The Messiah in Genesis 3:15

Comments on The Messiah in the Old Testament – Genesis to Deuteronomy

            I look to the first five books of the Bible for creations stories – Adam and Eve; Cain and Abel; Noah and the Flood; the tower of Babel.  This is where we meet Abraham and Noah and read about the Law.  I never thought to look to these books, referred to variously as the Pentateuch, the Law of Moses, and the Torah, for words about the Messiah.  Yet, Kaiser lists two messianic prophecies in the primeval history (Genesis 1-11), two in the patriarchal era (Genesis 12-50), and two in the Mosaic epoch (Exodus-Deuteronomy) (Kaiser, p.36). 

            It begins with what some call the protoevangelium  (first gospel), Genesis 3:15.  After Eve and then Adam disobey God by eating the forbidden fruit, they move from the sparkle of innocence to the stain of sin.  God speaks first to the serpent who tempted Eve.  God says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”  Kaiser comments, “The seed/offspring mentioned in this verse became the root from which the tree of the OT promise of a Messiah grew” (p.37-38).

The serpent, he feels, is a title, not a description of a reptilian animal.  He points out something that should be obvious, unmistakable.  And yet, I had not made this connection previously.  God has already created animals that “creep and crawl”.  And God “saw that it was good” (1:25).  If you hate snakes or spiders or sharks or cockroaches or rats, take up your argument with God.  In the opening chapter of the Bible, God declared these animals “good.”  So, by the third chapter, the snake is not by nature evil.  Nor is it endowed with the image of God as humans are (1:26).

Thus Kaiser feels that “serpent” is a title, and the demotion of the one called “serpent” in verse 15 is directly tied to the prophecy that the woman’s offspring will oppose him.  In Revelation 12:9, Satan is associated with the serpent who invaded Eden.  Kaiser also points out verse where Paul makes this connection (Romans 16:20; 2 Corinthians 11:13; see Kaiser’s footnote, p.39).  Kaiser concludes “the identity of the tempter can be none other than Satan” (p.39).

While I understand Kaiser’s reasoning here and his logic makes sense, I am hesitant to go as far as he did in affirming with certainty that the Eden serpent = Satan.  I am hesitant because I think the account of Adam, Eve, and the Serpent is legend, not history.  Now let me be clear.  This is does not mean I don’t think it is true.  I do think the world was created “good.”  I think that one of the major points of Genesis 1-3.  I also think Kaiser demonstrates a masterful hermeneutic in identifying the serpent with the invasion of evil into the good God made.  However, making a certain association with Satan goes too far. 

Maybe the simplest way to elucidate why I can’t just say the serpent is Satan is my acknowledgment that I am not 100% sold on a literal Adam and Eve.  I think evolution is a good explanatory framework offered by science for how God made the world.  At some point, God endowed prehistoric humans with His Spirit.  At that point the creature that had evolved to be what is today called Homo sapiens became God’s image-bearer.  What I am offering here is a theological conclusion driven by faith.  My thoughts here do not strip Genesis 1-3 of truth, but rather set those chapters as a theological statement. 

I think Satan was real and played a role in drawing humans away from God and into sin.  But even our understanding of Satan has undergone change over time.  The idea of a divine council that included a role entitled ‘Hasatan,’ the accuser, is one that developed. 

Originally, this Accuser was an important member of the council.  He is not in opposition to God until 1 Chronicles 21:1 and Zechariah 3:1-2.  In those passages, Satan is unquestioningly opposed to God and is thus evil.  But in Job, it not nearly as clear.  In Job, it appears that Satan is fulfilling the role indicated by his title.  It appears God is the provocateur.  A brief analysis of Job is coming, but I think it might anachronistic to suppose that ancient Israelite communities who lived with Genesis as their book of faith had any concept of Satan and if they did, it is not the understanding we have living in a post-New Testament world as we do. 

This excurses on Satan is necessary to interact with Kaiser.  I find his observation of the serpent as a cipher for the entrance of evil into the good God made as a brilliant explanation.  A lot of people have made the connection, but I am particularly enlightened by the way Kaiser does it and the way he demonstrates that the seed of the woman who crushes the serpent’s head is in fact the Messiah.  I feel like my understanding of God’s story has expanded due to this portion of Kaiser’s work. 

I’ll pick the next identification he makes of a messianic prediction the Pentateuch in my next post. 

Read Through the Bible in a Year

Pathways into God’s Word – Read the Bible in a Year

Our church focus to begin 2014 is “entering the story of God.”  We are getting into the Bible and getting the Bible into us so that our lives are shaped by God’s Spirit speaking through God’s word.

In the first sermon in this church-wide emphasis on Bible reading, scripture memorization was suggested a way of entering the story of scripture.  If a person memorizes a verse every 2 weeks, by the end of the year, he or she will have 25 verses they’ve memorized.  The memorization in and of itself is good, but the real value is the way the memorized verses begin to shape the thinking and outlook of the individual Christ-follower.  If all I can say is, “I memorized this or that verse,” well, who cares?  But, if I find myself in life situations that call upon me to choose and I find that when I need to choose my first thought is a scripture passage that has been imprinted on my brain, then the memorization is directly coloring who I am.  I am God’s and the Word is a reminder and a guide.

Another pathway is to take in the entire scope of the story of the Bible.  Read the entire Bible through in 2014.  By the time you decide to do this, it may be January 10^th or something like that.  If that is the case, then read the Bible through by January 10, 2015.  Or read a little extra so you can complete the read-through by December 31, 2014.

Ewordtoday.com has several programs to guide you as you go to read through in a year.  You could simply pick up, start in Genesis, and not stop until you finish Revelation.  I have done that and it is a neat way of reading through, but not the only way.  Ewordtoday offers several programs (http://www.ewordtoday.com/year/). 

I offer one comment related to this.  The Eword site asserts as fact some details about the Bible that actually educated theories, but not established facts.  A notable example is the book of Job.  One of the Eword programs is to arrange the Bible chronologically.  A popular theory suggests Job lived before the days of Abraham.  Thus in the chronological read through program, readings in Job fall within the readings in the book of Genesis. 

The fact is no one knows when Job lived.  It is even possible that the book of Job is a parable and not a history.  It is also possible Job was a historical figure.  The Eword site accepts the latter theory, asserts it as fact, and locates Job in the primeval history (the era described in Genesis 1-11).  This is fine, and it might be accurate.  I do not endorse this interpretive decision, but I do recommend that if you want to read through the Bible in a year, the Eword site is helpful.  And I highly endorse the notion of reading through the Bible in a year.

We are a week into 2014.  I have offered two pathways into scripture:

-         Scripture memorization

-         Read through the Bible in a year

There is more to come.   Read your Bible and seek God.

Invited to God's Life

Sunday, November 18, 2012

 

            As Christians, a major point of our self-definition, a question we either ask or have asked and answered is a question that does not concern Job.  Christians are not the only ones who ask this question, but the question’s importance is central in Christian faith and theology.  From the book of Romans, “there is no one who is righteous, not even one. … All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3:10, 23).  In the book of Acts, the warden in the Philippian jail says with great fear, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  Paul and Silas respond, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:30-31).  This question of salvation is a New Testament question.  We believe all people are cut off from God by our innate sinfulness and by our sinful choices and actions.  To die in that “cut-off” state is to be destined for Hell.  We want relationship with God and we want a Heavenly eternity.  We need to know how one is saved and we need to know if we are saved.

            Job is an Old Testament book.  The story belongs to Israel and is read as the word of God for the Chosen People.  They don’t fret about being saved.  They’re already the people of God.  Job is not asking about salvation.  His concern is purpose.  What is the meaning of innocent suffering?

            We come to Job, but the question shaping our faith is how can I know I am saved?  Job welcomes us.  But, he’s not telling how to be saved.  He’s asking – is there meaning in suffering?  Has this led to a frustrating misunderstanding on the part of many Christians who want to read Job and hear the word of God. 

            We must move past the “how do I get saved” question, but we must not diminish the importance of it.  Salvation will always be central in our story of relationship with God.  Without it, there is no relationship.  Until the salvation question is answered, we are stuck in our sins and the pain they bring.  But we “how?”  Again, the man who imprisoned Paul and Silas in the city in Philippi and then fell impotent before them when a force of God ripped open the prison walls.  Trembling he asked, “What must I do to be saved?”  “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”  This is the gospel.

            The question of purpose is the next question.  As we have seen, Job is the story of a man of true faith.  He was the model of worship; the model of confession.  If he lived today, he would be the ideal Christ-follower.  His relationship with God is completely right. 

But his life falls apart.  He loses everything.  His responses to his suffering are varied.  David Clines has observed that in his 11 different speeches, Job adopts a different theological posture each time (World Bible Commentary, vol. 17, p.xlii).  Is Job patient?  Yes.  Does Job complain endlessly?  Yes.  Does Job become suicidal?  Yes.  Does Job hold onto hope and life with everything that is in him?  Yes.  Job’s experience is complicated and his speech is varied.  All of his lows are a part of his tortured quest for meaning.

            The Philippian jail warden baptized by Paul (Acts 16:34).  What’s next? We have had several baptisms lately.  All who follow Christ come the journey by stating their faith and being baptized.  What comes next?  Baptism is a climactic moment that begins a story.  What happens in the rest of the story? 

            Our experience of reality, and in reality, changes.  We previously lived for ourselves.  Now we live in Christ.  The world around us, our culture, provided a frame of reference for how we made decisions, what we valued, why we thought the way we did.  Now, our frame of reference and our moral motivation and what defines us is the kingdom of God.  Once we are saved, at Paul says, we are new creations, born again.  From salvation we move to the question of meaning.

            Job’s quest for meaning was born in his suffering.  Not all of us come to Job’s story as sufferers.  Some do.  Some readers resonate because as they read they are in the midst of pain and turmoil.  Or they’ve lived through significant periods of very real suffering.  They read Job and they say, “Yes, I can relate.”

            Others though, have not been in Job’s shoes.  To say it in a ridiculously simple way, some readers of Job are people who have happy, good lives.  Things have mostly gone very well.  The difference in experience with suffering creates distance.  Still, all readers can glean from Job inspiration for the pursuit of answers to the question “Why?”  Job shows us that we can, ask God why?  Job also shows us that God answers and Job shows what happens when God answers. 

            Imagine Job’s ragged robe, only it covers not him, but you.  You are Job’s place before.  You’ve dared to pray boldly, demandingly, courageously, and through tears, and now God answers.  Now, God is the speaker and you the listener.  Out of the whirlwind, God bellows, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?”

            All confidence evaporates.  Naked?  Yes.  Scared.  Oh yeah.  No place to hide?  No place to hide.  Who are you to stand before God? 

            The booming voice commands.  “Gird up your loins.  Stand up like a man.  Stand your ground like a woman.  Be the human being you were made to be.  You will answer me.  You will answer my questions.”

            The questions that follow are impossible.  No one could answer.  Is God just making a point of showing how big God is and small and insignificant we are?  I don’t think so.  If Job were so unimportant, why does God even bother?  The God of the universe is taking time to give Job individual attention.  It is true that the speeches in chapters 38-41 accent the awesomeness of God and the smallness of Job and of all humans.  God says much and never once mentions humanity.  But, God does not take time to explain himself to horses or to leopards or tigers or anacondas.  Pick your favorite animal.  God doesn’t deign to speak to that one, not in the way God speaks to human beings.

            In the Bible, over and over, the Almighty steps out of eternal glory and into our time-bound experience in order to relate to humans.  Job is blown away, but this whirlwind speech is a personal gesture on God’s part.  While Job is never told why he suffered, he is re-created and given new life.  He is invited to God’s life.

            “Gird up your loins.  I will question.  You will answer.”  God invites Job to conversation – and us too.  The invitation shows the special place of humanity in the creation.  Think back to Genesis 1:27.  “God created humankind in his image.”  Whatever anyone can ever say about you, you are made in the image of God.  You and I – we are God’s image bearers. 

Flip over to Genesis 2:18.  “It is not good that man should be alone.”  God is relational and God made us relational beings.  God made birds and animals and brought them to Adam to see what Adam would call them.  Look closely at Genesis 2:19.  God waited to see what the man would name the animals and whatever name he came up with, that was the animal’s name.  The way that verse reads, God did not know a turtle was a turtle until Man looked and said, “mmm … turtle.”  Before that, God has created a bunch of these slow, shelled creatures, and an angel says, “Lord, that’s kind of a dopey looking thing.  What do you call it?”  God kind of shrugs.  “I am waiting on Adam.”  And Adam is there thinking.  “Oh I don’t know.  Turtle … terrapin .. tortoise … God what do you think?”  “Adam it’s up to you, but we have a lot of animals to go, so could you kind of get on with it?”   Genesis 2:19 tells us God brought everything living thing to the man to see what he would call it and whatever he called it, that was its name.

Now we are in Job.  He’s cowering even as God tells him to stand.  God’s command, if we remember it in terms of Genesis, is for Job to be who God made Job to be.  The questions of Job 38-41 cannot be answered.  “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?”  Job and you and I have to mutter and sing, “You, O God, are creator, and we are nothing.”   But we are not nothing.  God gave us work – name the animals.  Have dominion.  Manage my creation.  Be who I made you to be. 

Throughout these words God unleashes on Job like a tidal wave, there is the refrain, “Can you?” 

“Do you know the ordinance of the heavens?  Can you establish their rule on earth” (38:33)?

“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that a flood of waters may cover you” (38:34)?

“Can you hunt the prey for the lion” (38:39a)?

More poignantly, God turns to the mythic monster of chaos that filled men with complete dread.  “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook, or press down its tongue with a chord?  Can you put a rope in its nose or pierce its jaw with a hook” (41:1-2)?  Leviathan represented every sea-dragon ever thought of in any ancient myth, every Greek titan that stepped on humans as if they were ants.  The only thing the ancients did in reference to Leviathan was run away.  And if they were out on a boat, lost at sea, and they fell under Leviathan’s attack, they considered themselves dead, without hope.

If we are tempted to dismiss this ancient literature and say, “Oh, we’ve sent submarines to the deepest parts of the ocean.  We know there is no Leviathan. That’s just a myth.”  If we do that, then we miss the power and truth in it.  God’s words to us, along the same lines could be, “Can you blow a hurricane the size of Katrina or Sandy as if you were blowing out a single birthday candle?”  The things that totally overwhelm are as playthings to God.

No, we cannot establish the rules of the heavens.

No, we cannot hunt the lion’s prey for him or fish out Leviathan with a hook.

No, we cannot command the clouds.

But wait a minute.  We are in God’s image.  We are called to work – God’s work.  To be human is to have vocation that is rooted in our relationship with God.  If our sins block the way and make impossible for us to do God’s work, well, God has done something about that.  In Jesus, God has made a way – a way for salvation.  God has made a way for us to be sons and daughters of God.  God has made a way for us to do the work we were created to do as God’s image bearers. 

God says, “Can you?”  We say, “No we cannot.”  But Jesus could and did.  He commanded the clouds to stop raining and they stopped.  He died, and in the resurrection, pushed death aside.  If we put Jesus in Job’s shoes, and he went through the impossible quiz of Job 38-41, and God said to him, “Can you,” Jesus would respond, “yes Father.  I can, and I will.” 

Moving from salvation to meaning, we follow Job.  We follow Job and in our own lives, as saved persons, sons and daughters of God, we search for meaning.  We search for God’s purpose in our good times, in our suffering, in our losses, and in our triumphs.  When I say that we are made new so that we can live out God’s vocation for us, I hope you know the specifics of living out God’s vocation are unique to each person.  In your life, God will show you what it means to be the human He created you to be. 

But there is this warning.  Once we go where Job went and we stand before God, the whirlwind swirling about us, about to engulf us, we will die – die to self.  Death is crucial in salvation and in the search for meaning.  We die in our sin.  This is seen in another “Can you” type of question.  This one was asked by Jesus. 

He had predicted his suffering and violent death.  Two disciples, James and John, completely ignoring the death part, said, “We want to sit at your right hand and left hand in your glory” (Mark 10:37).  These guys were at this point operating in the limited worldview of Job’s friends.  Eventually, James and John would die to self and in being born again, they would surpass even Job in Heavenly wisdom, but at this point, they were seeking their own glory.  And Jesus invited them into the whirlwind.

“Can you,” he asked, “drink the cup that I drink?”  Can you sacrifice yourselves for the Kingdom of God if that is needed?  Jesus was arrested and they fled in terror, cowards running wildly in the night.  These guys thought they were going to be at side of the King.  At the first site of danger, they booked it out of there.  Then came the cross.  Then the empty tomb.  After resurrection, James and John stopped asking about sitting at Jesus’ left and right hand.  They were in Jerusalem preaching salvation, which leads to meaning, and they preached so hard, they got imprisoned and exiled and beheaded.  And they smiled all the way because it is better to be in prison if that is part of God’s vocation than it is to sit on a royal throne and not know why you are there.  And what about those thrones anyway?  Read  the final book - Revelation.  There the 12 disciples sit on thrones.

But what about Job and you and me?  Where does all this leave us?  The God life is different for each person.  I know this.  Sin keeps us from God.  But if we’ve put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, then we have salvation.  If we have salvation, then we are invited into the whirlwind.  We are invited to that terrifying moment where we are asked to name the animals and drink the cup and preach the word.  We are invited into relationship, and in that relationship, where we live God’s life, we have purpose.  We – you, me, each one of us – we have that moment.  The unspeakable splendor of the Almighty fills all existence until it is just you and God and he says, “Gird up your loins.  I will speak.  You will answer.”

Life Begins with Sabbath Rest

In the reading I have done on Sabbath, I frequently came across an idea I had never considered. Several authors and Bible scholars made this same point. The idea is that creation points to the 7th day, the Sabbath. God wasn’t just making the heavens and the earth on a whim. God wasn’t in his eternal glory, bored, and he thought, “I know! I’ll create a universe.” There was more purpose to it, so the idea goes. Sabbath is a key.

Consider the movement in the creation account: day one, separate light from darkness. Day two, God created the sky (the “dome”). Day three, God makes dry land and plant life. Day four, the sun and moon were created. Day five, it was sea creatures and birds.

Now up to this point, God reflects on each act of creation. God saw that it was “good.” But, there is more to it on day five. On day five, God has direct interaction with the living beings He has made. “21 God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth”(Genesis 1:21-22). God spoke to his creation and gave them responsibility. The animals (sea animals and birds) were to be fruitful and multiple.

Things changed even more dramatically on the fifth day. God made land animals; then God’s masterpiece. 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the [ak]sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the [al]sky and over every living thing that [am]moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:26-28).

God may have related to some animals through instruction, “be fruitful and multiply,” but it went much deeper with these he made in his image. Humans were also to be fruitful and multiply, which means procreation, and humans were to manage as God’s stewards. God blessed humans. That essentially communicates that God created conditions so that it would go well with human beings if they did things God’s way. Blessing is a component of covenant. Blessing means life is good.

Blessing also comes with responsibility. Humans were to fill and subdue the earth in a way that recognized the goodness of God’s creation and the wonder of God’s glory. When God saw all that was done and humans had the blessing and the commands God had given, God saw that it was better than good. It was “very good” (1:31).

Thus it appears that creation reaches its climax when men and women are made and given their divine marching orders to manage the earth. But this is only the sixth day and there are seven days. Creation is driven to the seventh day, the one day God “hallowed” (NRSV), or “made holy” (Genesis 2:3). When all the conditions were ready, by God’s creation, and God saw that the world was as He thought it should be, then God felt confident in rest. He could stop creating. He could leave humans in charge. He could rest and enjoy what He had made.

Sabbath is what God had in mind when God created. Creation leads to Sabbath. The first day of life, once created, for Humans was the seventh day, the Sabbath. Life for human beings began with Sabbath rest. In our keeping of Sabbath, can we recreate those Eden conditions where all we need is provided in fruit trees planted by God and streams that run as God directs them and there is no danger and nothing to fear? No!

Life in our time is full of pitfalls, some in nature, more in civilization. The fall of Adam and Eve and every human that has ever sinned has drawn away from God’s Sabbath intention. So what good today is Sabbath-keeping, if it simply amounts to a dim reminder of what was lost?

Sabbath-keeping remembers Eden, the perfection God created. Sabbath-keeping reminds us that God is good and God wants good for us. And Sabbath-keeping, when focused on Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit calls us forward. Our life (our human origins) did not simply begin with Sabbath rest. We have ahead of us an eternity in God’s new heaven and new earth. When we set time apart as Sabbath time, time for worship, community, and rest, we anticipate the eternal joy we will have in the unending presence of God. That eternity will be filled with love, togetherness, worship, feasting, and peace. What was at the beginning, the goal of creation, Sabbath, will be forever. So, in Sabbath-keeping, we remember, we look ahead, and we celebrate God.

Sabbath, Origins, and Eternity (Genesis 1:26-2:3)

Abraham Joshua Heschel writes, “The sense of holiness in time is expressed in the manner in which the Sabbath is celebrated. … On that day … symbols are superfluous. The Sabbath itself is the symbol.”[i] Our church is in the middle of a 4-week examination of Sabbath, a Jewish idea. Of course Christianity is a descendant of Judaism, and Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. We as a church of mostly gentile Christ worshipers are seeking to understand how Sabbath-keeping should be done in our lives, where our worship is on Sunday, not the Sabbath day which is the seventh day, Saturday.

Are we supposed to keep Sabbath? If so why? And how are we to do it? I believe we are. Sabbath is command and more than command, it is gift. Heschel, one of the preeminent scholars of Sabbath believes it is holier as something given by God than ancient festivals, than law, than any other gift. “The Sabbath is all holiness,” he says.[ii] But don’t take his word for it, or mine.

Genesis 2:3: “God blessed the seventh day and [made it holy], because on that day God rested from all the work he had done in creation.” To that point, God had been intentional in his order and in the product as he made the world. He created all and with each act of creation Genesis says, “God saw that it was good.”

Then, God made human beings. Men and women were created in the image of God. Men and women were blessed and told to fill the earth through procreation and to subdue the earth as God’s regents on the earth. When God had made human beings and clearly blessed human beings then he was done. Once humans had been given their responsibility to manage God’s creation and enjoy God’s creation, then God saw that it was not just good, but “very good.”

Creation reached its climax on the seventh day. God had made such a perfect world; He did not need to do any more. There was nothing else to be created. God did not need to micromanage what had been made. All was right. The world was in a state of peace. Better still, the world was in a state of shalom. Creation reached its goal on the seventh day and God established the seventh day as a holy day.

Thus we see that Sabbath comes from God. Sabbath comes from the very beginning. And Sabbath is central in God’s vision for us, for creation. As far as we can tell, Jesus and the Apostle Paul both were Sabbath-observant Jews. Jesus did not reject Sabbath, only the abuse of it. Paul did not do away with Sabbath. He objected to the idea that Sabbath-keeping in accordance with the cumbersome rules Jesus opposed was more important for salvation than faith in Jesus. Paul did much of his most effective evangelizing on Sabbath days in the house of worship, the synagogue. God started Sabbath. Jesus, God in the flesh, kept Sabbath and taught the truth on Sabbath, and Paul shared Jesus on Sabbath.

In our own Sabbath observance, as we live our Christianity in a fast-paced, computer age, we see that whatever we do must honor God and seek Him. If we are thinking of ways we can keep Sabbath time, whether it is Saturday, Sunday, or another time, we must set aside a particular time to honor God in a unique, Sabbath way, and we must seek him and share the good news of His salvation.

Last week, in introducing this block of discussion on Sabbath, I said that Jesus gives us a new day, a new rhythm, and rest. Someone turned in to me a very wise note reminding me that God has always been merciful, and that from the very beginning God gave Sabbath rest as a gift. I appreciated that feedback immensely. Building on that, I must say that the New Testament God is not a kinder, gentler replacement for the harsh Old Testament God. God is God and always has been. First John chapter says God is love. God has always been love. In the Old Testament God’s hatred of sin is painfully clear. God hates sin just as much today, and sin is punished, in time in this life, and in eternity in Hell.

I do think Jesus brought something new in God coming in human flesh. I do think Jesus ushered in a new way of knowing God and being in relationship with God. But what I appreciate about what was written on the note was the suggestion that as much Jesus is new, Jesus is a return to the original. The new rhythm Jesus brings is the rhythm God originally intended for human beings in the creation.

Now, we’ve said Sabbath is from God, comes at the beginning, and for that reason is central in God’s vision for us and for creation, which belongs to Him and comes from Him. Because of the centrality of it, we must keep Sabbath and in doing so we must honor God, seek God, and share the good news of salvation. In looking a bit longer at Genesis 1 & 2, what can we learn about this gift of Sabbath rest that God has always intended for us to enjoy?

It is a day set apart, different from other days. I am in two of the small groups discussing Sabbath and I have posed the question, which you might think about now. As you grew up, if your family treated Sunday as Sabbath, then how was Sunday different? In some cases, people said other than attending church, Sunday was like any other day. In other families, Sunday was different. There were activities or prohibited activities that set Sunday apart.

In my own case, I remember, ironically, that when I was in high school, Sunday was the only day I worked. Monday through Friday was school and football. Saturday was church youth group activities. Sunday night was also church youth group. And Sundays from noon until 5, I was a bus boy at a restaurant. I had no Sabbath time. And my relationship with God suffered for that. I had a relationship with God, for sure. But it was not what it could have been because I wasn’t giving God all of me, and I wasn’t honoring God as I could if I had set time aside to do so.

Setting time apart for God is an act of faith. We admit that our activity doesn’t keep the universe going. God is the sustainer, not us. It is trust. We trust that if God could rest and things would be ok, then we can rest. To refuse to take Sabbath is ultimately hubris.

Well, our world is more complicated than when God created in the beginning. That was a simpler time. Please! God is bigger than all that is around us. God is more important the things that fill our lives.

In keeping a Sabbath that is focused on God – Father, Son, Holy Spirit – we experience the wholeness, the rest, the peace that in Hebrew is called Shalom and we have Shalom in a way that only can be known on Sabbath.

Thus in addition to practicing Sabbath so that God is honored, sought, and shared, our Sabbath must be unique. Whatever activities we pursue – worship, a walk in the woods, a special time of prayer, the simple enjoyment of nature – it should be unique, only done quite that way on Sabbath. Yes, we worship at other times, and we walk in the woods and pray and enjoy nature and slow our pace and light candles – we do all those things at many times during the week. But there should be a uniqueness that announces we are entering Sabbath time.

The notion of Sabbath, a time set apart that Christians celebrate with a focus on the Father, on Jesus, and in communion with the Holy Spirit, began in our origins. When we keep Sabbath we are directed to and prepared for our eternity. Sabbath is where Genesis 1 & 2 meets Revelation 21 & 22, the very beginning and very end of the Bible. Genesis describes the origin and Revelation, after the final victory of Jesus and final judgment of all describes the destination.

In Revelation 21-22, we read about the New Jerusalem and the New Heaven and New Earth where the perfect city is juxtaposed with the perfect garden and perfection in nature. It is where we are headed. Scholar Walter Bruegemann writes that Sabbath is the affirmation that God is at work to bring creation to His purpose and that Sabbath, and I would add the shalom we have in Christ when we keep Sabbath, is the goal of life.[iii] His comments are on Genesis 1, but they lead to the conclusion in Revelation 21-22.

The same directional arc of history is seen in Romans 8. Paul writes,

“The creations waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but of the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until know, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies” (v.19-23).

Paul is talking about freedom from sin.. He’s not talking about Sabbath.

The freedom he mentions was present on the original seventh day in Genesis 2 before sin came and that freedom, which like peace and love and blessing and wholeness is a part of Shalom, is where the redeemed in Jesus are headed in eternity. In Sabbath keeping we get a little glimpse of Heaven, what it might be like. Why? We are closer to God, and we relinquish control of our well-being to God; he determines our wellness.

Our Sabbath points to a life lived in good relationships. Meeting Jesus in Sabbath changes who we are in this world as we wait for our redemption. So our Sabbath-keeping must be communal, with others, and must anticipate where we are headed when our earthly life is up.

In Sabbath practices, we enjoy nature; we worship and pray; and we do it with other people. Slow-cooked meals for large group are a Sabbath possibility. Even if the group is small, a group is good. Sabbath is not a time for fasting or solitude. It is a time to honor God and seek and share God; it is a unique and we should approach it as such. No other time is what Sabbath time is: time for relationship – us with God and with one another. We won’t be alone in Heaven and we should not be alone on Sabbath. From our origins when God created, to life with Jesus, to life now, lived in the Holy Spirit, to eternity in the New Jerusalem, we are called God, and our best experience with God includes that which he makes holy, the Sabbath.

AMEN

[i]Heschel, The Sabbath (Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 1951), p.82

[ii]Ibid, p.82.

[iii]Bruegemann, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: Genesis (John Knox Press, Atlanta), p.38.

A Curious Observation about Satan and the Garden of Eden

It’s pretty common knowledge that Satan tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God and eat the apple. Right? Of all the things in the Bible, that can be assumed and accepted without argument or debate. Can’t it? Well, just to be sure, we should go through Genesis 3 and circle all the references to Satan. It just takes a second. In fact, here’s the passage.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’“ 4But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; 5for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate (Genesis 3:1-7, NRSV).


Try as we might, there is no mention of Satan, Devil, Lucifer, Evil One, Dragon, or other title for the evil Fallen Angel. The simple fact is the narrative tradition that passed Genesis on from one generation to another until it was finally written down did not recognize some evil supernatural being. We are told of a talking serpent that tempted Eve with half-truths.


So where does the idea that serpent actually being a manifestation of Satan come from? Even with the evidence of Biblical content just cited, people would still say I am nuts to question the notion that the serpent was any other than Satan. Genesis doesn’t say it was Satan, but we’ve always assumed it was. We dare not question what we’ve always known. So someone who does question must be wrong (and blasphemous and heretical and anathema).

I submit to you that it is extremely important that we read the Bible critically; that is, we question everything as read for the purpose of being sound and sure in our understanding. We don’t just throw out commonly held assumptions about familiar stories, like Adam and Eve. We think on those stories thoroughly so that our belief is informed, well formed, and we know why we believe it.

To find the source for our theological assertion that the Eden serpent from the very first book of Bible is Satan at work, we turn to the 12th chapter of the last book, Revelation. Revelation 12:7-9:


7And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, 8but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Verse 9 is pretty clear – the serpent and Satan were one. Did believers always understand this connection? I don’t think so. The idea of Satan is one that evolved through the different eras of Israel’s history and relationship with God. In the book Job, Satan is one of God’s council members. His is an official role – the adversary. By the time the prophet Zechariah is at work, Satan is clearly running against the purposes of God (Zechariah 3:1-4). In the days of Jesus, Satan is an enemy who has access – he is able to tempt Jesus in the wilderness. However, the demons of Hell cower in fear before Jesus in every encounter they have with him.

In Revelation, it’s all out warfare and it is not fought here, but in Heaven (12:7). Moreover, God is not a participant. Rather the archangel Michael leads a brigade of angels who defeat the Dragon, Satan, who also has an angel army. There is no word on how long or how violent this conflict is. The important note is that as the warfare in Heaven is also played out on earth, the battle is not won with swords or spears (or weapons of modern warfare). Rather sacrifice and martyrdom win the day.

“But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death” (Rev. 12:11).

The metaphor for Jesus crushing the evil one is not a mighty lion, but rather a slaughtered lamb, and the uncompromising testimony of the church that has sworn allegiance to Jesus. There have been thousands of pages of Bible interpretation written just on Revelation chapter 12. My words here simply offer up the foundational truth of that chapter, and one of the basic essentials of Christianity. Evil is defeated by faithfulness – the faithfulness and love of Jesus to die for our sins; and, the faithfulness of His church, including us, to testify to the truth about Him and His gospel to the world no matter what that testimony will cost us.