A PARAGRAPH TO PONDER


​Church history is a treasure box, not a map. As Christians, we do not honor our forefathers and mothers by seeking to return to their times; rather, we honor them by receiving their wisdom and learning from their victories and failures. We retrieve from the past the elements and tools needed for faithfulness today. No golden age of Christianity existed in the past, only an unbroken line of broken sinners saved by the grace of God and empowered to transmit the gospel to the next generation.

Extracted From:  Trevin Wax,  This Is Our Time: Everyday Myths in Light of the Gospel (2017).

​Scriptures in Question:  Ezekiel 29:10  Isaiah 19:21-25
 
“… I will make the land of Egypt a ruin and a desolate waste from Migdol to Aswan, as far as the border of Cush.” (Ezekiel 29:10).
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“So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the Lord. … In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.’”  (Isaiah 19:21-25).
 
The most obvious answer to the apparent discrepancy between the two scriptures above, and others like them, is that they address different times. Ezekiel speaks to a time close to his own when Egypt would fall to outside invaders – as it soon did, in fact, to the emerging Babylonian and Persian Empires.   On the other hand, Isaiah speaks to a more distant time of millennial peace when the future nation of Egypt will be blessed for its obedience.

But there is another aspect to understanding scriptures like these.  Ancient Egypt is represented with a kind of “split personality” in the Bible.  On the one hand it is sometimes shown quite negatively, and on the other hand it is sometimes shown in a much more positive light. Egypt and Israel shared a common border in the ancient world, just as they do today, and this fact led to a great deal of interaction between the two lands – some of which was of a negative and some a positive nature.

Many scriptures speak of the national sins of ancient Egypt (Isaiah 19:1-25, etc.), and ancient Israel was repeatedly warned not to follow its example in many things – ranging from religious customs (Ezekiel 20:8, etc.) to trusting in horses and chariots for their national protection (Isaiah 31:1, etc.).  But most scriptures giving a negative view of Egypt do so by using it as a symbol of slavery and bondage, as the Bible records it had been for the Israelites.

On the other hand, although Israel left Egypt in the Exodus, the land of the Nile remained a major superpower during most of Israel’s history, and it provided shelter for a large number of individuals mentioned in the Bible.   We see this even as early as the time of Abraham and Sarah who went to Egypt when conditions were difficult in the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:10-20), and we see the same thing in the life of Joseph, of course, when his brothers went to Egypt for food during a famine in Canaan.  Other biblical figures such as Jeroboam fled to Egypt for political asylum (1 Kings 11:40), and later, when the nations of Israel and Judah were overthrown and taken into captivity, many individuals fled to Egypt for refuge (2 Kings 25:26) – including the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 43:5-7). In the New Testament, of course, Mary and Joseph also fled to Egypt with the infant Jesus to avoid persecution by King Herod.

So throughout biblical history Egypt played two very different roles – both as a land that had held Israel in slavery, and as a land that was a safe haven for many who escaped to it. Depending on the time and circumstances, Egypt was either an adversary or an ally, a place to flee or a place to flee to.

As a land symbolizing pride and oppression as well as refuge and protection, it is understandable that some scriptures speak of punishments that would come on Egypt and others speak of rewards.  The Bible shows that nations, just like individuals, are held accountable for their behavior, and so it is no contradiction that Egypt was prophesied to receive curses when it did evil and blessings when it did good.

As Christians, we come to understand that faith has two sides, two aspects, two dimensions. Call them what we may, our belief must include not only faith in the existence of God, but also faith in the nature of God – his goodness.

These dual aspects of belief and trust are summed up perfectly in the book of Hebrews: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).  We must first believe that God exists and we must also believe in his just and good nature –  that he is a God who rewards righteousness.

But, basic as this might seem, we do not always understand that these two aspects of faith are the story of the Bible itself – that throughout the Scriptures God introduces and reveals himself to humanity in exactly these two ways.  If we start at the beginning, we find the existence of God is shown in the creation story of Genesis 1. The nature of God is then seen in the story of God’s gifts to humans – including the potential gift of eternal life – in Genesis 2.   The same two-part story is repeated in every major theophany of the Bible. God’s existence is shown to the Israelites in the fire and thunder on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:17-20), and his nature is revealed to them in the law of love that he gives them there shortly afterward (Exodus 20:1-17).  There are dozens of smaller examples of this pattern throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. In words or actions, God reveals himself, then his nature.

Of course, the New Testament is no different. On numerous occasions Jesus is revealed as the son of God and then his nature is demonstrated in his works and teachings (Matthew 14:22-36, etc.). The reality of his divine existence is made especially clear to the key disciples in the visible transfiguration on the mountainside, and his nature as the son of God is then stated audibly (Matthew 17:1-5).  At the conclusion of his ministry, the same two principles are made evident in more symbolic yet equally real ways for all to see.  The identity of the Son of God is revealed to Jerusalem in the triumphal entry, and his nature, his sacrificial goodness, is revealed a few days later in his public crucifixion on behalf of all.  The expressions of these two bases of our faith are inseparable and reach backward and forward as we read the Scriptures – the Passover lamb, as a foreshadowing of Christ, was identified on the tenth day of the month and sacrificed separately on the fourteenth, and so on. Throughout the Bible we find God continually reveals himself and then reveals his nature. God appears and God blesses; God is and God acts; the great “I AM” (Exodus 3:14) is also the great “I DO” (Psalm 86:8).

Our faith in God must also follow the same development. It is never enough to simply believe God exists. As the apostle James tells us: “Show me your faith … You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder” (James 2:18-19).  That kind of faith is purely belief in God’s existence, and James shows that we must go beyond that.    The second half of God’s revelation of himself is always of his nature, and the second half of our faith that must be developed is always our trust in God’s nature.  As we saw above in Hebrews: “… anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6, emphases added).
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We must never be content in feeling that we are Christians because we believe God exists. The Bible shows from beginning to end that we must believe that –  then come to deeply know and trust the One we believe exists. We are reminded of this in almost the final words of the Bible which stress the existence and the nature of God: “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done” (Revelation 22:12).  Our faith is ultimately rewarded not because we believe God exists, but because we trust in the way he is and wants us to be. 

​Does God ever seem far away to you –  as though he were hidden from view and you cannot “see” his presence in your life? How can we know he is still there and just as desirous to work with us at times like that? Consider the biblical book of Esther. 

Our new article on the brave and beautiful Esther looks at some of the "hidden" aspects of the book and shows how they provide a valuable lesson for us. You can read the article here.

​We tend to think of the apostle Paul as a somewhat unique New Testament figure –  a spiritual giant in his own right who received a different calling and training from the other apostles. Yet despite the unique nature of Paul’s identity in the New Testament Church, in one sense the apostle’s ministry was not unique. It was at least foreshadowed in the work of a great Old Testament figure.

We see this fact from the beginning of Paul’s ministry.  In the autobiographical section of his letter to the Galatian Christians (Galatians 1:11-2:21), the apostle tells us that after his conversion “I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus” (vs. 17).

Paul telescopes events somewhat here, as Acts tells us that immediately after his conversion “Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God” (Acts 9:20). It was either then, or “After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him” (Acts 9:23) that Paul “went into Arabia.”

Today we might presume that the “Arabia” Paul mentions was the same area that we call Arabia today – the Arabian Peninsula –  but in Paul’s day that was not the case.  In New Testament times Arabia referred to the area of Jordan, the Sinai Peninsula, and the territory on the northwestern edge of the Arabian Peninsula. It was this area that was made into the Roman Province of “Arabia” beginning in the second century.

That this was the area Paul had in mind when he said he went to Arabia is seen just a little later in the apostle’s letter where he wrote about the symbolism of Hagar: “Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia …” (Galatians 4:25 ESV, NKJV, etc.). In fact, of all the places in “Arabia” to which Paul might have gone after his conversion, it is more than likely that Mount Sinai would be the one to which he would have been drawn.  As a devout Jew steeped in the law of Moses and the Covenant made at Sinai, Paul might naturally have desired to go to that very area to pray, meditate and learn how the truth he had now come to see related to what he already deeply believed.  

Additionally, of course, Paul was fully aware of the story of Elijah who, after the prophet’s life became endangered, fled to Horeb, the Mountain of God also called Mount Sinai (Deuteronomy 4:10, 1 Kings 8:9, 2 Chronicles 5:10, etc.) where he was instructed by God (1 Kings 19).  In fact, Paul mentions exactly this incident in his letter to the Romans:

“…I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace” (Romans 11:1-5).

In this passage Paul shows a similarity between his own situation (“I am an Israelite myself”) and that of Elijah, the remnant in Elijah’s time and the remnant in his own time.  The verses he quotes are from 1 Kings 19 –  the story of Elijah running to the mountain of God in Sinai. A number of scholars have pointed out that there are repeated echoes of the story of Elijah going to Sinai in what Paul tells us of his own trip to Arabia.  Just as Elijah stressed at Sinai, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty” (1 Kings 19:10), so Paul tells us he “was extremely zealous.” Just as Elijah complained at Sinai that his enemies were trying to kill him, so we saw in Acts that the Jews were apparently trying to kill Paul before his journey to Arabia. Just as God told Elijah to return to Damascus (1 Kings 19:15), so Paul returned directly to Damascus from Arabia (Galatians 1:17).  

As N.T. Wright has written, there are even more subtle parallels between the two stories.  Just as Elijah went to Sinai after zealously killing the prophets of Baal, so Paul, mistakenly but with equal zeal, went to Arabia after persecuting members of the Christian Church. Just as Elijah is told to return and anoint and thereby announce the new kingship of Hazael of Syria and Jehu of Israel, so Paul returned to announce the new kingship of Jesus as the anointed one – the Messiah (Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 115, p. 689).

The similarities with Elijah do not stop with these parallel events.  One of the most significant aspects of Elijah’s ministry is recorded in his trip to the coastal area of Sidonian Zarephath (1 Kings 17:9-10), which Jesus himself used as a symbol of the Gospel going to the Gentiles (Luke 4:25-26).  Paul’s undoubted knowledge of the story of Elijah going to the Gentiles gives us even more reason to believe that he may well have seen himself as travelling in the footsteps of the zealous Old Testament prophet.

The autobiographical section of Paul’s letter to the Galatians shows us that God will always use zeal when he can guide it to his purposes.