Seeing the Parallels

Pastor Rod Thompson

Midland SDA Church

May 12, 2018

 

According to one on line dictionary, Parallelism is the use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; or similar in their construction, sound, or meaning.    Parallelism examples are found in literary works as well as in ordinary conversations.

Here are some examples of parallelism

1.   Like father, like son.

2.   Easy come, easy go.

3.   Whether in class, at work, or at home, Sarah was always busy.

4.   Flying is fast, comfortable, and safe.

In literature, parallelism is used in different ways to impress upon the readers certain messages or moral lessons.   Let us analyze a few examples of parallelism in literature:

Example #1:

Antithesis is a kind of parallelism in which two opposite ideas are put together in parallel structures. Alexander Pope, in his An Essay on Criticism, uses antithetic parallel structure:

“To err is human; to forgive divine.”

In other words - Imperfection is a human trait, and God is most forgiving. Through these antithetical but parallel structures, the poet wants to say that God is forgiving because his creation is erring

Example #2:

We see the repetition of parallel structures in the following lines from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

By repeating “It was…” in the passage, the readers are prompted to focus on the traits of the “age” they will read about in the succeeding passages.

Example #3:

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.’

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

“I have a dream today.”

This is a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. in which he repeats the phrase, “I have a dream” several times. He creates for us a good example of parallelism.

The Bible is also a literary work that is full of parallelism even though sometimes it is not so obvious.  None the less it is still there.

 

Read Joshua 6: 1-5

Here in Joshua 6 we see the story of Israel going into the Promised Land.  They had been wandering in the desert for forty years.  That entire generation that had come out of Egypt are now all dead, except Joshua and Caleb.  Moses has died and now Joshua is their leader.  And we know why it had to be that way, don’t we.

Not long after coming out of Egypt God had desired to bring the people into the Promised Land.  It was known as the Promised Land because God had promised to give it to them.  And God says to Moses,

Numbers 13:1    Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, everyone a leader among them.

And of course you remember what happened.  They came back and reported that it truly was a land flowing with milk and honey.  But ten of the spies brought back a faithless report, saying there are giants in the land and we are like grasshoppers in their sight.  In others words – it is a good land, but we can’t take it.

Joshua and Caleb tried to encourage them that they could take the land because God had promised to be with them.  But still they refused and complained that they and their children would die if they tried.  And you know the rest of the story, don’t you.  God said, no you got it wrong, you’re going to go back out into the desert and that’s where you’re going to die.  But as for your children, I’m going to bring them into the land.

And now forty years later God is delivering on His promise.  I think it’s interesting that the first thing that God does is prove to them that He is with them.  As they cross the Jordon River He stops the river and they walk through on dry ground and you can see the parallel with what He did for their parents when He brought them out of Egypt and through the Red Sea.

Read Joshua 3: 10

By this you shall know, Joshua said.  The crossing through the Red Sea was to be a sign that God was with them, that He was fighting the battle for them.  It was to instill in them a trust.  That they were to look beyond what their natural eyes could see and they were to look with spiritual eyes.  And now He was doing the same thing in crossing through the Jordon River.

I can’t help but think of that story of Elisha and his servant (2 Kings 6).  They are in Dothan, and the servant goes out in the morning and the city is surrounded by the Syrian army.  He runs back into the house and asks Elisha, “What are we going to do?”  And Elisha says, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  And Elisha prayed, “Lord open his eyes that he may see.”  And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man. And he saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around them. 

Oh brothers and sisters, if we could only see with spiritual eyes all of God’s angels all around us. 

So Joshua and the men of Israel go through the Jordon River and into the Promised Land.  God is not only with them but He has already gone before them.  Even before crossing over into the land Joshua had sent 2 spies to scout out the land and more specifically the land of Jericho.  As those spies went into Jericho they ran into the harlot Rahab who had told them

Read Joshua 2:9-11

And now they have come into the land.  They are there by the city of Jericho which is securely shut up so that no one can come in or go out.  They assume that they are safe in this condition.  They are prepared for a battle.  But I want you to notice that God doesn’t give Joshua some ingenious plan where he is going to dry up the river that runs under the wall of the city like He did for Cyrus when he captured Babylon.  Because there is no river running through this city.  He doesn’t Give Joshua some amazing plan like the time when David conquered the Jebusites and routed them out of Jerusalem by sending someone up the water shaft and into the city to open the gates from the inside, so that the army could just walk in.

NO!  This battle is different.  God says to Joshua, I want you to have 7 priests with horns to walk before the Ark of the Covenant.  I want you to take them with the army and march around the city once a day for 6 days.  Then on the 7th day I want you to march around the city 7 times.

Read Joshua 6: 5

Can you imagine what it must have been like for the people of Jericho as they saw Israel marching around the city once a day?  They must have been thinking what’s this all about.  And then to see them march around 7 times on the 7th day, they must of have thought, what in the world are they doing?  And then sudden destruction comes upon them. 

But brothers and sisters, can you see the parallel between us and the sudden destruction of the wicked at the end of time.

Do you see the parallel is that God is with us, even to this day.  And the battle belongs to the Lord. 

Exodus 14:13     But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.

Deuteronomy 20:1      When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you.

1 Samuel 17:47  and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD'S and He will give you into our hands."

2 Chronicles 32:7        Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria nor because of all the horde that is with him; for the one with us is greater than the one with him.

The battle belongs to God.  Our job is to do what Paul said to do

Read Ephesians 6: 10-13

We absolutely need the Lord to break down the strong holds in our life, don’t we?  We can’t do it.  Israel could not break down those walls and neither can we.  They simply needed to trust Him that He would do it.  And that is the parallel with us. 

But then notice that once the walls came down then they were to run in and do their part.

Read Joshua 6: 20-21

I also want you to notice another parallel.

Read Joshua 6: 24

Notice that they gave all the glory to God.  So what are we to do when God gains the victory for us in our lives?  Give the glory to Him, right?

Let me show you another parallel between Israel of old and us today.  I want to you notice in chapter 7 (Joshua) that after this great victory that temptation came and Achan kept some of the spoils of war even though God said that they were not to take anything for themselves.  And as a result they went into the little country of Ai with just 3,000 men and they were defeated. 

There are a couple of lessons to be learned here as we parallel ourselves with that today.  First of all, when God wins the victory in your life don’t get too cocky.  Don’t think that you are all that, or more than you really are. 

Notice that after this amazing victory at Jericho Joshua sends a couple of spies to Ai and they come back saying, oh, they’re just a little city – just send a few thousand men – THEY can take care of it.  Notice too that there was no consultation with God before they went into battle. 

And then notice another parallel.  When there is sin in the camp, sin in the home, sin in the life we cannot expect that God is with us and He is fighting for us when we are (ourselves) against God.

 

But there is one more parallel that I would like to make with this story of Israel going into the Promised Land and us today.  And this one might not be so evident at first glance.

I want you to notice that Israel went by faith in to conquer the land.  And first they took on Jericho, then they conquered Ai.

Then you have the story of Joshua renewing the covenant between Israel and God and in chapter 9 the treaty with the Gibeonites where once again we see the people making decisions without taking it to the Lord.

Imagine what the turn out may have been if Joshua and the children of Israel would have consulted God before making this treaty.  They would have discovered that it was a trick and who knows what God would have had them do.

Do you see the parallel with your own life and how we should be consulting God before we make any major decisions in our lives?

And then in chapter 10 we see that the king of Jerusalem forms an alliance with the kings of Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, Eglon and they all go to war with the Gibeonites because of the treaty they made with Israel.  The Gibeonites send word to Israel and Israel marches all night and goes straight into battle with these 5 kings and wipes them all out.

Then they go  into the south.  First they destroy Makkedah, then Libnah, they Lachish, then Gezer, then Eglon, then Debir.

Then they went into the northern territory and once again the kings of that area all gathered together against Israel.  There were the kings of Madon, Shimron, Achshaph, there were the Caananites, Amorites, Hittites, Perrizites, Jebusites, Hivites and notice what it says,

Read Joshua 11: 4-5

And God gave them all into the hand of Israel and they defeated them all.

So what are the parallels here?  First of all I want you to notice that it was the preferred choice of Israel and I think of God that Israel would fight each city one at a time.  It wasn’t until the kings of the territory made alliances that they came against Israel together.  And it was never that Israel would divide its army and fight more than one battle at a time. 

So here is the parallel.  God is trying to bring victory in your life.  Victory over sin, victory over addictions, victory over self, victory over temptation.

I want you to think back in your life and think about the battles that you have gained victory over.  Can you see that God typically fights one battle at a time?  In my own experience I can see that He gave me victory over smoking, then victory over drinking, then victory over steeling, then victory over anger, then selfishness, then self-control, patience, compassion. And He is now working on appetite and I’m sure there were other victories in there as well. 

But here is the point.  Imagine trying to fight all of those at one time.  God knows that you would be overwhelmed.  So He gives you one victory at a time.  That’s why sanctification is often referred to as a lifelong process. 

Do you remember what Jesus said to His disciples? 

John 16:12                  I still have many things to say to you, but you can’t bear them now.

God has many things that He wants to show us, and many victories that He wants to yet win in our lives.  And our part is to surrender our hearts to Him, follow through with the power of God after He gains the victory, put on the armor of God and His protection and walk in newness of life, giving Him the glory for the victory. 

Then there is another hidden parallel.  And that is when all the enemies of God’s people came against Israel all at once.  And perhaps in your life you have often felt that the whole world was against you.  It seems like one thing after another is happening.  Like Job when the attacks of Satan where against everything he owned.  It is those times that we simply give it to God.

Read Psalm 91: 1-9

Friends there are many parallels in the Bible and do you want to know why? 

Read 1 Corinthians 10: 6-11

All of these parallels are there for us.  To prepare us for the coming of Jesus.  Do you see the parallels in your own life, and are you able to learn from the mistakes of others?

Do you want to be prepared for the coming of Jesus?   Let’s pray