Blameless and Faithful (thoughts on Genesis 5-6)

Genesis 5-6 paint a picture of gloom and despair.  In Genesis 5, we get the genealogy of Adam to Noah and we see that the world is in the full grip of the curse.  Verse after verse we read "then he died."  While all the men of Genesis 5 lived many, many years, their outcome with the exception of Enoch was very much the same.  They all died.

Genesis 6 isn't any better.  There the grip of the curse is seen not in death but in wickedness.  At the start of the chapter, there is a suggestion that fallen angels mated with human beings. (In the Old Testament, the term "sons of God" is always used to refer to angels.  See also 2 Peter and Jude for their commentary on this passage)  This sexual immorality is seen as a sign of greater and constant wickedness.

Things are bad.  So bad that God decides to wipe out the earth and start over.  Except, in God's grace, one man catches his eye.  5:8 says, "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord" (NIV).  What was it that made Noah stand out?  Verse 9 says, "Noah was a righteous man."  And why was Noah found righteous?  He was "blameless among the people of his time and he walked faithfully with God."  In other words, Noah stood out among the people of his generation in terms of his character and his relationships.  In addition, he walked with God, having a constant relationship with Him.  The phrase of walking with God hearkens back to what Adam and Eve did in the Garden before the Fall.  Noah cultivated a deep, personal relationship with God.

We live in dark times like Noah.  Thanks to the work of Christ though, we can be righteous.  We can be blameless among our generation.  Perfect?  No.  But we can live lives that show a character that is different than the people around us.  We can be kind and goodhearted and selfless.  And we can cultivate a relationship with God- praying and reading the Bible daily and following the promptings of the Holy Spirit.     In a world still in the grip of the curse, we can be people who stand out like Noah.

Two Gods?

There are those who want to divorce the New and Old Testament God, saying that they are different beings, bearing little resemblance to one another.  According to these folks, the Old Testament God is a terrible guy, blood thirsty and full of vengeance.  He delights in death and mayhem. The New Testament God, by way of contrast, is a God of love and forgiveness, one who is done with all that terrible talk of sin and judgment. 

Both of these Gods are caricatures, neither true to the whole Biblical picture of who God is.  But if anyone doubts that the God of the New Testament is a holy God, given to righteous judgment upon sin than they have not read the book of Revelation.  Revelation 14 makes it clear that God will judge the wickedness of this earth.  This is not something to glory in.  Outside of Jesus all of us would be deserving of wrath.  How can we celebrate its descent on others?  But it is something to fear.  The wrath of God as described here is an awesome thing. Even as those who have escaped the wrath of God in Jesus, we need to see that sin is a serious matter.  And we need to live lives that show God's hatred for sin.

When Satan Wins

Revelation 13 is a chapter that engenders a lot of controversy. Who is the beast? Who is his prophet? Have these figures lived already or are they yet to come? What is the meaning of that infamous number 666? In the midst of all the debate in this chapter, we often miss a very chilling verse, verse 7. That verse says in part: "He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them."

That verse doesn't fit too neatly with our theology. We don't like to think that there are times that Satan (or his emissary) gets the victory over the Church. Preachers on TV tell us that we should always be healthy and wealthy. But that is not the reality that the Scriptures present. The Bible tells us that there are times when Satan has great power and when there is a great cost for being a Christian. When these times come, what are we to do? Verse 10b tells us: "This calls for patience and for faithful endurance on the part of the saints." American Christians especially need to know that we will not always be the church triumphant. Sometimes, we will be the church patient and faithful.

An Interesting Case Study

I have sometimes heard people say, "It would be so much easier to believe in Jesus if we lived in the time that He did. If we had seen the miracles with our own eyes, faith would be easier."

Our passage today- John 9- belies that notion. Even those who saw the miracles that Jesus did had a hard time accepting them. As I read this passage, I am struck by the many different reasons that people did not exercise faith:

*Confusion about the facts- In verses 8-9, the neighbors can't agree if the man healed is really the blind man or not. Even his testimony doesn't seem to convince them!

*Legalism/false righteousness- In verse 16, some of the Pharisees say that Jesus cannot be from God because he healed on the Sabbath. Their narrow, religious conceptions kept them from faith.

*Fear- Verse 22 tells us that the parents did not exercise faith in Jesus or celebrate the healing of their son, because they were afraid of the religious leaders! I suppose this reason could also be labeled peer pressure.

*Ignorance- Verse 36 tells us that the blind man did not immediately exercise faith himself because he didn't know who Jesus was (never having seen Jesus before his healing). It takes Jesus' identification of Himself to lead to faith.

Not much has changed in 2,000 years. Today, people fail to believe for many of the same reasons. We have to make sure that none of these things keep us from faith.

The Light of the World

There is so much to comment on in John 8 that it is hard to restrain myself. The story about the woman caught in adultery (textually suspect as it is) teaches us a great deal about mercy. At the end of the chapter, Jesus' words about being "I AM" give us a clear statement of his own claim to divinity. But what strikes me as I read this passage today are Jesus' words in verse 12. Jesus says, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

I could write a lot about what the metaphor of light teaches us about Jesus. But that is not what strikes me as I come to the passage today. What strikes me as I reread these familiar words is how the light is turned on. Jesus says, "Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life" (John 8:12, ESV). What is the key to God's light in our lives? Is it a moment of decision for Jesus? Is it listening to Christian radio? Is it hanging out in church? Those things might all be good, but they are not the root source of God's light in our lives. What is? Jesus tells us: obedience. We have the light of life when we follow Him.

A lot of Christians feel like they are in darkness now. Even though they exercise faith, they have depression and hopelessness and fear. Could it be that we have darkened our own lives by a failure to follow? If we want to have light in our lives, we need to have the courage to pick up our crosses and follow Him. We need to walk as Jesus did.

Isaiah 12:2

I grew up in a church with several Messianic Christians and with a real heart for Jewish evangelism. As I read Isaiah 12:2, I couldn't help but think of the Liberated Wailing Wall concerts that were held at our church. For those of you don't know, the Liberated Wailing Wall is a musical ministry sponsored by Jews for Jesus. Back in the days I was at their concerts, their signature song was "Behold!" "Behold!" is basically a rousing version of Isaiah 12:2. Below, I have put a link for the song in case you would like to listen. I thought the rough, live versions were better than this recorded one, but still a great song on a great verse. (The added benefit of the song is that they begin singing in Hebrew so you can hear what Isaiah 12:2 sounds like in the original language!)

http://files.jewsforjesus.org/audio/messianicjoy/12_behold.mp3

Should Christians Love Fox News?

When I was in Seminary, I had a pastor encourage us to preach the Old Testament prophets. Rereading Isaiah, I am reminded of why he urged that mandate upon us. Isaiah's words were recorded thousands of years ago, yet there is much about them that is true and relevant today.

For example, we in the evangelical church need to remember the directive that Isaiah receives from God in Isaiah 8:11-13. "The LORD spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people. He said: Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread..."

Too many in the church today are enamored of conspiracy. They watch the pundits on Fox News or they listen to the call of conservative radio. They get wrapped up in the behind the scene machinations of those in political and cultural power. God tells Isaiah not to get too tied in to those speculations. He tells Isaiah to fear Him, to be devoted to Him. We need the same message. We shouldn't fear what Obama or the liberals or the left are doing. We shouldn't look for conspiracy behind every rock. Instead, we should seek to fear and serve our Lord, knowing that all these matters are in His hand.