Nov 24, 2009

The book of Judges is a book about Sonship that is told in the names of the judges themselves.

Othniel means "the force (power) of God" (Judges 3). When we see the connection to Barak, this indicates "thunder," which represents also the voice of God wherein is His power.

Ehud means "united" (Judges 3).

Barak means "lightning," and according to Psalm 77:17, 18, lightning strikes are God's arrows; in Psalm 127:3-5, sons are also "arrows." Hence, "lightning" represents the Arrows of God, or the Sons of God. (Judges 4)

Gideon means "feller (of trees); warrior" (Judges 6).

Jephthah means "he will open" (Judges 11-12).

Samson means "sunlight" (Judges 12-16).

The Ark of the Covenant, which finally delivered Israel in Samuel's day.

If you put these names together, as God intended, the judges tell us this story:

The voice of God united with His Sons will fell the enemy and will open (reveal; unveil) the light in the Ark.

Each of these judges has his own unique prophetic story, of course, but today we will focus upon Gideon. Israel had been overrun by the Midianites, who had conquered them by immigration (Judges 6:2) with the help of the Amalekites and the "children of the east" (6:3).

Each brought a different religion with them, and so they prophesy of the situation today. Midian means "contentious." Moses' wife was a Midianite, and because Moses was a type of Christ, Zipporah was a type of the Bride of Christ. But in the context of Gideon's story, the Midianites represent the religion of contentious Christianity, or Old Covenant Christianity.

Amalek was the grandson of Esau-Edom, and is therefore prophetically associated with Judaism. Josephus tells us in Antiquities of the Jews, XIII, ix, 1, that the Edomites were forcibly converted and absorbed into Jewry in 126 B.C. He says "that they were hereafter no other than Jews." The Jewish encyclopedia (1903 edition) says, "From this time the Idumeans [Edomites] ceased to be a separate people." Thus, in the story of Gideon, the Amalekites represent Judaism today.

The "children of the east" can only represent Islam in this story.

Thus, we have all three major religions of the world prophesied in this story. They are led by the Midianites, because the Church had been given the authority of King Saul to rule, and so they are the ones that God holds most responsible for the world situation today. The overcomers are the ones called to clean up the mess that the Church created by its lawlessness, in the same manner that God called David to clean up after Saul.

Gideon and his army of 300 represents Christ and the overcomers. There are many interesting details about this story, but let us focus upon the battle itself. There were 32,000 Israelites who volunteered to fight the Midianites. Gideon followed the lawful procedure in the laws of war (Deut. 20) by allowing all of the fearful to go home (Judges 7:3).

All but 10,000 went home. Next, God weeded out more soldiers by having them drink from a brook. Those who scooped up the water (of the Word) were qualified; those who kneeled down and lapped up the water directly from the brook were disqualified. This is because these people did not attempt to discern or understand the "water" (Word of God). They were the type that would drink in anything that the church or preacher says without meditating on it or praying for a double witness--that is, "chewing the cud" and "having a cloven hoof" in Lev. 11:3. Hence, it was an unclean Word to them, regardless of how good the water was.

This brought the army down to a mere 300. The overcomers are a small company, compared to the church at large.

Next, Gideon was given confirmation of victory. God sent him down to the camp of the Midianites to hear the Word of the Lord from one of the enemy guards. Judges 7,

(13) When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. And he said, "Behold, I had a dream, a loaf of BARLEY BREAD was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat."

(14) And his friend answered and said, "This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and all the camp into his hand."

Gideon is "barley bread," because he represents the overcomers. (See my book, The Barley Overcomers.) Gideon knew then that God had given him the victory, because it had been confirmed by one of the enemy. You see, God can give prophetic dreams even to those who do not know Him, and He does not need Christians to speak forth His Word.

Gideon instructed his army to hold an earthen vessel and to put a torch in it, so that its glow was veiled (7:16). They also were given trumpets. At the appointed time, they blew the trumpets, broke the earthen vessels, and the light shined forth (7:20).

This prophesies of the feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the feast of Tabernacles.

The feast of Trumpets speaks of the resurrection of the dead. The Day of Atonement is the time of repentance and unveiling of the light. Paul says in 2 Cor. 4:7, "we have this treasure in earthen vessels." Those earthen vessels must be broken (death or living sacrifices) in order to shine forth the light ("Samson") which is the glory of God in the Ark of the Covenant.

The feast of Tabernacles is the final event in the sequence revealed here. It speaks of the birth and presentation of the Sons of God, after which time they are manifested or "unveiled" to the rest of the people on earth.

We have often seen smaller battles based upon this same pattern, but the final battle in the "big picture" is the coming of Christ with ten thousands of His saints (Jude 14; Deut. 33:2) to manifest the glory of God on earth. This will result in many or most of the people having a desire to possess this same glory, and they will come to Christ in droves. There they will be taught the basic feast-day pattern, so that they may know how to obtain their inheritance--the glorified body.

The age to come will be a time of world evangelism such as the world has never seen. While many think that the second coming of Christ ends all opportunity for salvation--as if God suddenly pushed the STOP button--it will actually be just the beginning of the greatest move of the Spirit in world history.

The only thing they will miss is the opportunity to receive their inheritance as overcomers in the first harvest (barley). They will have to await the next harvest time (wheat) at the Great White Throne. But meanwhile, they will want to learn the law (Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:2), so that they know the ways and mind of God.