A Bird's-eye View of the Bible - The theme of humiliation and why Jesus underwent humiliation for our sakes

Introduction:

    In our last post on our series "Bird's Eye View of the Bible", we looked at four reasons why Jesus, the Son of God, came to become also truly man for us: 

1. To provide righteousness by His 

    perfect obedience.

2. To provide redemption by His death 

    on the cross.

3. To raise from the dead.

4. To ascend and inaugurate His royal 

    reign in Heaven. 

    For anyone wanting to review the last post for this series, simply click here: http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/05/birds-eye-view-of-bible-why-incarnation.html

     The point of this series is to explore the Bible through major themes. As to our study through the New Testament, we've looked at what we identified as the first major theme of the New Testament: "incarnation". Today we continue onto a theme which describes what it was that the Son experienced in His descent from Heaven to Earth - "humiliation". 

        I'm sure none of us want humiliation. We all prefer people to like us. Almost everyone I know, including myself, avoids humiliation in preference to having a better view of themselves or having others look at them in a positive way. Yet, whenever we observe what Jesus did for us by humbling Himself, as truly God, to also be a true human 

being, what He did was humiliating. 

     Why did Holy God lower Himself not only to experience life as a man, but to live a human life in a sinful world that would mock Him, doubt Him and crucify Him? The journey of the Son of God from the glories of Heaven to the sinfulness of this world is worth a closer look. Let's consider some reasons for Jesus' humiliation, or, why He as God came to be man.

1. The humiliation of the Son of God 

    tells us how much He humbled 

    Himself to be our Savior.

    

       Philippians 2:5-11 is the key Bible chapter we look to when understanding the journey Jesus took in coming to be a true man while still remaining God. We call this journey of the incarnation the Son's "humiliation". The above depiction of this journey of "humiliation" was first viewed by me in the ESV Study Bible years ago. Other authors and Study Bibles have used similar illustrations to aid in grasping this overall experience of the Son of God from "humiliation" to what will be a later theme to explore in this study, namely "exaltation". 

        Philippians 2:5-6 tells us, in summary, that Jesus did not consider being equal with the Father as a privilege He ought to keep hold of in a selfish way, but instead, He humbled himself, being found as a man, as a lowly servant. In other words, the eternal Son willingly came to be the man, Jesus Christ, still remained truly God while withholding from Himself the advantages that come with being also God. A case in point is when Jesus states in Matthew 24:36 that no one knows the day nor the hour of His return - including Himself. If we understand that Jesus is speaking with reference to His own self-imposed limitation of access to that area of His omniscience as a man, we then can grasp how it was He yielded Himself to the Father's will (recalling all the while He never ceased being omniscient as truly God).

      Anytime someone lowers themselves to give help to those in need, we describe such an act as being "humble". I recall once seeing the pastor of a rather large church grabbing a mop to clean up a spill left by a child. The Pastor could had asked one of his assistants or a church member to do the mopping. Instead, the Pastor rolled up his sleeves and got the job done. He didn't stop being the Pastor of that church. In fact, he then went in to preach a great sermon before a crowd of many. Our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world saying these words: "I have come to do your will, God, as it is recorded of me in the Book" (Hebrews 10:4-5).

2. Jesus humbled Himself to be our  

    example.

       We read of Jesus humiliation once again in Philippians 2:7 - "but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men." Why did Jesus come to be a human being like you and me? Jesus came not only to save us from our sins, but also to restore back our humanity that was greatly harmed by our sins. Jesus is our example of what it looks like whenever any follower of His trusts God in faith, obedience and courage to the end. We read in 1 John 2:6 - "the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked." Elsewhere, the Apostle Peter reminds us that Jesus came as a sinless man to serve as our example, so that we could walk in the way he followed after God (1 Peter 2:21-22). The amazing truth about Jesus humbling Himself to experience what it was like to be a man was that He did so willingly (Hebrews 10:4-5).

3. Jesus humbled himself to be a 

    man to represent sinners on the 

    cross.

    

     When Jesus died on the cross, a number of results were acheived, among them: 

A. Removal of the curse.

B. Forgiveness of sins.

C. Reconciliation or bringing sinners to 

    God.

       Whenever Jesus came into this world, the experience of living life as a man would had more than demonstrated His humility. If all that was needed for Jesus to forgive sin was the bleeding of His blood, then He could had come on a weekend, pricked His finger with a needle, and went back to Heaven. The problem would had been of course that the curse of sin would still had remained, meaning no provision of salvation. Jesus' humbling of Himself as a man included going to the cross, since scripture tells us that His dying on the cross meant taking away the curse of sin (Deuteronomy 21:33; Galatians 3:10-13).

4. Jesus humbled Himself to become the second Adam to give access to the benefits of salvation.

  

     We have looked in past lessons at how the original Adam represented all human beings in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve sinned, it resulted in all human beings being judged as sinners (see Romans 5:12-21). Jesus' humbling of himself to become a man functioned as a second type of Adam, a new Adam.  He lived such a perfect life as to fulfill the original covenant of works broken by the first Adam which we saw at the beginning of this study (see Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 15:45-47). The original Adam brought about death and a curse on all human beings. Jesus came to be cursed on the cross and make forgiveness available to all who receive Him by faith (Gal. 3:10-13). 

        We can also see how the cross resulted in providing forgiveness of sins. He provided the right to be with God due to Himself being the perfect man, meaning, all humans who trust in Him by faith inherit salvation on forgiveness of sins (Romans 3:25-26). We understand from the Old Testament that only God can forgive sins (that is, grant salvation to all who trust in Him, Isaiah 43:10; Jonah 3:9). For God to forgive sinners, there must be payment given to God by the giving of an innocent life on behalf of the sinner. We've talked about this in a past lesson, calling Jesus' payment to provide forgiveness of sins "redemption". 

       Lastly, Jesus' humiliation on the cross meant that the ability for God and believing sinners to be together could really take place (1 Peter 3:18). One of the descriptions the New Testament gives of everyone born into this world is that they are "lost", meaning they are separated from God and His enemies (Ephesians 2:1-3, 12). The moment we trust in Jesus results in us being brought into a relationship with God - or what the Bible calls, "reconciled" (2 Corinthians 5:15-20).

       Jesus certainly went through a lot of stuff to accomplish our salvation. Thankfully, there is more beyond the state of humiliation, which is what we will look at in the next theme.

Bird's-eye view of Bible - Why the incarnation is important for you today - Jesus raised from the dead, ascended into Heaven and is coming again

Introduction:

        Whenever we come to the New Testament, we see the following truths about God:

1. God is One God and three "Who's", a Unity of Deity in Three Persons - i.e. a "Trinity". Each "Who" or "Person" of the Trinity is truly God and identified as Father, Son and Spirit. 

2. The doctrine of the Trinity is composed of three main truths: 

a. God is "One God", who is first revealed as "the Father" in the redemptive work of God to Israel. 
    
b. Second, the Son, revealing Himself in the flesh as the historical Jesus, is the decisive revelation of God in history who, as truly God, came to be truly man for us. Jesus' miraculous birth, fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, miracles, substitutionary death, resurrection from the dead and ascension all affirm Him as truly God, equal with the Father and Holy Spirit. As we read Jesus' self-described Divine actions, titles and abilities, as well as His claims of being "One" with the Father, we see the Deity of Christ as the second great truth comprising the Trinity. 

c. The third truth comprising the doctrine of the Trinity is that of the 
Personality of the Spirit, who is also truly God as much as the Son and the Father with the same perfections that come with being God.

      I mention the above truths recorded in the New Testament so as to understand how Jesus' incarnation is situated within the Biblical doctrine of God generally and revelation of the Son specifically. The incarnation of the Son of God was discussed in a prior post in this series that I wrote a number of weeks of go and is found in the link here: http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/04/birds-eye-view-of-bible-why-incarnation.html    

What is meant by "incarnation".

      To understand what is meant by the term "incarnation", we can look at the introduction or "Prologue" to John's Gospel. John 1:1 begins by distinguishing the Person of the Son (called by the title "The Word") dwelling in eternity with the Father (called by the general title of deity: "God") as seen in the first part of the verse: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God". Next we see the Word distinguished from another Divine Person whom we know is the Father but is called "God": "and the Word was with God". 

       When we go down to John 1:14, we discover that the Word (that is, the Divine Person of the Son) entered into our world to live life as a man: "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." The eternal Word or Son came to be "incarnated" or "in the flesh". Put another way, the Son, having always existed as truly God, came to express Himself a second way by becoming truly man, while still remaining truly God. 

Why the incarnation of the Son of God?

       Having defined the event of Christ's incarnation, we are reminded of two reasons why the Son of God came to be man that we looked at in the prior post of this particular series (see the link above). 

      The first reason why the incarnation is so important was for Jesus to provide righteousness (that is, so that God could count those who receive Jesus by faith as right with Him). The second reason for the incarnation was so that Son of God could, by His death on the cross, redeem us for the forgiveness of sins (John 3:16; 1 John 4:10; 1 Peter 3:18). What follows are two other reasons why the incarnation of the Son of God is vital for our understanding today. 

The third reason the incarnation is important is so that Jesus could raise from the dead.

                What if Jesus had remained dead after his death on the cross? If Jesus had remained in His tomb, then everything we just said about His incarnation would mean nothing. Jesus' resurrection from the dead proved that all He achieved worked in living His perfect human life and death for sinners. 

       Jesus' resurrection could only take place if He first died on the cross. In order for Jesus to qualify as the perfect sacrifice for sinners on the cross, He himself had to live a sinless human life. For Jesus, to live a perfect human life meant He, as truly God, had to have His humanity conceived in the the Virgin Mary's womb. The uniting of a truly human nature to the Person of the Son who already possessed (and remained so) to retain a truly Divine nature, is what is called "the hypostatic union". Quite literally, the uniting together of a "truly divine nature" and "truly human nature" in One Person, the Son, is the result of the miracle of the incarnation. 

        As man, He could die and be raised. As God, all He achieved would have infinite value. Because Jesus raised from the dead, all who receive Him by faith are counted as being right with God (Romans 4:25) and forgiven of their sins (1 Corinthians 15:20). 

The final reason the incarnation is important is so that Jesus can reign as King in Heaven.

                We have considered three main reasons why the incarnation is so important, so that the Son of God could provide: 

1. Righteousness, that is, the right to 
    be in God's presence.

2. Redemption, which is to say, 
    forgiveness of sins and.....

3. Resurrection, so He could raise from 
    the dead. 

      What did Jesus do after He raised from the dead? We know from the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) that Jesus appeared on a dozen occasions to groups and individuals, to believers and those who had yet to believe that He had risen. After forty days, Jesus had His disciples gather outside of Jerusalem for them to witness His going up into Heaven (Acts 1:11). Jesus' "going up" is what we call His ascension, meaning He inaugurated His reign the true King of the church at the right hand of the Father. 

       Jesus retained His physical humanity and revealed in heaven, once again, what He had always been and ever will be: truly God. Now He reigns as the God-man, praying for believers and ready to return to earth to rescue His people and judge the world (1 Thessalonains 4:13-18; Acts 17:31). This theme of "incarnation" is vital for understanding the New Testament, the Christian life and salvation.

Bird's-eye view of the Bible - Why the incarnation is important to you today: to provide righteousness and forgiveness of sin.

Introduction:

       In our last post, we began to do our "bird's-eye view" of the New Testament by introducing the truth and theme of "incarnation". For readers desiring to review the previous post, simply click here: http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/04/birds-eye-view-of-bible-introducing.html

       What follows below is a brief review of what we mean when we use the term "incarnation" to describe the entry of the Son of God into the world. He, being truly God, came to also be truly man in the first century, so as to provide salvation that is receivable by faith in any century. Today's post will expand upon this theme of "incarnation" by offering two reasons in why the incarnation of the Son of God is relevant to us.

1. What is meant by "incarnation".

            John 1:1 begins with a the fact of the Person of the Son (called by the title "The Word") dwelling in eternity past. We see "The Word" first identified as "God": "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God". 

      Next we see the Word distinguished from another Divine Person whom we know is the Father but is called "God": "and the Word was with God". When we go down to John 1:14, we discover that the Word (that is, the Divine Person of the Son) entered into our world to live life as a man: 

"The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." 

      The eternal Word or Son came to be "incarnated" or "in the flesh". Put another way, the Son, having always existed as truly God, came to express Himself a second way by becoming truly man (while still remaining truly God). 


2. Why is the incarnation of the            Son of God important to you and 

    me?

              So why was the coming of the Son of God to earth to become and live a human life so important? 

A. The first reason why the incarnation is so important was for Jesus to provide righteousness (that is, so that God could counts those who receive Jesus by faith as right with Him).
          
      I remember the time when our family got to go into Disney for free. We had a friend who worked for Disney and had six tickets that she could give to whomever she wanted. When she offered them to us, at first we hesitated, telling her that we didn't feel worthy of receiving them. However, the woman and her husband both insisted, and even offered to spend the day with us, guiding us through the park. Our friend had earned those tickets by being a Disney employee.  

      You see, Disney counted our family's tickets as good enough for entry into the park, even though we had not bought them, but rather because they were paid for as a result of our friend working there. 

         When Jesus came into our world, He did so as the Eternal Son of God expressing Himself as a weak, frail infant of the Virgin Mary. He became a human being, grew and experienced life as a child, teenager and an as adult man. We understand that because Jesus was sinless in His human life, He provided the right to be with God for any person who would receive Him as Savior (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Peter 2:21-22).  Jesus' perfect life actively obeyed God in complete compliance. Jesus' flawless humanity was necessary in qualifying Him to be the sacrifice for sins on the cross. The moment you and I trust in Jesus by faith we, God counts us as the "right to be with Him" or "righteousness" to us because of Jesus.

B. The second reason for the incarnation was so that Son of God could, by His death on the cross, redeem us for the forgiveness of sins (John 3:16; 1 John 4:10; 1 Peter 3:18).
     
       There once was a man who was on his way to work on Christmas Eve and was speeding through a little town. Suddenly, a policeman pulled him over and gave him a $100 ticket. The man had to appear before the judge to pay the fine. The judge asked: "how do you plead?" The man had no choice (since the same officer was in the courtroom) and pleaded "guilty", paying the $100. As the man walked out of the court, he said to himself: "I wish someone would had paid the $100 ticket for me". The man wished the court could had "forgiven him". Yet, the man knew the ticket had to be paid in order to be declared "guiltless".  

      We know that Jesus is the eternal Son of God by the Divine characteristics He has as God (Romans 9:6). He had to come be a man, since as God, He could not die (what the Bible describes as God being immortal or "incapable of dying", see 1 Timothy 6:16). As He ever remained truly "God with us" or "Immanuel" (Matthew 1:23), Jesus experienced death on the cross for sins as "truly man for us" (1 Peter 3:18). 

      By dying for our sins, Jesus also destroyed the works of the devil (Romans 5:8; 1 John 3:8). Remarkably, Jesus being truly God meant that the work of the cross had infinite value. As truly man, Jesus' work on the cross meant that the value of His saving accomplishment was made accessible to any sinner who, by God's grace, receives Him by faith (see Ephesians 2:8-9). 

More next time....

Bird's-eye View of the Bible - Introducing A Survey of the New Testament and the theme of "Incarnation"

Introduction:

      Not too long ago I finished a multi-week survey of the Old Testament in a study called: "A Bird's-Eye View of the Bible". In that survey, we explored ten major themes that covered the general contours of God's working in the formation of and working with the nation of Israel. Interested readers can read the last post I did in our "bird's-eye view" series, which includes the ten themes covered in the Old Testament by clicking on the link here: http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/03/birds-eye-view-of-bible-exploring-theme_24.html 


      We saw how God used the entirety of Israel's history and the history of the world to prepare for the arrival of the Son of God in history. Having completed that particular survey, we now continue on with our "Bird's-eye view" by making our way into the New Testament. 

       Like what we did in the Old Testament, we will discover ten additional themes that help summarize what we find in the New Testament. The ten themes we will explore are as follows:

1. Incarnation.
2. Humiliation.
3. Gospel.
4. Exaltation.
5. Pentecost  
6. Missions. 
7. Christian. 
8. New Covenant.
9. Second coming.
10. Eternity. 

       We had expressed at the beginning of this series that all the themes we would uncover have Jesus' cross and resurrection as their central theme. The ten themes we explored in the Old Testament were referred to as "pre-cross", meaning that all the themes pointed to and prepared for what Jesus would accomplish. The themes we are about to explore are "post-cross", that is, they are themes which flow from what Jesus came to accomplish: salvation (see Mark 10:45; Luke 19:10). Today we will begin to look at the first theme of our New Testament "bird's eye view": the theme of "incarnation".

1. How God's revelation of Himself 
    in the Old Testament hints at the 
    Trinity, and why that sets the 
    stage for what we will see in the 
    New Testament's revelation 
    about God. 


        We understand from our reading of the Old Testament that God revealed Himself as One God (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).  At the near beginning of Genesis we find that this One God is identified as the Person of the Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:2), having the power to create life. Additional revelation about God tells us that God is revealed as not only the Person of the Holy Spirit, but also the Person of the Father who called Israel to be a people and a nation (see Deuteronomy 32). As we read further on into the Old Testament, we see in Psalm 110 and Proverbs 30:4 of the Person of the Father speaking in eternity to another Divine Person known as: "the Son". 

     The Old Testament tends to focus more on God being one God and less on His three-fold identity as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Why? The way God reveals truth is by "progressive revelation", meaning that He will begin with a generalized set of features about that truth and continue to expand on further details as time goes forward. To put it another way, the acorns of truth we find in the Old Testament turn out to be the mighty oaks that fill the forest of New Testament revelation. 

      With this in mind, we can tell that the Old Testament is hinting at the idea that somehow, these three Persons share together in the same unity of Divine life that is defined with being One God (eternal, all-knowing, everywhere present, all powerful). 

      God is awesome in not only how He reveals His identity and characteristics, but also His names. Sometimes we find names that emphasize that God is definitely One God, as seen in names such as "God" (Genesis 1:1), "I am who I am" (Exodus 3:14) and "The King" (Isaiah 6). Other names of God reveal that He is more than One Person, as in Genesis 1:26 "let us make man in our image" or where you will see the name "Jehovah" used to refer to three personalities as we find in Isaiah 48:16-18. The names of God tell us quite a bit about God and help us to see the picture a little bit better.

       Whenever we come to the New Testament, we see the truths of God being One God and yet three persons most fully revealed. The New Testament's revelation of God is a further detailing of the hints about God we already saw in the Old Testament. John 1:1 is a good place to pickup on all we've said so far about God, since the eternal Person of the Son (called "the Word") in John 1:1 is the featured focal point in understanding our theme of "incarnation". 

2. What is meant by "incarnation".

     John 1:1 begins with a the fact of the Person of the Son (called by the title "The Word") dwelling in eternity past. We see "The Word" first identified as "God": "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God". Next we see the Word distinguished from another Divine Person whom we know is the Father but is called "God": "and the Word was with God". When we go down to John 1:14, we discover that the Word (that is, the Divine Person of the Son) entered into our world to live life as a man: "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." The eternal Word or Son came to be "incarnated" or "in the flesh". Put another way, the Son, having always existed as truly God, came to express Himself a second way by becoming truly man, while still remaining truly God. 

     In the next post, we will look at why the incarnation of the Son of God is relevant to our lives in the 21st century.

More next time....

Bird's-eye view of the Bible - Exploring the theme of hope as we conclude our study of the Old Testament

Introduction:

    As we have flown over our overview of the Bible, we have covered nearly 3,500 years of time. To review where we have journeyed in this ongoing study, I'll first list the prior posts in this series that readers can review below:

Introducing the series: Bird's-eye view of the Bible. 
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/01/introducing-birds-eye-view-of-bible.html

1. Theme of "Creation" in Genesis 1-2.
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/01/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of.html

2. Theme of "Catastrophe" in Genesis 
    3-11.
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/02/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of.html

3. Theme of "Patriarchs" in Genesis 12-
    50.
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/02/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of_9.html

4. Theme of "Redemption" in the books 
    of Exodus through Deuteronomy.
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/02/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of_12.html

5. Theme of "Spiritual Victory" in the 
    Book of Joshua.
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/02/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of-victory.html

6. Theme of "Spiritual Defeat" in the 
    Book of Judges.
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/02/birds-eye-view-of-bible-breaking-sin.html

7. Theme of the "kingdom of God" in 1 
    and 2 Samuel.

http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/03/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of-gods.html

8. The theme of "Straying away from        God" in 1&2 Kings and 1&2 
    Chronicles. 
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/03/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of.html


9. The theme of "Far-away from 
    home".
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/03/birds-eye-view-of-bible-exploring-theme.html

      
     As we prepare to leave the Old Testament in preparation for the New Testament, I want us to focus on the theme of hope. Have you ever had a light in a room operated by a "dimmer switch"? The dimmer switch can gradually turn on the lights and make them more bright or progressively dimmer. Whenever we think about how God is revealed the Bible, He made known the truths of His Word in a progressive way.  As we review all the themes we have observed in the Old Testament, I want us to take note of how we see the theme of "hope" gradually revealed.

 
     We began with God's creation of everything, life and humanity in the theme of "creation". Hope seemed at its brightest, since Adam and Eve had a perfect life with God in the first two chapters of Genesis. History began as a time of "innocence" for Adam, Eve and all creation, with God relating to them by an original covenant which, if obeyed completely, would had resulted in an eternity of fellowship with God.

     Sadly, Adam and Eve disobeyed God, listened to the serpent's suggestion to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The light of hope was gone from their life.  They had broken God's original covenant, resulting in what we called: "the catastrophe of the fall" (Romans 5:11-21). The Fall led to sin and death, as well as what would later be two other catastrophes: the Flood of Noah (Genesis 6-9) and the Tower of Babel (Genesis 10-11). Although the Fall of Genesis 3 brought incredible ruin, all was not lost. God had already planned to reveal the hope of salvation despite what He knew would take place in the catastrophe of the Fall. How do we know this?

     We read in Romans 8:21-25 that God already had planned for redemption, placing the whole of creation and humanity under a curse "for the sake of hope". We can see God initiating His eternal plan of salvation by offering Adam and Eve a second, gracious covenant which would outline the Gospel: death of an innocent on behalf of the guilty, receiving what God provided in salvation by faith apart from good deeds.

      God would regulate history and the rate of humanity's proneness to evil by way of conscience and human government.  Although man was in darkness, God was ever pointing mankind toward finding hope in God.

 
      We then came to Abraham and God's promise to Him of an ultimate blessing that would include the eventual nation of Israel and a descendant who would be the Savior of all time. The light of the hope of salvation was turned up a little more. We discovered a third theme which we called: "Patriarchs", since God's dealings with His people centered around Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The covenant of grace God originally issued to Adam and Eve would find itself repeated in God's promise to never destroy the world with a flood (God's covenant to Noah in Genesis 8-9) and His covenant to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We once again see a glimmer of hope of God's plan of salvation working forth through what would become Abraham and his descendants.The time frame  between the days of Abraham to Moses is what we called: "the age of promise".

   
     We then flew four hundred years from Abraham to Moses and came to our fourth theme: "redemption". We saw how God took a people (the Hebrews), rescued (that is, redeemed them) out of Egypt. God's purpose in redeeming the people from Egypt was to bring them to Himself, where He could meet with them at Mount Sinai, reveal the Law, reveals the tabernacle and make them into a nation of worshipers. The enslavement of an entire group of people for 400 years was indeed a dark time, yet, God brought the light of hope of salvation through Moses: God had heard their cries for help.

      God's way of regulating humanity would not only involve conscience, government and promise, but also the writing down of His laws on tablets of stone. God has always pointed mankind to their need for salvation, showing that no one can earn salvation by good moral living. Moses was given the Law of God, which was designed to point the way to people's need for the Gospel.

      In a way similar to Adam and Eve, the first generation of Israelites who came out of Egypt, under Moses, broke God's revealed law to them, and ended up wandering in the wilderness of Sinai for 40 years. Thankfully, God kept His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and would graciously bring the second generation of Israelites who followed Moses into the promise land.

 
      We then came to our fifth theme of "spiritual victory". Joshua became the new leader of Israel after Moses died. God kept His promises and the people would cross the Jordan River on dry ground as they had crossed the dry-bed of the Red Sea out of Egypt some forty years earlier under Moses. The Red Sea crossing pictures salvation and entry into a new life with God. The Book of Joshua and the crossing of the Jordan river pictures both the enjoyment, spiritual warfare and growth that is included in the Christian life. The hope that is found in God shined brighter and brighter in the book of Joshua. The promised land had finally become the possession of the people to whom it was promised - God always keeps His Word.


      Theme six gave us the mirror opposite in the book of Judges from what we saw in Joshua, namely the theme of: "breaking the sin cycle". The book of Judges featured the next generation of Israelites living in the promised land after Joshua's death. Hope in God began to dim. The nation would suffer at the hands of one bullying nation after another. We learned how we sometimes find ourselves in a "spiritual rut". Only by admitting out sins to God can we get out of the "sin-cycle". Thankfully, Jesus has provided the solution to breaking those cycles of sin by the power He makes available through His work on the cross (1 John 1:9).

      The hope of God and His salvation at times shone brighter and at other times seemed almost blocked by man's sinful choices. I remember a small creek that ran by my boyhood home. The creek was a windy little body of water that snaked it's way through the woods and hillsides of rural Pennsylvania. There were no dams or pipes to control where it flowed. There is an old saying that goes something like this: "men and rivers are all alike, left to themselves, they run crooked". The little creek did as it pleased until redirected from an outside source. As we fly from the days of the Judges to those of the prophet Samuel, we see how crooked man can become apart from God. 1 Samuel 3 tells us that the lamp in the temple was about to no longer shine, for God's word was rare in those days.


      But God would intervene in Israel's history  by once again speaking through Samuel and eventually to the promises He would give to David. Much happened between the ministry of Samuel, the kingship of Israel's official first king, Saul, and the well-known episode of David and Goliath. One thing was clear, God gave a glimpse of His kingdom through establishing David as king over the earthly kingdom of Israel. God gave another covenant to David, promising an ultimate King through his descendants, which the New Testament will reveal as Jesus  (Matthew 1:1-17; Romans 1:1-3). Hope was starting to shine more brightly in the days of King David and thus our seventh theme: God and His kingdom.

  
     This theme of hope shines and dims and shines like a blinking light through the eighth theme: "straying from God". David's son Solomon would follow as the third official king of Israel. Although Solomon began his kingship with desire to follow God, he would soon stray away from God. We only know from reading the book of Ecclesiastes that Solomon got back to God. The kingdom of Israel would split into two kingdoms following Solomon's death. We see nothing but straying away further from God in the Northern Kingdom called "Israel". The Southern Kingdom would have eight of its twenty kings used by God to call the people back to Himself. Sadly, despite the godly kings and prophets sent by God, the people of the Southern kingdom loved their idols and sin more than God. God used the prophets to speak of what was then a future hope of restoration back to God for a people whom God would send away into an Eastern land called "Babylon".


     It is in the ninth theme of "far away from home" that our "bird's eye view" would fly as we neared the end of the Old Testament. Beginning in 605 b.c.,King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his armies conquered and took away the people of Jerusalem. Two other deportations in 597 b.c. and 586 b.c. would follow, with the final destruction of Jerusalem. Prophets such as Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel communicated God's words about why the people were taken from their homeland: unrepentant sin and focusing on everything but God. Daniel in particular was of interest because of his seeing visions of things to come, predicting what would be the first and second comings of Jesus and living a life of faith for seventy years in a land far away from home. Despite the toughness of the situation, the hope of God is what got Daniel and his friends through their times in Babylon.


     The time would finally come when the Jewish people would no longer live in Babylon.  A new king and empire would conquer the Babylonians. God had predicted some 200 years earlier in 720 b.c., through the prophet Isaiah, that this king, Cyrus, would be unknowingly used of God to bring about the next stage of plans for the people (see Isaiah 45). King Cyrus, and his immediate successor Darius, would make it possible for the Jews to begin returning back home. God used a Jewish man by the name of Nehemiah to go and begin the project of rebuilding Jerusalem's walls.

     When it comes to regaining hope that was nearly lost, it takes time. The Jewish people had started to return to Jerusalem under the leadership of men such as Zerubbabel and Ezra the Scribe (you can read what they did in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah). Prophets such as Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi would express God's message of hope, restoring their nation and the promise of the then future Messiah.

      Malachi in particular would serve as the final writing prophet of the Old Testament, predicting the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus  (the predicted Messiah) in the final two chapters of his book. God would then prove how much His people can hope in Him even when their lives are in danger - as we see in the book of Esther. 
      
      Esther is the final book written in the Old Testament (written shortly after Malachi, though appearing in the order of books before his prophecy). Although Esther never mentions God by name, yet, we see evidence of God's protection of the Jewish people from the hands of their enemies. God is always on time and never late. Therefore we see this tenth theme of hope shining throughout the Old Testament,  setting the stage for what will be the coming of Jesus - our only hope and salvation.

We have explored then ten major themes in our bird's-eye overview of the Bible so far:

1. Creation.
2. Catastrophe.
3. Redemption.
4. Patriarchs.
5. Spiritual victory.
6. Breaking the sin-cycle.
7. God's kingdom.
8. Straying from God.
9. Far from home.
10. Hope.

       Four hundred years of time will pass from the writing of Malachi, the final prophet, to the events of Jesus' life recorded in Matthew's Gospel. We won't say much about this period, but there are four quick facts to consider as they relate to the coming of Jesus.

      First, the Babylonians, whom we encountered in theme eight, "Far away from home", was an empire that dominated the middle eastern world for over seventy years (605-539 b.c.). The Book of Daniel covers its activities, and from the Babylonians we got the group of men whom would visit Jesus ton worship Him, otherwise known as the Magi.

      The next empire was the Medo-Persian empire, who took over Babylon and would reign for roughly 200 years (539 b.c. to 333 b.c.). The Medo-Persians invented crucifixion, which would be the method used to execute Jesus. 

     The third empire to follow the Medo-Persians were the Greeks, led by Alexander the Great and later by his four generals following his death. The Greek empire would dominate the middle east and Europe from 333 b.c. to 63 b.c. The Greeks gave us the language in which the New Testament was written.

      The fourth and final fact to mention about the four hundred years between Malachi and Matthew is the fourth major empire, Rome, which would take over the Greek empire in 63 b.c. and be used as God's main method in bringing about Jesus' crucifixion. 

Closing thoughts:

Galatians 4:4 tells us: 

"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law." 

    Daniel's prophecies predicted all of these empires in order, centuries before the events took place. God used all of Old Testament history to prepare the way for Jesus' first coming. We will now turn to ten more themes as we continue our "bird's-eye view of the Bible" in the New Testament, beginning in the next post.

Bird's-eye view of the Bible - Exploring the theme: "Far-away from home" in the Book of Daniel

Introduction:

     As we continue our "bird's-eye view of the Bible", we find ourselves outside the promised land of Israel. For those interested in viewing previous posts in this series, you can click on the links below:

1. Theme of Creation in Genesis 1-2.
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/01/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of.html

2. Theme of Catastrophe in Genesis 3-
    11.
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/02/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of.html

3. Theme of Patriarchs in Genesis 12-
    50.
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/02/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of_9.html

4. Theme of Redemption in the books 
    of Exodus through Deuteronomy.
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/02/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of_12.html

5. Theme of Spiritual Victory in the 
    Book of Joshua.
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/02/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of-victory.html

6. Theme of Spiritual Defeat in the 
    Book of Judges.
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/02/birds-eye-view-of-bible-breaking-sin.html

7. Theme of the kingdom of God in 1 and 2 Samuel.

http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/03/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of-gods.html

8. The theme of straying away from God in 1&2 Kings and 1&2 Chronicles. 
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/03/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of.html

     Have you ever been to a summer camp or perhaps a longer vacation where you were far from home? Maybe the first few days are fun to you, since you are seeing new places you were never at before in your life. Imagine now you are taken away from your home and sent to a foreign land where you will live for seventy years. 

     I'm sure many of you reading this post have felt "far-away-from-home" for the last few days in the wake of this current pandemic. We often can feel detached from where we're at when our surroundings change and we loose what was formerly familiar. God's Word addresses such experiences. The people in Jerusalem viewed their identity as part of the land where they lived. They also viewed God's favor on their lives as symbolized by a king reigning on the throne in Jerusalem. For the Jewish people in the Old Testament, they felt that as long as the temple was standing, full of priests and sacrifices,  then they were doing o.k. When the Babylonians came in 586 b.c. to take them away into Babylon, their world changed over night.


      The problem of the people was that they placed too much confidence in themselves and had stopped trusting in God. God had warned them, pleaded with them and had prophets write more Bible books to urge them to turn back to Him. Yet, the people would not listen. The Babylonian empire would come and take the people from their land, their temple and do away with their king. One man, named Daniel, was among those whom Babylonian captured and took away to Babylon. 

     God was still at work in the people's lives as evidenced by prophets such as Daniel, as well as his contemporaries Ezekiel and Jeremiah. When times get dark, the light of hope that shines from God's Word is always available. The most extreme circumstances are used by God to spark revival in the hearts of people. As we often learn, we never know how much God means to us until we find ourselves in situations of limitation or devastation. As we turn our attention to this theme of, "far away from home", we will observe how Daniel, a man of God, responded to the sudden changes that took place in his life.


     One fact about Daniel that might interest you is that when he was taken from his home, he was only fifteen years of age. Daniel had three friends who were roughly his age, and they and all the people were taken away from all they knew to a foreign land. Daniel had many opportunities to "fit-in" with the crowd around him. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzer, chose Daniel and his friends for their exceptional abilities. Although they were offered the food of the king, they politely refused. They chose instead to eat the food they were taught to eat from their parents and the scriptures. Although the king gave them different names, Daniel and his friends clung to their faith in God.

As we observe Daniel and his friends in how they lived far away from home, we can gather valuable truths for our lives, whether now or later down the road.

1. Jesus is always with the believer, thus, they're never alone.

     Daniel's friends were tested greatly by King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 3. The kind demanded everyone in his kingdom to bow down and worship a statue made to look like the king. Everyone did as the king commanded - except Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego (Daniel's friends). The King demanded they follow his orders, but the three friends told the king that whether God delivers them from being burnt on the flames or not, they would not bow to the king's statue. 
     So the king had his soldiers toss the three men in the fiery furnace. Soon thereafter, the king looked into the fiery furnace and said in Daniel 3:25 - "He said, “Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!” Whom did Nebuchadnezzar see? Most Bible teachers would answer that Jesus made one of His Old Testament appearances and stayed with Daniel's three friends in the midst of their fiery trial. They were not alone! So even when we're far away from the places that are familiar to us, we're never alone, because Jesus is always with His people. Another episode in Daniel's life helps us see a second truth.

2. We can seek God in prayer, and thus not have to be afraid.

     Have you ever experienced what it is like to be so afraid that you were tempted to pretend you were not a Christian? Daniel was placed in a very difficult situation. There was a new king - Darius - who was over a new empire - the Persians - who had authority over every area of life. A new law was passed: bow down to the king in worship, or be fed to the lions. There were some men who did not like Daniel and had tricked the king into enforcing this law. Daniel was far away from home for nearly 70 years, meaning that he had become an 85 year old man. What would he do?

       We read what Daniel did in the face of possibly facing death in Daniel 6:10 "Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously." In other words, despite living in a foreign land, far away from home, Daniel never stopped praying to God as an 85 year old man as he had done since he was at least 15 years of age. God gave Daniel the courage he needed when facing that den of lions. Daniel still was placed in the lions den, but God shut the lions' mouths. Hebrews 11 tells us that by the faith given by God to Daniel, the situation resulted in the Daniel's protection from the hungry beasts.


     Whenever we turn to the life of Jesus, He too faced the prospect of being very afraid. He knew He was going to be crucified the next day and carry on his shoulders the sins of the world. The Lord Jesus surrendered His will as a man to the will of the Father in heaven. Jesus sought the Father in prayer and sweat great drops of blood and prayed: "not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). Jesus, though being truly God, chose as a man to draw courage from His heavenly Father. He had courage to go to the cross. Daniel sought God in prayer and realized he didn't have to be afraid. Jesus too prayed and knew He didn't have to be afraid. Because of Jesus, we too can seek God in prayer and not have to be afraid (see Philippians 4:6-7).

     Other prophets were called by God to bring His revelation to the people as they were taken prisoner by King Nebuchadmezzar. God spoke through men like Ezekiel and Jeremiah to encourage and instruct the people on how to avoid falling into the same sinful traps that led to their exile far away from home. Daniel and the people would live in Babylon for seventy years. The time would come when the time of God's discipline would stop. As we will consider in our final theme of the Old Testament in the next post, the people would have hope once again. The hope they would have would come not only in their return back home, but also in the promise of a future Savior.

Bird's-eye view of the Bible: The theme of "straying away from God" as found in 1,2 Kings and 1,2 Chronicles.

Introduction:

      When I was a boy, I put together model cars. I would spend hours painting and gluing them together. Each time I finished a model car, I would show my dad. He and I would look at the model car from every angle. My dad would then tell me a story about a real life car. The model car represented to me the reality of the memories shared between my father and me.

       God called forth the nation of Israel to model His Kingdom before the nations of the world. We've learned of how God used a man named David to rule over the kingdom of Israel in Jerusalem. God's kingdom is the reality, realm and right He has to be King over us in matters of life and salvation. King David, and his son King Solomon, received God's promises of an enduring Kingdom and an ultimate King that would descend from them.  The last post featured the theme of: "the kingdom of God". For the other themes explored in our "bird's-eye view of the Bible", readers can review them in the following links:

1. Theme of Creation in Genesis 1-2.
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/01/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of.html

2. Theme of Catastrophe in Genesis 3-
    11.
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/02/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of.html

3. Theme of Patriarchs in Genesis 12-
    50.
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/02/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of_9.html

4. Theme of Redemption in the books 
    of Exodus through Deuteronomy.
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/02/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of_12.html

5. Theme of Spiritual Victory in the 
    Book of Joshua.
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/02/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of-victory.html

6. Theme of Spiritual Defeat in the 
    Book of Judges.
http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/02/birds-eye-view-of-bible-breaking-sin.html

7. Theme of the kingdom of God in 1 and 2 Samuel.

http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2020/03/birds-eye-view-of-bible-theme-of-gods.html

How the actions of Adam and Eve are echoed in the history of Israel and its kingdom.     

      In many ways, Israel functioning much like Adam had in the garden of Eden. God gave an original covenant. Like Adam, Israel was to model before all creation what God was like in His ways and works. Sadly, like the original Adam, Israel would divide from God. More and more, Israel wanted to be like everyone else.


      King Solomon began his reign as a good, Godly king. God would enable Solomon to have the most wealth and wisdom of any king before or after him. Yet, Solomon became distracted by other women besides his wife (1,000 to be exact!). Soon Solomon would drift further and further from God, almost to the point of complete division from Him. The books of Song of Solomon and Proverbs record Solomon's life in his younger and middle age years. Solomon evidences a heart for God, full of wisdom in those two books. The third and last book he would compose, Ecclesiastes, records disappointments, regrets and warnings to those who would try to walk away from God. As far as we know, Solomon repented or turned back to God before he died. Nevertheless, the consequences of his actions would lead to the kingdom of Israel dividing into two nations and strayed away from God. Once again, we see how much man is in need of God. 

Whenever the follower of Jesus experiences straying away from God.


      If you have trusted in Jesus, and have, for the most part stayed faithful to Him up until this point, I praise God for you doing so. All Christians do experience those moments, days or weeks where they can stumble, due to their own carelessness or wrong choices (James 1:3-7). However, there are also those times when Christians can stray more severely from God and go for a short while not wanting to grow deeper in Jesus, the Bible, prayer or church (1 Corinthians 3:1-4). In both types of situations, the causes are similar: carelessness, bad choices, also not knowing sound doctrine, not knowing their Christian identity and of course, influences around them.
       As we read through the nearly 40 kings that would reign in the divided kingdoms of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) and Judah (the Southern Kingdom), we will find these causes behind their straying away from God: carelessness, bad choices, also not knowing sound doctrine, not knowing their Christian identity and of course, influences around them.

The causes of straying away from God, and how to get back on track.

1. The kingdom if Israel divides in two due to carelessness, bad choices, forgetting their identity and giving into influences around them.


       Before King Solomon died, God warned that the kingdom of Israel would split between those loyal to his son Rehoboam and those loyal to his army general Jeroboam (1 Kings 11:12-13). We know from ways of dating events that the year was 971 b.c. Rehoboam assumed the throne of Jerusalem after his father, Solomon, had died. Rehoboam was the original son Solomon addressed the Book of Proverbs to in heeding wisdom and following God...sadly, Rehoboam ignored his father's words - which were ultimately God's words  (we have Proverbs in our Bibles). Rehoboam had wanted to show himself a strong ruler and had a choice between listening to wise counsel and the advise of his friends. His friends advised him to place heavier burdens on the people than his father Solomon had done, and so that was what Rehoboam chose to do.

      It wasn't long until ten of the twelve tribes followed after Rehoboam's army general (Jeroboam) and made him their own king, moved themselves up North beyond Jerusalem and made their own capital city. Jeroboam would show himself as careless and unwise in decision making as Rehoboam. The Bible tells us that Jeroboam invented a religion in competition with the true worship of the true God, Yahweh. Jeroboam and the people demonstrated they cared more about personal preferences than what was doctrinally right.

2. Straying away from God can lead to tragic consequences.


        As you begin to follow what would become two separate kingdoms (the Southern Kingdom of Judah, led by Rehoboam) and the Northern Kingdom of Israel (led by Jeroboam), the "straying away from God process" was well underway.  They each made bad choices, were careless, forgot about Biblical doctrine and forgot about their true spiritual identity. The downward spiral of straying away from God then led each to desire to be like the nations around them. The Northern Kingdom would begin to worship a false god called: "Baal". The Southern Kingdom would later on begin to worship Baal because it saw the Northern Kingdom doing it and liking it. Sadly, the people became a divided kingdom and were spiritual straying away from God.

       The four causes we noted of straying away from God: bad choices, carelessness, bad doctrine, ignoring one's true spiritual identity and yielding to influences, we're all present when the kingdom divided. The Northern Kingdom (known also as "Israel") would last over two hundred years before it came to an end. As we read of the roughly twenty kings which would reign in the Northern Kingdom, not one of those kings were godly kings. God sent prophets to warn the people of the consequences that would follow if they did not turn back to Him and quit their straying from God. Tragically, the Northern Kingdom ignored God and as a result, God sent the powerful Assyria empire to put an end to the Northern Kingdom in 722 b.c.

3. How the Southern Kingdom (known also as "Judah") illustrates how God gives those whom He has redeemed many chances, thus ensuring they will accomplish His will. 


       Even if we find ourselves straying from God, God always sends us warnings to give is a chance to turn back. The Southern Kingdom of Judah also had 20 kings rule in Jerusalem over its nearly 350 year history. God had  chosen the Southern Kingdom to fulfill His purposes of salvation and to bring about the Messiah: Jesus Christ. Even though it was as rebellious as the Northern Kingdom, God's gracious calling was ever in its ears. We find that there were eight godly kings out of the twenty who that reigned in Jerusalem. God used them to lead spiritual awakenings in Judah. 

     God also sent prophets (such as Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah and others) to not only Judah, but to the Northern Kingdom as well. The Southern Kingdom would at times temporarily turn back to God, only to mess up and repeatedly stray away.

        Thankfully, God is a God of many chances. As we had mentioned before, there were eight kings God used to spawn spiritual awakenings in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Solomon's son Abijam (1 Kings 15:3) started out well, just like his father, in walking in the ways of the Lord. Other kings such as Jehoash (2 Kings 12), Amaziah (2 Kings 14) and Uzziah (2 Kings 15) all started out on the right foot with God. Tragically though, pride or self-interest got the best of them and both they and the nation suffered. We are reminded of how important it is to keep an eye one one's heart in times of great spiritual growth. Oftentimes, the greatest believers of times past have experienced increased pride and temptation when walking strong for God.

       We also find three exceptional kings in Judah that not only began well - but ended well. King Asa (1 Kings 15) was used by God to defeat an attacking army of over one million soldiers. King Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 17) refused to listen to false prophets and preferred hearing God's word from true men of God. King Josiah (2 Kings 22) was the godliest king of all the kings who ever ruled in Jerusalem. King Josiah was only eight years old when he started, and led the Southern Kingdom in its last and greatest spiritual awakening.

Closing thoughts: God never forsakes His people, even when they stray from Him.

     As we noted, God is a God of many chances. Despite good godly kings, prophets and several spiritual awakenings, the Southern Kingdom still strayed from God. Eventually, God would send the Babylonian Empire to capture the inhabitants of Jerusalem, take them prisoner and begin a seventy year long exile of the people in 586 b.c. When someone is exiled, that person is taken away from their homeland to another place where they learn a new language, customs and even religion. God had predicted and warned about this particular time (Deuteronomy 28; 2 Chronicles 36) through prophets like Jeremiah.
      The people ignored God's warnings and strayed away from Him. Although the people of the Southern Kingdom of Judah would live in Babylon for seventy years, God did not abandon them. As we will see in the next theme, God reminded the people that He was keeping the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Although we may at times stray away from God, He will never forsake us.