Filthy Garments

I have sat through numerous Bible studies, Sunday school classes, and listened to sermons on the subject of our righteous deeds being like filthy rags. It goes something like this, "on our best day, all of our obedience, and our very best for God, is nothing but filthy rags in His sight." I have even read some theologians who go on to say all of our deeds, even what is done for God must be covered in the blood of Jesus because of their filthiness. Isaiah 64:6 is quoted as the proof text to back up this doctrine. 

However, no one ever takes the context into consideration, taking this one verse by itself to make a doctrine. Let's look at this in its context to see what Isaiah is saying here.

First of all, the audience, and subjects of this prophecy, in fact, the majority of the prophetic book of Isaiah, are the Israelites. To narrow it down further, the southern kingdom of Judah was whom Isaiah primarily ministered to. A common mistake people make when interpreting Old Testament passages is to assume that the passage is speaking to the Church. While we can apply principles and precepts found in these passages to us today, if we fail to understand that these prophecies and promises apply to Israel first and foremost, we muddy the waters, and have problems understanding the passage.

It is vital to us to understand the theme of Isaiah, and then what are the surrounding chapters, and surrounding verses telling us. This is what I intend to do in this post.

Isaiah confronts a nation who has turned from God. His message is one of indictment, judgement, and future redemption. (See Isaiah 1:1-31). Many of the prophecies deal with the near future Babylonian captivity, yet in the long term, the time of the great tribulation and the coming of the Messiah as Israel's deliverer are in view. Often these themes overlap each other.

As we look at the immediate chapters around chapter 64 we again read of indictment (Isaiah 59:1-8). In a passage very much like Isaiah 64:4-7, a confession of the nations utter wickedness is made (Isaiah 59:9-14). Salvation is far from them due to their sinfulness. This is a people who as a whole have abandoned the Lord and live totally in sinful rebellion. As we read these passages we see a nation under judgement. Their land lies desolate, the sanctuary destroyed. Again, the captivity in Babylon, and ultimately the desolation of the last days are in view.

This period of desolation is the backdrop for chapter 64 which is a plea for the Lord to come and deliver His people. But as one reads through this chapter it becomes painfully obvious that it is sin that has caused this nation to be in the situation it is in. Isaiah 64:5-7 is a confession of their continuance in sin, and an acknowledgement of the just anger of the Lord. The question is asked "How can we be saved?" They go on to acknowledge that their righteousness is like a filthy garment, their iniquities, like the wind, have carried them away.

Although they kept up the ritual aspects of the law, they had departed from the Lord, and He had withdrawn from them. They had no righteousness, even their fasts and sacrifices were an abomination to God, as they flowed out of hypocrisy.

This passage is not teaching us that as Christians our obedience, our good works that flow out of a heart that loves God and desires to please Him, are tainted. Righteous acts that flow from right motives are not filthy rags in God's sight, in fact the opposite is true. Revelation 19:8 states that fine linen robes, bright and clean represent the righteous deeds of the saints.

I would agree that deeds done out of selfish motives, or hypocrisy are not righteous at all. But one who is made right through Jesus Christ will live right. That is what righteousness is, and that individual is pleasing to God.

Again, this passage is speaking of God's people who have grievously departed from Him in their hearts and in their conduct. They are under His chastening hand, and in their cry for deliverance they confess their sinful state. That is what this passage means in its proper context.

The day will come when Israel is once again desolate, they cry out in repentance and find restoration, as they finally recognize their Messiah.

The Beast in Revelation

Revelation 13:1-3 describes the final "beast kingdom that will usher in the 42 month period known as the great tribulation.

 First of all compare this beast with the serpent (Satan) of Revelation 12:3.

They both have seven heads and ten horns. The crowns are on the heads on the serpent, and on the ten horns on the beast. The beast is made up of the various kingdoms Satan has used throughout history to prevent the coming of the one who would crush his head (see Gen 3:15). His strategy has been to persecute the line of Israel through whom the Messiah was to come, and to whom He will come again to set up His kingdom. The crowns on the seven heads represent seven particular nations that Satan has used in his war against God. We will look at them later.

The beast also has seven heads and ten horns. The seven heads represent the same nations Satan has used in his attempt to prevent the coming of the Messiah Jesus. The crowns however are on the ten horns. These horns represent the ten kingdoms who unite under the Antichrist in one final assault against the people of God, and in fact Jesus Christ Himself at His return. The crowns on the horns show that Satan's final tool is the beast.

I want to draw attention to Rev 13:2. This beast has a body like a leopard, feet like a bear, and a mouth like that of a lion. We see these beasts in Daniel 7:1-8. In my last post which you can read here I identify them as,

1. The lion is Iraq.

2. The bear is Iran.

3. The leopard is Turkey.

4. The terrible beast with ten horns is the final beast Satan will use, the revived Islamic caliphate. Again, as I stated in my previous post, we should be looking for the Antichrist to to come out of the middle east, as this final kingdom is middle eastern at its core.

In Revelation 17:3-13 we see this beast again. Here we find out who the seven heads represent. Verses ten and eleven give us a clue. These heads represent seven kingdoms, and seven kings. Five have fallen. Most commentators agree that those five are,

1. Egypt.

2. Assyria.

3. Babylon.

4. Medo-Persia.

5. The Greek Empire.

One now is. The kingdom that was in power when John received the Revelation was the Roman empire. So far we have accounted for six of the heads. 

The other has not yet come, but when he does he must remain for a little while. This kingdom is represented by the legs of iron in Daniel chapter two. It is this kingdom that extends to the ten toes on the statue that represent the final revived end time beast kingdom. It cannot be Rome as many believe, that kingdom is the sixth head, not the seventh. I identified the fourth kingdom in Nebuchadnezzar's vision as the Islamic caliphate. This corresponds with the seventh head on the beast.

And the eighth is the beast which once was, now is not, and is yet to come. This is the Antichrist, and the beast empire, the dreadful beast of Daniel 7, with ten horns. It is the revival of the Islamic caliphate which was broken up in 1923. The ten horns represent ten kings who give their authority to the beast. These kings and the kingdoms they represent will be made up of middle eastern and north African Muslim majority nations surrounding the nation of Israel. It will be through this empire that Satan makes his final assault against Israel, and ultimately makes war against the Lamb.

Outline of Daniel (Formation of the Beast Kingdom).

In this post I would like to make an outline of key passages in the book of Daniel pertaining to the rise of the Antichrist and his kingdom. There is a lot of information packed into these chapters concerning end time events, and it is vital for us to get a grasp on the things revealed here as they form a basis for many of the prophecies found in the book of Revelation.

Daniel chapter 2 contains the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He dreams of a statue with a head of gold, chest of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and toes made of a mixture of iron and clay. Finally he saw a stone strike the feet of iron and clay, then become a great mountain that filled the earth.

 Each segment of the statue represents a kingdom that succeeds the Babylonian kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar.

1. Head of Gold- Nebuchadnezzar (Babylon)

2. Chest and arms of siver- Medo-Persian empire

3. Belly and thighs of bronze-

Greek empire

4. Legs of Iron- Islamic caliphate

5. Toes of iron mixed with clay- revived Islamic caliphate.

6. The stone represents Jesus Christ who destroys the "beast" at His coming, and sets up His kingdom which shall have no end.

It may surprise many that I did not mention Rome as the legs of iron. Although Rome was a powerful empire by the time of Christ, and was responsible for the destruction of Jerusalem and persecution of Christians throughout the empire, they did not succeed the kingdoms represented in Nebuchadnezzar's statue. History has proven that the next kingdom to rule the area that is represented in this dream was a united Islamic caliphate which ruled in various forms from 632 AD until the breaking up of the Ottoman empire in 1923.

In chapter 7 Daniel records a vision of four beasts rising from the sea. He also saw a "little horn" rise up and come to power until the fourth beast was destroyed. We also get a glimpse of the second coming of Christ to set up His kingdom. 

These beasts follow the order of the empires represented in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, however they are future versions of these empires.

1. Lion with eagles wings- Babylon (Iraq).

2. A bear with three ribs in it's mouth- Medo-Persia (Iran).

3. Leopard with four wings and four heads- Greek empire (Turkey)

4. Dreadful beast with ten horns- a revived Islamic caliphate.

5. The little horn- the Antichrist 

6. The ten horns- ten kings (kingdoms) who make up the final beast empire. They submit to the rule of the Antichrist ( see Rev 17:12-13).

7. The Son of Man and Ancient of days - here again we see the destruction of the Antichrist and his kingdom at the return of Christ to establish His kingdom.

Revelation 13:1-3 describes this beast as it rises out of the sea. It is a composite of the first three (lion, bear, and leopard) with seven heads and ten horns.  It would be wise to keep our eyes on this portion of the world as the end times beast kingdom will rise up out of the middle east, not Europe like so many teach. 

Daniel 8 records the vision of the ram and goat. Similar events to the ones foretold here have in a sense happened when the Greek empire under Alexander the great defeated the Medo-Persian empire. Yet we see that this vision is for the time of the end, so we see it is yet to come (Daniel 8:17, 26). Looking back at the Greek conquest of the Persian empire can give us an idea of what may happen as these events unfold. Let's identify the various symbols in this vision.

1. The ram with two horns- the kings of Media and Persia (Iran).

2. The goat with a prominent horn- the king of Greece. The actual word translated Greece here is Yavan, a country made up of what is now known as Turkey, and Greece. 

3. The prominent horn broken off- something happens to the leader of Yavan after his victory over Persia.

4. The four horns- the dividing up of the future "Greek empire".

5. The horn coming out of one of the four horns- this is the Antichrist as he rises to power. 

In this vision the ram (Iran) attacks its neighbors to the west, north, and south. They are defeated by Javan (Turkey) however. Soon after this victory something happens to the leader of Turkey and the newly enlarged kingdom is divided into four parts. Out of one these sections a small horn (the Antichrist) rises. As he gains power he unleashed it on the beautiful land (Israel), causing devastation and destruction of the holy people. Ultimately he will be destroyed but not by human power.

Again, one should look to the middle east, particularly Turkey, possibly Syria for the emergence of the Antichrist. A Roman empire led by the man of lawlessness does not fit the biblical narrative.

Chapters 10-12 give an account of the struggle between the kingdoms formed after the "prominent horn " of the goat in chapter 8 is broken off. In these passages we read of war between the king of the north (Seluicid empire, the Levant)and the king of the south (Ptolemaic, Egypt). To a degree this can be applied to the events leading up to the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, the seluicid ruler who mercilessly persecuted the Jewish people. He is a foreshadowing of what is to come. Yet as we read on we see the prophecy telescope to the end when the Antichrist comes on the scene and the tribulation begins. Again, I would look to the middle east, as this is where we will see the wars and rumors of wars that will lead up to the return of Christ.

This was a brief outline of key facts concerning the end times as found in the book of Daniel. I would like to go into deeper details in future posts.

 

The Branch of the LORD.

In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel. Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem. The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgement and fire. Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over all the glory will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain (Isaiah 4:2-6 NIV).

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest upon him- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of council and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD -and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decides by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. In that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from lower Egypt, from upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. Ephraim's jealousy will vanish, and Judah's enemies will be cut off; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim. They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west; together they will plunder the people to the east. They will lay hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them.The LORD will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea; with a scorching wind he will swep his hand over the Euphrates River. He will break it into seven streams so that men can cross over in sandals. There will be a highway for the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from Egypt (Isaiah 11:1-16 NIV)

Ever since the fall in the garden recorded in Genesis 3, people have been seeking one to come and make everything right again. We see this in the statement Eve makes at the birth of Seth, "God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew" (Gen 4:25, see Gen 3:15).

Lamech, the Father of Noah hoped that his son was the one to come who would reverse the curse on the ground (Gen 4:29).

Ultimately God raised up Abram with whom He made a covenant, promising to make a nation out of him, and giving him the land where He had called him to dwell. This covenant was made through Abraham's son Isaac, and Isaac's son Jacob who became the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. It is through this nation that the Messiah is to come.

The biblical history of Israel is filled with tragedy. Called and chosen by God as his special people to represent Him before the world, they turned from Him over and over again, ultimately being removed from the land that was sworn to Abraham as an eternal possession.

But God is faithful to His covenant promises, and the story does not end there. While we as Christians today recognize Jesus as the Messiah, the one who died for our sins, arose from the dead and is coming again, Israel is still waiting for their Messiah. They did not recognize Him at His first appearance some two thousand years ago, and are waiting for one to come, who in fulfillment of prophecy, will deliver the from their enemies and restore them as a nation once again.

In several places in the Bible, and particularly the Old Testament we read of one called the Branch. Two of these passage are quoted above. Someday this Branch, the long awaited Messiah, will come and deliver His people Israel from the nations surrounding them. At this point they will recognize Him as Jesus, the one they pierced and be restored as God's chosen people (Zechariah 12:10-13:2). 

Old Testament prophecy ultimately points to this day when Israel returns to the Lord their God, is cleansed from their sin, and once again lives in the land promised so many years ago to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They will live in peace; in fact the world will experience a peace it has never known since the fall of man, under the rule of the promised Messiah. This land is the place that the Lord God has chosen as His resting place forever. It is here that He will dwell (Psalm 132:13-15). 

The scriptures speak of a time of deliverance for Israel, a time when they will be brought back out of the lands where they have been driven because of their sin,

"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as King and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.' Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they shall no longer say, 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,' but 'As the LORD lives who brought up and led the offspring of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' Then they shall dwell in their own land." (Jeremiah 23:5-7 ESV)

The Messiah is to come from the lineage of David. God established a covenant with him that he would never lack a man to sit on his throne (2 Sam 7:22-16, 1Chronicles 17:9-14). We read in Jeremiah 33,

'Behold the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'That I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: in those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgement and righteousness in the earth. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.' (Jeremiah 33:14-16 NKJV)

In those days the Messiah will deliver Israel, and sit upon the throne of David forever. "For this says the LORD: 'David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel.'" (Jeremiah 33:27)

At this time Israel's sin is put away as well. Numerous passages of scripture foretell the day when they are cleansed and restored. For this post I would like to look at Joshua the high priest in Zechariah 3:1-10. Joshua is standing before the Angel of the LORD, facing the accusations of Satan. He is clothed with filthy garments, which are removed from him representing the removal of his sin. He is then clothed with rich robes, and a clean turban.

Joshua symbolically represents Israel in this vision as we read on,

'Hear, O Joshua, the high priest,you and your companions who sit before you, for they are a wondrous sign; for behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH. For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua: Upon the stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave its inscription,' says the LORD of hosts, 'And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.' (Zech 3:8-9)

The final passage I will look at is found in Zechariah 6 and speaks again of the millennial reign of Christ. Zechariah's ministry was to the exiles who had returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity to rebuild the temple. It is in this context that he foresaw the building of a future temple in the days of the Messiah.

"Then speak to him, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts saying: Behold the man whose name is the BRANCH! From His place He shall Branch out, and He shall build the temple of the LORD; Yes, He shall build the temple of the LORD. He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on His throne; so shall He be a priest on His throne; and the council of peace shall be between them both."' (Zech 6:12-13 NKJV)

The day is coming when Jerusalem will be the center of worship. All the nations will come to worship Jesus the Messiah. His glory will cover the earth (Isaiah 60:1-22). In a touching vision of God's great love for His wayward people, we see imagery of a marriage in the first passage quoted from Isaiah above. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgement and the spirit of burning, then the LORD will create over the whole area if Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy (Isaiah 4:4-5 NASB).

Every Jewish wedding takes place under a canopy. In a stunning passage we see an allusion to the presence of God with the children of Israel who fled Egypt so long ago. The Angel of the LORD (the pre-incarnate Christ) accompanied them in a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. At His second coming He is coming to redeem His chosen people Israel, and to consummate the betrothal He made with them at Sinai. His wayward bride will return to Him and find grace, as He washes their sin away. 

There are those within the Church who believe that God has permanently cast off Israel, that He is done with them and has replaced them with the Church. According to this error, all the promises made on behalf of Israel have been transferred to the Church to be fulfilled in a spiritual way. This erroneous teaching could not be further from the truth. The scriptures consistently show that the day is coming when the Lord God will fulfill the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.