If you read my post on "parallels" on October 1st, you might have seen some interesting connections. The post was titled... "What Did Satan See When He Saw His Refection?"
You might also find it interesting to see what Strong's Hebrew Lexicon has to say about the Hebrew word for "parallel"...
4915 moshel mo'-shel (1) from 4910; empire; (2) from 4911; a parallel:--dominion, like.
Catch that? "parallel" is the same as "dominion" and "empire"! You'll be able to see how that ties together by reading through to the end.
Here's my original message from earlier with some additional material:
Look in a mirror. Your image looks just like you
doesn't it? Well... not exactly. The image you see
is exactly opposite of you. It's a reverse parallel.
It is like you, but it is
your opposite.
The concept of parallels is used throughout the scriptures. God uses parallels and the devil uses reverse parallels.
In explaining parallels, I've used the example of Joseph before. We find other examples almost everywhere in the Bible. Here is a brief recap of the parallels between Joseph and Jesus. Both were sons of a rich and loving father. Joseph had a remarkable coat of many colors and Jesus had a remarkable cloak sewn without seems. Both went into Egypt. Both unjustly accused. Joseph was chained between two prisoners and Jesus was crucified between two prisoners. In Joseph's case, one of his fellow prisoners was saved and the the other died. In Jesus' case, one of his fellow prisoners got saved, but the other died in his sins. Both Joseph and Jesus were raised to heights of glory, authority and riches. And so on. I know of over twenty parallels between the two. You'll find other parallels in the stories of Abraham offering his son Issac... the stories of Noah, Ruth, Joshua and dozens, if not hundreds of other examples are hidden in plain sight.
Jesus used parallels to teach. Parallels....We call them parables. The ancient Jews also used parallels instead of rhymes in their poetry. "Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path." That's a parallel. Now one more thought before I offer you my conclusion.
Ephesians 2:10 says...
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." The word translated "workmanship" in the New King James is poiEma. It can also be translated poem and we have already seen that the poetry of the Jews is composed of parallels. Is it too much of a stretch to say that Ephesians 2 is stating that we are to be a parallel of Christ?
2 Corinthians 3:18 says...
"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a
mirror the glory of the Lord, are being
transformed into the same image from glory to glory,
just as by the Spirit of the Lord."
Now let me come to the point. Just as God used parallels to guide us to the truth, Satan uses reverse parallels to tell lies. The devil's parallels are false counterfeits. Satan's lies are like the opposite images in a mirror. Satan is the father of lies and everything he does is opposite to God.
Isaiah 14:13-15
New King James Version (NKJV)
13 For you have
said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into
heaven,
I will exalt my
throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on
the mount of the congregation
On the farthest
sides of the north;
14 I
will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like
the Most High.’
The devil said he would be like the Most High. Not the same. Just as the image in your mirror is like you, but is your opposite. Did Satan catch his own reflection as he walked among the glittering stones and say to himself "I am like the Most High."? Is that when his pride overtook him?
Ezekiel 28:
“‘You were the seal
of perfection,
full of wisdom and
perfect in beauty.
13 You
were in Eden,
the garden of God;
every precious stone
adorned you:
carnelian, chrysolite
and emerald,
topaz, onyx and jasper,
lapis lazuli, turquoise
and beryl.[b]
Your settings and
mountings[c]
were made of gold;
on the day you were
created they were prepared.
14 You
were anointed as a guardian cherub,
for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy
mount of God;
you walked among
the fiery stones.
15 You
were blameless in your ways
from the day you
were created
till wickedness
was found in you.
If that was when pride first tempted him (while he walked among the fiery, glittering stones), maybe his mirror really cracked (figuratively speaking) when he learned that he (and all the other angels) would have to serve Adam's descendants...and that someday he would even be judged by a descendant of Adam!
I believe Satan even tries to copy the Trinity in a reverse parallel. Satan-antichrist-false prophet... the opposite image of the Father-Son-Holy Spirit. The future resurrection of the seemingly dead antichrist (from a head wound)is surely a reverse parallel to the resurrection of Jesus.
I believe too that the image of a statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream showing the successive earthly kingdoms is like a distorted mirror image, or more accurately the opposite image of the body of Christ... the church!
Look at this interesting parallel. Draw two stick figures on a sheet of paper. The first one will represent the statue in Daniel's vision. Label the head Babylon. The arms and shoulders will be the Medes and Persians. The torso is Greece. The legs are the eastern and western Roman empire. Lastly the feet are the end-time empire. Now start labeling the second figure with Christ as the head. The arms and shoulders are Ephesus and Smyrna. The torso is Pergamos. The legs are Thyatira and Sardis. The feet, or the end-time church is represented by Philadelphia and Laodicea.
Paul himself says we are the body of Christ. If you believe that, then the end-time part of the body would naturally be the feet! Like the birth of a baby in the natural world, the feet come out last. I have written a great deal about how one foot of the body precedes the other foot, but it is too long to include with this study.
One might go on to ask themselves if Satan has created a false image of the raptured saints. I don't know. But eventually, all of the kingdoms represented by the statue were thrown down and someday the feet with 10 toes will be crushed. But the feet and toes of the body of Christ will be lifted up! We will go up!
1 Corinthians 13:12
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then
face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall
know just as I also am known.
Hallelujah!
YBIC
Bruce Baber