Before Jonah-What is the Bible?
Mike Romero is the President of Heritage Trust Company in Oklahoma City. Prior to this he served as Senior Vice President, Chief Development Officer with WatersEdge (formerly the Baptist Foundation of Oklahoma). Mike started his legal career in the Tax & Estate Planning practice group at McAfee & Taft. Mike and his family have been members at Council Road since 2008, where he enjoys teaching and participating in missions. He currently serves as a church trustee.
Have you ever wondered what the Bible is all about? What do we do with what Christians call the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible)? Can’t we just stick with the New Testament? You know, all that Jesus stuff?
There is an interesting verse in Luke 24:27 (New Testament) which occurs after Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus is walking with two unidentified disciples who are distraught with the death of Jesus and don’t recognize it is Jesus walking with them. Jesus strikes up a conversation to inquire why the guys are troubled. To their credit, they explained that they thought Jesus would be the one to redeem Israel (v. 21). They also heard the report from the women saying that Jesus’ body was missing from the tomb (v. 24) which was verified by others.
Remember these two guys are walking with Jesus and having this conversation with him. Their stress was so great, they didn’t even know it was Jesus. Are you surprised by this? Stress will do awful things to our minds and bodies. That said, it seems odd that they didn’t recognize the man they thought would be the Messiah. Anyway, in verse 27 we read that Jesus “beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”
What! How come Luke doesn’t record the actual Bible study Jesus gave to these disciples? Can you image? The idea of “beginning with Moses” is starting in the Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and then proceeding through the Hebrew Bible. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall or a drone with a mic hovering over this discussion.
One of the reasons the Bible study isn’t recorded, is we are meant to do the work of reading and studying the Hebrew Bible for ourselves, for a lifetime. The Hebrew Bible is Jesus’ Bible. He read it, we should read it. This brings me back to the original question, what is the Bible all about? Consider the following as a very simplified explanation. After creation and the building of an exquisite garden with rivers, it all goes wrong on page 3. Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden, paradise, literally heaven on Earth. The rest of the Hebrew Bible is a string of stories expounding on the way back into Eden. The Bible doesn’t hold back on the portrait of man and the evil we are capable of producing either. In many respects, it feels hopeless and there is no way to get back.
The portrait leaves us wondering if anyone will be able to cross the breach and get back into the garden. How do we get back to Heaven? Story after story builds a profile of the person who will bring salvation for the nations. Ultimately, we see that there will be prophetic figure who dies for the sins of others to complete the reconciliation of the nations back to God. In other words, it takes someone outside of us, to die in our place, to open the door back into the garden for anyone who accepts. Consider Isaiah 53.
This brings me to Jonah. How does Jonah fit within this portrait? Why do we have this collection of stories about a man called to tell an enemy nation about God. Jonah is a troubling book because of his actions. Is there something to learn here? I think so and will get into chapter 1 next time.
The Man Up podcast hopes to encourage men to connect with God and with other men. Our podcast will cover a range of topics that are relevant to our day and to the heart of man. It is the hosts’ desire to help men find and live out their divine purpose in life. We believe that all men and women are created in His Image and that our ultimate example is the Messiah. We hope you are encouraged to live a godly masculine life.
