October 10, 2022
#BibleStudyNotes Exodus 13 – 17 on till Joshua.
The story of the Israelites from their suffering in Egypt, the fight for their deliverance, the plagues, the salvation at the Red Sea, and the trek in the wilderness strikes a chord in my mind about what we face now in this system of things. They seem to match the times we live in and are a warning of pitfalls we may face after Armageddon. If we do not manage our expectations, we may fall into the same trap that the Israelites did when they longed for the things of the old system of things in Egypt, murmured about the provisions of Jehovah, and suffered dire consequences.
We have all imagined how glorious life will be in Paradise; perhaps we are motivated by the clear picture in the Bible that describes the time when there will be no sorrow, pain, death, or evil people. Then we also see beautiful pictures & demonstrative videos of the new world in publications. We see beautiful houses, clean water, lush gardens, and wonderful neighborhoods. We also read about the Israelites settled in the Promised Land & how they found peace compared to the slavery in Egypt. Then on this side of the system of things we bemoan the harsh conditions we must bear with. The hope of a better world makes us hold on because the blessed future is near & we await its arrival with the greatest eagerness.
But what is it we expect? Would our expectations lead to problems for us? I cannot help but imagine that the last days & life in paradise would initially resemble the situation the Israelites faced before & after they left Egypt & that it is time to begin in earnest to prepare for the new world as it will likely be.
The great tribulation will be a time of great trials for the world but Jehovah’s people will be spared greatly. This is the lesson from the 10 Plagues that Jehovah brought upon Egypt. It will be a general time of distress for the world as it was for Egypt but Jehovah will provide means of escape for his people & the large multitude who will listen to him as he did then.
The war of Armageddon corresponds to the salvation thru the Red Sea for the Israelites. When we read Exodus chapter 15 we see the joy of the Israelites as they rejoiced at the salvation by Jehovah. This will be our joy as well. At last, our hope has been realized: no more Satan’s world with all of its wahala. What a relief! May our joy not be as short-lived as it was for the Israelites who began to miss Egypt & wished to return there.
The focus of this article is after the period after Armageddon & the lessons that the Israelite journey teaches us. The people expected that they would jump from slavery to super enjoyment – from fry pan to stew. The slavish suffering in Egypt was terrible. They labored with their life on the line. Nothing was certain; they lived at the mercy of the Egyptians. When you examine the slave practices in America up to the 20th century & in other places, then you can get a glimpse of what life was like for the Israelite and why he sought salvation the same way most colonies fought for independence. The expectation was that when freed, life will become good. From heaven, all the good things of life would fall: good homes, farmlands, just name it. But by stupid reliance on their strength, they got a 40-year trek in the Desert.
Immediately after the great salvation by Jehovah, the Israelites begin to murmur against Jehovah. There was no bread, cucumber, garlic, etc but they remembered these delicacies that they ate in Egypt but conveniently forgot that it was the bread of plenty sorrows.
We may likewise begin to project that life as we know it today will automatically become bliss after Armageddon. We may think that it would become what is depicted in publications overnight. But that will be the snare for many people. What conditions will become, we must make them. We may begin to murmur & that would be very damaging to us. The Israelites turned from the joy of Exodus 15 to the murmur of chapter 16, very fast.
There are several reasons why life in the new world just after Armageddon could be tough and not initially bliss.
- All or most of the technology of this world will not survive this system of things. Check out how the world currently works & you will see that a lot of it runs on technology that is designed for profit or world domination. Will God allow the use of technology that supports a subversive system?
- The world’s tech have not been developed for the good of man, some are not tested enough for their benefits before being pushed out for profit or world domination. Check out how the world currently works & you will see that a lot of it runs on technology that is not for the benefit of mankind.
- The new world will be a reset – God will not build on Satan’s foundation. Will God allow the use of technology that is not the best for humans & the environment? For example, do we really need any other source of energy apart from the Sun? If not, what will happen to all other energy sources at Armageddon? Will we use cars that run on gas? Airplanes that run on Jet A? We may need to start afresh & that would mean that amenities may not be as we know them today. 2 Bible passages attest to this:
- Jesus will break the works of the devil.
- He will all things new:
- God will not do for us what we can & must do for ourselves. The houses we will live in, we must build, the vineyards we will drink from, we shall plant, Paradise Earth, we will have to do the physical work just as Adam was initially tasked to do. These beautiful things will not miraculously appear & they take time to build. 1st will be the cleanup which may take a while & then the planning & the building. Time will not be a constraint, it may take a while to get back to the level we live now, let alone the promised level of grandeur.
Life will not automatically become paradisiacal immediately after Armageddon. God will tear down this old system. We will have to build back afresh. Armageddon survivors will need patience and contentment. The world would never be the same again. It would look like the aftermath of a war. Will there be electricity, internet, and mobile communication? Posh homes? Motor cars? Will we be allowed to eat the kind of food we are used to? I don’t know. But I don’t think so based on the reasons given above. Will it be a case of ‘Jericho’ when Armageddon strikes or will some infrastructure be allowed to survive? What luxuries are you used to now that you can’t do without? You better begin to readjust your mind & habits. (even in the great tribulation, this could be a snare for many of us).
Whatever it is, begin to prepare your mind for a complete restart in the general definition of the word. To what extent God chooses to reset us, let us be sure that the freedom of the new world will overcompensate for whatever we will lose initially. Then as we work hard under the direction of the Christ & his Co-rulers, we will emerge out of the ’40-year trek’ in the Wilderness into a cleansed Earth, where the technology developed would make life as we know it today to be nothing but a slum. All technologies and scientific breakthroughs will be utilized for the good of mankind, & all the paradisiac pictures will come true.
(The Israelites are welcome to Egypt, a time that corresponds to Man’s creation where Man was ‘king’ on earth. The rise of the Bad Pharaohs is the time of the fall. The last days were the days Moses implored Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. The great tribulation – the 10 plagues & the deliverance at the Red sea – Armageddon. The 40-year trek, life afterward as we rebuild the earth. Death of all who were guilty of the sin of the 10 spies – the end of the 1000-year reign & last judgment. The fall of Jericho & life thereafter is post thousand-year reign).