Yeshua, the True King

So far, I have avoided posting about the elephant in the room.

I'm talking about the 'Rona.

I've been watching, praying, and taking it all in, ever since Covid 19 disrupted the planet over a year and a half ago.

Has there ever been anything that has affected the whole world in this way, in such a short time?  In my opinion, even World War 2 did not affect the world with such suddenness and entirety. This virus literally shut down the planet almost overnight.

For a long time, I have been pondering a connection between Covid and the white horse of Revelation 6:  And I looked, and behold, a white horse!  And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

The word that was standing out to me was crown.  The Greek word is stephanos, but the Latin word in the vulgate (scriptures translated into Latin by Jerome in the year 405 AD) is corona.

As I meditated on the possible connection, I sensed a strong whisper in my spirit from the Lord, "Corona is not king, I am."  This whisper occurred in the spring of 2020, in the early days of lockdown.

This whispered truth has been my constant reminder of Who is in charge. It is a reminder to bow down to Him only, and not to the virus and all its, um, stuff.

Anyway, back to the white horse.  Most scholars agree that the white horse here in chapter 6 is a picture of deception.  Revelation 19:11 depicts our TRUE King seated on a white horse when He returns to conquer His enemies, and in that passage He is called Faithful and True.  

White is the color of purity and also of victory.  It is interesting to note that in ancient times, Roman Generals entered their conquered cities in chariots drawn by white horses.

Our enemy the devil is the Father of Lies and can only mimic and deceive.  So it is no surprise that scripture portrays his deception by the use of a white horse.  And he is going to try and conquer, but he will get only so far.

Wisdom is needed, saints.

If we look back to 2 Thessalonians 2, the context is the Day of the Lord, and the return of our King.  Verse 3 warns believers not to be deceived: Let no one deceive you in any way.  For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.

Further on in the chapter, we are told about the great deception that will take place on earth: The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,  and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Dang.  So much of this seems to be taking place right under our noses. 

Ok, let's go back to our white horse in Revelation 6, so that I can geek out with more original language stuff.

What is this bow that the rider is holding? The Greek word is toxon.  I will let Wikipedia define the origin of the word toxon:  

The modern terms "toxic" and "toxin" derive from the ancient Greek word for "bow", toxon, from Old Persian *taxa-, "an arrow". ... In the Kingdom of Kush, arrows were often poison-tipped. There is some indication that poisoned arrows were used in battle against the Romans from 27 BC to 22 BC.

Chew on that idea for awhile.  Is there a modern (or moderna) equivalent of something that will stab us and contains poison?  I'm not going to be dogmatic about this, but it is definitely worth considering.  Is there a current worldwide campaign to convince us to take a poisonous skin prick? Are people with dissenting opinions silenced?  I think the answer is obvious.

There is one more biblical word I want to geek out on.  It is found in Galatians 5:20, Revelation 9:21, and Revelation 18:23.  The Greek word is pharmakeia, and the ESV translates the word as sorceries.  But let's look at the outline of Biblical usage as found in Blue Letter Bible:

Let those definitions sink in.  And then I urge you to pray,  seek the Lord, and ask for wisdom in all these matters. 

Because He is the King, He is in charge, and He is coming soon... on a white horse.

I want to end this post on a high note, so let's look at Psalm 45. It is easy to see the coming King and Kingdom in this beautiful psalm:

For the director of music. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil. A wedding song.

(A WEDDING song!  Did you catch that?  Our bridegroom is coming soon!)

My heart is stirred by a noble theme
as I recite my verses for the king;
my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.

You are the most excellent of men
and your lips have been anointed with grace,
since God has blessed you forever.

Gird your sword on your side, you mighty one;
clothe yourself with splendor and majesty.

In your majesty ride forth victoriously (on a white horse?)
in the cause of truth, humility and justice;
let your right hand achieve awesome deeds.

Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies;  

(the arrows of the TRUE king)
let the nations fall beneath your feet.

Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;
a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.

You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
by anointing you with the oil of joy.

All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia;
from palaces adorned with ivory
the music of the strings makes you glad.

Daughters of kings are among your honored women;
at your right hand is the royal bride in gold of Ophir.

Listen, daughter, and pay careful attention:
Forget your people and your father’s house.

Let the king be enthralled by your beauty;
honor him, for he is your lord.

The city of Tyre will come with a gift,
people of wealth will seek your favor.

All glorious is the princess within her chamber;
her gown is interwoven with gold.

In embroidered garments she is led to the king;
her virgin companions follow her—
those brought to be with her.

Led in with joy and gladness,
they enter the palace of the king.

Your sons will take the place of your fathers;
you will make them princes throughout the land.

I will perpetuate your memory through all generations;
therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever.

And since I want to end on a high note, I will look at the next three horses in a future post...

How To Study the Scriptures

I have so many ideas for blog posts currently running through my head, and this was not one of them.

However, I thought it would be good to lay down some principles that can help tremendously in making sense of God's word.  These days, it seems that so many people have just given up, saying that we can't understand it, or even worse, saying that it's not really God's word and that it was just a bunch of ancient writings written by a bunch of ancient men, doing the best they could in their cultural context.

This is tragic, because the scriptures were written over a 1500 year period, by 40+ authors, and the result is a unified story that points to Yeshua the Messiah... including a huge amount of prophecy that CAME TO PASS-  and continues unfolding - as His return approaches, right on schedule.  This is impossible from man's perspective.

Try playing the campfire game with 10 friends and see if you get the same result.  You know, where someone starts the story, and then one by one each person adds to it.  The story is always ridiculous.

Anyway, I digress.  

The Word of God is like a tapestry.  We need to learn to look beyond the knots and chaos that can be seen on the back of the canvas. Sometimes, things are messy and make no sense until we look at the finished work.  (Another analogy would be Shrek's onion.  There are layers and layers of Biblical truths, just waiting to be peeled!)

Corrie Ten Boom used to hold up this tapestry as she 
traveled the world, speaking to groups
about her experiences during the Holocaust.

Let's jump in with some good Bible study precepts.

Number 1:  Context!

Perhaps you've heard the expression, "context is key."  Well, it is.  It's way too easy to rip a verse out of context and use it in a way that suits your own purposes but doesn't necessarily convey what the author was trying to say.  

Jeremiah 29:11 is a great example.  Now if that is your life verse, don't panic.  It's a lovely verse, and you can keep it.  But I don't know many people who zoom out to get the whole story.  Jeremiah is addressing the Jews who are about to be exiled into Babylon.  He is saying, "go, and thrive while there.  God will be with you while you are there and He will bring you back out someday...  Oh, and if you don't go, He will send sword and pestilence and make you like rotten vile figs."  (I've never met anyone who claims Jeremiah 29:17 as their life verse).

When you are examining the context of a passage, expand to the surrounding verses (or even chapters) as much as necessary to get a handle on what is being said.  Ask yourself these questions:

• Who is the author?
• When did he write?
• To whom did he write it?
• How would the recipients have received it then?
• And finally, how does this apply in my life today? 

Number 2:  Word Studies

Did you know that the scriptures were never written using a single word of English? Oh, the insights you can gain when you do biblical studies! The Tanakh (aka Old Testament) was written mostly in Hebrew with a bit of Aramaic as well. The New Covenant Scriptures were written in koine Greek, which was the ancient, every day language spoken by many people in the Roman Empire.

I first learned how to do word studies via a class taught by a friend.  He demonstrated how to use resources such as an interlinear Bible, a concordance, and a lexicon.  These books were extremely helpful, both in studying the Word and using as door stops.  They were extremely heavy.  It was like being in high school again, schlepping all those heavy textbooks from class to class in a backpack.

Fortunately, today there are tools that are much easier to access and schlepp around, right there in your phone.  My favorite app is Blue Letter Bible.  There are other good resources out there too, such as E-sword or Logos.  I stick with Blue Letter because I know the format and can move around it pretty quickly.  AND, they recently added Septuagint links!  (That may only mean something to you if you are a Bible nerd like me).

The Septuagint was written about 200 years before Yeshua.  It is the Hebrew scriptures (aka Old Testament), translated into Greek by seventy Hebrew scholars.  I recently discovered that the Greek work euangelion (or a form of it) is used many times in the Old Testament.  Most English New Testaments translate that word as gospel. This will be the subject of an upcoming post, so stay tuned for that.  It's truly mind-blowing to me.

Number 3:  Look for the Pictures

Snapshots - the scriptures are filled with them!  When you see one (and they are everywhere), ask yourself what it means.  Blood on the doorpost.  Rahab's red cord.  The serpent on a pole in the wilderness (more on that in a sec).  The tabernacle.  Lamb of God.  Tree of life. Water from a rock.  Bread from heaven.  Sun, moon, and stars.  Moses' outstretched arms.  Yeshua's outstretched arms. Wait, a connection! Which leads me to the next premise:

Number 4:  Follow the hyperlinks

What does that mean?  This is somewhat related to precept 3, as you are considering the pictures.  It involves rabbit trails as you compare scripture to scripture.  A great example is John 3:16.  It is used so often by itself to try and convey the gospel, but if you look at the previous two verses, it refers to Moses lifting the serpent on a pole in the wilderness.  This just begs for a journey back to the source to see what is going on.  And there you can find another hyperlink to the serpent in Genesis 3.  Following these hyperlinks can give you the Big Picture!

Another great resource for studying the scriptures is the Bible Project team.  They offer these amazing free videos on You Tube that give overviews and breakdowns of each book of the Bible.  They also create thematic videos that do a great job following the hyperlinks.  In fact, I borrowed the hyperlinks word directly from them because they use it so much.  They have a one year bible reading plan that uses their videos, which you can find on the You Version app.  They also have podcasts available.

If you have not spent much time studying God's word, I encourage you to jump in.  The scriptures have the power to change your life.