An Examination Of Biblical Duality And Its Relevance To The End Of The Age Part 2

In my last articles that I posted in the beginning of 2018,  I suggested that one of the reasons standard Christianity does not recognize who the Biblical Israelites are is because of its emphasis on a kind of sugary aspect of God’s character post the  death and resurrection of Yeshua (Jesus).  It is a kind of emphasis which served to disconnect true Israel and Judah from its historical tendency to be expulsed from its homeland and taken into exile by the nations and be most notably positioned in the Egypt/Babylon of its day.  Such an emphasis has made it difficult for Christian evangelist such as Jesses Duplantis to connect the dots as to why the negro in America had endured the tragic events of slavery and the Jim Crow era and still was able to sing of God’s amazing grace.  What he never addressed like many others was why the negro in the divine scheme of things was enslaved and subsequently oppressed, scorned and generally disliked in the first place. 

At this point I begin to think about the concept of Biblical Duality as a way to explain why this disconnect in Christendom and the awakened of Judah exist.  To begin this exploration a working definition of duality is helpful.  Duality is defined as having a double character or nature; the division of something conceptually into two opposed or contrasted aspects. For example, from a physical standpoint the world everyday experiences light when the sun comes up and darkness when the sun goes down.  But seldom are these two phenomenon occurring at the same time unless there is an eclipse.  From a biblical perspective, I’m going to look at several accounts beginning with 1Kings: 16:31-33. 

Most people with even nominal experience with the bible know about the story of Elijah and king Ahab or more specifically his showdown with Jezebel king Ahab’s wife.  I have written about it myself on this site. It is funny that because of this showdown  ministers like to do sermons on Jezebel, but neglect Ahab without whom there would be no Jezebel as verse 31states, “And it came to pass as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. “Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal which he had built in Samaria.” (vs. 32). “And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. (vs.33).

When Elijah arrives at Ahab’s abode he challenges a fundamental power of Ahab’s god Baal. He challenges him as the god of thunderstorms by declaring the lack of dew or rain except at his word. (Vs 17) .  Ah, thunderstorms. I certainly know something about that. I think some out there has tried appealing to this Baal.  Once Elijah has made this declaration he must deal with its consequences  as well and is sent by God to Zarephath which belonged to Sidon. (vs.9).  It is here where we witness a duality.  Why would God send Elijah to very place which is the source of Ahab’s and subsequently Israel’s sin.  The widow is a Sidonian like Jezebel.  From the Israelite perspective she is a pagan heathen by nationality and one would think a worshiper of Baal as well.  Apparently, she is not a worshiper of Baal so that she provides a contrast of light to Jezebel’s darkness.  Here God demonstrates that place of birth and nationality does not determine your eternal destination. 

This widow who lived in the heart of darkness and idol worship was found faithful enough of God to entrust with the care of his prophet.  She also served as a contrast to Ahab whose birth and nationality did nothing to secure his eternal life as he made the conscious decision to marry darkness and serve it.  Therefore, we find co-existing in Sidon representatives of the kingdom of darkness or Satan and a representative of the kingdom of light or God.  I am willing to believe that the widow of Zarephath was not the only such individual in Sidon.  Additionally, what should be noted about this dual character or nature in Sidon is that the Dark nature ruled in terms of governance.  Also, just to note when God sent Elijah to the widow of Sidon, he basically hid him in plain sight because he knew Ahab would be looking for him, but would not expect him to be in the heart of Baal worship itself.

We find in the book of Daniel another instance of duality when the kingdom of Judah is exiled to the original Babylon and their presence as a priesthood nation, although a defunct one, becomes the representatives of light through Daniel and the other Hebrew young men in once again a kingdom of darkness governed religiously by wise men, sorcerers, magicians and a crazy despotic king Nebuchadnezzar.  Jesus as well illustrates this duality in the parable of the wheat and tares in Matthew 13:24-30, where is likens the kingdom of heaven to a man who sowed good seed in his field only to have his enemy come and sow tares or weeds amongst his wheat. 

His servants once the wheat and tares have grown up together asked should they gather up the tares, but the man tells them “no," lest they uproot the wheat as well. Instead, he desired they should grow together until the time of the harvest and then he would have his reapers gather the tares in bundles but the wheat would be put in his barn. He later explains the parable in verse 37-43. To summarize the parable,  the field is the world, the good seed are the sons of the kingdom and the tares are the sons of the wicked one sowed by his enemy the devil.  The harvest is the end of the age where his angels will gather those things that offend and those who practice lawlessness and cast them into the furnace of fire and the righteous shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

Whereas in the previous examples we see duality on a smaller scale with Israel and some other nation, with the wheat and tares example we see that Jesus has expanded the concept to the larger scale of the world so that once again co-existing at the same time and in opposition to each other are the sons of light or the kingdom of heaven and sons of darkness or the wicked one. This double character or nature of the world will remain a reality as long as we are in this age but without a doubt it is the dark character which is steadily eroding the light and which progressively no longer hides in plain sight.  Part two continues in the next article.