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Twin Timelines

Part XVIII

The last installment of Twin Timelines demonstrated how numerous behavioral elements found in the Israelites in their wilderness journey under Moses, anticipated similar aspects seen in the early Christian era of the Spiritual Israelites under the leadership of the Apostle Paul.

These Prophetic Parallels are largely found in the epic book of I Corinthians, where Paul details how the events in the wilderness, were strangely similar to the condition of the Born Again Israelites in Corinth. In this regard, we note that he connected the Exodus passage through the Red Sea with the baptism into eternal life in the Spiritual realm, as seen in the born again experience.

"All our fathers…passed through the sea" (I Corinthians 10:1).

He further connected the Manna from heaven, which fed the Israelites, with the Spiritual sustenance which the LORD provides the Christian. He then connected the water which came out of a rock which Moses struck with his rod (with the "rock" also a similitude of JESUS), to the living water which Christ gives to all believers.

"He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38).

Paul noted that all of the Israelites – regardless of each individual's Spiritual purity (or lack thereof) – were counted as Israelites because they all passed through the sea. This was compared to the fact that all the Spiritual Israelites in the church in Corinth – regardless of each individual's Spiritual purity – were counted as believers in Christ. However, Paul then noted that God was unhappy with the behavior of many of the Israelites in the wilderness:

"But with many of them God was not well pleased" (I Corinthians 10:5).

As the Apostle was pointing to a Temporal Recapitulation indicating the events in the Exodus foreshadowed the Spiritual Wilderness experience of the Corinthian Christians, the founder of the church in Corinth was telling the believers the LORD "was not well pleased" with the behavior of "many" of the Christians. The Apostle then proceeded to mention specific shortcomings on the part of certain of the children of Israel in the wilderness, prophetically paralleling those infractions to deficiencies on the part of the Corinthian believers. For example, Paul compared the idolatry in the wilderness seen in Exodus 32:6 (the golden calf episode) with the idolatry he had observed within the Corinthian church.

"I have written unto you not to keep company [with] any that is called …an idolater" (I Corinthians 5:10).

The learned Apostle then continued to enumerate the story of Israel in the place the Scriptures call the Wilderness of Sin (Numbers 33:11). Describing the sexual impurity among the Israelites detailed in Numbers 25:1-9 (the incident with the Moabite women), Paul compared the sin to the sexual impurity among the Born Again Israelites within the Corinthian church.

"Know ye not that he that is joined to an harlot is one body?" (I Corinthians 6:16).

Obviously using these Old Testament cycles as analogy, Paul prophesied that the entire tale of Israel under the Old Covenant, was a literal, historic series of events which occurred to point the Christians to the Spiritual equivalent in their time. In this way, he reminded the reader of how certain Israelites in the wilderness spoke evil about the LORD (an offense described in Numbers 21:5), even as Paul indicated that blaspheming the LORD (and His mediator Moses in that timeline), resulted in the deaths of a significant number of believers.

"Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted him, and were destroyed by serpents" (I Corinthians 10:9).

We concluded the previous chapter by re-affirming how Paul's instructions to the Christians indicated he understood the triune concept of the two flesh and blood factions of the Jews and the Gentiles, as distinctly separate from what the prophet Zechariah (Zechariah 13:8-11) calls the redeemed "third part," which is the body of Christ:

"Whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense, neither to the Jews [1], nor to the Gentiles [2], nor to the church of God [3]" (I Corinthians 10:31, 32).

The instruction set that Paul provided to the Corinthian Christians can only be viewed accurately when we realize the phenomenon of the Twin Timelines has never ceased, as the phenomenon continues right up to the present day. For instance, Paul elaborated on his critique of the Christian misbehavior, by stating that it was ordained that heresies must occur in the church, so that they who are approved in the eyes of God can be discerned in their timeline.

"For there must be also heresies among you, that they who are approved may be made manifest among you" (I Corinthians 11:19).

In fact, when we compare the conditions of the church of God in Corinth with the conditions of the church in our time, after stripping away the cultural and temporal anomalies, we find the modern body of Christ is virtually identical in its characteristics. For instance, the practice of communion had become a social occasion, and Paul plainly stated that instead of coming together in one place to honour the last supper of Christ and the breaking of His physical body as a substitutionary atonement for our sins, it had become a celebratory practice that was almost feast like.

"When ye come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper" (I Corinthians 11:20).

Paul even notes the Corinthians had come to view the ritual of communion as a meal to be enjoyed. Further, he stated that in eating and drinking for sustenance, the unity of the body of Christ was disrupted, as every person eats and drinks for himself.

"For in eating everyone taketh before the other his own supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunk" (I Corinthians 11:21).

Even though Paul clearly stated that the sacrament of communion was a private act of contrition between ourselves and the LORD (as opposed to a public ceremony to be performed communally), we might ask ourselves how many of us have periodically conducted a remembrance of the shed blood of Christ (and the broken bread commemorating His tortured body) at our own household table? Indeed, a virtual mini-industry exists in the manufacture and marketing of tiny cups and wafers which are sold by the millions to churches across the land.

In segregating the practice of communion from the general assembly of the believers, Paul continues the concept that all the believers are not automatically viewed by the LORD favorably. Just as Paul said all of the Israelites passed through the Red Sea, "but with many of them God was not well pleased" (I Corinthians 10:5), the same analogy occurs in Corinth when the Apostle points out the deficiencies of certain Christians.

This is not an issue of salvation, for all who passed through the Red Sea – regardless if they were in full accord with the will of the LORD or not – were still Israelites. Thus, analogously speaking, all who profess JESUS CHRIST as their LORD and Saviour are saved (Romans 10:9), and part of the temple the LORD has constructed. In fact, it is in this very letter to the Corinthians we learn that the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the Spiritual city seen in Revelation. 

"For we are laborers together with God…ye are God's building" (I Corinthians 3:9).

However, just as God was "not well pleased" with every Israelite who came out of Egypt under Moses, God was "not well pleased" with every Spiritual Israelite who came out of the world under Paul. Moreover, Paul continues the analogy of the body of Christ as a Spiritual building, and acknowledges that the grace of God allowed him to lay the foundation for that "building."

"Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble – every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire" (I Corinthians 3:12, 13).

This is the same "fire" which Zechariah said God will use to purify the "third part" – whereas the "two parts" which are not of the LORD will be "cut off and die."

"And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God" (Zechariah 13:8, 9).

Thus, if the "foundation" of the Gospel is used to construct a building consisting of "hay" or "stubble," the "fire" of the LORD will burn away the chaff – an agrarian term for the useless waste left over after the harvest.

"He will…gather his wheat into the [barn]; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire" (Matthew 3:12).

When this purifying process occurs, if the "building" was constructed with anything other than the truth, the foundation is all that will remain.

"If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but himself shall be saved" (I Corinthians 3:14, 15).

In this regard, we once again note how Paul is using the narratives in the Old Testament (in this case, the writings of Zechariah), to apply the timeless truth to the Christians in the New Testament church in Corinth.

For instance, when Zechariah says that the triune man consisting of Flesh, Blood, and Spirit will see the "third part" (obviously the Spirit) "left therein" after the Flesh and Blood have long since dissolved, the prophet goes on to tell us the "two parts…shall be divided [when] the day of the Lord cometh" (Zechariah 14:1).

This is the same "day of the Lord" that Paul says will reveal our true Spiritual construction.

"Every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day [of the LORD] shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire" (I Corinthians 3:12, 13).

The reader may well remember that John the Baptist said that JESUS CHRIST will baptize His people with "fire" (something that could not possibly occur literally), and that fire is the same Spiritual cleansing that Zechariah said the LORD will utilize, when He "bring[s] the third part through the fire [to] refine them" (Zechariah 13:9).

Perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of how Paul continued to articulate the Spiritual reality of salvation was related to consuming things sacrificed to idols. This complex truth is difficult to articulate, for even though the ancients were commonly confronted with the opportunity to share in a meal consisting of meat which was sacrificed to various devils, modern Christians never see "Barbecued Beef Butchered For Baal" on the menu at a favorite restaurant.

And yet, this cautionary note was a central theme seen throughout the Scriptures. For example, when Paul disputed with the legalists in Jerusalem (who wanted to require circumcision of the Gentile Christians), the one point they all easily agreed upon was to avoid things sacrificed unto idols.

"Wherefore, my sentence is, that we trouble not…the Gentiles [who] are turned to God; But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols…" (Acts 15:20).

In fact, it is the same offense which Revelation condemns in the mysterious Jezebel, as well as those who held to the doctrine of Balaam – both figures from centuries earlier in the Old Testament, and long gone in the Christian era.

"Thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols…" (Revelation 2:14).

Likewise, the Spiritual similitude of the wicked queen Jezebel, was also mentioned:

"Thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols" (Revelation 2:20).

Considering the fact that Paul was also adamant on this very same subject in his reproof of the Corinthian Christians (I Corinthians 8:4), we will undoubtedly benefit if we discern the contemporary equivalent, for it is surely present in the Twin Timelines. However, that aspect of the present exposition will have to wait for our next installment.

To Be Continued

-- James Lloyd

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