Thursday, June 26, 2008
"Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, and mistreated – the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground" (Hebrews 11:36-38, NIV).
IDEA: To understand parts of the New Testament and the Old Testament, we have to be aware of events in the period between the testaments.
PURPOSE: To help listeners appreciate how a knowledge of the intertestamental period can help them understand the Word of God.
Have you found yourself reading a biblical text, wondering about it, then skipping it because you didn't have the information needed to understand it?
I. For example, in Mark 13:14 Jesus talks about the future and he talks about a future event that is similar to an event in the past. He says, "When you see the abomination that causes desolation standing where it does not belong – let the reader understand – then let those who are in Judea flea to the mountains."
Jesus states and Mark inserts "let the reader understand." You're the reader. What are you supposed to understand?
You would have to understand that the prophet Daniel talked about this event of the abomination that causes desolation before it happened, Daniel 11:31: "His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation."
What exactly was Daniel talking about?
You would have to understand an actual event that took place in the four hundred years between the close of the Old Testament and the opening of the New Testament.
II. There was a vile desecration of the Jewish temple by a man named Antiochus Epiphanes IV, a descendant of one of the four generals who divided Alexander the Great's empire among themselves.
Antiochus IV wanted to stabilize his position in Judah and he appointed people he could trust to positions including that of the high priest.
This touched Jews at their most sensitive spot and set up a very explosive situation.
Antiochus also attacked Egypt and the Jews heard a rumor (back in Jerusalem) that he had been killed.
The Jews rounded up all of the officials that Antiochus had appointed and threw them from the city walls.
When Antiochus learned of this rebellion, he marched on Jerusalem and determined to wipe out the Jews.
He murdered 80,000 people in three days and led another 80,000 away as slaves.
In the course of doing that, he also entered the Holy of Holies in the Jewish temple and in the very center of their religion he set up pagan idols and sacrificed pigs on the altar.
He established six laws that had to do with the Jews living in Jerusalem: They could not assemble for prayer. They could not observe the Sabbath. They could not possess copies of their Scriptures. They could not circumcise their sons. They could not refuse to eat hogs or other foods prohibited by the Old Testament law. And they had to participate in the monthly sacrifices to Antiochus, including eating food offered to a pagan idol in sacrifice. The penalty for breaking any of these laws was death.
III. To understand what Jesus was using as a symbol of someone else who would do a similar thing in the future, you have to understand the period between the Old and New Testaments.