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John Whitehead

In this, the penultimate post of his Is the Bible True? study, John Whitehead looks at Jesus’ ministry and death

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Chapter 5

Jesus’ Ministry

This chapter includes a number of episodes which are representative of the whole of Jesus’ ministry.

What Jesus Did

The four aspects of his ministry were teaching, preaching, healing and casting out demons. This latter needs expanding. Their nature is somewhat conjectural. In the ancient Middle East demons were believed to be the cause of a number of conditions such as epilepsy and psychosis, which are now known to have a medical cause. When we look at the ministry of Jesus there are many examples of Jesus casting out demons and casting out evil spirits. A supreme example is found in Mark’s gospel chapter 5 where Jesus addresses a man who lived in a graveyard. He was a danger both to anyone who met him and also himself- he would shout out as if in a strange language and cut himself with stones. Addressing the evil spirits, Jesus commanded them to come out of him. Whatever they were delving into, although an exploration of demonology is a fascinating study in itself, it is beyond the scope of this book. Suffice it to say that God through Jesus is more powerful.

He healed people in a number of ways, sometimes by just placing his hand on the person. On one occasion he even healed a blind man by spitting on the ground, gathering up the mud and rubbing it on his eyes.

All this demonstrated his multifaceted character, showing his love and proving his divinity. He showed his love often responding to immediate needs, such as miraculously turning water into wine at a wedding, healing the paralysed, or exorcising demons. He demonstrated his divinity by raising the dead and healing the blind, showing that God’s power was present in him.

Not surprisingly, news about him spread country wide. He went through the whole of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

An Encounter of Jesus- The Woman at the Well (John 4:4-42)

The following early encounter gives us an oversight of the whole of Jesus’ ministry. It is worth reading the full account in John’s gospel.

Jesus and his disciples were travelling through Samaria, a region that was generally avoided by Jews. Around noon the disciples had gone to the nearby town to buy food, leaving Jesus resting from the heat of the day at the side of a well. There Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman, who is alone and fetching water.

They strike up a conversation which is surprising for a number of reasons. Firstly a man would not normally speak to a woman on her own. Secondly, Jews didn’t speak to Samaritans anyway as they had built their own temple which the Jews considered pagan. In addition the woman seemed to be an outcast as normally the women would come together In the early morning to the well. He then asked her to give him a drink, again this is countercultural to ask such a favour.

He then steers the conversation in a different direction and offers her living water, explaining that this living water is the Holy Spirit that those who believe in him would receive. The woman, realising that she is speaking with a prophet, asks about the proper place to worship. Jesus replies that true worship is not confined to a particular location but is about worshipping God in spirit and truth.

The woman, convinced by his words, goes back to her village and tells the people about her encounter, daring to believe that he was actually the promised Messiah. Many of them believed in Jesus because of her testimony.

By approaching her, Jesus demonstrated his care for all, regardless of their socialstanding. We can also be inspired by her excitement in sharing the good news of Jesus.

In this encounter we see many barriers broken down. Today one of the aims of Christians is continuing to break down barriers in so many areas of society.

Jesus the Healer

Then as now, sick people use the medical profession to be healed or cured. But Jesus used his miraculous power to heal the blind, the sick and the lame.

Although Jesus had come primarily to the Israelite people, he even healed those who were part of the oppressing forces, demonstrating that the kingdom of heaven is open to all believers. He clearly sees his role as for the whole world.

Healing a Woman with an “Issue of Blood”- See what Faith Can Do

Jesus was on his way to the house of Jairus, an official of the local synagogue whose daughter was very ill. Jairus had pleaded with Jesus to go to his house and heal her. A large crowd was following him but his journey was interrupted. A woman brought the crowd to a halt. She had been ‘subject to bleeding” for many years. The Bible expresses it quite delicately but what it implies is that she appeared to have had prolonged menstrual bleeding which in that culture made her unclean, an outcast. Jesus was surrounded by a crowd, but she pushed through and touched his cloak, thinking to herself that if she just touched his clothes she would be healed. Immediately the bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was free from her suffering. Jesus had felt power going from him and asked who had touched his clothes. The disciples commented that in the crowd, everybody is bumping into him. But the woman came and fell at his feet and trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. Jesus said to her, “Your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Jesus Restores a Dead Girl to Life. (Mark 5:21-43)

He continued to the home of Jairus, but was told that the little girl had died. When Jesus arrived at the house he told the mourners that the little girl was not dead, only asleep. They all laughed at him. They knew what a dead body looked like. But Jesus took thechild’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where  the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around. At this they were all completely astonished.

Raising Lazarus from the Dead. (John 11)

Following this, messengers had brought him the message to come quickly as his friend Lazarus, the brother of his friends Martha and Mary, was very ill. But Jesus was in no hurry as he knew what was going to happen. On his arrival he was told that Lazarus had been dead for four days. He stood at the entrance of the tomb and commanded Lazarus to come out. Lazarus came out still wrapped in his grave clothes. So they removed the grave clothes and let him go back home. He was restored to living out the rest of his life in the normal manner.

Jesus still heals people in miraculous ways. I recently spoke to a man who, having a medically diagnosed cancer, received prayer by members of his church fellowship. When he returned to his consultant he was told that the cancer was no longer there. But why does that not happen to everybody in answer to prayer? Only God Knows!

Jesus is also the perfect example of love for all, caring for the poor, and he never turned away little children. Matthew 19:13–14 says, “allow the little children to come to me, for of such is the Kingdom of God”. In saying this he was reaching out to a segment of society that was thought to be insignificant. He is not saying that the kingdom of heaven actually belongs to little children. Instead, he is reminding his followers of their need for childlike trust and humility.

Jesus’ Command over Nature.

Water into Wine (John 2:1-11)

Almost at the very beginning of his ministry, Jesus, his disciples and his mother Mary were among the guests at a wedding. All were having a good time until calamity struck they ran out of wine. What did Jesus do? Only turn the water in six stone jars each holding about 20-30 gallons and turn it into wine! When tasted it was recognised as being top quality! What Jesus was offering was the best. We don’t know how many guests, but typically the whole village would be invited. But all this shows that Jesus was not averse to people enjoying themselves.

5000 People Miraculously Fed (John 6:1-14)

Crowds often followed Jesus. On one occasion, on a hillside above the sea of Galilee, around 5000 men were there, and whole families. Towards the end of the day marked with teaching and healing, the disciples were hungry. They realised too that the people would be hungry and asked Jesus what to do about it. (Just as an aside, they were there all day. The Bible does not tell us what they used for toilets). A young boy had five small loaves and a couple of fishes. Jesus miraculously multiplied these over and over again and each person was fed. The leftovers were collected so that none would be wasted- in all 12 baskets full. How did he do it? God Knows! Simply another miracle.

Walking on Water and Calming the Storm (John 6:16-24)

Following this, the disciples went ahead of Jesus and were in a boat rowing across the Sea of Galilee. Several hours into the night, a storm blew up so violent that they thought that the boat would capsize. Then they saw Jesus walking toward them across the surface of the water but they did not recognise him. Their fear turned to terror because they believed they were seeing a ghost. But Jesus reassured them that it was him. Peter wanted to walk to him and Jesus invited him to do exactly that. Peter jumped out of the boat and began walking on the water toward Jesus, but the moment he took his eyes off Jesus he started to sink. He cried out and Jesus immediately reached out his hand to save him from sinking. As Jesus and Peter climbed into the boat together, the storm ceased. After witnessing this miracle, the disciples joined the dots up finally realising that Jesus actually was the Son of God. Now, as always, Jesus is watching over those who trust in him. The message here is to keep your eyes fixed on him. For those who trust him, he has calmed many storms in our turbulent lives. So never lose track of that truth- Jesus is the Son of God, God inside a human body.

These are just a few examples of Jesus, over and over again showing his compassion, his caring, his love of humanity, especially to the less fortunate. He is demonstrating his Omnibenevolence. Now that you have seen all this, you know that you can trust him. Jesus after all knows everything about you- and still cares for you. To all of us he says, “Come to me all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28).

Jesus faces Opposition from the Religious Leaders

But this message of love, acceptance, and forgiveness contrasted with the judgemental and condemnatory attitude of the religious leaders of his time as it presented a fresh interpretation of the Law and the Commandments. They considered that the things he said were blasphemous because he said that he existed before Abraham and that he forgave people’s sins. Their understanding was that only God could forgive sins, and how could any person alive have a pre-existence? But Jesus continually reminded people that His works were aligned with God’s will so that “the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13).

Chapter 6

Jesus’ teaching

A New World Order- An Upside-down Kingdom.

Repent and Believe

Jesus’ life and teaching was based on living and interpreting the 10 commandments, given to Moses, described in the list below.

The Ten Commandments are

● You shall have no other gods before me
● You shall not make any idols to worship
● You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain
● Rememberthe Sabbath day and keep it holy
● Honour your father and your mother
● You shall not murder
● You shall not commit adultery
● You shall not steal
● You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour
● You shall not covet

The first four relate to our relationship with and respect for God. The remaining six to how we live our lives. They would appear to be quite specific but Jesus put a much wider and deeper interpretation on them. For instance, whereas the commandment said “do not murder”, Jesus’ interpretation was “do not be angry with another person or insult them”. The seventh commandment said “do not commit adultery”- Jesus’ explanation was if a married person looks at another person lustfully, they are guilty of adultery in their heart. And do not covet- who has not, in looking at someone else’s possessions, has not thought, I wish I had one of those! I don’t think I need to go on!

They can be summarised as, “Love God, and treat your neighbour as you would like to be treated yourself”. He is teaching about how to live a life based on love, humility and compassion with God at the centre. This was something he demonstrated with every breath that he took.

The core of his teaching- how to live the Kingdom life- can be found in Matthew’s gospel, in chapters 4-6, often described as Sermon on the Mount. It is intended to identify the ways in which followers of Jesus should behave in living a life of acceptance of God’s invitation to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

The important lessons for his followers are that possessions on earth should not be our top priority. God Knows what we need and he will provide. Again, it’s all about trust.

● Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

● God will help people who seek his help.
● The way to heaven is like a narrow gate- difficult to pass through- but getting into hell is easy like a wide gateway. More about this later.

Those who are favoured by God are the poor, the hungry, the sad, those who are hated because of their allegiance to Jesus. But those who are rich and well fed should watch out- they have already had their reward.

Here is a blueprint for our guidance, a path for us to walk on our journey through life. The overall message is for Christians to follow Christ’s example of performing kind, generous actions to those less fortunate in this life.

It contains challenges and rewards. It is an ideal to work towards- it will take a lifetime. Does it mean that we have to abandon all materialism? Matthew 6:33 says seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be given to you. He refers not only to the provisions of comfort, health and safety, but also to material things- but you would become a good steward. They would become your servants not your masters, so to speak. What if…..? Wouldn’t the world be a better place?

There is a lot to take in. Just stop there for a few moments and think about what Jesus is saying.

I’ll say it again. What if….?

Chapter 7

Jesus’ Death

Warning! This chapter contains descriptions which some readers may find disturbing. It is the stuff that nightmares are made of.

It looks at all of those questions- who, what, when, where, how and why.

We nowmoveforward in time to the final week before Jesus was executed alongside two common criminals. It is full of contrasts. On the one hand it shows Jesus’ compassion. On the other, the hatred of the Jewish leaders towards him. Jesus had warned the Twelve about what was going to happen telling them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that was written by the prophets concerning me- that I would be delivered over to the Gentiles, mocked, insulted and spat on, then flogged and killed, but I would be raised back to life.”

This is exactly what happened, but the disciples did not understand it. They just could not believe the things that Jesus was saying, not only that he was going to be executed, but also that he would rise from being dead, although he had told them repeatedly in the previous months.

So they travel to Jerusalem, Jesus is seen as the coming conquering king who would liberate the people from the oppression of Rome. Entering the city people lined his path with palm leaves and some even spread their cloaks on the road. Here is the conquering king- arriving not on a war horse bringing in his kingdom by force, but on a donkey, a symbol of peace and meekness.

On entry into Jerusalem he went to the temple. On the forecourts he encountered money changers and traders. Many people liked to buy small denomination currency with their large denomination currency so as to get more attention when they rattled their coins into the collection. The money changers would of course make a profit on the exchange. Other traders were selling animals which would be used as sacrifices. He addressed the corruption, shouting angrily, “You have turned this house of prayer into a den of thieves,” as he overturned the tables of the traders. It is worth noting that anger does have a place, even such violent anger.

This made the chief priests and the other authorities even more determined to see him killed. They would soon get their way. But he continued his teaching for the next few days until the eve of the Passover, when he and his twelve disciples celebrated the Passover meal, one day early.

The Passover Meal

After the meal he also inaugurated a new symbolic meal of simply bread and wine, known as Communion (with God) or Eucharist (from the Greek word Eucharistia meaning thank you) as a way for his disciples then and now to remember his death and sacrifice. At its core, communion is a celebration, remembrance and proclamation of Christ’s death and the events which were to take place the following days- his arrest, trial and execution, followed by his being raised back to life. Of the loaf, torn apart to share with them, he said, “This is my body, broken for you, to preserve you for everlasting life,” describing the way his body would be pulled out of joint and mutilated by the manner of his death. Of the wine he said, “This is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins”. This is the means whereby we can receive eternal life and forgiveness, an affirmation that we can be forgiven, over and over again. It is a time of renewing, cleansing, leaving the old behind us and making a new start. It reminds us and declares to those partaking that Christ is with us, Christ died for us and he is now alive working in us.

The disciple Judas left the meal early as he had made a deal with the religious leaders to have him arrested. He led them accompanied by a detachment of soldiers who arrested him and he was placed in a cell overnight to face trial the next day.

Early the following morning he was taken to the Sanhedrin- the body responsible for upholding the Jewish Law. He was accused of blasphemy but they couldn’t inflict a harsh enough punishment as they wanted to see him executed. So he was then taken to the governor of the province, Pontius Pilate, accused of being ‘King of the Jews’, a direct challenge to the Roman authorities.

According to Roman law the punishment for rebellion against the king was death by crucifixion. Although he did not think it warranted the death penalty he did not want to anger the Jewish leaders, so Jesus was beaten to the extent that the skin would be ripped from his back, hoping that would satisfy them. But many in the crowd had also misunderstood Jesus’ mission, who had expected a political or military leader who would free them from Roman oppression while Jesus’ mission was primarily spiritual and focused on the Kingdom of God. So they continued with their chanting crucify, crucify. Jesus was then led away to be crucified. He was ordered to carry the crossbeam of the cross but he was so weakened by the beatings that a passer-by, Simon from Cyrene was ordered to carry it for him. I wonder what was going through Simon’s mind at that time!

Weakened by this cruel beating he was led to a place just outside the city, called Golgotha. There Jesus was crucified along with two robbers, one on his right, one on his left. He was nailed by the soldiers to those pieces of wood, arms outstretched, suspended by nails through his hands and feet. As one modern hymn writer expressed it, “Hands that Flung Stars into Space to Cruel Nails Surrendered”. Here was the broken, disjointed body and the shedding of blood fulfilling the symbolism in Jesus’ last meal with his disciples.

Even in that situation he prayed, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.” He was subjected to the taunts and jeers and scorn of the crowd. “He saved others, let him save himself.” Mockingly hailed as king of the Jews, a crown made out of vicious thorns was placed on his head adding to his pain and suffering.

Just put yourself at the scene for a moment. There are two things that many accounts of the crucifixion do not tend to make clear. The first was that Jesus was completely naked. We read that they divided his clothes. It didn’t mean they divided his clothes except his loincloth. Then we have the picture of Jesus lifted up high. In reality the crossbeam was only typically three metres off the ground. So here was the victim, subjected to verbal abuse from the onlookers and the ultimate humiliation and degradation of his nakedness for all to see. Also at some stage he would likely lose control of bowel and bladder. Pause for a moment and just think about it. But even here Jesus showed no resentment. The level of pain is indescribable- giving rise to our expression, excruciating. He was fastened by nails through his hands and feet with his arms stretched out carrying his bodyweight. I will protect the reader from the horrific physiological details of death by crucifixion- the what, concentrating on the why and how. But I will point out that it’s bad enough getting a splinter in your finger, or trying to pull a thistle out of the garden with your bare hands. I’m sure you can relate to that. Death by crucifixion is so horrific that I find it disturbing even writing about it.

But the most horrific words uttered by Jesus, never exceeded in history before or after, from Adam to the end of time. The words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” That “Why” question- the biggest “Why” ever uttered. Never in the whole of human history has God forsaken any human being. Yet here is his son, his beloved son, forsaken by his father, knowable to all as a loving heavenly father. And the reason? Here was Jesus at the receiving end of the judgement of God, abandoned as the bearer of the sin of the whole world, for your wrongdoing and my wrongdoing.

This is what a father allowed to happen to his only son! Yet it was for you and me that he did it! I repeat the words, “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him would not die but have everlasting life.” This is what Salvation means, what it means to be saved, another word with the meaning different from that in common use, often trivialised.

“Jesus Saves” was an often stated slogan in my youth. Without the background, it is probably meaningless. In the typing pool in my former workplace was a card pinned to the notice board- “Jesus Saves!” The comment underneath was “Not on my salary he wouldn’t”……

The low point of the disciples’ whole experience must have been the arrest, followed by Jesus’ trial, death sentence and subsequent execution. In that moment all their hopes and expectations were dashed into a million fragments. With the exception of John, all the disciples abandoned Jesus and fled for fear of their own arrest and condemnation. But some of the women remained and stood at a distance with John. There they were removed from the jeers and taunts of the crowd, the groans of the tortured victims and the stench of stale urine and faeces.

Around six hours later, after receiving sour wine to quench his thirst, he cried out, “It is finished” and he breathed his last. Not just that his life had come to an end but the work that he came to do was now complete. He had carried the sin of the whole world. Then, now and for all time.

Just pause for a moment- here we have answers to all of the what, when, where, how, why and who questions.

I include here some of the words of Psalm 22, which King David wrote after his adultery with Bathsheba, some 1000 years before the birth of Jesus, at the time when he felt abandoned by God. It chillingly yet prophetically so accurately describes the experience of Jesus at his crucifixion.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?
All who see me mock me.
I am poured out like water, all my bones are out of joint.
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
They have pierced my hands and my feet.
They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”

But later in the psalm there is also a message of hope

“All of the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord.
Future generations will be told about the Lord.
They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn.”

Here is Jesus crucified. It was not uncommon for the victim to be suspended for days even before finally dying, swarming with flies, crows pecking at the flesh of the squirming, gasping victim. Truly, a living nightmare.

As evening approached, because it was the eve of the Sabbath, a rich man called Joseph who had become a disciple asked Pilate for the body. To ensure that he was already dead one of the soldiers plunged his sword into Jesus’ side. Blood and a watery liquid poured out. His body was removed from the cross and taken to an unused tomb nearby where his body was placed and wrapped in strips of linen cloth and the tomb closed with a flat circular stone rolled over the entrance.

The Lamb of God

In many places in the Bible, Jesus is described as the Lamb of God, identifying with the lambs that were sacrificed before the escape from slavery in Egypt. Now, Jesus becomes as if the sacrificial lamb, releasing the people from their slavery to sin. For the Israelites, forgiveness was achieved on the Day of Atonement. But now, here is Jesus becoming the ultimate sacrifice. He was sacrificed once and for all. He did it once, and he did it- for all! The atoning sacrifice was no longer required. The sacrifice of Jesus meant that the sins of the whole world were transferred to him. God was not punishing Jesus. Rather, God punished sin in the flesh of Jesus. The wrath of God was satisfied! Sin was defeated, saving people from its enslaving power, through that cross. In the same way that the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt led them out of slavery into freedom and the promise of their own country, the “Promised Land”, people now are offered an invitation to become citizens of a New Kingdom.

The main point here is that God did this because we are worth it. Each and every one of us is worth saving from death and being given a new life in a New Kingdom.

…….. If only Marilyn Monroe and many like her had realised that each and every one of us is so special in God’s sight!

So if we admit our faults and confess our wrongdoings and our self-centeredness we will certainly receive God’s forgiveness. Jesus took all of our sin and it was nullified on his death. “He Died to Save Us from our Sins,” is the central core message, but as we have seen, this is an oversimplification of a very complex scenario. 

Next time we reach the final chapters of Is the Bible True? 

Is the Bible True? In the first few chapters of this third part of a five week series, John Whitehead looks at Jesus as The Light of the World

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1        Introduction    

Chapter 2       A Look at Jesus’ Life    

Chapter 3       Jesus’ Identity    

Chapter 4      Jesus’ Preparation    

Chapter 5      Jesus’ Ministry 

Chapter 6      Jesus’Teaching

Chapter 7      Jesus’ Death 

Chapter 8     Jesus’ Resurrection 

Chapter 9     A Time to Reflect 

Chapter 10   The Alternative 

Chapter 11    In Conclusion 

Appendix                                  

Chapter 1

Introduction

This is part 3 of the series “Is the Bible True” using the analogy of a lighthouse. Although called Part 3, it is complete in itself and does not depend on having read the earlier booklets.

Part 1 looked at the creation and foundations of the Bible, creating order out of disorder,

Part 2 the building blocks- that was the Jewish nation. These comprised the writings of the Old Testament, which foretold the coming of Jesus as “God with Us”.

Part 3 fulfils that prophecy, by God coming down to live among us as a real human being. It looks at the life of Jesus in the New Testament, where he describes himself as the Light of the World, completing our lighthouse analogy. But as with all analogies this is incomplete elsewhere he is pictured as the cornerstone, the foundation stone, and also the capstone- the final stone at the top of a building, so we will be looking at Jesus as the founder and the finisher of the Christian faith. The apostle John, as we will explore later, recognises the pre-existence of Jesus not just as a prophet who brings the word of God but the Word made Flesh, in other words, God himself, with a human body.

As before, the approach will be

● To present the Bible as an authentic document, by examining what it says, to test the truth or otherwise of what is written and explore its relevance for our generation.
● To makethe Bible accessible to the ordinary reader who doesn’t have any specific scientific, literary or theological knowledge, making it as comfortable to read as picking up a mystery novel. I use the word mystery as it contains statements which need explaining.
● And, most importantly, to show a way to achieve personal fulfilment in life, with the help of a God who cares about you, even loves you, a God you can know personally. This immediately poses another question- how can we personally know the God who is creator of the universe?

If you do not have a copy of the Bible, it is worth buying one so that you can look up the context of the Bible references. The New International Version is excellent. You may prefer a different version, of which there are several. The Good News Bible deserves aspecial mention as it combines reliability with simple and straightforward language.

But if you do not wish to buy one yet, it is readily available online on a number of websites including www.biblestudytools.com and www.biblegateway.com, which provide not just the text of the Bible, but also explanations to help to understand it.

But can a book written some 2000 years ago really have any relevance to us today? Anemphatic Yes! Quite simply, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.

As we look at the life of Jesus, I will respond to the questions in that verse by Rudyard Kipling. For the benefit of those who have not read the earlier parts, I repeat it here.

“I keep six honest serving-men,
They taught me all I knew;
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.”

We seem to have been created to ask questions, questions which our innate curiosity causes us to ask to try to make sense of what we see around us and how we fit into the greater scheme of things. Good questions to ask as we explore the New Testament.

The life of Jesus, a person unique in history, is described in the first four books of the New Testament, the Gospels. His parents were called Mary and Joseph. Only it is not quite as simple as that. It would seem a somewhat unlikely story. His mother, engaged to Joseph but not married, became pregnant without having had sex.

Not only that, it is about this man who was dead and then came back to life again. We will respond to the what, the how and the why later! But as you read on, perhaps you will realise that it is fact not fiction, truth not falsehood and that it all really happened.

So Part 3 is about unpacking this unlikely story, demonstrating its truth and what it can mean to each one of us. It is a call to faith in the invisible God.

The Key Message of the New Testament

Karl Barth, an influential 20th century theologian, was asked by a student if he could summarise his whole life’s work in theology in one sentence. Barth allegedly said something like, “Yes, I can. In the words of a song I learned as a child- Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” That simple statement is what Part 3 is about, examining its implications for each one of us how he demonstrated that love. Expanding on that statement, in the words of John’s gospel Chapter 3, “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son that anyone who believes in him shall not die but have everlasting life”, a summary of answers to the who, what, how and why. Now that really is Good News! What does it mean, “Gave his son?” Quite simply, God made Jesus a
substitute for us. It is the reality in this verse that underpins the entirety of the biblical narrative. We deserved to die because of our disobedience- our sin, but Jesus took our sin upon himself and was executed. In the Christian sense, it means releasing Christians from the consequences of their sin- death. Jesus’ death by crucifixion pays the price for our sin. But it didn’t stop there. He was raised from death to everlasting life. That everlasting life is promised to all who believe. The jargon word for that is that he redeems us.

Jesus’ life’s work was to demonstrate the love of God. He taught, preached, healed all manner of sicknesses and diseases, he showed love to all especially the downtrodden, founded a New Kingdom and invited all to enter into it showing The Way to achieve that. But the barrier is Sin. Sin separates. Sin is basically deviation from God’s standards the 10 Commandments which were revealed to Moses when the Israelites were in the wilderness, having escaped from slavery in Egypt. Their purpose was to provide guidance for the moral and spiritual lives of God’s people.The essence of them is to love God with your complete being, and to treat your neighbour, in its widest interpretation, as you would like to be treated yourself.

Jesus demonstrated and taught a wider interpretation of these, with the aim of giving the people an understanding of the Kingdom, or the Kingship, of God and the eternal – yes eternal, hope that they could fulfil through him.

It may be true, but so what? What is Christianity all about? What’s in it for Me?

Not surprisingly it’s all about Jesus Christ. Jesus’ own explanation was that he said “I have come that they may have life, life in all its fullness”. But we have to remember that a life that is full has times of hardship, difficulty and disappointment. Jesus is there in those times as well.

Many would say that they are fulfilled as they are, life is pretty good thank you, but I will refer back to an observation included in the first booklet where I coined a phrase “Good is the Enemy of the Best”. I was curious to see if someone else had already said this, so I carried out an internet search, and to my amazement, this is what I found. Voltaire, an 18th century French writer and philosopher observed that “The Best is the Enemy of Good”. He explained it by saying that “Close is sometimes Good Enough” and “Exact is far too costly”. Yes, it can be costly but what I am saying is that the best- a truly fulfilled life – is actually achievable through Jesus. But much more on that later.

The Gospel Writers

The life of Jesus is described in the first four books of the New Testament, calledcGospels (gospel simply means Good News)

Matthew’s gospel portrays Jesus as a King, Mark as a servant, Luke as a man, and John as the divine Son of God. Yes, he is all of those, encapsulated in this one person.

Who then is Jesus

We started part 1 with the words, “In the Beginning, God”. We start this section similarly, reading from John’s gospel, which takes us back to the creation accounts –  “In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” How was the Word made Flesh? By the manner in which Mary conceived, which we will explore later. Again, he was fully human, yet he was also fully God!

The Israelites had put their hope in the promise of a Messiah. A military leader, a king like King David who would free them from oppression by foreign forces to establish a New Kingdom under God’s rule. But their Messiah came as a helpless newborn baby who needed keeping warm, feeding, changing, just like every other baby in the world. As Stuart Townend expressed it in a modern hymn, “Fullness of God in Helpless Babe”. Or in a Charles Wesley hymn, “Our God Contracted to a Span, Incomprehensibly made Man.” Quite remarkable if you pause there and think about it!

As an adult Jesus criticised almost everything about the practices of the religious leaders, and their interpretation of the law. They never really came to terms with who Jesus was. He was their promised Messiah, but they did not recognise him as such. In the end they saw to it that he was executed. What they didn’t expect was that he would be brought back to life. He was executed on a Friday but raised by God from the dead on the third day, Sunday, two days later. But to everyone, including the Jewish people who do acknowledge him for who he was and is, he gives the right to become children of God- children born not of blood, not through the desire or will of man, but born of God, as citizens of a New Kingdom, the Kingdom of God.

Thus the Kingdom of God is a body of believers who have accepted this invitation and submitted to God as their head of state, their King. It is as if a state within a state.

So this is the story of Jesus, the founder of the Christian faith.

Christianity is a unique religion in that Jesus, the founder of Christianity, is presented as God coming down to the earth and living among us, and he is the only founder of a religion who does not have a grave.

So, again I pose the question, “What’s in it for Me?” Simply, a fulfilled life now, but that you are invited to entering into eternal life, beginning now, continuing after the death of your body- a body which is doomed to decay, to be raised back to life, like Jesus was, and live forever in that perfect place way beyond our wildest dreams where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will have passed away. This is described at the end of the final book of the Bible, Revelation. An out-of-this-world statement- literally, but hopefully by having accepted the authenticity of what has gone before this, you will accept the authenticity here. Are you tempted or maybe just curious? But remember! This is part of a new covenant which is a promise that God will forgive sin and restore the fellowship with people who turn to him and who would receive Life in all its Fullness.

Before we look at this in detail, here is a challenge. The challenge is to read the whole of one gospel in full. I would suggest Mark’s gospel. It is the shortest, and it confines itself to Jesus’ adult life from the start of his ministry. You may be surprised to know that if you do this you will have done something that many Christians have not done! Most Christians read anything from a couple of Bible verses to a couple of chapters of the Bible in one sitting, because there is so much in it. That method allows examination of the details of the passage, understand what the passage means, and apply it to our lives. Even so the knowledge gained can be somewhat fragmented. It’s like winding a fork in the middle of a bowl of spaghetti- it pulls strands in from all over the plate.

But consider the advantages of reading one book of the Bible in one sitting.

● You can keep track of characters and the plot.
● You can follow the unfolding of the narrative.
● You appreciate the context in which it was written.
● You cannotice themes more easily.
● You can read the books of the Bible how they were originally intended to be read.

l suggested Mark’s gospel, partly because it is the shortest but above all it is succinct and completely down to earth, concentrating on his ministry. It presents a call to wholehearted discipleship. It should take not more than a couple of hours of reflective reading. Read it in one sitting or maybe the first 8 chapters first and then come back later to read the second 8 chapters, because it really is a meaty read. The first 8
chapters are taken up with Jesus’ ministry of something under 3 years, but the whole of the second half is devoted to describing his teaching and healings in the last week of his life on earth, leading to his betrayal, arrest, trial, conviction and execution. It will give a foundation describing the whole period of Jesus’ ministry up to the time of his death.

Chapter 2

A Look at Jesus’ Life

In the next chapters we continue to unravel those questions, Who, What, When, Where, How and Why.

Reality Check

Did the events described in the gospel actually happen? Was it all made up? Are we into the realms of fairy stories? To answer this question we must simply look to the Jews, his fiercest opponents. Never have they denied the actual existence of Jesus Christ- his life, ministry and death. It is their interpretation of his life and ministry where the dispute would lie. For example, they had seen the way he healed people, but quarrelled with him on the occasions when he healed people on the Sabbath, which they saw as a day of rest.

The fact is that Jesus was a historical figure. There is no need to add that his life and death was a pivotal point in the whole of creation. A turning point for humanity. The beginning of a new world order, into which we are all invited to participate. His life story is presented in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke each from their own perspective. John’s gospel has a more theological approach.

It is helpful to split the study into four parts- his birth and the events that preceded it, his life, his death and the circumstances which led to it, and his resurrection from the dead. There is so much in what we will be looking at that is Super-natural.

Jesus’ Birth

We begin by looking at what happened to an engaged couple, Joseph and Mary, who lived in Nazareth, in the north of what is now modern day Israel.

In Luke’s gospel we read that an angel named Gabriel visited Mary, just a young teenager, telling her that she was going to have a baby, whom she should name Jesus.

We must pause here and first ask the question “What is an Angel?” The answer is that in the Bible an angel is simply a messenger from God, always depicted as a male figure with human form, but not confined to time and space as we are.

Mary asked the angel how it could happen, telling him that she was a virgin. He explained that the Holy Spirit would overshadow her and her child would be called the Son of the Most High. The angel was saying that Jesus would be conceived not out of a sexual relationship with Joseph, but through this miraculous act. What or who is the Holy Spirit? Quite simply, the Holy Spirit implies the presence of God.

Not surprisingly, she was astounded but perhaps more surprisingly she completely trusted what the angel said. So, as Gabriel had described, Mary became pregnant. Hence Jesus, although born as a human baby boy, is also described as the Son of God.

Here is Mary – engaged, but having chosen to retain her virginity for the marital relationship. How times change!- hasn’t having sex become just another recreational activity? Pregnant, but through the “overshadowing” by the Holy Spirit.

In her culture becoming pregnant would have been a reason for Joseph breaking off the relationship. She could even have been stoned to death. The simple truth is that God had decided that this was how it was going to be done. Joseph, although initially suspecting that Mary had been unfaithful, in faith accepted what the angel had said. We read that they did not actually consummate the marriage until after the baby was born.

The first few chapters of Luke’s gospel present the wider story.

But why was Jesus born in Bethlehem when their home was in Nazareth? It is interesting to note that this was foretold by the prophet Micah some 700 years before Jesus’ birth. Speaking of Bethlehem he said “Out of you will come one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

Although heavily pregnant, Jesus’ parents had made a journey to Bethlehem from their home in Nazareth in the north. But Why? It was because the Emperor Augustus had ordered a census be taken throughout the Roman Empire of which Palestine was part. Everyone had to go to their hometown to register. So Joseph took Mary to Bethlehem, because he was a descendant of King David who had been born there, and there she gave birth to Jesus.

Here we must pause and reflect. Because this journey only takes up a few sentences in the Bible, there is much left to our imagination to understand the risks Mary and Joseph took to bring the Messiah into the world.

Mary was in the latter stages of her pregnancy. She could have gone into labour at any time. But she and Joseph set out with a donkey as their means of transport to Bethlehem some 150 km distant. They would have faced many hazards including lions, bears, bandits and robbers, not mentioning the rugged terrain. This journey would take probably four days or even more. But they made it. God saw to it that they did!

Because all other available accommodation was taken by other travellers, she gave birth to God in human form, in less than hygienic conditions- in a cowshed, with a feeding trough as a cradle.

Some time later they returned to Nazareth where Joseph was a carpenter. But throughout his childhood his parents had made him aware of his unique position and he spent much time studying the scriptures, what we now describe as the Old Testament.

Not much else is known about the next 20 years or thereabouts of his life up to the time when he began his ministry to the nation of Israel, but it is evident that he had become very familiar with the scriptures- the Law and the Prophets.

One of the descriptive names given to Jesus was Emmanuel. Another prophecy, this time by Isaiah, 700 years previously, said “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and shall bear a son who shall be named Emmanuel”, which means “God with Us”. It is a reminder that God did not leave his creation to itself. He was there for humankind from the beginning. He never left them, yet there were times when his chosen people abandoned him. And now we do have God with us, God in the flesh. Later we will read a statement of Jesus which says, “I am with you until the end of time”.

Chapter 3

Jesus’ Identity

Who Does Jesus Say that He Is?

In this next section we are getting back to foundations. Jesus is telling us who he is, his credentials and the source of his authority and what it implies to the world and to you and me. If you still need convincing then this chapter should provide affirmation of his identity. It contains some amazing statements, each worth pondering over its implications.

“I AM”

Others had introduced Jesus’ identity, but Jesus tells us himself in the statement, found in John 8:48-59, “Before Abraham was, I Am”. He is stating that even before Abraham’s life, he existed, acknowledging that although 100% human being, he is also 100% God, the Word- the Word made Flesh, there from the beginning. Doesn’t that cause you to stop and think?

So how else is Jesus describing himself? Let’s look at some of these statements in detail. They are all powerful metaphors and invite the use of your imagination, but more so to invite you into a new way of living.

In John 8:12 he says “I Am the Light of the World”, not only completing the lighthouse metaphor as a light guiding seagoing vessels, but also in the second half of the verse there is the promise that whoever follows him will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.

In John 6:35, he says “Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” Shortly after Jesus had miraculously provided food for five thousand people, bread was on the minds of the many who had followed Him. He says to them, “do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures unto eternal life, which I will give you”. It is my Father, says Jesus, who gives you the true bread from heaven. The people clamour and say give us that bread, to which Jesus replies. “I Am the Bread of Life.

In John 10:14 Jesus says, “I Am the Good Shepherd. In the shepherd’s presence sheep are safe, cared for and protected. In this metaphor, we are his flock. He says, “I know my sheep and my sheep know me just as the Father knows me and I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep.” This may sound surprising when to an onlooker, one sheep looks just the same as the next, but farmers today who use traditional methods of shepherding would say that they know each of a hundred sheep individually. And when a sheep wanders off Jesus is saying that the shepherd would go on searching and searching until he finds it. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that anyone should be lost. In addition he is predicting that he is going to lay down his life. He is going to die to save us from death.

In John 10:7, when Jesus says “I Am the Gate to the Sheep”, he is really indicating that he is the way into the sheepfold. In ancient Palestine, Jewish shepherds brought their flocks back to the sheepfold for protection against predators after a day of grazing. Our predators are materialism and self gratification which only lead to death and would lure us from the real source of fulfilment. God is a God of judgement, remember? We are all subject to God’s judgement for those things for which we have not received forgiveness. But Jesus is saying that those who enter his “sheepfold” will receive life in all its fullness.

In John 11:25, Jesus says, “I Am the Resurrection and the Life. Those who believe in me will live even though they die and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” This statement is at the very heart of Jesus’ message. This is what the whole of the Bible up to now has been leading to and it will be achieved by the manner of his death and what happened two days later.

Jesus says in John 15:5, “I Am the Vine, you are the Branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing.” He is saying that as a branch gets its sustenance from the body of the tree it is from him that we receive our sustenance. But we must not forget that vines get pruned, facilitating new growth and better fruit. The same applies to us.

Finally in John 14:6, Jesus says “I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the father except through me.”

The Way

He gives us the way of being saved from the consequences of sin. He goes before us and through both his life and his death makes it possible. In chapter 3 of the final book of the Bible, Revelation there is an invitation, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me”. He is inviting you to open the door of your life to him and allow him in.

The Truth.

He is truth- the sum and substance of all the truths in the gospels.

The Life.

He is the giver of fulfilled life- natural, spiritual and eternal. Remember that  “Good is the Enemy of the Best”.

How’s that for a CV?

Hopefully this has broadened your horizons.

So this is the person whose life we will be exploring.

Chapter 4

Jesus’ Preparation

How HePrepared

When Jesus began his ministry, he spent 40 days in the wilderness where he spent his time fasting and praying. Prayer is a vast subject. The appendix to this booklet is devoted to expanding on what prayer is, what it means and its vital importance. It may be helpful to read it at this stage.

During this time he was tempted by the devil and resisted the various aspects of that temptation by quoting from the Hebrew scriptures, (what we know as the Old Testament). So how much more should we be conversant with the Bible, especially the gospels?

But Who or What is the Devil? The simplest definition would be that the Devil, or Satan as he is otherwise named, is the personification of evil, completely opposed to God- the presence which tries to deviate us from doing what is right in God’s sight- to blind us from God’s truth. But make no mistake, the power of God is greater than that of the Devil.

His Helpers and Companions

Recognised as a Rabbi, a teacher of the law, Jesus chose from his many followers twelve quite undistinguished men to be with him as his first disciples who he named apostles. This was unusual, as a Rabbi would normally choose those of high intellect, and already well versed in the scriptures to follow in his footsteps and subsequently become Rabbis themselves. But Jesus’ disciples were men in whom he saw special qualities. They were quite a varied bunch, a few were fishermen by trade, there were a number of nationalists- some of whom had a fanatical hatred for the Romans and saw the way forward as violent conflict. Then there was a tax collector- tax collectors were hated by the Jews. Finally there was Judas Iscariot, a nationalist. He appears to have
been the treasurer for the group. Not much is known about him apart from knowing that he dipped into the communal purse for his own personal use, and it was he who betrayed Jesus, leading to his trial and subsequent execution by crucifixion.

A male dominated society, but women played a crucial role in supporting him and were numbered among his disciples. In fact it was to Mary Magdalene that he first revealed himself when he had risen from the dead.

The twelve disciples stayed with him for most of the time. They were learning from him and putting into practice the things they had learnt, which they would continue when Jesus was no longer with them.

But Is Jesus Relevant Today?

We noted that the Apostle Paul recognised that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Moreover, human nature has not changed. Then as now, through him we can have a personal relationship with this living God in the here and now. So the answer to that question is an emphatic yes! In his own words, Jesus said “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

His mission was all about showing how to find peace in a troubled world. He achieved this by showing who he was and what he could do as a teacher, prophet, healer, miracle worker. He showed the importance of forgiving those who did things which were wrong, but more poignantly, how we can be forgiven ourselves. That was by his death, carrying the sin of the whole world, all our sin and wrongdoing.

Week three of John Whitehead’s study in which he asks Is the Bible True? This time he’s Building on the Foundations

by

 

Is The Bible True?

God Knows!

Part 2

For extra copies of this booklet or if you have any comments or queries, feel free to contact me at

jdwhitehead1938@gmail.com

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Anthony Richardson for the cover design.

And special thanks to my son Paul, without whose help and encouragement the project, having been abandoned, would never have got off the ground.

Not least I thank my wife Ruth for putting up with my extended absences from being available for the day-to-day activities of normal living.

Thanks too to Book Printing UK for their suggestions and guidance in producing the final layout.

C O N T E N T S

Chapter 1 Introduction                                                    3

Chapter 2 2000 Years of History                                  4

Chapter 3 Some Lessons along the Way                   9

Chapter 4 God’s Spokespersons – The Prophets     12

Chapter 5 The Spirit of God                                           15

Chapter 6 Conclusion                                                    17

Chapter 1

Introduction

Writing this, the second booklet of the series, presents a real challenge. It covers the remainder of the Old Testament from Abraham to Jesus, some 2000 years of detailed history – political, economic, social and not least, religious. It is about the one people group which grew from one family to become the Jewish nation. Continuing the lighthouse theme, it builds on the foundations set down in Part 1, providing the building blocks.

Although this has been written as Part 2 of a 3-part series it can be read as a stand-alone booklet. Part 1 looked at the interpretation of a number of things that at first sight seemed implausible. Was the universe really created in seven days? Was there a major flood which covered almost the whole land mass? Did a whale really swallow Jonah? Secondly it began a theme which continues throughout the whole series – that is looking at God’s nature, the nature of humankind, and their inter-relationship, still bearing in mind the questions of Rudyard Kipling – the who, what, where, when, why, and how.

But the biggest challenge, beginning with Abraham and ending with the birth of Jesus, is to respond to the question, what lessons can I learn from a 2000-year-old document? What’s in it for me? In responding I am reminded of an old French proverb. “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” History repeats itself. What happened

then is still happening all around us. Human greed and envy; the lust for power both individually and by governments; wars and conflicts; pain and suffering. It’s all about money, sex and power. I’m sure I don’t need to go on. So read on and hopefully learn the lessons from the past that there is an alternative. The remedy then is still the remedy now. God spoke to his people then. Still, he speaks to those who will listen. In addition to the offer of life in all its fullness, as introduced in the first booklet, we have the promise of a future going beyond the end of our life on earth. So, what’s in it for me? God Knows!

Chapter 2

 2000 Years of History

 The Promise

It all started with an unconditional covenant promise to one man Abraham, 2000 years BC. God said to him, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land which I will show you. I will make your offspring into a great nation, and I will bless you, and you will be a blessing. And all nations will be blessed through you.” However, the remainder of the Old Testament sees only the first part of this promise fulfilled. Fulfilment of the second part was initiated by Jesus and is ongoing to the present day. Jesus – the one person who changed the whole course of history, through whom all nations, all and every individual person may be blessed. This will be covered in the third booklet.

We have one word here, bless, which is easy to overlook. If we are blessed, it simply means being favoured by God. If we say God bless you, it is asking for God’s help and protection. The connotations here are joy which is true happiness, contentment. Like getting into a hot bath after a period of extreme exertion, or perhaps achieved in an extremely happy marriage, or a loving relationship with God. But all this is in need of a lot of further unpacking.

The journey progresses through this one family. As we will see there are many challenges along the way, many hurdles to be overcome, and a few surprises.

The Life of Abraham

So we begin the narrative with Abraham, a descendant of Noah, who with his family had always regarded God as the one true God. They were semi-nomads, living on the fringe of society in Mesopotamia (corresponding roughly to present day Iraq). Never in one fixed place for long, they moved to find grazing for their livestock and areas to grow crops.

At the age of 75, obedient to that promise, Abraham with his wife Sarah and all his family, with all their possessions, travelled West towards Canaan.

En route they visited the town of Sodom, renowned for their vile and degrading unnatural sexual practices and bestiality prevalent in the whole area, giving its name to our term Sodomy. I don’t think I need to go into any more detail here. They stayed a short while. Shortly after they left, there was a violent explosion and the whole area, including the population, was completely reduced to rubble. Here is a reminder, explored in the first booklet of the power and judgement of God.

But did the destruction of Sodom really happen? Archaeology does provide evidence of the destruction of cities by fire in the area described in the bible passage, moreover in the right timeframe. It can be explained by a massive explosion, similar to one recorded in Russia when in 1908, a massive blast near Siberia’s Stony Tunguska River flattened some 2,000 square kilometres of uninhabited Taiga forestry. Curiously, no crater was discovered and scientists explained the strange phenomena as a meteor having exploded some 5-10 km above land. So the destruction of Sodom was a natural event, but it was miraculous that it happened at the time of God’s choosing.

They continued westward arriving in Canaan, (Canaan corresponds roughly to modern day Israel), where they stayed living as before as nomads. God said, “to your offspring I will give this land”.

Abraham’s Wife Sarah – How God makes Nobodies into Somebodies

A key theme throughout the Old Testament is how God uses nobodies and makes them into somebodies. He is looking for potential. He sees the potential inherent in each one of us. Not what we are, but what we can become.

When we look at Sarah, in the eyes of society, she really was a nobody. Not only a woman – all women were considered second class citizens – but she was barren, unable to have children. Being unable to have children was considered a disgrace in that culture. And there were no fertility clinics, no IVF and the like, to help couples in their yearning to have children.

How could her husband Abraham become the founder of a great nation? She thought she had the answer. She invited him to have a child through her servant girl, which he did and Ishmael was born. (This was an accepted practice in that culture). Thus, at the age of 86, Abraham had a son who was named Ishmael.

Ishmael became the forefather of the Arab nations. But that was not what God had in mind. He told her that she would have her own child. Not surprisingly, Sarah laughed! Her response was something like “Can I enjoy sex at my age? Come on – I’m 85 and had my menopause decades ago”. But that is what happened and at the age of 85 with Abraham now 99 she gave birth to Isaac. What a precious and miraculous gift.

We must remind ourselves that God can work – and still does work – in ways we do not understand. And in his own timing too.

I can’t hope to do justice to the story in just so few words. You can read the full account in Genesis chapters 16-21.

The thrust of the story carries on through his son Isaac.

Isaac and Rebekah

Isaac marries his cousin Rebekah. But Rebekah was barren. Here we go again!

Try and imagine the painful prayers as decades passed with no offspring. Does God hear me? Does God even care about my cry for answers or signs? Will I have to wait until I’m 90 years old like Sarah before I have a child?

It took 20 years of prayer and trying before she gave birth to twin boys, Jacob and Esau. Here is a reminder of what can be achieved through prayer, and also that patient and fervent prayer is often needed. I have a friend who prayed for 40 years for her son to become a Christian before that prayer was answered.

Isaac’s son Jacob had 12 sons and 1 daughter through his two wives – Leah and Rachel, and their two maidservants. Inevitable questions here, answered in Genesis chapters 29 and 30.

Again, Rachel, Jacob’s favourite wife was unable to conceive. She had to wait 14 years before she became pregnant. That’s 3 consecutive generations of infertility being overcome, again through prayer.

The narrative continues through Rachel’s first son, Joseph.

The Life of Joseph

Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him because he was the favourite. At the age of 17 Jacob sent him out into the field to check on the other sons. Out of their jealousy they considered killing him but instead sold him to some passing traders who in turn took him to Egypt and sold him as a slave to the Palace Guard. But there he found favour and became head of the government.

The whole area became subject to 7 years of plentiful harvests followed by 7 years of drought, of which Joseph had been warned in a dream. So in this time of plenty, Egypt had built up vast storehouses of grain and as the drought took over, all the neighbouring countries including Jacob’s family, came to Egypt to buy grain. The poignant comment of Joseph to his brothers was, As for you, you meant evil against me but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

There was family reconciliation and the whole family was invited to stay and settle in Egypt.

What can we learn from this? What does this mean for us today? Family breakdowns are all too common, but breakdowns invite restitution and reconciliation, after which relationships often become stronger. But not least, suffering produces endurance and builds up strength of character. Moreover, having overcome difficulties ourselves we can be a help to others in similar circumstances.

In Egypt the family grew to such an extent that out of fear of being overrun they were taken into slavery.

Escape from Egypt

After some 400 years of cruel servitude, God raised up a new leader Moses who eventually led them out of slavery where they escaped from the pursuing Egyptian Army as far as the Nile delta. The waters parted long enough for them to cross into wilderness area to the south and west of Canaan but flowed again, drowning the pursuing Egyptian army.

Reality Check

This is probably one of the best-known bible stories and the focus of a number of movies over the years. Not as depicted by Cecil B. De Mille in his epic movie of the 1960’s, with walls of water standing at the sides making a passage on dry land, but a strong wind causing the waters of the Nile delta to part. When they had all crossed, the wind subsided, the waters returned, trapping the Egyptians. It was not the parting of the waters that was miraculous, as it has happened at various times since then, but that it happened just at the right time for the Hebrews who were escaping.

Historical records do agree that a large population of Hebrews did dwell in Egypt, later crossing the river Nile, and spending time in the “wilderness” area on the eastern side of the river. How did they cross on dry land? Such a phenomenon is observable in the present age. A strong wind would cause the sea level to drop leaving dry land.

Researchers have observed this in the past in the Nile Delta itself in the year 1882. This also has happened in Lake Erie, and it has happened in other places as well.

In the Wilderness

After 3 months in the wilderness Moses went alone up Mount Sinai to meet God personally. There he received the 10 Commandments, which he brought back to the people on “tablets of stone”.

The first commandment stated, “You should have no other gods but me”. But the worship of other gods was rife. Baal was a shorthand for a number of false man-made Gods. Baal worship, in summary, looked a little like this. Adults would gather around the altar of Baal, and would include child sacrifice. Infants would be burned alive as a sacrificial offering to appease the deity. Amid horrific screams and the stench of charred human flesh, they would engage in bisexual orgies.

Moses was gone 40 days and in that time the people thought they had been deserted. So they persuaded Aaron, Moses’ brother, to fashion a golden calf out of gold items plundered from the Egyptians before they fled across the Red Sea, and said “this is the god who brought you out of Egypt”. So, Aaron built an altar before the calf and declared a feast day. They would gather round it with dancing, feasting and indulgent drinking. In other words, they were having a good booze up with drunkenness and all the indiscretions which followed. On his return Moses was furious and threw the tablets of stone on the ground and they shattered into pieces. In his anger he took the golden calf, melted it on the altar they had prepared, ground it to a powder, scattered it on the water and made them drink it. No half measures there! At a later stage, Moses went back to the mountain and returned again with the Commandments.

The 10 Commandments, which provided and still provides today a basic framework of guidance both for day-to-day living in democratised countries and also instructions of God’s requirements for our regard of him. The first four relate to our relationship with God, the rest to the way we conduct our lives.

This diversion together with acknowledging other man-made deities was an ongoing feature of the progress (or otherwise) of the Jewish Nation. They were continually confronted and challenged and warned of the dire consequences by God’s spokespersons, known as Prophets, who were bringers of God’s messages to the people.

They could have entered their “Promised Land” after just a year, but lack of trust in their leader resulted in their being made to remain in that wilderness for 40 years until most of the adult generation had died, but God during that whole time continued to oversee that their needs were satisfied. It was Moses’ successor Joshua, who led them across the River Jordan into Canaan, the Promised Land.

In the Promised Land

After years of battles, they gradually overcame the then inhabitants. A succession of leaders brought them to becoming a unified Kingdom. It was King David, described as the Great Leader who finally saw the conquest of the whole country.

But the kingdom did not last. Firstly, it split into two, Israel in the North with ten tribes and Judah in the South with two. But even that did not last. Around 200 years after King David’s reign, the Assyrian army from the north swept through, taking the people in the northern kingdom into exile. Judah did not fare much better, being conquered by Babylon, who under King Nebuchadnezzar ransacked the temple, carrying off all its treasures. Later they were seen to have been abandoned for a period of 400 years, bringing us to the birth of Jesus.

This gives a picture of the whole 2000 years condensed to just a few pages. It goes without saying that each episode, each character, could be and has been expounded to cover whole chapters, even volumes.

I have been deliberately brief in this section, but we have seen this covenant failed due to the lack of commitment and waywardness of the Jewish people.

Chapter 3

 Some Lessons Along the Way

 I have selected just a few characters who highlight important aspects of our relationship with God.

A Lesson from Rahab

Before crossing the Jordan, Joshua secretly sent two spies into Jericho and they went to the house of prostitute Rahab for lodging, information and/or sex. But it came to the attention of the king of Jericho, and he sent messengers to Rahab to bring them out. But Rahab had hidden them to avoid their presence being discovered and lied, saying that they had already left. They escaped the following morning.

Rahab is an interesting character. Looking into her background, she was aware of the Israelite escape from slavery, and the promise that God would give them the land. But as a woman she was triply marginalised in the eyes of the Jewish people. Rahab was a woman, and as a Canaanite was an outsider, and in addition she was a prostitute. But because of her kindness and belief in the Israelite identity in God’s plan, she and her family were spared from the destruction of Jericho which followed. Despite her past mistakes, God used her, and she and her family became part of the Jewish nation. In spite of her identity, God could see into her heart. In fact, she is an ancestor of Jesus, being the great, great, great, great, grandmother of King David.

Rahab risked her own life to help the two spies. She put her trust in God and took a risk to help God’s people. Rahab reminds us that we can take risks for God, no matter how frightening or intimidating they may be.

What we can observe from this account is: –

  • God accepts those with a No matter what wrong things, harmful things we may have done, we will never be rejected by God, if we come to him.
  • God can use those with a He has a plan for each and every one of us.
  • God redefines those with a From harlot to bride. From bride to mother. From mother to an ancestor of Jesus.

Lessons from David – From Shepherd Boy to King

 David is one person whose life is worth following, as it encapsulated in one person the general theme of this series. It begins with his being chosen and anointed as a future king through the prophet Samuel.

Samuel

Samuel’s mother Hannah was childless and she prayed to God for a son. So Samuel was born. In gratitude she dedicated him to the service of God from birth.

In his adult life he was called by God to choose and anoint one of the eight sons of Jesse to become the next king. Seven were called before Samuel, the strong, the tall, the handsome, but each was rejected. He asked if these were all of his sons. Jesse replied that the youngest one was tending the sheep. So, David was then called. He is described as having a ruddy complexion, handsome and with fine features. Samuel then said that he was the one, and thus David in this private act was anointed as a future king of Israel. In spite of this, he remained with his family as one who tended the sheep.

He developed skill as a musician as a harpist.

David and Saul

David’s musical skills came to the fore when Israel’s king at that time was Saul. Saul had what would be described today as having mental health problems and so David was called to soothe him.

David and Goliath

We now come across another well-known character, Goliath. Confronting the Philistines in Saul’s quest to conquer the whole of Canaan, their champion Goliath who was described as a giant of a man, challenged the Israelites to send one man to fight him and the loser would be subservient to the other nation. The full account, well worth reading, is found in 1 Samuel chapter 17. The essence of the story describes Goliath, armed to the teeth and wearing heavy armour facing the shepherd boy David, who is carrying only a sling and a bag containing a few smooth, flat stones. Goliath relies on his own gods for support, David relying solely on the God of Israel. Using the skill which had obtained from guarding his sheep and protecting them from attacks by wild animals, he takes careful aim and with a stone catapulted from the sling, strikes Goliath on the forehead, sinking into his skull and knocking him unconscious to the ground. David approaches him and kills him with Goliath’s own sword and cuts off his head, giving Israel triumph, saving the Israelites from further slavery. Another battle is won on the way to overall conquest of the land.

There are a couple of points here worth bearing in mind. Firstly, we can use our previous experience to assist us in our walk with God. God uses the whole person. Secondly, there is no limit to what we can achieve if we trust in God.

David became accomplished as a successful military leader and through him, battles were won and territory gained. But there was bitter rivalry between him and King Saul. They had rival armies. There was much infighting between their factions. Eventually the followers of David became stronger than those of Saul. Omitting the detail, Saul was eventually critically injured in battle and rather than being captured he took his own life by falling on his sword, making way for his replacement by David.

David as King

David saw himself as a Shepherd King. As a shepherd cares for his flock, so he saw himself as a shepherd over all of Israel. Moreover, he saw God as a shepherd watching

over him. We are pointed to this in the words of Psalm 23. Here again, God is using David’s gift of musical skills for the benefit of others.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the lord for ever.

It is a reflection on his past, an acknowledgement of his present situation and also assurance of his future. It is a song both of personal and universal gratitude to a loving God in a painful world. In this ancient poem, David recognises God as a protector, a “shepherd” who both guides and blesses. God’s goodness means that he and we have nothing to fear. Whatever happens, God will be with us.

David and Bathsheba

In spite of his greatness, he shows a common human weakness. Whilst relaxing on the roof of his house one evening he saw a beautiful young woman bathing. She was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, who was away fighting a war. He sent messengers to bring her to him. She came to him, he slept with her, and she became pregnant. So he sent messengers to allow Uriah home to his wife, so that the baby could have been attributed to him. But in his dedication, Uriah refuses to leave the battlefield so David arranges for him to be sent to the front line, and he is killed in battle.

David marries Bathsheba, the baby is born but becomes ill and dies. He is brought to task by the prophet Nathan and becomes truly ashamed of what he has done, recognising the outcomes of his own lust. He repents, asking God for forgiveness.

He is forgiven and restored, moving on – not as if nothing had happened, but as a wiser man.

Bathsheba is in the family line of Jesus. God works in mysterious ways!

The full details of this pivotal story can be found in 2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12.

Chapter 4

 God’s Spokespersons – The Prophets

 Quite simply, a prophet is a person chosen by God through whom he communicates with people. A prophet is simply a messenger.

Their role was reminding the people of Israel and its leaders, predicting and warning what will happen in the future depending on whether the people heed the warning or reject it. It was a repeated message by a faithful few who clung to the promises of the covenant.

Their ultimate failure led to the collapse of the kingdom leading to Israel becoming a vassal state under foreign rule.

Human nature just had not changed. Israel’s idolatry had continued for over 1000 years, always going for the immediate before waiting for the promise of what is still unseen, continually being seduced by the sensuous qualities of idol worship, the transient pleasures of materialism and other forms of self-gratification. We can follow the message of the prophets, a continuing story of failure, punishment, returning to worshipping the one true God. Likewise, God’s nature has not changed, not only as a judge, but still always ready to forgive.

No words are harsher and more scathing than in the words of Ezekiel, who was active in the years after the fall of Judah. He expresses God’s anger of the same magnitude as that at the time of Noah. But thankfully, there is a different outcome – one of potentially rescuing the whole of humanity and not just one family.

The core of Ezekiel’s message is summed up in a uniquely graphic manner. He describes Israel’s unfaithfulness as like a husband finding his wife in bed with another man – on their honeymoon! The reason God is jealous is because he binds himself to his people as if in a marriage relationship. So worshipping idols and other gods is a rejection of who he is, just as adultery is a rejection of one’s spouse in marriage.

This failure of God’s nurtured, loved and cherished Israel is described in a stark and scathing allegory in Ezekiel 16:25. “But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your fame; you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry.” It is worth reading the whole chapter to get a true sense of God’s anger and revulsion at the people’s behaviour and realising that he did not pull any punches. You don’t get many sermons preached on this passage!

However, the prophets were also proclaiming a message for the future. They promised a Messiah, someone who would deliver them from the oppression of foreign bondage, and restore the glories of the golden age. The people were expecting a military leader, a leader of a conquering army. But it did not happen like that. The Messiah turned out to be Jesus. Coming as a baby, born in humble surroundings and not a palace. In his adulthood he did herald this new kingdom, a kingdom which was out of this world – literally!

This new kingdom would be established, both in the here and now on earth, and the future. A new heaven and a new earth where there would be no more pain and suffering.

Make no mistake – we are offered heaven, not a “pie in the sky when you die” but a new life with God, where we would have real bodies.

More Prophecies Relating to Jesus

 There are more than 100 prophecies relating to the birth, life and death of Jesus, but I will restrict this discourse to the main ones.

The rest of this chapter is all a preview of what is to come in the third booklet. In the first few verses of the first chapter of Genesis, we read that God said, “Let there be Light,” and there was light. When Jesus said “I am the Light of the World” he was the final fulfilment of that prophecy.

Prophecies Relating to Jesus’ Birth and Life

 As we have noted, God said that Abraham would become the father of a great nation and all nations would be blessed through him. Later, it is stated that this blessing would come through one who was in the lineage of King David. And yes, Jesus was a descendant of King David.

The prophet Micah, living some 750 years before Jesus’ birth, said that the ruler over Israel would be born in Bethlehem in Judah. Those who are familiar with the Christmas story you will recall that Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem where Jesus’ parents, whose home was in Nazareth, were on a short visit.

Isaiah, some 700 years ahead of his birth, foretold that as a sign a “virgin will be with child”, and his name would be called Emmanuel, (meaning God with Us). Yes, Jesus was born of a young woman by an act of God without the involvement of a man. He said that this Emmanuel would be a healer and a miracle worker. The blind would see, the lame walk. He said that this person would be a Light to the Gentiles – in other words for the whole world, which really affirms that he has come for you and me.

Zachariah, around 500 years before Jesus’ birth said that God would dwell among his people. Also, that “your king will come riding on a donkey”.

Malachi, about 100 years later said that a messenger would come to prepare the way for the Messiah. We will see this fulfilled in John the Baptist.

Prophecies Relating to Jesus’ Death

900 years before Jesus’ birth, the writer of Psalm 22 gives a chilling picture of what death by crucifixion would be like. At that time this manner of execution was beyond imagination. It was first invented by the Persians some 300 to 400 years before Christ and developed in Roman times as a punishment for the most serious of criminals. The imagery of the psalm includes such phrases as, “I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My strength is dried up and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. – I am surrounded by evil men. They divide my garments and cast lots for my clothing. – Despised, mocked and insulted. – My God my God, why have you forsaken me?” But all of this is followed by images of triumph and optimism.

It is difficult to imagine what these words, so prophetic of the death and resurrection experience of Jesus, meant to their original readers!

All of this you must agree is absolutely amazing, not only the predictions themselves, but the timescale involved.

The End of the Covenant

In spite of all the warnings, the Israelites continued to fail and we noted that the voice of the Lord was not heard for 400 years. It seemed they were abandoned.

As previously noted, Judah had ceased to be a nation and had become a tiny community in and around Jerusalem under the authority of priests, having been subject to one another of the great world empires, finally becoming a colony of the Roman Empire, with Herod as their king. They were subject both to Roman law and the law of the priestly clan of Levi, who imposed, so they thought, the requirements of the law given to Moses as described in the first five books of the Bible.

So what have we observed so far from creation until this time of God’s nature and his interaction with people? The predominant narrative is of a God who is continually using super-natural power, controlling the events of history, and present among the people.

As we move forward exploring the life of Jesus we will see a developing picture of a personal, loving God, with life-changing relevance for you and me.

Chapter 5

The Spirit of God

In the preceding chapters we have identified a number of facets relating to the identity and the nature of God. We have seen him as an all-powerful, all-knowing, ever present being. From a remote creator and sustainer, to a personal being, who has real conversations with real people, having at times a real physical presence. Moreover we have seen him as both forgiving and judging, often handing out harsh justice. There is another Omni attached to the nature of God. That is Omnibenevolence. Benevolence to the ultimate is another aspect of his character.

But there is another aspect which has so far received only brief mention. That is God’s Spirit, first mentioned at the very beginning of the Bible. “The Spirit of God moved over the face of the waters.”

The Spirit of God, an ongoing theme, is mentioned and revealed both in the Old Testament and New Testament.

We saw God’s Spirit at work in the life of Joseph, giving him wisdom and speaking through him via his dreams, prophesying through him when he predicted times of plenty and times of famine.

There are in fact many more occasions where the Bible describes the Spirit of God at work. The New Testament is packed with descriptions of the activity of the Holy Spirit,

But the Old Testament also contains many such references. It will be helpful to look at some of this activity to give us a foundation for better understanding.

As part of the lighthouse analogy, perhaps the Spirit can be considered as the mortar holding the building blocks together, making them firm and immovable.

God’s Spirit – Giver of Skills

Why is this important? Because we will see in the third booklet that the Spirit is given to all believers and he will produce fruitfulness in those who believe and moreover give gifts and ability to bear fruit.

Looking at some of these in turn, an early mention comes in Exodus 31:1. Here we have a completely new dimension. These are God’s word to Moses – the “Word” speaks to Moses about the “Spirit”. He says that he has chosen two men, Bezalel and Uri, and he has filled them with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge of all kinds of crafts, to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver, cutting precious stones and wood, to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.

In a similar vein, King David gives his son Solomon detailed plans for building the temple. These are plans which the Spirit of God had put into his mind. They were so detailed they could be seen as the work of an experienced architect. Nowadays such skills would need years of training and teaching to achieve such standards. Are you not filled with awe when you see this as another dimension of God’s power? He was to be helped by skilled craftsmen. He told Solomon not to be afraid, for the Lord God was with him.

At first sight, this seems beyond rational belief when we think about the training and practice needed if we want to attain such skills. However, the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart began composing his own work at the age of 5, when asked about his prolific composing career replied he didn’t compose them, he just wrote down in musical form what was given to him in his thoughts. Similarly, Beethoven was almost completely deaf when he composed his final symphony, the choral symphony. He wrote down the sounds which were in his head. But even Mozart had piano lessons. Perhaps here we have two examples of the same gift. And when we look at a person with some special skills, not just musicians, we would say that person is gifted.

But in the final analysis would it not be reasonable to believe that all our skills and abilities, talents and achievements are built on what is God-given, although we so often like to think that what we do we have done on our own?

Continuing in 2 Samuel 23:2, Samuel says that the spirit of the Lord spoke to him and said, “I will put my words into your mouth”

David, when he asked God for forgiveness after he had seduced Bathsheba, prayed that God would not take his Holy Spirit from him. Also, as recorded in the Book of Psalms, he prayed that the good Spirit would lead him to level ground.

Another attribute is recorded in Judges chapters 14 and 15. Samson was journeying with his parents. They were confronted by a lion roaring towards him. We read that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him with power such that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands. Later he was tied up by the Philistines, but the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he broke the ropes as if they were strands of cotton.

The prophet Joel, some 600 years before Christ’s birth, speaking God’s word, looks into the future, to a time after Jesus’ death and resurrection. “I will pour out my spirit on all people in a time to come. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams. Even on his servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” As a reminder that the same theme runs through the Bible from beginning to end, the Lord, speaking to Moses when they were in the wilderness, some 1400 years before the birth of Christ says “when a prophet of the Lord is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams.

Zachariah declares that achievement is not by human might or power but by God’s Spirit. Quite simply, God’s Spirit is Enabler.

 There are countless more references, these are but a small sample.

Chapter 6

Conclusion

So What! – What’s In It for Me?

We have observed that God is Creator. He has personality, being all-powerful, all-knowing and not confined to time and space as we are. He is Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent. But overriding all this he is Omnibenevolent. That’s quite a mouthful and takes some assimilating. Moreover, as explained in the first booklet, he operates in ways which are outside the boundaries of mathematical, physical, chemical, in fact all natural laws. I remind the reader that it is a word with a particular definition in the Bible – that is Super-Natural.

It’s all about trust and hope. One writer used to say that faith should be spelled R-I-S-K. That sums it up pretty well I guess. As I have commented earlier, faith is believing in something you hope for. Or alternatively, as Christians, belief in a presence that does not let you go.

Can you live your life without taking this step? Yes. Can you live a fulfilled life without taking the step? No! Just remember that there are no Nobodies in God’s Kingdom, and that Good is the Enemy of The Best.

This concludes our brief exploration of the Old Testament. Using the lighthouse analogy, it sees the Old Testament as a building to support the source of a beam of light, Jesus, where he describes himself as the Light of the World.

Next time, in Part 3 we will look at the life of Jesus as related in the first four books of the New Testament, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and how we can have a personal relationship with him.

Is the Bible True? Chapters 3 & 4 of Part 1. By John Whitehead

by

Chapter 3

Looking at the Bible – a First Glimpse

Although not a history book, the Bible is loosely held together by a historic timeline, describing first the creation of the universe, creation of life in all its forms, then through the unfolding relationship between God and humankind through God making a promise – a covenant, to a people group, with the people’s responses to the outworking of this covenant among individuals and the nation. It records history, it even records history before it happens, but its main purpose is to interpret the events in terms of “God’s Story”.

Quite simply, The Bible is the way God chose to communicate with the world.

Covenant is a word which needs explaining, as it forms the basis of the Bible. A Covenant is a promise which cannot be broken. Taking it further, it is legally binding. It can be unconditional, or it can be conditional. For instance, in a domestic setting, a parent may say to a child, I promise that when you are 18, I will buy you a car. That is an unconditional covenant. Or to a delinquent child, if you give up shoplifting, I will buy you a car when you are 18. That is conditional. It is saying, “I will if you will ”.

The Bible is divided into 2 sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The Old Testament, sometimes referred to as “the Book of the Covenant” containing both unconditional and conditional covenants, covers the first 39 books of the Bible. Most were written in Hebrew, some in Aramaic, and later ones in Greek, between about 1200 and 100 BC. They comprise the chief texts of the law, history, poetry and song, prophecy and wisdom literature of the ancient people of Israel.

However, this Covenant failed due to the chosen people ceasing to follow God, disobeying their part of the covenant, by choosing false gods to address their worship.

The New Testament, a New Covenant, again conditional, is a new offer to the whole of humankind, comprising 27 books and letters. The first four are devoted to the life and work of Jesus. These are followed by accounts of the development of the infant church, with accounts and letters relating to the challenges which the church was facing as it grew and spread further and further from its birthplace in Jerusalem. The final book, Revelation, contains imagery predicting what it is going to be like when this finite world, the world as we know it, ends. But the overriding message is one of hope, but only for those who keep their part of the covenant.

Some Facts about the Bible

The Bible is a unique book, the contents of which were written over a period of 1500 years, beginning around 3500 years ago and ending around 2000 years ago. The first chapters are documented stories that were handed down by word-of-mouth from generation to generation. No other book of history or otherwise covers such a great time span or is comparable in its content or structure. It is formed into one volume, but the collection of the 66 books, booklets and letters, in reality comprise a whole library. Here is another approach to the question of whether we need to read it all. When I consider my own library, I look at the shelves and see a variety of subject areas – history, poetry, literature, reference books and novels. Have I read them all from cover to cover? The simple answer is no! Some I bought for one particular chapter; some have ceased to have any relevance. Yet there are favourites which have become dog-eared from reading and re-reading.

Completed some 2000 years ago and ignored by many, it is still a bestseller. To date, the full Bible has been translated into 670 languages, the New Testament has been translated into 1,521 languages and portions or stories into 1,121 other languages. In others, the language has been adapted and simplified so that the narrative of the Bible is accessible to children, even very young children.

A recent translation, the New International Version, published in 1985, has already sold more than 450 million copies. The Bible business is booming. In all, there are annual sales of 40 million Bibles – from study Bibles to family Bibles to pocket Bibles. What is there about it which keeps more and more people wanting it? Does this not indicate that it might be relevant not only in previous generations but also our own?

Moreover, looking at the diversity of the writings the writers came from three continents, Asia, Europe and Africa. It has more than 40 authors who, as I have said, wrote in three different languages. Each writer had his own personality, writing style and worldview. The biblical authors lived in different eras and came from different cultures. Some were Jews and some were non-Jews. Some were kings and some were paupers. Some were highly educated and some had little formal education. Some were religious leaders, some were political leaders, some were prophets, and some were simple ordinary people. Such diversity is unparalleled in the written word.

The first edition of the Bible as we know it today was assembled around 400 AD, containing the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament.

But what about the nature of these writings? With such diversity, it is surprising that it has the one continuing, unifying theme from the first book to the last. The overarching consideration with each author and work is its careful examination and outworking of human nature. Taken together, they reveal the human condition in all its many forms, be they good or bad. Similarly, it may go without saying that they also share a theme in examining the nature and character and promises of God, over the whole 3500-year period. But most importantly it examines the interrelationship between God and humankind.

So, to read it as a historical document misses the point of what the Bible is about. The Bible tells us that God cares for the whole of his creation and that we can know him personally, love him and follow his way, and guide us away from the massed forces of greed, hate, cruelty and the rest of the forces which disfigure humankind, and offer us a future which goes beyond death of our body. It is these considerations which make this book, the Bible, unique in history and why it is read and followed around the world today.

Perhaps in answer to the question of why the Bible is still a bestseller, it is because the people who use it do find it is relevant, making a difference in their lives and the lives of others – indeed, to the whole world.

So then, what do we find in the library which is the Bible?

The Bible makes some statements as scientific facts, but again, it is not a scientific book. The role of science is to probe the observable world, while the role of the Bible is to reveal the unobservable. Science, in its ongoing task of observing the world, must respond to the question how? How did it all come about? What processes were at work? When the findings of science endorse what is written in the Bible then we have greater cause to believe and accept what we read. It is this angle which we will be pursuing throughout. But the Bible does not focus primarily on the how – rather, it goes on to answer the question that science can never begin to answer. And that question is – why? Why are we here? What was God’s purpose in creating? What is the basic reason for our being alive? We must hold these questions in tension for the time being and address them later. But since the Bible record stops around 100 years after Christ’s birth it does not provide the whole answer. That is why we need the church to help us interpret the Biblical concepts and statements for each new generation. Church is the place where character is made and remade, where we can be guided and encouraged in following “The Way”.

If you do not have a copy of the Bible, it is worth buying one, preferably in a modern translation. I find the New International Version excellent. You may prefer a different version, of which there are several. The Good News Bible deserves a special mention as it combines reliability with simple and straightforward language.

A recent newcomer on the scene is “The Book of God” by Walter Wangerin, published in 1996. It is the Bible written as a blockbuster novel. If you like novels where 800 pages or so of text don’t daunt you, then this book will give you a unique overview of the whole Bible in just a few days of reading, although the writer uses his imagination to embellish the Bible narrative.

But if you do not wish to buy one yet, the text and much more, is readily available on a number of websites including www.biblestudytools.com and www.biblegateway.com

It is not like any other book. It is a book about life the way it really is. It is a book about people who at one and the same time can be both believing and unbelieving, innocent and guilty, honest and dishonest, full of hope and full of despair. In other words, it is a book about us and as I have already said, about God. If it is not about the God we believe in, then it is about the God we do not believe in. One way or another the story we find in the Bible is not just God’s Story but our own story.

Chapter 4

The Foundations

Over the course of this book I will from time to time invite the reader to read verses or chapters of the Bible. Whilst one can to some extent continue without following the actual texts, be assured that by reading the text, your understanding will be greatly enriched.

In the Beginning

It is now time to look at what is written in the Bible. Read chapters 1, 2 and 3 of the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible.

But first I want to address the question of what sort of writing is represented in the first few chapters of Genesis.

Myth

Here is another word which needs explaining. The simple fact is that these chapters and later ones are Myth. I hear the comment that if it is all a myth then you are admitting that it is not true!

Yes, in common usage, a myth purports to be true, but in reality, is simply pure fiction. But we must differentiate between three applications of this word – Myth, A myth and Mythology.

  • Myth is a proper noun. It is a traditional story, one concerning the early history of a people group or explaining an observable phenomenon, typically involving a super-natural being.
  • A myth suggests a widely held but false belief or idea.
  • Mythology is similar to Myth, except that the stories are as a rule unsubstantiated by relating to an observable situation. In Greek mythology for example, the stories related to a multiplicity of gods whom they worshipped. They resembled humans, except that they surpassed them in beauty, stature and strength. They were not exempt from human emotions, frequently exhibiting revenge, deceit and jealousy. Inter-marriage with humans is often described. For instance, Hercules was the son of Zeus, the king of the gods, and the mortal woman Alcmene. Zeus, who was always chasing one woman or another, took on the form of Alcmene’s husband, Amphitryon, and visited Alcmene one night in her bed. Thus Hercules was born, a demi-god with incredible strength and stamina.

Not unique to Greece, similar stories abound in cultures across the world.

Unfortunately, in modern usage, the second definition is the one many people think of when the term is used – that a myth is pure fiction.

Here are some modern myths. Drinking coffee dehydrates you. Although it does have a minor dehydrating effect, the fact is that it irritates the bladder, and we all know the effect of that! It is a myth. In ancient times, Greek parents believed they could choose the sex of their child by eating orchid tubers. If the father ate thick tubers, the child would be male. If the mother ate thinner ones, the child would be female. There is of course no truth in this myth.

Hence it is necessary to state categorically that it is the first definition which will be used exclusively hereafter. Myth is a style of writing, a genre of written text, in the same way as narrative, novel, poetry, biography, prophecy, parable and allegory are all genres of the written word. Of course they should not be taken literally.

So you will see that the creation accounts are Myth.

If you find the use of the word Myth distracting here just substitute story or stories about God.

Genesis Chapter 1

The passage begins, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. Now the Earth was formless and empty, Darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the spirit of God moved over the face of the waters.”

In those few words it is stating: –

  • There is a Supreme Being, which we call God.
  • There was a beginning and God created matter out of nothing – just emptiness.
  • The universe exists only because God was there to initiate creation. He was there before the creation of the universe. He is outside the universe. He could no more create the universe from the inside than a joiner make a box from the inside.
  • God created by his Word, his spoken words.
  • God’s Spirit was there at creation.

In paraphrasing the next section of the text, we see that God spoke on different days and different things were brought into being, and he did it in an orderly manner.

God said, “Let there be Light,” and there was light. God separated the light from the darkness. He called the light, day and the darkness, night. At that time, water covered the face of the Earth, but God said, “let the waters be gathered in one place and let dry land appear”.

He called the dry ground “land” and the water he called “seas”. Here we include inanimate matter, solids, liquids and gases. He created vegetation and all plants, then life in all its forms – insects, fish, birds. He created mammals. Finally, he created humankind, male and female, the pinnacle of the created world, created in his image, with the instruction to be fruitful and multiply.

And yes, he even created sex. I think he must have had a great sense of humour when you consider the actual reproductive act. I know when it was explained to me as a child it seemed most strange, beyond my comprehension. I just could not believe what my parents had had to do in order to produce me! More so considering the dual function of the parts involved. Yet it provides the pinnacle of human intimacy, surpassing that found in all other mammals.

God saw that what he had created was good. He was pleased with what he had made. Humankind, unlike any other creature, has a point of contact with God and is able to respond to him in a different way from the other animals. Moreover, the world means much to its creator.

Finally, on the 7th day he rested.

He created humankind in his own image! What does that mean? I stated in chapter one that I wanted to subject the statements in the Bible to current knowledge but as we begin to read even in the first few pages we encounter a statement which is beyond complete understanding. We are created In the image of God. Its simplest interpretation would say that we are made like Him. Each of us has a minute fraction of his intelligence, his power, his judgement, his reasoning, his love, his appreciation of beauty. But there is so much more.

Some understand the Image of God to mean those qualities that make us human, for example: possessing a soul, higher-order reasoning, self-consciousness, consciousness of God and the ability to have a relationship with Him. This seems like a good definition, since only humans are in God’s image, and these are qualities that make us human.

In the previous section we saw that the Image of God in Genesis 1:26-27 means people being God’s representative rulers in his creation.

  1. Richard Middleton (Roberts Wesleyan College) puts it well in The Liberating Image. He offers that the image of God describes, “The royal office or calling of human beings as God’s representatives and agents in the world.” Image of God means that humans have been given power to share in God’s rule or administration of the earth’s resources and creatures.

But supremely, the apostle Paul, describes Jesus as the image of the invisible God. Not like Adam who was made in the image of God. Jesus is the exact copy of his nature. Thus, to know Jesus is to know God.

And he gave us free will to use or misuse what he has given us. That is a lot of responsibility! But without free will you cannot have real love. You can’t be forced to love somebody. God loved the whole of his creation and that of course includes every person he had made, and he wants each one of us to love him in return.

In Genesis Chapter 2 we read a second account of the creation. Here we have Myth coming from a different source, it does differ, but it mainly complements the first account. It describes how he created the two genders, placing the man and the woman in a beautiful environment, named as the Garden of Eden and giving them the responsibility of looking after the created order. But it is not just the story of one man and one woman. It is the story of every man and every woman.

I would comment here that the Bible does not shy away from conflicting accounts of events. I repeat that its purpose is not to chronicle history, but to tell us about God. We will unpack this further when we look at the question, “What is Truth?”

An Illustration from the Humble Ant

If you find this concept of creation coupled with caring difficult to accept, let me tell you about a visit I made recently to the tropical house at Roundhay Park in Leeds. There, in a carefully controlled, completely enclosed environment, which was specially designed and created for them, live a colony of leaf-cutting ants. (As an aside, ants have a highly structured society, second only to that of the human race.) They can be observed going about their business of cutting and collecting leaves on which they grow their food, a sort of fungus, taking the leaves to the nest, attending to the pupae, attending to the queen, removing waste. All this, completely oblivious to the people watching them through their glass enclosure, oblivious of the keepers who provide for them and care for them – bringing fresh supplies of leaves, maintaining the correct temperature and humidity. Provision and protection. This seems something of an analogy to the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve were placed.

Also, I am reminded of a story of a vicar of a village church, returning to the vicarage after the morning service. Along the way he saw old Bert tending his flowerbeds. He stopped to admire the beautiful garden and commented, “Fine garden you and God have there, Bert.” Bert replied in his broad dialect, “Aye Vicar, but tha’ should’ve seen it when God ‘ad it to hissen.” The simple fact is that God gave humankind the responsibility of continuing the work of maintaining his creation, continuing to bring order out of disorder.

Unfortunately that responsibility has been misused and abused. Nature has been exploited. One only has to look at, for example, a rainforest, seeing the beauty of this natural ecosystem in all its complexity and variety to wonder at and realise what God can do on his own. Then we see destruction of thousands of acres of rainforest replaced with plantations of palm trees, producing palm oil to satisfy consumer demand, although justified as fulfilling the needs of the developed world. Need or greed? All this is a by-product of having free will.

Yet we are part of God’s purpose and plan for the universe. And it is an unfolding story.

Before we proceed further, I would ask the question, to what extent can we believe the creation accounts? Already I understand absolutely how preposterous the whole thing must sound to most people, so we must ask the question, “Is there any truth in these statements?”

What is Truth?

In a criminal trial, the jury or magistrate has to decide whether the accused is guilty or innocent. He hears evidence from witness statements and on the basis of these and other evidence he makes his decision. But what becomes clear is that the witness statements can vary – each seeing the event from a slightly different standpoints, resulting in a number of minor discrepancies between the statements. Even though the evidence of each witness may be true, the judge has to decide what is the truth in order to reach his verdict. Conversely, if two witnesses are identical in every detail there is suspicion that there has been collusion between them and the reliability of the evidence is under question.

This happens often in the Bible. We have seen this in two differing, but complementary accounts of the creation story in the first two chapters of the book of Genesis. As in the case of witnesses, we see accounts written from different standpoints. So we should not ask the question why there is a difference and is one true and one false, but we should be exploring what is the truth contained in such instances.

Jonah and the Whale

We probably all know the story about Jonah being swallowed by a whale. Going into the detail, Jonah is given the task of going to Nineveh and warning them that God was angry because of their wickedness and he would destroy them after 40 days unless they changed their ways.

There was nothing that Jonah would have liked more than to see Nineveh destroyed because of their corrupt practices, so instead of taking the boat to Nineveh, to flee from the Lord, he took a boat going in the opposite direction. But God intervened, sending a storm which resulted in Jonah being thrown overboard, swallowed by a whale, spending three days inside the whale before being regurgitated. From there he obeyed God, went to Nineveh, and warned the people of their oncoming fate. They repented, and Nineveh was saved from being destroyed.

Asking the questions, Is it true, or is it just a fairy tale? Did a whale really swallow Jonah? misses the whole point of the story. Whether the whale did swallow Jonah or indeed if Jonah swallowed the whale for that matter is irrelevant to the central message. Although examples have been recorded of a person surviving after being swallowed by a whale, feel free to conclude that it is just a story, but a story with a message, demonstrating a truth.

First, we need to fill in some missing parts of the account, which contains even more unlikely details.

Jonah was angry with God – he waited in the east of the city still hoping that God would bring the destruction that Jonah so desired. In the heat of the afternoon God caused a vine to grow to provide shade for Jonah and so ease his discomfort, but during the night God caused the vine to die so in the morning the scorching sun made Jonah feel wretched. He was angry with God for killing the vine.

God’s response contains the climax of the story. He pointed out Jonah’s concern about the vine justifying his own concern about that great city of 120,000 people, even though they were so misguided.

The primary theme of the story of Jonah and the Whale is that God’s love, grace and compassion extend to everyone, even outsiders and oppressors. God loves all people. Whatever we have done no-one is beyond God’s forgiveness.

The important question is not whether it is true, but realising the truth contained in the story.

Otherwise, in looking at the authenticity of the Bible, we ask the question, how does it stand up to what we know today? Is it contradicted or is it substantiated and supported by current knowledge?

A scientific study will start with a statement of an idea, a premise, a theory, a hypothesis and attempt to explain the reason for some current observations on the basis of that theory. The theory is only demonstrated to be correct if it continues to provide correct explanations of current observations. As laymen, we may not understand, but we accept the findings, having faith in the integrity of the scientists.

Let me explain using some simple statements which have been shown to be incorrect.

The Earth is Flat

We can probably all remember reading that at one time, the best scientists told us that the world – the earth – was flat. Theologians built their faith on a flat earth. That worked alright for a time, but they couldn’t answer the question of what happened at the edges. It was only when explorers began to sail across the seas, they began to realise that this may not be so, and of course explorers eventually discovered that the Earth was round, or a globe, which is now easily verified. The Flat Earth theory was proven to be wrong, but for a time, those who believed in a spherical globe were condemned as heretics. A theological shift had to be made then and shifts in our understanding should still be able to be made today.

Father Christmas

And then there is the Father Christmas story. What parent doesn’t tell their children that it is Father Christmas who brings all the presents, describing his special clothes, his beard, reindeer driving his sleigh through the sky, leaving the presents they included on the list and posted to Father Christmas in Lapland… I could go on. This forms the experience of children around the world. But it’s not many Christmases before the child’s suspicions grow and they begin to realise that the whole thing was a very pleasant, a very cosy story, with the whole scenario made up. It was all down to Mum and Dad. Sadly, in this generation, the true meaning of Christmas so often fades into the background. It is Jesus’s birthday, but we give presents to each other!

We have a similar scenario with the tooth fairy. But we are back in the realms of myths again!

Thus, if observation disagrees with prediction, we would have to conclude the hypothesis was false. If the observations do agree with the predictions, we can still rely on the original proposition. We like to think that science provides correct, true and accurate explanations of natural phenomena but that is not always the case.

Every student of elementary physics has been taught that light travels in straight lines. But Einstein demonstrated that light passing a large mass is deflected somewhat towards that mass.

I like the definition of Tom McLeish which says, “Good science is arguably about being false in a constructive way that takes us nearer to the truth.”

Although we do not have all the answers, we do not abandon the whole theory. There are so often fuzzy unexplained edges to scientific theories.

With Einstein came a new branch of physics which explored the fuzzy edges beyond traditional physics. Even newer branches of astrophysics are finding more fuzzy edges of our knowledge of the universe. Terms like black holes, antimatter, negative energy, quarks, bring the realisation that our understanding of how the universe was created is still far from complete and tidily buttoned up. This is the universe that God created. So what can we say but ……only God Knows!

In the Beginning

The Bible states that the universe had a beginning. How does that tie in with scientific evidence?

Early in the 20th century the prevailing wisdom in the scientific community was the Steady State Theory which said that the Universe has always been here and while it may fade away at the edges it is being replenished from the centre – not so good for the statement, “In the beginning, God created.”

The Big Bang

However, “Big Bang” changed all that. The Big Bang theory was propounded in 1927. Scientists believe that the universe began as a very hot, minute and dense single tiny point, when there was a big explosion generating tremendous heat and subsequently light and energy. Atoms, molecules, photons (light), the theory decrees, were created out of nothing at a particular moment in time, creating matter and propelling it outward to make the billions of galaxies of our vast universe. Astrophysicists dubbed this unique explosion as the Big Bang. This process did not happen immediately; it was a process occupying many millions of years.

Observations by astronomers and physicists of the behaviour of stars and galaxies have established a date for the Big Bang to a point in time some 13.7 billion years ago. Their observations can follow the steps from the first second of the Big Bang onwards. Much has been written on this subject explaining and justifying the theory, (a theory on which subsequent observations have been checked and found to be correct). However, the first minute fraction of a second following the Big Bang is still beyond the scientific explanation, (but it is getting us closer to the truth) before which there was nothing but an empty void. And what initiated it in the first place is still beyond science. Again, only God Knows! Not a blasphemous remark, but a statement of truth, probably the ultimate truth. God Knows! He should – He is the one who initiated it. God said, “Let There Be Light,” and there was light. Not bad for a statement from 3500 years ago, that God did the creating – out of nothing! He is all powerful. To use the theological term, He is omnipotent. Here is the truth of what science has established, but is still striving to address the question, how it was achieved by this Being, this supreme being whose whole identity we are endeavouring to explore. But like the limits of scientific exploration, God can never be fully known. There will always be aspects of his being, character and nature which will remain a mystery! It responds to the who, what, when, but doesn’t get anywhere near the where, how and why. Why did God create? Was there a reason? Did he have a purpose? I’ll let those questions hover above us for the time being. Again, only God Knows! He is all knowing. Again, He is Omniscient!

What about creation taking seven days? Note that it is not God who is defining days but the writer describing the activity of God. If we follow the chronologies and genealogies through the Bible we would arrive at the age of the world being 5779 years from the day of creation – a discrepancy, it may seem. But we must remind ourselves that these earlier accounts are stories handed down by word of mouth over many generations, many centuries before actually being committed to a written document.

There is no need to be alarmed at this discrepancy. Remember that it is the words that God spoke that are important and not the timing. Remember that we are looking for the underlying truth behind these descriptions. The timing is a writer’s interpretation of the flow of events that happened, the results of which are plain for all to see. Moreover, we are dealing with a God who is outside time and in any case his timing is not our timing. He is Omnipresent. God occupies the atmosphere as we occupy our bodies. Remember also that we are dealing with Myth.

But as the disagreement over the age of the earth does not tell us anything about the nature of God, the nature of humankind, or their interrelationship, it is outside the scope of this book. The question I would pose is, does it make any difference to the way we live our lives whether the Earth is young or old? Again, the following chapters will be exploring in much more detail how God wants us to live our lives. The God who is a God of events. The God who is outside time. The God who even created time!

So what have we observed about the nature of God, the nature of humankind and the relationship between the two from reading these first few chapters?

Whereas every culture throughout history has had its own picture of something Other, an external Power, a god, often a multiplicity of gods – a sun god, a moon god, a god who controlled the weather, a god of fertility and so on, having to be appeased by sacrifices, even child sacrifice. Here is a God who is different. A God who is the creator of everything, a creator who is involved with his creation, created solely by his Word.

A God of Justice

But God has demonstrated some things which could be seen to be cruel. How does this fit into the concept of him being a caring God? Adam and Eve were banished from the beautiful garden; woman is committed to pain in childbirth; man is committed to toil to get the ground to produce food. As we read on in Genesis 4, we read about two of Adam’s sons, Cain and Abel. Out of jealousy, Cain kills Abel. The Lord had been watching over what happened and put Cain under a curse and committed him to be a restless wanderer, a nomad. Thus, we see God as a God of justice. But as we continue reading, we will never get away from the fact that God loves his creation and cares about it and is involved with what he created. He is also a God of mercy. We could say that he is Omnibenevolent.

We have seen some basic characteristics of our nature. Adam and Eve had the choice whether to obey God or not. The first thing we find out about Adam and Eve is that they were curious. “Will I really die if I eat the fruit?” Secondly, they, like all people since and always, had free will, more of that later. But Adam and Eve disobeyed and then tried to shift the blame. Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent and, as they say, the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on. Better get back to being serious. Here we see the introduction of a Tempter, figuratively represented here as a serpent, one who exploits the gift of free will given to humanity, present from the very beginning. Later, he will be described as the devil or Satan.

The serpent told Adam and Eve that the King cannot be trusted. He says the love of God is not genuine and his word is not true. “Don’t listen to Him” the liar whispers. “Find your own way. Make your own rules. Satisfy your own desires. Freedom awaits you. Be like God.”

Adam and Eve are enticed by the promise of personal autonomy and the allure of the sovereign self. The Kingdom is torn by revolt. But rebellion does not bring freedom, though. Instead, it brings brokenness, disgrace, guilt, slavery and struggle. In a word, the action of Adam and Eve, this turning away from God was – back to that word – SIN. Sin came into the world through Adam and Eve. The serpent accused God of lying. Adam and Eve believed the serpent. They suffered the consequences. We are still suffering the consequences. The political systems around the world today, in the wars and desire for self-aggrandisement demonstrate this on a daily basis.

This deviation from God’s instruction in Eden consisted in Eve and Adam thinking they were capable of facing an unknown future without God, provided they had sufficient knowledge. This is what has been described as original sin, meaning the sin that is part of being human. We have arms and legs and a body, and we also have not only free will, but original sin, the temptation and giving in to that is built into us. We all have something of that serpent living in us – instilling doubt, mistrust, disobedience.

And as humankind becomes more advanced and resourceful in a developing world so too do his choices, and his distancing from awareness of God.

So, summarising what we have observed so far: –

  • He operates in ways which are outside the boundaries of mathematical, physical, chemical, in fact all natural laws – which gives a word with a particular definition in the Bible, Super-natural.
  • How did he effect creation? It was by his Word alone. Moreover, he was pleased with what he had created, and it was good.
  • He recognised that rest is an essential part of the cycle of living. The concepts of recreation and re-creation come to mind here.
  • God is outside time. He was present to initiate the creation of the universe, matter and life. He continued to be present with Adam and Eve, who heard not only the sound of him walking in the garden in the cool of the day, but heard his voice speaking to the
  • Cain left the area and left God’s presence, but God still protected him.
  • God is a God of justice, but also a God of mercy.

So far nothing discussed discredits the statement “In the Beginning, God”.

Adam and Eve were trying to make their own standards, but disobedience has its consequences. The ultimate standards of good and evil are not ours to settle. Humankind must recognise their limits as creatures under authority, and it is God’s prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong. But this is what men and women try to do. The temptation to make their own standards of right and wrong, to flout God’s authority, to run the world in their own way often proves irresistible. Pride and greed is their undoing. Their pride makes them want to be on the level with God. Inevitably disaster follows. Human relationships are tarnished. The world becomes a hostile place. Worst of all a barrier divides man from God.

Finally, we have seen some basic characteristics of man’s nature. Adam and Eve had the choice whether to obey God or not. The first thing we find out about Adam and Eve is that they were curious. Will I really die if I eat the fruit? Secondly, they like all people then and now have free will. Free will gave them the opportunity to choose God’s way or their own way.

Next week we finish Part 1 and move on to the first couple of chapters of Part  2… Building on the Foundations – See what God can do. 

Aimed towards Christians, enquirers and sceptics alike, John Whitehead asks Is the Bible True? Part 1… Shedding light on the Foundations

by

Is the Bible True? 

God Knows!

Throughout this three part study I employ the analogy of a lighthouse. Here I start to examine the foundations of the Bible narrative. In future weeks I will look at the building blocks and finally at the birth of Jesus – the light of the world.

C O N T E N T S…

Preface                                                                                                  

Chapter 1     Introduction                                                                                 

Chapter 2     What is the Bible about                                                            

Chapter 3     Looking at the Bible – A First Glimpse                                   

Chapter 4     The Foundations                                                                        

Chapter 5     Who or What is God                                                                  

Chapter 6     Exploring the Bible Further                                                       

Chapter 7    The Verdict                                                                                                                    Preface

For me, it all started with the Big Bang theory. For centuries scientists agreed that the world, the universe, had always more or less been as it is now. So, there was not much credibility for the creation story in the Bible.

But in the early 20th century, cosmologists observed that the universe is expanding, and projecting backwards in time it would have contracted to a single point 13.7 billion years ago. There was a massive explosion described as the Big Bang. Before that, nothing. At that point in time the universe was created. But they have no explanation for what happened at time zero.

But this same phenomenon was stated in the Bible, from stories passed down from generation to generation and eventually committed to print some 3500 years ago. We read in the book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible, that from an empty void, God who was already present, said ”Let there be Light” and there was light. From this statement, the creation story unfolds.

Spurred on I started writing this as a personal challenge. An engineer by profession, my desire was to see if the whole Bible could be presented as a plausible, rational and relevant book, its authenticity backed up by all the findings of science, cosmology, archaeology, history and not least, logic and reason, the culmination being to present Christianity as the way to a fulfilled life. But I realised that it could appeal to Christians who want to establish a firmer foundation for their faith and understand more of the message and plausibility of the whole Bible, and to those with a curious nature, willing to explore a different way of living.

It may be true, but so what? What is Christianity all about? What’s in it for me? The answer is that it offers the way to a fulfilled life. Here are the words of Jesus about his purpose on earth – “I have come that you may have life, life in all its fullness.”

Many would say that they are fulfilled as they are, but I will coin a phrase, “Good is the Enemy of the Best.” I was curious to see if this was original, so I Googled it (like you do), and to my amazement, this is what I found. Voltaire, an 18th century French writer and philosopher observed that “The Best is the Enemy of Good.” He explained it by saying that “Close is sometimes Good Enough” and “Exact is far too costly.” What I am saying is that The Best – Fullness of Life – is actually achievable through Jesus. But much more on that later.

This is the first booklet in a series of three and looks at the foundations of the Bible narrative, beginning with the Creation story. The second booklet covers the period from the birth of Abraham, the founder of the Jewish nation, to the birth of Jesus, looking at the interaction between God and humankind. This period represents the building blocks of the Bible. The third booklet looks at the life, ministry and promises of Jesus – the Light of the World – and the growth of the early church. So, from this I use the analogy of a lighthouse – Foundations, Building blocks and Light. Moreover, I am reminded of the words of a worship song by the group Rend Collective, with Jesus metaphorically described as a lighthouse. This is the chorus: –

“My lighthouse, my lighthouse.

Shining in the darkness, I will follow you.

I will trust the promise,

You will carry me safe to shore”

The whole song is a message of hope for the present and the future. Feel free to play it on YouTube.

For me, writing this has been a personal journey of discovery. As I began writing I realised that my own knowledge was incomplete and in searching and researching for explanations I have added breadth and depth to my own understanding, far beyond my expectations. Not only to my understanding but it has deepened my own faith and my personal relationship with Jesus. The journey goes on! I hope that through reading these little booklets you will deepen your own understanding, and your life too will be enriched. As they say, “suck it and see!”

Feel free to email me at jdwhitehead1938@gmail.com for extra copies etc

Chapter 1. Introduction

 Although this is a book of theology, I have endeavoured to present the Bible in a way that is simple to understand and not too “theological”. In the process, I will explain where a word or term has a different meaning from that understood in everyday use.

I have tried to be as concise as possible. So many books of a theological nature end up with deep scholarly discussions such that a reader can get easily over faced and discouraged and end up not reading to the end and missing the conclusion. Someone once said that the Bible is so simple that we need scholars to help us to misunderstand it. But being realistic, Francis Schaeffer observed that the gospel is complex enough to keep theologians and philosophers busy writing learned tomes for years, and yet simple enough for a child to grasp the essentials. We undoubtedly owe a great debt to those who have scrutinised what is written in the Bible, but in the forthcoming pages I want to keep my arguments and my probing as simple as possible so that the central points are not missed. I will take for granted the general conclusions of biblical scholars over the past century and concentrate on what the Bible is actually teaching, what it has to say about the meaning and purpose of life, about God, ourselves, and the world we live in.

The approach will be: –

1) To present the Bible as an authentic document, by examining what it says, to test the truth or otherwise of what is written and explore its relevance for the present time.

2) To make the Bible more accessible to the ordinary reader, the reader without any special scientific, literary or theological knowledge, making it as comfortable a read as picking up a novel, an adventure story, mystery or crime novel.
3) To enable the reader to dip into its pages and have some appreciation of the context of what he or she is reading.

4) To probe the relevance of the written words to the lives of the reader and the lives of the whole of humanity.

5) To show a way to achieve personal fulfilment, with the help of a God who cares about you, even loves you, a God you can know personally.

Summing up, the main aim is to examine the nature of God and His purpose, to examine the nature of humankind and the relationship between the two.

One fundamental question is, why are we here? One explanation is that we are here by accident. When we have completed our biologically determined role, we have no further purpose. We die and that is the end. Another and rather different explanation is that we have been created by a loving God, who has stooped down to meet us. It is about having a personal relationship with this living God, our becoming part of a new family, God’s family and bringing us home to Him. This is the possibility that I want to develop.

A major difficulty with the Bible is that it is such a big book, around 1250 pages, depending on the translation and size of print, from start to finish. And one must also bear in mind that it contains writing in a number of different genres – Narrative, law, poetry, prophecy, wisdom and letters, and this is not an exhaustive list – does not make things simpler. Do we need to read it all?

The simple answer to that is no, but…..! In presenting the case for Christianity, the one thing that is required is to know Jesus as a person, to know him as the Son of God – God inside a human body. A knowledge of the whole Bible can provide a helpful way to achieve this. But for others knowledge of the Bible comes much later.

Some get to know Jesus by seeing the life and example of a friend. My wife had a colleague who, looking at her lifestyle and attitude to life, said to her, “I want what you’ve got”. She explained to her friend that Jesus was the key, living life following His example. That moment was the beginning for her to becoming a follower of Jesus and through him having a personal relationship with God, developed by reading the Bible with my wife’s guidance, subsequently becoming part of God’s family in a church.

Some come to faith by seeing God’s super-natural miraculous power breaking into the natural world of humankind and doing what is impossible by natural physical laws as we understand them.

I have a friend who was a Muslim who was met by Jesus in a dream and who subsequently became a Christian. I discovered afterwards that this is not uncommon. An internet search and sites such as YouTube will reveal many more examples of similar conversions.

In the pages of the Bible there is also help when things are not going as you may have hoped or expected. Here are coping mechanisms. The fact is that the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, recognises and addresses every aspect of human behaviour, all of our strengths and weaknesses. The New Testament in particular shows we can overcome human failings. So we can pick certain passages out to help us through difficult times or encourage and spur us on when we are not in a good place.

Equally, it is true that there is much in the Old Testament that has little or no relevance for us today, relating to the culture at that time. The dilemma is that the earlier parts also contribute authenticity and provide stepping stones and building blocks for the later parts. So I will be selective and develop the parts which highlight the main themes of “God’s Story”.

As we begin examining and analysing the text of the Bible, I am reminded of a short rhyme by Rudyard Kipling: –

“I keep six honest serving-men,

They taught me all I knew;

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who.”

These are good questions to ask as we look at the Bible in our search for truth. How does what it says stand up to scrutiny when we use these searching questions – questions like, “Why are we here at all? What is the purpose? Where are we going on our journey through life? How ought we to get there?

It is a result of our curiosity that civilization has been built. This questioning starts with children of a very young age. It is built into us to ask questions. That is how we learn. There’s a reason for everything (isn’t there?). From an early age, we want to make sense of the world around us

I recall my own experiences when one of my sons was small, the experiences shared by many parents.

Daddy, why? why? why?

-why do I have to go to school?

-why can’t I have a new bike?

-why do I have to go shopping with you? It’s so boring!

Often each explanation would be typically followed by, no but, why………? The discourse was likely to end with, “because I say so!” or “because, because, that’s why!” as dad became more impatient. When my father wanted to be really annoying, he would sing the little rhyme:

 “Why has a cow got four legs?

We must find out somehow.

I don’t know, you don’t know,

And neither does the cow.”

…..leaving a very annoyed young lad! Those were the days!

We ask questions and we may get answers. Probably the most fundamental questions being, is there a purpose for my being here? What is life all about? Why are some things considered important or good or beautiful? Asking questions is how we grow mentally and spiritually. Yet there are questions which we ask as adults and continue to ask, but the answers don’t ever seem to be forthcoming. In so many aspects of life we simply do not have all the answers. And so much more so in the Bible. Only God Knows! Only God has all the answers. My response to this would be to Live the Questions. Don’t stop asking the questions. But doing so leads to a number of possibilities. The first is that you forget that you had asked the question, acknowledging that the question was not important. Secondly, the answer may come when you are least thinking about it. Thirdly, you might realise that you don’t really need the answer. Finally, the answer may never be forthcoming. So, live with the questions! But don’t stop asking the questions! Just as an aside, there are no such things as stupid questions. Stupid answers maybe, but no question is stupid.

There seems to be a loose hierarchy in Rudyard Kipling’s six questions. Some are easier to address, but when it comes to the How and the Why, Science can respond to the How, but so often the Why takes us into God’s territory.

In the oncoming chapters I will begin to address these questions, but in reality, I will merely do little more than scratch the surface. The Bible is such a detailed book. It is like seeing a plane 35,000ft above, not much more than a dot in the sky. Yet in reality it is an object weighing when loaded some 100 tonnes, having a powerful energy source and a payload including passengers each with a separate existence, their own past, present and future. Telescopes and microscopes are further examples. The Bible is rather like that. The deeper you delve into its pages, you realise, as scholars over the centuries have done, that there is so much more in it.

Chapter 2

What is the Bible about?

But what is the Bible about? The simple answer to that is that the Bible is about God – from the first page to the last. It is about the nature of God, the nature of humankind and the interaction between the two. It is about God’s activity throughout the earth over time, from the universe first coming into being, the climax being God appearing in human form on the earth. The aftermath is the implications for humanity, creation then and now and in the future. It is about God establishing a moral code for humankind to live by and a unique purpose for those who choose to follow God’s way, with ultimate accountability to God Himself. It is about God With Us in the here and now and in the future. An ever-present God. It is God’s Story of how he has provided a way into an intimate relationship with each person he has created, caring for, nurturing and giving each a unique future and purpose.

The Bible is in two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament tells us that we can know about God. The New Testament shows how God in Jesus made Himself known, whereby we can know him as a person.

But if it has such a fundamental message, why has it, in our day and age, become so neglected in this country by large sections of society? Is it because so many people live what they consider satisfying lives without any recourse to religious belief and the requirements of Christian living? Each of us can live by our own moral code even if it is breaking the law, if we think we can get away with it.

Many would say they have a good life and are blinded to the possibility that there may be something better, but I will coin a phrase, “Good is the Enemy of the Best”. I was curious to see if this was original, so I Googled it (like you do), and to my amazement, this is what I found. Voltaire, an 18th century French writer and philosopher observed that “The Best is the Enemy of Good”. He explained it by saying that “Close is sometimes Good Enough” and “Exact is far too costly”. What I am saying is the converse, that The Best – Fullness of Life – is actually achievable through Jesus. What do I mean by this? Well, if things are going well in your life, you may be unaware that you are making do with second best. But when things are clearly not good, difficult questions arise like, “Why me?”  “When are things going to improve?”  “Who can get me out of this mess?” Even when things are bad, the best is still available. But much more on that later.

But what is fulfilling I ask? What are the things that people value? That first thing that comes to mind is possessions. – like the car, the house, jewellery, the bank balance. We have our pastimes – for instance our holidays, our hobbies, good food. Is it being successful, being liked or even our appearance? We value people – our relationships with our spouse, our family, our friends.

I quote a simple example from my own experience. We bought a fine china dinner and tea service many years ago to be used for special occasions. The truth is that it has not been out of the cupboard in 20 years, even on special occasions. Materialism ultimately loses its value, it’s worth.

Then we could look at our routines. The traditional way we have always done things.

Christmas dinner was always a special occasion in our family, as it is in most families. Over the years, as children left home and returned for Christmas, it grew to include spouses, partners and grandchildren. I recall the year there were 19 of us in all. We had to borrow tables from the church so that we could all be seated together. That was a mega-event which took days and even weeks to plan and prepare for, to purchase all the food and drinks and then the hours of cooking. Completely exhausting! That was the last time! We passed the baton to the younger generation, who had smaller family groups!

But I have accepted that……

“All good things come to an end.

It was good while it lasted.

Thank you God for the memories.”

Marilyn Monroe was a movie idol and sex symbol during the 1950’s and beyond. In part of the movie, “There’s no Business like Show Business” she sang a song, “After You Get What You Want You Don’t Want It.” Prophetic words indeed. Sadly, at the age of 36 she died from an overdose of barbiturates after a very successful career but also two marriages which both ended in divorce. By the time of her death, her films had grossed $200 million, (equivalent to $2 billion in 2020). In material terms she had everything but in reality, to her it was worth nothing! Quite simply, money can’t buy fulfilment. The “world” saw her as nothing more than a sex object. Her perception of herself seemed to be that she had no real worth. Inevitably this is an oversimplification, the full picture has many more facets.

These observations demonstrating the worthlessness of material wealth are repeated over and over again among the super-rich. But to God, each and every person has truly infinite worth. It is not that material possessions are intrinsically bad. The point is elaborated in Matthew’s gospel chapter 6 verse 33 which reads, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be given to you.” Thus, materialism in its many forms will become your servants, not your masters.

However there is a flip side to this tragic scenario of the use of wealth. For example, we can look at Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft. With his wife Melinda, they launched the Bill Gates Foundation. Their vision was to make the world a better place. “We are focused on the areas of greatest need, on the ways in which we can do the most good. From poverty to health, to education, our areas of focus offer the opportunity to dramatically improve the quality of life for billions of people. So, we build partnerships that bring together resources, expertise and vision – working with the best organisations around the globe to identify issues, find answers, and drive change.”

Worship

All these are examples of what has worth for us. This gives us another term, worship. We could include here our lifestyle, our possessions, materialism in general. Modern illustrations would include hero worship, or in the music culture, the latest pop idol. We will come back to this in more detail in due course.

These ambitions are at best only reflections of the God whose worth we are created to acknowledge and worship.

Gone are the days when the basics of Christianity were taught in schools. And gone are the days when the normal Sunday activity was going to church or chapel. I recall something I heard recently about a small boy who heard the Christmas story at school for the first time, the story of Jesus’ birth. His comment was, “But why did they give him a swear word for his name?”

Considering the whole of the 20th century we see changing attitudes towards morality in general. In a sweeping statement, looking at three generations of one family, we find typically that the grandfather will have strong moral principles which will be associated in his mind with his religious beliefs. The father may have no religious beliefs, but his inherited moral standards will keep him pretty much on the straight and narrow. The son will tend to have no religious beliefs and diminishing moral standards, leading us into the present so-called permissive society where anything goes, and sex becomes a recreational activity rather than something associated with a life-long commitment.

Yet who could deny that the culture, legal system and society in the free world has been built on the foundations of the moral code expounded and elaborated in the Bible.

But if the question is asked nowadays “What do you believe about God?” We realise that there is a wide spectrum of views and attitudes about the Bible and religion in general and each may need a different approach in order to respond.

Some would say they don’t know, they have never really thought about it

Others would say it’s just fairy tales. There is no god. It all seems so far-fetched and implausible.

Yet others would say that we are born, we live our lives and then, when we have completed our biologically determined role, we have no further purpose and die, we cease to exist – implying that there is nothing beyond materialism.

Some would say that there may be a supreme being, but it is not something that is relevant today.

There is yet another group. Members of other religions who may or may not believe in the same god as the God of the Bible.

Finally, there are those who do believe in the God as described in the Bible, acknowledging the unique identity of Jesus – a creator God revealed in Jesus Christ, with us now, who wants to give us life in all its fullness.

I want to respond to these opinions by examining what is said in the Bible, to test the truth or otherwise of what is written, to demonstrate the authenticity of what the Bible says about God and then to explore its relevance then, now and in the future. The key here is authenticity, and as I have already said I am going to approach this by looking at statements in the Bible and subjecting them to our current knowledge gained through the evidence of astronomy, cosmology, archaeology, geology, science and history, and not least, logic and reason. I would say at the outset that I am not using these tools to confirm that the Bible is true, but to demonstrate that they have not disproved the Bible.

With such a large range of initial attitudes this presents quite a challenge. Let us consider these in turn.

If you haven’t really thought about it I would like to give you food for thought, to give you something to think about. Such a person may have been born of generations of unbelief but now at this moment he cannot believe – that now at this moment he has no notion of a god at all and cannot care in the least whether there is a god or not. But he can still have an innate sense of right and wrong. That can clear the atmosphere and make it possible for the true idea of a god to be born in him.

There are those who would say that there is no god. I would respond, where is your evidence?

To those who don’t believe in God because it seems so far-fetched and implausible, it suggests they may have a false perception of what God is like. If asked for a response to the question, “What sort of god do you not believe in?” My response would probably be that I do not believe in that sort of god either. Hopefully this book will present a God who is worth believing in.

The view that it is all fairy tales is probably based on awareness of some of the graphic accounts in the Bible especially in the Old Testament – for example, the stories of Daniel in the lion’s den, Noah’s Ark, Jonah being swallowed by a whale, or in the New Testament, the Christmas and Easter stories. Out of context and away from their historic setting such observations are understandable.

To those who say that there is nothing beyond this life, I will present evidence which contradicts this, and if you have an open mind, you may be in for a few surprises.

To members of other religions, I would say, keep reading and see how far a reasoned argument takes you. I am unashamedly making a case for Christianity built on sound logic. Yes, a bold claim indeed!

Next, the Christian believer. “Yes, by faith, I believe in God through His son Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Son of God, God in human form. I read the Bible, well parts of it anyway, to find out what God wants to say to us and do through us. I read about the life of Jesus who shows us a better way of living our lives. We don’t read so much of the Old Testament because the New Testament is the fulfilment of God’s promises to humankind.”

There are those who hear a short talk about Jesus Christ and on that evidence and the evidence in the lives of people around them make a step of faith to follow Christ. Or, seeing the lifestyle of a Christian thinks something like “I want what you’ve got” and is led to a belief in the love of God through Christ, available for each one of us. All this without any real biblical awareness.

Here then lies a paradox. The Bible is a book of some 1250 pages, yet some make a decision to believe in Jesus and His promises without having read any of it. A step of faith. Awareness of the Bible, particularly the New Testament, would come later. Yes, faith and trust will carry you a long way in your Christian journey, but there will be times when your faith is challenged. Questions like, “Why, God? Why me?” will come to mind. I would hope by reading this book, reading from the Bible yourself and spending time with other Christians, you will have a firmer foundation for your faith.

I have used the word faith a number of times. We will explore this in greater depth, but a simple definition is that faith is believing something you hope for. Or alternatively, belief in a presence that does not let you go. (Not as once appeared in a schoolboy essay, that faith is believing something you know isn’t true!)

Again, paradoxically the whole essence of the Christian faith can be summed up in just a few sentences. One such expression of this is a song of worship, a modern hymn, call it what you like, popular in the 1960s, words by Sydney Carter.

Lord of the Dance

I danced in the morning when the world was begun

And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun

I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth

At Bethlehem I had my birth:

Chorus

Dance then, wherever you may be

I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!

And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be

And I’ll lead you all in the Dance, said He!

I danced for the scribe & the pharisee

But they would not dance & they wouldn’t follow me

I danced for fishermen, for James & John

They came with me & the dance went on:

Chorus

I danced on the Sabbath & I cured the lame

The holy people said it was a shame!

They whipped & they stripped & they hung me high

And they left me there on a cross to die!

Chorus

I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black

It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back

They buried my body & they thought I’d gone

But I am the dance & I still go on!

Chorus

They cut me down and I leapt up high

I am the Life that’ll never, never die!

I’ll live in you if you’ll live in Me –

I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!

Dance then, wherever you may be

I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!

And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be

And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said He.

There’s so much metaphor here that it needs explaining. The first thing to say is that it has nothing to do with dancing.

I danced in the morning when the world was begun, refers to God’s presence, already there at the moment of creation, and goes on to describe the creation of stars, our planet and its moon.

The rest of the Old Testament is skipped, the song continues with God’s coming to the earth, born as a baby in real time in a real place, Bethlehem.

In his ministry, the religious leaders saw him as a threat to their understanding of the scriptures and schemed for ways to get rid of him. He made ordinary people his disciples. The religious leaders got rid of him. In the end he was executed by crucifixion, the most cruel method of execution known to man. Some victims would still be alive, undergoing the process of dying for up to three days before they breathed their last.

But he was raised from the dead to a new life, a life that would never die, with the promise that he would share his life with the whole of humankind. The implication of that promise will have to wait until much later in the series. Leading us in the dance is talking about his leading in our own individual journeys through life, wherever or whoever you may be.

So it is clearly not about dancing. “I danced” implies the presence of God, subsequently, Jesus. “Lead you in the dance” implies Jesus’ invitation to lead and guide each and every one of us on our own individual journeys through life.

As I have said, I want to explore a number of avenues: –

  • Authenticity – to examine what is said in the Bible, to test the truth or otherwise of what is written, to demonstrate the authenticity of what the Bible says about God and then to explore its relevance then, now and in the future. The key here is authenticity, and I am going to approach this by looking at statements in the Bible and subjecting them to our current knowledge gained through logic and reason as well as all the scientific findings, asking Kipling’s classic questions.
  • Context – to examine the nature of God – the power of God, the promises of God, the purpose of God, the presence of God, the people of God. In parallel with that, to examine the nature of humankind, and then to examine the relationship between the two.
  • Relevance – in response to the question, “What’s In It for Me” – to probe the relevance of the written words to the lives of the reader and the lives of the whole of humanity, and to show a way to achieve fulfilment in life, with the help of a God who cares about, even loves, each individual, a God you can know personally.

We may choose to reject the conclusion that the Bible arrives at, but it would only be fair to first consider the evidence.

But What’s in it for Me?

Can a book written some 2000 years ago really have any relevance to us today?

Here are a few examples of passages that you may find encouraging and begin to answer the question, describing some rewards and some milestones along the way.

From the books of the Jewish law we read – “I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people.” Leviticus 26:12.

And the words of one of Jesus’ close companions – John 3:16-18. “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not die but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” Also, John 16:33 reads, “In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

And of Jesus himself – John 10:10. “I have come in order that you may have life – life in all its fullness.”

In Micah 6.8, there is a challenge. “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good? And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

We read in Jeremiah 29:11-12. “For I know the plans I have for you” says the Lord, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come to pray to me, and I will listen to you.”

And finally, here is a salutary message. Paul writes in Romans 6:23 – “The wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Not just life in all its fullness, but life that continues after the death of our physical bodies.

In the analogy of the lighthouse, the light is Jesus. But as this booklet only covers the foundations, considering this is the subject of a later booklet.

I trust that the foregoing has aroused your curiosity to encourage you to read further.

Sin

Sin is just a form of wrongdoing, but it does not have a single meaning. Here is the first word that needs some explaining, especially because it is a major theme of the whole Bible and also not in general everyday use. It is basically wrongdoing. The word is used many times, but does not have a single, simple meaning. Like many words in the Bible, it is shorthand and has a number of shades of meaning which we will be looking at and exploring when we look at the underlying issues.

We live in God’s world. He created the whole universe. He created everything in it, including of course you and me. Moreover, he established a moral code to provide boundaries to our behaviour. Deviating from this is sin.

Today we have rules and laws. In the same way that the rules of football make for a better game – can you imagine the free for all if there were no rules? And what would driving be like if we didn’t have the Rule of the Road in the Highway Code. Certain chaos would follow. Driving would carry a serious risk of accident injury or even death. From motorways to pavements the rules are there for our protection and safety. It is obvious that rules are necessary. It is only by living within the limitation of rules that we have order. But so many of man’s laws are arbitrary. What makes 30 mph and not 25 mph or 35mph a safe speed in built up areas? Why 70mph on motorways and not 60mph or 80mph? Moreover, if motorway safety is the criterion, it is different at 3:00am at night from rush hour at 5:00pm in the afternoon. But God’s law is unambiguous! And similarly, adhering to it leads to freedom.

It is interesting that both a sense of right and wrong, the knowledge of good and evil, and temptation to sin are all built into us from the dawn of our creation.

There is no way of getting away with it unnoticed! God Knows! God is omniscient! God is the ultimate authority. God’s laws are moral absolutes.

Legal systems across the world, at least in the Democratic West, are a diminutive of the laws required by God’s government. This varies in other countries to the extreme that they set their leaders as having ultimate power and authority, even elevating them as gods.

A further problem is that it does not have a unique definition – each religion has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin.

Like it or not we are all under the requirements of God’s law. Breaking it leaves each one of us subject to punishment, but inbuilt is a means of forgiveness. The wages of sin is death. But there is a remedy. “……the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.” Does this make you sit up and pay attention? It is very easy to commit sin. In fact, everyone sins and continues to do so. Yes, God’s law is the ultimate requirement for moral living. It contradicts the concept in our postmodern, relativistic world that, “I do what is right for me, you do what is right for you,” and their self-denying statement that, “There is no such thing as truth.”

Beyond these foundations, the Bible explores this moral code, looking at how God’s justice is administered, looking at the people’s and the nation’s responses – including both obedience and disobedience and the corresponding rewards and punishments. But most important of all is how recompense and forgiveness can be achieved.

Although whole books have been written and are still being written on the subject of sin, its origins, outworkings and remedy, there is the above core message, and we will be sticking to that.

But there is a tension here. It is human nature to be curious and ask the question, what happens if……? This is how we discover new things and covers the whole area of research and development. We want to try things that we haven’t done before. It is built into us. But there is the overspill, which leads us to breaking the rules. Sometimes we get away with it, sometimes we get caught. Is it worth the risk?

Thinking about new discoveries and the choices we have in applying them, I recall reading that gunpowder was discovered by the Chinese. What did they do with it? They made fireworks! It was left to others to use it as an explosive and exploit its destructive power, showing another aspect of human nature.

It is time to begin to examine the Bible, what it is and what it says, bearing in mind those questions of Rudyard Kipling.

 

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