Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert -- Acts

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Our look at the word 'desert' in scripture has brought us to the book of Acts.  Most of the references to 'desert' in Acts are historical, and well over half of them are in Stephen's sermon/ self-defense/ historical review in chapter 7.

A little background on Stephen's discourse.  Stephen had been appointed as a deacon in the early church...which meant that he was one of the guys who were responsible to see that everyone in the congregation had their needs taken care of (primarily food distribution).  But Stephen 'did great signs and wonders.' (Acts 6:8).  Apparently there were some Jews who were disturbed by this who began to argue (about what is not mentioned...it could have been they were arguing against the teaching of Jesus as Lord, or they could have been arguing against some point of doctrine).  However, Stephen was a wise and articulate person, speaking with the power of the Holy Spirit, and these fellows could not win an argument (Acts 6:10).  So, they started rumors against Stephen with lies regarding what he said and eventually got the whole community in a tizzy, resulting in Stephen being apprehended and taken before the Sanhedrin.  The witnesses told lies about what Stephen had said, and the high priest asked him if the charges were true (Acts 7:1).  Stephen doesn't answer the charge directly, but instead launches into a summary of the entire history of the Jews, starting with Abraham and culminating with Solomon building the Temple (Acts 7:2 - 47)

This was a good move on his part, as he spoke of things that everyone would agree on.  He actually mentions the desert 5 times in his review:

"After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai." - Acts 7:30

"He led them out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous sings in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert."  -- Acts 7:36

"He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us."  -- Acts 7:38

"But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of heavenly bodies.  This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets: 'Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert,  O house of Israel? You have lifted up the shrine of Molech and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship.  Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.'  "-- Acts 7:42-43, quote from Amos 5:25,27

"Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert.  It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen." -- Acts 7:44

The leaders were with him through all of this; he was  building his credibility and demonstrating that he had no intentions of disrespecting Moses.  But Stephen treads on their toes when he quotes the scripture indicating that the Temple is not the home of the Most High, who has heaven for his throne and earth for his footstool.  Then he lays into them for resisting the Holy Spirit and betraying and murdering Jesus, equating them with their forefathers who had murdered the prophets.  At this, they completely lost their cool and hauled him out and threw big rocks on him until he died, and the Jewish leaders began a systematic persecution of anyone who followed Jesus.

Many of the believers scattered around the country because of the persecution, and another one of the deacons, Philip, went to a city in Samaria.  There were some crazy things that happened there, not the least of which was a wild trip Philip made due to angelic instructions.

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road -- the desert road -- that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza."   -- Acts 8:26

Now, in years past when I studied that I didn't really take into account the geography.  But if Philip was in Samaria, he had quite a journey to get to the desert road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza.  Philip would have had to have started on his journey well before a certain Ethiopian eunuch left Jerusalem to head back to his own country in order to meet up with him on the road.  There's no mention of how long it took Philip to make this trip, but it would have to have been several days, even if he had the luxury of a horse or mule rather than just walking.   Samaria is well north of Jerusalem, and the desert road to Gaza heads south out of Jerusalem before heading southwest to the coast.  The narrative skips right over Philip's journey, so we don't realize the effort it took to follow the angel's instruction.  It's interesting that Phillip was the one sent on this journey, when there had to be disciples who were already in Jerusalem who could have made the trip much more easily.  Perhaps Phillip had an unusual understanding of the prophets?  In any case, it was Philip who met up with the guy while he was puzzling over a passage in Isaiah, and Philip explained it all so well that the guy decided to follow Jesus, was likely baptized in a cistern, and went home rejoicing where he apparently led a great number of folks to faith in Christ.  Philip, we find, was miraculously transported away.

The next reference is again historical; this time, it's Paul speaking at a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch.  He's been invited to share, so he, like Stephen, begins with a brief history of Israel's relationship with God, but only mentions the desert once, as his narrative is much more condensed and he spends more time on the person and ministry of Jesus. 

"The God of the people of Israel chose our fathers; he mad the people prosper during their stay in Egypt, with mighty power he led them out of that country, he endured their conduct for about forty years in the desert, he overthrew seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to his people as their inheritance." -- Acts 13:17-19.  Paul's story was new to the folks in that area, and they invited them back to talk more next week. There weren't any significant problems until the next week, when the size of the crowd that came to hear about this person called Jesus started another whole episode of the Jews in the area being unhappy with the upset to the status quo and arguing abusively with Paul and Barnabas.Which, in turn, caused Paul and Barnabas to take their message to the Gentiles in the region, who were glad to receive it.   Now, regarding the desert reference...I found it amusing that Paul worded it as he did...that God 'endured the conduct' of the Israelites in the desert.  After our perusal of the repeated complaining, bickering, disobedience and outright rebellion that happened in the desert, I think Paul picked the right wording. 

The final reference to desert in the book of Acts is actually a case of mistaken identity.  Paul had taken a Nazirite vow, and he and several others had gone to the temple and given the proper notice for the end of the vow, when he would cut his hair and make an offering.  Just before that day arrived, some Jews from Asia, where there had been riots following Paul's teachings, happened to be at the Temple and they spotted Paul.  They immediately raised a ruckus, misrepresenting Paul and his actions, and, guess what, nearly started a riot, with folks running in from the city to see what was going on.  They grabbed Paul and pulled him from the temple and closed the gates and were beating him, when the Roman soldiers, who did not take kindly to riots in the streets, intervened.  The commander, assuming that Paul was the instigator of the riot, arrested him and put him in chains and headed back to the military barracks with him, with the crowd following, yelling all kinds of stuff so that the commander couldn't tell what was going on.  The crowd was so violent that the soldiers actually had to carry Paul up the stairs to keep the crowd off of him.  Just before they went inside, though, Paul asked the commander if he could speak.  The commander was shocked that Paul spoke Greek.

"Aren't you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the desert some time ago?" -- Acts 21:38

Paul, of course, set him straight...he was a Jew from Tarsus...and he received permission to speak to the crowd from the barracks steps.  He told his testimony...of where he was born, where he studied, his persecution of believers, his conversion on the road to Damascus...all of it.  The crowd, many of whom really didn't know what was going on, were impressed that he spoke to them in their language and followed the story up until the point that Paul said he was sent to take the gospel to the Gentiles. At that point, they erupted again, screaming that he was not fit to live.  The commander had Paul taken inside the barracks for his own safety, but was going to 'interrogate' him...ie, have him beaten...to find out what he'd really done that had the people so infuriated.  However, Paul's status as a Roman citizen made such an interrogation illegal...actually, it was illegal to even put him in chains...so the commander treated him with care while he investigated the situation.  Which, of course, led to Paul being taken to Caesarea and ultimately to Rome.

It is interesting, just from these snapshots of events in the book of Acts, how volatile and even violent that time period actually was.  By all rights, Christianity should have been stamped out.  But the men (and women) who had followed Jesus, who knew what he had done, refused to deny what they'd seen and heard.  They told folks, they wrote it down, they walked knowingly into traps set for them and used those traps as opportunities to tell more folks.  They did not love their lives to the point of death, and many of them died gruesome deaths rather than renounce their faith.  Paul was imprisoned and ultimately beheaded.  But all the attacks of the enemy failed to stop the spread of the gospel.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Snakes, Manna, Solitude and False Prophets

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

After looking at the ministry of John the Baptist, then the temptation of Jesus, we are left with only five other references to 'desert' in the Gospels...and four of them are in John, and three of those four are historical references:

"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."   -- John 3:14-15

 This  is a reference to Numbers 21, when the people complained about their wandering, so that the Lord infested their camp with venomous snakes.  The people repented of their complaining (Num. 21:7), which was a first amongst all the times they had complained, so God instructed Moses to fashion a snake of bronze and display it upon a pole in the camp...and healed anyone who looked at the snake.   Weird, huh?   Well, there's some reasoning for that.  The custom of the day was to hang the body of a defeated king on a pole or tree, as a display to prove that he and his army had been utterly defeated and there was a new authority in town.  Hanging a body on a tree was a sign of complete dominance by the victor.  By putting the snake on the pole, Moses was declaring God's victory over the snakes and the people basically just had to exercise enough faith to go and look at the defeated thing in order to be healed.  

The crux of the analogy, though, isn't that Jesus is going to be defeated.  Jesus was going to take on the sin of the entire world, and take it to the tree.  It was the sin that he would carry, willingly, that was being displayed as defeated.  He defeated sin by carrying it to the cross and hanging it there, in his person, to show his power over it. 

That's a really abstract comparison and one of those weird things that makes no sense...unless it is, in fact, the truth.  For comparison, look at 2 Cor 5: 21..."God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (emphasis mine).  God put the sin of the world on Jesus...who took it to the cross and hung it there as a sign of victory over it.

But Jesus made that reference in a private conversation with Nicodemus.  The Jewish leaders themselves brought up the next reference.

So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you?  What will you do?  Our forefathers ate manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them  bread from heaven to eat.' "    John 6:30-31

Jesus' miraculous sign was, of course, his resurrection.  You can't get a bigger 'miraculous sign' than coming back from the dead.  But Jesus had a different point to make about bread.

"I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died.  But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." - John 6:48-51

This really freaked out the folks at that time, who thought Jesus was talking about cannibalism.  But that was kind of his point...he wasn't talking about living bread keeping alive a physical human any more than he meant living water would keep a person from needing to drink H20.  He was talking about the spirit of a person.  He lost a lot of followers (people who were literally following him from place to place to hear his teaching, not social media followers, lol) over that concept because they just couldn't make the transition from physical to spiritual and were repelled at the idea of eating his flesh.  But he is the Word...and it is entirely possible to consume the Word by diligently studying it so that it becomes a part of our thoughts, attitudes and actions...just as consuming bread turns the bread into bone, teeth, muscle, energy, etc that makes up our physical body.

These two comparisons are just a hint at the way the events of the Old Testament foreshadow Jesus.  God didn't waste anything; nothing was random.  From the snakes that afflicted them to the miraculous food that they ate daily, it all displayed an aspect of Jesus.

Later in John, after Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead (hello, miraculous sign, anybody?) the Jewish leaders were determined to silence this upstart preacher before the Romans decided he was enough reason to remove the limited authority they had over their people and replace them with direct Roman rule (see John 11:48).

 So from that day on they plotted to take his life.  Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews.  Instead, he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.  -- John 11:53-54

I don't know how long Jesus stayed there, but that was his last quiet interlude before he went to Bethany and was anointed by Mary at Simon the Leper's house.  The next day he rode into Jerusalem on the back of a young donkey...what we call Palm Sunday.

 Once he rode to Jerusalem, he pretty much stayed there, sleeping out in the open on the Mount of Olives (maybe even in Gethsemane?) for the last few days of his ministry.  He went to the temple each day, answering his religious critics and teaching the people. But one evening, after they had returned to their spot on the hill,  his disciples asked him privately about the end times.  Jesus replied with what is known as the 'Olivet Discourse' and is recorded in Matthew chapters 24 - 25, mentioning the desert in one bit:

 "For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect -- if that were possible.  See, I have told you ahead of time.  So if anyone tells you, 'There is he is, out in the desert, ' or 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."  -- Matt, 24:24-27 

 In this case, 'desert' is used as a contrast to 'inner room'...from one end of the spectrum to the other,  he will be reported to come just to those who are in the appointed place; a few people, maybe, might see him.  But, Jesus says there will not be any doubt about it, and no one will have to travel to some specified place.  When he returns...the whole world will know it.

I can't even imagine what that will be like.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert -- The Temptation of Jesus

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Matthew, Mark and Luke all record what happened to Jesus after his baptism; John takes up his account when Jesus returned to the Jordan after his ordeal was over, so he doesn't mention it.  But all three of the Synoptics place the temptation immediately following his baptism:

At once the Spirit led him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. -- Mark 1:12 - 13a

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.  -- Matt. 4:1

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.  He ate nothing during those days and at the end of them he was hungry.  -- Lk 4:1 -2

When I was in Israel, we had a stop at the River Jordan for baptisms.  I was shocked to learn that the site used for baptisms now is nowhere near where Jesus was likely baptized.  The Jordan baptisms today take place very near the spot where the Jordan meets the Sea of Galilee on the south side.  You are all no doubt familiar with the location; everyone who goes to Israel takes a photo there...

Looking upstream towards the Sea of Galilee; about half a mile away.

It's a pretty place...but most scholars believe that John was baptizing at the other end of the river, near where it dumps into the Dead Sea.  The reason baptisms are not done on the south end of the river now is because irrigation has funneled off so much of the flow of the Jordan that, we were told, it's barely a trickle north of the Dead Sea....which is evaporating at an alarming rate, since there is very little water reaching it from the Jordan anymore.  There simply isn't enough water there to baptize people.

If Jesus was baptized at the southern end of the Jordan, near the Dead Sea, he would have been very near En Gedi and Qumran; the region of the Judean desert that our tour passed by. There are springs in the area, where he could have found water.  I don't think he wandered around; I think he found a spot near a water source and camped there for 40 days.

I have heard it said that the devil waited until the end of the 40 days to come to Jesus, when he was at his weakest point physically from hunger, because we have only three specific temptations mentioned in the gospel narratives; the order is a little inconsistent but the temptations themselves are consistent.  He was tempted with food, with wealth, and with the opportunity to display his true power and identity.  But, look closely at the wording above.  Matthew states that he was led into the desert for the purpose of being tempted by the devil; both the other two scriptures say he was led into the desert, where he was tempted by the devil.  Luke even states, 'for forty days he was tempted by the devil'.    I am certain he was tempted with those three specific temptations.  What I am not certain of is that it only happened one time each...or that there weren't other temptations on the same themes repeatedly.  I don't think he resisted the enemy three times in 40 days...I think he resisted the enemy every day for  40 days.  The temptations may have increased in scope as time progressed, but Jesus proved to be as resistant to the enemies' schemes at the end of his time in the desert as he was in the beginning, quoting scripture to emphasize his 'no'.    

Here's the thing we miss so often...Jesus didn't use his power as the Son to do anything at all on earth.  Anything and everything he did, he did through the power of the Holy Spirit.  He did it through the same power source that is available to believers today.  That's huge, my friend.  HUGE.  If Jesus resisted the temptations of the enemy through the power of the Spirit, then we, too, can resist those same temptations.  Oh, they may not be cloaked in the same circumstances, but at the heart, it's the same temptations: physical appetite,  desire to possess what we see, desire to be recognized for who we believe ourselves to be...or for the gifts and talents we have.

We don't use that power because...we want the stuff.  We don't truly know who we are, so when the devil waves the temptation in front of us, it looks good and we go for it. But...we don't have to take the temptation.  WE DON'T HAVE TO.  We have the same power in us that was in Jesus...falling into temptation is no more who we are than it was who Adam was.  Ultimately, it's about choice.  Jesus chose to reject the temptations and, when he did, the enemy packed his bags and left him.  James writes that if we submit to God and resist the devil, the enemy will flee from us...just like he left Jesus (James 4:7).  We don't know how hard it was for Jesus to reply with those scriptures; he may have shut his eyes...clenched his fist and spit the words through gritted teeth because his humanity wanted to give in.  But he had the same Spirit with him that we have...and he did not give in.    Now, keep in mind, the enemy didn't leave the first time Jesus said 'no'...or the second, or the third.  He kept after him for 40 long weary days. But in the end...Jesus outlasted him.  He had a 'no' for everything Satan threw at him. Satan finally ran out of new ways to present his enticements and left.

I've heard a lot lately about what happens when you give God your 'yes'...but there's  a pretty potent thing that happens when you repeatedly give the enemy of your soul your 'no'.  

Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. -- Matt 4:11

Who's to say if unseen angels come and attend anyone who resists the devil until he leaves?

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - John the Baptizer

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

So, our perusal of the word 'desert' in the Bible has us now at the threshold of the New Testament.  I looked over the listings and decided to treat the Gospels as a unit, since the same topics were discussed in each of them.  And...the first 'desert' related topic we come to is the ministry of one known as 'John the Baptizer.'  

I will give some background on John; just in case there's someone around who doesn't know it.    John's parents were aged folks who were childless; his mother, Elizabeth, was 'barren' and 'well along in years' (Lk 1:7).  Most folks have taken this to mean that she was post-menopausal, but that is not specifically stated...which doesn't really mean much because such a thing likely would not have been mentioned anway.  His dad, Zechariah, was by birthright, a priest, descended from Abijah (one of the priests who returned from the Babylonian exile), and served in the Temple.  Elizabeth was also descended from Aaron (tribe of Levi) and somehow she was related to Mary, who was of the tribe of Judah...this had to be from some marriage relationship, although they were close enough relatives that they apparently knew one another.  An angel (Gabriel - Lk 1:19) met Zechariah as he was burning incense  alone in the Temple and told him of John's birth.  Zechariah was skeptical, and stricken mute until the child was born. Lo and behold, Elizabeth became pregnant shortly afterwards, and when she was 'in the sixth month', she had a visit from her young relative, Mary, and John responded to Mary's voice before she even came into the room where Elizabeth was (Luke 1:41), 'leaping' in the womb. Elizabeth, in a sudden infilling of the Holy Spirit, prophesied over Mary about the child she was carrying, confirming the message Gabriel had given to Mary.  In time, John was born, Zechariah wrote on a tablet that he was to be named John, regained his voice and prophesied. Presumably John grew up under Nazirite conditions as Zechariah had been instructed (Lk 1: 14).  Luke ends John's backstory with

And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.  (Lk. 1:80).    

There are a lot of questions about John that are not answered.  I take that to mean that after he had grown, and his parents likely had died, he lived in the desert communing with God until it was time for him to take up his ministry.  As his parents were 'advanced in years', they may have died before he reached adulthood.  Did he live in the desert with kinfolk for a while who taught him what he needed to know?  Or did he take off on his own and learn survival by trial and error, under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit?  He was an interesting character...the first true national prophet since the days of Malachi.

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 desert. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.  Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.  And all mankind will see God's salvation.' "  -- Lk 3:1-6

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."  This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:  "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"  John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist.  His food was locusts and wild honey.  -- Matt. 3:1-4

 It is written in Isaiah the prophet:  "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way" --  "a voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' "  And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. - Mark 1:3 - 4

John preached repentance...and he eventually started drawing a crowd.  A prophet was a novelty, and, given the rising national discontentment under Roman rule, hope began to stir that things were about to change.  They were, of course, but not how the folks of that day imagined.  Baptism had been used as a ceremonial cleansing; he put it to a different use, as a turning point milestone.  Folks repented and were baptized, symbolizing a new start in a new direction of devotion to God.  Then, one day, a fellow who didn't seem to have anyone with him presented himself for baptism.  John recognized him immediately...it's possible they had seen each other at Passover celebrations in Jerusalem, but they couldn't have exactly grown up together.   But if John recognized him before either of them were born, you can bet he knew him when they met face-to-face at the Jordan.  " I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" John asked him in wonder.   'It's proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness,' Jesus replied,  so John baptized him.  And when Jesus stepped up out of the water, John saw heaven open and the Spirit of God come down like a dove and landed on Jesus.  And he heard a voice from heaven speak actual words, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." (Matt. 3:13-17).  But Jesus disappeared, and John kept up his ministry (see Luke 3: 1-18 for a sampling of what he preached).

Eventually, news of the prophet by the Jordan reached the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem so they sent some priests and Levites to check him out.  In response to their questioning, he told them he was not the Christ, not Elijah, not the prophet Moses spoke of...

Finally they said, "Who are you?  Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us.  What do you say about yourself?"  John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.' "  Now some  Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 

"I baptize with water, " John replied, "but among you stands one you do not know.  He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie."    -- John 1:22-26.

The very next day, Jesus returned to the Jordan and John pointed him out, telling everyone, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!  ....the reason I cam baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel....the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'the man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.'  I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."   ( see John 1:24-34)

The next day, two of John's disciples spent the day with Jesus before he headed to Galilee and began his ministry.  John continued preaching;  at some point, some of his disciples came up to him and  reported that Jesus and his disciples were also baptizing people (John 4: 2 clarifies that Jesus himself didn't baptize folks but some of his disciples did) and "everyone is going to him."   (John 3:23-26).  John, rather remarkably, says that's fine, reminding them that he was not the Christ but the one sent ahead of him.  Then he makes a statement that has echoed down through the centuries, "He must become greater; I must become less." (John 3:30).  Soon after that, John called out Herod for marrying his brother's wife, and Herod arrested him and threw him into prison. (Lk 3: 19 - 20).  

John was in prison for some time; it was difficult for him. His disciples came to him from time to time and told him what was going on in the outside world; at one point, he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was really the messiah or if they should look for someone else (Matt. 11:2 -3).  Jesus replied that they should report back to John what they had seen.. miracles of healing and the preaching of the gospel to the poor, concluding, "Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."  They headed back to John, and Jesus turned and spoke to the crowd around him

"...What did you go out to the desert to see?  A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see?  A man dressed in fine clothes?  No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings' palaces.  Then what did you go out to see?  A prophet?  Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.  This is the one about whom it is written: 'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.'  ...if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come."  --Matt 11:7 - 10, 14, see also Luke 7:24-27, which is pretty much this same story verbatim, including the desert reference.

Did John get depressed in prison, seemingly forgotten?  Did he begin to doubt what he had seen and heard?  I suppose it's possible, and it seems to be the popular explanation, but I kinda think there was another explanation.  John's disciples were still following him and not Jesus; they had not made the paradigm shift that John ben Zebedee and Andrew had made to follow Jesus.  I kinda suspect that John's deputation wasn't for his benefit but for the benefit of those who were following him, to help them make the transition.  Remember, they had been a little miffed that Jesus was gaining followers at what seemed to be John's expense.I think Jesus' odd little comment about being offended at him wasn't for John but for the guys who came asking questions.  They were the ones who had been questioning Jesus' ministry; John had always maintained that Jesus was greater than him.

Not long after, Herod had a birthday party that ended with John's head on a platter (Matt. 14: 3 -12, Mark 6:17 - 29)...from a purely human standpoint it was a truly tragic end for one of whom Jesus said, 'Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist;' (Matt. 11:11).  Jesus at least made an attempt to get off by himself to mourn John (Matt 13) but was followed by a crowd that ultimately became the multitude that was fed from five loaves and two fishes.

John was a transitional character; he was the last national prophet and the first witness to testify of Jesus;  he set the example ...Jesus must increase, while the self...the personal ambition/ agenda of his followers...must decrease.

That's a heavy challenge.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Reflections on the Old Testament

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Back in August of 2019 I decided to do a word study on 'desert'...look up all the references in the Bible and see what I could learn.  Most every Friday since 8/9/19 we've been looking at 'desert' and we have now come to the end of the Old Testament.  I thought, before I jump into the New Testament I'd take a post to reflect on what I have found so far, overall.

I had felt, for quite a while, that I was in a spiritual desert.  I won't go into the reasons why, but, well, it was a very dry season.  Then I had an amazing trip to Israel and was completely undone by the savage beauty of the Judean desert.  I wasn't expecting the desert to be a place of breath taking landscapes.  So I embarked on a trip through the biblical 'desert', so to speak..and at times have also found myself blown away by what I saw there.

Some of the things I've pondered so far...

1) Ways to find oneself in the desert... we can flee to the desert, as Moses did to avoid his murder rap, or as David did to escape Saul; we can be led by God into the desert, as the Israelites were; or God can turn the place where we are into desert around us.  Each of these has a purpose.  Moses wandered around the desert until God called him out of it; David moved around the desert, sometimes just barely ahead of his enemies, until he went into hiding in Ziklag. And it just occurred to me that, with David in Ziklag, or pursuing Amalekites, he was completely free of any accusation that he had brought about the demise of the house of Saul at Gilboa.  It kept him free from even suspicion of plotting for the kingship.  Every time someone has been led into the desert, it was to test/ remove their reliance on themselves and teach them to rely on God.  But the land turning to desert was always a judgment.

2) Coming out of the desert, one is prepared and poised for victory.  Moses over Pharaoh, Joshua and Israel over the Canaanites, David over Goliath.

3) The desert is a place of preparation, even if it seems to last a long time (Caleb).

4) The desert is a place to be restored and renewed in purpose (Elijah)

5) Are we willing to go into the desert in obedience, risking defeat, in order to see God's hand at work? (Jehoshaphat)

6) With his own people, God used droughts, invaders, even exile and desolation as judgment but he always had a promise of restoration and blessing.  But for nations that never followed him...his judgment was absolute. Owls. Wild goats. Jackals.  (from Isaiah)

 7) I need to take a hard look at what appears to be unfruitful.  Am I just in a season of rest before release?  Or am I in preparation for a season of fruitfulness?  Or have I wandered into a dry and barren place because of my own choices...a place that will never be fruitful? (from Joel)

8) While the scripture tells us that God loves all individuals and does not want any of them to perish, nations are a different issue.  God has specifically said that nations would be judged on their treatment of his people, and that the nations who stand against Israel will ultimately face the consequences of that decision...and 'desert' is frequently used in the description of those consequences.  (from Malachi)

I had a hard time narrowing the findings down, but once I filtered on those that referenced desert, specifically...that's my list. 

It was good to go back an re-read all the posts, although it did take a while. There were a lot of posts that dealt more with what was revealed in the desert...or related to the desert...or what happened in the desert...than the desert itself, but that's ok.  There was some deep stuff there.

Dare I ask...because I get so few comments, I  hesitate to ask because that makes the '0 Comments' even more pitiful, but because discussion is good I am asking anyway...has anyone out there gotten a new insight or challenge or whatever from the desert verses in the Old Testament?

Heading into the New Testament next week...

 

 

 

A Blot of Mustard or an Underdone Potato? Or Something Else?

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

It's been a minute since I posted a dream...to be honest, it's been a LONG minute since I had a dream even worth writing down. But this one stuck with me and when I accidentally hit 'New Post' instead of 'Stats' when I dropped by today I thought, 'Ok, I'll do it.'  Make of it what you will...too much news late at night?  A blot of mustard or underdone potato?  Or something worth thinking about?  

I don't know.  But here it is...

I dreamed I was a part of an international police task force tailing a terrorist cell around Europe. At times, we were closing in on them; other times, they nearly cornered us.  Ultimately, we learned that they intended to blow up an ancient church building in a remote village.  

This was not a cathedral or even a very large building, but it was old.  There was only one clergyman there to officiate services if anyone came.  We tailed the cell to the church for an evening service.  They were planning to go in and covertly plant explosives, but they had weapons in case the authorities involved them in a shoot out.  They were all wearing purple t-shirts and zip front purple hoodies, and a good number of them...thirty or so...headed into the church before an evening service.  We were in plainclothes, and our team leader sent us in to keep an eye on them. 'Don't worry, ' she said, 'I have a plan.'

Within a few minutes a whole slew of people from my home church began arriving (even in the dream, I wondered how they got there...to this remote village in Europe...from our town in the US, lol).  I tried to warn them not to tip off the people in purple that our leader had sent them, but they seemed unconcerned about that and were excited to attend the service. They were expecting to see God work.  The normally deserted church was full of people, between the people in purple, the folks from church and the handful of special agents.

On one hand, I thought it was brilliant...with so many people there, the terrorists could not plant their explosives without being seen. But on the other, I was worried that they would feel threatened and blow up/ shoot up the place with the people in it.  But as the service started, the poor clergyman was at a loss at having so many people, and the folks from our church took up a worship song and just began singing and praying.  One by one, they all went over and embraced one of the people in purple, praying over them.

The terrorists were completely rattled by this and didn't know how to deal with it.  Most of them slipped out and away but a few of them actually stayed with the church group and returned to the US with them, ending their relationship with the terrorist group.  Then I woke up.

Here's what struck me about the dream...the church was old.  Neglected, nearly abandoned.  The 'terrorists' were, by and large, kids between the ages of 12 - 16, with just a few adults as leaders. They seemed to want to avoid harming people, but they did want to destroy the old church. The folks who came from our church were not pastors or leaders, just regular folks who attend Sunday Services.  Some of them were even rather irregular attenders.  The actions of those regular folks...caring for and praying for the people in purple... routed the threat and even reduced the opposing force...which was mostly comprised of kids who had been radicalized.   I have no idea if the color purple was significant, lol.

I am pondering this one today...

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Wrapping up the Old Testament

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

There are 5 references to 'desert' left in the Old Testament: There are two in Amos, then we have one in Habakkuk, one in Zephaniah and one in Malachi. 

Amos is a sobering book, relating the sin of the people and the coming judgment.

"I brought you up out of Egypt, and I led you forty years in the desert to give you the land of the Amorites.  I also raised up prophets from among your sons and Nazirites from among your young men.  Is this not true, people of Israel?" declares the LORD.  "But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets not to prophesy."  Amos 2:10-12

"Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house of Israel? You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god which you made for yourselves.  Therefore, I will send you into exile beyond Damascus," says the LORD whose name is God Almighty. -- Amos 5:25-27

Both of these passages in Amos refer to the history of the Israelites in the desert...the forty years in which God provided for them  and they worshiped him.  But, he says, they have abandoned him.  It's interesting that he includes Nazirites along with the prophets as 'raised up'...that is, given a purpose to fulfill among the people.  Nazirites were men who took a vow of service to God; during the (generally specified and rarely...but occasionally...life-long) period of the vow, there was a whole list of specific things they were to refrain from doing, touching, or eating...among the specifics were that they were not to cut their hair and they were not to consume any grape-related product.  They were to be set apart for a purpose.  But the Israelites 'made the Nazirites drink wine'...they caused those set-apart ones to behave like the rest of the nation, and they refused to allow the prophets to speak the words God commanded them to speak. THEN...they gave their honor and their worship to people and things other than God Almighty, who brought them through the desert to their own land.

Oh, man, does this ever sound contemporary...or is it just me?

Moving on...

Habakkuk prophesied to the nation of Judah, immediately before the invasion of the Babylonians.  The Babylonians are specifically named in 1:6, then described in the following verses; one of which uses the word 'desert':

"they all come bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand." Hab 1:9

A desert wind drives the sand in front of it...and the Babylonians hauled countless Judeans off to exile in Babylon...and God was going to allow it, owing to the idolatry of his people.

The next passage is in Zephaniah.  Chapter 2 is a list of judgments against the peoples who have opposed/ oppressed Israel; verses 13 and 14 mention the desert; I'm going to include verse 15:

He wills stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria, leaving Nineveh utterly desolate and dry as the desert.  Flocks and herds will lie down there, creatures of every kind.  The desert owl and the screech owl will roost on her columns.  Their calls will echo through the windows, rubble will be in the doorways, the beams of cedar will be exposed. This is the carefree city that lived in safety.  She said to herself, "I am, and there is none besides me."  What a ruin she has become, a lair for wild beasts!  Zeph. 2:13-15.

Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, the nation that carried off the northern kingdom of Israel/Samaria to exile from which they never truly returned...the Ten Lost Tribes.  Even she, in all the military power she had, was brought to ruin...because she thought she was self-sustaining.  Nope.

The final 'desert' verse in the Old Testament is in Malachi, and is a difficult passage, to say the least.

"I have loved you," says the LORD.  But you ask, "How have you loved us?"  "Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" the LORD says.  "Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals."  -- Malachi 1:2-3

I have seen several different explanations for this passage; Jacob, of course, was the younger twin who actually received the inheritance...the blessing...due to the older brother.  Esau's version of the story is that Jacob tricked him or stole it, but if you go back and read it you'll see that Esau despised it and gave it away to satisfy his physical appetite, only to regret his choice later (Gen. 25:29-34).  There was no trickery or subterfuge involved in Esau's surrendering of his birthright...which included the blessing from his father.  Esau himself was part of a plot to sneak it back from Jacob, but Jacob out tricked him there.  But even then, that wasn't to steal something from Esau...it was to collect what Esau had already given up.  God did bless Esau, because he was Isaac's son, but the descendants of Esau later not only failed to give aid to their cousins Israel/ Judah, but even rejoiced over them when they were attacked and looted the refugees and handed them over to their attackers (Ob. 2:10-14).  A nation without covenant, they were rejected and obliterated.  I think the point here is that  Jacob (Israel/Judah) was preserved and restored to their lands after exile....Esau  (Edom) has passed from the knowledge of men, and the lands that were theirs are now owned by other people who cannot trace their ancestry. Jacob/Israel was favored by God; Esau/Edom was not.  While the scripture tells us that God loves all individuals and does not want any of them to perish, nations are a different issue.  God has specifically said that nations would be judged on their treatment of his people, and that the nations who stand against Israel will ultimately face the consequences of that decision...and 'desert' is frequently used in the description of those consequences.