Monday, April 2, 2007

the youth meeting - Baia Mare, the 31st of March, 2007


Peace to all of you! On the Saturday evening, God blessed the young Bible Students from Baia Mare, to gather again, at the meeting hall, in a pretty large number (17). The main subject of the study was the text from the 10th and 11th chapters of Genesis. Due to the fact the "Passover" was drawing near, we decided to discuss about this subject, too. A hymn opened the program, the br. Sergiu's prayer followed. The study, prepared and led by br. Alin, started with the 10th chapter. It contains the descending generations of Noah, Japheth, Ham and Shem.

The first question raised from the verse 8 – "Who was Nimrod?". First of all, the answers came from the translation of this name, which means "rebellion". Then, br. Cipri suggested us to read the booklet called "The Mythology and the Bible", where we can get some facts about this Nimrod. Apparently, Nimrod was " a mighty hunter before the Lord", but he used to be a rebel, a ruler over Babel, who tried to build up this tower. Our conclusion was that even he is described as a brave one, he was a negative character. (Some versions mention "against the Lord", instead of "before the Lord")

A second question followed, from verse 2: if there is any connection between Magog and Revelation 20:8 – "and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle". The meaning of these two names (which, apparently, represent the same thing, the Antichrist) indicates they point to a certain nation (the Strong dictionary – a barbarous northern region – Magog).

Then, the 11th chapter followed. We talked about the main ideas from here: rebellion against God, making themselves a name, unity (without having God as their ruler), building for keeping themselves together, despite the fact God ordered them to "be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth" (Genesis, 1:28). It is the same story today. The idea of unity, of gathering power, of ruling, makes us think of the modern trends for a global unity over the whole Earth (UN, EU etc). But none of these ideas has God as a ruler. Our conclusion was that these works belong to the evil one, to the adversary.

Then, we talked about the 5th verse ("and the Lord came down"). As we previously learned, God uses different methods to have His work done (by angels, seraphims, archangels). His presence at the tower of Babel doesn't have to be understood in a physical sense. It was an attitude He took against that situation. He decided to put an end to that building. We also talked about God's wisdom used to spoil Nimrod's plans, dispersing them and confusing their languages.

The second part of our program was about the "Passover". Br. Daniel Pode suggested we should study John, chapter 17, that, as we all know, presents our Lord's prayer before He got arrested. The question appeared from the 9th verse – "I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me" – why didn't He prayed for the world? The answer was that, as for the beginning, during The Gospel Age, our Lord is choosing a church, a bride, a special class. First of all, He is working for this purpose. Then, from the 16th verse: "they are not from the world". Why did He say the disciples were not from the world? We answered that all those begotten by the Spirit are begotten to a new nature – a divine one. (2 Pet. 1:4 – "by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature")

This chapter is so rich in its meanings and it was getting late, we decided to stop our study here, in order to prepare the hymns for the next day, as they would be presented during our Sunday program. We also set up who was going to help us with leading the next meeting and what subject we would talk.

We end the program with a half an hour of songs, which, I hope, br. Cipri will post on the blog!

We thank the Lord for all His blessings and for our fellowship!

Text sent by Calin Morar

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