History, Choices and God

We have seen the prophets’ statements about the Messiah and the natural events that would herald his coming and his death. Daniel spoke of the time of the Messiah being cut off, Joel spoke of the coming “day of the Lord.” Now we narrow down the events to see what is revealed by God regarding not only this, but at how the events played out in the world and actual historical events. In John 11 and 12, we see two integral parts in play. The people acting of their own accord and the Jewish Aristocracy acting on their own. One lauding Jesus, the other plotting to kill him. The point of the passage is, these people did what they did without any coercion. Nobody forced them; they made their own decision; they operated from their free will; they did what they “felt” like doing.  All are left perfectly free to decide according to the way they choose.  What is interesting, is that we are free to choose -- as they were. We can go for or against Jesus -- but as they, we cannot choose the consequences. They will invariably follow a path that will reveal the sovereign choice of God.  

The first reaction of the Pharisees, to call an emergency session of the Sanhedrin shows desperation on their part. They have come together in to take drastic action. John here records three separate views of the same events. The first two are from the human point of view, which would still be shared by many today if we were involved in these events. Yet both of these are horribly, fatally wrong. The third is God's view. In the council of the Sanhedrin there were two parties, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, which saw the events leading up to a political uprising and that would result in the wrath of Rome coming down upon them: "The Romans will come and destroy both our temple and our nation (Jn.11:48)." The remarkable thing, of course, is that they were totally wrong. In fact, it is what they did in putting Jesus to death that had the effect they were hoping to avoid.  What they did not know, or what they forgot, was that Israel was not being preserved by their clever political manipulations.  What was keeping this nation a nation, was the hand of God. When they put the one whom God sent to death, God removed his protection, and the nations which had been hovering like birds of prey fulfilled the predictions of Jesus himself, that the city would be destroyed. History shows that they were terribly, horribly wrong. They were reckoning without the knowledge of all the factors involved.

Paul writes, "We preach a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory," (1 Cor. 2:7-8). There is something secular wisdom does not know and cannot see because it lacks essential knowledge of the facts. Men continually make decisions which look right to them but are really terribly wrong and have disastrous effects upon themselves and upon society. In fact in Jn.11:50, it is Caiaphas’ own words uttering statements that they themselves did not understand, yet statements that confirmed  what you and I know (if we look) is the unseen hand of God in human history. Men could do their worst but they could not alter the divine plan. Richard Halverson, Chaplain to the United States Senate, states it well: "Nothing men can do will thwart or alter the will of God; and nothing God ever does sets aside the sovereign choice of man."  This unseen hand of God in human history is what men ignore, and that makes their free will a total disaster.

Prov.3: 5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path."  It is absolutely impossible to understand what is happening in life unless you see life from God's point of view. There are factors involved that you will miss, there are realities that you do not see, that nobody sees. Nothing reveals time more than the hand of God in history.  Jn.11:54 states, “Jesus therefore no longer went about openly among the Jews, but went from there to the country near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim; and there he stayed with the disciples.”  Why did he do so? There is no evidence that he ever was afraid of what he was facing. It was because he understood the way God works.  God is still at work, moving among men to raise up kingdoms and overthrow kingdoms. We must never forget that this view of history supplies elements that no secular mind can ever see. The rulers of this age do not understand this and so they make atrocious errors.  Paul says, "But we have the mind of Christ," (1 Cor.2:16). When you begin to have the mind of Christ, when you know the Word of God, when you look at events through its light -- not when you merely listen occasionally to a message, but when you saturate yourself with the mind and thinking of God you can face life realistically. Do you have that mind?

Jim

It's History - It's Scripture! God Talks!!

In ancient Greece the Olympic Games were held in the July of the first year of each

Mark Antony

Olympiad, which was a 4 year period that ran from July to June of each succeeding year. These were magnificent events of the day, just as they are in our modern times.  The 202nd Olympiad ran from July AD 29 to June AD 33 with each year of an Olympiad beginning on the 1st of July. July so renamed from the Roman term Quintilis by Mark Antony to honor Julius Caesar, who had reformed the Roman calendar in 46 B.C. to what became known as the Julian calendar. This is neat history, but why the significance in consideration of spiritual matters?

The resurrected Jesus in Acts 1, instructs his disciples not to leave Jerusalem – that they will be given power from the Holy Spirit by His authority. As previous in their history of walking with the Lord, they did not understand, wondering if Jesus was talking about something political. Yet, they obeyed the voice of their Lord. The Passover ended, the Jewish celebration of Pentecost, 50 days after the Passover Feast had begun. Jerusalem was full of worshipers from all over the known world of the day. The Bible records the events during this celebration in Acts 2. The sound of a great rushing wind, something like flames hovering about the disciples. Just as strange, the disciples began to speak, but not in their native Aramaic or Hebrew, but in languages of other nations that they had not learned. They were understood by countless foreign visitors to the city.  Hecklers shouted: “They’re all drunk!”  This is now when the now Apostle Peter stands in the confusion and speaks his famous sermon of which is recorded and we are all familiar. Peter argues from the words of the prophet Joel recorded in 835 BC (Joel 2; Acts 2).  Peter asserts that Joel’s prophesy has been fulfilled and that his listeners know it—that they have seen the signs themselves. This is the same argument the apostle Paul made in Rom.10:17, 18 and this would have no persuasive force unless Paul’s and Peter’s audiences knew that these things had occurred.  Both men assumed that everybody knew about the signs. Of particular interest for us: Joel said there would be astronomical signs. What were they? Peter states, “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood…”

• The gospels record that the sun was darkened on the day of the crucifixion, beginning at noon and going until 3pm (Mk.15:33).
• The non-Biblical Roman sources confirm this. Phlegon Trallianus records in his history, Olympiades .. "In the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, [AD 32–33] a failure of the Sun took place greater than any previously known, and night came on at the sixth hour of the day [noon], so that stars actually appeared in the sky; and a great earthquake took place in Bithynia and overthrew the greater part of Niceaea,” — TRALLIANUS, OLYMPIADES
• Another historian, Philipon (with Origen), confirms the historicity of Phlegon's statement by writing, "And about this darkness - Phlegon recalls it in the Olympiads...Phlegon mentioned the eclipse which took place during the crucifixion of the Lord Christ, and no other (eclipse), it is clear that he did not know from his sources about any (similar) eclipse in previous times ...and this is shown by the historical account of Tiberius Caesar."
• Julius Africanus, a Christian historian (160-240 A.D.) records, “On the whole world
  
  there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun.”

What do you think the odds are, that 

1. in the 800’s BC a man would speak of a day in which the Lord of all man would come, and its harbinger would be an eclipse and blood moon? 
2. That a Greek freed-man during the reign of Roman Emperor Hadrian writing of the Olympiads, would arbitrarily record of an eclipse in the same year as the gospels and Peter record in Acts, at the same time of the crucifixion, resurrection of the Lord and the events of Acts 2? 
3. Or, that a historian some 100 years after the fact, would reference the event correcting another man’s writing of it and call it an eclipse without reason for occurring?

This was obviously not a simple astronomical event. It is history – it is scripture. Think God is trying to tell us something?

Jim

So what's to lose?

Whether you believe or not, Paul (the former persecutor Saul of Tarsus [1]) wrote an amazing truth, "1 Cor 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." Now, for the sake of the next few moments, please do not take that statement personally and quit reading. What he states is simple. To those who do not believe - the Bible, belief in the Bible, in the Christ and salvation that is offered is foolishness. This fact has been so for sometime. Even in the first century when Paul presented this to the magistrates of the day, he was told, "Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind (Acts 26:24)." Yet, to those who do believe, the gospel is the power of God to salvation.

This then brings up an interesting and age long question, "Should I believe?" Nothing compels me to believe, I have the right to choose whether I do or I don't. So, why should I believe? Belief is interesting, because if I choose to believe something, then it means that I have accepted it as factual and something to be adhered to. Even the choice NOT to believe, is believing NOT to accept something. All of these are based upon what I consider to be factual, plausible, and genuine to sustain that decision. I can believe the sky is green but that does not make it so. We believe it is blue, gray, black, or whatever color it is because the evidence of what we see tells us what is required to make that determination. When a scientist makes a claim, or a mathematician makes a claim, we ask for something because we don't just take their word for it. We ask for the evidence to sustain their conclusion.

Now, the question arises, why should I believe the story of Jesus, the resurrection and what that means? Good question. Because if this was just some wild hair loonie running around, we would dismiss the claims as the ludicrous ravings of a mad man. The problem though arises, that the events of Jesus are recorded in written form so they can be examined, and they are not things that were done in secret - they were done in the open. If just one or two had accepted, then Christianity would have disappeared like so many of the so called messianic movements of the first century. Yet, the Bible and what it presents to us is different. It has lasted for now over 2000 years. It is one thing, when the events are obscure, but, Jesus was a real person [2].

This now brings up an interesting paradox, where we have a historical person, viewed and reported on by multiple sources as claiming the same thing and verifying things that the Bible itself records. That tells us, that these things were not some "secret that came out," or "hidden revelation making itself known." Archaeology itself verifies the existence of the times and types of events that the Bible records. God Himself through Isaiah the prophet stated, "Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there. And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit. Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go (Isa.48:16,17)." Jesus even said of Himself, to Annas [3] the High Priest, one of the historical figures that history and archaeology records, "I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said (Jn.18:20,21)."

John also writes, "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (Jn.20:30,31)." This is the purpose of the Bible. These things are written so that you can examine it for yourself and determine if you wish to believe what it says and records. Paul, appearing before Herod Agrippa and Porcius Festus (again two historical figures) in Acts 26:26,27 repeats the above stating, "For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe."

These were things done in the open, that even political figures some 15-20 years later knew about and had to weigh the evidence of what was stated, the same as we do. Someone might state, "Yes, and they didn't believe it either did they?" Well..that is correct. Not all of them did. Why? Because they judged the information foolish and brushed it off or dismissed it altogether. They just did not know that they would become part of the history of the story itself, verifying its authenticity.

Now, what about you? You don't have to believe...no one is making you believe. But - have you really considered the evidence, and the consequences of your choice if the things that the Bible says are true? Paul states it well in 1 Cor.15:12-17 "Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins."

So if its not true, you have nothing to lose. But if it IS true, then to not believe, you have everything to lose.

Jim

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[1] Acts 7:58; 8:1; 13:9

[2] The first-century individuals mentioned in the gospel narratives, Pilate, Tiberius, Herod, Agrippa, Felix and others all existed. The Roman Historian Tacitus considered one of the more accurate historians of the ancient world, mentions superstitious “Christians” (from Christus, which is Latin for Christ), who suffered under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius. Suetonius, chief secretary to Emperor Hadrian, wrote that there was a man named Chrestus (or Christ) who lived during the first century (Annals 15.44).

Flavius Josephus is the most famous Jewish historian, refers to James, “the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ.” In Antiquities 18:3 he states, “Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats....He was [the] Christ...he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him.” One version reads, “At this time there was a wise man named Jesus. His conduct was good and [he] was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. But those who became his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive; accordingly he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.”

Julius Africanus quotes the historian Thallus in a discussion of the darkness which followed the crucifixion of Christ (Extant Writings, 18).

Pliny the Younger, in Letters 10:96, recorded early Christian worship practices including the fact that Christians worshiped Jesus as God and were very ethical, and he includes a reference to the love feast and Lord’s Supper.

The Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a) confirms Jesus' crucifixion on the eve of Passover and the accusations against Christ of practicing sorcery and encouraging Jewish apostasy.

Lucian of Samosata was a later second-century Greek writer states that Jesus was worshiped by Christians, introduced new teachings, and was crucified for them. He said that Jesus' teachings included the brotherhood of believers, the importance of conversion, and the importance of denying other gods. Christians lived according to Jesus’ laws, believed themselves to be immortal, and were characterized by contempt for death, voluntary self-devotion, and renunciation of material goods.

Mara Bar-Serapion confirms that Jesus was thought to be a wise and virtuous man, was considered by many to be the king of Israel, was put to death by the Jews, and lived on in the teachings of His followers.

Even the Gnostic writings (The Gospel of Truth, The Apocryphon of John, The Gospel of Thomas, The Treatise on Resurrection, etc.) that all mention Jesus, and in fact we can almost reconstruct the gospel just from early non-Christian sources.

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annas

MORE ON GOD’S WIFE

Further addressing the issue of “God’s Wife” it is interesting to hear the comments going back and forth on this. All stemming from comments like those of J. Edward Wright, president of both The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies and The Albright Institute for Archaeological Research, who state, "Asherah was not entirely edited out of the Bible by its male editors," he added. "Traces of her remain, and based on those traces, archaeological evidence and references to her in texts from nations bordering Israel and Judah; we can reconstruct her role in the religions of the Southern Levant." Scholars have found mentions of Asherah in ancient scrolls, on pottery, in the Books of the Kings and other things which is claimed that she is "The Real Housewife of Heaven."

Claims state, “Asherah's connection to Yahweh, according to Francesca Stavrakopoulou[1], is spelled out in both the Bible and an 8th-century B.C. inscription on pottery found in the Sinai desert at a site called Kuntillet Ajrud[2].” The discovery in the early 20th Century of an ancient Canaanite coastal city called Ugarit in what is now modern-day Syria, very little was known about the goddess Asherah. But ancient texts, amulets and figurines unearthed here reveal the Asherah was a powerful fertility goddess Asherah and also the wife of El, the high god at Ugarit. Articles state, “Strikingly, Yahweh is often called 'El' in the Bible and he performs many of the same roles.” Famous drama here with very opens ended accusation with very little examination to determine authenticity. It is interesting that no BIBLICAL CITATIONS are made for further examination contextually or grammatically. Another statement is made, “In the Book of Kings, we're told that a statue of Asherah was housed in the temple and that female temple personnel wove ritual textiles for her[3]." Again, no specific citation is made for critical examination or analysis.

Aaron Brody, Director of the Bade Museum and Associate Professor of Bible and archaeology at the Pacific School of Religion, states, “The ancient Israelites were polytheists, Brody told Discovery News, "with only a small minority worshiping Yahweh alone before the historic events of 586 B.C." In that year, an elite community within Judea was exiled to Babylon and the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. This, according to Brody, led to "a more universal vision of strict monotheism: one god not only for Judah, but for all of the nations."

Ok…now – this is interesting. Let’s then consider something.To say that all Israelites were polytheists because of this is an incorrect assumption, and such reveals that these people have not read the Bible. To say that because there is a god called “El” in one place means this is “El” in the Bible. “But that’s reasonable,” one might say. Only if you’re not interested in what the BIBLE, History, AND Archaeology have to say.

Let’s consider some documented history here. Incest was NOT an acceptable thing among the Eastern people. The famous Laws of Hammurabi contain several sections on this particular issue[4]. The only external data about Canaanite practice we have here comes from the religious myths and the 'role models' of their gods[5]. In the Ugaritic writings (Canaanite), there is the story of an incestuous El: "The second myth is often called 'The Birth of the Good and Gracious God.' It opens with a banquet at which wine flows freely. The text is divided into sections, the tenth being the last and most crucial. El is about to create two women who will become either his wives or daughters, depending on his ability to impregnate them. He creates these females and seduces them, and they both become pregnant. One bears a child called Dawn (Shahar) and the other a child called Dusk (Shalim). Later, El makes love to these same women and they produce seven sons between them. These sons are 'the good and gracious gods.' They are destined to be gods of fertility, and are first suckled at the breasts of 'the Lady' (Asherah, wife of El?)[5]." With such deities to emulate, there is little wonder that God described this Canaanite practice as being very, very real, and VERY VERY FORBIDDEN in His society and people (Ex.20:3-6; Lev.26:1;Deut.16:21)!

Cultic prostitution--both male and female was also attested and clearly so in Canaanite sanctuaries[6] . The Bible and the Canaanite texts at Ugarit use the words qadesh and qedesha which mean 'holy one'--the first masculine, the second feminine. At Ugarit these 'holy ones' were homosexual priests and priestesses who acted as prostitutes. There is STRONG reaction against this 'cultic prostitution' in passages such as Leviticus 19:29, 'Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore,' and Deuteronomy 23:17, 'There shall be no whore (qedesha) of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite (qadesh) of the sons of Israel.' Josiah's initial reforms in returning to the Law of God, was 'to break down the houses of the sodomites' (2 Kings 23:7)." The Canaanite culture TOTALLY SOLD OUT to religious prostitution. This was why God’s instructions in Deut.7:1-11 were for them to remain faithful to Him and not to become like the nations around them. Because in doing so, they would bring about their own destruction.

One might ask what about the Israelites coming out of Egypt, didn’t they make the golden calf (Ex.32:4)? Didn’t they engage in debauchery (Ex.32:6)? Yes – they did – and WERE REPROVED BY GOD for it (Ex.32:8-10). God then explicitly tells them and the next generation to come after them, that they were not to have ANYTHING that represented Him or anything else and call it a “god” (Ex.34:17; Lev.19:4; 26:1; Deut.4:15-19, 23-25; 5:8, 27:15). Does this mean that they did not ever corrupt what God told them? NO! The Bible, history, and archaeology all confirm that they did. The Bible itself tells us that they did. 1Ki 15:13 “He also deposed Ma`akhah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a disgusting image as an asherah. Asa cut down this image of hers and burned it in Vadi Kidron.” Ahab and Jezebel are perhaps the most notorious in biblical literature for introducing this to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and it most certainly was not sanctioned by God ( 1 Ki.16:33). It was for this cause that God had the Northern Kingdom to be taken captive into Assyria (Dt.28:64, 65; 2 Ki.15:29; Isa.1:7; 7:20).

In the Southern Kingdom, it was Manasseh that introduced and even placed an Asherah in the Temple (2 Ki.21:7). Some may argue that Solomon started this, and indeed he paved the way for this to happen. But it is Manasseh that desecrates the Temple dedicated to God by placing the Asherah in it. During the last 25 years of the prophet Jeremiah’s life, the nation’s decay of moral and spiritual values had reaped its harvest. The reason for the exile is plainly stated (2 Chron. 36:14-16). “They mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people until there was no remedy.”

Even the inscriptions of the kings Merodachbaladan II and Nabonidus of Babylonia, as well as the Erra myth, contain references to a type of revolution in Uruk around 765, during the reign of the king Eriba-marduk. This revolution was not caused by social conditions alone, but rather was directed AGAINST the cultic practices of the temple of Eanna and the cult prostitutes there; it had only temporary success." In the return of the people of Israel to the land under Zerubabbel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, shows the influence that this idolatry had (Ezra 10:2) and knew that this was the reason for the captivities of their ancestors. So, he sets out to make sure that this does not happen again.

Someone may say that Abraham was polytheistic; after all, he came from Mesopotamia the region that engaged in these practices. Yet one, who would make a claim as this, again has not read the Bible itself. Abraham’s expressions of God are centered in his faith in one God, who, because believed by him to be possessor of heaven and earth (Gen.14:22;24:3), sovereign judge of the nations (Gen.15:14) of all the earth (Gen.18:25), disposer of the forces of Nature (Gen_18:14;19:24; 20:17), exalted (Gen_14:22) and eternal (Gen_21:33), was for Abraham at least the only God.

It is always interesting to me, that when people want to sway thinking, they always present things as one sided. They do not divulge all of the facts, lest it skew their theories. Yet, as we have seen – when brought together the evidence is clear. What is the lesson in this? Not everything stated is true! Only from careful examination, study, and gathering of all the facts can one then claim the truth. So - be careful! Just because someone claims to be a Doctor of this, or Professor of that, does not mean that what they are saying should be taken as "gospel."

Did or does God have a wife? Not if we let the Bible speak for itself and let history and archaeology speak their facts.

Is this in anyway female bashing, a conspiracy to cover up, or eradicate anything? No. No more than saying that our own historical documents of our own times do so. They are what they are and should be understood in that context. What of archaeology? DIG ON! I believe it is exciting! Just be sure to interpret things in the context of the whole, rather than making presumptions.

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[1] Francesca Stavrakopoulou (born Bromley, 1975) is a senior lecturer in the University of Exeter's department of Theology and Religion. The main focus of her research is Israelite and Judahite history and religion. She is noted for her academic and media roles: presenting a three-part television series on the BBC The Bible's Buried Secrets (2011; not to be confused with the 2008 NOVA program of the same name), and for contributions to series The Bible: A History. She describes herself as 'an atheist with huge respect for religion' and regards her work as 'a branch of history like any other’ Her PhD from the University of Oxford, which examined the creation of an imagined past within the Hebrew Bible, was subsequently published with the title King Manasseh and Child Sacrifice: Biblical Distortions of Historical Realities. Her second book was Land of our Fathers: The Roles of Ancestor Veneration in Biblical Land Claims. She has also co-edited Religious Diversity in Ancient Israel and Judah and Ecological Hermeneutics: Biblical, Historical and Theological Perspectives. She was a junior research fellow at Worcester College, Oxford, before moving to Exeter. She is the secretary of the British-based Society for Old Testament Study, and a member of the European Association of Biblical Studies and of the US-based Society of Biblical Literature

[2] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42154769/ns/technology_and_science-science

[3] Ibid

[4] Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor Para 154-158;110-111 as do the Hittite law codes (laws 189-191; Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia:236)

[5] It must be remembered that the religious rituals of ancient cultures were generally 'reenactments' of divine activities. For example, when a religious myth would have one god impregnating another--producing "spring"--the humans would "re-enact" this with the cultic prostitutes.

[6] Nelson's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Facts: 130

[7] The Semitic root qdsh means "sacred, holy, set-apart, or tabooed." Thus, qedesh (masc.) and qedeshah or qedeshet (fem.), both of which occur in the Hebrew Bible (Christian Old Testament) in singular and plural forms, mean "Sacred or Set-apart One," almost certainly referring to religious functionaries, though usually translated into English as "sacred prostitute." Keel and Uelinger 1998: 68 state that she had "a Canaanite origin."

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