Joash and Jehoiada - The Dynamic Duo

So who is the biggest influence in your life?
We reckoned it was our parents, maybe siblings, and Uncle Norman's said his was his wife =).

So what was the point in asking that?
Well it says that
'Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.' [2Kings 12:2]
So obviously Jehoiada's influence in Joash's life was pretty huge.
Just a little recap - Joash was the grandson of Athaliah, the horrible granny who killed her 70 grandchildren, APART from Joash, who was hidden by Jehoiada in the house of the LORD. She clearly wasnt a very good granny, because a)she killed them all and b)she didn't even notice she'd missed Joash out!

So Jehoiada was good for Joash, he influenced him in the right way. BUT he was an old guy, and he died...
'Now after the death of Jehoiada the leaders of Judah came and bowed down to the king. And the king listened to them' [2Chronicles 24:17]
Now these guys weren't so good, and Joash definitely didn't benefit from listening to their advice...
'Therefore they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served wooden images and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their trespass' [2 Chronicles 24:18]
So that wasn't so good...
We were reminded of Rehoboam, that guy with the fat pinky, who listened to the advice of his peers rather than those that served with King Solomon, who had been good at least SOME of his life. And the advice of the young men, who'd always been used to prosperity on their part, and not really bothered thinking about how life was for everyone else, was that King Rehoboam should be really harsh on the people. Which ended in the people rebelling against Rehoboam. That was when the Northern Kingdom was formed, wasn't it? ... *checks* yeah, it was, they all rebelled against the house of David, and then when Jeroboam came out of hiding they crowned him their king instead of Rehoboam. So there you go, listening to his buddies rather than the older men didn't help him any.
NOT that all young people are just layabouts, we know that Timothy, for example, was a good guy. And actually thinking about it, I'm sure that was because of his mum's and grandma's influence, yeah?
'when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.' [2Tim 1:5]
Timothy had listened to the right influences, and because of this he could be a good influence for the people in the ecclesia.

So, lesson for us?

• We should listen to the right influences
• We should then use that influence to change our lives
• ...and the lives of those around us, our peers...
• ...so that if our original Jehoiada dies or goes out of our lives somehow, we still have good influences to rely on in our peers, who learned from the same Jehoiada.
• And we can ALL help each other in this =)

So what about Joash, he was good until Jehoiada died, was he a good king overall? Well we reckoned he was sort of middling possibly - he's influenced greatly by the people around him, so perhaps we didn't really take time to form proper opinions of his own? Maybe he did though, we can't read people's characters.

But it was what he did last that mattered, just like in our lives. In the New Testament somewhere that I can't find right now, it talks about how even if we've been good all our lives and then turn our backs on God and do evil, our goodness is no longer of any importance. If we die with our backs on God, we can't rely on His mercy.

And that works two ways - if we've been evil all our lives and then repent and get baptised and try to do good, our evilness is forgotten. Jesus' sacrifice has washed those sins away, and we concentrate on being the best we can for God. And because of this, we CAN rely on God's mercy.

This doesn't mean that it just doesn't matter if we sin or not, of course it does! It's our attitude that's the important thing - if we THINK we can sin without it mattering then that's like turning our backs on God. It's getting that balance between recognising God's mercy and realising that no sin of ours can EVER bigger than His mercy in forgiving us. BUT we are horrible people, we need to recognise that too, and try even harder to be better for Him because of this. It's also incredibly hard to explain, and I'm not managing too well...

ANYWAY we've found out that its what we're doing NOW and what we WILL do in the FUTURE that are the important things.

So. We're in the last days. What are you doing NOW?

PS that last days bit? WELL.. the EU is now a legal entity, as of the 1st December, so it is now classed as a nation. By some definition somewhere.

[Rev 17:16,17]

'16 And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled'

The beast, that was Rome, right? So the 10 horns were those 10 nations that originally came out of Rome and formed Europe (the Vandals, the Goths, and those other ones). Well now they're being 'of one mind', yeah? The harlot, I can't remember what we said about her, Uncle Norman knows.. but that's being fulfilled just now too. Bits of Revelation and other prophecies are coming true all the time, we really are in the last days.... so what are we doing about it?

Jehu

Quick summary of what we did today with Kenneth

1 Kings 19:15-18-

Elijah who is on Mount Horeb is told to...

• go back to Damascus
• anoint Hazael king over Syria
• anoint Jehu king over Israel
• appoint Elisha to be prophet

but he only does two of the tasks, he returns to Damascus and he appoints Elisha, and then it's Elisha who does the anointing. Were Elijah's tasks passed on to Elisha when he was anointed??

Now this is all happening in the days of Ahab, that evil guy with an evil wife and an evil daughter who then went over to Judah's line and messed around there as well... but she got killed.

Jehu was the commander of the army. We read 2 Kings 9 ourselves and wrote down bits about it, so I'll share mine.

• Elisha sends sons of the prophets with oil to Ramoth-Gilead
• they find Jehu and go to an inner chamber
• THEY (not Elisha) anoint him King with the oil
• Jehu told to strike down the house of Ahab, so that avenge on Jezebel the blood of servants
• Dogs will eat Jezebel
• Jehu conspired against Joram
• as Jehu approaches, Joram sends out a messenger but he doesn't return and sticks with Jehu. Joram sends another, and the same happens again
• Jehu shot Joram with an arrow and pierced his heart
• they threw him on the plot belonging to Naboth - (to give context, Naboth and all his sons are already dead)
• Jezebel gets pretty. her people with her throw her out the window and she gets eaten by dogs.

I often find it difficult to remember things until I can visualise it properly, wh

ich is why it was great when Jon sort of acted out the bit when Joash aged 7 is anointed and Athaliah bursts in yelling TREASON!! because now i can always remember that. And today, Kenneth sort of acted -told the story well. In some of his words...

Elijah is all depressed and has been sent up to Mount Horeb. He gets these tasks he has to do.. 1, head back to Damascus. 2, anoint Hazael king over Syria. 3, anoint Jehu king over Israel. 4, appoint Elisha.

Dum de dum, he appoints Elisha. Elisha gets the sons of the prophets - I wonder, could these be any of the prophets that were hidden in the caves?. Elisha says, 'right, ru

n! you gotta go to these people and pick out Jehu from among them. Take him to another room and tell him this, that the Lord is appointing him King over Israel! and use the oil you've got, pour it over his head. and then flee!'

This all happens, and Jehu goes back to his people, who are asking "what was all that about" and Jehu is like "you've set me up. come on, what was that really about?" - and his guys are saying "no, no, really, we didn't do anything! what is it??"

and Jehu shrugging his shoulders,, he's just casually saying "they said they had been sent by a prophet. and - well.... you know, i'm King in Israel."

and then all the guys in the room shout for joy!! Lay down their cloaks, this guy is the new KING!! They gather up a load of people and head over to Joram's place - he's the current King of Israel, but has just been injured in battle against Hazael king

of Syria and so they've carried him back to Jezreel to try and get better. Joram doesn't come out to meet Jehu as he approaches, he sends a messenger on horse

back to say "Thus says the king, 'Is it peace?'", but he doesn't return to Joram, he sticks with and joins Jehu's people.

"What! What's he doing??"

So Joram sends another guy. and the same happens again. Why are they all sticking with Jehu?

Ahaziah of Judah (Joram's... what is it... ah, Joram of ISRAEL is Uncle to this Ahaziah of JUDAH. It's confusing, because there's a J(eh)oram and an Ahaziah in both Judah and Israel.)

I'll explain that actually. Maybe easier drawing a picture.

So, I've circled the people I'm talking about.

Anyway, Joram and Ahaziah get ready and come out to meet Jehu at Naboth's property.

2 Kings 9 ²²And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, "Is it peace, Jehu?" He answered, "What peace can there be, so long as the whorings and the sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many?"

This I imagine to be like today's "So's your face." "So's your mum", Jehu is just insulting Joram's mum Jezebel.

²³Then Joram reined about and fled, saying to Ahaziah, "Treachery, O Ahaziah!" ²⁴And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and shot Joram between the shoulders, so that the arrow pierced his heart, and he sank in his chariot.

Ahaziah ran away, but Jehu chased him and some of Jehu's people shot him at the ascent of Gur. Ahaziah kept going on to Megiddo and died there.

After this, Jehu goes back to Jezreel on his horse and sees Jezebel at a window, she's made her eyes all pretty. He goes near and shouts up "Who is on my side? Who?" and a couple of eunuchs with her look out the window - Debbie said its like they're saying "Me!"

"Who is on my side?".. pop their heads out... *Pop* *Pop* .. "Me?"

and Jehu tells them to push her out. and SPLAT goes Jezebel. What God said became true

¹⁰And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her."

³⁵But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. ³⁶When they came back and told him, he said, "This is the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, 'In the territory of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel, ³⁷and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, This is Jezebel.'

Jehu was incredibly influential and powerful, it seemed like a lot of people were listening to him. Either he was doing what the people wanted and therefore they were supporting him, or they were scared of him because he was a commander and now King. They listened to him and followed him.

Nearer the start of the lesson I'd asked if Joram had any sons- they'd be pretty mad if they didn't get to be King and some commander got to instead... so we looked at the start of 2 Kings 10. Here it says that Ahab had 70 sons in Samaria, but sometimes this can mean sons & grandsons etc. In some places Jehu is called 'Jehu son of Nimshi, son of Jehoshaphat'; and in other places just 'Jehu son of Jehoshaphat' when reeeally it's saying 'grandson of Jehoshaphat'. So can we apply this to Ahab's 70 sons - some of them being Joram's sons?

Ahab's 70 sons were killed, and Ahaziah of Judah's 42 were killed. These two guys were such bad influences that all the sons had to be killed as well.

All in all... Jehu did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, he wiped out Baal from Israel (also by getting a load of the Baal worshippers in the house of Baal together and then killing them all), but he didn't take away the golden calves that Jeroboam had set up in Bethel and Dan... and ³¹But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin.

So on our David - Ahab scale, we've put Jehu around the middle between those two.

Ahab; Athaliah & Jehoram & Ahaziah

Right, well seeing the blog hasn't been updated in a fairly long time, I decided to share some of the notes that I have taken.

Please other people add notes or thoughts as well...

On the first of November, we looked at Ahab. I Kings 16:29 He started reigning in Israel in the 38th year of Asa King of Judah (who was a goodie). Ahab was the opposite, he was very evil, the worst King they'd ever had. he married Jezebel who was the daughter of the King of the Sidonians. and you can remember he's called Ethbaal King of the Sidonians, because Eth-baal: they worshipped Baal. and pretend he had a lisp. Ethbaal, see?

Ahab worshipped Baal and made an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which was built in Samaria. in the third year of Ahab's reign, Elijah shows himself to Ahab. he'd recently been in hiding - Jezebel had been cutting off the prophets of the Lord, and Obadiah whose was over the household hid 100 prophets, 50 in 2 caves, and had been feeding them bread and water. The famine was SEVERE but Obadiah still got them bread and water, he's a nice guy.

One day Obadiah and Ahab go out to find water and grass and save horses and mules before they die. they go their seperate ways, and Obadiah stops when he finds Elijah. Elijah says to tell Ahab that he's here,, but Obadiah knows he'll get killed (this is in 1 Kings 18). Eventually Obadiah goes and tells Ahab, and Ahab comes to see Elijah. they get all the prophets 'who eat at Jezebels table' on Mount Carmel - 450 prophets of Baal, 400 prophets of Asherah, and Elijah by himself. They get 2 bulls - one for Baal's prophets, and one for Elijah. They cut each bull into pieces, and lay it on wood, but don't put fire on it. Baal's prophets keep calling out to their god to get him to light the fire,but nothing happens. When Elijah does it, he first gets the prophets to fill 4 jars full of water and pour it on the offering and the wood, and this is repeated 3 times. Elijah calls to God, and (1 Kings 18:38) "Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench."

In chapter 21, Ahab wants Naboth's vineyard because it's beside his palace and would make a good vegetable garden for Ahab, but Naboth refuses v3 'but Naboth said to Ahab, "The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers"'. Naboth understood inheritance. He had sons (note - this is not included in I Kings 21 v 13 where it says 'they took him outside the city and stoned him to death with stones' - you have to look at 2 Kings 9:26 which reads 'As surely as I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons-declares the Lord- I will repay you on this plot of ground'. This is a type of Christ, Jesus understood inheritance, and the sons of Naboth (those waiting to inherit it) are like the faithful who are in Christ. That inheritance is not lost in Israel however, because God will preserve it.

~~

Next lesson I had (I missed Ahaziah&Jehoram) was named 'the soap opera' - Athaliah, Jehoram and Ahaziah. Athaliah was the daughter of Ahab & Jezebel,, and she was incredibly evil. Her parents obviously had an influence on her for they were both evil, but it doesn't have to be like that you can change it - Athaliah's daughter Jehosheba was good and married a priest (we only looked at that quickly at the end of the lesson - I think that's going to be looked at more next lesson).

The marriage of Jehoram and Athaliah sounds more of an arranged marriage - 2 Chronicles 21:6 'And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife...' (ESV) and in the King James it reads 'for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife'. Jehoram made high places in the hill country and led the inhabitants of Jerusalem 'into whoredom and made Judah go astray'. He killed all his brothers who were better than himself, who he could've learnt from. So... because of all this, the Lord brought a plague upon his people, his children, his wives and all his possessions. There was direct intervention from God - 2 Chr 21:16 'And the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the anger of the Philistines and of the Arabians who are near the Ethiopians'. You read often in Scripture of direct intervention from God to teach someone a lesson, like when God was angry with Solomon and brought adversaries against him.

God also gave Jehoram an incurable bowel disease and he died two years later when they fell out. The people of Israel seemed pretty glad he was gone, they didn't make a fire in his honour and they didn't bury him with the rest of the kings. (verses 19 & 20).

We ran out of time as usual, and didn't even get to the 'juicy' bit where Athaliah kills everyone, except her grandson Joash who is hidden away in the house of the Lord. And 7 years later, Jehoida the priest has entered a covenant with the commanders of hundreds - Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael, Azariah son of Obed, Masseiah and Elishaphat - and they gathered all the Levites from all the cities of Judah (this is in 2 Chr 23) and the heads of fathers' houses of Israel and they all went to Jerusalem. Joash who is only 7 years old is crowned king of Judah.. and suddenly granny Athaliah comes into the house of God and yells "TREASON!" when she sees her daughter who has gone against her, her son-in-law against her, her grandson crowned king, all these people rejoicing... the people can't kill her in the temple, but they chase her and eventually she is killed.

Nehemiah travelled between Jerusalem and Babylon,, where does he fit in all of this? I have no idea. Oh, he's not anywhere near. He's when it's the Persian empire. Hmm. Well, we started to look at Nehemiah, how Nehemiah talks about inter-marrying, and how Solomon was loved by God, but 'foreign women did make him to sin' (Neh 13: 26). The people he visited were losing their identity, he'd pulled out their hair when he saw they'd married women of Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. The Jewish people could not even speak their own language, they were going to the language of these of other people.

It's about who you're influenced by, we have to be careful who we spend a lot of our time with, not people who will lead us astray. Even though people can call themselves Christadelphians, its not calling themself a Christadelphian that makes it alright to date and then go on to marry them... it's how they are, you have to find out what sort of person they are and if they are on the same path as you. A while ago meetings would disfellowship someone who married outside the meeting, and so people in this situation - their other half would get baptised but maybe their heart wasn't true. And they'd come along to the meeting for a bit, but eventually both of them would grow away from the meeting. So we have to choose carefully who are friends are and not be influenced badly by them.

Any other thoughts...?

The Bride of Christ - Picture for Marriage

This week we started off by trying to find the phrase "the bride of Christ" in the bible. After spending a few minutes looking for the phrase, we actually found that it wasn't there. hahaha! But the idea of the phrase is there.
So we looked at a couple of passages where this idea occurs. But first we looked at the concept of marriage.

Gen 2 v 24

"Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."

So we discussed how it can be difficult to see how this joining of the flesh (sex) is a picture of Christ and his bride. We then looked at the steps of marriage

• Attraction
• Going out (Fall in love)
• Engagement (Choose to love)
• Become one mind
• Marriage
• Become one flesh

ps in case you don't understand - the fall in love and choose to love was a very very interesting point brought up by Gab Bauer at the glasgow central fraternal - on ephesians. 'Phileo' seems to be the physical, first love attraction - the falling in love. 'Agape' seems to be a conscious decision to keep loving the person - choosing to love. (jamie wants me to put that that paragraph was by me - debbie)

Becoming one mind is crucial for becoming one flesh. This is why this is harder for one believer and one believer to be married. This parallels with the picture of Jesus and his wife

John 10 v 30

"I and my father are one"

and

Galatians 3 v 28

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus."

So we are preparing now to become one then. So now is the time for us to become one in mind with Jesus and God to prepare us for the marriage supper of the lamb. Which is mentioned in the following passages

Revelation 19 v 1 - 9

1. And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
2. For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
3. And again they said, Alleluia And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.
4. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
5. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.
6. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
7. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
8. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

Rev 21 v 1 - 12

1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
5. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
6. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
8. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
9. And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
10. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
11. Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12. And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.

Once we've become one in mind (which we can't do properly until the kingdom) we will no longer
have the desire to sin - we will have 'divine nature.'

2 Peter 1 v 1 - 11

1.Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
2. May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Make Your Calling and Election Sure
3. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
4. by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
5. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,
6. and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,
7. and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
8. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
10. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
11. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

this wasn't by me

Illustrations for NOW: Tabernacle Part 2

Just a carrying-on point from last week - we have to remember that the Bible doesn't actually say anywhere what the standards of the children of Israel were (the Eagle, Ox, Lion, Man thing). Sometimes we can find allusions to the relation between Reuben and Man, Dan and Eagle, Judah and Lion, Ephraim and Ox, for example in Gen 49v9:

Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

Yeah so those verses (what Jacob said to Judah before his death) could allude to Judah having a lion as his 'standard', but nothing is stated anywhere...But it's a pretty cool would-be-nice =) [Apparently Josephus, a historian from Jesus' time, referred to the whole Judah-lion, Reuben-man etc thing, but even was about 1000 years after (I think) so that's not proving anything]. If you're wanting the chapter where it talks about the formation and the standards, it's Numbers 2.



We looked at who went where when the camp moved off too. The Ark moved first, and then the tribes, with Levites carrying bits of the tabernacle, went too, something like this:
Judah
Issachar
Zebulun
GERSHONITES (with tabernacle)
Reuben
Simeon
Gad
KOHATHITES (with Holy things from tabernacle)
Ephraim
Manasseh
Benjamin
Dan
Asher
Napthali

Some of that may be wrong, but I'm in a hurry cause Kirsty wants the blog before the end of the week.. so can you please correct me in the comments? =) merci =)

Layout of the Camp
The priests and Levites probably stayed either in the middle of the camp, or at the corners (between the tribes, if they had kinda equal parts along the sides (so each side was split into 6, and the tribes had 3 of them, and the Levites had little boxes in the corners.) We thought the in the middle (between the Tabernacle and people) was a little more likely, because Levi means 'Join' - so they were kind of joining the people and God's worship together?

And a little flashback to the whole tribes thing - Joseph had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who got a tribe each - this was because Jacob had chosen Joseph to be his firstborn, and firstborns got a DOUBLE PORTION (*click!*)

The tabernacle walls were above man height, so with not being able to see in, and the Levites being between the people and Tabernacle, the people were really quite separated from the Tabernacle. This is a nice little type for us - we can't SEE what's going on in heaven with Jesus and God, but that doesn't mean it's not there and it's not happening. The people weren't allowed to enter the Tabernacle, so their worship was in their everyday lives - following the Law in everything they do (it covered all the everyday stuff like food and washing too). So our worship isn't just a Sunday thing, it isn't saved for when we go to the meeting, it's to be a central part of our lives, just like the Tabernacle was in the MIDDLE of the camp. The priest would meet the congregation at the door to take the sacrifices to be burnt and do the judging etc. Jesus IS the door (He actually says 'I am the door') so we don't need a priest to come and meet us anymore - He is every role in one, and through Him WE can access the Most Holy (which before ONLY the High Priest could enter once a year.. that's pretty special!)

The Tabernacle wasn't a particularly grand structure, it wasn't showy - from the outside it was a bunch of skins, nothing special to look at. Our worship doesn't have to be grand and spectacular either, but it does have to always be with us, wherever we travel.

So why are we looking at the Tabernacle? Is it just a nice wee brain walk or is it meaningful to us? WELL. Heb 9:19-23 helps us on that
19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, 20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. 21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. 22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. 23 ¶ It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
This is all about everything that went on under the Law (the sacrifices etc) which includes the Tabernacle (which was where everything went on and also was a big part of the Law). The tabernacle is a 'pattern of things in the heavens'(23) - the tabernacle gives us an idea of the order of things in heaven, God's dwelling.

Tabernacle: Illustration for NOW: Part 1 (22/03/09)

whoops...forgot to do the blog again...

ok,..well, firstly. the tabernacle was a mobile place of worship set up during the 40 years wandering in the wilderness.
It began with Joseph being sent to Egypt in slavery,.. then Moses comes along and all the Israelites get out of Egypt after a lot of hassle, the plagues etc... and then pretty much as soon as the children of Israel are free out of Egypt, they look back moaning and grumbling about what they had there, such as food. (and the cucumbers, as Debbie said one week) 12 spies are sent into the land for 40 days, and only 2 come back with good reports, and the people continue grumbling. Numbers 14:34 'According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.' Plus, anyone 20 years old and over would never get to the promised land, they would die in the wilderness. Eventually, Joshua takes over.

Israel is roughly the size of Wales, so Sinai where they wandered is not much bigger. They had 40 years to wander round somewhere that is just bigger than Wales... that's a long time to wander. The camp was around 2 million people - that's the population of Dundee, Edinburgh & Glasgow put together so people in cities and places obviously heard about them before they arrived anywhere (like Jericho), that's a pretty big number of people all going round together! The people who were over 20 at the start of the wandering, who would never get to the land, they would spend time teaching their kids how to be better than they had been (we looked at this in the past few weeks, in the Biblical Traditions in Storytelling studies). The tabernacle for them was a look forward, a hope.

When you go to the tabernacle, you go to the front door and the priest on your behalf slaughters the animal and puts it on the altar. the altar had a ramp up to it instead of steps - traditionally, priests couldn't show any of themselves - and if there was steps, you would see their ankles as they climbed, so a ramp was used instead so they could keep walking with their robes to the ground.

Outside was the altar and the washbasin, inside was the table of shewbread, the altar of incense and the golden lampstand. Then there was a big curtain seperating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place (which if you look at the dimensions, was a perfect cube like Ezekiel's vision of the temple.. maybe we'll look at that this sunday?). Inside the Most Holy Place was the ark of the covenant which was covered in gold and had cherubim on the top, or the mercy seat.
The temple is a big version of the tabernacle. When Jesus was crucified, the curtain in the temple tore from TOP to bottom - man could not have done this! If people were on the ground grabbing the curtain, it would've torn from bottom to top. Jesus had opene the way to the Holy Place for us, it was impossible to get to before.

The tabernacle was surrounded by all the people - there were 3 tribes to the north, 3 tribes to the east and so on. The 12 tribes were the 12 sons of Jacob - except Levi, because they were the priests. That makes it 11. Instead of Joseph (that makes 10), there was the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, his sons (that makes 12) which relates to the double portion. Now, on each of these sides, north east south and west, there was a lead tribe, Dan, Ephraim, Reuben and Judah. The symbols on the flags for each lead tribe were the Ox, Eagle, Lion and Man.
The cherubum in Ezekiel 1 has these 4 heads, and the formation of the heads is in the same position as the lead tribe symbols around the tabernacle! how cool is that!
------- Eagle --------
---- Ox ---- Lion ----
------- Man --------
(so for the tabernacle layout, imagine it in the central box of the 4 words, and thats how it looked on the cherubim in Ezek 1)
An ox stands for labourer, worker, servant.
The eagle is spiritual - it flies very high in the sky but still sees its prey with its brilliant eyes
The lion is typically the King, it has power and strength.
and Man, that's human nature.
Philippians 2:4-9
'Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.'
Jesus was farsighted (Eagle), was in the form of God but did not count equality, took form of a servant - so (Ox) and (Man) will become King soon (Lion).
The picture in the the tabernacle was centuries before Ezekiel!
Tabernacle -- garden of Eden! Holy Place, gates with cherubim guarding, most holy place set apart.

**Homework** Look at Philippians 2:4-11 and write out in some form you understand. Highlight the bits related to the 4 heads. Hope I've not done too much of that already... just write it out in your own words, your understanding.

oh -and here's something jon just sent me...

Biblical Tradition Of Storytelling - Parables

Why did Jesus tell parables? In Matthew 13 Jesus was also asked why he told parables Matthew 13 v 10 -17: ‘10. Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11. And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. 15. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn and I would heal them. 16. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.’
So there is a division here: people that will hear and will know , and a group that will not listen and will not know. There is not a middle group though, its just separated into the two groups.
Matthew 13 v 34 + 35: ‘34. All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. 35. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.’ This is quoting from the Psalms. Psalm 78 v 2 ‘I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark savings from of old’
Jesus spoke to everybody and those who were there, he wanted a response from them though and wanted them to think about the Word rather than just hearing it, which is why he spoke in parables. When Jesus spoke parables people would respond and think about it. Jesus also spoke from the past as well. Isaiah 6 v 9 + 10 ‘9. and he said ‘Go, and say to this people: keep on hearing but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10. Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears were heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.’
Psalm 78 v 1-8 ‘1. Give ear, O my people to my teaching; incline your eyes to the words of my mouth! 2. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark savings from of old, 3. Things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. 4. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. 5. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, 6. that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell the children, 7. So that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments; 8. and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.’ The word ‘parable’ is a different type of parable from the way we know it to be. A parable is a form of storytelling with a lesson and a meaning, a passing on of what has happened before. v8. ‘. and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.’ The rest of Psalm 78 talks about what God did and the children making the wrong actions, it’s a great lesson. v7. ‘So that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments;’ Its told the message is timeless, it will keep its relevance. If we don’t think about it it’s a story, if we do then a parable becomes a lesson, it has a message.
There are several layers to a parable – like an onion has several layers and you have to unpeel them. There is still more to uncover and to understand, another aspect of the message. We have to give our time and thought to think about what each parable means.
One parable is Matthew 22 v 2 – 14 – the wedding feast. ‘2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.” An unfair story. Why is this parable unfair? The guests were provided with clothes to wear, but one man chose not to wear them, and he was thrown out, he didn’t care and wasn't prepared to accept what the invitation was. It teaches us not to be stubborn and not to repeat the mistakes. The purpose was to teach us about the kingdom – v2 ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son’ being at the feast is like being in the kingdom. The King is God and the marriage and feast for the King’s son is Jesus. v7 ‘The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.’ What could this refer to? – Israel and the covenant? The response of the Jews? It might be telling us when God sent the Babylons and the Romans against them, God uses these people to bring what is necessary. v9 ‘Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ Speaking of the Gentiles – Galations 3 – everybody ahs the chance to. We’re given freewill – The opportunity to listen, and to read these parables and learn about them, and learn from them as well. Each parable is a story and telling us a meaning and giving us a lesson to learn.

Sorry Kenneth its not quite 5000 words, but 1378 is close enough.

Biblical Tradition of Storytelling - Psalms

This week we looked at the 3 basic types of storytelling in the Psalms.

We read Psalm 105, which tells us of the Israelites coming out of Egypt.
This is the first type of storytelling. It's a record of what's happened in a form to keep on moving forward.

We then read Psalm 72, which is a Psalm of David. The chapter's about David's experiences and him handing over his kingship to his son, Solomon. We discussed the first verse of the chapter to determine who the "king" and the "son"were. The first thought was that the king was david, and the son was Solomon, and it was talking of David passing on his kingship to his son. The other thought was that the king was God, and the son Jesus. A prophecy of how Jesus will perform God's purpose.
So the second type of storytelling are the Psalms of David, which talk of David's life, pointing forward to Jesus.

Our final reading was Psalm 83, which is a Psalm of Asaph. This Psalm falls into the category of the third type of storytelling in the Psalms. The Psalmist is telling a story of what is to happen in the future. It's pointing forward to what's happening now, with the wars between the arab nations and Israel.

Hamework

Find more Psalms that are of the 3 types's of storytelling.

1. A record of what's happened in a form to keep on moving forward.
2. Psalms of David, pointing forward to Jesus.
3. Psalms that point forward to the future/present day.

Biblical Tradition of Storytelling - Festivals (Feb 22nd)

In the Bible there are traditions in storytelling.

Animators, illustrators - they're storytellers. Stories are diverting yourself away from reality - when's it ok and when's it not? There was a reason God gave us the ability to tell stories and to want to hear stories.

1 Cor 10 is Paul recounting a story of something that actually happened - when the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea.

Buddaism is an idealogy. Buddha thought of a bunch of ideas and people nowadays LIVE from these ideas, whereas we live by what scripture says.

1 Cor 10 goes on to explain that ideally we should be learning from other peoples' mistakes so that we don't have to make them . The wilderness journey in Exodus had a whole bunch of mistakes. (1 Cor 10:6 'now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did')

Now. The stories in Scripture are true --except the parables. Jesus used stories based on real things, grounded in reality for people to learn. He used things they could relate to, just as in one of the letters in the Bible the writer says something about "remember your ancestor Abraham" so that the people can relate to it more and understand better. Found it - it doesn't say "remember your ancestor Abraham", it's the note i have. its for galatians 3:28,29 '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 the promise.' Paul is talking to the Jews here so he's trying to convince them by bringing up their forefather Abraham.

Deut 4, 6, Exodus 10. In Exodus 10 it talks about the day for a year. When the children of Israel had just left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, they started grumbling because they'd left all that behind and were now wandering in the middle of nowhere, so they sent spies into the land for 40 days - and were punished that they would spend 40 years wandering. (Numbers 14:34). Also anyone over 20 would die - they would wander and wander but never get the land. If you were wandering for 40 years, you aren't going to spend the whole time moping- you'd teach your children how to better than you had.
In Hebrews 11 it tells us how Abraham was to come out of Ur of the Chaldees (which was the most civilised place of that time). Hebrews 11:10 'he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God'. Abraham left all he had and wandered, not knowing where he was going. Deut 4:9 - remember things they've experienced in their life. They were to take these experiences and make them live in the hearts of their children (also in Deut 6:7).

We talked about how much fun it was when you were a little kid, to sleep in a tent in the back garden overnight instead of staying in the house. They did something similar in Leviticus 23, they enacted the wilderness journey, they dwelt in booths for 7 days - how much fun for the children! Lev 23:42,43 'You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All natice Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.'


homework - look at Hosea 4:6 and write how it relates to what we looked at

The Name of God - El

This is the third and last in our Name of God lessons (which were very good and helpful =D )

El:

• basically means 'God'
• was used of the idols of other nations as well ('gods'), not just our God
• but it can also have meanings of 'strength,' 'mighty' and 'Almighty'
• translated as 'God', 'goodly', 'idol', 'mighty one' and others

Elohim

• it comes from 'El'
• a kind of simplified version of the meaning would be 'mighty ones' but it is so often used with a singular verb that it doesn't give the impression that it is many gods, or god as many (eg the Trinity..)

To solve this problem, we looked at another word, 'chaiyah' (spelling?), that has a plural that is often really meaning singular. i guess 'sheep' is an english word that is kind of the same - it can be singular or plural.

We concluded that this probably meant that 'Elohim', rather than being 'mighty ones', means 'might' - again if we looked at 'chaiyah' we could get that kind of association between what the singular means and what the plural means => 'Chaiyah' means 'living one', often 'beast.' The plural ('chaiyim') can sometimes be translated 'lives', but more often 'life.' That helps us to understand how 'elohim' is used in the Bible. Confusing, I know!

So, from this, we reckoned that translating elohim as 'Almighty' is probably a very good way.

El is a word that, in Bible, is often used with other words to give lots of different sides to God's character and being. Dad thought about a kind of football prism shape with something inside - if you look in the different 'windows' you get lots of different views of God's character.

Some examples of these different views of El were:

• The One God (El Echad)
• The Faithful God (El Hanne'eman)
• The God of Truth (El Emet)
• The Righteous God (El Tsaddik)
• The All-Sufficient God (El Shaddai)
• The Most High God (El Elyon)
• The Everlasting God (El Olam)
• The God who Sees Me (El Roi)
• The God of Jeshurun (El Yeshurun)
• The Mighty God (El Gibbor)
• The God of Knowledge (El De'ot)
• The Great God (El Haggadol)
• The God of Glory (El Hakkavod)
• The Holy God (El Hakkadosh)
• The God of the Heavens (El Hashamayim)
• The God of My Life (El Chaiyai)
• The Gracious God (El-Channun)
• The God of Israel (El Yisrael)
• The God of Patience and Consolation (El Erekh Apayim avi ha-tanchumim)
• The God of Compassion (El Rachum)
• All Merciful God (El malei Rachamim)
• The God of my Salvation (El Yeshuati)
• The God of our Salvation (El Yeshuatenu)
• The Jealous God (El-Kanno)
• God with us (Immanuel)
• The Awesome God (El Hannora)
• and apparently this isn't all - the list goes on =)

We each chose one of these to take a look at (these are from a site called 'Hebrew for Christians'), one that we wanted to find out a bit more about.

Kirsty chose the The God of Jeshurun because I don't think any of us understood it. The site tells us that Jeshurun means the 'righteous people'. The references for it were Deut 32:15 and 33:5,26. The first one we found quite understand, but its about how even the upright can be swerved by prosperance (is that a word?) - 'Jeshurun grew fat and kicked'. Being too wordly through dependence on riches can lead you to do what the righteous did then - 'he forsook God who made him, adn scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation.' Our lesson is never to presume that because we believe in God we're ok, and fine where we are, thankyou very much. The second reference took us to the phrase God of Jeshurun, in v26 - 'There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to help you, and in His excellency on the clouds'. That's amazing - God is both loftyand all powerful AND cares for the righteous, those who have faith, US, although He doesn't have to - he is literally way above our station! It tell us that he is helping the righteous, His arms are wrapped protectively round them -v27 'And underneath are the everlasting arms'. Look at Is44:2

Jamie wanted to look at The Everlasting God. We looked at Isa26:4, which gives us a double description of God - LORD (Yahweh) and everlasting. We can learn from our previous lessons that this telling us that God's glory is everlasting - and will always be =). Next was Ps90:1-3. v1 starts us off with our 'Elohim', once more using his 'might' to protect us. v2 has everlasting god - his protection for us is everlasting =) Our next verse was Gen 21:33 - where Abraham plants a tree and 'there called on the nme of the LORD, the Everlasting God' - again it couples Yahweh (and our picture of God being manifest in a multitude of people) with God's everlastingness - gives us a picture of the Kingdom. Ps 93:2 gives us much the same picture.

I wanted to consider The God of My Life in Ps 42:8. And again Yahweh is used with El - almost as if to classify which El they're talking about - the God of Israel, whose glory will be manifest in a multitude of people. God is of our life, and we can make it that way by using our time to singing praises to Him. In v9 we once more have the Rock idea - that God is a our solid foundation =).

We also considered The One God. This is Mal2:10. It talks about 'we all have one Father' and how 'one God created us' and goes on to rebuke Israel for 'dealing treacherously with one another by profaning the convenant of the fathers.' This emphasizes how God is single, loyal and faithful to His chosen nation, (of which we can become a part). And how ONE God created us (like El Shaddai - the mighty creator).

There's a huge amount of lessons we got from looking at El - if I have missed any please comment or if I've just got it wrong =) Please comment anyways =)

The Name of God - Yahweh

This week we looked at one of the names of God in Hebrew, which is Yahweh. It means “He Who Shall Be” (i am who i am).
In the readings, Jews read the word “Lord” as “Adonai” out of respect for the name of God and the commandment not to take the word of God in vain.
We read the word as "LORD" in all caps.

We started by looking at Exodus 3, where God has just commanded Moses to go to Egypt and to bring his people Israel out of captivity. Moses then asks God what his name is.

13. But, said Moses to God, "when I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' if they ask me, 'What is his name?' what am I to tell them?" 14. God replied, "I am who I am." Then he added, "This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you." 15. God spoke further to Moses, "Thus shall you say to the Israelites: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. "This is my name forever; this is my title for all generations

Here God uses the 1st person (I) form, but it gives us the basis for understanding that his character and purpose is bound up in His name. The Hebrew for ‘I am who I am’ is ‘Ehyer asher Ehyeh’ - Yahweh is the 3rd person (he) form and its use in Exodus 34 helps us understand its meaning.

We looked at Exodus 33, in which we discussed God's glory. Moses pleads for God to forgive the people, and asks to see his glory. He wanted to see who God really was, but he asks for too much.

17 And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”
19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock.
22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.
23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

Look at Ch 34 where God proclaims his Glory and uses the expression “the LORD, the LORD God – which in the Hebrew is “Yahweh, Yahweh Elohim”. This can be translated along the lines of ‘He will be who He will be in a multitude of mighty ones’ and gives us the understanding that God’s name, character and glory will be fully shown when there is a multitude who live by His name displaying His character in their lives.

God's glory will be seen in full when the kingdom comes.

The Name Of God - Shaddai

ok i'm really sorry but i didnt take any notes, so this is all from a bad memory.

We started off by looking at John 1v1 and how other religions thought that it meant that Jesus was God here, and we went to v14 where it says 'The Word became flesh' which shows Jesus is the manifestation of God's word.

Ruth 1v21 'I went out full and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?'
We looked at this verse because it had the mention of 'the Almighty' adn it was such a great way to describe God - The Almighty, and the english of Shaddai is 'Almighty'


Then we looked at Deuteronomy 12 v 3 +4. '3.And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. 4. Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.' Which was showing that there was only one God, and all the wooden images (Asherim) will be struck down with fire.

Also we said that Yahweh meant - I will be who i will be


our homework was to find the last use of the word Shaddai and say what we think it means and what it says about it.

my comment:
Revelation 21:22 'And i saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the lamb'
i think what it is saying here is that ther was no temple because the temple is Shaddai.

The Eunuch by Philip

Last week (Jan 11th 09) we looked at Baptism: John, Jesus and the Apostles. No-one really took any notes as far as I know, but Eilidh took a few at the start so I've put them in this blog.

We went round the table saying what baptism meant:

-Under the water - total immersion

-Symbolic of death and resurrection

-Baptism in order to be saved

-Cleansing of sins

-Need for repentance

The first recorded baptism was the crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus 14. We know this was a baptism because 1 Cor 10 says 'For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea...'

The first literal baptism is Matt 3:6 'and they were baptised by him (John) in the river Jordan, confessing their sins'.



So... this week we were told to look at the eunuch by Philip (Acts 8) and it seems I'm first so I'm starting off the blog.
It was only after I was looking at the online version of Acts 8 that I realised my Bible (an ESV) had missed out verse 37 - 'And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he replied, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." ' and then the eunuch was baptised. He was obviously a religious man because he'd come all the way from Ethiopia to worship at Jerusalem (verse26) and once he'd understood all the fundamentals he asked to be baptised, he knew it was the right thing to do. --I guess it shows that we don't have to know (or can't ever know) the Bible inside out because no-one ever could.

(sorry - just got distracted by a site i just found http://www.ondoctrine.com/10chdelp.htm - what??!)

The Transfiguration (21/12/08)

Sorry for being a little bit late...





The Transfiguration is obviously important - it's in three of the gospels (Matthew 16/17, Mark 9, Luke 9). It's some form of future event, a future vision. From 30AD - day of coming.



Jesus, Peter, James and John his brother had been around Caesarea-Philippia (north of Galilee, by Dan) and six days later Jesus led them up a high mountain by themselves. There are a few possible locations of this mountain - Mt. Hermon (north of Caesarea-Philippi), Mt. Tabor (near Nazareth) or J.Jarmuk (halfway between the two mountains i just mentioned). These are the three that my bible map tells me, but we also thought about Mt. Nebo which is near the Dead Sea.

In Deuteronomy 34, Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mt. Nebo, to the top of Pisgah and the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, Ephraim & Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, the Negeb, and the Plain (the Valley of Jericho), as far as Zoar. Moses was being shown the land but was not allowed in. (v4 - And the Lord said to him "This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and to Jacob, 'I will give it to your offspring.' I have let you see it with your eyes but you shall not go over there." )

In 2 Kings 2 it's the last recorded public activity of Elijah. v8 of the chapter is crossing the Jordan, v11 shows they have gone on from there and Elijah is taken from Elisha. That's the region (the land just north of the Dead Sea) where Moses & Elijah were both around at the end of their ministry - and Jesus was there at a potential end of his ministry. Jesus was looking forward, seeing when he is King. This transfiguration was to galvanise (sp?) Jesus to keep going forward - he had his crucifixion coming - to give him courage and strength, and reassurance.

We looked at references for Matt 17:2 - about Jesus' face shining, white clothes, all links with the Kingdom. Rev 1:16 'In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength')
and also Rev 10:1 - 'Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire'.
Also for the white clothes - Dan 7:9 'As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.'

2 Peter 1:16-18
'16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when we received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.'
This could be either Jesus' baptism or the transfiguration - however; at the time of his baptism Peter, Jame & John weren't disciples. Jesus was not in his Majesty during his life, as far as the people were concerned.

We should look at the two other gospel records of the transfiguration, there are some different details.