In a very real sense, what we see as human history being developed in the world today is NOT real and it is not the REAL THING.
There’s a divine history happening right now within the human history, and we need to ask the Lord to open our eyes to see history the way He sees it. In the Minor Prophets especially we see that God uses the four empires / kingdoms (signified by the locusts) for His interest.
Actually, Christ is the last of the four craftsmen (see Zech. 1:18-21; Dan. 2:34-35) who, on the one hand, uses the four empires to accomplish His purpose, and, on the other hand, comes to smash and destroy the latest and greatest of the human empires, the Roman Empire.
This is so that God would chastise His people Israel and punish the nations so that Christ would be manifested in full and the entire universe would be fully restored! Now THIS is what I call HISTORY!
Christ is the last Craftsman
In Zech. 1:18-21 we see that there are four craftsmen used by God to terrify the four horns who dealt with the people of Israel.
First of all, the four horns are the four empires who were used by God to chastise His people Israel. They also correspond to the four sections of the great human image in Daniel 2. The four horns are the skills used by God to destroy these kingdoms and their kings.
If you study the history concerning these four empires, there was something very strong and undefeatable about each one of them.
When the Babylonian empire rose up, nothing and no one could stand in their way, and they had their own way of fighting, conquering, occupying, destroying, and then managing the nations they occupied.
But God rose up the Medo-Persian empire, a very swift and rude empire with a very strong army, who overtook and destroyed the Babylonian empire.
In a very skillful way, God used the Greek empire and their armies to smash and destroy and take over the Medo-Persian empire (who was undefeatable for many years). And then, just when the Greek empire seemed to be unconquerable, God used the Roman empire with their trained armies to defeat them, subdue them, and also assimilate their culture and language.
The Roman empire is the last of these empires and it is STILL undefeated outwardly. Yes, it was split in two at one point, but the influence and the culture with all its things are still here.
Christ is the last Craftsman who is raised by God as a stone cut without hands to smash the last horn, the Roman Empire, and destroy it utterly. What now seems impossible to destroy God will smash through Christ JUST LIKE THAT! How wise is He!
Christ as the stone will come and crush the great human image as the totality of the human government at His coming back (Dan. 2:31-35) and He will fill the earth with His kingdom!
The restoration of the entire universe
Why are all these things happening? Why is God raising up empire after empire, allowing them to conquer and destroy and occupy and have their way?
In the light of God’s economy we see that God does all these things or allows them to happen so that He would chastise His people Israel (and the church), He would judge the nations (who are too harsh in their dealing with Israel) – so that Christ would be manifested in full and the universe would be fully restored!
God’s goal is the full restoration. Today God is recovering us back, restoring us back to Himself, and this process of being recovered and restored will be finalized when Christ will come with His mighty ones to smash the human government and bring in His kingdom.
This is why we need today to be in the process of the Lord’s recovery, the Lord’s restoration, so that He would deal with us first, transform us, judge us, and recover us first – and then through us He would recover and restore the whole earth!
Christ with His overcomers as the mighty ones (see Joel 3:9-13; Rev. 17:14; 19:11-14) will descend and defeat Antichrist and his armies (the nations) at Armageddon.
After this, Christ will reign among Israel on the holy mountain of Zion within Jerusalem (see Joel 3:16-17), being a shelter and a stronghold to the children of Israel, not allowing anyone to damage or hurt them anymore!
This will take place in the age of millennium, the age of restoration, and it will be such a good time for the people of God! In the restoration the mountains will drop down fresh wine, the hills will flow with milk, there will be a river flowing from the house of Jehovah (the temple) to water the entire holy land…
This age is a miniature of the New Jerusalem, where God will reign through the overcoming saints and the saved Jews will be the priests in the kingdom of God, teaching the nations to worship God. After the 1000 years kingdom, there will be a new heaven and a new earth for eternity with the New Jerusalem. What a destiny!
Will you be an overcomer?
The Bible is both clear and mysterious concerning the history of the end times, but one thing is certain: God needs to gain some mighty ones, some overcomers, and when their number is sufficient, Christ can return!
What about YOU? What about ME? Will you be an overcomer? Will you make this choice?
Christ is calling – He is calling today – and we need to listen to His voice! YES, we want to be the overcomers! YES, we want to make this choice.
In faith we want to give ourselves to the Lord and open to Him to be transformed, conformed, and glorified to be the mature ones, the overcomers, those who bring the Lord back and come with the Lord as the “descending mighty ones” to smash the human government and bring in God’s kingdom!
Lord, we say AMEN to Your Word. You desire and You need the overcomers, the mighty ones – make us the overcomers! Produce us daily, Lord, as those living in the divine history within the human history to be the overcoming ones. In ourselves we can’t do it, be it, or make it – but we look to You to do it, be it, and make it in us! Lord, for Your need and for the ending of this age, make us Your overcoming ones!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from Life-study of Joel (msg. 3) as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of the Minor Prophets, week 3 (entitled, The Central Thought of the Book of Joel with Its Controlling Prophecy of Four Kinds of Locusts).
- Hymns on this topic:
# Will you be an overcomer? / Christ is calling now! / Will you then be such a follower, / Though you know not how?
# Overcomers Christ will take, / Those who all for Him forsake, / Those who of first love partake — / Win in time!
# Now we’re overcomers on the sea of glass; / This final crossing will forever last.
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