God’s Image: Male and Female

September 8, 2013 Background Scripture: Genesis 1, 2; 5:1, 2 Lesson Passage: Genesis 2:18 – 25 What is God like? Where is He? Why can’t I see Him? How do I know He is listening to me when I talk to Him? Why are spirits invisible? Can spirits feel pain? Inquiring minds want to know. Whether one is saved or lost, these questions will still nag us every now and then. Children will sometimes grasp the answers quicker than adults will. For instance, studies have shown that a child’s first impression of what God is like is based on the “father figure” in his or her life. That’s an excellent start to answering the rest of those questions. Our lesson today helps us to see this much clearer. “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:” There are some serious implications in this statement—especially in light of the fact that it is a direct quote from God. One implication is that one can answer many of the questions above by starting with a healthy understanding of mankind. Of course the catch here is the adjective “healthy”. Unregenerate mankind lives in a fallen state of sin. Once a person is saved then the Spirit of God lives in him. At that point, many of those questions become irrelevant to that individual because the Spirit leads us into all truths. Man was created in the image and likeness of God. After the fall of Adam from grace, this image and likeness became tarnished because of sin. Even so, there are still many parallels between man and the attributes that God has revealed about Himself. God experiences emotions including those that are joyful and painful. God is intelligent or rational. God has revealed Himself as having a triune nature—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. God is sovereign and rules over all. Likewise, man experiences both joy and sorrow. Man is rational and capable of logical assessment. Man is triune in that he is spirit, soul, and body. Even in the most primitive of societies, man establishes some recognizable form of government where ruling factions are apparent. It has long been recognized that man is both material and immaterial in composition. Thoughts, emotions, and will are all immaterial aspects of man. What we haven’t always come to grip with is that even primitive societies engage in rituals of religion or worship of a higher power. This is indicative of man having a spiritual component in his immaterial self. Religious behavior is not observed in other living creatures on earth. Even in a fallen state, man reflects characteristics that are parallel to what God has revealed about Himself. When man accepts God’s offer of salvation, God’s image and likeness become more evident to the saved person because they are manifest in the spirit. Anger gradually gives way to tolerance. Joy begins to supersede happiness as a higher state of emotional well-being. Indifference is overcome by compassion. Not only do we more easily recognize the image and likeness of God, we also begin to reflect God’s glory. Note that none of these characteristics are gender specific. “In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created he them;” Robert C. Hudson August 28, 2013

God Creates

September 1, 2013 Background Scripture: Psalm 104 Lesson Passage: Psalm 104:5 – 9, 24 – 30 Psalm 104 is Genesis 1 put to song. The psalmist celebrates God’s work of creation by presenting the creation with a backdrop of drama. In this psalm, the inanimate is given life and personality. The elements respond to God’s voice with fear and complete obedience. They remain wherever God sends them and steadfastly refuses to do anything contrary to His word. God is not presented here as building or constructing physical things but rather putting life into everything and having it obey His instructions. In the beginning, the waters went wherever they desired. Even today we say that water is unstable and continuously seeks the lowest level. But at God’s command, the waters recognized boundaries that previously were unknown and respect them continuously. The obedience of nature to God’s voice is perfect and without any sign of wavering. There is no sin or disobedience in nature. The earth will never again be covered completely by water because God has decreed it. I believe that global warming is real but I know that there are absolute limits to even that because God has set the boundaries. No matter how much the polar icecaps melt they will never be able to completely cover the earth with water. God’s creation is so vast that scientists are consumed with trying to comprehend the earth while pondering the expanse of space that appears to be ever expanding. Every year new creatures are discovered on land as well as in the great depths of the oceans. There are many oceanic regions that have never been seen or visited by man. Every time man goes a little deeper into an ocean, new life forms are discovered that are so unique that we create a new category just to classify them. Even the different oceans have different types of creatures living in them. In spite of the harvesting and burning of forest lands that occur annually, there are still forest areas in the world that yield new creatures to the investigative eye. After all of these years of scientific study and books being printed, we still run across a frog in a forest that’s never been recognized by science before. When the psalmist exclaimed “how manifold are thy works”, it was a statement that still applies today even if one considers just sea life. All of these creatures are at God’s mercy. They depend on Him for their food and they appear to rejoice at His provision for them. When God does not provide the things that are needed to sustain life, the creatures of the wild become disturbed. When He takes away their oxygen, they die and their bodies decompose and once again become part of the earth. Yet the earth remains and life flourishes because God sends forth His life-giving Spirit to replenish it. All of nature, what we call inanimate and animate, responds to God’s voice. Life springs up and gives movements that appear to be random and what we call inanimate responds to what seems to be invisible laws of nature with predictable ebbs and flows. Everything is in perfect harmony even as it was in the beginning. All of this wonder exists because God chose to create. Robert C. Hudson August 26, 2013

Sabbath Reforms

Background Scripture: Nehemiah 13:4 – 31 Lesson Passage: Nehemiah 13:10 – 12, 15 – 22 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. Exodus 31:12 – 17, King James Version In establishing Israel as a sovereign people, God set up moral and civil laws for them to be governed by. This was in keeping with their uniqueness as a theocracy—that is a God-directed government. Many of the laws they received were types and shadows that constantly pointed them towards God’s universal plan of salvation. Paul expounds on this in his letters to the churches at Galatia and Colosse. The Sabbath is perhaps a cross between these and the more practical need for a people who had endured four hundred years of slavery to learn the importance of giving the physical body a time of rest and refreshing. Note that the Law did not establish the Sabbath as a day of worship but rather a day of rest! Furthermore, God specifically stated that this was to be a sign between God and Israel from generation to generation. Long before the Law was given, God had given a universal sign that applied to all people; and that was the sign of the rainbow as a declaration that God would not destroy all living flesh by water again. On the other hand, this sign was personal between God and Israel. Neither time nor space will allow me at this time to expound on the contrast between Israel’s Sabbath covenant of rest and Christians’ first day of the week gathering for worship and giving that is supported by New Testament scriptures. Suffice to say that there is no place in the New Testament writings where Christians are commanded or admonished to observe the Sabbath as a sign between God and Christians. Now, let’s introduce our lesson for this week. As Nehemiah prepared to close out his testimony as to what had taken place in Jerusalem towards the end of Israel’s Babylonian exile, he turned his attention towards Israel’s covenant relationship with God. He noted that there were many incidents where Israel was living as covenant breakers. He reminded them that this type of behavior had led to Israel’s captivity in the first place. Now that God was gracious enough to allow them to return to the Promise Land, they should show their gratitude by living according to their covenant with God. Among these was the Sabbath covenant. Israel was ignoring the Sabbath covenant and even allowing outsiders to bring their wares into Jerusalem for sale. In today’s lesson, Nehemiah reminded Israel that God demanded total obedience and this included their need for Sabbath Reforms. Robert C. Hudson August 19, 2013

Dedication of the Wall

August 18, 2013 Background Scripture: Nehemiah 12:27 – 43 Lesson Passage: Nehemiah 12:27 – 38, 43 After much prayer, sweat, animosity, and deceitful opposition, the wall was completed. This all began with a prayer to God in the midst of what appeared to be the need to make an unusual request. Yes, it was an unusual request. A slave was about to request temporary freedom from a king so that he could leave the province of his captivity and travel to the land of his ancestors to erect a wall to protect the city from future invasions—such as the one that had caused him to be enslaved in Babylon. How’s that for irony? Yet, he prayed and the Lord heard him and answered his prayer. This slave’s name was Nehemiah. The king gave Nehemiah permission to leave temporarily and he was given the leeway to accomplish what he had requested. However, the king’s permission did not stop the enemies of God from attacking Nehemiah and his cohorts both psychologically and emotionally. In fact, they armed themselves while they worked just in case the enemy decided to attack them physically. But through it all, God prevailed and allowed them to claim the victory. Now the time had come to celebrate the goodness of God towards them. This would not be a worldly celebration but a religious one. This would not be a quiet private celebration but a very loud public one. So the priest and the Levites were assembled from all of the villages on the outskirts of Jerusalem. They ceremonially purified themselves, then the people, and finally they purified the wall and gates. The musicians and singers were gathered likewise so they could lead the congregation in praise and worship to the God of Heaven. Nehemiah and the leaders of the people assembled themselves in prominent places in preparation for this glorious worship. Two men were set aside to offer thanks or in other words to lead a prayer of thanksgiving and devotion. When the celebration began, the crowd was heard even from afar off. They were thankful that their God had triumphed again over their enemy and allowed them to come out victoriously. Their battles were not private and neither would their praise to God be. They were grateful to God and they wanted everybody within earshot to know it. The congregation of Israel publically celebrated God’s awesomeness with singleness of praise. They dedicated the completed wall with much thanksgiving and fanfare. The greater the struggle the louder their praise was to reflect it. The task had tested them and now they were shouting their testimony. God had not forsaken them in the midst of their troubles and challenges. God was and always will be true to His word. All of Israel celebrated the triumph. They were mocked, threatened, and even delayed but they still triumphed. God had softened the hearts of kings to make them servants of His people. He had stilled the tongues of the opposition so that His people would not lose courage. God had given Israel again another reason to praise and worship Him. So it was with total joy and jubilee that Israel dedicated the completed wall around Jerusalem. Robert C. Hudson August 6, 2013

Community of Confession

August 11, 2013 Background Scripture: Nehemiah 9:1 – 37 Lesson Passage: Nehemiah 9:2, 6, 7, 9, 10, 30 – 36 It has been said many times that confession is good for the soul. I believe that there is some truth to that statement if the confession is according to the word of God. As Christians, we should confess our faults to one another according to James’ epistle. John, in his epistle, states that we should confess our sins to God. It is important that we don’t confuse faults with sins. After making the proper distinction and confession, I believe that we will have a stronger bond within the Christian community and a healthy fellowship with God. On the other hand, Israel was often treated as a single entity or as an individual. This is in keeping with the covenant between God and Abraham that was passed down through the patriarchs from generation to generation. Throughout the generations, God continued to deal with Israel as with an individual. When the nation sinned, God patiently warned them for years of impending judgment because of it. When their leaders would not hearken to God’s word that was delivered by the prophets, judgment ensued. In our lesson today, Israel responds to the judgment God brought upon them by first confessing the righteousness of God. They referred back to the time when God delivered their ancestors from Egyptian bondage and His continuous mercy down through the years after that. They also cited the many occasions when their ancestors rebelled against God in spite of His goodness to them in keeping His promises. They acknowledged that all that they were blessed with was because of God’s fulfillment of His promise to Abraham. There was no doubt as to how they came to possess a land that was previously inhabited by others. Also, there was no doubt that the land was very fertile and yielded increase as a result of their labor. The fruitfulness of the land attested to God’s description that it flowed with milk and honey. In spite of the blessings and in spite of the warnings, Israel still chose to disobey God. Now a remnant of Israel was allowed to return to the land after the nation was exiled into Babylon for seventy years according to the prophecy of Jeremiah. After the punishment they had endured in exile, many of them again became selfish and unconcerned about God’s righteousness although He had allowed them to return to the land of promise. However, seeking God’s face and righteousness became a priority for them once again after the word of chastisement by God’s prophets—including Haggai and Zechariah. They were again focused as a community by Ezra so that the word of God returned to prominence in their lives. This led to their gathering to hear the word read and explained to them. The conviction brought on by the word of God had caused them to become repentant. With a contrite heart and broken spirit, the community turned to God in prayer. They confessed the sins of their ancestors as well as their own and acknowledged the righteousness of God in all of His dealings with them. No doubt, their confessions were indeed good for the soul of the community. Robert C. Hudson July 30, 2013