The One Word That Changes Everything

“The One Word That Changes Everything”

or

“A Message Worth Sharing”

 

Zoom Bible Class

Finding Hope Through Discovery

Larry R Evans

 

September 19, 2020

 

Introduction

Eugene Petersen begins the introduction to the book of Exodus with these words,

The human race is in trouble. We’ve been in trouble for a long time. Enormous energies have been and continue to be expended by many, many men and women to get us out of the trouble we are in—to clean up the world’s mess. The skill, the perseverance, the intelligence, the devotion of the people who put their shoulders to the wheel to pull us out of the muck—parents and teachers, healers and counselors, rulers and politicians, writers and pastors—are impressive.

          At the center and core of this work is God. The most comprehensive term for what God is doing to get us out of the mess we are in is salvation. Salvation is God doing for us what we can’t do for ourselves. Salvation is the biggest word in the vocabulary of the people of God. (The Message Notes on Exodus by Eugene Petersen)

A central truth of Exodus is lacking today in the mantras of many of today’s outspoken leaders.  It was a lesson that Moses had to learn and one that was easily forgotten by him and the people he was leading. So, it is today.  It is a timeless truth that must not be forgotten. Share we must. Our world is in trouble. When sharing, however, we must not lose or camouflage this enduring gospel truth. Max Lucado expresses it this way when describing the call of Moses,

Remember the conversation at the burning bush? The tone was set in the first sentence. ‘Take off your sandals because you are standing on holy ground’ (Exodus 3:5). With these eleven words Moses is enrolled in a class on God. Immediately the roles are defined. God is holy. Approaching him on even a quarter-inch of leather is too pompous . . . . No time is spent convincing Moses what Moses can do, but much time is spent explaining to Moses what God can do. . . .

  The strength of Moses is never considered. No pep talk is given, no pats on the back are offered. Not one word is spoken to recruit Moses. But many words are used to reveal God. The strength of Moses is not the issue; the strength of God is. – Max Lucado in Let the Journey Begin, p.3.

The four-lettered words of the world mimic and detract from God’s own four-lettered word which is HOPE (Rom. 5:5). Nevertheless, we must ask, “Hope for what?”  Our discovery today is all about the biggest word any dictionary has. That word is SALVATION.  It changes everything.

In our study today, it would be well to remember that the book of Exodus, which is all about “salvation”, contains two halves.  The first half is the amazing story of freeing a people abused by slavery and forced to live under an oppressive foreign power.  The second half is devoted to how a saved people were to live. Either half is not complete without the other. We must keep that tension alive as we review our calling to bring hope to a broken world. This raises an important question.  What is salvation for? Does salvation save us from or for something or is it both? How we answer that question says what and how we will ultimately share “the message” with others.  Gabe Lyons suggests that evangelical Christians only tell half of God’s story by sharing only about sin and the cross.  He refers to the other part of “the story” as the “bookends” which are Creation and re-creation. 

Living with “Present Truth”

 

The Apostle Peter knew he was living on borrowed time (2 Pet. 1:13-14) when he wrote to the believers in Asia Minor (present day Turkey). His concern was serious. He did not want anyone to fall away from “present truth” (1:12, NKJV). He wrote to help establish or ground the faith of his audience. Peter likely did die soon afterwards under Nero’s persecution.

 

Today we hear much about the need for freedom and the abhorrence of abuse, excess power, intolerance and violence. Peter certainly faced these same elements in his lifetime and personally paid the price.  To live and to share the present truth, Peter emphasized seven essential qualities that need to be added to the life of the Christian (2 Peter 1:5,6):

1.    Goodness

2.    Knowledge

3.    Self-control

4.    Perseverance

5.    Godliness

6.    Mutual affection

7.    Love

 

However, to read this list without first reading verses three and four would miss the essence of what motivated Peter to share “the truth.” 

His (the risen Christ) divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 2 Peter 1: 3,4)

With such a bold statement, it would be well for us to ask once again, “What is salvation?  What are we saved from and what are we saved for? The answer to these questions is imperative if we are to have “A Message Worth Sharing.”

 

The book of Genesis reminds us what it was like before sin entered. Man was created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26) and all that surrounded him was “very good” (Gen.1:31). To use the common word today, he was “immune” from fear, from abuse, from violence, from suffering, and from death.  Adam and Eve walked with God whose love for the world (Jn 3:16) had touched everything and everyone. When sin entered, they hid from God because they were afraid (Gen.3:8). They were no longer immune from sufferings which grew and grew to the point where brother murdered brother (Gen.4:8). This became the new normal. Apart from God, evil grew.

 

The good news, or the gospel that was proclaimed by the early church, was not only that Jesus died for our sins but that because of his sacrifice we now have direct access to God. A renewed closer personal relationship with Him is now possible! Neither a priest nor a saint is required which means we can “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence” (Heb.4:16). This is why in a hopeless world the Christian has a “hope” that is like “an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (6:19). So, the message of the gospel is not only that our sins have been forgiven, but that through the mediation of Jesus we have direct access to God. We are being recreated into the kind of relationship that existed prior to sin.  The Second Coming, then, becomes the ultimate restoration of the broken relationship with God. The last book of the Bible climaxes with the continuation of the relationship with God that He originally had with Adam and Eve.

 

God’s Last Day Message: “Don’t Lose Hope!”

 

When Jesus gave his disciples this prayer, He was giving them part of his own breath, his own life, his own prayer. “The prayer is actually a distillation of his own sense of vocation, his own understanding of his Father’s purposes. If we are truly to enter into it and make it our own, it can only be if we first understand how he set about living the Kingdom himself.” When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He  “was giving them part of his own breath, his own life, his own prayer.  The prayer is actually a distillation of his own sense of vocation, his own understanding of his Father’s purposes.” (N.T. Wright in The Lord and His Prayer).  When we pray “thy kingdom come” we are essentially praying the prayer for a new “Exodus” – an exodus from this sinful world as we prepare to live in the Promised Land with its capital called the New Jerusalem!  To enter that new land of promise, breaking away from today’s land of Egypt will not be easy.  Breaking away today requires the same commitment as in the exodus led by Moses,

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. (Rev. 12:11)

It is no wonder that Peter was concerned when he saw some losing their commitment and why he felt he needed to remind them of the basics of their faith!

For this reason, I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. 2 Peter 1:12 (NKJV)

Some call sections of Daniel and Revelation “God’s Last Warning Message.” That is certainly true in many respects. However, warnings can feel like threats.  In the context of an exodus the call for a  “saved relationship” is more like an appeal to remain firm. The writer of Hebrews says, “hold firmly to the faith we profess” (Heb.4:14) by “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Heb.12:2).

 

“Pharaoh” Doesn’t Let Go Without a Fight

 

Jesus knew what was ahead. He also knew how important “hope” would be in times of duress. In one incident, He approached it this way,  

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)

Jesus then, in this context of deception, violence, and death, tells his disciples a few verses later that they need not fear because He is their “Good Shepherd.” (v.14).  A good shepherd does not abandon his sheep which is why early in the last book of the Bible we find the “revelation” of Jesus assuring us with these words, 

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. (Rev. 1:7)

  

The End-Time Message of Assurance

 

As mentioned earlier, the gospel message is not only about forgiveness but about a restored relationship with Jesus!  No wonder that the last message to be given to the world presents that message. It’s about Jesus as the new “Moses” setting His people free from the grip of the modern-day “Pharaoh!”  

Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. (Rev. 12:17)

As we’ve shared in previous studies, this verse is expanded in the next two chapters of Revelation.  In chapter 13 we find the Dragon (Satan, Rev. 12:9) refusing to let go of his prey. In chapter 14 we find the opposite of a fierce dragon; we find a Lamb.  In chapter 13 the Dragon’s beast power coerces worship with the threat of death (13:15). In chapter 14 the followers of the Lamb willingly “follow the Lamb wherever he goes” (14:4).

 

It is in that context that the end-time message is shared by those who dare follow the Lamb!  It is composed of three distinct but related parts:

 

1.    The “everlasting gospel.” that takes the reader back to the Genesis 1 and 2 experience of Adam and Eve – Fear or reverence God and give him glory as the Creator through worship of Him. (Rev. 14:6,7)

2.    An Appeal. Babylon the enemy of God with its collection of captives is about to be destroyed and therefore an appeal to escape while there is still time. (Rev.14:8)

3.    The Time of Reckoning. The climax of the battle described in Revelation 12:17 takes place! That which has worked to separate God the Creator from His people will cease to exist. The “Good Shepherd” can now lead His sheep to green pastures and still waters! (Psalm 23:2). 

 

Once again, the special fellowship with God will be realized! The worship experience of Genesis 2:1-3 and echoed in Ex. 20:8-11 is realized anew, 

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.  (Heb.4:9,10)

For behold, I create new heavens

and a new earth,

and the former things shall not be remembered

or come into mind.

But be glad and rejoice forever

in that which I create;

for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,

and her people to be a gladness.

I will rejoice in Jerusalem

and be glad in my people;

no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping

and the cry of distress. (Isa.65:17-19)

Reflections

 

  “In 1912 the Titanic sailed for America from England. A new method of construction led its builders to declare it unsinkable. But when it struck an iceberg in the middle of the Atlantic, it took only a couple of hours for the ship to sink, carrying more than 1,000 passengers into the depths with it.

  For years people wondered, “Why did the ship go down so rapidly? How could the unsinkable ship have sunk so quickly?” Some answers finally came when searchers discovered the wreckage at the bottom of the ocean. They were able to recover some of the steel plating from the hull, along with the rivets that had held the steel plates together. Analysis of those objects indicated that the steel contained a high level of impurities. This weakened the hull and the rivets, and in the icy waters of the Atlantic, the metal became brittle. The small impurities in the steel helped compromise the integrity of the ship and led to disaster.

  When God’s saints pass through the icebergs of the end-time, they will have an integrity not shattered by opposition or even personal pain.” –Jon Paulien in The Gospel from Patmos”, p.260.