I couldn’t remember my dreams when I woke up this morning, which is unusual but the blog must go on! So I want to talk about the verse that I’m going over with each of my kids this week. If you read the other day when the Lord told me to be faithful with my kids and He would teach me to understand Matthew 12-16 then you know why I’m starting there. I’m taking each kid through each little part of that section. I’m going to probably be focussing on that little block of scripture for a lifetime if God is going to give me a true and deep understanding of it. So I’m trying to read it a lot and basically memorize it on my end. God will take care of the understanding part.
“At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” Matthew 12:1-8
Basically what we see here is what we are always studying, scripture is meant to point to Jesus. The Pharisees were accusing them of working by picking grain to eat as they walked through the field. The Pharisees and other leaders lived to interpret the Bible as literally and clearly as possible. But they did so by human logic and in the process missed the entire point. They had decided that if the law says no work not he Sabbath then they better define work in great detail.
So how does Jesus respond? He interprets the Bible a little bit for them. Have you not read what David did? What David did, didn’t fit their rule, which means that they had not taken it into consideration when making the rule and the rule was suddenly unbiblical, exposed in front of everyone. Then Jesus revealed their hearts with another verse, I desire mercy not sacrifice. The heart behind the accusation and the rule were being used as a tool to attack people which was not God’s intention. If they had looked for ways to show mercy the rules would have made them more Godly but as it was the rules were making them more like the great accuser, the devil. Then Jesus goes all the way and explains that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. He called himself that so that no one would forget that He came in the flesh! Who is antichrist but the one who denies the flesh of Jesus. He was a Son of Man like us and we can follow Him by the Holy Spirit and do what He did. He said that He was Lord of the Sabbath and greater than the temple because those things were made to point to Him. The Pharisees were face to face with the entire point of the Law in the flesh and they were missing it!
Ok now into the Bible study for today. If you missed it, we are going through a 90 day reading plan that reads the whole Bible and finding Jesus somewhere in each section. This helps people to understand how spiritual logic works. It will help you understand your own dreams and the scriptures and everything else. The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy so we are looking at testimony of Jesus to get tuned in to the Spirit of prophecy. I don’t know anyone that’s teaching this stuff in church but since I’m in position to teach it here, I feel like God wants more people to see. If you’ve ever wondered about the prophetic gifts this series should be helpful to get a feel for it.
In 2 Kings 18:13-19:37 we see the story of ‘the Assyrian’ a foreshadowing of the antichrist in the flesh. There’s an antichrist spirit, but there’s also an antichrist that is a human embodiment of that spirit just the way Jesus was a human embodiment of the Holy Spirit. Sennacherib was the king of Assyria at that time and he was very skilled at evil. He and his army invented things like the catapult and siege works. They made city walls useless and they tortured and tormented everyone who resisted. They skinned people and used impaling poles by the millions leaving fields of people slowly being impaled. Hitler and Stalin studied this man and learned his cruelty and each became another foreshadowing of antichrist.
Well Sennacherib showed decided to take over Jerusalem. But there were some problems with that plan. Jerusalem had a Godly king and a true prophet and the one true God was listening to them. So let’s see if we can find Jesus in this story that reveals some things to us about the end times. God’s people have correct leadership for the first time in many years. I think that is a clear picture all on its own. God’s people on this earth are going to be walking right when the antichrist comes. Many will fall away, but those who don’t will be walking in the fullness of what God always meant for the church to be.
The city of peace, the camp of God’s people on earth, will be surrounded by armies. After they were surrounded Hezekiah was understandably upset, he is a picture of the apostles that will be leading the church at the time of the end. Isaiah comes to Hezekiah to give him a word, do not be afraid. That’s the encouragement of the prophetic office. Then Hezekiah prays and Isaiah makes a prophetic declaration. I think it’s very interesting that Isaiah describes what God will do to Sennacherib in similar terms that God used in Job talking about Leviathan. “I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.” Reminds me of “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?”
Here’s where Jesus comes at the end. For those who endure to the end will be saved. The siege lasts for a little while but God cuts it short. An angel comes down into the camp of Assyria and slaughters the army. This shows the return of Jesus, riding the white horse, sword bathed in blood as he personally destroys the armies of antichrist as they try to take over the world. He will set His feet down on the Mount of Olives where He once declared the end from the beginning. This is what the last days on earth will be like. God’s people surrounded, threatened, God mocked, and yet we pray and declare His words! That level of faith will bring down heavens gavel and the Lord will say ENOUGH! Go get my people and destroy those evil ones! And the lion of Judah will mount his horse and draw his sword and bring the hosts of heaven to separate the righteous from the evil. He will rule the earth when you see Him flying down and the faithful will fly with Him and rule with Him after.
May we all be found faithful! May we love all of God’s ways and His people and do what builds each other up! May we give a sacrifice of mercy and forgiveness. May we know the Lord! I hope you got something out of this study today. The reading today is 2 Kings 16-25 and I hope that you can join with me and find Jesus on every page. May you be wise as serpents and innocent as doves, may your intentions always be to do God’s will above your own, and may God bless all y’all.
Practice Outlaw 