From the Garden of Moses to the Garden of John

By Janice E. Ocamb

Our lives do not end with "ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

The Judeo-Christian Bible begins perfectly in the Garden of Eden as described by Moses, and it ends perfectly in a garden setting within the city of New Jerusalem as described by the Apostle John. In contrast to these perfect garden bookends, the chapters

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Dec 8, 2023
• ISBN: 9798890410146

Janice E. Ocamb

First-time author, Janice Ocamb, received a Master of Biblical Studies from Lancaster Bible College and enjoys four season outdoor living in south central Pennsylvania.

Book preview

FROM THE GARDEN OF MOSES

TO THE GARDEN OF JOHN

1500 Years of Truth for Our 21

st

Century

Janice E. Ocamb

From the Garden of Moses to the Garden of John

Trilogy Christian Publishers

A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive, Tustin, CA 92780

Copyright © 2023 by Janice E. Ocamb.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright (c) 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked Phillips are taken from The New Testament in Modern English, copyright 1958, 1959, 1960 J.B. Phillips and 1947, 1952, 1955, 1957 The Macmillian Company, New York. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Trilogy Christian Publishing/ TBN and colophon are trademarks of Trinity Broadcasting Network.

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Manufactured in the United States of America

Trilogy Disclaimer: The views and content expressed in this book are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views and doctrine of Trilogy Christian Publishing or the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 979-8-89041-013-9

ISBN 979-8-89041-014-6 (ebook)

Dedication

For Leland and Elaine, Dad and Mom

Acknowledgments

To my dear friends who prayed and encouraged me through the writing process, Pastor Arun and Miriam Andrews, Shirley and John Sharpe, Sue Wagner, Barbara Berg, and Tracey Jones, as well as George and Kathy Karnes’ small group, Chat N Chew, whose participants were willing to be my guinea pigs, test the material, and offer feedback. Thank you! To have the fortune of living in this time and place with you as brothers and sisters in Christ is truly a blessing.

Preface

Our lives do not end with ashes to ashes, dust to dust. God reveals this in the Judeo-Christian Bible which begins perfectly in the Garden of Eden as described by Moses, and ends perfectly in a garden setting within the city of New Jerusalem as described by the Apostle John.

Despite its composition by dozens of writers over approximately 1500 years, the Bible is a composite whole that reveals God’s truth about evil, love, justice, and salvation so that the end of the message is anticipated from the very beginning—a perfect and everlasting relationship with Creator God for any of us who choose to believe Him (John 3).¹

In contrast to the Bible’s perfect garden bookends, the chapters in between describe a world that is far from perfect. What happened? And even if we can figure out what happened, what do we do about it? This is what the Bible is about.

Truth or Non-Truth, That Is the Question

How do we know that the Bible is real and can be trusted? After all, it is not the only holy book in existence. Archaeological evidence has produced multiple bibles or codes of law that comprised social, ethical, and moral regulations to direct the conduct of ancient people. Findings also bear witness to belief in many different gods: ancient Egyptians believed their pharaohs were gods; Muslims believe Allah is god; during World War 2, the Japanese people believed

Emperor Hirohito was god; and more recently, members of the Heaven’s Gate cult believed Marshall Applewhite was god.²

Belief systems, standards for living, and deities are countless and can stem from ancestral tradition, inspiration in nature, or human fabrication. We’re free to take our pick… or… free to not pick at all. So what makes Yahweh and His revealed word in the Judeo-Christian Bible authentic as compared to any other bible or god or myth? This survey explores these topics by considering eight key biblical ground rules.

God’s Ground Rules

God’s biblical message is shaped by eight (8) key themes that aid our understanding about the beautiful, yet temporary and imperfect world in which we currently live, as well as the eternal dimension that is our future destination.

1. God loves us; the Bible is not simply about a religion, but about a relationship.

2. The Bible is not man-made but was inspired by God’s Holy Spirit.

3. Humans are uniquely made in the image of God and have free will, just as He does.

4. The unseen is greater than the seen.

5. There are only two world views—the Biblical One and the Other One.³

6. Sin separates us from God.

7. Sin causes death, but Jesus outlived death,⁴ and because He did, so can we.

8. Jesus is the only way to a restored relationship with God because Jesus is God.

These themes are explored through the experiences of familiar personalities such as Ruth, King David, and Paul, but are also supported by persons who typically receive less coverage—the accounts of Zelophehad, Uriah, Abbigail, Uzzah, Hassopereth, and Onesimus offer fresh reinforcement of God’s message about evil, love, justice, and salvation.

The Bible is Not Man-Made

A starting point for discerning truth is recognition of God’s divine inspiration of Scripture—it wasn’t simply written by a bunch of scribes acting on their own.

Consider the Bible’s first and last two garden chapters. They contain striking parallels, but it wasn’t because Moses and John decided to collaborate and discuss what they were going to write—Moses and John never met. They lived approximately 1500 years apart and other than their Hebrew ancestry, we can’t be sure that they had much in common—Moses was raised in Egyptian royalty and John was raised in a Jewish family of fisherman. But Moses and John shared one essential relationship that transcends time and space—they both believed in and worshiped Yahweh, Triune God. Their biblical witness compliments one another not because of collaboration or happenstance but because their inspiration came from the same source.

The Bible’s Countercultural Features

Key support for the biblical writers being inspired by the Holy Spirit is that the contents of many narrative accounts do not square with what was culturally common practice for the times. Chapters 1 and 2, Countercultural Evidence from the Old and New Testaments, supports this understanding.

This viewpoint does not ignore that much of the Bible’s content reflects writing styles, stories and learning examples that were customary to the cultures in which the writers lived, but it also recognizes the occasions when the writers departed from the normal customs of their day—biblical writers strongly warned the people to not create idols and offer child sacrifices like other societies did; the writers often ignored the common custom of primogeniture (favoring the firstborn son) and they also described laws that gave more rights to women or relayed accounts that regarded them in high esteem (e.g., Numbers 27; Proverbs 31).

A major contribution to the countercultural theme is that the text often records flaws and shortcomings of the people God inspired. Even personalities we consider to be heroes were flawed. The patriarch Jacob, King David, and the Apostle Peter all had their bad days, and some of those days were really bad.

The Bible is authentic because it does not try to hide or gloss over the foibles and imperfections of the people God inspired. Believing that the Holy Spirit is the motivation behind these writings is certainly a matter of faith, but these chapters also propose material proof of divine inspiration based on content that is radically different, and even counterintuitive to human thinking and the cultural norms of the ancient Near East.

We Are Beings of Two Different Dimensions

Chapter 3 advances several of God’s ground rules by considering how He uniquely made us in His image, loves us, and hardwired His moral code of conduct in us. We are not simply biological, we are also spiritual, and as such we are beings of two different dimensions, our current temporary existence as well as our future eternal existence.

In this respect, the Bible does not contradict scientific theorists who contemplate the possibility of a separate universe that parallels our physical time and space. Rather, it affirms the two parallel universes and the influences at work in these two realms can be good or evil according to God’s moral standard; God’s Special Revelation in the Bible is uncomfortably candid about this (Ephesians 6). But the good news is that elements of evil, love, justice, and salvation are all addressed on our behalf by Jesus, the second person of the Trinity.

Spiritual Warfare

Chapter 4, Only Two World Views, candidly surveys how desperate our current mortal situation is by addressing the uncomfortable, but real, existence and nature of spiritual warfare. There are only two world views: the Biblical One or the Other One. The Bible’s undeniable emphasis is that we are either bound for restoration with Triune God or we are not, there is no middle ground. Evil and good influences exist in both dimensions and our future eternal destination is determined by our own free will regarding these opposing influences.

When one has an adequate understanding of the magnitude and consequence of our inherited, condemned state that leads to death and separation from God, it will amplify the importance and magnitude of Jesus’ solution to our condemnation.

Jesus’ Amazing Grace

Chapters 5 and 6, Jesus and A New Ark of the Covenant concentrate on the impact of Jesus’ life, His authority, His connections between the Old and New Testaments and how He is our only way to Sabbath rest through a restored relationship with God.

In the Old Testament, God’s dwelling place among the people was represented by His presence in the Ark of the Covenant; in the New Testament, His dwelling place among us is within us. God the Spirit finds acceptable accommodations within each saved person not because we are sinless, but because we are deemed blameless through confession, repentance, and acceptance of Jesus as Savior (1 Corinthians 1).

Because of Jesus’ perfect and all sufficient