Two Patterns in History

The Cosmic Chiasm

7874 words long.

Published on 2024-06-17

In the Odyssey, Homer tells the adventure of a man trying to get home after fighting a war. We are all Odysseus. We are all trying to get home. Jesus promised to his friends that in his father’s house there are many mansions. How do we get there? One generation at a time...

Temples, Built and Broken

1st & 42nd generations.

In the beginning, Adam and Eve are exiled from Eden. All of human history is our journey back to Eden. In the last and matching generation, Christ will return. He said that in his father’s house there are many mansions. He will take his faithful there.

7th & 35th generations.

In 1883 BC, at the start of the 7th generation:

“... God said,

‘Take your son, your only son,

whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah.

Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering

on a mountain I will show you.’”

- Genesis 22:2, NIV

Abraham proved his faithfulness by preparing to do that, before God stayed his hand and provided a ram. A century later, around 1773 BC, Jacob, son of Isaac, fled from his home, fearing his brother Esau’s wrath. Before he made it to Laban’s house, he fell asleep on Mount Moriah. There he witnessed angels ascending and descending a ladder. He named the place Bethel, meaning house of the Lord. About eight hundred years later, Solomon would build the Temple in Jerusalem on that spot where first Abraham and Isaac and later Jacob met with God.

In the matching generation, the Ottoman Turks captured Jerusalem in 1517 AD. In a twist, the Muslims permitted Greek Christians to rebuild churches and monasteries in Jerusalem, and Jews to rebuild synagogues.

Earlier in that generation, in 1453 AD, the Ottomans captured Constantinople, at that time the heart of Christendom. The greatest church in the Eastern Roman Empire, Haggia Sophia, was converted into a mosque.

14th & 28th generations.

In about 1010 BC, King David captured Jebus and renamed it Jerusalem. His son Solomon built the temple there.

In the matching generation, during the Byzantine- Sassanian War, the Jews recaptured Jerusalem for the last time before regaining statehood in 1948. They lost it again, and then the Muslims captured Jerusalem in 637 AD. In 692 AD, they built the Dome of the Rock on the old temple mount. This prompted Bishop Sophronius to blurt out, “The abomination that causes desolation!”

21st generation.

As already discussed, this generation saw the temple in Jerusalem desecrated (167 BC), then cleansed and rededicated. It saw Jerusalem’s walls rebuilt, breached, and rebuilt again. It saw the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerazim destroyed, rebuilt and destroyed again.

What is the constant theme? Jerusalem, the temple, worship and strife. Finding, preparing, protecting and restoring a place where man can meet with God in safety is impossible in this world. Worship is precious and the enemy seeks to stop it. Only when the new Jerusalem descends from heaven will a permanent house of worship become a reality.

In addition to exhibiting symmetry related to events relevant to temple worship, these seven generations also mark off a harvest clock:

• Generations 1-6 (4020-1885 BC) were the time of preparation, where many nations and peoples and languages were split off, culminating in the birth of Abraham.
• Generations 7-13 (1885-1052 BC) were the time of plowing and suffering. Jacob slaved away for Laban, Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt, and the twelve tribes endured slavery in Egypt. Then they wandered in the desert. Even after entering the promised suffered from anarchy during the time of the Judges. Above all, righteous Job suffered at the hand of Satan.
• Generations 14-20 (1052-219 BC) were the time when God sowed the seed of His Word. The books of the prophets and the writings were added to the Pentateuch to complete the Old Testament. The first temple was built near the beginning and destroyed near the end of this season.
• Generations 21-27 (219 BC-614 AD) were the time of the watering of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s first task was to seal up prophecy; the Septuagint was finished and the canon settled. Then the Spirit overshadowed Mary and she conceived Jesus. After Jesus rose from the dead, the Spirit was poured out on the church and it grew.
• Generations 28-34 (614-1447 AD) were times of plucking and pruning by the Father. Many trials beset the church, from the First Islamic Jihad, to the Great Schism, through to the Black Plague and the Fall of Constantinople, to teach it not to love power and wealth.
• Generations 35-41 (1447-2280 AD) were and are the time of harvest. Beginning with the Protestant Reformation, in many waves of missionary activity and revivals, the Lord has spread the Gospel and salvation all over the world.
• Generation 42 (2280 AD to eternity) will be the time of peace following the bountiful harvest, when we celebrate the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.

On to the second story!

Correlational Caveats

After much ink, we finally come to the many historical coincidences that persuaded me that God has a symmetrical plan for history that is rapidly approaching its completion. The symmetry is the proof, but what does the end of the pattern mean? It is essential to stress that while the end of the pattern may coincide with the return of Christ, it may merely mean that the church is fully mature by Solomon’s standard set forth in Ecclesiastes 3. Once mature, the church will be ready for the glorious task the Lord intends to commission it to do next. Regardless, it will be a momentous time in history.

Once I completed the following set of correspondences, I graded them subjectively. The pressure to succumb to confirmation bias is enormous. Most correspondences are strong. A few are weaker. One suffers from matching events of two consecutive generations (19 matches both 23 & 24), calling into question the generation boundaries (arguing for an adjustment of 2-3 years). At this point, the strength of the points of comparison for most matching pairs of generations convinces me that where there are weaknesses, it’s from my ignorance of history and scripture, not the absence of a match.

The last hole in the pattern that I needed to fill was for the middle of the time of the Judges, when Ruth lived. Again and again I returned to that generation and its opposite and came up empty. Then I prayed and the Lord opened my eyes. My chronology slotted Gideon the Judge in the generation after Ruth. I discovered that his early years fell at the end of Ruth’s generation, including his first conquest. My heart burned with excitement as I read from Judges. Had I found the last connection? I slept on it. The next morning, I watched our church service on Zoom. During greeting time, I shared with another member about my excitement reading about Gideon. His response? He also read Gideon this month! This is just one of the diverse ways that God has encouraged me to press on and not be content to make claims about the Bible that I cannot support. If it is really He who wants me to say it, then He will help me say it well.

Turning History Inside Out

The way the chiasm breaks history down the middle explains much. On the left is ancient history. From the 1st to the 19th generation, every chosen historical event is drawn from the Old Testament. During the 20th and 21st generations, no new Scripture was written; there were no more prophets in Israel. However, during this time the Septuagint was written.

On the right is recent history, church history. All the events from the 24th to the 39th generation are drawn from history books, not the Bible. However, for the 22nd and 23rd generations, events are drawn from the New Testament. Thus one side of every pair of generations has Bible events, while the other side has events recorded in secular history, with three exceptions. The 40th to the 42nd generation have yet to be written. For that we have guesses based on the early chapters of Genesis.

As in Job Rises, we will begin in the middle, when Christ was born, then work our way to the beginning and end of history. I will try to contain my excitement, which rises anew each time I contemplate this marvelous evidence of the sovereignty of God.

#21 (219-100 BC) vs. #22 (100 BC-19 AD). Son of God.

Victories over Carthage in the 2nd and 3rd Punic wars, plus the defeat of the Seleucid Empire at Thermopylae and Magnesia ad Sipylum made Rome master of the Mediterranean. As war reparations bled Antiochus IV Epiphanes dry, he raised taxes on the Jews, suppressed their religion and desecrated their temple. The Maccabean Revolt and the Jews’ subsequent alliance with Rome yielded a measure of autonomy. Their miraculous Hanukkah lamp was the faint light that gave them hope, and Rome their benevolent savior.

Turn the clock to 100 BC and Julius Caesar was born. The Roman senate granted him divine honors, the first Roman citizen so honored. By this token, his adopted son Octavian (Caesar Augustus) acquired the title divi filius, literally “son of the god”. With Rome now subjugating Judea and arrogating the role of “Son of God” while a brutal Herod the Great built a new temple in Jerusalem, the Jews were illuminated by darkness and oppressed by saviors who would not save.

Then a star over Bethlehem lit the way to the true Son of God, king and light of the world. In the 21st generation, the completion of the Septuagint set God’s Word down on parchment. In the 22nd, the Word became flesh. The Holy Spirit that had departed Israel now returned. Where no prophets had walked for centuries, new voices could be heard: Elizabeth, Mary, Zechariah, Anna, and Simeon.

I still like eating Caesar Salad, though.

#20 (338-219 BC) vs. #23 (19-138 AD). God & Savior.

The 20th generation had its own share of glory hounds. Alexander the Great claimed the title Son of Zeus, another variation on “Son of God”. One of his successors, Ptolemy I, waited until he was dead for his son to have him acclaimed Theos Soter – God and Savior.

Both men died and stayed dead. Then in the 23rd generation, the true Son of God and Savior was acclaimed, not by human sycophants but by God Himself, and not by empty words but by raising Jesus from the dead.

#19 (457-338 BC) vs. #24 (138-257 AD). Destruction.

In the 19th generation, God sent his last prophet for a long time to Israel. Malachi warned that God would be like a “refiner’s fire” (Malachi 3:2-4), but if that didn’t work:

“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before

that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.

He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children,

and the hearts of the children to their parents;

or else I will come and strike the land with total

destruction.”

- Malachi 4:5-6, NIV

The 19th is that rare generation where the matching event falls not in the opposite 24th generation, but in the last few years of the 23rd. The Bar Kokhba Revolt, also called the Third Jewish-Roman War, was fought from 132-136 AD. Over half a million died in the war. More died of starvation or were enslaved. The Jewish community in the land was shattered. Rejecting the true messiah, they followed a false one to their doom.

Not everyone rejected the refiner’s fire. During the 24th generation, the church endured much persecution, and along with the empire endured the Antonine Plague, the Plague of Cyprian, and the start of the crisis of the third century. It was not destroyed.

#18 (576-457 BC) vs. #25 (257-376 AD). Relief.

During the former generation, Haman instigated a royal proclamation to persecute the Jews throughout Persia ca 473 BC. At the last minute it was averted, due to the bravery of Queen Esther and Mordecai. Alerted to the evil nature of Haman’s plans, the king of Persia authorized the Jews to defend themselves.

During the latter generation, the Roman Emperor Valerian issued two edicts authorizing the persecution and execution of Christians. While fighting in the east, he was captured at Edessa in 260 AD by the Persians under king Shapur and held captive for the rest of his life. His son Gallienus cancelled his father’s decrees and issued Rome’s first edict of toleration toward Christians. Thus twice did a Persian king’s actions suspend the persecution of God’s people.

Gallienus’ benevolence initiated the forty year “Little Peace of the Church”. Christians grew in numbers. Now legally permitted to hold positions in society formerly denied them, believers’ influence in society expanded. This peace ended under Diocletian, who instigated the Great Persecution in 303 AD. However this time a different king intervened. God caused the Emperor Constantine to follow the way of the cross and after the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, Roman persecution of Christians ended for good.

#17 (695-576 BC) vs. #26 (376-495 AD). Lost & Found.

In the 17th generation, Judah lost something, found it, and lost something else. Hidden in a temple storeroom, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law that had been lost and took it to King Josiah. Reading it was devastating. He was changed and he changed the kingdom. This delayed but did not avert a second loss: their home. The exiles lost their kingdom in 609 BC, their city, Jerusalem, in 597 BC, and their temple in 587 BC. Would they also lose their God?

In the 26th generation, the church made sure the Word of God would not be lost in their day: in 405 AD, Jerome completed the Vulgate, a translation of the Bible into Latin. Paradoxically, the church also lost their city. In 410, the Visigoth Alaric sacked Rome. Then in 476 AD, the barbarian Odoacer took Rome and the throne, marking the end of the Western Roman Empire. With a defiant faith, Augustine (ca 420 AD) transcended the chaos and decay of his civilization and penned City of God. Those who find and keep God’s Word will never lose their share in the city whose foundations can never be shaken.

#16 (814-695 BC) vs. #27 (495-614 AD). Dark & Light.

In the 16th, Jonah saw darkness gathering. Lusting for judgment on cruel Assyria, God instead compelled him to warn Nineveh, and they listened. Assyria escaped God’s wrath and in turn poured out its wrath upon Israel.

Hezekiah saw the darkness of the grave nearing, and his tears and pleading did not escape God’s notice. By Isaiah’s word, the Lord made the shadows go back ten steps on the stair (2 Kings 20, Isaiah 38) and added fifteen years of light to Hezekiah’s life. God also lifted Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem.

Not all Isaiah’s words were light. Isaiah 5 explicitly applies the following to Israel, and in context it refers to the coming Babylonian exile. Nevertheless, the words eerily describe the 27th generation, too. The Emperor Justinian faced foreign foes, like the Sassanid Empire, deadly rioting, a climate shock, famine, and a plague that ties the HIV epidemic for third place among the worst in history. Here are a few parallels. The Plague of Justinian of 541 AD killed so many wealthy estate holders and servants that crops could not be harvested, causing famine:

“Surely the great houses will become desolate,

the fine mansions left without occupants.

A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath of wine;

a homer of seed will yield only an ephah of grain...

...

Therefore Death expands its jaws,

opening wide its mouth;

into it will descend their nobles and masses

with all their brawlers and revelers.”

- Isaiah 5:9-10,14

The plague and famine intensified due to years of cold weather following the year of darkness, 536 AD:

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,

who put darkness for light and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

The darkness in turn was caused by a volcanic eruption in Iceland, where the mountain (volcano) shook and the rock (lava) burned:

Therefore the LORD’s anger burns against his people;

his hand is raised and he strikes them down.

The mountains shake,

and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets.

- Isaiah 5:25

Even the grave diggers died, leaving no one to bury the bodies. The plague posed only a brief interruption in Justinian’s wars in the south, west, north and east.

He lifts up a banner for the distant nations,

he whistles for those at the ends of the earth.

Here they come, swiftly and speedily!

... Their roar is like that of the lion,

they roar like young lions;

they growl as they seize their prey

and carry it off with no one to rescue.

Justinian’s toughest opponent was King Khosrau I of the Persian Sassanid Empire, whose emblem was a lion.

And if one looks at the land,

there is only darkness and distress;

even the sun will be darkened by clouds.

- Isaiah 5:25-30, NIV

The volcanic ash left Europe and Asia fogbound for eighteen months, with eruptions in 536, 540, and 547 prolonging the misery. Average summer temperatures dropped 35° F! The earth would not fully warm back up for another 150 years.

Darkness, and darkness again? Look closer! Though light was driven from the sky and peace from the earth, the latter time had a light that did not come from the sun. Benedict of Nursia drew up a rule for a balanced life. Drawing members from the nobility down to serfs, all adopted ora et labora – pray and work – as their motto. With all classes of people engaging in manual labor, a revolutionary practice, a new kind of egalitarian community arose. Benedict sought to prescribe “nothing harsh, nothing burdensome”, but moderation in all things.

How great the gulf between modern revolutionaries and this sensible man! Reflect on the spirit in these words:

[The abbot] must be aware of his own frailty and

remember that it is forbidden to break the already

bruised reed. We do not mean that he should countenance

the growth of vice but that he use discretion and

tenderness as he sees it expedient for the different

characters of his brothers. He is to endeavor much more

to be loved than to be feared.

– Benedict of Nursia, AD 547

Those words are light. As their world fell apart and the light of the sun failed, the Benedictines kept their pledge to uphold three values: stability, fidelity and obedience. They kept learning and culture alive across the centuries when few others would.

Later in that generation, after Totila totally trashed Rome, Pope Gregory called to Constantinople for help and got nothing. Then he learned that with God on your side, you don’t need an army. Through diplomacy he saved lives. With food from church lands, he fed the poor and cared for refugees. And when survival was all that could be expected, Gregory had vision: he sent missionaries with the light of the gospel to England. Where Jonah was a reluctant missionary to his people’s enemies, Pope Gregory sent the gospel of peace to make English pagans friends.

Darkness, plague and war, rich oppressing poor – both generations endured these ills, but the church learned through it how brightly shines the light of Christ.

#15 (933-814 BC) vs. #28 (614-733 AD). Idol minds.

Civil war permanently split Israel of the 15th generation in two, but God did not immediately abandon the northern kingdom. He dispatched Elijah to draw the people back to Him. In a grand showdown on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18, Elijah challenged the priests of Baal to a duel. After God refused to hear their prayers but answered Elijah’s with fire from heaven, they seized the priests of Baal and killed them. Despite this victory, Ahab, Jezebel and Israel refused to cease worshiping Baal. They craved its sexual revelry and callously continued to offer their children to the flames. Israel would ultimately be destroyed by Assyria, while Elijah was honored for his courage and faithfulness by being carried alive to heaven through a whirlwind in a chariot of fire.

Was Baal worship a fading memory by the 28th? No, he merely filed a change of address form with the post office. That false God began as Bel of Babylon, moved west to Canaan as Baal, then was carried south from Moab to Nabataea as Hubal, before arriving in Arabia. There as Hubal, he was enshrined as chief idol among the 360 being worshiped at the Kaaba in Mecca.

Before this idol lay seven arrows used for divination. By these arrows, Abdul Mutallib divined which of his ten sons to sacrifice to receive Hubal’s blessing. Then in a fit of buyer’s remorse, he consulted a sage and used the arrows again to bargain the price down to a hundred camels, sparing his son Abd-Allah, future father of Mohammed.

When Mohammed captured Mecca from the Quraysh, the protectors of Hubal, he smashed the idols, and Hubal was no more. Then Mohammed campaigned throughout the region, rooting out every trace of Baal worship he could find. In this, he was a servant of God, finishing what Elijah began.

Destroying idols is definitely a “no Baal” cause.

Christians are skeptical of Islamic claims. However, in their legends we find another parallel to the life of Elijah. The Quran and Hadith relate a journey Mohammed undertook ca 621 AD. On the back of Buraq, a white, diminutive, winged horse, he flew to the farthest mosque, to Jerusalem. This was the first part of his Night Journey, called Isra. During Mi’raj, the second stage, Mohammed flew up to heaven.

Surely God arranged for this legend to become enshrined in the holy books and hearts of over a billion people so that this connection between Elijah and Mohammed would be unmistakable. Yet if that were not enough, the end of the 28th generation saw the beginning of the iconoclast controversy over the use of images in the church.

#14 (1052-933 BC) vs. #29 (733-852 AD). Kings.

The anarchy of Judges and instability of a mad and faithless king (Saul) ended in the 14th generation. King David served Israel with a broken and contrite heart, and Solomon, with a wise intellect. The temple was built and all Israel had one place to worship and find unity.

The 29th generation found the continent an equally chaotic place. Europe was moving in two directions at once. Spiritually, it was drifting apart. Politically, it was coming together. As a church, 787 AD brought the Second Council of Nicaea. This was the last of the seven ecumenical councils, the last time the eastern and western churches came together in agreement, to restore the veneration of images as licit.

On the political front, by 800 AD, all of Western Europe was ruled by Christian kings. Chief among them was Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Emperor. He reformed the law while his counselor Alcuin reformed and extended the spread of education. In Eriugena, Charlemagne’s successors were blessed with the most brilliant philosopher for over half a millennium, a fitting counterpart to Solomon. In Charlemagne, it had a warrior who fought tirelessly to expand Christendom.

#13 (1171-1052 BC) vs. #30 (852-971 AD). Church & State.

The anarchic 13th generation had someone famous and someone obscure. Samson possessed physical strength but was possessed by moral weakness. Micah (not the prophet) possessed mental shrewdness but was dispossessed by stronger men. In both cases, the fate of faith and tribe rested on the same shoulders.

Micah’s story (in Judges 17 & 18) is bizarre. He stole his mother’s silver, gave it back when he heard that she cursed the thief, then got her to hire a silversmith to make an idol from the silver. He built a shrine, bought household gods and other pagan religious artifacts – and then he bought a Levite priest! The pay was good so the priest stayed, overlooking the corrupt religious practices of his new boss. Micah felt he had it made; to him, employing a priest was a good luck charm (and revenue source!), not a matter of the heart. His priest even blessed a raid against a peaceful nearby town. When a bunch of Danites came along, they coveted Micah’s situation. They confiscated his silver idol, gods, religious implements – and his priest. The Danites worshiped Micah’s idol a long time. Dan would be the first tribe to fall away. And that corrupted priest abetted their lust for conquest by blessing unjust wars. This tale is an example of what happens when the secular sphere (wealthy people and the state) control the sacred.

Fast forward to the 30th generation. Russia was converted to Christianity. Russians admire Samson’s strength. In fact, Russians credit Samson for their victory over Sweden 800 years later in the Great Northern War.

A more tangible connection between the two eras is found in the Cluniac reforms. Prestigious positions in Benedictine monasteries like the one at Cluny in France were awarded by noblemen whose contributions founded them or kept them afloat. Once again, the wealthy and the state controlled the leadership of the church. Abbeys were run like businesses, and the noblemen squeezed so much profit from them that the monks were impoverished. During this era, monasteries fought for greater independence and won. After this, Cluny and the thousand branches it established refocused their efforts on serving the poor, reversed the laxity in their religious practices, and became patrons for learning and the arts. The movement spread from France to England, Spain and Italy.

This drive for religious freedom led in later generations to the Investiture controversy, the Magna Carta in England, the Protestant Reformation, and the disestablishment of the church in America. From this the world learned that the church cannot preach a message of freedom and people cannot live a life of freedom if either are in chains.

#12 (1290-1171 BC) vs. #31 (971-1090 AD). Courage.

Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum ("Therefore let him who desires peace get ready for war.") So the Roman dictum goes. Before sharpening sword and saddling horse, what is the first preparation each soldier must make when readying for war? He must find his courage. Or she...

The Israelites of the 12th generation faced two enemies: drought and Midianites. The Great Drought lasted fifty years, capping off three centuries of declining rainfall. It brought down empires and ended the Bronze Age. Ancient Greece, Mycenae, the Hittites, Kassites, New Kingdom of Egypt, and more... All gone. Every city between Pylos in Greece and Gaza was burnt to the ground.

During the drought, Ruth and Naomi lost their husbands and migrated from Moab to Israel. What courage and composure Ruth displayed. She had to adopt strange customs, a strange religion, a strange language and glean for food among strange men. Any man could have attacked her. Her only defense was her new faith in her mother-in- law’s God. She found a protector and new husband in Boaz. Surely her great grandson David got some of his courage from her!

Near the end of this generation, the Israelites were oppressed by Midian. Gideon was hiding in a winepress, so the Midianites wouldn’t catch him threshing grain, steal it and kill him. What did God’s angel say to him? “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” (Judges 6:12, NIV) The angel was wise in what he said and what he did not say. He did not say, “Courageous warrior.” What followed was God testing Gideon and Gideon testing God. Through those tests, Gideon found his courage, led his people into battle, defeated their enemies, and seized an even greater prize.

In his first encounter, one marvelous thing stands out. Fire shoots out from the angel’s staff, consuming the sacrifice and terrifying Gideon.

When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD,

he exclaimed,

“Alas, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD

face to face!”

But the LORD said to him,

“Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”

So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it

The LORD Is Peace...

- Judges 6:22-24, NIV

Through all his trials, Gideon learned that the fear of the Lord leads to courage, courage to obedience, and obedience to peace. Peace was Gideon’s prize.

Did the 31st generation experience dramatic climate change, like the 12th? Yes. Did it suffer from drought? Yes, but only if you lived in North or South America! That drought lasted centuries, toppled civilizations and left both continents ripe for conquest when the Europeans finally arrived. However the start of this generation occurred when the Medieval Warm Period reached its peak temperature. The unusually favorable climate enabled the population of Europe to nearly double during this time.

Europe did not have Midianites to worry about, but Vikings and Muslims. Christianity was finally starting to spread throughout Scandinavia, leaving the the threat of Islam to the south and east as the greater concern.

Though European kingdoms were no strangers to war, Europe was at a disadvantage. Islam was solidly behind expansionist wars to expand Dar al-Islam, so its political and religious leaders were united in their efforts. Christianity was different. Its goal was peace. The savagery of war was repellant to the devout. This division between spiritual and material aspirations caused friction between king and Pope and undercut morale. The solution was the “Peace of God” movement, and its extension, the “Truce of God”. Rules were drawn up binding soldiers to spare the lives of clergy, women, children, and non-combatant peasants. It was the Geneva Convention of its time.

With a “Christian” way to wage war, the Pope could sanction just wars and promise believers absolution if they took up arms to advance the faith. The first test of this was the church endorsing the Reconquista in Spain. The second would follow in the next generation: the rise of chivalry and the launch of the Crusades. When you combine a warm climate, a growing population, and the religious zeal that God is on your side, many are the unexpected things you will find, but first comes courage. “The Lord is Peace” because He fights for it – and fights for us.

#11 (1409-1290 BC) vs. #32 (1090-1209 AD). Civil war.

In the 11th generation, the tribe of Judah briefly captured Jerusalem. In the 32nd, Christians captured Jerusalem from the Moslems during the First Crusade in 1099 AD, but lost it to Saladin in 1187 AD.

However in both eras, jubilation over capturing an important city was overshadowed by civil war. During the 11th, the incident at Gibeah led to the near annihilation of the tribe of Benjamin at the hand of the other eleven tribes ( Judges 20). Then in the 32nd generation, the Fourth Crusade went south. Instead of attacking Muslims, as intended, the crusaders sacked Christian Constantinople instead. This hastened the decline of Byzantium and its eventual destruction in the 15th century. Sadly, the church’s increase in zeal and courage was not matched by an equal increase in wisdom.

Looking at pairs of generations up close, it is easy to overlook larger trends. Civil strife is endemic to all civilizations and all times, but Israel and the church endured critical episodes with monumental effects.

At the start of the 15th generation, civil war split Israel in two. At the end of the 28th generation, the Iconoclast Controversy began to heat up, which divided the Eastern church and also drove an early wedge between the Eastern and Western churches.

In the 12th generation, we find the middle of the time of the Judges. The Danites stole idols and a Levite from Micah, then set up a shrine in Laish competing with Shiloh, contravening the Law of Moses. In addition, they seized territory that was not assigned to them for conquest. It is difficult to place these events in time. They possibly occurred in the 11th generation, but Dan’s crime was said to continue for many generations, until the ark of the covenant moved from Shiloh, so their rebelliousness persisted through this 12th generation. In the 31st generation, the Great Schism split east and west permanently. Thus because of Micah, Israel had two places to worship when they should have had one. Because Pope and Patriarch could not agree, Christians were divided into two weaker churches when they could have had one strong church.

In the 11th generation, the crisis over Gibeah led to civil war between Benjamin and the other eleven tribes. In the 32nd generation, the Fourth Crusade pitted western Christians against Constantinople.

In the 9th generation, after the incident with the Golden Calf, the tribe of Levi remained loyal and fought against the other tribes to restore order. In the 34th generation, the Byzantine Empire pleaded for help from the west. The terms were rejected (accepting the Pope as supreme and others), no help was given, and in the following generation, Constantinople fell.

In the 8th generation, Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery. In the 35th generation, the Protestant Reformation splintered the western church into many denominations.

In the 7th generation, family strife began before there were twelve tribes. Jacob contended with his brother Esau starting in the womb, his mother conspired with him against brother and father, and his uncle Laban perpetually cheated him in his wages. Pair this with the Thirty Years War of the 36th generation where the Protestant and Catholic Churches were at each other’s throats “from birth”.

By these pairings, we see that the six worst of the breaches of the peace within the house of Israel stand opposite the six worst breaches in the history of the church. In the order given, the division of Israel begins with its final, irrevocable split and works back to its small scale origin within a single family. The division in the church proceeds in the opposite direction, from small rifts that could have been healed to continent wide destruction.

From Jacob to Jesus to the Wars of Religion we have fifteen pairs of generations. The odds that the six worst episodes of civil strife in the left column would match the six worst in the right by chance are 5,000 to one against.

Does this mean God causes discord, dissension, factions and fighting? No, it means He channels them into productive ends. If not for the mercy and sovereignty of God, there would have been fifteen pairs of generations of total war and zero of unity and peace.

#10 (1528-1409 BC) vs. #33 (1209-1328 AD). Pilgrims.

In the 10th, Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land more by faith than force of arms. In the 33rd, the knights of the 6th crusade recaptured Jerusalem from the Moslems for a few years. However, more impressive is what Francis of Assisi did during the 5th crusade. The crusaders marched against Egypt in force and were slaughtered. Francis marched to the Sultan of Egypt in humility and was granted permission to escort pilgrims to the Holy Land.

#9 (1647-1528 BC) vs. #34 (1328-1447 AD). Plague.

In the 9th generation, Moses devastated Egypt with ten plagues and led his people to freedom. Never before nor since has God in a single campaign explicitly, notoriously, purposefully and powerfully opposed one people and simultaneously defended and championed another. God took sides. He stood up to the slave masters and set the prisoners free.

In the 34th generation, God did the unthinkable: he smote not His enemies but His church with the Black Death, the worst plague in human history. Why? We may have our answer in Creator Omnium (1434 AD) and Sicut dudum (1435 AD), issued by Pope Eugene IV, forbidding the enslavement of the natives of the Canary Islands and commanding their emancipation and the restoration of their property on pain of excommunication. This was the first salvo in the church’s centuries long war against slavery. God disciplined the church for permitting the slave trade with blows even harsher than he used against ancient Egypt. The blows would not stop but only intensify until slavery was abolished throughout the world.

#8 (1766-1647 BC) vs. #35 (1447-1566 AD). Justification.

In the 8th, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, then rose to the stature of a king, second only to pharaoh. What freed him? God’s grace (the ability to interpret dreams) and his faith. In the end, Joseph forgave his brothers, setting them free from guilt.

In the 35th, Constantinople fell to the Ottomans and thousands of Christians were killed or became enslaved. In 1517 AD, the Ottomans captured Jerusalem. Out of that cataclysm arose the Protestant Reformation, when Martin Luther made the discovery that shook the foundations of the world.

Many condemn the church for failing to take action earlier against slavery. If your spirit is in bondage to the law of sin and death, you cannot be free. No individual, family, city, or kingdom can be freed without this truth.

The church could not set men free, because it lacked the key to man’s shackles. The words were on the page but not in the heart. When Luther first found them, they terrified him as unobtainable, so much did the wrath of God’s righteous judgment frighten him. He wore himself out in prayer trying to understand them, until the Sprit quickened his mind:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because

it is the power of God that brings salvation to

everyone who believes: first to the Jew,

then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the

righteousness of God is revealed—

a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,

just as it is written:

“The righteous will live by faith.”

- Romans 1:16-17, NIV

Was the Holy Spirit the sole cause of Luther’s revolution in thought? No! The false idea of justification holding him in bondage was the active process of being made righteous through infused grace that slowly reforms the actions of the sinner. It was based on the Latin translation of Romans. Luther’s insight arose when he read the Greek version, which spoke of a passive and foreign righteousness given to us through faith.

Why did Luther have access to a good Greek translation and the training to use it? Because of the Fall of Constantinople and the diaspora of Greek scholars fleeing the Ottomans. From Christianity’s greatest military setback came its greatest liberating idea. Righteousness is a gift. With that, the charges are dropped and the prisoner may walk free.

#7 (1885-1766 BC) vs. #36 (1566-1685 AD). Persecution.

The 7th generation was known for two people: Isaac and Job, who suffered severe persecution but remained faithful.

The 37th generation saw the persecution of the Huguenots in France of the late 16th century and the General Crisis of the 17th century. Millions died because of religious persecution, but the truth God had revealed to them could not be extinguished, any more than Job could be silenced.

The Roman persecutions lasted long and had been severe, but this was different. Just as Job was persecuted by his family and his three friends, so the martyred Christians in the latter generation died at the hands of other Christians.

#6 (2004-1885 BC) vs. #37 (1685-1804 AD). Holiness.

In the 6th generation, God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah for its violence, sexual immorality and inhospitality. By this exercise of power, He breathed a measure of morality into a decadent society through external pressure.

In the 37th, the Holy Spirit came upon the church in America and England in the First and Second Great Awakenings. People were convicted on the inside and the morals of society improved markedly. In England, Wilberforce pushed for a “reformation of manners”. That enterprise created a spiritual climate conducive to the anti- slavery movement.

Note the difference. In the former generation, God destroyed cities because they contained no holy people. In the latter, he saved cities by making people holy. A people set free from inward sin were able to free themselves from external tyranny, and so America was born and England turned from slave master into freedom fighter.

#5 (2123-2004 BC) vs. #38 (1804-1923 AD). Life & Freedom.

About the 5th generation we know little. Archeologists only see signs of slavery where people settle into towns and cultivate the land, not nomadic cultures. Since the 4th generation saw people forced to spread out after Babel as nomads, this era saw slavery take hold as the new nations began to settle down. One thing we can be certain about is that people’s lifespans began to shorten, as seen in the genealogies of Genesis.

In the 38th generation, the anti-slavery movement and American Civil War abolished slavery in most of the world. Due to their wealth and improvements in diet and medicine, the average lifespan of the English began to rise, a reversal of Genesis. That trend would reach the rest of the world in the next generation.

The reversal in the course of mankind’s physical and spiritual life is stark. To go from a world of increasing wickedness and shortening lives to one of lengthening lives and increased holiness proves that God’s way works.

#4 (2242-2123 BC) vs. #39 (1923-2042 AD). Diversity.

In the 4th generation, God destroyed the Tower of Babel, confused man’s language, and dispersed the many new races to the four corners of the earth. He did this so that all of humanity would not live under a single unified, absolute, idolatrous tyranny, with no way out for anyone. When language, culture, religion, politics, and commerce all converge in a single evil system, all hope is lost. No one has the strength to withstand such concentrated power. No one can resist Leviathan.

In the 39th generation... That’s us! We see the opposite trend. Today one sixth of the earth’s people speak English. Air and automotive travel connect us. The League of Nations, followed by the United Nations, attempt to resolve our disputes. The Internet permits knowledge to be shared instantaneously across the planet. The dividing and scattering that began at Babel is rapidly reversing, but it has hit a snag.

Among the gravest challenges faced by the world in this generation is racism. Jim Crow, the Holocaust, Rwanda, Japanese Internment, Sudan, Tibet, the Uygurs... We must overcome our differences and learn to live with each other in peace – not by force, as at Babel – but by choice and grace. Look how long the fight against slavery took! If that battle was won, but this one remains, then racism must be more ingrained in our nature and harder to uproot.

How long will this battle take?

#3 (2361-2242 BC) vs. #40 (2042-2161 AD). Government.

The 3rd generation began with the Flood. Afterwards, God made a covenant with Noah. Part of it was this:

“Whoever sheds human blood,

by humans shall their blood be shed;

for in the image of God

has God made mankind.

- Genesis 9:6, NIV

The authorization of capital punishment for murder is considered the start of human government. Often abused, currently neglected, this is a solemn command. Jesus did not revoke it. At one time, the whole world enforced capital punishment. Today only two thirds of the world’s people live in countries that permit it. Among many of them, it is seldom employed.

What will happen in the 40th generation? The positive trend of opposing discrimination and punishments based on characteristics falsely labeled as inferior or evil will continue to be hijacked by the devil. As the language of toleration and acceptance spreads to encompass more actually evil behavior, society will be rendered defenseless against wickedness. Capital punishment will be outlawed in more jurisdictions and police will find their hands tied. Anarchy will spread. God’s covenant with Noah will be abrogated.

As the third generation began with the flood, the 40th will end in war.

#2 (3090-2361 BC) vs. #41 (2161-2280 AD). Mortality?

Near the end of the 2nd generation, God decreed that no human life would exceed 120 years. Thus near the beginning of the 41st, genetic engineers will discover how to reverse this curse and stop the aging process. As a consequence, this generation may endure well beyond 2280 AD.

The trend of the 2nd generation was towards increasing wickedness. The 41st will do the same.

The most significant event of the 2nd generation is not what happened at its end – the Flood of Noah. It is what happened near its beginning. Assuming that generations overlap by a single year and the creation was in 4020 BC, the signal event of this time occurred in 3039 BC.

Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years.

Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more,

because God took him away.

- Genesis 5:23-24, NIV

Enoch was taken up to heaven before he died, about fifty- one years after Adam died. Enoch’s translation is a type of the Rapture of the Church. By symmetry, going in reverse, will the rapture occur fifty-one years before the end of the forty-first generation? If the final war between Christ and antichrist lasts one prophetic hour – which is one twenty- fourth of a millennium, or 41.67 years – then there is time for a pre-war rapture. Christians debate whether the rapture will occur before the Tribulation, during it, or at the end. This correspondence between the 2nd and 41st generations suggests, but cannot prove, a pre-war rapture. My personal conviction is that Christ returns at the end of the battle and the rapture occurs then; my hope is that it comes earlier.

This match between God’s blessing on Enoch in the 2nd generation and the church’s great hope in the Second Coming of Christ at the end of the 41st rounds things out. The Father has woven His every promise into the patterns of history so that we may put our faith in His Son.

Maranatha.

#1 (4020-3090 BC) vs. #42 (2280-? AD). Homecoming.

In the 1st generation, Adam and Eve were exiled from Eden to a world of suffering. In the 42nd, the second Adam will escort us to a place fairer than Eden, and a peace no one but God has ever known.

What do we see in the Mirror?

This “Cosmic Chiasm” demonstrates how the history of the world since Christ rose from the dead mirrors events written down long ago in the Bible. It proves God is sovereign over all of history and foresees all that has come to pass or will come to pass. It testifies to the miraculous and accurate nature of His Word. About the few generations that remain before the pattern runs its course, the chiasm permits us to make educated guesses about what lies in store for the church and the rest of humanity. What it does not do is explain why God has structured history this way. For that we must turn to an enigmatic scroll tightly bound.