I was surprised to learn, only just recently, that there is a ‘vacuum’ in my bible: between the time that Malachi (the last book in the Old Testament) finishes and Matthew (first book in the New Testament) starts, there seems to be a void of undocumented history. 300 years of it to be precise.
That fact alone is not all that amazing but when I started to look at a few patterns that led to this ‘vacancy of information’, I learnt some interesting lessons on the character of God. I was helped along this journey very much by Philip Yancey in his book ‘Disappointment with God’.
Let’s look at the trend: God makes Adam and Eve. He is directly involved in their lives and personally kicks them out of the garden when they sin. Next up comes Cain. Even though humans are now away from direct contact with God, when Cain kills Abel, he deals with Cain personally and punishes him then and there. To me, God seems like an angry parent who sends their child to be in his room due to direct and severe misbehaviour. Anyway, with the Israelites he was involved. He dealt personally with Abraham and then later with Moses as he led his people to freedom.
Then what?
Then he stepped back and let man be his voice... No, I’m not talking about Jesus. Not yet anyway. Then came the prophets. God’s voice without God speaking it. It seems to me that during the time of the prophets, God’s heart was slowly breaking. There are many times that God sounds like a hurt and wounded lover who can’t decide whether or not to take back his dirty, slutty wife or to punish her forever by casting her away from him.
This carries on but it seems like God being close to humans is too much for him to bear, and so he backs away and backs away....
And then comes the vacuum. The dead space. God goes quiet. Maybe hurt once too many and unable to face the people he still so dearly loves. I dunno. But I do know that it was as if God disappeared. Centuries of silence.
Weird hey?
Sure, then came Jesus and he was to change things. A new testament. A new covenant. A new unspoiled blood that was to forever promise proximity to God.
Yet, I don’t know if that is the case totally. It seems that even since then God has moved in spurts. Or rather, He has retreated periodically throughout history even after the birth of Christ. I think the medieval times were one of these periods.
I just feel like I have stumbled upon an aspect of God that shows me that sometimes man can make Him unwillingly turn his back on man. Like a hurt lover.
I just want to learn how to be the man that shows God that this generation is not without hope. That there is no need to turn his back because he will take pleasure out of watching earth, or at least pieces of it.
Can my generation be outside the vacuum? Can I help to make it a period in history when God faces us front-on rather than a time when he turns his back to shed yet another tear for his fallen beloved?
---------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE NOTE: I have used poetic licence deluxe here. I have taken what many might see as a condecending approach to God that might offend. The truth is that the created will never understand the creator, and I was merely taking an angle that gave me a fresh (and I believe biblical) understanding of the nature of God.
That fact alone is not all that amazing but when I started to look at a few patterns that led to this ‘vacancy of information’, I learnt some interesting lessons on the character of God. I was helped along this journey very much by Philip Yancey in his book ‘Disappointment with God’.
Let’s look at the trend: God makes Adam and Eve. He is directly involved in their lives and personally kicks them out of the garden when they sin. Next up comes Cain. Even though humans are now away from direct contact with God, when Cain kills Abel, he deals with Cain personally and punishes him then and there. To me, God seems like an angry parent who sends their child to be in his room due to direct and severe misbehaviour. Anyway, with the Israelites he was involved. He dealt personally with Abraham and then later with Moses as he led his people to freedom.
Then what?
Then he stepped back and let man be his voice... No, I’m not talking about Jesus. Not yet anyway. Then came the prophets. God’s voice without God speaking it. It seems to me that during the time of the prophets, God’s heart was slowly breaking. There are many times that God sounds like a hurt and wounded lover who can’t decide whether or not to take back his dirty, slutty wife or to punish her forever by casting her away from him.
This carries on but it seems like God being close to humans is too much for him to bear, and so he backs away and backs away....
And then comes the vacuum. The dead space. God goes quiet. Maybe hurt once too many and unable to face the people he still so dearly loves. I dunno. But I do know that it was as if God disappeared. Centuries of silence.
Weird hey?
Sure, then came Jesus and he was to change things. A new testament. A new covenant. A new unspoiled blood that was to forever promise proximity to God.
Yet, I don’t know if that is the case totally. It seems that even since then God has moved in spurts. Or rather, He has retreated periodically throughout history even after the birth of Christ. I think the medieval times were one of these periods.
I just feel like I have stumbled upon an aspect of God that shows me that sometimes man can make Him unwillingly turn his back on man. Like a hurt lover.
I just want to learn how to be the man that shows God that this generation is not without hope. That there is no need to turn his back because he will take pleasure out of watching earth, or at least pieces of it.
Can my generation be outside the vacuum? Can I help to make it a period in history when God faces us front-on rather than a time when he turns his back to shed yet another tear for his fallen beloved?
---------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE NOTE: I have used poetic licence deluxe here. I have taken what many might see as a condecending approach to God that might offend. The truth is that the created will never understand the creator, and I was merely taking an angle that gave me a fresh (and I believe biblical) understanding of the nature of God.
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