Tag Archives: Prophecy

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On Miracles and Prophecy

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On Miracles and Prophecy (CaD Acts 20) – Wayfarer

“Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.”
Acts 20:25 (NIV)

Along my journey, I have witnessed some pretty cool things with regard to the miraculous and prophetic. This coming weekend I’m going to drop a Wayfarer Weekend Podcast and my interview with a wonderful Scottish lady and amazing artist, Heather Holdsworth. In the interview, Heather shares about her debilitating experience with Long Covid as well as her sudden and unexpected healing. Her doctor even showed her the note he put in her medical file: “Miraculous recovery.”

Likewise, I have had people give me words of prophecy that were really quite amazing. Several years ago, I was approached by a headhunter and interviewed for the job of CEO of a company in a completely different city hours away from where we live. I was one of two finalists for the job. Wendy and I kept this very private.

About this time, after a particularly difficult meeting with my business partner on a Friday, I shared with a close friend the following Sunday morning about my frustrations. I told him about how I wished for the job I’d interviewed for, and how I wanted that other job in another city where I could move to a new place and start fresh in a new company.

As we were walking out a few minutes later, a different friend happened upon us. I knew from previous experience that she had a prophetic gift. She said she wanted to pray for me, and I agreed As she was praying over me, she suddenly said, “The Father says to you, ‘I see the suitcases in your hands. I want you to let go and drop them.’” It was pretty wild. Sometimes, God does give clear direction.

But not always.

I have also experienced those who boldly and intensely proclaim that God has revealed this or that is going to happen. But, then it doesn’t.

In today’s chapter, Paul experiences the miraculous when a boy named Eutychus falls to his death and Paul brings the boy back to life. Then Paul calls for a meeting with the elders among the believers in Ephesus. Paul is on his way to Jerusalem, and he tells the Ephesians elders that he knows he will never see them again. He gives them what he believes is his final encouragement to them. They have a teary and emotional goodbye.

But Paul was wrong.

Years after the events of today’s chapter, after the final events recorded in Acts, Paul made a final visit to Ephesus. He references it in the opening of his first letter to Timothy (1 Tim 1:3).

In the quiet this morning, this had me meditating on the nature of prayer and the prophetic. I have many stories of people experiencing miraculous healing. I have many stories of the prophetic like the one I just shared. But, I also have stories of difficult situations in which the miraculous didn’t happen, and times when people utter emphatic and prophetic “sure things” don’t happen.

I have learned along my journey to hold on loosely with regard to miraculous promises and prophetic proclamations. One comment I read about Paul’s proclamation he would never see the Ephesians said, “the gift of prophecy does not mean omniscience.” Indeed, it does not. So, I humbly embrace and have faith that God can and does work in miraculous ways and speak through prophecy. At the same, I’m mindful of Bob Dylan’s lyric about God: “You think He’s just an errand boy to satisfy your wandering desires.” God is God. I am not. Faith is believing what God can do while maintaining Job’s humble and surrendered attitude: “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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Best of 2023 # 11 Thoughts on the Prophetic

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I’m on vacation for three weeks. While I’m gone, please enjoy the top 15 posts from 2023 based on total number of page views and podcast plays. Cheers!

Thoughts on the Prophetic (CaD 2 Ki 8) – Wayfarer

Hazael said [to Elisha], “How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat?”

“The Lord has shown me that you will become king of Aram,” answered Elisha.
2 Kings 8:13 (NIV)

In today’s chapter, there is a fascinating episode in which the servant of the king of Aram sends a man named Hazael to the prophet Elisha to ask if he will recover from his illness. Elisha informs Hazael that the king will recover but he will die. Then Elisha stares at Hazael for an uncomfortable and awkward period of time and begins to weep. Elisha then tells Hazael that he will become king of Aram and will do great harm to the kingdom of Israel.

Hazael returns to the King of Aram, murders him, and usurps the throne. I’m left wondering if Hazael’s coup was already in process when he went to see Elisha, and Elisha’s prophecy confirmed for Hazael that it was time to pull the trigger.

An interesting historical side note: An ancient Assyrian inscription records the reign of Hazael “Son of Nobody” in Aram.

What struck me as I read this story was how similar it is to one of my favorite Shakespearean plays. The tragedy of Macbeth basically follows the same plot line. It is prophesied that Macbeth, a relative nobody among the nobility of Scotland, will be king. It so happened that the King of Scotland decides to stay at Macbeth’s place for the night and his wife convinces him that they should murder the king and make the prophecy come true. I couldn’t help but wonder if Shakespeare was inspired by the story of Hazael.

By the way, things don’t work out so well for Macbeth and his wife. Hazael, on the other hand, did quite well for himself. He created a fairly impressive little regional empire in Damascus and reigned for over 40 years.

Prophecy is a fascinating element of life. As I contemplated it in the quiet this morning it struck me, from horoscopes to Nostradamus, how pervasive it is, even among otherwise nominally spiritual people.

As a disciple of Jesus, prophecy is a part of the fabric of life, and the Great Story is chock full of it. Seventeen books of the Bible are the words of the ancient prophets and the book of Revelations records the prophetic visions of John. One of the gifts the Holy Spirit bestows on individual believers is the gift of prophecy.

During my forty-plus years of being a follower of Jesus, I’ve experienced many instances of people who have told me things that have been prophesied to them or for them. In other instances, both Wendy and I have had people speak prophetic words to us. And, on a handful of occasions, I’ve been directly given specific prophetic words from God’s Spirit.

My experience with the prophetic, however, includes individuals who regularly share with me prophetic messages they’ve been given that I’ve noticed never pan out. I’ve also observed instances of individuals who, like Lady Macbeth, go to great lengths to make a prophetic message happen, usually to semi-tragic ends. False prophecy has always been a part of the prophetic experience.

I’ve also had some legitimately amazing, truly prophetic experiences.

I’ve learned along my life journey to take what I call the .38 Special approach to prophecy: “Hold on loosely, but don’t let go.” I’ve come to believe in holding the tension between being someone who frantically chases after the prophetic and those who dismiss it entirely. If a prophetic word is truly prophetic, it will come to pass. When given a prophetic word I listen. I make note of it. Then I place it on the back burner of my heart and mind, and I continue to press on as normal.

Chapter to read for the next Best of 2023: Daniel 3

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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Three Things in Misery

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Three Things in Misery (CaD Mi 7) – Wayfarer

“What misery is mine!”
Micah 7:1a (NIV)

May I be honest with you? The past couple of days have been miserable. Like, they’ve been really miserable. I’ll spare you the details. My point is not about sharing my misery, but about how God met me in today’s chapter.

As I have always said, prophesy is layered with meaning. As I wrote in my post last week, the ancient’s prophetic words can at once be about what was, what is, and what yet will be. The ancient prophet Micah’s words in today’s final chapter are certainly about the spiritual, social, and political issues that were happening back in his day. But on a morning when I am acutely feeling misery in the moment and the first words I read are “What misery is mine!” I know there’s something that God’s Spirit has to say to me, today, in this miserable moment.

The first thing God had for me was an empathetic identification of my present reality.

“Now is the time of your confusion.
Do not trust a neighbor;
Put no confidence in a friend.
Even with the woman who lies in your embrace
Guard the words of your lips.”

I am feeling confused. I am feeling distrustful. I am feeling caution with every word I say. Reading these words was God’s Spirit whispering, “I get it.” I needed that.

The second thing God had for me in today’s chapter was a statement of both faith and hope.

“But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD.
I wait for God my Savior;
my God will hear me.”

As I read these words, it felt like a guttural cry of my soul. They became a defiant stance, amidst my present circumstances, in faith that I can trust God and trust the story He is authoring in and through me.

The third thing God had for me was a promise.

“The day for building your walls will come,
the day for extending your boundaries.”

Sometimes, it’s good to be given a glimpse of what’s ahead. I may find myself in a deep valley on life’s road, but there are good things ahead just over the next hill.

So today, I’ll just press forward one step at a time.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Two Points from the Prophetic

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Exile Required (CaD Mi 5) – Wayfarer

“But now many nations are gathered against you. They say, “Let her be defiled, let our eyes gloat over Zion!” But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan, that he has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.”
Micah 4:11-12 (NIV)

One of the positive spiritual by-products of this chapter-a-day journey for me is humility. This is especially true when it comes to the words of the ancient prophets which are often layered with meaning.

In today’s chapter, Micah’s words address what was in his day (vss 9-13), but this is also eerily layered in describing what is happening today (vss 11-12, see above), and then he provides a vision of yet what will be (vss. 1-8).

I sat in the quiet this morning and meditated on these 13 verses in relation to all that I’ve studied, listened to, read, and learned with regard to prophecy and eschatology (a.k.a. the study of the “end times”) for over 40 years. Without getting far deeper into the weeds than is my intention with these chapter-a-day posts/podcasts, let me just say that Micah’s message offers some challenging prophetic puzzles in light of the different major schools of thought.

Knowing, however, that I don’t really want to wade into the deep weeds, I was left mulling over another relevant question: What is a modern, everyday person supposed to get out of a passage like this, if all I want to do is find a thought for my day that I can hold onto and that will help me to live today in a way that God desires?

And this brings me back to two simple thoughts.

First, how fascinating that ancient Micah quite aptly describes what happened on October 7.

“But now many nations are gathered against you. They say, “Let her be defiled, let our eyes gloat over Zion!”

I find his next line even more apt in consideration of the sum of Micah’s prophetic puzzles.

“But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan.”

And, this brings me back to humility. I have, on multiple occasions, had the experience of teaching about prophecy and the “end times.” In fact, even in the past few months, I’ve had a chance to wade back in and teach on pieces of it as part of a larger team. When teaching about this genre, I typically encourage people to be wary of those who proudly proclaim they can tell you with certainty and precise detail exactly what will happen in the future based on prophetic writing like Revelation. I am constantly reminded that in Jesus’ day, there were entire schools of scholarly and well-educated thought proudly proclaiming with certainty and precise detail what the Messiah would be and do.

They were all wrong.

I try, therefore, to humbly avoid repeating that error of human hubris.

But while I don’t know with certainty and precise detail there are some big-picture things that, by faith, I do know. In John’s Revelation, Jesus tells him,“I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come.” As I find amidst Micah’s prophetic puzzles an accurate assessment of what was, and what is, and a vision of what is to come, I am led to not worry so much about the “what” and “when” but the “Who.”

And this brings me to my second simple nugget for my day. In our bizarro times of head-scratching and uncertainty, I take spiritual solace in all of the ways that the prophetic has been accurate about things that were and are. It leads me to trust that those things that Great Story says about what will be, are equally true and can be trusted even if I don’t know or understand the precise details about how it will all play out.


If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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Wordplay in The Word

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Wordplay in The Word (CaD Mi 1) – Wayfarer

One of the things that is lost on modern readers is the wordplay that Micah used when he wrote his messages in Hebrew. A chapter-a-day podcast from Micah 1. The text version may be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com. — Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wayfarer-tom-vander-well/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wayfarer-tom-vander-well/support

For Samaria’s plague is incurable;
    it has spread to Judah.
It has reached the very gate of my people,
    even to Jerusalem itself.
Micah 1:9 (NIV)

Back in the day, my hometown of Des Moines had two daily newspapers. The Des Moines Register was delivered in the morning and The Des Moines Tribune was delivered in the afternoon. Ours was a Tribune household. Families were usually one or the other. On Sunday, both Register and Tribune subscribers got the “Sunday paper” which was huge. It was filled with entire sections you didn’t get on weekdays, the comics had their own section printed in color, and there were a million flier ads for all the major department stores.

The “Sunday paper” was a weekly big deal. One of the reasons was that the Sunday Register had “Jumble” word puzzles that weren’t printed in the daily Tribune. My mom loved to spend her Sunday afternoons solving the puzzle of jumbled-up letters that would make words which would then provide the clues to a final word that was the punchline to an accompanying cartoon. I grew up loving to help, and I think it planted a seed in me. I’ve always loved word puzzles, and as I grew up I gained a fondness for learning new words, the history of words, and the use of creative wordplay in writing. It’s one of the reasons I’ve always loved Shakespeare. He was a master at playing with words in creative ways.

Today, this chapter-a-day journey begins a quick trek through the writing of the ancient prophet Micah. Micah was from a small town in Judah when ancient Israel had been divided into the two kingdoms of Israel (in the north) and Judah (in the south). It was a time of political, religious, and moral corruption, and Micah was speaking out to the people of both nations to warn them of God’s impending judgment. Micah correctly prophesied that both Israel and Judah would suffer destruction at the hands of the Assyrian Empire.

One of the things that is lost on modern readers is the wordplay that Micah used when he wrote his messages in Hebrew. Much like Shakespeare, Micah uses clever wordplay that weaves irony and sarcasm that would have made his messages memorable in their day. In today’s chapter, Micah uses the names of actual towns and cities where his audience lived and links them to sound-alike words in his message. As I mulled this over in the quiet this morning, I created a little word game for myself as I thought about some of the towns around where we live and how I might use them Micah-like:

You who live in Sully will be sullied by the rubble of your destroyed homes.

Those in Leighton will search for someone to lighten the burden of God’s judgment without success.

There will be no revenge for the people of Montezuma after the instrument of God’s wrath is finished.

The residents of Galesburg will reap the whirlwind of the Lord’s anger.

In the quiet this morning, the old Mary Poppins song came to mind with the message “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” The ancient prophet’s message was harsh spiritual medicine for his audience. I have to believe that the wordplay in his writing was intended to make the message both memorable and easier to swallow. That’s not a bad reminder for me, or anyone who finds themselves having to communicate a bitter pill.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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Kings and Kingdoms

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Kings & Kingdoms (CaD Lk 19) – Wayfarer

As [Jesus] approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.”
Luke 19:41-42 (NIV)

In yesterday’s chapter, I talked about the meaning that is hidden in plain sight, waiting to be found in the connection between the episodes in a given chapter. Once again this morning, I found spiritual treasure in connecting the dots.

Dr. Luke wrote back in chapter 9 that Jesus “resolutely” set out for Jerusalem. In today’s chapter, He finally arrives. But Dr. Luke adds two key episodes to give me, the reader, to put that arrival in context.

As He enters Jericho, Jesus sees a man who has climbed into a tree to get a better view of Him. This wasn’t just any man. His name was Zac, and he was a regional director for the Internal Revenue Service of that day. Just like every human system of government, the system in which Zac was an authority was filled with corruption. Zac profited from that corruption. He was part of the system that fed the evil Herod Administration and the occupational forces of Rome. He was ostracized and held with contempt by the fundamentalist religious system. Like Jesus’ disciple, Levi, Zac had chosen in to the corrupt system in order to get rich and live the good life. His own people despised him for it.

Jesus invites Himself to Zac’s house for dinner. In doing so, Jesus sets off a host of mean tweets from those who had chosen in to the fundamentalist religious system of that day in order to appear righteous and holier-than-thou. Ironically, Jesus found this system to be no less corrupt than the one to which Zac belonged. Jesus’ visit to Zac’s house ends with Zac repenting of his greed and making a decision to give away half his wealth while making restitution to those he wronged by paying them four times what he’d cheated out of them. Jesus celebrates this prodigal son who has found his way home to God’s kingdom affirming that Zac’s transformation is evidence of the kingdom He came to bring.

Jesus then tells a parable about a man of noble birth who goes to a distant land to be made king. The people despised and rejected this king. He leaves and puts people in charge of his wealth while he was away. Some invested the wealth, made a huge return, and were rewarded. One man did nothing and was stripped of what he’d been given and sacked.

First, Jesus goes to the house of a sinner so that he might find personal salvation that transforms his life and all those who know him. Jesus says, “This is what my kingdom is all about.”

Next, Jesus tells a parable about a king who goes to a distant land to be made king (much as He left heaven to bring His kingdom to earth) and leaves his followers in charge (much as He will, in about a week, leave His followers to care for the mission of His kingdom on earth). The king eventually returns and settles accounts (much as Jesus promises a Day that He will return to settle spiritual accounts).

Jerusalem is the epicenter of the Great Story. It is David’s capital city. It is where Solomon built the temple. It is where the prophets proclaimed God’s Message. But since banishment from the Garden in Genesis 3, the kingdoms of this world, under the dominion of the Prince of this World, always stand in opposition to the Kingdom of God. It happened in the wake of David’s kingdom, and Jesus knew it must happen again just as He had described in his parable earlier in the chapter: “his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’”

So the “King” enters Jerusalem as Jesus weeps for the larger spiritual tragedy that is unfolding, saying, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

With this statement, Jesus prophetically describes the very thing that will happen in 40 years when Rome lays siege to Jerusalem and destroys the city and the temple with it.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself reminded of an observation I’ve made along my spiritual journey. I find that humans, myself included, want God to be like us and the Kingdom of God to be like the earthly kingdoms we know. This is the fatal mistake that Jesus is calling out in the saving of a major sinner named Zac, in the parable of the King whose subjects hated and rejected, and in the prophetic proclamation of the city and the earthly kingdoms who were going to execute Him in a few days time.

As a disciple of Jesus, I’ve had to learn along the way that when my thoughts, words, actions, and worldview start looking like a kingdom of this world, then I’m out of sync with the Kingdom of God that Jesus invested in me, His disciple, just like the administrators in His parable. In the parable, the King’s subjects were given money to invest. In the case of Jesus, His disciples were given love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness to invest.

So, how does my investment portfolio look? What will be the return on those investments Jesus finds on the Day when He returns to settle accounts?

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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Love & Punishment

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I will not carry out my fierce anger,
    nor will I devastate Ephraim again.
For I am God, and not a man—
    the Holy One among you.
    I will not come against their cities.
Hosea 11:9 (NIV)

As a child, I remember noticing patterns in life. There was a certain flow to how things happened. One of these patterns was how my parents exacted punishment. When I was caught doing something bad, my parents anger was aroused. The punishment was carried out, and I was typically remanded to my room to think on both my infraction and the shame of my punishment. A short time later, my parent would come to my bedroom much calmer and full of compassion. Hugs were then doled out as I expressed my remorse. I was given a reminder of their love for me and wanting the best for me.

Jesus used multiple metaphors in His parables to share about God’s Kingdom and how it works. He spoke of a woman tearing apart her house looking for a lost coin. At another time it was a man selling everything he had to acquire a field that held buried treasure. More famously, He used the example of father who graciously, and lovingly welcomes his lost son home.

In the same way, the ancient prophets would use different metaphors to deliver what was. basically the same message. Hosea has repeatedly used the metaphor God gave him of Israel being like a promiscuous and adulterous wife. In today’s chapter, Hosea switches to a completely different metaphor and prefigures Jesus’ parable of the lost and prodigal son. Hosea describes God lovingly delivering his son Israel from slavery in Egypt, teaching the boy to walk, lovingly leading and feeding the lad as he grew into a nation. But the boy foolishly rejected his Father and, like Jesus’ prodigal, will find himself broken and destitute in the “distant land” of Assyria.

Once again, like I experienced with my own parents, Hosea mixes punishment with both grace and hope. Yes, Israel will find itself in captivity and exile. Yes, the boy will suffer the consequences of his hard-hearted rebellion. But, just as I learned that after the punishment and remorse came grace, compassion, and restoration, the boy Israel will return from exile and punishment, the relationship between boy and Father restored.

In the quiet of this morning after Thanksgiving, I find myself grateful for loving parents who modeled God’s love in the way they parented and punished. I hope that my children might say the same as they look back on the example I set as a father. I am also grateful that Jesus ultimately fulfilled Hosea’s prophetic vision of a loving, gracious, and compassionate Father by by coming not to condemn the world, but to graciously save the world.

In a world that is currently tearing itself apart with hate and prejudice, and reeling from the consequences of that vitriol, I pray that I can be a living example of God’s love, grace, and compassion that both Hosea, and Jesus, proclaimed.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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Warning Sirens

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Warning Sirens (CaD Hos 8) – Wayfarer

“Put the trumpet to your lips!
    An eagle is over the house of the Lord…”
Hosea 8:1 (NIV)

Living in the midwest means living with the threat of tornados. As a kid, you quickly learn the drill when the tornado sirens go off. I remember the thrill of getting woken up by mother and told to scurry to the basement. In school, we regularly went through tornado drills and told where to go within the school in the event of a tornado.

One of the things that has changed over my lifetime has been the proliferation and advancement of technology that allows one to accurately track a storm front from a smart phone. It’s not unusual for the tornado sirens in our neighborhood to sound when the storm front is relatively far away. It’s not uncommon for us to step outside when the sirens sound to check out the storm that is miles away on the horizon for sight of the tornado that tripped the alarm.

In today’s chapter, Hosea begins by sounding the Emergency Broadcast System of his day. Residents with flocks would graze them outside the city walls during the day. If watchmen on the walls spotted danger such as an approaching army or a bird of prey looking for for an easy meal, they would sound the trumpet, or a ram’s horn, to warn the shepherds to get their flocks safely back within the city walls.

Hosea’s metaphor at the start of his message was intended to get the attention of his audience. He was sounding the alarm. There was danger on the horizon because of their own actions:

They had rejected what was good.
They had forgotten God and His law.
They had chosen their own kings without God’s consent.
They had made idols for themselves, breaking God’s #1 command.
They had put their faith and trust in Assyria’s protection, not God’s.
They gave God the occasional offering, but didn’t place their faith in Him.

Hosea then proclaims that the Hebrews “will return to Egypt,” and what is fascinating about this is that it’s a metaphorical double-edged sword. Before they had become a nation, the Hebrews were in slavery in Egypt, so Hosea’s reference means they will be returning to the slavery and exile from which God originally delivered them. But there is also a literal meaning, as their King would go to Egypt to try and cut a better deal. This betrayal of their alliance with Assyria would start the chain of political events leading to Assyria’s wrath and Israel’s exile.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself thinking about tornado sirens and the prophetic Revelation of John in which seven trumpets sound warnings of events on the horizon, much in the same vein of Hosea in today’s chapter. I can’t help but think of what Jesus said to the descendants of Hosea’s audience: “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.”

Just this last week I read a fascinating article about the “Moral Inversion” being observed in our culture. Right is now wrong. Wrong is now right. Men are women because they say they are. Women are told to be as silent and compliant as a handmaid when a biological male with mediocre ability claims to be a woman and decimates them in competition. Little children who can’t get a tattoo without parental approval until they’re an adult now have the cognitive ability to go through drastic, gender-bending medical procedures (with life-long consequences) and the educational system will both assist in serving the child up to the medical community for profit while keeping parents in the dark. Teenaged girls are suddenly embracing an ideology that would make them the chattel of male oppressors. Heinous violence is celebrated. Hatred has become fashionable. Evil is good.

To Jesus’ point, when the tornado siren sounds, I know to check the radar. I can discern when it’s time to head to the basement and when I can step outside to view the storm clouds on the horizon. I pray I have the discernment to interpret the signs of the times, to cling to what is true and good, and to stand against evil, even in the midst of the storm.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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Living Lesson

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Living Lesson (CaD Hos 3) – Wayfarer

So I bought [Gomer] for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley.
Hosea 3:2 (NIV)

I was coaching a client last week on their Enneagram Type. As I was getting to know the person’s story, I learned that they were the youngest in birth order among their siblings. My client talked about a reality that I also experienced as the youngest child. The youngest child gets to watch all the older siblings in relationship and conflict with parents. This becomes a living lesson in child-parent relationships that can inform the younger sibling what to do, or what not to do, to avoid parental conflict, wrath, and punishment.

In the opening chapters of Hosea, God tells Hosea to marry a promiscuous and adulterous woman. The purpose of this was so that Hosea’s own marriage, his daily reality, would become a living, metaphorical, prophetic message for everyone who knew him and his situation. Life as prophetic performance art.

Today’s chapter is very short. It’s a prophetic exclamation point punctuating Hosea’s obedience, and the very real circumstances he found himself living out because of it. His wife Gomer was, as anticipated, adulterous and fell into a relationship with another man. But there was more to it than sleeping with another man. While the exact circumstances are sketchy, the text makes it clear that Gomer found herself deep in some kind of debt. In order for Hosea to bring Gomer back and restore their marital relationship he was required to pay the debt. Once he has her back, Hosea proclaims that there will be a period of sexual abstinence between them.

There is no mystery in the metaphor. Hosea makes it clear that this period of marital exile is a living picture of the exile that the nation of Israel will experience when they are taken captive by the Assyrians. Just as this period of abstinence is intended to restore the spiritual marital commitment between Hosea and Gomer, it is amidst exile that Israel’s hearts will be changed and they will rediscover God as their first love.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself moved by the fact that Hosea not only took his wife Gomer back after her adulteries, but that he had to pay her debts in order to do so. It is a living picture of Jesus’ own sacrifice, to pay the debt of my willful and repeated choices to go my own way. In paying my debts, Jesus opened the possibility that relationship might be restored between me and God.

Growing up, I learned lessons from the living example of my siblings as I watched them in relationship with my parents. As a result, my own adolescent years were relatively peaceful. In the same way, Hosea’s broken marriage, the redeeming of his unfaithful wife, and his sacrificial love for her are intended to be a living example. The poor choices I make with my free will break relationship with God just like when a spouse freely chooses to commit adultery. But Jesus chose to pay my debt in order that the relationship might be eternally restored. The only thing left to decide is how I will respond to His sacrificial love.

As I enter another work week this morning, I find myself grateful for that love, and motivated to be as faithful to Jesus as Jesus proved Himself faithful for me.

May my life be a positive, living lesson for others to see and follow.

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Was, Is, & Will Be

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Was, Is, & Will Be (CaD Am 9) – Wayfarer

“New wine will drip from the mountains
    and flow from all the hills,
    and I will bring my people Israel back from exile”
Amos 9:13 (NIV)

In John’s Revelation, God is repeatedly referred to the One “who was, and is, and is to come.” The fascinating thing about this phrase being used repeatedly inside a work of apocalyptic literature is that the words of the prophets are layered with meaning, referencing things that were in the past, events that were imminently current, and events that were yet to be in the future. The words of the prophets are not so much “either it means this, or it means that,” but rather “Yes, it means this and it means that.”

I didn’t plan this quick trek through the ancient prophet Amos because of the current events unfolding in the middle east between Israel and Hamas. That said, I have found it virtually impossible not to read the ancient words of the prophet Amos in context of these current events.

In today’s final chapter, God through Amos boldly predicts that disaster is going to fall on the people of Israel. He says that many will die, but then says, “I will shake the people of Israel among the nations.” The chapter ends with a vision of restoration in which the nation is rebuilt and prosper. So let me unpack my thoughts based on “what was, what is, and what is to come.”

What was…

Exile is a perpetual theme throughout the Great Story. In fact, some scholars say that it is the pre-eminent theme of the entire thing. It’s first revealed in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve sin and are cast out of the Garden of Eden into a sinful world. The rest of the Story is about humanity finding itself back in the Garden with God in the final chapters of Revelation. God calls Abram away from his home and into exile in a land God would show him. Abram’s grandson and great-grandchildren would find themselves living in exile in Egypt, where they will be enslaved for hundreds of years.

I could go on to discuss the theme of exile in the life of Jesus, the Acts of the Apostles, and the book of Revelation, but for now, let me stick to the fact exile was already an established theme of “what was” in the days our blue-collar prophet Amos was preaching to the people of ancient Israel.

What is…

The world at the time of Amos is primed for an extended period of history in which a succession of human empires will rise to control large portions of the western world. The land of Israel and Judah are nestled in a strategic crossroads between Persia, Europe, Arabia, and Africa. Any empire wanting to expand into those areas must go through the lands of the Hebrew people.

Just as Amos is prophesying exile to the northern kingdom of Israel, his prophetic successors to the south will soon begin to predict the same fate for the Hebrew people in Judah.

And, that’s exactly how it played out. It begins with the Assyrian empire who will conquer Israel (but not Judah) about 30 years after Amos’ proclaimed it. The Assyrian empire gave way to the Babylonian empire who conquered Judah and carried the likes of Daniel, Ezekiel, and Nehemiah into exile in Babylon. The Babylonians were conquered by the Medes and Persians, the Persians by the Greeks, and the Greeks by the Romans.

What is to come…

This is where things get really interesting, because the promises of restoration are layered with meaning that will only be revealed as future events play out.

First, there is a remnant of Hebrews who returns to the land during the Persian empire and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple there. That story is told by Nehemiah and Ezra.

As part of the description of restoration, Amos states that “new wine will drip from the mountains.” For any follower of Jesus, this echoes the very words of Jesus when He said that His teaching was “new wine” that won’t work in “old wineskins.” Jesus predicted a bold new era in which Jerusalem would be destroyed and God’s kingdom would expand to include peoples of every tribe, nation, and language. Jerusalem and the temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. and over the coming centuries the Hebrew people would be scattered among the nations.

Then, of course, we fast-forward to 1948, when the contemporary state of Israel was established by the British and the United Nations. From around the world, Hebrews returned from twenty centuries of exile to live in the very land where Amos prophesied almost three thousand years before.

And, that’s where I find myself sitting with wonder in the quiet this morning. What does this all mean? I’m not entirely sure. There are a lot of modern day would-be prophets who will confidently sell you their books and tell you exactly how the prophecies in the Great Story will play out. They’re always wrong. Jesus Himself said that He didn’t know the day and the hour of the events “yet to come.” Personally, I embrace that as an indicator I should humbly plead the same ignorance and rest comfortably being in Jesus’ good company.

And yet, the connection of what was, and what is leads me to believe that there is more to all of it than mere historical coincidence. It leads me to believe that everything, somehow, is playing out in relation to that what Jesus and the prophets envisioned as that which is yet to come. There is a Great Story being told. In the grand design that Paul described as “all things working together” I and my story are part of that Story.

How?

Someday I will know. That’s yet to come.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.