Gospel of the Kingdom

Study written by 3Crosses Church

Week 3 3Crosses Church Week 3 3Crosses Church

2. The Effects of the Serpent Kingdom

Day 2 • Week 3

Week 3 • Day 2

Ever since our human parents bowed their knee to the kingdom of the serpent, sin (or the disposition towards rebellion) has become a part of our fallen human story. The fangs of sin have sunk deep into all of our human hearts. We, like Adam and Eve, have consciously decided to bend the knee to the serpent’s rule. We, like Adam and Eve, are formed from the same dust of the ground that was cursed in Genesis 3.

And yet yesterday, we read that there is still hope in the Lord’s mercy even though humanity remains gripped by the fangs of the serpent and his kingdom!

There is hope that one day, God will rescue His kingdom family of people.
There is hope that one day, God will return His family back into His kingdom place.
There is hope that one day, God will restore our delegated rule once more.
There is hope that one day, the serpent-crusher will come and reestablish God’s powerful rule and God’s kingdom over all!

Today, we look at a section of passages that follow Genesis 1-3 to watch for how this gospel of the kingdom plays out. Would we see this gospel rescue, return, restoration, and reestablishment soon? Would the immediate offspring of Eve become the prophesied serpent-crusher? If not, what happens when humans continue to do what they were designed to do but in the name of the serpent kingdom? How is God going to respond as the ruler of all things?

THE SERPENT’S RULE OVER GOD’S PEOPLE AND PLACE

Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. - Genesis 4:2-5

Humans didn’t stop being fruitful, multiplying, and ruling the earth by working and keeping it. This is what image-bearers were created to do! However, the kingdom of the serpent introduced sin into the equation. One generation past Adam and Eve, Genesis 4 reveals the first major consequences of humans doing what they do in the name of the serpent kingdom: disharmony and hostility within God’s image-bearing kingdom family of people. While the reason is not explicitly stated, Cain’s offering is traditionally thought to be rejected for not being the “first” and “fat” portion. In other words, Cain doesn’t trust that God’s kingdom place would provide for his needs. Therefore, Cain comes to the understanding - according to his own rule - that it is “good” for him to reserve his resources and “bad” for him to offer the prime cut of his possessions.

Cain spoke to Abel, his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. - Genesis 4:8, 10

Needless to say, Cain was not the promised “serpent-crusher” and Abel did not live long enough for us to find out. Instead, it only took one generation of human image-bearers for things to turn radically sideways. Abel’s death was not because of something he did wrong, but because the rule of sin in Cain’s life. The entire saga shows that as sin grows and develops, its ultimate end is in fact death. The serpent was at work in the world immediately, sin escalated over the course of one generation, and the stench of death continues to pollute God’s kingdom place on earth as the shed blood of God’s people “cries out from the ground”.

And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. - Genesis 4:15–17

In His sovereign mercy, God winds up providing a mark of protection for Cain who moves “east of Eden'' where he multiplies and instinctively forms his own kingdom-city place. In this manufactured city, image-bearers continue to progress by becoming tent-dwellers to “keep” their multiplying livestock, by inventing “instruments of bronze and iron” to “work” the earth, and by developing music for their enjoyment. Image-bearers are in fact rearranging the raw materials of God’s place so that humans would flourish. That’s what image-bearers were designed to do! However, civilization is also advancing and innovating in the name of the kingdom of the serpent.

Genesis 4:19-22, 24 And Lamech took two wives The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron.

...Lamech said to his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.

Lamech was Cain's great-great-great-grandson. Now, five generations have passed and the effects of sin have grown to a point where Lamech not only escalates the abuse of God’s image-bearing people, but he decides that it is “good” to boast about doing so. This pattern is the same for sin in the world today. Sin only grows as time goes on and our knowledge of good and evil progressive drifts further and further away from God’s objective standards. It started with disobedience and now has increased to include murder, hate, abuse, jealousy...the list goes on and on.

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them. - Genesis 6:5-7

Instead of a kingdom family of people who would submit to God’s rule and spread God’s glory throughout God’s place, God sees a kingdom of people who willfully have chosen to submit to the rule of the serpent spreading sin by manipulating God’s created place for their own human glory. God knew that as sin continued to grow unchecked, it would inevitably lead to more organized chaos and bloodshed in this human manufactured kingdom. This new reality grieves God because sin has moved His image-bearers further and further “east” of a righteous relationship with Him. In His justified anguish, God possessed every right to “speed up” the inevitable by removing His creative hand from the reigns of creation and allowing the chaos waters to “decreate” the serpent kingdom.

Could there possibly be hope in a worldwide all-consuming flood?

GOD’S RESPONSE: THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM

Gen. 6:8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord...Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.

In His mercy, God decides to rescue the human race. Even though humans are sinning everywhere under the influential power of the serpent, there was still one who remembered God and His kingdom. Genesis tells us that in his generation, Noah was a righteous person who followed God’s rule and “walked with God” just as Adam and Eve once walked in relationship with God. In the midst of the serpent’s rule, the gospel of the kingdom would break through ever-so-slightly in the person of Noah!

Hebrews 11:4, 7 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

...By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Today, this is why faith is the distinguishing factor between those in the kingdom of God and those in the kingdom of the serpent. We are saved by trusting in God’s knowledge of good and evil for us even though we may not see where it leads or it doesn’t make sense. Our faith in God doesn’t necessarily mean more success, more money, more fame, etc. Like Abel, it could result in devastation.

By faith, Noah and Abel stepped off of their own throne given to them by the kingdom of the serpent and placed their trust in God’s rule to lead them!

Ultimately, the kingdom story is about who you trust! Will you trust in what God says is good no matter the challenges or setbacks?

Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks...

And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive...

Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.”- Genesis 6:16, 19-22; 7:2-4

Eventually, God would allow the chaos waters to flood the earth and wipe out the enemy combatants who had pledged their allegiance to the serpent kingdom. However, God mercifully spares His faithful servant Noah looking for a new start of God’s kingdom family of people.

Catch this! He calls Noah to build an ark that has 3-tiers, to include all living things - birds and animals according to their kind - both male and female. Then, there is a conversation to look for sets of seven. The imagery is clear: Noah was called to construct an ark and return to a garden-like 3-tiered kingdom place to shield him from the destruction of the kingdom of the serpent! In the midst of a sinful generation, the gospel of the kingdom was breaking through!

GOD’S RESPONSE: THE SERPENT-CRUSHER?

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth...I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” - Genesis 8:20-9:1, 11

The story of Noah introduces us to a key pattern of the Bible. In the midst of a world of sinners, God singles out the one person who remains faithful towards His kingdom. God then showers His blessings on this person and sets the gospel of the kingdom of rescue, return, restoration, and reestablishment in motion through them.

It was the faith of one person, in a world of sin, that proved to God there is still hope for humanity in this world.

The only piece missing here is the serpent-crusher! Could Noah be the humble servant of God who would remain entirely loyal to the kingdom of God and overcome the power of the serpent? Since we see the same “be fruitful and multiply,” command, could Noah be the “new Adam” who would rescue God’s kingdom people, return them to His place, restore their delegated rule, and reestablish His powerful rule in their lives? Could Noah be the central figure around whom the gospel of the kingdom revolves and is completed?

Unfortunately, just like all other descendants of Adam and Eve up to this point of the story, Noah is still marked by the kingdom of the serpent. In fact, Noah sins immediately after God miraculously protects him and makes a new promise with him.

Genesis 9:20-21 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.

Until we meet the real serpent-crusher, we learn an important truth about the gospel of the kingdom when it breaks through in the lives of people like Cain, Abel, Lamech, and Noah. While we as descendants of Adam and Eve attempt to live a life of righteousness that glorifies God, we will soon come to realize that the serpent’s fangs have bitten all of our hearts. Knowing this reality should help us relate to the suffering and hardship of others. We are not above anyone, but when we properly understand the kingdom of the serpent and that all people are marked by sin, we should begin to feel compassion for those who are lost.

The gospel of the kingdom tells us that there is hope coming for us who are completely lost to be rescued, returned, and restored. The gospel of the kingdom depends upon the one who will remain completely loyal to God’s kingdom rule, crush the serpent, and reestablish God’s rule over all things. Until this person arrives, the clash between the kingdom of serpent and the kingdom of God is far from over. How would God accomplish all of this and who would be this faithful servant that would crush the serpent and reestablish God’s rule?

Share the Gospel: In the midst of a world of sinners, there was one person who God found to be faithful towards His kingdom rule. For the first time, we see the gospel of the kingdom begin to break through as a result of Noah’s faithful actions. Unfortunately, Noah could not overcome the kingdom of the serpent. Who will be the “new Adam” who will crush the serpent and rescue, return, and restore God’s kingdom?

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1. The Kingdom Lost

Day 1 • Week 3

Week 3 • Day 1

Last week, we learned how God used His powerful rule to create a kingdom place (the cosmic temple), so that His kingdom people (human image-bearers) would flourish. Then we explored how God delegated His rule so that as God’s kingdom people multiplied, they would learn how to “work and keep” the garden in a shalom relationship with God and one another. This calling gave human image-bearers tremendous purpose. Each kingdom endeavor done in the name of God brought glory to the King of Kings!

However, with great power - the ability to rule on God’s behalf - came great responsibility! In the garden, Adam and Eve were faced with a choice. Would our human parents trust the rule of God the Father and the ways of His kingdom or would they succumb to the rule of the serpent?

Unfortunately, they both chose to submit to the kingdom of the serpent. They broke God’s healthy boundaries, “touched the stove”, and were forever scarred by their actions. This week, we will begin to explore the ramifications of God’s image-bearers bending their knee to the kingdom of the serpent.

THE SERPENT KINGDOM AND GOD’S RULE

In the creation narrative, we learned that God delegates His rule to humans. In response to this kingdom truth, humans and the creation bring glory to God in these 2 ways:

  • God’s people are designed to listen and obey the truth of God’s kingdom rule.

  • The center of God’s kingdom place is true eternal life and the true knowledge of good and evil.

...but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. - Genesis 2:17

In the garden, the forbidden fruit came from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. At this point, the one ruler who had been prescribing the label of “very good” (creation) and “not good” (for man to be alone) was God Himself. Instead of trusting God to lead them toward what was good, Adam and Eve grasped for a kingly role that was strictly meant for God. In other words, the man and the woman wanted to sit on their own thrones and follow their own rules apart from God.

In the serpent kingdom, humans follow their own knowledge of good and evil.

When you look around the world, you may have observed that when we rule according to our own human understanding of good and evil, our manufactured kingdoms tend to crumble rather quickly. As humans multiply, whose knowledge of good and evil is accepted and rises to the top? How do we know which understanding of good and evil is the true and correct understanding? How do we know if our own interpretations of what is good and what is bad won’t be influenced by peer pressure or the latest cultural fad? Without our objectively good and true King in the position of final authority and rule, things quickly descend back into chaos.

THE SERPENT KINGDOM AND GOD’S PEOPLE

In the creation narrative, we also learned that God rules by forming and filling His creation. In response to this kingdom truth, humans and creation bring glory to God in these 2 ways:

  • God’s people are designed to multiply and love one another.

  • God’s kingdom place was meant to extend God’s blessings to all nations.

Humans were commanded to be fruitful and multiply so that God’s people would continue to increase and His glory would spread to the ends of the earth. Now, under the rule of the serpent kingdom, the process of “multiplying” (childbirth and raising children) has become a painful, and sometimes life-threatening, experience.

To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. - Genesis 3:16a

These multiplying image-bearers were meant to cooperate and express their ruling authority over the earth so that we all could partner with God and watch His glory spread across His place. In the serpent kingdom, instead of using their rule over creation, humanity would now express their powerful rule over one another creating disharmony and hostility. God says to the woman:

Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you. - Genesis 3:16b

This week, we will see how this disharmony and hostility will routinely spiral out of control and spread the effects of the kingdom of the serpent all over the world.

THE SERPENT KINGDOM AND GOD’S PLACE

In the creation narrative, we learned that God rules by creating. In response to this kingdom truth, humans and creation bring glory to God in these 2 ways:

  • God’s people are designed to create and contribute to the kingdom on His behalf.

  • God’s kingdom place provided the materials needed for people to create for the glory of God.

In God’s kingdom place, humanity was meant to harvest earth’s plentiful natural resources. The design of creation was to facilitate the fruitfulness and flourishing of God’s image bearers. Here is God’s new description of His kingdom place as a result of humans bending the knee to the kingdom of the serpent:

And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. - Genesis 3:17-18

God designed humans to create and contribute in His kingdom place as an endeavor that would yield tremendous blessing. Instead, God curses the ground and human work is met with resistance, pain, toil, and eventually death.

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. - Genesis 3:19

Here is the point...
Adam and Eve - our human parents - abused God’s rule delegated to them by completely abandoning His kingdom rule, by bending the knee to the serpent, and by crowning themselves on their own thrones.

In response, humans have become a people that will multiply in disharmony and hostility toward one another, extending the kingdom of the serpent across the world.

In response, God’s place has become incredibly resistant to the human effort to work and keep it as we toil to bring our own glory, but ultimately bring our deaths.

It’s at this point that many doubts about Christianity arise. “If there is a God who is in control of all things, why didn’t He stop humans from choosing sin? Did He create humans to fail and does that mean He really does not love us at all? Did He know we would experience pain and suffering throughout the world and do nothing about it?” These questions typically come up because we, as descendants of Eve, the mother of all living, can all relate to this bleak existence described in Genesis 3. It is the human experience for you and for me so long as we live in this world that has been affected by the kingdom of the serpent. While peering into the mind of God may be difficult, a much greater question is whether or not there is any hope to be found? Will God do something about this or does He delight in watching the human project fail?

GOD’S RESPONSE: THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM

In the opening verses of the creation narrative, we learned that God rules over all things! In response to this kingdom truth, humans and creation bring glory to God in these 2 ways:

  • God’s people are designed to love God and walk with Him as our Heavenly Father.

  • The Bible is all about the Lord establishing His kingdom place of residence with His people wherever they go.

Humanity abandoned their part in the relationship, yet God remains merciful!

Did you ever notice how God never directly curses the man or the woman? Even though God had every right to eternally curse humanity for choosing to follow the rule of the serpent, God chooses to forever curse the ground instead. God’s mercy towards our first human parents keeps the door slightly opened to His image-bearers for a rescue! Could it be that one day, humans could be brought out from the serpent kingdom and brought back into His kingdom family in order to walk with God in a loving relationship again? There is a glimmer of hope!

Additionally, it would have been easy for God to stop the entire creation project at this tragic fall within His kingdom place. Yet at the end of the chapter, God shows His mercy by merely cutting humans off from the Garden of Eden and access to the tree of life. So why is this merciful? God recognized that if Adam and Eve were to eat from the tree of life, they would live forever under the rule of sin. Yes, the exile from the Garden place serves as God’s punishment, but it also serves God’s mercy signaling that humans might one day return back to His kingdom place free from their choice to submit to the serpent. This too is a slight glimmer of hope!

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. - Genesis 3:22-24

Yet it still seems like this serpent needs to be dealt with once and for all lest the next generation of humans succumb to his kingdom rule.

In the immediate micro-context, God physically provides Adam and Eve with the skin of a killed (or “sacrificed”) animal to cover the guilt of their actions and their deep sense of shame that resulted. In this scene, God rules by creating - He creates a way to cover His image-bearers, pursue humanity, and meet them in their brokenness. He creates a way to restore His fallen image-bearers even in the midst of their own sin.

Genesis 3:20a And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

In the futuristic macro-context, God demonstrates the power of His rule over all things by cursing the serpent and then forming and filling a plan that was designed to crush the serpent and his kingdom rule. Genesis 3 contains what is called the protoeuangelion, or the “first gospel” promise! In this first iteration of the gospel message, God reveals His plan to delegate His rule to a specific image-bearing offspring of Eve so that this special “serpent-crushing” human would defeat the serpent kingdom once and for all. From the very beginning, God sets in motion the gospel plan to destroy the enemy and reestablish His own kingdom rule over all things! Pay attention to the mutual destruction of the one who will defeat the serpent.

Genesis 3:14-15 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

There is hope that one day, God will rescue His kingdom family of people.
There is hope that one day, God will return His family back into His kingdom place.
There is hope that one day, God will restore our delegated rule as image-bearers once more.

There is hope that one day, the serpent-crusher will come and reestablish God’s powerful rule and God’s kingdom over all!

Genesis 3 is unique in its acceptance of the difficult human experience of life under the kingdom of the serpent. It also explains the cause, the purpose, and the results of sin. While we may not have all the answers to explain God’s will behind the origin of sin and the serpent, we can find hope in Genesis 3 as it points us to the one thing that will give us the God-given strength we need to persevere in the midst of our current reality of sin and suffering all around us. There is hope in the good news of God’s mercy and in the one who would come to crush the serpent while allowing the serpent to bite his heel!

With the hope of God’s kingdom in mind, we now watch as the gospel of the kingdom unfolds! How would God actually pull off this rescue, return, restoration, and reestablishment in a world full of sinners?

Share the Gospel: Genesis 3 is unique in its acceptance of the difficult human experience of life under the kingdom of the serpent. It also explains the cause, the purpose, and the results of sin. While we may not have all the answers to explain God’s will behind the origin of sin and the serpent, we can find hope in Genesis 3 as it points us to the one thing that will give us the God-given strength we need to persevere in the midst of our current reality of sin and suffering all around us. There is hope in the good news of God’s mercy and in the one who would come to crush the serpent while allowing the serpent to bite his heel!

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5. Share the Gospel + Life Group Discussion Questions

Day 5 • Week 2

Week 2 • Day 1

This week, we have seen how the Bible establishes the foundational elements of the Kingdom of God. As we talk about the creation narrative, we are reminded that God loves us and has always intended for us to exist with Him in His kingdom place under His kingdom rule as part of His growing kingdom family!

As you look to share the gospel of the kingdom from the opening pages of Genesis, be reminded that the starting point of the Bible is this original GOOD vision of the Kingdom of God and not the BAD fall found in Genesis 3. It is true that one might be persuaded by the need for repair in this world (whether personally or globally) but in order to understand the repair, we must first understand the original plans! The Christian worldview not only explains why there are so many things wrong with the world, but it offers a vision of a kingdom paradise that stretches from the beginning to the end!

Share the Gospel Video:

Week 2 Life Group Discussion Questions

At the end of every week, we will be collecting the 2-3 sentences about each entry so that you can be equipped with brief summaries that explain how each text moves the gospel message of God’s kingdom forward! As always, feel free to come up with questions of your own based on your observations and conversations.

Icebreaker: What has been your experience when it comes to Bible study?

What observations / reflections / prayers stood out to you about this week?

The 7 Day Creation Account: Simply by looking at the creation account (God’s rule to create God’s cosmic-temple place over God’s image-bearing people), we discover that God has set the foundational elements of the Kingdom in place!

Question: What stands out to you the most about the creation story in Genesis 1? What is your experience in discussing the 7-Day creation account with other non-believers? What is the general feeling you get when you think about yourself as an Image of God?

Humans and Creation: God’s people bear the image and likeness of God so that we might rule on His behalf and further His kingdom. We accomplish this when we work and keep God’s kingdom place and obediently follow His kingdom rule. As the kingdom inevitably multiplies, our mission is to grow in our love for God and love for others! This is what it means to be human in God’s kingdom!

Question: What are some of the topics that come up when you discuss Genesis 1 and 2 with people outside of the Christian faith that make you hesitant? What stands out to you now about Genesis 1 and 2 when you put on this kingdom lens? Would you say the answer to these two questions relate or contradict in any way?

The Garden of Eden: The Garden of Eden represents God’s unique kingdom place designed to provide the materials necessary for humans to create for the glory of God. The place was designed to extend God’s blessings to all nations! The center of God’s kingdom place is true eternal life and the true knowledge of good and evil and the Bible is all about the Lord establishing His kingdom place of residence with His people wherever they go!

Question: What is the significance that God calls the world that He created good? What would you say is the significance that the Bible starts with paradise in Genesis 1 and 2 rather than the fall of man in Genesis 3?

The Kingdom of Satan: The serpent tempts Eve by undermining God’s rule suggesting that there is something wrong about this arbitrary boundary He placed on the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Next the serpent undermines God’s love for His people suggesting that God is holding out on the good stuff. After Adam and Eve “bend the knee” to the kingdom of the serpent, God’s kingdom place is used to facilitate separation from God rather than His glory.

Question: What would you say Genesis 1-3a is trying to say to us as readers? How important is empathy when sharing the Gospel message? How would you respond to someone with questions about the origins of the serpent?

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4. The Opposing Kingdom

Day 4 • Week 2

Week 2 • Day 4

Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. – C.S. Lewis

Have you ever had a moment where you were so tempted to do something, even though you knew you weren’t supposed to do it? We face tempting situations daily. Some big, some small, but in each moment we make a choice. I can still remember the moment when I was 7 and I had decided to cut my own bangs. When faced with the question, “who cut your bangs?” it was all too tempting to try and blame someone else rather than to take the blame myself. We want to hide in these moments because something in our hearts knows that we are guilty.

Our free-will often gets us in trouble, but it is also our free-will that brings out the beauty in our actions and makes love possible. That free-will, that opportunity to decide for ourselves, allowed humanity to choose a way back in the garden. When we think about the creation story, we must remember that Adam and Eve were not robots or God’s puppets, they had options. And Satan was all too aware of that fact as we dive deeper into the story in Genesis.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. - Genesis 3:1-6

The serpent is clever. He begins by undermining God’s rule. If God’s rule was so good, why does He create this arbitrary boundary on the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Is this commandment really necessary? Next, the serpent undermines whether God actually wants to provide for His people. The serpent suggests that if Adam and Eve were to eat from the tree, they would access a power that would improve their circumstances and become more like God! Can we say then that God provides the best for His people, or is this God holding out on the good stuff?

Some of you may be thinking, “Where did this talking serpent come from?”, “Why did God create the serpent?”, “How can God consider His creation to be ‘good’ if an opposing serpent exists?”, “Did Adam and Eve really have a choice or were they destined to fall?” These questions become a real stumbling block for many people! Some of us might respond by saying that with the free-will to do good, there must also be the potential to do evil and thus the existence of the serpent. Others might say that since God knows all things, He intentionally designed the serpent so that humanity would fall as part of His grand plan. Oddly, the Bible seems okay with the tension that these two positions create in our minds to the extent that we do not blame God for sin.

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. - James 1:13–15.

Regardless of where you land on this philosophical issue, it does not change the fact that Genesis is portraying a grand “moment of truth” for Adam and Eve. And If we are honest with ourselves, all of us have experienced this “moment of truth” in our lives too! We exercise an ability to choose just as the woman saw that the tree truly had good food to offer. The message of Genesis is not primarily about philosophical reasoning, but to depict this shared human experience of temptation!

All things shift after Eve’s decision to eat the fruit and share it with her husband.

the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Here is another feeling that all of us can empathize with: Adam and Eve hid! They hid because of the guilt and shame that had hit them, unknowingly, like a wave. Prior to this scene, Adam and Eve could live peacefully in God’s kingdom place in which they would glorify God by ruling on His behalf. Now, their hearts knew they had used their delegated power to sin going against God’s rule in their lives. Instead of God’s kingdom place facilitating the resources necessary to bring glory to God, God’s kingdom place would be used to hide from Him.

But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Can anyone empathize with the blame game here? Adam blames Eve for partaking of the fruit. Eve blames the serpent for tempting her. I wanted to blame someone else for cutting my bangs. Who or what do you blame for your mistakes? Sin destroys the intended interpersonal garden shalom relationship and introduces hostility and enmity between God’s kingdom family of people.

The kingdom of the serpent was in the way of God’s people loving God fully and loving others harmoniously.

If you are still on edge about the existence of the serpent, perhaps there is a desire in your heart to blame God for evil rather than looking at your own heart and your own decisions? The human experience is that we have all faced this choice, we have all fallen short, and we all carry that responsibility!

Later, in the book of Job, we get another glimpse into the way Satan is at work in people’s lives. He never wants us to follow God. His desire is to destroy God’s work, testing us and trying to pull us away from a relationship with God.

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. - Job 1:6-12

The important point to remember in this conversation is that Satan and His kingdom are real regardless of where they came from. When Adam and Eve decided to eat from the tree, the human race gave up their place in the kingdom of God and traded it for an allegiance to the kingdom of the serpent. Satan’s kingdom authority on earth is limited but we’ve all had moments, even as Christians, where Satan works to try to pull us from doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord. This is part of our human experience; an ability to choose our own actions and our own path. That choice is a part of what brings about the daily struggles we face in a fallen world. We have all bowed the knee to the serpent in one way or another.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. - Ephesians 6:12

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. - 1 Peter 5:8–9

This battle between our loyalties is constantly taking place as we live each day. Will we serve the kingdom of God or the kingdom of the serpent? The reality is, from the beginning of creation, Satan has been hard at work to keep us from God. He is crafty and we often fall prey to his ways. What a harsh blow this moment brings – to go from the perfect place of paradise God created for humanity, to a world marked by the kingdom of the serpent.

How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. - Isaiah 14:12–15.

For us today, sin is a reality we have inherited from the decisions of Adam and Eve - one that we likely would have made as well. It is a common ground we share with everyone else on earth as we have all felt the pangs of guilt when we submit to the kingdom of the serpent rather than to God’s rule. That guilt is often accompanied by a desire to live for something more. But the story is far from over! There is hope for something more because God always had a plan!

Share the Gospel: The serpent tempts Eve by undermining God’s rule suggesting that there is something wrong about this arbitrary boundary He placed on the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Next the serpent undermines God’s love for His people suggesting that God is holding out on the good stuff. After Adam and Eve “bend the knee” to the kingdom of the serpent, God’s kingdom place is used to facilitate separation from God rather than His glory.

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3. Our Kingdom Paradise (God’s Place)

Day 3 • Week 2

Week 2 • Day 3

"I couldn't earn it, I don't deserve it, still you give yourself away. Oh the overwhelming, never-ending reckless love of God!" - Reckless Love by Cory Asbury

Over the last year, my family has become passionate about planting succulents and cacti. We love to travel up and down the California coast to discover new plant nurseries. Some of these nurseries are absolutely spectacular. They are a multisensory experience. You can see the bright colors, you can smell the fresh air and the fresh dirt, and you can hear fountains running with water. There is something about a garden that feels peaceful; like you don't want to leave.

As the Bible opens in Genesis, we see that all of life on earth begins in a spectacular garden. God created the heavens and the earth as His very own “cosmic-temple”, and then He created the first humans, Adam and Eve to exist in a particular location on the earth. God places Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden that He called Eden.

And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. - Genesis 2:8-9

Let’s talk about what this unique kingdom place called Eden was like for Adam and Eve! Imagine a place out of which water - the source of all life - bursts forth endlessly. Imagine a place oozing with natural resources waiting to be tapped into. Imagine a place with a full supply of fresh fruit to be eaten and enjoyed. The Lord had abundantly blessed His people in this kingdom space! At the same time, this garden was not exclusively about material blessings. When you think of the garden, imagine a land where there was peace and harmony between God and His people as they multiplied. Imagine a place where Adam and Eve walked with God together in the garden and spoke to each other freely. Imagine a time where there was no regret, no shame, no mistakes. Imagine a place where God’s blessings flowed to His people and out from His people in abundance!

How amazing is that! To live in this kingdom place of paradise was to live in perfect harmony with God and with each other, with tremendous purpose, and with access to tremendous spiritual and physical blessings.

As we visualize this amazing kingdom place that God has prepared for humanity, let’s take a look at some details we have been given about this Garden paradise!

GOD’S PLACE WAS DESIGNED BY GOD’S RULE

We’ve seen how the Lord uses His mighty and powerful rule to create. Over the course of this week, hopefully you are beginning to see that His creation was aimed at His glory in the heavenly realm as well as His glory in the earthly realm. God would be glorified in the earthly realm via the thriving and enjoyment of the pinnacle of His creation on earth - humans made in the image of God! If Genesis 1 was about establishing the cosmic order to further God’s glory through the mere acts of creation, then Genesis 2 is all about situating the human on the dry land and providing all that he would need to subdue the earth and bring glory to God.

When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground...

In the “recipe” of God’s glory on the dry land, there are 4 missing ingredients: no bush, no small plants, no rain, and no man. Out of His love for us and to further His glory, God saw fit to provide everything needed for humanity to thrive!

And the Lord God planted a garden...

And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food...

A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden...

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it... - Genesis 2:5, 8-10, 15

Here’s a question - Why is God so determined to provide for humanity? Why does He need any further glory on earth if He is already the one who is all-glorious? Did He need to create humans to fill a void in His God-ness? The Christian answer to this is emphatically NO! God didn’t need to create anything to complete His glory. With or without creation, God would remain self-sufficient and possess ALL glory! Instead, throughout the creation narrative we discover that God Himself exists in a mysterious relationship. In addition to the Hebrew word for God (elohim) being plural, Genesis already offers hints at this mysterious “us” relationship.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image... - Genesis 1:26

The Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us... - Genesis 3:22

...God is love - 1 John 4:8, 16

Have you ever noticed that human relationships tend to have creative results?

Consider the co-working shalom relationship of Genesis 2 in which God’s image-bearers are called to take care of the garden in harmony. The result of these types of relationships are accomplishments and advancements that could not have otherwise been achieved alone. In a similar “image-like” way, it pleased God to work together within the divine “us” relationship to create the cosmos - a work that remains advanced beyond all human comprehension - and then share His work of creation with humans.

Consider the marriage relationship at the end of Genesis 2 in which God’s image-bearers are designed for intimacy. The result of this kind of relationship is the reproduction of children who bear the image of their parents. In a similar “image-like” way, the result of the overflow of God’s love within Himself (“us”) is the creation of God’s family of people who bear the image of the divine “us” and who are able share in the love of the Heavenly Fatherly! [1]

“It’s the nature of the fullness of the divine love to share itself. That’s just what love is like! This sharing is not the completion of God or the improvement of God... ‘It’s not a sign of a fountains deficiency that it is prone to overflow’” - John Piper (Quoting Jonathan Ewards)

God didn’t need to do any of this, yet creation is simply an overflow of God’s love within the divine “us” that couldn’t help but to be shared! Thus, when human image-bearers partner together in various loving relationships to create and share, humans reflect the divine “us” relationship. And as humans live a life that reflects (or images) the divine “us”, the God of the Hebrew Bible is glorified! God’s kingdom place provides the materials needed for people to create for the glory of God!

...bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” - Isaiah 43:6–7

[1] PLEASE NOTE: This is not to suggest that God experienced sexual relations as we understand it, but it is to say that sexual relations within the context of the marriage relationship is the image communicated to us of a God who creates image-bearers as an overflow of His love.

GOD’S PLACE EXTENDS TO ALL PEOPLE

A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. - Genesis 2:10-14

Yes, God uses this river to provide water and natural resources so that humans within the garden space would create and flourish to the glory of God. However, the fascinating element of this passage is that Eden is not merely an isolated oasis. The body of water is divided into rivers that flow into 4 mysterious places. While the Tigris and Euphrates are well-known locations, the mystery of the Pishon and the Gihon have eluded scholars. This has resulted in many different geographical interpretations. However, as we look for clues within the Bible itself, we discover that each of these names are associated with surrounding kingdoms that would eventually become Israel’s enemies including Israel’s archrival Babylon which lay at the intersection of the Tigris and Euphrates.

The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. - Genesis 10:8–12.

This account of the rivers in Eden would be quite shocking to the Hebrew audience because it is a reminder that beyond their disagreements, even their worst enemies are in fact their brothers and sisters. Not only does God want to provide for His people located this one isolated garden space in Eden, but God’s kingdom place of blessing was meant to extend to all nations.

GOD’S PLACE AND THE DIVISIONS OF 4 AREAS

And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. - Genesis 2:8-9

4 missing ingredients, 4 rivers, and now we are given 4 different topographical locations derived from 3 different “in” statements. The first and largest category we are given is “in the east”. This is significant because whenever the eastward direction is mentioned in the scriptures, we are moving further and further away from the center of the Lord’s kingdom place.

Second, we are told that “in the east” lies a place that is “in Eden”. If this were a map of concentric circles, we would see one extra-large circle labeled “east” and within that circle a smaller large-sized circle saying “Eden”. One traditional interpretation of the word Eden suggests a geographical “plain” whereas the other traditional interpretation means “luxury”, “abundance”, or “lushness”.

Third, “in the east” and “in Eden” there is a “garden”. If the “east” is the extra-large circle and “Eden” is the large circle, then the “garden” is the medium circle that lies within them both. As we move closer and closer to the center of this kingdom place, we begin to see the lusciousness of the garden described earlier. Paradise just keeps getting better and better as we inch our way closer to God!

Finally, the fourth and final realm brings us to the inner-most small-sized circle location! This hotspot is where the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are planted. At the center of God’s kingdom space is true eternal life and the true knowledge of good and evil.

Why do all of these concentric circles matter?

When we are introduced to the re-creation of God’s kingdom place throughout the scriptures, we find that the east is ALWAYS in the wrong direction. Then, structures like the tabernacle and the temple call for a 3-fold architecture. There was the large-sized outer courtyard where sacrifices were made on the altar of burnt offering. There was the medium-sized Holy Place which contained garden-like embroidery, the tree-like lampstand, the table of the bread of presence, and the altar of incense. Finally, there was the small-sized Holy Place which held the ark of the covenant guarded by the cherubim woven into the curtain guarding the entrance! In other words, the storyline of the Bible is all about the Lord establishing His kingdom place of residence with His people wherever they go.

Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases. Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the covenant law behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. - Exodus 26:31–33.

He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place. - 1 Kings 6:16.

Make a courtyard for the tabernacle.... - Exodus 27:9

The same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to receive the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offerings. - 1 Kings 8:64.

By looking at the first two chapters of Genesis, here is what we can learn about God’s powerful rule, over His family of people, in His kingdom place.

  • God rules by creating.

  • God’s people are designed to create and contribute to the kingdom on His behalf.

  • God’s kingdom place provided the materials needed for people to create for the glory of God.

  • God rules by forming and filling His creation.

  • God’s people are designed to multiply and love one another.

  • God’s kingdom place was meant to extend God’s blessings to all nations.

  • God delegates His rule to His image-bearers.

  • God’s people are designed to listen and obey the truth of God’s kingdom rule.

  • The center of God’s kingdom place is true eternal life and the true knowledge of good and evil.

  • God rules over all things.

  • God’s people are designed to love God and walk with Him as our Heavenly Father.

  • The Bible is all about the Lord establishing His kingdom place of residence with His people wherever they go.

As we move forward in this series, we will discover the details behind the story of God’s kingdom people in God’s kingdom place under God’s kingdom rule woven all throughout the story of the Bible. In fact, the story of the Bible begins in this garden space, and moves through the grand narrative of the Bible. The story then moves to you and to me, to our neighbors and co-workers. Ultimately, the story of the Bible ends in the same garden space that has become a city in which God Himself dwells!

You might be thinking all of this talk about paradise sounds so nice! Where is this experience in my life today? In order to truly grasp the story of how God brings us into His unique kingdom place designed especially for us, we must first learn about the existence of another kingdom that opposes God’s rule; the kingdom of Satan.

Share the Gospel: The Garden of Eden represents God’s unique kingdom place designed to provide the materials necessary for humans to create for the glory of God. The place was designed to extend God’s blessings to all nations! The center of God’s kingdom place is true eternal life and the true knowledge of good and evil and the Bible is all about the Lord establishing His kingdom place of residence with His people wherever they go!

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2. Our Heavenly Father (God’s People)

Day 2 • Week 2

Week 2 • Day 2

The day my first born came into the world was one of the most surreal moments of my life. Holding him for the first time was unbelievable. I kept going over and over in my head “This is my son. My own flesh and blood. He looks like me, smiles like me, and even cries like me.”

This is the same way our Heavenly Father, who made us in His image and His likeness, sees us in His Kingdom family of people!

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” - Genesis 1:26-28

Yesterday, we zoomed in on the specific passages above which reveal God’s desire to craft His kingdom place in such a way that His “image-bearers” would thrive. Quite shockingly, God’s sovereign and wise plan was to delegate His dominion and allow His people to rule the earthly realm on His behalf. Today, we ask the question: what does it look like for humans to rule on God’s behalf as God’s kingdom family of people? The answer to this can be seen in what God’s people actually are called to accomplish in His kingdom space and how His people respond to His kingdom rule.

GOD’S PEOPLE STEWARD GOD’S SPACE FRUITFULLY

When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed...The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. - Genesis 2:5-8, 15

Prior to the birth of my son there was a nesting process. It was so fun to see my wife and I embrace the excitement of having a baby. Painting the room, decorating, organizing, setting up the crib, and anticipating the time when our newborn was going to come home. What a moment it was as we brought our son home into his room and into our lives for the first time.

I imagine Genesis 2 is painting the exact same picture of a Heavenly Father who loves His newly created image-bearers and welcomes them into their “room” for the first time. My wife and I set up our son’s room in a way that was organized, decorated, and full of toy trucks so that one day he would be inspired to use that space to be organized, creative, and imaginative himself. In the same way, this garden space was organized, decorated, beautifully designed, and filled with natural resources so that humanity would be inspired to till, mine, hunt, harness, harvest, create, organize, and rearrange this space so that they could flourish.

As I joyfully watch my son grow and develop in the home we have created for Him, I imagine our Heavenly Father receiving the same immense joy as He watches His people “work and keep” His kingdom space on His behalf! Today, a similar thing can be said about all people since everyone bear’s the image of God. At our core, working the earth to bring a better tomorrow for all humans everywhere brings joy to God and instills deep purpose in humanity. Whether you are a humble janitor or inventing the latest technology, it is a blessing when humanity stewards God’s place well with the breath of life He has given us. God’s people are designed to create and contribute to the kingdom on His behalf.

“The pattern of all work...is creative and assertive. It is rearranging the raw material of God’s creation in such a way that it helps the world in general, and people in particular, thrive and flourish” - Tim Keller

GOD’S PEOPLE SUBDUE ACCORDING TO GOD’S RULE

Genesis 2:16-19 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Home at last! The moment we brought our son home a new life began! Feeding, cleaning, changing diapers, and minimal sleep was not necessarily what we wanted to do, but the sacrifice was all worth it. We were willing to do whatever it took to raise our child and give him the best opportunity to thrive.

This included setting boundaries so that our son wouldn’t touch the stove and burn his finger or fall down several flights of stairs.

While our King blesses us immensely by delegating His rule to us, He also sets up boundaries so that we might flourish in His kingdom! Soon, we will read about whether or not the first humans decide to “touch the stove” and “fall down the flight of stairs”. In the meantime, Genesis reveals that this “very good” world included healthy boundaries that needed to be observed. God’s people are designed to listen and obey the truth of God’s kingdom rule.

Many see these boundaries as God restricting His people from receiving EVERYTHING He has to offer. In our culture that places a premium of freedom, a God with boundaries does not seem very freeing. However, I personally couldn’t imagine letting my newborn son do whatever he wanted without any boundaries. Could you imagine what life would be like if there were no rules or laws? If you think you would be better off, consider what a lawless society would do around you? We all know intuitively that there are certain boundaries that exist for our benefit. Yet sometimes, we balk at God’s instruction to not eat of this particular tree because it feels like God is holding out on us. This attitude of doubt sets the stage for whether or not Adam and Eve, our human parents, would trust in God’s rule or whether they would go their own way.

“Freedom is not so much the absence of restrictions as finding the right ones, those that fit with the realities of our own nature and those of the world.” - Tim Keller

GOD’S PEOPLE FILL GOD’S SPACE BY MULTIPLYING

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”...So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. - Genesis 2:18, 21-25.

Throughout this entry, I have been referencing the arrival of my firstborn. I don’t think I have to go into detail about how my wife and I “created” our firstborn. Yet it is significant that there was one thing that God saw was “not good” in His creation. Man was alone. This can definitely be interpreted as a relational statement, but it is more likely that the weight of interpretation falls on the one command of God that Adam could not accomplish by himself - that is to multiply. He needed someone to “help” him! Therefore, the man and the woman (both equal together as image-bearers of God) were created to accomplish the purpose of multiplication together (both given distinct roles in this process).

So often, modern art depicts the Garden of Eden as a place of paradise in which Adam and Eve are all alone. Have you ever thought what it would look like if these works of art depicted a Garden of Eden in which Adam and Eve did in fact obey God and multiplied? The garden may have started with Adam and Eve, but from the beginning God created this ideal Edenic garden place to spread as humanity innevitably multiplied. The result should be a work of art that depicts the garden as a kingdom in which God’s people who bear His image fill the earth as they co-exist, co-labor, and co-operate in shalom (Hebrew word for “Harmony” or “Peace”). God’s kingdom people were called to multiply and love one another.

GOD’S PEOPLE EXPERIENCE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

It would have been child abuse if we brought our firstborn son to his room, closed the door, and said, “Good luck! You are on your own now!” There is no way our son would have survived. Instead, my wife and I love our child so much that we wanted to be there to provide for his every need and walk with him to celebrate his milestone moments, even if it meant waking up early in the morning!

In the same way, God designed His people to not only bear His image, but to be in close relationship with Him as our Heavenly Father. Let’s pause to reflect on the different ways we see God closely interacting with Adam and Eve!

And God blessed them. And God said to them... - Genesis 1:28.

...then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. - Genesis 2:7.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden... - Genesis 2:15. And the Lord God commanded the man... - Genesis 2:16

Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. - Genesis 2:19

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man... - Genesis 2:21

And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. - Genesis 2:22

What is remarkable is that God could have easily been in the heavens doing whatever He pleased. Instead, He uses His rule to create the world, He creates the male and the female, He gives them a kingdom purpose to work and keep the garden, obey him, to spread out across all of creation, and to cooperate in harmony. On top of all of this, He chooses to closely interact with Adam and Eve in relationship with them! God’s people are designed to love God and walk with Him as our Heavenly Father.

Throughout today’s entry, there have been statements highlighted in bold font. In no particular order, we will now combine these statements with the section titles given yesterday to keep track of what we are learning about God’s kingdom! Take some time to reflect on any patterns that you begin to notice:

  • God rules by creating.
    God’s people are designed to create and contribute to the kingdom on His behalf.

  • God rules by forming and filling His creation.
    God’s people are designed to multiply and love one another.

  • God delegates His rule to His image-bearers.
    God’s people are designed to listen and obey the truth of God’s kingdom rule.

  • God rules over all things.
    God’s people are designed to love God and walk with Him as our Heavenly Father.

God’s people bear the image and likeness of God so that we might rule on His behalf and further His kingdom. We accomplish this when we work and keep God’s kingdom place and obediently follow His kingdom rule. As the kingdom inevitably multiplies, our mission is to grow in our love for God and love for others! This is what it means to be human in God’s kingdom!

Share the Gospel: God’s people bear the image and likeness of God so that we might rule on His behalf and further His kingdom. We accomplish this when we work and keep God’s kingdom place and obediently follow His kingdom rule. As the kingdom inevitably multiplies, our mission is to grow in our love for God and love for others! This is what it means to be human in God’s kingdom!

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1. The Cosmic Kingdom (God’s Rule)

Day 1 • Week 2

Week 2 • Day 1

Throughout this series, we are defining the word “kingdom” as God’s powerful rule, in God’s place of blessing, over God’s family of people. Our goal is to highlight this 3-fold definition throughout the scriptures in order to (1) explain why Jesus was sent to proclaim The Gospel of the Kingdom and (2) discover our kingdom purpose.

Let’s practice searching for our 3-fold kingdom definition in the scriptures by starting from the beginning and looking through the lens of God’s rule!

GOD RULES BY CREATING

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void (“empty” NRSV), and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. - Genesis 1:1–2.

Right from the start, the Hebrew Bible offers its readers a vision of God and creation that subverts all other ancient thought. Thousands of years ago, the prevailing worldview was that creation was either eternally existent or the byproduct of warring gods. However, the opening passages of scripture do not say, “In the beginning, the heavens and the earth existed,“ or, “In the beginning, the gods were waging war.”

Instead, the Bible simply states that, “In the beginning, God...” In the beginning, God was in complete control and had the power to do as He pleased. In the beginning, God ruled!

Verse 2 goes on to say that, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” It might be tempting to ask the typical modern questions here. Where did this darkness come from? How did the waters get there? Were these entities pre-existent and eternal? However, this passage becomes particularly insightful when you set the creation account of Genesis against the creation accounts of the Ancient Near Eastern civilizations. According to the Babylonian and Egyptian creation accounts, the world as we know it emerged from the raging waters and the dark abyss.

These entities symbolized chaos and disorder. While this imagery about the waters and the darkness carries over into Genesis, the Bible tells us that the Spirit of the King of Kings was “hovering” over these bodies of “chaos waters” and darkness.

The larger point is that, in the beginning, God ruled! His Spirit hovered over the chaos of the darkness and waters only to rearrange them in an orderly and beautiful way! Simply by looking at the first two verses, the scriptures are already exclaiming that the God of the Hebrew Bible powerfully rules over all things. Now, let’s see how God uses His powerful rule to create God’s kingdom place of blessing.

GOD RULES BY FORMING HIS KINGDOM PLACE

It’s incredible! God’s rule is so powerful, that creation emerges at the mere sound of His voice! The God of the Bible uses His incredibly powerful rule to take the formless chaos of the world and create an orderly place.

Day 1: And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light....God separated the light from the darkness.

On day 1 God creates the light by separating it from the darkness. You might be tempted to think of more modern conversations about the material photons that are cast out by the Sun that hit the eye and give humanity the perception of light. However, isn’t it interesting that the Sun will not be created until Day 4? Where is the light coming from if there is no burning ball of gas in the sky producing these photons? Instead, the Genesis account of creation is communicating that the God of the universe is wielding His ruling power to organize this formless and empty place called the earth. He begins by separating the light from the chaotic darkness and embeds the earth with the function of time!

Day 2: And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse.

On day 2 God separates the waters in the expanse of the sky with the waters below. Again, you might be tempted to speculate over the scientific explanations behind this expanse above and the waters below. Instead, the original audience would have recognized that the God of the universe continues to organize this formless and empty world by embedding it with the function of climate and the ability to produce fresh water; two features of God’s place that are crucial for survival and were said to be controlled by other lesser gods in the Ancient Near East.

Day 3 (Act 1): And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas.

Day 3 (Act 2): And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.

Finally, on day 3 God gathered the waters so that dry land might emerge and bring forth vegetation. Have you ever noticed that nothing material was ever created on this day (just “gathered” and “separated”)? This observation affirms that our focus ought to be on God creating this functional place called earth over and above the search for precise scientific explanations behind the material He is creating!

Do you see where this is all headed? Time! Climate! Freshwater! Land! Vegetation! It seems like the God of the Bible saw fit to use His all-encompassing powerful rule to prepare an extraordinary place of tremendous blessings! The question that remains is for whom?

GOD RULES BY FILLING HIS KINGDOM PLACE

If the earth started off as a formless place, then days 1-3 show how God formed the world and prepared it for functionality (time, climate, freshwater, land, vegetation). In the same way, recall the opening passage of Genesis suggests that the earth was also void or an “empty” place. Sure enough, God’s creative works on days 4, 5, and 6 precisely fill the void realms created on days 1, 2, and 3.

Day 4: And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness.

On day 4 God creates the sun moon and stars to fill the realm created on day 1. Yet here is the fascinating thing - God delegates His powerful rule to the Sun and the Moon and the stars! Why wouldn’t an all powerful God choose to retain His power? Doesn’t He run the risk of created entities abusing this delegated rule? Nonetheless, the King of Kings saw fit to commission these created entities to rule over the day and the night in order to govern time in the heavenly sky realm on His behalf.

Day 5: And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

Day 6 (Act 1): And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Next, on day 5 God creates the birds of the air and the fish of the sea to fill the expanse and the waters created on day 2. Similarly, on day 6, God creates living creatures to fill the land separated from the waters on day 3.

If you are paying close attention, here is a question you might be asking? If the sun, moon, and stars were commissioned to rule over the heavenly realm, who would be commissioned to rule over the earthly realm including the birds of the air, fish of the sea, and the creatures on the dry land?

This brings us to the creation of the human!

GOD DELEGATES HIS RULE TO HIS KINGDOM PEOPLE

We’ve seen how God’s rule was used to form and fill God’s space. Now we discover that God’s space was designed so that God’s family of people - otherwise known as His “image-bearers” - would flourish!

Day 6 (Act 2): Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” - Genesis 1:26-28

As opposed to Babylonian and Egyptian traditions, no longer was the king the sole “image-bearer” of God and no longer was humanity consigned to menial labor to appease the pantheon of ancient gods. Instead, all of us, by virtue of being human, have been endowed with tremendous dignity, worth, and honor because God has delegated His rule to us over the earthly realm.

Tomorrow, we will unpack what it means for humans to rule on God’s behalf and the special relationship that God has with His “image-bearers”, but for now let’s finish the creation account by advancing to the 7th day!

GOD RULES OVER ALL THINGS

Day 7: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

In ancient literature, the imagery of a resting deity was often used to communicate the inauguration of a god inside of his temple. In the same way, the significance of the 7th day - 7 being derived from the same Hebrew root word for “complete” - is a Biblical rhythm that is repeated surrounding the inauguration of the tabernacle and the temple.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. - Exodus 20:8–10.

And you shall not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed, for it will take seven days to ordain you. As has been done today, the Lord has commanded to be done to make atonement for you. At the entrance of the tent of meeting you shall remain day and night for seven days, performing what the Lord has charged, so that you do not die, for so I have been commanded.” - Leviticus 8:33–35.

And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it [temple]. - 1 Kings 6:38.

If this imagery is true, then God resting on the 7th day is another way of saying that God had “completed” the work of creation and has now taken His rightful throne to govern over His newly inaugurated kingdom! In this “cosmic temple”, God is enthroned over the entire universe with a special emphasis on the earth; the place in which His image-bearers rule over His creation on His behalf!

As you will continue to see throughout this series, all of these kingdom themes are closely intertwined! That is because from the very beginning, God has always had a kingdom in mind! Simply by looking at the creation account (God’s rule to create God’s cosmic-temple place over God’s image-bearing people), we discover that God has set the foundational elements of the Kingdom in place!

Share the Gospel: Simply by looking at the creation account (God’s rule to create God’s cosmic-temple place over God’s image-bearing people), we discover that God has set the foundational elements of the Kingdom in place!

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Checkpoint #1

Checkpoint #1

Kingdom Definition

I still remember one of the songs we used to sing in kid’s church growing up--”King of Kings and Lord of Lords; Glory..clap..hallelujah!” This was one of those songs that would go faster and faster until we kids would fall in a heap, giggling and laughing at how silly it all was. Looking back, I took two things away from those kinds of songs...(1) it should be FUN to be in church and (2) sometimes we don’t pay attention to the words; only to the fun.

I wonder if that’s true of us as adults today--will we be able to set aside our cravings for carefree recreation and FUN to invest our attention to the words being used in the scriptures?

This week, and indeed all season, we are going to be digging into some WORDS. That means some specific words (like kingdom), some sections of Scripture (sampling from the whole of the Bible), and some words here on the pages of our readers.

I do hope our words help illuminate the Word, and this word “Kingdom” might need some unpacking. After some meditation, I realized that we’re using that term here in basically the same way that the children's song above does--to show that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That means He is at the seat of highest power, He rules, He reigns, He is the authority, and He is worthy of glory and worship. Over the course of the series, we will see that Jesus was still King even when Moses was wandering, nation-less, in the wilderness. He was still King even when David sat on the throne of Israel. And Jesus is still King today!

I love Jesus’ Kingship because he treats his Kingdom people like a family. We’re not enslaved subjects forced to do his bidding and finish His tasks, nor are we governed unfairly from a distance without our problems being deeply known and felt. Instead, we are co-heirs! Look at how God explains this to Abraham, the very first time the seeds of Kingdom were planted:

Genesis 12:1-3 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Here, the word we translate “nation” and the word we translate “family” are almost two sides of the same coin: God promises to build a nation of people centered around a familial relationship with Him, where He serves as ruler and king. That is why for Abraham, a relationship with God meant having faith in Him to start this family of people.

For Moses, however, a relationship with God meant trusting Him to liberate His family from slavery in Egypt and bring them back to a particular place. The importance of a “promised land” may seem like a foreign concept to us today. However, possessing a “garden-like”plot of land rich with natural resources and strategically positioned for militaristic survival would have been the difference between life and death for ancient Israel. That is why in Moses’ time, it was difficult to see God as king when the Hebrews were enslaved in a foreign place and Pharaoh was the one on the physical throne. Yet on his throne, God sets in motion a series of events to set his people free and establish them in His place!

Exodus 19:5-6 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

Here, God introduces the language of the kingdom! He’s talking about His rule in a place of blessing over His family of people for whom relationship with God is at the center.

This is how we will define the word “kingdom” in this series (in no particular order): God’s Powerful rule, over God’s family of People, in God’s Place of blessing. [1]

One of the questions we will ask in this series is why build a kingdom in the first place? The short answer is that every king has a purpose for His kingdom! Did you notice that there is a movement from relationship with God for one’s own sake to that of a mission in the world? The purpose of God’s kingdom is that through Abraham’s nation, all the families of the earth will be blessed. Through the imagery of the priesthood, one is commissioned to take the knowledge and blessings of God and spread it to all the world. This is why we see the kingdom's purpose in Acts 1:8 encompassing not only Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, those lands that the nation-state of Israel sat on, but also the ends of the earth!

This series is all about discovering your Kingdom Purpose!

Ask yourself: How can you take this definition of Kingdom (God’s powerful rule, in God’s place, over God’s family of people) and help make that true of your world today?

How can you make God’s place every place?
How can you make God’s family of people all people?
How can you surrender everything to God’s powerful rule?
How can you bring His Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven?

In part, that’s up to us! Our priestly purpose is to be His ambassadors, called to live out a changed life and bring His peace and His presence here.

Where we are, God’s people are.
Where we are, God’s place is!
Where we are, God’s rule should be!

How can you be an ambassador for Him this week? Can you move into a space where God and His mercy is needed? Can you speak into the lives of people where God and His peace is needed? Can you submit to the rule of Jesus in your own life?

What is He calling you to do to bring His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven? May you do whatever that is with boldness and grace throughout this upcoming series!

[1] Patrick Schreiner, The Kingdom of God and the Glory of the Cross, Short Studies in Biblical Theology (Wheaton: Crossway, 2018), 18-20,

Project Assignment

Choose an Old Testament book to read through its entirety.

Our encouragement is to pick an Old Testament book that remains unfamiliar to you. If you are eager and want to do something challenging, you can pick the Psalms! If you are in a busy season and need something short, Haggai or Obadiah are great options for you!

When you have selected an Old Testament book, do your best to read it through the lens of our 3-fold Kingdom Definition.

How does the book contribute to the story of God’s People?
How does the book contribute to the story of God’s Place?
How does the book contribute to the story of God’s Powerful Rule?

Then, when we get to the New Testament, have each person briefly share their findings based on the following 5 questions.

  1. How did the book contribute to the Kingdom of God story?

  2. What excited/challenged you the most as you were reading the book?

  3. In what ways did you feel like the book was pointing you to Jesus?

  4. What are some ways the book might speak to the members of your group?

  5. What questions do you still have about the book?

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5. Share the Gospel + Life Group Discussion Questions

Day 5 • Week 1

Week 1 • Day 5

In the prelude to our series, we have spent all of week 1 reinforcing that the Bible is reliable and true! If you are interested in engaging more deeply in this content, this entire section was inspired by Why Should I Trust the Bible? written by Timothy Paul Jones.

Additionally, if you are interested in the Archaeological discussions, take some time to revisit Day 1 as we have included two audio links to Dr. Titus Kennedy and his discoveries! Finally, if you are interested in a deeper dive, listen to this lecture by Timothy Makie of the Bible Project.

We know that much of this material can be overwhelming, so this week we have included a fun public YouTube video that does a great job (minus the unnecessary digs at politics) at reviewing some of the basic arguments of why the Bible is reliable. Below, we have provided your group with a summary statement of each section and offered several suggested Life Group questions!

Share the Gospel Video:

Week 1 Life Group Discussion Questions

ICEBREAKER: What is your favorite book of the Bible and Why?

Question: What observations / reflections / prayers stood out to you about this week?

Can I Trust the Bible?: The standard of evidence that we use to determine the reliability of the Bible is of the historical variety not necessarily of the scientific variety. Accordingly, we can have confidence “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the Biblical documents that have been passed down to us are reliable in the sense that they replicate the original manuscripts (regardless of whether the content is actually true).

Question: What comes to mind when you hear the word “evidence”? What particular piece of evidence stands out to you the most and why? What is your experience in discussing the evidence of the Bible with others around you? What is your overall reaction to the evidence of the manuscripts?

Can I Trust the Authors of the Bible?: The evidence suggests that the 4 gospel accounts were meant to be read as an accurate depiction of real historical events that happened to Jesus Christ and his followers in the 1st century, including his resurrection from the dead. Therefore, all of us face the decision as to whether we will call Jesus a liar, a lunatic, or Lord. If Jesus rose from the dead and proved that he is Lord, then the implications of his ministry are staggering!

Question: What is the most convincing part of the gospels for you? When and how did you come to the realization that the gospels are true accounts of what happened? What are some of the ways you have seen this Teacher, Liar, Lunatic, Lord paradigm set up by C.S. Lewis play out in your life / the community around you?

Can I Trust My English Bible Today?: If Jesus rose from the dead, we should take Jesus’ teachings seriously including what he claimed about the scripture. Jesus sees the TaNaKh version of the Old Testament as authoritative while the early church held the standard of Jesus’ words and apostolic authority when considering what fit into the New Testament. We have been blessed with people who gave their lives to translate the scriptures making it available for everyone, including us today!

Question: What stands out to you about the order of the Old Testament in the eyes of Jesus? What stands out to you about the “viral” spread of the New Testament writings? What is the translation of the Bible that you use and is there a reason you have chosen that one? What confuses you about the translations of the Bible?

What Do Christians Believe About the Bible?: If we follow what Jesus says about the Bible, then we can conclude that the scriptures - from the Old Testament and the New Testament - are authoritative and true. And if the scriptures are both authoritative and true, then we can have confidence to affirm that there is a unique spiritual power at work in the scriptures. We believe that scripture is inerrant and infallible, it is one of God’s revelations to us, it is divinely inspired, the Spirit of God illuminates it, and that it is the final authority on conviction and truth.

Question: What are your thoughts on inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible? Can you describe a spiritual illuminating moment you have had while reading the Bible? What would you say is the biggest lesson that you have learned from engaging the Bible over the years?

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4. What Christians Believe About the Bible?

Day 4 • Week 1

Week 1 • Day 4

Up to this point we have argued along this line of thinking...

  • The Biblical documents that have been passed down to us replicate the original manuscripts (regardless of whether the content is actually true).

  • The 4 gospels recount accurate historical events of what happened to Jesus Christ, including his resurrection from the dead.

  • If Jesus rose from the dead, we should take Jesus’ teachings seriously. Whatever Jesus claims about the scripture, we ought to take seriously since he is Lord.

  • The English translations of scripture we have in our Bible’s today - from the Old Testament and the New Testament - are faithful representations (although they differ).

Today, we will complete this chain of logic by coming to two more conclusions.

  • If we follow what Jesus says about the Bible, then we can conclude that the scriptures - from the Old Testament and the New Testament - are authoritative and true.

  • If the scriptures are both authoritative and true, then we can have confidence to affirm that there is a unique spiritual power at work in the scriptures.

One of the patterns that my friends have pointed out to me is that I tend to ask a lot of questions. And let me tell you, these two concluding statements deserve a lot of questions. There are so many wild things in the Old Testament, is it possible to believe that it is true? Even if it were true, is it actually good that the Old Testament is true considering that these texts have inspired slavery, genocides, misogyny, and other vile acts of humanity throughout history?

In terms of the New Testament, how can we believe that the texts of people after Jesus rose from the dead equate to authoritative scripture? Besides, they are just humans like Paul, James, John, Mark, and Luke writing these documents, right?

Let’s unpack the foundational premise of these questions. Is it possible to believe that the Old Testament and the New Testament are true? First, let’s consider this small sample size of whether or not Jesus thought that the events of the Hebrew Bible actually happened.

Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all. - Luke 11:50–51 (the 1st murder of Abel in the Hebrew Bible cited from Genesis 4 → the last murder of the prophet Zechariah cited in 2 Chronicles 24:20-21).

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. - Matthew 24:37–39 (cited from Genesis 6-9).

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” - John 6:32–33 (cited from Exodus 16:4).

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here. - Matthew 12:40–42 (cited from Jonah and 1 Kings 10).

“Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” - Luke 4:24–27 (cited from 1 Kings 17 and 2 Kings 5).

“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” - Matthew 24:15–16 (cited from Daniel 9:37, 11:31, 12:11).

Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods” ’? If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside— what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? - John 10:34–36. (cited from Psalm 82:6)

If Jesus, who rose from the dead, saw fit to allude to the Old Testament as authoritative and a depiction of true events, then so can we. In a similar vein, the writers of the New Testament saw the Gospel accounts and the words of the apostles as something to be regarded as equivalent to the Hebrew Scriptures.

For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain (cited from Deut. 25:4),” and, “The laborer deserves his wages (cited from Luke 10:7) .” - 1 Timothy 5:18.

And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. - 2 Peter 3:15–16.

If Jesus saw that the Hebrew scriptures were authoritative and true, and the apostles saw the words of the gospels and the words of the Apostles on the level of the Hebrew Scripture, then it logically follows that all of scripture is authoritative and true! However, is it good that these scriptures are true considering all of the ways they have inspired crazed actions by those who claim to follow Jesus? In order to answer this question, we must define what we mean by the word “true”.

“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? - Numbers 23:19

When the church says true, we mean the word inerrant. Inerrancy (without error), simply means that the original copies do not affirm or promote anything that is contrary to fact. First, Christians believe that the Bible is inerrant in the sense that all of its words are 100% reliable, true, errorless, and will stand as the ultimate standard of truth when all facts come to bear. Without inerrancy, the church is forced to speculate which scriptures compromise the truth. Inevitably, this opens the door to a flood of accusations in which the scriptures – and subsequently God Himself – could be a liar. And if this is the case, why should anyone live according to God’s good and true character or believe what He has to say? (for more on inerrancy see Ps. 12:6, 119:89; Pr. 30:5; Matt. 24:35; Jn. 17:17; Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18)

Second, the Bible is inerrant because every word found in the scriptures infallibly tells the truth concerning the content it wants to convey. Infallibility (without fail) acknowledges that the united message of the Bible - namely salvation and righteous eternal life found in Jesus by faith - is written in realistic human prose. The Bible comes to us using different genres and writing styles which utilize ancient observations, stylistic writings, poetry, estimations, quotations, chronological freedom, grammatical “slang”, and a variety of other styles that vary in accuracy and precision. Infallibility suggests that even within the stylistic writing of the Bible, the main message still comes across through the hard work of biblical interpretation. (for more on infallibility see Lk. 24:36-49; Rom.1:16-17, 15:4; Heb. 1:1-3).

Therefore, this 2-fold doctrine of inerrancy allows one to say that the scriptures,“are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus,” they are true and “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work,” and they affirm that, “every word of God proves true,” (Prov. 30:5; 2 Tim. 3:14-17).

If the Bible is indeed inerrant, then we can finally suggest that there is a unique spiritual power at work amidst the scriptures because that is exactly what the inerrant word tells us.

The Bible is God’s Revelation to Us

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. - 2 Timothy 3:16-17

In the scriptures, we discover a God who transcends all human comprehension (see Is. 40:13, 55:8-9; John 17:3, 6, 25-26). If humans are to understand anything about God at all, He must take the initiative to graciously reveal Himself. In the scriptures, we learn that God has done just that. He has revealed Himself through things like His creation and the natural world around us (see Gen. 1; Ps. 19:1-6; Rom. 1:19-25) as well as His divine breath which brought our consciousness into existence (see Gen. 1:26-28, 2:7; Rom. 2:14-15; Eccl. 3:11). However, it was the human decision to seek the knowledge of good and evil apart from God that distorts our consciousness and our perception of creation around us. Therefore, our fallen human nature thwarts the correct interpretation of God’s revelations apart from the Spirit’s intervention (see Jn. 14:26, 15:26; Rom. 1:18-32).

Since human understanding was distorted, God directly intervenes by revealing Himself...

... through dreams and visions (Gen. 28:10-22, 37:1-11),
... through covenants (Gen. 9:8-17; 12:1-3, 15:9-21; Ex. 19:5-6; 2 Sam. 7:1-17),
... through laws (Ex. 19-31),
… through dwelling places (Ex.40:34; 1 Kgs. 8:10-11),
... through prophets (2 Peter 1:21),
... through the chosen nation of Israel (Gen. 17:7).
... through the scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16-17)
... and ultimately through Jesus – God incarnate, the author and perfecter of our faith (Jn. 1:1-3; Phil. 2:5-11; Heb. 1:3, 12:1-3).

God can be sufficiently known and understood by looking at the material creation, by undergoing mental reasoning, by examining the metaphysical, by fixing our eyes on the Messiah, and by meditating on the manifestations of God and the overall message of redemption that lies within the pages of scriptures.

The Bible is Inspired by the Holy Spirit

And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. - 2 Peter 1:19- 21

How does the Bible reveal God? The doctrine of inspiration suggests that when the words of the Bible were penned, the Holy Spirit was guiding the entire process. On the more conservative end, the dictation view of inspiration suggests that the Holy Spirit “dictated” every word that came from the author's hand. On the more liberal end, the limited inspiration view suggests that the Holy Spirit took a more “hand’s off” approach and allowed the human personality to take the lead. The scriptures convey the possibility of both. For example, the scriptures record the Lord providing hyper-specific wordings to people like the prophets (Hab. 2:2; Jer. 30:2). At other times, the Lord allows the more “hands-off” approach such as when the Spirit allows John to describe the vision he sees in (Revelation 1:11).

The verbal plenary view of inspiration finds a middle ground and states that the Holy Spirit was involved in guiding the thought processes of the human author of scripture (think limited), but to the extent that each word the author selected was ordained and in fact written by God Himself (think dictation). While the scriptures do not have much to say on the “processes'' by which scripture is brought into existence, the verbal plenary view allows the church to affirm that God walked alongside the human authors in order to shape their personalities and thoughts before they ever penned their written accounts without compromising their individuality. That is why the verbal plenary view provides the “God-Breathed” foundation for all scripture! (for more on Verbal Plenary Inspiration see Deut. 4:2; 12:32; John 14:26, 16:13; 1 Cor. 2:13; 2 Pet. 1:19-21; 2 Tim. 3:16; Rev. 22:18-19).

The Holy Spirit Illuminates Through the Bible

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. - Hebrews 4:12

Since the Spirit has inspired the writing of every facet of the Bible, it can also be said that the Spirit continues to work through the written words of scripture by means of illumination. The fallen human mind is incapable of receiving God’s truths, but since the Holy Spirit works in the words of scripture, the Spirit is able to regenerate its readers towards an enlightened understanding of God. This turns what was once seen as foolishness in this world into the true wisdom for salvation and righteousness found in the gospel of Jesus Christ!

As the Spirit-filled believer continues to interact with the God-Breathed scriptures, the Holy Spirit continues to illuminate the truths of the scriptural texts (1 Thess. 1:5, 2:13; Heb. 5:14) by teaching believers all things and bringing to their remembrance all that Jesus has taught (Jn. 14:26), by witnessing to Jesus through the text (Jn. 15:26-27), by convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (Jn. 16:14), and by guiding believers into all truth (Jn. 16:13) all derived from the authority of God and to the glory of Jesus Christ (Jn. 16:13-14). (for more on Illumination see Jn. 3:1-15; Eph. 1:18, 3:14-19; 2 Cor. 3:12-18; Rom. 2:29; Col. 1:9; 1 Jn. 5:20)

The Bible is the Ultimate Objective Authority

If the Bible is God breathed, and the Spirit of God is working through the scriptures, then we can view the scriptures as God’s authoritative word given to us. In the Old Testament, it is common to find a variety of texts that affirm the notion that the scriptures are God’s word:

  • “Thus says the Lord” 2 Sam. 23:2; Ezk. 2:1-7; Mic. 4:4; Is. 8:11

  • “Speak through the prophets” Duet. 18:18; Jer. 37:2; Zech. 7:7-14

  • “write these words down” Ex. 34:27

Additionally, the New Testament routinely affirms the divine inspiration of the Old Testament as well as itself, making the entire canon authoritative scripture.

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll. - Revelation 22:18–19.

Therefore, the scriptures act as God’s authoritative word in the life of the church and to disbelieve or disobey any words of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey the very words of God. This does not negate evidence or wisdom found outside of the scriptures themselves which testify that the Bible is God’s authoritative word (e.g. historical facts, internal consistency, prophecies fulfilled, beauty and influence, scientific and archaeological attestation, logical consistency, 1st century actual events, etc.), however the church must acknowledge that the words of scripture themselves, being the ultimate authority, are the final authority of conviction and truth! (for more on Authority of the Bible see Deut. 18:19; Isa. 66:2; Lk. 10:16, 24:25; 1 Cor. 10:11, 14:37-38; 2 Tim. 3:16-17, 5:18; 2 Peter 3:2, 16; 1 John 4:6; Rev. 22:18-19)

Our hope is that by the end of this series, you will see the beauty of all of these things at work in the scriptures as well!

Share the Gospel: If we follow what Jesus says about the Bible, then we can conclude that the scriptures - from the Old Testament and the New Testament - are authoritative and true. And if the scriptures are both authoritative and true, then we can have confidence to affirm that there is a unique spiritual power at work in the scriptures. We believe that scripture is inerrant and infallible, it is one of God’s revelations to us, it is divinely inspired, the Spirit of God illuminates it, and that it is the final authority on conviction and truth.

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3. Can I Trust My English Bible Today?

Day 3 • Week 1

Week 1 • Day 3

Could you imagine what it was like to live in the earliest days of the church? Christianity was a young but rapidly growing movement taking place right under the nose of one of the most powerful empires the world has ever seen. Little did the church know, this movement of the Jesus “way” would be heavily persecuted by the Roman empire. Could you imagine the prayers that were made to see the Roman empire transform from the inside out and alleviate the persecution of Christians?

Shortly after the turn of the 3rd century, a man by the name of Constantine takes the throne as emperor of Rome. As he is preparing for one of his battles, he experiences a mysterious vision which inspires him to convert to Christianity. Shockingly, the Roman Emperor himself becomes a Christian and everything changes! Years later, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan which brought Christianity out from under the nose of persecution as a legal religion to be practiced. Overtime, Christianity would spread across the entire Empire.

During the reign of Constantine, the leaders of the early church were afforded the opportunity to come out from hiding and seek unity along the lines of major points of doctrine. After many theological debates flared up in local home churches across the empire, Constantine called for the first major church council named the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D.. Here, he invited church leaders from all over the empire to discuss and clarify the core tenants of the Christian religion.

Fast-Forward 500 years! According to the anonymous 9th century legend (remember...500 years later), the leaders of the church did in fact come together at the Council of Nicea. But instead of debating core doctrine, the church leaders met with a more nefarious plot in mind. According to legend, the church leaders placed all of the manuscripts of “scripture” on a table, prayed that God would miraculously reveal which scrolls were the true scriptures, and watched as God swiped some documents to the floor and kept the canon of scripture on the table.

Fast-Forward another 1200 years where author Dan Brown, in his best selling book The DaVinci Code, mythologizes this alleged event at the Council of Nicea and adds the theory that it was really emperor Constantine who made the final decision of which books stayed in the Bible and which books would be overlooked.

So was the Bible really formed in this arbitrary way by the earliest church leaders or as an act of power by Emperor Constantine? Could this be why we see so many variations of what is included in the Bible and what is excluded?

If this is how you believe the scriptures were formed, you wouldn’t be alone. However, the reality is that nothing has ever been found to suggest that the Council of Nicea was intended to be a clandestine meeting for the most powerful Christians to decide what stays in the Bible!

This leads us to today’s question: how was the Bible actually formed and how can I trust that I have the correct collections of 66 books and their proper English translations in my hands?

Up to this point, we have argued that whatever is in the pages of scripture was meant to be there. We then argued that the central message of the Bible, the resurrected Jesus, is supported by the reliability of the Gospel as eyewitness testimony. Yesterday we concluded that since the Gospels were meant to be interpreted as accurate information, it is reasonable to conclude that Jesus lived, died, and rose again as God in the flesh!

Now if the Gospels are reliable and if Jesus rose from the dead as Lord, then we ought to look at his teachings about the rest of the Bible through the same lens that Jesus saw them! Here is how our Lord Jesus view the scriptures:

The 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (39 books of the Old Testament)

Jesus believed that the Hebrew Bible, the collection of what we call today the Old Testament texts, were to be referenced as authoritative scriptures. Consider the very words of Jesus as documented by Matthew’s Gospel account:

“It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” -Matthew 4:4 (from Deuteronomy 8:3)

“It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” - Matthew 4:7 (from Deuteronomy 6:16)

“Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” - Matthew 4:10 (from Deuteronomy 6:13)

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” - Matthew 5:17.

“It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” - Matthew 21:13 (from Jeremiah 7:11)

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” “The son of David,” they replied. He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,

“ ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies under your feet.” ’

If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” Matthew 22:41–45 (from Psalm 110:1)

So when Jesus picked up a Hebrew Bible in the 1st Century, what would he have seen? Could it have been like the Old Testaments from other traditions which carry more than 66 books, like the Roman Catholics who add 7 more books to their canon or the Orthodox tradition that adds 10 more? To answer this question, let’s dive into a brief history of the Old Testament canon!

In the 4th Century B.C., a man by the name of Alexander the Great would go on to conquer a large amount of territory and impose the Greek language to unify his growing Macedonian Empire. This would eventually inspire a new Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible called the Septuagint. Along with this new Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Greek scribes of the time began to include more books that would capture the essence of Israel’s history.

Not only did these Greek scholars add texts to the Septuagint, but these same scribes also reordered the books of the Bible in a way that closely aligned with the Old Testament order that we see in our scriptures today. They begin with the Law of Moses, move on to History, dive into Wisdom and Poetry, and end with the Prophets.

Fast-Forward to the 5th century A.D. where Latin became the common language of the known world. In response, a man named Jerome began translating the Septuagint into the Latin Vulgate. In this process, Jerome noticed these modifications made to the original Hebrew Bible and classified the books added to the canon as Apocrypha - meaning books that were “hidden” or “unclear”. His contemporary counterpart, Augustine of Hippo, disagreed with Jerome’s assessment and wanted the entire Septuagint to be seen as scripture.

 

So what are the texts meant to be in our Bibles? And what order are we supposed to read them? This is where we can look into the words of Jesus to find out what he thought was true!

He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. - Lk 24:44–47.

It turns out that Jesus, who resurrected from the dead and claimed to be God himself, affirmed his Hebrew Bible in an arrangement that aligns with the traditional Hebrew / Aramaic version called the Tanakh (Torah or Law / Nevi’im or Prophets / Khetuvim or Writings).

 

Remember that in the 1st Century A.D., the mainstream Bible of Jesus’ time would have been the Greek Septuagint with the apocrypha additions. That is why it is extraordinarily significant that Jesus never once cited an apocrypha text. Similarly, the NT authors might have hinted at traditions derived from the apocrypha (which include elements of Israel’s history), but they never cited apocryphal texts even though 2⁄3 of their quotations align more with the Septuagint Greek translations than the actual Hebrew verbiage. (see Jude 9-10, 1 Peter 3).

In the weeks to come, as we trace the key message of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, we too will be following the pattern of the ancient Hebrew Bible attempting to read the scriptures in the way Jesus would have read them! In the chart above, hopefully you can already see some important variations. Why do Ruth and the Psalms come so late? Why does 1st and 2nd Chronicles come at the end of the Hebrew Old Testament? Our prayer is that over the course of this series you will see how the Hebrew Bible order illuminates the Old Testament in a new and fresh way!

The 27 Books of the New Testament

In his work Misquoting Jesus, Bart Ehrman - one of the leading scholars engaged in the attempts to cast doubt on the scriptures - claims that the earliest recorded listing of the 27 books that make up the New Testament dates back to 367 A.D. from a church leader named Athanasius. If this were true, it would further affirm the notion that the Council of Nicea held in 325 A.D. wasn’t about clarifying core doctrines, but selecting the canon of the scriptures. It turns out that an Easter letter from another church leader named Origen from the middle of the 3rd century (1 century earlier) was discovered that listed all 27 books of the New Testament.

So were these early church leaders actually correct in selecting these specific 27 texts? And if it didn’t happen at the Council of Nicea, how did the church decide upon these 27 books?

The Muratorian Fragment written in Greek around the 2nd Century A.D. inches ever-closer to the earliest iteration of the New Testament church by including 22 New Testament books we see today. More importantly, this fragment contains a commentary of how certain books were chosen to be included in the New Testament. In regards to the New Testament inclusion of an important document called The Shepherd, the Muratorian Fragment reads,

Hermes composed the Shepherd quite recently - in our times, in the city of Rome...So while it should indeed be read, it cannot be read publicly for the people of the church; it is counted neither among the Prophets (for their number has been completed) nor among the Apostles (for it is after their time).

Additionally, a document was found written by a pastor by the name of Serapion a few decades later. Serapion writes this about the controversial The Gospel of Peter and its inclusion in the New Testament.

We accept [the writings of] Peter and the other apostles just as [we would accept] Christ, but, as for those with a name falsely ascribed, we deliberately dismiss them, knowing that no such things have been handed down to us.

These two important documents reveal that the early church had already set the standard that a book ought to be included in the New Testament canon if it could confidently be connected to a key Apostle or one of their associates. As the Jesus movement rapidly spread across the Roman Empire, these were the letters that ‘went viral” as they were copied, copied again, and recopied once more. Nevertheless, there were still debates around books like Hebrews, James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2nd and 3rd John, Revelation, and the Wisdom of Solomon. But even if they were wrong about certain books that were included or excluded, the gospel message and the core theology underlying the collection of books are so repetitive that no single book MUST necessarily exist inside the canon in order for the New Testament to remain true.

The Various English Translations

We left the story of Bible translations in which Latin became the dominant language across the Catholic (Universal) Church near the 500’s A.D.. It wasn’t until the late 1300’s A.D. when a man by the name of John Wycliffe began translating the Bible from Latin to English. Wycliffe faced enormous criticism from the Catholic Church whose leadership advocated to keep the Bible in the hands of the clergy and the educated. If the Bible was translated into the language of commoners, there was the threat of disunity and the loss of power that the Roman Catholic church had garnered over the years. Yet amidst this persecution, Wycliffe persisted that the word of God was meant for ALL people, even the uneducated and illiterate masses. Unfortunately, Wycliffe never had the opportunity to finish his translation project after being killed for his efforts. He passed the endeavor on to his associates who were also martyred for their attempts. Eventually, this project ran through the hands of Jan Hus who was martyred as well.

Jan Hus happened to be one of the key inspirations for a young student named Martin Luther.

The dawn of the printing press and the rise of the renaissance in the early 15th century sparked the Protestant Reformation. This era included a renewed vigor to translate the Bible for all people and to do so by looking at the earliest available manuscripts and revisiting the original Hebrew and Greek sources as opposed to the Greek Septuagint or the Latin Vulgate. Many men continued these translation efforts throughout the Protestant Reformation, yet translators like William Tyndale and John Rogers lost their lives over the cause as the governing authorities (like Mary I in England...otherwise known as “bloody Mary”) teetered between the new wave of Protestants (whose mission was to go “protest” the Catholic church and to put Bibles into the hands of everyone) and the authority Catholic church (whose mission it was to retain the Latin translation, protect Catholic doctrine, and maintain the Christian kingdom).

After a tumultuous back and forth history of being pro-Protestant and pro-Catholic and after several translation attempts muddied the waters of which Bible was accurate, England’s King James I had a handful of scholars produce a “finalized’ church-wide translation in 1611 based on the best available manuscripts. This translation would forever be known as the King James Version! Thus, in the English-speaking world, the KJV became the go-to Bible for about 250 years. However, the tide began to change as more manuscripts were found, the English vernacular had changed so much that more modern translations were necessary, and the open frontier of America emerged.

This is where we get to the Bible that you hold in your hand today! Since the 1800’s, many marvelous English translations of the Bible have been written and have stood the test of time. Why do all of these translations look different? It is simply because those who have taken up the task of translation are working with the original Greek and original Hebrew and making decisions about what the words actually mean. Some translations use the standard of what is called formal equivalence in which the translations are the best rendering of the word in front of them (e.g. NASB, KJV, ESV). Some translations follow dynamic equivalence which is a more loose interpretation of the original text that fits our modern sensibilities (e.g. NIV, THE MESSAGE, NRSV, NLT). In the end, there seems to be good uses for both approaches, but also some dangers.

A formal equivalent translation is most useful when you are studying exactly what was said in the original manuscripts. However, pure translations can often be difficult for our 21st century mind to understand, especially when the literature includes idioms and sayings that would have only been familiar to an ancient audience.

1 Peter 1:13 (NKJV - formal equivalent) Therefore gird up the loins of your mind...

Strength: Old Testament connections to “girding up your loins” to the Exodus (Ex. 12:11), the calling of Jeremiah (Jer. 1:17), the escape of Elijah from Ahab and Jezebel (1 Kgs. 18:46), and the command of Jesus to “stay dressed” in preparation for his return (Lk. 12:35)

Weakness: Difficult idiom to actually understand to the 21st century reader who has never had to gird up their loins.

1 Peter 1:13 (NIV - dynamic equivalent) Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober...

Strengths: Far more understandable reading of the same passage to a 21st century English speaking audience

Weakness: Loss of the beautiful and intentional imagery that is connected to Old Testament phrases.

The translation conversation can often be overwhelming, but the good news is that with so many translations, we are able to compare and contrast decisions to wrap our minds around the most accurate reading! Combine this with the ability to revisit the textual copies and you can follow the translation journey that has led to our English translations with precision! That is why you can certainly trust that English Bible translation in your hand today!

Share the Gospel: If Jesus rose from the dead, we should take Jesus’ teachings seriously including what he claimed about the scripture. Jesus sees the TaNaKh version of the Old Testament as authoritative while the early church held the standard of Jesus’ words and apostolic authority when considering what fit into the New Testament. We have been blessed with people who gave their lives to translate the scriptures making it available for everyone, including us today!

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2. Can I Trust the Authors of the Bible?

Day 2 • Week 1

Week 1 • Day 2

Yesterday, we made the effort to establish that whatever has been handed to us in the Bible is reliable, meaning that we can have confidence that whatever is in the pages of our scripture was meant to be there!

Today, we take one more step. Can we trust the actual content written in the Bible?

Sure, we may have accurate information passed on to us that is corroborated by archaeological evidence. But that doesn’t mean that the actual message of the Bible is the “word of God” meant to be taken as a retelling of what actually happened. For all we know, the content passed down to us could have been a mythologization about everything – including Jesus’ life as a metaphor about how love conquers all. Are we actually meant to take the words of the Bible as an accurate representation of what happened in history?

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. - 1 Corinthians 15:13–15.

If Paul’s words are true here, then there is no better place to start than by addressing the claim of Jesus’ resurrection. If the story of Jesus’ resurrection has been fabricated or mythologized, then we can stop here because all of our faith is in vain. BUT...if there is plausible evidence that the story of Jesus’ resurrection has been accurately retold by the New Testament authors, and it is in fact true, then the implications on the rest of the Bible are staggering.

Today, we will only address whether the writers of the New Testament intended for the story of Jesus - including his physical bodily resurrection - to be taken as a literal retelling of an event that occurred in history.

In the Bible, there are 4 books that explain the life of Jesus titled “Gospels”. These Gospel accounts according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were written in the 1st century in a common literary format called bios (from which we receive the word biography). This bios literary style was recognized by the 1st century Greco-Roman world as a spectrum of literature that ranged from the meticulously detailed academic biographies that you would see in the upper-class of Rome to the loosely exaggerated historical fiction pieces such as Life of Alexander which depicted Alexander the Great being born of an ancient Pharaoh assisted by a mystical god. So which type of bios are the 4 gospel accounts? Did the gospel writers “juice up” their own content to “deify” Jesus as some would suggest? Or were they meticulously detailing accurate information?

When we look at the evidence, we can be confident “beyond a reasonable doubt” that all 4 Gospels WERE meant to be understood as a factual retelling of events that actually occurred in the life of Jesus. Here are 4 important truths about whether the gospels can be trusted:

1. Every significant claim that upholstered the Christian faith was corroborated by contemporary writings outside of the 4 bios texts, namely the epistles!

The epistles affirm that Jesus was in fact born in the line of King David.

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.” - Romans 1:1–4.

The epistles affirm that Jesus was sentenced to death during the administration of Pontius Pilate.

“I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession,” - 1 Timothy 6:13.

The epistles affirm the presence of Jesus’ 12 disciples and his appearance to many disciples after the third day.

“...the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas.” - 1 Corinthians 9:5.

The epistles affirm that Jesus was crucified, buried, raised from the dead, was seen alive and ascended to heaven.

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” - 1 Corinthians 15:3–8.

“Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” - 1 Timothy 3:16.

But wait? Can you use the Bible to argue for the Bible? Well if you think this is circular reasoning, take the word of ancient historian Josephus.

“At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus. And his conduct was good, and he was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. And those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them after his crucifixion and that he was alive; accordingly, he was perhaps the Messiah concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders. And the tribe of the Christians, so named after him, has not disappeared to this day.” - Josephus

2. We know that the Gospel narratives themselves have been written and organized with the express purpose of explaining the life events of Jesus to the masses.

The intention of Matthew was explaining Jesus in a way that aligned with Jewish thought. Mark highlights the power of Jesus to subvert the cultural and political power of the Greeks and Romans. Luke composes “an orderly account (Lk. 1:3)” so that all Gentiles could “walk the road” with Jesus and “dine” with him. Finally, John focuses on the identity of Jesus so that the early church, “ may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name,” ( Jn. 20:31).

The truth is that just because they all craft the same narrative in 4 different ways does not mean they fabricated any details. When I share the story of my childhood, I always mold the facts of my life to cater to my audience. I will probably emphasize stories of growing up in Alameda, California to someone else who was born in Alameda, California yet I might completely skip over these stories if I am talking to someone from another country. I will likely emphasize my background in sports to someone who is interested in sports, but I might tone down the sports banter with someone who shares my interest in psychology. These facts are all still true in my life, they are simply presented in a way that caters to my audience so that they are understood.

3. We can have confidence that the Gospels were meant to be interpreted as true events because of certain “sign-posts” that suggest that the disciples were actually there.

As opposed to “Once Upon a Time” fairy tales, the gospel writers leave small details that would only be known if they were familiar with the real-world region. Consider the passage in Luke in which the date, the location, and the people below have all been confirmed in history.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. - Luke 3:1–2.

Apart from scripture, the town of Chorazin has no writings that associate the city with Bethsaida and Capernaum. It wasn’t until 1926 that excavators discovered that Chorazin was on the road to Bethsaida and 3 miles north of Capernaum, a fact that was affirmed exclusively by the

authors of scripture. In this case, the archaeology didn’t inform the scriptures, the scriptures informed archaeology!

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. - Matthew 11:21–23.

4. The early church affirmed the eyewitness nature of the gospels which can be further corroborated by eyewitnesses of Jesus living during that time period!

Near the late 1st century - early 2nd century A.D., a bishop named Papias of Hierapolis writes

Matthew, in the Hebrew dialect, placed sayings in orderly arrangement, and each one translated them as he was able. ... Mark, who became Peter’s translator, wrote accurately as much as he remembered - though not in orderly form - of the Lord’s sayings and doings. For he neither heard the Lord nor followed after him but later - as I said - he followed after Peter, who was giving his teachings in short anecdotes.” - from Historian Eusebius of Caesarea

In the late 2nd and 3rd century A.D., church leaders like Irenaues and Tertullian affirm that the gospel writers are who they say they are. Irenaeus writes:

Matthew composed his Gospel among the Hebrew in their language, while Peter and Paul were preaching the Gospel in Rome and building up the church there. After their exodus, Peter’s follower and translator Mark handed down to us Peter’s proclamation in written form. Luke, Paul’s companion, wrote in a book the Gospel proclaimed by Paul. Finally John - the Lord’s own follower, the one who leaned against his chest - composed the gospel while living in Ephesus.

If you are skeptical, you might be wondering whether or not the early church made up these titles to make it seem like these authors wrote the Gospels to make their case sound more airtight. If this were true, why would all the manuscript evidence confirm each gospel title? Furthermore, if the church lied about the authors of the gospel, why wouldn’t they have picked “The Gospels of Peter, James, Paul, and Timothy”? Matthew and John make sense as 2 of the 12 original disciples, but why would the early church intentionally choose Mark who only followed Jesus later and heard from Peter? Why would the church choose Luke who is an obscure figure mentioned only three times in the rest of scripture (Col. 4:14; 2 Tim. 4:11; Philem. 1:24)? The evidence gives us confidence that the Gospels derive from the thoughts and accounts of eyewitnesses!

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. - 2 Peter 1:16

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. - 1 John 1:1–2

5. If they were making this all up, would they have included such embarrassing stories about themselves?

IIf they were making this all up, why would they have given women (non-credible sources in the 1st century) the privilege of being the first to see the risen Jesus while the disciples were all left confused? If they were making this all up, wouldn’t it have been easier for the disciples to simply recant instead of suffer brutal persecution and martyrdom to defend the lordship of Jesus? If they were making all of this up, why did the early disciples leave room for so much skepticism and self-slander after falling asleep on the job and abandoning Jesus?

Again, you may not be totally convinced. But if you are growing more and more convinced, all of the evidence is pointing us to a confidence “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the Gospels were meant to be taken as a historical bios meticulously retelling what happened to Jesus.

And so if the words of the gospel are accurately retelling what happened by those who were there, then we are left to deal with this bios that includes his teachings and his resurrection from the dead. We are left to deal with the same claims of Jesus that got him and his disciples killed.

Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. - John 5:17–18.

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, - John 8:58–59.

“I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. - John 10:30-31

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” - John 14:6–7

If the Bible is reliable and the gospels are meant to be taken as literal events in the life of Jesus, then EVERYONE (including you) will be forced to make a decision. C.S. Lewis puts it this way:

“Jesus [. . .] told people that their sins were forgiven. [. . .] This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin. [. . .] I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.”

That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

So which will it be? Is he a liar? Was he a crazy lunatic and the very Devil of hell? Or is he actually the Lord of all things whose teachings can be trusted and who rose from the dead?

Share the Gospel: The evidence suggests that the 4 gospel accounts were meant to be read as an accurate depiction of real historical events that happened to Jesus Christ and his followers in the 1st century, including his resurrection from the dead. Therefore, all of us face the decision as to whether we will call Jesus a liar, a lunatic, or Lord. If Jesus rose from the dead and proved that he is Lord, then the implications of his ministry are staggering!

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Week 1 3Crosses Church Week 1 3Crosses Church

1. Can I Trust the Bible?

Day 1 • Week 1

Week 1 • Day 1

Now faith is the assurance (substance KJV) of things hoped for, the conviction (evidence KJV) of things not seen. - Hebrews 11:1.

One of my favorite things to do is listen to my father-in-law talk about his family. My father-in-law grew up in the southern United States where everyone was trained from an early age to introduce themselves by their first name, their last name, and then go on to explain all of the complex ways he was positioned on the family tree.

Amazingly, his understanding of the family was not a shot in the dark. Whenever my father-in-law discusses his family history, he is able to pull out a number of files full of pictures and documents that reveal the story of his heritage. It amazes me that his family saw fit to preserve all of this documentation, knowledge, and tradition over the centuries so that one day, my father-in-law would be able to confidently trace back his ancestry with precision. Ultimately, this has led to a number of “Father-in-law” stories that are quite legendary, extending all the way back to the early days of America.

And yet, even my Father-in-law reaches a certain point in time where his family history becomes rather unclear. The trail of evidence begins to run cold as his family stretches back in time before the 1700’s. This begs a major question – if even my in-laws have a hard time tracing anything past 300 years ago, how is anyone able to know about historical events that happened 1000’s of years ago before photographs or YouTube was invented to capture them?

How do we know that there was a Babylonian empire almost 3000 years ago in the early 800’s B.C.? How do we know that there were famous philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle debating life’s toughest questions in the 200’s and 300’s B.C.? How do we know that the Babylonians fell to the Persians, then the Greeks, and eventually the Roman Empire in the earliest centuries B.C.? How do we actually know that Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 or that the United States had a 1st president by the name of George Washington?

And most importantly - the question we will begin our series with - how do we know that there was a man who lived 2000 years ago named Jesus who walked the earth, taught as a Rabbi, claimed to be God, was crucified on a Roman cross, was buried in a tomb, and raised from the dead on the 3rd day? Can I actually trust what the Bible is telling me? If not, we can stop this study right now!

The answer is both simple and complicated....look for evidence!

It’s simple - In the same way my father-in-law can pull out files full of articles, photographs, artifacts, and other bits of information to corroborate the stories and traditions his parents passed down to him, scholars can point to preserved documents, photographs, archaeological findings, and video footage (in more modern cases) that have been discovered over the years. The discovery of this evidence helps to corroborate historical claims, affirm traditional wisdom passed down over the centuries, and present us with a reasonably accurate depiction of what actually took place across history.

However, it’s also complicated - In the modern era of science, another definition and standard of evidence has emerged.

When you hear the word evidence, you may be thinking about scientific material evidence that can be placed under a microscope, observed with your own eyes, and tested by your own 5 senses. If this is your definition of evidence, recognize how our conversation about any historical event must shift quite dramatically. If this is your standard of evidence, something can only be true if - and only if - you can verify it with your own senses. Just as the disciple Thomas famously suggested, you will trust in the evidence only when your own two hands have thoroughly tested the proof and only when your own two eyes have seen the results for yourself. But here is the tension: ALL historical events become nearly impossible to prove along this standard of scientific and materialistic evidence.

“Since past events have - by definition - passed, these events cannot be scientifically re-created or replicated in a laboratory.” - Timothy Paul Jones

Imagine a situation where you are on trial for a crime. Could you imagine if the judge told you that she will only believe you if and only if the judge herself was present at the moment of the crime and saw it happen with her own eyes and her own 5 senses? Instead, since most - if not all - judges are absent at the exact moment of the crime, a trial is held in which the accused and the defendant attempt to piece together the events of what actually happened. Both parties use evidence including credible eyewitness testimony, forensic physical artifacts, and other circumstantial elements which all come together to corroborate the truth of an event that occurred in the past. This is why the standard of a jury is not that they would come to a conclusion with “100% certainty”. Nobody can really do that unless they were an eyewitness to the crime! Instead, the standard of a jury is a consensus of people who have reached a certainty that is “beyond a reasonable doubt!”

Reasonable doubt? Does that mean you can doubt evidence? Sure! You can absolutely doubt the evidence of anything that has happened in history precisely because it is (by definition) an event that has already passed! You weren’t there at the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, nor was I. For all we know, Honest Abe could have been a propagandized fairy-tale to rally the troops and win a war, much like Captain America. Yet most people have pieced together the wealth of historical evidence of eyewitness testimony, forensic artifacts, and outside attestations in order to come to the conclusion “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Abraham Lincoln was in fact the 16th president of the United States in the late 1800’s and was instrumental in the elimination of slavery.

“Simply because it is possible to doubt the evidence does not mean that there is an absence of evidence.” - Timothy Paul Jones

When the standard of historical evidence is applied to ancient history, it must be acknowledged that a tremendous amount of physical evidence has been lost to the decay of time. It can be hard to believe anything from thousands and thousands of years ago because our natural inclination is to want as much evidence as possible before we make a decision!

But what if I told you that the Bible is INCREDIBLY reliable based on the UNPARALLELED amount of evidence we possess considering that we are dealing with an ancient text?

Reliability: OT

Relatively speaking, it wasn’t all that long ago that the printing press was invented by Johan Guttenberg in the early 1500’s. Most Bible studies will note that the printing press introduced the mass publication of the Bible which sparked the Reformation led by Martin Luther. The printing press, however, is also relevant here when we remember that this is also the technology that mainstreamed the copying process and made it incredibly reliable. If you were to print off a copy of this document you are currently reading, you would without hesitation expect the lasers of the modern printer to replicate everything perfectly. However, I’d invite your mind to imagine a world before the 1500’s in which this technology wasn’t available and everything needed to be copied by hand. Stroke by stroke, letter by letter, word by word, paragraph by paragraph. One...Page...At...A...Time!

This is the way documents were copied and published before the introduction of the printing press. Entire communities of scribes would work hours-upon-hours a day to accurately copy these ancient texts. You can imagine that any document copied like this surely was going to have a handful of mistakes caused by the accidental shaking of a hand, a poorly placed smudge due to a drip of sweat, or a bad-faith scribe whose mischievous goal was deception.

The Bible shares this same history. When it comes to the Old Testament, the original manuscripts - probably completed around 400 B.C. - were compiled and preserved by Jewish scribes on the fragile material called papyrus. Unfortunately, those original manuscripts have been lost to history considering papyri’s tendency to decay and wither away only after a short period of time. However, what DID survive history are copies of those original manuscripts made by later scribes. Which begs the question: if we don’t have the original manuscripts and we only have copies, how do we know that these copies are accurate representations of the original manuscripts? Could they have made crucial errors? Could it be that the scribes responsible for copying these original manuscripts had a more sinister motive?

It turns out that the historical evidence – compared to any other ancient documents written thousands of years ago – is EXCEPTIONALLY in favor of the Bible being accurately preserved over time.

Until the 1900’s, our Old Testament came from copies that originated from a group of scribes called the Masoretes. Their copies of the Old Testament date anywhere from 600-1200 AD. Remember, if the Hebrew scribes compiled and finalized the Old Testament near the 4th and 5th century B.C., the skeptic in you should wonder how anyone could rely on copies that are 1,000’s of years apart from the originals?

It wasn’t until the 1940’s when a young shepherd boy in the Middle East was chasing after one of his goats that had wandered off into a cave. This boy threw a rock to check if the cave was clear and happened to strike a set of ancient pottery full of one of the most significant archaeological finds ever made. Inside those pots were the Dead Sea scrolls! These scrolls are so important to Biblical studies because they contained thousands of Bible fragments that dated anywhere from 250 B.C. - 130 A.D., inching us WAY closer to the original copies that were completed around 400 B.C.. Furthermore, The Dead Sea scrolls finally gave scholars the ability to compare the more recent Masoretic copies (600-1200 A.D.) to the more ancient Dead Sea Scrolls (250 B.C. - 130 A.D.). In other words, scholars could finally see how accurate the scribes were by comparing the copies over a 500 - 1000 year time gap!

Are the Masoretic texts and the Dead Sea Scrolls REMARKABLY the same over the course of this 500-1000 year time gap! ABSOLUTELY!

Are there differences between the two and potential mistakes! You bet! And that is okay!

To put your mind at ease, scholars have done the hard work of comparing and contrasting these two sets of copies to produce what is called the Biblia Hebraica Quinta. The BHQ includes the actual text of the Hebrew Bible, any notations that have ever been made surrounding the text, and a complete set of notes documenting each and every variance that exists across the nearly 14,000 fragments we have of the Old Testament text! The art of Old Testament text criticism shows us that the Masoretes were incredibly careful as they copied the Hebrew Bible from more early sources like the Dead Sea scrolls, but even when they made a mistake or adjustment, we have been able to document them and affirm that nothing theologically significant has been jeopardized or drastically changed!

Combine the reliability of the documents themselves with the countless number of archaeological finds and you begin to realize that the reliability of the Old Testament can be corroborated. Dr. Titus Kennedy in his book Unearthing the Bible points to this list of these top 20 discoveries affirming the Old Testament!

  • 1. The Noahic Flood story in the Atra-Hasis tablet

    2. Ancient Social customs in the Code of Hammurabi

    3. Hebrew names changed to Egyptian names in The Papyrus Brooklyn

    4. Hardening of Heart schema in The Negative Confession of Egypt

    5. Egyptian inscription calling out the Nomads of Yahweh

    6. The last Jericho Scarab found during the time of Joshua before the evidence stops

    7. Israel in the land of Canaan during the time of Judges inscribed in the “Israel Stela”

    8. Piym Weight found in Samuel

    9. House of David inscribed on the fragment of the Tel Dan Stele

    10. Qeiyafa Ostracon pottery inscription affirming kingdom of Israel 11. Military campaigns against Israel and Judah inscribed on the Shoshenq I Stele 12. Affirming 2 Kings 3 and the house of David inscribed in the Mesha Stele

    13. King Jehu bowing down to Assyrians in the Obelisk of Shalmaneser III

    14. Clay Stamp of Isaiah the prophet discovered in Jerusalem

    15. Campaign against kingdom of Judah inscribed in the King Sennacherib prisms 16. Babylonian character in Jeremiah Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet

    17. Nebuchadnezzer besieging and puppet-king in the Jerusalem Chronicle

    18. Jehoiachin provided for by the Babylon Ration Tablets

    19. Belshazzar affirmed in Daniel by the Cylinder of Nabonidus

    20. Geshem king inscription affirming time of Nehemiah

Reliability: NT

Similarly, the evidence of the New Testament is STUNNING compared to any other historically verified counterpart! First, let’s consider this chain of logic that shows that the New Testament was written and recorded within an exceptional time frame.

  • The two most significant events in Israel in the 1st century were the alleged crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus (33 A.D.) and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem (70 A.D.).

  • We know that Paul must have been alive when he wrote his letters. If we work backwards from 70 A.D. and we know that Paul’s death occurred somewhere in the late 60’s A.D., we are able to conclude that most of his epistles were written at least within 30 years of Jesus’ crucifixion.

  • Since Paul is alive at the end of Acts, we can reasonably assume that the book of Acts was penned by Luke before or during the same time of Paul’s writings.

  • We also know that Luke must have written his first account (the gospel of Luke) BEFORE his second Acts installation, moving his gospel account closer and closer to the events of the crucifixion.

  • Furthermore, we know that the first gospel writer was Mark, placing Mark EVEN CLOSER to the events of Jesus!

  • Finally, a key passage in 1 Corinthians 15 outlines one of the earliest Christian creeds expressing an understanding of the gospel message that had been handed down to the apostle Paul. Scholars place this early creed somewhere during the events of Paul’s conversion story somewhere around 40 A.D. if not earlier.

  • That means, as Paul suggests in 1 Corinthians 15, that there were indeed eyewitnesses who saw the risen Jesus who could corroborate the claims made by all of these New Testament writings!

These generous timeframes are able to be made because the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., one of the most significant events in the history of Israel, is rarely mentioned in the New Testament (with the exception of Jesus’ prediction in Matthew 24). At best, the majority of the New Testament writings took place before 70 A.D. placing the accounts of Jesus within 40 years of his death. At worst, scholars only extend as far as 100 A.D.. The gap between Jesus’ crucifixion event (33 A.D.) and the New Testament (40 - 100 A.D.) leaves a 10-70 year window.

Like the Old Testament, the original manuscripts of the New Testament have also been lost to history. However, the earliest copies of the New Testament that have been preserved are dated as early as 90 A.D. and as late as 300 A.D.. The “time gap” between the original manuscripts of the New Testament (which we argued could lie anywhere from 40 - 100 A.D.) and the earliest copies (90 - 300 A.D.) can be shrunk down to a time gap as close as 50 years!

Is there room for doubt? Sure! But if you are going to throw away the Bible due to the absence of original manuscripts and due to this time gap, you are going to have to throw away most of ancient history as well. All of ancient history is recorded in original documents that have been lost to decay, yet the copies of those documents are widely accepted amongst scholars with time gaps that hover around 1,000 years old. On top of this, most accepted historical texts have only 5-10 copies of the original manuscripts. The New Testament has over 5,000 Greek manuscript fragments as well as thousands of other manuscripts in other languages. In total, the estimate is above 24,000 New Testament manuscripts!

Can you believe “beyond a reasonable doubt” that something in the past happened based on the evidence, artifacts, and testimony of the Bible. YES! Absolutely!

Are there copying errors in the text of the New Testament! You bet! And that is okay!

There are about 138,000 words in the New Testament and roughly 500,000 slight textual variants. The vast majority of those variants are slight corrections in grammar, debates about the squiggle of a line, flexibility in the Greek language that we don’t necessarily see in English, and larger fragments that may have been added for clarity. While some of the textual variants are more significant than others, absolutely none of them impact deep theological convictions needed to uphold the Christian faith. When there is a problem in certain areas of the text, other areas solidly affirm the same doctrine. And again, Biblical scholars have taken the time to record all of these variants using small notations in your Bible!

Combine this with the outside attestation of ancient historians alive during the time of Jesus such as Tacetus and Flavius Josephus and we get further corroboration that there was a man named Jesus who did good works, was crucified, and whose disciples claimed he had risen from the dead. Furthermore, Dr. Titus Kennedy in his book Excavating the Evidence for Jesus points to this list of these top 20 discoveries affirming the life of Jesus:

  • 1. Church of the Nativity of Jesus’ Birth

    2. Kelce on Virgin Birth

    3. Josephus on murderous Herod

    4. Synagogues all over Capernaum

    5. Peter’s house church

    6. Pool of Bethesda

    7. Pool of Siloam

    8. Bethany: Lazarus / Leprosy

    9. Inscription of Trumpeter

    10. The Caiaphas / Miriam Ossuaries 11. The James Ossuary.

    12. The gates of Hell.

    13. Inscription of Jesus as a miracle worker. 14. Pontius Pilate artifacts

    15. Tomb of the Shroud / Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Burial site of Jesus)

    16. Nazareth inscription.

    17. Archaeology and writings for Crucifixion 18. Christ the magician cup.

    19. The murderous nature of Herod Agrippa I.

    20. The early spread of Christianity and the belief in the Resurrection. - Roman Graffiti.

I’d imagine that you or someone you know is still skeptical. If that is you, that is okay! Remember, we haven’t even suggested that the Bible is true. All we want to claim is that the evidence strongly suggests that whatever has been handed down to us is at least reliable.

If you are still skeptical, we’d challenge you to ask, “what amount of evidence do you need to know that the Bible is a reliable source of what happened thousands of years ago?” The odds are, your desire is for more evidence...perhaps the kind you can only test in a lab and experience with your senses. Yet isn’t it ironic that the more technology we have developed that can capture all the evidence we may need through a YouTube video or an Instagram post, the more skeptical we have become of what is actually true? There are still conspiracy theories around whether the moon landing actually happened even though we have all seen the video footage. We are in the day and age of social media and misinformation, it is as easy as ever to make a baseless claim through a fabricated article. We can even “deep-fake” someone’s image and likeness and cite it as evidence for something that didn’t really happen.

When push comes to shove, we simply have to ask ourselves what amount of evidence do I need to believe in an event that took place “beyond a reasonable doubt”!

In this entry, we have outlined the remarkable evidence that has lasted thousands and thousands of years. We leave it up to you to decide whether this is reliable. But if you are a Christian, be encouraged, your Christian faith is not a blind leap. The Bible is reliable and we have STRONG evidence for it. And if whatever lies in the pages of scriptures are reliable, we can now venture into whether or not we can have faith “beyond a reasonable doubt” that what the scriptures claim are actually true!

Now faith is the assurance (substance KJV) of things hoped for, the conviction (evidence KJV) of things not seen. - Hebrews 11:1.

Share the Gospel: The standard of evidence that we use to determine the reliability of the Bible is of the historical variety not necessarily of the scientific variety. Accordingly, we can have confidence “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the biblical documents that have been passed down to us are reliable in the sense that they replicate the original manuscripts (regardless of whether the content is actually true).

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Introduction 3Crosses Church Introduction 3Crosses Church

Gospel of the Kingdom

Introduction

Introduction

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” - Mark 1:14-15

Have you ever heard someone in the church use the phrase Christianese? I look at this passage in Mark and see all sorts of Christianese (lingo that Christians use that can be confusing to someone inside and outside of the church) !

Gospel, fulfill, kingdom, repent, believe, gospel (again).

What do these words actually mean? It turns out that these words were extremely important in Jesus’ ministry! In some cases, these words were recorded as the first message of Jesus in his ministry.

From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” - Matthew 4:17

But he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well, for I was sent for this purpose.” - Luke 4:43

Repent and believe in this good news of the kingdom of God!

Now, wherever you are, stop for a moment! Take a breath and think about the people around you. It could be someone right next to you, members of your family, your neighbors, your city, your state, your country, the world. Doesn’t Jesus’ message sound like something good we could all use in our culture right now?

I can sense that deep exhale of peace as you ran through this scenario in your mind! If you are a Christian, you know for certain how transformative a relationship with Jesus can be. Imagine how impactful it could be for the people around us!

Our cry for the lost is that they would repent and believe in the good news of the kingdom of God!

The reality is that Jesus has called you and me to be his representatives here on this earth to spread this gospel of the Kingdom! Jesus’ message becomes the message we share with others! His good news becomes our good news to the world! His gospel, our gospel!

So now I ask, would you be able to explain “the gospel of the kingdom of God”? Go ahead! Stop what you were doing, give it a try, and revisit your answer at the end of this series!

How did you describe the good news of God’s kingdom? Why should anyone repent from their ways in light of this kingdom? What is the good news that we are supposed to believe?

But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. - 1 Peter 3:15

I have heard some say that the kingdom of God is a place in heaven, and all those who believe in Jesus will get there one day in the future.

I have heard others say that the kingdom of God is in the heart of those who believe in Christ and, therefore, they are given the ability to see life from God’s perspective.

I have heard some say that only a certain number of people will get into this kingdom of God. Others have said that everyone will someday be in the kingdom of God.

Surely, there are many other interpretations and understandings of God’s kingdom.

What if we took a step back and looked at the word gospel? As Jesus’ representatives, we are sent to share the gospel! Is there clarity in our hearts and minds about what the good news is?

Many of you are probably instinctively, and correctly, thinking about the cross right now! The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus! In no way is this series going to deviate from this core of the gospel message. Instead, the question we want to ask is what do the events of Jesus and the cross have to do with a Kingdom? In Matthew, why does the word kingdom appear 61 times while Jesus only explicitly outlines his death and resurrection only 3 times (Matt. 16:21-23, 17:22-23, 20:17-19)?

Purpose

In this 10 week series, we have put together for you a “bird's-eye” perspective of the entire Bible. Over the course of our 10 week journey, you will receive a robust explanation as to why the Bible is trustworthy, then you will take a tour all the way from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation to explore the central message of the scriptures.

Our goal is simple: to equip you with clarity about the kingdom of God so that you might be able to go and share the gospel of Jesus and this kingdom!

At every step of the way, our intention is to illuminate Jesus through this “kingdom lens”. If you have never put on this lens or have never walked through the entire Bible, we hope that you will begin to see Jesus in a way that is beautiful, fresh, and vibrant so that your relationship might deepen with the living Jesus!

Process

Over the course of the next 10 weeks, you will be reading 4 entries per week written by various members of our 3Crosses staff. Each entry will take about 10 -15 minutes to read and includes passages primarily out of the ESV version of the Bible.

As you can imagine, we have a lot to cover over the next 10 weeks! The best way to think about this study is in the framework of a gospel conversation:

If someone approached me about the Bible or a particular passage in the Bible, could I use it to point them to the gospel of Jesus and the Kingdom of God?

Using this framework, each entry will navigate through selected passages of scripture. Some will stop at key locations, others will summarize points to keep the story moving forward. We know how easy it can be to skim through the readings, but we encourage you to slow down and soak in each verse for what the Holy Spirit might be saying to you!

There are no questions that follow each entry. Rather, we encourage you to approach these texts like you were reading a chapter in a novel. At the end of the entry, we welcome you to jot down your observations, reflections, and prayers so that you can refer to them in later group discussions.

On day 5, you will be given a brief summary of the week. You will also be encouraged to watch a fun Share the Gospel video that will help you navigate different objections that come up in gospel conversations! These are public videos and we encourage you to continue browsing different topics that interest you on your own!

You and your group will be given a set of Life Group questions alongside a short 2-3 sentence summary of each entry. These summaries were written so that you can easily remember what each section is all about! In your Life Group discussions, we invite you to point out any concepts that stood out to you or come up with your own questions based on your observations!

Finally, you will be assigned one major project and experience a couple of checkpoints along the way! More details coming in the weeks that follow!

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” - Matthew 6:33

Personally, when I first heard verses like these, I thought that it meant that if I would learn to tithe, that God would teach me how to manage my money and that he would add to my earthly finances.

Sure, there may be some truth to what I believed about this verse when I first heard it, but over the years, I have come to believe that what Jesus was saying to those who sat at his feet and to every person today is that if we pursue righteous living and fully submit our lives to God’s will, that we could be assured that all necessary things would be given to us by God as demonstrated by his care for the birds and his concern for the grass:

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. - Matthew 6:26-32

With that being said, today as I share the gospel with others, I am reminded that the kingdom of God is not just a pie in the sky utopia on the other side of life or a kingdom here on earth with riches intended for just a certain few. I share with them that the kingdom of God is available now for everyone who believes in Jesus. They can be assured of God’s care and concern even in the midst of difficulty. I share with them that God’s kingdom expands from a life in Christ on earth to a heavenly kingdom where we eventually live with God throughout eternity!

We welcome you to join us as we (re)discover the central message of Jesus: Repent and believe in the good news of the kingdom of God!

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