Last week we discussed another foundational understanding of why many of the events at the end of this age will happen. Basically, they are the consequences of man trying to live without God. Some of these will be revealed by the political issues which revolve around Jerusalem that simply cannot be resolved by men. These will also severely injure those who arrogantly try to solve them.

We may think it is noble to help the people who are involved solve their problems around Jerusalem so that they can live in peace. Many things that are humanly noble are spiritually arrogant, and are even an affront to God. His Word is clear about this matter, and we will see it proven true over and over before the end. Many with good intentions will pay the price for thinking that they have the wisdom to deal with these issues, which touch on some of the fundamental purposes of God in these times.

This also brings up some questions concerning the sovereignty of God versus the free will of man. To be clear about my own perspective of these, I am convinced that both are true, and there is no real conflict between these perspectives. God is 100 percent sovereign, and in His sovereignty He has given free will to man. Those who do not understand the principle that we all see in part and know in part are the ones who tend to see such matters in the extremes, which bring unnecessary conflict in teaching.

Of course, this subject deserves more attention than we can give here. However, if we start with the humility which understands that we all see in part and know in part, and that we need what others see and know to make the picture complete, we will ultimately begin to see a clearer picture of these matters. Psalm 119:160 states, “The sum of Your word is truth...” If we are going to come to the truth, we cannot base our beliefs on isolated verses and then base our doctrine on them, without regarding all Scripture, some of which may seem to be in conflict with them. As the Lord said in John 10:35, “...the Scripture cannot be broken...,” meaning we cannot just take part of it but must take the whole.

Now, backing up a bit, it is obvious that the Lord purposely made the earth incomplete without man because He put man in the garden to cultivate it, and He gave man authority over everything on the earth. He intentionally made the world incomplete so it would need man’s part. In this way, man could actually add his own touch to the creation. This was not so man could be contrary to God or think that he could improve upon God’s work, but be as a point of fellowship with God, which is the most basic purpose of man. It is not a sin for man to try to control the earth and its systems—he was created for this. It is not a sin for man to invent and create trying to better his lot, as this too was intended. The sin is in doing all of this without God, which will always lead to corruption.

God created man to be free. That is why He put the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden. This was not to provide a temptation, which would cause man to fall, but rather there could not be true obedience from the heart unless there was the freedom to disobey. The Tree of Knowledge was the place where man’s faithfulness and obedience would have been proven if man had not chosen to disobey. Since man did choose to disobey, he gave up his freedom for slavery, to sin and corruption.

After the fall and the corruption of man’s basic nature, God did not just decide to throw away the clay that had been marred, but immediately set about to redeem and restore man from his own sin. He did this slowly. Step by step, and precept upon precept, He prepared mankind for their Redeemer. The atonement was made on the cross for mankind’s redemption. Then the way was prepared for mankind’s restoration.

We are promised repeatedly in the prophecy in Scripture that not only will man be redeemed, but the whole creation that is under man’s dominion, which was also subjected to corruption, and was redeemed by the cross, will also be restored. In fact, it will be restored to the point where the lion will lie down with the lamb, and children will play with cobras, as it was originally intended. In Acts 3:20-21 Peter said:

This was after the cross, and the redemption had been made, but he was explaining that it would be awhile before the period of restoration would include “all things.” The intervening time has basically been for the calling forth, maturing, perfecting, and training, of those who are called to rule and reign with Jesus during this period of restoration. As some have put it, this whole age has been basically “training for reigning” for those who are so called, and who are going through their restoration now.

When we are redeemed, we do not instantly become perfect, even though we do have a standing before God as if we were, because of the redemption price that Jesus paid. Even so, there is a process that takes place which renews our minds and transforms us back into the image of the One whose image we were created to have. The most basic way this happens is stated in II Corinthians 3:17-18:

Now, because of the redemption price paid, we do not have to be perfect to come into the presence of the Lord. We come into His presence by His Son’s blood which was shed for us. Basically we do not have to be perfect to come into His presence, but we are perfected by coming into His presence. As we behold His glory with an unveiled face, we are changed into His same image, or restored to the image that man was originally created to have.

Now a key word here is that we must behold His glory with an “unveiled face.” Man has put on many facades, which distort what he is seeing, and will even distort the glory of God. When we behold His glory with these veils remaining on our hearts, we try to change Him into our image instead of being changed by Him.

The most basic veil over the heart and vision of man is our pride. This is why Peter later wrote in I Peter 5:5-7:

When Peter tells us to humble ourselves, he goes on to tell us in a way that few seem to understand—we humble ourselves by casting our anxiety on God, because we know He cares about us. Anxiety or worry is actually a very profound form of pride. It is pride that basically thinks our problems are too big for God, so we will have to deal with them ourselves. True humility is truth and reality. It is acknowledging the truth and reality that without God we will make a terrible mess of things. Therefore, we cast our worries on Him because we know He loves us, as the cross overwhelmingly proves, and He will help us, which He sent His Holy Spirit to us for.

The reason I am addressing this here is because we will not understand the biblical prophecies of these times accurately if we view them through our anxiety about them. In fact, some of the most popular teachings on eschatology seldom, and often never, address the main event of these times. This usually causes a gross distortion of the entire teaching, and the understanding of the prophecies.

Again, if we are going to navigate through these times we must establish the cardinal points of our prophetic compass. This is what we are still trying to do—find the east, west, north, and south of biblical prophecy. Once we do this, it will be much easier to navigate to any of the other points on the compass. Finding God’s main purpose for these times is our “spiritual magnetic north” from which we can then easily find the other directions. Even so, what we are addressing now is just so we can see both the Lord and the compass so what we are seeing is not so distorted. A most important point for us to understand if the veils are to be removed is found in Matthew 11:25:

Basically this Scripture is stating that the most immature will discern truth easier than the wise, intelligent, and learned, because the immature tend to be humble, which is most basically manifested by being teachable. Those who are going to discern the truth about the end times or anything, are those who can remain humble and teachable. This is elaborated on in Matthew 18:3-4:

The result of the end of this age is the beginning of the kingdom age on the earth. We should therefore have as a primary purpose for this study to see and understand the coming of the kingdom so we can enter it, and preach the gospel of the kingdom so that others can enter. This is a primary purpose, but not the primary purpose, which we will begin to address next week.

To be able to discern the truth of these times, or about anything else, we must cast all of our anxiety upon Him. Humility, knowing the love of God, and abiding in the peace of God, are required for discerning truth. If you are anxious, angry, bitter, etc. you will see these prophecies through those veils, and their true meaning will be distorted to you. In Philippians 1:9-11 Paul tells us what is required for true knowledge and true discernment:

Let us pray for one another as we go through these studies so our love will abound more and more and we will come to the real knowledge and walk in true discernment. Anything else will distort what we are seeing. Let us also in all things, humble ourselves and seek God’s help, casting all of our anxiety upon Him because He really does love us.