A Trained Professional XII: Hunting High and Low

The twelfth job mentioned in the bible. Only two human Bible characters are named as being hunters. Metaphorically and allegorically both God and Satan are compared to a hunter, but I initially focus on humans. Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord (Genesis 10:9); and Esau was a cunning, or skillful, hunter (Genesis 25:27; 27:30).When Nimrod, the figure of Biblical antiquity who owed his notoriety to his wickedness was labeled a mighty hunter "before the Lord" it did not mean he was in humble service to God. This passage is better understood if we read the 1st century Jewish historian Josephus’ translation of the passage, "He did evil against the Lord." The word ‘before’ is like the word πρός / pros or ‘in the face of’ and can mean "opposition/opposed to" (Numbers 16:2).

This description is meant to be an affront to God or be understood to denote an intensification of his cruelty and oppression to others. He was literally notoriously bad. He did not act obscurely or privately, but openly and in the face of the sun, imposing his government without respect to men or dread of an all-seeing Divinity (Genesis 6:11; 13:13). He was not unlike our godless leaders today. There was and is no fear of God before Nimrod’s eyes.

So, Nimrod is said plainly to be 'mighty' upon the earth, which is by any means to be understood as his rule over men, likely in an aggressive manner" (1 Chronicles 1:10).Nimrod reveled in his worldly strength, illicitly using it for immoral purposes. As a hunter, he abused his craft violently to oppress and vanquish men. The irony with Nimrod was that although he attained expertise hunting animals, it was he that behaved more like a beast than a human being. A monstrosity of a man.

The fact that he hunted men had its purpose. In order to fulfill his ambitious desire, namely, the conquest of other people, all other considerations became secondary to such a dishonorable purpose in life. Nimrod’s name literally means, "He will revolt.” In a time when the name of a person indicated the nature of a person, this is not surprising. He was a form of antichrist, or one who aspired to be the leader of a revolution against God’s authority. His feet were quick to shed blood (Isaiah 59, Romans 3). The very sign of a man who doesn’t fear God. We would be wise to look around us today to see many the same as Nimrod. People who seek to use force and violence to subjugate people to their will. Some things never change, especially human nature.

It’s important to realize that there are people currently in this world that desire to subjugate you and force you to align in behavior and thought to their way of thinking and acting. They will do it through force, fear or any other means available to them. We see it in the media. We see it in the government. We need to be constantly aware that these systems are firmly rooted in the ‘system of the world’ not of God. 

The most common entry point into our lives was our minds via slow attrition and subtle barely perceptible shifts into immorality. The movements are no longer subtle and that is why more people are seeing them with their own eyes. For some it confused them, others it pushes them deeper into the world or towards God. Dividing lines are clearly being drawn. Unfortunately, many do not have a biblical worldview in which to categorize the actions which are immoral and evil and they begin to collapse mentally.

Nimrod as ruler commissioned the construction of the Tower of Babel, and that identification solidified his reputation as a king against God. Nimrod’s plans, however, were frustrated by the miracle of the confusion of tongues (Genesis 10:5, 18,25). In this way the wickedness Nimrod was shut down by God and Nimrod exist history at that point.

Then we have the only other mention of a hunter by vocation. In ancient times hunting was regarded as an art of highest importance. Ishmael, Abraham’s son by an unsanctioned union with Hagar the handmaiden of Abraham's wife Sarah became an archer and lived on the produce of his bow and arrow (Genesis 21:20); and Esau was skillful in the "chase" (Genesis25:27). Wild animals and birds were appreciated as food (Leviticus 17:13; Hosea 9:8).

In terms of game, when hunting was no longer a necessity, Israelites still hunted for the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the ibex and the wild goat. (Deuteronomy 12:22; 14:5), as well as for the destruction of wild beasts threatening the tribe(s). (Deuteronomy 12:15; I Kings 13:24;Proverbs 28:15). While hunting is not conspicuous in the literature of the Hebrews, the records of other great nations have numerous references to such an occupation. It is worthy of note that, although the Bible does not mention the hunting dog, it was familiar to Josephus the 1sr century Jewish historian.

In metaphorical and allegorical language, we have many comparisons in Scripture to note. Those who God uses to fulfill His purpose are referred to as "hunters"(Jeremiah 16:16). Enemies of the righteous are likewise spoken of in the same way (Job 10:16; Proverbs 6:26; Micah 7:2). The satanic hunter, the devil, always lies in wait to plunder the divine flock. He often uses flaming darts or arrows on his prey which is why we are encouraged to wear spiritual armor. The arrows being negative thoughts, doubts, temptations, anxieties and fears, lust and guilt.

All who are the Lord’s are his prey. A hunter correctly understood is one that pursues or eagerly follows after his objective. Unwearied in the chase, he is satisfied when he has caught his intended individual. The same can be said of the Devil, whose game are the godly and ungodly alike. He is never weary of such pursuit, nor weary in it. Hunters usually hunt for recreation and not out of any hatred for the creatures they hunt. The same cannot be said of the devil. He hunts the souls of men out of implacable hatred he bears towards them, and also the hatred of God who seeks to bless those who the devil would destroy if he could…but God will not allow it. God of course is the perfect hunter and will get to those He wishes to find and accept Him long before the Devil even knows the hunt is afoot.

The hunting attributed to God can be when He inflicts those punishments upon the ungodly who had first inflicted the hunt or abuses upon the godly. "He shall hunt them" (Psalm 140:5, 10, 11). Here "to hunt" means to chase to a precipice or to overthrow as Native Americans used to do to buffalo. (Habakkuk 2:17).

In terms of hunting implements that were used we can generally list them as there are many. There were nets, bow and arrow, pitfalls, snares, traps, gins, slings and clubs. The irony being many of these are used to figuratively to expose the desires of the wicked (Job41:19; Psalms 9:15; 25:15; 35:7; 142:3). To explain all the metaphors drawn from hunting, huntsmen, their traps and their victims would be a daunting task. I would refer readers to Biblical books that specifically deal with phrases of speech, metaphor and allegory in the Bible.

A Trained Professional XI: Strike While The Iron is Hot

The eleventh in a series about vocations in the Bible. The term Blacksmith as an occupational term covers all artificers and engravers of the metals. Blacksmiths. Men's men. A tough labor job but a fulfilling one. Without which ancient weapons wouldn't have been created. Kingdoms wouldn't have rose and therefore wouldn't have fallen. They helped forge, draw, bend and upset empires.

Some of the metals identified by name were gold, silver, brass (copper), iron, tin and lead (Numbers 31:22). The blacksmith's trade goes back to Tubal-Cain who is described as: 

“…the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron.” (Genesis 4:22). 

In other words as a blacksmith capable of constructing agricultural, household and warlike articles he was the first creator of the proverbial plowshares and pruning-hooks mentioned in Isaiah 2:4.

The fearful havoc wrought by some of Tubal-Cain’s weapons are immortalized in "The Song of Lamech" (Genesis 4:23,24). From then on, the smith's art took precedence over all other occupations, since this vocation furnished the instruments necessary for advancing civilization. It also unfortunately hammered out the implements of war, conquest and death. These tools were capable of giving life or taking it away.

Metal work, carpentry, building and other useful arts were greatly developed before the Flood. All the vessels used in the Tabernacle involved an intricate and learned knowledge of every kind of handicraft, and great skill in the fashioning of all that was required (Exodus 25:10, 11, 17, 18; 31:4, 5).

We read of the goldsmith and the silversmith. These particular smiths were skillful in making ornaments for adornment, vessels and images (Genesis 24:22; 35:4). Then there is the copper smith or worker in brass (Genesis 4:22; 1 Kings 7:14, 45. Mention is also made of the ironsmith, or worker in iron (1 Samuel 13:19; 2 Chronicles 24:12; Isaiah 44:12). So highly were those smiths skilled in the manufacture of war weapons that conquerors removed them from a conquered nation to completely diminish them as military threats not unlike what the United States did with Werner Von Braun and the Nazis V2 rocket program. Nebuchadnezzar was known to have done this to defeated people (2 Kings 24:14; Isaiah 44:12; 54:16; Jeremiah 24:1).

Smiths were also used for the making of helmets, breastplates, greaves, javelins, fetters, cult objects, plates and bars for city gates, various musical instruments, farming tools with iron fittings, flails, plowshares, coulters, mattocks, saws, chariots, swords, prison bars, household utensils like pots and pans and cauldrons and forks, pens and razors (Judges 16:21; 1 Samuel 2:13, 14; 13:19-21; 17:5-7; 2 Samuel 12:31; 1 Kings 7; 2 Kings 6:5;9:27; I Chronicles 15:19-24; Job 19:24; Psalms 105:18; 107:16; Isaiah 7:20;28:24, 27; 45:2; Jeremiah 17:1; 50:16;Ezekiel 4:3; 5:1; Amos 1:3). 

Some of these tasks moved beyond the proper understanding of smithing. Specialized processes and tools were necessary. We have references to smelting as early as Job 28:2 which was the oldest book in the Bible predating the authorship of the Torah/Pentateuch. We see the bellows identified for blowing the coals in the fire (Isaiah 54:16),and to the blacksmith who fashions heated iron into axes, and saws with his hammer (Joshua 17:15, 18; Isaiah41:7; 44:12; Jeremiah 6:29). We see tools for carving and engraving (1 Kings 6:29, 32-36),tongs (Isaiah 44:12), are among the implements a smith required.

As for agriculture, we can imagine how smiths plied their trade from place to place in order to repair farming implements, likely primitive forms of horseshoes and also household utensils, or to supply new ones. Archaeologists have found traces of an Israelite forge, complete with plowshares in the Palestine area (obviously predating the Palestinians). There are even Egyptian murals about the time of Exodus that represented two smiths working the bellows.

Special note should be made about the timing and chronology of metalworking and smithing too as science and archeology are often quick to disagree with the Bible until irrefutable proof from archeology is usually found to prove the Bible correct. Genesis intentionally mentions rapid human advancement in a matter-of-fact way when it comes to technology and creativity in the antediluvian (pre-Flood) world. Jabal develops domestication of animals and tents, Jubal also pioneered music. Tubal Cain forges metal tools (all within just a few generations). This is a rapid cultural progression, not a slow evolutionary development. God created the earth with mineral-rich soils (Deuteronomy 8:9, Job 28:2), allowing Adam’s descendants to craft metal instruments immediately. The Bible’s genealogical structure places Tubal Cain and Jubal, before the Flood, directly contradicting the secular “Stone, Bronze, Iron” age model.

Just because archeology can’t find the physical evidence doesn’t mean the Bible should be disregarded. If that was the case then nothing in the Bible would be valid as most of it requires faith anyway. Why do these timelines matter? Historians based in an evolutionist mindset assert metallurgy emerged around 1500 BC, yet Genesis situates these technologies thousands of years earlier. Iron working therefore predates the Flood since Tubal Cain forged iron. As it turns out having investigated it in my studies…secular archaeology has in-fact uncovered copper and iron smelting work dating to the 5th millennium BC, confirming Scripture’s timeline.

A Trained Professional X: Teach a Man To Fish

This is the ninth post in a series about people's vocations or work in the Bible. On deck (pun intended) is a fisherman. Many of the first disciples Jesus called were fishermen. Although there are few references in the Bible to those of this occupation, they are nevertheless brought into prominence by the record of those Galilean fishermen, like Peter, "The Big Fisherman," who left their ship and nets to follow Jesus (Matthew 4:18,19; Mark 1:16,17). Among the characteristic features of those who lived off the sea, the following. They usually lived together as a community.

The Fish Gate at Jerusalem implies an adjacent fish market, with stocks of fish supplied chiefly through Tyrian traders who imported it (II Chronicles 33:14; Nehemiah 3:3; 12:39; 13:16). Because of the distance from the fisheries of Phoenicia and the climate, fish sold at Jerusalem would be salted or dried by the sun. Fish from the Lake of Galilee would be fresher. Fishermen were strong and tough.The strenuousness of their work ruled out the weak and lazy (Luke 5:2).

They were usually gruff in manner, rough in speech and in their treatment of others (Luke 9:49, 54; John 18:10). They were loud burly men’s men. Before they were tempered by Christ's influence, fishermen James and John had the nickname "sons of thunder"(Mark 3:17). Further, their exposure to all kinds of weather made them resilient and fearless. They were accustomed to bear with patience the most trying circumstances. Toiling for hours without success, they were always ready to try once more (Luke5:5; John 21:3).These traits, and others, made them successful "fishers of men" (Matthew4:19; Mark 1:17) but familiar with failure also.

These were the types of people Jesus chose. Not the beta effeminate cuckolded men we now see in churches. Men have morphed into something not wholly Biblical in our churches. Somewhat Biblical but not wholly biblical. Filled with some grace and love but no spine, strength of character or resoluteness. There is a difference between meek and weak. Meek means you can but in grace choose not to. Weak just means you can’t. Jesus’ disciples were eventually meek. Robust, strong but reserved. Many of today’s churchgoing men are just weak.

The disciple/fisherman’s earthly occupation was a parable of their spiritual calling. It was so with David the shepherd who became "the Shepherd of Israel". Paul the tentmaker was used by God for making people into tabernacles or Holy of Holies (naos / ναός) for the Holy Spirit.

When referring to the fish caught and traded in there are some theological/spiritual things that should be noted. While there are many references to fish in the Bible, no specific kind of fish is distinguished by name not even in Jonah. The ‘whale’ is referred to as ‘great fish’. Fish are under man’s dominion and only classified in reference to their ritual distinctions. Clean fish have fins and scales and unclean fish which lacked them. Israelites could eat fish properly so-called (Leviticus 11:9;Numbers 11:5,22; Job 12:8; Psalm8:8; Ezekiel 38:20). Therefore, the catfish, being without scales, could not be eaten by the Jews (Deuteronomy 14:9,10) for ritualistic reasons not moral ones.

The prohibition against eating fish without fins and scales in ancient Israel is because they are believed to have been for health reasons, as many aquatic creatures without fins or scales are bottom feeders and may have been considered more likely to carry toxins or diseases. Some theories suggest that scales may make fish less susceptible to parasites. Additionally, these laws may have had a symbolic or ritual significance, reinforcing concepts of purity and holiness although not clearly stated.

The Galilean fish were abundant and of great variety. Together with bread they formed the customary or traditional food of the population which is why we so often see Jesus and disciple eating this combination. (Matthew 7:10; Luke11:11). Basically, a high fiber, lower carb, high protein diet (keto).Even the resurrected Lord and His disciples consumed grilled fish (Luke 24:42; John 21:9).

In Exodus the destruction of their fish was a heavy blow to the Egyptians whose rivers, canals and lakes teemed in fish. Many were dependent on the provision on their supply (Exodus 7:18-21; Numbers 11:5; Psalm 105:29; Isaiah 19:5).In ancient times the fish was worshiped as the emblem of increase or fertility. The Philistines (sea people) and Assyrians practiced the worship of Dagon, half-man half-fish. Such idolatry, however, was divinely forbidden (Deuteronomy4:18).

Interestingly, on the walls of the catacombs the early Christians Jesus wasre presented(symbolically) as a fish, because the five letters of this word in Greek provide the initial letters of the five words, "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior” or Ichthys or the uncial/uppercase version "ΙΧΘΥΣ" (Ἰησοῦς Χρῑστός Θεοῦ Υἱός Σωτήρ)

Figurative use of fish also has a place in Scripture. Our Lord likened the kingdom of heaven to a net, cast into the sea, which gathered fish of every kind, good and bad (Matthew13:47). In this Parable of Drawing in the Net, Jesus compares the angels separating the righteous from the wicked at the end of this world to fishers sorting out their catch, keeping the good fish and throwing the bad fish away.

For the actual task of fishing spear hooks and lines were used (Job 41:7;Amos 4:2; Matthew 17:27). While various kinds of nets were employed, the dragnet was the chief instrument for catching fish (Habakkuk 1:15) which is why the disciples were unable to pull the net into the boat in John 21 it was so effective at catching large numbers of fish. In this story the disciples had fished all night but caught nothing. Jesus instructed them to cast the nets on the other side of the boat, and they drew in 153 fish. When they return to shore with their catch, Jesus is waiting for them and has cooked some fish for them to eat. The spreading of nets signified the desolation of Tyre and the use by Syrian fishermen even until today of this ancient site for the spreading and drying of their nets is a striking instance of fulfilled prophecy (Ezekiel26:5, 14).

Fishing is a preferred illustration used for taking souls in the Gospel net, not to be destroyed but to be saved alive like believers. Peter, the fisherman, knew that when he caught fish in the Lake of Galilee that they were alive, but taken out of their natural element they quickly died. But the souls he was to catch were dead in sin, but came into possession of eternal life as soon as they were landed on the shore of salvation (Matthew4:19; Luke 5:5-10).

So, I guess it is fitting that the One who created the sea and all that is in it in Genesis, delivered some of His expansive and powerful messages from a fishing boat. Jesus, the One who uses His own as fishers in an immense sea of humanity. They are men performing a task, which requires all the patience, sturdiness, tenacity and skill provided by the likes of a fisherman.

A Trained Professional IX: Down On the Farm

The Bible was written primarily by men that were living lives based in an agrarian culture/society. Farmers, crops and the like.  They were growers of many plants and harvesters of many more. The Israelites society revolved mostly around an economy based solely on producing and maintaining crops and farmland. They were breeders of livestock and masters of animal husbandry. They raised animals for meat, fiber, milk, or other products. Some of the tasks dealing with farming included day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Although many shepherds and flocks started out as nomadic this eventually led to more stationary domestication on small parcels of land that would eventually give way to farms.

Although the word ‘farm’ is not in the Bible, the word ἀγρός / agros is found many places. The word agros, from which we get the words agrarian and agriculture, is in-fact a field or pasture, specifically a field or pasture that can bear a crop. For all intents and purposes…it is a farm. The concept of a farm as we understand them today weren’t very common in Israel in Bible times. In Bible history, the Jewish people are introduced to us at a period when they were largely engaged in agrarian pursuits just prior to the scattering of the Diaspora after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70AD.

Husbandry, the Biblical term for agriculture, or farming, was an esteemed biblcal art in which God instructed the husbandman (2 Chronicles 26:10; Isaiah 28:26). The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary reminds us that when the Hebrews became a nation and occupied Canaan…

The agriculture learned in Egypt made them a self-subsisting nation, independent of eternal supplies, and so less open to external corrupting influences. Agriculture was the basis of the Mosaic economy; it checked the tendency to the roving habits of nomad tribes, gave each man a stake in the soil by the law of inalienable inheritances, and made numerous offspring profitable as to the culture of the land. God claimed the lordship of the soil (Leviticus 25-26) so that each held by the divine nature to the tithe a quiet rent to the theocratic landlord, also subject to the sabbatical year.

The frequent biblical allusions by Jesus to farmers, fields and their products indicate how familiar He was with the agricultural pursuits of His time. Many farming methods then employed still prevail in Israel. There were three lprominent branches of agriculture which the farmer participated in.

The Growing of Grain. Among the agricultural operations associated with this fruit of the field, and frequently mentioned in the Bible, we have (Matthew 13:3), plowing, sowing, reaping, threshing and winnowing. As to the farmers implements we have the plough, the yoke, the cart, the sickle, the sieve, the fan, the shovel, the hand-mill or stones.

The Tending of Vineyards. As grapes, olives and figs served an important part in the diet of the Bible, great care was bestowed upon the vineyards — a task well-adapted to the farmer’s routine as most of the attention a vineyard required could be given when his other crop demanded no time (Numbers 18:30; Isaiah 5:1-6).

The Raising of Flocks. The Jewish people reckoned flocks as a necessary part of wealth. They were important as a source of food and clothing/skins. (Matthew 18:13; John 10:12) The account of the wealth of both Job and King Hezekiah reveals their interest in the pursuit of farming.

Leviticus 26:4 I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.

In Scripture there is a cornucopia of metaphors taken from the earth, things growing out of it, and the cultivation of it. There is enough to write a book on it and some people have. I just don’t have the time to plow into it all (see what I did there?). The reader of this blog post though can pursue this with the aid of the internet or even an old fashioned concordance using agricultural metaphors and words. I will leave off mentioning only a few here and some side notes to their spiritual significance where it is warranted.

The seed is used to signify the engrafted Word of God (1 Peter 1:23). The ministry of the sun’s heat, rain and dew illustrate divine influences in the spiritual germination of the Word as seed (Isaiah 44:3; John 6:63). Roots, branches, leaves, flowers and fruit likewise carry a spiritual significance (Deuteronomy 29:18; Job 13:25; 15:33; 19:28; Isaiah 5:24; Matthew 3:8; John 15:1-3; Jude 12). The faith of the mustard seed is deemed enough to move a mountain.

Plants symbolize the church and the believer (Isaiah 5:7; Matthew 15:13). Trees are often used by way of similitude (Isaiah 11:1; 41:19; Jeremiah 11:19). Thorns sometimes represent wicked and mischievous men, and the efforts of Satan to buffet us (Numbers 33:55; Hosea 2:6; 2 Corinthians 12:7). Olives were used to describe the great dignity God invested His chosen people with (Jeremiah 11:16; Zechariah 4:3,11,12; Romans 11:17). The vineyards, in metaphor and Parable, are suggestive of the people of God, and of what He expects from His own people. Wine signifies divine grace and also wrath (Judges 8:2, Psalm 104:2). The gentiles are grafted into salvation promised to the Jews (Romans 11:11-31).

Plowing is a fitting symbol of affliction, repentance and diligence due to its backbreaking nature. (Psalm 129:3; Isaiah 28:24-26; Jeremiah 4:3; Luke 9:62). Harvests are employed to describe the reward of good works and also evil deeds "(Psalm 126:5, 6; Hosea 6: 11; John 4:35, 38; Galatians 6:7-9). Chaff and stubble denote false doctrine and the destruction of the wicked (Amos 9:9, Obadiah 18; Matthew 3:12,  Luke 22:31; 1 Corinthians 3:12). The separation of wheat from the chaff or wheat from the tares is symbolic of dividing believers from nonbelievers, truth from falsehood. Grinding of grain, like its winnowing, is also used symbolically (Exodus 11:5; Job 31:10; Isaiah 47:2). Yokes which the oxen wore are made to illustrate both satanic bondage and full allegiance Christ (Matthew 11:29; 2 Corinthians 6:14). The list is enormous.

If you’re that interested in pursuing this one further I recommend that you open your bible in a field and begin reading it in earnest. The allusions to farming, farmers and flocks are as numerous in the bible as stalks of grain in an unharvested field.

Of Those Given Much, More Will Be Expected

A long-standing source of frustration for me has been my desire to reach more people with the teachings of the Bible and not being able to. I have written for decades. Spoken publicly when the opportunities arise both in sermons and studies. The opportunities to write is always here on the Internet but my organic reach has always been limited regardless of how I propagate or seed the field of social media. To complicate this I am in a point in my career where I need to focus on my work often which I realize is also a huge piece of my ministry.

At times I feel like Adoniram Judson who was a missionary from Burma/Myanmar. In his 40 years there preaching the Gospel and teaching Scripture he saw virtually no converts in his lifetime. In some respects, he went to his grave believing he was a failure. It wasn’t until missionaries returned after his death that they found that that many in the Buddhist country had converted to Christianity.

God gave me Kingdom aspirations … big thoughts. I want to reach more people. In light of Charlie’s death and watching people like Wes Huff reach millions with the Gospel this shortcoming feels more amplified and the desire to make a difference for Christ’s kingdom has become more intense. As I age the importance of it seems even more urgent. I am 57 this year and I won’t be on this earth forever.

I’ve been forced to sit and watch as the world inverts and divides (not by my own choice most time). It’s like I’m sitting in the back of a theater and there’s chaos on the screen and there is chaos in the audience too. I watch it all unfold as an observer. I cannot effect a change to the things on the screen as they are at too high a level and disconnected like the problems in our government, in our nation and in the world. I try to intervene with the people in the audience watching the violence on the screen and they reject me and what I am saying also. Yet…I can show biblical instances of nearly everything we’re seen unfold in this nation in the last 40 years. I can also show the solutions and resolutions for many of these problems from the Bible also. Yet, my invisibility to the ones on the screen is complete. They don’t even know I exist. The rejection from those in the audience directly in front me that I try to help steer out of confusion, chaos and in the downward spiral is utter and absolute.  The world is unmovable in its corruption. I am making virtually no difference.

Have I affected people. I think so. Those who love and care about me tell me I’m making more of a dent than I think I am. Being the flawed human worldly person I am through I see mostly the shortcoming. A failure to do as I was told to do. I need to do more and honestly don’t know how as this seems to be in God’s timing…and I am not a patient man.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. Luke 12:48

Americae Declinatio: Americas Downward Spiral

Sir John Glubb, in his 1978 essay "The Fate of Empires," posited that the average lifespan of empires has been 250 years. This duration corresponds to about eight to ten human generations, with each generation lasting around 25-30 years. Furthermore, he identified an 8-phase pattern that empires typically follow, which includes stages such as conquest, affluence, and decline. He argued that this cycle is influenced by factors, including social, economic, and political dynamics.

In the overarching time of 3,000 years of history, he noted that despite advancements in technology and governance, the life cycle of empires remains remarkably consistent. For instance, he observed that empires like the Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire although exceptional, followed similar trajectories. They rose to power and eventually started declining within a 250-year timeframe. This pattern of course points us squarely to the United States, which was founded in 1776 and is approaching its 250th anniversary next year. The truth is that the U.S. is entering the decline phase of this cycle, facing challenges such as intense political division, economic and class inequality, and global competition.

The implications of the 250-year cycle are significant for understanding the future of current global powers. As the U.S. hits 250 years, there are concerns about its ability to maintain its status as a world power. As even a casual observer of history can see, no empire can sustain its dominance indefinitely, and the U.S. may need to learn from the experiences of past empires to navigate its challenges currently affecting us.

Phase 1: Bondage to Spiritual Growth – Great civilizations are formed in a crucible. The Ancient Jews were in bondage for 400 years in Egypt. The Christian faith and Church came out of 300 years of persecution. Western civilization slowly emerged from the chaotic conflicts during the decline of the Roman Empire and the movements of often fierce “barbarian” tribes. American culture was formed by the injustices that grew in colonial times. Suffering and injustices cause spiritual growth. Suffering brings wisdom and demands spiritual discipline that seeks justice and moral solutions.

Phase 2: From Spiritual Growth to Indomitable Courage – Having been tempered in the crucible of suffering the ability to endure great sacrifice comes forth. Anointed and ascendant leaders emerge and people are galvanized to courage and sacrifice (including loss of life) to create a better, more just world for later generations. It’s the old adage that people who have little or nothing also have little or nothing to lose. Some are often more willing to live for something more important than themselves and their own pleasure. At this point in a nation’s history a battle has begun, a battle requiring courage, discipline, and other virtues.

Phase 3: From Courage to Liberty – As a result of tempering and determined fighting enemies are incapacitated, liberty and greater justice emerge as a result. At this point a nation comes forth, rooted in the ideals that it fought for just like the Christian Church in the 4th century. In this phase many who led the battle are still alive, and the legacy of those who are not is still fresh in the minds that are. They’ve paid the price with their lives. Heroism and the virtues that created the nation are esteemed. The ideals like loyalty, patriotism and honor are still front-and-center.

Phase 4: From Liberty to Abundance – Liberty ushers in prosperity and greater responsibility because the society is still functioning with the virtues of sacrifice and hard work. Then comes the first danger: Abundance. Abundance and responsibility run together. Abundance can weigh us down and take life out of us while taking on a life of its own. The struggles that tempered prior generations move to the background. Jesus said that man’s life does not consist in his possessions. Such a culture is living on the remnants of earlier sacrifices. People become less willing to make sacrifices. Ideals diminish as the abundance weighs down citizens. The sacrifices and virtues are increasingly distant from collective conscience; the enjoyment of their fruits becomes the focus.

Phase 5: From Abundance to Complacency – Complacency is to be self-satisfied and unaware of serious threats that undermine health and the ability to survive. The attitude of a complacent person is: Everything looks fine, so it must be fine. In reality, foundations, resources, morality, and virtues are all crumbling. As virtues, disciplines, and ideals become more remote, those who raise alarms are labeled by the complacent as “doomsayers” and considered extreme, harsh, or judgmental. This is me. I’ve been warning people that this is the direction we’ve been in for 50 years after the 1960s.

Phase 6: From Complacency to Apathy – The Greek word for apathy is απάθεια (apatheia) and literally means without feeling or without suffering. It refers to a state of mind in which one is not disturbed by any external passions that once animated and inspired people. Due to the complacency of the previous stage, the growing lack of attention to disturbing trends advances to outright dismissal, negligence or even pliability to new damaging ideals and ideologies. People become selfish. Working and sacrificing for others becomes foreign to people's thinking. As the Bible says, hearts grow cold towards others and grow cold to the sacrifices people made in the past (suffering too). Hard work and self-discipline continue to erode. People become lazy.

Phase 7: From Apathy to Dependence – Increasing numbers of people lack virtues and zeal necessary to work and contribute. They become entitled, lazy and parasites hanging on the side of society. The suffering and the sacrifices that built the culture are now a distant memory. The idea of striving and work seem “too hard,” dependence on others grows. A socialist spreading of the wealth philosophy becomes more prevalent and more desirable, especially for those in parasitic relationships with the Government. Collectively society tips wholly into dependence. 

Suffering of any type is intolerable. But virtue and morality are not seen as the solution. This is why we’ve seen a wholesale drift away from Judeo-Christian values in the last few decades. Having lived on the sacrifices of others for years, the civilization now insists that “others” must solve their woes. This accelerates the slide towards socialistic/Marxist philosophy. This creates a growing demand for governmental, collective solutions. This in turn deepens dependence on the State, not personal or family collectives. Family-based sacrifices shift towards communal or centralized government support.

From Dependence Back to Bondage – As dependence increases, so does centralized power. Dependent people tend to become dysfunctional, desperate, disruptive or rebellious and criminal. Seeking a government savior or bailout, they look to strong central leadership. If this is too hard they switch to seeking out relief by taking from others and crime rates skyrocket or they try to escape the growing dysfunction through alcoholism and substance abuse. The centralized power corrupts. The corrupt power of madmen create injustices by an overbearing government. This is the country we are currently living in. As any reader can see, we’re in the last stage of a nation. We’re in the death throes of empire. There are few other answers to explain what is happening. Structure begins to disintegrate. The family, morality and personal virtue that helped build the nation are now effectively replaced by an dark, dehumanized and despotic centralized control, hungry for power. We become slaves to the machine. In the case of the United States, slaves to the military industrial complex.

Americae Declinatio: Americas Downward Spiral

In this way, the nation ends. Not with a bang or war but with a whimper and slow fade. The slow death is erosion from within. Slowly weakening until external enemies can no longer be fended off. The virtues required to fight an enemy internal or external are gone. Again, we see the United States condition today. It is at this point that we are dumped back into the crucible, until suffering and conflict bring about enough of the wisdom, virtue, and courage necessary to begin a new nation that will rise from the ashes. As I’ve so clearly clarified, we are nearing that end.

As a Christian I sit outside this cycle as an observer. Christianity has seen many empires come and go. The Bible saw the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, Greek, Romans. Since the Bible was completed we've seen the Ottomans, Vikings, etc. We’ve seen colonial powers like the Spanish, the Portuguese, the French, the British Empire and now we have the American Empire in demise.

What do we learn from history and empire? Simple really, the only true haven of safety is the Church, who received her promise of indefectibility from the Lord (Matt 16:18). 

Matthew 16:18 ~ And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it

But the Church, too, is always in need of reform and will have much to suffer just like empires or it too will fall like the empires it stands distinct from. Christians survive the changing world because we are not of this world.

We live in dark and dangerous days, but this perspective can help us navigate the darkness ahead of us. We really can’t deny that we are living at the end of an era. It is painful because something we love is dying. But from death comes forth new life. Just as Christ rose from the grave and has outlasted every empire’s rise and fall. We as Christians will outlast the empires too.

Professional Victims and Political Frauds

We’ve just eclipsed the two-year anniversary of the October 7 slaughter of Israeli innocents which brought on the current war over the Gaza Strip. Within weeks, the Middle Eastern world tried to downplay the atrocity and within months the entire world had tried to completely flip the narrative to make it seem like Israel is the monster and it is somehow all Israel’s fault that Gaza is in ruins. The United Nations just sat idle until they believed Israel had gone overboard and then the UN started attacking them too. The global community’s reaction is not surprising, but it is indicative of a general antisemitic mindset that is rampant the world over.

The President is now earnestly attempting to end the horrid war through negotiation, as opposed to his Israeli counterpart Netanyahu who is attempting to end it by flattening every building left standing in Gaza City to annihilate what Hamas fighters remain there and to finally rescue what hostages remain. While the United States waits on Hamas to accept the overly generous offer that allows murders to lay down their weapons and walk away from the atrocities they’ve committed. The only real cost to peace is that they won’t be allowed to govern Gaza anymore. The Islamist terror army’s sycophants here in the U.S. have protested the whole thing since the beginning ad nauseum as if they don’t even have jobs. Protesting is their fulltime job apparently.

It seems impossible that on the two-year anniversary of the outright murder of more than 1,000 noncombatants — women and children in huge numbers, including hundreds of kids at a music festival — there would be Americans (and others living in America) who would see it as appropriate to agitate on Hamas’s behalf. They are real lowlifes and political un-American dissidents.

These idiots are literally celebrating bloody murder at a time when peace is on the table. You would think such an affront would be beyond the pale if for no reason other than the optics of demonstrating at Israeli consulates on that country’s 9/11 are so toxic. And you’d be wrong. You’d be wrong because you have a hard time believing that people you share oxygen with could be so utterly divorced from your concept of propriety or even basic wisdom.

Even if you think it’s cool to stick it to the Jews whenever you can, after all, you’d think October 7 is a good day to lay low. If for no other reason than that this is a good way to get beaten to a pulp — at least, if these people you hate so much really are the monsters you say they are. They won’t do this of course, and the likelihood these Marxist terrorists provocations will be answered by violence by counter protesters is nearly non-existent.

This should tell you a lot about who the good guys are. The people who aren’t the good guys in our current human formula seem to have something in common. Victimhood culture. They’re all begging to achieve victimhood status and the utter lack of accountability that it confers. The pro-Hamas crowd, the pro-transsexual crowd, pro-homosexual crowd is distinguishable from Antifa, only by the hats they wear or the flags they bring to their “mostly peaceful” protests. Otherwise, they’re indistinguishable. Cultural Marxist terrorist.

They employ the age old tactics that are based on the concept of “non-violent resistance,” the Civil Rights movement adopted from followers of MLK and of Gandhi in India during the movement for independence, but they’re a perversion of those methods. The Antifa/Hamas/anti-ICE protesters claim they aren’t non-violent. They’re there to provoke violence. The sycophant media backs these ludicrous claims.

Spit or kick an ICE agent, as one Antifa protester was on video doing over the weekend and get knocked down and arrested. Presto! You are now a victim of ICE brutality. It doesn’t matter that you’ve done everything you possibly could to provoke a bad optics reaction from ICE who you’re spitting on or kicking when cameras may or may not be trained on you. All of these people venerate victimhood. They run from a fair fight. There is no honor in anything they do — in fact, they assail the concept of honor as a tool and relic of capitalism and patriarchy.

And this isn’t the sole province of the demonstrators. It moves well up the chain to the media and politicians who encourage this irrational and lawless behavior. People with overarching ideology that don’t care about anything but their own ideology aren’t generally bent on aiding the common good of society contrary to what they actually claim. These aren’t people motivated to serve their fellow man. They’re people who want power over their fellow man. Rational and balanced humans learn to process rage and put aside selfish ideologies for their own health and that of the relationships they cherish. Sometimes even for their neighbors. These are not those types of people. The people pushing Marxist philosophies in schools, media and government claim to care for the common man but in reality only use them as a means to an end. They promise a social utopia and deliver a draconian hell.

When someone who seeks your political support demands that you use your rage or act out in violence, it’s basically an announcement that you are a thing to be exploited. Not a person and not an object of value for any other reason. That you are a victim to be monetized. And that you’re within your bounds to share in that monetization.

We see what happens when the risk of losing an election is taken away. We currently see it in Chicago, where that city’s mayor Brandon Johnson is openly demanding civil war — doing it, of course, under the thin guise of accusing his enemies of opening hostilities…something that isn't happening. The President hasn’t declared war on the people of Chicago. He’s sending help to the federal law enforcement agents being routinely attacked by Brandon Johnson’s allies right within his own city with his permission. This is not Johnson claiming to represent Chicagoans in this controversy because he’s not, he’s using them solely as a political tool to eventually be reelected. The fact that this controversy is over ICE removing illegal aliens, the majority of whom are illegal criminals, makes the mayor’s words pure threatening rhetoric that will incite people to the very violence he wants but claims he doesn’t. It’s the same game of poke and run that is done in the ‘non-violent’ agitators in the streets and by the Islamic terrorists in Hamas. It’s all about provoking a reaction in front of cameras.

This is about attempting to hogtie leaders who are actually trying to do the right thing in the face of mounting adversity. If civil-war rhetoric is met with conciliatory language by conservatives or more rational voices who get fed up with the bullying and attacks, the agitating Marxists will win the war of popular opinion and push us closer to the point of no return. If it’s met with combativeness, Marxist and progressive activists will claim victimhood and thus claim a win. Victimhood culture is the death of civilization, because where it leads is abandonment of sympathy and, to follow, abandonment of humanity.

You see it in Gaza, you’re starting to see it on the streets of Europe, and, if the American Progressives get their way, you will see it explode here in America. We’re already at the flashpoint and the combustible material is already in place waiting for the spark.

There is no clean way to put this to bed. So far, there have been no effective efforts to put it to bed and that’s understandable because it’s a no-win situation. Most reasonable rational people desperately want peace. We want a Christian revival. But evil still has a say in what is happening in the world right now. They have made it abundantly clear that they want violence and chaos…and they won’t shut-up or stop until they get it. They just keep poking and prodding hoping for an aggressive reaction. This will then justify pulling out all the stops and resorting to full scale conflict. Their ends justify their means…and it is evil. The end means war. Just like Gaza.

The Socialist Effects of the AI Revolution

The Age of Artificial Intelligence is on us like a storm. As we all know storms can be beneficial bring forth life giving water but they can also bring with them havoc and destruction. I try to temper the posts I write about AI with this paradox in mind. In and of itself AI is amoral. It is a tool…but a tool can quickly become a weapon. We currently see large parcels of land being bought up by enormous corporations like Meta and Google to build data farms or AI factories on them. Wherever they’re building they are a considerable drain on water sources for cooling and in the event of power loss they are massive polluters because of the hundreds of diesel generators required to keep the farms running 24/7 if the grid goes down.

Even as I write this post, I can unequivocally tell you the reader, AI is already beginning to change how I write. Even at these earliest stages it’s making a profound impact. You are probably asking how? In a word: Research. How I’m able to complete research has already completely changed. If I type in a series of disparate thoughts in words, phrases, AI is already combing the entire compendium of human knowledge on the internet for a ton of sources to cite or even paraphrase large portions into succinct ideas. Sometimes they’re wrong but often they are coherent and usable in a raw form with few edits. Not always though…

When using AI for writing I enter a variety of separate ideas via words or phrases by typing them into a search bar. It intuitively knows the direction I am seeking if I give enough descriptors, nouns, verbs or imperatives. It is a form of primitive pattern recognition like identifying someone’s face based on a collection of points of data. That is what is making it easier for me to glean the needed information to write blog posts and formulate complex ideas into word pictures more quickly. I should note that the paraphrased summaries are not always as reliable. There are conceptual glitches in the matrix. From a theological viewpoint they are often wrong because they are pulling information from all Christian sources (and even sometimes non-Christian) and some of those sources are heretical or are not biblically accurate (Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness).

I should state that the AI isn’t writing my posts, it is consolidating my research and pinpointing correlations and associations I may not have always seen at first glance. The AI is acting like the center column used to in our Bibles - it is cross-referencing applicable information from other locations. This was part of my gift when I first started writing in earnest 30 years ago after I left high school. When writing I was able to drift above the sea of words and see ‘the big picture’ based on many inputs. They call it a holistic view. AI is doing a lot of that legwork that required hours of work from me allowing me to process even more and drift even higher. The good news is it is still me doing the final draft from the research. I’m still creating something new from old sources allowing me to more quickly find needed citations. I would never let the AI write for me, it’s unethical and frankly the prose is too stilted and robotic.

Regardless of how accurate AI is it still requires me to edit and correct the output before I even begin writing nascent ideas from the research. What I’ve noticed is that the newer the sources the more often they’re inaccurate. There are some rules to assume about AI and they need to be looked for and rooted out if you have any chance of stopping bad information from proliferating do to socialist ideas being piggybacked into your AI research. The truth is I don’t think most people realize how much underlying Marxism is in the end product of AI and how much of the tech industry is driven by similar philosophy.

Rule One:  In AI research it seems that the newer the theological/philosophical writing the higher the probability of errant theology/philosophy or socialist thinking. Most orthodox theologians know this so it's not much of a surprise to me. Newer text sources tend to be polluted with more salacious or sensational ideas like the Social Gospel or social/social justice causes that have only recently entered the societal picture in the last century. Usually this is because of a desire to drum up attention, popularity or utilize the phenomenon of click bait for monetary reasons. It the end it’s always about ideology, then greed, fame or honor.

Rule Two: The more items you try to standardize into a single paraphrase or single idea in AI the higher the probability of error also. It seems AI seeks to merge all information into a single synopsis which isn’t always ideal or helpful. Therein lay one of the dangers of the AI for theological/spiritual and non-theological ideas. It inadvertently normalizes errant unorthodox ideas into orthodoxy. Kind of like our society’s desire to universalize religion, sexuality, behavior and other social issues. It ends up becoming a form of socialist AI. Whether this is by design or accident I am unclear. My guess is that it is intentional as programmers are by their nature often socialist.

Rule Three: Many believe today's large language models (LLMs) by programmers are produced by data from the public, so they can't ethically be owned by any one individual. Many in the tech industry believe socialism is the only fair way to govern this technology. LLMs are a new social and economic entity—chimeras of speech, art, and culture. A chat-bot is a collective. Because it’s produced by everyone, socialists claim it can’t ethically be owned by any single individual thereby they are laying claim to it themselves. Socialism is a collective, therefore socialist democratic ownership is the only reasonable way to govern AI.

The algorithms would follow accordingly. If this logic is to be followed in the AI programming than the amount of theological and philosophical error would be large and the amount of Christian spiritual or theological influence would be minimized as Christianity properly understood and obeyed is more often the exception not the rule in society. As the Bible says, the gate is narrow. Computer programs programmed by godless programmers will produce godless output. It is still up to the individual though to be the final arbitrator comparing it to Scripture directly.

The real advantage for me though is, because I am not burdened down doing all the research minutiae, I am now dedicating more time to pondering much larger issues and making more profound discoveries of insight that I wasn’t able to do before. The irony is that when it comes to Biblical writing and trying to draw contemporary parallels, I find myself more frequently going to sources that are over a hundred years old. This would appear counterintuitive but it’s not. The question I get most often is why I do this. 

Its because many of the modern theological and philosophical sources have been tainted with bad thinking, bad logic or errant theology. Much of the writing prior to the Liberal theology boom of the Victorian era is in error and these errors are absent in older writings. They are sound thinking and rigorous theology. This also helps me avoid the socialist commentary so common in modern theological writing.

It literally is the old adage of, “Consider your sources.” Right now, the AI is not differentiating between sources merely compiling the data and info. I imagine at some point in the future as AI gets smarter, this will change but right now it is still “Junk in, junk out; Socialism in, Socialism out”. The value added I put into the process is taking out the junk and the Marxist taint and assuring alignment to Scripture. Then putting what is paraphrased into a readable form. So, I guess this post is a warning to readers. At some point real soon the stilted nature of the writing will go away and it will appear to be completely human prose. This may go a long way into fooling people that the content is therefore human and not a uniform aggregate of errant sources. Many will fall victim to false teaching not even directly created by human hands. You’ve been warned. Always validate your sources that AI is working from.

The Send Ones & Messengers, Part IV: Morning Stars and the Watchers

Morningstar

Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation... while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Job 38:4, 7

Morning stars is a title given to angels, indicating their intelligence, holiness and brightness of glory; excellencies which have all been derived from their infinitely-glorious Creator. Satan was one of the morning stars Isaiah 14:12. We must never forget that Lucifer was once an unfallen beautiful angel and had fallen from grace. Satan is seen everywhere in the Bible from the beginnings of Genesis to near the end of Revelation. He is referred to by a myriad of other names based on his parasitic and evil character. In him and his acolytes we see even such a being of high standing can be brought low by their own sin and poor choices. A character lesson for the ages. 

Watchers

It is Daniel who gives angels the title of watchers.

“I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven. Daniel 4:13

“The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men” Daniel 4:17

“And because the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, in the tender grass of the field, and let him be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven periods of time pass over him” Daniel 4:23

As watchers the angels have ever-wakeful diligence in duty. Having no need of sleep, they are untiringly active in administering their appointed affairs under God's directions. What watchful care they exercise over the saints of God, in all the toils and trials of their earthly pilgrimage! They are like the watchmen posted on the walls of Jerusalem who never sleep and are active day and night (Isaiah 62:6).

Thrones, Powers, Rulers, Authorities

For by him were all things created whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities... Colossians 1:16

Conclusion

In the Bible four angels are mentioned by name: Michael is mentioned five times (Daniel 10:13; 10:21; 12:1; Jude 9, Revelation 12:7). He is the only angel to be called an archangel (Jude 9). Gabriel is mentioned four times (Daniel 8:15-27; 9:20-27; Luke 1:11-19, 26-27). Lucifer is mentioned once by name (Isaiah 14:12 KJV [Morning Star NIV]); Satan's name is mentioned 54 times. The Angel of the Covenant (Lord) is mentioned many times in Scriptures and is dealt with in the Chapter, "The Angel of the Covenant.

The apocryphal books mention by name the angels Metatron, Raphael, and Uriel or Jeremiel. Reviewing the preceding examination of the names and titles of angels, we see that they indicate their high importance as the creatures of God and are designed for our practical improvement. Those titles, the most significant that could be found in human language, may, however, but improperly describe their high distinction among created intelligences. Still, it is evident that angels possess preeminent dignity in the universal kingdom of the Lord; especially their names are given to them by the infinite wisdom of God. We cannot, therefore, worthily honor His holy Word, justify our own profession of faith, or receive the full amount of the consolation designed by the Scriptures unless we give attention to the divine testimony concerning those holy, happy, and immortal beings, all of whom bear a commission of grace in our favor and are sent to serve those who will inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:14).

The Send Ones & Messengers, Part III: Cherubim

Cherubim...these aren't your grandmother's cutsy baby angels she used to have hanging on the diningroom or livingroom walls. Oh no, these things should solicit the awe factor not the "Aawwww" factor.

[Referring to the Ark of the Covenant] And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, over- shadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover. (Exodus 25:18-20)

Before considering the attributes and activities of the cherubim, the singular of which is cherub, it may be useful to discuss the distinctions between the cherubim and the seraphim. The Bible makes it clear that these two types of angelic beings represent two different orders or ranks.

The propriety of the distinction of wings must be observed. The seraphim of Isaiah have two more wings than the cherubim of Ezekiel (1:5-18; 10:12). The former are described as being more immediately before the presence of God, therefore each seraph has two wings to cover his face before such transcendent brightness. Another difference is that the seraphim sing the praises of God without intermission. Further, the seraphim, the glorious ministers of God, are from their nature compared to fire and light. Cherubim, on the other hand, are so named because of their speed in the accomplishment of their tasks. The two names are not attached to the same order of angels, though both orders are near to God and possess the same glorious effulgence of their celestial nature.

The form and design of cherubic figures indicate immediate service for the Creator and constant attendance upon the Shekhinah. The actual existence of the cherubim cannot be disputed. However, the cherub is used in a symbolic sense by the Psalmist when he speaks of the God of Israel riding upon a cherub (Psalm 18:10). Here the cherub appears as a personification of the storm-cloud, bearing God from heaven to earth.

The word "cherubim" means to till or plough and is expressive of diligent service. The first Biblical reference to the cherubim is in association with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24). God placed them on the east side of the garden to preserve the way to the tree of life. They guard it not against, but for man, till man shall be fit to enjoy it and never to lose it (Revelation 2:7). “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city" (Revelation 22:14).

Moses does not specify the form of these angelic agents of divine judgment and mercy. Yet he must have been familiar with them for, when ordered to make the cherubim for the tabernacle, he fashioned them without any special direction from God. Placed at each end of the mercy seat, the cherubim represent a new relationship to God in His holiness and life-imparting presence (Exodus 25:18-20; Psalm 80:1). Their outstretched wings touch each other; they gaze one to- wards another, and downwards upon the ark. The position and attitude of the cherubim upon the mercy seat indicate their attendance upon their Creator and our Redeemer. Their gaze downwards upon the ark suggests their contemplation of the sublime mysteries of the said to "sit enthroned between the cherubim" (Psalm 80:1), on the mercy seat (Exodus 25:18-23), from which He promised to commune with Moses; and thus on "the throne of grace," which the redeemed are exhorted to approach boldly (Hebrews 4:16).

The cherubim made for Solomon's magnificent temple were of a colossal size (1 Kings 6:23-29) and were different from the cherubim constructed by Moses, which were made of solid gold. In the most holy place of the temple there were four cherubim, compared with the two Moses used. In Ezekiel the Cherubim are instilled for the first time with life, zeal, and ceaseless untiring motion. Thirty times they are called "the living creatures," full of the life of God, which flows everlastingly into them (Ezekiel 1:10; 10:12). In Ezekiel 1:10 and Revelation 4:7 the cherubim are called "living creatures," and in Ezekiel each one had four faces.

In Revelation each one had a different face representing (1) the lion, (2) the ox, (3) the eagle and (4) the man. What does this mean? The composite animal forms are ideal representatives of redeemed creaturely life, in which man is prominent (Ezekiel 1:5; Revelation 4:7). The lion, king of wild animals, signifies undaunted courage and vigor in the execution of God's commands. The ox, king of dumb creation, symbolizes unwearied patience and firmness. The eagle, king of feathered creation, represents activity, and the incomparable speed with which these celestial beings execute their divine missions. The man, king of God's earthly creation, speaks of prudence and compassion, intelligence and strength of reason. Man, head of all, whose ideal was realized by the Son of Man, combines all animal excellencies.

The church Fathers associated the four faces of the cherubim with the four Gospels, and the four profiles of Christ they present: Matthew, the lion: the kingly aspect of Christ's manifestation and ministry appear in this Gospel. Mark, the ox: the patience and laborious endurance of Christ are evident in this Gospel. Luke, man: the humaneness and brotherly sympathy are traits of Christ which Luke stresses. John, the eagle: the soaring majesty of the Divine Word is before us in the fourth Gospel. The fourfold face of the cherubim can also be applied to the Church of the redeemed. As the cherubim were of one piece with the Ark, so the redeemed are one with Christ, and one with Him as their propitiation (2 Peter 1:3-4; Hebrews 2:11; Exodus 29:42-46; 25:22; 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17; Gal. 2:20). In the book of Revelation the four living creatures-not beasts-are identified with the redeemed.

I'll be concluding this series on angels in my next post. There are a few things I need to clean include to make sure I get all the references to angels into these posts.

The Send Ones & Messengers, Part II: Seraphim

It is at this point in the discussion of Seraphim that the descriptions start getting bizarre and a little unsettling about the messengers of God.

"Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” Isaiah 6:6-7

Seraphim (Hebrew, "burning ones") is a title given to angels by Isaiah 6:2-6. This plural word is from seraph, which signifies fiery, or "burning ones". This is also the word used to describe the fiery serpents, by which the children of Israel were bitten in the wilderness of Arabia in Numbers 21:6. Some suppose that this name was given to a class of the angels on account of their missions to execute on the wicked and evil people the fiery wrath of God. But others think that they are so called from their ardent zeal for the honor and glory of their Creator, as represented in the vision of the prophet Isaiah. Indicative of purity and zeal, the seraphim are thought to be the highest order of angelic beings because they are inflamed by love for God because of their intense nearness to Him.

The seraphim are to be distinguished from the cherubim in that the former are represented as having six wings, and the latter four wings. While there are seventy-three references to the cherubim, the seraphim are only mentioned twice in Scripture as above... "...I saw the Lord seated on a throne.... above him were seraphs, each with six wings, then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand. With it he touched my mouth and said, 'Your guilt is taken away and your sins atoned for." ~Isaiah 6:1, 2, 6-7. How significant is the description given of the Seraphim...each seraph has six wings used in a threefold way in Isaiah 6:2.

Purpose 1: With two he covered his face. The veiled face indicates unworthiness and also inability to steadfastly behold or fully comprehend the glory of the Lord. It also suggests profound reverence and adoring awe, as well as care not to pry into God's secrets and counsels (Exodus 3:6; Job 4:18; 15:15; 1 Kings 19:13).

Purpose 2: With two he covered his feet. Service consists in reverent waiting on, more than in active service for, God. Covered feet denote deep humility.

Purpose 3: With two he did fly. Two wings alone of the six were kept ready for instant flight. Here we have prompt and briskness in executing the will of God. Four wings were for worship, two wings for work. We are guilty of reversing the order and serve more than wait.

Then the prophet Isaiah describes the offices of the Seraphim he saw in his vision: First of all, they praise God for His holiness: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts ..." ~Isaiah 6:3. The most glowing of the angelic orders, glowing with the holy flame of Divine love, they are depicted as standing as they celebrated God's holiness and waited to execute His mandates. 

The threefold repetition of "Holy, holy, holy" has justly been thought to refer to the three divine persons in the Trinity and to the holiness displayed in the great work of redemption. It is also suggested that the epithet repeated three times may refer to the three worlds: 

1. Holy is God in the world of angels and spirits. 

2. Holy is God in the world of stars and heavenly bodies. 

3. Holy is God upon the earth.

The seraphim are God's agents for the purification of His people. Isaiah, after pronouncing woes on others, perceived himself liable to the same condemnation. The uncleanness of his lips was in contrast to the seraphim chanting in alternate responses, with pure lips. But God encouraged the prophet, made conscious of his own sinfulness by a symbolical action of a seraph. The live coal from the altar represents the sacrifice of Christ and its effects; and, applied to the prophet's lips, denotes the assurance of pardon and acceptance in his work, through the atonement of the promised Messiah. Isaiah's unfit- ness for the office, as well as his personal sin, were removed only by being brought into contact with the sacrificial altar in Isaiah 6:7. Note that Satan, before he became Satan, was the highest of the seraphim. The seraphim are among the great "mysteries" we will not fully un- derstand until we get to heaven.

Bible References to the Seraphim / Seraph:

Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. Isaiah 6:2

Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. Isaiah 6:6