Explaining Battle Plans in Revelation
2Timothy 2:1-7 describes the mission of faithful Christian servants as a soldier, as an athlete, and as a farmer. A soldier is given directives (battle plans) from his commanding officer to fight a war. The good soldier places a priority on his assignment because the stakes are high for himself, for his army comrades, and for his family. We believers have similar assignment to execute the Lord’s battle plans to fight a spiritual war described in Rev12:17 and Rev 13:1 because the risks are equally as high.
There is always a moment in life where the Lord reveals the truth of Himself to His people, and this truth burns in the hearts of His people. During this time, the Spirit of God speaks directly into our hearts because the truth of God is spiritually discerned (1Cor2:14).
We see examples truth revealed on the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:31-35 ) and with Jeremiah (Jer20:7-9)
“And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. ”
Luke 24:31-35
Jeremiah once said, “O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me. For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.”
Jeremiah 20:7-9.
We the Malawi team of Wisdom’s House did not rest after receiving a little understanding from the farmer and soldier object lessons in 2Tim 2:1-7 . These lessons have been offered by “Wisdoms-house.com” since 2021 . It has been a moment of waking up from all sorts of teaching that floods Africa. Most of the current teaching in Africa cannot be validated or proved by biblical references.
Jesus said we should verify facts by two or three witnesses to prove a given a matter (2Cor13:1-5).
The seven moral opposites of the Decalogue are proven by many biblical witnesses. The Ten Commandments carry the ultimate lifetime lessons for all generations . It’s useful to people at all times, in the Old Testament time period, and even in New Testament time period. There are valid testimonies shown by the beautiful pattern of the seven vices and virtues proving this truth is testified throughout the scripture as moral opposites.
As the Malawi team of Wisdom’s House, we were compelled to share the truth of the scripture because we were led by the Spirit of God. We chose to develop a discipleship lesson manual for both believers and non-believers, since the topic provides the opportunity for non-believers to see the light of God in Christ.
Though the team is assembling the materials in Chichewa, we thought it to be wise not to stay idle until all the translations are done. As a consequence, we started planning to reach to different people groups like seminaries, or church leaders, congregations, homeschools, and fathers. We have already started reaching out by sharing this with the people who hold leadership positions in church.
By the grace of God, we had an opportunity to visit a church in Phalombe District town where we shared the introduction to the seven opposites of the Ten commandments . We used this introduction to explain the warfare against the seven headed Beast and the Dragon in Revelation 12:17, Revelation 13:1.
Geoffrey stood to share the with the church in Phalombe. Geoffrey shared the scripture in the book of Matthew 5:17-18 as a foundation. He said the purpose of the law did not change by the coming of the Lord Jesus, instead the Law is being fulfilled by His appearance on Earth.
Geoffrey divided the Ten Commandments into two, the negative commands and the positive commands to define a moral path of light to follow (Matt 5:14) . The moral positives of the Ten Commandments are the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-14. The moral negatives in Ten Commandments are intended to help us in our walk with Christ by describing our behavior without Him. Both Deuteronomy and St John’s Gospel assert that they present these moral opposites to the reader in these passages: Deut 30:15-20, Jn 12:44-50, 1Jn 1:7. Geoffrey explained exactly how the moral opposites are described in sequence in both Deuteronomy and in St John’s Gospel.
The introduction of the Decalogue was from Deuteronomy 5:6-21. The congregation was shown the seven opposites which are the following :
1. Pride vs Humility from Commandments 1-4 (Deut 5:6-15)
2. Rebellion vs Obedience from Commandment 5, (Deut 5:16)
3. Bitterness vs Forgiveness from Commandment 6, (Deut 5:17)
4. Defilement vs Purity from Commandment 7 (Deut 5:18)
5. Theft vs Diligence from Commandment 8, (Deut 5:19)
6. Deceit vs Honesty from Commandment 9 (Deut 5:20)
7. Covetousness vs Gratefulness from Commandment 10 (Deut 5:21)
The moral negatives of the Ten Commandments are the seven-headed beast in Revelation 13:1. The beast represents worldliness which is the opposite of godliness.
Geoffrey concluded by pleading the congregation to trust in Jesus who is shown in the Old testament and the New Testament as the Lord of all the scriptures (Jn 5:46). After the church service, Mr Kaliyati, who is leading the congregation, said it was a wonderful thing to know that the Law (Matt 5:17-20) is effective and still active in such a way. Since most of the people think the Ten Commandments to be an Old Testament thing and don’t count them important to the modern day church, he encouraged the congregation to take some time to study these wonderful truths that they enjoyed hearing.
We are looking forward for the opportunity to visit with the Phalombe congregation again.
Our observation is that most of the congregation know and believe the Ten Commandments, but understanding them in the way we have recently learned as the seven opposites being revealed in the scripture is something we have personally never heard, nor have heard of anyone teaching. This kind of insight of the scripture is really the leading of the Spirit of God.
