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ROCK OF THE PLAIN
Part 5:
The Attack
By C.C.
Scripture citations are to the King James
(Authorised) Version, unless noted otherwise.
Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the Lord; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations? But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the Lord: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.
— Jer. 21: 13, 14 —
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THE PREVIOUS INSTALMENT focused on the new world order that began at the close of the Second World War, touching on the proliferation of atomic weapons and their threat potential, and the psychological effects of this on civilian populations around the world, forced to live under a cloud of uncertainty. In this final episode we give an overview of the revolutionary changes of the period, changes which have simultaneously brought many blessings and contributed to the degradation of cherished traditions, undermining the role of Christianity as a force for good in Britain and Western society as a whole.
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There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.
– Shakespeare (Hamlet; 1601) –
The term ʻrock of
the plainʼ, mentioned in Jer. 21: 13 and which forms the title of this series,
refers both to ancient Jerusalem and to its counterpart at the end of the Gospel
(or Church) Age. This assertion is based on the principle of type and
anti-type that runs throughout the Old Testament. In this category of
biblical hermeneutics, a notable person, event or thing mentioned in the
Scriptures often pre-figures a different person, event or thing in a
future setting. By its nature, a type is to some degree prophetic and, in common
with most prophecies, can only be understood in detail after the
fact.
The Apostle Paul invokes this principle in 1 Cor. 10: 6, 10. Referring to the exodus of Israel from Egypt and their wanderings in the wilderness, he notes (KJV) that these things were ʻexamplesʼ (v. 6) or ʻensamplesʼ (v. 10). The operative Greek word is typoi. Some illustrations of types and anti-types follow (emphases added):
Matt. 12: 38-40
38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. 39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40 for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
1 Cor. 5: 7
Christ our passover [lamb] is sacrificed for us.
Gal. 4: 21-24, in which the Apostle Paul compares two women with two covenants (emphasis added):
21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? 22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid [Agar, a concubine], the other by a freewoman [Sara, a full wife]. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 24 Which things are an allegory: for these are [signify] the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth [corresponds] to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26 But Jerusalem which is above [spiritual or heavenly] is free, and is the mother of us all.
Lastly, most aspects of the Tabernacle in the wilderness are types, some of which are alluded to in Hebrews chapters 8 and 9.
A Warning
In Isa. 22: 1 we read of ʻthe burden of the valley of visionʼ – a reference to Jerusalem, which in turn stands for the nation of Israel as whole, under God's judgement for flouting their covenant relationship with Him. In the journal, The Present Truth and Herald of Christ's Epiphany, Bible scholar R. G. Jolly states that this ʻburdenʼ is a forecast of divine retribution, not only against literal Israel, but also against Christendom and its religious institutions, which have largely abandoned belief in the Word of God (May-June 1958, p. 35, col. 1, paras. 1, 2). He goes on:
The Valley of Vision was a suitable designation for Jerusalem, for: (1) while it was built upon Mt. Zion and Mt. Moriah and their two hills, with valleys around and between, and thus (especially Mt. Zion, the temple mountain of God), compared with its adjacent surrounding territory, could be described as a ʻmountain in the fieldʼ and a ʻrock of the plainʼ (Jer. 17: 3; 21: 13), nevertheless, there were still higher ʻmountains round about Jerusalemʼ (Psa. 125: 2), such as the Mount of Olives on the east and the southern heights of the highlands of Judah, as well as the more distant but still near circumvallation of mountains, such as Nebi Samuel, El Ram and Tel el Fulil, together with the more distant mountains of Moab; and from this viewpoint it appeared as being lower, as in a valley, and was referred to as the ʻinhabitant of the valleyʼ (Jer. 21: 13); and (2) to Jerusalem, as standing figuratively for Fleshly Israel as a whole, were sent many of God's inspired prophets with many visions and prophecies (Matt. 23: 34-37; 21: 34-46). . . . [W]hile from one standpoint it is higher than the world surrounding it and may therefore be described as ʻGod's nominal kingdom in the worldʼ (ʻmountain in the fieldʼ . . .), nevertheless, it is composed largely of lower elements, surrounded and protected by higher elements . . . .
A related passage is Isa. 34: 1, which seems to refer to the ongoing trouble of the post-Gospel Age period:
1. Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. 2. For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath [devoted them to destruction – Rotherham], he hath delivered them to the slaughter.
The extreme language used here reflects the graphic flavour of the original Hebrew text. It is a true prediction, though the method of its outworking will be in keeping with an age quite different from the one in which Isaiah made his declaration. Indeed, this particular prophecy can apply only to an age of global interconnectedness, such as our own. A total extermination of peoples is not meant by it, a fact demonstrated by the chapter which follows this one: chapter 35 is a promise of comfort, reconciliation, and recovery for all peoples, under Christ's earthly kingdom to come. And, as shown there, God's plan is for the redemption of the human family, not its obliteration.
Returning to the figure of the ʻplain of the
rockʼ, we see that God's judgement is first and foremost against the institution
which it prefigures that is, Christendom, a portmanteau word denoting
ʻChrist's Kingdomʼ. The term ʻChristendomʼ is now as dead as mutton, but in any
case was never a completely accurate description of any nation or group of
nations. Nonetheless, some nations including Britain did try to incorporate the
ethos and spirit of Christianity into their legal institutions, governance, and
notions of freedom in thought, speech and religion. This enlightened liberal
view was in large part derived from, and encouraged by, the Reformation doctrine
of justification by faith, the bedrock belief that those who come to God through
Christ are forgiven their sins and freely receive salvation, personal
convictions which lead to charitable impulses and an awareness of one's
responsibility to promote the civic good.
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ʻChangeʼ is scientific, ʻprogressʼ is ethical;
change is indubitable, whereas progress is a matter of controversy.
– Bertrand Russell (1950) –
By 1945, and for the second time in the same century, the world faced a daunting recovery from war. To paraphrase Lady Bracknell (The Importance of Being Earnest): ʻTo have had to fight one world war may be regarded as a misfortune; to have had to fight another looks like carelessness.ʼ
Heartily sick of warfare, people of good will among both victors and vanquished yearned for a fresh start. But first there was the bombed-out infrastructure of many cities in Britain and Europe to repair, institutions and personal lives to be rebuilt, and much forgiving to be done. The British historian Max Hastings writes:
One of the most important
truths about the war, as indeed about all human affairs, is that people can
interpret what happens to them only in the context of their own circumstances.
The fact that, objectively and statistically, the sufferings of some individuals
were less terrible than those of others elsewhere in the world was meaningless
to those concerned. It would have seemed monstrous to a British or American
soldier facing a mortar barrage, with his comrades dying around him, to be told
that Russian casualties were many times greater. It would have been insulting to
invite a hungry Frenchman, or even an English housewife weary of the monotony of
rations, to consider that in besieged Leningrad starving people were eating each
other, while in West Bengal they were selling their daughters. Few people who
endured the Luftwaffe's 1940-41 blitz on London would have been comforted by
knowledge that the German and Japanese peoples would later face losses from
Allied bombing many times greater, together with unparalleled devastation. . . .
Almost everyone who participated in the war suffered in some degree. . .
.
[All Hell Let Loose: The World at War 1939-1945; London: Harper Press; 2012; xvii]
The war of 1939-45 and its aftermath reconfigured international affairs at many levels, leading to present world conditions. Not least of these changes was the creation of Israel in 1948, a fact of history which from the outset shaped international alliances, dividing reaction between those who thought it was a good idea and those who did not, and who even now would like to wish away the fact. For the Russians, the establishment of Israel and its communal-based society offered a tantalizing prospect of a friendly socialist outpost at the heart of the oil-rich Middle East, the stamping ground of Anglo-American interests. But the Soviets were to be disappointed in this regard; Israel proved to be more akin to a Western democracy, one quite at odds in philosophy and national politics with the hostile territories surrounding it.
Back In the USSR
The Soviet Union and its allies now confronted the West and the burgeoning global power of the United States. This confrontation ranged across several fronts: ideology, politics, diplomacy, economics, military and aerospace. The prize in view was domination and control of Europe; a commensurate influence throughout the rest of the world would flow from this.
The frigid hostility between East and West
hampered international co-operation; the distribution of goods and services was
lopsided as a result, condemning millions in the East to a low standard of
living for decades. Despite the technological successes of the Soviet space
programme (Sputnik, Yuri Gagarin), Russia and its East bloc partners were
backward compared to Western nations. While Soviet bureaucrats were busy making
it difficult for their citizens to obtain a loaf of bread, the prosperous United
States and its allies were enjoying an economic boom, with increasing access to
ample supplies of food, improved social services, new houses and motor cars, and
high-speed motorways on which to drive them. When British prime minister Harold
MacMillan declared to the electorate in 1957 that ʻyou've never had it so goodʼ,
he was right. Medical care had improved, educational opportunities were opening
up for students from all backgrounds, wages were rising, and technology had
brought colour television and all sorts of electrical appliances into the family
home.
In international relations, several institutions were set up, mainly through Western initiative, aimed at securing the peace, forestalling further wars, and shoring up the global financial system, such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), etc.
Helter
Skelter
The background music accompanying the early years of the social revolution came first from America, in the form of rock ʼn roll performed by Elvis Presley and others; later on from the home-grown Liverpool lads, The Beatles, and a bewildering array of pop groups. The record industry flourished. But as tastes in music and fashion shifted away from those of the pre-war years, so did the relationship of children to their parents. With the invention of the ʻteenagerʼ, advertisers began to target this new demographic set, hiving youngsters off from their elders, catering to this adolescent consumer with pocket money to spend.
Mass demonstrations seemed to spring from nowhere and everywhere, in support of, or in opposition to, a wide range of causes. Racial riots broke out in British cities assumed to be immune to such angry displays. Police were hard pressed to maintain law and order, as protesters lobbed bricks, bottles and bombs, smashed plate glass windows and torched police cars. In reaction to such events, the police adopted the now-ubiquitous riot gear, complete with shields and side-handle batons, a uniform eerily similar to that used by military and civilian police around the world. (For those curious about the riot police in the photograph above: they are Canadian, on guard at the G20 meeting in Toronto in 2010.)
Liberal trends took hold in schools and
universities, further eroding parental and institutional authority. The growing
use of recreational soft and hard drugs and consequent addiction, along with the
breaking down of reserve between the sexes, whittled away at established pre-war
traditions and notions of virginity and virtue and fidelity. Chastity became a
dirty word. Church-going fell out of style, as faith itself came under attack
from a new crop of intellectuals and sadly from some ministers in the Church
of England, who sneered at established doctrine. The era was a clearing house
for materialistic, irreverent, and sacrilegious ideas which had been around for
years, but which now found a more receptive audience in the morally lax
atmosphere.
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And the watchman told, saying,
He came even unto them, and cometh not again:
and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi;
for he driveth furiously.
– 2 Kings 9: 20 –
The threat of violent revolution appeared as a regular theme in articles published by the Bible scholar, Paul S. L. Johnson, in the years between the two world wars. (The articles were later reprinted in the Epiphany Studies series of books.) In them, Johnson argues that the biblical accounts of the kings of Judah and Israel represent real-world events which would occur in the twentieth century. The application of these types vary according to each period under review: the inter-war years (1914-1939); the war years (1939-1945); and the post-war period (1945-on).
At the time of Johnson's death in 1950 his expectations were incompletely fulfilled. But in extrapolating from the clues he provided there emerges a short-hand history of the Cold War and its aftermath. Because this subject is complex, we have cut the details to the bare bones. The text under review is 2 Kings 9: 14-28.
Kings of Judah and
Israel
Ahaziah, king of Judah, prefigures the U.S.; Joram, king of Israel, prefigures the democratic European powers; and Hazael, king of Syria, represents the U.S.S.R. as the principal expression of Communism. The collaboration between Ahaziah and Joram represents the Cold-War alliance between the U.S. and Western Europe.
The literal battles between the Ahaziah - Joram alliance and Hazael and his forces centred on the city of Ramoth, a town in the territory of Gilead, a strategic location on Israel's north-east border with Syria. Ramoth represents the chief sphere of influence in Europe. The literal Ramoth changed hands several times, showing how the Western allies alternated between successes and reverses in their various skirmishes and proxy wars against Soviet Communism (Berlin Airlift, Korean conflict, Vietnam, etc.). The literal Ramoth was eventually taken and held by the Ahaziah-Joram coalition (2 Kings 9: 14; ʻJoram had kept Ramothʼ), showing that the U.S.-Europe alliance would be victorious over Soviet Communism, marked by the tearing down of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Jehu's Conspiracy (vs. 14-16)
A powerful captain in the army of king Joram, the ambitious Jehu raised his own army against Joram and Ahaziah. They fled, but he pursued and killed them (vs. 21-28). In this Jehu represents both the ad hoc and the organised groups of the modern post-war period who, from a range of motives, join hands in tactical revolt against their own democratically elected governments. Comprised of those who had formerly been supporters of the status quo and of the fight against Communism, they now mount noisy campaigns of complaint against their governments for military adventurism, environmental degradation, global warming, suppression of human rights, banking scandals, university tuition fees, austerity measures, and on and on and on. These campaigns are staged not only by marches or mass demonstrations in the public square, but also electronically, through websites, newsletters, digital petitions and calls to action across social media. The net effect of this swirl of activity is to add instability to the social order, putting the authorities on notice and on guard.
Jehuʼs Ride (v. 20)
The Press (ʻthe watchmanʼ) observe these developments with interest and publish many reports about them in print, online, and in radio and television interviews. They vaguely understand what is happening, for social protest is not a new thing (ʻthe driving is like the driving of Jehuʼ) – indeed, they recall something similar in the strikes, lockouts and union rallies of the Depression-hit 30s. But this time it is different in extent and frequency and more dangerous (ʻhe driveth furiouslyʼ).
* * *
The onset of the Second World War had more or
less squelched any serious threat of revolutionary overthrow in the West, as all
levels of society threw their shoulders into the effort to defeat Germany and
Japan, pouring millions of troops into the fray. But now every state has good
reason to fear revolutionary and terrorist groups who owe allegiance only to
their particular cause, and who have mastered the art of organisation through
social media and hide behind encrypted communications. To maintain law and order
and preserve their authority, democratic governments respond to these threats
pre-emptively and vigorously, such as spying on their own citizens, introducing
special powers of detention and secret trials, and other measures, including the
application of deadly force.
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Israel amidst the nations is like the heart amidst the organs;
it is the most sick and the most healthy of them all.
– Judah Ha-Levi (1075-1141) –
The singular event which must occur before Christ's kingdom on earth can begin is a concerted, multi-national attack on Israel, leading to her final deliverance from the Gentile powers, as predicted in Zechariah 14: 1-3:
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
This event will be the sharp point of biblical prophecy and is of paramount consideration to those who are friendly to Israel and follow her fortunes with interest. But how and when this attack will occur ten, fifteen, twenty years from now no one can be sure. Given the nature of modern warfare smaller armies, mobile and airborne weaponry, and the ability of state actors operating from a distance to cripple a nation's defences by cyber attacks it would be unwise to assume that the ʻgatheringʼ of Zechariah's prophecy, adapted to a future context, conveys the same meaning as it would have had in the ancient world, if only for the simple reason that modern armies no longer ride horses and carry swords.
It seems likely that the Western nations including the United States are in long-term decline and that other powers will continue to arise in Asia, the Americas, and the Middle East to compete with them for geopolitical influence. (See Ezek. 7: 24: ʻthe worst of the heathenʼ.) Such a realignment could take far longer than we expect. In the meantime, the persevering Christian student of prophecy will watch and wait and labour without fear of mortal man to preach the Gospel message of salvation to a distressed and dying world.
RECESSIONAL
Rudyard Kipling (1897)
God of our fathers, known of
old,
Lord of our far-flung
battle-line,
Beneath whose awful Hand we
hold
Dominion over palm and pine
–
Lord God of Hosts, be with us
yet,
Lest we forget – lest we forget!
The tumult and the shouting
dies;
The captains and the kings
depart:
Still stands Thine ancient
sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite
heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us
yet,
Lest we forget – lest we forget!
Far-called, our navies melt
away;
On dune and headland sinks the
fire:
Lo, all our pomp of
yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and
Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us
yet,
Lest we forget – lest we forget!
If, drunk with sight of power, we
loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in
awe,
Such boasting as the Gentiles
use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law
Lord God of Hosts, be with us
yet,
Lest we forget – lest we forget!
For heathen heart that puts her
trust
In reeking tube and iron
shard,
All valiant dust that builds on
dust
And, guarding, calls not Thee to
guard,
For frantic boast and foolish word
–
Thy Mercy on Thy People, Lord! Amen.
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July 2014. The author asserts the usual moral rights to this article, but you are free to reproduce it without express permission. Please acknowledge the source.