Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Parallels from Beginning and End
Here are some interesting observations:

When Adam & Eve fell, they and the serpent were judged. But notice that the judgments were fourfold, a characteristic of apocalyptic judgments:

To the serpent:
1) Cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field
2) On your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat
3) I will put enmity between you and the woman
4) He shall bruise your head

To the woman:
1) I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing
2) In pain you shall bring forth children
3) Your desire shall be for your husband
4) He shall rule over you

To Adam:
1) Cursed is the ground because of you
2) Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you
3) By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
4) Till you return to the ground... for you are dust

Fourfold judgment appears again in Joel 1:4
1) The cutting locust
2) The swarming locust
3) The hopping locust
4) The destroying locust

And in Zechariah:
1:18 - four horns
1:20 - four craftsmen
6:1 - four chariots

I think it is also interesting the parallel between the naming of Eve and the naming of God's servants:
She was Woman, which indicated she came from Man. But now she is Eve, Life. After the three fourfold curses of 3:14-19, this is a great promise of hope for the new world in which they would live. Yes, there is a curse on this world, but life will come from Eve, not death.

In a very similar manner, after proclaiming the great day of wrath, the angel proclaims, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads" (Rev. 7:3). How were they sealed? Rev. 14:1 tells us, "Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads." Rev. 22:4 also says, "They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads." So, this new name is the Father's own name written on the foreheads of His servants.

But there is more to this parallel. You should notice the pattern in Revelation is that John will hear a voice, then he will turn and see. First he hears, then he sees what he had been hearing about. When John hears about the sealing of the servants of God, he turns and sees "a great multitude that no one could number" (so don't get hung up on 144,000) "clothed in white robes" (7:9).

In Gen. 3:20, Eve receives her new name, and immediately in v. 21, "the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them." Yes, we need to remember that these skins are symbols of the redemption that God will provide to cover their sins. But there is also the beautiful reminder that when there is judgment for the ungodly, there is God's personal identification and covering for the covenant keepers.

Now I've always found this verse startling, primarily because it is not finished!
Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever--"

That's it! It just cuts off! But what happens? "Therefore the Lord God sent him out..."

Get this: When it comes time for judgment, God doesn't waste time. He'll even jump into carrying it out before finishing a sentence. When the prophets declared that the day of Jehovah was near, it was near. When they said He was coming quickly, He came quickly.

When someone wants to delay the judgment of God, it sounds more like that slithery voice that said, "You will not surely die."
 
  posted at 11:16 AM  
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