The fruits of my seminary labor: Discussion Forum 2 Having no revelation spells certain disaster for those in the world who want to know both what pleases and displeases deity because they have no standard of understanding what that deity wants. Left to their own devices, imaginations, and religious fantasies, they create a system of magical incantation, ritual and sacrifice to get the deity’s attention, understand its will, and then maintain order not only on the earth but in the cosmos. Though they may devise a formalized, intricate and systematic process of “getting to” deity, ultimately they still do not know this god, its role in the cosmos, or how to genuinely appease its certain anger. This religious pursuit of god becomes self-serving due to disinterested righteousness, which is best seen in the rhetorical question posed by Satan in Job 1:9, “Doth Job serve God for naught,” and the subsequent Latin phrase quid pro quo (something for something). Mesopotamian religion reflected fear rather than love, subservience rather than filial obedience, exultation rather than exaltation, and where “the people sought the gods for protection and assistance, not for relationship” (The Ancient Near East and the Old Testament, 161). It was supremely important for Yahweh to make Himself known to His chosen people through revelation and relationship. God’s primary means of revelation came through the vessels of chosen writers, editors, and prophets with His first clear revelation to polytheistic Abram through a covenant relationship (Gen. 12:1-3). Abram came to know Yahweh through that agreed-upon covenant and Yahweh chose the mundane structure of professional partnership to reveal Himself to the Hebrews, a paradigm quite unlike anything the ANE knew or understood at the time. God was able to bring forth His sovereign plans to save mankind and continue to reveal the depths of His grace, love, mercy, and truth within the bounds of the covenant. Further revelation came through prophets who emphasized the importance of God’s abiding presence and authority by using the phrase, “thus says the Lord” in the OT and leading Peter to confidently proclaim: “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Pet. 1:21). Yahweh reveals Himself via the scriptures and the Holy Spirit in a covenant relationship with us today. In this covenant we learn what pleases and displeases Him, how to live and prosper in Him, how to restore order out of worldly disobedience and rebellion, and how to maintain a proper relationship not only with God but with one another.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 19:07:15 +0000