Walk In The Light

(Audio Version)

Introduction

            I know that for many of you it seems like you are daily surrounded by darkness—war, hatred, strife, immorality, etc. I have been praying for you this week as I have meditated on the darkness that surrounds all of us from time to time in our sinful, self-prioritizing world bent on evil and its own destruction. I know that at times it can seem like the world has been turned upside down. What we have always taken for granted as being right, we’re now told is wrong. What was so obviously good for so long, we’re now supposed to believe is bad. Sometimes it feels like it’s always raining on our lives with darkness pressing in on all sides. It can prove to be very discouraging at times. However, as Christians, we have the advantage of being in relationship with the Author of light! It is precisely when life seems at its darkest, that God’s light shines the brightest to light the way for believers. Believers don’t have to live in the darkness of their own sins even as they may have to endure the darkness of the sins of an unbelieving world. Darkness cannot abide in the life of a true believer because every true believer is in relationship with the Light of the world. Therefore every true believer will not live in darkness that is sin but will Walk In The Light because their sins have been forgiven.

Subject Text

1 John 1:5-10

            ⁵This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. ⁷But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. ⁸If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Context

            This letter is written by the same John that wrote the Gospel of John. This is a general pastoral epistle that wasn’t written to anyone or any church in particular. Instead, it circulated in a number of Gentile churches sometime during the last two decades of the first century A.D. and was written to Christians in general. John is particularly fond of using light to describe God and His nature. I have often wondered why, considering none of the other gospel writers or even Paul spent much time, if any, describing God as having or being perfect light. I wonder if it is intended to contrast the darkness of the days during which John wrote this epistle. The days of this epistle were dark indeed as the Temple had been completely destroyed possibly less than 10 years before John wrote this letter. These were dark days not only for the Jews but just a few short years before the Temple was destroyed, the Roman Emperor Nero embarked on a historic campaign to destroy Christianity in the Roman Empire. Although the cross was not a Roman innovation, they appeared to perfect the brutality of its use. Crucifixion was not just a means of execution, it was also a means of psychological warfare. Imagine walking the streets of Rome as a Christian with fellow Christians lining the streets nailed to crosses. Imagine now Christians impaled on poles, soaked in oil and then set ablaze as human torches used to light Nero’s gardens in the evenings. Persecution of Christians didn’t end with Nero; the evil and darkness of those days continued as they have continued even in our own day.

Text Analysis

            The disciples, particularly John who was one of the three in Jesus’ inner circle, spent nearly three years with Jesus every day learning from Him about His mission, God’s Kingdom, and about the nature of God. John is the one Gospel writer that is explicit in his assertion that Jesus is God—“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Jn 1:1).” In v. 5 John picks up on something Jesus taught the people about Himself and ties it directly to an attribute of God’s nature that, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” Here’s the connection from the lips of Jesus that is a direct link to John’s teaching in our Subject Text: “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’ (Jn. 8:12).” Let’s make the connection together using a bit of mathematics called the transitive law of equality. Here’s how it works theologically in this case: If Jesus is God and Jesus is light then God is light. This describes an important attribute in the nature of God in the person of Jesus. “Light underscores, among other things, God’s glorious character, unsurpassed moral perfection, utter separateness from creation and absolute truthfulness and righteousness. It also bespeaks God’s self-revelation and finds its highest expression in his Son through whom truth is disclosed to the human race. By its very nature light exposes the true nature of something, usually leading to judgment. In any event, the entrance of light triggers irreconcilable division and irresolvable conflict. Darkness conveys its opposite: moral evil, unrighteousness, falsehood, error, willful ignorance, deceitfulness and self-deception. By introducing these metaphors John intends to demonstrate the impossibility of neutrality.”[1]

            Spiritual hypocrisy has been the death of more ministries in the history of Christianity than can be counted. We so easily wag our fingers and shake our heads when we read the headlines about another prominent pastor who has lost his ministry because of sin. I recognize the danger of sin in my own life everyday. Here’s the difference, I know I’m a sinner and need to seek forgiveness everyday for my own sins even as I battle to eliminate that sin from my life. I can talk about the dangers of sin in the lives of others because I am actively engage in the war against sin in my own life. Spiritual hypocrisy is talking about the dangers of sin in the lives of others while willfully ignoring the sin in our own lives. In v. 6, John makes it clear that we can’t on the one hand claim to have fellowship with; walk with God, who is defined as perfect light, while on the other hand walk in darkness. What John is saying is that the forgiveness of our sins does not give us a license to continue to sin even though sin is still a reality of our daily lives. Willful sin makes Jesus’ sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins a farce and makes our claim to be in fellowship with Him a lie. “In 1 Jn., men’s false evaluation of themselves in relation to God means that any contradiction between the confession of faith and the life of the members of a congregation involves them in lies. To profess fellowship with Christ is incompatible with simultaneous disobedience to his commands. To profess to love God is incompatible with continuing to hate one’s brother. In such cases both the claims and the life of a Christian become a lie, excluding him from the truth of God.”[2]

            Matthew records an encounter where one of the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus by asking him which law is the greatest (Mt 33:34-40). Jesus told the man that the first greatest law is that we should love God with our entire being. However, Jesus added that the second greatest law was like the first and that is to love others as we love ourselves. There is a natural outcome of being in fellowship with Christ, or as John puts in v. 7 to “Walk In The Light,” and that is that we will have fellowship with one another. If we truly love God with our whole being then we will love others as ourselves. In this way we fulfill the two greatest commandments. However, there is another, more personal implication to walking in God’s light—all our sins are forgiven. The implication being that our words are irrelevant if our actions aren’t reflected in those words. V. 7 is a conditional clause that says “if” we Walk In The Light, “then” we will have fellowship with one another “and” we will be purified from our sins. If the condition of walking in the light is not met then we will not be in fellowship with one another nor will we be purified from our sins. “To be ‘purified from all sin’ does not suggest that if a believer does not walk in the light, his sins are not forgiven in the judicial sense. Nor does it mean that all believers are completely freed from all sin. Rather, the verb is in the present tense, suggesting a continuous and progressive action. It might include the forgiveness and purification from all past sin at the moment of salvation. But because of the present tense, it goes further to suggest that those who are walking in the light have sin’s defilement removed and that they experience a progressive sanctification—a progressive character transformation into the image of Jesus. All sin means every kind of sin and shows there is no limit to the categories of sin that Christ is willing to forgive. His sacrificial death made every type of sin forgivable.”[3]

            There are some in our culture that insist humanity is intrinsically good. However, external forces—political, economical, etc. create obstacles for humanity to fully express that goodness. As believers, we know this is patently false. That’s not to say that humanity doesn’t have the capacity for good. Humanity was created in the image of God so clearly humanity has the capacity for good. However, unlike God, humanity’s divine image has been grossly distorted by sin. This is the element that secular humanists refuse to recognize and it’s not new to our time. Some of the false teachers of John’s day also taught that humanity had no natural tendency to sin but only did so as a result of external forces—create the ideal environment and sin would be eliminated. They believed humanity had the ability to create that ideal environment given sufficient time and resources and some sort of special knowledge. In a sense, we know this to be foolishness of the highest degree. However, it’s really deception, or more specifically, self-deception. In v. 8 John makes it clear that we are simply deceiving ourselves if we arrogantly claim that humanity is without sin—John says we are liars. “Regarding sin outside Jewish and Christian circles: pagan thinking lacked definite, universal, and clear moral standards associated directly with religion. ‘In general the standard was public opinion and not a code of conduct,’ religious or otherwise (Ferguson 1987: 118). It was a culture more concerned about shame than guilt. The important question for them was, What will people think? not, What is right or wrong according to a revealed transcendent standard? ‘Cultus had little to do with morality except in cases of grave offense, and priests did not function as moral guides ([Ferguson] 1987: 53). Part of the reason for this lay in the Greek belief that reason, not revelation, was the sole foundation for knowing how to live…From a Christian point of view, no mortally devised scheme of reason or ethics yet has proved equal to the task of taming the downward proclivities of the human heart.”[4]

            At some point, every Christian has looked in the mirror, real or imagined, and seen their sin staring back at them. All of us had the choice to look at that image of sin staring back at us and either say “so what” or “help.” Some of us said “so what” for a long time before we finally said “help.” However, once we said “help,” Jesus was right there to help by not only forgiving our sins but also cleansing us from the unrighteousness that polluted our lives for so long. John says in v. 9 that all we have to do is confess our sins and Jesus is there to help by forgiving our sins and wiping our slate clean. Sin has trapped us and God has provided a way out because He said He would provide a way out. God wants to be in relationship with us but our sin and unrighteousness bars the way—so God didn’t just provide any way, He provided the Way. Because Jesus is faithful and just, He provided the way through Himself. “Confession is successful because of the character of God. His forgiveness is not an act of mercy, as if he were setting aside some usual disposition in response to a religious act of penitence. God’s character is to be faithful and just. It is essential not to oppose these two ideas, as if God’s loving-kindness or faithfulness (Gk. pistos) and his justice or righteousness (Gk. dikaios) were at odds. His faithfulness to us has prompted him to make a way for our purification and thereby satisfy his demand for righteousness. Confession enjoys the good character of God and is empowered by it. Two consequences necessarily follow: forgiveness and purification. To forgive (Gk. aphiemi)  really means ‘to let go’ (as a debt, cf. Luke 7:43), and so John indicates that our sins are removed from God’s accounting. To purify carries a different nuance and suggests a removal of the residual effects of sin, consequences that linger (such as a stain). Therefor there is hope. The past and its errors as well as the future and its propensity toward sinfulness are both addressed.”[5]

            Most unbelievers and some believers hate talking about sin; theirs or anyone else’s for that matter. When presented with the need for forgiveness in an evangelistic setting, many unbelievers refuse God’s offer of forgiveness because they consider themselves a “good person.” That’s a quaint sentiment but who defines “good?” Society? Government? The individual? How about the church? The answer is none of those things—not even the church defines what is good. The church might be able to convey or uphold what is good but only God defines what is good. Too many people believe that unless they are actively engaged in some kind of sinful activity then they are not sinners. In v. 10, John’s language is not intended to be limited to those who are currently engaged in sin but includes anyone who as ever sinned. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he says that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Rom 3:23). If God has determined that we are all sinners then what does it say when we claim that we haven’t sinned? It says that either we are liars or God is a liar. It we confess that we are liars then there is hope for us. Otherwise the only option left is that we are saying God is a liar and therefore has no place in our lives. However, what we are really saying when we call God a liar by denying that we have sinned is that objective truth has no place in our lives; the Word has no place in our lives. “A person may recognize ‘the natural permanence of sin as a power within’ and ‘may deny that he personally has sinned.’…It is possible that there were people who both denied present sinfulness (v. 8) and past acts of sin (v. 10): even if you claim not to sin now, you certainly sinned in the past, may be the thought in John’s mind. Perhaps, however, we should regard the two claims as virtually identical; if so, John is making the point that those who make such claims do not merely deceive themselves (v. 8); they actually make God a liar (v. 10) by denying his verdict on men that they are sinners. Paul’s statement that ‘all have sinned’ (Rom 3:23) is not an isolated mark; it sums up the teaching of Scripture on the universality of sin. Not only so; the scriptural revelation of God emphasizes his character as a God who forgives sin, and this description would be pointless if men had no sins to be forgiven. Those who deny their sin thus fall into the serious sin of making God out to be a liar. By no stretch of the imagination can they be said to have his word in them.”[6]

Application

            Have you ever thought about the power of light versus the power of darkness? Think about it—you can bring light into a dark room but you can’t bring dark into a lighted room. Darkness is dependent on the absence of light but light is not dependent on absence of darkness. Instead light creates the absence of darkness. Isn’t that what John is teaching us here? All sinners reside in darkness—not just spiritual darkness but ethical darkness as well. However, Christians have confessed their sin, which is the equivalent of letting light into darkness. Christians allow God’s light to shine on their sins and forgive them. Although there is a one-time salvation event when we trust Jesus to deal with our sins, the life of faith necessitates that we daily expose the darkness in our lives to the light of God’s truth revealed in the person of Jesus and through the divine word given to us in the Scriptures. Wherever we see evil in the world, we will see people walking in the darkness of their sins and unbelief. Sometimes we don’t have to look far; sometimes we need only look in the mirror. However, God’s light can shine into the darkest corners of the world and into the darkest corners of our lives. There is no evil or sin that God’s light cannot expose. We are not safe because we try to cloak our sin darkness. We are safe and we are saved when we allow God’s light to expose our sin and thereafter commit to Walk In The Light.

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[1] Lelabnd Ryken, James C. Wilhoit, Tremper Longman III, gen. eds., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1998), p. 457.

[2] Colin Brown, gen. ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 2, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), p. 473.

[3] David Walls and Max Anders, I & II Peter, I, II, & III John, Jude—Holman New Testament Commentary, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1999), p. 157.

[4] Robert W. Yarbrough, 1-3 John—Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), p. 68)

[5] Gary M. Burge, Letters of John—The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), pp. 82-83.

[6] I. Howard Marshall, The Epistles of John—The New International Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1978), pp. 114-115.

A Divine Tapestry

(Audio Version)

Prayer

            In light of the events around the world, I wanted to offer a prayer to those who have to endure so much during this time:

            “Heavenly Father I want to pray for peace for those places in the world ravaged by strife and war. I especially want to lift of Israel and our brothers and sisters in Christ who are being threatened by evil daily from all sides. If peace is not possible then please watch over them and protect them if it is your will that they must endure this time of persecution. We acknowledge that you are sovereign over all your creation. Please help us pray that your will be done and please bring the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ to all of Israel and to all Jewish and Christian persecutors. I pray these things in the name of our great King, Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Introduction

            Like many other Christians, my daily devotions include Scripture reading. It usually takes me a little more than a year to read through the entire Bible. I’ve been doing it for years and I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve read through the Bible as part of my devotional practice and my theological training. If you think I read the Bible incessantly because I have to as a Christian or as a pastor, you’d be wrong. There are plenty of Christians who rarely pick up a Bible let alone read one and there are many pastors who open their Bibles merely as part of their ministerial duties. I read it incessantly because no matter how many times I read it, I always find a part that makes me say, ‘I don’t remember reading that the last time.’ I also read it because I see myself in the words on the pages and live out my relationship with God through those words. I don’t always see how everything applies to me specifically but I know I’m part of the story and I want to be in a relationship with the Author that wrote me into His story. Of course, this is part of my personal devotional exercise. Theologically, God’s story is a calling of a people to Himself. It is the story of salvation past, salvation present, and salvation future. The theological key is understanding how the salvation story fits together.

One of the things that can be difficult to understand is how the Old Testament and the New Testament form a continuing narrative. Many understand the Old Testament as one narrative and the New Testament as another with only a few faint threads in common. However, I contend that the Old Testament is part of the New Testament and together they form A Divine Tapestry. God is the divine Weaver of the tapestry that has as its central elements Israel, Christians and the Messiah Savior of both. Why is this important? Because some Christians have joined the foolish voices of unbelievers screaming to abandon Israel in the never-ending struggle against their neighbors who are tireless in their efforts to destroy Israel as a nation and the Jews as a people. Behind the opposition to Israel on the part of unbelievers is an irrational yet unmitigated hatred for Israel dating back thousands of years. Behind the opposition to Israel on the part of Christians is old fashion biblical ignorance. However, anytime there is any behavior on the part of humanity that is unbiblical (unbiblical being defined as any behavior that contravenes God’s will and instructions as provided to us through the Scriptures), we find Satan skulking about influencing and working through unbelievers and at the same time deceiving believers so they will, through their biblical ignorance, unwitting join his efforts of constantly opposing God’s will and plan for the salvation of humanity. The purpose of this lesson is to follow the thread through the biblical narrative beginning in the Book of Genesis and ending with the Book of Revelation with the hope that at the end you will be able to see how God, throughout the Scriptures, weaves together Israel, the Christians and Jesus into A Divine Tapestry.

Subject Texts

Genesis 3:1-24

            ¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” ²The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” ⁴“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. ⁸Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. ⁹But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” ¹⁰He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” ¹¹And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” ¹²The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” ¹³Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” ¹⁴So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. ¹⁵And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” ¹⁶To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” ¹⁷To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. ¹⁸It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” ²⁰Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. ²¹The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. ²²And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” ²³So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. ²⁴After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 12:1-3

            ¹The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. ²I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. ³I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Genesis 28:10-17

            ¹⁰Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. ¹¹When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. ¹²He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³There above it stood the LORD, and he said: “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. ¹⁴Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. ¹⁵I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” ¹⁶When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” ¹⁷He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

Genesis 35:10

            ¹⁰God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel.

Genesis 35:22b-26

            ^22bJacob had twelve sons: ²³The sons of Leah: Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun. ²⁴The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁵The sons of Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali. ²⁶The sons of Leah’s maidservant Zilpah: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.

Malachi 3:1-5

            ¹“See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty. ²But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. ³He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, ⁴and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years. ⁵“So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty.

Malachi 4:5

            ⁵“See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.”

John 1:23

            ²³John [the Baptist] replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

John 1:35-51

            ³⁵The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. ³⁶When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” ³⁷When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. ³⁸Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” ³⁹“Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. ⁴⁰Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. ⁴¹The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). ⁴²And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). ⁴³The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” ⁴⁴Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” ⁴⁶“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. ⁴⁷When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” ⁴⁸“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” ⁴⁹Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” ⁵⁰Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that.” ⁵¹He then added, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Luke 24:19b-35

            “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. ²⁰The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; ²¹but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. ²²In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning ²³but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. ²⁴Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” ²⁵He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” ²⁷And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. ²⁸As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. ²⁹But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. ³¹Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. ³²They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” ³³They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together ³⁴and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” ³⁵Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Acts 1:13b-26

            ^13bThose present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. ¹⁴They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. ¹⁵In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) ¹⁶and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus—¹⁷he was one of our number and shared in this ministry.” ¹⁸(With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. ¹⁹Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) ²⁰“For,” said Peter, “it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and, ‘May another take his place of leadership.’ ²¹Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²²beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.” ²³So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. ²⁴Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen ²⁵to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” ²⁶Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

Acts 11:19-30

            ¹⁹Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. ²⁰Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. ²¹The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. ²²News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. ²⁴He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. ²⁵Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, ²⁶and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. ²⁷During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) ²⁹The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. ³⁰This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

Romans 11:1-32

¹I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. ²God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: ³“Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? ⁴And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ⁵So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. ⁶And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. ⁷What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, ⁸as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day.” ⁹And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. ¹⁰May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.” ¹¹Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. ¹²But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring! ¹³I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry ¹⁴in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. ¹⁵For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? ¹⁶If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches. ¹⁷If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, ¹⁸do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. ¹⁹You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” ²⁰Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. ²¹For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. ²²Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. ²³And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! ²⁵I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. ²⁶And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. ²⁷And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” ²⁸As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, ²⁹for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. ³⁰Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, ³¹so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. ³²For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

Romans 16:20a

            ^20aThe God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

Revelation 21:9-21

            ⁹One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. ¹¹It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. ¹²It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. ¹³There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. ¹⁴The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. ¹⁵The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. ¹⁶The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. ¹⁷He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick, by man’s measurement, which the angel was using. ¹⁸The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. ¹⁹The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, ²⁰the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. ²¹The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.

Revelation 22:1-5

            ¹Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ²down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. ³No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. ⁴They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign forever and ever.

Weaving The Tapestry

            When my daughters were little, we read to them every night before bed. Some of their favorite books were called I Spy. It was a series of books filled with colorful images. The objective was to find certain images embedded in a particular illustration that form part of the overall picture yet stand out from the picture. It was a great game for the kids because it burned off any remaining energy they may have had for the day. The game usually ended when they said, ‘Dad, I’m tired and need to go to sleep.’ Imagine hearing that from a little kid! Anyway, the point was to look deeply at the illustration on a particular page to find what you don’t necessarily see with a simple glance. Some of the things you’re asked to find are blatantly obvious but others are so cleverly intertwined in the image that they can take hours to find. It can be like that when we try to see the images in the tapestry woven by God throughout the Scriptures—some things are blatantly obvious while others are intertwined in the overall narrative of the text. Within the Subject Texts above are the threads of A Divine Tapestry if we will only look deeply instead of just giving the Scriptures a simple glance.

            Creation was cursed because of the sin first committed by Adam and Eve. Nevertheless, God called Abraham through whom a nation would be born. Abraham’s son, Isaac, had a son name Jacob who had twelve sons that formed that nation. God would change Jacob’s name to Israel and the nation of twelve sons would be known as the twelve tribes of Israel. Through the lineage of one of those tribes, the tribe of Judah, God would provide the One to deal with humanity’s sin and reverse creation’s curse. Israel would live in anticipation of the One, the Messiah, that was written about by Moses in Law and by their prophets. There would be signs leading up to the Messiah Israel was expecting and those signs would point directly at Jesus. Jesus would, in fact, prove to be the Messiah Israel was anticipating for so many years. Unfortunately, most of Israel, led by the religious leaders, refused to accept Jesus as that Messiah and put Him to death. However, it was precisely through Jesus’ death that God provided the means for humanity to be absolved of its sin and His resurrection from the dead signaled the reversal of creation’s curse inaugurated by the original sin of Adam and Eve. Before Jesus’ death and resurrection, He assembled a group of twelve men that would take the salvation message of Jesus’ death and resurrection to the rest of the world. These twelve men would come to be known as the Apostles of Christ. By their witness, and those who believed them, another nation would be born—a nation known as Christians. Christians are not a nation intended to replace the nation of Israel as some may have you believe. Instead, the Christian nation will be instrumental in leading Israel to faith in the Messiah the Jews have so long been waiting for—faith in Jesus Christ. At the end of time, there will be a new beginning; a new creation; a new heaven and a new earth; a new Holy City; a new Jerusalem. The gates of the new Jerusalem will be memorialized by the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. The twelve foundations upon which the new Jerusalem will be built will bear the names of the twelve apostles. And finally, the temple that occupied the center of the old city will be replaced in the new Jerusalem by God Himself where all believers of Jesus, Jews and Gentiles, will worship together.

            If you ever wonder why Christians should prize the existence of Israel as a nation or the Jews as a people, remember that the Jews are one of the threads, along with Christians, being woven by God into a beautiful tapestry of God’s love relationship with humanity and His creation—A Divine Tapestry.