“And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.”
Revelation 21:5-6
We’re in a series seeking to answer the question, “What are we supposed to do with this knowledge?” The question in context relates to the attempted assassination of a former president and presidential candidate and the subsequent unfolding of events.
Last time, we looked at Creation and Fall. This time, we’re going to examine Redemption and Re-Creation to see how knowledge—that is, true knowledge—guides us to God’s glory and answers the question, “What are we supposed to do with this knowledge?”
Redemption
Genesis 3:20-50:26
A New Relationship
- God’s first redeeming act is covering mankind in his shame. Now, with their new self-gained knowledge, they see their nakedness and are struck with an instinct to cover themselves. Knowledge is too much for them. Their existence is bent over, as it were, under the strain of their new knowledge.
- Covering is their only response; from now on, it will be mankind’s response.
- Yet, it is God who intervenes in compassion. Mankind, guilty for having crossed God’s standard; shamed, seeing their nakedness, left at the mercy of God.
- He responds. Covering. Yet, not without sacrifice.
- Here, we see for the first time how God deals with the sin that brought death. For Adam and Eve’s sin, bringing death into God’s world, to be exchanged, must have death as an exchange.
- Cain is the personification of the extent of knowledge. In a heinous act of evil, he murders his brother. Knowledge is unacceptable, so he is not his brother’s keeper but his brother’s devil.
- Lamech spreads his sin until, finally, God’s judgment falls upon His creation.
A New Family
- Noah’s family proves unfaithful, just like their forebears. Ham personifies this when he seeks to bring his brothers to a shameful knowledge of their father, Noah.
- The Tower of Babel represents the ultimate aim of man-generated and filtered knowledge. A name they sought for themselves, yet they were scattered across the earth, unable to speak even the names of each other. The knowledge that was once known and empowered them to build became inaccessible and thus led to their dispersion.
- Nations are born, and one man is chosen among the nations.
A New Nation
- He is from a family that worships false gods. Yet he was asked to leave his country, kin, and comforts and settle in a land chosen by God. There and through them, God would expand the knowledge of His glory throughout the entire earth.
- Abraham vindicates his faith and is given a new name.
- Ishmael and Isaac are sons born to this man and are still at odds. Ishmael is the son of the Arabs—the son of flesh—Islam. Isaac is the son of the Jewish nation—the son of promise. Ishmael was born because of a faulty application of knowledge. Isaac was born through God’s compassion and fulfillment of His promise.
- Esau and Jacob are born to Isaac and Rebekah. The older serves, the younger. The older sought comfort over the promise. Like Abraham, the younger (Jacob) sought the fulfillment of the promise through deceit. His name is the heel-grabber.
- Jacob’s sons are born through polygamy—a cultural phenomenon and misapplication of knowledge. Jacob’s sons try to kill one of their brothers and decide finally to sell him into slavery. Their faulty view of his words led to their destructive acts and lie to their father, Jacob, to cover their shame.
- Joseph rises to power and trusts God’s providence to secure his success and release. He forgives his brothers and filters the knowledge of their actions through the providence of God.
- Exodus
- Over four hundred years go by after Jacob’s sons grow up with their families in Goshen. And then, a Pharaoh arises who does not have knowledge of God’s people, the Jews, and so he brings pain and heartache into their existence.
- The fateful act of this Egyptian ruler is attempted genocide and the removal of the Jewish people from his land: the people are instructed to toss newborn Jewish baby boys into the Nile River. He thinks this is dealing wisely with them to keep them from multiplying. He has mistakenly applied knowledge and ends up experiencing God’s retribution.
- Amid this chaos, a Jewish boy is placed in a raft and sent down the Nile River to the place of Pharoah’s daughter. He is plucked out of the water and raised as an Egyptian.
- The persecution rises to a level of despair, and so God’s people cry out to God. God remembers His promise to their fathers.
- God responds by sending Moses (the Jewish boy plucked from the Nile River) to save God’s people from persecution. He takes them toward the Land promised to Abraham.
A New Responsibility
- This new people—the Jewish nation—are given a new responsibility to serve as a kingdom of priests to the other nations. These other nations are deplorable in their actions, and so God’s reconciling instruments are the people of Israel. As they worshipped God rightly and experienced His blessing, the nations would come under the wings of YHWH.
- God gave Moses and the Israelites the Ten Commandments to guide them among the nations in their Promised Land. It was their blueprint for living, confessing, and restoring after sinning. Divine knowledge was given. As they obeyed, God would be glorified, and they would be blessed.
- However, the people chose a different path and had Aaron set up a false god to worship. They deviated from the knowledge given to them by God and instead chose a deviant and bent path. Their knowledge was filtered incorrectly.
- Nevertheless, Moses met with God in the tent of meeting to pray for these people. God heard his prayers and provided plans for His glory to dwell and their fellowship to be sustained.
- The Tabernacle was God’s first answer to rightly relating to His people.
- However, they needed knowledge of how the priests, people, and leaders were to interact with God. They needed Divine revelation.
- Leviticus
- God established the priesthood, explained why the nations were being expelled from the Land of Promise, and warned the Israelites of their expulsion if given over to the same sin as the nations.
- The Israelite nation knew how to live and restore fellowship after sinning. They were the people of God and the priests to all nations. Now, it was time to enter their Promised Land.
- Numbers
- They failed to enter because of unbelief. The nations of the land were too strong in their eyes, and their knowledge of God was too weak. Thus, God set the first nation out of Egypt aside and started with a new nation.
- Deuteronomy
- The new nation is given a Second Law (Deuteronomy) so that they know how to conduct themselves in their God-given Promised Land. They are instructed about blessings for obedience and cursings for disobedience to God’s Law.
- They know what to do and the consequences if they don’t do it.
- However, Moses indicates that they will turn aside and misplace knowledge. Indeed, Moses suggests they will bend God’s Word to accommodate their pleasures.
- Yet, it is a new man for a new day to take them into the Land.
- Joshua
A New Land
- Joshua succeeded Moses, but his leadership was different. He was a military leader who, with God’s help, engaged the nations of their Promised Land.
- However, Achan deviates from the instructions and is an example to the entire Israeli nation of how God deals with sin. God will not abide with open rebellion and lawlessness.
- He is holy and expects His people to walk in holiness and to live glorifying His name. This is their greatest good.
- Judges
A New Leadership Structure
- After Joshua and the elders of his generation die, new leaders arise within Israel. They follow the patterns of the sinful nations, are judged by God, repent, and find God’s mercy ever new.
- The judges of Israel are people whom God raised to accomplish mighty feats and restore the order that sin brought into the nation of Israel.
- The judges end with a desire for a king like the nations.
- 1 & 2 Samuel
A New Leader
- After Samuel is told by Israel that his children would not be sufficient as their Judge, they appeal to him to raise for them a king like the nations.
- Their perception of the authority expressed and the power enabled by the nations with kings was sufficient to reject God as their ultimate authority.
- Thus, God allowed them to have their king like the nations named Saul.
- It was Saul who turned out to be worse than they expected.
- He acted in fear, disobeyed God, and ultimately was removed as Israel’s king.
- To counter Israel’s defiance, God raised up a king after His own heart—a king who would fulfill Judah’s promise to rule and from whom God’s Son, Jesus Christ, would be born.
- However, David, like Saul, sinned. He was not the One True King but a king pointing to the One True King.
- The children after David would split the nation between a north and a south. Ten tribes would go North, and two tribes would go South.
- They need voices who would speak God’s truth to them and remind them of the knowledge handed down to them from His Word.
- They needed a group of people who would teach them how to live and view the knowledge of the world rightly.
A New Voice
- Prophets arose to fulfill that role and give that voice to the kings of Israel. Only a handful of kings would listen to them. However, the prophets were to stay faithful to God’s Word and teach the people of God how to live.
- Amos
- Amos, among the prophets to the Northern tribes, called them to turn back to God. His message went unheeded until they were finally wiped out by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. The ten tribes were gone and removed from the knowledge of history because of their sin and misuse of God’s knowledge.
- Jeremiah
- Prophets arose to warn the remaining two Southern tribes of judgment for deviating from God’s Truth. However, like the Northern tribes, they pursued a deviant path to knowledge. Their hearts were turned away from God.
- Thus, like the ancient Canaanites that Israel removed from the Land and the Northern tribes that Assyria removed, God raised the Babylonians to remove the two Southern tribes from the Land.
- He purged His Land from sinners until the Persians let them go home.
A New Opportunity
- Ezra
- Under Cyrus, the Persian ruler, the Israelites were given the right to return to Jerusalem and rebuild. After having been removed from the land for 70 years, a group of people returned with Ezra and began to build their houses.
- They forgot about God.
- Haggai
- Thus, Haggai writes to remind them of their responsibility first to God. Their attitudes were reflected in their actions.
- They were building their own lives, which meant seeking comfort over worship and security over holiness.
- However, their wall was not rebuilt, which meant they were open to assault.
- God raised up a man to change that situation.
- Nehemiah
- As a cupbearer to the Persian ruler, Nehemiah was in a unique position of authority. He would be given access to the king’s resources and enabled to accomplish God’s task of rebuilding Israel’s wall.
- Nehemiah prayed, and God answered.
- The wall was rebuilt, but the people were not whole.
- They pursued all kinds of ambitions.
- Four groups formed while the Greeks took over the Persians and Romans took over the Greeks.
- These four groups of Israeli people viewed God’s Word differently.
- The Essenes removed themselves and lived in the desert to be faithful. The Zealots unified around a cause to overthrow the Gentile rulers.
- The Pharisees sought to preserve God’s Word while keeping tradition and living in society. The Sadducees fought to maintain their position within society and were determined to keep their rankings among the Romans no matter the cost.
- Galatians 4:4-6
A New Voice
- After over four centuries of silence, God entered humanity and His Creation as Jesus Christ.
- The Law requires sacrifice for reconciliation and atonement.
- No human or animal sacrifice was sufficient for God to remove mankind and restore the holiness and fellowship lost.
- Thus, God became man. He enfleshed Himself to fulfill the Law and offer his perfect life as a sacrifice acceptable to God for mankind’s reconciliation with Him.
- Gospels
- The life of Jesus Christ was revealed in the four gospel accounts. They are different in showing the perspectives of His interactions with humanity and for various audiences.
- The nation of Israel had failed as God’s kingdom of priests, so Christ stepped in as a substitute for them.
- He would succeed, but first, He demonstrated His Divine power.
- He manifested His Divine power through signs, miracles, and wonders.
- The people watching and us reading today ought to be amazed and look to God for salvation. This knowledge was revealed not for a select group of people but for all people.
- Jesus Christ is good news because He is man’s only hope of restoration to fellowship with God and the promise of eternal life with Him.
- Hebrews
- Jesus Christ was revealed to be the fulfillment of the Law, greater than Moses, angels, the Aaronic priesthood, and more.
- All Jewish religion or expressions of Jewish religion according to the Torah (Gen-Deut.) throughout the ages pointed to Christ.
- Every copy and shadow taught the Jews and nations that God is three in one. He is Jesus Christ in person, God in the Father, and the Holy Spirit in the Spirit. He is the Triune God.
- Acts & Epistles
A New Way
- When Jesus Christ’s ministry was completed, He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell and empower humans to accomplish the ministry and mission of expanding God’s kingdom on earth.
- They were to look to the apostles and prophets as guides to true and Divine knowledge.
- The Bible was to be the way the new humanity of God lived, moved, and had their being.
- They were a new humanity comprised of all nations and races.
- They were the Church, and this was the bride for which Christ died.
- But sin still reigns. Humanity still seeks knowledge outside of God.
- God won’t turn His head from this.
- No, he will judge.
- Revelation 1-20
- God’s judgment on the Church is seen throughout the first part of Revelation until God removes them from the earth and begins to pour out His judgment on the nations.
- The events that occur during this period are cataclysmic. God does not relent, and His patience is no longer abided.
- He moves swiftly, violently, and completely until His judgment is fulfilled on earth.
Re-Creation
- Revelation 21-22
- After God completed His judgment, resigning all those against Him to the Lake of Fire, He recreates His world.
- Here, Jesus Christ is once again among mankind.
- The return to the Garden of Eden is restored.
- God’s people live with Him in fellowship for eternity.
- Glory through knowledge fills the earth as the water covers the sea.
- Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace!
Next time, we’ll answer section 3: How can we live wisely in God’s world by filtering knowledge and living with understanding?
— July 19, 2024