The Making of Heaven and Earth: There are few more important chapters ever written than the first three chapters of Genesis. These chapters dramatically shape our understanding of who we are, where we’ve come from, and the reason why things are the way they are today. More importantly, they introduce us to the God who created and sustains all things.
“In the beginning…” Genesis 1 introduces us to a God who works as an artisan, creating all things by his powerful word. God’s word brings light out of darkness, order to chaos, and abundant, flourishing life. The creation of the heavens and the earth reveals our origin, but more importantly, God’s character and power. Recorded on Jan 16, 2022, on Genesis 1:1-25, by Ted Selker.
Encounters with God is a sermon series about the theophanies or divine appearances and how they reveal the stunning character of God and his heart for a world that is lost without him. How can we face the danger and chaos of this world with courage and poise? The Apostle John encountered Jesus while he was in exile. What did he learn? That Jesus has authority over life and death, that Jesus has a plan and knows the end from the beginning, and that Jesus is near and involved in his church. Recorded on Jan 9, 2022, on Acts 9, by Pastor David Parks.
All year, we’re talking about The Greatness of God. And today, we’re finishing our Encounters with God series. Next Sunday we’ll start a new sermon series called The Making of Heaven and Earth from Genesis 1-3. But, as we’ve said throughout this series: in the Bible, when God appears to someone it’s known as a theophany or divine appearing. And these encounters are wild stories; God never seems to act how we would expect. But these encounters, reveal the stunning character of God, and his heart to save a world that is lost without him. Well today, we’re finishing a series that started in the first book of the Bible by landing in the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation. And Revelation is wild, full of vivid and sometimes disturbing imagery. It’s written in the style of Jewish apocalyptic literature, which was a style popular in the first century AD, but no longer really exists, which makes it notoriously difficult for us to understand/interpret. The closest modern style, I would say, would be a combination of a zombie and superhero movie, everything is big and scary and there’s a cosmic battle between good and evil. So today, and like last week with the story of the conversion of the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, we get another theophany of the risen Jesus, high and lifted up, to an elderly Apostle John. But in this, our final encounter with God, we’ll see that Jesus is the reason that we can face all the danger and potential chaos of the world with courage and poise. If you have a Bible/app, please open to Revelation 1:9.
Revelation 1:9-11 (NIV), “9 I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
Let’s pause here. So the Apostle John was a young man when he met Jesus and started following him with his brother James. Based on the gospel accounts, he seems to have had anger issues when he was young, but by the time he was an old man, he was known as the Apostle of love. John was raised near the Sea of Galilee, like Jesus, but eventually served as a bishop over the churches in the region of Ephesus in Turkey. You never know where your life might take you or how you might change when you start to follow Jesus. But here, toward the end of a long life, we’re told that John is in exile on the Island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. They didn’t kill him for talking about Jesus (although according to historical accounts they tried several times), but they did send him into exile. Perhaps, for this reason, much of John’s vision is similar in style to Daniel’s and Ezekiel’s theophanies when they were in exile in Babylon. John says that it was the Lord’s Day, meaning it was Sunday, the day that Jesus rose from the dead. This is why Christians continue to gather for worship on Sundays.
We don’t know if anyone else was there, but at least John was worshiping that Sunday, he was in the Spirit and he heard a loud voice like a trumpet calling him to write down what he would see and send it to the seven churches of the Roman province of Asia or modern Turkey. Let’s look at a map so we understand where in the world we’re working here. John was on the Greek Island of Patmos in the middle of the Aegean Sea. And he was commanded to write to the churches of seven influential cities of western Turkey. Now, these weren’t the only cities with Christian churches at the time. But the number seven in the Bible seems to represent fullness or completion. So the command to write to these seven churches was meant to be both a revelation for those churches and also for churches everywhere, for all time, even to us today. v. 12.
Revelation 1:12-20 (NIV), “12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. 19 “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”
This is God’s word. So, there are so many interesting details in this encounter with God. First, John says that the mighty voice started speaking behind him. So it’s interesting to me that to respond to the voice of Jesus, John must turn. Turning around and going in a new direction is a picture of repentance. It doesn’t say that John needs to repent of sin, but everywhere the gospel is preached, the way people respond is by repentance (turning from your way) and faith (turning to the way of Jesus). So John turns, and who does he see? One like a son of man, standing among seven golden lampstands. His description of one like a son of man is meant to remind us of the prophet Daniel’s vision in Daniel 7:13–14 (NIV), “13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” So here, in exile/worship, John turns and sees this mighty King of the Kingdom of God. One whose reign and rule would never end. One who would be worshiped by people all over the world. John’s description of Jesus is amazing. He’s dressed in pure white and gold and he’s like blazing fire, shining with all the brilliance of the sun. These are all meant to convey something of the character of Jesus. He isn’t stained by sin/oppression/corruption like one of the kings of this world. He’s pure. He’s holy. He’s radiant with glory, honor, and praise. We’ve seen this before, this struggle to describe a heavenly reality within the bounds of earthly language.
But he isn’t just impressive to look at, he’s speaking. From start to finish, the Bible presents God as one who speaks. God speaks to us, his people. God speaks and creation springs to life. As we’ll see next week when God speaks he brings light into darkness, he brings order into chaos, and he brings life where there is no life. John envisions the word of Jesus to be a sharp, double-edged sword. Hebrews 4:12 (NIV) says, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” God has spoken in the past through the prophets and apostles, but no one reveals more of who God is and what God has done and what God promises for our future than Jesus, the word of God made flesh, as John wrote in his gospel. So God still speaks to us to this day through his Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is alive today, the king of glory, and his weapon is the sword of his word.
And how did John respond to this theophany, this encounter with the risen and ascended Jesus, high and lifted up? How would you respond? v. 17 says, “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.” What a shock! But look how Jesus responds to his old friend, John. “Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid.” He reaches out to reassure him, the king of heaven. It’s ok, I’m really here. But is this the Jesus that John befriended and followed all those years ago? Jesus tells John, “I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!” This has to be Jesus! Who else died and rose again? John saw him die and he saw him rise again. He was one of the eyewitnesses. Though he had all the glory/honor/praise of heaven, it was still his friend who had come to him in exile. Amazing.
Well, what did he have to say? If you read through Revelation, Jesus has a lot to say. But in the rest of our passage for today, Jesus reveals three things with the power to strengthen us to face anything today with courage and poise. Why shouldn’t we be afraid in this life? There are many scary things in this broken world. Dangers and difficulties abound. Life seems so fragile at times. And if God is real, why would that necessarily be good news? No one is perfect. And some of us have said or done some terrible things. Are we not guilty? Will we not have to give an account of our lives to our Maker? No wonder people are always falling down in the presence of God. So Jesus, why should John not be afraid? He gives three reasons at least. First: Jesus says, “I hold the keys of death and Hades.” Jesus, the risen one, had died and was buried. But on the third day, he rose again, which marked the beginning of a whole new age of history. One where God would unite and renew all things under the Lordship of Jesus. Now he is the Living One, he is life itself. Jesus is the source of life and is the one who sustains all life with a word of his power. Don’t be afraid. Why? Because Jesus holds the keys of death and the grave. One of the most profoundly unsettling aspects of Covid is that we all have been continually reminded of our own mortality and the mortality of our loved ones. Fear of death is understandable and real. But if death isn’t an obstacle for Jesus, then it won’t be the end of your story, either. Are you afraid of death? Turn to Jesus, he is life without end.
Second, why shouldn’t we be afraid? In v. 19 Jesus says, “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.” So much of our stress and anxiety comes from our lack of knowledge about what will happen tomorrow. We, human creatures, are amazing inventions. But we are very much finite. We are limited. We can not control much of our lives. And we do not know what our future holds. But there is one who knows. There is one who holds the future in his hands. There is one who knows how to work all things for the good of those who love him. There are religious scholars who don’t believe this could be true. They study the Bible and interpret all prophecy as having been written after the fact. Their starting point is that God can’t know or prophecy the future. But if God is God, how could he not know what will happen? How could his plans not supersede the plans of human beings? And from start to finish, the Bible records just such a God, one who stands outside of time and space. One who transcends his creation. One who knows the end from the beginning. One who can confidently say, “This will happen.” Are you afraid of the unknown of the future? Do you struggle with anxiety? Turn to Jesus, he is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. And his plans are good, his work is sure. All the promises of God will find their yes and amen in him.
Third and finally, why shouldn’t we be afraid? In v. 20, Jesus says, “The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” The lampstand with seven lights is also called the menorah or the golden lampstand of the tabernacle and then the temple in ancient Israel. But John sees Jesus as walking among seven lampstands which are interpreted as the seven churches here. Elsewhere in Revelation, the lampstands also represent the Spirit of God. So the Church here is vividly presented as the location of the Spirit of God with Jesus walking among them, holding in his hand the angels or messengers of each church. When are we most vulnerable to fear? When we feel like we’re all alone. But are we alone in Christ? Think about this imagery again. Jesus actively, carefully holding, protecting, working, near and involved in his church, not far off and removed from his people. Even in exile, when John might’ve felt lost and lonely, Jesus was near. Are you afraid you’re the only one who is faithful? Have you been abandoned in the past and are afraid it’ll happen again? Turn to Jesus, he is the one who walks with us and holds us in his hands and who assures us, comforts us, and gently corrects us when we need it. He has promised to be with us even to the end of the age. He has promised never to leave you or forsake you. He is the faithful one.
In all of the encounters with God that we have seen, it’s remarkable how consistent God is. He is glorious, high and lifted up, and radiant with splendor. God is great. But these encounters all reveal God’s heart for people, his heart for a world that is lost without him. They reveal his desire and his plan and his work to rescue and redeem and transform us by his Son and Spirit. This is who God is. God is great. And God is good. And we are safe in his hands today. Let us rejoice and be glad in him.
Encounters with God is a sermon series about the theophanies or divine appearances and how they reveal the stunning character of God and his heart for a world that is lost without him. The Apostle Paul (known as Saul) had a life-changing encounter with Jesus on the Road to Damascus. Paul began his trip on a mission to arrest followers of Jesus and ended his trip proclaiming him as the Son of God. What happened to bring about this dramatic reversal? He saw Jesus, high and lifted up. Recorded on Jan 2, 2022, on Acts 9, by Pastor David Parks.
All year, we’re talking about The Greatness of God. And today, we’re continuing a sermon series called Encounters with God. After this week, we only have one more week in this series before starting a new series called The Making of Heaven and Earth from Genesis 1-3. The greatness of God is evident in the work of creation. But as we approach the end of this series, as we’ve said all along the way: in the Bible, when God appears to someone it’s known as a theophany or divine appearing. And these encounters are wild stories; God never seems to act how we would expect. But these encounters, reveal the stunning character of God, and his heart to save a world that is lost without him. Today, we’re making the big jump from the OT to the NT, but we’re jumping over the gospel accounts of the NT. Christians believe that Jesus wasn’t just a great man, but that he was the only one who is fully God and fully man. So the whole life of Jesus in one sense is very much an encounter with God. But given the fact that we spent all of last year focusing on the person and work of Jesus, today and next week, we’ll look at a few divine appearings of Jesus that took place after his resurrection and ascension back into heaven. These appearances are not the Jesus meek and mild of his first coming, but the Jesus high and lifted up of today, the Jesus who is seated at the right hand of the Almighty, the King of heaven and earth. So today, we get to unpack the famous encounter with God and the Apostle Paul, who was also known as Saul, on the road to Damascus. In this encounter, we’ll see that God is the great Redeemer, even of his enemies. If you have a Bible/app, please open to Acts 9:1.
Acts 9:1-9 (NIV), “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.”
Let’s pause here. Back on Christmas Eve, I said that Luke was a physician who became a Christian through the ministry of the Apostle Paul, likely in the city of Ephesus in Turkey. After becoming a Christian, Luke did a careful investigation into the life/ministry of Jesus by interviewing eyewitnesses who were there. This investigation resulted in the book of Luke in the Bible on the life/ministry of Jesus and the book of Acts in the Bible, which is all about what happened next. What happened after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus back into heaven, so much of which had to do with the man who is introduced here, that is Saul. Now, Saul is the Hebrew form of his name, which makes sense as we start this chapter of the story in Jerusalem. But as he was sent out to the Gentiles and traveled through the Greco-Roman cultures around the Roman Empire, he used the Greek form of his name, which was Paul. So Luke starts this incredible encounter story with Saul breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples, against Christians, against the Church. Now, the murderous threats of Saul weren’t hollow threats. Back in Acts chapter 8, Luke writes that Saul had approved of the public killing of Stephen, a deacon in the early church of Jerusalem and the first Christian martyr. And after Stephen’s death, as a zealous young man, Saul launched himself into a widespread persecution of Christians. Luke says, “…Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.” (Acts 8:3). Later in Acts, Paul described his mindset during this time, saying, “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.” So it was this man, arrest warrant papers in hand, who was traveling [map slide] the approximately 135 miles from Jerusalem to Damascus, the capital city of Syria. Apparently, it was likely that there were Christians in the city of Damascus, but, as we see here before anyone was known as a Christian, the disciples of Jesus were known as The Way. They were known as The Way because they followed the way of Jesus.
But, in v. 3, “As [Saul] neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.” Just as in many of the other encounters with God that we’ve looked at in this series, Saul falls down on his face. And what does God say? This is so fascinating. He says, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Why do you persecute me? Wait a minute. I’m persecuting followers of Jesus. Saul is an expert in the OT Scriptures. He would’ve known this was a theophany. But his whole life was founded on the belief that Jesus wasn’t God. This is why he has to double-check. “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked in v. 5. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Now, it’s hard when your deeply held beliefs/convictions are upended by new information. All at once, Saul could not continue to hold to the belief that Jesus was a fraud and a blasphemer when he came face to face with the risen Jesus and realized he had all the glory/honor/power of God. No doubt, Saul experienced profound disorientation in the face of the crumbling deconstruction of his former beliefs about Jesus. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” He had been completely wrong. He thought he had been working for God but he now realized he had been working against God. His companions knew something had happened but they weren’t clear exactly what, but Saul knew what he saw and heard. He was so stunned physically (and in every other capacity), he was blinded and refused to eat or drink for days afterward. Let’s keep going. v. 10.
Acts 9:10-16 (NIV), “10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. 11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” 13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” 15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
So Ananias is called by Jesus to minister to Saul, the infamous persecutor of the Church. How would you feel about that? Ananias is understandably confused. Who do you want me to go to? To Saul of Tarsus? Lord, don’t you know who that is? He’s your enemy! And he has authority from none other than the High Priest and the Jewish ruling council of Jerusalem. But Jesus says, “Oh no he isn’t. Not anymore. He’s mine. Saul will be my chosen instrument to proclaim/bring my name to the Gentiles (or non-Jewish people) and to their kings, but also to the people of Israel. This statement is amazing to me. Just think of all this reveals to the early Christian church and to us today about the character of God, about who God is, and what he is like. In this story, it’s clear that it’s the risen Jesus, high and lifted up, who is the Lord of heaven, but who also knows who Saul and Ananias are. Jesus knows where they’ve come from. Jesus knows them by name. Jesus knows what he has planned for them, too. Jesus even knows if they intended to do him harm and how to work it so that it comes out for the good and for his glory. But if this was true then, is this not true of Jesus today? Does he not know who you are or where you’ve come from or what he has planned for you? Does he not know how to take our evil and turn it out for good? This is incredible. Jesus never once lost an ounce of his kingly authority or rule or the ability to execute his plans during the persecution of his people. Why? Because he is not far off and removed from the world he has made. Rather, he is near, he is involved, and he knows you by name.
But it’s not all rainbows and light for Saul. In v. 16, Jesus assures Ananias, “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” Saul was an enemy of God, but now he was a child of God. But that wouldn’t keep him from suffering. Saul would suffer terribly for the name of Jesus. In 2Co 11:24-28, later in Saul’s life, he wrote, “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” But to Saul, just like the prophets of old, this hardship was just part of the calling he had received. He told Timothy, another minister of the gospel, “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” (2Ti 2:3) In one sense, Saul had lost everything when he became a Christian. He lost his job, he lost his credibility, he lost what he thought was his religion, his home in Jerusalem, and probably many friends. But even with all that he lost, he could say, “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.” On paper, it looked like Saul had lost everything. But in reality, and how he looked at all the pain and hardship that he experienced in his life as a Christian, he was blessed beyond measure. Jesus was real and he was the Lord and he knew everything about Saul. But instead of treating him how his sins deserved, he encountered a God who was willing to love/serve/save his enemies. He encountered the grace of God. Name one other religious system that is like Jesus. No other god is like him!
Acts 9:17-22 (NIV), “17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.”
What an incredible turnaround. What a dramatic reversal. The enemy of Christ becomes the Apostle to the Gentiles, for Christ. The one who hated Christians and was notorious for their persecution becomes a Christian and gives his life to help other people follow Jesus! It’s hard to explain this testimony any other way if the gospel isn’t true. But if Jesus really appeared to Saul, if he really had an encounter with God and God revealed himself to be Jesus, then this reversal, Saul’s conversion to Christianity, is very rational, it makes complete sense. This is what God can do. But actually, this is what God has always done. The story of salvation, in the Bible, doesn’t start with us. It doesn’t start with people who are super smart and figure out who God is on their own. It doesn’t start with people hungry to know God and be obedient to him and seek him out. It starts with a God who loves people, but surprisingly, not just the people who love him. It starts with a God who loves even his enemies (Saul) and is willing to move heaven and earth to pursue them in order to rescue them. In this way, the Apostle Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus is a wonderful picture of the spiritual journey of everyone in Christ. It’s a story of a dramatic reversal and of spiritual revelation in Jesus and of the mighty grace of God for sinners, even sinners breathing out murderous threats against the people of God. This is our story in Christ, too. Maybe the circumstances of our conversion didn’t quite have the same sound and light show as Saul, but it’s really the same thing. While we were yet sinners, Christ lived/died/rose again for us, Christ reigns and rules over us, even today. “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.”
My final observation from this encounter with God is this. The impact of Ananias on Paul’s life is proof that it doesn’t matter how smart you are, what your spiritual resume looks like, or how impressive your experience of God’s power or presence has been, everyone needs the ministry of other brothers and sisters as you follow the way of Jesus. There are no orphans in the family of God and there should be no lone wolves either. Even the mighty Apostle Paul needed Ananias to pray for him, to heal him, to instruct him, to baptize him, and vouch for him among other rightly skeptical believers. If you believe that being a Christian means it’s just you and Jesus, you will miss out on so much spiritual power/blessings/transformation, besides, of course, the actual commands of Christ. You need the Church and the Church needs you. So today, consider this: Jesus knows you, he knows your name. He knows everything you’ve been through but will not treat you as your sins deserve. You, like Paul, might suffer greatly, but when you understand who Jesus is, like Paul, you will count it all joy to be found in him and to be counted among his people. This is who God is. And this is what God does, even now.
Encounters with God is a sermon series about the theophanies or divine appearances and how they reveal the stunning character of God and his heart for a world that is lost without him. Ezekiel had an awesome encounter with God as an exile in a foreign land. Ezekiel was transformed from priest to prophet, delivering a message of the power of God and God’s word to a people in exile. Recorded on Dec 26, 2021, on Ezekiel 1-3, by Pastor David Parks.
All year, we’re talking about The Greatness of God. And today, we’re continuing a sermon series called Encounters with God. After this week, we only have two more weeks in this series before we start a new series called The Making of Heaven and Earth from Genesis 1-3. But in the Bible, when God appears to someone it’s known as a theophany or divine appearing. And these encounters are wild stories; God never seems to act how we would expect. But these encounters, including our encounter today between God and the prophet Ezekiel, reveal the stunning character of God, and his heart to save a world that is lost without him. If you have a Bible/app, please open to Ezekiel 1:1. We’ll unpack this as we go. v. 1.
Ezekiel 1:1-3 (NIV), “In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. On the fifth of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin—the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. There the hand of the Lord was on him.”
Let’s pause here. So this is the brief introduction to the book of Ezekiel; the rest of the book is written in the first person. According to the events listed here, we know that Ezekiel’s encounter with God happened on July 31, 593 BC, and if we understand the opening line as referring to his age at the time, Ezekiel was 30 years old when God called him to be a prophet. This took place about 30 years after Jeremiah’s encounter with God that we looked at last week. It was also about 5 years after Ezekiel, who was a priest from Jerusalem in Judah, had been carried into exile after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians. [map slide] Here, Ezekiel found himself over 800 miles from home; in the middle of modern Iraq. As an exile, he was a man without a country, a priest without a temple. Daniel was another prophet in Babylon with Ezekiel at this time. As I said last week, it’s hard to overstate just how heartbreakingly traumatic the exile was for the people of Israel. The northern kingdom of Israel had fallen several generations earlier to the Assyrian Empire. Now the southern kingdom of Judah had fallen to the Babylonian Empire. And roughly 90% of the people had either been killed or carried off to a foreign land as a conquered people. It was in this terrible circumstance, it was during these dark days, it was during this calamity that Ezekiel had his theophany, his encounter with God, by the Kebar River in Babylon. v. 4.
Ezekiel 1:4-28 (NIV), “I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, but each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved. Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces. They each had two wings spreading out upward, each wing touching that of the creature on either side; and each had two other wings covering its body. Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning. As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around. When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome. Under the vault their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings. Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.”
I told you this would be a wild story! This is the wildest story I’ve got. So to this poor, out-of-work priest with no temple, living in exile along with whoever hadn’t died in the war, has a vision of God high and lifted up. But also, this vision is poetically rich with meaning. Every detail is meant to communicate something to Ezekiel and through him to both his people in exile then, and us today, about who God is and his heart to save a world that is lost without him. So God shows up riding some sort of mobile throne. The cherubim seem similar to the seraphim that we saw in Isaiah’s vision from a few weeks ago, but the description is a little different. And instead of calling/singing to one another in the throne room of heaven, they have wheels with eyes that can move in any direction, and they ride in a storm of thunder/lightning/fire. From this wild scene, Ezekiel sees a figure like that of a man on the throne, a man of fire and light. You can tell he’s trying to stretch the bounds of earthly language to describe a heavenly experience. He says, “This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory,” of Yahweh, the Lord God Almighty. Now, as impressive as this theophany is, did you notice something? It has several elements of some of the other theophanies, but in many ways, it’s totally unique. Nowhere else in Scripture does God show up exactly like this. In fact, every time he appears, it seems to be perfectly tailored to the individual. Well, this leads us to ask the question: Why does God appear to Ezekiel like this? We’ve seen in this series that God can appear in a storm or on a mountain or in a burning bush or as the angel of the Lord or as a still small voice, and more. Is anything impossible for God? No! So why does God choose this way of appearing? I believe it’s to communicate a message to Ezekiel and Ezekiel’s people, and even to us today. And that message is this:
God is far greater than what we’re going through. You see, the exile of ancient Israel first into Assyria and then into Babylon was profoundly theologically unsettling. Of course, it was literally/physically unsettling, but it had major theological implications. Had God abandoned his people when they left the promised land? Was Yahweh not as powerful as they had believed, letting his people be killed or carried away? Maybe Babylon’s gods were more powerful? What in the world was God doing in this terrible tragedy? Where was he? Can you see then, why this theophany needed to be a big one? Why Ezekiel needed to see a vision of the greatness and the glory of God, one that stretched the bounds of his language? At that moment, in those dark days, Ezekiel needed to see that God was the ruler over the whole of the earth, not just over Israel and not just over the promised land. There was nowhere in all of creation where the people of Israel could go and be free from the presence and the power of God. And he wasn’t just sort of powerful. He wasn’t a God of the good, he was a God of supreme greatness.
This is what all the details of this vision are about. First, the living creatures and this vision of God high and lifted up, with radiant splendor/glory/beauty represents the all-surpassing power of the Kingdom of God and the omnipotence of the King over all creation. So is God able to deal with the mighty kingdom of Babylon? Of course, he can. As mighty as King Nebuchadnezzar was at the time, he was only a tool in the hand of the Almighty. A terrible tool of judgment against wicked injustice of Israel, but a tool nonetheless. His authority was never above the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Second, the wheels and a throne that can move immediately in any direction and even that this vision is happening in Babylon represent the omnipresence of God — that God is everywhere all the time. There is nowhere in all the universe where God is not present. So is God able to help his people in Babylon? Does his reign extend beyond the borders of the promised land? Of course, it does. Yahweh isn’t only a local deity, he is everywhere. Finally, we have all the eyes. What does that tell us about who God is? This represents that God is not only all-powerful and ever-present but that he is all-knowing and all-seeing, he is omniscient. So did the destruction and chaos that the exile caused somehow happen outside the plans of God? Did God have to scramble to catch up or react to the plans of King Nebuchadnezzar? Of course, he didn’t. For generations, God had warned his people that this was coming. He gave them countless opportunities to avoid this crisis. But they didn’t listen to him. Now they were in exile and were in the midst of a theological crisis. But Ezekiel has this vision, one of God high and lifted up. And not in the temple in Jerusalem, like Isaiah saw, but here in exile, here in Babylon, here in the midst of the calamity. But again, we must ask ourselves, why did God show up in this unusual manner? I believe it was to prove to his people that God is far greater than what we’re going through. Whatever you’re going through, God is greater. God is far greater than the greatest successes/victories you could dream of. But he’s also far greater than the worst failures or the most crushing defeats you could ever imagine. Isn’t that a comfort? Isn’t that just part of the kindness of God? This strange/unsettling vision becomes a beacon of hope for people who were lost without God. And how does Ezekiel respond? He falls on his face. Just like everyone else before the perfection of the glory of God. He falls over likely thinking he was absolutely ruined, in the presence of a holy God. That is, until…until he hears the voice/word of the Lord.
Ezekiel 2:1-3 – 3:4 (NIV), “He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.” As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people. You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious people; open your mouth and eat what I give you.” Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe. And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them.”
So after this wild vision of God, high and lifted up, in Babylon of all places, the Lord calls/commissions Ezekiel into his service, not only as a priest, which he was by birth but as a prophet. A priest was responsible for representing the people to God in worship. But a prophet was responsible for representing God to the people by revealing God’s word to them. The Apostle Peter wrote, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20–21). So here, Ezekiel discovers that God has a message for his people, he has things they need to know and remember and believe, even in exile. This taught them and it teaches us today:
God’s word supplies the nourishment we need to keep going. Notice in this theophany, when Ezekiel is given a scroll that represents God’s word to his people, he describes it as being a message of lament/mourning/woe. At first, this seems like a message of judgment and doom for the people of God, not good news at all. But then, he’s told to eat it, to eat the scroll. To consume God’s word. And what does he discover? That the scroll is sweet, as sweet as honey. So even though there is a severe message of judgment and destruction, there is a sweetness that will come. There’s a glimmer of hope. There is good news, even for those who thought they were lost and forgotten by God in exile. Not only was God far greater than what they were going through, but God had spoken and was still speaking to his people. Even in the justice of judgment, the mercy and grace of God were present. Because God’s word would supply the nourishment they needed to keep going, to know what was true about their circumstances, to know what God was doing even in the unthinkable, to stay faithful/hopeful even in Babylon. In Psalm 119, the psalmist wrote, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” In calling him to be a prophet, God wanted Ezekiel to fill himself on his word. Why? Because we, human beings, were not made to live on bread alone. We were made/created to live by the power/truth/life that comes by the word, the living and enduring word of God. So often, when Christians go through seasons of difficulty or hardship well, holding fast to Jesus as the anchor of their souls, they have done what Ezekiel did. They have eaten the scroll. They have consumed God’s word to the point where it is down deep within them. It’s the first thing that comes to mind as they consider their lives or their hardships.
You know, this is exactly how Jesus lived. If you cut him, Jesus bled scripture. Do you know how Jesus stayed faithful and true in the face of the temptation of Satan in the wilderness? Do you know what he was quoting, even during the suffering of the cross? He quoted God’s word. Do you know what the Apostle John said of Jesus? That he was the word of God made flesh, Jesus was/is the living embodiment of the word of God, the full revelation of who God is and what God has done. And what message did Jesus, the word of God, reveal to us? A message similar to the one of Ezekiel. A message of lament/mourning/woe. But not for us, for Jesus. You see, in Jesus, God was forming a new covenant/relationship with his people, but it was one based not on our obedience to the law, but on the obedience of Christ. On the cross, Jesus died as a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the world. But this terrible judgment of God contains more than a glimmer of hope. Because of the cross of Christ, all the promises of God, the whole scroll, can taste sweet to us. God is far greater than what we’re going through. If God was greater than Babylon/exile, then God is greater than anything we might face today. But the reason we can know that this is true is because God’s word supplies the nourishment we need to keep going. So today, would you again get this vision of God high and lifted up? Far greater than what we’re going through? Would you again be filled/nourished by the bread of life? The living and enduring word of God? It will supply everything you need to keep going.
Encounters with God is a sermon series about the theophanies or divine appearances and how they reveal the stunning character of God and his heart for a world that is lost without him.
Isaiah has a vision of God, high and lifted up, and is confronted by the holiness of God. A supremely holy God can seem like a threat to people who struggle with sin. But surprisingly, holiness is both the reason God is able to save us and is the future for all people in Christ. Recorded on Dec 12, 2021, on Isaiah 6, by Pastor David Parks.
All year, we’re talking about The Greatness of God. And today, we’re continuing a sermon series called Encounters with God. In the Bible, when God appears to someone it’s known as a theophany or divine appearing. And these encounters are wild stories, God never seems to act how we would expect. But these appearances reveal the stunning character of God, and his heart to save a world that is lost without him. Well today, we’ll consider the surprising encounter with God and the prophet Isaiah. In this theophany, at first, the vision of God as high and lifted up is quite terrifying because of the holiness of God. But then we realize, with Isaiah, that the holiness of God is not only wonderful but is also tied directly to the very purpose of the church, to our purpose/mission today. It’s a story of surprisingly good news. If you have a Bible/app, please open to Isaiah 6:1.
Isaiah 6:1-5 (NIV), “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.””
Let’s pause here. So Isaiah goes into the temple and who should he find there, but the Almighty God himself, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of hosts. Have you ever been surprised at church by the presence of God? Sometimes during worship, I just get this sense of awe and power at the presence of God. But probably not exactly to this degree. Isaiah finds himself transported into the throne room of heaven where the Lord is seated on a throne like a king, high and lifted up. Now, sometimes dates are difficult to determine in the Bible, but we actually know that it was the year 742 BC when King Uzziah died. Isaiah lived during a time of extreme uncertainty with the threat of war/violence all around the nation of Judah. [Map slide] During this time, the northern kingdom of Israel had fallen to the Assyrian Empire, so the most powerful empire in the world was literally on its doorstep. This would’ve been terrifying because the Assyrians were the first civilization in history to have a professional army, not just a collection of local militia’s. As a result, for about 300 years, the Assyrians conquered everybody. Because this was a time of exile for the people of ancient Israel and Judah, there were many prophets at work during this time. Similar to the time of the Exodus, God was speaking a lot during the time of the exile so that his people wouldn’t miss why all this was happening. Other prophets who were active at this time include Jonah and Hosea in the northern kingdom of Israel and Micah and Isaiah in the southern kingdom of Judah. One more history nerd fact: the ancient Greek poet, Homer, author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, was 8 years old when Isaiah had his theophany in the temple. So there was a lot going on in the world at this time.
Ok, let’s jump back into the throne room of heaven. First, God is sitting on the throne and the train of his robe has filled the temple. Think of a long train of a bridal gown representing the beauty and honor of a bride on her wedding day. The train of God’s royal robe, represents God’s superlative beauty, glory, honor, and power. Second, Isaiah says that he sees living creatures he calls Seraphs. These mysterious, flying creatures are mentioned only here in the Bible but seem to be related to angels or perhaps more closely to the living creatures that Ezekiel sees in his encounter with God. But these seraphim aren’t spectators. They’re actively involved in ministry, calling to one another. Look back at v. 3. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” They were calling, or perhaps singing, about the holiness of God. Of all the attributes of God, isn’t it interesting that they are calling to one another about the holiness of God? Why not the justice of God or the love of God? But it’s even more of an emphasis that we might first realize. Commentator Gary Smith points out that in ancient Hebrew, repeating a word is a way to emphasize the quality of that word. There’s a passage that mentions items made of gold gold, meaning, the purest of gold. But here, the seraphim don’t just refer to the holiness of God by doubling it but by tripling it. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty.” The seraphim raise the holiness of God to the highest place. That there is nothing and no one in all the universe who is as holy as the Lord God Almighty. What does this mean? That the Creator is altogether different from his creation. He is set apart and sacred, not profane, not ordinary. It means God is spotless, pure, and undefiled. He is not a sinner, he is perfect. And because of the supreme holiness of God, he is worthy of all worship. The whole earth is full of his glory. Just as the moon reflects the glory of the sun, so the earth and all of creation reflect the glory of God. This is what Isaiah saw: the Lord high and lifted up. How would he respond? Job had said, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” How would you respond? It says that Isaiah cried out, “Woe to me! I am ruined!” For a prophet to declare a woe on someone was a most serious thing because it meant they were under divine judgment. Now, the fact that this vision happened in the temple is very fitting because the holy of holies at the center of the temple was to represent a place where heaven and earth came together. However, because God was perfectly holy, there were many laws in the Mosaic covenant dealing with the cleansing of the priest who would enter into this holy place so they wouldn’t die in the presence of God for their sins. In fact, the holiness of God was such a threat to unholy people, they would tie a rope around the leg of the priest who would enter the presence of God so they could drag out the body in case something went wrong. Isaiah knows this. And even though he was in the temple, presumably to do ministry for the Lord, his assessment of his status in the actual presence of the living God, high and lifted up, and supremely holy, was that he was utterly ruined, doomed, he was dead. He recognized that compared to God, he was nowhere near as holy as he should be. He immediately realized how unclean he was. And not just himself, but his people as well. What hope did he have? How would God respond? Crush this unholy man? Destroy him in judgment for his sin? Look at v. 6.
Isaiah 6:6-10 (NIV), “6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9 He said, “Go and tell this people:“ ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ 10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
This is such a wonderful picture of the gospel. One of the living creatures flew to Isaiah with a burning coal from the altar. Isaiah had said that his lips were unclean, maybe because his sin had come from his speech to other people. Or maybe, as Pastor Tim Keller pointed out in a sermon on this passage because for Isaiah, his best quality was his speaking. We know he was a prophet who was called by God to speak. And we know from reading through the book of Isaiah, that he was an unquestionably brilliant speaker/author. Maybe in the presence of God, he realized that even his best quality fell far short of the holiness of God. Either way, the healing and forgiveness of God come to the source of the problem. The live coal touches his lips, but instead of burning him, it says his guilt is taken away and his sin is atoned for. Isaiah thought he was a dead man, ruined, for being unholy in the presence of the holy God. But God made a way for him to be forgiven and freed from the power of sin and remain in his presence. But even more, God has this conversation in the presence of Isaiah. “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” What would you say if you were standing in the throne room of God and he had just pardoned you for your sin? Do you think you’d volunteer? I would think so. Out of all the surprising joy and gratitude that comes when God doesn’t treat you as your sins deserve, all of that grace makes you want to serve him. This is always what the grace of God does. The more you understand the grace and mercy of God, the more you want to give your life back to him. So Isaiah says, “Here I am. Send me!” Send me, Lord. I will go for you. I will leave my old life behind. I will do what you want me to do. Here is utter surrender. Absolute commitment. But it will not be an easy assignment. God says that the people of Judah won’t necessarily respond to Isaiah’s ministry well. Revival won’t happen in his generation. The people won’t welcome his message.
Now, it’s sobering work to preach the word of God in any generation. I know that this is true. My preaching ministry — of teaching the Bible and continually pointing to what God has done through his Son, Jesus — is received with joy/faith/repentance by some. And so my message is a hope-producing, life-giving message of good news. However, not everyone who hears the gospel believes it is true or trusts in Jesus as Lord and Savior. In the parable of the sower, Jesus himself taught that there are various reasons why someone might reject the gospel and continue in the hardness of their hearts toward God and in unrepentance toward their sins. In that case, what is the outcome of my preaching of the word of God? It clarifies for people who and what they are rejecting and it will serve as a testimony against them in the day of the Lord. For they hear but do not understand. They see but do not perceive. That’s a tough assignment. Isaiah’s life and ministry will carry a heavy burden. For you can’t properly preach to people you don’t care for. You can’t rightly speak the truth without love. And when people you deeply love and care for respond with ambivalence to God, or reject him outright, it is a heart-breaking task. How do you think Isaiah felt about volunteering for this mission? We see in v. 11.
Isaiah 6:11-13 (NIV), “11 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?” And he answered: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, 12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. 13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”
This is pretty bleak. Is there any hope here? How long will this fruitless ministry go on? Until, God says, the land is forsaken. Until the exile is complete. This is not good. Of course, God said hundreds of years earlier in the book of Dt, that if the people were unfaithful to God, they would lose the promised land. And God had warned them for generations, but the people continued in the hardness of their hearts. Now it was the time of judgment. But even here, there’s a glimmer of hope. Where? First, it was the Lord who removed the guilt and atoned for the sin of Isaiah. He wasn’t there to condemn only. He was also there to preserve a remnant of faithful people. Second, it was the Lord who was sending Isaiah back to his people with a word from the Lord. God was still working, he was still speaking, he wasn’t fully done with his people, even though these were dark days. Third, at the very end, God gives us an even greater source of hope. He says that out of the chaos, out of the judgment against the wickedness of the people, there will be a holy seed that will be planted in the land. This is more than a glimmer of hope. This is a promise that God will plant/grow/harvest the fruit of that holy seed. Everywhere in Isaiah, references to oak trees are made in a negative sense, recalling the pagan worship that often happened under or near a large oak tree. But in the end, in Is 61, it is the ministry of the servant of the Lord, the anointed one, the Messiah, who would proclaim a message of good news to the poor/brokenhearted, to those who have been humbled. For those people, they would receive life/hope/joy/praise. “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.” This would be the forest that would grow from the holy seed. But how? How/when would this take place? And what does this mean for us today? The people of God wouldn’t really know until about 700 years after Isaiah’s vision of God, high and lifted up in the temple. After he was sent to preach to a stubborn people. Only then would we discover that God had kept his promise by sending his one and only son. You see, Jesus is the promised one, the Messiah. And the image of the Messiah being a holy seed is one that runs throughout the Bible. Jesus is the seed/offspring of Eve who would crush the serpent’s head. Jesus is the seed/offspring of Abraham who would bless all the nations on the earth. Jesus is the seed/offspring of David who would rule over a kingdom that would endure forever, the Kingdom of God. Out of the ruin that his people brought on themselves, God would bring forth from the stump in Judah, a holy seed. One who would himself be perfectly holy. But one who would take away our guilt and atone for our sin. One who would be committed to making us holy. How? By cleansing us by the washing with water through the word, and presenting us to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Eph 5:26-27) So the holiness of God is really why we’re in the mess that we’re in regarding our sin. We cannot stand in the presence of God — even the best of us would realize just how far we have fallen short of the glory and holiness of God. Woe to us. But at the same time, the holiness of God is the reason God could save us. Jesus Christ, the Holy Seed, had to be holy in order to break the power of sin. So Jesus is both the source of our freedom/hope/victory because he could be the perfect sacrifice for our sin, AND he is the type of person that God is transforming us to become. God’s holiness is no longer a threat, it’s our future; it’s our destination and goal, in Christ.
As we close, let me ask you this: Does the holy perfection of God cause your heart to sing in worship (like the seraphim?) or does it seem more like a threat to you? Seen in the light of his mercy and grace, and seen in the light of his willingness to forgive our unholiness, the holiness of God doesn’t have to be a threat. In fact, holiness is the soil where love flourishes. It all depends on what you do in response to this message. Will you fall down in humble repentance (like Isaiah)? Will you cast yourself upon the mercy of God and receive the person and work of Jesus by faith? Or will you reject him? If you receive him today, and you receive his work of both forgiveness and in your sanctification — of helping you grow in holiness — will you also receive his calling/purpose for you? This is the great purpose/mission of the church today: To share the good news of the grace of our God, high and lifted up, supreme in holiness and glory, yet working to save a world that is lost without him. This is who God is. This is what God is like. Those he saves he also sends. And those he sends, he also sanctifies. Wherever you call me, Lord, here am I. However people might respond, Lord, here am I. Send me! Send us.
Encounters with God is a sermon series about the theophanies or divine appearances and how they reveal the stunning character of God and his heart for a world that is lost without him. Is there any hope for the exhausted? Any grace for when you’re feeling burned out? Absolutely. In the encounter with God and Elijah, we discover God’s care for the whole person and our physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. Recorded on Dec 5, 2021, on 1 Kings 19, by Pastor David Parks.
All year, we’re talking about The Greatness of God. And today, we’re continuing a sermon series called Encounters with God. In the Bible, when God appears to someone it’s known as a theophany or divine appearing. And these encounters are wild stories, God never seems to act how we would expect. Well today, we’ll consider the fascinating encounter with God and the prophet Elijah. And to me, this encounter is one of the most comforting and practically helpful stories if you ever get to the point where you’re feeling exhausted or burned out. The holiday season can be a tiring season under normal circumstances. But after the last 2 years of chaos and loss, I think we’re all feeling a little fatigued. Exhaustion shows up differently for different people. Some of us get more down/depressed, others get more angry/irritable, some of us feel all of these things. As followers of Jesus, what can we do when we’re exhausted? Is there any hope, any grace for the burned out? Absolutely. In our text for the day, we’ll see God care for Elijah in his exhaustion as a whole person, ministering to him physically, emotionally, and spiritually. If you have a Bible/app, please open to 1 Kings 19:1. We’ll unpack this story as we go:
1 Kings 19:1-5a (NIV), “1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” 3 Elijah was afraid[a] and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.”
Ok, let’s pause here. What is going on here? Well, first, when is this taking place? So Ahab and Jezebel were the king and queen over the northern kingdom of Israel about 850 years before the birth of Jesus. This is about 100 years or so after the time of King David and Solomon. Under David, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah were unified. But after the time of Solomon, the unified kingdom started to fall apart. So it was right in the middle of this tumultuous time that God had called Elijah to be a prophet in Israel. This was a tough assignment. There was no peace at this time, and it wasn’t just that war was coming. There was vast corruption in the house of Israel. There was widespread idolatry/violence/injustice under the leadership of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. But immediately before this, Elijah’s ministry career had really reached a pinnacle. 1 Kings 18 describes an epic showdown between hundreds of prophets of the false Canaanite god, Baal, and Elijah. And Yahweh had shown up in a very public way, that he was the one true God, not Baal. Though hundreds of prophets cried out for hours and hours and cut themselves, Baal never answered them. In contrast, Elijah simply prayed and Yahweh rained down fire, completely consuming his offering. Now, you might think that after such a mighty victory, Elijah would be feeling good! That he would feel vindicated and wouldn’t need to be afraid of anything. But when he heard how Jezebel responded, and he heard her solemn vow to kill him, Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.
Let’s look at a map together [map slide]. We started our story up at Mount Carmel in the northern part of the northern kingdom of Israel. This was where the showdown with the prophets of Baal happened. After this, it says that he ran all the way from Mount Carmel to the Valley of Jezreel which was about 20 miles away. So Elijah had just run almost the distance of a marathon when he heard the threat of Jezebel. So Elijah fled down to the southernmost city of Beersheba in the southern kingdom of Judah. This was a distance of about 120 miles. Elijah left his servant there and continued another day’s journey into the wilderness beyond the borders of Judah. Back in v. 4, it says, “He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.” Elijah is utterly exhausted. He’s burned out. He had traveled for days and days. And he’s at the place mentally and emotionally where he’s ready to give up on everything. He actually asks God to take his life. Have you ever gotten to that place? Ready to give up? Ready to lay down and just go to sleep anywhere? Where everything seemed hopeless? Maybe you’ve felt that way or maybe you’re feeling that way today. How do you think God would respond to Elijah, the mighty prophet, in this state? With a rebuke? We know Elijah had seen God do amazing things before. I could imagine God responding saying, “Elijah, were you not paying attention to what I did at Mount Carmel? Did you not learn anything from my triumph over the prophets of Baal? Where is your faith??” But is that how God responds? Look back at v. 5.
1 Kings 19:5b-9 (NIV), “All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.”
So after fleeing for his life, and after getting to the point of despairing of even life itself, what happens? An angel comes to him in the wilderness and ministers to him. But it’s no regular angel, it’s the angel of the Lord. This is an angel who represents the very power and presence of God himself. And what does he do? First, he touches Elijah. Twice it says that the angel touched him. Why does he do this? Because human beings need touch. It’s comforting. It’s life-giving. A hand on your arm or a hug, it’s vital in any good relationship, but especially for someone who is so discouraged. This reminds me of Luke’s gospel. Luke was a physician by training and in his gospel account of the life and ministry of Jesus, Luke emphasizes the healing ministry of Jesus. And Luke often mentions how Jesus touched someone as he healed them. Luke knew how helpful that would be for healing. So here, the angel touches Elijah. Second, what does he do? He feeds Elijah. Twice it says that the angel of the Lord cooked a warm meal for him. It says he was strengthened by the food. And I know some of you know what this is about. How clearly do we think about our lives when we’re hungry? Not very well. So he ate. Finally, it says that Elijah did what? He slept. He was exhausted, he had traveled so far, and he had farther to go. He needed to stop and rest. He needed a Sabbath or he wasn’t going to make it. God ministers to Elijah first by addressing his physical needs. But then after this, what does he do? He continues on. He travels another 250 miles, all the way down the Sinai Peninsula to Mount Horeb, which is also called Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. This is where God called Moses from the burning bush. This is where God entered into a covenant with the people of Israel after freeing them from Egypt. This is where God had spoken to his people in the past, perhaps he would speak again? Would God speak? Let’s continue with v. 9.
1 Kings 19:9b-13 (NIV), “And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””
God’s questions aren’t like our questions. They’re never about gaining information, they’re always an opportunity to uncover the hidden things, the thoughts and motives of the heart. And so they’re always an opportunity to grow. What are you doing here? Have I not sent you to Israel? Do you not have an important job to do? How does Elijah respond? It’s here, in this amazing encounter with God, that we get a little insight into why he was so discouraged and ready to give up. Elijah essentially says, “I have fought for you, Lord. I have been faithful to you, but no one else has been faithful. No one worships you anymore. There hasn’t been a revival. In fact, they’re killing your prophets. I’m the only one left and now they’re trying to kill me too.” No wonder he’s exhausted. No wonder he’s discouraged and in despair! From his perspective, the mighty victory of God over the prophets of Baal didn’t vindicate him, it only made his life more difficult!
And how does God respond? Here, at the famous Mount Horeb, God shows up once again, but not in the way we might expect. It starts out similarly to Moses’ experience or maybe Job’s experience that we looked at last week. There’s a great and powerful wind. It shatters the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. Then there is a powerful earthquake, but again, the Lord wasn’t in the earthquake. Then there came a consuming fire, but again, the Lord wasn’t in any of these displays of power and strength and glory. How does God appear to Elijah? As a gentle whisper, a still small voice. It was the gentleness, it was the quiet voice of God that drew Elijah out of the cave, out of his place of hiding/fear/darkness/despair. Last week, we saw that Job needed to be reminded of the power of God. Here, Elijah needed something different. He needed a gentle whisper. When he heard it, he knew God was near. He pulled his cloak over his face in the fear of the Lord, in reverent and humble awe. He was in the presence of the Lord. And the Lord asks him again, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” V. 14.
1 Kings 19:14-18 (NIV), “14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 15 The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.””
So in the end, it was the word of the Lord that is what Elijah needed to hear. Not the mighty wind, not the earthquake, not the fire, but the word of the Lord. And what does God say? First, that he’s not done with Elijah. He still has a job to do. “Go back the way you came, Elijah. I still have more I want you to do for me. Anoint Hazael as king over Aram, Elijah, for I am still sovereign over the nations. Anoint Jehu as king over Israel, Elijah, for I am still sovereign over Israel. Ahab and Jezebel will not have the final say. These are my people. Also, appoint Elisha as your successor. The ministry won’t die with you. Even though it might feel hopeless now, my work in the world will continue on after you.” Finally, the word of the Lord reveals that even though Elijah feels like he’s all alone, he’s not. God says he has a remnant of thousands of faithful men and women in Israel. Isn’t this amazing? In the midst of exhaustion, burn-out, and despair, God ministers to Elijah as a whole person. He ministers to his physical and emotional needs, talking with him, touching him, and giving him a nap and a snack. But then he also ministers to his mind and soul by his gentle and encouraging word. Elijah, you may feel alone, but you’re not alone. I am with you. My presence is near to you. Besides that, there are thousands of faithful people left. Also, you may feel as though your ministry has been pointless, but your faithfulness/ministry hasn’t been in vain. It may not have turned out how you expected, but I have been at work and I have more still for you to do. And this might be a good time to remind you that not everything you feel is helpful, not everything you feel is true. But how kind is the Lord? How helpful? God is great and God is good. So Elijah goes back to work. He goes back and is obedient to God’s word and at the end of his life, he was taken directly into heaven.
Now, Elijah isn’t the only faithful man to experience this dark night of the soul. There are other people in the Bible and in church history, faithful men and women who experienced this level of pain and despair. Faith in God doesn’t necessarily prevent this from happening. But in those moments. In those days of darkness, what do we need? We need to be ministered to as a whole person. We need to rest. We need to Sabbath. But we also need the word of God. We need the gentle voice of God correcting us and restoring our joy and hope. Ultimately, we need Jesus. We need the one who is the bread of life and the water of life. We need the one who came to take our place on the cross. We need the one who intercedes for us even to this day. What do you do when you’re exhausted and burned out? Listen to Jesus, the one who said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Mt 11:28-29, NIV).
Encounters with God is a sermon series about the theophanies or divine appearances and how they reveal the stunning character of God and his heart for a world that is lost without him. People have always wrestled with the nature and meaning of suffering. The ancient story of Job presents five perspectives that help us better understand suffering, even today. Recorded on Nov 28, 2021, on the book of Job, by Pastor David Parks.
All year, we’re talking about The Greatness of God. And today, we’re continuing a sermon series called Encounters with God. In the Bible, when God appears to someone it’s known as a theophany or divine appearing. And these encounters are wild stories, full of surprises. God never seems to act how we would expect. However, these stories reveal the stunning character of God and his heart for a world that is lost without him. Today, we’ll consider the fascinating encounter with God in the book of Job. Job is famous in the Bible for what he suffered because the book of Job is a series of dialogues dealing with the nature/purpose of suffering. This is a topic that human beings have always wrestled with — and whether you have yet or not, you will one day, too. So many of the answers to suffering have to do with what you believe about who God is and what God does in this world. Now, this morning we’re going to do something that I don’t think I’ve ever done before. I’m going to preach through the whole book of Job. We won’t read through the whole thing (although I’d encourage you to do so). But it’s necessary to have at least a working understanding of the flow of the whole book to understand the theophany at the end. So if you have a Bible/app, please open to Job 1:1. We’ll unpack this as we go. First, the prologue:
Job 1:1-5 (NIV), “1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East. 4 His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.” Let’s pause here. So first, what kind of man is Job? Job is a very wealthy man, he was also a family man, and he was a devoutly religious man. Job is presented here as being exemplary in every way. V. 6
Job 1:6-12 (NIV), “6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan [Hebrew word meaning the Accuser or the Adversary] also came with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” 8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” 9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” 12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.” The bible presents Satan in a matter-of-fact way, but also with fewer details than we would probably want. But here he’s presented as an angel who is named the Accuser or the Adversary. And here, the Accuser says that the only reason Job is such a good guy is because he has suffered so little. God allows him to afflict Job’s circumstances, but he can’t harm him. So after this, we have a series of the worst kinds of calamities anyone could imagine. One after another, messengers start coming to Job with the news of tragedy beyond comprehension. All at once, his vast wealth and many servants were taken from him by multiple attacks of raiders and in a fire. Also, his beloved children were killed when the house collapsed in a storm when they were eating dinner together. Of course, any one of these events would be enough to bring you to your knees with grief. All his wealth, all his children…how does Job respond? Job exhibits a poise, a calm acceptance in his response. He is somehow able to worship the Lord in the midst of the depth of his grief. After this, the Adversary makes another appearance before God and accuses Job of responding in this way only because he himself wasn’t suffering. God allows Satan to afflict Job physically, but not to take his life. So Job not only lost his vast wealth and the lives of his beloved children, but now he’s covered with “painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.” He’s so physically miserable from this disease it says Job, “took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.” Here is a man who is absolutely wrecked. What more could he possibly suffer? Have you ever felt that way? That things in your life couldn’t possibly get worse? What a discouraging place to be. But it’s here that we come to the main portion of the book of Job, which is a series of dialogues on the nature/purpose of suffering and what, if anything, God has to do with it. In the rest of the book, we get five different perspectives: Job’s wife, Job’s friends, Job’s own perspective, Elihu, and finally, in our theophany, God himself. Let’s take the five answers in turn. First, Job’s wife.
Job 2:9 (NIV), “9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” So the first perspective comes from Job’s wife. Now, I wouldn’t be too quick to condemn her. After all, she’s been through everything that Job has been through. She lost her wealth and she lost her children, too. She isn’t physically afflicted but she is wrecked. And in the midst of her crushing grief, her response to Job is to curse God and die. To curse God is the opposite of blessing/worshipping God. In other words, she’s saying, turn away from God, give up on God. Why? Because 1. Suffering is meaningless. There is no truth/justice/hope, only misery in this brief life. At one point, Westley from The Princess Bride says, “Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” Religion won’t help, it’s only a delusion that will mask the reality of suffering. Now, she doesn’t say this here, but the typical result of this type of naturalistic/nihilistic thinking is to turn to hedonism. “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we will die.” If suffering is meaningless, then we need to just enjoy what we can while we can, because this life is all we get. This response to suffering, which does make sense if you believe that suffering is meaningless, is seen repeated throughout human history. And I see this perspective all the time among modern people today. Life is short/hard, do what makes you happy. But is this the truth? Ok, that’s the first perspective. Frankly, it doesn’t get much attention in the book of Job, but it might be the perspective shared by most of the people you and I know today.
Second perspective: At the end of chapter 2, three of Job’s friends show up, and from ch. 3-31, Job engages in a series of dialogues with them. You see, Job’s friends heard what he was going through and came to comfort him. But then they say things that might be true to a degree, but are far from helpful. They tell Job that, 2. Suffering is justice. After all, good/innocent people prosper, right? So Job must be a truly miserable sinner for how much he is suffering. In fact, in an especially cruel moment, one of his friends says he probably deserves even worse! And if suffering is the punishment for sin, the solution is this: Repent and find relief. Repent of your sin and God will alleviate your suffering. But from the beginning, it’s clear that Job is an exemplary guy. There isn’t some secret terrible sin that he has been hiding. So Job calls them miserable comforters for their comfort is really condemnation. Just a brief note here, if you aren’t sure what to say to someone going through a difficult time, just be with them and pray for them. Don’t be like Job’s friends. The truth is that sometimes the innocent prosper, but sometimes they suffer; sometimes wicked prosper, too. But again, this is a common perspective: people basically get what they deserve. Now, sometimes suffering is a consequence of sin. If you get injured in a car accident when you were driving under the influence, the injury is a consequence of your sin. But if someone else is injured in the accident, it’s not necessarily a consequence of their sin, right? Is suffering justice? Well, it seems life is a bit more complicated than that, but even if this is true sometimes, we find one possible reason why suffering isn’t meaningless.
We get the 3rd perspective from Job’s response to his friends. 3. Suffering is unjust. In many places in his dialogue, Job essentially asks, why do bad things happen to good people? Why have I suffered so much when I have tried so hard to be a good person? This isn’t fair. Suffering is unjust. Now, Job is all over the place emotionally in his dialogues as anyone could expect. One minute he affirms his faith/hope in God. The next minute he questions the wisdom of God in allowing him to be born at all. Again and again, Job says that he has sought to be a good man. If his statements are even close to accurate, he was probably was a better man than most people. He had not trusted in his wealth over God. He had cared for the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, and the poor. He had used his strength/wealth to fight injustice. He was faithful to his wife and had determined not to even look at another woman inappropriately. He did not offer sacrifices to idols, but regularly offered sacrifices for himself and others. How could God stay silent while Job suffered? Have you ever felt that way? I read the Bible, I pray, I go to church, I give, I serve…and yet I am hurting/suffering/desperate in need. Where is God in my pain? Did he not see how I was living my life before? Does he not care for me now? Can God even be good while suffering exists? C.S. Lewis wrote a helpful book on this called The Problem of Pain. But then, 20 years after he wrote the book, he lost his wife, Joy Davidman to cancer. In the book A Grief Observed, Lewis recognized that there are many good answers to the question of suffering, but when you are in the midst of grief or pain, it may not be the most helpful time to learn these things. This is one of the reasons I think that it’s helpful to have a sermon on Job so close to Thanksgiving. It’s in the good times that we can best prepare for the hard times.
Ok, we’re almost done. The fourth perspective comes from a young man named Elihu starting in chapter 32. Elihu had waited to speak because Job and his friends were older than him and he thought they would have some wisdom to share in how to deal with suffering. Elihu agrees that God is just. But, he says, suffering can also produce good fruit. Elihu says that, 4. Suffering builds character. This is sort of the football coach’s approach to suffering. No pain, no gain; rub some dirt on it. Pain and hardship can be crushing, but they can also serve to refine our character. Suffering can produce the fruit of strength, humility, repentance, wisdom, compassion, and more. God’s work in suffering might be motivated by justice to punish sin, but God might also be motivated by love and a desire for us to grow and mature in our character and our faith. And this is true. The Lord disciplines those he loves. However, Elihu, like many young men, speaks the truth without love. It says he burned with anger at Job and Job’s friends. You know, you can be right and still be wrong. But as Elihu’s anger was building, a storm was building as well from ch. 32-37. We can imagine Elihu raising his voice to shout over the wind and thunder and lightning and rain. But then, out of the whirlwind, out of the storm, when all the other voices and perspectives and questions had ceased, God speaks.
Job 38:1-5, “Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:2 “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? 3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. 4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?” Now, sometimes God appears as a still-small voice. But here, God appears in power, majesty, thundering from the midst of the storm. And for four chapters, God basically says, who are you, Job, to judge me or my plans for anything or anyone in the world? You are not ultimately just. You are not even the strongest among the creatures on earth. Do you have an insight you think will help me or will improve my plans? Do you, oh creature, have a better perspective than your Creator? Interestingly, God never really addresses the other perspectives or questions. Of course, there is much to say about the various perspectives on suffering from other places in the Bible. But here, God shows up in power. And how does Job respond? He says, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6). What did Job confess here? Commentator Robert Alden, “I prefer to say that he confessed that his God had been too small. He needed the theophany to remind him of the fact that the God of the universe and the Creator of all creatures is greater, grander, higher, and wiser than a mortal can imagine, much less challenge.” [Alden, R. L. (1993). Job (Vol. 11, p. 408). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.] Now, an interesting fact in all these perspectives on suffering is that no one refers to God as Yahweh, but only God in a general sense, never personally. But it is here, when God meets Job in the midst of his suffering he is called Yahweh, that he is known personally. After this, the Lord graciously restored to Job all that he had lost.
So what do we learn from Job? There is meaning in suffering. Suffering, in general, is the result of sin in the world but is not always a direct punishment for your sin. God allows suffering for his purposes of love and justice, but also has the power to redeem and restore what is broken or lost. People who are suffering need truth in love, they need both gentle answers to the philosophical issues that come up in response to real suffering, and they need the ministry of quiet presence. They need a friend to sit with them and listen and love and bear the sometimes crushing burden of this broken world. Finally, they need a vision of this God, high and lifted up, infinite in wisdom, perfect in justice, abounding in love. But also a God who was willing to come down into the brokenness and suffering of this world as the man, Jesus Christ. One who was willing to bear the worst suffering in his death on the cross. And one who has defeated suffering once and for all in his resurrection from the dead. Whether we rejoice or whether we mourn, may we turn to Him and trust in Him. He is with us, He is our comforter, He will be our restoration and our peace.
Encounters with God is a sermon series about the theophanies or divine appearances and how they reveal the stunning character of God and his heart for a world that is lost without him. At Mount Sinai, Moses asks God to teach him His ways and show him His glory so he might know God better. God responds with an incredible display of His glory and with the stunning revelation of His character. Do you want to know what God is like? Recorded on Nov 14, 2021, on Exodus 33-34, by Pastor David Parks.
All year, we’re talking about The Greatness of God. And today, we’re continuing a sermon series called Encounters with God. In the Bible, when God appears to someone it’s known as a theophany or divine appearing. And these encounters are wild stories, full of surprises. God never seems to act how we would expect. However, these stories reveal the stunning character of God and his heart for a world that is lost without him. Today, we’ll consider another encounter of Moses with God in Exodus 33. Last week in part 1, we saw the famous story of Moses and the burning bush, and we saw God’s faithfulness to save. Today, we’ll get just a little view of the glory of God. If you have a Bible/app, please open to Exodus 33:12. We’ll read through this story together and unpack it as we go.
Exodus 33:12-17 (NIV), “12 Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. 15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” 17 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
Ok, let’s pause here. So last week, we saw God appear to Moses in the burning bush and send him to lead the people of Israel out of captivity in Egypt and into the land that God had promised to Abraham and Sarah and their descendants. Moses was understandably a little hesitant given both his qualifications and the immensity of this task. But eventually, he went and did what God called him to do. Now here, the people of ancient Israel are free and are camped at Mount Sinai. This is the same place where God called to Moses from the burning bush back in Exodus 3. Moses is back with a whole nation of people. Now, God had miraculously freed his people from the hand of Pharaoh, with signs and wonders and the parting of the Red Sea, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing. While Moses met with God on Mount Sinai earlier in Exodus and was receiving the Law which would govern the people in the promised land, the people fell back into idol worship in making the golden calf. After dealing with that disaster, Moses is back on the mountain talking with God.
In the passage we just read, Moses says to God, “You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.” Now, maybe the incident with the golden calf revealed to Moses just how difficult this leadership task would be. So he makes this request, and this is such a great prayer request for us today. “Lord, teach me your ways. Teach me what you value. Teach me what you care about. Teach me what you despise. Teach me what to avoid. Teach me how to be wise. Teach me how to keep myself from evil. Lord, teach me your ways.” This is a wonderful prayer if you’re a young person here today. If you know you have a lot of growing up to do, pray this prayer (Lord, teach me your ways.). But this is also a wonderful prayer for an old person. Remember, Moses is 80 years old here. But what is 80 years old compared to an eternal God?? Do you think you might have something to learn from God when you’re 80 years old? I think we’ll still have things to learn from God when we’re 800 years old. Lord, teach us your ways. And why does Moses pray this prayer? Why does he make this request? For more wealth or fame or power? No. He says, “…teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.” He asks this for two reasons. First, the heart behind this request is to know God. “I want to know you.” To know God is to know the one who made you and sustains you. To know God is to know the one who knows how things should work in this world. To know God is of the highest importance. Personal knowledge of God is what a relationship with is based on. Remember what Jesus says will happen on that future judgment day? To those who are not found to be among the people of God Jesus will say, “I never knew you.” Here, Moses isn’t an unbeliever. But he still prays that God would teach him his ways so that he might grow in his knowledge of God.
Second, Moses makes this request because of the grace of God. We have a great example here of receiving the grace of God (free/unmerited favor of God) in relationship with God. Moses says, you know me and I have found favor with you. Then (and pay attention to the order here), Moses asks that God would teach him his ways so that he would continue to find favor with God. It’s in a personal relationship with God that Moses finds favor with him. He has God’s favor/grace and it’s out of this standing before God that he then asks to learn God’s ways. So it’s grace first and then obedience to the law. So very often people get the order backward. They think I need to be a good person in order to earn God’s favor or blessing. But remember, not only the order of Moses’ request here but the order of the story of the Exodus. God saved his people from Egypt and then gave them the law. The law of God is what guides and protects the people of God who are God’s people by grace and grace alone. Ok! How does God respond to Moses? He says, “I will do the very thing you have asked because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Amazing. This is who God is. This is what God is like. And this has to be such a confidence boost for Moses. Why? Because if God is for us, who could be against us? If God is with us, what in all the universe could ultimately harm us? It’s in this assurance of relationship, this assurance of the presence/grace of God, that Moses makes his next request. v. 18.
Exodus 33:18-23 (NIV), “18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” 19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” 21 Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”
So after this wonderful assurance of God’s relationship and his grace, Moses asks to see what? God’s glory. And what is the glory of God? Well, this is one of those words you hear in church quite a bit but is actually kind of hard to understand. Let’s do a little work on this. The Hebrew word, kabod, is most often translated as glory, but it’s also translated in the Bible as honor, splendor, reputation, or wealth. Literally, it means something that is heavy or weighty but is usually is used in a figurative way. An example of this concept might be if someone shares something with you and you respond, “Wow, that’s heavy.” That means you just heard something big or serious or life-changing. All of these concepts suggest that glory is of highest importance or of supreme value/worth, something worthy of praise. And, of course, this is a perfect description of God. In many theophanies, the glory of God is seen as a radiant light. But for Moses, this request is just an extension of his desire to know God more. “Show me your glory. I want to see you, Lord!” Well, how does God respond?
God says, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence.” In other words, again, “I will do what you ask.” God will grant him a view of his glory. But there’s a problem. And this is the fundamental problem of the world. The problem is found in v. 20. “But,” God said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” You see, Moses is a good man. He’s a faithful and gifted man. But Moses is not a perfect man. And the sin in his life will cause a major problem for him if he stands in the presence of the fullness of the glory of God. In the holy presence of God, Moses would be destroyed. God knows this. Remember, God knows everything about Moses, even the thoughts and motives of his heart. But he still wants a relationship with him. He still wants to pour out his grace on him. So God makes a way for a sinful man like Moses to experience a degree of his presence and see a bit of his glory. “When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.” And then, in the first part of chapter 34, God gives Moses some instructions for how this whole thing would go down. Let’s skip down to Exodus 34:5.
Exodus 34:5-8 (NIV), “5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” 8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.”
Do you want to know who God is? Do you want to know what God is like? This is what God would say about his character. This is what God would want you to know. First, God is compassionate, he is not cold and unfeeling. He is moved by the needs and the suffering of this broken world. Second, God is gracious. No other religion or philosophy in human history has ever envisioned God in this way. God is not a cosmic rule-keeper. He is gracious. God freely gives favor to sinful human beings. This is his nature. Third, God is slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness. Finally, our God forgives. He is, “maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” Now, God makes it very clear that this doesn’t mean that he overlooks sin or downplays the true wickedness, evil, and injustice in the world. He tells Moses that, “he does not leave the guilty unpunished,” and sometimes there are generational consequences to sin. Yahweh is a just God, one whose very presence would destroy a sinful person. He is holy and righteous and good. But remember, he is also slow to anger. He is compassionate and gracious. He is merciful and his mercies are new every morning. Our passage ends by saying, “Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.” And rightly so. If anyone of us saw even a little bit of the glory of God, we would fall down and worship. We get a little sense of this in the presence of even created things. When we stand by the ocean or we look up at the stars at night out in the country, we immediately have a sense of awe and wonder. Our hearts naturally are drawn to worship things of glory. But no one and nothing in all the universe has more glory than the Creator. So Moses didn’t just get a little sense of awe rising within him. Immediately, he fell down and worshipped the Lord.
But while Moses was bowing in worship, I wonder if he was wondering at all how God’s various attributes, his love and his justice, his holiness and his grace, his perfection and his compassion would work themselves out with the people of Israel. Israel had already shown itself to be a stiff-necked people prone to wander and not very quick to repent of their sins. Would they be able to live in the presence of the glory of God or would they be consumed by him? God said he was slow to anger, but he didn’t say he never got angry. How would all this play out?? Well eventually, many generations later, God would again come down to be with his people. And his presence would walk among them. And they would see his glory once again. And God would establish a new covenant with them, one not based on the law, but based on the person and work of Jesus. For it is only in Jesus that all of who God is works together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. It is only in Jesus that we see God’s compassion and grace for men and women who would be lost to the power of sin and death and judgment. Only in Jesus dying on the cross for the sins of the world do we see that justice is perfectly fulfilled. Only by faith in Jesus do we see that God’s grace and mercy are freely given. And only through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead do we see that the power of sin and death have been destroyed once and for all. So as amazing as Moses’ encounter with God on Mount Sinai is, believers in Jesus today are far better off. Why? For we have the revelation of Jesus, the image of the invisible God. The one who said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” The one who promised to send his Holy Spirit who wouldn’t just go with us or before us as he did with the ancient people of Israel, but would dwell in us and guide us from within. Do you want to know God? Look to Jesus. Do you want to see God’s glory? Look to Jesus. Do you want to learn his ways? Follow Jesus. But if you do, his presence will go with you and he will give you rest.
Encounters with God is a sermon series about the theophanies or divine appearances and how they reveal the stunning character of God and his heart for a world that is lost without him. Encounters with God: Moses, pt 1 — In Moses’ classic encounter with God in the burning bush, we clearly see that God is faithful to save. But will we trust in God’s plan AND his timing? Recorded on Nov 7, 2021, on Exodus 3:1-15, by Pastor David Parks.
All year, we’re focusing on The Greatness of God. And today, we’re continuing a sermon series we started last week called Encounters with God. In the Bible, when God appears to someone it’s known as a theophany or divine appearing. And these encounters are wild stories, full of surprises. God never seems to act how we would expect. However, again and again, these stories reveal the stunning character of God and his heart for a world that is lost without him. Today, we’ll consider Moses’ encounter with God in Exodus 3. Last week we saw God’s heart to do whatever it takes to have a relationship with people, starting with the family of Abraham and Sarah. Today, we’ll see God’s faithfulness to keep his promises to Abraham in his commitment to rescue and redeem his people from Egypt. God is faithful to save. If you have a Bible/app, please open to Exodus 3:1.
Exodus 3:1-6 (NIV), “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” 5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father,[a] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.”
Let’s pause here. So first, a little context. Last week, we looked at the passage where God promised to give a people and a place to Abraham and Sarah. But God had promised that it would be long after Abraham had passed away. Now here, Moses was an Israelite, a member of Abraham and Sarah’s family, who was born in Egypt when the Israelites were slaves there. And in Moses’ day, they were being harshly oppressed and abused. But in the providence of God, Moses wasn’t raised as a slave, but by Pharaoh’s daughter, in Pharaoh’s household, with all the wealth and prosperity that would bring. So if there was anyone who had the education and the political relationships to lead God’s people out of captivity in Egypt, it would’ve been Moses. But it didn’t seem to work out initially. When Moses was 40 years old, he was pulled into a dispute between an Israelite and an Egyptian and wound up killing the Egyptian. So afterward, Moses was forced to flee from Egypt to Midian (Saudi Arabia). And Moses was accepted as a refugee there. He got married, started a family, and worked as a shepherd for his father-in-law. Now here, some 40 years later, at what Moses was likely believing to be the end of his career as a shepherd, he was on a journey several weeks from his home in Midian. And he found himself on Mount Horeb, the mountain of God, which was also known as Mount Sinai, when all of a sudden, he has this theophany, this encounter with God.
So first observation: God’s appearance is different. Last week, we saw that God’s word appeared to Abraham in a vision and then as a smoking firepot with a blazing torch. Here, God appears to Moses in a burning bush. This is one thing we’ll see again and again in this series. Every time God shows up, the details are a little different. Fire is often present, but not every time and in different ways. Of course, the burning bush catches Moses’ attention because it’s on fire but it doesn’t seem to be burning up. And he drew near, God spoke to him saying, “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father(s), the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.” Second observation: the person’s response in their encounter with God is again one of fear. Last week, God immediately said, “Do not be afraid.” to Abram. And then later a think, dreadful darkness appeared when God came near. Here, when Moses hears the word of the Lord, he’s afraid to even look at God. This suggests to me that if we imagine God as one who is tame and unthreatening, one who is more like a kindly old grandfather in the sky, we might be shocked if we actually came face to face with the true and living God. He is alive and powerful. His holiness is often perceived as a threat to the sinner, not a comfort. If this makes you uncomfortable, I have to remind you of a quote from C.S. Lewis that, “We have to take reality as it comes to us. There is no good jabbering on about what it ought to be like or what we expected it to be like.” (CS Lewis, Mere Christianity, chapter 5) And this is the reality of who God is. So why does God appear to Moses in this way? How will God respond to Moses’ fear? Let’s keep going with v. 7.
Exodus 3:7-10 (NIV), “7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
So here we get so much good news. God doesn’t draw near to Moses, he doesn’t use his theophany to condemn him or to try to make him afraid. However, God doesn’t bend over backward to reassure Moses or to coddle him either (after all, Moses isn’t a child). In this encounter, God jumps right to the point saying that he is about to deliver/rescue his people from Egypt. He is there to help and he is faithful to save. And look at what God says motivated him to intervene: I have seen their misery/oppression, I have heard their cries, I am concerned about their suffering, so I have come down to rescue them. Third observation: Many, many people find it hard to believe in God because of the great pain and suffering of this broken world. How could God exist, how could God be both good and powerful, and let the evil and misery of this world continue? For individual situations of suffering, which some of us have had direct experience in our own lives or with our loved ones, we may not get an explanation of why God allowed it to happen. This broken world is full of cancer and car accidents, suffering that we cause or that happens to us. And these painful situations may indeed cause us to question God’s power or his goodness or even his existence. But here, and in many places in the Bible, we clearly see that God does in fact care about the suffering of people, and is moved to do something about it. God actually draws closer to the suffering. As the psalmist writes in Ps 34, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” If you are struggling today, if you’re dealing with the pain and suffering of this broken world, your life/cries/struggles are not invisible to God. He is moved to help, he is faithful to save.
My fourth observation from this text is about timing. God’s plan unfolds according to God’s timing, not according to our timing. So often I wish this were not the case, I wish that God operated according to our timing, but this is simply not the case. Let’s do this little thought experiment. If God’s plan and the promises that he made to Abraham that we looked at last week, had happened according to Abraham’s preferred timing, when do you think they would’ve happened? I would guess that Abraham would’ve made the timing so that he could’ve seen the fulfillment of God’s promises happen in his lifetime. But that’s not how it worked, right? From our text last week, we clearly saw that this whole situation of the people of Israel in Egypt and needing to be rescued was part of God’s plan from at least when he entered into a covenant relationship with Abraham and Sarah, if not earlier than that. God knew that he would need to save Israel from Egypt from the beginning, but it was his wisdom that guided his timing. He would do whatever it took to be faithful to his promises for them, but other details needed to come together in order for the timing to be right. What other details? Well, remember from last week that God wasn’t going to displace the Amorites and other peoples from the land of Canaan until their sin had reached its full measure. Also, God wanted to demonstrate his power to the Egyptians as a judgment against their gods. Also, God wanted to provide for his people both in their knowledge and in their wealth as they left Egypt. Also, God wanted Israel to learn that God was faithful to save and so on. The Lord, in his infinite wisdom, unfolded his plan according to his timing so as to weave countless threads together in just the right way to demonstrate his glory and according to his goodness for all to see. “So now, go, Moses.” God says, “I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” I have heard the cries of my people and the timing is right to save them. Well, how does Moses respond to God? How would you respond to God if this were happening to you? Look at v. 11.
Exodus 3:11-15 (NIV), “11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.”
Remember, that Moses had tried to lead his people in Egypt, but it resulted in a 40-year exile in Midian. Now here, toward what he must have thought was the end of his life as a shepherd, it was this moment that God chose to send him back to Egypt to lead Israel. But after all this time, Moses had learned humility (or maybe had developed a little insecurity in his leadership gifting). “Who am I that you should send me, Lord? Who am I that I should be the one to go? Who am I that people would listen to me or follow me?” And what does God say? How does God respond? God, the one who sees the suffering of people and is moved to intervene. The one who is faithful to save. God says, “I will be with you.” Do not be afraid, Moses. Why? I will be with you. My presence will go with you. I will not abandon you. I will never leave you or forsake you. Now, a great question after this statement is how Moses responds to God. Well…who are you? “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” Who are you, Lord? Who is going with me to Egypt? God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” This is where we get the name of Yahweh. Yahweh sounds like the Hebrew phrase “I am.” God says in effect, you want to know who I am? I am, I exist, I am reality, I am eternal, I am everywhere, I just am. The “I am” is both sending you and is with you. Then God says to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord (Yahweh, in the Hebrew), the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.” Nothing could be more of an encouragement, nothing could be more helpful to Moses to know that the one who had promised to establish a people and give them a place was the one who was calling him now and the one who would even go with him to accomplish this task. This God had appeared to his ancestors. This God had made the heavens and the earth. This God was now concerned about his people and had come near to keep his word to rescue them in their time of need. He was faithful. He was faithful to save.
So what does this mean for us today? How does this relate to us as followers of Jesus? Well, first, if you’re not a Christian here today, understand that this is who God is. God is not far off and removed from our circumstances or our lives. He is near. He hears the cries of those who are oppressed or abused or are suffering. And he is a God who cares for those in need. And if you were to believe in Jesus and seek to know him and follow him as Lord, this is what he is like. Second, if you are a Christian, how are you doing with trusting in God’s plan and his timing for your life? So many things happen in this broken world that are so not what we want to happen. So many things happen and we feel like we’re picking up the pieces of our hopes or our expectations for what God will do in our lives. Do you remember that God is good and God is faithful, but God’s timing might be completely different than what we would want? Are you ok with that? Are you ok to be like Abraham and wait 400 years for God to do what he promised to do? Are you ok with the fact that God might be weaving together hundreds or thousands of threads together in a way that is good and right and true when we might only see 3-4 threads on any given day? God is faithful. And he is faithful to save. How many of us would’ve expected what God did in his greatest act of salvation? How many of us would’ve expected the cross of Christ? Not many, I would guess. If, in the fullness of time, God was faithful to save through the death and resurrection of Jesus, will he not be faithful to save us in our time of need? Indeed, he will. May we turn to him and trust in him all the days of our lives.
Encounters with God is a sermon series about the theophanies or divine appearances and how they reveal the stunning character of God and his heart for a world that is lost without him. In Abraham’s encounter with God, we discover both God’s desire to have a relationship with people and how we might respond to him today. Recorded on Oct 31, 2021, on Genesis 15, by Pastor David Parks.
All year, we’re focusing on The Greatness of God. And today, we get to start a brand new sermon series called Encounters with God. In the Bible, when God appears to someone it’s known as a theophany or divine appearing. These encounters are wild stories, full of surprises. God never seems to act how we would expect. However, again and again, these stories reveal the stunning character of God and his heart for a world that is lost without him. This series will go all the way into the new year (with a little break for Christmas). So today, we’ll start our series with Abraham’s encounter with God in Genesis 15. And we’ll see God’s heart for a relationship with people and we’ll see how we might have a relationship with him, even today. If you have a Bible/app, please open to Genesis 15:1.
Genesis 15:1-6 (NIV), “After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield,[a] your very great reward.[b]” 2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” 4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring[d] be.” 6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”
Let’s pause here. So first, a little context. Genesis is a book of beginnings written by the prophet, Moses. The first 11 chapters describe a number of prehistoric creation stories and then chapter 12 seems to fall down into history with the family of Abraham and Sarah (or Abram and Sarai as they were known at this time). Now, Abram’s story is a very important story to understand anything about the work of God in the world, because it sets up and helps explain everything that comes after this. So first, this chapter is structured around two “I am” statements of God. “I am your shield, your very great reward.” in v. 1 and then “I am Yahweh (the LORD), who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans.” These statements are followed by a ceremony to ratify a covenant relationship between God and Abram. However, after the first “I am” statement, Abram has a problem. You see, back in Ge 12, God made a promise to Abram saying, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” But here, Abram says to God, “You promised to make me into a great nation, but I don’t even have a child of my own.” From previous chapters, we know that Abram had great wealth and he had many people working for him, but he and Sarai have no children of their own. God responds right away saying, “Come outside, Abram, and look up. Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” In other words, God says, “I’m not just going to give you a child, Abram, I’m going to give you a people. I’m not just going to give you a little, I’m going to lavish my grace on you.” Now, would this be hard for you to believe? At this time, Abram was an old man, and his wife, Sarai, was an old woman. No doubt, they both thought that ship had sailed long ago. The only way for them to have kids at this point would be through a miracle of God. How would Abram respond? Look at v.6, “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited (counted) it to him as righteousness.” And it is here that we find the great biblical doctrine of justification by faith. Abram is justified before the Lord, he is declared righteous. How? When? When he had done great things for the Lord? No. When he had lived the perfect life? No. When Abram believed the Lord. Abram heard the word of the Lord and believed it; he had faith. Almost 2,000 years later the Apostle Paul would write to the Ephesians, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God,” (Eph 2:8). or to the Romans, “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,” (Ro 1:17a). So God appears to Abram and reminds him of his promise to give him a people, a great nation, that would come through the miraculous birth of a son and heir. But that’s not all, let’s keep going in v. 7.
Genesis 15:7-16 (NIV), “7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” 8 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” 9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” 10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. 12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
So v. 7 has our second “I am,” statement from God. “I am the Lord; I am Yahweh God.” Who has done what? “Who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” So God not only promised to provide a people for Abram but also a place. God had called Abram and Sarai to leave their country, to leave all the safety and familiarity of their culture and way of life, and journey to a land that God would show them and give to them, that is, the land of Canaan, the Promised Land. In Ge 13-14, we learn that Abram had been living in tents among the great trees of Mamre near the city of Hebron, which was in Canaan, but they certainly couldn’t say that they had possession of the land at this time. So in v. 8, Abram understandably asks, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of this land? God, you promised a people and we don’t even have a child, you promised a place but we’re living in tents here.” How would God respond? Well, the Lord starts telling Abram to do some strange things. He asks Abram to bring a number of animals. And Abram seems to know exactly what God had in mind because he doesn’t ask any more questions, he just gets to work. He cuts the heifer, the goat, and the ram in half and lays the pieces out so that there’s a path in between them. The birds were small enough, he didn’t cut them in half, but he laid one on either side of the path.
v. 12 says, “As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.” Now here, things get a little weirder. While Abram is asleep, there’s a thick and dreadful presence that falls around him. Perhaps this is why the first words of the Lord to Abram are, “Do not be afraid.” Now, as we’ll see repeatedly throughout this series, every time the Lord appears to someone, it’s not this warm and fuzzy experience. It’s otherworldly and there’s often a sense of divine judgment which is terrifying. I think if you came face to face with God today, apart from the promise of life and the assurance of peace with God that is found in Jesus, you’d be terrified, too. But what does God say as he draws near to Abram? He speaks words of truth and words of hope to him. God tells him what he’ll do in the generations to come. He will fulfill his promises to give Abram a people and a place. But these things won’t be fulfilled until the time just after the writing of Genesis by Moses. The family that God would provide for Abraham and Sarah would eventually find itself enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years. It was during this time that the family of Abraham and Sarah became known as the people of Israel. And it wasn’t bad initially for the people of Israel to be in Egypt. But eventually, they were treated harshly and abused and needed to be rescued from Egypt. And that is the story we’ll pick up next week in Ex 3. But here, God promises Abram that he will not abandon Israel in Egypt. But eventually, the sin of the Amorites, or the people who were living in Canaan during the time of Abram and Sarai, would reach a point where God would bring judgment against them and drive them out of the promised land. And so, God would be both just and would fulfill his promise to Abram here. But let’s come back to this strange pathway that God had asked Abram to make out of the animals that were sacrificed. What was the point of all that? Let’s find out in v. 17.
Genesis 15:17-21 (NIV), “17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi[e] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.””
Now, Moses doesn’t need to describe what is happening with the animals because a covenant-making ceremony was a well-understood practice in their day. Kings or other powerful people could enter into a covenant relationship with another king or nearby tribe/people. These official relationships sometimes traded goods for protection or were used to form a strategic political/military alliance. But why the path between the animal pieces? Commentator Bruce Waltke writes that what is depicted here, of cutting the animals in two and walking between the pieces, was saying essentially, “May the violence done to these animals be done to me if I fail to keep my end of this covenant.” It was a way of symbolizing the curse of covenant-breaking. In other words, this was a serious agreement with serious, life-and-death consequences if it was broken. But what do we notice about the covenant-breaking curse here in Ge 15? (This is fascinating!) Who passed between the pieces, both parties of this covenant? No! Only one. Only God, represented by the smoking firepot with the blazing torch passed between the pieces. This foreshadows the time of the Exodus, which was when Moses was writing this account when God would lead his people by a column of smoke by day and fire by night. What this means is that God alone was taking responsibility for the consequences of breaking the covenant with the people of Abraham. Now from the whole of the record of Scripture, we know that God is faithful. He will certainly hold up his end of this covenant agreement. But the fact that God alone walks this path of death, the fact that God held this covenant-making ceremony when Abram was asleep, tells us that here, God was willing to pay the price alone, even if Abraham’s family failed to hold up their end of the bargain. God would be faithful, even if the people of Israel were not.
Now, the rest of the OT Scriptures provide a historical record of God’s faithfulness through generation after generation of the family of Abraham and Sarah, and often despite the unfaithfulness of the people. God didn’t abandon them, even when they abandoned him. But it was God alone who walked through the path of death. So would God actually pay the price of the covenant-breaking curse for the people of Israel? The surprising answer of the gospel is yes. There came a day, many generations after God entered into a covenant relationship to the family of Abraham and Sarah, long after Isaac, the son of promise was born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age when there was another son who was born according to the promise of God. Another one who was Abraham’s offspring. One who would literally walk through a path of death as a sacrifice himself. One who would pay the price to redeem those under the curse of sin and death and judgment. The Apostle Paul wrote in Gal 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” So in Jesus, God made good his ancient promise, to provide both a people and a place in relationship with him. Now, some of you might be thinking, well, what does any of this have to do with us today? Why does this strange, ancient story matter? Here’s why: Because at the heart of this story is v. 6. Remember, v.6 separates two statements of promises made by God and ratified through this covenant ceremony. At the heart of this is Abram’s response, which is a response of faith. Ge 15 matters to us, Abram’s encounter with God matters to us, because of the promises that God made to Abraham, to give him a people and a place, a promised land, these promises are now given to all people, first to the Jew and then to the Gentile, by faith in Jesus. How does one have a relationship with God today? Look all the way back to Abram’s encounter with God. And see a God who wants a relationship with people. Who wants to bless them and provide for them, not to curse them or destroy them. See a God who is willing to do whatever it takes to be with people, even despite their own sin. And see that all the promises of this relationship were received by faith and faith alone. So today, do you want a relationship with God? Do you want to receive all the promises of God? Do you want the work of Jesus and his death and resurrection to apply to you? Here’s how: turn to Jesus. Listen to him. Follow him. Trust in him. All the promises of God find their yes and amen in him. This is the work that God is doing in the world, and this is what we’ll see again and again in the encounters with God in the Scriptures. Do you believe it? Do you receive it?
