BibleProject - Jesus With Wild Beasts - Son of Man E7

Episode Date: February 25, 2019

In part one (0:00-19:00), the guys introduce Jesus and the Gospels into the conversation. Tim remarks that there is a whole field of scholarship dedicated to studying how Christ is portrayed as a new Adam or a new Son of Man. Tim focuses on Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. Mark 1:12-13: “Immediately the Spirit cast out into the wilderness. And He was in the wilderness forty days being tested by the Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him.” Tim notes that the phrase “cast out” (Grk. εκβαλλω) is first used in the Old Testament account of Adam and Eve’s explusion from the garden of Eden (Gen 3:24). He also says that both of these stories are meant to be analagous to each other. Jesus is in the wilderness (garden) with the wild animals (Adam and Eve) in the presence of the angels (cherubim and cosmic mountain). Tim cites a quote by biblical scholar Brandon Crowe: “Whereas Adam failed the temptation in the garden and was cast out, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness, a setting associated with Israel’s testing and failure. Unlike Adam, Jesus does not fail the test, and in both stories of Adam and Jesus “expulsion” the same Greek word ekballo is employed. In the wilderness, Jesus is with the wild animals, but remains unharmed [T.M. like Daniel], which is supposed to strike the reader as unusual. Jesus’ peaceful coexistence with the wild animals signifies his authority over them, and recalls Adam’s original dominion over the animals in the garden. Like Adam, Jesus has been granted the worldwide dominion, becoming the instrument of God’s dominion over the world.” -- Brandon Crowe, The Last Adam: A Theology of the Obedient Life of Jesus in the Gospels, 24 Tim points out that the temptation of Jesus in Mark, specifically the details of the angels serving him and him being with the wild beasts, is meant to show that Jesus is the new Adam, the perfect Adam who can coexist peacefully with animals in the wild. Further, Tim points out that Jesus is portrayed as having authority over the other spiritual beings (angels) to show that Jesus is the ideal Son of Man figure. In part two (19:00-18:30), Tim and Jon take a side tour and discuss how in Hebrew there are places where the Hebrew word adam can refer to either a specific character, Adam, or to humanity as a whole. The guys also discuss the nuances between the terms Son of Man and Son of God. Tim notes that Psalm 2 is a key passage for understanding how both of these terms link together. To be called the image of God as humanity means to be the creatures where heaven and earth are bound together. Psalm 2: “Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, ‘Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.’ The One enthroned in heaven laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, ‘I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.’ I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have become your father. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.’” In part three (18:30-end), Jon asks why heaven and earth are supposed to be ideally imaged in humanity. Tim replies that humanity is meant to be related to the elohim. We are not elohim, but we are to share in a similar status of having a divine ability to rule. Tim and Jon then dive into the temptation of Jesus portrayed in Matthew 4:8-11: “Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’ ” Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.” Tim notes that there is only one other time in the New Testament where Jesus utters the phrase, “Get behind me Satan” or “Go, Satan” (in the NIV). It’s in Matthew 16:23: “Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns." Tim notes that Jesus obviously sees that a satanic mindset is one where the mindset is human-focused and set on how a beast would rule the world, one of power and strength not of sacrifice. Tim points out that after these temptations, you are supposed to see Jesus as a new Adam. He peacefully coexists with animals. He’s a new Daniel; he doesn’t bow down to the rulers. He’s a new David because he rules righteously. Jesus is the full package. Thank you to all of our supporters! Have a question? Send it to [e-mail] Show Produced by: Dan Gummel, Jon Collins, Tim Mackie Show Music: Defender Instrumental, Tents Yesterday on Repeat, Vexento Morning, LIQWYD Show Resources: Exodus 4:22 Matthew 4:8-11 Psalm 2 Brandon Crowe, The Last Adam: A Theology of the Obedient Life of Jesus in the Gospels Joel Marcus, “The Son of Man as the Son of Adam” Our video on the Son of Man: https://bit.ly/2URk3BH

Hey, this is Cooper at Bible Project. I produce the podcast in Classroom. We've been exploring a theme called the City, and it's a pretty big theme. So we decided to do two separate Q and R episodes about it. We're currently taking questions for the second Q and R and we'd love to hear from you. Just record your question by July 21st

and send it to us at infoatbiboproject.com. Let us know your name and where you're from, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds and please transcribe your question when you email it in, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds, and please transcribe your question when you email it. That's a huge help to our team. We're excited to hear from you. Here's the episode.

Hey, this is Tim at The Bible Project. We've been exploring one of the most important titles that Jesus of Nazareth called himself in the New Testament, the Son of Man. Jesus, he's most often called Christ or Messiah by his followers, but he most often used this phrase, the Son of Man. This is episode seven of a conversation that John and I have been having. In episodes one through six, we saw why Jesus chose this phrase for himself, the story of the Son of Man.

It's the story about humanity, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Humans are meant to rule the world as God's image, but they end up being ruled by a beast and then start acting like beasts. This phrase, Son of Man, it all gets brought together in this symbolic dream found in the book of Daniel, chapter 7, and there we find a hope that one day God will exalt a Son of Man to rule the world from a divine throne, someone will bring order and God's kingdom to the world of beastly chaos. So now in this conversation, we finally get to Jesus.

In this episode, John and I are going to focus on the story of Jesus being tested by the Satan in the wilderness. We're going to talk about how Jesus is portrayed there as a new Adam and as a new Israel. We also have a really long conversation about the phrase Son of God, and how that's connected to the son of man. As always, lots of reflection on Genesis, one, two, and three, and Monty Python even makes an appearance.

So all this and more in this episode, thanks for joining us. Here we go. We're going to talk about Jesus as he identifies as the Son of Man. Yes, we're finally to Jesus. We are. Yeah, we've been talking for many hours, and we've been... Well, we started with Jesus, how he avoided the term Messiah or Christ to describe himself, but liberally used this phrase, the Son of Man, to describe himself.

So we've gone back to the first pages of his scriptures, traced the theme all the way forward through to Daniel, and here we are at the place we started again. Back to Jesus. Back to Jesus. Back to Jesus. Yep. Cool. I'm Jesus. Back to Jesus. Yep. Cool. I'm ready.

Let's do this. Alright. So there's two angles we can take. Because the son of man in Daniel 7 is the culmination of the storyline of the Hebrew Scriptures, namely that God appointed human, Adam, human, which consists in Genesis 1 of male and female, God appointed human to rule creation together as the image of God. They forfeited that rule, however, by giving rule to letting a beast rule them, and then they begin to act like beasts.

So one area of interest then will be looking for what scholars call Adam, Adam imagery, or new Adam clues or images in the Gospels. Matthew Mark, Luke and John, do they portray Jesus in ways that are meant to recall the first Adam with key words and images. And lo and behold, they do. They do. They do. And little details that I don't know. What do you see? They just stick out like a sore thumb, but there are the kinds of things that modern readers might just be like, oh, that's weird. So in Mark chapter one, Mark chapter one introduces Jesus.

Ooh, the first sentence is the beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Christ. The Christ. Yeah. Right. So you're the first sentence. Yeah. And that's the Messiah, the Christ. The Christ. Yeah. So you're the first sentence. Yeah, and that's the term that the apostles use to refer to Jesus, the title. Correct. Yep. But it's not the term Jesus says yes. Exactly. So then immediately Mark begins his narrative by actually a copy and paste quote from Exodus

23, Malachi 4, and Isaiah 40, like welds them all together. All about how the Prophet said that a messenger, God was sent a messenger, a herald, to come before the God of Israel showed up personally to both rescue Israel and all humanity. And then the narrative begins introducing us to John the Baptist. As the messenger. As that herald or messenger. Jesus is introduced. He's down by the river. He gets dumped.

Bye. By Johnny. By Johnny. Johnny B. We've talked about that baptism story. At length in many other discussions. What I want to pay attention to is just the short little detail of what happened to Jesus after the baptism.

Some Mark chapter 1 verses 12 and 13. We read immediately the Spirit cast out Jesus into the wilderness, and He was in the wilderness, 40 days being tested by the Satan, and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels were serving or ministering to him. And then next story. That's it. Yeah, it's over. And then the next story. Does Matthew have like a longer version of this? Correct. Yeah. Matthew and Luke. So this is very interesting. What's often, it's called the temptation,

the Jesus' temptation narrative, of going out into the wilderness. Yeah, and the most well-known versions are Matthews and Luke's, which records a whole back and forth. A whole back and forth between Jesus and the slanderer, or the devil, it's often translated. We're gonna talk about that next. Okay.

But Mark's version doesn't have a narrative about testing. What happened, yeah. No. It just gives us two details, three details. He's in the wilderness. First of all, cast out by the Spirit. It's a strong verb. What do you mean a strong verb?

Oh, so it's a verb. It's a forceful verb. It drives someone out. Yeah. As we're going to see, it's the verb marked chooses is very intentional. Okay. What is it in Greek? Ekbalo. Ekbalo. Abalo means to throw. Okay. And then X is out here. Yeah, let's just throw out. To throw out. Yeah. So the spirit throws Jesus out into the wilderness. Like see you later. Yeah.

Get out of here. Well, or it's just drive sim. I guess the idea is he had to. Okay. He was forced into the wilderness. Yeah. Detail one. He was there 40 days being tested by the Satan. Satan detail two. He was with wild animals out there.

Detail three angels were serving him. That's all Mark gives us. This is the whole and then the next thing is now after John was taken into custody Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God. Yeah, so in Mark's storyline you're left to fill in You're just supposed to know, like, okay, we have Jesus who's the son, right? The son of God, Messiah, going out in the wilderness to be tested by the power of evil, and he's with wild animals and angels are serving him. So going out to the wilderness, that is a biblical motif

we've talked about. Correct. And that the wilderness is a place of testing. Correct. Israel goes into the wilderness before they get to the promised land. That's right. Kane is driven into the wilderness. Driven into the wilderness.

Exiled after he kills his brother. So that's easy for me to pick up on. Yep. Yep. And human, Adam and Eve, are cast out into the east of Eden. Yeah, and human Adam and Eve are Exile cast out into the will into east of Eden, yeah, the forced out exactly right and in fact in the old Greek translation of Genesis when God drives out Adam and Eve and when he drives out Kane the Greek Verb is Ekbalo. It's exactly the same verb. Yeah, so Mark is

is Ekbalo. It's exactly the same verb. Yeah. So Mark is placing Jesus's exile into the wilderness on analogy with Adam and Eve's exile into the wilderness. All the stories should be ringing in my ears. Yeah, totally. Except, but also remember creative inversions. Right. So in Genesis 3 and 4, it's screw up. Yes. Yeah, it's somebody failing the test. Yeah. And then they get cast into the wilderness. Yeah. Here, Jesus is cast into the wilderness, and that's the place where he's tested, which is where Israel was tested.

Yeah. The testing in the wilderness of Israel. Well, because Israel's wilderness journey, which was 40 years. Yeah, totally. And this is 40 years. Yeah, totally. And this is 40 days. Yeah, totally. They didn't do anything wrong to go into the wilderness. No, they were rescued from slavery.

They were rescued. But they were in the wilderness for that long because they kept screwing up. Totally, that's right. Yeah, yeah. Deuteronomy began saying, listen, this should have been 11 days from Sinai. Yeah. Or from where they sent out the spies,

Kadesh Barnea up to the land. And it took 40 years. So yeah, the 40 right there. Okay, so look at how biblical narrative works. This is design patterns. The first story is Adam and Eve tested failure exiled into the wilderness. Cain, failure into wilderness. Yes, both times by beasts and spiritual evil Yeah, spiritual evil depicted its beast got it then

You get Israel exiled in Egypt by the end of the book of Genesis Um, you have the family of Jacob Egypt's a kind of wilderness in Egypt Um, but the reason they're there is also because the sin of the brothers against Joseph. That's why they're there, ultimately. But God exalted Joseph to be ruler out of his suffering. Then the Israelites are redeemed out of slavery in Egypt and they're led through the wilderness. And here in the wilderness, God brings little gifts of Eden to them, like the bread from heaven, which looks just like this. Remember this? The stones of the mana. The mana looked like. Yeah. Which, what did it look like again? Toa, in Exodus 16 and Numbers after 11, the mana is

described, like what it looks like. And it has the color and sheen of those precious stones in the garden of Eden. That's right. And those are the only places in the Hebrew Bible where these words for this precious stone occurs. And then the water in the wilderness is to recall these the water and river Eden. River. Yeah. So God creating little Eden pockets for his people in the wilderness. And what do they do little Eden pockets for people in the wilderness and what do they do as they're waiting for the water they test they test God or God test them by being patient to wait for the water and of course Israel fails all of those tests so here you get Jesus and so he is like a new Adam a new Israel a reversal of Cain and he's a new Israel in the wilderness, not being tested in a garden,

but being tested down in the wilderness. It's all those stories lay on top of each other. Yeah. And then Jesus, just these few lines from Mark just activate, are supposed to activate all that stuff. But Mark doesn't tell us that he like passed the test, kind of like Matthew and Luke. Mm. That's true. Well, he was being tested by the Satan.

We'll talk about the beast and the angels. And then the next thing is, Jesus went to Galilee preaching the good news of God, the kingdom of God at hand. So you just kind of assumed? I think, yeah. He took care of that. I think, yeah, the narrative logic assumes that,

oh Jesus, overcame the test, the test of Adam, the test of Cain, the test of Israel. He's the first human and the first Israelite. We don't get a story of him failing the test, so you just kind of have to assume. You assume, he passed. And then in the next line, he's on the scene, acting like a boss, like,

proclaiming the kingdom of God is here and I'm the one bringing it. Yeah. So he's with the wild beasts. Ah, this detail is not found in Matthew or Luke. This only marks little detail. Yeah. Now, this detail is not found in Matthew or Luke. This only marks little detail. Yeah. He's with the wild beasts.

They're in the wilderness. I guess there would be beasts out there. Yeah, totally. Yeah, that's right. But yeah, what a strange detail to add. Yeah. So then you just have to ask, why would somebody be telling me about Jesus

existing, coexisting for 40 days with wild beasts out in the desert? And Adam kind of figured. Yeah, there's no other reason that details there. Except, oh, you remember there were two narratives about people peacefully co-existing with beasts. Actually, now three, now that I think of it, I think I said two in a previous conversation. Okay. You got Adam, and Eden, Noah and the Ark, Noah and the Ark, Daniel, in the pit. Oh, and the lion's pit. Yes. Yeah. And he's that piece with the lion beasts.

Cool. And then Jesus. So in the wilderness. And Noah, and Adam, Noah, Daniel figure, laid on top of Jesus. For sure. For sure. Brandon Crowe, the New Testament scholar, who wrote a book zeroed in on this. It's called The Last Adam, the theology of the obedient life of Jesus in the Gospels. So it's a whole book on Adam, Adam, Son of Man, new Adam, imagery in the Gospels.

So here's how he summarizes the story in Mark. He says, whereas Adam failed the temptation in the Garden and was cast out, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness, a setting associated with Israel's testing failure. Unlike Adam, Jesus does not fail the test. And in both stories of Adam and Jesus, expulsion is the same Greek word. Let's use it. In the wilderness, Jesus is with,

while animals but remain unharmed, which is supposed to strike the reader as unusual. Yes. Yeah. Usual detail. Yeah, that's a desert piece though. I mean, biblical times, man. There's a desert piece though. I mean biblical times man There's like leperds and I guess they're more in the forest

Leperds do they hang on the wilderness? There's stuff lions. What kind of wilderness are we talking here? Oh Almost certainly the hill country of Judea. Yeah, yeah, so we're not talking like Sahara's or something. No kind of like no desert No, this is the same hill country desert that David like. So there have been lions, there have been leopards. Probably a lot more than there are nowadays. Correct. Yeah, I don't think there's any large predators. Brandon Krogo's on.

Jesus' peaceful coexistence with wild animals signifies his authority over them. That's it. He's kind of taking it that way. And it recalls Adam's dominion over the animals in the garden. Like Adam, Jesus has been granted worldwide dominion become an instrument of God's dominion over the world. Okay, so, oh, and then the angels serving him.

Yeah, what's that about? Remember in Daniel 7? Yeah, the angel comes. Oh, Daniel 7. Daniel 7. When Daniel got, comes. Oh, Daniel 7. Daniel 7. Okay. When Daniel got, he was seeing the divine throne. Yep.

And what he sees, once he sees the divine throne, this is Daniel chapter 7. Thousands upon thousands were serving him. Yeah. Miriads upon, Miriads were standing before him. It's a depiction of the divine council. Yeah. Which we talked about actually in the last. Yeah, yeah, that's right. So Mark is depicting Jesus as a new Adam, but then also as the son of man.

He's surrounded by the heavenly hosts. Yeah, they're his servants. The point is they're his servants. Got it. He doesn't obey the cosmic powers. The cosmic powers are there to come under his rule. You know, it's funny. I've always just read that as just this nice detail of like, God was taking care of Jesus. You know? Yeah. But man, it's about Jesus being in charge of the cosmos over even the spiritual beings. Yeah. As they'll say in the end of Matthew, the Son of Man has authority over the

skies and the land. Yeah, okay, well. But here in Mark, he's already has authority over the realm of the skies and the land. Yeah. In the wilderness, it's just nobody else knows about it. Oh, wow, yeah. Man, that flows real in terms of the logic of Mark I. Jesus is identified as the logic of Mark 1.

Jesus is identified as the sun in the baptism. Yeah. Overcomes the test and the wilderness. He's kind of revealed as the like true human ruler. Yeah, over the land, namely the beast. Oh, yeah. And over the sky realm. Whoa, yeah, that's right.

Yeah, well. So in Matthew, Jesus says it explicitly. I have authority over heaven and earth. Oh, yeah. Here in markets He's just kind of shown you. He's showing through narrative. Yeah. Oh, I've never that's very helpful. It's really cool. Thank you, Mark. In such a small amount of details, three short little statements. Yeah. Notice also in Mark one, the Satan's just introduced like you know. Notice also in Mark 1, the Satan's just introduced like you know, like you know. Does Mark kind of assume you've read the other Gospels? Most likely the opposite. Oh, okay. And this is a big rabbit hole, but New Testament scholarship, the order of the Gospels,

there's multiple positions. Okay. The longest lasting consensus view is that Mark is the earliest. Okay. In which case, it's also the shortest. It also has the least amount of red letters of the three other gods, one of the other words, G.S. is first person speech. G.S. talks a lot in Mark, but he talks in shorter chunks than the others. So that only emphasizes the thing that's sticking out to me is,

the Satan is just introduced to somebody you're already supposed to know. Yeah. The Satan is the tester. And you're like, oh yeah. And this is the same term used in the Hebrew scriptures then? Mm-hmm. As Hossaton. Hossaton.

The one opposed. Yeah. So we've seen the one opposed explicitly as a tester in the book of Job. Yeah. In the book of Job, in the book of Zakiraya, and then in the Garden narrative it's the image of the snake, and in Kane story it's sin. And once again it's the most epic portrait of the spiritual evil one. Cool, so there you go. 1 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 Step 2. Matthew and Luke offer us an account of the narrative of Jesus being tested. That's three tests. Yeah, Matthew 4. Yeah, Matthew 4. Ah, and this is back to the overlaying of Israel's story on top of Cain's story,

on top of Adam and Eve's story. Same thing. So, this is Matthew chapter four. He was led up by the spirit into the wilderness. Oh, Matthew uses a different verb that's not as forceful. He's tested by the Diabolos. The devil, the slanderer. The slanderer. The slanderer. The Abelos means the slanderer.

The slanderer. Yeah. Okay. Slander. That's just to speak poorly of someone. Yeah. Yeah. I never use that word. No It actually it seems to drive from the same concept as the Satan the Satan is in the courtroom in the divine courtroom Yeah, the one who's opposed the one who takes the opposing view right and then in that courtroom

You can also call that figure the Diablo. He's the one bringing up negative evidence against the accused Hmm. He's slandering, speaking poorly, speaking poorly. Well, what is a slander? False statements, damaging a person's reputation. That's the legal way it's used. Yeah, that can stand for personal interaction, but it could also stand in like the divine courtroom. Got it. If the king is like, hey, I'm gonna go wage war on these guys over here and the guy goes, okay, hold on. Why maybe we shouldn't, maybe that's a bad idea.

That's the slander. No, it would be the opposite. It would be, hey, I wanna elevate this prince to become, you know, lowered over this new section of land. And then the satan, the one opposed, would be a bad idea. That guy's bad news. And then he would also play the role of the slanderer.

Here's why he didn't pay his taxes 10 years ago. And he's- Smells funny. Yes, no, yeah, whatever. Yeah, what happened? The slanderer, he told it. So that's totally the role that, well, that's the role that this figure plays here.

He comes to address Jesus and he assumes the baptism story before. In this baptism story, Jesus was declared the son. And he says, if you are the son of God then... Hold on, I'm trying to like read all the son of God conversations. Son of man, human one, Son of God. Yeah, the royal title. Okay. Yeah, it's a royal title. So it can refer to the line of David that's been adopted as God's son. It also stands for the spiritual beings. Yeah. And the idea is that God will adopt a human son, right? The line of David as the Lord of heaven and earth. Because son of is one of a class. One of a class. So son of God, son of Elohim would be like spiritual beings. Correct. Because they're their one their spiritual means correct so there's sons of Elohim. Yeah, yeah, but God also calls David

Yeah, a son of God. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, and the line of David in the line of David second time seven I will be a father to the seed of David and he will be my son. Does he ever call Israel collectively is? Yes, yes, and Israel. That's correct. Yeah God's purpose in this whole story is to have one of his image bearing, one of or all of his image bearing human Suns, yeah, become adopted into the divine council to rule over heaven and earth to be in the class of Elohim The Son of God. I think so. Yeah, in other words that humans become the creatures in whom heaven and earth are married together. Humans are made of earth. Yes. They're given the divine breath.

Yes. And they're given up. It's all the animals. So are the animals. But humans are appointed as the divine image. And they're given a chance to rule over heaven and earth. Genesis 1. Well, they're told the rule of the land.

Oh, ah. That's right. Okay. That's correct. Okay. And then you get to the seventh day, God fills creation with His presence. Okay. And you're like, okay, we're ready to like, get some humans ruling.

And remember, Eden, but Eden is heaven and earth. Eden is heaven and earth. Well, Eden in the terms of its access to heaven. But that's where humans are supposed to be ruling. Is that eaten? So ruling the land. It's good. I want to understand your hang up here.

Sure. Well, one way you can frame it is God created the host of heavens, the angelic beat, or the divine council. They rule the skies. They rule the skies. That's what it says. And then humans rule the land. But then there's this sense of, well, here's this place where heaven and earth overlap.

And you're getting that from the fact that Eden is a place where God himself dwells. Yeah. It's the Sabbath place. So God's space is there. So now to rule the land also means you rule the skies. You know, you've returned to this question multiple times. In our conversation. It's good.

I've also been wrestling with just the whole like, is humanity's calling to become like the Elohim? I see. Or is it to always be human, but in a way that's connected to the... I understand, yes. To the spiritual, to the divine. Yeah, and I think this is where Psalm 8 is going. This is what Psalm 8 sees here.

When I look up at the heavenly host, and I look at their glory and majesty, and then I look at humans, I'm like, big mismatch here. That's what he says dirt creatures He says what is human? What's the son of man that you look at him and That you crown him with the divine majesty? He says you crown him with glory and honor Okay, which is the opening and closing of sawmate. Yeah, but the glory and honor is the ability to rule the land Ah, well, I think it's an open ended.

It's like, oh, whoa. Like, in the beginning of an ending, beginning an ending of Salamayat, God has the honor and majesty. And I guess Paul doesn't end up saying, eventually like, don't you know you're gonna judge angels? Go to heaven. So that's kind of where his mind goes is like this is. Correct.

So you're ruling the skies in the land. That's right. It's also in Daniel seven where the ancient of days is on his throne with all the spiritual beings surrounding him. The Son of Man comes up in rules. Yeah. Is there beside him now ruling over heaven and earth? So humanity's calling is to rule over heaven and earth with God, not just the land. Right. Yep. So maybe this is I've actually been I think my thinking is developing. Right. Yep. So maybe, I've actually been, I think my thinking is developing. So in that sense, where the biblical story is going,

isn't just to get us back to Genesis 1, it's Genesis 1 is like this setup. So that it's like a stage that gets you ready for the play to culminate. Right. So Genesis 1 begins with the images of the play to culminate. Right. So Genesis 1 begins with the images of God ruling over the land. Yeah.

Okay, let's see how this goes. And it doesn't go well. They're in fact exiled from the place where heaven and earth are one. And so humanity never even gets the chance to go to this place where it's stage 2. Stage 2. And then that's all made, Daniel 7. And the whole and then that saw me, Daniel seven, and the whole book of Genesis is trying to tell you, God's book.

So if you just read Genesis one, yeah. That's very clear, like humans you will the land, and then there's these hosts that the Holy Host rules the sky. But you get Genesis two, and that's where you feel a little bit more of this ambiguity of like actually where humans are,

where the land is, is where heaven and earth are one. That's right. And so for humans to rule there, is actually to rule the heavens and the earth with God. That's embedded in Genesis 2. I think so. And then the first spiritual beings, you meet one that's a rebel who's testing the humans. And so they come under that being's rule Yeah, and authority and then the cherubim and Genesis three that guard are now they have authority Yeah over these humans to keep them out. Yeah, which seems like a loss like oh, that's not what was supposed to happen

Yeah, now now they're just there in the land ruling the land but on their own terms Yeah, then we get to Daniel seven and we see a son of man they're in the land, ruling the land, but on their own terms. Yeah. Then we get to Daniel 7, and we see a son of man elevated back to sitting at the right hand of God, ruling over heaven and earth. Over heaven and earth,

over humans and spiritual beings. Yeah. And that's what Mark is activating in the wilderness. So that's the son of man. Yep. But that's also the son of God. That's how we started here. And first's the Son of Man. But that's also the term Son of God. That's how we started it. We're first to the same concept.

Yeah, but from a different angle. I think so. Yeah, we'll do a theme video on this. On the Son of God. On the Son of God. But this just, I've noticed this for quite a long time. In Genesis chapter five, I don't know if you want to pull it up. Okay.

I like it when our conversations go places that we haven't planned. Here's how Genesis 5 opens. This is the scroll of the generations of Adam. In the day when he created Adam, he made him in the image of God or the likeness of God. Wow, and I've even them. Yeah, a good point. I should just read this in Hebrew. Yeah, singular. He created him in the likeness of God, Genesis 5, verse 1. Next verse, male and female, he created them.

So the hymn refers to the species, humanity, which consists of male and female. He created them. There's no footnote there or anything. It just says them the first time. It's interesting. Okay. Continuing verse two, and God blessed them, and he called their plural name, the name of them, Adam. And he named them mankind, which Hebrew, Adam.

Yeah. Yeah. In the day that they were created. I always kind of wished that man was a gender neutral term. I know English. You try to use the word human more and more. Yeah. But so this is sounds funny. Yeah. But maybe that'll become normal eventually. Maybe. I just like it because it preserves the distinction that there are places in Genesis one and genit early chapters of Genesis where the word Adam functions as a title. Well, right here.

Right, and this is here. Adam is Adam in here. It's the kind. Yeah. Madeleine female. Yeah, that's right. Well, mankind, then, is the translation, and every which kind of makes sense. All right, so we go on.

Verse 3, when Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered one in his likeness and according to his image. Oh, that's interesting. So he's carrying on the image. Yeah, the image is carrying on. And he called that one's name Seth. So okay, just pause here. So we just learned in Genesis 5 verse 1, human, which is male and female, God created in the image of Elohim, in the likeness of Elohim.

Now we have Adam, fathering, in the likeness of Elohim. Now, we have Adam, fathering one in his likeness and image, and that one is his son. So the one in the likeness of one's father is the son. So a Seth is in the image of his father. He's the son of Adam. If Adam is male and female, is in the image of their creator, you could say the Adam and Eve are a son of Adam. If Adam is male and female, is in the image of their creator, you could say the Adam and Eve are a son of God. I think this is where our theme video on the son of God will have to begin. So you're right.

The son of God and the son of man are two ways to get it the same idea. Let me try to elucidate that. So the Son of Man, it's clearly talking about just being human and a dumb. But all of a sudden you see a Son of Man elevated to a place that is divine. Son of God means to be of the class of Elohim,

be more than human, to be other than human, Elohim. Or, not more than human, other than human. Yeah, in this case, to be an image of God. Well, in this case, but just taking that term on its face. Ah, that's right. Yes. One who participates in the class of Elohim, namely to be a spiritual being.

Yeah. And so for God to then call a human, like David, that you're kind of like, what? Yes. That he's, no, he's not a son of Elohim. He's a son of Adam. Now you can call him or Israel. You're chosen one or Israel. Yeah. Israel. Yeah. And is it kind of a mental speed bump to read that? Like David is the son of God, he's just be like, whoa, I thought we're talking about humans here. No, it's about elevation into a status or a role.

Namely, the one who's called the son of God is someone or a group of people who now play a cosmic role in the world. They play a role that is both heavenly and earthly. Yeah, but in a literal sense, the term means to be the class of Elohim. Correct. So for God to use that term for a human, he doesn't mean it in the literal sense. He means it in a more figurative sense, which is more about status. Well, because the sons of God, as for spiritual beings, they're there. Yeah,

and they are in the heavens. Yeah. Very clearly, humans are of the earth. That's their nature in Genesis 2. So for one who is of the earth, this is Genesis 5. Yeah. You've already got Genesis 2. One who's of the earth is also given the slot of the identity of one who is among the heavens. What would be comparative? Okay, yeah, we need an analogy. Let's say I... Well. Like, grip a peasant.

Go for it, you did. Okay. Run with the earth. Born a peasant, in a class system, it's very clear class system. Yeah, yeah. Everyone knows and I'm called a peasant. That's right. Let's get Monty Python about it. Your life is out collecting mud

collecting stacks of mud putting less baskets all that and then yeah, I've never hoped for more that's that's it because this where you came from and where you'll always be Totally among the past and one day this like noble king rides in or prince or whoever and it's like whoa Look at these guys're of this higher class and they call each other Lord. And they like, you know, you're like, that's incredible, I'll never be like them. One day they write in and he looks at me, the peasant,

and he calls me a son of, yes, a son of the king. Yep. And so I go, well, I'm not a son of the King. Oh, I get it. What you mean is you think of me as that status, which is still mind-bending because I'm a peasant. Yeah. Yeah. You're recreating my identity. You're recreating my identity. You're not trying to say I was actually born of one of the King's sons. You just want to give me that kind of status. So in the same way you're saying that

for a human to be called son of God, I'm not trying to say that you are actually an Elohim. I'm giving you the status of Elohim. And the status of Elohim is the ability to rule over this guy. Correct. Okay, yes, let's run with that. Israel is enslaved and Egypt in the early chapters of Exodus. Moses is sent to go confront Pharaoh to say, let my people go. And what Moses is to tell Pharaoh is Exodus 4,

verse 22, thus you shall say to Pharaoh, thus says Yahweh, Israel is my son, my firstborn. So I said to you, let my son go that he may serve me. Where will they serve him? They're going to go out through the wilderness and ascend a cosmic mountain to go meet God on Sinai. And so in that situation for God, Yahweh, to call a group of people his Yeah, he's giving them a new identity. Give a new identity.

You're being released from slavery and death on your way into a new Eden and life. But that doesn't mean you are the class of Elohim. It just means. Well, who ends up going up to the top of that mountain, not all of Israel? Yeah, Moses. Just Moses and some crazy happens to him up there. Yeah, it looks face Transform. Yeah, he begins to take on the attributes of Elohim. So hold on Psalm 2. Okay, Psalm 2 Psalm 2 begins with the nations of the kings of the earth in an uproar rebelling against Yahweh and his anointed one.

And the one who sits in the heavens, the one who rules in the skies, he laughs, and he pronounces his response to the rebellious nations. He says, I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain. So God's response to the rebellious nations is to install a king in a new Eden, which is Jerusalem, which is the cosmic mountain. Then the king starts speaking to us, okay, Psalm 2 verse 7. Hey, everybody, let me tell you the decree that Yahweh said to me, he said to me, you are my son, today I have become your father. So it's the line of David being adopted into the count, like to rule alongside God,

on the cosmic mountain over heaven and earth with all the nations and the ends of the earth as as a possession. A son of Man becoming a Son of God. All of these are different reverberations of Genesis 1 and 2, I think, of the dirt creatures who are invited into a glorious destiny of becoming the Son of God. So that twist or the paradox or whatever of a son of man being invited in to be a son of God. So yeah, that's right. In a way, to be called the image of God,

right off the bat, is just cluing into that mystery, to be made in the likeness of God. Because he doesn't make them Elohim, makes them in the likeness of Elohim. That's right. And so there you're thinking of statues, but then I guess you're also thinking like... Well, it's a physical statue. Remember the image means statue.

So it's a physical embodied representation of the God who reigns in the heavens. So in this creature called the image or the sun, this is a creature in whom heaven and earth are one. Humans are meant to be the place where heaven and earth are bound together. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one.

I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. What do you mean? So, humans are we're having an earth overlap. I don't know what that means. What does that mean?

Well, just, okay, think in terms of Genesis 1's cosmology. Okay. You have the sky realm. You have the sky realm. And you got the sky creatures. And the host of heaven rule over that. Yeah. You've got the earth realm.

Yeah. And you've got humans appointed to rule over that. Yeah. You've got the earth realm. Yep. And you've got humans appointed to rule over that. Yep. Makes sense. Makes sense. And then Sabbath is God's personal presence and divine rule entering into and filling up all of creation. Okay.

All right. Man, dude, that'd be awesome if that happened. Yeah. Turn the page. Next story. Genesis 2. I've got some earth creatures who are appointed to rule and work as royal priests in the Holy Garden. The Holy Garden, which is where the land and the sky meet. Where they are one.

Where they are one. Where they are one. God takes dirt from outside the garden, then he plants a garden and puts humans in the garden and gives them a royal priestly task. In heaven and earth. I mean, I eat and is where heaven and earth are one. In Genesis 2, you should go, oh man, I thought the humans were just going to rule the land. This seems more significant, right? Because none of this is clued in in Genesis 1. Well, Genesis 1 gives you like the ordered world and the ideal, the Sabbath, the Sabbath rest of God's presence flooding all creation. But you're never told in Genesis 1 that humans will rule more than land. I do that. They do rule the birds. They do rule the birds. I pointed this out before.

They do rule the birds and they go, I was like, what does that even mean? I do not rule eagles. Yeah. Anyway, and that may be really significant. Okay. That might be the bridge in the humans ruling. Got it.

Is that they ruled this guy. That's the foreshadowing. It's guy flyers. Yeah. But for sure in Genesis 2, they're like, they're- They're- They're given a chance to be the royal priest. They're made in the land. They're brought up to the cosmic mountain where God plants a garden, heaven and earth are

one. God's presence is there in a very intimate way. This was to then take care of that garden as priests. When that snake comes, when that spiritual being comes, they're supposed to rule that thing. The whole point is that I'm giving into it is inverting their real relationship, because they're supposed to be ruling over. And if this is where heaven and earth are combined, it shouldn't be that startling that you've got this spiritual creature in the form of snake there.

Correct. Yeah, correct. There's all kinds of creatures there. Heavenly creatures and earthly there. Correct. Yeah, correct. There's all kinds of creatures there. Heavenly creatures and earthly creatures. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's, yep, that's right. But Adam is not a son of man.

He's a son of God. Oh, yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, that's the whole point of what Genesis 5 is saying. Well, he's a son of the dirt. He's a son of the dirt, but he's made in the image and likeness. But he's made in the image of likeness. And to be made in the image of likeness. Oh, in the logic of Genesis 5 is to be in that class.

Is in the likeness of Adam, that he's a son. Adam is in the image and likeness of God, which means Adam and Eve are the son of God. And I think that's what I was saying with by calling humans in the image and likeness of God, it's like the closest way of calling them an Elohim without calling them an Elohim. Because it's like respecting the fact that we're not, while we also, in some way, sharing that in that what, authority,

it's calling status. Status, the high status, the status of heavenly rule. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Which is, again, think Daniel 7 and then Psalm 2, which we just reflected on. God is going to bring order to the chaos of our world, precisely by installing a royal son of God over the chaos. Okay. Thank you. All of this was when we get to Jesus, we're like, okay, he's the son of God. Yes.

Which means he is the human who actually is going to rule over heaven and earth. In other words, Jesus uses the phrase Son of Man, but the gospel is just use Messiah or Son of God. And it's all getting at the same idea. Oh, kind of different. Well, it's not just as we're talking. But different nuances.

Yeah, what different nuances? A Son of Man is the Son of Human comes through a long human line of descent. A Son of God is one either appointed, yeah, comes directly from God. Okay. In the case of Adam or David or Israel, they're humans who are exalted to the status. When Jesus comes onto the scene, it's clear by even just how he's born, that he is not a created being, but rather he is. He is Son of God in a way that no other Son of Man has ever been.

That's right. Hold a cow. So we were in Matthew chapter 4 There's three tests that Jesus undergoes. I just want to draw attention to the last test in Matthew Yeah, where we're told that the slanderer took him to a very high mountain. Okay The new Adam He tested on a high mountain just like Eden and he's being tested and, and here's what. He shows him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him,

all these things I will give to you. So let's pause right there. So there's a concept here that all the kingdoms of the world are under the authority, or they're under the sway or power of the cosmic spiritual evil powers And you're like, yeah, I read Genesis 3. I've read the Exodus story where Pharaoh the ones in the Exodus story God says you know who I just like I was gonna say Wompton

You know who has Wompton? Wompt. You don't say that. It's not normal Take a wamping the one one who I just wopped Wopped the one who got defeated. Okay in the legs In Exodus 12 12 God says you know who I defeated yeah in the 10 plagues. Yeah Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. Yeah God the evil powers This is core to the New Testament authors Jesus and Apostles view of the world Yeah, that we're enslaved to cosmic powers of evil.

And so the question is, how are you going to get it back? How's Jesus going to get this back? How's Jesus going to take up his rule as the Son of God? It's saying, I got to what you can do it. Yeah. Yeah, he says, if you fall down and worship me, that's from Daniel. Hmm. Worshipping the image. The image of the... The bear shed, me sh that's from Daniel, worshipping the image.

The image of the... The bear shed, me shak nabendigo. If you give allegiance to Babylon, in Babylon's way of ruling the kingdoms of the world, then I'll give you all everything you want. Which is tricky because if he's giving allegiance to Satan, then he's not really ruling. Satan's ruling. Correct. Yeah. Well, okay. Ah, correct. Yeah. Well, okay, so the question is, what does that actually mean?

How does that cash out? What would it look like if Jesus had given his allegiance to Babylon the Satan? What would that look like? Oh, yeah. Okay, look at Jesus' response. Yeah. It's a famous line, get behind me, Satan.

I think, and I have you just as go. Yeah, I think get behind me, Satan. I think Anniv just has go. Yeah, I think get behind me is King James. Okay. Yeah, go away. Get out of here. Yeah. He casts him out. For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God

and serve him only. Yeah. Okay, so he says, get go away, Satan. There is only one other time in the New Testament where Jesus says that. Yeah, to Peter. It's in Matthew 16, in a crucially important son of man, passage, where Jesus is talking to them about how he's going to go to Jerusalem and be killed, and on the third day be raised to life.

Peter took him aside and says, never, Lord, this will never happen to you. So Peter represents a view of the universe, a view of the world where God's kingdom is, can't come through somebody dying. That would be the defeat of God's kingdom. You're supposed to go and kill other people. You don't get killed by the bad guys, you go kill them. Never, this will never happen to you. Jesus turns and says, get behind me, Satan.

Exactly what he said to that voice in the wilderness. Same phrase. Same phrase. So, for Jesus to bow down and worship Babylon. Is to Satan. Is to not rule by dying. Yeah, this is like take up the value system, the value system of Babylon and rule the world by that. Yeah, to rule with the violence that Babylon represented

and instead of the self-sacrifice. Yeah, the suffering servant, suffering son of man. So for the Satan, the slander here to come and say, to worship him, adopt the ethic of Babylon, and through that you can rule. Yes, look at how the look who he says here, get behind me, go away from me, Satan. You are a scandal to me. You're a stumbling block to me. You do not have the mindset of the things

of God, but rather of the things of humans. Is that in Luke's version? It's in Matthew. Matthew chapter 16 verse 23. Oh, oh, this is the Peter's. Yeah, yeah, okay, that's right. That's looking at it. So to have a satanic mindset is a human focused mindset, apart from the upside down ethic of God's kingdom. They're one and the same. I guess I think I have a satanic mindset a lot. A lot. Yeah, yeah.

That's intense. Well, I mean, it's connected to the beast lot. Yeah. Yeah. That's intense. Well, I mean, it's connected to the beast imagery. Right? A beast is nothing to do with evolution. This is just like, look at the world. Humans are like the animals, but we have more. There's more. And so for humans to take on the ethic of a beast is to go backwards from true humanity.

So the beast tempting in Genesis 3 is pulling us away from real humanity to redefine good and evil in the best interests of me in my group, even if it's at the expense of yours. Are you supposed to start reading Genesis 3's kind of back and forth between Satan and Adam and Eve, I guess? And this story kind of is like a, almost like a, a pairing. Talk about Jesus in the wilderness. Or Jesus and Peter. Jesus in the wilderness actually, for sure. Specifically.

Yeah, they're on analogy to each other. In the sense that this gives me more, it fills out, mmm, Genesis 3 more for me. It's like a backwards commentary, I'm gonna say 3. Yeah, that's totally, that's right. And I wanna make sure that's okay for me to do that. Because I feel like in Genesis 3, there's so many unanswered questions.

Correct, correct. It's a tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It's just very general. And you get the sense of, and we've talked about this a lot, it's just like, how am I gonna decide what's good? Correct. But here, I kind of imagine now the snake telling Eve this almost the same thing, like, hey,

God wants you to rule the garden, and rule heaven and an earth. Like, I'll tell you how you can really do it. Like, do it by seizing your own knowing of good and evil. Yeah. And more specifically specifically to worship him. Yeah, well to do that is to give allegiance to him. It's to accept that his story is the true story. Yeah.

If I take this knowledge, I won't die. Yeah. I'll become what I'm truly made to be. Giving allegiance to the snake's narrative, yeah. Yeah, it's like there's two alternate narratives about eternal life in Genesis 3. Yeah. One is you receive it as a gift by submitting to God's wisdom. Yeah. Or you come under the story. And what Eve should have said was, get behind me. Yes, snake. Yes. Yeah. You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only. That's right. Yeah. This is Jesus is doing what Adam and Eve ought to have done. Yes. You shall worship the Lord you God and serve Him only. That's right. Yeah.

This is, Jesus is doing what Adam and Eve ought to have done. Yeah. And he's the first human in the whole narrative of the scriptures. Who does this? Hmm. Like that's, I think that's why every, all the narratives of testing and failure in the Hebrew scriptures are all full of echoes of Genesis. With the exception of Abraham on the map.

Abraham gets it right on his tenth test. That's Abraham's tenth test. Wow. There's ten testing narratives. And actually, he succeeds a handful of others. Yeah. But that's the ultimate one. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's right. Cool. So there you go. You walk away from Jesus in the wilderness and you're like, he's a new Adam. Mm-hmm. he's a new David ruling the kingdoms of the world. He's a new Daniel. He won't bow down to Babylon or its world system. He's the full package deal. And he passed the test. And he passed the test. And then the next thing after that is the sermon on the mount. It's Jesus goes up to a high mountain and teaches the Messianic Torah

to the kingdom of God people. Did Matthew. It's good. Hey everybody, thanks for listening to this episode of the Bible Project Podcast. We've got just one more episode left in the series on the set of man next week. And after that, we're going to do a question and response episode. So we would love to hear questions that you all have. If you

want to send us a question, you can send us an audio file at info at join the BibleProject.com. That's I-N-F-O-Info at join the BiblePro dot com that's i n f o info at join the Bible Project dot com if you could say your name uh... where you're from that would be awesome and if you can try and keep your question to around twenty seconds today's show was produced by dan gummel the theme music was by the band tense and we as always want to say thank you, thank you thank you to all of our listeners, our viewers, our supporters, the Bible project. It's such an amazing thing to be a part of and so many of you are a part of this with us. So we're grateful for your support and we're going to keep exploring more of the story of the

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