The history here leaves out something important. Antiochus
Epiphanes was determined to rule over Egypt and so attacked it as the passage
says he did. What it doesn’t tell us is that
at the same time a rumor apparently spread that Epiphanes had died and the
deposed high priest led a group of a thousand Jews who took over
Jerusalem. Epiphanes was furious and, to
show who was truly the boss, sacked Jerusalem, took everything from the temple
and outlawed Jewish religious practices.
He worked with the Jews who we see here who willingly gave up their
religious identity as the distinct people of God in order to enjoy the benefits
of Grecian rule. They were willing to
accept the idol worship of the Greeks in order to reap the rewards of
partnership with the king. It made sense
in a worldly way, they were the power in the world and had been for quite some
time. Too often we assimilate ourselves
too easily and completely.
Even after Jesus had healed the sick and the lame who had
been brought to Him, after He had feed the multitude, the Pharisees and
Sadducees ask for a sign “from heaven.”
What would such a sign be if these were insufficient? His response said they could interpret signs
of the times but that only an “evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign.” No sign but the sign of Jonah would be given
to such a generation. Sometimes our
problem isn’t that we seek signs it is that we don’t seek signs. We seek to have signs on our terms and that
causes us to miss the signs that are actually there. A sign from heaven would be something only
God could do and so their request here is yet another way of saying, we can’t
trust these signs, they might be false. As
in the exodus, the magicians of Pharaoh were able to duplicate the first signs
Moses and Aaron worked. Ultimately, they
were beyond their powers and they knew that “This is the finger of God.” The leaders seek such a sign, one that is
indisputably done by the finger of God.
Jesus’ warning about the leaven of these groups causes the disciples to
be concerned that they haven’t brought bread, surely that is why He mentioned
leaven, right? Can’t you just see Jesus
giving a face palm when they worry about having no bread immediately after He
has provided it for the crowd?
There are two reasons given for why there is rejoicing in
heaven for the judgment and destruction of “Babylon,” she corrupted the earth
with her immorality, and the Lord has avenged on her the blood of his servants. The judgment of God is hailed as true and
just. We live in a world that would be
fine with judgment for the avenging of the blood of God’s servants but not for
issues of immorality. We no longer know what is moral and immoral, we have made
our compromise with the world on this issue.
This judgment makes way for the announcement of the marriage supper of
the Lamb. We are called out but we are
called to this supper. Sometimes we
forget that there is a positive aspect to that call, we always need to remember
that we aren’t bystanders waiting for something, we are to be actively engaged
in bringing about the kingdom on earth now.
No comments:
Post a Comment