Providence: Redemption from the Valley of Gehenna

Good morning! Here is the second part of a lesson from Meeting God in Holy Places by F. LaGard Smith. It's hard for us to grasp the kind of people who sacrificed their children in a fire to the false god Molech. The place of sacrifice was the Valley of Gehenna--or the Valley of Hell--in Jerusalem, which became a continuously burning refuse heap that was turned into a more pleasant place when tourists began visiting the area.

When we picture the place where the disobedient to God end up, a place called hell, we remember that Jesus refers to it in the New Testament. You may be wondering how a loving God could permit anyone to be thrown into such a place of destruction. And you may wonder whether even those who sacrificed their children deserve such a harsh punishment. You may even be reminded that God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on an altar.

It seems clear that the testing of Abraham in the sacrifice of Isaac was used precisely because it was so indescribably horrible to God. In fact, God said, "nor did it enter my mind." It's hard to imagine parents so insensitive to the screams of their children that they ignored them. It was the ultimate test of Abraham's faith, which caused him to say to Isaac when he asked where the sacrifice was: "The Lord will provide." 

LaGard says: "What then does the story of Abraham and Isaac tell us about hell? Is it merely that those who misdirect their faith to pagan gods and literally offer their children as sacrifices are, unlike Abraham, deserving of hell? Is so, are those who sacrifice their children on the altars of divorce and dual careers and abortion any less deserving?" 

Ouch! That hurts, we respond. But he goes on to say: "Is there no mercy, no hope, for sinners all--including you and me--whatever the grievous sins we may have committed?" That is something to think about!

Now what comes to LaGard's mind, while standing in the Valley of Gehenna with all its dark history and scriptural associations with hell, are the words of Abraham, "The Lord will provide." And in our case, the Lord has provided us with a way of escape. But at great cost: the sacrifice of God's own Son. God listened as His Son cried out on the cross, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" And the drums of heaven were beating very loudly because "the earth shook and the rocks split." So we know that even with all of our sinfulness, God provides for us!                                                             

What can we learn from the Valley of Gehenna? We can learn that, as LaGard says, "Hell is not centrally about torture and pain, fire and flames, but...lives wasted and destroyed. It's about the burning stench of eternal spiritual death that will render meaningless any life lived in open rebellion to God, that has refused to accept the mercy of God, and that has shown abject contempt for the only child sacrifice ever made necessary." In our daily lives, we can gratefully remember--as Abraham once did--that God provides!

To those who read this, I pray it will remind you, as it has me, how blessed and fortunate we are that God provides for us in every way. 

Blessings...Mimi

Providence: the Valley of Gehenna

"God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son." John 3:16

Good morning! Just a few thoughts from Chapter 3 of Meeting God in Holy Places by F. LaGard Smith, which talks about God's providence in giving His Son as a sacrifice for our sins, in order to save us from hell.

The worshipers of Molech offer a different kind of sacrifice. The picture on the right is of people in ancient Israel who sacrificed their sons and daughters to their god Molech in the Valley of Hinnom (now the Valley of Gehenna). These people believed that there were gates to pass through to be in the presence of their god.

Lagard describes the ritual: "The sacrifice of a pigeon permitted the worshiper to pass through the first gate, a sacrificed goat through the second, and so on. But only the sacrifice of a son or daughter permitted a man to pass through the seventh and last gate into the very presence of Molech. This pagan practice had the worshiper kiss his child and place it into the red-hot arms of the idol, inside of which was a continually burning fire. To muffle the screams of the children who were 'passing through the fire,' onlookers would frenetically beat loud drums."

Referring to these Molech worshipers in Israel, God spoke through Jeremiah to say: "They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire--something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind." Topheth, at the southeast end of the valley, takes its name from the root word toph, meaning drum. God's anger was so great against this practice that He declared a punishment on these people: "The days are coming...when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room." God's prophecy is fulfilled when Josiah destroyed the altars, broke apart the idol Molech, and burned the bones of its priests, dumping them into the valley.

The valley from that time became a garbage dump for Jerusalem, and the refuse thrown into it fueled a constantly burning fire. Jesus refers to a place of fire where "their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched," completing the picture where bodies are "thrown into hell" to be burned up. And again, Jesus speaks of hell as a place of punishment, banishment, and destruction, when he says: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

We've all heard jokes about "cold days in hell" and "hell freezing over," but eternal punishment, eternal destruction, and eternal banishment from the presence of God is not a laughing matter.

I thought this blog could be finished in one, but tomorrow I'll give the redeeming part of the picture. Have a good day! Blessings...Mimi

Bonding with Jesus in The Holy Sepulchre: Resurrection

"Where, O grave, is your destruction?" Hosea 13:14

The second part of this lesson from Meeting God in Holy Places by F. LaGard Smith looks at what Jesus's resurrection means to us. When we think about the tomb of Jesus, we think of an empty tomb that has the stone rolled away from the entrance. We remember with awe and wonder that Jesus came out of the tomb, having been raised from the dead. We praise God that our Savior is a risen Lord!

LaGard asks whether we, in our rejoicing, might have missed something important about Jesus's burial, as well as our own. What did Paul say to us? He said: "We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

We all have our own spiritual tombs with a stone against the entrance. To roll away the stone, we must be buried with Christ. To identify with Jesus in life, we must identify with Him in death. What does it mean to be buried with Christ? "Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?"

The symbolism of baptism is a means of identification with God, since God identifies with the darkness in our lives, we must also identify with the darkness of the tomb where He was laid. And this act of identification can be called bonding. Having died to the world, our former selves are buried in the tomb of Christ. Only by being buried with Christ can we rejoice in a resurrection. Resurrection always requires a burial.

You may remember the story of a young prophet who was sent to warn King Jeroboam that he was about to be punished for his idolatrous behavior. Having been instructed not to eat, drink or return the same way, the prophet went on his way. An old prophet lied to him and told the young prophet that an angel had said that he should eat with him. Believing the lie, the young prophet eats with the old prophet and is later killed by a lion.

When the old prophet hears of the young prophet's death, he claims the body and buries it in his own tomb, distraught and weeping over his deception. He says to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones...for the message he declared...will certainly come true." The message for us is that there is life in being buried with Christ...bone to bone with the Son of God!

When God spoke to Ezekiel in his vision of the dry bones, He said: "I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will show that I am the Lord." This isn't a picture of shrouds and sepulchres, death and decay. It's the opposite! He isn't describing a TOMB, He's describing a WOMB!

The little group realized as they stood in the tomb, the connection to the womb. They sang "Abide with Me" and went out of the tomb...bone to bone with Jesus forever.

Have a beautiful Lord's Day!
Blessings...Mimi

Bonding with Jesus in The Holy Sepulchre ~

"Where, O grave, is your destruction?" Hosea 13:14

Can you imagine viewing the tomb of Jesus? In the second chapter of Meeting God in Holy Places, F. LaGard Smith gives us his thoughts and observations about his visit to "Jesus's tomb" in the city of Jerusalem.

Upon entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, visitors are met with an ostentatious scene filled with a mixture of Crusader and Byzantine styles, along with pretentious religious trappings. Five sects fight over jurisdiction of the shrine, and all of them contribute to maintaining it. One observation is that if the Church of the Holy Sepulchre sits on holy ground, shouldn't there be more respect for it? The Jews fear walking on the Temple Mount lest they should walk on ground that is holy. Quiet viewing from a distance seems more appropriate for the tomb of Jesus, if their claims are true. ~

In any case, millions of pilgrims and tourists for centuries have flocked to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in hopes of touching the essence of their Christian faith from cross to tomb. And even though the immediate scene with it's lavish decorations, smells and bells was offensive, the guide took the group behind the "official tomb" to a cave-like tomb which would have been like the tomb where Jesus was buried.

~ Suddenly the little group was squeezed into a darkened tomb, where the tiny light from a match went immediately out, and they were left in a close and claustrophobic darkness. The smell and coldness only added to the atmosphere. A stone at the entrance was all they needed to feel completely trapped.

~ These pictures are probably more like Jesus's tomb than any others. But we don't have proof of either.

Astonishingly, two things rushed to Lagard's mind: "the Lord of heaven and earth was actually buried in such a place.... And, who knows, perhaps this very place!" These thoughts took him from reading about Jesus's death and burial to feeling His very presence closely and intimately, as if He were lying right there wrapped in a linen cloth next to him! Remembering that Jesus said to Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed," LaGard felt blessed to have seen in this special way.

And what can we take from this experience? For one thing, it reminds us that our lives can be swallowed up in darkness and despair. You can be slowly suffocating in a job you hate. Or some of you may be trapped in a lifeless marriage. For us, remembering that "God in human flesh allowed himself to be trapped in the suffocating darkness of a cold, musty tomb, as if to say, 'Wherever you are, I'll be with you. I've been there before'."

There is a second part to this blog, which I'll bring to you tomorrow. My last Bible blog was in August of last year. Life has been as crazy for me as it has for you, but I hope that I can manage to blog more often now. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

~ Blessings...Mimi

Chapter 2: The Holy Sepulchre--John 20:29; Romans 6:3-4; I Kings 13:1-32; 2 Kings 23:16-18; Numbers 19:16; Ezekiel 37:1-14; Matthew 26:30.