Are You Avoiding the Prophets?

Are You Avoiding the Prophets?

by | Jan 31, 2016 | Bible Study

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The question asked in the title of this post turns on BibleGateway.com’s  year-end analysis of the most popular verses and chapters among the site’s 160 million plus visitors during 2015. 

​The list of most visited verses was of itself perhaps not very surprising  (the top five verses were John 3:16, Jeremiah 29:11, Philippians 4:13, Romans 8:28 and Psalm 23:4). More illuminating is the chapter by chapter graphic produced by BibleGateway showing exactly which Bible chapters saw the most search traffic.

That chapter by chapter chart showed clear visitor focus on the  Gospels and Epistles, on Genesis, Exodus, Psalms and Proverbs. But even though the numbers show a much greater focus on New Testament books compared to those of the Old Testament, there were some noticeably neglected areas within the Old Testament itself.

As BibleGateway’s Andy Rau wrote in a recent Christianity Today article (which you can read here): “There’s a particularly noticeable engagement gap regarding the books of the Old Testament prophets, whose words and actions are connected to specific (and lesser-known) moments in the history of Israel.”

This apparent neglect of prophetic writings is also reflected in the fact that the Book of Revelation appears to be BibleGateway’s least visited book  (or certainly one of them) in the New Testament.  

Why would the Bible’s prophetic writings be relatively neglected by millions of Christians in this way? The answers are probably complex.  Certainly many find the symbolism and verbal imagery utilized by some of the prophets to be somewhat daunting and difficult to understand.  Prophecy can seem like an almost alien literary genre for those unused to reading the Bible, and many shy away from the prophetic books for that reason alone.  In other cases people have been “burned” by unsuccessful modern interpretations of prophecies and by the commonly perceived “wild eyed and mystical” nature of the prophets themselves.

Yet despite whatever reasons people may have for avoiding them, the prophetic books of the Bible are unquestionably worth the investment of the modern Christian’s study time.  The Hebrew prophet or Nabi was not just a deliverer of oracles of impending or distant events – the prophet was primarily a spokesperson for God who delivered many kinds of messages. Think about just three types of messages found in the prophetic  books that you may not have considered as much as you might:

1) The prophets are the unequaled commentators on social justice in the ancient world.  A great deal of what many of the prophets have to say is regarding social problems of their day that are just as real in ours.  Read Amos 5:7-24 for just one example.

2) The Old Testament prophets speak constantly to God’s covenant relation with ancient Israel.  The prophets were the spiritual “marriage counselors” addressing problems of  the divine husband-wife community of that covenant.  Their inspired advice is often just as relevant  to  our relationship with God today, even if the details may be different. And yes, some of what the prophets say is good marriage advice on the human marriage relation level too (Malachi 2:14-16). 

3) Not all prophecies are of doom and gloom!  Many prophecies speak of restoration and renewal of the human relationship with God (see Isaiah 60, for example), and these find their apex in the many predictions of the promised Messiah.  Just reading all the Old Testament messianic prophecies can be tremendously illuminating and  faith strengthening.  If you have never hunted down these prophesies in the Old Testament, at least work backwards by reading the New Testament  and checking the scripture cross references or notes of your Bible (use a version on BibleGateway if your Bible doesn’t have them). Whenever you come to words regarding the Messiah in quotes, read the cross referenced passages in context, looking at the section of Scripture in which they appear.  You may be surprised  how much more the prophets say regarding Christ that did not find its way into the New Testament quotations.

These points are not meant to diminish the lasting value of other things found within the prophetic writings – including even the darkest oracles delivered against people and cities long disappeared. We understand that all Scripture was inspired and is of value (2 Timothy 3:16-17), but we don’t always read the Bible keeping that in mind. 

If you are new to reading the prophets, try starting  with one of the minor prophetic books – ideally Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. Take a look at the article “Malachi: A Story of Love and Legal Proceedings” on our sister site here, then try reading Malachi and judging how much of value you found within the book.  Or take a look at the Jonah story from a new angle by reading our article “A Tale of Two Prophets” here, then read Jonah and Nahum.

If you have read the prophets before, but have neglected reading them recently, give them another try.  Setting up specific goals for study – such as looking for the three points mentioned above – can help demonstrate just how much of value there is in these amazing books.
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In the Christianity Today article we mentioned earlier, Andy Rau urged BibleGateway  visitors to give the prophetic books some time this year. We agree.  It’s invariably an investment of time that is amply rewarded.   In fact, if you read them, you may wish you hadn’t avoided them as long as you did.

Seeing the Image of God

Seeing the Image of God

by | Jan 24, 2016 | God, Relationships

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“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them …” (Genesis 1:27).

In a world conditioned by perfectionist ideas of physical beauty, we can perhaps see the idea of  perfection in the gods portrayed in classical  Greek statues and other works of human imagination, but it is not as easy to see the image of God in actual flawed and broken human beings. 

Yet, as Christians we know that  every human is made in the image of God – not just the more physically perfect ones (Genesis 1:26-27, 9:6).   In fact, the Scriptures suggest God himself was purposely shaped in imperfect form as a human:  “… He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,  nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:21), and that description certainly fits the Jesus of the Gospels who was not easily recognized and who slipped through crowds unnoticed (Luke 4:30, John 10:39). Religious art and movie casting notwithstanding, the second century writer Celsus may even preserve a tradition that Jesus was short and not attractive.

In any event, Christ’s evident compassion for the physically flawed and broken of this world, as well as the spiritually broken (Mark 1:40-45, etc.), perfectly illustrates the attitude of seeing every person as an image of God  despite outer appearances. But in addition to the  compassion and true acceptance we must have for those the world considers physically unattractive or undesirable for whatever reason, there is perhaps a second and less obvious way in which we can apply the principle that we are all made in the appearance of God.

The Book of Genesis tells us the story of how the patriarch Jacob cheated his brother out of his inheritance and how, after a length of time, the two brothers met again. The biblical account states: “Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men” (Genesis 33:1).  Think about this situation.  Jacob knew what he deserved from his brother and here was Esau, with a large fighting force, coming directly toward him.  Jacob probably didn’t expect Esau to be at all friendly at this point, let alone brotherly.  

We might well ask ourselves how we would have met Esau in that situation – with justification for our own actions, with mistrust of Esau, with fear?  Humanly, it is easy to demonize not only our enemies, but also those we mistrust and are afraid of. We see their worst points and use those things to justify our own actions and thoughts. But notice what Jacob told Esau as soon as he realized he could speak safely with his brother: “To see your face is like seeing the face of God” (Genesis 33:10). 

These amazing words show us clearly that Jacob was able to look past his own fear and mistrust and to see his brother as he should – as someone made in the image of God – just as Esau, as it turned out, was willing to see him.  In that instance, such an attitude, such a viewpoint, avoided revenge and possible mayhem involving hundreds of people. 

​In our own lives this attitude can help us just as much in our own one-on-one relationships. If we, too, can learn to see even those we mistrust or fear  as potentially bearing the image of God, no matter how their behavior may work against that identification, we are growing toward that image of God ourselves.

What Is the Rock the Church is Built upon?

What Is the Rock the Church is Built upon?

by | Jan 17, 2016 | Difficult Scriptures

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Scripture in Focus: “ And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18).  
 
There are two traditional answers to the question of who or what was the rock Christ referred to in Matthew 16:18.  Some Christians believe that Jesus was speaking to Peter, and so Peter is the rock the church would be built upon.  Other Christians believe that because the Greek word for the “rock” the Church would be built upon is petra – a “large rock” or “foundation” – and Peter’s name was petros, meaning a small rock or pebble in Greek – Christ could hardly have been speaking of Peter and must have been speaking of himself when he said “on this rock ….” (see Ephesians 2:20, etc.).

But there is another possibility which perhaps fits the context of this verse better than either of these two options, and which may be closer to the true meaning of Jesus’ words.  When we look at the context of Christ’s saying, we find it was part of a larger conversation he was having with Peter:

… Jesus … asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”  Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”   Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.  And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”  Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah (Matthew 16:13-20).

The conversation begins and ends with the concept of Christ’s identity – Jesus first asks his disciples who people thought he was, and who they thought he was, then, after discussing the answers they gave, he closes the discussion by telling his disciples not to tell people who he was. When we keep this clear context of the conversation in mind, we see the subject of the whole exchange was “Who is Jesus?”

The crux of the conversation occurs when Peter volunteers “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), and it is then that Jesus confirms this assessment with an exclamation that can be summarized as “exactly!”  Jesus then told Peter that this was the “rock” or “foundation” – we might say “foundational truth” – on which his Church would be built:  the fact that he was the promised Messiah, the one through whom salvation would come.

Jesus also continued with another thought about binding and loosing, probably meaning that his Church would have the power to interpret the laws of the Bible in a manner similar to the “binding’ and “loosing” power the rabbis of that age exercised to permit or forbid things (to interpret the Scriptures rather than to make new laws or annul old ones). But the fact that the focus of this statement was not entirely Peter is clear in the fact that later, addressing all the disciples, Jesus repeated the same words, “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18).
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Whatever the exact nature of the “keys of the kingdom of heaven” and the “binding and loosing” was, Jesus returned to the subject of their discussion and closed the conversation by stressing that although he was indeed the Messiah – a fact that would form the basis of his Church – the disciples were not to reveal that truth until the time was right.   

A New World Watch List

A New World Watch List

by | Jan 14, 2016 | Persecution, The Church & the World

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Yesterday,  Open Doors, the Christian aid organization serving the persecuted Church, published its updated “World Watch List” ranking the top 50 persecuting countries in the world.  The Watch List is an excellent resource for churches and individuals to see where the most intense needs currently are and summarizing the situation regarding the persecution of believers around the globe.

The list is an important, though sobering publication. The fact that there are a top fifty persecuting nations to list is saddening enough, and the top listed nations among the fifty are guilty of persecution in the extreme.  Perhaps not surprisingly, North Korea maintains its top-persecuting rank, and Iraq and the African nation of Eritrea now take second and third place, respectively. 

The report does not just rank the most persecuting nations, however – it shows where there has been an increase or decrease in a given nation’s ranking, and provides other useful information. For example, although most people are aware of the incredible level of persecution being inflicted on Christian populations by Islamic extremists, the report helpfully indicates other aspects of this situation that we might not be aware of – such as the fact that  as  legitimate governments became more fearful of burgeoning Islamic extremism, they themselves are often responding by either boosting nationalism as a counterforce or tightening regulations and increasing surveillance over all religious expression.

There are some glimmers of hope. Some few countries have been downranked – such as Syria, which is down from 4th to 5th place, and Somalia, which is down from 3rd to 7th place – but in a number of these cases the downgrading is a result of the mass exodus of Christians rather than any improvement in conditions.  At least one country – Mauritania – has been removed from the list, but it has simply been replaced by another country where persecution is growing.   

Overall, the picture painted by the new World Watch list is one of growing severe and extreme persecution, and Open Doors is to be thanked for the work they put into carefully monitoring and documenting the escalating situation. The list is itself a powerful weapon in raising awareness and enabling informed reaction to the problem of intensifying worldwide persecution, and we would highly recommend it to every believer.  The Watch List can be freely download from the Open Doors website here , and  we urge you to familiarize yourself with the list and to use it for prayer and action on behalf of the millions of persecuted believers around the world.

*You can read an interview with David Curry, President and CEO of Open Doors, on our sister site, LivingWithFaith.org, here. 

Alternative History

Alternative History

by | Jan 10, 2016 | Discipleship

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​“God, who … calls those things which do not exist as though they did” (Romans 4:17  NKJV).

​In his Hugo Award winning science fiction novel, The Man in the High Castle,  Philip K. Dick created a “what if” world showing what the United States might have become if the assassination of President Roosevelt had occurred, and this event had eventually led to the American loss of  World War II and the United States being taken over by Germany and Japan. 

Although the author of this novel was apparently a somewhat unorthodox believer, it is clear that he was interested in the Bible and knew many of its characters and stories.  This is interesting because at its heart, the kind of “alternative history” genre that The Man in the High Castle pioneered is, in a sense, based on a profoundly biblical idea. In the Bible we see many examples of God comparing what might have been with what actually was – often well in advance of the events which triggered alternative histories. Even from the beginning we find the Genesis narrative giving two possible events based on obedience and disobedience to God – and their subsequent very different outcomes (Genesis 2:16-17).  

When God was about to lead the people of Israel into the land he had promised them, he also presented them with two possible histories: one based on obedience and one on disobedience – two divergent histories of blessings and curses:

“See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient … you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess” (Deuteronomy 30:15-18).

In the same way, we find the prophets of God continually reminding Israel of the history they had given up in favor of the history of rebellion, defeat and punishment they had chosen (Jeremiah 17:5-8, 21:8-10, etc.). The story has continued throughout history as we know it, of course.  Left to ourselves, we humans have usually chosen the wrong path and made history what it is. Yet the word of God shows a carefully prepared and executed plan which made possible a switch from the disastrous history humans have chosen to one which will eventually bring them a far better reality (Revelation 21:1-7).  

In The Man in the High Castle, a single event – the assassination of the American president – led to a different history.  The alternative histories of what is now and what God plans for humanity are also affected by individual events. The story of Eden in Genesis  tells us of the first defining event for human history which created one outcome, but the stories of the birth, temptation, and sacrificial death of Christ told in the four Gospels show other defining events which have made possible a truly alternative history.

When we understand this, we come to see something about our own lives:  we too have the opportunity to construct alternate history.  Every time we choose to either turn away from wrong or to embrace it, to do good or not to do good, we construct an alternative reality.  We make our own part of history – and that of those around us –  better or worse.  In this sense, we have the God-given ability to create our own story, to choose our own history,  to make history different for ourselves and for others in our every word and every deed. 
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What alternate history will you make this year?