Category Archives: Scripture

Leviticus is not an easy book to read. There is a lot of repetition, procedure, and details that do not seem to apply to my life today. But that repetition, procedure, and details can teach my life today.

There is a similarity here to how Paul ended his letters, with “final instructions,” to how my parents wrote my letters. Because my parents know me so well, they can write instructions, or encouragement, for a day at camp weeks in advance and know it will be applicable. Paul knew the Thessalonians – and all those who he wrote to – so well that he could write these words of instructions months in advance and the audience would still find meaning in them.

At the end of 1 Thessalonians, he gives them a final word of instruction of how to relate to people, both those who are stronger in the faith, and those who are weaker.

In the later part of the 20th century and into the early 2000s, conservative, low-church, Evangelical Christianity became enraptured by raptured theology. Rapture theology is less than 200 years old, and unlike other theological systems which seem young or newer but have roots in Church history, rapture theology does not.[1] In spite of being so young, new, and not found in the first 1800 years of the Church, those of us in these conservative, low-church, Evangelical circles were taught it and placed it as one of core dogma.

But not only were many emphatically taught it, though, many also yearned for it, which, I suppose this is not much different than those in Amos’ day:

Joel does not just tell the drunkard, virgin, and farmers and vine growers to do this; he says to “summon the elders and all who live in the land” (Joel 1:14, emphasis added). I do assume that all who live in the land are being affected by the invasion, by the new wine being dried up, and by the field being destroyed. But I also imagine there are some who are less affected by these devastations than others. I image there are some who live in the land who have yet to feel the effects of what is happening.

And if this is the case, why should they mourn? Why should they put on sackcloth and fast? Why should they go to the house of God and cry out?

The ancient Israelites were a people of story. They were a people instructed to hand down the stories of what God did for them to their children. If they and their children and their children’s children knew what God had done for the people of Israel, they would follow Him and Him alone. Problems arise and the people of God go after other gods when they do not know the stories of their ancestors. When they know longer know and hear the stories of what God has done, they no longer listen to what He is doing.

A true prophet had a difficult life. Not only were they called to live in strange ways, to be living parables, but they had complicated and complex relationships with those around them. A king appreciated and honored a prophet when they prophesized in their favor but threatened and threw them in prison when they prophesized against them.

The contrast in Jeremiah 29 and 35 is interesting. One group of people (Israelites in exile) is told to live in a land that is not yours (Babylon) but to build and live as if it is your land. The other group (Rekabite family) is told to live in a land that was theirs (Israel) but to not build and live as nomads.

Jeremiah tells them to “build”, “settle down”, “plant gardens”, “eat what they produce”, “marry”, “have sons and daughters” (Jeremiah 29:5-6). By telling them this, he is telling them that they will be in exile for a while (seventy years he says in Jeremiah 29:10). He wants them to know that this isn’t just a temporary relocation, but permanent for multiple generations.

Paul understood that the Corinthians, like the Macedonians, may have been financially pressed. The goal was not that others were relieved and the Corinthians even more pressed, but that they achieve equality in what they have. The Corinthians had enough at that time, but others did not. Paul wanted them to share what they had so that when they were in need others who did have would be able to share with them.

I think sometimes being a Christian means living in a fantasy. Perhaps that is why so many of our great authors wrote about lions, witches, wardrobes, hobbits, wizards, and talking trees. Living in a fantasy is not a means of escapism, however. Instead, it is about living in a world we have yet to experience.