Here in Aberdyfi, at the English Presbyterian Church in Wales, we took part in the E100 Bible Reading Challenge.
The scheme began on Sunday 9th January 2011 and continued every Sunday (except for Easter Sunday) until the end of May.
At each Sunday service, the speaker introduced the theme for the week and we were invited to read the five chosen bible readings during the following week.
On the first Sunday, Mr Simon Morgan took the service and Sir John Houghton introduced the Essential 100 Bible Reading Challenge with the story of "The Creation".
THE STORY OF CREATION
The first two chapters of the Bible tell the story of God making all Creation – the Earth and the variety of life that inhabits it, the moon, the stars and everything in the whole universe.
A popular idea propagated by some scientists is that science has displaced God and there is no need for a Creator. Science, they say, has explained the universe so there is no need for God.
Such people are lacking any understanding of God and also of science. I have been a scientist all my life and I know very well that science cannot be the ‘only story.’ Science describes the universe but cannot explain it. For instance, science has found out how big it is. The number of stars in the universe is estimated to be about 10 to power of 23, or a hundred thousand million, million, million – about the same as the number of grains of sand on all the sea shores on earth - an unimaginably large number in a universe of fantastic complexity!
The pursuit of science is a wonderful voyage of discovery of what is there; it tries to describe how, but cannot explain why. And the more scientists investigate the more they realize how little they really know and understand. To argue that science is the only story is what philosophers call a category mistake.
Because science describes God’s creation, science is in a real sense God’s science. Albert Einstein, probably the greatest scientist ever, talked of the intelligence behind the universe which he was happy to call God. The biggest question we can then ask is, can God be known by us? The Christian answer to that question is Yes. That is what the Bible is all about.
What about story of creation in the first two chapters of Genesis? Some Christians believe it is a literal ‘scientific’ account of creation and must replace anything that science says today. But what is in Genesis was written many thousands of years ago before there was much scientific understanding of any kind.
In fact the account in Genesis is more of a ‘poetic’ account of creation setting out God’s action in the form of a ‘working week’ - obviously not a normal 7 day week. Although there was ‘evening and morning’ on the first day, the sun was not actually created until Day 4! The Genesis account is a wonderfully expressive picture of God’s work in creation. God made it all and was very pleased with it. On the sixth day human beings were created, the crown of creation - made in the image of God with capacity to relate deeply with each other and also with God the Creator.
Three hundred years ago when modern experimental science was developing, many of the leading scientists such as Isaac Newton, Robert Hooke, Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Ray and others were Christians who talked of God’s revelation in two books, the book of God’s Word, the Bible, and the book of God’s Works in Creation. Since God is the Author of both books, they cannot contradict each other and we can learn from both. During my life as a scientist and as a Christian, I have found it an exciting exploration to learn from putting both books alongside each other.
Further, in Genesis 2, humans are clearly told by God to take care of his Creation. Today, humans are guilty more of raping Creation rather than caring for it. An enormous challenge to us all is to alter our attitudes and actions so that we begin to take the responsibility of Creation-care that we were given.
Simon Morgan: 9th January 2011
IN THE BEGINNING
We read about the first people, first sin, first guilty conscience, first case of pride.
God's first recorded words: Let there be light! Into darkness.
THE FALL
Fundamental to why we are here today: if you don’t understand this, you can’t understand what the Christian faith is about…
In Eden, God was in communication with man – love, friendship, personal. That’s where we start.
Eve was faced with a choice; she pondered it and put her hand into the history of humanity; she changed the course of human events. All love is bound up with choice.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not an evil tree or a good tree: just a tree!
Original sin was to question, to challenge, to disobey. Sin is leaving God's path and going our own way. Sin is cancerous.
Once Adam sinned, he became dead. Dead means separated from God.
Hence Luke 19.10 – “Lost” = destroyed (as in John 10.10)
2 Cor 11:3 – in the historical flow, we too may be corrupted just as Eve was.
Jer. 17:9 – the heart is deceitful…
Is. 53:6 – all we like sheep…
What have we lost? Separations – loss of relationship:
- God/man - theological
- Man/man - sociological
- man/self - psychological
- man/nature & nature/nature - ecological
Specifically....
- God’s design for husband/wife and parent/child relationship was lost
- God’s design for sibling relationships was lost
- God’s design for fullness of life was lost to pain, disease and death
- God’s design and purpose for our lives was lost
The purpose of man’s existence was smashed at the fall.
But he is still in the image of God. Modern thinking sees the problems of the world, but does not see man as fallen.
CAIN AND ABEL
How does man respond? We move on with 2 humanities from Gen 3:15. The line of Cain and the line of Abel (through his successor Seth); one line says there is no God, or tries to make one up – the other comes in God’s way. There is no middle way.
NOAH
Gen. 6.5-6 leads to John 3.16
Don’t think that the death of Jesus was an afterthought in history – God didn’t suddenly have a thought around 100BC and say “What shall we do about this?” so that the death of Christ dawned on Him as a plan. See 1 Peter 1. 19-20
BABEL (=Babylon)
Human arrogance. Story sets out man’s attempts to show how powerful he is. Almost despairing…..pointless and fruitless.
Step into God’s plan: yes, evangelism is a calling, so is helping those in need….but the first call on us is to move from the line of Cain to that of Abel on the basis of the shed blood of God in Christ.
“That God does not exist, I cannot deny. That my whole being cries out for God I cannot forget.” Jean-Paul Sartre (key philosopher of 20C)
The world is going somewhere. History is not aimless: as you begin our journey through 100 passages of God’s word, then remember this. Before it all began, when it all comes to an end and even where we are now – God is in control. (Hebrews 13.8)
Look for Jesus in your readings of the Bible – this week and throughout. The OT is there to lead up to Jesus’ coming. We can look for it!
These are not interesting and isolated stories, of little relevance to us or to the rest of the Bible: they are the foundation of our faith. Without the Fall of Adam & Eve, there would have been no need for Jesus to die.
This week's readings........
IN THE BEGINNING
1: Creation Genesis 1:1-2:25
2: The Fall Genesis 3:1-3:24
3: The Flood Genesis 6:5-7:24
4: God's Covenant with Noah
Genesis 8:1-9:17
5: Tower of Babel Genesis 11:1-11:9
.........................................................................................
On Sunday, 16th January Mr Phil Allitt took the service and introduced Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Promises
- Language keeps changing. Since the King James’ bible we have benefitted from many new versions. God is for every generation and for every ability level.
- God spoke to Abraham and speaks to us in ways we can understand.
- Abraham developed a personal relationship with his God. This relationship is for us also.
- God’s promises remain and we are to respond as Abraham did.
- God’s promises to Abraham demonstrated his care for the Jewish nation but also reveal a universal God who desires that all of His creation in every age should know Him.
- God rarely promises a trouble free life and no wonder! It’s generally when we recognise our need of Him that we turn to Him.
- Abraham frequently did things his way and fell short of God’s better way. We can take encouragement that even in his close relationship with God he STILL didn’t get everything right. It’s always important to try our best but we need to recognise that we won’t be perfect until we are with God. In the meantime, we need to stick with God and have faith!
- Abraham saw God’s promises for the future begin to come true during his lifetime, although he lived to see only some of these. We have the hindsight of seeing much more together with the prophesy and events which led to the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
- It is important always for us to develop relevant ways of demonstrating God’s love to those who have yet to recognise Jesus.
This week's readings.................
ABRAHAM, ISAAC and JACOB
6: The Call of Abram Genesis 12:1-12:20
7: God's Covenant with Abram Genesis 15:1-15:21
8: Isaac's Birth and "Sacrifice" Genesis 21:1-22:19
9: Jacob and Esau Compete Genesis 27:1-28:22
10: Jacob and Esau Reconcile Genesis 32:1-33:20
On Sunday 23rd January, Sir John Houghton took the service and introduced the story of JOSEPH.
The Story of Joseph is one of the best known stories in the Bible and has been dramatized in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. It takes up about one quarter of the book of Genesis (chapters 37 to 47), and is also included in the Koran.
Two generations on from Abraham, we find Jacob and his family of 12 sons including Joseph (to whom he gave him a special multicoloured coat), broken apart by favouritism and jealousy – a highly destructive combination. Joseph was something of a dreamer; he told his family of dreams in which all his brothers and his parents bowed down to him. His brothers hated him and were very jealous of him. One day they had opportunity to sell him to some passing traders on their way to Egypt. In Egypt, Joseph became a slave to Potiphar, one of Pharoah’s officials. Joseph’s capability was soon evident and Potiphar put him in charge of his household. But Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph who ran off leaving her with his cloak. To Potiphar she accused Joseph of being the seducer. So Joseph landed in prison where, his capability being again recognised, he was given substantial responsibility.
The story then focuses on Pharoah, the king of Egypt who lived around 1700 BC. One night Pharoah had dreams he could not understand but he was certain that they were of special significance. Pharoah demanded an interpretation from his wise men and magicians, but none could tell him their meaning. Then Pharoah’s butler offered a suggestion explaining that a couple of years before he had been in prison. One night his dreams had been cleverly interpreted by another prisoner called Joseph.
So Pharoah sent for Joseph to whom he told his dreams. After explaining that he could only provide the interpretation God gave to him, Joseph explained their meaning. The next seven years, Joseph said, would be years of plenty with very good harvests. After that would follow seven years of famine with very poor harvests. He told Pharoah that the dream demanded immediate action – no time must be lost. During the 7 years of plenty, surplus grain should be carefully stored so as to provide for the seven years of famine that followed. Joseph’s plans seemed good to Pharoah who put Joseph in charge of the whole action programme and he ranked only second to Pharoah in the government of Egypt.
Under Joseph’s leadership the programme rapidly took shape. Large quantities of grain were stored during the first seven years. Then, as famine gripped the country, the storehouses were opened and grain sold to the needy people. The famine was also severe in the surrounding countries, in particular in the land of Canaan. From there Joseph’s brothers journeyed the 300 miles or so to Egypt to buy grain. Joseph recognised them and without letting them know who he was gave them particular and worrying attention. On their third visit, he let them know he was their brother, who they had sold into Egypt. There was great rejoicing and Joseph arranged for his father and brothers to move to Egypt with their flocks and herds so as to escape the rest of the famine.
When Joseph made himself known to his brothers he said to them, ’Do not be .. angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine .. and for the next five years there will not be ploughing or reaping….So then, it was not you who sent me here but God.’ (Gen 45 5-8)
What are the messages of the story for us today? I suggest the following.
• the destructiveness of jealousy especially in families.
• the magnanimity of Joseph’s treatment of his brothers and his forgiveness of them.
• we should make the best of our circumstances knowing God is in control
• it provides a wonderful example of God’s ‘school’ of leadership training
• God uses circumstances, even difficult ones, to teach us to follow him and to be more like Jesus
• Joseph continued to trust God through the tough times he had to face
Finally, I want to bring Joseph story right up to date. Joseph’s interpretation of Pharoah’s dreams was in fact a forecast for Egypt and for many of the surrounding countries of a Climate Crisis in 7 years time - 7 yrs of plenty followed by 7 years of famine, probably due massive shortage of water in the region including the Nile.
We in the world today face a climate crisis of enormous magnitude, not local but global, not of 7 years duration but lasting indefinitely, that arises largely because of humans burning coal, oil and gas. Information about it has not come through dreams but through science. God has given humans ability to understand his creation – we are made in his image – we understand to some degree what controls the climate and we know that strong action is necessary. Of particular importance is for us to take seriously the enormous damage that will fall on the world’s poorer countries as climate becomes more extreme and as sea level rises. Read more about this in Joseph, Pharoah and a Climate Crisis, Briefing Paper No 18 downloadable from www.jri.org.uk, also in Tear Fund website www.tearfund.org
This week's readings.............
THE STORY OF JOSEPH
11 Sold into slavery Genesis 37:1-37:36
12 Prison and Promotion Genesis 39:1-41:57
13 Ten Brothers go to Egypt Genesis 42:1-42:38
14 The Brothers return Genesis 43:1-44:34
15 Joseph reveals His Identity Genesis 45:1-46:7
On Sunday 30th January Simon Morgan took the service and introduced:
MOSES AND THE EXODUS
Exodus 2.24 – God heard the groaning.
This gives the context: Creation / Fall / Abraham as patriarch = Covenant / Egypt…..
After Joseph, 430 years later….WHAT DID GOD DO?
Who was Moses? A special person, a picture of perfection? No!
God chose His team – women frustrated Pharoah’s plans (Ch. 1,2) and then Moses was educated in Egypt while being a Hebrew. (A member of the tribe of Levi – one of the 12 sons of Jacob/Israel).
Here we are in around 1250BC – the Pharoah was probably Rameses II, and the world had changed: the Egyptians were getting worried about the number of Israelites they had!
Amazing stories – Moses’ early life, his confrontations with Pharoah, the plagues, the Exodus itself, the Red Sea…. Read for yourself!
What is the significance of Moses and the Exodus?
CONTEXT: Burning Bush
God’s call on Moses marks the beginning of the identity of the Jewish people. Time and again through the Bible (OT & NT) the writers refer to being brought out of Egypt. Why was it so important?
Exodus 12:29-32 marks the end of the cycle of plagues from the previous chapters with one final horrible plague – the killing of all the firstborn in Egypt: this finally breaks Pharaoh.
God sends this plague against the Egyptians but the Israelites were also at risk from the destroyer that God was going to send upon Egypt. They were to do one thing: kill a lamb. From that lamb they were to do 2 further things: protect their home and family with its blood and eat a Passover meal of its meat. Not a nice, neat, and tidy family dinner. These two key rituals – Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (also called the Passover Feast) – were to help the Israelites understand redemption. What is “Redemption”?
Redemption is the word that the Bible uses to describe the concept that all people rightfully belong to God but God provides a way by which they might be "bought back," or "redeemed."
It's a word that captures the whole thrust of the Bible. The basic biblical storyline is that all people faced the threat of judgment and death from God because of our sin against God (from Genesis). But God – following His covenant with Abraham – provides the way for us to be redeemed. Passover then is what we call a "type" – it is a foreshadowing model or pattern for the work of Jesus Christ that was to come.
The blood from the Passover Lamb was to provide protection from God’s judgement. (ch. 12.13). The people of God, under the blood, are safe. A lamb had to die and its blood shed so that Israel could be saved and ultimately redeemed out of Egypt.
Then, when God looks upon that house, He doesn’t at that moment see them, He sees the blood. The Lord isn’t acting in favouritism – He doesn’t say, ‘You are Israel, you are my people.’ It’s not favouritism; it’s the covering of the blood.
They must stay inside, as we must, and trust in the blood under which they are sheltering. Only under the blood are they, and we, safe. When God looks at us – He sees the blood.
Redemption comes at great cost, because what Israel was being redeemed out of was not just Egypt but also the threat of death. Death was coming through the streets of Israel, and Israel deserved to experience that death. However, God acted to protect them, covering them over with the blood. He provided a way for something else to take the death blow that was coming towards the Israelites.
From that night in Egypt began the Exodus: they ate their Passover meal, set off, crossed the Red Sea and the rest is history! (It is not important where they crossed or how the waters parted – it only matters that God took them across!)
The redemption was not just on paper – not a book-keeping exercise – but it was real and the Israelites – God’s people – were on the road!
All of this points the way ahead to Christ. In his last supper with his disciples, celebrated during the Passover Feast, Jesus spoke of his body being given up and his blood being poured out for the forgiveness of sins. These are all echoes of the Passover. The ritual of communion, instituted at this last supper by Jesus, becomes the new Passover meal and Jesus the new Passover lamb for God's people.
Redemption in the Old Testament finds its ultimate purpose in Jesus Christ. As John the Baptist says (John ch. 1), Jesus comes as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He was killed in our place and His blood protects us: as Charles Wesley put it: ‘His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me.’
This was necessary because all people have rejected God, not just the ancient Egyptians or Israelites. Thus all people deserve death (see Rom 5:12, 6:23).
This was God's plan all along, foreshadowed in the Passover rituals. It was to send one Lamb without blemish, his own Son, to die for the world. Only Jesus could live the perfect life so that he could be the perfect sacrifice in order that a people might be redeemed.
Redemption then is about God choosing a people for himself and redeeming them through the substitutionary death of Jesus.
This week's readings.............................
MOSES AND THE EXODUS
16 Birth of Moses Exodus 1:1-2:25
17 The Burning Bush Exodus 3:1-4:17
18 The Ten Plagues Exodus 6:28-11:10
19 Passover and Exodus Exodus 12:1-12:42
20 Crossing the Red Sea Exodus 13:17-14:31
On Sunday 6th February, Sir John Houghton took the service and introduced the theme for the week:-
THE LAW AND THE LAND
The Israelites have now left Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and are travelling to the Land of Canaan, which God promised to them. Which way did they go?
Let me introduce you to a distinguished scientist, Sir Colin Humphreys, a colleague of mine at Jesus College, Oxford in the 1970s, who then moved to a chair in Cambridge and was knighted last year for his scientific work. In his spare time over the years, Colin has spent time studying puzzling parts of the Bible where science might be able to help. His studies demonstrate the Bible’s remarkable accuracy even in small details. In a book he wrote a few years ago, The Miracles of Exodus, he argues that many of the miracles in Exodus have possible natural causes and that the ‘miracles’ were mostly in their timing.
Colin points out that the mountain of God or Mount Sinai to which the Israelites were heading, is described (Ex 19 v16) in terms of rumblings, smoke, fire, lightning and trumpet blasts – a perfect description of an erupting volcano which also would appear as a ‘pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night’ as the Israelites moved towards it. Since the mountain labelled Sinai on maps of the region has never been a volcano, he has looked for possible ex volcanoes that could have been the mountain of God.
East of the Gulf of Aquaba (the north end of which is a possible location for the Israelites crossing the Red Sea), lies the land of Midian - well known to Moses who spent 40 years living there with Jethro and family after fleeing from Egypt and before God spoke to him from the burning bush telling him to return to Egypt and face Pharoah (Ex 2-4). In Midian, an old volcano called Mt Bedr fits well the mountain of God in the Exodus story – it also provides a natural explanation for Moses’ experience of the burning bush. It is an isolated mountain with a flat top, in the middle of which is a volcanic cone. At its base, around 5000 feet above sea level is a very large flattish area, plenty of water and adequate vegetation which would have provided well for the Israelites stay of around a year while they received the law and instructions for their worship.
When the Israelites arrived at the mountain of God, they heard God speaking to them and calling Moses up the mountain to talk with God and receive his law. On his third time up the mountain, Moses returned carrying the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone. These we can read in Exodus chapter 20. They describe simply and succinctly God’s rules for living through which God begins to build a relationship with his people.
The first four (vv 3-11) concern our relationship with God - only one God, no substitutes allowed, be careful how we refer to God, regularly honour and worship God. The second four concern our relationships with others – our parents (v 12), our spouses (v 14), don’t murder (v 13), be truthful to and about your neighbours (v16). The last two concern our relationship to things – don’t steal (v 15), don’t covet (v 17).
Jesus amplified these laws in Matthew chapter 5 by saying that to think evil is as bad as doing it, for instance, hate is equivalent to murder, lust as bad as adultery. That coveting is included in the laws as well as stealing illustrates the same principle.
In our country, although these commandments have mostly for a long time been accepted in principle, today some are widely ignored, for instance numbers 5 and 7 - with disastrous results for family life. Ignoring the last one leads to widespread greed - endemic in our consumer society – which has played a large part in the recent breakdown of our national and international banking systems. It is also associated with widespread corruption for instance in world trade that leads to intense poverty in producing countries that make cheap goods for rich countries and rich pickings for those in the middle.
Although many suggest that we need a new set of commandments, these that God provided so long ago remain very relevant in our world today. The emphasis on our relationship with God and our accountability to him at their start is an essential ingredient that we omit at our peril. Our modern secular society wants to get rid of God.
So did the Israelites in the Exodus story. Before he came down with the tablets, Moses had been up the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights. The Israelites grew tired waiting for him (Exodus 32), and wanted another god to worship. They tore off their golden earrings and other jewellery, put them into the fire and out came the golden calf! They didn’t want the real God any more – with his serious demands. Let’s make a new god of our own and have a party! How typical of today’s world!
During their stay at the mountain, God gave Moses all sorts of other rules, laws and instructions about worship and sacrifices - described in detail in the rest of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
Let me briefly mention two things that they include.
(1) Lev 19 v 34 directs that aliens (non Israelites) in the camp should be treated as if they belonged to Israel – demonstrating God’s concern for all nations, a theme we have consistently met so far in our readings starting with Abraham, through whom all nations would be blessed. The parallel message in the New Testament is that all nations will be blessed through Christ’s church.
(2) Pages and pages describing in detail the construction of the elaborate tent called the Tabernacle with its priests and its worship. The special part of the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies containing the ark of the covenant was where God particularly dwelt and into which the High Priest only could enter through the veil once per year on the special day of atonement. Outside the tabernacle, on the altar, animal sacrifices were offered on a daily basis to atone for wrong doing and sin.
All this was looking forward to Jesus who came into our world 1300 years later and who died as a once for all sacrifice for sin. In Matthew 27 v51 we read that at the moment of Jesus’ death, the veil in the temple in Jerusalem was split from top to bottom – indicating that there was no need anymore for sacrifices for sin or for the Holy of Holies.
I remember years ago, I’d been going through with a Sunday School class the accounts in Exodus of the tabernacle rituals and sacrifices. When they saw the verse in Matthew about the rent veil, they all gasped as they realized the stunning reality of the New Testament message of forgiveness through Jesus’ death that enables us at any time to enter fully into the presence of God (Gal 3 v 24).
After leaving the mountain of God, the Israelites wandered for a further 39 years in the wilderness, up and down, often complaining, often attacked by their enemies – when they obeyed God, they won, when they disobeyed, they lost.
They finally reached the Jordan river by Jericho and were able to cross miraculously as the waters were blocked upstream. Then Jericho was captured – the start of their moving into the land of Canaan. Everyone in Jericho was killed except for Rahab, the prostitute who believed in the God of Israel, his power and his goodness – she and her family was saved and her name occurs in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1.
Deut 20 explains the reason for such brutal treatment for the cities Israel conquered when moving into the land of Canaan. ‘Otherwise, they will teach you to follow the detestable things they do in worshipping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God’ it says. Later we find this coming true as Israel failed to do as they were instructed and turned to the gods of their neighbours. In the light of the New Testament with its message of God’s love and mercy, I confess I have struggled to accept the brutality. But I also know that God detests sin of any kind and that to save us from sin, God acted in a very big way. He sent his son Jesus to suffer a terrible and brutal death through which he overcame the power of sin and is able to provide us with salvation from it.
This week's readings..............
THE LAW AND THE LAND
21 The Ten Commandments Exodus 19:1-20:21
22 The Golden Calf Exodus 32:1-34:35
23 Joshua Succeeds Moses Joshua 1:1-1:18
24 Crossing the Jordan Joshua 3:1-4:24
25 The Fall of Jericho Joshua 5:13-6:27