The Glory of Kings (3 of 3)

—by David D. Herring

“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” (Proverbs 25:2)

Jesus showed us how to be king.  He showed us how to glorify, and be glorified by, God.

Notice how Jesus prayed in John 12:28:  “ ‘Father, glorify your name!’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.’ ” 

Jesus didn’t say, “Father, I’m about to do something kingly and great, and you will be glorified by the thing I’m about to do.”  Rather, Jesus was saying, “Please glorify Yourself by doing something kingly and great through Me.”

Keying in on the word “glory,” I’m struck by how many times Jesus referred to His mission to glorify, and to be glorified by, His Heavenly Father.  (There isn’t enough space to write them all out here but see, for example, John 8:54; 14:13; 15:8; 16:14; 17:1; 17:4-5; etc.)   Specifically, Jesus’ mission was to take our sinful nature into himself and then destroy it so that, in turn, we could receive God’s kingly and glorious nature into ourselves and live forever.  The good news is Jesus succeeded in His mission!  It’s done!  Death died on the cross.  Jesus lives; and if we invite Him to live in us then we will live forever in Him.

So, as a king, what is left for me to do?  “I will serve Him,” I think.  Ahh, there’s a trap!  I fall into it time and time again.  To this day, I keep falling into the same old trap of glorifying my works of service.  This is precisely how the Pharisees and Sadducees went astray.  They were so focused on glorifying themselves in their roles as scribes and spiritual leaders that they forgot how, or stopped choosing, to be in the right relationship with God.  They stopped searching out a matter, preferring instead their own glory.  Are we any different today?

Reflecting on my own thoughts and actions, I have to admit I was on the road to becoming like the Pharisees and Sadducees, thinking:  “Look how much I am learning.  More than most!  Look how well I am serving God.  Better than most!  Am I not kingly?  Am I not glorious?”  I began to deify my knowledge and worship my works of service; ironically, at the expense of my relationship with God.

What are you doing?

It took me a long time to hear this question.  And when I finally heard it, I heard what was implied by it:  I don’t want your service.  I want you.

To truly hear these words spoken to you by God is to be simultaneously thrilled and terrified.    It is to begin to know His glory and the manner in which He will glorify you.  It is to begin to have a sense of how Moses felt when God allowed him into His presence.  It is to begin to have a sense of how Peter felt when he stepped out of the boat, took Jesus by the hand, and walked on water.  Imagine how absurd it would have been for Peter to say: “Let go of my hand, Jesus, I want to do it my way.”  This is precisely the absurd turn I took in my walk with Jesus.  I was trying to walk on water, I realized, and wasn’t walking with Him.

“How then should I live, Father?” I asked.  “How shall I search out the matter that you have concealed?  How may I glorify, and be glorified, by You?”

God let me wait a long time, and then His answer came in the form of words spoken over 100 years ago by the missionary preacher Oswald Chambers.  When I read his words, they rang as loud and clear and true to my mind as though Chambers was in the room speaking to me.  He said:  “All of God’s revealed truths are sealed until they are opened to us through obedience.  You will never open them through philosophy or thinking.  But once you obey, a flash of light comes immediately. …it is not study that brings understanding to you, but obedience.  Even the smallest bit of obedience opens heaven, and the deepest truths of God immediately become yours.”1

God conceals His glory from us not because He doesn’t want us to find it.  On the contrary, He delights in revealing His glory to us if only we will seek it.  But we cannot find it on our own, and certainly not within ourselves.  He must be a part of the process, and the process doesn’t begin until we faithfully follow His instructions.  When we do, we begin to perceive His glory and others perceive it too, shining through us.

Chambers said: “It is a matter of obedience, and once we obey, the relationship is instantly perfected.  But if we turn away from obedience for even one second, darkness and death are immediately at work again.”1

The trick isn’t getting into the know, it is getting out of one’s own way!  Indeed, it is getting into the way that Jesus showed us.  Jesus repeatedly explained how He came to do the will of His Father.  He obeyed His Father in every situation, even though it meant giving all of himself.  This is the deeper meaning of Proverbs 25:2 — God’s glory becomes yours when you give all your heart to the process of seeking it.

The process of walking by faith in this way becomes a “positive feedback loop” of glorification both for Jesus and for those who walk with Him.  A fractal pattern begins to emerge in us, with Him in us and us in Him, when we seek Jesus with all our hearts.  We find Him in the Word (The Bible) and we find that He is the Word.  We begin to make sense out of the paradox that Word was with God and the Word was God.  We begin to accept the reality that the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.  We begin to catch glimpses of His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-14)

Notice the fractal way in which Jesus prayed as He prepared to give His all for you and me: “Father, the hour has come.  Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. ...I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.  And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. …I have revealed you to those [disciples] whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. ...All I have is yours, and all you have is mine.  And glory has come to me through them. ...Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. ...I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” (John 17:1-26)

“Jesus,” I pray, “I want to walk with You.  I want You to be in me so that I may be in You.  Lord, why is it so hard for me to obey?”

Because you don’t trust me.  You haven’t fully accepted My reality and, therefore, you still rely upon your own reality.  Using your own devices, the glory you create is yours not Mine.  Whose will you choose?

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1 Chambers, Oswald: “How Will I Know?”  October 10 devotional in My Utmost For His Highest.  Copyright 1992, by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd.  

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Discussion Questions:

1. Do you trust in Jesus completely?  Do you truly believe that Jesus succeeded in His mission to take away the sins of all who believe in Him?

2. Are you willing to obey Him no matter the cost?  Have there been occasions when a lack of trust in Jesus caused you to disobey Him?   

3. How might glorifying your works of service reveal a lack of trust in Him?

The Glory of Kings (2 of 3)

— by David D. Herring

“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” (Proverbs 25:2)

We habitually seek to glorify ourselves, don’t we?  We spend most of our time and energy in vain efforts to glorify ourselves.  We strive for power or money or fame or knowledge or amusement or creature comforts.  We fixate on our physical appearance, or our accomplishments, or new toys, or gratifying our desires.  We seek to please, and to be pleasing to, ourselves.  But the thrill fades and we find that whatever it was we thought we were seeking isn’t ultimately what we are seeking.

Could it be that the “matter” God conceals is the very thing we’re seeking but never find?  I suspect the answer is yes, but what is this matter?

The next verse offers a clue: “As the heavens are high and the earth is deep, so the hearts of kings are unsearchable.” (Proverbs 25:3)  This scripture seems to say where not to look.  The word “unsearchable” is particularly noteworthy.  How can a thing be unsearchable?  I would think anything can be searched but this scripture says no, not the hearts of kings.  This goes beyond saying where the matter isn’t; to say that our hearts are “unsearchable” is to call attention to the process of searching.  

You cannot even begin to search for the matter that I conceal, not even within your own heart.    

Is it because we don’t know how to search, or that the matter simply isn’t there?  Matthew 11:25-26 offers another clue:  Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.  Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”

Children take things literally and at face value.  There’s no subterfuge in a little child — there’s only what they can behold and how they feel about it.  So, with the eyes of a child, I re-read Proverbs 25:2 and, behold, the answer is right there in the very scripture!  “It is the glory of God to conceal…”  

God’s glory is the matter that He conceals!  This makes perfect sense to me now.  God’s glory is not found in our hearts and so it would be pointless to look for it there — unless He put it there.  But why would He?  To do so would quite literally destroy us.  Not out of malice or ill-intent or harsh judgment but, rather, because His nature is fundamentally different from ours.  He is pure and good and holy and without sin, and we are the reverse of these things.  If God injected His glory into our hearts we would deconstruct — much like how an alka-seltzer disintegrates in water.

 

We see several instances in the Old Testament where God warned people who hadn’t been purified not to come into His presence because His Holiness would break out against them.  Again, not out of malice, but due to the stark contrast between their nature and His.  They simply weren’t ready or able to withstand being in His presence.  

Why would Proverbs 25:2 encourage me to seek the very thing that could destroy me?  What’s a king to do?  Well, what does a king do?  A king sits on a throne.  A king makes judgments.  A king maintains law and order.  A king rules.  Glory comes not from a king’s being or having, it comes from a king’s doing.  

All are invited.  Few will come.  Will you come and sit on My Heavenly Throne?  Will you reclaim the kingship birthright that I gave you?  

Wow!  Would I even dare to approach the Throne of the King in Heaven?  Moreover, would I dare to sit on it?  If I did, would I survive?  Or, would I drop dead in an instant like Uzzah (2 Samuel 6:6-7), and like Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-10).  Or, would God provide a way for me like He did for Moses?  

Moses sought God’s glory.  He wanted to see God’s face.  “Moses said, ‘Now show me your glory.’  And the Lord said, ‘I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. …But you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live. …There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock.  When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.  Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.’ ” (Exodus 33:18-23)  

This event was deeply symbolic — it foreshadowed that a way would be provided for us to dwell in the presence of God without being destroyed.  Ultimately, Jesus would be this “way.”  Notice that Moses stood on a rock in God’s presence.  Jesus is the rock of your salvation.  God allowed Moses into His presence but special provision had to be made so as not to destroy Moses.  Jesus is the intercessor who covers your transgressions.  God allowed Moses to see His glory in passing.  In Jesus, in heaven, you can boldly approach and join Me on My Throne.  You can come face-to-face with Me, experiencing My glory firsthand.   

To experience God’s glory is to experience joy and love and goodness and holiness and euphoria beyond our imagination.  That experience literally shone on Moses’ face.  “...[Moses] was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.  When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.” (Exodus 34:29-30)    

Why wouldn’t we forego the counterfeit glories of this world to seek God’s glory?  This, then, is the glory of kings: the process of seeking God’s glory.  So while the “matter” that God conceals — His glory — isn’t within our hearts, we must give our whole heart over to the process of seeking Him.  Jeremiah 29:13 says: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”   

Jesus showed you the way.  

(Continued...)

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Discussion Questions:

1. Is it possible that some of your ways of glorifying yourself interfere with your relationship with the Lord?

2. What would it take for you to seek God’s glory with your whole heart?

3. What do you imagine it will be like to enter into God’s presence and stand face-to-face with the Author of Life and Creator of the universe?  Are you ready for that experience?

The Glory of Kings (1 of 3)

— by David D. Herring

“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.”  (Proverbs 25:2)

What does this scripture mean?

I didn’t know why — and wouldn’t know for a long time — but God called my attention to this scripture.  It fascinated me for reasons I couldn’t express.  To whom does it refer?  The first part seems obvious: it refers to God, who has hidden something.  The second part is less obvious.  It refers to kings in the plural.  Which kings?  Who are they?

Good questions!

God wants us to come to Him with such questions.  The answers are often hidden in plain sight in The Bible.  This bit of wisdom, in fact, points to the answer to my questions about the kings in Proverbs 25:2.  How often have I read a scripture thinking I understood it when I really didn’t?  Later, re-reading it again, something clicks and I see and understand it in a whole new way.  It’s as if the scripture suddenly opens up to reveal a hidden treasure — a deeper, more profound meaning that I can’t believe I overlooked before.

So I re-read Proverbs 25:2; and then the next verse, which says: “As the heavens are high and the earth is deep, so the hearts of kings are unsearchable.”  This verse suggests the kings are people who should search out a matter but not within their own hearts because the matter can’t be found there.  Who are these kings?

Who is Jesus?  (God sometimes answers questions with questions.)

I know Jesus is king; certainly in my life.  But I don’t think that’s the answer here.  The verse doesn’t say THE KING, it says kings.  Scanning through scriptures, I see where it says Jesus is the Word… Jesus is the Son of God… Jesus is the Son of Man… Jesus is the Messiah… Jesus is king…  There it is: Jesus is the king of kings!  (1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14)

I placed all things under Jesus’ feet and appointed him to to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.  (Ephesians 1:22-23)

I interpret this to mean Jesus is greater than all other kings and has authority over them.  In this regard, “kings” can refer to anyone; and if it can refer to anyone, then it can refer to everyone.

Because I love you, I raised you up with My Son and made you alive again, even when you were dead in your transgressions, and seated you with Jesus — in Jesus — in Heaven.  (Ephesians 2:4-6)

I began to see and understand.  If I interpret Proverbs 25:2-3 based on the wisdom I find in Ephesians 2:4-6, then “kings” refers to everyone who is in Jesus.  So I am king and you are king.  All who surrender to Jesus Christ are seated in Him, the king of kings, on His heavenly throne.  God made it so to fulfill His Word when He first created us:  “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule…over all the earth...” (Genesis 1:26)

This understanding points to the fractal nature of God's Word. Each of us is a "little Christ" and together we form the one big body of The Christ. This points to the purpose and destiny of those who follow Jesus. (See also Melissa Joslin's eloquent comment about my first blog in which, much to my pleasant surprise, she too cited this very same proverb!)

We were made to rule in His image but we forfeited our kingship right out of the gate, and so rulership over earth was usurped by another.1,2,3  For many generations after Adam and Eve  humans had no status, spiritually speaking.  We were left to our own devices, with no claim to the divine and no inheritance to pass on except painful toil and death — doomed to go from dust to dust, as it were.  The way to eternal life was barred.

Our situation changed, however, when God made a covenant with Abraham.4  His relationship offered new hope for “an inheritance,” spiritually speaking, for all the rest of us.  Just like a kingship, the inheritance of this “covenant” was handed down from Abraham to Isaac, then to Jacob, then to Joseph, and so on.  To have known them, one wouldn’t have considered these to be “kingly” men.  They were unremarkable, really, just ordinary nomads.  Aside from their covenant with God, they were no different from anyone else.

Their covenant relationship with Me is entirely the point.

Apart from their relationship with God, their stories have no point.  This is why their stories are preserved in the Old Testament — to illustrate how those who walk by faith in a covenant relationship with Jesus will be remade in His image and have eternal life. The stories of the Old Testament foreshadow this plan.

“And [Jesus] has made us kings and priests unto God and His Father…” (Revelation 1:6)

 Now that I know who the kings are, I want to know what it means to be a king.  And I want to understand the first part of the scripture: what is the “matter” that God conceals and that we kings are to seek out? (To be continued...)

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1 Genesis 3:17-24

2 Matthew 4:8-9

3 John 14:30

4 Genesis 12:2

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Discussion Questions:

1. What does Proverbs 25:2 mean to you?

2. Who do you think are the "kings" to whom it refers?

3. What do you think is the "matter" that God conceals?

What God Showed Abraham (and me) - Part 2

— by David D. Herring

In that moment, I felt overwhelmed by my feelings of love and pain and joy. How much greater were such feelings in Him! I sensed that my emotions were like a tea cup compared to the ocean of emotion God feels. While my feelings are like His, His are on a much grander scale.

Yes. I made you in my image.  Now look again at Abraham’s story from my perspective.

Again, this wasn’t a voice inside my head; rather, it came all at once as fully articulated understanding.

I re-read the story, this time paying closer attention to details. Abraham took his son to Mt. Moriah. I looked it up and, in Hebrew, Moriah means “God’s ordained place” or, more literally, “the place where God shows.”

What did I show? Look more deeply.

In Genesis 22:4, the verse begins, “On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place…” On the third day! Was that number significant? I recalled that Jesus arose on the third day after being crucified; Jonah was in the belly of a fish for three days; there was the Holy Trinity… I looked it up. To the Israelites, the number “3” signified a third value that is used to reconcile two opposing or contradictory values. In other words, three brings stability — it mediates, connects, and strengthens the two.²

On the third day of their journey, Isaac was to be sacrificed. The boy asked his father, “...where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Clearly, Isaac knew the ritual. Abraham responded, “God himself will provide the lamb…”

Moments later, Abraham looked and saw behind him a ram was caught in a thorn bush by his horns. So Abraham offered the ram for a burnt offering to God in the place of his son. (Gen 22:13) To the Israelites, a horn symbolized “strength” or “power”; and thorns symbolized “sin” or “the snares of earthly temptations.”

Many scriptures in the Bible — both before and after His life — refer to Jesus as the horn of salvation and the sacrificial lamb of God. Zechariah called Jesus the “horn of salvation for us” (Luke 1:67-69). Before they crucified Him, Roman soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on Jesus’ head (John 19:2; Matthew 27:29). God showed Abraham (and me) that Jesus would ultimately save all who walk by faith in Him — that the horn of David (Psalm 132:17) would wear our sins as His crown to the cross because He knew we could never disentangle ourselves from our sinful state.

On this particular reading, three things jumped out at me as remarkable. First, the Bible repeatedly refers to Jesus as “the sacrificial lamb.” For example, when John the Baptist first saw Jesus he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) The ram Abraham saw represented Jesus!

Second, Abraham expressed no doubt when he said, “God himself will provide…” In other words, he wasn’t going to Mt. Moriah expecting his son’s life to end that day! Rather, Abraham was expecting a miracle. He was expecting his son to live! (Much later I learned that Abraham was familiar with the concept of resurrection and that he probably was expecting God to resurrect his son.

The third remarkable thing that dawned on me was that Isaac was miraculously spared from death. Consider that Isaac was condemned to die, and there was no doubt that Abraham was planning to go through with it, but God intervened and provided an alternative. This all happened in a way that was deeply symbolic of all of humanity’s circumstance. These events showed what God would ultimately do to fulfill His promise and purpose through Christ’s crucifixion for the assembly of believers who descended from Abraham.

In a flash of insight, and for the first time, Abraham had glimpsed God’s nature and His plan. And, early that morning, so had I. The events on Mt. Moriah had special symbolic meaning for Abraham and his descendants (and me): God reveals Himself and His character not through words but through acts of faith! 

I don’t tell, I show.

I now understood the story like this: Abraham bound Isaac. Are you not in bondage to sin? Abraham prepared to slay his son. Are you not doomed to die due to your sinful nature? The Lord told Abraham not to slay his son. Am I not merciful? Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horn. Have I not provided? Abraham named that place “The Lord Will Provide.” I so loved the world that I gave my one and only Son. In that painful and joyful moment, true to My Word, I provided the sacrifice. Do you now see and understand what that meant to Me and how I felt? 

“Yes, Lord,” I said, feeling humble. “I begin to see and understand.”

However overwhelming it is to me, my sense of what it means to be a loving father is but a little image of what it means to be the loving Father. Likewise, the stories in the Old Testament are little images of something much bigger. In that moment of revelation, I grasped the fact that events in Israel’s history are individual instances of a repeating pattern. While each event was unique, the overall pattern is the same in accordance with God’s Word. 

My Word is fractal. 

When this understanding came, it appeared in my mind as both words and image. God showed me that morning what He showed Abraham over 4,000 years ago: His Word is consistent and true — fractal. His Word is manifest time and time again in characteristic ways in the lives of those who speak and act by faith, in covenant relationship with Him. God has a plan by which we will be reconciled to Him and made perfect, in His image. He did provide, and He showed this to people over and over again through the events of the Old Testament.

The fractal pattern I knew in my mind that morning was a 3-sided shape: a triangle. To me, it signified the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And it signified the Father, His Son Jesus, and Jesus’ church bride. And it signified the Holy Spirit, me, and my wife. And it signified the Holy Spirit, human parents, and their children... and so the pattern goes. The triangle I saw was made up of smaller triangles, and they themselves were comprised of smaller triangles — all were in the image of the larger triangle and they were as numerous as the stars.³

Wake up, sleeper, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.¹
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1 Ephesians 5:14
2 Ecclesiastes 4:12
3 Genesis 22:17
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Discussion questions
1. What similarities do you see between the story of Abraham and Isaac, and the story of Jesus?
2. Which of the characters in Abraham’s story can you most identify with, and why? 

3. What things / people / relationships in your life come to mind when you think of the 3-sided triangle?

What God Showed Abraham (and me) - Part 1

— by David D. Herring

Wake up, sleeper...1

Those words came not as a voice inside my head, but as awareness in my mind.  I didn’t know why but suddenly I was wide awake and aware that I wouldn’t fall back asleep.  It was between 3 and 4 a.m. on a random morning in 1997.  I got out of bed and headed upstairs, not wanting to wake my wife.  She needed her rest.  She was pregnant with our first child, our son. 

I plopped onto the couch thinking I might catch some of the previous day’s sports highlights on ESPN but something prompted me not to turn on the TV.  I noticed my Bible on the end table beside the couch.  Should I read it?  I hadn’t read it much lately.  Honestly, I had drifted away from it.  I stopped reading the Bible because I felt I already knew the New Testament pretty well and had sworn off reading the Old Testament.  I couldn’t relate to the stories of the Old Testament.  So much violence and bloodshed and inhumanity — what did all that have to do with Jesus?  I wasn’t comfortable with the harsh and judgmental God I encountered in the Old Testament.  I just didn’t see the point of the Old Testament stories — pointless myths and fables, I supposed.

Something prompted me to pick up my Bible.  “God, what would you have me read?” I asked aloud.  What’s remarkable is that while I sometimes prayed or talked to God, I was certainly not in a close relationship with Him at that time.  Even the notion of being in a relationship with God would have seemed surprising and odd to me then.  He had never woken me up before (though He has many times since); nor was I necessarily thinking He had woken me up then.  I must have sensed the possibility that He was with me that morning because I asked Him the question out loud.  Somehow I sensed I should open my Bible to the Old Testament, which is where I felt my attention called.  I randomly opened to Genesis 22, which begins: “Some time later God tested Abraham…” 

“Aha!”  I thought, “Here’s a great example of why I dislike the Old Testament so much.”  I knew the story.  What kind of cold-hearted God promises to give a man a son, makes him wait so long, and then instructs him to slay his son as a sacrifice?  All that fuss and bother merely to test Abraham’s faith?  This explanation made no sense to me.  If God was all-knowing then He knew whether or not Abraham had faith.  And if Abraham did have faith and was capable of such a monstrous act then why would God want to see it carried out? 

Good questions!  (I’ve learned that God wants us to approach Him with our questions.) 

Nevermind that God would show mercy right at the end by telling Abraham not to kill his son Isaac.  God had given the command so, to my way of thinking, the damage was done.   Abraham had already hiked all the way up the mountain thinking that his mission was to sacrifice his son.  He had already tied Isaac to the altar, who by now realized his father meant to slay and burn him.  My thoughts that morning were:  “If I was Abraham I would have been heartbroken, grief-stricken, and angry at God.  If I was Isaac, I would have felt shocked, terrified, and betrayed by my father.” 

I couldn’t help thinking about my own unborn son upstairs in his mother’s womb.  I already loved him so much.  I imagined the mental anguish Abraham must have gone through.  I know what I would have done if I’d been in Abraham’s shoes.  I would have pleaded:  “Lord, please, ask me for anything else.  Ask me for everything else, even my own life!  But please don’t ask me to do this thing.  Let me sacrifice myself instead!  I would rather give my own life than take my son’s!”  Tears filled my eyes (as they are now, just recalling that moment).

I know how you feel.  I feel that way too. 

In an instant, somehow, I saw the situation not from Abraham’s perspective nor my own, but from God’s.  Call it intuition, call it divine revelation — an answer occurred to me that I’d never considered before.

My point wasn’t to test Abraham’s faith, though he certainly did act on faith.  His faith was essential for him to be able to see and understand that I am a Father too, that I love like he loves, and that my capacity for love is much greater.  I showed Abraham that his sacrifice is not what I desire.  I showed him that a sacrifice must be made and that I will provide the sacrifice.  I showed him that I will give my son, who is the only sacrifice that will truly suffice.  I showed Abraham, just as I am now showing you, a glimpse of how it feels to be your loving Father.  Now you see and understand that you feel about your son the way I feel about all of my children.  I love you so profoundly that I am willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to spare your life.  

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Discussion questions

1. Was God cruel to tell Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, or was He merciful?  Why do you think so?

2. What miraculous things happened to give “new life” to Isaac?  

3. Have symbolic events or miracles of “new life” happened in your life?     

God's Word Is Fractal

— by David D. Herring

Fractal is my favorite word.

A “fractal” is a never-ending repeating pattern in which many smaller shapes together comprise a larger whole that is a scaled up version of the many smaller shapes comprising it.1  Fractals are made by repeating a simple shape, or process, over and over in an ongoing feedback loop, as illustrated below.  On the left is a single, equal-sided triangle.  Beside it is an equal-sided triangle made up of four smaller, equal-sided triangles which, themselves are comprised of four equal-sided triangles, and so it goes forever.  The triangle on the far right is made up of an infinite number of smaller equal-sided triangles.1  

Fractals aren’t merely mathematical abstractions, they’re also found in the real world.  Consider, for example, grains of salt tend to be cube-shaped.  If you mash a salt grain into smaller pieces and examine them under a microscope, what do you see?  Smaller salt grains that tend to be cube-shaped!  Fractals come in many different shapes.  Consider the dendritic patterns of snowflakes, tree branches, or river networks, or lightning bolts.  Consider also the spiral shapes of water going down a drain, or hurricanes, or galaxies.     

Fractals are both simple and infinitely complex.  Because a single shape in a fractal is a picture of the larger pattern, once you understand one small shape you understand the big picture too.  Simple.  What boggles the mind is that fractals go on forever into the infinitely small and the infinitely large.  Complex.    

The Bible is God’s Word.

God’s Word is both simple and infinitely complex.  The stories of The Bible convey wisdom so simple a child can understand, and yet they contain wisdom so deep and profound that the wisest of philosophers can never fathom it.  God’s Word reveals His character, and His character is consistent and true to His Word.   

The imagery, symbolism, and meaning of the stories show a repeating pattern throughout the Old and New Testaments — all pointing to Jesus as the Messiah who came to fulfill God’s promise and purpose.  Consider that the very first word in the original Hebrew scrolls containing the Book of Genesis is B’reishit, which is translated: “In the beginning.”  Scholars note that the Hebrew bet symbol, or “B,” in those manuscripts is enlarged to call attention to itself.2  When it stands alone, the bet symbolizes “a house.”  It is a pictogram — both an alpha-numeric character and a symbol that resembles a house or shelter — that looks like this:  ב

Hebrew doesn’t have vowels so when you add the resh (or “r”) symbol, you get the Hebrew word bar, meaning “son.”  The remaining letters form the Hebrew word reishit (pronounced ‘ray-SHEET’), which means “beginning” or “first”; though, in particular contexts, the Israelites understood it to more specifically mean “first fruits of the harvest.”2  For example, in Leviticus 23:10, Hebrew manuscripts used the word reishit where today’s English Bible translates: “first grain you harvest.”2  Combining the first two letters and the last two letters of b’reishit produces the Hebrew word brit (pronounced ‘breet’), which means “covenant.”2

Thus, unpacking and expanding the embedded meanings in the very first Hebrew word in the Book of Genesis into a modern English sentence, we can see there’s a bigger picture and a greater meaning:  “In the beginning (B’reishit), the God of Israel created Heaven and Earth because He desired to have a house (bet) for His Son (bar) by means of a covenant (brit) for those who are classified as His first fruits (reishit).”2  

I am awestruck and inspired by the fact that the whole story of the Bible — every story that points to Jesus as the Messiah and giver of eternal life — is encapsulated in the first Hebrew word B’reishit that was written on a scroll about 1,500 years before Jesus was born.  This word, God’s Word, is like a seed containing the image of a tree — the Tree of Life — into which the seed would grow.  And then, through the stories of the Bible, we see it did grow!  These very same images — house (tabernacle, temple), son (firstborn, heir, inheritance), covenant (promise, rainbow, commandments, forgiveness), and first fruits (beginning, first of the harvest, choicest, chosen ones) — are main themes that play out over and over again throughout the stories of The Bible.    

God affirms this point in Psalm 78:  “My people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth.  I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old — things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us.  We will not hide them from their descendents; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power, and the wonders He has done.” (Psalm 78:1-4)

The repeating patterns in the stories are intended to teach us of the divinity and purpose of Jesus in a way that goes beyond mere telling.  Though they tell of Israel’s history, the stories also convey a deeper symbolic meaning and, therefore, they are also parables.  God’s truth and wisdom is embedded in the very language, history, and culture of the Israelites.  God’s Word remains consistent and true throughout; and it not only tells, it shows!   

God’s Word is fractal.

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1 Fractal Foundation: http://fractalfoundation.org/resources/what-are-fractals/ (accessed Oct. 2, 2013).

2 Chumney, Edward (1998): The Seven Festivals of the Messiah. 2nd ed. Treasure House Books, Inc. (Available online at http://www.hebroots.com/sevenfestivals.htm)

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Discussion questions

1. What repeating patterns, or recurring themes, have you observed in the stories of the Bible?

2. In your walk with Jesus, have you seen some of these same patterns play out in your own life?

3. If so, what wisdom has He been teaching you?