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.
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