The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs
By Dan L. White
Copyright ©2018 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB) which is in the public domain.
Chapter 54
Looking Beyond What Can Be Seen
A comedy video showed some people stop while walking on a busy street. They stared and pointed upward, looking interested and intrigued. Other people stopped, looked up, and saw nothing. Then they looked curiously at the first people, looked up again, still saw nothing, and walked on, shaking their heads.
That’s the way anti-Christ people look at Christians. We follow an invisible King. We stare and we point at Him, but He’s not to be seen. And the world thinks we’re crazy.
Remember that Israel wanted a king they could see, like all the other nations. They rejected their invisible King. Now New Covenant Israel, Jews with Gentiles grafted in, also has to follow the invisible King.
The disciples actually saw the King. Then they saw Him tortured and killed. Then they saw Him again, and touched Him, talked to Him, ate with Him. He even cooked the fish! And after 40 days with Him, they saw this —
Acts 1
9) When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.
10) While they were looking steadfastly into the sky as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white clothing,
11) who also said, “You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Yeshua, who was received up from you into the sky will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky.”
After that, the King they had seen, touched and talked to —
Was invisible. They didn’t see Him.
We also have to follow that invisible King.
Bible study, prayer, fasting, Sabbaths and Feasts change your spirit and bring you closer to your King. But you can follow the invisible King only if you look beyond what can be seen. You cannot follow an invisible King by looking only at the visible. An eternal King is not just for the ‘here and now.’ He is for the ‘forever.’
The invisible King Himself, when He was in the flesh and facing a fleshly death, looked beyond what could be seen.
Heb 12
1) Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2) looking to Yeshua, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
He lived his earthly life not focusing on this life, but on the spiritual life to come — for the joy that was set before him. He faced the end of his life while seeing the beginning of His next life. He dwelt in an earthly kingdom while looking forward to the Kingdom of God to come. He looked beyond what could be normally seen — the visible — to that which couldn’t — the invisible.
And this is what He saw.
Mar 16:19
(19) So then the Lord, after he had spoken to them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
Now, to follow that invisible King, we also have to look beyond what is visible.
As Paul did. He lived his Christian life looking beyond what he could see to that which he couldn’t.
The Quakers would have kicked Paul out.
You recall that the Quakers are famous for setting up the “underground railway” before the American Civil War, to help slaves escape their southern owners. They used their religion, which they thought was Bible based, to justify their actions. Yet Paul, who wrote 14 books of the Bible, including Hebrews, did the opposite of the Quakers. Not only did he not set up an underground railway to free slaves —
He sent a runaway slave back to his owner.
At the time of the New Testament, the Roman Empire was new, having just replaced the five-centuries-old Roman Republic. Christ was born during the reign of the first emperor and died during the reign of the second. Even during the republic, Rome had been built on slavery. Not surprisingly, that practice continued with the dictators of the Empire.
Needless to say, slavery was much better for the “owners” than for the slaves.
All slaves and their families were the property of their owners, who could sell or rent them out at any time. Their lives were harsh. Slaves were often whipped, branded or cruelly mistreated. Their owners could also kill them for any reason, and would face no punishment. The Roman Empire_ in the First Century. The Roman Empire. Social Order. Slaves & Freemen _ PBS.html
An owner could kill a slave without being punished, because —
A slave was not a person.
According to Marcel Mauss, in Roman times the persona gradually became “synonymous with the true nature of the individual” but “the slave was excluded from it. servus non habet personam (‘a slave has no persona’). He has no personality. He does not own his body; he has no ancestors, no name, no cognomen [third name of Roman citizens], no goods of his own.” The testimony of a slave could not be accepted in a court of law unless the slave was tortured—a practice based on the belief that slaves in a position to be privy to their masters’ affairs would be too virtuously loyal to reveal damaging evidence unless coerced. Slavery in ancient Rome – Wikipedia.html
So who was a slave?
Nobody. No personality, no ancestors, no legal standing — no persona. Getting slaves to accept that about themselves helped keep them in slavery. They shouldn’t expect to have lives of their own. They were just slaves.
Roman mosaic from Dougga, Tunisia (2nd century AD): the two slaves carrying wine jars wear typical slave clothing and an amulet against the evil eye on a necklace; the slave boy to the left carries water and towels, and the one on the right a bough and a basket of flowers
By Pascal Radigue – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4966082
Not all slaves accepted that they were complete nobodies. Spartacus had a spark of individualism.
Slavery was an ever-present feature of the Roman world. Slaves served in households, agriculture, mines, the military, manufacturing workshops, construction and a wide range of services within the city. As many as 1 in 3 of the population in Italy or 1 in 5 across the empire were slaves and upon this foundation of forced labour was built the entire edifice of the Roman state and society.
Spartacus was a Thracian gladiator who had served in the Roman army and he became the leader of a slave rebellion beginning at the gladiator school of Capua. Supplementing their numbers with slaves from the surrounding countryside (and even some free labourers) an army was assembled which numbered between 70,000 and 120,000. Amazingly, the slave army successively defeated two Roman armies in 73 BCE. Then in 72 BCE Spartacus defeated both consuls and fought his way to Cisalpine Gaul. It may have been Spartacus’ intention to disperse at this point but with his commanders preferring to continue to ravage Italy, he once more moved south. More victories followed but, let down by pirates who had promised him transportation to Sicily, the rebellion was finally crushed by Marcus Licinius Crassus at Lucania in 71 BCE. Spartacus fell in the battle and the survivors, 6000 of them, were crucified in a forceful message to all Roman slaves that any chance of winning freedom through violence was futile. Slavery in the Roman World – Ancient History Encyclopedia.html
Spartacus led a slave revolt against Rome, and most people think Paul should have done what Spartacus did.
Paulacus!
But Paul didn’t do that. In fact, he repeatedly told slaves to be obedient to their masters.
Titus 2 New English Translation
9) Slaves are to be subject to their own masters in everything, to do what is wanted and not talk back,
Col 3 NET
22) Slaves, obey your earthly masters in every respect, not only when they are watching – like those who are strictly people-pleasers – but with a sincere heart, fearing the Lord.
Eph 6 NET
5) Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ,
6) not like those who do their work only when someone is watching – as people-pleasers – but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.
7) Obey with enthusiasm, as though serving the Lord and not people,
8) because you know that each person, whether slave or free, if he does something good, this will be rewarded by the Lord.
Notice that phrase “whether slave or free.” The Greek word doulos is translated in different translations as slave or servant, but the context and Roman history indicate abject slavery, not an English type servant class. A slave was not free. He couldn’t just leave and find another job somewhere else.
Slavery is also shown when Peter spoke of perverse masters.
1Pet 2 NET
18) Slaves, be subject to your masters with all reverence, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are perverse.
19) For this finds God’s favor, if because of conscience toward God someone endures hardships in suffering unjustly.
20) For what credit is it if you sin and are mistreated and endure it? But if you do good and suffer and so endure, this finds favor with God.
Unlike Quakers, Paul did not use his “ministry” to try to free slaves. On the contrary, he sent the slave Onesimus back to his master Philemon.
Philemon was not anathematized for owning slaves. The Christianos, original word for Christians, actually met in his house. It was probably a big house, large enough to hold a gathering of Christians, because Philemon was wealthy — he owned slaves!
Phlm 1 World English Bible
1) Paul, a prisoner of Christ Yeshua, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker,
2) to the beloved Apphia, to Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the assembly in your house:
Philemon’s escaped slave Onesimus had helped Paul in Rome. Slavery could exist only if slaves didn’t rebel or run away, so Roman penalties against such were severe. Onesimus was apparently living underground in Rome when he ran into Paul, whom he would have known from Christians meeting in Philemon’s house. At some point, Onesimus became a Christiano, a first century Christian. But Paul, instead of helping Onesimus hide, sent him back to his owner.
Phlm 1
10) I beg you for my child, whom I have become the father of in my chains, Onesimus,
11) who once was useless to you, but now is useful to you and to me.
12) I am sending him back. Therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,
13) whom I desired to keep with me, that on your behalf he might serve me in my chains for the Good News.
14) But I was willing to do nothing without your consent, that your goodness would not be as of necessity, but of free will.
15) For perhaps he was therefore separated from you for a while, that you would have him forever,
16) no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much rather to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
How in the world could Paul do that? An escaped slave, who was living free and undetected, who had become a follower of the risen Messiah and even had helped Paul during Paul’s incarceration — Paul sent Onie back to his “owner!”
What was Paul thinking?
This is what he was thinking.
Rom 8
18) For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.
19) For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
20) For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
21) that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.
22) For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.
23) Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.
“…[T]he sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.”
That’s what Paul was thinking. He groaned within himself, waiting for his change from flesh to spirit, to go from this life to the next.
What’s more, Onie was thinking the same thing as Paul!
Onesimus could have run away again; Paul certainly had no means to restrain him. So when Paul sent Onie back to his owner, Onie owned up to it. He voluntarily returned to slavery! Onie couldn’t have been a Quaker, either. He thought like Paul, and not like ordinary Christians. He looked beyond the short period of his slavery to the eternity of his redemption.
Yeah, Paul could do that to someone else, some might say, since he wasn’t enslaved himself.
But — when he wrote that letter to Philemon, Paul himself was imprisoned. And he was losing his helper, Onesimus, as he wrote to Philemon: whom I desired to keep with me, that on your behalf he might serve me in my chains for the Good News. But I was willing to do nothing without your consent, that your goodness would not be as of necessity, but of free will.
Paul — and Onesimus — looked beyond what could be seen to what couldn’t be seen, as they followed the invisible King.
And why didn’t Paul want to get married?
He just didn’t want to be bothered. He had more important things on his mind.
1Co 7 Good News Bible
25) Now, concerning what you wrote about unmarried people: I do not have a command from the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is worthy of trust.
26) Considering the present distress, I think it is better for a man to stay as he is.
27) Do you have a wife? Then don’t try to get rid of her. Are you unmarried? Then don’t look for a wife.
28) But if you do marry, you haven’t committed a sin; and if an unmarried woman marries, she hasn’t committed a sin. But I would rather spare you the everyday troubles that married people will have.
29) What I mean, my friends, is this: there is not much time left, and from now on married people should live as though they were not married;
30) those who weep, as though they were not sad; those who laugh, as though they were not happy; those who buy, as though they did not own what they bought;
31) those who deal in material goods, as though they were not fully occupied with them. For this world, as it is now, will not last much longer.
32) I would like you to be free from worry. An unmarried man concerns himself with the Lord’s work, because he is trying to please the Lord.
33) But a married man concerns himself with worldly matters, because he wants to please his wife;
34) and so he is pulled in two directions. An unmarried woman or a virgin concerns herself with the Lord’s work, because she wants to be dedicated both in body and spirit; but a married woman concerns herself with worldly matters, because she wants to please her husband.
35) I am saying this because I want to help you. I am not trying to put restrictions on you. Instead, I want you to do what is right and proper, and to give yourselves completely to the Lord’s service without any reservation.
I had a good friend who, in his teens, feared that he wouldn’t be able to get married before Christ returned. Well, my good buddy was a bit more concerned with the here and now than Paul was. Marriage is now. Paul looked to the future and didn’t even want to bother with marriage.
He even preferred that this life be over, because he looked forward to the next life so much.
Phil 1 World English Bible
19) For I know that this will turn out to my salvation, through your supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Yeshua Christ,
20) according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will in no way be disappointed, but with all boldness, as always, now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life, or by death.
21) For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
22) But if I live on in the flesh, this will bring fruit from my work; yet I don’t know what I will choose.
23) But I am in a dilemma between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
24) Yet, to remain in the flesh is more needful for your sake.
So Paul sent a slave back, refused to get married, and even looked forward to death —
Simply because he lived his Christian life looking beyond this life. The years of a slave were so few compared to eternity, and by being single Paul could focus more on the future, and dying in the faith was the gateway to the future.
Paul did all that simply because he saw what couldn’t be seen. He looked beyond the visible to the invisible. He followed the invisible King, the one he had seen executed, the one who had called to him on the road to Damascus, and the one who had refused to remove Paul’s thorn in the flesh.
WEB Heb 11
1) Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen.
Heb 11 Good News Bible
1) To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.
To be certain of things we cannot see is to look beyond what we can see.
Heb 11 Good News Bible
8) It was faith that made Abraham obey when God called him to go out to a country which God had promised to give him. He left his own country without knowing where he was going.
9) By faith he lived as a foreigner in the country that God had promised him He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who received the same promise from God.
10) For Abraham was waiting for the city which God has designed and built, the city with permanent foundations.
15) They did not keep thinking about the country they had left; if they had, they would have had the chance to return.
16) Instead, it was a better country they longed for, the heavenly country. And so God is not ashamed for them to call him their God, because he has prepared a city for them.
35) Through faith women received their dead relatives raised back to life. Others, refusing to accept freedom, died under torture in order to be raised to a better life.
36) Some were mocked and whipped, and others were put in chains and taken off to prison.
37) They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were killed by the sword. They went around clothed in skins of sheep or goats—poor, persecuted, and mistreated.
38) The world was not good enough for them! They wandered like refugees in the deserts and hills, living in caves and holes in the ground.
39) What a record all of these have won by their faith! Yet they did not receive what God had promised,
40) because God had decided on an even better plan for us. His purpose was that only in company with us would they be made perfect.
The invisible King — when He was in the flesh — constantly taught about that which could not be seen, the coming Kingdom of God.
Matt 13
44) “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.
45) “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls,
46) who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
47) “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet, that was cast into the sea, and gathered some fish of every kind,
48) which, when it was filled, they drew up on the beach. They sat down, and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw away.
49) So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come forth, and separate the wicked from among the righteous,
50) and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.”
Our invisible King will be the King of that kingdom.
But before that kingdom comes, we live in Satan’s kingdom. Satan is the god of this world, and this world follows him. Hey — that’s really easy to do! All you have to do is go along with everything you see around you. Your job, your games, your gadgets can take up most of your attention, your time, your life. That leaves little time for Bible study and prayer, no time for fasting, and quite a bit of time for fudging on the Sabbaths and Feasts.
That’s just the opposite of following the invisible King.
We can talk about how Israel erred by wanting a king they could see, but we ourselves err if we underestimate how enormously hard it is for fleshly people to follow an invisible King. The smartest people in the world almost unanimously scoff at such a notion. To most people, going only by our five senses is just common sense. Only with Bible study, prayer, fasting, Sabbaths and Feasts are those five fleshly senses superseded.
The older a person gets, the more he sees how little this life is, and how much more important the next is. As the importance of the visible vanishes, the overwhelming value of the invisible becomes apparent. As what we see disappears with death, what we cannot see comes more into focus.
Bible study, prayer, fasting, Sabbaths and Feasts change your spirit and bring you closer to your King. But you can follow the invisible King only if you look beyond what can be seen, and you see this —
Rev 22
1) He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb,
2) in the middle of its street. On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
3) There will be no curse any more. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants serve him.
4) They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
5) There will be no night, and they need no lamp light; for the Lord God will illuminate them. They will reign forever and ever.
20) He who testifies these things says, “Yes, I come quickly.” Amen! Yes, come, Lord Yeshua.
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