Wisdom

How do I become wise?

The Cambridge Dictionary defines wisdom as "the ability to make good judgments based on what you have learned from your experience, or the knowledge and understanding that gives you this ability."¹ We probably all know someone whom we consider to be wise by that definition, but what is the source of that wisdom?

Image of God

Certainly we see human beings who have no connection or commitment to God exhibiting wisdom by that definition. I would suggest that, even for them, wisdom ultimately comes from God. In an earlier chapter of the Core 52⁴ book we saw that people are created in "the image of God". Looking at the definition above, certainly God possessed good judgement, experience knowledge, and understanding to a level of perfection that no human being can match. But because people are created in God's image, they can also possess wisdom at a lesser, imperfect level.

Word of God

In Deuteronomy 4:5-6 Moses is reminding the people of Israel of God's Laws which have been taught to them. He says:

"See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it. So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'"²

This scripture seems to suggest that one can increase in wisdom by studying, understanding, and living out God's written Word.

Gift of God

Solomon had just taken over as King of Israel and had given his "inauguration  speech", after which he and the entire assembly went to worship God at the tabernacle (tent) that had been used for worship until this point (the brick and mortar temple was not completed yet). There they prayed and offered burnt offerings to God.

That night God revealed himself to Solomon and said, "Ask for what you would like me to give you."

Here is Solomon's response (2 Chronicles 1:8-10):

“You demonstrated great loyalty to my father David and have made me king in his place. Now, LORD God, may your promise to my father David be realized, for you have made me king over a great nation as numerous as the dust of the earth. Now give me wisdom and discernment so I can effectively lead this nation. Otherwise who would be able to make judicial decisions for this great nation of yours?”³

And God's response to Solomon (2 Chronicles 1:11-12):

“Because you desire this, and did not ask for riches, wealth, and honor, or for vengeance on your enemies, and because you did not ask for long life, but requested wisdom and discernment so you can make judicial decisions for my people over whom I have made you king, you are granted wisdom and discernment."³

So in this case wisdom was a gift from God to Solomon because of his specific request.

Emmanuel - God with us

In 1 Corinthians 1:26-30 Paul says this:

"Think about the circumstances of your call, brothers and sisters. Not many were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were born to a privileged position. But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something, so that no one can boast in his presence. He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption."³

 Jesus is the ultimate source and embodiment of God’s wisdom:

• He revealed God in human form that we can see and understand.
• Yet He is also fully God.
• In the Bible we have God’s wisdom in the written word (because it reveals Jesus).
• In Jesus we have God’s Wisdom in the living word (John 1:1)

Can human beings exhibit wisdom without a commitment to God? Yes, to a degree. But the best, most complete wisdom comes from God and commitment to him through his written word and his living word, Jesus. Gain wisdom by seeking God through Jesus and living by his guidance.

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1. (Definition of wisdom from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

2. Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible


3. Scripture quoted by permission, the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2016 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

4. This post is the result of my studies based on the book by Mark E. Moore, Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Daily Guide to Building your Bible IQ in a Year, published by WaterBook (Penguin Random House)

Trade Paperback ISBN 978-0-525-65325-7

ebook isbn 978-0-525-65326-4

Jesus Rejected

If Jesus was rejected by his own people, why should I accept him?

Who is in charge here? (Matthew 21:23-27)

Jesus is teaching in the temple, which in itself is an affront to the chief priests and elders because they consider themselves to be the leaders of the people and the authority in the temple.
So they confront him.
“Who gave you the authority to teach here?”
The implication here is that they don’t want Jesus teaching here because he is usurping their authority.
But Jesus, knowing that the people were sympathetic to him, wasn’t going to give in to these guys that easily:

“If you answer my question, I will answer yours. Where did John the Baptist get his authority, from heaven or from men?”

Now the chief priests and elders find themselves in a predicament:

“If we say ‘from heaven’, he will say, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say ‘from men’, the people won’t respect us because they think John was a prophet.”

So they answered, “We don’t know.”  To which Jesus said, “Then I’m not going to answer your question.” The fact is, however, They knew what Jesus would have answered; he had said it many times before; he would have said his authority came from God his Father.

The Moral of the Story (Mathew 21:28-41)

Now Jesus, still speaking in the presence of the chief priests and elders, tells two stories (we call them “parables”) to illustrate the unwillingness of Israel’s leaders to believe him. First, here is an explanation of the symbolism. In the Old Testament the nation of Israel is often described symbolically as a vineyard, and the people of Israel are the workers in the vineyard. Second, understand the attitude of the self-righteous religious leaders of the time: They saw themselves as the good guys who always obeyed God and they saw the “tax collectors and prostitutes” as the evil, worthless bad guys. Jesus purposely chose two of the most despised groups in their culture to make his point.

Here is Jesus’ first story (parable):

A man owns a vineyard and has two sons. He goes to both sons and asks them to go work in the vineyard.

• One son says, “I won’t go”, but later he has a change of heart and goes to work.
• One son says, “I will, sir”, but then did not go to work.

Jesus then asks those around him, including the elders, “Which of the two sons did what the father wanted? The chief priests and elders responded, “The first one”, that is, the one who at first said "no" but then changed his attitude and went.

Jesus then responds to them:

"I tell you the truth, tax collectors and prostitutes will go ahead of you into the kingdom of God! For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe. Although you saw this, you did not later change your minds and believe him." (NET)

Here is a summary and explanation of Jesus’ response.

• The father represents God.
• The son who said “no” at first but then went represents the “tax collectors and prostitutes”.
• They had, at first, rejected God but then, when Jesus came, they had a change of heart and embraced Jesus and God’s way.
• They are more likely to get into the kingdom of God than the religious leaders.
• The son who said “yes” but then did not go represents the religious leaders.
• They think they are following God’s way but they are not.
• God sent Jesus to them and yet they refuse to acknowledge him.
• Jesus then uses John the Baptist to further illustrate his point.
• John the Baptist came as God’s representative teaching repentance and righteousness.
• The “tax collectors and prostitutes” changed their minds, believed John, and turned to God.
• The religious leaders refused to change their hearts and minds when they heard John.

We are all children of God. Will we be the children who, even though we may have at first rebelled, turn and embrace God’s son?

Here is Jesus’ second story (parable):

A landowner planted a vineyard, complete with all the necessary components: a fence, A pit for the winepress, and a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went off on extended leave. When harvest time came he sent some of his employees to collect his percentage of the crop. The tenants grabbed the employees and beat them and killed them. When the owner didn’t hear from his employees, he sent another larger group of employees but the tenants treated them the same as the first. Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking that the tenants would respect his own son. When the tenants saw that the owner’s son was coming, they thought, “This is the heir. If we kill him we can get the inheritance - the vineyard will be ours!” So they grabbed his son and killed him.

Then Jesus asked them, “When the owner himself comes, what will he do with those tenants?” The religious leaders answered, “He will execute those evil murderers and lease the vineyard to other more honest, trustworthy tenants.”

Before we look at Jesus’ response to them, let’s explore the symbolism of this parable.

• The landowner represents God.
• The vineyard represents Israel.
• The tenants represent the civil and religious leaders of Israel who were supposed to watch over and care for the vineyard.
• The employees represent the prophets of the Old Testament whom God sent to Israel with his message to be faithful to Him. Many of them were persecuted and killed because the people, particularly the leaders, did not want to listen and accept what they said.
• The son represents Jesus, whom the religious leaders are already plotting to kill, and in fact, will be executed in just a few days.

The Rejected Stone (Matthew 21:42-44)

For his final comments on this parable, Jesus goes to their scriptures and quotes Psalm 118:22-23, applying it to himself.

The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. (ESV)

Then he adds, speaking of the religious,civic leaders of Israel:

• “For this reason I tell you that the kingdom will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.”
• “The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and the one on whom it falls will be crushed.”

Jesus is the cornerstone, the foundation of this new people, this new “nation”,  that will carry on the banner of the kingdom of God. The old self righteous, self serving leaders are out; the new self-sacrificing servant leader is coming in.

If Jesus was rejected by his own people, why should I accept him?

Note that Matthew remarks here (verses 45-46) that, as they were listening to Jesus, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest Jesus but they were afraid of the common people who regarded Jesus as a prophet of God. So while it is true that the religious leaders rejected him, many of the other people accepted him as being sent by God.

Did the religious leaders reject Jesus? Yes they did. They rejected him in the face of overwhelming evidence. Their own self-centered attitude blinded them to the truth. Many others saw the truth and believed Jesus: “...because the crowds regarded him as a prophet.”

A “tax collector” named Matthew who, because of his profession, was despised and rejected by most of the citizens of Israel, accepted and followed Jesus. As a result, he wrote down many events of Jesus life and many of the words Jesus spoke. Matthew is known and respected today because of his humble service to Jesus and to the kingdom of God.

 About 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection, Peter, a small business man, stood up and gave an inspiring speech in front of thousands of people in Jerusalem defending Jesus as the Son of God. He concluded his speech with these words, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know beyond a doubt that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.” As a result, over 3000 people chose to believe in Jesus as the Son of God and to turn to God through baptism.

So, yes, a few hundred self righteous religious leaders rejected Jesus, but within two months of their rejection thousands of people embraced Jesus as coming from God.

Have you ever noticed that rejection seems to be part of life? Have you ever felt rejection? We all have. Jesus has been there. He has experienced rejection just like we have, so maybe he can help us get through it. Sometimes rejection can be debilitating, but sometimes it can lead to new opportunities. Let Jesus help you discover those opportunities.

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Scripture quoted by permission. All scripture quotations, designated by NET are taken from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2016 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations designated ESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

This post is the result of my studies based on the book by Mark E. Moore, Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Daily Guide to Building your Bible IQ in a Year, published by WaterBook (Penguin Random House)

Trade Paperback ISBN 978-0-525-65325-7

ebook isbn 978-0-525-65326-4

Messiah

Is there proof that Jesus is the Messiah?

A theme runs throughout the Hebrew scriptures, what we call the Old Testament. That theme is something like this: “Someone is coming; he will be a great and powerful leader and he will make us a great nation again.” It also says of him:

• He will be a human being, a descendant of David.
• He will also be the Son of God.
• He is often called “the anointed one”.

Defining terms: Messiah and Christ

• English “Messiah” from the Hebrew masiah, means “anointed one”.
• English “Christ” from Greek christos, means “anointed one”.

When you see words like this in an English Bible translation, they are “transliterations” of the original language word. That is, rather than “translate” the original word with an already existing English word or phrase (“anointed one”), they created a new English word that “sounds like” the original word (“Messiah”, “Christ”).

Defining terms: LORD and Lord

• The English LORD (with all capital letters) is used to translate the original Hebrew word ehyeh, the official name of God which he explained to Moses in Exodus 3:14-15.
• When God says it speaking of himself, it would be ehyeh, English “I AM”.
• When the people said it speaking of God, they said yahweh, English transliteration “Jehovah”, which means “he is”.
• The English word “lord” or “Lord” in lower-case letters is a translation of the Hebrew adonai which means “Lord, Lord” in English. It comes from the Hebrew adon which means “lord”, or “master”, or “boss”.

Confrontation - Matthew 22:15-46

We are in Jerusalem three days before Jesus is crucified and he is teaching in the temple area. The religious leaders are already plotting to kill him, but they want to discredit him so they can justify their actions to the people. they come to Jesus and confront him with "trick" questions that they hope will trip him up. Matthew 23:15 says,"Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap him in what he said."

First, they ask him about paying taxes: "Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" If he says they should not pay taxes, he would be violating Roman law and they could use that to have him arrested. If he says they should pay taxes the people would not like the response because they all hated the Roman taxes and tax collectors. So Jesus gave a very careful, clever answer, "Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and give to God the things that are God's.

Next, the Sadducees, who did not believe in resurrection, came and asked him another trick question, which was really meant to mock the idea of resurrection. Here is a simplified summary of their question:

A woman's husband dies before they have any children. She remarries and that husband also dies before they have any children. This happens seven times. After the resurrection, when they are all raised from the dead, which one of them will be her husband?

Jesus answers, "You are mistaken, because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God. After the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven."

Next, they send a lawyer, an expert in the Law of Moses, to ask him a question: "Which commandment in the Law of Moses is the greatest?" Jesus gives an answer that summarizes the Law completely and perfectly:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.

Now Jesus turns the tables and asks them a question: "What do you think about the Christ [Messiah, anointed one]? Whose son is he?

They know what their scripture says, so they answer: "The son [descendant] of David."

Jesus asks them a couple of  followup questions using Psalm 110:1

• Then how does David in the Spirit call him 'Lord', saying, 'the LORD said to my Lord, "sit and my right hand, until I put your enemies beneath your feet"'? 
• If David calls him 'Lord", how can he be his son?

The Pharisees were not able to answer the question without contradicting their cultural and religious beliefs.

Explanation

In order to understand what Jesus did here, we need to understand some cultural beliefs of the time.

• A father was always considered to be greater than a son.
• A descendant many generations later was still considered to be a "son".
• They believed that Psalm 110 was speaking of the coming Messiah King.
• They saw in their scripture that the coming Messiah (anointed one) would be a great human ruler
• They missed the part in their scripture about the Messiah being the "Son of God".

They were unable to answer Jesus because they could not accept that the one David was speaking about was more than just a man. In their minds, David would never have called this person "Lord" (master) if he were just a human descendant.

Psalm 110 and Jesus

In this Psalm, God says two things to the person who is the subject of the Psalm. First, he says:

"The LORD (Jehovah God) said to my Lord (master): Sit at my right hand..."

• David acknowledged that this person was greater than himself.
• To sit at the right hand of God means being equal to God.
• Then in verses 2 and 3 this person is described as being a ruler or king.

About fifty days after Jesus' resurrection Peter was speaking about Jesus to a large crowd in Jerusalem. He spoke about his crucifixion and his resurrection, and then he said Jesus had been exalted to the "right hand of God". Peter quotes Psalm 110:1 and then says, "Therefore, let all the house of Israel know beyond a doubt that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ."  (Acts 2:36)

The second thing God says about this person is this:

"You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."

• In the Jewish mind, it would be unusual, even unacceptable, for the same person to be both priest and king.

Jesus, descendant of David and Son of God, uniquely fits the description of the person in Psalm 110. He completed the role of the priest once and for all by humbling himself and sacrificing his life for us, he has been raised from the dead, and he is now at the right hand of God ruling over his spiritual kingdom.

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This post is the result of my studies based on the book by Mark E. Moore, Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Daily Guide to Building your Bible IQ in a Year, published by WaterBook (Penguin Random House)

Trade Paperback ISBN 978-0-525-65325-7

ebook isbn 978-0-525-65326-4

Finding Happiness

[NOTE: this post is late and not in the same order as the chapter in the Core 52  book.]

Does God want you to be happy?

This topic really startled me the first time I saw it. I have to say that "happiness" is not a concept that has value and meaning to me. In fact, as I thought about this topic after reading the essay, I found that I am more likely to use the word happy in a negative sense:

• "I am not happy with this Bible study outline that I spent hours preparing."
• "I am not happy with the outcome of the equipment repair I just completed."

And yet "happiness", whatever that is, seems to be a near universal human desire. I think we could certainly answer the above question with a "Yes", but that just raises other questions:

• What is happiness?
• Should happiness be our highest priority?
• Can happiness deceive us and pull us away from God's will?

Blessed vs. Happiness

In his Core 52... book, Mark Moore begins his essay on "Finding Happiness" with Psalm 1:1-3:

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.

He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.

Then later in his essay while referring to this Psalm Mr. Moore says this:

"Psalm 1 is the single most important passage in he Bible on happiness. It opens with the word blessed - the Bible's term for 'happy'..."

Considering our modern cultural understanding of "happiness", I just cannot agree with that statement. Let me explain why. In the Old Testament there is a Hebrew word group that is usually translated into English as 'blessed'; and in the New Testament there is a Greek word that is usually translated into English as "blessed". The English Bible translations, however, are somewhat inconsistent in this regard; usually the words are translated as "blessed" but sometimes they are translated as "happy". In their defense, translators may use different English words for the same original language word because they believe the context leads to a different meaning. In most instances, however, I just do not think "happy" represents the appropriate meaning. Particularly, in Psalm 1, I believe "blessed" represents the appropriate meaning and "happy' does not.

Here is my understanding of there two concepts:

• Blessed is our status or our condition, based on our relationship to God and His work in our lives.
• Happiness is a feeling, an emotion, that may or may not result from a blessing.

In other words, blessed is what we are; happy is how we may feel as a result. There are certainly circumstances in which we are blessed by God, but we do not in that moment, or even for some time, feel happy about our circumstance.

I would like to point to Matthew 5:1-12, known as the "Beatitudes", where "blessed" is a key concept. Look carefully at these statements. Every one of them describes the person's status or condition based on God's work in their lives, not some feeling that they may or may not be experiencing at the moment.

I have had many moments when I did not feel "happy" about my circumstances, but in that moment I was able to turn to God in prayer and thank him for the many blessings I have from Him and my blessed condition through Him. What about you?

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Scripture quotations labeled as NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible

This post is the result of my studies based on the book by Mark E. Moore, Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Daily Guide to Building your Bible IQ in a Year, published by WaterBook (Penguin Random House)

Trade Paperback ISBN 978-0-525-65325-7

ebook isbn 978-0-525-65326-4

The Good Shepherd

The Lord is my shepherd; what does that mean for me?

My Grandfather Quaintance was a farmer in the 1940's and 1950's. He had several different farm animals on his farm - horses, cows, hogs, chickens, and sheep. I learned from spending time on his farm that the sheep were the most fragile of those animals, requiring more care and attention than the others. It doesn't surprise me, therefore, to see that the imagery of the shepherd and sheep is  used throughout the Bible to represent God and human beings respectively. People, like sheep, are fragile, needing care and attention.

Shepherd Theme

As we look at the history of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament we can see that the concept of a shepherd watching over his sheep was of central importance to the formation of the nation. The "father" of the nation, Abraham, was a nomad farmer who was noted for his large herds of animals, many of them sheep and goats. Moses worked for 40 years as a shepherd before he led the people of Israel out of Egypt. When Moses spoke to God about the appointment of his successor he said,

“Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all humankind, appoint a man over the community, who will go out before them, and who will come in before them, and who will lead them out, and who will bring them in, so that the community of the Lord may not be like sheep that have no shepherd.”  (Numbers 27:16-17 NET

God chose David, a shepherd, to be the second king of the nation of Israel. This concept of sheep and shepherding was a central part of their culture from the beginning.

Spiritual Shepherds

It is no surprise, then, that this concept began to be used symbolically to describe the relationship between God, the human leaders of Israel, and the people. I would like to look at an example of this symbolism. The prophet Ezekiel was active during the siege of Jerusalem by Babylon and spoke of the failure of the human leaders of Israel that led to the conquest and destruction of the city. He spoke also of a future time when the people would again have a good shepherd. Consider Ezekiel chapter 34:1-6 which describes the failure of those leaders:

The Lord’s message came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them—to the shepherds: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not shepherds feed the flock? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the choice animals, but you do not feed the sheep! You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled over them. They were scattered because they had no shepherd, and they became food for every wild beast. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them." (NET)

Note how the symbolism of shepherds and sheep is used to describe how the human leaders of Israel exploited the people for their own self interest instead of serving them and caring for them. Then in verse 11, speaking of a future time of restoration, God says, "Look, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out." Then in verses 23-24 God explains how he will accomplish this restoration:

I will set one shepherd over them, and he will feed them—namely, my servant David. He will feed them and will be their shepherd. I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken! (NET)

God will provide a new leader, like the great king David, who will serve God and the people and lead them to spiritual restoration.

Jesus the Good Shepherd

This theme continues into the New Testament where Jesus takes on the title and responsibility of the Good Shepherd in John 10:11-14:

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and runs away. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, he runs away. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep." (NET)

Jesus led them and served them. As a descendant of David, Jesus fulfilled God’s statement in Ezekiel 34:23 that he would provide a human shepherd-leader like David. As the Son of God, Jesus also fulfilled God’s statement in Ezekiel 34:11, “I myself will search for my sheep…”

Jesus leads us and serves us. He is our Good Shepherd.
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Scripture quoted by permission. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2016 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

This post is the result of my studies based on the book by Mark E. Moore, Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Daily Guide to Building your Bible IQ in a Year, published by WaterBook (Penguin Random House)

Trade Paperback ISBN 978-0-525-65325-7

ebook isbn 978-0-525-65326-4

Prophesy

Is there proof that Jesus is God's Son?

Most people in the developed world today live in a urban environment, and in a scientific and technological culture. Even so, what kind of things do we believe?  If the popularity of television shows is any measure, a lot of people believe in things they cannot see and things from "another world". How about these?

• Ghost hunters
• Long Island Medium
• Hollywood Medium with Tyler Henry

Or how about these things?

• People held captive by extra-terrestrial beings
• The government hiding UFO's in Roswell New Mexico
• Anything posted on Facebook must be true

Prophecy

The Judaeo-Christian Bible (particularly the Old Testament) records a lot of the spoken words and writings of human beings called "prophets". They claimed to be speaking or writing words that God had given to them. When we look at their words we can generally conclude two things:

• They were delivering a message from God to the people around them.
• Sometimes those messages included a description, sometimes in detail, of future events that we now know occurred hundreds of years after the prophet spoke the words.

In his book, Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Daily Guide to Building your Bible IQ in a Year, Mark Moore mentions several of these prophesies. One of these prophesies states that a descendant of King David would be known as the anointed one (Messiah),  "the Son of God", and that he would rule the nations (Psalm 2). Other prophesies, written down more that 400 years before Jesus was born, give details of the life of Jesus:

• He would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)
• He would be preceded by a forerunner (Malachi 3:1)
• He would enter Jerusalem riding a donkey (Zechariah 9:9)
• He would be betrayed by a friend, which would result in his hands being wounded (Zechariah 13:6)
• He would be sold for 30 pieces of silver, which would be given to a potter (Zechariah 11:12-13)
• He would stand silent before his oppressors (Isaiah 53:7)
• He would die by crucifixion (Psalm 22:16)

I want to tell you about an amazing, detailed prophesy that was written 500 years before Jesus was born. This is found in the Old Testament book of Daniel, chapter 9. First, I want to put this prophesy in its historical context.

• In 605 BC, some key events occur.
• The prophet Jeremiah, in Jerusalem, predicts the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and the captivity of the people for 70 years.
• Babylon invades Judah but leaves Jerusalem intact
• Some Jewish people are carried away in captivity to Babylon. Daniel is one of those who is taken to Babylon. He is a young man, perhaps even a teenager, when he is taken.
• From 605 to 603 BC Daniel and some other young men are trained to be servants in the royal palace of King Nebuchadnezzar.
• In 588 BC, Jeremiah, still in Jerusalem, writes a letter to the Jewish captives in Babylon, again describing the destruction of Jerusalem and the 70 years of captivity; but also describing a coming restoration.
• In 586 BC, Babylon attacks and destroys Jerusalem and the temple.
• Many years later in 539 BC, Daniel, now an elderly man, is reminded of Jeremiah's writings from many years earlier.

Daniel 9:1-3 describes how Daniel looked at Jeremiah's writings, and how that led him to turn to God in prayer for his people and for Jerusalem. Verses 4-19 record his prayer. Verses 20-23 describe how, as a result of Daniel's prayer, he has a vision in which God gives him a message describing the future of his people, the city of Jerusalem, and the temple through the angel Gabriel. Verses 24-27 are the message:

24 "Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. 

25 So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. 

26 Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 

27 And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate." (NASB)

We will first look at the timeline for this prophesy and then we will look at the purposes for and the significance of the prophesy. The message speaks of "seventy weeks" or "seventy 'sevens'". Some English Bibles translate this as "weeks" and some as "sevens". The original Hebrew word simply means "group of seven". Where did these numbers come from? Remember that Daniel was led to pray when he read Jeremiah's writing which describes 70 years of destruction and oppression. We might paraphrase the message from God to Daniel like this: "Jeremiah spoke of seventy years; now I am telling you what will happen over the next seventy-times-seven years." So we are looking at a prophesy that will take place over 490 years (70 x 7 = 490).

Next, verse 25 further defines the 70 'sevens' as "seven 'sevens' and sixty-two 'sevens'", but what is the significance of this division? We have a hint of an explanation there in verse 25. The message is speaking of restoring and rebuilding Jerusalem, saying, "... it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress." So we can conclude that the seven 'sevens', 49 years, is the period when the city of Jerusalem will be rebuilt, and that is historically accurate. But what about the sixty-two 'sevens'? This section of the message is defining the combined period of seven 'sevens' and sixty-two 'sevens' with a starting event and an ending event:

• The starting event is the "decree" to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.
• The ending event is the appearing of the anointed one [Messiah], the prince.

So to summarize the math:

• 7 X 7 = 49 years
• 62 X 7 = 434 years
• 49 + 434 = 483 years
• Therefore, the prophetic message is defining a period of 483 years from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem until the anointed one is revealed.

Now we need to identify the starting event for the 483 years. I believe it is Ezra's command to begin work on rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem in 457 BC. Please see my previous post "Daniel 9 Timeline" for a detailed explanation of the reason for choosing that date.

Next we need to identify the ending event. Throughout the Old Testament period prophets and the Jewish scriptures spoke of a coming anointed one, a Messiah, who would be a caretaker and ruler of the people. This is the person identified in verse 25 as "the anointed one, the prince." The Hebrew word that is translated into English as "Messiah" simply means "anointed one". Further, the New Testament scriptures identify Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the anointed one. In fact, Jesus himself claimed to be the Messiah.

Now we begin to transition from timing to purpose. This prophetic message defines the purpose for the 483 and 490 years as well as the timing. Does Jesus fit the profile of the Messiah as defined by this prophetic message? Let's look at timing and purpose:

Timing: 483 years from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the anointed one (Messiah)

• 457 BC - The beginning event: the decree to rebuild Jerusalem
• -457 BC + 483 years = 26 AD
• Jesus was born about 4 BC (see the previous post  "Daniel 9 Timeline"  for details)
• In Luke 3:23 Luke says Jesus was "about thirty years old" when he was baptized and began his public ministry.
• -4 BC + 30 = 26 AD

If Jesus was born in 4 BC, and he was 30 years of age when he was baptized and began his ministry, he fits the time line of the prophesy. Thus, we can say that one of the purposes for this prophesy was to identify the Messiah.

There are some other purposes and events identified by this prophesy. Verse 24 states six purposes for the 490 years (seventy 'sevens'). I have listed them here along with an explanation of how Jesus fulfills or completes them:

• to finish the transgression
• to make an end of sin
• These first two are resolved by Jesus' presence here on earth, his Crucifixion, and his resurrection. Sin is still present here on earth, but God took the action that will ultimately deal with the problem of human sin (falling short of God's standard).
• to make atonement for iniquity
• Through his death, Jesus paid the penalty we should have paid, received the sentence we should have received.
• to bring in everlasting righteousness
• Through his death and resurrection, Jesus made it possible for us to be declared righteous, declared innocent, even though we are guilty of missing God's standard
• to seal up vision and prophecy
• Jesus said, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17 NASB) 
• to anoint the most holy place
• The word "place" does not occur in the original language and was added by the translators. It could as easily be "the most holy one". It could be said that Jesus was "anointed" at his baptism.

We have looked at verses 24 and 25 and their description of the first 483 years; now we will consider the events described in the second half of the prophesy, verses 26 and 27.

Verse 26 describes two events that will occur "after" the 483 years, but it does not say how long after.

• "The Messiah will be cut off and have nothing..."
• I believe this is speaking of Jesus arrest and execution about three
• "The people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
• A coming ruler will destroy the city of Jerusalem and the temple again. 
• Roman armies did this in 70 AD.

I want to make a brief comment about a phrase in verse 26 that may be misunderstood. "And its end will come with a flood." This does not mean a flood of water; it means a flood, or overwhelming number, of soldiers. Although not common usage, even in English we sometimes use the word flood to describe some overwhelming mass of something other than water.

Now we need to look at verse 27. It is actually dealing with two different things.

"And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering..."

The meaning of this phrase hinges on a determination of who the pronoun "he" refers to. There are two possibilities from the previous verse: The Messiah or the ruler who will come and destroy Jerusalem. I think it is clear that Jesus the Messiah is the intended subject for the following reasons:

• "He will make a firm covenant..." 
• During his time here on earth, Jesus never left Palestine and only preached to and served the Jewish people. He was completing his covenant with the Jewish people before his disciples later took the message of the gospel to the "Gentiles" (the rest of us).
• "...in the middle of the week..." 
• Jesus ministry on earth (from baptism to resurrection) was about three and one half years and that fits this description.
• "...he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering..."
• Although sacrifices and offerings continued until the temple was destroyed in 70 AD, the PURPOSE or REASON for the sacrifices ended with the death and resurrection of Jesus.
• "He will make a firm covenant for one 'seven'..." (seven years)
• Jesus' disciples continued to preach the gospel to only Jews in Palestine for a few years after his resurrection and departure to Heaven, until the Holy Spirit guided them to preach to the Gentiles as well.
• Possible end points for the last seven years:
• Stephen’s hearing before the ruling council in Jerusalem, explaining in detail how Jesus fulfilled their scriptures as the Messiah, after which he was executed.
• Peter converts Cornelius
• Conversion of Paul

Finally, I think the final phrase of verse 27 is again describing the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

This is an amazing prophesy written hundreds of years before Jesus' time on earth and describing details of his life and purpose.

Scripture quotations labeled as NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible

This post is the result of my studies based on the book by Mark E. Moore, Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Daily Guide to Building your Bible IQ in a Year, published by WaterBook (Penguin Random House)

Trade Paperback ISBN 978-0-525-65325-7

ebook isbn 978-0-525-65326-4

Daniel 9 Timeline

In Daniel's vision of the seventy 'sevens' God's message through the angel Gabriel says this (Daniel 9:25 NASB):

So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.

In this post I am going to explain why I believe the beginning point for this prophesy given in Daniel 9:24-27 is 457 BC.

First, I want to clarify some things about calendars and year designations. I will be using the traditional means of distinguishing years - BC (Before Christ) to designate years counting back from the supposed year Jesus was born; and AD (Anno Domini / Year of our Lord) to designate years since the supposed year Jesus was born. Note I said, "the supposed year Jesus was born". In about 500 AD a Christian monk scholar attempted to device a calendar based on his calculation of the year of Jesus' birth. His calendar became the basis for the modern year designations we use. With the help of modern astronomy and other scientific and historic means, however, modern scholars have established that the monk's calculations were off by about four years. Scholars now believe that Jesus was born in about 4 BC. Here are the traditional and the modern designations that are used today:

• Traditional:
• BC (Before Christ)
• AD (Anno Domini / Year of our Lord)
• Modern:
• BCE (Before the Common Era)
• CE (Common Era)
• Modern Scholars believe Jesus was born in about 4 BC.

   Second, I want to provide a timeline for the period during which Jerusalem was under threat, under attack, then destroyed, then rebuilt. The prophets Jeremiah and Daniel were active during this period.

The period of destruction and captivity

• 627-587 BC - Jeremiah speaks out in Jerusalem
• 605-536 BC - Daniel speaks out in Babylon
• 605 BC - Jeremiah first prophesies the destruction of Jerusalem and 70 years of captivity and oppression for the Jewish people.
• 605 BC - Babylon invades Judah the first time and takes prisoners captive back to Babylon.
• 605 BC - Daniel as a young man, possibly a teenager, is one of those taken to Babylon.
• 605-603 BC - Daniel, among others, is taken into the royal palace in Babylon and trained to be  a servant of King Nebuchadnezzar.
• 603-550 BC - Daniel has several visions from God.
• 588 BC - In Jerusalem, Jeremiah sends a letter to the Jewish captives in Babylon explaining again the 70 years of captivity, but also talking about a restoration of the people to their home land and a rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple.
• 586 BC - Babylon's final attack on Jerusalem leads to the destruction of the city and the temple and a scattering of the Jewish people.
• 539 BC - Daniel is reminded of Jeremiah's letter from many years ago and prays for his people, the city of Jerusalem, and the temple.
• 539 BC - As a result of Daniel's prayer, God gives him the vision of the seventy 'sevens'.

The period of return and restoration

• 538 BC - Cyrus, king of the Medo-Persian empire, decrees that some Jewish exiles can return to Jerusalem and begin rebuilding the temple. Zerubbabel was the Jewish leader of the effort.
• 517 BC - Darius, then the King, reaffirms the decree of Cyrus.
• 458 BC - Artaxerxes, then the King, authorizes Ezra, a priest and scribe (scholar of the Jewish scriptures), and others to return to Jerusalem for sacrifice and worship at the temple.
• 458 BC - Ezra arrives at Jerusalem, realizes that many there have intermarried with people from surrounding non-Jewish areas, and are worshiping false gods as a result. For several months Ezra instructs the people in the Law of God and resolves the issue of intermarriage and worship of false gods
• 457 BC - Ezra goes beyond what Artaxerxes authorized, and gave the word (command, decree) to begin rebuilding the walls of the city of Jerusalem.
• 445 BC - Artaxerxes authorizes Nehemiah and others to return to Jerusalem and continue rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.

Finally, I want to deal with the problem of the chronology of the book of Ezra. There is no direct mention of working on the walls of Jerusalem in the last half of the book of Ezra where it is describing his efforts to deal with the problems of intermarriage and the worship of false gods. Ezra does, however, indirectly suggests that he is planning the rebuilding of the city wall in his prayer recorded in Ezra chapter 9*:

For we are slaves; yet in our bondage our God has not forsaken us, but has extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its ruins and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.
(Ezra 9:9 NASB)

Further, work on the wall of the city is mentioned in Ezra chapter four as being attempted during the reign of Artaxerxes, which matches the time that Ezra is leading the people of Jerusalem. It appears that the author of Ezra did not intend for the events of chapter four to be in chronological order . He seems to be summarizing  specific types of events through the reigns of several Persian kings.

• Verses 1-5 mention people from the first phase of the return to Jerusalem: Zerubbabel, King Cyrus, and King Darius; the subject is the rebuilding of the temple.
• Verses 6-23 mention two kings of Persia, Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes, who followed King Darius; the subject of this section is the rebuilding of the walls and the city. Ezra was the active leader of the Jewish people in Jerusalem during the reign of Artaxerxes.
• Verse 24 again mentions King Darius, who reigned before Artaxerxes and Ahasuerus; the subject again is the work on the temple.

Thus it appears that Chapter four is not chronological and verses 6-23 seem to be describing events that fit with the later parts of the book, during the time of Ezra's leadership.** It seems reasonable to conclude that "the decree [word, command] to restore and rebuild Jerusalem" was made in 457 BC by Ezra.

*Jack Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology (Princeton: University Press, 1964)

**James E. Smith, Ph.D., DANIEL A Christian Interpretation, Second Edition ©2015 James E. Smith, All Rights Reserved
www.lulu.com

**The Chronology of Ezra 4, Copyright (c) 2010 by Frank W. Hardy, Ph.D.  http://www.historicism.org/Documents/Jrnl/Ezra04.pdf

Scripture quotations labeled as NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible

Three Superstars

The people of Israel recognized three "superstars" from the time of David through the time Jesus was here on earth and even right up to today: Abraham, Moses, and David. Each of these three men played a key roll in the formation and history of the nation of Israel and each one was involved in a "covenant" with God that points to and identifies their descendant Jesus as the Messiah.

Abraham: Covenant of Faith

Abram (God later changed his name to Abraham) lived with his father and extended family in an area of Asia Minor that was in the southern part of what we call Turkey today. He received a message from God:

“Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household
to the land that I will show you.
Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you,
and I will make your name great,
so that you will exemplify divine blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
but the one who treats you lightly I must curse,
so that all the families of the earth may receive blessing through you.” (Genesis 12:1-3)

So Abram took all his possessions and servants as well as his nephew Lot, left his home and family, and began a journey as God directed him. Eventually Abraham (formerly Abram) reached the land that God had promised him but, since he did not have any children, he was questioning how God would be able to deliver on the promise of making him into a great nation. God  assured Abraham that he would have a son of his own as an heir. In Genesis 15:6 the Bible says:

Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord credited it as righteousness to him.

Following the tradition of the time, God had Abraham kill some animals, cut them in half, and lay the pieces opposite each other. The Bible puts it this way in Genesis 15:17-18:

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch passed between the animal parts. That day the Lord made a covenant with Abram: “To your descendants I give this land...

The smoking firepot and the flaming torch passing between the animal parts represented God's sealing of the covenant with Abraham.  In this covenant God made a promise to Abraham and Abraham trusted (believed) God to deliver. You can read the details of Abraham's encounter with God in Genesis 15:1-20.

Moses: Covenant of Law

With the passage of over 400 years Abraham's family did grow into a "nation", estimated at about 2 million people when Moses led them out of Egypt and out of slavery. After they left Egypt and as they moved toward the land that God had promised to Abraham (and them), God made a covenant with all the people of the nation with Moses serving as a "mediator". This covenant differed from the covenant with Abraham:

• God made a promise to Abraham but Abraham did not make any promise to God; he simply trusted God to deliver on the promise.
• In the giving of the "Law", God promised the people blessings if they obeyed and curses if they disobeyed; and the people agreed to keep and obey the Law.

A significant part of the Old Testament in the Bible describes how the people of Israel failed to live up to their commitment to the covenant. 

David: Covenant for an eternal King and Kingdom

Hundreds more years pass and the people are not content to have just God as their "King". They want to have a powerful human "king" to rule them and to fight their battles for them "like all the other nations around them".  So God gave them the kind of human king they wanted: a physically strong, attractive, charismatic man. Unfortunately, King Saul was more interested in his own personal well being than in serving the people or upholding God's standard.

As a result, God sent the prophet Samuel to find and anoint another king, one who would be a better servant of  God and his people. God's choice was not what human beings would have expected. He selected David, the youngest son of a sheep farmer who spent his days tending his father's sheep. Some of David's early life experiences remind us of what Jesus experienced during his time here on earth:

• His father left him out in the field with the sheep when the prophet Samuel came to visit.
• He was seen as just a kid
• His brothers did not respect him
• Over 20 years pass from his anointing by Samuel until he becomes king, much of it spent in exile fleeing for his life

Compare this to Jesus:

• His family thought he was crazy
• People of his home town rejected him
• Jewish authorities plotted to kill him

Unfortunately, David was a flawed human being just like the rest of us and in many ways he fell short of God's standard, but God showed compassion to him and provided forgiveness to him. Looking to David's descendants and the future of the people of Israel, and indeed all future inhabitants of the earth, God made a covenant with David: that one of his descendants would be the king of an eternal kingdom.

The Lord said,
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have made a promise on oath to David, my servant:
‘I will give you an eternal dynasty
and establish your throne throughout future generations.’”

Jesus: Humble Servant, King of Kings

Jesus, a descendant of Abraham, is the continuation of the Covenant of Faith established with Abraham. God promises a place for us in his kingdom if we will believe in and trust Jesus.

Jesus, as the only human being to ever perfectly obey the Law of God given when Moses was the "mediator"and perfectly live up to God's standard, has "fulfilled"  or completed the Law. Then, as a humble servant, he sacrificed himself to pay the price for our failure to live up to God's standard.

Jesus, as the Son of God and as a descendant of David, is the King of an eternal Kingdom that exists right now and that we can be a part of.

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Scripture quoted by permission. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2016 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

This post is the result of my studies based on the book by Mark E. Moore, Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Daily Guide to Building your Bible IQ in a Year, published by WaterBook (Penguin Random House)

Trade Paperback ISBN 978-0-525-65325-7

ebook isbn 978-0-525-65326-4

The Fall

Sin

What about this word "sin"? Most people who hear the word probably think of it as something bad. Some people may be afraid of it. The use of that word may make some people angry. Some may think there is not such thing as "sin". But from a religious perspective, from God's perspective, what is "sin"?

The English word "sin" comes from the Latin sons which means "guilty". So the English word carries the idea of being guilty of violating some law or standard. In the Old Testament the English word "sin" is a translation of the Hebrew word chata which has the meaning "to miss" or "to go wrong". In the New Testament it is a translation of the word hamartia meaning "to miss the mark" or, in an ethical sense, a fault or a failure. The root word was regularly used in ancient times of an archer missing the target. From a Biblical perspective, then, sin is the failure of human beings to live up to God's standards.

The above statement raises all kinds of questions. What are God's standards? Why does he set standards at all? Why can't we be free to do what ever we want? I'm using the word "standard" here instead of "rule" or "law" because I feel like the latter two words may be viewed as too negative in our culture. I want to suggest that God's standards are intended to be a positive benefit to human beings and to the physical world we live in. The are intended to guide human beings to a peaceful and productive life.

The Fall

Bible scholars and theologians (theos "God", logia "study of") often call the events of Genesis chapter 3 as "the fall" because those events describe how the first two human beings on earth fell short of God's standards. What do we observe as these events unfold?

Freedom

First, we can see from these events that human beings are "free moral agents". That is, we are free to make choices as we live our lives. Even though God and our government establish standards of behavior, we are free for the most part to live by those standards or to violate them. God set a standard that was intended to be beneficial to Adam and Eve and they chose to violate the standard.

Responsibility

Second, there is a third party involved. The Bible says that the devil appeared to Eve in the form of a serpent and deceived and seduced her with subtle lies and half truths into doing something God has told her not to do. When Adam and Eve were confronted by God, they were ready to absolve themselves of any responsibility for their actions by playing the blame game. Note what Adam said, "The woman whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it." Basically he is saying, "it's not my fault; it is your fault, God, because you gave me the woman", and, "its not my fault; she gave it to me." And Eve's response: "The serpent tricked me, and I ate." Basically, she is saying, "It's not my fault; it is the serpent's fault because he tricked me." The fact is, however, that Adam and Eve each made a free moral choice and they are responsible and accountable, regardless of the part played by a third party.

Death

Third, the concept of death is present in this scripture. In the previous chapter, God tells Adam that if he eats from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he will die. In chapter three this comes up in the conversation between the serpent and Eve. But what exactly is death? We have become conditioned to view death as the end of life, but Biblically speaking death for human beings is separation: physical death is the separation of the body which decays from the spirit which continues to exist in anticipation of the resurrection; spiritual death is the separation of the person from God.

Theologians sometimes debate whether the "death" mentioned here in Genesis chapter three is physical death or spiritual death. I think it refers to both. They were spiritually separated from God immediately: after they ate the fruit they heard God in the garden and hid from him because they were afraid. They eventually died physically as well.

Our Hope

Just like Adam and Eve, all human beings have fallen short of God's standard, but I want to end this post on a hopeful note. Anyone who humbly turns back to God, acknowledging Jesus Christ as the Son of God, can be returned to spiritual life and a relationship with God.
Paul says in Ephesians 2:4-7:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you are saved!— and he raised us up together with him and seated us together with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

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Scripture quoted by permission. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2016 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

This post is the result of my studies based on the book by Mark E. Moore, Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Daily Guide to Building your Bible IQ in a Year, published by WaterBook (Penguin Random House)

Trade Paperback ISBN 978-0-525-65325-7

ebook isbn 978-0-525-65326-4

Our True Identity

In the last post we looked at Creation, attempting to explore God's creation of the universe and life. In this post we explore the concept stated in the Bible that human beings are created in the "image" and "likeness" of God. One might say that we are addressing these two questions:

• Creation: Why are we here?
• Image of God: Who are we?

Can we discover who we are? Are we just another animal on top of the heap of evolution? Or are we something else? Are we something more? What does the Bible say about human beings from a spiritual and philosophical perspective? Genesis 1:26 states:

Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all creatures that move on the earth." (NET Bible)

God does not say this about anything else in the universe; not any physical thing; not plants or animals. Human beings are somehow unique in creation. Can we discover from the Bible some of the ways in which we are unique?

To rule, have dominion

First, the scripture quoted above says that God, who is the ruler over the universe because he created it, has appointed human beings to be rulers over the earth and the other life forms on he earth. So in some sense we human beings are rulers like God is a ruler. But what does it mean to "rule over" something? Unfortunately, because of our experience through history, we have come to see "rulers" or "kings" as tyrants who are more interested in their own power and wealth than in taking care of the people over whom they have power. From God's perspective, however, the "ruler" is actually a caretaker. God has appointed us caretakers of this earth. Look at Genesis 2:15:

The LORD God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it. (NET Bible)

 That is the role he has toward us, and that is the role he has gives to us regarding the earth.

Language, speech, writing

Second, throughout this first section of Genesis we see Adam and Eve in relationship with and communicating with God. He gave human beings intelligence and the capability to comprehend and communicate with himself. Of all life forms, only human beings have language, speech, and writing. Further, we have a sense of beauty and the capability to invent and create new things from the raw materials that God has provided us through his creative acts.

Character traits

Third, even though God had character traits that he does not share with us such as self-existence, omniscience (all-knowing), and omnipotence (all-powerful), he does share some character traits with us. Some of these traits are listed in Colossians 3:12-14: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love. God is the perfection of these character traits while human beings possess them in an imperfect way. Even though human beings have failed to fully live out these character traits (sin), all human beings are still "in the image of God" and exercise some of these traits to some degree whether they believe in God or not; whether they are followers of Jesus or not.

It is only in Jesus Christ that we can begin to realize our true potential to live out the character traits that God has shared with us. In Colossians 3:8-11 Paul describes how the image of God can be renewed in us through Jesus:

But now, put off all such things as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices and have been clothed with the new man that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it. Here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all. (NET Bible)

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Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET Bible) are from the NET Bible®
copyright ©1996-2016 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

This post is the result of my studies based on the book by Mark E. Moore, Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Daily Guide to Building your Bible IQ in a Year, published by WaterBook (Penguin Random House)

Trade Paperback ISBN 978-0-525-65325-7

ebook isbn 978-0-525-65326-4

Creation

Why are we here?

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

“In the beginning…”

The beginning of time?  Of the universe?  Of the creation?  Those of us who accept the Bible as God’s Word understand that God is eternal, that is, he had no beginning. It seems reasonable then to understand that this phrase is describing the beginning of the creation process, which would also include the beginning of time and the beginning of the universe.

A look back through history indicates that we human beings, whether religious or not, have been searching for our beginning, searching for an explanation of where we came from and why we are here. To illustrate this point I would like you to consider the movie Star Trek: The Motion Picture that was released in 1979. The story takes place in the 23rd century. A giant energy cloud is moving toward earth destroying everything in its path. The “Star Trek” space ship, the Enterprise, is sent to investigate. They discover at the center of the energy cloud an old space probe but all that is left on its outer surface is a partial name: “V….ger”.  It turns out to be the Voyager 6 space probe that was launched in the 20th century but was later lost in space. It came in contact with an alien race of living machines that interpreted its programming as instructions to learn all that can be learned and return that information to its creator and they upgraded it to fulfill its mission and sent it on its way.  It gathered so much knowledge that it gained consciousness but it lacked the ability to give itself purpose other than its original mission. After learning all that it could, it found its existence meaningless, so all it could do was search for its creator to complete its mission.  Its “creator”, of course, is human beings on the earth but it has become so massive and powerful that contact with its creators on earth will destroy the earth. One human being agrees to sacrifice himself to “merge” with the machine and therefore save the earth.

This seems like a good allegory that describes human beings today who are trying to find purpose and meaning in life. They are searching for “the beginning” through secular science without allowing for God. They are searching for the origin (beginning) of the universe and scientists who believe the “Big Bang” theory of the beginning of the universe are now admitting that matter and energy (the things that make up the universe) had a beginning, that is, that there was a time when nothing existed. These scientists are now suggesting “natural” ways in which matter and energy could have come from nothing by random chance. Also, for several centuries now human beings have been attempting to explain how life could come from non-life through “natural” processes (without an intelligent creator - God)

In the beginning God…”

The Bible, God’s message to us human beings, offers an answer to these questions: God is responsible for the existence of the universe and of life. Before exploring this further I would like to describe four different concepts of God that have existed probably as long as human beings have been searching for “god”.

The human search for God

• Polytheism: many different gods based on physical things
• The ancient “nature” gods and “idols”
• Greek and Roman gods
• They tended to have human characteristics
• They were gods based on physical things
• Pantheism: a universal “life force” derived from all living things in the universe
• Eastern religions
• Buddhism
• Confucianism
• “The force” in the Star Wars movies
• Humanism
• There is nothing beyond physical life.
• Death is the end of existence.
• There is no “God”
• Because there is no “God”, that is, no external intelligence or moral guide, human beings themselves are responsible for establishing moral and ethical standards

God reveals himself to us

• Monotheism: There is one eternal, personal God who created everything else.
• Judaism
• Christianity
• Islam

“In the beginning God created…”

Other religions, as a rule, view matter (physical existence, physical things) as being “eternal” and gods as being derived from those physical things. Judaism and Christianity, on the other hand, understand that there is only one sovereign God, that He is eternal, and that he created all finite physical and living things. We understand that He has revealed himself to us.

The Hebrew word translated with various forms of the English word “create” “always describes the divine activity of fashioning something new, fresh, and perfect.” (Net Bible translation notes, Genesis 1:1)

Unlike the “big bang theory” and the theory of naturalistic evolution, which suggest that the universe and life arose by chance through random natural events, the Bible clearly describes thoughtful design by an intelligent being (God).

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

In this statement, I do not believe that “the heavens” refers to the spiritual place where God resides. Rather, I believe the phrase “the heavens and the earth” refers  to the totality of physical existence, the “universe”. But I would like to pose a question: Why does God choose to mention the earth separately? Why didn’t he simply say, “In the beginning God created the universe”? Or, “In the beginning God created all physical things”? I believe the answer is that the earth is specifically mentioned because it is the center of God’s activity in the universe. It is where God chose to create life and human beings. It is where God chose to make himself known, first through patriarchs and prophets, and then through His Son Jesus. Even though the earth may not be at the physical center of the physical universe, it is the spiritual center of the universe.

In his book Core 52, Mark Moore asks the question: Why did God create the world? He answers that question by citing the fact that human beings can also “be creative”, that is, we can make or invent new and fresh things from the materials God has provided us. With that in mind he makes this statement:

“God created for the same reason we do: for others’ pleasure and for our own praise.”

I believe he is saying that God created the world for our pleasure and enjoyment, and so that we could give him praise. I would like to expand a little on the concept of praising God.

• Praising God is voluntary, growing out of gratitude for what he has done for us.
• NOT because he “needs” praise.
• NOT because he selfishly “wants” praise.
• BUT because praising God is good for US.
• AND praising God helps us look outside of ourselves.
• AND praising God helps us in our relationships with others.

Finally I would like to suggest one other related answer to the question: Why did God create the world and us?

He did it to share his love with us.

• NOT because he needed to.
• BUT because it wanted to.
• Love by definition includes sharing that love with others.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for all things in heaven and on earth were created in him — all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers — all things were created through him and for him. He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him. He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross—through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
Colossians 1:15-20 (NET)

So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away—look, what is new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NET)

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Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2016 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

This post is the result of my studies based on the book by Mark E. Moore, Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Daily Guide to Building your Bible IQ in a Year, published by WaterBook (Penguin Random House)

Trade Paperback ISBN 978-0-525-65325-7

ebook isbn 978-0-525-65326-4

The Bride and the Groom Analogy

THE BRIDE AND GROOM ANALOGY

Why does God use the bride and groom analogy when refering to his relationship to his people?

The love relationship between a husband and wife is the first and most fundamental human relationship. After Eve was created from Adam's rib the Bibls says this:

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Genesis 2:23-24 KJV)

This was the first human relationship described in the Bible and it is the basic relationship from which all other human relationships flow.

Throughout human history God has tried to communicate with us in ways that we can easily understand. The ultimate example of this is that God came to live among us in human form in the person of Jesus Christ. What better way for God to communicate with us than to live with us as one of us?

God also uses other analogies from our daily lives to help us understand his relationship to us. Two examples would be the parent - child relationship and the husband - wife relationship. The parent - child analogy is used to illustrate the relationship between God and an individual person. The husband - wife (bridegroom and bride) analogy is used to illustrate the relationship between God and the group of believers - the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and the Church in the New Testament.

Here are some reasons why I believe God uses the bride - bridegroom and husband - wife relationship to describe our relationship to him (and the relationship between Christ and the church:

1. It is the most basic of all human relationships, and universally understood.
2. In its purest form, brides an bridegrooms love each other in the same way and with the same kind of love as should exist between human beings and God.
3. On the other hand, the failure of the human marriage relationship can also illustrate the failure of the relationship between God and human beings. For example, in the Old Testament God often used human adultery to illustrate Israel's rejection of him as they followed after other false gods.
4. When a bride and groom are truly in love, the wedding day is a time of great rejoicing and fellowship. In the same way, there will be great rejoicing and fellowship when Christ (the groom) and the church (the bride) are united at the end of the age and for eternity.

Where Did the Devil Come From?

Where did the Devil come from?Every religion has some concept of good and evil. Probably most atheists would say that there are good things and bad (evil) things in this universe. The Judeo-Christian scriptures, the "Bible", clearly acknowledge that good and evil exist. The Bible says that God created the universe and that everything he created was good. So, where did evil come from? The answer is . . . Love. God chose to create living beings who were capable of love so that they could love him and each other. Love, however, by definition requires free will. Love is a choice - choosing to care about and do good things for another being. Forced "love" is not love at all.

So, what does this have to do with the existence of evil and the Devil. A living being who has the freedom to love and do good also has the freedom to hate and do evil. God created two groups of beings capable of exercising free will - spirit beings called angels and human beings. The angels were created before this present physical universe was created, and some of them rebelled against God and, therefore, became evil. In 2 Peter 2:4 the bible says this, "For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them into hell and locked them up in chains in utter darkness, to be kept until the judgment. . . ." (NET). At some point one of these rebelling angels rose up to be their leader. This is the Devil or Satan. The Bible is not clear about when this happened, except that it seems certain that it was before the creation of our universe.

There is a section of the book of Isaiah (chapter 14) which some have interpreted as speaking about the devil. Isaiah 14:12 is usually used:

"Look how you have fallen from the sky,
O shining one, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the ground,
O conqueror of the nations!" (NET)

However, if you look carefully at the whole chapter, it is clear that the writer is speaking about a human being, the king of Babylon. Look at verse 4: "You will taunt the king of Babylon with these words . . . ." (NET); also verse 22: "I will blot out all remembrance of Babylon and destroy all her people. . . ." (NET). Verse 16 makes clear that the writer is referring to a man:

"Those who see you stare at you,
they look at you carefully, thinking:
'Is this the man who shook the earth,
the one who made kingdoms tremble?' " (NET)

I am reluctant to apply this scripture to Satan when the writer so clearly says that he is referring to a man.

Some interpret Ezekiel 28:11-19 as speaking about the "fall of Satan". Two phrases are used to bolster this interpretation. The first is in verse 13: "You were in Eden, the garden of God. . . ." (NET); but this is simply saying that, as a human being, the king of Tyre was symbolically in the Garden of Eden through his ancestor Adam. The second phrase is in verse 14 where, in some translations, he is called a "guardian cherub"; but notice the translation given by the NET Bible: "I placed you there with an anointed guardian cherub". A careful reading of the passage will demonstrates that the writer was speaking of a human being, the king of Tyre: “Son of man, sing a lament for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says. . . ." (28:12, NET)

The Bible does clearly speak of Satan "falling from heaven". When the disciples returned to Jesus from their mission and told him that they were able to subdue demons in his name, he said, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." (Luke 10:18, NET) Even though Jesus was speaking in the past tense, I believe he was speaking of an event that had not yet happened. Prophets often speak of future events as if they had already happened. This event is described in more detail in Revelation chapter 12.

First, a little background. It appears that Satan still had some kind of access to heaven after his rebellion: "Now the day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord – and Satan also arrived among them. The Lord said to Satan, 'Where have you come from?' And Satan answered the Lord, 'From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.' ” (Job 1:6-7, NET). Revelation chapter 12 describes a woman giving birth to a child, and a dragon attempting to devour the child. The child is caught up to safety in heaven, and the woman escapes to safety in the wilderness. Then Michael, the archangel battled with the dragon and the dragon was thrown out of heaven and down to earth, where he continued to pursue other offspring of the woman. Verse 9 clearly states that the dragon was Satan. This passage is symbolically describing the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Satan was thrown out of Heaven as a result of the resurrection of Jesus. Even though he is still active today, the resurrection of Jesus was the beginning of the end for the devil.

Satan was created as a good being with free will. He chose to rebell against God and was thrown out of God's grace. This was defeat number one. He tried to defeat God's gift to fallen man, Jesus the Messiah, and he was thrown out of heaven. This was defeat number two. At the second coming of Jesus, the Devil will be handed his third and final defeat as he is thrown into the Lake of Fire for eternity (Revelation 20:10).

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://www.bible.org/. All rights reserved.

Who Are We?

WHO ARE WE?
WHERE DID WE COME FROM?
WHY ARE WE HERE?

Throughout recorded human history these questions have been asked and debated. Those who suffer from depression often struggle to find an answer to these questions, as do many of the rest of us. In this first post I want to give my thoughts on these questions. I write from the point of view of a Christian believer, that is, one who believes that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that he represented God's presence on earth for a little more than 30 years some 2000 years ago.

I believe that this entire universe exists because it was designed and fabricated by an intelligent, living, personal being who exists outside of this universe, that is, in a different "dimension". This "dimension" and any beings within it cannot be detected by our human senses or discovered by our scientific observation. We only know they exist because from time to time they reach into our "dimension" and reveal themselves to us. Furthermore, this intelligent being designed and brought into existence a diversity of living beings within this universe, ranging from single cell organisms to intelligent beings such as humans.

This provides a possible explanation for who we are and where we came from, but what about an explanation of why we are here. Why did this intelligent being design and make life as it is today? Lets suppose that this being is what we would call "good", and that this being wants to share that "good" with other beings, that is, be in relationship with them and share its good will with them. If this is the case, then the purpose for our existence is to be in a relationship with and share the good will of this being from another dimension.

This is the belief of most people who call themselves Christians. We call the being from another dimension "God", and we believe that Jesus Christ is the "son of God", sent to earth by God some 2000 years ago to announce and live out God's good will as a human being.

I understand, of course, that this explanation raises other questions. If this being is a being of good will, why does it allow human suffering? Why do bad things happen to good people? What if some do not want this relationship? Why do many scientists reach a different conclusion about the origin of the universe and the origin of life? I will talk about these questions in future posts.