Hello there! I suddenly realised it's Sunday tomorrow, so I'd better get on with this blog! :P
Last week we had a look at the appearance of the seven days of creation in Psalm 104...
Day 1 - The creation of Light and the division of light from darkness
This appears at the start of the Psalm, in verse 2:
"Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment"
This is fairly straightforward and we have a wonderful image of God manipulating light at his will and covering himself with it like putting on a coat!
Day 2 - The creation of a firmament to divide the waters of the sky from the waters of the deep
In verse 6, "Thou coverdst it (the earth) with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains"
We can see here that there is water covering the earth and water above the mountains - indicating a division between the two, which is where the firmament comes in.
Day 3 - The creation of dry land from the waters and the creation of plants
In verse 7:
"At thy rebuke they (the waters) fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away."
This gives us a poetic glimpse of how the land may have been created - the waters simply fell away at God's command to make way for the land! Some interesting parallels with the Red Sea here...
Verse 8 seems to be a description of the water cycle - thousands of years ahead of its time!
Verse 9 refers to God's promise to Noah after the flood.
Verse 14-16 refer to the creation of the plants and indicate their purpose towards the sustaining of man and the animals.
Day 4 - The creation of the sun and the moon
Verse 19: "He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down."
Verse 22: The sun ariseth, they (the young lions) gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens."
This is an indication of the purpose of the sun and the moon - to let us know when to sleep and when to wake up!
Day 5 - The creation of the birds and the fishes
Verse 17:
(the trees are) "Where the birds make their nests: as for the the stork, the fir trees are their house."
We can see from this verse how the creation all fits together very nicely - where would birds live without trees to make their nests away from predators?
Similarly with the fish and 'creeping things' in verses 25-26:
"So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.
There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein."
Again we can see that the sea created earlier was a perfect habitat for these creatures, and that God would have known this from the start.
Day 6 - The creation of mammals and man
Verse 11: "They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst."
More evidence of God's creation all linking together - the water cycle is also vital for animals to get a drink of fresh water!
Verse 14 is the same in that the plants provide nuorishment for the animals.
Man also has his part to play in verse 23: "Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening."
We can also see that God would have had Jesus in mind right from the start: In Genesis 3:15, God refers the woman's seed (singular) and "his heel" - this verse is in fact referring to Jesus triumphing over sin! God could see the whole timeline right from the beginning - everything that has and will happen was known by God even before he created us!
Day 7 - The day of rest and meditation
This appears in verse 34 of Psalm 104 - "My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord."
Thanks for reading folks - as usual anything I have omitted or forgotten or misunderstood, please feel free to post a reply!
Saturday, 20 September 2008
Sunday, 7 September 2008
Another Look at Creation
Argh, first day back. We spent most of this morning going over what we did last session, what we plan to do this session, and air.
The main thing we looked at from last year were some of the parallels between Creation and other things described in the Bible. I can remember two seperate bits we looked at - if there were more, remember them yourself.
Firstly, the Sun. Jesus is often linked with the sun, and the links are obvious. There are several instances in the NT where He is described as the 'Light of the World' - you wouldn't think it could get much more straightforward than that, but it does.
Malachi 4:2 prophesies of a 'Sun of Righteousness' that will arise with healing in His wings. The sun brings light and provides the energy needed to sustain life on earth. There are probably more similarities in there we could look at, but we didn't.
We also considered clouds, and the water cycle as a whole. It's interesting that thousands of years before modern science, Job writes how God:
Draws up drops of water
Which distill as rain from the mist
Which the clouds drop down
And pour abundantly on man.
Again, there are parallels we can take from this - the influence of Jesus (the sun) causes certain droplets (believers) to separate from the sea (of nations) and rise up to condense in clouds (ecclesias?) which in turn rain down purified water (preaching?) onto the earth. It's interesting there to notice how when water is evaporated it leaves behind many of the impurities and extra bits it had, such as salt. I thought so, anyway.
Hebrews picks up on this as well, speaking of a 'great cloud of witnesses.' As clouds, it's the ecclesias' job to go forth and water all the earth.
No doubt there'll be more next week. Stay tuned, folks. And sorry for the gap between hearing and blogging.
The main thing we looked at from last year were some of the parallels between Creation and other things described in the Bible. I can remember two seperate bits we looked at - if there were more, remember them yourself.
Firstly, the Sun. Jesus is often linked with the sun, and the links are obvious. There are several instances in the NT where He is described as the 'Light of the World' - you wouldn't think it could get much more straightforward than that, but it does.
Malachi 4:2 prophesies of a 'Sun of Righteousness' that will arise with healing in His wings. The sun brings light and provides the energy needed to sustain life on earth. There are probably more similarities in there we could look at, but we didn't.
We also considered clouds, and the water cycle as a whole. It's interesting that thousands of years before modern science, Job writes how God:
Draws up drops of water
Which distill as rain from the mist
Which the clouds drop down
And pour abundantly on man.
Again, there are parallels we can take from this - the influence of Jesus (the sun) causes certain droplets (believers) to separate from the sea (of nations) and rise up to condense in clouds (ecclesias?) which in turn rain down purified water (preaching?) onto the earth. It's interesting there to notice how when water is evaporated it leaves behind many of the impurities and extra bits it had, such as salt. I thought so, anyway.
Hebrews picks up on this as well, speaking of a 'great cloud of witnesses.' As clouds, it's the ecclesias' job to go forth and water all the earth.
No doubt there'll be more next week. Stay tuned, folks. And sorry for the gap between hearing and blogging.
Thursday, 22 May 2008
The Symbolisation of Precipitation (Rain Explained)
It's finally here, OBSCENELY late (sorry folks, but better late than never I guess), it's the blog for Sunday 11th May! If you can cast your minds that far back (quite a feat, I know) we were looking at the Water Cycle and linking in the natural things with spiritual things...
We had a look at day 2 of creation...
Genisis 1:6,7
6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the water.
7. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
From this we can see that there were two seperate areas of 'water' - the sea and the clouds. The sea is often used to represent the world or the surrounding nations - for example, when jesus walked on water, he was symbolically trampling on the surrounding nations, and when Peter tried to follow him, he was distracted by the waves - i.e., the world surrounding him.
From this, we get the idea that we are part of the world, and therefore part of the sea (which is not where we want to be!). The heirs to the promises (also handily dubbed 'the good guys') are part of the waters in the sky, however. In essence there is a 'firmament' or a division between the 'bad guys' (the world) and the 'good guys'. We are trying to get up into the waters of the heavens, or the clouds. What do you need to get water from the sea to the sky? Evaporation by the sun. We can see that the sun is represented spiritually by Christ. From this, we get that we, in the sea, need to be evaporated (become seperate from the world, i.e. bad guys) to become part of the clouds (hiers to the promises, i.e. good guys), and that the only way we can hope to achieve this is by the sun (Jesus Christ)!
Apologies for any inaccuracies and any bits I might have missed out (and also my sacriligeous overuse of the words 'from this' at the beginning of sentences) - if you have anything to add to this post, correct or generally shout at me about, feel free to do so on this very blog!
We had a look at day 2 of creation...
Genisis 1:6,7
6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the water.
7. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
From this we can see that there were two seperate areas of 'water' - the sea and the clouds. The sea is often used to represent the world or the surrounding nations - for example, when jesus walked on water, he was symbolically trampling on the surrounding nations, and when Peter tried to follow him, he was distracted by the waves - i.e., the world surrounding him.
From this, we get the idea that we are part of the world, and therefore part of the sea (which is not where we want to be!). The heirs to the promises (also handily dubbed 'the good guys') are part of the waters in the sky, however. In essence there is a 'firmament' or a division between the 'bad guys' (the world) and the 'good guys'. We are trying to get up into the waters of the heavens, or the clouds. What do you need to get water from the sea to the sky? Evaporation by the sun. We can see that the sun is represented spiritually by Christ. From this, we get that we, in the sea, need to be evaporated (become seperate from the world, i.e. bad guys) to become part of the clouds (hiers to the promises, i.e. good guys), and that the only way we can hope to achieve this is by the sun (Jesus Christ)!
Apologies for any inaccuracies and any bits I might have missed out (and also my sacriligeous overuse of the words 'from this' at the beginning of sentences) - if you have anything to add to this post, correct or generally shout at me about, feel free to do so on this very blog!
Sunday, 27 April 2008
Creation week and the 7000 year plan
I have made the vital error of posting this a week late and not taking notes so this is going to be the shortest post ever.
This is the first week of the timeline we are doing round the meeting room wall. The bible uses the term "a day for a thousand years" in 2 peter 3 vs 8. So the picture on the left is the 7000 year plan.
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
9 march 2008 - Daniel chapter 12
The chapter is the last chapter in Daniel and it is about the time of the end. Daniel chapter 12 leads on to the book of revalation. Daniel is told to seal the book, to seal the word. where as in Revalation, John is told to send it to ecclesias and spread it around for all to hear.
We all had to make comments of what we thought and understood in the chapter. Verse 1 was a time of trouble before the end, the world was going to get worse, it was also about Michael - an archangel. Michael also appears in chapter 10 v13 + 21 where he helps Daniel. Michael is also in Jude verse 9 and revalation 12 v 7. In verse 2 of Daniel chapter 12, it is a picture, a picture of hope and judgement, and that continues on to verse 3. Verse 5 was about the river pointing forward to the river of life - revalation 22 v 1+2. In verse 12 it is a blessing for those who wait in faith until the end comes. Verse 13 is that there is a place in the kingdom allotted to Daniel it also links to Revalation 20 v 6 - you will be granted everlasting life when Christ returns.
We don't know the starting date for the world, so we have to be prepared for when the end does come. We always wait until the last minute to do something, don't do that for Christ, he could come at anytime.
Eilidh
We all had to make comments of what we thought and understood in the chapter. Verse 1 was a time of trouble before the end, the world was going to get worse, it was also about Michael - an archangel. Michael also appears in chapter 10 v13 + 21 where he helps Daniel. Michael is also in Jude verse 9 and revalation 12 v 7. In verse 2 of Daniel chapter 12, it is a picture, a picture of hope and judgement, and that continues on to verse 3. Verse 5 was about the river pointing forward to the river of life - revalation 22 v 1+2. In verse 12 it is a blessing for those who wait in faith until the end comes. Verse 13 is that there is a place in the kingdom allotted to Daniel it also links to Revalation 20 v 6 - you will be granted everlasting life when Christ returns.
We don't know the starting date for the world, so we have to be prepared for when the end does come. We always wait until the last minute to do something, don't do that for Christ, he could come at anytime.
Eilidh
Sunday, 2 March 2008
Daniel Ch 11 in a bit more detail
Following on from last weeks (24/02) look at Chapter 11, today we delved a little deeper into some of the themes and tried to draw out some lessons. As the main focus last week was looking at the shorter term fulfilment (the Greek empire etc.), this week we probed the NT.
v27
Daniel 11v27:
"The two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will sit at the same table and lie to each other, but to no avail, because an end will still come at the appointed time."
Compare this to Acts 17v29-31:
"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill. 30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
Ah ha! We have a bit of a link here - the appointed time spoken about in Daniel seems to have a future fulfilment through Jesus when the world will be judged with justice.
v31+32
Daniel 11v31+32:
"His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation. 32 With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him."
The phrase 'abomination that causes desolation' cropped up a bit earlier in Daniel 9v27, and it also appears in the NT during the Olivet prophesy (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21).
Mark 13v14:
"When you see 'the abomination that causes desolation' standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains."
Jesus here obviously knows his OT (supreme emphasis on 'obviously'), and is quoting from Daniel to warn his disciples. The time spoken of here is AD70 when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans and the Jews were scattered. Those who knew their OT or listened to Jesus ('let the reader understand') were saved by fleeing to the mountains when this time of trouble came.
Does this also have a future prophesy?
As usual, time beat us to delve further, but we finished by remembering one of the key themes during our studies in Daniel:
God is in control
v27
Daniel 11v27:
"The two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will sit at the same table and lie to each other, but to no avail, because an end will still come at the appointed time."
Compare this to Acts 17v29-31:
"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill. 30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
Ah ha! We have a bit of a link here - the appointed time spoken about in Daniel seems to have a future fulfilment through Jesus when the world will be judged with justice.
v31+32
Daniel 11v31+32:
"His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation. 32 With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him."
The phrase 'abomination that causes desolation' cropped up a bit earlier in Daniel 9v27, and it also appears in the NT during the Olivet prophesy (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21).
Mark 13v14:
"When you see 'the abomination that causes desolation' standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains."
Jesus here obviously knows his OT (supreme emphasis on 'obviously'), and is quoting from Daniel to warn his disciples. The time spoken of here is AD70 when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans and the Jews were scattered. Those who knew their OT or listened to Jesus ('let the reader understand') were saved by fleeing to the mountains when this time of trouble came.
Does this also have a future prophesy?
As usual, time beat us to delve further, but we finished by remembering one of the key themes during our studies in Daniel:
God is in control
Daniel (not the Prophet)
Monday, 25 February 2008
24th Feb 08 - Daniel chapter 11
Daniel chapter 11 – Study Class, 24.02.2008
Quick summary of chapter 11: The King of the North and the King of the South did not like each other and fought over the whole land, but in the end they were all destroyed.
Very often prophecies have very several fulfilments, a short term fulfilment and a long term fulfilment.
The Babylonian Empire was the most powerful. It was situated in a central area around many other nations who looked up to it (even if they weren’t ruled by it) – Medes, Persians, Egyptians, Lyconians, just like in the vision of the tree where it was visible to all the earth.
The prophecy of Daniel is so accurate to what’s happened in history that critics say it must’ve been written after the events had taken place – but we know it wasn’t. When we get to Alexander the Great in history, we know that he was very powerful and conquered a huge area but when he died age 33 he had no children and so his kingdom was given to his four generals.
Compare this to Daniel 11:3,4 (NIV) “3Then a mighty king will appear, who will rule with great power and do as he pleases. 4After he has appeared, his empire will be broken up and parcelled out towards the four winds of heaven. It will not go to his descendants, nor will it have the power he exercised, because his empire will be uprooted and given to others.”
The four generals that got parts of the kingdom were: Ptolemy who got Egypt; Cassander who got Greece; Lysimachus who got Turkey; and Seleucus who got an incredibly large area – from Israel stretching out across towards India. They all battled with each other and eventually Seleucus got Greece and Turkey too, leaving just the southern area that belonged to Ptolemy – King of North and King of South.
Quick summary of chapter 11: The King of the North and the King of the South did not like each other and fought over the whole land, but in the end they were all destroyed.
Very often prophecies have very several fulfilments, a short term fulfilment and a long term fulfilment.
The Babylonian Empire was the most powerful. It was situated in a central area around many other nations who looked up to it (even if they weren’t ruled by it) – Medes, Persians, Egyptians, Lyconians, just like in the vision of the tree where it was visible to all the earth.
The prophecy of Daniel is so accurate to what’s happened in history that critics say it must’ve been written after the events had taken place – but we know it wasn’t. When we get to Alexander the Great in history, we know that he was very powerful and conquered a huge area but when he died age 33 he had no children and so his kingdom was given to his four generals.
Compare this to Daniel 11:3,4 (NIV) “3Then a mighty king will appear, who will rule with great power and do as he pleases. 4After he has appeared, his empire will be broken up and parcelled out towards the four winds of heaven. It will not go to his descendants, nor will it have the power he exercised, because his empire will be uprooted and given to others.”
The four generals that got parts of the kingdom were: Ptolemy who got Egypt; Cassander who got Greece; Lysimachus who got Turkey; and Seleucus who got an incredibly large area – from Israel stretching out across towards India. They all battled with each other and eventually Seleucus got Greece and Turkey too, leaving just the southern area that belonged to Ptolemy – King of North and King of South.
Verse 6 – “After some years, they will become allies. The daughter of the king of the South will go to the king of the North to make an alliance, but she will not retain her power, and he and his power will not last. In those days she will be handed over, together will her royal escort and her father and the one who supported her.”
If you know history you will know this is what happened. (taken from our study book) Antiochus Theos, the third king of the dynasty of the north put away Laodice, his first wife, and married Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphius, the second king. – This is what verse 6 is talking about!
Chapter 11 talks a lot about the ‘time of the end’. Shows it’s also a long term prophecy.
When Norman was younger, he heard a lot about Russia giving Egypt a lot of financial support (North and South). Now in the news (on Sunday 17th) Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, and Russia is totally against it. They are saying they will use military force – very similar to the prophecy. Verses 9&10 “9Then the king of the North will invade the realm of the king of the South but will retreat to his own country. 10His sons will prepare for war and assemble a great army, which will sweep on like an irresistible flood and carry the battle as far as his fortress.”
Hopefully next week we will be looking more into this chapter…
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