The REAL and FAKE Study
“Literacy and the WORD”
THE BIBLE IS
Literature
A Series about the Beginning, Middle, and End
This article was inspired by the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Mark. It was also inspired by a teeny-tiny little Letter written by District 833 titled, “Literacy is Everywhere.”
Literacy is Everywhere
District 833 Letter to Parents
The Director of Teaching and Learning for secondary education in SoWashCo is asking parents to partner with the district in showing our children everyday literacy skills (Link to Letter HERE).
Previously, in the first article of this series, THE BIBLE IS: A Message For Us, I focused on the BEGINNING and the END of the Bible in Genesis and Revelation (district skills: Lists & Maps, Instruction and News).
Now, in the second article of this series, THE BIBLE IS: Thy Kingdom Com(ing), I focus on the CENTER of the Gospel in Matthew and Mark (district skills: Money & Contracts, Nutrition & Measurements).
Later, in the third article of this series, THE BIBLE IS: For All Who Will Believe, I will focus on the CENTER of the Gospel by comparing Luke to John and threading that back through the WHOLE of the Bible (district skills: ART & MUSIC).
Lists & Maps
MONEY & CONTRACTS
NUTRITION & MEASUREMENTS
Art & Music
Instruction & News
What is the GOSPEL made of?
Think of how complex the character of Jesus Christ would be to express in words or in art. He is KING, but He is also SERVANT. He is MAN, but He is also GOD. The four Gospels each represent an impression of His character so that when combined, we may experience Jesus in a multi-dimensional reality. In the same way as we can view a sculpture from all four sides (versus a painting from only one), we can experience Christ from the front, back, left and right in all four Gospels.
This is not only artistic genius on the part of the Bible’s Author, this is also his Law under Israel’s judicial process. Two or three witnesses were required by Law to support every criminal accusation before becoming a conviction. “You must not convict anyone of a crime on the testimony of only one witness.The facts of the case must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Deuteronomy 19:15, NLT; see also Numbers 35:30).” The four gospel’s represent four eyewitness accounts about the life of Jesus Christ, His unlawful trial and conviction, and His miraculous death and resurrection on the cross. Each Gospel provides different details that would have resonated with the four different audiences at that time – the Jew, the Roman, the Greek and All who will believe.
The Artist's Sketch
This is a series of sketches I drew of my roommates kitten, Lexi. One angle never seemed to be enough to tell her story, so I began sketching from multiple angles. Finally I was able to capture the playful personality of this little cutie. The four gospels can be likened in the same way to four character sketches of Jesus Christ. One angle alone would not have captured the same complexity of character that the four angles together are able to accomplish.
God of Law and Order
In the Alpha and the Omega of the Old and New Testaments, we get to experience God’s character through the lists he creates which reflect the priority of this order. Our God is a God of Law and Order, and we know this about him because of his attention to detail – family genealogies, the Laws of Moses, building materials of the tabernacle, architectural measurements of the Temple, his language around currency, the giving and receiving of each covenant, the inspired songs of worship, the way Jesus lived, His Beatitudes for us to do the same, and the beauty of color that abounds in splendor and jubilee at the coming of our King’s new Jerusalem.
The problem since the beginning of creation has always been FORMLESSNESS, EMPTINESS and DARKNESS. John 14:6 tells us Jesus is the Savior who provides “the way and the truth and the life.” This is the same FORM and SUBSTANCE and LIGHT which God began a good work in us at creation (Genesis 1:1-2). The difference between the time of creation and now is, since the Fall of Man, we are in the hands of the Devil. We live in his kingdom now, and it is a kingdom of chaos. Like the deep drum of a brewing storm, we feel the base beat faithfully : from problem to solution, out of chaos into order, from enslaved to ransomed, from formlessness to formed, from void to filled, from death to life … back and forth faithfully like a drum.
The GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ as recorded by
Matthew
who tells of Jesus, the KING
The Heavenly KING, Israel's promised Messiah,
who came as a SERVANT to ransom the slave.
the only MAN worthy to save every other,
able to defeat death, he is GOD.
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.”
The New Testament begins with the Gospel of Matthew, which breaks the silence after 400 years (since Malachi’s prophecy) with the announcement of the birth of Jesus. Up until now, the story has built upon the main character of God so that, when their promised Messiah arrived, the Israelite people would recognize their hero, King Jesus. Matthew wrote to a Jewish audience about the arrival of their King, therefore he begins his testimony with the royal Jewish bloodline of Jesus. Matthew is known as “the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1).
The Bible is Art
If we think of the Bible as Art then that means the Artist is leading our eye through its composition while we read. In the Gospel of Matthew we see all the Elements of Art (Line, Form, Color, etc) organizing around one single person who packs one powerful message. Jesus is at the heart of this love story between God and us.
This Principal of Design is called EMPHASIS.
District 833 Literacy Skill
"Sign a Contract"
The Old Testament
The two main divisions of the Bible are the Old Testament and the New Testament. We hear this word “testament” so often in reference to the Bible that I think we take its meaning for granted in our 21st Century mindset.
A testament serves as the evidence behind a person’s will and is often related to personal property. The “Old” Testament is exactly that: In the archaic language of a more primitive past this is a record of God’s will for his people, or as merriam-webster.com defines, “a covenant between God and the human race” (See source HERE). The Latin root for testimony is testis, meaning “ witness.”
A covenant is a written agreement or promise between two or more parties. This is similar to a contract practiced in common-law today, but a contract can be broken without moral implications (so long as the penalty is paid) whereas a covenant cannot be broken.
God established seven covenants with the human race starting with Adamic and Noahic. He made an individual covenant with Abraham around 1900 B.C. (Genesis 12, 15, 17), which is the first of four covenants made with the nation of Israel.
At no point did God abolish the first to make room for the second, third, or fourth. By the time we reach the “New” Covenant in the New Testament, we begin to unpack the genius of God’s process made evident by the whole. From the very first covenant to the very last, we see a progression of baby steps that grow in difficulty as God expands his familial covenant to include every nation, tribe, language and people … aka the world.
Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.“
The New Testament
The New Testament reveals the seventh, and final, covenant God made with the human race: The NEW COVENANT. Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Law of Moses and to create a new covenant between God and the human race (Matthew 5:17).
This is like a covenantal wedding vow between God and his church. Notice how the beat of this drum just keeps beating to the original three needs: shaping formlessness into FORM, replacing emptiness with FILLING, and bringing darkness into the LIGHT.
Jesus Christ accomplished this by first paying off our debt to Satan, and then by providing us the spiritual bread and wine we need to survive as sojourners temporarily in a land that is not our home.
Jesus called men into His companionship as a king would call subjects unto his own, and he trained them to carry on the great message of his work – a message of Good News to preach saying, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 10:7).
The King’s Kingdom has not yet come though. Jesus has left us instructions how to prepare for the kingdom, but in the mean time we live in hostile territory. Dr. David Jeremiah says, “References to the second coming outnumber references to the first by a factor of eight to one … Scholars count 1,845 biblical references to the second coming, including 318 in the New Testament. ” (Jeremiah, David. pg 352)
The carol we sing at Christmas called, Joy to The World was not written as a celebration of the birth of Jesus, believe it or not. It was not written for the King’s FIRST coming but for his SECOND. Isaac Watts wrote the hymn in 1719 based on his interpretation of Psalm 98, which speaks to the celebration AFTER the judgement day of Christ. (Jeremiah, David. pg 364)
Are you ready?
Lesson Learned from Scripture:
Through Jesus Christ, the Law and Prophets are fulfilled (not abolished), which sets Christians apart from all other religions who follow the Hebrew Torah. For instance, Muhammad (Arabian religious, social and political leader) established Islam in 610 A.D., and more recently, Baháʼu’lláh (Iranian religious leader) established Baha’i Faith in the 19th Century. Both USE the Torah and pray to “God,” but both abolish Hebrew prophesy in order to make room for their own man-made version.
And this seems to be the trend in ISD#833 education where the Islamic faith of man is promoted, while the Christian faith of Jesus is demoted (if not worse). We see this in the High School assigned literature pairings. For instance, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini paired with The Crucible by Arthur Miller and A Step from Heaven by An Na. These are all fine books that speak to the oppressive nature of mankind, but like I have said before, something is missing … and it is authenticity. A biblical foundation places every single one of these stories within their proper context. I use the word “proper” not just because I am a Christian (which is also true), but because of the undeniable fact : Jesus Christ changed the world!
District 833 Literacy Skill
"Check nutrition facts" & "Use a Measuring Cup"
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
The Body and the Blood
Is the Bread and the vine
The Bible begins and ends with food – from the fruit of the tree in Genesis to the banquet feast of new Jerusalem in Revelation. Bread alone is mentioned at least 492 times in the Bible, and no figure is more associated with food than its central character, Jesus. (Shiner)
In the Lord’s Prayer (above), we are to pray for our daily bread, which means a proportion is measured out as a provision for each person. God provided for his chosen people in the exodus from Egypt when he rained manna down from heaven (Exodus 16), and God continues to provide for our survival when he sent Jesus to become the bread of life (John 6:35). During the Last Supper, Jesus takes the unleavened bread and breaks it to symbolize His broken body and His death on the cross on our behalf (Matthew 26:26).
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Bread is nutrition for our earthly bodies, so we know it well when the Bible speaks of it as spiritual bread to feed our spiritual lives as a way to salvation. In the Bible, bread represents God’s provision, salvation through Jesus, His everlasting grace in forgiveness, and the marriage feast of the Lamb (Jesus) and His wife (the church) (Revelation 19:9)
Wine is a symbol of fellowship and celebration, and in the Bible Jesus uses wine to signify the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood. When “dead” grapes ferment, they are filled with a new “spirit” which helps them live again.
“Then He said to me, ‘Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’”
The GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ as recorded by
Mark
who tells of Jesus, the SERVANT
The Heavenly King, Israel's promised Messiah,
who came as a servant to ransom the slave.
the only man worthy to save every other,
able to defeat death, he is god.
And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?”Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
Mark writes his Gospel with factual detail about the work Jesus accomplished while on earth. He writes primarily to a ROMAN audience by speaking to what they valued most (Christ’s many mighty deeds) and leaving out the rest (Christ’s birth, genealogy, and laws). Unlike the Jews, the Romans were interested in Jesus ‘the hard worker’, not Jesus ‘the prophesied King of the Jews’. They were a business-like type of practical people who valued strength and common sense. We see the pattern of servitude through Mark’s use of a simple literary tool. The word, “and” repeats rhythmically throughout his gospel like one long run-on sentence. It is reflective of the steadfast work of Jesus that has not ceased to this day.
The Bible is Art
If we think of the Bible as Art, the Gospel of Mark presents a contrast between the word “King” and “Servant.” This is something every Christian has to grapple with. For a leader to be a slave, and for great men and women to submit as servants, there must be love. This is not easy to do at first because of the pride and envy of our sinful flesh, but the Holy Spirit is able to fill us with love the more we are intentional to become more like Jesus. This is why REAL Christians do not look like the rest of the world.
This Principal of Design is called CONTRAST.
District 833 Literacy Skill
"Check a Receipt" & "Pay a Bill"
And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your SERVANT, and whoever would be first among you must be SLAVE of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to SERVE, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
... A Ransom for Many
According to Merriam-Webster.com a RANSOM is “To free from captivity or punishment by paying a price” (See source HERE). We all know the price Jesus paid, but why was his death a requirement in the first place? He is the King after all, right? Why is the entire human race owned by a slave master? Why did the rightful King Jesus not claim His kingdom and take His children home 2000 years ago?
The answer is in the question … Yes, Jesus is King, but he reigns over the heavenly kingdom, not the earthly one we now inhabit in the flesh. It is almost as if Adam sold his birthright to the Devil when he chose KNOWLEDGE (Antichrist) over LIFE (Christ) in the Garden of Eden. From that moment on, Adam and Eve were no longer fit to live with the Prince of Peace. You and I, we are all sons and daughters of Adam and therefore inherit his curse. We live with the Prince of this world who oppresses us in brokenness, sin and death.
So you see, if Jesus had come first as Judge to usher in His Kingdom, there wouldn’t be a single person worthy to enter. Even the most righteous among us, after the curse, is still too filthy a sinner without Christ to live in the presence of God.
And isn’t that the point?
Jesus loves you, and that is why He came first as “ransom” so that when He comes again He can bring you home. But Jesus is not a Dictator. He is not going to force you to follow Him. If, in that day of judgement, your name is not in His Book of Life, it will be because you rejected the LIFE he offered, and you chose to feast on the KNOWLEDGE of Satan instead. Even in all your “goodness” … even in all your “kindness” … without Jesus, goodness and kindness are fruitless.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
There was a bounty on your head. Jesus the Servant paid off your debt, one you were incapable of paying on your own.
Where do you store up your treasure? Here on earth or up in heaven
Treasure in Heaven
The best way I have heard Bible scholars describe how Christians should treat money is as a Means to the End. If a Christian treats money as the End in itself, then money becomes their idol of worship. Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)
“The bottom line is this:” says Pastor Paul Carter at The Gospel Coalition, ” money is a good tool and a bad god, so use it as such. Use it to take care of your family. Use it to open up doors for yourself in eternity and use it to advance the cause of Christ down here on earth. Receive it as a gift and give praise to the Giver – thanks be to God!” (Carter) Link HERE)
Lesson Learned from Scripture:
In the Bible we learn about the Lion of Judah who represents the REAL King and kingdom of heaven. But the Bible lists a second lion who walketh the earth seeking to devour (1 Peter 5:8,9). The apostle Peter calls this lion by the name of “great adversary, the Devil.” This means there is a counterfeit kingdom with a counterfeit king who resides with us here on our earth.
THINK ABOUT THAT … There are two kingdoms – one earthly and one heavenly. There are two male lions – one REAL and one FAKE. A male lion will protect the territory of his kingdom to great measure. NOW, THINK ABOUT THIS: WHY DID JESUS FIRST COME AS THE SERVANT AND NOT AS THE KING SO MANY EXPECTED?
Make no mistake, The King IS coming again! He has already paid the ransom to free us in our slavery from the counterfeit king.
Why do we not recognize our own King?
Could it be that we, like the Jews, are looking for our earthly king and not our heavenly King? Are we expecting a king who looks like the government of man? When we meet Jesus in Mark’s gospel, we do not meet the world’s definition of a King. We do not meet a mighty warrior who stores up treasures on earth. No, we meet a humble and quiet carpenter from Nazareth.
Jesus is unlike any other king the world has ever seen. He did not fight physical battles and expect the nation of Israel to die in service to their King. No! THE KING HIMSELF DIED FOR HIS OWN KINGDOM TO COME.
The servant King Jesus is the most beautiful testament to LOVE this world of sinners will ever know! The King of the Jews came to serve both Jew and Gentile – to fix OUR brokenness, to fill OUR emptiness, to die for US in all our disgraceful sin, to defeat death on the cross for OUR spiritual salvation – and even while they crucified him, he did not falter in his devotion TO them … to us.
Jesus said, 'Father, "forgive them, for they know not what they do." And they cast lots to divide his garments.
IN THIS ARTICLE
I have focused on the center of the Bible story through the first two Gospels – Matthew and Mark. As we can see, the state-run school district-defined literacy skills are not as progressive as they might claim to be. They are actually quite ancient and have been foundational to the Christian faith for Millennia. It’s not uncommon though for man to rebrand biblical principals and call it his own … I would consider this a form of theft. It is plagiarism. Whether the school district knows this is not necessarily my focus.
My concern is that PARENTS know this.
We need to be teaching biblical literacy skills to our very own children. Look to the kingdom FIRST. Be aware of its counterfeit SECOND.
Works Cited (in addition to links in-line):
The idea I explored around the four character sketches of Jesus in the four Gospels came from …
- Mears Henrietta C. What The Bible is All About. Gospel Light, 2nd rev. ed.,Regal Books, 1997, Chap 27.
The idea I explored around Matthew’s “King” Jesus and Mark’s “Servant” Jesus came from …
- Mears Henrietta C. What The Bible is All About. Gospel Light, 2nd rev. ed.,Regal Books, 1997, Chap 28-29.
I also reference …
- Jeremiah, Dr. David. THE BOOK OF SIGNS 31 Undeniable prophesies of the apocalypse. Thomas Nelson, W. Publishing, 2019.
- Shiner, Rory. Feast! A Biblical Theology of Food and Eating. The Gospel Coalition Australia. Published 02/12/19 and accessed 09/24. https://au.thegospelcoalition.org/article/feast-biblical-theology-food-eating/ .
- Carter, Pastor Paul. 5 Surprising Things that the Bible says About Money. The Gospel Coalition Canada. Published 07/10/22 and accessed 09/24. https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/columns/ad-fontes/5-surprising-things-that-the-bible-says-about-money/
Up Next
I hope to wrap up "the Center" with the literacy skills of Music and Art
in the Gospels of Luke and John (to published in November.)
In the mean time, my rough drafts have taken a slight detour in focus on the four governing bodies of the Bible (To publish in the next week or two).
Four Governing Bodies
God established four spheres of government in the Bible – Self, Family, Civil, and Church. By government, that is not to say those forms we think of today (Democracy, Dictatorship, Republic, Aristocracy, Monarchy, Anarchy), but rather the separate spheres of delegated authority under which God has chosen to rule.
The culture of “world” says CIVIL and CHURCH must not mix. “Separation of church and state!” they cry. This is a quote that is deeply misunderstood, but I don’t want to talk about the things man has said. I want to talk about the things written in the Holy Bible. CIVIL and CHURCH have gone hand in hand since the days of Moses and Aaron. Not only did God institute this pairing with his chosen people, Israel, but he also tells us that the Prince of this world will institute a system of CIVIL and CHURCH government in the end times that will persecute, torture and kill the people of God. In this way, the UN-holy trinity will mimic the Holy Trinity by agent of a political leader (the Antichrist) and a religious leader (the False Prophet).
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The REAL or FAKE Series
The Real or Fake Series sets the stage for 2024 and will be the foundation for future articles. It builds off of the Christmas Gift poem written and published on December 15th, 2023 titled “The Maker IS”
Everything that “IS”, has been made, and all things made have a MAKER. Therefore, everything made has a purpose. This series distinguishes between the superficial and the substantive things we choose to surround ourselves with. Generation after generation passes by, and pretty soon fakeness become so embedded in a culture that reality is forgotten altogether.
The characteristic traits of REAL are defined here, and FAKE is called out for the counterfeit it is. Follow along as Jaime looks at all parts of the K-12 education system, from tangible to complex, literature to curriculum, public to non-public, and the real and fake players within the Minnesota election process.
REAL or FAKE
Beginning With Real
JOURNEY TO THE END
JOURNEY of Two Mountains
When You Vote Fake …
JOURNEY With Eyes That Don’t See
Literacy and The WORD
Game of Complimentary Opposites
THE BIBLE IS: A Message for us
