Advent images in the Torah / 12

Jacob fights for his rights promised by God and loses everything. At a low point, God meets him in a dream. He sees a ladder to heaven and God promises him that he will look to his rights and that through him blessing will come for all the people (Genesis 24:12-15).

It is exciting that Jesus also speaks of a ladder to heaven in the New Testament: “You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:51).

The shepherds in the field had already seen heaven open and full of angels (Luke 2:13). Continue reading The ladder to heaven →

The king-priest Melchizedek of Salem brings the blood-stained Abraham back under God’s blessing through bread and wine. After turning his eyes back to God, Abraham expresses his enthusiasm for the blessing he has received by giving Melchizedek ten percent (Gen 14:18-20).

David writes about the Messiah in Psalm 110,1.4: “The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool. … You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Melchizedek means: “My King of justice and peace”. He is a figure for the reconciling ministry of the Messiah Jesus, who sits at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19 / Luke 22:69).

Jesus comes from the royal line of David and represents a priestly, reconciling ministry. Through bread and wine, he symbolised that we are reconciled to God through his coming and death on the cross. Jesus gives bread and wine as a sign of renewal. By accepting them as Abraham did, we place ourselves under God’s blessing. God is acting, and we express our thankfulness to him.

Abraham let himself be served. He could have been proud of the victory he had won. But he did not. He accepted the meal. He let himself be blessed. He joined in the praise of God and gave God what belong to him.

Continue reading A king-priest like Melchizedek →

In Genesis 18, YHWH visits Abraham. He is not just a human apparition, for he eats butter, milk and meat. Because Abraham and Sarah can’t have children, God announces a miracle for them. They will have a son.

Elizabeth and Zechariah had a similar experience with their son, John the Baptist. It was a miracle to have a child at their age.

Jesus’ birth was also a miracle. For only a virgin birth can be a sign from God, as predicted in Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

If God could come to Abraham as a man, he can come to us through Jesus. Immanuel means: “God with us”.

When Jesus was talking to the scribes, they asked him: Continue reading God visits Abraham →

Noah’s Ark is an exciting symbol. It is actually God’s ark, because the idea comes from God. God speaks to Noah and calls him to lead the project.

God could have had countless possibilities for a new beginning. But he does not want to turn anyone upside down against his will and chooses the exodus (relocation). Those who allow themselves to be called are given a new chance.

A few things stand out here: God wants to act through human beings. He calls Noah. He gives the plan. He sends the animals. He closes the door and gives a promise with the rainbow.

Jesus calls the disciples and wants to work through them. He shows them that the kingdom of God is a matter of the heart. Seeking people are added through the Holy Spirit. The focus remains on people who long for the presence of God. Jesus says: „Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). No one is forced into anything. The kingdom of God is a community that engages with God and is inspired by his promises.
Continue reading God is calling →

Enoch followed God all the time, and God had taken him away (Genesis 5:24).

When Enoch saw how his son Metushelach come into the world at the age of 65, he decided to live in the presence of God (Genesis 5:22). The root of his name חנך ḥnk means “inaugurated”. His name can be translated as “the inaugurated“.

Jesus was also inaugurated. “The Son can do nothing of himself except what he sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does, the Son also does“ (John 5:19).

Jesus also inaugurated his disciples: “I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father“ (John 15:15).

God wants to share his thoughts with us. He reveals himself to us through the Bible. Continue reading Living in the presence of God →

Advent images in the Torah / 6

In the story of Cain and Abel we encounter a paradox. The just man dies, the rebel survives.

Abel realises that accepting the death judgment is the key to a relationship with God. He expresses this through a sacrificial lamb, and God is present (Gen 4:4).

Jesus calls Abel a prophet (Luke 11:51). We do not hear a word out of his mouth. But with his sacrifice, Abel prophetically proclaims that God’s view on our lives makes all the difference.

Cain, on the other hand, wants to come before God with his achievements. God corrects him, because he has no open eye for God (Gen 4:7). Cain wants to serve God as he pleases. He is not willing to be corrected. Continue reading A world upside down →

God does not leave man alone in his need but gives him a divine clothing to cover his transgressions.

For this purpose, God takes a skin (Genesis 3:21). The death of an innocent animal, the first death in the Bible, reveals the catastrophe, the terrible reality of sin, of rebellion against God’s order of creation.

For the first time, man sees and experiences death. He sees the consequences of his actions.

In recognising the death sentence and accepting God’s solution, man lives.

It is an image of the divine Lamb who lays down his life to enable man to live a new life with God. Continue reading A divine clothing →

The serpent has turned the heads of men. Now the head of the rebellion is to be crushed by a man. A man is to bring about the devil’s downfall.

God says: “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).

In Hebrew, the word ” bruise” in this verse is in the masculine third person singular. It must therefore be translated: “I will put enmity between your descendants and their descendants; he will crush your head”. This opens up the outlook of a Messiah who will break the power of evil.
Continue reading God’s master plan →

“They knew that they were naked” (Genesis 3:7).

After man himself determines what is good for him, he suddenly realises that he stands naked and uncovered before God. Suddenly he sees all his need for redemption and how holy God is. Man wanted to be like God – now he realises weakness and dependence.

When we begin to look at our lives from God’s perspective, we see our need and the neediness of the world. Continue reading Neediness instead divinity →

God gives man a choice. There is the tree of life and the tree of death (Genesis 2;9+17).

The tree of life is nourished by a close relationship with God, the living source. The path of death is the decision not to rely on God’s guidelines.

Man wants to decide for himself what is good for him. He begins to mistrust that God means well for him. As soon as the basic trust in God is lacking, the relationship with him is destroyed. Continue reading The possibility of a choice →