Perplexity
by Chris Cumming
Some time ago now, I wrote three pieces about the end time as it relates
to one's salvation. One is,
"Shock" or How to Prepare for the Shock. Another is, "Final
Checklist". And of course I did the sermon, "Moment
of Judgment" ...or are we in the time of the 10 virgins?
Today we are going to immerse ourselves into a specific set of
scriptures that speak to how many might react to sudden end time events.
As we do this, my admonition and encouragement to all of us is to be
calm and ready to take action.
Be calm; be ready to take action.
By this, I mean be calm and ready to take action physically,
emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
We will begin with a Bible reading to establish the context of the
specific scriptures we will study today.
Luke 21:7-24
7 And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be?
and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?
8 And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in
my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not
therefore after them.
9 But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for
these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.
10 Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom:
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and
pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from
heaven.
12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and
persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons,
being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake.
13 And it shall turn to you for a testimony.
14 Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye
shall answer:
15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries
shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
16 And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and
kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to
death.
17 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.
18 But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
19 In your patience possess ye your souls.
20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that
the desolation thereof is nigh.
21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them
which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in
the countries enter thereinto.
22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written
may be fulfilled.
23 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in
those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath
upon this people.
24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away
captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the
Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
We then come to verses 25-28 and where we will spend the rest of our
time in this sermon.
Luke 21:25-28
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the
stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea
and the waves roaring;
26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those
things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be
shaken.
27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power
and great glory.
28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift
up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Let us go through verse 25. For our purposes, we divide the verse into
four parts
1] And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the
stars.
2] And upon the earth distress of nations.
3] With perplexity.
4] The sea and the waves roaring.
1] And there shall be signs in the
sun, and in the moon, and in the stars.
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the
moon - They shall be darkened, and suffer very strange and
surprising eclipses: ~John Gill
And in the stars - they shall fall from
heaven, as in Matthew 24:29 and so the Ethiopic version reads here: all
which, as it may be understood in a literal sense, so it may likewise in
figurative and mystical one, and be interpreted of the changes there
should be in the Jewish state. ~ John Gill
Quoted verse:
Matthew 24:29
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be
darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall
fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
2] And upon the earth distress of
nations.
And upon the earth distress of nations -
upon the land of Israel; in the several nations and countries belonging
to it; as Galilee of the nations, Judea, and the region beyond Jordan,
shall be in great distress: ~John Gill
Upon the earth distress of nations - Some
have proposed to render the word “earth” by “land,” confining it to
Judea. It often has this meaning, and there seems some propriety in so
using it here. The word translated “distress” denotes anxiety of mind -
such an anxiety as people have when they do not know what to do to free
themselves from calamities; and it means here that the calamities would
be so great and overwhelming that they would not know what to do to
escape. There would be a want of counsel, and deep anxiety at the
impending evils. ~Barnes Notes
Distress - Anguish.
~Robertson's Word Pictures
3] With perplexity.
With perplexity - of mind, not knowing what
to do, which way to go, or step to take; the Syriac version, instead of
it, reads "clapping, or pressing of the hands"; which is done by
persons, when in an agony and great distress:
~John Gill
With perplexity - Rather “on account” of
their perplexity, or the desperate state of their affairs. The Syriac
has it, “perplexity or wringing of hands,” which is a sign of deep
distress and horror. ~Barnes Notes
In perplexity - State of one who is aporos,
who has lost his way. Here only in the N.T. though an old and common
word. ~Robertson's Word Picture
There are two Old Testament verses speaking to this word, "perplexity":
Isaiah 22:1-5
...a prophecy about the city of Jerusalem
1 The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou
art wholly gone up to the housetops?
2 Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy
slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.
3 All thy rulers are fled together, they are bound by the archers: all
that are found in thee are bound together, which have fled from far.
4 Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not
to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.
5 For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by
the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls,
and of crying to the mountains.
Notice the commentary on verse 5:
And of perplexity - In which we know not
what to do. We are embarrassed, and know not where to look for relief.
~Barnes Notes
Micah 7:4
The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn
hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be
their perplexity.
Now shall be their perplexity. - When this
day of the Lord comes, there shall be confusion (Isaiah 22:5); it shall
bring chastisement before deliverance. The prophet here, as elsewhere,
changes from the second to the third person, speaking of the people
generally. Septuagint, "Now shall be their weeping;" so the Syriac. They
were as bad as a thorn hedge (merucah);
they shall fall into perplexity (mebucah).
~The Pulpit Bible commentary
4] The sea and the waves roaring
The sea and the waves roaring - which
design some unusual and extraordinary storms and tempests, and
inundations in the sea of Galilee, or Tiberias, which would be so very
terrible, as to cause great uneasiness, distress, and perplexity; and so
some versions render it, "because of the sea". ~John Gill
The sea and the waves roaring - This is not
to be understood literally, but as an image of great distress. Probably
it is designed to denote that these calamities would come upon them like
a deluge. As when in a storm the ocean roars, and wave rolls on wave and
dashes against the shore, and each succeeding surge is more violent than
the one that preceded it, so would the calamities come upon Judea. They
would roll over the whole land, and each wave of trouble would be more
violent than the one that preceded it, until the whole country would be
desolate. The same image is also used in Isaiah 8:7-8, and Revelation
18:15. ~Barnes Notes
Quoted verses:
Isaiah 8:7-8
7 Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of
the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory:
and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks:
8 And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he
shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall
fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.
Revelation 18:15
The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand
afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
For the roaring of the sea - Our word echo
is this word e¯chos, a reverberating sound.
Note: There are a number of videos
on YouTube that speak to weird things happening in oceans and
speculation how this prophecy might be fulfilled physically. We could
talk about
rogue
waves and
tsunamis.
There are also videos speaking to massive beaching of fishes and sea
mammals, like dolphins and whales. Others speak to the dying of the
oceans, especially the Pacific Ocean with references to the Fukushima [foo-koo-shee-muh]
nuclear disaster.
The title of this sermon is "Perplexity" and comes from our key verse of
study today.
Luke 21:25
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars;
and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the
waves roaring;
We have seen that this word, "perplexity" is speaking to the mindset of
humans witnessing all these events. By humans, I mean virtually all the
people of the world and a goodly number of firstfruits. What firstfruit
would not be initially upset and perplexed by a huge and varied list of
unfolding prophetic events? The commentaries define this word,
perplexity as the "human mind not knowing what to do, which way to go or
step to take." It defines it as a, "wringing of the hands" and having
the emotions of "deep distress and horror."
To get a sense of what is going to cause all this shock and perplexity
in the mind, let me take an excerpt from the sermon on
preparing for the shock:
Practical Considerations
There are all kinds of shocking events one could talk about and a whole
plethora of how we should physically, mentally and emotionally deal with
it. All one has to do is go to the Internet and type into a search
engine, “Coping with Disaster” and you will get all kinds of resources.
There are natural disasters, financial disasters and man-made disasters
and terrorist events. Here is a short list:
1] Hurricanes and tornados. I
am thinking of Katrina and
108 billion in damages in 2005
2] Earthquakes. I am
thinking of Haiti
and 316,000 deaths in
2010
3] Massive floods and wide spread wildfires. I am thinking of the
infamous Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory Fire in
New York where 146 deaths took place; mostly women; one as young as 11.
4] Tsunamis. Everyone remembers the earthquakes in Japan that killed
over 17,000 and affected most of the Pacific Ocean Rim countries. Costs
at last report: $235 billion; the most costly disaster in history.
5] Famines. There were 4
major famines in China between
1810 and 1849. 45 million died.
6] Pestilence. Most have heard of the Black
Death – Bubonic Plague [1338-1351]
which killed 100 million.
7] 9/11
From this short list we are looking at almost 200 million dead,
trillions in damages and billions of lives affected. All of this is
shocking to me.
However, these known disasters are nothing when compared to what is
prophesied to come. How do we know this?
Matthew 24:21
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning
of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
So what is coming? Again, a short list. Everything you are about to
see on this list is pure speculation but based on strong indications
from the Bible in severity. That is, I am not offering this list as
predictions but as a tool to convey situations that would take one way
beyond the shock you may be feeling from the first list above.
1] Complete economic
collapse in North America
or throughout the entire world.
2] Martial
Law
3] Massive
food shortages which
is another word for famine. No food in the stores.
4] Political breakdown or Anarchy
5] The US becoming a poverty-stricken, 3rd world
nation.
6] Tens of millions dying of pandemics. Psalm
91:7 A
thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but
it shall not come nigh thee.
7] Suspension
of the Constitution, a change in government and/or a dictator taking
over the US.
8] A massive terrorist event such as a nuclear device going off in the
United States. See the article, "The
impact of nuclear attacks on U.S. cities."
9] An EMP being
launched on the US knocking out all power.
10] Assassinations
and murders on a national
scale.
11] The
Beast and False Prophet actually
taking power.
12] World
War III. Invasion of North America.
Now quickly imagine a number of these things happening at the same time
or in rapid succession. Definitely shocking.
These would be mind-numbing situations and our minds would be
traumatized, disturbed, horrified, dismayed and paralyzed.
Typical responses could be any or all of the following:
...elements of perplexity
1] Shock and disbelief…a feeling of numbness or assault on the senses.
2] Panic, general
3] Panic regarding distant family.
4] Runaway speculation, which if spread puts fear and panic in others.
5] Wanting to turn off the TV or otherwise escape. “I
don’t want to hear it!”
6] Sadness, despair, anger, extreme selfishness and self-preservation.
7] Substance abuse.
8] Sickness or general breakdown of health.
~end of excerpt from the
sermon on Shock~
My admonition and encouragement to all of us is:
be calm and ready to take action.
I found something in the Biblical Illustrator that speaks directly to
this admonition:
Patient self-possession in times of trial
Be collected, that you may be strong; stand still, and stand firmly, if
you can do nothing else; do not slip back, or step aside, or attempt
anything wrong or questionable. Patience is not merely a passive
submission to evil, a dull, stupid, unfeeling indifference, like the
insensibility of wood or stone; it is the result of thought; it implies
effort; it is a sort of active bearing up of oneself under the pressure
of calamity, which at once indicates self-possession and secures it; it
reacts upon that from which it proceeds, and causes it to become
stronger and stronger. I wish now to request your attention to some of
the advantages which flow from obedience to the precept, in the case of
Christians, when called to suffer great affliction, or when exposed to
the fear of impending calamity.
1. In the first place, there is the consciousness of not increasing the
affliction by sin. If a Christian is impatient, and gives way to
fretfulness and temper, or other forms of restiveness under trouble, he
not only loses the advantage of calmness and self-possession, but his
conscience receives a fresh injury; his proper religious feelings are
hurt; his inward personal peace is disturbed; and thus the trouble
presses upon him with double weight. It is a great blessing not to be
exposed to this.
2. In the next place, self-possession in a time of trouble will enable
an individual to take a just view of his actual circumstances, and of
the nature and ends of the Divine infliction. We are under the rule and
guidance of One who has always an object in what He does—an object
worthy of Himself, and connected with the peace and holiness of His
Church.
3. In the third place, the man who has full possession of himself in a
time of affliction will be able to engage in certain exercises of mind
which trouble calls to, but which are impossible, or next to it, when
the soul is disturbed by agitation and excitement. “In the day of
adversity consider.” “Call upon Me in the day of trouble.” “Glorify Me
in the fire.” “Enter into thy chamber.” “Be still, and know that I am
God.” “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, neither
faint when thou art rebuked of Him.” But none of these things can be
done, or done well, if the man is not quiet, patient, and
self-possessed; if he is the victim of hurry, alarm, consternation, and
surprise.
Note: the word, Consternation means,
"a sudden, alarming amazement or dread that results in utter confusion [perplexity]
and dismay.
4. Observe, fourthly, that it is only by such self-possession as the
text [Luke 21] inculcates, that an
individual will be able to select and apply the proper means of escape
from calamity, or which may help him to meet it, or to counteract its
effects.
Note: the word, "inculcate" means,
"to implant by repeated statement or admonition; teach persistently and
earnestly." Another way of encouragement to
immerse ourselves in the Word of God.
5. In the last place, obedience to the text, explained as an
exhortation, will best prepare a man [or woman]
for the end and result of trouble, whatever that result may be. If the
cloud and the calamity pass away, and the man be fully delivered from
it, he will be able to look back with serenity and gratitude, free from
self-reproach or shame. If it terminate fatally, for himself or others,
he will be able to acquiesce, with intelligent faith, in the Divine
will. ~Biblical Illustrator
So when all these things begin to happen, be calm and ready to take
action [physically, emotionally, mentally and
spiritually] and remember Luke 21 and verse 28:
Luke 21:28
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up
your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.