Tag: God

Brooding, moving, dancing

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 1 – Prelude

Brooding, moving, dancing

[Bible references: Genesis 1; Jeremiah 29:11; Romans 8:19-21; Galatians 3:13-14; Ephesians 3:20; 1 Peter 5:10]

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth … and the Spirit of God brooded[1] over the face of the waters …

Like a bird sitting on eggs keeping them warm until the eggs would hatch and bring forth new birds, the Spirit hovered, brooded, over the earth ready to bring forth life of all sorts, but particularly creatures that would be like God, creatures that would reflect the character of God: transcendent, loving, wise, fruitful, etc. This is how the story begins, full of anticipation and hope for what must be a grand and wonderful future. But even before the story begins, we may contemplate another mystery, the mystery of how there can be one God and also three persons identified as God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The early church[2] struggled with this concept and eventually, in the second century, a Christian apologist, Tertullian, coined the term “Trinity” to describe this 3 persons in 1 God concept.

However, that tidy little term can mask over the impossible to understand idea of God being one person and three persons at the same time. There is Greek word available to us that addresses the complexity of this three-in-oneness, “perichoresis”[3] which comes from two Greek words which mean “around,” and “to give way” or “to make room.” This is meant to describe the interpenetration or mutual indwelling of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

“In that regard the term “perichoresis” (meaning “interpenetration,” “circumincession” or “mutual indwelling”) has been used theologically at least since the time of John of Damascus to refer to the way the three divine persons live in joyful, dynamic communion without merging, loss, or distinction. It is said to be derived from the Greek term perchoreuo meaning “to dance around.” However, the evidence indicates that the term is derived from the different though similar looking perichoreo which refers to “interpenetration” but does not refer to dancing…. this does not mean that the concept itself is inappropriate, as evidenced by those who appreciate its use in that way.” [4]

While this term may be partly helpful in understanding this impossible to understand concept, there is another word that is very similar to another Greek which means “to dance around,” which gives us a word picture of our living and complex God in which the Father, Son and Holy Spirit not only interpenetrate but interact with one another, in a freewheeling but synchronized dance. This means that, as God’s image-bearers, we can reflect the image of the loving, interpenetrating, interacting, and dancing God as we participate in His work of taking care of His Creation and of one another.[5]

This dance which started before Creation, has been joined by God’s image-bearers since the beginning of humanity. It is now our turn. We just need to learn the moves and join the dance.

[1]  Biblehub “Genesis 1:2” Bible Hub biblehub.com/commentaries/genesis/1-2.htm Most translations or this phase use the terms “hovering” or “moving,” but there is also a case for using the term, “brooding,” as in a bird sitting on a nest of eggs.

[2] Van Ee, Joshua J. “The Church in the Old Testament” Westminster Seminary California 9 Nov 2017 www.wscal.edu/blog/the-church-in-the-old-testament The term “church” as used in this book will refer to what may more properly be called the “new testament church.” I wish to make that distinction because the term “church” may be properly applied to all of those who are “called out” to follow Yahweh.

[3] Compelling Truth. “What is the meaning of ‘perichoresis’?” Compelling Truth www.compellingtruth.org/perichoresis.html

[4] Edgar, Brian. “The God Who Plays: A Playful Approach to Theology and Spirituality,” Cascade Books 2017 (e-book) Chapter 9: Kingdom: Playing with God, The Dance of Life

[5] Miller, Darrow. “Perichoresis: Great Dance of God and Creation” Darrow Miller and Friends 16 July 2018 darrowmillerandfriends.com/2018/07/16/perichoresis-great-dance-god-creation/

Observe

Read Genesis 1.  Think of the Spirit of God hovering, moving and brooding over the earth. In your imagination, think about a spiritual being “giving birth” to physical living things, what would you expect to happen?

Reprise with variations

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 1 – Prelude

Reprise with variations

[Bible references:  Genesis 1; Psalm 8; 111; Exodus 8:16-19; John 21:1-14; Romans 8:19-22; 1 Corinthians 15; 1 Thessalonians 4; 5; 2 Peter 3; Revelation 21-22]

“The creation of the world seems to have been especially for this end, that the eternal Son of God might obtain a spouse towards whom he might fully exercise the infinite benevolence of his nature, and to whom he might, as it were, open and pour forth all that immense fountain of condescension, love, and grace that was in his heart, and that in this way God might be glorified. [1]

God created the universe for his glory, and within that, humans were created to experience the true joy of living, to bear the fruit of His nature, to reflect His presence. We are designed to be image-bearers of God himself, stewards of the creation He inserted us into as we reflect the very character of God. The exercise of stewardship is seen in the process of “subduing” and “having dominion” over the earth (its creatures and it resources), and in being “fruitful” and filling the earth. God’s initial reaction to creating us was, “It was very good.” His intent was that we would fill and take care of the earth, all the while reflecting His character to each other and to His creation.

In the beginning, heaven and earth were joined at the Garden of Eden. It was a place where the Creator could have communion with his image-bearers and walk in the garden with them. The garden was the perfect place for the image-bearers to develop and begin working out the intended future of filling the earth and ruling over it as co-regents with God.

He gave us unimaginable delight and freedom, but that very freedom He gave us was joined to a responsibility, a responsibility that was wrongly used and caused immense far-reaching damage – damage we could not possibly undo – the whole universe is groaning, waiting for to be restored. Our pride-laden rebellion damaged the relationships between each other, between us and God, between us and the world and even between heaven and earth; but God had a plan from the beginning, a plan which is now underway, to ultimately restore what was lost and undo that damage[2] and bring us to our intended destination – an earth filled with and ruled by image-bearers and where heaven and earth are rejoined so that the image-bearers can walk with God once again.

“Jesus’ own teaching during his brief public career simply reinforced the Jewish picture. He redefined a lot of ideas that were current at the time – notably, of course, kingdom of God itself, explained in many coded parables and symbolic actions that God’s sovereign, saving rule was now breaking in, even though it didn’t look like what his contemporaries had imagined and wanted.”[3]

Ultimately, we will be freed from the bondages of sin and death and all the relationships that are now damaged will be restored. In fact, in a timeline that we cannot fully grasp, God waited from the beginnings of mankind until 2000 years ago to defeat the power of sin and death and begin the process of restoring His kingdom on earth. Then He told us that someday, he will complete that process and he will return in the fullness of his glory to fully restore all things at that time. We just don’t know when that will be.

Our hope looks at the resurrection of Jesus as a harbinger of the resurrection that awaits all those of us who will be united with Him in our own transformed bodies in the new heavens and the new earth.

‘… what is the ultimate Christian hope? …what hope is there for change, rescue , transformation, new possibilities within the world in the present … if the Christian hope is for God’s new creation, for “new heavens and new earth,” and if that hope has already come to life in Jesus of Nazareth, then there is every reason to join the two questions together … “God’s kingdom” in the preaching of Jesus refers not to postmortem destiny, not to our escape from this world into another one, but to God’s sovereign rule coming “on earth as it is in heaven.” [4]

Furthermore, our hope doesn’t ask for us to simply wait for that time when the Kingdom of God is fully restored, but that we can be part of God’s plan to bring the Kingdom of God into our broken world.

[1] Edwards, Jonathan, “Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume Two,” SERMON II. THE CHURCH’S MARRIAGE TO HER SONS, AND TO HER GOD. Ed. John E. Smith, Yale University Press, 2009(p. 62)

[2] Bible Project “Pursuing God, Heaven and Earth,” Bible Project www.pursuegod.org/biblical-themes-an-animated-explanation-of-heaven-earth

[3] Wright, N.T. “Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, The Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church” Harper Collins 2008. Kindle Edition(p. 18).

[4] Wright, N.T. “Surprised by Hope” Harper Collins 2008. Kindle Edition (pp. 4-5, 18)

Reflect

Speaking strictly from what we know from science, we seem to be random life forms on a random planet in a random spot in the universe. In that perspective, having an anthropocentric view of the universe seems absurd. But knowing what the Creator of heaven and earth has revealed to us, the universe was designed to be inhabited … by us! How does that change your view of the universe?

Observe

Read John 21:1-14. What does this passage suggest about our resurrection bodies?

Interlude

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 1 – Prelude

Interlude

[Bible references: Psalm 19]

As I was working one warm summer night at a convenience store with the door open, it was not unexpected to see a moth fly in through the door. Normally, moths are attracted to light sources, but this time the moth was attracted to the white top of a garbage container. The moth was distracted by the light reflected off the garbage container. That describes a lot of human behavior; we get distracted by the pretty garbage.

Since the time of Adam and Eve we’ve had the temptation to place ourselves at the center of the universe, dismissing the idea that we did not create the natural beauty of the world around us but that we can possess and control it ourselves, that we are the masters of all we see. We are tempted to dismiss the reality that we are part of a universe we did not create with the idea that we can define the universe which we think revolves around us.

In the meantime, there is a story that began long ago when God brought into being creatures made in his image, a story about his plans for those creatures, plans for them to fill the earth and making the whole earth a place of love and goodness, but a place where that love and goodness would be disrupted by our rebellion. Fortunately, that disruption did not deter God from continuing his plans for his image-bearing creatures and that story is still in the making. That story is now our story.

What can get confused is that this story is contained in the Bible which is often presented as a disconnected story. The Old and New Testaments of the Bible can seem disconnected because of the cultural barriers between us and the testaments. Some people even think the God described in the Old Testament is different from the God in the New Testament.

That disconnect is exasperated by the long and messy history of the church. The church seems very divided on how to interpret those writings and how to live into them, leaving us with a confusion of various interpretations and practices that seem to contradict one another. How is one supposed to make sense of it all?

However, it is possible to obtain a clearer understanding of how both Testaments make one cohesive story, a story into which we can fit. When we see how the unified story than runs from Creation to Revelation, we can then see how we, as part of God’s church, are intended to participate in that story. God did not need to create us or the universe, He did it out of a desire to share his love and delight. God’s creation was more an act of play than of work and He desires that we actively play with him, if you will, to dance with him in His Kingdom.

The Kingdom Dance is not meant to be a solo effort, we are to dance with God and with his people. To that end, while this book can simply be read as a solo exercise, there are additional ways to engage with the material.

  • Biblical references are provided extensively through the book. They are there to support the text. If you read them, particularly the shorter passages, take the time to slow down and let God the Spirit speak to you. The Bible has been described as ancient Jewish Meditation Literature.[1] It is best read when you give yourself time to absorb it.
  • There are extensive footnotes throughout the book. Whenever possible, I have provided hyperlinks to online materials to make the additional materials easily available to you. If you spend time investigating the footnotes, you will notice that I am not drawing from only one Christian tradition, but from a variety of them, allowing the richness of the different traditions to form a more complete story. To form a more complete story I also, particularly in the beginning, will use materials from the “Second Book of God” that is, book of Creation.[2]

“God has, in fact, written two books, not just one. Of course, we are all familiar with the first book he wrote, namely Scripture. But he has written a second book called creation.”[3]

  • For those who are not practiced in studying the Bible, Appendix A gives a summary of techniques that could be used to help understand scripture. This may prove useful for understanding when you study the Biblical references given throughout this book.
  • Reading the material with a group can make the most impact. There are questions at the end of each chapter that ask you to reflect on the material and then read related biblical passages to think more deeply about various issues. These exercises and questions will help you engage with the material by first asking you to think about how each section applies to your life and secondly to share your thoughts with others in the group so that together you can more thoughtfully “Enter the Dance” with God, with all the others that have come before, with those that are coming now and with that will continue to come until Heaven and Earth are reunited.
  • Finally, the best participation will be not to just read and reflect, but to dance the Kingdom dance with God. Part 3 of this book will suggest ways to take part in his activity in bringing healing to the world he loves, broken now but to be finally and fully restored when He rejoins heaven and earth.

The Bible is a complex collection of literature, using many literary styles and techniques and it can be difficult to understand some parts, particularly when one part seems to contradict another. I have found a useful principal in studying the Bible which I call “Conflicts are Clues” which says that any apparent conflict or confusion in Scripture should be handled as clues to look further instead of thinking that the conflicts create contradictions which reduce the integrity of the Bible.

In our age, many regard science and theology to be in conflict. In years past, however, the issue was not about conflict but about which discipline rules over or undergirds all the other disciplines. These ideas were expressed in ways such as “theology is the queen of all sciences,” “math is the queen of all sciences,” “philosophy is the queen of all sciences,” “philosophy is the handmaid of all sciences.”

The biblical perspective is that God speaks to us both through two books, the book of Creation and the Bible. Theology’s main goal is to understand spiritual reality and science’s main goal is to understand physical reality, but both fields can inform the other about the nature of God.

This principle of “Conflicts are Clues” applies not just to the “First Book of God” (that is, Scripture) but also to the “Second Book of God” (that is, Creation) which is practiced by the testing and revisions of theories, but also between the Two Books. During the course of history, the study of the Two Books got separated and some of those in science rejected Scripture and some of those who were Christian rejected science, leaving conflicts unresolved as contradictions. But moving forward, this does not prevent us from considering apparent conflicts between the books as clues to be investigated further.

[1] Bible Project “Ancient Jewish Meditation Literature” Bible Project bibleproject.com/explore/video/bible-jewish-meditation-literature-h2r/

[2] Rusbult, Craig. “How should we interpret the Two Books of God, in Scripture & Nature” American Scientific Affiliation www.asa3.org/ASA/education/origins/two-books.htm

[3] Bacon, Francis. “The Two Books of Francis Bacon of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Human.” The First Book. Section.VI.Paragraph.16 1605

Observe

Read Psalm 19. This Psalm captures a response to what Francis Bacon called the two books of God:  the Book of Creation and the Book of Scripture. How do you respond to the “two books”?

A brief account

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 1 – Prelude

A brief account

[Bible references: Acts 17:22-31]

The following is an Extremely Brief Account of the Very Long Story.

There was, and is, and will be, a complex person we call God, who exists as three people that we have come to know as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God decided that he wanted to expand the love that was shared between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To that end, he created an entire universe so that on one of its planets he could create an abundance of living creatures.

On that planet, he created special creatures, humans, who were made in his image such that they could love him in the way that he loved them. This universe then, would be a form of temple, a place where God can meet with his people. The garden he placed them in was where the dimensions of heaven and earth overlapped. The garden was a place where God’s good and beautiful kingdom of heaven was fully present.

Of course, these humans were not duplicate spiritual beings who were gods themselves, but physical creatures who had enough of God’s characteristics so that they could love in the way God loved. But love is a voluntary thing that we must choose to do, we cannot love unless we have the option to not love.

God placed his first people in a garden and gave them an assignment. They were to be his representatives, priests if you will, in this garden. They were to take care of it as His representatives, His stewards in the garden. Their long-term task was to multiply and fill the earth so that the whole earth would become the place where God could meet with all his people. The entire earth was intended to be filled with God’s abundant provision for his people who would then take care of what God provided, and all the while giving and receiving and sharing the love which God would freely bestow. In this way, the kingdom of heaven would overlap with the entire kingdom of earth and God would freely mingle with his people.

The option to love or not love was provided by a test of trust. There was in the garden a tree whose fruit not only looked appealing but promised to provide the gift of all knowledge if one ate it. The humans were told to trust God and not eat the fruit of that tree. Eating that fruit would not only provide certain knowledge but would also provide death.

The results of that test are now apparent all around us. Death comes to us not only in the form of physical death, the separation of our souls from physical life, but also in the form of spiritual death, the lack of love which separates us from each other and from God. Fortunately, our current situation is not our destiny – and that is what the rest of the story is about.

God intended that death would not merely be a penalty for not trusting (or loving) but would also be the very mechanism by which he would restore us to himself. From the descendants of the first people, God separated out a family through which he would bring blessing to the entire world. Through that family that a nation would be raised and through that nation the eternal God would choose a family to accomplish the inconceivable. In that chosen family, the eternal God would cause himself to be conceived within the womb of a woman who would then give birth to a being who was both fully God and fully human. He would then be raised as a human and eventually would suffer death by execution as a human and then be resurrected as a human.

In that resurrected human body, the eternal God would return to heaven, but before doing so, he invited us, in essence, to represent Him on earth by becoming part of his body on earth. By trusting him and accepting his Spirit, we could join with him in His death and resurrection by dying to our own self-interests and uniting with his loving interests.

He then promised to return to us again in bodily form, at which time the kingdoms of heaven and earth will again overlap. Heaven will be rejoined to earth to fulfill the intention God had from the beginning. But meanwhile, in this time between His incarnation and His eventual return, we are still called to be stewards of our currently broken world, bringing slivers of the light and hope of heaven into a world now very dark with evil and suffering and pain.

Observe

Read Acts 17:22-31. How could we use Paul’s gospel message to people we speak to today?

New Testament Church

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 1 – Prelude

New Testament Church

[Bible references: Acts 1-7]                             

Jesus’ ministry was primarily to the Jews. After Jesus resurrection and return to heaven, the disciples, following Jesus’ instructions, waited for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. That did not happen until ten days after Jesus’ ascension to heaven during the feast of Pentecost.

With the power of the Holy Spirit, the church expanded. For nearly 14 years the focus was on expanding the church through the Jewish community, so the church primarily consisted of Jews who became followers of Christ. The church then was filled with practicing Jews who were also Christians.

 But then God intervened twice to refocus the church expansion to include the Gentiles. In the first case, through visions, God arranged a meeting between the apostle Peter and a centurion named Cornelius. In the second case, God called someone who was a persecutor of the church, Saul, to be an apostle to the Gentiles.

As Gentiles came into a church filled with practicing Jews, some people in the church thought that the Gentiles should also become Jewish in order to then become Christians. But in a church council, the church confirmed that Gentiles did not have to become Jews in order to follow Christ. James, acting as the leader of the council, quoted Amos 9:11-14, to confirm the ministry to the Gentiles.

Observe

Read Acts 2:42-47; 6:1-7. What would you be willing to do in order to be in a church like the one described here?

Overview of the Gospels

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 1 – Prelude

Overview of the Gospels

[Bible references: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John]

The New Testament begins with a set of four biographies about Jesus. They are referred to as the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It is possible to think about the Old Testament as the inspired introduction to the New Testament, foretelling of the Person, work and kingdom of Christ. Old Testament quotes, allusions, and types are woven into the Gospels.

Christ is presented as king (who rules over all things), prophet (who represents God to the church) and priest (who intercedes for the church).  All the gospels record: the unique revelation of Christ, the ministry of John the Baptist, the feeding of the 5,000, Christ’s offer of Himself as King, the betrayal by Judas; the denial by Peter, the trial and crucifixion and bodily resurrection of Christ, events during the forty days of the post-resurrection ministry of Christ, the hope of His second coming.

The following table shows how the Gospels tell the story of Jesus from different perspectives, each focusing on different perspectives of Jesus’ life, and each trying to give a different message about the life of Jesus.

Comparison of Gospels
 MatthewMarkLukeJohn
Portrait of JesusKingServantTeacherSon of God
Original readersJewsRomansGreekschurch
Key phrasesKingdom of heaven, fulfilledKingdom of God, Immediately, nowKingdom of God, Son of manBelieve, Word of God, only begotten Son, eternal life
FocusJesus is the Messianic King of the promised Davidic kingdom which fulfills the Old Testament prophecies and claimsJesus is the authoritative Son of God. He is God’s triumphant envoy come to suffer and die in order to claim victory over sin and deathJesus is the perfect Son of Man, the Messiah prophesied by the prophets who came to save and to minister of people of all nations through the power of God the Holy SpiritJesus Christ is the fully divine Son of God who existed before creation. He is the true Lamb of sacrifice through whom we receive the gift of eternal life
Prominent sectionssermonsmiraclesparablesteachings
Genealogytraced to Abrahamnonetraced to Adamnone
Geographic emphasisGalileeGalileeGalileeJudea
Comparison of the Gospels

Observe

Read the chart above. Which gospel is centered in Judea?

Earthly kings and the rejection of God as king

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 1 – Prelude

Earthly kings and the rejection of God as king

[Bible references:1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings; 1 and 2 Chronicles]               

The last of judges was Samuel, who also functioned as a priest. By this point in time, Israel was convinced that their continuing problems were, of course, not themselves. They thought that their problem was that they didn’t have a king like everyone else. Actually, God was their king and Samuel was His representative. But the Israelites were not satisfied with God choosing prophets who would speak for Him. So, God gave them a king, like everyone else, Saul. While it did not take Saul a long time to turn from God so completely that God rejected him, Saul was able to reign for 40 years. David, who was described as someone after God’s own heart, replaced Saul. David expanded the kingdom from the Orontes River in the north to the Sinai peninsula in the south.[1] Solomon, building off of David’s legacy, did not focus on expanding the kingdom as much as building its wealth. Solomon’s wealth increased not only in riches of gold and silver, but also in wives and concubines. His love towards his wives and concubines overrode his love for God, so at Solomon’s death, the kingdom split in two parts.

Ten tribes who rebelled against Solomon’s son, aligned with the northern kingdom, which became named Israel.  Of the other 2 tribes, the tribe of Judah was most prominent. Both kingdoms were eventually conquered by neighboring empires: the northern kingdom by Assyria and the southern kingdom by Babylon.

[1] Archaeologists have had difficulty locating evidence of the kingdoms of David and Solomon. That is due, in part, to the Israelites tendency to adopt the customs of the Palestinian nations, making their artifacts indistinguishable from the nations they displaced.

Reflect

From what we see in the world around us, how often do people take responsibility for their own problems?

Observe

Read 1 Samuel 15:15. What’s the clue that Saul was no longer following God?

Settling into the Promised Land

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 1 – Prelude

Settling into the Promised Land

[Bible references: Joshua, Judges]                                     

Moses died on the east of the Jordan River. Joshua, one of the 12 spies, led Israel into the Promised Land. After the conquest was complete, the land was divided among the 12 tribes and the tabernacle was moved to Shechem, the place where God promised his descendants would dwell, where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph were buried.

After Joshua’s death, no one was appointed to be the leader of the people. The people did have the Books of the Law as written by Moses to guide them. God was supposed to be their king. But particularly when things were going well, Israel was inclined to forget about God and not be obedient to the Law. To encourage Israel to return to Him, God would allow some of the neighboring tribes harass them. When things got too bad, the people would complain to God, who would raise up leaders (called judges) to help them overcome their enemies, after which Israel would remember to their old ways. The process would repeat several times.

Observe

Read Judges 2:10-19. What habits did the Israelites find hard to break? What habits are hard for you to break?

Moses and the Exodus

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 1 – Prelude

Moses and the Exodus

[Bible references: Exodus 8-11; 14-15; Numbers 13-14; Deuteronomy 1]                                      

430 years would pass after the promise was given to Abraham, that his people, now named after his grandson, Israel, would walk out of Egypt. God told Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved in Egypt for four generations[1] before they return to the Promised Land at which time the “sin of the Amorites would be complete.”

At the scheduled time, God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, and it would take 10 plagues, including the death of the firstborn, to convince the Pharaoh to let Israel go. Moses led the people out of Egypt by way of the “Red Sea.” The Commandments were given, and the building of the Tabernacle occurred, at Mt Sinai, location uncertain, before Israel would leave for the “Promised Land.”  When 12 spies were sent into the land, 10 of them focused on the difficulty of taking the land, inspiring fear among the people and causing God to consign Israel to wander in the wilderness for 40 years where all the adults 20 and over would die before Israel would finally go into the Promised Land.

[1] LeBrun, Ken. “The 400-Year Prophecy and the Fourth Generation”” Thoughtlines www.thoughtlines.org/2013/09/the-400-year-prophecy-and-fourth.html; BibleAsk “Did the Israelites spend 400 years in Egypt?” BibleAsk bibleask.org/did-the-israelites-spend-400-years-in-egypt/; Glatt-Gilad, David. “How Many Years Were the Israelites in Egypt?” TheTorah.com www.thetorah.com/article/how-many-years-were-the-israelites-in-egypt; Got Questions. “How many Israelites left Egypt in the exodus?” Got Questions www.gotquestions.org/Israelites-exodus.html; It would be 430 years from the time Abraham’s son Isaac was born but the time spent in Egypt would only be for four generations. Linked to that is the apparent size of the Israelite people leaving Egypt. Allowing for only 4 generations in slavery and, starting with a population of 70 people, something less than 10,000 people would have left Egypt with Moses. This helps to make sense of the Biblical events in the Promised Land and also of the archaeological evidence now available.

Reflect

Think of situations where you had to overcome fears in order to spiritually grow.

Observe

Read Genesis 15. Abram was living in the land of Canaanites which the Lord had promised to give to Abram’s descendants, but in a dream the Lord about how Abram’s descendants would first be enslaved and then return to the Promised Land, but only after “the sin of the Amorites reached its full measure. What does that say about how God works in the present day?

The Patriarchs

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 1 – Prelude

The Patriarchs

[Bible references: Genesis 12-50]                                    

Approximately 2000 B.C., a man named Abram[1] lived in the city of Ur (at that time a coastal city on what is now the Persian Gulf). Abram’s father took his family up the Euphrates River to the city that would be named after Abram’s brother, Haran and settled there. When Abram was 75, God called him to go to another country. When he arrived in Shechem, God told him that this would be the land given to his offspring. Abram did go down to Egypt briefly, but then returned to Shechem. By that point in time, the herds were so large that it was necessary for Abram and his nephew Lot to split up. Abram’s nephew Lot chose to move down to the valley of Sodom and Gomorrah.

When Abram was 90 years old, God told Abram that he would be the father of many nations, renaming him Abraham. But Abram would be 100 years old before his son, Isaac, was born. Abram did have a son, Ishmael, through his wife’s servant, but Ishmael would be sent away, becoming the father of the Arabs.

Isaac didn’t get married until he was 40. He was 60 by the time his only sons, the twins, Esau and Jacob were born.

Jacob had 12 sons and a daughter by 2 wives and 2 concubines. At one point, Jacob wrestled with an angel, who gave him the name, Israel (“struggles with God”).

Jacob’s son, Joseph, was sold as a slave by his brothers to a trader passing through to Egypt, where, through interesting circumstances he became 2nd in charge to the Pharaoh. Years of droughts led to Israel and his other sons moving to Egypt.

[1] To see how Biblical events fit into the history of the Middle East empires see Appendix B, “Timeline for Middle East Empires.”

Observe

Read Genesis 17. Abram was 99 years old and still had no son with his wife Sarah when God renamed him Abraham (“father of many nations.”) and then repeated his promise to Abram 24 years earlier. What does this tell you about patience and faith?

The paradox of authority

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 1 – Prelude

The paradox of authority

[Bible references: Jeremiah 29:7; Matthew 18:16-20, 21:22-24; 28:16-20; Romans 13:1-3; 1 Corinthians 2:6-13; 13:9-11; 1 Timothy 3:1-12; 1 Peter 2:12-14]

On the one hand, we consider scripture to be inspired by God and therefore to be authoritative and a means by which God can speak to each of us. On the other hand, scripture was determined by the operation and traditions of the church because the church, as the Body of Christ was given the authority to preserve, teach and preach God’s Word.[1] This process creates a tension concerning authority when there is an apparent conflict between the authority of scripture and the traditions of the church. One of those conflicts resulted in the Protestant Reformation when the Reformers, seeing the corruption inside the Roman Catholic Church, wanted to place the Bible’s authority over the traditions of the Church.[2]

[1] Terry, Tom. “The Power and the Authority of the Church” Preachitteachit, preachitteachit.org/archives/12186; Uttinger, Greg “The Power and Authority of the Church” Chalcedon Foundation, chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/the-power-and-authority-of-the-church

[2] History.com “The Reformation” History.com, www.history.com/topics/religion/reformation

Reflect

When you assemble a gathering of imperfect Christians, they will make an imperfect congregation. And yet, as a part of the Body of Christ, they have the authority to preserve, teach and preach God’s Word. In our current day, many people are dissatisfied with the organized church. Why do you think this is?

Observe

Read Matthew 28:16-20; Romans 13:1-3. What do we do if there is a conflict between the authority of the government with our authority as Jesus’ disciples to make disciples?

Breathed by God, Written by Human Hands

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 1 – Prelude

Breathed by God, Written by Human Hands

[Bible references: Genesis 2:7; Acts 15:1-35; 2 Corinthians 4:1-4; 2 Timothy 3:14-17]

It is God who gives life, breathes life. The Hebrew word for Spirit, ruach, is the same word for wind. God breathed life into the creatures of the earth and then into the first people, creating them as images of himself who could serve as priests and stewards of His Creation.

God’s Spirit guided Abraham to leave for the Promised Land, guided Moses to lead his people out of Egypt, guided Joshua to lead his people back into the Promised land, guided leaders who were identified as judges to guide his people, guided kings to rule over his people, guided prophets to exhort His people and inspired them to record the words he spoke, guided disciples to become apostles to further the project of bringing his kingdom into the world. God inspired disciples to write biographies of his life and letters to the churches. After the apostles had died, that same Spirit raised other leaders to disciple the church and guide the church in how to live and practice its faith, to become mature disciples of Christ, guiding church councils to discern truth from error and to discern what writings should become the scripture for the church.

God had inspired (“God-breathed”) those who had written scripture, but Spirit-led guidance is just that, guidance. How we respond to God’s guidance is up to us. So even if we receive Spirit-led guidance, we need to grapple with a couple of problems. The first problem is that everyone only incompletely understands who God is and different people come to different and incomplete understandings. The second problem is our sin and rebellion against God causes us to deceive ourselves and others, and to fall further from God.

To help overcome these problems, the church has learned to come together in councils. By gathering in councils, church leaders guided by the God’s Spirit have helped each other discern the truth, grow in the faith and bond together in unity. Over time though, as the church expanded into different parts of the world, different languages and cultures added to mix of differences that were already mentioned, which led to apparently irresolvable differences that has resulted in the fracturing of the church, a fracturing that has continued to this day. Despite that fracturing, different parts of the church have still found benefit in gathering in their separate councils to determine what doctrines and practices are correct. While there are forces at work to further fracture the church and disrupt its unity, the Holy Spirit is at work throughout the Church, preserving the Biblical message and creating a unity that is hidden behind the fractured and broken church. The obvious message is that the Church is not the Savior but needs the Savior as much as those who are not yet in the Church. This allows the Church to invite others to come alongside as together we all learn how to Dance.

Observe

Read Acts 15:1-35. What is the power of having a council making a decision together? In what situations do you seek a decision from a group?

A Person and a Community

Dancing in the Kingdom – Table of Contents

Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom, Chapter 2 – The God who created

[Bible references: Genesis 1:1; Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 48:14-16; Matthew 3:16-17]

It is sometimes said that a picture is worth a thousand words, as it would take many words to describe the colors, shapes and expressions detailed in a picture. But sometimes, it can also be said that a word is worth a thousand pictures, as it is possible that one word in one document can be linked to many other documents where that same word is used with the meaning in each instance add to the meanings in the other instances. For example, the first sentence in the Bible says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

Let’s consider the word “God.” In the Hebrew language that was used in the original writing of the first part of the Bible, that word is “Elohim.” The curious thing is that “Elohim” is a plural noun which could be, and often is, translated as “gods” while the verb “created” (“bara” in Hebrew) is singular.[1] This combination of “Elohim” with a singular verb happens throughout the Old Testament part of the Bible and in all those cases, “Elohim” is translated as the singular noun, “God”. So, what’s the story with this?

On the one hand, the Bible is very strident in insisting that there is only one God. One of the central doctrines taught to the Jews is, “The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” In the time frame that the Bible was written, this statement strongly contrasted with all the other cultures which had multiple gods. On the other hand, the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments, talks about God as Father and also God as Son and also God as Holy Spirit. This phenomenon shows up even as we look at Genesis 1, where we can see that God created and that the Spirit was hovering over the water. We continue to see this concept of one God, but three persons referred to as God develop throughout scripture, both in the Old Testament as the New Testament.[2]

So how do we make sense out of the insistence on there being one God while also revealing that there are multiple personalities associated with “God.” This is certainly a tough question that has created problems in the church (more on that later) and is but one thing among many that God seems to have revealed to us without explaining it. The church has referred to this complexity as the “Trinity.” It is from the outflowing of love between the members of the Trinity that God created us, desiring us to join each other in community and together join the community of love that is present in the Trinity.

[1] Biblehub “Elohim” Strong’s Concordance, Bible Hub biblehub.com/hebrew/430.htm

[2] Stewart, Don. “Is the Doctrine of the Trinity Found in the Old Testament?” Blue Letter Bible, ?”  Blue Letter Bible www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_330.cfm

Reflect

Chapter 1 introduced perichoresis as a way of trying to picture the relationship of the persons of the Trinity. How do you think of love as an integral part of not only that relationship but the desire to expand that relationship to include us?

Observe

Read Genesis 1:1-2; Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 48:14-16; Matthew 3:16-17.  This passage in Genesis uses the plural word “Elohim” to identify God. Deuteronomy is insistent that there is one God. Isaiah and Matthew indicate three persons as God. The word, “Trinity,” was invented to describe this phenomenon. The word, “perichoresis,” was used to try to describe this phenomenon. How could you use these words to explain this phenomenon to other people?

A Brief Account

Dancing in the Kingdom – Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 1 – Prelude

A Brief Account

The following is an Extremely Brief Account of the Very Long Story, a summary of the Bible’s story.

There was, and is, and will be, a complex person we call God, who exists as three people that we have come to know as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God decided that he wanted to expand the love that was shared between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To that end, he created an entire universe so that on one of its planets he could create an abundance of living creatures.

On that planet, he created special creatures, humans, who were made in his image such that they could love him in the way that he loved them. This universe then, would be a form of temple, a place where God can meet with his people. The garden he placed them in was where the dimensions of heaven and earth overlapped. The garden was a place where God’s good and beautiful kingdom of heaven was fully present.

Of course, these humans were not duplicate spiritual beings who were gods themselves, but physical creatures who had enough of God’s characteristics so that they could love in the way God loved. But because love is a voluntary thing that we must choose to do, we cannot love unless we have the option to not love.

God placed his first people in a garden and gave them an assignment. They were to be his representatives, priests if you will, in this garden. They were to take care of it as His representatives, His stewards in the garden. Their long-term task was to multiply and fill the earth so that the whole earth would become the place where God could meet with all his people. The entire earth was intended to be filled with God’s abundant provision for his people who would then take care of what God provided, and all the while giving and receiving and sharing the love which God would freely bestow. In this way, the kingdom of heaven would overlap with the entire kingdom of earth and God would freely mingle with his people.

The option to love or not love was provided by a test of trust. There was in the garden a tree whose fruit not only looked appealing but promised to provide the gift of all knowledge if one ate it. The humans were told to trust God and not eat the fruit of that tree. Eating that fruit would not only provide certain knowledge but would also provide death.

The results of that test are now apparent all around us. Death comes to us not only in the form of physical death, the separation of our souls from physical life, but also in the form of spiritual death, the lack of love which separates us from each other and from God. Fortunately, our current situation is not our destiny – and that is what the rest of the story is about.

God intended that death would not merely be a penalty for not trusting (or loving) but would also be the very mechanism by which he would restore us to himself. From the descendants of the first people, God separated out a family through which he would bring blessing to the entire world. Through that family that a nation would be raised and through that nation the eternal God would choose a family to accomplish the inconceivable. In that chosen family, the eternal God would cause himself to be conceived within the womb of a woman who would then give birth to a being who was both fully God and fully human. He would then be raised as a human and eventually would suffer death by execution as a human and then be resurrected as a human.

In that resurrected human body, the eternal God would return to heaven, but before doing so, he invited us to, in essence, to represent Him on earth by becoming part of his body on earth. By trusting him and accepting his Spirit, we could join with him in His death and resurrection by dying to our own self-interests and uniting with his loving interests.

He then promised to return to us again in bodily form, at which time the kingdoms of heaven and earth will again overlap. Heaven will be rejoined to earth to fulfill the intention God had from the beginning. But meanwhile, in this time between His incarnation and His eventual return, we are still called to be stewards of our currently broken world, bringing slivers of the light and hope of heaven into a world now very dark with evil and suffering and pain.

Reflections

How do you feel in comparison to the immense size of the universe? What does it mean to you, that the universe was designed with you in mind?

Observe

Read Acts 2:22-36; 7:2-50; 10:34-43; 13:16-39; 17:22-31. These passages show the various ways the gospel was presented to various audiences. As you read through the different accounts of the gospel, what stands out to you?