Broad meadows

If one were to think about what might be the most significant event in church history after the first century, I think most people would come to the conclusion that the Reformation in the sixteenth century AD would be that event. The Reformation was led by Pastor Martin Luther and led to the fracturing of the church into denominations and taking the scriptures from the sole authority, the Catholic Church, and put into the hands of every day people. The letters to the seven churches would seem to point a to lack of core teachings held by the church, writ large.

So you would think that in a book like the book of Revelation that such an event would be prophesied. And if you read the series on “Following the cup through the Bible. . . “ series, I was able to do just that. Not only was I able to point to that event, but how to tell who was who, even down to Luther, himself. To do so took a revelation from God and then months of study on the topic to verify in scripture. While I had read the Bible a few times by then, I certainly didn’t have this kind of understanding on my own at that time.

The Cup was my first deep dive into the symbolism in scripture and how it could be used to derive prophecy from the various accounts in the Bible and how to put them together to form prophetic insights. The Cup series was a Bible wide examination that led to conclusions about what the book of Revelation was actually about, but only in part. The sun/goat series took those examinations even further, expanding the understanding of God’s plan for humanity. It in no way takes away from the truth of the gospel, it merely extends its benefits and reveals the mechanisms by which they take place.

In an effort to teach this methodology at my church I offered a much simpler version of what I was able to do using the accounts from the book of Genesis. (As a side note, I hope to write a series on the symbolic prophecies made in Genesis after this series). However, I was rejected by the leadership and forced to leave a church I had taught at for about 17 years and was a member of for twenty-five years. Below is the example I gave them.

In Genesis 29, there is an account of Jacob fleeing his brother Esau and going to the land that Abraham had come from and the place of his family’s ancestors:

“Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. There he saw a well in the open country, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well’s mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.” Genesis 29:1-3.

Jumping down to Genesis 29:7&8, Jacob speaking says, “Look,” he said, “the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.”
“We can’t,” they replied, “until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.”

So just using Christian symbolism and doctrine, lets examine that story. It’s clear that sheep are people, believers in God. Who’s God? In this case the God of Abraham. How many groups? Three. How many different religions claim to worship the God of Abraham? Three; Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Islam being formed 600 years after the time of Christ.

How does the New Testament define water? In John 7:39, the living water is the Holy Spirit. So which one grants the Holy Spirit? The one where the stone is rolled away. Where Jesus’ stone is rolled away. In this example, not only do we see Jesus as the one and the only one to grant the Holy Spirit, but we also see Islam and its founder in so doing. And if his teachings don’t grant the Holy Spirit after the time of Christ, then what does that make him?