Olive Tree Image

Olive Tree Image
Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction,
upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

1 Corinthians 10:11 (NASB95)

Monday, January 10, 2011

Q. What is your view of eschatology?

Q. What is your view of eschatology?
A. I understand eschatology with a Hebraic mindset and that is how I will answer the question. I think that this question is very important so I am going to give some basic understandings and concepts so that you can check them out and hopefully it will help you understand the Scriptures. When starting out new with someone, there are certain areas that I begin with. First you start with Time, and that is where your question comes from. You should also know the geography of the land. You should also have a working knowledge of the Temple and its services. In addition you should know Israeli history because it shows the Lord dealt with his people history in the Scriptures. Another thing is to read the Scriptures as if you were Jewish. Replace the English terms with Hebrew and so on. Also. study the Hebrew language. Every letter teaches Messiah, there are Torah Codes written into the text, Midrashic Name Derivations (MND's), Chaistic structure, Gematria, parallelisms and Hebrew poetry. Most believers today have no concept of what these are but all of these are Biblical and can be found in the text. God used these concepts in the Bible to communicate.You should also be familiar with the culture and ceremonies outside of Scripture, although they can be found in the Scriptures. These are also called "life-cycles". This area would include birth ceremonies, names, Jewish weddings, circumcision, redemption of the first-born, death and mourning and so on. All of these, by the way, are related to eschatology and have a role in understanding it. But, your question relates to the concept of time and that is where we will start. I am going to give some basic information that you will need to know and I will try and put it in a systematic way so that you can refer back to these things and do your own research to expound on them. I have never written about some of this so I hope I can communicate it. Some things are much easier to teach in person.
Think of your thoughts as trees in a secret garden. On each tree there are leaves of words and these "leaves" are blown by winds which utter a myriad of meanings. For instance I'm going to give you an exercise in this concept. I am going to list some things down and you think about who I am talking about. The answer will be very simple. First, I am thinking of someone in history. He left an indelible imprint on mankind. Without a biological miracle in his mother's womb his birth would have been impossible. Second, as an infant he was called the Son of God. Third, he was taken to Egypt to preserve life. Fourth, He returned to the Promised Land and was hated by all those around him, despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. Fifth, he was hated so much he was executed by the Romans. Sixth, he came to life on the third day. Lastly, he will never die again. Now, if you were thinking this applied to Yeshua, you're right, but it also applies to Israel. You see, these "leaves of words" when blown by the wind has many meanings and one will have to expand out of their little box to get what the Lord is trying to communicate. This little exercise is meant to convey such a fact in a small way. So, with all that in mind we can go on to the next level and talk about your question and hopefully expand on a few things, and we will start there next week as we let the wind blow our tree with leaves of words and go into understanding the concepts associated with Biblical Eschatology.

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