Sermon Tone Analysis

The Path to the Cross: In the Beginning

Open to Gen. 1, Psalm 82, Isa.

24

We’re parting from the Believe series as we approach Passover.

Passover being the yearly Jewish celebration of Israel’s exodus from Egypt.

On the final night of their captivity, every household was to sacrifice a lamb, wipe the blood on the doorframe, stay inside that night so as Yahweh went throughout Egypt, He would pass over the home with blood– so that no plague would befall them.

Without the sign of blood, the firstborn would die.

So this was God’s way of protecting them.

The Jews did this once a year to atone for sins.

Eventually, Jesus the Christ became the sacrificial lamb once and for all for the sins of the world.

Those who trust in Him have their sins atoned for and enjoy a renewed relationship with God - Yahweh.

Now, for most of us in the church we get that.

Especially, if you’re 45 or older, the Passover and the gospel, the death and resurrection of Christ are fairly straight forward and - this is common knowledge.

We grew up in a culture that had a biblical foundation.

Very much like Acts chapter 2. On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached to Jews who had a very strong biblical foundation and belief.

And basically all he said was, “Hey, this Jesus whom you crucified is both Lord and Messiah and He’s alive!”

And they said, “Oh, what do we do?” “Repent and be baptized,” and 3,000 believed!

That was the culture of America from the 1700s through the 1900s.

And recently, the 50s, 60s and 70s - the era of Billy Graham.

Tucker Carlson from Fox News said this about Billy Graham -

“He basically preached the Bible.

In the America of the time that was enough.

People stopped him on the street to shake his hand.

We live in a different country now, but Billy Graham never changed.”

~ Tucker Carlson

Jon Ward, a political correspondent for Yahoo News said this -

“There will never be another Billy Graham, because the world that made him possible is gone.”

~ Jon Ward

Not minimizing anything that God did, but Billy Graham preached to a culture that had a biblical foundation.

We no longer live in an Acts 2 culture.

We live in an Acts 17 culture.

Acts 17 is when Paul went to Athens - a very polytheistic Greek culture who had little to no reference to Judaism or to Jesus.

So what did Paul do? “Hey, I notice you are very religious.

So let me tell you about the one God who created all this.”

So to get to Jesus, he had to start from the beginning.

Interestingly, only a few believed.

It took time for the foundation to be laid and for people to believe.

This is the culture in which we now live.

John 3:16 is not the whole story.

People need the whole story.

They need to know the foundation to John 3:16.

Thus, we need to know the whole narrative of God.

Genesis to Revelation - the beginning and the end.

So what we’re going to do over the next several weeks is to connect a lot of dots to the Passover - to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We’re going to focus a lot on the supernatural.

Now, the supernatural or the spiritual plays a critical role in the Passover.

If we take the supernatural out of it the cross doesn’t mean a whole lot.

So, we’re going to try to put the spiritual back in it.

Some of this is review – but it does play a vital role in where we are going.

So, let’s enjoy the journey ….

I’m going to be using the Lexham English Bible - website on handout.

Remember, everything we talk about is going to lead to the cross - the gospel - the good news.

Genesis 1 is the cosmic view of creation.

It’s a very broad expansive picture of the beginning of our physical universe - space, time and matter.

It can be literal or poetic - either way, this one God is the Creator.

Prior to the physical realm in which we live, there was and is what we call the spiritual realm or more biblically, the heavenlies (planets, stars, spiritual …).

In this spiritual realm are …

spiritual beings or heavenly beings whom the Hebrew writers call ʾělōhîm.

We translate ʾělōhîm as god or gods or God.

depending on where it’s at in the sentence.

Elōhîm in Hebrew is used to identify angels, ghosts, cherubim, Yahweh (God Almighty) and other heavenly beings – both good or bad.

So, ʾělōhîm is a classification – not a name.

God is not a proper name.

Take mom for instance (illustration from The Bible Project).

Mom is a classification.

We know what we mean when we say, “She is a mom.”

Or, “How many moms are here?”

It’s a classification.

However, if I say, “Hey mom,” we all know who I’m talking to - my mom.

To me, she is the

“Mom of moms.”

She’s a mom like all the other moms, but to me, she’s in a class of her own.

Same with ʾělōhîm - it’s a classification.

How many ʾělōhîm (gods / spiritual beings) does it take to fix a light bulb?

None.

Elōhîm (gods / spiritual beings) do not need a light bulb because Elōhîm (God) is the Light.

Just like my mom is the Mom of moms,

Yahweh (God) is the Elōhîm of ʾělōhîms.

Questions?

So, this One Highest Elōhîm is the Creator, and on day six of creating the physical universe

Not going to get into it now, but I have a suspicion that this is what sparked jealousy among certain ʾělōhîm.

God created this place and put humans in charge.

But that’s later.

Now, there are several things going on in verses 26 and 27.

Notice, God is not alone.

Who is God speaking to?

Some believe that this is a reference to the Trinity (Father, Son, Spirit).

I don’t think so.

We don’t see this kind of conversation anywhere else in Scripture – at least not that I know of.

God never speaks to Himself as “us.”

For example, in the NT, the Father says to Jesus, “You are my son with whom I am pleased.”

He doesn’t say, “I’m pleased with us.”

So, with whom is God having this conversation?

Scripture doesn’t tell us - so we don’t know.

However, I believe He is speaking to other ʾělōhîm.

To take it a step further, I believe God is speaking to the divine assembly, or some call the divine council.

What is this divine council?

Turn to Psalm 82.

While you’re turning there … we see this divine council in other places in Scripture.

Don’t say divine council, but if we put pieces together ….

For instance, 1 Kings 22. Through the prophet Micaiah, we see a glimpse of what might be the Divine Council.