FOOD FOR THOUGHT
HONEY
DR. JIM DIXON
AUGUST 14, 2011
EZEKIEL 3:3-4; 2 TIMOTHY 3:14-17
Perhaps you have heard of CCD. CCD stands for colony collapse disorder. Colony collapse disorder is affecting bee populations around the world. CCD is becoming a pandemic on the earth. As CCD destroys bee populations, it affects crop fertilization, crop pollination, and, therefore, crop production around the world. It is a serious problem. What happens in CCD is that the worker bees never return to the nest. They never return to the colony, they just vanish. They just disappear. Scientists believe that they die singly, alone and far away from home. The nest is just left with the queen, the eggs, and a few immature workers. The mature workers just vanish. The colony, therefore, dies. That not only affects crop pollination and crop production, it also affects the production of honey itself.
Scientists are trying to figure out why. What causes CCD? There are many theories; none of them as yet have been proven. One of the theories has to do with pesticides and insecticides and their impact on insect and bee populations. Other theories have to do with global warming. Some theories have to do with cell phone use. In Europe they just completed a study that concluded and gave evidence that cell phone use actually affects the ability of worker bees to navigate . . . they just can’t find their way home. I don’t know whether that is true. (I do know that drivers are unable to navigate sometimes because of cell phone use.) Also, there are scientists who believe that the Varroa mite is somehow to blame for CCD. They just don’t know for sure yet. They do know that this is a serious problem, and it is destroying bee populations. It began in North America and the United States. It has spread to Europe, and now it has spread to Asia and to Africa. As I said, pandemic. It is affecting crop production and also the production of honey.
In Israel, in the time of Jesus, people loved honey, just like many people in the world today love honey. In the New Testament, the Greek word for honey is the word “meli¬.” It is like “debash,” the Hebrew word for honey. These words can refer to a sweet syrup that is actually made from dates, figs, and grapes, but most of the time these words are used to describe honey that comes from bees. In the time of Christ, honey was produced in Israel. There was wild honey, but also cultivated honey, and domesticated honey. Honey was a part of the diet of most men and women living in Israel. In the Bible, honey is used in two different symbolic ways. I want us to look at both of these ways this morning, both of the meanings of honey in terms of a metaphor.
First of all, in the Bible, sometimes honey refers to the Holy Land. It refers to the Promised Land. It refers to that land that has been set apart by God and is called holy. You look at Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Jeremiah and Ezekiel—in all of those books, the Holy Land is called “the Land of Milk and Honey.” I think that phraseology is familiar to many of you. You look at Deuteronomy and 2 Kings—the Holy Land is called “the Land of Olive Trees and Honey.” In the book of Job, the Holy Land is called “the Land of Curds and Honey.” Curds, olive trees, milk, but always honey. Honey. Honey. Honey. The Holy Land is sweet in the sight of God. It has been set aside by God for His purposes, and it is blessed. Now, geographically speaking, where is the Holy Land, and what are its boundaries?
I saw on the Internet recently that there is this story, kind of a joke, that has been circulating around about this guy who was travelling. He came to a church in Los Angeles. He went into the lobby of the church and he saw a golden telephone and a sign that said, “$10,000 a minute, per call.” He thought, “What in the world is that about?” He went and found the pastor. The pastor explained that the golden telephone was a special telephone, a direct line to heaven, and for $10,000 you could speak to God directly for one minute. He thought, “Wow! That is incredible.” He travelled around, and he went to Detroit, Chicago, New York, Miami . . . he went into other churches, and he found in the lobby these golden phones that were $10,000 a minute. Finally, his travels brought him to Colorado. In Colorado, he went into a church and he saw in the lobby a golden telephone and a sign that said, “35 cents a call.” He thought, “Wow! What a deal. I wonder what is going on?” He went and talked to the pastor. And the pastor said, “Don’t you realize where you are? You are in God’s country and what is long distance elsewhere is a local call here.” Apparently, on the Internet, a lot of people are like that—born in the USA, but a Coloradoan by the grace of God. A lot of people view this as kind of a special place on earth . . . but it is not the Holy Land. Colorado is wonderful. I am sure God loves it—certainly, God created it, but it is not the Holy land.
The Holy Land is defined in the Bible and extra-biblical literature as Canaan. You can look in Genesis chapter 17 and the promise of God given to Abraham that he would be given a land for his descendants through Isaac. This land was the land of Canaan. In Genesis chapter 15, God gives a greater portion of land (all the way to the Euphrates River) to the descendants of Abraham as the Father of Nations. Abraham is the father, not only of the Jews, but also of the Arabs. So, there is this huge land that God gave to the descendants of Abraham, the Father of Nations.
But to the Jews, to the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob, was given the land of Canaan. What is the land of Canaan? What are its geographical boundaries? We can find those in many places in the Bible and also in a lot of literature we have from ancient times. We know this: to the surprise of many, Canaan includes all of what today we call Israel and a little bit further south. Canaan also includes all of what today we call Lebanon and part of what we call Syria. There can be no doubt of this. We know from the Bible that Canaan in the south begins at the River of Egypt (the Wadi El-Arish) And from the River of Egypt, which is south of Beersheba, the River of Egypt divides the Negev and the Sinai. That is where Israel begins in the south. On the west, it is on the Mediterranean coast. On the east, for part of its journey north, it is on the Jordan—some of it may be trans-Jordan. Then it goes all the way to Ugarit, where we get the language of Ugaritic . . . all the way up to what is Northern Lebanon and down into some of southwest Syria. This was all given to the Jews and it is called Canaan, the Fertile Crescent.
You might be thinking, “Well, the Jews don’t have all that land today.” No, they don’t. You might be thinking, “The Jews never really ever had all of that land called Canaan.” You would be right, although they did control all of that land in the time and reign of King David. In Ezekiel chapter 47, it promises that the day will come when the Jews will have all of that land. That is a millennial passage, by the opinion of most scholars. So, the day will come in the millennium that the Jews do have all of that land. In Joshua chapter 13, it speaks of the Promised Land that remains to be possessed. Again, it is speaking of this full scope of the meaning of Canaan. In Genesis chapter 17, this land of Canaan is promised to the Jews as an everlasting possession. This is so important. The Hebrew word for “everlasting” is “olam.” This word “olam” means “earth” or “world.” The idea of everlasting possession is as long as the earth exists, as long as the world exists, this land is yours. This is so amazing. This is the only case where God gives to a particular people, a particular geographical land space. From the Wadi El-Arish all the way to Northern Lebanon, from the Mediterranean to the Jordan, this land is theirs. It has been given to them by God as an everlasting possession.
This has massive political import and is filled with controversy. When Joshua crossed the Jordan to possess the land . . . you can’t possess the land and conquer the land in a politically correct way. I don’t know of any people who have conquered a region of the earth with peace and love. When the Jews repossessed the land in 1948, it was controversial. Understand: the land was given by God. Understand as well: God has blessed the Arab world. There are 21 Arab nations in the League of Nations. Look at the Muslim world, the world of Islam—49 to 51 countries (depending on your source) are predominantly Muslim. But the Jews just have this one small portion of the Earth, given to them by God as an everlasting possession. It is set apart by God and, therefore, “hagios,” holy. It is set apart for His purposes.
We can look at history, and we can see that this land has been honey to the nations. It has been sought by the nations, sweet in their sight. We can go back to the eighth century BC and we can see Assyria, under the leadership of Shalmaneser, under the leadership of Sargon the Second, under the leadership of Sennacherib—three different kings of the Assyrian empire all focused their eyes on what, in Abraham’s time, was called Canaan, this land of milk and honey. And they wanted it. They conquered the north and the south and Samaria in between so that they might possess it.
Then you come to the Babylonians. The Babylonian empire focused their eyes on what, in Abraham’s time, was called the land of Canaan. You have Nebuchadnezzar the Great, as described in the book of Daniel. He was a great ruler of a great and vast empire. He had built, by his command, the hanging gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. There were many wonders in the ancient world. There was the altar of Zeus in Olympia. There was the lighthouse of Alexandria on the island Pharos off the coast of Egypt. There was the Colossus of Rhodes on the island of Rhodes, towering over the sea. There were the great pyramids at Giza, the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing today. There was the Temple of Diana (also known as the Temple of Artemis). You read in the book of Acts, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” That was the chant of the people of Ephesus as they looked at one of the wonders of the ancient world, located in their own city. There was the tomb of Mausolus in Bodrum, in ancient Halicarnassus in Asia Minor. These were the wonders of the ancient world, but what Nebuchadnezzar wanted to control and possess was the Holy Land, the land of honey. It was honey in his sight.
Then came the Medo-Persians, after the Babylonians, with Cyrus the Great. And he set his eyes on the Holy Land. You remember Belshazzar in the book of Daniel, Belshazzar and his great feast? Belshazzar was the last great king of the Babylonian empire before the Medo-Persians. (Although, he was crowned prince, the son of Nabonidus who was actually king.) Belshazzar threw that great feast, and the handwriting of God appeared on the wall in judgment: “Mene, tekel, upharsin,” “Your days are numbered. You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Your kingdom shall be divided and given to another.” His kingdom, the Babylonian empire, was divided and given to the Medes and the Persians under the rulership of Cyrus the Great. They viewed the Holy Land as honey, as sweet.
That was also true of the Greeks. Alexander the Great, who died in 323, conquered Palestine, conquered the Holy Land, conquered Canaan, conquered Israel. Upon his death, his kingdom was divided amongst three of his generals. From one of these generals came the Ptolemies, from another came the Seleucids. Both the Seleucids and the Ptolemies kept their eyes often on Canaan and on Israel. The Seleucids came from the north, and the Ptolemies came from the south and Egypt. Canaan was honey in their sight. Antiochus IV (Antiochus “Epiphanes”) declared himself “God-manifest.” He came from the north, and he desecrated the temple in the second century BC. He thought, “If this land is honey, I am going to desecrate the hive.” All these events led to what we today call “Chanukah,” the Maccabean Revolt.
After the Seleucids and the Ptolemies came the Romans. The Roman Empire looked at Canaan and sought to possess it. In 63 BC, Pompey the Great brought his Roman armies into Jerusalem. He possessed the land which was promised forever to the Jews. Pompey the Great formed the first Triumverate with Julius Caesar and Crassus. The Romans were in control of Israel when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The Jews revolted in AD 66. Then, in AD 70, Titus and his Roman legions swept over the city of Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple Mount.
In AD 135, by the command of Hadrian, the Emperor of Rome, Julius Severus and the armies of Rome destroyed the city of Jerusalem and rebuilt a new city, calling it Capitolina. On the Temple Mount, they built the Temple of Jupiter Zeus, desecrating the Temple Mount and desecrating Calvary and Golgotha. On the sight of Christ’s crucifixion, they built the Temple of Venus. They did this to target Christians. When Constantine came to the throne and nominally accepted Christ (at least nominally), they tore down these pagan shrines. On the sight of Christ’s crucifixion and the place of His burial, they built a church called the Church of the Resurrection, “Anastasia,” and later the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
In the seventh century, there came another nation that set their eyes on Canaan. Who were these new people that looked at this land of honey and found it sweet? It was the Muslims. They came under Muhammad’s authority to conquer the Holy Land. They seized the Temple Mount and the built the Dome of the Rock, which remains on the Mount and is a desecration, for sure, of the Holy Mount in the sight of God. They came as a military movement. Understand that Islam has from the beginning been a military movement. Any other perspective is a denial of historical fact. Islam was a military movement from its inception and Muhammad took up the sword. Their goal is to conquer the world by any and all means.
In 1948, the Jews repossessed part of the promised land, this land of milk and honey. And the Jews formed a new nation of Israel. This new nation of Israel was born miraculously. And I have no doubt in my mind that this was, indeed, the hand of God and a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. Leon Uris wrote a book about the war of 1948 and the rebirth of the nation of Israel called “Exodus.” That was made into a Hollywood movie starring Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint. It was nominated for an academy award. Here is a little clip from that movie . . .
You get a feel for the passion. “I am a Jew. This is our land. Mount Tabor, Barak, Deborah, 3,200 years ago. We didn’t just come here yesterday.” You get a little bit of a feel for the passion of the Jewish people and their everlasting possession. In 1967, they reoccupied the city of Jerusalem. They still wait to occupy the Temple Mount, which is under the control of Islam, under the control of the Muslims. If you read biblical prophecy, you know that this land of honey, this land that has been sweet to so many, has polarized the earth. And this tension and conflict between Muslim and Jew runs deep. The world is heading towards Armageddon. All eyes are turned to the Holy Land. As Christians, we want to be constantly alert and in prayer and living the lives that would serve us well when Christ returns. That is one meaning of the word honey—the Holy Land.
There is a second meaning in the Bible. The second meaning is the Holy Scriptures. The Holy Land is honey. The Holy Bible is honey. In the Bible, we see statements like Psalm 19, where the ordinances of God, the statutes of God, the Torah is sweet as honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Psalms 119—again, the statutes and ordinances of God are sweet as honey. The words of God are sweeter than honey in my mouth. Our passage of Scripture for today, from Ezekiel 3:3-4—the scroll of the book, the words of God, which are to be consumed and taken within us, are sweet as honey.
You have seen in Jewish education in the time of Christ how Jewish kids, beginning at age five went to “Bet-Sefer,” the “House of the Book.” Then at age ten, they went to “Bet¬ Talmud,” the “House of Instruction.” And then, at age fifteen, “Bet-Midrash,” the “House of Learning.” At age five, when they first went to the synagogue and the rabbi began to instruct them, the first thing the rabbi did was this: he took the Torah, and he put it on a table. Then he took honey and put some of it on the fingertips of the five-year-old. Then the rabbi told the child to take the honey on his fingertips and put it to his tongue and taste the sweetness of it. Then, he would begin his instruction of the Torah with a reminder that the Torah, the Word of God, is sweet as honey. This is how it all began. The Word of God, the Holy Bible is honey.
In Matthew chapter 13, Jesus told the parable of the scribe who took out of his treasure both that which is old and that which is new. This is a reference to the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, what is now the Old Testament and the New Testament. All of it is honey, all of it is treasure, all of it is sweet. In Matthew 9, Jesus talked about the new wine in the old wineskins and how the new wine will burst the old wineskins. The message is that the New Covenant, the gospel, Christ himself, cannot be contained by the Old Covenant. The whole Bible, all 66 books of the Old and New Testament, is honey: but Jesus is sweeter than all.
What I would like to do as we are concluding our service today is to take a look at a passage in the Bible and see what the Bible says about itself. Let’s see if that would help us understand the sweetness of the Word of God. The passage that I would like us to take a brief look at is 2 Timothy 3:14-17. Paul says to his beloved friend Timothy, “And from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings of the Holy Scriptures, which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. All Scripture is God¬-breathed and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man or woman of God may be complete and equipped for every good work.”
One of my favorite passages. What I would like us to do is take a look at the four key words in this passage—four key Greek words—and just see how sweet they are, how honey-like they are. The first word is “soterios,” salvation. How do we know the means of salvation? The Word of God. How do we know that we are not saved by our works but only by the works of Jesus Christ? How do we know that we are saved by the death of Christ on the cross by substitutionary atonement, as He took the sin of the world upon Himself? We know that from the Word of God. How do we know that when we respond to the gospel, and come to Jesus Christ and invite Him to be our Savior from sin, and invite Him to be the Lord of our life . . . how do we know that His grace and His mercy just flows onto us, and that we are saved, and that He brings us into His family, and that He promises us eternal life in heaven? We know that from the Holy Bible, which is honey. How sweet is “soterios?” How sweet is salvation? How great, how wonderful is it for me to know my wife is saved? For me to know my children have salvation? For me to know that so many of my friends are saved? How sweet is it to know that I am saved through no merit of my own, but by the mercy of God? I am bound for heaven. I live every day with that sweetness. I know through the Word of God, which is honey to me.
A second word that is in this passage is “theopneustos.” “Theopneustos” is not easy to say, but it means “God-breathed.” “All Scripture,” it says in this passage, “is God-breathed.” The breath of God is upon it. How important that is! You look at a passage like Luke chapter 12. In Luke chapter 12, Jesus says, “Beware of all covetousness, for a man’s life does not exist in the sum of his possessions.” Then Jesus told them a parable saying, “The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully. He said to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have no place to store my goods and my grains?’ He said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and I will build larger barns, and there I will store my goods and my crops. Then I will say to my soul,’ ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool, this very day your soul is required of you. And the things that you have accumulated, whose shall they be?’ So shall it be for those that are rich towards themselves and not rich towards God.”
You see these kinds of words oftentimes from Jesus. . . . But, the mention of soul . . . “He said to himself, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.’” God shall say to him, “Fool, this very day your soul is required of you.” What does soul mean? The word in the Greek is “psyche,” in the Hebrew it is “nephesh.” It has a variety of meanings tied to the context. Sometimes the word soul just means “self.” Sometimes the word soul means “life”—”This very day your life is required of you.” We understand this meaning contextually. Sometimes the word soul in the Bible has a very special meaning, and it is distinguished from the body, which is “soma.” The body is the material, mortal part of you. Your soul is the immaterial, immortal part of you. The soul, the immaterial, immortal part of you, is the part of you that survives death. It refers to the essence of your personality. It refers to the substance of your volition and your very will.
When we think of the soul as distinct from the body, it is a difficult concept. I have seen where some Christians, through the years, have tried to prove the existence of the soul. They have actually taken and weighed a person’s body just before they died, somebody very sick. They weighed the body, and upon death, assuming the soul had just departed, they weighed the body again to try to prove the existence of the soul. If they could find an ounce difference in weight, they could conclude, “The soul weighs an ounce!” How crazy! The soul is immaterial by definition. You can’t evaluate it, weigh it, or test it materially. It is not subject to scientific examination. We accept the existence of the soul by faith. The Bible affirms it again and again.
There are psychopannychists and thnetopsychists who deny the existence of the soul, but biblically speaking they are wrong. As Christians, we seek to nurture the soul. We don’t just nurture the body. You are going to leave here today and go to lunch. You are going to feed your body, but what are you doing for your soul? You need the breath of God on your soul. That is why this Book is sweet. This Book is God-breathed; it has the breath of God upon it. He will breathe on your soul. That is so sweet; that is honey. Theopneustos. Every day, go and find a place apart, a place of peace, a place of quiet and let God breathe on your soul. Open the Book, it is honey.
There is a third word, “didaskalia.” “Didaskalia” is a Greek word in this passage that means “doctrine.” It is related to “didache.” “Didaskalia” is doctrine. This book is sweet because it gives us doctrine. Do you think of doctrine as sweet? Do you think of doctrine as honey? It is. That is why the early church tried to list the key doctrines in the Bible and shaped their whole worldview by those key doctrines. That is why they developed the Apostle’s Creed, to summarize the key doctrines which were sweet as honey:
“I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord,
Conceived by the Holy Ghost,
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, died, and buried;
He descended into hades.
The third day He rose from the dead.”
This is doctrine. It shapes our whole worldview. If you believe that God exists and He created us; if you believe that mankind, male and female, are the crown of His creation, given the “imago dei” and are precious in His sight; if you believe that we have fallen into sin and we need a savior; if you believe that God so loved us that He sent His Son—all this shapes your whole worldview, and it is all doctrine. It is all truth, and it is sweet . . . sweet as honey.
One other Greek word in this beautiful passage in 2 Timothy is “dikaiosune,” a word that means “righteous.” This book is sweet as honey because it instructs us in righteousness. Is righteousness sweet to you? Do you long for it? Do you hunger and thirst for this honey of righteousness? Jesus said, “Blessed are they . . .”
It is difficult to watch people come to the Bible and misunderstand it. It is difficult to watch people twist the meaning of the Bible, to distort the truth of the Bible. It is difficult to see people attack the Bible. I am frustrated as a pastor. I sometimes understand completely perfectly the attitude of the Catholic Church with regard to the Protestant Reformation. I can understand how the Catholic Church would not want everyone to have a Bible because people distort the Scriptures, they misinterpret. I just cringe sometimes when I hear how people abuse the real meaning of Holy Scripture. The Catholic Church was concerned that trained clergy interpret the Bible and that it not just be used and abused. I understand their concern.
I must say that I believe it is a net positive that we all have Bibles, but it is also dangerous. You see people that just don’t understand. You see people come to the Old Testament and they really don’t understand the differences between the moral law and the ceremonial law and the dietary laws in Leviticus. They don’t understand the laws that govern sacrifice and the Jewish rites of purification. They don’t understand it is all God’s Word, but some of it is God’s Word for a particular purpose, for a particular people, at a particular time. Other parts are for all people at all times.
You can’t just look at the Bible and say, “I don’t like what the Bible says about pork and shellfish; and if I don’t bother with that, why bother with what the Bible says about sex?” That is a crazy blunder, a misunderstanding of Holy Scripture—confusing the moral law with the Levitical dietary laws, which have been repealed and were given to a particular people for a particular purpose. You see, God’s laws about sex were given to all people for all time; they are part of the moral law, the moral law that is found in the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. In the Decalogue we have instructions—really laws—about everything from worship to idolatry and laws about everything from property rights to human sexuality. Those moral laws are expanded throughout the Old Covenant and the New, the Old Testament and the New. They are timeless. Don’t confuse them with the laws that govern sacrifice and were fulfilled by Christ, or the Levitical dietary laws that were repealed by Christ, or the Jewish ceremonial laws that have been superseded in the gospel.
It is frustrating to see the instructions of Christ that are so beautiful and so sweet misunderstood, denied, twisted by people who just don’t understand. It is sad. I want to say today, as a pastor, that this book is sweet. It is honey. God will breathe on you. He lays out the means of salvation through His Son here. He will guide you in doctrine that will shape your worldview and lead you in the path of righteousness that will one day bring a smile to His face and yours. This is sweet; it is the Word of God. We have the Holy Land and we have the Holy Scriptures—and it is all honey. It is a huge subject. There is really not enough time to deal adequately with it. That is our lesson for today. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.