Bible Study on Isaiah 1, verses 21 to 31, Prophecy regarding Jerusalem, part 2

 

PART 2 The importance of Jerusalem in the latter days cannot be overstated, I don’t think, in the millennium and in eternity, the New Jerusalem that has descended from above. The blessing bestowed by Christ’s grace is the foundation of the future for that city. See, in verse 27, Zion’s converts mentioned. Read Isaiah 60.

 

Isaiah 60:1 ¶  Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. 2  For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. 3  And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. 4  Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. 5  Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the

forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. 6  The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the LORD. 7  All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory. 8  Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?

 

    9 ¶  Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee. 10  And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee. 11  Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. 12  For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those

nations shall be utterly wasted. 13  The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious. 14  The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

 

    15 ¶  Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. 16  Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. 17  For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. 18  Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. 19 

The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. 20  Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. 21  Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. 22  A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.

 

Revelation 21:1 ¶  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5  And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6  And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7  He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

 

Revelation 22:3  And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: 4  And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. 5  And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

 

We can imagine verse 28 in regards to end-time prophecy along with the immediate context of warning Judah.

2Thessalonians 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

 

Revelation 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

 

Revelation 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

 

Regarding verse 29 and the immediate context of Isaiah, idolatry was practiced in groves, under oaks, and in gardens in Ancient Israel.

 

Jeremiah 2:20 ¶  For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.

 

Isaiah 65:3  A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;

 

Isaiah 66:17  They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.

 

Chapter one of Isaiah ends with a warning as to what can come about. Like a bare tree that has shed its leaves, like a garden without water, the strong men shall all be burnt together. What a prophecy!

 

We can see that in our view of future prophecy, as well. Consider the verse in 2Thessalonians 2 that I just quoted.

 

8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

 

There are several prophecies that speak of a burning, of a fire, even an eternal fire.

 

Zechariah 14:12  And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

 

Joel 2:1 ¶  Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

2  A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. 3  A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

 

Matthew 3:12  Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

 

Revelation 19:20  And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Bible Study on Exodus 1, verses 15 to 22, the king gives an order to the midwives

 

Exodus 1:15 ¶  And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: 16  And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. 17  But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. 18  And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? 19  And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. 20  Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. 21  And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses. 22  And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.

Apparently, the midwives had a sort of hierarchy, perhaps official even, with Shiprah and Puah as their leaders. Common sense dictates that only two midwives could not attend to such a large population. The Pharaoh gives his command to kill male babies. This they did not do. The midwives’ leaders underscored the strength and health, the vigor, of the Hebrew women while exaggerating to justify their disobedience to this human king and their loyalty to God. They disobeyed the civil authority because to obey would have been disobedience to God.

In Genesis 30:3 comments I talked about the phrase she shall bear upon my knees.

In verse 16 see the reference to birthing stools. The modern child-bearing position is on your back. The ancient was sitting on someone’s knees or a stool, a birthstool, pictures of which relics can be found on the internet if you are interested. I have read, though I cannot confirm, that birthstools were used in Europe during the Middle Ages. One Jewish source I read reported that ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics show the development of a chair type device with a hole where the seat is normally, much like a toilet seat today.

God blessed the midwives and made them houses. Now, lest you think God is in the business of building suburban developments near Cairo understand that a house can be a family, or a dynasty, that goes on for generations.

Exodus 6:14  These be the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel; Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi: these be the families of Reuben.

1Samuel 20:16  So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the LORD even require it at the hand of David’s enemies.

As well as a building…

1Kings 9:10  And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD, and the king’s house,

So, depending on the context house can be short for household as well including servants, wives, and children.

Genesis 45:2  And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.

So, a question for fundamentalists arises naturally from this. Is this reference following a physical building or a group of people characterized in type as a spiritual building?

1Corinthians 14:23  If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?

How do physical buildings come together to meet? Seems an absurdity.

Colossians 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence…24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

The church is Christ’s body on earth, not a building.

Acts 2:47  Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

1Timothy 3:15  But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

So, what is the house of God, to the Roman Catholic ‘wannabes’ of Protestant fundamentalism, the Vatican’s auxiliaries? Has the gate of heaven reference in Genesis 28:17 confused you? Do you consider your specific church building, the place where your church meets, the ladder between heaven and earth? What about Christ in John 1:51? And what about these verses?

1Corinthians 3:16 ¶  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

1Corinthians 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

The Hebrews had a high birth rate and grew rapidly in number. Then, Pharaoh gives a wicked command to all of his people to murder the sons of the Hebrews as they are born, to throw them into the river.

Bible Study on Matthew 23, verses 13 to 33 comments, ye generation of vipers

 

Matthew 23:13 ¶  But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. 14  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. 15  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. 16  Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! 17  Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? 18  And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. 19  Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? 20  Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. 21  And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. 22  And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. 23  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24  Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26  Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. 28  Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 29  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 30  And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31  Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 32  Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33  Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

 

God, walking in human flesh, condemns the religious elite for refusing to enter into God’s kingdom and holding back others who would do so. They do unjust and mean-spirited things in their civil authority over the Jews and then justify their oppression by long prayers. They went to great lengths to get one Jewish proselyte, a convert to Judaism, and then corrupt him worse than they are. The religious elite had come up with many rules and laws that quibbled over oaths and swearing by holy things and Jesus gives them a sound thrashing for their illogic and dishonesty.

 

This religious elite did a great job of focusing on minor things and avoiding at all costs the more important matters of the Law. Always arguing about tithing of spices in the garden but ignoring judgment, mercy, and faith in their teachings made them spiritually powerless.

 

He uses the great metaphor that they strain at a gnat and swallow a camel showing their illogic and dishonesty yet again. Outside of themselves they appear clean and righteous but their inside is like a dirty cup or a tomb of rotting flesh. Their outward appearance is a thin disguise for the fact that they are filled with hypocrisy and iniquity.

 

These same Pharisees and scribes who claim that they would not have committed the crimes of their ancestors against God’s prophets are, contrary to their claim, cut from the same cloth. He calls them a generation of poisonous snakes worthy of Hell itself. This is pretty strong speech against the powers in Judaism of that day.

 

John the Baptist had also used strong language against them.

 

Matthew 3:7  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Bible Study on Exodus 1, verses 1 to 14, there arose up a new king over Egypt

 

Exodus 1:1 ¶  Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob. 2  Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3  Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4  Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5  And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already. 6  And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. 7  And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.

Genesis 46: 26  All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were threescore and six; 27  And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten.

Deuteronomy 10:22  Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.

Acts 7:14  Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

The difference in numbers between Moses’ accounts in Genesis, Exodus, and Deuteronomy, and Stephen’s account recorded by Luke in Acts can be attributed to counting different people such as wives not mentioned in one. There are a number of very good explanations for why Stephen would count 75 people leaving for Egypt with Jacob and Moses would say 70 three times.

Look at the factors by which this family of less than 100 people grew. First, there is no mention in the Bible of widespread epidemics or virulent diseases yet. The first known epidemic in scientific literature and history may have been a Typhus epidemic in Athens, Greece in the middle of the first millennium BC, which killed upwards of 100,000 people. It was brought on by war and as many as 30 different microbes have been blamed for it. We will see God placing epidemics directly upon the Egyptians and their livestock.

We will also see indications of a high birth rate and of the hardiness and health of the Hebrews who had come to this land. How fast can populations increase is not only a subject of debate but has been seen as populations arise from great calamity. A high birth rate and abundant food resources can lead to relatively quick growth in population. When resources are abundant a population can experience what is called “exponential growth” and this leads to a rapid multiplication of individuals. If you add God’s supernatural purpose for multiplying the children of Israel you can imagine how amazing this could be.

Exodus 1:8 ¶  Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. 9  And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: 10  Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. 11  Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12  But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. 13  And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: 14  And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

If the Pharaoh who welcomed Joseph and then his family was one of what scholars call the Hyksos or Shepherd-kings, who ruled over Egypt for a time, then this would be the return of a native-born Egyptian ruler. This would be a Pharaoh who represented the deep hatred and disgust the Egyptians would feel against the shepherds of Canaan. Here the great numbers of these immigrants from Canaan would make the Egyptians feel threatened and uneasy so they reduced this numerous people to slavery, building the treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

If Goshen was in northeastern Egypt, a possibility we discussed in Genesis, and these cities were there as well, then the area is called Lower Egypt as the part of Egypt adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea. This is the area of the Nile Delta, lush and fertile, the powerhouse of Egypt. It was a rich agricultural region and was where such things as the Rosetta Stone were discovered in 1799 which helped scholars decipher hieroglyphics, the ancient Egyptian picture writing. There are a great many archaeological sites in this area.

The children of Israel’s lives went from the favored and plentiful existence of the welcome guest whose presence was made possible by the savior of the nation, Joseph, in a time of great want to despised slaves whose lives were made of hard, unending labor under mean-spirited overseers. It must have been quite a transition and there was probably much lamentation about the former days.

Bible Study on Matthew 23, verses 1 to 12, one is your Master, even Christ

 

Matthew 23:1 ¶  Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, 2  Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: 3  All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. 4  For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5  But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, 6  And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7  And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. 8  But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. 9  And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. 10  Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. 11  But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12  And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

 

Now Jesus has finished talking to the high muckety-mucks and turns His attention to the people and His disciples with a warning about the religious elite. They sit in Moses’ seat figuratively dispensing their interpretations of the Law given to him for the Israelites as a seat was the position of authority. In the Roman Catholic Church the latin word ‘cathedra’ is used for the seat of a Bishop and the Pope is said to speak, “ex cathedra,” or “from the seat.” Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount here in Matthew seated.  Jesus tells them to respect what the religious authorities say and do what they related out of the Law but not to follow them as an example. They are hypocrites, saying one thing but doing quite another.

 

They put a lot of stuff on the shoulders of the Jew but don’t follow those rules themselves. They presented themselves as holy and righteous but that appearance was a sham, just for show. And, on top of that, they abused their privileges that respect afforded them and the honorific names of Rabbi, Master; meaning a teacher of the Law in this context.

 

Jesus tells His disciples not to accept these names but in humility, understanding that Christ is THE Rabbi, THE Master, they should point to Him. Notice they were to call no man father as God was their Father, which makes one wonder about why the Roman Catholic Church can justify calling a priest “Father.”

 

In the ministry of Christ verses 11 and 12 make it clear that a humble spirit is what is called for.

 

James 4:10  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

 

1Peter 5:6  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

 

John Gill says the phylacteries were four sections of the Law written on parchment; Exodus 13:2-11; Exodus 13:11-17, Deuteronomy 6:4-10; and Deuteronomy 11:13-22. They even thought of them to ward off evil spirits and disease like someone carrying a small King James Bible in his pocket thinking that it will bring him or her a blessing throughout the day by magically protecting them from misadventure or sickness.

 

The fringes on the borders of their garments would remind them of the Law and were thought to show their piety and righteousness. This is what we call today ‘virtue signaling.’ I am righteous because I have a Bible verse attached to my vehicle. The priest of the Hebrews or the Christian in 21^st century America might be a dismal, hateful, wretch but they know what makes them look good.

 

This is not to say that Bible verses on one’s car or home are bad things. They are good things but the heart should not confuse them with God’s approval of your behavior. In other words, a dove lapel pin says nothing about a person’s character or sincerity as God judges the heart not a symbol.

Bible Study on Genesis 50, verses 22 to 26, in a coffin in Egypt

 

Genesis 50:22 ¶  And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. 23  And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph’s knees. 24  And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 25  And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. 26  So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

Genesis, also known as the First Book of Moses, covers nearly half of history from the creation of the physical universe and life until the people that God carved out of fallen mankind for Himself are secure in Egypt. Egypt will be a nursery where this people can grow from a few into many. In God’s ministry of reconciliation, drawing mankind to Himself, Genesis lays out the first steps, dealing with man’s sin, using man’s foolish and often wicked choices, and going beyond anything that man himself planned to produce this end result of salvation for those who would receive God in the flesh for their salvation.

It began with a world much different than we live in today. Nothing was meant to die. As one non-Christian evolutionary biologist pointed out whom I referenced earlier;

Humans on rare occasions may survive to 120 years, some turtles to 200. But all animals eventually die. Many single-cell organisms may die, as the result of accident or starvation; in fact the vast majority do. But there is nothing programmed into them that says they must die. Death did not appear simultaneously with life. This is one of the most important and profound statements in all of biology. At the very least it deserves repetition: Death is not inextricably intertwined with the definition of life.[1]

But, Adam, the first man, stood by and watched his wife, Eve, get taken in by Satan’s rebellion against God, his desire to be God, and then followed her lead. She was tempted by the three things that mankind has ever since then fallen to repeatedly.

Genesis 3:6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

1John 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

As Jesus warned the religious of His day of walking on earth as a human being;

Luke 16:15  And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

Genetically, spiritually, psychologically, culturally, and in every way all human behavior was tainted by this willingness to exercise their free will to defy God’s commands and break fellowship with him. The result was death for all living thing, decay and corruption. Death became the primary cause of disruption of God’s perfect plan, a judgment on all of the earth for man’s sin. We alone bear the responsibility for all death from the African savanna to the Mariana Trench in the Pacific, from the hospital in town to a lonely hut in the wilderness.

Man suffered and suffers;

Romans 5:12  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Hebrews 2:15  And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

And, in fact, all creation suffers because of man’s sin.

Romans 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Another atheist science writer noted with no hope of reconciliation;

The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive; others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites; thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst and disease. It must be so. If there ever is a time of plenty, this very fact will automatically lead to an increase in the population until the natural state of starvation and misery is restored….In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. (51)[2]

 

These men have no hope nor do they have any understanding because they reject God’s revelation of His ministry of reconciling mankind to Himself. But we know the truth and should teach it to each other and to our children.

Now, God, the Creator of all things and master of all reality, has taken a people for Himself from out of a sin-darkened world through which He will insert Himself physically into this dimension of existence for a brief time as one of us while still being fully God. Thus ends the first book of the account given to Moses, the story of God’s ministry, His-story.

And so, the first half of history ends in a coffin in Egypt.

---

[1] William R. Clark, Sex and the Origins of Death (London: Oxford University Press, 1998), 54.

 

[2] Richard Dawkins, River out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life (New York: Basic Books, 1995), 154-155.

 

Bible Study on Matthew 22, verses 41 to 46, What think ye of Christ, whose son is he?

 

Matthew 22:41 ¶  While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42  Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. 43  He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, 44  The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? 45  If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? 46  And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

 

The Pharisees are tripped up when asked who Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah is. They call him the Son of David, a name of the Messiah who is in the lineage of David. Jesus refers to a verse in Psalms,

 

Psalm 110:1  «A Psalm of David.» The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

 

They viewed the Messiah as a man coming in triumph to restore the kingdom of Israel to its former glory but how could He be a mere man, the son of David, when He was God in the flesh? How could David call his descendant, his son, Lord? This is the mystery of being fully God and fully man which Jesus was. They couldn’t answer His question and they stopped asking Him questions. This exact question plagued the Eastern Roman Empire hundreds of years later and was important in the establishment of the religion of Islam. The question of the full divinity and full humanity of Christ, though answered at councils drove a wedge between Christians in that part of the world and resulted in a fierce religion of conquest, Islam, a subject not for this venue.