Aug 10, 2011

The Dow on Friday and Monday dropped steeply. Then Monday was a wild ride up and down hundreds of points, ending up 429 points. Now today it is down once again 400 points (so far). Such volatility tends to make stock brokers loose their loins, to put it in biblical terms.

Years ago I read a financial report talking about our economic future. It stated that when stocks acted like a drunken sailor, staggering one way, then the other, and back again, it would indicate that we were nearing the end of the system as we know it.

Are we there yet?

Well, I don't think we ought to malign sailors like that. I prefer to think of it as the drunken king in Daniel 5, whose orgy seems to be represented quite well in political and economic circles today. Is the handwriting on the wall yet? I think it is there for all to see, and that is what is causing the king and all of his men to have a laxative moment. And since this is the second time since the days of Daniel, I like to think of it as a re-laxing moment.

In such a historic moment, call in the cleanup crew. They can "smell and tell" what the king and his men have been eating.

Have we had enough yet? Have we had enough of Babylon's economic system? Do we still have faith in usury? Do we still want the right to sin? Do we still think we know more about politics and economics than God does?

For many years we followed Jeremiah's advice and prayed for the peace of Babylon (Jer. 29:7).

(7) And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it; for in the peace thereof shall you have peace.

That was the mandate from 1913-1983, plus 10 extra years to account for the Hezekiah Factor. Hence, in 1993 we moved into another mode of prayer. The Jubilee Prayer Campaign was designed to pray for Babylon's overthrow. After 13 years of spiritual warfare (ending in October 2006), we began to see results.

The overthrow of Babylon is not a pretty picture. Revelation 17-19 paints a graphic picture of destruction of the system while it exposes its true beastly nature. Rev. 18:21 says,

(21) And a strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "Thus will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not be found any longer."

So when we see the financial system reeling like a drunken king, we only see the fulfillment of God's word taking place. There is no need to fear. However, we are told these things ahead of time so that we can prepare ourselves spiritually, emotionally, and physically.

For some of us, we are called to present God's solution to the problem, so that when men's theories fail, they have a viable alternative. I realize that, for as long as possible, men will hang on to all their theories that seemed to work well in the past. Some things just have to run their full course. But yet we know that people always run to church when disasters happen. This usually does them little good, except to comfort them emotionally, and yet it does show that to many people God is the solution of last resort.

The big problem is that most church leadership today does not have any solution to the big political or economic problems out there. It is good to put sincere Christians into positions of government to prevent such things as bribery and moral corruption. But most of them are more schooled in the laws of men than in the laws of God.

Worse yet, to openly advocate God's law is likely to elicit cries of derision and horror from the media--and even from many church leaders.

One of our root problems actually goes back to biblical times. The Israelites of old disagreed with the law and thought it was much too harsh and unreasonable. They thought they had better ideas, so they cast aside the law and made up their own laws that seemed more reasonable to them. In short, the people demanded the right to sin (transgress the law).

In time, they even lost their official manuscript of the law itself. In about 623 B.C. King Josiah engaged in a clean-up of the temple, and Hilkiah the priest then found the long-lost, long-forgotten law of God. 2 Kings 22:8-11 says,

(18) Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, who read it... (11) And it came about when the king heard the words of the book of the law, that he tore his clothes.

The name Hilkiah carries a numeric value of 153. He represents the "sons of God," because beni h'elohim also has a numeric value of 153.

They found this book of the law while they were taking inventory of the temple silver (2 Kings 22:4; 2 Chron. 34:14). So it is significant that Shaphan's name means "hidden treasure," and this is how his name is translated in Psalm 17:14. The silver was the temple treasure, no doubt, but the book of the law was the REAL hidden treasure that was lost in the debris of the temple.

Shaphan has a numeric value of 430, which is the number of years between the covenants with Abraham and Moses (Gal. 3:17). Hence, when Shaphan read the law to King Josiah, it was as if the king was once again leading Israel out of Egyptian bondage under Moses. In fact, we read in 2 Kings 23:2 that King Josiah "read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant, which was found in the house of the Lord."

This is "the book of the covenant" that was given to Israel by God through Moses 430 years after the promise to Abraham. Verse 3 then says,

(3) And the king stood by [on] the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.

The "pillar" was the rock that "followed them" out of Egypt (1 Cor. 10:4). It was the rock that Jacob anointed in Gen. 28:18. That "anointed" (christened) rock was Christ, and Joseph became its custodian, or "shepherd" (Gen. 49:24). It was later used as a Coronation Stone (2 Kings 11:14) to signify that the kings ruled by the authority of Jesus Christ.

It is therefore our job description as "sons of God" to read the book of the law to the kings and political leaders of the world, so that they will know how to resolve these very serious problems. If we are schooled in the law, led by the Spirit, and know the mind of Christ, we will have virtually all of the solutions at our finger tips. We are the Hilkiahs of today, as well as the Shaphans, called to present God's point of view.

This is currently seen as a contrarian viewpoint. In fact, this too is prophesied in the story, because 430 is based upon the number 43, which means "contention." We should not be contentious in our character, but we are certainly called to contend with those who disagree with God. While most people present the teachings of men, we represent God. The world views this as being contentious.

While we cannot force others to believe as we believe, it is our job as sons of God to represent our Father, His character, and His views of right and wrong, sin and righteousness. At some point in history, I believe, the kings of the earth will follow the path of Josiah and will renew the covenant with God, while standing upon the pillar of Jesus Christ.

We are on the winning side.