Four Kinds of History


Earlier this week, I visited the Full-time Training in Anaheim, a post-graduate program of Biblical truths and character training. It was Monday evening and Andrew Yu, one of their trainers, was teaching on the importance of seasons, or appointed times.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says,
"To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven"
I only caught the latter part of the session, but I thought I would share with you my notes on the four kinds of history mentioned that evening.

world leaders
1. Human History or World History

According to the Bible, Abraham followed the Lord to leave his country and his people. By taking this step, he actually ushered in a new race and became the father of faith to the earthly and the heavenly people of God. By this seemingly small step, Abraham made human history. Actually, on the human level, there exist four kinds of people in society: 
  • Ones who have no sense of history and are not interested in history.
  • Ones who study and pay extra attention to history.
  • Ones who partake in history, who are in the midst of that history-making, e.g., eyewitnesses.
  • Ones who make history.
Impressive, isn't it? Imagine if you could be a person who made history, but our brother, Andrew Yu, quickly responded to our gasps of awe, "Why, don't be so impressed. After all, this is still only the world history."

2. Jewish History

In 1948, the State of Israel was established. During The Six-Day War in 1967, Israel gained East Jerusalem. This is the history of God's earthly people, a continual sign for Christians to watch how the Lord is preparing the stage for His second coming (see Mark 11:14).

six day war
Six-Day War in 1967: Israel's Victory

3. Our (Personal) History

You have your story. I have my own story. Our personal history is simply the old historical record of how we get to who we are.

4. The History That Counts

Concerning the aforementioned kinds of history, what makes any of them counts is whether God is in it or not. We need to know what kind of time we are living in today, where the world and Christianity are heading.

For everything there is a season, it is possible for us to miss opportunities! Not all times is created equal, there are, what's called, the appointed times

Today, at this time we are living in, there's firstly a very desperate need to know how to experience Christ in a subjective way, a crucial need for the message of Christ as the life-giving Spirit being our life and everything so that we can live the proper Christian life. This is what the world needs the most today.

Secondly, the result of this proper Christian life will produce an expression of Christ as the new man. We need to know what is God's message in this age. God is not after a group of religious people, nor a sophisticated organization. He desires the testimony of the one new man. This is something that the world does not have. Outward Christianity cannot do this. Only people who are subjectively experiencing Christ can live in and as the new man.

Thirdly, the world needs to know that there is only one divine stream. The interpretation of history in its entirety is that history is actually God's move in the one divine stream. We not only need to know about it, we need to be in it! Being part of this one divine stream is worth our everything!

Honestly speaking, I need to further digest these notes. It's easy to only care for my own things, my needs, my personal universe. Yet in the end, everything doesn't count if the Lord is not in all these things. I definitely don't want to end up living in vanity of vanities.

LORD, grant me the revelation and the resolution of heart to live in Your APPOINTED TIME.
I don't want to miss it.

Comments

  1. O Lord, while we are living in the human history, grow in us that we may live in the new man with You as all and in all (Col. 3:10-11).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Amen. I was also touched by Ephesians 4:24, to put on the new man. The church as the Body of Christ needs Christ as life, but here the church as the new man needs Christ as its person. In Colossians 3:11, Christ is all and in all of His members. That means day by day, as part of the church, we need to learn to live in that reality of taking Christ as our person.

      Delete
  2. Great post! We certainly need God to open our eyes to see what He intends to do in this age. As we get a glimpse of the divine history within the human history, we can cooperate with God. In such a way, our lives can contribute to the divine history!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, John-Paul. I think the opportune time is right now to be part of this one divine stream of God's history with His people. I was struck sitting in that class with how possible it is to miss the RIGHT TIME. May the Lord have mercy with us so that we will rise up from the stupor of this age, to take this opportunity to be part of the making of the history that counts.

      Delete
  3. Thank you for this sharing. I got much enlightened by this post. While we are living in our daily living on this earth as our personal history, many times I feel and wonder what all those things are for. " Is this all?..." Yet, this post refreshes and reminds me again that in the midst of all those things, God wants to carry out His divine history. Amen to His divine history, which makes my daily life meaningful and worthy, Divine history within human history.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it's a reminder to myself as well. I think the mentioning of 3 great needs that the world must see and know today is very enlightening and inspiring to me. The world and Christianity must realize that Christ can be subjectively experienced, that through such living there results the testimony of the true one new man, and that God is moving in one divine stream. These things pretty much set our course, don't they?

      Delete
  4. Wow. God needs the testimony of the one new man (Ephesians 2:15). This truly is the only history that matters!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's very interesting how people desire to improve history but always fail to do so. Today it's quite apparent that we need a change of perspective to know what kind of history really counts. Honestly, to realize that only the divine history matters is encouraging, healing, and comforting to all the nations... if only, we would all see this fact.

      Delete
  5. Thank you for sharing this awesome insight into history. My favorite history is His story, which has more and more become my history, since I am becoming more joined with Him. History has taken on a very real and much more meaningful significance to me since I met the Lord, and began to see what life is all about. Thanks again

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for reading this post! Glad you enjoyed this one.

      Delete
  6. Thank you for this post. What a wonderful and divine view of what the Lord has created us for; to live in and be those who advance the divine history!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Amen. On the divine level, by being one with the Lord, we can be history makers. :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Christians on Campus - The Reason I Went to College at UT Austin

Summer 2012 Puerto Rico Blending Trip: The People

Crossing The River Jordan

MVP: The Most Valuable Person in the Lord's Eyes

Only Lovers Can Be Mighty