Posted by Pastor Steven on September 12, 2001 at 02:26:47:
In Reply to: Re: God Bless America posted by jonvon on September 12, 2001 at 00:23:15:
: I have to agree with Steve's response, although I don't know enough to validate his take on the views of Peter and Paul.
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Nothing but the obvious intended--I was just referring to their teaching that the powers that exist are ordained by God for the punishment of evildoers. We all benefit when these powers do their jobs wisely, justly, and competently. Let us pray that will be the case in this crisis.
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: I sat down with the bible and opened it up to a random page tonight... this is going to sound a bit strange coming from ME (or will it, hmm), but anyway I opened up to this verse in Isaiah chapter 30, vs 25.
: The two lines at the end of the verse say "In the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall."
: Woah, I kinda freaked out, I had to reread it a few times. Ok, so I'm NOT trying to say that this verse was prophesying anything about Sept 11 2001, in fact I'm not saying anything at all in terms of trying to interpret this scripture. Obviously the little bit that I quoted is totally out of context, and the chapter it comes out of really deserves some intense study. It is rich with all kinds of ideas, and seems pretty complex from a poetic standpoint as well and also references historical events and (I think) political figures that I know nothing about. And since I'm no Isaiah scholar by any stretch of the imagination I'm not going to even try. BUT, one basic idea that I came away with after reading this chapter...
: It is important that as a nation we look to God as our strength in leiu of trusting in our own strength. It is important that we trust in God. And in the mayhem we need to find a moment to get quiet before God.
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I think your somewhat-self-disclaimed interpretation is sound. (Hey John, from now on we'll call these jewels "S.S.D. Interpretations".) Contextually the "towers" would refer to the citadels of strength; those majestic towers that symbolize a nation's great power. But whatever the context when the prophecy was written and whatever the accepted theological/eschatological interpretation is today can be completely irrelevant to what God may be speaking. God speaks to each of us individually through His Word, as evidenced by the moving of the Holy Spirit in our spirits. He often uses scriptures taken WAY out of historical context to communicate life-giving and powerful revelation to those who seek Him. One has only to read Matthew's interpretations of Old Testament Scriptures throughout his gospel to realize that he had little grasp of much of the context of these sacred writings. Was his interpretation flawed and invalid? Or was God speaking Truth that is in very essence higher than the various contexts in which it has appeared over and over? I have to believe the latter is true. I also believe you received a word from God when you sought it.
After reading this chapter, I decided to reprint part of it here (NIV), beginning with verse 18:
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Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, "Away with you!"
He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel. In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill. The moon will shine like the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wound he inflicted.
See, the name of the Lord comes from afar, with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke; his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is a consuming fire.
His breath is like a rushing torrent, rising up to the neck.
He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction; he places in the jaws of the peoples a bit that leads them astray.
And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people go up with flutes to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
The Lord will cause men to hear his majestic voice, and will make them see his arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire, with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria; with his scepter he will strike them down.
Every stroke the Lord lays on them with his punishing rod will be to the music of tambourines and harps, as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.
Isaiah 30:18-32
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I won't offer any S.S.D. interpretation. Literal interpetation is often over-rated. On the other hand, a real living word from God opens great and mysterious doors into realms of wonder and faith, though our understanding be never so comatose. Maybe such coma is oft a prerequisite?