Genesis and the Messiah

Genesis 3:15
"I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel."

Genesis 4:1
"Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”

Genesis 4:25
"And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”

Genesis 5:29
"and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”


In the midst of a curse God gives a promise. He promises that the seed of the woman will crush the serpents head. The rest of the Bible hinges on this promise. Genesis 3:15 is the first sign of God's mercy towards his people, and the rest of Genesis, the entirety of the Old Testament, and even the New Testament show the fulfillment of this promise. This is the promise of the Messiah. I essentially put all of those verses up above so that could see that this is the theme of the beginning portion of the book of Genesis. Every parent thinks that their child will fulfill this promise. Eve thinking its her children, and Lamech thinking its Noah that will bring rest and make it so they do not have to work so hard.

In truth the whole Bible leads up to one thing: The Messiah. The Bible is about Jesus Christ, from the very beginning to the very end. This is the context with which we need to read Genesis or any other book. Jesus is what its all about. This also displays the amazing unity of the both Genesis and the Bible. The theme is the same throughout it all, Man messed up, but a savior, a redeemer, the one who will fix it all is coming, and has come. Jesus Christ has conquered our sin, and will heal the curse.
Amen.

Peace and Sovereignty

"Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand...
... I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other times it's only me.
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand."
Bob Dylan "Every Grain of Sand"

"But the Lord continually shows loyal love to his faithful followers,
and is faithful to their descendants, to those who keep his covenant,
who are careful to obey his commands. The Lord has established his
throne in heaven;his kingdom extends over everything."
Psalm 103:17-19 (NET Bible)

The sovereignty of God is an issue that perplexes many Christians. It seems to bother them that God is in such complete control. And I guess in some ways this is understandable, but the scriptures claim the sovereignty of God. I have neither the time nor the inclination to prove that God is just in his actions, though I believe that he is. But I do desire to talk about and discuss the proper Christian response to the realization of the sovereignty of God.

First it is clear that God is sovereign, from Ephesians 1:11-12:

"In Christ we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, would be to the praise of his glory."

Here we see that we are God's possession, and that we are "to the praise of his glory". This and many other scriptures indicate the complete and total sovereignty of God.

So Today, I claim, that as Christians we should rejoice in the sovereignty of God. We shouldn't run from it, or argue about it, we should revel in it. We should rest in it. We will be at peace if we constantly recognize the sovereignty of God.

I know that I do not constantly rest in this attribute of God, and I am not at peace when I am not resting in it. God knows about every sparrow falling, and he has every hair on my head numbered, but more than that he loves me this combination of power and love should bring me peace. I need to rest in the sovereignty of God, I need to not worry about tomorrow for God is in control.

So I ask you, how do you act differently when resting in the sovereignty of God, or how would you act differently if you embraced the sovereignty of God instead of being frightened by it? Even those of us who claim to believe strongly in the sovereignty of God rarely live as if we do, what would the church be like if we did live like we believe in the sovereignty of God?

Welcome

Take away paradox from the thinker and you have a professor.-Soren Kierkegaard

If I am capable of grasping God objectively, I do not believe, but precisely because I cannot do this I must believe. - Soren Kierkegaard

I am no Scholar, and definitely not an expert on Kierkegaard, but I do find the concept of paradoxes interesting. And of course, I do think of myself as a thinker of sorts, maybe not a brilliant one, but as a human being, I do think, and I enjoy it. I enjoy it also when done with others, as a community. Hence this blog.

I will soon be entering my fifth year of education beyond high school and my first year of seminary. This is my blog, my dialogue with you.

The format of this blog will be simple, I will start with a picture or a quote, could be anything. A brief paragraph or so pertaining to this quote will follow, and then a question. This question is one of the most important parts, I wish to hear from you. Sometimes the question will call for a response, other times it will be a thought experiment or a internal question to be answered by you and for you.

So with that I begin. My question for this time is: "Does the existence of paradoxes strengthen or weaken your faith?"