Broad meadows

I began this series showing how the symbolism in the Bible can be used to derive some very specific prophetic/spiritual meaning. We have been able to test this model by comparing it to history and have been able to identify at least three individuals in history that they point to, the most important being the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

In example one, we were able to determine that the Messiah would be the bringer of the bread and wine and from the time of Abraham to Jesus, no other world religion began that had as its sole ceremonial meal the bread and the wine and that anyone that would come after could not then claim those symbols. They would be seen as usurpers. This means that Jesus and only Jesus can be the promised Messiah.

We were able to understand from example two that the one true religion, the one that would grant the Holy Spirit, would be the one where the stone (Jesus’ stone) would be rolled away. But in that account in Genesis 29, we were also able to see 3 religions (flocks) would lay claim to the God of the Bible and subsequent history show that that did indeed happen. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all claim the God of the Bible as their God, thus we can also see Islam in this prophecy.

In Genesis 44, we see a cup that is hidden in a sack of grain, the unformed church, a cup whose purpose was divination, or predicting the future by supernatural means. This is carried through prophetically in Psalm 16, prophesying a dichotomy of belief in the substance of the Lords Supper, one where they believe they are literally drinking the blood and eating the flesh of Jesus and the other a memorial view. This happened many centuries after the time of Christ.

We begin to see how serious this becomes when Isaiah prophecies about a goblet that makes men stagger. Jeremiah 25 refers to it as a cup of wrath. Ezekiel refers to it as a cup of desolation and Revelation 17 says it’s a cup filled with abominations. This gives us the clearest definition of what the abomination that causes desolation actually is, the consumption of blood.

Through these symbols we have been able to identify the entities that are being described. Because of their literal belief that they are consuming the blood of Jesus, this marks the harlot as the Catholic Church. But does this cup get passed as prophesied by Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel? Yes and this allowed us to see that other entity. In the same way that the land rises up out of the sea (Revelation 12 & 13), so this entity would arise from the other and during the Reformation, that is what happened. Pastor Martin Luther brought the idol of the cup into the Protestant church.

Conclusion.

Perhaps the most important thing that I believe comes out of a study like the one we just went through is that this is evidence that the Bible comes from a singular intelligence and that that intelligence knows all things. When you consider that the first five books off the Bible were written by Moses in the fifteenth century bc and the book of Revelation by The Apostle John around 90 ad while accurately predicting the future history of the church, it clearly shows that the Bible was inspired by an all knowing God.

The apostle Peter says it this way in 2 Peter 2:1-3, “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them —bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.”

I’m a huge fan of the church. I’m a part of the church. There has been no greater force for good in the world than the church of Jesus Christ. But when you read the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2& 3, it’s clear to see how far off track most of them got. There are failures in teaching, personal conduct and attitude. But you also see that God has people in all of these churches. If the teaching is bad in your church, you can confront it in the hope of changing it or you can search for a church that more accurately comports to Scripture. If you have the biblical acumen, confront, if not, then try to gain it. You need only to look at what is being condemned in those letters and compare it to what you are being taught in your church to know what to do.