Why Should I Believe It?

“Isn’t the Bible just written by men?” I often hear people ask. The answer is yes and no. Let me explain.

The Bible is written technically by men’s hands, but it still remains the words of God. It is explained this way in the Bible…

“But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

2 Peter 1:20,21

The apostle Peter here is telling us in a nutshell what the rest of Scripture tells us in a longer story. Human beings did pen the Bible, but they were inspired by God in doing so — specifically, the Holy Spirit.

This is demonstrated in a number of ways. First, although the Bible took about 1500 years to write (Moses to John) and although it was penned by about 40 authors from various educational, political, and national backgrounds, the Bible displays an amazing unity and consistency in its quality, prophecy, aim, and continuity. It is not merely a long unrelated series of stories and commandments, it is a single story with a number of subplots starting with creation and mankind losing its perfect Garden of Edan leading to a wonderful potential of reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ.

Secondly, the Bible’s record of fulfilled prophecy is 100%. Regardless of how “way out” or improbable the prophecies we read in the Bible might be, they have all been fulfilled with the exception of the end of time. From the destruction of Babylon, to the birth of a virgin, to the death and resurrection of the Messiah, they all have come to pass. This just makes good sense, if we believe that God is the real author, because while men may guess at the future, only God can predict and make the future. If the Bible failed in even one prophecy, it would be serious cause to doubt the Bible — but it hasn’t failed even once.

Thirdly, the wisdom of the Bible is untouchable. While it is true that there have been many excellent philosophers in this world and a few pretty moral religions, none of them hold a candle to the wisdom of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures. The Bible’s wisdom is way beyond mere human reasoning and has been tested for millennia and found not only work, but work out best for men, women, children, and nations. As the Bible’s book of Proverbs tells us, “Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him”(30:5).

Believe in the Bible, there’s lots of good reason to.

The Good News of the Resurrection

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apostles, Christ, church, disciples, evidences, faith, fulfillment, hope, Jesus, Messiah, prophecy, raised from the dead, resurrection, spiritual body, witnesses of the resurrection

Wow, I hadn’t realized how long it had been since I had posted to this blog. Sadly, summer and its crazy schedule of events (fun and work related) has had a negative effect on my writing. But now that fall is rapidly approaching, let’s get back into the swing of things.

My last posting was about the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus. It is the saddest section of the Bible; however, the happiest section of Scripture follows right on its heels, the resurrection of Jesus. And the resurrection is not the happiest section just because of the contrast to the saddest part—it really is really, really good news!

Despite the best efforts of Jewish religious leaders to keep Jesus’ tomb guarded (to prevent His disciples from stealing His body and claiming a resurrection), the tomb was nevertheless evacuated on the third day after His death on the cross. Not by a body-snatching burglary of well-meaning but misdirected disciples, but by the very power of God, against which no power on earth could guard a tomb. Jesus really and actually rose from the dead.

And by rise from the dead, we’re not talking about a “resuscitation” of a body that would die again, not a zombie-fied body, nor any other occult permutation of the living dead. This resurrection was what the apostle Paul later calls a spiritual body. Now, I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but what Paul was attempting to get across to us is that it was a real body, just not of the variety that we are familiar with. This one will never get sick, never grow old, never die. And the reason that it is such good news is that, as the apostle John (and others) put it, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2, NIV).

So, Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, what we’d call Sunday. At first His closest disciples didn’t believe it. You’d think they would have, since Jesus had spoken about it from time to time; but of course, if the same thing happened to us, we’d also be a little skeptical. And in some ways that skepticism is something that we should pay attention to.

Jesus’ disciples weren’t a bunch of naive bumpkins who would believe anything. The apostle Thomas in fact was so full of doubt that despite the other apostles telling that they had witnessed Jesus alive, he still stood his skeptical ground and declared that he wouldn’t believe without putting his own finger where the nails had entered Jesus’ hands and put his own hand where the spear had pierced Jesus’ side. For me personally, that makes Thomas’ response to seeing Jesus so much more meaningful: John 20:28 “Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”

Jesus likewise appeared to many others (500 at once—1 Cor. 15) and even to a persecutor, Saul of Tarsus, who consequently turned from being a destroyer of Christianity to a zealous preacher of it.

Such a tangible proof of Jesus as Lord and the resurrection as real made the apostles and early disciples amazingly courageous and faithful in proclaiming the Gospel. Despite the persecution, the arrests and imprisonments, the beatings, and the executions, none of the apostles or other disciples who witnessed the resurrected Jesus ever recanted their testimony of the resurrected Jesus.

The combination of 1) the empty tomb (Jesus’ enemies never produced a body), 2) the initial skepticism of Jesus’ own disciples, and 3) the absolute refusal of these witnesses to recant their testimony even under the most extreme circumstances is a rock solid foundation for faith in Jesus as the Christ even today. Christianity is no blind faith, no wishful thinking. It is and always has been founded on better evidence than most of the ancient history that we accept as fact.

And it also became the solid foundation and launching pad of the Lord’s church—the beginning of which we can read about in the book of Acts.

And Acts is where we’ll pick up in our next post in this blog—the exciting story of the beginning of the church, the Kingdom of God.

Jesus’ last 24 hours

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betrayal, blessings, communion, crucifixion, decisions, Egypt, Exodus, faith, fulfillment, Gethsemane, Israel, leadership, lies, Lord's Supper, love, Messiah, Moses, murder, obedience, Passover, prayer, promise, redemption, sacrifice, sin, slavery, slaves, substitution

There is a lot that happened in Jesus’ life in the three plus years of His formal ministry. The apostle John at the end of his gospel said this, John 21:25 “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they *were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.” We can’t go into the details here, since this blog is Bible 101, but I would encourage you to read the Gospel to learn about Jesus, the central figure of prophecy, of redemption, and of eternity. What you’ll find are enough well-attested miracles to convince you He was  the Son of God and enough of the common experiences of mankind to know that He understands us all, inside and out.

But what I will write about today is the critical last day of His life—the Last Supper, the prayer of Gethsemane, the arrest, the trial, the crucifixion, and His death. Again, we won’t have space enough to go into great detail—whole books have been written on it—but touch on the most important points, especially for beginning Bible students.

The Last Supper

What we know as the Last Supper was really, as far as Jesus’ disciples were concerned, a Passover meal, celebrated once a year to remember how God rescued Israel from Egyptian slavery in the days of Moses. During this Passover meal, however, Jesus established a new memory—no longer a liberation from Egyptian slavery, but now a remembrance of liberation from sin. The bread, He said, represented His body, given over to death for our sins, and the cup of wine a remembrance of His blood, shed to establish the new covenant and to cleanse us of sin. From the time of earliest Christianity, this meal—sometimes known as the Lord’s Supper, sometimes known as Communion—has been eaten by the assembled church in memory of the Savior’s sacrifice for us.

After this meal with His disciples, Jesus led His followers to the Mount of Olives, the hill just on the other side of the Kidron Valley, which overlooked Jerusalem and the Temple from the east, to a spot called Gethsemane.

Jesus’ Prayer in Gethsemane

It was rather late by the time they arrived at Gethsemane. Jesus settled 8 of His apostles at one spot, but brought His closest friends (Peter, James, and John) a little farther. After He settled them, He asked them to “watch and pray”—while He went a little farther still for personal prayer.

Jesus then fell face down to the ground to pray. His prayer: (Matthew 26:39) “…My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”

After praying like this for a while, Jesus got up and went back to where He’d left Peter, James, and John and found them asleep. He awoke them and urged them to pray instead of sleep, Matthew 26:41 “…that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Then He returned to His original place of prayer, again pleading (Matthew 26:42) “…My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.”

Once again He returned to where He’d left Peter, James, and John and found them asleep again. This time He let them sleep and returned to His own prayer.

Finally, Jesus returned to His disciples, woke them up, and let them get some of the cobwebs out of their heads before those who were coming to arrest Him arrived.

Jesus’ Arrest

This arrest couldn’t have been a surprise to Jesus. It was Passover and the moon was full; the people who came to arrest him came with clubs and torches; from Gethsemane you’d be easily able to see them leaving Jerusalem, crossing the Kidron Valley, and marching up the Mount of Olives. Jesus almost certainly had up to a half hour to escape before they arrived. But His arrest was part of God’s plan, and Jesus was going to obey.

How did the chief priests, Temple guards, and Roman soldiers know where Jesus would be? Judas Iscariot, one of the apostles, who knew where Jesus liked to go for prayer, led them right to Jesus and indicating exactly which of these men was Jesus of Nazareth by a kiss of greeting.

Jesus specifically requested that those that came to arrest Him let His disciples go unharmed, however, Peter, in a desire to rescue Jesus, drew a sword and took a swipe at one of those who had been sent to arrest Jesus. This well-intended but foolish act on Peter’s part caused a small skirmish in the middle of this moonlit night, ending in the apostles scattering to avoid arrest. Everyone managed to escape—except the One who knew that His arrest was part of the greater plan. Jesus was taken into custody and brought to the house of Caiaphas the high priest.

Jesus’ Trial

The high priest interviewed Jesus first to settle on exactly what the accusation would be to convict Him and condemn Him to death. During this interrogation Jesus took physical abuse from His captors, yet didn’t return any of the abuse, either physical or verbal.

When dawn arrived, the high priest called the Sanhedrin (a ruling body of men) together to make the official accusation and call for the official punishment of death. A number of “witnesses” were called into this “kangaroo court” to convict Jesus, but their testimony didn’t agree. Finally, in frustration, Caiaphas put Jesus under oath and asked Him if He was indeed the Son of God. When Jesus answered yes, the high priest tore his robe (an expression of profound grief) labeling Jesus’ confession blasphemy and calling for the death penalty. Most of the Sanhedrin agreed, so Jesus was sent to Pilate, the Roman governor, for an official Roman crucifixion.

Pilate didn’t really want to deal with Jesus. He could apparently sense that there was something bogus about the accusations being made against Jesus and that there was something truly different about Him; he tried several times to set Jesus free. The leadership of the Jews, however, used political extortion against Pilate to get their way—to paraphrase: if you don’t comply, we’ll tell Caesar that you failed to stop someone who claimed to be king. So, with great reluctance Pilate cooperated and ordered innocent Jesus to be crucified.

Jesus’ Crucifixion

Crucifixion as the Romans practiced it was tuned to cause the maximum amount of pain for the maximum amount of time possible, while humiliating the victim to maximum extent. It would begin with a severe Roman scourging (occasionally victims died of the scourging in the preliminary phase of the punishment) followed by a public “parade” to the place of crucifixion, where the execution would be seen by as many people as possible. The victim would laid down on the cross with his arms and hands extended, and nails were driven through his wrists (the palm of the hand wouldn’t support on’e weight) and through the feet. The cross would then be dropped into a pre-dug hole and the body would sag against driven the nails. While this would be bloody, one didn’t die on the cross because of blood loss; one died ultimately from inability to breathe, asphyxiation. Putting one’s weight on the up-stretched hands paralyzes the diaphragm with which we breath. To breath, it was necessary to lift oneself on one’s nailed feel. When that pain was no longer bearable, you sagged on your hands and bore the pain and asphyxia again as you as you could. This cycle continued on until you had no more strength, then you died for lack of oxygen.

Jesus was crucified between two other condemned prisoners. They along with those who hated Jesus taunted and reviled Him—at least for a while. At one point, however, one of those being crucified with Jesus repented and even called on his fellow thief to stop. Jesus’ showed compassion even at this terrible moment in His life by forgiving the crucified thief who looked for His grace.

Jesus’ Death

At about 3:00PM that day Jesus died on the cross—at approximately the same time as Passover lambs were being slaughtered for the feast. The Lord timed these events to be on Passover, so that we could understand Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross as not only sacrifice for sin but also as a liberation from slavery to sin. In other words, God timed this great event, so that we would grasp that He has not only saved us from the guilt of sin, but also has saved from living a life of sin.

The timing was surprising to the onlookers and to the governor Pilate; crucifixion victims usually took much longer to die. But this was exactly what Jesus had foretold, (John 10:17, 18) “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” If Jesus was who He said He was (and He was), NO man could have possibly taken His life. He GAVE His life, and the timing was no accident or coincidence.

A wealthy man who was a disciple of Jesus, asked governor Pilate for Jesus body, and laid it to rest in his own tomb near the place of the crucifixion before the day was over.

By the way…

Judas Iscariot, the Jews, Pontius Pilate, and the Roman soldiers are often blamed for the death of Jesus, the Son of God. However, it should be noted that although these people had their part to play in the death of Jesus, no one could have made Jesus do what He did. He died specifically because of what I and you and everybody did—sin.

A story goes that a Christian was knocking doors in a neighborhood to perhaps find someone who might study the Bible with him and become a Christian. He unknowingly knocked on the door of a Jewish woman. The Jewish woman, aware of what the Christian wanted, shrewdly decided to ask him to make a deal with her:”I’ll study the Bible with you,” she said, “if you’ll answer one question for me.”

“OK,” the Christian replied.

“Tell me,” the Jewish lady said, “Who was responsible for killing Jesus?” She felt sure that she had cornered the Christian. The answer she expected from a Christian would be “the Jews”; she would reveal that she was Jewish, and it would give her the reasonable justification to be insulted and slam the door in his face.

The Christian cast his eyes down and answered her slowly, “I did; I killed Jesus. Were it not for my sins, He would not have come to die for me.”

The Jewish lady, though shocked, was true to her word, studied with the Christian, and was baptized into name of Jesus, the Messiah. But the piercing truth of the story is simply this: no power on earth could have forced Jesus to die. No arm was strong enough, no army powerful enough, no weapon great enough to make Jesus die. Only His love for me, His compassion for my lost state, and His desire to see me and all of us in Heaven could bring Jesus to the cross.

Things to think about…

• What kind of courage did Jesus have to deliberately face all that He knew was coming?
• How important was our salvation to Jesus and the Father?
• Do we sometimes not take our own salvation seriously enough?

Connection: Identifying who Jesus really is

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blessings, decisions, faith, faithfulness, fulfillment, Israel, king, Messiah, obedience, promise, prophecy

We live in a skeptical world. This isn’t entirely bad, of course. The world is full of liars, con-men, and lunatics and we have to discern between the true and the false. But our modern society has gone beyond healthy skepticism to an unbelief that, ironically enough, requires absolutely concrete, empirical evidence for matters of faith—the perfect example of an oxymoron. this has led to significant damage to faith in Christ.

Don’t misunderstand, the Lord has not demanded of us blind faith. He has not left Himself without witness. I believe in God rather than evolution, because the evidences for God’s existence makes better sense than a natural world explanation. And the reason that I am a Christian is because the evidences that Jesus of Nazareth was and is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ, are truly, overwhelmingly great. God has not left us without evidences.

So, what kinds of evidences will lead us to conclude that Jesus is the Son of God? Well, whole books have been written on this one topic, but let me select just a few

• He fulfilled Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah; and not just one of them, all of them. For example, He came at the time that Daniel designated. He came after the forerunner, John the Baptist, and was actually identified by John as the Messiah. He was of the tribe of Judah, and of the family of Jesse and David. He taught by means of parables. But these were the easy ones, many people might have qualified to be the Messiah on the basis of these.
• He also fulfilled the difficult prophecies. He was born in the city of Bethlehem; a much smaller pool of possible Messiahs—besides, you can’t choose where you’re born. He was crucified. He was born of a virgin.
• But most tellingly, He fulfilled the impossible prophecies. He walked on water, He fully fed thousands with very small amounts of food, and turned water into wine. He raised men up from the dead, and healed incurable diseases and infirmities—just as it was prophesied. And He did all these things in the presence of sometimes thousands of people.  Indeed, His enemies at one point, after Jesus rose a man named Lazarus from the dead, John 12:10, 11 “…planned to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.” And most impossibly of all (for a mere man, that is), He arose from the dead with an immortal body.

Tragically, there were those of Jesus’ time who didn’t believe that He was the Son of God, the Messiah. This was for a variety of reasons, some of them for petty reasons and jealousies, and other because Jesus didn’t fit the notion that they held for what and who the Messiah should be. Jesus didn’t look, act, or speak like the king they were looking for. The apostle Paul said,

1 Corinthians 2:6-9 “Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.””

But if allow ourselves an honest, reasoned, and objective look at 1) all the fulfilled prophecies, 2) strongly attested miracles, and 3) His resurrection, we may be fully assured that Jesus was not a mere man, no great rabbi, and no mere prophet; He was the very Son of God, the second person of the eternal Godhead, in whom the fullness of Deity dwelt in human flesh.

Many of you who are reading this blog are already believers in Jesus; but if you’re not, let me strongly encourage you stop a moment to let this fact sink in. And even if you are already a believer, let me urge you, too, to let the implications of this truth wash over you afresh and revive your discipleship in thought, word, and deed.

Jesus’ parables

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cost of discipleship, decisions, disobedience, enemies, faith, faithfulness, grace, illustrations, love, meaning of life, obedience, parable, patience, repentance, salvation, word of God

Jesus’ teachings are possibly most famous for His parables. Parables are essentially illustrative stories taken from ordinary life situations that His original listeners would easily understand to make His spiritual teachings clear. Matthew 13, for example, carries several such parables. Many more are scattered throughout the Gospels.

The parable of the sower

Matthew 13:3-8 “And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. “Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. “But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. “Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. “And others fell on the good soil and *yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”

Jesus later explained this parable to His disciples that the seed is the word of God. When a teacher or preacher share the word of God with men, the kind of heart that men have will determine what will happen, just like the kind of soil will determine the outcome for a seed. God’s word will come to some men’s hearts, but their hard hearts will not receive the word at all. God’s words will fall on some hearts that receive it quickly, but almost as quickly turn away from it, because of hardship or men’s disapproval. God’s words fall on other kinds of hearts that receive it, but which get chocked out because of the weeds of materialism, distraction, or other interests. Lastly, God’s words will fall on good hearts that receive His will and change (bear fruit) according to His will.

Interestingly enough, this parable is the only one that Jesus Himself gave a name “the parable of the sower”. We might have named it the parable of the soils, but Jesus’ name seems to place the emphasis of the parable on the sower, thus, perhaps the main thrust of the parable is to encourage the teacher or preacher of God’s word not to become discouraged, because the fault more often lies in the heart of the hearer than in the skill of the messenger.

The parable of the tares

Matthew 13:24-30 “Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ “But he *said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’””

This parable is primarily about God’s sovereign decision to wait until the end to judge men, specifically those in the church. The church is the field, the good seed is sown, but the enemy sows bad seed in it, too. Wheat in the ancient world didn’t grow in rows, but like grass, so the good wheat and the bad tares were growing side by side with roots entangled. Why not eliminate the tares early? Because “while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. When men may be willing to “pull the trigger” on judgment, God is willing to be patient. Peter expresses this idea in 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” Men will sin, but then sometimes turn to God later in sincere repentance. There is no doubt that the unrepentant will be punished, but God will give everyone a fair chance to turn and be saved.

The parable of the mustard seed

Matthew 13:31, 32 “He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES.””

This parable was an encouragement to His disciples and apostles. The kingdom of heaven, the church, Christianity, would begin small, with only a handful of followers, but would grow to spread across the whole world. Never let small beginnings fool you.

The parable of the leaven

Matthew 13:33 “He spoke another parable to them, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.””

Leaven is what makes bread rise, soft, and flavorful. But only a little is required. Only a pinch is put into a lump of dough, but as the dough in kneaded the leaven is spread everywhere, and one is able to see the results in a leavened loaf. The kingdom of heaven, Jesus said, is like leaven, which is small at first, but has great effects in the world (the lump of dough).

The parable of the hidden treasure

Matthew 13:44 ““The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

In a world that was without reliable banking systems, it was not uncommon for people to bury their valuables in their fields. This happened especially often during times of war (a common occurrence in Israel. As armies moved through they often looted anything of value; so if you wanted to keep your valuables, you often buried them. However, sometimes the owners died and never came back for the treasure they’d buried. If you discovered a treasure, the law was that if you owned the land, you could claim the treasure; if you didn’t own the land, you couldn’t claim it. This story is of a man plowing a field that was not his own, perhaps as a share cropper or field hand. As he plowed the field his plow hits something hard. When he stops to move it, he discovers it is a wonderful treasure; but he can’t claim it, unless he owns the land. The plowman covers the treasure again, and joyfully sells everything he has, in order to gather enough money to buy the land. Why does he sell everything joyfully? Because he knows that the treasure he is gaining is much greater than the sum of everything he owns. This story was told to underscore that while following Jesus will have its costs, any cost is worth the treasure we’ll receive in the end.

The parable of the pearl of great price

Matthew 13:45, 46 ““Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

This parable is very similar to the hidden treasure above. The merchant joyfully sells everything he has in order to obtain the pearl of great price. Why? Because the pearl is so valuable. Likewise, whatever loss we suffer as a Christian, whatever persecution and suffering we may have to endure for the sake of Jesus, whatever sacrifices we need to make to obtain Heaven will pale in comparison to Heaven. The apostle Paul later put it this way in Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

The parable of the drag net

Matthew 13:47-50 ““Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

This parable is very similar in meaning to the parable of the tares, because it too teaches that the net of the Gospel will bring in “good fish” and “bad fish”. But God’s judgment at the end of time will separate the good from the bad.

Things to think about

• What kind of “soil” do you think your heart is?
• What “price” are you willing to pay to obtain the hidden treasure or the pearl of great price—salvation?

Jesus’ early ministry and the Sermon on the Mount

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beatitudes, blessed, blessings, censoriousness, cost of discipleship, criticism, decisions, disciples, discipleship, enemies, faithfulness, golden rule, hatred, humility, John the Baptist, judgment, listen, love, Messiah, miracles, narrow gate, obedience, obey, persecution, promise, sin, teachability, wisdom, wise

OK, so I’ve been sort of neglectful in keeping up with the blog. My apologies. Sometimes things just get sort of busy. But we want to continue learning about the Bible. We’ve cover the whole Old Testament and have discussed in brief the birth and childhood of Jesus. Let’s launch into the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

The beginning of Jesus’ ministry actually starts with a prophet by the name of John the Baptist. He is mentioned in all four of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ ministry, which says something about the importance of his appearance and preaching. It had been prophesied in places like Malachi 3:1, 2

“Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the LORD of hosts. “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.”

The reason John’s appearance is mentioned in all four Gospels is because he was considered to be a prime sign of the Messiah’s appearance. But his message wasn’t soothing:

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, “We have Abraham for our father”; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’” (Matthew 3:7-12)

Despite the fact that John’s message was what modern ears might consider unusually bold and blunt, multitudes came out to the wilderness and Jordan River to hear his message and be immersed (baptized) to demonstrate their repentance in preparation for the coming of the Messiah.

Jesus Himself was immersed (baptized) by John. At first John refused, recognizing that Jesus was the sinless Messiah; but Jesus insisted saying (Matthew 3:15) “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” That is, perfect Jesus still wanted to do everything that was righteous—not just do “good enough”.

After His baptism Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, where He fasted (had no food) for 40 days. At the end of this time in the wilderness He was tempted by Satan three times. Each time Jesus resisted by quoting the Scriptures. After this time in the wilderness, Jesus formally began His ministry.

He began by preaching and healing around the Galilee region of Israel. Even early in His ministry, Jesus drew large crowds as a healer. But Jesus wasn’t just a healer; He preached to these large multitudes about the coming Kingdom of God. One of His earliest and best known sermons is known as the “Sermon on the Mount”—found in Matthew 5-7. In this sermon Jesus taught some really important principles of Christianity.

Galilee taken from the Mount of Beatitudes

It starts with what are often called the Beatitudes (so called because most of the verses begin with “blessed are”). The Beatitudes are essentially the attitudes necessary to be a disciple of Jesus:

• the poor in spirit—the understanding that in my sin I am bankrupt before God,
• those who mourn—the heart that truly grieves over its sin and offense toward God
• the gentle—also translated humble, it is the opposite of arrogant and selfish ambition
• those who hunger and thirst for righteousness—this attitude is much more than a casual interest in righteousness, it is a craving for God’s righteousness
• the merciful—since the disciple is to benefit so richly from God’s enormous mercy toward us, the disciple is expected to also practice this sometimes very difficult task of extending mercy, grace, “grudge-lessness”, “vengeance-lessness”, and forgiveness to others.
• the pure in heart—while moral purity is always important, this attribute of discipleship is really describing an undivided loyalty and focus on following Jesus.
• the peacemakers—Jesus Himself was and is the great peacemaker, reconciling both God and man in redemption, and man and man in the church. His disciples must also be peacemakers, reconciling man to God in sharing the good news, and man to man in the church.
• those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness—Jesus was always “up front” about the fact that persecution would follow those who followed Him.

Next Jesus taught His disciples that they must be the light of the world and salt of the earth; they must be and make a difference in the world. All these are difficult enough to do, but then Jesus said something that would have utterly shocked His original hearers—your righteousness must be better than the scribes and the Pharisees (the two most righteous groups that most people knew). But before people lost hope in being able to follow, Jesus hastened to illustrate what he meant. In Matthew 5:21ff, He taught that righteousness wasn’t merely about what one physically did, but it also extended to what goes on in one’s heart and mind. Jesus taught that not only is it wrong to murder, but it is also wrong to hate; not only is adultery sinful, but it is also wrong to lust; not only is wrong to get your revenge, but one may also be condemned by holding a grudge.

In Matthew 6 Jesus went on to teach that godliness—like prayer, giving, and fasting—must be done for God and not for public applause. He also taught that we must depend on God’s provision. This is where Jesus famously said, Matthew 6:28-30, “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!”

Finally, in chapter 7, Jesus forbade hyper-critical judgment. This was not to say that His disciples should never mention sin or false doctrine (Jesus Himself talked about such things in the next couple of paragraphs); rather He forbade the kind of criticism that simply seeks to belittle and hurt others. In this chapter He also taught that His disciples needed to pray in faith and live the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”).

At the close of this chapter, Jesus also warned against false teachers and false living. This last teaching is especially stern: Matthew 7:13, 14 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” To cap all His teachings, He then told a well-known parable of a wise man who built his house on a rock. In this parable, those who hear and obey are compared to a wise man who built his house on bedrock; and He compared those who merely hear but do not obey to a foolish man who built on unstable sand and was washed away by the storm of judgment.

These teachings found in the Sermon on the Mount are among the most important of Jesus’ teachings and are well worth a careful reading.

Intertestamental period: God’s orchestrates the “fullness of the times”

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Alexander the Great, Antiochus Epiphanies, Bible history, diaspora, Egypt, fullness of the times, Greek, Hellenism, intertestamental history, kingdom of God, koine Greek, Maccabees, Pax Romana, Persian empire, Pharisee, Philip of Macedon, Ptolemy, rabbis, Roman Empire, Sadducees, Samaritan, Seleucus, synagogue, Syria, temple

We’re now entering, time-wise, a 400 year period of biblical silence known as the Intertestamental Period. You may well wonder why I would want to spend any time here, since this blog is entitled Bible 101. It’s a fair question, and I think I have a good answer. To understand many of the things in the New Testament, you need to understand what happened historically between the time of Esther and the time of Jesus’ birth. You would, perhaps find yourself wondering how we got from the Persian Empire to the Roman Empire, where did the Pharisees and Sadducees come from, who are the Samaritans that none of the Jews seem to like, why is everyone speaking Greek, and how did the Jews go from being sort of wishy-washy about worshipping God to zealous for God? These are the sorts of things that a study of the Intertestamental Period can answer for us.

We won’t spend long here, but hang with me a few paragraphs, while we do a quick survey of history as it connects with the New Testament times that we’ll be jumping into next time.

A broad sweep of history

We left the Old Testament with the Jews under Persian rule at approximately the mid-400s BC. Some of them had decided to return to Judea, rebuild the Temple, and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem; and some of them had chosen to stay scattered across the region of the middle-east known as the Fertile Crescent—Syria, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. Persia ruled from the Indus River in the east to Egypt and eastern Greece in the west.

In the mid-300s BC, however, a young conqueror, Alexander the Great, built upon his father’s military accomplishments (Philip of Macedon, Philip II). He conquered the whole of Greece, swept eastward into modern Turkey (the eastern empire of Persian), southward across Palestine and into Egypt, then eastward again to conquer the old Assyrian and Babylonian territories (central Persian empire), and finally across Persia itself to the Indus River—all in a matter 12 years! Not only did Alexander bring a new king to these regions, he also brought significant cultural change. Alexander was a dyed-in-the-wool believer in Hellenism: Greek traditions, Greek philosophy and education, Greek city planning, Greek democracy, Greek religion, Greek language, and the Greek love for athleticism (the gymnasium). This is the reason why the New Testament is written in Greek; it was the language that everyone in the known world knew how to speak and read.

Alexander died in 323 BC, however, while continuing to expand his empire. His death caused his generals to divide the empire up. The two generals that impacted Bible history are Seleucus (who ruled Syria) and Ptolemy (who ruled Egypt). Judea was between these two generals and became a pretty constant battlefield. One of these Greek ruling families, the Seleucus family, produced a ruler by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes who took the throne in 170 BC, who deeply resented Judea’s resistance to his attempts to Hellenize (Greek-ize) them. He outlawed Judaism, demanded that the Jews worship the Greek gods, and even went so far as to desecrate the Temple in Jerusalem. These actions only served to provoke a full-blown, successful rebellion against Antiochus, led by the a family known as the Maccabbees. After pushing the Greeks out of Jerusalem, the Jews led by the Maccabbees reconsecrated the Temple for the worship of the true God that is memorialized even to this day as the celebration of Chanukah (or Hanukah). Judea remained semi-independent for a number of years,

The Roman Empire began to influence Judea by the middle of the 1^st century BC. It was more a political process than a military one. Herod the Great, through political processes, became king over Palestine, and because of his Roman ties and alliances Judea eventually became a Roman province. On the positive side of things, they brought political stability, peace, broader travel (better roads, patrolled by legionnaires), and wide trade opportunities (pirate-less seas); on the con side, they brought a constant irritation to Jewish religious sensitivities, taxes to a foreign government, and crucifixion for those foolish enough to defy them.

Synagogues

When the Temple was destroyed and the Jews were scattered, a system and tradition of assembly to sing, pray, and read the Law developed. It became known as the synagogue and along with it developed the idea of teachers of the Law, rabbis, and rabbinic traditions (teachings from the rabbis about how the Law was to be implemented in daily life). These traditions later were later collected into the Mishnah (c. AD 200) and Talmud (c.AD 500).

Pharisees and Sadducees

These were the two major sects or denominations of Judaism, and they both had their roots in the days of the Maccabees. The Pharisees could be considered more conservative in their religion. They believed in the inspiration of all of what we would call the Old Testament, from Genesis to Malachi. They believed in angels, miracles, the resurrection of the body, and spirits. They also took the traditions of the rabbis quite seriously, almost as if they were inspired words of God. The Sadducees, on the other hand, only took the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy) as something to be obeyed. They were what we might term “sophisticates”, very influenced by Hellenism (Greek culture), and very skeptical about miracles, angels, spirits, and the notion of the resurrection of the body. The Sadducees tended to be in positions of power in Jesus’ day, because they were willing to work with the Roman Gentiles—and the Roman Gentiles were the ones who appointed even religious leaders like the high priests.

Samaritans

The Samaritans were various peoples who had been resettled in Palestine in the days of the Assyrians and Babylonians. When they were resettled, they sought to know about and worship the God of Israel (so that the God of Israel wouldn’t bring them harm). When Jews returned they found non-Jewish people worshipping the God of Israel—alongside their own gods. When the Samaritans offered to help rebuild the Temple, the Jews refused the help of these half-pagan foreigners and made themselves some permanent enemies. They were settled primarily near the city of Samaria (therefore the name), and by the time of Jesus ministry, their mutual disdain for each other had only grown.

Putting it all together

From the viewpoint of 20/20 hindsight, it becomes clear that God was clearly working providentially to “set the table” for the Messiah and His great Kingdom. Coming out of the exile, the Jews had learned in spades the terrible and certain consequences of unfaithfulness to God; and whether they had returned to Judea or stayed in the “diaspora”, they were now a much more religiously sober people. And the Jews who did stay scattered all across the known world gave God’s Kingdom a “beachhead” in the form of synagogues and a God-fearing population in cities, towns, and villages stretching from Spain to India. God had brought the Greek empire into His equation to give the known world a more uniform culture, a more cohesive identity, and a common language, the easier to spread the Gospel of the Kingdom to the whole world. And He added the Roman empire into the mix, right on schedule, to provide 1) an unique empire-wide (the-known-world-wide) peace known as Pax Romana and 2) unprecedented ease of travel by road and sea. This gave the saving message of the Gospel the opportunity to spread and grow on a true fast-track. Paul refers to God’s preparation for the Gospel in both Galatians 4:4 and Ephesians 1:10, when he speaks of the “fullness of the times”—the perfect moment for Christ to enter into history.

We may not always recognize God at work, but we must never doubt that in the shifts of politics and culture, in the wake of disasters and tragedies, and among the multitudes of nobodies in the world there are the seeds of the fulfillment of God’s great plans and ultimate purposes.

Covenants and the beginning of Jesus’ story

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Bethlehem, covenant, decisions, Egypt, faith, faithfulness, fathers, firstborn, fulfillment, gentiles, Herod the Great, hope, Israel, Jesus' birth, Jews, Judah, king, King Herod, law, lies, Magi, manger, marriage, miracles, Moses, nativity, New covenant, obedience, old covenant, origins, patriarchs, prophecy, Roman Empire, stable, temple, wise men

Wow, so we’ve made it completely through the Old Testament. It wasn’t so painful, was it? And hopefully it was not only interesting but will actually helpful in understanding more about the the New Testament.

If you’re new to the Bible, you might be wondering what the difference is between the Old and the New Testament. To make a long story short, God has worked with mankind through different—I’ll call them “deals”. From Adam through Moses God worked primarily through the fathers of the households—you might have noticed. From Moses through the cross of Christ, God worked with mankind primarily (in a simplified explanation) through the Law of Moses. From the cross of Christ (we’ll talk more about this later) through the present, God appeals and works with men through Christ and the new covenant. This means, interestingly enough, that Jesus’ entire earthly life was lived under the Mosaic Law. Those of us who now live after Jesus death on the cross, however, live under the Christian covenant. This is important as we consider what commands apply to us today and what commands don’t. Not every Mosaic command (like Sabbath or circumcision) apply to men today. We’ll explore this truth a little later in this series of blogs.

The beginning of the New Testament is, of course, the story of Jesus. Before we start, let me very quickly set the stage. Israel since the time of their return from exile had repopulated the land especially in southern Judah and around the lake called Galilee. A people called the Samaritans in the region between Jerusalem and Galilee; and they still didn’t get along with the Jews (and vice versa). The Temple had been not only rebuilt but expanded and beautified. The king of the time was Herod the Great, though he was really only a vassal king—Rome ruled. The main Jewish denominations were the Sadducees (we’d classify them as liberals) and the Pharisees (we’d classify them as conservatives).

A virgin birth

Jesus’ earthly life started in a most unusual way, a virgin birth. The Scripture tells us that the angel Gabriel came to Mary to reveal to her that she was about to conceive a son by means of the Holy Spirit; and indeed she did conceive. This would be highly embarrassing to her, her family, and her fiancee, Joseph. In fact, Joseph at first was going to divorce her (engagement was considered technically to be marriage in the ancient world), but an angel came to him, also, and counseled him otherwise. Joseph therefore married her, and didn’t have sexual relations with her until after Jesus was born. Afterward, Mary and Joseph had other children, Jesus had brothers and sisters (see Mark 6:3) through the usual way.

Near the time of Mary coming to delivery of the baby, a world-wide mandate from Rome ordered everyone to return to their hometowns for a census and taxation. Joseph and Mary obediently traveled to Bethlehem, since their families were from Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, they found every inn in town full and they were forced to overnight in a stable (probably a local cave, where animals were sheltered), where Mary gave birth to Jesus. At the same time local shepherds in the fields around Bethlehem were  privileged to receive the glorious announcement from angels of the birth of the Savior of the world. After the announcement of the angels, the shepherds came to see the new-born king.

The visit of the wise men

You may be surprised to hear that the wise men were not part of that famous scene of Jesus in the manger in the stable. A close reading of the story (found in Matthew 2) reveals that Jesus was actually somewhere close to 2 years old at the time of their visit. The wise men were Magi from Chaldea (near Baghdad in modern day Iraq). They were astrologers / astronomers; and when they saw a new star appear, they may have found a reference in some of Daniel’s writings (Daniel was a Magi, himself) and decided to visit this new great king. When they arrived in Judah, they went to Jerusalem and king Herod’s palace. Since Herod had no young children, he took the report of a new born king of Israel to be bad news. After the wise men visited the toddler Jesus and deliberately avoided reporting to king Herod. Herod decided to kill all the baby boys under 2 years old (another clue that the visit of the wise men was to a 2 year old Jesus). God had warned Joseph, however, of Herod’s plan and told him to take his family to Egypt. After king Herod died a couple of years later, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus moved back to Judea—though not to Bethlehem; they moved to Nazareth in the Galilee region.

A family visit to Jerusalem

Not much is told in the Bible about Jesus’ childhood, apart from one interesting story about Jesus, when He was 12 years old. The family had gone to Jerusalem for Passover, as most faithful Jewish families did. After the feast the family started back. Usually, on such long journeys (about 80-90 miles), families traveled together in large groups—there was safety in numbers. The men usually traveling together and the women and children usually traveling together. Since Jesus was 12 years old, He could have traveled with either the men or the women and children; so, at the end of the first day’s journey, Mary thought Jesus was with Joseph and Joseph thought that Jesus had opted to travel with the women and children. Can you imagine the panic, when discovered that He wasn’t with the group at all? They quickly traveled back to Jerusalem and looked for Jesus for three days before discovering Him in the Temple talking with the teachers of the Law, amazing them with both His questions and His answers to their questions. When Mary rebuked Him for worrying them so much, Jesus calmly replied, (Luke 2:49) “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?”

Things to think about…

• If you were lost, where would people think to look for you? What does that say about us?
• What kind of faith do you imagine Mary had to have had to accept the news of her miraculous pregnancy—and endure all the looks and gossip that likely followed? Does being obedient to God sometimes bring embarrassment on us? Does the world look at Christians sometimes as being odd or out-of-step?
• What kind of faith did Joseph have to have to believe the story of Mary’s miraculous pregnancy? Are there things in God’s word that the world finds hard to believe? Things that we ourselves might find hard to believe? When the world and God disagree, who knows better?
• Being a parent of any child is a tremendous responsibility; what do you suppose Mary and Joseph felt as they became the parents of the Savior of the world? Has God given us any responsibilities that we have not been faithful to attend to closely? Do we feel the same urgency about keeping our responsibility as Joseph and Mary did?

Minor Prophets, part 2

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blessings, decisions, disobedience, enemies, faith, faithfulness, fulfillment, hatred, hope, Israel, Judah, judgment, king, leadership, love, loyalty, Messiah, obedience, promise, prophecy, sin

In our last post we began a survey of the minor prophets. After writing on all twelve in one sitting, I discovered that the whole thing was a little long; so, I thought I’d break it up into two parts.

Let’s continue with a brief look at the minor prophets.

Micah

There’s a lot of Messianic prophecies in this book. Not the least of which is this prophecy about where Jesus was to be born…

Micah 5:2 ““But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.””

When the wise men (the Magi) came looking for Jesus in Jerusalem, the capital of Judea, in king Herod’s court, the experts in the law cited this passage as the place where the Messiah was to be born. Note also that this “ruler” was eternal—a unique God-quality. (See also 2:11 / 4:1-8 / 6:8 / 7:7,8 / 7:18)

Nahum

Assyria (Nineveh) did indeed conquer Israel and take them away into exile—Israel refused to repent, but Nineveh did. God used Assyria as His rod of punishment against a long unfaithful Israel, however, Assyria’s cruelty would not go unpunished forever. Nahum promises judgment to God’s rod of punishment.

Nahum 1:3 “The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, And the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. In whirlwind and storm is His way, And clouds are the dust beneath His feet.”

Judgement for sin is sometimes mercifully delayed to allow for repentance, but sin never goes unanswered. Jesus’ death on the cross is God’s answer to sin and injustice, provided for those who’ll believe and obey—God’s justice and mercy all wrapped up in One. (See also 1:9 / 1:19)

Habakkuk

This book at first cries out for justice; but when retribution for Judah’s sin turns out to be the gentiles of Babylon, Habakkuk cries “foul”. God’s answer is contained in this wonderful verse…

Habakkuk 1:5 ““Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days– You would not believe if you were told.”

God’s plan was to bring a humbled Israel and Judah back from exile, more obedient and faithful than the centuries before.
“God’s purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour;
the bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower.”

(See also 1:2 / 2:4 / 2:14 / 2:18 / 2:20 / 3:17-19)

Zephaniah

Here is a prophet that spoke during the days of king Josiah about the coming days of judgment and exile for Judah’s sin, the glorious return of the “remnant”, and the punishment of Israel’s enemies.

Zephaniah 1:12 ““It will come about at that time That I will search Jerusalem with lamps, And I will punish the men Who are stagnant in spirit, Who say in their hearts, ‘The LORD will not do good or evil!’”

A sobering warning to men of the present day who seem to have a similar spirit. (See also 3:9-20)

Haggai

This prophet spoke in the days after the exile, during the times of the rebuilding of the second Temple. The rebuilding of the temple had many enemies, who pulled every political trick available to stop it. Rebuilding it was a challenge and a step of faith; it was easier to just forget about it. This prophecy shames the people for leaving the temple unfinished while they lived in fancy homes.

Haggai 2:8, 9 “‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the LORD of hosts. ‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the LORD of hosts.””

This temple would not be as physically striking as Solomon’s temple was, because of the lack of finances and power. But God promised that it would be more glorious, not only because more sincere worship would occur here, but also in a secondary, spiritual sense, the Temple (the church) would be built of living stones and bring world-wide glory into it. (See also 1:4,5 / 1:7-9)

Zechariah

Zechariah also wrote in Haggai’s time and addresses the returning Judean exiles. This book is filled with interesting metaphors and apocalyptic images. It also has some great Messianic prophecies.

Zechariah 7:13 ““And just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen,” says the LORD of hosts;”

This passage points out that if we want God to hear our prayers, we do well to listen to His words. Put your hands over your ears to His words and He’ll put His hands over His ears to your prayers. (See also 1:5,6 / 3:8-10 / 4:6-10 / 6:11-15 / 9:9,10 / 11:12,13 / 12:10 / 13:1)

Malachi

Also a prophet of the times of Haggai and Zechariah. The work of these prophets helped motivate those who returned from exile to rebuild the temple, hold onto hope, and purify their lives from some of the worldly influences from their years in exile among the gentiles.

Malachi 4:5, 6 ““Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. “He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.””

This verse and its surrounding context promises a forerunner before the coming Messiah. This turned out to be John the Baptist in the Gospels. (See also 1:6-9 / 2:13-16 / 3:1-2 / 3:8-10 / 4:1-6)

Things to think about…

• We often don’t understand God’s greater plan, but the one who “lives by faith”, the one who is waits on the Lord, will be rewarded.
• The prophecies of the Messiah came to pass unfailingly and demonstrated clearly that Jesus is the promised Savior.
• Are there influences from our world that we need to be purified from? Can you list a few?

The minor prophets, part 1

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adultery, blessings, children, decisions, disobedience, enemies, faith, faithfulness, fulfillment, grace, hatred, hope, Judah, judgment, justice, knowing, knowledge, love, loyalty, marriage, mercy, Messiah, Messianic, minor prophets, obedience, patience, prophecy, prophesy, prophets, relationship, rend your garments, repentance, sin, temple

Again, just by way of reminder, the minor prophets aren’t minor because they aren’t as important—they are just as God-breathed as anything else in the Bible—they are just shorter. As as God-inspired books they have wonderful prophecies for the faithful, stern warnings for the sinful, and many important teachings that can change how you look at things spiritually.

Because there are so many books among the minor prophets and because this particular blog is really intended to be a primer of sorts about the Bible; I’ll only be citing one interesting passage per book with context and explanation. But don’t stop with just the quotes I’m citing here; these books have lots of wonderful passages that I didn’t quote.

Hosea

Hosea’s theme is “knowledge of God”; but he is clearly talking about more than mere data, when he speaks of knowledge. The book starts with a parable out of Hosea’s own family life—an unfaithful wife and children that he reasonably doubts are even his. The point throughout the book is that God views our unfaithfulness in the same way that a spouse might be deeply wounded through marital unfaithfulness. God wants relationship, not just ceremonial sacrifice and worship. As he uses the word knowledge, he is using it in loosely the same way that “Adam knew Eve and she conceived”—relationship.

Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”

He is not accusing them of not knowing who He is, but that they don’t really know Him. (See also Hosea 1:10 / 2:8-10 / 2:18,19 / 3:1-5 / 6:6 / 8:7 / 10:12 / 13:9)

Joel

This prophecy is a prediction of a locust plague, sent by God as a punishment for unfaithful Israel. It is full of great metaphor and uses “Day of the Lord” language that we see used many other times later in Scripture. The “Day of the Lord” doesn’t just refer the last day of this world, but often to times in which God will intervene in the affairs of this world—sometimes in punishment, sometimes for blessings.

Joel 2:13 “And rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness And relenting of evil.”

Tearing (rending) one’s clothing is a common expression of grief or mourning in the middle-east, for instance, for someone’s death or to express sorrow over sin. The Lord wanted more than just an outward show of repentance, however, He was looking for heart-felt repentance for their sins, sorrow enough to change. Not just the form of repentance, but the substance of it. (See also 1:15 / 2:28-32)

Amos

Amos is an indictment against many nations, especially including Israel and Judah. One of the things that God through Amos points out is that God had appealed to them through the prophets and through punishment to mend their ways. Their resounding response, however, had been “no”. So, God is promising them that their judgment will be coming—fulfilled by the Assyrians and Babylonians.

Amos 5:14, 15 “Seek good and not evil, that you may live; And thus may the LORD God of hosts be with you, Just as you have said! Hate evil, love good, And establish justice in the gate! Perhaps the LORD God of hosts May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

Despite the fact that Amos is promising judgment on Israel and Judah, the promise was a conditional one—conditioned on their continued rebellion against Him. If they had repented, God (even at this point) was prepared to be gracious and forgiving. This is more or less the kernel of the teachings of the prophets. (See also 2:11,12 / 3:2 / 3:7,8 / 4:1,2 / 4:11,12 / 5:14,15 / 5:21-27 / 8:11)

Obadiah

This prophecy is directly aimed at the nation of Edom, cousins to the Israelites. Obadiah cites numerous national sins against Israel and Judah—hatred, betrayal, and gloating over a “brother’s” punishment, just to name a few.

Obadiah 1:3 ““The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, You who live in the clefts of the rock, In the loftiness of your dwelling place, Who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to earth?’”

Edom had pridefully built fortresses out of stone mountains (the city of Petra, featured in the Indiana Jones “Last Crusade” movie), thinking that no one would be able to defeat them. God proved them wrong. (See also 1:10,11)

Jonah

This book is a story of the prophet Jonah. The background is important here: Assyria (Nineveh) was rising as a national power; but they were deliberately cruel to those they conquered, so that others they met on the battlefield would become afraid. It wouldn’t be long until Assyria would attack Israel, cruelly win victory, and just as cruelly take them into exile (usually by hooks through the cheek). Jonah appears to have known this from God; and when God tells Jonah to go preach to Nineveh, Jonah resists. If Nineveh continues to sin, God will destroy them; if they repent, Nineveh will be spared and they will destroy Israel. So, Jonah doesn’t want to preach repentance to them. Jonah tries to run, but God will not be resisted. Jonah is swallowed by a great fish (or whale) and after 3 days and nights is vomited up on the shore. Jonah preaches, Nineveh repents, God relents, and Jonah is miffed. It’s a great story, but here’s an interesting verse…

Jonah 4:9-11 “Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.” Then the LORD said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. “Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?””

Sometimes our priorities are not God’s priorities, but God’s plans will not be thwarted or resisted. This is beautifully highlighted in the passage above.  (See also 1:17 / 3:1-5 / 3:10 / 4:1,2)

Things to think about…

• Knowledge of God—do you know about Him, or do you really know Him?
• Do we value our leisure, our comforts, our purposes over the transcendent purposes of God like the salvation of souls, the lives of others, eternal destinations?
• Is our repentance sometimes more form and less substance.