Martin Trench - Eyes Wide Open: How an ancient mystery, hidden in both the cosmos and the Bible, could bring about a spiritual awakening in your life

I became a Christian over 30 years ago, around 18 years of age. I had quite a dramatic conversion experience, and no one would ever be able to convince me that God wasnt real or that Jesus was not the Son of God and savior of the world after that. I came to faith in Christ during the Charismatic Movement in the UK, and so I wasnt just a Christian, I was an on fire enthusiastic, passionate, Spirit-filled" Christian.

That doesnt mean I was a Fundamentalist. I didnt even know what that meant. I was seeking to grow in my faith, in my personal relationship with God, in understanding scripture, discovering my God-given gifts and purpose, and becoming the kind of person God would want me to be. I didnt become a debater, or protestor, or professional arguer (thankfully, there were no social media then). My goal was to become a better personmore Christ-like. Maybe thats your goal too, and perhaps you find much of the Christian church and their response to things to be unhelpful and actually detrimental to you becoming more Christ-like. If so, you are one of the people this book was written for.

• If you are a Christian who feels that something is seriously wrong with much of modern-day Christianity, and your question is, Where is the love, compassion and forgiveness?
• If you are gaining more and more Biblical knowledge but somehow it just doesnt seem to fitlike you have all the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle but no picture to see how to put them all together.
• If you are a spiritual-but-not-religious seeker who finds Jesus and His message captivating but also sees the Christian Church as off-putting.
• If you are a pursuer of mysteries, secrets, and hidden things, and you feel that the Bible contains all kinds of hidden secrets that are ignored or overlooked or even unknown by religious people.

Then this book is for you.

On my spiritual journey as a Christian (and especially after I became a pastor and was able to observe the spiritual journeys of others), I became increasingly frustrated with four spiritual diseases" that I knew were wrong but which were so prevalent in the Christian Church. I also became fascinated with two mysteries that I kept coming across in the Bible and in Christian history, but which I heard no one speak about. Little did I know that the two mysteries contained the cure for the four spiritual diseases!

The spiritual diseases are Legalism, Literalism, Futurism, and Dualism. We will look at each of these in detail. The mysteries are the Mazzaroth (the zodiac in the Bible) and the Ages (and the meaning of the phrase the end of the Age in the Bible).

Firstly, why are there zodiac constellations mentioned so often in the Bible?

For instance: Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing (Isaiah 40:26).

And here: Can you direct the movement of the starsbinding the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion? Can you direct the constellations through the seasons or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens? Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth? (Job 38:31-33).

Same here: "And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as SIGNS to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the Earth." And it was so." (Genesis 1:14-15).

And here: "And there shall be SIGNS in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars." (Luke 21:25)

Likewise here: After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. (Matthew 2:1-2)

Also: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. (Psalm 19:1-2)

and here: A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. (Revelation 12:1)

These can be seen in many other places of the scripture.

Secondly, what is an "Age" and why does the Bible continually talk about "Ages" and the end of the Age as if the readers understand what period of time that means?

For instance: "Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the AGE." (Matthew 28:20)

Also: "Anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this AGE or in the AGE to come." (Matthew 12:32)

Same here: "The harvest is the end of the AGE, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the AGE." (Matthew 13:39-40)

Likewise here: "What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the AGE?" (Matthew 24:3)

Similarly: "No one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this AGE and, in the AGE to come, eternal life." (Luke 18:29-30)

As well here: "We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this AGE or of the rulers of this AGE... None of the rulers of this AGE understood it." (1 Corinthians 3:6-8)

Same here: "These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the AGES has come." (1 Corinthians 10:11)

Also: "[Christ was raised] far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present AGE but also in the one to come." (Ephesians 1:21)