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I apologize. I do not usually post things that I have not had time to fully consider or organize in my thoughts better, but I wanted to share something that I experienced this past weekend at a conference and whether positively or negatively, I hope it will be of some encouragement in the Word on this topic of "The old testament and some unhappy stuff" and beyond.
I just attended a conference on Evil and the Gospel that was absolutely wonderful and I wanted to add some thoughts to what I have already previously posted in light of what I heard at this conference.
Much as I had done in previous posts, the minister started with Gen 3.
Under the Covenant of Works which Adam lived, each time that the Lord came to see him, you could imagine that there was an expectation of what He would bring: Fellowship or Judgment. In obedience Adam was assured of all the good that God had declared concerning creation and of life, but in disobedience Adam could be assured of death. The scripture says that God came in the spirit of the day and this is interesting in light of what I just said and Adam and Eve's response is obviously guilt and fear as they cower from His sight. However, their actions were also a testimony that this is NOT as things should be. As God arrives on the scene, His love causes Him to delay His own actions (in this case he does not act in complete judgment). He delays, so that might redeem His work to what it should be.
Now returning to the point, that as God delays his full judgment on Adam and Eve out of love, he also, out of love, does two things to ensure that Adam and Eve and their children do not forget the need for the promise. God makes life hard and he, in delaying judgment on the serpent, allows for evil itself to remain, leaving man to continue to recognize from Adam's cowering in fear until now that this is NOT as things should be.
So when we look at the OT we should see the two seeds in conflict and God's faithful acts as a foreshadow of the utter victory promised over the enemy, but we should also, with a biblical view of the fall, be willing to mournfully agree, that this is Not as things should be.
If I remember the story correctly, C.S. Lewis was brought to salvation with just such a thought. He spent years assailing God and denying his existence because of the evils in the world only to ponder one day where his standard came from that allowed him to identify evil - this is Not as things should be.
In the same way as we don't recognize the greatness of what Christ has done for us until we know how much we truly needed His forgiveness, so it is that we don't know what true joy will be in Heaven until we realize how far from that joy this world is - it is not as it should be.
What glory - What hope in Christ, because as long as this testimony continues there is still time for repentance.
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
In conclusion, I had one other thought that liberated my soul over this last weekend. I always struggled with the scriptures that speak positively about mourning and this idea of mourning with folks. I think, like a lot of us, I want to point them to blessed hope and (in a sense) to hurry them over their mourning. However, this same conference dwelt on John 11 where Jesus hears of Lazarus' illness and it says that he loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus, SO he delayed. Here again God delays in love, but his delay has made room for death. And while I could jump ahead of myself and say BUT HE GOING TO SHOW THEM THAT HE IS THE RESURRECTION, there is an important part that must be noted. When Jesus finally makes his way there, he mourns when he sees the site at the grave site. The Bible says that Jesus groaned and wept. The Life and Light of Men, who has but to say the word and all is better, who has in fact come with the intention to raise Lazarus, now pauses in the moment and weeps. What Glory that our God has condescended and groaned with us in the trouble of this life, as if to agree that this is Not as things should be. I have a new found understanding of tragedy and for those that mourn. I am free and even called to mourn with folks and yes, we shouldn't forget that we mourn not as those without hope, but we should stop and mourn.
What a blessed way to help those hurting from tragedy and wrestling with the evils of this life - to mourn with them over the "otherness" it is and after due time to present The Hope for a world that is NOT as it should be.
Respectfully Submitted
I just attended a conference on Evil and the Gospel that was absolutely wonderful and I wanted to add some thoughts to what I have already previously posted in light of what I heard at this conference.
Much as I had done in previous posts, the minister started with Gen 3.
Under the Covenant of Works which Adam lived, each time that the Lord came to see him, you could imagine that there was an expectation of what He would bring: Fellowship or Judgment. In obedience Adam was assured of all the good that God had declared concerning creation and of life, but in disobedience Adam could be assured of death. The scripture says that God came in the spirit of the day and this is interesting in light of what I just said and Adam and Eve's response is obviously guilt and fear as they cower from His sight. However, their actions were also a testimony that this is NOT as things should be. As God arrives on the scene, His love causes Him to delay His own actions (in this case he does not act in complete judgment). He delays, so that might redeem His work to what it should be.
Let me pause there for a minute to tie in with what I have already said in previous posts...As God delays He also issues the promise that the 1st cause of this sin, the serpent, will be addressed and identifies that of Adam's lineage there will be two seeds warring culminating in the final victory of THE Seed over the serpent.
So when we look at the OT we should see the two seeds in conflict and God's faithful acts as a foreshadow of the utter victory promised over the enemy, but we should also, with a biblical view of the fall, be willing to mournfully agree, that this is Not as things should be.
If I remember the story correctly, C.S. Lewis was brought to salvation with just such a thought. He spent years assailing God and denying his existence because of the evils in the world only to ponder one day where his standard came from that allowed him to identify evil - this is Not as things should be.
In the same way as we don't recognize the greatness of what Christ has done for us until we know how much we truly needed His forgiveness, so it is that we don't know what true joy will be in Heaven until we realize how far from that joy this world is - it is not as it should be.
What glory - What hope in Christ, because as long as this testimony continues there is still time for repentance.
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
In conclusion, I had one other thought that liberated my soul over this last weekend. I always struggled with the scriptures that speak positively about mourning and this idea of mourning with folks. I think, like a lot of us, I want to point them to blessed hope and (in a sense) to hurry them over their mourning. However, this same conference dwelt on John 11 where Jesus hears of Lazarus' illness and it says that he loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus, SO he delayed. Here again God delays in love, but his delay has made room for death. And while I could jump ahead of myself and say BUT HE GOING TO SHOW THEM THAT HE IS THE RESURRECTION, there is an important part that must be noted. When Jesus finally makes his way there, he mourns when he sees the site at the grave site. The Bible says that Jesus groaned and wept. The Life and Light of Men, who has but to say the word and all is better, who has in fact come with the intention to raise Lazarus, now pauses in the moment and weeps. What Glory that our God has condescended and groaned with us in the trouble of this life, as if to agree that this is Not as things should be. I have a new found understanding of tragedy and for those that mourn. I am free and even called to mourn with folks and yes, we shouldn't forget that we mourn not as those without hope, but we should stop and mourn.
What a blessed way to help those hurting from tragedy and wrestling with the evils of this life - to mourn with them over the "otherness" it is and after due time to present The Hope for a world that is NOT as it should be.
Respectfully Submitted