The Ultimate Valentine
By Chuck Missler,
Koinonia House
This month many
of us may avail ourselves
of the opportunity
to celebrate our loved
ones with a traditional
remembrance. It is
also an appropriate time
to remind ourselves that
you and I are the
recipients of the
ultimate “valentine”. It
was written in blood on a
wooden cross which was
erected in Judea almost
2,000 years ago. And
yet it was interlaced
throughout the prior
history of mankind with a
scarlet thread of promises.
The Scarlet Thread
It began with a
declaration of war.1 A
world war. A war of
worlds, actually, which
began when God Himself
declared war on the
ruler of this world:
Satan. A cosmic conflict
in which you and I are
the prizes!
Unlike Allah, the
Unknowable, Allah the
Capricious, this God
makes and keeps His
promises! He promised
that mankind would be the
beneficiary of an
ultimate champion... a
redeemer... in fact, a
Kinsman-Redeemer.2
A Detective Thriller
The appearance of
this anticipated champion
is the ultimate
drama of all time. Where
would this mysterious
deliverer come from?
The clues kept on coming.3
This cosmic
puzzle continually gained
clarity over the
centuries. He would be a
descendant of Adam. Thus,
Satan’s
subsequent stratagem was
an attempt to contaminate
the human gene
pool with ineligible
hybrids- the Nephilim.4
But that plan was
a total wash-out. Only
nine were saved
from the judgment of the
flood: Enoch was
“raptured” out first; then
Noah’s family of eight
were preserved through
this global ordeal.5
When God revealed
that His plan would focus
on a descendant
of Abraham, Satan had 400
years to lay down a mine
field.6 Again we
encounter some post-flood
hybrids: the Rephaim, the
Anakim, the
Emim, the Zamzummim, et al.7
Then we
discovered that he would
be a descendant of David.
Ominously, a chain of
attacks ensued to wipe
out his family. Again
and again there were
attempts to eliminate his
heirs- but there was
always an intervention
that foiled the
diabolical plots.8
Perhaps one of
the most provocative plot
problems occurred
when God pronounced a
blood curse on Jeconiah
and the subsequent
royal line.9
Mission Impossible
The commitment
was that the Promised One
was to be of the
royal house of David, and
yet now there was a blood
curse on that
very royal line of
ascension! An impossible
mission, indeed!
However, when we
begin to unravel the
subtleties hidden
behind the virgin birth,
we not only find that it
finesses the
genealogical paradox,10
but fulfills the
pronouncements of Isaiah
over seven centuries
earlier,11 and even
echoes the strange hint in
the early chapters of
Genesis.12 It thus
reveals that the entire
program was predetermined
in advance!
In accordance
with his preannounced
mandate in Isaiah,13 he
ministered for several
years only to be betrayed
into the hands of
his enemies.
But even here,
the mystery intensifies:
although the plot
was to not take this
popular hero on a
holiday, Christ himself
precipitates the timing
by His announcement at,
of all places, a
Passover supper.14 (Who’s
in charge here?) He is
then subjected to
six illegal trials which
climax with the sentence
of execution.
Then we encounter
the Big Switch: “Give us
Barabbas!”
This is irony at
its ultimate extreme:
here was one validly
condemned under the law,
and the other declared
innocent by the
personal representative
of the ruler of the known
world! Barabbas
knew he had done nothing
to merit going free while
another took his
place.
Barabbas and
Christ changed places.
Christ was for him a
true substitute. The
murderer’s bonds, curse,
disgrace, and mortal
agony were transferred to
the righteous Jesus;
while the liberty,
innocence, safety, and
well-being of the
immaculate Nazarene became
the lot of the murderer.
Both mutually
inherit each other’s
situation and
possessions: the
delinquent’s guilt and
cross become the lot of the
Just One; and the civil
rights and immunities of
the latter become
the property of the
delinquent. The
staggering reality is
that you
and I are presently in
Barabbas’ shoes!
And as we stare
at astonishment at that
cross, what held
Jesus to those grim
timbers? It wasn’t the
nails! “He was crucified
on a cross of wood; yet
He made the hill on which
it stood.” The
Creator of the Universe
could have said at any
time, “Enough is
enough. I’m out of
here!”15 It was His love
for you and me. He is,
indeed, the Ultimate
Valentine.
No Corpus Delicti?
Now the big one:
where’s the body?16 When
His enemies sought
a special guard to watch
over the tomb, Pilate
cynically
yielded, “Make it as sure
as you can.” That,
indeed, was the mission
impossible! I believe
that Pilate suspected
that even the grave
couldn’t hold Him!
If either the
Roman or Hebrew
authorities could have
produced the body, their
problems would have been
solved. All
subsequent history would
be impacted by His
emergence from that
empty tomb.
Threshold of the
Final Climax?
The most
thrilling aspect to this
gripping drama is that the
final climax is next. He
emphatically promised to
return to complete
His mission.17 And there
now appears to be
increasing evidence that
the final act is about to
begin. Are you ready?
The most ancient
traditions- among the
ancient Hebrew
authorities and those of
the early church-have
believed that the
pattern of the Sabbath
was fundamental. It was
not only six days
followed by a seventh day
that was holy, six years
the land was
planted, with the seventh
year a “Sabbath” for the
land.18
There has been a
traditional belief from
Augustine to
Nachmonides that after
six thousand years of
man’s rule, there would
be a climactic thousand
years of God’s direct rule.
Traditional
reckoning allows 2,000
years between Adam and
Abraham; 2,000 years from
Abraham to Christ; and we
are now
approaching 2,000 years
since that cosmic cross.
Are we soon to
embark on a Seventh
Millennium with the King
of Kings?
As we face the
challenges ahead, let us
remember-and
celebrate-that we are the
beneficiaries of the
Ultimate Valentine: A
Hero of all heroes, the
King of Kings and Lord of
Lords. And He
sealed your future
destiny with His own
blood. Now that’s a
Valentine, indeed!19
Baruch HaShem.
Praise His Name.
* * *
The endnotes
below will help you
personally review
the “Scarlet Thread.”
Notes:
1. Genesis 3:15.
This verse begins a chain
of promises and
clues that climax in the
cross.
2. The Book of
Ruth includes a
remarkable overview of God’s
program. See our
briefing, The Romance of
Redemption, for one of our
most popular prophetic
studies (www.khouse.org).
3. The Footprints
of the Messiah briefing
highlights the
remarkable Old Testament
prophecies fulfilled in
Christ’s first
coming (www.khouse.org).
4. The Return of
the Nephilim briefing
reviews Satan’s
attempt in Genesis 6 to
exploit strange hybrids
to thwart God’s plan
for mankind. Our book
Alien Encounters details
this little
understood background and
suggests its possible
prophetic relevance
(www.khouse.org).
5. The Flood of
Noah briefing also
summarizes this
incredible event
(www.khouse.org).
6. Genesis 15:13-21.
7. Genesis 14:5;
Deuteronomy 2:10, 11, 20;
3:11; Numbers
13:33; 2 Samuel 21:15-22.
Alien Encounters also
details these post-
flood Nephilim, which
were not limited to
Genesis 6 (note 6:4).
8. Jehoram kills
his brothers (2
Chronicles 21); Arabians
slew all except
Ahazariah; Athaliah kills
all-except Joash (2
Chronicles 22); Hezekiah
is assaulted (Isaiah 36,
38); Haman’s
infamous attempts in
Esther 3; etc.
9. Jeremiah 22:30.
10. Matthew gives
us the legal line from
Abraham through
David and Solomon to
Joseph, Jesus’ legal
father (Matthew 1:1-17).
Luke, a physician, gives
us his genealogy from
Adam to David-but
then takes a surprising
turn through the second
surviving son of
Bathsheba, Nathan, and
brings us to Heli, the
father of Mary (Luke
3:23-28; Jerusalem
Talmud, Chag. 77,4). The
specific exceptions
noted in the Torah
regarding the daughters
of Zelophehad are
anticipatory of this
situation (Numbers 26:33;
27:1-11; 36:2-12).
11. Isaiah 7:14.
12. The “Seed of
the Woman” in Genesis
3:15 is a
contradiction in both
grammar and biology. See
The Christmas Story -
What Really Happened for
some surprising background
(www.khouse.org).
13. Luke 4:16-21
(reading Isaiah 61:1, 2).
14. See The
Feasts of Israel briefing
to unravel the
astonishing prophetic
aspects of these
remarkable institutional
celebrations
(www.khouse.org).
15. See The Agony
of Love - Six Hours in
Eternity briefing
for an in-depth review of
this cosmic confrontation
(www.khouse.org).
16. See From Here
to Eternity briefing for
a review of the
empty tomb and a
discussion of the physics
of immortality
(www.khouse.org).
17. John 14:1-3ff.
18. Leviticus
25:2-5.
19. 2 Corinthians
1:22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30.
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