Walking Buddies

8   But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

9  These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.

I'm pondering this morning what it meant that Noah "found favor" in God's eyes.  As God observed Noah's life, He (the LORD, Jehovah) approved.  Why?

There was no Holy Spirit dwelling in the hearts of believers, as happened after Jesus Christ's finished work.
There was no Old Testament Law.

But, somehow, Noah knew God and, here's the secret . . . he walked with Him.  He knew God deeply BECAUSE he walked with Him.

Through that relationship Noah's faith was exercised to the point that he was able to endure hundreds of years of scorn from his fellows, while he trusted God's word and built "the boat to nowhere".

I used to have a walking buddy.  She and I would meet at a local park and walk a couple of miles and talk about all sorts of things.  We shared our lives together in this way.  Since then, her health has prevented us from walking together, but over the miles we became fast friends.  That friendship endures to this day.

When you walk with someone, either physically or relationally, you share your life with that person.  When you do that, you become closer to them.

With whom do you walk?  With whom should you walk?  Today, many of us wear these little devices that count our steps.  We are obsessed that we get the required number of physical steps each day.  I submit to you that it is much more important with WHOM we walk!

If you study the Scriptures, the spiritual giants of faith treasured their walks with God.  God commends them for how these men and women drew close to Him - - and not just to ask Him for things like "oh lord, please protect my children from harm", etc.  That is Genie God interaction, not true fellowship with the LORD.

Walking with God is costly, because it demands you NOT walk other paths which can be extremely beguiling, that you NOT spend your time in pursuits that are anti-faith, anti-God.

Making good spiritual choices as described above is a mark of spiritual maturity.  The ability to do so grows out of a faith relationship with the Savior.  Being "blameless" like Noah is not about creating your own self-righteousness, though.  Noah was righteous and blameless because he walked with God.

Noah's was a different day, although the principle is today the same.

Today, righteousness is only the gift of God through faith in Jesus Christ, a relationship with the only Savior.  (Ephesians 2:8-9)  The Bible says that there is only one name given to man through which we can be given God's righteousness, and that is the name of Jesus.  Salvation exists in no one else and in no institution, such as a mega Church that offers to confer salvation through membership. (Acts 4:12). Accepting Jesus Christ as Savior clothes the believer in God's righteousness and initiates the eternal, spiritual walk with God.  Each believer is given a welcome gift at the moment of salvation, that being God's Holy Spirit, who takes up residence in each believer's heart.

The old hymn "In the Garden" puts it so well - -
"And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own.
And, the joy we share as we tarry there...none other has ever known."1

Oh, there are so many distractions!  Let's not allow them to interrupt our "walking time" with God today!  Put Him at the front of the line, and walk with Him before you walk with anyone else.

Source:

1    https://www.google.com/search?q=in+the+garden+lyrics&oq=In+the+Garden&aqs=chrome.1.0l6.6545j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

The Tree of Life

There is a school of thought that says any illness of the body can be healed with what God has provided in the earth.  In other words, God has given us everything we need to foster and maintain our health.  Proper nutrition, for example, is key to creating and maintaining excellent health.  When something begins to go awry in the body, search for a food or a mineral to heal it.
To a certain extent, I agree with that philosophy although, if it were to be perfectly practiced, we could all live in these physical bodies forever, right?

It appears from Scripture, however, that a marvelous example of this existed in the Garden of Eden.  Today's text is Genesis 3:22-24 (ESV).

22Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

In order to better understand these verses, we need to remind ourselves that God had told Adam and Eve that they were permitted to eat of all the trees of the Garden, except for the fateful Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  This would include the Tree of Life.

15The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat^d of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 2:15-17 (ESV)

My earlier memories of sermons/teaching on Genesis 2 and 3 tell me that Adam and Eve never ate of the Tree of Life.  However, this would not seem to be the case, after careful examination of these verses.  Prior to the Fall, Adam and Eve were permitted to eat of all the plants and trees in the Garden, but for the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Some commentators have postulated that they did indeed eat from the Tree of Life and that this nourishment is what gave them such excellent health that they could have lived forever in that perfect, sinless state.  What an amazing, efficacious tree it must be!  (This legendary tree still exists today, but we'll get to that later.)

Who is speaking in Genesis 3:22?  The Triune God are speaking with each other, but it appears that the second Person of the Trinity is speaking, that being Jesus Christ.  Jesus existed as a Person of the Trinity as long as God has been God, which is forever.  So has the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, existed.  You cannot have "God" without having all three Persons, eternally existing, no beginning and no end.
So, likely Jesus is speaking, because anytime God reveals Himself to men on earth, it is through the Person of Jesus Christ, whether in His pre-incarnate state or during His time in a human body on earth (during His earthly ministry) or afterwards when He appeared to John on Patmos, for example.

Now, it appears that, for all of the wonders of Eden, and despite Man's sinless state, Adam and Eve did not know the full extent of good and evil until they ate from the one forbidden tree.  All they knew was that they were to obey God's command to avoid that tree.  After they ate, sin and death entered into them and the separation from God began.

Prior to this act, Adam and Eve lived in Heaven on Earth.  God had made His dwelling place with Man, on Earth.  Eden was "heaven come down".  God, in the person of pre-incarnate Christ, frequently spent time with Adam and Eve in that place.

The prohibition concerning the Tree of Life was for some very good reasons.
1.  Had they continued to eat of that fruit, they would have continued forever in their sinful state, unredeemed, separated from God.  Yes, their bodies and souls would have continued to live forever, but they also would have been forever condemned.
2.  Continuing to eat from the Tree of Life would have been a way contrary to God's way of redemption.  Man has long wanted to experience redemption, but only on his own terms.  Whether through making idols of his own imagining, doing good works to obtain holiness, self-abasement or physical injury in the name of religion (walking across hot coals, etc.) - - the list could go on. 

“He who seeks for righteousness and life by his own doings, runs upon the flaming sword of justice; and whilst endeavoring to insure his own salvation, he is pulling ruin upon himself.”
John Gill

Accordingly, because the Tree of Life had been useful to Adam for sustaining physical life prior to the Fall, it would have naturally occurred to him to look to the Tree to sustain his physical life after.
However, . . .
God's way was different.  God decreed that His way to redemption would be the only way, and in mercy, therefore, God prevented Adam from seeking redemption through any created (even a previously acceptable) means.  The Fall changed everything.  To keep Adam and Eve from committing that evil, He mercifully blocked the way to the Tree and even to the entire Garden itself.  The Garden of Eden could no longer be what it had formerly been - - a place for man and God to commune face-to-face.

Where is the Garden of Eden now, you may ask?  Where is the Tree of Life now?  Does it yet exist?

Consider for a moment that Jesus Christ was crucified on a tree, a cross made of wooden beams.  This was no accident or mere coincidence.  He is our Tree of Life, God's only way of redemption and salvation, provided to mankind (John 14:6).  So, spiritually, HE is our Tree of Life.  However, the Tree of Life itself is mentioned other places in scripture.

We find it mentioned again in the Book of Revelation.  It seems that, when Eden became closed to mankind, God removed that place to Heaven, for it is there we again find the Tree of Life.

7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

Revelation 2:7 (ESV)

14Blessed are those who wash their robes,^c so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

Revelation 22:14 (ESV)

Those who have entered into eternal Life through Jesus Christ, God's only "Way, Truth and Life" (John 14:6), have had their sins forever crucified on the cross with Jesus, crucified on that "tree" (Galatians 2:20).  Putting our faith in Jesus Christ as our only hope of salvation is the act of "washing our robes".  Only He can impart grace, the eternal banishment of sin, complete imputation of God's righteousness.  As the apostles Peter and John said, in the days of the early Church, as they were being examined by the Sanhedrin - - - 

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved. 

Acts 4:12 (NET)

And, as such, as His Beloved, we will see that primeval Tree of Life again, on that day when we see our Savior face-to-face, in Heaven.  

Well, I know we have spent a lot of time in the first three chapters of Genesis (19 posts!).  I've become more and more convinced of the power and necessity of this book.  It is a book on which hinges the remainder of the Bible.  Discredit and disregard this book, and you have gutted the rest of God's holy Word.  Thanks for taking this journey through Genesis with me.  Next post: we begin chapter 4.

Source:

http://www.donfortner.com/sermon_notes/01_genesis/gen%2003v22-24%20The%20Man%20is%20Become%20as%20One%20of%20Us%201885.htm

A King's Ransom

When we left Ruth, she was sitting still, waiting on word from Boaz (her hopeful go'el - - Hebrew for kinsman-redeemer), waiting on God.  Today's text is Ruth 4.

The climax of the Ruth story is full of suspense.
In verse 1 Boaz goes to where he knows he will encounter the closer kinsman than he, that place being the city gates.  Once he sees that person, he invites him to have a chat.  Boaz then goes on to convene a group of 10 witnesses, godly Jewish men whom he knows, to listen in on the conversation.

Now, let's stop for a moment.
As I've mentioned in previous posts, Boaz is in this historical account a "type" (forerunner, representative) of Jesus Christ.  Ruth is a "type" of the Church, the Bride of Christ.  So, who, then, would the other characters in the story represent?
Some theologians believe the "other, nearer kinsman" represents the sin nature.1  Others believe he represents satan, from whom Jesus took the keys of Hell and Death, after His death and before His resurrection.  The latter group believes this entire transaction is a forerunner of what Jesus did when His spirit descended to Hell during those three days his body was in the grave (1 Peter 3:18-20).

Most agree the 10 witnesses were chosen to overhear so that no one could come back later and claim the transaction was false or flawed (4:9).  The Hebrew word for a group of this type was "minyan", a group which settled legal disputes.  Some think that the number 10 represents the 10 Commandments, or the Law, which has no ability to bring salvation, since "there is salvation in none other" than Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).  This is pictured by Boaz telling both the nearer kinsman and the 10 witnesses to "sit down" in verses 1 and 2. 
In verses 11-12 the witnesses prophesy over Boaz and Ruth, after the deal was done.  Similarly, the Law points to Jesus Christ, finding its fulfillment in Him.  The utter following of the OT Law, the Torah, in this story, this obedience - - how beautifully it points to and foreshadows the ultimate Love Story of the Bible, that love story between the final Kinsman-Redeemer and His Beloved, His Church.

Ok, back to the story:
At first, the nearer kinsman wants to BE that guy, to redeem Ruth.  And, we're thinking, "No, no!  This is NOT how we want the story to go!"  You know, like when you read a great book and it looks like the hero is not going to triumph, to win, right?  But then, we see the the nearer relative is not willing to make the sacrifice that Boaz is willing to make.  And, indeed, satan would never had died for us, even if he could've.  His "love" for us is a complete counterfeit.  In stark contrast, Jesus' love for us is perfect.

Don't miss this:
Ruth was married to Mahlon for 10 years, and yet was childless.  Stop to grasp the significance of that.  Boaz was willing to marry Ruth, suspecting full well that their union might not produce an heir.  There is no record that Boaz had any other wives (i.e. heirs either).  So, he was willing to sacrifice his (genealogical) "all" to redeem Ruth.  Not many men of that day would have done the same, since "carrying on the family name" was paramount, a huge deal.
Boaz recognized that Ruth was a "hidden treasure" of Matthew 13:44 (ESV) - - - and the price he paid for her was dear, a king's ransom, you might say.

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Jesus made His supreme sacrifice for all mankind, knowing that not all would receive it, or Him.  No other Savior.  Hallelujah!

18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors,19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

22Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.^b 23For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

1 Peter 1:18-23 (NIV)

Oh praise God, Who, in His divine providence, opened Ruth's womb.  She did indeed bear children to Boaz.  One of them, the first, was Obed, whose name means "servant".2

A precious and utterly amazing ending of the story is the snippet of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, given in 4:12, 18-22, and the character, Perez.  In the next post, our last Ruth post, we will take a look at that.

Sources:

1    http://www.oudesporen.nl/Download/OS2040.pdf

2    http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Spring_Holidays/Shavuot/Ruth/ruth.html

An American Celebration

20Daniel said,

         “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever,

         For wisdom and power belong to Him.

21“It is He who changes the times and the epochs;

         He removes kings and establishes kings;

         He gives wisdom to wise men

         And knowledge to men of understanding.

22“It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things;

         He knows what is in the darkness,

         And the light dwells with Him.

Daniel 2:20-22

I don't know what you have planned today, but I plan to spend part of this God-given day of life to watch the inauguration of the 45th president of the United States.  It will be the first one I have ever had the privilege of watching live.  Why?  I was working full-time during the preceding presidents' inaugural events.

I won't be watching because I am a huge fan of our new president.  He was not my first, second or even third choice in the Republican presidential primary.  Mr. Trump won't be a "perfect president", nor do I expect him to be. The best I can say about today's change of power is that I am "cautiously optimistic".

Instead, I will be watching and celebrating because I am a huge fan of The American Experiment1, as some (most notably Alexis de Toqueville) have called our country.  I believe that the founding principles which made this nation the foremost nation of the world are timeless and God-given. Indeed, if you closely examine the major components of our American legal system you will find parallel after parallel to the Hebrew Law in the Old Testament, even though over the last 75 years "Progressives" have governed us away from that bedrock foundation.

I'm also a huge fan of God, whom I believe to have ordained the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency.  This sovereign act on God's part does not guarantee approval of the man or even that Trump was the best candidate running.  It merely affirms that God works His sovereign will among us and that He answers prayer.

While writing this post (true confession!) I have the TV on.  Rev. Franklin Graham just walked down the steps to the viewing area where he will be sitting during the swearing in ceremony.  In 2016, this man held non-partisan prayer rallies on the steps of the Capitol buildings of every, single one of the 50 United States.  He advocated a return to the Judeo-Christian principles on which this country was founded.

I was one among many millions of Christians praying fervently regarding the outcome of this election and, even though Mr. Trump was not my candidate of choice, I do believe that God heard those many millions of prayers and answered.  Certainly, Mr. Trump was not the answer all of us Americans wanted, but this was His answer nonetheless.

It is imperative that, as Christians, we avoid the temptation to put our trust in a man (or woman), whomever is elected.  It is our civic responsibility and our Christian duty to plunge in and get involved in local, state and national politics.  Yes, it is a nasty business much of the time; but, to do otherwise is to shirk our responsibility and to revile this magnificent gift of American government our God has given to us.  No, this pursuit, this passionate involvement, should never eclipse or take the place of spreading the gospel.  Never!  Likewise, we should not "fall for" the specious argument that "God and politics don't mix".  VP Pence said it well when he declared (and I paraphrase) "God first. Family Second. Country third."

Our trust is in God, who gave us eternal life through Jesus Christ the one and only Savior. (Acts 4:12) Our confidence is in Him, the only wise God, who left Heaven to live among us and who died to redeem us from the slavery of our sin.  Our trust is in the Lord of Angel Armies (El Shabbaot) who ordained the founding of America and who will continue to use her in the progression of His divine plan for this fallen world.

We must continue to pray and work, for the spread of the gospel "from sea to shining sea" and around the world.  We must pray for a Holy Ghost revival in our country which, at present, appears to be drifting more and more into an ungodly mess. (May righteousness fall down like rain!)  We must continue to engage our often godless worldly culture with a love that is grounded in truth and in timeless principles - - - principles of faith, holy living and sound government.  We must do this in the face of unpopularity, even as we find ourselves increasingly in the minority in America. Finally, today, we must celebrate this peaceful transition of governmental power as a good thing - - - as the outgoing leader of the free world affirms and blesses by his presence the incoming leader of the free world.

Here's a bit of patriotic musical inspiration!
https://youtu.be/ruojMCl_DKg

God bless America!

Sources:

1     https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101018151322AARUkzf