於2020-04-23發佈


在鷹的翅膀上—美國遺產概要15

聖經有一些預言似乎是指著美國,其中一處是在啟示錄十二章1-18節(為了簡潔並沒有列出所有經文):

天上現出大異象來:有一個婦人身披日頭,腳踏月亮,頭戴十二星的冠冕。

她懷了孕,在生產的艱難中疼痛呼叫。

婦人生了一個男孩子,是將來要用鐵杖轄管(轄管:原文是牧)萬國的;她的孩子被提到神寶座那裡去了。

婦人就逃到曠野,在那裡有神給她預備的地方,使她被養活一千二百六十天。

在天上就有了爭戰。米迦勒同他的使者與龍爭戰,

龍見自己被摔在地上,就逼迫那生男孩子的婦人。

於是有大鷹的兩個翅膀賜給婦人,叫她能飛到曠野,到自己的地方,躲避那蛇;她在那裡被養活一載二載半載。

蛇就在婦人身後,從口中吐出水來,像河一樣,要將婦人沖去。

地卻幫助婦人,開口吞了從龍口吐出來的水(原文作河)。 

在這段經文中的婦人,一般認為她懷了基督的苗裔,也就是聖經的以色列和屬靈的以色列(真信徒)。從龍口中吐出來要毀滅的洪水被認為是宗教裁判所,它是歷史上對猶太人和新教徒最嚴重的逼迫。在宗教裁判所顛峰時期,地確實開了口,也就是哥倫布發現美洲之時。於是許多的注意力轉向吞了洪水的「新世界」,宗教裁判所很快就終止了。 

來到美國的早期殖民者多數是逃離逼迫的基督徒和猶太人,這段經文的婦人由大鷹的翅膀帶走,她在曠野被養活。當時的美國是一片曠野,而美國的象徵變成老鷹。 

這也是對美國基本目的之闡明,成為受逼迫基督徒和猶太人的避難所,他們背負著基督的種子,逃到美國來躲避宗教逼迫,渴望建立一處不容宗教裁判所再次發生的地方。這即是何以美洲殖民地全都竭力投入在宗教自由上。 

在創世記聖經講述了創造,神設立人得以自由。祂這麼做是在園中安置了兩棵很特別的樹─分別善惡樹和生命樹。人被告知除了分別善惡樹外,園中的一切東西都可以吃。神為何要放這樣一棵樹在園中,允許如此的試探呢?因為若沒有不順服的自由就沒有真正的順服。 

主並沒有說人若吃了分別善惡樹的果子,祂會殺了人,只不過人會死去。主並沒有殺了亞當,但樹上的果子有毒,而人殺了自己是出於不順服。神沒有釋放死亡進到世界,而是亞當做的。 

我們在聖經中看見,神早就知道這樣的事會發生,因為祂從起初就知道結局。然而,知道會發生和使其發生是不一樣的。知道會發生,神已經計畫復興全人類,並且重建人從墮落的後果中所掌管的一切。使徒彼得稱此為「萬物復興」(參考使徒行傳3:21)。 

我們可以將聖經頭三章和末三章一起讀,就是完整的故事。在這六章之間則關乎一重要主題─復興/重建─從人類不順服所帶來的一切毀壞中來復興人類和全地。 

在聖經末了,此復興會全然完成。聖經有一些預言講到全地會再次成為最初被造的樂園,這就是「天國的福音」,或是可以被翻成「神要來國度的好消息」。這是好消息,不是壞消息。這世代的末了不是世界的盡頭,乃是一個全新的開始。 

神的道路之基本法則就是祂對自由的委任,正如人一墮落後我們在園中所看見的,神給予供應來遮蓋亞當和夏娃。祂即刻開始實行祂的救贖、和好與重建計畫,在歷史上一一揭開直到今日。主不單是救贖我們、使我們與祂和好轉向祂,更是讓人類具有處理自由的能力,這種能力將永遠包含在祂的創造中。 

自由需要自制或自治,美利堅合眾國透過學習以負責任的態度處理自由,著手重建此墮落世界的最大計劃中。當然,我們做得並不完全,有時甚至做得不好,但我們絕不要放棄此崇高呼召。 

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~摘錄美國第一任總統─喬治·華盛頓George Washington)~

沒有人能比美國更多承認和愛慕處理人類事務那雙看不見的手,藉此他們一步步邁向一個獨立國家,似乎都被某種天意的象徵所分別出來。

~摘錄富蘭克林Benjamin Franklin)自從富蘭克林於1787628日提出要求,國事議會的第一階段都以禱告開始

我謹此動議,從此以後在我們每早晨進行國事議會前,以禱告懇求天上的援助,祝福我們的商議過程,並且要求一位或數位神職人員來主持此儀式。

 (摘自喬納word for the week, Week 15, 2020)
 

On Eagle’s Wings—Heritage Brief 15

 There are a number of biblical prophecies that seem to speak of America. One is Revelation 12:1-18 (some of this passage is omitted for the sake of brevity): 

         A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 

         and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth…  

        And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 

        Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. 

        And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon…. 

        When the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.  

        But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 

        And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. 

        But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened and swallowed the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. 

         The woman is understood to be those who have carried the seed of Christ, which is biblical Israel and spiritual Israel (true believers). Christ is the male child who was to rule the nations. The flood that poured out of the mouth of the dragon to devour these is considered to have been The Inquisition, the worst persecution in history against both the Jews and Protestant Christians. At the peak of The Inquisition, the earth did open when Columbus discovered America. So much attention was then given to “the new world” that the flood was swallowed up by it, and The Inquisition soon ended.

         Most of the early colonists that came to America were Christians and Jews fleeing persecution. The woman in this text was carried away by the wings of a great eagle. She was nourished in a wilderness. America was a wilderness at the time, and the symbol of America became the eagle. 

         This is also an illumination of one of America’s basic purposes, which is to be a haven for persecuted Christians and Jews as those who carry the seed of Christ. Those fleeing to America to escape the religious persecution were keen to establish a place where something like The Inquisition could not happen again. This is why the colonies all had a deep devotion to religious liberty. 

         In Genesis, the biblical narrative of creation, God establishes that He made mankind to be free. He did this by putting two unique trees in the Garden, The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and The Tree of Life. The man was then told that he was free to eat from any tree in the Garden except for The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Why would God put such a tree in the Garden, allowing such a temptation? Because there could be no obedience unless there was the freedom to disobey.

         The Lord did not say that if man ate from the forbidden tree that He would kill him, but simply that man would die. The Lord did not kill Adam, but the fruit from that tree was poison, and the man killed himself with his disobedience. God did not release death into the world; Adam did. 

         We see in Scripture that God knew that this would happen because He knows the end from the beginning. However, knowing something will happen is not the same as making it happen. Knowing that it would happen, God had already planned to restore mankind and all that was under man’s dominion from the consequences of the Fall. The Apostle Peter called this “the restoration of all things.”

We can take the first three chapters of The Bible and the last three, read them together, and they make a complete story. Everything between those six chapters is about one essential subject—restoration—restoring both mankind and the earth from all of the devastation brought about by the disobedience of man. 

         At the end of The Bible this restoration has been fully accomplished. There are numerous biblical prophecies about the whole earth once again becoming the paradise that it was originally created to be. This is “The Gospel of the Kingdom,” or as it could have been translated, “the good news of the coming kingdom of God.” It is good news, not bad news. The end of this age is not the end of the world, but rather a whole new beginning for it. 

         Fundamental to God’s ways is His commitment to liberty. As we see in the Garden right after the Fall, God made provision to cover Adam and Eve. He began right away to implement His plan of redemption, reconciliation, and restoration that has unfolded throughout history to this day. The Lord was not just redeeming and reconciling us back to Himself, but also working in mankind the ability to handle the liberty that would always be included in His creation. 

         Liberty requires self-control, or self-government. The American Republic is a step in this greatest of all plans for the restoration of this fallen world by learning to handle freedom with responsibility. Of course, we have not done this perfectly, or even well at times, but we must never give up on this high calling.

         No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. — George Washington

         I beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service. — Benjamin Franklin [prayers have opened sessions of Congress since Franklin’s request on June 28, 1787]