Sermon Cloud

These are the original sermon notes, they are not a transcript of the actual message.

Last week we ended with Adam and Eve being banished from the garden. The garden where they had experienced shalom, peace with God, with one another, with creation and within themselves. Prior to their leaving, God in his grace, provides clothing for them and the last thing they see, looking back as they leave, are two flaming sword and cherubim guarding the entrance to the garden, and barring their return.

Adam and Eve have Cain and Abel, but in a fit of jealousy Cain kills Abel and is himself sent to be a wanderer and a fugitive. Cain settles in the land of Nod, and has a son named Enoch. Seeking to have a place to call home, Cain would build a city and he named it after his son, Enoch. (Genesis 4)

After several generations pass we come to Noah. Through the many generations that had passed, mankind had become more wicked and Genesis 6 says, "that every intention of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually". The effects of sin in the garden, the enmity between man and God, between one another, between creation and even within himself, continue to fester in mankind and we continue to see the effects of that sin.

This gets so bad, that the bible tells us that God became sorry that he had made man on earth, but he also finds Noah, who finds favor in the eyes of God. At this point God has Noah build a boat big enough for his family and a whole bunch of animals, because God intends to destroy earth and start over with Noah and his family. (Genesis 6-7)

From this point we want to look at several generations of Israel through vignettes, small representative passages that focus on blessings, wanderings and rebellion.

Enter Abram/Abraham

After several more generations we come to Abram, who would later be called Abraham. (Genesis 12) Before we introduce Abram, remember Adam and Eve's banishment from the garden, the wandering and seeking of rest for the descendants of Adam, and then hear God's provision in Genesis 12.

Genesis 12:1 Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house (leave everything you know) to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Do you see God's plan of reconciliation here? God's plan to bless Abram and his descendants so that others will be blessed. This is the heart of God for his creation, blessing. A land was created for Adam and Eve and due to sin, they were banished from it. In this case, God is making a land for Abram and his descendants and they are being sent into it in order to be a blessing to others.

We see more of God's plan for shalom and peace to exist through Abraham in Genesis 18:

Genesis 18:19
19 For I have chose him (Abraham), that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him."

God's plan is to bless his people so that they will do righteousness, justice and be a blessing to others. Through Abraham God is working to reverse the effects of sin that started in the garden. From early in history, we have been called to be missionaries, to be vessels of blessing to others. But while Abraham and his descendants have been promised these things, they are still sons of Adam, made in the likeness of Adam. And over the next few centuries, we cone across stories of faith and disbelief, stories of obedience to God's call and of rebellion.

On to Joshua and the Promise Land

On the way to the land that God has promised Abraham's descendants, we see them move to Egypt to survive during a famine, then go into captivity in Egypt while growing as a strong nation and then being delivered by God from the Egyptians and headed to the land that God had given them. In Exodus 3 we see that God has prepared for them a land that is described as 'flowing with milk and honey". God is again preparing a beautiful land for his people, if they will enter it..

At one point in Israel's history, as they about to enter the land,t hey send spies ahead of them to check it out. Joshua and Caleb come back with good reports saying,

Numbers 14:7-9

"The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord."

But the Israelites do rebel and because of their fear and rebellion they are sent to wander 40 years and it is their children who will inherit the land that God has promised them. And later in the book of Joshua, it is Joshua who had believed in God's promises that leads them into the land that God had promised. So now Abraham's descendants are in the land that God had promised, a land of milk and honey, a garden of Eden if you will. If they can keep it.

Judges & Kings

It the book of Judges we see what happens after Joshua and his generation dies off. Judges 21:25 says, "in those days Israel had no king; everyone dis as he saw fit" Because the people become rebellious once again and refuse to follow God, God appoints judges over the land to be agents of justice. Later, as the last judges die off the people ask for a King. Let's go to 1 Samuel:

1 Samuel 8

8:1 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.

4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, "Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations." 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." And Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord said to Samuel, "Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.

10 So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. 11 He said, "These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day."

So Israel gets their king. First we see King Saul who rules unfaithfully, and then, while still a young man, David is anointed to be the next King. Unlike Saul, David rules faithfully and God makes a covenant with David, that God will make a permanent place for Israel, that God will give them rest and that He will raise up a descendant of David and establish his throne over the kingdom forever. But even this is not without trial, as David would sleep with another man's wife and suffer the effects of his sin. Later in David's reign, his son Absalom would seek to take his fathers throne. After Absalom is defeated, David's son Solomon becomes the new king, but even this peaceful period is short lived. After Solomon's death, the kingdom is torn into two kingdoms who fight one another.

During this time, in the kingdom of Judah God raises up a prophet named Isaiah. We will take a single look into the book of Isaiah to get a glimpse of what is happening: Isaiah 58:

Isaiah 58

58:1 "Cry aloud; do not hold back;
lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
they delight to draw near to God.
3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?'
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,
and oppress all your workers.
4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
will not make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is such the fast that I choose,
a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 "Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.'
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
11 And the Lord will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.
12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.

The situation is bad in Israel, and the Lord is calling them to repentance through Isaiah. What we see in this passage is God once again seeking to return Israel to its missionary goals of being a blessing to others. Not to serve themselves but to serve others, and it is then that they will experience the peace and prosperity that they seek.

But having grown weak due to internal strife, the two nations are taken off into captivity by the Babylonians, first Israel and then Judah. After Babylon is defeated by Persia, the Israelites begin returning to home led by Ezra and Nehemiah.

It is at this point that they return to a destroyed Israel, and rebuild the temple. But they are a mere shadow of what they once were. A mighty people under God is now a broken people trying to survive in hostile lands.

All throughout the history of God and his people, God has been faithful to offer them peace and shalom. Both Adam and Israel failed to be good stewards of the creation and relationships that God had given them, and they were expelled from their land. The enmity that began in the garden is still with them. They continue to be at war within themselves, at odds with others, in rebellion toward God and still poor stewards of the creation that God has given them.

At this point, the scriptures are silent for 400 years. God's promise to Abraham and David still exists. God had promised that Abraham's people would be a strong nation, blessed to be a blessing, and God promised to David that He out of David's offspring, God would raise up a King whose reign would last forever. God has been faithful to his promises thus far, so look forward to anticipation next week when God will reveal to us that King.