Bible Hunters

A long time ago, I planned that this Sunday I would preach on the textual reliability of the Bible. This has turned out to be quite good timing, as the heading of this blog indicates!

Some of you may have seen the UK BBC TV programmes called Bible Hunters, which have examined some of the work done by biblical scholars to recover earlier and more reliable manuscripts of the New Testament. Focus is given to Tischendorf, the Smith sisters and Charles Lang Freer.

I've only seen the first programme so far, though it is somewhat sensationalist in tone! The presenter, Jeff

Rose, is an archaeologist, and whilst I am sure he is an expert in his field, is quite clearly not an expert on New Testament texts or nineteenth century western Christianity.

There are a number of scholars interviewed in the programme. Professor Larry Hurtado is probably the most distinguished scholar that they interview, and he is certainly an expert on early Christian texts. His broadcast words, however, are few - perhaps twenty seconds over the hour long programme.

Much more time is given over to a certain scholar from Cambridge who was very excited that these discoveries were a bombshell to Victorian Christianity. As he is an expert in Classics, not the history of Christianity, or textual criticism, or any field vaguely related to the subject of the documentary, I am completely unpersuaded that he knew what he was talking about!

So it was a very excitable documentary, with lots of shots of Jeff  being Indiana Jones in Egypt. Rose on a Sinaiticus did not contain the so-called longer ending to Mark? Well, some of the medieval manuscripts had marks in the margin next to this passage, which suggest that even then people were aware that it was of doubtful origin.

motorbike, Rose on a boat, Rose on a camel, Rose buying a teapot (without appearing to haggle!) and Rose making various verbal slip ups.... The Bible written in Greek? Not the majority of it! The Old Testament written by Moses? I had to rewind that bit, I thought I'd misheard! And the shock horror discovery that Codex

Rose implies that the Resurrection hinges on the ending to Mark, but verse 6, in all the manuscripts, says, "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here."

The Resurrection does not depend on the longer ending to Mark, and nor do any major Christian doctrines, unless one wants to count snake handling and drinking poison as key Christian teaching...

The final difference that Rose gets very excited about is that the phrase "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing," is not in the Sinaiticus version of Luke 23.34. This would indeed by quite alarming if this was unique teaching, but we know that Jesus elsewhere urges his followers to forgive their enemies and to show love for them.

Good points - telling the story of the Smith sisters, a remarkable pair of women whose story is not often told.
Bad points - the slightly patronising tone towards the sisters learning languages, and the Bedouin's bread making skills. As well as all the slightly dodgy scholarship.

More on Sunday, and possibly next week too!

Revelation 22

Eternity

Beasley-Murray comments, "grace will have the last word." The story of the Bible begins with a wonderful description of paradise in Eden, but then the fall of humankind as they fail to honour God rightly. Many bibles give the title "Eden restored" to this section, and it is easy to see why.

The final chapter of Revelation, the final chapter of the Christian Bible, functions as an anticipation of what is to come. The whole of the vision gives us an insight into the spiritual realities of our present circumstances, and especially offers hope to those who are suffering.

A sample of the future

Just like those supermarket stalls that offer you a tiny piece of cheese to encourage you to buy the whole block, this chapter reminds us that we have now, even at its very best, is only a foretaste of what is to come.

We have the tree and the river that are provided for our healing, and the healing of the nations. The tree of life featured in the garden of Eden, alongside the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Part of the curse that fell upon Adam and Eve and hence all humanity was the banishment from the Garden, and being no longer able to eat from the tree of life. That access is restored in the new heaven and the new earth, and will be for all the nations.

The curse is removed! The tree of life is now for all, and there will be no more toil, or pain, or sickness or dying. We will live in the light of heaven and have face to face access to the Lord God.

Our worship will be pure

The radiant glory of heaven causes John to want to worship, and he begins to direct his worship towards the angel who has showed him such beauty. The angel immediately refuses his worship and directs him to worship God.

There is a long standing feature of Jewish literature that includes an 'angelic refusal tradition', where angels

refuse worship and direct it rightly to God, as we see here. This actually highlights something else for us. Some critics will say that Jesus Christ is not honoured as divine in the New Testament, and that this is a later development. However in Revelation, worship is directed to Christ and he does not refuse it. This passage reminds us that worship is properly directed to the Creator, not to created beings. Since Christ is shown receiving worship we know that he is qualified for this, that he too is the Creator of the universe.

It also reminds us that sometimes when we see a lovely building or painting or sunset, we are impressed. We say, "Wow!" We don't always immediately thank God for his goodness, however! In the new creation our worship will be more properly focused on the Source of all.

The joy of the good news

As we draw to the end of the passage we are reminded of the importance of the good news. We are reminded that there is a division between those whose names are in the book of life, and those who are outside. Some may look at the list in verse 15 and think that there are not included: "those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood". However, it must be remembered that if we put anything in the place that is rightfully occupied by God, however good that is, we are practising idolatry. If family comes first in our lives, or a charitable cause, or our partner, or our heath and fitness, and we don't place a priority on the worship of God, and pleasing him, then we are idolaters.

This may sound tough, but there is a simple invitation at the end to "come". To all those who are thirsty. To all those who want to drink from the river of life, the call is to come. Come to Jesus, who is the Bright Morning Star, and in him find mercy, forgiveness and true meaning and fulfilment in life. This is a free gift, which is not earned by our good works, but by simply and humbly coming to Jesus with empty hands.

This is grace. In coming to Christ, we can receive what we have not earned. We receive the right to feed from the tree of life, and to enter into the gates of this wonderful city.

Grace will have the final word? Indeed it shall.

Revelation 21

What does Revelation 21 say about heaven?

Continuity of the Old

We can see that there was a continuity between the old and the new. Acorns turn into oak trees, not into cats! In the same way there is a continuity between the old creation and the new creation. John demonstrates this as he recognises the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city, although as we shall see in a moment, it looks rather different to the city that John knew!

The New Jerusalem is where God's dwelling will be with people. The word used for dwelling links back to the word used for tabernacle in the Old Testament, and is also the same used in John's gospel, when we read that the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

It is also a place that is very physical. We shouldn't imagine that it will be all floating about on clouds, plucking harps and singing hymns. This is very earthy - a new heaven and a new earth.

What the new city is like

We see that the source of the city is God himself - he has created it. It has a high wall around it which reminds us of the security and protection that it offers to God's people. It is marked with the names of the Twelve tribes of Israel, and the Twelve apostles, showing that this is the home for all the people of God, whether ethnically Israel or not, who trust in Jesus by faith.

We notice that the dimensions of the city are another clue in numbers. Twelve thousand stadia can be broken down into 12, the number of the people of God, multiplied by 1,000, which is the cube of 10. The number ten usually signifies completeness in John, so the number 1,000 is that completeness intensified. John intends us to realise that the city is large enough to hold the complete totality of God's people in every age.

The description of the city as a cube is also highly significant. It is a perfect cube, and there are only three references in the Bible to perfect cubes. The final one is here in Revelation 21. The first reference is in Exodus, with the description of the dimensions of the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle. The second reference is in 1 Kings 6, with the description of the Most Holy Place in the Temple. The Most Holy Place could traditionally only be entered by the High Priest on one day each year, the Day of Atonement. But now the dwelling place of God is with the people!

Similarly, the Jews regarded holiness in a similar way to which we would regard radioactive material. It was highly dangerous, so only trained people (the priests) could handle it, and they needed special protective clothing to do so. What is interesting about the jewels mentioned in verses 19-20 (some of which we have to guess at their contemporary equivalents!) is that they are exactly the same jewels that decorated the robes of the High Priest described in Exodus 28. The Most Holy Place, where God himself dwells, is now open to all his people, who will live with him day by day.

What's Missing?

Finally John tells us what isn't in the city. There's no temple, which makes perfect sense in the light of the above connections. There's no sun, moon  or lamps - why would anyone need reflected or artificial light, when the glory of God is there?

There's no night, no darkness at all. There is no need for the city gates to be shut at nightfall, and God's people need no more protection from evil. And there will be nothing impure. Impurity cannot co-exist with the pure presence of God, so it will all be blown away.

Who's it for?

As we saw in Revelation 20, this city is prepared for all those whose names are in the Lamb's book of life. Those who don't trust in their deeds to get them to this wonderful place, but those who have trusted in the deeds of the Lamb of God, Jesus himself, who was slain for the rescue of all those who will accept this free, unearned, gift of amazing life.