God’s sovereignty over all was well-emphasized in Hebrew culture: all things that come, good and bad, are from God. They were taught of His love and desire to bless, His encouragement to be obedient, and also the connection between disobedience and calamity.

The sun, moon, and stars are rich with symbolism. They represent the people of God shining for Him in a dark world.

Like the growing concentric circles from a pebble tossed in a lake, multitudes departed from the apostolic gospel. Bible teachings were perverted. Tradition and scholastic teachings led to corrupted doctrines.

God wants to save everyone, but people render themselves vulnerable to deceptions if they reject a teaching from the Lord, as this opens the door to a counterfeit teaching.

Our sworn enemy works incrementally, over time. Open persecution had only caused the church to grow. This subtle form of attack was (and is) infinitely more dangerous and deadly to souls.

They did not catch the symbolism right away, but Jesus encouraged their faith (and ours!) when He addressed the enormous “elephant in the room” . . .