O How I've Missed Leviticus

I had hoped to write more these last few months.  I've been just keeping my head above water with school and caring for my family!  I admit we fell a week behind in our scripture reading about a month ago, but have continued to read and have held steadily at a week behind ever since.  We plan to catch up once I have finished my papers.  I know those of you that are up to date have long finished Leviticus, but my mind hasn't moved on yet.

I'm disappointed that in the midst of the business of life I missed the chance to explore Leviticus together!  How often do YOU have the opportunity to talk about Leviticus with a bunch of others who are reading it the same time?  It doesn't happen often enough ;) 

In college Leviticus was my "favorite" book of the bible.  Not because I "got it."  I loved it because it was puzzling, and intriguing, and historically interesting.   Since we've moved past it already in our readings, rather than working through it in blog form I'll suggest a book that brought Leviticus to life for me and helped me finally *begin* to grasp the place it can have in a Christian's life!

I first read "Immanuel in Our Place: Seeing Christ in Israel's Worship" (by Tremper Longman III) somewhere around a decade ago as a text for Jerry Shepherds "Worship in Ancient Israel" class (Taylor Seminary).  The class changed the way I saw the OT and ancient Israel, and how I understood worship, and Christ's sacrifice. 

The class filled in so many gaps that I knew I had in my OT understanding, it brought the NT and the OT together, and it made a lot of sense!  If you find Leviticus confusing, or assume its irrelevant for Christians in light of the new covenant I'd encourage you to give it another chance!  Jerry is also writing a commentary on Leviticus for The Story of God Bible Commentary, so something to look forward to!

"Immanuel in Our Place" is fascinating and eye opening, and it's also breeze to read.  It comes with some great discussion questions that could be used for group study, too.  I hope we will have the chance to talk more in the future!

I am also catching up on the companion readings in D. A. Carson's "For the Love of God, Vol 1" and only just read this entry on Leviticus, which I will share in closing.  You can find the book free here :)

IMAGINE A COMPLEX, WELL-ORDERED SOCIETY such that in every area of life there are actions that make a person dirty and further prescribed actions that make that person clean. When you get up in the morning, you wear clothes of certain kinds of fabric, but not others. There are clean foods and unclean foods. If a spot of mold appears on the wall of your house, there are procedures for treating it. Men must adopt a certain course after a wet dream, women in connection with their periods. Some unclean things must not even be touched. In addition there is a complex religious and sacrificial system each person is supposed to observe, and failure to observe it at any point brings its own uncleanness. And all of this fits into a still broader set of constraints that include what we normally call moral categories: how we speak, truth-telling, how we treat others, questions of property, sexual integrity, neighborly actions, judicial impartiality, and so forth. Understand, too, that in this society the rules have been laid down by God himself. They are not the results of some elected Congress or Parliament, easily overturned by a fickle or frustrated public eager for something else. To ignore or defy these rules is to defy the living God. What kinds of lessons would be learned in such a society? 

Welcome to the world of Leviticus. This, too, is part of the heritage from Mount Sinai, part of the Mosaic Covenant. Here the people of God are to learn that God prescribes what is right and wrong, and that he has a right to do so; that holiness embraces all of life; that there is a distinction between the conduct of the people of God and the conduct of the surrounding pagans, not merely a difference in abstract beliefs. Here the Lord himself prescribes what sacrifices are necessary, along with confession of sin (Lev. 5:5), when a person falls into uncleanness; and even that the system itself is no final answer, since one is constantly falling under another taboo and returning to offer sacrifices one has offered before. One begins to wonder if there will ever be one final sacrifice for sins. 

But that is down the road. Here in Leviticus 5, Christian readers delight to observe that while God trains up his covenant people in elementary religious thought, he provides means such that even the poorest in society may regain cleanness. The person who cannot afford a sacrificial lamb may bring a pair of doves or a pair of pigeons; the person who cannot afford these may bring a small amount of flour. The lessons continue; always there is hope and a way of escape from the punishment that rebellion attracts. 

Lets talk soon!

2014-Jan 7: Together in the Word (Genesis 7; Matthew 7; Ezra 7; Acts 7)

So after a week in the word I'm wondering how we're doing?  Have you kept up?  Learning anything new?  Do you hear God speaking through his Word?  

Truth be told, its been more of a challenge for me than i expected.  Not so much the amount of reading (I read...  that's what I do...), but its felt so chopped up.   I feel overstimulated jumping from one place to another.  Not to mention, when I start reading a story I tend to want to finish it.   Quirky, I know.

This dizzying onslaught of various storylines reminds me of the closest thing I have to an immersian experience:  Introductory Greek.  Now, mind you, it wasn't a true immersian experience - not at all, actually - but  the hoops my brain had to jump through were similar.  I recall my prof, Brad Eastman, telling us that a lot of us wouldn't make it through the semester.  The reason?  Because for the first few months it was all going to be a blur of information that we struggled to make sense of.  He called this phase of Greek learning "The Fog."  He also reassured us that if we were willing to walk through the fog, there would be a moment where it would lift suddenly, and everything that we couldn't see in the fog would come clear.  And he was right!  

I love studying how God designed the brain (she said pushing her glasses toward the bridge of her nose), and so I was fascinated to learn what was behind this "Fog" phenomenon.  Here it is:  When a person is first exposed to a slew of new information (particularly information that the brain can't connect easily to something already learned), it creates a bunch of extra synapses for each neuron involved (The Fog).  Unsure of which one makes the right "connection," it keeps them all to see which are used in similar, but different situations.  Over time, the connections that are used frequently develop stronger connections, and those used rarely die off (the fog lifts)! 

So, right now, I'm in the fog.  My brain wants to connect these storylines into a single narrative, it wants to dwell on each one to go deeper, it wants to find out what happens NEXT!  Its taking patience for me to relax into the discipline of slowing down to one chapter in a storyline, and its taking discipline not to expect myself to find some deep meaning in four separate passages if its not there today.  For me, this is a decision to walk bravely through the fog.  Right now in Ezra we're rebuilding the temple - huge excitement... and then in Acts we're tearing it down (or at least that's what Stephen's being accused of... and its what has already happened at the time of the book's writing).  I'm puzzling over a few of the details in his speech.  Holly's comment about his being falsely accused of  speaking against the law of Moses has me thinking about Christ's relationship to the law.  The tactics used against him remind me of the way disputes are sometimes handled by Christians today, and I'm wondering about the cost of discipleship and justice.  Today I'm reading about Judgement...  how not to judge (and how to), and at the same time as all of this I've been witnessing Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and, wait for it - all of humanity - face judgement for their sin.  I'm reading Christ's "sermon" and elsewhere of people railing against the very idea of a sermon.

Add to all this the storyline of Daniel peppered in there because my son Isaac made it his goal to read through the Bible (back in September.  His goal is to be finished by March), so today as people tried to trick King Darius in an attempt to get rid of Daniel it triggered for him his recurring questions about why I've lost my job, and why I've been so sad this year, and what it has to do with the church.  He cried again today about how much he misses his friends (EVERYBODY there).  How everyone knew him there, and how nobody knows him at our new church.  Our kids sure knew they were loved there.  So, this evening we donned our sackcloth and shared some tears. 

One week in and this has already been quite a journey.  A journey through a thick fog.  But, I'm thinking...  if I just keep on down this path a little further, what will I see when the fog clears?  

I keep walking.

2014: Together in the Word (Genesis 3; Matthew 3; Ezra 3; Acts 3)

Re:  Genesis 1 and 2
Carson closed his commentary on Genesis 1 with this comment:  "God made us to "image" himself; he made us for his own glory.  For us to imagine ourselves autonomous is, far from being a measure of our maturity, the supreme mark of our rebellion, the flag of our suppression of the truth (Romans 1)."  This Romans 1 passage has been a hot topic on Facebook recently (because of the remarks of Phil Robertson (of Duck Dynasty) to GQ).  See Jerry's discussion here and here - be sure to read the comment sections that follow... great discussion!  

The idea of exchanging natural relations for unnatural relations are rooted in these first two Genesis readings (Genesis 1 and 2) that lay out God's design for human sexuality and marriage.  Genesis 1 declares the Image of God as being completed in male and female together. Genesis 2 shows this male-female togetherness to be God's design for marriage, and today we read about the Fall, where natural relations were exchanged for the first time with unnatural ones (Genesis 3).

I love how Carson describes the exchange:  Before the fall there was "nothing to be ashamed of.  This happy innocence meant openness, utter candour.  There was nothing to hide, whether it was from God or each other. How different after the fall.  The man and the woman hide from God, and blame others.  The candour has gone, the innocence has dissipated, the openness has closed... The immediate effects of the first sin."

This is one FB discussion that I was a part of in response to this Sun News Video (they also posted a follow-up video here) about the Phil Robertson controversy.  I`m not great with computers, so the resolution is poor (sorry)!

The discussion centers around the comments of GLAAD that state that it is hateful for Christians to believe that homosexual acts are  sinful (as well as some discussion on his comments regarding black people that he worked with in the past).  For the purposes of this article, I will comment only on the issues relating to Homosexuality and Christianity. 

Near the end of the conversation my friend Holly writes:
``were the comments pro-gay, and he were fired, the world would be raging that he shouldn't be fired over his views. It's a double standard.``

My friend Ryan responds:
``Holly, I'm a little perplexed by this double-standard argument. I'm pretty positive that if a gay person came out and made similar comments about straight people, they would be removed from their position in a similar fashion.   But there's no reason for a gay person to do this because they don't care who we're sleeping with.``

Ryan is right.  Homosexuals wouldn`t call out heterosexuals for their sexual behavior because they believe that any sexual behavior in the context of love is right.  But, the debate here is not between homosexuals and heterosexuals.  the Archbishop of Cantebury`s statement (made August 2013), I believe, can be applied to this situation:  he talks about how many young people ``see the church`s views on same-sex marriage as `wicked`and plain wrong...akin to racism and other forms of gross and atrocious injustice.```   I`ll talk more about how Christians should respond to this perception later, but for now, I will clarify that what GLAAD is taking issue with is not heterosexual beliefs, but with Christian beliefs. 

In an article in The Atlantic, Taunton quotes
Rick Warren:  ``Our culture has accepted two huge lies.  The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear them or hate them.  The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do.  Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.``  Taunton goes on to comment: ``Tolerance is not the same thing as acceptance, and acceptance is not the same thing as an endorsement. The message A&E’s decision sends is that the network will not tolerate someone who conscientiously objects to homosexuality on religious grounds. The implication of that message is that 45 percent of Americans should, in principle, be prepared either to sacrifice their jobs or  recant their beliefs and endorse a lifestyle to which they are opposed, conscience be damned. To the extent that we embrace that implication, in television and in other American industries, we're also embracing an identity as a nation that forces conformity while calling it tolerance.``

Understanding the nature of the disagreement, there is a double standard here.  If homosexuals believe it is hate speech to call their behavior sinful, than when they say that Christian beliefs are wrong - sinful - they are also guilty of hate speech. 

I want to mention that the Christian perspective is (naturally) rooted in Christian belifes, and while I do hold them, I don`t expect one who does not hold those beliefs to agree with me in terms of what is right and what is wrong.  Also, I want to say that this is a very difficult discussion for both sides because it is intensly persoanl - one`s spirituality and one`s sexuality both have to do with what we feel are our identities.  (I believe this is what Holly is getting at in her comment - our beliefs are tied to our identity, and should be allowed to be expressed, too). Christians should feel especially sensitive to the injustice homosexual people have faced, because we, too, have faced injustice.  The call to follow Christ is a sacrificial call. For many, it is the call to die a martyr`s death - consider these recent events:  Slaughter in East Timor (Dec. 19, 2013); and 37 killed in Baghdad bomb blasts amid 'deliberate and senseless' targeting of Christians.
.
To be disagreed with on these issues may feel hateful, and actions that are done in the name of these beliefs (on either side) can legitimately BE hateful, but simply expressing the belief isn`t. One homosexual shares a similar perspective here. 

Christians may see homosexual acts as sin (and they do), and homosexual people may see Christian beliefs as sin (and that has been expressed).  Both view something that is central to the other person`s identity as wrong.  That is guaranteed to be a difficult conversation.  But, I don`t think that means we should avoid talking with each other.

One of my leadership profs, Terry Fossen, talks about the Chinese character for crisis, which literally means both danger and opportunity.  I think that is exactlly what this difficult situation - this crisis - is:  dangerous (because we might miscommunicate, for instance, and make things worse), but it is also an opportunity (to show each other respect as we talk, build bridges, and love each other even though we disagree).  We are people.  All of us.  And the Bible says that God loves all people - sinful as we are.


Here is where I agree with Ryan.  He shows great concern for a minority that has been ridiculed and grossly mistreated by people of all kinds (bullying in schools is just one example).  When there`s a perceived imbalance of power (or imbalance of anything) people can respond in a few different ways.  They may try to bring balance by overcompensating for the under-represented, or they may try to walk the hard line of balance and truth (trying to state the truth for the under-represented while maintaining what is true about the over-represented).  This second approach is the one I try to take (though I do so imperfectly).  I think we need to be careful not to show favoritism to majorities, and I also think we need to remember that those who belong to a majority deserve a fair trial also, and that`s why I have tried to look at the situation from Phil`s perspective, too. 

I want to consider a variety of possible interpretations and the various perspectives involved.  I want to allow myself time to weigh them and dialogue about them before drawing conclusions.  The reality is that Phil`s comments were coarse, and I am glad that Phil has acknowledged this.  I hesitate to interpret his comments as hateful because each quote is just a small snippet of what obviously had more of a context. GQ doesn't necessarily have the goal of representing him accurately.  Since Phil and his family are open about their Christianity, I`m sure they knew exactly what his beliefs were prior to asking the questions (for instance, Phil has shared his story in the past here).  

The purpose of an article like this is to attract as many readers as possible (and they did attract a lot if attention to their article). I can't say GQ or A&E was trying to get him fired, but GQ was clearly trying to stir up controversy, and A&E could have lost a lot of viewers whatever decision they made. I think GQ's presentation is unfortunate and has caused a lot of people unnecessary pain. A lot of people. 

The reality is that there are people on both sides who jump to conclusions.  Some people think controversial topics like these aren`t worth exploring because they can cause further division, or because they think there are more important things that we could be doing instead of getting caught up in debate.  But, I think dialogue is important, too.

Any time we have the chance to talk openly with others there is present danger.  That is a reality. We may misunderstand each other.  We may misrepresent ourselves.  We may not agree with each other any more than we did before we talked.  But it is also a beautiful opportunity.  We can disagree with each other completely and choose to love each other deeply anyway.  That`s authentic, honest, true.  Jesus didn`t go out of his way to agree with everyone.  He spoke the truth as he knew it and let others come to their own conclusions.  I think we should take the same approach.

The reality is that homosexuals (like many minorities) have been grossly mistreated.  Whether someone`s lifestlye or choices or beliefs are seen as sinful, they deserve to be loved and shown respect.  I love the compassion that Ryan shows, and his desire to speak for an under-represented group.  Minorities do need people to speak for them. 

The reality is that some Christians have bullied homosexuals, and some have been guilty of hate-filled comments.  When this happens, we bear that sin as a community, and must work to cleanse the Christian attitude toward homosexual people. Homosexual acts are, by biblical definition, sinful, BUT, bullying is an un-Christian response to sinners.  It is sinful, too.  We must not forget our own sinfulness.  The reality is that Christians can`t say that others are sinful and we are not.  We are sinful, too. 

We don`t believe salvation comes to the perfect, or sinless.  The sinless person wouldn`t need salvation.  But,1 John says, `If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us (1:8-10).  

Our perspective on sin is rooted in God`s pre-fall, perfect creation, where he has created the heavens and the earth, separated the water, land, and sky, and inhabited them with a rich, beautiful, perfectly ordered diverse creation that functions in perfect balance according to his natural law.  It was created to reflect his glory - something that is reflected most perfectly in the male-female marriage (including sexual) relationship.  His glory is reflected in a more profound way in his design of marriage than in the creation of individual human beings.  Part of how we reflect his glory, and spread it throughout the created world is through being fruitful and increasing in number (Genesis 1:28) and by maintaining the natural order of the created earth,  caring for God`s creation, and tending to the earth (Genesis 2:15)).  

So there humanity was, in a perfectly balanced world, with all that we need for health, a joy-filled life, perfect community with God and each other.  We had complete freedom... save one stipulation.  Only one thing we were not to do. 

And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die (Genesis 2:16-17).”

One tree we were not to eat from.  But, we did.  

That first act that broke the natural order was our first sin.  Adam and Eve exchanged what was natural for what was unnatural.  What resulted changed our nature - changed our desires forever to include the unnatural.  It changed how our nature functioned - rather than still possessing our created nature, our nature became fallen.  Ever since, we are inclined to serve our own will and desires over and above God`s.

Since then, every human has broken the natural order (sin), as it says in Romans 3:23, ``for all have sinned and fall short the glory of God.``  And Romans 6:23 reminds us that `the wages of sin is death.``

We all break God`s law.  Christians, just like all human beings, can choose to follow God`s law, or to break it.  Christians have been guilty of all kinds of wrong - lots of it done in the name of God, which God abhors.  Christians can never do enough right to undo their wrong.  We can`t change our sinful state any more than anyone else.  That`s why we need someone to save us - to restore us to our natural state.  We need a Savior.

That`s the beauty of the incarnation.  God loved his creation so much that he came to us in human form:

 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8)!

God himself became human.  Entered a world filled with pain.  Mistreatment.  Injustice.  And, dispite it all, did what not one of us could do.  He did not sin.  He gave up his divine rights.  He felt every temptation.  Broken desires.  Took on pain, suffering, and most profound injustice (there was no consequence of the fallen world that he deserved).  Even so, he willingly took on all of the sin in the world - onto himself.  Our sin.  My sin.  He took it onto himself and bore the punishment for each one.  The punishment that we deserve.  The punishment that I deserve.  Jesus died an unjust death - the greatest injustice there ever was, and yet he chose it to save me.  He chose it becuse of his love for us.

This sacrifice payed the price for sin once and for all.  This perfect sacrifice broke the power of sin and death once and for all. His love can take what is broken - unnatural - and restore his creation.  Restore us.  It can change our desires by the power of his Holy Spirit.  

We all have deep desires that are `natural` in the context of a world that isn`t operating according to God`s natural laws.  For Christians these desires don`t just go away.  Like Christ did, we endure in a broken world and we choose to hand over our desires to Christ, and we choose to follow his law, his natural order, his way of personal self-sacrifice, out of gratitude for his sacrfice.  Giving up personal, deep desires is hard.  Its a life-long struggle.  It can only be done in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, until our salvation is made complete in the end.  Until it is fulfilled we will struggle between choosing him and the way of the world.

As Christians, just as with non-Christians, we are always faced with the choice of following God or going about things our own way (sin).  That`s while you`ll see Christians sometimes treat others as subhuman (sin), destroying the balance of creation rather than restoring and upholing it (sin), chasing after wealth and forgetting the poor (sin), eating food gluttinously while others starve (sin), wearing clothes that are made in factories that exploit others (sin).  You see, we are all sinful.  We are all in need of a Savior.  So it is not wicked to call another person sinful. But it is wicked to hate another person.  Christians will be held to account for their sins, just like every other person, if they do not repent and turn from them. 

...Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, BUT the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:19-23, emphasis mine)

His sacrifice pays the price of death that WE owe - IF we repent and make make him Lord.

 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, AND all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (if we only receive him¨). God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus (Romans 3:23-26, emphasis mine).

This righteous state that Christ gives us when we proclaim Jesus as Lord is a committment to living according to God`s design - according to his natural laws, as 1 John 1 explains:

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin (verses 5-7).

 Consider, Christians, how we might love people, even when we disagree.  One lesbian`s perspective on how we can do that can be found here :)  and lets remember and celebrate the forgiveness that WE have received, as we have been guilty of sin, too!

AND, If you don`t have this forgiveness, this freedom, and you want to have it, Christ`s sacrifice offers it to you, too!

Love you all!! 

2014: Together in the Word (Genesis 2; Matthew 2; Ezra 2; Acts 2)

A few personal reflections on the readings:

Four stories of beginnings.  
Genesis 1 is the only new beginning that doesn't come after an ending, a loss, or some sort of good-bye.  Matthew tells the story of Christ's coming, after the story of God's people has fallen silent for 400 years.  For the people that will follow him, they will give up their lives in exchange for the fullness of life that can only be found in him.  For the people of Judah, this new beginning comes after judgement, slavery, exile to a foreign land, the loss of their land, their temple, their sacrificial system - maybe even their God.  Their new beginning only comes after years of suffering.  For Acts, they receive the Holy Spirit and the church is born, but it comes after the death of the Messiah, their friend, their hope.  Its a confusing time where Jews and Gentiles have to suddenly work out their relationship, and its not easy to know what to do.  New beginnings tend to come after endings, loss, goodbyes.  They are times of transition.  They are change.  Even when a new beginnings are a gift, they can be hard.  Even Adam and Eve, born into the only beginning that isn't and end, is about to experience the phenomenon...

Genesis
Yesterday Carson closed his commentary with a comment that referenced Romans 1 -  this has been a much debated passage on Facebook and the blogosphere recently due to comments made by Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson's re:  homosexuality.  That detail caught my eye and has me thinking today about the Genesis 1-2 connection.  God's design for marriage and such.  Any thoughts?
*We will see marriage-related issues in the Ezra storyline as well... coming soon!

Acts
I've been finding the church hard to see, and in Acts, the church is becoming visible for the very first time.  The church that I see now is more like vapour than like water or ice.  Its members are moving freely, with a lot of space between them.  We're still the church when we're apart, but the very word means assembly, and so we're meant to come close together into a more solid, tangible state, and then melt apart enough so we can flow freely and pour over the world.  As I'm reading Acts I'm thinking this is a good time to reflect on how the People of God came to understand "the church."

Also, if you're like me, you've spent significantly less time reading the historical books than other parts of the Bible.  I thought some background on Ezra might be helpful :)

Introducing Ezra!
According to David M. Howard, Jr., the Book of Ezra (along with Nehemiah), is "packed with spiritual messages wanting to be extracted.  They communicate a rich spirituality during times when things were not overwhelming positive for God's people.  They are concerned with lists that show the unity of God's people.  The importance of disciplines such as prayer, fasting, sacrificing, and reading of the Scriptures is exemplified throughout both books (p. 314)."

Background:  After Jerusalem was destroyed (587 B.C.), Judah was taken into exile by the Babylonians (judgement for their sin, foretold in Jeremiah 25:11-12).  This was a traumatic time for them.  The temple was gone, along with the sacrificial system.  The existence of the People of God was in question - they wondered if God had abandoned them forever.  After about 50 years of exile the Persians overthrew the Babylonian Empire - The Book of Ezra opens in this context.  This is a hopeful book, as God reaches out in an act of grace.  The Persians (ruled by Cyrus) freed them to return home, and allowed (even assisted) the rebuilding of their temple and reinstatement of their worship (Ezra 1) just as it was foretold by Jeremiah (Jer. 29.10-14).  While Cyrus is acting like a good politician (he adopts the god of the people he is dealing with), he is an instrument of God.  Isaiah 44:24-28 (and continuing into the next chapter) also foretold that Cyrus would be an instrument that the Lord will use to carry out his plan.  This Persian kindness was understood to be a sign of God's grace.  Enter Ezra, a priest and a scribe who is grounded in the law of Moses, and has been commissioned to teach the law by the Persian king.  His connection with Israel's early history qualifies him for the task given him.  Upon their return they offer regular sacrifices, celebrate festivals, and rebuild the temple!  Though it was a comfortable existence, they were still in slavery to the Persians and looked forward with hope to a time when they would be under their own rule (see Howard, p. 313-360).

I'd love to hear what you're thinking about, too!!

2014: Together in the Word (January 1, 2014)

“This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word” (Isa. 66:2)."

At Jerry Shepherd's suggestion I have decided to read through the Bible again. If you would like to join us (see his blog post) let me know and we can dialogue along the way! Lets tremble at his word together!

After a year of goodbyes, I am looking forward to a year travelling the scriptures from cover to cover with friends!  As of January 1st, we have Tricia, Jerry, Holly, Cynthia, and Sarah joining us.  I don't have as much time as I would like for blogging, but I will try to at least post the readings, and create a space to share what we learn, thoughts, quotes, etc.   My priority will, of course, be reading the scriptures for myself.

I'm going to use Robert Murray M’Cheyne's Bible Reading Plan, along with D.A. Carson's companion devotional "For the love of God:Vol 1" (available for free here): http://s3.amazonaws.com/tgc-documents/carson/1998_for_the_love_of_God.pdf  Thanks to Syd Page for this suggestion!

Re: The devotional Carson writes...
"In no way do these pages pretend to be a commentary as that word is commonly understood. My aim is...to provide edifying comments and reflections..., and thus to encourage readers to reflect further on the biblical passages they are reading... I have tried to devote at least some of [these comments] to helping the reader keep the big picture of the Bible’s “story line” in mind, and to see what relevance this has for our thinking and living. In other words, although I want the comments to be edifying, this edification is not always of a private, individualized sort. My aim is to show...that reading the whole Bible must stir up thoughtful Christians to thinking theologically and holistically, as well as reverently and humbly."

Today's readings are Genesis 1, Matthew 1, Ezra 1, and Acts 1.  I'd hate to leave anyone behind who wants to join us, so I will make today easy, and post the passages in full, along with Carson's January 1st reflections!  

Genesis 1

New International Version (NIV)

The Beginning

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Matthew 1

New International Version (NIV)

The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah

1 This is the genealogy[a] of Jesus the Messiah[b] the son of David, the son of Abraham:

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,

Perez the father of Hezron,

Hezron the father of Ram,

4 Ram the father of Amminadab,

Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,

Obed the father of Jesse,

6 and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam,

Rehoboam the father of Abijah,

Abijah the father of Asa,

8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,

Jehoram the father of Uzziah,

9 Uzziah the father of Jotham,

Jotham the father of Ahaz,

Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,

Manasseh the father of Amon,

Amon the father of Josiah,

11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah[c] and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

12 After the exile to Babylon:

Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,

Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,

Abihud the father of Eliakim,

Eliakim the father of Azor,

14 Azor the father of Zadok,

Zadok the father of Akim,

Akim the father of Elihud,

15 Elihud the father of Eleazar,

Eleazar the father of Matthan,

Matthan the father of Jacob,

16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[d]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet[e] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[f] because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[g] (which means “God with us”).

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Ezra 1

New International Version (NIV)

Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return

1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:

2 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

“‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. 4 And in any locality where survivors may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.’”

5 Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. 6 All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.

7 Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god.[a] 8 Cyrus king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.

9 This was the inventory:

gold dishes	30
silver dishes	1,000
silver pans[b]	29
10 gold bowls	30
matching silver bowls	410
other articles	1,000

11 In all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and of silver. Sheshbazzar brought all these along with the exiles when they came up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Acts 1

New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit.”

6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk[c] from the city. 13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) 16 and said, “Brothers and sisters,[d] the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus. 17 He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.”

18 (With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. 19 Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

20 “For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms:

“‘May his place be deserted;
    let there be no one to dwell in it,’[e]

and,

“‘May another take his place of leadership.’[f]

21 Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, 22 beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

23 So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. 24 Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen 25 to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” 26 Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

 ALL FOUR OF THESECHAPTERS DEPICT NEW BEGINNINGS, but the first reading—

Genesis 1—portrays the beginning of everything in this created universe.

On the face of it, this chapter, and the lines of thought it develops, establish

that God is different from the universe that he creates, and therefore pantheism

is ruled out; that the original creation was entirely good, and therefore dualism is

ruled out; that human beings, male and female together, are alone declared to be

made in the image of God, and therefore forms of reductionism that claim we are

part of the animal kingdom and no more must be ruled out; that God is a talking

God, and therefore all notions of an impersonal God must be ruled out; that this

God has sovereignly made all things, including all people, and therefore conceptions

of merely tribal deities must be ruled out.

Some of these and other matters are put positively by later writers of Scripture

who, reflecting on the doctrine of creation, offer a host of invaluable conclusions.

The sheer glory of the created order bears telling witness to the glory of its Maker

(Ps. 19). The universe came into being by the will of God, and for this, God is

incessantly worshiped (Rev. 4:11). That God has made everything speaks of his

transcendence, i.e., he is above this created order, above time and space, and

therefore cannot be domesticated by anything in it (Acts 17:24-25). That he made

all things and continues to rule over all, means that both racism and tribalism are

to be rejected (Acts 17:26). Further, if we ourselves have been made in his image,

it is preposterous to think that God can properly be pictured by some image that

we can concoct (Acts 17:29). These notions and more are teased out by later

Scriptures.

One of the most important entailments of the doctrine of creation is this: it

grounds all human responsibility. The theme repeatedly recurs in the Bible,

sometimes explicitly, sometimes by implication. To take but one example, John’s

gospel opens by declaring that everything that was created came into being by the

agency of God’s “Word,” the Word that became flesh in Jesus Christ (John 1:2-3,

14). But this observation sets the stage for a devastating indictment: when this

Word came into the world, and even though the world was made through him, the

world did not recognize him (John 1:10). God made us to “image” himself; he

made us for his own glory. For us to imagine ourselves autonomous is, far from

being a measure of our maturity, the supreme mark of our rebellion, the flag of

our suppression of the truth (Rom. 1).