VERY IMPORTANT DAYS 🗓️
This is the first time we have run into the term “the latter days.”
🙂 It’s not the first time for me. I ran into some latter days a few weeks ago. They came to my door. Well-dressed young guys. Wanted to talk to me about their beliefs… 🤔
🙄 No. Not those latter days…
“It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,”
Isaiah 2:2 ESV
The imagery of “mountain” as a way to refer to the Kingdom of God is new too. This “mountain of the Lord” will be the highest of all the mountains (other kingdoms). Keep the mountain imagery ⛰️ in mind. It will come up again.
So when is this going to happen? When or what are these “latter days?” The latter days of what? Of planet earth’s existence?
K. Remember how I said WAY back in the first few posts about Genesis 1-3 that if you could keep the 7 days of creation in mind, it would help a lot to understand the whole Bible? That time has finally arrived.
In a 7-day week, which are “the latter dayS” (plural)? It could potentially be anything after the middle of the week or day 4.
When, on what day-of-1000-years, in our creation week model of human history did Jesus come?
- 0-1000 lifetime of Adam, establishment of truth, light/dark
- 1001-2000 (ish), flood, division of water
- 2001-3000 (ish), Abraham land & seed
- 3001-4000 (ish), sun/moon/stars signs/seasons/days/years to give light, kings/prophets/silent years/ JESUS
- 4001-5000 (ish), birds & fish, church, evangelism
- 5001-6000 (ish), land creatures, man, naming animals, woman, sin, judgment (YOU ARE HERE)
- 6001-7000, rest
What are “the latter days” of this week?
We tend to think of “the last/latter days” only in terms of the most dramatic events in the book of Revelation- plagues, burning mountains crashing into the sea, the AntiChrist…
But what if it might be broader than that?
Read this prophecy again in light of the possibility that humanity has been living in the “latter days” since the birth of the Church:
“It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,”
Isaiah 2:2 ESV
Now, ask yourself:
- Has the Kingdom of God been established above all other kingdoms?
- Are all the nations flowing to it?
I have yet to see jingle bells on horses in Jerusalem inscribed with “holiness to the LORD” (Zech. 14:20) and I haven’t seen a company that remanufactures swords into plowshares yet, but neither can we say that the Kingdom of God hasn’t been established and that people from all nations aren’t flowing into it. Cuz it has and they are.
Look at the week of years again.
If we aren’t in the latter days right now I’m not sure what to tell ya. We’re almost out of week.
Prophecy often has an already-but-not-yet aspect; or a present-but-future application. Isaiah will speak of a coming destruction and punishment of Jerusalem in very concrete terms. That’s what chapter 3 is all about- the 5th Avenue “Daughters of Zion” are going to go from Riches to Rags. But Isaiah speaks in chapter 2 of another coming destruction and punishment that is MUCH larger in scope. It includes all nations.
Isaiah (and other prophets) speak of that punishment as a definite day- The Day of The LORD; or sometimes just rather ominously… “that day.”
🤔 What day?
That day. THE most catastrophic, terrifying epic, powerful, supernatural day in all of human history. The day when God shows up on earth to punish the wicked and bring everything to conclusion.
😐 Oh… THAT day.
It’s a day that belongs to the LORD, “The Day of the LORD.” And He is going to own it soooo hard.
Since I’m an overachiever, I’ve decided to start a Day of the LORD inventory list. Every time a prophet tells us a detail about the Day of the LORD or “that day” I’m writing it down so I will have solid, biblical profile of what it will be like. Here’s what I have just from Isaiah 2 so we’re off to a strong start:
DAY OF THE LORD PROFILE
Human pride brought down (Is. 2:11-17)
Idols abolished (2:18)
People hide underground (2:10, 19, 21)
Earth shaken terribly (2:19, 21)
God appears in visible glory (2:10, 19, 21)
😏 It kinda reminds me of that group game where you have to remember everything you put in your suitcase alphabetically and you add a little each time… “I’m packing my suitcase and I’m taking… antiperspirant, bubble gum, crutches, Dr Pepper… only your list is the end-of-the-world edition.
🤓 Oooo! I love that game! I’m packing for the end of the world and I’m taking… humility, NO idols, a shovel, a seismograph, welding goggles…
Ok. We’ll add to it as we go. Feel free to copy and paste to make your own.
For now, I’d like to revisit the piece about people hiding underground.
🤓 Like in a zombie apocalypse bunker? 🧟♂️
More like caves but, who knows… maybe bunkers too. Get ready to sword drill…
“Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of his majesty.”
Isaiah 2:10 ESV
“And people shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth. In that day mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats, to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.”
Isaiah 2:19-21 ESV
(Note also to what creatures the people are throwing their idols: moles and bats. Moles live underground; bats in caves.)
To dig this out…
😆 Ha! I see what you did there. I dig it.
🙄…we need to go to Revelation>Luke>Hosea> 1st Samuel. Buckle up.
So, when I read this bit in Isaiah about people hiding underground from “the terror of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty,” I’m pretty sure it’s describing this:
“Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’”
Revelation 6:15-17 ESV
It seems like Isaiah and John the Revelator are writing about the same event.
🤓 Does that mean we can add “wrath” to the THAT day list?
For sure.
Jesus also prophesied this Himself:
“For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
Luke 23:29-31 ESV
I won’t unpack it all here, but I’m pretty confident that Jesus’ response to the wailing women of Jerusalem as he carried His cross to Calvary was a dual prophecy. The immediate application (for them) was the coming destruction of Jerusalem approximately 40 years in their future. (That’s the wood that is still green) But I think it’s very possible that the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD was a prophetic picture of The Day of the LORD (when the wood is dry). The first destruction of Jerusalem (the one Isaiah is prophesying about), was a picture of The Day of the LORD. It’s not a stretch to think that the 2nd destruction was a prophetic picture as well.
Jesus was quoting the prophet Hosea…
“The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. Thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars, and they shall say to the mountains, ‘Cover us,’ and to the hills, ‘Fall on us.’”
Hosea 10:8 ESV
Now, here’s where it gets really interesting.
🤔 How do you find all these interesting bits?
Easy. I ask questions. Like, “What is Aven?” “Why is it a problem?” “What altars are at Aven?” “Who is asking for the mountains to cover them? And why?”
😏 And I bet you’ve already found the answers to those questions. And you’re gonna tell us, aren’t ya?
Yup. First we have to look a little further back in the text of Hosea…
“The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for the calf of Beth-aven. Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests— those who rejoiced over it and over its glory— for it has departed from them.”
Hosea 10:5 ESV
This is referring to a calf-idol.
Time for a little Hebrew lesson.
Beth (Bet) means “house.”
Aven means: “vanity, wickedness, idol, evil, to come to nothingness, iniquity.”
Beth-Aven is the idol’s house. The home of vanity and evil. And it’s a location mentioned in a story with king Saul. An important story.
Turn back to 1st Samuel 13.
“And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven. When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble (for the people were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns, and some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering.”
1 Samuel 13:5-9 ESV
The name Michmash means “hidden.” What are the odds that in ALL of the Bible, we would find a passage that brings together the concepts of hiding in caves and holes and rocks and the house of idols and the name of the place the enemy camps is literally called “hidden.”???
What did Isaiah say about the idols? Who were they gonna throw their idols to?
🖐🏼😃 Oh! I know! The moles and the bats!
Right. Beth-Aven is the house of the idols. But the idols’ new house is gonna be underground, with the moles & bats.
And what did Jesus and John the Revelator have to say about people hiding in caves and holes (presumably with their useless idols)?
🤓 They were hiding from the wrath of God.
Yes.
And what does Saul (the KING) do in the story? He waits 7 days but the prophet-priest has not come. So he usurps the priest’s role and offers sacrifice.
😃 Ooo! Oooo! That’s kinda what we just read about Uzziah doing!!
Yes. And remember how I said it gave me antichrist vibes?
This whole story with the 7-day wait while the people are in trouble (tribulation), and an absent prophet-priest and a king usurping the role of priest while people are hiding in caves and holes… man it makes my prophecy-senses tingle!
For those of you out there in Rio Linda who are having trouble following…
This story shows:
People waiting for a troubling period of 7…
The man of God is absent during that 7…
The people are waiting for him to show up…
They are hiding in caves and holes…
And the king takes on an unauthorized “redemptive” role of priest – a.k.a. He’s a phony priest, a false prophet…
And there’s this detail about the people who did not stay behind to hide underground:
“…and some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead.”
😐 Uhhhh… and…?
What does “crossing the Jordan” frequently hint at?
😐 Dying and going to heaven. At least that’s what all my Granny’s songs say.
Yes. The imagery comes from Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan but also the children of Israel crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land.
The name Gad means “a troop.” Its root means “overcomer.”
Gilead means “heap of testimony.”
🤔 So… There’s a bunch of people who don’t hide underground. Instead they cross the Jordan into the land of the troop that overcomes; and the land where there is a heap of testimony…like… a cloud of witnesses.
😲🤯
Yeah. Just sayin. Could be somethin’.
I’m just spitballing here. But these texts- Isaiah 2:19-21, Revelation 6:15-17, Luke 23:29-31, Hosea 10:5-8, and 1 Samuel 13:5-9 are the ONLY texts in the Bible (besides David in the cave of Adullum) that have people hiding in caves and rocks and they ALL connect to idolatry, disobedience, and destruction.
Isaiah is connecting hiding underground to the Day of the LORD- the Day of Wrath. The description of THAT day in Revelation is quoting Jesus. Jesus is quoting Hosea. Hosea is referencing 1st Samuel.
😲 It’s all connected?!
Welcome to the study of prophecy.
Hang on to your Bible.
Tinfoil hats are optional.
To The Reader 