Genesis 8:22
My morning began about an hour before I made my trek into the kitchen. I laid in bed and prayed for the day ahead, about what lies ahead, and about this post. In actuality, this post began back on the morning of 4/25/2014 when I woke up from a dream that I have carried with me to some extent, ever since.
It was a different morning from this, a morning encapsulated within a dream in which I was standing in a brand new, retro-styled kitchen. The room was filled with sunlight, making its appearance even more sterile. The walls and cupboards were white, as was the scalloped trim, and the curtains that were trimmed with flounces and hung in the window above the sink. The counter tops were those reminiscent of the time period.
Alone in the room, I stood to the right side of the kitchen where a table or bankett would ordinarily be positioned. As I was looking around, a tall, thin man with black hair and dressed in a black suit; carrying black sunglasses in his hand, entered the room through a doorway at the far left of the kitchen. He stopped walking when he was about six feet from me and looked at something or someone behind and to the left of me. Normally viewing such a behavior would have caused me to turn and look behind me, especially because I thought I was alone, but I had no such impulse. It never even occurred to me to do so. It was then that I heard a very still and serious voice, say, "You have to do it, Delta." The man nodded once. His face was stoic and determined. He walked to the door, put on his sunglasses with his right hand and opened the kitchen door with his left. Typically exterior doors open in, this one opened to the outside and to the left. I could see the sunlight through the large tree in the yard. The lawn and the leaves of the tree were lovely and green, but the leaves on the branches were not yet mature, indicating to me that it was springtime.
That ended the dream.
My prayers for interpretation began immediately. Knowing that Delta had greater significance than the name of an American airline and different tributaries around the world, I soon learned that it is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet. In ancient Greek, it was also the fourth number. Greek Numbers and Numerals (Ancient and Modern) This reaffirmed my thinking that perhaps this man was depicting the fourth rider in Revelation 6 whose name is Death. The tall, thin man in the kitchen certainly reminded me of one depicting death, such as a funeral director. Remember too that his face looked stoic and determined. When looking up the definition of stoic to make sure that it fit with what I was thinking, I found something that was very interesting. I was correct in that my thinking matched with the first definition, but check out the second definition of the word:
www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/stoicism#stoicism_5
The brand new kitchen was another obvious key to the interpretation so within a day of having the dream, I began to research the kitchen style that I saw and was taken aback when I learned that that style of kitchen came post war in the year 1948.
http://retrorenovation.com/2007/1123/1948-was-a-very-good-year-awesome-retro-kitchens-and-cary-grants-dream-house-too/
After the war, many Americans were moving out of the cities and into suburbs. Acres in the country were purchased in order for new housing developments to be constructed. However, something of much greater significance was also taking place during this time in history. The following article begins, "In May 1948, Israel became an independent state after Israel was recognized by the United Nations as a country in its own within the Middle East."
www.historylearningsite.co.uk/israel_and_the_1948_war.htm
The third element of the dream that stood out so boldly was the fact that it was the spring of the year when the leaves were not yet full on the tree. This reminded me of the parable of the fig tree that we see in three of the gospels: Matthew 24:32-34, Mark 13:28-30, and Luke 21:28-32. Within these parallel passages we read,
"Now learn a parable of the fig tree; when the branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you that this generation will not pass away until all these things have been fulfilled."
Matthew 24:32-34
Which generation? The generation that saw the fig tree (Israel) become a nation once again.
In the Bible, there are several times that the span of forty years is mentioned in connection with a generation. Here are a couple of examples:
"And the Lord's anger was kindled against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord, was consumed."
Numbers 32:13
"Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works for forty years, wherefore I was grieved with that generation."
Hebrews 3:8-10
However there are times when Scripture defines a generation as being from the age of twenty to sixty or even above. For example, we find this in the book of Numbers 32:11 which states,
"Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swear unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me."
And in Psalm 90:10 we read:
"The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."
So 70-80 years, in this case, would also be considered a generation.
The fourth element of the dream that was so apparent to me was that everything was to the left of me. The kitchen itself, the man who entered through a doorway to the left, then stood to my left. Then there was the voice behind me. Also the door with the man's left hand on the door knob which he opened out and to the left. The tree was to the left of the door, as was the sun shining through the tree.
"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he shall sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left."
Matthew 25:31-33
Right and Left
Directly following the description of the fourth rider in Revelation 6:8b, we read,
"And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword, (interpreted war) and with hunger, (famine) and with death, (pestilence) and with the beasts of the earth."
So if it is intended for us in this verse to divide the four horses and their riders into their given duties, then that leaves the fourth horseman with the beasts of the earth. I checked Blue Letter Bible to see what "beasts" referred to and I found that the word is: Therion G2342 and the KJV describes it in both ways, as wild beasts or a "bestial man". Thayer's Greek Lexicon also includes the "Antichrist - Both his person and his kingdom and his power." Bear that in mind as you continue to read.
www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2342&t=KJV
In summation: The dream took place in the spring in 1948 when the trees were putting forth their leaves telling me that the fulfillment of Messiah's prophecy would happen in our generation. The fourth rider had a Greek name and would be sent forth into the earth with the left-hand judgment of YHVH to execute His purposes in order to establish His Son's reign upon the earth. Beasts and the Antichrist will bring death.
The sun has risen higher in the sky, its warmth is filling the room where I am sitting as I draw this post to a close. I smile at the sight of the grazing sheep in our pasture and the song of birds in the air because they remind me that we are the sheep of His pasture and He is our Good Shepherd. Remember that our Messiah loves His sheep and it was He who told us that our Father in heaven sees each sparrow that falls to the ground. Do not fear. You are worth more than many sparrows.
"But it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."
1 Corinthians 2:9
