Prophetic Historical Accuracies: Elam

“Yet I will restore the fortunes of Elam
    in days to come,”
declares the Lord.
Jer. 49:39

A dire vision has been shown to me:
    The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot.
Elam, attack! Media, lay siege!
    I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused.
Isa. 21:2

Who or what was Elam?

They were the ancient, pre-Persian, pre-Iranian people that lived on the East side of the Tigris River along the Persian Gulf.  They were among the earliest people known to have inhabited that region.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elam

Now in 559 BC Cyrus II (who was the grandson of Cyrus I) became king.  In 549 BC he overthrew the Median overlord (who happened to be his mother's father) and took new titles unto himself:

King of Medes

&

King of Elam

On October 16, 539 BC, his army entered Babylon by way of the stream bed under the wall.  Seventeen days later,  Cyrus II himself entered Babylon amid great celebration.  

Thus Elam, nearly completely wiped out by Babylon, returned to wipe out Babylon.  The looted became the looter.  All to advance God's purposes for His people, because it was in the first year of Cyrus II that he issued decrees resettling the captives of Babylon back to their homelands and made an effort to repatriate the "local gods" among their native peoples.  None of this would have happened if Babylon remained in power.  All of it to the praise of His glorious grace who works out all things in conformity to the purpose of His will (Eph. 1:11).

The Increase of His Grace!

" We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.  Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring."
2 Thes. 1:3 - 4

In his first epistle to the Thessalonians, Paul thanks God for their faith, love and endurance.  Those qualities were present and observable by works and labor.  Here, in this epistle, Paul is rejoicing and thanking God for the increase in their faith and love and their continued perseverance and endurance.  That is, they were not just one-time (a while back) Christians, but they are continuing, on-going and growing Christians.

"The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day" (Prov. 4:18).  And thus we should always make forward progress in our progressive sanctification.

Note that the increase of this grace is every bit the work of God as is the initial implanting of this grace.  And thus God is to be praised and thanked! 

As Matthew Henry notes in his commentary on 2 Thessalonians:

Note, Where there is the truth of grace there will be increase of it. The path of the just is as the shining light, which shines more and more unto the perfect day. And where there is the increase of grace God must have all the glory of it. We are as much indebted to him for the improvement of grace, and the progress of that good work, as we are for the first work of grace and the very beginning of it. We may be tempted to think that though when we were bad we could not make ourselves good, yet when we are good we can easily make ourselves better; but we have as much dependence on the grace of God for increasing the grace we have as for planting grace when we had it not.

If we are to increase in faith and love and in endurance, we need Grace.  How then are we to find this Grace?  It is found in Peter's admonition to his readers: "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ"  (2 Pet. 3:18).  We can only grow in Grace if we are growing in Knowledge of the LORD.  And Knowledge of the LORD will only come from increased reading of His WORD, the Bible.  That is, the more we really know about God, the more we will be conformed to His likeness and the more Grace He will give to us.  Grace does not appear without specific revelation of His will.  Grace and Knowledge of God are inseparable.

Thus, to increase in faith and love and endurance, we must get into the Bible, read it and apply it.

The Lord Will Punish

"The LORD will punish all men for such sins...."
1 Thes. 4:6b

And we can look to King Saul as an example—1 Chr. 10:13 - 14.  "Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death...."

Or even to Moab—Jer. 48:42.   "Moab will be destroyed as a nation because she defied the Lord."

In Jer. 48, we see that Moab's sins are reflected in how Saul lived and in how all the ungodly live.  In fact, it is as though one could replace the name of Moab in that chapter with any modern Western nation's name.

• Jer 48:7; 49:4 — Trusting in riches and their stuff.  "Look at my money, my fertile lands, my gold, my 404K plan!"  But stuff doesn't last.
• Jer. 49:16 — They built high and lofty.  1 Sam. 15:12 says that Saul went to Carmel to build a monument for himself.  Most of what people do is to show off and get accolades and "Likes."
• Jer. 48:27 — They mock, harass, and persecute God's people.
• Jer. 48:29 - 30 — great pride and insolence!
• Jer. 48:35 — they have worship for and devotion to something that is not God.

And what was the result?  Loss.  Moab lost its nationhood.  Saul lost his life, ruined his family and caused the nation to suffer great loss.

We, however, know how to live so as to please the LORD because we have been instructed well  (1 Thes. 4:1).  Our leaders have taught us by the authority of the LORD Jesus Himself (1 Thes. 4:2).  We should rejoice and be thankful to God for the wonderful gift of a Godly Pastor and Godly leaders under him that teach us well.

Notice that the Thessalonians were doing as Paul taught them yet he urges them to keep it up and to do it more and more:

"...we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more."  1 Thes. 4:1
" And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more...." 1 Thes. 4:10

Thus we need to keep on with what we're doing correctly, as we've been taught, and to do it more and more.  We certainly haven't achieved perfection yet, nor do we love God and His people in the fullest way we can, yet.  Therefore, strive to do so more and more.

All of this is with these two things in mind:

1. The Lord will punish all men for such sins...  v. 6
2. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven.... v. 16

He is coming back and will deal with all sins, sinners and rebellion.  But, praise God!, He is coming back to reward those who are faithful and who are doing as they have been well instructed.  Therefore, let us continue to do so more and more!

Faith and Love Spring from Hope

"...we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven..."
Col. 1:4 - 5

Faith and Love spring from Hope.  Or in KJV (with Greek) "heard of your faith .... and love...on account of the hope laid up in heaven."

Note: Faith (Eph2:8) and Love(1 Jn. 4:19) are gifts from God; but we are commanded:

• to believe—"have faith"  Mark 5:36
• and to love—"love one another" 1 Jn 4:7 - 8

But our faith is weak so we must look to Christ and cry out, "I believe, help Thou my unbelief."  (Mk 9:24)  So we see here in Col. 1:5 that the source of our faith and love is heaven.  It also gives the source of faith and love's continued growth—hope.  Hope that is stored in heaven.  "Where your treasures are, there your heart will be also."  Hope that you are constantly looking to:  Col 3:1-2— Set your hearts AND your minds on things above.

Therefore to increase our faith and our love we must think on heaven for it is truly noble, right, pure, and lovely.  This is our inheritance (Col. 1:12); it is our goal and our prize and our reward.  This is what we eagerly strain forward to attain.  Such active engagement of the mind in the thoughts and visualization of heaven will surely increase our faith in Him who called us and our love for Him and for His people.

Set Your Hearts on Things Above

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Col. 3:1 - 4

Verse one says to set your hearts on things above.  Because we know that "where your heart is, there your treasure will be also."  Verse two says to set your minds on things above.  This is why (v. 16) Paul writes, "Let the WORD of Christ dwell in you richly."  And where can the WORD dwell?  In the mind.  You must think and meditate on what the WORD says.  The WORD must inform your mind and thus yours thoughts and speech and actions.  The WORD must rule your mind.

But the WORD can also dwell in your heart.  Having had the mind informed and ruled by the WORD, the heart then sets its affection, its emotions and its will upon the WORD to love it and cherish it and to let it be its one sure guide and compass.  That is, the WORD then informs our affections.  We read what God loves in the WORD, so we set our affections upon what He loves.

We have to guard against being like Baruch (in Jer. 45).  He was getting bummed because all his Stuff™ was going away and he was losing opportunities to gain it back.  God basically told him through Jeremiah that the ship is going down; now's not the time to repaint your cabin.

We have to have that view on our life with all its Stuff™.  Ultimately, this ship (the ship called this world, this present age) is going down and will be destroyed in fire.  Nothing here in this life lasts.  Therefore set your mind and your hearts on things above.  Look up to Christ!  He is our life (v. 4).

Once we start looking up to Christ, things of this world will start growing strangely dim in the light of His Glory and Grace.  That makes it easier to put to death all the sin and fleshly lusts (vv. 5 - 9) and to put on the new self (v. 10).  Notice how Paul describes the "new self"—"renewed in knowledge."  Knowledge.  That is facts and propositional revelation from God to us via the Bible.  This Christianity is a logical religion and demands that we use our mind.  We cannot leave our minds outside and have a proper worship time inside.  No, we set our minds on things above and we let the WORD of Christ dwell in us richly.  Then our new self is renewed by knowledge!  The knowledge of Christ!  And we grow in His grace and knowledge!  (2 Pet. 3:18).  This is eternal life that we may know Him! (John 17:3).

In Him—the Only Way to Victory!

"As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ."
Col 2:6 - 8

As you have received him.  Who?  Christ Jesus, the Lord.

He is the Christ.  This is the Prophet that Moses said that God would send, the One that we should make sure to listen to and carefully heed all He says.  He is the One that would reveal the whole will and counsel of God to us humans.

He is Jesus for He will save His people from their sins.  That is, He is Savior.  He is the Lamb of God that "taketh away the sins of the world"!  He gave His life in ransom for us; we owe Him everything!

But He is also LORD!  That is, He is KING, Ruler, Master and Law-Giver.  If we start on this road of Christianity, we receive this Second Member of the Godhead not only as Christ and Savior, but also as LORD.  There is no "OR" in this list.  There is no separation of His offices so that you can pick and chose as though it is a buffet style eatery.  No, it is all or none.

As since you started that way, continue on.  Live in Him.  Walk in Him.  Have all your life's activities "in Him" so that

• He is at the center
• He is directing all
• you do all with reference to Him and for His Glory.

But notice that as you walk in Him—live in Him—you become more rooted and that allows you to be more built up.  Built up can only happen after rooting deep into Him.  But this also work so that you walk more closely with and in Him.  And that causes you to be more rooted and built up.

A win-win situation.

It also helps you from being cheated (New KJV) or spoiled (KJV) or taken captive (NIV) by hollow, vain, deceitful philosophies and traditions.

But take a closer look at the whole of Colossians.  Paul says that he works hard and struggles: Col. 1:24; 2:1.  And Epaphras works hard, struggles and wrestles in prayer: Col 4:12 - 13.  Here, Paul is telling the Colossians to buck up, put their armor on and struggle, work hard and walk this road with Christ and the other Christians so that they are not taken captive as spoils of war.

We are in a war.  We cannot opt out.  The devil and his cohorts have arrows marked with our names already written on them.  We must be aware, we must be on guard, we must pray.  But we also must be rooted and built up to walk this way correctly and safely in Christ and with Christ as our Captain and Lord.  If He is not our Lord and if we do not listen to His commands, we will surely fall into the enemy's trap and be taken captive.

But if we listen to Christ our Captain, we will overcome for He always leads us in triumphant procession in Christ. (2 Cor. 2:14)