I AM Speaking

This phrase, “tidings of comfort and joy,” comes from a Christmas carol I learned as a little girl called, “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.” I’m not sure I knew what “tidings” were back then. I knew well what comfort and joy were, though, because they were two of my favorite things to experience, and I always associated them with the wintertime holiday season.

Comfort: Where I’m from in the United States, Christmas falls in the coldest time of the year, often accompanied by snow. I know that this is not the case for most people in the world, but my mind will always associate comforting images of warm woolen coats, mugs of steaming hot cocoa, and both blankets of fallen snow and blankets knit from soft yarns with the melodies of Christmas songs.

Joy: I’ve often heard people make a distinction between “happiness” and “joy.” They say that these are not the same thing. I was never quite sure how to understand the difference, but the best way I could distinguish joy was to associate it with the  satisfying laughter that always accompanied family meals and games on holidays.

Now, back to “tidings of comfort and joy.” Before it was solidified in the language in the Christmas carol, the words were inspired in the mouth of a heavenly messenger proclaiming the birth of the Christ for the world:

“An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people’” Luke 2:9-10.

These tidings I always wondered about meant a declaration of news!

World Bible School is all about sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And what is the Gospel? It’s the very same “tidings of comfort and joy” that the song sings about and that the angel proclaimed. Be comforted, friend. Don’t be afraid. The great joyous news is that Christ has come to bring salvation to the world!

Being a follower of Christ is not always easy. Making Jesus your Lord does not mean a constant flow of worldly riches, nor does it mean comfort and joy uninterrupted by sorrow. The New Testament assures Christians that they will endure suffering. I don’t even know a fraction of the suffering that Christians endure around the world. But the ultimate glad tidings, the good news, the Gospel that rings out loud and clear in the air today, is that Christ has come!

“‘Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
And all mankind will see God’s salvation’ ” Luke 3:5-6.

God Has Spoken of His Enemy

Evil goes by many names. In the Bible, God’s enemy is called an accuser, the father of lies, a prowling lion. We witness evil in various forms: Babylon with her adulteries, Egypt’s oppressive task-masters. In Genesis, the tempter slithers around as a suggestive serpent, whispering into Eve’s ear. And in Revelation, the devil and his angels are hurled into the abyss, because God is ultimately victorious over evil forces in the world.

Matthew’s story of Jesus being tempted by the devil comes immediately after John baptizes Jesus. After the temptation story ends, Jesus begins to preach powerfully, calling disciples to follow him and healing many diseases. He knows a way of righteousness that surpasses the holiest of holy teachers – a way of righteousness that he describes in the famous Sermon on the Mount. What happened between Jesus’ baptism and his ministry that was so powerful?

Why do you think the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted? Why is it so important to our faith that Jesus resisted these temptations?

God Has Spoken Through His Writings

And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts (2 Peter 1:19).

Do you know the story of Noah? Here was a man who lived a righteous life and walked with the Lord even though he and his family were surrounded by ungodly people. When God destroyed the wicked people on the earth, God remembered Noah. By faith Noah built a boat and his family was saved. God made a way for them to escape corruption and condemnation.

For people who live among the ungodly, the world is a very dark place indeed. The words of Scripture can be a light shining in that dark place. Pay attention to the glimmer of hope and the gentle gleam of peace that shine out through the Word of God as you continue in your Bible study. Let the light of God’s Word shine in the darkness. It may take some time, but I believe God’s Word will penetrate your defenses and make a home in your heart.

Only One God Has Spoken

Who do you trust in this life? To what kind of God would you give your devotion and loyalty?

The Hebrew Scriptures reveal a people who were fickle. The ancient Israelites promised themselves to the Lord their God, but then they went astray to other gods. They praised him, they won victories in his mighty Name, but then they forgot the Lord their God to indulge in the sinful ways of their neighbors.

Their God was a God of power and might, of goodness and steadfast love. And for every time the Israelites went astray, the ancient stories tell of people like Gideon or Rahab or Daniel, who put their trust in the God of Israel and inspired the whole nation to remember the covenant of love. The psalmists would sing of God’s wonderful acts throughout history, and the prophets would call the people back to the Lord.

And why would they return? Why, every time, did the Israelites decide to renew their vows to the Lord? What makes the Lord God of Israel different from those other gods they defiled themselves to worship?

Because however far the Israelites strayed, a day was coming when they would recognize God’s voice. They would hear the herald running over the hills shouting the good news of victory. They would collapse in joyous relief, because this sound meant the end of strife, the declaration of peace, and the securing of God’s reign in the land.

I will let Isaiah sing to you the reason, the difference:

Break forth, shout joyfully together,
You waste places of Jerusalem;
For the LORD has comforted His people,
He has redeemed Jerusalem.
The LORD has bared His holy arm
In the sight of all the nations,
That all the ends of the earth may see
The salvation of our God (Isaiah 52:9-10).

See the holy arm of the Lord, made bare to fight for you! God has flexed his righteous muscles in view of every threat that would dare to harm you. God is prepared to defend you, to fight for your honor, to win your salvation.

It is time to make yourself ready to renew the covenant of love with the one true God, the only God in whose name salvation can be found. It is time to purify yourself in preparation for service in God’s holy priesthood of believers. The good news has been declared on the hillside, the gospel shouted from the mountaintop.

Today is the day of salvation. Will you repent and believe the good news? Will you be washed for the forgiveness of your sins and be taught to follow everything the Lord has commanded?

This God has come to save you. Trust him, and do not be afraid. For the Lord is your strength and your song. This is the God to believe in for life.

God Has Spoken Through a Prophet Like Moses

Of greatest importance was that He would be like Moses – this is how He would stand out so that people could recognize Him (God Has Spoken 3.1).

When early Christians wanted to convince people that Jesus was the Son of God, sometimes they would quote a verse of prophecy from the Hebrew Scriptures. An example of this occurs in Acts 3. Peter repeats the words from Deuteronomy 18:

For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you” (Acts 3:22).

But sometimes instead of saying who Jesus was, they showed it. They told the story of Jesus and invited people to witness his glory. An example of this occurs in Matthew 16-17.

The people had been told to wait for a prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18). God spoke to Moses on the mountain. God’s glory was so great that is changed Moses’ face and made it glow white with light.

Another great prophet, Elijah, had been taken up in fiery chariot, so some thought he would return. In Matthew 11, Jesus tells the crowd that John the Baptist was more than a prophet. He was the messenger sent to prepare the way. John the Baptist was the Elijah the people were waiting for.

In Matthew 16, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets” (Matthew 16:14).

In the next chapter, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a high mountain and is transfigured (changed) in their presence.

His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus… a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:2-5).

In the details of this story, people recognized the high mountain, the bright cloud, the white light and the voice from above. This was a prophet like Moses! Yet Jesus was even greater. Even as he stood alongside Moses and Elijah, voice from above declared of Jesus, “This is my son . . . listen to him!” God showed the disciples, and the New Testament writers show us, that Jesus is the fulfillment of all God had promised through the prophets since ancient times.

Kathy, thanks for your comment on “The Roar of the Waterfall.”

Like you, I also sense God’s presence in the stillness.

To me the sunrise and sunset are powerful reminders of God’s enduring faithfulness. As one worshipper puts it,

You have been more faithful than the morning sun.
You have been more faithful than knowing the night will come.
You have been more faithful than the changing of seasons.

God is faithful even when we are not. Jesus calls us to be like God, to be faithful to others even when they wrong us:

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous… Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:43-48).

God Has Spoken Through the Prophets – Introduction

We “see” not only by the lights God placed in the heavens. We see also by another light, a spiritual light, “the commands of God.” To know God, man needs more light than nature alone gives (God Has Spoken 2.1).

Light was first. Of everything God created, light was before all else – before oceans, before forests, before food. Light is primary. It is impossible for people to wake up in the morning and accomplish the work of the day without the light.

On the first day God made light. God saw that the light was good. God separated light from darkness. Then God made the world with its mountains and plains and skies and seas.

But God was not done giving light. On the fourth day God made the sun, moon, and stars to be signs and lights, to guide us through time and to light the way. God separated day from night. Then God made the inhabitants of the world, the beasts and fish and birds and people.

But God was still not done giving light. God set his perfect law in place to guide us through time and to light the way. God separated right from wrong. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. His word is a lamp for our feet.

Still, God was not done sending his light into the world. Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. When Jesus spoke to the people he said,

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

“I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness” (John 12:46).

O God, lead us out of darkness and into your marvelous light.

(See Genesis 1, Psalm 19, John 1.)

God Has Spoken Through Nature

What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse (Romans 1:19-20).

How do you learn about God from creation? Where do you see God at work in the world he has made?

Several years ago I visited a small state park in Middle Tennessee, not too far from Nashville. I spent a few hours sitting in front of a waterfall, about the size of the wall of a large room. It was no Niagra or Iguacu falls, but it still felt big and powerful to me.

The most striking aspect of the waterfall was the sheer force of its sound. It was so loud that it drowned out all of my thoughts. The noise alerted a rush of adrenaline, like a sensation of fear, yet I didn’t feel threatened. Rather I felt almost safe wrapped up in its consuming sound.

The roar of the falling water filled my ears so that I couldn’t focus on anything but being still in its presence. It was impossible to worry – the fleeting thoughts of anything else were pushed away in the calming, yet exhilarating volume of sound.

In the Bible, the sound of rushing waters is associated with God’s voice and with praise. God’s creatures surround his throne in worship, and the sound is deafening and awesome:

When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty… (Ezekiel 1:24).

Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great!” Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns…” (Revelation 19:5-6).

The sound of the waterfall helps me to understand more about God’s invisible qualities.

The Scriptures depict many other aspects of creation as a way to reveal God behind it all: the grandeur of skies and mountains, the cycle of sowing and harvest, the instincts of animals, the care a parent gives to a child.

Look around you and reflect on your experience. Where in the created order do you see God’s hand at work? What in creation shows God’s qualities to you?

God Has Spoken Through Nature

When Paul writes the letter to the Romans, he is writing to people he has never met.  (See the long list of sisters and brothers he mentions by name in Romans 16.)

When I go back and read through Romans 1 for my study of God Has Spoken 1.3, so many of the words resonate with how I feel about all of you.  So many of you have such a strong faith.  Others are just beginning to believe.  The gospel (which means “good news”) of Jesus Christ is what binds together our Bible study.  This good news is what Paul preached to the Romans.

For an exercise in reflection and encouragement, I have picked out some words and phrases from Romans 1 that can serve to encourage your hearts.

You also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ… (v.6)

Loved by God and called to be saints… (v.7)

Your faith is being reported all over the world… (v.8)

I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you… (v.10)

I long to see you… (v.11)

That you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith… (v.12)

That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you… (v.15)

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes… (v.16)

I hope you will find a Bible or click here to read the whole chapter in its context.  Notice how much Paul wants them to understand the good news!  That is what I want for you all.

Please click on the comments link and leave a reply for me.  You can ask a question, argue with me, share your thoughts from the courses – anything!  If you need help to figure out how to make a comment, you can email me at kaylynn@worldbibleschool.net.

God Has Spoken Through Nature – Introduction

It always seems my favorite items are the ones that wear out first.

Take, for example, my club t-shirt from college.  It is a great color  – faded dark blue with gold lettering – and it fits like a perfect weekend shirt should.  I was disappointed one day when I discovered a huge tear in the seam under the arm.

Or look at my flip-flop sandals.  I’ve worn the old things around for over five summers, walking through the streets of Greece, Brazil, and my own neighborhoods in the U.S.  They’re also about five shades darker from dirt than they were when I first wore them around campus.  If you flipped over one of my flip-flops, you would see material protruding from a hole in the worn-down rubber sole.

Every day we wake up and use our reliable household items.  It is not really a surprise to find them damaged eventually.  From experience, we expect them to wear and fade over time.

Can you imagine, however, if you walked outside one day and looked up to notice a rift in the sky?  The ancient blue expanse has been with us since the creation of the world.  We would be shocked to see it in disrepair.

The Scriptures give us this picture to remind us how fleeting is the world when compared to the eternal God.  Not only did God create the world in the beginning (Genesis 1:1), but God existed long before this world began, and God will endure long after this world is used up and discarded.

Hebrews 1:1-2 tells us that God has spoken to us through his Son, through whom he made the universe.  Hebrews 1:10-12 goes on to quote from Psalm 102:25-27 to show how much greater is the Son than even the angels:

“In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will roll them up like a robe;
like a garment they will be changed.
But you remain the same,
and your years will never end.”

When even the skies are worn out and traded in for a new heaven, our great God will remain and never pass away.