Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Hello, dear ones.

We’re off on another week—and not just any old week—Christmas week. I’m not quite sure how this first day of it will play out—let alone the rest of it. Not even sure if we will attempt our walk/jog with the rain pounding on the roof. I’m presently sitting at our dining table next to the open door of the wood stove. There’s something pleasant about having the door open some of the time so as to allow some of the hypnotic affect of watching the flames. Allow me to offer a little pleasant hypnosis with a photo attachment. You’ll notice I didn’t do any sweeping on the hearth before shooting. And you’ll also notice that there are no chestnuts roasting. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen chestnuts roasting on an open fire.

In these unsettling times, I’m constantly evaluating my own role and function—my most fundamental personal responsibility before my Sovereign. I suppose one reason this is of such importance is that it seems so clear that if I fail at maintaining these fundamentals while beholding the chaos swirling around us (with the promise of more), then my own mind will likely turn to chaos. The last line of today’s reading speaks to this challenge: “This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.” This is nothing new, but here again are my conclusions. FUNDAMENTAL ONE: Love God passionately. FUNDAMENTAL TWO: Trust God completely. After all, He has already affirmed, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Have a blessed day.

Love, Dad/Ray.

The “he” of this statement is, of course, “the antichrist” who is here called “the beast”—scheduled to arise on the international scene to wield world-wide power and control. (I sure see a lot of evidence that the world is ripening for his emergence.) The phrase to which I want to give further attention is “was given.” It is repeated 3 times in this paragraph (vv. 5, 7). Given by whom? I believe the answer is in layers. I would peel the onion something like this:

1. Political power. That would mean that his position and opportunity for gaining such control was largely granted to him via the popular votes of the people or the powers that be. Understand the inherent dangers within a democratic form of government—which is the ideal of typical Americans—that corrupt people naturally vote in corrupt leaders. (I recently heard a simple yet profound statement that speaks to this general rule—“You cannot establish a conservative government within a liberal culture.” Selah.)
2. Diabolical power. According to Biblical revelation, behind the political scenery are evil spiritual forces. Verse 2 says that “the dragon (Satan) gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.” Verse 4 says that “men worshipped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshipped the beast.”
3. Divine power. Herein is our only hope and security, because behind the realms of the will of man and all this spiritual evil is the Transcendent and Sovereign Power and Will of God. His Will WILL be done “on earth as it is in heaven.” The Almighty is the real source of all lesser “mighties.” And the strong message throughout Scripture is that the measure of His control is determined by the quality of choices men make within the freedoms He allows. My reading today in Proverbs 21 gives support for this: “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases”(v.1). And consider again verse 30: “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.”

I don’t have to wonder who the ultimate winners are—or what side I want to be on. And it doesn’t really matter how things play out—whether or not we are to be snatched out of here by a secret rapture, or face some of this horrific persecution. The end of verse 10 still remains a bottom-line requirement for all believers everywhere in all time—“This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints”—the constancy of a HEART AFTER GOD.