“Sir, we would see…”

        In the Reference Department of Burlington Central Library, there is a lectern with a bronze plaque commemorating Mary Roberta Fraser, who died in a tragic accident  in Malaysia on February 15, 1964. Her story is especially sad because at 24 years of age, she slipped over a cliff without anyone seeing her fall. I talked with the librarians but none of them knew anything about her. My own research turned up the details that she was a secretary at the Canadian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur. On a weekend sightseeing trip she climbed above the waterfalls on the Telaga Tujuh on Langkawi and fell to her death over an 80-foot drop.

        This brings me to my main reason for writing. There was, in a back room at Compass Point Bible Church, another lectern, an old oak lectern, now perhaps lost, that had engraved in the reading surface, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” Those Greeks who came to Philip had the right idea—I hope they did get to see Jesus.

        Mary Fraser has mostly been forgotten, outside of her family, but what about Jesus? The admonition on that old lectern is just as necessary today. And nothing can cheer the heart of a Christian more than a sight of Christ—his humanity, his deity, his love, his suffering, prophecy about him, his miraculous works, his resurrection, his return, his glorious kingdom… In fact, that plea comes from our hearts too—“Sir, show us Jesus!”

An Eleventh Commandment

            It’s the mid-1950’s, and David and Gwen Wilkerson stand outside a little church in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. Should they take this post—and will they even be offered it? They come up with several conditions for God to meet, including “get rid of the cockroaches”—and they “put out the fleece.”  Thank God, He meets all their requirements and the story of Teen Challenge begins.

            Let’s go back two millennia and watch as Another faces decisions, as well.  This time the suggestion is a lot more intense— “Throw yourself down!”   The tormentor even quotes scripture– “He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”  And what did Jesus say?  Because, of course, it was He.  “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

            Let’s go back another millennium, to Gideon and the archetypal case of “putting out the fleece”.  Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request.  Allow me one more test with the fleece.” Although Gideon appears in the list of faithful in Hebrews 11, he obviously knew he was pushing the limits; he was taking God to the edge, so to speak. And David Wilkerson, in The Cross and the Switchblade, knew he was doing the same thing when he said, “I’d like to ask permission to put one more fleece before You, Lord.”

            Just for comparison, secular literature has similar confrontations.  Leigh Hunt pictures an arena with “ramping and roaring” lions.  A lady wants to show her lover’s devotion so she drops a glove into the pit, hoping he’ll retrieve it in front of the crowd. He does, but the poet says, “The leap was quick, return was quick, he has regained his place, Then threw the glove, but not with love, right in the lady’s face… “No love,” quoth he, “but vanity, sets love a task like that.”

            Can you see the parallels?  Rightly or wrongly, there is a demand for God (or the knight) to act. There is a demand to show how powerful He is.  There is pressure to do what the subject wants.  The knight yielded to that pressure, although grudgingly. Gideon’s God and Wilkerson’s God yielded—we don’t know why, but likely out of compassion and mercy.  But Jesus wouldn’t put His God to the test.

            The eleventh commandment, therefore, is, “Do not test the Lord your God” or, in the good old fashioned style, “Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God.”       

            Tempting God or putting Him to the test is, simply, trying to force His hand—and that not out of humility but vanity.  For a missionary to say, “God will keep me safe from the head-hunters,” would be putting God to the test. If the missionary died would God look weak?  For the missionary to say “we are going to the natives whether or not God returns us safely,” is the God-honouring attitude.  It raises him to the same spiritual plane as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who said, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us…but if he doesn’t…we will not serve your gods”; or Paul, who said “as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death,” or even Esther, who said, “If I perish, I perish.”

            So this is the position—it is a sin to try to force God’s hand.  It is a sin to bargain with God, to say “Lord, I will do what You want, IF…”  The all-wise Father says “My son, give me your heart.” No if’s, and’s or but’s.  God gave Gideon permission to run the “fleece test”, but His preference seems to be, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  God may very well give signs when we ask for them but it is the low road of faith, not the high road.  He makes all kinds of wonderful promises—we will never be the losers—but we can’t strike deals with God or twist His arm.

Book Review: Oxford Bible Atlas

Curtis, Adrian, ed.
Oxford Bible Atlas, 4^th ed.
Oxford University Press, 2007.
x, 229 pages.

     There are at least two tools that every serious Bible reader should have—the first is a concordance, such as Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. With this, he or she can find passages on any Bible words, and follow the development of any subject from Genesis to Revelation.

        The second tool is a good Bible atlas, and the Oxford Bible Atlas may be the best. Many years ago, I bought the 1^st edition, published in 1962, and I would say that 50% of my (slight) knowledge of Bible geography is due to this one book. I recently upgraded to the 4^th edition and I’m still enjoying buyer’s delight! Everything I loved in the first edition is still there, but now I have high-quality, full-colour photos to supplement the maps and words.

        The new editor, Adrian Curtis, seems well qualified for the job, being identified as “Senior Lecturer in Hebrew Bible in the University of Manchester, where he has taught since 1970. He is also a Methodist lay preacher.”

        Curtis has divided the book into four main parts. First, The Setting— Maps are implied from the garden of Eden all through scripture to the New Jerusalem—and north isn’t necessarily at the top—and all of the Biblical maps were verbal not pictorial. We know well that Israel stretched “from Dan to Beersheba”, but Curtis indicates that the area was only “a little larger than Wales” or “about the area of Vermont.” For Canadians, we might add, “one-third the size of Nova Scotia.” Maps and photos (including satellite photos) depict the natural regions of Palestine: the Coastal Plains, the Western Hills, the Negeb, the Rift Valley, and the Eastern Hills. This section includes commentary on the seasons, rainfall, crops and both domestic and wild animals.

        Section two, The Hebrew Bible, works its way chronologically through the Old Testament, from the time of Abraham, the Exodus, the Judges, David and Solomon to the time of Alexander the Great. The maps and photos show good detail and the Bible-reader can almost put himself in Moses’ sandals, coming out of Egypt, or Hezekiah’s, as his workmen cut the tunnel from the Gihon Spring in Jerusalem.

        Section Three is The New Testament, starting with the kingdom of Herod, illustrating the ministry of Jesus, and the travels of the apostles. From the map of Galilee, I learned that when Jesus (living in Capernaum) said, “Go tell that fox…”, that fox (Herod Antipas) was only 15 kilometers away, in his capital of Tiberias; and this was the king who had already executed John the Baptist.

        The final section of the atlas, Archaeology in Bible Lands, reviews some of the details of the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, with map locations and photos of some famous “digs”, such as Jericho, Beth Shan and Lachish. There are also interesting comments on the domestication of the camel, the eating of the pig, the history of written documents, and the story of the Rosetta Stone. One use of knowledge of the Iron Age is to banish one modern cult’s teaching that the American Indians are descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel. In fact, the Native Americans had no knowledge of iron, but the Jews most certainly did

        I recommend this atlas for several reasons: We need to know the relative positions of Bible towns and cities (e.g., a man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho).  Knowledge of seasons and crops is useful (Ruth and Naomi came to Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning). One final good use of the atlas is this—it allows us to place rulers and their kingdoms or empires in their place time-wise, as well as geographically. In other words, this book is another great well of information for the thirsty Christian.

Find all the Books of the New Testament

Find all the Books of the New Testament (any direction J)… N U 2 O S N O X R E V E L A T I O N P Y H B S T J R L N S N A I S E H P E W M Z P B V U X M O Y R Q Z 3 J O H N W N X L S I O N T O A F H F T R Q D T N H X K I H I X X H I K T P B N Y S N A I H T N I R O C 2 U O T G T S N A I P P I L I H P B J J R Z R J U D H F P U F L U O C B A B D Z W Q T O Z S G E R A H G B B N U N L A C T S E Z K K L N W Y R M Y Q X I P H I L E M O N E Q E S E A K L S N A I N O L A S S E H T 2 G C N Q W I E O M A R K S H W Q H D Q G E U D A H E Y S H I A T U T C L R Q J T C X J G I B G E X S V Q P L F 2 P E T E R H Q Z I T Q 1 T I M O T H Y V N J N H O J 1 Q Y D A R U B I X Z L K R L C H U S N A M O R A L F X H E O A J O R F T I W D W C L 1 R T A S C F B L J F T C O X E W E E P L P D B G X P T S N A I N O L A S S E H T 1 E H P I O I 2 T I M O T H Y V Y S E M A J T C W B C L U K E F N M M V H E B R E W S E P R G A M B Z A S N A I H T N I R O C 1 R H