Monday Reflections...the intersections of life and the Bible...sermon posted too

The above photo is the view from the front window of the house we are living in at the present time.  Hadley Lake Road curves unto Ridge Road.  Hadley continues on north toward the lake it is named after and a turn to the right takes you onto Stagecoach Road.  It is a busy intersection during certain times of the day and the right of way of the curve makes for observing some interesting stops and signaling to go against the normal flow of traffic.

I am in a season of life where I am observing some intersections in my life.  I would have been going with the flow and around the curve but God has asked me to stop and signal to go a different direction.  The construction of the road is basically the same in all four directions but these two roads to the north and east are definitely less traveled.  What I believe and how I live in accordance to my beliefs (the road surface) has not changed but where I take those lived values has.  My future looks different now but it also forces me to see what is still the same.

I am seeing this concept in my masters online class also.  I have been holding onto this Bible, my constant, for a long time.  I am not going off the road but rather seeing how going a little deeper into the study of it or taking the time to travel up another road brings big dividends to what I know and therefore how I might use it to teach and live.  The normal flow around the curve is what I probably would have done if not challenged to stop, signal, and see where this road goes that the Bible has given me.

An example is in order.  I am now studying the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the Bible.  The Torah which consists of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  After getting beyond the authorship issues and focusing on what the text actually says and the words of it from the very lips our Lord Jesus, I was challenged to think in terms of who Moses was writing to and what was happening at the time of the writing.  Moses was not at the creation event but writing of it to people, the Israelites, who were also not at the creation event but rather exiting from Egypt which we call the Exodus.  

The Bible has a unifying story of Jesus from Genesis to Revelation.  The "Seed" of the women in Genesis 3 is going to ultimately crush the seed of the serpent.  Genesis 3:15 is God speaking to Satan and He says,

"I will put hostility between you and the woman,

and between your seed and her seed.

He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel."

If you flip almost to the end of the Bible, 1 John 3:8 says,

The one who commits sin is of the Devil,

for the Devil has sinned from the beginning.

The Son of God was revealed for this purpose:

to destroy the Devil's works.

This is the big story but are there other little stories or details that help us to see how we get from the beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible?  These are the things that are being revealed to me through my online class.  Let us look at the first murder between Cain and his brother Abel.

Cain is the picture of evil.  Cain brings to the table just some of his labors from the field.  Abel is the picture of good.  Abel brings to the table the fat portions of his firstborn livestock.  Cain's answer to his shame is to do away with Abel.  This is always the answer of evil.  Evil will do away with good so that it can go on and even in greater proportions.  But,...Adam and Eve have another son to take the place of Abel and his name is Seth.  Eve produces another seed that will eventually provide "The Seed" that is ultimately good.

In the family lineage of Cain is a man named Enoch and a man named Lamech.  What is interesting is that in the family lineage of Seth there is also a man named Enoch and a man named Lamech.  With Cain's family line representing evil, we are not surprised to learn that his Enoch was named after a city.  His focus was fame.  With Seth's family line representing good, we find that his Enoch was known not for his own fame but rather someone who "walked with God."  

In a similar fashion, the Lamech of Cain's line brags over his exploits which were greater in deed than his forefather Cain.  The Lamech of Seth's line is the one who fathered Noah who "found favor in the sight of the LORD" (Genesis 6:8b, HCSB) but was also named by his father Lamech saying "This one will bring us relief from the agonizing labor of our hands, caused by the ground the LORD has cursed." (Genesis 5:29b, HCSB) We see good and evil traveling through the family lines of the Bible.

But back to Moses and who he was originally writing to, the Israelites, and let us look at some intersections.  The Israelities could identify the Egyptians who had enslaved them with the figure of Cain.  They were evil.  They were focused on fame.  They bragged much of their evil exploits.  They could also identify themselves (not perfectly mine you but striving toward) with the figure of Seth.  They were to be good.  They were to be characterized as walking with God.  They were to find favor in the God who would bring an ultimate relief to the cursed ground of this earth.

The Israelites were rescued by their deliverer, sent by God, the man named Moses, and later trekked across the desert toward their Promise Land, an Eden of sorts.  This ultimately points to us and the One God sent as our Deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ, and our trekking toward a heavenly audience with God, a better Eden than the first.  We still see the Cain of this world.  For the Israelites it was the Egyptians and for us it would be those who reject and oppose Jesus as the Son of God.  Also, we still see the Seth of this world.  For the Israelites it was themselves proclaiming of a coming Messiah and for us it would be those who accepted Jesus as the Son of God evidenced by an obedient life.

Do you see the intersections I am coming upon in my study of the Bible?  I could just go around the curve and move unto the next big event in the book of Genesis like the flood but these little detours bring wonderful insights about just how unified this book is.

Adam

p.s. - One last tidbit.  Cain, seen as evil and could be associated with the Egyptians, was one who worked the land.  This is what the Egyptians were known for as later evidenced with Joseph later gathered all their grain.  Abel, seen as good and could be associated with the Israelites, was one who worked with livestock.  This is what the Israelites were known for as the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob put use in the field with the sheep.  Connections and correlations everywhere!