於2017-05-24發佈


預言性的語言─啟示錄 

謝謝那些提到有些印記跳過的人,每週一話所談到的印記不知怎麼漏掉了,可能在複製與校正時不見了。我會回過頭,重新寫過,在未來的每週一話中間加進去。 

在地大震動、黑暗、星辰墜落等重大徵兆之後,我們將來到非常值得注意的事件,記載在啟示錄六章14-17節: 

天就挪移,好像書卷被捲起來;山嶺海島都被挪移離開本位。 

地上的君王、臣宰、將軍、富戶、壯士,和一切為奴的、自主的,都藏在山洞和巖石穴裡, 

向山和巖石說:倒在我們身上吧!把我們藏起來,躲避坐寶座者的面目和羔羊的忿怒;

因為他們忿怒的大日到了,誰能站得住呢? 

預言性的語言被稱為『藝術化多過科學化』,最讓那些將瞭解倚賴在破解聖經預言之人驚恐的是,預言很少跟隨數學上的精準度,它可以從比喻到真實,再次回到單一陳述。聖經預言可以在前後一致的時間上運作,突然間又向前跳了好幾世紀,在回到一致性水流前穿插彌賽亞或其他預言。為什麼呢? 

我們可能認為主若要人們相信祂的話,祂應當更明確、清楚與精確。祂是可以這麼做,但祂賜下這些預言並不是為了讓人們相信祂,祂賜下預言給那些已經相信祂的人,如同指路明燈。祂透過以賽亞書說,祂用謎語來說是為了讓這百姓聽見,卻不明白;看是要看見,卻不曉得』(參考以賽亞書6:9-10)。預言是以屬靈密碼賜給凡只藉著聖靈來讀或聽才能領會的人。 

啟示錄大部分內容的寫作方式是用隱喻來點出事實,字面直接告訴我們發生了什麼事,但隱喻是瞭解何以發生的鑰匙。在這裡當我們回到隱喻前,我們有三件真實徵兆─地大震動、黑暗、星辰墜落。即便如此,它們正確描繪出在三件真實徵兆後即將揭開的事。這些徵兆似乎被用來當作下一個偉大屬靈事件將發生的記號。 

天要如何挪移?這是不是一種隱喻?其結果遠大於這三個徵兆,直到這三大徵兆發生的時候,人們才真正以某著形式相信神,或相信創造主。在1836年,也就是流星雨如同星辰像無花果墜落的徵兆發生三年後,達爾文在牛津大學發表進化論的理論。這新理論是許多科學家尋求已久的東西─一種不需要承認造物主來解釋自然世界的方式。 

這新理論不僅被科學界所接受,它似乎是為存在主義哲學完成循環的最佳時刻。世俗人文主義宗教在那時誕生,讓人成為自己的創造者,高舉人的理性超越在宗教之上,此新興人文宗教成為馬克斯主義者的燃料,而這些政治改革激進人士瞬間便掌管了世界一半的人口。 

天或天堂通常是人往上看所見之物的比喻。直到此時,一直都有上帝的存在。在此之後,接近一半的世界將人高舉過天。約翰看見此就像天被挪移一樣,此無疑是當時所發生之事的最佳比喻。地上有能力的都逃離神與祂的審判,經由政府(山),社會(山丘)或任何其他可以躲避神的方式。 

主在詩篇二篇1-6節提到此: 

外邦為什麼爭鬧?萬民為什麼謀算虛妄的事? 

世上的君王一齊起來,臣宰一同商議,要敵擋耶和華並他的受膏者, 說:我們要掙開他們的捆綁,脫去他們的繩索。

那坐在天上的必發笑;主必嗤笑他們。 

那時,他要在怒中責備他們,在烈怒中驚嚇他們,

說:我已經立我的君在錫安─我的聖山上了。 

那些尋求與神切斷連結,以信仰人取代信仰神的人,終將遭受終極災難與混亂。沒有神,人們不可能有合一與和平,除非強制執行與掌控,例如在共產主義統治下。此綑綁偷竊了人被造的本質:按著神的形象被造,人天生就有創意。 

真正的科學讓達爾文的基本原理愚蠢不已;當人們想相信或不想相信某個糟到不行的東西時,他們傾向接受一個小小的證據如同大山一樣。當他們不想相信時,卻將鐵證如山的證據視為小土堆。即便如此,神在最後會有祂要說的話。 

約翰看見天就挪移,這正是所發生的事。有許多人逃離神,也有許多人逃向神。在二次屬靈大覺醒後,大有能力的復興與運動橫掃國家,人們進入主等候已久的懷抱中。在此之後,黑暗與光明的勢力就比較容易區分了,因為現在正在揭開它們在末了的終極衝突。 

(摘自喬納 word for the week,Week17, 2017)

 
The Language of Prophecy—The Book of Revelation
Week 17, 2017
Rick Joyner

Thanks to those of you who brought up that some of the seals were skipped over. The WFTW covering those was somehow lost, or copied over, and somehow missed in proofreading. I will go back, redo it, and interject it later.        

         After the great signs of the earthquake, the darkness, and the falling stars, we come to truly remarkable events described in Revelation 6:14-17:   

       The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

       Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains;

        and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;

       for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"

         Prophetic language has been called “more art than science.” To the consternation of those who rely on their understanding to decipher biblical prophecy, it rarely follows mathematical precision. It can go from the metaphorical to the literal and back again in a single statement. Biblical prophecy can move in consistent linear time and suddenly jump centuries ahead, inserting Messianic or other prophecies before moving back to a linear flow. Why?

         We may think that if the Lord wanted people to believe His word, He should have been more specific, clear, and mathematical. He could have done this, but He did not give these prophecies so that people would believe in Him. He gave prophecy as a guiding light to those who already believed in Him. He said through Isaiah that He spoke in mysteries so that the people “seeing would not perceive, and hearing they will not understand” (see Isaiah 6:9-10). Prophecies are given in a spiritual code that only those reading or hearing by the Holy Spirit can comprehend.

         Most of the Book of Revelation is written in metaphors that point to literal realities. The literal tells us what happened, but the metaphors are keys to understanding why they happened. Here we have three literal signs—the earthquake, darkness, and falling stars—before going back to the metaphorical. Even so, they are accurate in describing what unfolded right after those three literal signs. These signs were seemingly given to mark the time that the next great spiritual events would take place.  

         How would “the sky” be split apart? Of what could this be a metaphor? It was something of much greater consequence than the three signs had been. Until the time of these three signs, virtually everyone believed in God in some form, or believed in a Creator. In  1836, just three years after the meteor sign that looked like the stars were being cast like figs, Charles Darwin presented his Theory of Evolution to the scientific elite at Cambridge. It quickly took root in the scientific community. This new theory was what many scientists had sought for a long time—a way to explain the natural world without having to acknowledge a Creator.

         This new theory was not only embraced by much of the scientific community, but it seemed to be in perfect timing to complete the loop for existentialist philosophy. The religion of secular humanism was born. This made man his own creator, and exalted man’s reason above religion. This new religion of man became the fuel for rising revolutionary political activists, the Marxists, who would swiftly take over and dominate half the world’s population.

         The sky, the heavens, is often a metaphor for what man sees when he looks up. Until this time, it was always a Supreme Being. After this time, nearly half the world had exalted man to that place. John saw it as the sky being split apart. This could hardly have been a more perfect metaphor for what happened during that time. The powerful of the earth fled from God and His judgments through governments (mountains), societies (hills), or any other way they could hide from Him.

         The Lord addresses this in Psalm 2:1-6:   

         Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?

         The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.

         "Let us break their chains," they say, "and throw off their fetters."

         The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.

         Then He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in His wrath, saying,

         "I have installed My King on Zion, my holy hill" (NIV).

         Those who sought to cut their ties to God and replace faith in Him with faith in man, would suffer the ultimate catastrophe and the ultimate confusion. There can be no unity or peace among men without God, unless enforced by the most severe control and dominance, such as under communism. This bondage steals the essence of what mankind was created to be: the image of God, born to be creative.

         True science makes the basic principles of Darwinism foolishness. When people want to believe, or not believe, something bad enough, they will tend to accept a molehill of evidence like it was a mountain, and view a mountain of evidence that refutes what they want to believe like a molehill. Even so, God will have His say in the end.

         John saw the heavens split, and that is essentially what happened. For all of those running from God, there were many running to Him. After the two Great Awakenings, powerful revivals and movements swept whole nations into the Lord’s waiting arms. After this, the forces of darkness and the light could be easily distinguished, for their ultimate clash at the end is now unfolding.