NOT ASHAMED TO BE CALLED THEIR GOD Since the early days of the prophets, those who hope in the Lord have expected the Final Deliverance—the End Times, the Blessed Redemption, God’s Holy Kingdom—to occur in their lifetime. And perhaps that expectation could seem to be founded on Scriptures, at a glance. For example, Isaiah 62:1–2 says this: “For the sake of Zion I will not be silent … till her victory emerge resplendent and her triumph like a flaming torch. Nations shall see your victory … and you shall be called by a new name which the Lord Himself shall bestow.” Should one not assume that Isaiah was saying he would not be silent until all of these things happened? Was this event not announced as though it were quickly forthcoming? This hope seems to be expressed elsewhere as well, not only in Isaiah but in various other Prophets. Nonetheless, Isaiah and all of the rest—prophets whose messages were declared over a period of hundreds of years—died without seeing the fulfillment of those many prophecies foretold throughout Isaiah chapter 62 and in many other Scriptures. It is a beautiful thing to read in Hebrews chapter 11 about the men of faith from the past and to research their lives as described in Scripture. Who would not want to be among those whose faith in God allowed them to really see the Promises from a distance and KNOW them to be true (Hebrews 11:13)? Who would not want to be one of those of whom God says He is “not ashamed to be called their God” (Hebrews 11:16)? One person mentioned in Hebrews 11 whom I find particularly intriguing is Daniel. It seems evident from a study of Daniel chapter 9 that at one point Daniel—a man God described as one of the holiest men on earth (Ezekiel 14:14)—was concerned about when God’s deliverance would occur as foretold by the prophet Jeremiah. Daniel’s response is such a testimony: he confesses his sin and the sin of his people, declaring that the Lord is Just and Right in His judgment as he seeks forgiveness. “Not because of any merit of ours … but because of Your abundant mercies” (Daniel 9:18), he tells the Lord. It seems that Daniel’s original concern related to Israel’s restoration after Babylon, but what was his underlying hope? Was Daniel himself looking for the Final Deliverance? From a study of the Prophets, that was what those who truly sought the Lord were indeed waiting for—not a temporary, shaky reestablishment after which their nation would again quickly turn to evil (as occurred after Babylon) but the full, final Restoration and Redemption. Perhaps it was precisely that underlying issue that the angel went on to address later in the chapter. Another interesting thing about Daniel is that this holy man of God—one who submitted himself to ALL of God’s judgments as True and Right—was given prophetic visions that few (if any) would deem the least bit hopeful. Even the reference to the Prince of princes whom the Roman kingdom would rule over (Daniel 8:25) was overshadowed by the horror of how long the trampling of the Temple would continue until the End—after this same kingdom that stood over the Prince of princes also destroyed the Temple (Daniel 8:11), as occurred in 70 AD. The later reference in Daniel to the Lord’s Ultimate Deliverance of all whose names are written in the book (Daniel 12:1) was also in the context of extreme suffering, wickedness, and human destruction. It was hardly a pretty picture. Importantly, God gave all who have His Word specific lists of events and human conditions that would occur before the End, not only in Daniel but throughout the Prophets, in Matthew, and in Revelation. In Matthew 24, the Lord Jesus answered three questions: (1) When will these things be [what Jesus had just finished prophesying—the destruction of the Second Temple]? (2) What will be the sign of Your coming? (3) What will be the sign of the End of the Age? He answered those three questions in the long passage that followed. Interestingly, although so many people quote “wars and rumors of war” from this chapter as referring to the End, what Jesus actually said was that it was NOT the End. Rather, He said, the future events of nations rising up against nations and of famines and earthquakes would be merely the beginning of birth pangs. There would be much, much more evil and lawlessness and many false prophets and tribulations before the End. Those who saw the fulfillment of ALL of those prophecies (Matthew 24:33) should know that He would return in their generation (Matthew 24:34). The exact term He uses there (translated “THIS generation” in English) actually means “THE SAME” in Greek, referring to the one just mentioned. Cross-referenced, that Greek term is translated as precisely that (the same), in fact, earlier in the same chapter (Matthew 24:13) and in various other places throughout Matthew (5:19 / 13:20 / 18:4 / 21:42) as well as in other Books of the Bible. The point with all of this is that God did indeed give clear prophecies of all that will be fulfilled before the End. I personally believe that in Daniel chapter 8, He even told Daniel the number of years of desolation that would occur from the time of the destruction of the Second Temple until it would one day again be restored: 2,300 *years (*the length of these years were shorter than ours). One reason I believe this is what God was telling Daniel is that elsewhere in the Bible, God used “days” to represent years and clearly said so (e.g., Ezekiel chapter 4); also, it is noteworthy that Daniel was so horrified at what he was shown (Daniel 8:27). The mention of the Temple being trampled for 2,300 days did happen to be the last thing Daniel saw before he wondered at the vision (Daniel 8:14), which the angel then told him referred to the time of the End. That said, throughout history, from the earliest prophets until today, those few who have truly loved and worshiped the Lord have always humbled their hearts to admit their sin and to look for the Final Deliverance, hoping His Kingdom would come in their days. And that is not a bad thing, according to God, because He loves for His people to trust in Him and to seek His city of True Foundations. We can indeed know that all of His Promises are true. And for those of us who put our hope in His Redemption, who believe His Word, and who seek Him, He is not ashamed to be called our God (Hebrews 11:10–16), for He has prepared for us that city.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 03:21:58 +0000
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