Destroy them!

We live in an age where it does not matter what you do now.  If, twenty or thirty years ago you did something wrong, you are still condemned.  You are derided as useless, fit for the garbage heap and a hypocrite.  

Let us look how the God of the Bible handles mistakes. 

#  Abraham is the ancestor of the Jews.  According to the standards of our day he deserves to be denounced because he selfishly put his wife in a predicament with  foreign leaders on two occasions.  He should be dismantled and removed from his position.  Well, not if God has a say.   The Lord called him ‘Abraham my friend.’  Isaiah 41:8

#  God sent Moses to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.  He had fled Egypt 40 years before because he murdered an Egyptian.  In our time he would be shouted down, ‘You murderer!  Out!  We will not listen to you!’  Yet God used Moses to lead His people out of Egypt.  Moses was the leader of the Israelites for 40 years and wrote the first 5 books of the Old Testament. 

#  King David took the wife of one of his trusted supporters.  Later he caused her husband, Uriah, to be killed in war.  In our time he would be derided as a scoundrel and his history should be expunged from the Bible.  Yet God forgave him when he confessed his sins and said about him,  ‘I have found David, son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’  Acts 13:22b  

#  Saul was an educated, devout Jew and Pharisee.  He made it his business to persecute, arrest and even have those who believed in Jesus, killed.  If he lived in our time, he would surely be shouted down as, ‘Persecutor of Christians!  Unfit to live!  Traitor!’  Yet God stopped him in his madness, made him the apostle Paul and gave him back some of his own medicine.  God personally taught him the hidden treasures of His Gospel plan.  Paul wrote 13 of the letters to congregations in the New Testament.   

#  Jesus warned His disciple, Peter, that he would betray Him three times during the Lord’s trial.  Peter did exactly that.  If he lived today, people would denounce him and ‘send him straight to hell.’   What did Jesus do?  He gave Peter the opportunity to repeat three times that he loved him.  The Lord Jesus told Peter, ‘Feed my sheep.…  Follow me!’  John 21:15-29 

Maybe we should learn from God.  We live in a world where people search for the ‘dirty laundry’ of others and parade it for all to see.  Who cares if that person changed?  As long as he can be humiliated and degraded (tear down his monument).  Who cares that Jesus teaches mercy and said, ‘Do not judge, or you too will be judged.’  Matthew 7:1  

The lesson

We will all appear before God to give an account of what we did while on earth.  That means all people, not just some.  Maybe it is wise to leave judgement to God. 

Did the apostle Peter know about the Periodic Table?

The most controversial verse in the Old Testament is, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’  As followers of Jesus, we want to know if that verse is true?   Are there clues in both the Bible and science to support Genesis 1:1?

#  Let’s look at a verse in the letter of the apostle Peter. 

He wrote it about 1,400 years after Moses wrote Genesis 1:1.

• 2 Peter 3:10 &12, ‘…the day of the Lord will come like a thief.  The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare….  That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will will melt in the heat.’
• According to this passage, everything in the whole universe that will be destroyed,  is composed of elements.  The word, ‘elements’ is also found in Galatians 4:3; 4:9 and Colossians 2:8, but there it has a different meaning.
• Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, referred to the minute parts or portions of which things are made.  In Greek the word ‘elements’ means, ‘The constituent atoms from which …things …are composed.’ ¹
• These verses tell us that all the matter in the universe is composed of elements.  We can compare elements to building blocks, like Lego or the 26 letters of the alphabet.  One can arrange them to form thousands of different structures or books, letters, manuals, et cetera.
• We know from science that all matter, whether rocks, metals, oils, gases and humans are made up of elements (or atoms). ²
• The Periodic Table has the 92 or 94 naturally occurring elements found in the universe, as well as some other rare ones.

#  The logic of the Lord

Why elements?  This age is the natural age, while the coming age is the new supernatural eternal age.  That means the ‘normal’ elementary composition of matter will not suffice, since matter, made up of elements are under God’s curse.  All things run down and will be renewed.

Summary

Most people will be shocked to discover that the Bible talks about things the ancients should know nothing about, like elements.  Yet since Peter was inspired by the omniscient Holy Spirit, God’s people should not be surprised.

References

1. S Zodhiates, The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible, Baker Book House, 1984,  p 1730
2. JB Reece et al, Campbell Biology, Pearson, 2011, p 77