The Great Shaking: Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls - Part 5
Truth vs. Fiction
Many times, what God is doing, and what God has planned makes no sense to grown adults. This is usually because we have already matured in our own minds. We think we know basic truths that seem like common sense to us. The truth is, though, that we see much less than God does. He is the Father and we are truly His children. The Bible says that God corrects His children. It is a sign of being His child when He changes the way you see the world. There are lots of ways God corrects us, but one way is opening up the truth of the Word to us:
II Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
Kids see much less than the parent does. When my son Luke was smaller, he thought ice cream would make a great meal three times a day. He knew he liked ice cream, he knew he felt good when he ate it, and he knew he didn't like green beans. For Luke, it was perfectly rational that ice cream was the best food on the planet. Thankfully, I knew a little more about the way Luke's body works. Something Luke thought must be good, I knew was only good in small amounts. I saw more than Luke, and made decision based on what I knew for Luke's own good.
If you are a parent, you know one of the toughest aspects of raising kids is getting them to believe that you ACTUALLY know some things that they don't. This doesn't get easier as they get older! This actually can get harder until the point your kids truly mature. I remember the day I called my dad and apologized for thinking I knew so much more than he did in my teen years, only to find out when I was in my 20s that I didn't know anything.
The reason many teenagers think they know more than they really do is because they are in such a rush to appear mature, even though the impatience for maturity is really a sign that they are immature! God's children are no different.
Many people who genuinely love Jesus are in such a rush to appear mature...to be leaders among the other kids....that they convince themselves they know how God does, and doesn't, work. They harden in their basic assumptions about life, why God gives it, what He cares about, and what is no big deal to Him, and then they start doing and teaching things that don't agree with the Father at all. This is what the fear of man is all about! Being so concerned about appearing mature to other people that we forget to be God's children...immature and ready to learn...so that we might TRULY mature. The best moments a parent can have with a kid are those moments when your kid just wants to know what you know, or why you say what you say! Oh, the satisfaction of those rare conversations where one of my sons says "dad, what do you think about this...?"
One of the most plain assumptions people make is that the sun is what creates life on earth...that our perfect distance from the sun is what has allowed earth to produce the perfect conditions for life. According to the Bible this is completely untrue. In fact, according to the Bible, the plants and trees were all created and living before the sun:
Genesis 1:1-19 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day. Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day. Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
According to the Bible, the sun was created after all the stuff that we generally believe needs the sun to live!
Now, I know the science seems settled on this issue, but I must say, as a scientist myself, settled science is the biggest myth there is. We are always learning more. There is no such thing as "settled science." The simple idea of settled science flies in the very face of the reason science continues to be necessary! Settled science at the time of Columbus was that the world was flat! At one point in time, settled science was that the earth was the center of the universe and everything was floating around it! To not believe this during Galileo's times could have gotten you killed! Galileo spent much of his life under arrest for pointing out some things the Bible was actually pretty clear about, just not clearly seen by the religious leaders of the day.
There is only one body of thought that continues to shine brighter and brighter. Every text book I used as a high schooler is now long out of print, but my Bible hasn't changed a bit. The older I get, the more I see my Bible is useful for the science of my heart, my mind, my will, my city, my planet, and my eternal existence. The Bible is the only settled science there really is. The Bible is CLEAR that the light that keeps mankind and all of creation alive is not the sun. In fact, part of the process of Jesus bringing heaven to earth is actually getting rid of the sun! This may not seem all that important to understand right this second, but trust me, you'll be glad you know this someday!
First, as sign, Jesus is going to make the sun go dark.
Revelation 6:12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.
This isn't an eclipse, in my opinion. God has done this once before. No eclipse has ever lasted three hours:
Matthew 27:45-46 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
At the time of the sixth seal, when the antichrist installs himself as the "new messiah" in the temple in Jerusalem, God is going to do this once again. This is only a sign though, meant to wake people up. Then, God is going to "turn down" the strength of the sun by 1/3:
Revelation 8:12 Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.
For those who refuse to repent and acknowledge that Jesus is the light of mankind, God is going to raise the stakes and black out a third of every day. But there is more. In one last attempt to save the children He loves...those who believe they know how life works...those who truly believe they can have life on their own terms...God will take the sun He turned down and turn it way back up:
Revelation 16:8-9 Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.
This is the whole point of the seals, trumpets, and bowls of Revelation: to demonstrate to the entire earth in the truest way possible that life is not possible outside of face to face contact with God on earth with an open heaven...what He called "very good" at the time of creation. God will do this incrementaly, to demonstrate everything mankind thinks they know about life, freedom, and God is not correct unless it is that He is a good Father, that freedom is truly found in agreeing with Him, and that life is not possible apart from Him. He will do this by "raising the stakes" of the cost of rebelling against these truths three times. This has always been the plan. This starts with the six seals, designed as an initial sign, not so that God's anger can be vented, but so that every child he loves can come into a saving knowledge of the truth:
Joel 2:30-32 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord . And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved...
Many times, what God is doing, and what God has planned makes no sense to grown adults. This is usually because we have already matured in our own minds. We think we know basic truths that seem like common sense to us. The truth is, though, that we see much less than God does. He is the Father and we are truly His children. The Bible says that God corrects His children. It is a sign of being His child when He changes the way you see the world. There are lots of ways God corrects us, but one way is opening up the truth of the Word to us:
II Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
Kids see much less than the parent does. When my son Luke was smaller, he thought ice cream would make a great meal three times a day. He knew he liked ice cream, he knew he felt good when he ate it, and he knew he didn't like green beans. For Luke, it was perfectly rational that ice cream was the best food on the planet. Thankfully, I knew a little more about the way Luke's body works. Something Luke thought must be good, I knew was only good in small amounts. I saw more than Luke, and made decision based on what I knew for Luke's own good.
If you are a parent, you know one of the toughest aspects of raising kids is getting them to believe that you ACTUALLY know some things that they don't. This doesn't get easier as they get older! This actually can get harder until the point your kids truly mature. I remember the day I called my dad and apologized for thinking I knew so much more than he did in my teen years, only to find out when I was in my 20s that I didn't know anything.
The reason many teenagers think they know more than they really do is because they are in such a rush to appear mature, even though the impatience for maturity is really a sign that they are immature! God's children are no different.
Many people who genuinely love Jesus are in such a rush to appear mature...to be leaders among the other kids....that they convince themselves they know how God does, and doesn't, work. They harden in their basic assumptions about life, why God gives it, what He cares about, and what is no big deal to Him, and then they start doing and teaching things that don't agree with the Father at all. This is what the fear of man is all about! Being so concerned about appearing mature to other people that we forget to be God's children...immature and ready to learn...so that we might TRULY mature. The best moments a parent can have with a kid are those moments when your kid just wants to know what you know, or why you say what you say! Oh, the satisfaction of those rare conversations where one of my sons says "dad, what do you think about this...?"
One of the most plain assumptions people make is that the sun is what creates life on earth...that our perfect distance from the sun is what has allowed earth to produce the perfect conditions for life. According to the Bible this is completely untrue. In fact, according to the Bible, the plants and trees were all created and living before the sun:
Genesis 1:1-19 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day. Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day. Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
According to the Bible, the sun was created after all the stuff that we generally believe needs the sun to live!
Now, I know the science seems settled on this issue, but I must say, as a scientist myself, settled science is the biggest myth there is. We are always learning more. There is no such thing as "settled science." The simple idea of settled science flies in the very face of the reason science continues to be necessary! Settled science at the time of Columbus was that the world was flat! At one point in time, settled science was that the earth was the center of the universe and everything was floating around it! To not believe this during Galileo's times could have gotten you killed! Galileo spent much of his life under arrest for pointing out some things the Bible was actually pretty clear about, just not clearly seen by the religious leaders of the day.
There is only one body of thought that continues to shine brighter and brighter. Every text book I used as a high schooler is now long out of print, but my Bible hasn't changed a bit. The older I get, the more I see my Bible is useful for the science of my heart, my mind, my will, my city, my planet, and my eternal existence. The Bible is the only settled science there really is. The Bible is CLEAR that the light that keeps mankind and all of creation alive is not the sun. In fact, part of the process of Jesus bringing heaven to earth is actually getting rid of the sun! This may not seem all that important to understand right this second, but trust me, you'll be glad you know this someday!
First, as sign, Jesus is going to make the sun go dark.
Revelation 6:12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.
This isn't an eclipse, in my opinion. God has done this once before. No eclipse has ever lasted three hours:
Matthew 27:45-46 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
At the time of the sixth seal, when the antichrist installs himself as the "new messiah" in the temple in Jerusalem, God is going to do this once again. This is only a sign though, meant to wake people up. Then, God is going to "turn down" the strength of the sun by 1/3:
Revelation 8:12 Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.
For those who refuse to repent and acknowledge that Jesus is the light of mankind, God is going to raise the stakes and black out a third of every day. But there is more. In one last attempt to save the children He loves...those who believe they know how life works...those who truly believe they can have life on their own terms...God will take the sun He turned down and turn it way back up:
Revelation 16:8-9 Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.
This is the whole point of the seals, trumpets, and bowls of Revelation: to demonstrate to the entire earth in the truest way possible that life is not possible outside of face to face contact with God on earth with an open heaven...what He called "very good" at the time of creation. God will do this incrementaly, to demonstrate everything mankind thinks they know about life, freedom, and God is not correct unless it is that He is a good Father, that freedom is truly found in agreeing with Him, and that life is not possible apart from Him. He will do this by "raising the stakes" of the cost of rebelling against these truths three times. This has always been the plan. This starts with the six seals, designed as an initial sign, not so that God's anger can be vented, but so that every child he loves can come into a saving knowledge of the truth:
Joel 2:30-32 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord . And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved...
Comments
Post a Comment
I appreciate your comments.