#Illuminare – HISTORY OF THE FUTURE starts now.
1. God creates by making pronouncements. There’s an energy in his word that initiates a deployment sequence culminating in the imagined output. Genesis 1:3, Isaiah 55:11. #Illuminare
2. It is fitting therefore that the creative agency of the Godhead be called Word. That’s Jesus by the way. John 1:1-4. We’re told he has “life” in him. In other words he possesses animating energy: #Illuminare
3. “In him was life and the power to bestow life, and the life was the Light of men.” John 1:4 AMP. #Illuminare
4. The fundamental principle of creation is faith. It’s why God makes pronouncements first when he wants to generate stuff. Faith declares the things which be not as though they were. Romans 4:17 KJV. #Illuminare
5. God wants us to learn the mechanics of faith. It’s quite simple actually. For faith to function you must ignore the evidence in front of you. It’s an alternative reality thing. #Illuminare
6. Faith was classically defined by Paul as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 KJV. Faith gives substance to imagination. #Illuminare
7. The Amplified Bible takes an illustrative approach. It likens faith to the title deed of an asset. The legal proof of ownership is title deed. Actual possession of asset is mere validation. #Illuminare
8. Faith is some sort of certificate of occupancy, only virtual. It says you already own the asset in some alternative dimension. All you’re waiting for is manifestation in space-time. It’s time dimension that slows down manifestation. #Illuminare
9. “Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality - faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses].” Hebrews 11:1 AMP. #Illuminare
10. And so in Genesis we see God create space-time with words. A future manifestation was created with words therefore. But not only did God create time he created history in advance, with words. #Illuminare
11. What we ordinarily call Bible prophecy is God creating future history. Though in practical terms there’s some synthesis with emergent data. That’s because God used a contributory schema for creation of future history. Let me explain. #Illuminare
12. There’s history God pretty much dictated – the incarnation of Jesus for one. It was a strategic programme. He generated that future, by himself. #Illuminare
13. But there are contributions to be made by man into future history. God created a wide framework that allows infillings by man. That framework is why the excesses of man are accommodated. It accommodated the volatility of Nebuchadnezzar for instance. #Illuminare
14. God had punished the idolatry of the Israelites with Babylonian captivity. Started circa 586 BC. It’s how we came about that famous song, “By the rivers of Babylon.” It’s actually Psalm 137. The Israelites were lamenting. #Illuminare
15. But the guy who captured them, Nebuchadnezzar, was one crazy fellow - a despot. He once erected an idol to which everyone must bow, irrespective of personal religious belief. Nebuchadnezzar didn’t recognise human rights. #Illuminare
16. The idolatry of Nebuchadnezzar wasn’t mandated by God as part of history. That was wholly Nebuchadnezzar’s contribution to history. He filled in a blank space in God’s framework. God gives man contributory latitude within the framework of future history. #Illuminare
17. And so we see the exiling of the Israelites, we see blank spaces left for man to fill, we see the filling by Nebuchadnezzar, but all dovetail into God’s program. They’re synthesised. #Illuminare
18. Cyrus the Great would eventually free the Israelites in 538 BC. That was a future God created in Isaiah 45. But you won’t find a book in the Bible called Future History. The Book of Revelation is close but there’s a lot in Revelation that’s actually from the past. #Illuminare
19. Some things in Revelation go all the way back to Genesis. Revelation zigzags across the terrain of space-time and higher dimensions. #Illuminare
20. Knowing that the history of the world is pretty much laid out in the Bible and that God creates the future with words, God would have to domicile those future-creating words somewhere in the Bible. #Illuminare
21. To accomplish that objective God did something interesting. He hid the words within words in the Bible. For example, right at the tail end of the narrative of the Eden Crisis in Genesis we find these words: #Illuminare
22. “And I will put open hostility between you - the serpent and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall fatally bruise your head, and you shall only bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:15 AMP. #Illuminare
23. Genesis 3:15 is a reference to the Christ/Antichrist faceoff. The fulfilment of that scripture began with incarnation of Christ but the Antichrist has not manifested bodily. He will. At some point in his program the whole world will worship Satan. Revelation 13:4. #Illuminare
24. But we know who will win the battle. The prophecy in Genesis already told us the Christ will fatally bust the head of the Antichrist. The Book of Revelation corroborates the prophecy. Revelation 19:19-21. #Illuminare
25. That future was thus created 6,000 years ago. It was partly fulfilled 4,000 years after the pronouncement. But the final fulfilment is still in the future. The date is unspecified. #Illuminare
26. And so we see how God hides future history in scriptures; he hides words within words. The future is thus hidden in the past. It must be said of God he hides things in plain sight. #Illuminare
27. The other thing apparent in scriptures is that God made Jesus the locus of history. The course of history is a swirling vortex around him. Truth is, the Bible isn’t about God the Father, it’s about God the Son. He’s the Word. Genesis to Revelation is about him. #Illuminare
28. Prophecies about Jesus are hidden all over scriptures. The Bible is literally a crossword puzzle. That the scriptures might be fulfilled, “It is the glory of God to hide things but the glory of kings to investigate them.” Proverbs 25:2 GW. #Illuminare
29. The easiest puzzle to crack is Isaiah 9:6. Smack in the middle of Isaiah’s prophecy about Assyrian invasion and ancillary stuff we find these immortal words about Jesus: #Illuminare
30. “A child will be born for us. A son will be given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. He will be named: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 GW. #Illuminare
31. Thereafter Isaiah returned to his analytical prophecy about Israel. He continued without breaking a sweat: “The Lord sent a message against Jacob. The message is against Israel...” Isaiah 9:8 GW. #Illuminare
32. Same pattern is found in David’s writings. In Psalm 69 for example he was lamenting his lot: “Save me, O God! The water is already up to my neck! I am sinking in deep mud...” Psalms 69:1-2 GW. #Illuminare
33. Smack in the middle of all that God snuck intelligence about something that wouldn’t happen for another 1,000 years – a scene from the crucifixion of Jesus: #Illuminare
34. “They poisoned my food, and when I was thirsty, they gave me vinegar to drink.” Psalms 69:21 GW. #Illuminare
35. This was the fulfilment: “And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.” Matthew 27:33-34 KJV. #Illuminare
36. The brilliance of God is that blending of future history into the pointed writings in the Bible such that we don’t even notice it. We just assume the narrative. It’s literary genius. #Illuminare
37. Nothing happens in human history that’s not been declared ahead of time. The emergence of Cyrus the Great, Alexander the Great, the dominance of the Roman Empire, all were prophesied by Daniel. Daniel 7. #Illuminare
38. In Daniel 7 we see four HUGE beasts. The first beast was like a lion but had eagle wings. “As I watched, its wings were pulled off, and it was left standing with its two hind feet on the ground, like a human being. And it was given a human mind.” Daniel 7:4 NLT. #Illuminare
39. The second beast looked like a bear. “It was rearing up on one side, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And I heard a voice saying to it, “Get up! Devour the flesh of many people!” Daniel 7:5 NLT. #Illuminare
40. The third beast looked like a panther but it had four heads and had birdlike wings. “Great authority was given to this beast.” Daniel 7:6 NLT. #Illuminare
41. The fourth beast defies description: “I saw a fourth beast - terrifying, dreadful, and very strong. It devoured and crushed its victims with huge iron teeth… #Illuminare
42. ...and trampled their remains beneath its feet. It was different from any of the other beasts, and it had ten horns.” Daniel 7:7 NLT. #Illuminare
43. “These four huge beasts represent four kingdoms that will arise from the earth.” Daniel 7:17 NLT. #Illuminare
44. The first beast - the lion with eagle’s wings represented Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon (c. 605 – 562 BC). #Illuminare
45. The second beast – the bear with three ribs in its mouth represented the Medo-Persian Empire (550 - 330 BC). The three ribs in this creature’s mouth were Babylon, Lydia and Egypt. #Illuminare
46. The third beast – the panther with bird-like wings and four heads represented Greece. The four heads are predictive of the four-way division of the Grecian Empire following the unfortunate demise of Alexander the Great (356 – 323 BC). #Illuminare
47. The dreadful unnameable fourth beast – the one that “devoured and crushed its victims with huge iron teeth and trampled their remains beneath its feet” and had ten horns – that was the Roman Empire. Daniel 7:7 NLT. #Illuminare
48. “The fourth animal is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from the first three kingdoms, a monster kingdom that will chew up everyone in sight and spit them out... #Illuminare
49. ...The ten horns are ten kings, one after another, that will come from this kingdom. But then another king will arrive. He will be different from the earlier kings. He will begin by toppling three kings... #Illuminare
50. ...Then he will blaspheme the High God, persecute the followers of the High God, and try to get rid of sacred worship and moral practice. God’s holy people will be persecuted by him for a time, two times, half a time.” Daniel 7:23-25 MSG. #Illuminare
51. The guy Daniel 7:23-25 is referring to is the Antichrist, the one prophesied in Genesis as the seed of the Devil. Genesis 3:15… #Illuminare
52. ...He will blaspheme God, persecute Jews, pervert human morality, legislate the perversion and be a tyrant. Daniel 7:23-25 MSG. #Illuminare
53. Here are more details about the future: “And the Dragon stood on the shore of the sea. I saw a Beast rising from the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads—on each horn a crown, and each head inscribed with a blasphemous name... #Illuminare
54. ...The Beast I saw looked like a leopard with bear paws and a lion’s mouth. The Dragon turned over its power to it, its throne and great authority... #Illuminare
55. ...One of the Beast’s heads looked as if it had been struck a deathblow, and then healed. The whole earth was agog, gaping at the Beast... #Illuminare
56. ...They worshiped the Dragon who gave the Beast authority, and they worshiped the Beast, exclaiming, “There’s never been anything like the Beast! No one would dare go to war with the Beast!”... #Illuminare
57. ...The Beast had a loud mouth, boastful and blasphemous. It could do anything it wanted for forty-two months. It yelled blasphemies against God, blasphemed his Name, blasphemed his Church, especially those already dwelling with God in Heaven... #Illuminare
58. ...It was permitted to make war on God’s holy people and conquer them. It held absolute sway over all tribes and peoples, tongues and races... #Illuminare
59. ...Everyone on earth whose name was not written from the world’s foundation in the slaughtered Lamb’s Book of Life will worship the Beast...” Revelation 13:1-8 MSG. #Illuminare
60. “I saw another Beast rising out of the ground. It had two horns like a lamb but sounded like a dragon when it spoke. It was a puppet of the first Beast, made earth and everyone in it worship the first Beast, which had been healed of its deathblow... #Illuminare
61. ...This second Beast worked magical signs, dazzling people by making fire come down from Heaven. It forced all people, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to have a mark on the right hand or forehead... #Illuminare
62. ...Without the mark of the name of the Beast or the number of its name, it was impossible to buy or sell anything... #Illuminare
63. ...Solve a riddle: Put your heads together and figure out the meaning of the number of the Beast. It’s a human number: 666.” Revelation 13:11-18 MSG. #Illuminare
64. If you’ll like to receive Jesus into your life please pray this prayer: “Father I acknowledge that I am a sinner, that Jesus died for me, that you raised him from the dead. Father please forgive me. I accept Jesus today as my Lord and my Saviour. Amen.” #Illuminare
66. To read the series, The Church and Politics, go to myilluminare.com/the-church-and…. #Illuminare
67. To read and download FREE copies of Understanding Tithing (Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4), please go to myilluminare.com. #Illuminare
68. To read my new book on the science of Genesis, order or subscribe for The Genesis Project at genesisprojectonline.com. #Illuminare
69. © Leke Alder | talk2me@lekealder.com. #Illuminare
