Series: The Journey
Message: From Darkness to Hope
Text: Genesis 11:27-12:1
Date: September 11, 2011
Pastor: David McBeath
OFFERING
At this time I’d like to continue our time of corporate worship and celebration by taking an offering. The offering is simply an opportunity to celebrate and thank God for what he has given you, what he has allowed you to have, how he has and is taking care of you! It is a way for those of us who are Christ followers to acknowledge all I have is from God. Giving to God some of what God has allowed us to use is a spiritual discipline that helps us realize life is not about us—but about him. And let me tell you, having this attitude is the best way to live. Don’t believe me try it! You won’t be disappointed
Now, if you are visiting with us, please, please don’t feel like you have to give. You are our guests! Your presence with us is gift enough. Please don’t feel any pressure. We just ask that you place your name on the communication card in your bulletin so we have a record of your visit with us!
As the ushers provide you the opportunity to worship God in this way, I have a video I want you to watch. Today is the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The video contains radio transmission from the twin towers and names of everyone that lost their life on this date 10 years ago. Let’s take a moment to remember those that lost their lives in this awful tragedy.
PRAYER
INTRODUCTION
We’ve heard the radio transmissions, seen the names of those who lost their lives on 911, here are some of the horrific images. Look at them. Planes crashing into the towers! Explosions! Fire! Towers crashing down! Debris!! Ruble!
Does it hurt to see these images of this event? Do you remember where you were when this happened? Do you remember how you felt? I was at the office. We were dumbfounded! Couldn’t say a word! I remember going home and watching the news, seeing the video over and over again—it was like I had been kicked in the gut. I remember thinking this was an evil act! This was a Dark act! I remember there was this sense of Darkness.
I was a youth pastor at that time, and I remember students were saying that their friends were asking, “Where was God when this happened!” …I could tell this wasn’t just their friends question, it was their question as well! Deep down, it was my question also. Maybe it was your question too?
Where is God when evil rears its ugly head? Where is God in the Darkness of this world? How do we move from Darkness to hope? These are the questions we are going to answer from the Bible this morning. We are going to see how God gave hope to a man that lived in a time of incredible evil and darkness. We are going to look at the beginning of Abraham’s journey of faith, a journey from Darkness to hope.
TEXT
Please open your Bibles to Genesis 11:27-12:1. Will you stand in honor to God’s word as I read?
"This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. Now Sarai was barren; she had no children. Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran. [The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you." ]
ABRAM’S DARK WORLD
9/11 was a dark time. But not nearly as dark as the world Abram lived in. Let me give you a little biblical context. (Remember, when you study the Bible, always, and I mean always remember the context.) We should never divorce a passage of the Bible from the overall message or story God gave is telling humankind in the Bible!
Genesis is the story of beginnings. In Genesis 1 we learn that God takes an empty (or barren) dark nothingness and creates the world with his voice (or his word). In a portion of this world he created God makes a wonderfully beautiful Garden! Again, God does this with HIS WORD ( with HIS VOICE).
Then, God tells humanity to take care of this beautiful garden and fill the rest of the world. In other words we are to follow God’s Word (God’s Command) and make the whole earth a beautiful place like the beautiful Garden God made.
But what happens? We don’t do this! We sin. We don’t obey God’s word! We don’t follow his voice. Darkness enters the world thru our Sin. Quickly the world becomes a Dark Ugly place. Cain kills his brother. Sin and violence escalates thru Cain’s family line. Sin becomes so bad and the world becomes so Dark that Genesis 6:5-6 says:
"The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain."
The rest of chapter 6 is about God’s purging the world of this darkness with a flood. He takes Noah’s Family, the 1 good family that is left, and saves them from this Dark, Evil World. Noah and his family just have to do one thing: Listen to God’s life-giving, lifesaving voice or word and build an ark.
The world starts over—with Noah. But what happens? Noah sins! His sons sin! They don’t listen to God’s Voice—God’s Word. The world becomes a Dark, Evil Painful place again.
Finally, in Genesis chapter 10 we read about an extremely evil man named Nimrod who grows into an awful warrior. He builds evil kingdoms—and the bible tells us about one of his evil kingdoms—the kingdom of Babylon, the city of Babel, in chapter 11.
The people of Babel are so evil they don’t’ think they need God! They build a tower to heaven in the form of a temple. It probably looked like this! It is an ancient Ziggurat. The people from Babel build this tower to make a name for themselves instead of building God’s name. They want to be god’s themselves and ascend to the abode of the gods—heaven! Hence the stairs.
Who are their gods? This is an important piece of context. Their gods are the moon and the stars. Historians and scholars (both Christian and secular) say it is here, in Babylon, where moon worship and worship of other heavenly bodies begins.
Next, God says that the attempt of these people to be gods and reach heaven where their supposed moon gods live is a confused way of life. So the true God confuses their language and scatters them over the earth so their evil and darkness will not be concentrated.
This is the world Abraham lives in! He lives in a dark evil world! A world where everyone worships evil gods! The Darkness of Abram’s time is pervasive!
Now, I am going to say something controversial. At least it was several months ago when I mentioned it for the first time. It’s controversial because we don’t like to think about the evil and darkness that was part of the lives of our most revered Bible heroes. But it is biblical. It is true! And you see it when you look at and study the detail God put into this account. The details are here for a reason!
Abram grew up in a family that was devoted to the evil, dark practices of Moon worship. Don’t believe me? Look at Joshua 24:2.
"Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods."
Who were the other gods that Abram worshiped? They were the gods of the moon-cult. The evidence is overwhelming. Here are the details I God put into this story. Abram is from Ur. Why did God tell us that? Ur was the center of moon worship. Look at the ruins of an ancient temple in UR. It is a tower. It looks like the tower of Babel where moon worship got started.
Now look at this map. Joshua 24 tells us that Abram’s family started their journey beyond the River Euphrates in Ur. Where does Abram’s family settle before they get to Canaan? They settle in Haran. Again beyond the River! Why does God tell us this? Remember, Joshua 24—said that the family worship other gods beyond the river and Haran was another city devoted to the moon cult.
Want more details? Even the names of Abram’s relatives indicate the family is steeped in the dark practices of the moon cult. Tarah: His name come from a root that means moon and lunar month. Sarai: her name is the Hebrew version of the name of the moon god’s lover. Milcah: She is named after the moon god’s goddess daughter. And I could go on and on—but I won’t bore you any longer.
Remember, moon-worship started at Babel. It was dark, evil and pervasive. So pervasive God confused the languages and scattered the people to keep its evil at bay. Its practices included, astrology, demonic worship, worship of stars associated with different gods, idolatry, mysterious rites, human sacrifice, child sacrifice, and prolific prostitution.
Listen to this: All the woman of UR were to sacrifice their virginity to the daughter of the moon God at the temple in UR as prostitutes and they worked as temple prostitutes for at least a year. Remember, Milcah is name after this goddess these woman had to sacrifice their virginity to. UICK!! Frankly, the practices which went on were so horrible that it is not fitting for me to speak of them here. Even today most pagan and satanic rituals are connected with the moon! THIS IS THE DARK EVIL world in which Abram’s family lives. What kind of hope is there in a world like this? Back to our original question, “Where is God in Dark, Evil, Hopeless Times like this?”
But Darkness, Evil and Hopelessness aren’t limited to Abram’s world. We experience it today. In fact, most of us have experienced this to some degree or another. Here is a reader’s theatre version of dark times a few of our members have endured.
Virginia - 20 years ago if you would have told me…
Lisa - Several years ago I had to face a situation…
- I can remember…
Virginia - If I’d been listening to God (or my mother) I wouldn’t have married him.
- I thought that I was a Christian. I had attended church, Sunday School , sang in the choir, helped with VBS. I read my Bible.
Lisa - Here was the man that I thought I would love and live with for the rest of my life.
Virginia - "Happily ever after"
- I cried a million tears and then I cried a million more. I could never figure out what happened to this amazing man I fell in love with.
Virginia - But after all, I was the one who really knew him… He had a great job, he loved me and he was smart and fun to be with. Yes, he had a temper sometimes, but who doesn’t?
Lisa - It wasn’t long after our marriage that we were blessed by healthy children. I was thrilled and so was he. He was great with the kids. The sun rose and set on them he hugged and cuddled and played with them every day.
- My kids adored their dad and I never tried to change that but, as they got older, they helped convince me that I should no longer live life like I was a dog.
Virginia - I loved my family and thought I was trying to be a good wife and Mother.
Lisa - I am not sure when his treatment of our children started to deteriorate. Were they too messy? Too loud? Too slow? At first it seemed so random.
Lisa – Then an outburst here, a tantrum there.
- I can remember working 16 hours and when I got out of work, no one was there to pick me up. My driver was drunk and asleep.
Lisa - I worked nights and when I came home one morning he apparently had left earlier even before my children’s grandmother could came to stay with them.
- I don’t know when I really started to notice the dark moods. Were they always there?
Virginia - I never thought I would ever have to face my husband falling in love with another woman!
- I thought about divorce but I knew that it would only change our problems not solve them. If we were divorced, he would get visitation with my children.
- I could not imagine leaving them alone with him for any length of time. He was so nasty and mean. At least within the marriage, I could keep an eye on him and I could be a barrier between his abuse and the children.
Virginia - I remember my husband coming home at 3 in the morning, drunk and he had spent his entire paycheck at the bar in one evening. I had a newborn baby, no diapers, and no formula plus another older child.
Lisa - He took what meager savings we had.
- He spent lots of money. Money we did not have. I worked hard to make ends meet.
Lisa - He wouldn’t pay the bills.
- I remember praying I would win a raffle at work just to have enough money to turn my utilities back on as it was so cold outside and they were shut off for non-payment.
Virginia - I remember supporting my husband for 37 years.
Lisa - My husband mocked me often. He belittled my efforts, criticized my viewpoints and held me in low regard.
- I can't even explain how utterly confused and devastated I was.
Lisa - I always felt I had done something wrong to make him be this way.
- I couldn't eat, cried a lot, missed work as I could not focus nor function.
Virginia - His behavior became more violent and threatening. I filed for separation. He was furious and threatening.
Lisa - I was afraid to put him out. He promised to kill me if I tried.
Virginia - The day came when he threatened my life in front of the kids. They were horrified and silent. I prayed my continual prayer and my mouth said. “Leave our house”.
- He died and left me holding everything alone; so far in debt; so many miseries.
Virginia - In the end. He left us. Completely.
Lisa - I hardly said a word during the divorce trial I didn’t have to. His behavior was so explosive that there was extra security assigned to the court whenever he was there.
- Years later when I had to give them the news that their father had died, they grieved.
Lisa - He had lived the rest of his life alone in this world. It was a sad end. His children grieved without bitterness for what he had thrown away.
Virginia - After a few weeks my aunt told me that she was praying that I would be able to accept what the outcome might be. The Lord had better things in store for me. I was angry with her initially, but gradually understood.
- I was beginning to miss my relationship with God and so I went searching again for the faith of my youth.
Lisa - The day I retired I went right to the church for a Bible study class. It was the first light I had seen in so long
Virginia - The turning point was in attending AMOC one Sunday evening and listening to the message.
- You may ask, “Where was God in all of this?” He was there every day. He was there in all the laughs we had and the fun we made when we were trying to stay out of the house and not go home. Ironically it is those times we remember most from their childhood. Not the bad times.
Lisa - Thanks be to God He has set me free from this. He has paid me back ten-fold with his love…
Virginia - Over many years with much prayer, spending quiet times with my Lord and leaning on Him every day of my life I realize the Lord [had] something better for me and my children.
So, we have 3 women that have experienced a dark, barren, even evil period in their life. One woman had a husband that fell in love with another woman taking their meager life savings. He Left her and her children empty handed. Another had a husband who made her work like a dog while he drank away her paycheck and destroyed their family’s financial security. He wouldn’t pay the bills and she was basically a prisoner in her own house. Finally, another woman in our church had a husband who abused her emotionally and physically and even threatened to kill her.
These individuals lived Dark, Barren lives for a time. How about you? Have you ever had a Dark time? A time when your life felt barren and empty? Maybe it was nothing like this—but it was still dark to you! Where is God in the darkness? How do you begin to move [or journey] from this darkness and barrenness… to hope and life?
We do it the same way Abram does it. I’ve already shared how Abram’s story is a story of darkness. Let me show you (real quick) how it is a story of emptiness or barrenness.
Look at verse 30. It says: Now Sarai was barren; she had no children. So, not only does Abram live in a Dark, Evil, Empty World. His life is empty. He can’t have kids. There is no posterity or heritage to leave behind and in the Ancient Near East you are nothing without a son. His life will end with him in this Dark, Evil World.
In fact the whole Abraham story is about overcoming emptiness, barrenness or lifelessness. The whole narrative is built around this theme or conflict! Even the introduction to Abram’s story is built this way and it’s all related to the life story of creaion.
Take a look at this slide: Moses uses a literary device called Chiasm as he tells this story. The fact that Sarai is barren is the central thought of this introduction and this thought is not paralleled by another! See that?
So how does Abe begin his journey from Darkness and Barrenness to hope and life? The same way Moses explains that the world moves from Darkness and Emptiness to life at creation! Look at Genesis 12:1. It says: “The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.”
Did you get it? The Lord had said. The Lord had said! God’s Word is how we begin the journey from Darkness and Barrenness to life? God said go to a land I will show you. I bet the land God was showing him wasn’t Dark, Evil, Barren and Empty—like the land Abram lived in. God said go to a land I will (future tense) show you Future tense because the land of Canaan had Darkness and Evil but would gradually leave as Abram and his descendants followed God’s voice while they lived there. Abram listened to God’s Word. He followed God’s voice and left! He began his Journey of Faith.
This is how we begin our journey from darkness to hope as well! We have to listen to and obey God’s Word. We have to follow God’s voice—Like Abram did. Can you imagine how hard that had to be for him to do this in a world like his, where everybody worshiped the Moon god and goddesses? Abram has to follow an unknown God? A God his friends and family had never heard of. They had to have thought he was crazy.
Do you know what the moon god’s name was? Sin! Sin was his name! People in Abram’s day worshiped Sin! Today it seems everyone worships sin as well. Sin is everything that is against God’s word! It is just as hard for us to follow God’s voice as it was for Abram. When we follow the true God our non-Christian friends, associates and family think we are crazy as well!
Where do we find God in our dark world, in our dark moments? We find him in his Word. We find him when we listen to and follow his voice like Abram!
Notice some of the woman from our congregation recognized this. One of them said if I had only listened to God or my mother I wouldn’t have married him. In other words this darkness wouldn’t have been brought into her life! When we don’t listen to and follow God’s Word and God’s voice we bring darkness, barrenness, and evil into our lives and our world! She didn’t follow God fully and the result was darkness!
Look at Genesis 12:1 again. It says: The Lord had said to Abram: “Leave your country, your people, and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” Notice it says that the Lord HAD SAID. HAD SAID is a past perfect verb. It implies Abram didn’t fully follow God’s Word, God’s Directions for him! Let’s go back to the map. Abe leaves UR because God told him too. We know this from Genesis 15:7 where God tells Abram “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land…”
We learn in Genesis 12:1 that God says leave and don’t take your Dad’s household or family with you. Abram leaves, but he takes his Dad and his Dad’s family with him. He obeys God’s word—but not all the way! And because he doesn’t completely listen to and obey God’s word his journey from Darkness to Hope and Life gets put on hold! The family settles in Haran. The second largest city devoted to Moon Worship. Does Abe fall back into the evil practices of moon worship—Sin worship? We don’t know. But my guess is yes.
How many times do we fall back into sin worship and keep darkness and emptiness in our lives when we don’t fully follow God’s word, when we stop short of doing everything that God says... …It’s happened to me!! Has it happened to you?
But don’t let this discourage you. God didn’t give up on Abram and Abram didn’t fully give up on God. When Abram’s Dad Terah dies, Genesis 12:4 says that Abram finally leaves as the Lord had told him to do. When the bad influence leaves—Abrams starts to listen to and follow God’s word God’s voice again! Do you have any bad influences that you need to leave so you can continue your journey from Darkness to Hope and Life? Are there bad influences that are keeping you from continuing on your journey from Darkness to Hope and Life?
Finally I want end by going back to the beginning of my message. 911 was a dark time. It was especially dark for those who experienced it. The darkness was perpetrated by a fanatical wing of the Muslim tradition.
Look at this symbol of the Muslim faith: What do you notice? A crescent moon and star! Many scholars believe that Islamic faith has its roots in the worship of the moon god Sin in Ur, Babel, and Harran. I can’t say for sure that it does. There is a lot of evidence for this line of reasoning though. I don’t say this to rip on Islam or Muslims, because we all worship Sin in some way! We all need Hope in the Darkness of Sin.
Look at this video of 911. People were asking where is God in this darkness and sinful act. See where they found their hope!
They found their hope in the cross of Jesus Christ! This is where Abram found his hope as well! In Genesis 12 verses 1 to 3. God promises that if Abram will follow his directions (his word) and go to a country that he will show him, that he (God) will bless the whole world thru him. I believe the country God will show Abram—is a country, a world that is blessed thru Abram.
How is the whole world blessed by Abram’s act of obedience to God’s word? Jesus enters the world! Jesus is born thru the line, the heritage, the family of the once childless Abram. Abram gives birth to the family or nation of Israel and it is thru Israel that Jesus is born.
Get this! Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. John 1:14 says: The Word of God became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” ……He came to die on the cross and shed his blood for the darkness and sin of this world. He came to be the light of this world. He came to rid the world of its barrenness and give it new life thru his resurrection.
Where was God in the Darkness of 911? In the cross of Jesus, the Word of God made flesh? Where is God in the Darkness of sin? In the cross of Jesus, the word of God made flesh.
How do we journey from Darkness to hope, and light, and life? By placing our faith in Jesus the Word of God made flesh. By following Him! By following His Word! Trusting him and his Word with our life! When we do this we displace the darkness and give hope, and light, and life to our dark lives and our dark world! Good News! Good News! Have you experienced this Good News? I pray that you do!!!
And if you have experienced the Good News of Jesus, I want to encourage you to read God’s word! Know it! Obey it! We have devotional booklets called Our Daily Bread. Pick on up on your way out. Or take this insert in your bulletin. It has some questions to help you think about this passage we’ve talked about today. It also has some suggested readings that will relate to next week’s message. We rid our world and our lives of darkness and evil when we listen to the voice of Jesus as we read and study God’s word! Again Good News!! Let’s pray.
