispers' to the daughters of men, who were beautiful. Satan's fallen angels, the sons of God, had sexual union with the daughters of men, causing the birth of `giants on the earth in those days, and afterwards. Those were the mighty men of old, men of renown'. The Hebrew word here is `Nephilim', which has a meaning of `fallen ones'. They were mutated men of giant size, physically as well as in wickedness. They were super-human abnormal beings, men of renown - meaning literally men who had a name and renown for their ungodliness: (6:8-9)
`And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually . . . . . But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD . . . . . Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God."
The result was `the Flood', for as Peter's Second Letter records: (2:4-5)
" God did not spare the angels (the sons of God) who sinned, but cast them down into hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgement, and did not spare the ancient world but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousnes, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly. "
This happend in Noah's time - `in those days' - but the `afterwards' came after the flood when a second irruption occurred, but smaller in number and limited to Canaan. Satan was ready to continue his `whispers' through Abraham and his wife Sarah, for it was with Abram that the LORD made a Covenant, that through him would come the Seed of Promise. We read in Genesis 12: (v 5-6)
" And they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. And the Canaanites were then in the land. "
The Canaanites - known by their tribal names, such as Rephaim and Emin - and many others recorded in chapter 15 of Genesis were polluted seed of the Nephilim, which is why we read later in Deuteronomy 20:
`As they (the Israelites) were about to enter the land of Canaan, the LORD said: `. . . you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittites, the Amorites and the Canaanites . . ."
Israel failed in this and the `Canaanites' were scattered throughout the known world to continue their deadly work as vessels of Satan's ambition to corrupt the seed of the woman. This great conflict is seen throughout Scripture, and in every case human instruments are used - usually because of personal interests - whilst Satan outworks his interest through them. God is therefore required to intervene to avert the evil and danger of which His people are usually innocent.
The first irruption of those fallen angels was directed against the whole human race, as we have seen in Genesis 6 where through the fallen angels Satan attempted the corruption of the woman's seed in order to prevent the coming of the Seed of the woman, as foretold in Genesis 3. Later, after Abraham had been called by God and given his Great Promise, his seed (Isaac) was attacked. After David was anointed as King over all Israel the royal line was constantly under attack, and once the Seed of the woman came forth and was revealed as Jesus then the full storm of Satan's fury burst upon Him. We also know from chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation that `She (Israel) brought forth a male child who would rule all the nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up to God and to His Throne'. As we continue to read through Revelation 12 we read of a great war in Heaven against the dragon: (v9)
" So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. "
Now, as Paul wrote in his Letter to the Ephesians, the `old serpent' continues his deadly work of deceiving the whole world as `the prince of the powers of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience'. As we have seen in Revelation 12, `the woman (was) clothed with the sun'. In poetical language this woman is seen as Israel, who `being with child cried out, travailing in birth' - a description of Israel, who over the long centuries had carried in her `womb' the Promised Seed of the woman of Genesis 3. We have set this out more fully in an earlier Church Letter `How does the City sit solitary that was full of people?' Israel, always weakened by continual attacks by Satan, always travailing in pain, faithfully waited for the promised Messiah to come - Who when He came was rejected by her - but then she was scattered by the Roman armies throughout the world. Jerusalem, and the Temple wherein the Presence of God dwelt in the Most Holy Place, was destroyed and ploughed up! Satan's work was completed in triumph . . . . and yet we know from Genesis 6 that `there were giants on the earth in those days and also afterwards'. Jesus, when speaking to His disciples (Matthew 24) said, `But as the days of Noah were, so also (it will be at) the Coming of the Son of Man . . . . Watch, therefore . . .'.
We have often quoted the words of an earlier Bible Teacher, who said: `The nearer we get to the end, the closer we come back to the beginning'. Those words may be applied here, for the first irruption of the fallen angels sought to corrupt the whole known world, for they didn't know just where `the Seed of the woman' would come. And so here at the end we see again the beginning, for the woman (Israel) has brought forth the Promised Seed, Jesus, and although she is scattered she is still awaiting her Promised Messiah Who will come again to His people . . . . but where? And so the work of corruption continues, and Satan, `the prince of the powers of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience', is once again spreading his evil corruption throughout the peoples of the earth, whispering his lies as before, `Did God really say?' to the children of disobedience as they continue to `eat' the fruit of `the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil'.
However, shortly before the Great Diasporah of `old Israel' occurred a new threat to Satan appeared at the Feast of Pentecost, fifty days after the Seed of the woman had been `caught up to God and His Throne'. The promised New Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah was released upon the Jews gathered in the Temple Compound and upon the Gentiles who believed and accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Both were soon to be scattered throughout the world, carrying `the Seed of the woman' with them, proclaiming Him to be God the Son Who would return to Jerusalem and to His people to reign for one thousand years. No longer was `the womb of Israel' travailing in pain for the Child of Promise to be born, but those disciples were now cast into `the womb of the world' with their triumphant belief of His soon-return to establish His Kingdom of Righteousness in Jerusalem. It is to that `womb of the world' we must now turn our thoughts, for both `unredeemed' and `redeemed' Israel would now face the work of the old serpent, Satan, for `as in the days of Noah so also it will be at the Coming of the Son of Man'.
Both `branches of Israel' would now face the same animosity of the world, for both `unredeemed and redeemed Israel' carry the Presence of God in their midst. For `unredeemed Israel', still scattered throughout the world, without the Temple and its priesthood, there would still remain a lingering hope of a Messiah Who would perhaps, maybe, come and restore the Kingdom? But apart from a faithful remnant throughout the centuries the thoughts of `unredeemed Israel' became more political and secular, trying, but always failing, to assimilate into the world into which they had been scattered. `Unredeemed Israel', in failing, would quickly form itself into self-serving ghettos in various countries, which in later times would turn them into collective prisons as they awaited extermination, but amongst them there were many who sought full integration into their host countries. However this would be no more than an external acculturation rather than an inculturation which the world would reject in times of a nationasl crisis.
Now we turn to `redeemed Israel', called here by its more familiar name of `the Church', or even `Christianity'. Both `branches of Israel' find the same hostility from the world, unless they serve the world in order to gain mistaken protection. Christianity is wholly rooted in Judaism but it is not Judaic! The revelation given by Jesus to Saul on the road to Damascus went beyond the narrow national boundaries and the strict Judaic monotheistic understanding of God. The Shema Yisrael: ` Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is One', is the centre piece of all morning and evening prayers of faithful Jews who still trust in the Moral Law. This forms an unbridgeable gap between Judaism and Christianity, for as one Jewish theologian in a quest for unity said: `I accept that Jesus was a Jew, and the faith of Jesus unites us, but faith in Jesus divides us'. When Christianity passed into a non-Jewish setting it cut off its roots in Judaism and increasingly took on Greek ways of t
hinking. Theology therefore became a matter of words, not faith! The early great Councils of the `Church Fathers' were very much in the tradition of the Greek Sophists - all necessary for the establishment of the true doctrine of the Church, but in doing so the Church lost much of the Jewish poetical mystery of an ineffable, indescribable God Who had reached down and chosen a people, brought them into a Covenant of Love with Him and required nothing more of them than fidelity!
The Church turned increasingly to `Reason', and this cutting off from its Jewish roots through the long years of the Great Council debates over doctrine moved it away from belief in the imminent return of Jesus to establish His Kingdom - for that must be the work of the Church! As the many Church historical expositions have shown, the Roman Emperors, now masters of the known world and seeing the growth of the Church in its dominance, moved to bring it under their control, thereby giving Christianity protection by becoming the State Religion but in doing so bringing doctrinal division between the Eastern Orthodox and the Western Roman Churches. This protection by the State soon became promotion of the State by the Eastern Church and domination over the State by the Western Church through threats of ex-communication by the `Vicar of Christ', the Pope. Both branches of Christianity were now firmly entrenched in the `wombs of the worldly powers' who were seeking for a spiritual anointing on their kingdoms. The old serpent from the Garden in Eden was now ready to whisper his lies to God's children! As one earlier faithful Bible Teacher put it: `The roots of Babylon run underground throughout the world and emerge at various times throughout history'. As these roots are the same whispers that Eve listened to they will have a sexual contextual setting - sexual, that is, in its wider sense of the woman seeking wisdom whilst being ruled over by the man, always working to overturn God's order of creation through whom `the Seed of the woman will come'.
In the Eastern Ghurch this `whisper' would take the form of `Iconology', from the Greek word `Eikon', which means `an image or likeness of something which resembles something else'. In the tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church these became accepted as fact, for in venerating an Icon they could enter into the `wisdom', the mind, of whom it resembled. Icon painting is rooted in the theology of the Creation: Christ is the incarnation of God, made without hands, as in Genesis 1:26 `God made man in His image'. By tradition Icon painting is an exact religious work of art in a semi-human stylised form, usually of Christ or Mary or angels, which took root in the early 3rd century and by tradition became fact. Icons were `made without hands' and so were to be venerated, worshipped, as if entering the wisdom of God. In Scriptural terms wisdom is always female, who in Orthodox doctrine becomes `the bearer of God'. The Greek wording for this is `Theotokus', and this title was formally given by the Council of Ephesus in AD 431 although it was in use much earlier in the Alexandrian Church. In the Western Roman Church the `whisper' took the form of `Mariology', where veneration or worhip would be directed towards Mary. In a 16th century writing by Luther, he said: `As God was born of Mary, then God is Mary's Son and Mary is God's mother'! The pagan worship of mother and child finds its origins in the Garden in Eden setting, with the intention of corrupting the seed of the woman through whom one day would be born the Seed of God's promise. The form for this worship is the woman revealing the Son, the woman then living in the reflected glory of the sun as it shines its glory on the moon.
We move quickly on to the 17th century and to the Western Church of that time, for the Reformist Movement which broke up the concept of universal Christendom did not take root in Eastern Orthodoxy to any great degree. The various secular movements in the West during the 16th - 18th centuries found very barren soil into which they could plant their roots in the East. Therefore these movements which flourished in the West did not significantly affect Orthodoxy. The great Reformist Movement of the 16th-18th centuries came under the title of `The Enlightenment' or `The Age of Reason' and was in total contrast to the Age of Faith of the great institutional Churches of Christendom, which had sustained and carried it forth for 1500 years. Without doubt this great Movement broke the stiffling grip of the medieval Church and opened up the secular world to scientific innovation, leading on into the modern world with all the enormous knowledge which we now take for granted. However it also released a great denial of the existence of God in the Western secular world through the many philosophers of that time. In their writings they promoted Man as the highest form of the evolution of the God-concept, which, they said, lay in the hearts of all mankind and was now reflected in men's minds. It led to the words of Friedrick Nietzsche: `If that be so, then God is dead'. What a hopeless future mankind faced!
By the 17th century the Age of Reason had morphed into what is known as `The Age of Romanticism', revealing a more emotional realm through music, art and poetry which had been repressed by a condemnatory religion majoring on sin and death. Romanticism would release the `feminine' part of man's nature so that he could express all his needs in whichever way `reason' demanded - all of which would lead to today's developed evolution of immorality! Biblical and traditional concepts of family were now to be considered as contrary to evolved reason, and the Patriarchical system of Scripture would have no moral legitimacy! The `whispers' of the old serpent had found the weak link to which the full force of his work has been directed ever since the Seed of the woman was born. Jesus, the Man Child, crucified, raised from the dead, now seated in Heaven at the right hand of God the Father, has commissioned His redeemed people to outwork His redemptive purposes, but for many centuries they have been too closely connected with worldly powers - almost to the point of `Throne and Altar' fusing into one power! The purpose of the whispers of the serpent is to corrupt the world into which the Church has `fused' itself, becoming corrupted to the point where through a `developed evolution of morality' there would be no people for the Seed of the woman to return to! In the Western nations a liberal social democratic form of Government has now been established by law, one which demands - by its ideology of responding to the people's wishes - a lifestyle of belief that is totally opposed to Scripture in which ` the Church' is called to be a witness to a Holy, Righteous, Redemptive God for all who will respond to His Son.
The great and sorely needed Reforms springing from the Enlightenment and Romantic Ages, such as education; medical knowledge; science; the rights of men, women and children; anti-slavery and much more, have greatly enhanced mankind's life beyond all expectations. However in throwing off the `shackles' of religion the whispers of the serpent have led to the elevation of Man and the de-throning of God. This has led to a strident and aggressive Feminist Movement, in turn developing into a sexual revolution within which the LGBT cross-gendering cries are for `marriage', sexual orientation and social abortion - all of which is evidence of the corrupting work of the serpent! Its `fruit' is seen in the `lawful' efforts to corrupt the youngest of children with encouragement for sex-gendering, and has left a fatherless generation which victimises women and children who know nothing of family life and who have no comprehension of a Father God! The result is that Biblical families are fast becoming seen as narrow-minded dangerous units! The sole purpose of the sexual revolution was to fully corrupt `the womb of the world' in which the Church found itself following the Great Diasporah of AD 70, and for the past two thousand years the Church has embedded itself in the world by an unseen `umbilical cord' through which it has found, and still finds, its provision and protection. This cord, which has been left uncut, has caused `a serious illness and a sickly child', and the Church is therefore unable to grow into its full life of proclaiming the One True Redemptive God:
" Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, `I will destroy man whom I have created from the earth . . . . For I am sorry that I have made them', but Noah found grace in the eys of the LORD. "
And so, paraphrasing the words of the Bible Teacher we mentioned earlier - at the end of this Letter, we come back to the beginning.
" These things have I spoken unto you, that you should not be made to stumble . . . . As the days of Noah were so also will the Coming of the Son of Man be. "
The Church has left a walk of faith as to His Coming again and turned to a life of reason, losing sight of the Spiritual Words of Life and trusting in the spiritual lies of the serpent, and so it has to be `caught away to meet the Lord in the air' to stand before the Bema Seat of Judgement of Christ to receive whatever rewards are due. Then the world and `unredeemed' Israel will face `the Day of the Lord', but after those terrible times there will come forth the Glorious Kingdom of Heaven on earth, leading to the final end of `the whispering lies of the serpent' when `the devil who deceived them was cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone . . . . tormented day and night for ever'. The whole of Matthew 24 and 25 refers to those times yet-to-come before which Redeemed Israel will be `caught away to meet the Lord in the air'.
As we have mentioned earlier, there is a great danger in Christian teaching of `crossing over' Scriptures from one Dispensation or Age to another, therefore sowing confusion in many disciples who merely repeat the comments of others without checking Scripture itself - which is clearly seen in the many and varied teachings on Matthew 24 and 25. These Scriptures clearly spoke to the Jewish people of those days and have carried on to those unbelieving Jews who have followed on since Peter's Declaration in the Temple Compound some two thousand years ago. Matthew 24 and 25 refer to a coming time of tribulation, `The Day of Jacob's Trouble', which is also known in its two parts of three and half years each as The Tribulation and The Great Tribulation. Jesus, when speaking to His disciples here in Matthew's Gospel, was referring back to an Age before the Patriarchs, to the time of Noah and the Noahic Covenant. This Covenant was given for all mankind regardless of colour or creed, and all of living creation . . . `the beasts and the trees of the field'. This Covenant was that God would never again destroy the world with water, and the sign confirming this Covenant was the rainbow in the sky, its end touching and encompassing the world and which could be seen by every living creature throughout all Ages. This Covenant was for all people throughout all Ages, bearing witness to the Lordship and Grace of a Righteous God Who required only an obligation for all people to abide by His natural laws for their benefit and peaceful existence.
The Covenants given to Abraham, and confirmed to Isaac and Jacob, were given to a specific people chosen by God for His purposes and are eternal, undergirded by the Everlasting Covenant. The Covenant given through Moses, although limited in time was also given to a specific chosen, called-out people. The New Covenant spoken of by Jeremiah and Ezekiel lay firmly within the Abrahamic Covenants, for the `New' is always revealed first in the `Old'. This New Covenant is seen within the events of Genesis 22 where Abraham was told to sacrifice his son Isaac, through whom - and also in the continued chain of God's people the Promise of God would be fulfilled. But at the last moment of testing a Substitute Sacrifice was provided - `a ram caught by his horns in a thicket' - and in Matthew 26 we read of `the Ram of God', His strength `caught in a thicket', saying to His disciples at the Passover Supper: `Take, eat, this is My Body'. Then He took the cup and gave thanks, then He gave it to them saying, `Drink from it, all of you, for this is My Blood of the New Covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins'. Therefore the words Jesus spoke in Matthew 24 and 25 were spoken to the same specific people of God, chosen for His purposes - for the old is not dead but lives in the present, then together they are fulfilled in the future. In referring back to `the days of Noah' Jesus was referring to the `End of the Age', that is, the Tribulation of the whole earth as in the days of Noah when the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and faithful Noah had built an ark in obedience.
In those days yet to come: `Two men will be in a field, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and the other left'. These words of Jesus refer to the faithful remnant of `unredeemed Israel', which can be seen in the 144,000 and the Great Multitude of Revelation 7 who have come to acceptance of Jesus as God's Messiah during those terrible times - `one will be taken (into the Ark), the other left' to face the consequences of their rejection of God's Grace. These chapters do not refer to the Redeemed People of God for they have already been `caught away to be with the Lord for ever'! Just as the Covenant given through faithful Noah was for all mankind and living creatures, so the mention of it by Jesus in Matthew 24 and 25 is for all of God's remaining creation and refers to the end of the Ages, for after the Kingdom of Heaven on earth is rejected in rebellion a flood (this time of fire) will sweep everything away:
" Then I, John, saw a new Heaven and a new Earth, for the first
Heaven and the first earth had passed away. "
Such is the forebearance and Grace of a Holy Righteous God to all created in His image!
" He Who testifies to these things says, `Surely I come quickly'.
Amen! Even so, come Lord Jeus. "
Selah
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