West Cocoa Chat

Many moons ago when Greg (http://gregengland.com/) was my preacher here in Florida, we use to give him a hard time about using material and quoting lines from books that some of us had read. Now, to Greg’s credit and no pun intended here, he was always good about giving credit to the author of his source or in other words, the “first” place that he had read such.

I remember a time when several of us were standing in line after a lecture at Pepperdine. Yes, this was before Greg was brought over to the “dark side” by Randy (http://www.randywray.com/) / lets attend lectures out by Jerry’s Tree/ Wray. J I digress, any way all of us had purchased a book that had been written by a particular speaker who was now autographing his book. This particular speaker was one Greg would regularly quote during a sermon.

For some reason we thought it would be nice if we had this guy autograph our books. I know, some of you are thinking, “Guys, get a life!” Remember, this was before blogging, any way, we were standing in line when one of “us,” I think it was a friend of ours named Lyle, suggested that when Greg had his book autographed he should have the author write in the phrase, “You heard it here first!”

Rob Bell alludes to something along these lines in his book, “The (yes, I’m a few years behind the reading times) Velvet Elvis.” In his book, Bell refers to the Hebrew concept of “First Mention.” In other words, to really draw out the meaning of a verse or section of Scripture in the Bible, go to where this verse or subject is mentioned for the first time and you’ll gain some insight into what you’ve just read. He cites a couple of examples of which I’ll illustrate one today:

1. John 3:16 - 16"For God so loved the world that he gave his (emphasis mine) one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

A familiar verse but where is this concept of someone giving up their “one and only son” first mentioned? Remember Abraham and Isaac? Look at Genesis 22:1 – 2

1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied.
2 Then God said, "Take your son, (emphasis mine) your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

You don’t have to be familiar with the concept of “first mention” or the Old Testament to understand the deep meaning trying to be conveyed in John 3:16. A son dying before the parents is unnatural (ah, not to mention being killed by the Father) and adds to the concept of being done as a willing sacrifice gives this verse even more of an edge. But to me, when I read John 3:16 through the eyes of Abraham and Isaac, a son promised to Abraham and Sarah by God the Father, and not delivered upon until their advanced years, and now God is asking Abraham to sacrifice him, it gives the reading of John 3:16 a depth that I didn’t have before.

Just thought I’d share that with you and I’ll do another one tomorrow. Remember, “You heard it here first” but feel free to quote me. J