The Disappearance of a Pied Piper

Adoption

If I am to be adopted into God's Family, who is the Judge, who is the adoptive parent, and who is the child in this case? Bud wondered. It seems, that the identity of the child, who is to be adopted is the easiest to identify. I just said it. "If I am to be adopted." That would make me the child to be adopted in this case.

Bud walked back toward the church, continuing to chew on these thoughts. I think the Judge is God, but I think He is also the adoptive Father. How is that even possible?

As he neared the church, Jerome jumped up from his reading and studying place, excited to tell something to his Chief. "Chief, I'm making progress, regarding how to be saved."

"That's great, Jerome," he said. "What have you found?"

"I remembered a Bible verse, that my Momma helped me to memorize when I was a small child. John 3:16 was taught to me as 'The Gospel in a nutshell.'"

"Great!" Bud said, "If you've got it memorized, then repeat it to me, so I will know it."

"Okay," he said, "Here goes. 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'"

"What does it mean?" the Chief asked.

Jerome said, "Chief, I believe it means, that God took the initiative to save us. He gave His Only Begotten Son, Jesus, to pay for our sins, while being Perfection for us, that we could not be. By laying the foundation, and choosing believers, He insured, that anyone who believed Jesus would miss Hell, and be saved to eternal life in Heaven with Jesus."

"Is this what you believe, now, Jerome, or is this merely what you were taught to believe when you were a child?" Bud asked.

"Touché, Chief," he said. "I can't say with 100% confidence, that this is what I believe, today, yet, but it is both what I was taught to believe as a child, and it is, also, what I am finding in my studies, that you have asked me to start in the past 24 hours. I remembered John 3:16, but then I surmised it would be the height of wisdom to read the whole chapter to find out why this verse seems to be the one most commonly memorized by small children."

"Anything to report, yet?" Bud asked.

"As a matter of fact, Yes, Chief," Jerome said. "I've learned specific things, that will draw us closer to the meaning of 'Be Saved.'"

"Let's hear a few of those things, Jerome," Bud said.

"According to the first verse of John 3, apparently we aren't the only men, who have wanted to know how to be saved," Jerome said. "There was a religious leader in Jesus' day, name Nicodemus. He seemed to want to 'save face,' first of all because he went to Jesus at night to ask his questions."

"Interesting," Bud said. "A private audience to avoid public shame, if there was the potential for that. I get that. Please continue."

"Nicodemus stated his belief, that Jesus was a teacher, who was close to God," Jerome said, "but Jesus deflected the compliment, and said, 'This is a true thing, I'm telling you, Without new birth, a man will not be able to see the kingdom of God."

"Apparently, Jesus isn't easily flattered, if at all," Bud said. "What do you think Jesus meant by the phrase, 'new birth'?" Bud asked.

"Well, the King James Version reads the concept as 'born again.' I was just trying to simplify by saying, 'new birth.'" Jerome said.

"Born again, huh?" Bud said. "That's a hard one to grasp because I'd have a hard time even getting in my Momma's womb to be born again, even if she was still alive."

"Funny you should word it that way," Jerome said, "because that is virtually the same thing Nicodemus asked Jesus about, during that conversation one night in the first century, A.D. This time Jesus didn't do a frontal attack on the misconception. He simply focused on the meaning He was teaching Nicodemus. 'Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.' That was John 3:5-7, KJV."

"Now, Jesus is getting a little confusing," Bud said. "I've spent so many years as an atheist, believing the physical universe was all that existed. Now, Jesus is introducing me to the concept of spirit. 'Born of the flesh' I understand. 'Born of the Spirit' is hard for me to grasp, but at least he cleared up that part about being born physically a second time. That's a relief. I wonder if I'll ever get the concept, that to 'be saved' means to be 'born of the spirit.'"

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Chief," Jerome said. "I don't think you are alone in that confusion. There's more to read in the chapter."

"There are certainly a lot of blanks, I need to have filled in," Bud shook his head.

Jerome went on. "Jesus reprimanded Nicodemus for being a teacher in Israel while not knowing the things He was talking about. Here's what Jesus emphasized to a greater degree. 'If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.'. this has been the preamble, that brings us up to the memory verse, John 3:16."

"Let me see if I've got this straight," Bud said. "Jesus used the earthly concept of birth to describe what it means to 'be saved,'" Bud reviewed the passage. "Yet, if we don't get this earthly illustration about the heavenly thing, 'be saved,' then we're just kind of stuck because no human has ever gone to Heaven, and come back to tell the tale with the exception Jesus, Who is in Heaven right now."

"That seems to be the case the prosecution is endeavoring to make," Jerome said. "However, the next piece of evidence is something I don't get at all because I'm not Jewish, and I don't know Jewish history very well."

"You mean the part about 'Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness,' which is apparently another earthly illustration pointing to what Jesus was about to do for the sake of physical and spiritual restoration," Bud said. "Redemption, I think it is called."

"Yeah, Chief," Jerome said. "I have no recollection of what 'Moses lifting a serpent in the wilderness' refers to."

"Nor do I," Bud said, "but I bet I know someone, who might. Let's put this on pause at the memory verse. Let's to the kitchen. I want to talk with Mrs. Myrtle."

"No problem," Jerome said, "I'm with you. I would love to find out what this one means."

Sure enough, Myrtle was there, sitting at the table, pouring over the book of Ruth as requested. They approached quietly since she seemed rather focused. When they neared her, she soon looked up, and said, "Hello, Bud. Hello, Jerome. What brings you two to my little corner of the kitchen?"

"Mrs. Myrtle, we're stumped about something in John, chapter #3," Bud said.

"And what would that be," she said with a twinkle in her eye.

"John 3:14 in the KJV reads, 'and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:' What does 'Moses and a serpent in the wilderness mean?' And how does that point to what Jesus was about to do?"

"Oh. I remember this from when I was a little girl," Myrtle said. "The children of Israel had sinned very badly, and God sent golden serpents into the camp to bite them, so they would die. This was punishment for the sin. However, God in His Mercy chose to limit His Justice by creating a pole of salvation. Moses fashioned a serpent out of gold, and put it on the top of a pole, telling the dying Israelites, 'If you look to the golden serpent on the pole, then you will live, even after the golden serpent on the ground has bitten you with its fatal bite. Jesus called Himself 'the Son of man,' which is the Jewish term for Messiah (or One Anointed by God.) Jesus was crucified on a Roman cross. The verse is saying, that if anyone looks to Jesus, since every human was born, bitten by the serpent of Sin, then that human would live by looking to Jesus, the symbolic serpent on the pole."

"Oh. WOW, Mrs. Myrtle, That puts things into a whole new light," Bud nodded his head, "Yes."

"Bud, would you like to know what I've learned about the book of Ruth?" she asked.

"Does it have anything to help me understand the expression, 'Be Saved?'" he asked.

"Jewish culture has so many illustrations of that very concept," Myrtle said. "So, to answer your question in a word, 'Yes.'"

"Then, by all means, do please tell me, Mrs. Myrtle," he said.

"The Jewish culture is all about keeping one's possessions in the family of origin," Myrtle assured him. "That's why Jewish marriage often requires matchmaking by family leaders. There are twelve tribes in Israel, and every one of them was given a plot of land when they arrived in the Promised Land. Marrying an outsider or someone of a different tribe could cause the family land to move to another tribe, and that could never be."

"That's a lot different from modern marriage," Bud said. "Lands and homes are easily bought and sold these days."

"Indeed," Myrtle said, "but in ancient Israel, family and land were more than contractual arrangements. Family and land in Israel was a covenant arrangement between the tribe and God. That is why Naomi stated that she was changing her name from Naomi, which meant 'Pleasant' to Mara, which meant 'Bitter.' Before the famine, her life was Pleasant with her husband and two sons, but there trip to Moab to try to run from the bitterness of the famine, unwittingly would turn her entire life bitter when her husband and her two sons died, leaving her as an old woman in a foreign land with two strangers for daughters-in-law. If Naomi died in that situation, there would be nobody in the extended family to inherit her small family's land, and the name of her husband would die essentially because he had no heir."

"Oh. My. Goodness," Bud exclaimed, "That's why I was so proud to have two sons, too, because my last name would continue on."

"Very good, Bud," Myrtle said. "You're starting to understand the meaning of the book of Ruth. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law and went back to her family of origin in Moab, but Ruth clave to Naomi. 'Clave' means to have one's heart 'so intertwined with another's, that the thought of leaving would be painful.' Ruth walked all the way back to Israel with Naomi, and immediately went to work in order to provide for her 'mother.' When Naomi realized, that the field where Ruth was working, belonged to Boaz, she was thrilled to the point of being beside herself. 'Do you know what this means?' Naomi asked Ruth. 'This means God has brought you to the Goël, our kinsman redeemer. Boaz was a near relative, who could buy Noami's land, and in so doing, marry Ruth in order to carry on the name of the men in her family, who had died. There was a slight snag in the plans because Boaz knew a man, who was closer to Naomi than he was, but when Boaz talked with the man in the presence of the town's elders, the man realized that getting a wife along with the land would mar his own inheritance. 'Redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it,' the man told Boaz, who quickly agreed, and the deed was done, all proper and legal. Boaz bought Naomi's land at the redemption price, Ruth became his bride, and they had a son, named Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David, who became the great king in Israel."

"Please, help me to connect the dots," Mrs. Myrtle. "What do Moses and the serpent have to do with Boaz and Ruth, the great-grandparents of King David?"

"You want to be saved?" Myrtle asked.

Bud nodded his head, "Yes."

"Then, the penalty for sin must be paid by Jesus' death on the cross, His burial, and His resurrection from the dead on the third day," she said. "That is the price of redemption, which was paid by Jesus. It covers the debt, but it does not provide the positive perfection, that is also required to stand in God's Presence forever. Jesus did that as our kinsman Redeemer, Who like Boaz paid the redemption price, giving us His Beautiful Perfect Name in the place of our old sinful name.

"Amazing," Bud said.

"That it is," Myrtle smiled.