Redeeming a Nation (Timeless Teaching)

by Philip Quenby

  27. Beacon

  Genesis 2.

  Key word: paradise.

  It is almost impossible to emphasise too greatly the impact that the first two chapters of Genesis have had on English society and culture. The statement that man is made “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27), the relationship portrayed between man and God (see for example Genesis 2:7) and the charge given by God to man to “work [the land] and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15) have influenced every aspect of our lives. Genesis is central to the most fundamental freedoms that Englishmen have held dear for generation upon generation. Three examples give a flavour.

  John Wycliffe (first translator of the Bible into English) and his followers the Lollards pointed to Genesis when they railed against church corruption and the lot of the poor. It was a theme echoed by their contemporary, rebel preacher John Ball. In a sermon at Blackheath in spring 1381 (just prior to the Peasants’ Revolt of June that year) he said: “From the beginning all were created equal by nature. Slavery was introduced through the unjust oppression of worthless men, against the will of God; for if God had wanted to create slaves, he would surely have decided at the beginning of the world who was to be slave and who master.”

  Following the end of the first Civil War, Cromwell and Ireton chaired the so-called Army debates, held at St Mary’s church in Putney, south-west London. Although Parliament had won the war its supporters were divided as to what form the government should take, leading to ferment in the ranks of the New Model Army. So, each regiment was invited to send delegates to Putney to put the men’s case. There, soldiers argued from Scripture that there should be democracy based on one man, one vote – for, they said, it was obvious from Genesis that no man was born to have dominion over another and that each is of equal worth in the sight of God.[60] Even Cromwell, who started out sceptical, began to be swayed by the compelling nature of the argument.

  The radical Thomas Paine (1737-1809), whose book The Rights of Man (published in 1791) was one of the catalysts of the French Revolution wrote: “The error of those who reason by precedents drawn from antiquity, respecting the rights of man, is that they do not go far enough into antiquity. They do not go the whole way. They stop in some of the intermediate stages ... But if we proceed on, we shall at last come out right; we shall come to the time when man came from the hand of his Maker. What was he then? Man. Man was his high and only title, and a higher cannot be given him.”

  The influence of Genesis extends yet further. Already in its opening chapters we see a relationship-oriented God, who comes “walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8) and who speaks to man. We encounter a covenant-making God, who does not merely make demands of man, but commits himself to certain courses of action and allows us to call on him to honour the words he has spoken: God commits himself to allowing Adam and Eve to remain in the garden to enjoy all the good things it has to offer, so long as they do not break their side of the bargain by eating “from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”(Genesis 2:15-17). We glimpse a God who cares intimately for man and for his wellbeing: thus he says, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 2:18). We experience, moreover, the extraordinary structural unity of the Bible. The tale begins with a perfect creation that sees man placed in a garden, enjoying the occasional presence of God and the created light of sun, moon and stars. The book of Revelation tells us how the story will end, with a perfect re-creation that sees man welcomed into the city of God, where he will enjoy the continual presence of his Lord and thus need no created light.

  Man made in the image of God, a God who makes covenants and a caring God. It is no accident that democracy, freedom and the rule of law were the fruits of a Christian country: we will look in vain in the holy texts of other religions for the words that gave them birth and nurtured them. These are the very things that made England for centuries a beacon to the world. They are England’s greatest gifts to the world. They are things through which much that is best in the world has come about. If we are tempted sometimes to imagine that England has little that makes her culturally distinctive, we should remember that this is because so much of the world has aspired to those things that were England’s first. We have exported across the globe not only our methods of manufacture and ideas about the role and responsibility of the state, but our forms of government and our laws, together with their underlying concepts of human dignity, freedom, justice and fairness.

  The breath of life.

  The early chapters of Genesis tell us about the creation of the universe and of life on earth.[61] Genesis 1 gives a concise overview of the process of creation, climaxing in the creation of man on the sixth day. Genesis 2 provides a close-up of what happens on the sixth day, with the start of human history and the giving of life to man: “the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7).

  Man was formed from existing materials: he is “dust” (Genesis 2:7). Yet he has unique dignity and worth because he is made in the image of his Creator. This is emphasised by the language of Genesis. The word bara’ describes the creation of man. This word is used at three stages of the creation process, each time to describe an act of divine production that brings into being something entirely new. The wording thus makes clear that man is something more than just another animal. More than that, we are told that God “breathed into [Adam’s] nostrils” (Genesis 2:7). The Hebrew word that is used for breath (ruach) is the same word that is used for the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit of God that animates and gives life to man. It is the Spirit of God that is designed to be our guide and comforter. It is the Spirit of God that we need in our lives, for without it we are less than we were created to be. When we forget these basic things about what we are, we go against the fundamental nature of our being and we start to go astray. We need to remember where we came from and for what we were created.

  The river of life.

  The Spirit of God is not just breathed into man, but courses through the whole creation: “streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground ... A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.” (Genesis 2:6 and 2:10). The water that flows through the earth is a symbol of God’s Spirit. The prophet Ezekiel likens the Spirit of God to a river: “I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple ... [becoming] a river that no-one could cross ... I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river ... When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows” (Ezekiel 47:1, 5, 7-9). Likewise, Jesus talks about “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14).

  The water that flowed through Eden also flows through the city described in Revelation: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city.” (Revelation 22:1). Wherever we turn, we cannot escape the Spirit of God. Nor should we: instead, we should invite the Spirit to fill us afresh every day, to empower and equip us for the life that God wishes us to lead.

  The tree of life.

  The earth described in Genesis is well-watered. It is also a place of lush vegetation: “And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” (Genesis 2:9). So well-known is the story of Adam and Eve eating the fruit of the one tree in the garden that was forbidden them that we are apt to overlook that another tree was right beside it: the tree of life. God’s will for man is and always has been that we should have life. The tree of life appears again in God’s perfect re-creation, the City of God described in Revelation: “On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fr
uit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:2).

  In a land that increasingly embraces a culture of death, it is up to us to point the way to life. It is up to us to show that when human beings go against God’s laws, the result is that “[we] will surely die.” (Genesis 2:17). All around we see the consequences of misusing the good things that God has given us: we were given “wine [to] gladden the heart of man” (Psalm 104:15), not become drunkards; we were given sex to enjoy between man and wife and bind them close, not to be promiscuous; we were given drugs to cure disease and alleviate pain, not to seek escape from reality.

  The sharing of life.

  We have also been given each other, so that we may share life, so that we may comfort one another, share our joys and bear one another’s burdens. Man was made to be a social being. He was made for relationship with God and he was made for relationship with his own kind: “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 2:18). In a land where so many feel alone and friendless, we are to reach out to the helpless and the lost. We are to provide an example of the love that Jesus commanded us to have for one another (see John 15:12). We are to point the way back to community and fellowship for a nation that craves it but does not quite know how to get there.

  The unity of life.

  Furthermore, we are to remind ourselves and others that man is designed to live a life that reflects the fact that he is made in the image of his Creator: “Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.’ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:22-23). There is unity in life and there is unity in human beings. This does not mean that we are to be carbon copies of each other. It does not mean that we have to pretend that male and female are in all respects identical. It does not mean that every Christian has to worship in precisely the same way. The unity that God has created and wants us to display in our lives is unity in diversity, a unity that mirrors his own nature. The Hebrew word that is used to describe one flesh (‘ehad) is never used in the Bible to describe a stark singular entity. It means not one in isolation, but one in unity. It is the same word that is used when the Bible tells us that: “The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4).

  We are given the example of the unity in diversity of man and wife in order to show us how human beings are intended to interact, and also to help us understand better the unity in diversity of God himself: one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

  The purpose or meaning of life.

  God created man to have purpose and meaning in his life: “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it ... Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.” (Genesis 2:15 and 2:19).

  We need to work out what God’s purpose for us is. We need to work out whether the tasks in which we are currently engaged are still the ones that the Lord wants us to pursue, or whether he wishes to take us in new directions. Discerning what God is saying to us about these things is something we do primarily through prayer and reading the Bible, but there may be other ways in which he is guiding us, too. We need to make time to listen to what he is saying, and then to act.

  Conclusion.

  There is a message in this for us, as individuals and as a body. We need to remember where we came from and for what reason we were created (the breath of life); to seek continually to be filled by the Spirit of God (the river of life); to point out the way to a lost and hurting world (the tree of life); to reach out to the helpless and lost (the sharing of life); to work for reconciliation – in church, society, family, friendships, marriage and other relationships (the unity of life, a unity that allows for the diversity that God created); and to seek the purpose that God has in mind for our lives (the meaning of life). When we do these things, we will find reconciliation, community and wholeness. We will again have purpose and meaning as a nation.

  This is hard work. These are not tasks that can be completed overnight. For sure, the road will often be difficult. We will need “perseverance ... character and ... hope” (Romans 5:3), but with the Lord’s help the end is attainable. This land was once a beacon to the world. With the grace of God, it can be so again.

  28. Slough of despond

  John 20:24-30

  Key word: assurance.

  There was once a young man so overcome with feelings of doubt, fear and worthlessness that he resolved to take his own life. Placing a loaded pistol to his temple, he pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. He tried again, and a second time the weapon failed to fire. At that point, trembling, he laid the gun aside and said to himself: “It seems that I am meant for something after all; I will live.” The place was Madras, the date was 1744 and the young man was Robert Clive (1725-74), otherwise known as Clive of India. In the years following this incident, he went on to gain famous victories against great odds at Arcot (1751), Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764). The first of these was won when he was only twenty-six years old.

  Together these magnificent feats of arms broke French power in India, entrenched the influence of the East India Company and made it ruler over millions of Bengalis instead of merely a trading entity. In doing so, they set the stage for almost two hundred years of British rule in the subcontinent. How many times the victorious general, who became governor of Bengal and a baron of the realm, must have thought back to the day he tried to kill himself and said again: I was meant for something.

  Absence.

  Doubt can be a terrible thing. It can cripple us so badly that we are incapable of anything. It can blind us to any meaning in life. It can make us want to deny the life in us, perhaps not with a loaded pistol, but with destructive behaviour that may have much the same result in the end. Doubt can bring loneliness, isolation and despair. Yet there is another kind of doubt that can lead us to question, explore and ultimately to encounter God. The story of Jesus’ disciple Thomas shows us how.

  Thomas’ life-changing meeting with Jesus after the latter’s resurrection did not take place in a vacuum. By the time that the disciple came face to face with the Christ, most of those who were closest to Jesus during his earthly ministry had already seen the risen Lord. On the morning that Jesus’ empty grave was discovered, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene whilst she was still standing outside the tomb: see John 20:14. During the same day, Jesus appeared to Cleopas and another disciple on the road to Emmaus: see Luke 24:13-35. That very evening, he appeared to a number of disciples as they met together behind locked doors: see John 20:19-23. We are not told exactly how many disciples were gathered together on this occasion, but we are told that Thomas was not amongst them: see John 20:24. It is a point we need to remember whenever we are tempted to doubt: it was Thomas who was absent, not Jesus.

  Not surprisingly, the disciples who had been present excitedly related to their comrade what had happened. They told him: “We have seen the Lord!” (John 20:25). Thomas was thus faced with a body of testimony from a significant number of people. Not from strangers, but from people he knew well. These included people with whom he had spent three years or more of his life whilst they accompanied Jesus on his journeys through Galilee, Judea and Samaria. They had shared times of joy and wonder, but also times of challenge, stress and fear. They had seen each other under pressure, and when we see people in those circumstances we tend to have a pretty good idea of whether we can rely on what they say.

  Over and above all that, Thomas would have been present when Jesus performed miracles. He had seen Jesus rais
e people from the dead: Lazarus (John 11:38-44), the widow of Nain’s son (Luke 7:11-17) and the ruler’s daughter (Matthew 9:18-26). For good measure, Thomas would have heard Peter affirm that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” and Jesus not rebuke him for blasphemy but reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 16:13-17).

  Proof positive.

  Thomas was a man for our times, a hard-headed rationalist: if you cannot drop it on your foot, it does not exist.[62] When he heard the disciples report their sightings of Jesus and their conversations with him, this man did not allow any past experience to spoil his scepticism. He wanted hard facts, and not someone else’s hard facts. He wanted to see for himself: “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” (John 20:25). This is a telling phrase. With millions of others, Thomas says: I will not believe, I refuse to believe, I will make a conscious effort not to believe, and I will disregard everything that is inconvenient or contrary to my not believing. Double standards abound, with different levels of proof being set for the Bible from those that are applied to other sources. To take just one example: much of the life and achievement of Julius Caesar is known through his own telling of the story. Yet that is taken at face value whilst some will twist and turn every which way rather than accept the evidence of eyewitnesses to the miracles of Jesus – eyewitnesses who were so convinced of the truth of what they related that they went on to suffer and die for it.