SEEING JESUS IN THE MIST

 

Seeing Jesus in the Mist

We talk about seeing Jesus in Old Testament shadows: through prophecy (such as Messianic Psalms, Messianic predictions, etc.), typology (such as the tree of life, Adam, Noah’s ark, the rainbow, prophets, priests, kings, prefigurations, Theophanies/Christophanies, the Angel of the LORD, etc.). Jesus is the Word of God who is revealed in the Word of God, which includes the forty-nine books of the Old Testament. Jesus says of the Old Testament Scriptures, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life” (John 5:39-40).

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If we set our myopic proof-text hermeneutic to one side, and instead simply observe the Word interpreting His own Word, are we able to see the preincarnate Jesus in places, for example, such as the One who walked in the garden in the cool of the day? Or, how about the following, “Before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground” (Gen. 2:5-6). Are we able to see the Word of God, Jehovah Elohim, in the mist?

One has a picture in mind here of “Old Faithful” in Yellowstone National Park. Did the mist that went up come from a geyser? The NIV notes that the word “mist” can also be translated as “streams”, “but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground” (NIV). Is this what Jesus is referring to where He says, “The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him” (John 7:38, CSB). Is this view strengthened by Isaiah where he speaks of “a watered garden”, “The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail” (Isa, 58:11). Of course, it could also refer to the river flowing out of Eden. “Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads” Gen. 2:10). However, the point we are making is that we’re asking if it is possible to see Jesus in the mist or streams? Though both translations are acceptable, we prefer the word mist over streams.

Scottish novelists such as Sir Walter Scott and Nigel Tranter did much to romanticise the Clan McGregor as the “Children of the Mist.” One can picture Rob Roy McGregor disappearing into the mist with the redcoats in hot pursuit! However, are we able to see Jesus appearing in the mist?

Notice what the mist is about. It was to water “the whole face of the ground.” What for? It was to prepare the ground for the creation of a man, for up until then, there had been “no man to till the ground” (Gen. 2:5). “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7). Adam is a true child of the mist! Do you now see the Word who was to become flesh beginning to appear in the mist? “And so it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45). So, we see that it is still all about Jesus.

All the plants and herbs of the field were in relation to Adam’s creation. They were to be his food supply. “And God said, ‘See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food’” (Gen. 1:29). While he was obedient to God, life was easy. After his disobedience, “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life” (Gen. 3:17). With the plants and herbs of the field in mind, look at this reference to the last Adam, “For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground” (Isa. 53:2). Whereas with Adam, the ground becomes dry and dusty, with Jesus, “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.” (Isa. 35:1a, NIV).

The mist made the ground moist. The body weight of humans is a rough average of 55 to 60 percent water. Like a potter with wet clay, “The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.” It is little wonder that the last Adam, ICHTHYS, like the proverbial fish out of water, while gasping for air on the cross, said, “I thirst!” (John 19:28).

Seeing Jesus in the First Man

If we want to know what Adam looked like before the fall, then Jesus is our paradigm. “Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity … yet without sin” (Heb. 2:14a, NIV, 4:15b, NKJV). Indeed, it is because of our fall into sin that we need God’s written Word, like a shortsighted man needs his spectacles. Sin has entered into every aspect of our being, body and soul and spirit. Therefore, that is why we’ve to be using the Bible to be “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2a).

Luke traces Jesus’s genealogy all the way back to Adam. “…Adam, the son of God” (Luke 3:38b). When God looked into the face of Adam as He created him, He too was “looking unto Jesus.” For creation and the creation of man were in preparation for the future. E.g., “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14, NIV).

Jesus is the One of whom the Father said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). The Father loves His Son, who is His perfect yet distinct image. The Father, the Creator, created creation for His own glory, yes, for His Son to dwell in with His bride. His Son is His glory. “Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory, the glory You have given Me because You loved Me before the creation of the world” (John 17:24, NIV). Thus, the first Adam was created in the image of the last Adam. With the mist in the garden in mind, “And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” (Mark 9:7). Therefore, in answer to our question what is man? We answer, Jesus!

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            Let’s not forget Israel fleeing the Egyptians in hot pursuit and the baptism of men, women, and children of Israel who crossed the Red Sea on dry land, “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Cor. 10:1-2). Yes, the “Children of the Mist” indeed!

Jesus is the LORD God of whom the writer to the Hebrews says, “You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands” (Heb. 1:10). “But one testified in a certain place, saying: ‘What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You take care of him? You have made him a little lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet.’ For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone” (Heb. 2:6-9). Matthew Henry comments on these verses as they apply to Jesus

 

As applied to the Lord Jesus Christ, and the whole that is here said can be applied only to him, v. 8, 9. The moving cause of all the kindness God shows to men is the grace of God. The fruits of this free grace of God is that God crowned the human nature of Christ with glory and honour, in his being perfectly holy; that by his sufferings he might make satisfaction, tasting death for every man. As a reward of his humiliation in suffering death, he was crowned with glory and honour.[1]

It is noted that the Cultural Mandate is in view here and that it is presently gradually being fulfilled by Jesus through His disciples. His Church on earth consists of those believing men, women, and their children. Like those who were baptised in the cloud and the sea, these are to be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 10:48).

The mist that made the ground moist from which God gave birth to Adam, is seen once more in the poured out or sprinkled water of baptism, representing rebirth, as in being born from above, which happens whenever the Spirit of Christ is pleased to come upon you to sprinkle you with the shed blood of Christ and to breathe the breath of everlasting life into you.

We see Jesus in the mist when we see that the mist was in preparation for the creation of Adam, who was the image of the Word, who says, “he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me” (John 12:45). When Adam opened his eyes upon his creation he saw Jesus clearly in the mist. May the Spirit of Jesus enable us to likewise see Him.    

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[1] Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary in One Volume, (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1961), 1912.

LOT'S LOTTERY

 LOT’S LOTTERY

“Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan.” Genesis 13:11a.

Introduction

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            Have you ever thought about how many decisions you have to make in a lifetime? What colour of socks to put on, what breakfast cereal to eat, which woman to marry. We must make literally millions of decisions over a lifetime. How do you know if your decision is a wise one or not? It’s especially hard to make a wise decision in those areas where God cuts you lots of slack. God doesn’t tell you which socks to put on, which cereal to eat. However, there are some decisions in life which clearly demand a bit more thought.

There is a major decision confronting Lot. So, it will do us good to investigate what’s going on here. There was a bit of strife happening between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s. So Abram, the father of the faithful, put a proposition to Lot. “Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me, if you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left” (Gen. 13:9).

“Okay Lot, my nephew”, says Abram. “Which hand do you want – left or right? It’s your decision.” Lot’s going to have to live with what he chooses. He is going to have to live with the consequences of his decision.

There they are in the Promised Land. The land is still full of false-god-worshipping, child-sacrificing, sodomizing non-Christians. Do you get the picture? So, you would think that Lot would seek wisdom as to what to do. It would seem that he was too quick to saddle up the horses and hitch up the wagon train. Think carefully before you make a life decision as you may live to regret it.

Choosing

“Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan.” Why did Lot choose what he chose? Well, first off let’s see if we can figure out how this situation arose. We need to know why Lot had to make his choice. We know that there was a bit of friction between Abram’s men and Lot’s men.  And we’re told back in Genesis 13:6 that the land was not able to support them. Both Abram and Lot had great possessions, we’re told. It’s like when you or I collect that much stuff that we’ve got nowhere to store it. So we need to get a bigger house for all our stuff.

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        When Dorothy and I were first married we bought a small house. I remember thinking to myself, as I drove the little rental removal van, “We don’t have very much stuff. Everything I possess can be packed into one tiny little van!” When we moved from Brisbane to Hobart, Tasmania we needed a much bigger van. And then when we moved back to Brisbane, we needed an even bigger van again. But Abram and Lot have got that much stuff that a huge tract of land is not able to support them.

So, what is really going on here, what’s at the back of all this? So what if there’s a bit of strife between Abram’s men and Lot’s men? Couldn’t they have just ordered their men to stop fighting or be fired? Couldn’t they have just got rid of some of their stuff so that the land could support them? What was really happening here? Well, sometimes we get so caught up in things that we forget to look at God. What did the LORD say to Abram as recorded in Genesis 12:1? “Get out of your country, from your kindred and from your father’s house to a land I will show you.” Abram bought his kindred with him, didn’t he? He brought his father who died back in Haran.  And he brought his nephew Lot. Kindred. Abram loved his nephew Lot a lot. He loved him enough to risk his own life for him. But how much did Lot love his uncle Abe?

At this time Abram wanted Lot to split. Do we hear Lot make a heart-rending plea to Abram like Ruth to Naomi? “Entreat me not to leave you or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go I will go and wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people and your God, my God. Where you die I will die and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts you and me” (Ruth 1:16-17). Is this how Lot felt about Abram? Lot and Abram had so much stuff that even the lush green land couldn’t support them. Ruth and Naomi had nothing. They were in a barren land in the middle of a severe famine. Ruth lifted her voice and wept. Did Lot lift up his voice and weep at the thought of being separated from his uncle? “And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as you go towards Zoar.”

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            Lot saw that the land was like the delta of Egypt, fertile as anything. “I’ll have that,” he said like one of those people on a game show, you know, where all this stuff is paraded before your eyes on a conveyer belt. “Gimme the fridge, the antique clock, the stereo, the TV!” The Price is Right or is it? It all might look pleasant to the eyes, but what about the soul – your soul? The heavy choices you make have to be made with your eternal soul in view, and we’re not talking about those neutral things like fridges and clocks and stereos. We’re talking about the mechanisms behind our decision making. We’re talking about the impulses in your soul which cause you to choose the things you choose.

So then, why did Lot choose what he chose?  What caused him to make the decision he made? Did the devil make him do it? Was he free to choose the left hand or the right? Of course he was. But does sin and our sinful nature have any bearing on our decisions?

When we lived in Canada, we used to get the odd postcard from Dorothy’s brother who lived in Brisbane. There I was digging through ten feet of snow so that the mailman could deliver to our house. We’d get these photographs of Dorothy’s brother on the Gold Coast or somewhere, sun, sand, surf, and palm trees! I’d like to say we came to Australia as missionaries or something. But instead, I have to say that I just wanted to come in out of the cold!

Was Australia noted for its exemplary ethics and moral behaviour? Was it a land that honoured the living God? Did I really care about these things? As the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was pleasant to the eyes, so the land of the Bronzed Emu and the Red Kangaroo was pleasant to my eyes. We flew south-west into the sunset. Lot journeyed east towards the sunrise. Lot chose what he chose to satisfy his flesh and not his soul. Lot was looking at the temporal and not the spiritual. He was looking after his own “felt needs.”

At the time of Christ, Jerusalem was crawling with men called Pharisees. Pharisees were the all-time experts at looking out for number one. Pharisees could take something spiritual, like God’s Moral Law, and use it for their own selfish gain. The Moral Law is the God-given guide on how to love God and your neighbour as yourself. The Pharisees used the Law as a back scratcher with which to pat themselves on the back. The Pharisees were oblivious to the spiritual nature of the Law. Their actions betrayed the deadness of their hearts. They didn’t even keep God’s Law outwardly, so you’ll have to look elsewhere for an example of that.

As Jesus said to the Pharisee Nicodemus, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” It stands to reason therefore that if one is born again one can see the kingdom of Satan. If you can see the kingdom of God in the world, by way of contrast, you can see the kingdom of Satan. But in order to see the kingdom of God you must look for it. You must seek it and its righteousness. Therefore, you have to look deep into things.

Lot just had a superficial look, “Looks good, let’s go!” Abram had his eyes on the kingdom of God. He let Lot do the choosing. He knew that whatever Lot chose would be fine with him. But more than that, Abram knew it would be fine with God. For Abram knows that, “All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).

By doing what he did, Abram was making his calling and election sure. As the Apostle Peter writes, “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1:10-11).

        Abram was getting the hang of it, but Lot, it would seem, had a lot more to learn. Take the Pharisees for instance. When the Pharisees looked at the Law of God, they saw only tablets of stone. Therefore, their hard-hearted actions betrayed what they saw. They weren’t looking at, nor could they see, the Spirit in the writing on the stone. “Looks good! Let’s go!” said the Pharisees, but their souls were like dried walnuts, and they had rocks in their heads, because that is all they saw. They weren’t looking at the kingdom of heaven. They needed the Spirit in their hearts in order to discern things of a spiritual nature, such as the Decalogue.

But just because you’re a Christian doesn’t mean you won’t have the odd rock rattling around in your head. Look at Lot! But it does mean that you can make choices with the Kingdom of Heaven in view. However, sometimes we get distracted with the things of the world like Lot, especially those things that are pleasant to the eyes, like the well-watered plains of the Jordan, like Tasmania or sunny Queensland! But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

Beware of getting it the wrong way round, because it will affect all your decision-making, because you make all your choices according to what you see. You’ll always win in the end if you make your choices with the glory of God in mind. Because even your wrong decisions, those decisions that seemed so right at the time, those choices that brought you nothing but hardship, will have come from a pure heart. But know this, that in any resulting hardship, your conscience will be clear. Why? Because you made your choice with the glory of God in mind, the Kingdom of Heaven at heart. But if you make your decisions any other way you choose, then you lose. Because, as Jesus said when He rebuked Peter, “You are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (Matt. 16:23b).

So then, Lot is behaving a wee bit like a Pharisee might behave. As he gazed at the Jordan Valley, he saw only the temporal and not the spiritual. Do we see any indication that Lot put God and his neighbour, even his uncle, first? No. What about Abram? Did Abram put God and his neighbour first? Of course he did. But Lot was putting himself and his own wellbeing first, wasn’t he? The proverbial juicy carrot was dangled before him and he went for it. And in so doing he was playing a game of chance, a game of Lotto.

Losing.

           The choice was easy. It was a simple little choice. Choose which hand you want, the right hand or the left? Choose which tree you want, the tree of life, or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, before you do, remember that you’ll be stuck with the consequences of your decision.

Lot played the game of Lotto and he lost. Why did he lose? It’s all to do with the LORD, isn’t it? It’s all to do with providence of God’s invisible hand. Lot wasn’t making a minor decision here, “Should I put on my blue socks, or just keep on the one’s I’ve got on?” Lot knew all about God calling Abram. He knew all about God appearing to Abram. He knew all about the famine God sent upon the Promised Land. He knew all about God plaguing Pharaoh’s house on account of Sarai. He knew all about God delivering Abram and Sarai out of the land of Egypt. So why didn’t Lot say to Abraham, “Let’s take this matter before the LORD”? Why didn’t he head toward the altar Abram had built and seek an audience with the LORD? Do you think that perhaps Lot was a spiritually dead man at this point? Well, you should note that Genesis 13:8 mentions the strife that was between Abram’s men and Lot’s men. Abram was head and representative of one house, and Lot was the head and representative of the other.  But there is no mention of any strife between Abram and Lot. In fact, if you look at the end of Genesis 13:8 you’ll see that Abram says to Lot, “We are brethren.”

Now, it’s quite possible that Abram was saying to Lot, “We are brothers, we are relatives, we are kindred, therefore let us not fight.” This would of course fit with what the LORD said to Abram in Genesis 12:1, “Get out of your country, from your kindred.” And, make no mistake, God is separating Abram from his flesh and blood kindred, i.e., Lot. But let it be known that Abram and Lot are also kindred in spirit. They both serve the same God, i.e., the LORD who called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans.

And we won’t get into a debate as to when Lot was converted. Second Peter 2:8 tells us that Lot was “a righteous man.” Therefore, it is God’s invisible hand that is sovereignly separating Abram and Lot. He is doing so for a purpose to which neither Abram nor Lot are privy. God is working all things together for good and yet Lot is getting to make a choice with which he has to live. So again, we see the sovereignty of God in all things, and we see the responsibility of man for his own actions. And clearly Abram had a grasp of these deeper things of God. Abram could just about have written the Proverb which says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but it’s every decision is from the LORD” (Prov. 16:33).

        “Okay, Lot, if you choose the left hand, I’ll get the right. And if you choose the right then I’ll get the left. But whatever one you choose will be fine with me. Why? Well, whether you choose heads or tails, I win. God has already taken care of the decision!”

The LORD has already told Abram to separate from his kindred in blood. Therefore, Abram is simply being obedient to the revealed will of God. This is why Abram isn’t running around like an Ecumenical trying to keep everyone together at any and all costs. This passage helps us understand why the LORD permits so many different denominations in the church at large. The LORD would eventually split the descendants of Abram into twelve tribes.

Abram and Lot serve the same God, but the LORD would have them split like a cell and multiply – (Abram in particular). The LORD would eventually split Abraham’s descendants into twelve tribes. And since the time of the Reformation, we’ve seen the same thing in the Church – cells splitting and multiplying. But if you think that there can be no unity in plurality then you need to look again at the triune God, the God who is multiple Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but one God: Plurality in Unity.

There are many different denominations around today. And there are even denominations who deny that they are a denomination. We have been separated because there is strife among the brethren. It is paradoxical, I know, but all these separations are for the sake of unity, and of course it complicates the issue, when some denominations are sectarian. It’s a complex issue. But as did Abram and Lot, so all serve one and the same Master, albeit to a greater or lesser extent, as the case may be. Lot was far from perfect in his understanding, and so are some denominations!

Which of the two denominations would you align yourself with: Abram’s or Lot’s? Well, what were the Corinthians like? “I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas, I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 3:4). Then Paul asks if Christ is divided? And we have to reply, certainly not! Were Abram and Lot not following the same LORD? If Abram and Lot followed the same LORD and yet were separated by the LORD, what is wrong with having different denominations? The whole idea is that we all should follow Christ. But truth be known, like Abram and Lot, some have their eyes on the LORD more than others. Therefore, if you were going to align yourself with either Abram or Lot, you’d choose Abram. Why? Because he’s focused on the kingdom of God and not his own felt needs.

When Lot had a major decision to make, he forgot to include the LORD, it would seem.  He saw the things he wanted, and he sought after them with gay abandon. How many times have we rushed in because the place just looked so inviting? “Oh it’s the house of my dreams.” So, you buy it only to find that termites love the house too! It all looks good on the surface but lean upon a wall and your hand will go through it. “Oh let’s go to Australia. It’s so sunny there!” Then you learn about the major skin cancer problem! And you’re afraid to let your little kids go out in it. We have to live with the results of a bad decision: For better or for worse in sickness and in health.

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        I was one of those people who’re converted from time to time just from reading the Bible. As a brand-new baby Christian, the first choice I had to make was, which church? Which denomination, (or non-denomination as some like to style themselves)? I’ll have you know that it’s a minefield out there. Choose the wrong one and you could be a loser for the rest of your Christian life! You cannot just close your eyes and put your fingers in your ears and hope for the best. If you do that, you are in danger of killing yourself spiritually. How many Christians do you know who are still playing around in the shallow end when they should be deep-sea diving? How many are still on milk when they should be chewing solid food, (on the meat of the Word). How many are still chasing after “signs and wonders” when they should be looking at Christ? As a brand-new Christian, I even found myself in the Kingdom Hall of the so-called Jehovah’s Witnesses one Sunday. Brand new Christians have not got a clue! I know because I used to be one. What price might I have paid for that choice? God is gracious.

What was the price that Lot would have to pay for his choice? Let’s see, the Apostle Peter refers to Lot living among the depravity and debauchery of Sodomites in Sodom. Peter in 2 Peter 2:8 says of Lot, “For that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds.” As well as having to live with his own tormented soul, Lot would get to see the whole plain he chose, destroyed by fire and brimstone pouring out of heaven. Lot would get to see his own wife become a pillar of salt. His own two daughters would think nothing of indecently assaulting him! O Lot, it might look like the Garden of Eden with its four riverheads, but there’s a venomous serpent hanging from EVERY tree in this garden!

Lot don’t treat life as a lottery. Consider what might be the consequences of your action. Life is not a game of chance. It’s not Lot’s Lotto. Life is not, “Yez spin the wheel and yez take yer chances!” No! You seek the will of God for those weightier decisions.

Conclusion

Dear reader, search the Scriptures, for only fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Lot should have sought counsel instead of “Looks good! Let’s go!” Remember the forbidden fruit in the Garden. What looks like a pineapple may actually be a grenade! To sum it all up in a verse of Scripture, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Prov. 3:5-6).

Abram let Lot make the choice. He trusted in the LORD to make the right decision. Lot trusted his own understanding, and he lost out in the deal. Therefore, let us all think carefully before we make a life decision as we may live to regret it.

JESUS IN GENESIS - History

 

“This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground” Genesis 2:4-6.

Seeing Jesus in the History of Creation

        Christians delight in referring to history as His-story. Though the Father and the Spirit are involved in creating and sustaining creation, it is all in preparation for the Son “in the fulness of the time” to step into God’s creation as a man. As God used the dust of the earth to bring forth Adam, so God is going to use the dust of the earth in the form of a woman to bring forth the last Adam, Jesus. Yes, we have already looked at the ‘rebirth’ of Jesus when, just as the great fish “vomited” Jonah onto dry land, so the earth brought forth the resurrected Jesus. However, we are getting a little ahead of ourselves.

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        The history of creation week is all about Jesus. We now ask the question about when this took place. Should we presuppose that creation took place in accordance with ‘Big Bang’ cosmology or should we simply let the Word interpret His Word? Should we debate the age of the universe by introducing into the equation how long it might take light travelling from distant stars at the speed of light to reach the earth? This is what we mean be presuppositions. Should we listen to the Light of the World, Jesus, who was there in the beginning, or should we listen to the speculations of fallen human beings? The Word created light in the beginning. Therefore, He ought to know the history of creation week. The Word interprets His-story.

 

According to the Old Testament historian Alfred Edersheim, using the Biblical chronology, Bishop Ussher dates the year of creation (at least the creation of man) as 4004 BC. Therefore barely 6,000 years have passed since God formed man from the dust of the ground. Ussher’s chronology is the view held by Christian orthodoxy (to which we adhere).[1] 

Notice, in the following, that Jesus is referring to Genesis 1:27 and 5:2 where He says, “But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female’” (Mark 10:6). Also, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female’” (Matt. 19:4). Using the Word to interpret the Word, we see that human beings were created when creation began, albeit of the sixth day of formation. Thus, the first humans walked on Earth just over 6,000 years ago, when God brought creation into existence from nothing.

Some Christians and others work on the presupposition of “The Gap Theory” as they try to accommodate the presuppositions of the long ages needed by Evolutionary Science, which is simply Evolutionary Philosophy by another name. Whereas the Bible gives us the history of creation, Evolutionary Science presents hypotheticals. So, history or hypothesis?

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            The Gap Theory ought not to be confused with “the God of the Gaps” hypothesis used by Evolutionists to disparage and debunk the Bible. The God of the Gaps, like a silicone advertised as “no more gaps”, seeks to inject God into those so called gaps of human understanding where science, unlike Sherlock Holmes, is unable to supply a rational reason for a phenomenon. The “Big Bang Theory” would fit this bill. Instead of “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”, “Big Bang” ideology posits instead that “In the beginning there was nothing. This nothing exploded and became something.” Enter the silicone god and use it to fill in the blanks.

It can easily be seen that the followers of Jesus do not presuppose that there was nothing in the beginning. Rather, they presuppose that Jesus is the Truth. Therefore, they would rather trust the words of the One who was there in the beginning over the speculations of those who attempt to make Jesus out as a liar. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Say no to the God of the Gaps, as if the increase in scientific knowledge somehow is directly proportionate to the decrease of our need for God, as if it were not the Word who is “upholding all things by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:3), as if it were not “in Him all things consist” (Col. 1:17).

Whereas Christians do science, any science, presupposing that God is, Evolutionary Science presupposes that God is not. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Rom. 1:20-21). However, as Christians, “We know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20).

At least the Gap Theory attempts to use the Bible to support its hypothesis, as opposed to ignoring the Biblical record. The Gap Theory uses word plays utilising “replenish” in the following verses of Genesis. Do you remember the Cultural Mandate? “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (Gen. 1:28). Thus, mankind was to replenish the earth. Also, Genesis 5:1, “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” (Gen. 9:1).

In English, the prefix re- gives the idea of doing something over again as in restoring something that was lost to return it to its former state. However, the original Hebrew word is more to do with furnishing and filling as in fulfilling the Cultural Mandate than recovering something that was lost. This is why most Bible translations, unlike the 1611 KJV, use the word “fill” rather than the confusing word “replenish”. Keep in mind that there is no hint of any previous death and destruction in any of the days of creation. “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day” (Gen. 1:31).

We’ve already touched on redemption above and therefore should easily see how the misapplied word “replenish” has more to do with redemption than the intention of fulfilling the Cultural Mandate. We learn about the need for redemption only when God says to Adam in Genesis 3, “Cursed is the ground for your sake.” The apostle refers to this where he says, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope” (Rom. 8:20). Our hope is in the One whom the history of creation is about, i.e., the Word who became also flesh, the One whom Job put his trust in, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me” (Job 19:25-27, KJV).

        Yes, like Job, we are happy with the word “resurrection”, (from re-, “again,” and surgere, “to rise”) but not so happy with the word “replenished” as it can be easily misunderstood and used to support the “Gap Theory”, which feeds right into the Theory of Evolution, indeed, so much so, that there are Christians who straddle both camps. These halfway house Christians are called Theistic Evolutionists. Yeah, “Mind the Gap”, with one foot on the train and the other on the platform when the doors are closing, it is best to make one’s mind up whether one is boarding or getting off. I saw Jesus on the train and waved the Theory of Evolution goodbye from the platform as I boarded.

Seeing Jesus in the History of Special Revelation

As Reformed, and as already mentioned, we do not subscribe to the Biblicist position. Therefore, we do not ignore and dismiss out of hand legitimate scientific findings. However, they need to be tested by the Word speaking in Scripture.

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        To change the analogy from a train to a plane, Biblical Theology and Systematic Theology are copilots. Whereas Systematic Theology organizes the teachings of Scripture into categories, Biblical Theology is about the progressive unfolding of God’s revelation. The thirty-three chapters of the Westminster Confession of Faith are a general example of the former. However, Biblical Theology “consists in the approbation of that supernatural process by which God has made Himself the object of our knowledge.”[2]

Whereas Evolutionist Theory operates outside of Biblical revelation, Theological Liberalism seeks to remove the supernatural from Scripture. Thus, both function in accordance with Atheistic assumptions. Their presuppositions deny the truth of Scripture. However, whereas Theological Liberalism sees the Bible as man searching for God, Biblical Theology views the Bible as the “History of Special Revelation”, as Geerhardus Vos preferred to call it.

When was the beginning of the history of special revelation? “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Therefore, Christians believe it as true history coming from God and not something fabricated by mankind, such as the Theory of Evolution. We are simply trying to see the Word in God’s revelation in the early chapters of Genesis.

Notice in the following verses that God reveals a little more of Himself to us. He is the LORD God.  “This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground” (Gen. 2:4-6).

The Authorised Version offers some help to us here with the “LORD God”, “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven” (Gen. 2:4, ASV). The Lexam English Bible too, “These are the generations of heaven and earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made earth and heaven” (Gen. 2:4, LEB). So, the LORD God is Yahweh God or the more familiar Jehovah God, which means the same. The name Jehovah makes us think of the old William Williams hymn, 

        Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,

        pilgrim through this barren land;
        I am weak, but Thou art mighty;
        hold me with Thy powerful hand;

        Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven,
        feed me till I want no more,
        feed me till I want no more.

Some versions changed the first line to, "Guide me, O my great Redeemer." Who is the great Redeemer? The LORD God, i.e., Jehovah Elohim! “Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (Titus 2:13-14). Says Matthew Henry on Genesis 2:4,

 

Here is a name given to the Creator which we have not yet met with, and that is Jehovah – the LORD, in capital letters, which are constantly used in our English translation to intimate that in the original it is Jehovah. All along, in the first chapter, He is called Elohim – a God of power; but now Jehovah Elohim – a God of power and perfection, a finishing God. Jehovah is that great and incommunicable name of God which denotes His having His being of Himself, and His giving being to all things.

In the Greek New Testament Jesus is the same Jehovah Elohim as found in the Old Testament Hebrew. However, He is referred to as Kurios which is usually translated from the Greek as Lord. He is the Κύριος ὁ θεός, the Lord God, in the following verse, “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (Rev. 1:8, NIV). Therefore, because we are treating the Bible as the history of revelation, we are not misusing Biblical Theology to see Jesus in Genesis. Therefore, from the time history began, Jesus has been Jehovah. He is Jehovah Elohim, the LORD God.

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[1] Even if you challenge the total accuracy of Ussher, his chronological calculations at the very least demonstrate that the earth’s formation took place thousands, not billions or even millions, of years ago. Quoted from Neil Cullan McKinlay and D. Rudi Schwartz, The Unfaithful Bride and The Faithful Groom (Weemac Publishing, Queensland, 2023), 435.

[2] Geerhardus Vos, The Idea of Biblical Theology as a Science and as a Theological Discipline, 3.

CULTURE CONFLICT

 

CULTURE CONFLICT

“There was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock” Genesis 13:7.

Introduction

            You may be familiar with some of the TV programs that came out of the 50s. “Leave It to Beaver” and that kind of thing, the almost too-good-to-be-true family shows. And what about all those TV Westerns from the 50s? The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates in Rawhide. We’ve all, no doubt, seen or at least have heard of these programs, if not in the original, then as syndicated reruns.

The TV stations tend to show them when they’re not concerned about ratings. Anyhow, if you’re familiar with the likes of “Rawhide” or “Wagon Train” you won’t find it too hard to get a rough picture of what’s happening in the text before us. In today’s terms, Abraham is bringing Western Culture, i.e., civilization, into a pagan land. Or, if you want to use the imagery of the old TV westerns, what we see before us is the start of ‘How the West was Won.’ This is the beginning of the winning of the West. The wagon trains are coming with families. They’re coming to settle the land. They’re coming to cultivate it, to subdue it. They’re bringing their domesticated livestock. They are opening up a new frontier. They are bringing “culture” into an uncultured place. And why shouldn’t they? It’s a Biblical thing to do.

Abram and his entourage, his “wagon train,” are simply being obedient to the LORD. As we’ve seen already it was the LORD who actually brought Abram to this land. And the LORD always acts according to His own will. And when Abram ‘up and left’ his home in Ur of the Chaldeans, he was simply acting according to the will of God.

Galatians 3:8 states clearly that Abram had heard the Gospel. How else could he be saved? Therefore, Abram was being obedient to the Gospel of God as it had been revealed at that time. (Yes, of course, we have to bear in mind that Abram didn’t have a copy of the New Testament with him) but as we follow Abram’s life, you’ll begin to see Gospel patterns and images more and more.

You’ll begin to see how the beginning connects with the middle and the end. In other words, you’ll begin to see more of the magnitude of the Gospel of God. You’ll see that what God did through Christ at Calvary is still being worked out in the world today. As Paul says to the Romans, “We know that all things work together for good to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).

Abram has been called out of Ur of the Chaldeans according to the eternal purpose of God. And we see that God is doing a great deal of preliminary work in and through the life of Abram. Since Abraham has been given the title “father of believers” one would expect his children to follow in their father’s footsteps somewhat. So, we should expect to see with Abram, albeit in embryonic form, something of what we as the Church, Abraham’s children, are expected to do today. We have the same Master. We follow the same LORD who never changes. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever

In the following we meet Abram after his escapade in Egypt. He has returned to the LORD and to the Promised Land with great riches. And he is now, once again, seeking to be fully obedient to the Gospel.

Now, Abram and all his followers, whether wittingly or not, at this point in time, are simply being obedient to the “Cultural Mandate.” So, as they used to say in the old westerns from the 50s, “meanwhile back at the ranch.”

We pick up the story of Abraham as he moves into the great frontier. We know that he’s already seen some of this frontier land. And you’ll remember that the LORD had sent a famine on this same land. And Abraham went down into Egypt to escape the drought. But now he is obedient once again to God and His Cultural Mandate, i.e., the Gospel.

So in the following we’re going to look at a couple of things in our text: Culture and Conflict. We’ll look at these in their Biblical and historical context, while at the same time we’ll apply what we learn to ourselves as the Church in the World today.

The general theme of the following is: Christianity is the highest form of culture, but Gospel obedience means conflict!

Culture

First thing we need to do is define what we mean by culture. The word “culture” has been misused and abused almost beyond recognition nowadays. I don’t mean to bore you with detail, but this is important. My dictionary defines the word “culture” something like this:

1. The cultivation of plants or animals, esp. to IMPROVE the breed.

2. The development, and refinement of MIND, MORALS, or taste.

3. The condition thus produced; refinement.

4. A specific stage in the development of a civilization.

5. Cultivation of the soil.

Therefore, for something to be “cultured”, that something has to have been developed or refined somewhat. By definition, then, a thing has to be cultivated before it can be called “cultured.” For instance, if you were to come across a bunch of people somewhere who had next to no morals, you’d say that they were uncultured. You would say that they were uncivilized. Therefore, it’s all to do with obedience to God.

Wherever there is obedience to God there, too, is culture or civilization. Therefore, the degree of culture or civilization in any society is directly proportionate to the degree of obedience to God. The Ancient Greeks, for instance, had a great civilization or culture, but only in so far as it measured up to the Law of God, i.e. the 10 Commandments. And we know that all mankind has God’s Law written on their hearts (Rom. 2:15). Adultery, in the forms of fornication and homosexuality were apparently rife in ancient Greece. Greece met its downfall, as did ancient Rome after it because of this uncivilized behaviour. It would seem that God puts up with this kind of thing only for so long!

We see our culture, Western Society and Civilization going the same way. The West was won by the Gospel, not the gun, though many of our forefathers were persecuted and even martyred for the Faith. However, Western Society is now becoming less civilized as the Gospel is increasingly covered over by the settling dust of secular humanistic rhetoric.

            There is a dust encrusted Bible in many-an Australian home but the less it is read and obeyed, the more these homes will produce uncivilized offspring. Abraham, himself tended toward uncivilized behaviour by going down into Egypt. And we saw before that Abram tempted Pharaoh also to behave in an uncivilized manner by saying that Sarah was only his sister and not his wife.

To be truly civilized is to have good morals both inwardly and outwardly. To be truly civilized is to show obedience to God, whether wittingly or unwittingly. But now Abram is once again being obedient to God’s Cultural Mandate. His house is multiplying with people. However, none of them are from his own loins – yet.

You are familiar with the Cultural Mandate? Here’s a reminder. The Cultural Mandate is of course recorded for us in Genesis 1:28, “Then God blessed them [i.e., mankind], and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over every living thing that moves on the earth.” The command or mandate is given again to Noah and his family after the Flood as they stepped out of the ark. Genesis 9:1-3, “So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.”

So then, God commands us to multiply in numbers and fill the earth and subdue it to God’s glory. However, the tendency is for us to cluster in great cities and live on top of each other. The first great city like this in the Bible was Babel and you all know the story of the great Tower. God confused the languages then, and scattered mankind all over the earth. Therefore, we see that when man refuses to obey the Cultural Mandate, God intervenes.

Directly connected to the Cultural Mandate is the “Great Commission” Where the Cultural Mandate is general, the Great Commission is specific or particular. But in the Great Commission, as in the Cultural Mandate, people are to be obedient and are to go forth and multiply.

An almost entirely overlooked aspect of the Great Commission is the fact that the Church is to multiply her numbers through godly offspring. Few Christians, it would seem, see any connection between the Cultural Mandate and the Great Commission. They forget that their children belong to the Church every bit as much as they do. But as we obey the Cultural Mandate/Great Commission, we are to teach others to be obedient too. We are to baptize and to teach our children to obey and we are to baptize and to teach the nations to obey.

The Church is to be a light on the hill, the salt of the earth. She is to set the good example, as we shall see in our father Abraham, and as we see most clearly in Jesus Christ. For Jesus says in Matthew 28:19ff., “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, TEACHING THEM TO OBEY ALL THINGS I HAVE COMMANDED YOU...” So we see that it’s the role of the Christian Church not only to be obedient to the LORD ourselves but also to teach the nations to likewise be obedient to Christ and His Gospel commandments.

And before we move into our second and final point, let’s summarize: The Cultural Mandate is God’s command to all mankind to obediently go forth and multiply and subdue the earth to the glory of God. The Cultural Mandate is given generally to all mankind whereas the Great Commission is given specifically to the Church. When we look at Abram we see the beginning of the transition from the general to the specific or particular.

Abram’s offspring would become as numerous as the stars in heaven, the sand of the sea. In Abram God is beginning to form a new people who will one day be whole-heartedly obedient to His Cultural Mandate as expressed in the Great Commission. Culture, then, has everything to do with obedience to God – i.e., doing God’s will. Culture, then, has to do with morals – keeping God’s Moral Law, i.e., His Ten Commandments.

Conflict

If Christianity is the highest form of culture, then Gospel obedience will mean conflict. It stands to reason then that wherever Christians are obedient to the Gospel there will be conflict. As pictured in the 50s westerns, families who were united to other families with their domesticated livestock were moving into new frontiers. The wagon trains formed circles of defense against attacks from the natives on the land – conflict! Likewise, the Church forms a line of gospel defense against pagan attack. When the civilized meet with the uncivilized, when culture meets non-culture, when the Church meets with the world, she meets with conflict.

No doubt you’ve heard the expression, “Christians are to be in the world, but not of the world”? Well, we see clearly that Abram was in the world but not of the world. We’re told in Genesis 13:7b that “The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land.” These were the epitome of depravity. They were uncultured, uncivilized. They were unchristian! However, Abram was different. He was walking in the Spirit not the flesh. He was walking with the true God who had revealed Himself to Abram, the God who had given him revelation.

So Abram, as it were, has ordered his wagons to form a circle. In Genesis 13:4b we read, “And there Abram called on the name of the LORD.” This, of course, doesn’t mean that he ran around calling out, “LORD! LORD!” Rather it means that he began to truly worship God in spirit and in truth. Jesus says, “Where two or three are gathered in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). And since we are told in Acts 4:12, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved,” then Christ was present with them by His Spirit in the Promised Land.

The pagans all around followed their perverted religions – ‘heathen-anity’ or ‘pagananity.’ In other words, non-Christians were in the land. But as King David wrote in the Shepherd’s Psalm, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” Heathenism and Paganism, i.e., false religion, the worshipers of false god’s are enemies of Christ. Abram, like the Church today, was in the presence of his enemies.

The natives were in direct violation of at least the first two commandments: 1. You shall have no other gods before Me. 2. You shall not make for yourself any carved image. The natives, the indigenous people, or if you will, the Indians who lived in Canaan, followed a false religion and worshipped false gods. And as we shall see some other time, if you will, the Plains Indians, i.e., those Canaanites who lived on the plain of Jordan, were the most uncivilized. For on the Plain of Jordan were the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. As it says in Genesis 13:13, “The men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD.” Notice that it says who they were exceeding wicked against – not Abram – not each other. They were exceedingly wicked AGAINST THE LORD.”

Now, here’s where there is the greatest amount of conflict between Christianity and the world. The world, as you know, refuses to submit to the Law or will of God. So when Christianity comes along and tells the world that it’s to repent, i.e., to stop breaking God’s Law and believe in the Gospel, there is immediate conflict. All that the world hears is what it calls a bunch of hypocrites telling the world to behave itself. However, the world and Christians themselves must learn that it’s not people who are telling the world to behave. It’s God!

It’s God who’s telling them to repent or they’ll end up destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah! And the type of behaviour that God is demanding is not an outward obedience to His Ten Commandments, but rather an inward obedience to His Gospel. God wants you to have a heart for Him and for His Law. And an inward obedience to His Gospel always expresses itself as an outward (albeit imperfect) obedience to His Ten Commandments.

Abram, as we see, had the Gospel in his heart. He was obedient to God. With Abram came true religion, the true worship of God. As he called out to God he was bringing civilization into the uncivilized land of Canaan. He was bringing culture into the midst of the uncultured! There he was between Bethel and Ai, the church on the hill shining in the darkness. He was at the place where he had built an altar. He had erected a structure different to all the rest in that pagan land. (We looked at that above.) And so it is wherever Christians go, whether it be into the workplace, or whether it be into darkest Africa or the Amazon Jungle, or whether it be into the place where the Indians of America lived, or the outback of this great land of Australia, wherever Christians go, they take with them true religion, i.e., culture, civilization, Christianity.

God wants the knowledge of Himself to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9). Habakkuk 2:14 says, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” The Church then, is to hitch up the wagons and go West young man! She’s to keep on spreading! And as the Church tries to spread the knowledge of God she meets with conflict. Conflict with the pagan nations is guaranteed. Conflicting worldviews will do that, but there will also be conflict among the members of the Church. We see this principle at work in our text: Genesis 13:7, “There was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock.” Conflict among the people of God!

It’s the same old story, isn’t it? When your local Church gets too big, it’s time to plant another. The LORD doesn’t want us to unite together and build another Tower of Babel. So, as my old boss used to say to us when he caught us all in a huddle talking: “Spread out in a bunch!” I think he meant that the whole bunch of us was to break up and go elsewhere else and do something. Well, that’s what the Great Commission is about, isn’t it?

Don’t take over a whole city block and build a mega church. Get going out there and Christianize the whole world by influencing it with the Gospel. Go West young man and seek other pastures. “The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not want. He makes me down to lie. In pastures green He leadeth me, the quiet waters by.”

I remember at college looking into the history of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland. I was hoping they weren’t going to ask me how many times the Church had split over the years. The list, it seemed, went on and on and on – split after split after split! No doubt many of these splits were anything but amicable. No doubt there was a great deal of conflict between Christians. And no doubt during these times of conflict much deadwood would have been removed from the Church. But be that as it may, every church group worshipped the same LORD! They might have all had their differences, but they were all one and the same – Christians! Sure, some were apostate. Some were Christian in name only. As Paul says to the Romans, “For they are not all Israel who are of Israel” (Rom. 9:6b). But the LORD would have us multiply throughout the whole earth. He would have us reproduce the way the cells of our body reproduce.

The cells spread by splitting and splitting but they are all part of the same body. We see the same principle at work when the LORD split Israel into twelve tribes. We see a principle for the need to divide in Genesis 13:6, “Now the land was not able to support them, that they may dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.” So Abram decided that it would be better for him and Lot to separate. And in Genesis 13:9 Abram said to Lot, “Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me.” Did Abram not love Lot? Of course he did (as we’ll see up ahead).

In Genesis 13:11, as in the old westerns, we see Lot ride off into the sunset. Actually, he rode off into the sunrise, but you get the picture. Genesis 13:11, “Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other.” So then, as we begin to hitch up the wagons and get ready to ride off into the sunset ourselves, let me remind you of this: We, the Church, have moved into hostile territory. We are surrounded by painted savages on every side. It’s looking bad for us at the moment – conflict without and conflict within! Sex outside of marriage, violence, drugs are all promoted and glorified in the TV programs of today and is in turn applied (i.e., acted out) in society. The TV shows of the 50s which promoted family life and integrity are mocked as unrealistic!

Conclusion

What are we to do? We’re living among an uncivilized people. Well, we obey the Gospel, don’t we? For as the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 4:17b asks the rhetorical question: “What will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” The Church once again, needs to remind herself of the Cultural Mandate. She needs to once again look at the words of the Saviour. The words of Jesus in the Great Commission Matthew 28:18ff are “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all things I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.”

The Canaanites and the Perizzites might still be in the land, but we have a faithful Saviour. One who is still with us. We are more than conquerors. (We’ll see this principle at work in Abram up ahead.)

The message of the Gospel is a life-changing message. The Gospel not only prepares us for heaven, it also brings culture to non-culture. For Christianity is the highest form of culture, but Gospel obedience means conflict – even culture conflict.