"The Future History of the Church, Part 1"
A typological and midrashic examination of what will happen in the future of the church by seeing how the past history of the church is recapitulated eschatologically; how past events happen again in the Last Days. What to expect, and what to prepare for.
Download or email Part 1 Download or email Part 2 Download or email Part 3 The Typology of the Boat
Now for the ultimate picture: Again, this is typology; I am not basing doctrine on it, I am using it to illustrate the truth. In Mark chapters 4 and 6 we read of boats being storm-tossed; this is a type of the church in tribulation. The earth has to do with Israel, the sea with the nations – "Why are the nations in an uproar", etc. However, the ultimate boat is in Acts 27 with Paul being like the good and faithful servant in Matthew 24:45 who will give the proper food at the proper time just as Joseph fed the whole world and Moses fed the children of Israel in preparation for the exodus. Follow the typology. Acts 27:1…
"When it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of the Augustan Regiment."
Remember, Paul had to stand before Caesar; the Caesars are types of the Antichrist. Verses 2-3…
"So, entering a ship of Adramyttium, we put to sea, meaning to sail along the coasts of Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us. And the next day we landed at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him liberty to go to his friends and receive care."
As it says in Daniel, they will receive a “little help” if you can understand the connection. (Dan. 11:34) Verse 4…
"When we had put to sea from there, we sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary."
The word for “wind” in Greek is “pnuema” or in Hebrew “ruach”; these are the same words for “spirit”.
There are positive winds and negative winds, but the worst wind is the wind of the northeast. When a northeastern wind is blowing off the Mediterranean it goes through the Carmel mountain chain in Galilee and comes down onto the Sea of Galilee causing tumultuous waves. The ravines of the Carmel mountains cause a piston effect, which in turn creates these waves on the Sea of Galilee. This is the same wind that Paul's ship meets up with here. If you look at the Jewish calendar, which is agricultural, you will see on it the rainy seasons and which ways the wind blows. There are contrary and positive winds just as throughout history there are predominant spiritual forces. In the very end, however, the spiritual forces become tremendously contrary. Let's continue in verse 5…
"And when we had sailed over the sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy, and he put us on board. When we had sailed slowly many days, and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, the wind not permitting us to proceed, we sailed under the shelter of Crete off Salmone. Passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea. Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous because the Fast was already over, Paul advised them, saying, "Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives." Nevertheless, the centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul. And because the harbor was not suitable to winter in, the majority advised to set sail from there also, if by any means they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete opening toward the southwest and northwest, and winter there. When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their desire, putting out to sea, they sailed close by Crete."
Paul knew that they were headed for trouble; he warned them how to avoid it, but the majority didn't want to listen to the guy who really knew what was going on. Then, when the wind changed and things seemed to be getting better, they reacted with an attitude of "See, I told you he was a jerk".
Restorationists said when the Iron Curtain came down, "See, we told you Hal Lindsay was a jerk and the Russians aren't going to invade Israel." Yet anti-Semitism in Russia has done nothing but increase since that time and there are four Moslem countries that are part of the former Soviet Empire, at least one of which has nuclear weapons capabilities and a growing fundamentalist Islam. This is the same idea: “When men say "Peace and safety", then the end will come”. (1 Th. 5:3)
Bush spoke of a “New World Order”. A few weeks later he and Mr. Major were rushing thousands and tens of thousands of troops to the Gulf in what was probably the biggest war since the Second World War. Next they decided that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the New World Order and must be gotten rid of; but he is still down there. Then there was Yugoslavia, and then the Middle East. There will be no lasting peace anywhere in the world, particularly not in that area of the world, until the Son of David, the Prince of Peace, is recognized by Jew and Arab. There is a false peace in the Middle East; I don't know if it's the false peace predicted by Zechariah, but if not, it is certainly a prelude to it. Things seem to get better; but remember, this is like birth pangs. The pain seems to let up for a while, but then the uterine contractions begin all over again, worse than the last time.
This is Page 11 of 16 of PART 3
Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.