Don’t forget our giveaway of two copies of Jacob: Journaling the Journey on Saturday!
Click here or scroll down for two super easy ways to enter!
Tag: Christian
GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
Wooohooo! Time for giveaway!
Since it’s time for Mother’s Day and Teacher Appreciation Day, I’ll be giving away TWO copies of Jacob in e-book format this Saturday, May 11. Keep it for yourself or give it away to your favorite mom or teacher.
Jacob is available for Kindle, Nook, and a variety of other electronic devices, including your computer, smart phone, and tablet. Don’t let not having an e-reader stop you from entering!
And just how do you enter? There are two ways, so you get two chances to win!
1. Leave a comment below telling me your E-MAIL ADDRESS and who would get your copy of Jacob if you win. Don’t forget the E-MAIL ADDRESS, or I won’t have a way to contact you if you win.
2. Like me on Facebook and come play Family Feud with us on Friday, May 10. The name of everyone who answers at least one question will be entered in the draw.
Invite your friends, too!
Godspeed! :0)
Types and Shadows: Study Notes on Exodus 1-2
Do you know what types and shadows are? To put it simply, it’s when we take a look at an Old Testament character and notice things in his life that are similar to, and foreshadow, the life and ministry of Jesus. I really enjoy studying types and shadows. For me it’s like Twilight Zone meets a treasure hunt meets the Bible.
This morning I was studying the first two chapters of Exodus, and I noticed several instances of Moses foreshadowing the life of Jesus. I have a couple of friends who enjoy types and shadows, and I figured there might be a few more of you who get as geeked up about this stuff as we do, so I thought I’d share my study notes with y’all.
A few of caveats: these are just “off the top of my head” study notes, so think of this as a rough draft rather than a polished article. Also, I didn’t consult any commentaries or other resources, so I’m sure I missed a lot of things that others have picked up on. Finally, this pretty much covers only Exodus 1 and 2, which ends before the burning bush episode, before Moses even returns to Egypt, so there are tons of things in Moses’ later life that I haven’t covered. There are many more examples of types and shadows after chapter 2, I just haven’t gotten to them yet.
Types and Shadows in Exodus 1-2
- Moses’ parents were people of great faith living under an oppressive foreign government, as were Joseph and Mary.
- Moses and Jesus were both born under oppressive kings who feared a takeover by the Hebrews and ordered a mass infanticide of Hebrew baby boys.
- Moses and Jesus were both “adopted” by a parent who raised them as their own children: Moses, by Pharaoh’s daughter; Jesus, by Joseph.
- Moses left the glory of his throne and palace and his position of royalty to “become” one of his own people, whom he delivered out of bondage to slavery. Jesus left the glory of Heaven and emptied himself of His royal position as King to become one of His own people, whom He delivered out of bondage to sin.
- Rejection of Moses’ and Jesus’ reign/authority by their own people:
“Who made you a prince or a judge over us?” (Moses)
“We do not want this man to reign over us.” (Jesus)
“We have no king but Caesar.” (Jesus)
- Moses and Jesus both sat down by a well (Ok, this is less type/shadow and more of a common thing for Israelite shepherds to do. Wells were communal gathering places for shepherds.) And speaking of shepherds…
- God heard Israel’s groaning and sent them a deliverer at just the right time: after 400 years. He sent Moses after 400 years of slavery and Jesus after 400 years of silence during the intertestamental period (between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament).
- Both Jesus and Moses returned to their homelands after the kings who wanted to kill them had died. God called Moses back to Egypt. God called Jesus out from Egypt.
Well, what did I miss? What other types and shadows do you see in Exodus 1 and 2?
Cancer: A Love Story
Cancer.
The dreadfulness of the word hung heavy in the air between Jana and her friend Denise.
“The doctor says it’s terminal,” Denise choked, “I’m so confused. I don’t know what to do.”
Jana’s heart broke as she envisioned the difficult emotional road ahead for Denise and watched the tears streaming down her face.
“I’d do anything to take that pain away,” thought Jana. “Anything.”
For days after they parted, Jana’s thoughts were consumed with how she could help Denise accept and feel better about her condition. By the weekend, when they met for coffee, Jana was ready.
“Denise,” she began, “I’ve been giving it a lot of thought, and I think I know why you’re so uncomfortable with having cancer.”
“Oh? Why?” asked Denise.
“Well, first of all, you shouldn’t be fighting against the idea of having cancer. It’s a completely natural biological event. In fact, you were probably born genetically predisposed to cancer. It’s part of who you are. Accept it and embrace it as something that makes you unique and wonderful!”
Denise seemed skeptical, but Jana plunged ahead.
“You’re also worried about what other people will think of you. Maybe they’ll think you’re weak and try to help you with things that you’d rather do for yourself.”
“But maybe I’ll need some help,” Denise suggested quietly.
“Nonsense!” Jana retorted, “Having cancer doesn’t make you different from anybody else. It’s exactly the same as not having cancer. What we need to do is show that to the world. Maybe we should have a rally for cancer equality!”
“Jana, that’s great and all,” Denise whispered somberly, “but I’m going to die. That makes all the stuff you’re talking about seem a lot less important.”
Jana seems like a very loving and kind person, but does the “help” she was offering Denise seem…well…helpful?
What if I told you that during this entire scenario, Jana personally knew a doctor who had a proven cure for Denise’s type of cancer, and was giving it away, yet Jana never told Denise? How loving and kind does Jana seem now?
Now read back through this story and substitute homosexuality for cancer.
We live in a culture that tells Christians that we are to “love” our homosexual friends and loved ones by embracing homosexuality as good and natural. We even hear people who claim to be Christians saying this. But is this how the Bible defines love? Is this how Jesus loved people?
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 John 4:10-11
Think back over the encounters Jesus had with people, from the woman at the well, to Zaccheus, to Nicodemus, to the woman caught in adultery, to the rich young ruler, to anybody else Jesus ever interacted with.
Did Jesus ever “love” someone by telling him it was OK to stay in his sin?
No, He didn’t.
Jesus loved sinners by calling them to repentance, forgiveness, and a new life in Christ.
Why? Because it isn’t love to help the slave to embrace his chains. It’s love to set him free.
Christ loved us by going to the cross and becoming the propitiation –satisfying God’s wrath—for our sins. He laid down His life for our freedom.
And, Christian, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. We must lay down our opinions, our politics, our ideas of what we’d like the Bible to say, maybe even our actual lives, in order to help people know freedom in Christ. We have the cure for their spiritual cancer—the gospel—and it is not “love” to knowingly misdiagnose them or keep that cure from them.
Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13
But as important as it is to rescue the perishing, there’s an even greater issue at stake here for those of us who claim the name of Christ.
For our sin, our Savior endured wrongful conviction, ridicule, mockery, and bullying.
For our sin, our Savior was slapped, punched, spit on, had His beard yanked out, and thorns and brambles mashed into His skull.
For our sin, our Savior had the skin flayed off His back, buttocks, and legs, whipped nearly to death until He was a bloody mess.
For our sin, our Savior, beaten, bloody, and broken of body, hoisted a heavy, splintery cross onto His shoulders and carried it through town and up the hill to His execution.
One nail.
Two nails.
Three nails.
For your sin. For my sin. For our neighbors’ sin.
How dare you, or I, or anyone spit in the face of our bleeding, dying Savior by saying that the sin that put Him on the cross is OK?
How dare we?
How can any of us claim to love Christ while celebrating the nails, the spear, the crown of thorns?
By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
1 John 2:5b-6
Jesus walked the way of leading people to repentance from sin and to the beauty, the freedom of a glorious new life through faith in Himself. Will we, who say we abide in Him, love Jesus and our homosexual neighbor enough to walk in the same way in which He walked?
The Perilous Parable of Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Tickle
Once upon a time, there was a college student who was majoring in engineering. Let’s call her Brie. (Why? No particular reason except that I’m hungry and I happen to like cheese. But back to our story.)
One of the pre-requisite classes Brie had to take for her major was calculus. Brie had heard about the various calculus professors at her university. Some were tough. Some were boring. A few had a reputation for being easy.
Brie knew she did not want to take calculus from Dr. Shepherd. Although she had some friends who had taken his class and really seemed to know their stuff, calculaically speaking, they had told her that he demanded excellence of his students, had a no qualms about flunking students who weren’t trying and didn’t know the material, and gave regular—and challenging— homework and tests.
Brie was leaning more towards Dr. Tickle. Everybody said she was really nice and cared warmly for her students. She wasn’t a stickler about deadlines for assignments, taught in a funny and entertaining way, and –most importantly for Brie—didn’t believe in tests. Brie hated tests.
All of the sections of Dr. Tickle’s classes usually filled up quickly, so Brie wasted no time registering, and, happily, secured a spot. She knew she’d made the right choice when, on the first day of class, Dr. Tickle started the lesson off with a one woman skit. She filled the rest of the class period with jokes and inspiring personal stories about her own days as an engineering major. No formulas. No notes. They didn’t even crack the spines on their new text books. Brie felt completely at home and comfortable in Dr. Tickle’s class.
About half way through the semester, Brie was regaling her friend, Tess, with a joke Dr. Tickle had told in class that day. Tess giggled at the punch line, but then her brow furrowed.
“Wow, you’re really taking Dr. Tickle for calculus?” Tess asked.
“Sure,” replied Brie, “I love her class. Why?”
“Well, I took her calculus class for a few weeks. Dr. Tickle didn’t really teach much actual math. And even when she did teach us a little bit about how to work some of the problems, I checked my notes against the book, and she had completely botched it. She had left out parts of the formulas, and some of the other things she taught us were the exact opposite of what the book said. If I had stayed in her class, I wouldn’t have a clue as to what’s going on in the upper level classes I’m taking now. In fact, I probably wouldn’t even be graduating. I’d really recommend that you drop Dr. Tickle’s class and take calculus from a good professor who knows what he’s doing. I took Dr. Shepherd’s class. He’s tough, but he’s a great teacher.”
“What?!?! How can you say that about Dr. Tickle? I leave her class every day feeling great about calculus! Not once has she ever made me feel uncomfortable or stressed about my calculations. She’s so understanding and kind, and I love the fun way she teaches. I thought you were my friend, Tess, and I thought you were a nice person, too. How could you say such mean things about Dr. Tickle?”
“I am your friend, Brie! I want you to be able to understand calculus properly so you’ll do well in the tougher classes that come later. I want to see you graduate with high marks and become a great engineer. I’m trying to help you!”
“Well, I think Dr. Tickle is a great teacher, and I really enjoy her class,” Brie responded coolly, “We’ll just have to agree to disagree.”
There are Dr. Shepherds and Dr. Tickles on church campuses, too. God has not called pastors to stand in the pulpit and tickle your ears with jokes and stories. Nor has He called them to make the Bible and his sermons all about you and your self esteem, your dreams, your health, or your lust for material things. God has called pastors to:
preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 2 Timothy 4:2-5
If you have a Tess in your life who is warning you that a pastor, teacher, or author you’re following is a false teacher, don’t react like Brie did. What if your friend is right? Do you really want to follow a wolf in shepherd’s clothing, or do you want to follow a Dr. Shepherd who will give you the truth of God’s word even if it’s difficult? Check him out. Where? Here are some resources:
Fighting for the Faith with Chris Rosebrough
www.fightingforthefaith.com
