Author: Pastor Bob

You’ll notice as we go through Genesis that it is a following of descendants of Abraham.  We went from looking at Abraham and his journey under God’s covenant with him, to Isaac and his journey in finding his wife and living his life under God’s covenant.  And now we find ourselves with Jacob and Esau and all the beautiful, and tragic, stories that accompany those characters.  As we make our way through Genesis it is a retelling of God’s people as they live out their lives under God’s command and under God’s covenant.

The story of Esau of Jacob begins once again the story of the eldest serving the youngest.  You’ll see that theme carried our in pretty much all of the families of God in the Old Testament.  Already we have seen Isaac is over Ishmael.  In these chapters we see Jacob over Esau, even if it was by hook or by crook.  Isn’t Rebekah something else as she consistently deceives her husband so that her “favorite” son would get what was not supposed to be his?  That is also something else that we see in Scripture where the protagonists don’t always follow the rules and yet God’s purposes are somehow carried out.  This is certainly not something to emulate.

We then find ourselves in the New Testament in John in what I see as probably the most important Scripture in the entire canon.  Look at John 14:6, there is no other more important verse in the Bible than this one.  Jesus says that he is the way and the life and that no one gets to the Father except through Jesus.  This is the most exclusive claim in all of Scripture.  I have always said that our faith is the most inclusive, it embraces all men and women from all walks of life.  Anyone can be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Anyone and everyone.  This is the inclusivity of the Gospel.

But the exclusivity of the Gospel is that it is only through Jesus that we find salvation.  We do not all worship the same God, Jesus is the unique, singular, distinct God that must be worshipped.  No other gods will do.  This is an exclusive claim, but one that is open to all, which makes it inclusive.  I hope you are following me.

I hope you enjoyed your weekend and enjoyed your brake over the Sunday.  We find ourselves in the midst of the life of Isaac, from his birth, to his near death experience, to the death of his mother, and then finally to his marriage to Rebekkah.  Isaac serves as a very clear Christ type in so many different ways, the most obvious of which is his near sacrifice on Mount Moriah.  The father sacrificing the son does not take a lot of imagination to think of where else we have seen this in Scripture.  Now it doesn’t actually happen, and instead, it serves as an example of the love Abraham has for God which stretches even beyond familial ties.

Notice that Isaac marries his cousin, Rebekkah, which was very common in those days and which Abraham actually asked his servant to find someone from his household.  Abraham insisted that Isaac not be taken back to his home country because God had established Abraham in the land of Canaan, the land where the people of God would be for generations.

In John we find this Gospel writer’s version of the last supper.  Notice this is the only Gospel that does not contain the bread and the wine that Jesus gives to his disciples.  In its place John gives what I would consider the sacrament of foot washing.  Now, let’s be clear, foot washing is not as sacrament in Presbyterian thought, but it certainly does meet all of the criteria.  It is an act that Jesus commands all of his disciples to do with a very clear message.  We are each other’s servants, or as Cain asked disdainfully, we are our brother’s keepers in many, many different ways.  

So we find ourselves with Abraham throughout these chapters.  In 17 and 18 he is visited by the Lord who promises that he will have a son and that his name will be Isaac because Abraham laughed at God.  I had always thought that in 18 was when Isaac received his name because of Sarah laughing, but it was back in 17 with Abraham laughing.  We see the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as a result of the people being evil because of how they treated the visiting angels who were being hosted by Lot, Abraham’s nephew.  

In 20 we see Abraham once again moving and telling the people of the new land that Sarah was his sister.  God came close to destroying the king and his people because he took Sarah to be his wife, but had not laid with her.  As a result he sends Abraham on his way with even more livestock and valuables.  Isn’t it interesting that each time that Abraham tells the rulers of the land that Sarah is his sister he ends up leaving that country with many more riches than when he entered.  

In John we see in chapter 10 Jesus self describes as the gate and the shepherd.  The Jews of the land gather around him and want to know if he is the Messiah.  They look to stone him again but he makes his way out.  We then see the story of Lazarus where Jesus proclaims that he is the resurrection and the life and that those who believe in him will never die.  This is where our understanding of eternal life emanates.  We will never die if we believe in Jesus as the Lord and Savior.  

The raising of Lazarus from the dead is one that demands that the Jewish leaders gather together and try to figure out what to do with Jesus as he performs there many miracles.  We see in 11:53 that it was from that point on they planned to put him to death.  Jesus was a threat to the leaders because he was working outside of the prescribed boundaries.  God tends to love to work outside of the prescribed boundaries.

Let’s make our way through our reading beginning in chapter 12 which is really the beginning of the creation of the people of God through Father Abraham, who had many sons.  Actually, he only had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, but in these Scriptures for today we only see Ishmael.  In chapter 12 we have God promising Abram that he will be the father of a great nation, they flee to Egypt because of a famine in the land, Abram lies about Sarai and as a result leaves Egypt a very wealthy man with is nephew Lot.  

In 13 we find Lot and Abram separate and God promises Abram the land as far as his eyes can see.  In 14 we see a battle of the local kings where Lot, Abram’s nephew, gets swept up and Abram comes to his rescue and is showered with praise by the King Melchizedek.  Keep this name in mind when we get to the New Testament in Hebrews 7 as Jesus is equated with him as the high priest.

In 15 we see the vision of God which comes to Abram and as a result we see a new covenant that God makes with Abram.  Look at vs.18 where we read that on that day God made a covenant with Abram promising the land that was before him.  This is the second covenant that God makes with humankind, the first was the one with Noah which we saw earlier.  In 16 we see the birth of Ishmael as a result of Abram and Sarai’s impatience.  Be careful about pursuing the promises of God on your own time frame and not on the time frame that the Lord dictates.  It will lead to rash decisions that will affect the rest of your life.

We then get to John.  Notice that pretty much all of this takes place within the temple.  One thing that I noted about the story of the adulterous woman was that she was they were in the temple, specifically in the area of the treasury where the people would have given their offerings, where Jesus at another time points out the widow and her mite.  While they are there the woman is standing the whole time.  I had always envisioned in my mind that they would have brought the woman to Jesus and thrown her down on the ground and the discourse would have taken place with her on the ground at Jesus’ feet.  Not so fast!  The Scripture repeats that she is standing and Jesus himself straightens himself up to talk to her.  

We find ourselves at the end of the story of Noah and God creating a new covenant with Noah which has as its sign the rainbow.  This is where we find the sign of the rainbow representing the covenant that God will never destroy his people again.  He commands the sons of Noah to be fruitful and multiply just like he had commanded Adam and Eve.  You need to pay attention to Noah’s son Shem from whom Abraham is to come.  It is through Abraham that we find the nation and the people of Israel evolve.

But before we get there we find this interesting story of the Tower of Babel where God confuses the languages of the people so that they would not understand each other which would prevent them from doing the impossible, which was possible.  Once we see that story we find ourselves beginning to see Abram and his story which we will follow as it takes us to the beginning of the people that God chose to be his people.

In John we have what we would call very high sacramental language.  Look at chapter 6 and you will find Jesus describing the bread and the wine as the body and blood of Jesus as the redeemer of the sins of all humanity.  It is very clear language and it is matched with a sacramental feast of the child bringing the bread and the fish which were used to feed the five thousand.  Notice what Jesus does before he feeds the five thousand.  Look at vs.11 where he 1) takes the loaves, 2) gives thanks, 3) distributes.  This is the same process that is used in Matthew at the last supper as Jesus feeds his disciples that sacramental meal. 

We also find many of Jesus’ disciples abandoning him because of this sacramental language.  But the twelve remain faithful.  The chapters end with the unbelief of the religious leaders including a defense by Nicodemus which puts him on the edge of the leadership and almost accused of treason.

Once again a brief summary would be helpful.  We find the tragic story of Cain and Abel where God accepted and loved the sacrifices of Abel more than those of Cain.  Instead of trying to explain why, because it doesn’t say why, although in Hebrews 4:11 we see that it was by faith that Abel brought his offerings.  We could assume the opposite, that Cain did not have faith, but that would be reading into the story a bit too much.   We find the first two people who were born and then the first fratricide, which will be a constant theme in Scripture and in history.  But God redeems, God forgives, God allows Cain to have a life and brings new life out of Eve.  

We then have that followed by the the story of Noah and the flood which culminates with all of the animals coming on board the ship and the riding out of the storm.   Noah was identified as being the only one righteous, and it is that distinction which allows him to be chosen to carry out the plans of the Lord.  There should be a lesson in there to pursue the righteousness of the Lord not because we hope to win a prize, like eternal life, but rather so that we can understand our lives as a response of gratitude for what God has already done for us.  

In John we find Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman, an encounter that left his disciples dumbfounded.  You see the Samaritans and the Jews hated each other, but Jesus took the time to not only speak to the Samaritan woman, but also to empower her to be a disciple herself as she brought the news of salvation to her village, and as a result, many believed. 

We then find the healing of the man by the pool.  If you have a chance I would encourage you to join us as we take a journey to Israel in the Spring of 2023.  We go every 5 years.  We will see this pool and the exact location where this healing took place.  It is here where we see that the religious leaders, angry at Jesus for healing someone on the Sabbath and probably jealous that he is getting all the attention, begin to persecute Jesus.  

There is so much content in six chapters of Scripture that it might be helpful to at least give a brief outline of each of our readings.  Genesis provides us with two creation accounts, what I like to call the creation account followed by the details of the creation of humans.  Chapter 1 gives us the 7 days of creation, chapter 2 gives us the creation of humans, and chapter 3 gives us the betrayal of humans against God which continues as a theme throughout all of Scripture.  We will see time and time again that God provides and gives gifts and we betray God even to the most simple things.  But God remains faithful and even in the midst of God’s faithfulness we find that there are repercussions to our betrayal.  

There is a word for that betrayal, and it is called sin.  It is that sin which ultimately leads to our death, for as we read in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin are death.  What we gain from our sin is death.

When we get to John we find John’s take on the creation narrative which has everything to do with the Word of God being present from the beginning of creation and that Word becomes flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.  Talk about a heavy dose of theology!  This is our Christmas story that we just celebrated a week or so ago.  Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior, is God, fully God.  As disciples of Jesus Christ this basic truth has to be a building block to our faith.  He is not just a good person, or a prophet, or someone that we ought to emulate, yes he is all those things, but he is God.  Even the creator of the heavens and the earth.

That chapter then ends with John the Baptist calling Jesus the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and Jesus calls his disciples.  The second chapter contains Jesus’ first miracle, which is that of changing water to wine.  And then the third chapter has the visit of one of the main religious leaders of Jerusalem at the time who comes to Jesus at night and becomes a convert and one of his disciples.  

Welcome to the read through the Bible for 2022.  As we begin this journey together I can’t encourage you enough to stick to it in a way that you will be disciplined to reach Scripture each and every day.  Six chapters a day is not a small feat, but one that is doable and one that will be extremely gratifying once we are finished.  But even more important than the gratification we will feel when we are finished, are the lessons that we will be learning from Scripture along the way.  This will surely deepen our relationship with our Savior.  Let’s look at Psalm 119.

What a way to start the reading with Psalm 119.  The key to this Psalm is found in vs.105 where we hear the familiar words: “They word is a lamp unto my feet, and light unto my path.”  Throughout the entire psalm you have the writer, we think it is David, referring to his love for the laws of the Lord and asking for protection against those who would mock him because he is so in love with God’s laws.

A couple things there.  I have not found a time in my life where following God’s commands have created a scenario where people mock me.  When I was in college I joined a fraternity and I was the only one who did not drink alcohol in the fraternity and I never sensed a spirit of mocking me for that decision, but rather over time there was more of a spirit of my fraternity brothers trying to understand my decision and contemplating if that decision might also be a good one for them as well.  Have you ever found yourself where the decisions that you have made to follow God have been met with mocking?

But that is a consistent theme throughout this psalm and in Scripture in general.  A sense that those who follow God’s commands will be mocked, or to us New Testament terminology, will be persecuted.  It is no wonder that Jesus says blessed are you if you are persecuted and reviled for my sake.  As we make our way through this reading I hope that the theme of this psalm will come true.  That we will find ourselves longing and desire more and more of God’s word to play itself out in our lives and we would see the things of this world that used to have a hold on us gradually slip away.  

I want to leave you with this song that was important to me when I first came to know Jesus on January 14, 1986.

The day of the Lord, what we would call the second coming of Christ, is always a day that we much anticipate.  Although here, Amos describes the day of the Lord, the day when God will come to judge, as one that is not really something we should wish for.  God describes it as a day of destruction and a day when things will be shook and the pillars will fall and be broken down.  Those who are not killed by the collapse will be killed by the sword of God.

Throughout this entire chapter we find ourselves wondering who can escape the day of God’s coming?  But then we see a transition in vs.11.  This is also a great way to end our Challenges.  As we have made our way through the entire Scripture over these last five years we have learned so much, and primarily we have learned that the authority in which we find in Scripture is one that we do not have a choice to overlook.  

Starting in vs.11 we see good news proclaimed that God will not entirely forget the people of Israel.  God will repair the breaches and raise up the ruins.  God will not allow Israel to fall completely into ruin and disappear from the history of the earth.  In fact, vs.15 states that the time is coming when they shall never be plucked up out of the land that I have given them.  We are currently living in a time when just over the past 75 years Israel finds itself as a nation.  That is a drop in the bucket of time.  Who knows how history will evolve and if that promise has come true now, or if it is reserved for a future time?  

Often in prophecies the Lord chooses to use images and object lessons to describe what God’s desires and wishes are and what is about to happen next.  Here Amos is shown a fruit basket to demonstrate that just as quickly as it comes, so as quickly will it go away.  Did you notice what the Lord was the most upset about?

As you get to vs.4 you see that the prophet is speaking strongly against those who trample on the rights of the poor and the needy.  This is a group of people who have no one to speak on their behalf.  No one is going to provide resources for them to make sure that their needs are met.  We often have an ideology that the poor are poor because of their decision making.  But how short sighted that is to not take into consideration the multiplicity of variables that go into someone being poor.  There is absolutely systemic favoritism to those who have will continue to have and have it even more abundantly.  The lower you start on the totem pole, the harder it is to rise to the top and have your needs met.  The higher you are on that pole, the easier it is to have your needs met.  It is simple societal truths that make this reality something that Hosea dealt with and something that we deal with as well.