As Sure as the Dawn (45 page)

He saw a frown flicker across Atretes’ face, but plunged ahead. “The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us when we believe in Christ and are redeemed. It is through the Spirit that God reveals mysteries to us, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.”

“And I have this spirit living inside me now?”

“The moment you accepted Christ, the Holy Spirit came to dwell within you.”

“Then I’m possessed by this spirit.”

“‘Possessed’ is not a word I’d use to describe it. The Holy Spirit abides in you at your invitation and acts as your helper.”

“I didn’t invite it in.”

“Do you believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God?”

“Yes. I believe he is the Living God.”

“And you accept that he is your Savior and Lord?”

“He is my God. I have sworn it.”

“Then know that Jesus has also given you the Holy Spirit. He told his disciples after his resurrection and before his ascension to the Father that they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. He said they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. You’re a partaker of the promise because you believe.”

When Atretes asked who the disciples were, Theophilus told him.

“Perhaps they were more than men also,” Atretes said.

“They were ordinary men. Several were fishermen, one a tax collector, another an insurrectionist like you. There was nothing special about any of them except that Jesus chose them to be his followers. God chooses the ordinary and makes them extraordinary.” Theophilus saw Atretes’ confusion and felt insufficient for the task of answering and discussing spiritual questions. The German’s troubled frown was clear indication he was baffling rather than enlightening him.

God, help me. Give me your words.

“I’m a simple man, Atretes, with simple thoughts and simple faith.”

Atretes leaned forward, determined to understand. “Who are Adam and Eve, and where’s this Garden of Eden of which you spoke?”

Theophilus felt relief.
Ask in my name and it will be granted you.
The answer had come: Start at the beginning. He laughed softly, rejoicing. God answers. Let the Scriptures be known.

“Let me tell you the
whole
story, not just the finish.” His face shone in the firelight, angelic and carved in strength, holding Atretes’ full attention.

Rizpah listened as Theophilus told the story of the creation of the heavens and the earth and all that was on the earth, including man. Like music, the Roman’s deep voice drove back the sounds of enveloping darkness, making her aware of the stars in the heavens and the hope of God.

“And then man was created in the image of God, and woman was fashioned from his rib to be his companion and helper.”

Rizpah marveled anew. God
spoke
and all things came into being. The Word was the very breath of life in the beginning, as it would be to the end of time.

Theophilus told of Satan, God’s most beautiful creation, an ancient of ancients who was cast out of heaven because of pride, who entered the Garden in the form of a serpent and tempted Eve to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge with the promise that she would become like God. Deceived, she ate while her husband stood silent beside her, and sin was conceived and born. Eve gave of the fruit to her husband, who also ate, and because of their disobedience, God cast them out of the Garden. They would no longer live forever nor be in the presence of the Lord, but would live out a life span of years and struggle for existence. And thus, death, the consequence of sin, came into being.

“Adam and Eve bore sons who carried the seed of sin within them. Sin took root and grew in the jealousy of Cain, who murdered his brother, Abel. As men multiplied upon the earth, their wickedness increased until every intent of man was evil.

“The Lord was sorry he had made man and decided to blot him out as well as the animals and all creeping things he had created,” Theophilus said. “Only one creature found favor in God’s sight, a man named Noah.”

Atretes sat enthralled, absorbing every word and feeling faint stirrings within him, as though some deep part of him that had slumbered was now awakening. He listened as raptly as a child to the story of Noah building the ark, of the animals entering into it two by two, male and female, and then of the rains coming to flood the earth and destroy all life upon it.

“Every living thing died except those in the ark. And then God allowed the waters to recede and set the ark upon a mountain where he made a covenant with Noah. God said he would never destroy man by flood again, and set a rainbow in the sky as a sign of his promise. And so Noah and his wife, and his sons and their wives, left the ark and began to populate the earth again.”

Caleb awakened hungry, and Rizpah rose to sit with him and feed him the nourishing gruel with bits of rabbit meat mixed into it.

Theophilus went on. “Now, the whole earth used one language and the people gathered together to build for themselves a tower of brick and mortar to reach heaven. Seeing what they were doing, God confused their language and scattered them abroad from there across the face of the earth. Thousands of years passed before God spoke to man again. Then he came to one man, Abram, whom he told to leave his country of Ur and his relatives and his father’s house and go to the land he would show him. God promised to make of Abram a great nation through which all the nations of the earth would be blessed.”

Theophilus prodded the fire, spreading the glowing coals and adding more thick branches as he spoke.

“Abram did go forth as God told him for he believed God, but he took with him Sarai, his half sister who was his wife; Lot, an ambitious nephew; and Terah, his father. He also took with him all of his possessions, including the slaves he had acquired. When he reached the land God showed him, a dispute broke out between him and Lot, and he gave his nephew the choice of land. Abram settled in the land, and Lot settled in the cities of the valley and lived in Sodom.

“God told Abram again that he would make of him a nation, great in numbers. Abram believed God, even knowing that his wife, Sarai, was barren. Sarai believed for a time, but lost patience and took it upon herself to convince Abram that he should beget a child with her Egyptian handmaiden, Hagar. Abram did as she suggested, and Hagar bore a son, Ishmael. Trouble came immediately. Hagar became proud; Sarai, jealous.

“When Abram was ninety-six, the Lord came to him and made a covenant with him. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, which means ‘the father of nations.’ The sign of this covenant was circumcision. Every male eight days old was to be circumcised. Abraham, Ishmael, and all the boys and men in his tribe were circumcised in obedience to this covenant. As for Sarai, God said she would bear Abraham a son in their old age, and they would call him Isaac, meaning ‘laughter.’”

A cool breeze rustled the trees as Theophilus went on, telling of the animosity between the women and their sons. Atretes nodded in agreement as he heard how Hagar and Ishmael were cast out, for it was through Isaac that the promised nation would come forth.

“God tested Abraham, for he told him to make of Isaac a burnt offering. Abraham rose early, took his son and wood, and went to the place the Lord had told him to go. There he built an altar, arranged the wood, bound his son, and laid him upon it. But when he took the knife to slay him, an angel of the Lord told him to stay his hand. Abraham believed, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. God provided a ram for sacrifice and renewed his covenant with Abraham, telling him yet again that through his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed.”

Theophilus leaned forward, face glowing. “For it was through Abraham that a people of faith came into being, and from them, God promised all mankind the Messiah, the anointed one, who would overcome the sin in the Garden of Eden and give those who believe in him eternal life.” He smiled. “But I’m jumping ahead.”

Retracing, he told Atretes how Isaac married Rebekah, who bore him twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau, the elder, sold his birthright to his younger brother for a bowl of food, and Jacob later stole his brother’s blessing by trickery and deceit. Enmity arose between the two brothers, and Jacob fled to Laban, his mother’s brother. He fell in love with Laban’s younger daughter, Rachel. Through Laban’s trickery and deceit, Jacob married Leah and then Rachel and was bound to his uncle for more than fourteen years. From these two women and their two handmaidens, Jacob fathered twelve sons.

“The favorite son was Joseph, son of Jacob’s beloved wife, Rachel. Joseph was a dreamer of dreams and prophesied a time when he would rule over his brothers and his own father. His brothers despised him and, in their jealousy, plotted against him. They threw him into a cistern and sold him to a traveling caravan that took him to Egypt, where he became a slave of Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of the pharaoh. Joseph was a handsome young man, and Potiphar’s wife wanted him for her lover, but Joseph refused. When she tried to seduce him, he ran away. Scorned and angry, she told her husband that Joseph had tried to rape her, and so Potiphar cast Joseph into the dungeon.”

Atretes gave a cynical laugh. “Women have been causing trouble for men from the beginning,” he said, stretching out on his side.

Rizpah glanced up from where she was changing Caleb’s linens. “That’s true,” she said, smiling. “When men are weak and given to passion rather than obedience to the Lord, they usually do run into trouble head-on.”

Atretes ignored her observation and raised his brow at Theophilus.

Suppressing a smile, Theophilus continued, telling of Joseph’s God-given ability to interpret dreams and how this gift brought him into the palace of Pharaoh and made him second in power in all Egypt. When the prophesied famine came, Joseph’s brothers journeyed to Egypt for grain, thus fulfilling the prophesies of his youth that he would rule over them as well as his father.

“Joseph forgave them, telling them that what they had done for evil, God had turned to good.”

Rizpah settled Caleb in a nest of packs and blankets and came back to sit near Atretes.

“Another pharaoh rose who didn’t know of Joseph’s deeds. He saw a threat in the increasing number of Joseph’s descendants and made them slaves. When their number continued to grow, Pharaoh became alarmed and commanded that all male newborns were to be killed. Moses, a descendant of Abraham, was born and placed in a basket and hidden among the reeds of the Nile. Pharaoh’s daughter found him and raised him as her own son. When he grew to manhood, he went to his brethren and looked upon their hard labors. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and struck him down. When word spread among the Hebrews of what he had done, he fled to Midian. There, after years in exile, God spoke to Moses from a burning bush.”

Theophilus smiled slightly. “Now, Moses was an ordinary man and terrified that God was speaking to him. When God told him he wanted him to return to Egypt and lead the Hebrew slaves out of bondage, Moses was more afraid of the mission than of God himself. He pleaded, saying he was nobody. God said he would be his spokesman. Moses said he didn’t know God’s name and the Hebrews wouldn’t believe him. God told him to say that I AM had sent him. Moses still resisted, insisting they wouldn’t believe him. God told him to throw his staff on the ground, and when he obeyed, the Lord turned it into a serpent. Moses ran from it, terrified, but God called him back and told him to take hold of the tail. When he obeyed, the serpent became a staff once more.

“Still Moses was afraid, insisting he had never been eloquent, that he was slow of speech and slow of tongue. God said he would teach him what to say, but Moses asked him to send someone else.”

Atretes snorted. “God should have struck him dead.”

“God is patient with us,” Rizpah said, smiling.

“Indeed,” Theophilus agreed. “And we are grateful. God said that Moses’ brother, Aaron, was well-spoken and that God would give the words to Moses, and Moses would give them to Aaron, who would speak them to Pharaoh. He also said he would harden Pharaoh’s heart, and signs and wonders would be performed before the Hebrews as well as the Egyptians.”

“Why would God choose such a coward to lead his people?” Atretes said, disgusted.

Theophilus laughed. “I wondered that myself when I first heard the story. But had Moses been a mighty warrior, vastly intelligent, and with the charisma of an orator, who do you suppose would have received glory for what was to come?”

“Moses.”

“Exactly. God chooses the foolish and weak things of the world to shame the wise and the strong, to show his power and our weakness without him. God’s power is perfect in our weakness, for it’s only through his strength we accomplish anything of value.”

Theophilus went on, telling of Moses and Aaron going before Pharaoh and demanding that he let God’s people go. Pharaoh refused. When Moses dropped his staff upon the floor and it became a snake, Pharaoh’s magicians used their secret arts to make their staffs become snakes also. But Moses’ snake swallowed the magicians’ snakes. When Pharaoh still refused to let the Hebrew slaves go, Moses touched the Nile River with his staff, and the water became blood. Still Pharaoh refused.

The Lord brought plague after plague upon Egypt: frogs, gnats, swarms of insects, pestilence on Egyptian livestock, boils, thunder and hail, locusts, and darkness. During each plague, Pharaoh relented, then, when the crisis passed, hardened his heart once again.

Atretes sat up. “The man was a fool!”

“The man was proud,” Theophilus said. “Proud men are often foolish.”

“Nine plagues! Frogs, gnats, boils? What does it take for him to bow down before God?”

“How many plagues have you suffered in your life, Atretes? Defeat. Slavery. Beatings. Humiliation. Degradation. Betrayal. What did it take for you to bow down before God and accept the truth that he is sovereign majesty of all creation?”

Atretes’ eyes narrowed coldly, his face hardening.

Theophilus saw and wondered if he had spoken too freely, offending rather than teaching. He retracted nothing, nor softened it. Rather, he waited, leaving the choice to Atretes as he had so often done before.