Sunday School Episode 1: The Rebellious Workers In the Garden

So you’re a young man or nice little lady who wants to understand a bit about this Christian thing your parents are always going on about. Or perhaps you are a fresh faced Christian who is overjoyed over your salvation, but knows next to nothing about your new faith besides what the blue haired feminists backed up by their fedora atheists cringe virgin police have screamed at you over the years. Sir or ma’am, this set of Sunday school lessons is for you. 

I won’t say you must know absolutely nothing about the Bible to enjoy this project, but these lessons are geared to the fresh faced who are either getting out of the simple story and mom or dad said so phase and are ready to think for themselves, or the fresh faced exuberant Christian who has no idea what they’re doing. However, thanks to the churchian cult that has permeated every Christian denomination from the Coptics to the Quaker bakers even Christians who think they know this Bible will most likely find rabbit holes to be lost down.

Because this is a look at the Bible without holding back. There are passages that make the churchians quiver and the demon shriek. Places where men dare not look for the implications are dire to their sacred cows. This of course is half of the reason for writing out a Sunday School curriculum. 

Wherever you are on the faith spectrum or denomination doctrine in the future I want you to have an understanding of the weirder passages of the Bible that are often taken out of context, ignored, or straight ripped out of the Bible for the sake of modern sensibilities and theology. Before all that starts clouding your judgment, and believe me young Christian those who think they’re doctrine is more important than God himself are coming for you, I want to give you a picture of what the Bible meant to those who wrote it. Let you read the books for what they say, and not for what you or others want them to say.

Much of what I’m going to be bringing to the table comes from Dr. Michael Hieser’s work. I highly recommend you buy his book The Unseen Realm. However, as much as I love Dr. Hieser’s work I find myself all the more radical simply by reading the Bible for what it says with proper context. Even the weird parts. So buckle up children and Christians who are both fresh faced to the gospel and desiring to learn or relearn their Bible without the modern lens. We’re going to have a wild ride together.

For the introduction I have a little homework. Read Mat 21:33-46, and if you want to be high speed with extra context read chapter 21 in its entirety. Make sure you read, or you’re gonna get lost.

If I were told I had only one passage to describe the Bible, and explain the necessity of the resurrection, restating the Gentile nations into the Kingdom of Heaven, and why God is doing what he is doing this is the chapter I would turn to. With one parable Jesus lays out the entirety of the epic conflict permeated through the Bible. 

God made something beautiful, and productive. He created sons or beings like himself but lesser to care for his creation, and have them and the creation be productive. His servants and sons rebelled, and claimed the creation for themselves to which God sent loyal servants and sons of God to bring creation back. To which the Loyal Sons of God were abused, killed and driven out. 

The story is layered as well. Not only can we apply it to creation in general we can also narrow the focus on Israel itself. Later lessons will deal with the particulars, but essentially after the Flood and the Tower of Babel God rejected the nations. Yet he wasn’t willing to give up on humanity.

To save mankind God called Abraham, and eventually created Israel as his portion amongst the nations with the express goal of eventually using them to bring all of the nations back into God’s will. Israel rebelled and so God sent the judges and prophets who were then abused, killed, and ignored. Finally, just as in the parable, God sends his one and begotten Son. His special son, and the tenants in the story kill him just as the Israelites would very soon after this parable was taught. 

We see the tenants and workers are to be ousted from the vineyard, and the Vineyard represents both creation and the promised nation of Abraham and Jacob. So then if the Israelites represent the rebellious tenants in Jesus day who then are the rebellious tenants of Creation, and who is going to replace them as implied? 

The answer is the rebellious spiritual beings referred to as the sons of God talked about in Genesis and of course the Devil himself who were sent to watch over the nations and humanity. Instead they procreated with humans and created their own children which they attempted to use to claim creation for themselves by having their sons obtain creation as an inheritance. 

As stated before, the twelve tribes of Israel who were in constant rebellion to their God are represented by the tenets in the parable as well. Both the sons of God and rebellious Israel would be replaced by new workers or Christians. The reclaimed branches of God’s children. Those gentiles or Jew alike who follow Christ, and thus become Christians will inherit the Earth and stewart over it in the name of God bringing the entire world into the Kingdom of Heaven under God and Jesus Christ.

Therein lies the conflict. Like sniveling bureaucrats set on keeping their fat paychecks, the rebellious sons of God are entrenched into creation, and hate humanity but most of all hate Christians for being God’s chosen replacements for their roles and portions. Much like Pual articulates:

Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you,    are you incompetent to try trivial cases?

Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! 1 Corinthians 6:2-3

Here the stage is set. God has the impending doom layed out in Revelations, but much like his need to hide the true purpose of the resurrection from his enemies for events to unfold according to his will so must future events be shrouded in mystery. Enough for us to know God wins, and to hint at the coming glory in Christ.

So young Christian here you are. You are a tool in a massive spiritual war that has been raging for centuries. You’re on the winning side, but even complete victories have casualties. In the following lessons we will explore in detail the subjects broached here, and through them I hope you will learn greater skills in our fight against evil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12

Get ready because we’re just getting started. See you next week for our first lesson on Genesis where the war over creation began. Click here for Episode two.

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