How does a modern day english speaker, who does not speak nor read first century koine Greek, get the big picture without English translation teams?
Translations are vital for our understanding of the Scriptures, but accuracy will elude us if we don’t have the big picture......that big picture was lost when the church adopted all manner of false beliefs, including the big three that form the foundation of the majority of those who profess the Christian Faith. If the translators had those beliefs in mind when translating the Scriptures, then their work will result in contradictions.....today the arguments still rage among scholars as to who has the correct rendering.
This is where sites like blueletterbible come into good use. By comparing all the verses where a particular word is used, only those who have a good grasp of the big picture will get it right.
So please tell me what is the big picture for you?
What is the “Kingdom” that Jesus taught us to pray for? How does it “come” so that God’s will is “done on earth as it is in heaven”?
What was it that we lost in Eden that is restored by the Kingdom and it’s chosen rulers? And when does it take place?
Are you familiar with the prophesies in Daniel? We are living in “the time of the end” that he spoke about, some 2,500 years ago......500 years before Christ was even born.
God told him to “seal up” his book because nothing in it would be understood until that time arrived. (Dan 12:1-4) We understand it now.
Dan ch 2 is the account about Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a huge image made of various metals in descending order, beginning with Nebuchadnezzar’s dynasty, which Daniel identified as Babylon...the head of gold.
Mighty Babylon was conquered by the Medes and Persians under Cyrus the Great, who was named in prophesy by Isaiah, as the conquerer, (Isa 45-1-3) and in exactly the manner in which the once mighty city of Babylon was taken in one night with barely a arrow fired. This was the next world power depicted by the silver breast and arms.
The third conquerer was depicted as a belly and thighs of copper, representing Greece under Alexander the Great.....and the legs of iron pictured Rome...iron-like in its power, crushing its enemies with extreme cruelty.
Rome was not conquered or defeated by anyone, but fell due to her own decadence....out of the ashes of Rome came Britannia....the feet of the image, but it is the toes of this image that warrant our attention because this is when the last ruling entity of this world system will come to its end....the last world power is Anglo-America. (Dan 2:36-40)
Daniel goes on to say.....concerning the days represented by the toes of the image....
Dan 2: 41-45...
“And just as you saw the feet and the toes to be partly of clay of a potter and partly of iron, the kingdom will be divided, but some of the hardness of iron will be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with soft clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong and partly fragile. 43 Just as you saw iron mixed with soft clay, they will be mixed with the people; but they will not stick together, one to the other, just as iron does not mix with clay.”
What kind of rulership is seen in this time of the end to be “partly strong and partly fragile”? This would be the democratic system where the authority of the government is undermined by the will of the people, not allowing it to govern with any certain exercise of power. This is what we see crumbling all over the free world. The components in this kind of government do not mix, causing constant divisions and unrest among the people. It’s all very true to Daniel’s Prophesy. But it’s the outcome that is of great interest to Bible students.
What does Daniel see next?
44 “In the days of those kings (the toes of the feet)
the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. And this kingdom will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it alone will stand forever, 45 just as you saw that out of the mountain a stone was cut not by hands, and that it crushed the iron, the copper, the clay, the silver, and the gold. The Grand God has made known to the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy.”
This is what Jesus taught us to pray for in the Lord’s Prayer......this is the end of all failed human rulership under the influence of satan the devil...the “god of this world”. (1 John 5:19; 2 Cor 4:3-4)
It is the end of one era or age...and the beginning of another. The return of humanity back to what God first purposed for us here on planet Earth. (Rev 21: 2-4)
