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Answers (5)

Sunday, March 21st, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says YHWH.  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18

White – To make laban.  Hebrew for “white” is laban.  Of course, this has exquisite irony in the story of Jacob and Laben (the same consonants).  Jacob’s manipulation of the flock is also a Hebrew play on words.  You will recall that Jacob leaves Mr. White (Laben) with only the white (laban) sheep and goats.  Every reader of Isaiah would know this story.  Part of the history of “white” touches the story of Laben.

The pictograph of laban adds more.  Lamed-Bet-Nun is “control of the house of life.”  YHWH declares that He will turn my second-choice blood-red disasters into control over the house of life.  But wait!  I can understand that forgiveness might result in a new man in a new house.  My theological education might tell me that God restores me to His house in the process of redemption.  But how can my sins become the elements of control over the house of life?  How can my actual sins become white?

Of course, it’s a metaphor.  Sins don’t change their spectrograms.  But even as a metaphor, it leaves some questions.  We understand white as a mark of purity (except for Laben?).  We are familiar with the contrast between white and black in religious terms.  But doesn’t it seem just a bit odd that God ties “sins” directly to “white’?  It does until we realize what God intends to do with those sins.

Sometimes I burn piles of fallen branches.  The fire rages yellow and red, consuming the wood and debris.  Left overnight, all I find in the morning is a pile of white ash.  All those various materials, all those colors in wood and leaves, are reduced to fine white powder.  The only evidence of the past is the ash left behind.  What was once individual objects in the world is now completely undifferentiated residue.

Perhaps this imagery is present in God’s metaphor.  My sins – all my second choices – are piled on the altar.  They are destroyed in His consuming fire.  What’s left is the ash of my past, uniformly converted to nothing more than a trace of evidence.

How does this evidence, this ash, become “control of the house of life”?  It becomes the control over my house of life when I pay attention to the end result of second choices.  It becomes the warning signal, the buoy marker, the danger sign that keeps my future choices pure.  I need to look at that ash-evidence to remind myself where I was going.  Sins have a use.  Once they are burned in God’s refining fire, they leave behind evidence that I have been redeemed and markers of the way I dare not go again.

White as snow, burned to ash.  That’s the final resting place of my sins.

Topical Index:  sins, white, laban, laben, Isaiah 1:18

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Answers (4)

Saturday, March 20th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says YHWH.  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18

Scarlet – What an odd expression?  Sins are like the color scarlet?  Why?  From our Christian perspective, we might expect sins to be painted black.  We would hardly imagine that the color most often associated with redemption (the blood of the Lamb) would be used to describe the essence of sin.  But maybe we haven’t looked hard enough.

The seventh principle of rabbinic exegesis is devar halamed meinyano – what is learned from an examination of the subject itself.  This may be seen in the midrash, an examination of the possible connections between one thought and another drawn from clues in the text.  While many well-trained rabbis employ this technique with amazing expertise, most Christian Western views of exegesis would be aghast at the procedure.  Often ignoring context, syntax and other “essential” elements of modern biblical exegesis, the rabbis move from one thought to another seemingly unconcerned by the structures of the Greek mind.  We might object, but we should be careful doing so, for the Bible is written by men who do not think, or write, like we do.

Let’s employ a bit of devar halamed meinyano to a clue in this verse and see where it takes us.  The word for “scarlet” is shaniy.  The consonants are Shin-Nun-Yod.  But those same consonants with the vowel change to “e” instead of “a” produce sheniy, a word that means “second in a series.”  What does “scarlet” have to do with “second”?  Maybe nothing.  Maybe.  But let’s look a bit deeper into God’s declaration in Isaiah.

“Though you sins are like the second . . .”  What might this mean?  The pictograph of Shin-Nun-Yod is “work that destroys life.”  That’s certainly an apt description of “sin.”  But in what way is “sin” connected to “second?”  Obedience is the first choice in God’s created order.  The universe is designed to flow toward obedience.  The natural processes, the instincts of animals, the grand celestial orchestra all obediently follow the direction of the Creator.  But Man chooses the second way, the way of disobedience.  Not only does this second way result in inglorious hubris, it poses an illusory alternative that is false in its very inception.  There really is no second way to life.  There is only a second way to death – a death that spills scarlet blood on the earth.  Why are sins scarlet?  Because they are the second choice – the blood-red choice of destruction.

There is one more connection.  When sacrifice for sin is presented before the altar, the ground runs red with the blood of the substitute.  Man’s second choice results in death and requires death to be redeemed.  “Though your sins are like the second choice, the choice of spilled blood, yet I will make them as white as snow.”  The Lord, merciful, gracious, long-suffering, kind, withholds His wrath to allow us to see the folly of the second choice – He will rescue us.  May His Name be blessed.

Topical Index:  scarlet, second, shaniy, sheniy, Isaiah 1:18

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Answers (3)

Friday, March 19th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says YHWH.  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18

Sins – What are sins?  Abraham Heschel suggests that Christianity is pre-occupied with sins.  Christians place enormous emphasis on sins perhaps because we view Yeshua’s redemptive work primarily in terms of forgiveness of sin.  We have been well versed in the chasm between our natural state and God’s holiness – a chasm that is the direct result of our sins.  But what, precisely, are sins?

Oh, we could make a long list.  We could write down every offense, every fault, every shortcoming.  But somehow we know that there’s more to it than just a list.  Would we include errors, mistakes and unintentional mishaps?  Would that be enough?  Probably not.  Under all of this lies an attitude of rebellion.  So, is that sin?  Is sin defiance before God?  That doesn’t seem to account for those violations of God’s instructions that I wasn’t aware of until after I did the deed.  I wasn’t trying to rebel, but I still offended.  If we want to live without sin, no matter how difficult that might seem, don’t we have to have a pretty good picture of what it is that causes so much trouble?

A picture just might be what the doctor ordered.  The Hebrew word, het’, is the combination of Chet, Taw and Aleph. We might see “first to destroy the fence.”  That changes our view a bit.  If sin is related to destroying the “fence,” then what is the fence?  The biblical imagery of the fence takes us right back to the covenant and the Torah.  God’s fence around His people is found in the protection of the Torah.  His covenant with Israel is based on this fence.  It is the distinguishing characteristic between Jew and Gentile.  Jews stand in special relationship to God because they chose to keep His commandments.  This is not a relationship of rescue or deliverance.  It is a relationship of purpose.  God chose Israel as the vehicle for bringing the world to Him and Israel was to accomplish this great purpose by living according to His Torah.  Sin tears down the distinctiveness that God planned to use.  Sin destroys purpose.

Now we see why unintentional mistakes are still sins.  We don’t deliberately decide to trample the distinctiveness that God wants to use.  We make a mistake.  Our purpose in the world is compromised.  We are not distinctively different and, therefore, not quite as useful.  Once we realize that we have compromised His purpose, we must acknowledge that some part of the covenant relationship has been damaged.  We need to put the fence back up.

Sin is serious because it prevents me from fulfilling God’s design.  It blocks my usefulness.  It frustrates my true identity and my true productivity.  Of course, it separates me from the Holy One of Israel, but not because He rejects me.  It separates me because He can’t accomplish what He wishes to do in me, and I can’t become all He knows I can be in Him.

Topical Index:  sins, het’, purpose, fence, Isaiah 1:18

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Answers (2)

Thursday, March 18th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says YHWH.  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18

Reason Together – Once we discover the real meaning here, we might wish it were still about apologetics.  We would like this invitation to be about a comfortable discussion over spiritual matters.  But that’s not what the word yakah suggests.  This word is typically about an assessment of moral right-standing.  This is an invitation to present our case before the Lord and see if it stands up to His holiness.  It is God’s way of saying, “Bring it on!”

Often taken out of context, we assume that God’s request is a gentle RSVP.  Once we read the context, we see that such a naïve view is impossible.  Read what God says before He uses yakah.  “Listen heaven and earth.  You, Israel, have rebelled.  Even animals know who their master is, but not you.  This nation has forsaken its Deliverer.  Look at the results:  your land is devastated, you are beaten down, you are overthrown, your sacrifices are worthless, I have rejected your rituals, I no longer attend to your impure religion.”

“Now, then, come to the judgment seat.  Present your case.  Let’s see how you fare.  Bring your evidence before Me and let’s examine it together.”

Oh, that’s not quite what we thought, is it?  This is the call from the Judge of all Mankind, not the invitation to a scholarly debate.  This is a serious accounting exam.  We might be inclined to run rather than show our hand.  We might see only the smoke and fire of Mt. Sinai appearing on the horizon.  Except for one small letter in Hebrew.  You see, the call is not le-hoo.  It is le-hoo-na.  At the end of the verb we find the attached particle na.  This changes the command to a request.  “Please, come.”  Even in the invitation to an audit, God displays His hesed, His kindness.  He could demand punishment from the evidence in the books of life.  He could justifiably reject our arguments and dismiss us to outer darkness.  But even in His scrupulous review of our failed state, He shows His true colors.  “Please.”

Perhaps it’s time to rethink our propensity to treat God as an equal in the dialog of life.  It’s time to stop insisting that we have as much to say about things as He does, that we have a  right to be heard, that He needs to see our point of view.  When He invites us to conversation, maybe we would be far better served by listening.  Then we might discover His unfathomable mercy wrapped around His infinite holiness.

Topical Index:  reason together, yakah, na, please, Isaiah 1:18

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Answers (1)

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says YHWH.  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18

Come Now – “Finite meaning is a thought we comprehend; infinite meaning is a thought that comprehends us; finite meaning we absorb; infinite meaning we encounter.  Finite meaning has clarity; infinite meaning has depth.  Finite meaning we comprehend with analytical reason; to infinite meaning we respond in awe.  Infinite meaning is uncomfortable, not compatible with our categories.  It is not to be grasped as though it were something in the world which appeared before us.  Rather it is that in which the world appears to us.  It is not an object – not a self-subsistent, timeless idea or value; it is a presence.”[1]

You may want to read that statement from Abraham Heschel again.  Before we embark on a journey into this verse, we may wish to contemplate the radical difference between our usual view of God’s revelation and God’s view of His revelation.  I often ask people why Judaism has no systematic theology.  Maybe Heschel offers part of the answer.  Judaism is an encounter with the presence of God.  Messianic Judaism is an encounter with the physical manifestation of the infinite God.  That encounter beckons us beyond ourselves.  No wonder we can’t quite categorize Yeshua and His message.  He is more than men can deal with.

By its very nature, systematic theology is the attempt to categorize, systematize, organize, define and reduce the encounter with God to human thought.  Even the systematic theology category of mystery isn’t really mysterious, is it?  If it were truly mysterious, the pages of the book would be blank.  Rather than reading about mystery, we would be on our faces on the ground, numbed by the presence of the One who is.

YHWH invites us to “reason together.”  Do you really suppose that He means we are to think with Him?  No, there is something else happening here that just might exceed our grasp.  But before we even arrive at communication with the Presence, we encounter an almost inconceivable suggestion.  YHWH says, “le-hoo-na.”  “Come now, please.”  What?  The God of all creation asks us to please enter into dialogue with Him?  You must be joking.  How can this be?  Can you imagine the President begging you to come before him?  Can you conceive of Nebuchadnezzar inquiring if you would take your time to join him?  Look again at the Hebrew.  The addition of the particle na to the verb halak changes the sentence from a command to a request.  This is one of only five times where the particle na is attached to God’s action.  This is an invitation, not a summons.  An invitation from GOD!  What god in any human mythology or religion asks for human cooperation?  If there were ever an argument for God’s de facto authority, this is it!  Words fail to describe the enormity of this invitation.  We can only fall to our knees in utter appreciation and humility.  The Ruler of the universe bends His ear to us, waiting for us to answer His request.  Only one word falls from our lips.  “Why?”

“Why, O Lord, do You invite me?  I am so unworthy of Your attention.  I have so little to offer.  I am in the presence of radiance, holiness, majesty – and yet You ask?  Why?”

Before we embark on the adventures hidden in this verse, perhaps we should stop to meditate on the character of a God who would bend His knee just to enter into dialogue with us.  Perhaps we have taken too much for granted.  Perhaps our enthusiasm to get the “right” answer has led us astray.  Perhaps what we need is a full appreciation of the awe of His presence – a silent overwhelming of grace.  Perhaps we yearn for the humble God, and we don’t even know it.

Topical Index:  le-hoo-na, come now, mystery, presence, awe, Isaiah 1:18

[1] Abraham Heschel, Who Is Man?, p. 78.

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First Things First

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

Jesus said to him, “See that you do not tell anyone, but off you go and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering which Moses laid down, as a witness to them.” Matthew 8:4

Do Not Tell Anyone – In the 19th Century, German higher criticism invented the idea of the Messianic secret.  According to this view, Jesus kept His divinity under cover, insisting that His true identity not be revealed.  Of course, this theory ignores the Hebraic elements of the gospels which assert His status as the Messiah nearly every time He opens His mouth.  Nevertheless, there are times when it appears as if He does not want people to recount their miraculous experiences.  What can we say about those?

In this particular case, the emphasis is not on hiding the healing of the leper.  It is on the proper order of presentation.  First, fulfill the requirements of Torah.  Then, let allow people to see what has happened.  Of course, what this means is that Jesus insists on Torah obedience, even for those who have been touched by His power.  Not only is He Torah-observant.  He expects others to be the same.

The commandment He has in mind is Leviticus 14:8-10.  If you read this instruction following healing, you discover that the process takes eight days.  Jesus does not tell the leper to run quickly to the priest, get a fast evaluation and then proclaim God’s power to the people.  He tells the leper to be obedient to the words of God through Moses.  This is going to take some time.  By the time the instructions are completed, Yeshua will be gone from the area.  There will be no immediate public demands and accolades.  The event will not be front-page news.  It will be merely a report of God’s past miraculous intervention.  Perhaps part of this is connected to Isaiah’s imagery of the Suffering Servant who does not perform God’s will in order to be recognized, but carries out the will of the Father silently among the throngs of men.

“Do not tell anyone” (medeni eipes) simply means, “Take care to follow the instructions of Moses first.  The news of your recovery is not more important than obeying the Word of God.”  We need this reminder too.  God acts in our lives.  We see His handiwork and experience His grace.  We are apt to shout His mercies to anyone who will listen.  That might not be the first priority.  Perhaps we need to listen to His instructions and demonstrate thanksgiving according to His Word before we become junior reporters.  God is not in a hurry.  Why are we?  He has specified the way we are to re-enter His community and demonstrate our thankfulness.  What is the point of running ahead of Him?  There is always time to share His grace according to His instructions.  Even the process can become a testimony to our faithfulness.

Has God intervened in your life?  Has He shown you exceptional mercy?  How you respond is as important as the fact that you respond.  God has a purpose in the process.  Why diminish the miracle because you were too excited to wait for Him?

Topical Index:  miracle, process, do not tell, Matthew 8:4, Leviticus 14:8-10

If you have not been following the blog comments for “How He Loves“, you are missing a great treat.

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How He Loves

Monday, March 15th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

“He who has My commandments, and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him.” John 14:21

Will Love – We could spend some time looking at this verse from the perspective of obedience.  We could examine what it means to keep Yeshua’s commandments.  We could look at the connection between keeping them and experiencing the Father’s love.  But before we do any of that, there is something even more precious here.  It is the love of Yeshua for us.

“ and I will love him.”  In Greek, kago agapeso auton.  The sentence is emphatic.  I will love him.  There can be no doubt about this.  No matter what my daily experience or situation, Yeshua declares His love for me as a matter of absolute fact.  It is His personal guarantee.

What kind of love is this?  The verb form here means this is a fact of future action.  You will recognize the root agape.  It is love that seeks the benefit of another at cost to the one who loves.  It is self-sacrifice on behalf of someone else.  It’s not about feelings, calculations or duty.  It’s about personal total commitment.

Why would Yeshua guarantee such action?  After all, this kind of commitment weathers every storm.  It doesn’t matter if I am up or down, this love doesn’t fail.  So, why would He make this promise to me?  I’m not always the kind of person who merits love.  I often fail.  I betray others.  I lie.  Sometimes I take advantage.  But Yeshua assures me that none of that will interfere with His commitment to me, as long as I am pursuing as best I can the keeping of His commandments.

Heschel says, “In the eyes of the world, I repeat, I am an average man.  But in my heart I am not an average man.  To my heart I am of great moment.  The challenge I face is how to actualize, how to concretize the quiet eminence of my being.” [1] That is the secret to Yeshua’s love.  He does not see us as just average men and women.  He sees the great, quiet eminence of our being.  He sees us as we are designed to be.  Nobility disguised in ordinary flesh and blood.  And because He sees us as we could be seen, He loves us in order that we might be manifest as He sees us.  We are precious in His sight.

This is the greatest fact of the universe.  Not only did God create all there is in order that we might walk with Him, He brought all this into being because we matter most to Him.  His Son proclaims that most important fact of all existence.  “I will love you.”  That is the final and absolute endorsement of who I am.  I am loved by God manifest in the flesh.   Nothing can undermine my worth.  He has spoken.

Topical Index:  love, agape, self-worth, John 14:21

[1] Abraham Heschel, Who Is Man?, p. 35.

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Spatial Priorities

Sunday, March 14th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

My times are in Your hand; save me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me. Psalm 31:16

Times – Let’s think about time.  What seems so obvious turns out to be much harder to conceptualize than we thought.  What is this thing called “time”?  As soon as we begin to explain it, we run into words about space, not about time.  We describe time as if it were a spatial dimension.  We use words like “before” and “after.”  We draw a line on a page and talk about the past, present and future, pointing to places on the line.  We throw around words like “timeline” and “future plans.”  We admit that we have no control over what will happen tomorrow, but we still think of tomorrow as “someplace” out there, waiting to come onto the stage of the present.  A lot of this conceptualization comes from Greek philosophy which thought of time in terms of a river.  Upstream was the future, flowing toward the place where we stand on the river bank (the present).  Downstream is the past, those events that have already passed by us and recede from our view.  When the Greek philosophers said that no man can step into the same river twice, they meant that everything is in flow.  Every moment is unique, either moving toward us or away from us.  The mythology of time travel depends on this spatial metaphor.  Time travel is simply moving my position along the river bank.

Of course, theology grabbed this metaphor for all it was worth, postulating that God resides “outside” of time, viewing the whole line “at once.”  (Did you notice that even describing this we are using spatial words, not time words?)

In 1962, James Barr wrote a small manuscript about the biblical words for time.  He cited Orelli, concluding the Hebrew words “characterize time not as a pure continuum, as a universal entity or indeed as an abstract form, but as something as individual and concrete as possible.”[1] In other words, the Hebrew worldview sees time as particular events connected by other particular events.  It does not see time as a kind of universal “line” which events are written upon.  The Hebrew view is concrete, phenomenological and temporal.  It is the view of flow, of life events melding one into another.

In this verse, the paradigm word of time (‘et) is directly connected to David’s life experience.  This is typical of the Hebrew view.  There is no abstract, universal, theoretical view of time.  There is what happens.

OK, so what?  Why do we care about these esoteric ideas?  Ah, we care because once we adopt the Greek view of a universal continuum that “floats” events toward us, we start to think as if the events already exist out there.  What we will do tomorrow is already fixed in eternity.  We are only waiting to see it happen in the present.  And, of course, that means that the events are determined before they come into our present.  The spatial fallacy suddenly creates a huge problem – the problem of free will.  That problem spills over into omniscience, infallibility, impassibility and immutability.  Suddenly the simple view of flow takes on enormous logical difficulties.  We start to believe that the course of our lives is determined “ahead of time” and that we are only playing out the scenes that were written down before we were born.  The paradigm pushes us to some sort of fatalism – as Greek paradigms are wont to do.  We know that something isn’t right about this.  After all, people are responsible for their choices.  But we don’t know how we got into the mess in the first place, so we can’t find out way out.

It’s time to ask some serious questions about the paradigm.  If Hebrew is a language of dynamic flow, a language that derives its concepts from its verbs, then maybe there’s another way to look at this world, a way that looks at the whole idea from the perspective of relationships, not universal principles.

What do you think?

Topical Index:  time, ‘et, paradigm, flow, Psalm 31:16

[1] Barr, Biblical Words for Time, p. 95.

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Order-Takers

Saturday, March 13th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

For not the hearers of the law are justified with God but the doers of the law shall be justified. Romans 2:13

Doers – This is a nearly impossible verse for Augustine and Luther (and those who follow their lead). It’s impossible because Paul unequivocally says that those who do the commandments of God are justified. Actually, it’s even worse than that. Paul says that those who merely hear God’s commandments but do no do them are not justified. This is about as strong a statement about the necessity of following God’s instructions in Torah as you will find in the New Testament. And it comes from the apostle of “grace.” What can we say?

A quick look at the Greek confirms the dilemma. The word is poietes, from the verb “to make” (poieo). It clearly means someone who performs the required commandments. There’s not much wiggle room here. Paul says it plainly: justification comes from keeping the commandments.

This conclusion is so antithetical to the long-standing Christian doctrine of sole fide, sole gratia that we are apt to do whatever we can to reinterpret Paul’s statement. Unfortunately, we don’t take Paul seriously. We retain the paradigm rather than recognizing that something doesn’t make sense. It isn’t Paul who is confused. It’s our interpretive scheme. Thanks to Augustine, the early church fathers, the Reformers and the evangelicals, we would rather believe what we want to believe than listen to the apostle. Paul doesn’t see conflict. Grace and works form a covenant together. We are the ones who split them apart – and we have struggled with this text (and others) ever since.

So, Today’s Word is not about this text. The text is clear enough. Today’s Word is about the paradigm that causes us to read the text as either a problem for our theology or a confirmation of Paul’s unity of law and grace. This paradigm is based on an association between the general pagan religious requirement to placate the gods and the Jewish idea of works of righteousness. Pagan religions often view men as victims of the gods. In order to survive in this world, paganism requires that men offer sacrifices to appease the gods and gain their favor. We find this thinking in all kinds of pagan religions, from the worship of Ba’al and Moloch to the Greeks and native Americans. When thinkers read passages in the Bible that described sacrifices and worship rituals, they connected these with pagan appeasement. Therefore, they thought that Israel practiced a more sophisticated version of appeasement theology. This association became the opposing idea to Christian grace. In other words, according to this paradigm, Judaism developed from prior pagan rituals but was still connected to the basic idea of placating YHWH, an ancient god of anger.

Christianity takes a significant step forward by rejecting this ancient pagan idea. According to this paradigm, Christianity rejects any connection between “earning” God’s favor and prescribed religious rituals. Therefore, Christianity stands opposed to Judaism.

This paradigm is not based on Scripture. It is based on a general concept of religion, independent of the actual prophetic tradition of Israel. Therefore, it reads the Hebrew Scriptures within the paradigm – and ignores or reinterprets contradictory passages to fit the paradigm. The biggest problem is really right in front of us: How do we take off the blinders?

Unfortunately, many wonderful and devoted believers will not be able to take off the blinders. The paradigm is so much a part of their way of looking at the world, and has been reinforced by the Church for so long, the very idea that there might be another way is so frightening they refuse to consider it. They are sure of their beliefs, so forget the problems and the text. This is the way it has always been. It takes enormous patience, gentleness, yes, and sometimes shock, to remove the fear of examining the text. For some, it just isn’t going to happen.

But here’s the caution. We can’t make it happen either. This is God’s arena. We live according to our understanding of His unity, and He uses us to bring about awareness and truth. Insistence will not turn the tide. Love will. It is important to be aware of the paradigm shift that brought about this unwarranted chasm. It is important to know that Scripture is consistent in its grace-Torah perspective. But “love your enemies” is still the authorized way of life. Seek truth. Live Torah. Hope in His faithfulness.

Topical Index: paradigm, law, grace, Romans 2:13

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All For This

Friday, March 12th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

For in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth,  . . . Exodus 20:11

In Six Days – How long did it take God to make the earth?  Careful.  We usually think that God created the earth on one of the days of creation.  One day He made light.  One day He made the sun and moon and stars.  One day He made the plants.  One day He made the animals.  One day He made Man.  But that isn’t what this text says.  It says, “Ki sheshet yamim” (during the course of six days).

Rabbi Bob Gorelik points out that the creation of the heavens and the earth took six days.  In other words, all the time before the completion of the process is involved in bringing about the heavens and the earth.  The focus of God’s effort to produce this planet with men and women took the whole creative process.  Everything God did was aimed at this one result – that Man would walk the earth with Him.

Step back just a moment and consider what this means.  Whether you believe in the Big Bang or any other cosmological explanation of what is, Scripture tells us that it was all necessary to bring about God’s intended purpose – you!  From the very instant God spoke ye-hi or (Let be light), everything was aimed at this goal.  The span of time of the creative process, no matter how long, brought about a place where Man and God could be in fellowship.  You are the object of His concern! How valuable are you to God?  The creation of the entire universe happened just so that you could walk with Him!  That’s how valuable you are to God.

Maybe today you’re not feeling so great.  Maybe you think that you don’t amount to much.  Maybe you’re feeling worthless, hopeless or condemned.  Look up at the heavens.  Consider the entire universe.  Let God’s handiwork fill your mind – and then remember that He went to all that trouble just so you could be here today.  The picture that the Bible paints of God’s creative energy has a purpose.  That purpose is to let you know that God did all of this in order to enjoy your company.  If God thinks you are so valuable that He is willing to create the entire universe just to share it with you, then why let anything else get you down?

Today is a great day to live according to God’s point of view.  You matter – infinitely!  If He is for you, who can be against you.  Get up and go.  The universe is waiting to see its purposes fulfilled in you.

Topical Index:  creation, six days, value, Exodus 20:11

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , ,  | 4 Comments
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