Bible Themes

Names

Names are not as important these days as they were back in the bible times. God cares for us and wants to be in a relationship with us. There are two main names for God. One is Yahweh, meaning a loving or caring relationship, and Elohim which means the creator or to create. My visual example is a megaphone. It is a megaphone because my name means ‘the listener’. It is like I need to be a listener for others, and for God too. What I learned from this unit, that back then, names described the people. For example, Elijah, means ‘my God is Yahweh’. I think that Elijah is a perfect example of meanings of names. When the Baal worshipers saw God’s power on Mt. Caramel, they began to say, “Elijah! Elijah!” which translates to, “My God is Yahweh! My God is Yahweh!” Names really are an important part of our lives!

Conflict and Doubt

Conflict and doubt is a huge part of our lives today. We have a million decisions and problems to face. In the bible times, everyone had conflict and doubt. People would ask God questions like, “Why me?” or “What will happen next?” Abraham and Sarah are a good example. They had to trust God, in giving them a son. God told them that he would give them a son. Even though they were almost 100 years old, they still eventually had a son. I chose this for my visual because it has to do with trust. We need to trust that God will show us the correct path to take and make the right decisions. That, is conflict and doubt.

 

Covenant

I chose covenant because it really can connect with us today. A covenant means to make an agreement with someone or lots of people. There are two kinds of covenants. One is a conditional covenant, and the other one is an unconditional covenant. The only difference is, in the conditional covenant both people have a part to keep. For example, if you obey, you get blessings, if you disobey, you get consequences. An unconditional covenant is a covenant that only one person has to do something for it. Noah from the bible was in an unconditional covenant. God promised to never flood the whole earth again, and Noah didn’t have to do anything. I have never been in an unconditional covenant, but I have been in a conditional. My visual shows two people shaking hands which shows an agreement. That is what covenants are all about.  

Symbol of a Lamp

The symbol of the lamp was very interesting to learn about. God chose this example because that was the only source of light in the darkness in the Bible times. It has two meanings. One for sure is that Jesus is the light of the world. He helps us through every situation you could think of, and helps us make the right decisions. The second one talks about how Jesus will come from Davids line. So, God told David that he would keep his lamp burning all the time. That is because the biggest light was coming. Jesus was on his way. My visual shows a TV show called Survivor. In this show, people go to an island and meet 16 people who will be on their team. Every 3 days, someone from one of the teams are voted off of the island. That is what is happening in the picture. In that game, fire represents life. If your torch stays lit, you are still in the game. If your torch gets put out by the host, then you are out of the game. It kind of has the same idea as Davids lamp. If you light is put out, then you are out of luck, and out of Jesus. Keep your torch lit!

 

Slavery and Salvation

When a lot of people hear the word ‘slaves’, they think of poor people who are working for a king. What people don’t know, is that our ancestors were slaves way back when. An example is this is Joseph. His brothers sold him into slavery. He was sold to a caravan and then sold to Potiphar to work for him. He was eventually put into prison, for something that he didn’t do. God helped him to begin to know the meanings of peoples dreams. So, when Potiphar had a dream that he didn’t know the meaning, he summoned Joseph to tell him. He became the assistant leader for the drought that was going on. His brothers came to get food and saw him there. God used the brothers decision for good. My visual is the movie Prince of Egypt. This movie is all about Moses. How his mother sent him as a baby into a river in a basket. You know the story. In the end, he finds his good side and his Godly side. God spoke to Moses and he leads the people out of Egypt. That is slavery, turned into salvation.

Something is Rotten

No, it is not about something smelling really bad. It is about the kings of Israel. Israel kept on having one bad king after another. They went through, Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, and Ahab. They finally got Josiah. Who was okay. God still sent Elijah. Elijah had to talk to them about which God was better, Baal or God. They had the competition on Mt. Caramel. God won obviously. Then, Elijah asked them, “How long will you waver between two gods?” The people were silent. They had nothing to say. My visual shows someone helping the other team’s player cross the finish line. We call that good sportsmanship. I chose this because I think of Elijah kind of like that. He was kind of like the miniature light in the darkness and sin of the Israelites. This lady is being the light on the track field and helping the other woman. That is what something is rotten means to me.

 

 

The Call

God keeps his promises. He showed this by calling Abraham and Sarah to be the parents of a huge family. Sarah and Abraham didn’t always trust God and tried to do things on their own. God still calls people today to do different things. For example, Mr. VanDyke. He felt called by God to go and work at North Pointe school instead of our school. Or, when the hurricane hit Huston, many people felt called to go and serve or send basic necessities down to help them. We all get called by God at some point in our lives. Sometimes it totally changes your plans, but God knows best. I would recommend listening. God called Jonah to go to Nineveh and talk to the people about their wrongdoing. One problem, he was scared. So instead, he went to opposite way, got on a boat and rode west instead of east. A big storm came over the waters and the crew of the boat was terrified. Jonah told them to throw him overboard. So they did. Jonah was soon swallowed by a fish and lived in the fish’s stomach for three days. He prayed that God would save him. The fish spit him out on shore and he went directly to Nineveh. There are consequences to not listening to God.  

 

 

A Savior

The Israelites could not keep the Sinai covenant, so God gave them another covenant. The new covenant would be written in their hearts and minds. Not on tablets this time. They did not need to sacrifice animals anymore because Jesus was their only sacrifice needed. This is the most important theme of the Bible in my opinion. It is the promise of Jesus coming to earth to save us from our sins. Just like me, Isaiah gave the Israelites many visuals or different ways to think about God. You could think of God as a vine, or the light of the world. My visual shows the nativity scene. It is the coming of Jesus. This is definitely still used today. Many Christians look forward to Christmas because it is the coming of Jesus, (and you get presents of course).