(The following are my notes from attending the session at IDMC by Rev Edmund Chan)
Seeing God
The whole purpose of the Scriptures is for us to know Him! Our view of the Bible must be theological. If we miss that we are only amassing knowledge so we can put a feather in our hats.
I don’t need to be more knowledgeable to be more significant. I need the knowledge to serve my loving Father’s redemptive purpose: to help his church break forth to their destinies.
The Old Testament is Radical Theologically
Many of us are so familiar with the Hebrews’ worldview that we find it hard to appreciate how radical it was in the people-contexts of the ancient Near East.
Four definitive ways of how the OT is so radical
He is One Universal Holy Personal God.
- not many gods
- not a tribal god
- not a capricious god who only tests people and demands sacrifices
- not an impersonal distant divine force
This is what the Scriptures reveal. Totally different from what natural man has conceived.
Four movements in knowing God’s Word
1. Huh? So passages do not remain puzzling. (Bible Study)
2. Hmm… The big picture, the meta-narrative (Getting a biblical-theological view as opposed to only a systematic-topical view of Scripture)
3. Ah-hah! Seeing the God-picture (what God sees (?))
4. Wow! … personal vision (the spiritual sight/knowledge.. the divine contemplation, experience of God, powerful sensation of the reality of the Personal God)
Example (book of Job):
What’s the whole book about?
What we expect – that lovers of God will get a life of a bed of roses (that senior pastors will have a spiritual umbrella so when it rains and everybody gets wet, they wont?)
What we experience – the same as all other peoples – the same sufferings, the same realities, the same pain as well as pleasures.
What we encounter – the Personal God – he comes to us, he feels with us, he knows our pain.
What we enjoy – the Intimacy we can have with that God.
So, anthropocentrically the main question was: why did good and faithful Job suffer so much?
Theocentrically, the number one question was actually asked by Satan: will a man still revere God if his life is full of suffering?
Job’s greatest blessing was not his wealth, but ultimately, his enjoyment of God Himself.
Another example – how do we read Genesis 22?
It’s ultimately not about our commitment to God, but about his commitment to us!
It’s hard to surrender to God – because we do not know him. It’s just hard to trust anyone you don’t really know. But when we do get to know him, we’ll trust him and love him!
Example 3: Isaiah 40
What does it mean “they that wait upon the Lord?”
Essentially it means “they that trust God”. The context is that it’s written to the people of God who are facing a crises and doubting God’s care and power! (v27)
Anthropocentrically it’s all about what you must do to get strength , viz. wait upon the Lord. Hence many of us work on practicing ‘waiting’ upon the Lord – so that we can get stronger and stronger.
But theologically the passage is telling us to “Behold Your God” – it’s really about seeing Who God is so that the people of Israel would repent of their terror of their enemies and failure to trust God.
Understand the Scriptures theologically
Genesis – God Almighty
Exodus – God The Deliverer
Leviticus – God The Holy One
Numbers – God The Faithful One
Deuteronomy – God The Covenant God
Sharing evangelistically from Ezekiel
I love the story Ps Edmund told of chancing upon a stranger who opened his Bible for the first time, to the book of Ezekiel (of all books he could have started with!). He asked him if he understood, and understandably he didn’t. Could the pastor share the Gospel from Ezekiel? Of course! Because that’s what every passage of the Bible is ultimately about – Jesus!
“We’ve got to come back to the Scriptures and as we study to understand them the purpose is to relish God” – Edmund Chan
