In This Is Love (part 5)

Continuing to qualify the insistence that Israel is the second entity in the line of definitively regarded sons of God, note must also be taken of Abraham.  Clearly, Abraham is given a covenant, and that covenant carries with it terms that will allow for the demonstration of his obedience.  In his case, the term was circumcision.  Also, righteousness is a term regularly associated with Abraham.  As one considers the divine promises that are said to be on offer to Abraham, it becomes rather clear that the Creator God reveals Himself to Abraham, and in turn reveals Abraham to the world. 

This revelation, when considered within the grand scheme of the Scriptural narrative, would seem to be for the purpose of destroying the works of the devil.  This becomes poignant in light of the fact that Abraham will come to be identified as the father of the faithful, with all of those that eventually gain status of being a part of the Creator God’s covenant people, both before, during, and after the time of Christ, referred to as children of Abraham. 

Abraham may not have thought of himself as having the role of destroyer of the devil’s works, and this may be true of Adam as well, but this study is concerned with the worldview of the author, and with what that means for the worldview that would have undoubtedly shaped his communication to the church of the Christ.  It must be well-noted that Abraham makes his Scriptural appearance after what is said to be the height of man’s rebellious activity, which was the event generally referred to as the tower of Babel, as mankind is reported to have gathered together in one place for the purpose of making a name for themselves.  In this, it is implied that mankind is thereby rejecting the Creator God’s implied command to inhabit the whole of the created world. 

This rejection of responsibility could quite plausibly be identified as the work of the devil, and it can be nicely equated to what Adam had done.  Consequently, Abraham’s call represented the beginning of the Creator God’s corrective measures, and one is almost always well served by bearing in mind that the church (the covenant people of the Creator God) does not strictly begin with Jesus and His disciples, but rather with Abraham.       

In an continuation of this process of qualifying Israel as the explicitly referenced son of God of Scripture, the study is also forced to make reference to the son and grandson of Abraham.  These two, Isaac and Jacob, are set forth as in-line recipients of the Abrahamic covenant and its blessings.  Therefore, if at the bottom line, Abraham’s covenant-connected call was to destroy the works of the devil, then so too was that the call and charge of these two men as well.  However, it should be recognized that the call to do this destroying of the devil’s works was not nearly as overt as it would be for the descendants of Jacob. 

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s roles appear to be more oriented towards being a blessing to those that surrounded them, primarily (it would seem) through the amassing and distribution of the wealth that is understood to represent the direct blessing of their God, thus providing them with the ability to function in that world-blessing role.  Not only would this be a matter of being able to meet physical needs, but the great wealth which all three came to possess without having to resort to domination and oppression, would inevitably lead to numerous inquiries, from all manner of men, as to the reason and source of such wealth.  

Collapse Of The Temple (part 2)

Before one gets further into the record of the Gospels so as to examine Jesus’ dealings with the Temple authorities (remembering that this is an analysis occurring against the backdrop of the collapse of the Philistine temple at the hands of Samson), it is quite useful to peer into the book of the prophet Jeremiah, doing so in order to catch a glimpse of the types of things that Jesus would have been saying in and about the Temple, and how His words would have been received. 

In the twenty-sixth chapter, the Lord God of Israel is said to have spoken to Jeremiah, delivering instructions to him as to what to say to the people of Jerusalem and Judah on the Lord’s behalf.  The Creator God says, “Tell them that the Lord says, ‘You must obey Me!  You must live according to the way I have instructed you in My laws.  You must pay attention to the exhortations of My servants the prophets.  I have sent them to you over and over again.  But you have not paid any attention to them’.” (26:4-5) 

Similar things are to be heard from Jesus.  He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).  Jesus is found to be lamenting and saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you!” (Matthew 23:37a)  In addition to that, one can read the “Parable of the Tenants”  in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which reflects the theme of the rejection of the Creator God’s prophets.  As is reported, this parable produced anger on the part of the temple authorities (chief priests and elders), as they realized, apparently quite astutely, that it was spoken about them. 

Returning to Jeremiah, one continues to hear the covenant God speaking and says “If you do not obey Me, then I will do to this temple what I did to Shiloh.  And I will make this city an example to be used in curses by people from all the nations on the earth” (26:6).  As Jesus consistently points to Himself, His ways, and His kingdom as the locus of a needful obedience, and as one considers the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple that came about at the hands of the Romans, one would do well to hear His voice in these words out of Jeremiah. 

What is said to have been the experience of Jeremiah as a result of the words of the Creator God that he is reported to have delivered to the people of Judah?  It is said that “The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah say these things in the Lord’s temple.  Jeremiah had just barely finished saying all the Lord had commanded him to say to all the people.  All at once some of the priests, the prophets, and the people grabbed him and shouted, ‘You deserve to die!’” (26:7-8) 

It is possible to see that this was not at all unlike that which was experienced by Jesus when He spoke against the Temple and its ruling authorities.  Furthermore, the reader of the Gospel hears what Jesus would eventually endure in the sneering questioning of His authority to act and speak in a way that was perceived to be against the Temple, as Jeremiah hears “How dare you claim the Lord’s authority to prophesy such things!  How dare you claim His authority to prophesy that this temple will become like Shiloh and that this city will become an uninhabitable ruin!” (26:9)        

Marching Up From Gilgal (part 2 of 2)

This marching up of Jesus and His brave warriors, from the place where death was given its own fatal blow, should provide the reader of Scripture with a fresh attunement to the words of the sixth chapter of Ephesians (remembering that the New Testament, with its reflections upon Jesus, only makes sense in light of the Hebrew Scriptures), and the Apostle Paul’s insistence upon taking up the armor of God, so as to do battle with the rulers, the powers, and the forces of evil that attempt their continued (and ultimately futile) stand to wreak havoc within Jesus’ kingdom of heaven that was inaugurated with His Resurrection. 

As the Lord commanded Joshua to be unafraid, in much the same way, Jesus commanded His first group of brave warriors (using the term loosely) to be unafraid of going out to preach the Gospel message of His kingdom, so as to unleash the very power of the spoken message itself (backed up by acts of self-sacrificial love) against the forces of death, informing them that “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” (Matthew 28:18b), and reminding them that “I am with you always” (28:20b).  Because of that authority, and the power that stands behind it, it is presumed and believed to be the case that no enemy will be able to stand. 

Returning then to Joshua, one finds that “Joshua attacked them by surprise after marching all night from Gilgal” (Joshua 10:9), and that through this, “The Lord routed them before Israel” (10:10a).  Is it not possible to see much the same thing with Jesus?  Figuratively, Jesus marched from Golgotha to the grave.  With His Resurrection however, He figuratively attacked His surprised enemy, death, that had exerted its power and authority through the kings and rulers of this world (having been exerted against Him as well), swallowing it up in victory and relieving it of its sting (1 Corinthians 15:54-55). 

In this story in Joshua, it is said that “The sun stood still and the moon stood motionless while the nation took vengeance on its enemies” (10:13a).  During the three days and three nights of Jesus’ entombment, at the very moment when a new and transformative power for life animated His body, in the few moments following the Resurrection when the groaning creation itself began to take in what had been accomplished within it, in those first declarations of a risen Lord that sprung from a once-defeated band of disciples, and as in these things the kingdom of the Creator God took vengeance on its enemies, can heaven’s response not be imagined?  Exalted language, such as the standing still of the sun and moon, would be necessary to attempt to adequately convey the significance of such things. 

It was said in Joshua that “there has not been a day like it before or since.  The Lord obeyed a man, for the Lord fought for Israel!” (10:14)  As one considers the crucifixion and the Resurrection, it would more than appropriate to reiterate that statement, as those that cast their lot with Jesus are thankful for what was accomplished once and for all time at the cross, and for the new life that was accomplished and promised because the Creator God brought the man Jesus forth from the grave.  It is then possible to reverse what was said of Joshua, and declare that because of one Man’s obedience, the Lord did indeed fight for Israel---for His covenant people.