Train to Live on Mission – Week 10
Battle Drill for the Festivals: Listen and Ask Questions
Pilgrimage Feasts – Passover – Luke 2:41–52
Palm Sunday, Battle Drill #10
Luke 2:41-52 (NLT)
Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual.
After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, because they assumed he was among the other travelers. But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends.
When they couldn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there. Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.
His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”
“But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they didn’t understand what he meant.
Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. And his mother stored all these things in her heart.
Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.
Intro
Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn a different kind of battle drill – a battle drill for the festivals.
Pastor Jerry has invited me to share three times this year about the three Pilgrimage Feasts or festivals that gave structure to the Jewish calendar year. I have a passion for studying these three festivals because they foreshadow the three biggest events in the life of the Church.
Another reason I love to study these three feasts is because I believe they are the best proof we have that the bible is God’s word; that God’s Word is inspired and accurate in its original autographs; and that Christ is the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God the Father, and the Head of the Church.
Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual
Not only did Jesus and his family know the field manual, but they also rehearsed it repeatedly, over and over. It was built into their routine daily (their prayers, Shema, waking up, before meals, etc.), weekly (Shabbat), and annually (feasts and festivals).
Every day, most Jews would recite the Shema (and many still do). Shema is the first Hebrew word in the prayer. It’s usually translated as “Hear” (O Israel) or “Listen.” But Shema means more than that. It means to “listen and obey”; to “hear and put it into action.”
Here’s my translation of the Shema:
Listen and obey, Israel: Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is unique, one of a kind! You must love Yahweh your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength. (Dt 6:4–5 NET – Modified)
This is the basic prayer, but the full prayer is much longer. What would happen if, every day – after we woke up in the morning, and before we went to sleep at night – we recited this passage?
Jews observed Sabbath on the seventh day of every week. Saturday was a Holy Day, or holiday, and was a day where you didn’t have to work. A day when you trusted God to take care of your business while you rest in him. Saturday is still the Holy Day that Jews observe instead of Sunday.
And every year, the Jews celebrated three extended feasts that commemorated three events: God’s delivering Israel from slavery in Egypt, God transforming Israel into a nation, and God providing for them while they wandered in the desert between Mt. Sinai and the Promised Land.
The passage Nora read describes one of those yearly Passover celebrations.
Luke 2:41 ESV
Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.
Passover was a Memorial Day.
Exodus 12:14 (ESV) says,
“This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.”
And the evening of Passover was a night of watching.
Exodus 12:42 (ESV) says,
It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
Just as God watched over Israel that night in order to bring them out of slavery, the children of Israel would spend the night of Passover as a watch night – remembering what God did on that first Passover night. We did some of that last year.
Last year on Palm Sunday, we talked about the events that led up to the Passover. We talked about how Moses ran away from Egypt after his anger and his sense of justice flared up prompting him to kill an Egyptian. How Yahweh God called Moses from the flaming bush that never burnt up. How God sent Moses back to Egypt where he had been a wanted man.
We talked about the signs and wonders God performed through Moses, and how each of the ten plagues was a direct attack on one of the gods of Egypt. These ten plagues revealed that the power of the Egyptian gods was nothing compared to the strength of Yahweh.
And we talked about how, on the night before God led them out of Egypt, he established an annual time of remembrance – a Memorial Day.
Mary, Joseph, and Jesus (and the others celebrating Passover) remembered that a lamb had to be sacrificed – slaughtered for their freedom. They remembered the blood from the lamb that they smeared on the doorframes of their homes. They remembered the flat unleavened bread that they ate. They remembered how they were to eat the Passover meal with their travel clothes on. And they remembered the wailing and crying throughout Egypt at every home that was not covered by the blood of the lamb. In each of these homes the firstborn in those households died because they were not protected by the blood of the lamb.
They remembered that their ancestors left Egypt with a new identity. What they had known for 400 years, a lifetime of slavery for a family that had grown into an ethnic group, was over. They would eventually become a nation with a God who was completely devoted to them. But the morning after Passover they were in an in-between time – they weren’t slaves anymore, but they weren’t a nation yet either. The Passover celebration was about remembering that in-between time. Are you in an in-between time?
For Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the rest of the remnant of Jews in Palestine, they were in a different kind of in-between time. The Northern Kingdom (composed of ten of the twelve tribes of Israel) had been taken into exile by the Assyrians and forcibly relocated into the surrounding nations. These ten tribes were dissolved, gone, and never came back.
The Southern Kingdom (composed of the other two tribes) had been taken into exile by the Babylonians, who destroyed the Temple that Solomon built – the place where they met with God – the place where God had placed his name. Over time, a few survivors from the two tribes had returned to the Promised Land. The Temple was rebuilt by a Gentile, but the Jews were still being ruled by foreign powers.
As the mass of pilgrims swarmed into Jerusalem, they were longing for the Promised Messiah to restore the Kingdom. So, they studied Torah, they retold the story, they listened, and they asked questions.
This is what Jesus, and his parents were doing by going to Jerusalem for Passover. They were remembering the deliverance story. They were asking questions of the rabbis and seeking answers from the Torah. They were looking to a future where a promised Messiah would one day write a new deliverance story.
Are you looking for a new deliverance story to be written in your life? When was the last time you asked questions about scripture? When was the last time you TOOK time to remember all of things God has done for you? Thanksgiving Bible Study.
This year, Jesus was 12 years old. He was still considered a child and Luke makes that point very clear in this passage – multiple times. Next year he would be 13, he would be considered a man, but this year Jesus was a 12-year-old.
In this passage, Luke says that Jesus was still learning. This shouldn’t surprise us.
Paul quotes from an early Christian hymn in his letter to the Philippian church that Christ Jesus, “who was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” (Php 2:5–7 ESV) And like every man and woman, boy and girl, he had to learn.
This might stretch your theology about Jesus, but in the passage that Nora read today, in verses 40 and 52, Luke writes very clearly that Jesus was growing – in wisdom, and in stature, and in favor with God and his friends, family, and neighbors. Jesus was learning. And Luke highlights that again in the center of this story in verses 46 & 47.
Luke 2:46–47 (ESV)
After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.
During Passover, we know that some of the Jewish teachers would go to the temple courts to teach anyone who wanted to learn, and to let them ask questions.[i]
It’s possible that Jesus was asking questions of the founders of the two schools of thought in Judaism – Hillel and Shammai. Maybe you’ve been watching the series The Chosen (and I strongly encourage you to do so) where these two rabbis were mentioned in the second season. Hillel was a humble, loving teacher, but Shammai was known for his violent temper and rigid interpretation of the Law.[ii]
I’m sure Jesus focused on listening and asking questions about the sacrifice of the Lamb. In twenty-one short years, another lamb would be making that journey to Jerusalem. But this lamb would be the Lamb of Lambs, as well as the King of Kings.
Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.
The Jewish Pilgrimage Feasts were designed by God to be celebrated in community, not individually. At Passover (as well as at Pentecost and Sukkot) Jewish communities trained together as one unit.
Luke 2:41–42 ESV
Now [Jesus’] parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom.
When Jesus was a boy, they didn’t load the family up in the minivan and drive to Jerusalem. Typically, people traveled to the feasts in caravans; the women and children would be up front, and the men, young and old, would follow behind. Entire villages and extended family units would frequently travel together for protection and company.[iii]
In America, we do fewer and fewer things in groups. We pride ourselves on individualism. Everything is personalized. Less than a generation ago, there was maybe two or three radio stations that had a signal strong enough to listen to. One or two of them might be a music station. Eventually, our selection grew to five or six styles of music stations. Now you create your own mix on Apple Music, or Spotify. You usually don’t go to the movies anymore; you stream it to your family room or watch it by yourself on your phone. Almost nobody has a group experience anymore. We each have it “my way” … by our lonesome.
We need corporate experiences. We need to worship together – in the same room. We need to worship with multiple generations – in the same room. We need to worship with new Christians and witness their passion and joy. We need to worship with those who have walked with God for decades and can testify to God’s faithfulness. That’s what happened at every Passover. They worshipped and remembered together. They retold the story of deliverance. They asked questions and they listened.
Come to the Passover Seder meal. It’s a time where you listen and ask questions. It even features a time where the kids ask questions. If you can’t come Thursday night, I understand. Life is busy.
But you need to intentionally meet with other Christians on a regular basis. What have you done together? Meet for prayer on Wednesday night. Meet for Sunday School on Sunday morning. Meet for bible study during the week. Serve your community in groups of other believers.
Hebrews 10:24-25 is about more than just Sunday mornings.
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
Action Step #3) Seek the Commander’s approval.
We’re not told exactly how it happened, but when the days of Passover were complete Jesus got separated from his parents.
And Luke 2:44–45 (ESV) reads that,
“Supposing [Jesus] to be in the group [Mary and Joseph] went a day’s journey [away from Jerusalem], but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.”
And what was Jesus doing when Mary and Joseph found him at the Temple? He was seeking the Commander’s approval. Spending time in the Temple would please his Father. Listening and asking questions about God’s Word would please his Father.
Luke 2:49 ESV
And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
In other words, pre-teen Jesus said, “Where else would I be? I’m here in my Father’s house. I’m learning the field manual. We’re training together as one unit. I’m seeking my Father’s approval.”
By the way, I remember the anxiety I felt when we lost one of our daughters at Walmart, or the mall. It didn’t happen often, but when it did … the PANIC was real! You turn your head one minute and their gone! I can imagine a little bit how Mary felt! It’s like, “Mary, you had one job! How hard can it be to keep track of the Son of God!” … Maybe that’s a question we should ask of ourselves?
But Jesus was listening and asking questions. Jesus was learning that, to seek the Commander’s approval would require great sacrifice.
Action Step #4) Live on mission.
Luke 2:48 ESV
And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.”
If you use your imagination (and you don’t need a big one to imagine this) I think Mary ran to Jesus and gave him one of those smothering, squeeze-the-air-out-of-you, hugs that only moms can give. Then maybe she grabbed him by his shoulders and pushed him to arm’s length so she could stare at him eye to eye.
“Son, why have you done this to us? Your dad and I have been frantic! We searched for you everywhere!”
Actually, Mary didn’t call him “son”. She used another word. The word Mary used meant “little one” or “child.” Mary still saw Jesus as a child … everyone did!
What happens when you call a 12-year-old “little one?”
I remember that age. I remember when I wasn’t a child anymore, but no one saw me as a man. That in-between stage is frustrating! I didn’t want adults to consider me a child, I was adult-ish. Do you remember a time when you weren’t what you used to be, but you weren’t quite what you wanted to be? Transitions are hard. Anthropologists call that place a liminal space – an in-between place.
Jesus was in a liminal space – an in-between place. He wasn’t really a child anymore, but he wasn’t what society considered an adult. Jesus was in a place where he was listening and asking questions and he was transitioning between being a child and an adult.
Jesus explained to his parents what he was doing. He was seeking the Commander’s approval.
But Luke 2:50 (ESV) reads,
They did not understand the saying that he spoke to them.
Sometimes others will not understand what God has called you to do. But you still need to Charlie Mike – Continue the Mission.
God has asked me to do some odd things at times. Several years ago, when we were just friends, God told me to ask Cheryl a question. He said, “Cheryl has a deal with me. Ask her what her deal with me is.”
I’m thinking, “What if she doesn’t have a deal with God? I would look stupid, or weird, or both!” I felt silly, but I asked her anyway. She told me that she asked God to tell her when the “right man” came along – the one she would marry. Let me tell you, I’m glad I Charlie Miked!
Sometimes others will not understand what God has called you to do. But you still need to Charlie Mike – Continue the Mission.
Jesus was in a liminal space – an “in-between” place. The Jews of his day were in an “in-between” place. Maybe you are in an “in-between” place – a liminal space. Continue the mission; Charlie Mike. Jesus stayed on mission, but he did it the right way. He sought the Commander’s approval by talking with God frequently. He trained together by living in community. He asked questions and listened. And He learned the field manual by obeying the Torah – especially the part about honoring his father and mother.
Luke 2:51-52 ESV
[But Jesus] went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
I wonder what the setting was the first time Jesus told his parents that he would be the Passover Lamb? Mary was told just days after Jesus’ birth that “a sword would pierce her heart too.” Did she fully understand what that prophecy would mean? Did she understand that her son would one day assume the role of the new Passover Lamb – the Lamb of God? I think Mary was living in an “in-between” place for most of her life.
In her book “Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters,” Carmen Imes shared about the importance of not rushing through these dislocated places – the in-between” places – the liminal spaces.
“God has lessons to teach us that can only be learned in a state of dislocation. Lessons about who we are. About who he is. And how he’s calling us to be in the world. Wrapped in liminality are gifts such as perseverance, perspective, rest, creativity, empathy, gratitude, and most of all, faithfulness. Rushing on to the next thing may prevent us from becoming who he wants us to be when we get there. In this place of upheaval and instability, we must let him shape us. We serve a God whose primary purpose is not to make us comfortable or successful in the eyes of the world, but to transform us. Liminality—that unsettled and unsettling place that reveals our deepest fears and longings—is his workshop.”[1]
As her pastor said, “Jesus finished all the work God gave him to do, but he did not finish all the work.” Just as [Jesus] was sent to do the Father’s will, so he sends his disciples into the world. They are commissioned to carry out his mission.[2]
You and I … WE are commissioned to carry out his mission.
Make this battle drill of listening and asking questions a reflexive, instinctive, and habitual part of your Christian life so that you can CM – Continue the Mission! Live on mission today and train the battle drill of the week for the glory of God. Let us pray.
You can listen to the message here:
You can watch the message by clicking HERE.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Carmen Joy Imes and Christopher J. H. Wright, Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters, Logos (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2019), 159–60.
[2] Imes and Wright, 155.
[i] Freeman and Chadvick, The New Manners and Customs of the Bible p.502-503
2:46 Jesus Questioning the Teachers After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. There were several places within the Temple area where teachers of the law met their disciples. One of these places was in the cloisters described in Matthew 24:1 Herod’s Temple. Another was in the synagogue that was in the Temple enclosure. After services, the teachers admitted any who wished to converse with them on matters pertaining to the law. There is no reason to suppose that Jesus’ conversation with the teachers was in any way controversial. He simply followed the custom of the time, which allowed anyone who chose to question the teachers on any points they desired. Although our text-verse is often twisted by some to say that the child Jesus was teaching these learned men, that is not what the verse says. He was asking them questions and learning from them. They were, however, amazed at His understanding and answers to questions that they asked Him—asking questions of students was a rabbinical method of teaching.
Wenham et al., The New Bible Commentary p.985
The age of twelve was normal for instructing a boy for entry to the religious community of Judaism, and therefore for a meaningful visit to Jerusalem. Jewish men were required by the law to keep the three annual festivals in Jerusalem, but only the Passover was strictly observed. Whole families would go up to Jerusalem, with an estimated 60,000–100,000 visitors packing themselves into a town whose normal population may have been no more than 25,000. People travelled in large groups for companionship and security on the way, and it is not surprising that Mary and Joseph did not worry unduly about Jesus on the first day’s journey home. After a day spent in returning to Jerusalem they found him in the temple, which was a set of courtyards and buildings used not only for offering sacrifices but also for religious teaching and discussions (cf. Acts 5:25). His intelligent discussion with the teachers was an indication of the wisdom that he would show later. The story does not mean that Jesus was trying to instruct them, but rather that they were impressed by his unusual promise as a pupil.
[ii] Keener, IVPBBCNT New Testament (Second Edition) p.187
Some Jewish teachers in this period reportedly conducted their classes in the temple courts; the famous *Hillel and *Shammai may have been two such teachers. Asking questions was used both in teaching and in learning, but it was important for learners to ask intelligent questions, as Jesus does. Teachers could answer questions with questions, and Jesus’ answers are also intelligent. Students might begin advanced training in their mid-teens; the teachers recognize Jesus as a prodigy.
Zuck, Basic Bible Interpretation: A Practical Guide to Discovering Biblical Truth p.28
Rabbi Hillel (70 B.C.?–A.D. 10?) was a prominent leader among the Jews of Palestine. He was born in Babylonia and established a school, which was named for him, in Jerusalem. He was known for his humility and love. He arranged under six topics the many rules p 29 that had developed among the Jews pertaining to the 613 commands in the Mosaic Law.
Zuck, Basic Bible Interpretation: A Practical Guide to Discovering Biblical Truth p.29
Shammai, a contemporary of Hillel, differed from Hillel in both personality and hermeneutics. A man with a violent temper, he interpreted the Law rigidly. The teachings of these two rabbis often directly conflicted with each other. After the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 the School of Hillel became prominent, and the School of Shammai receded in significance and influence.
[iii] Wiersbe, THE BIBLE EXPOSITION COMMENTARY An Exposition of the New Testament Comprising the Entire “BE” Series p.179 – People traveled to the feasts in caravans, the women and children leading the way and setting the pace, and the men and young men following behind. Relatives and whole villages often traveled together and kept an eye on each other’s children. At the age of twelve, Jesus could easily have gone from one group to another and not been missed. Joseph would think Jesus was with Mary and the other children, while Mary would suppose He was with Joseph and the men, or perhaps with one of their relatives.
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Live Like a Champion – Week 13
The Promise of Passover – A Reason to Party!
Nearly three years ago a popular evangelical pastor told his church that people were turning away from God because of the Old Testament. He said, “The church needed to unhitch from the Old Testament.”[1]
Fourteen years ago, another group of Christians began a movement called “Red-Letter Christianity” – where they focus only on the red letters (the words of Jesus) and pay very little attention to the black letters (the rest of scripture). On the web page for www.redletterchristians.org, one of their stated values says that “Jesus is the lens through which we understand the Bible …”[2]
I disagree with both of these positions. I believe that people are turning away from Christianity, not because they understand and reject the difficult portions of the Old Testament, but because they have failed to understand it in the first place. I believe that the Word of God, including both the Old and New Testaments, is the only lens through which we can truly understand Jesus and his mission. It’s the only lens through which we can understand the character of God.
Saying that we are only going to focus on the actual words of Jesus, is like saying, “The only part of my house I like is the second floor. The first floor is okay, I hardly spend any time in the basement, and I’ve never even seen the foundation and footers. … I think I’m going to detach the second floor and remove the first floor, basement, and foundation.” Any builder or architect knows that even if you could accomplish that feat, your second floor would lose its structural integrity and eventually collapse. And the church has tried this before.
In the early 1900’s, many in the German church decided to remove the “Hebrew Scriptures” from the Bible and the result helped create the environment that nurtured Nazism and culminated in the horrors of WWI and WWII.[3]
Now, I get it. Some stuff in the Bible is hard to understand. Given what most people think they know about the Old Testament, the God of the Old Testament seems angry and punitive. The Old Testament is difficult to understand in places. There are portions of the Old Testament that seem unloving, cruel, and many times just bizarre. My theology professor says, “In the Bible, if it’s weird it’s important.”
We don’t need to jettison the Old Testament and all of its strangeness from the church. What I hope to show you today, is that instead of avoiding the Old Testament, we need to spend more time studying it. We need to dig in and when we do, we’ll discover unexpected gems hiding in the pages of the first 39 books of scripture. I think you’ll be surprised by what we find!
Three times a year, the people of Israel were to travel, from wherever they were, to Jerusalem to have a party! (Deuteronomy 16:1-17; Exodus 23:14-17; Exodus 34:18-24; Leviticus 23:4-44)
The first party is Passover/Pesach – Feast of Unleavened Bread – It is a time to remember the Exodus – It also foreshadowed what was going to happen on the day we call Good Friday. Today we’re going to look at Passover and the leadup to the Exodus.
The second party (50 days after Passover) is Pentecost/Shavuot – Feast of Weeks – Pentecost is a Greek word that means fifty days. Shavuot is the Hebrew word that means “weeks” (7 Sevens plus One = 50 days). It’s a time to remember when the law descended from Mt. Sanai and the Nation of Israel was born. It is also the culmination of the First Fruits harvest. Pentecost foreshadowed the second significant event in the life of the church – the day that the Holy Spirit descended on all believers and the church was born.
The third party is the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles)/Sukkot – Feast of Ingathering – This is a time to remember how God protected and provided for the children of Israel during the wilderness wanderings before they entered the promised land and is also the celebration of the final agricultural harvest. I believe this will be the next significant spiritual event in the life of the church. It will be the celebration after the second coming of Christ when we celebrate how God provided for us during our time on THIS earth before we enter his promised rest, and also a celebration of the final spiritual harvest.
Unfortunately, we don’t have time today to talk about all three of these parties, so we’ll focus on the first one – the Passover/Pesach – Feast of Unleavened Bread.
A 30,000 Ft. Review:
But to get there, we’re going to take the next few minutes in a quick 30,000 ft review of scripture.
This review is going to go fast, so we can get to the Passover/Exodus story, but we need to do this review so that we can understand the truths we will find in the Passover. We are going to see how the Passover story, foreshadows Jesus’ ultimate mission, and we are going to discover one of the core characteristics of God that’s true in both Old AND New Testaments.
Abram, who was renamed Abraham, fathered Isaac, who fathered Jacob, and God had face-to-face interaction with each of them. God promised each of them that he would bless their offspring and through them he would bless the world. Jacob was renamed Israel and had twelve sons. Joseph was one of those sons, and ten of his brothers, who were jealous of Joseph and contemplating murder, decided to sell Joseph into slavery. Pastor Jerry talked about his story last week. Joseph ended up in Egypt, and through a series of events, orchestrated by God, became the second most powerful person in Egypt. God warned Pharaoh through Joseph that a seven-year-famine was coming, and Egypt, under Joseph’s leadership stored up grain during the next seven fertile years.
When the famine came, Egypt survived by using the grain they had stored up. The family of Israel also survived the famine by moving to Egypt.
Living In Egypt and Moses
Pharaoh then asked the Israelite midwifes to cause the Hebrew women to kill their male babies as they were being born. (Let’s not whitewash this – it was infanticide and there is some indication in the text that it was a command to abort the babies before they were born).
The midwives, fearing God, told Pharaoh that by the time they got to the women, the babies had already been born. Israel continued to multiply, so Pharaoh ordered the people of Egypt to throw every male Israelite baby into the Nile River to be killed – a genocide of a whole generation. (This was intentional. Israelite babies and toddlers either drowned or eaten by alligators.)
Now, during this time, a young Hebrew baby boy was born, but instead of being killed in the Nile, he was rescued by the daughter of Pharaoh. Though Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s household, he could not escape the ethnic and racial tensions in the culture. Moses, being immature but passionate about justice, killed an Egyptian who was beating an Israelite – and tried to cover up the murder.
Moses soon discovered the demand for justice works both ways, and Moses had to flee into the land of Midian. While Moses was in Midian, the Pharaoh whose house Moses grew up in died, and a son took his place and became the new Pharaoh.
Egypt’s Gods
In Egypt these transitions between Pharaohs were serious events. The Pharaoh was considered to be the son or Re (the Sun God) and also the incarnation of Horus (another Egyptian God). As the son of Re, Pharaoh’s job was to maintain the natural order – He was considered the source of all life. When one Pharaoh died, these supernatural duties were transferred to the next in line.
Egypt had several other gods as well and they each were supposedly responsible for geographic areas, or specific functions. The control of the Nile River was the job of the god Hapi. Hekhet, the goddess of fertility (she had the head of a frog) was married to Khnum the god who they believed shaped the bodies of humans inside the womb. Hekhet also protected the crocodiles who would control the multiplication of frogs. The god Khepre controlled the flying insects. Apis was one of the sacred bull gods whose job was to provide protection and fertility to the livestock. The goddess Sekhmet was responsible for epidemics, and was thought to be able to heal from plagues. Nut, Shu, and Tefnut were three heavenly deities thought to control the sky and the moisture in the atmosphere. Senehem was the god who was responsible for protection from ravaging pests like locust, and grasshoppers. And these were just a few of the pantheon of Egyptian deities.
The Israelites lived in the midst of this culture that worshiped, served, and sacrificed to these gods and goddesses. You need to remember that the stories of how a God in Canaan met with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob were the only connection the Israelites had to a deity of any kind. This was before the covenant at Mt. Sanai. This was before the Ten Commandments. It was before the Levitical priesthood – Israel had no lineage of priests – and there was no sacrificial system established to serve Yahweh.
Like I said, the idea that most people had was that gods and goddesses where either geographically bound (the god of the mountains, the god of the valleys, the god of the sea) or they were bound by their function (the god of thunder and storms, the god of fertility, the god of healing from diseases).
This was the culture within which Israel had spent 400 years. This was a culture that despised the Israelites. This was the culture that kept them captive and treated them cruelly. This is the culture that slaughtered their children, and yet the Egyptians could still sleep well at night.
The Cry
“During that long period of time [while Moses was in Midian] the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites groaned because of the slave labor. They cried out, and their desperate cry – because of their slave labor – went up to God. God heard their groaning, God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, God saw the Israelites, and God understood.…”
“Who is Yahweh, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know Yahweh, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” (Exodus 5:2)
Just because the Israelites were the great-great-great-great-grandchildren of three men that Yahweh had talked with in Canaan more than 400 years earlier, doesn’t mean that he would or could intervene, … does it?
But God … the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob had made a promise – a covenant – with each of the forefathers. And that promise had something to do with these great-great-great-great-grandchildren.
God’s Reply
So, God got Moses’ attention by appearing in a bush that was on fire but wasn’t being consumed. God told Moses to go back to Egypt. God said, “I have heard the cry of my people, and I have seen what the Egyptians are doing to them.” Then God says, “Moses, I’m going to send you to Pharaoh, and you are going to bring my people out of Egypt.”
Well, Moses isn’t thrilled about going back to Egypt, and he even has to ask what God’s name was, but eventually Moses agrees after God sends Aaron, his older brother, with him.
Aaron and Moses talk with Pharaoh in Exodus chapter 5 (The Passover events are found in Exodus chapters 5 thru 12.). They ask Pharaoh to let the Israelites go on a three-day journey so that they can worship Yahweh God. Pharaoh objects and tells Moses and Aaron to stop taking the people away from their work. Then Pharaoh orders the people back to work but tells them they have to collect their own straw to make bricks – it would no longer be provided.
The people get mad and take it out on Moses and Aaron. Then Moses complains to God and says basically, “I told you that you shouldn’t send me! Look at what’s happened to the people now!”
Moving on to Exodus 6 we read where God responded, and this is where we find our memory verse – our weekly promise. This is the Promise of Passover. This is the reason to party!
But the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” [This is actually a play on one of Pharaoh’s other names which means ‘strong arm’]2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, … 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am [Yahweh], and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am [Yahweh] your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am [Yahweh].’” 9 Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.
This was GREAT NEWS but the children of Israel didn’t listen – because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery. Did you know that sometimes the bondage and brokenness in our lives, make it hard to believe that God WANTS to deliver us? He DOES! Did you know that God WANTS to keep his promise to you, even when you reject him? HE DOES! And Christians: don’t get mad at people who reject God – that’s the time to love them more. The last part of Romans 2:4b reminds us that it is “… God’s kindness [that] leads [us] to repentance.” Broken and enslaved people have a hard time believing God wants to deliver them – but he DOES!
And he won’t give up. He continues to be faithful to his promise – “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God” – That’s part of his character – it’s who he is. And this is your play of the week! It’s the thirteenth message and the eighth promise as we walk through a year of promises.
And here is where Yahweh God begins to go directly at the little-“g” god’s of Egypt using the Plagues. He does this, not only because He wants to deliver Israel from Egyptian enslavement, but He also wants to show that He is not geographically bound, and He wants to dispel this idea that there are other gods who rival Him. He has no rivals; he has no equals. Now and forever, HE is the God who reigns.
The Plagues
In the first plague, Yahweh goes after Hapi (the god of the Nile). God tells Moses to strike the water of the Nile and it turns to blood. Hapi is supposed to control the health of the Nile but is revealed as powerless. The Nile turning to blood recalls the lives of the innocent babies and toddlers that were sacrificed in the same river to this Egyptian god.
Now the hartumim were there – that’s their Hebrew title. Most translations call them Pharaoh’s magicians, but they were really “chief lector priests.” Lector priests recited spells and rites in temple ceremonies and funerals. Egyptian literature portrays them as wise men who can foresee the future, and who can perform miraculous feats, and possess secret knowledge. They also performed something called the “Opening of the Mouth ceremony” on household idols.
(The people in the Ancient Near East who worshiped idols and used household idols understood that the idols themselves were merely wood, or stone, or metal images. But they believed that a god or goddess would only establish a “presence” in the idol once a priest performed an “Opening of the Mouth” ceremony. Until that ceremony was performed, it was just a piece of wood, or stone, or metal.)
So, the hartumim, these Egyptian priests of Egyptian gods, were there and they could actually replicate what Moses did to the water (they could turn the water into blood too), but that was a problem. They weren’t reversing what Yahweh did through Moses, they were simply making it worse by echoing what Yahweh did!
Anyway, Pharaoh’s heart wasn’t moved and seven days later Yahweh sent the plague of frogs. Frogs were everywhere! In the Nile, on the land, in the cupboards, in the ovens, in the food. This was a direct attack on the deities Hekhet and Khnum. Again, the hartumim were also able to make frogs come out of the Nile but they weren’t reversing what Yahweh did through Moses, they were simply making it worse! And Pharaoh wasn’t moved.
Then God sent the third plague – Gnats. The hartumim – the Egyptian priests – tried to replicate what God did through Moses, but they could not. At this, they told Pharaoh, “The finger of a God is in this!” But Pharaoh wouldn’t listen.
After that the fourth plague came – the Flies. But here God began to differentiate. The flies would swarm only the Egyptian houses, and avoid the Israelite houses.
Have you ever tried to keep flies out of your house, car, or tent (or your face)? These flies were directed by Yahweh and only impacted the lives of the Egyptians, not the Israelites.
These third and fourth plagues were a direct attack on the Egyptian god in charge of flying insects – Khepre. Now, we usually miss that something else happened in these two plagues that caused the hartumim major problems. Because they couldn’t keep the gnats and flies away, these lector priests became ritually unclean. When you are ritually unclean, you cannot perform your duties in the temples or at events like funerals. The worship of all the Egyptian gods came to a standstill, and when people died, the funeral rituals couldn’t be performed.
But still, after each plague, Pharaoh would not budge.
The fifth plague was an attack on the Egyptian god Apis – it caused the Egyptian livestock to die. Think of that. There is a sudden shortage on hamburger! No bacon! No eggs! But the Israelites lost none of their livestock.
The sixth plague – the plague of boils was a direct attack on Sekhmet the Egyptian god thought to control pandemics and healing. At this point the hartumim (these priests of other gods) became totally incapacitated – scripture tells us they could not even stand before Moses. Yet Pharaoh remained defiant.
So, Yahweh sent hail like had never been seen before in Egypt. And he warned even the Egyptians, if you value your lives, take your remaining livestock, and any person you care about and find shelter. Any living thing left in the fields will die. Now, some of the Egyptians were becoming believers in the power of Yahweh. Those that did what God suggested saved all that they protected. Those that didn’t believe God lost everything.
After this seventh plague, that was a direct attack on belief in the sky deities of Egypt – Nut, Shu, and Tefnut, some people today start to feel sorry for the Egyptians. But remember, these were the people that were holding the Israelites in bondage. These were the slave holders. These were the people who gladly killed Israelite infants and toddlers, and yet God warned them ahead of time to seek shelter.
Even when you do horrible things, God doesn’t want you to suffer – he wants to protect you.
The eighth plague targeted Senehem. Massive swarms of locusts were sent to eat every remaining plant and tree that remained in Egypt. There were so many locusts they totally covered the ground and blotted out the sun. But Pharaoh remained defiant.
The ninth plague targeted Pharaoh himself, the supposed Son of Re – the Sun God – the greatest god in the Egyptian pantheon of gods. For three days darkness covered Egypt. It was a darkness that could be felt.
(By the way, remember the August 2017 solar eclipse? People wore those funny glasses, and used other contraptions to try to get a glimpse of the eclipse. You could actually feel the temperature drop! It got slightly darker, but you could still see the people around you. In April 2024 we will experience another solar eclipse in Indiana.) Let’s get back to Egypt and the ninth plague.
For three days darkness covered Egypt. It was a darkness that could be felt. It was so dark that the Bible says they couldn’t see each other. Nobody left their house. Re, the sun god, was not only defeated – nobody was sure that he was ever coming back. Would the Sun God ever mount his chariot and ride from east to west again? This was frightening! But not every place in Egypt was dark. The places where the Israelites lived experienced no darkness.
Still Pharaoh refused to release the Israelites, so Yahweh sent one final plague.
“The LORD said to Moses, “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. 2 Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry.” 3 And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.”
Before they ever fought the last battle, before the last plague even started, Yahweh told the Israelites to take the spoils of victory. Long before midnight, before the cries of mourning were heard throughout Egypt, before the Passover Lamb was slain, God told the Israelites to ask their neighbors for gold and silver jewelry. Before darkness fell on the firstborn in Egypt, Yahweh gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moses was no longer the outcast, the troubler. He was now “very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants AND in the sight of the people.”
The Israelites were acting like Super Bowl champs before time ran out in the fourth quarter. They were standing on God’s promise – I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God. What the people didn’t realize is that God was already providing for them the resources they would need for building the tabernacle – a place where heaven meets earth, a place where God could dwell with his people. This was God’s desire from the beginning of creation.
The Passover
God gave them instructions on how to celebrate the Passover Meal. This would become an annual time of remembrance. A teaching tool for every generation to come. Thursday night we will experience a Passover Seder (online) to remember Jesus’ last supper on that first Holy Week. Jews all over the world celebrated Passover at sundown last night.
Each family household was to take a one-year-old male lamb (or goat), without blemish, and at twilight they were to kill the lamb. They were to put some of the blood of the lamb on a hyssop plant, and “paint” it on the two doorposts on either side of the door, as well as over the top of the door. The blood of the Passover lamb would protect them.
“For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am Yahweh the LORD. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.”
They were to roast the lamb on the fire and eat it all that night. They were to eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. If you couldn’t eat it all, you were to burn what you couldn’t eat before morning.
You were to eat the meal with your belt fastened, sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. In other words, be ready to move. Here’s a truth – When God delivers you from bondage – you need to be ready to leave. Don’t hang around that thing that enslaves you – get up and go – embrace your freedom!
No one was to go outside until morning. They were told that the Lord was passing through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the two doorposts and over the door Yahweh would protect them and not allow the destroyer to enter the house.
“At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. 31 Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as you have said. 32 Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!””
There’s More to Come
This is how the Exodus began. Ahead of them would lie the wonder of the pillars of fire and cloud. The miracle at the Red Sea. The bitter waters of Marah. The mana and the quail. The water from the rock.
They would fight their first battle before they ever got to Mt. Sanai. They would soon experience the thick cloud and the thunder and lightning on top of the mountain. Moses will climb the mountain and return with the Ten Commandments (the Ten Sayings). The Sanai Covenant with Israel will be established. The Nation of Israel will be born from the Children of Israel.
But during the Exodus, Yahweh proved faithful to his promise – “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God” before any of that had happened. God delivered them BEFORE they had a covenant relationship with him.
A Loving God Sends The Passover Lamb
And it foreshadowed how God would reveal himself in the New Testament. Jesus Christ would be sacrificed on Passover revealing that he was the true Passover Lamb. His sacrifice is what delivers each of us from the sin that enslaves us. The promise that drove Yahweh to deliver the people of Israel, is the same promise that motivates him to pursue us.
You see, the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament. The promises he made to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob still hold true for us today. The God who used ten plagues to deliver the great-great-great-great-grandchildren of Israel, is the same loving and compassionate God that wept at Lazarus’s tomb before he raised him from the dead.
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Before they knew how to worship him properly, before they understood what would be required to make them fit to represent God, before they understood their role as a Kingdom of Priests who were commissioned to restore this whole broken world to a right relationship with its Creator, while they were still in bondage, before they did anything to reach out to him, when they simply cried out because their suffering was too great to bear any longer, this God – Yahweh God said, “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God. And through you, I’m going to bless the whole world – even the people who would hold you captive and abuse you.”
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” – John 3:16-17 (ESV)
Our Response
Are you in bondage to something or someone? God wants to deliver you, today. You don’t need to get cleaned up to make that decision. You don’t need to know about the covenant or the commands of God. If you have rejected him your whole life, or if you’ve never even heard of him, he can still deliver you today.
He’s already done the hard part. God sent his son, to be the Passover Lamb, whose blood will protect you and deliver you. 2 Peter 3:9 (ESV) reads, “The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
Do you want to be delivered? You can do that today! Are you tired of pain and despair? He’s inviting you to the party! Are you ready to place the blood of the Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, over the door of your life? He offers it free to you – He’s already paid the price. Place yourself on that first Passover night; how will you respond?
After the Response
The God who likes to party, is inviting you to the party. And the more we understand the parties He planned in the Old Testament (like Passover, Pentecost, and Sukkot), the more we’ll understand His unchanging character. There are gems in the Old Testament just waiting to be explored! So don’t unhitch. Dive in!
A Party Within A Party
As I close, I want to tell you of one other aspect of the weeklong Passover Celebration that God planned even before the Exodus. The date of Passover is determined by the moon cycles and covers seven consecutive days, but it can start on any day of the week. During the seven days of celebrating the Passover there will always be a Sabbath (a weekly day of celebration). Now, the Sabbath is always on the seventh day of a normal week – Saturday.
In Leviticus 23:9-14 we read that something special (a party within a party) was supposed to happen one day after the Sabbath that occurred during Passover. The day after the Saturday Sabbath during Passover – on the first day of the week – they were supposed to begin celebrating the Feast of First Fruits. The celebration of First Fruits marked the first harvest of the year.
The Feast of First Fruits would culminate (over the next fifty days) in the next Pilgrimage Feast on the calendar called Pentecost – but that’s a story for another time. But during the seven days of Passover, they were supposed to begin celebrating the First Fruits on the day after the Sabbath day – on the first day of the week.
Do you remember what remarkable event happened on the day after the Sabbath during that first holy week? We’ll celebrate that event next Sunday. If you want a hint read 1 Corinthians 15:20.
You can listen to the message here:
You can watch the message by clicking HERE.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] CBN News, dated May 11, 2018, downloaded on March 8, 2021. “’Christians Need to Unhitch the Old Testament from Their Faith’: Andy Stanley’s Sermon Draws Backlash” https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2018/may/christians-need-to-unhitch-the-old-testament-from-their-faith-andy-stanleys-sermon-draws-social-media-backlash
[2] https://www.redletterchristians.org/mission-values/ downloaded on March 9, 2021. Under the “About Us” tab.
[3] Bill T. Arnold and David B. Weisberg, “Babel und Bibel und Bias. How anti-Semitism distorted Friedrich Delitzsch’s scholarship” from the Bible Review, February 2002 Volume 18, Issue 1, Source URL (modified on 2015-11-05 20:45): https://www.baslibrary.org/bible-review/18/1/5
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Responding to the Presence of Jesus – Week 7
The Unavoidable Consequence of the Presence of God
I love science – creation is so COOL! And the universe that God created contains some very strange and wonderful surprises. One of those surprises is holography.
Any Star Wars fans here? Remember the scene from the first (or fourth) movie – A New Hope? “Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi! You’re my only hope.” That was a holographic movie, which exists in the science fiction world of Hollywood, but not quite yet in real life – however, they’re getting closer. What we do have today is holograms – holographic still images.
A photograph is a two-dimensional representation of real life, and a hologram is a three-dimensional representation of real life. The photograph looks the same no matter what angle you look at it. The image in a hologram actually appears to rotate three-dimensionally as you change the angle that you look at it.
When a photograph is cut in half you only see half of the picture. The cool thing is that when you cut a hologram in half, the whole scene can still be seen in each piece – you just see less of it at one time.
In a similar way, the Word of God is like a hologram. The Bible as a whole presents an overarching storyline from Genesis to Revelation. When you look at scripture in smaller chunks, and explore it from different angles, you get a glimpse of the whole story. And whether you know it or not, we’ve been doing that for the last six weeks as we talked about “Responding to the Presence of Jesus!”
Let’s do a quick recap …
Responding to the Presence of Jesus Series
Matthew 18:15, 20 – “If your brother sins, go … I am there with you.”Exodus 33:12, 14 – “You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But you yourself have not let me know whom you will send with me … ‘My presence will go with you.’”
Isaiah 6:1, 8 – “I saw the Lord … and the train of his robe filled the temple … and the Lord said, ‘Who shall I send?’”
John 13:34-35 – “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Philippians 4:8-9 – “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
1 Peter 2:9 – “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
1 John 4:9-12 – “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”
1 Peter 2:9-10 – “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
As we look back, we see that every week, when we talked about the presence of God from different perspectives, it always resulted in God sending people to do or say something. Why was that? What is it about the presence of God that results in people going somewhere and doing something?
Pastor Jerry mentioned last week about the rebellion in Genesis 11 at the Tower of Babel. God divided the nations (Deuteronomy 32:8-9), but He didn’t give up on them (Acts 17:26-27). He immediately chose Abram (Abraham) and supernaturally created a nation of God’s own possession (Genesis 12).
Genesis 12:1-3 – Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
God promises Abraham that all the nations, the nations He had just divided, will be blessed because of his family. God was going to bless the rest of humanity through Abraham and his descendants. Fast forward to the Exodus, and how God delivered Abraham’s descendants (now called Israel) from Egypt. Three months after God parted the sea and defeated the armies of Egypt they were now at the foot of Mt. Sinai.
Exodus 19:3-6 – … The LORD called to [Moses] out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
God recommissions Israel to go into the chaos and emptiness of the rest of the fallen world and be His representatives to the nations – a kingdom of priests – to bring order and fullness.
Isaiah 61:1-6 (Luke 4:16-22- Also quoting from Isaiah 42:7; 49:(6) 8, 58:6) –
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
6 but you shall be called the priests of the LORD;
they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; …
Here at the beginning of His ministry, Jesus signals that by the end of His ministry on Earth, there will be a group of people who will be called priests of the Lord – Ministers of our God – accomplishing the will of God “on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
“…All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
You might remember in Week 1, Pastor Jerry used this verse to highlight that we “gather to scatter.” Jesus recommissions His people, now identified as the church, to go into the chaos and emptiness of the rest of the fallen world and be His representatives to the nations – a Kingdom of Priests.
And ten days later, on the day of Pentecost, Peter quotes from the book of Joel to explain what’s going on.
“And it shall come to pass afterward,that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
29 Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
The Holy Spirit now empowers the people of God so that they can truly be a Kingdom of Priests – representing God in the world – bringing wholeness where there is chaos and fruitfulness where there is barrenness. Look at Paul’s letter to the Galatians:
Galatians 3:23-29 – Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
We are heirs of Abraham according to the promise. What was the promise? That all of the nations of the world would be blessed through his descendants. God wants to bless the world through us! And this thread goes all the way through the rest of scripture into Revelation.
Revelation 1:4-6 – John to the seven churches that are in Asia:
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Revelation 5:8-10 – And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
But we still have a question. Why is this such a big deal to God? Why Is having a Kingdom of Priests so important to God? Let’s go back to the beginning … like “In the beginning …” Genesis chapter 1
God’s Original Commission and Creation
v.2 The Earth was, in Hebrew, “tohu wa vohu” – Without Form and Void – wild and waste – unformed and uninhabited – Dark Waters – chaos and emptiness.
- Day 1 – Light and darkness – Order
- Day 2 – Sky – Waters above from Waters below – Order
- Day 3 – Land – Waters from Dry Land – Order
- Day 4 – Sun, Moon, Stars – Filling
- Day 5 – Birds, Fish – Filling
- Day 6 – Land Animals – Humans – Filling
- Day 7 – Rest – Sabbath
The Spirit of God hovers over the chaos of a wild and waste world and brings order and fullness.
The Commission
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God commissions humans to go into the rest of the world and have dominion. This is a word that I’ve struggled with as a Christian, but recently I discovered my struggle was with how I defined dominion. Dominion is a Biblical word that means to bring order and fullness to a world of chaos and emptiness – to be God’s representatives and continue to do what He had done in creation.
But there was the fall – a rebellion. But notice, the commission for humanity never changed.
There was actually a second rebellion at the beginning of Genesis 6 that we don’t have time to get into this morning, but that brought about the flood. And after the flood …
Gen 9:1, 7 – And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. …
7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”
God recommissions humans (Noah and his family) to go into the chaos and emptiness of this “newly washed” world and have dominion – bring order and fullness. To be His representatives and continue to do what He had done in creation.
It is in God’s response to these two rebellion accounts that we see the Passion of God. What does He want?
He Wants To Partner With Us In Accomplishing His Will On Earth
When God thought about creating humans, His plan, His perfect will, was to create us to be Stewards of God’s Creation, Bringing Order and Fullness, and Accomplishing God’s Will “On Earth As It Is In Heaven”
Even after Sin, even after Rebellion (both in Heaven and on Earth) God’s plan never changed. But to accomplish His initial plan, He now needed a rescue plan.
How was God going to accomplish this rescue plan? Here again we can see it in fractals all throughout scripture, but I think it is best seen in this passionate response that God gives in Ezekiel 34:11-12 –
“For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold (LOOK!), I …, I MYSELF will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.”
The Rescue Mission of God is to search for His lost sheep – To seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).
And this is where we discover the Two Calls of God that he issues to every individual:
Call #1 – Come & Repent – Why? So that He can Reconcile Us To Himself and Restore Us to the Family – Reconciled and Restored by Grace alone!
Call #2 – Go & Represent – Why? So that we can fulfill God’s initial plan, to bring order where there is chaos, and to bring fullness where there is barrenness, AND to partner with God to accomplish His rescue plan, by Recognizing and Living Out Our Identity.
And What Is Our Identity? – Priests in the Kingdom of God Representing Him to the World
1 Peter 2:9-10 – “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
We have seen all throughout this series that The Presence of God in our lives will ALWAYS propel us to be on Mission for God. Why? Because that is His passion.
The Holy Spirit was not given to the church just so we could feel good. The Holy Spirit was given to the church to equip us to function as priests in the Kingdom of God Representing Him to the World.
Jesus didn’t die to save us so that we could simply sit around and wait to go to Heaven. That was never in the mind or heart of God. That’s a false, self-centered image.
Jesus died to save us so that we could join Him in the rescue mission for lost image bearers. Jesus died to save us so that we could partner with Him in bringing order to the chaos we find in the world. Jesus died so that we could partner with Him in bringing fullness where there is barrenness in the world.
Remember the quote from C.S. Lewis’ the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? Mr. Beaver whispers to the children, “They say Aslan is on the move – perhaps has already landed.” Scripture is clear, we serve a God who is continually on the move.
Unavoidable Consequence of the Presence of God
The Presence of God is not static . The Presence of God does not just stand still and wait for us to find Him. The God of the universe is in pursuit of you and me and when we finally see that, and embrace Him, we also embrace His ongoing mission.
A Christian who does not see themselves as a priest in the Kingdom of God, who is not fully committed to the Passion and Mission of God, is a Christian with spiritual Alzheimer’s. That person has forgotten who she, and who God created her to be. And God is moving on – with or without us – His Passion will not allow Him to stay and coddle us. There are more image bearers that need rescued! The AMAZING thing is that God’s passion is to partner with us in that mission!
The call on your life and my life is the same now as it has always been.
Come & Repent, AND then Go & Represent.
Our difficulty is that we’ve focused so much on the first part of the call – Come & Repent – that we’ve either forgotten the call to Go & Represent or we were never taught how to do it – And THAT’s a discipleship problem.
A world without the rule of God is “tohu wa vohu” – wild and waste – without form and void – chaos and emptiness. God wants us to see it, and then work to accomplish God’s will “on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
Look at your family. Is there wild and waste – chaos and emptiness? What can you do to bring the rule of Christ to your family? What can you do to reduce the chaos and fill the emptiness? Not in a heavy-handed way, but with the Spirit of Christ, operating out of His loving-kindness.
Look at your neighborhood. Is it “tohu wa vohu”? You are the temple of the Holy Spirit – where Heaven meets Earth. What can you do to make your neighborhood more like Heaven and less like the chaos we find in the world?
In your work responsibilities, have you allowed God to help you establish your priorities in how you accomplish your work? Can you imitate what God did in creation and make a difference, in your workplace or in your coworkers, and step back and say, “This is good!”?
Can you look at your world, and find ways to make disciples, teaching them to live and act the way Christ taught us to live and act? Isn’t that the Great Commission?
There is a lot wrong with the world – and you are NOT responsible for fixing EVERYTHING. But what are the things you ARE responsible for? Where do YOU have authority? What have YOU been given to steward?
If you have already responded to the “Come & Repent call” then you represent God in the world. What does God see when He looks through your eyes? What would God do if He could work through your hands? Where would God go if He could walk in your shoes? How would Jesus pray if He heard what you heard?
You are image bearers of the Creator King. You carry the only name that can rescue people from darkness and bring them into His glorious light. You are the temple of God. The Holy Spirit dwells inside you. The Unavoidable Consequence of the Presence of God is that He is on the move. His passion has not changed or diminished from the beginning of creation. God so loved the world that He sent His Son to deliver us from the chaos and emptiness that imprisons us.
And the Presence of God in us impels us to Go. To do anything else is to tarnish His image and to bring shame to His name. To refuse to Go, is to desecrate His temple and to quench the Holy Spirit.
Come & Repent. Go & Represent. This is the passion and mission of God.
If you have not responded to that FIRST call on your life, now is the time to do it – Come & Repent. Be reconciled to God. Be grafted back into the Family. God’s passion is for you to be restored to the position that He designed you to hold – as a priest in the Kingdom of God.
If you have responded to the first call, have you heard and responded to the SECOND call? Go & Represent. You are a priest in the Kingdom of God. God’s passion, from the beginning of creation, is to partner with you in transforming the world. He’s given you His Holy Spirit. He has gifted you with Spiritual Gifts. You are the Temple of the Holy Spirit and every place you set your foot is a place where Heaven meets Earth.
God is on the move, and He has called you to be part of that adventure! Answer His call this morning.
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