Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

I’m Jemima L. Yeggs, a.k.a. Stinker.  Pink Lady Apple Yeggs, my landlady and my auntie, wants to read about how younger people, especially couples respond to what the Bible says.  And she wants to know how God is at work at Lily the Pink.

B.B. and I were in our “green room.”

B.B. said, “I have no surprise for you today.”

I mused, “B.B., what has gotten into you today? You always have questions.”  Then I gasped.  I asked, “B.B., has your body been taken over by aliens from another planet?  That’s the only thing that I can think of that could explain this odd behavior.”

B.B. stood in front of me and stared into my eyes, “Yes, an alien has taken over my body, and I feel strangely attracted to you, earthling Jemima Yeggs.”  Then, she leaned in and kissed me on the lips.

I screamed, “Aaagh!”

A familiar voice from the center stall, “I need to get out of here.  This has gotten too weird!”

B.B. laughed, “Arabella, I am just joking, and I needed to give Stinker a break at least one Sunday each month.  I’ll give her a break next week since Joseph has his first sermon.”

I snickered, “Thanks for the heads up, but that kiss freaked me out.”

Arabella opened the door quickly and went to wash her hands.  “You kissed?  On the lips?”

B.B. said, “Arabella, what other body part can you use for kissing?  Please, I hope that’s the only one!”

Arabella groaned, “At times, I have thought you two were crazy, and I think you just confirmed it.”  With that, Belle was gone.

I said, “I wonder.  Belle talks about her anxiety before singing, but I think she likes listening in on our conversations.”

B.B. snickered, “And she calls us crazy!  She’s the one stalking us.”

She opened the door, and we went to the den, laughing.

Rev. Joseph led us in prayer.

Emmett had all the band members and singers.  They sang and played Song of Moses.

I asked, “Emmett, that was lovely, but is that really part of the Song of Moses?”

Emmett smiled, “Which Song of Moses?  The first Song of Moses is in Exodus 15 and sometimes it is called the Song of Moses and Miriam.  It’s after the Red Sea crossing and the destruction of Pharoah’s Army.  The composer repeats the line about God Almighty reigns, and we find those words at the end.  But then there is the Song of Deuteronomy in Deuteronomy 32.  But then, the Apostle John writes about a short song of Moses and the Lamb in Revelation 15. ‘and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”’ (Revelation 15:3-4).”

I sighed, “Wow!  Becoming the Music Director at the church has had a powerful effect on you.”

Emmett said, “No, I really liked this song, but then I knew about the first two songs, and I so hoped it would be like the one in Deuteronomy.  That is the least similar.  It is not any of them, but it could pass as an extra verse or two with any of them.  I just discovered the Revelation 15 connection when I did my research.  Who really cares, since it glorifies God.”

Joseph said, “I think the church has just learned that they have a great music director, but they won’t learn if the associate pastor can preach until next week.”

I smiled, “My Dad has faith in you, and we have all heard you preach at Vespers.  You will be fine.”

Samuel asked, “And where are we searching for Jesus today, Aunt Jemima?”

I nodded, “Wow, Samuel, you changed your question.  We are looking at the book of Deuteronomy.  We may see Theophanies more than clear Christophanies in Deuteronomy.  But we have a lot of cross references, and we cannot get to all of those in one class, but I think we can see a good sampling.  Arabella, you were disappointed that we did not do any math last week when we were discussing the book of Numbers.  I said that I might have to have you count all the letters in Deuteronomy.  Have you already done that?”

Arabella nodded eagerly, “And it is like I suspected.  I could not count them without taking a shoe off, but then, I got creative.  I got help from my hugga bear.”

Michael said, “You weren’t supposed to tell everybody that is what you call me.”

Arabella shrunk her head between her shoulders and said, “Sorry, hugga bear.  But hear goes.” She held up one finger for each letter as she said, “D-E-U-T-E-R-O-N-O-M-“  And then, Michael held up one finger. “Y. Eleven letters!”

I said, “Michael, I apologize.  I gave Arabella the idea and she roped you into helping.  And, Hugga Bear, your secret is safe with this class.”

Then Sarah’s tablet spoke in Sarah’s voice, “But I heard her call him that outside the classroom!”

Arabella reddened, “I know where you live, Sarah!  We share a bedroom!”

Sarah whispered with her own voice, “Oops!”

Joseph (Deuteronomy 1:1-3) “These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan—that is, in the Arabah—opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. (It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.) In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them.”

Joseph said, ”And Stinker is true to her codename.  This sets the table for the entire book.  It shows us the need for a Savior.  All of us have done things that separate us from God, and God has redeemed us through Jesus Christ.  These verses say nothing about Jesus, but they point to Jesus as the answer.”

Arabella said, “Other than you doing a great job of pronouncing names that I have no idea how to pronounce, what does this have to say about needing Jesus?”

Joseph smiled, “Numbers records that it takes longer than 12 days to get there, but you are talking about a lot of people who have not done a lot of marching while carrying the tabernacle and such.  But Moses is comparing two numbers.  A person going for a hike could do it in twelve days, but then he points out that here they are on the west bank of the Jordan River, and it is forty years later.  The only ones left of the appropriate age of adulthood are Moses, Joshua, and Caleb.  Moses will die before they go across the river.  So, the people took about two or three months to get to Kadesh Barnea.  The spies did their thing for 40 days.  And then the people became fearful and distrusted God.  And then forty years later, they have a second chance.  And Deuteronomy means second law.  And what does the Law have in common with Jesus?  We cannot live up to the Law, but Jesus is the embodiment of the Law.  But now, Aunt Jemima, can we have a more clear connection?”

I nodded, “Okay, before we come to that Law you mentioned.”

Dr. Ellie (Deuteronomy 3:12) “Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.”

Dr. Ellie said, “This sounds like a Theophany more than a Christophany.  They saw a fire, and they only heard a voice.  But they were in the presence of God.”

I smiled, “And now, let’s look at the point of this.”

Michael Rowe Casey (Deuteronomy 3:33) “Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived?”

Michael said, “I had to talk to Mom and Dad about this one, but this is God stating that the Israelites, for better or worse, are God’s Chosen People.  They don’t know it at this point, but they are God’s Chosen People because Jesus is coming from the family line of Judah.  But then, for better or worse, God has a special place in His heart for Israel, just like He has a special place in His heart for all who believe.”

I smiled, “That was great, Michael.  And it was great that you asked your Mom and Dad.  Asking for help is not a bad thing and it opens lines of communication so you can talk about other stuff.”

Then, I quietly prayed, ‘Thank you, Lord, Michael Rowe was plucked from a raging river not quite two years ago, and he did not hesitate to call his adoptive parents Mom and Dad.  And I hear Michael loves his little sister.  Lord, you are so good!’

My best friend in the whole wide world not counting Jesus and my hubby, Mary, a.k.a. B.B. (Deuteronomy 4:35) “You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other.”

B.B. said, “I know there is a reason for that introduction, and it scares me.  But this says God is God.”

Dr. Ben (Mark 12:32) ““Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.”

Dr. Ben smiled, “This is when a teacher of the Law was sent to trick Jesus, and it backfired.  But both of these verses talk about how there is only one God and God is God.  But this is when Jesus talked about the Greatest Commandment, so it pertains to the Law.”

I shrugged and laughed.

Bart (Deuteronomy 5:16-20) ““Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”

Bart said, “Okay, these are just some of the Ten Commandments”

I smiled, “Now, let’s tie that to the Sermon on the Mount, quoting Jesus.”

Tamara (Matthew 5:21, 27, 43) “(21) “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. (27) “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery. (43) “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ”

I said, “Thanks for saying the verse number so we can follow along.”

Tamara said, “I said the verse number so I could keep it straight myself.  The first two follow the Commandments, but hating your enemy never was a commandment.”

I nodded, “But the Ninth Commandment is to not give a false testimony against a neighbor.  You could say that was like loving one’s neighbor, although it is more clearly stated in Leviticus.”

Menzie (Deuteronomy 18:15-19) “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.” The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.”

Menzie said, “I call upon my lawyer to help me on this one.”

Samuel said, “It is talking about raising up a prophet, and we should always listen to the prophets from God, but they often did not do that.  But here it talks about how we must obey this prophet, or we could die.  That points to this being a Messianic prophecy.  God will put the words into His mouth.  Sure, Jesus is God, so when we hear Jesus speak, we are hearing the words of God.  And we must listen, and we must obey.”

I asked, “Menzie, why did you pass off your answer?”

Menzie snickered, “Just throwing you a curveball.  Maybe Arabella is rubbing off on me.”

I just shook my head.  “Okay, we could look at a lot more quotations, but this was a good representation of the book.”

Grannie Fannie (Galatians 6:18) “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.”

Lauren ran up to Grannie Fannie and hugged her.  “Are you ready to drive us?”

Brooke picked up Stormie as usual.  She talked to Stormie all the way.  Stormie laughed.

Credits

I start with a study guide by Marilyn Hickey called Seeing Jesus.  But she does not discuss Christophanies.  And I also did a search for prophecies and got a slightly different list.

Here is Isaac Tarter singing Song of Moses.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.