11 - Ruth and Esther | Allusions, Images, Symbols

The Bible uses many images and symbols to lead people out of their self-deception. Examples are Ruth and Esther: Ruth, a pagan, is redeemed through her marriage to Boaz – an image of personal redemption. Esther saves her people from destruction – an image of worldly redemption. Both stories also reflect our end times.

Daniel 2 describes the dream of the world empires: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, the Roman Empire, mixed empires – and the eternal kingdom of God. All empires pass away, a stone crushes them all and remains forever. Nebuchadnezzar does not accept this: he builds a golden statue according to his dream and demands that everyone worship it – otherwise he threatens them with the fiery furnace. He gives his subjects no choice: obey or die. But three men refuse to bow down. They trust in God and his power, remain unharmed in the fire, where a fourth man, their savior, appears to them.

Who is Nebuchadnezzar today? It is the beast from Revelation 13, which receives a deadly wound and then rises again. It demands worship and makes us dependent on it. In order for all people to worship it, it needs an “image” – a reason that appeals to a human need. What are people lacking today? Peace? Justice? Prosperity? Health? It is not about evil – but about something good that everyone wants because it seems vital. Every temptation is based on a basic human need.

Eve was also tempted by the need for knowledge. She believed she could satisfy it in the wrong place. Adam wanted to save his wife – but in doing so, he defied God's will. Evil came into the world through deception, and in the last days there will also be deception concerning good things – e.g., health, prosperity, or security.

The enemy sells us the tree of death as the tree of life. If we cannot distinguish between them, we will eat from the wrong tree and die. Only those who recognize that all needs can only be fulfilled by God remain undeluded. No one else can truly give us what we need. What this means in detail is the subject of the eleventh part of the series “Allusions, Images, Symbols.”