The art of allusion and the end of the age

A Famous Clock and a Total Eclipse

After more than 150 years of continuous chiming on the hour, Big Ben has temporarily ceased to gong. The four-year moratorium on the famous bell is so that repairs can be made without bursting the eardrums of the workers. And judging by the TV footage, there are serious cracks in the structure of the clock tower. And yet MPs, including Prime Minister Theresa May, have protested at what they consider to be this unnecessary deference to health and safety regulations.

Clock-Tower Corruption

It appears that they are not wishing to face up to the severe corruption of the clock-tower which needs major repairs. Maybe God is speaking to us through this episode – it’s more than a facelift that is needed. There has been talk for some time about MPs having to move out of the Commons while repairs are made to the crumbling foundations adjacent to the iconic clock. But that conversation has also gone rather quiet.

All of this is a clear picture of the state of the nation and the corruption in our national moral and spiritual life , thanks in large part to the diabolical laws passed in these hallowed buildings.
What a shocking betrayal of our esteemed forefathers who, inspired by their Christian faith, campaigned for laws – including the abolition of slavery and child labour – that set an example of moral righteousness to the rest of the world.

Parliament’s Foundations

It is well to remind ourselves that our Parliament is quite literally founded on the word of God – its floor is inscribed in Latin with the words of Psalm 127, verse 1: “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain.” The Moses Room, which is the largest assembly room in the House of Lords has huge wall murals of Moses receiving the 10 Commandments which is a reminder to all MPs of the centrality of the word of God in our Parliamentary history.

This is a clear picture of the state of the nation and the corruption in our national moral and spiritual life.

But in the past 50 years Parliament has agreed to one law after another that directly contradicts biblical truth. Our MPs have deliberately rejected our Christian heritage with everything we have stood for as a nation for hundreds of years.

Abortion Act

Among the most heinous of these was the Abortion Act, which has seen the legalised murder of nine million unborn children. And yet, in our topsy-turvy politically-correct world, we have heard little about the horrors of this subject 50 years on while at the same time being bombarded with ‘celebrations’ of the decriminalisation of homosexuality – another law passed in 1967!

Life is cheap while evil is flagged up as good, and good as evil: turning upside down God’s law. (Isaiah 5:20). Our Parliament that was once the envy of the world and the ‘Mother of Parliaments’ is now in a state of weakness and confusion, symbolised by the decaying state of the historic buildings.

Our Parliament was once the envy of the world and the ‘Mother of Parliaments’.

Unless our leaders – political and spiritual – face up to the moral decadence of the nation to which they have contributed and instigate major repairs by reaffirming our biblical heritage in the same way as they are carrying out major repairs to the buildings the whole of our social order is in danger of collapse in the same way as the buildings are in danger.

Western Civilisation Cracking

God’s judgment is at the door, but we are not alone. The whole of Western civilisation is showing cracks similar to those in our Parliament buildings. The political turmoil in the USA grows steadily more serious with Trump’s White House administration at loggerheads even with his own Republican majority in Congress. The recent outbreak of racial problems in Charlottesville with clashes between far right and far left groups reviving the old problems that have assailed America ever since their Civil War, is greatly troubling.

Total Eclipse

The eclipse of the sun which enthralled many Americans should also be seen as a sign of the times. The darkness that came over America is also a warning that, like Britain, America also has been deliberately rejecting its great Christian heritage. The great faith of the pilgrims who founded America on the word of God has been steadily rejected for the past 40 years. The eclipse symbolises the darkness that is increasingly enveloping America .¹

The total eclipse over America is both a warning and a message of hope to our world.

Evangelist Billy Graham is reputed to have said that if God doesn’t judge America, he will have to apologise to Sodom and Gomorrah. Speaking of events that would indicate his near return, Jesus said: “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars…nations will be in anguish…People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” (Luke 21:25f)

Joel’s Prophecy

Luke also alludes to these signs from heaven happening in the ‘last days’ in reporting Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost during which the Apostle quotes the prophet Joel, thus: “I will show wonders in the heavens above, and signs on the earth below…the sun will be turned to darkness…before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.” (Acts 2:19f)

But the verse immediately following gives us great cause for hope, for it says: “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”Solar Eclipse

An Awesome Sign

Yes, the eclipse is a wondrous and awesome sign – but also a fearful one, in the light of God’s word which shall never fail (Isaiah 40:8). For the God of creation is also the God who cannot look on evil; that is why he turned his face away when his Son bore our sins on the Cross, causing our Lord to declare in his agony: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” quoting Psalm 22:1.

Our sins were judged on the Cross; they were condemned in fact. But if we trust in Christ for our salvation, we escape God’s judgment, for there is no condemnation for those who are “in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

The total eclipse over America is both a warning and a message of hope to our world in these days. The Apostle John records: “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil…. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light” (John 3:19-21).

A stable society can only be built on Jesus, who said: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

References 

¹ According to Space.com, this was the first total solar eclipse whose path of totality remained completely within the United States since the nation’s founding in 1776.