ORIGINS

The matter of origins … is absolutely critical to all human thinking.  It becomes critical to how we conduct our lives as human beings.  Without an understanding of origins, without a right understanding of origins, there is no way to comprehend ourselves.  There is no way to understand humanity, as to the purpose of our existence, and as to our destiny.  If we cannot believe what Genesis says about origins, we are lost as to our purpose and our destiny.  Whether this world and its life as we know it evolved by chance, without a cause, or was created by God, has immense comprehensive implications for all of human life.

(John MacArthur, Creation: Believe It or Not, Part 1)

 

Traditions of the Patriarchs Verified

Edward J. Young shares with us more information on the Nuzi Tablets below:

We should note also the importance of the patriarchal blessing in the Genesis narratives. This blessing was considered as binding. One of the Nuzi tablets reads: “My father, Huya, was sick and lying in bed, and my father seized my hand and spoke thus to me: My other older sons have taken wives but thou hast not taken a wife and I give Zuluishtar to thee as a wife.” It may be noted that like the patriarchal blessings, this one also is oral; it is made by a dying father to a son and possesses legal validity.

One additional point may be mentioned. Jacob claims, “I did not eat the rams of thy flocks” (Genesis 31:38). In the light of some of the difficulties that are reflected upon the tablets of Nuzi this claim takes on peculiar significance. Apparently the shepherds would frequently slaughter lambs and eat mutton at the owner’s expense. Several legal cases in the Nuzi tablets cover this particular matter. Tehiptilla, for example, won at least two cases in law against one of his shepherds who had been slaughtering sheep clandestinely. Jacob, whatever his faults may have been, in this respect at least was guiltless.

Similar parallels might be multiplied. They are indeed both interesting and instructive. But what is of utmost importance is the fact that these parallels in the Nuzi tablets demonstrate quite clearly that the patriarchal background which is presented in the book of Genesis is perfectly accurate. Instead of mirroring a late age, as Wellhausen erroneously claimed, Genesis correctly sets forth the background of the very age in which the patriarchs themselves lived.

Most scholars today, whatever their personal theological beliefs may be, are beginning to acknowledge that Genesis does correctly set forth the background of the patriarchs. This of course is to be expected. On the other hand, they tell us that these discoveries do not prove the existence of the patriarchs themselves. And so the assault has shifted and a new hammer has been forged. But we have the New Testament to convince us of their historicity. As we consider the remarkable support which archaeology has given to our belief that the book of Genesis is accurate, we may well give thanks to God. Such support, of course, is what we should expect archaeology to give, for the book of Genesis is holy, infallible Scripture. May we read it with trusting, believing hearts, ready to hear what it says and to believe in the Redeemer of whom it speaks. (The Accuracy of Genesis)

Will a Good Reference get you into Heaven?

Andrew Bonar preached from the whole Bible, the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation. When one of his friends remarked on his originality in finding subjects for preaching, and wondered where he got all his texts, he just lifted up his Bible. He did not ignore any part of it, but explained it all. Bonar provides the proud with an excellent dose of medicine in the following excerpt:

“It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Lev. 17: 11).

“There I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat” (Exod. 25: 22).

Is it true that the greatness of your sins need be no hindrance to your acceptance, if only you are now willing, with all your heart, to turn from sin to God? Yes; it is true. It was for sinners, the mercy-seat was made. It was for sinners the blood was shed. “This is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26. 28). “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick . . . I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matt. 9. 12, 13).

When, at any time, you have heard Christ in all His fullness pressed upon your acceptance – when you have been invited, without delay, to draw near with a true heart; is it not true that secretly you may have been raising some such difficulty as this: “Oh, but I am such a sinner. I cannot expect to be received just as I am. I must wait till I have mended my life, and then I will come. I must wait till I have prayed longer, and then I will come. I must wait till I have had deeper convictions of sin, and then I may hope that the Lord will receive me if I come”

Is this your view of the way of salvation? If it be, you are surely all in the wrong. Is it not just as if you were to say, “I cannot go to God just now, for I am a poor, vile, guilty sinner, with no good thing about me at all – a poor beggar, who has nothing to give for salvation. But I shall wait till I have something to recommend me, and then I shall go.” Dear reader, would this be a free salvation? You want to pay for salvation; but God offers you salvation without money and without price. . . .

But, moreover, supposing it had been required that you should bring some good thing with you when you came to the mercy-seat, how vain would have been your hopes? He, who for a moment cherishes such a thought, has evidently never been brought to feel the total and utter depravity of his nature that in him, that is, in his flesh, dwelleth no good thing (Rom. 7. 18). When a sinner is once truly awakened by the Spirit of God to see the awful ruin of his condition, he then feels that, so far from its being a comfort to him, the very thing that is the likeliest to drive him to despair would be to tell him that he must wait till he find some good thing in him to recommend him before he could hope for pardon from an angry God. (“The Mercy Seat”)

Saving Faith

Quoting Michael Horton:

The clear message from Genesis to Revelation is either go to hell with your own righteousness, or go to heaven with the righteousness of Christ credited to your account by faith alone. Faith in Christ is saving; faith in anything or anyone else is superstition. (Horton, In The Face Of God, 20)