Video!!

Hello, my lovely blog-followers.

I first must apologize for my complete lack of faithfulness to continue posting, but as we got further into the Old Testament, it became harder and harder to find time to post about the things I was learning.

I write today, however, with great news.  We are currently studying our final book!  Book 66 of 66.  We have finished the entire Old Testament, and are now rounding off the school by bringing it back to Jesus in the book of Matthew.  I turn in my work for the book tomorrow night.  Then I will be graduating from the School of Biblical Studies on Friday!

I wanted to share with you guys a video that my friend Jon made to promote the school here.  It features an interview with myself, and just gives a picture of what I've been doing this year.  I think he did a really good job!

https://vimeo.com/69105371

Leviticus

Leviticus is the third book in the Pentateuch and was written by Moses.  The book was written during the time that these events were occurring (as God was passing on this laws to Moses), so the people who experienced these things first-hand and who would be reading this book were the same people.  They were Israelites, and for the first time since the Garden of Eden, God was dwelling with his people.  They had just been taken out of Egypt, where they had been slaves for 400 years, and they were about to make their way to the Promised Land.

Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself.~Leviticus 16:11

Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.  Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses.~ Leviticus 16:15-16

And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.~Leviticus 16:20-21

And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you.  For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins.~Leviticus 16:29-30

OBSERVATION

What does God promise about the tenth day of the seventh month when they afflict themselves and atonement will be made for them?

They shall be clean before the Lord from all of their sins.

INTERPRETATION

How would the people first receiving these rules feel about this?

Well, it tells them that they do not only need their sins to be forgiven, but also that they cannot do it themselves.  The elaborate process tells them that it is something far beyond their own ability, it is even beyond the ability of the priest, it is God who set up the system and provided the way for their sins to be forgiven.

What does the contrast of the repetition of this every year to Jesus’ single sacrifice covering all sins tell us as Christians, living after Christ's death?
It once again shows Jesus’ superiority.  He is the perfect sacrifice.

TIMELESS TRUTH

Jesus’ sacrifice was foreshadowed by the Levitical system and far surpassed it to the point of perfection.

Exodus

So we studied the book of Exodus in the same way we studied the other books, but rather than going through the inductive method on this book, I just want to show you the thing that amazed me the most about this book.  It is the way that Israel's exodus from Egypt foreshadowed Christ's coming.

The general story of Exodus is as follows...

The Israelites were in Slavery.

God raises up a deliverer (Moses).

Israel is delivered from slavery by Moses (well, God using Moses).

A Passover lamb is sacrificed for redemption.

The tabernacle is built where God’s glory dwells amongst the people.

How we experience Christ today...

We were in slavery to sin.

God raised up a deliverer (Jesus).

We are delivered from slavery to sin by Jesus, who is the perfect lamb, sacrificed for the redemption of our souls.

God has given us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us.

IT'S SO INCREDIBLE!

Genesis

This book covers a lot of ground.   It works its way through creation, the Fall, the Flood, and the dispersion of the nations from the Tower of Babel.  Then it goes through the lives of the Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who has 12 sons and one daughter.  Then the story diverts to Joseph, one of Jacob’s sons, who is sold into slavery in Egypt, works his way to the top, and eventually brings his whole family (around seventy people) to Egypt, after which time the book recounts the deaths of Jacob and Joseph and then comes to a close.

This all would have been important for the original readers to hear, because this book was written for the Israelites during their forty years of wandering in the wilderness-a detour on the way to the Promised Land.  They didn’t have much knowledge of where they had come from, why they had been in slavery in Egypt in the first place, or who their God was.  They just knew that they were supposed to go to the Promised Land, and then their God was fed up with their mumbling, and therefore condemned them to forty years of wandering in the wilderness.  This book would have explained a lot, and filled in a lot of blanks for them.

"and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean.  Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.  The children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is to be this way, why do I live?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.  And the Lord said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb,
    and two peoples born of you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,
    the elder shall serve the younger.”

When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb.  The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau.  Afterward his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them."
~Genesis 25:20-26

OBSERVATION

How old was Isaac when Esau and Jacob were born?

Sixty years old.

How old was he when he married Rebekah?

Forty.

How old was Abraham when God promised him that he would have a son: his own heir?  And then how long before Isaac was born?

15:4-he is promised.  I’m not sure how old he is but it’s 10 years before Sarai gives him Hagar to bear a child, and then Isaac is not born until Ishmael is 14, so it was 24 years between the initial promise and fulfillment.

INTERPRETATION 

What would this have shown the original reader about God’s sense of time?

That many years is not a big deal to God.  No matter how much time passes, he will fulfill his promises. 

Is this idea supported elsewhere in the Bible?

2 Peter 3 says that 1000 years is like a day to the Lord and vice versa.  God’s sense of time is different than ours.

TIMELESS TRUTH 

We must be patient in waiting on the Lord, for he will always fulfill his promises, but in his time, not ours.

Revelation

This letter was written by John the apostle during his exile on the island of Patmos (1:1-2,9) to seven churches in Asia (1:4): Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea (1:11).  It is likely that many of these churches had been around since the beginning of Paul’s third missionary journey (Acts 19:10), 54-57AD.  John received a series of visions that he is commanded to write down and send to the aforementioned churches (1:10-11).  This probably occurred during the end of Domitian’s reign over the Roman empire (90-96AD) as there was severe, empire-wide persecution of Christian’s during that time, and this letter is clearly written to persecuted churches (1:9, 2:13, 2:10, 3:10).

Understanding this book requires knowledge of the meaning of various numbers for the original readers.  For example, 2 means strengthening, for confirmation, for redoubled courage and energy.  3 is representative of the divine, a general reference to the trinity.  4: the created world. 7: completeness, perfection, fulfillment.  3 1/2: Incomplete (the church age persecution, the gospel going forth). 10: human completeness.  12: the people of God. 6: doom-falling short of perfection.  The book is riddled with symbolism from colors to numbers to animals to geographical locations.  Keeping in mind the original reader, we can have a good idea of what many of these things may symbolize based off of their use and significance in the rest of the Bible, especially the Old Testament. 

There are four popular ways to interpret the apocalyptic literature contained in this epistle.  The approach I am taking to the book, called the idealist or the symbolic approach, does not attempt to find individual fulfillments of the visions, but takes Revelation to be a great drama depicting transcendent spiritual realities, and depicting the heavenly vindication and final victory of Christ and his saints.

"Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, 'Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.'"- Revelation 14:6-7

OBSERVATION

Who does the angel give the eternal gospel of fearing God, giving him glory and worshiping him?

Every nation, tribe, language, and people.

INTERPRETATION

What does this mean for the original reader?

This is a group of four- it’s referring to (yes, what it says) but it’s broader, it’s the whole of creation.  Every single person will hear this eternal gospel.

What does that tell the original reader about God’s character?

He gives everyone a chance to repent.  He desires for everyone to come into a saving relationship with him.  He is just and fair.

TIMELESS TRUTH

God desires for everyone to know him, and says that all will hear his eternal gospel and be given a chance to repent.

John

This letter was written by John, the apostle of Christ, from Ephesus in the late 80’s/early 90’s AD to unbelieving Jews of the dispersion.  The Jews needed this letter, first and foremost that they may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, but then also that they may know that Jesus is a permanent replacement for the temple, and the fulfillment of the festivals, which were integral parts of their Jewish culture.


"And he had to pass through Samaria.  So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her,“Give me a drink.”  (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.)  The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)  Jesus answered her,“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?  Are you greater than our father Jacob?He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”  Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,  but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’;  for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”  The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”  Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”  The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.”  Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people,  “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him."~ John 4:4-30

INTERPRETATION

What historical background is useful in understanding this story?

Jews (and perhaps even Gentiles??) used to take the long road around Samaria so that they did not have to interact with Samaritans, who were a sort of half-breed of Jews and Gentiles and seen as the lowest of the low.  On top of that, women had very little honor, if any to begin with.  But the fact that this woman came to the well midday, when it was very hot, means that she was trying to avoid the other women.  It was more typical for women to go first thing in the morning to retrieve water while it was still cooler, and then they would likely spend some time chatting and just being friends.  Her purpose of going later in order to avoid other women can be affirmed by the fact that she has had five husbands and is now living with a man whom she is not married to, meaning that she has reason to be ashamed and avoid the criticism (at least to her face) of the other women.

What then, would this woman, who feels entirely disgraced and worthless, feel upon finding out that a Jewish man is not only talking to her, but he is also the Messiah, and willing to confess that to her and have a dignified conversation with her, despite knowing all of this about her?

It would hopefully tell her that she has worth.  The Messiah of the world does not judge her by her status as a woman, or a Samaritan, or a whore (sorry).  He overlooks all of that, and not only that, but he uses her as a great tool for his kingdom as an evangelist.

How would the Samaritans in the village feel upon hearing this woman’s testimony that she had spoken with the Messiah?

Probably equally as shocked.  And maybe that’s why they were so intrigued.  Not only because of her claims, but because the Messiah would be willing to associate with someone so undignified.  It also tells them that, if he’s not too good for someone they see as below them, then he’s not too good for them either, even though most of the world looks down on them.

TIMELESS TRUTH

Nobody is too far gone/undignified/disgraced to receive honor and love and attention from God, and to be used by him.

TIMELESS TRUTH #2

God can use imperfect people. 

TIMELESS TRUTH #3

God has his own cultural standards. 

1 John

The apostle John wrote this letter during the late first century to churches around Asia.  They were being faced with false teachers who were denying Christ (2:22) and who had once known Him (2:19).  These “antichrists” were trying to deceive them (2:26).  John writes this letter partly to offer instruction, but mostly to offer them reassurance that they are secure in their salvation.  He tells them how they can be sure of their salvation.  The evidence of their salvation will be seen in their lives by way of the Holy Spirit (4:13) love (4:16) obedience (2:5-6) and sound doctrine (2:20-25).

This also may have been particularly important because he had previously sent these churches “Revelation”, a letter which brings the heavy reality of judgment.  These churches need to hear that they are guaranteed eternal life and to receive guidance concerning the false teachers: John gives them both.

The false teaching at this time was a sort of pre-Gnosticism, which reeks heavily of dualism.  So some popular beliefs at the time were Docetism, which claims that Jesus was divine, but not human, and Cerinthianism, which claims the opposite.  Cerinthus believed that Jesus was a human on whom “the Christ” descended after his baptism, and left his body just before his crucifixion, and that the world was not made by God, but a supreme power separated from Him.  Dualism produces two results (as we have found throughout the New Testament)- either asceticism, in which one punishes the “evil” flesh, or shameless indulgence in passions of the flesh, as it was believed that what is done in the body will have no impact on the soul- as a dualistic view sees the good soul and the evil body as separate things.

"You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him."- 1 John 3:5-6

OBSERVATION

What is true of those who abide in Christ?

They do not keep on sinning.

What is said immediately before that?

Christ appeared to take away sin and in him there is no sin.

INTERPRETATION
What does God’s heart behind this seem to be?

To transform believers to be like Christ.

Is this idea supported anywhere else in this letter?

3:3- everyone who hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

2:29- God is righteous, so all who practice righteousness have been born of him

2:6- whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked

1:7- if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship and are cleansed from sin

3:16- he laid down his life for us, we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers

4:11- if God so loved us, so we ought to love one another

TIMELESS TRUTH

God’s desire for believers is to transform us all to be as he is.

Is this idea supported elsewhere in scripture?

Ephesians 5:1- be imitators of God

Ephesians 5:2-walk in love as Christ loved us 
Ephesians 4:32- forgive as God in Christ forgave you (Colossians 3:13 says the same thing)

Romans 2:1, Colossians 3:25- God does not show partiality

James 2:1- do not show partiality