Back To The Future: History Is Important

First Maccabees Chapter 1, Verse 27: Then Mattathias cried out in the city, “Let everyone who is zealous for the law and who stands by the covenant follow me!”

If he has said it today in Washington D.C. would he have been arrested?  Did he incite a riot?  Well yes and no.  What would the woke generation think of this message? He would have been arrested and no he did not incite a riot he incited a full-blown revolt. A revolt that resulted in the retaking of the temple and the rebirth of Judaism. But the problem here is that many people do not know history.  Because of this fact, history can be revised right before your eyes. 

There is nothing new about this.  People have not changed throughout history.  This very thing is proven over and over again in the Holy Bible. 

Ecclesiastes 1:9 New American Bible:

What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun!

Ecclesiastes 1:10

Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to say: Behold this is new: for it hath already gone before in the ages that were before us.

Ecclesiastes 2:12

I passed further to behold wisdom, and errors and folly, (What is man, said I that he can follow the King his maker?)

Ecclesiastes 3:15

That which hath been made, the same continueth: the things that shall be, have already been: and God restoreth that which is past. 

Ecclesiastes 6:10

He that shall be, his name is already called: and it is known, that he is a man, and cannot contend in judgment with him that is stronger than himself.

Was Mattathias in a fight with the authorities?  Did he call for a fight against the government?  Was Matthias right? Maybe, just maybe there is a much deeper meaning and understanding here.  Could it be possible that God wants us to take a stand against things that are wrong?  Is it possible that being a Christian in troubled times calls for measures that would or could cause us to take a stand just like Mattathias?  

Look What the Bible Says About Making A Stand As Mattathias Did: 

Galatians 5:1: 

Stand fast and be not held again under the yoke of bondage.

Romans 8:15

For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear: but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: Abba (Father).

1 Corinthians 16:13

Watch ye: stand fast in the faith: do manfully and be strengthened.

2 Corinthians 3:17

Now the Lord is a Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 

2 Corinthians 11:20

For you suffer if a man brings you into bondage, if a man devours you, if a man takes from you if a man is lifted up if a man strikes you on the face.

Galatians 2:4

But because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privately to spy our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into servitude.

Now, do you think why it is so important for some to keep the books of Maccabees out of the Bible?  It really had nothing to do with the concept that these Books are not important.  Rather, it is just the contrary.  The reason they were left out by the Jews and Protestants is simply said, the same reason, the Maccabees are revolutionary books that empower people to politically stand against a government that is taking away their religious freedoms and their free speech.

This was true back in the 150’s BCE and true today.  The truth is the truth and this truth has not changed.  Standing for liberty is important then and important now.  Former Senator Barry M. Goldwater once said, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”

Are you ready to stand up for what is right?  Are you willing to take action so that the liberty we gained from the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is not taken over by the state?  Remember, Brothers and Sisters, this has happened before and it will happen again.  The question is not if but when.  The answer is as Christians, “We are ready!”