The Bible's Greatest Missionary

IDENTIFYING THE BIBLE'S GREATEST MISSIONARY

What is a missionary?  A missionary is one who is sent to communicate a particular message to a particular people on behalf of the God of the Bible.  The word “mission” itself comes from a Latin word “missio”, which in its most ancient meaning referred to artillery that was “shot out” to a given target. 

Next question: Who is the greatest missionary recorded in the Bible?  Some may say the Apostle Paul, who wrote two thirds of the New Testament and was declared to the “Apostle” or “Missionary“ to the Gentiles (that is, the non-Jewish Nations).  Others may name a prophet like Moses, who was “sent” to the Jewish people in Bondage in Egypt.  Though these are good suggestions, they are not even close.  The greatest missionary in the Bible is none other than God Himself. 

GOD'S FIRST MISSION

In fact the first mention of missions in the Bible is found in Genesis 3:8-21.  The circumstances follow the great rebellion of Adam and Eve against God’s command to them to “not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and Evil”.  This command is the foundation behind what Bible teachers call “The Covenant of works”.  It was an arrangement given by God to man whereby Divine blessing and eternal benefits would be granted conditioned upon man’s obedience.  If Adam and Eve would had fulfilled the Covenant of works, they could had eaten from the tree of life, and entered into eternal communion with God.  Instead they chose to heed the voice of the serpent, and the Covenant of works was broken.

What was needed was another covenant, another arrangement.  God would have to be the one to do the work.  Man would never and could never attain right relationship with God through obedience.  It was going to have to be a covenant of grace, whereby God would extend Himself to man, with man receiving such grace by faith alone.  It is in this context we find God, the great missionary pursuing man.  Below is a brief outline of what God did, and is still doing today in His great missionary activity in this world.  Genesis 3:8-21 provides the seeds for understanding the missionary activity of God throughout the rest of scripture. 

SO HOW IS GOD THE GREAT MISSIONARY?

1. God seeks after the sinner Genesis 3:8-14

-Notice how the man and the woman hide from God.  God is the one calling after them.  God is the One who comes down to them.  They are lost, needing to be found.

-Notice how man blames God.  Man has no interest in reconciling with God.  He is content to remain where He is.  God is the one needing to affect the reconciliation

2. God states salvation to the sinner  Genesis 3:15

-This verse is the first verse we see referring to God’s promises of a Redeemer.  “The Seed” is a term that when traced throughout the scriptures, through 334 prophecies and promises, leads to Jesus Christ.

-This verse also contains what would remain the course of history, the great conflict between the people of God saved by Grace alone through faith alone and those who persist in their rebellion and unbelief.

-The salvation that begun in a garden would find its resolution in another Garden, the Garden of Gethsemene.  In the first Garden Old Adam failed and refused to allign with God's will.  At Gethsemene the Second Adam, Jesus Christ, alligned his human will with the Father's Divine will and agreed to pay for our salvation.

3. God sends Grace to open the sinner’s eyes Genesis 3:20

-Adam calls his wife “Eve”, the mother of living, in response to the promise given through her in Genesis 3:15.  This is what I term his confession of faith

-The Bible is pretty clear that faith is a gift given by God, whereby we are set free to freely trust in Christ and confess with our mouth Jesus is Lord (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 10:9)

4. God supplies a Substitute to die in the sinner’s place  Genesis 3:21

-God provided coats of skins from two animals He killed in place of Adam and Eve.  This sets the pattern of the innocent dying for the guilty and the blood being the payment in appeasing the wrath of Holy God.

-God’s clothing of Adam and Eve meant He reckoned to them the fitness to be in His presence due to the innocent life of those slain in their place.  This is what we called “imputed righteousness”.  This is the cornerstone of salvation.  God’s declaration of this truth over us the moment we believe is what is termed “Justification by Faith”.


Thank you Lord for being the Great Missionary!

Noah, The Ark, and the Flood: Why its Important

The Biblical account of Noah, the Ark and the flood in Genesis 6-9 has important implications for the Christian life.  Below are some key reasons as to why we need to consider it more closely.

1. Jesus uses the Flood to explain the end times

Luke 17:26-27 ²⁶And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.  ²⁷They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.  Without a doubt Jesus was drawing parallels between the culture of Noah and the days preceeding His second coming. 

2. Peter uses the Flood to explain Earth’s Past and Future

The Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 3 warns his readers about how there will be scoffers in the last days who will ridicule, among other things, the reality of the historic worldwide flood recorded in Genesis.  He writes in 2 Peter 3:3-7 ³Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,  ⁴And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.  ⁵For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:  ⁶Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:  ⁷But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 

The world-wide flood for instance can explain why geological features of the earth took moments, not millions of years, to form.   In fact the world-wide flood event has been used by specialists called "Creation-Scientists" to explain everything from the existence of comets, to the craters on the moon, to the tilt of the earth to the possible explanation for the dissapearance of dinosaurs.  The evidence for a world-wide flood (see last blog) can be a useful in counter-acting the humanistic world-view of evolution.  Websites such as "answersingenesis.org" are great tools that utilize the flood in describing the history and destiny of our world in light of the scriptures. 

3. It shows that God never forgets His people

Genesis 8:1 tells us that God remembered Noah.  This idea of God remembering His people is quite pervasive throughout the Old Testament.   When God is "remembering”, He is bearing forth upon Himself and in Himself the name of His people.  When one does a word study for this word "remember", it speaks of a continual granting of kindness, graciousness and compassion in extenuating circumstances.  The idea of God remembering somebody occurs in key theological and historical events throughout the Old Testament:

Gen 19:29 – God “remembers” Abraham      Gen 30:22 – remembers Rachael

Exod 2;24 – remembers the Israelites             1 Samuel 1:19 – remembers Hannah

Job 14:13 – The cry to remember Job              Psalm 132 – the cry to remember David

Undoubtedly this idea carries its way into the New Testament, where Christ’s resurrection is the prime example of “remembering”, since God did not forsake his body to see decay (compare Peter’s comments in Acts 2:27 on Psalm 16:6-8)  Indeed Christ's promise to never leave nor forsake His people is embedded in His committment and love for them. (please compare Matthew 28:20 and Hebrews 13:5)

Noah, The Ark, and the Flood - Historical and Scientific Evidence

When we read the biblical record, no other section in the entire Bible covers as much time and as many events as Genesis 1-5.  As we come into Genesis 6-9, we arrive in the section that deals with the world-wide flood that God brought upon this world in the days of Noah. Remarkably, the three chapters will cover a period of time encompassing a period of time less than 18 months (377 days for chapters 6-9). 

One of the main purposes for Moses writing Genesis was to equip the Israelite nation with a biblical worldview of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  They had to be deprogrammed from the Egyptian worldview to which they had been exposed to for 430 years, and prepare for the Canaanite worldview they would be facing in the Conquest of Joshua.  

In today's blog, we want to explore some commonly asked questions about the flood, the ark and the reliability of the Genesis record.  Hopefully the reader will see that the Bible is not only accurate and reliable in matters of faith and practice, but also in terms of its testimony about history, science and life.  

1. Was The Ark large enough to hold all of earth's species?

According to the Biblical record, when we take modern day measurements into consideration, the Ark was a vessel 450 ft long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.  It had an opening up top, near its roof measuring 18 inches.  The vessel had 3 decks with a total deck space of over 101,000 square feet or  to a holding capacity of 522 railway cars. 

One must realize that the Bible regards animals according to “kinds”, which would equate to our reckoning of animals by the modern biological term "genus".  This would lower the amount of specimens on the ark to a total of 16,000 animals.  If we calculate Noah and his sons taking shifts to oversee the entrance of the animals into the ark, we average the rate out to 2 animals entering per second.  With many of the animals averaging the size of a sheep, this all could had been accomplished in the prescribed 7 day period of 7:4,10.  The Ark could had handled up to “35,000” kinds of animals.  With our estimate of 16,000 loaded on the ark, half the space would had remained for Noah and his family. 

2. Is there any historical evidence outside the Bible for the existence of the Ark?

According to Creationist and Ark researcher James T. Hall, there have been several documented sightings of the Ark.[i]

a.    In 400 b.c. Abydenos, the historian and Berosus, the Babylonian High Priest, state that the ark was atop a mountain in Armenia.

b.    Josephus, a Jewish Historian writing in 100 A.D, speaks of the Ark being accessible on a mountain in Armenia.

c.    Marco Polo, an explorer in 1300 A.D, speaks of the Ark on the summit of Mount Ararat.

d.    In 1840 after a major earthquake, Turkish authorities list the remains of the prow  (the front end) of an ancient ship in the mountains

e.    Ed davis, a WWII veteran, reported in 1943 having seen the ark after having been led to the site by a Kurdish resident.

f.     George Greene, a worker for the American Oil Company, reported seeing the Ark perched on a steep ledge while flying overhead in a helicopter in 1952.

All of these reports speak of a large vessel, located in the same location, Mount Ararat.  All these people are from different cultures, times and places.  How could such a large ship be located some 17,000 feet upon a large mountain unless the worldwide flood placed it there!

3. Wasn't the flood just an isolated event experienced by a few people, or was it truly a world-wide event?
Native global flood stories are documented as history or legend in almost every region on earth. Old world missionaries reported their amazement at finding remote tribes already possessing legends with tremendous similarities to the Bible’s accounts of the worldwide flood. H.S. Bellamy in "Moons, Myths and Men" estimates that altogether there are over 500 Flood legends worldwide. Ancient civilizations such as (China, Babylonia, Wales, Russia, India, America, Hawaii, Scandinavia, Sumatra, Peru, and Polynesia) all have their own versions of a giant flood.

These flood tales are frequently linked by common elements that parallel the Biblical account including the warning of the coming flood, the construction of a boat in advance, the storage of animals, the inclusion of family, and the release of birds to determine if the water level had subsided. The overwhelming consistency among flood legends found in distant parts of the globe indicates they were derived, more or less,  from the same origin - the original account as we see in the Bible.  The Israelites would had been exposed to Egyptian  and Canannite flood stories.  Undoubtedly the one given in Genesis is unique, in that it was given by Divine Revelation, whereas all the others were just mere retellings by men. 

In tomorrow's blog we will consider why the flood account is crucial to the Christian faith.

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[i] Dr. James T. Hall.  The Origin of Life.  1989.

The Holy Spirit- His Ministries through the gifts and worship

As we have explored the personality and ministries of the Holy Spirit, the overall goal has been to show how the Holy Spirit acts in the Christian's life as "God in us".  We have seen the Spirit's work in Revelation, Incarnation, Creation and Evangelism.  In today's blog we will be finishing up our short study of the Holy Spirit by noting His work in the gifts and worship.  The reason why I chose to include these last two ministries together is because worship is the Spirit's purpose for the believer, with the gifts being given by the Spirit to accomplish that purpose.  

The Spirit's ministry of the gifts 
There are roughly five main chapters in the New Testament that speak about the various abilities or gifts given by the Holy Spirit.  Out of all of them, 1 Corinthians 12 gives the clearest and fullest treatment.  1 Corinthians 12 shows us the involvement of the entire Trinity in this work, with the Holy Spirit being the chief agent in the distribution of the gifts.  1 Corinthians 12:11 tells us - "But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will."  

For the sake of length, we cannot go into what all these gifts are.  However we can quickly note two things: first that there are roughly 20-30 gifts mentioned in both 1 Corinthians 12 and other passages, and second, the word translated "gifts" could also be rendered "gracings".  Really the idea of spiritual gifts is not like a box wrapped in paper.  Rather a spiritual gift (or gracing) is a manifestation of the unlimited grace of God the Holy Spirit poured out in the believer's life. (compare Romans 5:1-5)  

In 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, we discover 4 major truths about the giving of the various "gifts" or "gracings" of the Spirit:
1. The plans of the gifts is for evangelism and effective Christian living. 12:1-7
2. The pleasures of the gifts are discovered in God's glory and work. 12:8-13
3. The reasons behind the gifts is to motivate God's people for His will. 12:14-26
4. The revelation in the gifts is God's prevailing love. 12:27-13:13

I would encourage the reader to study 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 to gain a better understanding of the gracings of God.  It is through these that the Spirit accomplishes His main purpose for the giving of them - worship

The Spirit's ministry of worship
In Ephesians 2 and 4 we discover that the Holy Spirit distributes gracings or giftings to God's people for the purpose of making a living, breathing temple. (please compare Ephesians 2:21-22).   It is on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (the written word), with Christ Jesus being the determining chief corner stone that the Spirit constructs this living temple.  Then we come to Ephesians 4:9-13, where we see the Holy Spirit giving various offices  to perfect or mature the saints for the work of the ministry. (Ephesians 4:12)  The Spirit's main work as "God in us" is to bring us to the point of the worship and praise of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  

When we say the Holy Spirit's ministry in worship is to point the way to the Father and Son, being that He is God Himself, the person of the Holy Spirit is automatically included in that worship.  Let me close with these two thoughts of the Spirit's ministry of worship - to make the Triune God experiential in our lives, and to demonstrate the reality of the Triune God to a lost and dying world, both of which bring glory to God.  

The Holy Spirit's work in the incarnation, creation, evangelism

As the Spirit's primary ministry is that of Revelation, all of His other ministries flow from who He is.   As the Holy Spirit works to reveal the work of the Son and the voice of the Father, He reveals His own nature as the God of glory, sharing the same divine life with the Father and Son.  As the God of glory who reveals, the Holy Spirit ministers or has ministered in the other following areas:

The Incarnation
When we say "incarnation", we are referring to the event in which Christ entered into the womb of the virgin Mary and took upon Himself a human nature, literally "being made human flesh".  The term "incarnation" comes from two Latin words: "en" meaning "in" and "carnos"  meaning "flesh".   In a manner that is still more mystery than a known step by step way, the Holy Spirit "hovered" or "overshadowed" Mary, making it possible in history and time for the Eternal Son to become a man.  As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:6, the glory of God is revealed on the face of Jesus Christ. 

Creation
In Genesis 1:1-2 we read of the "Spirit of God" hovering over the waters.  Whenever we see the Spirit hovering over anything in scripture, the idea is to bring forth either life or to manifest the glory of God (or in the case of the incarnation, both).  The Holy Spirit is the Lord and giver of life.  Without Him, life on this planet would not be possible. (Compare Psalm 104:30).

Evangelism
It is the Holy Spirit who applies the salvation accomplished by Christ and planned by God the Father.  It is He, the God of glory, who calls men and women to Christ, convicting and effecting them with the gift of firm persuasion (faith). It is the Spirit who convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.  The Holy Spirit, as God, has ordained Christian people to be the means by which this gospel is brought to lost sinners, in order to accomplish His end: convicting, calling and convincing the sinner of their need for Christ.  No evangelism can be done without the Holy Spirit.

When we think about the Spirit's work in these three areas, we can see how they are all connected.  Because the Holy Spirit works in evangelism to bring forth life out of the sinner's spiritually dead human heart, they in turn are able to see Jesus Christ as the Creator whom they have offended, and the Savior who became a man to save them, and thus believe on Him. (Please compare John 1:12-13; Ephesians 2:1-10)

The Holy Spirit - His Ministry through the Bible

Quick Review
Having seen the Deity and Personality of the Holy Spirit, we now move to the ministries  of the Spirit of God.  To quickly remind the reader of our central points about the Holy Spirit:

1. He has a Personality - mind, emotions and will
2. He alone is able to fully reveal the infinite (without beginning and ending) God the Son, who infinitely, visibly reveals the invisible, infinite, God the Father.
3. Any person who can infinitely reveal an infinite person is Himself infinite (without beginning and ending)
4. Thus The Son and Holy Spirit have the same, Divine, infinite nature as God the Father.
5. Thus since anything that is infinite cannot be divided up into smaller pieces, we can truly say then that the One God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

It is this set of assumptions that give the background for understanding how God the Holy Spirit calls lost sinners and ministers daily to Christians.  We will now briefly look at the Holy Spirit's work in revealing the scriptures.The God of Glory in RevelationPaul writes in Ephesians 1:18 - "¹⁷That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:  ¹⁸The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints".   The "spirit of wisdom and revelation" should be capitalized.  Only by the Spirit of God affecting our understanding, or "quickening us to see" God and His truth will there be any true love for Jesus Christ.  Under this general heading of the Spirit's work of revelation, theologians identify three "sub-ministries". The first two are complete, and the last one is vital for Christians today.

THE HOLY SPIRIT'S REVELATION OF SCRIPTURE  TO THE PROPHETS AND APOSTLESPeter reminds us that it was the Holy Spirit who spoke to the prophets of old, revealing to them the otherwise unrevealed riches of God's will in the scriptures (1 Peter 1:11-12; 2 Peter 1:21). 

THE HOLY SPIRIT'S INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE THROUGH THE PROPHETS AND APOSTLESOnce the Holy Spirit revealed a given truth to a prophet or apostle, the author's own words and writing style would be used by God to compose error free documents called the scriptures.  This process, whereby the Holy Spirit "breathed" out these scriptures through the pens of the human authors is what we call "inspiration" (literally God breathed). (compare 2 Timothy 3:16-17) 

THE HOLY SPIRIT'S ILLUMINATION OF SCRIPTURE TO CHRISTIANS TODAYOnce the scriptures were complete, Christians of every age would use them as the standard books by which they would know and live out the will of God.  The Holy Spirit, in every true Christian, enables understanding of the scriptures.  This ministry is called "illumination" (see 1 Corinthians 2:14-16).  It must be made clear that there are no "new revelations" or "no new inspired writings" flying off of the presses of heaven.  Scripture is complete, without error and never to be added to.  However the Spirit is all the time shedding light on the meaning of the text.  It is vital for Christians everywhere to read, study and think on the scriptures.  It is through them we receive illumination to live by. (compare 1 Peter 2:1-2)

Who is the Holy Spirit? - His Personality

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 ⁴ “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! ⁵ You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Matthew 28:19-20 ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

GOD IN US, WITH US AND ABOVE US
As we consider the God of the Bible, biblical testimony reveals that God is One in existence and three in identity. The Holy Spirit, who will be the focus of today's blog, is for the Christian "God in us".  God the Father is "God above us", unseen, dwelling in thick darkness, immortal and invisible (Jude 24-25).  God the Son is God with us, visibly revealing the Father, fully divine and completely human (John 1:14,18). God the Holy Spirit is in scripture the Third Person of the Trinity who comes to indwell the Christian at salvation (John 16:17).

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY "PERSON"?
Personhood is that quality of a living being that includes the conscious expression of intellect, emotion and will.  The Holy Spirit has emotions, being that He can be grieved by our sin (Ephesians 4:30).  We also see that as the Spirit of revelation He has a mind by which to communicate and articulate Himself to Christians (Ephesians 1:18, 2 Peter 1:21). Finally, the Holy Spirit has a will by which He calls and gifts Christians in the church (Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 12,14).  Perhaps the greatest evidence of the Holy Spirit's personhood comes from the lips of Jesus Himself.  Time and time again Christ refers to the Holy Spirit as "He", not "it".  

HOW DOES THE SPIRIT'S PERSONALITY POINT TO HIS DEITY?
John 14:16 has Jesus stating - "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever".  The word "another" in this passage refers to "another of the same kind".  When Christ is speaking to his disciples, He is clearly explaining His Deity, being that to see Him is to see the Father (John 14:7).  In saying to the disciples He is going to "send another comforter", He is stating that the Father and He are going to send forth the third person of the Trinity who shares in their nature.  The logic of Jesus' statements can be summarized below:
1. The Father is God(John 14:1)
2. To see and believe Jesus is to see and believe in God (John 14:1, 7)
3. The Holy Spirit is "another of the same kind" as Jesus Christ (John 14:16)
4. Thus the Holy Spirit is God, sharing in the same Deity as The Father and The Son (John 14:23)

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE PERSONAL GOD OF GLORY
The Holy Spirit is God who comes to the sinner, calling them to fall in love with God the Son.  In later blogs we will be exploring more about the God of Glory, the Holy Spirit, "God in us".