Meat for the Hungry

While I was having lunch with my family in Pennsylvania recently, someone shared a cute email story about a father putting his son to bed. The son said, “Dad, I’m afraid of the dark; someone bad could come in and get me.” The dad tried repeatedly to reassure his son, but to no avail. When the son would not calm down the dad said, “Son, remember Jesus is always with you. He will protect you.” The son then retorted, “But Dad, bad men killed Jesus!” Yes, bad men did kill Jesus (of which we are one), but that was not the end of the story.

Did you ever wonder why death happens? We stand horrified when an athlete or celebrity in the prime of life, drops dead for no apparent reason. Feverishly, we wait for the cause of death. Why, what is our motive? Isn’t it to avoid their demise? TV Medical dramas are so popular because we all want to believe, if an unknown disease or trauma happens, someone can and will fix us. Did you realize death is the only thing completely beyond our control? Oh, we can cause death and we can seemingly delay it, but we cannot stop it. Even with all the health foods, exercise, and precautions, nothing stops physical death. But, why does death happen?

March is such a fickle month. One minute it’s warm with glorious sunshine and budding flowers and the next minute we’re back to snow. One day looks so great, but the next, it’s obvious winter just won’t let go. Spring-like weather in early March is just a tease and here in northeast Ohio, most of us know by now not to get too excited. We still have weeks to go before warm, sun-shiny days erase winter from our memory. Just as looking at one day’s weather may lead us to think something completely opposite, so too, can people or situations. What we may see as loving, generous or bountiful, could be in reality, something entirely different.

Last time we talked about how our Bible came to us. One of the most amazing things about our supernatural, God-breathed Bible is its deepness. The words and gospel message are simple enough for seekers to understand, but so profound they can keep the most intelligent scholar captivated. For example, why does God use certain numbers repeatedly? Some scholars have seen additional meaning in passages containing these numbers or the sum of words and/or items in them. One such passage is our focus today.

Did you know our Bible is God-breathed or exhaled out from God? (II Timothy 3:16-17) Yes, God Almighty is the Author. God’s Spirit moved forty-four or forty-five different individuals to pen His Word, over a period of about fifteen hundred years. Jerome, an ancient historian and bible translator, called the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments a Divine Library.

Clothed with armor, we take up our weapon, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God . In Ephesians 6:17b, Paul uses the Greek word “machaira” (pronounced:  makh’-ahee-rah) meaning, a knife. This sword is the kind used in hand-to-hand combat, not the long cumbersome swords wielded in battle. This knife, for close, one-on-one fighting, is the word of God or rhēma in the Greek. Rhēma (pronounced hray’-mah), carries the meaning of treasure or utterance. In other words, it is a personal word from God Almighty. But to fully understand, we need to take a step back. What do we know about the Word of God?