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How could people marry within their own families in the Old Testament?

This question has puzzled many people.  Regarded as incest today (and also in the Bible!), it seems to have been ok early in Scripture.  As a matter of fact, some skeptics have regarded incest as a contradictory issue, since Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all married relatives and later in Leviticus 18:6-18, it is clearly prohibited.

I agree with Norm Geisler and Tom Howe in their view of incest.  At the beginning of the creation, Adam and Eve were created without genetic imperfections.  The result, then, of apparent incestuous relationships between Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Rachel, was no condemnation from God.  The prohibition came once many generations had passed and sexual relations between family members produced offspring that were adversely affected as a result of it.

I am convinced that the Bible’s apparent contradictions can be resolved with deeper study, or will be resolved eventually through archeological discovery.  God’s Word is trustworthy.

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4. When you were preaching I was moved. I know I need to respond. What do I need to do?

You need to pray…to talk to God about what is going on inside you.  The Holy Spirit is moving you to receive the same Jesus who changed Mary Magdalene’s life.  As you pray, admit your sin.  Apart from Jesus, you are hopelessly lost in sin.  Believe that God sent Jesus to die for you—for all your sins.  Put your trust in Jesus Christ.  Tell Him that you receive Him as your Savior and are ready for him to call the shots in your life.

Tell us.  Let me know through this blog.  Email me at jerry@graceforall.org.

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Why was Jesus recognized by some and not by others?

I think the answer lies in the kind of body Jesus had.  His post-resurrection body had qualities that, I believe, our bodies will have when we are in heaven.  Once Jesus resurrected, he was in “ascension mode.”  Jesus lived with a mission.  Before the cross, he focused on the cross.  Once he was resurrected, he focused on his ascension.

His body possessed the ability to enter a room with a closed door, yet he allowed Thomas to touch him, and showed Thomas his scar in his side.  Jesus was not recognized by the fishing disciples, but then recognized once he caught some fish.  He and Peter ate fish together.  He had a real body with the spiritual capacity to transcend spatial limitations.

One point of reference is oddly enough the angel of the Lord in the OT, specifically in his appearance to Samson’s parents.  If you want to study further, Judges 13 gives the account.  Not the similarities of Jesus’ conversation with Mary Magdalene and his (yes I think this was Jesus talking with Samson’s parents) conversation there.

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What does Mary Magdalene’s story have to do with me?

This is call an a fortiori argument—one from a greater point to a lesser point.  If Jesus can rid Mary Magdalene of her demons, then he can rid you of your sin problems.

If you were to interview people at Grace Community Church, you would discover former drug addicts, alcoholics, sex addicts, workaholics, arrogant, self-centered, egotistical people.  The one key difference in their lives is Jesus Christ.  You would discover people radically changed by Jesus Christ.

Whatever your problem is, it isn’t too big for God.  Mary Magdalene’s case proves that.

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Why Do Resurrection Stories Differ?

One’s first reaction to different accounts about the same event is to assume that somebody is wrong—and that is an expected assumption.  However, Craig Keener makes a couple of valid points.

First of all, if there had been a calculated deception among the writers, then the stories would have been identical.  (You’ve seen your children do this when they confer and concoct a story to avoid telling the truth).

Second, the different details authenticate the different perspectives.  This underlines the likelihood of details the accounts share in common.

These writers wrote from different perspectives, different sources, and the reality that the events had a different impact on them personally.  If an accident happened today and different people were observing it, you would get four stories, all of which were accurate, but none of which were identical.

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Presents vs. Presence

The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”  Judges 6:16

God promised Gideon His presence.

I know this is a goofy play on words, but it is true.  Often we seek God’s presents more than His presence.  We want what God can give us without a deep relationship with the God who can give us those things.  We seek solutions when God wants to give Himself.  We seek strategy before we seek Christ.  The result is a plan engineered by us waiting for God’s stamp of approval.

God usually doesn’t work this way.

One reason is that we tend to foul things up when we plan and then invite God.  We operate from a limited perspective.

Second, and perhaps most importantly, we lose the opportunity to hang out with God.  We lose the opportunity to commune with Him.

Revelation 3:20 is a powerful invitation:  Behold I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him, and he with me.  While this is often used in the context of unbelievers, it is really for wayward believers in the Laodicean church.   The thought of Jesus knocking on the door, not because He has a plan to change the world (which He does) but because He’d like to have dinner with you…or supper as we say in the south.  Wow!

Which are you seeking?

Presents?

Presence?

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Empowered

The Lord turned to him (Gideon) and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand.  Am I not sending you?” Judges 6:12

How many people would have hired someone for the job who talked down about their future boss!  Gideon felt God had abandoned him and his people.  God refused to cave to Gideon’s doubt.  He called the doubter a warrior.  He hired the skeptic to be the deliverer.

Go in the strength you have!  There’s so much irony in that statement.  Gideon’s hiding out!  What kind of strength does he have.  The answer:  none.  Gideon’s strength has been depleted by his own fear.  His strength has given way to frustration.  He has no strength.  God has no regard for Gideon’s lack of strength.  God’s purposes are never thwarted by our insufficiencies.  God will have His way.  Period.

So if Gideon had no strength, then where did his strength come from?

God.

And, by the way, in case you haven’t notice, the angel of the Lord is God Himself!  The author of Judges says, “The Lord turned to him.”  I believe that the angel of the Lord is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Himself.  Consider that.  A mission so significant (which involves rescuing stubborn, rebellious people) that God would send Jesus Himself.  Could this at all foreshadow another event?

In Judges 6, God sent Jesus to talk to Gideon.

In the fulness of time, God sent Jesus to die for all the Gideons.

What an awesome God!

So back to the question:  where did Gideon’s strength come from?  God’s final question ironically enough contains the answer.  And I not sending you?  When God sends you, He gives you strength.  God will never send you on a mission for which He has not prepared you.  He will never send you out without suiting you up!  His mission comes fully equipped with His power.

So the question for you is:  what is God’s mission for you?  Feeling weak lately?  Like you might have to do it in your own power?  You don’t…and you can’t.

Tomorrow we’ll hear Gideon’s reply (aka argument).

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Talking Straight With God

“But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?  Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’  But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”–Judges 6:13

An angel of the Lord has shown up and found Gideon, who incidentally is hiding from the Midianites.  The angel addressed Gideon as a “mighty warrior!”  Who would have thought?  Gideon, a mighty warrior, the least in his tribe, hiding from the enemy.  God saw what Gideon couldn’t see.

And what did Gideon think of God at that time?  To summarize his thoughts consider the his reply to the angel of the Lord:

1.  The Lord is not with us.

2.  The Lord is no longer working wonders as he once did.

3.  The Lord has abandoned us.

4.  The Lord has turned us over to the enemy.

Only God would approach someone who thought that about Him and called him a mighty warrior!  Only God would address a sheepish, faith-less, reluctant wheat thresher as a mighty warrior!

This forces two questions:

What does God see in you that you do not see in yourself?  What is His perspective on your predicament?  What is His plan for your future?

And a second question:  What does God see in your neighbor, coworker, friend or family member that you don’t see in them.   Where you see a burden, God sees a blessing.  Where you see faults, God sees future.  Where you see a sinner, God sees a saint.

You need to have an honest conversation with God today.  He can handle your feelings, is not intimidated by your struggles.

If you had interviewed Gideon for a job, and he would have talked that way to you (and about you), his future boss, you would have kept looking.

In tomorrow’s post we’ll discover God’s response to Gideon.  It will blow your mind!  (And give us insight into who the angel of the Lord might be!)

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Triumph in Humiliation

Lord, our master, whose glory fills the whole earth, show us by your Passion that you, the true eternal Son of God, triumph even in the deepest humiliation.  —Bach in John’s Passion

Triumph and humiliation do not usually belong in the same sentence.  God excels in the ironic situations of life.  When Joseph’s brothers worried over the consequence of how they had treated Joseph, he responded, “You intended it for evil; God meant it for good.”

The suffering of Jesus is the supreme example of triumph in the deepest humiliation.  Jesus was beaten mercilessly.  Isaiah completely called this sequence of events:

For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
(Isaiah 53:2-3 ESV)

As one from whom men hide their faces.  People couldn’t bear to look at Jesus.  I wonder, in Pilate’s interrogation of Jesus, if Pilate looked at the ground–did he look him in the eye?

Majesty was veiled by blood.  Glory was masked by groaning.  Royalty hid behind repulsion.

What is your humiliation?  Your shame?  Your embarrassment?  In Jesus’ hands, and under Jesus’ blood, you can triumph even in the deepest humiliation.  This Easter season, call out to the humiliated Jesus who is now exalted.  Cry out to the One who cried out to His own Father on the cross.

It may be Friday…but Sunday’s coming.  Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes with the morning. (Psalm 30:5)

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Breaking Down Walls…Brick by Brick

“We cannot separate the Great Commission to make disciples from the Great Commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves.”–Rich Nathan, Leadership Journal

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
(Matthew 28:16-20 ESV)

The Great Commission is enclosed with a declaration and a promise.  The declaration:  All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Our authority is not ours, but Jesus’.  When we go, when we share, when we love, we do it based on the authority of Jesus Christ.  Intimidation should not be a factor.  Then Jesus said, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  Not only do we have the promise of His power, we have the promise of His presence.  Isolation should not be a factor–we are never alone.

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
(Matthew 22:36-40 ESV)

Love God.  Love others.  The Old Testament hinges on those two commands.  So does the effectiveness of our witness.  The Great Commission without the Great Commandment is like a marriage without love, college roommates without a relationship, a team without camaraderie.  It’s empty religion.

The Great Commandment without the Great Commission is like a dating relationship with no future, a dark today with no bright tomorrow.  It’s empty sentimentalism.

Lee Strobel, who at the time was an ‘adamant atheist’, upon observing the Salvation Army at work for weeks said, “Watching them express God’s grace to hurting people had started to dismantle, brick by brick, the wall surrounding my heart.”

The Gospel preached in loving action breaks down walls, penetrates hearts, and changes lives.

Preach today–not just through your words–but through your actions.  Say the right thing.  Do the right thing.  Watch the walls come down.