WHAT IS MAN?
When Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, he wrote about a character who had to make choices without regard to repercussions. So Hamlet questions his own nature, as to who he is. He says to his friend Rosencrantz--
what a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how
infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and
admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like
a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals--and yet
to me, what is this quintessence of dust?
Hamlet's question about himself is that he, like every man, is a mixture. He would like to clutch one element of his manliness but the other qualities are there, always there. So the question remains.
In Acts 17.28 Paul says--in Him we live and move and hae our being. We are completely His even if we don't believe in God. Jesus says in Matthew 10.29 that--not one sparrow will fall to the ground apart from your Father. We have our existence because God exists. And yet, nearly all spiritual writers say we must empty ourselves of ourselves to be holy. We must pick up our cross daily, deny the world, relinquish our self to God.
So, we must ask, how do we do that?
While the Scriptures say man is evil (Gen.6.3), they also say God is good. We have been made in His image, Gen. 1.27. This means, among other things, that mankind is a person as God is a person. Paul said this in the Acts 17 passage when he says we have our being in God. Being a person means being self-conscious, which in turn means that we make choices.
This brings us to our freedom to make those choices. A man dead in his trespasses and sins does not have choices--he is dead. The one who has choices is the one who is living as the image of God. Even after Adam's sin, God speaks to him. Adam has the freedom to confess his sin, to return in humility to God, even if he doesn't. It is the man and woman living as God's image who has the choices. The purpose of that freedom to choose is to be transformed into the likeness of God in Christ.
God relates to us spiritually as men and women who are nothing without Him--apart from Me you can do nothing, John 15.5. We relate to God as a person who responds to Him in repentance and belief, Matt. 3.2, Acts 17.30. We are vessels in His hands, yet we are also impressed by His image to be like Him.
The disciples were called to be followers of Jesus, brothers of Him, friends of Him.
The disciples were called to be His followers, that is, those who would learn of Him, Matt. 11.29, John 6.45. They did follow Him and He revealed special things to them. But when He ascended, He gave the gift of the Holy Spirit for His disciples to go into the world. They became brothers, that is, fellow workers in the work of evangelism. In Matt. 12.49 Jesus calls His disciples His own brothers as--whoever shall do the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is my brother.
We see this when Paul calls Epaphroditus his brother in Philippians 2.25. Both Peter and Paul humble themselves in the work of the Lord. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1.24--we are workers with you for your joy... And in 1 Peter 5.1 Peter calls himself--your fellow-elder and witness. One among many, brothers in the Lord.
But that is not all. In John 15.23-17 Jesus says--no longer do I call you slaves..but I have called you friends. What is a friend according to Jesus? It is--for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. Why has Jesus done this? He has, in order that--you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you.
And then there's more. According to Paul's word to Timothy in 2 Tim. 2.12, we will reign in heaven with Christ. In the eternal state, we will reign upon the new earth, Revelation 5.10, 20.6.
What this means is that as the living image of God we are given the freedom to choose God, to be his brothers and friends to ultimately reign in heaven with Christ.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
LOVE OF GOD
In Psalm 77 Asaph is lamenting that the great closeness he had with God has vanished. He says--
Will the Lord reject forever?
And will He neer be favorable again?
Has His lovingkindness ceased forever?
Has His promise come to an end forever?
This is the experience of many of us, from Job to our own day. Once we were aware of God's presence, close to us. But now that presence seems to have gone. We are tempted to say or feel God has changed, or that He has abandoned us in our trouble.
How can we respond to times like these?
In Revelation 2.4 the Lord says the church at Ephesus has--left your first love.
Do you remember your first experience with God? It might have been coming to God as a child through baptism or a Sunday School class. It might have been praying for the first time knowing who you prayed to; it might have been reading your first Bible or the first time you entered a church.
The apostle Paul once said the church is His body--the fulness of Him who fills all in all, Ephesians 1.23. This means that if God is all in all, He does not leave us. We can't use our hand to brush away air; so God, like the air, has not left us. As He is always present, we can return to our first love, Jesus Christ. John says--our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, 1 John 1.3.
Now that we know that, what is it like to have fellowship with God?
The innermost being of God is love. And just as a man would propose marriage--his undying love--to a young girl, so God in the beginning of our life with Him proposed love to us. Now as it is the desire and opportunity of the girl to express back her love for the young man, God then gives us the opportunity to express our love for Him. He appears to recede for us to give Him the love He has given us.
We return to our first love by taking the times in which we feel abandoned by God to love Him back.
We might remember Jesus said--Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you, not as the world gives do I give to you, John 14.27. If we have HIs peace in us and we have the Spirit of God all around us, we have the consolation of His presence even if we don't feel it at the moment.
We can speak to our soul. David said--
Why are you downcast, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence, Psalm 42.5
We can learn to trust Him, as trust is loving God. The Puritan Joseph Sibbes wrote--This trusting in God is the way to quiet our souls and to stay the same in every estate. The reason is because God has sanctified this holy grace to this end.
The Bible mentions several times in which God came to someone, gave them a blessing and then provided them with the opportunity to love God back through trust or faith. The first time is the most famous. Our whole world knows the story of Adam and Eve. God came to Adam, blessed him with Eve and blessed them both with the garden. Then God steps back. Adam and Eve now have the opportunity to trust in what God said about the two trees. They fail to give God love through trust in His word, so paradise is lost.
But now look at Abraham. He failed like Adam but God came to him again. In Genesis God tells Abraham he will have a son, even though Sarah is barren and old. She tells Abraham to provide a son through Hagar rather than through God's blessing, Gen. 16.2.
Later, God gives Abraham the opportunity to trust in God through Isaac., Gen. 22. He had to trust in God entirely concerning not just Isaac but God's promise that Abraham would be the father of many nations. If Abraham slays Isaac, this could not happen. However, this time Abraham believes and trusts the Lord to provide the lamb.
In the NT we read the same thing; Jesus approaches with blessing, then He gives someone the opportunity to love Him back. Luke says that 10 lepers come to Jesus for healing. He provides that healing. Nine walk away without expressing any love for Jesus, but one comes back. Although he is not a Jew, Jesus rewards him with--Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well, Luke 17.19.
God has blessed us, so we speak love to God through our trust in what He has said.
In all of this, we see the dynamic of love with our God. He loves us in order that we should love Him in return. As the Gershwin song says--our love is here to stay.
Instead of thinking that God has abandoned us or that we are depressed or downcast, we should think of these times as the opportunity to give back to God the love He has given us.
For He has visited us, Luke 1.68.
In Psalm 77 Asaph is lamenting that the great closeness he had with God has vanished. He says--
Will the Lord reject forever?
And will He neer be favorable again?
Has His lovingkindness ceased forever?
Has His promise come to an end forever?
This is the experience of many of us, from Job to our own day. Once we were aware of God's presence, close to us. But now that presence seems to have gone. We are tempted to say or feel God has changed, or that He has abandoned us in our trouble.
How can we respond to times like these?
In Revelation 2.4 the Lord says the church at Ephesus has--left your first love.
Do you remember your first experience with God? It might have been coming to God as a child through baptism or a Sunday School class. It might have been praying for the first time knowing who you prayed to; it might have been reading your first Bible or the first time you entered a church.
The apostle Paul once said the church is His body--the fulness of Him who fills all in all, Ephesians 1.23. This means that if God is all in all, He does not leave us. We can't use our hand to brush away air; so God, like the air, has not left us. As He is always present, we can return to our first love, Jesus Christ. John says--our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, 1 John 1.3.
Now that we know that, what is it like to have fellowship with God?
The innermost being of God is love. And just as a man would propose marriage--his undying love--to a young girl, so God in the beginning of our life with Him proposed love to us. Now as it is the desire and opportunity of the girl to express back her love for the young man, God then gives us the opportunity to express our love for Him. He appears to recede for us to give Him the love He has given us.
We return to our first love by taking the times in which we feel abandoned by God to love Him back.
We might remember Jesus said--Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you, not as the world gives do I give to you, John 14.27. If we have HIs peace in us and we have the Spirit of God all around us, we have the consolation of His presence even if we don't feel it at the moment.
We can speak to our soul. David said--
Why are you downcast, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence, Psalm 42.5
We can learn to trust Him, as trust is loving God. The Puritan Joseph Sibbes wrote--This trusting in God is the way to quiet our souls and to stay the same in every estate. The reason is because God has sanctified this holy grace to this end.
The Bible mentions several times in which God came to someone, gave them a blessing and then provided them with the opportunity to love God back through trust or faith. The first time is the most famous. Our whole world knows the story of Adam and Eve. God came to Adam, blessed him with Eve and blessed them both with the garden. Then God steps back. Adam and Eve now have the opportunity to trust in what God said about the two trees. They fail to give God love through trust in His word, so paradise is lost.
But now look at Abraham. He failed like Adam but God came to him again. In Genesis God tells Abraham he will have a son, even though Sarah is barren and old. She tells Abraham to provide a son through Hagar rather than through God's blessing, Gen. 16.2.
Later, God gives Abraham the opportunity to trust in God through Isaac., Gen. 22. He had to trust in God entirely concerning not just Isaac but God's promise that Abraham would be the father of many nations. If Abraham slays Isaac, this could not happen. However, this time Abraham believes and trusts the Lord to provide the lamb.
In the NT we read the same thing; Jesus approaches with blessing, then He gives someone the opportunity to love Him back. Luke says that 10 lepers come to Jesus for healing. He provides that healing. Nine walk away without expressing any love for Jesus, but one comes back. Although he is not a Jew, Jesus rewards him with--Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well, Luke 17.19.
God has blessed us, so we speak love to God through our trust in what He has said.
In all of this, we see the dynamic of love with our God. He loves us in order that we should love Him in return. As the Gershwin song says--our love is here to stay.
Instead of thinking that God has abandoned us or that we are depressed or downcast, we should think of these times as the opportunity to give back to God the love He has given us.
For He has visited us, Luke 1.68.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
GIFT AND REQUEST
When we read Matthew 5.48--you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect--we might not even believe that is possible. We might want to let that verse pour off of us like water off a rock. But if Jesus said it, what He said must be true.
How can we be perfect as God the Father, in heaven? We are here, we are in our human life with the twisting strain of disappointments. But Jesus must have meant something.
We read in Acts that the Holy Spirit is given to men and women--we hear them in our own tongues speaking the mighty deeds of God, Acts 2.10. It is by the power of this Spirit that the holiness of the Father is given to men and women. But that is not all. Having been given the gift to fulfill Matt. 5.48, God asks that we live out in that gift, that Spirit.
We might say God gives a command for which He gives the gift, and then as we receive the gift God asks we live in it.
Can we find an episode in the gospels which makes that plain? I think we can look at John 8, the woman caught in adultery. She is caught, throw down to dust in a corner of the temple courtyard. The Pharisees and scribes surround her, to stone her as the Law proscribed, Leviticus 20.10. Then they turn from her to Jesus, demanding of Him--what then do you say, John 8.5. Jesus knows the Law. And yet He knows she is a soul made in the image of God. He knows the commandment against killing, Exodus 20.13.
Here with this woman the Law is a rope unraveled in two directions, now so weakened so that it cannot be used. One direction is to stone her, the other is to prevent killing her through forgiveness. So Jesus must wrap the Law back together so that it glorifies God in heaven. If the men stone her, they are taking the place of God in her death, without the hope of the resurrection since she will die without repentance. If Jesus prevents the stoning of her, He must answer to the Law.
So He says the Pharisees and scribes cannot take the place of God to end her life. He says they are not so perfect that they can cast the first stone--he who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her, John 8.7.
Jesus has made the demand of perfection mentioned in Matt. 5.48. The Pharisees and scribes do not have such a gift, only Jesus does. So He takes the gift from them to give it to her when He says--Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you, John 8.10.
Having forgiven her, now Jesus tells her to live in the gift He has given her. He tells her--Neither do I condemn you; go your way, from now on sin no more, John 8.13. She has the gift of forgiveness so she must now live a new life in the holiness of Matt. 5.48.
Most of the NT is about living out the gift we have been given, to be holy before the Lord. All of the Sermon on the Mount is God's instructions on how to--sin no more. This was always God's intention and will. If we turn back to Exodus 20 (just 7 verses after the commandment against murder) Moses tells the people--do not be afraid for the Lord God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin, Exodus 20.20.
Our heavenly Father always desired holiness for us. He gives what He requests in order to ask of us what He has given. When He declares the request that we be holy, that is our justification. When He gives the Spirit by which we can be holy, that is our sanctification. It is majestic and it is for us, every one of us.
Now having said that, how can it be?
1 John 1.3 says--our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. That we are complete in Him is stated in 1 John 1.7--If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin...If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins nd to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So we confess our sins, not because we are holy but to be holy. John goes on to say--whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. This is being holy by being cleansed of the sins we commit. Confession of sins, keeping His word, loving God.
Be holy as your Father in heaven is holy.
When we read Matthew 5.48--you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect--we might not even believe that is possible. We might want to let that verse pour off of us like water off a rock. But if Jesus said it, what He said must be true.
How can we be perfect as God the Father, in heaven? We are here, we are in our human life with the twisting strain of disappointments. But Jesus must have meant something.
We read in Acts that the Holy Spirit is given to men and women--we hear them in our own tongues speaking the mighty deeds of God, Acts 2.10. It is by the power of this Spirit that the holiness of the Father is given to men and women. But that is not all. Having been given the gift to fulfill Matt. 5.48, God asks that we live out in that gift, that Spirit.
We might say God gives a command for which He gives the gift, and then as we receive the gift God asks we live in it.
Can we find an episode in the gospels which makes that plain? I think we can look at John 8, the woman caught in adultery. She is caught, throw down to dust in a corner of the temple courtyard. The Pharisees and scribes surround her, to stone her as the Law proscribed, Leviticus 20.10. Then they turn from her to Jesus, demanding of Him--what then do you say, John 8.5. Jesus knows the Law. And yet He knows she is a soul made in the image of God. He knows the commandment against killing, Exodus 20.13.
Here with this woman the Law is a rope unraveled in two directions, now so weakened so that it cannot be used. One direction is to stone her, the other is to prevent killing her through forgiveness. So Jesus must wrap the Law back together so that it glorifies God in heaven. If the men stone her, they are taking the place of God in her death, without the hope of the resurrection since she will die without repentance. If Jesus prevents the stoning of her, He must answer to the Law.
So He says the Pharisees and scribes cannot take the place of God to end her life. He says they are not so perfect that they can cast the first stone--he who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her, John 8.7.
Jesus has made the demand of perfection mentioned in Matt. 5.48. The Pharisees and scribes do not have such a gift, only Jesus does. So He takes the gift from them to give it to her when He says--Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you, John 8.10.
Having forgiven her, now Jesus tells her to live in the gift He has given her. He tells her--Neither do I condemn you; go your way, from now on sin no more, John 8.13. She has the gift of forgiveness so she must now live a new life in the holiness of Matt. 5.48.
Most of the NT is about living out the gift we have been given, to be holy before the Lord. All of the Sermon on the Mount is God's instructions on how to--sin no more. This was always God's intention and will. If we turn back to Exodus 20 (just 7 verses after the commandment against murder) Moses tells the people--do not be afraid for the Lord God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin, Exodus 20.20.
Our heavenly Father always desired holiness for us. He gives what He requests in order to ask of us what He has given. When He declares the request that we be holy, that is our justification. When He gives the Spirit by which we can be holy, that is our sanctification. It is majestic and it is for us, every one of us.
Now having said that, how can it be?
1 John 1.3 says--our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. That we are complete in Him is stated in 1 John 1.7--If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin...If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins nd to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So we confess our sins, not because we are holy but to be holy. John goes on to say--whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. This is being holy by being cleansed of the sins we commit. Confession of sins, keeping His word, loving God.
Be holy as your Father in heaven is holy.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
EDEN AGAIN--2
As we have been thinking about what the Garden might have been like with no sin, what would Adam and Eve done? They might have left the Garden, to go into the world. So what would they have done outside the enclosure of the Garden?
We can mention three things. First, Adam and Even might have gone out of the Garden to follow the Spirit into Palestine, the land flowing with milk and honey.
Second, Adam and Eve might hae spoken of the knowledge of God they gained while they walked with God in the cool of the evening.
Third, their family could have been a blessing to the world, that through them all people everywhere would be sons and daughters of God.
When we read through the OT, we find that God did just those things.
God did lead Moses and the people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, Exodus 14 and Joshua 3.14.
God did give Moses the knowledge of Himself from Exodus 19, the Law, the ordinances and ceremonies.
And through Jesus every man and woman can be blessed by God with salvation and holiness.
This is the message of the NT. So let's look at that message a little closer.
Salvation in the NT has three time aspects to it. First, it is a sure thing. Paul says--that God chose us before the foundation of the world--before we were born, Ephesians 1.4. In Acts 15.11 Peter is in Jerusalem saying--We believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are (Gentiles). Peter uses the aorist tense, meaning 'we are saved' is a completed action when Peter said it. In Romans 8.24 Paul says--in hope we have been saved--and this is an action completed in the past. All of this says salvation is completed, it is finished.
Second, salvation has a continuing element in it. The same Paul describes salvation in 1 Corinthians 1.18 as a process: to us who are being saved, it is the power of God (Romans 1.16--power of God). In 1 Cor. 15.2 Paul uses a conintuous present tense--by which also you are saved if you hold fast the world which I preached to you.
Third, Paul uses salvation in a future sense. He says--Much more then, having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him, Romans 5.9. In 1 Cor. 3.15 Paul uses the future tense when he says--If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved.
This may remind us of the expression--You have been saved, you are being saved, you will be saved. I hope this tells us salvation is not a closed room but a living relationship with a living God.
So why does something which has been determined before we were even born have to be lived out now and culminated in the future?
It's like playing catch with your Dad. He throws the baseball to you so that you can throw it back to him. God chose you to be His so that you would be His in your life, to glorify His name. Matthew 5.16 says--Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Notice how Jesus does not say 'glorify God,' a tone of distance and separation. He says, 'glorify your Father,' your own heavenly Father who made you, gave you breath and His Spirit, to be His glory on the earth.
The apostle Paul says this to the Ephesians when he says--in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places, Eph. 3.10.
We are here to show the universe that God has shared His glory with us who believe. Maybe the purpose of the Garden all along was to show the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places of God's love for those who show His glory. Halleluiah!
_________________________________________________
I've written a tragedy in the manner of Shakespeare, about Judas. Anyone wishing to read it, just email me and I will send it pdf. Paul
As we have been thinking about what the Garden might have been like with no sin, what would Adam and Eve done? They might have left the Garden, to go into the world. So what would they have done outside the enclosure of the Garden?
We can mention three things. First, Adam and Even might have gone out of the Garden to follow the Spirit into Palestine, the land flowing with milk and honey.
Second, Adam and Eve might hae spoken of the knowledge of God they gained while they walked with God in the cool of the evening.
Third, their family could have been a blessing to the world, that through them all people everywhere would be sons and daughters of God.
When we read through the OT, we find that God did just those things.
God did lead Moses and the people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, Exodus 14 and Joshua 3.14.
God did give Moses the knowledge of Himself from Exodus 19, the Law, the ordinances and ceremonies.
And through Jesus every man and woman can be blessed by God with salvation and holiness.
This is the message of the NT. So let's look at that message a little closer.
Salvation in the NT has three time aspects to it. First, it is a sure thing. Paul says--that God chose us before the foundation of the world--before we were born, Ephesians 1.4. In Acts 15.11 Peter is in Jerusalem saying--We believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are (Gentiles). Peter uses the aorist tense, meaning 'we are saved' is a completed action when Peter said it. In Romans 8.24 Paul says--in hope we have been saved--and this is an action completed in the past. All of this says salvation is completed, it is finished.
Second, salvation has a continuing element in it. The same Paul describes salvation in 1 Corinthians 1.18 as a process: to us who are being saved, it is the power of God (Romans 1.16--power of God). In 1 Cor. 15.2 Paul uses a conintuous present tense--by which also you are saved if you hold fast the world which I preached to you.
Third, Paul uses salvation in a future sense. He says--Much more then, having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him, Romans 5.9. In 1 Cor. 3.15 Paul uses the future tense when he says--If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved.
This may remind us of the expression--You have been saved, you are being saved, you will be saved. I hope this tells us salvation is not a closed room but a living relationship with a living God.
So why does something which has been determined before we were even born have to be lived out now and culminated in the future?
It's like playing catch with your Dad. He throws the baseball to you so that you can throw it back to him. God chose you to be His so that you would be His in your life, to glorify His name. Matthew 5.16 says--Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Notice how Jesus does not say 'glorify God,' a tone of distance and separation. He says, 'glorify your Father,' your own heavenly Father who made you, gave you breath and His Spirit, to be His glory on the earth.
The apostle Paul says this to the Ephesians when he says--in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places, Eph. 3.10.
We are here to show the universe that God has shared His glory with us who believe. Maybe the purpose of the Garden all along was to show the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places of God's love for those who show His glory. Halleluiah!
_________________________________________________
I've written a tragedy in the manner of Shakespeare, about Judas. Anyone wishing to read it, just email me and I will send it pdf. Paul
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
EDEN AGAIN--1
What if Adam had not sinned? What would his life have been like?
If there had been no sin, possibly the world would have been a kingdom of God for God, by God. When Jesus came preaching in Matthew 4.17, He says the kingdom of God is at hand. The expression 'at hand' is symbolic but it also conveys a daily living, practical touch concerning an exalted subject.
Now that the kingdom of heaven was at hand for those who saw Jesus, was there an episode of what it would have been like had Adam not sinned? We may have such an episode in Luke 18.35-43. It is a short scene, and a glowing one. Jesus is well outside of Jerusalem, north toward Jericho. This city was ancient, having been captured and destroyed by Joshua centuries before.
The city is over 100 miles northeast of Jerusalem, over a ridge that leads down into the river Jordan in Galilee. Originally the city was int he midst of a huge grove of palm trees with fragrances everywhere. Over time, so near the Jordan River, it became the main city of the valley, eventually being fortified. It was these fortified walls that came down in Joshua 5.6.
Here, as Jesus comes down the hillside to Jericho, a blind man sits on the roadside, begging. A crowd is with Jesus, in front of him. When the blind man hears the multitude of thumping, dust-curled footsteps, one on top of another, he asks who is coming. Several who hurry by say it is Jesus.
The blind man calls out--Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!
He calls this out several times as the footsteps come trooping down on him. Somehow the blind man knows Jesus is the Son of David. Had this kneeling man heard of the prophecy of a Son of David to come? Had he heard this from someone in Jericho? Word of Jesus could have spread. After all, Jesus had said to the disciples of John that the proof of His ministry was that--the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, Matt. 11.5. Miracles get around.
Had the Holy Spirit told the blind man? In John 9 a blind man witnesses to his own healing from Jesus. The Pharisees cannot accept that a blind man was ever healed, John 9.32. Jesus says they who see are blind to the kingdom of God and--those who do not see may see. Had God given this blind man the insight that Jesus was the Son of David? Maybe so.
Those who led the procession of Jesus into Jericho tried to shut the blind man up but the man would not shut up. He kept up his calling out to Jesus. Now Jesus was close enough to hear over the clamor of voices and stomping of feet the blind man's cry. Jesus stopped. Everyone else did, too. Jesus commanded that the crowd bring the blind man to Him.
The man's faith is evident in his refusal to be quiet. He will not let Jesus go on by. So Jesus asks--What do you want Me to do for you?
The man only asks for his sight.
Jesus says--Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.
The blind man did not ask for power, he did not ask to be with Jesus, he did not ask for money or privilege or luxury. He asked for his sight.
What happens next?
This now might bear on Adam's sin in the garden. The blind man stood and followed Jesus. He could have run into Jericho proclaiming his miracle, saying he has some special gift. In Luke 17 twelve lepers call Jesus saying--Have mercy on us. When Jesus healed all of them, only one glorified God with a loud voice, Luke 17.15. The rest scattered. But the blind man outside Jericho does not go off, he follows Jesus glorifying Him. When the people saw this they began to praise God who had done this through Jesus.
Now if Adam had depended on God's word to refrain from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, could he have then followed Jesus out of the garden, glorifying Him and praising God for this world and his wife?
Could it be that the inner work which makes a man an evangelist is to glorify God and praise Him forever?
What if Adam had not sinned? What would his life have been like?
If there had been no sin, possibly the world would have been a kingdom of God for God, by God. When Jesus came preaching in Matthew 4.17, He says the kingdom of God is at hand. The expression 'at hand' is symbolic but it also conveys a daily living, practical touch concerning an exalted subject.
Now that the kingdom of heaven was at hand for those who saw Jesus, was there an episode of what it would have been like had Adam not sinned? We may have such an episode in Luke 18.35-43. It is a short scene, and a glowing one. Jesus is well outside of Jerusalem, north toward Jericho. This city was ancient, having been captured and destroyed by Joshua centuries before.
The city is over 100 miles northeast of Jerusalem, over a ridge that leads down into the river Jordan in Galilee. Originally the city was int he midst of a huge grove of palm trees with fragrances everywhere. Over time, so near the Jordan River, it became the main city of the valley, eventually being fortified. It was these fortified walls that came down in Joshua 5.6.
Here, as Jesus comes down the hillside to Jericho, a blind man sits on the roadside, begging. A crowd is with Jesus, in front of him. When the blind man hears the multitude of thumping, dust-curled footsteps, one on top of another, he asks who is coming. Several who hurry by say it is Jesus.
The blind man calls out--Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!
He calls this out several times as the footsteps come trooping down on him. Somehow the blind man knows Jesus is the Son of David. Had this kneeling man heard of the prophecy of a Son of David to come? Had he heard this from someone in Jericho? Word of Jesus could have spread. After all, Jesus had said to the disciples of John that the proof of His ministry was that--the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, Matt. 11.5. Miracles get around.
Had the Holy Spirit told the blind man? In John 9 a blind man witnesses to his own healing from Jesus. The Pharisees cannot accept that a blind man was ever healed, John 9.32. Jesus says they who see are blind to the kingdom of God and--those who do not see may see. Had God given this blind man the insight that Jesus was the Son of David? Maybe so.
Those who led the procession of Jesus into Jericho tried to shut the blind man up but the man would not shut up. He kept up his calling out to Jesus. Now Jesus was close enough to hear over the clamor of voices and stomping of feet the blind man's cry. Jesus stopped. Everyone else did, too. Jesus commanded that the crowd bring the blind man to Him.
The man's faith is evident in his refusal to be quiet. He will not let Jesus go on by. So Jesus asks--What do you want Me to do for you?
The man only asks for his sight.
Jesus says--Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.
The blind man did not ask for power, he did not ask to be with Jesus, he did not ask for money or privilege or luxury. He asked for his sight.
What happens next?
This now might bear on Adam's sin in the garden. The blind man stood and followed Jesus. He could have run into Jericho proclaiming his miracle, saying he has some special gift. In Luke 17 twelve lepers call Jesus saying--Have mercy on us. When Jesus healed all of them, only one glorified God with a loud voice, Luke 17.15. The rest scattered. But the blind man outside Jericho does not go off, he follows Jesus glorifying Him. When the people saw this they began to praise God who had done this through Jesus.
Now if Adam had depended on God's word to refrain from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, could he have then followed Jesus out of the garden, glorifying Him and praising God for this world and his wife?
Could it be that the inner work which makes a man an evangelist is to glorify God and praise Him forever?
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Hebrew Sanctuary--4
Believing is not the end of faith. With our justification we have the capacity to stand before God. But what is the purpose of standing before God?
In Exodus 29.38 Aaron and his sons offer the two lambs daily. This was the duty of their sanctification before God. Paul says in Ephesians 1.16 that he does not--cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers. Here we have the continual offering of prayers before God, the incense which Paul burns for the Lord and for the people.
Paul asks that--the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. This is the light of the candlestick by which the tabernacle is lit daily. So through communion with God Paul offers his daily prayers--his incense-- so that the Ephesians could be light to their city. The communion with God was the incense, the light in the tabernacle, in the Holy Place.
However this is not our greatest duty to God.
Our greatest duty is to enter the Holy of Holies, to minister unto God. In Exodus 30.30 God tells Moses--you shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them that they may minister as priests to Me. Ministering unto god combines the justification of standing in His presence with the sanctification of ministering to Him daily. We live our lives in the Spirit which He has given us in His place. Many might practice religious rites but they must be done in the love which the Spirit brings to the believer.
This brings us to the mystery of faith. How is it that we are in Him and He in us?
Of course, cleansing and declaration must have taken place. When this is so, we stand before God. As Jesus was fully God and fully man, God and man are to be respected. When we stand before God, we are not annihilated, nor does He disappear. He is always God and we are always men and women. If we are made in His image we have been given the capacity to receive Him as God without our dissolution. If He came in the likeness of men (Philippians 2.7), God can receive us in the name of His Son so that His holiness is not compromised.
This is stated in Exodus 24.9-11, where Moses, Aaron and the elders go up the mountain into God's presence. God does not destroy them, they behold God, they eat and drink. Such eating and drinking with God will occur again in John 21.12-13. The way to the Garden of God has been opened to us through Jesus.
All of this is to say, spiritual worship is receiving Christ. We receive Him when we love Him. 1 John says if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. This often fools us into thinking that keeping the commandments is love. It is not; yet when we remain in His love we will wish to keep His commandments. It is like the boy who wants to play baseball. He'll put on the uniform long before the game begins.
How do we love Him? Each of us will have our own capacity. We cannot grasp more of Him, although we can ask for more of Him. As with love, the more we express our love for God, the more love we will be given by God.
Love one another, for love is of God.
Believing is not the end of faith. With our justification we have the capacity to stand before God. But what is the purpose of standing before God?
In Exodus 29.38 Aaron and his sons offer the two lambs daily. This was the duty of their sanctification before God. Paul says in Ephesians 1.16 that he does not--cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers. Here we have the continual offering of prayers before God, the incense which Paul burns for the Lord and for the people.
Paul asks that--the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. This is the light of the candlestick by which the tabernacle is lit daily. So through communion with God Paul offers his daily prayers--his incense-- so that the Ephesians could be light to their city. The communion with God was the incense, the light in the tabernacle, in the Holy Place.
However this is not our greatest duty to God.
Our greatest duty is to enter the Holy of Holies, to minister unto God. In Exodus 30.30 God tells Moses--you shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them that they may minister as priests to Me. Ministering unto god combines the justification of standing in His presence with the sanctification of ministering to Him daily. We live our lives in the Spirit which He has given us in His place. Many might practice religious rites but they must be done in the love which the Spirit brings to the believer.
This brings us to the mystery of faith. How is it that we are in Him and He in us?
Of course, cleansing and declaration must have taken place. When this is so, we stand before God. As Jesus was fully God and fully man, God and man are to be respected. When we stand before God, we are not annihilated, nor does He disappear. He is always God and we are always men and women. If we are made in His image we have been given the capacity to receive Him as God without our dissolution. If He came in the likeness of men (Philippians 2.7), God can receive us in the name of His Son so that His holiness is not compromised.
This is stated in Exodus 24.9-11, where Moses, Aaron and the elders go up the mountain into God's presence. God does not destroy them, they behold God, they eat and drink. Such eating and drinking with God will occur again in John 21.12-13. The way to the Garden of God has been opened to us through Jesus.
All of this is to say, spiritual worship is receiving Christ. We receive Him when we love Him. 1 John says if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. This often fools us into thinking that keeping the commandments is love. It is not; yet when we remain in His love we will wish to keep His commandments. It is like the boy who wants to play baseball. He'll put on the uniform long before the game begins.
How do we love Him? Each of us will have our own capacity. We cannot grasp more of Him, although we can ask for more of Him. As with love, the more we express our love for God, the more love we will be given by God.
Love one another, for love is of God.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
HEBREW SANCTUARY--3
The tabernacle had three ministrations to the Hebrew believer--cleansing, justification and sanctification. We will look at cleansing and justification today and sanctification next week.
First, in Exodus 20 God gives His word, the commandments. Then in Ex. 20.20 Moses says God has come into their midst--to test you and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin. The purpose of His presence is that He can be holy with Israel, as this is His desire. Just as in the Garden of Eden, God's word of warning and blessing is because He is with them. Jesus will say the same thing in John 8.11--Go and sin no more. The cleansing from sin is the preparation for worship.
The priest had to cleanse himself of any sin to accept the sacrifice of the people, outside the tabernacle. The sacrifice cleansed the sinner, but the sin put upon the animal brought sin into the tabernacle. So the priest had to sprinkle the animal's blood upon the tabernacle, to cleanse it.
While God considers it necessary for the priest and the sinner to be clean, we often glide over confession too quickly. We know our cultural preferences, but we forget what weighs heavily on God's mind: cleansing from sin. Confession is bitter but it is where the blessing is found. The blessing/curse of the two trees in Genesis became the blessing/curse of the two mountains in Deuteronomy 28, which became the blessing of Matthew 5--you are the light of the world--and the admonition of Matt. 6--do not be anxious, do not be as the hypocrites, do not lay up treasures. The summary is Matt. 6.33--Seek ye first the kingdom of God.
Now we come to justification. We come to presence, cloud, light. God told Moses He wanted Israel to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, Ex. 19.6. The Table of Showbread is our communion with God by which He, through the bread and wine, enters us and we enter into His presence. We are surrounded by the incense which the priest burns at the Altar of Incense, just as Moses entered the cloud o top of the mountain, Ex. 19.9. We become the light of the world, as the light shone on Moses' face when he came down from the mountain, Ex. 34.29. This light is not for God--who is light--but for the nation and through the church to all nations.
This is the declaration part of worship. As Jesus died on the cross , being the perfect sacrifice, He became our High Priest so that we could in His righteousness stand in the presence of God, Rev.21.3. What happened to Moses on the mountain we now experience as the kingdom of priests. In Christ we enter God's presence, we put on His clothes, the white linen of righteousness. We have His word in our heart, we are obedient to His will, we walk in His path according to His name.
This is the awesome stuff of life in Christ.
The tabernacle had three ministrations to the Hebrew believer--cleansing, justification and sanctification. We will look at cleansing and justification today and sanctification next week.
First, in Exodus 20 God gives His word, the commandments. Then in Ex. 20.20 Moses says God has come into their midst--to test you and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin. The purpose of His presence is that He can be holy with Israel, as this is His desire. Just as in the Garden of Eden, God's word of warning and blessing is because He is with them. Jesus will say the same thing in John 8.11--Go and sin no more. The cleansing from sin is the preparation for worship.
The priest had to cleanse himself of any sin to accept the sacrifice of the people, outside the tabernacle. The sacrifice cleansed the sinner, but the sin put upon the animal brought sin into the tabernacle. So the priest had to sprinkle the animal's blood upon the tabernacle, to cleanse it.
While God considers it necessary for the priest and the sinner to be clean, we often glide over confession too quickly. We know our cultural preferences, but we forget what weighs heavily on God's mind: cleansing from sin. Confession is bitter but it is where the blessing is found. The blessing/curse of the two trees in Genesis became the blessing/curse of the two mountains in Deuteronomy 28, which became the blessing of Matthew 5--you are the light of the world--and the admonition of Matt. 6--do not be anxious, do not be as the hypocrites, do not lay up treasures. The summary is Matt. 6.33--Seek ye first the kingdom of God.
Now we come to justification. We come to presence, cloud, light. God told Moses He wanted Israel to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, Ex. 19.6. The Table of Showbread is our communion with God by which He, through the bread and wine, enters us and we enter into His presence. We are surrounded by the incense which the priest burns at the Altar of Incense, just as Moses entered the cloud o top of the mountain, Ex. 19.9. We become the light of the world, as the light shone on Moses' face when he came down from the mountain, Ex. 34.29. This light is not for God--who is light--but for the nation and through the church to all nations.
This is the declaration part of worship. As Jesus died on the cross , being the perfect sacrifice, He became our High Priest so that we could in His righteousness stand in the presence of God, Rev.21.3. What happened to Moses on the mountain we now experience as the kingdom of priests. In Christ we enter God's presence, we put on His clothes, the white linen of righteousness. We have His word in our heart, we are obedient to His will, we walk in His path according to His name.
This is the awesome stuff of life in Christ.
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