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Remember the Sabbath day

By on March 3rd, 2011

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Where is the world heading?  Climate catastrophes?  Asteroid impact?  Nuclear armageddon?  Global Pandemic?  Cosmic big crunch?  Heat death?

Not according to the bible.  In the beginning, God made the world in six days and rested on the seventh.  And ever since, the week has proclaimed to us God’s purposes with the world.  Through His Word going out in the power of the Spirit, this world will be brought to rest, perfection, consummation, peace.  The goal is Sabbath.

So we, made in His image, should work and rest like Him:

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” (Exodus 20:8-11)

And for centuries the Jews kept the seventh day.  They invested huge significance in keeping it.  For some it was the most important gauge of spiritual health imaginable.  With such a mindset, there were always going to be demands added to the plain words of Scripture.  It got to the point where, in Jesus’ day, simple acts of kindness were considered heinous breaches of the holy day.  (See here for one of many Gospel examples).

But Jesus came to do work – the true work of bringing rest.  He came to remake His world from the inside.  And, just as the law requires, He completed the job by the sixth day (the sixth day being a Friday).  And, with evening coming and the Sabbath closing in, He cried out from the cross, “It is finished.” (John 19:30).

Christ had accomplished the work on that sixth day.  By the sweat of His brow Christ had done it.  And so He rested on that holy Saturday.  Rested in the grave.

But wonderfully, on the next day He rose up into a whole new week – a whole new world!  And in this whole new world, it all begins with consummation and rest.

Under the old covenant the day of rest was at the end.  The goal of life was peace.  But Christ took on that work Himself.  And, having accomplished it, His day (the Lord’s day) is at the beginning.  So we begin with peace.

Now, physically speaking, this world is still the old world.  Creation operates according to the old calendar.  It’s groaning, awaiting its seventh day of rest.  And we still have to live in our old bodies, groaning along in our worldly labours.  We look ahead to a world perfected.

But spiritually speaking, Jesus has begun a whole new world.  And by the Spirit we are brought into His resurrection reality.  Spiritually speaking we’ve entered that rest.  We’re on the other side – beyond the seventh day.  We’re eight day people!

Because we share in the life of the risen Lord, we’ve begun with rest.  We may live in a fallen world with fallen bodies and we may groan along with it, awaiting physical Sabbath.  But we never have to strive for spiritual Sabbath.  Right now, and for all time, we have rest for our souls.

As Jesus says to a world weary with work:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.  (Matthew 11:28-30)

See also “God rested“

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Taking the LORD's name in vain

By on March 2nd, 2011

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Protestors will often march carrying placards: “Not in my name.”  They are incensed that their government would act in ways completely at odds with their own ethos.

At Mount Sinai, the Father is similarly concerned.

“Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”  (Exodus 20:7)

More literally you could translate it, “You will not lift the name of the LORD your God up to worthlessness.”  It’s about lifting up / bearing / carrying the name of the LORD.

And religious people are constantly lifting it up to ridicule – using the LORD’s name like a rubber stamp on whatever they want to do.  And the third commandment is an Almighty “Not in my name!”

It’s not telling us to refrain from speaking the divine name (as some orthodox Jews take it).

And it’s not really about swearing.

– Jumping Jehoshaphat!
– Now, Mary-Beth-Lou-Ellen, don’t take the Lord’s name in vain.

It has implications for swearing.  But you can break the third commandment without ever uttering a word.

A couple of times in the bible the Lord complains to His people like this:

“For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you”  (Romans 2:24).

Notice who’s to blame for the blasphemy?  Not the cussing heathen – the hypocritical “believers.”  When non-Christians think nothing of the Name of Jesus, who’s to blame?  It’s us – the people of God – who have lifted the LORD’s name up to worthlessness.  That’s the problem.

And it affects every area, not just our speaking but our whole lives.  We either commend Jesus – lifting up His name to honour, or we disgrace Jesus – lifting up His name to shame.

Either way, note this, we bear His name.  We can’t choose not to bear His name.  If we belong to the LORD we will carry His name, for good or ill.

Just like my wife now carries my name – for better or for worse.  She could do things to drag the Scrivener name through the mud (though she’s several generations too late for that, I am Australian after all and from bona fide convict stock).  Or she could (and does!) lift up the name to honour.

And so with us.  Let’s begin with the incredible truth that we do bear the LORD’s name.  We are, after all, the bride of Christ.  We have come to Him as sinful and bankrupt and in His marriage covenant He has taken our sins and debts at the cross and given us His righteousness and riches.  We have been drawn into His family relations and now bear His name.

Let’s not use it as a rubber stamp.  Let’s wear it as our crown.

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I am a jealous God

By on March 1st, 2011

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It’s right there in the midst of the ten words from Mount Sinai:

“I the LORD thy God am a jealous God”  (Exodus 20:5)

What a horrible idea, we might think, a jealous God!?  What kind of a God gets jealous?

Well Mount Sinai is no unguarded moment of candour.  The LORD is very open about His jealousy.  At a glance I found 34 times in the bible where the LORD is said to be jealous.  This is not something He seems to be embarassed about.

And here in Exodus 20 it serves as the justification for his words against graven images.  It’s a case of “Don’t go after other gods because I’m jealous.”

Well again we have to ask, What kind of a God gets jealous?

Answer: A God of love.

You see the concept of jealousy depends on the context of committed relationships.  And the LORD wants a devoted, exclusive, covenant union with His people.  Because He’s a God of love, He’s a God of jealousy.

Let’s notice a few things about the LORD’s jealousy.

First the word for “jealous” could just as well be translated “zealous”.  In fact both English words have come to us from the Greek translation of this word (“zelos“).

In Hebrew it’s derived from the word for ‘red’.  It’s the idea of hot-blooded commitment.

The bible has all sorts of examples of good jealousy on a human level (e.g. 2 Corinthians 7:7,11; 9:2; 11:2)

And we can all think of good jealousy.  Good, appropriate, hot-blooded, protective, possessive zealous ardour.

In fact if this jealousy is missing from a relationships, there’s good reason to wonder whether true love is also missing.  True love ought to be jealous love or else you have to question the commitment involved.

So now let’s think of the jealousy of a Father who tells His people: “Thou shalt have no other gods before My Presence.” (Exodus 20:3).  He jealously covets His people’s affections and wants them whole-heartedly devoted to their true Bridegroom, Christ.

We are very far here from the popular conception of God as some distant omnibeing indifferent to the plight of his creatures.  Neither is he some stern patriarch in the sky unwilling to reveal his feelings lest he lose face.  Here is a God with His heart on His sleeve.  “I am jealous” He says.  In fact a few chapters later He will say “My name is Jealous.” (Exodus 34:14).

God loves with a burning, faithful, marital, rightly possessive, rightly jealous love.

First of all the Father loves His Son in the power of His Almighty Spirit.  It is a marriage like love, a burning, faithful, rightly possessive, rightly jealous love.

And then He loves His people – those who are married to His Son – the bride of Christ, the people of God.  He loves us with a burning, faithful, rightly possessive, rightly jealous love.

And throughout the bible God’s people, for their part, are called to be “faithful.”  Not simply “obedient”, “faithful”!  And when we sin we’re not just called “transgressors”, we are called “adulterers.”

To be on the inside of God’s jealous love is a wonderful thing.  It is to be rightly possessed and secure and guarded and desired.  It’s the sunshine of His love.

To be on the wrong end of His jealousy is a terrible thing.  Because for those who demean or threaten or harm the objects of His love (either His Son or His people) they will feel that jealousy as the consuming fire of His judgement.

The same jealous love will be experienced in two very different ways.  For some – the sunshine of His love.  For others – the blazing fire of His judgements.  This is the jealous God.

What kind of a God is this?  Certainly not a cold, calculating, clockwork God.  And not a God to be tamed or taken for granted.  Here on Mount Sinai we see a passionate God entering into committed, covenant relationship with us.  And not afraid to wear His heart on His sleeve.

But it’s on the mountain of Calvary that we see the full depths of His passion.  There on the cross His heart was not simply bared but pierced.  His jealous love was not merely named but demonstrated for all time.  With His arms outstretched to the world the question for humanity is not really “Will you continue to disobey this Cosmic Lawgiver?”  The question is “Will you continue to spurn this Jealous Lover?”

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Graven Images

By on February 28th, 2011

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Where do we look for strength, for comfort, for help, for love, acceptance and joy?  Where do we look for life?

According to the bible, the answer is: all the wrong places.

We are inveterate idolaters.  That is to say, our hearts are forever being set on idols: things that are not God.  The human race was made to worship, but estranged from the life of God, we worship everything but God.

The very first word from Sinai was this

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.  (Exodus 20:3)

The Good Life means not prefering any gods before….

Well actually the King James have done what the majority of translations have done and finished the sentence with the word “me.”  But more literally the Unseen LORD on Sinai says “You will have no other gods before My Face.”  Or you could equally say “My Presence.”  It has been the Face or Presence of the LORD who has saved the people and brought them to Sinai (e.g. Deuteronomy 4:37).  And so the Father says to the people, “You’re mine, I’ve redeemed you, here’s the Good Life: you won’t have any other gods except my Son!”

It’s the Son of God who is the true Divine Image.  He is the One we’re meant to look to in order to see God.  He’s the One we look to to receive life.  But when people resist the first word from Sinai – Look to Jesus – they will immediately look to other images.

Spirituality abhors a vacuum.  When you stop worshipping Jesus, you start worshipping something – anything – else.

And so, here comes the second word from Sinai:

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.  (Exodus 20:4-5)

Perhaps we think we’re free from idolatry since we haven’t bowed down to a religious statue recently.  But “graven images” are not defined by their materials but by their effect.  It’s not how they’re produced.  It’s what they produce in us.  They are things we bow down to or serve.

So, obviously, it’s stupid to make a wooden statue and then serve it (read Isaiah’s devastating send-up of that kind of idolatry).   But the bible speaks equally of the “graven images of our hearts” (see Ezekiel 14 for instance).  Our hearts are captured by any number of enslaving passions.  So we might start a hobby and then get obsessed.  Or choose a career and then get enslaved to it.  Or embark on some scheme and find ourselves dancing to its beat.  That’s just like carving an idol and then bowing to it.  We start off in charge, but we bow to it, and it rules us.

Isn’t that the nature of our hearts?  We go after sex, money, power etc but the things we choose end up choosing us.

For me it was something as paltry as cricket.  I used to have a T-shirt that said “Cricket is life, the rest is mere detail.”  And though I’d laugh about it, that was essentially the way I lived – spending every hour I could chasing a little red ball around a field.  And when my cricketing dreams were ended, how did I feel?  Did I feel like a failed cricketer?  No, I felt like a failed person.  When something is your life and it crumbles, it feels like death.  Which only goes to show – it was a graven image all along.  A created thing.  A good thing.  But I’d turned it into a god thing.  And when we invest our hopes and dreams into these little idols they break our hearts.

More importantly the whole thing breaks God’s heart (as we’ll see tomorrow).  His very first word to us is to seek life in Christ.  And that’s the only solution.  We’ll only wean our hearts from graven images when we behold the true Image of God, Jesus Christ. As the old Scottish preacher, Thomas Chalmers, once said:

The heart is…  so constituted [that] the only way to dispossess it of an old affection, is by the expulsive power of a new one.

This works in every area of life – religious or otherwise.  At university we’d talk about the parties we’d been to, the concerts, the drugs, the sexual conquests.  Fast-forward 5 years and we are changed people.  Now we compete over who has worked the longest week:

‘I’ve worked 60 hours this week’
‘That’s nothing, I’ve worked 70 hours.’
‘I haven’t been home since October’
‘I wear a nappy to save on bathroom breaks.’

The partying has cut back drastically.  How?  Fresh will-power?  No.  New passion.  Fast-forward 5 years again and now it’s kids that dominate the discussion.  Now we all have a much healthier perspective on career.  Again, how?  Fresh wisdom?  Not really.  Just a new controlling passion.  In Chalmers’ words, there is an expulsive power to a new affection.

But there is the greatest power in that original affection: the Presence and Image of the unseen LORD, Jesus Christ.  He is our first love.  Returning again and again to Him is our only liberation from enslaving idols.  Seeing Him as the Source of our strength, comfort, help, love, acceptance and joy – that’s the essence of the Good Life.

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Thou Shalt

By on February 27th, 2011

No-one likes the phrase “laying down the law.”  But that’s what the unseen LORD does on mount Sinai.  God the Son has brought the people to God the Father and now they learn the law of the LORD.

The order is important.  They’re not told in Egypt “If you obey my commands I will redeem you from slavery.”  No, it’s “I have redeemed you from slavery, here is my law.”  The people do not clean themselves up to earn their salvation.  No they are saved first and in this redemption they learn how to be the LORD’s people.

And so on mount Sinai, Israel is given the ten commandments.  Except that the bible never calls them “the ten commandments” (dare I say this is a mistranslation by the KJV, but one that is followed by most of the English versions).  It’s “the ten words“ that are revealed on Sinai.

These words from the LORD are a revelation of the Good Life.  The Good Life is a life of loving God (the first four words) and loving others (the last six).

As such it’s a perfect description of the life of the Son of God.  He is the One who loves His Father and loves others.  In fact He loves His Father by loving others.

And so Israel (also called “the son of God” – Exodus 4:22), is given the life of the Son of God to live out.

Which is a tall order – to put it mildly.  Here’s how they react:

the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”  (Exodus 20:18-19)

These words describing the Good Life were death to the Israelites.  The law is good.  But we are not.  And a good law meeting a bad people means death.

Yet think about our phrase for a second: “Thou shalt.”  That’s actually a very surprising way to phrase a law.

Because it’s not in the imperative (the grammatical mood for commands).  God could easily have  said “Thou must not murder”.  But God didn’t say that.  He said “Thou shalt not murder.”  You won’t.  You’re my special people.  I’ve saved you.  You won’t lie, you won’t murder, you won’t covet.  You won’t.  It’s future indicative (for grammar buffs).

Now obviously that still carries commanding force.  When a mother says to two screaming kids “There will be peace in this house”, by golly there had better be peace.   And when God says there will be peace, well there’s a huge commanding force to that.  But there’s also promise there.  You will be my people, You will live the Good Life.

But how?  How can we live the Good Life?

The great majority of the world thinks we can do it by taking good advice, applying it diligently to our moral behaviour and never giving up.  Wisdom, will-power and persistence will see us through.

But no.  Not even God’s people, with God’s law can live the Good Life.  The law can only describe this life for the people – it can’t produce it in them.  Actually the people become distanced from the LORD after the speaking of the law.  They want Moses to stand in between them and shield them from the holy God.

Well Moses isn’t really up to that job, but the LORD promises to raise up another intermediary in Deuteronomy 18.  Moses tells the people:

“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers – it is to him you shall listen – just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb [that is, Sinai] on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken.  I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

The Father thundered the ten words from Sinai and it drove the people down.  The Good Life never entered a human heart coming from stone-tablets.  But in the fullness of time He planned to send, not thunder-bolts and not stone-tablets, but His Son.  He would put the words into Jesus, His Prophet.  And from Jesus the Good Life would get into the people.

“Thou shalt” can only ever condemn us if we try to obey it in our own strength.  But “thou shalt” becomes a fulfilled promise in Jesus.  The Son of God lived that Good Life for us.  And then, by His Spirit, He puts it in us.

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On Eagle's Wings

By on February 26th, 2011


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Do you need a priest to bring you to God?

The Bible answers yes.  But perhaps not the priest you were thinking of.

Back in Exodus 3 Moses is at the burning bush and the One in the bush promises to save the people:

“Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.”  (Exodus 3:12)

The One in the bush will be with them.  He will save them and bring them to God.

Well who is this Saviour in the bush?

He is introduced as “The Angel of the LORD” (the One Sent from the LORD), v2.  And He calls Himself the great I AM.

Here is the Priest we all need.  He is the Divine Sent One acting as Go-between – bringing heaven to earth and earth to heaven.

And if you read from Exodus 3 to Exodus 19 you’ll see this One from the bush referred to as “God” and “the LORD” and “the Angel of the LORD.”  Sometimes He’s called “the Glory of the LORD”, later He’ll be called “the Presence (or Face) of the LORD.”  He’s the One travelling in the fiery, cloudy pillar (see picture).

He’s the One who at the Red Sea stands between the Egyptian army and the escaping Israelites – like Gandalf saying to the Egyptians “You shall not pass!”  He is God’s Divine Priest, leading the people to the Unseen LORD.  He is Jesus Christ before His birth into the human race – the eternal Son of God.  And He is the One speaking our phrase for today.

That’s the Who of this phrase “bare you on eagles’ wings”.  Christ is the One carrying His people.  And now that He has brought them out to Mount Sinai, as promised, He tells them How He has done it:

Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.  (Exodus 19:4)

Here’s the How of His deliverance:  He has carried them on eagle’s wings.

That speaks of three things in particular.

It speaks of speed.  Nations that quickly over-run their enemies are swift as eagles (e.g. Daniel 7:4).  Those borne on eagles’ wings are brought at once to the Father.   If we are Christ’s, then He does not delay in sweeping us up into the life of God.  No-one who is Christ’s should imagine that their case is lost in paper-work somewhere in heaven’s bureaucracy.  Straight away we have been brought to the Father.

It speaks of a renewing vigour (e.g. Psalm 103:5; Isaiah 40:30-31).  Those borne on eagles’ wings become strong again.  Christ doesn’t merely deliver us into the Father’s arms as the care-worn men and women we were.  As He gives us His new birth we have our youth and vitality renewed.

And it speaks of motherly care.  As Moses would sing later in Deuteronomy:

He found [Israel] in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.  11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: 12 So the LORD alone did lead him,  (Deuteronomy 32:10-12)

Christ doesn’t merely deliver His people – He dotes on them.

This is the kind of Priest we need.  Praise God, this is the Priest we have.  And His name is Jesus.

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Manna – the Bread of Heaven

By on February 25th, 2011

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“I never knew Christ was all I needed until Christ was all I had.”

I heard this saying from an African Bishop recently.  But Christians the world over can attest to the truth of it.

It’s the very essence of what God was teaching the Israelites in the wilderness.  And it’s exactly what Christians are being taught in our time between salvation (Exodus) and glory (promised land).  This in-between-time (wilderness) is one of testing and hardship.  But we are learning – or at least should be – that when Christ is all we have, actually He’s all we need.

The Israelites had been reminiscing about Egypt (with its fleshpots) and grumbling about their wilderness conditions.

The LORD responds with words familiar from our study of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Exodus 16:4 – Behold, I will rain down…

…what?  “Fire and brimstone”?  “Righteous anger”?  “I will rain down thunderbolts on their camp”?  No.

I will rain down bread from heaven for you.

It’s called Manna (v31).  It’s bread not baked with human hands.  Angels’ food (as Psalm 78 calls it).  And it’s for them – for the grumblers.  The LORD will shower upon them his daily provision for as long as it takes to get them to His holy habitation.

Exodus 16, verse 31 says that manna tastes of honey.  Now that’s interesting because the place they’re headed is a land flowing with milk and honey.  Their future will gush with honey, and in the meantime the LORD will sustain them with little pledges of the life to come.  Every morning the Israelites taste the future and it keeps them going.

Manna becomes a whole discipleship regime to teach the people.

And here is lesson one: Horde ye not!

Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning [i.e. keep some for later].  Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank  (Exodus 16:19-20)

The LORD gives them all they need for today.  But if they horde their stuff for tomorrow, it rots.  What a lesson!

Here’s lesson two:  Learn to rest!

The LORD institutes the Sabbath and tells them He’s going to provide double the manna on Friday, so take Saturday off. But,

it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.  (v27)

The LORD gives them a day off, but they work anyway.

What would you have been like at these lessons in dependence?  Are you a hoarder?  Would you have collected more than a day’s worth?  You’d have seen it rot.

Are you unable to rest?  Would you have gone out on the Sabbath to gather more?  You’d have found none.

Would you have been content for the day, or forever worrying about tomorrow?

This discipleship programme for the Israelites was leading them into deeper dependence.  Daily dependence.  And it’s what we all need.

Jesus considered us all to be in the position of these Israelites when He taught us to pray “Give us this day our daily bread.”  Jesus applies the lessons of manna to all of life.  He assumes that we are a wilderness people and that we ought to depend on the Father’s daily provision.

And notice we’re not to pray “Give us this day our bread for next year, or for next month or even for next week.”  It says “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Do I depend on the LORD for today’s needs?  Do I leave tomorrow in His hands?

Well Jesus has done something extraordinary to reassure us that we can depend on Him.

In John chapter 6, Jesus again encounters some grumbling Israelites. And they’re in a wilderness place.  And they’re hungry.  And again Jesus feeds the multitudes miraculously with bread.  He couldn’t say it any clearer: “I AM the LORD of Exodus 16.  I AM the One who accompanied the Israelites in the wilderness”

But then He goes one step further and says to them “I AM the Bread of Life.”  (John 6:35)

Jesus doesn’t just provide – He is the Provision.

Jesus is the true Provision we need day by day.  And He says, “the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”  (John 6:51)

Think of the cross.  That was Jesus given to the world like bread to the hungry.  That was the true grace for grumblers like you and me.  We deserved a thunderbolt and we got the Bread of Heaven.

If you look to Jesus, broken on the cross for you, can you really doubt His provision?  No matter what the trial you’re going through, no matter what the wilderness experience, look to the cross and see what kind of Provider your LORD is. Not just giving you things to get by, but giving His very self.

Though it cost Him His life, He gave you His flesh and blood.  Do you really think He’ll withhold what you need in your wilderness times?  He was torn apart for your salvation.  Do you really think He wants to see you perish in the desert?  No!

He is a gift to the whole world, as free and available as bread for the starving.  Do you think He’s stingey?  He’s not stingey.  He gives Himself away as Bread to the masses.

When we come to those places where Jesus is all we have, He proves time and again that He’s all we need.  He is the One who gives Himself body and soul to His people.  The desert with Jesus is better than any Egypt without Him.

Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven
Feed me now and evermore

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Fleshpots

By on February 24th, 2011

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When we hear of “fleshpots” we’ll likely think of sexual temptation. As in…

flesh·pots / ˈfleshˌpäts/• pl. n. places providing luxurious or hedonistic living: he had lived the life of a roué in the fleshpots of London and Paris.

But in their original biblical context, “fleshpots” are literally cauldrons of meat.  They are a temptation, but there’s nothing sexual about them.  Here’s their mention in Exodus 16:

“the children of Israel said unto [Moses and Aaron], Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”  (Exodus 16:3)

The children of Israel have come out of slavery through the Red Sea and now wander in the wilderness.  It’s not an instant translation from the house of bondage to the land of milk and honey.  In between there is hardship and testing.

It is a picture of our own Christian lives – saved from sin and Satan, brought out into newness of life but not yet living with Christ in the new creation.  Right now is a time of daily dependence on the LORD.  And just like the Israelites, we too are tempted to grumble about our present and idealize our non-Christian past:

“Egypt was wonderful” we conveniently misremember.  “It was feasting and fullness!”

That’s how the Israelites recall their slavery and genocide.  “Forget the taskmasters, remember the barbecues??!”

Fleshpots are not about our sex-life – they are about our old-life.  But lusting after some nostalgic conception of the past can be even more spiritually poisonous.

In the wilderness years the Israelites would often look back with rose-tinted glasses.  E.g.

We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:  (Numbers 11:5)

Very literally they looked on the past as their green salad days.  But now?  Now they see only desert and scarcity.

When Jesus leads us into a desert place we re-imagine life without Him as fleshpots.  Our past was care-free.  And all our non-Christian friends are blissfully happy millionaires.  Jesus has led me away from life and fulness and into this desert, we grumble.

But such grumbling grieves our LORD who has fought to the death to buy our freedom.   Our fond reminiscences of Egypt are like some Stockholm Syndrome – a crush on our former captor.  Jesus is pained by our nostalgia for the darkness.

As an aside we should note that the bible is full of complaints that are addressed to God.  Those aren’t grumbles.  Those are called prayers.  And they are wonderful and godly things.  The Psalms are full of complaining prayers. “LORD this is terrible, I can’t handle it, what are you going to do?”  That’s a perfectly good prayer.  But moaning to one another in unbelief, wishing to be completely without the LORD and wallowing in a complaining spirit while never addressing our complaint to the Manager?  That’s grumbling.  And the LORD takes offence.

Of course He takes offence.  As the verse above shows, grumbling portrays the LORD as a murderer.  It paints Him as anti-life when the truth is, Egypt was anti-life.

The LORD won’t have this kind of grumbling against Him.  So what does He do?

He does the only thing that truly takes our eyes off the fleshpots and steals the complaints from our mouths:

It’s astonishing really.  He showers grace on the grumblers.  As we’ll see tomorrow.

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Red Sea

By on February 23rd, 2011

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When introducing people to the cross of Jesus it’s very common to hear this objection:

“Hang on!  If you’re saved from judgement by Jesus’ sacrifice, won’t you just keep on wallowing in sin?  Doesn’t the cross mean that Christians will be complacent about sin and go on indulging in it?”

Actually the opposite is true.  Jesus doesn’t save us for sin, He saves us from sin.  And here’s how.  He doesn’t just die for us, He also rises to new life for us.

Or to put it in Exodus terms.  We don’t just enjoy a Passover, we also experience a Red Sea.  We’re not just sheltered under the blood of the Lamb, we’re also brought out of the land of slavery.

Those who benefited from the sacrificial lamb had to be those who left Egypt.

And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S passover.  (Exodus 12:11)

The lamb was not given so that God’s people could enjoy Egypt.  It was given to bring them out.  Any who said Yes to the substitutionary sacrifice were also saying No to the old life.

And the LORD makes sure they are brought out with a one-way ticket, once and for all.  He leads them by his chosen ruler Moses to the waters of the Red Sea.

It’s important to note that “waters” in the bible very often represent judgement.  And this particular stretch of water certainly proves to be a ravenous grave for the Egyptians (Exodus 15:12).

But “by a strong east wind” called down by Moses the waters are parted (Exodus 14:21).  This phrase – “strong east wind” – might as well be translated “Mighty Ancient Spirit”.  It calls to mind Genesis 1 where the Spirit hovered over the waters and the Word parted them, making a safe space for man.

So here is the picture: through God’s chosen ruler and by the Ancient Spirit the impossible is made possible – God’s people are led out of slavery through the waters of judgement and into a new life.

The Apostle Paul looks back at this event as a baptism of sorts (1 Corinthians 10:1-4).  The people were baptized into Moses.  The people couldn’t get themselves out of slavery.  They couldn’t get themselves through the deserved judgement and out the other side.  But, by the power of the Spirit, Moses could.  And so they threw their lot in with Moses.  They were united to him and went through the waters with him into newness of life.

And it’s the same with us today.  Just as they were baptized into Moses, we are baptized into Jesus.

And in union with our Spirit-filled Ruler we are not simply Passover people – united to Jesus’ death.  We’re also Red Sea people – united to Jesus’ resurrection.  We don’t glory in the cross while bedding down in sin.  We are brought out from sin into a risen life.  By the Spirit we have followed Jesus out of the darkness and slavery of our spiritual Egypt.

Therefore the Apostle Paul writes this:

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  (Romans 6:1-4)

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Gen1&version=KJV
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Passover

By on February 22nd, 2011

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John the Baptist was a wild and holy prophet whose whole mission in life was to prepare the way for the LORD Jesus.  And when his big moment came to announce Christ onto the world stage, what did John say?

“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29)

Think of all the ways John could have described Jesus.  “Behold the Son of God”, “Behold the Word of God”, “Behold the Christ of God”, “Behold the great I AM”,

But no.  The foundational identity of Jesus is this: The Lamb of God.

Behold God’s Bleeding Victim.

That’s the most fundamental introduction to Jesus.

And if we want to understand why, we need to understand Passover.  You can read Exodus 12 here but these are the highlights.

Passover is the tenth and final plague on Egypt.  Here is the ultimate judgement of God.  But as with all God’s judgement, there is a way of salvation.  What is it?

On the 10th day of the 1st month, take a lamb into your household. (Exodus 12:3)  It has to be a lamb – if your household can’t afford a lamb, a budgie won’t do the trick.  If you’re broke then club together with other families so that you can get a lamb. (v4)  Only a lamb will do.

This insistence on a lamb would have put the people in mind of that ancient promise from Genesis 22: 8

God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.

The faithful would have known that this lamb would be playing the part of the Messiah Himself – the Lamb of God atoning for the sins of the world (See here for more).

The Passover lamb had to be male – it stood in for the firstborn son, so it’s ‘like for like’. (v5)  And it had to be without defect – not some cheap old thing, a precious lamb without spot.

Verse 3 says, Adopt it into family life – Flossy will become a pet for the next 4 days – one of the family.  But on the 14th day of the month at twilight I’m afraid Flossy gets it in the neck.  Then using a bit of hyssop plant as a paintbrush, paint the blood on the outside of your doorframes (v22).

After this, go inside and don’t come out again till morning – you’re only safe as you shelter under the blood of the lamb.  Once inside, roast the lamb with bitter herbs and eat it with unleavened bread (verses 8-11).  Forget everything your mother told you about dinner-table manners on this night: Eat it fast, eat it standing, eat it ready to leave the country because this is the last night you’ll ever be in Egypt.

The lamb given for you to save you would be the lamb given to you to sustain you.  His blood would shield you from judgement.  His flesh would feed you for the journey out of slavery.

Verse 23 – at midnight when the LORD goes through the land, He will pass over every house which shelters under the blood of the lamb.  But, v29, for the Egyptians who did not heed the LORD’s warnings He strikes down the firstborn of every household.

On that night every house had someone dead in it.  Either there was a dead lamb or there was a dead son.  If there was not a dead lamb there would certainly be a dead son.

In this way the Passover lamb was a substitutionary sacrifice.  He died in the place of the firstborn.

What does Passover teach us?

Well let’s imagine three Israelite houses on the night the LORD passes through.

House A is a very religious house.  They love to have Moses over to hear the words of God.  They’re always praying.  They’re always talking about father Abraham.  They’re always doing good deeds around the neighbourhood.  They hear about Passover and on one level they’re a bit miffed because they’d quite like the LORD to come inside the home and see how good they all are.  They’re sure He’d pass over them once He saw how religious they all were.  Thankfully Moses persuades them out of that suicidal idea and they kill the Lamb and apply the blood.

House B is not like House A.  In House B they were going to be in that night anyway because they all have ASBO’s.  They are drunkards, gluttons, liars, benefits cheats and notoriously promiscuous.  But somehow they catch wind of Passover and they figure they’d probably better cover themselves.  They’re not sure it’ll do any good because if the LORD pokes His head around the door He’s bound to judge them anyway. But nonetheless, they kill the lamb and apply the blood.

House C is nothing like as good as A and nothing like as bad as B.  But in C everyone is very nervous. They keep calling up house A and saying ‘I’ve killed the lamb, I’ve applied the blood but I’m just not sure.  I mean I don’t really see how the blood of a lamb can make a difference.’  And they spend the night pacing up and down wondering whether the blood will really do the trick.

Next morning – which house loses its firstborn son?  A, B or C?

None of them do!

Of course none of them do.  Because it’s got nothing to do with what’s on the inside of the house.  You won’t often hear a Christian say this, but here it’s absolute gospel truth: It doesn’t matter what’s on the inside, it’s what’s on the outside that counts!

It’s not about the LORD inspecting each household to see whether it’s up to scratch.  It’s only about whether the household is sheltering under the blood.  That is the only issue.

And it’s not even about how much faith you have in the blood.  If the blood is applied at all, you’re saved.  Strong faith in the blood and wavering faith in the blood lead to exactly the same outcome.  Because it’s not the faith in the blood that saves.  It’s the blood.

Do we see how Passover teaches us about our Christian lives.  Christ is our Lamb.  And His death on the cross was the true Passover – a plague of judgement that proves the salvation of those who shelter under Him.

Therefore our salvation is entirely down to Him.  It’s not about the quality of our living, speaking, acting, praying.  It’s not even about the quality of  our own faith.  It’s only about the blood.  It’s the quality of His death, not the quality of our life.  Our salvation has nothing to do with our performance and everything to do with His performance.

Passover takes our eyes off our sins and off ourselves.  Our salvation is entirely outside ourselves.  It’s all about Jesus our Lamb.