S
spauline
Guest
Fundamentalists argue that because beasts in Daniel were symbols of individual kingdoms and empires, that hence, the NT Apocalypse beast must be similar.
And this is their problem: they fail to understand the difference between Divine Revelation in the OT sense, and in the NT sense.
In the OT, things are largely temporal, because that is the nature of the OT covenant: God introduced many physical things to be foreshadowings of what would be the spiritual realities of the NT.
Hence, the Jews only see dimly: for them, the consequences of the fall are PHYSICAL death.
But Christ’s revelation unveils the root: My Father’s Children, You do not understand!! Physical death is only the SYMPTOM of your fall. The reason you die PHYSICALLY is because you have first died SPIRITUALLY.
Now, then, Christ has unveiled the root of what truly drives history: SPIRITUAL conditions.
That is, this is the law of history: to the degree that humanity knows, accepts and seeks out Divine Truth and Grace, there shall be peace on earth, and to the degree that they do not, there shall be problems.
But the Jews, much less humanity as a whole, are not ready to handle this immediately. (“You can’t HAAAANDLE the truth!” http://www.christiandiscussionforums.org/v/images/smilies/tongue.gif) Therefore, God must first bring an introductory covenant that will use the very things of this Creation as PHYSICAL signs of the SPIRITUAL realities that will be revealed when the fullness is imparted, that is, when Messiah comes.
And so it is that in the OT apocalypse, seeing as “salvation” is, for the Jews, the literal PHYSICAL land of Israel, a TEMPORAL kingdom (as opposed to the spiritual kingdom of heaven), God must meet the Jews where they are are at. Hence, the OT apocalypse must reveal to the Jews the TEMPORAL kingdoms that shall arise in opposition to them, in the times leading up to Messiah.
But with Christ, this has changed. The NT Kingdom is no longer a literal PHYSICAL Kingdom that dwells in a LITERAL TEMPORAL land, but is a SPIRITUAL Kingdom. Moreover, Christ unveils what truly drives history: the constant struggle between the fallen nature of man and God’s saving grace! Therefore, the evil temporal powers of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and then Rome, are intrinsically in and of themselves, that is, in terms of geography, not the problem. It is rather the fallen nature of man, driven according to the same perennial lies of the dragon from the beginning (opposing the Divine Truth and Will, and exalting oneself and the Creation above God), ***that is the root of the rise of evil empires. ***
Consequently, the beast of Revelation no longer prophecies of individual kingdoms or temporal powers, but veils, within its symbolism, the fallen nature of man that has assaulted the righteous from the foundation of the world, that is, beginning in the garden with the Fall.
hence, the heads and kings of the beast, as in Revelation 17, are no longer confined to mere temporal kingdoms, but represent the punctuated stages of the fallen nature that arise in the WHOLE of salvation history.
And this is the clear meaning of the days of creation and the wounding and healing of the heads of the beast: behold, Christ cannot have been fallen when carrying the cross, and walking and carrying the cross at the same time. Similarly, Christ cannot be both crucified and dead and risen at the same time. NO!!! FIRST, Christ dies, THEN, Christ is RISEN! FIRST, Christ falls, THEN Christ gets up!
Just as in a day, it cannot be both EVENING and MORNING at the same time. NO!!! Evening CAME, and morning FOLLOWED!
In a similar vein, a head of the beast cannot be both mortally wounded and alive at the same time. Either the head of the beast is healthy, or it is mortally wounded.
Therefore, the beast veils the mystery of the progress of salvation history. Salvation history is NOT like the Wheat and Tares, with evil and good coexisting in equal quantities across history, gradually maturing, and then facing ultimate conflict. NO!!! FIRST, EVIL prevails, THEN Goodness prevails. FIRST, comes the darkness of SIN, THEN comes the redemption of light.
The seven heads of the beast that are extended to eight are then revealing the following mystery: salvation history will consist of eight epochs from beginning to end: each epoch begins with a prevalence of the fallen nature, followed a stage of the redemption of that manifestation of the fallen nature. First darkness, then light, then darkness, then light, for a succession of eight times, from the original fall of man to the New Creation inclusive.
Therefore, the beast of the NT is no longer confined to individual kingdoms. It is much broader. It is the image of the stages of the fall of man, the SUBfalls of the human race.
I will write more later.
And this is their problem: they fail to understand the difference between Divine Revelation in the OT sense, and in the NT sense.
In the OT, things are largely temporal, because that is the nature of the OT covenant: God introduced many physical things to be foreshadowings of what would be the spiritual realities of the NT.
Hence, the Jews only see dimly: for them, the consequences of the fall are PHYSICAL death.
But Christ’s revelation unveils the root: My Father’s Children, You do not understand!! Physical death is only the SYMPTOM of your fall. The reason you die PHYSICALLY is because you have first died SPIRITUALLY.
Now, then, Christ has unveiled the root of what truly drives history: SPIRITUAL conditions.
That is, this is the law of history: to the degree that humanity knows, accepts and seeks out Divine Truth and Grace, there shall be peace on earth, and to the degree that they do not, there shall be problems.
But the Jews, much less humanity as a whole, are not ready to handle this immediately. (“You can’t HAAAANDLE the truth!” http://www.christiandiscussionforums.org/v/images/smilies/tongue.gif) Therefore, God must first bring an introductory covenant that will use the very things of this Creation as PHYSICAL signs of the SPIRITUAL realities that will be revealed when the fullness is imparted, that is, when Messiah comes.
And so it is that in the OT apocalypse, seeing as “salvation” is, for the Jews, the literal PHYSICAL land of Israel, a TEMPORAL kingdom (as opposed to the spiritual kingdom of heaven), God must meet the Jews where they are are at. Hence, the OT apocalypse must reveal to the Jews the TEMPORAL kingdoms that shall arise in opposition to them, in the times leading up to Messiah.
But with Christ, this has changed. The NT Kingdom is no longer a literal PHYSICAL Kingdom that dwells in a LITERAL TEMPORAL land, but is a SPIRITUAL Kingdom. Moreover, Christ unveils what truly drives history: the constant struggle between the fallen nature of man and God’s saving grace! Therefore, the evil temporal powers of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and then Rome, are intrinsically in and of themselves, that is, in terms of geography, not the problem. It is rather the fallen nature of man, driven according to the same perennial lies of the dragon from the beginning (opposing the Divine Truth and Will, and exalting oneself and the Creation above God), ***that is the root of the rise of evil empires. ***
Consequently, the beast of Revelation no longer prophecies of individual kingdoms or temporal powers, but veils, within its symbolism, the fallen nature of man that has assaulted the righteous from the foundation of the world, that is, beginning in the garden with the Fall.
hence, the heads and kings of the beast, as in Revelation 17, are no longer confined to mere temporal kingdoms, but represent the punctuated stages of the fallen nature that arise in the WHOLE of salvation history.
And this is the clear meaning of the days of creation and the wounding and healing of the heads of the beast: behold, Christ cannot have been fallen when carrying the cross, and walking and carrying the cross at the same time. Similarly, Christ cannot be both crucified and dead and risen at the same time. NO!!! FIRST, Christ dies, THEN, Christ is RISEN! FIRST, Christ falls, THEN Christ gets up!
Just as in a day, it cannot be both EVENING and MORNING at the same time. NO!!! Evening CAME, and morning FOLLOWED!
In a similar vein, a head of the beast cannot be both mortally wounded and alive at the same time. Either the head of the beast is healthy, or it is mortally wounded.
Therefore, the beast veils the mystery of the progress of salvation history. Salvation history is NOT like the Wheat and Tares, with evil and good coexisting in equal quantities across history, gradually maturing, and then facing ultimate conflict. NO!!! FIRST, EVIL prevails, THEN Goodness prevails. FIRST, comes the darkness of SIN, THEN comes the redemption of light.
The seven heads of the beast that are extended to eight are then revealing the following mystery: salvation history will consist of eight epochs from beginning to end: each epoch begins with a prevalence of the fallen nature, followed a stage of the redemption of that manifestation of the fallen nature. First darkness, then light, then darkness, then light, for a succession of eight times, from the original fall of man to the New Creation inclusive.
Therefore, the beast of the NT is no longer confined to individual kingdoms. It is much broader. It is the image of the stages of the fall of man, the SUBfalls of the human race.
I will write more later.
