Forced to leave his father’s household, Jacob goes back to his mother’s household (back in the old country) to take a wife. What happens next is a lesson in reaping and sowing.
            Just as Jacob tricked Esau out of his first-born birthright, Jacob’s uncle tricks Jacob into marrying Leah instead of his chosen Rachel. Jacob then has to work many years to marry Rachel as well. Eventually, Jacob decides it is time to go back to Canaan. Of course he will have to make amends with Esau, if possible. So he sends a peace offering ahead to smooth the way. And he prays to God to deliver him from Esau.
            Close to his destination, Jacob receives an unexpected visitor as night falls. It’s not Esau, but the Man of God, the pre-incarnate Christ. They wrestle through the night. That must have been a sight for the ages! Jacob surprisingly prevails, but in the process his hip is disjointed. At daybreak, the Man asks Jacob his name. The Man responds with a divine declaration. “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed” (Gen. 32:28).
            Jacob’s twelve sons become the twelve tribes of Israel. Their offspring become known as the Israelites. They worship the God of their fathers—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Israelites (Jews) are God’s chosen people. Jacob’s disjointed hip symbolizes that they are still out of step with God because of the fallen nature and cycle of disobedience that we see in the rest of the Old Testament.
            The Chronos Lesson: That fateful night and subsequent dawn is a shadow of the Jewish nation in our time. For now, Romans 11 explains that the “natural branch” (the Jews) has been cut off because of their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. This cutting off was marked by the Abomination of Desolation, which led to the destruction of the Temple Fortress in 70 AD. They were scattered across the nations (the Diaspora). Choices always have consequences.
            Still, Romans 11 reminds us that God is not done with the Jews. Hosea 6:1-2 records that they will be cut off or stricken for two Days (Days 5 and 6 of the Church Age). Note: the passage doesn’t make any sense if we use regular 24-hour days here. It has to be referring to how God counts time in terms of 1,000-year great Days. When Christ returns to gather His Church at the start of the last Day, the Jewish remnant will finally recognize Jesus as the Messiah. The last Day is called the 7th Day when counting from Adam; it is also called the 3rd Day when counting from Christ.
            In a sense, Israel is still wrestling with God. But at Daybreak of the last Day, a remnant shall prevail. They shall recognize Jesus as the Messiah. They will not be part of the Church, the Bride, but they shall be part of the redeemed and children of God.  They will be part of His household.
            When Christ comes again, He will stand on Mt. Zion, and His presence will cause a mighty earthquake that makes a way of escape for the revived Jews from the Antichrist’s armies. Now believers and saints set apart to Christ, the latter rain outpouring of the Spirit will enable them to become mighty men in battle. It’s just in time for the last world war, the Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty (Rev. 16:14).
            Revelation 10:7 describes this part of the plan as the mystery of God. “But in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel [the 7th trumpet of the wrath of that Day], when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.”
            The mystery declared to the prophets is that when Jesus comes again, He will set in motion the times of the restoration of all things. That includes the restoration of the kingdom to Israel as promised to David. When the Antichrist is crushed and thrown into the Lake of Fire (eternal damnation), God sets up Israel as His godly government on the earth. It’s part of the restoration of His original plan from the beginning.
            As promised, all the nations of the world will be blessed as Israel takes its role as God’s natural government on the earth. It will take their directions from the heavenly government comprised of the Heir and His joint-heirs as the One New Man. You probably know it as Christ’s millennial reign. What you may not realize is that we reign from above, from over the earth and not on it. That is Israel’s job. More on that later.     

            Abraham knows enough to make sure Isaac marries from his own people to maintain the godly lineage. By faith, Rebekah agrees to follow Abraham’s servant back to Canaan to marry Isaac. Not long after, she gives birth to twin boys. Esau is born first, followed by Jacob, who is holding onto Esau’s heel. Jacob is Rebekah’s favorite while Esau is Isaac’s favorite. As you can imagine, that doesn’t bode well for family life.
            Isaac is coming to the end of his life and realizes it is time to pass along the first-born blessing to his son. This is to be done in order to establish Esau as the future heir of the household. By then, Isaac is quite old and his eyesight is failing. Rebekah overhears Isaac giving instructions to Esau to prepare the meal. When Esau goes out hunting, Rebekah talks Jacob into tricking his father into giving him the blessing instead. Isaac thought he was speaking the blessing over Esau, when it was actually Jacob instead.
            Once Esau and Isaac discovered that they had been deceived, Isaac could not undue the blessing, for it had already been spoken before the Lord. Despite endeavoring to live a godly lifestyle, the fallen nature rises up and deception takes hold. Esau is furious with his brother. It gets so bad that Jacob has to leave the family estate.
            The Chronos Lesson: The blessing that Isaac bestows (Gen. 27:27-29) helps us understand the rights that belonged to the firstborn of every family, and more importantly, the mystery of Christ as it relates to the Firstborn of God’s House.
            “And he [Isaac] came near and kissed him [Jacob posing as Esau]; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said: ‘Surely, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed. Therefore may God give you of the dew of Heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you!’ ”
             The blessing of the firstborn reveals the distinction that exists in a household, and by extension, in God’s kingdom. There can only be one master. Even though the other members of the household are also legitimate children, they are recognized as being servants, in that they must respect the established authority of the master of the house. Yet as servants in the household, they still share in the abundance and blessings that come upon the entire household.
            Nevertheless, they are distinguished from the rightful heir who is the head of the household. In a loving and godly family, the heir always seeks to protect and promote the well-being of each member of the family. As we will see, these same distinctions will be carefully maintained in God’s mountain or kingdom. The kingdom will consist of all of His children or extended family, and they will be lovingly ruled over and served by the Heir.
            The truth that this Heir is a Head and a Body, composed of many members, forms the essence of the mystery of Christ. In the mystery, those who have believed on Christ in between His first and second coming are called the Church of the Firstborn (Heb. 12:23). We are one with Him, such that there is no distinction between the Church and the Heir, other than the fact that He is preeminent (1 John 4:17 and Col. 1:18).
            We are also referred to by many other titles, including the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the Lamb’s Wife, firstfruits unto God and the Lamb, a spiritual house, a living temple, the holy brethren, the elect, and those who overcome—to name a few!
            While believers may be familiar with some of these titles, they are less familiar with the chronos aspect of this mystery. These times and seasons are marked by a defined beginning and end. They do not run on indefinitely, anymore than the summer season lasts the entire year. Instead, the year contains other seasons.
            The people of the Old Covenant will always be distinguished from those of the New Covenant. New Covenant believers born again between His first and second coming, will be forever identified with the Heir, for we are part of His Body. As His Bride, the two become one flesh in the mystery of marriage. It is our chronos appointment to be united with Him with the resurrection—the firstfruits. It is a unique, limited-time offer during these last Days, as we partake of His calling as the Heir of God’s Mountain.
            By the way, any people who are born again after witnessing the rapture or who are born again during Christ’s millennial reign shall be part of the household and family of God as well. But they will not be part of the Church of the Firstborn because that designation comes by faith alone. They did not accept Christ until they saw Him.    

            God is all-knowing. He is not limited by the passing of time. In a sense, we could say that He is above time, somehow knowing the past, present, and future all at once. Even though this is hard for us to grasp with our limited, finite minds, this means that God is never surprised by mankind’s choices.
            So it shouldn’t surprise us that God reaffirms His promise to Abram concerning the son that was to become the Jewish nation. God appears to Abram again and the two go through a covenant-cutting ceremony. It’s a vivid picture of God’s faithfulness, despite Abram messing things up along the journey to this place. As part of the ceremony, God changes Abram’s name to Abraham.
            Both names mean exalted father. The latter variation is a word play of sorts because it sounds like “father of a multitude.” Every time Abraham would hear his new name, it would remind him of God’s call and promise.
            Some years later, God invites Abraham to another vivid ceremony that would paint a picture that would likewise span the ages. God calls Abraham to offer his son as a sacrifice. Remember, child sacrifices are common in the ungodly ancient cultures. So this had to be a shocker, to say the least. But Abraham had grown in his knowledge of God’s love and faithfulness.  So he took another step of faith.
            In hindsight, we now know that sacrificing Isaac was not God’s intention at all. He already had the sacrificial lamb lined up in the briers of a near-by bush. God went so far as to allow Abraham to tie his son on the altar before intervening. Perhaps the lad’s father believed that God would raise his son from the dead.
            That may seem harsh in our hindsight, but it provided Abraham with a vivid reminder of his faith in God for all the rest of his years. He had passed the test. We can only imagine that it also left an indelible picture of faithfulness in Isaac’s heart as well! That picture also cast a shadow on a future, world-changing sacrifice that would secure the New Covenant for all mankind.
            The Chronos Lesson: These types and shadows found in the early Days of the Old Testament likewise provide us in these latter Days with a vivid picture of God’s faithfulness and our own faith walk. Check out the “Faith Hall of Fame” in Hebrews 11.
            As believers, our heart longs to serve God and further His kingdom. But when we don’t see things line up according to what we expect, we face a decisive moment. We can lose heart because we still only see in part, or we can guard our heart. How do we do this in a practical way? The Apostle Paul gives us the way in Phil. 4:6-8.
             “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”  Let’s put this into a handy checklist.

• We resist being anxious and stressed.
• We give thanks when we pray because that is an act of faith, thanking God for His will to be done before we see it manifested on the earth.
• We discipline our minds to think on the right things.
• We meditate on these things so that we can see them as being real even before we see them happen in our lives.
• We trust in God’s “good report” of His plan recorded in the Scriptures.

Subtitle: What to Do When the Plan Doesn’t Seem to be Working?
            At the risk of stating the obvious, becoming a father of a multitude requires being a father. Abram knew God’s plan, but many years had passed by without the promised son being born. It’s tempting when we don’t see things unfold as we expect to either let go of the promise or hatch our own plan to bring it to pass. Abram and his wife opted for the latter choice. And like all choices, it had consequences.
            Sarai, Abram’s wife, conceived a plan—pun intended—whereby her Egyptian maid (Hagar) would be offered to Abram. Those kinds of arrangements were common in the world at that time. But remember, God’s plan required a godly lineage to bring forth the Seed. Sarai’s plan may have sounded good at the time, but good is not God’s best.
            Not surprisingly, as soon as the maid conceived a son, Hagar immediately despised Sarai. The Hebrew wording actually means to curse. Later, after the promised son (Isaac) was miraculously born to Abram and Sarai, the stand-in son (Ishmael) likewise cursed and ridiculed the promised son.
            Needless to say, the two sons could not co-exist in the same household. So God had to step in, sending the illegitimate son and his mother to Beersheba. Because of human choices, God had to allow something less than His best. Still, God did not forget Hagar. He promised that her son would also become a nation. Ishmael became the father of the Arabs.     Sometimes our choices have epic consequences!
            Deuteronomy 30:19-20 repeats the two choices presented by the two trees in the Garden of Eden. “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live, that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days…”
            When the people choose to reject God, He must give them what they have chosen, the cursed consequences. In some passages, it sounds as if God is the active agent that is causing it to happen. But because God is just, He has no choice but to allow it to happen. Some theologians refer to this as His permissive will. Without consequences, evil-doers think they can get away with murder—literally. The proliferation of lawlessness in our own time is a vivid reminder of this principle. In short, the people bring the consequences on themselves through their choices, which God must allow.  
            The Chronos Lesson: Even today we witness the consequence of Abram and Sarai’s choice to get ahead of God. It produced an in-bred hatred between the Jews and the Arabs. That hatred will erupt again with an end-time invasion of Israel by a coalition of Arab nations under the leadership of the Antichrist. That invasion comes just before the sixth and final sign of this present age that signals Christ’s return.
            The final sign will be unmistakable. The whole world will be thrust into darkness at the same time. Needless to say, the invasion will come to a screeching halt. Scripture records that the heavens will recede like a scroll being rolled up. All the people of the earth will see Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. They will see Him stand and then come to gather His Church at the rapture. He will take His Bride back to Father’s House as promised, where we shall remain with Him to reign over the earth during the final 1,000 years of God’s great Week. To state the obvious, His coming will not be a secret coming!
            Once seated as the heavenly, immortal court, we will execute God’s vengeance against evil. “And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great Day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’ ” (Rev. 6:15-17).
            In case you’re wondering who is able to stand, the answer is given in the next chapter (Rev. 7:14-15).  It is the ones who come out of the 2,000 years of tribulation that characterizes the Church Age. Jesus taught that the tribulation would begin immediately after the destruction of the Temple (70 AD). It continues until we see the final sign of total darkness over the whole earth.
            Revelation 7 adds that the ones who are able to stand are those who chose to wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That’s us, folks!  

         The next focal point mapped out in God’s playbook comes from an unlikely source: Ur of the Chaldeans. Think “New Babylon,” for it developed out of the ancient city of Babylon, the principle city of the Mesopotamian and Babylonian empires (now southern Iraq). The cosmopolitan metropolis thrived along the trade routes of ancient times. Its own temple tower (ziggurat) to the moon god was a popular destination since the people worshipped many gods (polytheism). Temple prostitution was a common religious rite.
            In the midst of this pagan environment, God Almighty reveals Himself to Abram. It’s safe to assume that since Abram recognized the call, he had continued to follow God as one of Shem’s five sons. Interestingly, the number five in Scripture symbolizes grace.
            The true and living God called Abram to pack up and go from his country, family, and father’s house to “a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:1-3).
            With the advantage of hindsight and God’s Word, we know that Abram took the step of faith. “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:8-10).
            Even though we’ve only been on this journey together for a short time, hopefully you recognize that this call is part of God’s redemptive plan. Abram left what the world considered a great city. In faith he saw a far better one, for the earthly Jerusalem that would be established through his godly line would be but a shadow of the heavenly Jerusalem that would descend at the appointed time and complete the plan at the end of the ages.
            You might ask how God could give the place to Abram as his inheritance. The Promised Land at that point in time is known as Canaan, after Ham’s son. Like their counterparts in Ur, Ham’s ungodly line worshipped other gods, including Baal. Both Leviticus and Deuteronomy describe the immoral culture of the Canaanites. It included sexual promiscuity of all kinds and perverse rituals associated with fertility cults, including child sacrifice. Such evil must be judged.
            That’s the practical reason. We also need to recognize that “the earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1). God gives it to whomever He wills.
            So Abram set out with his nephew, Lot, who had become part of his household when Lot’s father passed away. We’ll skip over all their travels and various settlements. But to give you an idea of the spiritual and cultural state of the land of Canaan, think about Lot’s wife turning to a pillar of salt when they escaped Sodom and Gomorrah. Not a pretty picture, to say the least.
            Despite their nomadic lifestyle, Abram and Lot are very prosperous. Eventually they have to part ways because of competition for food and water for their herds. Not long after Abram settles into his chosen territory, God appears to him again to affirm His covenant promises. That covenant becomes the focal point for the rest of the Old Testament because it establishes a new people group—the Hebrews.
            Over time, Abram would come to understand the nature of this call. In effect, the Hebrews were to be a living object lesson of what it means to be chosen by God and what it looks like to be His people. They would be a theocracy, with God as the supreme ruler over the people, through His earthly representative.
            The root word for “Hebrew” means to cross over through a narrow opening. It foreshadows what Jesus would say later: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7:13-14).
            The Chronos Lesson: Faith is believing before we see. It is the “currency” of Heaven. That is why acting in faith pleases God. Few of us are called to set out to a foreign land to start a new work with God. We are, however, called to believe His plan.
            We know that timing is everything. For several decades now, we’ve heard that Jesus is coming soon. But how soon is soon? Some have set dates, only to be proven wrong when He did not come. Those premature dates were based on man-made assumptions that ignored at least one of the two crucial elements of God’s agenda—the predetermined times (chronos) and the corresponding signs (kairos). Both are needed to have the complete picture.
            Not understanding God’s chronos times and kairos signs is why Paul had to warn the Church of his time that they should not be moved by scoffers. The warning rings true for us as well. We have to trust God’s plan as recorded in His Word.  
            Hebrews 6:1-2 lists the elementary doctrines of our faith. They’re equivalent to the spiritual ABC’s. Over the history of the Church, these essential doctrines have been lost and then restored at the appointed time. The last elementary doctrine—resurrection and judgment—concerns the end-times. Sadly, because of the confusion in the Church over the various man-made end-time views, many church leaders avoid or even outright ignore teaching this elementary doctrine.
            That should set off a warning signal in your spirit. What we’ve seen so far of the beginning of God’s timetable will come to a climatic end with resurrection and judgment. But few believers know how and when that happens. That is why the Spirit is bringing fresh revelation and opening our eyes to the scriptural truths.
            Just as in Noah’s time, God has given us time-specific prophecies so that we can see the Day approaching when we are gathered together with Christ and seated in the heavenly places to execute the rest of the plan (Heb. 10:25).
            Needless to say, we’re on the precipice of a new Day and age (the age to come). Don’t you think God wants to make sure we understand our part in the plan? That’s why He is bringing new, timely light to His Word. Will we heed His call to take a journey through His Word by faith?

          “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises” (Heb. 8:6).
            When you turn on your favorite sports channel, you don’t expect to see anything other than sports-related programming. You can, however, expect to see different sports and different teams. That’s what we have in the Bible.
            It’s one consistent channel airing God’s game plan with different “teams.” The Old and New Testaments present the plan-related programming. They are the same “channel” but with different “sports.” The purpose of every “game” is the people’s relationship with the God. Just as you would not use the rules of baseball to play a game of basketball, we cannot use the rules of engagement under the Old Covenant and apply them to the New Covenant.
            So what links the two covenants together? A better question is Who links the two covenants together? Jesus Christ. There is a shadow or type of Christ in every book of the Old Testament. Likewise, you can find a type or shadow of God’s chronos agenda in every book of the Old Testament.
           The Old Covenant applies to everyone from Adam’s time to the pivotal marker of Jesus’ appearance as the Messiah. Jesus came to His own people, the Jews, first. That is why the first four books of the New Testament, known as the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are transitional. Some parts relate to the Old Covenant and some parts relate to the New Covenant. So it is important to see which covenant is being discussed in a passage.
            In one sense, the Jews had first dibs on choosing the New Covenant. Yet, when the angelic choir broke the news of the Messiah’s birth, they prophetically declared, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:14). The purpose of the New Covenant was to extend salvation to all the peoples of the earth—Jew and Gentile alike.
            Even though God’s people (the Jews) rejected Jesus as God’s anointed one, God didn’t totally write them off. They did, however, have to pay the consequences of their choice. We’ll come back to that shortly.
            Our point here is to help you see the purposes and connection between the two “sports”—I mean covenants. With the pivotal point of the two covenants being Christ’s first coming, this means that the Church, the Body of Christ, falls under the New Covenant. We find our rules of engagement, our “game book” so to speak, in the New Testament, particularly the books from Romans through Revelation. They contain the basic doctrines or teachings of the New Covenant.
            The Chronos Lesson: So if our “game” is the New Covenant, then do we even need to read the Old Testament? Does it serve any purpose for us now under the New Covenant? Yes, because it is part of the same “channel.” Reading the Old Testament shows us: (1) the big picture across the ages; (2) the consistent picture of God’s predetermined times and seasons; (3) God’s faithfulness in the developing picture of the unfolding plan of redemption; and (4) crucial snapshots from the past that foresaw the future—what we call the prophetic puzzle pieces of God’s agenda.
            That later reason, in particular, helps us understand the New Testament passages concerning Christ’s second coming as we make the Spirit-inspired connections with the Old Testament prophecies. Jesus taught that we are to understand the chronos times and recognize the kairos signs. Together, both covenants and both the times and the signs, give us the full field of view so that we are not deceived by Satan and his earthly brigade of scoffers and lawless ones.
            Still, we cannot overlook that the two covenants are different “sports” and apply to different times in God’s agenda.  Case in point, we often hear 2 Chronicles 7:14 heralded as a call to prayer for our nation. “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” The problem is that this rule applies to the Old Covenant, specifically to the Hebrew nation (the Jews).
            We’re under the New Covenant, with different rules. Our Commissioner established a different rule: “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover’ ” (Mark 16:15-18).  

            His-story as recorded in God’s Word is divided into two parts: the Old and New Testaments. The word testament refers to a solemn agreement or covenant that details a person’s will. The Old Testament deals with the Old Covenant and the New Testament deals with the New Covenant.
            God initiated the Old Covenant at the creation of mankind. Needless to say, the Fall impacted that covenant. It was now a binding agreement between a perfect, loving, and faithful God and imperfect human beings. It was initiated by grace, as when God provided a sacrificial covering for the naked Adam and Eve, and when Noah found favor (unearned grace) in God’s sight. Later it was characterized by the Law. More on that shortly.
            The New Covenant would be exemplified by Jesus’ earthly ministry of grace and truth. It would be established when the Seed would be “planted” at His death and resurrection. It would be characterized by the giving of the Holy Spirit to live within believers and empower them. That is why the outpouring of the Spirit is the distinguishing trait of the latter Days.
            Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Old Covenant (Matt. 5:17), making it possible for a new and better covenant to be established. It’s better because it was made between the perfect, loving, and faithful God and the perfect, loving, and sinless Jesus, who gave His life on behalf of mankind so we could be reconciled back to God, the Source of Life.
            Hebrews 10:1 puts it this way: “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.”
            We often talk about types and shadows from the Old Testament. To get the picture, think of God as the light source shining down on an object. That object casts a shadow. The shadow has the outline and shape of the object, but it is not the object itself. The different objects that we will highlight from the Old Testament will have the outline of Jesus’ purpose, but they could never fulfill His purpose.
            The Chronos Lesson: The book of Hebrews offers a great compare & contrast study of the two covenants. It opens with this summary statement of the two covenants: “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last Days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they” (Heb. 1:1-4).
            The reference to “these last Days” implies that there are early Days, or what the author calls “time past.” This refers to God’s prophetic great Week (remember how He counts time?). The early part of the Week is the first four Days or 4,000 years that spanned the Old Covenant as recorded in the Old Testament. That is, Days 1, 2, 3, and 4 when counting from Adam. The last Days cover the latter part of the Week that spans the New Covenant as recorded in the New Testament. That is, Days 5, 6, and 7 when counting from Adam. The pivotal marker between the early and later Days is Jesus’ anointing for ministry at His baptism when He was 30 years old.
            Have you ever read the Old Testament and come across the genealogical record of who begat whom, and how long so-and-so lived? Boring, to say the least. So why did God take up precious space in His testament to include these tedious details? So that very diligent people could go through the work of adding up all the numbers from the Scriptures.
            Remarkably, from the time of creation until Jesus’ appearance as the Messiah at His baptism comes to exactly 4,000 years or 4 Days from God’s perspective! That leaves another 3,000 years or 3 Days for the New Covenant. Almost 2,000 of those 3,000 years have lapsed. We’re closing in on the 3rd Day of the last Days. The last Day is Christ’s millennial reign over the earth.     

          Since all the inhabitants of the earth come from Noah’s family, what Gen. 11:1 tells us makes sense. “Now the whole earth had one language and one speech.” It also makes sense that they would spread out to other regions and establish other people groups and cultures. At least that is God’s plan.
            So it shouldn’t surprise us that creation stories appear in various forms in many cultures. What may be surprising is that many cultures also have a redemption analogy. That is, something that is a type or shadow of mankind being restored back to something that was lost. This similarity should not throw us as believers. In fact, it shows the unifying thread of the Seed and God’s plan of redemption—no matter how much Satan tries to disguise it or corrupt it.
            Isaiah 64:9 is another important prophetic connection: “I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah, an Heir of My Mountain. My elect shall inherit it, and My servants shall dwell there.” The distinction between the elect and the servants is key; we shall find that key later in God’s His-Story as we discover more about the identity of the Mountain.
            It shouldn’t surprise us that the fallen nature of mankind leads to another prideful rebellion.  In direct disobedience to God’s Genesis mandate to multiply and fill the earth, Gen. 11:3-4 sets the scene. “Then they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.’ They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.’ ”
             So what is the big deal about the bricks? It was a point of pride. It showed that mankind could now create the building materials themselves. In other words, they were showing that everything was supposedly under their control. They saw themselves in charge. Compare this to God’s instructions for building the Temple out of stones from His creation (1 Kings 5:17).
            As for the tower, the Hebrew word comes from the root word that means to twist, to make large, and to advance. They intend to build their own counterfeit mountain. The tower is actually a ziggurat, a building with a very specific shape. It has a square base with sides that recede inward as the building rises, much like steps going up a mountain. Typically it has a flat top that supports some form of a shrine.
            An example is the Great Pyramid of Giza built by the Sethites (as in Adam and Eve’s third son). You can also find this temple-like structure on the back of the U.S. one dollar bill. The capstone of the “all-seeing eye” is coming down to complete the edifice. Sadly, this doesn’t represent the nation under God, but rather mankind’s enlightenment and ability to govern themselves.
            The Tower of Babel is meant to enshrine the idea that mankind can achieve anything. It is a shrine to the religion of humanism. That is, we can evolve progressively, until we reach the pinnacle of our own utopia.
            The word Babel means confusion. It comes from the root word to mingle. Does that sound familiar? It’s basically another vindictive violation inspired by Satan. God exposes the counterfeit strategy: “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them” (Gen. 11:6). God isn’t against growth and progress; He put the principle of seedtime and harvest into the earth. He is against the growth of evil and its acceleration. Hence, this second timely reset.
            The Chronos Lesson: Once again we see that choices have consequences. Mankind decided they could reach to the heavens on their own and thereby make a name for themselves. In essence, this is the source of the various man-made false religions. In each case, humans have to follow certain steps to rise up to the God-like supreme icon of that religion. In Christianity, God mercifully stepped down into our existence through Jesus in order to bring mankind back to Himself.
            In these last Days, we see this same human bravado in the Gentile cities lording it over the nations as they try to erect their own “tower” that will reach unto Heaven—that of a global government. It, too, is destined to collapse when God begins to shake the earth and the heavens at the Day of the Lord.
            Notice it didn’t take very long after the first reset for this second reset to happen. Instead of bringing Heaven to earth as God’s representatives, the ungodly people determined to bring earth to Heaven and be like God. Judgment comes swiftly. Then we see mercy prevail—again.
            God calls out a godly man from among the nations to form a people group of His own. The man’s name is Abram. To mark the momentous act, God subsequently changes the man’s name to Abraham—meaning the “father of a multitude.” Out of this nation the lineage of the Seed will be established. Both Matthew and Luke records Jesus’ lineage from his earthly father, Joseph, through David and Abraham, back to Adam. God’s Word is steadfast and true.  
            The lineages foreshadow Christ’s work: (1) to establish a covenant of grace based on faith; and (2) to be the last Adam. And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45).