Escape from Paradise Chapter 17 Study Questions
The banquet halls stand for individual churches, and the weekly meals represent Sunday worship services where teachers and preachers “serve up” God’s grace to the people like table waiters. This is why I depicted church leaders as servers at the meals. The Seven in Acts 6, who were the prototypes for deacons, were put in place to serve food to widows so the Apostles would not have to “neglect the ministry of the Word of God in order to wait on tables” (Acts 6:2).
The banquet halls made of wood (the same material as the cottage) depict churches that operate according to Scripture. Golden banquet halls are churches that have adopted worldly values and ways of thinking. Wood, in the story, represents the Scriptures—unimpressive to men, but glorious to those with eyes to see. Gold represents the world’s glory.
Some churches, out of a desire to appeal to the masses, compromise biblical standards and trim the offensive parts of the gospel. Such churches become worldly and lose their spiritual power.
Guardians vs. WarriorsThe guardians stand for angels. The concept of each person having a guardian angel is not explicitly stated in Scripture, but that certain angels are assigned to certain people seems to be implied in Matthew 18:10.
The primary task of angels is to minister to the saints.
“Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14).
The warriors depict demons.
Popular stories of spiritual warfare have depicted a war carried out mostly between angels and demons with humans offering prayer support. In Escape from Paradise, I have labored to show a more biblical model—a war between humans and evil spirits with angels offering support to the humans (Ephesians 6:12, Hebrews 1:14).
There is some indication in Scripture, however, of conflict between angels and demons when demons attempt to prevent angels from ministering to us. The evil spirit behind the Persian empire resisted the angel sent to Daniel for twenty-one days until Michael came and helped him (see Daniel 10:13).
Chapter 17 QuestionsEXCERPT
Surrounding the … cottage stood hundreds of smaller buildings. … “Every week we all gather there to observe the cottage.”“Why would you do that? I thought you could enter the cottage itself.” -p.139
QUESTION 1
In what sense does the Sunday gathering resemble a banquet? What “delicacies” are served? See John 21:15.
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