Day 5 Abraham

Jesse Tree: Day 5              Abraham (Gen.15:1-21)

Even before the curse, is the promise.  ‘I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head and you will strike His heel’ (Gen.3:15).   Redemption comes only through the suffering of the Redeemer.  The exile Adam and Eve would endure is brought to an end only when the Lord Himself enters that exile and endures its curse.  That promise was so vivid that when Eve bore her first son, she seems to have initially thought this was the Man.  The Hebrew of Gen.4:1 might be more literally rendered: ‘I have brought forth the Man, the Lord’ (this is somewhat obscured by the NIV…)  The passing of years did not make the promise less sure.

The God of the Bible is the God of promise.  And all of us who follow this God live in the expectation of promises yet to be fulfilled.  Whilst Abraham was waiting for the fulfilment of the promise of the Serpent-Crusher, He was also waiting for the New Creation, the ‘city with foundations, whose architect and builder was God’; that, we are told, is why he lived in tents - a living testimony to the temporary nature of his passing through this life (Heb.11:9-10).  But Abraham is not just a great example of how to live obediently in the light of promise (i.e. by faith, see Rom.4), but he also illustrates and points to that promise himself.

Abra(ha)m was told to leave his father’s household and to travel to a land the Lord would show him.  He was promised not only that a nation would descend from him, but that the Blessing would descend through Him, so that through him all peoples on earth would be blessed.  The fact that Abraham met with and knew that Blessing (Jn 8:56-58) simply illustrates how deep and rich the faith of the Patriarchs actually was.  And so Abra(ha)m left Ur of the Chaldees and travelled to Canaan, taking with him all that he owned, and the wealth and peoples he had accumulated (Gen.12:1-9). 

That was, of course, precisely the journey the people of Israel would make generations later when they were led back from Babylon (Chaldea, see Ezek.12:13) to Judah (Canaan).  Abra(ha)m’s whole life pre-figures the Son he would bear, the One who would be the Blessing of all peoples on earth.  Matthew brilliantly brings this all together when he opens his Gospel with the genealogy of Jesus, and concludes: ‘It was fourteen generations from David to the exile in Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah’ (1:17).  At the deepest level, it wasn’t Ezra and Nehemiah who brought the people of God out of exile, but the Son of Abraham.

See Jer.34:18 for the significance of Gen.15:10 & 17

Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?  Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him… (Gen.15:17-18)

Ideas for Family Devotions:

Ur of the Chaldees (where Abram lived) was in modern day Iraq.  Have a look at the Open Doors children’s video about the Church in Iraq today.  It’s called Noeh’s Story, and can be found here:

https://www.opendoorsuk.org/resources/children/

As a family, how could you support the Church in Iraq?  There are some great ideas in the children’s section of the Open Doors Website.

Did you know that MIE partners with Open Doors?

Day 4 Noah's Ark

Jesse Tree: Day 4    Noah (Gen.6:1-14 & 8:6-17)

One of the strangest things about Christians is the way we handle the story of Noah’s Ark.  There is such dissonance between the horror and trauma of the story we read in the Bible, and its extraordinary revision in modern usage where it is often presented as a bedtime story, or perhaps even as an educational tool helping children to count in twos and name animals.  Few stories in the Bible provide a less likely narrative for a children’s story than the story of Noah.

Gen.6-9 presents us with a terrifying reality.  After explaining that human depravity has taken such a hold that ‘every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time’ (Gen.6:5, a situation that hasn’t changed) we are told that God ‘regretted creating human beings on the earth, and His heart was deeply troubled’ (6:6). 

It’s easy to underestimate the impact of sin - both on us and God.  But our Lord’s reaction should give us a sense of its extremity.  And that reaction is an almost total genocide sweeping away all but a handful of humanity.  A single family is redeemed from the judgement that engulfs the earth.  Only Noah, we are told, was a righteous man … [who] walked faithfully with God (Gen.6:9 & 7:23).  That can only be said of someone who trusts in the work of the Christ, whether that work is still in the future (as it was for Noah), or in the past (as it is for us).  Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb.11:6). 

‘The flood’ is often thought of as a heavy downpour that lasted an unseasonably long time.  What is actually happening is that is God re-winding the process of creation back to the second day (Gen.1:6 / 7:10-11); and then re-creating the world from that point again.   He is quite literally going back (almost) to the beginning.  In the midst of this cosmic destruction, the LORD provides one and only one covenantal place of safety.  And it is the Lord Himself who shuts the door.  His longsuffering patience is finally at an end.  This is why Methuselah (meaning: when he dies it - i.e. the flood - will come) is the man who has lived the longest!  But in the end, the same door that shuts Noah in, shuts everything else out (7:16-23).  So shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man (Luke 17:26-27).

And herein lies the key to the story… a near total destruction from which one man leads a redeemed people into a new creation.  It is the same story that will be told at the end of the history of this age.  This creation will once again face a near-total destruction (II Peter 3:6), through which one Man, the Son of Man, will lead a redeemed people into a New Creation, shutting the door finally against all that is evil.   This is the hope that is deeply embedded in the heart of the Church, and of this cursed creation (Rom.8:19-21). 

Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood…   (Gen.8:21)

Ideas for Family Devotions:

Watch the excellent ‘Jesus Storybook Bible’ telling of the story of Noah on Youtube.  It’s called ‘A New Beginning’ and can be found here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCLRcA9mlQE

Memorise Hebrews 11:7.  It might take a few days!  Talk as a family about what you think it means… 

Make a boat - origami, from a milk carton, wood…  it all depends on how much time and energy you want to invest  …or a rain-stick: http://www.kixcereal.com/kix-cereal-recycled-craft-make-a-rainstick/

Day 3 The Fall

Jesse Tree: Day 3             The Fall (Gen.3:1-24)

Today we got up and got dressed.  Since Genesis 3 clothing has been an inescapable reality of human life - for most of us at any rate.  After the ‘fall’, humanity’s first response is to clothe itself (Gen.3:7).  In our own culture, clothing is verging on becoming an obsession.  In the UK alone, clothing is a vast industry, worth £26 billion / yr, and which provides around 800,000 jobs to the economy.  That makes it the UK's largest creative industry.  On average, we each spend just over £1000 per year on clothing.

Apparently clothing is far more to us than simply a functional way of covering nakedness.  It would seem that a lot of money, time and attention goes into how we dress, and how we ‘present ourselves’ to the world.  We have an ‘image’ (even if our image is that we don’t have an image!).  We have a way we want the world to see us, and we convey a great deal of that through how we choose to dress.  Where we can afford it, we want to send a message through our clothing.  Are we still hiding?  Are we still covering our shame?  Are we still using clothes to try and convince everyone that we are better (cooler? richer? more sophisticated? … or less?) than we are? 

Clothing does seem to be massively important in the Bible.  Our first abortive attempts to dress ourselves in such a way that we might cover our shame (Gen.2:25 & 3:7), elicited a deep act of God’s compassion and grace.  In the breaking of fellowship with God, humanity opened the door to the lurking chaos and emptiness that had characterised creation before the Light was spoken into the darkness (John 1:4-5).  That darkness rushed back in, and death casts its first shadow through creation.  And with a gracious irony, it is the Lord Himself who strikes the first blow.  The first ever death is at the hand of Christ.  In a moment pregnant with significance, the Lord Himself slays a sacrifice, and uses the pelt to make ‘garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them’ (Gen.3:21).     It is not insignificant that Jesus, in turn, is stripped for His crucifixion.

And the scene is set for one of the most powerful metaphors in the Bible.  We cannot clothe ourselves adequately to stand in the presence of the Living God.  No clothing that we could weave is sufficient to cover our shame.  Psalm 132:9 prays that God’s priesthood may be clothed with His righteousness.  Our own will never suffice (see also Jesus in Is.61:10).  It is an image that runs throughout the Bible, until we glimpse the New Creation.  There, the ‘fine linen, bright and clean’ given to the Church to wear stands for the righteous acts of the saints (Rev.19:8).  Note they are ‘given [us] to wear’…  God’s grace from the beginning to the end is to make us garments to clothe us and cover our shame.

…they realised they were naked … The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them…  (Gen.3:7 & 21)

Ideas for Family Devotions:

We often recognise someone’s job by the clothes they wear.   Younger children might dress up, or enjoy looking at pictures of different people in uniforms.  How should people recognise Christians?  What do you think Paul means when he writes: Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom.13:14)?

Draw / write on a sheet or T-shirt a verse about being clothed in Christ, or in righteousness, or Jesus being our righteousness.  Wear it (at least in the house!). Suggested verses (as well as the ones in our reflection): Gal.3:27; Col.3:12; part of Phil.3:9…  perhaps Rom.3:22; II Cor.5:21

Visit mie.org.uk and watch the 12talks video on ‘Clean Living’

Day 2 Adam and Eve

Jesse Tree: Day 2             Adam & Eve (Gen.1:26-2:25)

When creation is called into being, it is darkness & chaos (Gen.1:1-2).  The story we usually think of as ‘creation’ is, on a closer reading, the story of God’s speaking light, order and life into a situation of formlessness, emptiness and darkness.  Only when this process is complete is ‘creation’ declared ‘good’.  Only now does it become fit for purpose.  And only after the creation of mankind in His own image, male and female, is creation declared to be not just good, but ‘very good’ (1:31).  We are formed from the dust of the ground, and we are those into whom God Himself breathes life.  In the creation of humanity we come to a unique creature, one who is an overlap of both ‘physical’ and ‘spiritual’.  A link between heavenly and earthly, holding a profoundly significant place in the panorama of creation.  Although mere creatures, Adam and Eve nevertheless hold a position of incredible influence.  What they do will impact everything.  Tragically, as Genesis unfolds we see humanity drags creation away from the Source of Light and Life.

Perhaps the phrase that highlights their significance more than any other is found in Gen.1:26, where we read the famous words: Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image…’.  The act of creating humanity is seen as deeply instructive - so much so that the narrative of creation is interrupted and we are taken back in Genesis 2 to consider this moment more carefully.   Adam and Eve are not created at the same time, nor in the same way.  Gen.2:21 records an extraordinary scene in which Adam is put into a deep sleep, and one of his ribs is taken and used to make a woman.  To our ears, this is enigmatic, if not offensive.  Why does God create us in this way?

The Apostle Paul teaches us that Adam was ‘a pattern for the One to come’ (Rom.5:14).  Taking this with utmost seriousness, Bible students of previous generations meditated deeply on Gen.2:21.  What seems obscure to us, was a vein of rich discovery for our spiritual ancestors, teaching them of a second Adam, who would both reclaim and change the destiny of creation (Rom.5:12-14 / II Cor.15:45-49).  They understood that in the deepest history of creation, we are taught the future of Christ…

The great 17th century commentator, Matthew Henry wrote: ‘In this (as in many other things) Adam was a figure of Him that was to come; for out of the side of Christ, the second Adam, His bride was formed, when He slept the deep sleep of death upon the cross, in order to which His side was opened, and there came out blood and water: blood to purchase the Church, and water to purify it to Himself (Eph.5:25-26)’.  Only by fulfilling the foreshadowing of Adam’s ‘death’ in Eden, could there be redemption.

God created mankind in His own image, in the likeness of God He created them; male and female He created them (Gen.1:27)

Ideas for Family Devotions:

Darken the room.  If we want to see someone, we need to shine a torch on them!  That is the Holy Spirit’s desire throughout the stories we’ll be thinking about in Advent - all of them are shining a light on Jesus, so we can see who He is and what He will do (John 15:26; I Peter.1:10-12).

Have you seen a detective film, or read a detective novel?  You might see some of the clues, but miss others.  Some of the characters in the story will see them too.  The Old Testament is this.  There are lots of clues about Jesus, but not everyone sees them.  Some do though, and we want to listen carefully to them.

Bake a gingerbread man & woman….  And eat them too!

Day 1 Creation

Jesse Tree: Day 1              Creation (Gen.1:1-25)

In Christ all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

…taken from Col. 1:15-18

One of the great insights that the Jesse Tree holds relentlessly before us throughout Advent is that all of Old Testament history is driving us towards Jesus, and His coming.  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1:14).  But that history stretches back before the creation of history.  Christ was ‘in the beginning’, before all things, and all things were created through Him and for Him.  He was the Word which God spoke, and through whom all things were made.  Which is to say, reality is not secular.  Without Him nothing was made that has been made (John 1:3).   But He is not just the origin of all of creation, He is the purpose of all creation and the end for which it is created.  He is its destiny, and it is He who gives it meaning and significance. 

Everything then that doesn’t correlate to that great end is deeply out of step with God’s purpose and design in His work of creation.  For us as Christians this is a foundational insight.  Everything in our lives can be done for God’s glory in Christ (I Cor.10:31).  Later in Colossians Paul will say: ‘Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus…’ (3:17).  He makes a similar point a few verses later: ‘Whatever you do, work at it with all your hearts, as working for the Lord … since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward’ (3:24).  This practical application of discipleship is born out of Paul’s vision of the place of Jesus as the purpose of creation, and therefore as the purpose of our part of creation.   

In one way this is the measure of the authenticity of our discipleship.  To what extent is everything we do being done in a Christ-ward way?  So many have a tragically impoverished view of our faith as only affecting the religious or spiritual aspects of our lives.  I suppose that is OK, so long as we understand that everything is religious, everything is spiritual.  School, work, leisure, domestic chores, every relational transaction that fills my days throughout this Advent season (and every other season of my life) will either be in harmony with God’s purpose in creation, or it will be out of step.  It will either honour Christ’s place in relation to creation, or it won’t.  Christianity provides as much a vision for every moment of our lives, as it does for every moment of history. 

Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made (Jn.1:3)

Ideas for Family Devotions:

Why not plant some cress seeds, and as they grow over the next few days, pray that the Lord will help us grow spiritually as we think about different aspects of the person and work of Jesus.

Think through today.  What will you be doing?  How can you make sure it glorifies Christ, and so stays connected to God’s purpose for creation?

Draw a picture of the solar system.  The sun is at the centre.  What would happen if everything tried to orbit around one of the planets?  What happens if we centre our life on something other than Jesus?