Sermon: Genesis 11: 1-9 Beginnings: Scattering

A few years ago we were on holiday in Lanzarote. We went on a bus tour, and the guide was pointing out various features of the island. And as we drove along between stops, she was telling us about other things we might like to visit - including a town that has an Amy Grant museum. Now, Amy Grant is a famous Christian singer, but neither of us realised just how popular she must be in the Canary Islands. Slightly strange, but ok. Until we realised, as the tour guide continued to talk about the museum, that it was an Emigrant Museum, dedicated to the people who have emigrated from the islands, and not an Amy Grant museum!

We were both speaking English, but confusion reigned supreme. Or think of when you encounter Americans, and they say some words we’re not used to - what do they mean by trash? (rubbish); gas (petrol); sidewalk (footpath); and diapers (nappies). As someone once said, two nations divided by a common language.

Now, imagine that you’re working on a building site, you’re working on a big tower, and suddenly, you can’t understand a word your colleagues are saying! They can’t make you out either, there’s just confused looks all around. You were able to communicate yesterday all right, but now, it’s all Double Dutch. What’s going on?

Over the autumn, we’ve been tracing the story of the opening chapters of the Bible. We’re been hearing about our beginnings - where our world came from; how we lost the original paradise; and how sin and death has been reigning over the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve from their first rebellion. And yet there have been moments of grace - the promise of the son who would crush the serpent’s head; the covering of Adam and Eve’s shame through sacrifice; the grace shown to Noah, who was saved with his family in his floating zoo, and started afresh when he came out of the ark with God’s rainbow covenant promise.

So now, having come out of the ark, we are back on track. But what are we on track to do? Well, in Genesis 9, Noah is given a command - the same command, in fact, that God had originally given to Adam and Eve. Back in 1:28 we read these words: ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it...’ And then in 9:1 we read these words: ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth...’

Adam and Eve’s original purpose was to increase and fill the earth. And when Noah with his wife and sons and their wives step out of the ark, God tells them the same. They’re not to stay in one place, all huddled together. They’re to fill the whole earth, to steward and use all that God has given.

Now, we didn’t read Genesis 10 - if you like, I’ll read it to you over tea and coffee in the hall - but it’s the listing of the nations and people groups who came from each of Noah’s three sons. And if you glance up to 10:32, it looks as if the nations have obeyed God’s command to fill the earth: ‘These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread our over the earth after the flood.’

It looks as if God’s word has been obeyed. Except, in Genesis 11, we find the circumstances that led to the scattering. In verse 1, we’re told that ‘the whole world had one language and a common speech.’ The same word means the same thing wherever you are. Everyone is together, banded together, as they move eastward, and they settle at Shinar. Rather than filling the earth, they stay together - safety in numbers and all that.

It’s here in Shinar that they develop some skill as they work together. They work out how to make bricks by baking them thoroughly, so they don’t need to use stone, and they work out how to use bitumen as mortar. And then, the sky’s the limit.

The town planners and architects get to work; the builders start building, and the plan is to build, not just a city, but also a tower ‘that reaches to the heavens.’ Just think of a city skyline, with the skyscrapers standing tall - the Empire State Building or the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (the tallest building in the world at 2722 feet high). They’re working on the first ever skyscraper.

And they’re doing it together. Did you see what they said each time? Verse 3: ‘Come let’s make...’ Verse 4: ‘Come, let us build...’ They’re in it together. And they are quite clear about their motives. Why are they building a city and 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.’ (4)

They’re out to make a name for themselves; they’re motivated by pride and prestige; wanting to be famous for their achievements; reaching for the top.

Reaching, in fact, for the very top - to heaven itself. As they labour and build and climb, they’re seeking to prove themselves, wanting to succeed, to replace God, to do away with God. So they press on, doing all they can, working for their own name and glory. We don’t need or want God!

As they reach up, they’re repeating the folly of the first sin. Adam and Eve wanted to be like God, or rather, wanted to be God. And so these Shinarites are doing the same. They want to be famous, to make a name for themselves, so that they aren’t scattered as God wants them to do.

Come, let us. Higher and higher they go, building their tower and their empire. Come, let us. Higher and higher we go? Building our empire? What is it that we give ourselves to? What is it that our pride pushes us to do? How are you trying to make a name for yourself, to be known for?

Is it in your family, to have the best, most perfect children, the highest achievers? Perhaps it’s to have the cleanest tidiest house. The most beautiful Christmas tree. The Christmas lights that can almost be seen from space. Maybe it’s in your work to succeed and make it to the very top. Perhaps you’re building your tower of wealth and riches, wanting everyone to be in awe of your success, your power, your position. What are you giving your energy to?

They were reaching up, building up to make it to the heavens. In verse 5, we find the start of the Lord’s response. It’s like a little bit of humour, it’s a moment of irony. They’re building up, reaching towards the heavens, but verse 5: ‘But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.’

Imagine you have ants in the garden. (not your mother’s sisters; the wee creepy-crawly type of ants). And imagine that they start to build an ant city. They’re working away. It’s something very grand and impressive in the ant world, never been seen or done before. They even start to build a tower, because they think they’re going to know you off your perch and take over your garden. But for you to see what they’re doing, you have to get down on your knees, get the magnifying glass out, stoop down and look carefully. That’s a bit like what’s happening here. The LORD comes down - it’s as if he couldn’t even see it from heaven!

The people had banded together with their ‘Come, let us’. Now the LORD responds with his own ‘Come, let us’: ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.’ (6-7)

The people reached up in sinful pride; and the LORD stoops to curse by bringing confusion of their language. The scattering happens, the nations are divided, the peoples spread out over the face of the whole earth. The city lies unfinished, it’s ruins a testimony to the folly of pride. It’s name? Babel - babble.

Later, the city would be built, and a mighty empire would come from it - the city of Babylon. And in its later form, it was still known for proud rebellion against God - so that even in Revelation, the empire standing against God is known by the codename Babylon.

So when it comes to our own prideful ambitions and projects, what will come of them? Do we really think God will allow them to continue? Will we forever get away with making a name for ourselves and building our own kingdoms? Whether suddenly or slowly, confusion creeps in; our plans are frustrated; our pride leads to a fall; our towers lie in ruins.

We simply cannot reach up to heaven. We can’t build our way up to heaven. It’s not possible. Indeed, as we’ve seen right through these opening chapters of Genesis, our first parents are just like us. We’re scattered, lost, alone. Our achievements are temporary, they’re soon toppled.

But the good news is that in Jesus, the curse is reversed. In Jesus, God comes down, not in judgement, but in grace to seek and to save the lost. In Jesus, God comes down to lift our humanity to the heights of his throne.

We see that in Philippians 2 - Jesus didn’t grasp or exploit his equality with God the Father, but made himself nothing, took on the nature of a servant, made in human likeness, and humbled himself to death - even death on a cross. He went down, down, down, in order to rescue us from our pride, our achievements, our ambitions.

And in Jesus the confusion of languages and the scattering is reversed, as the risen Jesus sends out his disciples to preach the good news and make disciples of all nations, so that on the day of Pentecost, people from all over the place hear the good news in their own languages, and on the last day, gathered around the throne, will be people from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages praising God as they sing: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.’ (Rev 8:9-10).

We can never build our way up to heaven. But we have a God who has stooped to save; who is calling us, and gathering us - and gathering others too. We have a way of calling people to him, as the Christmas flyers go out this week. Have you come to Jesus? Have you repented of your pride, seeking to make a name for yourself? One day he will return, and on that day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Are you ready?

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday 8th December 2019.

Sermon: Genesis 8: 1-22 Beginnings: Out of the Ark

Hallowe’en is now over, and we’re already onto the next big thing. The adverts have already started, and soon you won’t be able to escape it. Now, I’m not talking about Christmas - I’m talking about I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! As I was thinking about Noah and his ark this week, I was reminded of how it’s a bit like I’m a Celebrity. Being cooped up in a confined space with a whole variety of creatures and critters - were there ever moments when Mr Noah thought to himself: get me out of here?

You might empathise if you’ve ever had an experience of cabin fever. You know if you’re stuck inside for a few days because you’re sick, or when the snow comes, and you just want to get out of the house and do something different? Imagine how Noah felt - not so much cabin fever as ark fever. After all, he wasn’t in the ark with the animals for a few minutes like on I’m a Celebrity, or for a few days like our snowed in days. He was in the ark - well, how long was he in the ark?

Last week we heard about the forty days and forty nights of rain. But he was in the ark longer than that. And at the end of chapter 7 we see that the water flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days. But he was in the ark longer than that. A hundred and fifty days would be about five months, less than half a year. In total, though, Noah was in the ark for over a year.

Last week, we saw how God gave Noah some instructions - build the ark (all that hard work, over a long period of time, with the neighbours questioning and mocking the whole time); then go into the ark (with all the animals, two by two); then stay in the ark (the only place of safety and refuge as the flood judgement came on the whole earth and everyone else perished). This morning, we’ll see how Noah came out of the ark, and hear the first of the promises God makes to him, and to us in the world after the flood.

When chapter 8 begins, though, Noah is still inside the ark. He’s counted off the 150th day of his lark in the ark, and perhaps by now he’s getting narky in the arky. Verse 1 is the turning point, the high water mark. Do you see how it begins? ‘But God remembered Noah...’

Now that doesn’t mean that up until this point, God had forgotten all about Noah. God isn’t forgetful like that, or like we can be. Have you had those moments when you suddenly remember something you were meant to do, and it puts you into a panic? Or you remember you were meant to see somebody, and you’re all flustered? God is not like that. He has perfect knowledge of everything all of the time.

What it’s saying here is that God remembered in order to act on Noah’s behalf. So, at the start of Exodus, God remembers the Israelites who are slaves in Egypt - and his remembering them is his rescuing of them. So also here, God remembers Noah (and the animals) in order to rescue him from his confinement, to bring him out into a spacious new world.

You can see that as the sentence continues: ‘But God remembered Noah... and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.’ (1) God remembers in order to rescue, and for Noah to get out of the ark, he needs the waters to recede. But it doesn’t happen immediately, and all of a sudden. Rather, it takes time.

Through the chapter you get the various time markers - the ark resting on the mountains of Ararat in the seventh month (4); the tops of the mountains becoming visible in the tenth month. (5) Another forty days and Noah sends out the first of the birds on a wing and a prayer. The raven, which doesn’t come back, and the dove which comes back because the water is still over all the surface of the earth.

Another week, and then the dove is sent out again and returns this time with a freshly plucked olive leaf! (11) To us, the olive leaf / branch speaks of peace, but for Noah it was a sign of new life, that the water had receded from the earth. (12) A week later, and the dove doesn’t return when it’s sent out.

And yet, still Noah is in the ark. He’s watched the year change, and sung auld lang syne, and he’s still inside his now not floating zoo. Noah has taken the covering off and sees that the surface of the ground is dry, and over a month later, the earth was completely dry. Look back to 2:11 - it was the seventeenth day of the second month when the rain started. And it’s now the twenty-seventh day of the second month, just over a year later. Each of the family have celebrated at least one birthday inside the ark, but now the moment has come, the moment they were waiting for for so long - the day when they could leave the ark and walk on dry ground in a whole new world.

‘Then God said to Noah, “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you - the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground - so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it.’ (15-17)

Have you ever seen animals leaping as they are released from their winter confines? I’m sure it was quite a sight to see the aardvarks and zebras and everything in between enjoying their freedom after a year in the ark. And never mind the animals, I’m sure that the humans were glad to get out into the fresh air and the open space. No matter how good your family relationships might be, and no matter how close you may be to your nearest and dearest, you might be glad of a bit of space for once after a year in close quarters!

But what is the first thing that Noah did when he came out of the ark? He didn’t go exploring, or hill walking, or anything else like that. No, the first thing he did when he came out of the ark was to build something else. An altar, a place of sacrifice.

Now, last week, I asked how many of each animal did Noah take into the ark. We sang that the animals went in two by two, and then (at least some of us) were surprised to find that in 7:2 Noah took seven (footnote: seven pairs) of every kind of clean animal and two of every kind of unclean animal. I said you’d have to wait until today to find out why. Well, here’s the answer in 8:20:

‘Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.’ (20)

If Noah had only had two sheep in the ark, and he’d then sacrificed them when he came out, then we wouldn’t have any sheep now! So the extra clean animals were for this sacrifice of thanksgiving. Noah was recognising that he and his family had been rescued even though they too were guilty and under the same sentence as everyone who had perished. And so he offers to God this sacrifice of burnt animals, their life for his, in thanks and praise.

God accepts his sacrifice. He smells the pleasing aroma, and makes a promise - a promise that he has kept right up to today, over all those many years since the days of Noah: ‘Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.’ (21-22)

Our hearts are still evil - just as they were before the flood - but now God has promised never to destroy the earth in another flood. Rather, he has pledged that life will continue, in those opposites that sit together and define our days: ‘seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.’ As we go to sleep tonight, we can be sure that another day will roll around; as the cold comes in, we can be assured that some day it’ll warm up again and summer will come again - so long as the earth endures, until the Lord returns.

The Lord is remembering this promise he made long ago in the days of Noah. Because God doesn’t forget. We can depend on him because he is faithful. And just as he remembered Noah, confined in the ark, and acted for his rescue, so we can trust that the Lord remembers us as well.

Perhaps it seems as if you’ve been waiting for a long time, too long maybe. You’re confined in your circumstances - even in the place that God has led you. And sometimes it can be dirty, or smelly, or unpleasant. And you might even wonder if God has forgotten all about you. Take heart today! God doesn’t forget. He has remembered you - and is acting to rescue you.

The Lord Jesus is our perfect sacrifice - the pleasing sacrifice that takes away our sin. And as Jesus was dying on the cross, one of the two thieves who were crucified with him cried out to him: ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ (Lk 23:42) And how did Jesus reply? ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.’

The Lord remembers his people, and has acted to rescue us by way of the cross. As we trust him, our future is secure, no matter what we’re going through in the meantime. And today, the Lord calls us to himself, and to his table, to do this in remembrance of him. We remember the Lord who remembers us.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 3rd November 2019.

Sermon: Genesis 6:9 - 7:24 Mr Noah Built an Ark

I’m sure that Thomas has a few children’s Bibles at home. They normally don’t cover every chapter and verse of the Bible, but instead choose to tell some of the stories found in the Bible. I’m also sure that nearly every one of those children’s Bibles will have the story of Noah. Isn’t it a great story for children? A great big boat, and loads of animals, going in two by two - a floating zoo! So you’ll get lots of colourful pictures and smiling animals of Noah and his ark.

We’re so used to this kind of image that it’s quite a shock to read the Bible’s account of Noah, and think through the details. The reality is less colourful cartoon, and closer to the desperate attempts made by people climbing into containers or trailers in the hope of a better life and a new start. But while those 39 who died on Tuesday morning, were in the trailer through peoples’ greed and wickedness; Noah and his family are in their box, their ark through God’s grace and goodness.

Now, perhaps as you hear about Noah and the ark, you’re thinking to yourself, well, that’s a nice story for a children’s story Bible, but surely it didn’t really happen? Is it more like a nursery rhyme, something that was just made up? Well, the Bible isn’t the only place that we find some kind of flood story. In just about every continent there are folk stories about a worldwide flood. So the cultural memory of what happened has been passed down in some way. And in our reading we hear that Jesus affirms that Noah existed and entered the ark.

So let’s look at Genesis 6 and 7 under three headings; three instructions given to Noah; to see what God is saying to us in these chapters.

The first instruction is this: Build The Ark. We’ve already sung about it this morning, but how did it come about? And why was it Mr Noah in the first place? When we start to read from verse 9, it sounds as if Noah is good, whereas everyone else is bad. You see, in verse 9, Noah is described as ‘a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.’ And the contrast is there in verse 12, and we think it’s saying that everybody else had corrupted their ways. Noah good, everyone bad?

But that’s not what the Bible is saying! You see, in a little while, if not already, Thomas will be learning how to count. And when he does that, he’ll learn that eight comes before nine. Now, that’s obvious, isn’t it? But we need to see here how verse 8 comes before verse 9. You see, in verse 8, it says this: ‘But Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD.’ That word ‘favour’ is another word for ‘grace’. Noah found grace - or, to put it another way, God’s grace found Noah.

You see, it wasn’t that Noah was good and everyone else was bad. Noah was just as bad. But God showed him favour. God gave him grace, showered his love upon Noah - to make him righteous (that is, in a right relationship with God) and blameless. And God in his grace freely chose to save Noah from the coming judgement.

God had made the world, and everything in it, and throughout Genesis 1 we heard the repeated chorus: ‘God saw that it was good.’ And on day 6 of creation, ‘God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.’ (Gen 1:31). But since then sin has entered the world, as first Adam and Eve disobeyed, and then one of their sons killed his brother, and then the spiral of wickedness has continued to get worse and worse. So now, in chapter 6, what does God see when he looks on the world he has made? Look at verse 12: ‘God saw how corrupt the earth had become.’

And so God is going to send judgement, in the form of a flood. The people and the earth itself will be destroyed. Nothing will remain. Everyone is under the same sentence, but for Noah and his family there is the promise of rescue, in a place of safety. And it’s inside the ark that Noah is to build.

We see the dimensions of the ark there in verse 15: 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet high. Made of cypress wood, covered inside and outside with pitch (tar), with rooms on three decks. And we’re given the passenger list - Noah and Mrs Noah, their three sons and their wives; as well as two of every living creature to be kept alive; and enough food for them all.

So Noah is told to build the ark, and verse 25 tells us that ‘Noah did everything just as God commanded him.’ We read that one sentence and move on, but just think what it took for Noah to do everything just as God commanded him. The number of trees to be cut down, and then cut up, and hammered together. The hard work to construct the ark, and cover it with pitch. And on top of all that, the ridicule from his neighbours. You can hear them laughing at him: ‘So, Noah, you’re miles from the sea, and you’re building a boat? You say there’s a flood coming? That it’s going to rain and rain and rain? Sure there isn’t even a cloud in the sky. And you say that God told you to do all this? You’re having a laugh!

It can’t have been easy. Peter describes him as a preacher of righteousness, persevering in his task even when the whole world laughed at him. And that’s what it can look like to trust God. Taking God at his word and acting on it - even when it looks like foolishness to everybody else. God told Noah to build the ark, and that’s what Noah did.

The second instruction is this: ‘Go into the ark.’ All the hard work has finished, and the ark is ready. And now God says that it’s time to go into the ark. In just seven days, the rain will start, and the flood will come. Now, how many of each animal went into the ark? Two by two? Yes, but there were seven (pairs) of each clean animal and two of each unclean animal. We’ll see why next week.

The ark is the place of safety, but they had to go inside it. It wouldn’t have been enough to know that you would be safe if you went into the ark, if you didn’t then go into it! To be on the outside of the ark is to be wiped from the face of the earth. But there is safety inside. And so even though Noah had pleaded with his neighbours, they wouldn’t join him. Only Noah and his family went into the ark. Just eight people were saved. Because only eight were inside the ark, the place of safety.

God had told Noah to build the ark, and then to go into the ark. The final instruction is implicit, rather than stated explicitly in the text, but it is this: stay in the ark!

When Noah and his family are inside, then the rain starts and the floodgates are opened. It rained for forty days and forty nights - in Ireland we call that summer. And as the rain falls, the ark is lifted high on the waters. Imagine being inside - the darkness, the smell, the not knowing what the future would hold, the not knowing if the ark you had made would be watertight and would float. But, as you may have heard, the Titanic was built by professionals whereas the ark was built by amateurs, and only one of them didn’t sink.

The flood covered the earth, so that every living thing that moved on the earth perished. God had fulfilled what he had promised in advance. Everything wiped out. Everything, except (v23) ‘Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.’ Having gone into the ark, Noah had to stay in it. No matter how difficult it was going to be, he had to persevere in obeying God’s voice, by staying in the ark, waiting for the future that God would provide.

The apostle Peter mentions Noah in the two letters he writes in the Bible. And in one of them, he uses the story of Noah as a picture of baptism - just as by faith Noah was brought safely through the water, so we are brought through the water by faith to be united to the Lord Jesus and find salvation in him.

You see, Jesus has promised that some day, he will return to judge everyone who has ever lived. And we, like the people of Noah’s day, are corrupted. We don’t even live up to our own standards, let alone God’s standards. And so we are guilty; we can’t stand before God.

But Jesus has taken upon himself the wrong things we have done. He has stood condemned in our place, and was drowned in the flood of God’s judgement, for us. He is our ark, the place of safety in the flood; the only refuge from God’s judgement.

Today, we celebrate that God’s grace is being offered to Thomas. And it’s our prayer that Thomas will grow up to rejoice in the unmerited favour of God. But just like Noah, it has to be received by faith - today, on the part of his sponsors, but some day, we pray, when he will trust in Jesus for himself.

But God’s grace isn’t just for Thomas. It’s offered to you today as well. There is room in God’s grace for you, a place in the lifeboat if you’ll come to him, and trust in him.

One day Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. And right up to that point, life will be going on as normal, eating and drinking and marrying - just as it was when Noah entered the ark. But don’t be too late - get ready for that day now today. Receive his grace today.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 27th October 2019.

Sermon: Genesis 5:1 - 6:8 Beginnings: Grief and Grace

When I was still in primary school, I had to come home because I was sick. Mum and dad both worked, so I went to granny’s house. Of course I was spoiled, and tucked into bed. And rather than doing homework, I decided I would start to read through the whole Bible. (I don’t know how long I thought I was going to be off sick for, but that’s besides the point). So I started into Genesis 1, and read all about creation; then Genesis 2, and life in the garden of Eden; then Genesis 3, and the temptation and fall; then Genesis 4, and story of Cain and Abel. And then, Genesis 5, brought my reading through the whole Bible to a stop. All those names. All those numbers. I think I ended up doing homework instead.

Perhaps your heart sank as you looked up the reading today; or as you heard me attempting to read it. Perhaps you’re thinking to yourself - what could there possibly be in this chapter that will be useful or helpful? But please don’t write it off too quickly. Remember what Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16 - ‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.’ (2 Tim 3:16-17). All Scripture is God-breathed, not just the bits that we know really well, but even the bits that seem difficult or (dare we say it) appearing boring. So even this chapter today is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

So we need to change that question from asking - what could there possible be in this chapter that will be useful or helpful - and instead ask: what is God saying through his breathed-out word? What is he teaching us today?

The first thing to note is that we’ve reached the next section of Genesis in 5:1. It begins with those words: ‘This is the written account of Adam’s line.’ Throughout Genesis, we have similar phrases marking out the different sections of the ongoing story. The last was in 2:4 (‘This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created’ and the next is in 6:9 (‘This is the account of Noah’).

So this is a new section. And we’re being told about Adam’s line - his family tree. Last time we were in Genesis, we heard about the dead end of the family line of Cain, who had murdered his brother Abel. But now we’re back on the mainline; we’re continuing the ongoing hunt for the promised Saviour and serpent-crusher down through the generations of Adam’s family.

In verses 1-2, we get a recap of the story so far, and a reminder of where people came from: ‘When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them ‘man.’’ Man here means male and female - mankind or people. And who are we? Created by God, made in his likeness; made either male or female. (Not like Facebook with a third ‘custom’ option).

I wonder have you noticed, though, that Adam had a son in his own likeness in verse 3. We’re made in God’s image and likeness (marred now as it is), but we are also in Adam’s likeness - we are like our parents and like our first parents as well. All of us are ‘in Adam’ (1 Cor 15:22) and we share in his sin - by nature and choice.

Now, from verse 3, we see a pattern emerging. When so and so had lived so many years, he became the father of yer man. After that, he lived so many more years, had other sons and daughters, lived so long in total, and then died.

The numbers may be different in each instance, but the pattern is the same. Now, some people read the ages of these men, and they think that it’s obviously nonsense. Adam living 930 years? Methuselah living 969 years? Surely that’s not true. And so some people will try to come up with other ways of reckoning with this information. Maybe they counted years differently to us. Or maybe we need to divide them all by 10. But that wouldn’t work. Plus, over the page in 6:3, God then limits man’s lifespan to 120 years.

This family tree is showing us the names of the succeeding generations - think of it like the credits that roll at the end of a movie. The names roll past and you’re not that bothered by them, you don’t know them, and so you leave the cinema. But if someone you knew had been involved in the movie, you’d sit and watch carefully to see their name. Well these are part of our family tree; part of our story of faith.

But the thing that most stands out from this repeated pattern of names and ages is that, no matter how old they were, eventually their years came to an end. ‘And then he died... And then he died... And then he died.’ The pattern is demonstrating what Paul says in Romans 5:14 ‘Death reigned from the time of Adam’ - why? ‘For the wages of sin is death...’ (Rom 6:23). Genesis is realistic that in the midst of life, we are in death. And it’s coming, some day, for each of us as well. Genesis 5 is telling us about the grief of being part of the human family.

We’re so used to patterns - maybe in wallpaper, or a check shirt, or wherever you see them. When you recognise the pattern, then it’s very noticeable when something doesn’t fit into the pattern. Did you notice the bits that don’t quite fit the pattern of this family tree?

There’s Enoch, first of all. His paragraph starts like all the others, but then it goes a bit different. ‘And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.’ (5:22-24)

Enoch is different. We’re told that he ‘walked with God’ - that he was in close relationship with God, that he was in step with God; and then we’re not told that he died (like everyone else) - he ‘was no more, because God took him away.’ So what happened him? And why? To find the answer, we need to look at Hebrews 11:5.

‘By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God...’ (Heb 11:5-6)

So Enoch didn’t die in the usual way. Instead, God took him to heaven, as one who pleased him. He wasn’t perfect - he was a sinner, in this family line of Adam - and yet he had such faith in God that he was commended by God.

But there’s another bit that doesn’t fit the usual pattern. Did you notice that no one speaks in this family tree - we’re not told any words, wise or otherwise, from any of these men, until we get to Lamech. He has a son, names him Naoh, and tells us why: ‘He will comfort us in the labour and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.’ (5:29).

The name Noah means ‘comfort’ - and it’s Lamech’s hope that Noah will bring comfort. As each generation goes by, there is grief from the reign of death; and there is grief in the labour and painful toil because of the curse brought about by Adam’s sin. The pattern of human existence is that of grief.

And, we see in those opening verses of chapter 6, that it grieves God’s heart. (Don’t worry about the Nephilim or the sons and God and the daughters of men. It seems to be an aside). Look at 6:5: ‘The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.’

Every waking moment, every waking thought, was always and only towards evil. Wickedness has free reign. Can you imagine living in such a society? Actually, it doesn’t take very much imagination, does it? This sounds very much like society around us. The theological term is ‘total depravity’ - every part of us is infected by sin, and inclined towards wickedness.

And it grieves God’s heart. We probably always feel the effects of other peoples’ sin towards us. It pains us. And we’re probably aware of the effects of our sin on other people - maybe less so, but with some awareness. But have we considered the effect of our sin on God? The God who made us, and blesses us - only for us to use and abuse his gifts, to exploit and manipulate others, and to be self-serving and selfish at every turn?

God is grieved. So he decides to wipe out mankind from the face of the earth. Everyone is already under the sentence of death, and it will be executed in one single sweep. It’s the end for the world as they knew it. But in the midst of all this grief - over death, and sin, and our wickedness, grace is also found.

The death penalty has been passed on all mankind. ‘But Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD.’ (6:8). It’s not that Noah was different to anybody else - he was just as much a sinner. It’s not that Noah was more religious or tried harder or prayed more - he was a sinner. But grace found him. God was gracious to him because God was gracious to him.

And God’s grace is given to us as well. We too deserve the penalty of death because we are in Adam’s family. We too are inclined to evil all the time. And yet God’s grace comes to us in the Lord Jesus, who took our sin upon him. The Lord’s supper is a reminder of the grace we have from the Lord. He has dealt with our sin; he gives us his comfort. We need only receive it with open hands and a thankful heart, as we trust him and his death for us.

In among these hard to pronounce names and repeating phrases, in amongst the grief of living in this world, as children of Adam; we discover the grace that reaches for us, to make us children of God, saved by him, and comforted.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 13th October 2019.

Sermon: Genesis 4: 1-26 Beginnings: The Next Generation

Up on the north coast, near Benone, there is a Maize Maze. It’s a maze that has been cut in a field of maize (corn). Now, I’m not sure if it’s an amazing maize maze - I haven’t done it - but maybe if you’re up next summer you can give it a go. Nearer home, there’s the Peace Maze in Castlewellan Forest Park. I’m not sure if it’s been called the peace maze because if you send the kids in to have a go, you’ll get some peace for half an hour. Has anyone tried the Castlewellan maze?

Even if you haven’t, I’m sure you know how mazes work. You start at the start, and have to find your way to the end. (In Castlewellan, you get to ring the bell!) But it’s not as straightforward as following one simple path the whole way. Inside the maze there are lots of options, lots of ways that seem to be right, but that eventually turn into dead ends.

As we come to Genesis 4, it’s as if we’re just stepping into the maze. We are on the hunt for the Saviour promised by God after Adam and Eve had messed everything up. That’s what we saw last week in chapter 3. Paradise was lost through the disobedience of Adam and Eve. They had one rule to keep, and they disobeyed; they knew shame and guilt because of their sin. They expected to die straight away - because they deserved to die straight away.

But God showed mercy (in covering their sin) and grace (in promising a Saviour). Look back again to the promise, which is within the curse against the serpent who is the devil: ‘And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.’ (3:15)

Adam and Eve have been kicked out of Eden, but that promise is ringing in their ears. And the hunt is on. Who is the offspring of Eve who will crush the serpent’s head, and win the victory over sin and death and hell? We know that the offspring we’re waiting for is Jesus, but Adam and Eve don’t know that. And so they are just stepping into the maze, looking for the next step, for the right path to lead them to the victory.

In verse 1, it looks as if God’s promise has been fulfilled. In just one step, it looks as if Adam and Eve are on the right path. After all, God had said that it would be the woman’s offspring. And here we have the very first birth of the very first baby in the whole world. Adam and Eve are pleased to announce the birth of their first son, Cain; mother and baby doing well.

So well, in fact, that Eve says there: ‘With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.” (1) The name ‘Cain’ sounds like ‘brought forth’ or ‘acquired’ - and Eve thinks that she has acquired the child of promise, the Saviour. Abel’s birth (2) has no special words recorded. He’s not Cain.

When the boys grow up, they decide to diversify their farming - Cain going into arable, and Abel working with livestock. And in due course, they bring an offering to the LORD. It’s like the very first harvest thanksgiving. Cain brings some of the fruits of the soil, Abel brings fat portions from some of his firstborn sheep. And God accepts one, but not the other.

Look at verse 4: ‘The LORD looked with favour on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.’

Why the difference? Some think that Abel’s involved blood and Cain’s didn’t. That might be part of the answer. Or that Abel’s was from the firstborn of his flock, whereas Cain just brought some of the fruits of the soil. Perhaps. But notice that it wasn’t just the offerings that were accepted or rejected. It was also the offerer that was favoured or not. In 1 John 3:12 we’re told that ‘Cain’s actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.’ God knows our hearts - he knows the motives and attitudes behind our actions. And so Cain doesn’t receive God’s favour. And it leads him to get angry.

Do you see how the LORD shows him grace? Tries to help him? Tries to turn him? ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.’ (6-7)

Cain has a choice to make. Just like his parents, he has heard God’s word to him. What will he do? The right thing? The wrong thing? Sin is pictured as crouching at the door, just waiting to pounce, to take over. It desires to have Cain (and each of us) - but he is to master it.

Sadly, we see that the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Cain rejects God’s word, and attacks his brother, and murders him. And do you see how Abel is referred to in verses 8 and 9? He’s not just ‘Abel’ - he is ‘his brother Abel’ or ‘your brother Abel.’ So much for brotherly love. More like brotherly hate.

And so the LORD speaks to Cain again, asking, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ And do you see how Cain responds? ‘I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?’ Answer - yes! You should be! But sin has mastered Cain - pride which refuses to repent; envy which resents his brother; murder to snuff out an image-bearer of God.

Are we our brother’s keeper? Our sister’s keeper? We should be! Caring for and protecting those who need our help. Especially those who have no voice. Those whose blood will cry out, like the blood of Abel. ‘What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.’ (10-11)

Cain is sent to be a restless wanderer; protected by the mark put on him, so that no one will kill him. And if anyone does kill him, there will be vengeance seven times over. And so Cain leaves, under God’s curse, and goes to the land of Nod. (A place I hope none of us are in this morning!)

Cain is obviously not the promised Saviour. If anything, he’s part of the serpent’s offspring, under the power of sin, and the kingdom of darkness. But his dead end pathway goes a bit further. We’re told about his city, his family, his generations, and it all comes to a head with Lamech.

Here we see the fruit of Cain’s lifestyle, the end of his disobedience. He takes two wives (rather than just one); his family seems to be innovative and entrepreneurial - developing tents and musical instruments (harp and flute), and tools of bronze and iron. And yet, he seems thoroughly unpleasant. Listen to his poem - can you imagine being married to him?

‘Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for injuring me.
If Cain is avenged seven times,
then Lamech seventy-seven times.’

There’s an escalation of violence, a full flowering of the fruit of wickedness. The serpent’s offspring to the sixth generation. And so, by the time we get to Lamech, it’s very obvious that we have reached a dead end. We aren’t going to find the Saviour in this family line. We need to go back to where we started and try another path.

And that’s what we find in verse 25. We’re back to the start. Adam and Eve have another son, and Eve calls him ‘Seth’ - God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him. And in due course, Seth has a son, Enosh - and we are back on the right line. It’s not that Seth or Enosh were perfect; it’s not that they never sinned, of course they did; but something new is happening. ‘At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD.’ (26)

We’re on the right track again. The search for the Saviour is on; the hunt for the one who will crush the serpent’s head. Yet even here we are getting pointers to Jesus, signs along the way; echoes and glimpses of what our Saviour will be like when he comes. Despite the fiercest of temptations, he never gave in, not even once. He had full control, and was fully obedient to God’s will.

He was and is his brother’s and sister’s keeper - perfectly loving and caring for us; indeed giving up his own life for us, perfectly demonstrating what brotherly love looks like. That’s a theme that’s picked up in the early part of Hebrews - how Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters.

He offered not just a firstborn lamb - he offered himself, the Lamb of God, making the one complete and all-sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world on the cross. Abel was murdered because of his acceptable offering; Jesus was the acceptable offering.

And because of the cross, Jesus’ blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Heb 12:24). Abel’s blood cried out to God - and what did it cry? For justice! For vengeance! And what is the better word that Jesus’ blood speaks? It speaks of grace, of mercy, of pardon.

We all find ourselves, by birth and choice, to be sons of the serpent. Sin isn’t just something we do - it’s our operating system, it’s a part of us, infecting everything we do. But the woman’s offspring has won the victory, and in his blood we find our peace. Only through Jesus’ blood can we be forgiven, and cleansed, and set free. To depend on anyone else, or even ourselves, is to continue to wander in the maze, trapped in a dead end. But Jesus gives us victory, freedom, life, and peace. Will you call on the name of the Lord today?

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 29th September 2019.

Sermon: Genesis 3: 1-24 Beginnings: Sin and Salvation

You’re driving along, and up in the sky is the most beautiful sunrise, and it’s amazing; while on the car radio the news tells of amazingly tragic events - a stabbing here; a bomb alert there; and much more pain and suffering. Or you’ve gone for a walk and you’re standing at a beauty spot, enjoying a scenic view; while all around and along the path were the takeaway wrappers and litter. Or you’ve heard of the great news of a new baby being born; while at the same time, you hear of a neighbour or friend who has got bad news; a diagnosis; or even has died.

Perhaps you’ve experienced something a bit like that yourself. You get a glimpse of God’s good creation, and yet at the same time know that we’re not in Eden now. So how did we get from there to here? How did things turn out so wrong? How was paradise lost, and can we ever get back there?

That’s what Genesis 3 tells us. Here we see how we got into this mess in the first place; how the circumstances of the first sin are so familiar to us; and how there might be the glimmers of hope even in the midst of despair.

To set the scene, you need to remember where our first parents are living. They’re in the Garden of Eden, that perfect paradise, created by God for Adam and Eve. There is perfect provision - all kinds of trees that are pleasing to the eye and good for food. They have a perfect relationship with each other - naked but with no shame. And they have perfect fellowship with God, who comes to walk with them in the garden in the cool of the day. God’s perfect paradise.

There was just one rule that they had to follow. Only one command to be obeyed; one limit. The tree in the middle of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They could eat of any other tree’s fruit; but they weren’t allowed to eat that tree’s fruit. ‘For when you eat of it you will surely die.’ (2:17)

And so, for a while, everything was perfect. Adam and Eve cared for the garden, enjoyed the perfection of paradise. But trouble was brewing. At the start of chapter 3 we’re told that the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. But don’t just think of a talking snake. Later in the Bible we discover that the ancient serpent is none other than the devil, or Satan. He stands in rebellion against God, and seeks to recruit Adam and Eve to his side.

And he does it by questioning God’s word. Do you see what he says in verse 1: ‘Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree of the garden”?’ He’s testing what God said, sowing doubt and confusion. Eve says that they can eat fruit from any of the trees in the garden, just not from the tree in the middle of the garden. But did you notice that either Eve herself, or maybe Adam in passing on the command, has added to God’s word. Do you see the extra bit? ‘and you must not touch it...’ (3)

Maybe it was an extra safety barrier. Maybe they thought - if we don’t touch it, then we definitely can’t eat it. But it’s the last phrase in verse 3 that the serpent seizes on: ‘You will not surely die... For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’

Again, the serpent denies God’s word; he suggests that God is holding something back from them; that God isn’t really good - as if God was afraid that they would become like him. And so Eve focuses her attention on the forbidden fruit. She knows God has said no. And yet she is gripped by it. It’s a but like the sign that says, ‘Wet paint, do not touch’. And you’re drawn to wanting to touch it. Or the sign that says ‘Do not walk on the grass’ and that’s precisely where you want to walk now!

So here, Eve sees that the fruit of the tree was ‘good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom.’ (6) She takes it, eats it; gives some to her husband, and he eats it. They imagined that this would be a glorious moment, a coming of age, of equality with God. And as they bite, and disobey God’s (only) command, suddenly they realise what they have done. They already knew what good was beforehand; but now they have the knowledge of evil - experiencing it and knowing it firsthand.

Their eyes were opened, they realise they are naked; and so they sew fig leaves together, to attempt to cover themselves up. They know shame for the first time. They try to hide from each other, but then, even worse, they try to hide from God.

God turns up for his usual evening walk with them, and they hide. And so the Lord God calls to the man, ‘Where are you?’

Now, it’s never happened to me, but there’s the story of the minister out on visits. And he knocks at a particular door. He has the sense that the lady is inside, but there’s no answer. So he leaves his card, and writes on the back Revelation 3:20. ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock...’ Well, on Sunday morning, the lady slips a card into his hand at the door, and it has Genesis 3:10 written on it. So he goes and gets his Bible, and finds these words: ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’

Adam and Eve his themselves from God because they knew they were naked. And we’ve been hiding from God ever since. We know that we can’t stand before him by ourselves; we have all done things that he doesn’t like; we’re naked before the all-seeing, all-knowing God. But then it gets even worse.

Rather than confessing his sin, Adam begins the first ever blame game. Maybe you’ve seen this in your workplace. Something happens, and it’s always someone else’s fault. Or maybe you’ve seen it at home. It wasn’t me!

So look at what Adam says: ‘The woman you put here with me - she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’ (12) So it’s either Eve’s fault - she gave it to me. Or it’s God’s fault - because you put her here!

And Eve, she doesn’t own up either. ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’ (13). So, let’s recap. You could say that Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent, and the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on!

So what happened next? Well, immediately we see God’s grace towards Adam and Eve. God could have executed the death penalty straight away - but then none of us would be around today. There are consequences and curses, but we also see God’s love, and grace, and mercy in operation as well.

First, God curses the serpent. He will crawl on his belly and eat dust. But the curse is given so that Adam and Eve hear it. And look at verse 15: ‘And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.’

God promises a serpent-crusher. God says there will be enmity between the serpent and the woman; his offspring and her offspring. But then comes the promise, and it’s different. Her offspring ‘he’ is set against ‘you’ the serpent. The serpent will strike his heel - a bad wound - but in doing so, the woman’s offspring will crush the serpent’s head - a fatal blow.

Next, God curses the women - pain in childbirth, and desiring to overcome her husband, to rule over him. And then comes the curse on Adam. Now, sometimes people read these verses and think that work itself is the curse - that having to go to work is the result of the fall. But God curses the work that was already in place. Adam and Eve were already employed in working and caring for the earth. The difference now is that there is frustration in work. Now, you don’t need to put your hand up, but have you ever known frustration in your work? When you’re experiencing this curse: painful toil, thorns and thistles, sweat, and finally, returning to the ground, dust to dust.

At the very end of the chapter, Adam and Eve are banished from the garden, separated from God’s presence, barred from eating from the tree of life. There’s no way back, past the cherubim and flaming sword. And so we find ourselves east of Eden. Living in this paradise lost world. It explains why the world is the way it is - through sin - Adam and Eve’s, and ours too. But is that it? Thankfully not. There is good news in this chapter.

Adam and Eve had sewed fig leaves to try to cover themselves. But in verse 21 God clothes them in garments of skin. It’s a picture of sacrifice and the covering of sin and shame - the animal died, its blood was shed, to provide covering for them. That’s a hint of the ultimate sacrifice of the cross.

But there’s more. You see, Jesus himself bore the curse for us. In Galatians 3 we read: ‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”’ (Gal 3:13). Jesus died on the cross, naked, in shame, so that we would be clothed and covered. And what did Jesus wear on the cross? His clothes had been gambled for by the soldiers; but on his head he wore the crown of thorns - the thorns of the curse are borne by the Saviour.

It’s at the cross that Jesus crushes the head of the serpent. You see, the serpent thought that he had finished Jesus, engineering his death. But it was like a strike to the heel - because Jesus rise again from the dead. But in doing so, Jesus crushed the head of the serpent, the devil. The cross was the means of the long-promised, long-anticipated victory.

And because Jesus died on the cross, he has opened up the new and living way for us to come to God. And he opens up the way for us to eat of the tree of life. In the very last chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22, we’re given a picture of the new heavens and the new earth - the new Jerusalem. And flowing from the throne is the river of the water of life. And on each side of the river is the tree of life - there for us to take, and eat, and live forever. Paradise may have been lost, but this is paradise regained.

Genesis 3 explains why this world is the way it is. Perhaps in it you’re getting a glimpse into your life - the pain and agony of broken relationships; the never-ending blame game; frustration at work; separation from God. This is life as you know it.

but Genesis 3 also points to the way life should be, and can be, when you turn back to God. All those glimpses and hints and pointers to the perfect work of the Lord Jesus - who lived the perfect life, and died an undeserved death, in order to bring rebellious sinners like you and me back to God. All it takes is to trust him. To believe that Jesus died for you. Your life will be turned around. Your future in heaven guaranteed. Because Jesus has carried the curse we deserve, and offers us life everlasting, and never-ending peace, and a hope that is sure and certain.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 22nd September 2019.

Sermon: Genesis 2: 4-25 Beginnings - Provision

I see trees of green, red roses too,
I see them bloom for me and you,
and I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

And if you were here last week, you’re thinking to yourself, ‘The Rector has picked up last week’s sermon. Are we going to hear it all over again?’ You’ll be relieved to hear that it’s not the same sermon again. But perhaps as I read Genesis 2, you were thinking that it seems awfully similar to Genesis 1. After all, it’s another telling of the creation story. So what’s going on?

Think for a moment of watching football on TV. When a goal is scored, they don’t just show it from one angle - they show it from one side, then the other, then from behind the goal, and from overhead. You get a bigger picture when you see it from different angles. And that’s part of what’s going on here. But also, while it looks as if it’s the same old story again, this is a new departure - the story is going somewhere.

You can tell that by the start of verse 4. ‘This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.’ The way that line starts is the way the writer of Genesis divides up his material. You see, we’re so used to chapters in the Bible - so it seemed strange that last week we read a chapter and a bit. But Genesis is divided up by the places where it says ‘This is the account of...’ (or ‘These are the generations of...’ in the ESV). There are eleven of these, each time indicating a new part of the story, the next stage of God’s unfolding plan. (e.g. 5:1, 6:9 etc)

And what do we find in this account of the heavens and the earth? We find that the subject is God. It’s all about what the LORD God did and is doing in his world. God is active, working, creating, fulfilling his plans and purposes for his creation. He’s putting the patterns in place in God’s big design. And he is providing all that we need.

But that’s maybe to get ahead of ourselves. Because as we begin the chapter, people aren’t around yet. We get an idea of the timeframe in verse 4-6. The shrubs and plants of the field haven’t sprung up yet. They’re ready, they’re full of potential, but they haven’t grown up yet because: ‘for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.’ (5-6) Maybe that sounds like paradise - no rain and no men. But of course, there are no women either! Not yet!

That’s all about to change, though, as God makes man. ‘the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.’ (7)

Can you remember what we saw last week? How did God create everything else? How did light come about? God spoke, and it was so. He said something, and it happened. His words were powerful. But here, God gets his hands dirty. He formed the man from the dust of the ground. He scoops up some mud, like a child playing with plasticine or playdough, and forms the man.

And that’s not all - he also breathes into his nostrils. This isn’t the Sistine Chapel image by Michaelangelo (as seen on the opening of The South Bank Show), you know the one, the finger of God touching the finger of Adam and zapping him into life. No, God gives the kiss of life, breathing life into his creation, this first man.

And God is the God who provides. He provides a home for the man, in the Garden of Eden. When you hear Eden, you think of paradise - and so this is God’s Ideal Home Exhibition and the Chelsea Flower Show all in one. All kinds of trees are there - ‘trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.’ And right in the centre of the garden are two special trees - the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The paradise God provides is also supplied with water - a river flowing from Eden, dividing into four headwaters (slightly tricky to pronounce); and there is even gold, and resin and onyx all provided.

God provides a home, and water, and work. You see, the man isn’t in paradise just to lie back and take it easy. He’s there ‘to work it and take care of it’ (15). The man’s task is to work the ground, to extend the kingdom of Eden into all the world, and to take care of it - to guard it and keep it. So work isn’t something that only started after the fall (even though it can sometimes feel that way) - work is part of God’s plan. [Next week we’ll be thinking about the idea of vocation in work and ministry]

God has provided a home, and water, and work, and food. In Eden, though, there aren’t any juicy steaks or chicken dinners. The food is hanging on the trees: ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’ God provides the fruit as food - and God also provides a warning, a barrier. There’s an abundance, but there’s one tree he can’t eat from. Just one restriction in a garden full of trees. This is God’s only commandment - will Adam obey or not?

We’ve seen how God has provided so much - a home, water, work, food, his good command - and you could think to yourself, what a wonderful world, what a perfect paradise. And you’d be right. The echoing chorus of last week - And God saw that it was good - could come again. But suddenly, right in the middle of Eden, there is something that is not good. Verse 18: ‘The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”’

Remember that we’ve been made in God’s image - for love and community as well as for God’s plan and purpose - and so it’s not good for this man to be alone. He needs a helper, someone to share in his work and his world. And so the search is on. God brings all the beasts of the field and the birds of the air to the man. The man names them, exercising authority over them. Can you imagine what that was like? After he has named them all, aardvark to zebra and everything in between, he has come to the end, but ‘for Adam no suitable helper was found.’

So again, God takes the initiative, and performs surgery. He causes Adam to fall into a deep sleep, takes a rib, and makes a woman from the rib. Matthew Henry, writing in the 1700s, said this: ‘Women were created from the rib of man to be beside him, not from his head to top him, nor from his feet to be trampled by him, but from under his arm to be protected by him, near to his heart to be loved by him.’

And then comes the moment of meeting, when the man and the woman are introduced. And for the first time in the Bible, the man speaks:

‘This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called woman
for she was taken out of man.’

It’s the original love poem, for the very first love story. And do you see how man and woman are so intimately connected? Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. And our English words with the common part of ‘man’ in both - man and woman reflect the Hebrew words ‘ish’ and ‘ishah’. Equal but different; the complementary nature of male and female. And that’s reflected in God’s plan for marriage, as we see in the next verse:

‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.’ (24)

God’s pattern for marriage is one man and one woman living faithfully together for life in a public covenant. The two become one. And in our New Testament reading we see that Jesus, when asked about marriage and divorce, refers back to this verse as the foundation for the Bible’s teaching on sex and marriage. Marriage is God’s idea, his plan. And so the man and his wife were naked, but felt no shame.

In Genesis 2, we’re still marvelling at the wonderful world God has made; we get a glimpse of God’s perfect paradise; and in a sense, we wish we were there. We know that paradise has been lost, but God is still the same God, who is a generous and gracious provider. And here we see the ways in which God provides - a home, and water, and work, and food, and companionship, and marriage.

When you realise just how much God has given to us, it should move us to praise and thanksgiving - to say thank you to God for the many, many ways in which he has provided.

So let’s do that; let’s pause and take a moment, quietly, to thank God for his provision. Let’s pray.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 8th September 2019.

Sermon: Genesis 1:1 - 2:3 Beginnings: Creation

I see trees of green, red roses too,
I see them bloom for me and you,
and I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

I’m sure you know that song by Louis Armstrong. He sings about all sorts of things - skies of blue, clouds of white, colours of the rainbow, the faces of people, friends shaking hands, babies crying. And his end point is: ‘Yes I think to myself, what a wonderful world.’

What is it for you that makes you think of how wonderful our world is? Perhaps it’s the way your garden grows up; or a beautiful landscape or spectacular mountain range; or some of David Attenborough’s wildlife programmes. Whatever it might be, your wonder is inspired and you’re amazed, and perhaps it even leads you to ask the question - where did this wonderful world come from?

As you’re probably aware, many people think that this wonderful world came about by pure random chance. Some sort of chemical reaction, a big bang of some kind, and it just so happened to produce everything that we see in this wonderful world. We started with a song - so here’s another, the theme song to The Big Bang Theory:

Our whole universe was in a hot, dense state
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started, wait
The earth began to cool, the autotrophs began to drool
Neanderthals developed tools
We built a wall (we built the pyramids)
Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries
That all started with the big bang! Hey!

The book of Genesis tells us how the world came about - not by random chance, but by the direction of the God who made everything. So who is the God we are introduced to in this opening chapter of the Bible?

He is the eternal God. Look at verse 1: ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ The word ‘Genesis’ means beginnings - we hear of the beginning of the heavens and the earth, but God already existed. God was already here before the beginning. He is the eternal being - the creator of time itself, but himself without beginning or end - the Alpha and the Omega.

The eternal God is also the God who speaks. You can’t miss it in this chapter. Verses 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 29 contain either ‘And God said’ or ‘Then God said.’ God is a speaking God. He didn’t just speak creation into being, he has also revealed it to us. Back in the day, day one of creation, there was no Facebook or Twitter; no one was live-blogging creation as it happened; making snap judgements on what had happened. People hadn’t even been formed yet. We wouldn’t and couldn’t know about how God created if he hadn’t told us. And so he revealed it to Moses, who wrote it down for us.

Genesis is not necessarily a ‘how to’ - even though the order and sequence of creation is being corroborated by the work of scientists. God is showing us the ‘why’. God speaks, and tells us what we need to know about himself, and ourselves and our place in his creation.

The eternal, speaking God is also the God of power. We see this because when God speaks, things happen. Have you ever had the frustration of saying something and nothing happens - telling the kids to get ready for bed; or asking for a cup of tea - you might as well be talking to the wall! But not so with God. Look at verse 3. ‘And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.’ He just says it, and it happens. Do you see that pattern running through the chapter? ‘And God said... And it was so.’ (7, 9, 11, 15, 24) God is powerful, his words have power.

And what is it he says - this eternal, powerful, speaking God? His words show that he is the God of order. In verse 2 we see that the earth was ‘formless and empty’ (tohu wabohu). As the days of creation unfold, we watch as God forms the world (days 1-3) and fills the world (days 4-6).

There is separation as God forms the world - separating the light from the darkness (day 1), separating the waters under and above the sky (day 2), and separating the day land and the water (day 3). And then he repeats the pattern, as he fills the world - light and darkness match up to the lights in the expanse of the sky, the sun and moon [which aren’t even named, as some of the Israelites’ neighbours worshipped the sun and moon - Genesis reminds us that God made the sun, the moon, and v16 ‘he also made the stars’ - we worship the creator, not the creation]; the waters and sky of day 2 are filled by the fish and the birds of day 5; and the dry land is filled by animals and people (last of all) on day 6. God is the God of order.

The eternal, powerful, speaking, orderly God is also good. And the things he makes are good. Did you notice the constant chorus, the repeated refrain: ‘And God saw that it was good.’ The good God works goodness, and when he makes humans, the climax of all his work, we see God’s verdict on everything in verse 31: ‘God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.’

The God who made everything is the eternal, powerful, speaking, orderly, good God. And this is our God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Right at the very beginning we see God the Father, who creates and speaks; we see the Spirit of God hovering over the waters; and we see the Son, the Word of God, by whom all things were made. There is one God, in three persons - the Trinity. And we see that again in verse 26: ‘Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.”’ If not the Trinity, then who would God be speaking to or about when he says ‘Let us...’

This is the God who made everything: the eternal, powerful, speaking, orderly, good God who made the first humans in his own image and likeness. It is only as we see and know the God who made us that we can see who we are.

In Genesis 1:27 we find the only rational foundation for human rights. The secular world argues strongly for human rights, but underneath they have little basis for equality and rights; and that’s why many reckon that the unborn, the elderly and the sick should be conveniently dealt with. But here we see that every human, male and female, is made in the image of God and is precious.

We also see our purpose in verse 26: ‘Let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ And it’s found in the blessing God gives in verse 28: ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule...’

We have been made according to God’s plan and purpose, shaping the world and us by his power and goodness to be like him and image him to the world - in love and community, dependent on our maker who gives us our place as stewards over the creation, and gives us food and everything we need for life in this world. We are called to care for creation, under God’s rule and care.

The good God made everything good. And we continue to get glimpses of what a wonderful world we live in. But alongside the trees of green and red roses too, our world is also full of pain and sadness and sickness. In a few week’s time we’ll see how that came about, but this morning we acknowledge that God’s good world has been marred and broken by sin; just as God’s image in us has been marred and broken by sin. We have turned our backs on God; we have exploited and abused his good gifts to us.

But one man did walk on the earth, perfectly displaying what it is to be the image of God. God himself became one of us. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

The Lord Jesus calls us back to relationship with him; calls us to turn to him by faith; to receive his blessings (won for us by his perfect life and spotless, sinless death); and to enter into his rest. God made the heavens and the earth and everything in six days, and on the seventh day he rested. It wasn’t that God was tired after all his work and needed to take it easy for a day or so. No, it was a day of enjoying all he had made, a day of blessing.

On the seventh day, the pattern is broken. Six days of work, one day of rest. And that’s what we find in the Ten Commandments also. But notice also that the pattern of numbering the days is broken. In verse 5, 8, 13, 19, 23 and 31 we have a pattern: ‘And there was evening, and there was morning, the ...th day.’ But for the seventh day, you don’t get the same. The pattern is broken. And that’s an indication that God is continually resting from his work of creation - an unending Sabbath rest, which he is inviting us to share in.

Our weekly rest day (now the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day), when we rest from our labours, is a sign and symbol pointing forward to the perfect rest of heaven. Jesus invites us to share in his rest - a rest from labours, a rest from trying to earn our way, a rest from religious striving, and to instead receive his blessing and his rest:

‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’ (Matthew 11:28).

This is our God: the eternal, powerful, speaking, orderly good God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are made in his image, made for his purpose, and made for relationship with him. Will you come to him, and find your true identity in him today?

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 1st September 2019.

Sermon: Genesis 3: 15 Scripture Fulfilled - The Serpent Crusher

“If you don’t want to know the scores, then please look away now.” Those are the words the newsreader says on Saturday night, just before they report on the football. It’s so that someone who hasn’t heard how their team has done can watch Match of the Day without knowing the end result in advance. But as we gather at the start of this Holy Week, we already know the end result. Jesus, who was crucified on the first Good Friday, was also raised to life on the first Easter Sunday.

And it’s helpful to know that, and helpful to remember the events of that first Easter Day as we begin our special series this week. Do you remember the two disappointed disciples, walking home from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus? A stranger catches up with them, asks what they’re talking about, and they can’t believe he hasn’t heard of all that had happened in the city. They had hoped that Jesus was going to redeem Israel. But their hopes were dashed. He had died on a cross. And surely that was the end. There were rumours flying about that his tomb was empty, but they had given up, and gone home.

The stranger then says, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ He then begins with Moses and the Prophets, explaining ‘what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.’ The stranger was Jesus, and he gave them a big Bible study of how the Old Testament talks of him and points to him.

Having recognised him as he broke the bread, they set off back to Jerusalem in the dark, along the seven miles, to share the good news with the disciples. Then Jesus stands among them, risen, alive, and he reminds them of what he told them before his death: ‘Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’

That’s our purpose this week - to see how the Old Testament scriptures about Jesus’ death are fulfilled. Now, we’ll not cover all of them - we won’t get near the ‘everything written about me’. But we’ll pick out some of the main passages and see how they point us to Christ’s cross.

Tonight, we start at the beginning - a very good place to start. In our reading tonight we have the protevangelium - the first declaration of the gospel, the first signpost to the cross, from within the Garden of Eden.

Eden was the place of perfect paradise, where Adam and Eve walked with God, and ruled the creation under him. It’s hard for us to imagine just how perfect it was, because we’re so used to the world as we know it now. But any time you despair of shattered dreams, or disappointments, or groan under suffering, sickness or sadness or regret strained relationships, you’re longing for the Eden experience.

Adam and Eve had it all, and yet how quickly they lost it. From Paradise to Paradise Lost in a matter of verses. So how did it happen? Behind it all was the serpent. You’ll see that here in Genesis, we’re just introduced to the serpent without any explanation. But in Revelation 12 and 20, the devil is described as ‘that ancient serpent’. So here in Eden is the devil, Satan.

‘Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made.’ His craftiness comes out in the way he talks to Eve.

‘Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden?”’ He’s challenging God’s word, seeking to undermine it, causing doubt. So when Eve says that they can’t eat from (or touch) the tree in the middle of the garden or they will die, the serpent strikes straight back: ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’

Do you see what he’s doing? Challenging, and now denying God’s word. He’s trying to convince her that God is holding something back, that God is not really good. That you can’t really trust God.

Her desire is stirred: ‘When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.’

The serpent had persuaded her, and tempted her, and deceived her. As Adam and Eve bit into the fruit, they realised they were naked. Guilt and shame were felt for the first time in the world. They had to cover up, fashioned in fig leaves, and then started the first ever game of hide and seek.

The story goes of a minister out visiting, and he rang a door. He had the sense someone was inside, so he wrote a Bible reference on the back of his card - Revelation 3:20. Behold, I stand at the door and knock... The next Sunday, the lady slipped him a piece of paper with a Bible reference on it - Genesis 3:10. ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’

Adam and Eve hid themselves from God. It wasn’t that God went missing and Adam and Eve had to go and find him, and that we still are on a search for God. No, it’s us who have gone into hiding. But still God comes looking for us, asking ‘Where are you?’

Perhaps you’re hiding from God tonight. You’re here, but you’re hiding, not really engaged. God comes to meet us where we are; comes to speak tenderly with us.

God asks them why they’re hiding. ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?’ And it’s here that the blame game starts. Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent, and the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on!

But do you see how sin brings shame and blame? It’s not really my fault, God - it’s because of someone else; or because of my circumstances; or even because of you, God, you made me do it because of how you made me and what you gave me. ‘The woman you put here with me...’ It’s always someone else’s fault.

In the very place where there was blessing, and perfection, God’s good creation has been marred, spoiled, ruined. It’s like the painting of Jesus on a church wall in Spain a few years ago - that a lady attempted to improve and totally destroyed it. Or it’s like someone who has worked for ages building a model ship out of matchsticks, only for their toddler to destroy.

God has to judge their sin, their refusal to trust him, their disobedience of his word. But even as he declares judgement in the form of curse, there is mercy and grace. God could have wiped them out immediately. One day they would die, but it wasn’t that day.

The curse includes pain in childbirth for the woman and thorns and thistles in work for the man, but it’s in the curse on the serpent that we find the promise of the cross. ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.’ (15)

God declares to the serpent that there will be enmity, opposition, hostility between the serpent and the woman; between his offspring and hers; but do you see how it changes at the end?

It’s no longer between the serpent and the woman, nor their respective offspring. This time it’s personal - between her offspring and ‘you’. God declares to the serpent that at some point in the future, the woman’s offspring will do battle with him. There will be a decisive victory.

This is why we see the children of Israel so often being oppressed throughout the Old Testament. The serpent is each time trying to prevent the offspring of the woman from being born - whether it’s the baby boys being thrown into the Nile by the Egyptians; or the slaughter planned by Haman in the days of Esther; or Herod’s killing of the baby boys under two in Bethlehem - the serpent is trying to destroy the offspring before this ultimate battle comes.

That ultimate battle comes on the cross. Let’s think of it in the words of verse 15. (And I hope you don’t have ophidiophobia - the fear of snakes). Picture the two things happening at the same moment - as a man stands on a snake’s head, it bites him in the heel. ‘He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.’

The serpent lands a blow on Jesus. He strikes his heel - he brings about Jesus’ death. But Jesus rises from that death to live again. The serpent’s blow is fatal, his head is crushed. William Williams, the Welsh hymnwriter most famous for ‘Guide me O thou great Redeemer’ puts it this way:

‘Bruised was the dragon by the Son,
though two had wounds, there conquered one,
and Jesus was his name.’

As the writer to the Hebrews puts it, ‘Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.’ (2:14).

As far back as the Garden of Eden and Genesis 3, God points forward to the cross, and proclaims that the serpent will be defeated by the offspring of the woman, the serpent-crusher. And so, from Genesis onwards, the search is on for this promised one, the one who would defeat the devil, the one who would bring freedom for his people.

Perhaps tonight, you’re under the weight of your sin. You’ve been deceived by the devil, you feel yourself trapped and enslaved by him. Your shame shouts aloud. Your guilt goes before you. Look again to the cross. In Jesus’ death, he has defeated the devil, he has crushed his head.

And listen to the promise that Paul gives to the Christians in Rome, and to us as well: ‘The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.’ The devil’s days are numbered, and his defeat is sure because of the cross. We can look forward, not to Eden restored, but to the new heavens and the new earth, where nothing unclean or impure can dwell. The scripture has been fulfilled. The serpent crusher has come, and has won.

This sermon was preached in Brookeborough Methodist Church on Monday 10th April 2017 in the Scripture Fulfilled series of Holy Week services.

Sermon Audio: Genesis 12 - 22

Here's what I've been up to since September. We've been following the life of Abraham in our second chunk of the book of Genesis in the series 'Believing the Promise: Walking with Abraham's God'. All the sermons are also available on the Aghavea Church iTunes podcast.

Genesis 12: 1-20 Receiving God's promise

Genesis 13: 1-18 Walking by faith, not by sight

Genesis 14: 1-24 Meeting Mysterious Melchizedek

Genesis 15: 1-21 Reckoned Righteousness

Genesis 17: 1-27 Covenant Confirmed

Genesis 18:16 - 19:38 Saved from Sodom

Genesis 21: 1-21 The Promised Son

Genesis 22: 1-19 God Will Provide

Sermon: Genesis 22: 1-19 God will provide

Perhaps the biggest decision we have to make in life is this one: Can I really trust God with everything? It’s the make or break question - Is God actually trustworthy? Can we trust him, especially when it doesn’t seem easy or straightforward?

It’s the question we’ve been asking since September as we’ve followed the next section of Genesis, and watched as Abraham took up the challenge. God called him to leave his family behind, to go to a new place, where God would bless him, and give him offspring. We’ve seen how Abraham trusted one moment, and then doubted the next. There were the highs of his obedience, but also the lows of disobedience and unfaithfulness. While we’ve been keeping an eye on Abraham, the main focus, though, has been on God. Who is this God, who spoke and called Abraham; and who continues to call us to follow. Is he trustworthy?

It might seem easy to follow God when all is going well. But what about when he asks the impossible? When he asks us to give up something that’s important to us? Or someone who is precious to us? Can we still trust God in those times?

As we come to Abraham’s test, it’s important to remember that God had already provided in Abraham’s life. Everything Abraham had, God had given him - not least his son, born to him at the age of 100, to a wife of 90. Yet this is what Abraham is called to give up: ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt-offering.’

There’s no doubt about who God is speaking about. If you’ve ever had to open a new bank account and produce your two forms of ID, then God gives four forms of ID here. Take your son; your only son; Isaac; whom you love. This is Isaac, the promised son, the offspring through whom God was going to give descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Yet God says he must die. Will Abraham obey? Will Abraham give up what God has given to him?

Are there things that we hold on to? Areas of our life that we fence off and say, you can have anything else, God, but not that? I’ll serve you, but not if it means I can’t have this? Can we really trust God with all that we have?

It can’t have been easy. The thought of what lay ahead must have been horrifying. Yet we’re not given any hint of Abraham’s emotional state; we’re simply told that he got up, and went to do the job. Just as he’d got up early to send Ishmael away, so he gets up and goes to offer Issac. His faith is displayed in his actions.

But his faith is also displayed in his words. Abraham had set off with Isaac, and also two young men. When they get to where they can see Moriah, Abraham says this in verse 5: ‘Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.’ Now some people think that he was lying to his staff. If he had said, oh yeah, I’m going to slaughter the boy, they wouldn’t have let him do it. So he lies and says, we’re going, we’ll return.

But is that really what’s going on? I think we can hear in these words the voice of faith. He doesn’t know how, but he is confident that his boy is coming back with him. He’s trusting in God to provide.

That becomes even clearer as Abraham and Isaac walk along. Isaac carries the wood; Abraham has the knife and the fire (flint to light a fire, maybe?). I wonder if you’ve ever started cooking dinner and then realised you’ve forgotten something - you’ve lit the BBQ (maybe not today) and then remember you’ve no burgers! It’s fairly crucial. Well Isaac knows how sacrifices work. He looks at what they’ve got and realises something is missing.

‘The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?’ (7) We’ve got all the tools, but we’ve missed the actual offering. Do you see how Abraham replies? ‘God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son.’ He may not know how, but he knows that God will provide. God can be trusted, even when it seems impossible.

If then tension was building with the walk, we’re now at fever pitch. The altar is built; the wood arranged; Isaac is bound, set on top, and the knife is poised, ready to go. At just that very moment, the angel of the Lord cries out ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ The sacrifice is stopped; the test is over. He’s passed with flying colours.

Isaac was under a death sentence. He was in the very place of death, yet he walked free. A ram was caught in a thicket, and was sacrificed instead of him. God had provided the lamb after all. Isaac was rescued through substitution. The ram died in his place. Isaac experienced a resurrection - life in the place of death.

That’s the point the writer to the Hebrews makes. Abraham ‘considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead - and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.’ (11:19) God is trustworthy, and will keep his promises, even when it seems impossible. Just ask Isaac, who escaped the knife and altar and walked free to tell the tale.

The angel of the Lord goes on to renew and expand the covenant once again - and it all comes through ‘your offspring’ - this son Isaac, but also through the fulfilment of the offspring in the Lord Jesus. It is in Jesus that the good news goes to all the nations; in him all the nations gain blessing; in him we are made to be the children of Abraham, a vast crowd that no one could number.

God had provided for Abraham; God would provide the substitute offering; and God continues to provide. The saying that arose from the events that day continues to ring out to this very day. ‘On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.’

You see, Mount Moriah was (2 Chr 3:1) the place where Solomon’s temple was built. Moriah became Jerusalem, Zion, so on one of the mountains in the land of Moriah, Isaac was rescued by substitution. In the very same location, another offering was made when a Father willingly gave his Son.

We deserved to die; the just punishment for our sins. But the Son was given as our substitute. The Lord provided for us as he gave the Lord Jesus as our passover lamb. He died our death; we can go free.

We began by asking if God is trustworthy. Can we really trust God? As we look at his dealings with Abraham, his love, grace and faithfulness, we have to say yes, God is faithful, even when his people mess up time and again. But we can say it even louder and even clearer as we reflect on the God who provides for us every day, but especially on that Good Friday. As Paul says in Romans 8: ‘If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?’ If God has provided for us in the most costly item of the universe, then how could we doubt his provision in any other way? God is good, all the time.

This sermon was preached in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 7th December 2014.