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Shining light

By on June 26th, 2011

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What adjective could be more redundant than “shining” when attached to the word “light”?  What else does a light do?  What else can it do except shine?

Surely there’s no such thing as a light that doesn’t shine.  Well you’d think so, wouldn’t you.  But Jesus, as we’ll soon see, speaks of people who “put their light under a bushel” (Matthew 5:14-15).  Christians are the light of the world, and yet there’s an impossible possibility (which is a reality for many!) of being a light that does not shine.

Not so with John the Baptist.  He is the One described by Jesus as a “shining light.”

Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.  (John 5:33-35)

How did John shine?  Did he shine by being the most naturally talented man of his day?  Well he was that (Matthew 11:11), but that’s not why he was a shining light.  Did he shine because he drew attention to his many achievements?  No, the exact opposite.  John shone by pointing away from himself entirely.  The common feature in all paintings depicting John is the pointing finger.  That was the very nature of his life.  And it was the secret of his radiance.  The one who shines the most is the one who draws least attention to himself.

Jesus tells us this secret of John’s brilliance:  “he bare witness unto the truth.”  John pointed to Jesus.  That’s the source of his shining.  As the opening chapter of John says:

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light…  The true Light, which lighteth every man… cometh into the world.  (John 1:6-9)

Christ is the uncreated Light of the world.  John shines as he points away from himself to the true Light.  John’s light is not a light that draws attention to itself, rather his light spotlights the true Light.

We’re all meant to shine (Matthew 5:15) but John shows us the way.  We’re all witnesses (Acts 1:8) but John is the ultimate human witness.  And what do we learn from his example?  We learn to point away from ourselves to Jesus.  We shine the most, when we simply turn to the true Light of the world.  May his self-appraisal be ours:

I am not the Christ. (John 1:19)

I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, (John 1:23)

[The] shoe’s latchet [of Jesus] I am not worthy to unloose. (John 1:27)

He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30)

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Turning water into wine

By on June 25th, 2011

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Here is a phrase, like “David and Goliath” or “the writing is on the wall“, that doesn’t strictly occur in the Bible.  Instead it arises as a short-hand to describe a famous story.

This story is from John 2:1-11.  It’s the first of Jesus’ miracles as John records them.  And according to verse 11, by turning the water into wine Jesus “manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.”

I often imagine what it felt like for Jesus to be a guest at this wedding feast in little Cana.  Engaged couples who sit through someone else’s wedding can’t help but have a critical eye for detail.  When the service orders are smudged, or the flowers are wilting, or the speeches are shoddy, they make a mental note to do better for their own wedding.

Well Jesus, as the ultimate Bridegroom, has His eye firmly fixed on the final wedding banquet at the end of history.  He longs for the day when He will be united to His bride, the church.  And so at this wedding in Cana, I wonder how He felt as this bridegroom and the so-called “ruler of the feast” (v9) were presiding over an unmitigated disaster.

If the wine runs out in our modern weddings it’s a cause for embarassment and disappointment.  In the first century it was utterly shameful – a terrible reflection on the groom and his family.  If Jesus does not step in here, major doubts will be cast – not only over the groom’s ability to host a banquet.  A major question mark will hang over the groom’s ability to provide for his new bride.

And so Jesus steps in.  Reluctantly (v3-4).   Jesus knows that “manifesting” His glory will release the handbrake on His public ministry.  It will set in chain a series of events that will lead to the cross.  Nonetheless He rises to the occasion.  And does far more than anyone could ask or imagine.

Consider, the quantity of wine produced here.  Verse 6 tells us of the raw materials Jesus was working with:

“six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.”

A firkin is about 10 gallons.  So we’re talking about 150 gallons or 570 litres of water.  Jesus turns it into the equivalent of 760 bottles of wine.  And not the cheap stuff either.  The “ruler of the feast” calls it “good wine” (v9-10).  Jesus here proves Himself to be the true Bridegroom and Ruler of the Feast.  And with such a superabundance that the Jews around Him couldn’t fail to draw the link.  You see Isaiah spoke of the days of the Messiah in which

the LORD of hosts [shall] make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.  (Isaiah 25:6)

And Amos promised:

the mountains shall drop sweet wine.  (Amos 9:13)

And here in little Cana, the Messiah shows up to flood this wedding with a “feast of wines.”  This is one aspect of the “glory” which Jesus manifested here.  Wine means the new age of the Messiah’s reign.

But it also means blood.  In fact, right from Genesis, wine is called “the blood of the grape” (Genesis 49:11).  And at the end of His life, Jesus would pick up a cup of wine saying “This is my blood.”  (Matthew 26:28)

Think now of what Jesus has done in this miracle.  He has transformed water used for “the purifying of the Jews” and made it into the blood of the grape.  The old cleansing ritual is gone.  Jesus replaces it with a reminder of blood.  Because this is the way He will bring in His new age of blessings and feasting.  Through His blood, Jesus will make us clean and bring us to the ultimate banquet.

The bridegroom from Cana failed to provide.  He is a picture of all us inadequate husbands.  But the one thing this couple did right was to invite Jesus to the wedding.  The Bridegroom from heaven does not merely make up the shortfall.  He floods them with a superabundance of new life and true cleansing.  He provides lavishly and lovingly for His bride, the church.  And He makes us hungry for that Wedding Feast to come.  Without Jesus we’re drinking water.  With Him, it’s wine.

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Behold the Lamb of God

By on June 24th, 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.  John was prophesied in the Old Testament as one who would cry out in the wilderness and introduce Jesus to the world.  (Isaiah 40:3ff; Malachi 3:1)  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.  He could have said “Behold the Word of God”, “Behold the Christ of God”, “Behold the King of God.”  “Behold the Priest of God”, “Behold the Light of the World,” “Behold the Heavenly Bridegroom”, “Behold the great I AM”.  He could have chosen hundreds of titles besides.  But here’s what John thought we needed to know first:  “Behold the Lamb of God.”  Behold the Sacrifice.  Behold God’s Bleeding Victim.  That’s the most fundamental introduction to Jesus.

Remember Genesis 22?  It’s 2000BC, Abraham is walking up a hill in the region of Jerusalem with “his son, his only son Isaac whom he loves.”  He’s meant to put a knife to his son as a sacrifice of atonement.  Isaac pipes up and says “Father, where is the lamb for the sacrifice?”  Abraham says “God Himself will provide the Lamb.”  And of course on that occasion, the LORD provides a ram.  The ram dies instead of Isaac.  But from that day onwards that mountain was called “The LORD will provide”  (Genesis 22:14).  What will the LORD provide?  The Lamb.  The LORD will provide the Lamb on that mountain in the region of Jerusalem.

Fast forward 500 years to the first Passover.  The LORD’s final plague on Egypt will strike both Egyptians and Israelites alike.  The LORD Himself will pass through the land and strike down the firstborn son of each household unless a lamb dies instead.  A household must sacrifice a lamb and then paints the blood on its doorframes with hyssop.  Then they will be saved.  Israel is redeemed from Egypt through judgement by sheltering under the blood of the lamb.  And Passover becomes the most important festival of the calendar.

Fast forward another 500 years and we’re listening in to a prayer of King David.  He’s just committed adultery and murder and in his famous Psalm 51, he’s praying for forgiveness.  He says to God “Cleanse me with hyssop and I shall be clean.” (Psalm 51:7)  God has hyssop it seems.  Does God also have a Lamb, a sacrifice that averts judgement?  David prays with confidence, knowing that the Lamb of God can cover even his sins.

Fast forward another 500 years and Isaiah foretells the coming of the Messiah: He would be led like a lamb to the slaughter.  In this way Christ would be sacrificed to bring us peace.

Fast forward another 500 years.  We are on the hillside outside Bethlehem.  And of all the people for the angels to appear to, they appear to shepherds.  Just as Norfolk is known in Britain as the place that rears our Christmas turkeys, Bethlehem was known as the place that produced Passover lambs.  Well on that first Christmas the angels are telling them: Do you want to see a real passover lamb?  Hurry to the stable!

Fast-forward 33 years and Jesus is entering Jerusalem on a donkey.  It’s the tenth day of the first month – and as all of Israel are bringing their Passover lambs into their houses, Jesus enters into the house of God.  And on the 14th day of the 1st month, while everyone else is holding their Passover meals, Jesus is hosting His last supper.  He’s meant to be carving the lamb and passing it around.  But there is no lamb on the menu – not that we’re told of.  There is a Lamb at the table though.  And on that Friday, Jesus is slaughtered.

No wonder the Apostle Paul says, “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.” (1 Corinthians 5:7)

No wonder the Apostle Peter calls us redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

And when the Apostle John wrote Revelation he calls Jesus “the Lamb” 28 times.

In chapter 5, John hears the song of heaven:

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.  (Revelation 5:12)

According to John the Baptist, the most basic thing you can know about Jesus is that He is the Lamb.  According to John the Revelator, the most exalted thing you can know about Jesus is that He is the Lamb.

In fact, Revelation has a wonderful phrase that’s repeated: “the Lamb in the midst of the throne” (Rev 5;6; 7:17).  The throne represents the power and authority of God.  And what’s at the centre of the eternal power and authority of God?  Jesus our Lamb.  Where do we see the Godness of God shining at full strength?  In the slaughter of Jesus, our Lamb.  The Lamb is at the centre of the throne.

Do you ever worry that there might be a stern God lurking behind lovely Jesus?  Do you ever think that the cross was a nice gesture from Jesus, but who knows about God?  No: Behold the Lamb.  When you see Jesus your Lamb you see to the very centre of the throne – the very centre of God.  God’s eternal nature is revealed in the Lamb bleeding for you and me.

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The Word was made flesh

By on June 23rd, 2011

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Tom Torrance was an army chaplain in World War Two.  He reckoned that the number one question soldiers asked him was this, “Is God really like Jesus Christ?”

With the bullets flying and lives on the line, that’s what they needed to know.  Because if God is like Jesus then, ultimately, it’s going to be ok.

Well it was this chaplain’s greatest joy to point to verse after verse in the bible that said: Yes, God is exactly like Jesus.

One of the places he opened up was John chapter 1 and verse 1.  It’s a phrase we thought about yesterday:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Before there was anything, God was there with His Word.  And His Word could also be called “God.”  God has always had a divine Communication.

That’s what a word is – a word communicates, expresses, reveals.  And the Word is the Expression of God.  Everything God wants to say is wrapped up in this Person called “the Word.”

Who is this Word?  Well verse 14 gives us a clue:

The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.  (John 1:14)

The Word is the Christmas baby!  The Word is the One born of Mary and laid in a manger.  The Word is Jesus.  Or maybe it’s better to say that Jesus is the Word.

Jesus did not pop into existence in Mary’s womb.  Even as He stood before the Jews of the first century He declared, “Before Abraham was, I AM!” (John 8:56)  He has always existed along with His Father and the Holy Spirit.  He has forever been God’s Word.

So then, do you want to know what God is like?  Jesus explains Him perfectly.  Everything we hear Jesus saying and everything we see Jesus doing reveals God the Father.  As Jesus draws near, stoops to our level, loves, heals, touches, teaches, suffers, bleeds and dies for us, Jesus shows us God.

Lord Byron once said, “If God is not like Jesus Christ, then God ought to be like Jesus Christ.”  Well the good news is that God is exactly like Jesus.  Because Jesus is the Word.

I like to put it this way: Jesus is God-sized.  And God is Jesus-shaped.

Firstly, Jesus is entirely God-sized.  He is the eternal Word of God, there in the beginning, the Craftsman of all creation.  You cannot think too highly of Jesus!

And God is entirely Jesus-shaped.  In the words of one archbishop “God is Christ-like and in Him there is no un-Christ-likeness at all!”  Any God we imagine who is not like Jesus, is not God.

This is what it means to say that Jesus is the Word.  He is the Explanation of God.

What does it mean that He was “made flesh”?

If someone has just been particularly callous we might ask them, “Where’s your humanity?”  When we do so, we’re trying to tap into their sympathy.  We want to stir up love for their “fellow man”.  Here “humanity” is synonymous with “compassion.”  A person without “humanity” is a person without a heart.

But what about God.  Does He have sympathy?  Does He have love for humankind?  Does He have a heart?  Yes.  Because, incredibly, He has humanity!

When we ask God, “Where’s your humanity?” He has an answer.  Because the Word “was made flesh.”  The eternal Son of God became man.  A member of the Trinity became a member of the human race!

And our verse really wants to drive that point home, so it uses a word that’s shockingly base.  Flesh.

In latin it’s the word “carnis”.  It’s the source of the word ‘incarnation’. And, less impressively, the origin of chilli con carne.  A.k.a. chilli with meat! That’s the sense of the word ‘flesh’ here.  The Word became meat.

Ask a biologist to describe humanity and they might use the phrase ‘homo sapien’.

Ask a philosopher to describe humanity and they might say ‘a rational animal’.

Ask a butcher to describe humanity and they might say ‘carnis’, ‘flesh’, meat!

When Jesus came it was not a heavenly visitation.  Jesus did not float 6 inches off the ground.  He did not have a constant halo around Him. The Word did not descend like a deep sea diver, wearing a man-suit.  The Word did not ‘put on’ flesh, the Word did not ‘enter’ flesh, the Word did not ‘borrow’ some flesh or ‘hide behind’ flesh or ‘get diluted’ in flesh.  It says the Word was made flesh.

God has humanity.  And His name is Jesus.

If a king remains on the throne and never climbs down, that’s one kind of greatness.  But there’s another kind of greatness.  It’s the greatness of the King who climbs down, who humbles Himself, who condescends to join His people.  And what about a King who descends even further – becoming a slave, serving His people in poverty, suffering, fighting, bleeding and dying for them.  That’s another kind of greatness entirely.

Think of an adult who speaks to a toddler while towering over them.  And now picture one who stoops down to their level.  Or imagine a homeless man, drunk and lying in the gutter.  One ‘helper’ gives advice from on high.  Another lies down in the gutter, speaking face to face.  This is the gutter-level glory of the Word made flesh.

And this is how we come into relationship with God.  We began in chapter one with the truth that God is love and that we are invited in.  Here’s how we are invited in:

He became what we are, so that we might become what He is.  He came into our situation to invite us into His situation.  He entered our family – the human race – so that we can enter His Family – the Trinity!  He, the Son of God, became flesh, so that we who are flesh might become sons and daughters of God.

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In the beginning was the Word

By on June 22nd, 2011

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When it comes to prayer I think the most common question I’m ever asked runs something like this: “Should I really pray to God about such and such?”  So many Christians seem to feel that “bothering God” with the minutiae of their lives is beneath the majesty of the Most High.

God seems to have His life, up there, by Himself, thinking divine thoughts no doubt.  And here I am, down here, by myself – little old me.  If I am to offer up anything to God, it shouldn’t be my puny, pesky requests!  Surely I should offer Him grand acts of devotion and try not to be so needy.

We all fall into such thinking.  And it’s just one sign that we need to let the Apostle John revolutionize our thinking.  The very first phrase of His Gospel is enough to change the world:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.”  (John 1:1)

John begins by reminding us of Genesis.  The God, in the beginning, was not Word-less but Word-full.  Indeed by the Word He made all things (as both John and Genesis make clear).  But John wants us to know that God and the Word go way back.  Way back before creation.  In fact, let me put it this way: it is impossible to ever “rewind the tape of history” and see God without His Word.  At all points God has had Another alongside Him.

This “Other” is “with” Him (as verse 1 puts it) and “in His bosom” (as verse 18 puts it).  Verse 17 names Him most clearly as “Jesus Christ.”  But there are three other names by which He is known in this chapter and they are fascinating.  The Eternal Jesus is the Word (v1), the Light (v4) and the only begotten Son (v18).

We could spend years considering what such names mean for Jesus.  But, for now, let’s explore what this means for the God in Whose bosom Jesus has ever dwelt.

It means that God is eternally Speaker/ Shiner /Father.  Rewind the tape into the depths of eternity and you will only ever see the Speaker communicating His eternal Word, the Shiner radiating His eternal Light, the Father begetting His eternal Son.

This is wonderful news, because these three qualities are quintessentially outgoing characteristics.   God is not first God (in all His Godness) and then Speaker / Shiner / Father.  No, God has never been anything other than Speaker / Shiner / Father.  God is other-centred, to the depths of eternity and to the core of His Being.

Someone who grasped this and its profound pastoral impact was the puritan Richard Sibbes.  He wrote:

“God’s goodness is a communicative, spreading goodness. . . . If God had not a communicative, spreading goodness, he would never have created the world.  The Father, Son and Holy Ghost were happy in themselves and enjoyed one another before the world was.  But that God delights to communicate and spread his goodness, there had never been a creation nor a redemption.  God useth his creatures not for defect of power, that he can do nothing without them, but for the spreading of his goodness. . . .

God is a Speaker, a Radiating Light, a Father, a Fountain, a spreading goodness.  He is not first concerned for Himself and only then condescends to the concerns of others.  His whole being is condescension.

Remember this next time you pray.  The direction of His life and being is ever-outwards.  We do not exist as a distraction from His divine glory.  We have been birthed by that glory – an outgoing glory that delights in affirming and upholding the other.

He is more committed to listening than we are of praying.  More desirous of helping than we are of help.  For His “goodness is a communicative, spreading goodness.”

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Prisoners of hope

By on June 21st, 2011

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We have all met people who are prisoners of despair.  What we call depression could well be described in those terms: it is a helpless and hopeless condition with no prospect of release.  They don’t want to collapse in despair but they feel bound to do so.  Perhaps we have been in that waterless pit ourselves.

But Zechariah (a contemporary of Haggai) speaks of something incredible – not prisoners of despair but prisoners of hope.  In fact he describes the people of God in exactly those terms.  They are bound to hope.  They may not even want to hope, but they can do no other – they are prisoners!

Zechariah is speaking to a people who have been knocked around and battered by the superpowers of their day.  All their constants were challenged when they were uprooted from the land in which they found their identity.  They were carried away to strange lands and stranger peoples.  Now, after 70 years of exile, they are back in Canaan, desperately impoverished and under constant military threat.

But Zechariah doesn’t call them prisoners of Babylon, or Persia or Greece.  He doesn’t call them prisoners of circumstance or fate.  He doesn’t call them prisoners of economic or political conditions.  He calls them prisoners of hope.   Something has taken hold of the people of God and forced them to hope.  If left to their own devices they would probably wander into world-weariness, into fear, into cynicism and melancholy.  But something has arrested them and forbids them to despair.  What is it?

It’s a lowly man, riding on a donkey:

9Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.  10And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.  11As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.  12Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;

Zechariah holds up this picture of the Messiah to a bruised people.  Not a Mighty Warrior on a white stallion but a gentle King riding on a donkey.  The Messiah will not meet the powers of this world with more worldly power.  He will meet them with simple justice, lowliness and a speaking of peace.

This is the revolution that will bring in a global kingdom of righteousness – from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth. It’s a revolution that prisoners in the pit can believe in.

In fact for those in the pit, they can look to Christ, their Stronghold, and know themselves bound to a much different story.  The lowly King will die – shedding that precious “blood of the covenant” which redeems lost sinners.  And He will rise again to bring a future more glorious than the paradise we have lost.  Through Jesus we will be rendered double.

The waterless pit of our circumstances seems to demand our despair.  But there is a gentle King who knows our sufferings.  And He promises a mind-blowing redemption.  Have you lost your dreams, your health, your dignity, your innocence, your peace, your children, your marriage, your youth, your job, your reputation?    Christ will render double unto thee.  For those who love the King – even in spite of ourselves and our circumstances – we cannot help but hope.

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The Desire of All Nations

By on June 20th, 2011

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There is a limit and a longing to us all.  And that interaction between the limit and the longing defines our human condition.  We are finite creatures, and yet this finite world does not satisfy.

The prophet Haggai wrote in the 6th century BC to the Israelites in a strange kind of in-between time.  They had returned from the Babylonian captivity, but they hadn’t exactly returned from exile.  The true end of exile would be the coming of the Messiah.

And so the people had an experience something like our own.  They, like us, were waiting for the Messiah to restore all things.  And they, like us, felt their limit and their longing very keenly.  The prophet describes their experience as one of constant frustration:

Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. (Haggai 1:6)

It brings to mind Lord Byron’s description of his own longings:

drank early, deeply drank, drank draughts. That common millions might have quenched; — then died. Of thirst, because there was no more to drink.

The longings and the limits collide and disappoint us all.

But Haggai tells them the solution.  The people need to invest in the Messianic future.  They need to rebuild the house of God (1:8).  Physically speaking it won’t be a patch on Solomon’s old temple (2:3).  But actually it will be more glorious (2:9) because Christ Himself will come to it.

Just as Malachi also prophesied, the Messenger of the Covenant – Christ – will grace the second temple with His presence (Malachi 3:1).  And when Christ and the temple come together it portends the end of all things.  The appearance of Christ at the temple makes both Malachi and Haggai think of the end of all things.  And so they prophesy the last days, when the Messiah will shake the world right.  Listen to Haggai’s warning:

For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;  And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.  (Haggai 2:6-7)

It’s a fearful prophecy.  Everything we consider secure will be shaken.  Even heaven itself!  Not just an earth-quake.  A heaven-quake.  A creation-quake!

But in the midst of this cosmic demolition job, notice the interaction between limit and longing.  The One who shakes down the whole cosmos is also our true Object of desire.  The nations both end in him and delight in him!  He is the destruction of the nations and the desire of the nations!  Because beyond the destruction is a glorious and much-desired future.  Thus the Messiah is both the true limit and the true longing of this world.

Jesus spoke of His own body when He said this:

Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.  (John 2:19)

The shake-down of the universe began on the cross.  The original House of God – Christ – was destroyed.  Then in 70AD, the second temple was destroyed.  But one day when Christ returns, God’s house – the world – will be destroyed.

This is our limit and we must take it to heart.  But Christ doesn’t simply destroy God’s house!  He only demolishes to make way for a renovated House of God.  And when He comes again to restore all things He comes as the Desire of all nations.  The deepest longings of the Japanese, the Argentinians, the Fijians, the Swedes, the Kenyans, those from all ages, all backgrounds, all nations – they are met in Jesus.

Who could possibly shake this world right?  Who could possibly satisfy a world’s thirst?  What kind of Person is Haggai describing?  He is Jesus, the Faithful Bridegroom, the Fountain of Living Waters, the Desire of all nations.

Thus saith the Lord of Hosts:-Yet once a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all nations; and the desire of all nations shall come. (Haggai 2:6-7)

The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts.  (Malachi 3:1)

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In the twinkling of an eye

By on June 19th, 2011

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[Apologies for this post out of sequence]

What have been the decisive moments in your life?  Can you pinpoint certain choices or “chance encounters” that have shaped your destiny?  One single piece of news, good or bad, can change everything.  Sometimes our whole world can turn “in the twinkling of an eye.”

When the Apostle Paul coined this phrase, he had an even bigger change in mind.  Not just our world, but the world will change…

“in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye… the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”  (1 Corinthians 15:52)

Paul is talking about something absolutely cosmic.  The dead will be raised, the curse will be abolished, the whole universe will be renewed.  All “in the twinkling of an eye.”  How can he be so sure?  How can we?

Paul’s story

Paul started out as a renowned Jewish scholar.  He knew the Hebrew Scriptures (what we might call “the Old Testament”) inside-out.  And he’d heard about these Christians claiming to have found the Messiah.  They maintained that His name was Jesus, that He died not long ago in Jerusalem and that He rose again from the dead, just as the Scriptures predicted.

But for whatever reason, Paul did not believe them.  In fact he made it his life’s mission to eradicate these Christians and their subversive claims.  He was on his way to Damascus to destroy some more churches when he had the original “Damascus road experience.”  He met the risen Jesus.  This was Paul’s life changing moment.  Suddenly he realized that Jesus was the long-promised Messiah, that He had died for our sins and He had risen from the dead.  The rest of his life was dedicated to spreading this good news.

He planted churches all around the eastern half of the Mediterranean and his letters to the churches make up half the books of the New Testament.  The one we’re considering now (First Corinthians) is probably the earliest letter we have from him.

In it Paul lays out the facts…

…that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen…  (1 Corinthians 15:3-5)

Paul was one of those who had seen the risen Jesus.  But there were also more than 500 other eye-witnesses to Christ.  They had seen Him after death and before He returned to heaven.

And so Paul proclaims this good news: Jesus, the Messiah, has gone through death – the death that we deserve for our sins.  But, just as the bible had always promised, He has come out the other side into immortal, bodily, resurrection life.

Perhaps though you’re thinking – what does this have to do with the world changing “in the twinkling of an eye”?

Christ’s Resurrection – the World’s Resurrection

Here is Paul’s logic:  Since Jesus rose from death, all things will be raised.

Why should that be?  Because Jesus is the “firstfruits” of a bumper crop:

Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept [i.e. “have died”].  (1 Corinthians 15:20)

You might wonder what “firstfruits” are.  If a farmer wanted to know the quality of his future harvest, he would sample the “firstfruits.”  These were the parts of the crop that ripened first and gave an indication of what was to come.  If the firstfruits were poor, the harvest would be poor.  If the firstfruits were good, the harvest would be good.

Well Jesus was planted into the ground on Good Friday and He sprouted up renewed on Easter Sunday.  He then appeared to hundreds of people as the firstfruits of a cosmic crop.  He displayed the quality of the coming harvest, walking with them, talking with them, cooking for them, eating and drinking with them.  All who saw Him were awed and overjoyed.  In all He did He showed them the kind of resurrection life that He had pioneered.  This is what the whole world can look forward to: walking, talking, eating, drinking, communal, joyful, eternal, bodily life, with Jesus at the centre.

Just like a needle pierces through black cloth and comes out the other side, so Jesus passed through death and into immortality.  But for “those who belong to Him” (1 Corinthians 15:23) we will be pulled through like thread.  Jesus, was the first to come through death, but He guarantees a future beyond death for all who are united to Him.

Yesterday, Today and Forever

On Easter Sunday the world changed forever.  But it changed in microcosm.  Jesus rose up new at the Head of His world, the Firstfruits of a cosmic crop.

Today, those who trust in Jesus become united to Him.  Right now believers share spiritually in His new life.  We have His Spirit and His promise of an eternal, physical future.

But, in the twinkling of an eye, Jesus will return from heaven to earth.  On that day He will apply His resurrection power to the whole world.  And those who trust Him will share physically in His new life.

How do you handle the subject of death?  Do you live in denial?  Live in fear?  Live for now?  Jesus gives us another way.  He has blazed a trail through death and says to all who trust Him:

“Because I live, ye shall live also.”  (John 14:19)

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Sackcloth and ashes

By on June 18th, 2011

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Could Jonah be the most successful evangelist in the Bible?  In Hebrew the report of his sermon consists of 5 words.  And yet, in response, the 120 000 residents of Nineveh cover themselves in sackcloth and ashes and turn to the LORD.

Sackcloth was the clothing of mourning.  Ashes were also a reminder of mortality.  To cover oneself in sackcloth and ashes was to identify oneself with the judgement of God who had deemed them worthy of death.  When the LORD sees such repentance, He Himself turns from wrath and brings salvation to the greatest city of the day.

What makes this even more remarkable is to note the outright rebellion and xenophobia of the preacher.  Jonah detests the Assyrians, whose world capital, Nineveh, he is commanded to evangelize.  And he does everything he can to thwart the missionary purposes of God.

When he is commissioned in chapter 1, he flees in the opposite direction.  But the LORD does not will to save the Ninevites apart from the preached word.  And so He sends a storm to bring down Jonah’s ship.  Jonah, the guilty one, is hurled into the sea to save the innocents on board.  In chapter 2, he is brought even lower.  Swallowed by a monster of the deep, he spends 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of a fish.  Yet after this death and resurrection experience, Jonah is sent to the nations.  And, just as Jonah had feared, they repent.  So, in chapter 4, Jonah is furious at the grace of the LORD.  The book ends with a petulant missionary despising the salvation of God while the LORD explains His global love.

It’s then that we realise the truth.  Jonah is not the Bible’s greatest evangelist.  The LORD is.

And when He came in the flesh, it was in total obedience to the missionary call of His Father.  Though we had sinned, He was cast into the depths to save the guilty.  He spent 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth before rising again to a global mission.  By the sending of His Spirit He gladly accompanies and empowers the evangelisation of the nations.  He is the true expression of the Father’s heart who is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”  (2 Peter 3:9)

For every soul that repents “in sackcloth and ashes” it is Christ who saves them by His Spirit.  He remains the world’s greatest evangelist.  And so great is His passion for the lost, He can even use faithless preachers like Jonah.  Evangelists take heart: nothing can thwart His gospel mission to the ends of the earth.

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Reap the whirlwind

By on June 17th, 2011

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“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”  Paul’s saying from Galatians 6:7 is a common biblical theme.  The judgement which befalls the wicked is not an alien imposition.  It is the way they’ve been heading all along, the destination of their course, the fruit of their living.

Hosea looks on the northern kingdom, about to feel the force of the Assyrian super-power.  And he says:

“They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.”  (Hosea 8:7)

Israel has been chasing after foreign gods like a harlot chasing lovers.  Now Israel will experience what it’s like to have them as lords. We talk about “playing with fire” and getting burnt – Hosea speaks of investing in high winds and getting a hurricane as a pay-out.

What is most chilling is not God’s judgement.  What is most chilling is the madness of the human heart which freely sows to its own doom.  This is especially tragic since, all the while the Bridegroom – Christ – pursues harlots like us to win us back to His love.  He stands between sinners and hell with arms outstretched.  If we want Him we can have Him.  If not, we shall reap what we sow.

When we picture judgement, we should not picture the hurling of unwilling reprobates into perdition.  Instead it’s the handing over of hell-bent sinners to their heart’s desire.  Judgement is when God gives people what they want.  They have sown the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind.