Because he built it, he will fill it

Is the world around us a mistake or an accident? If God made the world and everything in it, did Adam and Eve somehow upset everything and cause God to revert to “Plan B”?

The kingdom of God on earth started in Eden with the days of creation in Genesis 1. God sets the universe in motion and provides a template of forming and filling used during the entire Bible story.

The first stage of the 7 day pattern relates to new life. It starts with God speaking and his Word gives life. The way we receive faith and start our spiritual life is through God’s Word. (Rom 10:17, 1 Pet 1:23)

The seven day creation consists of 3 days of forming parallel to 3 days of filling*. In the same way you would build shelves in your house. First you erect the frame and then you fill the shelves with your belongings. The belongings don’t replace the shelves, they fill them. The New Testament did not replace the Old Testament, it filled it. (Matt 5:17-19, Heb 3:1-6)

The final day of Creation is a day of Rest, it anticipates our future and the rest that God desires to give us. (Matt 11:28-30, Heb 4:9-11)

Forming (by dividing)

Day 1 – Light & Dark

Day 2 – Firmament – Divided Waters (Sky & Sea)

Day 3 – Land & Sea, Grain & Fruit plants

Filling (with multitudes)

Day 4 – Sun, Moon & Stars

Day 5 – Swarms of Birds & Fish

Day 6 – Land Animals & Man

Future

Day 7 – Stop, Rest, Hallow & Enjoy

Note:
(*Bull, Bible Matrix, pp.46-47)

 

Welcome to the feast

The greatest story ever told has a scope and complexity in its narrative and characters that exceeds all known literature. To some, it is a mysterious volume of allegorical myths. To others, it is a mass of contradictions. It is the story of God and his creation, involvement with and salvation of man. It gets messy, because people are messy, but God’s purpose is not thwarted. The greatest story ever told is not great because man figured out how to salvage himself. It is great because God, driven by love, has, through patience and mercy saved men.

Welcome to the Feast

In the Bible, we are guests at God’s banquet. A modern reader struggles to make sense of this story written so differently to our modern texts and popular novels. The structure of the Bible story is based upon Israel’s festival calendar (detailed in Leviticus 23). Consider the pattern or process you might follow when hosting a dinner party. Our to-do list is arranged to illustrate its parallel structure:

A. You send your invitations

B. You cover the table with a cloth

C. You lay out place settings & cutlery

D. The guests are seated

C1. The food and wine is served

B1. The feast is consumed

A1. You recline, full & satisfied with an digestif

The invitation (A) anticipates the satisfied diners at the end of the party (A1).
The table cloth (B) dedicates the table for the dinner (B1).
The placement of the cutlery (C) is matched with it’s use to eat the food (C1).
At the center of this event, the guests (D) are seated. Will they partake of the meal? Will they enjoy the party? It’s a simplistic example, but hopefully you see a parallel cycle of forward movement.

The Bible story is similar. God has given us an invitation, he has prepared life for us, he has called us to himself, he has given us his Word. Will we receive it? Will we make it a part of ourselves? When we do, we have “a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (c.f. 2 Peter 1:11).

From the beginning of the Bible God has purposely laid the table for us so that we can read, follow the pattern and enjoy feasting on his Word.

The pattern starts in Genesis 1, continues through the Old Testament, and is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The exact details of the pattern will vary using different motifs, allusions and imagery, but the goal of the process is the same.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. … And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. ~ 1 John 5:13, 20

 

Tripped up in the journey to holiness

The period covered by the biblical books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy is a time when God separates Israel from the world, to himself. He makes them a holy people.

What does it mean to be a holy people?
To have a higher view of God than I do of myself and to live in obedience to the good news of God’s Word in such a way that God’s purity & purpose is seen by others to be higher and bigger than me.

This separation or distinction (holiness) is marked several ways:

Passover
On Day 2 of the creation week, the division of sea and sky created an atmospheric cover for the earth (Gen 1:6-8). The waters (clouds) cover the earth and protect it. During the 1st passover Israel was protected from death under a covering of blood as God passed over the land of Egypt (Ex 12:13, 23).

When Israel prepared for the first night of passover, a veil of blood was painted over their door (Ex 12:7, 22). This veil served to divide Israel from Egypt (Ex 12:13, 23, 27, 42, 51). The veil also features in the tabernacle to separate the most holy place (Ex 26:31-35). That veil is decorated with angels who guard the entry to God’s dwelling place just as an angel guarded the door to Eden.

Ten Commandments
The terms of God’s covenant are summarised in the ten commandments. (Ex 20:1-21, Deut 5:1-22). To breach the ethics of the covenant makes you liable to the sanctions of the covenant. In this way, the law reveals the righteousness of God and it also reveals our unrighteousness. It is our schoolmaster, teaching us what sin is.

The Tabernacle
When the Lord makes a new Covenant in the Bible, it is spoken of as a New Creation. The instructions for the Tabernacle (Ex 25-31) are seven speeches which follow the pattern of the Creation Week. The Tabernacle was a miniature “clean” world, a micro-cosmos. It was the DNA for a new Creation.1

Sacrifices
Leviticus presents many pictures of Christ and His work of redemption on the cross. Hebrews 10:1–14 makes it clear that in Christ we have the complete fulfillment of each of the OT sacrifices. In return we can still offer sacrifices of praise, thanksgiving and devotion to Jesus and the gospel.

Festivals
The festivals involved eating and drinking. We are reminded that the Son of Man came eating and drinking (Matt 11:18-19, Luke 7:33-35) and each of these not only point us to Jesus, but call us to celebrate God’s work of redemption. When we observe communion today, with bread and wine (eating and drinking!) we are celebrating Christ and anticipating the full and final feast at the end of history (1 Cor 5:6-8, 11:23-26, Rev 19:9).

All of these gifts are meant to provide Israel with vivid, tangible demonstrations of the greatness and glory of God.

The four books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy cover a period of 120 years.

When Moses is 40, he is set apart as a Judge and Deliver. He is rejected by the people and they are condemned to another 40 years of slavery while Moses goes into the wilderness to receive God’s Word. A new (2nd) generation will inherit God’s promise of deliverance.

After that time, Moses returns, God judges Pharaoh and Egypt and following the first Passover, God delivers his people as he promised.

They are a holy priesthood divided from the world by the water of the Red Sea and will be tested and refined (threshed) so that they can inherit the land given to Abraham.

In the first passover, their faith is tested at the Red Sea, their commitment is tested and during their travel in the Wilderness, their obedience is tested.

When presented with the opportunity to enter and occupy their inheritance from Abraham, the 2nd Generation also fails to trust the judgement and deliverance of God. As a result they are condemned to another 40 years of wandering in the wilderness so that the next (3rd!) generation will receive and benefit from the promises.

How did that happen?
Compare the people’s behaviour in Exodus 15:13-18 with their attitude in Numbers 14.
In Exodus 15, they are focused on what God had done and would continue to do.
In Numbers 14, they focused on what they could not do and looked away from God and to themselves.

They allowed unbelief to cloud their vision of God and the purpose he had called them to.

Biblical faith abides in  (lives, rests, tenaciously clings to) the promises of the Word of God and yields an faithful and fruitful life.

Holiness and obedience is based in the Word of God. When we act independently of scripture we do not enter, we do not overcome and we do not occupy the place God calls his people to be. So often, Christians trip up in their pursuit of holiness because they seek something outside of scripture. Whether it be an experience, feeling, or some other “sign”, it moves our focus away from God to ourselves. We are not the centre of the universe.

 

Where did we go wrong?

What is wrong with the world? Or this country? City? That weird guy on the bus? You?

Creation got off to a “very good” start, until a man, Adam by name, attempted to seize (usurp/takeover/stage a coup) God’s kingdom instead of receiving it as a free gift.

A 7-fold process unfolds that shows us what went wrong and how we managed to end up with the trouble and difficulties we have today in our relationships with God, others and the environment.

1. Adam is created in the image of God and given God’s Word / Law. Gen 2:16-17
2. Adam is divided (blood is shed, his rib removed) and Eve is constructed. Gen 2:20-21
3. They are brought together in a covenant of marriage. Gen 2:22-25
4. Adam, as the high priest guardian & protector of both Eve & Eden is tested. Gen 3:1-6 (note the pronouns used here are all plural indicating that both Adam & Eve are involved in the temptation).
5. Adam acts immaturely, seizes the fruit (takes things into his own hands, literally) and tries to cover his disobedience with inadequate fig leaves. Gen 3:7
6. God uncovers Adam’s defeat by sin & covers it via shedding the blood of an innocent animal to give them animal skins for clothes. He is cast outside the angelic veil and no longer in the Edenic (promised) land. Gen 3:8-13, 21-24
7. Instead of entering into rest and glory, Adam’s failed dominion is inherited by his offspring. Gen 5:3

Adam as representative of all people failed the test of whether he would open God’s Word, believe it, obey it and speak it to his bride. Dan Phillips in The World Tilting Gospel helpfully points out that if you argue that you don’t want him as your representative, you are already placing yourself in opposition to God and acting independently of his judgement – which means, you’ve just failed the test also. So we are sinners both by nature and by action.

The New Testament explains it as:

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned. ~ Romans 5:12

Adams failure was 3-fold:

• Failed Priest – His job was to Guard & Protect the Garden. Instead of crushing the serpents head with his heel, he lets him by. Sin enters the world due to this failure of Adam (as high priest) to guard the kingdom.
• Failed Prophet – He was chosen to speak the Word of God. He should have reminded Eve of God’s promise and invited her to turn away from the forbidden tree and to eat from the Tree of Life. Instead, he stands silently while the serpent negotiates with Eve.
• Failed King – As he was created in the image of God and given dominion over the animals, he had the authority to command the serpent and extend the kingdom. He behaved passively, yielded his place and lost the battle.

Adam’s great sin was to act independently of God. He passed this proclivity to his offspring, you and I. Since then our inclination has been to continue doing the same, to the detriment and destruction of ourselves, our fellow man and the environment we were meant to manage. So, what’s wrong with the world? Take a look in the mirror.

 

Leviticus your neighbour

No, it’s not a naughty word, nor is it the title of a film about the life of Nelson Mandela. It’s the 3rd book of the Bible. You know, the one with all the gory sacrifices and (seemingly!) obsolete laws and rituals.

This time of year, many Christians make plans to read through the Bible in the coming year. It’s a commendable goal and regular bible reading ought to be part of the life of anyone who is serious about knowing, believing in, trusting and living for God. However in an average reading plan, say 3 or 4 chapters a day (8-15min) many people come unstuck somewhere around the end of January.

Why? Well there are many reasons; lack of discipline, lack of encouragement, overwhelmed by the task, or as is often the case… they hit the book of Leviticus and balk. The stories of the patriarchs in Genesis are great, they give the background to all those Sunday School and Children’s Spot lessons we’re so familiar with. The account of the plagues in Egypt and the amazing crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus is an easy read, because, after all, most of us have seen the movie and we know the story. Right?

But, blood, guts, more blood, weird definitions of cleanliness and did I mention blood? What on earth has that got to do with the ‘golden rule’ and loving my neighbour and all that stuff Jesus spoke about? Here’s the rub, the first time that is taught in the Bible is, you guessed of course, Leviticus 19:18, which says,

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. (NIV84)

Leviticus tells what it means to be God’s holy people and how that is displayed in day to day life. More specifically though, blood is a divider and separator. It is through sacrifice that we move (or rather are moved by God) into worship. We are taken hold off, separated from what we were and established as something altogether new.

During my preaching at Grace Church in January, I am going to spend 2 Sunday mornings at Kogarah and 1 at Sutherland going through some of the highlights of Leviticus. We’ll have a look at some of those gory details and see how they connect to Jesus and the New Testament. As we do that, you might like to have another go at reading the book of Leviticus. There’s only 27 chapters, 3 a day and you’ll knock it over in 9 days. Give it a shot.

If you’re still thinking or wondering about a plan to read through the rest the of the Bible, here’s a couple of links that might help out.

Bible Reading by Spurgeon

Bible Gateway Reading Plans

 

How do I get out of this mess?

Psalm 142 is titled “A Maskil of David when he was within a cave. A prayer.”

It was written of a time when David was in a helpless situation. He describes his feelings of isolation and desperation. It seems to refer to a time when he was being hunted by Saul (intent on killing him) and he seeks a hiding place, of sorts, in some sort of cave.

This is not something that clever strategy or negotiations will enable him to resolve. His life is in jeopardy – this is a problem.

When you get yourself into a situation or through no fault of your own, you are backed into a corner – financially, medically, vocationally, relationally, or spiritually – what do you do? Where do you turn?

In Kenya, we repeatedly found ourselves in seemingly impossible situations, that threatened our safety and were beyond our means, our knowledge and experience. We were “punching above our weight.” We came to learn that God alone is our refuge.

Attacked by a swarm of African Killer Bees – covered in stings, resulting infections.
Constantly sick with stomach and bowl infections, urinary infections from the water.
Narrowly escaping marauders – armed escorts.
Taunts and attacks from witch doctors and shamans.

Back in the 1st world, we have problems to deal with every day.Which shirt will I wear? Will I eat at home or have breakfast at the cafe? Shall I shop in Changi, Bangkok or Hong Kong? Red shoes or black shoes? Motorway or back streets?

But then, we hit PROBLEMS – what do we do? Where do our thoughts turn to? At what point does prayer become more than “God get me out of this mess?”