The Final Apostasy

At church this morning our interim pastor followed one of his deep theological bunny trails into the book of Romans and landed on chapter 1, wherein Paul describes the process of falling from the grace of God.

I memorized about half the book of Romans about 40 years ago and if you ever memorized that much scripture you might know that I have recited the first chapter of Romans in my mind more than any other scriptures, just to keep those memorized verses from slipping into the dust bin of my distant memories.

At any rate, I was inspired to tie these verses starting with Romans 1:18 to scriptures I have been studying most recently in the second letter of Paul to the church in Thessalonica.  Specifically,

Let no one in any way deceive you, for it (the day of the Lord) will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. (2 Thessalonians 2:3)

I wondered if the apostasy to which Paul referred here would look like the process he described in the first chapter of Romans.  When I got home I got this confirmation from research of the Greek text on the Bible Hub web site.

Apokalyptetai gar orge theo ap ouranou... (Romans 1:18 The wrath of God is revealed from heaven...)

After studying prophecy so intensely, I am starting to recognize prophetic language I didn't see before.  The first word of this section of Romans is the same Greek word as the beginning of the book of Revelation (Apokalypsis).

So there are two ways of reading this section of Romans, one in a historical sense, in which the wrath of God revealed from heaven could be seen in the sun, a lake of fire hotter and larger than anything one could imagine on earth, perhaps like the one that awaits the devil and his followers.

The other is in a prophetic sense; Romans 1 describes the apostasy that is to come before the antichrist is revealed at the end of time.  OF COURSE, where else in the Bible is the wrath of God coming down from heaven to punish the ungodly?  I NEVER SAW THIS BEFORE!

We have refused to honor God or give thanks, we have become futile in our speculation, we have accepted a form of earth-worship in place of God, we have accepted and embraced unnatural sexual behavior and are plunging headlong into a state of societal depravity which can only be paralleled by Rome at its worst or by Sodom and Gomorrah.  As I recall both of those eras ended in flames.

When the times of the Gentiles come to full fruition, God will suspend His wrath one final time(Rev 7:3) to fulfill His promise to the descendants of Jacob.

Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. (Matthew 24:22)

The elect are those predestined for salvation from the tribes of Israel, who will finally see and embrace their Messiah:

...and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,
“THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION,
HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.”
“THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.”
(Romans 11:26-27)

I am excited to see these prophecies fulfilled, but as I said before, we Gentiles will be watching the final act from heaven.  Oh! What a glorious day!

Searching for the Lost Ark?

I think I found the lost Ark of the Covenant!  It's in Revelation 11:19:

And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

So the Ark of the Covenant is in the temple of God in heaven.  It figures.  When the veil of the temple in Jerusalem was torn from top to bottom, is it possible that God himself left the temple with the Ark in His hands?

It would be just like those faithless chief priests to keep it a secret for another 40 years:

"Hey you know that Ark thing?  Well, we sort-of lost it around the time we crucified that Troublemaker.  Maybe some looters took it during that earthquake, you know?  Anyway we figured you folks wouldn't miss it since only the chief priest sees it once a year.  It's really not that important anyway since you folks just come here to offer your sacrifices and give us some really nice steak and lamb chops."

I supposed the priests had another veil made, just to cover the empty room that used to be the Holy of Holies.  The symbolism of the Jews continuing their religion after the presence of God had departed is bitterly similar to a church "having a form of godliness but denying its power".

Last night I had this convicting thought - would I continue to live like a Christian on the outside when God had departed on the inside?  Sometimes it feels that way.  So I prayed this way:

Father, take me to your temple in heaven.  Burn your testimony into my heart and soul.  Fill me with your presence even as your temple is filled.  Let my life have the sweet smell of incense from your altar!  I don't want to live without your awe inspiring presence; fill me with your Holy Spirit once again!

In the name of Jesus, so let it be.