Tag Archives: Revelation

Chapter-a-Day

“We Must Be Cautious”

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While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.
Numbers 25:1-3 (NIV)

I get it. The ancient episodes in the Great Story are often strange, confusing, and even offensive to modern political and cultural sensibilities. Yet, lying behind the veil of time are deep spiritual implications that are as relevant today as they have ever been. Today’s chapter is one of those.

We’ve just been through two chapters telling the story of Balaam the spiritual guru for hire who was contracted by Balak the King of Moab to curse the Hebrew tribes camped outside his kingdom. Balaam failed and returned home. So it would appear that Balaam has exited the story and the events of today’s chapter are unrelated.

But they’re not.

In today’s chapter, men from the Hebrew camp begin flirting with some women from Moab. They are invited for a meal, which turns into some wild parties that turn into sexual orgies. The Hebrew men are then invited to go to the Moabite’s pagan church with their new girlfriends, make some sacrifices, and participate in the pagan rituals. The men shrug and follow along.

Hard stop.

At this point, I find it important for me to remember that God sees his covenant relationship with the Hebrew people as a marriage. They were slaves crying out in Egypt. He showed up. He redeemed them. He delivered them. He agreed to dwell among them in the center of the camp, provide food and water, provide protection, and promised them a great home and life. Thus, God made a covenant with them to be their God and they His people. Husband and wife. This literal covenant agreement came with a prenup that listed 10 major items. At the top of the list: “You’ll have no other gods.” Fidelity. Faithfulness. I redeem, save, provide, protect, and bless and in exchange I want you to honor me by being faithful to me.

So, when the boys from the Hebrew tribes willingly choose to be seduced, led astray, and shrug off the top item on their prenup with God, it’s not just a small thing.

And, the events of today’s chapter were not a random case of multicultural curiosity and innocent lust gone astray. The seduction was a Moabite plot rooted in the counsel of guess who? Balaam, the spiritual guru.

Fast forward to John’s Revelation at the end of the Great Story. In His dictated letter to the believers in the city of Pergamum, Jesus writes through John: “You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality.”

Balak was mad at Balaam for not cursing the Hebrews. Balaam offered the Moabite King some parting advice: “If you can’t curse them, corrupt them.”

So, as I meditate on these things in the quiet this morning, I find in the sordid and bloody Moabite seduction an apt spiritual reminder for myself. After all, Jesus carried the spiritual marriage metaphor forward. He is the bridegroom while I and all of my fellow believers are His bride. He came and paid the bride price with His own life to make an eternal covenant with me. He redeemed me, saved me, offered me protection, provision, blessing, and promise. I don’t want to be unfaithful and dishonor that love and commitment.

Yet Jesus warned His followers the night before His crucifixion that the enemy, while standing condemned, will never be idle. Jesus’ blood and sacrifice forever protect me from the enemies curse. But the enemy knows Balaam’s counsel: “If you can’t curse them. Corrupt them.”

As I think about entering another day of the journey in this fallen world, the sage voice of Obi-wan Kenobi just flit into my mind:

“You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy…We must be cautious!”

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

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Chapter-a-Day

My Desire

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“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
Matthew 24:12-13 (NIV)

One of the spiritual lessons that I’ve learned along my earthly journey is to be aware of synergies between different things in my life and meditations. I begin each weekday reading a chapter and sharing my thoughts in this post/podcast, but my trek through the Great Story does not end here. I listen to and read other sources of study and meditation. I study as part of preparation for messages I’ve been tasked to give. Usually it’s like striking down a separate path of thought. Sometimes, those roads converge, and it’s then that I have learned to pay heed.

I’ve mentioned in previous posts/podcasts that I’ve been listening to a series of podcasts by the Bible Project on the metaphor of mountains throughout the Great Story. One of the most impactful for me was an episode about the prophet Elijah. Elijah had a great spiritual victory on Mount Carmel, but despite the miraculous and big-screen worthy triumph he inexplicably sank into suicidal depression. He flees to Mount Sinai where he gives up, hands in his resignation, and God accepts it.

Elijah did not finish well.

Nevertheless, the prophet Malachi prophesied that Elijah would return. Jesus stated clearly that John the Baptist was that Elijah. Just this past Sunday I gave a message in which John sends his disciples to Jesus to ask if He is really the Messiah or if he should expect someone else. John was languishing in Herod’s prison. It was not what he expected, and it prompted a crisis of faith. Jesus cryptically tells John to expect no such miraculous deliverance, then adds: “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

John did not finish well.

Just last week I celebrated my 59th birthday. That mean’s I’ve entered my 60th lap around the sun. And, that has me thinking about what’s out there on the horizon.

In today’s chapter, Jesus has left the Temple and His showdown with the power brokers of that earthly religious kingdom. He and His disciples camp out on the Mount of Olives just outside of Jerusalem (More synergy. There’s that theme of mountains cropping up!). Jesus is talking about the end times. As I read all the prophetic words that create so many questions, I decided to focus in on what can’t be questioned. I paid heed to the things Jesus demanded of His disciples in light of the events He prophesied. I found three (and there’s that number three again).

Don’t be alarmed. (vs. 6)
Don’t let your love grow cold; Stand firm to the end. (vss. 12-13)
Keep watch. Be ready. (vs. 42, 44)

In the quiet this morning, I find myself simply feeling the desire to spiritually end this earthly journey well and meditating on that desire. I don’t know the number of my days. I could have 31 years (or 14,976 days) left on this earthly journey and make it to 100. Nevertheless, there are certainly fewer days ahead than there are behind (today is day 21,558). The world I observe around me is not the same place I remember from my youth. I can already see how easy to fall into cynicism, criticism, negativity, and despair. I witness it in others. But, I have yet to see what Jesus described as “distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.” And, the fruit of the Spirit includes the attributes of joy, peace, patience, and faithfulness.

So I enter this another day of the journey determined to practicing the things I need to do to keep cultivating and bearing the fruit of God’s Spirit to the end. Not being alarmed, not letting my live grow cold, and being ready for the end. The end of my days, or the end of the age, whichever comes first.

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

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!

Chapter-a-Day

Mountains of Meaning

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Mountains of Meaning (CaD Matt 17) – Wayfarer

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
Matthew 17:1 (NIV)

I have recently been slowly making my way through a series of podcasts by The Bible Project on the theme of mountains in the Great Story. It’s been a fascinating study, as it is yet another metaphorical theme that runs throughout in ways I’ve never seen or understood until now. In fact, the Garden of Eden in Genesis and the Holy City at the end of Revelation are both on mountains. Mountains are revealed as metaphorical thin places where heaven and earth meet. Mountains are full of meaning.

In today’s chapter we come across one of the most strange and mystical episodes of Jesus’ Story. He takes His inner circle of three disciples (Peter, James, and John) and goes us “a high mountain.” There, He is transfigured and the trinity of disciples are allowed to see Jesus revealed in His glory. A cloud descends and from the cloud the voice of God speaks. Moses and Elijah appear and have a conversation with Jesus.

If you have a moment, I urge you to quickly read Exodus 24. It is the story of Moses going up Mount Sinai to receive the Law from God. It has all the same elements. God descends in a cloud, and when Moses returns in chapter 34, his face is so radiant with God’s glory that he has to cover his face so that people can look at him.The two are connected. In Exodus, God is making a covenant with the Hebrew people. He is giving Moses His Law and to the same Hebrew people He will send His prophets. “The Law and Prophets” were how God spoke to His people. Now, Jesus stands on the high mountain. A new covenant is being born that Jesus even said is a “fulfillment” of everything that has come before a la the Law (represented by Moses) and the Prophets (represented by Elijah).

The mountain of transfiguration is Sinai 2.0. In our recent chapter-a-day trek through Leviticus I regularly made the point that the Law was God’s instruction manual for humanity in the toddler stages of civilization. Humanity is now at an age of accountability. The black-and-white paternal rules for which there was a reward-and-punishment paradigm that we use with toddlers is now evolved into the more mature understanding of spiritual principles (think Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7) that a young adult is given as he or she leaves the nest and begins living independently as a responsible adult who must face the consequences of their own willful actions and decisions.

History has moved forward. Humanity has moved forward. The Great Story is moving into a new chapter. This new chapter, however, is not fully understood without the context of the mountain of Eden, mount Sinai, the Law, the Prophets, and the ultimate destination of the eternal Holy City on the “high mountain” in a new heaven and new Earth at the climactic end of the Great Story. It’s all connected. The strange and mystical story of the mountain of Transfiguration in today’s chapter is an important link in the metaphorical mountain chain tying the entire Story together.

So, in the quiet this morning, I find myself ending another work week meditating on my own story in context with the Great Story. Next week on Wednesday I’ll celebrate my 59th trip around the sun. I’ll enter my sixth decade on this life journey. A new chapter.

As I meditate on Elijah’s presence and conversation with Jesus on the mountain of Transfiguration, I can’t help but think about his story. He experienced an incredible victory on Mount Carmel, but then ended his journey in depression, defeat, and being dismissed by God on Mount Sinai, the very mountain that launched Moses into a successful new chapter of his life journey. I don’t know what this new chapter of my earthly journey looks like, but I know I would rather be launched like Moses into a powerful and purposeful new chapter than be depressed and dismissed like Elijah. I’m thinking that I have a role to play in how things ultimately pan out. That’s a good conversation for Wendy and me to have as we celebrate my birthday and the birthdays of friends this weekend.

Enjoy your weekend, my friend. Lord willing, I’ll see you back here on Monday.

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

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

The Tension

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“Pray that this will not take place in winter, because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.“
Mark 13:18-19 (NIV)

There is a great tension lying at the heart of our culture today. I’ve been observing it for the last several years. I also observe that most people are completely unaware of it.

One end of the spectrum there is a great pessimism. Anxiety and mental distress is off the charts. The pandemic and its aftermath resulted in global uncertainty, cultural divide, and political unrest that we’re still feeling today. And then there’s the fact that both sides of the cultural and political divide have unprecedented ability to stoke fear, hatred, and misinformation through social media. Fear is the great human motivator, and media outlets use it to keep people addictively reading, watching, and clicking because it’s what makes them money.

World War III, genocide, terrorism, riots, political corruption, assassinations, school shootings, health care crisis, and climate change aren’t just daily headlines, they stream at us every moment of every day through our phones, tablets, computers, and televisions.

On the other side of the spectrum there is great optimism. Hans Rosling, his book Factfulness, and his team at gapminder.org have been beating their drums to a very different tune for some time, along with intellectuals like Harvard’s Steven Pinker. They prove that if you look at the actual facts, human beings on planet earth have never had it so good. Extreme poverty is at the lowest levels ever across the globe. Wars and conflicts are killing fewer people than ever in human history. Humans are living longer, have more access to health care, more access to education, and the status of women has never been higher than in all of human history.

Interestingly, Rosling has a thirteen question multiple choice test that he administered to people around the world including gatherings like the United Nations and the worlds most prestigious universities testing people’s knowledge regarding facts about things like global poverty, population, education, and health. The results regularly revealed that he’d have gotten better test scores from a room full of monkeys randomly selecting answers.

So, which is it? Are things worse than ever, or better than ever?

Today’s chapter brought this great tension to mind, as Jesus tells His followers that the end of the Great Story is not going to be a pleasant experience. Wars, famines, earthquakes, and cataclysmic events are in store before the climactic end and new beginning.

As I have meditated on these things over the years, I have come to a couple of important personal conclusions.

First, I observe that most human beings operate in binary ways of thinking. It’s an either-or world: Red or Blue, black or white, left or right, salvation or condemnation, optimism or pessimism. But, the truth is often both-and.

For example, scholars for centuries have argued about Jesus words in today’s chapter. Was He talking about the events of the first century, or end times yet to come far in the future? I’ve heard scholars argue both, but my study of the prophetic gives me plenty of examples of it being both-and. Metaphors are layered with meaning. Jesus may have been speaking at once about the cataclysmic events in Jerusalem 70 A.D. and events thousands of years in the future. Even Jesus said in today’s chapter, “No one knows. Not even me. Only the Father”.

This also leads me to believe that the great optimism and pessimism tension is just another both-and scenario. In fact, from a spiritual perspective this makes more sense to me than anything else. If I really believe what I say I believe, then there is an Evil One and forces of evil that are dead set against God and everything God is about. It would make perfect sense that evil would twist and contort truth (e.g. things are better than any time in human history) into lies (e.g. things have never been worse) in order to stoke fear, anxiety, despair, hatred, anger, conflict, violence, and upheaval.

And this brings me to two other conclusions.

Jesus words do speak of things spiraling out of control in the end, and He clearly says to “watch” for it, and expect it. So, I am not that surprised by the steady stream of fear-inducing, anxiety-producing pessimism that I’m confronted with every day across the entire spectrum of media. I believe that things will eventually spiral out-of-control, even if there’s every reason for it not to do so. It’s been a recurring theme throughout the entire Great Story.

Finally, me responding with fear and anxiety is the exact opposite of what Jesus expects of me and His followers. Jesus’ foundational teaching from the beginning was to seek first God’s Kingdom, stop worrying about the things of this earth, and store up eternal treasures for a coming reality. This is a basic faith issue. If I really believe what I say I believe, then yes, things will ultimately go to hell in a hand basket on this earth, and I don’t have to be afraid or “worry ’bout a thing, ‘cause every little thing is gonna be alright.”

And so, I endeavor on this day, and each day, to follow Jesus command to his followers at the end of today’s chapter: “Watch!”

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

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Shalom

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Shalom! (CaD Ezk 47) – Wayfarer

Then he led me back to the bank of the river.  When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh.
Ezekiel 47:6b-8 (NIV)

When most people hear the Hebrew word “Shalom” it is understood as a greeting like “Hello” or “Bonjour.” And that’s because “Shalom” is used as both a greeting and a departing salutation, more like “Aloha.” But what many people don’t know is that Shalom which is literally translated into English as “peace” has a meaning that cannot be simply contained by one comparable English word.

Shalom is a word that embodies a larger sense of wholeness, well-being, good health, rest and tranquility. It is both a greeting but also a blessing to the person to whom you say it. Shalom is derived from the root word “Shalam” which is used repeatedly in Exodus 21 and 22 regarding instructions for “making things right” between people when there has been material loss or injury. God was instructing his people to “make it right” (Shalam) which becomes the foundation for the wholeness, well-being, peace, rest, and tranquility of Shalom.

This is important in understanding what is being described in this vision Ezekiel is having of the restoration of his defeated and destroyed nation in these final chapters. On a macro level, everything Zeke is describing is the “making things right” on multiple levels. His vision is of ultimate Shalom.

In today’s chapter, there are three amazing concepts being communicated.

First, Zeke sees a river that flows out of the temple he’s just described. The temple is the source of a river of life that flows out of the temple into the Dead Sea and turns the Dead Sea into a living, flourishing source of life and provision for all. This foreshadows two things. First, it foreshadows Jesus, who says Himself that He is Living Water springing up to transform any who are dead in their sins to eternal life (or, you might say, ultimate Shalom!). It also foreshadows the vision John is given of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21-22. In fact, I encourage you to read and compare the first part of today’s chapter with those last two chapters of the Great Story.

Second, in Zeke’s vision he’s given the general boundaries for the restored Promised Land that God had always promised to His people where they would find Shalom. Throughout the history of humanity, land means life. From the land we find security, shelter, provision, and prosperity.

Finally, and this is huge, God tells Zeke that “foreigners living among you” are to be considered “native-born Israelites.” In other words, there is no longer any distinction between Jews and the Gentile outsiders. God’s shalom is for everyone. Everyone becomes a child of Abraham. Everyone is given an inheritance of God. Everyone is an heir of the Divine. Everyone is given an allotment of God’s ultimate shalom.

In the quiet this morning, I am overwhelmed with God’s goodness and the desire He has expressed from the beginning for humanity to experience shalom. I’m reminded what Jesus told His followers just moments before His arrest and just hours before His execution. He told them that they can expect trouble and suffering in this world, but He also told them “Peace (Shalom) I leave with you; my peace (shalom) I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Yesterday morning, Wendy shared a song with me that I had never heard before (I’m really awful at keeping up with current culture!) by Jelly Roll called “I’m Not Okay“. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. It gets to the heart of what Jesus was saying to His followers, to us, to me. Even when things are not okay, everything is going to be alright.

Shalom, my friend.

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

Chapter-a-Day

Distinctions

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Distinctions (CaD Ezk 41) – Wayfarer

Then he measured the temple; it was a hundred cubits long, and the temple courtyard and the building with its walls were also a hundred cubits long. The width of the temple courtyard on the east, including the front of the temple, was a hundred cubits. Then he measured the length of the building facing the courtyard at the rear of the temple, including its galleries on each side; it was a hundred cubits.
Ezekiel 41:13-15 (NIV)

For the recently freed Hebrew slaves, everything about life had changed. All they knew about the God of their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was what Moses had told them. But they’d witnessed what God could do in the ten plagues that had been inflicted on Pharaoh and Egypt. They’d seen God part the waters of the Red Sea so they could cross and then bring the same waters crashing down on the Egyptian army.

But they still know relatively little about God. But in Exodus 19, they are about to learn a whole lot more. Moses goes up on a mountain by himself. From below they watch as lightning strikes, then smoke starts billowing, and the whole mountain trembles. When Moses descends, he not only has the Ten Commandments, but he has the blueprints and instruction manual for a Temple, a priesthood, rituals, and sacrifices that prescribe an entirely new way of living with God and with one another in community.

One of the things that became quickly clear to the ancient Hebrews when God, through Moses, gave them instructions for a temple and its rituals is that God made distinctions. Again, this parallels the Creation poem in Genesis 1 and 2 where God made a distinction between “this” and “that” parts of creation. There are consistent structural designs from the tent tabernacle, to Solomon’s Temple, and to the Temple Ezekiel sees in his vision. With each, there were distinctions of space. There were spaces between the common and the sacred, the space that was everyday people, and the “most holy” space where God’s presence resided.

The Most Holy Place, sometimes called the “Holy of Holies” was a perfect square. The only person who could enter was the high priest.

Fast forward to Jesus, some 400 years after Ezekiel. In Luke 9, Jesus takes his three inner-circle disciples and goes up a mountain. Suddenly, Jesus is transformed into blinding, bright light. There is lightning and then there’s smoke everywhere and then Moses shows up in his glorified, heavenly body along with Elijah. Does this sound familiar?! Jesus would descend that mountain and consequently usher a completely new blueprint and new distinctions that build on the old.

Jesus subsequently told His disciples that the Temple would soon be reduced to rubble, and 40 years later it was. After His death and resurrection, Jesus sent His Holy Spirit. This is an important new distinction. God’s presence was in Jesus’ people. The human soul became the “Most Holy Place” where God’s Spirit dwells and the body is its Temple.

But wait, we’re not done. The night before Jesus’ was executed, He told His followers, “I’m going to prepare a place for you.” When John is given a vision in Revelation this place is revealed as a new Jerusalem. Just like with Ezekiel, John had to watch as it was measured and wouldn’t you know it, this heavenly city is perfectly square just like the Most Holy Place. The distinctions from beginning to end have been transformed and flipped inside out. What began as a small (about 15 feet square) Sacred Space with the distinction that only God’s Presence is holy enough to be there, becomes at the end of the Great Story a “Most Holy Place” that is 1200 miles square where all of God’s people dwell together with God because, through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus, they have been made holy, as well.

In the quiet this morning, I am reminded that the tremendously precise and ordered details that Ezekiel describes are a part of how God metaphorically reveals Himself to us. He is a God of detail and distinctions who transforms chaos into order, death into life, and the common into that which is holy. Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth that if anyone is joined with Christ, that person is a new creation, old things pass away and new things come. In other words, I am a microcosm of the very thing that God is doing throughout the entire Great Story, transforming that which wasn’t holy into that which is eternally holy.

I am in process, and as my local gathering of Jesus’ followers continues to remind everyone, this journey is about progress, not perfection.

And so, I progress into another day of the journey.

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

Chapter-a-Day

The Dance

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The Dance (CaD Ezk 39) – Wayfarer

“‘On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the valley of those who travel east of the Sea. It will block the way of travelers, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon Gog.”
Ezekiel 39:11 (NIV)

It is an impressive place. The Valley of Jezreel/Megiddo stretches from the Mediterranean on the west to the Jordan River on the east. I stood for a while and gazed at it. This is the fabled place of Armageddon, the site of the prophesied last great battle. It’s a real place and because of its natural topography, it’s been the site of over 30 major conflicts across 4,000 years of human history. Those conflicts include Napoleon as well as David.

Today’s chapter is the second of Ezekiel’s mysterious prophesies concerning a nation called Gog who rallies the nations in a massive invasion of Israel from the north. They are unsuccessful, and in hyperbolic metaphors, Ezekiel describes the aftermath of the great battle. There are so many of the weapons of the enemy left lying around that for seven years the people of Israel don’t need to gather wood for their fires. They simply use the weapons of Gog’s hordes that are lying around everywhere.

In even more raw and graphic metaphors, the dead enemies of God are described in sacrificial terms as if they were the bulls and rams sacrificed on the altar in the sacrificial system of Moses.

When God says that the burial place for Gog and its hordes will be “in the valley of those travel east of the Sea,” the Valley of Megiddo is a natural conclusion.

The chapter concludes with a vision of a restoration of Israel and God pouring out His Spirit on the people.

The challenge, of course, is that nothing like that described in these two chapters has a clear connection to an actual historical event while clear parallels exist to John’s prophetic visions in Revelation.

Along my life journey, I have learned that there is a spiritual dance that happens between the micro and macro, the common and the cosmic, between the everyday events of my life journey and the larger Great Story of which it is a part. God is present and at work in both. There are all sorts of macro-level connections throughout the Great Story that weave their way into a giant storyline. But God also knows the ever-decreasing number of hairs on my head and God is present and intimately involved in everything that happens in my life this day. It is not an “either-or” but a “both and.” This gives me much-needed context for my life journey. My everyday fears and anxieties need the context of the larger Great Story that God is telling in which I can take comfort. Likewise, the larger Great Story informs my daily thoughts, words, and actions. I am part of something bigger than myself and this reminds me that I’m to live this day thinking not about myself, but others and how I can contribute to all that God is doing in this Great Story.

NOTE: I’m on the road tomorrow. See you on Monday!

Chapter-a-Day

The End Times & .38 Special

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The End Times & .38 Special (CaD Ezk 38) – Wayfarer

“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars.”
Ezekiel 38:10-11 (NIV)

I once had a professor who was a vain know-it-all. Among the many things that he loved waxing eloquent about in his intellectual pride was the prophesies regarding the end times. Even when a class had nothing to do with the subject, he found ways to bring up the subject. I also noticed that he regularly used the occasion to hawk his recorded messages on the subject.

A number of years ago, I recalled some of the professors assured interpretations that didn’t come to fruition as he said they would. I’ve added it to a mental heap of modern-day prophets and end-times interpreters who made sure-fire predictions and interpretations that turned out to be completely wrong.

Along my spiritual journey, I’ve learned that one has to approach the prophetic with humility. The prophetic is mysterious, and I’ve observed that it’s very easy for people to get lost down the rabbit hole with the vast minions of those who’ve gotten lost in it before them. While it can certainly be an entertaining pursuit, I have never found it to be of much value from a personal, spiritual perspective.

In addition, I constantly remind myself that all of the greatest and most learned scholars and interpreters in Jesus’ day got the Messianic prophecies completely wrong. The Messiah they predicted was almost the exact opposite of who Jesus turned out to be. If all of them got it wrong, why should I expect that all of the modern scholars and interpreters have everything right when it comes to the end times?

This all came to mind today as we enter two of the most mysterious prophetic chapters in the entire Great Story. They speak of a mysterious land of Gog and Magog (Magog may simply mean “leader of Gog”). Today’s chapter speaks of Gog leading the nations in an invasion of Israel. John also references “Gog and Magog” in describing a final great battle against God led by Satan and the “kings of the earth” in Revelation 20:8. So Ezekiel 38-39 are prophetically connected to Revelation. Exactly how and what it all means? There’s a lot of different interpretations and I humbly confess I don’t know for certain.

What I do know, is that as I read today’s chapter it felt a bit like it was ripped from the headlines of the past year. My mind immediately conjured up images of the unsuspecting Kibbutzes in Israel last October 7 as I read:

“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land.”

I also know that the description in today’s chapter of all the nations of the earth joining in a combined hatred of Israel seems pretty apt when you look at the current political landscape.

So, I know that there are prophecies about how this Great Story ends. I believe them to be true and that they will eventually be proven true in the course of time. This is what’s called faith. I can even share with you various interpretations and schools of thought regarding how it’s going play out and the identity of the mysterious Gog in today’s chapter. I can even muse with you about which of those interpretations are more plausible in my mind. Yet, I will also humbly admit that they could all be wrong.

So when it comes to the prophetic and the end times, I take my interpretive advice from .38 Special: “Hold on loosely, but don’t let go.”

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

Chapter-a-Day

The Scepter and the Sword

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The Scepter and the Sword (CaD Ezk 21) – Wayfarer

“‘Shall we rejoice in the scepter of my royal son? The sword despises every such stick.’”
Ezekiel 21:10b (NIV)

Along my life journey, I have observed that the political divide here in the States can arguably be boiled down to those who don’t trust the government to do anything well and want to diminish its role in our lives versus those who trust the government to do everything for us and therefore want to entrust more and more of our lives to it.

One of the things that history has taught me is that while the world changes, the one thing that does not change is the human condition and, therefore, all the human systems that we humans create. It’s why Shakespeare is still so powerfully relevant today. Arguably, no one has ever captured the human condition for the purposes of both comedy and tragedy as the Bard.

In today’s chapter, I found that the ancient Israelites were dealing with their own sense of safety and trust in their government, a monarchy founded on the royal line of David.

Throughout history, the staff or scepter has been a symbol of authority, royalty, and command. When God called Moses to lead His people out of Egypt, He sent Moses with a staff that became a metaphor for God’s power and authority. Archaeologists have uncovered an ivory pomegranate that was used at the top of a scepter with an inscription indicating it may have very well been used by the priests in Solomon’s Temple. Statues and artwork of both royalty and idols frequently showed them holding a scepter.

The Israelites of Ezekiel’s day, living in Judah and Jerusalem, had been raised to revere the King as a member of David’s royal house. It had been proclaimed that God would establish David’s throne forever, and they put a lot of stock in this promise. Many believed that as long as a member of David’s house was on the throne God would protect them and prosper them. Certainly the King had prophets on his payroll who would proclaim this loudly in an effort to keep the peace. People believed it.

Ezekiel, however, is given a prophetic vision contrasting the scepter of the royal house of David to the sword of God’s judgment in the hands of the King of Babylon. The prophetic word begins with the sword despising and mocking the “stick” in the king’s hand. The prophecy continues to explain that the sword is more powerful than the scepter, and warns the people not to trust their king and his royal prophets.

The prophecy ends on a Messianic note:

“‘A ruin! A ruin! I will make it a ruin! The crown will not be restored until he to whom it rightfully belongs shall come; to him I will give it.’”
Ezekiel 21:27 (NIV)

As a follower of Jesus, I couldn’t help but note that the monarchy in Jerusalem did end with Babylon’s siege. There was no king in Jerusalem until Jesus rode in on a donkey and Matthew remembered the words of the prophet Zechariah:

“Say to Daughter Zion,
    ‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
    and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’

In the quiet this morning, I am reminded of my dual citizenship. Yes, I am a citizen of the United States, but as a disciple of Jesus I am also a citizen of God’s heavenly kingdom. The former is human and temporal, the latter is divine and eternal. My citizenship in God’s Kingdom does not diminish my earthly citizenship or my responsibility to be an active and participatory citizen on earth as I have heard people argue. On the contrary, as an ambassador of God’s Kingdom on this earth I am required to be a more dutiful and engaged member of society, respecting those in authority and acting on a daily basis to make life on earth a better place for my fellow human beings for Heaven’s sake.

With that in mind, I am also mindful that the one thing that does not change on this earth is the human condition, unless it becomes subject to the power of God’s Holy Spirit. The end of the Great Story as told in Revelation is a parallel to Ezekiel’s prophecy in today’s chapter. God’s sword (pictured as the Words from Jesus’ mouth; see Rev 19:15) standing against the scepters of the Prince of this World and all the kingdoms of this world.

Despite knowing and believing the ending, my role in this Great Story is to be an ambassador of God’s Kingdom here on earth today. And that means being a good citizen, and operating out of love in everything I say and do. Here we go…

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

Chapter-a-Day

Water

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Water (CaD Rom 6) – Wayfarer

Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Romans 6:3-4 (NIV)

Over the past few months, there have been mass baptism events around the world. It’s not the type of thing that mainstream media is going to report, but it’s out there. A reported 12,000 individuals were baptized at Huntington Beach, California on Pentecost Sunday. Another nearly 5,000 were baptized in multiple events in Florida. In New Guinea, 300,000 people were baptized. Just weeks ago, I was honored when a young friend drove a long way in order that I might baptize her. It was a precious event. Just a week before that, our local gathering of Jesus’ followers baptized several people, and the place was packed with witnesses celebrating each one.

Over the years, I have repeatedly stated that God’s base language is metaphor. All of creation is an expression of God’s being and a reflection of His eternal nature. Time and time again, throughout the Great Story, God uses metaphors to communicate spiritual truth. That is what baptism is really all about, but it’s even more than that because metaphors are layered with meaning.

In Genesis 1:1 the Great Story begins with God’s Spirit moving over the “deep” regularly translated as “sea” or “waters.” In his Revelation, John describes Heaven’s throne room as having a sea that looks like crystal. From beginning to end, water plays a major role both physically and spiritually.

God destroys the world with a flood. Noah and his family are saved through the waters. Peter makes the spiritual connection between the Great Flood and the baptism of believers.

God delivers the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt and the freed slaves escape through the waters of the Red Sea. In today’s chapter, Paul writes of being freed from our slavery to sin. Spiritually, baptism is a person’s Red Sea moment.

God leads the Hebrews to the Promised Land, and they enter the Promised Land by passing through the River Jordan. Paul speaks today of the spiritual transformation of a believer from the “old life” of slavery to sin and into the “new life” in Jesus. Spiritually, baptism is also a person’s River Jordan moment.

Life for every human being begins in the protective water of the womb, As the “water breaks” it ushers the baby into their earthly journey. Jesus told Nicodemus that salvation is about being “born again” spiritually. The water of baptism metaphorically becomes a sign of the water breaking and ushering a newborn believer into their new life.

Jesus said that He came to bring us “living water,” a spring welling up within a person to eternal life. Baptism is a metaphor for being “buried” in the “living water” just as Jesus was buried in the tomb and raised up out of the “living water” just as Jesus was raised from the dead.

David presciently describes the metaphor of baptism in his lyrics to Psalm 18:

[God] reached down from on high and took hold of me;
    he drew me out of deep waters.

As I meditate on the metaphor of water and baptism in the quiet this morning, I find myself encouraged. That’s what metaphors do. They are physical reminders of spiritual truth. It was a crazy weekend of an assassination attempt and being reminded of the division, violence, and vitriol that is seemingly so prevalent in our current times. But then I think of 12,000 people on a California beach whose lives have spiritually changed for the better. I think of 5,000 people in Florida who experienced a spiritual rebirth. I try to imagine the positive impact that the transformed lives of 300,000 people could have on their nation and world as they follow Jesus into obediently loving God and loving others. I think of the smile and joy of my young friend as she came up out of the baptismal pool and gave me a hug. She was so excited about God’s spiritually transforming work inside her. Death-to-life. Buried-to-risen. Slavery-to-freedom. A new birth in which old things pass away and new things come.

Yes, there’s a lot of chaos out there in the world, but God’s Spirit is still moving over the “deep.” The Good Shepherd is still leading His flock to still waters. This wayfaring stranger is looking forward to crossing Jordan into an eternal Promised Land and seeing the crystal sea.

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