I can already tell you that this post probably isn't what you think. I'm not going to call birth control evil. I'm not going to tell you that your purpose as a man, or especially a woman, is primarily to continue the species. I'm joking ladies, and I do see an importance in continuing humankind. And believe it or not, this isn't going to be an analogy of how you should be multiplying your finances with the blessing of God. This is something much more Biblically inspired than that.
I was reading Luke. I have been going through the book of Luke with some of the high school kids in my Campus Life group. A few weeks ago we were at the end of chapter 9, and this week we started chapter 10. I was coming home from a trip to Atlanta today, and I figured it was as good a time as any to prepare for the Campus Life meeting this evening. I began to read, "After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him two by two into every town..." I kind of stopped an pondered. I still had 23 1/2 verses to go, and I was already pondering after the first half of verse one.
I thought to a play that a woman who used to go to my church, Missy, wrote and directed for the children. The name of the play was "Two by Tow." I remember it well because I video taped it and made a DVD of it. The play was a story of Noah and the ark. Two by two. I know that Jesus is very aware of the Old Testament; in fact he probably has it memorized, if he's a good learned Rabbi. Throughout Jesus' teachings he constantly refers to OT scripture, whether directly or just by mimicking a thought or phrase to show connection. Maybe Jesus was connecting the sending of these 72 followers with Noah and the ark. I turned to Genesis 6 to refresh my mind on any nuances of the Noah story... maybe something I could pick out.
17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them."
22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
Genesis 7
1 The LORD then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven [a] of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.
- Genesis 6:17- 7:3
I was honestly shocked to find something I didn't remember at all. God calls Noah to bring in seven of every kind of clean animal and two of ever kind of unclean animal. 7 clean, 2 unclean. 7 2. 72! Some may think this is just a weird fluke, but Jews love playing with numbers. I think this is a very justified thing here. Jesus is somehow trying to put what God did with the flood
together with what God is doing now through Jesus' message. What could this message be?
I'm not going to claim to have this in its entirety, since I have been slightly dwelling on it for only about 10 hours now. But here are my thoughts.
Why did God have at least two of a kind come on the ark of every species? In Genesis 6 and 7 you see that the reason for bringing the animals was to keep these animals alive. They are coming to Noah to be kept alive for the duration of the flood. Did these animals choose Noah? No, God chose these animals. Because God chose the animals they went to Noah and were saved with a purpose. The purpose of their salvation was to multiply and restore.
Jesus finds himself with a similar adequate lack, that Noah had. Noah did not have an excess of animals on the ark, but he had enough. In verse 2 of Luke 10, Jesus expresses this, reiterating an idea from the previous chapter. Here, there are many people who are "willing" to follow Jesus and live as he teaches. But throughout these six verses Jesus continually rebukes people who seem willing to follow him. It's because they're saying one thing with their mouth, yet believing something else in their heart. There is a hesitation and they are not fully committed. That is a problem to Jesus. So although it seems like many are called, few are chosen.
But this is ok, because as you can see we have enough rabbits in the world. Species survived. How did they survive? How did they more than survive, but prosper? They multiplied. Jesus is reinventing the flood. God vowed he would never destroy the Earth with a flood again, but what was the initial purpose? This was an "attempt" at renewal. God essentially restarted and gives the same command he gave in the beginning of creation "be fruitful and increase in number." This is God working to make things right again. Despite God eliminating the unrighteous, it did not eliminate unrighteousness. Very shortly after the flood we see Noah behaving badly... I feel like that should be a commercial you see on late night TV, "Noahs Behaving Badly! *Uncensored*" It's funny cause Noah does end up naked and his sons see him, so he really was uncensored.
Unrighteousness is still around, this whole flood thing appears to be a "failed" attempt, notice that's in quotes. God vows that he will never destroy the whole earth or curse the ground again because of man's wickedness. It's kind of like God does it to show that's now how to do it. Sounds barbaric at the cost of so many lives, but very likely necessary for the time.
God still desires for man to follow Him, but also decides that cursing "the ground" because of the evil of man is not the way to go. If God is not giving up on this rescue mission of man's heart, how will he accomplish it? This is where we fast forward 4,000 years or so. Jesus has his 72. Jesus has his pairs, set with the duty to be fruitful and increase. This is a restoring of the Earth, just like God was working toward with Noah and his family. They failed, and in doing so, established something very important. It takes more than killing wicked people to bring about righteousness.
The new Way will not be that of purging people from the planet and physically rebirthing the population in hopes of better success; rather it is a movement to purge the evil out of them and restore humankind through a spiritual awakening (rebirth) one by one. These 72 sent out aren't "makin' babies," they're bringing about spiritual renewal and thus restoration. Man and the world were created good, the restoration is the process of bringing everything back to that good.
Jesus was the good restoration, so we could know what it looked like. Jesus is the white. When white balancing a camera, you need absolute white. The camera looks at the absolute white, and decides it is white. By knowing that white is really white, all colors come out truly represented. If you place the camera in front of a light blue, the camera can decide that is white. When that happens, all the other colors will be seriously flawed. Man has a tendency to white balance to an odd color, believing it is white. It screws up his whole perspective of everything, where the world doesn't make sense; when grass isn't green and the sky isn't blue. Jesus is that white that sets us straight. Through him we can see the world in it's truth and color.
By knowing that truth, we can then go out and make that truth known. We can act according to life in the truth, where actions fit nicely with faith in the Kingdom of God. By living this correct life we inspire truth among others. We preach it whether we're speaking or not. As the truth is lived out, people acknowledge it. We are chosen by God, just as the animals and humans were for Noah. We are chosen in Christ to be saved and then bring salvation through increase in those experiencing this Life.
At times this may seem like a simple truth. Many may take it more as a naive idea. But I would say it's a powerful truth that is simple once your white balance is set. Once you know how God's kingdom functions, you can forget how the world's kingdom functions and stop relying on it. The Truth is finally here, so many wanted it, how can we not take advantage of it. Become like a child and forget what you knew, forget what is "realistic" in the eyes of the world, forget how things "work" in the ways of the world; focus on the Way of Jesus.
21At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
22"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."
23Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. 24For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
- Luke 10:21-24
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