The Knew Kingdom: December 2007

John the Baptist

John the Baptist

Old Testament Expectations

Isaiah 40:1-5  Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:2-3,
1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

3 A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

Malachi 3:1-5  Matt 11:10, Luke 1:76
1 "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years. 5 "So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty.

Malachi 4:5-6  Matt 11:14, 17:12-13, Mark 9:13, Luke 1:17, 76
5 "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse."

The Story of His Birth/Childhood

Luke 1:13-17, 41, 57-63, 67, 76-80
13But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. 14He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. 16Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. 17And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

41When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

57When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. 58Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy. 59On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, 60but his mother spoke up and said, "No! He is to be called John." 61They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who has that name." 62Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. 63He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, "His name is John."

67His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied…76And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, 78because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." 80And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.

His Lifestyle

He was a joy & delight to his parents (Luke 1:14)
He never drank wine or fermented drink (Luke 1:14)
He grew & became strong in spirit (Luke 1:80)
He lived in the desert (Matthew 3:1, 11:7, Mark 1:4, Luke 1:80, 3:2)
His wardrobe was camel’s hair & a leather belt (Matthew 3:4, Mark 1:6)
He ate locusts & wild honey (Matthew 3:4, Mark 1:6)

His Preaching
* Remember, John preached in the wilderness. His ministry was an anti-type of the Exodus. He was preparing the way for the Promised Land.

Repent! Be baptized (Matthew 3:6)
Repent! Judgment is coming (Matthew 3:7+10)
Repent! Real Repentance (Matthew 3:8)
Repent! Lineage doesn’t matter (Matthew 3:9)
Repent! Live righteously (Luke 3:10-14)
Repent! The Lamb of God (John 1:29)

Extra Biblical Sources

Josephus
“But to some of the Jews, Herod’s disaster seemed to be divine vengeance for is treatment of John, surnamed the Baptist. Although John was a good man and exhorted the Jews to lead righteous lives and practice justice toward their colleagues and piety to God, Herod had put him to death. John taught that baptism must not be employed to obtain pardon for sins committed, but as a consecration of the body, implying that the soul was already purified by proper behavior. When others also joined the crowds around John and were greatly aroused by his preaching, Herod grew alarmed that such eloquence could lead to rebellion. Therefore, he decided that it would be better to strike first and get rid of him, rather than wait for an uprising.”

Early Church Fathers
“John was a prophet among your nation. After him, no other prophet appeared among you.” (Justin Martyr)

“The blessed John, despising the locks of sheep as savoring of luxury, chose camel’s hair, and was clad in it. So he became an example of frugality and simplicity of life.” (Clement of Alexanderia)

“It was on account of the spirit that he was called ‘Elijah who was to come.’ (Origen)

Hallmarks of His Humility

Recognized the true source of power (“more powerful than I” Matt 3:11-12)
Recognized that it takes God to change people (“better baptism” Matt 3:11-15)
Recognized he was merely a witnesses (“only a witness to the light” John 1:6-8)
Recognized what he was not (“I am not…” John 1:20-21)
Recognized he was unworthy (“not worthy to…” John 1:27)
Recognized Who deserved the glory (“He must increase” (John 3:26-36)

“A true mark of humility is not so much how you handle compliments, but how you handle not being complemented for a job well done.”

The Decreasing Ministry of John

He continued to minister even after Jesus’ ministry began (John 3:23-35)
He was imprisoned for rebuking Herod (Luke 3:19-20, Mark 6:17-20)
He had doubts about Jesus (Matthew 11:1-6)
He was beheaded at the request of Herodias (Matthew 14:6-13)
He left as the end of the law & prophets (Luke 16:16) and more (Matt 11:7-15)

Creation & Genetics

THE BEGINNING GOD
How did the different ‘races’ arise?

Evolutionist Answer
The Full Title of Darwin’s book was
“On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored races in the Struggle for Life.”

“Their mental characteristics are likewise very distinct; chiefly as it would appear in their emotional, but partly in their intellectual faculties.” (Darwin)

“No rational man, cognizant of the facts, believes that the average Negro is the equal, still less the superior, of the average white man.” (Huxley)

(I am...) "Inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa. All our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours, whereas all the testing says not really...There is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically." (James Watson, October 2007)

Creationist Answer
The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9)

“As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase up on.” (Genesis 9:7)

“Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:4)

“Come, let us go down and confuse their language…so the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth.”
(Genesis 11:7-8)

The 16 Grandsons of Noah

From Japheth
Gomer- Greeks called Galatians  France/Spain/Wales
Magog- Greeks called Scythians  Romania/Ukraine
Madai- Greeks called Medes  Iran/India (with Elam)
Javan- Hebrew word for Greece itself  Greek People
Tubal-  Georgia across Caucasus mountains (Tobolsk)
Meshech- Ancient name for Moscow  Russia
Tiras- Greeks called Thracians  Yugoslavia (Thor)

From Ham
Cush- Hebrew word for Ethiopia  Ethiopia
Mizraim- Hebrew word for Egypt  Egypt (Gen. 50:11)
Phut- Hebrew word for Libya  Libya
Canaan- Hebrew name for region of Palestine  Palestine

From Shem
Elam- Ancient name for Persia  Iran (Acts 2:9)
Asshur- Hebrew word for Assyria  Assyrian Empire
Arphaxad- Progenitor of the Chaldeans  Hebrew/Arabia
Lud- Ancestor of the Lydians  Western Turkey (Sardis)
Aram- Hebrew word of Syria  Syria (Aramaic)

1. We all belong to the human race
2. Babel broke the unity of humanity
3. Visual distinctions b/w people groups arise via
time
isolation
environment
4. Pentecost fixed the dis-unity in humanity
5. We can all belong to God’s family

Creation Philosophy

THE BEGINNING GOD
- Creation & Philosophy -

How do people become Christians?
1. Family of Faith
2. Same Difference
3. Crisis Conversion
4. Philosophical Persuasion

Philosopher A lover of wisdom with the goal of determining the proper worldview

The Case of Antony Flew
"Three domains of scientific inquiry have been especially important for me… How did the laws of nature come to be? How did life originate from non-life? How did the universe come into existence?"

1. The Laws & Complexity of Life
Could life have gone from simple to complex w/o an intelligent designer?
* We watched clips from the film "Unlocking the mystery of life"
* Fine-tuning argument for creationism
* Knowing the odds of a world like ours coming to exist w/o an intelligent designer, many atheistic philosophers have resorted to a belief in the 'multiverse' (a completely unobservable existence of an incredible amount of parallel universes)

2. The Origin of Life
Could life have come from non-life w/o an intelligent designer?
* We watched clips from the film "Unlocking the mystery of life"
* If SETE (search for extra terrestrial existence) would interpret a pattern as a sign of intelligence, why not recognize the pattern and organization within each human cell as evidence for a Creator?

3. The Origin of Matter
Could something have come from nothing w/o an intelligent designer?
* Atheistic philosophers had previously believed in an eternal universe, until the Big Bang
* I'd much rather believe a Being existed forever than that matter has existed eternally

Creation Biology

- Creation & Biology-

Evolution in History
The theory of evolution is not a product of the scientific enlightenment
~ Native American Totemism
Iroquois Turtle Clan
Choctaws Cray-Fish clan
Osages snail/beaver
~ Greek Philosphers
Thales of Miletus (640–546 BC)
Anaximander (611–547 BC)
Empedocles (493–435 BC)
~ Early Church Apologists (100’s – 300’s A.D.)
Paul (Acts 16:24-26, Colossians 2:8)
Augustine (City of God)

Evolution Breaking Through
~ Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
Grandson of Erasmus Darwin
Influenced by Charles Lyell
Wrote extensively defending his version of evolution
~ Gregor Mendel
Darwin believed, mistakenly, in Lamarckism
Mendel explained that changes were the result of genes, not beheaviors
~ T.H. Huxley (1825-1895)
Passionately popularized Darwinian evolution

Evolution Overview
~ Defining Evolution
‘Evolution’ simply means change
‘Micro-evolution’ is change within a species (adaptation)
‘Macro-evolution’ is change of species (speciation)
‘Darwinian-evolution’ says all life evolved from one or a few lifeforms
~ Mechanisms
Darwinian Evolution is not an entirely ‘random’ process
‘Natural Selection’ (Survival of the Fittest) guides the process
‘Mutations’ (Accumulation of beneficial mutations)

Creation Cosmology

I recommend the film 'The Privileged Planet'

Creation Geology

- Creation & Geology-

Catastrophism The theory that major changes in the earth's crust result from catastrophe(s) rather than slow & gradual processes.

Biblical Evidence
Commanded to Build, not walk
Judgment of all mankind
Above the mountains
The rainbow promise
Hebrew wording

Scientific Evidence
The vast array of fossils
Quickly laid rock strata
Grand Canyon Example
Mt. St. Helen’s Example
Special Circumstances

Traditional Evidence
Multitude of flood legends across the globe (see AIG chart)

Uniformitarianism The theory that all geologic phenomena may be explained as the result of existing forces having operated uniformly from the origin of the earth to the present time

James Hutton (1726-1797)
1. A well educated Scottish farmer (trained in law/medicine)
2. A deist & friend of philosopher David Hume & economist Adam Smith
3. Later in life, he took an interest in geology and published in 1788
4. He proposed a theory of uniformitarianism as opposed to catastrophism
5. His views were never broadly accepted during his lifetime

Charles Lyell (1797-1875)
1. A Scottish lawyer
2. Left ‘law’ to practice geology in 1827
3. Popularized Hutton’s uniformitarianism
4. Published ‘Principles of Geology’ in 1830
5. Close personal friend of Charles Darwin

First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

1. The ‘last days’ are the period b/w the 1st & 2nd Coming
2. Scoffers scoff at religious doctrines
~ Scoff at the 2nd Coming
~ Scoff at Creationism
~ Scoff at Global Flood
~ Scoff at Judgment Day
3. Scoffers scoff for immoral motivations
4. Scoffers key argument against God is ‘uniformitarianism’-

Creation Questions

- Creation Questions-

1. Why does the Bible start by assuming God instead of arguing for God’s existence?
2. Why should I trust Genesis 1-11 as actual history?
3. What is meant by ‘the heavens’ in 1:1?
4. Does the ‘darkness’ in 1:2 imply something sinister?
5. How was there ‘light’ in 1:3 before the creation of the sun in 1:14?
6. Should we interpret the term ‘day’ literally?
7. How can a ‘day’ be a 24 hour period w/o the sun?
8. If creation is ‘young,’ how can we see starlight from millions of light years away?
9. What is or what happened to the ‘water above’ the expanse of 1:7?
10. Was there, originally, one super-continent (1:9)?
11. Is a biblical ‘kind’ the same as a scientific ‘species’ (1:21)?
12. Who is the ‘Us’ in 1:26?
13. What is meant by mankind’s ‘rule’ in 1:26 and ‘subdue’ in 1:28?
14. Doesn’t 1:27 imply that God made male and female at the same time?
15. Were Adam & Eve commanded to be vegetarians as per 1:29?
16. Did all animals eat only plants (1:30)? What about the food chain?
17. Is it significant that God said ‘very good’ in 1:31?
18. How could God need rest (2:2-3)?
19. What was the earth’s early topography like (2:5-6)?
20. Is 2:7 describing the first stages of evolution?
21. Where was the Garden of Eden (2:8, 10-15)?
22. What was the purpose/usage of the tree of life (2:9)?
23. Why did God create a tree they weren’t supposed to eat from (2:9, 17)?
24. Does 2:17 refer to physical, spiritual, or both types of death?
25. Doesn’t the ‘not good’ of 2:18 contradict the ‘very good’ of 1:31?
26. Was it really possible for Adam to name all the animals in 1 day (2:20)?
27. Did God really think one of the animals would be a suitable helper (2:20)?
28. Is their significance to the idea that woman was taken ‘out of man’ (2:23)?
29. Is 2:24 the origin of marriage?
30. If a ‘very good’ creation included nakedness, why do we wear clothes (2:25)?
31. Did the serpent really talk (3:1)? If so, how?
32. Did Eve mis-quote God’s word in 3:3?
33. Why does this serpent oppose God (3:4)? Where did it come from?
34. What can we learn about temptation from Eve’s experience in 3:6-7?
35. Why did they immediately cover themselves in 3:7?
36. Did God really walk through the Garden of Eden as described in 3:8?
37. Why did they hide from God in 3:8?
38. Did God really not know where they were in 3:9 or who had told them in 3:11?
39. Why did God punish all serpents for this one act? Was more going on here (3:14-15)
40. Does ‘increase’ in 3:16 imply that Eve had already had children?
41. What are the implications of man’s ‘rule’ over woman in 3:16?
42. Does 3:17-19 show that ‘work’ is a consequence of sin?
43. Is there significance to the fact that Eve is the mother of ‘all’ living (3:20)?
44. What is the significance of God clothing the couple in 3:21?
45. Had man really become like God (3:22)?
46. Why didn’t God want the couple to ‘live forever’ (3:22-23)?
47. Why can’t we find the cherubim and flaming sword today (3:24)?
48. Why didn’t God look with favor on Cain’s offering (4:5)?
49. Who was Cain afraid of if only 3 people existed (4:14)?
50. Who was Cain’s wife (4:17)?
51. Why did men begin to call on the name of the Lord in 4:26?
52. How could men live as long as is described in chapter 5?
53. What does it mean when it says God ‘took’ Enoch away in 5:24?
54. Who were the ‘sons of God’ referred to in 6:2?
55. What is meant by the 120 years in 6:3?
56. What were the Nephilim of 6:4?
57. Does the word ‘grieved’ imply that God made a mistake in creating man (6:6)?
58. Can God really experience pain, as mentioned in 6:6?
59. Was the flood in Noah’s day local or worldwide?
60. Why was their a differentiation b/w clean and unclean animals (7:2-3)?
61. How could they possibly fit all ‘kinds’ of animals into the ark?
62. Were dinosaurs on the ark? What happened to them?
63. How did fresh/saltwater fish survive the flood?
64. Where did all that water come from?
65. Wouldn’t a worldwide flood leave an enormous amount of evidence?
66. If the flood was worldwide, where did all the water go?
67. Does 8:1 imply that God had previously forgotten?
68. Why did God now allow man to eat animals (except w/lifeblood, 9:3-4)?
69. Does 9:6 establish capital punishment?
70. If the flood was local, what are we to make of God’s promise in 9:11?
71. Had it ever rained prior to the flood (2:5 & 9:13)?
72. Do all people/races really come from the eight people of Noah’s Ark?
73. Does 10:25 describe the beginnings of continental drift?
74. How did land animals get to other continents?
75. Was God afraid of mankind’s abilities in 11:6?
76. Isn’t God the author of confusion in 11:7?
77. Doesn’t modern geology prove that the earth is extremely old?
78. Doesn’t modern biology prove that life evolved over time?
79. Didn’t they already find the missing link?
80. Don’t a variety of dating methods prove ‘millions’ of years?
81. What’s the difference b/w ‘macro’ & ‘micro’ evolution?
82. Is there scientific evidence for a young earth?
83. Is there scientific evidence for intelligent design?
84. Can I ask a question about creation/evolution not listed here?

Interpreting Genesis 1

Interpretations of Genesis 1

Gap Theory Substantial chronological gap between 1:1 & 1:2

What is the state and doctrine of this theory?
1. This is a theory popularized in the 19th century, but is fading with time
2. It attempts to reconcile ‘old-earth’ with a ‘literal’ creation week
3. It theorizes that there is an enormous chronological gap b/w 1:1 & 1:2
4. It theorizes that there was an inhabited earth prior to the creation week
5. It theorizes that ‘Lucifer’ fell during this time and was judged via flood
6. It theorizes that this ‘flood’ explains pop-geology & the fossil record
7. It is based on Genesis 1:1-2, 1:28 (kjv), Isaiah 14 & Ezekiel 28

What are the 3 key problems with this theory?
1. It is based on faulty understandings of multiple Hebrew words
2. It fails the ‘Teaching Ministry’ & ‘Scriptural Harmony’ tests
3. It creates doctrinal dilemmas w/o accomplishing it’s scientific goal

Theistic Evolution God created & used evolution as His mechanism

What is the state and doctrine of this theory?
1. It was popularized in the 19th century, and is gaining momentum
2. It combines popular scientific theories with allegorical interpretation
3. It’s adherents range from doctrines of ‘deism’ to ‘immanence’

What are the 3 key problems with this theory?
1. It stands or falls on the merits of pop-science (Darwinian Evolution)
2. It seems to fail the Literal, Teaching & Scriptural Harmony tests
3. It creates a multitude of doctrinal issues (death before the Fall, etc)

Day-Age Theory Each ‘day’ of Genesis 1 represents an ‘age’

What is the state and doctrine of this theory?
1. It was popularized in the 19th century, and is holding it’s own
2. It combines non-Darwinian pop-science with biblical creationism
3. It suggests that the creations days were actually millions of years

What are the 3 key problems with this theory?
1. It seems to fail the grammatical, teaching & Scriptural harmony tests
2. It creates doctrinal dilemmas (death & ‘man’ before fall, local flood)
3. It generally fails to accomplish it’s goal of appealing to the secular mind

Allegorical Theory Creation Week is not a ‘Literal’ Account

What is the state and doctrine of this theory?
1. It has been growing in popularity during the 20th & 21st centuries
2. It suggests that Genesis 1 is a religious creed establishing the Sabbath
3. Adherents find the ‘gap’ & ‘day-age’ theories inadequate

What are the 3 key problems with this theory?
1. It seems to fail the literal & teaching tests
2. It leaves us with a lack of details about the origin of the universe
3. It is quite possibly a true application w/o being a primary meaning

Young Earth Theory God created the world in six 24-hour days

What is the state and doctrine of this theory?
1. It has been growing in popularity during the 20th & 21st centuries
2. It suggests that Genesis be interpreted as a chronological narrative
3. It, alone, suggests that the earth is less than 10,000 years old
4. It, alone, suggests that Noah’s flood was a worldwide deluge
5. It, alone, suggests that no death occurred prior to the fall
6. Adherents find alternative theories to ‘compromise’ Scriptural authority

What are the 3 key problems with this theory?
1. It fails to match up with popular secular-science in numerous fields
2. Some claim it treats Scripture like a scientific text-book
3. Some reference apparent contradictions if Genesis 1 is taken literally

Creationism

Below is a study of the Creation/Naturalism Controversy

Interpreting Genesis 1
Creation Questions
Creation and Geology
Creation and Cosmology
Creation and Biology
Creation and Philosophy
Creation and Genetics
Creation and History

Inter-Testamental Period

The last known Old Testament prophet, Malachi, prophesied around the year 430BC. John & Jesus were born around the time later marked as the transition b/w BC & AD. The approximately 400 years in between where the Old Testament leaves off and the New Testament begins is known as the Intertestamental Period. It is sometimes referred to as 400 years of silence, but this is a bit of a misnomer. Plenty of significant events and movements were begun in this time period. The 'silence' refers specifically to the lack of canonical prophets.

We aren't, of course, without biblical insight in regards to what went on during this period. The dreams and visions of Daniel paint the landscape of the Intertestamental Period. Babylon had given way to Persia. Persia would give way to the Greeks. The Greek Empire would be divided into 4 parts after the death of Alexander the Great. A group of Jews would lead a successful revolt against their Greek Conquerors and live in relative independance until the Romans came along in the final century before Christ. Some of the Apocryphal Books provide credible history of this time period.

There are 4 key developments during this period that should be noted.

1. Alexander and Greek Influence
Alexander was relatively peaceful toward the Jews. Josephus actually records a possibly legendary story of Alexander receiving a dream/vision to keep peace with Israel and its leadership. In any case, the power of Alexander is important in the sense that it spread his Greek culture all over the known world of the time. The influence of Aristotle, Plato and others was spread to all the cultures the Greeks conquered. The world became a Greek speaking world. Greek philosophy influenced all the other philosophies it encountered.

2. The Making of the Septuagint Translation
Ptolemy Philadelphus ordered a Greek translation of the Old Testament for his library. By legend, he had 72 (or 70) Hebrew scholars make independent Greek translations and then found them all to be identical. This translation became known as the Septuagint and was widely used in Jesus day among Jews and God-fearers. In fact, the NT most often quotes from the Septuagint.

3. Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabean Revolt
Antiochus Ephiphanes sacrificed a pig on the altar in Jerusalem. Judas Maccabus led a successful revolt and the Jews experienced relative independence from 160-63BC. 1st and 2nd Maccabees record the surrounding events.

4. Development of Sects within Judaism
Various Jewish sects arose during this time.
a) The Sadducees seem to have been highly influenced by the Greeks. They believed in Torah only. They didn't believe in bodily resurrection. They had much political power in Jesus day, but often had to bow to the wishes of the Pharisees who were more popular among the Jewish community.
b) The Pharisees observed the OT Law to the letter, PLUS the oral laws that had been passed down to build a hedge of protection around the law. They didn't believe, as is often speculated, in a 'works-based' righteousness, but that observing the law was the sign that one was inside the community known as the people of God.
c) The Essenes were the anti-institutional group of the time. They held their property in common and their members to a strict code. We learn much of this group from the Dead Sea Scrolls.
d) The Zealots were similar to the Pharisees, but with even less tolerance of Rome. The Zealots sought military victory over Rome. They held God alone to be their leader in battle.

Despite the emergence of these 4 sects, the Herod's were the one's with authorized power over the Jewish community, as appointed by Caesar.

Part 1: Introduction, Moses (90)

Honest to God
-A Study of the Psalms-

What are the Psalms?
The word ‘Psalm’ comes from the Hebrew word ‘Psalmos’ which literally means ‘to pluck’ an instrument. The Psalms were songs to be sung to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument or instruments.

In the New Testament, Paul gives this command: ‘Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.’ The Greek word for ‘music in your heart’ is ‘psallontes.’ In other words, we are to pull our ‘heartstrings’ when we sing to the Lord.
Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16, James 5:13

Who wrote the Psalms?
76 by David 2-9,11-32,34-41,51-65,68,70,86,101,103,105,108-110,122,124,131,133,138-145
12 by Asaph 50,73-83
11 by the sons of Korah 42-49,84-85,87
02 by Solomon 72,127
01 by Moses 90
01 by Heman 88
01 by Ethan 89
46 by an anonymous author 1,10,33,66-67,71,91-100,102,104,106-107,111-121,123,125-126,128-130,132,134-137,146-150

Fast Facts
Psalms is the longest book of the Bible
Psalms is the most quoted in the NT
Psalms is made up of 5 sections
~ 01-41 similar to Genesis
~ 42-72 similar to Exodus
~ 73-89 similar to Leviticus
~ 90-106 similar to Numbers
~ 107-150 similar to Deuteronomy

3 Ways to Study Psalms
~ By Sequence
~ By Author
~ By Genre
---wisdom (1, 37, 49, 73, 112, from either above (privilege) or below (questioning)...)
---nature (8, 19, 104, 148, Nature is de-divinized and de-moralized)
---illness
---lament
---thanks
---hymn
---trust
---penitence
---zion
---salvation history
---imprecation
---torah/liturgical

The Poetry of the Psalms
The main feature is parallelism. Comparison & Contrast is used heavily. Some Psalms are Acrostics (for memory, to demonstrate skill of author, to show completeness, to show order) (9-10, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, 145)

Psalm 90 may be the oldest Psalm since it seems to have been written by Moses himself. In some manuscripts, Psalm 91 is connected to this Psalm. If this grouping is historical, Moses is the author of both Psalms. In any case, Psalm 90 speaks of God's sovereignty:

God was here long before your birth
God will be here long after your death
God knows our supposedly secret sins
Life is typically 70-80 years in length

The message of the Psalm can seemingly be summarized in the following quote from verse 12: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Augustine

Quotes from 'The City of God'

PART 1

“The Pagans are angry with us because we speak so frankly of their divinities.”

Why God allows suffering:
1) “An invitation to the wicked to do penance”
2) “God’s scourge is a school of patience for the good”
3) “That men might not seek too eagerly after (worldly things)”
4) “If God did not plainly enough punish sin on earth, people might (deny God)”
5) “Because they wink at their worse sins and fear to frown on (minor sins)”
6) “That the human spirit may test its mettle and come to know whether it loves God”

Sin Defined:
“As long as the will remains unyielding, no crime, beyond the victim’s power to prevent it without sin, and which is perpetrated on the body or in the body, lays any guilt on the soul…No man sins unless it is his choice to sin.”

Thou Shalt Not Kill Defined:
1) “God’s command is to be taken as forbidding self-destruction”
2) “We do not apply ‘thou shalt not kill’ to plants b/c they have no sensation”
3) “Or to irrational animals, b/c they are linked to us by no association or bond”
4) “It only remains for us to apply the commandment to man alone”
5) “The same divine law which forbids…allows certain exceptions”
~ “When God authorizes killing”
~ “When He gives and explicit commission”
~ “It is in no way contrary to the commandment to wage war at God’s bidding”
~ “Or for the representative of the State’s authority to put criminals to death”

A Few Quotable Quotes:
“Our city must remember that in the ranks of its enemies lie hid fellow citizens to be”
“True justice is not to be found save in that commonwealth whose founder is Christ”
“A good man, though a slave, is free; but a wicked man, though a king, is a slave.”

Against Other Worldviews:
Polythism: “What could the Romans lose if, with a wiser economy, they should worship 1 God”
Pantheism: “Does anyone fail to see how impious and blasphemous the conclusion that follows”
Astrology: “God is the Lord of both stars and men”
Against Open-Theism:
“It is plain nonsense for a man to admit that God exists and then to deny that He can know the future…one who does not foreknow the whole of the future is most certainly not God.”

Is Anything Impossible for God?
“It is precisely because He is omnipotent that for Him some things are impossible”

Fate & Free Will:
“We are by no means under compulsion to abandon free choice in favor of divine foreknowledge, nor need we deny- God forbid! – that God knows the future, as a condition for holding free choice. We accept both.

PART 2

“Christian truth makes clear that these gods are false, that they are useless idols, or unclean spirits, or dangerous demons, or, at best, mere creatures and not the Creator.” (119)

“True religion owed its foundation to no city; it was itself the foundation of a wholly celestial city.” (126)

“After the people of God had been given the revelation of the mystery of eternal life, at the proper time and by the same authority…they (Jewish rites like Sabbath) were abrogated.” (133)

“There can be no greater or worse death than where death itself never dies. Since it is the nature of the soul that it cannot be without some sort of life, having been created immortal, it is the depth of death for it to be alienated from the life of God in an eternity of pain.” (134)

“We should not seek and worship God for the sake of the passing cloud of this mortal life, but for the sake of that happy life which cannot be other than everlasting.” (135)

“God is not the soul of all things, but the maker of all souls.” (136)

“I must mention various operations of the one true God. It was because of these that the pagan philosophers, who were making a serious effort to interpret the indecent and immoral mysteries, made for themselves so many false gods.” (139)

“We can never sufficiently thank Him for the gifts of nature…that we have a reasoning mind by which we can seek Him…He did not leave us to ourselves, but sent to us His Word, who is His only Son” (141)

“Natural theology cannot be discussed with men in the street but only with philosophers, that is, as the name implies, with lovers of wisdom… a true philosopher will be a lover of God. That does not mean that all who answer to the name are really in love with genuine wisdom, for it is one thing to be and another to be called a philosopher.” (144)
“The Epicureans, for example, believed that life could be produced from lifeless matter.” (151)

“No one is really happy until his love ends in fruition. For, even those who love what they should not love do not consider loving but only fruition as the source of their satisfaction.” (156)

“Some of our fellow Christians are astonished to learn that Plato had such ideas about God and to realize how close they are to the truths of our faith.” (159)

“It is surely easier for a man to cease to be a man by worshiping man-made gods than for idols to become divine by being adored.” (167)

“If they (demons) can foresee much more of the future than men, it is only because, by longer experience, they have learned to decipher signals which mean nothing to us. Often enough, their predictions are merely pre-announcements of what they are planning to do.” (182)

“Our Scripture also gives the name ‘gods’ to men who belong to the people of God.” (183)

“We offer Him our allegiance- for ‘allegiance’ and ‘religion’ are at root, the same.” (191)

“Thus it is that He is both the Priest who offers and the oblation that is offered. And it was His will that as a sacrament of this reality there should be the daily sacrifice of the Church, which, being the Body of Him, her Head, learns to offer itself through Him.” (196)

“Many prophecies… have already been accomplished [so]… we can firmly trust that all the other will likewise be fulfilled.” (203)

PART 3

“Now there is one way and one way alone that can save us from all aberrations, the Way which is both God and man- God as the goal and man as the means to reach it.” (207)

“This Mediator, first through the Prophets, then by His own lips, afterwards through the Apostles, revealed whatever He considered necessary.” (207)

“Those who propose that the world is eternal, without beginning, and, therefore, not created by God… are raving with the deadly disease of irreligion…for the very beauty of form in all that is visible proclaims, however silently, that the world was created.” (208)

“There was no such thing as time before the universe was made.” (211)

“As for these ‘days,’ it is difficult, perhaps impossible to think- let alone to explain in words- what they mean (The only question is whether we can find an appropriate meaning for the ‘morning’ and ‘evening’ of such a day.)” (212…referring to the ‘days’ in Genesis 1)

“If the angels are included in the works of God during these six days, they are the light which was called day…we should take the distinction between the good and bad angels as the meaning of the words: ‘God separated the light from the darkness, calling the light Day and the darkness night.” (216, 225)

“What we call evil is merely the lack of something that is good.” (217)

“We cannot presume that they shared in wisdom equally with the angels who enjoy a plenitude of true happiness precisely because they were never deceived concerning its eternity.” (220)

“We should not underestimate the significance of numbers, since, in many passages of Sacred Scripture, numbers have a meaning for the conscientious interpreter.” (242)

“If one seeks for the efficient cause of their evil will, none is to be found…there is no efficient cause of an evil will…like trying to see darkness or hear silence…What makes the will evil is, in reality, an unmaking.” (251, 254, 256)

“The will does not fall into sin, it falls sinfully.” (255)

“They hold that, just as the world is reborn out of its previous matter, so a new human race would arise from the elements of nature and only thereafter would a progeny of mortals spring from parents. And the same would be true of the rest of the animals.” (259)

“The human soul is, in a true sense, immortal, nonetheless it, too, can suffer its own sort of death. It is said to be immortal because it can never, in the least degree, cease to live and perceive.” (269)

“And what the first man became by perversion and penalty, this his descendants are by birth- natures subject to sin and death.” (272)

“The sinners would not have died unless they sinned; the saints will sin unless they die…God has rewarded faith with so much grace that death, which seems to be the enemy of life, becomes an ally that helps man enter into life.” (274)

“I have in mind those un-baptized persons who die confessing the name of Christ. They receive the forgiveness of their sins as completely as if they had been cleansed by the waters of baptism.” (275)

“The separated souls of the saints are now in peace, while those of the wicked are in pain, and will be so until the resurrection of their bodies, when the former will enter into life everlasting and the latter into a second and eternal death.” (277)

“The next question to be asked is with what death God threatened our first parents…Was it the death of the soul, or of the body, or of the entire man, or the so-called second death? The answer is: every kind of death.” (277)

“The fact is that the soul, which had taken perverse delight in its own liberty and disdained the service of God, was now deprived of its original mastery over the body…From this moment, then, the flesh began to lust against the spirit.” (278)

“There are some who have allegorized the entire Garden of Eden where, according to Holy Scripture, the first parents of the human race actually lived.” (287)

“We ought not, therefore, to blame our sins and defects on the nature of the flesh, for this is to disparage the Creator.” (302)

“A man who lives according to God owes it to wicked men that his hatred be perfect, so that, neither hating the man because of his corruption nor loving the corruption because of the man, he should hate the sin but love the sinner.” (304)

“Yet, man did not so fall away from Being as to be absolutely nothing, but, in so far as he turned himself toward himself, he became less.” (309)

“Man who was destined to become spiritual even in his flesh, if only he had kept the commandment, became, instead, fleshly even in his soul.” (312)

PART 4

“Unlike material possessions, goodness is not diminished when it is shared” (329)

“There have never been lacking, then or now, specimens, however rare, of extraordinary stature…frequent discoveries of ancient bones of immense size.” (339)

“When there is any discrepancy in two versions, since both of them cannot be true to the facts, it is better to believe what we find in the original from which the translations have been made.” (347)

“As soon as, with an increased population, it became possible for men to choose wives who were not their sisters, they were bound by the law of love to do so.” (351)

“As to the nonsense about there being Antipodae, that is to say, men living on the far side of the earth, where the sun rises when it sets for us, men who have their feet facing our when they walk- that is utterly incredible.” (367)

“Thus, the prophets sayings are of the three classes; one class refers to the earthly, a second to the heavenly Jerusalem and a third to both simultaneously.” (381)

“Just as I feel that those are greatly mistaken who think that the historical facts in those books have no significance other than that things occurred as described, so I find too venturesome those who maintain that absolutely everything is bound up with allegorical meanings.” (382)

“Ichthys, which means fish…is a name for Christ, because as a fish can live in the depths of waters, Christ was able to live in the abyss of our mortality without sin, which is truly to live.” (400)

“No single translator should be ranked ahead of so many.” (414)

“When the Devil saw the human race abandoning the temples of demons and marching happily forward in the name of the freedom-giving Mediator, he inspired heretics to oppose Christian teaching under cover of the Christian name.” (418)

“At this point, people usually inquire: When will all this happen? A most unreasonable question, for, if it were good for us to know the answer, the Master, God Himself, would have told his disciples when they asked Him…He replied: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates…’ – an answer, it should be noted, given to men who had not sought to know the exact hour, or day, or year, but only the general time of this fulfillment. Obviously, then, it is a waste of effort for us to attempt counting the precise number of years which this world has yet to go, since we know from the mouth of Truth that it is none of our business.” (421)

“Gigantic persecutions, instead of destroying the faith…made it grow beyond belief.” (421)

“Thus we can establish the very day on which the first year of Christianity began, namely, the fifteenth of May, the day when the Holy Spirit came down.” (424)

PART 5

“Christians can feel a real joy when our friends die a holy death. Their death, of course, afflicts our heart, but faith gives us the surer consolation.” (448)

“It is the duty of a blameless person not just to do no wrong, but to keep others from wrongdoing and to punish it when done, so that the one punished may be improved by the experience and others be warned by the example.” (463)

“The City of God does not care in the least what kind of dress or social manners a man of faith affects, so long as these involve no offense against the divine law.” (466)

“No man must be so committed to contemplation as, in his contemplation, to give no thought to his neighbor’s needs nor so absorbed in action as to dispense with the contemplation of God.” (467)

“The attraction of leisure ought not to be empty-headed in activity, but in the quest or discovery of truth, both for his own progress and for the purpose of sharing ungrudgingly with others.” (467)

“In connection with the last judgment, therefore, we who believe can be sure of the following truths: Elias the Thesbite will return; the Jews will believe; Antichrist will persecute the Church; Christ will be the Judge; the dead will rise; the good will be separated from the wicked, but will be renewed…but how and in what sequence the events are to occur we must leave to future experience…my own view is that they will occur in the order I have just mentioned.” (492)

“The fact is that the whole world now believes that the earthly body of Christ has been taken up to heaven. Learned and unlearned alike no longer doubt the resurrection of His flesh and His ascension into heaven, while there is but a handful of those who continue to be puzzled. Now what all these believers believed was either credible or it was not. If it was credible, then the incredulous should ask themselves whether they are not rather ridiculous. If it was no credible and yet was believed, then we have something really incredible, namely that something incredible should be so universally believed.” (509)

“It is sometimes objected that the miracles, which Christians claim to have occurred, no longer happen. One answer might be that they are no longer necessary…The orginal occurrence was so palpably credible that it needed no additional miracles to convince men’s minds of its truth… the canon of Scripture is closed… the original miracles are everywhere repeated and are fixed in people’s memory.” (512-513)

“How difficult it is to remember, how easy to forget; how hard to learn and how easy to be ignorant; how difficult to make an effort and how easy to be lazy. We need go no further to realize to what depths our damaged nature tends to gravitate and what aid it needs to be rescued from its inclinations.” (520)

“It is true that, in regard to the rewards which the soul is to enjoy in the blessedness which is to follow the present life, the best of the pagan philosophers agree with us. What they object to, however, in our faith is the resurrection of the body; on this point, they are emphatic in their denial. However, the fact is that the majority of men have moved away from the small minority of skeptics and have turned to Christ who, by His own Resurrection, realized in fact what seems absurd in theory.” (530-531)

“The memory of our previous miseries will be a matter of purely mental contemplation, with no renewal of any feelings connected with these experiences.” (542)

“There is a clear indication of this final Sabbath if we take the seven ages of world history as being ‘days’ and calculate in accordance with the data furnished by the Scriptures. The first age or day is that from Adam to the flood; the second, from the flood to Abraham. (These two days were not identical in length of time, but in each there were ten generations.) Then follow the three ages, each consisting of fourteen generations, as recorded in the Gospel of St. Matthew: the first, from Abraham to David; the second, from David to the transmigration to Babylon; the third, from then to Christ’s nativity in the flesh. Thus we have five ages. The sixth is the one in which we now are. It is an age not to be measured by any precise number of generations, since we are told: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates, which the father has fixed by his own authority.’ After this ‘day,’ God will rest on the ‘seventh day,’ in the sense that God will make us, who are to be this seventh day, rest in Him.” (544)