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.

Ten Years Gone: Revelation 22

Ten years ago, I began these daily reflections on Scripture. The goal was to get through the entire Bible in ten years. It normally took between a third and a quarter of a chapter a day, in order to read it evenly and complete it today.

But there were gaps in my commitment to it. After 911, I stopped for a period of time, maybe several months.

When I went through divorce and started grad school, in 2005, I got behind by more than half a year. But I got caught up eventually.

I wanted to find nuggets that would normally be missed, as in "The Prayer of Jabez." I think that to some degree I accomplished this, with God's help. You have to be willing to part with things you assume to be true. Of course it helps that a good part of it was journaled privately, by me. Until about three years ago, it was in the form of a Word document, and not a blog. Only I saw these thoughts. I might be kicked out of church if others read my conclusions!

It is tempting to do a lengthy summary of the decade. But instead, (as I posted recently) the goal of Bible study is to see it as a never-ending story, and eternal narrative. When you complete the Revelation to John, you are supposed to start right in on Genesis. The Bible keeps building on itself.

I mean, right here in this chapter, God is clear about the behaviors He hates; the sins that keep us away from him: lying, witchcraft (having other gods), sexual immorality, murderers. He places murder in the same category as sexual immorality. It is all about accepting ourselves as God made us (not as we THINK He made us!), and behaving as noble, godly people.

So I will cycle back tomorrow, and continue on. Perhaps more people will read it this time, and comment.

I will close with one piercing memory from the past decade.

On the Sunday following September 11, 2001, I went in to Church. The turnout was massive, on that day. The pastor, Bill Donahue, used to put the microphone out to the congregation and let people add their own prayers. I did a short one, one which I concluded with words from Revelation 22:

Come, Lord Jesus.

These words from God's word produced no response from the congregation of over two hundred people. No "Amens!" were pronounced. No stirring. Not even a sense that I had made people uncomfortable. Nothing.

The community had become unwatchful. They had learned not to watch for the Return of Christ. It had no meaning for them! This was one of the most disappointing and discouraging things I experienced in ten years. It was even more troublesome to me, than my own divorce.

But it speaks to me as a call from God Himself. I always planned to begin full-time ministry once I turned 50. That happened this year. Out of my decade of Bible study, I may add a clearly-defined purpose to God's call on me.

Recreation: Revelation 21

The City of New Jerusalem has specific dimensions, and there is a temple. I am not clear on why we ever had all these specifics on the temple, how it was to be built, etc. But it might have something to do with enabling us to visualize what New Jerusalem will be like. God knows that we like our dwellings, and our creations. We have living rooms, and He enjoys them as much as we do. There is a temple for us in eternity.

This is God's re-creation of everything. He will re-create the universe, but this time we are players in the drama. We will get to watch it!

Watch me make everything all over again.

God must be smiling as He says this: like a kindly grandfather taking you outside to show you a new play structure he has built for you.

But in commenting on all of the words spoken to John, throughout the Book of Revelation, God says: "They've already come true: I am Alpha and Omega . . . "

We miss this point. In our chronological reading of history, and prophecy, we see everything as straight-line, as cause-and-effect. But God has told us it is already done. How can this be?

Eternity is constant Present. A never-ending Now. Eternal beings, which is what we are promised, occupy a realm higher than ours. They are not subjects of Time. They are rulers over it! They look over us as we do an ant colony (rough analogy). The re-creation of the Universe is as good as done. In fact, it has been done.

We have got to start seeing ourselves as beings that have already made it. Thanks be to God, the eternal realm is here already (for it must be, if there is such a thing), and many of us are there ("there" is not a very helpful word!) True, in our present state, we must proceed forward in time. This is our reference point. But God has said that it's already done. It is as good as done. It is done.

It can be a little crazy-making. But let us not ponder the meta-physics of it. Let's just accept God's good word and His promise.

I Want to See This: Revelation 20

The Lake of Fire is presented. Anyone whose name is not written in the Book of Life is thrown into it. Satan, and the Beast, and the False Prophet, are tossed into it. And Death and Hell are tossed into it.

The first thing I want to see, is the Lake of Fire itself. I can only imagine what this must look like!

Fire breaks down anything into its basic, elemental form. As I understand it, any life form from earth, when burned up, turns into carbon dust. A jar filled with the ashes of a cremated person has only dust, made of carbon, in it. If this blog was regularly read by even a half dozen people, I'm sure this question would be settled.

I have not addressed Satan, much, in my ten-year biblical journey. Yet to me Satan is a concept, the embodiment of opposition to God, in any form. Humans that oppose God are called "Satan." So if Satan is tossed into the fire, it simply means that the idea of evil, or of opposing God, is destroyed.

The Beast represented governments that sought supremacy over the earth, against the will of God. These are most often represented as individuals, whose identities change over time. The idea of worldly governments, opposed to God, is destroyed.

The False Prophet is any human setting himself up as God. Or it could refer to false religions that point people away from Christ. The idea that Christ is not the Way, or that there are other paths to eternal life, is destroyed.

The three basic sources of opposition to God - will be gone. So what does it mean to say they will be tortured for ever and ever? I think it just means the job will go one, until it's complete, even if it has to burn forever. How do you torture a concept? Well, there will be people in the Lake of Fire, and a lot of these figureheads of the concepts will certainly not receive any pleasure from the burning. It burns them up. It's effect is forever. But even if it did mean "through eternity, without literally ending," then, don't we all have a lot to learn about eternity? We really don't know what we're talking about!

Then Death and Hades were hurled into the Lake of Fire.

These, too, are concepts. Death is killed. And then Hell - the place of the dead - is destroyed. The last enemies to be destroyed are Death and Hell. No more Death. No more place for the Dead. Earth, or the ground, will never again be used for burial. How wonderful is that?

I can't imagine what this will look like. But I want to see it!

At War With the Lamb: Revelation 17

The chapter is full of symbols and high drama. Each word seems fraught with deep meaning. No one person, or generation, can understand the specific references in Revelation 17.

Let's try to simplify it a bit.

The nations will go to war against the Lamb.

When you declare war against another nation, you are saying, in effect, that you want something about that other nation to change. In a true, complete war, the victor carries out its own wishes over the vanquished. Unconditional surrender is the mark of a war that has been conclusively won.

The world always has, and still does, seek the total elimination of God's will upon the earth. Don't we all know this? Even atheists get it! The world resists the true God. It tolerates false religions, but hates the true one.

Jesus (the Lamb) came, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, adding value to every one with whom He came into contact. He raised the dead, and is the only way to eternal life. Yet the world hates Him.

It is hard to understand. But perhaps a look at defiant toddlers, whose first word is probably "no!", gives us a hint as to why this is.

I saw two brothers fighting. The younger, smaller, one, kept taunting the older, bigger one. I said to the smaller one: "Why would you do this? He's twice as big as you?" Why indeed? Why do we resist God? Why do we seek to overthrow our Creator? It makes no sense, yet it is so.

So the nations of the world, after throwing off the yoke of "the great whore" who tantalized and seduced them for ages (I will not go into her possible identities here!), are now intoxicated with the thrill of victory. Having defeated God's chief enemy (so they think), they now seek to take on the Lord Himself! It's the younger sibling, again, in the emotions of the moment, in the heat of battle, losing his senses and digging a deeper hole for himself!

The beast, however, still pushes all the buttons. The whore was just a religious agent of the beast, that led people astray.

They will go to war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them . . . 

Is there anger, or hate, directed at Christ, or His Church, today? Do we strive to throw off God's moral requirements of us? Do we seek our will (whatever feels good), rather than His? Do we go for what's culturally relevant, rather than what's eternally significant? Do we wish God would go away?

This is war with the Lamb.

Armageddon: Revelation 16

Armageddon is one of those those words, that everybody thinks they understand. People think it describes a final battle. While it is true that the chronological placement of it, in this case, is at the end of time, the word more accurately describes a place, the valley of Megiddo, which is outside Jerusalem.

Or how about the view that Armageddon would be a battle between the West and the East; Capitalism and Communism; Europe/America and the Middle East; Everybody against Israel? This suggests a political, and not a spiritual, component to the final conflict. Hollywood can produce movies called "Armageddon," that are based on an alien attack, or nuclear disaster, but they will miss the fact that Armageddon is, simply put, the last stand of God's enemies. They all come together, anyone that has resisted God, from Cain, to Esau, to Pharaoh, to Goliath, to Saul, to Ahab, to Jezebel, to Herod, to the Scribes and Pharisees, to Rome in its many forms.

God throws a bunch of plagues on the earth, as He did against Pharaoh. But incredibly, people grow even more defiant against God. Rather than repent, they curse Him even more. The sinner is determined to stay lost and dead.

During all this time, God's people are safe in His care.

God is still giving them space, and time, to repent. He could kill them outright. But the plagues demonstrate His power. As fierce as it gets, still they do not turn around.

. . . and the people cursed and swore at God for this plague, saying, "This is a terrible plague, indeed."

The world has seen many travesties in its history, more than could be listed. But this is as bad as it gets. God's clean-up operation gives people a chance to repent, but they don't. It is sufficient to destroy everything that has ever opposed God. It is like Nature itself, finally rebelling against humanity. We, and all of creation, were made with the ability to fight off disease and imperfection. The healing process brings forth an uncomfortable condition that we call "symptoms." This could be what is happening right now, in Revelation 16.

Seven: Revelation 15

All is in readiness for God's people to take their place in His Kingdom. Eternal life has not been formally bestowed yet (I don't think). For, there is still some final work to do, to eliminate all the bad, from the former age.

Seven angels appear, with seven plagues. Since this is the wrap-up of the Bible, and of Scripture, I automatically thought about other events in Scripture, that came in sevens. The best example is at the very beginning, where God made the Earth in six days, and rested on the seventh.

I wondered if the seven angels and plagues represent seven days worth of clean-up. Seven days to create it all, and seven to destroy all the wickedness, or to re-create the world, if you will.

And I saw another sign in the sky, huge and wondrous, seven angels bearing seven final plagues, because they were to be the culmination of God's fury.

Culmination. Completion. Resolution.

The final fury is done in plagues. But it is easy to see that, after all that has taken place on the earth: war, natural disasters, financial collapse - plagues would naturally follow. What is left of earth will waste away. So that, the events of Revelation are less an application of God's active involvement in things. When you think about it - all of these events are things that we will bring upon ourselves.

Just the other night, I saw something on TV, advocating funding and support for a new pill that prevents AIDS from being passed on from mother to unborn child. It said something like "We can wipe out infant AIDS by 2020 if we can get this pill to all that need it."

We can wipe out AIDS entirely, if we can get people to follow God's plan for sexuality and marriage.

But we don't care about that. We want our sex. So one wonders how terrible the next plague will be, since AIDS isn't bad enough.

We bring the seven plagues upon ourselves, as if we are sending engraved invitations to those seven angels.