It Was All Very Good- Genesis (2022)

 

I won’t publish all of Genesis in these writings, but take some time to read this section as a whole.

In reading blog posts, I sometimes skip over the Scripture.... don't do that...it is the only good stuff here!

Genesis 1

[1] In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. [2] The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

[3] And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. [4] And God saw that the light was good. And God 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 an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” [7] And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. [8] And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

[9] And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. [10] God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

[11] And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. [12] The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. 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 expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, [15] and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. [16] And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. [17] And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, [18] to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the 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 waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” [21] So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. [22] And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” [23] And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

[24] And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. [25] And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

[26] Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

[27] So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

[28] And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” [29] And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. [30] And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. [31] And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (ESV)

Genesis 2:1–3

[1] Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. [2] And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. [3] So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. (ESV)


According to Genesis 1 and 2, it was God Himself that brought into being not only good things, but things that He named. He was the first to name- “Day”, “Night”, “Land”, “Seas”, “Heaven”, “Earth”

He was active… He said, He saw, He created, He made, He blessed, … also early it was written that He ‘hovered’ which has a reference to wind. I sometimes think of the rushing wind of God’s spirit that blows over a dark, empty, soul that is void.

It was His idea to mark seasons, days, and years.

He was also, somewhat passive- some things happened out of the motions He put is place…. He didn’t stop the earth from sprouting or fish from swarming. He saw and blessed.

He allowed for a division called ‘livestock’- domesticated animals for man’s good. This was apart from ‘wild animals’ and ‘small animals’.

He is a God of lavish blessings- the sea ‘swarmed’ with fish, the skies “filled” with birds. A once ‘formless mass cloaked in darkness’ now overflows with light and life- good bounty and great harvest!

He then patterned people after Himself (actually "Us"which I believe is a reference to the triune Godhead). We reason, emote, contemplate, choose, and communicate.

It was all excellent and good and He rested, and He designated that rest as 'holy'- set apart for His glory.

I want to address a few other concepts here. It is interesting that we have light and dark on day 1 and the ordination/placement of the sun and moon on day 4.

There is some great commentary about the parallels found in 6 days:

Day 1 light separated from dark compared to Day 4- filled with luminaries

Day 2 water separated from sky compared to Day 5- filled with fish and birds

Day 3- land separated from sea compared to Day 6- filled with animals and man.

For this post, I want to explore LIGHT:

We can’t ignore light…. When it comes to God.

LIGHT– is one of those things that cry out to the existence and glory of God.

If you did not have the Bible- LIGHT would still be enough to cause the human mind to contemplate a Creator. Why?

Well, it is so unique… it has been discovered that light is a particle AND light is a ray. Einstein sums up this interesting scientific observation of light being particle and ray at the same time:

“It seems as though we must use sometimes the one theory and sometimes the other, while at times we may use either. We are faced with a new kind of difficulty. We have two contradictory pictures of reality; separately neither of them fully explains the phenomena of light, but together they do” Albert Einstein

Also, when Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards were outlining their case for Intelligent Design, they were suddenly grasped by a reality that seemed to ‘reveal’ more evidence than just the ‘fine tuning of the universe’ properties that seemed to suggest prior intelligence in the formation of our planet and the environment most favorable to life. Not only were the basic laws understandable.. they were discoverable.. and not only that, we live at a particular platform where these things are OBSERVABLE!

And, observation leads to discovery!

In their mind, the fact that light was available and we had an atmosphere to SEE beyond our planet was too ‘coincidental’ to not be ‘suspicious’. The slot machine of the lottery wheel seemed to be rigged….

I have always been intrigued by the way Jesus says in Luke, Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. And again in Matthew: If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

I don’t know about you.. but having DARK LIGHT in me sounds serious and heavy!

Recently, I have become enamored with black holes and how the dense gravity pulls everything beyond the event horizon... talk about utter darkness!

As great as light is in the physical world… the dynamic of spiritual light and darkness is even more so!

The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD,

searching all his innermost parts. (Proverbs 20:27 ESV)

The NLT says it like this:

The LORD’s searchlight penetrates the human spirit, exposing every hidden motive.


SO WHAT IS THIS DARK LIGHT THAT WE FIGHT BY A SHINING LIGHT?

The fundamental difference in the Christian worldview and predominate spirit of this age is in determining man as evil or good. The world says, “Man is good, but he sometimes does bad things.” This view believes man’s intentions and motives are for universal good. If educated and free, man will choose to help others and end evil.

BUT…the Scripture says, “Man is evil”. Born into a depraved condition. Whose motives are greedy and malicious. When he does good, it is usually tainted. He speaks lies and defends immorality. Good only exists because of the common grace of God.

Early in Genesis we get this very dark news: 

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5 ESV)

This is the paradoxical dichotomy of man. He builds hospitals. He sells illegal drugs. He gives to the poor. He brutalizes children. He gives to charity. He robs from the poor. What explains this?

‘Man is good and does bad things’? or ‘Man is evil and is good only by God’s common grace’?

The Bible’s answer is most likely correct. It fits the either/or reality in a more correct way. Modern man rejects original sin and blows it off as myth. I accept it because it defines me according to the reality of my nature.

Without God, how low would I go? I tremble at the thought.

When the searchlight of God hits my motives, I stand before the world guilty and condemned. Who is my advocate? Who can cleanse me? Who can forgive? “Therefore now, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)” I don’t have to cover up my sin problem, I give it to my Savior.

SPIRITUAL DARKNESS IS THE SHADOWS OF SIN AND SHAME:

Job 24:13,15,17 (NIV) “There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths… The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he keeps his face concealed… For all of them, deep darkness is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness.”

Isa 29:15-16 (NIV) Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, “Who sees us? Who will know?” You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!… Can the pot say of the potter, “He knows nothing?”

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night,”

even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

(Psalm 139:11-12 ESV)

JESUS CHRIST SHINES A SPIRITUAL LIGHT INTO THE DARKNESS

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
(John 3:19-21 ESV)

SPIRITUAL LIGHT IS A KEY TO SALVATION AND SANCTIFICATION

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
(Colossians 1:13-14 ESV)

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.(2 Corinthians 4:5-7 ESV)

AS JESUS IS LIGHT- WE ARE TO ‘WALK IN THE LIGHT’

Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Romans 13:11-14 ESV)

THE NEW JERUSALEM WILL HAVE A SPECIAL LIGHT:

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
(Revelation 21:22-27 ESV)

SO HOW ABOUT IT…do you want the dark light or the light of salvation?

Physical light has a speed.. the speed of light is:

299,792,458 miles per second!

The Speed of Spiritual light is FASTER… it responds to the cry of the sinner to the Savior….

Indeed- HE is ALL VERY GOOD!

In my next post, you will become breathless when you see his grace on display in His dealings with Cain.

God in the Gaps- Genesis 1 (2022)

 

[1] In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. [2] The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:1–2 ESV)

Education is wasted on the youth. I now confess that when I was a young seminary student, I quickly moved past the volumes of debate regarding Genesis 1 and 2. It seemed foolish and speculative to identify any ‘gap’ of time between the two verses. I was too eager to just finish, I had things to do!

I was equally foolish to mention it in a sermon I got to preach at Harold Hills Evangelical Free Church in Romford, England in 1990 on Genesis 1. I don’t know if was my southern accent, youthful appearance, or casual, fly by comment - but I soon found that more than one elderly congregant wanted explanation, and I was ill equipped to defend it in exposition.

Once I started teaching apologetics in 2004, I was now into the material with new vigor and I poured over manuscripts that spoke of Masoretic texts, verb tenses, and Hebrew names for God.

It was also in Nashville, where I began to experience the ire of the ‘Answers in Genesis’ people if I even breathed a belief in a GAP of time between Genesis 1:1 and 2 or 2 and 3 and I was taken to task as dishonoring the text. (More on that in a minute).

I never seek to place things in the GAP even if I believe it is there…. That would be to me  the ‘foolish speculation” of I Timothy. I don’t want to add information that the Lord has chosen to keep secret (Deut. 29:29).

But there is plenty of literary evidence to support Genesis 1: 1 and 2 as a ‘stand alone’ apart from the narrative that follows.

Skeptics get angry when Christians add God to the GAPS- the mysteries that science can’t answer…. But Christians get angry when a Genesis commentary mentions the GAP theory with anything but skepticism.

I have landed on the narrative telling us that God began creation on a ‘formless, dark,  and void’ mass of material that He created out of nothing (Ex nihilo).

Ex Nihilo is easier to prove- almost all ancient Jewish texts support that this was the common belief understood throughout Old Testament scholarship. It flies into the face of materialists, who hold the stuff has just always been here… but Scripture begins with a bold assertion, God has no beginning, but He did create the beginning. He is the great Uncaused Cause.

God didn’t find the stuff formless and void…. He created the formless and void like a lump of clay.

If someone disagrees with me, I won’t question their salvation.

Now, it is important that I don’t use this as a cop out over the age of the universe. I guess we can explore a little of that here….. Here is a little of my journey.

I vividly remember my first encounter with evolution in the classroom. I was in 6th grade at Robinson Elementary (1974ish) and the mere mention of an unguided process that over eons of time turned a germ into a monkey and then into a man was laughable to me.

I don't know if the two visceral reactions were connected- but my 'red flag' aversion to evolution was equally comparable to my anger toward racism. At the core of my being, these views collapsed right in front of my deep grained instinct that the Creator was there and He was just and good. And I was not a ‘believer’ at the time, but my predispositions were already God directed- He was already working on me.

This class was prone to tough debates and I remember the interesting realization that I was in the minority. It's funny, but my weakest argument to these elementary debaters was my firm stance on the six day creation account. But God was big enough for the miracle... He could have done it in six seconds!

"Everyone knows that the universe is millions of years old"

"Oh Yeah?" I said.

"Yeah"

Do you believe me? I so remember it and I specifically remember being a science skeptic from my early years. I trusted God and I did not trust men. If God's story and man's story were in conflict...I'm taking God. I still get concerned over bias and truth in science, but I also realize that honest science is self correcting as well as honest theology.

"Science gives us the full accord of facts- It costs the church a severe struggle to give up one interpretation and adopt another- but no evil need to be apprehended- The Bible still stands in the presence of the whole scientific community, unshaken”

Charles Hodge- Princeton 1829

As I got older, and actually became a Christ follower, my argument grew more 'sophisticated'-

'A very smart man still has little perspective on time. He may know 75 years....possibly a select few know 100....but no one truly can perceive 1,000- let alone 1 million"

I will tell you that a ‘young earth believer’  in Genesis has a pretty simple apologetic. God said it and that settles it. He was there and you weren't. I believe in one miracle, GOD. You have to believe in millions of miracles without Him.

My next interesting skirmish was in Birmingham in the mid 1990’s.. I was teaching at a Christian school and we hosted Hugh Ross for a weekend. It seemed to be fine until Hugh got an audience with our Bible department. I remember sitting in the school library. My recollection was the audience was very small, three or four Bible teachers, our pastor, and a history teacher.

Hugh Ross had barely started before the theologians attacked with their guns blazing.

"How dare you teach this day age stuff?" "You are out of your field and have no right to make theological applications." "You have undone Romans, you have destroyed the gospel, in your view there is death before sin and death cannot happen before sin."

I was shocked and I was embarrassed. Though I still believed in my literal, young earth view,  I saw Hugh Ross as a man who proclaimed Jesus and taught a high view of Scripture.

I also need to say that I have deep respect for the Bible teachers. They loved Jesus and the gospel and knew the Bible so deeply. But this was a hot button topic. I loved them, but I did not agree with the nature of the ‘debate’.

It even got to the point that some in our Bible department would not label a college 'Christian' unless it taught a young earth and a literal six day creation.

My questioning would get me small splashes of indignation. It is the mischievous side of me that kind of sadistically enjoys the turmoil.

 "Who says there can't be death before sin?"

"What if it meant spiritual death... or human death?"

"Did Adam not step on an ant?"

"Did the serpent eat bananas?" I know...stupid!

But they were settled. In their mind, the slippery slope to liberalism begins when a person compromises Genesis 1. Once you begin... where does it stop? If the day is not literal, how can we say Adam and the garden are not figurative?

For a long time after that, I was the 'good-natured young earth guy'. I held firm to my position, but did not question the faith of any 'old-earther' I ran into. There were times where I didn't know what was more shocking to them. The fact that I was young earth or the fact that I was accepting of others who weren't.

I mentioned earlier that I moved to Nashville and began teaching apologetics in 2003. My department leader was ‘old-earth’ and he seemed ok with my young earth view. The only time I got him riled up at all was my 'young earth that appears old' argument. He said it makes God deceitful. I never really agreed with that rebuttal because general revelation only declares that God is there; it takes special revelation to give out the details that He wants us to have.

 It would not bother me at all if I found an antique storage chest in my father's workshop.

"Wow, dad, this is amazing."

"How did you make this? It looks 200 years old!"

"I finished it this morning, son."

So a five minute tree in Eden had 35 rings... and it keeps a Biblical theme.. things are not always what they seem.

My apologetics studies led me at first into the writings of evidentialists and the weapons against macro-evolution. You have to understand that hearing arguments against Darwin were thrilling to me. I hated what Darwin had done to the church. I remember that sheer anger I felt when I watched 'Inherit the Wind' and saw the biased attack on my faith. So how could I not cheer when I read about irreducible complexity, and the Cambrian explosion, and the faulty Miller Urey experiment.. and on and on.

But a funny thing happened. As I read the evidence I had to admit that there was no doubt that evolution was true. The slight, successful changes in species had ample evidence, even I could see that. But the extrapolation of that theory into a naturalistic world-view which helped kick God out of classrooms and relegated faith to a 'stay at home' private thing was offensive. It didn't help that all of the neo-darwinists would take all kinds of explanations for life.... including aliens.. as long as God wasn't mentioned. I have to be honest here as well, the dominance of macro-evolutionary dogma is also a mistake by the church. The retreat of evangelicals away from the debate after ‘Origin of the Species’ was published did not help. Thankfully, some have stayed and worked and stayed steady in the discourse.

And you can’t win the argument versus the ones who double down on their refusal to believe in God. Macro-evolution criticism is not relevant as neo-darwinists evolve themselves into arguments of closed and open systems and the only limits on their theories  is their creativity.

My young earth views were greatly helped by Douglas Kelly's excellent book "Creation and Change". But I also was helped by reading Einstein's biography and going back into Hugh Ross from time to time. I saw the two camps (young and old) BOTH as being tools to spread the gospel. Young earthers reach traditionalists and old earthers reach post-moderns. God has people in every sphere with a high view of Scripture and a love for gospel proclamation.

I even developed a 'power point' where I helped to clarify a lot of mistakes we make in the church. It demonstrated how the Big Bang theory actually helps a theistic worldview and how I.D. could be a rival to macro-evolution in the science classroom.

My next funny moment was when I was asked to speak at a Creation Conference at a Christian school across town that was also a big sports rival to our school. I knew that my power-point was going to be picked to death by the 'Answers in Genesis' people. My mentioning of Intelligent Design was anathema to them and they took me to task in the gymnasium that day. The students loved it! The rival football coach was getting grilled! After I answered their main criticism a few other panel speakers came up to me. 'I thought you made a great point". I thought 'thanks for speaking up for me'. But in a weird way, I enjoyed it.

 I did spend some time going back to Genesis and considering again: Day Age concepts, Analogical Days,Fiat Days, and Framework Views. I prayed and read and wrestled. If I haven’t said this before now, I better do it now. I admit that I am not a scientist or a theologian... so I doubt I will ever be the last word on anything. 

A final note regarding time (and once again, I lean young earth that looks old because it was created already working). And this is why I stopped writing on this many. Many times.

This is a long chapter and will be a long journey. It is truthful for me to say, I wrote this post in 21 days (actual hours writing it), in 15 years (actual time I have started, stopped, and edited it), in TWO YEARS! (time it took to start and finish)..... So there is enough relativity and perspective in time to allow room to be truthful in communication.

Six days and rest has often impressed me as a pattern for man rather than a treatise on time.

At the same time, the text does day ‘morning and evening’, so we will have to see if time can be relative as we read that section.

Let me close with this- I don't take Genesis as a science text but I also do not believe it is antithetical to scientific discovery. Gos is the God of all truth.

It angers people to just throw God in the gaps where we are limited and justifiably, we can be accused of intellectual laziness to not probe into the abyss with honest questions and healthy skepticism.

But to throw out this account wearing scientific glasses is dangerous- there is something deep and beautiful here if you take time to think in terms of context and reality.

Honestly, I find Genesis 1-3 the high point of the Old Testament. God pulls no punches as He re-introduces Himself to the people who so quickly leave Him behind. Come and walk with me through this grand story!

Early Obstacles and Problems in Genesis (2022)

 

I first read "Christianity and Liberalism" by J. Gresham Machen in 1993 (it had been published in 1923) and I did a detailed study of it around 2010.

I got to where I couldn't read it at night, because I would lay awake until late haunted by the prophetic words Dr. Machen used in warning us about the sad consequences if the Orthodox faith slipped in our midst.

I am writing about Genesis in the aftermath of a theological war regarding the origin of the Pentateuch (the 5 Books that start the Old Testament that reference Moses as the author).

Influences of the enlightenment and the rise of science elevated scholarship and led many theologians to write apologies for the Scriptures from purely naturalistic theories. Studies in Theology are inherently difficult because our ‘subject’ is by definition above and beyond us. We can’t study God under a microscope, He is the One who stoops down to us.

The foul dust left in the wake of such ‘research’ has created a purely educational recap of presuppositions that leave no room for the supernatural or any notion of a real God. Critics attack the manuscripts saying these are the superstitious fancies that men carry prior to enlightened discovery, Skepticism 'feels' true because it assails belief and fastens theories as ‘facts’ because they sound scientific.

Without taking too long here- I reject many liberal notions such as Friedman’s Documentary Hypothesis because it is obvious these are logical conclusions of a purely naturalistic premise, but in the end, they take as much faith to believe in as Genesis 1:1.

This blog project starts with my premise, just as logical, that Moses is the primary writer. If there were other source documents at his disposal, that doesn’t negate Mosaic authorship, and the use of editors to assemble the ‘final’ version of the Pentateuch under the divine calling of Scribes who labored over every jot and tittle in reverent fear of the Almighty- WHO is called by MANY NAMES in Hebrew including one NAME that was too Holy to even speak (YHWH).

The source documents are in Hebrew. The reported author was educated in Egyptian schools. I am reading it in English. The original readers had almost no understanding of God’s ultimate plan. I look at it with 2,000 plus years after the cross of Jesus. The original readers had to scratch out a life in harsh and ancient conditions. I am typing this on a Mac in a time of ease and comfort.

But I am still drawn in at the complexity within a simple text. The confident truths espoused in these pages provide a wide canopy of protection and provides a meta narrative to make sense of human existence. The world view of Genesis allows my life to make sense. Without it, I would be aimless and hopeless.

Genesis provides origins of life, explanation of evil, the organization of the cosmos, and foundations of all that has value in our world.

Is it factual history? Symbolic? Fiction?

In a sense, the entire Book is BEYOND. It has poetic structure and narrative. When I skim Genesis, I find the storyline, when I probe it I see deeper structures. And when I encounter problems, I am reminded of how small I am and how grand God is. 

Do you find it strange that as we peer into the event horizons of black holes, the Genesis account is not undone if you really know how to read it? And by that, I mean read it carefully.

As I read it, it comes across initially as narrative. Each section has a special verb tense (wayyiqtol) that in Hebrew serves as the order and structure of narrative sections. Genesis isn’t poetic or preachy. It doesn’t present any main character as a superhero. The things these characters struggle with are the same in my day, They are the same in Shakespearean tragedies, and stir the heart in any generation.

Sure, we may feel like we are more sophisticated in the 21st century- but the story is the same.We have children, we desire security, we fear the future, and we crumble under the duress of living. We bury the dead and spill innocent blood.

Nothing in archeology DISPROVES the stories here. There is always room for the skeptic to reject the accounts. But we still have people who refuse to believe that men went to the moon. For some, it is easier to hold to conspiracy theories of aliens, Elvis, and Sept. 11 than it is to believe that all mankind descended from a common DNA and all living things were created already according to various kinds.

We also tend to neglect that this account was presented to Moses long after the real events happened. This written communication from God comes long after the laws of the universe had been put into place. Even before time on earth (as we know it) was established.

The original readers already knew of flood accounts.... which to me points to a real one. The culture had cities and covenants... they already saw creation and the evil heart of mankind.

So when the recipients received these words, it was a correction and a reminder.

The pattern of life shown in Genesis 8:22 was already in continuous cycles for generations- as we experience them even to this day!

While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” (ESV)

As we read, our world view overlaps with the original writer in a shared human experience. That is a miraculous experience in and of itself. I am reading a man who had a different language and experience. He lived thousands of years ago, completely on the other side of the world. But he and I are involved together with understanding of narrative, genre, communication skills, and common feelings, attitudes, and emotions.

The writer is also skilled enough to give cultural signals that we can study and organize. To the one willing to dig, we discover order, verb tenses and indicators, word play, drama, and humor. Don’t be fooled…. You are not reading an unsophisticated man here. The writer is highly intelligent- he uses Hebrew repetition, key words, categorical diction, and higher order concepts of comparison, cause and effect, and argumentative analysis. He uses allusions, analogies, and dramatic elements of setting, theme, symbolism, and stunning denouements.

Be careful before you dismiss.

In my own experience, I see logical applications to the Genesis account everyday. I have never felt that accepting the Book on face value is intellectual suicide.

I live in a world of the sun, stars, and moon. I see a multitude of living things that have uncanny markings of art and design. When I hike in the American west, the sandstone looms like the beaches in Destin just after a storm surge.

I experience day and night, the successive seasons, a seven day week, and a pattern of corporate worship. My work is often hard and my wife and I don’t always see eye to eye. I have a deep desire for justice and I have deep longings for love and peace.

Science tells me that the universe is in motion. I need an explanation why man can do great acts of courage and nobility and then turn and murder, exploit, or betray.

I need a story that tells me how things got to be the way they are. It needs to explain why I worry about what others think about me. It needs to give hints regarding my dreams and the evidence of common love, logic, law, and longing for liberty.

There are some who immediately throw it out. But they never stop to think of the motive. They also never question their own ability to judge without presupposition. I am too skeptical of my ability to be right…. Life has given me a healthy suspicion of myself.

I have great disagreements with others on the meaning of these texts… but in the end, Christians only believe in ONE big miracle… the existence of the God of the Bible. If you take Him according to His Word, then everything else isn’t really a problem. Once you reject Him, you also must trust in a story of many, many more unlikely miracles.

And last of all, the problems are not a problem. God allows us to question Him... His rainbow is not straining to shoot down at us. No... He is patient and loving. He is just wanting us to dig in and hang on.

Don't let pride or psuedo-sophistication pull you away from the only true Lover you have!

Reading Genesis? Remember Moses (2022)

In Feb of 2020, I began what was planned to be a long commentary on the Book of Genesis. In just a few posts, Covid-19 shut down the world and my writings changed.

This picture at the beginning of this post, was my world beginning in late March 2020. As I look back on past pictures, it still shocks me. On 3/23/20 The Drudge Report home page said, "1.5 Billion Stay Home" and on 3/26/20 Spring Sports were suspended in the State of Alabama by the AHSAA.

So I am returning to Genesis in 2023, and already interested in re-learning and refreshing.

There are 6 posts that will have the (2022) added to the title to reflect that this is a re-posting from those days (hopefully with a fresh pair of eyes and analysis). Here is post 1... again.

The author of Genesis is God. The writer is Moses. And yes, there had to be another editor, copier of the 5 books (Pentateuch) to include the death of Moses (obviously allowed and protected by the Lord). What I am reading is exactly what God intended for me to have and He calls me to abide in Him. Part of abiding in Him is to wrestle, dig in, and grow in His Word. He created the stars, drafting and overseeing His written instructions is not hard.

A modern reading of Genesis presents a number of problems... the Hebrew language, the Egyptian influence, and our Western ways (dominated by the Enlightenment).... and it is helpful to keep a 'growth mindset' to let the text have its full impact on us.

And it is a wrestling match…. Do you hear the subtle manipulation of Satan in Genesis 3:1?

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (ESV)

So, a big part of Genesis IS Moses though his biography doesn’t show up until the 2nd book of the Pentateuch (Exodus). He is the one who is uniquely picked to lead the Exodus and allow God to continue His plan of salvation in space, time, and history. Human teachers use analysis and examples to teach truth. God channels and uses actual history to teach His people. He providentially uses all of human existence to point to Him for His glory. We can’t comprehend this… it is too lofty for us.

God reveals Himself truthfully, but it is also an accommodation. God has not been disingenuous in His communication, but he is a teacher. He has used human history and His Word to communicate in types and shadows to a reality beyond our comprehension. Moses wore a veil from a glory just from God’s back!…. Jesus pointed to a burning heap of waste to communicate the horrors of hell. All of these are truthful, but likely point to a reality beyond our current comprehension.

So why must we remember Moses? We have to understand the strange mixture of his education and identity. Moses is writing in full context and worldview of the City of Man (Egypt/ Babylon/etc) and the People of God (Israel). He was well versed in both.

A teaching technique that God frequently uses is to parallel existing world views and practices and then clearly show the distinction of His kingdom and practices.

An example of this can be seen in the story of Abraham and the call to sacrifice Issac in Genesis 22. Let’s compare that to another study in history. This was from a series of posts I wrote about called “History is His Story”.

2300 years ago a Punic warrior named Hamilcar had his 9 year old son put his hand on a sacrifice and vow a lifelong hatred of the Romans. His son was named ;"Blessed by Baal". It can't be proven, but it is possible that this was a child sacrifice to the mountain god of fire and thunderbolts. Based on urns dug up in the Valley of Tophet, sacrifice of the first born to Baal was done by the thousands. This young boy could have been a surrogate, being offered in his stead. This boy was the warrior Hannibal- who may have been motivated in his travel over the Alps to invoke the blessing of Baal in his quest to carry out his vow to his father.


Compare this to Abraham, as Jehovah called him to take his only son- the miracle child of promise- up the mountain for a sacrifice. And the God of Israel showed a counter way. God himself would provide the sacrifice.

My point is that God uses real life cultural practices to ultimately show a distinction. God’s kingdom works in the midst of cultural norms, but in the end He is counter to the City of Man. It is a recurrent theme throughout the Bible. God needs to be imminent (with us and relevant) enough before we can catch a shadow of His transcendence.

I think a BIG key to understanding Genesis has to be read in the context of the worldview of the writer, and to see how God’s kingdom stays in conflict with the ways of mankind who continually ignore and rebel against their Creator. In Exodus, there is a lot to compare to Egyptian education and influences. I submit, you can also read much of Genesis in that same light.

Some of the Genesis stories are paralleled in the myth of other nations. But I believe there was a real account and then accounts that spread and were repeated throughout ancient history. The battle would be over which one was real and which one was the copy.

Adding the context of the Egyptian influences in the education of Moses is not a hindrance of truth. All truth is God’s truth,

For interpretation purposes, my enduring hermeneutic is that we cannot adopt theological applications for today’s audience that are contrary to the original audience. We may have a fuller understanding of concepts, but they are not opposed to one another. It is part of why I am covenantal in my theology and not dispensational.

That does not mean that we don’t have a fuller sense of applications or meanings. As history has unfolded, the prophecies of the Old Testament are MUCH clearer and the mystery of God’s plan can be articulated.

But Genesis is pretty cool in that there are hints and shadows in the text that refer to truth yet discovered. The plural ‘US” in Genesis 1 is an example of this. It is now clear that this is an early indicator of the trinity, but would not necessarily be understood at the time it was originally penned.

I also think there are numerous ‘Egyptian Echoes’ in the Pentateuch that signify the educational worldview of Moses. What Moses records predates Egyptian history, but is written post Egyptian history. This has given false ammunition in the battle versus the skeptics, who do not want to believe.

So yes, we will remember Moses as we read his absolutely mesmerizing manuscript, that came in his mysterious times on the mountain of God amidst smoke, lightning, mystery, and glory.

It took a long time for Moses to discover his true lineage as a Hebrew baby in the reeds. I can only imagine how thrilling it was to reconnect to his roots and his people. He was an early picture of the Savior, leading the people through the wilderness to the promised land.

But he also was given the great honor of providing the record of God’s promise, privilege, and purpose of His people.

Over and over, he records “I will be a God to you and to those who come after you” the great theme of the covenant of grace.

We get a thrill reading the stories, but I bet his experience in hearing them from the Lord was majestic!

The Mystery of 2023

 

Last post of the year. It is just a post and it is just a day... right?

For the record, this was a really good year for jayopsis.com and winning edges youtube. I also had a fun time doing a podcast for the very first time and enjoyed it... though it was exhaustive to do during a tough football season.

For the record, this blog had over 30,000 page views in 2022. This has pushed the all time views to  434,577. My favorite analytics reports is to see all of the countries listed by visitors this year.

The top post in 2022 was the tribute to Aaron Martens, who we lost in Nov. 2021 but I didn't get to post it until until Feb 2022 after attending a beautiful and memorable life celebration event.

Tribute to Aaron Martens- 2022

So 2022 is a wrap. It was a TOUGH year in a lot of ways and I went into Christmas break pretty beat up and down. The Lord was gracious to take the time to give me some perspective and healing and I will begin 2023 in a good frame of mind.

So let's play a little mind exercise on this last day of 2022.

What happens when you hear a story that doesn't quite add up?

Example: Let's say you hear that someone you know died tragically in a car wreck and just a day later you get news that your friend died of a heart attack? 

Immediately in your mind, you want to reconcile to discrepancy of the two accounts. 

This one is resolved easily when you realize that it was a heart attack that caused the wreck.

But what makes us wrestle with the contradiction? 

Within the laws of logic, this is referred to as the Law of Non-Contradiction and has a long history of analysis and debate inside philosophy.

These realities, just beyond the reach of 'science' should help us open to the existence of God and curious to the genesis of these realities... love, law, logic, liberty, language are harder to explain without a higher being in my opinion, but it looks like there are fewer humans in our midst who are vulnerable to those thoughts.

It gets concerning. As we fall under the seduction of science, technology, and mass communication distractions, we get pretty skeptical of mystery and have almost no self-suspicion. Pride insulates us from discovery.

But God is a God of secrecy and mystery. His very nature demands it. Indeed the concept of "God" requires transcendence. If you can explain everything about God... then it is just a god in your own image.

Consider the Bible:

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29 ESV)

[9] And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
[10] Make the heart of this people dull,
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:9–10 ESV)

[10] Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” [11] And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. [12] For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. [13] This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. [14] Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:


“‘“You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.” (Matthew 13:10–14 ESV)

In our world, this cuts against our "need to know" in a way that provokes anger. As information floods like a tsunami, we expect immediate answers as if it is an inalienable right.

A lot of practicing atheists in our world today are pretty much angry for God for being God. They don't think he is there and are mad about it!

When the Bible says, "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 9:10)" it begs us to begin in humility.

James diagnoses our problem in just 1 passage:

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? [2] You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. [3] You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. [4] You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. [5] Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? [6] But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” [7] Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [9] Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. [10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:1–10 ESV)

If I can propose a goal for all of us in 2023, it would be to stop worrying about the secrets and start paying closer attention to the revelation.

We have an answer to a GREAT MYSTERY:

[25] of which I (Paul) became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, [26] the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. [27] To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. [28] Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. [29] For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. (Colossians 1:25–29 ESV)

Just in the Scripture I have placed in this post, there is more than enough challenges for 2023.

Here are just a few for me:

 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions

 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [9] Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

So to close out 2022... no clue what the future holds but I do know who holds the future.

Let's toil together in 2023!

Sanctuary

 

 And He will become a sanctuary  (Isaiah 8:13–14 ESV)

"The fish and I were both stunned and disbelieving to find ourselves connected by a line."
-William Humphrey in "The Armchair Angler"

I first came to Lake Caroline on December 26, 2015. It was during the historic flood of the Pea river and I still laugh that Jared Turnbloom and I made the trip. A one day, down and back, only to see the place for the very first time a chocolate river with water almost over the banks. And we did catch fish that day, which is also typical of Lake Caroline. 

This most recent trip was my 29th visit.

I don't know how I can capture in words what the total experience has been.

And how a few days in a weather beaten cabin in the middle of a lake touches something deep within me.

It is so much more than fishing... though I spend most of the daylight hours chasing the little green fish with thousands of casts. 

The more I have come, the more I remember... and soon I begin to know the Lake and the features both visible and invisible. Underwater, the surface lake looks like a distant plan with large stretches of electronic desert and wasteland. It is primarily a lake of contours- humps, ditches, holes that depending on the time of year hold schools of baitfish and bass in a never ending cycle of chase and kill to survive.

The lake features two old roadbeds, that I got to see a portion of when the dam was damaged in 2019/2020.

These roadbeds outline the main part of the lake that has the deepest water near the dam. And though you find occasional timber and brush, it is mostly a barren bottom.

When you first come on the property, you will think the small lake you see at the entrance is what you have made the 3 hour drive to see... but soon after you realize HOW BIG the lake and property is as soon as you crest the hill.

Often, I am greeted by numerous deer and they run free throughout the manicured natural pine and beautiful green fields.

When you first glimpse the water through the trees, it has a unique blue/green hue that gives a sight hint to the depth and clarity of the 130 plus acres of venerable woods and water.

The wildlife there is a constant testament to God's glory. Bald eagles, flying turkeys, wood ducks, and the clarion call of quails often pierce the majestic silence that brings a healing balm to my soul. Again, I can't find the words to express what to me has become a rather mystical experience.

Yes, fishing is the main activity on Lake Caroline... but the constant enjoyment of the senses for the entire property is the lasting memory and benefit.

Let's recount the fishing in 29 trips. Likely, it represents over 3,000 catches on every fishing technique ever invented. It is at Lake Caroline where I first caught a bass on a jerk bait (I still remember the exact spot), my first catch on a drop shot, on a ned rig, on a spoon, on a glide bait, on a Carolina rig... in fact, the reason Lake Caroline develops anglers is that we know the fish are there, so it allows us to fish and experience a new technique with excited expectation.

And we also learn to fight and land BIG fish. I have netted a 12 lb largemouth, hand grabbed a 12.6 out of the water, and helped net many, many 5, 6, and 7 lbs fish.

Personally I have caught an 8.0, 7.13, 6.2, and many 4 and 5 lb fish. I caught a 5 lb bass on a whopper plopper and saw him come and explode on the lure as it sat still on the top of the water.

And every catch is a memory and an experience.... I have been able to drill down on aspects, habits, and effective techniques that match the conditions needed to get these fish to bite.

The quote I use often is, "A kid can get a year's worth of catching experience in just 3 days of fishing!".

Often in our numbers each trip, we don't count 50 to 100 fish caught off the dock at night around the green light that also stands as a great educator to the size and shape of the Lake Caroline baitfish.

I am as awestruck by the sunrises coming up to the right as I look to the dam as I am by the unreal sunsets going down in the west casting the least bits of daylight on the road bed waypoints where we are eager to hook a biggun' right at dusk.

At night, the stars are majestic as no big city lights hide their luster. I look up and know that God is alive and feel a depth of gratitude for the day He has given me.

We hear the calls and whines of coyotes at times, desperate to find a way in to scar paradise. I'm sure it is the battle cry of demons as the howl in a way that is laugher, without smiles or good intent.

"Be patient and calm - for no one can catch fish in anger."
-Herbert Hoover

When I am at Lake Caroline, I feel the peace that God intends when we retreat from our anxious toils and employments. Jesus had the mountains and the Gethsemenean garden.... I find respite in the nature of Lake Caroline.

I'm praying the Lord allows me a 30th trip in the near future.... and selfishly I want a 40th, and 50th as well.

These are tastes of what God has in store for eternity. And if this place is any hint of how good it is... I'm looking forward to being there with the Lord.

I wrote a song about Lake Caroline- you can find the link here:

https://suno.com/song/ceafdf76-a9a4-4b6e-afb6-feb8fe034037

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o2cme13cn45DYCWoWgBwOr7yIuZcQhB7/view?usp=sharing

Isaiah 7-9: Faith as Bright as Day- Here Comes the SON!

Just finished the last lesson of a 3 week quick study of 'Christmas in Isaiah' for the Growing in Grace Sunday School class at Briarwood. As usual, The Lord used it to work on me and not on them.

When I first agreed to do the lessons, I mentioned the topic in haste mostly due to the season we are in and I knew I had some material to work with. Then I went back to six year old notes and realized that, yes, I had some devotional notes, but nothing for a Sunday School lesson and my memory of the text was darker than dim.

So I have been digging into just 3 chapters for the past 6 weeks (including prep time and actual lesson writing) and I am just away by the breadth and depth of God's Word- way too wonderful for me!

And the parallels to our situation today is more than a coincidence.

Instead of the peril of the Assyrian/Syrian/ Ephraim tension causing men to shake as trees- we face the same tension as China rises and Russia wars. And systematic sin spreads like a cancer and blight on the land.

In the passage, Judah and Israel aren't only divided.... their collective heart is distant from their God. And because of it, the land is dark and distressed. The words of the prophet Isaiah, contain more judgement than mercy and the people shut their eyes and ears to it. I don't think Isaiah's approval numbers were very high in those days and eventually, according to ancient sources, was sawn in two for the effort.

I wish I had space and ability to explain how God actively works to press me in these times. The passages just drip in my consciousness and then events of each day squeeze application, issues, perplexities, and wonder as I ponder anew these living words that divide soul and spirit, joints and marrow; judging the thoughts and attitudes of my heart (and my sin always shows my deficit).

I found myself overwhelmed by some thoughts in these chapters about the promise of the Child in both Isaiah 7:14 /9:6 and the context within the passages.

THE ZEAL OF THE LORD

The promise has a flame- "The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this. (Is. 9:7b)" This stands in stark contrast to my 'frozen chosen' stoicism. I sit in a room of walls mesmerized by mental exercises but the Lord is a God of continuous action.... and enough perseverance to play it as the long game... because He is merciful.

How big is this God? I believe in really only 1 miracle.... the God of  sun eating black holes and quasars. The God of infinite time. The God Who designed complexity within images of a electron microscope. The God of variety, language, law, love, logic....  and placed in fun ways to be discovered...simple enough to learn...let all of that come out the primordial ooze!

700 year old prophecy and a virgin birth? That is easy.

FAITH AND LIFE

In my study....this passage is the one that stood out the most. I say I believe.... but does my life reflect it?

Isaiah 8:11 For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: [12] “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. [13] But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. [14] And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. [15] And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”
(16] Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. [17] I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. [18] Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. [19] And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? [20] To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. [21] They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. [22] And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness. (ESV)

My goodness.... does that passage not preach!

And then I read this summation from Ray Ortlund, Jr.

We know.... that God is more real than the earthly things immediately before us.

We know... He is more than worldly attractions

We know... He is faithful

We know... we should live out what He promised.

And to refuse what we know to be true tears us apart inside.

BUT BEHOLD- A GREAT LIGHT OF HOPE!

Isaiah 9:1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

(2) The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,

on them has light shone. 

The Sea of Galilee gets the first sunlight... and the Man from Galilee will be the Son of Promise!

This light expels the darkness!

No fear, no dread, no gloom!

Don't miss Him this Christmas!

Isaiah 7 and Christmas Pondering

About 4 weeks ago, I was asked to fill in for a three week Sunday School series to close out the fall quarter at Briarwood. Because the lessons would take place during Advent, I thought I would adapt some blogs I had posted on "Christmas in Isaiah" in 2015 and do a 3 week Scripture study to 'get us in the Christmas Spirit'.

About 2 hours into the prep for that, I realized that it was going to be tougher than I thought.

For one, the blog series was fine for little short devotionals, but I hadn't developed the content well enough for a Sunday School series. And the other issue is that three weeks (3 lessons) is a little awkward in developing a coherent application for analysis and application.

And, typical of any time I teach, I discover that I am the one that needs the lesson... not the class.

Finally, any time I do Sunday School/teaching prep..... I begin to feel an overwhelming sense if inadequacy as I research the passages we will analyze. I think that overall this is a healthy attitude to have in the presence of the Word of God.

I decided to spend the majority of my time in the context and controversy around Isaiah 7:14 and how Matthew uses that reference as prophecy fulfilled. The more I read, the more interested I became in the entire chapter and many, many other related verses and chapter in Scripture.

Also, once I start this process... my mind becomes absorbed in the questions and ideas that God's Word provokes in these matters. It becomes rather obsessive/ compulsive and dominates my 'inner eye' in the day and night. Isaiah 7 had me waking up 2ish or so on a few nights thinking about this amazing interaction between Isaiah and Ahaz. 

Just so you know, I don't just read (and these days watch you tube) pro-Christian exegesis- I read non- Christian scholarship and commentary as well. As you could expect, there is a tremendous amount of passionate pushback from Rabbis and Hebrew scholars on the Is. 7:14/Matt. 1 debate. One Rabbi called Matthew's account 'scandalous'.

As this reading continued, I became less interested in the debate between parthenos, almah, and betulah and more mesmerized by the intricacies of Isaiah 7 itself. What an amazing chapter of application, word play, hints of the divine, God's grace.... etc/etc/etc.

In fact, it is WAY too much to write in a blog post.... so this is more a report about how blessed I was in the PROCESS of discovering the hidden treasures that are always there in Scripture... but here are the highlights:

The majesty of the holiness of God, the self-realization of sin, the immediate action of forgiveness, and the call of God on Isaiah in Chapter 6 has to be in view of all of the rest of Isaiah's ministry to understand the complexity of the  judgement, grace, and hope we find both in the OT and NT.

Ahaz is a disaster... his anxiety, fake piety, and perverse life makes the graciousness of God all the more mysterious.... yet we can't forget some of God's intentions are the promises He made to both Abraham and David. God keeps His covenant!

Political intrigue and mafia like ruthlessness in view in Isaiah 7- it stayed in my thoughts so much that I finally tweeted...

Beautiful/Interesting moments in Isaiah 7:

The beauty of water.... the setting- the Washer's field.. and later in Ch.8  where God uses the illustration of the gentle spring of Shiloah and the raging flood of judgement are layers and layers of Biblical history and allusions.

The bee and the fly symbols are cool as well. 

The cry for leadership.... the succession of sons... the cure for anxiety...  

The reckless application of Deut 6:16  “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. (ESV) that ultimately judges Ahaz and exposes who he really is.

The play on words used throughout Hebrew texts....

Anyway- the challenge now is to figure out how to pull this into an actual lesson that is accurate to the text, and applicable to God's people.

Always pray for me!

The Isaiah 7 Christmas Controversy?

Typical of my blog posting, I am going to weigh in on a scholarly controversy without scholarly expertise. And though I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Xpress, the mere fact I am writing this lends quite the same weight and logic of that funny ad campaign.

The summary of the controversy is whether the word for 'virgin' in Isaiah 7 is more accurately translated 'young maiden' and does that word choice negate it as a sign, or 700 year old Biblical prophecy. This of course could challenge the text in Matthew (but not really) for those who want to be skeptical at the start.

“Every time you hear the Word of God preached, you come away from that exposure to the truth either a little closer to God or a little further away from Him, either more softened toward God or more hardened toward God…. What you need is more grace. Nothing else can save you from your deadness. Therefore, fear your own hardness of heart more than anything else. Beware of rigidity, ingratitude, a demanding spirit. Beware of an unmelted heart that is never satisfied.” Ray Ortlund, Jr.

Christmas can be a clue to our heart. Are we scrooge or are we childlike?

May we allow grace to melt away our cynical hearts. Laugh and sing, love and give, hope and help this Christmas season. Speak positive words of life!

Do I really want to dive into this? This is blog writing... so... oh well...

I absolutely love the passage in Isaiah 7 where the target text takes place.

Here we have political intrigue, the son's names (here 'remnant' and later 'swift booty fast prey') and the setting of the conduit of the Upper Pool where a 2nd dramatic showdown takes place. (Ironically, the spring that feeds that pool is called "the fountain of the 'virgin' spring of Gihon - Gihon being one of the 4 rivers of Eden and the legend of the fountain of the virgin is that Mary washed the swaddling clothes there-  God does have a sense of wry humor IMO).

The story of the confrontation of Isaiah to Ahaz, his tiny faith in God,  and his stupid reliance on manipulation and payoffs to Assyria adds to the eventual judgement of Judah.

After Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign (using spiritual arguments but heart deceptiveness) Isaiah gives the famous 'sign' that will be referenced 700 years later in Matthew 1.

The 'controversy' centers around the translation of the word 'virgin' in Isaiah 7:14. 

The masoretic texts (and later confirmed by the Dead Sea scrolls) clearly use the word better translated 'young maiden' than virgin.  (However, I did read in my research that the greek septuagint in the time of Christ had the greek work in Matthew as 'parthenos' a virgin, chaste woman).

I also want to say a thank-you to some great teaching from Bryan College videos where I think it is Dr. Judd Davis who expresses a contextual analysis of Isaiah 7gives some strong supports that the promise of a sign demands a more miraculous interpretation of the statement. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-qQEfHBq50&t=396s) He also gives compelling evidence that "THE" Almah has 9 OT references that suggest pure/chaste virgins.

A great short video on the subject from Ron Cantor: https://youtu.be/KqkMrEcpjEU

I also find it interesting that the root of Almah is 'hidden one" and is fascinating to compare that to the apocalyptic nativity scene in Revelation 12.

 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. [2] She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. [3] And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. [4] His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. [5] She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, [6] and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. (Revelation 12:1–6 ESV) 

Jesus was born of the virgin Mary as recorded in Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-38. The emphasis of this verse and in Matthew is "IMMANUEL" not the woman. The virgin birth of Jesus stands on the account in the gospels where Matthew and Luke testify to this. And then Matthew gives a plausible rendering of 'virgin' to the Isaiah reference. There are other uses of the work Almah that could easily refer to a virgin in context.

Now why is this even important? We have to be careful to understand that there is often in Biblical prophecy DUAL fulfillment (or echo) of the text. In other words, there will be a literal fulfillment in a soon time, but also a larger more expansive fulfillment in the future. If true, Almah would give more flexibility... but the SIGN is more than the virgin, it is also a time reference. Also, the sign is given to he "House of David"... 

An example of dual fulfillment is prophecy regarding Babylon- the literal fulfillment of its destruction, but also the larger prediction of the world's system which will be destroyed in the second coming of Christ.

This passage in Isaiah is an excellent example of this. It was possible- literally fulfilled in Isaiah 8:1-10 but it also points to Christ 700 years later. The Old Testament contains types and shadows of the King. Again, we use Scripture to establish these ideas... that is why I included Matthew 1 where he points back to this verse.

I still believe in miracles.

Now it points out an interesting part of 'Immanuel', which is this: God's presence - His being with us- is not loved or wanted by everyone. The reference in Isaiah is again judgment for God's enemies and comfort for God's people.

It is never easy... Christ is always a battle ground. That is why you see even today, conflict over nativity scenes and over the name of Jesus Christ.

All of us struggle at times- Is God there? Does He care? Yes.... Do not lose heart. Embrace Immanuel. He is with you. Yes that frightens me too. He is so with me that He knows how I think. He knows how poorly I obey. He knows how weak and sinful I am. And He still loves me- WOW!

AND He is FOR me. He is WITH me. When others run, He stands and supports. When Satan accuses, He defends.

This Christmas.... meditate on this truth. God is with us. He is not distant. God is with us, He has not tucked tail and run. God is with us. Allow Him to draw even closer still.