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Chuck Missler’s Insights on Revelation

In the Letters to the Seven Churches in Revelation…

“In verses 9 and 43, we can’t miss the familiar phrase, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” It is interesting that Jesus demarked His “Seven Letters to Seven Churches”(in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3) with this very phrase.”

“In fact, in verses 34-35, Jesus announces that the revelations in these parables are not to be found in the Old Testament! Paul, in Ephesians 3:4-7 indicates that this very mystery is the Church itself, not revealed in the Old Testament. This uniqueness is also alluded to in verse 52.”

Parallel to parables of Jesus?

“As we study carefully, these seven letters, dictated by Jesus Himself, we notice that they bear evidence of very precise structure and design. We notice that the fourth letter features a woman who introduces false doctrine. Could this correspond to the fourth parable, the woman introducing the leaven? We notice that the sixth letter speaks of the removal of the church. Could this correspond to the sixth parable, the pearl which must removed from its place of growth to become the object of adornment?”

Parallel to Paul’s letters?

“The Seven Churches of Paul: The Apostle Paul signed 13 epistles in the New Testament. But three of these are “doubles:” Corinthians, Timothy, and Thessalonians. That leaves 10 addressees. But three of these are “pastors,” not churches. That leaves seven churches that Paul addressed. Is there a mystical significance to this? Is there an intrinsic, designed, relationship between the seven churches that Paul addressed and the seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3?

“Here I’ll pass the ball to you. If you take the time to really study them, you are in for a pleasant surprise. The fingerprints of the Holy Spirit are all over them. Good hunting!”  -Chuck Missler

Parable of the Mustard Seed (Mt. 13)

“Despite the well-meaning Bible dictionaries that attempt to link this parable to various flora of the Middle East, the common mustard plant grows as a small bush, and is hardly the haven for birds. Furthermore, the identity of the birds have already been revealed in verse 19 (cf. v.3): the ministers of the “Wicked One!” This seems to portray a view in which the church will grow into something never intended–a monstrosity in which the very ministers of the wicked one will find refuge in its branches!” -Chuck Missler

Mt 13 – Kingdom of Heaven like leaven

The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened -Mt. 13:33

“Jesus was a Jewish rabbi, speaking to Jewish disciples. Leaven is always used as a symbol of sin. The Feast of Passover emphasizes the use of unleavened bread. …It is interesting that the Feast of Israel that prophesizes the Church is the Feast of Pentecost, the only feast that features leavened (Gentile?) bread….Why is leaven used as a symbol of sin? It corrupts by puffing up. The origin of sin was in Lucifer’s pride….So to a Jewish ear, when Jesus described a woman putting leaven into the three measures of meal, they probably gasped in horror! What can this mean? ” -Chuck Missler

Feast of Pentecost featured in Acts 2 is the same feast that in the Hebrew is usually called the called Feast of Weeks (50 days after Passover = ~7 weeks)

“On the pentecost, God gave his law on Mount Sinai, accompanied with thunderings and lightnings. On the pentecost, God sent down his Holy Spirit, like a rushing mighty wind; and tongues of fire sat upon each disciple, in order that, by his influence, that new law of light and life might be promulgated and established. Thus, the analogy between the Egyptian bondage and the thraldom occasioned by sin – the deliverance from Egypt, and the redemption from sin – the giving of the law, with all its emblematic accompaniments, and the sending down the Holy Spirit, with its symbols of light, life, and power, has been exactly preserved.” -Clarke

“Pentecost was a celebration. Taking place in the early spring, fifty days after Passover, it celebrated the completion of the winter harvest. Pentecost was a commemoration. As outlined in Leviticus 23, the Jews were to bring two loaves of bread as an offering representing the two stone tablets on which the Law was written. Pentecost was an illustration. Three thousand people died the day the law was given (Exo 32:28). But on the day the Spirit was given, three thousand were saved (Act 2:41). Thus, the two loaves commemorating the tablets of stone came to illustrate Jew and Gentile coming together in one new organization called the church. Unlike most other sacrifices, these loaves had leaven in them, a picture of the sin that would exist in a church made up of sinners saved by grace.” -Jon Courson

Mt 13 – Parable of the Pearl

“In verses 45-46, Jesus again uses a strange Gentile allusion: the pearl. It all sounds good, until you realize that oysters are not kosher! Here again, we see an allusion to the Church. The pearl is the only “jewel” that is the result of a living organism. It grows as a response to irritation. And it is removed from its place of growth to become an item of adornment!” -Chuck Missler

Safety Fail

I haven’t laughed this hard in a while!

From FailBlog:


Original URL: http://failblog.org/2009/02/12/safety-fail-8/ (no longer valid)

Romans 5:3-5 Artwork

Using Engineering to Understand Christianity

One day in class, the director of our school (the Horizon School of Evangelism) was using the analogy of testing in Engineering to help us understand why our faith needs to be tested, and being a software engineer by profession, it was a comparison that totally made it very concrete to me why we have to go through periods of testing.

Jesus used a lot of parables about farming, because the lay-person in his day was typically a farmer. That’s what they knew well and understood. By drawing upon their understanding of farming, it would make it much clearer to them what Jesus was saying about faith. But what kind of comparisons can you make that make Christianity more concrete to the modern-day engineer?

Testing of Your Faith is Like Engineering Testing

At work one of the phases of development that we do is testing what we make, both the hardware and software components. This testing can help us to understand testing of our faith.

One of the items we make at work is a “control unit” for a training system that is mounted inside a tank. There’s a lot of strange stuff they do in the environmental testing lab to test this hardware before we ship it to the field.

For example, they leave the box in a freezer for an extended period to make sure it can withstand extreme temperatures and still be operable and not crack or the display go blank or something else that would prevent the box from operating in the sort of conditions that it is designe to withstand.

There’s another device that is essentially a shaking table, simulating the roughness and jostling conditions a tank off-roading is likely to encounter. Once again, they turn on the box and test key functionalities of the control unit while it is enduring these conditions.

Why put this piece of hardware through such brutal conditions? Because they want to prove this is reliable hardware capable of withstanding certain types of operating conditions.

Likewise, in the software department, we try to test whatever sort of conditions might make the software break. Testing expected average case values is a practical first step, but reality is, most of the time you run with average values everywhere–those kinds of bugs tend to get squashed out very quickly because they’re easy to find. So what is more interesting to test? Boundary conditions–things on the extreme ends of what is possible. What happens if you pass in a null or 0 value? What happens if you pass in an integer that is the maximum possible value allowed by the data type? What happens if you pass in a negative value?

Likewise, our faith must also be tested. Testing of your faith produces patience [or perserverence or endurance depending on your translation] (James 1:3b NKJV). And keep in mind patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galations 5:22).”By your endurance you will gain your lives.” (Luke 21:19 NASB)

When God puts you through it, think of it as God “debugging” your faith. Its a pretty apt analogy. Often times, bugs are stubborn, and you have to retest several times before you’ve actually gotten it out. Likewise, perhaps that’s why you’ve had to be tested in the same area of your life repeatedly–to see whether you’ve really gotten that desire to sin out of your head yet.

Rom 5:3

“The Shadow Proves the Sunshine”. Sometimes its hard to prove something directly. If it was overcast and not sunny, you would have no shadow. Therefore having a shadow is indicative of there being sunshine (or other bright light). The light of God is contrasted to darkness. When everything is grey, its hard to differentiate. But when things are very bright, the lack of brightness is in stark contrast.

Abraham’s Faith

“If you despair in knowing you do not have Abram’s faith, take comfort in knowing you have Abram’s God. He can build in you the faith of Abram, because He built it in Abram himself.” -David Guzik

A Modern Day Comparison

“Rome was considered the mighty nation. For God to send his son to Israel would be like people telling us God chose a small nation like Puerto Rico as his chosen nation today. God could certainly do this but it is likely that people would not be inclined to accept it.” -Terry Taylor

Acts 20

“Second, Eutychus fell asleep before he fell to his death. In my own experience, the average Christian teenager loses their exuberance and their passion for Christ long before they lose their purity.”
-http://www.everynation.org/pages/odb/december-blogs/dec-26-raising-eutychus-from-the-dead