Eve, Mary and their Men - an Easter Meditation.

Back in Genesis 3, The first man, Adam a man made from the dirt of the ground, rebelled against God.

The man didn't physically die, but he spiritually did. For that rebellion he was judged dead even as he lived.

Spiritually speaking, the woman, Eve  - the mother of the living, was now a widow with nothing to look forward to but pain, bereft of her former husband, standing alone in the garden.

Fast forward to resurrection morning, and we pick up the scene almost as if we had never left the garden of Eden. The woman comes to the garden to mourn the man who has gone the way of all flesh - to judgement and death, yet when she gets there, she doesn't find him where she expects him. She finds him alive.

This is a wholly different kind of man - the true man - Jesus Christ. He steps in where Adam left off. He is alive, not dead. He is potent, not impotent.

The Old Testament church, symbolically a 4000 year old widow, is to marry again - not to the man of dust, but to the man from Heaven.

The book of Ruth symbolically tells this story too...

Easter

Three great videos, one great truth:


ht: Glen


The third one won't embed, but it's here, and it's awesome!

Chris Tomlin's Latest Album

After a recent recommendation, I purchased the new Chris Tomlin album. Good stuff! Am singing it to myself as I go about my business.

Taster:

Stagtion (Short for Stag Action)

Evidence of the relatively gentle treatment I received on my stag do here.

Am grateful to God for friends like these. :-)

Song for a Wedding

One of the songs we will all sing on 6th April, but that some may not know. So hum along for a little bit of hymn practice ahead of time:



It's a cracker!

Attack in the Garden

In Genesis 3, the Serpent attacks the bride (a big theme in the Bible). Here, that bride is Eve. And what does Adam do?  Nothing, absolutely nothing.

The chapter division between Gen 2 and 3 is unhelpful because we then go and assume a time gap that isn't there in the original text. It should flow together as one...

Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. Now 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’...?”

The serpent enters the garden, tempts Eve, and rather than grabbing that serpent by the tail and whirlling it around his head in order to launch it out of the garden,  Adam as head of the marriage, quietly nods his head to Eve as she contemplates eating, then joins her in the rebellion. (Note here, Eve is deceived, Adam is deliberately disobedient - you can tell this because there is no judgement pronounced on the woman - she will have pain, but Adam - as a head, is judged a dead man.)

Contrast this with the "Last Adam" - Jesus Christ. When the serpent comes to the Garden of Gethsemene - Jesus bolts out to the front of his men to protect them (John 18):

Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons. Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?”
“Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied.
“I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.)When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. Again he asked them, “Who is it you want?”
“Jesus of Nazareth,” they said. Jesus answered,
“I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go.” This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me.”

Adam's curiosity was such that he was happy to risk watching his wife "kick the bucket," knowing that God could take another rib and make another wife. When she didn't immediately writhe, scream, choke, keel over and die, He figured he would have a go too.  Eve trusted her husband and her husband betrayed that trust.

Jesus does everything to protect his people - his bride, giving himself up so that she might live. Here is a bridegroom who can be trusted to death - and through death - to new life (John 10:11,17-18).

Visit a Gold Mine and Get Some Free Gold!!!

Four talks on how to read the Bible. (Don't switch off, keep reading, I am willing to bet money, you haven't heard this stuff before.)

Whether you're a pastor of a church or a new Christian there is a load of gold here for you.

The talks are not so much about giving you information, as about giving you new eyes to see what you couldn't see before.  Following Jesus in Matt.13:22, Jordan helps us to see that the Bible is less a manual and more a seed, that transition has MASSIVE implications for the way you think.

Even at 63, he has the joyful, inquisitive mind of a child, (Matt.18:3) something we so easily and tragically lose as we get older and try to act all cool and sophisticated...

We are, after all, eternal children.

Assumption is the Mother of Disastrous Bible Reading

If you're like me, then up to today, you will have assumed that David and Jonathan were about the same age - brothers in arms etc etc. Had they grown up in the same town, they would have been the two lovable, mischievous friends - the adorable rascals who did exploits together.

But when you put the numbers together, Jonathan was at least 10 years older than David, and probably more - possibly up to 20 years older.

This piecing together of the story, puts a very different spin on the friendship of the two men.  It was more one of mentor-mentee or master-apprentice or (if you like Kung-Fu films) Sensei and Uchei-Deshi.

Jonathan not only gave up the kingship to David, he clearly prepared this young pup for that succession.  That makes Jonathan an even more godly man than I first thought.

Some would say that is not a disastrous assumption to dispel.  True, but that's the problem with assumptions, you don't realise they're there or how damaging they are until you come out from under them.

Wonder what else I am falsely assuming... and therefore labouring under...?

Virtual Reality

I knew CG was big in action films, but this little film shows just how ubiquitous it has become, from blockbuster beat-em-ups to split-second everyday touch-ups. Like so much else, it's all about covering and illusion.