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I’d like to begin by thinking about how people approach the whole of scripture. Specifically the western Church and it’s relationship to the first 2/3rds- also what we know as the OT.
Perhaps it’s looked to as a kind of devotional grab bag- pick a verse that sounds good to start our day, say a little prayer and that’s about it.
Maybe your background lends itself to view the Word as an imposed behavior manual. A legalistic list of Dos and Don’ts.
For a lot of people it’s more of a background noise to their life. A kind of white noise that you sometimes notice but usually tune out unless something catastrophic happens.
Other, seemingly more intellectual personalities might look to the Bible as literal, scientific proof that they use to support their views of the universe.
Kind of all over the map- unfortunately, in all of my years of being a christian no one in the church or even the church itself has taught me to do otherwise. The mentality that I have personally experienced is, “you study the Bible in your own unique way, or a you-do-you approach”. And while that isn’t all that bad in and of itself, it can be very confusing especially when seasoned believers leave new christians on their own and no one shows them how to even begin.
Now we have churches full of very misguided, biblically illiterate congregations with a vague understanding of what the Bible might say and a world surrounding us shouting that our beliefs don’t make sense, they are incoherent or even hateful and unloving.
My heart is to challenge all of that. I desire church literacy and devotion because the God that we serve is worth consideration and study. To know Him is to love Him. His promises for all of His creation stem from a love that would take our breath away if we only knew. And as we live out His redemption plan in this broken world we will be a light of understanding to a lost people. A city on a hill.
I’d like to look at the Bible with a more cohesive approach. For the next little bit let’s take a bird’s eye view while narrowing in on some key points of focus that will be like mile markers as we travel through the scripture- sound good?
We must always remember-
The bible was written “for” is but it wasn’t written “to" us. (Repeat)
Our relationship to the Word of God is so important b/c the Spirit uses it to speak into our lives. Therefore, we need to have a consistent and healthy relationship to ALL of it.
God has chosen to make himself and His will known in the languages, beliefs, practices, and values of particular cultures. He meets us where we are. The good news of God communicating within culture is that we human beings, who cannot stand outside of human culture, can understand what God is saying to us. So, it’s good news that God speaks within culture, in order that we might understand Him.
The tricky part is that we can easily become confused by what God meant to say in a given culture that is not our own- like first century middle east. We are quite far removed from that time and place and I think that when we read God’s Word we can sometimes forget that. But the best news is that we have the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth and we have had brilliant, God-fearing men and women who have done a lot of the leg work for us- we just need to be willing to learn.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 says that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
What better place to start than at the very beginning. Genesis 1:1- “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” What does this sound like? Kind of like the common phrase that we all would recognize, “Once upon a time…”. Or even, “In a galaxy far far away…” When anyone hears these words we all know what’s coming next. It’s the start of a… story. An epic narrative.
Okay, Let’s go to the end. Now as an avid and voracious reader of all the stories this is the only time I would ever condone reading the end before the rest of a story.
Revelation 21:5b- “for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever…”. What does this sound like? “And they lived happily ever after.” The end of the story.
The biblical narrative is the greatest story of redemption and love ever told and each of the stages in the story brings humanity one step closer to full deliverance; each covenant serves to re-educate humanity as to who the God of Eden was and is.
To understand Jesus, we need to understand the story that leads up to him. Before we deep dive into the story, we need to define our terms to create a kind of first century framework so we have a foundation on which to build on. Make sure we are all on the same page. Sound good? Okay, here is where I get to kind of nerd out for a minute on geeky bible terms. But stick with me, it will all come full circle- I promise.
Our first term is- Redemption- “to redeem” (Hebrew gā’ al) it actually had nothing to do with theology, but with the laws and social customs of the ancient tribal society of first century middle east.
Israel was a patriarchal tribal culture. The patriarch was responsible for:
- the economic well-being of his family
- he enforced law
- and had a responsibility to care for his own who had become marginalized through poverty, death, or war.
Our next term to lock away is-
Father’s house (hold) (Hebrew bêt’ āb)- this included the patriarch, his wife (s), unwed children, married sons with their wives and children (as many as 3 generations or about 30 people) They shared their resources and their fate. The patriarch once again:
- bore legal and economic responsibility,
- decided who lived and died,
- who was sold into indentured servitude
- and who was retained into the family unit.
There was a reason the first-born would receive a double portion and it was bc he would take up the mantle as the next patriarch and be responsible for the tribe and their survival.
Deuteronomy 10:17-18 “…The God of gods, the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing…”. God is a bêt’āb for those who find themselves outside of His protection.
John 14:1-3 “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places…I go to prepare a place for you… where I am, there you may also be.
Jesus is the first born of His Father’s household, and is going to prepare a place for us to dwell together. This is an intimate and personal reference the people of those times would deeply connect with as it related to their culture.
In Israel’s tribal society redemption was the act of a patriarch who put his own resources on the line to ransom a family member who had been driven to the margins of society by poverty (Ruth), who had been seized by an enemy whom he had no defense (Lot), or who found themselves enslaved by the consequences of a faithless life (Gomer/Israel).
Redemption was the means by which a lost family member was restored to a place of security within their kinship circle. This was all a patriarch’s responsibility.
As we will see as we walk through the meta-narrative of the Bible, Yahweh is presenting himself throughout history as the patriarch of the clan who has announced His intent to redeem Him lost family members- us. Not only does He agree to pay whatever ransom is required, but He sends His most cherished member of His household to accomplish this intent- His first born Son. And not only is the first born Son coming to seek and save the lost, but He is coming to share His inheritance with those who have squandered everything they have been given (prodigal son).
Matthew 20:28 “His life as a ransom for many”
Col 1:13-15 “For He rescued us…we have redemption of sins.”
1 Peter 1:18-19 “ You were redeemed…with the precious blood of Christ.”
Sandra Richter states in her book, The Epic of Eden,
God’s perfect plan: the people of God, in the place of God, dwelling in the presence of God. Essentially, Eden. This will be our first road marker.
Creation: Days 1-3 God makes places and as a bonus he makes plant life. On days 4-6 He fills those spaces with inhabitants and as a bonus he makes Adam which is the Hebrew word for all of humanity. The duality of that humanity is male and female. Adam and Eve.
God or Elohim as He is known in the garden is the suzerain Lord, promising to His vassals, Adam and Eve, the land grant of paradise if they will remain loyal to their agreement.
We are divine reflectors, set in the garden to rule over creation as God’s ambassadors and imagers while dwelling in His presence. Out of disorder and chaos God creates life and order and beauty. He declares it “good” and “very good”.
Genesis 2:15 “Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.
Then God gives humans a choice in the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
16And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
So here, God also establishes that He is the provider and knower of that is “good.”
The blessings are many, the stipulations are few- Don’t eat of the one tree. This reveals the truth that, “God is God and we are not.”
We are eventually introduced to another “character” that will be woven throughout the narrative up to the very end. The Nachash. (Na-hash). This character is in rebellion to God. He wants to undo everything God has put in place. He is the author of disorder, chaos, and evil.
Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2And the 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 midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely 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. 7Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”
“You will be like God….” The serpent says. Which is ironic b/c they were already made in God’s image. But we humans decide to take autonomy and live apart from God. Man has chosen a world of our own making. We now try to define what is “good” or “very good.” And In doing this relationships are the first thing broken. They can’t even trust each other.
Genesis 3:8 “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”d 10And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Intimacy is lost from God as well. Banishment from the garden, the curse of creation and separation from dwelling in God’s presence removes us from God’s perfect plan.
The curses that follow the events in the garden bound the fate of humanity together with the seed of the Nachash. The seed of the Nachash is therefore literal and spiritual.
This is a familiar story to most of us probably. If we grew up in Sunday school it was probably one of the first stories we read in our little baby bibles. But what we miss in the familiarity of these opening scenes of the sweeping redemptive story is God’s plan that is already in place for the humans that have decided to reject Him as their Lord within the first two pages.
Let’s fast forward to the new testament to paint a clearer picture of how God is already working…
John 1:1-5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
1 John 1:1-2 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have gazed upon and touched with our own hands- this is the Word of life. And this is the life that was revealed; we have seen it and testified to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us.”
Life and blessing was Yahweh’s plan from the beginning. He wants to save us so we could have eternal life with Him.
1 John 3:11 “This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”
From the moment that Yahweh created the heavens and the earth, He had a plan for His creation. He wanted to save them bc He loves them. The story of creation is a love story. The end result is always at the initial thought. Let me show you:
In Genesis 1:1 the verse reads in Hebrew as this:
בראשׁית ברא אלהים את השׁמים ואת הארץ׃
Bereshit bara Elohim ‘et hashamayim v’et ha’aretz
Upon meditating on the hidden words within the first hebrew word recorded in Scriptures, “Bereshit”, (‘in the beginning’) many truths are discovered and we see God’s whole plan of Salvation is laid out in this one word.
The Word Bereshit (בראשׁית) in Hebrew letters is: Tav, Yud, Shin, Alef, Resh, Beit (Hebrew is read right to left.)
The very first letter beit – ב is a picture of a house in the Hebrew picture language. Notice how in the Torah the first letter is enlarged, showing the foundation of the world is focused on God’s house… and first two letters spell “bar” בר meaning “son” shows the focus is on the kingdom of the Son!
We know that Messiah Yeshua is the “lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world” – Rev. 13:8 and we see this in the other words that make up the first foundational word in the Bible as shown below:
בר Bar means “son” as seen in Strong’s H1247, H1248 (primarily in Aramaic, but also in Hebrew, see Mishlei 31:2 saying, “What, my son? and what, the son (bar) of my womb? and what, the son (bar) of my vows?”) This is the language of the time in which the “son” would be born and also means “grain” and “pure” and “possessor of” as “bar-samkha” means “possessor of authority”.
א Aleph, is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and represents Elohim as seen in Strong’s H430 starting with the aleph אֱלהִים. The word Elohim is the plural of El (or possibly of Eloah) and is the first name for God given in the Torah.
שׁית Shayit has many meanings. Shayit can mean “thorns” as seen in Strong’s H7898; meaning a wild growth of briers (as if put on the field): — “thorns” as used also in Isaiah 5:6. Shayit is also used to mean “appointed” as the Son is “appointed” for this purpose (see Gen. 41:33). As well as “to lay down” as used in Ruth 4:16 (And Naomi took the child, and laid H7896 it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it.)
ראשׁ Rosh means “head” as seen in Strong’s H7218 and used in Genesis 40:16
ברש Brosh בְּרוֹשׁ means “tree” or “timber” as seen in Strong’s H1265 and refrenced as big timber (either fir or cyress) as mentioned in 1Ki 5:10 (5:24 in the Jewish Tanakh) “So Hiram gave Solomon timber of cedar and timber of cypress according to all his desire.”
So here in one word, we see multiple words saying,
“ The son of God, crowned with thorns upon His head, on a tree” …
Then…
שי Shay means a “gift” (offered as homage) as seen in Strong’s H7862 and used in Isaiah 18:7
ת The letter “Tav” represents covenant and originally looked like a small “t” or a cross
So here in sequence we see in the first word “bereshit” that,
“The son of God, crowned with thorns upon His head, on a tree, a gift of the covenant”…
This is a very apt description of the “lamb that was slain from the foundation of the word” indeed!
God longs to be gracious to his people and waits on high to have compassion, but they are not willing. (Isa 30:18,15)
In a great act of mercy, God chooses redemption even though humanity deserved annihilation. God spares the life of humanity by redirecting the fury of the curse towards another- His Son. The Last Adam.
True love requires freedom to chose otherwise and God desires genuine love relationships with His people. We love because He first loved us. All the way back in the beginning of creation He starts with blessing and covenantal love (hesed). When we deserved death and destruction, God chose instead to bind himself to us by entering into covenant with us. God cannot lie or act contrary to any agreement He is a part of. And now even “creation waits with eager longing…to be set free from its bondage to corruption. The whole of creation and we ourselves groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the complete redemption. (Romans 8:19-23) And like Richter says, “Redemption is a cosmic plan of cosmic proportions.”
As we read on in the story we will see that In contrast Jesus chooses what Adam did not. He resists temptation (Matt4:1-11) put before Him by the Enemy and takes the penalty of our broken covenant upon Himself.
For further reading:
The Epic of Eden
The Bible Project
Unseen Realm
Theodicy of Love
