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Tag: Abraham (Page 1 of 3)
According to Mark’s account of the life and message of Jesus, His ministry began with the announcement of Good News from God. This Good News was that the time was fulfilled, and that the kingdom of God was at hand. His call to the Galileans and to all Israel was for them to repent and believe His message of Good News. (Mark 1:14-15)
What were these expectations? Exactly what expectations were about to be fulfilled?
In previous chapters I have attempted to emphasize the importance of understanding the history that led up to the events surrounding the appearance of Jesus to His people. In our modern day, people seem to struggle to even understand our need for a Savior like Jesus. So often they hope that science or philosophy or political change can help us. And sometimes it does!
The Bible, however reveals that our real and deepest need is to return to a pure relationship with our Creator, God and Father who loves us. We too often go our own way, forgetting about Him and the true abundant life that flows from Him. So we search for substitutes that often just create more confusion and misery.
From the early chapters in Genesis, the story began to unfold of how that pure relationship with God would be restored unto us. God called Abram out of his country to start a new life, a new family, a new culture based upon trust in Him. God promised to prosper Abram with the land of Canaan and that through him and his son, all of the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-4). This is the Gospel, the Good News of the Kingdom of God in one of its earliest forms. (Galatians 3:8). This plan might be easy to miss in a study of the bible, but the thread of restoration runs throughout its pages.
When God established His covenant with Abram, He changed his name to Abraham, which means “father of many nations.” (Genesis 17:5) In his old age, he fathered Isaac, whom he was willing to offer to God as a sacrifice. Isaac would be spared, showing how God Himself would provide that very sacrifice 2,000 years later! (Genesis 22:8, John 3:16).
Abraham’s grandson Jacob would soon become the focus of the story. He would eventually face a crisis that led him to meeting his grandfather’s God for himself. In this crisis he had a dream where he saw a place where heaven and the earth were joined. Then God renewed His covenant with Jacob and restated His promise to give him Canaan, and to bless all the families of the earth through his descendants. (Genesis 28:12-19) Jacob recognized the place where he heard the Voice of the LORD and named that place Bethel, which means “House of God.” This began a pattern of acknowledging “sacred space and time” that continued with Moses, who met God at the burning bush near mount Sinai. The descendants of Jacob had been held as slaves for over 400 years, and here Moses was called to deliver them. After he led them out of Egypt, Moses was instructed by God to build for Him a place where He could regularly meet with His people. (Exodus 25:22)
The Tabernacle in the Wilderness was a fascinating environment that is described in great detail in Exodus chapters 25-27. It was designed to be portable for their 40 year journey to their promised inheritance. This is a wonderful study in itself. The important thing is that the God of Israel, whose Name is I AM, was reaching out to meet with humanity. He provided a way for sinful humans to approach Him, to worship Him and to learn of His ways.
Several generations passed before a permanent temple was built in Jerusalem. Gone was the tent which was taken down and moved by the priestly tribe of Levites to the next encampment. After their first king Saul was replaced by David, Solomon took the throne, and built this beautiful structure. On the day the temple was dedicated, the glory of the Lord filled the house. The priests could no longer stand for the cloud of His Presence was so strong! Heaven had come to earth again! Yet even Solomon knew that this building could not contain an infinite God (1 Kings 8:26-28, 2 Chronicles 2:5-6). It could only represent God’s great interest and love for us.
David also remarked that God was everywhere present, and the Lord through Jeremiah declared the same. (Psalm 139:6-12, Jeremiah 23:23-24) Yet, God understands that we are beings who live in a three dimensional world. We need His help in comprehending Him. He has at times revealed Himself in extraordinary signs and miracles, but He has established His teachings as the normal way of meeting, learning about and knowing Him.
Think about it! In John’s gospel, Jesus, the Son of God is synonymous with The Word of God (John 1:1,14). The Eternal Word of God that spoke the universe into existence, took up residence in a human body, born of a virgin, Jesus of Nazareth! This is a great mystery! Yet those who have been confronted with the reality that Jesus is God’s revelation of Himself to humanity cannot deny it! Jesus Himself claimed that to see Him was to see the Heavenly Father (John 14:9). Paul declared that Jesus is the very image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15-16). The writer of the letter to the Hebrews states that “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3 NIV).
God the Father communicates to us all through His Word which was and is fully revealed in Jesus! The Tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple in Jerusalem represented what Jesus would later become for us. He was the sacrifice on the alter. He was the Bread of Life that was laid out on the table. He was the Light of the World in the Golden Candlestick. He was our intercessor in the Golden Alter of Incense. Most of all, He became the Ark of the Covenant that radiated the glory and divine presence of heaven on earth!
Earlier we mentioned the experience of Jacob, when he saw in a dream the ladder reaching up to heaven, with angels of God ascending and descending on it (Genesis 28:12). In John 1:51, Jesus made an interesting statement. He told the young Nathaniel that he would see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on Himself, the Son of Man. Can you see the connection? Jacob acknowledged this symbol of heaven and earth coming together as the House of God. God has been pleased to establish places on earth like Mount Sinai, the Tabernacle in the wilderness and the Temple in Jerusalem to meet with His people. Now He has established the ultimate form of communication between Himself and humanity. This perfect, sinless life — this teacher of love and forgiveness — this most fair and righteous judge — this perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world — Jesus, is the location where heaven and earth meet!
1 Timothy 2:1-6:
“First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time.” NASB
Two thousand years ago, Jesus came to announce that the time for change had come. No longer do we seek for a physical location on earth to meet with God. Those who worship God will worship Him in Spirit and Truth where ever they are! (John 4:24). Christ Himself has come to live His life in us and through us! The Holy Spirit is transforming our hearts, and His Word is renewing our minds. Heaven and earth are reconciled in Jesus as we live and breathe and walk in Him today!
(2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Colossians 1:13-20, Ephesians 1:9-10)
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In previous chapters we have looked at many of the foundations that were laid in the ancient scriptures of the Hebrews, known to Christians as the Old Testament. Jesus declared that the completed bible of His day was unbreakable. Paul His apostle said these writings were “breathed by God” and were profitable, having many things to teach us. (Matthew 5:17-18, John 10:35, 2 Timothy 3:16, Romans 15:4). When one trusts in Christ and receives the Holy Spirit, it is not too difficult to begin to see and understand how powerful these words can become to us. While to some they seem like dead letters on a page, to us they reveal the very heart and will of God for the world!
Scholars from the very first centuries have understood the connections between the old and new testaments. Many of them knew that Jesus actually came and fulfilled many of the promises of the old testament by dying for our sins and overcoming death for our victory. Hundreds of years ago, many of them also saw that God had further plans for His creation. Since then, for various reasons, Christian pastors and teachers have become focused more on the very important issue of personal forgiveness. Today however, more people are becoming concerned about the world around them, and wonder what God intends not only for His people, but also for this very planet that He created. They are finding that the new testament prophecies cannot be fully understood without the context from which they were written, and the backdrop of the old testament.
For as long as I can remember people have started at the last book of the bible, The Revelation, and have tried to predict what will come upon the world in the near future. This approach can stir up much excitement and interest. However, the entire bible has much to say about the future of humanity. Knowing more of the whole bible can give us a better understanding of what this one highly symbolical and figurative book is about. Our approach then is to slow down, and to patiently allow God’s great plan and purpose of the ages to unfold before our eyes! God’s method is “precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:” (Isa 28:10 KJV). We would do well to accept His methods!
If you agree with the content of our last chapter, and desire to fight off the gloom and despair that tries to defeat us, I encourage you to take the promises of the Old Testament seriously. It is in the opening verses of the bible that we learn about why we are here. God created the earth and everything in it. Then at last He created humans to rule over it and to care for it. Have you ever struggled with the fact that we have lost that dominion?
In a 1971 song by the rock band, The Doors, Jim Morrison expressed this sentiment:
Riders on the storm,
Riders on the storm,
Into this house we’re born,
Into this world we’re throne,
Like a dog without a bone,
An actor out on lone,
Riders on the storm.
Could it be that his concept of a helpless, meaningless existence led to the reckless lifestyle that led to his death at 27, shortly after recording this song?
Without a connection with our Creator our existence can seem meaningless. We can easily waste the short time we have seeking pleasure or possessions in an attempt to fill the void that can only be satisfied by Him. Even we as Christians can secumb to feelings of despair and hopelessness — if we give more of our attention to the ideas of unbelieving politicians and entertainers than to the living Word of God!
No, God created us and this universe for His glory, goodness and love. We are not prisoners of our own lusts and slaves to our own instincts. What was lost in the fall was restored to us in Christ! The writer to the Hebrews reminds us this with these words and with a quote from the 8th Psalm of King David:
Hebrews 2:5-12 NASB (Earth Subject to Man)
5 For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. 6 But one has testified somewhere, saying,
“WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU REMEMBER HIM? OR THE SON OF MAN, THAT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HIM? 7 “YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS;YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR,AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; 8 YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET.”
For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.
9 But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren…”
Yes, Christ is the Second Adam, Who fully is the image of the invisible God. (1 Corinthians 15:47-49, Colossians 1:15, Hebrews 1:1-3). In Adam we all die, but IN CHRIST, we are all made alive! In Him we can be restored to our rightful place of dominion over the earth, to rule and reign with Him. (1 Corinthians 15:22, 2 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 20:6) First we must understand that the way up is down. That is, we must follow the example of Christ in His humility and servanthood. Only as He sanctifies, sets us apart unto His pure motives and character can we be trusted with this authority. (Philippians 2:1-13). We are not called to reign in oppression, but to reign in life and blessing! (Romans 5:17)
Certainly much of this is in the future, but we can see already in the Early Church, believers possessing power over demons and diseases. Knowing who we are and our purpose in Christ is the first step toward living the full and abundant life! Believe it!
It is time that we quit embracing our failures and begin to take hold of our victory in Christ! Lord I believe but help me overcome my unbelief! As you consider these promises, I sincerely hope that many of you begin to sense that you were created for more than mere survival, mere existence. You have not been thrown into this universe, you have a destiny to fulfill in Christ! We can barely comprehend that now, but He is calling us all forward, upward and onward into that destiny in Him!
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