Today there is a renewed interest in the Biblical book of Revelation-which naturally brings to mind the word "apocalypse." Because Revelation is best known for its wild symbolic imagery, some people will naturally assume this title to imply the same approach. This isn’t the case; the word can also mean simply prophetic, and that certainly describes the Bible. We are daily presented with the bad news of the world. In contrast, the Bible is the Good News-the rain that cleanses our soul, the amazing grace assuring us that God is still in control regardless of the situation. Through studying his Word we are programming our conscience for right or wrong in thought and action. That is the reason we need not only to read but to study the Bible daily. The Good News of the Apocalypse offers assistance with that study with a brief, comprehensible discussion of every book in the bible, arising from Sedinger’s experience with a study group for teenagers. Everything in life is under God’s control, and so Pastor Sedinger refers to life as God’s Dance. The Good News is that Jesus came to teach us how to dance with God.

The Good News of the Apocalypse

Dancing Your Way through the BibleBy Ione L. Sedinger

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2010 Rev. Ione L. Sedinger
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-5473-1

Contents

DEDICATION.........................................................viiACKNOWLEDGMENTS....................................................xiPREFACE............................................................xiiiINTRODUCTION.......................................................11. STRIKE UP THE BAND..............................................72. GENESIS: IN THE BEGINNING.......................................103. GENESIS: THE FLOOD..............................................174. EXODUS: REDEMPTION..............................................325. EXODUS: WILDERNESS MURMURINGS...................................426. PERSONAL HOLY GROUNDS...........................................497. FINDING CHRIST IN EXODUS........................................548. LEVITICUS.......................................................609. NUMBERS: DESERT RUMBA...........................................6610. FORBIDDEN WOMAN................................................7411. DEUTERONOMY: SECOND LAW........................................8112. MY GENESIS.....................................................8713. JOSHUA: FOLLOW THE LEADER......................................9614. MORE HOLY GROUND...............................................10315. CONTINUE TO CONQUER............................................10816. JUDGES: PERIOD OF ANARCHY......................................11217. RUTH: BEHIND THE SCENES........................................11818. I SAMUEL: ICHABOD..............................................12419. MEMORIES.......................................................12920. THE UNTOUCHABLE................................................13721. FAMILIAR SPIRITS...............................................14622. I SAMUEL CONTINUED: CROSS ROADS................................15023. II SAMUEL: REAPING THE WILD WINDS..............................15324. II SAMUEL DAVID'S LATER LIFE...................................16225. THE DAVIDIC COVENANT...........................................16526. BEGINNING THE DECLINE..........................................16927. ELIJAH.........................................................17828. II KINGS: TESTING THEIR SPIRITUAL STANDING.....................18529. I CHRONICLES...................................................19530. II CHRONICLES..................................................19831. ESTHER STAR....................................................20332. EZRA- NEHEMIAH.................................................21033. JOB............................................................21534. PSALMS: FROM PIT TO PEAK.......................................22435. PROVERBS: WISDOM...............................................23336. ECCLESIASTES ALL IS VANITY:....................................23837. SONG OF SONGS..................................................24038. INTRODUCING THE PROPHETS.......................................24739. ISAIAH: THE MESSIANIC PROPHET..................................25040. JEREMIAH: THE WEEPING PROPHET..................................26941. LAMENTATIONS: MOURNINGS........................................27842. EZEKIEL: UNEARTHLY.............................................28043. DANIEL: AND COMPANIONS.........................................28744. HOSEA: THE STARTLING PROPHET...................................29445. JOEL: THE BOMBSHELL............................................30146. AMOS: JUDGEMENTS...............................................30447. OBADIAH: SHORTER THAN SHORT....................................31048. JONAH A WHALE OF A STORY.......................................31349. NAHUM: THE CONSOLER............................................31650. HABAKKUK: THE EMBRACER.........................................31851. ZEPHANIAH: HIDDEN ONE..........................................32052. MICAH: LIKE THE LORD...........................................32453. HAGGI: THE TEACHING PROPHET....................................32954. ZECHARIAH: THE LORD REMEMBERS..................................33155. MALACHI: THE MESSENGER OF THE LORD.............................33856. A PREVIEW OF EXPLORING REVELATION..............................34357. BRIEF CHAPTER SUMMARIES........................................34558. BIBLIOGRAPHY...................................................35059. AFTERWORD: NEWS FLASH..........................................352

Chapter One

STRIKE UP THE BAND

Learn how to dance

If my church members read three chapters a day for six days and five chapters one day of their choosing they would read twenty three chapters a week. That way we read through the Bible easily in a year. Reading these same chapters, I would take the sermon from those chapters for the next Sunday. This re-enforced their reading and added to their understanding. Our purpose in each case was to discover, through the scriptures, what God would say to us. Naturally, not all the members, would participate; and always there were some who were so irregular in attendance they never knew what we were doing. (They stood in the shadows)

An amazing thing happened in regards to where we were in the Bible at certain times of the year. All church goers know the church calendar has two significant seasons, Advent and Lent. Advent celebrates the coming of Christ at the Incarnation. It begins four Sundays before Christmas and is observed by some Christians as a period of prayer and looking forward to His second coming. Lent is the 40 weekdays from Ash Wednesday to Easter observed by the Roman Catholic, Eastern, and some Protestant churches as a period of penitence and fasting. This includes Palm Sunday, the day our Lord entered Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover of the Jews, Maundy Thursday, the night he was betrayed, Good Friday, the day of His crucifixion and naturally, Easter Sunday the day we commemorate the resurrection of our Lord from the tomb.

The amazing thing which happened in each of these churches was that regardless of what month or Sunday, we decided to begin our Through the Bible Study we were always at a place in the scriptures where we could tie in the season at Christmas and again at Easter. Some declared that a miracle.

The first student in my Bible study group was Jim, a very inquisitive, teenager. Each Sunday, Jim would keep me standing at the entry of the church, asking one question after the other about the sermon. Eventually, rather than be delayed to such a late lunch, I started meeting with Jim on Sunday afternoons to discuss that morning's scripture and any verses that interested him which I had not covered in the sermon.

In a few weeks Jim had a whole group of his teen friends meeting for these sessions. (In the Introduction to this book I have introduced these students one by one) Some of these young people were friends from other churches who had not been in our morning services. So we decided to start over in the book of Genesis. This would allow those other students to catch up what they had missed. Before I left that church, Jim and his friends had been given their own private journey through the Bible. The readers of this book will take their same journey; because I owe most of the material for this book to those sessions. I learned more from the discussions we had in that group than I could ever have imagined. I'm sure I learned more than I taught. I know they taught me far more than I will remember to include in this book. A teacher always learns more than his/her students. There is never enough time to share all we have learned if we are diligent in our own research.

Before we started again in Genesis, I wanted them (and now my readers) to understand the first chapter of John's Gospel because it had such a bearing on the first chapter of Genesis. We all opened our Bibles to John chapter 1. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

Jim read that whole chapter aloud as we followed in our Bibles. Then we read it again using the Greek word, logos, instead of Word. In the Greek that word, logos, meant, thought, mind or even wisdom. So, we read parts of that chapter a third time; having some of the students use the word thought, some use mind and some use the word wisdom. The students began to say, "Ah Ha! So John is saying that before Jesus was born into this world, he had begun as a thought in the mind of God. In the beginning was a thought in the mind of God. The thought was with God, and the thought was God." The thought became flesh and dwelt among us."

As God thought of a Son, he spoke the word as a seed in the womb of Mary. We turned then to Hebrews 11:3. Through faith we understand the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the visible came forth from the invisible" (NEB). Jim caught onto what this was leading to very quickly, and he began telling the others, "In the beginning of Genesis all things had first to be thoughts which God then spoke into being." Many people believe that Jesus was already with God when he created the world. My point in getting the students to understand this from the beginning of their study was to show them how easy it is to believe that God could have Jesus in his thought and speak that thought into a living being even before the world was created. Then it would have been just as easy for him to speak his Word and Jesus could become a seed in the womb of Mary just as easy as he could speak his thoughts and have all the things come into existence which we find listed in Genesis.

One other point I wanted them to get strongly planted in their minds to remember throughout our study of the Old Testament (and now I want my readers to remember) was that almost every book in the Old Testament has some symbolic reference to the Lord Jesus Christ; the Son who was to come in this world in God's timing. Some commentators have reported finding as many as 550 references to the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. So Jesus becoming a human was already a thought in the mind of God. The New Testament fulfills the Old Testament and therefore cannot be isolated from it. The entire Bible is actually His-Story. (History)

They discussed that which we had studied much longer before we decided to adjourn until next week. Most of the students grasped all of this information with such enthusiasm; it made me feel as if I was walking on cloud nine after the first session. I pray that my readers are getting as excited as the students did.

GENESIS: IN THE BEGINNING

The next week we began our study, of Genesis. They were still very excited about what they had learned from the previous week and very anxious to get started with their discussions. Jim had remembered what he had learned from mine and his previous sessions so he wanted to start telling them some of the things he remembered. He taught them much that day. This is what Jim taught.

The title, Genesis means beginnings. Just as God revealed the endings to John in his vision on the Isle of Patmos, isn't it possible that he also revealed the beginnings to someone who recorded Genesis without ever mentioning their own name. Like Revelation, the Apocalypse, Genesis, the first book, is also a revelation. Every person and everything in this world had a beginning. I am no exception, you are no exception. That great evangelist E. Stanley Jones once expressed it so perfectly, he said, "In Jesus, the Word became flesh, that the Word will become flesh in you."

There are more origins mentioned in the first book of the Bible than we could begin to describe in our study sessions. Just the origin of mankind alone, provides more questions and provokes more controversy and more wild theories and disagreements than any other Biblical subject. Even within the evolutionist thinkers, as the late Dr. J. Vernon McGee used to say, "they can't agree on whether to look up for their ancestors in the monkey family swinging in the coconut trees, or down on the beach amongst the seaweed and the tadpoles." They have no scriptures handed down through the generations to inform them.

Do any of you remember what God told Job about such arguments? He said, "Job, you try to talk about creation, and yet, you don't even know where you were when I created." The question that should be concerning evolutionists, atheist, or any of us is not how or even when God created us but why. Then Jim went into details telling them about a conversation we had back when just the two of us had studied this first chapter of Genesis.

In our first session, Jim had asked me if I thought the Lord would ever tell us why he created us. He had been surprised when I answered, "yes, he has told us the answer to that question already." Unbelief registered on Jim's face as he replied, "I asked two pastors, before you, that question and they said that was something we could not know." I did not continue that conversation; but my thoughts were that Jim would have been surprised to know that many pastors have never read through the Bible, much less studied through it. Even Seminary graduates are only required to take survey courses in the Bible. Since I had agreed that Jim could ask any question he wanted to know, and we would look for the answers together, I had to begin with showing him some Biblical answers to this one. Jim followed me in his Bible as we looked up the answer.

God said He created the sun, moon and stars to give light for the earth. He even went so far as to give several reasons why the earth needed these different lights. In verse 14 we find the first reason was to divide the day from the night; it was for signs and seasons, for days and for years. (Gen.1:14-17 & Psalm 104:19). That makes sense, doesn't it Jim? If there were no sun for day and no moon for night, we wouldn't have a division of time. It would be just one continuous day or one continuous night. Very boring to say the least! Without the division of day and night, there would also be no way to measure time into weeks, years, or seasons. God said these things were created to benefit the earth.

Then Jim had asked, "O K, given the fact that God created all things to benefit the earth, why did he create the earth?" Together we turned to Isaiah 45:18. God said he created the earth for it to be inhabited. Jim came back with this question, "We now know he created lights to benefit the earth and he created the earth as a place for habitation, but there wasn't a man yet to inhabit it; so, where does that leave us?" No, Jim you are right there wasn't; but there was going to be. I had Jim turn to Isaiah 43:6, 7 God told Isaiah, "I created man for my glory." Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven, (Matt. 5:16) With one mind and one voice glorify God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom. 15:5, 6) Ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, soul and mind, which are God's. (I Cor.6:20) In Revelation, John was told that God is worthy to be praised for he has created us to bring pleasure to himself through fellowship." It seems clear that our purpose in life is to be in a personal relationship with God glorifying him in all that we think, say or do.

One of the students wanted to know; didn't we think that was an egotistical God. Greg and I answered at once, "No! Glorifying and worshiping God is for our own benefit. It brings us a joy and peace that we cannot describe; it is something that has to be experienced." Jim asked me if I would go into more detail on that question. I tried.

In order to be in fellowship with God we have to separate ourselves from worldly passions and systems that God says are sinful. Why? It is because God is holy and he says to us, "Be holy for I am holy." Besides being set apart from worldly sinful things, to me, holy means being filled with love, joy, peace, mercy, patience, giving, forgiving, meekness, truthfulness and many more of the desirable traits of goodness and righteousness which are part and partial of God's holiness. We looked up these scriptures God said, "Be holy for I am holy." (Lev.11:44, 45, 19:2 20:7, 26; 2 Cor. 7:11; I Peter 1:15, 16.) If God said for us to be holy that many times then surely it is possible for us to be holy! It does take desire, study, discipline and obedience to acquire it.

Dr. Charles Stanley had written in one of his monthly meditation booklets: "God's intention is for every person to be part of a loving relationship with him." I say, "If any person chooses not to develop that connection, he or she has missed the meaning and purpose of life." Make yourself available to the Lord, and He will be closer to you than a brother, loving you and showing you His will. (John 15:14-17)

In the short time I had known Jim, I had already discovered how interested he was in learning all he could so his next question did not surprise me. Jim had looked like he was deep in thought as he questioned me, "In the beginning there was great fellowship, for there was complete harmony between God and all of his creation. I wonder if God knew then that mankind would later cause him so much grief?" From his looks, I decided Jim was just thinking; he wasn't really expecting an answer to that statement, so we moved on.

We moved back to the thought of origins in Genesis. Right away Jim found another of the beginnings and wanted us to talk about Temptation Oh yes Jim! It seems very early, temptation entered the picture on earth. Until this time mankind had only been acquainted with good; for after each thing God created, he had declared it good. God did not want us to know evil. We know that as fact because God had forbidden man to partake of the fruit from the tree of Knowledge of evil. "You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (Gen. 2:17) Everything was peace, love, and joy until Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, committed high treason; met Satan, the god of evil, and obeyed him, thus, disobeying God, the Father of creation. No one can serve two masters, we love and serve one or we serve the other. (2:17)

When Adam and Eve obeyed Satan, they separated mankind from God's perfect fellowship. Now, when they knew the knowledge of evil, God had to forbid them to eat any more from the tree of Life. Why did he do that? That decision was made to prevent them from living forever in the miserable, painful condition into which they had trapped themselves.

We sing about God's Amazing Grace. Forbidding mankind to eat from the tree of life was actually God's ultimate, supreme act of amazing grace toward mankind. Even in this very beginning, when God had to pass judgment on mankind's sin, he still had enough mercy to add that little touch of grace; giving us a way out of the terrible dilemma where we were trapped.

Wouldn't it be awful if we had to live forever in these sometimes painful physical bodies, not to mention living forever in this old sinful world where we have to lock our doors and hide our possessions for fear of other people? Thank God for his grace whereby he saved us from living forever in these situations. Thank him that also that he has provided us another place where we will have new bodies and no more pain, sin or sadness. Usually we do not consider these things as being grace until our twilight years.

Jim reminded me, "God said the wages of sin is death (Gen.2:17) but Adam didn't die, he lived 800 years, how do you explain that?" My answer: "No Jim, you are right. Adam did not die physically, right then, but he was spiritually dead. That is the meaning of the Hebrew word used later, when God said Adam was "dead." It was also the meaning of the Greek word used in the parable of the Prodigal son when the father said, "bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; let us eat and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found" and they began to be merry. (Luke 15:24) Never again did Adam and Eve have their face to face, walking and talking, fellow-shipping with God as in the past. Now they stood naked (exposed, or their sin open) before God.

"What really was their sin?" Jim questioned. They were disobedient; I don't know if it was literally the eating a piece of forbidden fruit, or whether that was a symbolism; but it doesn't matter. Some say the fruit was poison. I think it was not. If it had been poison, Adam would have died physically. I think it was the most beautiful fruit in the garden, if it really was fruit; for Satan always tempts us with what is most desirable in the natural realm. What matters for us is that God had set a limit which the two of them stepped beyond.

Jim wanted to know if we were told why they did that. "Maybe it was jealous ambition," I suggested "like Satan who was thrown out of heaven because he wanted to exalt his throne above God's." (Is.14:12; Ez.28: 11-19; Rev. 12:9)

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The Good News of the Apocalypse by Ione L. Sedinger Copyright © 2010 by Rev. Ione L. Sedinger. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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