The Question
Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up the former devastations; And they will repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations.
- Isaiah 61:4 (NASB 1995), emphasis added
The story or metanarrative of this substack is that I've revealed the answer before I’ve revealed the problem. The solution (for Christians) to the problem is:
You are part of a Holy Lineage that will NEVER die.
If this were a round of Jeopardy and if this were the answer, what would the question be? I began by believing that I would drop normal posts with simple exegesis to explain this; however, I've realized that those posts are not my normal mode of understanding the world or writing about it. Instead, I always ask God a question, but the revelation you'll be reading about is years and years of asking Him questions here or there, about this or that, then gaining understanding. The story of this (rather simple yet deeply concealed) revelation involved God laying a foundation in me and then building upon it (as is the pattern with Elohim). If you know Jesus, then you know that He has a funny way of encountering you. C.S. Lewis said it best...
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
In the case of the Spirit-filled understanding that God poured out over me, I have been on a long journey that involves studying God's word but even more so being molded by it as I've lived everyday mundane life, and thus, the answer posted above is far simpler than the questions that gave opportunity for God to awaken truth in me.
As I've lived, God has stripped away the the veil or, from a technological perspective, the augmented reality in which we live. He has done this deliberately and has sped up the process in my walk with him over the last few years. He has done this for everyone who has sought him in truth over this time period as well, and as he has released the revelation of the Anti-Christ system, in which we live, out into the world, many have grabbed hold of it.
This series of posts, foreshadowed as being called the Desolations of Many Generations, is simply meant to be my small piece of the revelation of the Anti-Christ system that God revealed to me. Most Christians can see that our culture is perverse and twisted, but for many, it seems as if this happened overnight. Revisionist historians will tell you differently. Personally, I am not a historian, but I have lived in this postmodern miasma of deepest darkness all of my life; only recently have I been able to see it and classify it. I know it and the effects it has had on my generation and those who came before us.
It is evil, satanic, anti-Christ, and all other words that you can think of that would be synonyms of these; nevertheless, people see it with what I believe is a thin perspective. All people know that if you want to pull out a weed, you must pull it out from the roots. Christians see the shallow side of this problem: the meaning crisis, the explosion of sexual degeneracy, the promotion of innocence-decimating material to children, the lack of successful marriages, the declining economic situation of the western world, the ever present feeling of wrongness when watching news or other media, the growth of open satanic worship, the rise of broken political ideologies (like socialism), the general confusion of all peoples on concepts that were once simple (gender), whole generations of prodigals, and much much more.
And so many rail against these things as being demonic (because they are), but they fail to understand the root system that gave rise to them. Where did the corruption come from? Some people honestly believe that, here in the USA, it began shortly after 2012, but history tells a different story. Again, I am not a historian, but I would like to caution Christians on this belief. Jesus said that faith is like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds. This comparison is so that you can understand faith over time. Seeds must be planted, then the plant must mature, and finally it bears fruit;this is known as “seedtime harvest” in the Bible in most versions (Genesis 8:22).
If that is how it works for the light, how does it work for the dark? I posit that it works quite similarly. When were the seeds planted that gave rise to the uptick in darkness of our day? Did it really start in 2012? God has let me see it as being quite a bit older. The seeds that are the basis of the corruption of today are generations old.
Are you discouraged by that?
There is no need to be discouraged because the truth is that the righteous seeds that God planted in this nation at its outset are even older than the corrupted seeds. God creates individuals, tribes, and nations for a purpose, and this nation, the United States of America, was created for a purpose. It was created for good, but it is in a dark place where it spreads far more evil than good in the world. All Americans should wish to change that.
The Holy Lineage that this substack is named after is the lineage that extends from Christ, passing on a new bloodline (not a physical bloodline but the spiritual bloodline established by the blood that was shed on the Cross) over to anyone who will receive the word, or good news, about the Gospel of Jesus Christ in faith. From there, we ask of God about ourselves as individuals, "what is your purpose for my life, Lord?" God created nations and tribes as well. God sets the boundaries of nations (Acts 17:25-26; Daniel 2:21; Ezekiel 14:13-18). Thus, I extend the question of original intent to tribes/people-groups, nations, and civilizations (though I’ve added this since this concept doesn’t quite seem to be expressed in the Bible from what I can interpret).
What was your original intent, Lord? What did you have in mind when he created xyz person, tribe, or nation?
Rather dangerous and arduous questions to answer… I certainly don't have the time, skill, or ability to truly spend time hunting down the answers as far as western civilization is concerned. It requires much study. In the meantime, while God prepares whatever revelation he has for that question (for whoever is willing to grab ahold of it), I simply want to share what I know about about the original question or questions that lead to the answer written near the beginning of this post. After reading Isaiah 61:4, I began to see that perhaps I do have a solid question that consolidates all the questions that I've asked before into one. It is something like:
What is the answer to the issue of the Desolations of Many Generations?
The answer would, of course, be:
You are part of a Holy Lineage that will NEVER die.
...That seems to work as a question and answer pair (sort of), but I think we're still missing something... Yes, we're missing the understanding of what the Desolations of Many Generations (DoMG) actually is... My understanding is that such a phrase perfectly encapsulates what we are experiencing today. The laundry list of the sinful behaviors posted above is the direct result of the Desolations of Many Generations. Our job as Christians, as part of the answer to the DoMG, would be to perform the duty God states also in Isaiah:
"Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings." - Isaiah 58: 12 NIV
As my answer came before my question, my solution before my problem, the biblical verse where it mentions the DoMG has the solution in it before it speaks of the problem. It says, “Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up the former devastations; And they will repair the ruined cities…” (Isaiah 61:4). Also, the more complete Bible verse representing the solution above (Isaiah 58:12) comes before the verse stating the problem. As we know, God declares "the end from the beginning" Isaiah 46:10 ESV, so I suppose that it is appropriate that the answer came before the question and the solution came before the problem.
Now, all that's left is the difficult explanation of the named problem, the DoMG, and the signs that we are living in times reflective of it. My hope is to help explain the Holy Lineage by reflecting on what exactly the DoMG is. I hope you will look forward to walking with me through the winding path that I take to get there. It will be strange at times, and it will be likely uncomfortable for all who read; however, I believe its necessary to understand the problem before you can truly receive the answer. In the future, more info explaining the answer will be released, but I also want you to be prepared for the future of what I am writing and how I am writing. In this series, we will work our way from the answer to the question.
Despite all that, it's important to always remember the redemptive side of the question, which would be the revelatory (summarized) answer:
Jesus' shed blood and the truth that, when you believe in him, you become part of a Holy Lineage that will NEVER die! (Isaiah 9:7 ESV; Galatians 3:28-29 ESV; Romans 8:16-17 ESV).