The Birth of the Nation
Hour 5 reminds me of my first year in BSF where we studied
The Life of Moses. And, as I am different
today than I was when I last studied these books, I have learned a few more
tidbits. One of which is the Levitical
symbolism of the burning bush: the bush
is an acacia thorn bush that is burning but isn’t consumed. Thorns represent sin, the fire represents
judgment and the translation of the visual is as follows: God judges sin but doesn’t consume the
repentant sinner.
Probably the most breath-stealing truth I learned this week
was about Egypt. As a “type” of the
World, Egypt was rich in material wealth and power. It was ruled by a despotic prince, a “type”
of Satan. Egypt was steeped in fleshly
wisdom and false religion. It was organized
on force, ambition and pleasure. Egypt’s
people persecuted the people of God.
Egypt was overthrown by divine judgment.
Let this soak in for a moment.
Does this profile sound a bit like Rome before it fell? Is it just my opinion or do you think the
United States resembles this “type” as well?
Praise Jesus, we have the example of His Word and the stories of how God
rescued His people out of the nation He was preparing to judge. His faithfulness removes my fear of what my
country is heading for.
Another couple of tidbits came from the Ten
Commandments. Chuck Missler taught that
the command to not take the name of the Lord in vain is about ambassadorship,
not vocabulary. That’s different than
what I’ve been taught my whole life.
Another thought regarding the command, “thou shalt not murder”: John the Baptist began his ministry in the
womb at 9 inches long and 1.5 pounds when he jumped for joy at Mary’s greeting
of his mother, Elizabeth.
The law was given to expose our sin nature, to incite the
sin nature to sin more, to drive us to despair of our own effort and to drive
us to depend on the Holy Spirit alone. Hallelujah! The law’s purpose is to open our eyes to the
necessity of grace and mercy.
There is much more treasure unearthed in this hour: like the discovery of a land bridge that
supports Mt. Sinai being located in Arabia; the symbolism of the precious metals
used to craft the tabernacle was fascinating.
And yes, there is much more!
With regard to Christ’s second coming, I have been presented with a new
possibility. First, let me say that I
fully believe that we cannot know when Christ is returning for His people. We are to be prepared at any moment for His
imminent return. Up until this hour, I
believed that the rapture of the church would correspond with the fall Feast of
Trumpets, the next feast on the Jewish calendar to be fulfilled. Today, that belief is challenged. Based on the mystery of Enoch, the man who
walked with God 300 years and then was no more because God took him away. Will his rapture be a foreshadowing of
ours? Apparently, Enoch was born on
Shavout and according to Jewish tradition, he was raptured on his
birthday. We know Shavout as Pentecost,
aka the birthday of the church! At
Pentecost, the Jewish “clock” stopped.
Will it start up again on the same feast day? This is something worth considering…
And there is even more treasure than what I’ve mentioned
here. If you’ve taken this study, what
impacted you about it? How did you apply
what you learned to your life?
Homework for next time:
Joshua, Judges, Ruth. I just
finished studying Ruth over the summer while reading Liz Curtis Higgs’ book
“The Girl’s Still Got It”. It is one of
my favorites and teaches me something every time I turn to it. I can’t wait to learn what Chuck Missler has
to say about it.
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