Previously we looked at devolution or the degeneration of society by handing it over (rights, powers, property, or responsibility) to another. We, in the Western world, have handed over our heritage, the covenant and promises found in the Bible to the adversary. (But I jump ahead…Let’s see the shadow picture given in the Bible about kingdoms and the succession of kingdoms since Daniel’s time).

In yesterday’s post, I stated the Bible shows us the devolution or worsening of society. Most of us reading this will be aware of Nebuchadnezzars dream found in Daniel 2.31-45,

"Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form therof was terrible.  This image's head was of find gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass.  His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.  Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.  Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

Now for the interpretation....

"Thou, O king art a king of kings: for the Elah (God) of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power and strength and glory. Thou are this head of gold.  And after thee shall arise another kingdom INFERIOR to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.  And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.  And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the Elah of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.  Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great Elah hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter.

We do not have to interpret anything from this scripture. It was given to us. The greatest kingdom of men was Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. It was the head of gold, sitting at the top of the all the earthly kingdoms given to men by Elah (God). Gold, the most precious of metals, the head (the control center of our emotions, thoughts, will and actions) without which a person cannot live. The head controls the body and Babylon will influence the rest of the kingdoms in this age of man. Standing at the foot of the statue, one would be forced to look up at it; standing far away, one would still be able to see the head above all the other kingdoms. We can still see the Babylonian influence permeated through our world today. The next kingdom was silver. Silver is inferior to gold, costs less and is not nearly as precious. More importantly He states that the next kingdom would be INFERIOR. We do not have to guess at that. As we continue down the kingdom timeline, each successive kingdom is weaker, less valued in terms of metals and also expendable to the body; meaning we can live without a leg or a foot or an arm. We finally reach the feet which are “partly strong and partly broken.” The last kingdom is made up of clay and iron which do not “cleave”. Our foundation, our feet (the current kingdom of man) is not able to support the rest of the body. This is devolution or degeneration. This kingdom we live in now is fraught with lies, false dogmas, emotion based truths and Babylonian deception. We have believed man’s teachings of “science, religion, history, health” over our Creators. Both Old Testament and New Testaments warns us:

Jeremiah 51:6,

"Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of YHWH's vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence."  

This verse refers to Revelation 18:4 in the centerline reference of your Bible and states,

"Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."

Our inherited Babylonian teachings of men have infiltrated every kingdom throughout history. It is time to stop making every situation about us and putting ourselves on the throne of our life. The Messiah came to do the Fathers will. He came to put on the physical flesh and teach us how to walk pleasing to the Father. He did away with nothing. Man has lied to us, not our Creator.

It is a battle to change well-worn paths of belief and thoughts. We think we know Him. We said a prayer, yet nothing changed. It was never about saying a “sinner’s prayer”, it was about changing our heart, repentance and to follow after Him. He is the head. (Col 2:10, Eph 1:22 Eph 5:23). The Babylonian head/false religion has indoctrinated the world with fanciful myths. It is not about waiting to escape the coming tribulation. It is about following Him whatever may come, finishing our race that He has set before us while He constantly refines us.

We are to be overcomers, not escape artists ( Revelation 2:17, 2:26, 3:5, 3:12, 3:21, 12:11 to name just a few.) How do we know? Yahshua (Jesus) said so in His prayer to the Father…..

John 17:15:

"I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil."

His word/prayer trumps any preacher, teacher or prophet you are listening to. Be an overcomer and flee from false teachings. (Inherited lies: https://nikkihoward.newzenler.com/home)

Another Sabbath morning, and Sheba and I head to our peaceful mountain top.  The sunrise is incredible, hues of pinks, blues and oranges softened by the morning mist that hovers over the valley.  From the top, I can look across the Susquehanna River valley that lazily twists and turns weaving through my little town of Owego.  As always, I am singing and having conversations with the Lord.  I am always expectant to see His glory of creation.  Never knowing what we are to talk about today.  As I head around a turn, I hear, “let the dead bury their dead.”  I look around the cemetery and see stone obelisks, headstones and statues of people long dead.  I mull over what He is trying to teach me……Matthew 8:21-22

Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Jesus then proceeded to get into the boat.  Not much is said about this statement. Jesus is on to the next teaching.  Yet many will say it is spiritual, like the “spiritually dead”. “Leave them,” he said, and this may be so, but the Lord was trying to teach me something deeper.  Many times as Christ followers we take scripture out of context or “cherry pick” a verse to fit our situation.  I knew that there was more to this.  In order to give the bible context, we really need to study the times and culture of 1st century Israel, in particular, their burial practices.   When a person died, the body was placed in a carved limestone tomb.  This was the initial burial.  A year later, once the body had fully decomposed,  a second more elaborate burial happened.  The whole family would return and “gather the bones of their ancestors” and place them with the other members on a different shelf or on the floor.   Unfortunately, Greek and Roman culture had influenced the second burial.  It had become more elaborate, more costly as the Israelite adopted the ceremony of placing the bones in an “ossuary” or bone box with the deceased members name written on it. This “secondary burial” called for a day of fasting in the morning and feasting in the afternoon. So now burying the dead had obtained a ceremonial status,  much like children’s birthday parties have become today. As in your non-Christ following family member that cannot understand how you could miss little Timmy’s birthday party to go on a mission trip.  You hear “but you can’t miss the birthday party!”

All that being said, Jesus came to do the Father’s will.  When you start to really seek who God is and know in your heart and by His word, that He is the same, yesterday, today and forever…..you know Jesus would never transgress the 5th commandment and not “honor your father and mother.”   As I search the scriptures (Berean style and historical records), I believe Jesus was talking about the second burial (full of man made customs, expenses and adornments), the disciple would have been expected at the family gathering and if we look at the very next line of scripture, “Then he (Jesus) got into the boat and his disciples followed him.”  Jesus knew that disciple would “miss the boat” literally and His next lesson.    As my “lesson” concluded, in His true nature and goodness, I was walking back in town over the railroad tracks and looked up.  There were my deer, our eyes locked and I heard Him say, “keep following me and you will find me.” With that, the deer headed to the river.

And that is what He says to all of us.  That means, Jesus came to do God’s will, those commandments are for now and forever (the 5th commandment still stands).   Man made rituals are just that and have nothing to do with the scriptures and only serve to draw us away from God’s best. However, God gave us freewill and the choice is ours. What is your choice? Will you seek the scriptures and seek Him with all your heart?