View full show notes from this episode → Watch our Tree of Life video. Resources R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew Music Defender Instrumental by Tents Show produced by Dan Gummel. Powered and distributed by Simplecast....
King David sets up a new Eden in Jerusalem, but the people continue to set up false Edens in high places. How will God respond, and when will he raise up the seed who will usher in a new Eden? The book of Isaiah brings these themes together and points us to God’s answer. View full show notes and images from this episode → Resources Holiness (theme video) Music Defender Instrumental by Tents Euk's First Race by David Gummel All Night by Unwritten Stories For When It's Warmer by Sleepy Fish Show p...
The story of Moses repeats key themes from the stories of the garden, Noah, and Abraham. Moses and Israel both face tests before trees on high places, and Moses takes the act of sacrifice one step further. Listen in as Tim and Jon discuss Moses and the s’neh tree. View full show notes and images from this episode → Show Music Defender Instrumental by Tents Sundown by Aarbor x Aarigod Daylight by Jay Someday Coniferous by Kupla Show produced by Dan Gummel and Tim Mackie. Powered and distributed b...
Why are moments of testing on high places often accompanied by sacrifice in the Bible? Why does the Eden story seem ambiguous about the number of trees in the garden? Were humans mortal when they were placed in the garden? Tim and Jon respond to these questions and more in this question and response episode. View full show notes and images from this episode → Music Defender Instrumental by Tents Show produced by Dan Gummel. Powered and distributed by Simplecast....
Noah and Abraham both face important tests before a tree on a high place. Their obedience and sacrifice opens the door for mercy and blessing, and their stories point us to a future hope of one who will overcome the tree of knowing good and bad and restore humanity. Listen in as Tim and Jon discuss Noah, Abraham, and their moments of decision at trees on high places. View full show notes and images from this episode → Resources Why Did God Ask Abraham to Sacrifice Isaac? Blog by Andy Patton Musi...
View full show notes from this episode → Resources How to Read the Bible: The Books of Solomon Music Defender Instrumental by Tents Show produced by Dan Gummel. Powered and distributed by Simplecast.
View full show notes and images from this episode → Resources Bruce Waltke, An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach , 257 William Osborne, Trees and Kings: A Comparative Analysis of Tree Imagery in Israel’s Prophetic Tradition and the Ancient Near East. Terje Stordalen, Echoes of Eden Genesis 2-3 and Symbolism of the Eden Garden in Biblical Hebrew Literature. Charles Taylor, A Secular Age . Music Defender Instrumental by Tents Show produced by Dan Gummel. Power...
View full show notes → Resources Matthew Sleeth, Reforesting Faith George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By Music Greyflood: A Moment, A Memory, A Beginning. John Williams: The Force Kyle McElvoy & Stan Forebee: Bloom KV: Bloc Defender Instrumental by Tents Show produced by Dan Gummel. Powered and distributed by Simplecast....
Check out all we're up to in 2020 and beyond at www.thebibleproject.com . View our classroom beta at www.classroom.bible . And learn how you can join a growing family of supporters at www.thebibleproject.com/vision Happy New Year! Theme Music: Defender Instrumental by Tents Show Produced By: Dan Gummel Powered and distributed by Simplecast....
QUOTE "The design of the wilderness narratives in the Torah are trying to tell us that the arrival in the promised land is an image of the future seventh day rest that is beyond.” KEY TAKEAWAYS The book of Hebrews is written to Messianic Jews who are extremely familiar with the Old Testament. Hebrews 3 is built around a long quote from Psalm 95, which is a psalm reflecting on Israel’s failure to enter into the promised land of rest. Israel rebelled seven times against the Lord in the wilderness....
QUOTE "We're getting into the scandal that Jesus represented—which wasn’t offering an alternative religion; it was saying that he was bringing the whole storyline of the Scriptures to fulfillment." KEY TAKEAWAYS Jesus' claim to be "Lord of the Sabbath" was a key part of his understanding of his own identity. Jesus’ resurrection is literally and metaphorically the first dawning of a new week. He was literally raised on the first rays of a new week, and metaphorically, this represented Jesus and a...
Tim and Jon Responded to these questions: David from Arizona (2:25) My question is, does the frequent occurrence of the number seven and the seventh day in Genesis, Exodus, and the rest of the Bible have more to do with the authors creating design patterns within the narrative to make theological claims? Or is it actually how God himself worked in history? Maybe these are synonymous, but I would love to hear your response. Ashley from Arizona (13:30) I have a question for you regarding Jesus' wo...
QUOTE "What Jesus is claiming is that the ultimate jubilee that the prophets pointed to has begun. Here it is. I’m doing it. It’s a massive claim." KEY TAKEAWAYS The Sabbath was a big deal to Jesus. He and the Jewish religious leaders often disagreed over what observing the Sabbath should actually mean. Jesus announced his public ministry at a synagogue on the Sabbath by reading from Isaiah 61, which is a prophecy about a future time of jubilee. Jesus claimed that he was fulfilling all that the ...
QUOTE “Welcome to a fascinating industry in biblical scholarship. What we know is that every Jewish group that left a literary record, whether it’s the Qumran community, the Pharisees, the Zealots, and the early Christians—everyone is is talking about Daniel 9. And you can see why. It sets the clock." KEY TAKEAWAYS Daniel 9 and the passage commonly known as "The Seventy Sevens" is one of the most symbolically complex passages in the Bible and also has a wide range of scholarly interpretations su...
KEY TAKEAWAYS The land is entitled to a Sabbath rest as a part of the Torah commandments. If Israel disobeys the Torah and does not allow the land to rest, they will be punished by God, including being sent into exile. Romans 8 is similar to Leviticus 26. The land (creation) is waiting for its release from bondage, which will occur when humans attain their release from their bondage. QUOTE “What we call the natural world in the biblical story is an existence with humans living at odds with our r...
QUOTE “Since it occurred usually only once a lifetime, an impoverished Israelite would spend most of his life anticipating this event of restoration. So when we get to Jesus and the Jesus movement, it was a jubilee movement. Jesus started his mission by reading from Isaiah 61. He said it’s the favorable year of the Lord, the year of release.” KEY TAKEAWAYS The Year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25 is one of the most radical ideas in the Bible. Every 50 years, every Israelite was supposed to return to ...
7th Day Q+R 1 Sam from Ohio (1:55): “I've heard you use the phrase that the Hebrew authors are in conversation with their Canaanite neighbors. In the creation narratives, when the Hebrew authors use the word avodah —for slave labor or work—are they saying something significant to their Canaanite neighbors, who in some of their creation accounts claim that the gods created humans to be their slaves? Is the word avodah tied to a unique claim that the Hebrew authors are trying to make about the rel...
QUOTE “The Holy One, blessed be He, created seven ages, and of them all He chose the seventh age only, the six ages are for the going in and coming out (of God’s creatures) for war and peace. The seventh age is entirely Sabbath and rest in the life everlasting.” – Rabbi Eliezer KEY TAKEAWAYS The seven festivals or feasts in the Jewish sacred calendar are integral to understanding the theme of the seventh-day rest in the Bible. These feasts have symbolic meaning connecting back to the creation ac...
QUOTE "The Sabbath is to time what the tabernacle and temple are to space: a cathedral in time. On the seventh day, we experience in time what the temple and tabernacle represented in spaces, which is eternal life with God in a complete creation." KEY TAKEAWAYS The building of the tabernacle in Exodus 40 has deep connections with the theme of seventh-day rest and the creation account in Genesis. The tabernacle is presented as a mini cosmos, brought into being by the seven acts of divine speech b...
QUOTE "Another layer of Genesis is that the first, the middle, and last day are all designed to show God creating structures of time. In the timing of the middle fourth day, God appoints the sun, moon and stars to rule over day and night, and they are to mark the moadim, the sacred feasts, the annual sacred feasts. So the whole sacred calendar of Israel that you’ll meet in Exodus and Leviticus is already baked into the story at the beginning of Genesis. (This is) sacred time." KEY TAKEAWAYS The ...
QUOTE “So once [the fall] happened, we go to Genesis 3, and all of a sudden the ground that was the source of humanity’s life as a gift from God—‘cursed is the ground because of you.’ So all of a sudden, we’ve lost the seventh-day ideal and not attained it.” KEY TAKEAWAYS After the fall, there was a change in the fundamental nature of humanity’s work. Before the fall, it was enjoyable by default. After the fall, work becomes a task done for survival. God calls Abraham in Genesis 12 with a seven ...
QUOTE “Genesis 1 isn’t just telling you about what type of world you’re living in; it’s showing you, as a Israelite reader, that your life of worship rhythms are woven into the fabric of the universe.” KEY TAKEAWAYS The idea of resting and the number seven are intimately connected in the Bible. In Genesis 1, the word or number "seven" has two key symbolic meanings: seven represents a full and complete world, and getting to seven is a linear journey from one to seven. The rhythm of practicing sab...
SHOW DESCRIPTION The sabbath. Talking about it can be complicated and confusing, yet the biblical authors wrote about it a lot. So what’s it all about? The sabbath is more than an antiquated law. It’s about the design of time and the human quest for rest. The sabbath and seventh-day rest is one of the key themes that starts on page one of the Bible and weaves beautifully all the way through to the end. FAVORITE QUOTE “The seventh day is like a multifaceted gem. One of the main facets is the fabr...
The word witness is a key word in the bible, and the theme of “witnessing” is a key theme in the bible that can be used to understand the whole story of the bible. Key Takeaways The word witness is a key word in the bible, and the theme of “witnessing” is a key theme in the bible that can be used to understand the whole story of the bible. The greek word μάρτυς (mártus) is used in the New Testament as the word for “witness” it is also the root word for ”martyr:” The word witness is used in a var...
Key Takeaways: All the gospels are essentially saying the same thing. Jesus is the Jewish Messiah and his life, death, and resurrection fulfills the Hebrew Scriptures. All four gospels climax with a detailed recounting of Jesus' death and resurrection. While this may seem like an obvious point to modern readers, this is not necessarily true for ancient readers when the Scriptures were formed. Modern readers of the gospels should make an effort to familiarize themselves with how ancient Greco-Rom...
Key takeaways: The four gospels all tell a unique perspective of the same story. They all claim Jesus is the Jewish Messiah who fulfills the Hebrew Scriptures. Mark is widely considered to be the oldest Gospel. The genealogies at the start of Matthew have hidden design patterns in them that unify the Old and New Testaments. The story of Zacharias and Elizabeth at the start of Luke is meant to layer onto the story of Abraham and Sarah in the Old Testament. This is a key design pattern of Luke. Lu...
In part 1 (0-19:00), Tim and Jon give a brief historical overview of Israel at the time Jesus was born. Israel had been under hundreds of years of military occupation by different empires. At the time of Jesus, that empire is Rome. Tim notes that the entire Jewish people would have had a sense of expectation. The Hebrew Scriptures taught them that the glory of the Jewish kingdom would return and a messiah would rescue them. This mindset—though difficult for us to imagine—was that of an ancient J...
Welcome to a special episode that kicks off our series of How to Read the Gospels. In this episode, Tim sits down with Dr. N.T. Wright to discuss the historical meaning of the word “gospel.” In part 1 (0-21:20), Dr. Wright notes that word studies are great, but it’s important to understand how words derive their meaning and live in a narrative context. Alternaitve “gospels,” including the Gospel of Thomas, typically are a collection of good advice or wise sayings from Jesus about how to live a g...
Welcome to our Q+R for our series on Generosity. Tim and Jon respond on this episode to six questions. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions! Below are the questions with corresponding timestamps. Raphael from Austria (1:36): My question is, in this modern age with trending topics like overpopulation, climate change, and running out of resources in many parts of the Earth, how can we understand or apply the mindset of abundance and that God in a generous host? Thanks for everything you d...
In this episode, Tim and Jon discuss the story of Jesus and how it relates to the theme of generosity. In part 1 (0-16:40), Tim notes that God’s gifts to humans, and specifically his gift of the Promised Land to Israel, are unconditioned, but not unconditional. The gift of the land places an obligation upon Israel: the gift is unconditioned (unmerited), but not unconditional (non-reciprocal). It is not given to Israel based on an evaluation of their worthiness, but it is given with a clear expec...
