Category Archives: what if

Epiousios a Second Thought

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Bread in the Bible – Epiousios is my post on this great concept that first appeared in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew. My second thought about this word/concept comes as I have mused on its possible meanings and origins. I will count myself as one who sees if it is in the New Testament, it has as a foundation in our Old Testament. So, what was Jesus thinking about in the Sermon on the Mount, and saying in Hebrew or Aramaic, that Matthew wrote in Greek with a brand-new word? I hope this gives you something to think about.

There are two separate provisions for food that caught my attention. I will say that even these flow from Father God’s desire for our faith to be proved as we pray for the miracle.

Manna for the Sabbath

Israel had seen the power of their God in the plagues He used to set them free. They walked through the Red Sea and danced about because of the deliverance. Then they complained instead of seeking that awesome God about water and food. What if? Father may your will be done and forgive us our debts. Yes, I have come a long way and still have some to go.

Exodus 16:22 is the instructions to collect a double portion AND that it would stay good for the seventh day. Work for six and fellowship on the seventh, nobody went hungry and not a lot of cooking. Prep and planning were needed, but that was still on the workday.  

The Year of Jubilee – This event/term gets thrown around a lot, but I am not sure that the “resting” part is properly brought into the sermons. See Leviticus 25:8. Jubilee is a second year of rest FOR THE LAND and the Children of God. It only happens every 50th year and follows the Sabbath Year of rest, see Leviticus 25:1. Yes, the Father wanted His land to rest eight years out of every fifty. The exile to Babylon is tied to Israel’s failure to give the land its rest (See 2 Chronicles 36:21). Yes, there is more to that story. Yes, other things happened during Jubilee.

Work six and rest one, does that sound familiar? The Children had to have the faith that God would provide in the sixth year for the seventh, and in Jubilee that the sixth year would produce enough for two years and the following year until the crop had matured.

I want to believe that during Joshua’s lifetime that it was observed. We have to remember that in the travels of the Exodus they did not plant or store supplies. It is not recorded anywhere that Jubilee was observed. “What if” is the only thought that echoes in my mind.

One for a Gentile Widow and Elijah

1 Kings 17 has two narratives about miraculous provision. Elijah was fed by the ravens and the widow was able to feed Elijah and her family during a drought because of believing God’s word. These may not fit the pattern I gave, but they are still part of the lesson for faith and provision.

Give us today our epiousios bread.

Why I Am Not a Translator – Hallow

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This is a “not too serious” look at hallow from a very early morning internet search. It made me think what translators get to deal with. When you do an internet search for hallow the first thing you will probably see is Halloween. That went down some interesting trails. I will not have references, but please fact check me. Use more than one site as different sites focus on different things.

Please humor me and think deciphering American English in the year 3024 and no dictionary survived, just pieces of text from books.

Hallo can be used in the place of hello, especially in British English and stories where characters have an accent.

Hallow = holy

  • Hall is a passageway in a building.
  • Low is not high.
  • Hal can be used as a name.
  • Ow hurts me to go there.
  • What if the “h” is really silent. Allow = oly.

Halloween = a celebration of some kind where people were threatened if they did not supply a sweet treat made from a sacrificed pumpkin. Hiding one’s identity behind a mask was a standard practice. It may mean holy evening. 

  • Hallow – holy
  • Een – a seldom used set of letters for evening. Also written as e’en.
  • Hallo = hello
  • Ween – to transition an infant from milk to solid food. To move past a dependance on something or someone.

Halloween 1a. is associated with a very ancient religion (not Christianity) and the start of their new year. It was believed that the spirits of family members could be observed on this day.

  • In ancient Ireland the king had all fires extinguished, and he starts one on a special hill, then everyone would relight their fires for the year from his.
  • One explanation is this commemorates the death of the first king’s daughter as she gave birth to triplites from having been raped by the three sons of Simon, a sorcerer. (see the Bible, Acts 8:9)
  • A Christian Saint, Patrick, challenged that practice and lit his fire first on a different hill. His group of followers magically appeared as deer to a group of warriors sent to kill them.

The Garden and Grapes

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This study of The Garden and Grapes could have been The Fruit Eve and Adam Ate. Now before I lose some of you, it needs to be said that God, in His wisdom, did not tell us the type of fruit on the Tree of Knowledge. Declaring that grapes could be a possibility is a big “What If” and that is fine with me. 

Now, the next sticky point is that the Bible says tree and not vine. The actual word in Biblical Hebrew is etz. This word has two means – tree and wood. So, in Ezekiel 15:2,6 and Numbers 6:4 when it is translated into the phrase called a vine tree, it started me on this study. Most vines do not take a freestanding form of a tree. But I have seen some vines that are kept small actually act like a tree. You will not make a chair or tool handle out of that wood, but they can stand up and look like a tree (small tree). (We had a freestanding wisteria vine that was under six-foot-tall with a single main trunk and an umbrella-shaped top.)

 https://www.balashon.com/2007/01/etz-and-ilan.html is a website that does a good job with the word etz. 

I would usually argue that the tree Eve ate from was a fig tree. Fig trees in scripture can be a shadow for dead religious works, practices, and churches. That idea is simple to grab a hold of because Adam and Eve grabbed fig leaves and sewed them together to hide from God. Jesus during Holy Week symbolically put an end to “fig tree religion” when He cursed one because of no fruit. He then became “the true Vine” with Gentiles grafted into Him. THINKING OUT LOUD MOMENT – What if the Tree of Life was/is a “true” fig tree!

Grapes, grapevines, wine, winepresses, and raisins all are mentioned in the Bible. Just like the Tree in the Garden, these items can carry a “Good and Evil” label or function. Wine is good in some context and a troublemaker in others, just like the knowledge the tree gave Eve and Adam. It is this dual nature that makes me lean in the favor of grapes as “the fruit” in the Garden. Numbers 6:3 contains the requirements for a Nazirite while he is seeking God (John the Baptist was one for life Luke 1:15.) Why grapes? The plant is a symbol of the kingdom and grapes/raisins are good for the body. Wine can “gladden man’s heart” but too much wine can lead to debauchery. My simple thought is that God wanted them to focus on HIM for the time they were seeking God. Hearing God and not the many voices around you for a season is good. After that time, they then could enjoy “grapes” again.

A Sample of Grape Verses

There are many verses in the Bible about grapes, wine, and raisins. So, the ones I am about to use are just a sample that shows the good/evil nature.

Deuteronomy 32: 32+33 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter (KJV). These verses are talking about Jeshurun (the upright one), which is another name for Israel.

Hosea 9:10a (KJV) I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at her first time. Part B is the other story – but they went to Baal Peor and separated themselves unto that shame, and their abominations were according as they loved. The section that proceeds this is comparing Israel (northern kingdom) to Gibeah, the town in Benjamin that raped the Levite’s wife. King Saul was from Gibeah. 

Isaiah 5:4 (NIV) What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?

Luke 5:38+39 (NIV) is the story of new wine into new wineskins. New wine is the Spirit of God and His fresh anointing. Verse 39 – And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, The old is better. Sticking with the idea of good/evil and new/old, the old knowledge is “just better”.

Mark 12:1 is the parable about the kingdom and Jesus, as told using a vineyard and renters.

John 2:1 is the first of the seven major miracles in John (there are many more). Jesus is at a wedding, creating a “need” from the fruit of the vine in stone/earthen jars, and the very next story is a Passover. How much more symbolism does one story.

May I please try to pull my scattered thoughts in and end this study? Grapes, like knowledge, are not the problem. What you do with the grapes/knowledge defines them as good or evil. 

If the “tree” is a stumbling root, doing something useful with a vine tree’s wood will fall into that good/bad area. If you need a strong solid piece of wood, it is not coming from a vine. They are good for fuel for a fire, wreaths for your door, or tying bundles of sticks together. Swinging out of a tree is a good use, as well. Some days knowledge is like that wood. It will burn you up, make a pretty wall hanging, actually bring things/thoughts together, or have you flying around in the air going nowhere and just leave you hanging.

Final thought – Adam and Eve would have gotten “everything” they needed if they would have eaten from the Tree of Life.   

The Garden and the Thousand Year Reign

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The thousand-year reign of Revelation 20 and the Garden of Eden may sound like two strange concepts to put together, but this is today’s study. (SPOILER ALERT – this a study, only a study.)  The question that inspired this study was – Why was Satan to be bound and then released?  (Revelation 20:2,3, and 7 NIV).  So, I am not questioning what is going to happen in that thousand-year period but why a thousand years.

Since I have been musing on the Garden I have noticed many connections between Genesis and Revelation. Things from the Garden show up in both – the Tree of Life and the River.  So, the thousand-year reign also stirred my interest.  Was this another thing that had its foundation in the Creation story?

Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8 are used frequently to speak of an eternal God and His idea of time.  One thousand years equals a day in the sight of God is not a new in theology or eschatology.  For me they are a reminder of just how limited I am compared to God.  Pulling this thought into Revelation 20 does not seem right, so I will leave it alone.  But that still left me with – why bind Satan for thousand years and then release him for a short time? 

Having noticed so many similar things in Genesis and Revelation, I have to wonder if the first Adam (and Eve) had a thousand years in the Garden before the Tree of Knowledge.  One thousand years of just pure fellowship with the Eternal Father and spending time under His rule and reign.  Just man and God walking in the Garden.  It could possible follow a pattern that some have seen in the Creation story – chaos, peace/Creation, and chaos.  I will try to explain that last statement.  Genesis 1:2 has a formless earth that is empty and dark, followed with God casting His light over everything; then to have the deception in Genesis 3. In Revelation it may look like the Antichrist, the thousand years, Satan loose, the eternal Kingdom of God.

Was the Tree a test for Adam and Eve?  Job’s story could loosely fit into the scenario of peace, chaos, and then peace.  That would then lead to the question of – Did Satan have to get permission to trouble Eve?  That thought might have you look at Revelation 20 as a thousand-year reign, Satan loose and deceiving people again, and then his last judgment.  Which ushers in the Father/Jesus’ Kingdom.

Man’s freewill is the issue here.  Eve, then Adam, choose knowledge over fellowship.  Abraham had knowledge and choose faith over doubt.  Judah and Israel were split on what to choose, some choose God, some did not.  People today, especially the Church, are in that same Garden.  Do I really choose Jesus and His way, or do I choose knowledge and its way?  The Father’s Kingdom will only have people that truly chose to fellowship with Him.  Will it come down to Revelation 20:6 (the Garden) or 20:7 and chaos.  Your choice!

Pic is from http://clipart.christiansunite.com

What If

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This “What If” post started as a reflection on the Tree of Knowledge series and in particular The Tree They Could Eat post.  However, as Christmas 2020 and Epiphany 2021 has come and gone my “what if” post started to look and feel different – it does help if you wait on God.  So, please read on as I either ramble or expound (readers’ choice) on the topic of – What If. 

Tree of Life – The “what if” here will require some imagination. What if Adam and Eve had eaten from the Tree of Life first?  Would the great religious term “original sin” have been draped on our necks? Following this thought would there have been a need for religion at all?

Proverbs 3:18 connects the tree of life with wisdom.  What Adam and Eve got was knowledge, not wisdom and we have seen how that worked out.  Would the serpent be able to temp them at that point?  Adam had imparted what he knew to Eve, how the “don’t touch” phrase got added is open to debate. That add-in became the first religious, not righteous, statement ever made – humanity has been adding their thoughts to God’s words and not doing His will ever since.

Besides living forever could the Tree of Life impart wisdom?  We can see that at the end of all things the “overcomers” in Heaven will be able to eat from the Tree and be healed forever.  Would Adam and Eve be able to ignore the temptation of the serpent and stuff a fig in his mouth thus changing history?  Well, that did not happen so let’s go to God’s Plan B.

Christmas – I am going to ramble first so please bear with me.  Because Adam and Eve ate the fruit we get to sing about figgy pudding at Christmas time.  On the bright side, we don’t have designer fig-leaf and accessory lines to deal with.  The Christmas Carol and most modern rom-com Christmas movies are really “what if” stories.  (Spoiler alert- Amazon Prime actually listed one older version of the Christmas Carol as a horror movie.)  Time-changing ghosts or angels, bumps on the head, or unusual “portals” allow people to change their lives and fulfill a “what if” in their lives.  Lost loves, missed chances, or bad attitudes and behaviors are some of the “ifs” that will get changed.  Okay, now I will expound some.

Jesus and the Christmas story had to happen because the fruit looked good.  Eve had no context to know if it would taste good or give her any advance mental abilities (Gen.2:6).  Well, the knowledge part could have come from the name of the tree (God said that) and a crafty, lying snake.  The “good for food” part is still very much up for debate in my mind because not all good-looking fruit tastes nice.

Israel’s history up to the time of Jesus showed God’s mercy, compassion, and love for His people and His willingness to give second chances.  Before you distort the “God is love” fact, please remember the fall of Jerusalem, the exile of the Northern Kingdom, and the horror stories that caused “judges” to have to arise and set things up for a “what if” story.  God did allow judgments to fall on the People because they followed their concepts of “good and evil” and not those of the Father.  Jesus’ life starting with His first coming (Christmas) and going to His crucifixion and ascension is the fulfillment of the types and shadows of the Old Testament.  Jesus’ life, teachings, and ministry speak of the history and feast of Israel.  They should shift our thinking back to the Father’s Kingdom and what it would have been like if Adam and Eve had eaten from a different Tree.

I believe Psalm 8:5-8 gives us a glimpse of our true position here on earth and why Satan tempted Eve and Adam.  Mankind had a place of his own, a job, authority, and (verse 9) was to praise God.  Satan wanted all of it, especially the praise.

The Gospel – The story of Jesus had to happen because Adam and Eve choose the wrong “if”. The Good News is a “what if” story in action- what can happen if I believe and follow Jesus.  The main problem here is that you have to choose Jesus as your Lord. (Adam and Eve choose a different lord.) 

I so wanted to somehow make faith into a “what if”, it is not!  Hebrews 11:1 ended that thought – Faith is being sure of what we hope (NIV).  This could easily go to a “big wheel” argument (it just keeps going in circles).  Stepping out into something new may be a “what if”.  Missing the perfect way can allow God to do a “what if”, so things surrounding faith may be or turn into “what ifs”. 

Ramblings – In the secular movie Letters to Juliet the protagonist “What-if” shows up early in the movie- hidden and screaming in silence but trying to catch its voice.  You don’t really see its full influence until the end, starting with the marriage feast.  The antagonist “Win-win” really steers the early direction of the film starting with the trip to Italy.  Win-win is a perfect hero for one character but leaves one gasping and grasping.  As the film ends, you know that Win-win lost but What-if’s final status looks good but hidden in the haze of a beautiful setting sun.  (If you watch the movie know it has some questionable themes.)   

Win-win has snuck into churches and is in a constant battle with What-if.  For 2000 years Win-win has taken Kingdom terminology, thoughts, and actions and have misused them.  Win-wins have twisted all sorts of Kingdom ways into paths that do not have JESUS AS LORD.  I have asked people if they are Christian.  The answer was not yes or no but what denomination they belonged to.  Some people might say they are saved, but they cannot tell you from what.  While other pew-sitters are sure that the Epistles are the wives of the Apostles (lol).  

Final Thought – You will have what-ifs when you are following the Holy Spirit as He leads you to Jesus.  Some will and some won’t be what you expect.  Grace, however, is our game changer.  Jesus is in the forgiving and second-chance business.  Mercy is new every morning, but you have to take it.  I am sure that the Father has a Plan A and a Plan B for you and all will work your “what if’s” together for your good.