Better than honey, better than gold

Sunday evening I decided it was time to harvest our honey. My dear wife said, “Ethan, it is 8 p.m. and a school night. Is this the best time to harvest our hives?” My answer, “Definitely. This is a great time. The boys can help!” Our three sons and I started harvesting. It didn’t take long and the boys were dipping their fingers in the honey and eating it. In fact, it was hard to stop them from eating the honey. I said, “The honey goes in the jars, not in your mouths!” Their actions reminded me that the Bible is described as better than honey. Psalm 19:10 says that the Scriptures are, “…sweeter than honey, and the drippings of the honeycomb.” The Bible is even better than honey!

Many different metaphors are used to describe the Bible. The Bible is a sword (Hebrews 4:12), milk (Hebrews 5:12-14), meat (1 Corinthians 3:1-2), a mirror (James 1:23-25), supernatural seed (1 Peter 1:23), water (Ephesians 5:26), gold (Psalm 10:10), a hammer (Jeremiah 23:29), a fire (Jeremiah 23:29) and light (Psalm 119:105). All of these things are crucial to life today. The Bible is absolutely indispensable to living life. We must understand the Bible.

Did you know that the Bible begins with an introduction? The first 11 chapters of the Bible serve as a prologue (a before word) or an introduction. The Bible begins with four great events. These four great events spell out the problem — the problem of sin.

The first great event is creation. God made Adam and Eve. God placed them in an almost perfect environment. Adam served as the representative head of the human race. Adam was the very best we had. He was our Michael Phelps, our Ronald Reagan, our Tom Brady, our Goliath. He even had a wonderful helpmate — Eve. God said, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat from it you will surely die” (Genesis 3:16-17).

The second great event is the fall. Unfortunately, Adam ate of the tree. He immediately died spiritually and was banished from God’s presence. The great problem of sin is introduced. Cherubs, the very highest of God’s creation, guarded the entrance to the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were not allowed to return. God is holy. He cannot tolerate sin.

The third great event is the flood. In Genesis 5 is a long genealogy. Generations came and generations went. The sin problem went from the individuals (Adam and Eve) to the family (Cain and Abel). Time passed. Man’s sin grew worse and worse. God told a man named Noah to build an ark. The ark was huge. It had the capacity to carry 43,000 tons. It could hold 130,000 sheep! It was equal to 550 railroad cars.

Noah built the ark for 120 years. He called people to repentance (2 Peter 3:5). He urged people to repent and enter the ark — the place of safety. No one responded except for his own family. The flood came. The world was destroyed. Noah left the ark but the old sin problem returned (Genesis 9:21). Noah got drunk. Sin once again spread from the individual (Noah) to his family (Ham). Genesis 10 is another genealogy. Generations came and generations went. The sin problem grew worse and worse.

The fourth great event is Babel. God told the people to be fruitful and multiply and fill the entire earth (Genesis 8:17). The people refused and said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name….” (Genesis 11:4). Their goal was to build a city and a tower. Human pride once again reared its ugly head. The sin problem grew worse and worse.

Genesis 1 to 11 is an introduction. It introduces the problem. Sin is our greatest problem. Sin is falling short of God’s standard. Our greatest need is to overcome our sin problem. In the very next chapter (Genesis 12), God stepped into history and found a man named Abraham. God said to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).

God began the work of building a nation — the nation of Israel. The Messiah, Jesus, would come through the nation of Israel. The Bible identifies our greatest problem — sin. The Bible reveals the only solution — Jesus. One person said, “The Bible is not a Book that man could write if he would. The Bible is not a Book that man would write if he could.”

The Bible is a mirror — it shows our need. The Bible is a light — it points to Jesus. The Bible is supernatural seed — it produces life. The Bible is milk — it causes us to grow. The Bible is water — it sustains life. The Bible is a hammer — it crushes those who disobey it. Read and obey the Bible!

Ethan Hansen is the pastor of Faith Bible Fellowship in Big Lake.