Mark's Daily Reading Journal

It truly is a great adventure, soap operas have nothing on scripture when it comes intrigue, suspense, murder, lies, deceit and deception...it is astonishing to contemplate God's Holiness and to see the 2nd person of the Godhead condescend, stoop down...stoop to the gutter, maybe lower, and take on human flesh and become a man.  True we were created in HIS image, we were created to KNOW HIM and to know good...HE IS GOOD!  But we sold ourselves out because we bought the lie that God was holding out on us.  God did not create us to KNOW EVIL, HE CREATED US TO KNOW AND BE INTIMATE WITH HIM.  Consider the world since the fall and see where turning from God and gaining the knowledge of good and evil has gotten us.  Some may be wondering what in the world are you talking about?  Which tree did God forbid them to eat from?  The tree of the knowledge of good and evil...HE DID NOT CREAT US TO KNOW EVIL...HE created us to be in relationship with HIMSELF AND WITH OTHERS.  Do you hear the greatest commandment in there somewhere?

With the fall we moved from being innocent to fallen, spiritually dead, eternally separated from God, like filthy rags, diseased, outcast, spiritual lepers...STOP, STOP...scripture has many more pictures of our fallen state, I could go on for some time...NO PLEASE STOP!  ARE YOU SURE THAT YOU GET THE POINT?  YES, PLEASE STOP!  OK, but understand this is why it is astonishing that Jesus was willing, for the joy set before HIM, to enter a sin infested world and go to the bloody cross so that HE could present a redeemed humanity to the Father in heaven.

OK...so there we are, fallen, spiritually dead, vile, filthy...OH, SORRY.  Here we go on the great adventure, God's redemptive story begins to unfold and continues to unfold before our eyes.  REMEMBER MY GREEK PROF'S over arching one sentence summary of the Bible?  Ken Easley puts it this way...

The Lord God through his Christ is graciously building a kingdom of redeemed people for their joy and for his own glory.

Keeping God's ultimate purpose in mind we transition from Genesis to Exodus as the plan for redemption unfolds. 

As Exodus begins, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are trapped in Egypt, enslaved by a Pharaoh who no longer remembers or cares about the help given his people by Joseph some 430 years earlier. Exodus tells the exciting tale of the chosen people’s deliverance, and stands as the Old Testament’s boldest image of redemption. Through God’s direct action, His covenant people are released from bondage and granted freedom, that they might know and worship Him.

Exodus also introduces one of the Bible’s most revered characters: Moses. Though born a slave, Moses grew up in Egypt’s royal palace. As an adult he identified with his helpless people and determined to free them. After 80 years God fulfilled Moses’ early dream: Moses was commissioned to win the release of the Jewish people, and to lead them to the Promised Land.

Exodus also tells how God through Moses gave His chosen people a Law intended to guide their relationship with Him, and with one another. That Law, as summed up in ten basic commandments, has served the civilized world as a basic moral code to this very day. As developed in Exodus and in other books of Moses, God’s Law defined a just, moral way of life for his Old Testament people. Its concern for the poor and oppressed, its concepts of a criminal justice system, its ecological concern for the land, and its emphasis on equality for all are unmatched in ancient or modern legal codes. All this, and a unique design for worship that provides access to God for penitent sinners, is introduced in Exodus. Without doubt this book is foundational for both the Jewish and Christian view of who God is, for our understanding of morality, and for an introduction to the nature of worship. And with all this, Exodus stands as one of the greatest adventure stories of all times.

Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). The Bible readers companion (electronic ed.) (50). Wheaton: Victor Books.

It is difficult, at least for me, to grasp that what was going on in Exodus and Leviticus has direct implications for me...no Mark, this is Old Testament...remember?

1 Peter 1:9-16 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. 10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, 11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look. 13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14  As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

As to this salvation, as to this plan for redemption that is unfolding before our very eyes, the prophets who told about the grace that would come to you were excellent "students of scripture," and they made careful searches and inquires to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.  Try to imagine the host of angels, those who beheld the undiminished GLORY of the triune God.  Those who watched the 2nd person of the trinity create the universe and then sustain it by the "power of HIS Word." (Heb. 1:3)

Allow me to speculate for a moment...the angels beheld HIS majestic, stunning,  and blinding GLORY, they beheld the creation of the universe and of man...they saw what happened to their fallen counterparts...what do you think they thought as they beheld the horrific fall of man?  I don't know...OOOOOOOOO, this is going to be ugly...I can't watch.

Peter tells us that angels long to look into these things...in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look. 

They had to be blown away at HIS willingness to:

enter a sin infested world as a baby, live an ordinary life as a boy and a carpenter, go to the cross for those that rejected an invitation to intimacy with the King of kings and Lord of lords...every time we sin, we gaze upon the face of God through Jesus Christ and say, "no thank you" you are not deeply satisfying to me!

Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.

We turn from "the fountain of living waters" and we turn to the things of the world and cry satisfy me, satisfy me, satisfy me...you may say it to your spouse, your job, your car, money, home, reputation, ministry...they can't do it, it's not possible.

Augustine put it this way...

For Thyself Thou hast made us,
And restless our hearts until in Thee they find their ease.
Late have I loved Thee, Thou Beauty ever old and ever new.
Thou hast burst my bonds asunder;

Unto Thee will I offer up an offering of praise.”

It has been well said that our hearts were created by God with a God shaped vacuum.  Until our hearts are filled with God through Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit we will not be at peace, we will not be satisfied...there will be no true joy!

ALL THAT TO SAY THAT WHAT THE PROPHETS WROTE, WHAT THE ANGELS LONG TO LOOK INTO IS AN ADVENTURE THAT YOU AND I ARE A PART OF...WE CAN DENY IT, BUT YOU ARE STILL A PART OF THE GREAT ADVENTURE!  So come on...let's go..."Saddle up your horses."

Let's do the great adventure TOGETHER!

LOVE,

M