“So the Hebrews returned to God.”
“For a time. It’s well to remember one thing, one thread that moves through the entire narrative of the Scriptures: God’s love never changes and his will prevails. There always have been and always will be those who love the Lord wholeheartedly, through slavery, hardship, famines, war, exile, persecution. His people. You and Rizpah and I. God salts the earth with the faithful because those who cling to the Lord in faith through all circumstances preserve the rest from complete destruction. However, to my knowledge, the last Scriptures were written four hundred or more years before our Lord came to walk among us, and the prophet Malachi was appealing to God’s people to repent again. The Scripture says they had hearts of stone.”
“And so, this time, God sent his own son to call them back again.”
“Yes. Jesus shed his blood for us during Passover.”
“Ah,” Atretes said, feeling as though his mind had filled with light. “And death passes over those who believe and obey him.”
“And for everyone who has the eyes to see and ears to hear, the barriers between man and God were removed for all time. The way is open to the Lord through Jesus Christ. Any man, woman, or child who seeks the Lord with heart, mind, and soul will find him.”
Atretes was filled with excitement. “My people will understand this. It is not far removed from our own religion. One man sacrificed for the many. Such rites have been performed in the sacred grove for centuries.”
Rizpah was chilled by his unexpected and appalling words. Theophilus said nothing. She looked up at him in horror and saw he wasn’t the least surprised. Perhaps he had always known.
“Let’s hope they not only understand, Atretes, but that they embrace salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord as well.”
31
Atretes was eager to find his people, but for reasons far different from when he had set out from Ephesus. He was on fire with the good news of Jesus Christ, anxious to impart it. He wanted his people to know Jesus, born of woman, declared the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead. He wanted them to know God had poured out his life for them, that they could be one with his power and glory and might. If God was for them, who could come against them? Not even Rome could stand against them with God on their side!
“I will make them embrace Jesus!” he said as he walked alongside Rizpah.
“You can’t make your people embrace anything,” Theophilus said, seeing the way of sin.
“They have to know the truth.”
“And the truth they shall know. Have patience, beloved. Did you come to the Lord by force or revelation?”
“I’ll tell them how God raised Rizpah from the dead. They’ll accept my word.” It never occurred to Atretes that it might be otherwise.
Evenings, around the campfire, Theophilus nourished Atretes’ hunger by continuing to tell him all he knew. He told Atretes of Mary, the chosen one of God, a virgin, who was to bear the child Jesus. “She was betrothed to Joseph, a righteous man who was a carpenter. When she told him she was with child by the Holy Spirit, he had to decide what to do. By law, it was his right to have her stoned to death for impurity.”
“The Chatti have that in common with the Jews,” Atretes said. “We don’t tolerate impure women. Their heads are shaved and they’re driven out of the tribe or drowned in the bog. Only virgins marry.” He saw Rizpah look at him, eyes wide. “You are different,” he said firmly.
Different how? she wondered. Was it because God had raised her from the dead that Atretes had felt he could marry her? She was afraid to ask, and doubt about his love tore at her.
I will trust in you, Lord. I will trust in you.
Theophilus told of an angel appearing to Joseph and telling him that Mary was with child by the Holy Spirit. Joseph was to call the child Jesus, because the babe would save his people.
Caesar Augustus called for a census. As was the custom of the Jews, Joseph took Mary, who was heavy with child, and returned to his birthplace, Bethlehem, to be counted. Jesus was born there, but in a stable because there was no place in the inn.
Wise men from the east who had followed a new star came and gave gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the child. King Herod, well aware of the prophesies of the Messiah, tried to find Jesus also, but for far darker reasons. When he couldn’t, he ordered all children born in Bethlehem and under the age of two be murdered. An angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream and warned him, so that he took Mary and Jesus and fled into Egypt.
When Herod died, an angel came again to Joseph in a dream and told him it was safe to return. Joseph brought Mary and Jesus to Nazareth in the region of Galilee. There, Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. It wasn’t until a prophet named John the Baptist came along, a man who preached the repentance of sin on the banks of the Jordan River, that Jesus began his public ministry and proclaimed the kingdom of God was at hand.