Genesis and Matthew XXIX

"Now let me go down and see: if they have done according to its cry that has come to me - destruction!


"I want mercy and not sacrifice."

"Why would God permit so many African children to die of hunger?

"Surely you're not saying the 911 attacks were God's judgment upon American immorality!"

If you apply the world's definition of love to its problems, like hunger, disease, war, natural disasters, and famine, it can get quite easy to become angry with God. Surely, would not a loving God care for His children?

The Old Testament is full of accounts of God solving problems by wiping them out entirely, then starting all over. And so the question is, how can this not be defined as merciful, or loving? When an animal is in great pain and will not recover, we advocate "mercy killing." End the pain and suffering. Sometimes the only way God can relieve people's pain, is to take their lives.

This idea of sacrifice carries with it an understanding of death. If there were no such thing as death, then sacrifice would have no meaning. If you have eternal life, you've got it all! "Sacrifice" is part of the equation that keeps the world in balance until death is destroyed at the Return of Christ. We sacrifice because it is a reminder of our mortal predicament. If we give something up, then we understand that it will help someone else who is suffering, thanks to the curse placed upon the earth since the time of Adam's disobedience.

But God prefers mercy, not sacrifice. Sacrifice is Old Testamental. It is self-focused. It is legalistic.

But mercy, which is understood by the mature believer, is New Testamental. It is outwardly-focused. It is based on freedom in Christ. It is conceived and driven in godly Love.

God heard the cry coming from Sodom and Gomorrah. There were those within its boundaries, in great pain due to its rampant sin. So it is today. God does hear the pain of those suffering in the poorest parts of the planet. He calls on us to serve, to act mercifully.

In the end, if the Church does not show up to help, God may be left with only one merciful option.

Genesis and Matthew XXVIII

. . . and all (Abraham's) household people, whether house-born or money-bought from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.


"Put my yoke on and learn from me: I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls, because my yoke is kindly and my load is light."

We cannot enjoy the restful life that Christ offers, while we carry around our sack of burdens. The person with worries, or troubles, or stress, is too focused on those things to enjoy Christ. A troubled person is not a restful person. Yet we are called to rest.

Is that not what we want? We want a stress-free life! We wish we could be as care-free as we were in the days of our youth. The burdens of life, which grow heavier by the year, get in the way! But what is the source of these worries? How can we root it out?

Symbolically, a practice was in place, instituted by Abraham, under God's direction. It begins with a cutting away of the flesh, And there is no part of humanity more "fleshly" and harmful than our obsession with sex. We can live without it, yet we are prone to treat it as beasts do, as an urge that must be satisfied. A reading of all of my other posts would indicate that I consider the human male to be particularly at fault. He tends to be the aggressor, the tempter, the seducer. He does not use his mind to plan out his paths. He does not do what is right!

Circumcision cuts away at the most troublesome part of the male physique. It involves the shedding of blood. The removal of the flesh, or of sin, from our lives is not pleasant. Neither is it necessarily a clean process. It is painful, but must be done.

Our worries, our temptations, our fears, our burdens, are all the same as the sin that keeps us back.

Remove the sin in your life - a task that is not easy - and then you are free to enjoy the rest in Christ.

Genesis and Matthew XXVII

"Walk in my presence! And be wholehearted!"
"I assure you, among all those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist - but the lowest person in the kingdom of the skies is greater than him."

Abraham was known for his unquestioning obedience to God. To trust God, and to do what God expects, is the very essence of faith.

John the Baptist lived a simple life marked by an almost fanatical devotion to serving God. He had no regular job, no home, no things. Yet Jesus called John the greatest in God's kingdom.

In the Easter sermon at Dexter United Methodist Church, less than a week ago, the pastor made this point - that everything we do: all our strivings, schedulings, activities, stressings, etc., really count for nothing. The only thing that matters is serving Christ. It was part of a sermon series entitled The Hard Sayings of Jesus.

How about these three things:

* Walk with God.
* Be wholehearted (sincere, pure, righteous).
* Give up everything to serve the Lord.

Abraham believed God, and followed Him. John the Baptist gave it all up. These are two very hard lessons.

Are we ready to rejoice at the wealthy guy that gives it all up to preach to the poor? How about encouraging our friends and family to drop their hobbies and busy schedules, so that they can spend reflective time in God's word and prayer? How about taking a bold stand for virtues such as honesty, sincerity, loyalty, purity, charity?

These pretty much say it all. But on the other side of obedience, trust, purity, and simplicity, are land as far as we can see, a family too numerous to count, and a seat of honor in God's Kingdom.

Do we believe this? What may we conclude by our behavior?

Genesis and Matthew XXVI

He (Ishmael) shall be a wild-ass of a man, his hand against all, hand of all against him, yet in the presence of all his brothers shall he dwell.


What did you go out to the desert to see? . . . A prophet? Yes, I tell you, a prophet and more . . . 

There is a wild man at the beginning of each testament. In the old, it is Ishmael, first son of Abraham, father of the Arab nation. In the New Testament, it is John the Immerser, Jesus' cousin. John was a child sent from God's promise, born to a woman too old to have children, as was Ishmael's half-brother, Isaac.

Promises abound, and so often it has to do with miraculous births.

Ishmael was not a child of promise. But he grew to be a great nation. He represents the Old Testament. Clans, nations, tribes are everything in the Old Testament. Warfare was the primary mode of building kingdoms. It was, basically, the way the world did things. Yet God operated and worked His will in this context. Today, the descendants of Ishmael are still known for their adherence to this Old Testament way of doing things: rigid laws, heavily male-dominated, use of warfare and its ancient rules (you are to wipe out every trace of life of your enemies).

John comes along, in the days of Christ. Both he and Jesus were born according to a promise. John is the wild man of the New Covenant. He has cast off all worldliness. He does not seek, or need, a "job." He just proclaims the word of God. This is the most important thing. He is not worried about having a son to carry on his name. In the New Testament, to be "wild" means to have nothing to do with the world and its trappings.

Sons in the Old Testament (including Ishmael) were made holy via circumcision. But in the New, all people are made holy by way of belief, demonstrated in the act of immersion first made essential to the church, by John the Immerser.

We become part of a New Family.

Ishmael's nation was blessed, and continues to be so, today, in terms of the multiplying of its population. The messenger of God told Ishmael's mother, to return back to the tent of Abraham, to her family, regardless of how she had been treated.

He calls all of us today, to return back to our families, through Christ.

Genesis and Matthew XXV

On that day YHWH cut a covenant with Avram, saying: I give this land to your seed . . . 


Whoever prefers father or mother over me is not worthy of me . . . 

I would love to see this kind of devotion to God demonstrated. That is, a parent making it very clear that they want their children to prefer God over themselves.

It would go like this:

Teenager: Dad, I am planning to become a teacher.
Father: That's great, son. Did you pray about this?

Or . . .

Teenager: Dad, I am thinking of entering the ministry . . .
Father: Praise God!

But rather, we tend to get more like the following:

Teenager: Dad, I am planning to become a teacher.
Father: You don't want to do that.

Or . . .

Teenager: Dad, I am thinking of entering the ministry . . .
Father: Well, you've got to be realistic. How will you afford to pay for your kids' college?

Parents should be aggressively moving their children towards Christian service. Too many parents believe their calling is to raise children that go to church, that are even leaders in the church, as long as they make good money! Because, after all, somebody has got to support God's work!

We need parents who, if they see their child praying and studying Scripture, going to church regularly, that if they wind up on some mission trip to a dangerous land, or engaging in urban ministries, or pursuing a rural ministry that does not pay much; that these parents rejoice, or at least accept that God is in control (He is anyway).

I marvel at the professing Christians who still do not seem to have grasped the simple act of faith, of believing that God is in control, especially when it comes to their children!

God works his plan in families, starting with Abraham's family. We are wanderers, seeking out a homeland that has been promised to us. We have land in our name, that we will occupy. It's all about our family, and our home, and our reunion with Father Abraham and all of his descendants. Nothing else matters.

Genesis and Matthew - Vacation Version

He brought back his nephew Lot, together with Lot's possessions and the women and everyone else who had been captured.

 ". . . because I came to divide a man against his father and a daughter against her mother . . . "

We have a difficult time squaring the idea of building family, and the effect of Christ's work upon families, which apparently is to divide them.

We know, as we shall see later, that Paul hated divisions among people. He called them a "heresy."

So I think that we need to be aware of the natural forces among us, which drive us apart. This happens most intensely to families. When you see it happening, realize what is going on. Next, know that divisions are going to be expected, especially in families. Satan loves family quarrels.

Finally, make your work focused on building up families. Christ draws and divides people. But that can't be helped. His work is integrally to restore the lost, to reconnect families; to rescue them from slavery, as Abram did his nephew Lot.

Genesis and Matthew XXIV

Pray let there be no quarreling between me and you, between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brother men!


Brothers will hand each other over to be executed, and fathers their children.

Imagine, if you can, a most despicable scene:

Great trouble comes upon the world; the enemies of God are in charge. As throughout history, their solution to the problem of God is to kill His children. Soon, to save their own lives, people begin turning in their own family members.

I have two brothers, and a sister. They each have children.

My cousins on my mother's side, are like brothers and sisters to me. Those on my father's are, with me, part of a very strong line of family closeness. The Darrs love to be together.

And now, thanks to the Internet, I am reconnecting with second and third cousins. What a wonderful thing when you can find these relations, look at them and see the family resemblance! In a world of billions of people, your third, fourth, and fifth cousins are closer to you, than you know!

One of the benefits of being in a family is the sense of security and belonging.

Bullying is a big topic these days. Everybody wants to end it. But when I was a child, nobody messed with me, even bigger kids, because I was "Little Darr." My older brother, you see, was tough, and respected by his peers. He was "Darr" and I was "Little Darr." As a result, I became a little guy that the older, tougher kids would defend, even if my brother was not around.

And when we moved to Michigan, to a different school and community, where these relationships could not be formed, I benefited by having a sister that dated a member of one of the tough, local farm families. My future brother-in-law's younger brother was my age. He was big and tough, and because of my connection to him, I was once again spared any ill treatment.

By the time I was in high school, and the bigger kids that would protect me began to graduate, I had gotten so used to not being messed with, that I simply refused to be mistreated by anybody. One time, these pot-head guys tried to toss me into a dumpster. I swung my arms, kicked, and did whatever I could, to prevent this from happening. I think that I found a reserve of fierceness that I had never revealed before. I got away from them, and they never approached me again. I was Little Darr.

Imagine the idea of family closeness, belonging, and protection dying away in an age of persecution. It is unfathomable to me. What could be more hurtful than your own brother, or parent, or cousin, saying "I never saw him before", in order to save their own skin?

Abraham and Lot rose above all this. They said, "Nothing must cause us to become enemies. We're family!"

Cultivate your family closeness. I believe it is one of the major points of God's plan, from Genesis to Revelation.

Genesis and Matthew XXIII

YHWH said to Avram: Go-you-forth from your land, from your kindred, from your father's house, to the land that I will let you see.


Jesus sent out these twelve after first giving them orders saying, "Don't go off on the road to the pagans and don't go to the Samaritan city. Instead go after the lost sheep of the Israel family.. . . "

The command, Go, is frequently repeated in both Testaments. Here Abram is told to go to a land that God will show him. Land is an important promise. God created the earth for us. He commanded us to have dominion over it. The American Dream is all about owning property. We desire our own land. Because of Abram's faith, he was given land for himself and the nation that was to come out of him.

Christ also commands his Apostles to Go. Here, before his death and resurrection, before the Great Commission, he sends them out, as a sort-of training exercise.

Abraham goes, in expectation of a promise's fulfillment. He has only himself and his wife.

The Apostles go, back into the family Israel. Their mission is to recover and restore the nation that came from Abraham. But in the New Covenant, there is a twist.

One command is to go out, into the unexpected. The other is to go back in, to restore what was lost; to remind the people of their birthright, to call them to claim the inheritance that God first promised Abram, when he was told to Go.

The details are left out of these narratives. Unlike most epic journeys from Ancient mythology and legend, Abram does not meet up with monsters and witches. The journey was not the point; rather, the destination was the point.

The Apostles are told to avoid anything that would make their quest "interesting." Turn neither to the right nor the left. The mission was simple: go to the family Israel, remind them, proclaim the Kingdom. Return them to where they were before.

In God's true plan, we are not here to entertain with tales of heroism and valor (although Abram and the Apostles were that and more!). Rather, we present the simple message of God's love, and His promise to us.

Genesis and Matthew XXII

But when they had come as far as Harran, they settled there.


Then he says to his students, "An ample harvest, and few workers. So ask the harvestmaster to send workers out into his fields."

It is hard to resist commenting on the meaning of the town name: "Harran."

Terah, with his son Abram, daughter-in-law Sarah, and grandson Lot, traveled from their native land, towards Canaan. As we saw earlier, Canaan became a great power in those times. It is where the commerce was happening. There were "jobs" there. Perhaps they set out to find a better way of life. Terah is an old man, and one of his sons preceded him in death. Abram, who himself was in his middle years, had no children and was free to move around. This extended family group was like families still are today: hanging together, taking care of one another. But Terah is the one in charge. Abram is just a poor unfortunate man with no son to carry on the name. I can imagine that his identity was meager. He was just one of the family members of Terah, the son with no sons, and no regular job.

They come across a village called "Harran," which means, "Crossroad." It is here that Terah was to die, and where Abram became free to step up to the plate. It is where he first heard God's call on his life. The Gospel is a story for every generation. Starting in Adam, successive generations have the seed of the Gospel planted in some important historical figure. A seed is planted right there in Harran; a very important seed. At the Crossroad of Abram's life, a new root is about to take hold, one that will play a central part in God's unfolding plan.

God once again uses a family. Families are designed to stay together. If we can only get the families to stay together, to help each other, to support one another . . . then what need would there be of governments, indeed, of churches?

A pastor friend put it to me once: "I am a minister because families do not do their jobs. If they did, then I would not be needed." Hmmm . . . .

Imagine the seed being planted right there at Harran, thousands of years ago. By the time of Christ, the fields are fully grown. In fact, the harvest is ample. So many people out there, adrift, lost, lonely, missing in action! They are groping along. Now please think about this, reader: they are lost because they do not belong to the most important thing . . . a family!

Our call is to our brethren here on earth. How can we advance the Gospel - build God's Kingdom - while conveniently leaving our own flesh and blood to fend for themselves? I know people that have shared the Gospel with others, but have never offered a hint of it to their own brothers and sisters!!

And once we have figured out that the harvest is really our own immediate families (like that of Terah), then it is no small step to extend it out further, to our cousins, our second cousins, our third cousins . . . until ultimately we can see that we touch every other person on earth!

We are workers in the fields. Start with family.

Genesis and Matthew XXI

YHWH said: Here, (they are) one people with one language for them all, and this is merely the first of their doing - now there will be no barrier for them in all that they scheme to do!


And their eyes were opened. And Jesus thundered at them, saying, "Make sure no one finds out!" But they went and publicized him throughout the country.

As much as we love collaboration and cooperation, there is a potential for things to go terribly wrong when humans get together.

Humanity has a great capacity for invention, innovation, and almost god-like achievement. A well-functioning team can outperform an equal number of competitors that do not get along well. There is no limit to what we can do, if we can all just get unified. But humanity unified in the goal of reaching the level of God always goes wrong. Only God is God. When we try to become what we're not, our achievements take a wicked turn. So God had to stop what was going on at Babel.

Jesus, likewise, did not want his deeds to be published like a slick ad campaign. He did not want the word to go out by way of advertisers and promoters. God does not operate that way! He does his work in the quiet places of our lives.

Consider the recent coordinated uprising in Egypt, and similar ones going on the Middle East, fostered along by the lightning speed and global reach of the Internet. Language and distance barriers are breaking down, and we wonder what awesome power is about to be unleashed on the planet!

Genesis and Matthew XX

Two sons were born to Ever: the name of the first one was Peleg/Splitting, for in his days the earth-folk were split up . . . 


And as he passed through there Jesus was followed by two blind men shouting, "Have mercy on us, son of David."

We keep seeing this fracturing of humanity in the generations following the Flood, and then a magnetic effect of the Christ, as he walked the earth.

Let's review . . .

* God creates Adam and Eve, and gives them full authority over the earth and its creatures. This is a great deal of power and responsibility to give the young human race. Within a generation, power is already abused more than once: Adam and Eve foolishly seek knowledge for which they are not ready; and then their son Cain murders his brother Abel. Curiosity killed the cat, and ruined humanity. Cain took "have dominion" to a ghastly, but accurate level, by taking the life of his own brother. The first earthly family begins to fracture as soon as the first generation reaches adulthood.

* By the time of Noah, violence runs rampant on earth, as humans everywhere assert their dominion over everything and anything, including other humans. They do what feels good, disregarding any kind of natural consequences. Quite possibly, humanity stands on the brink of self-extinction, (sexually transmitted diseases? Pestilence? Famine? War?), if not for God stepping in, saving Noah and his family, and restoring order . . .

* Within the first generation of the righteous man Noah, his own sons begin to split apart, resulting in a curse upon one of them.

* Just prior to the incident at Babel, humanity has not only spread far apart, but this time its selfish deeds has the aspect of efficiency and strength in numbers. We have learned how to form alliances, collaborate, build empires. Once again our advancement is rushing ahead at a rate greater than our capacity to handle it. Perhaps technology was advancing at a fast pace! This time God causes the earth to fracture even more, by confusing our languages so that cooperation among wicked empire-builders would be unlikely.

But in a quiet village of Judea, thousands of years later, the son of God walks about the moral chaos of the Roman political system, which has established order through its might only. And as he goes about, blind people are drawn to him like steel needles to a magnet.

Genesis and Matthew XVIX

Afterward the Canaanite clans were scattered abroad.


But when the crowd was thrown out he went in and took her hand, and the girl woke up.

We continue to see the effect of humanity on earth: towards disorder and chaos. We see how God comes in, sometimes personally, sometimes through emissaries such as angels, sometimes as humans like Moses, and in this last age, through His son, Jesus. God intervenes and restores order.

He set up a way of life for us: orderly families, orderly refuges, orderly communities, orderly churches. He knew that, left to ourselves, we start making up our own rules, and things get out of hand.

There has not been a single human being in history, that could establish order anywhere, without God's help. Dictators talk about setting up planned, efficient systems of government, that are run with an iron fist. But within the spirits of these citizens there is fear, and loathing.

Notice how God always cleans the place up, before establishing order. The nations grow, and they spread out. They expand their borders. But the more they expand, the more people there are that want to be in charge. First there is confusion, then disorder, then chaos, and sometimes, violence.

Families are a very simple system set up by God. Men and women meet, and covenant together to establish homes based on stability, deliberate love, security, and most of all, clarity, so that the children have a sense of belonging.

My Grandmother, for instance, knew her grandparents, and aunts and uncles, very well! Yet today, dozens of descendants of these same people whom my grandmother loved, are spread out all over the US, with very little awareness of each other! As a family, they have descended into disorder!

Christ comes in to a chaotic place. A little girl has just died, and in the home a party seems to be going on. The place is overrun with visitors and "well-wishers", but as so often happens, the mob loses a sense of focus and direction.

The first thing he does, is to send the crowd away. In the ensuing silence, order is restored. And in that setting, he touches the girl's hand, her breath returns, and she rises up from death.

Life and peace return. Order is restored.

Genesis and Matthew XVIII

Now these are the begettings of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Yefet. Sons were born to them after the Deluge.


As he was saying these things to them, next a high official came and bowed before him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but go and put your hand on her, and she'll live."

After the Flood, humanity began to repopulate the earth. There was an orderliness to it, as each nation that came from Noah's sons had a role to fill in history. Interestingly, the cursed son, Ham, who was supposed to serve the other brothers, became the forbear of such great empires as Egypt and Assyria. Perhaps the point was made even then, that the greatest would be servant to the least!

But inevitably, the spread of humanity would eventually yield to the return of chaos. The first such episode would be Babel, which is just around the corner in our study. God does not want to force us to behave and choose against our own will. But the lesson of the Flood taught several generations to multiply and control the earth, which was God's first and perhaps most important directive in creation. They behaved quite well. Noah's family became very successful.

There's an interesting juxtaposition with the beginning of Christ's ministry. The more ordered society became; in other words, the greater and powerful the world governments, the more in disarray we became, in reality. The Egyptian Empire yielded to the Assyrian, which fell to the Babylonian, and then the Persian, Greek, and finally the Roman, the most terrible of all!!

Rome was the shining moment of the Ancient World, in terms of the expansion of the sons of Noah! How organized and efficient was this nation! It dominated the earth, and even for a time operated as a Republic! It ultimately high-jacked the Church of Christ and sought to make it it's own! How adaptable, how functional, how awesome!  How human!

We have always been very good at the having-dominion-over-the-earth part of God's directives! In the time of Christ, the fleshly part of Noah's legacy was unsurpassed, and completely consummated! But God's flock, His sheep, His children, were scattered, lost, and even fearful.

See how people begin swarming to the Christ! From high Roman officials to poor beggar women, they come. In the midst of a totally disordered and chaotic world (disguised as Roman efficiency) he walks among us, and where he goes, order reigns.

Genesis and Matthew XVII

May God extend Yefet (Japheth), let him dwell in the tends of Shem, but may Canaan be servant to them!


Nor do they put new wine in old wineskins, because if they do, the skins break and the wine pours out and the skins are ruined; instead, they put new wine in new skins, and both are preserved.

We can learn about the Kingdom of God by looking at families.

I marvel at how it only takes a generation or two, to unravel what may once have been a close family. One of the major roadblocks in doing family research, is recovering information from family whose ancestors had become estranged from their siblings. Resentment that one sibling may feel towards the rest of the family, seems to get locked into the DNA, when generations later the descendants form no desire to reconnect with their family.

My great-great grandmother is a great mystery to many of us. Her daughter, my great-grandmother, when asked about her mother, would say, "You don't want to know about that," with anger. The next generation, that of my grandmother, learned never to ask about it. Or - what they knew, they learned never to share. But now, a hundred and fifty years later, we do want to know about it!

Relationships are destroyed like old written records that are cast into a fire. Photos are left behind, with no identifying labels. A brother that breaks away from his sister, never to speak to her again, results in grand-children that just want to know where they came from. Are there cousins living nearby, that they do not know about?

Other families, where the parents make an effort to keep their children connected, do much better. Their children seem to accomplish more, and fare more effectively in society.

Christ spoke about putting new wine in new wineskins. He came to simultaneously change everything to a New Order, while preserving the essence of the Old. The Old Covenant, with its emphasis on laws, rules, religious practices, families, nations, and military campaigns, served to define God's holiness, His expectations,  His vision for us, and to clearly define how we are to behave.

Humanity, in its natural state, thinks in terms of rules. Note how children learn the word "No!" immediately after they learn the word "Ma". In our natural, most basic state, we understand rules and  boundaries. So God started off with treating us this way.

We also like roles and positions. We understand authority. We like to know where we stand. Observe elementary-aged children, and their complaints of "that's not fair!" We see ourselves as part of a group, of belonging to something or some group. This explains the influence of gangs in lawless communities. We want to belong, and we want rules, even if the rules are violent (this is in our natural, unredeemed state).

Noah pronounces an order of authority for his sons. Shem would be on top, and Japheth was to be favored in Shem's world. Ham was to be their servant. How cruel this seems! But our parents' decisions always seem not totally fair, from our purview! But Noah's curse on Canaan has been used throughout history, to justify everything from Slavery to military conquest! Noah, a just man, committed a grave error on history, it would seem!

But, Noah's order was part of the world's order in those times. Your family identification mattered. And it still does today, for the world is not completely redeemed yet! Everyone reading these words can instantly identify  a close relative that is drifting away. Siblings and cousins, that once were closer than two people can be, today hardly ever say a word to one another! We identify with our group!

The redeemed person, the one living under Grace, does not just put away family identifications!

When Jesus sat down with sinners, he was sitting down with his own distant cousins that were unfortunate enough to be born into the wrong clan! The new wine in new wineskins, in this case, was that we are now free to hang out with these others, regardless of their birth circumstances, their inherited wealth, their college background, their lifestyle choices, the way they dress, their style preferences.

Families are God's gift to us, to train in Kingdom living. Embrace your family. Renew your connections with brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles. Put away the old bitternesses whose origins no one remembers. Set aside resentments. Stop being so judgmental! Help the relative in need! Stop gossiping about a niece or nephew whose personal choices have landed him or her in IC, and go pay a visit!

Our families serve a great purpose. And God has given us the chance to redeem the Canaans in our families, to sit down with them, once again, and to treat them as our equals.

 . . . which is exactly what they are!

Genesis and Matthew XVI

I will call to mind my covenant that is between me and you and all living things - all flesh: never again shall the waters become a Deluge, to bring all flesh to ruin!


He heard that and said, "It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick."

In a way, God now has a problem. Humanity had already decayed into total corruption in the days before the Flood. Only Noah and his family were spared. God favored Noah, because he was a just and fair man. He honored God, prayed to Him, fellowshipped with Him. Noah did what was right in God's eyes. Now notice - Noah and his family were spared.

God's problem is this: what is He going to do if humanity declines once again? He can't destroy them with a flood, because of His promise. He even has rainbows as a constant reminder of this promise (the reminder is probably more for our benefit!)

But there's something about keeping one man, and his family, around. Noah's righteousness covered his entire family. It is important to belong to a family.

But if humanity is to be spared, then God needs a new plan, a new approach. He had known all along that we were born with a sickness. Mortality itself is the worse kind of illness. What, really, does it matter whether we go by cancer, heart disease, murder, accidental death, or old age? Indeed, what if a direct act of God's judgment is what kills us in the end? We still die. We die because we are sick, and the illness itself is mortality. We need to be saved from Death! Sin is just a cause - but Death is the problem!

The Flood had the effect of teaching us the seriousness of sin and of death. But it must have pained God to have to go to such lengths. His new approach, now that we have seen how awful sin and death are (and every catastrophe should always remind us of this!), is to heal us.

The Scribes and Pharisees died. Tax-collectors and godless people die. We all die. Judas died, and Jesus died. We all are sick, and we all need a physician.

Genesis and Matthew XV

Whoever now sheds human blood, for that human shall his blood be shed, for in God's image he made humankind.


Seeing that, the crowds were terrified and praised God for giving that kind of power to mortal beings.

The first murder in history was that of Cain over his brother Abel. I do not think that Cain understood what would happen. No one had died yet. Perhaps the brothers had fought before, thrown punches at each other. They had felt anger and hatred before. But no one actually ever killed anybody. This time Cain was so jealous and angry that he sought to hurt Abel more than he ever had before. But this time Cain's blow ended Abel's life. The healing powers of Eden had ebbed enough that there was no saving Abel, the brother whom Cain loved. Cain's punishment was banishment from his family. And indeed, his life work was blessed beyond that of any other. God flourished and expanded Cain.

God was basically letting humanity have its way, and following through on His directive to us, that we would be fruitful and multiply, and have dominion over the Earth.

But as evil sprouted, with little consequence, humanity became more and more corrupt. We can imagine murder being pretty much rampant. Sin, violence, and evil were the norm. It had to be pretty bad for God to want to nearly exterminate the human race!!

This was humanity when in full control of its destiny. It's the way we still are. Without God's involvement, we drift away into savagery.

God gave us all the control we can handle. He gave us dominion over creation. But this directive goes awry when we seek to have dominion over each other. And we always seek dominion over each other. We extend the Great Commission of the Old Testament (have dominion over the earth) into a pass for us to control, enslave, and even kill each other!

God then says - if you take a life, you will lose your own life. Without violating His commissioning to us, without taking away trust or our dominion over the Earth, He provides a framework that will get some control back over Creation. He tells us what we may do, what we must do, if we are to avoid another era of rampant chaos.

But He is also making a statement about the value of life. Life is so value, that if you take it away from another, you must lose your own. This is not an undervaluing of life. It is a lesson in how precious it is to all of us! Our life, here on Earth, is everything!

What great power we have, when we can end something as precious as life! Is there no other manifestation of dominion and what it means, than for us to have this power? Truly God placed great trust in us, in making us such powerful beings!

But there is something even more powerful than that: the power to return life again to the one who has lost it; the power to restore a limb, or organ, or sense, that has been damaged either through nature or artificially! The taking of life is common, unimaginative, evil. But the giving of life is real power, and God has reserved that for Himself. Thank God we do not have that power yet! As a race, we do not value life enough yet, to be able to grant it!

Genesis and Matthew XIV

"I will never curse the soil again on humankind's account, since what the human heart forms is evil from its youth . . . "


And Jesus, seeing their mood, said, "Why are you brooding evil in your hearts?"

God shows a distinct quality in His ability to change. Before the Flood, He was fed up with humanity, and seemed quite eager to eliminate all but a few humans and animals. (Notice that even the animal kingdom paid for man's sins!) But afterward, His heart softened and He proclaimed that He would never wipe out humanity with a flood, ever again. This turning point in His relationship with humanity now moves in the direction of helping us find salvation.

But perhaps there was also a realization, on God's part, (yes, I know, this is awkward, knowing as we do, that God already knows everything!), that man is, basically, evil. He says - humans are evil, and they can't help it. I can't just punish them for something that is inherent in their nature!

God says, "What the human heart forms is evil from its youth."

Jesus says, "Why are you brooding evil in your hearts?"

Why the change? I think it has something to do with God's role as teacher, mentor, parent, Savior. First comes the conclusion: we are evil. This is guilt, shame, and repentance.

Next comes light on our hearts, paring away at our sinfulness, exposing us for what we are.

Okay, we're sinful - how will we change? By letting Christ in, and exposing ourselves, willingly, to Him.

"Brooding evil." Jesus says, "Why are you doing this?" We sit around with our anger, resentfulness, bitterness, jealousy, irritability . . . and our Lord says "What are you doing?" If we will be honest, we will admit that this is pretty much true. There is not a moment when we are not easy targets for evil thoughts to enter in and take over.

Just stop. Jesus can see our moods. Other people can see, too. If we can be asked "Why are you brooding evil in your hearts" then does it not follow, that we can put a stop to it?

Genesis and Matthew XIII

But God paid mind to Noah and all living-things, all the animals that were with him in the Ark, and God brought a rushing-wind across the earth, so that the waters abated.

. . . and Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son, you are forgiven your errors."

The waters of the flood decrease, and Jesus leaves the boat that had gone through a great storm, just previously. Water had been used as an example of God's power and judgment, and of His command over the elements of Nature.

God set up Nature so that an-eye-for-en-eye is the rule. What goes around does come around. The parent that does not discipline his child is only setting up the child to do greater wrongs later, and to suffer a greater punishment. Every action leads to an equal and opposite reaction, so that the laws of physics cross over into the laws of society.

But this was done only so that we could learn how to love one another with a godly love. I do not believe that God enjoys punishing His children. He is not willing to do this! But He wants us to enjoy the blessings of holiness, and to have full communion with Him, the Author of Life, and Life is everything. It is the only thing that matters, the only thing that ever was, that really mattered.

So we see God holding back, over and over again. He reminds me of a doting parent, one that wears blinders at the errors of his children. He spoils us. He lets us get away with so much. He lets Nature run its course most of the time, for that is how we learn. And God's Nature does do its work in time.

But He paid mind to Noah and all the living things on earth. Once the destructive action of the Flood was accomplished, God returned to a loving, doting focus on His children. The rushing-wind, or Breath of God, came over the oceans again. The spirit of God restored order. All was anew.

It was an early historic act of forgiveness. God forgave humanity, through the faith of our father Noah. It was the first of many New Creations.

The paralytic in Jesus' time was also an example of God letting us start anew. Gale-force winds had engendered fear and dread in the Apostles just moments before. Never is God's judgmental fury more on display than in the middle of a severe storm on the open sea. In the peace and calm that follows a storm, Jesus walks up from the shore and tells a paralyzed man, simply, "Your errors have been forgiven."

God does not need to punish us directly. Nature does. But He loves us, and is more than ready to forgive us.

Genesis and Matthew XII

 . . . the waters swelled and increased exceedingly upon the earth, so that the Ark floated upon the face of the waters.

Then he got up and yelled at the winds and the sea, and there was great calm.

Water. We are both fascinated by it, and terrified by it, at the same time. We are mostly made up of water. It is second only to oxygen, as the most critical thing we need to survive. Without oxygen, we die an almost immediate death. Without water, we die a slow and miserable death. Water is made up partly of oxygen.

But too much water kills us. It is perhaps the most destructive force in nature, able to wreak havoc and devastation instantaneously. The winds of a hurricane are accompanied by water. Indeed, they are caused by water - the ocean fuels typhoons as gasoline does an automobile. Fires advance slowly, compared to the sudden action of a water disaster. Even the rise of flood waters, once the flood line is topped, expand in an instant. You cannot outrun it.

Prior to God's creative activity in our universe, the earth is portrayed as mostly chaotic. It is mostly ocean. Imagine ocean being all there is on the face of the earth. We would have, in one place, a critically life-giving substance in extreme volume. But there is no dry ground, no plants, no land-dwelling animals. It is total, utter chaos, and humanity cannot survive in those conditions.

With the Deluge of Noah's time, God re-creates the conditions of the earth prior to the creation of humanity. It is a true starting-over point in history. But we have a sense of God's protection, as the Ark is peacefully lifted above the terror on the earth's surface.

Then, for thousands of years, God demonstrates again and again, His protection of His people.

Finally, His son appears, and walks among men. Christ's followers are learning of his greatness. They are on a boat out on the sea, when a great storm comes and tosses their boat about. With even the Son of God present, they are terrified. This is quite different than the scene in Noah's Ark!

There is no greater demonstration of God's power, than that He command even the atmosphere, and it obeys!

Man had departed far from God's will in the time of Noah. By moving away, they re-established chaos on earth. The return of the flood waters, of the global ocean, was a natural outcome. In the time of Christ, humanity had drifted far from God, once again. Christ's friends saw first-hand the chaos of a sea-storm, and how it represents humanity without God. In their presence, the Son of God commands the winds, and order is restored.

Genesis and Matthew XI

Now the earth had gone to ruin before God, the earth was filled with wrongdoing.

Go in the narrow door; because the door is wide and the road is broad leading off to destruction, and many people are going that way.

The idea, that humanity tends to create disorder out of God's ordered universe, goes back to the very beginning of Scipture, and reappears again and again. It is, perhaps, one of the key themes of the Bible.

Do the people that are wrecking the earth, or "ruining" it, realize how wrong they are? Of course not! Nobody goes about to do wrong. We do not deliberately concoct "evil schemes" and visit them upon innocent victims! This only happens in comic books, where the evil people come out and say "I'm an evil scientist," or an "evil villain."

Hitler himself believed in the rightness of his cause. Yes, crazy as it seems, he saw himself as a savior of the earth. Even the wickedness that he did was viewed as right, fair, and just, in his own eyes. And this is perhaps the most unsettling concept of all: that evildoers never intend to do evil! They have redefined "good" and "evil" so that they are on the side of "good." And we do the same, although perhaps at a much more benign level.

It is only when we begin to realize our own sinfulness, and can re-examine ourselves according to God's standards, that we can move towards righteousness. Only by seeing that we need to change, can we begin to change. Our tendency is toward chaos. But God calls us toward Him. When we are moving in His direction, we suddenly become righteous. It's like, the process itself is as important as the destination.

So if something feels good, we consider it "good." If we can make some good happen, through foul means (like ruthless tycoons that hurt people on their way up, but become lavish benefactors after they have become wealthy) we convince ourselves that we are "good." If we can invent some religious ritual that we may follow, we deem ourselves "good."

And if the vast majority is doing something, it must be good and right - for it's majority rule, and the majority must always be right!

But this does not move us in the direction of God.

Even though generations come and go, and humanity keeps moving creation further away from God and more into chaos (are all of the choices available to people today, in terms of lifestyle, careers, hobbies, mates, residences, etc., really improving things?), still God finds one person that got it right.

Enter Noah.

Genesis and Matthew X

Now Hanokh (Enoch) walked in accord with God, . . . 


Ask first for the kingdom of God and His justice, and these other things will be delivered to you.

We wonder about Enoch, this man who was several generations from Adam (about mid-way through Adam and Noah), and how it is that he, of all those that had lived, merited special mention and was one who walked "in accord with God." Apparently, he had a special bond, and fellowship, with the Lord. Was their walk together similar to that of Adam and God, before the fall?

First let's consider the total population. Enoch was 7 generations from Adam. Let's assume that each generation had ten children. By the time of Enoch the earth's population could have reached up to ten million people! Assuming they all lived many hundreds of years, let's take away an estimated half that had died, so that the world in the days of Enoch had five million people. By then there were cities and some well-developed economies.

But of all those millions, only Enoch "walked with God."

When you walk with God, you are one in a million, at least!

Enoch was a kingdom builder. As we go through Scripture, and see the patterns developing, we learn that it is all about building a kingdom. This kingdom will be not of this world. It is one where peace and love reign. There is no illness. If we ascribe the values Jesus spoke about, to Enoch, we find him to be a man that did right, did not sin, prayed, sought closeness to the Lord, loved others, and sought justice on earth. He was pleasant to be around. He defended the weak, and was loyal to his friends.

It only takes one in a million, to receive God's approval and advance His kingdom.

Genesis and Matthew IX

Is it not thus: If you intend good, bear-it-aloft, but if you do not intend good, at the entrance is sin, a crouching-demon, toward you his lust - but you can rule over him.


Let your way of talking be "yes" and "no"; anything more than that comes from the Evil One.

The path to God is the simple one. Yes, I know all about the narrow way, easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle, etc. The difference between "simple" and "easy" could not be more distinct than in this case!

Look at what God says to Cain, ages before Moses, and the Law, and the Ten Commandments: it is, pretty much, the Gospel message of Jesus Christ! "If you do not intend good . . . "

Jesus' Sermon on the Mount was all about intentions! It's not so much the act, as what we're thinking. For, our thoughts lead to actions, if we are not careful to bring them under our control. God's first lesson in morality, (since the Garden of Eden incident), is to the sinful, prideful son of Adam and Eve. Cain is the prototype of all the great opponents of God that will follow him. But it is early in human history, and God provides some one-on-one to Cain.

Consider, Cain was jealous of Abel's offering to God, the first-born and choicest meats from his flock. God preferred Abel's offering (which required a sacrifice, i.e. the death of a living thing, thus more precious), to Cain's, which were some amazing fruit from among his garden. Where Abel had to sacrifice a lamb, Cain brought forth from his produce, and this is important. Cain's garden would continue to yield good fruit. But Abel's lamb was gone forever.

But imagine the hard work that went into producing such fine fruits and vegetables. Compare that to Abel's task, which was to watch a herd of sheep. One worked and sweated (the works paradigm), while the other waited and watched, reflected and pondered (the grace paradigm). Maybe Abel even wrote music and poetry, while tending his sheep.

The story goes on to talk about the great cities built by Cain, and his descendants, that invented many fine forms of craftsmanship. There is no question that the Western culture today would consider Cain the more valuable of the two brothers! So it is with people that put work over relationships!

I can also find it easy to imagine God being present while Cain worked. Did they engage in conversation? Was their relationship friendly? Cain's offering may not have been accepted - but at least God cared enough to talk to him about it! We do not see this type of relationship between Abel and God!

Adam and Eve were cast out. And now Cain is cast out. Is this the same as the casting down of Lucifer? Are the events one and the same?

Cain's lifestyle was one of work and sweat. He had the chance to commune with God. God offered friendship to him. But once his intentions got darkened, sin moved toward him. Sin is treated like an actual person here. And the word "toward" denotes a physical, almost sexual attraction. The person moving away from God becomes an easy target for sin. Our dark intentions create a magnetic attraction to sin.

Christ shows us the simple way. "Yes" and "no." Train our thoughts, and our words, not to be so analytical. Too many words can confuse things. Those that talk too much, or think too much, are just providing a welcome to sin, or the "Evil One."

Genesis and Matthew VIII

Here, the human has become like one of us, in knowing good and evil.


Seeing the crowds, he went up the mountain, and as he sat there his students came to him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying . . .

The God of the early Old Testament is in many ways different than the God of the early New Testament. He is still the same God, still consistent in every way. But as a parent changes his approach as the child grows and matures, so does God change his towards us.

The great crisis of the Garden of Eden story is that humanity went against God's will. We insisted upon our independence. We were created to be be curious, and to want to grow. We want answers, and we want to investigate. So it is that the serpent used reason to get our first parents to disobey God.

Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. Their eyes were opened. This is equivalent to so many things that we still do today, in every phase of our lives. A new idea, or book, opens our eyes. We can have our eyes opened by some new form of music. Charismatic leaders can open our eyes to injustices, as Martin Luther King, Jr., did.

The big gateway to eye opening experiences is the same as ever: sexuality. You can almost tell when a child has crossed that bridge (if done before marriage). Often, a break is formed between child and parent. A mystery once only known by adults, by our parents, is now known by us. We know it all, now, we think. A sense of equality or even superiority over our parents emerges. We have done the one thing they told us not to do, and not only did nothing bad happen to us, it was actually a great experience!

It is only later that we understand why it is better to wait. We would not listen to our parents, and we do not listen to God!

So harsh penalties were required. A noble race does not go off and disobey God! So death entered in. Death (not sin) became the thing from which we needed to be saved!

The approach changes now, in the New Testament. Humanity has been battered around for eons, with the consequences of sin. Death reined since the dawn of time, but not just Death: violence and cruelty became Death's chief attendant! Along comes Christ.

We have a scene more like a college professor teaching a group of young adults. This was God's relationship to us at the time of Christ. The world was ready now, to listen to God. And the time had come for God to teach us, mentor and coach us.

Genesis and Matthew VII

 . . . but from the Tree of the Knowing of Good and Evil - you are not to eat of it, for on the day that you eat from it, you must die, yes, die.


  . . . It is written, "Humanity shall not just live on bread, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."

The opening chapters of the Old and New Testaments parallel one another. In the Old, the order is established. God is in charge, but God's enemy, called "the serpent", challenges Him. In the New, God's enemy, called "the examiner" seems to have wrested control of the earth from God. He challenges the Son of God, so as to complete his dominance. But the Son of God resists. God is challenging the satanic order. The New Testament is God's counter-punch.

Nourishment, the eating of food, plays an extensive role. We need food to eat. When it is time to eat, we hunger, we crave it. If it looks good, we try it. God gave us all that we need to survive (he still does, if people would pay attention). But in the Old Testament, humanity corrupted the concept of eating for survival, to eating for pleasure. We began to see our need, or drive, for pleasure, as being equal to our need to survive. We began to put ourselves first. Rejection of God and acceptance of ourselves as the ones in charge, became the paradigm. This rejection of God and pleasure-first lifestyle is manifest in sexual immorality.

God's supremacy is encapsulated in the command, "You are not to eat of it". This the line in the sand. Everything that we needed, he provided. But this one thing, this alluring thing that looks good, was prohibited from us, at least for the time being.

Millennia later, the Son of God further defines it. God feeds us, yes. But that is not all He does. His word itself keeps us alive. But the word of God was from the very beginning. The command "You are not to eat of it" is God's Word! When we rejected God by eating the forbidden fruit, we were rejecting His life-giving word itself, that which is more than food; that which later became flesh in the form of the Son of God!

The Tree of the Knowing of Good and Evil was food that killed. It represented that which is good for us, but not yet. We need food to live. This food made us mortal. But it wasn't the food itself that killed us. It was the rejection of God's word.

The hunger problem of the earth is easily solved. Feed on the word of God.

Genesis and Matthew VI

 . . . and YHWH, God, formed the human, of dust from the soil, he blew into his nostrils the breath of life and the human became a living being.

After being bathed, Jesus came straight out of the water. And all of a sudden the skies opened and he (John) saw the breath of God descending like a dove and coming toward him.

We do a great injustice in our most popular Bible translations, in going for "modern relevancy" or adhering to historical or orthdox "correctness."

Take the word normally translated "spirit." In the Hebrew, the word was ruach, in Greek, pneuma. In both cases, the literal translation should be breath.

Spirit brings to mind ghosts, misty-like humanoids floating around . . . quite frightening, really.

But the word breath has a more instant quality. It is immediate. Our breath comes in and permeates our souls; it leaves us and joins the air in our immediate surroundings. Breath is here and now, within, without. Isn't this what we want in our connection to God?

In God's two primal acts of human creation, breath is involved. First he forms a man from the dust of the earth ("Adam" meaning "man of the earth"; "adama" meaning earth or ground, itself.). Then the breath of God comes down and around Adam. It goes into Man's nostrils, and he becomes a living being.

In the second primal act of creation, the continuous development of Jesus Christ from Second Adam into Redeemer of the Race, God's breath is equally present and active. Christ's obedience to the Father, his modeling humility in being baptized by John the Baptist, the washing away of sin by bathing earthly dust and grit from off his body, was highly valued by God. (Water has similar qualities as breath. You go into the water and are completely surrounded by it. This is how we want to be held by God our Father!)

God's breath comes down and fills the place. The surrounding crowd sees the breath of God, His presence, come down gently and peacefully, lovingly (as it did to Adam originally). The visible breath of God is the Father's expression of pleasure in what had transpired.

Everything Christ did, His obedience to God, invited breath of God into his ministry. The breath of God creates, enlivens, animates, blesses, heals, and comforts.

Genesis and Matthew V

 . . . all green plants for eating, it was so.

. . . and his food (John the Baptist's) was locusts and wild honey.

John the Baptizer was a true natural man. He was like an original person created by God, someone within a generation of Adam and Eve. He lived off the land, God truly provided for him and he lacked for nothing. His DNA was very close to that of Adam and Eve's, for he was Jesus' second cousin, and Jesus had (I believe) an identical DNA match to Adam.

John ate food from the land. He did not require offerings. He slept in whatever bed he could find in the field. He wore clothing that came from the hide of wild animals. He killed only to survive, and did not kill warm-blooded animals for food. He had no income, but was rich. He had no job, but was fully occupied. He had no health care plan, for God took care of him.

According to Genesis, we were not originally intended to be omnivores. The early humans were vegetarians. God commands us to eat green plants, but nothing is said about eating meat until later.

John had a great life. He lived as God intended all of us to live. He had no cares, no worries (of himself!). He just followed God and lived well.

Genesis and Matthew IV

God blessed them . . .

"Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt . . . "

In Genesis, God creates humankind, and blesses them. From the moment that God blessed Adam and Eve, it meant something unique and permanent for the human race. He had created them in His own image. They were made to dominate the earth. With good follow-through, it was an excellent arrangement.

How does God go about blessing people? That is, what does this mean, to be "blessed" by God? It means something like receiving His favor. It means we need not worry. If God has blessed us, all is, (or will be) well.

God blessed our original ancestral parents.

God gave them dominion over all the earth, including all living things (except other humans, and this is an important point!)

So, what happens when these people, whom God has blessed, conduct their rulership over the earth in selfish, ungodly, or even wicked ways? What happens when we interpret it to mean we can rule over other humans? (If we rule over someone else, it means that the other person does not have full dominion over earth - someone else is prohibiting their duty to be a steward over earth).

Well, to follow-through on His blessing of us, God needs to teach us, to train us, and like any good educator, to let the learning roll out as we are ready for new lessons. And this is what God's plan, its sequence and timing, is all about! He is not slow - we are!

He also must be active and involved in human history - just enough to keep us alive, and just enough to keep us moving forward, as a people. So - He does little things like protecting the baby Jesus from King Herod.

It is always just enough. He has not withheld His command to us, to have dominion over the earth. He is just keeping us from destroying ourselves! To make it all work - He has to get involved every now and then!

Genesis and Matthew III

God said . . . it was so . . . God saw that it was good.

. . . and they shall call his name Emmanuel (which is translated "God-with-us").

Imagine all the time it took for God to create everything. Yes, we say six days, but how long were the days, before the sun and moon were created (the fourth day)? By the way, on the third day of creation, plant life was created. Plants are life that comes up from out of the ground. They are living things that come out of seeds, which are as good as dead unless activated by outside forces. Christ rose from the dead on the third day.

Was there "time" before God began to create our universe? If there were other beings, angels perhaps, did they fellowship, did they while away the hours, if there were such a thing as "hours"? Did the waiting seem interminable? Did they have to wait, at all?

Once He began creation, it meant He had finally taken a step of completion of the next phase of His Greater Plan. For whatever reason, He wanted creatures not unlike Himself, with intelligence, character, and integrity, with whom to share the Universe. But He began to create. It was the beginning of "God-with-us". (From this point, I will use the actual translation, and not "Emmanuel").

For ages upon ages He created the Universe. Our geologists believe it took millions and millions of years. Maybe it did. Yet it was God-with-us, doing the creating. There had to be an end-game to what He started. God-with-us was here from that beginning, yet God-with-us, the man, did not appear for ages yet to come.

Did some in God's eternal realm grow impatient with His plan? Did they get tired of the waiting? Was impatience the beginning of sin, which some believe first manifested itself in rebellious angels?

Did they say, "You said you would be "God-with-us" but all it turned out to be is eons of creation. The only living things here are these plants. We cannot fellowship with them!

God-with-us began at the moment God created the Heavens and the Earth. When he formed organization and order, out of chaos - before there was even light, before planets, before plants, before animals, before humans, God-with-us was already here. Only much later did God-with-us appear as a man.

We show great arrogance in growing impatient, by suggesting that God got something wrong. His plan is proceeding, whether we understand, or like it, or not.

Genesis and Matthew II

God said:  Let there be light! And there was light.

So the generations from Abraham to David made fourteen generations, and from David to the Babylonian migration fourteen generations, and from the Babylonian migration to Christ fourteen generations.

We see juxtaposed, two descriptions of God at work. He can both speak a thing, and it's done. Even light itself is created, simply because He states it into being.

But the promise made to Abraham, of His seed inheriting the land, took fourteen generations times three. His plan of salvation is as good as done, but it was at least 840 years in the making!

When we get impatient for God to work something out, or to fulfill on His promise, we are missing a very elemental aspect of how God works. You see right there on the page, and can read in under one minute, how God brought light into the world, but it took almost one thousand years from the time of Abraham, before it reached anything close to fulfillment. We then make the assumption that the creation of light, eons before the time of Abraham, happened instantly. Maybe it did. But what if it didn't? What if the creation of light took thousands of years?

I have a friend who has concluded that Jesus Christ is not coming back. He has based it on some book he read, that makes the case that Christ should have returned during the first century, C.E. The fact that he did not, indicates a fundamental inconsistency in Scripture. Jesus, or the writers of the New Testament, lied! The whole biblical case is now to be held in great suspicion. He has lost the light.

It took thousands of years to even get to the birth of Christ! His return is right on time!

Genesis and Matthew

At the beginning of God's creating of the Heavens and the earth, when the earth was wild and waste, darkness over the face of the Ocean, rushing-spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters - 


The book of the birth of Jesus the Anointed, son of David, son of Abraham: Abraham had Isaac, Isaac had Jacob, Jacob had Juda and his brothers, Juda had Phares and Sara by Thamar, Phares had Esram, Esram had Aram, Aram had Aminadab, Aminadab had Naason, Naason had Salmon, Salmon had Boaz by Rachab, Boaz had Jobed by Ruth, Jobed had Jesse, and Jesse had David the king.

It is commonly believed that God formed everything, from nothing. But in fact the original Hebrew talks about God creating order out of chaos. Note the phrase "when the earth was wild and waste." There was darkness and emptiness, but there wasn't nothing. Also, our translations usually say "In the Beginning . . . " which sticks us with our chronological trap - as though there ever was a "beginning," which carries the possibility that there was a time when there was no God.

But here, we know that the book of Genesis is about God moving about, hovering over the face of the waters, His spirit (ruach) moving about, active at least as a passive observer. But then, God decides to act. He begins to bring order out of chaos.

Likewise, the world at the birth of Christ, was in chaos. Yes, Rome had enforced order on most of its domain. God's people were little better than slaves to the Romans. But spiritually speaking, all was on the verge of collapse. Imagine a Roman Empire without the saving grace of the newly-formed Christian Church!

The genealogy of Christ, from Abraham to King David, conveys quite poetically, the "rushing-spirit" of God at work in the world. Doing a little here, a little there - ensuring that His plan moves forward, without forcing it too much.

God creates, by making order. He acts. He moves about. He is always there. He is always loving, always moving. And this is needed - for we, as creatures of this same universe, always tend toward the chaotic.