Treasure - the Old Testament

The Old Testament -- Truly A Treasure

I was just doing a lesson in "The Quest," a Bible study by Beth Moore, when I ran across something she'd written about the Old Testament that goes right along with my feelings about the importance of studying this ancient book.  Here's what she wrote:  "Our heritage of faith treasured up in the Old Testament is a bank account of riches impossible to overdraw in a lifetime of study.  We have the privilege of living on the completed side of the redemptive work of Jesus, the Lamb of God, foreshadowed by every Old Testament sacrifice."

When I wrote the book Ancient Treasure, a couple years ago,  it was because of my deep love for God's Word in that grand old book, and my belief that its truths are still so relevant today.  Seeing what Beth wrote makes me feel good and reaffirms my reason for creating an easy-to-understand format to help folks learn the many wonderful stories and truths in the Old Testament.

Not long ago, I was excited to find out that my husband's cousin James had ordered a copy of Ancient Treasure shortly after it came out.  He said he'd learned a lot from the book and enjoyed reading it so much that he ordered a copy for each of his grown children.  He was then in the process of going back through the book a second time and concentrating on the questions at the end of each chapter.  I was thrilled!  This is the type of thing I dream of -- when someone is truly blessed by one of my books.  That's what it's all about -- seeing the Word of God become a part of a person's life.

Paul reminds us in the book of Hebrews that, "the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" 4:12.

Happy Valentine Day

HAPPY VALENTINE DAY

        The picture above was actually taken as our 50th Wedding Anniversary picture in February 2018.  But, that's close enough to Valentine Day to link the two Lovey-Dovey days together.  There's just something about the Heart that immediately brings to mind thoughts of Love.  It must be because the Heart is the primary organ in our body that we absolutely cannot live without.  We all need our hearts and we all need love in our lives.  That's the way God created us - physically, spiritually and emotionally.
         1 John 4:19 says, "We love because He first loved us."  It's that simple and that sweet.  Perhaps that's why we call each other "Sweet Heart" when we're in love.
          The photo above was taken in Curacao, an island in the Caribbean, and the wire artwork is called, "Punda Love Heart." It was created by Carlos Blaaker, just one year before we stood in front of it.

Most of you will recognize the sign above.  Love's service stations are conveniently located along many interstates and I for one am very thankful for them.  I won't go so far as to say I "love" them, but I really am quite fond of them and glad they're there when I need them.

This rather rusty-looking heart creation is located on busy Las Vegas Boulevard in its namesake city.  It's quite large and I like it.  I especially like the star peeking out near the top as I'm a big fan of stars.  No matter how rusty a heart may become, it is still a beautiful thing!

I'll end our Happy Valentine message with words from God's love letter to us.  1 Corinthians 13 is often referred to as the "Love" chapter in the Bible.  Here's what God instructed Paul to write:  "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal...and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing...Love never fails."

"Let all that you do be done in love" 1 Corinthians 16:14

Ancient Christian Gravestones

I like this picture I took from a second floor window in one of the buildings of the Roman National Museum in Italy.  I think it looks like a painting.  It's a view of the inner courtyard which contains many ancient statues and pieces of columns and buildings.

As we continued along the hallway on this floor, we came to a small exhibit of funerary steles, which were tombstones for graves in ancient times.  The stones I was particularly interested in were the ones dedicated to Christians.  It made me think of Paul and the other Christians in the early church described in the New Testament.  I thought, these were brothers and sisters in Christ and here I am reading their tombstones 1900 years after their deaths.  I was fascinated by them.  Here are a few of the gravestones and the description written out for each of them:

For Licinia Amias

    This is considered to be one of the most ancient Christian inscriptions in Rome, from the beginning of the 3rd century AD.  That would mean this man or woman may have died around the year 200 and may have been living in the early 100's -- not too many years after the apostle John would have died.  This would be a person who was truly part of the very early church.

      Here is the written description:  Funerary stele of Licinia Amias, characterized by the pagan consecration to the Gods Manes together with a rich Christian symbolism.  The expression, “fish of the living,” written in Greek, combined with the representation of the fish, refers to the name of Christ: the Greek word ICHTUS, fish, in fact, is the acrostic for “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.”  The anchor refers to the salvation of the soul, reachable through the Christian faith.

       Roma, near the Vatican Necropolis  /  beginning 3^rd century AD

Priscus

Priscus lived to be 36 years old and died on May 28.  The dedication is placed here by his brother.  The text is closed by the Christian formula in pace, an expression of the state of bliss of the deceased. Priscus himself is probably portrayed on the right of the slab and in the middle as a standing man in an attitude of prayer. On the two sides the dove with the olive branch and the Christogram are also depicted.  

   Unknown origin / late 4^th century AD

Victoria

Funerary inscription of Victoria, consecrated virgin -  virgo-Dei, who died at 28.  The Christian formula in pace precedes the date of the deposition.  A dove with a little branch is depicted on the left of the slab, as well as the Christogram, a combination of letters that forms an abbreviation for the name of Jesus Christ.

   Unknown provenance – second half of the 4^th century

Well, that's a bit of ancient history for us.  As I think about inscriptions on tombstones, without being too morbid, I wonder what sort of epitaph would we want on our tombstone?  Better yet, what sort of living "epitaph" might people write over our lives now?  

The three gravestones we've looked at are engraved with words that testify of lives lived for Christ Jesus.  Are our lives engraved with the testimony of Christ Jesus?  As the Apostle Paul once said, "To live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21.