‘…the Axe to the Root’ continues…

We’ve been hearing about President Obama’s proposal that Israel return to her pre-1967 borders. Hamas has taken it further and suggested pre-1948, and ‘suggested’ is probably not really an accurate word to use here. The plot to, if at all possible, thwart the plan of God never ceases. It seeks whatever approach might possibly work. If not through obvious & sworn terrorist intent, then let’s try the Obama route, let’s attempt an American Presidential disguise. ( And how ironic is it that it was, in fact, an American president who came to Israel’s aid during the Yom Kippur War, when her enemies tried to take back land lost to Israel in the 1967 Six Day War. That same Israeli victory is now being threatened by…an American president. )

I cannot recall a time when, one way or another, Middle East conflict has not existed. I can, however, recall a time when it first occurred to me that those very lands are host to those places ‘where Jesus walked’. Where he was born, preached, healed, died & rose again. There’s got to be a connection here. He has got to be at the heart of it all. One way or another.

We Christians recognize Jesus as the Promise fulfilled. Our God is a God of promise, and His habit of making promises to His people goes waaaay back in time. I’m wondering if a pattern in the Spirit can be traced back to “In the beginning…” (Genesis 1:1), and if a link can be found between the Adam & Eve incidents in the Garden, and the hotbed of conflict & violence that exists in the Middle East today. Because I believe that everything that matters comes back to Christ, and that in Him we live and move and have our being…I will proceed with this train of thought.

I want to compare the promises/warnings made in Eden by the LORD, to Adam & Eve and the promises made by the LORD to Abram concerning Isaac & Ishmael. Looking for a thread of similarity here…

I’ll be starting with that eternally famous Tree that Scripture tells us was planted smack in the middle of the Garden of Eden. You know the one – some believe that Tree bore the fruit of apples – but the Word indicates otherwise. The Tree was called the Knowledge of Good & Evil. The promise of which I’m speaking may more accurately be labeled a warning as well as an instruction, but I take the liberty of calling it a promise because the inherent consequence of its disregard was quickly realized. The man & his wife were told not to handle, nor partake of, this knowledge. The promise/warning was one of incumbent death. A God who is good sought to save His creations from death. An option was provided: the Tree of Life. So, keeping it simple, an attempt was made & a plan was put in place to provide Life.

We know how these circumstances played out – Adam & Eve did not follow God’s instruction, and history as we know & see it today was set in motion. Plenty of death to go around, wouldn’t you say?

Telescoping into the future – and keeping it extremely simple – another promise concerning Life was made, this time to the patriarch Abraham. He was promised an heir, and numberless progeny through that heir. Life bursting out all over the place, into time not yet arrived and lands not yet discovered. Good stuff here!

Every good & perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights, with whom tbere is no variation or shadow of turning (James 1: 17) – so troubles galore were not meant to be part of that package, it would seem safe to say. It would seem safe to say that this promise could have been assumed to be one of great blessing. But because of Sarai’s manipulation, and Abram’s capitulation to it, events took a different turn….pride, jealousy, anger, resentment – a child not promised & his slave mother cast out into a desert – resulting in a nation not Israelite, not God’s people, springing from that child of whom Scripture says “…his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him” (Genesis 16:12).

Now, in each of the above cases – Adam & Eve and Abram (w/ Sarai his wife) – there existed the promise, and there existed an option. In each of these cases, all human parties involved went the option route. The first man & wife chose Knowledge of Good & Evil over God’s way. The great patriarch Abraham & his wife chose making it happen themselves over trusting God’s promise, i.e., God’s way. So we see a parallel here. ( And we also see a confirmation of the LORD’s statement (in Isaiah 55) that our ways & thoughts are not His ways & thoughts {to which I would add, especially back in Old Testament times, when the mind of Christ was not yet imparted to His people, as can happen now, in this New Covenant day.})

OK…so…

Life or the Knowledge of Good & Evil.

Faith in God’s promise or in our means & ways.

Is it a stretch to come up with this formula: Life/faith in God’s promise vs. Knowledge of Good & Evil/our means and ways? Simplifying it even further: grace vs. law…

I believe this very basic thread of truth runs through all of history, and this is the truth, the Axe that needs to be applied to so many, many roots.

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…taking a break here…this could turn into quite a few posts…

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