In January I had the good fortune to read daily from the book of Genesis. Scripture Union (http://www.scriptureunion.org/) produces a daily devotional, Encounter with God, that I have used for years. The readings began 2013, well, in the beginning, and continued for 31 days up to the death of Sarah, Abraham's wife, at the age of 127 years in Hebron.
The stories were familiar: the creation of the earth, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, the tower of Babel, but there was a freshness in them. This happens often while reading the Bible; the old, old stories open up in a new way to teach the very lesson that the reader needs to hear.
It happened this way again as I read about the "fall of man". Moses, the presumed author of Genesis, tells us that Adam and Eve were pleasantly strolling in the Garden of Eden when they encountered Satan disguised as a serpent. Yes, in chapter 3, verse 6, we find that Adam was with Eve when this all went down. Things so far had been pretty good, but Satan could not stand that God's creation was functioning well.
Before Satan could really begin to work on Adam and Eve, he had to soften up their hearts and make them fertile ground for the temptations he had in mind. He introduced the most subtle of doubt into Eve's mind. "Now, did God really tell you not to eat from any tree in the Garden?"
Eve then had to clarify exactly what God had said. Eve could eat fruit from any tree in the Garden, just not from the tree in the middle of the Garden. If she touched that tree, she would surely die. "Oh, fiddle faddle," said Satan. "You will not die. God just doesn't want to share the knowledge of good and evil with you."
Does this sound familiar? The Bible is a myth. The existence of God can't be proven through science. There is no life after death. If God loves us, he won't send us to Hell. Jesus wasn't really dead after he was crucified and that is how he was seen alive afterwards. An embryo is not a person. I can go on and on, because Satan is very good at getting that little doubt into the mind, just enough to mix up the thinking process. Then he laughs.
Once Satan had Eve defending her beliefs and wondering if her memory was actually correct about what God had told her and Adam, he went in for the kill. "That fruit on the tree you think God told you not to touch? Take a good look at it," he said. "It's good to eat, nourishing and tasty. It makes a beautiful presentation on the plate--pleasing to the eye. It will give you wisdom; who doesn't want to be wise? It's a good thing!" First the doubt, then the convincing argument that sin is good.
And the thing is, everything that Satan said about the fruit was true. It was nourishing, beautiful, and instilled wisdom. But to eat the fruit was against the will of God. And therein lies the problem. Life is full of wonderful gifts from God. Daily messages fly around us about all the good things we can have in our modern lives that were prohibited in less enlightened times. They're good things: pretty, attractive, fulfilling, fair. But they are against the will of God. Satan lies.
Time passes in Genesis. We find Abraham with the apple of his eye, his son, Isaac. Young, naive, innocent Isaac. Abraham follows God's command to travel to Moriah to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, but he doesn't tell Isaac or his two servants what the sacrifice will be. Although Abraham's heart must have been as heavy as a steamer trunk full of bricks, he followed God's instructions and tied up his precious son and lay him on a pile of wood, ready to kill him with a knife. God intervened at the last moment to provide a substitute offering, a ram that would be offered in place of Isaac to atone for sin.
And so it is with us. In fairness, we should pay the price of our sins; we should be the offering on the pile of wood. But God provided a substitute offering in our place: Jesus. I imagine that Isaac worshiped that day with a renewed sense of awe, love, and appreciation for the sacrifice of the ram that God sent.
These are lessons I learned in Genesis. Satan lies and will make us doubt the love of God. Anything that is outside the will of God, no matter how good it seems, is sin. God substituted Jesus as the sacrifice that we should have paid, but couldn't.
"This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Romans 3:22-24
Showing posts with label Jesus Christ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jesus Christ. Show all posts
Friday, February 8, 2013
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Listen, Do You Want to Know a Secret?
The first people ever to testify of the resurrected Jesus were women, and Jesus himself is the one who told them to take the message to the disciples.
I don't mean to sound biased, but on Sunday morning the disciples were cowering in a locked room, while as soon as the sunlight flickered across the horizon, the women who had devotedly followed Jesus were on their way to his tomb to anoint his body with the spices they had prepared. Their grief absorbed them; I imagine they were crying and glad to have something to do after spending an endless Sabbath waiting, according to the law, to prepare Jesus' body with the spices.
Scripture mentions at least five women who went to the tomb: Mary Magdalene; Joanna; Mary, the mother of James the lesser; Salome (probably the wife of Zebedee and the mother of James and John); and Mary, the wife of Clopas. References say that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was probably with John, who was instructed by Jesus to take care of her.
After their experience at the empty tomb, the women "fled", as Mark describes it. They were in a hurry to tell the good news, the news that Jesus was not dead as they all thought. He gave them a message to tell the disciples. Luke says that when the women got back from the tomb, they told all these things to the disciples and to all the others. They could not shut up about it. The women had a message to tell, and no one could prevent them from telling it. May Christian women today not shut up about the message that Jesus is alive.
But, then, they were only women. At that time, women were not considered reliable witnesses. Luke tells us that the disciples did not believe the women, because their words "seemed to them like nonsense." The resurrection of Jesus is an incredible thing to hear. But Peter and John ran to the tomb to see for themselves. The empty tomb and folded-up burial clothes proved that the women had told the truth. They weren't hysterical women; they were bearing witness to the risen Christ.
I've come to love the story in the Bible about the road to Emmaus. I can't read it too many times. It seems that on the evening after the women had brought the news to the disciples, two men, also disciples of the recently crucified Jesus, walked on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus, a village about seven miles northwest of Jerusalem. Why were they going to Emmaus? It doesn't say. Perhaps that's where they lived, and after the death of their teacher and leader, they were going home, or perhaps it was the first stop on the trip back to Galilee. As they walked along, another man joined them. They excitedly told him of strange goings-on in Jerusalem at the Passover. They said, "Some of our women amazed us."
They couldn't believe he hadn't heard this news, but when he began telling them of how these things were prophesied to happen to the Messiah, their emotions were aroused. As they approached Emmaus, the stranger appeared to be going on, but the disciples convinced him to stop and have supper with them. When he gave thanks over the bread, they recognized him. I can just see the slight smile on the face of Jesus as the pair comprehended who he was; he disappeared as they sat at the table.
This is not the only instance of women leaders in the scripture: Deborah and Esther in the Old Testament, Lydia who held prayer meetings in Philippi and was converted to Christianity by Paul. These women were followed by many generations of female teachers, missionaries, and evangelists. Don't underestimate the love, devotion, and purpose of women who are committed to Christ. If we can put our biases aside, their messages will amaze us.
I don't mean to sound biased, but on Sunday morning the disciples were cowering in a locked room, while as soon as the sunlight flickered across the horizon, the women who had devotedly followed Jesus were on their way to his tomb to anoint his body with the spices they had prepared. Their grief absorbed them; I imagine they were crying and glad to have something to do after spending an endless Sabbath waiting, according to the law, to prepare Jesus' body with the spices.
Scripture mentions at least five women who went to the tomb: Mary Magdalene; Joanna; Mary, the mother of James the lesser; Salome (probably the wife of Zebedee and the mother of James and John); and Mary, the wife of Clopas. References say that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was probably with John, who was instructed by Jesus to take care of her.
After their experience at the empty tomb, the women "fled", as Mark describes it. They were in a hurry to tell the good news, the news that Jesus was not dead as they all thought. He gave them a message to tell the disciples. Luke says that when the women got back from the tomb, they told all these things to the disciples and to all the others. They could not shut up about it. The women had a message to tell, and no one could prevent them from telling it. May Christian women today not shut up about the message that Jesus is alive.
But, then, they were only women. At that time, women were not considered reliable witnesses. Luke tells us that the disciples did not believe the women, because their words "seemed to them like nonsense." The resurrection of Jesus is an incredible thing to hear. But Peter and John ran to the tomb to see for themselves. The empty tomb and folded-up burial clothes proved that the women had told the truth. They weren't hysterical women; they were bearing witness to the risen Christ.
I've come to love the story in the Bible about the road to Emmaus. I can't read it too many times. It seems that on the evening after the women had brought the news to the disciples, two men, also disciples of the recently crucified Jesus, walked on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus, a village about seven miles northwest of Jerusalem. Why were they going to Emmaus? It doesn't say. Perhaps that's where they lived, and after the death of their teacher and leader, they were going home, or perhaps it was the first stop on the trip back to Galilee. As they walked along, another man joined them. They excitedly told him of strange goings-on in Jerusalem at the Passover. They said, "Some of our women amazed us."
They couldn't believe he hadn't heard this news, but when he began telling them of how these things were prophesied to happen to the Messiah, their emotions were aroused. As they approached Emmaus, the stranger appeared to be going on, but the disciples convinced him to stop and have supper with them. When he gave thanks over the bread, they recognized him. I can just see the slight smile on the face of Jesus as the pair comprehended who he was; he disappeared as they sat at the table.
This is not the only instance of women leaders in the scripture: Deborah and Esther in the Old Testament, Lydia who held prayer meetings in Philippi and was converted to Christianity by Paul. These women were followed by many generations of female teachers, missionaries, and evangelists. Don't underestimate the love, devotion, and purpose of women who are committed to Christ. If we can put our biases aside, their messages will amaze us.
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